Category Archives: Gluten-free

Cooking Day

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Today I cooked.  I was inspired by the large pumpkin I was given yesterday as well as the chickpeas I had cooked yesterday.

The first job was to pack up the baked beans I had cooked overnight in the slow-cooker.  I had some for breakfast as well as these 3 jars to go in the freezer and half a jar which are in the refrigerator to be used in the next few days.

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I then cut up the pumpkin.  The 2 trays of sliced pumpkin have been basted with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic syrup.  These will be used on pizzas. Some of the larger pieces will be cut up and added to the chickpea and vegetable curry while the remainder will be become pumpkin soup.  I pre-roast the pumpkin as it is easier than peeling it and I find that it also enhances the flavour.

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Meanwhile I moved onto the curry.  As well as the chickpeas and pumpkin this also had stalks of choy sum and half an eggplant diced.  I ended up with a total of 8 serves (4 meals for GMan and me).

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I had other plans for the choy sum leaves and the other half of the eggplant.  Using this recipe for Eggplant Lasagne Rolls as inspiration, I made a dish of lasagne using the finely shredded choy sum leaves mixed with half a tub of ricotta that I had in the refrigerator layered with the sliced eggplant and a rich, herbed tomato sauce.  This is ready to be baked for dinner tomorrow night.  I will add a mixture of flaxseed meal and parmesan cheese to the top when it is almost cooked.

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One pizza was for our lunch today which we enjoyed.  The other one is ready for the cheese to be added, cooked and eaten another day.

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All of these dishes were made using a combination of ingredients I had on hand in the pantry and refrigerator with produce I had been gifted and what was growing in the garden.  One of the most important aspects is to ensure that nothing goes to waste.

Finally, I made some more spreadable butter blend.

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Although the title of this blog post is ‘Cooking Day’, it occurred to me when you have access to fresh produce from the garden (either your own or kind friends) there is always something to do.

More about my other food adventures another day.

Celebration Cake

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In my last blog post I mentioned that I had made my own gluten free birthday cake.  I have made this cake numerous times over a period of several years and it is always well-received.

I was actually quite surprised that I do not appear to have posted the recipe on the blog previously.  The recipe was given to me by a friend from a recipe book published by Tania Hubbard but it is here on her website.  But for your convenience I have copied it below.

Chocolate Chia Seed Cake

By Tania Hubbard  , , ,

 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons chia seeds (soaked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes)
1 cup almond meal (1 cup of pepita meal for nut-free-chocolate-cake-recipe)
1 cup coconut palm sugar (you can use less for sure)
1/2 cup cocoa (raw or dutch processed)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
125g butter (or 1/4 cup of olive oil or coconut oil)
4 medium eggs (60 gram eggs are medium)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (bicarb)
Pinch salt

Directions

1  Preheat oven to 180C
2  Line a spring form cake tin with non stick baking paper
3 Soak the chia seeds in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes, stirring regularly
4 In meantime place cocoa, eggs, almond meal, sugar, salt, bicarb and butter in a bowl
5 Whisk to combine well and break up any lumps
6 Add chia seed jelly and whisk until well combined
7 Pour into lined cake tin
8 Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes or until it bounces back when pressed in the middle
9 Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the tin
10 Finish cooling on a wire cooling rack

I find that the cooking time is more like 45 minutes but it will depend on your oven.

The cake is quite dense and moist with an almost fudgy texture.  While I do serve it as a cake it lends itself particularly well to use as a dessert.

The combination of chocolate paired with fresh raspberries is perfect.

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The addition of a scoop of ice-cream or a dollop of cream would be the finishing touch.

The Pandemic Pantry – Leftovers

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Last night we had Mexican Quinoa for dinner.  You can find recipe here.  Since that original post, 3 years ago, I have modified it and eliminated the salami, making it a vegetarian dish.  Like many one pan dishes, the quantities are very flexible so you can easily adapt it to the number you are serving.

As I often do, I made more than I needed last night.  Instead of simply reheating for lunches or freezing for a future meal, I decided to make an entirely new dish.

Here is the leftover quinoa and some of the other ingredients.

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I used my basic zucchini quiche recipe with some modifications.  Instead of zucchini I grated 1 large carrot, the leftover quinoa and about a cup of baby spinach which I roughly chopped.  I did not use the onion as there was onion and other flavourings in the quinoa dish.

I would normally serve this with salad but I was inspired by what I had picked from the garden this afternoon.

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The quiche turned out really well.

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Served with balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes and butter beans.

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There is no photo but we finished off the meal with ice-cream and fresh homegrown raspberries.

The Pandemic Pantry – Recipes Part 1

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Last night we had a meal which I regard as a great standby as it is created entirely from what what we generally have on hand – pandemic or not.

TUNA MORNAY

The ingredients assembled.

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There are no real quantities as such but the amount I made will serve 4-5 adults.

Make up milk using milk powder.  Fresh milk is fine but if you are trying to make do, reconstituted powdered milk works well in cooking.  I used about 650ml for this recipe.

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Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add enough flour to make a fairly dry roux.  I use gluten free flour but regular wheat flour is perfect if you do not have any allergies or intolerances.

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Gradually add the milk and stir until smooth and thickened.  When using gluten free flour I use a stick blender to aid in the process.

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Add the juice of half a lemon, seasoning and a handful of grated cheese.  You can add about half a teaspoon of prepared mustard if you have it.

Add a large can of tuna (drained and flaked) and 3/4 cup frozen peas and 3/4 cup corn kernels.  I used frozen, homegrown corn but canned corn works equally as well.

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Here is some brown rice which I had cooked last week and frozen so it was simply reheated.  I do this in a glass dish in the microwave and add about 1/2 cup of water.

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Dinner is served.  This dish does not get points for visual appeal but it will feed empty tummies.

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Something which we should consider at any time but it is particularly important when popping to the shops is not really an option – food waste.  Therefore, at times like this we should be making a real effort to use everything we are fortunate enough to have.

This is the principle behind the meal I have planned for tonight.  It does not have a name but for the purpose of indexing it, I will call it:

EGGPLANT NOODLES WITH PESTO

1 large eggplant – julienned using V-slicer
Curly kale – finely shredded
1 tub of basil pesto dip
1/3 tub ricotta

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I chose and prepared all of the ingredients this morning.  The pesto had been purchased for another purpose and not used and the ricotta left over from the Eggplant Lasagne Rolls that I made a couple of days ago.  I will do a separate post about that recipe.

The method I will use is:

Lightly saute eggplant and set aside a keep warm.  Saute kale until wilted then add ricotta and pesto.  Stir through eggplant noodles and serve.

I think this sounds good and hope it lives up to expectation.

 

 

 

Local and Leftovers

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There has been quite a bit happening here as we prepare to leave for our holiday in less than 2 weeks.

However, some things remain consistent and preparing meals is one of them.  They are not overly fancy but here is a quick snapshot of some of our recent food.

This was my Sunday brunch.  Omelette with stir-fried cabbage and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  Apart from the seasonings (salt, pepper and smoky paprika), everything was sourced within 20 metres of my kitchen.  No chemicals, no packaging and no transport costs.  This is not feasible for every meal or even every day but it is quite exciting when it happens.

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Then there are leftovers.  On Saturday evening we had Mexican quinoa followed by satay chicken and vegetable stir-fry the next night.  So last night was leftovers – a multi-cultural taste sensation!  They are not flavours I would generally combine but it was a wholesome and satisfying meal.

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Note that there was cabbage in the stir-fry.  When you have several home-grown cabbage it goes into pretty well everything.  There is no photo but we also recently had baked potatoes with salad and a generous serving of coleslaw.

As a change from cabbage, today I picked these 2 beautiful heads of broccoli.  I steamed the florets of broccoli then made a tuna and tomato (with a touch of chilli) sauce to pour over them and finished with cheese and flaxseed meal topping.  A few minutes under the grill and I served it with some rice.

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There will probably be a few creative meals in the next week or so as we try to use up what is on hand as well as in the garden.

Cooking Dinner

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Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy cooking.  However, I do not necessarily want to set aside an extended period for meal preparation every single day.  Therefore, making a larger quantity than required of some meals will save time and energy at a future time.

It also makes sense when turning the oven on to make it worthwhile.  Past generations would probably have popped in a batch of scones or a cake or baked dessert but that is not always required so a bigger batch of a meal makes sense.

Tonight I made vegetable kofta from a recipe I found some years ago in a magazine from the local Co-op food store.  I have adapted it somewhat from the original in that I do not saute the vegetables, I bake the balls rather than frying them and make slightly bigger balls than suggested.  Additionally, I doubled the mixture tonight.

Vegetable Kofta

1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup of grated sweet potato
1 cup of finely shredded cabbage
2 cups of grated cauliflower
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups chickpea (besan) flour

Combine shredded vegetables.  Combine all dry ingredients and add to vegetables.  Stir to mix thoroughly.  Add a little more flour if required.  NOTE:  The mixture will be quite wet but that is fine.  Form into balls and place on greased tray and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes.  (I turned mine after about 10 minutes).

Here they are on the tray and ready to go in the oven.

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I served them with a spicy tomato sauce (pasta style) on a bed of rice for a satisfying dinner.

They are versatile and can make a yummy lunch with a side salad or as an appetiser with tsatziki dip.

A Golden Oldie

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Prompts from several different sources inspired me to make a Lemon Delicious pudding yesterday.

First, a Facebook group post encouraged members to make a post recipes for a childhood favourite food.

Second, my brother, sister and brother-in-law were coming for dinner.  What better, than to share a dessert from our common childhood memories?

Third, another Facebook group discusses how our grandparents lived, including cooking and preparing food.

I had not made Lemon Delicious since 2012 when I began eating a gluten-free diet, however, I was not going to let that stop me.

I have posted the recipe for Lemon Delicious on the blog previously.  See here.  Unfortunately the photos have disappeared from the old post and I am unable to retrieve them.

So, here it is again – with the addition of the gluten-free option.

LEMON DELICIOUS

1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour (use gluten-free flour if required)
Juice and rind of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add flour, juice and rind.  Mix well.  Separate the eggs, add yolks and milk to mixture.  Place the whites in a separate bowl and beat until stiff.  Fold the beaten egg white into the mixture.  Pour into an ovenproof dish.  Stand the dish in a tray of water (about 2-3cm deep) and place in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is firm to touch and golden.

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The finished product is like a lemon self-saucing pudding.  This can be served warm or cold with ice-cream, cream or custard.

NOTES:

As a nod to past generations, I did not use my Kitchen Aid mixer to cream the butter and sugar.  I used a bowl and tablespoon – hard but satisfying work.  I also beat the egg whites using a hand-held rotary beater.  The results were equally as good as any I have made previously using electric appliances.

The ‘sauce’ of the pudding was somewhat thicker than other efforts and I think this was probably due to using gluten-free flour which does tend to absorb more moisture.  I would probably ad the juice of another half a lemon in order to rectify this.  Despite this, the pudding was extremely well-received by the dinner guests and I will definitely be making it again before too long – especially as the lemon trees are absolutely laden with fruit.

 

Scones? Yes, please.

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I have never had a great deal of success baking scones but when you add the requirement to be gluten-free into the mix it really becomes a challenge.

A few years ago I acquired this book and I have mastered the scones.  I think the trick is the flour blend which is explained in the beginning of the book.

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I use the following to make 1kg of plain gluten-free flour and use the Kitchen Aid mixer to thoroughly blend the flours before storing in an airtight container.

340g brown rice flour
340g potato starch
200g arrowroot
120g quinoa flour

Here is the original scone recipe from the book.

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Please note that it has 900g of flour so makes a large batch.  I make a half mix because that is what will fit in my mixer.  I used a half mix for this batch of over 30 scones.

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As usual, I have adapted both the recipe and the method.  I make savoury cheese scones to serve with homemade soup but there is no reason that you could not make sweet scones.

CHEESE SCONES

400ml warm milk
40g psyllium husk

450g gluten-free flour blend (see recipe above)
8 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 eggs
20ml apple cider vinegar

130g butter

Combine milk and psyllium and set aside. Combine dry ingredients and cheese.  Grate/shred the cold butter into the flour mixture.  Add the eggs and vinegar to the psyllium mixture then add to the flour mixture.  Combine until you have a soft dough.  I use the Kitchen Aid stand mixer for this but can be done by hand.

Lightly knead and shape to a rectangle of the desired height.  Use a knife dipped in flour  to cut the pieces and then arrange on a baking tray or two.  Be sure to allow enough space between the scones for even cooking.  Brush with milk and bake at 180C for about 15-17 minutes.

Whilst this is far from a ‘traditional’ scone recipe, it does provide a very acceptable gluten-free alternative which most people who do not have any gluten retrictions are more than happy to eat.

A Month Later

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It is just over a month since my last blog post on 19th March.  The following 2 weeks were somewhat frenetic with work and also getting ready to head off on holidays to Mauritius on 1st April.  If you missed that bit of detail you can catch up with the travel news and photos on my other blog, Somewhere, Anywhere.

We arrived home yesterday morning after a 36 hour stopover in Singapore.  It was also my birthday.  Unlike my milestone birthday last year, this year was fairly low-key.  We had dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, brother and mother last night. It was lovely to catch up with them and to have someone else make dinner for me.

The weather has cooled down somewhat in the few weeks we have been away.  However, heavy showers of rain are making it a challenge to do the inevitable pile of washing that we brought home.

Cooler weather also meant that I can consider meals other than the inevitable salads.  Today we did some shopping to restock some necessities – fruit and vegetables as well as milk, cheese and Vegemite.  I spent $30 at the greengrocer, including a cauliflower for $4.  This is the upper limit of what I will pay for a cauliflower but it is still good value.  With the addition of stock powder, an onion, salt, pepper and smoky paprika I made a pot of hearty cauliflower soup.  That $4 cauliflower made 4 generous dinner serves plus 4 smaller serves suitable for lunches.  8 meals for about $4.50 seems like pretty good value to me!

Cauliflower Soup

1 full cauliflower (medium)
1 large onion, diced
2 teaspoons stock powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon smoky paprika

Lightly fry the onion in a large saucepan/stockpot.  Remove the outside leaves and separate the florets from the stalk.  Finely slice the leaves and stalk and add to the pot.  Continue to fry for about 5 minutes.  Add the roughly chopped cauliflower florets, seasonings and enough water to just cover the vegetables.  Cover and simmer for at least an hour and add extra water if required.  Blend until smooth and serve.

Tonight we had a big bowl of soup and some buckwheat pancakes on the side.

The remaining soup has been portioned up and is ready to go in the freezer.

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And the rain is pouring down – again!!

Nothing Special

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Sometimes I don’t write any blog posts, simply because there does not seem to be anything extraordinary to write.  It is easy to forget that the little things I do day in, day out which may be just the tip that will help someone out.

Here is one of those.

We often make sweet potato chips, usually when having salmon for dinner.  I bake the chips in the oven and like to add a little bit of seasoning.  Since I eat a gluten-free diet it cannot include regular flour.

Spicy Seasoning Mix

1 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon smoky paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chilli powder

This is reasonably spicy but you can adjust to suit your own tastes.

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

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These are the chips – I usually pre-cook for a few minutes in the microwave first then drain add place in a preheated tray with a little coconut oil.

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Lightly sprinkle with spice mixture.

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When I toss them after about 10 minutes I usually sprinkle them with a bit more.

As well as for the chips I also use this mixture to coat potatoes when I am baking them.  I rub the potato with a tiny bit of oil then roll them in the spice mixture before baking them in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high.