Hint of chocolate and maple buns

So I had left over ingredients from another bake so had a look in the press to see what I could add to it.

This recipe contains almond and egg

So what did I use?

1 egg

1/3 cup of coconut milk (full fat)

1 tablespoon of coconut oil melted

1/3 cup of maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

100g ground almond

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1 tablespoon of 70% cocoa powder

Mix all the wet ingredients together.

Add the dry ingredients and mix into a light batter.

Oven at 175/180

This gave me 6 regular size buns

To fill a typical tray of 12 double your ingredients!

In the middle of the oven they only take 15/20 mins.

Just check to make sure they are dry in the middle with a toothpick and put on a baking tray

Paleo experiments!

So we want to try out cleaner eating for ourselves as well as the now not so little Sam.

We have been trying out sweet things among the choices widely available on other sites, forums, blogs and one which has gone down a treat at home with little man and big man is our adaptation to a Warm Apple Pie Bread.

What do you need?

For the Bread:

2.5 cups almond flour (I used ground almond and hand sieved it to remove the nutty kernels)

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2 apples (I have been using one granny smith and one gala red)

⅓ cup coconut milk, full fat (tinned coconut milk by the way, not the carton milk which isn't  suitable for cooking)

4 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

6 tablespoons raw honey (I don't always have raw honey so ordinary honey will do if you are not fully paleo)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (I may add another drop or two)

⅓ raisins

 

For the topping:

¼ cup almond flour

1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted

dash of ground cinnamon

 

2 separate mixing bowls and a 2lb loaf tin.

 

 

What you need to do:

 

Apple Pie Bread:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 2lb loaf tin with coconut oil, and line it with grease proof  paper.

 

Sieve the almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in to a bowl and lightly mix it.

In the second bowl, whisk the coconut milk, coconut oil, honey, eggs, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract together.

Using a spatula, add the dry mixture to the wet, just until it comes together. Do not over mix.

Add the raisins to the mix.

Use a peeler to  thinly slice the apples (other recipes leave them in chunks but by doing this it melts in to the bread as it bakes), now gently fold these in to the batter.

Pour batter into the loaf tin.

 

Now you are ready to make the crumby topping.

Using your hands, imply mix the almond flour, coconut oil and the dash of cinnamon (1/8 of a teaspoon should suffice, no more as it will take over the flavour) and sprinkle it over the top of the batter.

 

 

Here's the tricky part.... (for me, timing isn't my best attribute)

 

Bake for 30 minutes, then cover bread with tin foil and bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, what I tend to do here is turn the oven down a little (perhaps to 170) for another 30 mins.

 

Total baking time should be approximately 50-60 minutes depending on your oven (fan assisted or not).

 

Set pan on a wire rack to cool.

 

 

 

Hat-tip to : http://livinghealthywithchocolate.com/desserts/warm-caramel-apple-pie-bread-paleo-gluten-free-5200/

for the original recipe with caramel, and walnuts.

Penne pasta with Smoked Salmon

So I have not tried fish with the ever growing little man who has been off his food for a week or so (not well) so thought I would change things up to give him a new taste to see if it would spark an interest in solids again ( sore throat along with ear infection and blocked nose)

What do you need?

Penne pasta

Passata

Basil

Oregano

Cheese

Smoked salmon

How to:

Boil the pasta, drain and leave back on to the heat adding passata sauce and season with basil and oregano.

Turn off the heat and let it sit while you get the cheese and salmon ready.

I used some grated red cheddar and mozzarella.

I shredded the smoked salmon lights in to small pieces.

Put the pasta in a bowl and sprinkle the cheese and salmon over the top.

Mini baked omelettes

What do you need?

Spray oil for greasing the tin

10 medium eggs or 8 large

1 measure cup of milk - optional : I added it for the little person but would leave it out for anyone with intolerances

Fillings I used?

Chicken 1 breast

3 smoked rashers

10 cherry tomatoes

2 scallions

6-8 button mushrooms

Cheddar cheese - again you can leave the cheeses out to accommodate intolerances

Mascarpone

That's it! 

How?

I fried off the diced up chicken, bacon and mushroom.

Sprayed a bun case tin and turned on the oven to 200 degrees.

Then I chopped the tomatoes and scallions (spring onions) and spread them between the pockets in the tin. 

Chopped up the bacon, chicken and with the quartered mushrooms divided them out also.

Sprinkled all of them with grated cheddar cheese.

I added a small dollop of mascarpone to 4 of them as I know only 2 of us eat the mascarpone.

I whipped the egg whites of the 10 medium eggs lightly before they turned "white", added the yolks and beat adding in the milk.

I then it to the rest of the ingredients in the tin.

Popped it n the well heated oven and left them rise and brown for roughly 20 mins as I have a fan assisted oven. I would leave them in for longer if I didn't. An easy way to test if they are done use one as a guinea pig and put a skewer or knife through it if it's really wet it's not done.

Double bubble boil and no trouble

So not to waste the contents of the carved pumpkin I decided to make soup.

I didn't have the ingredients for recipes I found online so decided to use what I had.

So what did I have?

You guessed it

The flesh from inside a medium to small sizes pumpkin which I scooped out with a spoon.

A large red onion

Clove of garlic

A carrot

A small handful of split green lentils and cannelloni beans, about a dessert spoonful. You could also use other pulses, oat barley etc or soup mix

One stalk of celery

Sea salt (pinch)

Ground rainbow pepper (pinch)

Turmeric (yes you guessed it a pinch)

Mild curry powder (pinch)

Butter (a small knob)

How did I go about it?

Roughly chopped the red onion and put it in the pot with the butter, while this is lightly frying in the pot I chopped the garlic and added it, along with the salt and pepper.

I add the shredded pumpkin (it's fibrous so when I was scooping it out it naturally shredded) and covered in water.

I chopped the carrot and celery and threw in as it boiled along with the lentils and beans.

I let this boil for 15 minutes with the lid on then turned down to simmer for about an hour until the lentils and beans were soft. 

I then added the turmeric and curry powder, stirred and let it simmer for another 5 minutes to infuse before taking it off the heat to blitz with a hand blender.

And there it is boiling and bubbling back on the cooling hob to let it cool down naturally.

Enjoy.....

Chunky Chowder

What do you need?

Salmon (fillet, darn)

Haddock fillet

Cod fillet

Bacon

Leek

Onion (I used red)

Parsley

Salt (pinch)

Pepper

Double cream

Stock (fish or vegetable)

Tomato

Carrot

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Plain flower

How to prepare

Fry off diced onion and diced bacon

Add diced fish with a pinch of salt and pepper

Chop up tomatoe and leek then add to the pot 

Add the stock and stir all the contents

Cover the pot and reduce the heat

In a seperate pot cook your carrot, broccoli and cauliflower

Once the vegetables are nearly cooked add the cream to the fish pot along with the parsley

Use a teaspoon of plain flower with a small amount of water and work into a watery paste  and add to the pot as a thickening agent

Covering with the lid and turning off the heat

Strain the vegetables and add to the fish pot.

And your done!

***please remember when serving fish to children that you have thoroughly checked for bones***

Another Pasta and Prawn dinner with Spinach

What do you need?

2 knobs of butter

Sprinkle of oregano

Spaghetti

Cold water prawns

Spinach

Milk

Cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar, grated)

What to do

Put a knob of butter in a pot and let it melt 

Add the oregano to the melting butter

Add the prawns and let them fry off

Remember butter burns so keep stirring and reduce the heat if needs be

Add water to the pot and your spaghetti

Once the spaghetti is nearly done add the pinch as this only takes seconds

Take it off the heat, strain and add some milk and stir so it doesn't curdle

Add the cheese and stir again