Failsafe Food

I am a bit cooked out at the moment. My two older daughters have been on the RPAH/Failsafe elimination diet for the past month (free of additives, low in salycalates, amines and flavour enhancers), find information here and here. I have been making everything from scratch and having to think about every bite they consume. But I had a few wins with very limited ingredients so I thought I would post my most succesful recipes here - Pasta, Chow Mein, Chicken Meat Balls, Pear Pikelets and Muesli Bars.

A few tips on how we survived the diet and made it easier for the whole family to get involved:

• Bribery! 50 C pieces in a jar on the bench work for good eating and no complaining twice a day worked for us. I took them to the shops early on so they could decide what they were saving for (Barbie dolls!).
• Treats - milky bars, milk bottles, werthers original caramels.
• Salt and garlic and lots of them, particularly in the meals we were eating too.
• Lots of baked goodies on hand - white chocolate chip biscuits, pear muffins, homemade muesli bars (recipe below), vanilla cake.
• Magic cordial - homemade citric acid cordial since regular juice and cordial are not allowed.
• Make a list of options for every meal. For example our Breakfast list - rice bubbles, weetbix, porridge, toast (golden syrup, pear jam, cashew spread), eggs, pancakes, homemade waffles... I also included a column of NO foods to remind us of regular items they couldn't have. (This really helped my husband and enabled him to feed the kids without running everything by me).
• Empty out a shelf of the pantry at kids height and put everything they are allowed on that one shelf. And hide all their usual favourites out of site and reach.
• Try and eat the same food as your kids some nights - they started to check what we were having! Other nights we waited til they were in bed to eat forbidden food.
• We explained to the kids they could only have "no numbers" food. They were very good about checking and if I they wanted something they would ask if it "had numbers".

You can find other failsafe recipes on these sites:
Fed Up Website Recipes
Fed Up Newsletters Recipes
Real Meals blog
Cooking for Oscar blog
Bambi and Bimbi blog
Search: failsafe and thermomix

Unfortunately there hasn't been the improvement in behaviour I was hoping for so after nearly 4 weeks we are stopping and seeing what happens.

Failsafe Mince and Lentil Pasta
makes 2 family serves
The whole family enjoyed this for dinner, grown ups included (we were pleasantly surprised). I made this into a pasta bake topped with a white sauce which disguised the grey unappetising colour of the sauce! I made individual serves of the pasta bake in small ramekins and froze them for ready meals for the kids - they reheated well.

canola oil
1/2 swede, grated
4 brussel sprouts, finely chopped
1/8 white cabbage, finely chopped
1/2 tin cannelini or kidney beans, drained
500g mince beef
1 leek, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely diced
1 can lentils
1 - 2 C chicken stock (homemade to keep it failsafe)
1 tsp cornflour (optional - to thicken sauce)
salt
pasta
White Sauce (enough for half the above sauce recipe)
60g butter
4 tbsp flour
2 C milk
1/2 C ricotta or cream cheese
Salt

Heat a splash of oil in a large frypan and fry swede, brussel sprouts and cabbage until cooked. Remove and puree with tinned beans.

In the same frypan heat a little more oil and fry the mince until browned and remove.

Finally heat a last splash of oil and gently fry the leek, garlic and celery until softened. Add the pureed vegetables, beef, lentils and stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cornflour dissolved in a little water if required to thicken the sauce. Season to taste.

To make the white sauce, melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir with a whisk for a couple of minutes. Gradually add milk and continuing whisking to form a smooth paste. Continue stirring over low heat until thickened then stir in cheese. Season to taste.

Cook enough pasta to serve your family (double if you want to freeze a pasta bake). Stir the sauce through the pasta and spoon into a baking dish. Top with cheese sauce and bake at 180 C to warm.

Failsafe Chow Mein
1 family serve

canola oil
500g beef mince
2 cloves garlic
1 leek, finely chopped
1 celery, diced
1/8 white cabbage, finely chopped
2 C rice vermicelli, broken into short lengths
1 C swede, boiled and pureed
1 C chicken stock (home made)
1 C beans, cut into short lengths

In a wok or large frypan, heat the oil over high heat and fry the beef until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add a bit more oil and fry the garlic, leek and celery. Add the remaining ingredients and the cooked beef and cook a few minutes until the noodles and beans are cooked.

Serve on rice.

Failsafe Chicken Balls
These freeze well uncooked, ready for an instant meal for the kids. My 8 month old loves these and eats as many as we will give her.

Canola oil
1 leek, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 brussel sprouts, finely chopped
1/2 swede, boiled and pureed
500g chicken mince
1 egg
1/2 C homemade breadcrumbs

In a frypan over medium heat cook the leek, garlic and sprouts until softened. Remove from the heat and cool. Combine with all the other ingredients in a large bowl and mix, hands is best! Shape into small meat balls. Freeze at this stage if required.

Cook balls in a little oil in a frypan, rotating regularly.

Serve with pear ketchup (recipe on fedup.com.au).

Pear Pikelets

3/4 C self-raising flour
1 egg, beaten
2/3 C milk
1 pear, peeled and grated

Combine flour, egg and most of the milk and mix with a whisk until combined. Stir in the grated pear with a spatula or spoon. You are after a thick dropping consistency. Add the remaining milk as needed.

Cook in a frypan over medium heat in a little butter.

Serve spread with butter and/or golden syrup.

Muesli Bars
This is a failsafe version of my favourite muesli bar recipe. If no failsafe add your favourite dried fruit, nuts and seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame.

2 C rolled oats
2 C rice bubbles
1/2 C dried pear, chopped into small pieces
1/2 C cashews, chopped
1 tin sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 130 C. Grease and line a slice tin.

Heat the condensed milk in a saucepan. Pour over the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a spatula.

Spread mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes for soft chewy bars, longer for crispy.

Homemade Yogurt

I watched an episode of the River Cottage with my 5 year old Molly (when she should have been in bed) and they made yogurt so we decided to give it a go. I always knew you could make your own yogurt but for some reason I didn't think it would be that good... I was wrong. We made a plain sweetened yogurt and it is delicious, the kids devoured bowls of it! They enjoyed it plain and with various additions including lemon curd, pureed mango, passionfruit and jam, I have been sending it in their lunchboxes all week. I am going to have trouble paying a fortune for flavoured yogurt for the kids from now on.

 

Homemade yogurt

I suggest scaling the recipe to fit whatever thermos you have, mine holds about 900ml so I made a bit less than the recipe below. Most recipes suggest adding powdered milk to make the yogurt thicker, I didn't have any and it still worked but was a pouring yogurt consistency. I drained half my finished yogurt through muslin for a few hours and was left with beautifully thick yogurt, this is what greek yogurt is.

1 L milk (I used full cream but I have read that skim will work)

1/2 C natural yogurt with live cultures

Optional extras

1/4 C powdered milk (makes thicker yogurt)

3 T sugar (for sweetened yogurt)

vanilla bean or extract

Equipment

thermos ~ 1 L capacity

small saucepan

heatproof spatula

thermometer

strainer and muslin or new chux cloth

Fill the thermos with boiling water and leave to heat.

Heat the milk in the saucepan, stirring to prevent it scalding on the bottom, to 95C or until almost boiling, that is when bubbles are just appearing around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat and add the powdered milk, sugar and/or vanilla if using, stir to dissolve.

Cool until it reaches 43°C or when the milk is just cool enough for you to comfortably hold your finger in it for 10 seconds. Place the saucepan in a sink/bowl of cold water if you are in a hurry.

Add a slurp of warm milk to the yogurt in a bowl and mix until smooth. Return to the warm milk and combine.

Empty the water from the thermos and fill with the mixture. Seal and leave overnight. Some recipes I read said it may set in 3 hours, mine wasn't so I left it till the morning. The longer you leave it, the more tart it will become. Ours was only mildly tart after 12 hours.

Store in the fridge.

If you want thicker yogurt drain in a muslin lined strainer in the fridge.

Lemon Delicious in the Slow Cooker or Oven

Lemon Delicious is my absolute favourite dessert and tonight I successfully made it in the slow cooker for the first time. To those unfamiliar with it, this is a lemon self saucing pudding with a light sponge cake layer on top of a runny lemon custard, I like it with a generous serve of cream. It takes one hour to cook in the oven and the batter needs to be made shortly before cooking so the egg whites don't deflate, so this means it needs to be made just before you serve dinner which isn't exactly convenient. In the slow cooker it takes 2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low meaning you can make it hours before your guests even arrive and you can eat it in summer without heating up the kitchen.

Whichever way you make it, you have to try this! The passionfruit version is also a good option.

Lemon Delicious
serves 4
Most recipes where you beat egg whites have you beat the butter and sugar first then the egg whites meaning you need to wash the bowl in between which drives me crazy. I have written this recipe so there is no washing in the middle - you beat the egg whites first and as long as you have everything measured and work quickly they won't deflate.

50g butter

grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons flour, sifted

1 C milk

Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease a small casserole dish that fits in your slow cooker or a roasting tin. Boil the kettle.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff, scrape into another bowl and set aside.

In the same bowl cream the butter with the lemon rind and sugar. When it is creamy and light, beat in the egg yolks. Stir in the sifted floured alternately with the milk.

Fold the whites into the mixture with the lemon juice, lightly yet thoroughly. Pour into the prepared dish. Place the dish in your slow cooker or roasting tin and pour boiling water half way up the sides.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour or in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high or 3-4 hours on low. It is cooked with the top sponge layer is cooked and there is a runny custard beneath. If you cook it too long the custard will set and the top layer will dry out; still edible but not as good.

Serve with cream or icecream or both!

Hot Date Cake with Caramel Sauce

I made a very old favourite last night, the recipe comes from an old Vogue or Gourmet Traveller, my Mum was making it before I had heard of sticky date pudding, which this is a grown up version of. I think anything would taste good with caramel sauce on it, but this cake really is delicious!

Hot Fresh Date Cake with Caramel Sauce

I have halved the amount of sauce from the original recipe and there is still plenty. The leftovers are great on icecream or pancakes, or on a spoon straight out of the fridge! The sauce can also be frozen, as can the whole cake.

serves 8

250g                dates, fresh or dried

185g                firm unsalted butter

185g                sugar

3                      eggs

1½ tsp             vanilla

185g                self-raising flour

¾ tsp               baking powder

150ml              water

75ml                milk

Sauce

225g                brown sugar

40g                  unsalted butter

225ml              cream

1 tsp                vanilla

2 tsp                pecans

1-2 tbsp           brandy (optional)

                       thick cream to serve

Line and grease a 22-23cm round springform tin or 20 cm square tin, make sure it has a good seal as this is a very runny cake batter and will leak through a loose tin. Preheat the oven to 180C.

If using fresh dates, stone and coarsely chop and set aside.

Place in a food processor, the butter cut into pieces, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, water and milk. Process 15 seconds only or to just mix. Add dates and process 2 seconds to mix through. Alternatively, in an electric beater, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and vanilla, then add flour, baking powder, water and milk and mix.

Place the sloppy mixture in the tin. Bake at 180C for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Remove from oven, run knife around the cake and cool in the tin. Cake can be frozen at the point or stored for a few days.

An hour before serving, place cake in an ovenproof tin and marinate with some of the sauce. Fifteen minutes before serving, reheat in the oven at 180C. Serve with sauce and cream.

Sauce

Place all ingredients except the thick cream, bring to the boil and simmer for 6 minutes.

Mexican Dip with Corn

This week we harvested at least 10 cobs of corn from our vegie garden and for the first time ever they are delicious, must have been all the rain we have had this year.

So when I was making something last night to take to a bbq it had to have corn in it! I made an old favourite - layered mexican dip, but added a layer of corn which worked really well.  I made a big dip to take and a mini one which I am snacking on now.

The first layer of the dip is refried beans which I didn't have any of, so I googled it and made my own from a tin of kidney beans.

Mexican Dip
makes 1 large serving dish, I use a flat bottomed dish such as a  pie or small lasagna dish
I didn't have tomatoes so left them out which didn't matter at all. The corn was my own addition to the recipe, which was great.


1 tin of refried beans, or see the recipe below to make your own
2 tomatoes, diced
1-2 avocados, mashed with lemon juice
3/4 carton sour cream
1-2 corn cobs, kernels cut off
1 jar salsa or taco sauce
handful grated cheese


Starting with the beans, layer the ingredients in the serving dish finishing with the grated cheese.


Serve with corn chips.

Refried Beans
1 tin kidney, pinto or mexe beans, drained and mashed
2 rashes bacon (don't cut the fat off - you want this to cook the beans in)
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander 


Fry the bacon in a frypan until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan but leave the fat. Finely chop the bacon.


Lower the heat and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Add the spices and fry until fragrant. Add the beans  and bacon and 1/2 C water. Cook the beans, continuing to mash and stir as they absorb the water. They are done once a paste has formed., can be mashed until smooth or left lumpy.

Pasta Dinner for 1

Tonight I had the pleasure of cooking dinner just for myself. The kids ate early and my husband went out. So I cooked up pasta with anchovies, garlic, herbs and chilli and topped with crispy breadcrumbs, it was delicious! Unfortunately the kids got out of bed and joined me on the couch and complained that I had made something they didn't like!

Pasta for 1

1 serve spaghetti, cooked to packet directions
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 anchovies
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
sprinkle chilli flakes or fresh chilli, chopped
2 tsp capers
1 small handful basil leaves, chopped
1 small handful parley leaves, chopped (or any herbs you like really)
drizzle good olive oil


Add olive oil and anchovies to a frypan and cook over medium heat, breaking up the anchovies. Add the garlic, chilli and capers and cook briefly to cook the garlic but not brown. Add the herbs and pasta, toss to coat and drizzle with extra olive oil to taste. 


Serve and hope you get to eat it in peace and quiet!

Quiche

Tonight we had quiche, I haven't made it in ages. I prefer to make my own pastry but I was home this afternoon with just a sleeping baby Willa for company so watching a movie in bed seemed like a better use of my time than making pastry :) I have given the recipe I use for shortcrust pastry in the food processor below, if you haven't tried making your own pastry try this - it works every time! I will have to make it next time as even my 5 year old complained about the pastry tonight!

Oops, this was all that was left by the time I got the camera out!

I made the quiche half bacon and half smoked salmon - two of my favourite things!


Quiche
makes enough for a 22cm dish
serves 3-4
shortcrust pastry case
3 eggs
3/4 C cream
3/4 C milk
1 tsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
Bacon version (Quiche Lorraine)
6 rashers bacon, sliced; or
2 handfuls grated cheese
Smoked Salmon version
6 slices smoked salmon, sliced into strips and a 
2 tbsp chives or dill, finely chopped


Preheat the oven to 200C.
Fry bacon pieces until beginning to crisp, drain.
Combine eggs, cream, milk, flour and salt in a bowl and gently beat. Overbeating will cause bubbles to form on the quiche.
Sprinkle bacon and cheese, or smoked salmon and chives in the pastry case. Pour the egg mixture over.
Bake at 200C for 10 minutes then lower the temperature to 180C for 20 - 25 minutes or until just set.
Variations
To the quiche you could add fried mushroom slices, slices of boiled potato, ribbons of zucchini, peas, or any other vegetables you care for really.


Shortcrust Pastry in the Food Processor
This makes sufficient dough to line two 20cm pie plates or make a top and bottom for a pie. This recipe is foolproof pastry – I learnt to make pastry from my Mum using this recipe by Margaret Fulton and never understood why pastry was hard till I tried other recipes. I use this whenever I need shortcrust, even if whatever I am making has its own recipe, as it always works. It freezes well but doesn’t keep well in the fridge, so is best used the day it is made.

2 C flour

125g frozen butter (cold butter from the fridge works too but frozen is better)

pinch salt

2 eggs

1 tbsp cold water

squeeze lemon juice

Place flour, butter and salt in a food processor with steel blade in place. Process turning on and off rapidly, until butter is cut into flour and mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Mix eggs with water and lemon juice. With motor running pour liquid quickly through feed tube. Do not use it all unless necessary (I usually do) – stop pouring as soon as a ball of dough starts to form around the blade or if this doesn’t happen just pour the mix into a freezer bag or onto a big bit of gladwrap and squidge together. Flatten into a disc and chill in the fridge for 1 hour before using.

Variation: for sweet pastry add 1/3 C caster sugar to the processor with the flour.

Middle Eastern Meatloaf and Pizza

This week for dinner I made the middle eastern lamb meatloaf from Pod and Three Peas Blog. I have never been a fan of the traditional meatloaf but this looked interesting. It was tasty and moist although perhaps a little too sweet for my taste buds (I would leave the honey out of the loaf next time) but this kids liked this about it! The crunchy topping of pine nuts was great. 

I served the meatloaf with pita chips, cucumber and yoghurt, peas and broad beans, and a tomato eggplant salad. The salad recipe is below.

Two nights later we needed to have a leftovers night as there was still half the loaf in the fridge. There was also two large pita breads left so I decided to turn it all into pizza. And it was great! I used the meatloaf diced with pinenuts, eggplant, tomatoes and feta.

Eggplant, Tomato, Lentil and Feta Salad
olive oil
1 eggplant, cut into small cubes
2 tomatoes, quartered
1/4 C green lentils, cooked according to the packet (mine were left over from this salad)
1/4 block feta, crumbled
red wine vinegar
olive oil


Roast the tomatoes drizzled with a bit of olive oil at 180C until soft.
Heat a frypan with olive oil over medium high heat. Fry the eggplant, tossing regularly until cooked and brown.
Assemble all the ingredients in a bowl and dress with vinegar and olive oil.

Old Fashioned Favourite - Eton Mess and Trifle

My lovely friend Skye gave me some of the berries she picked at the local berry farm - delicious raspberries and strawberries that were perfectly ripe. These were sitting in the fridge with several egg whites left from another recipe, so I was inspired to make Eton Mess which I have always wanted to try - I don't know what took me so long! A fantastic combination of whipped cream, berries and meringue, the adults and children were fighting over the last serve. I looked at lots of recipes but based it on one from Taste.com.au that used a combination of cream and yoghurt. The yoghurt gave it a nice tang and made it feel not so decadent!

Following this I decided to give trifle a go, another classic I have never tried. There are a lot of varieties out there, from the basic with packet jelly, tinned fruit and packet custard to gourmet versions with marscapone and lemon curd that are verging on a tiramisu. I decided on berry trifle, with sponge finger biscuits (savoiardi) for the base. I wanted to make my own jelly but didn't have any suitable juice on hand to make it with, so used packet raspberry jelly with real raspberries in it - this really ruined it for me, but everyone still managed to finish a bowl full! The recipe below includes a jelly recipe that I will use next time, or if I couldn't make jelly I would just use a layer of sweetened raspberries. I finished the trifle with strawberries and crushed meringues (sounding familiar?) which gave it a nice texture. Here are a few other trifle recipes that inspired mine or that I would like to try:
Middle Eastern Trifle @ SBS Food, pictured in the latest Feast Magazine
Limoncello Trifle @ Taste.com.au - with blueberries, lemon curd and marscapone

Eton Mess

The original recipe suggested cooking the raspberries and sugar and then pureeing and folding through the mess. I didn't want to do this to my beautiful fresh raspberries but might try it next time with frozen. I have no idea how many berries I used so just add to taste or what you have.

serves 6

1/4 C caster sugar

450g strawberries, hulled, quartered

225g  raspberries, fresh or frozen

300ml thick cream, whipped

300ml thick Greek yoghurt

4 large meringues, crumbled - see recipe below

Slice strawberries and place in a bowl with sugar for several hours.

Place strawberries and half the raspberries in a bowl with the puree, cream, yoghurt and the meringue. Fold everything together until just combined. Serve in a large glass bowl or individual glasses. Sprinkle with remaining raspberries.

Meringues

This makes 6 very large meringues, good for breaking up into the eton mess, or many more small ones.

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1 C caster sugar

Preheat oven to 120 C.

In an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar and whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and whisk for a few minutes more. Add the remaining sugar and fold through.

Spoon or pipe onto trays. Bake for 1 hour. Then leave in oven, switched off, for 30 minutes.

Berry Trifle

serves 6-8

~10 sponge finger biscuits

100ml Cointreau, grappa, sweet white wine, limoncello or any other sweet alcohol that takes your fancy (optional)

3 tbsp berry jam

1 punnet or 200g frozen raspberries

300ml cream, whipped

3 large meringues, broken into pieces (recipe above)

125 g berries

Custard

3 egg yolks

3 tsp corn flour (some recipes use plain flour)

caster sugar

300ml milk or cream

Jelly

500ml juice of your choice

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 1/2 tbsp powdered gelatine

1 punnet or 200g frozen raspberries

Warm the jam and thin with a little water or your alcohol of choice if too thick. Dip the biscuits in the  jam and line the bottom of your glass bowl. Drizzle over the alcohol if using and remaining jam.

Pour over the cooled custard, refrigerate. Follow with the cooled jelly, you can even set the jelly in another bowl and break it up a little to spoon over.

Top with whipped cream, meringue pieces and berries.

Custard

Whisk together the yolks, sugar and cornflour in a large bowl.

Heat the cream/milk until nearly boiling. Pour over the yolks whisking continuously. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Jelly

Place 250ml juice and sugar in a small saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle over gelatine and stir to dissolve, strain mixture into a bowl. Add remaining 250ml juice, then the berries, stirring until combined. Refridgerate til set.

Date, Hazelnut and Currant Christmas Cake

I found this recipe for an Italian Christmas Cake in Good Living in the Sydney Morning Herald two Christmas' ago. Dates and currants are probably my favourite dried fruit so I had to try it. The cake has no spices in it but the dried fruits and alcohol still make it smell like Christmas Cake. The cake is delicious and moist and keeps for weeks, I am still enjoying this years with my cup of tea!

Date, Hazelnut and Currant Christmas Cake

I have made this in a regular round cake tin with a hole and a bundt tin, both work well. I have also made it in a regular tin but the middle sank, it is a very moist cake so hard to cook through. But whatever you do don't overcook it!

85g pitted dates, roughly chopped

50g currants

100g roasted hazelnuts, roughly blitzed in the food processor

50ml marsala (plus about 1/4 cup extra)

165g soft unsalted butter

150g castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

200g plain flour

1/2 C almond meal

4 tsp baking

Preheat oven to 170C.

Place dates, currants and hazelnuts in a bowl and pour in the marsala. Toss to combine and let stand for a few hours, preferably overnight. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine flour, almond meal and baking powder in another bowl and stir with a whisk to remove any lumps in the flour. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture and then stir through fruit with all the juices.

Mix well to combine. Spoon into cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until cooked. (If you find that the centre is still undercooked, cover the top with foil and continue baking until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.) Spoon/brush extra marsala over hot cake and allow to cool in tin. Keeps for 2-3 weeks in an airtight container and improves with age!

Lentil, Tomato and Bacon Salad

Last night we had another interesting salad for dinner - Lentil, Tomato and Bacon Salad. I got the recipe from the latest Delicious magazine (December issue). My husband, who isn't usually a fan of lentils, had seconds and requested the leftovers for lunch, maybe it was the bacon. Unfortunately the kids weren't so keen:(

I served this with pork cutlets, marinated in fennel seeds, chilli, lemon zest and salt, cooked on the bbq. And made another salad with zucchini, beans and radishes (from the vegie patch!).

Lentil, Tomato and Pancetta Salad
3/4 C puy or French style lentils, rinsed
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
6 slices ciabatta or other firm bread, crusts removed
6 tsp olive oil
4 rashers bacon or pancetta, sliced into strips
1 small onion, diced
2 anchovies, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 handfuls of cos lettuce
1/2 lemon, juiced
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Place lentils in a saucepan and cover with plenty of water, bring to the boil then simmer for 25 minutes until al dente, drain and rinse.
Brush ciabatta with 2 tsp olive oil and tear into pieces. Place on a tray with the tomatoes, drizzle tomatoes with 1 tsp olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until bread crisps and tomatoes blister.
Heat remaining 3 tsp oil in a large frypan over medium high heat. Cook bacon for 2 minuts. Add onion and cook for 4 minutes. Add the anchovy and garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the cooked lentils and mix well.
To serve place lettuce, bread and tomatoes on a platter and spoon over the lentil mixture. Squeeze over lemon juice and season.

Squid, Chorizo and Chickpea Salad

Last night for dinner we had a delicious salad. I am not very good at salads and always prefer to follow a recipe or they seem to come out so boring. I found this recipe in the free Coles magazine from December. It is written by Chris Badenoch from Masterchef (the beer guy in the second season) for Primo Smallgoods. I added extra vegetables to turn it into a stand alone meal.

On New Years Eve, we caught up with friends and spend the night talking and eating. We had four courses and couldn't fit dessert in until 11:30pm. For entree our friends cooked a chickpea salad and the chickpeas were delicious - they claimed the trick is to cook the tinned chickpeas. So I tried this tonight and it definetely adds flavour and improves the texture. I will have to post about the amazing Cranberry Brie Wheel that has become a bit of a New Years tradition.. but if you can't wait, check out the recipe here.

Warm Chorizo, Squid and Chickpea Salad
serves 2
2 squid, cleaned and scored
olive oil
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon
4 slices ciabatta or other crunchy loaf
1/2 red capsicum
2 tomatoes, quartered
400g can chickpeas, drained
3 golden shallots, thinly sliced
1 bunch rocket, washed
1 chorizo, sliced diagonally
2 tsp sherry or red wine vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard


Marinate the squid in paprika, salt, pepper, half the lemon juice and a splash of olive oil for atleast 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the crust off the bread, brush with olive oil and tear into bite size pieces, put on an oven tray. Place the tomatoes on an oven tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven with the capsicum. After 10 minutes also place the bread in the oven and bake until crisp and golden. Remove the tomatoes when softened and the capsicum when the skin is looking burnt. Set the bread and tomatoes aside. Place the capsicum in a bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Then remove the skin and seeds and finely slice.

Place the chickpeas in a frying pan over medium heat and cook, tossing continuously until dry and slightly golden. Set aside in a large bowl.

Fry the chorizo in a little oil until crispy. Pour over the chickpeas oil and all. Fry the squid for 1-2 minutes each side (you could also do this in a char grill pan but I didn't want to create more dishes). Slice into strips and add to the chickpeas. Add capsicum, rocket and shallots.

Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Pour over the salad and toss. Add the bread pieces and rocket and toss gently. Serve with the roasted tomatoes.

Almond, Vanilla and Coffee Brittle

Of all the baking I did before Christmas that I talked about in this post, this was the winner! It is a honeycomb candy with chunks of almonds flavoured with ground coffee and vanilla. I did half with and half without the coffee as I wasn't sure of the combo but the coffee really worked. I broke it into pieces and gave a large jarful to each of the preschool teachers.

I forgot to a photo of mine, so this is the photo from Taste.com.au - mine came out looking the same!

Almond, Vanilla and Coffee Brittle

1 1/2 C caster sugar

1/2 C glucose syrup

2 C blanched almonds (or you could use cashews or peanuts)

1/2 C almond kernels

2 tbsp coffee beans, crushed (see tip) or 1 - 2 tsp ground coffee beans

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Grease a 20cm x 30cm lamington pan.

Place sugar, syrup, 1/4 C cold water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Use a wet pastry brush to brush sugar crystals from the side of the pan. Increase heat to high. Bring to the boil. Cook, without stirring, for 7 minutes. Add blanched almonds. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, swirling pan occasionally, or until sugar turns golden. Careful in this stage that the almonds at the bottom don't burn. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, combine almond kernels, coffee beans, vanilla and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Carefully add to sugar mixture. The mixture will fizz due to the bicarb. Stir gently to combine.

Pour mixture evenly over base of pan. Set aside for 2 hours or until cooled completely. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Reindeer Biscuits

I helped the kids to make these reindeer biscuits as presents for the friends at preschool and daycare, as mentioned in my last post. I used the recipe from Planning with Kids but substituted pretzels for their mint leaf antlers.

I set the kids up with all the ingredients, melted chocolate and a paint brush and both my 5 and 3 year olds were able to make these by themselves with just a little help needed attaching the pretzels securely.

I wrapped them up individually in a square of clear cellophane tied with a ribbon and a Christmas gift tag. They looked very cute even if I do say so myself!

I tried to get my kids involved in gift giving this year, as they are somehow naturally good at receiving! This was a good way to get them to spend time and effort on something for others without just going to the shops and spending money.

Reindeer Biscuits

mint slice biscuits
jaffas
cashous (silver or coloured balls)
mini pretzels
cooking chocolate, melted
small clean paint brush

Use the paint brush to apply melted chocolate on the biscuit in the location of the nose, eyes and antlers. You need quite a big blob of chocolate for the antlers.

Stick on the jaffas, cashous and pretzels. The kids should be able to do this themselves then Mum can just push everything on a little more firmly afterwards.

Leave to set then wrap up to give away!

Christmas Baking

I have had a lovely night tonight alone in the kitchen baking lots of Christmas treats. With all the children asleep, this is my idea of a relaxing evening! The oven was broken all week so was having baking withdrawals. Inspired by the desire to make some edible gifts for my daughter's teachers I browsed online for recipes. I envisage giving them a jar full of something, so we will see whats successful. Here is what I made, I will post back later with the verdict(s)... Ed. see comments below

Almond, Vanilla and Coffee Bean Brittle @ Taste.com.au
 - this was fantastic, see this post about it
Chocolate Caramel Crackers @ Smitten Kitchen
 - this unusual combination was delicious. Bit hard to give as gifts due to the chocolate melting but great to eat as an after dinner treat!
Beer and Chilli Candied Peanuts @ Taste.com.au
 - not that great. The beer didn't add any flavour and I wasn't sure about the chilli and sugar combo, might just do regular candied nuts next time.
100s of Biscuits @ Planning with Kids
 - these were yummy and easy with a nice texture, I flavoured mine with giant freckles I had left over from a birthday party. I made the dough into long logs that were quick to slice into biscuits. I still have one log in the freezer.

And a few more recipes I may still make (not tonight, its nearly midnight!)...
 Ed. never got to these - maybe next year!
Caramel and White Chocolate Fudge @ Taste.com.au
or
Salted Caramels @ Llifestylefood.com.au

Candied Nuts @ Chocolate and Zucchini

Berry and Pistachio Biscotti @ Taste.com.au

Cranberry and White Chocolate Shortbread @ Taste.com.au

I have also soaked the fruit for my favourite christmas cake that I discovered last year - Date, Hazelnut and Currant Christmas Cake. The recipe for this Italian cake was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald last year, I made it then and once in the middle of the year because Christmas was too long to wait. I will do a full post on this once its baked. Doesn't look like it will get its two weeks wrapped in foil to improve with age, never mind!

Tomorrow I along with two little helpers will be making Christmas treats for my daughters classmates, I don't expect it will be quite as peaceful as tonight! We will be making Reindeer Biscuits from Planning with Kids - mint slice biscuits with jaffa noses, cachous eyes and pretzel ears (theirs use mint leaves but I couldn't get these and have seen reindeer cupcakes with pretzel ears that look great).
 Ed. see this post about the biscuits - they were great!

Chocolate and Banana Muffins

This delicious and easy recipe comes from my friend Christina. She generously cooked us a meal and brought along a batch of these. I had to freeze half of them straight away to stop myself from eating them all. I begged the recipe from her and we cooked up a batch the other day. I often find muffins dry but these are moist and light with only a mild banana flavour - quite different to a banana cake. This time I dropped off half to my husbands work, but still managed to eat alot!

I made another kids picture recipe like I did with scones back in May so Molly, my 5 year old, was able to do most of the steps herself, ably assisted by Ava of course!

I recently bought myself a silicon mini muffin tray made by Scanpan; it is great, the muffins cooked well and just fell out. My metal trays always stuck. :(

Chocolate and Banana Muffins

The recipe states it makes 12 muffins. I made 26 mini muffins plus 4 regular muffins.

2 C self raising flour
½ C castor sugar
½ C chocolate chips or cooking chocolate, chopped
½ tsp salt
100g butter
1 C milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 C mashed banana (2-3 mashed bananas)

Preheat the oven to 220C. Spray muffin tins if needed.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, caster sugar, chocolate chips and salt with a fork.
Melt the butter, remove from heat, then add the milk, egg and vanilla and beat well. Mash and measure the bananas and stir them into the liquid.

Tip all the liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry mixture. Fold everything together carefully until all the flour is dampened. Stopping before the mixture is smooth.

Spoon mixture into muffin tins. Bake at 220 C for 12-15 min until muffins spring back when pressed in the centre.

Vietnamese Smoked Trout and Vermicelli Salad

Lots of lovely people have been cooking us meals since Willa was born. My sister is visiting this weekend to meet her new niece. She made this delicious salad for lunch, I had to record the recipe because I will definitely be making it again. And she and her fiance are currently preparing dinner - Thanks!

Vietnamese Smoked Trout and Vermicelli Salad
You could substitute the smoked trout for cooked prawns or poached chicken.
serves 4

1/2 packet rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to packet directions
1 whole smoked trout, flesh removed from bones and broken into pieces
1 telegraph cucumber,  cut into batons
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
handful mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into thirds and blanched
4 spring onions
handful mint leaves
handful coriander leaves
handful peanuts, chopped
handful fried onions/shallots
Dressing
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 C hot water
2 tbsp lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small chilli, finely chopped

Place cooked  noodles on a large platter or flat bowl. Top with vegetables, then fish then herbs and peanuts.

Dress the salad or offer dressing at the table.

Dressing
In a small jar, combine fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and hot water. Put the lid on and shake to dissolve sugar. Add remaining ingredients.

Willa - my new baby girl is here!

I gave birth to a beautiful little girl last Monday. We named her Willa Beth. Her sisters completely adore her, it is lovely seeing our three girls together.

Willa with gifts from her sisters

I don't think I will get much time for cooking or blogging in the next few weeks... Typing this one handed is rather slow.  But I am about to try and make a Blueberry and Apple Cake before the next breastfeed. I need cake to snack on!

I am using this recipe from Cuisine.com.au for Blueberry Bake but am going to add apple as well. Like all my favourite cake recipes at the moment it has sour cream in it. Will let you know how it goes.

Update: The cake was a success. I iced it with a maple syrup butter icing but next time might just stick with the lemon. I used 1 apple and 1 C blueberries, I think you could increase this to 2 apples, mixing one through the cake mixture and sprinkling one on top with the berries.

Chorizo, Eggplant and Chickpea Soup

I made this soup a couple of times over winter. The chorizo gives it a great flavour and it is quick and easy to whip up as it doesn't need a long cooking time. You could add any other vegies that take your fancy - zucchini, carrot, sweet potato...

Chorizo, Eggplant and Chickpea Soup
serves 4+

olive oil
1-2 chorizo, skin removed and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 eggplant, small dice
400g tin tomatoes
400g tin chickpeas
1 L chicken stock

In a heavy based saucepan, fry the chorizo in a dash of olive oil until browned. Set aside.

In the same pan, add more olive oil and fry onion, garlic and eggplant until onion is softened and eggplant browning. Careful not to burn the onion. Add the chorizo and remaining ingredients. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread.

Mexican Vegetarian Lasagna

I made Pea and Three Pod's Mexican Lasagna for dinner last night. My husband devoured his first serving and declared I can "add it to the list" which surprised me greatly given it was vegetarian and full of kidney beans! This delicious dish is flavoured with fresh coriander and ground coriander and cumin, and topped with sour cream, avocado and jalapenos is really tasty! The kids ate it but were annoyed the wraps were already in the "pie" and they didnt get to make their own burritos.

It was quick and easy to whip up and made from pastry staples. I will be making this again. If you want a meaty version, I have also made this Enchilada Pie.

Camera cord is still missing despite extensive nesting induced tidying ... Might need to buy a new one with the baby due soon!

Mexican Lasagne
serves 4
Salsa
olive oil
2 cl garlic, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 chilli, chopped with seeds (optional - I left it out)
½ tsp sea salt flakes
bunch fresh coriander
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander

Filling
400g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
400g tin refried beans
sweetcorn kernels from 2 cobbs or 1 tin
tasty grated cheese
4-6 soft tortillas

To serve
Avocado, sourcream, spring onion, fresh coriander, lime, jalapenos

Spray a round ovenproof dish, about the same size as your tortillas, with olive oil spray and preheat the oven to 200 C.

To make the salsa, heat the oil in a frypan and add the onion, capsicum and chilli cook till softened, then add the salt, cumin, coriander and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes before adding in the tin of tomatoes, ketchup and half a cup of water, simmer for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and stir thru most of the chopped coriander.

To make the filling just combine the beans and corn. Now you can assemble it like a traditional lasagne starting with some salsa then a tortilla, bean mix, salsa, handful of cheese, tortilla... finish with salsa and a nice big handful of cheese. I managed four layers, the original recipe had 6 but I found I didn't have enough filling.

Bake for 30 minutes till is golden and bubbling. Let it sit for ten minutes before you slice into wedges and serve with some diced avocado, jalapenos, spring onions, coriander, squeeze of lime juice and don't forget the sour cream.

Left-over Cereal Chocolate Slice and Triple Chocolate Cookies

I haven't had much energy for blogging lately. Only 5 weeks to go til the baby is due and I am definitely nesting - the inside of my fridge has never looked so clean. So that and organising a bathroom renovations seems to zap all my time.

I have also been trying to have a clean up of my recipe collection. I have accumulated 3 years worth of Good Livings (from the Sydney Morning Herald) so have had a lovely time going through them cutting out recipes - of course I can't just throw them out. I need to do the same with 3 years worth of Gourmet Traveller Magazines!

I have been browsing blogs lately for baking ideas. I like having something home-baked to send in lunchboxes (and for me to snack on!). It has to be nut-free to send to preschool of course, but sometimes I make a nutty item later in the week or just for me!

I found the slice recipe on Cate Can Cook and it was perfect for this week when we finished the packet of weetbix. There was exactly 1 C of crumbs in the bottom of the pack. Usually these go to the chickens but this is a better use!

This recipe has been around for years. I found a few variations on my search. I added an egg to Cate's recipe as my mix was dry. The result was a yummy soft chewy cakey slice with a thick layer of chocolate icing - whats not to like? I sprinkled mine with Hundreds and Thousands which the kids liked!

I also baked a batch of triple chocolate cookies for my husband to take skiing. These were chosen with his chocolatey tastes in mind but I must admit I enjoyed them a lot!

The camera cord is missing so photos will come later!

Here are a few other recipes I have in mind to bake:

Puffed-Rice Slice with Peanut Butter and Chocolate @ Mathilda's Market Blog
Oaty Chocolate Caramel Rice Bubble Bars @ Cate Can Cook
Chocolate Chip Shortbread @ Cate Can Cook
Brown Sugar Shortbread @ Not Quite Nigella
Afghan Cookies @ Not Quite Nigella
Jelly Slice @ Pod and Three Peas
Banana Sour Cream Cake @ Pod and Three Peas (bananas are supposed to get cheaper soon!)
Chocolate Crackle Top Biscuits @ Taste
Fresh Strawberry Cake @ All Recipes
Pear, Date and Hazelnut Cake @ Bill Granger in the SMH

Left-over Cereal Chocolate Weetbix or Cornflake Slice
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup crushed weetbix or corn flakes
1 dessertspoon cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
3/4 coconut (dessicated or shredded)
125g butter, melted
1 egg

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Press mixture into a slice/lamington tin. Bake in oven (180C) for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven - allow to cool slightly. Smooth the chocolate icing onto slice. Sprinkle with hundreds and thousands or coconut and leave to set.

Chocolate Icing
1 C icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
20g butter, melted
1 tbsp milk (plus extra if needed), warmed
Hundreds and Thousands or Coconut, to sprinkle

Place the icing sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and butter in a bowl. Mix together, then add 1 tablespoon of milk, adding more if necessary to form a smooth paste.

Triple Chocolate Cookies
makes 30 - 40
This is a large batch of cookies, you can halve it or you can freeze uncooked dough in balls or logs to bake later.

250g unsalted butter, softened
350g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
310g (2½C) cups plain flour
60g (½) C cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
250 - 350g dark and white chocolate, chopped or chocolate bits (The original recipe had 350g, I thought this was a lot so reduced to 250g. I used 100g chopped white chocolate and 150g dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl, and beat until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir together well.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.

Place large spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased and lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook in batches for 15-20 minutes, until the bases are cooked. Allow to cool on the tray.