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 Gluten & Dairy Free Lunchbox Trials.

This has not been fun. With Torin being at school five days a week this year (finally) I have concluded he would be bored witless with eating rice and/or corn thins every day. But he's fussy. And there are many lunches we have that need to be served at a certain temperature.

So my evil plotting mummy tactics have been in overdrive. Starting with the introduction of salad. Every night with dinner we have been having salad to get him away from the idea he has to have mashed potato, peas and carrots with every meal. I had been able to replace the vegetables easily enough if they were cooked. Although he STILL refuses to eat green beans??? So I have been buying gluten free sorbet and gluten free ice cream cones to provide incentive to eat dinner. Being that I'm picky about some things too, I've even provided different types of salad vegetables so we can determine what he deems edible. Spinach leaves and ice berg lettuce = FAIL. Cos Lettuce = WIN!

At home I make my own tortillas and finally have a press (which I bought from Monterey Mexican Food for anyone who is after one. They're a brilliant business to deal with). But after a while they go a little hard if not wrapped in plastic and popped in the fridge. And they're not big enough to roll.

So I bought some Old Time Bakery Tannour Bread which works beautifully for wraps. The ones I made for today's successful lunch had gluten free ham, Castlemaine Dips Hommus, shredded cos lettuce and grated carrot. So I finally have one more thing I can add to Torin's lunchbox. Yay!

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.

Potato and Lentil Patties with Satay Sauce.

I am SO utterly bored with food right now. And to top it off, tonight we were GOING to have meat. But alas! I forgot to take it out of the freezer so last minute eeeek! what shall we have for dinner!!!

So time to scan the pantry (yes, it's becoming a habit) and I spot potatoes and lentils. Then I *sigh* because how utterly boring can you get? Resigned to my fate of cooking the most boring dinner in the entire universe, I wander over to tidy up the bench from lunchtime and spot the peanut butter.

And then one of those weird little light bulbs appeared above my head. LOL!

Potato and Lentil Patties

4 medium potatoes, cooked, mashed and cooled
1 cup red lentils, cooked in two cups water
2 tablespoons No Egg beaten into 1/4 cup cold water
OR 1-2 eggs lightly beaten

Scrunch it all together. Form into patties and shallow fry. Easy!

Satay Sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 large tablespoon oil (I use rice bran oil)
1 generous teaspoon ground coriander]
1 clove garlic, crushed

Pop the lot in a small pan. Stir until mixed and runny.

I am grateful it is Friday. I plan to ignore the dishes and put my feet up!

When rice cakes are good.

Inspired by Vittoria's "Beyond Rice Cakes" post, I've been pondering the different ways one could make rice cakes interesting.Years ago, before any knowledge of coeliacs disease, I would go through stages of living on rice cakes in the name of weight loss. But really, after a while they do tend to taste like polystyrene. They are boring.

I have to say, rice thins have made a difference. Less blandness, easier to disguise with a nice topping/filling. It's also good to see corn thins or rice and corn. Makes it taste a little less "white".

Now Torin is more than happy to eat Rice cakes with peanut butter until the cows come home. But I am certainly not. I get bored with food VERY easily. So the following are things I top or fill my boring old rice cakes with to make life a little "sexier".

* Tofutti "Better than cream cheese" and smoked salmon. Open sandwich style. Sometimes with a little dill.
* Home made hommus, spread thickly
* Fresh mashed avocado
* Home made dip - pumpkin, basil and chickpea
*Apricot jam and chopped walnuts
* Ham, mustard and cheese (although the cheese we buy is soy cheese, but that's only for dairy free folk)
* Grilled eggplant and tahini
* Mashed, cooked kidney beans and salsa
* Mayonaisse/Salad cream and shredded chicken
* Sundried tomato and grated cheese
*Cream cheese (or replacement) and jam
* Tuna, mayo and chopped celery
* Cream cheese and sultanas
*Peanut butter and chopped celery

Now that's all we have had so far. And it's certainly not boring or dull. You just have to know that the rice cake is just replacing the bread. And the bread didn't "make" the sandwich. Then lunchtime gets all Zen. *wink*