experimenting with pastry – allergy friendly
I’ve never been a huge pastry fan. Pies, tarts, quiches and the likes are never high on my agenda – quite the opposite of Viper. Experimenting is something DO like, so quite randomly I started playing around with making a pastry from the ridiculous supply of chickpea flour (besan) I have on hand.
If you haven’t played around with chickpea flour before, I really encourage you to do so – it’s a really great ingredient for those with food sensitivities, is cheap, and it tastes delicious. I got into experimenting with the stuff specifically through my mate, BuddyEE (read about this little dude here) – just goes to show that being restricted to but a few ingredients actually inspires creativity. A couple of the recipes that I created for extreme-allergy-suffering kids have become staples in my house – and none of us have any real food intolerances…. allergy friendly doesn’t have to mean bland and boring, right?
Chicky Cornies (Crispy cereal alternative to Corn Flakes)
Anyway, back to the pastry. Obviously, this pastry isn’t going to be the same as your traditional wheat flour/butter short crust – the end result is pretty similar taste/texture wise, but the method used in the recipe is a little different. You can’t roll this pastry out like a normal short crust, you simply have to press it into the tart pan, as it will not hold together as a sheet.
Easy Allergen Free Pastry
(Vegan, gluten/wheat/grain/corn/soy/refined sugar free)
- 3/4C chickpea flour
- 1/4C water
- 2T coconut oil (soft)**
- 2T liquid sweetener (rice syrup/agave/honey/maple syrup)
- 1/8t sea salt
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
- Cover and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours, (overnight is optimal) so the dough can firm up.
- Carefully press dough into fluted tart pans (this recipe will make 4 individual tart cases which measure 2 inches in diameter) – the mix has a tendency to be quite sticky, so wet your hands well to make things easier. Try and get the dough to a couple of millimetre thick.
- Bake in an oven heated to 180 degrees C for 12 minutes until golden brown.
**I have played around with using a vegan butter substitute AND regular butter in this recipe too – they both work well. Simply substitute in the same quantity (soft, not completely melted) – the butter/vegan spread actually works quicker than the coconut oil, you will only need to rest.chill the dough for about 45 minutes in the fridge. The cooking time is also quicker – approximately 9 minutes in a fan forced 180 degree C oven. Butter tends to get a darker colour to the end result too.
I have been a little fixated on sweet fillings for these pastry-experiments. The one below is filled with a combination of date paste, a few squares of melted chocolate and some coconut butter. Easy and delicious.
Slow roasted peaches are such an easy, healthy dessert (check out this recipe for another peach-creation). Load them into a cooked pastry shell, and dollop with some coconut cream, ice cream, custard – whatever.
Although I’m usually not such a huge savoury-fan (I will take sweets ANY day) lately my taste buds have been craving everything savoury – even for breakfast which is unheard of. I think I will need to branch out into some vegan-pastry-pies very soon.
How about you? Pastry fan? Sweet or savoury for your pie fillings?
simply sensitive
Man, thinking about yesterday’s events, I reckon I may have come down with a slight case of Vi-Polar. I actually felt physically and emotionally wrecked at the end of the day… and nothing seriously tragic happened. Must be the moon, let’s blame the moon. Or hormones, they’re a good scapegoat too.
I’m a ridiculously sensitive person. In any and every sense of the word. Physically sensitive to things… apparently I’m almost a “One-Pot-Screamer” (2 pots I reckon). A pot is a small glass of beer here Down Under. In New Zealand, you would be called a “One-Glass-Wonder” or something similar. Either way, I’m a cheap date, especially after 2 years of growing/feeding Misty.
Emotionally sensitive I am also. Big Time.
Sometimes I blame my over active mind. Sometimes I reckon I am the biggest sook out there. Sometimes I know I am somewhat unbalanced in the extreme way I feel emotion.
I was simultaneously explaining and apologizing for my overly sensitive self to a very wise yogini-friend of my Mum’s. She simply said, ‘Don’t apologize, don’t make excuses… there’s nothing wrong with being sensitive. At least you feel things… emotions are extreme things, it’s what we do with them that counts. It’s all energy that can be harnessed for positive outcomes.’
After yesterday, I needed to do something in the kitchen. It’s totally my happy place where I can reflect and create at the same time. Energy in, energy out.
Misty loves those plain brown rice cakes… I reckon they are more similar to cardboard than a snack, but they keep him happy.
What I can’t stand are all the little bits that get wasted… Misty snaps them into pieces, they get all crumbly at the bottom of the packet, you know how it goes.
Boosty does get through a bunch of them… but as an alternative use, how about a gluten free crumb for some protein veggie balls? Misty says yes, please.
Simple Speedy Veggie Balls with Crunchy Rice Crumb:
- 1 1/2C grated pumpkin (loosely packed) Sweet potato, potato, carrot, parsnip or swede all work really well too.
- 2/3C chick pea flour
- 1/4t sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2t chopped fresh chives (or any herbs you have… even adding spices like 1/4t curry powder, or sweet paprika is fun).
Crunchy Rice Crumb:
- 1C broken rice cake crumbs (both rice cakes or crackers work here).
- To make crumb, simply whizz in the food processor.
These are so quick and easy, and use only a few ingredients. Seriously, have a jar of chickpea flour on hand in your pantry, as it is such a good “binder,” whether you are vegan or not.
- Combine grated vegetables, chickpea flour, and seasoning in a bowl. The moisture from the vegetables alone is enough to create a sticky “dough” with the flour.
- Squeeze into walnut-sized balls.
- Roll in the rice-cake crumbs, and squeeze the balls in the palm of your hand to smoosh in lots of the crumb.
- Place on a lined baking tray, or in a silicone baking pan. Spray with oil such as coconut or olive.
- Bake in a moderate oven (around 160 degrees C) for 20 minutes or until the balls are golden brown and crunchy. About half way through the baking process, roll the balls over so they get baked evenly.
- Best enjoyed straight out of the oven, as the crumb tends to get soft if left for more than an hour. They still taste good cold; Misty enjoys his straight from the fridge – sometimes even the floor. Yummo.
These are a great ‘finger food,’ for toddlers… dunked in some hummus and smooshed around the plate. Good times.
Happy Easter, Buddy EE
I can’t imagine how hard this time of the year (really, any time of the year, but Easter in particular) is for parents of kids who suffer from EE. All those colourful foiled-wrapped treats every direction you turn. It’s hard enough trying to keep my chocolate fiend aka Viper away from them, let alone trying to explain to a toddler why they can’t have a tasty eggy treat like everyone else.
I remember my sister would hoard her eggs for months after Easter and taunt me with them at her leisure…. I was part of the “eat-every-single-egg-on-easter-and-feel-very-sick-afterwards” movement.
“When they’re gone, they’re gone,” was Mum’s wise words. That they were. Gone.
I was never a fan of the marshmallow eggs though. I still ate them, but I didn’t really like them… when you’re 9, you will take sugar in any form, whether you like it or not. We came up with the most disgusting way of consuming these not so popular marshmallow monstrosities though…. zapping them in the microwave until they became a melted puddle of sticky, sugary, stringy goo. Scape ‘em of the plate with a spoon. If you nuked them too long, they would burn onto the plate… or hideously burn your mouth. Either way, my Mother was not impressed.
However disgusting and sugar filled my memories of Easter are… they are that – memories. Fond reflections of eating myself into a sugar coma…. to not be able to experience the simple joy of an egg shaped chocolate(s) every year is just unimaginable.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and knew I needed to come up with something for my Buddy EE. The following recipe may not be as pretty as it’s commercial counterparts…. but it’s something. Something to enjoy making and eating, and maybe feel included just a little in such a food focused holiday.
The following is obviously a recipe for those with extreme allergies… it’s actually really yummy though. You can play around with colours/flavours to your heart’s content. Chuck in a few blueberries for a purple hue… use chocolate coconut butter or add some cocoa to the filling. It’s a really fun hands-on (messy) activity to do with the kiddos.
- 1/2C coconut flour
- 1 medium sized apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 1T sugar (or more to taste)
- 2-3T coconut oil… start with 2T, you may need to add more depending on the size of your apple. Increase amount if dough feels too crumbly, and won’t squeeze together.
- 1/4t sea salt
- Coconut butter for dipping
- 1/4t ground tumeric if you want a “yolky” colour
- Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor (except the tumeric). The mix seems very crumbly, but when you squeeze it firmly in the palm of your hand, it will stay together….. the handling of coconut flour does take a bit of practise, but that’s part of the fun!
- If you want to make the “yolk” just take about 1/4 of the mix, and stir through 1/4t ground tumeric. I just made a little ball of yellow, and smooshed in the middle of a handful of the plain white. Yeah I’m not so much of a perfectionist.
- Place “eggs” in the freezer for an hour.
- Once you eggs are solid, it’s time to get messy. Grab your coconut butter (if it’s solid, just zap in the microwave until nice and runny)and be prepared to get it everywhere. I didn’t have a set method with this… just kind of slopped it around and rolled the eggs around in it. Tasty mess nonetheless.
At the end of the day, scrambled eggs are fine by me too. Thanks must go to Misty for donating his bath toy for the photos.
the value of the scrape
Obviously, I’m a fridge scraper. I have problems when it comes to wasting food. OCD problems… I can’t stand seeing food go to waste… it actually gives me anxiety. Nowadays, instead of having a panic attack, I choose to approach scraps of food as a challenge… what can I create?
At the moment, it’s hot so I am eating a lot of salads…. sometimes I can’t be bothered doing so much chewing. I have got into making “salad creams” out of bits and pieces. (Ah bless you, food processor, you may be a relic, but you serve me well).
Let’s say that a salad cream is in the middle of a dressing and a dip. Actually, it’s like a runny-ish salad sauce but that doesn’t sound as appealing now, does it? Basically, I put scraps into the food processor, whizz it all until smooth and then shove a glitzy name on it. No one will ever suspect it was leftover roast veggies hanging out at the back of the fridge in a forgotten tupperware when you present them with a ‘Sweet Potato and Garlic Salad Cream.’ Snort.
This isn’t really a recipe. It’s just more of an ‘idea,’ for you all…. I’m a big fan of intuitive cooking, and using what you have on hand. Obviously, if you have all of the ingredients listed below then go for it… otherwise next time you have some lurking left overs, make them into something entirely unrecognisable.
Salad Cream Notion:
- 1/2C cooked chickpeas (or any mild bean… cannelini, butter bean, kidney, black eye bean etc)
- 1/2C cooked sweet potato (or pumpkin… actually most cooked veggies would work… chargrilled red peppers or eggplant even)
- 1/4C nutritional yeast
- 1/4t + 1/8t sea salt
- 1 clove garlic (or more, I like it really garlicky but I’m a freak)
- 2T apple cider vinegar
- 1/4C water
- 3T olive oil
- 1/4-1/2t wholegrain mustard (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Blend everything until very smooth.
If you haven’t tried this stuff, I suggest you do. It’s like crack for food.
So onto more important issues other than the tail ends of tea-time… I was going to write up a whole separate post for this, but I just had to seize the moment, you know?
If you are new to fridge scrapings, then you may not be aware of my kitchen experiments for a couple of cool kiddies that live on a very restricted diet due to a condition called EE.
This post, this post and this post should get you in the know.
I’m trying to focus the small amount of spare (Misty Napping) time I have into creating an E Book of recipes for kids who suffer from EE. It’s pretty challenging to say the least, with only a handful of ingredients to work with, but I am up for that challenge. It’s funny how I worry about being isolated as a vegan…. but I have the luxury of being able to CHOOSE what I will or will not eat.
Will or will not versus can and can’t.
Something to ponder perhaps? A lot to be thankful for, you bet.
first timer
It had to happen some time I suppose. There’s a first time for everything.
We got a safe, sensible, family car. It even has air bags.
Nobody took up the opportunity to steal our truck… we haven’t locked it in about 2 years. Actually, it can’t be locked, and we couldn’t be bothered getting it fixed. Such responsible parents. We were hoping somebody would just take it off our hands. No such luck.
I think I did pretty well juggling a 3 door vehicle and managing to hoist my lump of a child in and out of it 50 times a day. I just had a vision of me juggling Misty and our old 4 wheel drive. Ha, now that would be well done. Now I have 2 extra doors, and a back seat at an appropriate height. Luxury.
Nowadays, fuel economy and air bags are sexy. No more picking up hot chicks in the car above, Viper. Not sure how many chicks he would have picked up in his 1992 Hyundai Excel in lipstick pink though… really Viper, really? Pink? Thankfully he drove the aforementioned vehicle long before we met; had I known he had owned a car in a hue similar to a salmon sunset I’m not sure Misty would exist.
Speaking of a first time, the ingredients I used today usually do not have a place in the fridge scrapings kitchen. White rice and white sugar. Nothing against either of them, they are just not frequent visitors around these parts.
When they are the only things you can eat however, I make an exception. The following recipe is one for my little mates who suffer from Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders - with food sensitivities so severe the list of foods they can tolerate can be only a few ingredients long (or short, really).
Here are a few of my other EE posts if you would like to catch up…
Sticky Rice Pudding with Toffee Crunch Topper:
(Severe allergy recipe… Vegan, gluten, wheat, soy, nut, seed free)
EE Version
- 1C cooked white rice* (see note below)
- Pinch of salt
- 1-2T sugar, depending on your tastes.
- Blend everything together in a food processor, while the rice is still warm from cooking.
- Press into cups/moulds… I used silicone cup cake moulds.
- Chill in the fridge to help them ‘set.’
- Top with the Toffee Crunch recipe detailed below.
- 1/2C sugar
- 75ml water
- 1/2t white vinegar (you can omit this if sensitive)
- In a small saucepan, dissolve sugar in water. Bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, add vinegar and continue to cook until the mixtures goes golden and reaches ‘soft ball stage.’ It took around 4 minutes of constant cooking/stirring. This will depend on a lot of things – size of pan, intensity of heat etc.
- Carefully pour toffee on top of the moulded rice pudding, and chill again in the fridge.
- Enjoy, and as my Mum used to say, ‘Don’t break your teeth on that toffee!’
- 1C cooked white rice… *do not rinse the rise before cooking… you want the keep the extra starch so it goes all gloopy and ‘sets’ into a pudding. I cooked the rice in almond milk, but water is fine for those with sensitivities.
- 1/4t sea salt
- 1/2t vanilla extract
- 1T liquid sweetener (honey, agave, rice syrup, apple juice concentrate etc) Or 1-2T sugar
- 1/2t ground cinnamon
- 2T chopped dried fruit (optional)
- Toffee Crunch recipe from above.
- Prepare in the same way as described above… whiz everything in the food processor, except the dried fruit. Fold in fruit (if using) after blending and spoon into moulds.
chart picks and chickpea experiments for 2012
It’s no secret that we are slightly music-obsessed in our household. By our household, I mean Viper. I love music, for sure (10 years of trumpet lessons should be proof enough) but Viper’s passion is off the charts. He lusts after vinyl, turntables and albums like I dribble over chia seeds and Vita-mixes. It’s going to be interesting moving house and trying to shift 1500 records… they are heavy. Very heavy. Good luck with shifting your music collection, Viper.
He is nice though, Viper… he has contributed a selection of albums he thinks some of my blog-readers may enjoy (keeping in mind this is 10 out of 1500 options… he did well to pick any, really). He’s a little shy, our Viper – his wealth of musical knowledge is mind blowing – get a few glasses of red in him, and he’ll be shouting at your head about The Rolling Stones until 4 in the morning. In no particular order…
- INXS – Kick Australia’s most awesome contribution to the pop genre
- The Stray Cats – Rant and Rave Rockabilly, good times all around
- Beck - Odelay Everything mashed into one amazing album… blues, rap, rock, it’s got it all
- Finlay Quaye – Maverick a Strike Lovely, feel good, funky
- The Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed Rock and roll at it’s finest
- Phoebe Snow – Phoebe Snow The voice of an angel
- Aretha Franklin – I’ve Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You Perhaps the best female soul album of all time. Of all time.
- LCD Sound System – This is Happening Music to party by, fo sho.
- T Rex - Electric Warrior One of the first glam rock albums
- Fat Freddy’s Drop - Dr Boondigga and the Big BW Representing my home land with some groovy dub beats
I haven’t forgotten you, BuddyEE - I’ve just been slightly overwhelmed with travelling, Christmas, unfamiliar kitchens, moving house and keeping Misty on a leash (kidding on the leash part, but he totally needs one, Ha).
(Vegan – gluten/soy/wheat/grain/cane sugar and nut free)
- 1/2C chickpea flour
- 1/4C nutritional yeast (you can omit this if you like but add another 2T chickpea flour) This is for a “cheesy” flavour.
- 1/4t sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2/3C water
- 1/2t garlic granules (optional)
- 1/2t dried mixed herbs (optional)
- 1/8t chilli powder (optional)
- Combine all ingredients in small saucepan. Whisk well over a moderate heat until the mixture thickens and becomes ‘pudding,’ like – 5 minutes or so.
- Take off heat, and split mix between two sheets of baking paper.
- Roll into 2 ‘sausages,’ of about 2cm in thickness.
- Chill in fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Slice up sausages…. you should get around 25 pieces from each, depending on how thick you cut. Mine were about 5mm.
- Pan fry in oil (I used coconut) or butter as you would regular gnocchi… 3minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Combine with whatever sauce you have on hand (a jar of pasta sauce would be fine) or make something similar to what I did below:
Roast Vegetable Pasta Sauce:
This is a total fridge scrapings sauce… everything that needed using up in the veggie bin, roasted and blended.
(vegan, gluten, soy, cane sugar and nut free)
- 1/2C roasted pumpkin
- 1/2C dehydrated mini roma tomatoes (or sun dried)
- 1 whole roated red pepper, de seeded and skinned
- 4 cloves roasted garlic
- 1t dried mixed herbs
- 3t balsamic vinegar
- 2t agave syrup
- 2t apple cider vinegar
- 1t sea salt
- 1C rice milk (or any milk you prefer)
- 1C water
- 2T chopped fresh herbs (I used sage, thyme, chives and parsley)
- Blend together everything until silky smooth.
Misty, Viper and I all really enjoyed this… you can cover these little “gnocchi” in any kind of sauce… or even a soup. I made some raw zuccinni “noodles,” to accompany the dish which was Yummo. You could also add grated parmesan or vegan cheese to the dough mixture for extra flavour, or just sprinkle on top.
I would have liked to enjoy this meal by listening to one of the albums listed above, but the reality is, Misty rules the roost – we ended up dining to the theme song to ‘Yo Gabba Gabba.’ Awesome.
a pudding, plus something to ponder
It’s amazing how much ‘stuff’ one can have.
No, I’m not going to get into a big rant about emotional baggage or anything, I’m actually just talking about ‘stuff,’ ‘things,’ or rather ‘house cholesterol.’ In the 2 1/2 years I have been living in Queensland I have accumulated a ridiculous amount of stuff. Most of it not particularly useful and not at all necessary.
If my collection of stuff is over-the-top, Viper is in a league of his own. He just can’t throw stuff out; the man collects rags for pity’s sake. Holding up an old crappy Tshirt I say, ‘I’m chucking this out.’ ’No! No! That’s an excellent rag!’ Viper exclaims. Can you hear yourself, dude? An ‘excellent rag’. Really? Far out.
The good thing is, while the cat is away, the mouse will throw out a bunch of it’s stuff. I am de-cluttering our lives as I pack up my house to move. Too much stuff just creates chaos in one’s head. The old cluttered house, cluttered mind thing totally rings true.
All those things you hang on to for no particular reason, but you just can’t seem to let go. I found a bunch of keys from about 7 years ago, including 2 keys from two old cars that are in another county and have both since died. Good thing I hung onto those keys, hey?
What do you need to ‘let go of’?’
Here’s the deal – find something you don’t need, that’s cluttering up your house and mind, that could be of use to someone else. Clothes you never wear, an appliance gathering dust on that shelf, books you’ve read and are never going to read again. Bundle it all up, and donate it – it’s that time of the year that it will mean the most to those who are struggling. Go through your pantry for non-perishables (cos we all know there is enough in there to feed the army if WW3 hits) – you’re not going to go hungry in a hurry, but there are people out there whose tummies are rumbling. It’s a win win situation – you de clutter a little while helping someone else. Awesome.
For all that good work – here is your reward, or rather it’s a recipe for BuddyEE and his mates, but is adaptable for anyone – particularly the kiddies.
Apple Pie Pudd:
(vegan, gluten, soy, nut, seed free)
Liquid Base:
- 1/2C apple puree
- 3/4C milk of choice (soy, coconut, rice, cow, etc)
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 1T apple juice concentrate (or honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, brown sugar – you can add more if you like it sweeter)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 5t oil or butter/ghee (coconut or grape seed work well)
- 5t chickpea flour
- Basically, this recipe requires you to make a roux which is a cooked mixture of fat and flour. Traditionally it is made with clarified butter, but oil works too.
- Warm up your liquid mix – either a quick blast in the microwave or in a separate saucepan. This is not vital, but if you haven’t made a roux before, it does make adding in the liquid easier and there is less chance of clumping.
- Melt your oil/butter in a small saucepan over a moderate heat and add your flour.
- You need to cook out your flour to remove that bitter raw flavour – chickpea flour seems to foam up a little rather than clump as plain wheat flour does. Keep the flour/fat mix moving and cook for 2 minutes.
- Slowly add the liquid to the flour – a wire whisk is useful here to help everything keep moving. Add in the liquid gradually, stirring all the time.
- Once you have added all the liquid, wait until it just begins to boil, and then reduce to a gentle simmer – stirring, stirring, stirring the whole time. Now simmer until it reaches the desired thickness (around 10 minutes).
chickpeas go jurassic
- 2T + 1t chickpea flour
- 4T water
- 2T fruit/vege puree
- Pinch salt
- The sweeteners mentioned are entirely optional, but if you wish add 1t of sugar, honey, maple, agave whatever you like.
- (Orange 2T sweet potato puree, 1/8t cinnamon, 1t maple syrup)
- (Purple 20 blueberries, mashed with a fork, 1/4t vanilla extract)
- (Green 2T mashed banana, a teeny weeny pinch of spirilina, just for colour, 1/4t vanilla extract, 1t agave)
- Combine your ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Over a moderate heat, stir constantly for about 3-4 minutes, it will thicken up, and start lifting from the pan.
- Moving quickly (it sets really quick) dump into something to set it in… usually I just use a little rubber cupcake mould, but just a small bowl is fine (you may need to grease it).
- Put in the fridge until just before serving. (At least 20 minutes)
- Slice or cut into chunks and pan fry in a little oil or butter under golden brown (I only made the dino-moulds cos they looked fun… you could spray with a little oil, and pop them under a hot grill, around 200 degrees C, turning a few times until evenly golden. I reckon deep frying them would be pretty awesome. We don’t have a deep fryer as I don’t trust Viper… he would deep fry his morning bowl of muesli if he could).
- 2T +1t chickpea flour
- 2T sweet potato puree
- 4T water
- 1t flax seed
- A good pinch of salt
- 1/4t wholegrain mustard
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- Freshly ground black pepper.
chicky pea cornies for Misty and Buddy EE (oh and Missy B)
- 4T + 2t chickpea flour
- 2t organic brown or white sugar (This is optional, or you can sub in honey, agave, maple… Chickpea flour has a slight bitterness, but I made some with no sweetener and loved them).
- Good pinch of sea salt
- 1/2t cinnamon (optional)
- 2t oil (grapeseed, melted coconut, olive, butter, whatever)
- 6T water
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Combine all ingredients and mix really well. Chickpea flour tends to form clumps so a small whisk is handy. I can’t find mine. Misty?
Pour mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper
It’s a pretty runny mix, so just let it flow around until it relatively evenly covers the space at around 1-2mm thick. The handy thing is, you don’t need to be too particular about it, as your going to break the whole lot up anyhow.
Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C.
At this point, take the tray out of the oven, and peel the mix from the baking paper. It won’t come off all in one piece, and it will stick. Again, don’t stress. You’re just making the job easier at the end, trust.
Turn the oven down to 120 degrees C. Put all the pieces (and crumbs) back onto the baking tray (make sure you have flipped the pieces so the underside can crisp up). Bake for another 15 minutes. Turn off the oven, leaving the tray inside until it has cooled down (to dry out the pieces further).
Break into pieces. Makes just under 1Cup of crunchy flakes.
Enjoy just as you would any other cereal… a sprinkling of dried fruit or nuts perhaps? I did a few batches- some with cinnamon, some with mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice) some plain, just to get a pretty contrast. Also because Misty had a long nap and I got bored and didn’t want to clean the house.
Misty enjoyed some flakes as a mid morning snack with yoghurt.
I enjoyed mine with rice milk and sunshine. Seriously, these are good. I wouldn’t subject Buddy EE to anything less than. I’m really digging them, just like cornflakes, but with a decent nutritional profile. Hurrah.
a cherry ripe for a Missy B
It seems like Missy B has some competition. Through the wonderful connectivity of the world wide web, a little fellow by the name of, oh let’s call him Buddy EE (another little tike that suffers from an eosinophilic disorder) has fallen into my figuritive lap. If my heart was breaking over Missy B’s nasty health problems and allergies, it has been completely annihilated by Buddy EE’s situation. All of the food he can tolerate in this list:
- Pumpkin
- Carrots
- Sweet Potato
- Green lentils
- Chickpea Flour
- Grape Seed Oil
- Mandarin
- Apple
- Pear
- Blueberries
- Watermelon
- Mango
- Grapes
- Brown and white sugar – icing sugar
- A little salt, a little cinnamon.
- That’s it.
Makes about 5 individual tarts, depending on how thick you like the crust. Any extra is nice rolled into little ‘truffles,’ like so:
Crust:
- 1/2C tart dried cherries (cranberries would be a good sub)
- 2T chia seeds
- 1/3C pitted prunes
- Pinch sea salt
- 1/3C roasted buckwheat groats that have been ground into a chunky meal (just using a food processor)
- 3t cacao powder (or cocoa)
- 1/2t vanilla extract
- 1/4C coconut
- Pulse ingredients in a food processor until they all come together and form a beastly ball.
- Push into tart cases, and chill in fridge until ready to fill.
- Coconut Fluffy… place a can of coconut milk in the fridge over night (full fat, people). When you open the can, scoop out the hard creamy stuff, leave the watery bits behind.
- Blend in a food processor, add 1/2t vanilla extract and a few squares of whatever chocolate you fancy that has been melted. Quantities aren’t really necessary – however chocolatey you like it. I got around 1/2C Coconut Fluffy (after whipping) to which I added about 40g melted unsweetened dark chocolate. **Alternatively, add 1T coconut oil, 2 1/2 t maple syrup 2t organic cacao powder to the Fluffy**
- Garnish with cacao nibs, shredded coconut, grated chocolate, mint, extra dried cherries, whatever. Or nothing. It’s all good.
Vegan. Stay at home Mum of Misty. Yoga teacher in training. Passionate about REAL food - creating it, eating it, sharing it. I can never stick to a recipe.
