Pesto style salad dressing (GF, DF, TMX)

For more info and links on thermomix, gluten free, eating out in canberra come over and like the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glutenfreecanberra

 Needed a quick salad dressing for lunch so threw half a bunch of fresh basil in the thermomix. added maybe 1/4 cup pine nuts (or almonds or cashews), good sprinkle salt and a few tabs of olive oil. I used a blood orange flavoured one. chop on speed 6 for maybe 5 seconds.

i found that this wasn't enough ingredients to get a smooth dressing happening but it was a nice chunky dressing.

I served mine over mixed leaves, cooked chicken and avocado, but i think something to add a little sweetness - some cranberries, or roast pumpkin or sweet potato, would have added to it.

Thai Style Warm Spinach Salad (GF)

heat a medium saucepan and dry fry a few handfuls of cashews

add 2 tabs coconut oil and 1 small onion, sliced. cook stirring for a few minutes.

add 2 cloves roughly chopped garlic and stir for another minute.

add in a few cups of chopped vegies (i used eggplant, zucchini, broccoli and a whole red capsicum) and cook stirring until the vegies are cooked to your preference.

turn heat off and add in juice of one lime (or lemon), black pepper, good squeeze of stevia and some salt (or fish sauce). stir. add in lots of roughly chopped coriander and mint leaves

get a large bowl and put baby spinach in, top with vegies mix. gently mix so spinach has some dressing and some of it starts to wilt.  serve

we had ours with bbq'd pork cutlets and it was delish!

Quinoa and Tuna Salad (GF)

This was DELICIOUS!!! Shame i've now discovered quinoa's not allowed, neither is fennel *sob*

all ingredients are to the amount you desire:

cooked quinoa (i used white)
1 tin tuna slices in pure olive oil or spring water
cucumber, diced
finely sliced fennel
handful of rocket
diced tomato
hommus (as a dressing)

mix together well and eat - nom!

JO's Chicken Tikka, Lentil, Spinach & Naan Salad

from 15 minute meals.

this was..... soooooooo............ good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*drool*

http://www.aspirepersonaltraining.com.au/chicken-tikka-lentil-spinach-naan-salad/

Quick Asian-inspired Cucumber Salad (GF)

5 baby cucumbers (qukes) or 1-2 lebanese cucumbers, sliced finely
1 bunch asparagus, chopped and lightly steamed (remove woody ends)
1 carrot, grated
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup chopped cashews, lightly toasted
1/2-1 finely sliced green chilli
handful of chopped coriander or parsley

dressing
around 1 tab maple syrup
juice of 1/2 small lemon
2 tspns fish sauce
black pepper

mix all ingredients together well and serve (can chill if desired)

Green Bean Salad (GF)

quick and easy but surprisingly nice!

green beans, topped, tailed, cut into 2" / 5cm pieces and steamed or boiled until green and starting to soften
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1/2 green capsicum, finely diced (optional)
1 stick celery, finely diced
1 rasher bacon or 3 shortcut bacon, fried or grilled til crispy, crumbled or finely diced
black pepper, freshly ground
balsalmic vinegar *, a drizzle
olive oil, a drizzle

suggested additions:
handful of toasted pinenuts
1/2 red onion or 2-3 shallots (green onions), finely chopped


* googling informed me that balsalmic vinegar is Gf, please check for yourself

mix and chill before serving

Variations on a Theme (GF, TMX)

*** Happy Australia Day! ***

today we spent most of the day with good friends, having a BBQ lunch at one house, all bringing food to share. As Rora loves the Asian Noodle Salad i made that but was missing at least half the ingredients lol it was still very nice so I thought I would record the variation in case it was useful to anyone :)

I also did a quick conversion of the Nem Nuong recipe from Taste

both recipes are gluten free :)

Asian Noodle Salad Variation
1/2 chinese cabbage (wom buk) shredded finely
1/8th red onion, sliced very finely
100g roasted cashews
1 pkt chang's gluten free fried rice noodles
approximately 15 leaves (or half a bunch) of vietnamese mint, finely sliced

dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons apple juice concentrate (or any other sweetener)
1 tab gluten free soy sauce
a few tbspns of sesame oil
around 2 tabs sesame seeds

combine all dressing ingredient and shake well
mix all ingredients except the noodles. add the noodles and mix well just before serving.


Nem Nuong variation
35g jasmine rice
4 garlic cloves, peeled
5 green shallots (scallions / green onions), ends trimmed, cut into 2" / 5cm pieces
500g beef or pork mince (tradionally pork but i only had beef)
20g fish sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp caster sugar (I forgot this and they were fine so i guess it's optional ;))
25g rice bran oil (peanut oil or any other mild flavoured oil)

heat rice on varoma for around 6 minutes speed soft until fragrant
grind on speed 10 for 30 seconds
add garlic and chop for around 10-15 seconds speed 6
add shallots and chop on speed 5 1/2 for 10 seconds
add all other ingredients and pulse using turbo / closed lid until well mixed
roll into small balls and chill before cooking if possible.



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

Roasted Pumpkin & Spinach Salad (GF)

Made this for last night. I knew what i wanted to put in the dressing but felt like i was missing the magic ingredient. when i googled I found a recipe that was virtually identical to what i'd already done! so i knew i was on the right track ;)
by the way the 'magic' ingredient was seeded mustard lol

amounts are to your taste...

pumkin, cubed (peeling optional)
baby spinach
pepitas (pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted*
feta
red onion, finely sliced (i forgot this even though i'd bought the onions specially! but it would be goooooood)

dressing:
honey
olive oil
lemon juice
seeded mustard
salt
pepper
(some dill would be lovely too, if you like it)

mix dressing, pour over salad and toss. yum!


* i toast over a low - medium heat in a small pan



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

Asian Noodle Salad - Gluten Free

since being a gluten free house we'd only eaten our old fave Asian Noodle Salad once - and it sucked :( it was really bleh. so I was very excited to have found a magic ingredient to make it so good again!!!

yay for changs for making GF fried noodles!

1/2 chinese cabbage (wom buk) or savoy cabbage, shredded finely
4-6 green onions / shallots - finely sliced
100g roasted slivered almonds or pinenuts (I used 1 whole packet)
1 pkt chang's gluten free fried rice noodles

dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons agave nectar - you can get this in your supermarket's health food section, or a health food store (this is the magic ingredient btw!)
1 tab gluten free soy sauce
a few tbspns of sesame oil
around 2 tabs sesame seeds

combine all dressing ingredient and shake well
mix all ingredients except the noodles. add the noodles and mix well just before serving.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

PS: the other salad is potato, bean and bacon salad whcih is pretty good too :)




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

Two Chicken Recipes

Power Chicken Salad
GLUTEN FREE

300g butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
1 large red capsicum, cut into 1cm pieces
500g chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced
400g can chickpeas, drained
60g baby rocket leaves
dressing:
1/3 cup low fat natural yoghurt
1/4 cup lime or lemon juice
2 tabs sweet chilli sauce (check GF)

gently fry pumpkin for 3-4 minutes. add onion & capsicum & cook 3-4 more mins. transfer to bowl
fry chicken until golden brown, transfer to bowl
add chickpeas and rocket to bowl and mix
mix dressing ingredients and drizzle over individual serves of salad


Healthy Chicken Patties
(can be GF)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 green onions, finely chopped
500g chicken mince
1 carrot, grated
100g green beans, finely chopped
1 egg
1 tspn brown sugar
1 tspn curry paste, or more if desired (check for GF)
1/2 tspn fish sauce
3 tspns cornflour (use pure maize corn flour for GF)
lemon wedges to serve
cucumber, tomato, olive & parsley salad, to serve

lightly fry garlic, then add green onions for 1 min. remove to bowl.
to bowl add all other patty ingredients, mix well
shape into patties (put hand in cold water frequenty to stop sticking)
lightly fry 4 mins per side, serve with lemon wedges and salad

Originally from Australian Healthy Food Guide, Nov 09
posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Easy Potato Salad

inspired by a thread on EB

put water in the thermomix and place in varoma on top around 6 medium potatoes and half a large sweet potatoes quartered. cook for ummm i think it was 5 minutes but could have been 10 (oops) on varoma temp, speed 1

remove the varoma and lid and add the basket and 3 eggs (actually i did 6 but kept the others for the girls. it's best if you use room temp eggs so they don't break with the hot water lol)

cook for 15 minutes on varoma temp, speed 1

in the meantime finely dice some lean bacon (4 shortcut pieces) and fry til crispy
finely chop some garlic (1-2 cloves)

let eggs and potatoes cool to peel & dice - 2cm pieces for the potatoes and 3/4cm pieces of egg (quarter & dice)

in a large bowl mix around 2/3 cup mayo (can make your own in tmx of course, i used a low fat praise one that is also GF) and a little less of plain or greek yoghurt. also add in some S&P, some fresh shredded mint leaves, and the rest of the ingredients.

toss to coat and serve or chill and serve

just can't compare...

my friend irene first made this bean salad for us when we were camping with her at kangaroo valley last year. rory loved it! now ryan loves it too. i've tried to replicate it with a non-commercial dressing and they won't touch it LOL so now i've given up and i just make it like she does :)

Irene's bean salad
1 tin mixed beans (4 or 5 bean mix), rinsed and drained
french or italian dressing (low fat and / or gluten free)

mix and serve, chilling optional lol

Lentil, Vegie & Feta Salad

a brand new recipe from the weightwatchers satisfaction plan, this looks utterly delicious!

this quantity serves 1

1/2 cup canned brown lentils
2 tabs canned baby beets, chopped
1/2 lebanese cucumber, diced
3 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tabs red onion, finely diced
1 tab balsalmic dressing (i will have to check this for gluten and substitute if necessary)
30g reduced fat feta
small handful baby rocket leaves

combine
serve with multigrain roll. can also add chicken breast or shaved ham



(quantity for 6
2 cans brown lentils, drained
1 can baby beets, chopped
2 lebanese cucumbers, diced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, finely diced
6 tab balsalmic dressing (i will have to check this for gluten and substitute if necessary)
180g reduced fat feta
1 packet baby rocket leaves

random links

i need to clear out my bloglines and i don't have the time or patience to put these into my othe rlinks posts, so just posting the lot here! thanks to all those who've shared these yummy recipes!

apple pie

black & white chocolate bark

Eggnog Bread Pudding with Bourbon Cranberries

Mocha Sandwich Cookies

Chocolate Covered Homemade Marshmallows

Sour Cream and Green Onion Biscuits

CrockPot Chai Tea Latte Recipe

CrockPot Roasted & Spiced Nuts Recipe

Asian Coleslaw

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

Capsicum and Tomato Relish Recipe

Pasta alla Vodka

Polenta Casserole with Fontina and Tomato Sauce

Sauteed Kale with Smoked Paprika

curried pork empanadas

vietnamese baguettes

caramelized onion dip

brown butter brown sugar shorties

pie crust 102
pie crust 103

parmesan grissini (tmx)

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake
cream cheesecoffee cake
Chili Cheese Souffle
Spiced Apple Cider
French Breakfast Puffs
Strawberries and Brown Sugar Cream

garlic cheese biscuits (scones)

peanut butter pinwheels

mexican meatball soup with rice & coriander

wheat-free banana loaf

white chocolate holiday bark

cranberry cinnamon rolls

lemon shortbread
brown sugar shortbread

sweet & sour grilled pumpkin

buttermilk cranberry scones

sweet potato biscuits with bacon and thyme (scones)

rosemary garlic sweet potato fries

panforte (tmx)

Bandh Gobhi Massallam (a whole cabbage smothered in a nutty curry and baked until tender)

Mughlai-style Indian tomato soup

Lasuni Dal Palak (daal)

Dahi Wale Aloo (potatoes)

Brown Rice Salad

we're going to a birthday party tonight for our friend and chiropracter Michael. his wife Kristen asked us all to bring a salad. at first i had planned to make the Asian Noodle Salad i seem to have become famous for, but realised that i can't eat it on the core plan! (and will need my points for other things ;)) so i decided to make a rice salad.

At first i was planning a typical rice salad, but decided to go with brown rice and maybe something a little different. Inpsired by this recipe i am making my salad with:

brown rice
sliced baby corn
finely diced red and green capsicum
pepitas
sunflower seeds
sliced black olives
sliced shallots / spring onions

i can't be bothered to do my own dressing as i'm feeling lazy and planning to make a cake (the kids' choice) to take too, so i'm just using a purchased fat-free italian dressing.

the berries on the cake are just frozen this time too :( i couldn't get any more blueberries this week at choku bai jo

Spiced Cous Cous

Spiced Couscous (mum's version)

Serves 4 - 6

Really refreshing for summer - serve with Moroccan Chicken

1 tab extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn salt
3/4 cup water or chicken stock
1/2 cup couscous
2 tabs chopped mint and/or parsley
2 ripe tomatoes, seeded & cubed
2 tspns lemon juice

1. heat oil, add ground cumin. heat through until fragrant.

2. add salt & stock and bring to the boil.

3. stir in the couscous and let the mixture stand, covered, off the heat for 5 minutes.

4. fluff mixture with fork and stir in mint, parsley, tomatoes and lemon juice.

5. season to taste.

A Moroccan inspired meal for a Summer night

i don't seem to have posted these recipes yet - i can't believe it!

the other night for dinner we had grilled chicken with moroccan spices, cous cous salad and a potato salad with a mix of potatoes including purple congoes :) this is based on a recipe from mum, which i will also post, but which is different from what i made.

grilled chicken with moroccan spices
to serve 6ish
3 chicken breasts, cut into tenderloin sized stripe
2 heaped tspns brazen's moroccan spice blend

cover the chicken all over with the spice blend and leave for 20 minutes or overnight.
grill on a bbq plate (we have an indoor grill, our bbq is broken :() until cooked through.

cous cous salad
maybe around 1 1/2 cups of uncooked cous cous
1 1/2 tspns cumin seeds
1 tspn coriander, ground
1 1/2 tspns chicken stock powder
water to cover (sorry i have no idea how much, maybe 2-3 cups?)
3 tomatoes, diced (remove seeds if you can be bothered)
1 lebanese cucumber, diced
a few sprigs mint, shredded
(other ingredients which would be good in this include half a finely diced red onion, currants - add to the water with the cous cous - and nuts such as cashews, pistachios etc)

bring the water to the boil. turn off heat and add in cous cous (at this stage you can remove extra water if you have too much - you want about 1cm above the level of the cous cous)
add spices and stock powder, stir and cover.

leave for 10 minutes or until all water is absorbed. stir with a fork to fluff and let cool for as long as possible.

mix through the rest of the ingredients and serve. you can eat it at the temperature it comes or chilled.

pretty potato salad
around 6-8 purple congo potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
around 6-8 small potatoes suitable for a salad (i think i might have used nicola maybe), scrubbed but not peeled
half a finely diced red onion
few sprigs parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup cashews, toasted *
1 tab olive oil
few tspns of dijon or seeded mustard, to taste
large squeeze of lemon juice
salt & pepper
optional - some crispy diced bacon would be great too

boil the potatoes until they are just cooked, let cool a little and cut into 1" pieces. let them cool as long as you can.

mix everything together well, though gently (you might find it easier to mix the dressing first)

* to toast the nuts just place them in over a medium-low heat in a small pan or pot. keep moving them around every few minutes so they don't burn. you can use the microwave but i find it much easier to burn them than on the stove.

PS: sorry about the picture, blogger is still not making them the size i want :(

Links - Vegetarian / Vegetables #2

first list of links to try here http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/2008/07/links-vegetarian-vegetables.html

baked vegetable jalfrezi

Dhansak (eggplant, pumpkin & lentils, indian)

5 minute indian style cabbage

malai kofta

paneer tikka

Punjabi Aloo Gobi – Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes

creamy black lentils

dani's greek style baked beans

red kidney bean curry

roasted garlic cauliflower

mediterranean carrot rolls & salad

sweet potato falafel with yoghurt tahini sauce

cauliflower & date curry

paneer pasanda

masoor dal with lemon

malai kofta

Pasta Salad

Geoff wants this printed out so he can make it, so here goes lol (of course there are a million versions, this is just one with what we have on hand today)

small or fancy pasta, cooked (and cooled if time)
tin of corn, drained
frozen peas, cooked, drained and cooled
ham, finely chopped
capsicum, finely chopped
black olives, sliced
parsley, finely chopped
kidney beans, drained ???

dressing - mayonnaise and / or pesto

mix well

as you can see from the pics it was a HUGE hit!

At last - a salad!

Dani, we have finally started our summer salads! i LOVE a huge salad with bits of everything in it! great as everyone can take what they like best (we still struggle to get the girls to get anything but the cheese, but we try!)

geoff made this for dinner on Thursday (he was home with ryan and i was at work all day) and it was delicious. he also marinaded and grilled chicken breasts which we had sprinkled over the top too.

YUM!

Geoff's Thursday Salad
mixed greens of your choice (i always make sure i have rocket in mine ;))
baked or steamed diced sweet potato
finely sliced red onion
olives of your choice
fetta, cubed
tomato, diced (i wouldn't usually use tomato in a salad like this but ryan loves it)
and grilled sliced chicken breast

you could also add some :
toasted pine nuts or almonds
salad dressing,
diced crispy bacon