Star:
1. any heavenly body.
2. a person's destiny, temperament, etc.
www.dictionary.com

Whether you’re reading this because you’re gluten intolerant, suffer from PVFS or CFS, are starting to grow your own veggies, embracing natural and/or alternative remedies, or just want to enjoy the journey with us, please remember I’m not a medical expert, nor am I here to debate global warming. Being diagnosed with a life-changing illness, looking for answers or changing the way one lives can all be overwhelming events, so I hope that by sharing the triumphs and tragedies, you too will benefit in some way from our journey.

I hope you enjoy the journey and if you leave this blog having learnt only one new recipe or started to think about finding your star, then this blog’s purpose has been served.

My two favourite sayings:
Pondering the choices we make at the crossroads is like revision in the school of life. Regretting the mistakes or taking for granted the successes means we have learnt nought.
An attentive student will gain wisdom from the mistakes and joy from the successes. Cartillyer – 2008

'Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.' Mohandas Gandhi

Recipes


All recipes posted here have been a success in my kitchen.  I will not post any recipes without first trying them myself.

You will also find a link at the end of each recipe that will allow you to download and print a pdf version.


My latest Gluten-free recipe is …

Cherry & White Choc Coconut Muffins


Roasted Spicy Asian Sweet Potatoes

The original recipe serves 10. I made this for 3 adults and 3 children, aged 6 and under, so I reduced the recipe. The measurements I used are in [brackets] after the ingredient.

Serves: 10 [Serves: 4]

Prep time: 45 mins  Cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

6 sweet potatoes 
(peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks)   [2]

1 cup unsalted butter 
(melted) [1/3 cup]

2/3 cup light brown sugar 
(firmly packed) [1/4 cup]

2 tbsps fresh lemon juice [2–3 tsps]

2 tsps chinese five spice powder [a heaped 1/2 tsp]

1/2 tsps ground ginger [just under 1/4 tsp]


Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 375 ° F (190°C).
2.  Coat a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with nonstick
     cooking spray.
3.   Add potatoes to the prepared dish.
4.   Stir together the remaining ingredients in a bowl
     until well blended.
5.  Pour the butter mixture over the potatoes and turn
     to coat evenly.
6.  Bake until tender when pierced with a fork (45–55
     minutes).
7.  Remove from oven and serve hot or at room
     temperature.


Notes:
After step 5, you can cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before cooking.

Instead of avoiding the pieces that have black edges, you will probably find yourself preferring these, as they are even sweeter and crunchier!

You can print a pdf version of this recipe here.
  
Source 




Coconut Choc-chip Cookies

Makes approximately 24 cookies

Ingredients
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut flour, sifted
1½ cups grated or flaked coconut
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Mix together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.
2. Stir in coconut, chocolate chips and coconut flour.
3. Drop batter in spoon-sized mounds 1 inch apart on baking paper.
4. Bake at 180 Degree C (350F) for 14 to 15 minutes.
5. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet.

Notes
I’ve found coconut flour cakes and cookies can burn quite quickly once cooked, so keep an eye on them as they near the 14 minute mark.

If you don’t flatten out the spoonfuls of batter, they will look more like rock cakes, as the batter doesn’t spread out like normal flour batter often does.

If the cookies are made too big or flattened out too thin, they will crumble, so I recommend that you drop your spoonfuls of batter on the baking paper and leave them looking like rock cakes.

Variations
Replace the chocolate chips with diced dried apricots. Just as popular with the kids and slightly healthier.

You can print a pdf version of this recipe here.




Easy Coconut Macaroons
Makes approximately 16

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)

3 large egg whites

1 ½ cups pure icing sugar

1 ½ cups flaked coconut (or more as needed)

Directions
1.  Get eggs out of the fridge a couple of hours before starting so they can warm up to room temperature.
2.   Line baking trays with greased baking paper.  
3.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4.  Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix through the flaked coconut.
5.   Place the essence and egg whites in another bowl (medium to large size). Starting on low speed, beat the egg whites until they begin to foam. As the foam continues to build, increase the speed to medium and then high. Beat until the foam forms stiff, glossy peaks. 
6.   With a spatula, fold in the icing sugar and coconut until just combined.
7.   Spoon the batter onto the baking trays in rounded mounds. The batter should be of a consistency that a spoonful will stand as a mound 3/4-inch high on the pan.
8.  Bake for 15 minutes for small to medium-sized cookies, 18 minutes for larger cookies, or until the cookies are a light brown color. 

9.   Immediately remove the cookies with a thin metal spatula by slipping the edge of the spatula under the edge of the cookie and sawing back and forth. Cool on wire racks.

Notes
Why room temperature eggs? Room temperature eggs help your recipe to rise better, so if you’re making meringues, sponge cake or anything else that you want to be lighter, fluffier, and/or rise better get them out now. Or you can put them in a bowl of warm water to bring them up to room temperature faster.
You can print a pdf version of this recipe here.


2 comments:

  1. I've tried this one, very yummy, you can use maple syrup instead of sugar for the different flavour.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Does maple syrup make it less sweet or just a different kind of sweet?

    ReplyDelete

Your comment will appear on the blog as soon as it has been approved.
Thank you.