Spiced Fruit Porridge

Now that the leaves are starting to turn and the weather is cooler in the mornings, I find we are looking for a more warming breakfast. There's nothing nicer than porridge on a cool dark morning and it keeps the hunger pangs away until lunch time.
Oats are an incredibly good for you. Aside from providing both insoluble and soluble fibre in the diet, they are a rich source of manganese, which assists enzymes in bone production. They are also high in B1 and magnesium and they are a low GI food. Lots of great reasons to include oats in your diet.

Here's a way to spice up that most basic of breakfasts. You will need to start the night before.

Spiced Fruit Porridge
The Bush Gourmand

Serves 2 - 3
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup full cream milk (coconut milk, almond milk)
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1/4 cup sultanas
2 Tbsp shredded coconut
1 Tbsp plain yoghurt
1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Place into a small saucepan, cover and allow to soak overnight.

In the morning, simply cook until thick and bubbling. Add more milk if necessary. Serve with a swirl of honey.
You can also add a grated green apple. The yoghurt should prevent it from going brown overnight.

I haven't tried cooking this in the Thermomix. I think it's probably easier to wash the saucepan than the Thermomix bowl. If you do try it in the Thermie, let me know how it goes.

Enjoy.

Megan

Air Fryer Fun

After some months of humming and hahing about buying an Air Fryer, I finally succumbed and purchased a Philips XL. I've been following a Facebook page, Air Fryers Unite and saw that people were using it for far more than cooking frozen fish and chips (which is what the Philips advert shows).

It's basically a benchtop electric fan forced oven. I like the fact that is very easy to clean and uses minimal oil. Not that I'm worried about deep frying because I use good fats - coconut, lard & duck fat. It's just that deep frying is messy and means a lot of cleaning afterwards.

The first thing I made in the AF was wedges. They were superbly crunchy and delicious!

Air Fryer Wedges
The Bush Gourmand

For three potatoes:
Simply cut potatoes into wedges, soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes to remove some of the starch and drain.
Dry with a tea towel or paper towel.
Add 2 Tbsp rice flour to a plastic bag along with 2 tsp of steak spice and 1 Tbsp oil.
Scrunch bag to mix. Add wedges and scrunch to coat.
Place into Air Fryer basket and cook on 210 for about 6 minutes or so, depending on amount and size of wedges. Shake the basket every now and then.
Serve immediately. No photo as they were immediately devoured!

Next was breakfast. I'm trying to avoid eating too much carbohydrate, so generally avoid eating toast in the morning. My Low Carb, High Fat (LCHF) breakfast hit the spot.

Creamy Eggs and Spinach

Serves 1

The Bush Gourmand

2 large eggs, beaten with 2 Tbsp cream
salt and pepper
2 tsp finely chopped onion - spring onion, shallot, chives etc
small handful baby spinach
Grated cheese

Add chopped onion to a greased ramekin. Pop in the spinach and seasoned egg mixture. Top with cheese.
Bake for 14 minutes on 185. If cooking bacon to go with the egg, add at the 8 minute mark.
If making more than one, I don't think it would take any longer in the AF. Four ramekins should fit.

I've also changed this around by adding other ingredients. A favourite addition was chopped bacon or ham and chopped capsicum. Add a tsp butter to ramekin and bake for 3 minutes at 200 to saute. Add remaining ingredients as per above and continue to bake as above.
Next time, I'll try it with crumbled feta.

Eggs Poached in the Shell

I guess an egg poached in it's shell is a boiled egg. But, it's not eaten that way. This method of poaching eggs was first written about by Julia Child, that doyenne of French Cooking. It is indeed a French method and is the best and easiest way to poach eggs, especially if you're feeding three or four people.

If the eggs are very fresh, it's not as effective as they'll be a little more difficult to peel. However, I've not had a lot of trouble peeling our own eggs that are about 2 weeks old.

What you'll need: A timer (I use my iPhone), a pin, a bowl of ice-cold water.

Pop a saucepan of salted water on to boil. Prick the rounder, fatter end of each egg with a pin, being careful not to go too deep and break the membrane.

When water is boiling, add eggs and set timer for 6 minutes (for large eggs, 5 ½ for smaller ones).
Pop your toast down part way through.
When time is up, remove eggs with a slotted spoon to the bowl of iced water. (If you have asbestos hands, don't worry about this step.) Leave for a second or so to cool down and then gently roll and tap egg on the bench to break the shell all over.

Remove the top part of the shell, insert a teaspoon and slide it all the way around to remove remaining shell.

This photo was a bit blurry as our cat was up on the bench trying to check out what I was doing! I was pushing him away with my head as both hands were full!!

Work quickly to ensure remaining eggs don't get too cool if you're doing a few eggs at a time.

Perfect poached eggs! I forgot to heat up the Hollandaise that I had made yesterday, so I just plopped it on top. No time for asparagus, either!

The cat enjoyed licking the plate.

Megan

Healthy Wheat Free Waffles

This recipe is based on Quirky Jo's Blender Batter Waffles. I substituted the brown rice for a blend of different flours. My recipe isn't totally gluten free, due to the barley and rolled oats, but it is dairy free.

The batter also makes great pancakes. We had these waffles for breakfast in the morning with butter and fresh strawberries, then dessert the following night with ice cream and berries or Maple Berry Sauce.
If you're looking to cut your fat intake, serve with yoghurt (add a touch of honey and vanilla) and berries.

As Jo says, you can swap out anything for the brown rice as long as the total amount is around 250g.
It's a blender batter because instead of adding almond milk, you make the almond milk with the batter. It's important to make the batter at least 8 hours before using as the starches are best soaked to help aid digestion by breaking down phytic acid.

If having for breakfast, start the night before, for dessert, start in the morning.

Blender Batter Waffles or Pancakes

250g brown rice (I used 35g amaranth, 65g buckwheat, 70g rolled oats and 80g pearl barley)
30g raw almonds (or raw cashews)
300g water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
30g macadamia or coconut oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Add rice to Thermomix or food processor and blitz on speed 9 for 1 minute or so until fine. Add water, ACV, oil and vanilla and blend for 30 seconds on speed 9.
Cover and leave overnight to stand at room temperature. Or place in a glass bowl, cover and leave on the bench overnight.
When ready to cook, reblend for 1 minute on speed 9.

Add:
1 large egg (optional)
Blend for a minute on speed 9. Preheat waffle iron and add raising agents and blend again for a few seconds:

2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi carb soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Bake until crispy or use to make pancakes. Serve with butter or cream and maple syrup or with ice cream and berries.

Maple Berry Sauce
1 cup frozen berries (I like blueberries)
1 - 2 Tbsp of maple syrup

Place in saucepan and simmer gently until blueberries are totally defrosted and syrup thickens a little.
Enjoy!

Megan
p.s. I've made these a number of times with different seeds and grains and they're always fantastic. I can't recommend this recipe enough, it's foolproof! My husband loves them.

How to Poach an Egg

Poached Eggs Hollandaise or Florentine has to be my all time favourite breakfasts. I make it at home frequently and it's the breakfast of choice if I'm lucky enough to be eating out.

I've pretty much got the knack of poaching an egg, but sometimes I have disasters, with the egg sticking to the bottom of the pan or just falling to bits.

I recently posted on my Bush Gourmand FaceBook Page a foolproof method for the perfect poached egg. Here's the link if you missed it.Video: How to Poach Eggs

I made poached eggs for breakfast this morning and tried this method and it did work. The eggs I had were from the local store and were very fresh, so not much dripped through the sieve. Using the sieve to roll the eggs into the water worked really well in keeping the egg nice and oval shaped. I did put a bit of vinegar in the water, just to be on the safe side.

 As you can see in the picture, there was very little floating egg white in the pan. I rolled the egg around gently to keep the nice oval shape.

Served with Hollandaise made in the Thermomix, wilted spinach,smoked salmon and homemade bread. Delicious! I won't need lunch now.

Another thing I did learn from the video that I didn't know is that you can poach a number of eggs and place them in a bowl of cold water in the fridge for up to three days!

Here's my Hollandaise recipe. It's made in the Thermomix, but you can make it with a stick blender. It won't be quite as light and fluffy.

Hollandaise Sauce

2 egg yolks
1 tsp dijon mustard
juice of half to one lemon, depending how tangy you like it.
90g butter
white pepper

Place butterfly on blade and add yolks, mustard and juice to bowl. Blend on speed 2 for a few seconds.
Add butter, soft if possible, and programme 3 minutes, 90, speed 3.

Leftovers can be placed in the fridge and heated gently in a ceramic or glass dish over simmering water, stirring constantly. Or, use in place of mayo on a tuna sandwich.

This also makes a great sauce for fish. Add the grated lemon rind too.

Enjoy egg poaching,

Megan

Crumpets

Not something that you think of making yourself when they're so easy to buy.

The recipe can be found here on the Forum Thermomix and has been included in Dani Valent's In The Mix cookbook.

You need to start the night before making the batter. Once it has proved (about an hour), it can happily sit in the fridge for two days, if necessary. Why two days? Normally, one would cook the crumpets the following morning, but just as I was about to pour the batter into the egg rings, I had a call from nearest and dearest to head out to the paddock.

We all know what that means, could be ten minutes, could be two hours. So, back in the fridge the batter went.
It was fine the next morning and crumpets were delicious.

I honestly wouldn't bother making them again as it's much easier to buy them, but it's nice to know that I can make them if I want to.

Pantry Pancake Mix

This recipe is one from Nigella Lawson, my foodie idol. It's wonderfully versatile and very economical. There's no need to buy those pancake mixes in the plastic bottles as this is just as easy and much, much nicer.

Pantry Pancake Mix
600g plain flour (I use half wheat flour, half spelt flour)
50g baking powder
50g castor
2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp salt

Whizz all together in the Thermomix or blender. Store in a jar in the pantry.

When you are wanting to make pancakes for breaky just use 1 cup milk and 1 egg for every cup of dry mix. Whisk together and let sit for 10 minutes or so. Stir in 1 Tbsp of melted butter and start making pancakes!

These pancakes are very similar to the "golden arches" sort. I adore them for breakfast with  unsalted butter that I've whipped up with maple syrup in the Thermomix before freezing in ice cube trays. The mixture can be thinned down with a little more milk added to the mixture if you prefer a slightly thinner pancake.

For a dessert pancake, add some chopped banana and serve with caramel made from cream, butter and brown sugar boiled together (sticky toffee pudding sauce).

For pikelets, just add a little more sugar. You can also add chopped dates and orange rind or orange and date pikelets.

So you don't forget what you need to add, it's a good idea to write a label for the jar and include the recipe for mixing the pancakes.