Belinda's Apple & Brandy Cake

We have been given very generously lots of cooking & eating apples - so another apple recipe from Belinda (www.pamperedchef.biz/belindawood) has really helped to reduce our bountiful supply of apples!

I slightly amended it to make it gluten and sugar free - we had some lovely friends over for a bbq and there was only one bit left! Definitely needs to be served slightly warm with custard or ice-cream!! Absolutely delicious

165g butter plus another 50g (room temp if possible)

165g Xylitol (or sugar) plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling

2 free range eggs

250g Brown Rice Flour

125g of apple sauce plus 5 more tablespoons (I made loads from cooking apples & lots of Xylitol)

3 tbsp brandy

2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)

4 eating apples

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Serve with Alpro custard or Booja Booja ice-cream

This recipe is so easy - I used my square baker and I lined it with greaseproof paper to make it easier to take out later.

Cut up the 50g of butter and sprinkle all over the base with a couple of tbsp of Xylitol. Peel the eating apples, core them, cut them into chunks and then decorate them over the bottom.

Put all the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until smooth and quite runny - add more apple sauce if too stiff. (if you forget to take butter out of the fridge then cut into small chunks & then whisk alone until it becomes soft & smooth - then add all the other ingredients

Pour the mixture over the apples, smooth flat and pop into a preheated oven (180C) for 25 mins or until a knife comes out clean.

Now gently pop out onto a wire wrack, pull off the greaseproof paper & see your lovely design of apples! Cut it into squares, pile onto a plate once cooled a little and serve with dairy free custard and Booja Booja ice-cream (get from health food shops) - absolutely delicious!

What to do with lots of left over Potato Salad!

We had a lovely couple get married here last weekend - they gave us a huge bowl of delicious potato Salad. I thought of making a cottage pie, but I forgot to take the mince out the freezer! So this is what I made instead and incredibly even my very carnivorous husband loved it!

Shepherdless Pie with left over potato salad

Lots of sweet vegetables, such as peppers, carrots, swede and other vegetables you fancy!
Local cold pressed rapeseed oil
Onion
Garlic
Good quality Vegetable Bouillon stock & fresh herbs if you fancy
Left over potato salad
Cheese

Use a couple of pieces of veg per person. Pop them into a food processor with the S blade and whizz them up. Start with the onions, whizz and then pop them into a large frying pan with a good drizzle of rapeseed oil. Once softened add the rest of the whizzed up vegetables and garlic and gently stir fry for 5 - 10 minutes until softened.

Pour in the stock until the veg is just covered and then let it bubble away for 20 mins until the stock has mostly evaporated.

Pop into an oven proof dish, mash gently the potato salad until the whole potatoes are broken up. Spread across the top of the vegetable mixture and then grate lots of cheese ontop.

Put into a preheated oven about 180C for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Magic Quiche

I am a huge fan of Cyndi O'Meara, she is all about just natural foods & is quite inspiring!! This is one of her recipes.

I have always loved a beautifully homemade quiche with wonderful local ingredients - but let's face it - who really has time to make pastry, part bake it and everything else involved!!!!

Well - see what you think of this - I thought it was fab & you can choose any filling that you fancy! Not only is it quick but it magically creates a crust.

Magic Quiche

3 organic free-range eggs

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese

1 cup of rice milk or milk

1/2 cup gluten free flour (Dove's is great or Brown Rice flour)

1 tsp of gluten free baking powder

1 tbsp local cold pressed rapeseed oil

1/2 tsp of pink himalayan salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Filling

Smoked back bacon (cut into pieces & grilled)

Cherry tomatoes (cut in half)

Preheat oven to 180 C

Combine all ingredients and mix well

Pour into a glass dish and bake for 30-40 mins until cooked through. Let it cool for atleast 5-10 mins to make easier to remove from dish.

Death by Chocolate - delicious, easy & quick!

This is the easiest cake & the kids can help too - no whisk needed so less cake mix to remove from the ceiling! This is from Mary Berry with a few ingredient alterations!!

Death by Chocolate

275g Brown Rice Flour (or plain flour)

1 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

1 1/1 tsp gluten free baking powder

215g of Xylitol or raw cane caster sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup or Golden syrup

3 eggs, beaten

225ml cold pressed rapeseed oil

225ml rice milk (or milk)

Icing

450g of good quality plain chocolate

200g butter

Grease two 8inch loose-bottomed sandwich tins

Preheat oven to 160C.

Sift into a bowl all dry ingredients and then add the sugar. Make a well in the middle and then add all the liquid ingredients.

With a wooden spoon, beat until well combined. Pour into the cake tins and pop into the oven for 35 mins. They are ready when they are well risen and jump back when pressed.

After 5 mins, remove from tins and cool in wire rack. Then with a bread knife cut both in half horizontally - so you have 4 thin round cakes.

Make the icing by breaking up the chocolate and cutting up the butter into chunks and pop into a bowl over boiling water - ensure you keep stirring.

Put a tray under the first thin round cake - pour some icing over and spread with a spatula. Lay on the next cake, pour some more icing and spread again. Keep repeating until all four are covered in icing - ensure you let it dribble all down the sides too.

If you can stop yourself from eating the run off in the tray, then pour that back over the cake! If it is really hope - it is an idea to leave this cake in the fridge!!!

Then with lots of red berries such as strawberries and raspberries - cover and eat - this is such a treat for a birthday cake or just a delicious afternoon treat!

Cheats Cauliflowers Cheese!!

As much as we love Cauliflower cheese, we do not always have the time to make a lump free delicious cheese sauce. So here is a very quick alternative that my kids love - I also take advantage of adding in vegetables that they like to this too!

Cheats Cauliflower Cheese (& Broccoli)

6 Cauliflower florets

6 Broccoli florets

250g tub of ricotta cheese

2 eggs

grated cheese

Pink Himalayan salt

Pepper

Cut the cauliflower and broccoli into florets and pop into boiling water for 5 mins. Pop into a baking tray, I am a huge fan of stone ware so I used the Pampered chef square baker.

Mix together the ricotta and eggs, beat with a hand whisk and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Drain the veg pop into the square baker and pour over the ricotta egg mix, toss until all veg is covered. Then grate cheese over the top, use as much as you want - I cover nice and thickly as kids really love it and makes it more cheesy!

Pop into a hot open for 15 mins or until bubbling and brown.

Serve immediately....yummy!

'Ave a Banana'! 2 uber quick puds for all

Bananas are only in our house for a few days at the beginning of the week, the kids just love them! So I always plan some early week banana puddings before they all go!

Here are 2 great recipes Quick Banana Ice-Cream and Quick Banana and Cinnamon Pud, both can literally be made in 5 mins! I have often already sat the kids down to their main course before embarking on the pud!

Quick Banana Ice-Cream

This recipe comes from Good Food Magazine and is soooooo easy

When you buy bananas remember to buy a few extra, peel them, break or chop into chunks and pop into the freezer.

4 bananas

Rice milk or cows milk

Xylitol/Agave Nectar or Unrefined Caster Sugar

Using a blender or Food processor, pop the chopped up frozen banana in with 4 tbsp of banana and tbsp of sweetener. Whizz and then taste and add more milk or sweetener to get the desired consistency and flavour. Then serve and pour over some chocolate sauce or toffee sauce. Any spare is popped into the freezer in a plastic tub and my boys love this for breakfast too!

Quick Banana and Cinnamon Pud

2 Bananas (I usually make 1 banana per child)

Knob of butter

handful of raisins or sultanas

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Into a saucepan or small frying pan, pop the butter on medium heat and throw in the bananas once the butter had melted. Gently cook for a few minutes and then add the fruit and cinnamon. Serve with custard, ice-cream or just on it's own.......yuuuummmmmy!

Please do let me know any of your banana recipes!

Fabulous pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

We are huge fans of pancakes in our family! I am now quite practised and can definitely make time for pancakes for breakfast, even in our very last minute family. Oscar was happy this morning as he managed to eat 6 pancakes!

If you are particular about your ingredients, pancakes can really be a really nutritious meal! What makes our pancakes completely delicious is the chocolate sauce.

The leftovers we have for pudding - a Pancake cake!

Chocolate Sauce

(I always make this 1st - very quick)

50g Butter

50g Xylitol or raw cane sugar

25g Cocoa powder

3 tbsp of Rice Milk

Chuck all ingredients into a little saucepan and gently heat and mix really well with wooden spoon (if like me, you do not sieve the powder then you may need a little hand whisk to bash out a few little lumps!).

All done, pop into a jug

Pancakes

250g Plain flour (I always use gluten free stone ground flours)pinch of pink Himalayan salt

2 free range eggs

500ml of milk (I use rice milk)

Extra Virgin Rapeseed Oil

pop flour and salt into a mixing bowl - add the eggs and half the milk. Mix with an electric whisk, bringing all the flour in from the edges, then add the rest of the milk and make sure the mixture is well whizzed up.

Heat a good quality, non stick little frying pan (poor quality frying pans, see their death with pancakes!) with a little rapeseed oil - needs to be really hot - drain off any spare oil into a pot for use for other pancakes.

Pour half a ladle full of pancake mix into the frying pan, swirl around & immediately lift edges with spatula - and now for the fun bit - Toss Your Pancake! Or you can of course flip it with the spatula if you are feeling a scared! Look even Kate has given it a go!

Pop onto the plate of the best behaved child 1st and let them get messy with Chocolate Sauce, raisins and lemon juice (if they fancy). Be creative use any additions you fancy I also love maple syrup and banana!

With the leftovers, either save for tomorrows breakfast or even better make a Pancake Cake.

Pancake Cake

left over cooked Pancakes

left over Chocolate Sauce

Put first pancake on plate, spread Chocolate Sauce over it. Lay next pancake straight on top, spread Chocolate Sauce over it and so on and so on till all ingredients are used up. Pop into the fridge and take out when ready to eat.

Cut into cake slices and serve.......soooo delicious!