Welcome to My Wholefood Family

How exciting that you're here!

This blog has been a labour of love for 7.5 years but it is now time to change course and take things in a new direction. Actually, it's not really so new because if you've been reading along for awhile you will know as a family we have made some big (but simple) changes to the way we eat.

A few months ago I ran a survey asking readers why they are here, what they like and what they want to see more of. Thank you to all those wonderful people who replied, you made my day! The top 3 things you want to see more of are:

- switching the family to whole foods
- healthy food on a budget
- meal planning

I hear you.

Those are exactly my issues on a daily basis and I think together we can take some amazing steps this year!

To make sure you don't miss a recipe please update your RSS feeds!

This will still be predominantly a recipe blog. It's what I love. But I will also be sharing my tips and tricks on switching to, planning and shopping for whole foods.

I also really love making-over recipes. Like finding an amazing looking dessert in a magazine that is full of things we don't eat, and figuring out how to make it in a more whole foods way. So if you have a favourite recipe that you wish was a little (or a lot) healthier, send me an email and I will see if I can make it over for you. Same thing if you find a recipe from my archives that you would like to see made healthier or dairy free or whatever. Let me know.

So to answer your question, no I won't be removing any recipes from my archives. Even the ones full of white flour, white sugar or packaged foods. I love being to look back on what we were doing years ago, get nostalgic over how little and cute the kids were and honestly, get inspiration for dinner sometimes!

So in essence we have a new look and a new direction for the New Year.

I think it's going to be fun!

Pumpkin Boiled Fruit Cake

We're going old school with this one - and it doesn't get much more retro than a boiled fruit cake!

I know not everyone is a fan of fruit cake but we love them. They are very much a treat in this house though as being full of dried fruit they are also packed with sugar. I still had half a bag of mixed dried fruit leftover from making Christmas cakes and a visitor coming for morning tea so it seemed like to the perfect opportunity to make this again.

It is adapted from an old family recipe that I can remember my mum making in the 80s (yep I'm that old!). It is has no sweetener apart from the dried fruit (tick), wholemeal flour (tick) and mashed pumpkin (big tick for hidden veggies).

The pumpkin gives it a lovely warm colour and helps keep it moist, although unlike other fruitcakes this one is best eaten on the day or the day after baking but no longer. Even my pumpkin-hating husband and super fussy Mr 5 loved this and the entire cake was demolished between 6 of us.

I didn't do it this time around but I have been extra sneaky in the past and added a grated zucchini into the fruit mixture and it virtually disappears once boiled. Love those hidden veggies :)


Boiled Pumpkin Fruit Cake

450g organic mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas, raisins and currants)
125g butter
1 cup water
2 ts mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 ts baking powder
1 cup cold mashed pumpkin
2 large eggs

Place the fruit, butter, water and spice into a large pot and bring to the boil over medium high heat. Let bubble for 5-10 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone and the fruit is plump and sticky. Allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C / 150 degrees fan-forced. Grease and line a deep 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

Add the beaten egg and pumpkin and mix well.

Fold through the flour and baking powder (I never bother sifting but you can whisk them together in a bowl before adding if you like).

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Watch the top and cover with foil if it is getting too dark.

Cool in the tin and serve sliced with butter and a cup of tea.

Salsa Verde

Happy New Year everyone! How are you feeling about 2016? Tired and not ready to go back to work, or pumped and positive about what what the new year may bring? As for me, I am really excited about the big things that are happening this year. Oscar is going into grade 2, Charlie is starting prep and Noah is off to daycare for the first time. That will leave me with 3 child-free days (feeling a little sad about that) to really get stuck into my study (feeling great about that!).

In order to make it all run smoothly I will need to be really organised with food and shopping and I'm working on some planning tools to help with that. My health will also have to be a priority this year if I am going to have the energy to do everything I want and need to do.

While I don't set resolutions as such I do set intentions, and as always I intend to eat more vegetables, to really get a rainbow of colours on my plate every day. We tend to get stuck in a veggie rut and let's face it, the same old steamed vegetables served on the side of whatever protein we happen to be having that night can get boring.

For me the secret to eating and really enjoying salads and vegetables is a great sauce. If you can whip up a great homemade mayonnaise and a handful of different salad dressings you can make anything taste amazing.

Salsa verde literally means 'green sauce' and is a packed with the good stuff like fresh herbs, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. It is fantastic tossed through salad leaves and it makes a plate of steamed greens really sing. It is so good that I can (and do) eat spoonfuls of it straight from the bowl.

 

Salsa Verde
Slightly adapted from Taste

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
1/2 bunch basil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 ts capers
zest of 1 lemon
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place the herbs, garlic, capers and lemon zest into the food processor and blitz until finely chopped (TMX 10 secs / SP 8, scraping down the bowl halfway).

Add the lemon juice and then with the motor running drizzle in the oil and process for about 30 seconds. Transfer to a glass bowl and store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days (if it lasts that long!)

This one is husband-approved so give it a go!

My Summer Fruit Trifle (Thermomix)

For me trifle is the quintessential Summer, and therefore Christmas, dessert. It was my favourite thing growing up and I remember the excitement of helping mum assemble it with bought jam roll, red and green jelly, tinned peaches and lashings of bright yellow custard. There was nothing better on Christmas Day (although plum pudding with custard did come a close second and there is a story often told of me as a very young child asking for "a big piece please.")

Keeping with our no-roast Christmas lunch this year it went without saying that we would have trifle for dessert. I made a Maggie Beer raspberry and lemon curd one last year and although we enjoyed it I felt it was a bit too tart overall. This year I played around with flavours and came up with this Summer Fruit Trifle which we all LOVED. I will probably still make a few tweaks for next year (I can never leave a recipe alone) but this was pretty close to perfect.

I was too full to have any at lunchtime but I had a small taste at dinner and then a bowlful for breakfast on Boxing Day. Nothing wrong with that!

This is my final post for 2015 and what a year it's been! Looking forward to spending 2016 with you all.  Enjoy x

My Summer Fruit Trifle

Spelt Genoise Sponge 
Recipe from Jude Blereau's Wholefood for Children, Thermomix adaptation by me

130g white spelt flour, sifted
4 large eggs, at room temperature
100g golden caster sugar (made from raw sugar blitzed in the TMX 10 secs / SP 9)
1 ts vanilla extract
40g melted butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / 160 degrees fan-forced. Grease and line the base and sides of an 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

Using the butterfly, whisk together the eggs and the sugar for 10 minutes / SP 4 until thick and pale.

Add the vanilla and beat again for a few seconds.

Remove the butterfly, add the flour and beat for 10 secs / SP 3.

Add the melted and cooled butter and beat again for another 10 secs / SP 3.

Use a spatula to scrape around the edges and fold through any remaining butter or flour.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. It will be golden brown, springy in the middle and pulling away from the sides.

Leave to cool completely in the tin. When ready to assemble the trifle, cut the cake into cubes.

Mango Jelly
2 large mangoes, seed and skin removed
2 cups coconut water
2 tbs gelatine (I use Great Lakes brand)

Place the mango flesh into the mixing bowl along with the coconut water and blend for 20 secs / SP 9.

Sprinkle over the gelatine and cook for 3 mins / 60 deg / SP 4.

Pour into a lightly oiled slice pan and place in the fridge. Cut into small cubes when ready to assemble the trifle.

Custard
1L rice milk
4 eggs
140g rice malt syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 heaped tbs arrowroot

Place all ingredients into the mixing bowl and cook for 10 mins / 80 deg / SP 4.5. Pour into a heatproof jug. Cool on the bench for 30 minutes before placing into the fridge to chill completely.

Lemon and Orange Curd
Adapted from Tenina

200g rice malt syrup
zest of 2 oranges and 2 lemons
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
240g cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes
2 heaped ts arrowroot 
4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks

Place butter into the mixing bowl and chop 5 secs / SP 5.

Add all remaining ingredients and cook for 10 minutes / 80 degrees / SP 5.

Cook for a further 3 minutes / 90 degrees / SP 6.

Pour into a large glass container. Place in the fridge once cooled.

Assembling the trifle

2 cups raspberries
2 cups sweet, ripe pineapple, cut into small thin slices

To assemble the trifle (best done at least a few hours ahead of time), place alternating layers of cake, fruit, curd, jelly and custard into a large trifle dish, finishing with a layer of custard and a scattering of raspberries over the top. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. 

Serves 8-10

My pre-Christmas Bake-a-thon and the Best Ever Gingerbread

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous day. We enjoyed a lovely relaxing Christmas at home which was perfect as there is no way the boys would have wanted to leave their brand new trampoline behind.

Did anyone else have a Christmas Eve bake-a-thon? I spent most of the day in the kitchen and then crashed in the afternoon before heading out for the evening. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy the baking and cooking (I wouldn't be here otherwise!) it's just the cleanup that gets me down. I am so grateful to have a dishwasher, we couldn't get by without it.

I was trying not to leave everything to the last minute but some things can really only be made the day before, and other things I sort of forgot about so ended up doing those too!

I know you are probably all totally over Christmas food but I wanted to post at least this one recipe so I can keep track and make it again next year (and probably before that too) because it was totally amazing.  

I didn't have much cooking to do this year but I did lots of sweet things.

On Christmas Eve I made 2 types of custard to take to my mother in laws house (the pudding was already prepped thank goodness). Then for our trifle I made a lemon and orange curd, a spelt genoise sponge, more custard and a mango and coconut jelly. Yum! I also made a double batch of this pumpkin gingerbread for our Christmas breakfast, a batch of my dairy-free rum balls and a batch of gingerbread men so the boys would have something yummy to leave for Santa. Whew!!

For me this gingerbread was the absolute highlight of my Christmas baking. It was everything you want in a gingerbread - packed with warm spicy flavour, incredibly moist and tasted even better the next day when you can't be bothered cooking anything. We had it Christmas morning with some homemade peach and chia jam.

While I think it would be more suited for our Christmas in July celebrations rather than a hot summertime Christmas, I would happily eat this any day and am glad to have half a loaf still stashed in the freezer.

Apologies for the less than stellar photo - cake for breakfast waits for no man! Had to snap one quickly and then get it on plates for the hungry horde. 

Best Ever Pumpkin Gingerbread 
Adapted from Simply Recipes

400g white spelt flour
1 1/2 ts bicarb soda
1 tbs ginger
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 ts nutmeg
1 1/2 ts salt
2 cups pumpkin puree
225g melted butter
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1/2 cup molasses
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 160 degrees C fan forced. Grease and line 2 loaf pans (mine were pyrex) and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, bicarb, salt and spices.

In a separate large bowl or jug, whisk together the remaining ingredients until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold through until just combined.

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 45-60 minutes (mine was done at 45 minutes so start checking then). It is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Delicious served warm with butter but it's even more amazing the next day if you can wait that long.