Nut Free Museli bars - also, egg, dairy, grain and gluten free!

Another one for the school lunch box....Nut Free Museli bars - also, egg, dairy, grain and gluten free!

150g sunflower seeds
150g pepitas

1. Blitz these on speed 7 in TM or FP, for a few seconds. You want the seeds to be partially chopped, you dont want it like flour.

1 tsp cinnamon

2. Add the cinnamon to the bowl and mix until well combined

110g honey

3. Add the honey and heat on 100 degrees for 2 minutes on speed 3.

4. Pour into a lined cake tin and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until golden brown.  My batch were cooked for about 50 minutes and when cooled were hard but not too hard.  If you wanted a softer museli bar, try cooking it for a shorter period.

No Bake Carob Seed Balls - grain, gluten, egg, nut, dairy free!

No Bake Carob Seed Balls - grain, gluten, egg, dairy free!

These are just too yummy!! These are a lunchbox treat for my Daughter, so therefore has to be nut free, for school.

100g pepitas

100g sunflower seeds

120g organic dates

15g organic carob powder

1. Blitz all ingredients together well on high speed in TM or FP.

1 tsp organic vanilla

Water

2. Add vanilla and blitz.

3. Add a little amount of water at a time and blitz again.  You want it to be a 'doughey' consistency so that you can roll the mix into balls.  Add water until you reach this consistency.

4. Roll into balls and store in air tight container in fridge.

Grain free granola - also dairy, coconut, egg and sugar free

Grain Free Granola - also dairy, egg, coconut and sugar free

Recently i discovered that i am intolerant to eggs. I'm going to miss them terribly as they were such a consistent part of my daily diet, but it wont be forever. Anyways....so i am now forced to come up with new egg free breakfast ideas and recipes to ensure i still get enough protein to start my day.

I made chia pudding to go with the granola you see above. I did this by allowing some chia seed to soak in some macadamia milk until it was at pudding consistancy, i didnt measure, just added and allowed to soak, stirring periodically over 5 minutes.

I made my macadamia milk by soaking about 100g of macadamia (unsalted) in water overnight and then blitzing in my Thermomix on speed 10 for about 30 seconds.  I didnt need to strain it. You can use a food processor in place of the Thermomix if necessary.

Granola

220g almonds
90g walnuts
140g macadamia's
50g sunflower seeds

1. I put all these in the TM and blitzed them on speed 7 until they were chopped but not milled.  I like my granola crunchy:)

50g maple syrup
80g macadamia oil (you can use coconut oil if you prefer, i cant tolerate coconut oil, so i used macadamia)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp himalayan salt

2. I added the above ingredients to the TM and used the reverse function (so not to mill the chopped nuts and seeds) and i mixed on speed 3-4 until it was all combined.  It is ready when it resembles a crumbly mix.

3. I then lined two biscuit trays and scattered the mix across the trays.

4. I baked it for about 30 minutes in total (wasnt timing) and i stired it once before baking it again.  Cook it until its well browned but not burnt.  It is normal to have chunky bits in the mix.

5. Once cooled completely, store it in a air tight container and use as needed. 

6. Serve with berries, chia pudding, yoghurt, whatever your heart desires:)

PS: You can also add some dried fruit, shredded coconut, cacao nibs for a different flavor.

I absolutely was blown away with how well this turned out, i will be eating this on a regular basis.

Home-made Laundry & Dishwashing Powders - All BORAX FREE

I decided it was about time that i had a go at making some laundry powder and dishwasher powder.  I think i remember making this goal in January, but at least i got it done before the year is out! I was determined not to let it roll over into 2014, as a job left un-done. 

The cost of living is going up and who really knows what they put in these products that we use everyday in our homes, around our children, so i figured why not try to cut unnecessary costs at the same time and remove some unnecessary toxins from our home. 

So i got to and i found some on-line recipes - many of which had borax as the main ingredient.  I chose not to use borax in mine, so my search continued and the ones i liked the best were these ones.  

http://www.notsomodern.com/2013/02/borax-free-powdered-laundry-detergent.html 
http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog/wordpress/homemade-borax-free-dishwasher-detergent-with-secret-ingredient/

Recipes from above sites:

Laundry Powder - Borax Free

1 1/2 cup baking soda                                  (500gm, used 330gm)
1 1/2 cup washing soda                                (1kg, used 360gm)
1/2 cup epson salts                                      (1kg, used 110gm)
2 tbsp cource rock salt                                  (1 kg, i used maybe 5gm)
A few drops of tea tree oil which i had already

I put all the ingredients in a large container and shook them up.  Using a large container give the ingredients plenty of room to mix.  Then i just stored it in that container.

The cost of this mix worked out to be $3.82.  The recipe says you get 58 loads out of it, which works out to be $0.7 per load.  Compared to Surf at $0.14 and Aldi's Alamat of $0.13 per load.  This works out to be almost half of what you would pay at aldi!! Not to mention fewer chemicals.

Dishwashing powder - Borax free

2 cups washing powder                            (1kg, i used 480gm)
1/2 citric acid                                          (2x75g = 140, i used 115gm)
1/2 cup rock salt                                     (1kg, i used 130gm)

I put all the ingredients in a large container and shook them up.  Using a large container give the ingredients plenty of room to mix.  Then i just stored it in that container.

The cost of this mix worked out to be $5.13.  I measured it out and i would get 22 washes out of this batch, keeping in mind though that i havent used it in the dishwasher to see how effective it is, so i might get more or less out of this mix. I compared this with Aldi's Logix dishwasher tablets which is $0.25 per wash/tab. There is a $0.2c saving per load which (assuming you get 22 loads) would work out to be  only a $0.44 saving.  This is a perfect case where you have to decide if you are willing to pay the extra $0.44 and buy it off the shelf, or if you want to know that the products within your home are safe and non-toxic.

PS: i got all my ingredients from woolworths to save some time in shopping around. 

PPS: i also havent tried my new supplies out yet, so its unforseen as to if they are effective or not.

Peanut Butter Blondies - gluten free!

Peanut Butter Blondies - gluten free!

I don't cook this often, but it is Hubby's favourite and he gets it all to himself!

80g TM made butter

140g brown sugar

80g TM peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1. Combine all ingredients in TM or FP and mix on medium speed until combined.

140g gluten free flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp aluminium free baking soda

2. Add to TM or FP and mix on medium speed, ensuring all ingredients combine well.

3. Pour into a lined square cake tin.

Extra peanuts

4. Sprinkle peanuts ontop of the uncooked blondie and push them gently into the mix, so half of the peanuts are ontop of blondie and the bottom half of them are submerged within the mix.

5. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Paleo Vanilla Muffins - grain, dairy, gluten free!

Paleo Vanilla Muffins - grain, dairy, gluten free!

410g almonds

1. Mill almonds on high speed in TM or FP and set aside.

2 eggs

45g macadamia oil

150g maple syrup

1 tablespoon organic vanilla 

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

50g almond milk/water

2. Add all above ingredients (except milled almonds) to TM or FP and process on medium speed, ensuring all ingredients are well combined.

1/2 tsp himalayan salt

1/2 tsp aluminium free baking soda

3. Add almond meal and mix on medium-high speed for 1 minute, ensuring all ingredients are combined.

4. Pour into silicon muffin cases and bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes, or when tops are crusty and golden brown and skewer comes out clean.