Dairy-free Lemon and Coconut Muffins

Based on a simple recipe for muffins, I added my own lemon and coconut flavour. I also skipped the milk so my husband could try these as he has a lactose intolerance, I used lemon juice and coconut milk instead. They turned out well, with a subtle coconut and lemon flavour, you could really smell it as they baked. So to the basic recipe I added 1 tablespoon of lemon rind and 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut, and instead of the cup of milk, I used the juice of one lemon and coconut milk to make up one cup. Yummo!

these lemon and coconut muffins have coconut milk and lemon juice in them instead of milk

they have a lovely subtle flavour

Lemon Polenta Biscuits

These biscuits are dairy free, as well as egg free, and don't require an electric mixer. I found the recipe for passionfruit and lemon polenta biscuits on taste.com.au and they turned out fine. I just used normal plain flour instead of the gluten free flour suggested as that's what I had in my pantry. I baked them for a few extra minutes which maybe I shouldn't have done as the biscuits turned out a bit chewy, but I'm not sure if they're meant to be like that. The passionfruit icing is nice, I never knew you could make passionfruit icing by just adding the fruit to the icing sugar like that! It was easy enough for me to pull off!

these lemon polenta biscuits are dairy and egg free

the passionfruit icing was really easy to make

Old Potted Lime finds a new home

Our old potted lime tree which must be nearly 5 years old by now, has been looking worse for wear lately to say the least. We've had to prune it a bit lately due to bore wasp, or citrus gall wasp, so its looking scrawny, and we also went through a dry spell when the lime tree got forgotten! Its amazing it's survived the treatment it's gotten! We finally re-potted it into a big pot the other day. When we pulled it out of the old pot we were both surprised to find the root ball was smaller than we expected, due to the water reservoir taking up space in the bottom of the pot. The lime tree was very root bound, but we weren't sure how much to tease the roots, as we had found conflicting information on the net, so we just teased the roots a little and didn't really prune the root ball as such. We filled the bottom with a good quality potting mix, it should do well in its new home!

a tired old lime tree gets a bigger pot and a new home

New Veggie Patches Winter 2014

We've finally planted out our new veggie patch, as well as the old one, so now we have two. Although we have a lot of seeds to use, we decided to buy some seedlings from the local Bunnings store and planted out some rosemary, parsley, rhubarb, silverbeet and zucchini. After we planted them out, we threw some lettuce and rocket seeds down as well for good measure.

some new parsley planted out in the old veggie patch

rosemary, zucchini, silverbeet and lettuce seeds planted out into the new veggie patch

parsley, rhubarb and rocket seeds planted out into the old veggie patch

a rhubarb seedling

a zucchini seedling

the new rosemary plant

Dairy-free Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm not sure if these peanut butter cookies are fit for adult consumption, but they might be ok as they're very sweet! There are many recipes for these 3 ingredients cookies, I followed the recipe on allrecipes.com. There are just 3 simple ingredients, peanut butter, sugar and an egg, so not only are they dairy-free but they're also gluten free. This was easy enough for me to do with my son! He helped mix the batter and roll out some cookies on the tray. This is a great activity to do with a young child! The cookies came out of the oven very soft and they had flattened out a bit, but they hardened when cool. I might do this activity with Thomas again when he feels like baking!

these peanut butter cookies were very easy to make

there are just 3 simple ingredients for these cookies, peanut butter, sugar and an egg

3 year old Thomas helped with the mixing

Thomas also helped roll out a few cookies, here they are before they went in the oven

here are the cookies straight out of the oven, they had flattened out a bit and were very soft but hardened when cool

Classic Blueberry Muffins

When I put them in the oven, I thought these blueberry muffins would be an epic fail! But they turned out ok! I followed the recipe for classic blueberry muffins on taste.com.au, it was a challenge because I had my 3 year old son at home with me so I had trouble concentrating on getting the ingredient quantities right. I got him to help by mixing the flour, and putting patty pans in the muffin tray, but he quickly lost interest and went off to play. I was sure I had screwed it up when I added the liquid, it was very floury and sticky. I had a lot of trouble spooning the mixture into the patty pans, it was so sticky it wouldn't come off the spoon. But the muffins turned out fine after 20 minutes in the oven, and they were yummy as well!


these blueberry muffins could have been an epic fail but weren't

Baked Rice Pudding

I found a website that explains the basic rice pudding recipe that you can bake in the oven, along with some suggestions for spicing up the flavour. I had a go at making it myself, it wasn't too hard, with only 4 simple ingredients, plus I added cinnamon for flavour (I used soy milk because of my husband's dairy intolerance). The recipe says to bake it for 2 hours at 300f, which I converted to 150c, but it wasn't ready after 2 hours, so I turned it up to 160c and baked it for an extra 30 minutes then it was ready. I thought it was yummy but my husband didn't like the texture of it which is a shame, otherwise I would make this again. Maybe I will for myself when I'm alone at home with nothing to do but eat some yummy rice pudding!

you mix the ingredients straight into the baking dish, so mess is at a minimum!

4 simple ingredients, sugar, rice, salt and milk, plus cinnamon for optional flavour

rice pudding for one because my husband didn't like it!

Chicken with Risoni and Eggplant

This is a meal I could cook again, it turned out quite well and was easy enough for me to do on my own. I found the recipe for chicken drumsticks with ratatouille risoni on taste.com.au and I followed it except it needed 3 times more risoni than stated in the recipe. I used a cup of risoni instead of just one third and it turned out how I expected. Yummo! I am well on my way to over coming these silly anxieties I have around cooking!


this was an easy dish to cook and was delicious

Ham and Risoni Salad for one

I had a go at making some yummy lunch for myself on a day when Thomas was at day care. I really have to think hard for things to do when he isn't here otherwise the day goes so very slowly and its quite depressing! Making a yummy lunch gave me something to look forward to and broke up the day. There is only so much cleaning and baking one can do! I had almost all of the ingredients for this ham and risoni salad recipe that I found on taste.com.au, but I didn't have the corn, so I substituted them for sundried tomatoes.


I didn't have corn so I used sundried tomatoes instead for this yummy ham and risoni salad

I am thinking of joining a gym to get me out of the house more. I think it will do wonders for desensitising my anxiety for going out, especially when on my own. So I am hopping on our exercise bike more often, because I'm hoping I will get a little bit more fit before joining the gym! I don't want to waste money on gym membership if I'm not fit enough to do the classes I want to do! Well those are my hopes anyway. It certainly is quite hard to chip away at anxiety, but I will get there!

Pear and Cashew Slice

I found the recipe for this pear and cashew slice after searching for things I could make to use up some cashews I have in my pantry. It turned out quite nice, and was easy enough for me to do on my own. No need for an electric mixer, ours is too heavy for me to drag out of the cupboard by myself. I used nuttelex so the slice is dairy free, but I just used normal self-raising flour not the gluten free kind as I don't have any in my pantry. Now this made 12 slices, I hope we get to eat it all before it turns bad! I will have to curb my urge to bake until the left overs in the fridge are gone!


there was a lot of pear in this pear and cashew slice



I made a beautiful mess while baking!

a pear and cashew slice for one



this pear and cashew slice made 12 slices



Russian Apple Pie

I had a go at making this Russian apple pie, which was easy enough for me. There are just 4 simple ingredients, apples, flour, sugar and eggs. I found the idea for the recipe at My Fridge Food, a site where you can enter the contents of your pantry, and it suggests recipes you can cook with what you have. Its an awesome idea, and it means you can make lots of things without having to buy anything special or waiting for a chance to get to the shops.


Russian apple pie is a simple cake that is dairy free

 

This pie, which is more a cake than a pie, turned out ok, but I think I cooked mine a bit too high and it came out a bit crunchy instead of soft. And I think the batter should be mixed a little with the apples, as mine didn't fall all the way through to the bottom. I turned it over and only a little bit of the batter came through, so I didn't turn my cake upside as suggested.

there are only 4 simple ingredients, apples, eggs, sugar and plain flour

If I cook this again, I'll mix the batter with the apples a little bit. We shall see if my husband likes it! The good thing about this cake is its dairy free!


Russian apple pie cooking in the oven

 

Dairy Free Chocolate Muffins

My apologies, but I don't have a recipe link for these dairy free chocolate muffins which I made the other day, I just have it on a piece of paper. I was very nervous to have a go at these on my own, I worry that I will screw it up and waste the ingredients, but they turned out fine! I think I'll make more for my husband's birthday which is coming up. I'd rather make the muffins than a cake because the cake tends to not be cooked in the middle, which can be very disappointing.


some dairy free chocolate muffins I cooked on my own