Sneaky Pikelets

We are always looking for ways to sneak good nutrition past our boys.

These are delicious and healthy. I make them dairy and egg free, but you can adapt to suit.

Sneaky Pikelets
1 cup SR flour
1/3 cup divided into 2/3 quick oats and 1/3 quinoa flakes
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 tbsp xylitol OR 1tbsp sugar
1 cup soy milk
1tbsp chia seeds combined with 3tbsp water (left to sit 5 min before using) OR 1 egg
1tsp vanilla essence
1tsp bicarb soda

Pre organise the chia seeds to soak.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Leave to sit while you heat a frying pan. Add a small amount of butter to grease. Cook in tbsp sized lots. Serve with fruit, butter, jam or anything else you like.

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The 25 Days of Christmas: 8. lunchtime

A promite sandwich can be practically inhaled in the small time I have to eat anything and in this instance is garnished with a slice of cheese.

Apple Salsa

Tonight’s experimental apple salsa tastes pretty good. I looked up a whole heap of apple salsa recipes and used a bit of everything.

2 small red delicious apples, diced
1 small yellow capsicum, diced
1 small green capsicum, diced
1/2 brown onion, diced
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 heaped tbsp almond flakes

In a bowl and mix.

Premix
1-2 tbsp lime juice and 1 heaped tsp of fruit sugar or approx 1tbsp of normal sugar until dissolved.

Pour over salsa and mix. Done.
We served it with pork sausages and bread BBQ style.

Orange, Choc Chip and Chia Seed, Chickpea Cookies

I can’t eat carbs or sugar right now. I have gestational diabetes. I also now have an obsession with making snacks that feel like I’m cheating without actually doing the wrong thing by myself or my baby.

Voila! Experimentation has led to the creation of these babies.

They may not look like much, but after researching every chickpea cookie recipe I could find I came up with these.

Orange, Choc Chip & Chia Seed Chickpea Cookies

Cookies
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Zest and juice of 1 small orange
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup dry chia seeds
2 tbsp almond meal
4 pieces 80% Lindt dark chocolate (you can use any brand and as much as you like)
1 1/2 tsp Stevia
Small pinch salt

Drizzle (optional)
3 tsp icing sugar (I used low GI)
Orange juice (use a bit left over from the orange used earlier, you only need a tiny bit)

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Put all cookie ingredients (except chocolate) in a bowl. Blend (I used a stick mixer). Break up chocolate into chips. Add to mixture and stir through.
Spoon teaspoon sized drops onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Flatten slightly with the spoon (they won’t spread when cooking).
Bake 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Drizzle (optional)
* I found I needed something to counter the bitterness of the dark chocolate. A tiny bit of orange icing was perfect for my taste. You can leave it off if you prefer.
Put icing sugar in a cup or small bowl. Add a squeeze of orange juice. Mix with a knife until you get a drizzle consistency (not too runny, but not icing either). Dip the knife in the drizzle and hold it over a cookie to drizzle on as much or as little as you like.

My husband who has sampled some um…interesting creations assures me these are tasty. Win!

Apple, Rhubarb, Strawberry, Chocolate and Chia Seed Crumble

I like deserts.

But I have been looking at eating healthier, cutting down on carbs and simple sugar, using low GI products and increasing fiber.

So I have been getting creative and came up with a fruit crumble that is under 15g of carbs and 3g of sugar per serving.

Apple, Rhubarb, Strawberry and Chia Seed Crumble

Chop 2 sticks of rhubarb. Add 1 tsp of Stevia and some cinnamon to taste. Heat and stir until soft.
Add 2 chopped apples and heat again until soft.
Mix with 1 punnet of chopped strawberries and 1tbsp of chia seeds.
Spread over the bottom of an ovenproof dish.

To make the crumble. Mix 1/3cup of oats with 1/3cup of Low GI, high fiber SR flour. Add 1/6cup of Low GI raw cane sugar and 2tbsp of butter. Using fingers rub until combined. Spread over the fruit.

Cook in the oven until crumble browns.

Makes 4 serves.

If you don’t care about calories my family think it is nice with custard.

NOTE: I have altered the recipe to further reduce the carbs and sugar in the following ways.

Doubled the rhubarb from 2 to 4 stalks.
Halved the apple to 1 small apple.
Reduced strawberry to 5 large strawberries.

In the crumble.
Used rolled oats instead of quick oats.
Substituted half of the flour content for almond meal.
Made up the 1/6th cup of raw sugar by substituting a third Stevia.

At the end of baking, crumbled 1 square of 85% dark chocolate (I used Lindt) over the crumble for some depth of flavour.

It was just as delicious. Enjoy!

Macro Series: Photo 8

The other day my boys played in the front yard. I took my iphone and a cheap macro lens outside with them. These are the photos I took.

I noticed my son’s strawberry made a good macro too

The Christmas List: 15. what I ate

I am horrified and a bit ashamed to say that I have been eating a bit from this box EVERYDAY! Naughty (smacks fingers…then eats another one). My husband is a teacher and he was given this as a present. Needless to say both his and mine eyes bugged out of our heads when we opened the box! No one needs THAT much junk food!! Hasn’t stopped us from demolishing the contents in much too rapid fashion.

October Photo Challenge: 15. Dinnertime

It has taken me a while between dinner and getting the photos on here, but here they are. Homemade burgers in all their glory. Incidentally I experimented with making a landscape from the fresh parsley my husband brought in from our garden. I had mixed the rest and I stuck the parsley sprigs into the mixture in a tree-like arrangement. Did I need to tell you how I entertain myself in strange ways? No. Sorry about that.

 

For anyone who wants a good burger recipe:

500g mince

1 chopped onion

1 egg

2 tablespoons dry cous cous

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 tablespoon wocestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 sprig of fresh parsley chopped

Handmix, form into burgers and fry or BBQ.

Takes approx how ever long it takes you to chop an onion and crack an egg. Not long. My kind of tea. No prep.

YUM!

Macro Month: Day 20

mmm

F is for fungus

The Weekly Photo Challenge is growth this week and I said I would try to combine my August Alphabet Challenge with the wordpress one at least once a week.

So here it is.

F is also for food. This particularly delicious fruit meringue pie was given to us when we dropped in on some friends. YUM!

It is also for flower. This one was found on some particularly interesting foliage.

I am…fascinated by F.