We all love a bit of pizza, in our house we make our own pizza – why? Well….
1)I’m wheat intolerant,
2) It’s just healthier,
3) It’s so easy in our bread machine,
4) We can choose our favourite toppings.
5) My toddler loves cooking and this is one recipe she can almost do all of.
Here’s my wheat free pizza base recipe.
Take a look and see us in action making our pizza, this vlog literally made me howl with laughter, I hope it does you too!
Super quick and easy to make, if you have kids they will love making these with you. My toddler decided to make “twinkle stars” biscuits, she did the rolling, cutting and pressed the indentation, then filled them with lemon curd after baking. A triumph!
Ingredients:
150g Bezgluten flour
50g ground almonds
100g butter
70g sugar
1 egg yolk
These taste good and so I doubt they will last long 😉 Enjoy.
You know those days when you have a hungry family but haven’t quite had the time to get round to making dinner? I’ll admit I like to be far more organised and in control of meal times but this was just not one of those days.
So with a toddler as my trusty sous chef we set to work concocting this recipe, it literally took us 15 minutes together to make…so I’m thinking without a toddler that would be 10 minutes 😉
Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):
2 tins of kidney beans
2 grated courgettes
100g breadcrumbs (gluten free if needed, I used Bezgluten’s as they kindly sent me some)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 egg
Mash the bean with a potato masher, ours ended up as a chunky mash.
Add in the grated courgette and breadcrumbs, spices and herbs. Give it all a good mix.
Beat the egg and add that in.
Finally shape into patties and place on a greased tray.
They can be frozen at this point and then cooked from frozen at Gas Mark 5 for 25-30 minutes.
If not, cook for 10 minutes at Gas Mark 5.
Serving Suggestion:
Try these with potato wedges and stir fried veggies or in a roll with salad and salsa.
It’s officially cold, freezing, cold here. In fact it’s snowing! Here’s my perfect snow day soup recipe. It’s packed full of veggies to boost that immunity, the beans are filling and satisfying, Â and being a soup, it’ll keep you warm. The pasta makes this a complete meal so no bread is needed. Great for feeding hungry families and using up left over veggies.
Minestrone Soup Recipe:
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 large carrots diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 small cabbage shredded
2 mugs water
1 tin beans
1/2 mug pearl barley
1 tbsp tomato puree
pinch mixed herbs
seasoning
Back in the days when I could eat wheat I loved fresh pasta. It was a quick, easy meal that delighted my taste buds. I even got given a pasta machine by my mother-in-law one Christmas so I could make my own. Typically shortly after that I found out I couldn’t eat wheat. Boo.
I’ll admit, I didn’t venture into making my own wheat free pasta until a year ago, I so wish I had played around with this earlier as it really is easy. Literally flour in a bowl, add eggs, a drizzle of oil, mix. Roll, cut and cook. So simple a toddler could do it…..
Why not try my Buckwheat Ravioli Recipe Pasta Recipe, my Courgette Lasagne or make the meat Lasagne.
I’m a huge fan of breakfast. If you’ve gone all night without eating then surely your body needs some food. It makes sense. It picks up your blood sugars, boosts your energy levels and wakes you up! Eating breakfast has been linked to improving your concentration levels, your memory and aids in weight loss. If you have a healthy breakfast that fills you up it should limit the need to snack on biscuits mid morning.
BUT…. we all have those mornings when we just don’t have enough time. You sleep through the alarm, you forgot to iron your top the night before, the cat is sick on the kitchen floor, the phone rings…. you know what I mean. Rather than go without breakfast try making these babies.
The oats are low in glycaemic index (fullness power), the sesame seeds provide calcium, the dried fruit is packed with iron, the nuts give protein, vitamin E and can help to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.
Recipe:
125g oats
25g sesame seeds
50g sunflower seeds
25g linseeds
50g flaked almonds
150g chopped dried fruit (raisin, apricots, prunes for example)
1 tsp cinnamon
100g honey
60g butter
1 egg
I’d reccommend wrapped a couple in foil ready to take as you dash out the door. If you don’t eat them for breakfast then they also make a great snack. Â My toddler loves them!
You can make as many variations on this as you are creative – change the fruit, the nuts, the seeds etc… let me know how you get on!
Gotta love a bit of dried fruit, especially when it’s on a market and there is such a choice!
Date flesh is low in fat and protein but rich in sugars, mainly fructose and glucose. They are a high source of energy, as 100 g of flesh can provide an average of 314 kcal – so watch those portion sizes. Aim for 1 handful as 1 portion. Dates also contain selenium, copper, potassium, and magnesium, B vitamins and Vitamin C. Â Dates are a good source of antioxidants, mainly carotenoids and phenolics.
There are some things in life that just work together. Rice and curry, rhubard and custard, scones and jam and one of my favourites: Cheese and Chutney. Earlier this year I made the most delicious Sri-Lankan Spiced Plum Chutney which has definitely aged beautifully. Today inspired by a pile of red onions I got up early (thanks to the little one) and we set about making this delight. It’s pretty quick to make and only has a few ingredients (if you have the onions you’ll probably have the rest too).
We’ve made ours as Christmas gifts. I’m planning on making a few homemade hampers for friends: chutneys, jam, biscuits and truffles perhaps. Makes a great present for anyone on a special diet as it’s gluten free, wheat free, egg free and nut free 😉
Recipe:
9 red onions
4 cloves garlic
dried thyme
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp white sugar
4 tbsp dark brown sugar
Salt
It’s no secret that I LOVE a good bargain, last week I picked up Aubergines for 10p, yes you read that right. I’d been saving them and ruminating in my mind about what I should do with them and then got inspired by a chef friend. So here is my aubergine bake.
Ingredients (serves 4):
2 aubergines
1.5 tins chopped tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 stock cube
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
Dried mixed herbs
Mozerella
Recipe:
