Go green with Broccoli Bites, a very healthy sugar free snack for Adults and Children

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Broccoli Bites

Broccoli Bites served with  tomato chutney

I am going green with Broccoli. What I love about these mini broccoli scones or mini fritters, however they fall onto the baking tray, is that they are only the size of a couple of mouthfuls. These little babies are small enough to enjoy a mouthful or two and if I want more, I just eat a few of them. Mind you they look larger in my photograph than they actually are. I don't look at them the same way as I do at savoury or sweet muffins in the coffee shops and think that I can't eat all of that. Purchased muffins are getting bigger and bigger, needing to be shared or just encouraging waste.  These ones also hold their shape without needing to be cooked in mini muffin pans. I really think they are meant to be Broccoli Balls, however I was in a hurry when I made these and took the photo, so they became mini fritters or mini pancakes. They still taste great. You can place your own stamp on them.

Flourless Chocolate Patty Cakes for Valentine's Day

Indulge yourself with these gluten free and very low sugar Chocolate Patty Cakes (Cupcakes)

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I found this recipe on the Healthy Chef website and just had to make these as a treat for Valentine's Day ♡♡. They are deliciously moist with lots of rich chocolate flavour, low on sugar, and took inside 20 minutes to prepare. This is such a clever recipe, which can accommodate most allergies, and can be modified to suit the dietary requirements of most guests.

We have been very busy lately, planning a road trip from Cairns along the Savannah Way and into Western Australia and down to Perth. There will be some camping involved, and we will  also be staying in cabins and hotels when the muscles need some pampering. I have been planning some camping meals of course and Mr. HRK who has discovered online shopping for camping equipment, bought us a Dream Pot. We cooked our Corned meat and vegetables in our new Dream Pot a couple of nights ago which was exciting. It's like having an extra powerless slow cooker on hand to use in the kitchen. So now I am trying out new recipes and planning some meals for the trip. There will be more of that later on the blog. 

We are also going to be first time grandparents, hence the trip to Western Australia for the birth, so I am also extending my skills and sewing some little things for the new addition to the family. 

It is all very exciting, and lots of projects are in progress. These chocolate delights were a nice deviation from the other projects.

Flourless Chocolate Patty Cakes (Cupcakes)

Ingredients

1 ½ cups almond meal/ground almonds, or hazelnut meal

¼ cup good quality cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder (gluten free if needed)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla paste or extract

¼ cup  macadamia nut oil or olive oil (I used macadamia)

¼ cup full cream milk or almond or soy (your choice)

2 tablespoons organic maple syrup or honey

Let’s Cook:

Preheat your oven to 160 deg. C.

Combine the almond/hazelnut meal, cocoa powder and baking powder.

Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, milk  and honey, then mix well with a good spoon to form a smooth batter.

Spoon into 12 small individual patty tins or cases.

Bake for 25 minutes until risen and cooked through. They will start to crack slightly on the surface when cooked which looks nice.

Serve with Greek yoghurt or raspberry puree, or cover with chocolate icing, depending on the occasion, or serve just on their own.

If you are feeling very intolerant to gluten, lactose, or nuts etc this recipe works very well. Other substitutes can be used. e.g. For nut free cupcakes substitute almond meal for ¼ cup coconut flour, then increase number of eggs to 4, and add an extra tablespoon of honey or maple syrup.

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Blueberry pancakes on Pancake Tuesday

Our good friend Paul arrived this morning with delicious blueberry pancakes for Pancake Tuesday, such a treat and a lovely surprise. Apparently Pancake Tuesday is an Anglican tradition, however this
recipe was taken from the old Presbyterian cookbook .  I'm sure I've got a copy somewhere.  There are so many recipe treasures contained in those old church and school cookery books.

Paul said this recipe is just two cups of everything.  What an easy way of remembering a recipe. I'm not great at remembering recipes but this sounds memorable.

Then this afternoon I hosted Mahjong so more cake.

A perfect day really, don't you think?

Marilyn's Heaven in a Bowl Custard

Custard

CUSTARD, HEAVEN IN A BOWL

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This is one of those recipes which I am sure will become part of the McNee clan's cooking repertoire. Marilyn goes back a long way as a teaching colleague of Neil's, and came to the Retiree's lunch at our place last week with a plum pudding left over from Christmas, a cheesecake, and this nostalgic custard. What I love about Marilyn's generation, is that she has no qualms about taking a shortcut with her cooking when necessary, hence the use of the Vanilla Instant pudding mix in this recipe. I should also mention she taught Home Economics for many years, hence her cooking, and her dressmaking etc is highly respected.

Neil was so excited by this custard, that I felt almost guilty that I don't cook more of it for him. In this heat we are experiencing at the moment, it is brilliant to be able to just mix up the ingredients for a recipe, chill it in the frig and it is ready. No cooking involved. I took a bowl of the custard which was leftover from the Retiree's lunch over to Kati's the following day for her birthday lunch. She found it in her frig that evening, and renamed it Heaven in a Bowl. I think she and little Leon ate it all in one sitting.

Neil remembers when the Vanilla Instant Pudding craze started when he was a just a boy living in Toowoomba. He often played over at his neighbour's house in the afternoons, where they sometimes made the pudding for dessert. Occasionally he was offered some, and as a lad he was in heaven when that happened. I don't remember my Mum ever using instant puddings, except perhaps jellies, as I think she cooked most things from scratch. However, in those days in Rockhampton they didn't frequent shops or the very scattered supermarkets as often as we do now.







The addition of the sprinkle of nutmeg in this pudding gives the dish an individual flavour, akin to that of homemade custard.

Marilyn’s “Heaven in a Bowl” Custard

Ingredients:

1 Vanilla Instant Pudding (Cottee's) (found at Woolworths with the jellies, custards etc.)

300ml Cream

300ml Full cream milk (or concede and use low fat milk because of cream being added in the recipe)

Sprinkle of nutmeg

Method:

1. Add milk and cream to a bowl.
2. Sprinkle in the pudding mix.
3. Beat with an electric hand beater until the mixture is thick enough.
4. Sprinkle with ground nutmeg and mix in.
5. Place covered bowl in the refrigerator and allow to set. This won't take long.
6. Whilst this is a custard it will set as a pudding consistency.
7. Serve with fresh fruit, frozen mango, plum pudding or whatever you are serving or just eat it on it's own as comfort food.

Use your Christmas Ham Bone to make this light and delicious Kale and Ham Soup

Ham and Kale Soup

This is a terrific recipe I found a few years ago, and until now I have restricted making it to Winter, using the Christmas ham bone which I place in the freezer religiously after each Christmas. My beautiful daughter inspired me though shortly after Christmas this year by making this soup (her favourite) in her slow cooker and freezing it in single edible portions in her freezer, for a perfect and nutritious meal to have after work some days, or even for lunch in the air-conditioning. After all, we had Christmas in Cairns so she inherited the ham bone this year.

So I returned home, thinking about that soup which smelled and looked wonderful. Of course I found myself at the local butchers, bought a ham hock and cooked the soup in my old but ongoing and faithful red crock pot, and froze it in double portions. Then it rained cats and dogs yesterday, so the soup was the perfect meal for a rainy day. However, it is light enough to be eaten on a cool evening in the heat of Summer as well. 

It is also the perfect way to eat Kale, a vegetable I am not smitten with to be truthful, but which I know is full of the essential healthy vitamins we need. Sharp Parmesan Cheese finishes it off beautifully. 

 Ingredients:

Stock:

1 smoked ham hock or bone from your Christmas Ham

1 onion, halved

2 sticks celery

1 carrot, sliced

3 garlic cloves

2 parsley stalks, or 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Soup:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 leeks. white part only, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves

400g can cannellini beans, drained

1 bunch kale (about 12 leaves), trimmed and chopped

Shaved Parmesan, to serve

Olive oil, to serve

Let’s make the stock:

Place the ham bone, onion, celery, carrot, garlic and parsley in a large saucepan or slow cooker bowl.

Slow cooker method:

Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker bowl and fill the pot with 3 litres of water. Cook on low for 8 hours or on medium for 4 hours. Halfway through the cooking, adjust the ham bone if necessary, so that all of the bone will be cooked and the meat tender by the end.  Remove the ham hock and discard the skin. Shred meat and set aside. Strain stock and set aside.

Large saucepan method:

Place all the ingredients in the saucepan and cover with 3 litres of water. Cook, simmering for 30 minutes (use a spoon to skim the surface).

Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour, or until meat is tender and falling off the bone. Remove the ham hock and discard the skin. Shred meat and set aside. Strain stock and set aside.

Let’s make the soup:

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic. Cook, stirring for 4-5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add stock and bring to the boil. Add cannellini beans, kale, and ham hock meat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until kale is tender.

Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Spoon into soup bowls, top with shaved Parmesan, and drizzle with olive oil.

Warm wishes,

Pauline

Potatoes and Deconstructed Pesto

Basil is such a great herb to have growing in the garden and fortunately I have heaps of it. At this time of year, it is challenging to maintain a vegetable garden in the hot tropics, so I think that herbs are the way to go. 

Deconstructed Cheesy Cabbage Rolls

Deconstructed Cheesy Cabbage Rolls

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I had to try this recipe from Not Quite Nigella's blog, one of my favourites by Lorraine Elliott,  as soon as I saw it. I had a busy day coming up, and a meal waiting for me in the slow cooker when I arrived home from Mahjong just sounded perfect. It didn't disappoint, and now I can't get enough of it. It is pure comfort food, even though it is very hot weather in the North. Because I made a large quantity I have been able to experiment with a little tweeking for variation. Today we ate it with my homemade mango chutney which was delicious.

I also added a few extra ingredients when I cooked it. A couple of rashers of chopped bacon, as bacon marries so well with cabbage, two chopped large red chillies for some zing, and a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, perfect. However, it can stand alone without the chillies, bacon, or thyme as on Lorraine's original recipe. Cabbage is such a resilient vegetable and doesn't disintegrate at all during long slow cooking, or if cooked in the pressure cooker.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes (pressure cooker), 1 hr. 10 mins (stovetop), 7 hours (slow cooker)

Ingredients:

OIL FOR FRYING

1 ONION, PEELED AND CHOPPED

2 AUSTRALIAN GARLIC CLOVES, PEELED AND CHOPPED

2 LARGE RED CHILLIES, DESEEDED AND FINELY CHOPPED (optional)

500g BEEF MINCE

2 RASHERS BACON, FINELY CHOPPED (optional)

2x410g TINS DICED TOMATOES

850g CABBAGE, CORED AND SLICED INTO WEDGES

2 TABLESPOONS TOMATO PASTE

2 SPRIGS OF THYME (optional)

1 CUP MACARONI  OR OTHER PASTA

1 CUP GRATED CHEESE

LET'S COOK:

• Heat a frypan on medium heat and add the oil. Fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Turn up the heat to medium high and add the mince, chillies and bacon breaking  up the mince with a large spoon. Transfer the whole mixture to your slow cooker or pressure cooker, or just a very large cast iron pot for the stove. I am lucky that I have an outside power point on my patio bench, so I plug the slow cooker in there to keep the heat out of the kitchen.
• Add the tomatoes, cabbage, thyme leaves and tomato paste to the pot.
• Cook the slow cooker for 6 hours, the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and for the cast iron pot, cook for 1 hour.
• Add the macaroni and cook for the following additional times: pressure cooker 5 minutes, slow cooker 40 minutes, cast iron pot 10 minutes. Stir through the cheese  and serve.

Enjoy.
Best wishes

Pauline