Choc-banana muffins - Dairy Free

 It is always tough to fill the kids' lunchboxes with healthy, filling food. As both our daughters have allergies to dairy and nuts, I learnt early on that I would have to learn to bake, as most store bought food (especially cakes, biscuits and other treats) contain one or both of these ingredients.

This recipe for Choc-banana muffins is a tried and true favourite in our house. I make them at least once a fortnight, but in times when the price of bananas is cheap I may make them more often. They don't last long! I also like to keep a couple of bananas in the freezer to use when the cost of them goes up. We can't go too long without these great snacks.

Recipe:

1 ripe banana

1 cup white self-raising flour

1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour 

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 choc bits

1 egg, lightly beaten

2/3 cup soy milk

1/4 cup of vegetable oil (not olive oil as the taste is too strong)

1. Preheat the over to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees F). 

2. Lightly grease a 12 hole muffin pan, or use patty pans. 

3. Mash banana in a large bowl.

4. Sift flour into the bowl (add the husks left in the sifter)

5. Put in sugar, choc bits, egg, milk and oil

6. Stir with a fork until well mixed.

7. Spoon mixture into muffin pan. Fill the holes 2/3 full.

8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden. 

9. Enjoy! 😋

These are best enjoyed warm with a glass of milk or a cup of tea/coffee as an afternoon pick me up but the kids also love them in their lunchboxes for morning tea.

NOTE: I have included these under the heading of Allergy-Free cooking because the choc chips that we use are dairy free. They are dark Belgian chocolate chips bought from Costco and have no added milk or nuts. I have also made these without eggs and only used the oil and banana as a binder and that works fine too. Egg substitutes such as Orgran No Egg egg replacement works great in these also. Other milks can be substituted for the soy milk as per your requirements and/or taste.

strawberries and potatoes

After being inspired by Kim's delicious looking strawberry shortcake, I decided to try my hand at making a strawberry cake. Now I've never done a shortcake and with a daughter allergic to both egg and dairy, thought the variation wouldn't go down all that well, so changed it to a strawberry spring cake!! Which is essentially a butter cake served with sweetened strawberries!!

Ingredients

125g butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 cups self raising flour (or plain flour with baking soda/baking powder)
1/2 cup Apple puree
1/2 cup rice milk

250g strawberries
extra tbsp of castor sugar

1. Beat the butter and vanilla until white. Add in the sugar and beat until light and creamy.
2. Beat in the apple puree until combined
3. Fold in the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk
4. When all combined, mix lightly until smooth
5. Spoon into loaf tin or well greased round cake tin
6. I baked it at about 160C for 50 odd minutes. With the apple and the milk it is quite moist so you want it to cook through without burning.Test yours with a toothpick to check when it's ready
7. Combine strawberries with the extra sugar and refrigerate for half an hour

Turn the cake out on a wire rack to cool. Serve with the strawberry mixture and whipped cream if desired. Obviously we skipped the cream, but some nice fresh yoghurt (soy for little miss) worked a treat instead. 

Yummo!!

And another recipe which is completely NOT allergy friendly but yum all the same is my potato frittata. I had some left over roast potatoes, pumpkin and carrots from yesterday's roast so I decided to be creative. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of cold, cooked, chopped leftover roast vegies. I used potatoes, pumpkin and carrot
1 onion
1/2 clove garlic
Olive oil
6 eggs
Cup grated cheese
1/2 large tomato sliced
Rosemary
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Cook onion and add garlic toward the end
2. Place the chopped vegies on the bottom of a baking tray. Sprinkle with dried rosemary
3. Combine eggs and grated cheese in a seperate bowl, whisk together with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Tip the egg and cheese mix onto the vegies and combine well
5. Add some more grated cheese on top
6. Decorate with some slices of tomato
7. Bake at 170C for 40 minutes, or until the egg has set

While friends of ours have been away we have had the fun experience of feeding their chooks. In return we get blessed with their delicious, fresh eggs. Rich and creamy with the most golden yolks you've ever seen!!

 So dinner was leftover roast lamb with potato bake, steamed broccoli and strawberry spring cake for dessert. Not too bad for someone who would rather be lying down with her feet up 8 months pregnant!!!

Baking day - Homemade muesli bars, hummus and minestrone

I love winter. It's a time for cooking and baking and spending hours in the warm kitchen creating new things. When it's cold and drizzly outside (as it is today) then the kitchen is my favourite place to be. This morning we ducked out to the library and to do some grocery shopping then it was home and into the kitchen! On today's menu:
Homemade muesli bars
Hummus
Minestrone
 
After being suitably inspired by my friend Sophia - a woman of wonder - to make a healthy lunch box snack for my preschooler I have turned my hand to muesli bars. The good thing about these ones is that my daughter - who is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts - can enjoy them too!!

I searched the internet and checked through the ingredients of our cupboard. This is the site where the original recipe came from Taste.com.au.

My own recipe varied from this one slightly, simply based on what we had. I've never cooked with quinoa before and bought the white stuff, not the flakes so cooked it up before adding it. I was a bit unsure about it, but it had a lovely grain-y smell when cooking and the raw mixture tasted so good that I couldn't even taste it!


Homemade Muesli Bars

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup sultanas or cranberries (I used half a cup-ish of each one)
1/2 cup quinoa (cooked as per instructions)
1 cup corn flakes (crushed) - but I suppose puffed rice or rice bubbles would be fine too
1/4 cup sesame seeds (again, could add more according to taste)
125g butter (or Nuttelex in our case)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash of vanilla
300g dark cooking chocolate (entirely optional - except in our family where it's a necessity!)

 

 These are not my hands by the way - the Captain was helping out while I took a pic!

Method

* Preheat over to 180°C

* Grease and line slice tray with baking paper

* Combine oats, coconut, sultanas/cranberries, corn flakes, sesame seeds, and cinnamon

* Cook quinoa in a saucepan as per instructions. I was industrious and melted the chocolate in a bowl over the top of the quinoa while it simmered quietly underneath for 15 minutes

* Combine sugar, honey and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat til butter has melted and sugar dissolved. Add splash of vanilla. Bring to the boil then add to the other ingredients

* Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of the tray

* Then add the muesli mix over the top, pressing firmly in the pan

* Bake for 15-20 minutes til golden brown

* Cool then refrigerate til chilled

* Cut into squares or rectangles and Enjoy!!

The Hummus was much easier to make. My kids love hummus, as do we, so we thought we'd try and do it ourselves. The recipe is pretty straight forward:

Ingredients

400g chick peas

1 tbsp tahini

3/4 lemon

80ml olive oil

1-2 gloves of garlic, crushed (depending on how much you like garlic!)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Method

Blend all together in a food processor. 

Enjoy with turkish bread, crackers or vegie sticks

It was delicious and even our son, who is quite picky with his hummus, loved it. He especially loved watching it be made! And of course, friendly for our allergy-stricken girl!!

The Minestrone I have no recipe for because the Captain threw everything into a saucepan and I have no idea what's in it - though it smells and looks good and I can't wait to try it for dinner tonight!!

Have you been in the kitchen lately? What's been cooking? Share the ideas, I certainly need some more!!

Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Zucchini and Chocolate Muffins

As the creative title of this post suggests, this is a recipe for dairy-free, egg-free zucchini and chocolate muffins.
I may have mentioned before that my daughter has allergies; namely egg, dairy and nut. And cat hair. But seeing as we cook so little with that these days, I haven't had the need to develop recipes to accomodate such an allergy.

Most of the time I take 'normal' recipes and adapt them. That's what I did with this. I use Nuttelex which is a dairy-free, preservative-free margarine. So many margarines are chock full of preservatives that many allergy-prone kids are allergic to them because of the preservatives. So I use Nuttelex. I also use Orgran No-Egg Replacer. And soy milk. But if you have an allergy to soy, then rice milk often substitutes well.

Can I just say, before you start to think ew, gross who wants all those 'pretend' ingredients these muffins are delicious and sweet and gooey and none of the aforementioned ingredients are tasteable.

Also, another disclaimer. I'm not one for hiding vegies in kid's food, but I had some extra zucchini and thought I'd be creative. Zucchini and chocolate are actually a very delightful couple. And again, can't taste the zucchini so if hiding vegies is your thing, then this is one for you.

So....here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

3 tsps Orgran
3 tablespoons water
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2tsp vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp bi carb soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
(For these last four ingredients, I just used a teaspoon of mixed spice :)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease or line 2 x 12 cup muffin tins with patty pans.
2. Mix orgran and water in a large bowl until frothy.
3. Add sugar and oil to orgran mix and beat until light. Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.
4. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix until just moist.
5. Pour batter into trays 2/3 full.
6. Bake at 180° for 20-25 mins.

And then enjoy :)