Ginger Crunch

Waiting for the snow to come, decided to do some baking.

For the base
2 cups nuts I used almonds and cashews
1 cup soft pitted dated
2 Tbsp water
2 tsp ginger

For the icing
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp agave nectar
2 tsp ginger

Process the nuts in a food processor until they are coarse but flour like. Add the dates, water and ginger and blend until it all comes together.
Press into a baking tin and bake at 160 deg C until golden. Let cool.

Gently melt all the icing ingredients together, take off heat and whisk until thick and caramel like.Spread topping over cooled base. Sprinkle with cut up crystalised ginger.

Set in fridge, cut up and eat. Keep in fridge.

Yum.

High Protein Biscuits. (Cookies)

I made these with breakfast on the run or fuel before rugby training in mind.

Here's the recipe.

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp date puree
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 c agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp soy milk
1 egg
1 cup of cranberries


Mix dry ingredients together, then mix wet ingredients together, fold together. Spoon onto oven tray lined with baking paper . Bake at 180 deg C for 10 to 15 mins.

These are yummy and not to sweet.

Makes 20 biscuits.

Everything Free Breakfast Cereal.

I have made some wonderful cereal, even I do say so myself.

I made it with 3 different flours but no wheat, coconut sugar, coconut oil, oats, fruits, nuts and seeds.

I made some little nuggets, baked them til crisp, then made up the cereal part and toasted it lightly, cooled everything, added cranberries and goji berries. Mixed it all very well.

It is very high in protein, anti oxidants and omega 3.

It is Low GI, sugar free, wheat free, dairy free.

It tastes amazing and I did a costing of it and a serve worked out to be cheaper than a lot of fruit and nut muesli on the market, more expensive than plain puffed rice or flake cereals. Similar price to sugar cooked popular cereals. Without naming names.

It costs $1 per serve.

It will serve our family very well, it is filling so our son will get probably the most benefit from this aspect, as it will keep him fuller for longer.

Quinoa

Hello, I know it's been awhile.
I have been very busy of late, with Tim in and out of hospital, the close of the winter sports season with my children and some spring gardening.

One thing we have been eating lately is Quinoa. I bought some Quinoa linguine pasta recently and it was very yummy. Went down a treat with all of the family. Tim because it was Low GI, George because it is wheat free and Harry because interestingly he found it to be very filling, which is great when you are feeding a teenage boy. I liked the flavour profile, and also found it filling.

We also had Quinoa with Clams which was amazing and tasty.
I made a paste out of spring onions, garlic, chilli and anchovies, sauted the paste then added clams, poured in a glass of white wine, put a lid on pan and tossed until the clams all open(this takes about 1 minute).I discarded any clams that didn't open. Stirred in a cup of cooked Quinoa. Tasted for seasoning.Sprinkled with sliced spring onions and chopped chilli. Served immediately.
This was so yummy.(I

I have been adding Quinoa to soups and casseroles alot of late to thicken them up.
I can't use potato or kumara to do this as it changes the GI rating of the soups, and this then affects Tim.
I have found this out by trial and error.
I'm not a nutritionist but I have worked out that if you change the form of some carbohydrates (ie: whole cooked potato to mashed potato) this process shorten the molecules, which then get absorbed by the body alot quicker and this then in turn is what makes Tim so unwell.

Spring is in the air, and I can't wait.

I have put some spring veges in the garden, cos lettuce, spring onions, coriander, parsley, celery.

My leeks are very yummy and getting eaten up by alot of my friends too.

Homemade Rice crackers

Given George doesn't have wheat in her diet now, she eats rice crackers quite a bit, so I thought I would have a go at making some.
They are cheap and simple enough to make, fairly bland but edible all the same. I don't think I would win any awards for them, but they are something different to add to the lunch box, that isn't processed.
I put a soy and honey flavouring on them and sprinkled them with poppy seed.

Uncooked and finished product.

I have to hide them from Tim as they will have a High GI rating, being made from white rice.

Whoopie Pie

Wow, I have just got back from my monthly visit to one of the most amazing wholefood shops in Auckland.

Harvest Wholefoods Grey Lynn, it's where I buy things like Rice flour, Coconut flour, Quinoa etc. Today I found Quinoa linguine pasta, I haven't seen it before in New Zealand so thought I would try it for both George and Tim, being that it doesn't have wheat (for George) and it's not made from white processed flour (which tips Tim up). I was very excited to find this. It is imported from USA and therefore more expensive that wheat based pasta. I hope they both like.

I also buy spelt bagels from a bakery next door.

While we were in Grey Lynn we can across a Whoopie Pie shop, again something I haven't seen in New Zealand.
I bought a gluten and dairy free carrot and pinepple whoopie pie for George. It does have sugar in but very exciting all the same.
I had to try a small ginger spice whoppie pie and it was divine. The shop is small with lots of delicious whoopie pies and coffee machine. A nice treat for my girlfriend and I.
What a fantastic find and nice way to finish of our shopping.

Cupcakes for The Birthday Girl.

One of George's best friends, Riane is Eighteen today, and George made her cupcakes last night, these girls are caring, baking each other treats for their birthdays.

Riane also has some intolerance to some foods, so George made these vanilla cupcakes using spelt flour, coconut sugar and olivani. We have worked out that you need quite a lot of vanilla to overcome the earthiness of the spelt flour.
Riane, however, can eat dairy, so I think the icing may end up having butter in.
At least this way George can help her eat them(without the icing).

The colour of the cupcakes is worth noting as the coconut sugar has a caramel hue, and this is what gives these cupcakes their rich look. It is taking George a little while to get her head around this, as most of us have been bought up baking with all things "White".
This also was noticed when we made the rainbow cake, where the colours had a very autumn look and were not as bright as we would have expected. We are liking the more natural and "good for you" look of this new style of baking.

I will post a photo of the finished iced cupcakes later after George has worked her magic.
We also baked these in environment friendly unbleached Totally Chlorine free (TCF) baking cups. These are non stick, so look like they are falling off, because they are.
Riane is very much into sustainable living. I think she will like this.

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.