Sweet potato chips & Thyme mayonnaise

Sweet potatoes are considered to be a healthier potato option. In comparison to its white cousin, sweet potato has a higher mineral value – in fact one serving of sweet potato offers a daily dose of vitamin A, a mineral important for growth and immune system. It is, also, higher in vitamin C, a good source of Vitamin D, Magnesium and B6.

The flavour of sweet potato chips is so much richer than the white one and they are harder to make because they go very soft with high temperatures.  The trick is to coat them with something that will give them crispiness. They are still very different in texture and taste, but personally I much prefer these- and not only because they are better for my body.

Firstly, cut the potato into chip strips. Don’t make them too thick as they will go soft. Then mix some polenta flour with a tablespoon of sesame seeds and chia seeds.
Rub the chips with coconut oil and roll into the polenta mix. Lay the chips on the baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes at 180 degrees, increasing it to 200 in the last 5 minutes of baking.

For the mayonnaise, beat two room temperature egg yolks for a couple minutes, or until they are stiff and creamy. Add mustard and salt and mix for another minute.  Then add a TBSP of olive oil very slowly and gradually, whilst continuing to mix. Finally, add some finely chopped thyme, a teaspoon of cider vinegar and continue to mix for another 30 seconds.

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Apple Cinnamon Cake

The combination of apples and cinnamon, winter's favourite smell of comfort, has been very popular in our house (and our friends houses) this winter. I have made this cake a lot.  Every time I made a small tweak, in the way the apples are cut, mixing different types of sweeteners and flavours.  And it was delicious and irresistible every time.

It's the perfect cake for afternoon kiddie play dates.

If you don't have gluten free self-raising flour, you can use rice flour mixed with 2 TBSP of baking powder.

For the Apple filling:
5 medium apples
75g of butter (or coconut oil)
2 TBSP of cinnamon

For the cake:
100g ground almonds
200g self-raising gluten free flour
100g coconut sugar
100g butter (or coconut oil)
1 vanilla bean (or 2 TBSP of vanilla essence)
3 eggs separated
200ml nut milk (coconut, almond, rice or whichever you have)
100g almond flakes (for the topping)

Peel and grate the apples. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the apples and cinnamon. Sweat on a low temperature for 10 minutes, until the apples are soft and have taken on the brownish cinnamon colour. Leave to cool whilst you prepare your cake mixture.

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix with nut milk.
In another bowl, mix egg yolk, sugar, butter and vanilla until creamy and smooth.
Now combine the two mixtures.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and and add,  folding in carefully to preserve the air.

Grease the bottom and sides of a spring pan (mine is 9") with butter or coconut oil. Add half of the cake mixture, then carefully spoon out the apple filling over it. Don't go too close to the edge - your cake will look better (no other reason). Pour out the second half of the cake mixture and sprinkle with almond flakes.

Cook in the preheated oven at 170 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

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Chicken and Kale soup

In my previous posts I wrote about the benefits of bone broths in winter months, specifically, its role in maintaining a healthy immune system and keeping the body warm. It seems that many of us are feeling under the weather this month. So what a better way to start the year than with a warm and nourishing chicken soup full of goodness.

Now is the season of kale. This great vegetable is packed with Iron, vitamins A, C and K. It is also a great source of antioxidants – caretonoids and flavonoids which are so important to our body’s defence against disease.

We have been making variations on this soup throughout these gray damp months, using parsnips, and any root veg around.  It's cheap and tastes good.
This week we added a star anise to the stock and, as well as the usual two carcasses, we threw in four chicken wings. The cartilage in the wings melts down giving the broth a great rich flavour and velvety texture.  The star anise gives a nice aniseed flavour and freshness.


1.5 litre Chicken stock (see bone broth recipe)
1 large or 2 small carrots
2 celery sticks
1 onion
Kale
1 clove of garlic
1 Star anise

Prepare the stock and meat by bringing the water covered carcasses and wings to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes, remove carcasses and wings, allow to cool (about 10 minutes).  Stripe the meat from the bones.  Return the bones to the pot and simmer for a good two hours.
After the stock is prepared you are ready to go.

Coarsely chop all the vegetables, garlic and chicken.  Melt a little butter in a large deep pot, add the onions, carrots, garlic and celery and sweat for 10 minutes.  Then finally add the kale.  Cover and cook for five minutes.  Add the chicken stock, bring to a simmer and cook until the vegetable are soft. Remove about 3 ladles of vegetables and liquid and blend. Return to the pot and then mix in the chopped chicken bits.  yum!     

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Granola bites

Granola is one of those dishes that is so easy to make healthy.  

There is no need for sugar, gluten or dairy and the end result is as tasty (if not tastier and miles better for you) than store bought granolas often packed with sugar and polyunsaturated fats.   Most ingredients that make a granola are very sweet anyway (dates, apricots, berries etc) and adding a bit of honey or maple syrup makes one very sweet snack. 

Thanks to all the nuts and seeds, granola can also be a very good source of protein. There are no "correct" ingredients - you can use any nuts, seeds or berries that you have to make a tasty (and healthy) granola. 

1 cup oats (I use gluten free oats)

½ cup flaked almonds

1 cup pecans

2 TBSP sunflower seeds

½ cup dried apricots

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup dates

3 TBSP coconut oil

3 TBSP maple syrup (or honey)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend into a coarse paste.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, spoon on the mixture, and press and spread evenly. Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven, 150 degrees.  When you take the granola out of the oven it will still be soft but will eventually harden.  Score with a knife while still warm , and once cool,  break up with your hands. We ate ours for breakfast with yoghurt and pomegranate, then snacked on it over the next couple of days.

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Pumpkin pie

It's winter squash season and varieties such as pumpkin, acorn and butternut are great roasted,  steamed, or made into mash or soup. 

However, today is Halloween and I'm making a pumpkin pie, a great dessert through all the season's holidays.

We are going to my friend Nic’s house and her boys, Charlie and Jesse, are taking Mae trick or treating.  She is super excited and will be dressed like a cat in a tutu. The plan is to feed the children dinner and the pumpkin pie so that they will not want to eat any other sweets. Mae’s never had candy and I am hoping it will stay that way for a while. We can try anyway.

Crust

100g coconut flour or flakes
125g pecans
100g gluten free flour
1 TBSP of cinnamon
3 TBSP of coconut butter
1 TSP of xanthan gum (or gear gum)
4 TBSP honey

Filling
450g of cooked pumpkin (can use canned)
2 eggs
2 TBSP coconut cream
1 TBSP of lime juice
2 TBSP gluten free flour
1 TSP vanilla extract
1 ½ TSP of cinnamon
1 TSP of xanthan gum
1 TSP ground ginger
½ TSP ground nutmeg
a sprinkle of allspice
100ml nut milk
4 TBS maple syrup

Cut your pumpkin in pieces (no need to remove the skin at this point) and roast in the oven with some coconut butter for 30mintues or until the pumpkin is soft.  Peel the skin off and blend until the texture is smooth. Alternatively, you can use tinned 100% pumpkin. It will make this cake much easier and quicker to make…

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

First, make the crust by blending all the ingredients in a food processor until fully blended and coming off the sides. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and spread out evenly with your fingers. Bake for 5 minutes, then rest whilst you make the filling.

For the filling put all the ingredients in a high speed food processor or blender and blend for couple minutes until your texture is very smooth. Spoon out and distribute over your crust.

Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Happy Halloween!

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Bone broth

Ok, this recipe is not pretty. And I do feel like I need to apologize to vegetarians, but bone broths have a high nutritional value. They are high in minerals, calcium and phosphorus, essential in maintaining healthy bones. 

Not all of us are able to utilise and absorb minerals in supplement form. More and more people have digestive disorders which means that the absorption in the gut is compromised.  For people with food intolerances, the immune system is under heavy stress.  It is constantly trying to attack the harmful substances causing their allergy. This means that it can also attack beneficial substances and nutrients.  Bone broths, especially those rich in collagen (like knuckles), ensure that the gut is well lined. This way the absorption of nutrients is increased. Consuming collagen also helps maintain and support connective tissues and joints.

If making beef broth, try to include some bones rich in marrow. Marrow is the part of bone where white and red blood cells are created,  a good source of iron as well as protein.  In Chinese medicine, bone broth nourishes kidneys and blood chi (essence), which in turn nourishes our adrenals and hormonal functions.

Make sure your bones come from a good source. I always I get my bones from grass fed cows or organic free-range chickens.  This will ensure that the nutrients in the bones have good nutritional value and the fat contained in the marrow and tissues is not inflammatory. You can use leftovers from your meats carcasses, chicken, beef, fish, venison etc. The trick is to cook them for as long as possible, between 12-72 hours. This will ensure that all nutrients and collagen have left the bones.

Brown the beef bones in the oven for 30 minutes, otherwise for all other animal carcasses,  I put the bones directly in a pan with water, bring to a boil and then simmer. If your bones have meat on them, take it off after its been cooked (probably after 15mins, chicken will take less time than beef so it depends what bones you are cooking). You can use the meat in your other recipes or add to your broth when it’s done.  I add 3 TBSP of cider vinegar which helps draw out the nutrients from the bones.  I leave it to simmer the whole day and leave outside in the garden (with the lid on of course) overnight. You can put in the fridge, but if you use a big pan like me it might not fit. The next day I take it out and simmer again, this time adding any vegetables I have – I often use celery, carrots and onions.   If possible cook the bones for another 12 hours.  You will notice that on the first day the smell of bones is quite strong. By the second day, the bones develop a much nicer smell and your house and your washing will not suffer.

Strain and leave to cool overnight. Once the broth has cooled down you can scoop some of the fat that is now sitting on the top and depending on what kind of bones you have you might have a fair amount. I usually don’t remove the fat from the chicken stock, but beef bones can be very fatty and so you will probably want to remove it.

Finally, after you refrigerate the broth, you will notice that it will become like jelly. This is good! You can also freeze the broth in small batches and use for your stews and general cooking needs when needed.

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Nut milk

As you probably know by now, I am not the biggest fan of cow’s milk.  There are reasons for this but the simplest one is that I don’t believe that cow’s milk is suitable for humans. Cows make it for their babies so that they can become big and strong cows.

Cow’s milk is mucous forming and can slow and hinder absorption in the gut. Having said that, I do think that raw unpasteurised milk has some benefits (for some people, especially children) as most of its goodness has been preserved in the form of good gut bacteria and enzymes.

The milk that we consume and buy in shops is pasteurised and homogenised which means that most of its goodness is lost. It is also often produced by cows that are not grass fed, live in poor conditions and are heavily medicated with hormones so that they can produce more milk for our increasing needs.

When Mae was 14 months I stopped breastfeeding her. I made almond milk for her to drink every day. Nut milk is in no way a substitute to mother’s milk, but I felt that the combination of nut milk,  bone broths and essential fatty acids gave her more nutrients than an infant formula would.

For those of you who worry that they their bones will stop growing if you don’t consume enough diary, a glass of almond milk contains the same amount of calcium as does cow’s milk.  It is also a great source of fat soluble vitamins, A, D and E. Vitamin A and E are powerful antioxidants and vitamin D is essential for strong bones and immunity. Almonds are also a rich source of Magnesium which is another mineral essential in preserving healthy bones – without it Calcium cannot be held in bones. And finally, almond milk is a good source of protein, the body’s building blocks.

In the beginning I only made milk from almonds, but now I add other nuts to it, like hazelnuts or cashews. Almond milk is dead easy to make, all you need are almonds, water and a good blender. Some use milk makers, but I found that they tend to heat milk to high temperatures which is not good for maintaining the stability of its natural oils.

All you need is:

100g almonds
50g of hazelnuts (or almonds only if you don’t have or like hazelnuts)
1 L of water

Soak the nuts in water overnight.  Drain and add to the blender with 1L of water. Blend for a few minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth or muslin cloth – this will ensure the milk is smooth and there are no bits.

Mae always had her nut milk neat and unsweetened.  But if you like it sweeter, add couple of dates when blending, which will ensure the milk has a deep sweet flavour. You can also add cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cacao, orange zest, rose water, honey, coconut oil or anything you like or think would work. 

It will last in the fridge for a few days and can also be frozen.

I use nut milk in most of my baking recipes as a milk substitute - cakes, breads, biscuits, pancakes etc. I also try to reuse the leftover almonds, which i add to cakes (see my cheesecake recipe).

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