Base
1 cup cashews (sunflower and pumpkin seeds can be used for a nut-free version)
1 cup dates presoaked for a few minutes in hot water
1/2 cup coconut
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil

Chocolate top
2 tablespoons raw cocao
4 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Berry top
A mixture of frozen or fresh berries

Line a small flan dish or loaf pan with baking paper. Place all of the base ingredients in the food processor or thermomix and blend until well combined. Press into tray and place in the fridge while you prepare the chocolate.

To make the chocolate, blend all of the ingredients together. Spread chocolate on top of slice and top with berries. If your coconut oil is in a liquid form, you may need to place it in the fridge for a few minutes to thicken before spreading on slice. 

This is a really easy dessert that has a subtle chai flavour and a smooth slippery texture. The ginger juice causes the hot milk to coagulate in about three minutes so it makes a perfect last minute dessert. The recipe below, makes 2 serves but you can easily multiply the quanties to make for a larger group of people. You can also change the spices, add chocolate or lemon rind or leave them plain.

Spiced Ginger Puddings
150 g of young ginger
1 tablespoon of honey
250 ml full cream dairy milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

Finely grate ginger and squeeze the juice out into a bowl or you can juice it through a juicer. (I don't worry about peeling it if I'm using the juicer) You will need 2 tablespoons of juice. Place 1/2 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of ginger juice in a small serving dish, ramekin or cup. Place milk and spices in a saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the dishes. Swirl once with a teaspoon and leave to sit for 3-5 minutes. The mixture will begin to coagulate and you will be left with a custard. Serve warm or refrigerate to serve cold.

Some days I just crave to go to a coffee shop and order a buttery biscuit without having to worry about what's in it,  or if it is sitting next to nut based cake. On these days, I usually go home via the newsagent, grab a magazine and go home to bake these shortbread biscuits and make a warm cup of tea. These biscuits melt in your, taste 'normal' but aren't filled with gluten, nuts and sickly sweet refined sugar. We all deserve a little indulgence every once in a while. Enjoy x

Gluten Free Lemon Shortbread adapted from this recipe
1/4 cup Rapadura or Coconut sugar
100 grams cornflour
160 grams white rice flour
170 grams cold butter cut into cubes
Rind of half a lemon grated

Place sugar in the thermomix, high speed blender or coffee grinder and grind into a fine powdery sugar. Sift cornflour, rice flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Add butter and and lemon rind and rub together until you form a soft dough (add a little more flour if dough is too soft). Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius and line a tray with baking paper. You can either roll the dough into small balls and press with a folk to make round biscuits or use a cookie cutter to make shapes. If you are using a cutter, roll the dough out on baking paper, cut the shapes, peel the dough from around the biscuits and lift the baking paper onto a tray to bake. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the edges become a very light brown

Okay, I'm going to be honest and tell you that store bought vegan and vegetarian 'meat' terrifies me. I visited the supermarket last week and decided to check out the vegetarian section only to find products filled with additives, preservatives, processed wheat, refined sugar, vegetable oils and soy....yucko. We include meat in our diet but also enjoy having some plant based meals. We also have a couple of friends and family members who are vegetarians so it's always handy to have some vegetarian options when having a barbeque. I make these sausages in the thermomix which is super easy but they can also be made with a food processor. Enjoy x

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 of a medium onion
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon mild paprika
1 teaspoon oregano or Italian mixed herbs
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
1 tin of white cannelloni beans
1/2 tablespoon of veggie stock paste ( 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast could be added instead of this)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon of coconut amino's or tamari sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Heat olive oil in a fry pan, add chopped onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook until soft. Turn off heat and add spices and herbs so that they become fragrant. Rinse Cannelloni beans well and place in the food processor or thermomix. Blend until they become a smooth paste. Add all of the other ingredients and blend until combined. Tear off 4 strips of aluminum foil . Divide the mixture into 4 and roll into sausage shapes. Place one sausage on each piece of foil and wrap them up. Place the sausages on a steamer or on the thermomix varoma and steam for 20-25 minutes.  The sausages can either be fried up straight away or stored in the fridge to cook later. To fry sausages, heat a frypan with oil or butter and cook until golden.

Below you will find four of our favourite home-made frozen treats. These are all vegan, allergy friendly and don't contain any refined sugar. Henry and I love the basic banana ice-cream and the Icy fruit treats but Nic really likes the Chocolate coated fruit sticks. These have been inspired by various homemade ice-creams found on the internet. Happy ice block making! xo

Chocolate Coated Fruit Sticks
Pieces or slices of fresh fruit ( kiwifruit, banana, strawberries,pineaple ect)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw cocao
3-4 tablespoons maple syrup

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Slice fruit and put a stick in each piece. Place fruit in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate. Heat the coconut oil until it becomes a runny liquid (approx. 30 degrees celcius). Stir in the raw cocao and maple syrup. Place in the fridge for a few minutes to thicken slightly. Take the fruit out of the freezer, dip it into the chocolate mixture and place on the lined baking tray.  Return to freezer to go hard before dipping the fruit in a second coat of chocolate. Leave in the freezer for a couple of hours or until frozen.

Icy Fruit Treats
Fresh fruit cut into small pieces (we used watermelon, berries, pawpaw and pineapple)
Fruit Juice (We use freshly squeezed beetroot, apple, carrot, silverbeet and kale juice)

Slice fruit and divide between ice-cream moulds or cups. Pour fruit juice over fruit so that it is just covered. Place in the freezer to go hard. If you are using cups, add the sticks after about 1 1/2 hours after placing in the freezer

Basic Banana Ice cream
Ripe banana's (500g-1kg)

Place banana's in a food processor or thermomix and blend until you create a smooth puree. Pour mixture into molds or cups and leave to set in the freezer.

Variations

• Blend through some fresh or frozen berries or add whole ones after blending
• Add 1/4 cup of natural yoghurt to mixture
• Roast banana's with 2 tablespoons of  maple syrup and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil before  blending
  
• Add some chopped nuts, seeds or coconut to mixture
• Add 2 tablespoons of raw cocao powder to make choc-banana flavour.

Magic Bean Ice Creams
1 400g can of coconut milk (dairy milk, yoghurt, cream or almond milk can also be used)
1/4 cup dates (presoaked)
3/4 cup of black beans
1/4 cup of raw cocao
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
1/4 cup maple syrup

Place beans, dates,  cocao, vanilla and maple syrup in the food processor and blend until pureed. Slowly pour in the coconut milk until mixed through well. Pour mixture into cups or ice cream molds and place in freezer to go hard.

Variations 

• add 1 tablespoon of peppermint essence for a choc-mint flavour
•  add 2 tablespoons of freshly brewed coffee for a mocha flavour
• add some grated chocolate, berries or nuts

Over the weekend, we had a serendipity moment in the kitchen. After making a fortunate mistake whilst cooking, these delicious crepes were created. I don't think I've ever been so excited to stuff something up. I've been wanting to create a nut, grain and egg free crepe for quite some time as there are quite a few people on my page who are following a grain and egg free diet. I played with the recipe a bit but found that these crepes really need to be baked and don't work as well on the fry pan.

Oven Baked Sweet Crepes
2 cups of pureed banana ( appox. 6 small banana's)
125 grams melted butter or ghee (1/2 cup of coconut oil  can also be used for a vegan/dairy free crepe)

Line one large (or two small ) baking trays with baking paper and preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius.  Puree banana's in a thermomix or food processor. Pour in melted butter and combine well.  Pour mixture into baking tray and spread with a folk or knife so that mixture is quite thin. Place in the oven and cook to about an hour (this will vary slightly depending on the thickness of the crepe). The mixture will be a spongy soft texture with a firm skin on top. Leave to cool and firm up more for 10-15 minutes before slicing into strips.  Add filling up one end (we used strawberries, coconut yoghurt and cocao nibs) and roll up. Serve and enjoy.

We love Indian and Indonesian food in our house but due to nuts being used in most of the dishes, eating this food out, is out of the question. This dish was put together for my husband as he loves Nasi Goreng and Indian Spices. I have been experimenting with cauliflower rice for quite some time and this is our favourite. If you are after the fried texture and flavour, please make sure that you fry the cauliflower rice off in batches to prevent it going wet or gluggy.

Spiced Cauliflower Fried Rice
1 medium sized Cauliflower
1 small brown onion chopped
2 tablespoons ghee/oil
2cm piece of ginger grated
1 large clove of garlic grated
2 cups of roughly chopped leafy greens (cabbage, kale, silverbeet ect)
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 eggs
3 rashes of salt only bacon (optional)
1/4  teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cardomon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
Fresh coriander and lemon juice to garnish

Wash cauliflower well and place it in the  food processor or thermomix and chop until rice-like (you may have to do it in batches). Heat frypan and add chopped bacon. Fry bacon until it begins to brown. Turn up heat and add cauliflower 1/4 cup at a time and brown it before adding more cauliflower. After you have added a cup, place the cauliflower in a dish on the side and continue to fry more cauliflower 1/4 cup at a time.  (this will prevent the cauliflower going soggy and ensure it fries) Once cauliflower is cooked, place it to the side and stir-fry the onion, leafy greens, frozen peas and carrots in the frypan.  Remove stir-fry vegetables from pan and place them on top of the cauliflower. Whisk eggs and make a small omlette in the fry pan. Roughly chop and place on top of vegetables. Add spices to the pan before tipping in the eggs, vegetables, cauliflower and grated ginger and garlic. Stirfry mixture over heat for a couple of minutes before serving with some fresh coriander and lemon juice.

Several years ago I came across a fabulous book called Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohns and IBS. All of the recipes are grain free and are great for those with gut issues. After developing my severe allergy to nuts, I put the book aside because most of the recipes were based on almond meal but I have recently started adapting the recipes so that they are nut free. This recipe is inspired by the macadamia and date cookie from their wonderful book. Even if you don't have a nut allergy, replacing nuts with seeds, makes them school friendly and quite a lot cheaper to make. 

Chewy Date Cookies
2 cups of Pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 teaspoon bicarb Soda
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius and line a tray with baking paper. Lightly toast pumpkin seeds under a grill or on a frypan until just golden. Place seeds in a food processor or thermomix and blend into a fine flour. Add all of the other and blend until well combined. Roll tablespoons of mixture into a ball and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes and turn oven off and leave them for a further 10 minutes. They will turn chewy with crispy edges as they cool down.

Spring has arrived and there is nothing better than veggie patties with loads of salad. I have been making veggie patties for many years but have only recently perfected my sweet potato and chickpea patty.  Although we eat some grain in our diet, I wanted to avoid using flour or breadcrumbs in my patties and found that roasting the sweet potato really helps to hold it together.  Yes, they do take longer to make but we think it's worth it. I also find planning ahead really helps. We usually have a Sunday roast dinner so I roast some extra sweet potato to make these for a meatfree Monday dinner. These patties are firm and crispy on the outside and are perfect for a bbq lunch or can be added to a burger. 

Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpea Patties
750 grams sweet potato (we use red, purple or both)
2 tablespoons of oil
300 grams of chickpeas (tinned or soaked)
handful of washed spinach
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/3 cup of seeds for coating (we use a mixture of flax, chia, pumpkin, and sesame seeds)

Chop Sweet potato, place on lined baking tray and drizzle with oil. Roast in the oven for 40-60 mins until it begins to crisp on the outside. Place roasted sweet potato and all of the other ingredients except for the seeds for coating in the food processor and blend until well combined.  Shape mixture into patties and gently roll in seeds. Place on a lined baking tray and cook in a moderate oven for 30 minutes before flipping and then cooking for a further 15 minutes.