RECIPE TIME! Basic Pancake Batter using Quinoa Flour

Basic Pancakes Batter using Quinoa Flour

This recipe is from the Cooking with Quinoa (Pattern) book that I so frequently will refer too. I’ve adjusted the recipe to include a dairy-free option to buttermilk I discovered on the internet aswell!

Pancake Batter

• ·         1 cup Quinoa Flour
• ·         2 tbsp Caster Sugar
• ·         1 large egg (or egg substitute)
• ·         1 ½ cups ‘Buttermilk’ (see alternative recipe below)
• ·         1 tsp Vanilla extract
• ·         ‘Butter’ for cooking

Buttermilk Alternative

• ·         1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
• ·         1 cup ‘milk’

Sift flour and sugar into a bowl.  Make ‘Buttermilk’ and whisk with egg and vanilla until combined; slowly pour into the flour mixing until you have a smooth batter.

Heat a non stick pan until hot, add a little butter to the pan and when melted, pour in a small ladleful of pancake mixture. Swirl the pan around to form an even pancake and cook on both sides till evenly set.

Serve with toppings of your choice ie, golden/maple syrup, lemon and sugar, jam….go nuts! :D

RECIPE TIME! Cauliflower and Broccoli Panagrattato Bake

Cooking with Quinoa (Patten) has a wonderful Cauliflower and Broccoli Panagrattato recipe (pge 101) that I’ve been dying to try for ages. I just couldn’t think of what I could serve it with until a friend suggested a white sauce. That’s when I realised this would be awesome as a baked dish. So I combined this with a cheese free Béchamel sauce I have from another lovely little vegetarian book (Everyday Vegetarian, LOVE FOOD 2010), topped it with vegan cheese and voila! It was delicious! Please enjoy and comment! I would love to hear your suggestions, alterations and ideas! :D

Cauliflower and Broccoli Panagrattato

• ·         Cauliflower
• ·         Broccoli
• ·         5 tbsp. Olive oil
• ·         Garlic – 1-3 cloves chopped, depending on taste
• ·         Shallots (green parts only)
• ·         1 tsp. chilli flakes
• ·         1 cup Quinoa flakes
• ·         Salt and Pepper to taste
• ·         Lemon juice

Béchamel Sauce

• ·         3 cups ‘milk’ (your choice)
• ·         1 bay leaf
• ·         6 black peppercorns
• ·         Slice of onion
• ·   1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
• ·         3 tbsp. Butter
• ·         4 tbsp. GF Plain Flour
• ·         Salt and pepper

• ·         Grated vegan cheese
• ·         2 tomato’s sliced

Preheat oven to 200C. Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into florets, cook in boiled salted water until cooked but still crisp. Drain but keep a little of the water.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the garlic, shallots and chili until soft and starting to change colour. Stir in the quinoa flakes until it starts to toast. Add a little extra oil if it’s a little dry, flakes need to take on some colour.

Add the cooked vegetables and water; toss well to combine then season with salt and pepper. Put these aside while preparing the Béchamel sauce.

To make the Béchamel sauce, heat the milk, nutmeg, peppercorns and bay leaf until just below boiling point. Then remove from heat, cover and infuse for ten minutes then strain. Melt the butter in a smaller pan and add the flour slowly, stirring to make sure the lumps stay away. Then slowly stir in the milk, bringing to the boil, stirring until thick and smooth. Add salt and pepper

Add the vegetables to the Béchamel sauce and mix well together then pour into a baking dish, sprinkle with grated vegan cheese and cover with sliced tomato. Bake for 30-45 mins on 180C. Serve with a sprinkle of lemon juice over each serve.

References:

Everyday Vegetarian 2010, LOVE FOOD, pge 104, ISBN: 978-1-4054-9399-4

Cooking with Quinoa 2011, Rena Patten, pge 101, ISBN: 978-1-7425-7055-6

Quinoa is Awesome!

Personally, I only found out about this recently and as it turns out, I’m totally the last person to know! This supersede/grain is ridiculous. It’s stats include gluten and wheat free, high protein and other awesome vitamins, cholesterol free and for all of us with tummy troubles, totally easily digestible!

So after hearing how awesome this grain was I went on a search high and low to find a singular cookbook to start experimenting. And lo and behold, I did! This one:

                                     Cooking with Quinoa - Rena Patten

Its full of amazing recipes, some with meat and seafood but so many delicious vegetarian and vegan treats aswell, including deserts! :D

I’ve already experimented enough to feel totally comfortable cooking with quinoa almost every day so expect quite a few recipes to come!

Absence Apology!

Hello there my lovelies!

Apologies for being away and not updating for so long, between uni, health and having a lovely life has just been getting in the way! As it tends to do.

Anyways, I had a little scare a few weeks ago and it was the kick up the arse that I needed to get back on the health train! So I have and so far amazing results. So it does go to show, what we out into our bodies is what we get out of it!

I started collecting cookbooks, all vegetarian and allergy free. I'm extremely excited! In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting my butt off with Quinoa! So expect a wicked entry coming up soon all about the delicious seedy GF free goodness!

So this was just a little hello and please stay tuned, I shall have more updates very, very soon! :D

Restaurant Review - Biga Cafe

Breakfasts/Brunch are my most favouritest thing in the entire world of eating. No idea why but the though of eggs, spinach, mushrooms and tomato's creates a decent sized drool puddle south of my face anytime, anywhere. Its also usually one of the more safer things i'm able to eat out as its nothing but goodness and deliciousness on a plate and sometimes, you're lucky enough to find somewhere happy to cater to all your needs. :D

Biga Cafe, situated on the corner of Hutt and Halifax Street, has a fantastic breakfast menu which should last through your breakfast/brunch desire hours. While not one of the most inexpensive places i have visited, the quality, amount and taste of the food and coffee is well worth the extra. My personal fav is the Vege Breakfast Option

Tomato, Poached Eggs, Wilted Spinach, Beans, Mushrooms, Hash Brown and GF Bread Option.

Everything on that plate was ridiculously satisfying and filling. The eggs cooked to perfection with a delightful pop as the brilliantly colored yolk spilled out, the sheer volume of spinach and mushrooms is well appreciated (almost as if your mum is working in the kitchen trying to get as much iron into you as possible without being noticed) and for all the GF's out there, top quality and tasty bread.

All in all, a wonderful way to start a Monday. Biga, you shall most definitely see me again and hopefully many, many more.

3.5 out of 5

Love bread?

first packet i used half the mixture as a tester, it creates small adorable slices!

So, I love bread. I love toast and vegemite, I love sammiches, I love crumpets and muffins and all that jazz. However, GF bread is at times awful and always expensive. I was lucky enough to find a place which sells lovely loves of it but unfortunately, it was out of my price range for a weekly much loved part of my food eating. Skulking around the supermarket the other day I was lucky enough to find our favourite brand 'Ogren' have their own easy solution. They have a nifty little treat for us under a fiver which is wholemeal gluten free, vegan bread which you can either make in a bread making machine if you're lucky enough to have one and if not, it's as simple as popping it into a loaf tin and the oven.....in 35 mins, you have delicious bread!!

And it is most definitely delicious....I shall definitely be using this aslong as it’s available!

Miss BB's welcome!!

Hello and welcome!

I decided to start this blog as a way of keeping track of my vegan/gluten free recipes since I cannot handle these tiny pieces of paper lying around everywhere anymore! However I've decided to expand this and basically what you will find here is ideas, recipes restaurant reviews and other amazing awesomeness!

After being diagnosed with Endometriosis two years ago I've been running through a case of trial and error with my diet. As this condition affects the lower regions of a woman’s body, what you put into it is going to make a huge difference on your day to day living. Believe it or not, it's true. It's taken me two years to accept the new lifestyle I must lead to be the very best I can and as a junk food junkie...not an easy feat. However, I've reached a stage where I can notice the difference a vegan, gluten free diet makes. I actually have energy and feel bright and a new desire for life and motivation.

Now, after lots of research I have created my own diet which I feel is both filling and extremely un-boring. Everyone's body is different and so it really is a case of seeing what works for you. Personally, I cannot have any lactose at all otherwise hello tension headache and vomiting. But I find that I both crave and need eggs in my diet. Aside from the fact that I adore them. I understand that this makes me an egg eating vegan but considering that I must rifle through every product to see if it contains dairy. I think that since I'm doing this for health reasons, aimed towards those with the same, the people out there who would normally find this offensive would let me off ;)

so, enjoy and please don't be shy...send me recipes, ideas and anything to do with this wonderland!