Health(ier) Chocolate Brownies

I don't know if there's such a thing as a healthy brownie. But there definitely some brownies that are healthier than others. I got this recipe from my friend Alison and they are in her words 'to die for.'

They have that rich chocolate flavour, fudgy interior and slightly crackly top. They also have no grains, no refined sugar, no dairy and if you leave the nuts off the top, are nut-free and therefore the perfect lunch-box treat.

Keep in mind though that although there is no refined sugar they are packed with fructose from the dates. We eat low fructose around here so this will be a very occasional treat but they were so very good.

I made mine in the Thermomix but any food processor will do.

If you start now you could be enjoying these for afternoon tea! :)

Health(ier) Chocolate Brownies
Slightly adapted from Paging Fun Mums

200 g dark chocolate (85% cocoa)
1/2 ts bicarbonate of soda
200 g pitted medjool dates
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tbs of vanilla extract
200 g raw almonds, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Line a square baking dish (20cm x 20cm is good) with baking paper and set aside.

Place the chocolate and bicarb soda into a food processor and pulse until they have the texture of coarse sand. Add in the dates and pulse until combined.

Add the eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract and process until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

Open the oven and quickly scatter the chopped almonds over the top of the brownie and push in a little with the back of a spoon. Bake for a further 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for one hour.

Slice into at least 16 squares.

Dark Chocolate Gelato (Dairy free, Coconut free, Nut free)

I just sat my first exam in 13 years yesterday. It was for anatomy and physiology and seeing I have no background in science it has been a little out of my comfort zone. I actually feel really confident that I have passed but the perfectionist in me keeps going over and over what I could have done better. So annoying!

In saying that though I am a perfectionist about most things and have been known to throw a bit of a hissy fit when things don't work out the way I want them to. Take this blog for example, I almost didn't post this recipe because I couldn't get 'the perfect photo.'

But this one really is too good not to share. I mean how often do you find an ice cream recipe that not only tastes amazing but is dairy free, coconut free and nut free?

Noah is now 9 months old which means I have been dairy free for almost 9 months as well!

If you'd asked me previously whether I ever thought I could give up dairy I would have laughed. I LOVE my dairy ... butter, cheese and especially ice cream. But it has been surprisingly easy and I don't really miss it all that much. Probably it was easier to start with because I was doing it for Noah (no one wants their baby crying with pain and reflux) but I actually feel really well and have lost the baby weight so much faster than before. Win-win.

I make a brilliant dairy-free white sauce which means we can still enjoy lasagne and tuna mornay. I've been happily drinking rice milk and now that I have the Thermomix I am making lots of different milks. But I haven't had as much luck with dairy free ice cream. Most of the ones I've seen and tried are based around coconut cream. I don't mind them but most of the time I don't want my ice cream to taste like coconut!

That's why I was so excited to see this gelato recipe from The Paleo Mom. It is dairy free but without the usual coconut or almond milks to take away from the flavour of the chocolate. I tweaked the recipe a little by adding some rice malt syrup (which makes it no longer paleo seeing rice is a grain) but I wanted the kids to enjoy it and it would have been very intensely chocolatey otherwise. I also did the first few steps in the Thermomix in order to cook the egg yolks and will include those instructions as well.

This makes the most delicious, darkly intense chocolate gelato. My kids loved it too but it's not your typical chocolate ice cream!

Dark Chocolate Gelato
Adapted from The Paleo Mom

300g dark chocolate (I used half each of Lindt 70% and 85%)
200ml hot water
50g rice malt syrup
1 ½ cups ice water
6 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Roughly chop the chocolate, add the rice malt syrup and pour over the 1 cup of hot water. Stir gently until completely combined.

Mix the egg yolks together in a small bowl. To temper the yolks add a small ladle of the hot chocolate mixture to the yolks and stir continuously. Keep stirring and add a second ladle. Pour the egg and chocolate mixture back into the rest of the chocolate and mix thoroughly.

Place the chocolate mixture in a blender. Add the vanilla and salt. With the blender on low speed, add the 1 1/2 cups ice water a little at a time, blending between each addition, or just drizzle the ice water through lid by removing the insert.

Place the chocolate mixture in an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once it’s soft-serve consistency, place the gelato into a freezer-safe container and freezer for about 2 hours to get a perfect scoopable consistency.

If freezing for longer than that, remove from the freezer and place in the fridge for about an hour before you serve, or 20 minutes on the bench.

Thermomix instructions - break the chocolate into pieces, pour over the hot water and melt for 2-3 minutes/50 degrees/speed 3. Scrape down the sides as needed. Add the rice malt syrup, vanilla and salt and mix 3 sec/speed 4. Break up the egg yolks then add to the mixing bowl and cook for 3 minutes/90 degrees/speed 3. Leave to cool for 10 minutes. While running at speed 4, remove the measuring cup and drizzle in the ice water until well combined. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge until completely chilled then follow instructions above to churn and freeze.

You'll notice in the top photo there are lots of yummy looking chocolate flakes on top of the gelato. This was just some of the mixture that set hard in the ice cream maker and got scraped off into shards after pouring out the gelato. Not sure why that happened but it gave a lovely texture.

Like most homemade ice creams this really is best served pretty much straight away. So if you can serve it after the 2 hours in the freezer that would be ideal.

Spelt Cinnamon Scrolls (Thermomix)

So after much (much, much) discussion we finally invested in a Thermomix! And I do say invested because they cost A LOT. We've only had it for a couple of weeks and I am seriously wishing I had bought one years ago.

I already make most of what we eat from scratch but even with all the kitchen appliances I have I still couldn't make a decent risotto, non-dairy milk, nut butter, ground almonds or rice flour.  The plan with the Thermomix is to make virtually everything from scratch, meaning we not only save on our grocery bill but we eat even more healthily than we do now.

In these few short weeks I have made vegetable stock, oat milk, rice/almond milk, pasta sauce, multiple batches of baby food, soups, custard, sorbet, risottos, nut butter, rice pudding, porridge and much more. On an average day I would use it at least 4 times and at the end of the day the kitchen is clean, no more pots and pans piled up on the bench because they don't fit in the dishwasher.

I will be posting lots of thermomix recipes as time goes on but I will always post non-thermomix instructions as well. I know these machines aren't for everyone. And one thing I have made clear is that I will still be teaching my boys to cook the old-fashioned way as much as possible!

So for the very first thermie recipe for the blog I have chosen these delicious Spelt Cinnamon Scrolls. They were SO quick to whip up that I was able to make them on a study day (when I normally don't cook at all during the day) so they were ready for the big boys straight after school and kindy. They were a big hit with my kids. And looking at the picture above I've just realised someone's sneaky little fingers had gone and pinched the edge of one of them while I wasn't looking! Can you spot it?

Spelt Cinnamon Scrolls
Adapted from Be a Fun Mum

Dough:
300g white spelt flour (2 1/3 cups)
1tbs baking powder
60g butter, cut into chunks
30g coconut oil, solid
150g milk (2/3 cup) (I used homemade oat milk)

Filling:
30g butter
30g coconut oil, solid
40g dextrose (or 1/4 cup sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup sultanas (optional)

To make the dough:

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Set the scale to 0 then add the baking powder and enough flour to make up 300g, then the butter and coconut oil and mix for 5 sec on speed 5 until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Place a small jug or bowl on the top of the Thermomix. Set the scale to 0 and then pour in 150 grams of milk. Remove the jug. Set Thermomix to locked position and knead for 1.5 minutes on interval setting. While it is kneading, gradually pour milk through the MC hole until a dough is formed. (mine took an extra 30 seconds or so to come together.

Tip the dough onto to a lightly floured bench, ThermoMat or baking paper. Roll out the dough into a rectangle approximately 25 x 40cm and ½ cm thick or about as big as your tray.

To make the filling:

Place butter, coconut oil, dextrose and cinnamon into the mixing bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.

Spread the mixture evenly over the dough rectangle and sprinkle over the sultanas if you’re using them.

Roll up the dough from either the long side or the short side of the rectangle (short side makes fewer but more scrolly scrolls and long side makes lots of smaller scrolls).

Using a sharp knife, cut rolled dough into pieces approximately 3cm wide. Place the dough pieces on your prepared tray.

Bake for around 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before eating.

If you don’t have a Thermomix, make the dough in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder until it forms breadcrumbs. Pour in the milk and use a butter knife to gradually bring the ingredients together and form a dough. Follow above instructions to roll out the dough. Beat together the filling ingredients in small bowl and again, follow the instructions above for rolling, slicing and baking.

Chicken Paprikash (Secret Recipe Club)

Secret Recipe Club time! This month I was assigned Loving Life by Kirstin. Kirstin is a mum of 2 teenage daughters and blogs about her everyday life and all the delicious food she makes for her family. She has lots of great recipes to choose from and there were 3 which really caught my eye - the Texas Caviar, Candied Spiced Chickpeas and the Watermelon Cake.

But, there was one which I simply couldn't go past - Chicken Paprikash. Does anyone else remember that scene from When Harry Met Sally? 'Waiter there is too much pepper on my paprikash'. You can find it here if you have no idea what I'm talking about!

So Chicken Paprikash is essentially a Hungarian chicken soup flavoured with paprika. Or it's supposed to be. Mine turned out more like an Hungarian inspired chicken and dumplings! Even if it didn't turn out quite like it was supposed to (make sure you visit Kirstin's blog for a way more attractive photo of this dish) it was absolutely delicious. Really hearty and warming and perfect for the the chilly Winter weather we've been having here. I served it with a dollop of sour cream for the rest of the family.

 

Please don't be put off by this photo, it tastes WAY better than it looks here!!

So I'm not sure if I actually did something wrong or there was a mistake in the original recipe but there really wasn't enough liquid to make this a soup, even when I doubled it. I wanted to message Kirstin to ask her but then my recipe wouldn't have been secret any more! Either way, it was totally delicious and well worth making.

Paprikash inspired Chicken and Dumplings
Recipe adapted from Loving Life

1 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 kg chicken thigh fillets, each cut into 6 pieces
2 tbs Sweet Hungarian paprika
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth/stock
1 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the oil to a large pot over medium heat and fry the onion until it starts to soften before adding the garlic and cooking for another minute or so. Add the cut up chicken and fry until brown. Add the paprika, water and stock and simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

To thicken the soup (which I completely forgot to do):

1 tbs cornflour or arrowroot flour
2 tbs milk

Mix together the cornflour and milk in a small bowl and once combined, add in a small amount of the hot soup and stir until blended. Return the mixture to the pot and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the dumplings (if not already there).

To make the dumplings:

2 cups plain flour (I used spelt flour)
2 ts baking powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk (I used rice milk)
Pinch salt

Mix the dumpling ingredients together in a medium bowl and then drop by tablespoonfuls either directly into the soup or in a pot of gently boiling water. Simmer until the dumplings float.

Serves 6.

Thanks for a great recipe Kirstin!

An InLinkz Link-up

Double Chocolate Cookies (Wheat and Fructose Free)

More school holiday baking today and these double chocolate cookies were a big hit!

Most things that say 'double chocolate' include both melted chocolate and chocolate chips. Oscar and I are dairy free at the moment (apart from a small amount of butter) and we had no Lindt 85% which is our dairy free chocolate of choice, so I invented these!

These cookies give a really intense chocolate hit with the raw cacao and cacao nibs. They are quite a grown-up chocolate cookie although my 3 and 5 year old taste testers couldn't get enough. We have been eating most of the batch straight from the freezer where they are lovely and chewy with a bit of crunch from the cacao nibs. SO good!!

Double Chocolate Cookies (Wheat and Fructose Free)

125g softened butter
100g dextrose
125g wholemeal spelt flour
50g white spelt flour
40g raw cacao powder
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts bicarb soda
1 egg
1 tbs rice milk
1 tbs cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees C fan-forced. Line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, dextrose, cacao powder, baking powder and bicarb.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, vanilla and egg with an electric beater until thick and smooth.

Fold in the dry ingredients and the cacao nibs until just combined.

Roll the mixture into 24 balls and place on the prepared trays, allowing room to spread. Flatten each cookie with your fingertips then bake for approx 10-12 minutes. Make sure you take them out when they are only just done so you get a gorgeous slightly fudgy middle!

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before turning out to cool completely.

Roasted Strawberry Chia Seed Jam

The other night right before bed Oscar requested scones with jam for breakfast, and being the awesome mum that I am, I obliged! It's the school holidays after all, and really who wouldn't want to wake up to fresh scones with homemade jam??

Rather than make a typical sugar-filled jam (which I've only ever done once), I decided to make a chia jam instead. Chia seeds have become incredibly popular these days and why not? These tiny seeds are packed with fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, as well as calcium, manganese and phosphorus. We use them daily, sprinkled on porridge, in smoothies and in baked goods.

This jam worked brilliantly. The roasted strawberry flavour was delicious and it set beautifully. The kids loved it on their scones fresh from the oven and it was just as tasty the next day when we polished off the leftovers.  So easy and a great alternative. I will definitely be making this again and playing with different flavour combinations.

Roasted Strawberry Chia Seed Jam

1 cup sliced frozen strawberries
1 tbs rice malt syrup
1 tbs orange juice
3 tbs white chia seeds

Place the strawberries, syrup and orange juice in a small oven proof dish and stir together. Place in the oven and roast at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the chia seeds and mix well to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes before stirring again. Allow to cool and eat immediately or store in the fridge for a couple of days, if it lasts that long!

Raspberry and Coconut Muffins

The last month or so has been really busy with things on at Oscar's school, Charlie starting kindy and me starting my Naturopathy course. Yep I am now officially a student for the first time in 15 years and loving it! 

But it's school holidays here now which means I have all three of my monsters munchkins home with me which is making it tricky to find time to study. It also means lots of noise, mess and 'I'm hungry mummy!' 

I've been a little more organised this time around and had a bit of plan for the holidays before they started. Nothing set in stone just a rough idea of what was happening, which days we would be home and who was around for a playdate and when. I also planned what I wanted to cook and bake. Yesterday was a really chilly day and it was wonderful to be in the kitchen with my big boys making some delicious biscuits and muffins next to the warm oven while my little one slept upstairs. A picture of domestic bliss!

In all seriousness I am not only trying to have some qualtity time in the kitchen with the kids but also build up a stash of snacks and meals for the freezer so life will be a little easier once school goes back. Afternoon tea time can be particularly busy because Noah is ready for a feed as soon as we pick up the big boys and really isn't happy to wait while I prepare anything for the older ones! 

Yesterday we made some Cornflake Biscuits which I have blogged about before and also these yummy Raspberry and Coconut Muffins. The recipe comes from a fellow Brisbane mum who has self-published her own sugar-free recipe book! You can find her website at Hungry Tums or she is also on facebook.

In other exciting news we have just ordered a ... thermomix!!! The price has put us off for years but the more I see and hear about them and just what you can do with one, the more convinced I've become that it will be a great investment. Being able to make our own rice and nut milks, ground almonds and flours etc will be amazing. Not to mention all the wonderful meals. I've been reading the Quirky Cooking blog for a few years and ordered her gorgeous cookbook as well so keep an eye out over the coming weeks and months for lots of thermomix recipes!

Raspberry and Coconut Muffins

Very slightly adapted from Hungry Tums

1 cup dextrose
1 ¾ cups self-raising flour (or plain flour with 2 1/2 ts baking powder sifted through)
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 eggs
¾ cup coconut milk
150g olive oil

pinch of salt

1 ts vanilla extract
1 ½ cups frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 170°C fan-forced. This recipe makes 16 muffins so either grease and line 1 and a bit muffin trays or use 16 individual silicone muffin cases on a baking tray (what I do).

In a large bowl, use a whisk to stir together the dextrose, flour, salt and coconut. Add the raspberries and toss through.

Place the eggs, vanilla, oil and coconut milk in a small mixing bowl or jug and whisk to combine. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir only until just combined. Do not over-mix!

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin trays and then bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked (they will be golden brown and spring back when pressed lightly in the middle).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Delicious warm from the oven but they also thaw out beautifully after being frozen. 

Gluten Free German Apple-Plum Cake (Secret Recipe Club)

Secret Recipe Club time again! Has it really been a whole month since the last one?

This month I was assigned Without Adornment by Bean. Bean is a chemical engineer, self-proclaimed nerd and fabulous gluten-free baker! I was intrigued by her blog's name but after reading her About Me page it all makes sense. I really admire Bean's quest to truly be herself without adornment. It's a great sentiment and something I most definitely relate to.

As for her baking and cooking, well I spent a very long time trying to choose what to make. I've been cooking more and more allergen-free food, so being assigned a blog where I didn't have to convert any recipes was wonderful! All her recipes are gluten-free and lots are also dairy and refined sugar free which fits in perfectly with how we eat at the moment.

So what to choose? Well, I bookmarked her Vegan Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies to try at Christmas, and I was really tempted by her Health(ier) Peanut (Not Quite) Brittle, but as I needed something for a morning tea with family I wanted something baked. Her German Apple Plum Cake sounded perfect.

And the taste test? Yum! Really moist, packed with fruity flavour and with all that crunchy streusel on top. Just delicious. Even better it was gluten and dairy free which meant happy tummies around here.

Thanks for a great recipe Bean! I really enjoyed spending time on your blog and will be back many times :)

Gluten-Free German Apple-Plum Cake
Recipe adapted from Without Adornment

For the cake:
125g dairy-free spread (or butter if you're not dairy free)
100 g dextrose (or sugar)
1ts vanilla
4 eggs
1 pinch salt
165g brown rice flour
65g tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp rice milk
1 tsp lemon juice
400g tart apples, peeled and diced
lemon juice, extra
200g plums sliced in halves (I used canned)

For the topping:
25g tapioca starch
50g brown rice flour
60g dairy-free spread (or butter if you're not dairy free)
60g dextrose (or sugar)
50g sliced almonds or walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon

Grease and line a 9-inch springform pan. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius/400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peel and dice the apples and toss them in the extra lemon juice to stop them browning. Slice the plums in half and set aside.

To make the streusel topping, mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl and then rub in the dairy-free spread with your fingers until crumbly. Set aside.

To make the cake, cream together the butter, dextrose and vanilla until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, whisk the salt, flours, baking powder and xanthan gum. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and then add milk and lemon juice and mix until just combined.

Fold the apple slices through the batter then pour into the prepared pan. Arrange the plum halves on top leaving a small space between the fruit and the edge of the pan. Sprinkle the streusel over the top.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes (mine took 50) or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake (Secret Recipe Club)

Secret Recipe Club time!

This month I was assigned The More than Occasional Baker by Ros and let me say it was an absolute pleasure spending some time on her blog. Baking has always been my first love but I'm not doing much of it these days because of time and dietary restrictions. I must have looked at/drooled over nearly every recipe on her blog and found so many things I would have loved to make (and eat). The Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake and Neapolitan Rose Cake really caught my eye!

In the end I settled on this Chocolate Olive Oil Cake, not only because I had all the ingredients but because it sounded insanely good. It didn't disappoint! This is a Nigella Lawson recipe after all and they are always pretty reliable and delicious.

I made a few minor substitutions, replacing some of the regular olive oil with extra virgin, using dextrose instead of sugar and blitzing up some raw ABC nuts (almond, brazil and cashew) instead of the almond meal because that's what I happened to have. The resulting ground nuts weren't quite as fine as what you can buy but I think that added to the charm of this cake.

In case you can't tell, we LOVED this cake. Special enough for a dinner party but easily enough to make any time, this recipe is a winner. Thanks Ros!

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson via The More Than Occasional Baker

75 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
75 ml extra virgin olive oil
50 g good-quality cocoa powder
140 ml boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
150 g ground almonds (or 125 g plain flour)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
144 g dextrose
3 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan-forced. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with a little oil and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Place the cocoa powder into a small bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water and vanilla extract until you have a smooth but still runny paste. Set aside to cool a little. In another small bowl, stir together the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.

Place the dextrose, olive oils and eggs into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at high speed for about 3 minutes or until the mixture is pale, thick and aerated.

Pour in the cocoa mixture, beating until well incorporated then fold through the ground almond (or flour) mixture with a spatula until only just combined. The batter will be very liquid.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes (mine took 50 minutes and was still very wobbly but a skewer came out clean). The sides should be set and a cake tester should come out almost clean.

Allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before carefully removing the tin. Can be eaten warm or cool, either way it will blow your mind! It is pretty rich though so this would easily serve 12, especially if served warm with ice cream. I served it to my boys with a dollop of sweet and creamy greek yoghurt as pictured.

NB. The cake appeared very light, spongy and wobbly at the 50 minute mark but I trusted the skewer coming out clean to tell me it was cooked. It collapsed considerably upon cooling but that is typical of cakes like this and it was incredibly moist and perfectly cooked. So keep an eye on it and don't over-bake!

An InLinkz Link-up

No Bake Lactation Cookies (Bliss Ball Slice)

 If you have no interest in breastfeeding this may not be the post for you!

As any new parent will tell you, the first few months with a baby revolve around feeds, sleeps and nappy changes. While I have happily breastfed all 3 of my boys it has not always been easy. In fact at some points it has been excruciatingly painful and downright stressful.

With each baby though I have learnt new strategies and this time around one thing I committed to doing was increasing/maintaining my supply through my diet.

I found some really good recipes for lactation cookies online and made a couple of batches a few weeks before my due date to stash in the freezer. I snacked on a few in the days before Noah was born and took a bagful to the hospital with me as well.

I found the midwives to be really interested and supportive of the choices we made during labour (things like having a doula and choosing drug-free methods of pain relief) and they were keen to find out about what I was doing in the days after Noah was born as well. I snacked on my lactation cookies immediately after labour and at all hours of the day and night in those first few sleepless days and I can say with certainty that my milk came in almost a full day earlier than was expected or had experienced before. Was it the cookies? Who knows, but they certainly didn't do any harm!

My research showed that the key active ingredients in lactation cookies are oats, flaxseed and brewers yeast so every batch I made was based around those.

Some of the sites I found suggested that you could see better results if you just ate the dough rather than bake them. Even after pregnancy I am a little leery of raw eggs (even though that isn't too much of an issue here in Australia) so I always baked mine. That is until I came up with the idea to combine the active ingredients of a lactation cookie with the energy packed ingredients of a bliss ball!

I found it really easy to make up a big batch of my lactation bliss balls and store them in the freezer to grab as an easy snack during the day or a pick-me-up during Noah's nighttime feeds. Those bliss balls really got me through those first few exhausting months!

Lately I can't be bothered to roll the mixture into balls so I simply line a large baking dish with paper and press the mixture in well. Once it has chilled in the fridge I slice it into squares and throw in the freezer. Easy. Both my big boys love them as well so they sometimes get some of 'mummy's special slice' as a treat too.

No Bake Lactation Cookies (Bliss Ball Slice)
Recipe by me

2 cups traditional rolled oats
2 cups raw ABC nuts (almond, brazil and cashew nuts)
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup raw cacao
2 tbs brewers yeast
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 ts sea salt
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1-2 tbs rice milk

Line a lamington tray with baking paper and set aside.

Place the oats and nuts into a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb. Add in remaining dry ingredients and process until well combined. Add the rice malt syrup and coconut oil and process until the mixture becomes sticky and starts to clump together. Only add the milk if needed, a little at a time.

(Make sure you taste the mixture at this stage. Brewers yeast has quite a strong flavour so you can add more syrup or other spices (ginger works well) or even some dried fruit. I find the cinnamon and rice malt syrup to be sweet enough for me and the salt creates a yummy and really balanced taste.)

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and press down well before placing in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

Remove from the fridge and tip the slice out onto a large cutting board. Using a large sharp knife slice into small squares (I get at least 40 from this amount). Place in an airtight container and store in the freezer.

I found snacking on a few of these every afternoon really helped to boost my supply for Noah's evening feeds, which was always when he was hungriest and wanted to cluster-feed. They also make a great breakfast on the run which is perfect if you have older children and can't sit down to eat properly in the mornings.

* This post does not constitute medical advice, it is for your information only. If you are having issues with breastfeeding please consult a GP, lactation consultant or child health nurse.

Blueberry Muffins - Wheat, Dairy and Sugar Free

It's been a while since I posted anything in my Sunday Baking series but these fit the bill perfectly! I've been making tons of muffins lately as they are the perfect portable snack for my husband to take to work, for me to grab on the run and to give my kids for afternoon tea.

I think I have finally perfected a go-to muffin recipe and I have made endless variations of these recently and they are always delicious. You can make them with any fruit or spice you like and they thaw beautifully so they are great to bake and freeze ahead of time.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins
Recipe by me

2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
3/4 cup dextrose
1 tbs baking powder
2 ts cinnamon
1 cup frozen blueberries
125ml coconut oil
3/4 cup non-dairy milk of your choice (slightly warmed so it doesn't solidify the coconut oil)
3 eggs (at room temperature)

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add the blueberries and toss to combine. In a separate bowl beat together the oil, eggs and milk and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix together with a large metal spoon until only just combined.

Spoon mixture into a well greased 12-cup muffin tray. Bake in a preheated 170 degree oven for approx 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back when touched.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12

San Francisco Garlic Fries (Secret Recipe Club)

Another month has flown by and it's Secret Recipe Club time again!

This month I was assigned Melissa's blog Fried Ice and Donut Holes. I really love the story behind her blog's name that her Grandpa used to tell them all to behave or they'd be having fried ice and donut holes (aka nothing) for dinner.

Stories about grandpas are making me a little teary at the moment as we got some sad news yesterday that my Grandad passed away. He was 91, married for more than 60 years to my Grandma (who passed away a few years ago) and an all-round great character. Such a great sense of humour, easy way with people and so successful in everything he put his mind to. He will be missed.

Moving on to this month's recipe, I had a great time perusing Melissa's blog and found some real gems including her No-Bake Energy Bites and Buffalo Chicken Shepherd's Pie. But as soon as I saw the fries they were calling my name.

We're still on a bit of a health kick and tend not to buy takeaway anymore BUT that doesn't mean we can't make our own cheaper and healthier versions at home! And these San Francisco Garlic Fries fit the bill perfectly.

We ate these with some gorgeous pan-fried salmon, avocado and salad on Good Friday and it was an amazing meal. These are hands-down the best fries I've ever made. I kept some plain for Charlie (who's 3 and a very fussy eater) but Oscar loved them with garlic and parsley too.

These are a winner!

San Francisco Garlic Fries
Recipe from Fried Ice and Donut Holes

1 kg potatoes
3 tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C / 450 degrees F. Grease 2 baking trays and set aside.

Slice the potatoes into chips and toss in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of the oil then season them with salt and pepper. Spread the chips in single layers on the prepared baking trays and bake for 30 minutes, or until the fries are tender and lightly browned.

Increase the temperature to 260 / 500 degrees and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so until the fries are dark brown around the edges.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining  tablespoon of oil with the garlic and parsley in a large bowl. Add the hot fries and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving. Try not to eat them all yourself!

An InLinkz Link-up

Almond and Chia Bliss Balls

I have become a huge fan of bliss balls in recent months. I love that I can whip up something so tasty, filling and nutritious and just have it stashed in the freezer to grab whenever I want.

Life has become extra busy since Oscar started school and most days I don't have time to eat a proper breakfast before we leave. But there is always time to eat a bliss ball or 2 on the run which keeps me going until we get home and I can take a few minutes to sit down and eat properly. Not exactly ideal when you are breastfeeding but it's certainly better than nothing!

I have made literally dozens of types recently but this one was especially delicious and both the boys love them too.

Bliss ball recipes are very forgiving so if you don't have a particular ingredient you can easily substitute for something else eg, honey for the rice malt syrup, peanut butter for tahini etc.

Almond and Chia Balls
Recipe by me

200g toasted almonds
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup tahini
2 ts vanilla extract
1 heaped tbs coconut oil
2 tbs rice malt syrup
generous pinch sea salt

Place all the dry ingredients into the food processor and blitz to a fine crumb. Add the remaining ingredients and process until it comes together in a sticky ball. If the mixture is too dry you can add some extra syrup or a splash of rice milk. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and store in the fridge or freezer. Makes approx 20.

Oscar turns 5 and a delicious dairy free number 5 cake!

This year Easter Sunday was extra special as it was also my Oscar's 5th birthday! Hard to believe how quickly that chubby little bundle from 5 years ago has turned into the handsome, chatty and all-around awesome 5 year old that he is today.

Oscar had his heart set on a big party this year but after we realised that his birthday fell not only in the school holidays but on Easter Sunday it seemed silly to arrange a party that a lot of our friends would not be able to come to. He will get his party next year but this year was all about family and we had a really lovely day.

One of our birthday traditions for the boys is that they get to choose what we have for lunch. Oscar, bless him, chose to have a simple BBQ lunch at home with sausages, marinated chicken, corn and lots of salad. Yep he really asked specifically for salad!

Our other tradition is that I will make whatever cake they choose from our collection of Woman's Weekly kids' cake books. After much deliberation over the past few months Oscar chose a classic number 5 cake and even wanted the same colours they had used.

I felt a little selfish but I didn't want to make a big cake that I couldn't eat so the cake had to be dairy-free. Well it took a LOT of research to find the perfect dairy-free chocolate cake that would be the right texture to carve into a number 5 shape and taste good and possibly be converted to sugar free as well. Whew.

I eventually found one on The Crafting Foodie and it turned out so well we will definitely be using it again in the future. The original recipe was for a 3 layer 9 inch cake but I converted it into a sheet cake and made it sugar free by using rice malt syrup instead of sugar. I also used decaf coffee so the kids weren't bouncing off the walls!

Dark, Rich, Moist Chocolate Cake - Dairy Free
Recipe slightly adapted from The Crafting Foodie

330g plain flour
1 x 500g jar rice malt syrup (1 1/2 cups)
135g cocoa powder
1 tbs bicarb soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups rice milk
1 1/2 tbs white vinegar
1 1/2 cups strong black coffee, hot
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Prepare a 23cm x 33cm baking pan by lining it with baking paper then greasing and flouring it.

Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.

Combine the syrup, rice milk, vinegar, coffee, oil and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Beat in the eggs.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients then mix on low speed until well combined. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the cake springs back in the middle and skewer comes out cleanly.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting the pan to release the cake. Allow it to cool completely before icing.

I also did a lot of research on icing, trying to find something healthy that would also work to decorate the cake as I intended. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything quite right and so ended up with a traditional sugar-filled icing made with Nuttelex instead of butter to keep it dairy free. The search will continue for the next birthday cake.

Dairy-free Icing

185g nuttelex
360g icing mixture
1 tbs vanilla extract
food colouring

Place the nuttelex in a food processor or stand mixed and beat until smooth and creamy. Add remaining ingedients and process until smooth and well combined, and the icing is the right consistency to cover your cake. Add a little more icing mixture if it is too runny, or a little non-dairy milk (a few teaspoons at a time) if it is too thick.  This amount made enough to do a crumb coat and a top coat with only about 1/3 cup leftover.

For the stars I bought a pack of white icing and just tinted them to the colours I wanted.

Overall this was a really easy cake which made preparations for the day stress-free and Oscar loved it too which is the most important thing!

I'm actually going to reintroduce dairy in the next few weeks to see how Noah reacts (I've only cut it out while breastfeeding) but until then it's nice to know I can still made a great cake and not feel like I'm missing out.

Peanut Butter Granola (Secret Recipe Club)

Secret Recipe Club time! This month I was assigned Curious Cuisiniere by cute couple Sarah and Tim! Their love of food really comes across on their blog and I had a great time exploring their site and bookmarking lots of recipes.

When I came time to choose I actually couldn't decide and ended up making two and funny thing is, both recipes contain peanut butter. Sarah mentions eating peanut butter straight from the jar and while I haven't done that (yet) I do love my peanut butter!

The first recipe I made was the African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup. Smooth soups always go down better at our place so I added extra stock and blended it. It was absolutely delicious and a real winner but unfortunately I didn't get a decent photo.

The second recipe I chose was the Peanut Butter Granola and it was awesome. I've been making homemade granola for ages and I've done chocolate, gluten free and ginger-spiced granolas among others, but it never occurred to me to use peanut butter.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe like swapping the honey for rice malt syrup to make it fructose free. I also left out the whole peanuts to make it child-friendly and then used crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth to give some extra crunchy texture.

3 of the 4 of us absolutely loved it but weirdly, my PB obsessed 3 year old didn't like it. Kids!

My only complaint is that it didn't make enough so next time I will definitely be making a double batch.

Great recipe, thanks Sarah and Tim!

Peanut Butter Granola
Adapted from Curious Cuisiniere

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup natural crunchy peanut butter
3 tbs rice malt syrup
2 tbs water
1/8 ts salt

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C / 325 degrees F. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

Place the oats in a large bowl. Place the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth and well combined. Pour over the oats and mix well. Tip the mixture into the prepared pan and press down (this will give you lovely clumpy granola which you can break up later).

Bake for 20 minutes then remove from the oven to break up the clumps. Bake for a further 20 minutes breaking up the clumps once during that time.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

An InLinkz Link-up

Choc Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie

We love our breakfast smoothies around here. In fact if the boys are being a bit naughty at bedtime the thought of maybe not getting a smoothie the next morning is usually enough to settle them down!

As I am still off dairy I usually make a smoothie just for me while the boys will have the same as my husband. After trying lots of different milk alternatives I am thrilled to say that my tummy is loving rice milk. I really like the Vitasoy one that is enriched with chickpeas and very high in protein. It is quite sweet (although unsweetened) and a perfect base for a smoothie.

This smoothie is rich and sweet but packed with goodness and is a great start to the day. You won't be hungry for a while after drinking this for breakfast.

Have a great weekend!

Choc Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie
Recipe by me

1 cup rice milk

1 small banana
1 ts raw cacao
1/2 ts vanilla extract
1 tbs chia seeds
1 tbs smooth natural peanut butter
handful of ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes 1 (big) serve.

Breakfast Bars

Lately it's been really hard to fill up my kids. At 3 and almost 5 these boys eat a LOT.  Even my 5 month old who has just started on solids has already eaten kilos of fruit and vegetable purees. Heaven help us when they're teenagers!!!

I spend a lot of time looking for new recipes for snacks and quick meals that will fill them up for longer. My main criteria are high protein, low/no sugar and wholegrain. I've been reading Bianca's Wholefood Simply blog for ages but last week I splurged and bought her gorgeous cookbook of the same name. It is a treasure trove of favourites from the blog and so beautifully photographed and put together. The boys spent a good half an hour last night before bed flicking through and deciding what they would like me to make.

For me these breakfast bars were an immediate winner in terms of both ingredients and being so easy to make. My boys loved them for afternoon tea with a glass of milk and it keeps them going until dinner.

Breakfast Bars
Very slightly adapted from Wholefood Simply

1 cup raw macadamias
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 ts vanilla extract
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a loaf pan with baking paper and set aside.

If you have a high speed blender or food processor simply throw in all the ingredients and blitz until smooth. If you think your blender would struggle (like mine did), use it to process the nuts then simply mix with the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Tip the mix into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for approx 25 minutes or until it is golden around the edges and skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack then slice into bars and enjoy!

Spelt Quick Bread

A quick post about a quick bread! Sorry, bad joke there. Anyway while it has been radio silence on the blog lately I have actually been cooking and baking a lot but never seeming to find the time to post. I do have a lot of things photographed that I will get to when I can.

This morning though I wanted to bake something healthy for a late breakfast and stumbled across this quick bread. Just a handful of basic ingredients, 5 minutes to mix and 30 minutes later I was enjoying a few slices topped with natural peanut butter and a drizzle of rice malt syrup. The perfect Saturday breakfast.

Spelt Quick Bread
Very slightly adapted from Anja's Food 4 Thought

1 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 ts salt
1 ts bicarbonate of soda
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, divided
1 cup rice milk
2 ts apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Line a loaf pan with baking paper and set aside.

Place the vinegar in a 1 cup measure then fill with rice milk then allow to stand.

Add the dry ingredients (but only half the pumpkin seeds) to a large bowl and stir together. Pour in the rice milk and vinegar and mix well to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, sprinkle the remaining seeds over the top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning out. Delicious served warm from the oven or you can slice, freeze and toast to enjoy another day.

Mushroom Lasagne

I am a huge fan of lasagne! It's definitely my favourite pasta dish but for some reason we don't tend to make it very often. It just feels much more time consuming than good old spaghetti bolognaise which we eat pretty regularly.

I had my eye on this mushroom lasagne recipe from Delicious Everyday for ages. It was actually part of a series of Christmas posts from 2010 when the blog was called Le Delicieux, so that tells you just how long it's been hanging around!

I know the recipe looks long but I managed to get this in the oven within an hour, which seems amazingly fast considering I made the pasta from scratch! I was also pregnant at the time with 2 other kids to look after so was feeling very chuffed to make making something so fancy :)

And how did it taste? DIVINE. The earthiness of the mushrooms paired with the creamiest bechamel, tender bite of the pasta and the gorgeous salty parmesan on top ... it was just perfect. If I ever need to make something vegetarian for Christmas this will be ideal.

Mushroom Lasagne 
Very slightly adapted from Delicious Everyday 

Fresh Pasta
400g strong 00 flour
4 extra large eggs
1 tbs olive oil
1 ts salt

Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the centre. In a small bowl whisk the eggs until the yolks are broken up, then pour into the well. Add the oil.

Using your fingertips, slowly start to mix the eggs and oil into the flour. Once combined, tip the dough out onto a floured board and knead for approximately 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cut into 4 pieces, wrap each in cling film and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare your mushroom base and bechemel sauce.

Using your pasta machine, roll out each section of dough. I feed each piece through level 1 x 5 times, then once each on 2 -5. Lay out on a tea towel and cover until you are ready to use it.

Mushroom base
600g mixed mushrooms (portabella, swiss brown, button)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 brown onion, diced
3 ts fresh thyme, chopped
2 ts salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
2 tbs beef/vegetable stock or red wine

In a large frying pan over a medium heat, fry together the olive oil and onion for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms are soft. Add the stock/wine and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.

Set aside and allow to cool completely.

Bechemel sauce
500ml full cream milk
1 bay leaf
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
3 ts butter
3 ts flour
1/4 ts salt
1/4 ts freshly cracked pepper
60g of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Pour the milk into saucepan, add the bay leaf and garlic and allow towarm gently over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

In a large saucepan over a medium heat melt the butter before whisking in the flour. Cook for a minute to remove the flour taste. Pour in the warmed milk and whisk constantly until all the butter and flour is incorporated. Switch to a spatula and cook until the sauce is your preferred thickness. Don’t stop stirring! Add the salt, pepper and parmesan and stir until well combined.

Lasagna assembly
Fresh lasagne sheets
60g parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C / 160 degrees fan-forced.

Grease your lasagne dish with butter and line the base with a lasagna sheet. Cut them to fit if needed.

Cover with half the mushroom mixture and top the mushrooms with 1/3 of the bechemel sauce. Repeat ending with a final lasagne sheet topped with the remaining bechemel sauce. Sprinkle over the grated parmesan.

Bake for around 40 minutes or until the lasagne sheets are tender and the top is golden brown.

Coconut Flour Blueberry Muffins (Secret Recipe Club)

It's Secret Recipe Club time! Each month SRC members are assigned a blog to make a recipe from and then we all post on the same day. Who got who is a secret until reveal day, which happens to be today!

This month I was assigned Flying on Jess Fuel, which has to be one of the best blog names ever. Jess is a navy wife and her blog is a fabulous collection of recipes shared from all over the US. Let me tell you I was really spoilt for choice this month. There were SO many recipes I wanted to make!

Unfortunately I can't have any dairy while feeding my son as it upsets his little tummy, so that cut out a few awesome sounding recipes that I have bookmarked for later on - Jess's Taco Salad, Cheeseburger Pizza and White Chicken Lasagna to name a few.

While browsing through her breakfast recipes I came across Jess's Coconut Flour Cherry Muffins. We happened to have a huge bag of coconut flour in the pantry and as I am trying to bake with less wheat and dairy this looked perfect!

Coconut flour has become a really popular ingredient lately as it allows you to bake grain-free, perfect for anyone following a gluten free or paleo diet. It works very differently from other flours though so you can't just sub it one for one with other flours. For example, for every 1 cup of wheat flour you would use only 1/3 cup coconut flour and lots of extra liquid.

I wasn't lucky enough to have a glut of cherries like Jess had when she made these, but I did have a bag of frozen blueberries so I used those instead. The only other changes I made were to use rice malt syrup as the sweetener instead of sugar, and olive oil instead of butter.

So how did they taste? Delicious! Slightly denser than regular muffins but very moist and with a very subtle coconut flavour. Similar to a friand made with ground almonds. These were a hit with my taste-testers and I've already made a second batch using pineapple and they were just as good.

This one's a winner, thanks Jess! :)

 Coconut Flour Blueberry Muffins (Gluten and Dairy Free, Low Fructose)
Adapted from Jess's  Coconut Flour Cherry Muffins

6 eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup rice malt syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin tray and set aside.

Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk to combine and remove any lumps. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, syrup and extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until smooth. Gently fold through the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups.

Bake 16-20 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown and the muffins spring back when touched gently in the middle. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before turning out on to a cooling rack.

Rich Chocolate Cupcakes (Wheat, Egg, Dairy, Fructose Free)

For the past 7 weeks my husband and I have been eating incredibly well. We cleaned out the pantry at the start of January so we couldn't snack on junk even if we wanted to! And it's working. I have lost 3 kg and hubby is down over 5. But sometimes you just want a little sweet treat, you want to feel like you aren't missing out. Enter these amazing chocolate cupcakes!

Despite being free from wheat, dairy, eggs and fructose they taste incredible! They have a soft, light crumb and intense chocolate flavour that totally belies the fact that they are pretty good for you. You probably still shouldn't eat more than 1 or 2 but if you, it's not the end of the world.

We each had one for afternoon tea today and the rest are stashed in the freezer for a pick-me-up another day.

If you're looking for something chocolatey and delicious for Valentine's Day but without all the crap, these would be perfect!

Rich Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Real Simple

1 cup white spelt flour
3/4 cup dextrose
1/3 cup raw cacao
3/4 ts bicarb soda
1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
1 cup rice milk
2 ts apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ts vanilla extract
2 tbs cacao nibs (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius, fan-forced. Line a muffin tray with wrappers and set aside.

In a small jug mix together the rice milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it curdles.

Meanwhile, whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. To the curdled milk add the oil and vanilla and stir together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until just combined.

Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle each cupcake with cacao nibs.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the tops spring back and a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack.

Makes 12.

Starting School and Sultana Oat Biscuits

Today is a big day in our family as our eldest is starting school! While this year is called different things around the country here in Queensland this first year of school is called prep and is for kids who will turn 5 by the 30th of June.

Whatever you call it, it is the end of an era for us and the start of a new exciting chapter for Oscar!

We have been preparing for months getting school uniforms bought, washed and labelled, school books covered and the all-important lunch box chosen. After much deliberation I went with a medium size Fridge to Go lunch bag, a stainless steel lunchbots trio container and a 4 My Earth sandwich wrap and snack pocket. I bought all of these on Lime Tree Kids (my favourite online kids store) but they are available at other places. All of these should last him for years and I'm happy to be moving away from plastic to more environmentally friendly products.

At Oscar's school they eat 3 times in first term then twice a day after that. This means we need to send a piece of fruit for mini munch, lunch and a snack. For this first week I thought a yummy cookie would be perfect for his afternoon snack as it only has to keep him going for the hour or so until he gets home and I can bake and freeze ahead of time.

I came up with these Sultana Oat Biscuits using ingredients I had in the pantry. While I am baking without wheat and dairy most of the time these days, Oscar doesn't have any allergies and these are sugar free, contain wholemeal flour and will give him a good energy hit from the sultanas.

Good luck to all the preppies and their mums/dads today!

Sultana Oat Biscuits
Recipe by me

125g butter, softened
1 tbs stevia (I used Natvia)
1 ts vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 ts baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup sultanas

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper and set aside.

Cream the butter and stevia together until pale, add the vanilla and egg and beat until thick and smooth. Fold through the dry ingredients until well combined. Roll spoonfuls of dough into 16 balls and place on 2 trays. Flatten each ball with damp fingers.

Bake for approx 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. They will be soft at first but will firm up when cool.

Pistachio Crumbed Chicken with Raspberry Soy Sauce (Secret Recipe Club)

Happy new year everyone and welcome to my first Secret Recipe Club post of 2014!

So my blogging has been a little sporadic to say the least over the past couple of months. Who would have thought that 3 little boys would keep me so busy! My littlest boy is now 3 months old and sleeping pretty well so I am finally starting to feel more like myself and more motivated to get back into the kitchen.

This month for SRC I was assigned My Judy the Foodie by Shari. I love the idea behind this blog, with Shari cooking her way through her mother Judy's recipes as a way of remembering her and preserving her culinary prowess.

I can really relate to Shari as I lost my mum to cancer in 2008 and actually started this blog within a few weeks of her passing. While she didn't love cooking she certainly encouraged me and loved eating anything I made. I know she would have loved me blogging.

While Shari has some delicious sounding sweets on her blog I am on a healthy-eating kick at the moment to shift some baby weight so decided to stick with a main meal. The one I chose, Pistachio Crusted Chicken with Raspberry Soy Sauce, had me so intrigued I just had to make it!

I sent my husband out to buy the ingredients for this one and we both had mini heart attacks at the price of pistachios - about $60/kg!!! So we got just 1 cup of un-shelled pistachios and made up the rest of the quantity with mixed nuts. The end result was still really tasty with that gorgeous pistachio green colour. I would however recommend blitzing the nuts in a food processor for a smoother crumb. I crushed mine very carefully with a rolling pin so as not to wake the baby!

I was a little dubious about the sauce, I mean who mixes raspberry jam with soy sauce and horseradish? I will admit to having a little taste of the sauce on its own and wondering whether I'd made a huge mistake. But Judy was onto something because when it was poured over the chicken it was delicious! I served it with sweet potato mash and it made a really lovely dinner.

Recipe Pistachio Crusted Chicken with Raspberry Sauce
Adapted from My Judy the Foodie

500g chicken thigh fillets
garlic powder
olive oil for frying
sea salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1.5 cups crushed pistachio nuts
250g jar of raspberry jam (mine was St Dalfour 100% fruit)
90mls low salt soy sauce
2 ts of white horseradish from a jar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Season the chicken with garlic powder and sea salt. Dip the chicken fillets into a bowl filled with flour, then into a bowl full of beaten eggs. After chicken is fully coated with egg wash, place in a bowl with the crushed pistachio nuts and cover completely.

In a large fry pan over medium high heat, fry the chicken pieces in about ¼ cup olive oil until both sides are golden, approximately 2-3 minutes per side.

Remove the pieces from the pan and place on a baking tray and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked through.

To make the sauce, combine the raspberry jam, soy sauce and horseradish in a small bowl and mix completely to desired taste. Heat the sauce if you wish and pour over top baked chicken.

Healthy Lamingtons for Australia Day

{Wheat free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free}

Happy Australia Day everyone! The kids are playing, there's cricket on TV and there are lamingtons ready to eat.

It's become our tradition to make lamingtons on Australia day but this year I wanted something a little healthier but still with great chocolate flavour. Amy from The Holistic Ingredient obviously agrees because she came up with these amazing lamingtons so that no one misses out despite any food allergies or intolerances!

I made her exact recipe which you will find on her blog here . The sponge uses almond meal and tapioca flour and relies on beaten eggs and baking powder for the lift. The icing is packed with superfoods like coconut oil and raw cacao rather than your typical butter and icing sugar. So much better for you and really, really delicious!

Having run out of baking powder I found a recipe online to make my own but unfortunately it wasn't hugely successful this time. Perhaps my ingredients were a bit old? The recipe is 1 part bicarbonate of soda, 1 part corn flour and 2 parts cream of tartar, all of which I happened to have in the cupboard. I ended up with a sponge that was light but flat.

Amy recommended slicing the sponge and layering 2 pieces together, but in order to get a more traditional lamington shape I layered 3 together, sandwiched with 100% fruit raspberry jam. I cut my sponge into 24 squares and made 8 lamingtons.

These lamingtons were absolutely scrumptious! Packed with flavour and without any of the ingredients I am trying to avoid, they were exactly what I was hoping to find. This recipe is definitely a keeper!