Let's all eat a sweet potato plus pie

My little boy loves that nursery rhyme. Tonight I made him a sweet potato pie, except I served the sweet potato (and carrot) mash in a basket made out of Parmesan cheese. I topped it with a poached egg and some snow peas- all favourites over here.

They also love smoothies. Tonight, they're washing dinner down with a spinach, berry and beetroot concoction.

Fruit Yoghurts

My kids *love* yoghurts. And because I've succumbed to bribery and blackmail on occasion and bought those squeezey fruit yoghurts just to get us all through a supermarket shop, they now want that kind of yoghurt all the time. Gath. Those squeezey yoghurts- even the organic ones- are all sweetened. Best case, it's with apple purée, or organic cane sugar, but it's turning a nutritious food into a lolly, and training their taste buds to want sweet and sweeter.

So I'm thrilled to have been able to remind my guys how much they love plain yoghurt or, better yet, yoghurt with added fruit and nuts.

I'm a huge fan or five AM yoghurt which is organic and has no added sugar. Barambah is another favourite of mine though it's harder to get.

I added organic frozen berries. I'm finishing off my last two packs of organic berries - they're great but the food miles make me weep (they hail from Denmark, Belgium and Chile) but until recently they were all I could get my hands on easily. I've just sourced Elgin berries though which are grown (I believe) in NSW/QLD. 

I like the yoghurt with the berries and nuts on top but my kids prefer it all mushed up so it looks like "real" (aherm- read crappy) yoghurt.

Beans

I love home made baked beans. They're so easy to make and a truckload better for you than their tinned counterparts. Don't mistake me; I have relied on tin beans in the past and will again. For quick, always-eaten dinners, they never fail to get my kids chowing down. But with a little more time up my sleeve, I love to make my own.

I blogged a recipe a little while ago. However, I've tweaked and improved it. So here's my baked beans, the 2014 version.

Ingredients

1 tin organic butter beans

1 tin organic kidney beans

1 small white onion diced

2 rashers free range bacon, diced (NB, replace with a teaspoon of mild paprika for a vegetarian alternative that's still bursting with smokey goodness)

1 celery stalk, finely cubed

2 fresh tomatoes, diced roughly

1 tablespoon good quality tomato paste

1-2 cups filtered water 

I tablespoon extra Virgin olive oil 

Herbs (optional- my master three currently won't eat any "salad", eg, anything green.)

Choose a heavy based pot with a lid- I use my le creuset Dutch oven. Over moderate heat, sautée onion and celery, then add bacon and cook for a few minutes, until a little browned. Strain and rinse the beans and add to the pot. Stir to coat in the onion mix. Add the chopped tomato and enough filtered water to cover. Lower the heat and cover, then cook for around twenty minutes. Remove lid, stir through the paste and cook for a further ten minutes to so. Check seasoning and adjust with a little coconut sugar or honey if necessary. Your beans are ready when the water has become a thick coating and the smell is making your tummy rumble. 

Here's the beta version in case you're wondering.

http://littlelunching.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/home-made-baked-beans.html?m=1

Cous Cous Sushi

I don't actually think wholegrain cous cous is a preferable alternative to brown rice. It did however have the advantage of being super quick to prepare, and that's the reason I made this sushi with cous cous instead of rice. 

The filling is a beautiful avocado and a sesame seed omelette.

It's  super easy to make sushi, and I often don't use a rolling bamboo mat x the trick, for me at least, is not overfilling the nori.

Simply prepare your rice or sushi as per the packet instructions, and your fillings of choice. Lay out the nori paper, shiny side down, and spoon rice/cous cous in the middle section only, leaving at least 4cm exposed on either edge. Wet one edge with a little bit of water and roll, keeping pressure evenly applied. Refrigerate before serving.

Courgette & Kale Gnocchi

I feel as though my gnocchi is getting further away from the traditional version every time I make it, and I'm well aware that this recipe might shock puritanical pasta lovers. But, surprisngly, this clean and green version of the well-loved pasta is nutty and delicious. The trick was in pureeing the greens to such a point that they were pretty much slush. 

Ingredients

1 x courgette, washed and sliced. 

1 handful of kale, washed well

1 free range egg

Approx 1 cup spelt flour

In a food processor, combine first the courgette and kale and blitz until a paste like consistency is achieved. Add the egg and half the flour and blitz. You want to form a dough only a little wetter than a pie pastry dough. Continue adding flour, a spoon at a time, until it comes together. 

Turn out onto a chopping board and knead for a moment, then wrap in gladwrap and refrigerate to firm (approx ten minutes). 

Remove from the fridge and section it - we did four sections. On a lightly floured work surface, and using your fingers, roll the dough into long snakes. Slice into one cm pieces. (Older kids can do this with a butter knife, under supervision.)

Meanwhile, set a pan of water to boil on the stove. Add the gnocchi and cook until it has begun to float to the surface of the water (five minutes-ish). 

For the kids, I heated a little olive oil and truffle oil and sauteed the boiled gnocchi with some grated cheese. Voila! Easy dinner, and doesn't it look vibrant? (For grown ups, I would have made a sauce with capers and anchovies, oil and garlic, to set off the nutiness of the gnocchi.)

Home made Pesto Pasta

I know it doesn't look it, but this pasta is a super quick and easy dinner for mid-week. The only downside is it makes a few pots and pans, and nobody likes doing dishes, right? Still, the domestic disturbance of dirty-dishes is definitely worth it for the taste of this super divine dinner. 

Ingredients: 

a handful of basil/parsley - I used what I could get from my garden. 

about 50 - 100g parmesan cheese, roughly chopped. 

a handful of Brazil nuts and walnuts

1/4 cup organic olive oil. 

a cup of dried pasta - I used organic penne. 

Optional 'serving suggestions' - a soft poached egg on top, and a balsamic reduction on the plate beneath. 

Get two pots of water boiling (if you're doing an egg - one for the pasta, one for the poaching biz). Onc eit comes to the boil, add the pasta to one pot, and to the other, a dash of white vinegar then let it come back to the boil. 

Meanwhile, in a food processor (if you have one, if not, I've made pesto by hand for years, just by either chopping finely or with a morta & pestle), combine the washed herbs, parmesan, and nuts, and blitz on high speed, whilst drizzling olive oil in. You might need to stop to scrape down the sides a couple of times to be sure you've incorporated all ingredients. 

Once the pasta is cooked according to packet instructions (usually about eight minutes) strain it and return to pot. Add the pesto, and stir until combined. 

Leave to cool a little whilst you do the eggie. 

Crack an egg or two into the rapidly boiling water then put the lid on. Once it's about to froth and bubble over, turn the heat off (remove from heat if using electric). Remove the egg from the water using a slotted spoon and serve on top of the pasta. 

As for a balsamic reduction - I love this for it's sweet/sour nature. When you put balsamic in a pan and add heat, it quickly thickens and reduces, courtesy of the natural sugar content. It will be piping hot pretty quickly so handle with care!

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls (GF, could easily be vegan)

Yesterday was one of 'those' days in my house. A day where it felt like little master three had a serious conversation with miss one and between them, they decided to pull out all the stops to make me want to rip my hair out. No naps, toilet training accidents, tantrums for no reason, and 36'c and extreme UV outside, leaving us more or less house bound with a very frazzled set of personalities by the end of the day. SO, for dinner, I needed something that would hold them quiet and still for at least fifteen minutes (essential decompression time for this mum!). Enter the sausage roll. And a glass of wine.

I make my pastry using a recipe that was my husband's grandma's, and it's a cinch. If I'm doing big batches, I use the food processor, but for a small amount like this, I just go by hand. I even melt the butter completely and (so long as I then have time to rest it in the fridge) it works perfectly. To make it vegan, you can switch out butter for a nut butter or, preferably, a virgin organic coconut oil. 

Ingredients

For the pastry:

110g butter (about 80g coconut oil or, if it's melted, maybe 1/3 cup). 

225g spelt flour

A few tablespoons of water

For the filling: 

1 kipfler potato

1/2 small sweet potato

1 carrot

1/3 cup peas 

About 50g goats feta (exclude for vegans)

Melt the butter so that it's liquid but not molten, then remove from heat. Incorporate the flour until you have the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the water tablespoon by tablespoon until you get a pastry dough consistency and knead until it's well combined (don't overdo it or it can get tough). Gladwrap it and put it in the fridge. 

Peel and chop the vegetables, with the exception of the peas (save them for later). Put in a saucepan covered with boiled water and continue to cook for around ten minutes or until al dente. Strain and mash, then add the goats feta and peas and continue to mix. At this point, you can add in any additional seasonings - more chopped cheese, fennel seeds, spring onion, basil, etc. 

Remove the pastry and roll flat (about 2 - 3mm). Scoop the vegie mix down the center and form sausage rolls. 

Bake at 180'c for 25 minutes. I served these with a homemade tomato sauce but they don't really need anything (you have probably guessed that yesterday was not a day for arguing if I didn't have to). 

Enjoy!

Croquette, Vegan and GF

Okay. These are insanely easy and fun to make and I can't believe I haven't been making them before now. Croquettes can be made with pretty much any combination of ingredients that you like, or have on hand. Do you like ham and cheese? Fine, that will work. Vegetarian? Great - add whichever vegetables you like. Salmon? Tuna? Sundried tomato and feta? The possibilities are as endless as your pantry and imagination. Here's the basics. 

Make a white sauce, and for the purposes of this recipe, I used olive oil instead of butter, spelt flour* to make a roux, then used a vegetable stock instead of milk. Of course, you can make your white sauce with butter, flour and full fat milk, it just depends on your preferences. 

Once you've got a good, thick white sauce, place it in the fridge to cool and thicken then add whatever flavourings you want. I added a mix of broccoli, carrots, onion, cauliflower and zucchini, all finely cubed and chopped. You can add cheese if you'd like, herbs, garlic etc. 

Add a little extra flour if your mix is too sloppy. You want to be able to form a scoop of the batter into a sausage shape, then crumb (cornflake crumbs, almond meal, rice crumb or wholegrain breadcrumb). Fry over moderate heat until browned on all sides then finish in the oven for around 20 minutes (on 180'c). 

No-Fry Falafel

Back when I was veggo, falafel were one of my favourite things ever. So delicious and full of flavour, and reasonably virtuous. I've tweaked my technique to make them even better for you, and my kids LOVE these. My son would eat a whole batch if I left him alone with them. 

Ingredients: 

Two tins organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed. 

3 tablespoons spelt flour/rice flour/corn crumbs

3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped. 

1/2 an onion, roughly chopped

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional - my kids don't seem to mind the kick it gives them). 

A couple of teaspoons good quality Olive Oil, and a few wedges of lemon or lime to serve. 

Preheat oven to 160'c.

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pulse until it's coming together semi dough like, but don't over process it. Add a little extra flour if necessary or a little water if it's too dry. 

Use a teaspoon to scoop our a small amount, roll into a ball between wet palms and then place on a baking tray lined with paper. Bake for around forty minutes then remove from heat. They'll be a little cracked on top - that's fine. Drizzle with olive oil. Either serve immediately with lemon or lime, or leave to cool to room temp then you can refrigerate for a couple of days. 

Kipfler Ravioli

Made from scratch, pasta is deceptively simple, even without a pasta maker. You just need patience and grit to roll it super flat- luckily, my three year old brings all the muscle I need. 

I boiled four small kipfler potatoes (skin on) until they were soft, added a third cup of cream and a pinch of salt then mashed until completely combined. Leave to cool. 

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine two cups of spelt flour with one whisked egg and around 2/3 cup of water until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead with a little extra flour until it's a little elastic. 

Now comes the tough part. Roll it until it is so flat that you can almost see through it. 

Scoop a teaspoon full of the room temperature mash onto the pasta, spacing evenly, and then fold the other half of pasta over the top. I could only do three ravioli at a time on my chopping board, reserving leftover pasta as I went. 

Press down the seams using fingers or a fork and use a sharp knife to separate the ravioli. A sidebar. I have a ravioli press - a bit like an ice tray but for ravioli - and next time I would always prefer to use that. Only because these were a little too big for the kids (for grown ups, they're a perfect size). 

For the sauce, I sauteed half an onion (diced) in about 50g butter until translucent, then added 2/3 cup cream and 1/2 cup grated parmesan with a few shallots. I simmered until thickened. 

To cook the ravioli, boil a big pot of water with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and, once at boiling, add the ravioli and cook for a few minutes. Fish out gently, strain, then top with sauce and a few sprigs of rosemary. 

Mushroom Gnocchi GF, Vego

This is a pretty quick and easy way to make a gnocchi for dinner. And who doesn't love those soft little nuggets of delicious savoury-ness?

Ingredients: 

Two potatoes

Approx 1 cup Spelt Flour plus a little extra for kneading

1 egg, lightly whisked, 

1/3 cup milk

For the sauce

6 button mushrooms

150g butter

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/3 cup verjuice

Peel and cube the potatoes and boil until soft. Drain in a colander and run cold water over them until they are cool to the touch. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and milk, then egg, and whisk vigorously with a wooden spoon, bashing out lumps. It should be smooth and pale.

 Gradually incorporate the flour so that a loose dough forms. Turn it out onto a flat, clean surface and add a little more flour. 

Knead until it's a pliable consistency. Section it into quarters and form long snake like lines. Chop into bite size pieces and transfer to a separate plate lightly sprinkled with flour. 

Get a pot of salted water boiling meanwhile, then add all the gnocchi at once. When Gnocchi is ready, it will float to the surface. It will take a max of five minutes to cook once the water is boiling. 

To make the sauce, put butter in a large frying pan and heat until golden and frothing. Add the mushrooms and cook until browned, then deglaze with verjuice. 

Reduce the temperature to leave to simmer. Use a large slotted spoon on sieve to lift the gnocchi from the water and incorporate straight into the buttery mushies. Top with grated cheese and a little extra butter if you'd like. 

Serve topped with additional cheese. A hit in our house (though we add a good grind of salt and pepper and fresh basil leaves, and accompany it with a dry riesling, for the grown ups!). 

Satay Cous Cous with Baked Eggs

This is an easy and quick fix dinner. I made cous cous pretty much as normal, except I heated coconut cream on the stove top then stirred a whole wheat cous cous through and let it soften and swell (heat off, lid on, per normal on cous cous). Add a heap of frozen vegetables and a scoop of peanut or cashew butter, and then place in a baking dish. Dig some little holes in, crack some eggs and cover in foil. Bake at around 200'c for fifteen minutes until eggs are cooked. Serve once cooled enough for small fries to eat. 

vegan and gluten free chocolate mousse.

I have read a great many recipes for this type of concoction, and I've been so sceptical as to how it would taste. 

It was amazing! 

In a food processor, I mixed a whole, ripe avocado with two bananas and 1/3 cup of carob powder (the recipe called for raw cacao but I am a carob fiend from way back and, as this was for my birthday, I indulged my own little tastebuds). I also added a tablespoon of manuka honey. Blitz it until it's really smooth and airy, set it in the fridge. Now, I topped it with this awesome organic yoghurt that is seriously just so creamy and rich (yet miraculously natural and low fat and low sugar), and some fresh strawberries. If you have kids coming for a party, this is such an excellent option for a treat. Next time I make it for my smalls, I'm going to whip through some peanut butter (keep in mind I'm trying to chub up my petite little miss sweet any way that I can). I will never again sceptically frown when I see avocado and banana parading as dessert substitutions. 

Simple fare.

One of these days I'm going to take note of my bread recipe as I make it. It's one of the recipes in my arsenal that I use most frequently, and therefore I do it by feel. I always use spelt flour these days, for two reasons. My mil is gluten intolerant and so it's easier to always use a flour she can tolerate so that I don't get confused. But I also think spelt is just easier and more gentle on the digestive system, and as a diabetic, I find it has a much more tolerable affect on my BGL. 

I mix spelt flour with yeast, rapadura sugar and tepid water, mix until a dough forms then leave to rise. Then, I knock it back, shape it and leave it to prove again (beneath a clean, dry tea towel). I got this going while the kids ate Brekkie, popped it in the oven about an hour before I wanted to serve their lunch. Forty minutes later it was done, and they were enjoying avocado on freshly baked bread. Warms my heart!

Morning Muesli

We just spent a week with one of my sisters and her family. It's always amazing to see how children grow and mature when they're put in the hot house environment of concentrated family time. My sister has three boys, two of them older than my two, and one younger, so you may be able to imagine the sheer volume and exuberance of the play!! My three year old now has a healthy obsession with "trashies" and "skylanders". It's adorable. In addition to this prep-aged toy indoctrination, my children are obsessed with muesli. Not just any old store bought mix of oats and nuts, either.  My sister and her husband make their own muesli and it packs an extreme nutritious punch. I had no option but to get their recipe and scoot out to the shops the day after we returned so that I could whip us up a batch. Oats, LSA, additional linseed, white chia seeds, amongst other things, topped with organic yoghurt and diced poached apples, it is a delicious way to start your day. And end it, too, for that matter - we've substituted this as our dessert and it is just a heavenly treat to look forward to. 

Thai corn cakes with Greek tzaziki

It's a multicultural delight that shouldn't  work, and yet it does. 

Deliciously piquant Thai flavoured corn cakes served with a zesty tzaziki. 

For the corn cakes, I mixed a tin of corn kernels with a handful of torn basil leaves, finely grated zucchini, diced capsicum, half a red onion sliced, a tablespoon of red curry paste, two whisked eggs and 3/4 cup whole grain spelt flour. I fried them quickly until lightly browned then finished in the oven at 200'c for 15 minutes . 

For the sauce, I mixed a clove of crushed  garlic with finely diced cucumber and organic Greek yoghurt until combined. 

This was an absolute hit. Easy dinner, and pretty nutritious and tasty.