Dandelion Chai Latte

I am slavishly devoted to coffee. It's goes beyond just a morning ritual for me, it's an all day love affair. So when I recently started to read up on the affects of caffeine on the central nervous system, I couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed of my reliance on this stimulant. So, I took the ill-advised step of going off it, cold turkey, for a day shy of a week.

Day one post-quitting, I was plagued with a headache bordering on a migraine, all day. But the next day, my body seemed to have adapted, but the ritual-seeker in me needed something new to hang my virtual hat on. Herbal tea is okay but there's not much funl in tea the way I make it (a tea philistine, I use bags.). So I turned to (I can't believe I am typing this) Dandelion Chai Latte. And I was pleasantly surprised and very pleased.

Has it filled the coffee void? God, no, don't be silly- could anything?! But it's great to be able to switch it up now and again and have this spice filled drink as a caffeine alternative. I adapted the recipe from Supercharged Foods to suit my tastes.

You need:

6 or so cardamon pods
1/2 tsp clove powder
1 star anise
1 cinnamon quil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Dandelion tea bags
1 tablespoon honey
500ml milk

Use a mortar and pestle, or the back of a teaspoon and a saucer, to crush the cardamom and star anise. They just need to be a little smashy to release their flavour.

Put all the herbs into a saucepan with the milk and honey and bring gently to the boil, add the dandelion teabags, then reduce heat and simmer, lid on, for a few minutes.

Strain.

I left it to cool, then mixed with plain milk and frothed to get a latte consistency.

Now... I rate the flavour highly, but this is a little too long and involved a process for me to make regularly, so on day two, I doubled the quantities and froze it in silicone pods for a quicker solution.

Chicken curry

Ingredients
3 free range chicken breasts
Onion
Garlic
Spinach leaves
1 zuchini chopped into rounds
1 carrot chopped into rounds
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons each of cumin, turmeric and curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tin organic coconut cream
2 tablespoons tomato paste
The juice of one lemon
Scant handful of sultanas
Scant handful of almonds, plus extra to chop&top
Oil for frying.

In a tagine, heat the oil and add the onions, garlic and spices. Stir until combined. Dice the chicken and add to the pan. Fry until browned then add the tomato paste and coconut cream. Next come the veggies (minus the spinach) so add the carrots and zuchini, then the sultanas and almonds. Place the tagine lid on and cook for around twenty minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove lid, add lemon juice, spinach and cabbage and stir. Serve topped with chopped almonds and greek yoghurt.

Oh, and by the way....

I haven't had a single hypo since the other morning's 4-a.m-er. I attribute this to a much steadier range of BGLs, and the ease with which I can manage my diabetes when eating properly.

There's a seminar I'm going to next month about eating for life, focussing on auto-immune conditions- I'm so looking forward to it.

Olive, spinach and leek frittata

I made this frittata for our Sunday breakfast, but it was so substantial and flavoursome, that, with the addition of a bitter green salad or steamed broccolini, it would be great for lunch or dinner, too.

Ingredients
A handful of mixed, pitted olives
1 leek, the lower half finey sliced
1 cup of Organic spinach, washed and torn into approx 4cm pieces
6 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
Cheese to top (I used blue cheese)
Olive oil for frying

Method

Preheat oven to 200'c.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the leek. Saute until translucent. Add the spinach and wilt for a few minutes before including the olives. Stir to combine well then press these ingredients flat in the pan. Turn the heat to minimum.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add to the frying pan and stir so that it doesn't stick. Cook for a minute, then cover with a lid (if oven proof) or alfoil and slip it into the oven.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the eggs are cooked firm. Remove from oven, add cheese if using and return to the oven for a few minutes to melt and brown.

Confession: while this is a delicious veggie brekkie, vegetarians we are not, so, we did serve it with a generous portion of crispy bacon... Locally cured and so tasty!

Lazy Brekkie

Free range eggs from happy little chooks. Free range ham from happy, oinking piggies. Organic spinach leaves and aged parmesan. Served with a peppery home-made hollandaise. Mmmm.

Eye Fillet with wilted cabbage and a blue cheese & balsamic dressing

I have just enjoyed a very, very delicious lunch. I love meals like this because there's about ten minutes of cooking time, hardly anything to wash up, and they are soo tasty. Earlier this week I diced, as best as I was able with a hand recoving from surgery, half a cabbage head, and stored it in the fridge. I love cabbage; it's a great way to bulk out so many meals, and having it prepped in tupperware took the faff out of including it in most meals.

Ingredients:
Eye fillet
Shredded cabbage
Walnuts
Fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2cm wedge of blue cheese
Olive oil for frying.

Splash some oil into the pan and heat to moderate. Once it starts to smoke, add the steak and fry for 3 minutes either side. Add the diced cabbage and walnuts and half of the balsamic, place a lid on the pan and turn the heat as low as it goes. After three more minutes, turn the heat off and remove from a heat source. Leave covered until steak is cooked to your liking (this will vary greatly according to the meat and the heat etc- use the tongs to press the centre. If there's lots of softness then it's still rare- no give and it's getting to well done.).

Place the cabbage, walnuts and steak on a plate, and return the same pan with the residual juices to the heat source. Add the remaining vinegar and all the blue cheese and, over high heat, allow to thicken and reduce, stirring regularly. Top the steak with the sauce, and finish with parsley. Ohhhh, yeah!

One day in and already a mis-hap.

The night before last, I woke up feeling queasy at 4.21am. I was hypo, with a BGL of only 2.6, which is very low for me. I'd made a beautiful veggie curry for dinner - perfectly low carb and jam packed with cabbage, spinach, carrots, broccoli, and sweet potato, tomatoes and a heap of fragrant spices (garam masala, turmeric, cumin, caraway seeds) and coconut milk. It was too good to pause for a photo!

That rounded out a perfect day of eating. Or, at least, it should have. But about twenty minutes after dinner I heard it. My name. My name being chanted over and over and over again from inside the fridge.

We'd had friends over on Sunday night and Roch had made the most divine chocolate brownies I've ever tasted, and there were leftovers.... And so...gulp...I did not make a very good food choice. I ate one. A whole one, and it was just so scrummy.

But boy, did I pay for it later. Before bed, my BGL was a whopping 14.4 (I'm nursing at the moment and my endocrinologist has advised I can relax my usual 4.0 - 8.0 range to up to 10.0). I adjusted my insulin and with the dosage advised, but, nonetheless, my BGL came crashing down too low, too fast.

And thereinlies the rub for this diabetic. I generally find it easier to avoid sugary foods and carbs than I do to cope with hypos and adjust insulin for difficult ingredients. If I can't carb count it, I just need to avoid it. The after effects of a hypo are, for me, a bit like a hangover. Banging headache and lethargy chief amongst my complaints. And I can't begin to tell you how wrong it feels, as a grown up, to feast on crap lollies in the middle night hours. I know there are going to be up days and down days, but this was a very timely reminder as to why I have decided to really commit to the best diet and lifestyle I can, for me. And I'm so hopeful this blog keeps me on my (still fully nerve receptive) toes!

A new commitment to diabeating it.

Over the weekend, my mother in law loaned me this book. And let me tell you, I found it to be a lifechanging read.

The author Lee Holmes herself suffered from an autoimmune disease which, according to her intro, she completely conquered and continues to manage through a commitment to a body-right eating plan. That's what I'm talking about!

Since last I posted, I would say I have been eating the right diet for me and my diabetes only seventy percent of the time. Winter and pregnancy, and then new-baby-ness all made me feel very time poor, and like the right food choices were sometimes too hard.

I have got to tell you, this is one of the best cook books I have read in a very long time, and I really devoured it, page by page, front to back, and then again, to make notes. I did an online shop late last night, filled with healthy organic choices to make implementing this lifestyle a bit easier. It was so inspirational.

Well, one day in and I am pretty pleased. My first confession, in the spirit of blognesty, is that I am writing this with a delicious glass of ice cold sauvignon blanc in hand. I am taking it one vice at a time, and, I have not had coffee all day, and have managed to stick to nutritious, natural whole foods for meals and snacks. Breakfast was organic porridge with a spoon of pure cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to help keep my glood glucose levels stable.

Lunch was a huge win- sliced cabbage with onion, parsley and dill from the garden and a tin of salmon, walnuts and a mustardy mayonnaisey dressing, topped with a beautiful Barossa dukkah. It was unbelievably good, even if I do say so myself.

So. Wish me luck. One good food choice at a time is my mantra.

80% fruit jam

Simon Johnson has released a range of jams that are 80% fruit and 20% sugar- a huge improvement on most commercial jams that have as little as 46% fruit and 54% nasties. They retail for around $15, but then, we should only be having jam sparingly, and are made in Italy. But it's great to see a product commercially available that is a healthier option.

peach and almond frangipane

I'm lucky that, as a diabetic, I'm not cursed with too great a sweet tooth, but there are times when I want nothing more than something delicious and treatish. What is a worse enemy to me than a sweet tooth, though, is an insatiable love of baking. How tricky it is to bake and not eat. I find the only way to have a strong will power is to give the fruits of my cooking labour away just as soon as they're removed from the oven.

This tart is for dessert tomorrow night and I feel reasonably confident that, as it's to be shared between a group, I will be restrained enough to have only a small piece. That being said, this truly is a virtuous adaptation of the recipe, so I think I can enjoy it guilt free. I used all organic ingredients, and have reduced the sugar, and incorporated spelt flour for plain. I just hope it tastes as delicious as it is virtuous!

NB, as to the gluten free nature of this tart, two people I know who are strictly gluten intolerant find spelt flour is acceptable to their digestive systems. HOWEVER, it does contain gluten, so please check with any GF or coeliacs before you serve this to them.

You will need:

For the pastry:

180g spelt flour

pinch of baking powder

100g butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

Tablespoon caster sugar (your could probably substitute honey, I will next time)

For the tart:

120g almond meal

100g butter

1/4 cup caster sugar (about 50g)

2 eggs

2 peaches

1 generous tablespoon honey

What to do

Preheat oven to 180'c.

In a food processor, combine the butter, spelt flour and baking powder until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg and quickly mix until it comes together as a dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate until it begins to firm slightly.

Once it has firmed, roll out flat and fit into a tart tin with a loose base. Bake at 180'c for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool slightly.

Using an electic beater, mix the butter (softened to room temp) with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add an egg, beat until combined, then add another egg. Add the almond meal and finish beating. You should have a batter with a reasonably sloppy consistency.

Slice the peaches in half and remove the stone, then slice into thin wedges.

Pour the almond-meal batter on top of the baked pastry, and then, moving quickly, place the wedges of peach (substitute any other stone fruit as desired - raspberry and white choc also divine) in circles around the tart. Bake for approximately 50 minutes then drizzle honey over the top. Turn oven off and return the tart, to set in cooling-oven for a further 15 minutes, to firm the almond meal. It is supposed to be moist and crumbly, so don't worry if it seems loose, so long as it is browned lightly on top.

Happy baking!

fauxsagne

I recently made this for dinner when we were having my husband's family over. I wanted to make a meal a day ahead, something that would get better for having sat in the fridge for a day or so, and also something that was low-carb, gluten free, high protein, filling and delicious.

We debated why this dish is different to Moussaka... I always thought moussaka had more layers of eggplant and more bechamel, and apparently also it traditionally has sliced meat rather than mince meat. Whatever the differences, this is essentially a lasagne, substituting oven roasted eggplant slices for the pasta sheets.

Serves 6... generously

You will need:
2 good sized eggplants
One garlic bulb
1kg mince (I used a mix of pork and steak)
1 small onion, diced
3 celery sticks, sliced
1 litre chicken stock
1 tin organic tomatoes, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
150g butter
1/4 cup gluten free cornflour (some are wheat derived, check this if it is important to you)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan plus extra for on top
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Nutmeg, freshly powdered (I use a parmesan grater)
Eschallots, sliced, optional
Salt and Pepper

To do:
Slice the eggplant into rounds approx .5 cm thick, and toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, a glug of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and some crushed garlic. Layer into a baking dish and roast, uncovered, on a low- moderate temperature for around an hour.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over moderate heat, fry off the garlic and diced onion in olive oil until translucent but not browned. Add the mince and brown for a couple of minutes. Add in the tinned tomato, tomato paste, a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar and the brown sugar, and stir to combine. Leave to cook for a few minutes and then add half of the chicken stock. Turn the temperature to low and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. You should be left with a thick meat sauce. Add the diced celery. You could also add olives, anchovies, capers, diced capsicum or carrot etc to taste. Season lightly if desired.

While the meat sauce is simmering down, begin the bechamel. Over low heat, melt the butter until golden in colour. Add the cornflour and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a golden paste. Slowly add in the reserved chicken stock, stirring continuously. I must admit, I often end up having to strain my GF white sauces through a sieve as I lose patience with this stage and turn the heat too high, but apparently, with white sauces at least, patience truly is a virtue... stand and stir, stand and stir, whisking in liquid all the time. First the stock, then the milk. Add the cheese next, and the nutmeg (I think nutmeg is a crucial flavour here), and remove from heat. You should have a thick, creamy sauce. If too thick, add more milk over low heat, until you get the desired consistency and quantity.

Now! The fun part! Layer the fauxsagne. Take out a baking tray and put a scoop of bechamel, followed by eggplant, mince mixture, bechamel, eggplant, mince, bechamel, etc. On top of the last layer of eggplant, pour the leftover bechamel and smooth with a spoon or palette knife. Add cheese on top, or chopped basil or eschallots. You can fridge at this stage overnight, or bake immediatey on 160'c for around 50 minutes.

I served with salad greens from the garden but of course, like the 'real deal' this would be great with steamed greens or just as is. Enjoy!