Apple and Carrot Loaf

Good Afternoon! How are you all? I am really well although I have been a little bit quiet here in the COTC world of blogging – like everyone, this time of the year is full on and something had to give,  so for a few weeks it has been my blogs…..however, I have so much to catch you up on, including our weekend away in Sydney without the 4 kids, my twins 3rd birthday, Christmas and a few recipes I have created the past few weeks ….today I am happy to share with you a beautiful recipe I tweaked from a favourite recipe by The gorgeous Gina Rose from Nourished Naturally by Gina Rose.

On top of my family being additive free and refined sugar free my Miss 9 is gluten free and grain free at the moment – she misses bread terribly but she only has to be gluten and grain free for another 6 months or so, so it’s really not that bad. I was so excited when Gina told me about her Pumpkin Bread Recipe and it has become a favourite that I know we will continue making even when Miss 9 is allowed to eat everything again!

As I love juices and have them regularly I thought I would give this recipe a go – with a few personal touches – with the leftover apple and carrot pulp that I had. Here is my recipe….I hope you love it….

Apple and Carrot loaf

1 cup of apple and carrot pulp (leftover from your juice)
2 eggs
2 tblspns honey
1/4 cup macadamia oil or sunflower oil
1 tspn cinnamon
1 tspn nutmeg
1/2 tspn bicarb soda + 2 tspns lemon juice
2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup walnuts – roughly chopped

Preheat your oven to 170 C and line a loaf tin with baking paper. 

Combine all the ingredients except for the walnuts into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. 

Pour mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle evenly with the walnuts. 

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cover with foil then bake for a further 10-20 minutes (until thoroughly cooked and skewer is clean).

Allow to cool slightly before slicing and enjoying! 

Enjoy warm or cold for any meal! 

I wish you  a safe New Year and I look forward to connecting more with you all in a wonderful 2014!

Take Care of You,
Collette x 

 

Apple and Carrot Loaf

Good Morning! I hope this finds you well…..with Summer brings BBQ’s and Picnics, so I thought it was time I shared with you a favourite picnic meal for us….only this weekend just gone  we took this to our Church Christmas Carols….this is the ‘standard’ recipe I use but as I always say, get creative and feel free to swap ingredients for those that suit your diet needs and taste buds….enjoy!

salad in a jar

makes 4 serves

2 chicken breast fillets

4 tspns oil of choice

4 tspns maple syrup

a few drops of sesame oil

1 lime – thinly sliced

coriander and dill – roughly shredded

2 carrots – grated

4 tblspns pistachios

½ large beetroot – grated

baby spinach

Roughly dice chicken breast fillets. Place in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Drain well and allow to cool. Once the chicken is cooled, shred the chicken roughly (if your diet allows you could always cheat and use a bbq chicken instead).

In the bottom of each glass jar place 1 tspn oil, 1 tspn maple syrup, 2 drops of sesame oil and 1 piece of lime.

Add some cooled shredded chicken, then a good pinch of coriander and dill. Continue to layer with salad ingredients, grated carrot, pistachios, grated beetroot and pack down firmly with baby spinach.

You can get creative and use salad ingredients, herbs and nuts of your choice. The kids love eating salad like this on a picnic. You can eat it however you like, for me, once I eat the baby spinach layer on the top, I dig in and mix the rest of the ingredients around….hubby eats his one layer at a time.

Note: just don’t forget to pack forks!

I prepare all the ingredients in advance & make a production line putting the salad jars together!

I hope you have a wonderful week….I am on the countdown here, only 3 days left of the big girls school….I LOVE school holidays!

Take Care of You,
Collette x 

Salad in a Jar!

Good Afternoon! I hope this finds you well….can you believe it is only 12 more sleeps until Christmas….which means only 10 more sleeps until my twins turn 3 and a double birthday party is happening…..I feel ‘kind of’ organised, but getting 100% organised with gifts and food the menu is my plan for this weekend. Are you all ready to go? 

Yesterday we said farewell to Bekah (hubby’s cousin) who was with us for 3 months from Texas, America. It is crazy that the time really just flew. The big girls were so sad yesterday and Miss 9 couldn’t compose herself to even go to school. The twins had a cute conversation between themselves…Master almost 3 said “Bekah gone to America” …. Miss almost 3 replied with “she be back 1 minute” ….. hubby and I of course had heavy hearts also, as our home and lives have been filled with her vibrance and everything seemed so quiet. We all knew it was short term though and Bekah has family eagerly waiting her arrival at home for her and our lives will quickly get back to ‘normal’ (whatever that may be!). Thank goodness for technology these days, with Facebook and Skype there is not excuse  not to keep in touch! We were blessed to have the quality time with Bekah and many happy memories were made….finishing off with a fun surprise “Aussie” party the night before she left! 

I have a lovely recipe to share with you today…I find frittatas such a filling  and satisfying lunch and the kids love it so much too! Since creating this recipe we have had it twice for dinner also served with a side salad and the kids even had it for breakfast! I hope you love it as much as we do…..

sweet potato frittata

600g sweet potato – peeled and grated

6 eggs

2 x zucchini (approx. 300g) – grated

½ green apple – peeled and grated and excess juice squeezed out

½ bunch fresh chives – finely chopped

½ bunch fresh parsley – roughly shredded

pinch salt

¼ cup pepitas

Preheat oven to 200c and line a lasagne dish with baking paper.

Place the peeled and grated sweet potato into a medium bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 10 minutes then drain well.

In a large bowl place the 6 eggs and whisk well. Add the prepared sweet potato, zucchini, apple, chives, parsley and salt. Mix well.

Pour egg mixture into the lined lasagne dish and sprinkle evenly with pepitas. Cook for 30-35 minutes.

Serve as is or with a salad on the side or make it a little fancier by topping it with smoked salmon, feta or a dollop of homemade mayonnaise – YUM!

Enjoy! 

On a side note, it seems that my Facebook posts are only getting seen by 1%-10% at best which makes me sad to think that all my hard work is being missed! To make sure you don’t miss out on my recipes, please head to the homepage of my website and pop in your details so you can get these blogs sent straight to your email address. 

Have the most beautiful weekend and chat again next week!

Take Care of You,

Collette x

sweet potato frittata

Good evening! I hope this finds you all well. I am EXHAUSTED! With the help of Bekah I stayed up late last night putting together Christmas orders that rushed in the last few days….my gosh it excites me SO much thinking of how many of you are giving or getting “Cut out the Crap” books for Christmas!

My Miss 9 is on a Gluten and Grain free diet at the moment and is missing bread terribly. I made these last week and she loved them. She especially loved them warmed slightly in the oven for breakfast with a dollop of butter or ricotta! One morning she even had one cut up with Smoked Salmon on it — spoilt I know!
They are quite heavy (so don’t expect them to be all light and fluffy) and not overly sweet so they are a good bread / muffin replacement. A good one to feed hungry tummies of a morning! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

 

lemon and coconut muffins

4 eggs

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup sunflower oil (or macadamia oil)

½ cup coconut flour – sifted

½ cup desiccated coconut

rind of ½ large lemon

½ tspn baking powder

Preheat oven  to 180c and line a muffin tray with 8 paper cases.

In a medium bowl place the eggs, maple syrup and oil – beat well with an electric hand blender.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Place even amounts into the paper cases – the mixture will be quite thick.

 Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes (depending on your oven)

Allow to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy warm or cool. 

Have a lovely evening and I look forward to chatting again soon!

Take Care of You,

Collette x 

 

lemon and coconut muffins

Good Morning! I hope this finds you all well. I have had a lovely productive week and I must admit I am super excited about putting the Christmas tree and decorations up with the kids over the weekend! It’s always a beautiful, fun, chaotic few hours with Christmas Carol’s playing and us all singing and dancing! Have you got your tree up yet? 

Yesterday I had a friend (my Sons Godfather) come and take the twins for a couple of hours to have a play which allowed me time to myself….I considered having a long soak in the bath with a book or watching a movie…but me being me and as tempting as it was, I had energy and so I had other plans…I painted a feature wall in the kids playroom, I make some chicken bone broth, some nut free bliss balls and this nut and seed brittle…..I realised I had put this recipe on Facebook but not on here and sometimes it’s time consuming to find old posts on Facebook, so hopefully you can all find this easier here….it’s a favourite recipe of ours that we enjoy often! I hope you love it also! Enjoy! 

nut and seed brittle

Preheat oven to 160c and line a lamington tray with baking paper.

In a bowl place 1/2 cup slivered almonds, 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts, 1/2 cup pistachios, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup pepitas, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, 1/8 cup flaxseeds, 1/8 cup chia seeds and 1/2 cup rice malt syrup. Mix well. It is quite sticky but be patient it WILL mix.

Place it into the lamington tray and use a wet teaspoon to flatten it out. Bake for 15 minutes at 160c. Turn heat down to 110c and bake for a further 5 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before cutting – YUM!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend full of love, laughter and of course some great food!

Take Care of You,

Collette x 

nut and seed brittle

Good Morning! I hope this finds you all well and having a great week so far. 

As a family we are additive free and refined sugar free. My Miss 9 is Gluten Free and at the moment due to a health program she is doing she is grain free – and at school they are nut free …. it makes ‘snacks’ quite challenging! I created this for her yesterday and when she came home from school she was SO excited….actually all 4 kids were excited…Miss almost 3 snuck 4 pieces when I wasn’t looking and later came up to me and asked ….’yummy chocolate mummy, me, 1, 2, 3, 4….more????” ….ha ha! I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as my kids did! 

choc mint fudge

15 medjool dates

2 cups desiccated coconut

½ cup pepitas

2 tblspns drinking chocolate or cacao

1 tblspn chia seeds

1 tblspn maple syrup

6 drops peppermint oil (food grade!) 

Line a square 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

In a food processor place all of the ingredients except for the peppermint oil. Process for 60-80 seconds until thoroughly mixed and fudge like.

Add the peppermint oil and process for another 10 seconds.

Use your fingers to push the mixture into the lined cake tin evenly. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into squares.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Note: I used a large food processor with a double S blade. 

On a personal note I would like to have a ‘proud Mumma’ moment – my Miss 11 loves (SO much) Physie and it has been her Physie Dream to make the National Finals (top 18 in Australia) … I am thrilled for her that she acheived that dream on the weekend….there were cheers and happy tears all round! Her smile when she marched out in that final said it all – when we collected her that night she said “Mum I have never talked to God so much – he really did answer my Prayers today” – Bless her! 

Kisses from Dad! – I LOVE this photo!

Kisses from me!

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week….chat again soon….I am off to write up these Christmas orders that you guys have been loving! Only a few days left of the Christmas Specials  on my website here so don’t miss out!

Take Care of You,

Collette x 

choc mint fudge

Bone Broth

Good Afternoon! I hope this finds you well and that you are having a lovely week so far.

I have to tell you I have jumped on the ‘how great is bone broth’ band wagon and I am excited to share my recipes with you…..my family are loving me for it (I am sure their insides are loving me also!!!)

I heard how great it is a while back from Alexx Stuart and saw Jo from Quirky Cooking sending people to Alexx’s page often to learn more about it. So I made some Beef broth which was enjoyed by my family a lot. A while later I was told by my Miss 9′s health specialist how wonderful bone broth is and how she/we should be having it daily so I came home to make some Chicken broth…which was LOVED!  I have been making it on a weekly basis since then…and always have a stock pile in my freezer! Perfect for a those days when I don’t feel like cooking!
I have heard mixed reports of how long you should cook it for….I have tried it for 48hours down to 4 hours….the difference is the longer I cook it for the more ‘jelly’ it gets. The two most important aspects from all I have researched is ensuring you get good quality chemical free organic bones and don’t miss the cooking in the oven step!

The health benefits for having bone broth on a regular basis is wonderful and if the link from Alexx above has not convinced you, check out this next link all about Gut Health from Naughty Naturopath Mum!

Here are my recipes….enjoy!

Beef Bone Broth (slow cooker version)

1kg beef bones

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 carrots

4 celery stalks

1 brown onion

small bunch of rosemary

small bunch of flat leaf parsley

2 bay leaves

good pinch sea salt

water

Place beef bones in a large baking tray and cook in the oven on 220c for 1 hour.
Add the bones to your slow cooker with the apple cider vinegar, carrots, celery stalks, brown onion, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, bay leaves and the himalayan salt. Cover with water and put on low for 48 hours.

Remove bones, vegetables and herbs and discard. Strain the liquid well and you are left with gorgeous and nutritious beef bone broth. Once this cooled it went like Jelly.

Dinner….Chicken broth with fresh home-grown kale and curly carrot!

Chicken Bone Broth (stove top)

2kg chicken wings

4 carrots

4 celery stalks

2 brown onions

3 kale leaves

medium bunch thyme

medium bunch rosemary

2 bay leaves

2 tblspns apple cider vinegar

good pinch sea salt

6 litres water

Place chicken bones in a large baking tray and cook in the oven on 200c for 1 hour.
Add the bones to a large saucepan with the rest of the ingredients (make sure that everything is covered with the water).

Place the lid on the saucepan and cook over a medium – low heat for 4 hours.

Remove bones, vegetables and herbs and discard. Strain the liquid well and you are left with gorgeous and nutritious chicken bone broth. Once this cooled only the top layer went like jelly.

Chicken cooked and ready to go….

….all in the pot ready to cover with water….

I can almost smell this….YUM!!!!!!!!

I have been serving the broth for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner….really any meal! As is (just the broth) or for something more filling I throw in some raw salad or vegetable ingredients or leftover cooked brown rice. You can really use it anyway you like, depending in your taste buds….the main thing is….have it often….your body will thank you for it!

Have a wonderful rest of the week….talk again soon!

Take Care of You,

Collette x

 

Bone Broth