Tag Archives: #glutenfree

Rucola Mint Pesto

Condiments and Dips, , , , , , , , ,

Rucola and Mint pesto

This is a very versatile pesto sauce that can be used as a dip for sweet potatoes, as a topping on fish or chicken, or even to stuff chicken wrapped in prosciutto. We’d love to hear how you have used what has become one of our favorites. 

Ingredients

  • Large handful of rucola lettuce leaves
  • 10-15 mint leaves
  • 1 Tbsp tahini
  • juice of half a large lime
  • 1 Tbsp pine nuts
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
  • 50ml olive oil

Directions

  1. Put all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth.
  2. It should be a bit of a thick sauce, so be careful with the amount of olive oil that you add. If it is too thick then you can add a little more olive oil.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Sola Rosa – Get it together

Spinach coconut curry with meatballs

Dinner, , , , , , ,

Spinach meatball curry

This is a substantial and warming meal that is great paired with cauliflower rice or rice. You can adapt it to your own level of preferred spiciness by adapting how much chili powder you include. This is a slightly spicy version.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs

  • 500 gr lamb mince
  • 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 onion, grated
  • 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp ghee or coconut oil

For the curry

  • 220ml coconut milk
  • 100 ml water
  • 5 green cardamon pods
  • 15 fresh curry leaves
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
  • 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 500 gr baby spinach (or similar green vegetables)
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

  1. First make the meatballs. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
  2. Now, make around 15 golf ball sized meatballs. Wet your hands before making a ball so they won’t stick to your hands.
  3. Put them on a plate and let them firm up in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
  4. Heat the ghee or oil in a large frying pan and brown the meatballs on all sides. When ready, put them on a plate and set aside.
  5. When all the meatballs are done, fry the curry leaves and cardamom pods for a few seconds until fragrant.
  6. Add the onion and fry until soft.
  7. Add the spices and the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute more.
  8. Then add the coconut milk and water and bring to the boil.
  9. When boiling, add the spinach, cover and cook until wilted.
  10. Take the lid of, add the meatballs, season with salt and pepper and cook until the sauce thickens a little and the meatballs are heated through.
  11. Serve with rice or cauliflower rice

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Hindi Zhara – Homeland

 

 

Lemon Cupcakes

Treats, , , , , , , ,

 Lemon Cupcakes

These Lemon Cupcakes have a strong lemony flavour, and don’t need any sweetening. They are gluten, dairy, and sugar free and I am struggling not to eat all of them before they cool off!

Ingredients

  • 2-3 ripe bananas
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tbsp ghee
  • juice and rind of a lemon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • seeds of 1 vanilla pod
  • 1/4 cup sifted coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup sweet potato flour

Directions

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
  2. Add eggs and ghee and mix well
  3. Add the rind of 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, and the seeds of 1 vanilla bean, mix well
  4. Add the baking soda and salt and stir gently into the mixture. It should rise as the baking soda activates.
  5. Add the coconut and sweet potato flour and stir gently to combine into the mixture.
  6. Cook in the hot oven for 35 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean when pricked into the cupcake.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Wild Beasts – Present Tense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butternut and Zucchini Loaf

Lunch and Light Meals, Treats, , , , , , , , , ,

Butternut and Zucchini loaf

Bread is a bit of a challenge when you are gluten, sugar and dairy free. This loaf is naturally sweetened by dates and pumpkin, and given structure through the coconut flour and zucchini. It is delicious, healthy, and sneaks a few extra veggies into your lunch.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 a large zucchini, or 1 whole small zucchini (courgette), finely grated, squeezed
  • 350 g butternut squash (butternut pumpkin), cubed, cooked for 10 minutes and mashed
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp ghee
  • 1 heaped tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • large pinch of sea salt
  • 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated
  • handful chopped cashews, toasted with 1 tsp coconut oil and a pinch of sea salt
  • 5 dates, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
  • sea salt for sprinkling on top
  • 2/3 cup of coconut flour

Directions

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
  2. Boil the butternut squash (butternut pumpkin) for 10 minutes in boiling water until it is cooked through. Drain and let it cool a little so that it will not cook the eggs when you add them to the squash mixture. Mash to a smooth consistency.
  3. Add the eggs and ghee and mix well.
  4. Grate the zucchini. Place the grated zucchini into a tea towel and squeeze it firmly to remove all of the liquid. You may need to use a fair bit of pressure.
  5. In another bowl, add the zucchini with the baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, ginger, rosemary, and dates. Mix well.
  6. Add the zucchini mixture to the squash mixture and stir well to combine.
  7. Add the coconut flour, and fold into the mixture. You should have a thick mixture with little moisture. Depending on how moist your zucchini was still, you might need to add a little more coconut flour. The coconut flour will absorb the moisture.
  8. Toast the cashew nuts in a hot pan together with a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of coconut oil until they are golden in colour.
  9. Add the toasted cashew nuts to the mix and stir through.
  10. Line a bread loaf tin with baking paper. Transfer the mixture into the bread loaf tin.
  11. Cook at 180 degrees celcius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 45 minutes until golden brown and a fork inserted into it comes out clean.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Future Islands – Singles

 

Shakarkandi Gobi – Indian sweet potato and cauliflower

Dinner, , , , , , , , , ,

Aloo Shakarkandi

During our time living in India we became really big fans of Indian food. One of the greatest parts of traveling there was tasting all the different types of food around the country. In India this is normally made with potatoes, but we have substituted them for sweet potatoes in this dish for the extra nutrition.

Ingredients

  • 400g cauliflower, cut into portions / florets
  • 300g sweet potato, peeled and cu into 3cm chips
  • coconut oil
  • pinch of asafoetida
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1/2 large green chilli, finely chopped
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1/4 tsp chilli powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp amchur (mango powder)
  • handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
  • 120ml water

Directions

  1. Heat 1 Tbsp of coconut oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the asafoetida, cumin seeds, ginger, chilli and turmeric. Mix and fry for a few seconds.
  2. Add cauliflower, sweet potato, water, and salt, cover and cook on a medium high heat until the water is evaporated. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir once in a while to avoid it catching on the bottom of the pan.
  3. Check that the sweet potatoes are cooked through. If they are not you may need to cook them for a little while longer, and add a little more water to create the steam to cook them in.
  4. Add the garam masala, coriander and mango powder. Mix and serve.
  5. Can be served as a side dish with Chicken Cardamon Curry with Papaya or another curry dish.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream

 

 

Passionfruit and Orange Sauce

Condiments and Dips, , , , , ,

Orange and passionfruit sauce

This is a delicious sauce with a lot of flavour. It suits being paired with big flavored meats such as duck or pork, but my son also likes to eat it with his sweet potato fries and dip his broccoli into it.

Ingredients

  • Juice of 1 large orange
  • pulp of 2 large passionfruit (or 3 smaller ones)
  • 1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • few thyme sprigs
  • ghee or coconut oil

Directions

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moist Gluten Free Chocolate cake

Treats, , , , , , , , ,

Moist Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

With my son’s birthday fast approaching, and children in his class with nuts and gluten allergies, making a birthday cake this year took a little bit of experimentation. This chocolate cake received the children’s seal of approval, with not a single piece left in the box that we sent into his classroom.

Ingredients

  • 50g good quality cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 125ml boiling water
  • seeds of one pod vanilla
  • 70g sweet potato flour
  • 60g rice flour
  • 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 150ml coconut oil (or regular olive oil, not extra virgin olive oil – it is too strong tasting)
  • 100ml honey (or use maple syrup)
  • 3 large eggs
  • handful of frozen cranberries (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat the oven at 170 degrees Celsius (340 degrees Fahrenheit).
  2. Sift the cocoa into a bowl. Add the boiling water and stir well to make a smooth paste. Put aside to cool down while you prepare the rest
  3. Measure the sweet potato and rice flour into a separate bowl. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside.
  4. In the bowl of a food processor or mixer, add the coconut oil, honey and eggs.
  5. Mix for about 3 minutes until well aerated.
  6. Add the chocolate mixture to the mixture in the foodprocessor or mixer. Mix thoroughly.
  7. Add the flour mixture to the foodprocessor or mixer. Mix thoroughly.
  8. Prepare as springform cake tin of 20-25cm with a base lining of baking paper. Oil the sides of the tin with a little coconut oil.
  9. Pour the mixture into the tin.
  10. Sprinkle over the cranberries or other berries (optional)
  11. Cook the cake for 40 minutes in the oven or until it is still moist in the centre, but cooked through.
  12. Serve warm or cooled down.

Music to go with it…
Listen on Spotify: Breaks Co-op – Sounds Familiar