Category: Lunch

Confessions of a Healthy Food Blogger

I share a fairly popular recipe for zucchini cheese – but I never make it myself, and always buy that super expensive vegan cheese from the supermarket.

I don’t like Brussel sprouts, I think they taste like farts. I live with three males (five including the cat and the dog) yes, I know what farts taste like.

My kids won’t eat frozen peas, in fact they won’t eat frozen mixed veggies either. Purely to make my life difficult. Except this one time I told my friend that my kids don’t eat peas and my 1 year old then stole and ate all the peas from her sons lunchbox.

Ashton, just Ashton. Ashton is incredibly fussy. He has the most ginormous list of foods he won’t eat, and bunch of finicky food preferences that I often comply with because I hate the moaning at the dinner table. If you want a winge-fest serve roast chicken (unless it’s a supermarket rotisserie basted in all sorts of non allergy friendly crap that he shouldn’t eat), or potatoes, especially mashed, roasted is marginally acceptable but only if they are cut into 1cm cubes, and crisp, but not too crisp, heaven forbid. Or try soup – if it’s soup, it’s inedible. Make sure you have you best gag face at the ready to make a performance at the table on soup night. Also if its marginally spicy, it may as well be poisonous. Someone save me from this kid he is a healthy food bloggers worst nightmare.

My kids won’t eat my homemade hummus, the two little ones just straight up won’t touch the stuff while Ashton will only eat “Lisa’s” hummus original flavour.

Sometimes I eat proper crisps for breakfast … and let the baby join me.

None of my kids eat raw carrot sticks, but I put them in their lunchboxes all the time because they look good in photos.

When I was a kid I used to steal meal mates crackers from the pantry and eat raro juice sachets like it was sherbet.

My mum buys the kids allergy friendly biscuits and chocolate and I eat it all myself.

Our children are allowed pudding once a week. But every night when they go to bed we eat chips and chocolate and mug cakes.

Most of my blog photos are taken on our bed covered in white sheets, or on the floor of our snail infested sunroom (best lighting in the house 😆)- I peg an upside down piece of scrap vinyl to a portable clothes rack to bounce the light off. Once I spilled a milkshake all through the bed during a photo shoot.

Sometimes I lie to the kids about what they are allergic to, so they don’t eat too much sugar, because I can’t handle the meltdowns.

Anyone else got anything to confess?!

Kayla

Dairy Free Butter Chicken |Coconut free

This dairy free and coconut free butter chicken is one that the whole family can enjoy. When we were coconut free I missed curry so much, I spent a lot of time trying to create something that was just as delicious as the cream or coconut laden version, that was family friendly as well. At the time I made this we were dairy free, coconut free and cashew free (among other things) and it was so hard to find recipes that could resemble anything creamy without any of those ingredients. It’s safe to say that iv’e nailed this one. No dairy or coconut required as the cauliflower helps to achieve that creamy texture. It’s fragrant, smooth and delicious.

Anyone else struggle to get veggies into the kids at dinner every night? Eight veggies crammed in and disguised as butter chicken in here! This one is solving all sorts of problems! 

The lemon juice

If you don’t have lemon juice on hand, you can replace that with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. 

Veggies out of season?

Here in New Zealand when veggies go out of season, you either need to take a second mortgage to pay for them, or they are just straight up not available. Seeing as i’m also budget conscious I’ve adapted to do without certain veggies when they are out of season:

Zucchini – replace with another ¼ of a cauliflower. 

Tomatoes – replace with another ½ cup tomato passata / puree. 

If you would like a delicious gluten, dairy, soy, egg, nut, yeast, grain and coconut free (instant!) naan bread recipe to go with this, you can find that here. 

I love to hear when you make my recipes, don’t forget to tag me on Facebook and Instagram. 

Print Recipe

Butter Chicken – Dairy Free, Coconut Free

This butter chicken recipe is not only dairy free and coconut free, its also free from gluten, eggs, nuts and made predominantly of vegetables, that your family will have no idea are in there!

Ingredients

The Spice Mix

  • 2 teaspoons Cumin
  • 2 teaspoons Garam masala
  • 2 teaspoons Paprika
  • 2 teaspoons Ginger
  • 2 teaspoons Turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

The sauce

  • ¼ large cauliflower or 1/2 a large
  • 2 small carrots or one large
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 1 small onion
  • 3 large cloves garlic (about 2 Tablespoons)
  • 3 mushrooms
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 cup water or broth
  • ½ cup tomato passata or purée
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 500 – 700 g boneless chicken breast or thigh.
  • Chilli to taste

Instructions

  • Measure out all your spices into a small bowl and set aside. Half will go in your sauce and the other half will coat the chicken.
  • Cut up the veg into rough pieces, the carrot needs to be the smallest as that takes the longest to cook. Add them to a pot with a swig of olive oil and gently sauté. Add Half of the spice mix and sauté for a few minutes until everything is coated and it smells fragrant. Add the water / stock and cover for ten minutes or until all the veggies are cooked through. (See notes for pressure cooker instructions).
  • While it's cooking, cut up the chicken into 1cm slices, all of similar size and coat with the remaining spice mix. Set aside to marinate, until the sauce is done.
  • When the veggies are cooked add them with the cooking water to a blender. Make sure you leave the top open where you would feed things into for the steam to escape or the hot pressure might build up and you will be cleaning butter chicken off your walls! I usually cover the top with a tea towel as I'm blending so none escapes. Blend it all together until the sauce is thick and smooth. Add the tomato passata / purée & lemon juice and mix through. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. If it seems quite sharp or bitter, it may need more salt.
  • Now you can either put the sauce aside in the fridge and let the chicken marinate further until dinner time (I usually prepare the sauce earlier and then cook the chicken in the sauce at dinner time). Or you can add the sauce back to the pot, gently heat and add your chicken to cook in the sauce. It’s a thick mixture and sometimes thick molten bubbles can erupt from your pot, I tend to cover the pot and keep the heat low, so I don’t have molten butter chicken bubbles erupt in my face! Check every five mins and remove from the heat when the chicken is all cooked through.
  • Serve with your choice of rice (basmati, jasmine, white, brown, cauliflower) and if you have more time (said no Mum, ever 😆) you can make my naan bread to go with them.  I add chilli oil or flakes / powder to the adult dishes after serving and leave mild for the kids. We dont want to risk any complaints at this point!
  • Now watch your family inhale their invisible veggies and ask for seconds!

Notes

To make the sauce in a pressure cooker, simply roughly chop all the veggies into page chunks, add to your pot with half the spice mix, and the water, and set to pressure cook for 7-10 minutes. Then Follow the rest of the instructions as above. 

Kayla

Double Chocolate Caramel Slice

Free from Dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, coconut, refined sugar & options for gluten & nut free. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup oil (olive oil, melted coconut oil, or butter)
½ cup sweetener (rice malt syrup, maple syrup or honey)
1 T vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mixed seeds (I used sunflower & pumpkin) finely ground up in a food processor or blender. Almond meal will work if no need for nut free.
1 1/2 cup gluten free flour (or whatever you use – gf blend, spelt, whole-wheat, buckwheat)
1/2 cup cocoa or raw cacao
1/2 cup rolled oats (the quick cook kind – or give them a quick buzz in the blender to break them down ) or quinoa flakes for gluten free.

Caramel
7 fresh medjool dates or 1 cup small dried dates
1/2 cup water + 3/4 cup warm water.

what to do

Preheat oven to 180 deg c.

Date caramel:

Boil the dates in 1/2 cup water to soften until all the water is evaporated.

Add them to a blender or food processor with 3/4 cup water. If you use a food processor you might only need 1/2 to 1/4 cup water. Blend until smooth. Return to the pot and stir over med heat for five or so minutes or until the mixture is super thick and sticky.

Slice:

Measure all the dry ingredients into a bowl then add the wet ingredients and mix to combine.

Divide the mixture in half. Press half into the bottom of your baking tin.

Spread your date caramel on top, but not quite to the edges.

Now roll out (or press with your hands) the other half of the chocolate mix between two sheets of baking paper into a thick slab just smaller than the shape and size of your tin.

Take the top sheet off and pick up the slab and flip it down on top of the caramel layer. Gently press out to the edges which should also squish the caramel to the edges.

Pop in the middle of the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

While its cooking make the chocolate icing for the top.

Remove from the oven and let it cool in the tin (can even chuck the whole tin in the fridge or freezer) **IMPORTANT** – this step is vital, or your slice might crumble! Make sure it’s properly cooled before removing from the tin. Then ice with either homemade chocolate, melted dark chocolate, ganache or your preferred icing. You might like to base this on whether it will be travelling in a lunchbox and is at risk of melting. Slice and Keep in fridge or freezer. This can be eaten straight from the freezer. I freeze then put in lunchboxes frozen in the morning. Ashton recons it’s good at morning tea (hasn’t made it past morning tea yet 😆) with a cool pack and in an insulated lunch bag. And that’s with my chocolate recipe (made with cocoa butter) for the icing.

Kayla2 Comments

Egg Free Mayo

Ingredients

3/4 cup olive oil (light olive oil works best)
2 T Dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
1/4 cup chickpea brine (yep the stuff you usually tip down the sink from your can of chickpeas!)
1/2 tsp salt

what to do

Put all the ingredients in a narrow blender (or tall narrow container if using a stick blender). If your blender has a wide jug it may not work, and you may need a stick blender or NutriBullet type blender, my vitamix works fine.

Blend starting slowly, then increasing speed slightly, until it is thick and creamy, usually about a minute. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for a week. It will thicken slightly more after refrigeration.

This recipe can be temperamental to work with, and even with exact measured ingredients can sometimes end up with two completely different textured mayos! I suspect maybe the temperature and exact measurements might play a part. If it’s not thickening up, adding a scant 1/4 cup wholegrain mustard turns it into a really delicious tangy mayo, add then blend until thick. Often now I will add wholegrain mustard from the start (and omit the Dijon mustard) because I like the flavour.

Kayla

Mac and Cheese – Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, yeast free, egg free, nut free

Paula’s Mac n Cheese!

Over on facebook I said I wanted to help you guys, to do a meal make over by creating a dish of your choice and make it fit your dietary requirements. This Mac n Cheese Requested by Paula, proved to be quite popular, so i thought id better put it on the blog for easy reference. Mac n Cheese – free from gluten, dairy, nightshades, yeast, (no nutritional yeast or dairy free cheese) low histamine and also free from soy, eggs, nuts, coconut and packed with veggies.

I made the recipe and tested it on my family. I made a huge pot and there was not a scrap leftover. So I’ll take that as a big thumbs up!

Feeds 4 hungry people

Ingredients

You need:
3 zucchini, peeled & diced
1/2 cauliflower – chopped
1 carrot – grated
2 T fresh garlic
3 rashers bacon
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika (omit for nightshade free)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper (ideally white pepper but any is fine)
Juice of one big lemon

What to do

Fry off the bacon and garlic, then add all the other ingredients, except the lemon, and cover.

Simmer over medium heat with lid on until the veggies are tender. Add the lemon juice and blend up the mixture until smooth.

Stir through 250 – 300g cooked gluten free macaroni and serve with crispy bacon and fresh cracked black pepper.

Kayla
Thai chicken curry in a bowl with carrots, broccoli, garnished with fresh coriander, red chilli, next to a grey plate with a dome of white rice and chopsticks

Thai Chicken Curry – Quicker Than Take-Aways

This Thai curry is sooooo quick and easy, it’s faster to make than it is to order take out. A bonus is that it’s free from dairy, soy, wheat, gluten, eggs, nuts and tomato.

Serves 5, probably with leftovers.

Ingredients

Packet of Thai red (or green) curry paste (become a label reading detective – I’ve found the very best ones with no vegetable oils (often means soy) come from Asian grocers or fruit and vege shops.

500g chicken or fish
2 cans coconut cream + 1 extra can if you have kids who don’t like spicy food (yep, Ashton, I’m looking at you)
500 – 700 g of frozen veggies of your choice, Or chopped fresh veggies like carrot, capsicum, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkin
Splash of oil

What to do

Put your splash of oil in a large wok or pot / pan that’s going to be roomy enough for a great big curry.

Follow the instructions on the packet of curry paste as to how much to use. Sometimes the super authentic ones don’t have instructions – in which case I use two scant tablespoons, but could start with one and add more later. It’s easier to add spice than to take it away!

Heat your oil and curry paste over a low – med heat until fragrant. Chop the meat into thin slices. Add the meat*, veggies and one can coconut cream to the paste. Simmer gently for ten mins until everything is cooked through. Add the other can coconut cream and heat through.

*If using fresh veggies, add these first, after the paste, cook gently with the lid on for 10 minutes before adding the coconut cream, and then the meat.

Wallah, done!

Serve with rice and garnish with coriander if your feelin fancy.

For the boys, who don’t like a really spicy curry, I laddle out a couple spoons of chicken and veggies and mix with half a tin of coconut cream for them in a separate bowl. So they have meat, veggies and coconut cream with a hint of red curry.

If you find you’d like more spice or flavour in a small pan you can sauté more curry paste with oil, then add it to the main curry. It’s important to cook it first to help release the flavours.

Some curry paste instructions recommend you add some sugar and soy sauce or fish sauce to your curry near the end. I usually use 2 t coconut sugar and either 1 T fish sauce or coconut aminos for soy free.

Kayla

Lasagne

Lasagne is a family favourite, but usually lends itself to a little more time in the kitchen due to making the mince, the cheese sauce, and cooking the veggies to go in it. So for us it’s perfect for a Sunday to make up a huge 8+ serve dish for a couple nights or some portions for dinner and the freezer. If you don’t want to make such a big batch, then you could halve the recipe.

Serves 8

Ingredients

The mince
1kg beef or lamb mince (or a combo)
1 700ml jar tomato Passata
2 large carrots
2 courgette or parsnip
6 cloves garlic
2 T basil
2 T oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

The dairy free cheese sauce
Half head cauliflower
1 med potato
1 leek or onion
2-3 rashers bacon
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup of dairy free cheese, grated or 1 T nutritional yeast
1 cup broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
Juice of half a lemon

1 pack gluten free lasange sheets or eggplant or zucchini sliced lengthways

To assemble (optional)
1 large kumara, 1 large potato and a wedge of pumpkin – sliced into 1cm thick slices and roasted,
A bunch of finely sliced greens (silverbeet, kale or spinach)

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180c fanbake.

the mince:

sautée garlic and veggies in oil. Add the mince and brown, then add the herbs. Add the passata and simmer everything on low heat for 20 mins.

While the mince is cooking, if you are using, slice up the potato, kumara and pumpkin and put in the oven to roast.

The cheese sauce:

Fry the garlic, onions and bacon in a saucepan for a couple mins. Add the rest of the ingredients except the cheese and simmer on med heat until the veggies are tender. When they are tender pour into the blender and blend until smooth. Add the cheese and blend again.

To assemble:

layer the roasted veggie slices on the bottom of your lasange dish. Top with some mince, greens,  cheese sauce and your lasange sheets or zucchini / eggplant. You need to reserve enough cheese sauce to cover the whole top layer of lasange at the end. Add another layer of mince, greens, cheese sauce, lasange sheet. I’m usually all out of mince by now, but if you have enough then continue for a third layer. Cover the final layer of lasange with cheese sauce. And if you like, sprinkle with grated dairy free cheese.

Bake in the bottom shelf of the oven for about 40 minutes, after then, if the top hasn’t already browned then you can move to the top for the last bit of cooking to create a beautiful browned crispy layer on top.

My lasange dish is sooooo full I usually have something at the bottom of the oven to catch the inevitable overflow. You might be more sensible and less greedy than me and just not overfill your dish. But if you pack it in, then maybe put another dish under your lasagne one, to stop spillage crusting into the bottom of your oven.

Kayla

Crispy Chicken Burgers

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, sliced (you can try do 4 slices and have one for each burger, or several and just pack a couple into each burger)

Chicken coating

1/4 cup tapioca
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup sunflower seeds.

what to do

Grind sunflower seeds in blender and combine all ingredients. Use to coat two large sliced chicken breasts. (No egg or anything required, straight onto to chicken. Fry and serve immediately.

Enjoy

If you can have egg, then you can also coat in flour, egg then above recipe, but I’m all about less dishes here!

Here is the recipe I use to make buns – instead of baking as a loaf I cook in individual pie dishes – makes perfect buns!

http://www.wholeheartedeats.com/2016/06/unbelievable-buckwheat-bread/

Kayla

How To help Out a New Mum with special dietary requirements!

So, as Ashton has so kindly shared with many shop checkout assistants and strangers over the last months, in December, we are going from a family of 4 to a family of 5 (humans, that is, we don’t count our pets anymore or i might just pack my bags and bugger off somewhere less crowded!)

While i’d love to say this is for all you out there who are expecting a new baby soon,  this is also aimed at hopefully helping my family and friends overcome the barriers and worries of supporting me and my family, with dietary restrictions and allergies for 3 out of the 4 food-eating family members! Though i’m not totally selfish – Hopefully, it can fulfill its purpose and also help some others out too – a resource to direct well meaning friends and family members to, if you find yourself with a new baby and a family to feed with allergy requirements.

Myself and the boys avoid dairy, soy and wheat / gluten (this includes oats, barley & rye for Felix and I). We try to eat real food – food that doesn’t come with an ingredients list, with added colors, flavors, sugars or preservatives. I don’t eat refined sugar as it makes me feel terrible, and it sends Ashton bouncing off the walls! I absolutely cannot eat any gluten, it makes me really sick, and very minimal dairy. Felix is also very strictly dairy / soy and gluten free while we continue to let his gut heal from his extreme allergies he suffered in his fist 18 months of life, to pretty much all foods.

Because of the boys’ allergies, and how they presented from birth, to foods in my diet while i was breastfeeding them, i have opted to remove dairy, soy, gluten / wheat, nuts and eggs from my diet 5 weeks before my due date, to ensure that, when baby is born, there is no trace of this in my breastmilk. Because having a newborn baby is hard enough, without adding in the harrowing experience of  a baby reacting to it’s only food source. If i opted to ‘wait and see’, by the time we recognize there is a reaction, after eliminating the offending foods, the proteins are not completely clear from my system for up to 6 weeks! So i’m getting ahead and doing it backwards, if all is well, then when baby is 6 weeks old i will introduce these back to my diet one by one, to carefully check for any signs of reaction, and hopefully, there wont be!

So while i manage to feed us breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, day in and day out, no problems, to an outsider with no allergies, this sounds pretty bloody daunting! I know, because i once was an allergy outsider! And when you don’t live the life every day, its hard to comprehend and remember!

So – how on earth to you turn up to visit a new Mum and baby with something they can eat!? Here are some of my suggestions that comply with my family’s needs (free from – gluten, dairy, soy, eggs & nuts).

I’ve divided it into categories of time, location and expense (because, if you are buying allergy friendly packaged goods, they are going to be more expensive than their not so friendly counterparts!)

So you can choose from:

QUICK AND EASY MEAL PREP – make at home with minimal cooking & prep

QUICK PICKS FROM THE SUPERMARKET – pick up from the supermarket on the way over

ONLINE PRODUCTS – more specialty items to buy online and have it delivered straight to us (please count this as a gift for us or baby!)

HOMEMADE – or go the whole hog and bake or cook  something (recipes included!)

(**disclaimer** this post is in no way sponsored or any of that jazz by the food companies I recommend, they have never even sent me free shit! It purely based on my own personal experience and overall satisfaction with these particular products, and how they fit into our lifestyle, that i recommend them).

Quick Easy Meal Prep

ROAST VEGETABLES:

We eat all veggies, chop them up, roast them in olive oil, coconut oil, rice-bran oil, avocado oil – or give me a text to check if your oil might be ok (‘vegetable oil’ generally isn’t as it can contain soy). We love to snack on roast veggies, make them into soups, put them in smoothies even! Or serve them with meat for an easy tea. Roast some veggies, you are on to a winner, bonus is, its pretty easy and fuss free!

CHOP UP SOME VEGGIES:

Don’t even cook them! Just chop up or prep a whole bunch of veggies that we can cook or use in salads. Capsicum, lettuce, cucumber, carrots for salads or snacking or root veggies for roasting, even mushrooms, courgette, cabbage, spinach, celery will get used. I spend a lot of time cutting and preparing veggies, it is such a big help to have this done for us.

CHOP UP SOME FRUIT

Baby is due in dec, there should be some yummy fruits around by then – make us a fresh fruit salad, the boys will be stoked and it will save me cutting up fruit snacks for them for a day at least! Or just bring fruit, whole, in all its glorious naturalness.

COLD COOKED MEAT

Throw some chicken breasts, in the oven with salt and pepper, cool then slice – this is an awesome protein rich snack for everyone in the family. Even a small roast, or some steak cooked and sliced would be very well received.

 

QUICK PICKS FROM THE SUPERMARKET

PROPER CRISPS

I really should ask proper crisps if we can partner up haha, I am a fantastic source of free advertising for them! Any flavour, we love them all! Grab them from the supermarket on your way over, easy as that!

ROTISSERIE CHICKEN & SALAD BAG

Pick up a hot cooked chicken (preferably one with no stuffing please 🙂 ) and a bag of coleslaw or salad. Meal done!

DIPS

Turkish Kitchen garlic hummus or ‘Kumara & Lentil with roasted Pumpkin’ dip.

‘Lisa’s’ hummus from the supermarket are gluten free – just a quick double check of the label to make sure it’s a flavour with no dairy, soy or nuts.

COCONUT YOGHURT

Raglan Coconut Yogurt, Cathedral Cove, and Zenzo are all brands that we can eat.

COCONUT ICE-CREAM!

Little island coconut ice-cream – a delicious summer treat – any flavour – we are not fussy!

LITTLE ISLAND COCONUT MILK

Again a delicious treat, especially the chocolate coconut milk, we might not share though!

CATHEDRAL COVE CEREAL

They have one specific cereal that does not contain nuts – great for  sprinkling on coconut yoghurt and an easy snack for mum and kids. This is it here:

Online products

FRANKS SAUSAGES

Not all the sausages on the site are suitable for us .. but these ones are ok for all:

Pork, Apple & Cranberry, Pork & smoked parprika, Chicken & French Tarragon, German Bratworst, chicken & pork Chipolatas, chicken, mango & coconut, plus the mince meat selection .

HUNTER GATHERER GOURMET

The nut free baking mix is the only one I can eat, but the boys can have everything on the site! I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t mind if Mum could quickly whip them up some baking that they didn’t have to share 🙂

GREEN MEADOWS BEEF

They have a store on Katere Rd, New Plymouth, full of beefy goodness. Beef and Beetroot meatballs or patties!! Yum, this would save us so much time, and the boys would be over the moon – especially Ashton, who asks for meatballs for dinner every night!

MY FOOD BAG

The gluten free my food bag is ok for my family – 5 meals picked out and chosen with recipes, and all the ingredients delivered! I think we could manage that! Some of the ingredients contain dairy but it’s easy enough to leave out or only include for dairy eating family members. However, you would need to make sure they can deliver to your town (we would need this delivered to someone in New Plymouth, as they don’t currently deliver to Stratford).  They also do vouchers, so you could order a bag on a week that would help the most. Lots of options.

CRAFT SMOOTHIE

all the ingredients for 5 days of fruit & veg smoothies delivered to your door – all you have to do is throw them into the blender with some liquid – yes please!

From their website:

“Can I order a smoothie box as a gift?

For sure! Our smoothie kits make the perfect gift! To order a Craft Smoothie box as a gift, just email hello@craftsmoothie.co.nz with the name and delivery address of the recipient, and we’ll send you the payment details and confirm the delivery date. We will also add a personalised gift card in the box for that someone special 😊”

homemade

Have some extra time and want to attempt to make us something? Good on you – here are some recipes you cant go wrong with!

Meatballs – 4 ways

Choc Almond Cranberry Bliss Balls

Just make sure you swap the almonds for seeds 🙂

Veggie Nachoes

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Hummus

Seed Crackers

Also i will hopefully have recipes up by the end of the month for:

Spag bowl mince

super simple curry

Taco / burrito / mexican meat and chopped salad

Roast Meat & veggies

Moroccan chicken salad

And maybe some links to other online recipes we use!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kayla

Super Simple Muffins

This muffin recipe is a super simple, one bowl wonder that can take so many variations and substitutions there is sure to be something for everyone. The basis of the recipe is banana muffins but I’ve adapted it to also be berry muffins, chocolate muffins and carrot / zucchini muffins disguised as chocolate! They have no added sweetener and are sweetened using only bananas. I have managed to be able to move our ‘everyday’ baking & lunchbox items away from having any added sweetener, but if your kids are not used to this, then start with adding the optional sweetener, and you may be able to reduce it down over time, if you like.

Ingredients

2 bananas
1/4 c milk (almond, coconut, cows milk, rice milk)
1/4 c oil (light olive oil, coconut oil (melted), avocado oil – some sort of oil! – melted butter would probably work too.)
1 egg or egg replacement
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour (buckwheat, gluten free, wholemeal, white, spelt – whatever you use!)
2 tsp baking powder
Optional – 1/4 c sweetener (sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey – whatever you use)

adaptations / notes

Choc muffins
Swap 1/4 c of the flour for 1/4 c of cocoa, i even swapped 1/2 cup flour for 1/2 cup cocoa once when i ran our of flour. I have also used carob powder, which worked great too. Cocoa is naturally a bit bitter, so if you are on the fence about using a sweetener, now would be the time to think about that!

Zucchini & carrot muffins disguised as chocolate
I used the cocoa sub as above an also swapped one of the bananas for about 1 cup of very finely grated carrot and zucchini. I put a tiny sprinkle of coconut sugar on top of each muffin before baking since i swapped the sweet banana for veggies, just as insurance that they would get eaten!

Berry muffins
Add about 1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries to the mix with the flour.

Banana free

You can make these muffins banana free by replacing the bananas with 1 cup apple purée. You can also use 1 cup pumpkin purée – and be sure to add the sweetener to the pumpkin as well, taste the batter and adjust sweetness accordingly. I love to add cinnamon, orange juice (in place of the milk) and rind to the pumpkin muffins.

Egg free

My favourite egg replacer in these muffins is 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds + 1/4 cup water. Soak the chia seeds in the water for 5 mins, then add with the wet ingredients. You can find more egg replacement options Here.

This recipe makes a kinda odd number of muffins in two of my tins, but fills up my larger silicone 12 mini muffin pan perfect. Id say the silicone ‘mini’ muffin pan is slightly larger than your average ‘mini’ muffin. It makes about 10 regular sized muffins, and about 15 – 20 mini – mini muffins.

what to do

Preheat oven to 180 deg c, fan-bake. Grease or line a 12 hole muffin tin, or two 12 hole mini muffin tins (see notes above on muffin tin sizing!). Mash the banana and mix together with all the wet ingredients. Alternatively, chuck them all in the blender and blend away until smooth – then put into a bowl. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet and carefully fold everything together. Spoon the mixture into muffin tin. See cook times below depending on your muffin tin size.

Cook times:
Regular muffin size: 18-20 minutes
Large mini muffin size: 15 mins
Mini muffins: 10 – 12 mins

Kayla