Vegetarian

Lemon Thyme Mushroom risotto

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It is really chilly in Perth today – delightful! But it does trigger the desire for some serious comfort food.

I have been working really hard to add some more vegan meals into our regular menu – so we’ve been eating a lot of mushrooms. I also have copious amounts of lemon and thyme from my garden – so risotto it is!

  • 5 cups chicken or vegetable stock (for an instant variety I use ‘Massel’ stock powder)
  • 4 tbsp garlic olive oil
  • 1 small brown onion, finely diced
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chooped
  • 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
  • 2 cups chopped green beans
  • 2 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 tsp pink salt
  • 1/3 tsp ground black pepper
  • fine zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • OPTIONAL – 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

In a large, heavy based pan, heat 1 tsbp of oil. Add in the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and lemon zest.

Cook down until the mushroom are just tender. Set them aside.

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Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan then turn it down to the lowest possible simmer.

In the same pan that you used for the mushrooms, heat the remaining oil and add in the onion. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes until the onion is just soft.

Add rice and stir for about 1 minute, ensuring the rice in coated with the onion mix.

Add in the juice of the lemon and stir well, to deglaze the bottom of the pan.

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Add approx 1/2 cup of stock at a time to the rice and stir consistently over a low/medium heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy and just tender.

Meanwhile, lightly steam the green beans.

Remove risotto from as you add the final half cup of stock. Stir through the mushrooms and beans, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

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Still a bit wet after the last stock addition …

Top with hazelnuts if your diet allows.

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Serve immediately. Feeds 5-6 adults.

If your diet allows it, you could also stir though a handful of finely grated parmesan cheese before the mushrooms…. but I think it is creamy and flavourful enough without it!

Enjoy 🙂

 

Super Simple Hot Chocolate

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A cold, rainy day and my kids beg for hot chocolate … but I’ve just started a 1 month no extra grocery shoping challenge….

No problems!

My crazy babies love this powder and it made for a very happy afternoon tea 🙂 (together with my Honey and Banana Pancakes)

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  • 4 tbsp cocoa
  • 4 tbsp coconut sugar (or your choice of sugar)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 1/4 tsp pink salt

Place all of your ingredients in a powerful blender/processor/nutribullet/thermal cooker.

And blitz until fine and really well combined (there should be no clumps or hint of the wet paste left). (use Speed 9 for 10 seconds).

Use powder as you would for any hot chocolate. And store in an airtight container.

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My kids have 1 teaspoon, half a cup of hot water, then topped up with their milk …. and a few mini marshmallows (egg, dairy and gluten free of course!)

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Enjoy 🙂

 

 

Vanilla Almond Pikelets (Hotcakes)

~ desertcook ~ 7 Comments

Light and fluffy pikelets (or you might know them as hotcakes?!)  –  are a very popular weekend breakfast in our house.

These are light, fluffy and fragrant and they get absolutely demolished …. by all 6 of us!

  • 1 1/2 cups flour (half wholemeal) OR 1 1/3 cups plain GF flour mix
  • 1/2 cup almond meal OR a seed meal mix
  • 2 tsp GF baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups milk of choice
  • 30g melted butter/nuttelex/light tasting oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 1 whole egg OR 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from can of chick peas) OR 1 medium, overripe banana, well mashed
  • Optional- 1 tbsp sugar or maple syrup*
  • Optional – 1/4 cup hemp seeds
  • toppings of choice to serve
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (optional)

*We don’t add any sweetener when we use a ripe banana in the mix, but taste test and adjust according to your preference.

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In a large bowl whisk together all of your dry ingredients (Speed 4, 10 seconds). Then set aside.

Mix together the oil/butter, milk and vanilla and whisk until well combined. If you are using the maple syrup, aquafaba, banana or an egg, add in at this step. (Blend all together on speed 5 for 8 secs)

Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and whisk well to combine. (Speed 4, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat).

Fold through the blueberries (Use speed 3 for 15 seconds), if using. Vanilla, almonds and blueberries go so well together!

Pour the batter into a preheated (medium heat) lightly greased frying pan, wait until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook until both sides are golden brown.

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Add your topping of choice and serve warm.

These ones also freeze and defrost really well. I tend to make a double batch and then freeze 2 together, sandwich style, with vegan butter or sunflower seed butter in the middle for an easy, low mess snack -perfect for lunchboxes or rushed school morning breakfast!

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Enjoy … We sure do!

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For Easter we have tuned our pikelets in to bunny butts! So cute as they run away!

A bigger one for the body and 2 smaller ones for the feet – decorate with your imagination.

We like Bananas, dates and seed butter as a great combo, or if you’re a serious sweet tooth, whipped cream and dark chocolate!

Roasted Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

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  • pumpkin (approx 900g before peeling and de-seeding)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp pink salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
  • 400g tin chic peas, drained (but keep the brine ‘aquafaba’ as an egg replacer)
  • 1 brown onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup hot chicken or vegetable stock (I used Massel)
  • 1 tsbp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp coconut cream (optional)

Peel, de-seed and cut up pumpkin into small pieces. Try to keep them roughly the same size.

Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil plus the salt, pepper and thyme over the pumpkin and toss well to coat. Place into a large baking dish and spread out evenly.

Place into a pre-heated hot oven and roast for about 45 minutes, tossing after about 25 minutes.

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In a large pan, heat the remaining oil. Finely chop the onion and garlic and add to the oil, and cooking, stirring until translucent.

(In a Thermal cooker, blitz the onion and garlic on speed 5 for about 8 seconds, then add oil and cook on steam temp, speed 1 for about 3-4 minutes with the m/c off).

Place the pumpkin, chic peas, nutritional yeast, stock and onion mix to a processor and process until smooth.

(In a Thermal cooker, add the pumpkin, stock, nutritional yeast and chic peas to the onion mix, then process on speed 5 for about 20 seconds, scrape down and repeat until smooth, combined consistency is reached).

Add coconut cream if using and mix to combine (Speed 4, 10 seconds).

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Stir through your favourite al dente cooked pasta.

I love to add a large handful of baby spinach and top with a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts or toasted sunflower seeds.

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Yum – Enjoy 🙂

 

Chocolate banana muffins

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I meant to make my Pear Surprise muffins the other day …. but it turns out that I didn’t have the stewed pears left in the fridge that I thought I did. Oops.

I did have extra overripe bananas frozen and a little miss begging me for chocolate muffins …. so this was the result. These are lovely, light and moist.

  • 75g butter/plant based butter, melted OR light tasting oil
  • 180g milk of choice (we use almond or soy)
  • 1.5 medium overripe bananas
  • 4 tbsp sugar (honey or rice malt syrup work well too)
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 2 cups flour (half wholemeal)*
  • 2.5 tsp GF baking powder
  • pinch salt flakes
  • 2 rounded tbsp cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 egg**

*To make this one coeliac friendly: replace the spelt flour with 1 1/2 cups GF flour mix plus 1/4 cup almond/seed meal

*To make this one egg free: replace the egg with an additional 1/2 banana

*To boost the nutrients: replace the 1/3 of the flour with equal quantities of almond or seed meal.

Into your blender/processor/nutribullet/thermo cooker place the bananas, butter, vanilla, milk and sugar/syrup. Blitz until smooth (Speed 7, 10 seconds)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour baking powder, cocoa, salt and cinnamon (plus almond/seed meal if using).

Add the dry mix to the wet and mix to combine (Speed 4, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat). Don’t over beat. I often just tip the wet mix into the bowl with the flour mix and combine by hand.

Line a standard muffin tin and spoon fill.

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Place in a preheated moderate oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until well risen and they spring back when gently touched.

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You can eat these as is, dust with pure icing sugar or ice them like cupcakes. And if you like a sweeter treat you could add a handful of choc chips to the mix.

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Makes 12-14.

Enjoy 🙂

Spiced plum cake

~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

Such a speedy, light and tasty afternoon tea cake.

My kids absolutely demolished it!

  • 225g stewed/tinned plums (drained from their juices)
  • 50g Nuttelex/vegan butter/tasteless coconut oil, melted
  • 160g milk of choice
  • 1 medium overripe banana
  • 4 tbsp maple syrup/coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 cups spelt flour OR 1 1/2 cups GF flour mix plus 1/4 cup hazelnut/seed meal
  • 2.5 tsp GF baking powder
  • pinch Himilayan salt
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar

Into your blender/processor/nutribullet/thermo cooker place the plum, banana, Nuttelex, vanilla, milk and syrup. Blitz until smooth (Speed 7, 10 seconds)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt, spices and flour (and almond/seed meal if using).

Add the dry mix to the wet and mix to combine (Speed 4, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat). Don’t over beat. I often just tip the wet mix into the bowl with the flour mix and combine by hand.

Pour into a greased baking tin and sprinkle with coconut sugar.

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Place into preheated moderate oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

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P.S. This one works really nicely if you replace the plums with equal weights of apricots or peaches and switch the ratio of ginger to cinnamon (so 1 tsp of ginger and 1/2 of cinnamon) – you can find it in an Apricot Muffin form here

Enjoy 🙂

Pear Surprise Muffins

~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

I love these muffins – sweet and fluffy, without being loaded with too much sugar – and the gooey, surprise middle makes my kids happy every time 🙂

Great for a lunchbox treat, or even served warm with some cream or icecream, as dessert.

  • 225g stewed/tinned pears (drained from their juices)
  • 50g olive oil
  • 170g milk of choice (unsweetened vanilla almond milk is fabulous here)
  • 1 medium overripe banana
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup OR honey OR coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 2 cups spelt flour (Half wholemeal) OR 1 1/2 cups GF flour mix plus 1/4 cup almond/seed meal
  • 2.5 tsp GF baking powder
  • pinch Himilayan salt
  • 100g dark chocolate of choice

Into your blender/processor/nutribullet/thermo cooker place the pear, banana, oil, vanilla, milk and syrup. Blitz until smooth (Speed 7, 10 seconds)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt and flour (and almond/seed meal if using).

Add the dry mix to the wet and mix to combine (Speed 4, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat). Don’t over beat. I often just tip the wet mix into the bowl with the flour mix and combine by hand.

Line a standard muffin tin, then spoon fill to about 2/3 capacity.

Place some broken chocolate in the middle of each muffin, then add approximately another heaped teaspoon of muffin mix to the top of the chocolate.

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Place in a preheated moderate oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until well risen, golden and they spring back when gently touched.

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Sometimes some of the surprise escapes!

Transfer to a rack to cool (mostly …. the chocolate surprise is especially good if it still a bit gooey!)

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Makes about 14 and they freeze well.

P.S. I have also made these with a white Chocolate filling by Sweet William – so delicious but no longer soy free.

P.P.S These are also really yummy if you replace half of the pear with very ripe strawberries. Mmmmm!!

Enjoy 🙂

Honey and Banana pancakes

~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

I have discovered (through many an unpleasant experience) that my kids come out of school  ‘hangry’ (hungry which makes you angry!) in the afternoons.

I need to have food prepared for them to shovel in quickly …. then mostly we can cope better with the afternoon homework and jobs .

These are the snack we made to ward off the hangries today – and they were demolished in mere minutes.

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  • 1 cup spelt flour
  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 2 tsp GF baking powder
  • pinch Himilayan salt
  • 100g honey/maple syrup
  • 1 large overripe banana
  • 45g Nuttelex/vegan butter
  • 1.5 cups milk of choice
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste.

For the coeliac friendly version replace the above flours with: 1 2/3 cups plain GF flour mix plus 1 tsp psyllium

Into your blender/processor/nutribullet/thermo cooker place the banana, Nuttelex, vanilla, milk and honey. Blitz until smooth (Speed 7, 10 seconds)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt and flour (and psyillium if using).

Add the dry mix to the wet and mix to combine (Speed 4, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat).

Place tablespoons of the mix into a hot, greased frying pan.

Cook until bubbles appear and pop, then flip and cook until the second side is golden.

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Serve warm or cold with a little butter of choice …. I think they’re especially great with a smear of sunflower seed butter and some blueberries!

Enjoy 🙂

 

Lemon Blueberry Tea Cake

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Mmmm, warm tea cake! Such a perfect afternoon tea.

We enjoyed ours on a sunny winter’s day down by the lake with a picnic cuppa for Mother’s day …. highly recommended serving suggestion 😉

  • 1 1/2 cups plain spelt flour OR 1 1/4 cups plain GF flour mix
  • 1/2 cup almond OR seed meal
  • 2.5 tsp GF baking powder
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of chic peas) OR 1 whole egg
  • 3/4 cup milk of choice (I use rice or oat)
  • 60g Nuttelex or tasteless coconut oil, melted
  • the juice and finely grated zest of 1 medium lemon
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 tsp Nuttelex and 1 tsp vanilla sugar to top (optional)

In a small bowl mix together the wet ingredients, including the zest and whisk well to combine.

In a large bowl use a whisk to mix together the dry ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until combined, don’t over beat it.

For a Thermal cooker, place all dry ingredients into machine first and mix on speed 4 for 10 seconds. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl then add through the chute at the top whilst mixing on speed 4. One all of the liquid is added, scrape down the sides and mix for a further 8 seconds on speed 4.

Pour the mixture into a lined  21cm round cake time.

Press the blueberries gently into the top.

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Place into a preheated moderate oven for 45-50 mins or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, spread the Nuttelex over the top and them sprinkle with the vanilla sugar.

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Leave it in the tin to cool for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve warm or cold.

(as an aside, I don’t know how this does in the freezer because there was only 1 slice left and my 7 year old claimed it for his lunch-box!)

Enjoy 🙂

P.S. If you enjoy this flavour combination you should check out my Lemon and Blueberry tart

 

Date Oat and Ginger Biscuits

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My mum loves her cuppa. If we’re out at a cafe she mostly she resists sweet treats (serious will power!) but she does have a soft spot for a date and oat biscuit, so these ones are for her for Mother’s day. Hope you enjoy them mum 🙂

  • 1 cup wholemeal spelt or light rye flour or plain GF flour mix
  • 3/4 tsp GF baking powder
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter or coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseeds
  • 4 tbsp aquafaba (the liquid drained from a can of chic peas) – or 1 whole egg plus 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 Himilayan salt
  • 2 cups rolled oats (or rolled quinoa for the GF version)
  • 6 medjool dates, pitted

Using a food processor cream together the butter and sugar (Speed 4, 10 seconds)

Add in the aquafaba, vanilla, ginger salt and flax then mix again to combine (Speed 4, 8 seconds)

Drop the pitted dates one at a time onto spinning blades through the chute at the top, then process until dates are finely chopped (speed 4 whilst adding dates, then up to speed 7 for about 10-15 seconds)

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, oats and baking powder then add half of this dry mix at a time to the processor and process to combine (Speed 4, 12 seconds, scrape down and repeat for next half).

Use about 3/4 of a tbsp of mix and roll into a tight ball (not quite as big as a golf ball), place onto a lined baking tray, then press down with the palm on your hand to a thick disc shape.

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Bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

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The cookies will still be soft when you remove them. They will harden as they cool. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring then to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 18. They keep for about a week in an airtight container or you can freeze them.

Enjoy!