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.

friday night tea

I've been having a bit of a battle with wheat and bread in particular lately. I suppose it comes down to the simple fact that I don't do things well in moderation. I'm either all in or all out. This rather unfortunate aspect of my personality has also seen me give up chocolate for Lent. Well, not entirely give it up. I'm not that crazy :) But I  have one block of dark chocolate which is to last me all of Lent.


I'm trying. That's all I can say.

Anyway, back to the wheat battle. My stomach is not as big a fan as my mouth and my consumption certainly hasn't made the whole getting-back-into-shape-post-baby thing any easier.

This has led me to try a few new dinner ideas that don't involve wheat. Of course this isn't easy, being the pasta-loving, bread-mopping, wheat-eating family that we are. And I haven't wanted to deprive the kids of one of their very important and much loved food groups. So tonight I made two dinners.

The kids had noodles with a quick tuna sauce, compromised of bechamel sauce, tuna and frozen peas, corn and carrot mix.

And we had this:

 Vegetable omelette with cheese and tuna. Delish.

 

First up was a grated home-grown zucchini. The home-grown part is not obligatory. Plus one-ish cup of cheese. Sorry I didn't measure :)

 

Four chopped up mushrooms and a little bit more cheese for good luck. 

 Four eggs. Some salt and pepper.

 

Then into the fry pan on a low heat for about ten minutes, or until egg is mostly cooked. Don't let it cook too long or else it will be too rubbery. Keep it a little bit runny on the top then slowly use a spatula or egg flip to prise up the sides and fold into an omelette shape. As you can see, mine isn't going to win any omelette-flipping contests but it sure did taste good. 

Served with a salad of baby spinach, home-grown tomatoes and olives and a good dollop of tinned tuna on top for that extra protein punch. I'm hoping that extra protein at dinner will help with my chocolate cravings come eight o'clock. So far...wishful thinking. I'm also hoping all that protein will give us the energy we need to get through the Canberra Show tomorrow! I must say we have some very excited animal-enthusiasts in the house already planning the days events :)

Buon appetito!

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 :)

Pumpkin Soup Fit For A Queen

Winter is certainly here these days. Minus four over night, tiny snow flakes (so small as to actually just look like rain - but I know otherwise!!) during the day. I love it!!

And what goes better with winter than a warm, yummy soup?

A friend of mine made this delicious pumpkin soup at Mum's group a couple of weeks ago and it was just heaven. I made it tonight and it's even better than I remembered it!!

Please, please, please make this pumpkin soup. This long weekend.

In celebration of the Queen's birthday.

And when you look at that creamy golden colour just, remember this:


It truly is soup fit for a queen!!

Here's the recipe. Write it down, then go buy the ingredients. Ok? Great. Thanks.

Queenie's Pumpkin Soup

60g butter or margarine (I used olive oil - I know, I'm a rebel)

2 rashers rindless bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic crushed

1 butternut pumpkin about 1.2 kg peeled, seeded and chopped

2 litres chicken stock

¼ cup milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

¼ cup cream

Snipped chives

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Sauté bacon, onion and garlic until bacon is crisp and onion is tender

Add pumpkin. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over stock. Bring to the boil. Simmer, covered, until pumpkin is very tender.

Blend mixture – process until smooth. Return to heat with milk, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with cream and chives

Please enjoy xoxox

Old Year Resolutions

With the countdown until the school holidays officially on – only three days to go!! – and six glorious weeks of summer holidays looming in front of us I have decided to make some resolutions for myself. These are two things I plan to do over the six week period. Don’t get me wrong I already have a list as long as my arm that I want to do, that includes organising photos and painting the pantry doors, but these are two special resolutions. The first one is a big one. I’ve decided that if I want to seriously consider being a writer, which I do, then I damn well have to write. And with the Captain home for six weeks there should be no excuses why I can't find the time to do so.

Therefore my first resolution is to finish a complete first draft of ONE of my novels. Any one, I don’t mind. And it’s not a plan, not an outline. But a full story, which one can read from beginning to end and have it make perfect sense. That’s my first resolution.

The second one is a bit more challenging. Which says a lot about me, because most people would consider writing a novel in six weeks challenging.

No this one involves food. Now when it comes to food I don't really do moderation. For me it's all or nothing. And since I got pregnant with my daughter LAST AUGUST it had been all. Especially sweet food. This last year I have baked and eaten more cakes, biscuits and slices than ever before in my whole life.

Today I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and for a split second thought "aw, a baby bumpt." Then I remembered that my daughter is almost 8 months old. I'm no longer pregnant. I'm just porky.

So, that's the second resolution. Cut out the crap. My son doesn't need it. I'm already worried about his teeth rattling around in his head. I sure as hell don't need it. My daughter doesn't need it. The Captain doesn't need it. But we all love it.

Especially now that it's Christmas time. Here's a quick inventory of some of the things in our pantry.

Panettone. An all time Christmas staple around here.

Image: Apartments Florence

There's really no excuse for not knowing what this delicious brioche/cake/breakfast good is...It's in every Woolies and Coles these days. And of course Aldi.

Dulce de Leche. Sweet caramel milk made into a spread. Evil. (And for even more evilness check out these recipes using it).

Image: freealfin.blogspot.com

Dulce de membrillo. A type of solidified jam eaten with crackers and cheese.

Image: freealfin.blogspot.com

They call it Martin Fiero in Argentina and Uruguary after a legenday poet. I don't know why so please don't ask me. If you must know, just google it.

Cadbury Favourites. A whole box. A Merry Christmas/thanks for babysitting present from a friend. I watched her son today and this is how she thanked me. I don't think she likes me much.

Candy canes. Self explanatory no??

So that is why this is such a challenge. Not only am I having to curtail my sweet tooth, I'm having to rip it out without an anaesthetic and flush it down the toliet.

You can see now why writing a 100,000 word novel is a piece of cake in comparison.

Mmmm, cake....

Shadows and cabbages

Hi all. Not much has been happening around our house this week. I've got another killer cold (it's the most times sick I've ever been - I blame the little people in my life) so we've been having a quiet week. We went out to the Belconnen Markets this morning, just because I thought we needed to get out and that it was a place where I could probably control my son with the added bonus of a great cafe and a huge park. My mother-in-law made a surprise visit and ended up coming with us. I wanted to buy some flowers and when I saw these beauties I had to have them.


She told me they were ornamental cabbages. Once I got them home I discovered that they also share another characteristic with the brassica brethren - they're a bit woofy. As in on the nose. So if you're going to get them, do what I did and get them when you're sick and can't smell a thing!!

Once home, my son and I made some cheese muffins (so good and so easy too - 1 cup self-raising flour, 1 cup cheese, 1 cup milk, paprika - I also added some ham just to mix it up) then sat in the one sliver of sun we get in our living room and ate about twenty of them. Here we are.



Off to the gong for the weekend, so I hope you all have a good one.

Kirsty x

The Meal

I forgot to add this other tradition to my last post. For Easter, and many other times through out the year, we enjoyed fish when I was growing up. This recipe is my favourite and comes from my very talented father - thanks Dad! It's for a baked, whole fish which is not only delicious but quick, easy and good for you. As for the name, I'm not sure where it came from. It was always my favourite request at birthday time and I guess that's just what I called it!!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and don't forget the crusty bread to mop up the yummy juices!!

The Meal:

Ingredients:

Whole fish (I used snapper but mullet is also very good)
Lemon
Ground Oregano
Onion
Tomato
Salt
Olive oil
Parsley
Bread crumbs (couscous if available)

Method:
Wash fish and add salt, lemon juice, oregano to inside and outside of fish
Slice onion and tomato and place in cavity
Pour olive oil into baking dish
Add fish and pour oil over fish
Place sliced tomato along top of fish
Cover tomato with bread crumbs and parsley
Add lemon juice to dish
Cover with foil and place in moderate (180c or 350F) oven for 30 minutes


Enjoy with potatoes, bread and salad.

Bacci,

Kirsty x

Playing House

Well, I know you're all dying to hear about my domestic urges so here's a low down at what's been going on at our place.


I am on afternoon tea duty at playgroup tomorrow afternoon so I made some Oatmeal Nutties (I think they're really just the same as Anzac biscuits but if we call them Oatmeal Nutties we can eat them anytime of the year!!). They were absolutely delicious! I've been having a bit of trouble with the new electric oven at our place (I'm used to cookin' with gas) and some of my other baking treats have turned out, well, let's say they've been interesting.

The cookies however were perfect. I just hope they last the day tomorrow before playgroup begins!! Here's a pic:



And here's the recipe courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly Recipe Card Library (I would be lost without this heirloom recipe box!!)

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup coconut
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g (4oz) butter
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Combine in a bowl rolled oats, coconut, sifted flour, sugar and salt. Combine in a saucepan water, butter, and golden syrup, stir until butter has melted; add to dry ingredients; add soda, mix well.
Place teaspoons of mixture onto lightly greased oven trays; allow room for spreading. Bake in moderate oven approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Mine were quite soft whenI took them out of the oven but they crunchied up real nice once they cooled. Enjoy!
In other news, we bought a new coverlet on the weekend. Now I've been looking for a coverlet since I saw one for sale at 1825 (my new favourite shop). That one was $330 and WAY out of my price range!! The one I saw on Saturday however was much cheaper, and once sale further still, so I snapped it right up. Here's a glimpse:

A coverlet is like a bedspread and is perfect in summer when a doona is just too hot. And the pretty blue and green patterns in it really matches the feature wall in the bedroom (and there's N in the background introducing Thomas and Diesel to our bedroom! - For those of you who don't know, N is OBSESSED with all things Thomas the Tank Engine and plays with his toy trains all day long!!)

Saturday was also especially fruitful for the baby. She got a new cot which X expertly assembled (I'm going for all white with the furniture inthe baby's room) and I just love this cot:

I've just laid on it a new quilt I bought for her in Bowral last weekend. We have a ton of blankets and quilts from when N was born, but I wanted this one to have something special for herself.
Saturday morning we also went to Baby and Kids Market at EPIC. It was the first time I'd been to one and it was absolutely incredible. Everything to do with babies and kids was on sale there - clothes, toys, prams, cots, high chairs, furniture, nappy bags and more! There were dozens of stalls set up and although the quality of the clothing and toys varied (the markets are second hand goods) for the most part everything was quite good and SOOO cheap! I but the baby a heap of clothes for only $20! I'll definitely be going back!

So that's the shopping for new things part of our weekend out of the way!! As for the painting, well there's been a fair bit of that going on round here too. I was looking at Feathers in My Nest and I just loved what Leslie has done to her place. So I was inspired to get out the paint brush and spruce up some old furniture of my own (or rather I had X do it for me!!) The hall table with the mirror and the old sewing machine table were the two pieces to get treatment this time and once the third coat is finished I'll post pics of the completed work.
In case you were wondering, I am now the size of a small elephant (I use the word small kindly) and painting is just not really an option. It's hard enough getting up and down! Here I am at 32 weeks pregnant:

And finally my new desk arrives on Thursday which I can't wait for! I'm so sick of this little old Office Works one! Finally my study will be complete (unless there's a baby number 3!!)

Hope you all enjoyed the slightly more neurotic aspect of KV Writes!!!

Ciao,

Kirsty x