Muesli Bar

Muesli Bar

Muesli Bars that are gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, nut free and yet delicious and child friendly have been a quest for quite some time. Over the years there have been many commercial ones come and go but they always end up being very expensive and very high in sugar especially when they are nut free. Unfortunately our school has a nut free policy so we get creative with seeds around here! 

I find muesli bars a great way to get a lot of nutrition into kids as biscuits tend towards the starchy sugary options. 
I found a great recipe over at Mixing it Up in HK but needed to adapt to make it gluten free and sugar free. So after much fiddling and trialling on the kids we finally have a winner that is used everyday for school. I make a batch every week or so and pre slice and wrap for a quick addition to the lunchbox.
Make sure when sourcing your dried fruit for the museli bars that it is organic and sulfur dioxide (220) free. There is no need to ingest this preservative, I know the apricots look look black but the negative health issues with sulfur dioxide should make you not care about the colour! 
Sulfur dioxide (220) is a preservative used in dried fruit and wine making. It can cause asthma, skin conditions, abdominal issues to name a few. In all the years of intolerance testing at our clinic there are not many people who are OK with this chemical. So avoid at all times!

Muesli Bars

makes approx 20

Ingredients

65g brown rice

2 tablespoons pepitas

1 tablespoon linseeds

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 red apple peeled and quartered

100g organic dried apricots

50g organic dried figs

50g organic dried cranberries

4 fresh dates

25g organic dessicated coconut

40g coconut oil melted

2 eggs

50g honey

30g puffed amaranth

70g puffed brown rice (Good Morning Puffs are best)

Method

1. Place rice and seeds in Thermomix.    Grind 20sec / 9     Set aside

2. Place apple in Thermomix and chop into small chunks.  5sec / 5   Scrape down sides

3. Add all dried fruit into bowl with apple.  Turbo a couple of times until well chopped

4. Add flour mix from above, coconut, oil, eggs and honey.    Combine  5-10sec / 5-6

5. Add puffed amaranth.  Combine  5-10sec / 5-6

6. Weigh into a separate large mixing bowl the puffed brown rice.

7. Add the mixture from the Thermomix bowl to the puffs and combine well using a spatula or large wooden spoon. Mix until all puffs are well coated.

8. Press mixture into a well greased or silicon square 22cm pan.

9. Bake at 180oC for 20 minutes ... cool before removing from pan or cutting.

Serving Suggestions

Slice into 20 bars  ... I wrap each bar with a strip of greaseproof paper and seal with a little sticker.(This ensures the bar has not been shaken around and pulverised in their lunchbags!)

Store in an airtight container.

Mango Chutney

Mango Chutney

I truly dislike mangoes but do love a good mango chutney, my kids think I am weird. The problem with commercial mango chutney is that it is full of sugar so that makes it a no go. 
I adapted this recipe from one my Mum shared with me ... it is beautiful with a hint of chilli and goes great with fish, chicken, salad ... really anything you want!
As it is sugar free please store in the fridge and I freeze the excess (not that it lasts long around here). This of course can be made on the stove but I do love the ease with which the Thermomix makes all my jams, chutneys and sauces ... put it in, set time temp speed and walk away, come back later and bottle. Too easy!
You can use fresh or frozen mangoes for this recipe.

Mango Chutney

makes 2-3 jars

Ingredients

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

30g coconut oil

1 onion halved

4 mangoes (8 cheeks)

200g apple cider vinegar

200g honey

Method

1. chop garlic in Thermomix    3sec / 7

2. add mustard seeds, chilli flakes and coconut oil. Saute  3min / Varoma / 1   Set aside.

3. Chop onion in Thermomix  3 sec / 7

4. Add back oil mixture and saute    3min / Varoma / 1 (with cap off)

5. Add remaining ingredients and chop  10sec / 6

6. Cook 45min / Varoma / 1     (TM basket on top)

7. Once cooked pour into sterilised and preheated galss jars. Allow to cool to room temperature and store in the fridge. (I usually keep one jar in the fridge and freeze the rest until needed)

Serving Suggestions

Serve with fish, chicken, salad ... we eat it with everything!

Chocolate Crackles

Party food is one of my crusades in life ... why do we need every artificial colour on offer with tons of sugar. All it creates is madness, with kids having hyperactive episodes followed by tears and tantrums! Gee that sounds like a good idea!

I was shocked when I took my daughter to her first birthday party ... the table was groaning in bowls of lollies, chips flavoured with every form of MSG, cakes covered in the rainbow of artificial colours and to drink was everything but water! We could not find a piece of fruit lurking anywhere on the table!

Chocolate crackles

I know that some treats are probably OK but this was the extreme ... my kids are quite used to my rants by now and often walk into a party and declare at the top of their lungs ... "where is the fruit?" and "oh no the sausages are covered in red skins, Yukky". Very proud yet quite embarassing moments all rolled into one.

So over time I have come up with my version of party food that we can all tolerate and enjoy without the price of disaster!

I usually serve fruit plates, homemade popcorn, plain Smith crisps or plain corn chips, cupcakes (gluten free) and chocolate crackles. I offer mini water bottles or real juice poppers. Everyone is happy, there are no major tantrums and I end the day not stressed out from hyped up kids!  Win win!!

Chocolate Crackles

makes 12

Ingredients

3 cups of brown rice puffs

1/3 cup brown rice syrup or coconut syrup

2 tablespoons of cacao powder

1 tablespoon of water

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method

1. combine coconut syrup, cacao powder and water in a saucepan and heat on low and stir until combined, remove from heat

2. add vanilla essence to the liquid

3. in a large bowl place all the rice puffs and combine with liquid

4. mix well making sure all the puffs are coated

5. spoon into patty pan cases (making sure they are full as the mixture shrinks)

6. bake in 150oC oven for 15 minutes

7. Store once cold in an airtight container

Serving Suggestions

Allow to reach room temperature before serving as they will go crunchy when cool.

Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies

It is Christmas once again.
Nowadays it is not the done thing to just hand out a card to your friends at school but attach a chocolate or candy cane. This of course can very easily get out of hand when there is over 20 in the class!

For preschool this year decided no cards just some yummy gingerbread. I had bought the latest Donna Hay Christmas magazine and was inspired by her beautiful gingerbread men cookies. I changed the flour to spelt to make it wheat free and the changed the source of sweetener and voila delicious cookies. They were a hit!

Everyone, even those who hate gingerbread loved them as they were not to spicy and also not too sweet due to the brown rice syrup. (Yes it does use a lot of brown rice syrup but these are a treat cookie so well worth it!).

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

125g butter
90g coconut sugar
200g brown rice syrup
370g white spelt flour
2 teaspoons ginger powder
1 teaspoon bicarb soda

Method

1. Place butter and coconut sugar in Thermomix bowl. Process 30sec / 6
2. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix 30secs / 6
3. Remove dough onto a well floured pastry sheet.
4. Divide dough into four pieces
5. take one piece and dust with spelt flour, then roll with a well floured rolling pin to desired thickness
6. Use cookie cutters to create desired shape ... in this case stars.
7. Place cut cookies onto a baking tray lined with bake paper allowing plenty of space between cookies .. they grow quite a bit.
8. Bake in a 160oC oven for 8 minutes.
9. Place tray on cooling rack to cool before removing cookies. they harden as they cool.
10. Store in an airtight container.

Serving Suggestions

To create ornaments ... when the cookies are first removed from the oven use the end of a teaspoon to push a hole into the cookies whilst they are still hot and pliable. Then allow to cool. Thread ribbon through the hole and tie a knot.

Moroccan Chicken

Our family have just returned from a four week camping trip, by camping I really mean glamping. Camper trailer and power every night ... so yes Thermomix came with us. This ensured that I could cook well balanced meals every night with no compromise on nutrition. Also I could prepare the meal, load it in, turn Thermomix on and then proceed to sit back and enjoy the great outdoors (no fear of setting the tent on fire ... husband attempted this week one when he went to fry eggs for breakfast, there was a nylon rope left on the gas stove ... in hindsight quite spectacular).

Cooking whilst camping

One of the meals I made every week was Moroccan Chicken, I had prepackaged the spice mix in zip lock bags before leaving home (knowing that it is a family favourite). It can be cooked in a fry pan, on the BBQ, in a Cobb oven ... anywhere really and every time it is beautiful. When I cook it for the family I leave out the cayenne as the kids are not up to eating spicy food ... too much whinging!!
One week I forgot to buy a lemon so threw in some white vinegar (variation in recipe below) and no one noticed.

Moroccan Chicken

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/4 teaspoon cloves

(optional) 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 clove garlic

40g (2Tbl) lemon juice  (or 15g white vinegar and 25g water)

20g (1 Tbl) olive oil

500g chicken thighs, sliced into strips

Method

1. Place all dry spices into dry Thermomix bowl. Grind 1min / 9
2. Pop in 2 garlic cloves. Chop 3sec / 7
3. open lid carefully and scrap down all spice powder.
4. Then add lemon juice and olive oil. Mix 5sec / 2
5. Put in chopped chicken. Mix 30sec / reverse / 2
6. For best results marinate in a covered bowl for 2-3 hours prior to cooking (when camping I cook straight away and still tastes fine)
7. Cook in frypan, on BBQ hotplate, Cobb oven .. whatever works.

Serving Suggestions

Serve chicken with rice and steam vegetables cooked in the Thermomix whilst frying (see photo above)

When cooking in the Cobb oven we bake potatoes whilst frying the chicken and serve with salad.