Road Tripping, Expo Cooking & Finding the Balance Between Stop and Go

Black's Beach, Mackay

I love a good road trip, don't you? I grew up in a road tripping family and I have so many wonderful memories of travelling together for hours, days, weeks, even months - around half of Australia, the USA, down into Mexico, up into Canada... 

As teenagers, we were packed into the car like sardines, suitcases bumping the backs of our heads as we bounced along, a banjo and a guitar sandwiched between us in the back seat, portable electric typewriter on my lap so I could type out my school assignments as we drove. Endless roads, new friends everywhere we went, beautiful scenery, singing together and telling stories, cooking Australian treats like pavlova for our American friends and trying their foods, and taking photos of wildflowers and canyons and lakes and snow. Once road tripping is in your blood you just can't get rid of the addiction. I dream of spending a whole year travelling around Australia with my family, showing the kids this amazing country of ours.

Sadly, my husband does NOT have any desire to pack up all our earthly goods and set off into the sunrise, living the gyspy life on the road. He's totally not interested in packing four noisy kids into the car with a bunch of luggage and food and a Thermomix, and driving endlessly just to see what we can see. He's so practical. I'm a bit of dreamer. Like my dad. But I DID manage to get him to agree to a one week road trip to Mackay and Townsville in the second week of the school holidays, and I think he actually enjoyed it! Well, most of it. Maybe not the bit where I got really sick with a tummy bug and he had to cook and look after the kids who were constantly wanting to go to the beach when he just wanted to sit inside with a book. But hey, I didn't enjoy that bit either.

Okay, so in case you're wondering, here's how I convinced my husband to do this whole road trip thing. Ford picked me (along with 19 other Voices of 2013 bloggers) to take part in their "Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge," test driving their newest, sparkliest, most top of the range Territory Titanium! (Yeah, I know, awesome huh!!) We've been given this brand-spanking-new car for 6 weeks, and it even came with $400 worth of fuel vouchers and a full tank of fuel! Well that just shouted 'road trip' to me, and hubby had to give in to the pressure.

Picking up 'my' car! Woo hooooo...

I have to say, my 'totally not interested in cars or road trips' husband is now as much in love with this car as I am. After driving it for two weeks, including a 10 hour drive in one day, we are completely smitten. As we're driving along, hubby will turn to me and say, 'I love how the electric windows can still be rolled up after the motor is turned off - make sure you mention that on your blog!' and 'It's so comfortable, and so smooth to drive' and 'The POWER!!!'... ha ha! I think we're both loving the quiet, smooth, panther-like power the best - we've never driven a V6 turbo diesel before, it's awesome! 

My front seat office!

We've never had such an easy road trip with our four kids as this one was. It was so quiet I could write, and chat with hubby while we drove. The GPS kept us on track, the kids were comfortable, no one felt squashed or cramped, and the built in DVD player kept them distracted for the 10 hour drive. We only stopped twice. This does not usually happen!! Big win for the Ford.

Morning tea break...

...and a tailgate lunch. 

I brought some homemade roast beef, some spelt bread rolls that I baked quickly before we left in the morning, a jar of my homemade tomato sauce, and some salad, and we made lunch in our makeshift 'kitchen' by the road. I also took fruit, chia puddings in jars, and a homemade trailmix. Easy, and lots cheaper and yummier than buying greasy roadhouse food!

The only negative was all the road works we encountered on the drive. No, that is not some strange kind of tattoo, that's my hubby keeping track of how many road works we'd passed through. Ha ha!

We really enjoyed catching up with old friends in Mackay, and I had fun cooking with the Thermomix girls there. (A big thanks to my lovely friend and recipe testing guru, Lauren, who invited us all to her house.) I made them a few recipes that will be in my book to see what they thought, and everything got the thumbs up - woo hoo! I have sworn them to secrecy, so don’t try and get the recipes out of them, Mackay peeps!

Some of the Mackay Thermomix ladies

And this is where things went a bit pear shaped. I got really sick with a tummy bug. Maybe because I'd been a bit careless with my eating when visiting old friends, and it got me all out of whack, I don't know (no one else in the family got it), but after a day or so in bed I managed to get back on my feet and the holiday continued. I had to take it pretty slow, and we didn't do all the 'stuff' we'd planned to do. But that's okay. Just being able to rest and relax was probably exactly what I needed. Sometimes when you won't stop, your body MAKES you stop. Right?

I think my body was telling me it was time to slow down...

I spent some time resting, walking on the beach, and preparing myself for the next leg of the trip, which I knew would be very busy. I find I can handle the crazy, hectic times as long as I intersperse them with quiet, rest times. And it really helps to have some alone time now and then, too. It's all about finding the balance between stop and go. 

"Cultivate Solitude." It's good for the soul.

So after a rest, it was on to Townsville. I spent Friday afternoon at Sprout, prepping the food for my cooking demonstrations the next day. (That was pretty cool, being given free rein to use anything in the store, as Sprout were the sponsors for my demos. Love that shop.) Then Saturday it was off to the Townsville Plant & Garden Expo to do some Quirky Cooking demos. It all got a bit chaotic, trying to set up and cook and speak and pack up and wash up with a make shift camping sink, then start all over again after an hour or so break, but with the help of my good friend Bron and a couple of others who pitched in, we managed it. Thanks to those of you who came to watch and chat, and especially to those who helped out with the serving and cleaning up when we were running out of time - you're awesome!! :)

Here's a little snippet of my demo, taken by my friend Felicity...

A few of you have asked for the recipes from the demos - so here they are:

     Coconut milk: as made in this recipe.

     Chicken & Veges with Coconut Rice and Macadamia Satay Sauce: similar to Chicken & Cashews, but with macadamias replacing the cashews, and the addition of the juice of half a lime to the sauce. Also used long grain brown rice which was soaked overnight, making the cooking time 30 mins.

     Beetroot Salad: same as the one in the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook, served on a bed of baby spinach and sprinkled with crumbled sheep's feta.

     Tangello Sorbet: Tangello zest blended up with 100g coconut sugar, 10 sec/speed 9; add 350g ice and blend 10 sec/speed 9; add another 350g ice and blend 10 sec/speed 9; add the peeled tangello (I froze the portions, didn't remove seeds) and an egg white, blend 30 sec/speed 9, using spatula to help mix. Top servings with 'ice magic'. 

     Ice magic: 100g dark chocolate, grated 10 sec/speed 8, plus 50g coconut oil, cooked 2 mins/50C/speed 2. 

     Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse: made with frozen avocado to make it thicker like an ice cream.

Macadamia Satay Chicken & Rice with Beetroot Salad

Tangello Sorbet with 'Ice Magic'

Now we're back from our epic road trip and the holidays are over. Today I started back with the homeschooling and book writing and house work and everyday life, so things are back to normal here, except for the shiny car in my driveway... Hopefully I'll be able to sneak off on a few mini road trips to make the most of 'my' car before I have to give it back. Hey, do you think Ford would notice if I disappeared into the sunset with the Territory for an 'around Australia road trip'?

Raw Macadamia Lime 'Cheesecake' (dairy free)

One thing I love about living in tropical Far North Queensland is the abundance of delicious produce grown here. I love that I can go to the local markets and buy locally grown coconuts (and coconut oil), locally grown vanilla beans and cacao nibs and cacaco beans, luscious limes, macadamias, avocadoes, pineapples, lychees, passionfruit, mangoes, and I've even bought sugar cane juice that's juiced while you wait! Even better, lots of these yummy things are given to you by friends, family and acquaintances who just have too much and need to share. Love that.

Last week I did a Thermomix demo for a lady who sent me home with a big bag full of limes and bunches of fresh herbs and rocket from her garden. At other times I've come home with a box of vine ripened tomatoes, pumpkin, avocadoes, lychees and mangoes. I get given bags of passionfruit, boxes of black sapotes, chokos and lettuces. I always say to my husband, 'There's really no way you could starve living here. Why would anyone want to live in the city??' Besides, where in the city can you walk around the corner from your house and see views like this...



But I digress... back to the cheesecake.

So the other day I thought I should make something with some of the limes filling my fruit basket, and the avocados from mum's tree. I really wanted something a bit special, as I had a photo shoot with an online magazine on Friday (Confetti Mag - 1st issue, coming out in May, stay tuned!), and I thought something made with local ingredients would be a good thing to photograph. (We ended up choosing something else to make, and we had lots of fun cooking and taking photos! Two of my favourite things to do.)

{Photo taken by Karen of Confetti Mag}

I remembered a lime and avocado tart I'd made last year and really enjoyed, but I felt it needed to be creamier and less... well... tart! Okay, I know 'raw lime cheesecakes' are all over the internet and I didn't really need to make up another recipe, but I just like to play. I did get some inspiration from this lovely raw lime tart from Fragrant Vanilla Cake (a blog you really should visit if you're into raw food, vegan food, or just delicious desserts) - but I ended up changing it to make the most of some of our lovely local produce, plus whatever I had on hand.

It turned out amaaaaazing!!

My husband is very partial to a good cheesecake, and was very sceptical that my dairy free version would be something he'd want to eat... But after one bite he changed his tune and begged for more. :)

I had a lot of 'drop-ins' that day, and each one had to taste my cheesecake. I made them. (They didn't argue.) They all agreed it was a gem of a recipe, and they all told me I should save it for my book. But being the kind and generous blogger that I am, I dedided to go ahead and share it. And besides, I was a bit worried that after getting 235 comments on the photo I posted on Facebook, plus many private messages, asking for the recipe, I might have a riot if I didn't share!! (But I will have to start being a bit more secretive with new recipes I think, or there won't be any surprises left for the book!)

Consider this your Easter present from me. I think it would make a great Easter Sunday treat... because as much as I love chocolate, it can get a little 'overdone' at Easter time. I'm thinking lime will be a good change.

So here it is, the long-awaited recipe...

Oh, and just a couple of tips: buy the macadamia pieces, they're heaps cheaper than whole nuts and you don't need whole nuts for this recipe. And use organic or homegrown limes if possible, as you don't really want to be eating the zest from limes sprayed with pesticides. Just my opinion.

Raw Macadamia Lime 'Cheesecake'

(Makes one 20cm cheesecake)

Base:

Grind all the base ingredients up together in the Thermomix on speed 9 for 20 seconds, or until finely ground.

- 130g raw macadamia nuts (either unsoaked, or soaked and dehydrated)

- 70g organic shredded or flaked coconut (additive free)

- 8 fresh dates (eg. Medjool), pitted

- a pinch of fine Himalayan salt

   Grease the inside of a 20cm springform cake tin with coconut oil. Press the base mixture firmly into the base of the tin, and up the sides if you like. Set aside.

Filling:

Blitz vanilla beans and lime zest on speed 10 for 10 seconds.

- 2 vanilla beans, snipped into 4 pieces (can use 1 bean in a pinch)

- zest from 2 limes (just peel off with a sharp potato peeler)

Add cashews and grind on speed 10 for 8 seconds.

- 150g raw cashews*

Add remaining ingredients and blend on speed 9 for 1 minute, scraping down as needed, until lovely and smooth.

- flesh of 1 lime

- 320g fresh avocados (or frozen, cut in 1-2cm cubes)

- 100g pure maple syrup

- 55g coconut oil

- a pinch of fine Himalayan salt

Pour filling into springform tin, spreading over the base. Place in freezer for at least half an hour.

* If using soaked raw cashews, only soak for up to 6 hours, drain well and pat dry with tea towel, then mix with the other ingredients (lime, avocado, etc) all at once, blending until smooth.

Just look at those lovely little vanilla bean seeds in the filling.... Mmmm!

Topping:

Mix together until smooth on speed 9:

- 150g raw macadamias (soaked for a few hours, then drained and dried off a bit)

- 150g Ayam coconut cream (or other thick coconut cream)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

- juice of 1 lime

- 30g pure maple syrup

Pour over filling and smooth with spatula.

Decoration:

While topping is still soft, before freezing, add extra macadamia nuts and lime zest for decoration, sprinkling first the nuts, then the zest, around the edge of the cheesecake. (See photos)

- a good sized handful of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped (if you haven't bought them already in pieces)

- zest of one lime, grated with a zester

Place the finished cheesecake, covered with a plastic bag, in the freezer and leave it alone for at least 2 hours, preferably more. It's best eaten semi-frozen. It will last for weeks in the freezer... but we all know that's not going to happen. ;)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Fudge Hearts with Raspberry Swirl Topping

It's Valentine's Day tomorrow, and although I'm not into the whole commercialised idea of spending heaps of money on flowers and chocolates and fuzzy teddy bears, I do like to cook something special for the family. (Okay, I admit it. If someone bought me flowers and chocolates I wouldn't say no, as long as it was good chocolate. And fuzzy teddy bears are pretty cute too.)

Anyway, this year I came up with this recipe for dense, fudgey chocolate heart cakes, and just for fun I decorated them with a dairy free chocolate ganache spread, coconut cream, and raspberry coulis. (There's a little video clip below showing how I did the raspberry swirl heart at the bottom of this post.) Of course, we already ate them all because I had to get this blog post done before Valentine's Day. And then I didn't get time to do it til now... oops! So by the time you read this it may be too late to make these for Valentine's Day, but hey, if you love someone you shouldn't need to wait for a certain date on a calendar to show it... so just go make these anyway!

P.S. These cakes are gluten free, grain free, and dairy free. If you can't have nuts you can use flour instead. If you can't have eggs you can probably substitute for those too, I just haven't had a chance to try it.


Chocolate Fudge Hearts

I make these in little heart shaped flan tins - you could use heart shaped muffin tins too, or just make them in regular muffin tins and decorate with a raspberry swirl heart on top. Or you could use a regular cake tin, but you'll need to cook it for a little longer.

Recipe inspired by Tash's Rich Chocolate Cake 

Preheat oven to 190C.

1. Grind chocolate in Thermomix bowl for 10 seconds on speed 9.
- 200g roughly chopped dark chocolate (I use a good quality, dairy free, naturally sweetened 65-70% cocoa chocolate like Valrhona or Rapunzel chocolate)

2. Add dates and chop for 10 seconds on speed 9.
- 150g pitted dates

3. Add coconut oil and melt at 60C for 5 minutes on speed 2.
- 180g coconut oil (or butter or ghee)

4. Add walnuts, salt and eggs and mix on speed 8 for 10 seconds.
- 70g walnuts (or you can use 50g of gluten free or regular plain flour if you can't have nuts)
- 1/4 tsp fine Himalayan or sea salt
- 3 large eggs*

5. Pour mixture into tins (greased with coconut oil or butter) and bake at 190C for approx. 20 minutes for small cakes or muffins, to 30 minutes for a cake. Skewer inserted into centre of cake should come out clean.

Allow cakes to cool, then ice with chocolate ganache spread.

* I didn't have time to try these cakes with an egg replacement, but apple sauce or chia gel are both great replacements. If you use apple sauce, cut down on the amount of dates. Not sure of amounts - will test when I can!

 

 

Chocolate Ganache Spread

This is a recipe I developed as a dairy free, nut free substitute for Nutella, and I found it also works perfectly for a chocolate sauce when hot. You can pour it over a cake like ganache and it will set all firm and glossy in the fridge. Or spread it on toast when it's cold. It's a kind of multi-purpose ganache-spread-topping... for now and then of course. :)

1. Break up chocolate and grind in Thermomix for 10 seconds on sp 9.
- 100g dark dairy free chocolate
    Scrape down bowl.

2. Weigh remaining ingredients into Thermomix bowl and cook for 2 minutes at 60C speed 2.
- 30g coconut oil (or ghee or butter)
- 30g rice malt syrup (or honey)
- 200g thick coconut cream (or less if you like your chocolate darker)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

3. Place in the fridge to cool a little, then when it's slightly less runny, spread over cake/s and place cakes in fridge to set.*

If there's any ganache spread left, pour it into jar and keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. (Tastes lovely swirled with sunflower seed butter or nut butter on toast or crepes, and topped with slices of banana!)

* Note: I found it was easiest to make the raspberry-coconut cream swirl hearts on top of the cakes if the chocolate ganache was set and firm. The first batch I made while the chocolate was still warm and runny, and although it looked pretty, it was difficult to keep in a heart shape as it tended to run off the edges. (See photo below) So it's up to you - if you want a more freeform swirly heart, go ahead and do it while the chocolate is warm, then put it straight into the freezer to set.

Raspberry Swirl Topping

These  cakes are best served within an hour, once the heart swirls are made, as the raspberry coulis eventually will sink into the cream if it's in the fridge for too long. So make the cakes with the chocolate topping on them and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to finish them off. They can stay in the fridge for days, and actually taste best cold from the fridge.

For the Raspberry Swirl Topping, all you need is:
- tin of smooth coconut cream (do not shake it up!)
- a batch of Raspberry Coulis.

To make the Raspberry Coulis:

Cook raspberries and Rapadura (or preferred sweetener) in Thermomix for 4 minutes at 90C on speed 4. Strain through a fine seive to remove seeds. Set aside to cool.
- 200g raspberries
- 40g Rapadura (or preferred sweetener - see this list sugar alternatives)

Don't shake up the tin of coconut cream! When you open the tin, scoop the thicker cream off the top into a small dish. Whisk cream with a fork until it's nice and smooth.

Using a teaspoon, blob some cream onto the top of the chocolate covered heart cake in the shape of a heart, rounding edges with a butter knife to neaten.

Drizzle on a few small blobs of raspberry coulis.

Using a toothpick, swirl the cream and the coulis together - don't 'over-swirl' or it will all run together. Less is more.

Here's a little video clip showing how I make the topping. (Okay, you can't actually see the 'swirling' process, but hopefully you get the idea!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jo xx

Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns

Okay, so there was a bit of a bun fight on my Facebook page over which recipe I should post first - this one for gluten free hot cross buns, or my decadent dairy free double chocolate truffle ice cream... The buns won. (As buns tend to in bun fights. Ha ha!) But don't worry, the ice cream won't be far behind!

My kids were really happy with these, especially hot out of the oven. They were soft and held together nicely, not crumbly at all, thanks to the xanthum and guar gums. If you don't have both, the most important one is the xanthum gum. If you don't have any of that, see the *Variations* below the recipe. There's also ideas there for varying the flours, milk and sweeteners; and suggestions for those who are egg free or yeast free.

This is just a basic recipe - if you don't like peel and sultanas, change it to whatever additions you like... chocolate chips, currants, dried cranberries, dried blueberries... I think someone mentioned raspberries and chocolate too - mmmm... I actually love orange peel and dark chocolate chips. Also, for an even better flavour, grind up your own spices - use a whole nutmeg, a whole cinnamon stick, and a few cloves, and grind on speed 9 for a minute in a dry bowl, then add the orange zest and grind.

As with all gluten free breads, these are best made on the day you want to eat them, or they'll get a bit too dry. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns

1. Make sure your Thermomix bowl is nice and dry, and grind on speed 9 for 1 1/2 minutes:
- 150g brown rice, raw
- 100g basmati rice, raw

2. Add orange zest and grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds or so:
- zest of 1 orange, preferably organic (peel off with potato peeler)

3. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds, until combined:
- 100g glutinous rice flour (or fine white rice flour)
- 160g tapioca flour (starch) *
- 2 tsp xanthum gum *
- 1 tsp guar gum
- 2 tsp instant yeast *
- 20g Rapadura or 10g xylitol *
- 1/2 tsp green stevia powder *
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

4. Set aside dry mixture in a bowl. Place milk, water, vinegar and oil into Thermomix bowl and cook at 37 degrees for 2 minutes, speed 2, or until liquids reach 37 degrees:
- 200g coconut milk or cream *
- 200g water
- 1 Tblspn apple cider vinegar
- 50g macadamia oil (or butter)

5. Add eggs and whisk for a few seconds on speed 5 until combined:
- 2 eggs

6. Add dry ingredients and sultanas and/or currants (or other additions) into the liquids in the bowl and mix on reverse speed 3 until well combined:
- 100g sultanas
- 100g currants

7. Spoon heaped, rounded tablespoons of dough into muffin cups, or drop them close together in rows in a lined baking dish, and leave to rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.You can wet your hands and gently smooth the buns so they look round if you like. I did that with the ones below in the dish, but not with the ones in the muffin tins. Set the oven to 200 degrees C to heat up while they rise. (They won't rise as much as regular bread.)

[Note: you can make the crosses just as you would on regular hot cross buns - just mix together a little rice flour and water to make a thick paste, and pipe onto buns with a piping bag. I didn't as I was running out of time!]

8. Bake in 200 degree C oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden on top and bottom. A knife inserted should come out clean.

Icing crosses: You can pipe on crosses with white icing if you like, which is what I did. Well, kind of. In my rush I forgot to use egg whites and used water instead, and the icing melted all over the still warm buns! Oh well, you get the idea. Here's the recipe for the icing - I just use a ziploc bag for a piping bag:

Royal icing made with xylitol:

1. Grind on speed 9, scraping down now and then, until very fine:

- 100g xylitol
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 tblspns cornflour

2. Insert butterfly and add egg white, mixing on speed 4 for about 4 or 5 minutes, until thick:

- 1 egg white

3. Sit a zip-loc sandwich bag in a glass and drape the edges over the sides. Pour the icing into the bag, squeeze the air out, and seal. Snip a TINY hole in one corner of the bag and pipe the crosses onto the cooled buns! :)

* Variations:

-  If you don't have any xanthum gum, try grinding up 2 tablespoons of chia seeds or linseeds, cover with a little water and leave for a few minutes until it forms a gel, then pop that in instead.

- If you can't have eggs, you could try egg replacer, and add some chia seed gel too - but I haven't tested that, so not sure how well it would go.

- If you can't have yeast, try making these with 2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the yeast, plus another egg. Again, I haven't tested it on this recipe yet (although I have with similar gf breads and it worked); so if you try it, let me know how it goes!

- Instead of tapioca flour/starch, you can use arrowroot or cornflour starches. Potato starch may not work so well, as it's quite moist. If you don't have glutinous rice flour or fine white rice flour, you could grind your own, but do it separately to the other rice as you should only grind 250g at a time so you don't overload the blades. And you'll need to grind it for at least a minute and a half to get it really fine. Add some of the tapioca flour in with it and then grind, as that will help it to grind finer.

- Instead of Rapadura or xylitol, and stevia, you can use whatever sweetener you prefer. I have made these with all stevia - just use a whole teaspoon. Or all Rapadura - use 50g. All xylitol I'd use about 30g. Of course you can use 50g raw sugar if that's all you have.

- Instead of coconut milk or cream, you can use any milk you prefer.

ThermoFest Hawaii & My Easter Menu

The view from my room at ThermoFest - Sheraton, Waikiki!

Hi everyone! Sorry there have been a lack of blog posts lately, but I have a good excuse - I've been in Hawaii being totally spoilt by Thermomix in Australia. And now I'm trying to catch up on sleep and work... Oh my goodness, what an amazing week. We packed so much into a short time, and came home exhausted but happy. Here's a few photos of the highlights of my week at ThermoFest!...

Beautiful scenery

Kualoa Ranch with Mokolii Island in the background

Special friends

Kelly, Felicity and me.

Delicious food

Lots of fresh fruit! This is iced, minted green tea, with melon balls.

So refreshing.

Relaxing meals

Lunch under the palm trees.

Lively conversations

With lots of food-loving, Thermomix-crazy people!

Great cooking tips

Chef and Thermomix consultant Fiona Hoskin,

author of the new 'Devil of a Cookbook' which will be sold

to raise money to save the Tasmanian devils.

(Soon to be available here)

Motivating training

with amazing speakers who spoke from the heart.

Amazing shopping

At all hours of the day and night. (Yeah, dangerous!!)

Lots of laughs

Hawaiian dancers teaching the hula to anyone
crazy enough to get up there!

Inspiring people

Anya & Dirk Reznik, Chief Executive Officer, Thermomix (Vorwerk)

(with me in the middle)

So as you can see, we had a mind-blowing holiday/seminar in Hawaii, and I'm so happy I work for this amazing company, and have had this opportunity to enjoy spending time with so many beautiful Thermomix people. (By the way, there's plenty more photos from ThermoFest here on my Quirky Cooking Facebook Page!)

*     *     *     *     *

Last week, while I was away, I had a basic menu plan organized for the family and they did really well cooking for themselves, thanks to our 'kitchen robot'! Even my cooking-challenged husband can get dinner together when there's a Thermomix to help out. My fourteen year old daughter was a great help too, whipping up homemade spelt pizzas galore, and beef stroganoff amongst other things. It's great to be able to rely on the family to help with meals these days. I'm loving it.

Easy meals last week for the kids and dad!

So now it's suddenly Easter. I noticed on Change.org that Lindt and Ferrero Rocher are using cocoa produced by child slave labour, and I don't want to support that, so sadly there'll be no Lindt chocolate bunnies this year for us. I will be making my own chocolate truffle 'eggs' for the kids out of Green & Black's Fair Trade Organic Chocolate (70% cocoa, no dairy). And maybe some homemade Ferrero Rocher chocolates, plus double chocolate truffle ice cream (dairy free), raw cacao nib and walnut bliss balls, and also a few other treats, so I don't think the kids will feel deprived. :) (Okay, all that decadent stuff isn't just for us - I'm doing some Easter cooking for others too!)

Dairy free, grain free, homemade 'Ferrero Rocher' chocolates

Do you need some healthy Easter menu ideas? Below is my Easter weekend menu, and if you join us on the Quirky Cooking Facebook Page you'll find many more ideas. Be inspired to try something different this Easter - like Raw Chocolate, or Hot Cross Bun Monkey Bread. I'd love to know what you're planning for your Easter cooking too, so leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page. Have a great week!

Easter Menu Plan

Good Friday

Star Anise Seared Tasmanian Salmon (Green Tea Smoked)

Quinoa

Steamed carrots & bok choy

Leafy green salad

Double Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream (dairy free, naturally sweetened)

(recipe coming!)

Saturday

Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup

Shallow fried marinara mix (using this method)

Leafy green salad

Leftover ice cream (hopefully!)

Easter Sunday

Slow poached eggs with hollandaise sauce & smoked salmon

Roast lamb with lemon, garlic & rosemary

Baked sweet potatoes

Baked pumpkin

Thermomix gravy

Leafy green salad

Dairy free, naturally sweetened chocolate truffles & coffee

Thermomix gravy

Easter pull apart bread with orange cinnamon syrup

Walnut & raw cacao nib bliss balls

Have a happy and safe Easter!

Jo xx

Hot Cross Bun Monkey Bread

I've been having fun thinking up yummy things to bake and cook for Easter... Today I decided to use my hot cross bun dough to make Monkey Bread! My mum used to make this for us when we were kids (but not with hot cross bun dough). I often asked for it for my birthday cake. I mean, you just can't beat a pull-apart bread made of soft yeast bread, all stuck together with sticky cinnamon-sugar goo - chewy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside! Mmmmmm...

Most of the Monkey Bread recipes I looked at on the internet used dough which was rolled in cinnamon and sugar, then placed in a bundt tin, and a syrup made of brown sugar and butter was poured over. I thought this was a bit of a 'sugar over-kill', so I made it the way I remember Mum making it, rolling each piece in melted butter, then in cinnamon and sugar. It makes it's own sticky syrup as it cooks, and uses way less sugar!!

I did try to make my version of Monkey Bread as healthy as I could - I used Rapadura instead of sugar, lots of cinnamon (I love cinnamon, and it's good for you!), and homemade butter... but if you can't have butter you could use ghee. Or for a lower fat, dairy free version, just roll the dough balls in warm rice-almond milk, then in the cinnamon and Rapadura. You can even use a mixture of warm milk and butter if you like.

Monkey Bread made in a small loaf tin

Okay, so here's how to make Monkey Bread:

1. Make a batch of Hot Cross Bun Dough, but leave the Rapadura (or sugar) out - you won't need it, since it's going to be rolled in Rapadura anyway. Or if you like you can just use plain bread dough. (I make my dough wheat and dairy free, but you can use just a regular hot cross bun recipe if you want to.) Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in size.

2. Melt about a cup of butter or ghee in the Thermomix at 80 degrees, 2 minutes, speed 2 (or until all melted). Pour into a bowl. [If using rice-almond milk instead of butter, warm it up a little.]


3. Prepare tins by greasing with a little butter/ghee. I used 6 mini Bundt tins, and 1 loaf tin. You could use 2 loaf tins, or 1 big Bundt tin.

4. In another bowl, mix together about a cup of Rapadura and 2-3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

5. Pinch off small pieces of dough, roll them into balls, and roll them in the melted butter (and/or milk)...

... then in the cinnamon-Rapadura mixture.

6. Place the balls into the prepared tins, using smaller balls to fill in spaces. Only fill half full, or they'll overflow a bit like mine did! Oops!

7. Drizzle with any remaining butter/ghee/milk...

... then let them rise until they're nearly at the top of the tin.

8. Place in a cold oven and turn it on to 180 degrees C, and cook for about 30 minutes (depending on how big the tins are you're using). They should be nicely browned when done.

(Mine were a little too full!)

9. Let them cool for about 5 minutes, then tip them out, upside down, onto a plate.

Enjoy!

(But be careful not to burn yourself because 

you can't wait til they cool down!!)