Sugar and Spice and all things nice.

Today Miss B is three! In previous years we've kind of gone with a green theme being that it's St Patrick's Day. But now she's at an age where she knows what she wants, everything has to be pink!

So what could possibly be girlier than Rosewater cupcakes with fairies on top?

Gluten and Dairy Free Rosewater Cupcakes:
125 mls rice bran oil
3 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1 ½ cups gluten free plain flour (I used white wings)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ cup rice milk
1 tbsp rosewater

Preheat oven to 180C.
With a handmixer, beat together oil and sugar. Keep beating adding one egg at a time.
Add flour, baking powder, rice milk and rosewater and beat until batter is smooth.
Equally distribute between 12 cupcake cases and bake for 25 minutes (check with a skewer, clean skewer = ready).

Decorate as you please, but if you want to ensure they are allergy friendly read decoration packet's carefully.

I simply coloured sugar with pink colouring for the fairy dust beneath the cupcakes. The icing was pure icing sugar, pink colouring, a teaspoon of rosewater and a splash of rice milk. The fairies are from the supermarket and one of the few GFCF things I could find!

Muffin Madness!

In my search to find more things to fill T's lunchbox, I've decided to make a massive batch of muffins. Thankfully, both were a huge hit with all three kids so this should also be a good breakfast for B who is refusing her gluten free cereal. And surely they can't be any less healthy than commercial cereal anyway.



Carrot and Cinnamon Muffins. (makes 12)

• 3 Cups Orgran Plain Flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup of rice milk
• 90 mls rice bran oil
• 1 generous cup grated carrot

Blueberry Muffins. (makes 12)

• 3 Cups Orgran Plain Flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  
• 1 cup of rice milk
• 90 mls rice bran oil
• 1 generous cup fresh blueberries
  

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 210 degrees celsius.
Allow to cool on tray for 10 minutes, then they're ready to eat or allow to cook completely and store in an airtight container.

The shortcut to Ratatouille!

We went fruit and veg shopping this morning. And I went a little overboard. Rather than decide in advance, we went in without a list and bought everything we thought looked fantastic. I'm still not so great at menu planning. Don't get me wrong. I am a planner. But menu planning seems to get undone by life's little hiccups so it hasn't happened for us yet.

But when looking at the pile of delicious vegies sitting on the kitchen bench I was inspired to try something I kept meaning to try... which also happened to be a summer vegetable dish. Ratatouille!

So this is my spin on Ratatouille with a little bit of a time saver involved ;)

Roast Vegetable Ratatoille

1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 medium eggplant, cubed
1 ear of corn, with kernels cut off
2 medium zucchini, cubed
7 cloves of garlic, whole
7 spears of asparagus, trimmed
olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
cayenne pepper (about a teaspoon)
and the shortcut ingredient - a jar of salsa. I used Maloa House Lecsó (Hungarian Salsa)

Preheat oven to 230 C. Place vegetables and garlic (excluding asparagus) into an casserole dish. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Toss. Lay asparagus spears on top and roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and spoon salsa over the vegetables. Combine gently with a spoon. Pop back into oven for 15 minutes. Serve on a bed of brown rice.

This turned out fantastic and with plenty of leftovers to make omelettes for breakfast or quesadillas for lunch!

Real Men Don't Eat Quiche.

Or do they???

In fact, I've never met a man who doesn't but then I've never really been around men that read books!

But call it what you will - quiche, tart or flan - the fact remains they taste great!

Ours was simple. We had success again with Maggie Beer's GF Pastry recipe and the filling was simple, and as follows:

• 250 grams shaved ham, torn up
• 5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 6 eggs, whisked
• 1/4 cup rice milk
• 1/4 cup grated cheese
  

Basically, after lining the pie dish with the pastry, I assembled the quiche in that order. Baked for 30 minutes at 220C and there it is.

I'm having trouble with the GF blogs I follow. Most of them are based in the US or Canada so they're cooking gorgeous autumn and winter dishes and I have to remember Spring is almost over and Summer is on it's way. Although it's easy to forget when it's chilly and raining like today. But quiche is great in that it can be eaten cold with salad. So I'm back on track.

Semi Free-form Kangaroo Meat Pies.

Yay! I managed to get meal prepared for the October challenge Vittoria is hosting.

There is one disadvantage to being Australian and it's culinary. Our country doesn't have a long history, unless you consider the Aboriginal people. And, sadly, a lot of their history is lost, or handed down by word of mouth. The other difficulty was that they lived on the land and we kind of use kitchens to prepare meals.
*sigh*
So I thought about this for a long, long time until I could find a way to bring all of Australia to the table.

There is nothing more Aussie than a meat pie. Granted Australia is not the only country who eats meat pies, but ask any Australian what is an "Aussie" food, in amongst the Vegemite and beer, someone will mention meat pies.
But that alone, wasn't Indigenous enough for my liking. So I figured no other country has Kangaroos! We're going to whip up a Kangaroo meat pie to die for! On top of that, it's gluten and dairy free!

For the pastry, I again used Maggie Beer's Gluten Free pastry recipe. As usual, I replaced the butter with Nuttelex dairy free spread. I have called them "semi free-form" because I did use pie dishes but I rolled the pastry out to a larger size and just kind of gathered and tucked the extra over to form the tops. I filled each with my delicious kangaroo filling and baked in the oven (220 C) for 20 minutes.

Kangaroo Pie Filling (makes about 4 small pies)
400 grams kangaroo steak, cubed
1 tablespoon rice bran oil
1 Massel Easy Onion cube
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 cup vegetable stock, hot
1 tablespoon cornflour

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Brown off the meat and stir in the sage. Crumble in onion cube and add hot stock. Pop lid on and lower the heat, allowing to simmer for 30 minutes. (This is a good time to roll out the pastry).
Remove the lid, stir and add cornflour. Turn the heat up and stir from time to time until a gravy has formed from the liquid. Then it's ready!

Gluten & Dairy Free Gingerbread-style Biscotti

Last week I went to visit my friend D. She's one of those hospitality goddess type friends who make sure they cater for everyone ;) Anyway, the visit was last minute so I told her I'd bring my own allergy-friendly stuff. The time before her husband had grabbed some stuff which was delicious so I went to grab the same things. And my jaw absolutely dropped at the price. I was embarrassed that friends had gone *that* much out of their way to make my life easier. So I swore I would find a way to make my own biscotti for next time we had coffee together. So here it is!

Gingerbread-style Gluten & Dairy Free Biscotti.
Ingredients:
2 cups gluten free flour.
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
110 mLs water
1 tablespoon treacle
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Put flour, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Stir together.
In a small saucepan, gently heat water and treacle, until dissolved. Add bicarb soda and stir briskly. Tip into dry ingredients and stir well. Lightly beat egg and add vanilla essence. Stir into mixture with a rubber spatula until the dough is smooth and shiny and the consistency is not unlike Play-Doh! On a baking tray lined with baking paper, form a flat rectangular shape. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut into slices about 2 cms thick. Lay slices on their side (so the cut surfaces are either up or face down) and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, turn over and cook the other side for 10 minutes.
Remove again and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. The biscotti may still be soft while warm, but will harden by the time they've cooled down.
Enjoy with a good strong cup of coffee!
:)

The big 2 being "friends".

Sesame Cornbread - Gluten and Dairy free.

Sesame Cornbread.

Ingredients:
250 mLs Soy Milk
1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2/3 cup polenta
1/2 cup GF flour
1/3 cup sesame seeds
2/3 cup cheese *optional*(I used Delre Mini Chol soy cheese)
1 egg
25 mLs oil

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 C.
Add vinegar to milk. This will make the milk curdle, and is essentially mock buttermilk. Leave aside while you measure out remaining ingredients (30 minutes is best so maybe have a cuppa as well).
Place polenta, sesame seeds and flour into a large clean mixing bowl.
When time is up briskly stir bicarb soda into milk/vinegar mix, then pour into dry ingredients and combine.
Lightly beat egg, add oil and pour into mixing bowl and stir through.
The batter should be quite runny. If you're adding cheese, gently stir it through now.
Pour batter into greased loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes.
For best results, allow to cool in tin. Serve with a smear of dairy free spread (and we're having it on the side of our Broccoli Soup!).

Had to share these pictures of my cute two littlies as well.

Bridie and Edan enjoying some lovely watermelon!

GFCF Mini Pizzas and some fun in the sun!

These were easy and another thing I could pop in the freezer for the looming school holidays.
Pizza dough:
2 cups SR GF Flour
1 cup water
3 tablespoons oil
0.5 teaspoons salt

Mix together to create a sticky dough. Pre-heat oven to 190 C.
Place on an oiled tray with a tablespoon and pat down to form small circles.
I topped them with tomato sauce (I forgot the tomato paste!!!), small circles of cacciatore, mini-chol soy cheese, oregano and slices of button mushrooms. Bake for 25 minutes and serve (or allow to cool and freeze).

We are loving this Spring sunshine. Finally I can coax the kids outside to explore the garden and enjoy the sun. After all the Spring cleaning it's a good thing too as they're not messing up the house! :)

The Easiest GF Sausage Rolls in the Universe!

Ha! Told you I was lazy!

But in all honesty, I don't completely trust mince some days. Whereas I do know the gluten free sausages we buy are hunky dory. I must write about the brand next time we buy them (I threw the packaging away) but they are marketed as "Kids Sausages" in IGA Supermarkets, are made in Geelong and are Gluten Free.

So anyway, this is how I made the super simple sausage rolls.
I had to pre-heat the oven to 210 C for the pastry. So I figured while it was pre-heating it's little self I'd save energy and use it to do some work while it was getting itself all ready. So I popped the sausages in a casserole dish. Poured boiling water over them (enough to just cover), placed the lid on and sat them in the oven while I made the pastry. My reasoning behind this was after tummy bugs and with all the food issues we've had, the least I could do was make sure the meat was absolutely, positively cooked. Because it's hard to tell once something is encased in pastry.

While they were baking, I again made "The Maggie Beer GF Pastry" replacing butter with Nuttelex and chilled it for 30 minutes before assembly-time.

So basically, 45 minutes after popping the sausages in the oven, I took them out and drained them. I then rolled out the pastry between sheets of baking paper, cut it into sausage width lengths and rolled the sausages up. Placed them on a lightly oiled tray, brushed them with water and sprinkled sesame seeds on top.

I made two lots. One for our tummies and one for the freezer. With school holidays only a few weeks away, I want the freezer stocked with snacks!

Aussie Shepherd's Pie.

After absolutely falling in love with Maggie Beer's GF Pastry recipe I decided to use it again. Plus the kids love pie!

I think my pie dish might be too big though. I only just had enough for the top last time. So I thought I'd make a few little pies to freeze and top them all with mashed potato so I concocted an Aussie Shepherd's Pie.

Chock full of protein and vegetables and with garlic, it should help fight off our tummy bugs and colds.



For the filling I used:
500 grams Kangaroo mince
1 large onion, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 large carrot, diced
1 cup cabbage, chopped finely
8 brown swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
1 tablespoon cornflour

Method:
In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in a drizzling of oil. Add mince and stir through until brown. Add mushrooms, stir through. When mushrooms start to brown add the carrots and cabbage, the stock powder and water. Turn down heat and cover. Allow to cook for 15 minutes.
I use this time to grab the pastry from the fridge and prepare the pie dishes.
After 15 minutes, use a slotted spoon to lift the ingredients from your saucepan and place into prepared pie dishes. After all solid ingredients have been removed, add the cornflour and gently heat and briskly stir until you have a thick sauce. Pour over pie filling.
Top with mashed potato and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes (for a large pie) or 20 minutes for individual pies.

Tip! I added a Massel easy Garlic tablet to the mashed potato as it dissolves right in without being lumpy.

Chicken Pot Pie - Gluten Free Goodness ;)

After paying exorbitant amounts for some gluten-free baked goods yesterday, I decided the time had come to get my bottom into gear and try a few recipes for pastry.

I'd tried packet mixes, but found them crumbly and dry. So I put Google to work and discovered the website for "The Cook and The Chef" on ABC TV. In 2006 (Series 1) they did a show dedicated to "Catering for different diets". Maggie Beer has concocted the MOST AWESOME GF PASTRY RECIPE EVER!

It was easy and it worked beautifully. The only thing I changed was I used Nuttelex instead of butter and it was fine.

So now that I was armed with a wonderful pastry, I gazed into the refrigerator for inspiration for fillings. I had some lovely free range chicken breasts and mushrooms which sounded great to me. So here's my recipe for Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie.
500 grams chicken breast
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tablespoon canola oil
8 mushrooms
2 teaspoons Vegeta vegetable stock
1/2 cup of diced vegetables ( we used peas and corn kernels...so not diced per se)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornflour (make sure it is made from corn, not wheat!!!)

In a saucepan, heat the oil and add crushed the garlic. Add the chicken and cook until browned. Slice up mushrooms and stir in.
Stir vegetable stock into water and pour into pan. Throw in vegetables. Cook covered for about 5 minutes. When vegetables are tender remove from stove. With a slotted spoon remove ingredients and place into pie dish (which already has the pastry on it, ok?). Return the liquid to the stove and add cornflour. Mix quickly until blended and allow to thicken to gravy consistency. Pour over chicken and vegetables.
Pop pastry on top and seal edges. Bake in oven for 25 minutes at 210 decrees Celsius.

How berry nice!

We've had a success on the gluten-free baking front!
After buying Orgran Self Raising Flour today (I usually buy White Wings, but Orgran was cheaper at Safeway this week), I decided to Google their website to see what recipes they had. I came across this muffin recipe
and decided to adapt it for what I wanted to make.















My version is as follows:

• 3 Cups Orgran SR Flour
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup of soy milk
• 90 mls sunflower oil
• 1 cup frozen wild berries

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 210 degrees celsius.
Allow to cool on tray for 10 minutes, then they're ready to eat or allow to cook completely and store in an airtight container.

Something to fill a corner of the old lunch box at any rate! :)