Filling Tummies with Seeded Bread

Last week I was going into battle at my local supermarket (doing the monthly groceries) when I heard an announcement over the PA "loaves of cheese and bacon bread still warm from the oven - half price". I couldn't resist and put one in my trolley as I walked past. My husband nearly had a coronary when he pulled it out of the grocery bag on my return home as I have only bought one other loaf of bread this year. We couldn't help ourselves and buttered some slices of the bread for a quick and easy lunch. It tasted quite nice and we were rather amused when one of our boys asked if it was cake or bread. Less than an hour later though we were all starving hungry again and also didn't feel that great in our tummies!!!

Of course I learnt my lesson and reverted back to homemade bread in a hurry. My quest to find an easy, healthy and tasty bread recipe has continued on for almost a year, but finally I have found a loaf that I am happy with (for now anyway). I have been making this seeded loaf as our daily bread for several weeks now and we really enjoy it. It isn't a light and fluffy loaf, but is just how I think bread should be. Wholesome!!! The bread has the goodness of soaked wholegrain (read about soaking here), but isn't 100% wholegrain. I have given up on that dream for now as I am not happy using the bread enhancing product necessary to make decent 100% wholegrain bread. It is still hugely better for us than most storebought varieties that normally use significantly less wholegrain and sometimes even use dyes to colour the bread. Yuk!!!

Seeded Loaf

(Adapted from the Five Seed Loaf - Revised Everyday Cookbook)

Ingredients:
200g khorasan or spelt grain
200g lukewarm water
1 tbsp organic apple cider vinegar

300g bakers flour or 360g spelt flour
2 rounded tsp dry yeast
1 tsp Himalayan salt
1 tsp dulse flakes
200g seed mix (see notes below)
30g organic honey
30g organic extra virgin olive oil
300g lukewarm water

Method:

Mill flour for 1 minute and 30 seconds on speed 9. Add water and vinegar and stir for 10 seconds on speed 3. Set aside to soak at cool room temperature for 12-24 hours covered with a clean tea towel.

After soaking period place all ingredients into the TMX bowl (including the soaked flour) and knead for 4 minutes on interval speed.

Scrape into a greased 20cm square dish (I just use my rectangle bread tin) and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This takes about an hour for me on a warm window sill.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Bake in oven for approx 45 minutes. The original instructions say to cool in tin before moulding, but I find it sweats too much. I like to tip it out and cool on a rack. :-)

Notes:

I make up a seed mix (enough for 5 loaves) and keep it in a large container in the fridge. It saves so much time, rather than getting out all of the seeds and oats and weighing them individually. Here is the list for the mix:

Seeded loaf Mix:

250g rolled or steel cut oats
150g linseeds
150g sunflower seeds
150g pumpkin seeds
150g poppy seeds (I usually use chia seeds instead)
150g sesame seeds

Weigh into clean and dry TMX bowl and mix on reverse speed 3 for 10 seconds. Pour into a large container and store in fridge.

Individual Loaf Seed Amounts:

50g rolled oats, 30g poppy seeds, 30g sesame seeds, 30g pumpkin seeds, 30g sunflower seeds and 30g linseeds.

Filling Tummies with Choc Chip Cookies

When you cook everything from scratch you need to be quite organised and try to prepare for the unexpected. One of the ways that I prepare for unexpected guests is to keep rolls of uncooked biscuit dough in the freezer (wrapped in greaseproof paper). That way when I see visitors coming down the lane and our biscuit tin is empty (or rather uninspiring) I can quickly slice off some biscuits and bake them while the kettle boils.

Yesterday morning however when I got the call to say some visitors were on their way our biscuit tin was empty and there were no biscuit rolls in the freezer. I decided to make a batch of my Mum's very quick and easy choc chip cookies. Yum! Using the TMX I can have a batch in the oven in less than 10 minutes, which is handy. They are so yummy and can be made quite easily without the TMX also. I just love rustic homemade cookies!

Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter, cubed
1 free-range egg
100g organic raw sugar (or 150g rapadura and no brown sugar)
70g brown sugar
300g plain flour (or 340g spelt flour)
2 level tsp baking powder
120g choc chips (or 1 x 100g block of organic chocolate chopped)

Method:


Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease or line biscuit trays.

Add butter, egg and sugars to TMX bowl and beat for 40 seconds on speed 3.

Add flour and baking powder and mix for 20 seconds on speed 4.

Add choc chips and mix on reverse speed 3 for 10 seconds.

Roll mixture into balls (heaped tablespoon amount), place on tray and press down with a fork.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Yum!

Filling Tummies With Our Top 10 Favourite Recipes

We have tried lots of new thermomix recipes from forumthermomix and thermomix blogs lately and have some new favourites to share with you. Here are our current top 10 favourite recipes in no particular order:

1) Achookwoman's KFC Coating - this is an amazing chicken coating that really does taste like KFC. I love to serve it with mash and a garden salad or in hamburger buns with lettuce and mayo. Photo below.

2) Robyn's Macaroni Beef - This is an easy family meal that is very tasty. Scroll down the thread and read my review to make it even easier.

3) Cheese and Basil Knots - Such easy and tasty rolls (although my boys think they look a teeny bit like little dog poos).

4) Quick Curried Snags - So good when I am short on time and energy. Photo below.

5) Brownie Milk - A delicious chocolate topping that is great in milkshakes or in ice cream sundaes (with homemade ice cream of course :-)).

6) Parmesan Potatoes - Judy really has outdone herself with these very tasty tatters!

7) Beef Stroganoff - So yummy and easy!!! Photo below.

8) Tenina's Fudge - This fudge is heavenly and makes a great gift.

9) Chocolate Eclairs - Thanks Mum for this little gem!! Photo below.

10) White chocolate and cranberry cookies - Yum!

Check out our previous favourite 10 recipes here.

An Absolute Must This Christmas . . .

I have a huge collection of kids books. I started collecting them when I was at Uni studying teaching and I am still collecting them today. We have bookshelves groaning with kids books of all shapes, sizes and genres. They have come from a variety of places (garage sales, online sellers, markets, our overseas travels etc). I really loved taking my books to school to share with my students and now I love sharing them with our boys at home. Some of the collection has become a wee bit worn from our boys rather enthusiastic reading sessions and I must admit this bothered me a bit when I first became a Mum. After a little soul searching I decided though that it was better to have a well worn book collection and children with a love of books than perfectly preserved books and children with no interest in reading at all.

Several years ago I had the pleasure of going to listen to Children's Author Mem Fox speak when she came to Tasmania. Mem spoke passionately about children's reading and was adamant that the most important factor in teaching children to read was parents reading to their children on a daily basis. She spoke about choosing a variety of books to read together and to really find out what is enjoyable and engaging for each child. To finish the evening she read her wonderful book The Magic Hat. I have never seen anyone read quite like Mem. She made funny jokes, bounced around, thumped the book, shouted out, giggled and laughed and had such a very fun and lively time reading. I was captivated and have never forgotten her enthusiasm. When I read to the boys in the daytime I try to put a little of Mem's enthusiasm and fun into our reading time (although our bed time stories are certainly different).

Each year we buy the boys a book to put with their Christmas things. Last year I choose the old favourites "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "We're Going an a Bear Hunt", and we have read them SOOOOO many times in the past year. This year however I decided to choose some very cheeky and quite humorous books. So we picked out "The Wonky Donkey" for our eldest and "Mr McGee and The Biting Flee" for our little man. There will certainly be plenty of giggles at our house on Christmas morning. If you are also looking for funny books this year "The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew it Was None of His Business" is another crack-up book. If you would like to buy them remember to check out booko.com.au. Just type the titles in to compare prices from all around the world. The UK and US book depository prices are amazing!

Out of the three books The Wonky Donkey is certainly my favourite (it is just so funny) and really is a must for kids stocking this year.

Filling Tummies with Chocolate Eclairs

This is my new favourite recipe. Yum! It has taken a while but I have finally converted my Mum's awesome choux pastry recipe for the TMX and I have whipped up 3 batches in the past week (not all for us mind you). Our chooks have been laying really well which makes these a very inexpensive, but still totally yummy treat!

Of course you can use this versatile recipe to make a variety of different choux pastry delights including cream puffs, a croquembouche, profiteroles or the very decadent Gateau St Honore. Just vary the shape of the pastry to suit. I make rustic eclair shapes using a tablespoon and knife (a little more rustic than my Mum who uses the same technique :-)) but you can pipe them using a piping bag or ziplock with the corner snipped off.

Happy Cooking!!!

Chocolate Eclairs

 

Ingredients:

230g water
60g butter
120g plain flour (I use wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs (each weighing about 70-75g in shell)
whipped cream (600g bottle for this amount of eclairs :-))
chocolate icing

Method:

Preheat oven to 210 degrees (see notes).

Grease and flour 2 medium oven trays (or one very large). I use butter to grease them lightly and then place 1 tsp of flour in the corner of each tray. I then tilt and tap the tray until each is lightly covered in flour.

Add water and butter to TMX bowl and heat for 6 minutes at 100 degrees, speed 2.

Add flour and baking powder and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix for another 10 seconds on speed 4.

Take lid off bowl and set aside for 5 minutes until cooled slightly.

Set blades spinning at speed 4 and add eggs one at a time (about ten seconds apart). It should only take 40 seconds in total.

Place the mixture onto the trays. For chocolate eclairs I use a heaped oval tablespoon full of mixture and use a knife to take it off the spoon and stretch it into a small thin sausage shape spaced well apart on the tray. You can of course pipe them. For cream puffs just place rounded spoonfuls of mixture onto the tray. I make 15-16 chocolate eclairs using this recipe.

Bake the eclairs for 15 minutes at 210 degrees and then turn your oven back to 180 degrees for a further 20-30 minutes. Do not open the oven door in the first 30 minutes of cooking. Watch them carefully from 15 minutes at 180 degrees and leave them as long as you can without letting them burn (although they don't have sugar in them so they don't burn easily). Every oven is different but mine are perfectly cooked after 15 minutes at 210 and 25 minutes at 180.

Fill with cream and spread with chocolate icing. Yum!

Notes:

The two main variables in this recipe are egg size and oven temperature:

Egg Size - If your mixture is too thick (eggs too small) the eclairs will most likely be quite uncooked in the centre. A little softness in the centre is fine (and better than totally dry and crunchy), but not filled with uncooked dough. Add an extra half of an egg (beaten) if you are feel your mixture is too thick.

Oven temperature - If your oven is slightly hot or cold you may need to adjust the temperatures. The choux should be puffed and already browning after 15 minutes at 210.

Scarves for Ethiopian Children

Dear Blogger-Friends (from near and a far),

This Christmas I am working on a special project to hopefully brighten the lives of some extremely impoverished children in Ethiopia. I am attempting to make a polar fleece scarf for each of the 90+ children at the Bonga Feeding Centre/Kindergarten in Western Ethiopia. The Centre is funded by World Families Australia and started as a feeding centre to ensure that young children at risk in the area receive one meal a day and has developed into a kindergarten.

If you (or any of your family and friends) are able to assist me with this project by donating a couple of scarves I know it would be greatly appreciated as January mornings and evenings can be very chilly in Bonga. Something bright and colourful would also be treasured by the children who have so few possessions. I have found a willing courier (a wonderful lady from Adelaide) who will personally hand deliver the scarves to the children in time for Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) in early January.

Polar fleece scarves are readily available to buy, but are also very easy to make (no sewing required). I have copied a simple pattern below. Polar fleece is available at most fabric stores and polar fleece blankets (that can be cut up) are often available at discount stores.

With love from
Chelsea

P.S - Please note that our involvement in Ethiopian charities is not linked in any way to our adoption of Terefe and is neither expected or required by the Ethiopian people or Ethiopian Authorities.

Kids Polar Fleece Scarf Pattern:

Use a marking pen and a ruler to measure out a rectangle that measures 15cm (6 inches) by 120cm (48 inches), then cut it out using a rotary cutter (or fabric scissors). Cut the fringe of the scarf by making cuts 1-2 centimetres (about half an inch) apart and about 10cm (4 inches) long). If you leave the scarf folded, you can cut both ends at once. Tip: You can mark the height of the fringe lines with low tack masking tape. Cut up to the tape for each strand of the fringe. The tape is easily removed after cutting.

Wrap It Up - Spicy Beef and Bean Burritos

Well, this is the final recipe for my Wrap It Up challenge. According to my Hubby I have saved the best for last - he loves this meal. I think I would have to agree. This meal is so easy and tasty I really love it too. I am  glad it is such an easy and uncomplicated recipe as I am really hanging out for my bed tonight. I love daylight savings, but it does muck me around for a couple of weeks. I just couldn't bring myself to go to bed without finishing this challenge though. :-)

Spicy Beef and Bean Burritos

Ingredients:

8 wraps (use this recipe but use 375g spelt flour, 150g water and 70g oil)
120g tasty cheese cubed
1 batch of chilli con carne from the EDC (see notes)
sour cream and garden salad for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and lightly oil a large rectangle baking dish.

Make wraps and set aside.

Grate cheese for 4 seconds on speed 8 and set aside.

Make the chilli con carne according to the EDC instructions.

Spread the mix onto the centre of the wraps and roll up carefully. Place folded side down into the baking dish. You should be able to fit all eight in (nice and snug).  There will be some mixture left-over.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.

Serve with sour cream and a garden salad. Enjoy!

Notes:

When making chilli con carne I add 2 heaped tsp of smoked sweet paprika (add with the chilli) and half a cup of chopped coriander leaves (add at the end) for extra flavour. Yum!

The left-over mixture is lovely as a base for nachos or served on hot jacket potatoes.  Mmmmmm!

Wrap it Up - Greek Meatball Wraps with Minted Yoghurt

The Wrap It Up Challenge (5 wrap recipes in 5 days) continues!!! Today's recipe (recipe # 4) is lovely for a lunch or light evening meal. I especially love the Taste.com inspired meatballs. They are very tasty and are oven baked which makes them really easy.

Greek Meatball Wraps with Minted Yoghurt

Ingredients:

6 wraps - see this recipe
1 garlic clove - peeled
fresh mint leaves - small handful (for meatballs)
1 egg
80g feta cheese - crumbled
60g fresh breadcrumbs - can make beforehand in TMX
400g lamb mince
dried oregano - sprinkle
extra virgin olive oil spray
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
fresh mint leaves - small handful (for yoghurt)
2 tsp lemon juice
iceberg lettuce shredded
cherry tomatoes - quartered

Method:

Make wraps according to recipe and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line a large tray with baking paper.

Drop garlic and mint leaves on blades spinning at speed 8.

Scrape down sides and add egg and feta. Mix and chop the egg and feta on speed 4 for 10 seconds or until feta is chopped quite finely.

Add the breadcrumbs, mince and oregano and mix on reverse speed 3 for 10 seconds or until well combined. Push the mixture onto the blades with the spatula if necessary.

Shape the mixture into balls (a little smaller than a golf ball) and place onto prepared tray. Spray lightly with olive oil spray and then bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

While the meatballs are cooking prepare the minted yoghurt. I hand chopped the small amount of mint leaves and stirred it and the lemon juice through the yoghurt. You could use the TMX to do this of course.

Lay the wraps out on a flat surface and spread each with a small amount of the yoghurt. Place the lettuce, tomatoes and meatballs (when cooked) down the centre of the wraps and drizzle with yoghurt. Wrap up and enjoy!

Wrap It Up - Apple and Cinnamon Toasties

Tonights contribution to my "Wrap It Up" challenge is possibly my favourite wrap recipe of all time (I am such a terrible sweet tooth)! These apple and cinnamon toasties were inspired by a recipe from taste.com and are very simple and very tasty. They are a lovely snack or light meal at any time of the day.

Apple and Cinnamon Toasties

Makes 6 Toasties

Ingredients:

6 wraps - check out this recipe
3 tbsp cream cheese - room temperature
3 green skinned apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
50g water
1 tsp rapadura or organic raw sugar
2 tbsp sultanas
pinch ground cinnamon

Method:

Make wraps and spread them out on a flat surface to cool.

Place the apples, water and rapadura into TMX bowl and cook for 7 minutes, 100 degrees at reverse speed 1 (adding sultanas and cinnamon in the last minute of cooking).

Preheat sandwich press, George Foreman grill or a fry pan.

Spread the wraps with the cream cheese (half a tbsp roughly on each) and with the slightly cooled apple mixture. Don't spread all the way to the edge.

Fold opposite sides in (the sides and then the top and bottom) to completely enclose the filling in a little parcel.

Cook for several minutes (until golden brown) in a press or grill with the folded side underneath. Turn after 2 minutes if using a fry pan.

Enjoy!

Wrap It Up - Chicken Chimichangas with Avocado Salsa

This is the second recipe in my Wrap it Up challenge (5 wrap recipes in 5 days) - click here to check out the first recipe (Aussie Flatbread Pizza).

I found a recipe for Pork Chimichangas in a copy of Recipe+ (another nice recipe from that mag - amazing I know) and as I'm not overly keen on pork I substituted some chicken breast in. You could of course use pork mince like the original recipe. My hubby and boys loved this Mexican platter meal. I must admit I was pretty impressed too. I love the combination of cumin and smoked paprika - yum. :-)

Chicken Chimichangas

Ingredients:

8 large wraps (see notes below)
120g tasty cheese - cubed
1 medium red onion - peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic - peeled
35g organic olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
1/2 small red capsicum
350g chicken breast or thighs diced (2x2cm)
1 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce
large handful of baby spinach leaves
oil for shallow frying (I like Grape seed oil)
1 medium avocado, peeled and chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
sour cream to serve

Method:

Make wraps and set aside (see note below).

Grate cheese in TMX for 4 seconds on speed 8. Set aside

Chop onion and garlic in TMX for 2 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down sides, add oil and saute for 3 minutes, 100 degrees on reverse speed 1. Add the spices and cook for a further minute at the same temperature.

Add capsicum and chop for 2-3 seconds on speed 5. Add chicken and chilli sauce and cook for 5 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse soft speed. After the cooking has finished add the spinach leaves and stir through with spatula.

While this is cooking chop the avocado and tomato (by hand). Combine with lemon juice and set aside.

Assemble the Chimichangas by laying each wrap out separately and placing a row of grated cheese down the centre (not all the way to each end though as they have to be tucked up). Spread the meat mix on top of each row of cheese being careful not to spoon on the liquid that may have cooked out from the chicken and capsicum. Fold in opposite sides to cover filling and then roll up completely to enclose filling.

Heat oil to a moderate heat in a fry pan and shallow fry the parcels in 2 batches turning once. Placing the parcels folded side down first will help to keep them together. Drain on paper towels.

Serve on a platter or individually with the avocado salsa and sour cream.

Notes:

I followed this wonderful recipe but increased the ingredients to make a larger amount. I used 375g spelt flour, 150g water and 70g organic extra virgin olive oil. This amount made 8 large wraps.

When I make my wraps I always give the TMX bowl a quick wipe with a blob of the dough before proceeding to roll out the wraps. This really helps when it comes to cleaning the bowl.

This is a very mild Mexican dish, but could easily be spiced up by adding a chilli or some chilli flakes in with the onion and garlic.

The chicken may break up a little bit during cooking which is fine and won't be noticeable in the chimichangas.

Wrap It Up - Aussie Flatbread Pizza

Well folks this is the first recipe in my "Wrap it Up" challenge (5 wrap recipes in 5 days). It is inspired by a recipe that I spotted in a Recipe+ mag. It is one of my hubby's favourite lunches and is loved by my kids too.

Aussie Flat Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

4 x 18cm wraps (use this recipe and make them extra large)

100g tasty cheese cubed

1 small onion - peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic
30g organic olive oil
400g can diced organic tomatoes
1 tbsp organic tomato paste
sprinkle dried oregano and basil

225g can pineapple pieces well drained
large handful of baby spinach leaves
4 eggs at room temperature
cracked pepper to taste


Method:

Make the wraps and place them on two oiled oven trays.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Grate the cheese in the TMX for 3 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.

Make the tomato pizza sauce by placing the onion and garlic in the TMX bowl and chopping for 3 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down the sides, add oil and cook for 3 minutes at 100 degrees, reverse soft speed. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and dried herbs and cook for 7 minutes at 100 degrees, speed 2. Remove from bowl and cool.

Spread the cooled pizza sauce over the wraps (freeze any excess). Arrange the pineapple and spinach over the pizzas and sprinkle with cheese. Carefully break an egg on to the middle of each pizza.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the egg is just set. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Filling Tummies During "Wrap It Up Week"

I am very excited to be starting on another challenge for my blog as they really motivate me with my cooking. I have been thinking about the theme for my next challenge for a while and when I was recently given a great chapatti wrap recipe I knew I just had to do a "Wrap It Up" challenge. So here it is:

Wrap It Up Challenge - 5 Versatile Recipes in 5 Days

Here's hoping this week will be a little more sane than last week and I will get a chance to post a recipe each night. Stay tuned for recipe #1. :-)