Lime Ginger Chicken Noodles

Lime Ginger Chicken Noodles

Using up leftover BBQ meat is one of my lifelong quests. Husband always buys too much and cooks it all telling me he will eat it sometime during the week. Famous last words!

I was recently inspired by Jamie Olivers new cookbook Save with Jamie. His idea is to purposefully buy a larger cheaper cut, cook it then use in multitude of ways. Sounds great. Most of my base recipes are using raw ingredients and there is only so many times you want to eat pasta sauce with leftover BBQ.

This week had way too much chicken that had been too tough to eat so it was in need of shredding. Oliver had an interesting recipe for Singapore noodles. Me being me ... decided to work with the recipe then ended up completely reinventing the recipe ... again as usual.

Being predominantly gluten free I use pad thai  style rice noodles or rice vermicelli for dishes like this. They are cheap, quick to cook and the kids love them. For paleo style you could serve with zucchini noodles or on steamed shredded cabbage.

Lime Ginger Chicken Noodles

Ingredients

300g (rough measurement as it is leftovers) cooked chicken
1 large carrot, chunks
1/2 cup peas
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 brown onion, skinned and in half
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
25mL olive oil
1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice powder
25mL tamari (gluten and MSG free soy sauce)
1 lime, zest and juice
packet of wide rice noodle sticks

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, for the noodles.
2. Put chicken in Thermomix. Shred  5sec / reverse / 5. Tip into a mixing bowl.
3. Put carrot in Thermomix. Chop 2 sec / 7. Tip in with chicken
4. Add peas and shallots to chicken mix.
5. in Thermomix place onion, garlic and ginger. Chop 3secs / 7.
6. Add olive oil and chinese 5 spice powder. Saute with MC off 3min / Varoma / 2.
7. Add tamari and lime zest, then mix this sauce into the shredded chicken and vegetable mix.
8. Stir fry chicken mix on low heat on the stove ready to serve on the noodles.

Serving Suggestions

Serve chicken over noodles, squeeze lime juice on and sprinkle with fried shallots or roasted nuts (peanuts or cashews).

Alkaline Soup

One of my all time favourite foods is soup and the Thermomix has made this a no brainer. I eat soup for breakfast and lunch most days. For me it is a way to get lots of vegetables in, full of flavour with the added benefit of being alkalising. Vegetables contain the most amazing phytonutrients and as I say to my kids all the time ... "we are humans and humans eat vegetables". Vegetables aren't a lifestyle choice like grains, they are a core essential part of the diet upon which all other food hinges.

It is very important to keep the diet alkaline as we know that an acidic diet leads to inflammation and altered immune system. When the body is alkaline it functions at its optimal best, absorbs nutrients well and fights of illness and disease effectively.

Alkaline Soup

Alkalising Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

1 brown onion, peeled and cut in half

1 clove garlic, peeled

20mL olive oil
2 sticks celery

1 leek, cut in rings

1 carrot, roughly chopped

cauliflower

broccoli

600mL filtered water

1 tablespoon TM veg stock paste

Method

1. Add onion and garlic to Thermomix bowl. Chop  3sec / 7
2. Add celery to bowl. Chop 3sec / 7

3. Add olive oil, leave the MC off. Saute 3min / Varoma / 2

4. Fill TM basket to the top with leek, carrot, cauliflower and broccoli

5. Add water and stock paste to the bowl and place TM basket in on top.

6. Cook 20min / 100oC / 2

7. Carefully tip vegetables from the TM basket into the bowl. Puree carefully by taking 20sec to get to speed 9 then 10sec / 9.  (total 30sec / 9)

Notes

For breakfast I like my soup to have texture and not to salty. As we wake slightly dehydrated and salt can increase this sensation. To make the soup smooth, puree for a full 1min / 9.

Enjoy!

Bone Stock

Stock is one of the most important base ingredients you can make in your kitchen. There is not one stock on the market that does not contain MSG ... I know the label says MSG free but it is not. There are many ways to relabel MSG to confuse and hoodwink the consumer.

Fish Stock

MSG is not OK for anybody but it is especially an issue for those who are sensitive like my son. In the past when he consumed MSG, unbeknownst to us, he would break out in a fine red rash and throw temper tantrums from hell! Once we worked out the labelling issues we  were shocked at how many foods we were consuming at that time that were “healthy” but contained often up to three forms of MSG. Once we avoided them completely we never saw the brain snaps again!

For all of us MSG is a concern, it is a neuroexcitotoxin, simply put it overexcites the brain cell and causes it to die. So yes MSG kills brain cells ... for real!!  In every individual the cell death occurs in different areas but if you have a family history of a neurological disease like Parkinsons or Motor neuron then the risk is that the MSG will speed up the death of cells in this area and bring on the disease faster. Scary stuff ... to read more on this well documented issue I recommend the book by Russell Blaylock - Excitotoxins: The Taste that kills.

MSG is hidden in food as: ‘600’ number series of flavour enhancers eg. 621, 622 etc., yeast extract, HVP/HPP - hydrolysed vegetable/plant protein, autolysed vegetable protein, caramel colour 150a,b, c and d (these are also known carcinogens), calcium and sodium caseinate, flavour/flavours.

Why do they use MSG in all its forms you ask ... well it is a flavour enhancer, making poor quality, tasteless ingredients taste amazing. It is quite simply put addictive, as the food ramped on this stuff tastes unbelievable, think BBQ chickens versus home baked chickens. 

I make stock in bulk and freeze it. Each time we have a free range roast chicken I put the leftover carcass into a ziplock bag in the freezer ready for the next batch of stock. I buy beef bones from the butcher, fish heads from the local fish shop and when we indulge in chinese BBQ duck I ask for the bones to make a wondrously indulgent stock which is great in risotto.

When I make a batch of stock I freeze it in 500mL containers, once frozen I pop the block out from the container and place the same flavour all together in a large labelled zip lock bag. (Fish stock in roast chicken gravy is disgusting ... yes the husband made it by mistake one time so the bags are very well labelled now.)

In our house bone stock is used in gravies, stews, soups and risottos. When I don’t use bone stock I use vegetable stock made in the Thermomix. This is a brilliantly easy recipe found in The Everyday Cookbook that comes with the Thermomix. It is made into a paste that keeps in the fridge so I do find I rely on it a lot now due to convenience.

Bone Stock

Ingredients

2-3 chicken carcasses or 1kg chicken necks or 1kg beef bones or 2-3 fish heads

1 large leek, sliced

2 brown onions skin on, quartered

3 cloves garlic, flattened with broad side of a knife

2 sticks celery plus leaves, roughly chopped

1 med carrot, roughly chopped

8 peppercorns 

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (helps draw the minerals out from the bones)

filtered water

Method

1. In a large heavy based saucepan add all ingredients.

2. Fill with water until all ingredients are covered 

3. Put on stove and bring to boil, then gently simmer for 2-3 hours. 

4. Strain off liquid and use immediately or store in freezer. 

Enjoy!

Caramel Coconut Ice Cream

One of the best things about having a Thermomix is the absolute ease at making ice cream. From using an ice cream maker and all the mucking around that involved, to just throwing everything in and hey presto beautiful ice cream!!

Caramel Coconut Ice Cream

You can create very simple but delicious treats in no time at all ... just need a little forward planning with the ice blocks!

After being sugar free for several months I was craving ice cream and was in a bit of a dilemma. Commercial choices are so high in sugar, additives and trying to make it dairy free and soy free is a near impossible task. Suddenly I realised that I could tolerate a little coconut sugar and so the caramel ice cream was invented. It is a family favourite now and I am sure as we go into Summer that the demand for it will increase!

For best results I use Spiral coconut cream as it is organic and always a beautiful white in colour ... I shake the can well before opening and then tip into the ice cube moulds. Using coconut sugar instead of normal cane sugar makes it a lower GI dessert as coconut sugar has a GI of only 35, it also contains lots of minerals. It does however still contain fructose, so this ice cream is still a treat food and not an everyday food. 

Caramel Coconut Ice Cream

Ingredients

70g coconut sugar

350g coconut cream frozen in ice cubes

350g water ice cubes

1 egg white (optional - makes a smoother ice cream)

Method

1. Mill coconut sugar 10 sec/speed 9
2. Add coconut cream ice cubes and egg white (if using)  blend 20 sec/speed 10 until slushie forms
3. Add 300g water ice cubes and blend 1 min/ speed 10 and use spatula to keep in moving until a vortex forms in the bowl. If it is too soft add more water ice blocks and re process.

Serving suggestions

Serve straight from the bowl.

Store excess in the freezer and take out 10-15 mins before serving to allow it to resoften.

We love it with apple crumble.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pancakes

This blog is a place for all my kitchen experiments, my love of the Thermomix and raves about ingredients ... both good and evil.

It has all come about due to my husband pestering me non stop for over ten years to produce a cookbook for all his clients. Not ready to go there!! I just cook good food from scratch and avoid various ingredients which change according to family issue, diet we are following and what I am craving. Yes I am the kitchen boss! What I want typically gets made.

Gluten Free Pancakes

Over the years I have personally followed many eating plans for various reasons: weight loss, curiosity, health issues and just a side effect of being a foodie Naturopath.

Diets I have followed for various periods of time over the years include: Candida diet, Blood type diet, Zone diet, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Body Ecology, Raw food, Ketosis, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, GAPS, paleo, sugar free, grain free ... and so the list goes on. 

I am a big believer that no one diet is the answer to anyones problem. We are all individuals with different genetic makeup and wildly varied environments. But without starting somewhere, you can’t find what works for you. By experimenting with many different eating styles I have finally came to the conclusion that I am indeed a bitsa and as my body ages (yes we all age) and the environment changes around me then these eating habits will continue to change. 

So on reflection I realise that the recipes that will be posted over time will sometimes be gluten free, sometimes paleo, sometimes vegan ... in a nut shell, they will vary. They will be recipes that work for me and my family ... I am a big believer of never making a recipe again if it didn’t work out. Waste of time, energy and ingredients!

To kick off the recipes I thought I would start with an all time favourite of ours ... Gluten free Pancakes. Over the years these have varied greatly. It is almost a family joke as to what the pancakes will be made from this time. They have been gluten free, grain free, SCD, paleo but the favourite has been the original pancake that I used to serve for lazy Sunday breakfasts before kids, when you could eat in peace and read the paper (love my kids but Breakfast is a little more demanding now). Making pancakes with kids is a lesson in patience ... for them. They have to wait until I am finished cooking enough for both of them before I serve or otherwise the arguments are special!

Gluten Free Pancakes

Ingredients

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

1/3 cup white rice flour

1/3 cup arrowroot/tapioca flour

2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup milk (rice, almond...)

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

Method

1. combine dry ingredients with a fork until well mixed
2. add eggs and milk and whisk to combine
3. add honey (optional) and whisk
4. spoon into a lightly buttered or oiled flat pan, do not flip until surface has bubbled and the edges look firm, flip and continue cooking until done
5. stack them in a warm oven so everyone gets them warm including the chef :)

Serving suggestions: 

something sweet, nuts for protein and fresh fruit for something live!

1. maple syrup, walnuts and fresh pears and prunes
2. coconut syrup, walnuts and cherries
3. sugar free topping ... raspberries and coconut cream

Enjoy!