Gluten free Easter Treats

Always one to enjoy trying out new recipes I was happy to bake some Easter gluten free treats for us over the weekend. Still with the main oven broke, I thought it would be great to see how our temporary mini oven fared as up to know I've been putting off using it for any cake, biscuit or in this case gorgeous gooey brownies.

So we tried out one of the recipes from Discount Supplements supplier of protein and here are how to make them:

Vegan Cherry and Almond Brownies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Linusit Premium Organic Flaxseed

120g dark chocolate

½ teaspoon coffee granules

125g self-raising flour

70g ground almonds

50g Naturya Organic Cocoa Nibs

¼ tsp baking powder

250g golden caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

70g glace cherry (rinsed and halved)

Directions

1) Heat oven to 170° C

2) Grease and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment.

3) Combine the flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of water and set aside for at least 5 mins.

4) In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and coffee with 100ml water on a low heat. Allow to cool slightly.

5) Put the flour, almonds, cocoa nibs, baking powder and 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl and stir to remove any lumps.

6) Using a hand whisk, mix the sugar into the melted chocolate mixture, and beat well until smooth and glossy, ensuring all the sugar is well dissolved. Stir in the flaxseed mixture and vanilla extract, the cherries and then the flour mixture. Stir until combined and spoon into the prepared tin.

7) Bake for 35-45 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean with moist crumbs. Allow to cool in the tin completely, then cut into squares. Store in an airtight container and eat within 3 days.

Of course I had to add a sprinkle of edible glitter too! They were absolutely delicious and I would use the Naturya Organic Cocoa Nibs again, so versatile for lots of different recipes or sprinkling on ice cream or other desserts.  The Linusit Premium Organic Flaxseed is another great addition to the food cupboard, a source of omega 3 and other nutrients that you can add to anything from soups to salads.

Degustabox September - a little hint of harvest

 Degustabox time and here is a box that made me think autumn as soon as I opened it. From apple products to trick or treat sweeties and chocolate - my absolute favourite..... 

Good food and a game

 My Nana is 91 this year and has been a widow for about 50 years, so aside from close family being around to visit she can get quite lonely and always appreciates a phone call or coming over to see us. Nan has lots of tales about her life and never fails to make me laugh. She has made me very value elderly people and when I am out and about I will always make time to smile or chat with the older generation should the opportunity arise. 

Degustabox the June Picnic Box

I am very late to the party with Degustabox, I have seen these monthly food goody box subscriptions on other blogs for such a long time but never tried one. But now I have tried one and what a great parcel to receive - the June Picnic Box. Who doesn't love a picnic?

First to get into the box was Billy my terrier who could quickly smell the goodies and what a fine assortment there was inside......

Coconut curry and rice #Coolcookery

As a busy home educator, I am nearly always in a rush at dinner time to put something nutritious and filling together for us all. After a day of going out on learning trips and a table full of puzzles and flashcards I am often tearing my hair out at 4pm thinking, what do I cook? I'm a vegetarian whilst the rest of the household are meat eaters so that does complicate things slightly. Convenience food is of course tempting but actually I want colourful meals full of vitamins and not chips.

With Britmums and the British Food Federation who have a great site coolcookery.co.uk , we are showing how frozen food  can be used in family meals. Frozen food is more than just your fishfingers, burgers and pizza, if you have a look in your supermarket's frozen aisle you will find all kinds of vegetables, meat, fish, fruit and even herbs.

Turk's Turban Squash

Next year I am going to grow the wonderful Turk's Turban Squash on the allotment plot. Containing all the colours of autumn, topped with a knobbly hat. Such a curious winter squash that I had not cooked with before. I found this one at a local farm shop, sat amongst the pumpkins and the butternut squash. A bargain of mottled autumn treasure at £1.25 

 
The flesh inside is a rich orange. Lovely to cut into. I decided to make a mild curry with it to warm us  up on these cold November days.Squash cut into chunks
Red pepper cut into chunks
Slice an onion
Put all into a roasting tray
Drizzle with olive oil
Sprinkle with chilli flakes, garlic, cumin, corriander, salt and pepper
Mix it up to coat all the vegetables
Place in the oven on about gas mark 5 (190°C) for about 40 minutes until soft
Once lovely and roasted add to a pot on the stove
Add curry paste - we had some Madras in the fridge
Chuck in some fresh spinach leaves
A few good spoonfuls of Coconut milk (love this stuff!)
Add 1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
Simmer for about 15 minutes  Tasted delicious. Little Bird loved it, surprisingly! For such a fussy eater he was scooping it into his mouth. Happy mummy! I've saved a few seeds for next year.
But will buy some too and compare.
Have you ever grown this curious ornamental squash?

Cheesy broccoli and potato soup

Now that autumn is here it is time for a good bowl of soup to warm us up. DB went off to the allotment to continue tidying up. So many weeds to clear up, put into bags and take to the tip plus a whole load of fixing things ready for next year. So whilst he was there I made a comforting cheesy broccoli and potato soup for him to have when he got back.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 medium size onion, diced
3 medium Maris Piper potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 small head of broccoli broken into florets
120ml milk
6000ml vegetable stock
50g cheddar cheese, grated
seasoning

Method:
Fry the diced onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft.
Add the diced potato and broccoli florets
Pour in the milk
Pour in the vegetable stock
Bring to the boil
Simmer for about 20 minutes
Add the cheddar cheese
Season
Blitz with the hand blender

It was dark upon DB's return and the soup was well appreciated and there is some left for taking to work tomorrow. I love potato soup, it is one of my favourites and perfect for autumn evenings. Next time I'll make a spicy one and maybe bake the potatoes first. 
Not too bad for my diet either as it is so filling. 

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more at bit.ly/18rWnaB

Sweet potato and aubergine moussaka #BettaRecipe

I have been a vegetarian for about 25 years and I'm always looking for new ways to change my weekly meal plans so I have a good varied diet. I spotted a competition with Betta Living for National Vegetarian Week which is from the 19th to 25th May to create a vegetarian dish and thought this was a good opportunity to try to make something new.
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 courgette, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
400g tin of chopped tomatoes, drained
1tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
sprinkle of salt & ground black pepper

1 aubergine, sliced into thin rounds
2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced into thin rounds

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain flour
500 ml of semi skimmed milk
125g of mascarpone cheese 
a few sprigs of parsley
Pinch of nutmeg

100g cheddar cheese, grated
A few cherry tomatoes, sliced
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and add the chopped onions and the tomato puree. Stir well to coat the onions and fry gently for a couple of minutes.
Add the crushed garlic and chopped red pepper and courgette, frying for about 5 minutes on a low heat until soft.
Add the tinned tomatoes, lemon juice, cumin and paprika. Simmer for 15-20 minutes to thicken the sauce. Season to taste.
 In an oven proof dish arrange the layers of sweet potato rounds, followed by a layer of aubergine and then spoon half of the tomato filling onto it. Repeat the layers again.
To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the plain flour. It will quickly combine and become a paste. Add a quarter of the milk and whisk to create a smooth mixture. As the sauce thickens gradually add the rest of the milk and add the mascarpone cheese. Stir well and simmer on a low heat before adding the chopped parsley. Add a pinch of nutmeg and seasoning.
Sprinkle on the grated cheese and garnish with the chopped cherry tomatoes. Place in the oven for about 45 minutes until the topping is golden. I put it under the grill to make it extra crispy. Serve with some fresh salad if you plan on cooking large cuts. 

This is my entry into the Betta Living Vegetarian Recipe competition.

Egg Tatties

Another egg recipe to use all my dad's eggs that he gives us. I love searching through old recipe books and this gave me an idea for a filling weekday meal for all the family using eggs - Egg Tatties. 

You will need - 2 large potatoes, 3 free range eggs, 1tbsp milk, 1tbsp butter, seasoning, cheese.

Bake the potatoes. I do this by cooking in the microwave first for about 8 minutes and then transfer to an oven at about 200 C/ Gas Mark 6 to crisp up for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile whisk the eggs in a bowl, add the milk and seasoning. Pop in the microwave to cook - takes a few minutes to firm up into scrambled eggs.
 Take the potatoes out of the oven and cut in half length ways. Scoop out the potato and add to the bowl of scrambled egg. Add the butter and mash up together.

Place the mixture back into the potatoes and top with grated cheese. Place back into the oven until the cheese melts and goes all lovely and golden. Seriously yummy and filled everyone up.


This post is an entry for the #ShortcutEggsperts Linky Challenge sponsored by British Lion Eggs. Learn more and find recipes at www.eggrecipes.co.ukhttp://www.eggrecipes.co.uk/

Eggs Provencal recipe

We are lucky in that we have a free and plentiful supply of eggs courtesy of my father's chickens who live a very happy and pampered life. My dad loves his chickens and is always cleaning their huge pen, checking them over and having a little chat with them. We are very grateful for all the eggs we receive and like to think of new recipes to make with them. 

One that I like to make myself for a quick dinner or the whole family is my version of Eggs Provencal.

Fry some crushed garlic cloves, chopped onions, mushrooms, red peppers and a handful of cherry tomatoes in a little vegetable oil for a few minutes.  Sprinkle with some Tabasco Sauce for a bit of oomph! Pour mixture into little baking dishes, I use these little brown dishes that I picked up in a charity shop - they have been so useful. Make a hollow in the mixture and crack an egg into it. I crack them into a ramekin first just in case I get any egg shell in it. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top. Season and add some dried basil or oregano. 

Place into the oven until the egg sets and the cheese has melted.

A very quick individual meal, serve with a little salad or some crusty bread. 

This post is an entry for the #ShortcutEggsperts Linky Challenge sponsored by British Lion Eggs. Learn more and find recipes at www.eggrecipes.co.uk

Baked Potato, Spinach and Leek Soup

Another warming recipe that I did this week with my bag of Maris Piper potatoes - baked potato, spinach and leek soup. Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1tbsp olive oil
3 med/large Maris Piper potatoes
1tsp salt
500ml milk
200 ml water
handful of spinach
seasoning
Cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions:
Bake the potatoes in some olive oil and salt in the oven for 30 minutes on Gas Mark 5/190 degrees
Fry the onions, leeks and garlic in the olive oil until soft in a saucepan
Add the baked potato, crumble it in. I ended up adding the skin too as it tastes lovely
Add the stock and the milk
Simmer for 10 minutes
Add the spinach
Simmer for another 5 minutes
Season and blitz with a stick blender
Serve with grated cheese on top

 Great served with a lovely piece of crusty loaf, by the fire on a windy day :)

This post is an entry for #MarisPiperBritMums Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council for Potato Week 7 – 13 October, celebrating the varieties of potatoes and how we like to eat them. Learn more and find recipes at www.lovepotatoes.co.uk

Hobgoblin Stew

 Perfect for a Halloween supper using lots of veggies, some beef pieces and a bottle of Hobgoblin Ale.
Warming, tasty and done in the slow cooker so its smell was wafting through the house all afternoon whilst it was grim and rainy outside.
Ingredients:
500g beef pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic gloves, crushed
1 leek, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
500g Maris Piper potatoes
Tin of chopped tomatoes
500ml stock
3tbsp gravy granules
500ml bottle of Hobgoblin Ale
100g rice
Mixed herbs
Seasoning
Instructions:
Par boil the potatoes and the carrots for 10 minutes
Fry the beef pieces until well browned, add to slow cooker pot
Fry the sliced onion, garlic and leek until soft, add to slow cooker
Add the potatoes, carrots and tin of tomatoes
Add the stock
Add the rice
Add 3 tbsp gravy granules and stir well
Sprinkle herbs in and season
I cooked it all over an afternoon in the slow cooker until it thickened and all the veg and meat was soft.

I do love a slow cooker meal as it makes the house feel toasty warm and I can enjoy the afternoon whilst it cooks and there's usually lots of leftovers for lunch the next day of freezing batches of. 

Happy Halloween

Harvest Soup

Budget recipes for us at the moment as we are getting some bits and bobs done around the house, plus one of our cars' engines blew up last week. Not good! A quick look in the fridge and there's some corn on the cob from grandad's allotment and courgettes and tomatoes from ours.

Here is our harvest soup:

Rough chop courgette, tomatoes and add sweetcorn into a roasting tin.
Drizzle olive oil and add any seasoning. I added some chipotle sauce, herb mix, extra chilli and some garlic.
Roast in the oven until looking lovely and caramelised.
Add to a pan,
Blitz with a blender.
Dilute with some water, bring to the boil.
Swirl in some cream.

Find a lovely harvest wooden peg puzzle and talk of tractors and combine harvesters. 

Autumn eating and playing.