dairy free

/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 1 Comment

Homemade Chicken Burgers

The storm had just started as I was busy trying to finish and serve dinner.

Our 4 yr old hates storms, so as he was getting more and more upset, I was frantically trying to come up with some helpful and calming words for him.

As each new bolt of lightning lit up the sky and the big boys ran to the window with excitement, our little man’s screams would just go up a notch.

“Sshhh….it’s okay… you don’t need to scream…” as I am trying not to burn the burger patties in the frying pan and I am signalling to another child to start setting the table, while my little boy is wrapped around my legs.

“Um..just picture Lightning McQueen up in the clouds….he’s.. um.. trying to race… um….Mater and (insert sound of thunder here) LOOK…that’s just them having a BIG CRASH… but.. um… everyone’s really okay…shhh…. it’s okay… please stop screaming”

Then it’s my turn…”Can someone PLEASE set the table, dinner’s almost ready!” I yell.

I do sometimes wonder if I walked calmly around the house at this point, quietly gesturing for people to come to the table, if they in fact, would actually come? Let me know if this works for you in your house…

Probably more than I should, after a few quieter mutterings, I usually end up yelling something like “If you don’t come to the table NOW, you can’t touch your iPad for a MONTH.” That usually gets people there pretty quick.

Anyway, back to the storm.

Thanks to the quick-thinking of my eldest, he put some music on, hoping to calm our little man down.

He chose UPTOWN FUNK…not quite the calming, background dinner music I had in mind, but it worked.

Our little man started his moves and singing along….”UPTOWN FUNKY DUCK, UPTOWN FUNKY DUCK” he yelled over and over again.

At this point, I am placing things on the STILL UNSET TABLE (to which I decided to let go)… Who needs a set table when eating burgers anyway?

“I know, let’s have a DANCE competition. Everyone gets to choose one song and dance, and mum can score us out of 10” suggested one of my sons.

“How about we eat our dinner?” I suggest

To say spirits were a little high and there was lots of energy buzzing in our house that night, is an understatement. I quickly realised no-one was going to sit down and eat anytime soon, so embracing the ‘fun mum’ somewhere inside of me (she’s often not around at 6pm on a weeknight) I agreed to said Dance Competition.

Everything from here on in went well…until it didn’t.

The dance floor kept getting crashed by the now over-tired and over-excited 4 year old. Everyone wanted one more turn when their song ended and no-one was happy, when I declared all their scores were the same – 8.5 out of 10! I am all for fairness…..

The burgers were cold, but still tasted great. The highlight of actually eating dinner was reminding one of my children that we don’t use our whole hand and fingers to get the rest of the BBQ sauce out of the container, but maybe we try using a spoon or knife instead?

After cleaning up said sauce, breaking up another fight over a rumbling incident and heading back to the kitchen to realise I still had more burger patties to cook, I stood at the kitchen sink and looked out at the stormy sky.

‘Try and find the beauty, joy and adventure right where you are,’ were words I had read earlier that day.

Oh boy…I am trying.

Slowly the kitchen was cleaned and I started getting the kids ready for bed.

I was a little frazzled, but it had actually been quite a fun night, I thought to myself as I headed to our little man’s room to tuck him into bed.

And all over his floor and in his bed were hundreds of little beads…..from who knows where… and I just started to laugh.

You know that laugh? The slightly-crazy-person, could start-crying at any minute laugh?

Beauty, Joy and Adventure… right where I am…..

Back to the Burgers….one thing I do when I clean out my freezer and find leftovers of loaves of bread, crusts or the ends of breadsticks, I pop the lot in my food processor and make a big batch of fresh breadcrumbs.

I pop the breadcrumbs into smaller portions in snack size freezer bags and freeze them for a day like this when I want to quickly make some burgers or another day when I want to make some meatballs. It’s a great way of using up leftover bread you otherwise might have thrown away.

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The only limit to how you eat your burger is your imagination…so knock yourself out! This was our family edition – with un-toasted soft white buns and all! If I had my way, it may have had a few more fancy trimmings….but that being said, it tasted pretty good  just like this.

Homemade Chicken Burgers

Created by on October 21, 2015

  • Prep Time: 10m
  • Cook Time: 10m
  • Total Time: 20m
  • Serves: 5
  • Yield: 8-10 small patties or 5 large ones
  • Category:

Ingredients

  • 500 grams chicken mince
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (optional)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, like parsley, mint and chives

Method

  1. Place all ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly until well combined.
  2. Using your hands, form into the size patties you want to cook.
  3. If you have time, let them sit, covered in the fridge for up to half an hour - this just helps them bind well together.
  4. Heat olive oil in large non stick pan over medium heat and cook the patties on both sides, until golden and cooked through.
  5. Drain on paper towel while assembling your other ingredients.
  6. Serve on hamburger buns or bread of your choice with any fillings you like! We used lettuce, tomato, beetroot, store-bought beetroot relish, cheese, cucumber and pineapple. Avocado, hummus, Aioli (garlic mayonnaise) all work beautifully as toppings.
  7. These patties also taste great on their own with salad, if you want a carb-free meal.
Source: cook fast eat slow

 

 

 

 

 

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Rich Chocolate Raspberry Cakes (gluten free, dairy free)

This is one of those recipes that came from a friend, who got it from a friend, who got it off a food blog (www.groovyfoody.wordpress.com) who had tweaked it from a recipe found in the cook book Quinoa 365 – The Everyday Superfood. 

Once this recipe was in my hands, it didn’t take long for it to become one of my favourites when baking for family and friends who can’t have dairy or gluten.

I played with the original recipe too, halving the sugar and making it completely dairy free. Taking out some of the sugar did leave it needing some extra sweetness, my answer to that was a simple raspberry in the middle of each cake. It adds just enough natural sweetness to make this a gorgeous cake to eat.

These moist, fluffy and rich cakes will silence any critics who think you can’t make a beautiful cake without gluten or dairy.

And even though my boys know these are made on Quinoa (which they don’t like!) they love these cakes.

Ingredients

Makes 24 cupcakes.

2/3 cup uncooked quinoa (follow instructions below to cook, which will give you 2 cups of cooked quinoa)

1/3 cup soy milk, almond milk or coconut milk

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup rice bran oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 punnet of fresh raspberries (frozen can be used too)

Method

To prepare the quinoa, rinse under cold water and then place in a saucepan with 1 1/3 cups water (basically the ratio when cooking is 2:1, water to quinoa)

Cover the saucepan and place on medium heat. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed and it’s cooked. Turn heat off and leave for another 10 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid, fluff the quinoa with a fork and leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Line 2 x 12 cupcake trays with cupcakes cases.

Place milk, eggs and vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth and thickened. Add cooled quinoa and blend again till smooth. Add the oil and blend until smooth and thick.

In a separate large bowl, using a hand whisk, whisk together sugar, cocoa, baking powder and soda.

Add the contents of the food processor and stir until all combined.

Fill cupcakes cases 3/4 of the way up and press a raspberry lightly into the top of each one.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when you press lightly.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

These will last for a couple of days in an airtight container and they freeze really well too.

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Coconut Berry Chia Puddings (Dairy free, gluten free, refined sugar free)

My husband and I recently enjoyed a break away in beautiful Fiji to celebrate a special wedding anniversary. I’m not sure where the last 15 years have gone, but in what seems like a blink of an eye, we found ourselves enjoying some time by ourselves on the golden sands of Fiji, resting, reflecting and celebrating.

The beautiful spirit of the Fijian people just blew us away. An attitude of thankfulness and blessing flowed out of every one we met, despite having almost ‘nothing’ in terms of our standards here in Australia. From the little that we saw in the time we had, it was obvious that their priorities in life are their faith, providing on a daily basis the needs of their family for food and shelter, sharing all that they ‘earn’ each day with the people in their village. The highlight of their day is coming together to eat and celebrate, everyone contributing something, and everyone keeping an eye out for each other. They greet everyone regardless of whether they know them or not, making sure everyone feels welcome around them. They sing in almost any and every situation and the phrase that they are known for and which we came to love, is “No Hurry, No Worry.”

As we’re settling back into our full and crazy life, we are trying to remember some of these attitudes that contribute towards the Fijians being named ” The Most Happy People on Earth” (this quoted to us by many while we were there).

Our houses may be bigger, our food more fancy, our schedules more full, but I couldn’t help but come home, mulling over these ‘happy’ people and their way of not only simply ‘living’ but ‘enjoying’ life as they go about the journey.

On a few occasions I got the privilege of starting my day with a juicy, fresh drink of coconut water. Straight from the tree, the water from this young coconut was so refreshing and beautiful to drink. I know you can buy it in the supermarket these days, probably for a small fortune, but it just doesn’t quite taste the same as straight from the tree!

Our friend, King Solomon (great name hey?), scaled the tree, collected the coconuts and then got them ready for us to drink.
Nature’s perfect cup.
Who needs a spoon when you can use a piece of the hard coconut skin to scoop the flesh out for you?
This young coconut flesh was silky smooth with the texture of a pannacotta.

The Fijians drink it every morning and if they are going to work in the field all day harvesting sugar cane, they will simply take a coconut. That is what they will eat and drink to sustain them for the entire day of hard labour.  They call it their ‘natural sports drink.’

When you research the claimed health benefits, you can see that natural coconut water is quite an amazing drink with many health benefits, however, if you are not doing a lot of physical exercise and the supermarket variety is full of added sugar, you are probably better off with drinking plain water.

I think if I had a coconut tree in my yard and one of my boys could bring me one every morning, I would definitely drink it most days. But until that happens, I’ll stick with water as my drink of choice.

These Coconut and Berry Chia Puddings are an exceptionally easy dessert to make, with only 4 ingredients, they are low in sugar and are gluten and dairy free. Chia seeds are a great addition to any diet, high in omega 3 fatty acids, fibre and antioxidants, they are the ‘setting’ agent in this dessert, which my boys call ‘Berry Jelly’.

There are many versions of this dessert around the place at the moment, but this one I got from The Beauty Chef,  www.thebeautychef.com

You can make this with any berry of choice or a mixture of your favourite berries.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup coconut cream or coconut milk

1 cup frozen blueberries or raspberries or a mixture of both (you could use fresh berries, it will just take longer to set)

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

1/4 cup white chia seeds

Berries and shredded coconut to serve

Method

Combine coconut cream, berries and maple syrup in a food proccesor and blend until smooth.

Combine this mixture with the chia seeds, stir well.

Pour this mixture evenly into 4 dessert glasses and refrigerate until set and the chia seeds have absorbed all of the liquid. This will take at least 4 hours.

Serve with berries and coconut.

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Chocolate Avocado Fudge Cookies (gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free)

These cookies are for serious chocoholics. Rich and fudgey, I  recommend making them quite small, even bite size. They are best eaten after a little time in the fridge to firm up and need to be stored in the fridge if not eaten all at once!

This recipe is from thesmoothielover.com blog

Ingredients

(makes about 10-12 cookies or more if you make them smaller)

3/4 cup of ripe avocado flesh

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup cocoa powder

50gm of 70% dark chocolate, chopped (milk free)

1/2 teaspoon of bi carb soda

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius

Place avocado flesh and coconut sugar in a bowl and stir till combined.

Add egg and stir.

Mix in cocoa powder and bi carb soda.

Stir in chocolate chunks.

Place small spoonfuls of batter on baking trays lined with baking paper. These cookies won’t spread a lot, so flatten them with the back of your spoon slightly.

Bake for 10 minutes or until they don’t stick to the paper. Cool on trays. Store in single layers in the fridge. These will last for a few days in the fridge.

 

 

/ emma@cookfasteatslow.com 2 Comments

Chocolate, Date and Chia Slice (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free)

I have many family and friends who face daily health battles, most of which come with strict dietary restrictions, in order to help control, slow down or halt their painful and debilitating conditions.

I call them the ‘silent sufferers’.

To most people, their symptoms and daily struggles cannot be seen. It’s not like a broken arm with a cast or condition that will heal in a few months. Auto-immune diseases such as Arthritis and Lupus, Coeliac Disease, Digestive disorders, Diabetes, Thyroid problems. These are just a few of the conditions that impact many around us each day, probably more than we know. These conditions do not have a ‘cure’ and sufferers will live with them and their effects forever.

Then there are all those who can’t pin point exactly what their health issue may be, but find themselves ‘intolerant’ to so many foods.

It is wonderful that relief from pain and the slowing down of a diseases’s progress can be achieved through making dietary changes.  But for those people already struggling, another challenge arises in relation to their food and eating.

Celebrations, entertaining, just stopping off somewhere for a quick lunch can be a problem. Going out to dinner becomes difficult, often a phone call to a restaurant ahead of time is needed to ensure there will be something suitable for them to eat. The people I know who suffer, hate a fuss to be made and don’t like the extra attention it brings, so they often miss out, go without or even don’t attend functions if it’s all going to be too hard.

I don’t think those of us who eat what we want, when we want always realise how hard it can be.

So to my family and friends suffering; you are AMAZING. You are strong, determined, disciplined, BRAVE, courageous and you care about your health so much you will do whatever you can to improve or maintain it.

And to those of us who don’t suffer, we can work at being a little more understanding and sympathetic. If you have a loved one on a restricted diet, find out about it, take an interest. Maybe it means you need to learn a new recipe, that’s okay. Try and remember to cater for their needs if you are cooking for them. Ask ahead of time and show that you’ve gone to a little extra effort to make sure there is something for them to eat at the next family get together or dinner party.

So, onto the recipe….this is a yummy, moist ‘brownie’ style slice that is gluten, dairy and refined sugar free.

It has even received the tick of approval from the men and women in my husbands office who thought it was a ‘normal’ brownie!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup rice malt syrup
200gm dried pitted dates, chopped
1/4 cup chia seeds
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
100gm good quality 70% dark chocolate (milk free)
50gm coconut oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut flour

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Grease and line with baking paper, a slice tin (approx 25cm x 15cm).

Place water, cocoa and rice malt syrup in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until a smooth paste.

Remove from the heat and add dates and chia seeds and set aside for 30 minutes to cool and thicken (the chia seeds will act as a thickening agent and the mixture will thicken as it cools).

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in the microwave, approximately 50 seconds on high. Remove from microwave and stir until melted and combined.

Lightly whisk eggs and vanilla extract and add to date mixture.

Add the coconut flour and cinnamon to the date mixture.

Add the slightly cooled melted chocolate mixture to the date mixture.

Mix thoroughly and spoon into the tin.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes until firm when lightly pressed.

Leave to cool in tin then remove and cut into squares.

Dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar to serve.