Homemade orange tea

I've recently started to make my own teas, rather than buy dehydrated, over-processed bags from the shop. Fruit and herbs teas are made from the same ingredients as juices or soups. The major difference is that the pieces have been finely diced, dehydrated and had, in some cases, preservatives mixed in. The real irony is the same ingredients in the tea bag often get chucked out in the food waste bin.  For example, if you want orange tea all you need is orange rind.  Stick into in a small pan with water a sugar to taste and a few minutes later you have orange tea. Great part of a healthy diet as the rind has plenty of various vitamins and minerals that usually end up tossed.

Other suggestions for old rind

Candied - Boil to soften then roll in raw sugar

Addition to stir fries and salads.

Almond pancakes

Today's sweet treat is an Almond flavored pancake.  For a healthy but slightly more expensive recipe you could use actual almonds - i will add a note on variations after initial recipe.

Ingredients

3/4 gluten-free flour

1/2 milk or dairy alternative

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 almond essence

1 tsp golden syrup.

Directions

1 mix flour and spice in a bowl.  

2 heat milk until it is warm - not hot!  Stir the golden syrup and almond essence into the warm milk. 

3 Stir the milk mixture into bowl until you have a thick batter. 

4 Fry in oil until cooked - turning the pancake when you see 'bubbles' on the uncooked surface.

Variations

Using Marzipan

Grate up roughly a tbs of mazipan (depends on taste at this point) and mix it in at stage 3.

Using chopped almonds

Straight forward option - mix in at stage 3.

Almond puree

Soak a handful of fresh almonds in water overnight.  Puree in a blender with a small amount of milk alternative of your choice.  Mix into recipe as normal.  Please note that this option adds to the liquid content of the pancake batter, so you therefore may wish to adjust accordingly.

Lemon drizzle crepe

Today's brekky as featured above - crepe with lemon drizzle.  Was soooo yummy.  *drools*

Ingredients

Crepe

1 cup Gluten-free flour

1 1/2 milk or alternative

1 teaspoon golden syrup

1 teaspoon all spice

Lemon drizzle

Golden syrup

lemon juice

Directions

Heat milk so that is warm, but not hot, and stir in golden syrup.  Blend flour and all all spice in a mixing bowl.  Mix milk into flour, stirring well.

Heat up oil in a frying pan.  Pour batter into pan.  Flip when almost done.  After browning both sides plate up the crepe.

While the crepe is still hot drizzled golden syrup and lemon juice onto on side of crepe.  Roll up the pancake and your crepe is ready.

Orgran

Orgran egg replacer is a natural alternative to eggs.  It can be used in cakes, muffins meringues ect. the list goes on.  I can't say it's an ideal substitute for eggs, however it mimics the addition of eggs quite nicely for a powder that is made primarily of potatoes.  I have found it improves the texture of my gluten-free recipes nearly as well as eggs with the horrible after affects of having the eggs themselves.  It's no worse the substituting soy milk for cows milk.

Orgran no egg can be found in most health food stores, and if you haven't tried it I suggest looking it up.

Basil Pesto; Dairy free

Pesto is a tasty and highly nutritious pasta sauce, but it is always frustrating that commercial brands contain cheese.  Depending on your level of sensitivity to lactose/dairy, the level/kind of cheese contained in pesto can irritate the digestive tract.  If you find this is the case then this recipe can be a nice substitute to classic pesto.  I found this recipe at Vegan Spoonful. Other recipes can also be found on many vegan sites.  If you dislike the taste of the yeast, this item can be left out.  Once you have your pesto simply stir t through some cooked pasta. :)

Ingredients:

Basil; 3 cups

Garlic; 2-3 large cloves

raw pine nuts; 6 tablespoons

salt; 1 teaspoon

olive oil; 6 tablespoons

nutritional yeast; 1/4 cup

Directions:

Place the nuts, basil, garlic and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until finely chopped.  Add the olive oil and blend again.  Finally, add the yeast and blend until the pesto becomes creamy.

Chickpea and sweet corn bolognese; gluten-free, vegan

I have a very strict budget currently.  Not only do I have to make every meal at home but I'm also forced to resorting to cheaper recipes.  This was a excellent solution to both while remaining allergen friendly.  It is high in protein and high in nutritional content.  It's simple, tasty and very filling.

Ingredients:

Tinned tomatoes; 400g
Onion; 1, small, diced
Garlic cloves; 5, peeled and diced
Tarragon; 1 teaspoon
Sage; 1 teaspoon
Sweet-corn; 330g; drained
Mushrooms; 3 medium sized, diced
Tinned Chickpeas; 400g, rinsed and drained
Gluten free pasta; Cooked

Directions:

On medium heat, gently cook the onion.  Add the tinned tomatoes, juice and all. Add the herbs, garlic, sweet-corn, chickpeas, mushrooms. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.  Stir through warm, cooked pasta and serve.

Spiced Banana Muffins

More evidence of my banana obsession.  But, hey, they are really good for you.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 2 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicerbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
3 large Bananas; Mashed, 1 1/2 cups
Cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger; minced, 1/2 teaspoon

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb and spices.  Mix in the soy milk thouroughly; an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Mash the banana in a seperate bowl and stir it into the muffin mix.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven. The Muffins will be ready when a poker through the center comes away clean.

Spiced Blueberry muffins

A simple twist on classic blueberry muffins. :)  Absolutely yummy with honey or jam.

Ingrediants:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 3 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicerbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
Blueberries, 1 1/2 cups
Cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger; minced, 1/2 teaspoon

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb and spices.  Mix in the soy milk thouroughly; an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Gently stir in the blueberries,  with care as blueberies bruise easily.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven. The Muffins will be ready when a poker through the center comes away clean.

Mud Muffin

Breakfast sized mud-cakes.  Who would resist these. :)

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 3 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicarbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
Vegan Chocolate block; broken into chunks

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar and bicarb.  Mix in 2 cups of soy milk thouroughly; an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Half fill a pan with water and cover with a glass bowl.  Place the pan on the stove to boil and melt the chocolate chunks in the bowl.  As the chocolate melts mix in the remainder of the milk.  When the chocolate as completely mixed ith the milk remove the pan from the stove.  Allow the choclate to cool slightly and then mix it into the muffin batter.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven. The Muffins will be ready when a poker through the center comes away clean.

Banana Coconut Muffins; Gluten, dairy, and egg free.

This is the first of my muffin series, continuing my banana obsession.  It's a sweet way to get fruit into your brekky.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour, 2 cups
Soy Milk, 2 cups.
Egg replacer, 2 teaspoons
Bicarbonate of soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Sugar, 1 cup
3 Ripe bananas
Desicated coconut, 1/2 cup

Directions:

Pre-heat the over to 180 degrees. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir the egg replacer, sugar, bicarb, and desicated coconut.  Mix the soy milk thouroughly, an electric mixer may need to be used as gluten-free flour has a tendendcy to form lumps.  Mash the bananas in a seperate bowl and then stir the mash into the muffin mixture.  Grease a muffin tray or two.  If you have muffin paper cups it is advisable to line the muffin tray with these as it makes it easier to remove the muffins from the tray.  Place the muffin mixture into the lined trays and pop into the oven.

The benefits of cereal

I went off cereal for a very long time.  This is partly because my dairy allergy was not fully picked up on until I was well into my 20's.  Having cereal with cow's milk when you're allergic to it is just a recipe for a bad tummy.  Needless to say, that for quite a while the thought of eating a bowl of cereal was enough to make me feel ill.  However, I have recently started eating it again and realised there were benefits. :)

1) It's cheap.  No-Brainer there.  A 500g box of Gluten-free cornflakes will last me 7-10 days.

2)  It's simple.  There's no possible way it can upset your stomach unless you are actually allergic to one of the ingredients.

3)  Cereals are mostly starchy carbohydrates rather then sugar.  This is an important point in that quite often nutritionist will tell you how sugary cereals can be.  Coco pops, for example, has 35g of sugar per 100g.  On the offset, this sounds like a lot.  What people don't realised that this sugar content is halved when milk is added; slowing down the overall absorption of the sugar and giving your body time to burn it off before converting it to fat.

4)  Most cereals are fortified.  Those of us with dairy allergies can really struggle to meet our daily calcium requirements.  Most cereals now contain 57% of the Recommended Daily intake of calcium.  Making it just that bit easier to get enough calcium.  Fortified cereals also contain Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, B2, Folic Acid, B12, and Iron.

Apple Crumble: Gluten-free and Dairy-free

I won't lie, this is a damn easy recipe to make.  It was one of the first deserts I learnt how to cook when I had to go one a gluten free diet.  Apple crumble is dead simple and oh so very cheap.  It also so very yummy.

Ingredients

For Crumble
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
200-250grams margarine
3/4 cups sugar.
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cloves.

For Filling
6-8 Apples
1/2 cups sugar
20 Grams fresh or minced ginger.

Preparation directions

Peel, core and finely slice the apples.  If you are using fresh ginger, peel and dice the ginger as finely as possible.  Mix the apple, sugar and ginger together and spread this apple mixture on to a greased baking tin.  Cover the tin and set aside for the moment.

Sift the gluten-free flour into a mixing bowl.  Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and the cloves into the flour; ensuring the sugar and cinnamon are as evenly mixed into the flour as possible.  Begin to rub the margarine into the flour mix until it is fully mixed together.

Home made bread: Gluten-free, Egg-free

The most satisfying bread is home made bread, this is just as true for gluten free bread.  Unfortunately most recipes involve the use of eggs, making the it difficult for those of us with egg intolerances and those celiacs who happen to be vegan.  Eggs happen to be added to the dough to reduce the crumbling of the bread so there is not an option of removing the eggs without a substitute.  Luckily, I happened upon an egg replacer at my local speciality store.  After a little experimenting I finished with this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Gluten free flour
1 teaspoon Yeast
Warm water (3 cups, not all of this will be used).
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Egg replacer.
1 tablespoon oil


Preparation:

Before begining it is best to sit the ingredients out so that the reach a temperature between 20-37 degrees Celsius.  This will aid the rising process as this temperature range allows for optimal yeast growth.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a loaf tin.  When the ingredients have reached the optimal temperature sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast, sugar, salt, and the egg replacer.  Mix these ingrediants thoroughly.  Once the yeast is deposited evenly through the flour slowly begin to mix the warm water into the the flour.  Do this in stages.  You will know there is enough water in the dough mix when it gathers into a lump. When this occurs place the bread dough in the greased loaf tin.  Cover the tin and leave to sit in a warm spot for an hour to allow the dough to rise.  Then place the tin in the oven until the bread is cooked to the centre.

Variation tips:  For yummy alternatives try adding seeds or herds to the bread mix.

Slicing tips:  Gluten free bread is notoriously crumbly even with eggs/egg replacer in the mix.  The best way to slice bread is to use a serrated knife to gently saw through the loaf.