The Better Batter.

We're pretty lucky to have a Gluten Free Fish & Chip shop here in Ballarat. It means that from time to time I can have night off from cooking!
Another store I have been pleased to find is Abunda - a dedicated gluten free mini supermarket.

So last week I went into Abunda and got some rice noodles. I'd been checking the supermarkets and couldn't find any, and I had been hankering for a stir fry instead of fried rice!

Stir fry is simple here - snow peas, capsicum, water chestnuts, yellow beans - tossed in the wok with sea salt and ginger and rice noodles.

But we will be moving one day, and there mightn't be a fish and chip shop that does gluten free so I thought I'd use tonight to try out a gluten free batter recipe as well. I've never made batter before really, other than the once time I cooked oysters in tempura batter from my Jamie Oliver cookbook. I think I even used packet mix tempura batter for the last chicken nuggets I fried *blush*. This batter is simple and light, and I can see it working for all sorts of things, chicken, fish, vegies, the lot!

Gluten Free Batter for Deep Frying
1/4 cup cornflour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
3/4 cold water

Whisk together until the batter streams in a ribbon off the fork or whisk. It needs to be runny, but not too runny. Coat fry-able item in batter and toss into hot oil. Remove when golden brown.

Ice Ice Baby - a Summer Treat

And with a new season on it's way in, our gluten-free, dairy-free journey has taken another step. Different foods on the menu, mean more items to be closely examined in the supermarket.
So Good soy ice cream is safe if it's Vanilla. But not if it's chocolate. Nestle Icy Poles are safe (and now marked gluten free on the package) but I've never really forgiven them for that bad thing they did.

So before investing in an ice cream maker and doing it all myself, I thought I'd give sorbet a go by hand first.
When I spotted Kiwi Fruit on special, it was all the inspiration I needed. But having never made sorbet before, I had a lot of research and reading to do.

My first port of call was my friend Skipper. She had loads of wonderful recipes on hand but hers contained egg. As Baby E hasn't had egg yet, I kept looking. And I stumbled across a familiar place - the blog of Pig in the Kitchen, another Mum with an allergy child! And even better, a starting point on how to make sorbet!
I particularly liked how her recipes were more rustic (so many recipes demand you force the fruit through a strainer).

Kiwi Fruit Sorbet.
250 grams white sugar
600 mls water
9 kiwi fruit, [peeled and roughly chopped
0.25 teaspoons xantham gum
1 teaspoon citric acid

In a medium saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water. When dissolved, throw in the fruit and remove from the heat. Allow to cool. Pour into a blender. Add citric acid and xantham gum. Blitz until smooth. Pour into a metal tin (I used a cake tin) and freeze for an hour. Remove from freezer and beat with a handmixer. Put into freezer containers and re-freeze.

So it's almost Christmas.

And I was trying to be all bah humbug about it. But when you have friends who are Christmas-obsessed it's hard to just pass it all by.

Today, I was innocently standing in my kitchen making the kids some corn tortillas from scratch for lunch. As I rolled out the dough and daydreamed, I somehow ended up grabbing a cookie cutter. I must say, it was easier than having very wonky circles because I cannot for the life of me roll balls of dough into circles. When I'm rich, I'll buy a tortilla press!

I am pretty happy with how these turned out. Even happier to be able to say they are free of gluten, dairy, egg, yeast and fructose and are still tasty!

Corn Tortilla Recipe.
1.5 cups cornflour
0.5 cups cornmeal/polenta
1.5 cups hot water
1 teaspoon Nuttelex dairy free spread

In a bowl, mix the cornmeal and cornflour. In a jug stir the margarine into the hot water until melted.

Pour liquid into the corn mix and stir with a metal spoon. Allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, knead until smooth. Roll dough out between two pieces of plastic (I used shopping bags!). Carefully peel back plastic and gently fry in a dry pan for a minute on each side. You can use cookie cutters to make shapes, or for larger tortillas, use balls of dough about the size of a peach rolled out.
If you make smaller ones with the cookie cutters, you could probably cook them a little longer to dry them out and use them as chips for dipping.

I did sew!

Yes!!! I actually finished three Christmas outfits. And would you believe I had cut them out LAST Christmas. But being pregnant and having hyperemesis gravidum was not conducive to a lot of sewing. A lot of sleeping perhaps, but nope, no sewing.

So my store is no longer as empty as it was!

I adore this dress....

Three Jars Full!

Well there will be three, but currently there is only two.

I've put my food processor to hard work this morning and have already made Pesto (sans cheese) and Macadamia Nut Butter. To complete the trifecta, I will be adding Hommus once the chick peas are all soaked.

Please excuse the shocking photo. It's from my phone as I can't find my rechargeable camera batteries.

Dairy Free Pesto is super easy. I can honestly say I think I have only ever bought pre-made Pesto once.
All you need is Fresh Basil, a little garlic, some pine nuts and olive oil (which isn't even really necessary in my opinion). I pick 3 handfulls of basil leaves. Process in food processor. Add 1 handfull of pine nuts, lightly toasted (I pop mine under the griller for a very short time). Process a little longer. Add one clove of garlic, crushed. Process until you're happy with it. Add oil if you wish. But remember if you use pesto for lots of different things, it doesn't always need to be "oily" so you can add the oil later if you need to.

Even simpler again, Macadamia Nut Butter. Take one 250 gram bag of natural macadamia nuts (not roasted not salted, just plain naked). Add a handfull at a time to food processor until the consistency you prefer. If they get dry, add a little oil (I used rice bran oil). And there you have an awesome spread for your toast!

And yes. In realise it looks like someone has been stuck into the pesto. I was hungry and I can recommend it with cheese in an omelette!

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!

GF Banana Pikelets for Baby!

I had to share this recipe. The little kids had it for lunch. It lasted about 4.7 seconds. I even had a bite (which is a big thing for me because I loathe banana) and they were good! Really good! Very quick and easy too.

GF Banana Pikelets
One large banana, mashed
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup GF flour

Stir banana and orange juice together. Beat in flour (I used a handmixer and it took no time at all).
Drop spoonfulls into a hot frying pan. Fry until brown on each side. Allow to cool and serve.

This made 7 wee little pikelets. See photo below so you get what I mean.

Mother Hubbard's Fried Rice.

School holidays do my head in. I'm normally pretty organised and have my routine down pat. Monday is shopping day. But last Monday I drove to Melbourne so Torin could stay with his Nana for the week. Which meant no time for shopping. Then when I did shop, I bought less because Torin wasn't here. It's amazing how much a break in the mundane routine can work against you though.

This afternoon, I was wondering what to cook for dinner. I knew I had some gluten free sausages but they were frozen! So a meat free dish was on the menu. A quick browse through the fridge and pantry (and having a read of Dixiebelle's blog) made me decide on Fried Rice.
Mind you, Dixiebelle's is a little more gourmet. But Edan is finally starting to enjoy solids so this is very basic.

Fried Rice
1 Ear of corn, kernels shaved off
1 bunch pak choy, finely sliced
1 large carrot, julienned
1/2 cup frozen peas (preferably local but mine were from New Zealand)
1 cup of rice, cooked
2 eggs (whisked lightly)
soy sauce
oil for cooking

I heat the wok up and then make a mini omelette from the eggs. I then remove that and put aside for garnish.
Than add the vegetables and stir fry. Add the rice and stir everything through. Cover and lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes. Uncover, drizzle soy sauce over and stir through. Serve, topped with strips of cooked egg.

Sweet Potato and Tuna Patties.

Wow!
These were so unbelievably good. Honestly, I'm normally pretty *meh* about food. But these patties hit the spot and were so easy!

Sweet Potato and Tuna Patties.
1 large sweet potato (peeled, cooked, mashed and cooled)
1 bunch Pak Choy (sliced finely)
1 425 gram tin of tuna in olive oil
1 egg
Cornflour to coat.

Mix sweet potato, tuna, pak choy and egg until combined. Scoop up fistfulls (the mixture is quite "wet"). Coat in cornflour and gently fry until browned on each side. These could probaly also be done in the oven if you preferred.

The kids loved them! Always a plus ;)

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".

Broccoli Soup in the Slow Cooker

I really worry about us all missing out on calcium being dairy-free. You might have noticed I sneak sesame seeds into a lot of stuff. I went to the dentist on Monday and he said my teeth were certainly very healthy but my gums are receding and I may have bone loss. Yet another side effect of coeliacs disease. So I'm off to get x-rays to check on my poor old bones, and in the meantime am on antibiotics to clear up any infections in my gums.

Back to calcium! For anyone on a dairy free diet, there ARE ways to still get enough calcium.
Leafy greens are good (bok choy is best!), blackstrap molasses and sesame seeds are high in calcium. And soy beans and soy milk contain lots too! I found a very helpful list, which shows you how much calcium you're getting from alternative sources here.
Broccoli Soup.
4 "trees" of broccoli
2 large potatoes
2 litres vegetable stock
2 teaspoons of cumin
2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Cook in slow cooker for 6 hours (low) or 3 hours (high).
Puree in blender. Then serve or freeze.

GF Crumpets, Take Two! (Success)

I never would have thought I would be so utterly, insanely impressed with being able to make my own crumpets.
But there they are>>>>

Before I give you the recipe, I'll give you a few tips to make life in crumpet-making town a little easier.

• Make sure your batter is runny. If in doubt, add water.
  
• Do NOT mix the batter between rounds. The air bubbles need to stay there.
• Be prepared to spend a little time making these. Keep the heat LOW and go slow.
• Don't expect them to look like shop-bought ones, because they're not.
  
• Keep It Simple!

The Amazing GF Crumpet Recipe:
300 Grams gluten free all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 sachet dry yeast (7 grams)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
400 mLs tepid water

Sift flour and baking powder into a clean dry mixing bowl.
Mix yeast and sugar into water and pour into flour. Mix until you have a nice smooth batter (I used a hand-mixer on low speed). Allow to sit while you prepare your egg rings and frying pan.
Once the batter has air bubbles that can be seen it is ready to cook. Pour into egg rings until 3/4 full and cook over low heat until bubbles form on the surface. Cover and cook until top is no longer runny.
Makes 12.

When cool, pop in toaster and serve with drizzlings of honey. :)

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!

Nested Eggs and Red Soldiers!!!

Oops! I had visitors today and forgot all about dinner until it was nearly dinnertime! So a quick assessment of the pantry and fridge and I came up with this kid-friendly dish. Eggs poached in mashed potato nests served with a side of sweet potato chips for dipping!

Red Soldiers (sweet potato chips)
Preheat oven to 220 C.
Peel one large sweet potato. Cut into think chips/wedges. Lightly coat in olive oil, season with sea salt and ground pepper. Bake for 45 minutes (but shake the pan every 15 to make sure they cook evenly).

Nested Eggs (eggs poached in mashed potato)
Make up mashed potato as you normally would. One small potato to one egg is the best ratio.
Spoon mashed potato into baking receptacle. I used ramekins which each fit 2 potatoes worth of mash and two eggs. Muffin trays might work? Or one big baking dish would also be fine.
With a spoon, poke little wells in the mash. Crack eggs into a cup and pour into the holes. Bake for 20 minutes so the yolk is still runny.

Serve with soldiers and dip into runny egg!

I found this dish good because once everything is in the oven, you have time to set the table and so on. Pretty low maintenance dish.
:)

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.

Dahl - Bowls of lentil-y goodness. Slow Cooker style.

I always find weekdays hectic. Being a single parent often means juggling a crying baby (or worse - breastfeeding while cooking!), listening to the schoolboy read and watching the toddler being a princess/dancer. On a good day, I get dinner made while the two little ones are sleeping. If I sense a bad day, I pull the slow-cooker out of the cupboard and work with what I have.

Today my head was possibly going to explode. The school boy had an upset tummy so he was home all day. Which meant the three kids were all out of routine. Recipe for disaster in this house.

So to balance our universe I went for my recipe for nirvana - slow cooker dahl.

I actually use a recipe a friend of mine told me about with a few adjustments. But her method needs more TLC than I have to spare. So after throwing it in the slow-cooker a few times with success, that's just how I do it now.

Ingredients:
500g red lentils, washed and picked over
10 curry leaves
2 teaspoons ground sea salt
1 tsp turmeric
6 cups hot water
1 large onion, diced
1 large (810 gram) tin crushed tomatoes
2 carrots, diced
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbs lime juice

Method:
Whack everything except garam masala and lime juice in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. When ready to serve, stir in lime juice and garam masala.

Tonight we just had this with crusty slabs of toasted GF bread. We usually have this with rice and pappadams. Enjoy :)

GF Kangaroo Meatloaf with Polenta Chips.

After still being unable to cook Tempeh without making it taste nasty, I went back to basics for tonight's dinner. This particular version of my meatloaf is very different to my standard version. I wanted it healthy - high protein and low in fat. And really...who's ever seen a fat kangaroo?

Ingredients:
500 grams Kangaroo mince
300 gram block of tempeh
1 egg
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup polenta (the crumb-y kind)
1/4 cup sesame seeds *optional*
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

Glaze:
1/4 cup cushed tomatoes
1/4 cup brown sugar

Chips:
Block of solid polenta cut into wedges.

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Combine meatloaf ingredients in a large bowl. Squish until mixed thouroughly.
Brush oil around a cake tin (I use the type with the hole in the centre).
Press meat mixture into cake tin.
Brush oil across a baking tray. Place cake tin upside down on oven tray.
Pop into oven.

After 15 minutes, remove from oven. Gently lift off cake tin (the loaf should now hold it's shape). Stir glaze ingredients together and pour over. Place back in oven and bake for a further 45 minutes.

Brush oil over griddle-pan. Heat pan and gently place solid polenta wedges on to heat and crisp.

Serve with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves.

My current mission is to reduce the amount of meat we eat and increase vegetable intake. After shopping at a gorgeous Fruit and Veg place and finding a whopping great cabbage was only $2.79 I studied the cook books I have to see what could be made gluten free.

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves.
500 grams minced veal
one cup cooked white rice
one egg
one medium onion, chopped finely
8 large cabbage leaves
2 cups stock
2 cups crushed tomatoes
Preheat oven to 180C.
Mix veal, egg, onion and rice as if you were making hamburgers. Add salt and pepper if you wish. Blanche the cabbage leaves for two minutes to soften.
When soft, put one eighth of the mixture into the centre of the leaf and wrap into a tight parcel. Place the parcels in a baking dish. Pour in two cups of stock. Over the top pour two cups crushed tomatoes. Pop into oven and cook for an hour.
Voila! Cool little package of healthiness with no dairy nor gluten in sight!

Nettles - Another Cordial Experiment.

With the drought, the taste of the water here is getting worse and worse. I know I need to drink water, but even after boiling it and cooling it, it tastes kind of sulphuric. Blerk!

So rather than buying bottled water or buying cordials to disguise the taste of the water, I've resorted to using what I have on hand to make cordials. I went through a weird phase of trying to use herbs to heal myself of what later turned out to be coeliacs symptoms. So at last the shelf full of dried herbs in my pantry can be put to use, because frankly as teas they were scary.

So today I thought I'd try and concoct some Nettle Leaf Cordial.
I put the following into a medium saucepan:
2 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1 cup dried nettle leaves

I brought to the boil. I simmered for 15 minutes. Strained through muslin into a bowl. Stirred in one tea spoon of tartaric acid.
Allow to cool. Bottled and refrigerated! Tasted quite refreshing in a very green kind of way.

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.