Weekly Highlights

This week has been super busy, and although some of you may think I'm Super Woman and keep up with everything effortlessly, I'm not, and I don't. In fact, today I feel a bit like my little nephew after a hard day of being Super Man...

(Isn't he just too cute?)

Yep. That's me right there.

This week has been: school holidays and lots of kids coming and going; an exciting project I'm working on (which I'll tell you about soon); lots of cooking (mostly for the exciting project); wrapping up loose ends with my job (I'm scaling down there - can't do everything!); sight seeing tours with a visitor from overseas; a birthday party with a bunch of noisy boys (plus a few girls who don't like to miss out on nerf wars and messy fun, ie. my 16 yr old and her friends); plus everything else. Result: exhausted 'super woman' with saggy muscles. Lol.

So here's a quick update, with the highlights from our discussions on the Quirky Cooking Facebook page...

I bumbled my way through the boys' birthday BBQ on Thursday. I'm not great at organising amazing kids' parties. I'd rather just supply some food and let them entertain themselves by running around outside, so a BBQ at the lake seemed like the easiest option. Sadly, the weather turned bad so we arrived at the lake, took one look at the wet and windy BBQ 'shelter', then turned around and drove back to town. Thankfully my lovely friend Giselle was happy for a party of 14 boys (plus a few girls) to descend upon her home and run around crazy in her yard, so a fun time was had by all despite the rain.

Of course, being a country kids' birthday party, it included things like an 'epic' nerf war (I borrowed that word from Mr I, who seems to say it a lot), bushwalking to a waterfall, throwing rocks into a volcanic crater, and eating sausages and fried onions in bread with plenty of tomato sauce. No lollies at this party, or party games or party bags - but I'm pretty sure they all had a good time. :)

I managed to get a birthday cake made before dashing out the door in the morning - another Zebra cake (Mr I's request), but with a few changes to make it healthier and yummier. The kids loved it. It's a bit messier than my last one as I was in a hurry, but I really don't think the kids noticed.

It's funny how we mums sometimes think that if we don't do everything 'just right' the world will fall apart. I'm always reminding myself that there are more important things to worry about in life than whether a cake is beautifully decorated, or a party is perfectly organised. Sure, if you can do it and enjoy it, that's great! But getting stressed out over things like that just spoils the fun. So we had a slap dash, informal party, and a fun day was had by all. 

Here's what's been happening on my Quirky Cooking Facebook page this past week... 

FOOD

Pear recipes: This 'Whole Poached Pear Cake' was being tested and tweaked this week in my kitchen. I'm working on a dairy free, grain free version, and although it's not quite there yet, it still tasted delicious! What are you favourite pear recipes? Try some of these out.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake: the lovely girls from Confetti Mag shared my cake recipe on their blog - check out the recipe here, and make sure you subscribe to their beautiful online magazine!

I'm also working on a recipe for a gluten free, dairy free shortcrust pastry... lots of pies being cooked here lately! (No one's complaining.) No recipe yet, all part of the 'project'.

Weird breakfasts: I explain why I eat weird things for breakfast, like chicken soup and fried rice, here.

How to make soft eggs, poached in the shell: too easy, very quick, and delicious! Photo and recipe here.

Don't have time for a 'proper' breakfast? My quick protein smoothie recipe.

A very interesting version of my Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup: You know that soup that everyone's making? Well, you may not want to make it like this. Then again, maybe you will, just for fun!! :D

15 foods that can be regrown from scraps: great tips from Mrs Happy Homemaker

Favourite thermomix chicken recipes: Got chicken? Try these!

Trout recipes: some tips and recipes for cooking trout here.

Homemade two minute noodle seasoning mix: healthier versions you can make yourself!

Healthier biscuits to replace Tiny Teddies: some great ideas here for little homemade bikkies for kids, without the nasties.

10 reasons to make your own bone broth: check out this article by Alexx Stuart - I call bone broth 'liquid gold'. 

How to dry ripe olives: tips for drying and perserving olives here.

How to make dairy free dulce de leche with honey to sweeten: a reader's tip!

Homemade fruit chutney: readers' favourite recipes here.

Chilli jam recipes: find some recipes and links here.

Fig jam recipes: made with dried figs - ideas here.

Pickles: I also made pickled cucumber slices this week, so if you're wanting to try them yourself, the recipe is here - first half of recipe is in the comment on the photo, second half of recipe in the last comment on the photo. (These are not sweet pickles, they're the salty, vinegarry type.)

HEALTH

Homemade face masks: no need to spend big bucks on fancy schmancy facial treatments! Try these homemade face mask recipes!

10 reasons you should be using coconut oil: here's why I love coconut oil...

Why sugar makes us sleepy and protein wakes us up: ...and this is why I eat protein at breakfast time!

A reader's experience: how a mum got her daughter have more energy by giving her a protein breakfast before school! Her story here.

Sucrase Isomaltase Deficiency: a disorder that affects a persons ability to breakdown sucrose (fruit/table sugar) and maltose (grain sugar). Donna asked for some recipe ideas, in particular snacks & lunch box treats, for her 5 year old with SID - here's the answers and ideas that were shared.

AND OTHER STUFF

French Rules for Feeding Children: the French are known for having children who will eat all sorts of things - fussy eaters are just about unheard of! Here's some tips for developing great little eaters.

Nut milk bags: what do you use to strain your nut milk? Reader's tips and favourite brands.

How do you store recipes you find online? Here's readers' favourite ways to keep track of recipes they want to make.


Have a great week everyone!

Miss C and Shadow have the right idea...

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

 

 (Egg free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free options. Naturally sweetened.)

 

This is my healthier version of an old childhood favourite. I remember scraping the hot cookies off the trays with a spoon as a kid, because I couldn't wait for them to cool and set - yum! 

 

The orginal recipe contained 2 cups of sugar (eek!!), so a few years ago I made up this version using honey or rice malt syrup. My kids love them even more than cooked bikkies as they're so moist and chocolatey. I love them because they're so quick and easy. They're great for when you don't want to turn the oven on but really want cookies. :)

1. Cook in Thermomix at 100C for 15 mins, speed 2.

- 250g rice malt syrup (can use honey, but reduce amount to 150g or leave out coconut sugar)
- 50g coconut sugar (or Rapadura) optional
- 30g cacao powder (or cocoa)
- 120g coconut oil (or butter)
- 130g rice/almond milk (or milk of choice)

2. Add and mix on reverse speed 3 until combined.

- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 220-250g quinoa flakes (or rolled oats)

* If using quinoa flakes, leave in bowl for 10 minutes so flakes soften. If using oats, continue with recipe as soon as mixed. *

3. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto lined trays and place in freezer to set.

 

Enjoy :)

I like to keep these in the fridge or freezer as they taste best cold and chewy!

 

To make these by hand:

Heat first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan on the stovetop, stirring. Allow to rapid boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in remaining ingredients and drop by spoonfuls onto trays.

Anzac Biscuits (Vegan)

It's Anzac Day today. We've been to the Anzac Day parade, and when we got home we decided to make some Anzac Biscuits in memory of the Anzacs! "Lest we forget!" (You can read about the history of Anzac Biscuits here.)


After all the treats at Easter, I wasn't actually going to do any more baking for a while, but I just couldn't help myself. :) I decided that if I was going to make bikkies, I'd better make them without butter - I've had enough of that in the last few days, what with Easter pull apart breads and all... So I'm happy to announce that these biscuits are dairy free, wheat free, egg free, vegan, nut free and naturally sweetened! And they could be made gluten free if you use gluten free flour instead of the spelt, and quinoa flakes (or gluten free oats) instead of the rolled oats.


This recipe makes about 20 - 25 biscuits, depending how big you make them.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

1. Mix in Thermomix on speed 3 until combined:
- 160g spelt flour (or gluten free flour)
- 100g Rapadura
- 100g rolled oats (or quinoa flakes)
- 70g dessicated coconut
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

2. Mix together in a cup:
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbspns boiling water

3. Add remaining ingredients to Thermomix and mix on speed 3 until combined, and beginning to clump together:
- 140g coconut oil (slightly melted)
- 1 Tbspn black molasses
- water & soda
The mixture should be able to be pressed together with your hands, and not fall apart.

4. Form mixture into walnut sized balls and flatten (with your fingers) on the greased trays, to about 5mm in thickness. Bake in moderate oven for 15 to 20 minutes, then cool on the trays so they'll get nice and crisp.

These are great dunked in a cup of tea!

Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Need a chocolate fix? Well hold onto your tastebuds, these chocolate pecan cookies will knock your socks off!! 

I got the idea for these cookies from a recipe for 'brownie cookies' that used wheat flour, but I decided to try ground pecans instead. I'm always looking for ways to make gluten free (or even grain free), dairy free treats that are even better than their original wheat and dairy counterparts... I love pecans and chocolate together, and I was hoping the pecans would give these a chewy 'brownie' texture. They did!  I also changed the sugar to Rapadura, which gives them a richer flavour, and is of course better for you than refined sugar.

I promised to post this recipe ages ago, but I needed some photos, so today my daughter Cassia helped me make these again. (She loves to use the Thermomix, and is always quite happy to pose for photos.) I also invited my Quirky Cooking Facebook friends to join in the baking fun! A few of us baked 'together' via the internet, exchanging hints and tips as we cooked. (Check out some of their tips and variations below the recipe.) We'll have to do some cooking together again via Facebook - it was a lot of fun!

So here's the recipe - please let me know how you like it in the comments below. Recipe makes about 40 cookies.

1. Chop for 8 seconds on speed 6:

- 220g dairy free dark chocolate, broken in pieces (I use Lindt 70% cocoa - it's dairy free; or you could make your own!)

2. Melt chocolate at 50 degrees for 3 minutes on speed 1.

3. Add and mix for 20 seconds, speed 8:

- 150g pecans

- 3 eggs

- 1 tsp dry, instant coffee (or raw cacao powder)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 120g Rapadura

- 1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1/4 tsp bicarb soda (opt.)

The mixture will be thick and sticky, not quite as thick as usual cookie dough. Try not to eat all the raw mixture - I know, it's hard!

The raw mixture is soooo yummy!

4. Drop by heaped teaspoonfuls onto lined baking trays and bake at 160 degrees C for about 11-15 minutes, until cookies have risen and cracked slightly. You don't want to overcook them, as they are supposed to be slightly 'gooey' in the centre - just barely baked through! Leave on trays for 5 mins, then remove to cooling rack. They will sink down as they cool and become flatter and chewy. 

If you can manage to keep everyone from scoffing them all straight away, store them in an airtight container in the fridge - they taste delicious cold!

P.S. I think next time I'd better double or triple this recipe!

Tips and Variations:

Phiazy used a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts instead of the pecans - her cookies were a little firmer, and puffed up a little more. She also used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, and sugar instead of Rapadura (because she didn't have any). Actually, she forgot the sugar in the first batch, but she said they were still yummy (since she didn't use 70% cocoa chocolate, so they were pretty sweet already) - they were just a little flatter. So if you don't use dark, 70% cocoa chocolate, make sure you cut down on the sugar!

Raelene made these the old-fashioned way - she doesn't have a Thermomix (yet!)... She chopped the chocolate, melted it in a double-boiler, got water in it and had to start again, ran out of chocolate and had to go to the shop again, used 100g pecans plus 50g almond meal (but found she needed more almond meal because the mixture was too thin), and used raw sugar because she'd run out of Rapadura - but they still worked! She decided next time she'd use Rapadura plus add some raw cacao powder to make them richer and more chocolatey. Despite her setbacks, Raelene decided these were definitely worth making, and even worth the extra trip to the shop!!

Jessica made these using macadamia nuts instead of pecans - yummo!!

Peppernuts (Gluten Free)

What are Peppernuts?  A delicious, crunchy, spicy miniature cookie, traditionally made at Christmas time in Russian Mennonite, German and Dutch homes.  They are "spicy little holiday sweets about the size of a nut. They may be dark and peppery, soft and light, or crisp and crunchy" (via).  They are also known as Pfefferneuse, Pebbnodder, Pepernoten, and who knows what else...  Whatever you call them, they're delicious by any name!  (Okay, I know they look a little like dog food, but they really are yummy!!!)

We love peppernuts - the kids love to stuff them in their pockets for snacks on the go, and the adults love to dunk them in their coffee :) They're very addictive - I bet you can't eat just one!

I have started using my gluten free gingerbread dough for these, because it's so spicy and such a perfect texture - even after days, they stay crispy.  They taste an awful lot like the crunchy gingernut biscuits you can buy, except a little more peppery, and a lot more healthy!

The traditional way of making them is to roll out pencil sized pieces of dough, and cut them into little circles and bake until crisp... but I found that very time-consuming, so now I just do it like this:

1.  Make your gingerbread dough with this recipe - and make sure it's really spicy and a bit peppery!

2.  Divide the dough into four pieces, wrap in plastic wrap (or baking paper) flatten to a rectangular shape, and refrigerate for a day or two (or three) to let the flavours develop.

3.  When you're ready to make them, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, and roll one rectangle of dough out on a silicon mat (or piece of baking paper) until it's a bit less than a centimetre thick.  With a butter knife, cut 1 centimetre strips, then squares...

...place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper (make sure they're not touching), and bake for 10 to 15 minutes - until nicely browned and crunchy.

4.  Leave them to cool, then put them into jars.  You can store them in the fridge or freezer if you want them to last longer!

 But they probably won't last long anyway, 

once the kids get their hands on them!!

Almond Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Everybody loves chocolate chip cookies! But how to make them healthy? I was so excited when I found Rapadura sweetened dark chocolate chips in a local co-op store! This is a recipe I developed that I make now and then for a treat - they're wheat free, dairy free and naturally sweetened, and really yummy - just ask the kids :)

The almond butter adds some protein and calcium, which is a plus. I make the almond butter first, in my Thermomix, then add the other ingredients. You could use any nuts, or pre-made nut butter - macadamia, cashew, peanut - (preferably not the horrible 'hydrogenated' bought peanut butter though), and you could also add some chopped pecans or walnuts if you like - yum! (Note: if you use other nuts, you may need less oil to make the butter - macadamia nuts may not need any oil at all.)

This recipe makes a lot, so you could half it, or just roll some of it up in plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer until you 'need' some cookies. You just have to thaw the dough out for 10 minutes or so, then you can slice it into rounds, place on a baking tray and pop them in the oven. It's great to have some in the freezer when visitors drop by!

(Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius)

1. First, make your nut butter (or you can use a bought one)...
Grind on speed 9 for 30 seconds, then scrape down sides with spatula:
- 250g almonds

2. Add and mix on speed 9 for 20 seconds:
- 50g macadamia or light olive oil
Scrape down sides of bowl again.

3. Add and mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds:
- 150g Rapadura 
- 180g raw honey (1/2 cup)
- 3 medium eggs
- 230g macadamia, coconut or light olive oil (1 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

4. Add and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds (using spatula to help mix):
- 500g plain spelt flour (can be a mixture of wholemeal and white, and may need more or less than 500g - you should be able to roll the dough into balls)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp baking soda

5. Turn dough out into a large bowl, add a little more flour if needed. (I do this in a bowl as the Thermomix is a bit too full at this stage, and the heavy dough slows down the blades.) Add choc chips and mix in with spoon:
- 1 cup mini dark choc chips, Rapadura sweetened (or malt sweetened) *


6. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto greased or papered baking trays and bake in oven at 175 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Or you can roll dough into balls and flatten with a fork.)

7. Cool on the trays for crispier cookies, or remove to a rack while warm for softer cookies. Or just eat them all while they're warm, and lick the chocolate off your fingers! :D

(If you do cook the whole batch at once, store them in the freezer so they don't go stale.)

* Note about Rapadura sweetened choc chips - I bought these at a co-op store in Cairns (Qld) - they are made by Rapunzel and can be bought online. Another naturally sweetened, allergy free brand is 'Enjoy Life Foods' - these ones are great as they don't contain soy, but are pretty expensive.  I know in the USA you can also get malt sweetened choc chips, but I haven't been able to find them here.

Crunchy Gingernut Cookies

The kids and I enjoyed these gingernut cookies today - and I'm sure when Daddy gets home from work, he'll enjoy them too! (Hopefully not too much - I want some left for tomorrow!)

In my quest for dairy-free substitutes, I decided to try lard instead of butter. Some of you may be throwing up your hands in horror, but if you're not vegetarian, you'll probably agree that some animal fat is okay, and even desirable, in your diet. In case you didn't know, lard is making a comeback after years of vilification by big food corporations eager to push on us their plastic substitutes. To read up on lard, and why it's better than margarine and vegetable oils, read this article. (I've used a mixture of lard and light olive oil - you could use butter or coconut oil instead of the lard if you like, but it may change the texture.)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Place in your Thermomix bowl (or in a regular mixing bowl) and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds (or by hand):
- 400g (2 1/4 cups) unbleached plain spelt flour (or mixture of plain and wholemeal)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger (more if you like)
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 140g (1 cup) Rapadura

2. Add, and mix for 30 seconds, speed 6 (or until well mixed), using spatula to help mix:
- 100g lard (or butter or coconut oil)
- 80g olive oil
- 90g blackstrap molasses
- 1 egg
Mixture may be slightly crumbly - check if it can be pressed together and rolled into balls - if it falls apart, add a little more oil.

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on greased or lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Take a flat-bottomed glass, and dip the glass in a saucer of Rapadura, then press a cookie flat. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. (See picture below.)
- extra Rapadura for top of cookies

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and darker on edges - some ovens take longer than others, so check! (Swap trays around halfway through cooking so they brown evenly.)

Leave to cool on trays so they get nice and crisp. Store in airtight container in the freezer if not using straight away.

But I don't think they'll last long once the kids smell them... and someone else at our place was pretty keen to get a taste... ! (Must be all that molasses in them!)