Tag: food

Baked Meatballs (easy to make)

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Baked Meatballs

Baked Meatballs & Onion Rings

I haven’t made meatballs in the past; for some reason I thought they would be really tricky to make. I found these to be super easy and have now made them both in passata and oven baked. The two cooking styles create different textures – if you cook in oven they will be drier and denser (good to dip in an accompanying sauce) whereas meatballs cooked in passata they will have a softer, moister mouthfeel. Both ways are great!

This recipe will make a big batch of meatballs so feel free to halve it if desired (or to cook half in oven and half in passata to enjoy both styles!)

Tip: Baked meatballs are really just little round sausages (a great way to market them to toddlers) so they are easy to play around with flavours. Why not try Lamb & Cumin, Chicken & Cranberry, or Pork & Apple instead of the traditional Beef & Onion!

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 150g breadcrumbs / gluten-free breadcrumbs / cooked quinoa
  • 3/4c milk / almond or rice milk
  • 600g beef mince (ground beef)
  • 1 small finely chopped onion
  • Optional: 1/2c parmesan cheese (powder or finely grated)
  • 1T ground chia seeds
  • Salt & pepper
  • Parsley (dried or finely chopped fresh)
  • Chives (dried or finely chopped fresh)
  • Garlic (dried granules or crushed fresh garlic)

Allergies: gluten free*, dairy free*, egg free, soy free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 180’C.
  2. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk until the liquid has been absorbed.
    • If you’re using cooked quinoa instead: put the quinoa in the mixing bowl for the next step and add the milk after the other ingredients are roughly combined (you may not need to add all the milk).
  3. In a large mixing bowl, add all of the meatball ingredients (including the soaked breadcrumbs). Mix until combined. The mixture will be a little sticky but should be thick and not overly wet.
  4. Lightly oil your hands and roll meatballs; I like to do lots of small ones (approx. 2T of meat mix). Sit the rolled meatballs on a sheet of baking paper (on an oven tray).
  5. Bake for 18-25 minutes (or until no longer pink in the middle).
  6. Serve as a snack with a dipping sauce, or serve with pasta sauce and spaghetti, gluten-free pasta, or rice noodles.

Tender and delicious Italian American meatballs in tomato passata

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Gluten Free Italian American Meatballs in Pasta Sauce

Gluten Free Italian American Meatballs in Pasta Sauce

I haven’t made meatballs in the past; for some reason I thought they would be really tricky to make. I found these to be super easy and have now made them both in passata and oven baked. The two cooking styles create different textures – if you cook in passata they will have a softer, moister mouthfeel whereas oven baked meatballs will be drier and denser (good to dip in an accompanying sauce). Both ways are great!

This recipe will make a big batch of meatballs so feel free to halve it if desired (or to cook half in passata and half in the oven to enjoy both styles!)

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 150g breadcrumbs / gluten-free breadcrumbs / cooked quinoa
  • 3/4c milk / almond or rice milk
  • 600g beef mince (ground beef)
  • 1 small finely chopped onion
  • Optional: 1/2c parmesan cheese (powder or finely grated)
  • 1T ground chia seeds
  • Salt & pepper
  • Parsley (dried or finely chopped fresh)
  • Chives (dried or finely chopped fresh)
  • Garlic (dried granules or crushed fresh garlic)

Tomato Passata

  • 2x 700g jar tomato passata
  • Fresh basil (finely chopped)
  • Sugar
  • Salt & Pepper

Allergies: gluten free*, dairy free*, egg free, soy free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk until the liquid has been absorbed.
    • If you’re using cooked quinoa instead: put the quinoa in the mixing bowl for the next step and add the milk after the other ingredients are roughly combined (you may not need to add all the milk).
    • You can do Steps 2 & 3 while the breadcrumbs are soaking. The pasta sauce will then simmer while you carry on making the meatballs.
  2. In a large pot (or electric wok), mix the tomato passata, basil, sugar, salt, pepper to your taste.
  3. Bring the sauce to a boil over a medium heat and then reduce to simmer.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, add all of the meatball ingredients (including the soaked breadcrumbs). Mix until combined. The mixture will be a little sticky but should be thick and not overly wet.
  5. Lightly oil your hands and roll meatballs; I like to do lots of small ones (approx. 2T of meat mix). You can sit the rolled meatballs on a sheet of baking paper or a lightly oiled plate until you’re ready to cook them.
  6. Add the meatballs to the simmering sauce.
  7. Give a gentle stir after 5 minutes. Cover and simmer for another 35 minutes.
  8. Remove the lid and simmer for another 5 minutes.
  9. Serve with spaghetti, gluten-free pasta, or rice noodles.

 

Gluten Free Berry Muffins

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Gluten Free Berry Muffins

Gluten Free Berry Muffins

I love experimenting with gluten free flours. This is a different recipe again from the gluten free Vanilla Cupcakes and moist Chocolate Cupcakes. I was really stoked as Miss 2 kept asking for more of the mini ones and her playdate didn’t notice they were gluten free!

Like most gluten free baking, these are best served same (or next day); I free flow the rest in the freezer and pull them out as needed.

Ingredients

Group 1

  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil (like Rice Bran oil)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Generous pinch ground cinnamon

Group 2

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup superfine white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup garbanzo flour (also called chickpea flour)
  • 1/4 cup oat flour
  • 1T sweet (glutinous) rice flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch (cornflour)
  • 1/2 tsp guar gum
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2T Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Other ingredients

  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup frozen berries
    • I recommend raspberries and blueberries.
  • Raw unrefined coconut sugar

Allergies: dairy free, soy free, gluten free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180’C.
  2. Whisk together the ingredients in Group 1. This helps to aerate the mix. You can use a stick blender or I used the food processor (with a plastic mixing attachment, not a metal cutting blade!).
  3. Sift together the ingredients in Group 2.
  4. Mix the combined dry ingredients into the whisked liquid.
  5. Prepare the frozen berries and mix in gently.
    • Raspberries crush really easily into tiny teardrops (which provide a pretty pink speckled effect when baked); blueberries are already a good size; boysenberries are large enough to need cutting in half.
  6. Pour into cupcake / muffin trays.
    • I made 6 large and 12 mini cupcakes.
  7. Preheat the oven to 180’C. The mixture will thicken slightly while the oven heats.
    • The mix will appear very runny compared to a gluten mix – the rice flour and cornstarch will cause it to thicken as it cooks.
  8. Bake at 180’c for approx. 25-35 mins or until cooked.
    • I found the mini muffins took 25 mins and the normal ones took 35 mins.

 

Icing 

I liked these with dusted with coconut sugar. I pulled them out of the oven after approx. 15 minutes (once they had risen), dusted with coconut sugar, and then placed back in the oven to finish baking.

I also have recipes for other icings that don’t use any artificial colours, glycerin, additives etc.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing (allergy friendly)

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Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This is a great frosting to use with Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes, the Crazy One Dish Chocolate Cake, or the Chocolate Irish Potato Cake (vegan).

Ingredients

  • 115g softened butter, or allergy friendly spread like Nuttelex
  • 2 cups icing sugar
  • 1/2 cup Dutch Cocoa Powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 – 3 Tbsp milk (dairy, rice, or coconut)
  • Optional: 1/2 tsp espresso powder

Allergies: gluten free, dairy free*, soy free, egg free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Whip the butter.
  2. Sift in 1 cup icing sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Add the vanilla and milk.
  3. Beat until smooth.
  4. Slowly beat in the rest of the icing sugar to give a good consistency for frosting.

How to make allergy free Peppermint icing

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After Dinner Mint Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free!)

After Dinner Mint Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free!)

It continually amazes me how many products contain hidden sources of soy. I wanted to make a peppermint icing but Natural Peppermint Essence at the supermarket contains: Glycerine, Alcohol, Water, Peppermint Oil. That might not sound so bad but our lengthy food allergy journey had me wondering what Glycerine actually is.  Research shows it’s sometimes made from animal fat but mostly it’s made from vegetable oil..with soybean oil being extremely likely.

I liked this on the Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes 🙂

Ingredients

  • 100% Peppermint herbal tea bag
  • Boiling water
  • Icing sugar

Directions

  1. Steep the tea bag in 1/4 cup boiling water.
  2. Make your cupcakes. (This gives the peppermint time to steep and the water time to cool.)
  3. Slowly mix the peppermint water into icing sugar.
  4. Ice your cooled cupcakes. We like them on gluten free Chocolate Cupcakes.

Note: Herbal / fruit teas work to create other flavour icings as well. Check out this naturally pink icing on vanilla Gluten Free cupcakes.

Moist & delicious Chocolate Cupcakes (gluten free!)

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After Dinner Mint Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free!)
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

I love chocolate. I’ve posted a few chocolate recipes like the Crazy One Dish Chocolate Cake and the Chocolate Irish Potato Cake, and I’ve posted some make-from-scratch gluten free recipes like the Vanilla Cupcakes and the all natural pink berry flavoured icing. I wanted to play around in the kitchen with some different gluten free ingredients and make a wonderfully chocolatey and moist cupcake that also wouldn’t be packed with sugar – I prefer to balance my cakes so there’s more chocolate flavour in the cake and then extra sweetness in the (optional) icing. Miss 2 loved these with all natural peppermint icing or the Chocolate Buttercream icing (dairy free).

Ingredients

Group 1

  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 tsp instant coffee powder
  • 1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil (like Rice Bran oil)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Generous pinch ground cinnamon

Group 2

Allergies: dairy free, soy free, gluten free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180’C.
  2. Whisk together the ingredients in Group 1. This helps to aerate the mix. You can use a stick blender or I used the food processor (with a plastic mixing attachment, not a metal cutting blade!).
  3. Sift together the ingredients in Group 2.
  4. Mix the combined dry ingredients into the whisked liquid.
  5. Pour into cupcake cases (makes about a dozen). Bake at 180’c for approx. 25-30 mins or until cooked.
  6. Allow to cool before icing. (We liked combining these with an all natural peppermint icing!).

 

Icing 

The icings that I use don’t have any artificial colours, glycerin, additives etc.

Gluten Free Pina Colada Cookies

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Gluten Free Pina Colada Cookies

Gluten Free Pina Colada Cookies!

These Gluten Free Pina Colada cookies (UK/USA)  are a light fluffy cookie that I don’t think most people realize are gluten free when eating them! They use the Gluten Free Vanilla Cookie recipe as a base but the variations make this a moister cookie (as well as tasting of the sunny tropics). These are very welcome to add a bit of sunshine to a cold winter day and also make a great tropical treat for birthday parties!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup superfine white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup Healtheries Gluten Free Bread Mix
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 Tbsp butter or allergy-free spread (i.e. Nuttelex)
  • 1 egg (whisked) or egg replacement.
  • 2 Tbsp greek yoghurt / coconut yoghurt / coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup dessicated coconut
  • 1/4 cup pineapple (crushed and drained)

Allergies: gluten free, dairy free*, egg free*, soy free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Cream the ‘butter’ and sugar. Mix in the egg.
  2. Mix in the rice flour, GF bread mix, baking powder. baking soda, yoghurt, coconut, and pineapple.
  3. Spoon out onto lightly oiled baking tray and flatten slightly.
  4. Bake at 180’C for approx. 15-20 mins (or until golden brown).

Makes approximately 12 cookies.

Note: There are several reasons that I choose to use the Healtheries Gluten Free Bread Mix instead of the Healtheries Gluten Free Baking Mix.

I prefer to use guar gum in my recipes and avoid xanthan gum; the latter is artificially derived and is often grown on an allergenic base (such as corn, soy, or wheat).

I like to control the rising agents in my baking so that I can tailor them to each recipe.

Frugality! The Bread Mix can be used to make both Gluten Free Bread and Gluten Free Baking whereas their Baking Mix can only be used for baking.

Pan fried fish, coconut rice, seared mango, and stir fried green beans

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Pan fried fish, coconut rice, seared mango, and stir fried green beans

Pan fried fish, coconut rice, seared mango, and stir fried green beans

This is the best coconut rice I’ve made and it turns out the secret was unrefined raw coconut sugar. I cooked basmati rice (in the rice cooker) with 200ml coconut milk + water, approx. 1T coconut sugar, and salt. This gave the rice a beautiful light brown colour and a lightly sweet coconut taste that paired well with the chilli.

I stir fried the fresh green runner beans in rice bran oil, garlic, and chilli. The slices of firm mango were next (picking up the rest of the chilli), followed by the ruby (fish) fillets.

Miss 2 loved this dish so much that she asked for more rice and ate it all up! An easy and tasty gluten free dish!

Allergies: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, nut free.

Highlights for May (collected recipes & posts)

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Homemade Mayonnaise
Gluten Free Cupcakes with all natural pink icing
Gluten Free Vanilla Cookies are the base recipe for making Pina Colada Cookies!
Cinnamon Playdough
Superhero smoothie
Failsafe Rehydration Therapeutic Tonic
Choko pikekets (apple pie style!)
Candied Salted Caramel Pumpkin Seeds
What do swollen adenoids look like?
What does croup look like in toddlers?
What methods can we use for potty training?
Annatto Seeds
Making rainbow crayons
Home Remedy Porridge with Slippery Elm
Pan fried fish, coconut rice, seared mango, and stir fried green beans
Crispy Asian Pork Belly
Choko
Yummy Gluten Free Pikelets (light & fluffy)

ALLERGY FRIENDLY COOKING

BAKING & DESSERTS

MEALS

PARENTING

PLAY

HEALTH

Homemade Mayonnaise!

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Homemade Mayonnaise
Smooth and creamy mayonnaise

The great thing about homemade mayonnaise is that it’s quick to whip up and you can alter it to suit your tastes. You can make a mild and creamy hollandaise sauce type mayo to dip fries in, a mustard & tarragon mayo to go with chicken, or add dill / parsely to serve with fish.

It’s also a blessing if your family has food allergies because you have control of all the ingredients that go in. A soy allergy that doesn’t allow for vegetable oil, emulsifiers, or xanthan gum makes finding a safe store-bought mayo difficult! Miss 2 was still sensitive to the synthetic antioxidants, sulphites, and preservatives in the sauces that we could try. We’ve now moved to an RPAH Failsafe Diet exclusion of additives which means making sauces from scratch.

 

Ingredients

  • 2 medium eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 cup of neutral oil
    • i.e. 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil + 1/2 cup rice bran oil, or 1/2 cup olive oil + 1/2 cup coconut oil, or 1 cup avocado oil.
  • 2 – 3 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice (or 1/4 tsp citric acid)
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • Optional: 1 tsp dried garlic granules, or 1/2 tsp mustard powder, or 1 tsp fresh herbs.  Add a little liquid honey or maple syrup if you prefer your mayo sweet.

Allergies: gluten free, soy free, dairy free, nut free.

For an egg free mayonnaise, check out this vegan mayonnaise recipe on Jane’s Healthy Kitchen. Her secret is coconut oil (but this will only work in cool weather and cool dishes). Another option is an aquafaba vegan mayonaise.

Tip: Eggs should be room temperature; you can put them in lukewarm water for a few minutes to warm. It will work if they are straight from the fridge but may take longer to whip up and thicken.

Tip: Lots of recipes use Dijonnaise mustard; these are packed with sulphites and preservatives so are not suitable for sensitive guts and or children. I recommend dry mustard powder.

Tip: If using olive oil choose one with a very light flavour or mix it with another oil – it risks overpowering the flavour otherwise.

Directions

  • If using a stick blender: Place all ingredients except the oil in a narrow jug or jar. Place a wand mixer in the jar, then add the oil. Whizz together, lifting the wand from the bottom of the jar to incorporate the oil. It will thicken to create a creamy mayonnaise.
  • If using a (smoothie) blender): Place all ingredients in the blender (oil last) and whizz until creamy. Note: If you have large eggs, you can try just using one and add the second if the mayo isn’t thickening.

Tip: Once the mayo is mixed up, taste and add further seasonings to taste. Remember, it’s easy to slowly add more but tricky to balance if there’s too much!

Pour mayonnaise into a sterilized glass jar; it will keep for up to a week in the fridge.