I HAVE BOUGHT A STOVE....

Not just any stove - a French, tabletop glass beauty branded "Luminarc".  It is fantastic.  You may have seen them on the shopping channels.  I remember seeing a demo one night in the USA when I couldn't sleep.  I was impressed with its versatility the, and I am now I have one.  Thank you for those people who suggested I not get an ordinary floor model.  This is so much better.

On the weekend I cooked baked potatoes (you can't really do these in a microwave and get the same creamy, earthy taste), I made a quiche without pastry in a pan, I baked corn bread, and then I made some Rice Cookies.  I have had a wonderful time.

These rice Cookies cook in 10 minutes in the Luminarc.  I am not sure how long they will take in your oven.

COCONUT RICE COOKIES

This mix makes about 10 cookies, just double quantities  if you want more.

INGREDIENTS: quarter cup butter, quarter cup coconut oil, one cup of rice flour, teaspoon almond essence, half a cup  coconut (desiccated) and quinoa or nutmeal, one egg, one tablespoon of honey, add milk or water if mix is too stiff, or more rice flour to make a stiffer dough.

METHOD: Preheat oven to 170C

Soften butter and oil (I put them in the microwave)

Mix together dry ingredients, and in another bowl mix the wet ingredients.  

Then add the wet to the dry - the mixture to be a firm soft mix.

Make into balls in the hands, flatten out, and place on a greased baking tray (they don't spread).  You could put an almond on top, or decorate by pressing with the tunes of a fork.

Cook for 10 to 12 minutes.  The biscuits (cookies) should be lightly golden on top.

 

AYURVEDIC GLUTEN FREE COOKERY CLASSES?

Feel stodgy, bloated, lacking energy, overweight?  Sounds familiar?  All those who would be interested in coming here to the studio and taking part in my GF cooking (AND EATING) experiments please email me.  There would be a charge, but you would get to eat what we prepared.  Let me know.  I think it would be fun – especially now I have a new stove......

 NUT MILK BAGS have arrived, and will be available in the web shop go to www.yogabeautiful.com.au.  If you are paying more and more for nut milks why not make your own?  It is simple.  Blend your nuts with water, and strain them through the bags.  That is all there is to it.  You could add honey or vanilla (or chocolate), and save money.  Plus the resulting milk would be chemical free!

Please, your feedback is encouraged.  Let me know about your adventures in GF land.  

MY SENSE OF SMELL HAS RETURNED, AND NO MORE TINNITUS - HOORAY!!!

I have been cooking, and have almost decided that I just can't live this new way without a stove.  Do you all have one?  I guess so.  I have used a microwave for everything for about the last 15 years.  It's good, but not if you want to get better at this thing called cooking.

With this new gluten free regime,  I know and CAN FEEL my body repairing itself.  How good is that!  For me it is a startling and wonderful breakthrough.  A REVELATION!  It is how we all should be.  Get the food thing right and everything falls into place.  Food then becomes your medicine.

My sense of smell has come back.  I have never been able to smell some flowers, now I can smell them -  boronia, daphne – and they are beautiful. Plus, my tinnitus has gone which is quite amazing.  Another thing,  I can actually feel what is going on in my gut.  I could always feel pain, but this is just feeling it working (peristalsis in particular).  If you have always had happy-bowels, you will bnot know what an amazing experience this is.

Did you like the video on the LONGEVITY SOUP?  If you give me positive feedback I will do more videos (especially when I have a stove).

  

THE RECIPES – "NO GRAIN NO PAIN"

Want to feel fabulous – like me!  Just give the gluten free life a go for just two weeks.  If you feel as good as me, you will stay on it forever.

I made some bread on the weekend.  It didn't work because …. I put yeast in it!!  I am still learning.    I didn't think yeast would make a difference BUT IT DID.  I just swelled up like a balloon and farted all nite.  So I am back on the beautiful yeast feee, gluten free, Orgran bread mix with added seeds.  I do urge you all to start a sourdough mother so that you can make bread that tastes like bread.  You just use it in place of yeast, so that you won't have the trouble I had.  But for me, it won't happen again, I have my starter sitting there

AYURVEDIC QUICK GLUTEN FREEE BREAD

INGREDIENTS:  One and a half cups oat bran, 3/4 cup cornmeal, 1 teaspoons Sea salt, 2 teaspoons GF baking powder, 2 cups soy milk, 1 tabs. Maple syrup (or to taste), I large egg, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, and a selection of nuts and seeds.

METHOD: Preheat oven to 250C

Mix together dry ingredients, and in another bowl mix the wet ingredients.  Then add the wet to the dry with a minimum of strokes.  The mixture to be a yoghurt like batter.  Pour into a greased 8 inch square baking pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.  (you could also put in a muffin pan = 12 muffins)

*you could also add grated zucchini, mashed banana, apricots and other dried fruit in place of some of the liquid.

* SAGE ONION BREAD: saute 1 diced small onion in 1 tablespoon of oil.  Omit the sweetener in recipe above and add 1 teaspoon of sage.  Stir these into the mix above.  Savory and light.

 

GOLDEN MILK (some of you asked for a repeat).

Ingredients:  

To make a paste for wounds, put 3 tbsp (30g) dried turmeric powder in a pan with 150ml water and simmer to a thick paste.  Place gauze on the affected area and apply the cool paste for a few minutes 3 times a day.                To make GOLDEN MILK:  put 200ml milk (soy or any other variety), half teasp turmeric paste (see above), I teasp almond oil, and honey (to taste), in a pan.  Heat to just below boiling point.  Then blend in a blender to a froth (you can add fruit or berries to taste).  Enjoy, and know it is doing you "a power of good". 

AYURVEDIC GLUTEN FREE COOKERY CLASSES?

Feel stodgy, bloated, lacking energy, overweight?  Sounds familiar?  All those who would be interested in coming here to the studio and taking part in my GF cooking (AND EATING) experiments please email me.  There would be a charge, but you would get to eat what we prepared.  Let me know.  I think it would be fun – and it would really push me into getting a stove!

COLD PRESS JUICE EXTRACTOR (not electric), and NUT MILK BAGS.  These are two things that we could use in our cookery classes, and which I will review for you,  with other products I find as I go along. 

THE JUICE EXTRACTOR - is a german designed cold press juicer.  Simple and quiet.  I am just waiting for it to arrive.   Ditto the Nut Milk Bags - then I can show you how to make your own nut milks (without the crunch).  Have you seen how expensive it is becoming.  I like VITASOY, but Coles seem to be discontinuing it.  All that is available is Sanitarium.  Making my own will solve this problem...

THE GARDEN:

Has been cold and quiet in the garden, but things are on the move.  I spent some time wedding out the sticky-weed before it got hold, put down straw (waiting for bark chips on Thursday), and generally did pre-summer things.  It is raining here at the moment which is great because it will water in the blood and bone I put around (and the dog likes snuffling out!), and settle the straw.  I had visions of it blowing everywhere, but that is minimised now.. 

The lemons are just there ready to pick, and the chicory, watercress, mints,  herbs, spring onions, broad bean tips have all been added to the LONGEVITY SOUP and to producing some memorable salads.  The rhubarb, and comfrey are pushing their heads up, and the beetroot and potatoes are just sneaking their heads above the soil too.  I have planted loads of parsley because I use heaps, especially in the summer.

When I pruned the blueberries, black currants, and marion berries, I didn't like to throw the prunings away so I potted up a some and the left overs I planted out,  and they have all taken root!  So I am going to have lots of berries in a year or two.  Last year the marion-berry produced 1 kg a picking which I thought was extraordinary.  I have only just finished eating the berries I froze last year, and I still have a few elderberries left.  

All this Bodes well for our cookery class – lots of home grown produce!

SMALL SUCCESSES

...and there have been a few.  I have pulled my old pancake griddle out of the bottom drawer, and am now pretty good at making buckwheat pancakes.  Pancakes are fantastic because you can make a heap and freeze them.  If you want then to be "tanned" then put in two eggs instead of one.  It is the egg it seems that makes the lovely brownish colour.  I guess if you are making GF crepe suzettes it doesn't matter.  But for me, I like the "tanned" look.  I don't start from scratch.  I use Orgran Buckwheat pancake mix.  It is a success every time.  I think I get about 30 pancakes out of a whole packet.  Once you have the pancakes you can fill them with savoury mix, or berries, or roll them around a banana and grill them - or whatever.  A success every time.

And seeing that we are talking about success,  perhaps making a sourdough "mother" is a success.  You were right when you said that most GF bread tastes like cake, and that is because of the rising agent.  If you make a sourdough starter (or mother), then your dough should be springy and resultant bread should taste like bread.  Well I did it,  and it does.  

To make a starter put half a cup of GF flour  in a container with half a cup of water (or enough to make a runny batter).  I left the batter covered by the sink for a week, stirring it every day.  Then I followed the recipe for ordinary bread, substituting GF flour for the suggested flour, and using my starter instead of the suggested starter.  The resultant bread is totally wonderful..  After mixing it I left it to rise for an hour or so (until double in size) and then I cooked it in my microwave for just 6 minutes.  It is fantastic.  I would have liked a crispy top which microwaving won't deliver, but apart from that - a great result. Try this.  It may take you a couple of goes.  Mine did.

The first batch I tried to be smart and cooked it for too long.  I overcooked the bread, but I didn't waste it.  I used part in a bread and butter pudding, and the left overs I made bread crumbs out, of which later went into Indian Style Vegetable patties.

I hope you try these ideas.  I love bread, and now I know this there is no looking back - breadlover that I am.