Porridge!

Edible Harmony's awesome-looking apple pie energy bars: how they're supposed to look.

This weekend, after we'd been to a very damp (read: monsoon-engulfed) farmers' market and liberated what we could from the smattering of soggy stalls that were open, Aunty Em came round and made these. She substituted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and linseeds for the nuts, because we're still not convinced about the safety of nuts. They were delicious and we will certainly be making those again!

This morning I valiantly attempted to replicate the recipe. The fact that we had virtually none of the ingredients in no way deterred me from my quest. Unfortunately, the lack of ingredients was a significant deterrent to the success of the recipe. Instead of solid, chewy, brownish bars, we got off-grey sludge. With bits in it. Hmm ...

I tried firming "them" up in the fridge. If anything, that made matters worse. So I tried baking the jolly things. The only differences now were a roasty-brownish colour, and elevated temperature (predictably). So, mother being the necessity of invention and all that, I plonked it into bowls, poured honey on top, and called it "porridge". It was delicious, and even the notoriously picky Red Riding Hood wolfed hers down and declared it delyummy! (Which is a good thing).

So if you're feeling adventurous and you need something - anything - besides eggs for breakfast on a dairy-free SCD diet, here's the porridge recipe we tried. Let me know if you experiment with anything similar.

Porridge Ingredients
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins (or more, to taste)
Honey to taste (we used at least 1/2 a cup)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
Salt (I swear it!)
2 ripe bananas

Method
Keeping the seeds in a cup, pour liquid over them to just cover them. (I used brewed coffee, but I think a good tea, juice or even water would work just fine).
In the morning, turn the seeds out into the blender, then add all the ingredients.
Purée until "porridgey".
Line a small baking tin with baking paper, and empty the blender into the tin.
Bake at about 180°C (roughly 350°F, I think) for about 20 minutes, until it's golden brown. (I always use the smell test: if it smells ready, check it: it probably is ready).
Serve the goop into bowls and top with honey if you want to (it's very sweet). Yoghurt or your choice of milk would also be very nice, although it actually doesn't need anything at all.
Enjoy!

Just a note: this can be made into a very low GI, diabetic-friendly breakfast by omitting the raisins and subbing the bananas for a sugar-friendlier fruit. Have fun experimenting!

Spring is Sprung!

It's been a glorious day in the Upper Highway and what better way to start Spring than a sunrise run (with the full moon slowly setting), followed by a trip to the Shongweni Farmers' Market. Seriously, if you live anywhere within 50km (or more if you're adventurous) of Hillcrest, just west of Durban, you really need to head out to The Market on Saturday mornings. Fresh organic produce, decadent desserts, happy dogs, adorable children, friends, and super finds. Not to mention a range of options for your steaming hot morning cup o' Joe. We love it!

Today's goodies included organic raw honey for use in chocolate cookies, biltong for snacks (oh I love biltong!), organic free range meat from Hope Meats, and a delicious selection of veggies. The gem squashes in particular were absolutely delicious! Even the kids enjoyed them.

To celebrate, when I got home I made Chocolate Covered Katie's 3 Ingredient Chocolate Bars. We used honey instead of stevia, and shape moulds instead of a simple plastic dish. I think the honey needs to be melted a little first, but the end result was certainly not unpleasant. Happy Days :)

Next up: crustless quiches for Tea Sunday at Church tomorrow. Excited!

FUDGE!

We LOVE Chocolate-Covered Katie. Pretty much everything on her blog is awesome and we've tried all of it! Well, all the things we're allowed, anyway. An Aunty Em permanent favourite is the vegan sugar-free chocolate fudge. Ever since we started down the gluten-free/dairy-free/sugar-free road we've tried to create a substitute for fudge, one of the few things we could never replicate. However, thanks to Chocolate-Covered Katie we now have the perfect solution with the added virtues of good health and veganism (selective, you understand).

 We've been battling to get the coconut butter in this recipe perfect, but today we had a major breakthrough (which I will post about tomorrow). The result was awesome, delicious, smooth fudgey heaven!

Chocolate-Covered Katie's Sugar-free Vegan Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp coconut butter (see tomorrow's post)
• 1/2 a large very ripe banana
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder*
• 2 tbsp honey* (or to taste)

Method

1. Make sure your coconut butter is melted before use. (Freshly home-made coconut butter is smooth and soft already but sets if left for a while). 
2. Combine all ingredients in a small blender (or double the recipe for a bigger blender).
3. Smooth the fudge into a plastic container or chocolate molds. (Katie says plastic containers work well because it's so easy to pop the fudge out once it's set).
4. Refrigerate until set, then cut up and serve (or gobble!).

Yummmm .....

* Always, wherever possible, use pure, raw organic ingredients.

Coconut Flour Brownies

These brownies are cakey and delicious - hard to stop eating! I'm sure they'd be great with the marshmallow frosting, too.

Coconut Flour Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dessicated coconut
• 4 eggs
• 2 bananas
• 1tsp vanilla extract (NOT essence)
• 3 tbsp honey (or more, to taste)
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp cocoa (or more, to taste)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C.
2. Lightly toast the coconut until just golden.
3. Blend the toasted coconut until very fine.
4. Grease and line a square baking tin (the baking paper is important, otherwise it sticks).
5. Blend all the ingredients except the lemon juice/vinegar in the blender until smooth.
6. Add the vinegar/lemon juice and blend some more.
7. Pour the mixture into the baking tray and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, just until a skewer comes out clean. These should be a little moist.
8. Cool slightly then chop into squares and serve.

Chicken Banana Fritters

I know it sounds a little weird, and it took me a while to get my head around the idea, but these are actually delicious. The texture provides a useful and pleasant change in SCD, and this can be a good way to disguise eggs if your kids don't like them but aren't allergic. Plus they work well for any meal of the day! And they go far.

SCD Chicken Banana Fritters

Ingredients

• Four chicken pieces, broiled (we used drumsticks)
• Four eggs
• Two bananas
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Blend the ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
2. Heat a little oil in a pan (we recommend Olive Oil or Coconut Oil).
3. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil.
4. Lightly brown on both sides.
5. Salt to taste (optional).
6. Serve.

Yum!

SCD Birthday Cake

For Papa Bear's birthday the girls insisted that we should "let them eat cake!". So we did. It needed to be frosted, apparently, so we MacGuyvered a solution for that, too. We're so smart.

Here's how we did it:

SCD Pecan Nut Butter Cake with Marshmallow Frosting

Adapted from Grainfree Goodies' Nut Butter Bread recipe.

Cake Ingredients

• 1 cup of pecan nut butter
• 6 tbsp of raw honey (or to taste)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• A pinch of salt
• Cinnamon and ginger to taste (optional)
• Finely chopped dates (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Cake Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
2. Line a cake tin or small loaf tin with baking paper.
3. Blend all of the ingredients except the vinegar/lemon juice. (I used a blender).
4. Add the vinegar/lemon juice and blend thoroughly.
5. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the cake comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately turn it out onto wire racks to cool. Remove the paper from the sides as soon as you can otherwise it might flop.
7. Allow to cool.

Marshmallow Ingredients

(original recipe)

• 10g gelatin
• 1/4 cup ice water
• 1/4 cup raw honey (or to taste)
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (not vanilla essence - #Lethal)

Marshmallow Method

1. When the cake is cool, chill a large bowl and the beater attachments from your electric beater in the fridge for at least a few minutes.
2. Pour half of the water and all of the honey and salt into a small pot and bring it to a gentle boil.

At the same time ...

1. Dissolve the gelatin in the rest of the water in the chilled bowl.
2. Slowly pour the hot honey into the gelatin, beating gently.
3. When all the honey is in the bowl, increase the speed and beat the mixture thoroughly.
4. When the mixture resembles the soft-peak meringue stage, add the vanilla extract and beat some more. 
5. Be careful: after this it sets quickly. 
6. Beat the mixture until it reaches the "marshmallow fluff" stage.
7. Pour it over the cool cake and leave it to set.
8. Cut and serve

I think this would make a great Christmas treat: use a cake tin shaped like a hill. The brown cake looks like a mountain and the white marshmallow makes perfect snow. 

SCD Lasagne that packs a Carotenoid Punch

This month is birthday month in our household, with our two most severe ADD sufferers both advancing a year within a few days of each other. To celebrate, I always let them choose their favourite meal for supper on The Day. For some reason this year everyone has chosen lasagne. I blame Garfield!

This was no problem back in June when Red Riding Hood had her birthday, when we were gluten-free and dairy-free, but not SCD in any way, having never even heard of it. In fact, only I was gluten- and dairy-free, and my beloved wasn't free of anything at all!

However, fast forward to August where we're free of everything and both Papa Bear and Goldilocks have ordered lasagne! What's a girl to do? Why, make lasagne, of course. Here's how we did it:

SCD Lasagne

Lasagne sheets ingredients

• 1 whole, fresh butternut - NOT cubed or frozen (blegh!)

Lasagne sheet method

*This bit may need experimentation*

1. Make sure you have a sharp knife.
2. Peel the butternut thoroughly. Remove the hard bits at the top and bottom.
3. Halve the butternut lengthwise.
4. Now halve the round bottom half to expose the seeds.
5. Using a table spoon, thoroughly scrape out every last seed and all the fibre around the seeds.
6. Using ingenuity and skill (of which I have masses, naturally) slice the butternut into the largest, thinnest sheets you can. Actually, largest is less necessary than you'd think - about the size of the palm of your hand should do fine.
7. Now, the first time I did this, I managed to get the slices very thin, so they cooked well inside the lasagne. The second time - not so much. If you have this problem, try gently roasting or even lightly boiling the sheets before you use them to soften them up. Hard butternut is both not SCD legal, and gross-tasting.

Do the sheets first otherwise it's a real schlepp.

White sauce ingredients

• 1 cup of SCD yoghurt (don't sub any other kind - it's really not worth it)
• 1/4 cup (or more) of water
• 1/2 cup aged cheese (ours is four years old! I love the Farmers' Market for these kinds of things)
• Half a cauliflower (obvs organic if you can, but you may have to take what you can get)
• Salt and herbs to taste (I should have used garlic and basil, but made do with salt)
• Extra cheese for on top

White sauce method

1. Boil the cauliflower until it's tender (this took a while for us).
2. Blend the cheese, yoghurt, water, herbs and salt, and some of the cauliflower in a blender. Gradually add more and more of the cauliflower until the consistency looks like what you'd expect from white sauce, and is very smooth. 
3. You can also season it after you've reached the right consistency, to taste.
   

Meat sauce ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 500g minced beef (or any meat you'd prefer. Beware of "natural flavourings" in the ingredients. #Lethal)
• Salt & garlic to taste
• 1kg carrots (approximately 10 average-sized carrots), washed, peeled and chopped into discs
• 1 bunch of beetroot, washed, peeled and cubed
  

Meat sauce method

1. Heat a little oil in a pan (we recommend olive oil or, even better, coconut oil).
2. Chop the onion finely and brown it gently in the oil.
3. Add salt and garlic to taste (I always do it at this stage. Some people sweat against it, so go with what you prefer. This works for me).
4. Add the mince and brown it thoroughly.

At the same time ...

1. Steam the carrots until they are tender. I used a pressure cooker (brilliant!), but we sometimes use a pot with a little water, a microwave steamer, or even a bamboo steamer.
2. Boil the beetroot until it is very tender.
3. Mix the mince, carrots and beetroot together.
   

Compile the lasagne

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. In an oven-proof dish, spoon half of the mince mixture. 
3. Pour half of the white sauce onto the mince mixture.
4. Arrange the butternut sheets on top of this to cover it as well as possible.
5. Pour the rest of the mince sauce on top of the butternut sheets.
6. Spoon about 2/3 of the remaining white sauce on top of the mince, and top with more butternut. You only need one layer of butternut at a time.
7. Spread the rest of the white sauce as well as possible over the butternut, then top with as much cheese as you like.
8. Cook, covered, until the butternut is tender when poked with a fork.
9. Uncover it and grill for a few minutes, until the cheese bubbles and browns slightly.
10. Serve it!

Serves 8

Kentucky-style grilled chicken

In my ongoing pursuit for health and happiness in the absence of masses of what the world calls “wealth”, I subscribe to like-minded blogs and try to apply what I learn as I go along. Today I got an email from ModernChristianWomen for the recipe below, which looks and sounds delicious! I’m definitely going to try this one, and I thought you might like it too.

KENTUCKY STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN

This is one of those unique recipes that you have to try to believe it’s good.  The ingredients are a very unique combination (in my opinion – I’ve never had anything like it before!) but the result is an incredibly savory, smokey grilled flavor.  You can use this marinade on both chicken and turkey – I haven’t tried it on pork, but I think it would be delicious!  I have also tried this on fresh corn on the cob…very good!  This recipe is a really nice change of pace from the more traditional BBQ chicken or Italian Dressing marinated chicken.  My family requests it often – and I think yours will too!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cider vinegar


• 1/2 cup vegetable oil


• 5 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce


• 4 teaspoons hot sauce (I use Frank’s)


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1/2 teaspoon mustard (I used yellow, but feel free to experiment here!)


• 2 teaspoons salt


• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (or honey or your favorite sweetener)

METHOD

Combine all ingredients in a bow and mix well.  Add desired meat to 1 cup of mixture and let marinate for 4 hours.  Grill over medium heat for 20 minutes – turn and grill for 20 – 30 more minutes until juices run clear and meat is cooked through.  Baste occasionally with extra marinade. 

The total cost for this recipe is $.55 – pretty good deal!  I love that a few simple pantry ingredients combine to create an amazing meal! And the difference in cost between this recipe and a store-bought marinade is about $2.00.  GREAT savings!

First of all, I should admit that I have tried these kinds of flavour combinations before, so I know they work and taste awesome. Secondly, I have no idea how this recipe translates into rands. I’ll have to make it, calculate it, and update this post.

Enjoy!

Oh the depth of wickedness I have plumbed!

I have a very sweet tooth. It’s not a good thing, since sugar tends to make me squirly. (Although I am assured by my fans that it’s most amusing to watch!). I love chocolate. I loved fudge. I love condensed milk.

Fortunately, my allergies have been a strong deterrent. The sugar makes me squirly, as I’ve mentioned. Dairy does unkind things to my complexion, and the combination does both, with a side order of twitchy headache. It’s a good thing, because without symptoms I’d be gigantic. In fact, part of me is convinced that God got tired of trying to answer my prayer for will-power, so He gave me allergies instead. Effective.

Until today.

Dairy-free condensed milk. Toffee-like and delicious.That’s because a simple and poorly-intentioned Google search revealed the key to dairy-free desert nirvana: a simple recipe for making your own condensed milk! Oh wow. So I made some. Since I was experimenting with ingredients, I made less than the recipe suggested, but I will confess that as I write this, scarcely two hours since I started the experiment, there’s precious little of the gooey, toffee-coloured deliciousness left.

The original recipe can be found here, but this is what I did. (Heads up: this is an easy snack, but not a quick one).

Ingredients

• 1 litre dairy-free milk. I used soya milk, although I imagine rice or almond milk would work too.


• 1 cup granulated sugar -greatly reduced from the recipes I found online (can also use brown sugar). I totally used thick treacly sugar for this … *sigh* … Next time I might xylitol or even, if I’m feeling particularly adventurous, stevia.


• 1 tablespoon butter (Optional – to thicken the milk). I used margarine. I might omit this next time.

Thick and gooey and ickily sweet. Yumm.Method

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, bring the milk and the sugar to a boil over medium heat.


2. Reduce the heat to low and simmer very gently for about two hours (yeah, I know..) until the volume is reduced by half. The mixture should be barely simmering and never bubbling at any point. Stir every 15 minutes or so to keep the milk from forming the “skin” on top. I forgot to stir and the milk burnt slightly and turn yellowish instead of remaining white. The original author said this but I did the same thing, so I’m leaving it in.


3. After 2 hours, stir in butter.


4. Remove the pot from heat and let the milk cool. The mixture will thicken further after it has cooled. Try HARD not to eat the fresh, hot condensed milk. It does scald, although the sheer bliss masks the symptoms for a bit.

Cost-cutting cuisine

For as long as I can remember I have loved healthy food and been fanatical about nutrition. I think two key things contributed to this in my formative years. The first was that my brother has cystic fibrosis and so a lot of our early years revolved around what he could or couldn’t do or eat, where he could or couldn’t go, and so on. We knew a lot more about healthy nutrition at that age than any of our peers.

Secondly, our family has a colourful and diverse range of allergies and intolerances, so growing up involved a lot of careful juggling around what would fill us, taste good and not kill us! (That’s an exaggeration, you understand).

In my adult years I have become heavily dependent on truly brilliant supplementsthat keep us healthy and well (not just “not sick”). So much so, in fact, that I even share these great supplements with anyone who wants them, and after seeing the phenomenal turn around in our family’s health, that list includes pretty much most of the people we know.

Even so, however, good nutrition is about more than just popping pills. It’s also about what we do put into our bodies, and what we don’t. That’s why I try so hard to feed my family good, balanced, nutritious, low GI meals and healthy snacks as much as possible. We usually have masses of fruit in the house, and if there are biscuits I try to keep them low GI, gluten free, dairy free ones. Where possible I replace sugar with xylitol or honey.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like it would be a good idea to share some of my adventures here, on my blog. I am no Nigella, and not even much of a run-of-the-mill domestic goddess. Most of my meals fail on presentation, but at least they’re USUALLY delicious and almost always nutritious. Not to mention being super-affordable, which is key right now.

Here’s tonight’s offering:

Pasta with Lentil Mush (title needs work; suggestions welcome).

Slowly heat red lentils with salt and Italian herbs until very soft. Drain.
Cook gluten-free pasta to taste.
Roast some vegetables in the oven. Broccoli and courgettes work very well for this, as do carrots and beans.
Finely chop a large onion and braise until soft and transparent/golden, then add 2 chopped tomatoes, a coupe of peeled and chopped carrots, some ginger and some garlic (to taste).Add the lentils and mix well. Mix in the roasted veggies (try to get some of their “veggie juice”, too – yummy!).
When this mixture is thoroughly smooshy, add some good quality tomato sauce (rich in lycopene, an essential antioxidant).
You may want a little more tomato sauce for the colour.
Serve the lentil mixture on the pasta – hot!

We added Nando’s hot chilli sauce for the grown ups because a) Chillis are a good source of capsaicin, which is good for nasal and chest problems, and induces feelings of happiness as a result of the release of endorphines, and b) We love it! The girls had their’s neat.

Everyone said it tasted great. DH even had seconds … I don’t know if he actuallyrealised he was eating lentils!

I’d share a picture but we ate it all, sorry about that  .

The great thing about this meal is that it is full of goodness and low on cost. Seriously, we all have onions and lentils in the cupboard right? You can make anything with those two items alone. Kinda …

On a side note, don’t stint on tomato sauce. I know we’re all on budgets here, but a good tomato sauce is an awesome and worthwhile investment. The antioxidants are great for the whole family and many kids eat anything when it’s disguised in a tomato sauce super-hero cloak. The problem is that a cheap, synthetic tomato sauce is so bad for your family it would be better to feed the kids fries than to disguise broccoli in that swill.  I’m just saying.