Fructose Free Biscuits

Here it is...magic fructose free biscuits ;)

A little note first - since quitting sugar I find that I can taste sweetness in many more foods and I only need around half the amount of sweetener in baking. If you are still eating sugar or still cutting back, you may find you want a little more sweetness - my advice is to try it as is and add a little more if you feel it needs it.

This was my first batch, but I've listed some variations below that I think would work really well.

3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup plain wholemeal flour
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup rice malt syrup

Combine dry ingredients,  add coconut oil & rice malt syrup and combine to a dough. I do this very quickly in my food processor.

Form into a log, wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins to firm up.  Slice into rounds, flatten slightly & bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 mins until golden.  Cool on a wire rack.

* Check the ingredients on your rice malt syrup - the only ingredient should be brown rice.

Variations:

Swap the cinnamon for other spices - mixed spice, ginger etc

Swap the cinnamon for the zest of an orange or lemon

Add some cacao powder for chocolate biscuits - add a splash of cold water if the dough is too dry

Make a double batch and freeze one of the logs. When you want biscuits,  simply slice & cook from frozen!

Enjoy!

Vegetable & Prawn Fried Rice

Recipe on request :)

This recipe changes slightly depending on what I have. Lots of prep but then it all comes together really quickly. I usually prep earlier in the day and store in containers in fridge (as grouped below).

PREPARATION

Peel & de-vein prawns

Whisk 2 eggs & 1 teaspoon of tamari (or soy sauce)

Peel & grate a knob of ginger,  finely chop 1 small red chilli (or to taste), finely chop 1 brown onion, finely dice 2 rashers of bacon.

Dice 1 red capsicum & 1 large carrot (or other veges of choice).

Finely chop 3 stalks spring onions.

Wash rice & add to rice cooker with water as per instructions for rice/grain of choice. Cook rice and allow to cool in fridge if preparing earlier or turn on rice cooker 30 mins before cooking (depending on rice & cooking method).

COOKING

Heat a little olive oil in pan, add egg & swirl pan. When almost cooked, tip onto a plate & slice.

Add a little more olive oil to pan. Add ginger, chilli, onion & bacon. Cook for a couple of minutes to soften. Add veges & toss.  Allow to cook a further couple of minutes.

Add rice, prawns & 1/4 cup of tamari (or soy sauce). Prawns should only take a couple of minutes to cook depending on size.

Finally add spring onions, egg, a handful of cashews & a good sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Enjoy!

Dinner Meal Plan

Another week, another meal plan! Thought I would just share our dinner meal plan this week, hopefully it will help inspire some new ideas :)

I will also just mention that I'm currently on a bit of a fitness kick so our dinners are generally low carb, high protein, low fat options.

'Fried Quinoa' with Prawns & Veges (a take on Fried Rice)
Mountain Bread Chicken Sausage Rolls with Salad (2 nights)
Steak with Veges & Cauliflower Sauce
Chicken Meatloaf with Veges & Salad (2 nights)
Almond & Parmesan Crumbed Fish with Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Happy Meal Planning! :)

Sample Meal Plan

Eating real,  quality food doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, it can actually be cheaper (and so much tastier in my opinion!).

My shopping budget for a family of 2 adults and 2 children is $150 per week.  This includes all meals & snacks including meat & produce. Almost no preservatives or additives and organic where possible.

Here is a sample meal plan for our family for this week:

BREAKFAST
Me:
Homemade muslei

Dad & Kids:
Weetbix & milk
+ Toast & eggs on weekends

LUNCH
Me:
Salad leaves with bacon, walnuts & lemon
Vegetable stir fry with almonds
Scrambled eggs/omelette with spinach

Dad:
Chicken & salad or peanut butter sandwiches
Leftover dinners

Kids:
Peanut butter, jam or honey on bread or toast
Mini Pizzas

DINNERS
Cauliflower 'Alfredo' with wholemeal fettuccini
Chicken with Lentils & Chorizo with green salad
Calamari with Herb & Chilli spiked quinoa stuffing with green salad
Chicken & Mushroom Pie with homemade pastry & steamed veges (2 nights)
Kangaroo mince hamburgers on homemade wholemeal breadrolls with corn on the cob(2 nights)

SNACKS (all homemade)
Crunchy baked chickpeas
Honey Spiced Trail Mix
Raw vegetable sticks
Bliss balls
Roasted Vegetable Chips
Fruit

Kids:
Wholemeal Cinnamon Rolls
Muslei Bars
Chocolate Crepes
Choc Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Fruit
Crackers

It does seem like a lot of cooking, but none of it is very time consuming - in fact a lot only takes 5 mins and cooks itself while I am off doing other things. Most of my dinners can be done in under 30 mins.

Hope this provides some inspiration!

Icecream

Icecream

Homemade icecream really doesn't have to be complicated.  There are some fantastic machines out there and some amazing recipes & flavour combinations, but you don't need to take an all or nothing approach.  This is the machine I started with:

From memory, I picked it up from my local IGA for half price at around $25.  You keep the base in the freezer (or put it there 24-48 hours before making the icecream), attach the top and turn it on.  So simple!

Here is a basic recipe to get started on:

250ml full fat pure cream

250ml full fat milk

70g (1/3 cup) raw caster sugar

vanilla extract or paste

Whisk all together until sugar has dissolved. Pour into icecream maker & allow to churn for 20-30 minutes until it can't churn anymore.  Icecream will be the consistency of 'soft serve'.  You can enjoy straight away, or place in the freezer for around 2 hours to firm up completely.

Here is some chocolate icecream that I made today, straight out of the icecream maker (before freezing):

You can experiment with different sweeteners (maple syrup would be a yummy one!).  I've used raw caster sugar here which isn't perfect, but it's so much better than the additive full commercial icecream and has the same sort of taste, but yummier! 

Homemade Tim Tams

Homemade Tim Tams

First, a disclaimer...

I have listed white flour & cornflour in the biscuit recipe to try and get them close to the actual biscuits.  To improve the nutrition, you could add some wholemeal flour, or even better, use spelt flour.  White spelt flour is much more nutritious than white wheat flour and much easier to digest.  You could also add a small amount of chia seeds or other ground up seed to improve the nutrition.  I will be working on a healthier biscuit, but in the meantime, these are really tasty and are a much better option than store bought.  And you can control the amount of sugar/ganache/chocolate to your personal tastes.

For reference, these are the ingredients in store bought Tim Tams:

Milk chocolate (38%)(sugar, milk solids, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, emulsifiers (e322: soy, e476), flavouring), wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, golden syrup, colours (e102, e110, e129, e133, e150), milk solids, cocoa, salt, raising agent(e500), emulsifier (e322: soy) and flavouring. May contain traces of peanut, other nut, egg or seed.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups plain flour or spelt flour

1/4 cup cornflour

5 teaspoons cacao or cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or paste

75ml pure cream

50g dark chocolate, chopped

50g milk chocolate, chopped

190g dark or milk chocolate, chopped

Biscuit

1. In a small bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients.

2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy, add milk and vanilla and mix on low speed (mixture will look curdled)

3. Add flour mixture and stir until combined.

3. Shape into a rectangular log, wrap in baking paper and refridgerate for at least 1 hour until really firm.

4. Using a sharp knife, cut 5mm slices and place onto baking tray.  Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 10-12 minutes until edges are very firm.  Allow to cool completely on wire rack.

Filling

1. Combine cream and chocolate in a pan over low heat until chocolate has melted (or use microwave).  Be very careful not to overcook - remove from the heat before the chocolate has melted, residual heat will finish melting the chocolate.

2. Place in fridge and allow to firm.

3. Remove from fridge and whisk until creamy.

Coating

Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave until smooth.

Construction

1. Spread a little filling onto cold biscuit, top with another biscuit.

2. Place in fridge and allow to set.

3. Dip biscuit into melted chocolate, using a fork to turn and then pick up and place onto baking paper.  Allow to set in fridge until chocolate is hard.  Enjoy!!

*The biscuits on their own also make a good treat for kids, especially if you sneak a few healthy things in.  They are crunchy biscuits so they can't inhale them like chewier ones ;)

Yoghurt Squeeze Pouches

Yoghurt Squeeze Pouches

After the article on buying plain yoghurt in bigger containers, and adding your own healthy sweeteners/fruit/muslei etc, I had a comment about the kids yoghurt squeeze pouches.

It was based around the fact that they are so much more convenient when out and about and with young children as they are far less messy than sitting down with yoghurt and a spoon.  The problem is, companies want to make sure that kids will like them, so they often have added sugar, colours & flavours, and they are set differently meaning they could be missing some of those healthy probiotics.

Well, a bit of digging, and here is the solution!

Pouched

Also on Facebook here:

Pouched on Facebook

Once again, a clever Aussie Mum has come up with an awesome new product!  Easy fill (comes with food applicator), BPA free, multiple sizes, freeze or heat.

So you don't need to sacrifice convenience or put up with extra mess in order to have your littlies eating real food.  Grab yourself a big tub of natural yoghurt, mix in some raw honey or fruit puree and fill up the week's pouches into the fridge.  And, once you've got your re-usuable pouches, you'll save money too!