Browsing Tag:

vegan

Dinner

Spelt Pizza – Yeast Free

Spelt Pizza

What child doesn’t like pizza?

Being a dairy-free home (well apart from my husband) Pizza isn’t something we really eat. However, after our recent holiday when Gracie saw her Pa eat Pizza I promised I would make her one when we returned home.

Now I’m no baker, I leave that to my husband when things get too complicated! What I love about this recipe is that it’s extremely simple and you can make it right before you want to use it!

If you’re time poor use a good quality tomato pasta sauce (no refined sugar and low sodium content)  and mix with tomato paste to make a lovely rich pizza base.  As we’re dairy-free I sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes.  Nutritional yeast contains B-vitamins, folic acid, selenium, zinc, and protein.  Spelt does contain gluten, but compared to wheat it’s much richer in nutrients and more easier to digest than wheat.

I like to make Gracie mini pizza’s out of the recipe as I think it’s easier for little hands.

Spelt Pizza

Print Recipe
Serves: 4 Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of spelt flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 teaspoon of Italian Mixed Herbs

Instructions

1

Preheat your oven to 180c

2

Mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl

3

Stir the water in slowly, making sure that the dough doesn't become too sticky

4

Knead gently for a couple of minutes and stand for approx 10 minutes

5

Roll out the dough and place on pizza tray (if you have)

6

Top with sauce and chosen topping

7

Bake for approx 15 minutes (or until pizza base is golden and toppings are cooked through)

March 23, 2017 By Mel
4
Dinner

Rootatouille

Roasted Root Vegetable Ratatouille with Nomato Sauce

We’ve been on Chef Steps again (one of my husbands favourite websites!)  after making the appletouille which was a huge hit I wanted to make something that was AIP compliant but also the whole family could enjoy.

As anyone on AIP knows you have to cut out all nightshades, which means no tomato sauce, so we’ve come up with our own version which is just as delicious.

Roasted Root Vegetable Ratatouille with Nomato Sauce

Print Recipe
Serves: 4-6 Cooking Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

  • 3 equally round beetroots
  • 3 zucchini
  • 3 purple sweet potatoes
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 large onions
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp pink salt
  • Olive oil as required

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 135oC

2

Peel the carrots, beetroots, purple sweet potato and zucchini’s

3

In a stock pot or similar, put all the end cuts including carrot peel and zucchini tops

4

Roughly cut onions and garlic cloves and put them into the stock pot

5

Add olive oil, salt and cook for 15-20 mins until softened

6

Using a mandolin and slice all the vegetables to approx. 2mm

7

Once cooked, place into a blender adding additional olive oil as required and blend until smooth puree (salt to taste)

8

Using the sauce line the bottom of a hard bottom skillet or enamel cast iron pan with lid with just enough to cover

9

Take your sliced vegetables and place them together and lay them around the pan in a circular pattern, one vegetable slice after each other

10

Cover with lid or parchment paper if no lid and bake for 90 mins

11

Remove and top with thyme and fresh parsley and extra olive oil if required

Notes

Try to find vegetables of similar size and shape

February 13, 2017 By Mel
0
Healthy Treats

Appletouille

Appletouille

Another recipe inspired from Chef Steps.  This Appletouille definitely falls into the healthy treat variety!

Gluten and Dairy-free.

Eat with a dollop of yoghurt or ‘nice cream’, so good!

Appletouille

Print Recipe
Serves: 4-6 Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • Apples (enough to fit chosen skillet)⠀
  • Coconut cream - 135ml ⠀
  • Coconut sugar - 1 tablespoon⠀
  • Cinnamon ⠀

Instructions

1

Use a mandolin and finally slice apples⠀

2

In a skillet (we used 8") you're going to use, place sugar and coconut cream and bring to the boil and remove from heat ⠀

3

Sprinkle with cinnamon ⠀

4

Lay sliced apples around skillet and baked for around 25 minutes at 135oC⠀

 

Appletouille

February 13, 2017 By Mel
0
Dinner

Vegan Spelt Gyoza

Vegan Spelt Gyoza

Vegan Spelt Gyoza

My husband found this recipe the other day and has been dreaming of making and eating them ever since.  These came out absolutely amazing and we had so much fun making them!

This recipe was adapted from here.

Vegan Spelt Gyoza

Print Recipe
Serves: 4 Cooking Time: 1

Ingredients

  • 200g or 1 cup of whole spelt flour
  • A pinch of salt
  • 85ml or just over 1/4 cup of hot water
  • 6-7 large button Mushrooms
  • 4 Spring Onions
  • Coconut Aminos
  • Tablespoon of grated ginger

Instructions

1

To make the wrappers, measure the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Stir to combine. Pour in the hot water and mix it until it comes together to form a rough dough. Turn it out onto a work surface and knead it for a minute or two until it forms a smooth, pliable but stiff dough. Add a tiny splash more water if the dough is too dry or crumbly. Form the dough into a ball and place it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave it to sit for half an hour.

2

Meanwhile, to make the filling, put all of the filling ingredients into a food processor and pulse it a few times until it’s all quite finely chopped and evenly combined.

3

Once the dough is rested place it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out as thinly as you can while still keeping it strong enough to hold the filling. Cut eight to ten circles, 3 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter (I used the top of a pint glass and the size worked quite well) from the flattened dough.

4

Working one at a time put a heaped tsp of the filling into the centre of a wrapper. Wet one half of edge of the filling side of the circle and gently fold it in half around the filling. Carefully fold along one side of the semi circle so that the front is crimped onto a flat back. Press the crimps to the flat back to seal the dumpling and very gently plump it out at the bottom so that it can sit up right. Repeat with the remaining wrappers.

5

Pour about 2 cups of water into a large wok with a bamboo steamer. Place it over high heat and bring the water to simmer. Gently place the gyoza's into the steamer, cover with the lid. Leave to steam for 6-8 minutes and then gently remove the gyoza with a spoon.

6

If you want them a bit crisp, heat up the remaining 2 tsp of oil in a large frying pan and place the cooked gyoza in. Let cook on one side for about 4 or 5 minutes until they’re crispy and golden, and then flip them over to brown on the other side. Repeat until they’ve crisped up to your liking.

7

Server with extra coconut amino's for dipping sauce.

 

 

 

Spelt Vegan Gyoza

January 30, 2017 By Mel
0
Health

Healthy Eating on a budget

This year my husband and I are trying get back on track financially.  Last year we had a few hiccups so 2017 for us is getting back on our feet and trying to work towards setting some kind of budget to work with.  We’re a single income family which has taken some adjustment, especially for myself the past couple of years.

Flowers

Daddy bought his girls some flowers

Looking through all our bills it’s pretty clear that one of our largest spends is on food (as well as supplements – don’t get me started on those costs!).  We tend to shop at various places to get different things and it all adds up, $50 here and $100 there…you end up losing track of what you’ve spent until you get a huge credit card bill at the end of the month.

Flemington Markets

Flemington Markets

As Grace and I have different but similar special dietary requirements at the moment, the main thing that we all eat A LOT of is vegetables and fruit, like ridiculous amounts!

So a couple of nights ago my husband said that he would get up early regardless of how many times Grace woke up throughout the night and leave around 5am on Saturday morning to go and shop at Flemington Markets! Well Grace must have a sixth sense as she woke up three times during the night and only wanted Daddy!!

So my tired husband arrived home a couple of hours later, high on caffeine buzzing about all the amazing produce he had bought for $146!! It took a good couple of hours to sort through and put away in the fridge and pantry, but we didn’t mind.  I’m 100% certain if we had bought all this at the shops it would have cost double the price.

Was it worth it?  Totally!  Yes it took more time and my husband had to get up extremely early but the savings were incredible and justified. Eating healthily and continuing to be able to do so is a priority of our family, so we will definitely be making this a regular occurrence.

Would love to hear if anyone else regularly shops at their local Markets, do you make large savings?  Is the produce better quality?

For more information on Flemington Markets, click here.

Flowers

 

 

 

January 17, 2017 By Mel
0
Lunch

Italian Chickpea Pancake – Farinata

chickpea pancake

My husband loves making these, they have a delicious soft and custardy texture.

You do need to prepare these a few hours in advance, but the actual cooking time is around 10-15 minutes.  The beauty of this recipe is that it’s a one bowl wonder.

We sourced this recipe from Serious Eats , where my husband spends A LOT of time scanning for new ideas!  He loves their scientific approach to cooking food.

Italian Chickpea Pancake - Farinata

Print Recipe
Serves: 4-6 Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 250 grams finely ground chickpea (Besan) flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 660 grams water
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Picked rosemary leaves, for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions

1

In a mixing bowl, combine chickpea flour and salt. Gradually add water, whisking constantly, until a smooth, thin batter forms. Let stand, covered, at least 4 and up to a maximum of 8 hours

2

Preheat oven to 280C and position oven rack in second position from top. If you have a pizza stone or sheet pan, set it on the rack (it will help crisp the farinata from below, but isn't required).

3

Pour olive oil into well-seasoned large cast iron skillet and swirl to fully coat bottom in an even layer. Using a spoon, scrape any foam from surface of batter and discard. Stir batter to mix well, then pour into skillet. Stir gently to swirl oil on top of batter

4

Season all over with black pepper and sprinkle with rosemary leaves, if using.

5

Change oven setting to grill. Set skillet on pizza stone or sheet pan or on the oven rack if not using a stone, and cook until farinata has just set, no longer jiggles, and is browned all over, about 11 minutes. If your grill cycles off, you can prop the oven door open with a utensil to keep it on the whole time.

6

Let farinata cool slightly until set. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Notes

We used a 8" cast iron pan.

Italian chickpea pancake. Dairy, Gluten & Egg-free

January 9, 2017 By Mel
2
Breakfast

Buckwheat Banana Pancakes

Buckwheat Pancakes

 

These pancakes are absolutely lovely, so fluffy and light.  They’re Gluten, Dairy, Egg & Soy-Free and a massive hit in our house, we hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Recipe has been tweaked to fit our special dietary requirements from here.

 

Buckwheat Banana Pancakes

Print Recipe
Serves: 4-6 Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of buckwheat flour
  • 1 tbsp of sweetener (honey, maple syrup, rice malt syrup etc)
  • 1 cup of coconut milk
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed
  • 2 tbsp of flaxseed meal
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ⅛ tsp pink Himalayan salt

Instructions

1

In a large bowl, mix the buckwheat flour, ground flaxmeal, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

2

Add the mashed banana and sweetener to the dry ingredients and mix to combine, until you obtain a thick but runny batter.

3

Scoop ¼ cup of batter into the pan and cook until little bubbles appear on the surface (about two minutes). Flip over and cook for two more minutes.

4

Continue the same with the remaining batter, greasing the pan every time you start a new pancake.

January 7, 2017 By Mel
0
Healthy Treats

Tahini Shortbread

Tahini Shortbread

I’m always looking for ways to boost Gracie’s calcium levels, so when I came across this recipe from Jessica Sepel I HAD to make them!

They’re dairy and gluten free.

Original recipe can be found here

Tahini Shortbread

Print Recipe
Serves: 15-18 shortbreads Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup coconut flour
  • 4 tbsp chia seeds
  • 2/3 cup desiccated coconut
  • 2/3 cup raw almonds
  • 4 heaped tbsp. hulled tahini
  • 3-4 tbsp maple syrup/raw honey
  • A big pinch of celtic sea salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • Extra almonds, cinnamon and tahini to dust

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

2

Add all ingredients into a food processor and process until it comes together – the mixture should be sticky enough to hold its shape when pressed. If it’s too dry, try adding a touch more water.

3

Roll 2 tbsp of mixture into a ball and press onto a lined baking tray until 1 cm thick. Using a star-shaped cookie cutter, cut the circle into a star, returning the surrounding mixture to the food processor. Repeat with remaining mixture until all shortbread is shaped into stars. Top with an almond.

4

Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden around the edges.

5

Drizzle with extra tahini and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Notes

This recipe calls for almonds, I replaced with Macadamia nuts to fit in with Gracie's special dietary requirements.

December 29, 2016 By Mel
0
Lunch

Surviving Christmas Day with special dietary requirements

Xmas Day

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  This year was slightly different for us, in the sense that three of us had to eat very differently than we did last year!

I find since we’ve been on this journey eating out, or in the company of others that eat “normally” can be extremely challenging. It’s even more difficult when you have a small child who gets upset when they can’t eat what everyone else is eating as they don’t understand why.  Therefore our aim was for us all to eat as similarly as possible.

Lamb Souvlaki

Anyhow here’s a recap:

  • Gracie is 100% dairy free and is also basically gluten free, apart from when she has some spelt and rye.  Also there are a whole load of other things she can’t eat at the moment.
  • My mum has SIBO and has just finished her treatment, she is on an extremely restrictive diet – no dairy, gluten, soy, a lot of fruit and vegetables + too many other things to mention!
  • Myself, I’m basically on a Paleo, low carb/low starch diet to assist with my insulin/thyroid issues.

 

We made a mixture of things to eat, with the below mainly catered for us to be able to eat.

  • Chicken Liver Pate
  • Lemony Roast Chicken (my sister makes the best chicken!)
  • Corned Silverside
  • Lamb Souvlaki sticks (best we’ve ever had from Souvlaki Boys)
  • Porky Mix
  • Leafy Green Salads
  • Iraqi flat-breads ‘Laffa’ (recipe from Zahva)
  • Raw Chocolate Treats
  • Trail Mix
  • Gingerbread biscuits
  • Choco Brownies (recipe from Well Nourished)
  • Tahini Shortbread

The majority of these recipes can be found within the recipe index of my website, I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Porky Mince

December 27, 2016 By Mel
0