Gingerbread Biscuits :)

140g Nutelex or other Butter replacement
1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
3/4 cup Golden Syrup
1 1/2 cups Wholemeal Spelt Flour
1 1/2 cups White Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp ground Ginger
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground Cloves
Currants and sliced dried apricot for decorations :)


Place Nutelex, Sugar and Syrup into mixing bowl and cream together;
Add Flours, Baking powder and Spices and mix to combine into a stiff dough;
Flour down your work surface and tip out dough;
Knead, roll out and cut into shapes!
Place onto greased / lined trays and decorate;
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 12 minutes.

Banana Blueberry Green Smoothie

3 Bananas
2 handfuls of frozen Blueberries
4 to 6 large Spinach leaves
About 1 cup of Liquid (Water, fresh apple juice, nut milk... choice is yours!) you may need to vary this quantity to get the consistency that you prefer.

Place all ingredients into a high power blender and process on high until you reach your desired consistency.
Awesome afternoon snack or breakfast for the kids :)

Pumpkin Soup!

Into the base of a large soup pan, place:
2 cloves Garlic;
1 inch piece of fresh Ginger Root, grated;
1 tsp Tumeric Powder;
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds;
Enough water to cover base;
Simmer and stir to make a paste, releasing the flavour of the spices!

Add:
1 whole butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cut into smallish chunks;
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped.
Stir veges through the spice paste.
Top up with 1 Litre vegetable stock and enough filtered water to cover.

Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer (covered) for half an hour.
Use a stick or jug blender to puree to your preferred consistency.

Sticky Date Coconut Rice

3 cups cooked Brown Rice

1 tin Ayam brand Coconut Cream

1 Tbsp Coconut Palm sugar

6 to 9 Medjool dates, finely chopped (yes, they turn into sticky clumps!)

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds

1 Tbsp Linseeds

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, gently bring to the boil while stirring.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Apple Crumble Yummm

This is a common weekend breakfast treat in our house, or even afternoon tea on a cold wintery day when Mummy has had the time to do it before school pick-up :)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Peel, core and chop 8 Granny Smith Apples, place into saucepan.
Add 4 curls of Lemon Peel (zest!) depending on taste preference.
[Optional addition of 4 Rhubarb Stalks cut into 1 inch chunks; or Stone Fruit such as nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums.  Whatever might be seasonal!]
Cover fruit with water.
Add 1 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar or other sweetener, stir to combine.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until all fruit pieces are well softened.

While fruit is stewing, get out a mixing bowl and put together:
1/2 cup Wholemeal (Spelt) Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Almonds, partially crushed/ground
1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 cup shredded / dessicated Coconut
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Take approximately 1 cup of cooked apple flesh from the stewing pan and puree.
Mix dry ingredients together, then add the apple sauce into the dry mix, stirring until it clumps nicely together. If extra liquid is necessary a dash of non-dairy milk will do the trick, even water would do in a pinch.

Use a slotted spoon or similar kitchen tool to move the remaining fruit mix from the saucepan to a pie dish, leaving the water behind.  It is up to you whether you want to pick out the lemon peel or let it remain for the full cooking process :)

Spread the crust mix evenly over the top of the fruit, place into the pre-heated oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Serve warm, accompanied by:

Coconut Cream!
Into a high powered blender place:
1 cup raw cashews
The juice and zest of 1 lemon
2-3 Medjool Dates
Water, enough to cover, with some on standby in case extra is needed for the desired consistency.

Lentil & Vegetable Pie

FILLING:

Cook 2 Cloves of Garlic, 1 tsp Cumin powder and a Slosh of Red Wine in a large frypan.

Add 2 Grated Carrots, 1 Grated Zucchini, 1 Grated Beetroot, 1 Tin of Organic Brown Lentils and cook, stirring, until they start to go limp.

Add 1 Bottle of Passata, and simmer, uncovered, to reduce.

Optional extras: Onion, Mushrooms, Celery, walnut chunks.

CRUST:

3 cups wholemeal flour (can substitute Spelt flour, or even part Almond meal)

3 Tablespoons Nutelex (adjust this amount if necessary to get a good mealy texture)

Enough rice/soy/almond/oat/cashew nut milk to bring the meal into a nice pliable dough.

Flour down a surface and turn the dough out, giving it a good knead.  break it into two portions, 1/3 and 2/3.

Roll the 2/3 out into an even(ish) circular shape, and use this to line the base of your greased pie dish.

Fill pie up with your saucy vege lentil goodness.

Roll the 1/3 out into another even(ish) cicle, and drape over the top of the pie.

Pinch around the edges of the pie to seal, make small air holes in the top, and brush down the top with milk.

BAKE:

In a 200 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

Vege Curry

This recipe is so flexible... I am sure that it is different every time I make it, but it always tastes pretty YUM :)

STARTER:
1 Brown Onion, finely minced
2 to 5 cloves of Garlic
Ginger root, about half an inch freshly grated
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
2 Tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tsp Tumeric Powder
1 Tsp Cardamom Pods
1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds

Place into large saucepan / soup pot and cover the base of the pan in water.  Cook while stirring until onions become translucent and you have a nice pasty texture.

VEGETABLES!
You can pretty much use whatever you want!  A few of our staple inclusions are:
Sweet Potato
Peas
Mushrooms
Squash
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots
1 Tin of Chick Peas
You are aiming to have enough veges to roughly fill a 2 to 3 Litre container.  Add them to the saucepan and toss them through the spice-paste.

SAUCE:
To your veges you want to add 1 bottle (700mL) of Passata and 1 tin of Coconut Cream, being careful to buy coconut cream that is 100% coconut Extract.  My favourite by far is the Ayam brand.  Add these, stir through well, bring to the boil, reduce heat, simmer covered for at least half an hour stirring occasionally!

SERVE?
Optional Brown Rice and Pappadams :)
Enjoy!

Bliss Balls!!

This recipe is an absolute regular feature in our house... here is our adaptation, based on the recipe from Bliss Cafe which can be found at http://blissorganiccafe.com.au/recipes.html

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup raw whole Almonds
2 cups pitted Medjool Dates
1 cup raw whole Walnuts
2 cups dried Goji berries
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pepitas
1/4 cup Shredded Coconut
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds
1/4 cup raw Cacao Powder
Extra Coconut for rolling balls in!

Combine ingredients one at a time in a food processor or high powered blender (love my Vitamix!) in the order listed.  All ingredients should become relatively well pureed and become quite a heavy sticky 'dough'.  Form balls of desired size and roll in the extra coconut.  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  Goes well with a nice cup/pot of green or herbal tea :)