Overnight Oats

It's been ages since I have posted a baked recipe. I'm sorry. I haven't been baking a lot of treats lately, but I did discover overnight oats just recently. No baking required, very easy and lots of topping options. I'm thinking this quick and easy breakfast will be a staple. 

In a jar put 1/3cup of rolled oats with milk of choice. I used 1/3cup of Almond milk. I mixed chia seeds through.

Then put lid on and put in fridge overnight. 

Then I added 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar. 

1banana sliced. 

1 passion fruit 

And drizzle of honey. 

That's it !!! So easy 

Enjoy 

30 days doing an auto immune protocol diet

I'm on day 4 of a 30 day auto immune protocol diet to help improve my thyroid and I thought I would do this post as I wont be baking any sugary treats for a while, or eating grains, dairy, nuts, beans or nightshades. Instead i'm eating lots of vegetables and have adapted quite well to the intake of grass fed meats. I'm also getting in a fair amount of sauerkraut and kombucha which i'm loving. The cookbook that i'm taking direction from is written by Mickey Trescott and you can buy the ebook here it has a great description on what foods to eat and which ones to avoid.
I also thought I would share where I have been getting the Kombucha from, I stumbled across it in olive health foods and Im totally hooked and seriously impressed with this Melbourne based company Remedy Kombucha

Chocolate Sticky date cake

3¾ cups (600g) coarsely chopped dates
3 cups (750ml) water
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
180g butter, softened
2¼ cups (450g) firmly packed brown sugar
6 eggs, beaten lightly
3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
½ cup (60g) coarsely chopped walnuts
½ cup (60g) coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 cup cocoa powder 

Butterscotch sauce
2 cups (400g) firmly packed brown sugar
600ml thickened cream
375g butter, chopped coarsely

NOTE: This recipe can be made two days ahead. Close to serving, wrap cake in foil and warm through in a moderately slow oven for approximately 20 minutes, or microwave individual servings.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°C/160°C fan-forced). Grease a 25cm x 35cm rectangular baking dish. Line base and sides with baking paper, bringing paper 5cm above edges of dish.

Combine dates and water in a medium saucepan; bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add soda; stand for 5 minutes. Blend or process until smooth.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between each addition. Stir in the sifted flour and date mixture spread into prepared pan; sprinkle evenly with the nuts. Bake in a moderate oven for about 1 hour or until cooked when tested. Stand cake for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

For the butterscotch sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan; stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Simmer, stirring, for 3 minutes.

Brush surface of hot cake with ¼ cup of butterscotch sauce, then serve with remaining sauce.

Suitable to freeze. Butterscotch sauce suitable to microwave.

Enjoy 

Lemon Syrup Cake

Its been ages since I have baked and today was such a lovely day in my kitchen. The sun was beaming through the window and it reminded me how much I do really enjoy being in the kitchen baking. The lemons are in season and I had a few to use up, you will use about 5 small lemons for this recipe. For the buttermilk I used 1 cup of soy milk with a tbs of lemon juice. You can use other milks to create buttermilk such as Almond etc.  For this cake you will need the following. 

Ingredients

250g butter
1 cup caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

2 cups self-raising flour

Lemon Syrup
1/3 cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
¾ cup caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to moderate (180C). Cream the butter and sugar, add lemon rind and then beat in eggs one at a time.

2. Gently fold in buttermilk and flour.

3. Bake for 45 mins, or until cooked. You may want to cover cake with foil if it starts to brown too much on top. 

4. To make lemon syrup, combine lemon juice, water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, simmer for 2 mins and pour over the warm cooked cake.

Juices & Smoothies

I've been drinking a lot of juices and smoothies lately. I find it's the easiest and quickest way to get a high volume of nutrients. I start my day with either a green juice or fruit smoothie, I add superfood powders and sometimes natural sugars. Most of these can be found in a health food store or chemist warehouse. Below is a bunch of photos of my morning smoothies. The ingredients are listed and adjust amounts according to taste and size of blender. 

Banana & Raspberry muffins

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of plain flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup raspberries fresh or frozen


Pre heat oven to 160.
Mix all dry ingredients together. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl add milk and coconut oil. Mix wet ingredients into the dry. Then mix through mashed banana and raspberries. Spoon into greased muffin tin and bake for approx 20 minutes.
Enjoy.

Breakfast Smoothie

This smoothie recipe contains just 3 simple ingredients, almond milk, dates and banana. 

2 cups of Almond Milk 

15 Dates chopped

2 Bananas 

I just put all ingredients in the blender and blended for approx 2 minutes. I had some frozen banana in freezer so added one fresh and one frozen to get the smoothie chilled. Otherwise you could use ice to chill it a bit. I put oats/nuts on top when serving.