Tuna, Rice, Cheese, Egg thingies with zucchini & semi-dried tomatoes (GF, TMX)

we had a meeting with rora's teacher last week and apparently rora has been turning up to school every day hungry (she has a toasted cheese and ham sandwich for breakfast most days at around 7:30am). she then tells her teacher i haven't sent anything for fruit break (she refuses to have anything sent and tells me she won't eat it if i do) and then eats only the high carb recess snack (i generally also include something with protein etc) and complains of hunger all the way til lunch - another cheese and ham sandwich...

so i had 'operation cook second breakfast for school' today...!!

i made:

• Magic Bean Cake, a chocolate cake with kidney beans in it
• the Banana and Blueberry bread from the TMX GF book: she won't eat the blueberries so i added some choc chips to it. i had no buckwheat flour so used a mix of (for a double batch) 50g lupin flour, 30g besan flour, 50g flaxmeal, 80g brown rice flour and the rest plain flour
• and these tuna and rice thingies... with a tad too much turmeric lol (the turmeric was to hide the zucchini ;))

1 large zucchini, chop ends and into pieces and place in tmx with 2 cloves garlic and some fresh parsley or other herbs and chop speed 7 for around 3 seconds or until as fine as you want.

put in as many semi-dried or sun-dried tomatoes as you want and chop on speed 5 for a few seconds

add in around 1.5 cups cooked basmati or brown rice, around 200g drained tuna, about a cup of grated cheese, 1/2-1 tspn turmeric and 4 eggs.

mix on speed 3 until well mixed.

spoon into a muffin tin and cook at around 150' for about 25-30 mins

Sang Choy Bow (GF, TMX)

Quick, easy meal that is still healthy and (supposedly) kid-friendly :)

of course in my family i was surprised by ryan eating one small filled leaf willingly and saying it tasted OK ("not good mummy, but OK") before making himself a pesto sandwich (pesto being one of his current 'things'). Rora ate heaps of the meat and tried the lettuce. Emelia on the other hand - usually my least fussy child - put up a huge fuss and barely tried and spat out a mouthful before almost being sent to bed for the fuss !!

on the other hand geoff and i loved it!

1 iceberg lettuce
1 large carrot
4 large firm mushrooms
1 medium red onion
2 tspn rice bran oil
1 tspn sesame oil
500g mince of any kind - i used beef but a friend recommends a veal / pork blend
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbspn gluten free oyster sauce (i used ayam's brand)
 1 tbspn gluten free black bean sauce (i used ayam's brand)
1/2 tspn sweetener of your choice (i used apple juice concentrate but considered maple syrup)
1 tspn cornflour? (optional, i didn't  use it but was thinking i should have as the meat was quite wet and runny)
coriander, finely chopped, to serve

remove the heart / stem of the lettuce and carefully peel each leaf off, keeping it whole. remove the thicker part in the centre bottom of each leaf

wash carrot & cut ends off, cut into 3-4cm pieces. wash mushrooms. peel onion and cut in half. place vegetables into thermomix and chop for 5-10 seconds at speed 6 until finely chopped.

heat oils in frypan then add vegetables, fry, stirring for a few minutes then push to edges of frypan. add meat and break up in smaller pieces. add garlic and fry, stirring. add sauces and cook until mince is cooked through.

if using cornflour sprinkle over and stir for a couple more minutes to thicken.

place a few spoons of the meat / vegie mix inside a lettuce leaf, sprinkle with coriander and roll / fold the edges around it -  and eat!

you can also add finely chopped water chestnuts with the other vegies, or chang's gluten free fried noodles to serve

Waffles (GF, DF, TMX)

based on the recipe that came with our waffle maker.

makes a lot of waffles - around 20 small ones in our maker.

280g self raising gluten free flour, or:
     30g coconut flour,
     20g besan / chickpea flour
     30g flaxmeal
     200g gluten free plain flour, and
     1 tab baking powder
230g rice or other milk
90g nuttelex, melted (or you could probably use rice bran oil)
2 eggs
20g maple syrup
water as required

put everything except water in the tmx and mix on speed 4. scrape down and mix again. then, with tmx on speed 4, slowly add water until batter is just pouring consistency.

cook according to directions for your waffle maker...

HOWEVER: i found that if you wanted crispy crunchy waffles it was better not to spray the maker with cooking spray -if you wanted slightly softer ones, better to spray between EVERY waffle :)

we had ours with maple syrup and chopped fruit (strawberries, mango and watermelon). rora also had hers with nutella.

quick butterscotch custard (GF, DF, TMX)

i wanted a quick dessert tonight, kids had already had icecream so i only made half the usual custard. unfortunatley (?!) they all loved it and tomorrow i'll have to make more LOL this will make a really thick custard

butterscotch custard for 2
30g brown sugar
1 egg
30g gluten free cornflour
250g soy milk (or any milk you like)
splosh of butterscotch liqueur

put all in the bowl, cook for 7 minutes 90' speed 4

i had mine with sliced banana, yum!

Amanda's Brownies (GF, TMX)

Emelia and I just made these brownies for vacation care next week.  Based on Amanda's Fudgey Brownies
(my recipe is doubled, converted to GF and less sugar though i suspect i could lower the sugar further next time...)

280g gluten free plain flour (or 90g brown rice flour, 90g maize / corn flour and 100g tapioca starch)
10g salt
300g brown sugar
300g castor sugar (or low GI raw sugar)
95g cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
420g rice bran oil
8 eggs
110g cold water

1. Heat oven to 140’c. Grease and line 1-2 slice pans (depending on size).

2. Place everything in thermomix and mix on speed 7 for about 20 seconds.

3. Scrape down sides and mix for another 20 seconds speed 7

4. Pour mix into pans and bake for around 30 minutes

5. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

ShopGlider: Gluten Free Waffles

testing - i'm trying to find a program that will format my recipes better for printing etc - but it looks like this is not it - not if it won't actually publish the recipe on my blog.... i'll have to C&P it here!


Gluten Free Waffles

90 g	butter
230 g	milk
2/3 cup	water (forgot to weigh sorry!)
280 g	gluten free plain flour
2 teaspoons	baking powder
2	eggs
2 tablespoons	sugar

1. Place butter in thermomix. Melt - 40 seconds, 80', speed 2
2. Add all other ingredients. Mix - 20 seconds, speed 4 - scrape down half way through.
3. Cook following directions of your waffle maker

Berry & white chocolate muffins (GF)

the weekend before I made these as i had some yoghurt in the fridge which the kids had rejected for school recesses.  the kids loved them though G & I found them wayyyyy too sweet. i think the sugar in the flavoured yoghurt AND the chocolate was probably too much with the 1/2 cup of added sugar.

they were very quick and easy to make though so i'll definitely make them again when we have yoghurt. i used frozen mixed berries though i think any kind would be good.

Gluten Free Crepes (TMX, DF)

Gluten Free Crepes

500g rice milk (or any kind of milk)
80g brown rice flour
60g tapioca starch
60g maize flour
40g rice bran oil
4 eggs
sprinkle salt

mix on speed 5 for 20 seconds (scrape down bowl if needed)
rest for 30 minutes

lightly spray frypan with cooking spray before cooking (you shouldn't need to spray it more than once or twice) and heat over medium heat. using a soup ladle pour batter into the middle of the pan then swirl the batter around to cover the bottom of the pan. cook for 3-4 minutes until nearly completely cooked through, then flip. cook for 1 more minute and serve.

makes 20

rora and geoff have theirs with maple syrup, emelia has hers with nutella. i like mine with lemon juice and sugar but had mine with an orange and around a cup of blueberries cooked for 2 mins in the microwave *drool*

3 weightwatcher pro points each, or 11 for 4 :)

Tonight's Nachos (GF, TMX)

quickly before i duck off to bed! (have been sick with pneumonia and bronchitis so this is a late night for me lately!)

the recipe below is enough for 2 batches of nachos (ie: 2 packs of corn chips). halve it if desired, or freeze half.

1 large onion, peeled and quartered
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
40g olive oil
2 tspns ground cumin
1 tspn ground coriander
1/2 tspn dried oregano
1/2 tspn paprika (i used smoked but any kind is good)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
250g lean beef mince
splosh of red wine (maybe 30g)
1 jar passata (mine was 690g)
2 tspns stock concentrate, or 1-2 stock cubes
1 tin beans, drained & rinsed (i used cannelini)
1 small green capsicum, diced finely

corn chips & grated cheese as desired
serve with sour cream and avocado / guacamole as desired

chop onion and garlic speed 4 for 5 secs. add oil and saute for 3 mins varoma speed soft

add spices and saute another 2 minutes varoma speed soft

add sweet potato and chop speed 4-5 until the size chunks you want (i over did mine a little). place mince in and cook for 5 minutes 100'c reverse speed 3. (you might need to stir during cooking time)

add the rest of the ingredients (except maybe the beans, mine cooked down, but kidney beans probably would have been fine) and cook for around 15-20 mins 100'c reverse speed 1. again you might need to stir once or twice (or maybe i just had too much in there lol)

when it's done grease 2 large baking dishes (lasagne dishes). spread corn chips over the dish then top with nacho mix. top with cheese if desired. bake at 180'c for around 15-20 mins until cheese is golden brown.

serve with sour cream & avocado / guacamole, a side salad would be great too.

you can also add olives into the mix, extra beans and capsicum instead  of the mince. or try adding bacon and chicken instead.

New Grill'd at Belconnen

New Grill'd at Belconnen, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

We visited today for the first time...

we were curious, and excited, because they said they did gluten free!!!

unfortuantely when we read on it turned out that the gluten free buns were toasted in the same toaster as the gluten buns, so therefore not safe for rora. As it turned out we sat right next to the salad bar / assembly line and there is NO way they are gluten safe, and unfortunately rora won't be having anything except chips and possibly the meat from there (and she didn't like the chips lol). I watched them put too much sauce on a bun, scrape it off, back intot he bowl... put too much  salad on and pick up the excess of the bench (which i hadn't seen them clean) and throw it back into the salad bowls. I guess if she really wanted salad i could insist it not be from the salad bar but it all seems too hard. I also watched the way the girl doing the buns handled the GF ones (there were a few went through) and there was plenty of opportunity for cross contamination out of the toaster, quite apart from the toaster crumbs...

so, geoff had the "front" (something) steak sandwich, i had the "simon says" chicken burger, emelia had the chicken & cheese burger kids meal and ryan had the beef (and bacon instead of cheese) kids meal. I also ordered a regular chips for rora and one for G & i to share. this was a mistake as they were way bigger than i thought and we could have all shared one serve, especially at $4.80 per serve and with rora just licking the (way too much) salt off!

to buy that, with no drinks for G, rora or I was over $50, so a pretty expensive lunch. Ryan and Emelia LOVED theirs and can't wait to go again, G & i enjoyed ours but didn't think they were special enough to justify the price. we'll probably do it again but not in a hurry.

oh, it is worth mentioning that from time of ordering to delivery of food was less than 10 minutes, closer to 5 i think - excellent! they seemed to have great customer service :)

My chicken burger

Geoff's STeak sandwich

The kids' meal in box

and the queue a few minutes after i ordered (i only had one person in front of me ;)), out the door!

Grill'd website

Quick Strawberry Cake (GF, TMX)

Rora wanted strawberry cake but all the recipes i'd used before, and those i could find, used nuts (our school is nut free) except those with jello / jelly. I had an unopened packet of jelly in the pantry without a box which i thought was probably strawberry or something like it, and one last packet cake box, so decided to go with that.

I started with this recipe but changed it to suit - i couldn't see why a recipe with a packet cake AND jelly would need more sugar! I also didn't have any strawberry puree, only frozen berries (fresh frozen by me for smoothies, but still frozen). the packet cake mix i had was the Basco Vanilla Cupcakes mix.

around 8 medium - large hulled Strawberries
1 box of Gluten Free cake mix
1 box of Strawberry Jelly mix
4 Eggs
110g Oil

place whole strawberries in the thermomix and "puree" for 60 seconds on speed 6, 90'

dump everything else in and mix until lump free (around 10 secs, scrape down, 10 secs)

place into muffin tray - makes 12 large muffins and bake at 160'c for around 20 minutes or until firm to touch

I will probably use the frosting pack to make some frosting to go on top later

super easy and the kids loved them! even if they aren't exactly health food ;)

Tex Mex Cowboy Pie (GF)

based on another recipe from the friendly freezer group

500g potatos, peeled and cut into 4
1 small tub sour cream (low fat)
milk if needed
1 pound (500g) beef mince
1 jar mild salsa (GF if needed)
1 can corn kernels, drained
1 can mexibeans (GF if needed)
1/2 grated low fat cheese of your choice

heat oven to 200'
cook potatoes until soft then mash. add sour cream and mix well. add a little milk if needed to get a smooth but not runny mash.
fry mince until cooked. place in a large oven dish.
add salsa, corn and beans and mix well. top with potato, then sprinkle cheese over.
bake for 15 or so minutes until cheese is done to your liking and the dish bubbling around the edges

Menu Plan - it worked!

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!!!

MasterChef Ryan makes Baby Carrot Cakes

our "Ready Steady Cook for Kids" arrived yesterday and the pictures and recipes got Ryan very excited! today he just had to make something...


I'm not sure if it's the book or him (he generally doesn't seem to have problems with recipes) he found this recipe format hard to follow. separating the ingredient list was confusing (especially when sultanas and icing sugar are not things we have in our pantry, but we always have carrots & didn't need to buy any) and each step had too many things in it. Also I think the font size was a little small for children.


however he really enjoyed making them and they were delicious,and only lasted about 30 minutes after making!

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 :)

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!

The Fairy Party (GF)

well, I ended up deciding that 25 kids were far too many to cope with, even at the park and went with 3 (we do one for each year and I forgot she was turning 4 haha as it is we had all the siblings join us and had a total of 10 kids lol)

I still went for the original menu ideas as I still needed easy.

to make the fairy cups I looked for some suitable bought gluten free biccies but no such luck, so I used a sugar cookie recipe from the new GF baking book i had bought in January. I'll post the thermomix conversion later but they were very nice! you'll have to excuse the photos, I'm still having to use my camera phone as we can't afford to replace our camera atm.


I used gluten free marshmallows I'd found in a discount store (they were a little tall and thin), Allen's Freckles, musk Lifesavers and icing coloured with a little cochineal. they were a hit and I had ended up with nearly 40 cookies so, after they were taste tested by the family, i was able to make enough fairy cups to send to school too.


for the cake, I attempted to make another 'rainbow' cake but used this recipe instead - disaster! the recipe was far too runny and i ended up with a cake that had a vague brown colour through the middle with a pinkish layer on the bottom and a chocolate layer on top LOL I also had my usual disaster with over-colouring the icing but was assured it was "Tinkerbell green" not to mention how shockingly the icing was applied (but i didn't realise til i saw the photos!) lol Rora loved it so that's what counts!


the birthday party went well too by the way, but the 4yo attitude could do with some work ;)

Quick Caramel Milkshake (GF, TMX)

for when the kids want a caramel milkshake for afternoon tea and you have no caramel topping or cream...

approximate amounts only ;) to make 3-4 milkshakes

around 4-5 tabs brown sugar
around 1-1 1/2 tabs butter
squeeze (around 1 tspn) golden syrup

place in thermomix and cook for 5 mins 90' speed 2

add a splash of milk and cook a further 4 mins 90' speed 2

it should look smooth and creamy and smell like caramel (funnily enough lol)

then put in your milk and icecream if desired. i was making 4 cups so i put in 3 cups of milk (not cup measures but the actually cup size we were using IYKWIM). my kids like a dollop of icecream in the cup not mixed into the shake, so i just whizzed up the milk and caramel for 2 minutes speed 8. pour over the icecream and serve.

PS: it occurred to me after how much sugar there is in this! it would be interesting to see how it compares to commercial stuff.... still, my kids don't get that much sugar i don't think...



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Easy Fairy Party Ideas

well, it's Miss Rora's turn for a party and when I asked her, she thinks she'd like to have her whole preschool class at the park (rather than just a few at home. one of the mums did this for Ryan's class at the start of the year and it was lovely being able to meet all the other mums that way, otherwise I would not be doing the big party!)

so I need ideas for EASY - and gluten free - party food suitable for the park. here are my ideas...

• teacups (like here but GF of course)
• popcorn
• plain chips
• fairy bread - maybe cut into shapes (GF & regular) *
  
• cup cakes topped with tinkerbell pics like this
• pink drink of some sort (weak cordial?)
• watermelon & strawberries

sound ok? any suggestions?

* I've just had the idea of making a recipe i saw in mum's New Idea magazine. I was sure I'd posted it here but can't find it. it was pikelets with a ganache and sprinkles on top. i could do a white chocolate / pink colouring ganache (or would the colouring ruin the ganache?)

(the pic above is thanks to twilly on eb :))



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Creamy Chocolate & Strawberry Iceblocks

Just found this in mum's New Idea magazine and Ryan wants to make them...

Creamy chocolate:
1 cup thick vanilla custard
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup chocolate topping

Creamy strawberry:
250g punnet strawberries, stems removed
2/3 thick vanilla custard
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup Strawberry topping

mix each set of ingredients, whisking well in a food processor
pour into moulds and freeze until set.



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com