Gluten free links

as usual my bloglines is chockablock full of links of things i think look yummy or worth making. and then they sit there for months while i forget about them and they make it harder and harder to read the other blogs *cough*

so here are those i've been saving:

Breads etc
Crusty French Bread
Perfect Pizza (dough)
Foccacia
Improved GF bread
Wraps
Hamburger buns
rough puff pastry
crusty boule
dinner rolls
Indian Naan
onion sorghum rolls
amaranth soda bread
Jowar Roti (sorghum flatbread)
french bread
bajra roti (millet flatbread)

Cakes, slices, biscuits etc
Peanut Butter cookies
Chocolatey Peanut Butter Rice Crispy treats
Churros
Fresh Strawberry Pie
Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Molasses Spice Cookies
Othellos (choc cookies)
cinnamon rolls
blueberry muffins with almond flour
brown sugar buckwheat cookies
pumpkin scones with maple nutmeg icing
quinoa breakfast bars with blueberries
chocolate seed bars

Mains
Vegetarian Tikka Masala
Vegan Eggplant Parmagiana
Thai Noodle Salad
Quinoa Taco Salad


Entertaining ideas
http://celiacdisease.about.com/b/2010/01/27/half-time-parties-winter-weekend-get-togethers-gluten-free.htm
Vegetarian Spring Rolls
olive oil crackers

Other tips
eating GF on a budget
GFCF shopping list (american)

Meal Plan

this could be a work in progress, as I shopped at Choku Bai Jo today and i decided that as I didn't know what they'd have, I'd meal plan after. lucky i did as they were nearly out of a lot of stuff. no thanks to the lady who took the best bananas after hearing me say to ryan "please get all the bananas left there". haha to her as they bought out more - better ones! teehee

anyway, here's the plan so far and the other things i bought, suggestions welcome...

cauli & bacon soup - huge pot for the freezer as well as dinner
beef stroganoff & garlic bread
sweet potato something - soup or a casserole or something
a dish with pork fillet - perhaps an asian salad or noodley dish
something with cabbage - i'm tossing up between minestrone or cabbage cooked slowly with bacon (mmmmm) with a meat & veg.
I guess i need a veg dish too, lotta meat above

carrot cake
chocolate cake
GF bread

Honey Chilli Chicken

Love this one for being so easy! it's also great for the slow cooker (though it only takes about 6 hours on low).

Honey Chilli Chicken

Ingredients
3 spring onions, finely chopped
6 skinless chicken thigh fillets (we use breast)
1/2 cup water or chicken stock
3 tabs clear honey
1 1/4 tspns sesame oil
4 tspns hot chilli sauce (we use Thai sweet chilli sauce)
1 1/2 tspns salt (if not using stock)
2 tabs sesame seeds

Method
Preheat oven to 190'C (375'F)
Spread spring onions in a casserole or microwave dish into which the chicken will fit snugly.

Arrange the chicken pieces side by side on top of the onions and pour in the water or stock.

In a small bowl combine the honey, sesame oil, chilli sauce and salt (if using) and pour evenly over the chicken. Scatter sesame seeds over.

Cook uncovered in preheated oven for 25 mins, basting occasionally with the sauce. Check if done and cook a little longer if needed.

MICROWAVE: cook on HIGH for 8 mins, baste with the sauce and cook for a further 6 mins.
Baste again and leave to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: a saute of spinach, or of sliced green and gold zucchini with shredded ginger, plus steamed white rice, potatoes just about any way, or buttered noodles.

from the "Fast & Fiery" Cookbook by Jacki Passmore

Recipes for a school recipe book

Our school is doing a recipe book for fundraising (I LOVE those books! lol). I had to restrict how many i sent through and told the organiser to just use the ones she thought were best for the book lol

It was an interesting exercise picking recipes that are / were family favourites, that didn't use the thermomix, and I wanted most of them to have the option to be made gluten free. These are the ones I went for:

1. Oven Baked Pumpkin Risotto
2. Creamy Cauliflower and Bacon Soup
3. Honey Chilli Chicken
4. (Lemon) Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
5. Chicken Jambalaya
6. Foolproof Scones
7. Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne
8. Julie’s Carrot Cake
9. Apple Tea Cake / Vanilla Cake / Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free)
10. Easy Mud Cake

Which of your family's favourite recipes would you share?

Green Curry Fried Rice

in order to use up half a chinese cabbage in my fridge i decided to make noodles and bought chicken mince and baby corn to do so :) then had no noodles lol
my plan for making this changed multiple times before and during making it, due to no garlic and some inspiration on the way :D

it's very quick and simple and easy to substitute whatever you have in your cupboard, to use things up.

ingredients:
cooking spray or oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
500g chicken mince (or any kind of mince or cooked shredded meat)
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 tabs green curry paste (or any kind of curry paste)
assorted vegetables (i used 2 packets baby corn, blanched & chopped, 1/2 green capsicum & small piece of red capsicum, half a chinese cabbage shredded, small piece pumpkin diced, frozen beans and frozen peas)
1 tin light coconut cream
soy sauce (or fish sauce or stock concentrate) USE GF if needed
cooked rice (jasmine or basmati)

gently fry eggs without stirring too much, remove and let cool then dice or shred
respreay wok and heat on high til slightly smoking, add chicken, onion, carrot and curry paste and fry til chicken is at least 2/3 cooked.
add the longer cooking vegies such as pumpkin etc and coo, stirring
add other vegies and coconut cream, turn heat down to medium / medium low (you don't want the coconut cream to boil)
add all other ingredient and mix well. our vegies weren't quite done so we put a lid on and left it on low for around 5 minutes.

serve with sweet chilli sauce and / or fresh coriander if desired :)

Meal Plan

oh... my... goodness...

this morning as rora and i were up early and the others were all out at a joey scout sleepover i decided we'd run to the supermarket so as not to waste time during the day (plus we were out of maple syrup and wanted pancakes for breakie hehehehe) so we ducked to Coles at the mall...

i nearly died at the total at the checkout! because i usually try to shop at the cheapest places (aldi, choku bai jo, discount stores etc) i always forget just how expensive the major supermarkets are, especially considering the quality of the fresh produce compared to other places. *sigh* that's the price you pay for convenience i guess!

so anyway, having shopped with no menu plan i need to work out a rough menu so as not to waste what i have bought.

cauliflower and bacon soup (also for freezer)
spag bol
sausages, mash & veg
potato & spinach curry & dahl
something with beef in the slow cooker
pizza

butter cake
chocolate cake
GF bread

Quick Chicken-Vegie Noodle Stirfry (GF)

mmmmm this was good and so easy! I'm working at a school atm and today we made something very similar in cooking class so I decided to use the inspiration for home :)

this will serve 6 probably

1 250g packet rice noodles (i wanted the fat flat ones but only had vermicelli)
oil of your choice, a few tabs
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1" ginger, peeled and chopped
500g chicken breasts or thighs, minced (or chicken mince of course!)
vegies of your choice - i used a pack of baby corn, cut into strips, 1/2 wombuk, shredded, 1/2 bunch of broccoli cut into small pieces *
fresh mint and coriander to your taste, shredded or chopped
soy sauce, perhaps 1/4 cup? (to taste) gluten free if required
1/2 lemon or lime
sweet chilli sauce to serve (optional)

heat oil in wok. add eggs and swirl a few times to cook a thin omelette. remove from pan and when cooler roll up and shred. save.
add more oil if needed and cook onion, broccoli, garlic and ginger until just starting to turn translucent. add chicken and baby corn and cook over high heat, stirring until nearly cooked.
add remaining vegies and cook for 5 minutes until soft
add remaining ingredients - including squeezing juice over wok and shredded omelette - and mix well heating well, serve with sauce if desired

yum!


* you could also use any chinese greens, capsicum, carrot etc

ryan's birthday cake!

well, talk about a slack blogger!

Ryan turned 7 a few weeks ago - it's not party year here for him (though how is it that somehow a celebration with 2 friends turns out as big - and expensive - as a party, by the time you get all the family there?! lol) so we went to AMF bowling to play a few games. Food was simple - popcorn and chips, with a superman cake.

once i started decorating the cake i got total stage fright at how to do it without ruining it - i don't even own a piping set anymore! (recommendations please, not the TW piping ball, ugh!) - before i thought to use my printed out logo as a stencil rather than inspiration ;) made the job much simpler than expected!

the black gel spoiled it a little i think, it didn't have a nozzle so putting it on evenly was rather difficult.

Jam Drops (GF, TMX)

it's been a long time since I last made these - around 2 years - so i decided to give them a try gluten free - they worked very well and finally! something all 3 kids will eat!!! lol

based on the recipe from Taste, made GF and doubled...

Gluten Free Jam Drops

250g butter, softened *
200g sugar or castor sugar
2 tspn vanilla essence
2 eggs
520g gluten free self raising flour or plain flour with 4-5 tspns baking powder added
plain flour, to dust
2/3 cup strawberry jam **

preheat oven to 180'c

put butter and sugar into thermomix and mix on speed 4 until light and creamy (you may need to scrape down) - around 20-30 seconds.

add vanilla essence and eggs and mix on speed 4 for another 20 seconds.

add flour and mix on speed 4 until combined - you will probably need to help it a little with a spatula as the dough gets stiffer.

roll teaspoonfuls into balls, flatten slightly and place on lined tray. when you've done a tray-full flour one of your thumbs or fingers (or the end of a wooden spoon etc) and create an indentation in each ball. fill with a small amount of jam.

bake for 15 minutes until just golden brown. leave on trays to cool.


I found that mine lasted in a tupperware container for 6 days! (usually i find GF cakes etc go dry very quickly)


* if my butter is straight out of the fridge i soften it by cubing, then putting in the thermomix on 37'c speed 4 for 20-25 seconds (any longer will melt it)

** if you make your own thermomix jam try making some runnier than usual, it's perfect!

Menu Plan

Pantry week did not go according to plan last week *cough* less said the better. of course it doesn't help when you run out of basmati, jasmine AND arborio rice all the same week!

dahl
baked potatoes & ragu
meatloaf
minestrone
potato curry with raita
easy nachos
lamb & cauli curry (tonight)