Here is something I made with the delicious feijoas from my backyard tree! If you have some feijoas that you don’t know what to do with, perhaps give this recipe a go!

Recipe: Feijoa and Apple Crumble

Makes: 2 or 3 small serves.

Ingredients:

• 3 small apples
• 5 fejioas
• 2 tbsp. sultanas
• 1/2 orange, juiced
• 1 heaped tbsp. coconut/rapadura sugar
• 1 tsp. mixed spice

Crumble ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 4 tbsp. rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp. mixed spice
• 2 tbsp. dried coconut, shredded
• 1 tbsp. coconut/rapadura sugar

To serve: yoghurt or cream, plus a bit of extra mixed spice.

How to:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C. (fan-forced).
2. Rinse apples, then chop them up into small cubes (discard seeds and stem).
3. Peel the feijoas (discarding the peels), then cut up the flesh into similarly sized pieces.
4. Add the fruit to a pot with the orange juice, sugar and sultanas and cook for about 5 minutes on medium-low or until softened. Take off the heat and stir in the spice. Divide the fruit into a few ramekin containers.
5. Make the crumble: Melt the butter and mix in the rest of the crumble ingredients until all combined. Spoon the crumble mixture over the fruit in the ramekins. Bake the crumbles in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
6. Enjoy!

Oat-Free Crumble & Vegan Variation:

Ingredients:

Here is a delicious, warming soup recipe which I hope you will love as much as I did!

I’ve used sheep’s milk yoghurt in this recipe (as a garnish), but you’re welcome to use any other yoghurt you like instead. To make the yoghurt a bit more probiotic, you could mix in a bit of milk kefir into the yoghurt before adding it on top of the soup. I also added fresh mint and coriander on top as well as fresh chilli

Recipe: Veggie-Rich Lentil Soup with Sheep’s Milk Yoghurt & Herbs

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free, and can be dairy-free if coconut oil is used instead of butter and if yoghurt is discarded. This recipe is vegetarian and vegan-friendly (if no butter or yoghurt are used).

Makes: 2-4 bowls of soup depending on size

Ingredients:

• 1 purple onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp. coconut oil/butter
• spices: 1 tbsp. curry powder, 1 tsp. sweet paprika powder, 1 tsp. cumin powder & 1 tsp. salt
• 2 carrots, chopped and ends cut off
• 1/2 green capsicum, chopped into cubes (seeds discarded)
• 1 zucchini, chopped and end discarded
• ~ 1 handful long green beans, chopped and ends cut off
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 C. dried red lentils
• 1 can (~240g) french/green/puy lentils, drained and rinsed (you can use dried lentils, they will just need to be soaked for a few hours beforehand)
• ~4.5 C water
• Per each person: 1 or 2 leaves (or more) of swiss chard, torn
• To serve (per each person): a dollop of sheep’s milk yoghurt, some fresh mint, coriander, a bit of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. First prepare all the veggies as indicated above. If using dried french lentils, they are best soaked a few hours before cooking.
2. Heat the oil of choice and cook the onion and garlic on low heat. Then add the spices, salt, the rest of the veggies (carrots, green capsicum, zucchini, green beans).
3. Stir in the tomato paste, the dried red lentils and the french lentils and water. Note: I measured the water by eye; it was about 4.5 C. water. I added enough water so that it was a thick soup rather than a broth-y type soup. So adjust the water how you like.
4. Cook the soup with a lid on for around 1-1.5 hours, or until everything is soft.
5. Towards the end of cooking, stir in enough swiss chard for each person you are cooking for. Then top each bowl of soup with the sheep’s milk yoghurt, fresh mint & coriander, a dash of extra virgin olive oil.

In this post I’m going to tell you how to make pizza dough made from spelt and fermented with kefir!

You will need some kefir grains to make this. Alternatively you can use bottled kefir such as Babushka. However, it may not have the same range of pro-biotic strains as kefir that is made from kefir grains does.  Kefir grains are little cauliflower-looking, probiotic cultures as you can see in the picture below. Here is my post all about kefir and here is 80+ ways to use it!

Recipe: Kefir Spelt Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 C. wholemeal spelt flour (or sprouted grain flour)
• 3/4 C. dairy milk kefir
• a pinch of salt
• plus: pizza toppings of your choice

Directions:

1. Add the flour, kefir and salt to a bowl. Knead it form a dough.
2. Once the dough springy and doughy, add it to a bowl and place a tea towel over the bowl.
3. Leave to ferment for a few hours (I did around ~5 hours) in a warm spot (I left it near a sunny window).
4. When you’re ready to cook, break the dough into 2 or 3 pieces. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
5. Roll each piece into pizza shapes on a lightly floured surface.
6. Put the pizza dough on a lightly floured tray, and roll out dough until it forms a pizza-shape. Because of the density of wholemeal flour I like to roll out the dough quite thinly to form the pizza base.
7. Add the toppings to your pizza base and then cook in an oven at about 200 degrees C (or in hot a wood-fired oven) until it is cooked to how you like it.

Here is a quick and easy ice cream recipe (see the raspberry version here)  which uses fruit as a base instead of cream, sugar and eggs. I hope you like it!

Recipe: Berry and Banana Soft Serve

Recipe info/allergen info: This is gluten-free and can be made dairy-free if using dairy-free milk.

Serves: Makes one serve.

Ingredients:

• 1/4-1/2 C. milk (any kind you like: full fat dairy, coconut milk etc)
• 1 tsp. chia seeds
• a handful or so of frozen mixed berries
• a few slices of fresh banana

How to:

1.  Blend milk and chia seeds.
2. Add the berries and banana slices and blend until it becomes a soft serve texture/consistency. If you find it isn’t the texture you desire you can add more berries or banana; alternatively you can place the it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to harden a bit.
3. Enjoy!

Recipe: Bacon, Bean and Spinach Soup

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free. If you need to be really stringent about making this recipe gluten free: make sure the northern beans have been packed/processed away from gluten-containing grains. Also check that the bacon you use doesn’t contain any gluten-containing ingredients and check the same for the tomato paste, the molasses and mustard.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. dried great northern beans *These need to be soaked and cooked before hand- see below*
• 1 tbsp. butter or coconut oil
• 1 celery stalk, chopped (and leaves discarded)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 slices of bacon (I like this brand), chopped into small pieces
• 2 potatoes, washed and cubed
• 1 carrot, washed, cubed and end chopped off
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 4 C. filtered water
• 2 C. tomatoes, cut into small pieces/halves (for the cherry tomatoes) (I used a mix of fresh yellow & red cherry tomatoes and a regular whole fresh tomato)
• 1 tsp. mustard
• salt
• a handful of spinach (for each person), washed and dried.

How to:

*Preparing the great northern beans*:

Soak these beans in about 1.5 x the amount of water overnight (you can add a piece of kombu in the soaking water, if you like).

*Cooking the great northern beans*

Then, when ready to cook the beans: Discard the water. In a pot add 3 x the amount of water to the cup of beans and then boil the beans until very very soft (Don’t add any salt when it;’s cooking). Discard the cooking water.

1. Prepare the veggies: chop the celery & onion, potatoes, carrot and tomatoes. Crush the garlic. On a separate board, chop the bacon into small pieces.
2. In another large pot, melt the butter. Cook the onion, bacon and garlic. Now add the celery, potatoes, carrot and tomatoes. Add the bay leaf, tomato paste, molasses, mustard, water, cooked northern beans and salt.
3. Cook the soup until all the veggies and soft. (It took me about 45 minutes until everything became soft at about medium heat).
4. When ready to eat, add a handful of the spinach (washed and dried) per person in the pot. Leave it to wilt for a minute or two and then serve.
5. Enjoy!

Here is a delicious new recipe for you! In this pancake recipe I have used Oats (Avena sativa) instead of a refined flour wheat flour, which is commonly used in pancake recipes.  According to traditional herbal medicine, Oats are described as having the actions of a nervine tonic, tonic and thymoleptic which are properties that tone and nourish the nervous system.  Nutritionally, oats are rich in soluble fibre as well as nutrients such as calcium, potassium, phosphorous, iron, manganese, zinc; Vitamins A, B-complex, C, E and amino acids.

Above: Oats in the wild. 

In this oat pancake recipe I’ve used whole rolled oats but you might like to try using whole oat grains instead. If you do the later, please note the tips I’ve added in the recipe on how to do so.  Alternatively you can use quinoa flakes instead of rolled oats. This recipe also uses the fermentation of a sourdough starter to help break down anti-nutrients in the oats such as phytate as well as making the oats more nutritious and easy to digest. For more on fermentation have a read of the post by Helen Padarin.

Above: I served my pancakes with fresh sliced banana and a bit of honey. 

Recipe: Sourdough Oat Pancakes

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe may not be suitable for those with Celiac Disease or for those who are on gluten-free diets. This is suitable for those who follow a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. whole rolled oats (or whole oat grain) (or quinoa flakes)
• Enough water/milk to just cover the oats (some will be absorbed but that’s okay)
• 1 tbsp. sourdough starter (if kept in the fridge, leave it on the counter for a while to come to room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• milk (any kind you like)
• coconut oil or butter
• Fruit to serve

How to:

This recipe needs to be started at least a few hours before you want to make it (i.e. the night before) in order for the oats to have a good enough time to ferment.

1. Fermentation: Place the whole rolled oats (or whole oat grain) in a bowl and cover with enough milk or water to absorb and cover the oats. Stir in the sourdough starter into the oat-water/milk mixture until it is well mixed. Put a tea towel over the bowl, leave it on the counter and leave this to ferment overnight. Note: the whole oats may not absorb as much water as rolled oats so perhaps
2. Adding the rest of the ingredients: The next day the water/milk  should hopefully be all absorbed. Add this mixture into a blender along with 2 eggs and blend.
3. Now a few tablespoons at a time, add enough milk (You want enough milk to turn the pancake mixture into the consistency of pouring cream) into the blender & then blend.
4. Now it’s time to cook: Heat some butter in pain. When it’s melted, spoon about a few tablespoons or so of the pancake mixture onto the pan and cook until the pancake bubbles a bit (see below), flip over and cook on the other side until golden. Repeat this with the rest of the batter.
5. 
6. Serve with any fruit you desire and enjoy!

[Photo credit: Image: kibsri / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

[Photo credit 2: HealthFoodLover]

I love slow-cooking meats (see here) because it’s really only a few minutes of work and at the end of the day/cooking time you will have produced a flavourful delicious dish with little effort!

You can make this in the oven or a slow-cooker. Either way you cook it, the recipe is still really easy and very delicious.

Read my post on the benefits of consuming animal products here & read about the No-One-Diet Fits All Approach to Health.  

Above: Slow-cooked Pulled Hogget Shoulder on Sourdough Savoury Semolina Pancakes & Cauliflower Mash. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Recipe: Delicious Slow-Cooked Pulled Hogget Shoulder

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is suitable for those who follow the paleo-style diet and gluten-free diets, and dairy-free diets.

Ingredients:

• ~1.416 kg grass-fed hogget shoulder (you could also use another cut of beef or pork) (I got mine from Little Creek Cattle Company)
• spice mix: 1 tbsp. curry powder, 3 tbsp. sweet paprika powder, 1 tbsp. coriander powder, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. black strap molasses
• 1 tsp. chilli flakes
• 1 tsp. mustard
• water to cover 1/2 of the meat
• salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh coriander to serve
• water, extra

How to:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (fan-forced).
2. Mix the spice mix together. In a large enough zip-lock bag (big enough to fit the meat in) add the spices and then put the meat in the bag, seal it up and shake the bag around so the spices evenly cover the meat.
3. Chop the onion and put it in a crock pot (or slow cooker). Take the meat out of the zip lock bag and put it on top of the onions along with any remaining spice mix in the bag.
4. In a jug mix together the apple cider vinegar, black strap molasses, mustard and chilli flakes. Mix to dissolve the ingredients.  Add enough water into the jug that you think will be enough to 1/2- 3/4 cover the meat in the crock pot (i.e. the water level goes up to about 1/2 – 3/4 the height of the meat).
5. Put the lid on and leave to cook in the oven/slow cooker for 6-9 hours or until the meat is tender. Note: Every few hours you may need to add more water if the water level drops. It’s also a good idea to baste the meat with the liquid by spooning the liquid over the meat every few hours & you can also turn the meat around a few times too so it evenly cooks into the liquid.
6. When the meat is cooked through and very tender, using two forks (and careful not to burn yourself- the meat will be hot) pull apart the meat with the forks until it has all become shredded. Mix it back into the juices and then it’s ready to serve.
7. Serve with some fresh coriander and a delicious leafy green salad.

Enjoy!

I’ve mentioned before that I personally don’t consume grain products everyday (see sweet breakfast omelette – what to eat when you don’t eat toast), which is mostly due to the fact that most stores don’t carry products I deem worthy of consuming. For instance if you look at the label of  most commercial ‘sourdough’ breads, you may notice that there are around 30+ ingredients (most of these ingredients are not real food and are from refined products; sourdough should just contain a few ingredients  (yeast, water, flour and salt, usually)). These commercial grain products I usually find disapointing so I don’t buy them (they also aren’t that nutritious as well!).

Apart from slow-cooked oats, I like to have bread and other grain products as more of a treat, rather than an everyday staple (most are refined anyway). But if you make them yourself they can be so more nutritious & really delicious! As a treat,  I made a batch of delicious Hot Cross Buns (HCBs) for Good Friday. These HCBs were made using wholemeal spelt flour (rather than wheat), buttermilk for extra flavour and to help them rise and I added dates instead of sultanas or currants!  So if you would like a healthier while still delicious version of HCBs I hope you give these a go :).

Now onto the recipe…

Recipe: Buttermilk, Spelt and Date Hot Cross Buns

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe does contain gluten (so this recipe is not suitable for those who have issues with gluten/celiacs), dairy and eggs. It is lacto-ovo vegetarian-friendly.

This recipe is a little bit denser than regular HCBs due to the wholemeal spelt flour.

Makes: 6 HCBs.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. buttermilk (or the same volume of whole milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of active culture yoghurt or kefir)
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. yeast
• 1.5 C. wholemeal spelt flour (or sprouted spelt flour), sifted
• 2 tsp. mixed spice
• 1/2 C. coconut or rapadura sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 orange, zested
• 1/4. C. dates, pitted and chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp. of vanilla seeds
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
• milk, to glaze the HCBs

For the crosses:

• ~2 Tbsp. extra spelt flour
• 1 tsp. coconut sugar
• enough water to form a paste

How to:

1. Bloom the yeast: Heat the buttermilk in a saucepan on low heat till just warm. Turn off the heat and pour the warm buttermilk in a jug. Mix in the honey and sprinkle the yeast on the top of the buttermilk. Leave to bloom (it gets bubbly & the yeast gets activated) for around 10 minutes.
2. Sift dry ingredients: In a large bowl sift the spelt flour, coconut sugar and mixed spice. Stir in the fennel seeds, orange zest and chopped dates.
3. Mix wet ingredients: Beat the egg into the buttermilk and add the vanilla extract & melted and cooled butter. Pour the buttermilk-egg mixture into the flour.
4. Mix, Knead & Rise: Using clean hands (or a butter knife) begin to mix the mixture together. Knead it for a few minutes (I just kneaded it in the bowl) or until it becomes elastic (you may knead to add a bit of extra flour to the bowl or board if the dough is too sticky). Leave the kneaded ball of dough in the bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Leave this in a sunny warm position in your kitchen for around 2 hours (or overnight) or until it doubles in size.
5. Divide: When it has doubled in size, divide the ball of dough into six equal portions. Knead each individual portion once again until elastic.
6. Rise again & Preheat Oven: Place these pieces into your chosen greased baking tray (I used one around cm wide and cm high). Place each piece about 1-2cm apart. Place this tray covered with the tea towel again and leave to rise for another hour. In the last 10 minutes of rising preheat your oven to 160 degrees C.
7. Score & Bake:  Now get the tray with the dough balls in it and using a knife cut two lines across the top of each one to form a cross. Bake the HCBs in the oven for 15-25 minutes at 160 degrees C (fan-forced) or until they are light brown and cooked through. To test if they are cooked you can poke a skewer in one of them and if they are sticky then it isn’t quite ready yet.
8. Make cross mixture (optional): (in some of the HCBs I didn’t add the paste cross- see the 2nd picture) Make mixture for the ‘crosses’ by mixing together ~ 2 Tbsp. spelt flour, 1 tsp. coconut sugar and enough water to form a thick paste.  In the last 6 or so minutes left of cooking the HCBs pipe the cross mixture into the scored crosses and spoon/brush a little bit of milk over the HCBs. Bake until they are cooked through.
9. Serve when hot with a bit of butter.
10. Enjoy!

Update 6/4/12: Variation – Homemade Buttermilk, Spelt and Date Hot Cross Buns (With Chocolate!)

How I modified the above recipe:

• For the first rise I left it to rise & ferment overnight (rather than the 2 hours below) at step 4.
• I’ve made a varation on the above recipe my adding 1/4 C. of G & B organic milk chocolate (chopped into small pieces) to step 5 (I worked the chocolate chips into each of the 6 pieces of dough).

Whether or not you celebrate Easter/Passover I hope you enjoy the long weekend!

Since I made the 2 ingredient raw chocolate mousse (below) I have been dreaming of making the mixture into a delicious chocolate and coconut mousse tart! So, that’s what I did!

I combined the chocolate mousse recipe with the  date caramel from the almond chocolate cake (aka. the Mocha Brownie Cake)  I made some time ago.

I wanted to make the base quite simple so I used coconut as the main ingredient (the base was inspired by the coconut pumpkin pie (below)).

This also makes the base (as well as the whole recipe) gluten-free. It is also dairy-free.

And refined-sugar free.

Above: the tartlets before they were put in the fridge to set.

Above + below: The Chocolate and Coconut Fudge Tartlets (with a date caramel layer) after they have set.

I dusted them with a bit of cocoa powder and they were ready to eat. Both my taste testers really liked them so I hope you will too!

So please try out my recipe for Chocolate Coconut Fudge Mousse and Date Caramel Tartlets and let me know how they go!

Recipe: Chocolate, Coconut Fudge Mousse and Date Caramel Tartlets

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free.

Makes: around 9 or so tartlets (depending on how big or small you make the tarlets) + left over chocolate coconut fudge mousse.

For the tartlet shells:

Ingredients:

• 50g dried unsweetened coconut
• 1 tbsp. coconut sugar
• 2 egg white
• 1 egg yolk

How to:

1. Grind coconut in a coffee grinder (or small food processor) or until it resembles a coarse meal.
2. Add the coconut sugar to the dried coconut.
3. Lightly whip the egg whites and mix the coconut sugar-coconut mix into the egg whites.
4. Lightly beat the egg yolk and mix it in.
5. Grease a tray with coconut oil and put about a teaspoon in each of tartlet holes in the tray. Mould the mixture in each compartment of the tartlet tray.
6. Then cook the tartlet shells for around 10 minutes at 170 degrees C or until lightly browned.
7. Using a spoon take out each tart shell in the tray and leave to cool.

Above: the tart shells after baking and cooling.

For the Date Caramel layer:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. dates, chopped into small pieces and soaked in a bit of water

How to:

1. Chop about 1/2 C. dates that have been soaking in a tablespoon or so of water to soften for about an hour.
2. Then in a food processor blend the dates and water until a smooth date caramel-like consistency forms.
3. Now put about 1/2 a tsp. of the date caramel in each cooled tart shell.

For the Chocolate Coconut Fudge Mousse layer:

Ingredients:

• coconut meat and water of 1 young coconut (here is ‘how-to’ video on how to open a young coconut)
• 1-2 tbsp. of cacao/cocoa powder (more or less depending on how chocolately you like it).
• 1 or 2 dates to sweeten (optional)

Note: this amount will make much more than the amount you will need for the tartlets.

How to:

1. Blend together the coconut meat and water of the young coconut and the dates to sweeten (if using).
2. Add the cacao/cocoa powder and blend until you have a thick mousse-like texture.
3. Now spoon this mixture into the tartlets. Put the tartlets back into the tray and leave the tartlets in the fridge to chill and set.
4. Enjoy!

 

Panisse are a type of delicious french chick pea chip (or fry for our US friends). Normally these are made with chickpea flour (besan/garbanzo flour) but me being the lover of whole, real food and the nutrition-maximizing gal I am, I made them using the whole chickpea and sprouted them myself. (Here is a little guide on sprouting legumes, beans, nuts and seeds). So I hope you enjoy this slightly healthier take on Panisse and please let me know what you think!

Recipe: Sprouted (or Soaked) Chickpea Panisse

Ingredients:

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• water (to soak or sprout the chickpeas)
• water extra
• a small amount of olive oil
• coconut oil/ghee/butter to cook the panisse
• salt, freshy cracked pepper and freshly ground coriander seed, to serve

How to:

1. Soak the dried chickpeas in water for a day or two. When they’re soft, you can drain the water away and use them (see step 2) or you can continue and sprout them by rinsing the chickpeas in water a few times a day for a few days until they sprout.
2. Now if you’re ready to cook: drain any remaining water away from the chickpeas and give them another rinse and drain the water away again. Add these chickpeas to a blender or food processor and add enough water form a watery mixture. Blend until smooth. Don’t worry if you add too much water- it will cook away (see next step).
3. Now add this mixture to a saucepan and on low heat and whisk it until it forms a thick porridge-like mixture.
4. Get a large-enough plate and spread a bit of olive oil on it. Now spread the chickpea mixture onto the plate and cover it with another similarly-sized plate or cling wrap and place this in the fridge to set until firm. Then cut this mixture into chip/fries sized pieces.
5. When it is firm, it’s time to cook! Heat a small amount of your fat of choice in a cast-iron pan and cook the chips on both sides until golden.
6. When they are all cooked, sprinkle them with a bit of salt, freshly cracked pepper and freshly ground coriander seed.
7. Enjoy!