thanks leah :) posting here so i don't lose it!

Lemon cookies

3 tablespoons oil or melted butter
1/3 cup Splenda or sugar (I used splenda)
1 cup soy flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoon water
2tbs lemon juice
1 tsp lemon rind.

Mix together the butter and Splenda. Blend in the water, juice and rind. Sift together the dry ingredients three times (to add volume to the flour). Mix in wet ingredients. Roll into little balls and flatten with a fork. Bake at 160 for about 15 minutes.

i haven't tried these - i got them from a book at work and plan to try them gluten free.

here is a recipe to make your own french onion soup mix


Sunflower & Parmesan Biscuits
150g unsalted butter
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 ¼ cups plain flour
2-3 tspns lemon pepper seasoning (or French onion soup mix)
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup grated parmesan, extra

Preheat oven to 180

Beat bugger until light and creamy, add cheeses and combine
Fold in flour and seasoning
Add seeds.
Combined with well floured hand. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead 2-3 mins until smooth
Roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper to 5mm thickness
Cut into 4cm squares
Allow room for spreading, sprinkle extra parmesan on top
Bake 10-15 mins

French Onion Crackers
2 cups plain flour
¼ cup cornflour
2 tabs French onion soup mix
2 tspns dried chives
125g unsalted butter
½ cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 180g
Place, flours, soup mix chives and butter in food processor pulse until fine and crumbly
Add sour cream & process further until forms a dough
Turn onto floured surface and knead 30 seconds until smooth
Roll out to 5mm
Cut into 4cm squares, prick with a fork
Bake 20 minutes or until golden

ahhh don't you just love a cooking disaster? i just made these cookies - doubled the recipe but not the flour. *sigh* lol


ah well, lucky the uncooked dough tasted good ;) they were soooo easy and i'm sure they're going to be a hit so i am going to make another batch for the freezer once i type the doubled recipe out, giving less room for error!

originally taken from Friendly Food from the Royal Prince Alfred Allergy Unit (they are egg free, dairy free if you sub butter with dairy free marg, gluten free, nut free and soy free if your flours are soy free)

250g butter
160g brown sugar (or raw sugar ground in the thermomix)
2 tspns vanilla essence
300g gluten free plain flour
150g gluten free SR flour

heat oven to 170'c

roughly chop butter and place in thermomix, add sugar and vanilla. mix on speed 4 for about 30 seconds until well mixed and just starting to look creamy.

add flours and mix on reverse closed lid knead setting until well mixed (i think this took a minute or 2 actually)

put teaspoonfuls rolled into small balls on baking trays lined with baking paper. with a fork (dipped in flour if needed) press down gently to create crisscrosses on top

bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. cool on a wire rack.

i think they would be lovely with a little raw sugar sprinkled on top before cooking too :)

in my wildest dreams i wouldn't have thought the thing most likely to make me break my detox (haven't yet) would be wanting meat. i have eaten vegetarian for weeks before and been fine with it, i honestly thought it would be bread or dairy that would make me break it (or chocolate)

but it's meat i've been desperately wanting to eat.

so lunch today is quinoa (hopefully the protein will be more satisfying) and tuna (meat of a kind ;)) and i did some googling for inspiration. when i complained last time that our quinoa was bitter no one told me i need to soak and rinse well first to get rid of the bitterness. so that is today's lesson ;p

this is surprisingly delicious for such a simple dish and i will definitely be making it more often for work lunches!

Morrocan-Spiced Quinoa dish
around 1/2 cup quinoa (i used red but any colour is fine)
half tspn chicken stock powder or to taste (i use massell)
sprinkle cinnamon and coriander, larger sprinkle cumin
handful pinenuts
1/4 cup currants
4 dates, chopped (optional)
1/2 carrot, grated finely
1 tin tuna in water, drained
1 shallot / green onion and/or parsley and/or mint, finely chopped

soak quinoa for around 20-30 mins, rinse well. put in a pot of boiling water and boil for 20 minutes.
drain, rinse again. place back in pot with a little water (maybe about 5mm in the bottom)
add all ingredients except tuna and shallots and simmer for 5 minutes.
add tuna and shallots and serve

as requested ;)

it was great!!

quite different to what i thought it would be, but i enjoyed it none-the-less

Cyndi O'Meara was great (i know her website looks a little dodgy but she was fabulous, very passionate and made a lot of sense). i could have happily just gone to see her without any cooking!!! i definitely want to get her books when i can.

i didn't get to try much of the food unfortunately (if it was just doing weightwatchers i would have, but because i'm trying to sort out food intolerances etc i didn't want to waste the past week). i was disappointed that there was only one new recipe - the most divine cauliflower and date curry which i can't wait to try when they post the recipe on the blog . all the other recipes were from various cookbooks. they also didn't hand out a copy of the recipes cooked which i thought was pretty slack. anyway, here is what they cooked (i think, i'm a bit vague without a piece of paper to remind me!):

• raspberry icecream
• mango sorbet
• tomato & cashew chunky dip (tried this, yum!)
• coleslaw (cyndi's recipe)
  
• TM31 bread
• a noodle soup (grace mazur was there and did this)
• gluten free cheese & herb muffins
  
• the cauliflower and date tagine
• josie's meatloaf with vegies and sauce
• a smoothie type thing

that's all i can remember (not helped by a 4yo complaining repetitively in my ear) there were also some cakes and things from cyndi's cookbooks, and some other things like gluten free bread etc.

i wish that cyndi had talked more about the specific recipes and how they illustrated her theories - which she did really well for the smoothie thingie - it was almost like the recipes and the talk weren't related half the time! (cyndi talked a lot about "real" food vs "fake / synthetic" food)

i also got to meet another karen from canberra who is on eb and a thermomix addict - hi karen! it was lovely to meet you and have some company!

overall i just enjoyed going along and would happily go along to another class (but i wouldn't pay more unless i was going to be getting a heap of new recipes with handouts)

this version was even easier and yummier than my other version! it reminded me of the pasta e fagiole without the pasta.


this quantity serves around 2-3 as a main (with toast or baked potato etc)

2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 green capsicum (pepper)
5g olive oil
3 ripe roma tomatoes, quartered
1/2-1 tspn beef stock powder (i use massell)
1 tin drained rinsed butter beans
1-3 tabs chickpea flour (or other, chickpea is what i had on the bench from last night)

chop the capsicum and garlic finely on speed 6 for around 2 seconds. scrape down bowl.
add oil and cook for 2 minutes at 90' speed 1 (you might not need as long if not using onion)
add tomato and chop on speed 6 for about 5-10 seconds
add stock powder, 1 tab flour and beans and cook for 10 minutes at 90'c reverse speed 1
check thickness, add more flour if required and cook for a further 5 minutes at 90'c reverse speed 1

i think these were nearly good enough to be acceptable for the kids ;)

according to http://www.stimator.com/ this blog is worth US$2704. anyone want to buy it? lol

~~~~~~~
ok, some people have asked if i've blogged about the detoxing and no, i haven't really. as i think i said in my menu plan post the main reasons i'm doing it is to try to sort out the bloating problem i'm having, and to try to work out what food intolerances i might have.

timely as i've actaully been doing better than usual but i've obviously eaten something last night (i had GF wheat free bread with the laucke grain mix for the first time in over a week) or this morning (i made pancakes with buckwheat flour, soy milk and bananas (i've been eating the last 2 every morning)which as a sidenote were absolutely delicious) and now i have pain in my tummy and am quite bloated again. but i have no idea what could be the problem. i guess i will just continue to avoid that stuff for a bit longer...

as a pleasant side effect this week i lost 1.6kg in the week. yet i'm still eating 3 full meals and 2 snacks as usual - i've been finding myself hungrier in some of the afternoons, but a handful of nuts seems to solve it. i need to get to the health food shop and stock up on more quinoa as well as some other bits and pieces.

despite the current 37' outside - getting up to 40' today - i have the oven on as i'm making a flatbread out of chickpeas, from the thermomix GF WF cookbook. it looks very weird so hoping it's nice. i wanted to make more bread for rora (as we all had GF bread last night due to lack of any "real" bread) but can't find a recipe with ingredients i have!

tomorrow i have the thermomix cooking class on ! woohoo! can't wait. i hope i get a lot out of it :) and i hope that the air con in the venue is good LOL

i have more i could say but feel like i'm rambling now, i need a nanna nap desperately!

last night i just couldn't be bothered cooking, it's been too hot and I'd had an awful day (everything that could go wrong had gone wrong). inspired by Caroline's baked beans, which i didn't have time to make, i decided to go with a quicker version which was a bit plain but nice enough for me to write down in case of other lazy nights...

this quantity serves around 2-3 as a main (with toast or baked potato etc)

1/2 small red onion, optional *
2 garlic cloves, peeled
5-10g olive oil
2 ripe roma tomatoes, quartered
1/2-1 tspn beef stock powder (i use massell)
1 tin drained rinsed cannellini beans **

chop the onion and garlic finely on speed 6 for around 2 seconds.
add oil and cook for 5 minutes at 90' speed 2 (you might not need as long if not using onion)
add tomato and stock powder and cook for 5 minutes at 90' speed 4
add beans and cook for 15 minutes at 80'c reverse speed 1 with measuring cup out of lid


* i used a full one and it was a bit strong tasting, i'm not sure if i needed to cook it longer or leave it out
** i think you could probably use 2 in this quantity

a dollop of tomato paste in with the beans would probably be good too

inspired by Dani's post i sat down with the kids and wrote a list up so that I should (hopefully) never run out of ideas for lunches and snacks for them. They don't tend to like a lot of the things other mums suggest for their kids such as pikelets (they'll only eat them fresh) or muffins (won't touch them at all) etc.

I also realised just how easy daycare lunches used to be a year ago before we had the coeliac diagnosis and everyone acquired particular tastes LOL

Ryan has just started kindy (the first year of full-time compulsory schooling here in the ACT) and their schoolbags do stay outside in the sun, so i pack his lunch in an insulated lunchbag, with a frozen drink in there (and things like sandwiches, yoghurt and slice / cake is frozen too). If i need to i will put a small freezer brick in too. i think emelia's bag is in the sun too at preschool.

Ryan - lunch
roll with tomato, lettuce & cucumber
sandwiches with : honey, jam, vegemite or garlic & herb cream cheese
meatballs with a tomato & cucumber salad
garlic pizza
sausages & salad
rice paper rolls
homemade sausage rolls
corn on the cob
bean salad

Ryan - snacks & fruit time
strawberries
oranges
kiwifruit
watermelon
pretzels
fruit juice
popcorn
butter cake
chocolate cake
fruit puree tubs
yoghurt
choc chip cookies
jelly cups
marble cake
jam drops
zucchini & carrot cakes
custard
UHT flavoured milks

Emelia - lunch
sandwiches with : ham / cheese, honey, jam, vegemite or garlic & herb cream cheese
meatballs with cheese & little salad (she's just starting to eat salad :))
crackers or corn thins & cream cheese
garlic pizza
sausages
hard boiled eggs
rice paper rolls
homemade sausage rolls
corn on the cob

Emelia - snacks
cheese cubes
le rice
pretzels
rice crackers
strawberries
bananas
watermelon
fruit juice
popcorn
chocolate cake
fruit puree tubs
yoghurt
choc chip cookies
jelly cups
marble cake
jam drops
zucchini & carrot cakes
custard
UHT flavoured milks
banana bread

Aurora - lunch (all GF of course)
ham & cheese
gluten free meatballs with cheese & cucumber
corn thins & cream cheese
garlic pizza (gluten free)
sausages (gluten free)
hard boiled eggs
rice paper rolls
homemade sausage rolls (if i can do the GF pastry thing)
corn on the cob
chicken nuggets (homemade & GF) with cheese & salad
soup & gf bread
enchiladas
GF pasta with sauce
pasta salad
GF macaroni cheese with grated veg
rice noodles
baked beans
bean salad
any leftovers such as tonight's rice & dal

Aurora - snacks & fruit
cheese cubes
le rice
pretzels (when i find the GF ones)
rice crackers
apples
oranges
watermelon
fruit juice
popcorn
GF snack packs such as rice rounds etc
fruit puree tubs
yoghurt
jelly cups
zucchini & carrot cakes??
custard
UHT flavoured milks
dips

i can't believe i haven't updated since Tuesday. but i haven't been at all in the mood to cook, so there's been nothing to say! i guess i could share that we were very excited to discover that our favourite takeaway store does gluten free now! yay!

it's been pretty hot here for the past week (though not a patch on the 40-45'c's that melbourne and adelaide have had) - in the high 30's and we've just been trying to stay cool any way we can. we had dinner with friends the other night at the dickson pool and it's so nice to have GF meatballs or similar in the freezer all ready to go so we just need to make a salad and off we go. (mind you i need to replenish our supplies as we're all out now)

this next week and a bit is a big one in our house with ryan starting full time school (kindergarten here in the ACT) tomorrow, and rora returning to daycare for the first time as a coeliac. emelia has her preschool interview this week and then next week she starts with a half day followed by a full day. (all these graduated starts make it really tricky for working parents) so inspired by dani we wrote out a list of lunches and snacks that the kids like for school / preschool / daycare. i wish they could / would eat more in common!!!

on top of that is the fact i am going to try the detox program that has been advertised on the radio all the time lately - yes i have IBS and in the past 6-12 months bloating has become a huge problem for me - even after losing nearly 10kg i havne't gone down a single size in clothes! it is making it hard to stay focussed when there's no result :( so anyway i'm going to give this a try and see if it helps. i've spent the past few days coping with the headaches as a result of coming off coffee (and i only have 1-2 cups a day!) so i'm pretty much ready to start the detox... i just need a menu. (i like to make things easy for myself trying to do a GF vegan menu for 2 weeks lol)

geoff and the kids will keep eating meat as they'd starve without it lmao!

jubilant daal made with oil not ghee
bean tacos / taco salad for me
pasta with bean & vegie sauce
baked beans on toast (and eggs for them)
baked spinach kofta with yoghurt sauce for them
vegetarian fried rice with tamari (possibley some meat for them)

next week
mexican rice with grilled chicken for them and beans for me
lentil soup without meat
stir fry with chicken for them and prawns for me
cauliflower dahl with panch phoran ??
homemade gnocchi with tomato sauce