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. 

Green Smoothie

I was beyond excited when Tracy bought a Vitamix this week and she was happy to have me bring a bag full of fruit and vegetables to her house to play with this high powered blender. I did a bit of reading to try and find the best recipes as this surely could taste very bad if done wrong. Most people encourage 2cups green such as Kale, spinach etc, 2cups liquid such as water, coconut water or milk and 3cups fruit. You can also put powdered super foods in for that extra boost of nutrients. At the moment if been researching foods for fertility and have come across Maca. Maca supports hormonal balance and contains 31 different minerals including being a great source of iron. It also helps with mood regulation by improving serotonin levels. I'm keen to give it a go. 

 I hope to post other smoothie recipes here in the future. 

Green smoothie recipe

1 cup Spinach 

2cups water 

1 banana 

2 oranges 

2 pears

Slice of lime

1 teaspoon Maca 

Ice 

Put all ingredients in blender in this order blend on high for approx 1 minute or until smooth. Pour into glass and sprinkle with Chia seeds. Enjoy x

Auction time

I've only just started to get into auctions and now I'm totally obsessed. The thrill of the biding can be quite overwhelming as you make a quick decision to bid higher or stop. This auction was huge it was one persons life collection and they had great taste. It was a pleasure to be amongst it and hear the regulars talk about this man and what he was like. These are the pieces that Melissa and I liked and the pieces we won. 

Quinoa double chocolate & cashew cookies

Makes approx 12 

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

3/4 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs 

1 1/4 cup quinoa flour 

1/3 cup cocao powder 

1 tsp baking soda 

1/4 tsp salt 

1 cup chocolate chips 

1/2 cup raw cashews, chopped 

Preheat oven to 190c 

Cream the butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg one at a time beat till well combined. In another bowl add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add flour mixture to butter mixture until well combined. Stir in choc chips and cashews. Roll dough into small balls and press flat on greased baking tray. Bake for approx 8-10 minutes. Then allow to cool on rack. 

-you can add any nuts that you like or take them out 

Enjoy 

Peanut butter chia cookies

I just bought a new cookbook The Quinoa Revolution and I'm totally hooked on Quinoa. I'm sure the girls at work are totally over hearing about which Quinoa salad I have for lunch. This recipe uses Quinoa flour. It's the first time that I have used this flour and it works very well, the cookies are light and fluffy.

You will need 

1/2 cup peanut butter 

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

3/4 cup brown sugar 

1 egg 

1tsp vanilla extract 

1 cup quinoa flour 

3/4 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

2tsp chia seeds 

1/2 cup chopped unsalted peanuts 

Preheat oven 190c put baking paper on tray. 

In mixing bowl add peanut butter, sugar, egg, butter and vanilla mix till combined. 

In medium bowl add flour, baking powder& soda, stir in chia seeds and peanuts. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture and mix well. Scoop dough into balls and place on tray making sure they are 5cms apart. 

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to sit on tray for 4 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool 

Enjoy 

The Belling 900

The new oven is finally installed and it looks amazing. Our old oven was original to the house and that was lovely too. The only issues were it was too small and the grill didnt work, neither did the door, we used a wooden spoon to keep the door closed. After many trips to electrical stores and many conversations with different staff. We decided on the Belling 900, the Smeg was just way out of our price range. The Belling has gas cook tops and electric oven, it is very large and came in an assortment of bright colours, we chose cream. I am looking forward to baking many loafs of bread and lots of sugary treats.

Caramel popcorn cupcakes

Baking really is my safe place. Where all the days/weeks worries and sadness disappear in that time frame it's take to complete a recipe. Today I found this recipe here and thought to myself I need to make these. They turned out perfect and they will be off to sell at work tomorrow. All proceeds going to Movember in support of men's health. I won't be in the Movember bake off this year as it's my sisters wedding. But it doesn't hurt to start early and raise awareness and funds before the comp.

Granola bars

Granola Bars have been on my mind for a couple of weeks now, ever since I bought a horrible brand of Muesli Bars. So bad I cant even remember the brand. I used to buy Carmen's Muesli Bars until Simon decided that he like to eat 2 a day. We can all do the math on how long they lasted. So switching brands in an attempt to cut costs hasn't been going to well. So my solution ....make my own bars. I found this recipe and changed a few ingredients, I still think it needs a bit more work. I'll keep you posted with changing ingredients and hopefully I can master the perfect Granola Bar.


1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

1/2 cup raw pepitas 

1/2 cup dried cranberries 

1/2 cup mixed nuts I used almonds/walnuts/peanuts 

1/2 tbs chia seeds 

2/3 cup peanut butter 

1/2 cup organic rice syrup 

1/2 tab coconut oil 

Heat peanut butter, rice syrup and coconut oil in medium pan on low to mix together. Add all other dry ingredients in bowl, add syrup mixture to dry ingredients mix in then put in lined greased slice tin. 

Bake in oven for 25 minutes on 200c 

Slice into bars and top with melted chocolate if you like ....... enjoy. 

Let me know how you go if you give this recipe a go!!!! I still think it needs work maybe more syrup less peanut butter or honey as well. It's a start anyway. 

Banana cake

I've posted this recipe before but today added walnuts on top. Its a no fail recipe and very moist. It's a lovely day and the sun is shining through the kitchen window. Getting odd jobs done around the house and banana cake is perfect for that afternoon tea break.

Our trip to Bangkok

We spent 8 days in Thailand so nice to do a girls trip with such a great bunch of ladies. We spent the first day at one of my favourite shopping malls then went to Siam Square and after that did a quick dash to the wedding dress shops to see if Tracy could find a dress, no luck. The weekend was saved for the markets where we spent all day shopping for vintage treasures. It poured down with rain and that was a good time to get beers, paella and have a break and people watch. On Monday we went out of the city on a private tour to Kanchanuburi, where we spent 2 days enjoying the sun and sites. Then back to the city where we did the last of our gift buying and had some great thai food at a local restaurant that we go to often. This trip we managed to find some great coffee shops, one in the photos below is located at the art gallery and has drip coffee, very nice indeed. 

Thailand essentials 

Abloom apartments

Melissa bought a cat bag 

Siam Square 

Vintage at the Weekend markets

Looking for braces for the boys to wear at Tracy wedding

Beers and paella while it rained

Shopping trolley gives you street cred

Drip Coffee in Bangkok 

Iced Coffee

Rim nam cafe 

waterfall 

Streets of Bangkok

Lovely Thai food

Raw Truffles

This recipe is so easy and very tasty. I always wondered what Cacao was and found it hard to find in regular supermarkets. A recent trip to Melbourne and a stroll down my Carlisle St (my old hood) I found a cute little organic store that stocked Cacao powder. Have a look around in google for more fabulous recipes and try this one of course. It was a hit with my friends and worst critic my sister :)


2 cups walnuts
2 cups dates
Orange juice
1/2 cup Cranberries
Cacao powder for dusting

In a food processor blend walnuts then dates, then put them in together with a bit of orange juice to help stick together. Transfer to a bowl, add cranberries. Roll into balls then dust with cacao powder.

Raw Brownies

1 cup walnuts
1 cup medjool dates
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup honey


Chop half walnut rough, set aside. In food processor blend up walnuts then dates. Add cocoa, shredded coconut and honey and mix together. Put baking paper in small square dish then press down mixture and put in fridge to set. Let set for 2 hours then serve.

Raw Pecan Tartlets

Recently I have been thinking more about RAW foods and how I can incorporate this into our daily diet. So far it hasn't been going too well in terms of dinners, lunches are easier a beautiful big salad topped with nuts is a favourite. I found this recipe online and it had 3 ingredients so how hard could it be? It was quite easy, recipe below. Enjoy

Walnut Tart Shell
1 3/4cup walnuts
3 dates
pinch of salt

Pecan Filling
1 1/2cup medjool dates, soaked for 30 minutes
1/2 cup pecans


In a food processor add the ingredients for the walnut shell, blend until broken down into small bits.
line cupcake tray with square bits of baking paper otherwise putting them straight into greased tin will make them hard to get out of pan.
Press walnut mixture into tray then freeze while making pecan filling.
To make filling put dates in food processor with a bit of water then blend till mushy. Spoon date mixture into walnut shell and then top with pecans and put fridge to set.