Vegan Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Stew with Millet (from Veganomicon)

VG, GF

Yesterday the weather was a bit cooler so I decided to use up an eggplant I had in the fridge in the form of a stew. I'm eating a lot of vegan dishes at the moment and really enjoying them. My absolute favourite vegan cookbook is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. It has everything you need to know about vegan food in it and is great for beginners.

So, back to my stew. After I decided to make it I realised that my cookbook is with a pile of precious things at my husband's work due to the bush fires we've had here recently (see, I told you the cookbook is good - it made it into the "must take" pile!). We evacuated on Wednesday and now we have things scattered about all over the place so that if the fire hits our house we'll still have a few important bits and pieces. Another thing that's been evacuated is my DSLR camera. The pics of this post were taken with my phone, so my apologies. Without my recipe book this is an adaption of the original using other blog posts I found and my memory.

The first step to this stew is roasting some eggplant, garlic and red capsicum on a tray. I heated the oven to 200 degrees C and put 1 eggplant sliced up, two capsicum halved and seeds removed, and some cloves of garlic with the skins on onto the tray. I sprayed a bit of olive oil over everything and popped it into the oven for around 25 mins.

This is it when it came out. Yummo right? Then I put the capsicums into a plastic ziplock bag and sealed it up so that they steamed. This is to make the skins easier to peel off.

While that was happening I sautéed a diced onion in some oil and then when it was turning brown I added 2 cloves of minced garlic.  After that I added 1/2C vegetable stock, 1 tin diced tomatoes, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt. Once that was all happening I added the eggplant, squeezed out the garlic from the skins, and added the peeled and chopped capsicum. The last step was to add a drained tin of chickpeas. You can add a little more water at this stage if it's too thick.

Once it was all mixed up I let it sit for 20 mins off the heat with the lid on while I made the millet. 

Millet is a really yummy GF alternative to couscous. We buy hulled millet from the food co-op and  use it in place of rice or couscous with a casserole or a stew.  You can add flavouring to it or vegetables for a complete meal or have it cold as a salad. It's cooked using the absorption method with a 3:1 ratio of water to millet. Once it's boiling turn the heat down as low as it'll go and place a lid onto the pot. 1C of millet takes me around 20 mins to cook. Check it regularly so that it doesn't catch on the bottom. Once the water has almost absorbed take it off the heat and leave it for another 5 mins or so with the lid on to steam then fluff with a fork.

We served it with a little parsley over the top. 

The kids had the stew and millet and also some beef which I covered in rice milk and then rice crumbs. Even though I'm eating vegan food a lot I still want to give meat to Ben regularly because he's already on such a restricted diet, and he needs the protein.

I got a great deal on some organic beef from Coles, this will do 3 meals for the kids.

Ingredient list:

1 large eggplant

2 red capsicum

olive oil

garlic

1 onion

vegetable stock

1 tin tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas

salt

paprika

oregano

millet, polenta, couscous or rice

Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits

GF, DF (option), VG (option), EF

Everyone down this end of the world loves an Anzac right? There's no reason why those of us on gluten, egg or dairy free diets should miss out. Here's an easy and delicious recipe for allergy friendly Anzac biscuits.

Ingredients:

125g ghee (or use a DF margarine for a DF option)
1C GF flour (use your favourite baking blend, or try 1/2C buckwheat and 1/2C brown rice flour)
1C quinoa flakes
1C desiccated coconut
2/3C raw or brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water
2 Tbsp golden syrup or maple syrup

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Mix flour, quinoa flakes, coconut and sugar in a large bowl.

Melt ghee or margarine and syrup in a pan on medium heat.

Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to melted butter and syrup mixture.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix well. Make sure that when you press a spoon to the side of the bowl that the mixture sticks together and is not too crumbly.

Grease and line a baking tray. Using a tablespoon, form flat shaped balls and place on tray.

Cook for 16 - 20 mins (depending on whether you like a darker, chewier Anzac or a golden soft Anzac)

Makes approximately 15 medium sized biscuits.

Enjoy!

20 Allergy Friendly Lunch box Ideas

Without a doubt the hardest aspect of this whole allergy business is packing a school lunch. When we're in our own environment and I'm buying and preparing the food it's easy to feel pretty normal. It's only when we venture out that reality hits.

Making an allergy friendly lunch box 5 days a week can be really hard work when you can't use sandwiches or bread rolls. GF baking needs to be fresh - which is why you can often find me bending over a bowl of muffin mix at 7am on a school morning. I want Ben's lunches to be interesting, yummy, satisfying and full of nutrients - and the key to this is all in the planning.

Here's a list of 20 allergy friendly lunch ideas made up of things I've successfully tried over the years. If you have some ideas of your own I'd love to hear them in the comments section - let's keep this list a work in progress!

1. White corn GF tortillas sandwiched together and crisped up in a dry frying pan (like a quesadilla) with fillings inside. Fillings we like are: salmon and cheese (if we're eating cheese); baked beans; Mighty Mite (GF marmite) and cheese; tuna and vegan mayonnaise.
2. GF mini pizzas with either vegetarian toppings or salami. I make a big pizza and cut it into smaller portions to freeze. Hummus is great in place of cheese.
3. Meatballs - either organic beef or chicken using soy milk and GF breadcrumbs to bind
4. Chicken drumsticks
5. Sushi - watch for GF rice wine vinegar and use GF soy sauce
6. GF mini muffins - make a basic muffin mix and alternate with sweet and savoury additions
7. Pasta salad - GF pasta spirals, vegan mayonnaise, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, salmon
8. Potato salad - Vegan mayonnaise, leftover roast potatoes, chopped herbs
9. Apple slices with nut butter - Sliced apples spread with nut or seed butter and sprinkled with raisins
10. Fruit salad - with yoghurt (dairy, sheep, goat or coconut) and sprinkled with ground seed mix
11. Hummus and rice crackers 
12. Toasted GF bread with seed butter
13. Leftovers GF pasta and sauce in a Thermos
14. Asian style rice noodles and vegetables
15. GF cheese scones - make DF by omitting cheese and adding flavour enhancers like chopped sundried tomatoes or roasted capsicum instead
16. GF pumpkin scones - using cold mashed pumpkin as a binder
17. Potato cakes
18. Corn fritters
19. Roast vegetable salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing
20. Tapioca or chia puddings - For Chia Puddings see the recipe here

Tips for easy lunch-making:

• Invest in some good lunch packaging - small containers with no leak lids are great
• Make in bulk and freeze individual portions
• Buy a good quality Thermos
• Think about how to keep high risk foods like meat or sushi cold, especially in the summer months. Ice packs and insulated lunch bags are one idea - or see if you can access a fridge at school for your child
• Plan ahead - with allergy lunch boxes improvisation is not your friend

Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Cashew Cream - Bob's Red Mill Review

GF, EF, DF, VG

When your child is on a restricted diet I think it's important to try to normalise food as best you can. There are so many social activities centred around food - birthday parties, shared lunches, Christmas, Easter and eating out to name a few.  I may not be able to make those things completely normal for Ben (separate Tupperware container full of food anyone?) but I can make food a normal part of life at home.

All kids love baking with mum or dad. Gluten free, egg free baking can be tricky to do with kids because precise measurements are usually required - but it's still worth having a go. Today I used a Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Cake mix to make a lovely moist chocolate cake with jam and cashew cream in the middle. Ben did almost all of it himself and was so proud to serve it to his "guests".

Bob's Red Mill products are great quality and don't have a lot of the fillers and starches that cheaper GF products contain. The ingredients in this packet are: Evaporated cane juice sugar, unsweetened cocoa, chickpea flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, whole grain white sorghum flour, broad bean flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, sea salt, cream of tartar. There's nothing too ominous in there at all and it can be handy to have a packet cake on hand when little people are in the mood to bake.

Bob's Red Mill products are pricey in Australia, but there are ways to get a good deal. The website and app Grocery Run has regular Gluten Free days where you can buy 2 Bob's products for the price of one. I wait until Gluten Free day appears and then stock up for a month or two. By doing it this way I get a cake mix like this for around $4.50 each, which isn't bad for gluten free.

In addition to the cake mix we added:

1/4 C canola oil and 1/4 C vegan margarine (recipe suggests 1/2 C butter or margarine)

1 C Bonsoy soy milk

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp ground flaxseed in 6 Tbsp water (left to stand for 2 mins to gel) - this is a replacement for 2 eggs

1/3 C hot water

2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

The mix came together really easily with no lumps. It has a nice smooth rich consistency too.

The cake went into the oven at 190 degrees C or 375 degrees F for around 45 mins. I tested the centre with a bamboo skewer before taking it out.

While we waited for it to cool down Ben got to lick the spoon! Such a simple childhood pleasure that I remember well from baking with my own mum - but something that can be hard for an allergy kid to experience. 

Once it was cool we sliced the cake in half so we had two thinner pieces. Then we spread some nice allergy friendly raspberry jam. We wanted cream, but we're not doing dairy at the moment so we made a cashew cream by blending up 3/4C raw cashews and 3/4C water until smooth. After spreading the cream on top of the jam we popped the top portion of the cake on and sprinkled some icing sugar on top.

The nicest thing about this cake is the texture. It can be hard to get a good crumb on a GF cake and without eggs you run the risk of it being dry. This cake was moist and chocolatey - just like a good choccie cake should be!

I'd definitely use Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Cake again - I think it would be great for a special occasion or for when non allergy guests come for dinner. I'm convinced that no-one would know this cake is GF. 

Enjoy!

Raw Vegan Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Macerated Strawberry Topping

VG, GF

I really love a raw dessert. I find baking tiresome at times so being able to just whip something up and throw it in the fridge is satisfying and rather therapeutic.

This raw vegan strawberry tart is gluten free and full of goodies. It's perfect for a warm spring evening - enjoy!

Base:

3/4 C raw cashews

3/4 C almond meal

1/2 C dates

2 Tbsp white chia seeds

1 Tbsp coconut oil

Blend all ingredients until you reach a rough crumb and press into a greased pie dish

Filling:

250g strawberries hulled

300g organic firm tofu

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp maple syrup

Pinch salt

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour into base and put in the fridge for at least two hours.

Topping:

250g strawberries hulled
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp maple syrup

Combine and leave in a bowl for at least 30 mins so the strawberries macerate. Pour on top of the tart just before serving.

Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Coconut Cake

GF, EF, DF


Yesterday some gluten free guests from Sydney visited so I thought I'd try out a new recipe. This lemon coconut cake is moist and delicious with a subtle lemon flavour. It's gluten, egg and dairy free and easy to make.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

1 C desiccated coconut
1 C gluten free flour blend (I used 1/4C buckwheat, 1/2C brown rice flour and 1/4C almond meal)
3/4 C raw organic sugar*
2 tsp GF baking powder

1 C coconut cream**
1/2 C soy or rice milk
Juice of two small lemons
Zest of one lemon


* You could use less sugar if you wanted to or replace with 1/2C maple syrup

**The coconut cream I use is the thickened fat that sits on the top, not the water underneath. To help your coconut cream separate in the tin place it in the fridge first.

Mix all dry ingredients together and combine with a whisk. Add the coconut cream, milk, lemon juice and zest and mix well until smooth.

Place in a greased and lined loaf tin and bake for 50 - 60 minutes until cake springs back in the centre.

Enjoy!

No cheese cheesy bake.

VG, GF

It seems that the older I get, the more intolerant of dairy products I become. It's almost at the point of no return for me now, with even a tablespoon of cows milk in a cup of tea leaving me feeling queasy. For the most part I don't miss it at all because I have a horrible association with it after many nights sweating and feeling incredibly nauseous. The one thing I do miss however, is creaminess.

I've been having a play with nut creams and tofu lately and tonight I made a no cheese cheesy bake. This is gluten free but you could substitute the gluten free pasta with normal wheat pasta if you choose to.

Ingredients

GF pasta shells
1 jar of organic tomato pasta sauce
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1 packet of tofu - try and buy organic because soy beans are a crop that can be exposed to heavy use of pesticides and fertilisers as well as some being genetically engineered.
1 C raw unroasted unsalted cashew nuts
3/4 C - 1 C soy milk (again, try for organic)
2 zucchini's or spinach
Salt and white pepper
Olive oil

Let's Cook!

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until just cooked. Meanwhile, cut the zucchini into rounds and cook on a tray in the oven with a little olive oil at 180 degrees centigrade for around 15 minutes or until soft.

To prepare the creamy cheesy element of the dish blend the cashew nuts with 3/4 C of the soy milk until smooth. Add the tofu broken into chunks and blend it together until it makes a thick cream, about the consistency of ricotta cheese. Add a little more soy milk if you need to. Season with salt and a pinch of white pepper.

Mix the pasta sauce and tin of tomatoes together in a bowl.

To assemble the dish brush some olive oil in a large rectangular oven proof dish then add a layer of tomato sauce. Add a layer of pasta on top of the sauce then dot 1/2 of the nut tofu cream on top of the pasta evenly. Add another layer of tomato sauce then the zucchini overlapping the pieces as you go. Lastly add the remaining pasta and finish with a final layer of tomato sauce and the remainder of the nut tofu cream.

Cook for 20 minutes in a 180 degree oven (fan bake works best) until golden and bubbling.

You won't taste nuts or tofu, but what you will have is a lovely creamy texture and a healthy no meat protein boost. Even better, my kids loved this meal and didn't miss the meat or cheese at all.