Paleo Pumpkin Soup

My husband is trialing a new diet so tonight I jumped on board and we all ate the same thing - Pumpkin Soup.  It is the same as the recipe from my cookbook except that I left out adding the milk at the end of cooking time.  The beauty of the recipe is that is tastes delicious and only uses 4 ingredients.

Quick, easy, cheap & very healthy - what more could you want!!

I hope your family love it!
Amanda

Paleo Pumpkin Soup

• 1.4 kg Jap or Kent pumpkin (peeled & chopped)
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 large onion, diced
• 150g bacon pieces

1) In a large saucepan over high heat, add pumpkin & chicken stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to medium heat and let the pumpkin boil away.

2) In a large microwave bowl, add onion & bacon.  Cover with plastic wrap &              microwave on high for 2 mins.  Stir, then microwave for a further 2 mins.

3) Add onion & bacon mixture to the boiling pumpkin & stir through.  When pumpkin is soft, use a stick mixer and blend up the contents of the saucepan until smooth.  If too thick, add more water. 

5) Serve immediately or cover & refrigerate until required.  Reheat in                           microwave or on stove top.

FREEZING - pumpkin soup can be stored in airtight container & frozen for up to 6 months.   Thaw in fridge & reheat in microwave or over stove top. 

Homemade Vanilla Custard

I love homemade vanilla custard and yes... I have a thermomix to do it for me but I wanted to show you that it is so easy to make at home without a thermomix.  With minimal ingredients and only 15 mins, the end result is a beautiful custard that you can eat warm or cold poured over your favourite treat.  My favourite would have to be vanilla custard poured over sliced banana - YUM!!

Enjoy,
Amanda

HOMEMADE VANILLA CUSTARD
15 mins from start to finish

• 2 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 3 Tbspn cornflour
• 3 Tbspn raw sugar (or any sugar you prefer)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, add eggs, milk and cornflour.  Whisk together until smooth.

2. Over high heat, whisk the mixture until it starts to heat up.  Once the temp of the milk increases and the mixture starts to thicken, reduce to low/med heat and whisk until thick & creamy. This will take approx 7 mins. 

3. Remove from heat & whisk in sugar and vanilla.  Add extra sugar if you like it sweeter. 

4. Eat warm or place into a bowl & refrigerate until cold. To stop a skin from forming over the top, cover with cling wrap & let the cling wrap sit on the surface of the custard as show in the picture below.  When you remove from the fridge, it will be thick so you will need to give it a good whisk to remove any lumps & make it smooth & creamy.

Sugar free chocolate cupcakes

This is a new one for me that I have adapted from a Paleo recipe. They turned out fantastic which is great considering they have no butter and sugar - my main staples for a cupcake recipe. 

I substituted some ingredients for those that are readily available to everyone to make a simple recipe with ingredients in your pantry. 

I hope you enjoy them as much as my children did today.  I did drizzled them with chocolate icing though...

Enjoy,

Amanda

Sugar free chocolate cupcakes

• 1 ½ cups self raising flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup coconut oil, melted
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup hot water

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Line a 12 capacity cupcake tin with cases.

Step 2 - In a large bowl, sift flour, cocoa & baking powder.  Add coconut oil, egg, honey and hot water.  Beat with an electric mixer until very well combined.  The mixture will appear quite runny.

Step 3 - Pour the mixture into a jug.  This makes it easier to pour into the cupcakes.  Fill each case to ¾ full.  

Step 4 - Bake in preheated oven for 16 - 18 mins or until cooked through. 

Steak, onion & tomato pie

This is an easy pie recipe which can be thrown together before you head out for the day.  I make the filling in the slow cooker and it is ready to put into a pie by late afternoon.  Tonight, I couldn't be bothered turning it into a pie so the filling went straight from the slow cooker onto the plates and it was still a hit with my family.  An extremely simple yet tasty meal served with a plate of veges.

Enjoy
Amanda xx

Steak, onion and tomato pie

• 2 Tbspn flour
• 1kg chuck steak
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 400g tin tomatoes
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 ½Tbspn balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup beef stock
• Salt & pepper
• 2 Tbspn gravy powder

1. Add flour into bottom of slow cooker.

2. Dice steak into small pieces & add into slow cooker.  Toss to coat the meat in flour.

3. Add onion, tomatoes, thyme, vinegar & stock. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

4. Cook on high for 4 ½ hrs or low for 7 hrs or until meat is tender. At the end of cooking time, add gravy powder & stir until mixture thickens slightly.

5. Preheat oven to 200oC.

6. Transfer meat mixture from slow cooker into small dishes or one large dish.  Top with mashed potato (recipe below).

7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 mins or until the top has browned.


 Mashed potato:

3 large potatoes, peeled
¾ cup milk
1 ½ Tbspn butter


Dice potatoes into pieces approx. 1 ½ cm.  Boil in salted water until potatoes are tender.  Drain.  Add milk & butter & mash until smooth.

Gingerbread cakes

What a great combination of gingerbread biscuits and cake - gingerbread cakes.  Why not!!
They are delicious on their own but even better with lemon icing drizzled over them. They keep well in the freezer and can be popped into lunchboxes frozen as they will be thawed by lunch time and of course....perfect with a cup of tea.

Enjoy
Amanda

GINGERBREAD CAKES

• 125g butter, chopped
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup maple/golden syrup
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 Tbspn ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Icing

• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 Tbspn lemon juice
• 1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease 12 muffin pan or line with cases.

In a large saucepan, add butter, sugar, maple syrup & milk. Stir over medium heat until ingredients are combined & sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat & stir in bicarb soda.  Set aside to cool for 5 mins.

Add eggs & whisk until combined.

Sift in flour, ginger & cinnamon & whisk until smooth. Spoon into muffin cases & bake in preheated oven for 18 mins. Remove from oven & transfer to wire rack to cool.

Icing

Add icing sugar, lemon juice & water into a bowl & stir until smooth.  Drizzle over cakes & let sit for 10 mins to allow icing to set.

Trail mix bars

I experimented with these a few weeks ago and they turned out great!  My kids loved them as did others who tried them so I'd say that it is a winner for the school lunch box.  You could substitute the butter for peanut butter if you are making it for a home snack but for school lunch boxes - stick with ordinary butter.

Enjoy,
Amanda

Trail mix bars

• 100g butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 cups puffed rice
• 1 cup sultanas
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (85g)
• 1/2 cup bran cereal

Line a slice tin (18cm x 28cm) with baking paper.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

In a saucepan, add butter and honey.  Melt over high heat then reduce the heat and allow to gentle boil for 2 mins.

In a large bowl, add sunflower seeds, puffed rice, sultanas, choc chips and bran cereal.  

Pour over butter and honey mix and stir to combine. Press down firmly.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 mins.  Remove from oven and refrigerate to set.  Cut into bars and keep in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Coconut chicken noodles

This is a great weeknight meal that features in my cookbook 'Food before 5'.  I love that it only takes about 25 mins from start to finish and is a healthy and delicious meal that can be tailored to suit your taste.  Use vegetables that are in season or replace the rice vermicelli noodles with your favourite type.  I have also made it with singapore noodles and rice stick noodles which both turn out well.

Enjoy,
Amanda

Chicken Coconut Noodles

• spray oil
• 500g chicken breast fillets, diced
• 2 tsp green curry paste
• 400ml tin light coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 2 carrots, peeled & sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 red capsicum, sliced
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 150g rice vermicelli noodles

1)   Spray the base of a large pot with oil.  Over high heat, brown the chicken.

2)    Stir in curry paste.  Add coconut milk & chicken stock.  

3)    Add veges and stir. Cover & cook over medium heat until veges are almost tender.

4)   Add noodles & cook for a few mins (or until soft).                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Absolutely delish & only 25 mins from start to finish!!  

Tonight I made it with rice stick noodles