This afternoon we are off to the Perfect Bean Cafe in Florey for a Coeliac Society GTG. we have been there before (well, Rora and I have) but i can't find the photos i took!

they are opening especially for our group :)

i will take more photos and report back this afternoon (well, now that I come to think of it, i have no idea where my new phone puts my photos either lol i will TRY)

not only was the 2 week menu plan so much better for us, but I also had the idea of writing the menu plan up on a piece of laminated paper so we could tick off what we'd had the kids could pick most nights - it worked amazingly well!!! there were hardly any complaints compared to usual and we had a few discoveries such as the fact that the kids have now decided they LOVE sloppy joes and wedges! and spinach and potato soup is one of their favourite dinners! LOL

so as you can see from the picture, on this week's menu is...

baked potatoes
sausages with salad
chicken jambalaya
sloppy joes and wedges
tacos
pasta fagiole
pizza
fried rice
spaghetti bolognese
spinach & potato soup
pasta carbonara
pumpkin risotto
butter chicken

hmmmm i need to tick some of those boxes already!

we have kept ordering the large seasonal box from vegies to your door and been very happy with it. a box lasts us around 10 days (which works well with them delivering several times a week) except for needing to buy more fruit to top it up.

our strawberry plants have been doing really well and i've been able to send ryan to school with homegrown berries most days for his fruit break!!!

tonight is our school disco and usually i would give the kids dinner before we go, but we are going to a playdate instead, so i rang the school canteen to ask what GF options they would have for the night.

they do usually have GF bread so she offered a sandwich and i explained that rora would most likely not be happy eating a sandwich when everyone else is eating party pies and sausage rolls.

i offered to bring some sausage rolls and have them heat them for us - no, they can't heat anything not from their kitchen due to health & safety regs.

so then i asked if next year (when she is actaully a student there instead of a younger sibling) they would be able to stock the GF sausage rolls and was told it was a decision for the canteen committee. 'hmmm' i said 'that's good because i was planning on joining the committee to make sure that there would be lots of safe gf options' she sounded VERY dubious about that idea ;)

then she said it wasn't worth keeping them just for 1 or 2 children. i explained they were frozen. she said that it was a space issue in the freezer

at this point i just said 'hmmmmmmmmmmmm' very non-committedly and gave up.

next year I will definitely have more to say about it. i know from research at work that discriminating against people with special food needs like that is discrimination under the disability discrimination act. (because the definition of discrimination is very broad under the act and a body part that doesn't do what it is supposed to is considered a disability. yes, i work in the disability field, so i don't consider coeliac disease a disability normally, but if they are going to discriminate against my child i will damn well use every bit of legislation there is!!)

there has already been a case fought and won on that premise and i am not going to let rora be discriminated against for the next 6 years, she had better think again.... !!!

what does your canteen have in the way of gluten free options?

no idea what order we'll have these in but rough menu plan for next 2 weeks...

what we always have to have (because they're the only meals ALL the kids will all eat that are vaguely healthy):
spag bol
tacos
pasta and pesto with broccoli
pizza (bought bases)

plus:
nasi goreng
red curry chicken & veg
baked potatoes with assorted toppings
cauli & chickpea curry
pumpkin risotto
spinach & potato soup
west african sweet potato soup for us
potato wedges with sloppy joes

well, this was the best meal i've cooked in months!!!!!

had a craving for a beef curry - was thinking thai red beef curry but then decided to go for a rendang. Used the recipe in the old EDC to cook it, but made changes based on the feedback in this thread and the recipes i had in books here and online...

served with coconut rice (just basmati with the leftover coconut cream & water to required amount of liquid) and a simple vegie dish it was utterly divine - geoff kept telling me it was restaurant standard!!

Simple Sidedish of Vegetables with Roasted Peanuts
1/4 cup whole raw peanuts
3 medium potatoes, chopped into 2" x 1" pieces, and steamed until just soft (I steamed mine over the rice)
1 tab oil
1 handful green beans, topped and tailed (drying them is a good idea)
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, peeled & roughly chopped
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, but into 2" pieces
1/4 red capsicum, cut into matchstick pieces
1 tab brown sugar or other brown sweetener (agave, palm sugar etc) *
gluten free soy sauce to taste*
a little water

into a medium size saucepan or frypan place the peanuts and heat to medium. when they start to brown you will need to stir regularly. when brown all over and smelling yummy get a strong potato masher and squash them a bit so you have some smaller pieces. pour into a bowl and when they've cooled for 5 minutes remove any loose bits of skin.

heat oil. when hot add beans, fry, stirring for about 4-5 minutes. add onion and garlic and fry, stirring, for about 3-4 minutes. add the other vegetables and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.

add sugar and soy sauce and enough water to make a bit of sauce in the bottom. leave to cook for around 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

stir peanuts through and serve top with coriander if you have any!

* if you don't need GF use ketjap manis / sweet soy sauce


Beef Rendang
Paste:
1 large red chilli, cut end off
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic
1 small red onion, peeled
1 tspn turmeric
20g oil
1 tspn fish sauce

Other:
4 bay leaves
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
3 star anise
5 cardamom pods, squashed with the flat of a knife
ground pepper, to taste
25g brown sugar (or palm sugar etc)
150g coconut cream
30g dessicated coconut, browned (i did it in the same saucepan i cooked the vegies, before starting them)
500g diced beef (i used scotch fillet which worked really well, as i had no chuck etc)

place the paste ingredients EXCEPT fish sauce & oil in the thermomix (don't touch the cut edge of the chilli with your fingers - or if you do wash well and don't put your fingers near your face or eyes!) and chop for 10-15 seconds on speed 6

add oil and saute for 3 minutes at 100'c speed 3

add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl EXCEPT the meat and cook for 5 minutes at 100'c speed soft

add meat and cook for 90 - 120 minutes (you'll need to set it twice or add time as you go) at 100'c reverse speed soft

serve with coconut rice & vegetables. try not to drool too much or make too much of a pig of yourself LOL

I have been on my blog a lot lately, believe it or not – as I have been using the recipes for work. Boy we eat a lot of chicken, I had no idea!! Lol

 

Food and cooking and I have not been friends lately. A combination of thinking about it too much at work perhaps, the increasing fussiness of Ryan and Rora, being tired after working a lot more days and hours than I’m used to, struggling to come up with meals that everyone can / will eat. Even having the ingredients because shopping is getting trickier – we seem to be insanely busy on weekends and often don’t get near a supermarket despite needing stuff! I’ve also been spending lots of time on weekends sewing clothes for my girls, as money in a bit tight atm (yes, crazy that money is worse now I’m working but blame child care costs, hoping that will improve next year!) as well as sewing for others to make a bit of extra pocket money.

 

I decided last weekend that it was ridiculous trying to shop every weekend so we are going to try to shop fortnightly instead (hard to train g to buy in bulk but I can try ;)) and I have just ordered our first order from vegies to your door http://vegiestoyourdoor.com.au – it was fabulous! Very impressed and will definitely order from them again. (at least until choku bai jo ever gets its act together and does home delivery ;))

 

So anyway, apologies for not being around and not updating. Maybe things might settle a bit next year, one can hope!

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