Low GI Birthday cake

My Mum and Dad are staying and it was Dad's birthday, I wanted to make a cake that, firstly Dad would like and the rest of the family could enjoy. Turned out George wasn't going to be here so I just had to make it low GI for Tim to enjoy too.

I settled on a Tamarillo and Walnut cake, that I used Low GI sugar to make.
It was very yummy, we all enjoyed the cake with coffee.Especially Dad.
Tim however found that it tipped him up slightly.
I think I should have used a blend of flour that included wholemeal or replaced  it with all wholemeal flour.

I like the upside down effect of this cake as there is no need to ice it.We ate the cake warm from the oven, but if you let it cool you could dust with icing sugar.It would also make a nice dessert, served with cream.
Interestingly this recipe had no dairy in it either, so that is an added bonus for those who can't eat dairy.

A great cake for a cold winters day too.

Custard

I made Edmonds custard using oat milk and coconut sugar, instead of milk and sugar, and let me tell you I will not be doing that again.

It was okay...... but the coconut sugar made it quite caramel in colour and flavour. The oat milk didn't have the creaminess or richness of dairy milk either. Actually it was quite flat. The dairy eaters among us decided it would be good with cream in it.

Edmonds custard powder is a maize cornflour flavoured mix to make into custard for dessert.

I will however try one day to make an oat milk based custard again.

Curried Sausage Casserole

The casserole was a huge hit as it always is and the changes went unnoticed. Which is great and just shows you that it is easy with some recipes to change to the new wheat and sugar free diet. George was excited by this, as it is one of her favourite meals, particularly served with mashed potato, on a wet and windy winters night.

Nana's All Time Favourite Curried Sausage Casserole

For dinner tonight I'm making a curried sausage casserole that my Nana used to make. This got me thinking that everything I used to do has just changed.

For the new "Tim and George diet", I used a gluten free sausage; spelt flour, coconut sugar and olivani  in the curry sauce mix. I find it interesting how you have to stop and think about everything you do as you do it.Especially as this is a recipe my Nana taught my Mum, and Mum taught us kids to make as children.

Mum's coming for dinner tonight,so I'll be interested to see if she notices any difference.

Booby Trapped High GI Pie.

A funny thing happened last week. Tim and I  went to Christchurch for his sister's 50th birthday.
Tim was to help cook with his other sister, as his contribution to the evening helping her make curries for dinner. 
I got to have some time off with my sister and children for the day. A luxury for me as we live at opposite ends of NZ.

Tim and Jane went off grocery shopping for the evening meal and picked up a pie for lunch, normally okay for his low GI diet . After eating half the pie he wasn't feeling that flash so had a sit down on the couch, hoping it would pass, funny thing he woke 3 hrs later to find curries all made, and his sister very scared. Jane had gone to look in on Tim to find him sound asleep sitting upright on the couch, so still and pale she didn't know if he was dead or alive she kept cooking hoping he was just asleep. Fortunately he was just asleep, but when he has as episode of Dumping Syndrome caused from eating the wrong food, the sleep he has is very scary for those around him.. I often joke you could drive a truck past and it wouldn't wake him.Jane was relieved to have him awake and therefore alive.

Dumping Syndrome is a condition that happens when Tim eats high GI food, because he has no stomach, as a result of cancer surgery, food passes directly into his small intestine, which starts absorbing whatever he has eaten. The small intestine absorbs sugars and if there is too much present Tim becomes hyper glycemic, his brain sends all available blood to his gut to process the sugars, this in turn causes the rest of his body to shut down sending him into a very deep sleep that usually lasts around three hours.This is a really unpleasant painful experience for Tim and scary for others around him, and therefore to be avoided at all cost.

I think that it was probably the white flours or thickeners in the pie that would have tipped him up, as these are readily absorbed. Most pies are high in protein and fat and usually balance any high processed carbohydrates and sugars. Clearly all pies are not necessarily Tim friendly. Any future thoughts on having a pie for lunch will be treated like Russian roulette.

Dairy free pastry.

Last nights pastry, the verdict from the family was:


Taste: was good but not necessarily the best with chicken, it would be alot better with mince filling. Because it was quite savoury and earthy.
Texture: crisp and held together nicely.

Overall a good result, I may add suet or beef lard into it next time in order to enhance the flavour and texture a little.

Pie Burgers(Buggers) dairy, wheat and sugar free.

"Pie burgers" as they once were known became "Pie buggers". They are a fabulous rustic pie created by my Mother In Law, Kerry, and were a firm family favourite of my husband and his siblings as they were growing up.

I have changed the pastry as my families needs have changed recently to a dairy, wheat and sugar free diet. Kerry used to make a butter, cheese, milk based pastry, I decided to try an olive oil pastry, that I added fried garlic and parsley to. I have a suspicion that it maybe tough, it certainly looks as if it will be crumbly. I will let you know....., as it would be good to find a pastry, fit for this favourite, in order to carry on a much loved tradition.

Kerry usually made a mince (ground beef or lamb)based filling for her amazing pies,  I had leftover free range roast chicken and fresh green veges from the garden, here a filling emerged. I then added onion, bacon, egg, feta and parsley.

The construction of the pie is interesting in that it is two rolled out sheets of pastry, one as a base that  you put mounds of filling on, then the other pastry sheet you lay on top, that you press down around the mix and stick it together with water or egg wash. A couple of air vents in each pie bugger, and bake. Bake at 180c until pastry is cooked.

"Pie Buggers" ready to cook.

I will let you know the outcome soon, as they are in the oven cooking as I write this post. They certainly smell good.

My Thoughts About Sugar And It's Impact On My Family's Health

Sugar as it seems now is the major enemy in our lives. Initially with Tim on a low GI diet I found a low GI sugar that I changed over to for baking,  preserves and jams etc.
 It is" LoGiCane"  a Chelsea Sugar product. "LoGiCane has a low GI of 50 which means it has a lower impact on blood glucose, takes longer to digest and provides a slower and more sustained energy release". Brilliant for Tim and the rest of the family(I thought).
Now that George has an intolerance to sugar(any derivative from sugar cane),honey, maple syrup etc.
Our hunt started again for a solution. We have found Stevia, Agave nectar and coconut sugar.
All of which interestingly enough have a low GI too.

My grandfather having lived though a sugar shortage in war times, came to the conclusion that sugar held no value other than taste, when things returned to normal he decided that having not missed sugar he would continue to minimise his sugar use. What  foresight he had.

I'm am struggling with the fact that just about all processed products that we find in the supermarket are full of sugar. Even things like potato chips. It is amazing when you start to read the ingredient lists. George is amazed just how much she has removed from her diet because of the sugar content.

I'm very pleased that I was lucky enough to be brought up on a large farm, and that we grew our own meat, veges, pigs, hens, fruit trees etc. As this has provided me with a very real understanding of natural food and it's true value.
The saying "If your grandmother wouldn't recognise it don't put it your trolley" at the supermarket is very fitting.

We have discovered that the low GI Diet, has had the positive side effect of us all loosing weight.We didn't set out with this in mind, however it is a natural side effect of eating low sugar, low processed, highly nutritional food.

Risotto

Well as you can see from the picture my poor leeks have been kept warm by the weeds, and if it ever stops raining in Auckland, I WILL take time to weed them and the other veges.

Having picked and washed the leeks I'm actually impressed with the quality of my half grown specimens.
I decided to make a Leek and Bacon risotto for dinner.
It is the mid winter school holidays here and I seem to have teenagers in and out at all hours and often many stop for dinner, so the thought of something easy to serve and eat is a great solution.

Tim made some wonderful chicken stock yesterday, after a fabulous roast chicken so it got put to good use tonight.
So the beginnings of a risotto was formed,  the only complication was that Tim can't eat rice as the GI is too high, so checking supplies it became a pearl barley risotto, which is more nutty than rice and takes a little  longer to cook, but time I do have.

I really like the taste of using barley, farro or spelt in risottos. I don't add any cheese in the cooking process as George can't have dairy. So everyone else can add their own as they serve.
A very filling winter meal made from my garden. (even if it is a bit neglected at the mo).

Gluten, Dairy and Sugar free Choc Chip and Banana muffins

Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1 Tbsp Olivani

2 large mashed banana
1 cup dairy/sugar free chocolate chopped
1 egg
3/4 cup of oat milk.


In a large bowl stir together the flour ,baking powder, sugar and olivani until the mixture combines.
Stir in the mashed banana , chocolate chips , egg and milk to combine .
Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin tins and bake at 190 c for 20 minutes



These little beauties are awesome and both Tim and George can hoover them up . We have modified an old favorite recipe to get this amazing gluten, dairy and sugar  free lunch box snack . You can reduce the amount of chocolate chips if you want be we like muffins with real guts .They freeze well and can be added to the lunchbox straight from the freezer.

The rainbow cake that George made the other day was a real hit both at school and at home and one of the great responses was how amazing the caramel flavour of the coconut sugar was ,,, its a real game changer.