BUTTERNUT PIE AND THANKSGIVING

 

I've never had pumpkin pie before in my life so I'm really not sure if what I created is anything close to what its supposed to be like. I really wanted to try and make it... so I read loads of recipes and the common thread was pumpkin, sugar, eggs and milk plus cinnamon, spices and a pie crust (duh)!---BUT I wanted it to be minus the dairy and mounds of sugar And I really like butternut so I subbed that for pumpkin. So in the end I think I really created a vegan, dairy free variation of "a kind of pumpkin pie?"...  I suppose it could maybe be called South African Butternut "thanks giving" pie

ORANGE CHOCOLATE FRUITY SPICE COOKIES

APPLESAUCE JELLY SWEETS

So I made these as a healthy "sweets" for my daughter as she can't have any gluten or corn (most sweets contain corn syrup or glucose syrup which is often made from corn). Go ahead read the sweet packaging - you'll find corn, maize, corn syrup, glucose syrup or wheat in almost EVERYTHING! *sigh*

Anyway I had seen this idea around the web last year. Bloggers were using cooked fruit and gelatine to make jelly fruit squares. I have not used anyone's recipe but storing this idea at the back of my head but never really using the idea until now. I just tried to make them how i thought the recipe should go and did not use anybodies recipe as a guide. So this isn't copied or stolen but the original idea isn't mine.
These aren't like sweets so much as they are like cooked sweetened apples in jelly form. Easy to put in lunch boxes and healthy. A nice snack.


INGREDIENTS
apples - 3
pears - 2
vanilla pod
water
2 -3 Tablespoons Agave Syrup (you could use sugar instead)
1 Tablespoon Honey
a sprinkle of cinnamon
2 - 3 teaspoons agar agar
1/4 cup of water
a small amount of coconut oil
sugar

METHOD
Make sure you buy organic fruit - wash and place all of them in a pot that they can lay in a single layer in the pot. I removed the stems from the apples and pears and cut out any spot or blemishes. Then add water till about 3 cm high in the pot.
Split open the vanilla pod with a knife and scrape out the seeds into the pot and place the empty pod in the water too.
Turn on the stove and allow to come to a slow simmer with the lid on.
Simmer for 20 minutes then take the lid off and allow the fruit to continue to simmer slowly turn the apples and pears so that the hardest parts are moved into the water and whatever is soft and fleshy is above the water.
Squish down with a back of a large spoon every now and then.
After another 30 minutes start to check that the mixture isn't starting to stock or  burn at the bottom. Watch as the fruit becomes really soft and almost all of the water has evaporated.
Turn off the stove and allow to cool.
Push all the fruit through a sieve into a clean pot and discard the seeds and bits that won't go through the sieve and the vanilla pod.
Pour in the agave and the honey - sweeten to taste as it depends how tart your apples are and how sweet you would like it to be. You can use sugar if you prefer. (I wanted the sweets to be as healthy as possible)
Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to taste. 
Stir and add 2 teaspoons of agar agar and a quarter cup of water.
Stirring slowly bring the heat up and keep stirring
After a few minutes of thick bubbling liquid place a saucer in the freezer and put a teaspoon of the mixture on it and leave there for a bit. Check to see if the mix has set by pushing it around the saucer with your finger - if it isn't squishy and hard add another teaspoon of agar agar to the pot and stir and boil for another 5 minutes. Continue this process every 5 - 10 minutes adding more agar agar and testing in the freezer until your mixture sets nicely. (if you add to much agar agar it will go very hard! but is still edible)

Grease a dish with coconut oil or oil of your choice
Allow you mixture to cool a bit and pour into your dish
Leave to set in the fridge and then slice with a knife

*optional roll in powdered/icing Sugar or granulated sugar and serve immediately

Can be kept in the fridge for up to a week covered

BANANA AND YOGHURT MUFFINS {HEALTHY & GLUTEN-FREE}

So I have been trying different alternatives for the kids lunch box (from baking all sorts of Gluten free bread to baking muffins) And I am finding the bread to be SUPER hard by day 2, and by day 5 it is worth using as a rock and you could actually hurt someone! So in my search for a bready alternative for the school week I decided to look at muffins.

Last week I made the batch on Sunday night - baked them ALL and put them in a sealed container (much the same as the bread) and by day 2 they were also quite hard. Then I read a recipe somewhere for a batch of muffins that you could keep the batter in the fridge and bake fresh every day!!! Why hadn't I thought of that?

But the recipe i was looking at contained WAY to much sugar and didn't seem healthy at all! It was more like eating a cupcake for breakfast minus the icing (and it wasn't gluten-free either). So I set about trying to make my own recipe. So the recipe I threw together last week was very sticky and chewy so yesterday I set about swopping ingredients and changing quantities and it seems to have come out quite nicely (if I do say so myself) I made 3 muffins immediately after whipping up the batter last night (Sunday) to test and taste - YUMMY. They took roughly 15 minutes to bake. Then I placed the entire batch of batter in the fridge in a large bowl with a lid.

This morning (day 1) I woke up half an hour early, stumbled through to the kitchen turned on the oven to preheat and placed the large bowl of batter on the counter and then went back to bed to doze. Once the alram went off I got out of bed at the usual time went through to the kitchen placed batter in 6 cupcake cases in a muffin tray and put them in the preheated oven. I carried on making lunches as usual , slicing up cucumber. peppers etc... Since the batter was cold I noticed the muffins took 20-25 minutes to bake but rose just as nicely and tasted yummy and fresh! Yay hard rock-like lunch for the week sorted! - AS LONG AS I GET UP AND PREHEAT OVEN otherwise I will run out of time before The Kid and Husband run out the door.

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup Coconut oil (or a neutral oil like sunflower oil)
2 rounded Tablespoons Honey
4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 cup yoghurt
2 cups Gluten-free flour mix
1 cup Buckwheat flour 
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Bicard
2 Bananas
1/3 cup Water
1 cup Raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Agave syrup (or use honey)
1/3 cup Sunflower seeds 
a small handful extra dried fruit (optional) I used dried peaches

METHOD
In a large bowl mix (on low if using a mixer) together the coconut oil, honey, sugar and butter until smooth and pale.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the yoghurt, mix may seem likes it going to curdle (don't over mix - just stir in)
Mix in the flours, baking powder and bicarb adding a bit at a time until all is incorporated - The dough will be thick.
Mash up the bananas with a fork and mix into the batter
Add the water and mix until nice smooth consistency
Add the raisins (if using)
Then add the cinnamon, agave syrup, sunflower seeds and any dried fruit (optional) you like.
Mix until everything is evenly distributed.
If you are baking immediately place batter in cup cake liners and in muffin trays, Sprinkle with a tiny bit of brown sugar and bake for roughly 15 minutes until well risen and brown.
If keeping in the fridge place in a seal-able container until needed. I am gauging that the batter should be ok for 5-6 days.
 
Enjoy in your lunch box or with a morning cup of coffee

UPDATE BELOW PIC (scroll down)

UPDATE:
SUNDAY: I manage to make 3 muffins on Sunday night when I whipped up the batter.
MONDAY: baked 6 in the morning
TUESDAY: baked 6
WEDNESDAY: baked 6
THURSDAY:baked 6
FRIDAY: baked 6 (2 of them were very small)


TOTAL so far: 33 (cupcake size) Muffins

NOTES:
Thick Mixture: If you find your mixture is getting very think after sitting in the fridge over night (dried fruit seems to suck up the liquid) add a little water in the morning when you take the bowl out the fridge and stir in. keep adding water until you get to a nice thick cake batter dropping consistency.

Cupcake cases sticking to my muffins: I find that when I eat the muffins hot that some of it stay on the cupcake cases. I simply brush the inside bottoms of the paper cases with coconut oil before filling them up.


Oven Temp and Time: I have been baking my muffins at a lower temp of late. at about 160 degrees celcius for about 18 mins. I have a thermo fan oven.

COOKIE DOUGH APPLE PIE

So I came up with this concoction for the husband the other day and dare say so myself - it is DELICIOUS!
You see the husband loves apple pie and I didn't feel like making gluten free pastry etc.. So I just chopped up some apples baked them in the oven and then put my trusted cookie dough recipe i always use on top and baked it and OH WOW, Why haven't I tried this sooner?

Find the easy recipe below

COOKIE DOUGH APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS
apples
cinnamon
raisins (leave out if you dislike them)
roughly 3 tablespoons brown organic sugar
125g butter
1egg

1 generous cup brown organic sugar

1 vanilla pod
1 generous cup gluten free flour (i use health connection)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
cream


METHOD
Peel and cut up enough apples to fill your pie dish (i used 6)
Then sprinkle with raisins, brown sugar and a generous amount of cinnamon.
Place in the oven and bake at 180 degrees celcius, stir occasionally and cook until the apples are starting to soften but not fully cooked yet.
While the apples are baking assemble the cookie dough.
Beat the butter, egg, sugar and scraped out seeds from the vanilla pod in a medium bowl until smooth
Then stir in the flour, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda ensuring that everything is well mixed. Add more flour if you need to the mixture should be nice and soft but not runny.
Once the apples are semi soft baking away in the oven take out the dish and plop/dot the cookie dough all over the mixture - yes it looks messy but it will spread out. The idea is for there to be little blobs of cookie dough all over your apple mixture but you can still see little bits of apple peaking through. You may have to much cookie dough for your pie - you can either bake some cookies or put it in the fridge in a sealed container for a second cookie dough pie tomorrow :) trust me you'll want another.
Turn the oven down to 150 degrees celcius and bake until the cookie dough has spread, risen a little and is light brown on top :)
cut up and serve with cream poured on top or with a good vanilla ice cream