Lunch Boxes

Lunch Boxes! The lunch box is something many parents dread. I, on the other hand, love packing lunch boxes! I've decided to make this post one that I will develop over time, adding links to new recipes as I share them. So this is the first revision and definitely a work in progress. First, lets kick off with explaining what I decide to put in each morning. 

I always include both vegetables and fruit. We always have at least one fruit and one raw vegetable. I also hide veggies in lots of the dishes I make.
 How much of each depends on what is on the menu for breakfast and dinner that day, what I have in the fridge and most of all what Miss E wants to eat. I know many families have an eat what you are given rule, but at lunch time I like to give an option. When I'm not there to encourage her to eat it, I think giving her choice also helps. We went through a stage where she refused to eat anything at Kindy! It turned out that it was because another child had commented on how different her lunches are to everyone else. I have seen that almost all of her classmates have a sandwich made with white bread, sugar loaded yoghurt or custards and muesli bars. These are not foods she can have, nor food I would pack for her. We had a big talk about nourishing her body with foods that make her feel strong, healthy and focussed. It worked and she's back to clearing out her lunch box every day.

I know that most kids won't be happy if you suddenly send them with meatballs, 1/2 an avocado and a salad instead of a sandwich etc. If you want to make the switch, talk about it with your kids and then make the change gradually. What we pack now is definitely not the same as what we would pack when we first started!

A thermos is the best thing I invested in when it comes to lunches! It makes it so easy to pack an allergy friendly sandwich-free lunch. If you don't already have a kids thermos you should definitely look into it!
Here is a list of things that are always a hit when I pack them!

Mains

• Chicken wraps. I fry off chicken strips and then pop them in a wrap with avocado, lettuce, carrot and cucumber. I squeeze a little lemon juice on the avocado to stop it from going brown.

• Mini Pizza made with a chickpea flat bread base. I top with lactose free or vegan cheese, ham, bacon, pineapple, veggies, etc. Whatever I have in the cupboard. (You can freeze the flat bread in advance and defrost then top when you are ready to use them)

• Lime and Coconut Meatballs. (I make a big batch and freeze)

• Easy Cheesy Pasta. 

• Tuna-not-mornay (Tuna mornay that uses cauliflower puree as the sauce. Recipe is coming)
• Oven Baked Chicken Bites (I make a big batch and freeze them. For lunch boxes I like to make fun shapes using cookie cutters.)

• Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pasta (The thermos always comes home empty when I send this)

• Cooked sausage mixed with pasta and steamed veggies 

• "Sandwich" using rice thins. I top with ham and salads.

Sides

• Salad (I know most kids won't eat a salad! I like to jazz it up using cutters to make fancy shapes to make it more enticing)

• Half an avocado. (This is Miss E's favourite. I drizzle it with lemon juice to stop it from going brown)

• Homemade garlic wedges. Really easy! I use crushed garlic and olive oil (or garlic infused oil) and brush it onto mountain bread. Cut into triangles and bake for 5 - 10 minutes

Snacks

• Rice crackers or pretzels with lactose-free or vegan cheese, ham and cucumber rounds

• Fruit/Fruit Salad

• Veggie sticks with guacamole or hummus

• Dried dates, apricots or sultanas

Treats

• Apple and Blueberry Squares (These are great to have stored in the freezer and just grab out and defrost the night before)

• Chia Pudding

• Chocolate cake with hidden veggies (recipe coming)

• Jelly made with veggie juice (this is super easy! Recipe coming)

More Ideas Coming Soon!

Oven Baked Chicken Bites

These never last long when I make them. They are delicious, quick and easy. Bonus hidden veggies and minimal dishes! Perfect for lunch boxes. I make a triple batch every couple months and freeze them for lunches and snacks. 

I start by chucking all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Yep, just one bowl! I grate the carrot and zucchini straight in to avoid mess. Sometimes I jazz the recipe up a bit (haha, get it? I'm Jazz and I fancy it up? Moving on). I add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, some onion flakes, paprika, oats, quinoa flakes or whatever takes my fancy. The base recipe is very kid friendly but there is no reason you can't change it to suit more adult tastes. 

Once it's all in the bowl, I wet my hands a little and then combine the mixture really well with my hands. If it's a little damp, I add some extra rice flour. It should stick together and form a rough ball when it's mixed enough. It does not make for an attractive picture but once it's cooked it sure is tasty.

Then I shape it into whatever shape I want. Usually I just do rough rounds but sometimes I get a little fancy and use small cookie cutters to shape them. Miss E's favourite is the teddy shape. I also sometimes roll them in some oats or quinoa flakes. The girls don't like that so much but I like that added bite.

I whack them in the oven, turn them when they are almost done and pop them back in for 5 minutes.

They should be lightly browned by then, so I take them out. Then I try to stop the swarm of seagulls kids from eating them all before I even get a chance to take them off the tray. 

Ingredients

500g chicken mince
1/3 cup finely grated carrot
1/3 cup finely grated zucchini
3 tablespoons rice flour (1-2 tablespoons extra may be needed)
2 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix well with your hands. It should come together and hold a loose ball shape. It should be wet and sticky, but if the mixture is too wet, add a little more rice flour at a time until desired consistency is reached.

3. Shape into desired shape and place on prepared baking tray.

4. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turn and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve.

Variationx

• Add 1 - 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. 

• Roll in oats or quinoa flakes.

• Add herbs and spices. Paprika, chives or spring onion are my favourites.

Happy cooking!
Jasmine x

Apple and Blueberry Squares

I don't have many photos of the steps to this because I just got busy baking and totally forgot! Whoops! It's very simple though and if you have any questions you can let me know here or on Facebook and I can help you out. 

Recently I paid 99¢ for a 4kg bag of organic apples! Most of them were perfectly fine to use, just a little marked on the outside, like most organic fruit. I used most of them to make my own apple sauce. I left the sauce fairly chunky which is why in the recipe I state you can use apple sauce or stewed apples. I have tried both and the results are equally nice. Stewed apples do leave you with some little surprise apple pieces though. 

When I make it, I start by sifting my flours to remove any lumps. Coconut flour in particular is terrible for having big clumps. Then I add the wet ingredients and work quickly to combine it all. It's important to work quickly when using coconut flour as it like to suck up all the moisture. 

Then add the blueberries and mix gently just to incorporate them. Don't over mix or you will end up with a weird blue/grey cake! I spread it out evenly into a smallish loaf pan, about 20cm and sprinkle with cinnamon. I whack it in the oven for 45ish minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. I cool it in the pan and then slice it into squares. A single batch makes 10 squares. It's important to let it completely cool before slicing. Then I immediately start making another batch because this one is already gone.

Ingredients

1 cup gluten free self raising flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup apple sauce or fresh stewed apples crushed with a fork
3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
3 tablespoons milk or milk substitute
1/2 cup blueberries. (Fresh or frozen)
Cinnamon for sprinkling on top (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 20cm loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Sift flours into a large mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients and working quickly mix until combined.
3. Add blueberries and gently fold until just mixed through. Do not over mix.
4. Spread mixture evenly into loaf pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan. 
6. Once cool, remove from tin, remove baking paper and cut into squares.

Notes

• You can make a double batch and freeze squares individually wrapped and placed in an air tight container. Great for lunch boxes, just grab one out the night before to defrost.
• You can cut them in half and serve with jam and cream. A little naughty but delicious. 
• You can try other berries or even a mixture.

So what do you think? If you give it a go, make sure you let me know how you go.
Happy Cooking!
Jasmine

Chickpea Flat Bread

I have a little flat bread obsession at the moment. It all started with me digging out this recipe from the back of my recipe folder a couple weeks ago. I don't even know where the original recipe came from but I've done some tweaking along the way. This recipe is a hit in our house, particularly the garlic variation. If you really dislike the taste of chickpeas, this may not be for you but we really do love it! I took soooo many photos when I was whipping these little morsels of deliciousness up, so I apologise in advance for the crazy number of photos.

I started with sifting the chickpea flour. It often has a whole lot of lumps in it, so I use the back of a spoon to break those up. 

I add in the water and whisk, whisk, whisk until there are no lumps left.

Then I add in the oil and whisk some more!

Now is the creative part. I add any fancy-pants flavourings I want to add. The favourite in our house is salt, pepper and fresh garlic. 

I mix that all up gently, no whisking this time. Then I cover it with a tea towel and let it sit on the bench for a minimum of 30 minutes. Sometimes I make it up in the morning to use that night. The longer it's left, the lighter and fluffier the end result. 

Ta-Da! This is what the mixture looks like after sitting on the bench for 4 hours. There is a bubbly layer on the top that I just whisk right back into the main mix. 

I heat up a skillet/frypan (whatever you call yours). I prefer not to use non-stick pans but for this I find non-stick saves me the headache of having to avoid sticking in my stainless steel pans. Every recipe I have ever seen says to use oil but I actually cook mine in a dry pan! Whichever you choose is up to you.

At this point I turn around and see the Miss M had poured a whole lot of mixture on the floor and is dipping her fingers in and eating it! So instead of making 6 flat bread we only ended up with 5. 

When the bubbles forming on the top of the flat-bread start to pop it's time to flip it. I cook until browned and then transfer it into the oven set on the lowest temperature possible to keep them warm. Alternatively, you can pile on a plate and cover with a tea towel.  Then keep on following that process of cooking each one until you have about 6 yummy chickpea flat bread (or in my case 5!). We served ours with lamb meatballs and salad.

Ingredients

2 cups toasted chickpea flour (besan)
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons oil (we used olive oil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Sift flour into bowl. Add water and whisk until smooth.
2. Add oil, salt and pepper. Whisk. 
3. Cover with a tea towel and set aside for anywhere between 30 minutes and 12 hours. The longer you leave it the fluffier your flat bread will be.
4. Heat small frying pan/skillet on a medium high heat**. Once hot, pour in enough batter for one flat bread.
5. Cook until the top is no longer runny, flip and then cook for another 1 - 2 minutes.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with remaining batter, Serve.

Variations

• Add 2 - 3 cloves or garlic at step 2 for a garlic version.

• After cooking use it like a pizza base! Lightly top with tomato sauce (or another safe sauce) and your regular pizza toppings.

** You can use a little oil in the pan. I have found coconut, grape seed or avocado oils work best. Olive oil made the flat bread stick to the pan. 

Happy Cooking!
Jasmine

Brown Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is my favourite winter dessert, however Tim has never been a fan. Since adding more things to our list of foods we have to avoid, it was something we didn't even consider making. Then one night when I was feeling a bit down, Tim whipped one up using just 4 ingredients! Say what?! Much healthier than the original recipe, and tasty too. Since then I've done some tweaking and found a balance I like and some variations. If brown rice is not your thing, you can substitute for white rice but you will need to adjust cooking time to suit. 

I like to soak my brown rice in water for 12-24 hours before cooking, changing the water part way through. This step is not essential, you can just rinse it really well before you start to cook with it. If you do soak it, your rice will absorb liquid a little better but it's not going to ruin your dish if you don't soak your rice. In fact, I didn't even add that step into the actual recipe. 

After soaking or rinsing the rice, I put it in a medium saucepan with the milk/milk substitute. I give it a quick stir to evenly distribute the rice. Then I bring it to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. I know you are not meant to peek at rice as it cooks but as I use milk/milk substitute instead of water, I don't want it to scorch so I do stir it a couple times while it cooks. The length of time varies depending on the rice you use. Even different brands of brown rice have different cooking times and white rice takes significantly less time to cook. I have had some brand take up to an hour to cook and others only 25 minutes. You will know it's ready when almost all the liquid has been absorbed.



Once the rice is cooked, I remove it from the heat, add whichever sweetener we are using (pure maple syrup is most popular in our house), some extra milk if it's a little too dry and some vanilla powder. At this point I return it to the heat for just a minute or two and then it's all done.... unless you want to jazz it up a bit with one of our variations or make your own!

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice (soaked and/or rinsed)

4 cups safe milk (rice, coconut, almond, dairy etc.) plus extra 2 tablespoons (optional)

1/2 cup pure maple syrup, honey or brown rice syrup.

1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

1. Place rice and milk in a medium saucepan. Mix to distribute rice evenly. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil.

2. Reduce heat and cover. Stirring infrequently, simmer for 30-35 minutes, or until almost all liquid has been absorbed. (cooking may take much longer depending on the variety of rice used)

3. Remove from heat, add sweetener and vanilla bean powder. If dry, add a little extra milk.
4. Return to heat for 1 - 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Serve.

Variations

• Blueberry: Add blueberries at step 3. This works best with honey as the sweetener.

• Coconut and Lime: Using coconut milk option, add 2 teaspoons of lime zest at step 3. Top with toasted coconut and a little lime zest. 

• Cinnamon and Honey: Using honey as the sweetener, replace vanilla with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Drizzle with honey or sprinkle with cinnamon to serve. 

• Chocolate Rice Pudding: Before beginning add 2-3 tablespoons of cacao powder to a 1/3 of a cup of milk, whisk well. Combine with rice and remaining milk. Follow directions as normal. You may wish to add a little more sweetener to counteract the bitterness of the cacao. 

So what do you think? If you give it a go make sure to let me know how it turns out! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

Happy Cooking!
Jasmine x

Lime and Coconut Meatballs

Hello again! It's been a crazy, emotional week here and today it was nice to get out of the house and have a BBQ picnic lunch. Tomorrow is our fresh food shopping day so I was running seriously low on meat, fruit and vegetables. I did have some grass fed beef mince and a heap of organic limes though (organic limes were $2 a bag at the farmer's market last week, you are probably starting to realise now that I can't pass up a good bargain).

I decided to try something I usually do with chicken or turkey mince but with beef. It's super easy and something the kids love to help with. I started by whisking chia and coconut milk together with a fork and setting it aside for 10 minutes. While the chia was doing it's thing I got started on combining all the other ingredients together. I chucked the beef mince in and then moved onto zesting the lime. The lime I used today was not very green but my goodness it smelt divine! 

After zesting the lime, I mixed in shredded coconut, coconut flour, salt and pepper. Then I went back to see if my chia has finished doing it's thing and it had thickened up nicely. I whisked it with a fork quickly and then added that to the mince mix. Next came the part I hate, mixing it all together with my hands and then rolling them. A little tip I picked up from watching Jamie Oliver a few years ago is to lightly wet your hands before you start rolling meatballs so they don't stick. I do that all the time now and have no problems with the meat sticking.

As we were taking the meatballs along to be cooked on a BBQ, I packed them up with some baking paper to stop them from sticking. I then threw the only veggies and fruit I had in the house into a container to take as sides. You see all those cherry tomatoes there? Somehow Miss M managed to eat all of them! Whoops! She is a little obsessed with tomatoes at the moment. She is the only one in our house who can eat tomatoes on a regular basis yet we still go though over a kilo week!

When we got the park my wonderful friend Dawn cooked up the meatballs and some yummy chicken while her and I chatted with some other mums, or ran around after Miss M, who is still a little young to understand that when Mummy says not to run into the car-park it's for her own safety, not because I'm a big meanie! When they were ready, they were almost all gobbled up and Miss E finished off what was left later in the afternoon. So now onto the recipe...

Ingredients

500g mince meat (we used grass fed beef today but you can try chicken, turkey, etc.)
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds

1/4 cup organic lite coconut milk

Zest of 1 lime

1 tablespoon shredded coconut

1 tablespoon coconut flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil for frying (we used coconut oil)

Method

1. Combine chia and coconut milk and whisk with a fork. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Combine mince, lime zest, shredded coconut, coconut flour, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Lightly mix.
3. Add chia mix, combine well with your hands.
4. Roll into balls and fry in oil until cooked through. Serve,

Variations

• Turn them into patties and make burgers, or lettuce wraps with safe cheese, salads and sauce. 

• Add some dried chilli flakes for a little kick.

• Serve with some lime mayo (If eggs are a safe food). You can use the juice of the lime you use for the zest to make your own.

So there we go! Make sure you let me know what you think here or on Facebook. I look forward to hearing how you all go. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Happy Cooking!
Jasmine x

Grandma Betty's Spanish Beef

Today is a hard day for me. It marks 8 years since my Grandma passed away. She was a very important part of my life and the person who inspired my love for cooking. I have many fond memories of being in the kitchen with her or around her dinner table with my family. One dish she always made for special occasions was called Spanish Beef. I have no idea where the name came from because there is nothing remotely Spanish about it. It was definitely a childhood favourite. I would request it every birthday until I stopped eating red meat.

I really wanted to share the joy this dish brought me with my family. Even though I am unable to eat it because of some kidney issues, I have I decided today was the perfect day to recreate this dish but with healthier and allergy friendly ingredients. The original recipe used a tin of tomato soup as the sauce and had a small packet of Smith's chips sprinkled on top! Obviously it needed some tweaking.

I started out by sending my Mum a text message to double check what exactly Grandma put in her Spanish Beef. It turned out I had forgotten about mustard powder (Thanks Mum!). Then I went on a hunt through my cupboards to see what I could find to replicate the dish and then got started on chucking it all together. Unfortunately this dish is tomato heavy, so not fructose or salicylate friendly, which means that because of some of Miss E's intolerances it will be a sometimes dish in our house.

When I was ready to get cooking, I started by chopping my carrot and onion with the help of my lovely kitchen assistant, Miss M. My Grandma added celery in her dish but we didn't have any so I just skipped that. I then fried the carrot, onion and garlic off in a little olive oil. Once they were just starting to brown, I added in 500g of organic beef mince and fried it off until browned. We choose to use organic vegetables and meat but if this is not in your budget or not something important to you, non-organic will work just as well.

 

Once the mince was browned I added tomato paste, mustard powder, parsley and basil. (I use an organic tomato paste, with no added salt or nasties.) I let them cook for a few moments before I added a tin of organic diced tomatoes, some water, salt and pepper. I then let it simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. 

While that was going, I moved onto slicing the potatoes. (How awesome is the bag my potatoes come in? It makes me excited every fortnight!) It would have been much smarter to slice them before I started cooking the other ingredients so I wasn't having to go between slicing and stirring. It would also have been really wise to use a finger guard when using a mandoline. You should definitely do that if using a mandoline to get your potato nice and thin. I wish I could say I followed my own advice but I sliced my thumb open on the very sharp blade. Seriously, use the finger guard! I had to ditch that lot of potato and start again since my poor thumb bled all over the first lot. 

Halfway through slicing the second potato, my mince mix was done so I moved that into an oven dish that was once my Grandams and finished off slicing the potatoes. I arranged the thinly sliced potato evenly over the dish once it was sliced and then brushed with melted beef dripping. Don't be scared off by this please! It's a very good dairy free alternative for those creamy, delicious potatoes on top of a casserole. You can also use butter (if dairy is a safe food) or oil if dripping is really not your thing. If you want to give dripping a try, you can find it near the butter in most supermarkets or even make your own. 

By this point it was almost ready to go in the oven. I just sprinkled with some fine sea salt and cracked black pepper, and popped it in the oven. While it was cooking away, I made myself a cup of tea in my Grandma's tea cup and pulled out her old Scrabble set. My Grandma and I would often play Scrabble and drink tea together while we had goodies baking in the oven. 

When I thought it was ready, I had a look and I was so happy with the result! Creamy potato with crispy edges. It smelt divine. Unfortunately because of my health issues, I couldn't give it a try but the evidence below shows how popular it was with Tim and the girls! I think next time I will make a double batch and send some as leftovers in Miss E's lunch box the following day. 

So today was a day tinged with sadness but I like to think that Grandma Betty was looking down and smiling while she watched me recreate her dish, that she saw the look of joy on my girls faces when they tasted this treat. I hope I did her dish justice while making it suitable to my families dietary restrictions. 

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon of oil (we used olive oil)

2 carrots, diced

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

500g beef mince

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons mustard powder

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

1 400g tin of organic diced tomatoes
Pinch of sea salt and black pepper

1/2 cup water

1 - 2 potatoes, washed, pealed and finely sliced

2 tablespoons beef dripping melted (can substitute with butter or oil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. In a large frying pan over a medium/high heat, fry off carrots, onion and garlic in oil until lightly browned.

3. Add beef mince and cook until browned

4. Stir in tomato paste, mustard powder, parsley and basil. Let cook for a few moments and then add tinned tomatoes, water, salt and pepper.
5. Turn heat down and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated.

6. Transfer into an oven safe dish. Set aside.

7. Cover mince mixture evenly with potatoes and brush with melded beef dripping. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
8. Bake in oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft and browned. 

9. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Variations

• Add celery, mushrooms, peas or zucchini.
• Add 1/2 cup of safe cheese just before placing mixture into oven safe dish.
• Top with sweet potato instead of white potato or even try a combination. 

So what do you think? If you give it a go make sure you let me know.

Happy Cooking!
Jasmine x

Easy Cheesy Pasta

I'm one of those mums that likes to hide veggies in almost anything I can. I suppose hide may not be the right word since Miss E and Miss A are always helping me cook but they are much more likely to eat cauliflower if it's hidden in pasta sauce or sweet potato if it's in a pancake. The first version of this pasta sauce came about because I bought 2 huge cauliflowers for $3 at our local farmers market. I couldn't pass up a bargain like that but then I was stuck with a whole heap of cauliflower I had to use. So then came some experimenting and our Easy Cheesy Pasta.

The recipe calls for nutritional yeast, please don't be scared off by that unappealing name. I was put off from using it for a long time because really nutritional yeast does not sound appealing at all. Eventually I gave in and tried it. Let me say I was annoyed that I'd put off tasting this awesomeness (lets pretend that's a real word). The taste is hard to explain, it's somewhere between a cheesy and nutty flavour. 

.

Okay so enough with the babble and on to talking about the recipe! Start by steaming the vegetables until tender. This took me about 20 minutes in my very overloaded steamer. I was doing a quadruple batch, so that's a lot of veggies to steam. When it's done steaming I usually use that same water to cook my pasta. Tonight we used rice pasta. It's gluten free, organic, had no egg, dairy, corn, soy, additives or preservatives. Plus it was on sale at my local IGA, which is always a bonus.

Tim and the girls eat meat so usually they have chicken or bacon added to their mix so now I put that onto cook. While the meat and pasta are cooking I fry off my onion and garlic (if using) and then add the coconut milk and nutritional yeast. If you are adding cheese to your mix you would add that at this point too. Then I add the vegetables and blitz it all up using my stick blender. At this point the pasta is usually ready so I drain that, add it to the pan with the sauce, mix it through. Then I add the meat (if using) top with spring onion and it's done! 

Base Recipe

Safe pasta of your choice, cooked according to packet
2 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
1 tablespoon of oil (we used coconut oil)
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small onion diced
aprox 1/2 cup coconut milk (or safe milk alternative)
2 to 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
Spring onion (optional)
1/2 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Steam cauliflower tender. Set aside
2. Place a medium size saucepan on a medium heat. Add oil and fry off garlic and onion until soft.
3. Add coconut milk, nutritional yeast then using a stick blender, food processor or blender, blitz the cauliflower and coconut milk mixtures together until smooth. If the sauce seems too thick you can add more milk a little at a time.
5. Return to stove and heat through. Add chives, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Mix pasta through sauce and serve. Top with spring onion, (optional)

Variations

• Add cooked bacon or chicken in step 6. (Adding bacon is a hit with Tim!)

• Reduce cauliflower to 2 cups. Add 1/2 cup of pumpkin. 

• Reduce cauliflower to 2 cups. Add 1/2 cup pumpkin and 1 zucchini

• Replace cauliflower with 2 - 3 zucchinis and 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin. 

• Add 1/2 a cup of safe cheese (lactose free, vegan, soy etc.) at step 3.

• Replace coconut milk with cream. We have tried lactose free and it makes a delicious creamy texture.
• For low FODMAP version omit garlic and onion. It still tastes great without it. In fact the zucchini and pumpkin option with no garlic and onion is my favourite variation!

I'm sure there are many more variations that can be made too! We have added carrot and mushroom in the past. We've mixed it up with different herbs. My recipes are all about being adjustable to suit your dietary restrictions, tastes and budget.

Happy Cooking!
Jasmine!

Allergy Aware Cookies

Here it is, my first recipe post. This is a little nerve-racking but super exciting! I switched back and forth when deciding which recipe to start with. I wanted something that was easy enough that you won't get scared off, had options to cater for a wide range of allergies, but still tastes great. In the end I let Miss E and Miss A choose between Allergy Aware Cookies and Coconut Muffins. The cookies won, so here we are!

When I was developing the recipe for these cookies I tried a few different methods and flour combinations before finally deciding on 2 options. One which is gluten free and one using spelt flour, but more on that later. I wanted something that could either be a plain chocolate cookie or something we could fancy up a little. So we have a base cookie recipe and where it goes from there is totally up to you! There are lots of options when it comes to your choice of milk, topping and sugar in this recipe. The recipe is totally customisable to suit your family's dietary requirements, tastes, budget and what you have in your pantry.

We start by mixing the chia seed and milk together and set it to the side to thicken. To make life easier every Monday I grind up as many chia seeds I think I will use in a week and store them in a glass jar in the fridge. I use them often so chia never lasts me very long! The chia and milk combo in this recipe is to replace egg, the extra chia in the gluten free version is to replace the need for xanthan gum (a tip I picked up  here). If you don't have egg or gluten allergies in your house why not try it with an egg instead? Let me know how it goes! You can use any milk you like here. We have tried coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk, lactose free cows milk and goats milk, they all worked out beautifully. Now leave the chia mix to the side to thicken.

Now its time for the sugar and coconut oil mix. We have tried this recipe with coconut and Rapadura sugars. I prefer Rapadura but Tim prefers coconut sugar, although I think the coconut sugar works better in the gluten free version than Rapadura does. We are yet to try any other sugars or sweeteners but I'm sure there are many you could use. We use coconut oil here in place of butter or other fats. We have never tried it with any other kind of oil but if you give it a try be sure to let me know how it goes. You could try butter, ghee, maybe shortening? Have a play and see what works for you. 

Moving onto sifting the rest of our dry ingredients. When it comes to flour choice in our house the gluten free combo of sorghum and tapioca is a real winner. It does have a little of of the texture that gluten free baked goods tend to have but you will be too busy eating to notice! I've also given the option of spelt flour as I know that for some people gluten free baking and mixing your own flours is intimidating. We made a batch with spelt this week with some friends and the kids loved it! If you don't have to worry about gluten why not give it a go? By the time I've sifted all the dry ingredients the chia mix is ready. It should be nice and thick and it's time to move onto combining all the elements together.

You beat the sugar and chia mixes together and then add the flour mix a small portion at a time. Doing it slowly gives you a better texture and you don't end up with clumps of unmixed flour. The mix then gets covered and goes in the fridge for an hour. I use that time to pre-heat my oven, clean down my bench and get any toppings ready. For our most recent batch we did coconut, cacao nibs, a few plain and even some with a dollop of refined sugar free jam in the centre. We like to mix it up and do a number of different toppings in each batch.

Now you are ready to roll and top! I like to do balls just under 1inch in size. I dip them in toppings like coconut but with cacao nibs or vegan choc-chips I like to mix them through a little and then roll the ball. I place them all on a tray, press with a fork and send them off to the oven!

When you bake them, cook them until just before you think they are done. In my oven it takes about 13 and a half minutes to get the right consistency. They firm up on the outside as they cool but stay nice and fudgy on the inside. Cookie perfection.

I can't wait to see what combination you come up with. Make sure you let us know how this recipe goes for you!

Ingredients

For gluten free

1 1/3 cups sorgham flour

3 tablespoons of tapioca flour

If you don't need a gluten free option use

1 1/2 cups Spelt Flour

1/2 cup milk or milk alternative
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds (add 1 teaspoon extra if using the listed gluten free option)
1/2 cup organic coconut oil, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups coconut or Rapadura sugar (amount depends on your preference for sweetness)

1/2 cup cacao power (make sure it's cacao not cocoa powder!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of sea salt

Optional Toppings
Shredded coconut, almond meal, almond flakes, cacao nibs, allergy friendly/vegan choc-chips. The only limits are your family's dietary requirements and your imagination!


Method
1. In a small bowl or cup combine milk and chia seeds. Whisk with a fork and set aside.
2. Using a cake mixer, mix sugar and melted coconut oil until combined.
3. Sift flour, cacao, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl. Set aside.
4. Whisk the chia mix with a fork again (it should be much thicker than it started) and add to the sugar mixture. Mix until well combined.
5. While the mixer is on a low speed, add the flour a small amount at a time until all combined. Shape dough into a disk, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
6. While the dough is in the fridge pre-heat your oven to 175C , line 2 oven trays and get started on sorting out your toppings.
7. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1 inch balls. At this point you can leave them plain or add your toppings.
8. Place onto a lined tray leaving space for spreading. Press each one down with a fork.
9. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.
10. Leave cookies to cool on tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.



So what do you think? Let me know here, on  Facebook or Instagram. We have a batch of these delicious morsels, some coconut muffins and chicken here ready to take to a Playgroup shared lunch (recipes for those coming soon). Shared lunches are such a scary thing for allergy families!

If you have any allergies or intolerances that you want me to cover just let me know and I will do my best to develop and adapt recipes to suit your needs. As I test and develop for substitutions I'll update my recipes. 

Happy Cooking!

Jasmine x