Sundried Tomato Pull a Apart Bread

This is the perfect bread to take on a picnic. There are endless options to change the filling to your tastes.....spinach and feta, olives, roasted capsicums etc or even a sweet version with cinnamon and sultanas. I'm thinking that I will try to make them into smaller pull a parts and add Miss 5's favourite fillings for her school lunchbox.

Dough
300g warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
520g Bakers Flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (increase if making a sweet version - approx 2 Tbsp)
20g Olive Oil


Add warm water and add yeast to TMX Bowl

Add flour then salt, sugar and oil and mix
Sp 4 / 4-5 sec (approx until all combined)
Set dial to Closed position and Knead for 2 mins

Leave the dough to prove in a warm place
Once risen to approximately double its size, roll it out to size of 2x A4 pieces of paper


Filling
100g cheese
1/2 cup Sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 red onion
2 rashers of bacon (leave out or substitute for a vegetarian version)

Grate Cheese
Sp 9 / 4 sec - spread across rolled out dough

Chop Sun-dried tomatoes 
Sp 5 / 3 secs - spread across rolled out dough

Chop onion and bacon
Sp 5 / 3 sec
Add oil and saute
100 degree / 3 mins / Sp 1 - spread across rolled out dough

Once filling ingredients are spread out over dough, cut into long strips. Then take the end of one strip and gather it folding back and forth. Then place in a spring-form round tin. Continue until all strips are folded and in tin. Best to leave a few gaps for the dough to rise.

Turn oven on to 200 degrees and put tin straight in. Whilst oven is warming up the dough will also rise for a second time. Cook for approx 30 mins but keep and eye on it and remove when top is golden brown.

-Sticky Pear Ginger Cake

I seem to be making a great deal of sweet things at the moment...This is very good. I have baked it a couple of times now and it seems to be pretty fail-safe. Any cake preceded by the words sticky, pear and ginger would just have to be a winner.
The recipe comes from Nat's Thermomixen in the Kitchen. I reduced the sugar content, added wholemeal flour and a little more pear, used rice and maple syrup instead of golden syrup and replaced some of the butter with coconut oil.
I also put the pears in at the second stage so my non-fruit eating son wouldn't come across anything too chunky and suspiciously fruit-like in his fruit cake...I admit, it would have been nicer just stirred through at the end, but he loved it. Sucker.

140g rice syrup/maple syrup mix
75g dark brown sugar
125g butter/coconut oil
250g self raising flour (I used half white and half wholemeal)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1Tbsp ground ginger
310mL milk
1 egg
3 medium pears, peeled, cored, diced

-Cook syrup, sugar and butter/oil 90 deg, 5 mins, speed 2.
-Add dry ingredients, milk and egg and mix on speed 4 for 4-5 secs - be careful not to over mix.
-Add pear (if you want chunks) and mix reverse speed 2 for 3 secs.
-Grease and line a square cake tin, pour in the mix and bake for 55-60mins at 180 deg. Cool in the tin 10 mins, then on a rack until cold.

Nori Linseed Crackers

I don't wish to set a precedent but this recipe does not need a Thermomix (gasp!).  Karen was kind enough to lend me her dehydrator last week and my lovely friend Jan showed me these crackers that she discovered at a yoga retreat in Bali (phew).  Too simple for words.

Soak some flaxseeds (lots) and pumpkin seeds in water overnight.

The next day spread out sheets of nori onto the dehydrator trays.
Add a couple of splashes of tamari or shoyu into the flaxseed mixture
Thinly spread the flaxseed mixture onto the nori sheets
Dehydrate at low setting (I did 43 degrees) for 5 hours or until crisp
cut into squares with scissors and store in airtight container.

My kids loved them and great for lunchboxes.

Shaggy Dog Pikelets

As a child my Mum often use to makes us Pikelets and I have made them the same way for years, but with all the new ingredients now in my cupboard, I have made this old time favourite a little healthier. This recipe actually doesn't need to be mixed in the Thermomix (shock horror!!) and is better just mixed in a bowl with a spoon.

1 cup Spelt Flour
1/4 cup Rapadura Sugar
2 tbsp Macadamia Nut Oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup of milk of choice 
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Topping
Shredded coconut
Sultanas

Add all ingredients except milk to bowl and mix to combine
Slowly add Milk and mix after each addition until it forms a smooth batter

To Cook
I have found that by cooking on a non-stick sandwich press you can quickly cook these pikelets with little mess and it also requires no butter or oil to cook them. If you don't have one, then of course they can be cooked in a fry pan.

Spoon smallish circles of the batter onto sandwich press/fry pan and then sprinkle with shredded coconut and sultanas.

Turn over when batter is bubbling and then cook for a further minute until cooked through.

Yummy eaten hot or can be eaten cold i.e. in the kids lunch box

brown rice crackers

I've  been  meaning to post this for ages.  I made  these crackers with some leftover cooked brown rice.  I'm wondering if it would work with other leftover cooked grains like quinoa,  buckwheat or millet.

210g cooked brown rice (or 110 g uncooked)
300g uncooked brown rice
1 tbsp of linseed (could use chia or sesame or other seed of choice)
1 tsp sea salt
50g EVO
60-80g H20

heat over 180 degrees
If need to cook 110g rice
put uncooked rice into clean dry bowl 1 min sp 10
add all ingredients - only 60 g of water 20 sec sp 7
add more water though the lid if need to- mixture should come together as dough
roll between 2 sheets baking paper
score with pizza cutter
bake 30 minutes until brown

Quinoa Balls

After a very hot spring day, all I felt like was some salad, so I cooked some Quinoa and mixed with some roasted eggplant, onion, tomato and finished with some baby spinach and feta. Simple but very yummy....but of course, I always cook too much Quinoa. So today, whilst I was waiting for a new window to be installed, I set about finding a way to use it up and this what I came up with.

1 cup oats
1 cup cooked Quinoa
1/4 cup coconut
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cranberries
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put all ingredients in TMX bowl and mix
Speed 6 / Approx 10 sec or until combined

2. Roll into balls and store in the fridge

Crackers

I can't believe I have been buying expensive not so healthy crackers when these are so easy to make. After my girls sat down to eating a plate of these with some hommus, I later caught them stealing a few more from the baking tray...so I'm guessing they like them!!

70 g warm water 

70 g olive oil
250 g wholemeal Bakers Flour

10g Chia seeds

10g Linseeds
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, remove sticks
1 tsp sea salt 

Preheat oven to 180ºC 

Place water and oil into TMX bowl and warm 

80ºC/ Speed 1 / 1 min

Add remaining ingredients and blend

10 secs / Speed 7

Tip into a bowl and scrunch into a ball to form a soft dough

Wrap and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Divide into thirds and roll out each ball of dough as thinly as possible. Side onto a flat baking tray.      
Use a pizza cutter to score the dough

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until crisp.

Turn off oven and break into crackers into pieces. Return to oven to completely dry out.

Orange Pepita Cupcakes

This recipe is based on the one found on the Mixing it Up HK website (Thanks for the link Mim), which was a Citrus Poppyseed Muffin. I was lacking a couple of ingredients so here is my version, which I have also reduced the amount of sugar in (but definitely try out the original as well)

1 whole apple 
1 whole orange
2 large eggs
30g coconut oil, melted if solid 
50g natural yoghurt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
120g white spelt flour
120g wholemeal bakers flour
70g rapadura
Handful of pepitas

1. Preheat oven to 170°C and grease 12 cake cake/muffin tin

2. Remove core and quarter one apple. Add to the TMX bowl and chop
10 secs/Speed 4. Scrape down the sides.

3. Add 20g water and cook 8 mins/100°C/Speed 1. MC lid off 

4. Cut a whole (incl skin) orange into quarters. Remove white pith and any obvious pips. Add to the TMX bowl and blend Speed 7/10 secs

5. Add the eggs, coconut oil and natural yoghurt and Mix Speed 8/10 seconds until well combined. 

6. Add baking powder, bicarb, flours, rapadura and pumpkin seeds and mix 8 secs/Rev/Speed 4 until mixture just comes together. Do not over-mix.

7. Spoon mixture into prepared cake tin and place in preheated oven to bake for about 12-15 mins  

8. Once cooled a little, I topped each cake with a dollop of natural yoghurt

Cake a Day.....

After a week living it up in Cairns, we all needed to break our taste buds addiction to sugar etc but still needed some yummy morning teas to get us through a week of renovations on our sun room. So just for a bit of fun, here are the morning teas I made (all Quirky Jo recipes) and any variations.

Monday
Pancakes with Banana and Rainforest honey (from Cairns)
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/blender-batter-brown-rice-waffles.html

I made these just with Buckwheat and sliced up bananas which I put in each pancakes whilst it was cooking

Tuesday
Blender Batter Berry Cake
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/blender-batter-berry-cake-gf-df.html

Halved the sugar in these

Wednesday
Carrot Cake
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/one-bowl-thermomix-carrot-cake-gluten.html

Halved the honey and added some pumpkin seeds as well

Thursday
Flourless Pecan Cake
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/flourless-pecan-cake-gf-df_16.html

I didn't have enough pecans so used some walnuts instead. Also I couldn't face not using all the thick coconut cream in the tin so I added a bit extra. The cake was a little softer but so so yummy. The girls were at Pre-School but Guy and I nearly ate the whole cake. (mainly Guy actually it was a favourite of the week)

Friday
Sultana Spice Bread
http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/grain-free-sultana-spice-bread.html

Again I didn't have any pecan nuts so instead I made the 120g up with Brazil nuts, cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds. I have made this one before with Pecans and it still came out very similar with the different nuts. I didn't add the honey which is optional in the recipe.


My freezer is now full with the leftover cakes cut up in slices. YA!

Tortillas

I made Fajitas for dinner the other night and thought I would try out Quirky Jo's Tortilla recipe.

http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2009/02/spelt-tortillas.html

If you haven't tried it, it is definitely worth it and very quick and easy to make.

Salmon Patties

120g brown/white rice
1 shallot, peeled and halved
Handful or fresh parsley, coriander or dill
400g tinned pink salmon, well drained
2 eggs
50g sour cream
Salt, to taste
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Place rice in dry TM bowl and mill for 3 mins, speed 9. Set aside.
Place onion and herbs in bowl and chop 6 secs, speed 5 (scrape down part way through).
Add salmon, eggs, sour cream, salt, paprika, mustard and rice flour. Mix 10 secs, speed 3.
Heat oil in pan. Divide mix into twelve equal potions and flatten with the back of a spatula. Fry for about 4 mins on each side until golden.
Good with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

Quirky Cooking Blender Batter Muffins

Hi Girls

Karen put me onto this blender batter on the Quirky Cooking website.  It's so easy, you make the batter the night before then bake in the morning.  Very quick so you can have fresh muffins first thing.  And also you are soaking the grain to make it more easily digestible.

I used 200ml buttermilk instead of the almonds and water and it worked out fine.  The muffins are moist and yummy.

http://quirkycooking.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/blender-batter-muffins.html

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls by Cindi O'Meara
I love making these sausage rolls as I generally have all the ingredients.

Ingredients
1 brown onion, peeled and halved
2 tbsp of mixed herbs of choice
100g walnuts (I have used mix of almonds and cashews as well)
95g Rolled Oats
3 eggs
150g Fetta
1tbsp Tamari
45g breadcrumbs (made in thermomix)
3 sheets puff pastry

Method
Preheat oven to 200degrees
1. Place onion and herbs in tmx chop sp6 for 6s
2. Add nuts, oats and chop sp6 for 3s
3. Add eggs, cheese, tamari, breadcrumbs and mix to combine sp5 20s reverse
4. Place pastry on bench and cut in half
5. Put portion of mixture on the long edge of pastry and roll, cut into equal portions
6. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds
7. Place on baking tray, brush with beaten egg and score with knife
8. Bake for 20mins at 200degrees

They are delicious and I am sure you can add other ingredients such as zucchini or carrots.


Tip
Make breadcrumbs up in advance and keep in a ziplock bag in the freezer as they come in handy and a pain to clean out the tmx bowl if you need some in a hurry (unless you have 2 bowls of course ;-) )

Jude Blereau's World Peace Bars

These delish bars are dairy free, egg free, nut free and wheat free so great for school lunch boxes.   The recipe looks complicated but is actually very quick and easy.

Filling

150g dates
90g dried apricots
50g apple or pear juice
50g water
1 tbsp lemon juice

 Oat mix
2 tsp chia seed
1/3 cup macadamia, almond or coconut oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup (I used maple)
1 tsp vanilla extract
150 rolled oats
60g extra rolled oats or oatmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup rapadura sugar

1. Preheat over to 180degrees or 165 if fan forced.
2. Place 150g oats on a baking tray and toast in the over 5 - 10 minutes until just fragrant. 
3. grind chia seeds for 1 minute sp 9.  
4. add 80g water and mix 5 sec sp 5.  Set mixture aside
5. without cleaning out bowl add all filling ingredients except lemon juice and cook 100 degrees 10 minutes sp 4.  
6. add lemon juice and mix 5 seconds sp 3.  Set mixture aside.  Clean and dry bowl.
7. If using oats rather than oatmeal, place 60g extra oats in bowl and mill 1 minute sp 9.
8. Add sunflower and pumpkin seed 3 sec sp 6 or until roughly ground.
9. add baked oats, oatmeal (if using instead of extra oats), baking powder, coconut and sugar.  Mix 6 sec sp 4.  
10. Add chia seed mix, oil, brown rice syrup and vanilla extra.  Mix 10 sec sp 4.
11. Line a baking tin with baking paper and press half the oat mix onto the base of the tin.
12. Very gently evenly spread the filling over the oat mix.
13. With fingers evenly distribute the remaining oat mix over the filling and use a fork to distribute evenly.  Wet your hands and gently but firmly press down on the topping to even it out.
14. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until well cooked, golden and slightly crispy on the edges,  Leave for 20 minutes before slicing and serving

Store in an airtight container in a dark cool place- fridge is best in hot weather.

Gluten Free Carrot Buckwheat Wraps

Wraps are a favourite in my household, so I found this recipe on Teresa Cutter “The Healthy Chef” website and I have converted it to a Thermomix recipe. Strong carrot flavour but my kids happily ate them plain and with cheese in them.  One thing I read on her website that I found interesting is that Buckwheat is actually a seed and not a grain. 

100g whole Buckwheat

10g Arrowroot
2-3 Carrots (Need to make 200ml carrot juice)
200ml Water
Pinch Nutmeg
Pinch Salt

TMX

1.  Add Whole buckwheat grains to TMX bowl and grind
     1 min/ Sp 9 (Remove to separate bowl)

2.  Add carrots to TMX bowl and chop
     30 sec / sp 8

3.  Add water and mix
     2 mins / sp 8
    Strain carrots into a bowl (use rice basket)

4. Add back to TMX bowl Carrot juice, Buckwheat flour, arrowroot, nutmeg,  salt and mix 5 sec (approx)/ sp 4 to combine
(Note: Consistency should be like crepe batter  - I found that I needed to add another 50mls or so of water but will depend on how thick your carrot juice is)

Frypan

Oil frypan with coconut oil or olive oil. Pour in batter just enough to coat bottom of fry pan
Cook for 1 min and flip over to cook for a few more seconds on the other side (wait until it is bubbly before flipping over)
Cool wraps and store between sheets of grease-proof paper

Tips:
Can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days
Swap carrot juice for beetroot juice or spinach or kale 

First post - chicken waldorf sandwich spread

Here's our first post!
Chicken Waldorf Sandwich spread.
This is a recipe for a sandwich spread.  I find it really easy to make a big batch at the start of the week.  Then making sandwiches is a breeze and it's a great way of using up leftover roast chicken.

So... Put into the tmx:
Cooked chicken (whatever amount you have left)
Stick of celery
Green apple quartered
Handful of walnuts
Half a block of cream cheese
3 spoonfuls of tmx mayo
Parsley or thyme or herb of choice

Blend on speed 4 about 3 seconds