Chocolate Pecan Pie (SRC)

I've been doing a lot of baking lately but it's been all muffins, bliss balls and breads. It seems like aaaages since I've made a proper dessert - something the kids get really excited over and that seems a bit special.

As this is my first month with Group C in the Secret Recipe Club (after moving across from Group D) I thought I would celebrate and choose something sweet and out of the ordinary!

This month I was assigned The Avid Appetite by Rachel who lives in Jersey City with her husband and gorgeous daughter Penelope (the cutest name ever). I loved spending time on Rachel's blog and   apart from a love of food (obviously), found we have a quite lot in common such as loving overnight oats for breakfast to being a fan of both Castle and Gretchen Ruben!

I was really spoilt for choice when it came to selecting a recipe and there were loads that I bookmarked for later. I love the sound of her Vanilla Cinnamon Quinoa for a protein-packed breakfast, I'm intrigued by the Pumpkin Butter and my boys would go crazy for these Banana Bars with Chocolate Frosting.

It was the Chocolate Pecan Pie adapted from a Paula Deen recipe that really caught my eye though (I have a bit of a soft spot for Paula Deen after reading her autobiography a few years ago).

(Does anyone else remember 'pecan pie' scene from When Harry Met Sally?)

I was prepared to make a few changes in order to fit in with our wholefoods way of eating, and just a couple of simple switches later we had the most amazing, but not too sweet, dessert!

We LOVED this. Perfectly short pastry, sweet nutty filling with little pops of dark chocolate. What's not to love?

Try as I might though I couldn't get a clean slice. I mean, is there a trick to slicing a pecan pie neatly without all the nuts smooshing out the sides? Still the taste made up for the messiness. DELICIOUS!

Chocolate Pecan Pie
Adapted from Paula Deen via The Avid Appetite

Shortcrust Pastry (my own recipe):

300g wholemeal spelt flour
2 ts coconut sugar
160g cold butter, diced
1/3 cup cold water, approx

Place all ingredients except the water into a food processor and blitz until it forms breadcrumbs. Add the water a little at a time until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough in between 2 sheets of baking paper, large enough to fit a 22cm tart dish. Either wrap the remainder of the dough and place in the freezer for another time or roll it flat and cut out cookies to bake at the same time as the pie. My boys love this!

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Filling:

2 cups pecans
3 large eggs, beaten
3 tbs melted butter, cooled
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1 tbs molasses
1/2 cup coconut sugar
100g dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt 85%)

Scatter pecans over the uncooked pastry shell.

Place the eggs, butter, syrup, sugar and chocolate into a mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined. Pour the mixture over the pecans.

Place the pie onto a baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 180 degrees and cook for a further 25 minutes or until set.

Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely.

Thanks for a great recipe Rachel! My family loved it.

An InLinkz Link-up

Menu Plan Monday (16th May)

This fortnight's meal plan is full of cheap eats.

We're going though our stash in the freezer, bulking out our meals with loads of veggies as well as having a few vegetarian meals, and then rounding it out with some mince and sausages.

My husband scored an amazing array of fruit and veg for next to nothing on the weekend, including a box piled high with apples, oranges and butternut pumpkin for the grand price of $1!

Real food definitely doesn't have to be expensive:)

What's on the menu ...

Monday - Roast chicken with gravy and potato, pumpkin, broccoli and corn

Tuesday - Spaghetti and meatballs with beans

Wednesday - Hamburgers with homemade buns, lettuce, tomato and beetroot

Thursday - Leftover lamb curry with rice and Asian greens

Friday - Grain free pancakes with bacon and eggs

Saturday - DIY

Sunday - Homemade pizza with spelt bases

Monday - Leftover pulled pork with coleslaw and homemade tortillas

Tuesday - Vegan macaroni and cheese

Wednesday - Sausage and veggie bake

Thursday - Leftover beef ragu with pumpkin and greens

Friday - Leftover chicken with potato salad

Saturday - Veggie soup

Sunday - OUT

What's on the menu at your place this week? Did you score any grocery bargains on the weekend?

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

There are some flavour combinations that just work.

And peanut butter and banana is definitely one of the best!

While peanut butter gets a bad rap sometimes (and of course if you're allergic you should steer well clear), it's actually packed with protein, potassium, magnesium and good fat that will help keep you full.

My Mr 5 has lots of sensory issues to do with food but he has always loved peanut butter so it's a staple at our place. We buy tubs of freshly ground peanut butter from our local health store, that is made from 100% organic peanuts, nothing else added.

Staying away from commercial varieties which are full of added salt, sugar and vegetable oils is a good idea. Most supermarkets will have at least one brand of natural peanut butter so check the health food section and get reading those labels.

Apart from sandwiches we add peanut butter to smoothies, spread it on celery and top with sultanas to make ants on a log and serve with apple slices. And now we can add muffins to the list because these were delicious!

My boys absolutely devoured these - they couldn't get enough and ate 3 each for afternoon tea (and yes still ate dinner afterwards).

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/3 cup coconut sugar
pinch salt
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 eggs
1 ts vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Line a 12 cup muffin tray with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar.

In a medium bowl, mash the bananas and peanut butter together until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. Add the oil, milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together with a fork until only just combined.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when you press lightly.

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

Serve with a big glass of milk and watch kids and big kids smile!

Makes 12.

Are you a peanut butter fan?

No Knead, Overnight Artisan Bread

I'm a huge fan of making bread these days, but it hasn't always been that way!

Not too many years ago I was terrified of using yeast. It just seemed all too hard and that there was so much that could go wrong.

My first step to making homemade bread was with a breadmaker and bread mix. All the hard work was done for us, there was no kneading, no shaping and no worrying about getting the oven temperature right. Plus I loved the convenience of being able to set it the night before and wake up to fresh bread first thing in the morning. Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread??

We then moved on to just mixing and kneading the dough in the breadmaker but shaping and baking the dough ourselves. This meant we could make proper sandwich loaves and cob loaves rather than just the squat oblongs you can make in a breadmaker.

After lots of use our breadmaker finally gave up and died and we went back to buying supermarket and bakery bread, which was not ideal for a number of reasons - it's more expensive, it's not as fresh, and there are lots of questionable ingredients like preservatives, emulsifiers and vegetable oils to name a few.

But before we could fully commit to making all our own bread from scratch we took one important step - we cut back on the amount of bread we were eating.

Yep, that's right. 

I've dabbled with a Paleo style of eating and while going completely grain free is never going to work for my family, reducing grains (and especially wheat) can only be a positive step for our health.

I now make just 1 loaf of spelt and grain sandwich bread every week and that does sandwiches and toast for all of us for the week. I often also make one other type of bread, such as cheese and olive scrolls for lunchboxes or a focaccia to have with soup.

A few weeks ago we had friends around for breakfast and wanted to serve some fresh bread. I could have made an extra loaf the day before but it wouldn't have been as fresh, and as it was a public holiday there was no chance of nipping down to the bakery and grabbing a loaf that morning.

So I went searching and came across a basic recipe for a no knead, overnight artisan bread. This recipe seemed to pop up everywhere! With that many reviews I knew it had to be good and it was just what we were looking for.

If you're a novice bread-baker this recipe could be just the thing to help you fall in love with baking bread. Why?

1. It uses plain flour NOT baker's flour which you may not have at home
2. You don't have to knead it
3. You don't need a bread tin, just a large heavy oven safe pot with a lid

Just mix, rest and bake. Easy!

This made a fantastic loaf of bread - crackly crusty exterior with a chewy texture reminiscent of sourdough. Totally delicious and perfect for our breakfast of eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and homemade tomato sauce. Yum!

 
No Knead, Overnight Artisan Bread
Recipe from Don't Waste The Crumbs

3 cups plain flour
2 ts salt
1 ts instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature

Stir together the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Pour in the water and mix well to form a rough and shaggy dough (it will not be smooth).

Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the bench for 8-18 hours, or just overnight. It will be light and bubbly.

When you are ready to bake, flour your hands and a sheet of baking paper and tip out the dough. Gently shape into a ball, without kneading, and leave on the baking paper covered with a tea towel for one hour.

When the dough has rested for 30 minutes, place a large heavy oven-safe pot (like a Dutch oven) into the oven and preheat to 230 degrees Celsius.

After the dough has rested for an hour, remove the pot from the oven and carefully place the dough inside, still on the baking paper.

Put the lid on the pot and place back into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and then bake for a further 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Menu Plan Monday (2nd May)

Happy May everyone! Can you believe it's May already??

This week is a special one for us with our anniversary on Wednesday. My wonderful mother-in-law is coming to look after the boys so we can go out the evening, probably for a quick dinner then a movie.

So we've factored in dinner out for us on Wednesday, then we're out for a BBQ with friends on Saturday night and then on Sunday it's Mother's Day! Should be a fun week :)

What we're eating this fortnight ...

Monday - Roast chicken with sweet potato, pumpkin and beans

Tuesday - Chickpea curry (leftover from freezer)

Wednesday - DATE NIGHT - sausages and wedges for the kids

Thursday - Curried sausages

Friday - Chicken and potato salad (chicken leftover from freezer)

Saturday - OUT

Sunday - Pulled pork with tortillas and coleslaw

Monday - Beef madras with rice and pumpkin mash

Tuesday - DF GF Lasagna (with leftover bolognaise from freezer)

Wednesday - Sweet potato and bacon risotto

Thursday - Slow cooked lamb and veg curry

Friday - DIY

Saturday - Sweet potato hash browns with poached eggs and bacon

Sunday - Leftover curried lamb wraps

What's on the menu for you this week? Leave me a comment with your dinner ideas ... I'm always looking for inspiration!