Chocolate mousse cake

November 21, 2013December 6, 2015 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

Last night we had a get together with a group of friends that had been months in the planning. A few sets of friends were visiting from all over the world … what better reason to get together and share a whole lot of yummy deserts?! I was asked to bring along an allergy friendly desert … and this cake what I came up with – it is almost a replacement for cheesecake.

Just before he tasted it, I was having a conversation with a friend who was telling me how it is really awful when people try to pass off ‘that avocado stuff as chocolate mousse’ … and then he ate it and loved it … so I’m counting that as a win 😀

To make the base you’ll need

2 packets of Macro gingernuts
3tbsp Nuttelex

Place in a food processor and process until the crumbs resemble damp sand.

Press the crumb down firmly with a fork into a greased springform pan.

Then make the mousse.

I used a double quantity of this recipe for the chocolate mousse

Tip the mousse on to the top of the crumb base and spread out evenly.

Place in the freezer until solid. This is a cold dessert so it is best left in the freezer until almost ready to serve.

Makes quite a large cake – serves probably 12-16.

I really enjoy the ginger flavour, but I think next time I make this I might have a go at using Rowies Anzac Biscuits so that the chocolate flavour is the more dominant one.

Hope you enjoy!

Update: I have recently been making this cake with a different base and have enjoyed it even more than the original.

2 packets of Leda’s Arrowroot biscuits
1 tbsp flaked quinoa
1 tbsp almond meal
8 fresh dates, pitted
1 1/2 tbsp tasteless coconut oil.

Aussie Meat Pies

September 23, 2013September 23, 2013 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

With the AFL Grand Final this weekend, it feels almost compulsory to add a recipe for meat pies. Doesn’t every Aussie watch the footy eating a pie?!

The problem for me is that with my mince aversion, there is just no way I could possibly eat a shop bought meat pie that is full of miscellaneous animal parts and gristly bits – ick!

So here is my recipe for slightly healthier Aussie meat pies. We have a friend that insists that tomato sauce is all the salad you need to go with pies, and with the veggies snuck into this one, I have no problem with that 😀

600-800g casserole beef, diced fairly small (about 1cm cubes)
2 small carrots (mine was massive so I just used 1)
1 small sweet potato
1 cup peas
1 tbsp each of bbq sauce, tomato sauce and cocnut aminos
3/4 tbsp Vegemite
1.5 cups very hot water
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp Orgran gravy powder.
Short crust pastry of choice.
Milk of choice

Place the meat into the slow cooker and place on low to heat up while you prepare the veg and sauce.

Finely grate the carrots, peel and grate the sweet potato and mix with the peas. Set aside.

In a large mixing jug, mix together the sauces, garlic, gravy mix and Vegemite. Then add the hot water and mix well until it is all dissolved and well combined.

Pour the sauce over the meat and then add the veggies. Mix until well combined. It won’t look very saucy at this stage, but it will get more so as the veggies cook down.

Return the lid to the slow cooker and set to high for 4 hours. About 3/4 of an hour before cooking time is up, remove the lid and allow the meat to keep cooking whilst some of the liquid evaporates. If you forget this step, you can always add another bit of gravy powder to thicken the juices a bit.

Line either a pie dish or muffin trays with pastry, then fill with meat mix and place a lid of pastry on the top.

Use a fork to press down the edges and join the top to the base, brush with milk of choice and cut small vent holes.

For those who are Gluten Free, I used this pastry. I used a puff pastry because I knew from past experience that it didn’t puff hugely and I didn’t want them to be too stodgy.

You could also use a puff pastry top if you wanted a lighter finish for your pies.

Cook in a preheated oven at about 200C for 35-40 mins or until the pastry is golden brown and crunchy.

The meal can be frozen once the pastry is on, but before you cook in the oven. Defrost well before cooking and cook as normal for the final step.

This made a quite a large amount, enough for dinner for 6 adults.

Enjoy your pies and cheering for your team (or in my case – a substitute Western Australian Team because my beloved team didn’t make the finals … this year!!)

Satay Beef

August 13, 2013July 28, 2013 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

Another slow cooker favourite 🙂

This one uses the ‘satay’ sauce from here .

I make a double batch of the sauce, then pour it over 700-800g of diced casserole beef and cook in my slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours.

Delicious served on a bed of rice and with some steamed veggies.

Enjoy 🙂

Super Salmon patties

August 8, 2013June 25, 2019 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

Simple salmon patties were another standard in my house while we were growing up. Sadly, when we got married, Peter wasn’t such a fan – he thought they were too bland.

But they are such a great way to get some good fish oils into kids, and they are also great because they are the perfect finger food for little hands, super transportable for picnics and lunchboxes and they’re a very inexpensive meal option!

So I have worked at adapting them, making them allergy friendly and increasing their nutritional value and now they are a resounding success with everyone in our family. Yay!

Hope you and your little people (or just the big ones!) enjoy them too 🙂

1 400g tin pink salmon (drained and skin and large bones removed)
1 medium sweet potato (4-5 cups when chopped)
400g tin chick peas/butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp fresh finely chopped dill
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
4 tbsp hemp seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
oil for cooking
Optional: a 1/2 cup corn kernels and 1/2 a grated zucchini

Peel and dice the potatoes. Place into a saucepan of boiling water and cook until soft.

Drain and rinse the chic peas, the soak them in boiling water for about 10 minutes minutes, before draining again and mashing well.

If using zucchini – grate then squeeze out all the liquid between paper towels (might take a few lots of towels). Set aside.

Drain the salmon and remove any large bones before mashing

Roughly mash the potato, then mix through the mashed chick peas, followed by the salmon (plus corn and zucchini if using).

Add in the dill, salt and pepper then mix.

Add in the nutritional yeast and hemp and mix well until evenly combined.

If the mixture is still too wet, then add in more of the nutritional yeast and seeds until you get a consistency that allows you to form balls, then squash down into patties – i do mine about palm sized.

Place mixture in the fridge for an hour .

Remove from fridge (roll in some breadcrumbs or almond meal if you like more of a crispy coating), then place in a hot frying pan with some oil.

Cook until golden and then turn. About 3 minutes on each side. (You can also spray them with a little oil and bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 20 minutes per side).

Drain on some kitchen paper; allow to cool a little and then serve, on their own, in a burger or with some extra salad or veggies.

Makes about 24

These don’t freeze well, but they last a few days in the fridge and are great for easy, healthy lunches.

I think they are particularly great for lunch with some slices of avocado on top and drizzled with sweet chilli sauce 🙂

**To make these into veggie patties which as great vegan option we simply leave out the salmon. The work brilliantly on their own or in a burger.

Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff

August 6, 2013May 5, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 2 Comments

I am very thankful to finally have my lovely big slow cooker out of storage! We have had a few weeks of ongoing illness in our house so I have really appreciated not needing to cook too much right before dinner time.

This meal gets some mixed reviews at our place – Peter and I really enjoy it, as does George. Harry and Will quite enjoy it after initial convincing to get them to try it, but Ellie flat out refuses to try anything but the pasta. Oh well, we’ll keep trying!

1kg diced casserole/gravy beef
1/2 tbsp plain GF flour
1 heaped tbsp my French Onion soup dry mix
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup very hot water
4 cups sliced mushrooms
Optional: 50g cream cheese (dairy or soy) or 100g coconut cream

In a plastic bag (double bag is best to avoid mess!) mix together the dry ingredients. In batches add in the beef and shake to coat, then transfer to the slow cooker before continuing with next batch.

In a separate container, mix together the tomato, garlic, wine and water. Pour over the beef, replace lid and cook on low for 4 hours. (Occasionally, at this point I also add in 4-5 large, chopped carrots … to make the side veg prep easier at serving time).

Add sliced mushroom, stir well. Return lid and cook for a further 2 hours. It will initially look like too many mushrooms – be patient!!

20160216_131248 — When the mushrooms first go in

20160216_135936 — Only an hour later …. the mushrooms, cook down so much!

Just before serving, if you want a creamier sauce, stir in coconut cream, or cream cheese then serve on a bed of mashed sweet white potatoes or GF pasta (this is cause of great debate in our house!) and with steamed veg.

20160216_181524 — One with mashed sweet potato (surely this is the right way?!) and one with GF pasta 😉

This makes a big batch, enough for 2/3 serves so I freeze the remaining meat mix. Love cooking in bulk!

Enjoy 🙂

Beef and red wine casserole

August 3, 2013 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

This is a recipe that came about because I had 3 sick munchkins, was feeling awful myself and couldn’t bear the thought of going out in the cold and pouring rain to do the grocery shopping! So dinner had to come from the pantry/freezer dregs!

It is delicious, but really simple and it took me about 7 minutes to make the whole thing – bonus!!

800g diced casserole beef
1 tin crushed tomatoes
1/2 tin red wine
2 tsp Massel beef style stock powder
2 tsp minced garlic
3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms

Place the beef in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Mix together the tomatoes, wine, stock powder and garlic and pour over the beef.

Mix in the carrots.

Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 5 hours on low.

Mix in the mushrooms and stir well then return the lid and cook for another 2 hours on low.

Serve on a bed of mashed potato (it’s particularly nice with sweet potato) and steamed greens.

Perfect comfort food for a cold wintery night!

Serves about 6 adults and freezes well.

Enjoy

Lemon Drizzle Cake

August 2, 2013August 2, 2013 ~ libbityl ~ Leave a comment

Lemon Drizzle — Retro Mummy inspired me to go the rustic look with the baking paper and I love it!

I enjoy reading Retro Mummy’s blog and we have been loving her recent cake recipes. I adapt them to be dairy and egg (and nut when required) free and usually they turn out really well. The best so far has been the Lemon Drizzle Cake. You can see Corrie’s recipe here. I made my cake in my KitchenAid and loved using fresh lemons from our tree, saving them from ending up as balls for my kids to play with in the garden! I have a feeling that this cake would even cope with being gluten free as well – the flavours are so good.

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar
grated lemon rind from 2 lemons
125g Nuttelex
1tsp vanilla essence/extract
2 eggs equivalent of No Egg, made up with water and mixed well.
3/4-1 cup soy milk (or whatever milk you can have – coconut milk might work really well) I had a juicy lemon so didn’t need as much milk.
juice of 1 lemon
½ cup or 55g desiccated coconut (I used shredded and it was good!)
1½ cups/250g SR flour

Drizzle icing

juice of 3 lemons (2 would be enough if they were as big/juicy as the ones off my tree)
1½ cups icing sugar

Method

Cream the butter, lemon rind and sugar until thick and creamy.
Add in vanilla and combine.
Add in No Egg mixture, milk and juice of 1 lemon and mix until creamy.
Add in flour and coconut and mix until well combined and creamy and fluffy. I’m not sure why mine went super fluffy but I did leave it for a little bit to attend to children so I think the No Egg really got working like eggs. Worth being distracted for!
Pour into a lined cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes in a 170C/340F oven.
While cake is cooking combine the icing sugar and juice of two lemons in a bowl. Leaving it for a while ensures any icing sugar lumps are dealt with by the juice.
When cake is cooked, remove from tin and leave to cool
Drizzle icing over the cake. I drizzled the icing over while the cake was still warm, like Corrie suggested. I think it absorbs it better too.
Enjoy while still warm – mmm mmm!

Results

5 thumbs up and lots of ‘more’ signing from Miss Emmalyn!

Salsa Chicken

July 30, 2013October 3, 2020 ~ desertcook ~ 6 Comments

This is now a long term family favourite in our house!

It was adapted from a recipe on the Slow Cooker site I belonged to, called ‘My Slow Cooker Recipes!!!’. *Check out the notes at the bottom of the recipe of you want a stove top version.

6 large chicken thighs, skin removed
2 tbsp Mexican Seasoning
Mexican salsa (2/3 of this quantity)
1 x 420g tin corn kernels, drained*
1 x 420g tin kidney beans, drained
1 x 420g tin black beans, drained
1 bag plain corn chips
Grated Cheese of choice, optional
1 tbsp coconut cream (use the solid part at the top of the tin), optional
1 400g tin refried beans, optional**

*If you don’t wish to eat the corn, replace it with equal quantities of extra beans.

**The refried beans are great if you are using this dish in any kind of wrap as it makes the sauce thicker.

Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Sprinkle over the seasoning, then add the salsa and all of the beans.

Replace lid on slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

If you are using corn, stir it through about an hour before the end.

Just before serving, stir though the coconut cream if you want a creamier sauce.

Serve on a bed of corn chips and sprinkle with a cheese that fits your diet.

(If you are avoiding corn chips, I have really enjoyed a scoop of the meat and veg mix topped with 1/2 a sliced ripe avocado and a sprinkle of fresh coriander). Or serve on wild rice.

This makes a large batch, enough for about 8 adult sized meals. I freeze the left over half of the chicken mix and it defrosts really well.

If you don’t want as much spice, use the mild version of taco salsa.

*Stove top method: Place chicken in a hot oiled pan (preferably use a pan with a lid). Brown one side then sprinkle over the seasoning, brown the second for a further 2 minutes and then cover with the salsa.

Place lid on the pan and simmer very gently for 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken and dice.

Place the corn and beans in the hot salsa mix, stir through and return the lid, cooking for 2 minutes before returning the diced chicken to the pan and mixing through.

Stir through the coconut cream if desired.

Enjoy 🙂

P.S you can change this one up a bit by using gravy beef in place of the chicken.

20200223_100714 — The no corn option with added refried beans makes a great filling for Burritos, Enchiladas and Tacos!

Rich mud cake

July 16, 2013July 11, 2013 ~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

This is the cake mix that I keep at the back of the pantry for emergencies! I find it in the alternative section at Woollies.

It is very simple to make and delicious – even for those without allergies … my Dad polished off 3 for arvo tea while we were working on the house 😉

The instructions on the back tell you to add 1/2 a cup of water, 1/2 cup oil and 2 eggs. I have found this to be too oily.

So instead I add

1/3 cup rice bran oil
1/2 a cup, plus a splash more water, and
2 tsp no egg powder.

I divide in to 12 muffin pans and cook for about 20-25mins in a 160C fan forced oven.

They freeze and defrost perfectly and are wonderful to take to parties for Ellie so that she (or I ;)) don’t miss out.

Enjoy 🙂

Gran’s Irish Stew

July 11, 2013September 20, 2017 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

This is my slow cooker version (slightly healthier and allergy friendly!) of a very old family recipe. My Great Gran, who was born in 1901 passed it on to my Nanna, then down to my mum and now me … pretty sure that it is not in any way authentic – but it is delicious and so easy to make!

800-1000g casserole beef (chuck steak, gravy beef etc, any of the cheaper cuts work well)
2 tbps tomato paste
3 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
1/4 tsp each onion and garlic flakes
1 tbsp vegemite (or a miso paste)
1 cup hot water
1tbsp Orgran gravy powder (or 1 cup of hot homemade red meat gravy)
4-5 diced potatoes (I prefer 1 very large sweet potato)
3-4 diced carrots (skin on too – saves time!)
2 cups frozen peas (or green beans)

Place vegetables, except peas or beans, in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Add meat to the top.

In a separate container (I used a mixing jug because it pours well) mix together the sauce, paste, water, powder and flakes and stir in the vegemite until it has dissolved.

Mix well and pour over the meat and veg. Replace lid.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

1-2 hours before the end of cooking time, stir in the peas and return lid.

Remove lid and use 2 forks to pull apart the meat, then stir well.

Serves about 6-8 adults. Can be frozen but the potatoes tend to be a little floury after defrosting. Keeps well in the fridge for a few days for lunch leftovers though 🙂

Delicious on a cold wintery day – enjoy!