Category: Recipes


Nov
2017

Crazy Santas

categories: Allergy Friendly, Christmas Recipes, Gluten Free, Recipes, Snacks

 

 

Recently the folks over at Te Atatu Toasted, let me know they have some amazing recipes on their website. So I checked them out and want to share them with you! The first one is this Crazy Santa recipe made with the Te Atatu Toasted Coco Crunchies.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 100 grams melted dark chocolate
  • 8 large strawberries
  • 1 cup Te Atatu Toasted Coco Crunchies
  • 1 small tub of super thick greek yoghurt
  • 8 whole Fresh As Freeze Dried Raspberries
  • 1 syringe or a piping bag with a tiny nozzle

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Place Coco Crunchies in a small bowl and melt chocolate in another bowl.
  2. Cut the stalk off the strawberry so it can sit flat and carefully dip into the chocolate one side of the strawberry then the other leaving space at the front of the strawberry to make his face.
  3. Dip each strawberry into the Coco Crunchies to coat.
  4. Place in the fridge for about 5 minutes so the coating can set.
  5. Fill the piping bag or well cleaned syringe with thick yoghurt and put 2 dots on for his eyes and then make his beard, finally put a small dollop on top to to stick his raspberry hat to.
  6. Place the hat on and put a Coco Crunchie in each eye dot.
  7. ENJOY!!

Thank you Te Atatu Toasted for allowing me to share this wonderful recipe!

Crazy Santas

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Nov
2017

Christmas Inspired Crepe Cake

categories: Blog, Christmas, Christmas Recipes, Dessert, Recipes

Images courtesy of Marcel’s

The fabulous folks over at Marcel’s recently sent me some of their Ooh La La Gluten Free Crepes, and a recipe to make this absolutely mouth-watering Crepe Cake.

Now you can make this for Christmas, or you can simply make it as a stand-out dessert.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 packets Marcel’s Ooh La La Gluten Free Crepes

Filling:

  • 1 cup lemon curd (store bought or home made)
  • 200 grams mascarpone
  • 3/4 cup cream
  • 2 Tablespoons icing sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar

Toppings:

  • Extra whipped cream
  • Fresh strawberries
  • 50g grated chocolate / crumbled Flake bar
  • Handful freeze dried strawberries
  • 1 small meringue, crushed
  • 100g dark chocolate, melted with a teaspoon of coconut oil

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DIRECTIONS:

  1. In a large bowl, beat all the ingredients for the filling until it’s light and fluffy.
  2. Heat crepes stacked on a plate (in three lots) for one minute in the microwave and then allow to cool until they’re only just warm.
  3. Leave in fridge until ready for use.
  4. You won’t be able to move the crepe cake once it’s completed, so assemble it on the plate you wish to serve it on! It can help to place pieces of baking paper just under the edge of the first crepe, to catch any drips as you’re layering it up with fillings. You can then easily pull the baking paper out when you’re finished, leaving a clean plate, ready to serve!
  5. To assemble, start with a crepe laid flat on your cake serving plate. Top crepe with a heaped dessert spoon of the mascarpone mixture, spreading it right out to the edges. Top with another crepe, then repeat until you’ve used all of your mixture. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 3 – 4 hours or overnight.
  6. When ready to serve, top your cake with whipped cream, sliced fresh strawberries, freeze dried strawberry slices, crushed meringue and grated chocolate or crumbled flake bar. Drizzle it with the melted dark chocolate just before serving
  7. Slice with a large sharp knife.

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DOWNLOADABLE INSTRUCTIONS (click to download full instructions)


Nov
2017

Santa Hat Blini’s

categories: Christmas, Christmas Recipes, Dessert, Recipes, Snacks

These Santa Hat Blini’s are the type of treats kids dream of. Serve them for afternoon tea, or for dessert! Thanks to Marcel’s for letting me use their recipe and images for this.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 packet Marcel’s Fancy Blinis (in your supermarket’s freezer section)
  • 300ml cream, whipped (or use whipped cream in a can!)
  • 24 strawberries (or roughly three packs)

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DIRECTIONS:

  • Warm blinis as per packet instructions, then allow to cool completely.
  • Slice the leaves off each strawberry to create a flat base.
  • Using a piping bag, pipe a ring of cream onto blinis.
  • Place a strawberry flat side down on top of the cream.
  • Add another small dot of cream to the top of the strawberry.
  • Serve immediately!

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Nov
2017

3 Ingredient Nutella Cookies

categories: Baking, Blog, Recipes, Snacks

3 ingredient Nutella cookies?! GET IN MY BELLY!!

Easy to make this gluten free because Nutella is already gluten free (THANK GOODNESS), and you simply substitute the regular flour for GF flour. I use Edmond’s All Purpose Gluten Free Flour.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/4 cup (150g) self raising flour
  • 1 cup (240g) Nutella
  • 1 large egg

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DIRECTIONS

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or 160 fan forcerd)
  2. Like a tray with baking paper.
  3. In a large bowl, add the flour, Nutella and egg – mix well until combined
  4. The mixture may be thick (almost like dough) but that’s ok; it should be moist enough to roll into balls
  5. Using your hands, or a cookie dough scoop, roll into balls
  6. Place onto the baking tray, and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon, a fork or even the bottom of a glass
  7. If the mixture doesn’t form a nice ball and is more moist, don’t worry about flattening it out, just roll it into a ball and leave it on there
  8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until they are cooked around the edges and still slightly soft in the middle.
  9. Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool on the tray.
  10. ENJOY!

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3 Ingredient Nutella Cookies

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Oct
2017

Boiling An Egg

categories: Blog, Breakfast, Recipes


(c) Can Stock Photo / mythja

 

Boiling An Egg

Now boiling an egg, to eat, might not seem like rocket science but to some it is hard; and for me personally, I can never remember the times to cook the egg so that it’s perfect.

I have now been boiling eggs for at least 20 years (gees I’m old) and finally have perfected it.

So much so, that instead of poaching eggs for my breakfast, I use a soft-boiled egg and it’s amazing.

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WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

  • A pot
  • Water
  • Eggs
  • A sharp knife

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WHAT TO DO:

  1. 3/4 fill a pot with water (or at least with enough water to adequately cover the egg), and put on the stove on a high heat until boiling.
  2. In the meantime, take the egg, and at the larger of the ends (or as I like to call, the bottom of the egg), gently tap until you break through and make a small hole – this will ensure the egg doesn’t crack and the contents spill out when you’re boiling it.
  3. Once the pot of water is boiling, carefully add your eggs in (I use a spoon to lower them in).
  4. Continue to boil for as long as you want depending on how cooked you want the egg:
    1. 5 minutes for soft boiled (perfect as a poached egg substitute)
    2. 7 minutes for medium boiled
    3. 9 minutes for hard boiled
  5. Once the time has lapsed, remove the eggs from the heat and drain
  6. Immediately run under cold water to not only cool the egg down but also to stop it from cooking further
  7. Once it has cooled enough to touch, remove the egg from the pot and very gently tap on a hard surface to start breaking the shell
  8. Do this very very gently – you want to crack the shell as much as possible to make it easier to remove
  9. Then you can use your fingers to gently remove the shell – if you have a soft boiled egg then the egg will be VERY soft so you need to be extra careful.
  10. ENJOY!

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SOME NOTES:

  • Initial egg temperature – An egg right out of the fridge will take longer to cook than an egg at room temperature.
  • Egg size – The bigger the egg, the longer it will take to cook. My eggs were around a size 7.

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Oct
2017

Lemony Asparagus Pasta

categories: Dinner, Recipes

 

Lemony Asparagus Pasta

I recently got sent some Meadow Fresh Sour Cream, and all the ingredients I need to make this Lemony Asparagus Pasta. We loved it SO much we have made it THREE times since then.

Now if you’re not a fan of asparagus, you don’t have to include it at all. If you’re gluten free (like me, I have Coeliac Disease) then simply cook separate gluten free pasta, and make sure your chicken stock is gluten free.

If you don’t have Linguine or Fettucine, you can use spaghetti or any type of pasta. We have used spiral pasta as we ran out of the others LOL.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 400 grams of Linguine or Fettuccine
  • 340 grams Asparagus, sliced on an angle into 2cm pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
  • 1 cup Meadow Fresh Sour Cream
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup chicken stock
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 1/4 grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 3/4 cup basil leaves

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DIRECTIONS:

Step One:
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water, according to the directions on the packet. During the last two minutes, add the asparagus. Once cooked, drain the pasta / asparagus and return to the pot with the lid on, to keep warm.

Step Two:
Over a medium heat, add the oil and garlic to a pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine and then take off the heat.

Step Three:
Add the pasta and asparagus to the pan with the parmesan cheese and basil leaves, and mix to combine.

Step Four:
Top the pasta with extra parmesan and serve.

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Oct
2017

Puff Pastry Jam Tarts

categories: Baking, Recipes

 

Puff Pastry Jam Tarts

I’m all about making yummy delicious food whilst putting in minimum effort. So here’s a really basic Puff Pastry Jam Tart recipe in which you only need two ingredients. WINNING!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 x Puff Pastry Sheets
  • Jam (I used Black Doris Plum, but you can use any type)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. Cut the sheets into even squares, and then score a smaller square in the middle.
  3. In that smaller square, add a teaspoon of jam (or however much you need)
  4. Transfer the pre-cooked jam tarts onto a tray that is lined with baking paper.
  5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes (or until golden brown and risen).

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Sep
2017

Sweet & Sour Pickled Beetroot

categories: Dinner, Gluten Free, Recipes

 

Sweet & Sour Pickled Beetroot

This is a family recipe that came from Tipperary, Ireland when our relatives came to New Zealand in 1864. The recipe gives the beetroot a bit of a sweet / sour taste and really brings out the flavour of the beetroot.

When I first ate tinned beetroot I couldn’t believe how bland it was, and truly couldn’t understand how anyone could like beetroot. This is the ONLY way I will eat beetroot and as you can see from above – has been in our family for many generations.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 x beetroot
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 1 cup of malt vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Jars with sealable tops (or preserving jars)

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DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cut the stalks off each beetroot (don’t cut into the beetroot), and put in a pot full of cold water.
  2. Bring to the boil, and continue to boil until tender (when a knife can easily poke through). Don’t overcook it though – you need to be able to slice it easily.
  3. Take it off the heat and let it cool in it’s own juice for about an hour (or until cool)
  4. In another pot, get a cup of sugar, a cup of malt vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir until dissolved while it’s heating, and bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes.
  5. In the meantime, drain off the cooked beetroot
  6. Peel off the skin by hand. If it’s still warm, run under cold water and peel at the same time.
  7. Slice the beetroot up thinly (or thickly), or cut into cubes – you can do whatever you want really depending on what you like.
  8. Fill up some jars with the sliced/cut beetroot.
  9. Tip the vinegar/sugar mixture into each jar and fill to the top.
  10. Seal with a lid and let it cool completely before storing in the pantry or refrigerating

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NOTES:

  • I find you need to give the beetroot a week for the flavour to really settle in.
  • You can store the beetroot for a while because the vinegar will pickle it.

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Aug
2017

Slow Cooker Bolognaise

categories: Dinner, Gluten Free, Recipes

 

Slow Cooker Bolognaise

So I had 1kg of mince and zero inclination to actually do anything. So I surfed the net and found a couple of recipes that I liked and mixed them together to make this Slow Cooker Bolognaise recipe.

If you don’t have a slow cooker you can simply use a large stock pot and cook on low.

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 kg mince (beef or lamb)
  • 3 cans chopped tomatoes (400g each)
  • 2 onions (chopped)
  • 2 medium carrots (peeled and diced)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Pepper & Me’s Man Rub (or just use any herbs/spices you want)
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef stock

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Add everything into your crockpot / slow cooker and stir to combine
  2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.
  3. If it is quite runny after this time, add 3 tablespoons water and 1 teaspoon cornflour to the mix.
  4. Serve with spaghetti, pasta or rice.

SUPER SIMPLE

I also had so many leftovers that I used it the next night to make a lasagne. You can also use this as pie filling, or add a bit of chilli and have it as a taco filler. Or even for nachos. It’s very versatile!

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Aug
2017

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

categories: Baking, Dessert, Gluten Free, Recipes

 

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

It’s a classic, but with a kick and well worth it. You can also make this gluten free by substituting out the gluten-filled ingredients, for gluten free ones.

Of course the “kick” is totally optional, especially if you have kids:

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INGREDIENTS (Pudding):

  • 100 grams butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1¼ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoon cocoa
  • OPTIONAL : 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes (for a kick!)

INGREDIENTS (Sauce):

  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoon cocoa
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 2 cups boiling water

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DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease an ovenproof dish (one that will roughly hold 5-6 cups).
  2. OR you can grease ramekins and make them individually.
  3. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cocoa and cornflour for the chocolate sauce (this will be called the dry sauce mixture).
  4. Combine the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla together, and beat until combined and creamed.
  5. Add the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl (including the chilli flakes if you want) and fold into the creamed mixture.
  6. Spoon the mixture into the dish and sprinkle with the dry sauce mixture
  7. Next you need to carefully pour over the boiling water – hold a spoon upside down over the pudding and pour the water over it to stop splashing.
  8. Bake for 35 minutes or until it springs back when lightly touched
  9. Once ready, serve and dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with fresh berries

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