Since my gall bladder problems started, I’ve been focusing a lot on grain free recipes, but that means I really miss things like cake. Fortunately almond flour is easy to come by – I have a Thermomix, so I make it from whole almonds – and it’s good for gall bladder health too.
There’s a fair bit of sugar in this one. I want to try it with Rapadura, but my husband doesn’t like Rapadura so I don’t want to try it on a cake he has to eat.
I made these in a brownie pan, which I use for a lot of our snacks because they are then cut into squares and the children recognise them as snacktime treats. You can of course use a round pan or anything you fancy.
Also, I pour the drizzle over the hot cake so it will sink in. If you like it to look drizzled, you can wait till the cake is cool.
Flourless Grain-Free Almond Lemon Drizzle
Recipe Type: Desert, Snack
Cuisine: Free From, Gluten Free
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 20
Ingredients
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom/5 cardamom pods
1 1/2 cup (170 g) almonds or almond flour
4 room temperature eggs, separated
1/2 cup (100g) white sugar
1 lemon’s zest
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon white or cider vinegar
Pinch of salt
50g Powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
Thermomix Instructions
If you are using cardamom pods, put them in the Thermomix on reverse/speed 5/ 10 seconds. Remove the husks from the bowl, add the almonds. Speed 8/10 – 20 seconds to make almond flour.
If you have a second bowl, now’s the time to use it. Otherwise pour the flour out and add clean the bowl thoroughly.
Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Add the whites to the Thermomix bowl. Put the butterfly in, and whisk at speed 2 for 15 seconds, then go up to speed 4 and whisk until they start to look firm (around 2 minutes)
Meanwhile, add half the sugar to the egg yolks along with the lemon zest.
Returning to the egg whites, when they form peaks, add a pinch of salt, and the vinegar. This will help the egg whites keep their form. Add the other half of the sugar gradually – over about 20 seconds. This whole egg white process shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes.
Now for some manual work. You could do this in the Thermomix, but I love watching the transformation of the ‘flour’.
Mix the egg yolk mixture into the almond mixture. It’ll be quite pasty and hard to work with.
Add two dollops of the egg white in the mixture, and stir. Then add two more and stir again. As you stir the whole mixture will become amazingly light and fluffy. Keep adding egg white till it’s all mixed in.
Transfer to your baking pan and put in the oven for 35 minutes.
When there are 5 minutes left on the clock, cut your lemon in half and extract all the juice. Add the icing sugar and make a runny paste. When the lemon cake comes out of the oven, pour the sugary juice over it and leave to cool before tipping out the cake.
Regular Instructions
If you are using cardamom pods, crack them open and remove the cardamom seeds. Crush them between two spoons or with a rolling pin (or use the ground cardamom spice!).
Add to the almond flour.
Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they start to look firm.
Returning to the egg whites, when they form peaks, add a pinch of salt, and the vinegar. This will help the egg whites keep their form. Add half of the sugar gradually – over about 20 seconds.
Add the other half of the sugar to the egg yolks along with the lemon zest.
Mix the egg yolk mixture into the almond mixture. It’ll be quite pasty and hard to work with.
Add two dollops of the egg white in the mixture, and stir. Then add two more and stir again. As you stir the whole mixture will become amazingly light and fluffy. Keep adding egg white till it’s all mixed in.
Transfer to your baking pan and put in the oven for 35 minutes.
When there are 5 minutes left on the clock, cut your lemon in half and extract all the juice. Add the icing sugar and make a runny paste. When the lemon cake comes out of the oven, pour the sugary juice over it and leave to cool before tipping out the cake.
These are such lovely crackers. You can vary the flavour to suite your tastes and the dip you’re using. This one as written is exquisite with Wild Garlic Dip.
Keep them in the freezer and use as required, or keep them in an airtight container and use in a day or two. You’ll find them very filling and absolutely delicious and nutritious.
Grain-Free Crackers
Recipe Type: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: Grain Free, Gluten Free
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 30
The beauty of these crackers is that by changing the black onion seed and oregano, you can make pretty much any flavour cracker – olive, rosemary and thyme, or cheese, just to name a few.
Ingredients
(300g) 2 cups almond flour
1 tsp black onion seed, onion powder or other preferred seasoning
1/2tsp oregano
1/2tp sea salt
1 tbs olive oil
1 large egg
1 tsp filter water
Instructions
Thermomix Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C
Put the almonds in the Thermomix Speed 10/ 10 seconds – you want flour, not butter!
Add the black onion seeds, oregano and sea salt, mix Speed 4 / 5 seconds
Add the oil, egg and water, and blend till all mixed (speed 4/ 10 seconds)
Put the dough onto the baking try it’ll go into the oven on.
The dough is quite sticky, so if you can, roll it out between two sheets of baking paper, or flatten by hand.
Cut the flattened dough into squares and place in the oven.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, watching from about 10 minutes till the edges start going brown.
Turn off the oven, and leave the door open, but leave the crackers to crisp up.
Leave them on the tray for another half hour to cool down.
Store in an airtight container. Can also be frozen,
Regular Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C
Add Almond flour, black onion seeds, oregano and sea salt in a bowl, and mix.
Add the oil, egg and water, and stir till well mixed.
Put the dough onto the baking try it’ll go into the oven on.
The dough is quite sticky, so if you can, roll it out between two sheets of baking paper, or flatten by hand.
Cut the flattened dough into squares and place in the oven.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, watching from about 10 minutes till the edges start going brown.
Turn off the oven, and leave the door open, but leave the crackers to crisp up.
Leave them on the tray for another half hour to cool down.
Store in an airtight container. Can also be frozen,
Wild garlic fills my head with romantic images of rolling hills, blue skies and sparkling oceans – probably because of the two places I’ve found it growing in the wild. It’s a beautiful herb or plant or whatever it is. It is pungent, and fills the air with the smell of delicious food, but sweet… it’s hard to explain – a non-offensive garlic. Truly beautiful.
The flower itself is a pretty white, delicate little thing, hard to miss, and it brightens my day whenever I see it. You can eat the leaves as is – they are delicious with deli meats on fresh bread, and you can also add a bit more oil and turn it into a pesto for pasta, or even in omelettesor scones.
I hope you enjoy this beautiful plant as much as I do!
Wild Garlic And Cashew Dip
Recipe Type: Dip
Cuisine: Foraged
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
I love wild garlic. It’s a plant that actually excites me, and I’ve only seen it in the wild in Somerset and on the Isle of Wight. I’m sure it grows in other places – I know it does, since I transplanted some into my back yard! This dip takes less than a minute to prepare once you have your ingredients together. Eat it with crackers, or, ahem… just eat it!
Ingredients
10g Wild Garlic & Flowers
40g Cashew
30g Hard Cheese
20g Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Add the wild garlic, cashew, cheese and olive oil to your food processor.
Blend until it’s the consistency you like. Blitz for 15 – 30 seconds depending on your preferred consistency. (Thermomix: Speed 4/ 20 – 30 Seconds)
It was my daughter’s second birthday today, and following on from a month of absolutely no food-mojo, I didn’t prepare anything healthy for this party at all. There were fruit cups, but they were slathered in cream. Yum, but not healthy, really. Anyway, it’s a party, I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Especially when what I did make was as playful and tasty and fun as Stained Glass Rainbow Jelly.
I can’t take credit for this recipe – I originally found it at Food Librarian – and considering that I haven’t had any success at all with make from scratch gelatin recipes in the past, I was dubious, but it looked perfect for a Messy Play Party, so I had to try.
Here are a few tips you don’t have to learn for yourself:
With the coloured jelly, you can cut them into shapes if you’ve made them into thin enough layers. I made some flowers, and it worked well. I threw the ‘unused’ bits of the jelly into the mix anyway, since the shapes are all haphazard, it doesn’t matter.
When you layer them, however, don’t layer the shapes – i.e. the flowers – horizontally, as when you cut it, you cant see the shapes. You need to place the shapes in your dish vertically so you can see them when they are cut.
If you make these two days ahead, and store in a sealed container, they are still good. I was worried making them on Saturday that by Monday they would be rubbery, but they were delicious. It takes pressure off doing them the day before and being worried they won’t set in time.
A fun party food, easy to make, but with great impact. Everyone loves them!
Ingredients
4 packets jelly
1 can condensed milk
2 packets gelatin
Instructions
In four separate shallow containers, make the four jellies. IGNORE THE PACKAGE INSTRUCTIONS. Just mix each packet with one cup of boiling water. Once the jelly is dissolved, pop it in the fridge for at least four hours.
Once the jelly is set, gently remove it from the shallow containers, and cut into squares or shapes.
Next, pour 1/2 cup of cold water into a bowl.
Add the two packets of gelatin and leave it to ‘bloom’ (absorb the water and swell up).
Add 1.5 cups boiling water, mixing till the gelatin is dissolved.
Add the can of condensed milk, mix it all together.
Leave the condensed milk mix to cool a bit. If you pop the jelly in straight away, it my melt.
Once it’s cooled down (about 10 minutes) add the jelly squares and return it all to the freezer.
Leave for 4 – 6 hours, or over night. Loosen the sides with a butter knife, and tip out.
A few weeks ago I answered a call for bloggers who wanted to participate in a competition – create a recipe that is based on the Flavour Forecast trends.
I thought it was a great idea, until the brief arrived and I realised that there was not one of the five categories we could choose from that was in my comfort zone! Nothing like an opportunity for growth, eh?
So, the UK’s leading herbs and spices brand McCormick is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and have shared with us their Flavour Forecast – a new, annual prediction of what ‘flavours’ will be most popular in the cooking world. In 2014, global flavour leader McCormick, parent company of leading herbs and spices brand Schwartz, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration kicks off with the launch of the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Flavour Forecast and the Flavour of Together programme, with the goal of connecting people around the world as they share 1.25 million stories about the special role food and flavour plays in our lives through. Here are their five predictions for this year:
1. Chillies Obsession: Food lovers everywhere are seeking out their next big chilli thrill.
2. Modern Masala: Indian food is finally having its moment, breaking free of its traditional confines with modern interpretations.
3. Clever Compact Cooking: Proving that big flavours can come from small spaces, cooks in urban kitchens are making the most of what’s available.
4. Mexican World Tour: Mexican flavours are making their way around the globe, with people everywhere discovering new aspects of this bright, casual cuisine.
5. Charmed by Brazil: The world’s attraction to Brazilian cuisine is heating up, thanks to its seductive mix of global and native influences.
Now, as a family, we don’t really eat spicy food or beans, so that cuts out 1 and 4, and we’re not huge on curries either, so there goes number 2. I am a proud Thermomix Owner, so 3 is easy, but probably not what they were after – which leaves 5. Charmed by Brazil. I have one Brazilian friend, Yuri from Urbanvox, and I turned to him for advice.
He told me about Coxinha – a Brazilian street food, normally served as a street food and on the go. It’s essentially a chicken salad, fried. I decided to add some Brazilian sauces to the mix and create a dish that combines the street food classic, with what I’d imagine ordering in a pub lunch. The results were delicious. Here they are:
Regular readers will know that I love creating food from scratch. Of course, I could go and buy some mayonnaise and add garlic to it, but I love watching oil turn into rich, white, fluffy, additive free mayo. And I love the flavour too. The same goes for all the elements of this recipe.
The ingredient list on this dish looks really long, but if you have a supply of herbs and spices in the cupboard, you’re half way there. There will also be sauces left over, that can be used in other dishes later: think Vinaigrette omelet, hot sauce on anything, and mayo on… almost anything too. Extras won’t go to waste.
Then there’s the incredibly gorgeous hot sauce.The beauty of this sauce is that you can make it as hot or not as you like. We didn’t want it very spicy, so used just a few chilli seeds. We’re wooses like that. You can use different alcohols in this, but that will affect the flavour.
But in the end, you end up with a very delicious ‘juice’ sauce, that even as a non-chilli lover, I enjoyed. I think a sauce should be thicker, but this has a different consistency and provides a variant on the plate.
The next sauce was a Brazilian Vinaigrette – a super easy sauce that is a brilliant addition to this meal. It’s not sauce like we might think of, but more like a salsa, and delicious.
Just looking at this picture makes my mouth water. I might chop it all a bit finer next time, just to make it a little more ‘saucy’, but flavour wise, my husband thought it was the highlight of the meal.
Finally, some Garlic Mayonnaise – a classic with fried goods anywhere, it seems, and so very easy to make at home. I’ve been making it for years, even before I bought a Thermomix!
I just love watching oil turn into mayonnaise, and there’s no bought version like it.
Brazilian Coxinha And Three Dipping Sauces
Recipe Type: Main,
Cuisine: Brazilian, Street Food
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8 – 12
Ingredients
Coxinha Ingredients
600g chicken breasts
5 cups of chicken broth/stock
1 carrot
2 onions, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup cream cheese
3 cups of flour
2 teaspoons oil
2 eggs
3 cups of very fine bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste
Brazilian Vinaigrette Ingredients
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1/2 onion
4 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Brazilian (Almost)Hot Sauce Ingredients
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup cachaça (or other liqueur)
2 cloves
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
sprig fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
1 – 3 small hot chilli peppers,
Garlic Mayonnaise Ingredients
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or garlic powder or granules
1 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
315 ml vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
Instructions
In a food processor, blend bread and set aside 3 cups for later. Excess breadcrumbs freeze well.
Place the chicken breasts in a large pot – we use a wok.
Cover them with the chicken broth or stock, adding water if necessary to make sure the chicken breasts are covered by the liquid.
Add the carrot and one of the onions as well as the bay leaves.
Bring liquid to a gentle simmer, and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Set chicken aside to cool, and strain the broth, which you’ll use later. Set it aside to cool.
While the chicken is cooling, start on the Vinaigrette.
Roughly chop the peppers, onion (set aside three teaspoons of onion for later) and tomatoes, and add the white wine vinegar and olive oil. Mix well and set aside.
Return to the chicken – finely chop the second onion and garlic. Sauté the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter.
Shred the chicken into very small pieces – I use my Thermomix for this, a food processor will do.
Stir cream cheese and lime juice into the shredded chicken, and add the hot onions and garlic to the chicken mixture.
Measure 3 cups chicken broth. If you have less than three cups, add more stock to bring it to three cups.
Add 3 cups flour, oil, salt and pepper and stir together until smooth.
This next step is really important – without it you have a very wet dough… trust me: Set the saucepan over medium flame and cook, stirring constantly, until the batter forms a smooth mass and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Chill the chicken and dough for at least an hour.(At this point you could leave it for another day too.)
Move on to the (almost) hot sauce
Put the white wine vinegar, water, cachaça, cloves, coriander seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf, oregano and basil and salt in a large pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it boil for two minutes. Remove from heat, cover the pan and reserve.
In another pan, heat the olive oil, and gently fry the garlic and onion, without letting it burn. Add the chilli peppers as you’re using them. Add the vinegar mix pouring through a sieve to remove the herbs and spices.
Cover the pan and cook over low heat until the chillis are soft and tender. Remove from heat and reserve.
And make the Garlic Mayonnaise – mash the garlic, or use powder.
Combine the salt and egg yolks in a food processor until well combined. You can use a whisk too. Add the lemon juice and mustard.
Keep the food processor running, and very slowly add the oil, a few drops at a time initially and as the mixture becomes a thick mayonnaise, you can add it a bit faster. Cover and set aside.
By now the chicken should be cool enough for the final phase.
Flour your hands well, and break off a golf-ball sized piece of dough. Flatten it in your hand, into a rough round.
Place a tablespoon of the filling into the middle of the dough and wrap the sides up to encase the filling. Shape the dough into a drumstick shape if you can, but I found it easier to do during the next step. (My Brazilian friend later told me to brush some milk around the edges to make it seal.)
Take a coxinha and dip it in the beaten egg and let the excess drip off. Then roll it in the breadcrumbs and set it on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining coxinhas. Refrigerate for an hour.
Meanwhile, finish off the hot sauce.
Pour the reserved hot sauce liquid into a food processor or a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Remove the cover and let the sauce rest.
Deep fry the coxinhas in batches at 365°F/180C until golden brown, make sure to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn, 3 to 4 minutes.
Serve hot with the three dipping sauces.
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Schwartz is looking for your own flavour stories. The company has pledged to donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it’s UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels.
I was sent a £50 grocery voucher, and a hamper of Shwartz herbs and spices to participate in this competition.
A few weeks ago I made a spur of the moment decision to enter a competition in my local blogging network. The competition requires us to come up with a recipe in one of five categories, featuring Schwartz spices and blog them.
Well, I didn’t read the fine print, and as it turns out, not one of the five categories falls into a strong area for me: I don’t like beans, so don’t eat a lot of Mexican or Brazilian food, I don’t really drink tea, am not a big curry eater and for compact spaces problem of modern living? Well, I use a Thermomix!
As a result I’ve had to dig deep and learn about a few spices and flavours that are completely new to me. So over the next few weeks, you’ll see a little something different from me.
I’m a huge coffee drinker, and not much into tea at all, but I do have a fair supply of Redbush tea – Rooibos, as we call it – in the cupboard, because it’s good for a number of things, including colic in babies, so the children have it too.
I have had chai in the past, but always bought, so when I looked at some of the spices I was sent, I thought I’d try a spiced tea, using some flavours I do love – cardamom, cinnamon and ginger. I added nutmeg and cloves, two more beautiful spices when used correctly, and hey presto! Beautiful aromatic, sweet chai that even my children enjoyed.
I hope you enjoy our foray into incorporating more spices into our cooking!
*This is not my official entry… that’s coming!
Spiced Redbush Chai Tea
Recipe Type: Drinks
Cuisine: Asian, South African
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 cups
You can use any teabags, but I use Redbush for it’s healing properties, and the lack of caffeine or tannins, which I don’t enjoy. You can use whole spices or ground. You can also make up a larger amount, and keep them for making a cup or two of Chai Tea at a time. Keep them in an airtight container so they don’t lose flavour though!
Ingredients
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Up to 170g honey (1/2 cup)
500g boiling water (2 cups)
500g cups milk (2 cups)
2 Redbush tea bags (or your favourite)
Instructions
Place the cardamom in the Thermomix bowl reverse speed 8/3 seconds. Remove the shells.
Add the rest of the spices in the Thermomix bowl and whizz on speed 10/4 seconds
Add honey, water and milk, and boil on reverse speed 2/2mins/Varoma
Add tea bags boil for 5 minutes 100C/reverse speed 2.
Pour through a sieve or into a caffetier and serve.
Without a Thermomix
Place the spices in a pot, add the honey, water and milk. Bring to the boil, add the teabags and simmer for 5 minutes.
**If you don’t have a Thermomix, you can mix the ingredients in an ordinary bowl and knead the dough for about 10 minutes till it is pliable and smooth**
I can’t actually recall that I’ve ever eaten wontons before, but I liked the look of them when my children and I were doing craft activities for Chinese New Year, so thought I’d give them a try. I found a recipe in an old book, so had to convert it for the Thermomix, and have been really happy with the end result.
It is my understanding that wontons can be either steamed or fried. Obviouly steaming it in the Veroma is going to be healthier than deep frying, so we went for that option.
For fillings – the options are as vast as your preferences. Our first attempt was with a minced beef (a few seconds, roughly, in the Thermie), tomato and coriander. The second attempt was with cooked ham, garlic and kale. Both were lovely.
If you’re planning on making a lot of wrappers but only using a few, I’d suggest laying them in a single layer on a baking tray, and freezing them like that. Once frozen, put them together in a container. If you don’t they’ll freeze as a solid lump!
These are really quick and oh-so-easy, although rolling the dough thinly enough might require some practice, or a pasta maker.
Thermomix Wontons For Chinese New YearI
Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 20 wontons
Here’s a great idea for Chinese New Year. It’s really easy, and depending on your skill with a rolling pin or pasta maker, quick too.
Ingredients
250g / 2 cups flour
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
milk for brushing
Instructions
Add the flour to the bowl, and pulse two or three times
Add egg, salt and water
Mix for 5 seconds/speed 5
Knead for 90 seconds/dough speed
Set aside for 30 – 60 minutes for the dough to rest.
Follow manufacturer instructions for the pasta maker to make the dough as thin as you can. Otherwise roll it as thinly as possible, before cutting into squares.
If you’re not going to cook immediately, use corn flour to separate the sheets (normal flour will be absorbed)
Lightly brush the edges with milk or egg
Scoop a spoon full of filling into the centre of your square, then take opposing corners and bring them together.
Squeeze the corners together to seal, then twirl them around.
Place them inside the Veroma
Fill the Thermomix Bowl to the 1 litre mark, place Veroma on top and boil at Veroma speed/20 mins.
I really love this Peppermint Salt Scrub for being both refreshing and having only a few ingredients, all of which you can find in your kitchen, and with names you can pronounce, like… salt… and oil. Now, if you have a sensitive skin you may want to test a patch of this Peppermint Salt Scrub first, as it can dry the skin out a little (although the oil should balance that out for normal skins). You should use it as a body scrub, but salt crystal are probably a bit harsh on the face.
A salt scrub is deliciously soothing, and will leave your skin titillating and radiant looking.
Sweet Almond oil has calming and anti-inflammatory has calming and anti-inflammatory properties, it moisturises, restores and softens skin.
Peppermint essential oil is used to relieve skin irritation and itchiness and also helps to reduce skin redness, where inflammation is present. It is used for dermatitis, acne, ringworm, scabies and also relieves itching, sunburn and inflammation of the skin, while at the same time having a cooling action. Peppermint oil should be used sparingly in pregnancy, when breastfeeding or on children under 7.
I was making this for Christmas, so wanted to make a candy cane effect you often see in DIY products on Pinterest, but I didn’t see the point in using organic salt, peppermint essential oil and an organic sweet almond oil, and then add a red food colouring… so I used dehydrated beetroot instead. This is non-essential. You can leave it white. Or you can make it all coloured, nice and pink for Valentine’s day would be good.
Peppermint Salt Scrub
Recipe Type: Beauty
Cuisine: Non-Food
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 cup
A quick and easy DIY beauty product, a very simple gift, and a lovely way to pamper without the chemicals or great expense
Ingredients
1 cup organic rock salt (not fine salt and definitely not table salt)
1 cup sweet almond oil
6 drops peppermint essential oil
Optional dried beetroot powder to colour
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to a bowl.
Mix
(If you are doing layers, halve the mix, add the beetroot and mix again. Dish tablespoonsfull into the container, alternating white and pink/red)
Scoop into a clean glass container.
In the Thermomix:
Put everything in the bowl
Speed 2/Reverse/ 30 seconds
(If you are doing layers, halve the mix, add the beetroot and mix again. Dish tablespoonsfull into the container, alternating white and pink/red)
I’m a bit of a boycotter – of companies whose ethics are beyond reprehensible – and as a result I had to give up not one, but two of my favourite brands of yoghurt. I had to learn to make my own though, because once the nicest were no longer an option, it seemed all that was left was the very sugary, the 0% fat, or the artificially sweetened, none of which were ideal to share with my children. (With the exception of Yeo Valley, which I will still buy when I’m buying, because they’re more or less local, I’ve seen their cows with my own two eyes, and they’re actually yum and good for you at the same time. I didn’t know about them when I started making yoghurt, however.)
So the recipe I’m sharing with you now is just for the fruity component of my own fruit bottom yoghurt. For the yoghurt recipe, have a look at yesterday’s post.
Fruit Bottom Yoghurt
Recipe Type: Breakfast, Snack
Author: Luschka
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 100ml
In this recipe I’m using a mix of summer fruits. You can use any berries, or any fruit. You can also use fresh fruit, but you may need to add a few teaspoons of water when you start cooking. There’s little wrong or right, really. This makes about 80 – 100 ml, which should go well with about 500ml yoghurt.
Ingredients
100g frozen fruit
1 teaspoon brown sugar or rapadura
1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
In the Thermomix:
Add all the ingredients to the Thermomix bowl.
Cook at 70C/Speed Spoon/ 10 mins
Check that fruit is soft and pour into sieve. Drain off the fluid and pick out some of the whole fruit, avoiding as many seeds as you can. Discard seeds and pulp (or save for fruit leather)
Pour into container and top with yoghurt.
Seal and keep in fridge for 2 – 3 days
On a stovetop:
Add all the ingredients to the stove and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. You don’t want the sugar to burn.
When fruit is soft, and some liquid has formed, remove from heat,
Pour into sieve. Drain off the fluid and pick out some of the whole fruit, avoiding as many seeds as you can. Discard seeds and pulp (or save for fruit leather)
Pour into container and top with yoghurt.
Seal and keep in fridge for 2 – 3 days
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I tend to remove the seeds as far as possible as they get stuck in the yoghurt pouches we use, or worse in my teeth. Quarter fill your yoghurt container with the compote, and top the rest with yoghurt.
Mix it all together before serving, topped with muesli or on it’s own. Yummy, no additive, no preservative, no colouring, no fake sugars. Just good for you, and only cost about 55p to make.
There’s a pretty varied number of ideas, recipes and versions of yoghurt (yogurt in the US) available on t’internet, which can sometimes be really both intimidating and off-putting. I’ve tried a number, and have finally found one I return to again and again. You can find this on the Thermomix Forums too, but read on for more information and options. (See the bottom of this post for non-Thermomix recipes)
This is a thick Greek-style yoghurt. I like to whizz up some frozen fruit and mix it with the yoghurt to make the fruity flavoured breakfast favourite that I’d otherwise be spending a fortune on.
When I was in Australia, I found 60 minutes made a good yoghurt. Now I find it makes it a bit grainy and find 50 minutes is perfectly sufficient. I’m not sure if there’s a difference in the milk or if it’s moisture in the air, or what, but try different timings and see what you prefer.
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1000g full cream milk – low fat milk will result in a runnier yoghurt
50g Greek Yoghurt/from previous batch
Instructions
Add the milk to a clean Thermomix bowl
Cook the milk for 50 – 60 mins/90/speed 2.
After 60 minutes, remove the lid and let the milk cool to 37C. This can take 30 – 60 minutes depending on the temperature in the room.
When it’s 37C, add 50g natural yoghurt
Mix 4 seconds/speed 4.
Cook for 10 minutes / 37C/speed 2.
How you now go about preparing your yoghurt depends on your equipment. I use an Easiyo, so fill the cylinder to the red mark with boiling water. (I normally do this before the final 10 minute cook above, leaving it to cool a little, then when the 10 minute cook is done, the water is a good temperature). Fill the pot with the milk and leave over night.
Alternatively you could just use a decent Thermos-style insulated flask, leave the yoghurt overnight, and that should work the same way.
The important thing is not to move the yoghurt while it’s doing it’s thing. Just pop it in a corner, and leave it for 12 – 24 hours.
3.2.2925
I use this Easiyo Yoghurt Maker. I suppose I use it because I have it, but it’s easy enough to make yoghurt without it. That said, I like it. I’ve never had a failure using this, either with the Easiyo starter or just with my own yoghurt. The good thing is people buy these, try them out, then sell them. eBay is full of 99p offerings. I got mine free on Freecycle. It’s very simple to use.
Once the yoghurt is made, I transfer it into Fill n Squeeze pouches, ready for my children to enjoy. The yoghurt freezes really well, so I can take a pouch out of the freezer every evening, ready at my daughter’s table for her to have in the morning. We also use it for daytrips and so on, so I get less requests for ice cream! The reuseable pouches save a fortune, and I’m just thrilled not to buy my girls sugar-and-sweetener-filled yoghurt ‘treats’.
We also use these ice lolly moulds for making frozen yoghurt ‘ice-cream’. Literally, frozen yoghurt, sometimes with fruit. My baby especially loves these and would have them for every meal. There are so many shapes, forms and moulds on the market, but these are a perfect child size – about two or three tablespoons full – so there’s little to no wastage. Each ‘ice cream’ comes apart so you only have to take out one at a time. They’re pricey, except when they’re on sale, and the little connectors snap sometimes when frozen, but they are the best we’ve found for our purposes so far.
Here are some of our favourite toppings for plain yoghurt:
Nuts and honey
Muesli
Raisins and grated apple
Pureed apple and cinnamon
1/2 a pureed banana and 1/2 banana slices
Pureed berries
Vanilla pods or essence (buy the proper stuff though, not artificial flavouring)
Crushed pineapple and coconut
Chopped and dried mixed fruit
Sliced or pureed banana
Chocolate buttons or chips with a squirt of chocolate ice cream sauce or melted chocolate (for a treat)
Lemon zest (lemon juice might curdle your yoghurt)
Nuts, raisins, honey and chopped mint
but of course, there’s a world of other options to explore.
If we find ourselves with excess yoghurt, I love making cream cheese from it. While I’ve never had a problem with bought cream cheese, the home made stuff is amazing. Well worth making!
And if you’re making your own cream cheese, you’ll find you have plenty of whey left over. Don’t discard it! There’s a lot you can do with left over whey.
Don’t have a Thermomix? Try these recipes instead:
Since my gall bladder problems started, I’ve been focusing a lot on grain free recipes, but that means I really miss things like cake. Fortunately almond flour is easy to come by – I have a Thermomix, so I make it from whole almonds – and it’s good for gall bladder health too.
There’s a pretty varied number of ideas, recipes and versions of yoghurt (yogurt in the US) available on t’internet, which can sometimes be really both intimidating and off-putting. I’ve tried a number, and have finally found one I return to again and again. You can find this on the Thermomix Forums too, but read on for more information and options. (See the bottom of this post for non-Thermomix recipes)
