Roast Pumpkin Dip

I am always looking for something I can munch on without feeling guilty, something I can eat lots of while watching Masterchef and other trash tv.  This dip is so sweet I find I don't actually have to eat the whole lot in one go, rare for me!

Ingredients

Pumpkin, Jap or Kent

Sweet potato (half)

Half a brown onion

2 big cloves of garlic, skin on

3 tbs Soy milk, purely for consistency, if req'd*
Mint to serve

Method

Chop the pumpkin, sweet potato and onion into chunks, not too big/not too small.   If you cut them really small then tend to brown and caramelise too quickly, they're better slowly roasted. 
Steam about a cup of the pumpkin until it's just cooked, and place the rest of the pumkin, onion and sweet potato onto a tray (sprayed with some cooking oil), and into the middle of the oven.  Cook at about 150 for 45 minutes.

By the time the vegies are finished in the oven, the sweet potato should be soft and the onion half soft half crunchy.  Don't worry if the onion has browned a lot in cooking, this will deepen the flavour.  Scrape the garlic out of its skin and place all ingredients in a mixer, I use a Breville stick mixer with the mixing bowl-thing. Blend all the vegetables to desired consistency- it's nice if the dip still has some texture remaining. Serve with snappy crunchy crackers!

*The steamed pumpkin should contribute smoothness to the otherwise scrunchy vegetables, but you can use soy milk such as So Good Lite if you want a smooth dip. Use a mild tasting soy, you don't want to add the flavour of the milk, it's just for the sake of the consitency.

Grilled Vegetable Lasgna

This lasagna is easy peasy and takes next to no time to make!  It slices well and holds its shape nicely on the plate.  The sauce is lovely and thick and is a good way to get some healthy spinach into a meal if you're not a big fan of it.

Ingredients

Red and yellow capsicum
Zucchini
Mushroom
Eggplant
Grated carrot, steamed a little

GF Lasgna sheets, I like San Remo and these can be par-boiled

Sauce

1 tin whole tomatoes or passata

1 packet frozen spinach, thawed

Salt & pepper

Paprika
2 cloves fresh Garlic

Thyme (fresh)

2 tsp tomato paste
1tsp Green peppercorns, tinned*

Method

Slice the vegetables long-ways (including the mushrooms, slice them across the top 3 times) and grill on a griddle plate with a light spray of oil.

Meanwhile combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and reduce, squish the tomatoes a little with the back of a cheeky wooden spoon.

Layer in a loaf tin: sauce, then vegetables, then lasagna sheets (about 3 layers).  Spoon more sauce over the top and garnish with some of the sliced mushrooms.  Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.

*Tinned Green Peppercorns are fantastic, such a useful thing to have in the cupboard! Great as a garnish. They are a little tricky to hunt down in the supermarket, keep an eye out for them.

Humbles

My sister named these funny little biscuits 'Humbles', because they are fairly basic and unassuming. Yummy though, particularly warm from the oven. I must confess I usually microwave them a little before I eat them later on, microwaving seems to make them more moist and yummy. This recipe is a little vague, this is how I tend to cook- throw it all in the bowl and mix till it forms like biscuit dough, you can't really go wrong.

Ingredients
1 cup GF SR flour or almond meal

1.5 cups rice flour

Vanilla essence, a good splash, don't be shy

Rosewater- about a third of one of the small   bottles, again, more is more here!
2 tbs DF Butter equivalent, I use Nuttelex
1 egg lightly beaten

Just enough soy milk to make the mixture combine, prolly half to 3/4 of a cup. I like Vitasoy Soy Milky Lite

Some kind of sweetness- I use either 8-10 drops of Stevia or 10 drops of agave syrup, depending on how sweet you want them to be*

10-20 Nuts to decorate, I like almond or pistachio.

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl with a well in the centre.  In another bowl, melt the butter (or butter equivalent!), whisk the egg into this bowl, add all your wet ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry. Form into balls in the palm of your hand and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Press nuts of your choice on top.

*With this ammount of stevia/agave the biscuits won't actually taste sweet, so are also suitable for young children steering clear of refined sugars.

Warming Breakfast Soup

Breakfast Soup

This is an easy peasy, fragrant soup that takes under 10 minutes to make and is a warming, light start to the day. I made one this morning, it didn't need any seasoning or stock and it leaves you feeling as though you've made a healthy, zen start to your day. Great textures with the soft mushrooms  and crunchy vegies.

Ingredients
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Snowpeas

Bean sprouts

1 Baby Bok Choy
Dried Shitake Mushrooms, half a packet*
Green snake beans, chopped
3 slices fresh ginger
Fresh Corriander
1 Bay leaf
No seasoning req'd

In a small saucepan, heat up some cold water. Add the beans, then the Cauliflower. A moment later add the broccoli, mushrooms, ginger and bay leaf. Wait for the mushrooms to soften slightly and throw in your snow peas and a moment later, place the chopped Bok choy on top so it steams slightly.
Rinse your bean sprouts and place them in a bowl, ladling the soup over the top.  The vegies should all be just cooked, with the Bok Choy and Snow Peas still crunchy. Tear up some corriander on top and there you go. I had mine with toast with macadamia spread.

*These dried Shitake Mushrooms are available in the Asian section of supermarkets. They are a great addition to soups, they have a lovely, chompy texture and when you soak them or place them in soup they create a great stock base.

A Chunky Salad that will floor the Salad Sceptics out there

So I am a classic after-dinner muncher. We eat early and by 8 o'clock I'm usually looking for a bowl of cereal or some other carby treat. We've been trying to do No-Carbs-After-5, and this 'salad' is one meal that really leaves me feeling full for the whole night. I also think this is the exception to the 'You can't win friends with salad' song, the texture is fantastic!

Ingredients
4 beetroots
1/4 Pumpkin (I like Jap or Kent)
2 Sweet potatoes (yes ok so this is a carb and the pumpkin prolly is too!)
1 onion cut into big chunks (eights or so)
Crunchy mixed sprouts
Walnuts (roasted under the grill)
Rocket or baby spinach
6 garlic cloves

Dressing
2 tbs Seeded mustard
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs Balsamic Vinegar
Pepper
(Taste and adjust)

Start the beetroots cooking early, they usually take up to half an hour. Place them whole into yor saucepan (I usually half steam half boil them,) taking care not to cut the beetroots in any way or they will 'bleed', you can remove the spinachy stems but leave the root on for now.

Pack your pumpkin, sweet potato, onion and whole garlic cloves (still in their skin, don't unwrap them) into a hot oven- I usually start them in a hot oven, about 200 degrees (fan forced) for 10 minutes and then turn it down to 180 for another 15-20 mins. They seem to love this hot start by the time they are finished the scrummy vegies will be sweet and soft, the onion crunchy and the garlic caramelised.

The beetroots are cooked when you can poke a knife into them. Hold each beetroot under running water to rub off the skins and slice into chunks.

Place greenery onto a plate and pile high with beetroot, peeled garlic and roast vegetables*.  Sprinkle crunchy sprouts and walnuts over the salad and top with dressing. You may like to leave the garlic in their skins so each person can enjoy scraping the sticky golden bits out with a knife.

*No points here for small serves people, go for it. This serves 2 of us, but we eat a portion more suitable for a baby rhino. So if you're more humble, it probably serves 4.

Creamy Dreamy Pasta with Retro Parsley

It's been sooo long since I've had a rich, creamy pasta! Last night we cooked up a storm at a friends house- I'd forgotten how much fun it is to take over the ingredients and whip something up together.  This pasta delivered the creamy factor, and didn't taste soy-ey, my dairy-friendly friends claimed they wouldn't have known it was dairy free! They didn't even need to add cheese on top. Yes!

Ingredients
1 packet Orgran Fettucine
Button mushrooms (loads!)
1 brown onion
Shallots
Bacon (I used one packet of shortcut with the fat trimmed off & 1 packet of Weight Watchers bacon)
1 can Carnation Soy Creamy Cooking Milk
1-2 tsp Rice flour (or tapioca flour, whichever gf flour you like for thickening sauces!)
Curly parsley (washed)

We fried the onion (using a little water instead of oil), added chopped bacon and when this was starting to cook, added loads of sliced mushrooms.  When these are softened, add half the shallots and the Carnation soy milk.  Mix your chosen gf flour with a little of the creamy sauce and cook gently without a lid for 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add cracked black pepper and a little salt*. 

Use tongs to twist the al dente pasta into big bowls, serve with sauce and lots of fresh shallots and curly parsley on top.

*Depending on how salty the bacon is, you may not need to add salt.

Spring Quesadillas

Spring Quesadillas

Spring is here! We found ourselves able to open the door and let the sun shine in this morning, and were inspired to create a yummy, Summery Mexican brunch. Dont turn your nose up at the re-fried beans, they are amazing! These quesadillas were rich and filling and I promise they won't leave you looking for the melted cheese!
Ingredients

2 shallots
8 Corn Tortillas*
1 can re-fried beans
1 carrot, grated and lightly cooked
1 cob fresh corn (steamed)
1 onion, sliced in rings
2 small chicken breasts
Spices: cumin, ground corriander, paprika
4 tsp tomato paste
Garlic

Salsa
1 Avocado
3 roma tomatoes
Corriander
1 shallot

I cooked the chicken in thick slices on a griddle pan (using a light spray of oil). When chicken is almost cooked, shake over some cumin, ground corriander & paprika. Remove chicken. Cook the onion rings on the griddle, and use a fork to shred the chicken.

Spread tomato paste, refried beans and a little garlic onto tortilla. Sprinkle corn, carrot, onion, shallots, shredded chicken (some avocado if you wish) onto the tortilla. Spread a little of the bean mixture onto the other tortilla and press together. Cook this on the griddle for about 3 minutes (or until it has sexy griddle-lines cooked onto it), using some spray oil if you want to but I found I didn't need to. Use a plate to flip the tortilla over when it's time to cook the other side.

Serve in triangle wedges with fresh tomato salsa and avocado**.

*I have tried all the gfdf tortillas/wraps available and think the Old El Paso Corn Tortillas are the best! Avail at Woolworths).

**Jim had a Mojito with his which was the perfect drink accompaniment (I opted for water with fresh lemon, seeing as it is a Sunday- and before 12 o'clock too!)