almond milk: homemade

I don’t eat much dairy these days. I find that if I divert too far from goat milk cheese and natural yoghurt I feel worse off. Yellow cheese rarely makes an appearance on my menu. To add to my fussiness, soy milk is expensive and it tends to curdle in my coffee. So with the help of my fan-dangled new kitchen tool (a thermomix), I decided to make my own milk – almond milk – and it was surprisingly quick and easy.

1 cup almonds (I used blanched but you can use raw almonds).
About 3 cups of water to soak almonds overnight (this will make them easier to blend).
In the morning, drain the almonds and place in the thermomix (or equivalent quality blender) with about 700ml clean water.
Blend almonds (gradually move from speed 6 to speed 9 for 40 sec) to achieve a fine grind of the almonds.
Place a nut milk bag* into a jug or line a sieve with muslin and pour the almond milk through the bag/muslin.
With clean hands, squeeze the milk out of the muslin into the jug.
You’ll be left with a jug of almond milk and a bag of almond pulp/meal.

Your homemade milk will last 3 -4 days in the fridge. Shake before use.
Adjusting the water content down will make a creamier milk.
Uses for almond pulp/meal to follow.
*nut milk bags are available from some health food shops and online.

corn waffles

We all know about corn fritters, but how about corn waffles? Not bad, if I do say so myself!

1 cup self raising flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup creamed corn
2 eggs, seperated
½ cup milk
butter to brush iron
Chives and grated cheese to serve as pictured

In one bowl, whisk the egg whites until fluffy and forming peaks.
In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks, milk and creamed corn.
Then add the flour and salt, mix well to form a batter.
Fold the egg whites into the batter.
Brush the waffle iron with butter and spoon about ⅓ cup of batter into the iron, in about 2 mins remove and repeat with remaining batter.
Keep waffles warm in a low oven until serving.

more topping ideas:
Crispy bacon and a poached egg, roasted tomatoes and rocket, tomato salsa and avocado, smoked salmon and dill yoghurt.

homemade toasted muesli

I don’t like a sweet muesli, I’d rather add fresh fruit than include dried. So here’s a very simple and healthy toasted muesli recipe that you can use as is, or jazz up with your favourite flavours. This will make a big batch of toasted muesli. Keep it in an airtight container for up to a month (some say 2 months but ours is eaten before that).

1 kg rolled or quick oats
500 g shredded coconut
500 g almonds (I like to use a combination of slivered and whole)
200 g sunflower seeds

Set the oven to 170c
Divide the above over 2 deep baking dishes and give it a mix.
Bake for 15 mins then stir (you’ll notice that the stuff on top and edges is going golden but the bottom isn’t, so mix it up every few mins as outlined)
Bake for 10 mins then stir.
Bake for 5 mins then stir.
Bake for 5 mins more, stir… essentially I’m saying, keep an eye on it. Once it starts toasting it seems to brown quickly.
Remove from the oven. At this point it should all be a light golden brown.
Leave it to cool completely before you put it in an airtight container.

I like my toasted muesli with plain yoghurt and fresh or stewed fruit.

Optional additions: pepitas/pumpkin seeds, nuts (walnut, macadamia, hazelnut, brazil), dried fruits (apricot, sultana, papaya, apple), bran, honey (if you use honey I believe you need to add some oil as a carrying agent… I just add honey in the bowl).

potato waffles

This is another of my Oma inspired recipes. I’ve had to recreate it based on how I think she would have made her potato waffles. I think this comes pretty close, with a little bit of my style mixed in.

1 large potato, peeled, grated finely
¼ onion, grated finely
2 small eggs, separated
⅓ cup milk
½ cup self raising flour
pinch salt
butter to brush

toppers:
smoked salmon
2 tbsp cream cheese, softened and 4 tbsp greek yoghurt, combined
capers and/or chives (chive flowers pictured)
a poached egg (optional)

Grate the potato and onion on the finer side of the grater.
Squeeze out the excess liquid from potato.
Combine the grated potato, onion, egg yolk and milk in a bowl.
Add salt and four and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the whites to fluffy peaks.
Fold the whites into the batter.
Now you’re ready to cook in batches in a hot waffle iron brushed with butter.

This made 4 waffles.

waffles: brunch with my oma

My waffle iron is so old that it proclaims it was “Made in West Germany”. But not to be hindered by age, on the (rare) occasion that I bring out this heirloom, it does no less than produce some spectacular waffles. Although I’m generally against single function appliances, it’s true, I’m highly sentimental about this one. Since it was handed down, I’ve carried it from place to place. I thoroughly clean it after each use and tenderly put it back in the cupboard. It never lets me down. (*Oma is German for grandma/nan)

waffle batter:
1 ¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup self raising flour
¼ cup caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 ½ cup milk
60 g butter, melted
2 tbsp cold water
extra butter to brush the iron

sides:
Berry compote – frozen raspberries, frozen blueberries, a tsp of caster sugar and a few fresh strawberries. Microwave for a minute, stir and repeat to produce a saucy berry mix.
Greek yoghurt
Lime (because I serve lime with everything I can)
Maple syrup

Sift flours and sugar into a large bowl.
Make a well in the middle and gradually combine the egg yolks and milk.
Add butter and water, beat the batter until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until firm white peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the batter.
Brush the waffle iron with butter and spoon about ⅓ cup of batter into the iron, in about 2 mins remove and repeat with remaining batter.
Keep waffles warm in a low oven until serving.

banana coconut pancakes: the weekend breakfast

1 ½ cups self-raising flour
1 tbs brown sugar
¾ cup coconut milk
¾ cup milk
2 eggs
2 over ripe bananas, peeled, chopped
butter, melted, to grease

coconut caramel sauce:
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs water
⅓ cup light coconut milk

Combine the sugar, water and coconut milk in a glass microwave jug. Blitz for 30 seconds, stir, and blitz again, stir, or until sugar dissolves. CAUTION, caramel is hot!

sides:
lime wedges
dessicated coconut
banana, sliced
strawberries and blueberries

Foreword: I hate sifting, grating and using more bowls than I need to so rather than sift the flour, you can actually put the flour and the sugar in the bowl and use your whisk or beater on lowest speed to aerate the flour. Then its just a matter of whisking in the wet ingredients until smooth.

Make the pancake batter by ‘sifting’ the flour into a large bowl.
Whisk together the coconut milk, milk, egg and sugar in a jug (or just throw them all in and whisk a bit more ferociously).
Whisk until batter is smooth and combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to rest – your arm? (while you make the sauce and coffee!). Then mix through the bananas.

Preheat oven to 100c and put a heat-proof plate in to keep your pancakes warm on as you make them.
Brush a large non-stick frying pan with melted butter and heat to medium-high.
Pour ~ ¼ cup quantities of pancake batter into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on top. I use a big pan and make 4 small pancakes at a time.
Carefully turn pancakes and cook for a further 1 minute or until golden brown and cooked through.
Transfer pancakes to the plate in the oven. Repeat with the remaining batter, brush the pan with butter between batches. (I’ve learnt the hard way that a lot of pastry brushes have faux hair bristles and a silicon brush is best for this job. No one wants a hairy pancake)

Put on some weekend music and enjoy!

 

date and banana pudding loaf cake

I originally got this is a recipe from my dear friend, modernwomansociety.wordpress.com, but I have added bananas as inspired by frugalfeeding.wordpress.com, the result was something much closer to a caramel [vegan] pudding than a loaf or cake – totally delicious!

¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tablespoon margarine (or melted butter if you prefer)
1 pinch salt
1 cup boiling water
1 ¾ cups self raising flour
3 small overripe bananas (optional – if you leave them out, you’ll have a vegan date loaf, bake time is 30 mins)

Preheat oven to 180c
Combine sugar, dates, bicarb, margarine and salt in a bowl.
Then pour 1 cup boiling water over the above, stir and leave to cool. The mixture will become lighter and foamy.
Add flour and bananas then mix until combined and similar to a batter consistency.
Pour into a greased (I used light olive oil spray) and lined loaf tin and bake for 40 mins* in a moderate oven until a skewer comes out clean-ish (the banana will make it like a pudding so don’t over cook it).

* During baking I thought individual puddings would be great, perhaps pour the batter into patty-cases in a muffin tin and reduce the bake time. I haven’t tried this yet myself so I’ll add a cook time retrospectively – unless someone else tries first and lets us all know?!

Serve it warm with honey, ice cream, cream and/or yoghurt – whatever grabs you. Or just a dab of butter is great too.