Cheese and Almond Loaf

Last weekend was full of food and family. I had many ideas floating around in my head of all the wonderful food I would make and despite this – or maybe due to too many wild ideas – I didn’t produce much food to be proud of. Fortunately others made some delicious food and my one success, a low carb gf cheese and almond bread, was soooo good it made up for my failures.

On Saturday we were off to a barbecue at Fran and John’s. Fran had suggested I make salad. No worries. I had been thinking about making rice salad and putting aside some of the rice for Sylvia. I cruised around the supermarket buying lots of nice veggies to put in the salad but didn’t pay much attention to the dressing. Surely I would have some ideas on my blog.

Before I headed out to the shops I finally got around to using my agar agar for the first time. I had my eye on AOF’s Kanten – a jelly with fruit in it. She used flakes and I used powder so I just followed the instructions on the packet. Never again! I was looking forward to some lovely cool jelly when I got home but was most disappointed. The result was like rubber. E said it looked like something for sealing windows. AOF had suggested using a lot less flakes than she had initially been advised so maybe I will try again with less powder to see if I can make a jelly a bit more like the one my mum makes.

With the jelly idea gone kaput, I set about making rice salad. Firstly I got out my brown rice, only to find it was infested with weevils. So I had to use basmati. Not my first choice but it would do. There was heaps of it. Herein lay my problem. I am so used to making smaller salads that I didn’t put enough dressing on it. The salad was nice and laden with vegetables but just a little lacking in taste. I also put in cucumber because it is Sylvia’s favourite vegetable but I forgot that John doesn’t like it.

Fortunately Fran had some wonderful cheese pastisti that John’s mum had made. Delicious! Sylvia had her first taste of non-pureed rice at the party. She never refused a bit of it although quite a bit fell onto the couch (sorry Fran and John!) For dessert there was lots of yummy chocolate cake.

Meanwhile E was cutting a mean figure in John’s pool room. Yes their house is big enough for a pool room! When we left E said to me that he thought it was just an Aussie myth perpetrated by The Castle. This is a great film about little Aussie battlers with colourful language. After seeing this film E and I used to bandy about the terms ‘suffer in your jocks’ and ‘you little ripper’ with much amusement. But we never got into using the Trading Post. According to the film it was the source of all sorts of bargain purchases. These treasures went ‘straight to the pool room’! The film is now a historical document illustrating when the Trading Post was a thick bundle of newsprint rather than a website.

The next day was a lunch for my mum’s birthday. Mum had decided to make tacos, which suit a variety of diets. She and my sisters are into low carb diets at the moment so I had wanted to take something appropriate (ie no cake). Feeling tired from yesterday and realizing I didn’t have cottage cheese for the Cheesy Almond Muffins I had planned, it all seemed too much. Then I realized I had the ingredients for a Rose Elliot low carb cheese and almond bread. It was a recipe I had copied out in a bookstore a couple of years ago.

‘Could you feed Sylvia for a moment for me while I quickly get this bread in the oven,’ I said to E. He took over at the highchair while I threw everything into a bowl. I wasn’t as quick as I imagined. It took a little time to grate cheese and chop basil but was still fairly easy. I decorated it with cherry tomatoes from the garden and some basil leaves. Once the loaf came out of the oven, we wrapped it in a tea towel, put it in the car and headed off to my folk’s place. The warm bread smelt wonderful.

We got to Geelong and were greeted with lots of chaos – and food. My mum had whipped up some amazing empanadas. The vegetarian ones had potatoes, onion, tomato, currants and spices (I think). E loved the meat ones and was raving about them all the way home. They were great finger food to have on the table before the tacos.

My mum always loves to try new food so we had a taste of the cheese and almond bread soon after we arrived. It was very good – dense and cheesy. It is no for those watching their cholesterol intact but my sister Chris, who hasn’t been eating much bread, found this a wonderful low carb loaf. Susie, who is celiac, liked it but said she would love it with some butter on it. Even baby Dash ate a piece. It would be great as a picnic or lunchbox snack (except at schools that are nut-free). I think you might say this bread would go straight to the pool room.

After the tacos we had some desserts made by mum. She is like me and loves a chance to bake for a crowd, even on her birthday. She made a chocolate sponge for a birthday cake, a pavlova with crushed peppermint crisp because my nieces love it, and caramel tart, which is Chris’ favourite. It looks like it might be little Dash’s favourite too by the satisfaction on his face when he tasted it for the first time.

Unfortunately neither Chris nor Dash will have one of mum’s caramel tarts for some time as it was their last family dinner before they headed home to Ireland on Wednesday. But Susie is hoping there will be many more gf versions of the tart because it was so good that you couldn’t tell the difference with the regular version.

My mum spends so much time in the kitchen that I am sure she will get a lot of use out of her new Sunbeam mix master (Australia’s answer to the KitchenAid). It was a present to her from all the family. Quite a selfish present really, as we are all looking forward to all the wonderful food she will make with it. I am sure that Chris, Fergal and Dash will be back soon for more of mum’s cooking. Meanwhile I have given them the recipe for the cheese and almond bread to keep them going.

Cheese and Almond Bread
From Rose Eliot’s Vegetarian Low Carb Cookbook

- 300g ground almonds (I used 250g almond meal and 30g toasted pinenuts)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 55g butter , softened (I used 50g)
- 150g cheese, grated (I used 50g cheddar, 60g parmesan and 25g chopped basil)
- 3 eggs

Mix together and bake in greased and lined (or silicone) loaf tin for 50 minutes at 180 C.

On the Stereo:
As day follows night: Sarah Blasko

Millet Buckwheat Tortillas

I was excited to see Sea making Millet Tortillas recently. As you might have noticed on this blog, gluten free family and friends make me interested in GF recipes. This recipe caught my attention because I have tried millet flour and failed to appreciate it. So it seemed a good way to use it up. Then I noticed her link to Karina’s vegan and gluten free Millet and Buckwheat Tortillas. Even better because I could make the millet more palatable with buckwheat flour, which I love.

So began my GF tortilla adventure last week. Karina at Gluten Free Goddess does lots of interesting GF recipes but they are often full of flours and xanthum gum that I don’t have in my pantry. What is really helpful on her site is this cheat sheet on Gluten Free Baking Substitutions. I read it after using GF flours for a while and suddenly the penny dropped and the pieces fell into place. It explains about heavy and light flours to make it easier to subsitute.

As well as xanthum gum, Karina uses a lot of sorghum flour. I have never tried it but I already have enough other flours to dissuade me to bring yet another into my collection. So I used soy flour instead. Rather than using egg replacer, I used ground flax seed (linseed) and also put in some potato and pumpkin mash leftover from Sylvia’s dinner. I think this made my tortillas a bit thicker than Karina’s. Perhaps in future I might add a little more water. I altered the flavouring slightly too. I have never made tortillas before and found these quite similar to pancakes but denser.

I was making dinner late as usual. E was calming Sylvia. When the first tortilla came off the frypan, I tasted it and was amazed at how good it tasted. So good that I ran over and gave a piece to E to try. He was also impressed. I can see why Karina says you could just eat these by themselves. We had them with salad and chickpea burgers. Karina called these gluten free wraps and I had intended to wrap chunks of burger and salad in the tortillas but mine didn’t bend quite as readily as hers. They were pretty flexible but broke upon being rolled up - possibly as a result of being thicker.

I took note of Karina’s suggestion that any leftover should be frozen. Last night at the end of a busy weekend, I took the last couple of tortillas straight from the freezer and warmed them under the grill (broiler) and put some ricotta and parmesan cheese on the second side. I served them topped with baked beans. They were excellent. I am pleased to finally find a way to use up my millet flour and will be making these again.

Millet Buckwheat Tortilla
Adapted from A Gluten Free Goddess
makes about 7-8

1 cup millet flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
½ cup soy flour
½ cup corn flour (cornstarch)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 small garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp flax seeds ground
½ cup pumpkin and potato (about ⅔ of this was potato) mashed
¼ cup chopped chives
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon agave nectar (or honey)
¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
1½ cups hot water
½ cup milk (or non-dairy milk)
oil or butter for frying

Mix dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in wet ingredients until it looks like a thick pancake batter. I left mine for 30 minutes but am not sure if this makes any difference as Karina didn’t.

Heat frypan with a little butter or oil – I used a silicone brush to brush on margarine but other times I have used paper towels to brush oil or butter on lightly. Karina says when a drop of water sizzles and bounces off the surface, your griddle or pan is ready. I just feel the heat by hovering my hand over the frypan and expect the first to be a disaster like when I make pancakes.

Drop half a cup of mixture onto frypan and use the back of a spoon to spread it out as thinly as possible till it is about 6 inches in diameter. Cook 1 minute or until bubbles appear and the batter is almost cooked. Flip it over and it should be golden brown. Cook another minute and there should be brown spots on the other side. (If these colours don’t appear you may need a little longer to fry it.) Keep warm on a plate covered in foil and repeat the process til you have used all the batter.

These are best eaten fresh. Serving suggestions – eat with a salad on the side, with cheese and chutney on top or covered with baked beans or chilli non carne and guiacamole. Leftovers can be frozen with parchment paper between them and reheated under the grill (broiler).

On the Stereo:
The moon lay hidden beneath a cloud: self-titled

Potluck in Prinny Park

Ah blogging! Isn't it wonderful! Not only do I meet lovely people through blogs but last week I got to share food with them and when I was too late to know who made what, I was able to find out later by reading Steph's post on the vegan potluck picnic. I will tell you about the quiches and truffles I made but I recommend you check out Steph's gorgeous foodie photos if you want to know about the full meal.



Cindy kindly invited me and I was happy when I was able to go. It was to start at 6 or 7pm which was when we would be feeding and bathing Sylvia, plus E had a cold, so I went alone. Although I have met with bloggers on a few other occasions, this was my first experience of cooking for other bloggers, and it had to be vegan. It felt a little scary but I have read enough to know food bloggers are forgiving people who make great food and the odd mistake. Besides, I make plenty of vegan food.



However, I will readily admit to being one of the food bloggers who makes the occasionally mistake. We all know that when cooking for others, we should stick to recipes we know are failproof. But where is the fun in that?



I chanced upon a recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen for Mini Crustless Tofu Quiches. It is one I have wanted to make for ages because I thought it might be a good idea for my sister with celiac disease. They might also suit those on a low-carb diet.



I was hopelessly disorganised. The day before the potluck I went to the local health food store because I had run out of nutritional yeast flakes but they were closed for the Boxing Day holiday. Fortunately I had also fancied trying Ricki's Egg-Free Quiche with Millet Crust (luckily I had bookmarked it because I couldn't find it on her index - must be the one that got away!).



So I created the quiches with inspiration from these two recipes. I suspect I might have had better luck following either recipe closely because mine were a little more moist than I had planned. You can see above that half of them stuck to the silicone moulds. They tasted good but next time I would like them firmer. Perhaps more cornflour, less milk or firmer tofu might help. I did like the cute little cherry tomato slices on top. I have written what I did below but it is a work in progress recipe.



Concerned about these mini quiches, I decided I needed another dish. Fate directed me to Kristy's Almond Fudge (she is formerly of Kblog but now at a new home called In the Mood for Noodles). Dates and almond butter rolled into truffle-like balls, these were a cross between Ricki's Chocolate Cashew Truffles and her Cocoa Nibbles. I then saw the dates should soak overnight in soy milk. Bah to that on the morning of the picnic! I decided to gently heat my dates in cranberry juice and add some dried cranberries. I was tempted to also add some orange zest and cinnamon but didn't have the time for hard decisions on flavourings.



These cranberry almond truffles were excellent. Lots of chocolate flavour, a little fruity and lots of coconut and nut texture, they were like a grown-up vegan gluten-free version of grubs. I can give no higher praise. I took some leftovers to Geelong the next day and my mum and sister Chris loved them but they were quite rich for my sister Susie and for E, so you have been warned.



Cindy had suggested the starting time was between 6 and 7pm. To me that means I can leave at 7. Sylvia decided to be on a late schedule and slept at 5pm. I had tried to get her to sleep earlier but it took me, E and Zinc all sleeping on the bed with her (and a bit of guitar and feeding) to get her down. When I rose I decided we were so low on bread I should make scones and that I needed to make a quick pumpkin and lentil puree for Sylvia.



I wanted a quick scone recipe with oats. The one I found said to soak the oats for 30 minutes but I only did it for about 15 minutes and the scones were a tad heavy. Sylvia cried when we tried to feed her the puree so I might as well have skipped the scones and puree and got there earlier but you can only try.



By the time I arrived at the picnic it was after 7 and the feasting had already been going for some time because most people had started eating at 6pm.When I arrived, Cindy kindly served me some of her amazing combination of savoury avocado and tomato icecream with corn chips (nacho sundaes?). I enjoyed sampling Bec's nutty filled vol au vents, Toby's sushi and polished off Kristy's amazing chickpea and smoked tofu pate. By then desserts were calling me. Lisa's hedgehog, Danni's version of these oreo truffles, Kristy's cheesecake truffles and Tahn's chocolate banana bread filled me with chocolate happiness. I was grateful for Tahn's fruit platter to give my arteries a breather. Sadly, I didn't even get to the drinks and the corner with Carla and Vicki's food. Never let anyone tell you that vegans can't eat well!



It was great to meet the people behind the blogs I love to read. I find a large group overwhelming and didn't manage to talk to everyone but I had some good conversations and felt very welcome. Even Lisa's cute little dog Kimba came over for a snuggle. It was a lovely balmy summer's evening for meeting up in Princes Park, my old stomping ground. I managed to leave my sunglasses behind, almost destroyed Toby's ipod speakers and left with a few mozzie bites but I really enjoyed spending time with fellow foodies and bloggers.



Almond, Date and Cranberry Truffles

adapted from In the Mood for Noodles

makes lots (at least 30)



½ cup dates

¼ cup dried cranberries

½ cup cranberry juice

250g jar of almond butter

½ cup cocoa

1 cup dessicated coconut

extra coconut for coating truffles



Finely chop dates and cranberries. Place in small saucepan with cranberry juice and bring to boil. Simmer gently for about 3 minutes or til fruit is softening and most but not all juice is absorbed. Cool slightly if you have time. Stir in almond butter, cocoa and coconut to make a stiff mixture. Roll into balls about the size of walnuts and toss in extra coconut.



Mini Tofu Crustless Quiches

inspired by Diet, Dessert and Dogs and FatFree Vegan Kitchen

makes 12-20 depending on size



1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

kernels of 1 corn cob

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

100g baby spinach, finely chopped

300g silken tofu

10 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp tahini

2 tsp white miso (though 1 might be enough)

1 tsp tamari or soy sauce

¼ tsp smoked paprika

dash of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

3 tbsp soy milk

sliced cherry tomatoes, for decoration



Heat oil in a frypan and fry onion on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add garlic, corn and thyme and fry for another 10 minutes. Add spinach and cook another 2 minutes or until it is just wilted.



Meanwhile blend tofu, sun dried tomatoes, tahini, white miso, tamari, smoked paprika and cayenne in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Taste to check seasoning and adjust if necessary. Tip into a large mixing bowl.



In a small bowl or mug dissolve cornflour in soy milk.



Add vegetable mixture and cornflour mixture to the tofu mixture and stir to combine. Spoon into mini muffin trays. I made about 20 but you can make them a bit bigger and have less. My mini muffin trays are silicone so I didn't grease but as they stuck to one tray I wonder if I should have lined them with paper cups. Push a cherry tomato slice into the top of each quiche so the sides of the slice are submerged in the mixture and only the top can be seen.



Bake for about 30 minutes at 190 C. You can eat them hot but they will need to sit for 10-20 minutes and even then will be very soft. I put mine in the fridge overnight and found they held together a bit better that way. We ate them cold but I think they could be rewarmed in the oven.



Oat and Barley Scones

from Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder (also in Cuisine 26/2/2007, Fiona Smith, Issue 121)

makes 16



½ cup pearl barley

½ cup rolled oats

200ml milk plus a little extra if needed

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

75g butter



NOTE: I didn't have time to soak barley so I used another ½ cup rolled oats but would like to try this with pearl barley. Instead I used ½ cup barley flour instead of the wholemeal flour. I also used margarine and soy milk (getting in the vegan potluck vibe). I only soaked the oats 15 minutes and the scones were a bit heavy but will report back if I get to try these again.



Soak barley in a bowl of cold water overnight. Before making scones, drain barley and rinse with cold water. Then place soaked and drained barley in a bowl with oats and milk for 30 minutes.



Preheat the oven to 200°C. Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (this can be done in a food processor). Using a knife, gently mix in the barley mixture to form a ball of dough (add a little more milk if the dough doesn’t come together easily).



The less this dough is handled the better. Turn out on to a floured board and gently roll out to a 1.5cm thickness. Cut out circles using a 6cm scone cutter. Gently knead the off-cuts together and roll out again to cut more scones until you have used all the dough.



Place on a floured baking tray (I greased mine). Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.



Serving suggestion: Serve with creamy blue cheese and raspberry jam.



On the Stereo:

From the Witchwood: the Strawbs