brazen's gluten free thermomix adventures!

Potato and Spinach Soup (GF)

2012-01-23T13:19:00.003+11:00

based on this original recipe, it's evolved to this now....

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 bunches English spinach or a large bag of baby spinach
4 large potatoes
1.5L boiling water
3 vegetable stock cubes or stock concentrate (GF)

Peel onion and dice. Peel the garlic and chop or crush.

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium low heat. Add onion and fry, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, stir and cook for another 3 minutes.

Peel potatoes if desired (i don't bother, geoff does) and wash. Cut into 2cm pieces. Add to the saucepan with the water and stock cubes.

Wash the spinach or silverbeet very well. Drain well in strainer and remove any thick stalks. Roughly chop into large pieces and add.

Simmer for 30 minutes.

When the potatoes are soft, use a stick blender (blender or food processor) to process the soup until smooth. Don’t overblend or the potatoes will become like glue!

Serve with cracked pepper and crusty bread.

Blog Stat update

2012-01-22T12:56:00.000+11:00

ohhh, 2 years since I last looked at my blog stats! I'd imagine they've changed a bit as I'm now getting significant hits on my blog (and youtube and other blogs) giving me a nice income from adsense - yes, click on those ads lol

here is the post from 2010 and 2009. As i've skipped 2 years I might do a report for each of the last 2 years so I can see how it's changed.

~~~~~~~~~
from jan1 2011 to jan 21 2012 i had 25,571 visitors with 52524 page views

where do people go first up 2011-2012?
14.45% go to the page to find more Thermomix recipes
11.16% of all my hits come straight to the front page

4.87% go to my thermomix review
3.77% go to my very out of date list of MY thermomix recipes
and 2.5% go to the cyndi o'meara gluten free bread page (which is just a review of it, i'm sure they're disappointed when they get there)

the next 5 are my thermomix carrot cake recipe, my thermomix tag (so ALL my thermomix recipes), the pumpkin risotto for the thermomix recipe (the original EDC terrible one!), my low fat butter chicken recipe and one called "my recipes" i have no idea what that is lol

so how do people get here 2011 - 2012?
* 43.18% Search Traffic 11,042 Visits

* 44.57% Referral Traffic 11,397 Visits

* 11.40% Direct Traffic 2,915 Visits

the top traffic sources (2011-2012):
1. google / organic 10,183
2. (direct) / (none) 2,915
3. forumthermomix.com / referral 2,518
4. thermomixmagic.blogspot.com / referral 1,817
5. superkitchenmachine.com / referral 1,387
6. essentialbaby.com.au / referral 1,038
7. thermorecipes.blogspot.com / referral 908
8. bing / organic 436
9. facebook.com / referral 431
10. blogger.com / referral 324

top keywords people use to get here 2011-2012:
1. thermomix review 355
2. brazen butter chicken thermomix 270
3. thermomix reviews 201
4. costco canberra 158
5. low fat thermomix recipes 134
6. thermomix carrot cake 129
7. thermomix pumpkin risotto 111
8. carrot cake thermomix 104
9. pumpkin risotto thermomix 100
10. gluten free canberra 98

~~~~~~~~~
from jan1 2010 to jan 1 2011 i had 16015 visitors with 55524 page views

where do people go first up 2010 - 2011?
12.42% go to the page to find more Thermomix recipes
11.57% of all my hits come straight to the front page
9.27% go to my thermomix review
2.31% go to my very out of date list of MY thermomix recipes
and 1.11% go to my carrot cake recipe

the next 5 are the cyndi o'mear GF bread review, the pumpkin risotto for the thermomix recipe (the original EDC terrible one!), my gluten free tag and then my low fat butter chicken recip

so how do people get here 2010 - 2011?
* 32.45% Search Traffic 7,679 Visits
* 59.41% Referral Traffic 14,061 Visits
* 7.99% Direct Traffic 1,890 Visits

the top traffic sources (2010-2011):
1. google / organic 7,211
2. superkitchenmachine.com / referral 3,081
3. forumthermomix.com / referral 2,247
4. essentialbaby.com.au / referral 2,162
5. (direct) / (none) 1,890
6. thermomixmagic.blogspot.com / referral 1,578
7. thermorecipes.blogspot.com / referral 1,353
8. blogger.com / referral 533
9. yahoo / organic 241
10. google.com.au / referral 225

top keywords people use to get here 2011-2012:
1. thermomix review 639
2. thermomix reviews 328
3. honey roast parsnip soup 96
4. carrot cake thermomix 87
5. thermomix carrot cake 70
6. honey roasted parsnip soup 59
7. foolproof scones 56
8. brazen butter chicken thermomix 50
9. neapolitan cake 47
10. thermomix recipes 47

Amanda's Brownies (GF, TMX)

2012-01-22T12:15:00.000+11:00

Emelia and I just made these brownies for vacation care next week. Based on Amanda's Fudgey Brownies
(my recipe is doubled, converted to GF and less sugar though i suspect i could lower the sugar further next time...)

280g gluten free plain flour (or 90g brown rice flour, 90g maize / corn flour and 100g tapioca starch)
10g salt
300g brown sugar
300g castor sugar (or low GI raw sugar)
95g cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
420g rice bran oil
8 eggs
110g cold water

1. Heat oven to 140’c. Grease and line 1-2 slice pans (depending on size).

2. Place everything in thermomix and mix on speed 7 for about 20 seconds.

3. Scrape down sides and mix for another 20 seconds speed 7

4. Pour mix into pans and bake for around 30 minutes

5. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

Thank god for muffin break!

2012-01-08T11:47:00.001+11:00

Who would have thought it would be so hard to find gluten free food in campbelltown?

looking for Thermomix recipes???

2012-01-05T21:30:00.000+11:00

I'm too scared to count how many links I have on this list now, i'm sure it must be getting close to 100. It seems hard to believe - it seems like just yesterday that I would google and come up with my blog, Thermomix-er's blog and well, that was nearly it! I'm sure i'm not even close to a full list of what is out there either...

so, if you are here looking for thermomix recipes, and you can't find what you want on my blog, please check my list of blogs, sites and forums! http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/2009/07/where-can-i-find-more-thermomix-recipes.html

Disappointingly average...

2012-01-02T19:21:00.001+11:00

Tonight a friend offered to babysit the kids while we went out - our first choice was closed so we ended up in Dickson.
In the mood for Thai but with our planned restaurant shut we ended up at Thai Garden in Dickson (behind Zeffirelli). We had rice paper rolls which were quite nice, full of fresh herbs. For mains we had chicken with five herbs and beef rendang. the beef was very tender but lacking flavour, and i had the sneaking feeling it wasn't a made from scratch dish.
the chicken with five herbs was nice enough but not at all what i'd expected - i thought it would be heaps of fresh asian herbs tossed throughout the dish. instead there was a bare minimum of herbs cooked into the sauce, with a vague flavour of the dill the only recognisable herb.

the restaurant certainly seemed busy enough, particularly for takeaways, but it was a bit of a let down, so we won't bother again.

Smurf gut pancakes lol

2011-12-30T09:53:00.001+11:00

IMAG0267, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

IMAG0267

Gluten free Christmas Menu

2011-12-29T07:37:00.000+11:00

so what did you have to eat for christmas this year? we had brunch with my in-laws, and dinner with my family, and did the usual with mine where we all bring a few dishes to share. here's what we had:

Brunch
GF waffles
croissants (not GF sorry! from costco & very yum) & jam
bacon
eggs
banana cake
fruit - grapes and strawberries
coffee, juice and bubbly
and a chorizo tortilla (recipe from ryan's new jr masterchef book)

geoff was also supposed to make huevos rancheros but somehow got out of it!!!

Dinner
BBQ'd salmon
lamb cutlets (meant to do this but ran out of time)
prawns
GF sausages
my sister did bread (GF & gluten rolls) with a mix of olives, bacon, heaps of garlic and some other ingredients in it and baked - yum!)
potato bean and bacon salad made by mum
asian noodle salad
leftover greek salad
hmmm i can't remember what else! oh a roasted beetroot and baby spinach salad (i ran out of pumpkin)
also chorizo stuffed mini peppers
i didn't get time to make a green pea salad which was going to be steamed snow peas, sugar snap peas and frozen peas with a fresh mint dressing

then my sister made a pavlova and a chocolate roll for dessert for us all, both with fruit.

yum!

for our annual christmas eve party i had done a roast pumpkin and beetroot with baby spinach salad, the greek salad and asian noodle salad, plus had done a GF version of the honey soy chicken wings, and some meat patties (burgers / rissoles) made with onion, soy sauce, egg and fresh oregano from our garden.

we ate well :D

Banana Cake (GF, TMX)

2011-12-27T16:11:00.000+11:00

I've been searching for the perfect Banana Bread recipe for years, with no luck. This is not banana bread (alas) but is the best banana cake recipe I've ever had!

Modified to gluten free from Trudy's recipe.

115g butter
190g Gluten free Self Raising Flour
150g brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon bi-carb soda
3-4 over-ripe bananas
2 eggs
50g milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Insert the butterfly whisk.
Cream the butter and sugar - whisk at speed 4 until creamy (approx 1 min), stopping once or twice to scrape down sides of TM with spatula.
Add eggs and chopped bananas, whisk till mixed (approx 10 secs). Scrape sides of TM
Add flour, milk, vanilla & bi carb, whisk at speed 3 until combined. Scrape down sides of TM
Spoon mixture into greased and lined tin (I use 20cm ring tin).
Bake approx 40 mins 180C or until skewer inserted in the centre of cake comes out clean.

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

2011-12-27T08:25:00.000+11:00

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

testing - i'm trying to find a program that will format my recipes better for printing etc - but it looks like this is not it - not if it won't actually publish the recipe on my blog.... i'll have to C&P it here!

Gluten Free Waffles

90 g	butter
230 g	milk
2/3 cup	water (forgot to weigh sorry!)
280 g	gluten free plain flour
2 teaspoons	baking powder
2	eggs
2 tablespoons	sugar

Place butter in thermomix. Melt - 40 seconds, 80', speed 2

Add all other ingredients. Mix - 20 seconds, speed 4 - scrape down half way through.

Cook following directions of your waffle maker

cookies for teachers... (GF, TMX)

2011-12-18T17:27:00.002+11:00

IMAG0178, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

yesterday i attempted making Lana's gingerbread for teacher gifts but unfotunately put in 2 tablespoons on bicarb instead of 2 teaspoons - bleh!!!! as i was out of ginger i decided to make the German cookies instead

they worked quite well. turns out the conversions to metric i had on the original recipe are WAY out! (1kg flour??!!! should be 450g lol) and i had to add a little xanthan gum for the gluten free version to work properly.

heat oven to 180/190'. line trays with baking paper

450g self raising or plain gluten free flour
225g brown sugar
1 tspn xanthan gum
1 tspn bicarb
1/2 tspn cream of tartar - ONLY if plain flour used

mix on speed 4-5 for around 10 seconds until well mixed and 'sifted'

add 225g soft butter

mix for around 10 seconds on speed 4 until breadcrumb like

add 50g treacle and 1 egg

mix for 2 minutes, closed lid, knead setting. you may need to give it a stir half way through.

using a well floured board and rolling pin, roll out to around 3mm and cut out shapes. place on trays and bake for 10-12 minutes.

with the original recipe you could join them with jam but i think these are a little fragile for that. you could definitely ice and decorate them like gingerbread though :)

Quirky Jo's Dairy free cream cheese

2011-12-03T09:27:00.002+11:00

IMAG0112, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

Finally got around to making this when i was out of avocado for my bagel - mmmm yum! Rora wasn't keen (it's also gluten free) but i really enjoyed it!!!

here's the recipe http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com/2009/06/dairy-free-raw-cream-cheese.html

Berry & white chocolate muffins (GF)

2011-10-25T16:49:00.000+11:00

the weekend before I made these as i had some yoghurt in the fridge which the kids had rejected for school recesses. the kids loved them though G & I found them wayyyyy too sweet. i think the sugar in the flavoured yoghurt AND the chocolate was probably too much with the 1/2 cup of added sugar.

they were very quick and easy to make though so i'll definitely make them again when we have yoghurt. i used frozen mixed berries though i think any kind would be good.

Flourless apple & lemon cake (GF, TMX)

2011-10-25T16:45:00.000+11:00

well, this is not a recipe (yet) as i didn't measure anything when i made it! next time i will write it up i promise!

however i just wanted to report in that I made this after a facebook friend gave me the link, and it was delish!!!!!

i reduced the amount of sugar to 2/3 cup (could possibly reduce to 1/2 cup) and used 2 apples.

basically i ground the chickpeas and added all the ingredients except the apples and mixed on speed 8 until smooth. then added the apples and chopped them on speed 5-6 until i couldn't hear any more big chunks in there.

YUM!

Gluten Free English Muffins (GF, TMX, DF)

2011-10-09T09:39:00.000+11:00

Original recipe here karina, gluten free goddess' english muffins, adapted for thermomix.

heat oven to its lowest setting.

place into the thermomix:
110g sorghum (jowar) flour
170g potato starch (or tapioca starch)

55g millet flour or 75g brown rice flour
2 tspns xanthan gum
good shake salt

mix on speed 4 for around 30 seconds or until well mixed. place in a bowl

place in the thermomix:
210g water
110g rice milk
pinch raw sugar

heat speed soft 50' until it reaches temp - mine took around 2 minutes. add in:

1 sachet / 2.5 tspns or between 5 & 10g yeast

mix on reverse speed soft for 10 seconds or until most lumps are gone. Leave to sit for 5-10 minutes until yeast is frothy and bubbly.

add into thermomix:

75g rice bran or other light flavoured oil
35g agave nectar
2 eggs

mix on reverse speed 3 for 10 seconds then switch to closed lid, knead setting. add dry ingredients through the lid until well mixed and together as a ball. (around 2 minutes)

using a spoon or wet hands place dough into egg rings and smooth tops. i would love to try putting fine polenta on the top and bottom but didn't have any!

Place into oven and leave for 15 minutes until the dough has doubled in size. Turn oven up to 180' and cook for around 20-25 minutes until cooked through. cool slighty and split in half to eat or toast.

i find ours don't look anything much like english muffins but they are delicious!!!! they are great to freeze too :)

Gluten Free Crepes (TMX, DF)

2011-08-14T10:10:00.003+10:00

Gluten Free Crepes

500g rice milk (or any kind of milk)
80g brown rice flour
60g tapioca starch
60g maize flour
40g rice bran oil
4 eggs
sprinkle salt

mix on speed 5 for 20 seconds (scrape down bowl if needed)
rest for 30 minutes

lightly spray frypan with cooking spray before cooking (you shouldn't need to spray it more than once or twice) and heat over medium heat. using a soup ladle pour batter into the middle of the pan then swirl the batter around to cover the bottom of the pan. cook for 3-4 minutes until nearly completely cooked through, then flip. cook for 1 more minute and serve.

makes 20

rora and geoff have theirs with maple syrup, emelia has hers with nutella. i like mine with lemon juice and sugar but had mine with an orange and around a cup of blueberries cooked for 2 mins in the microwave *drool*

3 weightwatcher pro points each, or 11 for 4 :)

Canberra Costco - Report, Gluten Free & WW points

2011-07-29T20:15:00.002+10:00

Costco opened in Canberra last Friday. we were pretty sure we'd join but weren't planning to check it out until the crowds died down. however curiosity overtook us and we headed out on Sunday morning, into the crowds! (we were smart enough to only take 1 child, and to become members online before going however ;))

we were impressed! it was a little hard to get around last sunday, but I went again today with mum and it was just pleasantly full. both times we had to wait only minutes to get through the check out anyway.

while they don't (yet?) have the gluten free bread i was told they would stock when i called them a week or two before opening, there are quite a few GF products available, including:

bhuja mix 800g $9.89
Strawberry freddos 72pk $11.49 (now hidden from me and the kids hehe)
corn thins 3 pk $9.49
honey ham 500g $5.99
organic quinoa 1.81kg $10.99
hans hot dogs 1kg $7.19
italian sausages 1.34kg $14.73 (we didn't notice they were italian, not sure about the regular ones!)
Yumis 3pk dips 1.19kg (3 x 385g) $12.79 (beetroot, green olive, sweet potato & cashew)
moira mac's chicken breast slices 400g $9.49

edited to add that there was also Carman's (?) gluten free muesli and also the muesli bars. and there is nothing GF at their cafe that i could see.

also my favourites - along with their weight watchers pro points (yes, i'm back on the wagon, and was very excited to see the fabulous points, especially for the beef!) - we don't usually buy ready made meals but we weren't sure if we might have had guests for dinner so thought we'd give these a try. so far we've had the beef rendang (delicious!) and thai green curry (nice, but a bit too sweet). we are using vegies to eke each 1kg tub to 2 meals which is plenty. so far they have been quite spicy so be warned! weight watchers points below are for a 200g serve (which is a big serve so you might like to reduce it if you need to cut back the points)

beef rendang 1kg $14.39 - 6 (yes SIX) WWPP per 200g serve
thai green chicken curry 1kg $14.39 - 10 WWPP per 200g serve
butter chicken 1kg $15.79 - 13WWPP per 200g serve

other non or not specifically gluten free things we bought include:

1kg frozen blueberries $6.29
3 pk sensodyne toothpaste $21.99 (usually around $9 per tube)
1.3kg fresh beef lasagne $8.99
2pk crumpets $2.49
1kg strawberries $10.99 (on sunday they had bananas for $10/kg but none left today :()
12pk tuna in springwater (the little ones around 120g) $12.99

i think we'll definitely get our money's worth for the membership, especially if we get out there every 2-4 weeks. maybe find someone to carpool with a 60km round trip to get there ;)

Review - Southern Cross Club - Jamison

2011-07-24T08:19:00.002+10:00

G's sister was down with her new partner (also gluten free) this weekend and wanted to catch up with us over dinner. So we had to find somewhere where we could get gluten free, something ryan would eat, and affordable.

first choice was Digress, which sounds amazing and comes highly recommended by a friend. however we just couldn't afford $25 for ryan's lasagne plus another dish for each of the rest of us. Plus they never called me back to confirm they were gluten free...

so then i had the idea of the Southern Cross Club. we'd only been to the Woden one (for my nephew's birthday a few years ago) and while it had been disappointing (and expensive as they'd made us sign up as members, though it expired a month or so ago) we figured it was worth trying the Jamison one , and we wouldn't have to sign up as no one else in my family had needed to at Woden, just us (error on the part of the girl on the front desk)

well, we were wrong. we DID have to sign up just to eat (this is ridiculous) but at least this time it was only $12 for the family, not the $40 the woden one was.

after a short wait in the queue i ordered - kids meals for ryan and emelia (ham and cheese pizza, and a junior beef burger). Rora and i had the malaysian chicken curry, and G had the chicken parmigiana.

by the time my SIL went to order she had a looooong queue to wait in, and it took about 15 mins to order - they only had one person taking orders. not to mention stupidly having the cash register right next to the door to the kitchen, so every order in or out had to go through the line waiting...

Ryan enjoyed his burger with chips and ate the lot. emelia got chips with her pizza and that was all she ate. she said she didn't like the pizza and i have to say it was DROWNED in cheese and looked awful (unless you like extra cheese!). Our curry chicken was disappointing. it was edible sure, and it was great quality chicken (either tenderloins or sliced up breast) but the whole meal was chicken! there must have been a good 400g of chicken on the plate if not more! the sauce was kind of bland and there were NO vegies in the meal :( it did come with boiled white rice. G said his parmigiana was ok, so so...

for dessert ryan and emelia got a free icecream to go with their kids meal (nowhere on the menu did it say this, or that they got a free soft drink), ryan had a frog in a pond, and rora tried the GF chocolate mousse, which she didn't like much. G & I ate the leftovers and it was DELISH but i think maybe a bit too much of a grown up taste for rora. G said there were around 4 different gluten free cake options which is great :)

there was an outdoor play area for the kids which was great (even though we hadn't thought to bring coats ;)) and an indoor play area where you had to pay to buy tokens to play etc, bit of a money sucker. especially when the kids won 59 tickets and went to ge ttheir prizes only to discover it was minimum 100 tickets for a prize which was one tiny bouncey ball, or one tattoo. bit disappointing.

the place was VERY busy though, so obviously popular. while it wasn't faublous it's certainly nice to have another option that can meet all our needs and keep the kids happy!!!

Adopt a gluten free blogger

2011-07-17T07:26:00.003+10:00

I've decided to join in this challenge after thinking about it for a year or so lol. i'm hoping it might help me get a bit more inspired. I've decided to adopt Petra from Adventurous Me, Gluten Free, who i found by googling!

here are the details for the challenge, from the Book of Yum

some recipes i might like to try:
deventer koek (dutch spice cake)
chicken patties
maple pudding
vegetable patties
roast vegie, chicken and haloumi salad
quinoa porridge

so where was i?

2011-07-15T21:27:00.002+10:00

:D

that's right, my depressing week in food.

well, a confession, it's school holidays here, i'm stressed at home and work and really couldn't care what we are eating (oops)

so, on Tuesday i rejected the beef curry and we had Crust pizza for dinner (again) unfortunatley i ordered a pizza geoff refused to eat (it had fruit on it - see, fussiness!) and i didn't like it - bleh :( first crust pizza i've really hated (was the 5 spice duck btw). usually adore crust pizzas...

wednesday night we had ummmmm i can't even remember! i know I had the leftover satay chicken (which i had also had for a work lunch one day) and the rest of the family had something else but no idea what lol

thursday night geoff cooked with emelia and we had spag bol - no complaints there! (me, i'm a bit over it but will eat it just for the sake of peace lol)

tonight i realised we still hadn't eat the damn beef curry. but it was so meh the other day i just couldn't get into it. decided pastry fixes everything! bought pastry, heated pie filling in thermomix while thickening and chopping at the same time. well, when tmx decided to cooperate and not beep error messages at me :( discovered gluten free pastry i knew i had in the freezer was sweet pastry not puff *sigh* made pie for ryan who hid it in the bin. added extra curry to ours which improved it somewhat. emelia made her own baked beans and some for rora who also had a frozen GF sausage roll. so minimal whinging tonight but no one all that excited...

so, so far this week has not been too bad whinge-wise - mainly because we have eaten pretty crappily!!! *sigh*

Welcome...

2011-07-12T16:28:00.000+10:00

to my life :D

i thought it might be interesting (perhaps depressing for me) to see what a week is life in my cooking life - juggling the needs of one child who is gluten free and becoming increasingly fussy, another who has the fussiness of asperger syndrome, the poor middle child who is luckily the least fussy, given she has to just go with the flow, and a husband who is reasonably fussy too (though i'm sure he doesn't think so, and admittedly he is less fussy than many dh's out there...) plus my own need to avoid dairy, which i am extremely pathetic at doing...

so i'll start on Sunday, because that is the day i spent preparing meals in my slow cooker :D geoff was at work from midday til the kids' bedtime so i had the joy of the afternoon on my own with the three fighting children.

in the slow cooker i made satay chicken, and in the other beef and mushroom curry. these were for nights during the week, and the freezer.

for that night i cooked a beef roast with smashed kipfler potatoes, roast parship and carrot (for me, i knew no one else would eat them ;)) and steamed carrots, green beans, broccoli and brussels sprouts, plus homemade gravy. I let each child pick 2 vegetables to have and they all had meat.

ryan rejected his straight off. he said he'd tasted everything but i saw no evidence of it. I was not in the mood for whinging and told him to make himself something else instead. he made rice cakes with peanut butter (which was a little exciting as he has always rejected rice cakes until now! think he must have tried them at after school care...)
Rora ate most of hers :)
emelia ate half of hers then realised that ryan was getting something different and decided she wanted to jump on the "i don't like it, i want something else" bandwagon. i made her finish her vegies (she LOVES brussels sprouts and is fond of broccoli ;)) and then she was allowed to make a sandwich.

on Monday night (after work) i got home and made side dishes to go with the satay chicken: asian noodle salad (sans noodles), stir fried veg with garlic and steamed rice. ryan doesn't eat chicken (except in chicken nuggets) so i heated him a beef pie to have with the vegies.

ryan ate the pie, left the vegies.
emelia ate the rice, rejected the rest
rora ate it all and asked for the leftover of the salad and rice for lunch today :D (it's her fave salad)
geoff and i were underwhelmed by the satay chicken recipe. so happy we still have enough for another 6 meals and no one else wants to help us eat it! (ha) next time i will make the indonesian chicken instead!

tonight (after work, but home early with a glutened rora, thanks to vacation care :() we'll have the beef curry but i have to say that the taste test i had of it didn't blow me away either :( stay tuned....

PS: i got the kids to write the menu plan and it was full of "nuggets & chips" "sausages and mashed potato" "spaghetti bolognese". luckily rora rubbed it all off so i can pretend i can't remember ;p

Zucchini Pasta - the quick version! (GF or not)

2011-06-21T19:20:00.000+10:00

made this tonight - Rora loved it! i was able to easily make a gluten and gluten free version to suit those who don't like GF pasta... it's not low fat but honestly you need the oil so i don't care lol

this is based on a recipe i got from a marcella hazan cookbook and learned when living in italy.

around 1/2 cup olive oil
4-5 baby or small zucchinis, ends cut off and sliced finely
500g pasta (gluten free or regular)
salt and pepper
around a cup of diced or grated mozzarella cheese of any quality (or pizza cheese like me haha! it was still GOOD!)
2 eggs, lightly beaten

heat water for pasta and add pasta to boiling water. cook accoridng to directions.

heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, over a medium heat. it needs to be hot enough to slightly bubble, but not smoking at all, or browning. add the zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally until the zucchini is see through.

add salt and pepper and stir. keep hot.

when pasta is done drain well then tip into the zucchini saucepan. add egg and cheese and stir well until mixed through and egg is mostly or totally cooked. serve.

YUM!

Tonight's Nachos (GF, TMX)

2011-06-13T21:14:00.000+10:00

quickly before i duck off to bed! (have been sick with pneumonia and bronchitis so this is a late night for me lately!)

the recipe below is enough for 2 batches of nachos (ie: 2 packs of corn chips). halve it if desired, or freeze half.

1 large onion, peeled and quartered
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
40g olive oil
2 tspns ground cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1/2 tspn paprika (i used smoked but any kind is good)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
250g lean beef mince
splosh of red wine (maybe 30g)
1 jar passata (mine was 690g)
2 tspns stock concentrate, or 1-2 stock cubes
1 tin beans, drained & rinsed (i used cannelini)
1 small green capsicum, diced finely

corn chips & grated cheese as desired
serve with sour cream and avocado / guacamole as desired

chop onion and garlic speed 4 for 5 secs. add oil and saute for 3 mins varoma speed soft

add spices and saute another 2 minutes varoma speed soft

add sweet potato and chop speed 4-5 until the size chunks you want (i over did mine a little). place mince in and cook for 5 minutes 100'c reverse speed 3. (you might need to stir during cooking time)

add the rest of the ingredients (except maybe the beans, mine cooked down, but kidney beans probably would have been fine) and cook for around 15-20 mins 100'c reverse speed 1. again you might need to stir once or twice (or maybe i just had too much in there lol)

when it's done grease 2 large baking dishes (lasagne dishes). spread corn chips over the dish then top with nacho mix. top with cheese if desired. bake at 180'c for around 15-20 mins until cheese is golden brown.

serve with sour cream & avocado / guacamole, a side salad would be great too.

you can also add olives into the mix, extra beans and capsicum instead of the mince. or try adding bacon and chicken instead.

'Creamy' Broccoli Soup (GF, DF, TMX)

2011-05-28T17:32:00.000+10:00

This soup is our new fave, I am addicted to it! not only is it SUPER simple, it's super delicious too!!!

4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 large heads of broccoli * roughly chopped
150g raw cashews or almonds
2 teaspoons stock concentrate (or 2 cubes)
water

place garlic in tmx bowl, chop 3-5 seconds or until it stops hitting the edges)
add broccoli, cashews, stock and enough water to nearly cover
cook for 20 minutes
puree on speed 8 (turn up gradually and carefully) for 25 seconds or up to 2 minutes

serve with toast or crusty bread

* if you don't have enough broccoli you can use cauliflower to make up the amount

Ryan's "white" pancakes (GF, DF, TMX)

2011-04-22T09:09:00.002+10:00

At the moment Ryan is quite obsessed by cooking - he cooks dinner (with minimal assistance) 3-4 nights a week and wants to cook cakes etc on the weekend! it's nice having a personal chef ;p

However, a lot of the recipes are not written clearly enough for him to understand and follow. So I'm gradually rewriting the recipes he likes to make them Ryan - friendly (hence kids-friendly and ASD-friendly too). I'll create a new tag for these easy to follow recipes. If i mess anything up please let me know!

this morning's breakfast is these pancakes, which i can't believe i haven't converted and posted yet lol we call them "white" pancakes because he doesn't like the "brown" ones aka buckwheat ;)

I like to add a delcious (red or golden) apple or two into the mix at the end and chop at speed 4, it's delicious!

“White” Pancakes
150g brown or white rice flour
30g tapioca starch
45g potato starch
15g sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
2 eggs
60g rice bran oil
500g rice milk (or buttermilk)
1 teaspoon vinegar (leave out if using buttermilk)

1. Place flour, starches, sugar, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum into the thermomix. Mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.

2. Break an egg into a cup, if it smells ok put it in the thermomix, then do the same with the second egg.

3. Add the oil, milk and vinegar. Mix on speed 4 for 10 seconds. Scrape the sides of the thermomix bowl down with a spatula and mix on speed 4 for another 5-10 seconds.

4. Heat large frypan over a medium heat. Spray with cooking spray.

5. Pour about ½ cup of batter into the frypan and cook until bubbles form on top. Then using an egg flip carefully turn the pancake over.

6. Cook for a few minutes until brown underneath and serve.

Photo by Ryan :)