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Broccoli, Leek, Chicken and Speck Baked

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Baked Broccoli, Leek and more

Baking dish is 30cm x 30cm x 8cm

We’re in full swing winter mode over here in Brisbane. Well as winter as you can get in Brisbane with a daily average of 15 degrees celsius. Lately I’ve been making soups and other wintery food. I had a lot of broccoli in my fridge and decided to use this as a soup base. I did some searching online and found some appealing recipes with a combination of ingredients including some baked recipes. I was on my way home to make another soup and somehow 2 hours later I had this delicious baked dinner ready to eat. Here is the recipe for this tasty broccoli, leek, chicken and speck baked meal.

Serves: A small army

Ingredients

  • 2 leeks, white stem only (cut lengthways, then quartered)
  • 3 cloves of garlic (crushed or sliced)
  • 600 grams of broccoli florets (cut smallish sizes)
  • 500 grams of low carb potato
  • 250 grams sliced mushrooms
  • 750 grams chicken thighs (diced)
  • 350 grams speck
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 8 eggs

Instructions

  1. Preheat fan forced oven to 200 degrees celsius
  2. Fry the leek in a wok or pan for 3-4 minutes then add to large mixing bowl
  3. Slice the speck lengthways into thick pieces (roughly 5mm each) till golden brown. Then slice into toothpick like pieces then add to mixing bowl.
  4. Using the oil from the speck fry the mushrooms off and add to mixing bowl.
  5. Stir fry/steam the broccoli until slightly soft but not too soft. Add to the mixing bowl.
  6. Stir fry garlic for a minute then fry off the chicken till no longer pink.
  7. Beat the eggs in a smaller bowl and then beat in the coconut milk.
  8. Pour this into the larger mixing bowl and stir well
  9. Steam or slightly boil to half soft the potatoes then quarter each potato. Add this to the mixing bowl if there is room.
  10. Add the chicken and other ingredients to your baking dish and stir well.
  11. Add some spices to taste. I used a dry mix of rosemary, ginger, pepper and chilli flakes.
  12. Place the dish in the middle of your oven at 200 degrees celsius for 35 minutes.
  13. Check to make sure the top has browned nicely then reduce the oven to 160 degrees celsius and cook for another 30 minutes.

Notes: 

To make this vegan/vegetarian replace the meats with more vegetables such as carrots and zucchini. Use your favourite egg substitute to bind it all together.

This also freezes well to have for lunches later.

 

 

Organic Breakfast Juice

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I’ve decided to make myself some organic breakfast juice so that I can get some extra nutrients while my body recovers from the last stint in hospital. I grabbed a bunch of different organic fruits and vegetables from my local markets for the ingredients and it tastes great! This is super easy to make and only takes about 35 minutes.

Makes roughly 2 liters

Ingredients

  • 2 bunches of kale stalks (makes 200ml)
  • 1 medium beetroot (makes 100ml)
  • 5 carrots (makes 275ml)
  • 5 celery stalks (makes 325ml)
  • 1 medium bunch broccoli (makes 100ml)
  • 1 large orange (makes 250ml)
  • 3 small apples (makes 275ml)
  • 1/2 large pineapple (makes 600ml)

Instructions

  1. I juiced the different fruit and vegetables in the listed order and joined them in a single jug to mix. My juicer doesn’t fit much in it which is why I did everything in stages.
  2. Refrigerate and drink as you want.

Banana and Chia Seed Cake

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2015-05-04 17.12.49I have wanted to try out a gluten free alternative to one of my favourite cakes (banana cake) and finally got the chance to do it. I had too many banana’s in my freezer and a surprising amount of coconut flour. So I thought I would put something together and see how it turned out.

Serves 12 possibly more.

Ingredients

  • 500 grams of bananas (usually 4)
  • 6 free range eggs
  • 40g of sultanas
  • 20g of slivered almonds
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean pod
  • 60 ml coconut oil
  • half teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
  • 70 g coconut flour
  • 20 g chia seed

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius
  2. Combine the bananas, eggs, vanilla extract, coconut oil, cinnamon and baking powder in a food processor and blend to combine, or combine in a large bowl.
  3. Add the sultanas and almonds to the mixture.
  4. Stir in the coconut flour and chia seeds and let it sit for 10 minutes. The batter should thicken by the end.
  5. Oil a bread pan ready for the batter use baking paper if you have it.
  6. Add the batter to the pan.
  7. Cook in the oven for 60 minutes, check at 50 minutes with a skewer at the centre (it should come out dry).

Notes: If you want it to be a little sweeter you can add maple syrup, honey or stevia to sweeten. 

Once the cake has cooked, remove from pan leave on a drying rack to cool. You can serve as is or with ricotta, ice cream or other delicious toppings.

 

Banana Coconut and Chia Pudding

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Banana Coconut and Chia Pudding

Banana Coconut and Chia Pudding

This is a nice simple banana coconut and chia pudding that I like to make. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and then you can leave it in the fridge overnight or for a couple of days. I make enough to get 4-5 serves from a single batch. It’s delicious, quick and easy.

Serves 4-6 or more if you want smaller portions.

Ingredients

  • 200grams chia seeds
  • 250ml coconut milk
  • 250ml coconut water
  • 2 large bananas (frozen or fresh)
  • 50grams of slivered almonds
  • 4 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey to sweeten
  • 50 grams of frozen raspberries
  • 50 grams of frozen mango

Directions

Base preparation 

  1. In a bowl squish the bananas until you have a nice paste like consistency. If they were frozen defrost them first.
  2. Add the chia seeds and stir.
  3. Add the coconut milk and coconut water.
  4. Stir in the almond slivers.
  5. Stir in the maple syrup.
  6. Spoon the ingredients into each container and cover with plastic wrap to place in the fridge. I use rocks glasses as my serving container you could also use ramekins.  Be sure to leave some space for the topping when you’re serving.

Topping

  1. Once the containers have been in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours (I prefer overnight) they are ready to serve.
  2. Slightly defrost the raspberries and mango by either leaving them out for 30 minutes or putting them in the microwave for 30 seconds on high.
  3. Spoon the topping onto the pudding and its ready to serve.

Notes: You can mix it up by changing the toppings or adding or removing things from the base pudding. I have seen a few with berries in the base mixture or even vital greens. It’s up to you how you make the base pudding.

Red Cabbage and Roast Beetroot Salad

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Red Cabbage and Roast Beetroot Salad

Red Cabbage and Roast Beetroot Salad

Every week I try to create a new salad and I have experimented with raw cabbage salads for a while now and I tried a new one last night that I think is pretty good. It’s simple and doesn’t take too long to make. There are only a few ingredients to this and a bit of time to roast the beetroot. This is vegan and gluten-free and all my ingredients are organic from the local weekly markets.

Serves 5 Adults a lot of salad

Ingredients

  • Half a medium red cabbage
  • 2 large beetroot
  • 1 corn on the cob
  • Handful of coriander (cilantro)
  • 1 medium green capsicum (pepper)
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Beetroot prep

  1. Pre heat the oven to 180 C.
  2. Slice the top and bottom off the beetroot to make it flat. Cut the beetroot into roughly 1cm thick slices.
  3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon on a baking tray and then place the slices on it. Drizzle another 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the slices and sprinkle with a bit of salt.
  4. Once the oven is ready put the slices in and leave on one side for 10 minutes before turning over and leaving for another 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely.
  5. Once they are cool, slice into cubes ready to add to the bowl.

Salad

  1. Slice the corn off the cob into a large mixing bowl.
  2. If you have a food processor use the slicer blade or slice the red cabbage and capsicum into thin slices and add to the mixing bowl.
  3. Rinse the coriander and slice into roughly 2cm lengths. Add this to the bowl and using your fingers mix all the ingredients.
  4. Add the beetroot to the bowl along with the olive oil and apple cider vinegar.
  5. Toss all the ingredients in the bowl to get a good coverage.
  6. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Food processor note: I cut the capsicum into rough chunks big enough to feed into the food processor. You can remove the seed pod if you like but I leave them in and only remove the stalk. I feed the cabbage in straight after.