Mint Jelly

I don't know about you, but I can never find gluten free mint sauce or mint jelly for Christmas. In the last few years I've made my own, which has been quite successful.

Ingredients:

375ml white wine vinegar
One gelatin sachet
125 ml boiling water
3/4 cup fresh mint about 3-4 sprigs from the garden
2 tsp caster sugar*

1 large sterile jar (big enough to hold 2.5 cups)

*If you are diabetic you can leave the sugar out.

Method

Assemble your items. Once you pour the boiling water you will need to move quickly.
Chop your mint finely. Once you are happy with the size I put the kettle on to boil with the minimum amount of water allowed, as you will be only using 1/2 a cup.
Have your gelatin sachet and caster sugar ready to go straight in!!!
Pour your boiling water into the heat proof mixing bowl and add the gelatin, stirring with a whisk until it is dissolved.
Add the caster sugar and mix in well.
Once that is dissolved add the finely chopped mint and and white wine vinegar.
Mix thoroughly and then pour into your glass jar.
Seal it and leave it to set in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

I hope you enjoy that. I find it very quick and easy to make. :)

Quinoa Porridge

This recipe is great for a Gluten Free porridge that is warming and yum and very healthy.

Ingredients:
150g Almonds (alternatively you could make a combination of other nuts such as walnuts, pecans or Brazil nuts*)
30g Flax seeds
80g sunflower seeds
100g pepitas
60g chia seeds

1 cup of quinoa flakes
Optional: 1 tablespoon of soy protein powder (this makes it more filling)

685g of fruit e.g. peeled banana (works out to about 1.1kg of unpeeled bananas), stewed or steamed apple and/or pear**, or tinned peaches (drained)

500mls of a non-dairy milk such as soy, almond or coconut milk.

Method:
Weigh in the nut and seed mix to your Bellini/Smith and Nobel/Kogan/Thermomix/Cheapomix/Povomix/Thermofake machine and blend for 30 seconds on speed 8. (For those without in-built scales put your jug on the scales, calibrate it then weigh your seeds and nuts.)

Scrape down the edges with a spatula.

Blend again for 30 seconds on speed 2.

Take 1 cup of the nut and seed mix to cook in this batch and set the rest aside.  Put that 1 cup back into the jug.

Add your cup of quinoa flakes to the thermo jug. Also add soy protein powder here if you are including it.

Peel and add your banana.

Blend on speed 7 for 20 seconds.

Add 2 cups of milk of choice (I currently use So good lite Soy milk because it is low FODMAP).

Cook on speed 2 at 100° for 20 minutes.

Once it's done it's ready to be eaten.

This can be stored in the fridge for a week and reheated in single serves. It's best eaten hot, with cold (soy) milk poured over it.

The left over seed and nut mix keeps well in the fridge for weeks, so next week you can skip the first few steps, or just eat it with yoghurt if the weather has warmed up again.

Special thanks to Kyra who was the master mind behind this recipe. I just tweaked it a little and measured it out.

*If you are on a low FODMAP diet remember that there are restrictions on the amounts of some nuts you can eat, so don't eat a lot if you are making it solely with Almonds. Walnuts, pecans and brazil nuts are the lower FODMAP nuts, but half size serves i.e. 10 almonds or 10 hazel nuts are okay.

**Careful on the fruit too if you are trying to make it low FODMAP as only banana is low FODMAP of the fruits suggested.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Recently I fell in love with rhubarb again. It is a lovely low FODMAP fruit and it pairs beautifully with other low FODMAP fruits, not just apple - which leaves me with nasty IBS symptoms for days.

My favourite is strawberries because I can sometimes get away with no added sugars because they are so sweet.

Having said that, they usually do need sugar so I use rice malt syrup.

Ingredients:

1 kg of hulled strawberries
750 g - 1kg of rhubarb
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1/4 cup water

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Wash fruit thoroughly.
Trim and dice rhubarb into stalks about 2 inches long and ensure that you remove all the leaves.
Cut strawberries into quaters.
Place fruit in a deep oven safe dish (I use Pyrex glass dishes) ensuring that you have at least an inch clear as the fruit tends to bubble over when it is hot.
Melt rice malt syrup in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Add rice malt syrup and water.
Cover the dish top in aluminium foil and put it in the oven.

Set a timer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes is up check if the fruit is bubbling and falling apart a little. If it is take it out. Mix the fruit around so the top bits don't burn and then put it back in the oven WITHOUT the aluminium foil for another 30 minutes.

After the time is up remove it from the oven again and recheck. If the rhubarb is falling apart it is done. Turn the oven off and leave the fruit to cool for a while. Once it has cooled sufficiently you can try a little to ensure that it is sweet enough. If it isn't, add some more rice malt syrup.

Serve with custard and/or ice cream. Yum!

You can also turn it into a crumble or eat it with your soy yoghurt for breakfast.

Soy Yoghurt Updates - Even Better Soy Yoghurt

Even Better Soy Yoghurt

I've had more hits on my blog for my soy yoghurt recipe than everything else put together.

In the last 2 years the recipe has had some tweaking to make it better. While my friends have been informed about those tweaks (that is, if they asked), no-one else has.

So, since I'm on holidays I thought I might add the additions.

It all started when one of my friends commented that the yoghurt was very runny. I didn't really care before she brought it up, but I decided to have a play and see if I could fix it up a bit and make it better.

Thicker double batch (2 litres of soy yoghurt)

Ingredients:

2 Litres of Soy milk

3 tablespoons of gluten free cornflour

60 grams of rice malt syrup

Small scraping of culture.

Method:

After boiling the water to sterilise everything add 1/3 of the soy milk (if using 1 litre- if you are making 2 litres use 1/2 a litre of soy milk) and 1.5 tablespoons of gluten free cornflour per litre of soy milk.

Heat this at 75-100 degrees C. (75 is quicker, but 100 is thicker.) Once it gets up to temperature give it 5 minutes to break down the starch and make it thicker. 

Then add the rest of your milk and 30 grams of rice malt syrup and mix it for 4 minutes on speed 3 or 4 (some thermocookers only go to speed 3 with hot foods). 

You'll need to let it cool down to 37 C before adding the culture so that it doesn't kill your culture. I recommend that you put the lid on the jug and surround the jug with ice packs to cool it quicker or if you can plan ahead put the milk cartons in the fridge 12 hours prior so they are cool to help quickly cool the hot mixture when you add them to it. Let it cool for about 30 minutes, then it should be cool enough to use again.  Check the actual temperature with a food thermometer.

Once the temperature is below 40 add your culture, mixing at speed 4 for 4 seconds. 

Empty the easiyo containers of the hot water if you haven't already; then pour the mixture into them. Seal them tightly and put the containers into the easiyo hot water bath to keep it warm and pop the bath's lid on. I recommend getting them as close to 24 hours as possible as the yoghurt will be nice and thick then.

If you're like me and want to make a double batch don't forget that you will need 2 easiyo sets to make a double batch but it's well worth it in my opinion.

Enjoy! :)

Pumpkin Chili Soup

Ingredients

1 large butternut pumpkin or 2 smaller ones
1/6 bunch of parsley
1 red chili (This makes it quite hot - don't add the chili if this is for people who have a low tolerance for hot food, or if there is a mild tolerance use half of the chili.)
1/2 bunch of spring onion (green tops only for low FODMAP)
Dash of oil (you could use garlic infused olive oil)
500 ml of chicken or vegetable stock - I used Sue Shepherd's low FODMAP stock.  (Obviously, use vegetable stock if you are making this vegetarian/vegan.
1 cup of almond milk (you could use coconut or soy if you need it nut free)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 pinches of salt - optional

 Method
Wash all veggies
Put the parsley, chili and spring onion in the bellini and blitz for 20 seconds starting on speed 5 and going up to speed 7.
Peel and chop up the pumpkin into small cubes.
Add the pumpkin, stock, oil, paprika, salt and almond milk.

Cook on speed 1 at 100 degrees for 30 minutes
Using a tea-towel on top of the lid to prevent any blow out slowly increase the speed from 3-6 - but wait until it has cooled somewhat so you don't accidentally get 2-3 degree burns!  Alternatively, leave this step out, and just let it take it's time to break the pumpkin up by stirring.
Cook again on speed 3 at 90 degrees for another 10-30 minutes with the clear top out to allow it to reduce.

Very yummy.  If you need to keep protein up add some cooked chicken to the soup when you serve it.

Serve with hot multi-grain toast.

Sweet Chili Chicken Nuggets

This chicken nuggets need a bit of refinement but if you're game to try now feel free to go ahead, and I'll modify this recipe down the track.

Ingredients

1/4 cup plain GF flour (you can use whole grain if you have it to make these lower GI)
1/2 cup rice crumbs
Pinch of salt
Sprinkle of parsley
*Sprinkle of garlic - Adding garlic here is not Low FODMAP.  If you need low FODMAP eliminate this step and use garlic infused olive oil.
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 sprinkle of black pepper
1-2 teaspoons of chili (mine wasn't very strong so you could add more or leave it with less for a non-spicy chicken nugget.
500 grams diced chicken breast (thawed)


1/2 cup Rice Malt  Syrup

Oil for frying - if you want low FODMAP use garlic infused olive oil.  Otherwise any other cooking oil will work.

Method

Mix all the flour and herbs together in a bowl until all your spices are well mixed in.

Melt your rice malt syrup either in the microwave (faster, but needed to be watched carefully and it started to harden like candy) or in a bain-marie (which will probably work better for this purpose).
As soon as your rice malt syrup is melted roll the chicken nuggets in it and transfer to the flour mix.
Coat in the flour and spice mix then transfer to the frying pan.

Cook immediately on high for about 6 minutes, then turn and cook for about another 4 minutes

As always with chicken check to make sure it is cooked before you eat it so you don't get food poisoning!  I usually break open one large piece to check the pink is gone, when I'm thinking they should be ready soon, as you don't want to over cook them either.

Serve with tomato sauce. - make sure it's a low FODMAP option for those who need it.  :)

Schnitzels

I used to love eating schnitzels, but after going gluten free I found that it was nearly impossible to find gluten free schnitzels.

A few weeks ago I decided to remedy this by going online and finding something I could modify.  And this recipe is the result.


1 cup quinoa flakes
lemon rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of chives (fresh or dried) - if it's fresh dice them finely
2 tablespoons of basil (fresh or dried)
2 tablespoons of psyllium husk for psyllium husk "egg"*
4 tablespoons of boiling water
1/2 cup gf flour
1/2 cup rice crumbs

2-4 cuts of defrosted meat

• for chicken get butterflied chicken breast
• for beef get veal cutlets or a thin cut low fat and gristle meat

Garlic infused olive oil for frying.

Method

Boil the kettle
If you are using fresh basil and/or chives chop these finely.
Grate your lemon rind
Thoroughly mix flours in with the spices and lemon rind.
Place meat on a plate/3rd bowl out of the way, but close at hand.
Prepare your frying pan with oil.
In a second bowl add your psyllium husk, and add 4 tablespoons of boiling water mixing constantly with a fork.

As soon as you get a sticky gel consistency add the meat slices and coat with the psyllium mixture.
Immediately transfer to the bowl of spices and flour and coat.
Quickly transfer to frying pan for cooking.

Repeat the coating process for each slice of meat.

The psyllium may become extremely gelled, and if so, add a dash of hot water to it an mix again, then repeat the process.

Fry for approximately 7 minutes on a medium-high setting before turning to the other side for approx 5 minutes to finish it.

Enjoy!

PS for a gluten free gravy use massels lucky 7s or Sue Shepherd's chicken stock with gf cornflour.  (I'll try to provide a recipe for that soon.)