Part 1: Gluten-Free, Egg-Free Vanilla Biscuits with Lemon Curd Filling

Part 1: The Biscuits

Credit for the framework of this wonderful biscuit recipe goes to Emily from Recipes to Nourish.

Buttery. Melt-in-your-mouth. Four ingredients. Easy peasy.

Need I say more?

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup white rice flour (Entice rice flour)
• 1/4 cup excellent tasting honey (liquid)
• 1 pinch of vanilla seeds or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Method:

Pick subtle tasting and beautiful honey. Use vanilla seeds instead of extract if possible.

• Process ingredients in a food processor until a ball of dough is formed.

• Roll tablespoon-sized balls and flatten slightly between your palms, laying the dough on a buttered and floured non-stick baking sheet.

• If you're feeling compelled, decorate the dough with a cookie cutter imprint.

• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes.

• Allow biccies to cool on the tray before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

Part 2: The Filling follows tomorrow...

Not Quite Nigella's Buns

Innuendo aside, Easter 2014 asked for spiced honey buns.

These answered, and answered well.

 

Spiced Honey Buns 

(Adapted from Not Quite Nigella's Spiced Honey Buttered Hot Cross Buns)

My version of the recipe contains: 

• no gluten 
• no eggs
• no refined sugar

GF Flour Mix:

• 700ml white rice flour (I use Entice Rice Flour)
• 300ml tapioca flour or potato starch (I use Nature's Choice)

Ingredients for Honey Buns:

• 2 Tbsp instant dried yeast
• 125ml honey (+ extra for honey-butter glaze)
• 375ml buttermilk (warm)
• 4.5 cups gf flour mix (1125ml of flour)
• 5ml salt
• 50g unsalted butter (melted) (+ extra for honey-butter glaze)
• 5ml ground cinnamon
• 2.5ml mixed spices
• 1.5 cups dried raisins or sultanas (preservative free)
• Optional: a few blocks of 55 - 70% dark chocolate

Method:

1. In a bowl, stir the warm buttermilk, honey and yeast together. Set aside to froth for a few minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, melted butter, spices, raisins and yeast-buttermilk-honey mixture.
3. Use your hands to press the dough together and cover the bowl with some cling wrap while it rises. 
4. Line a baking sheet with some baking paper and form little bun shapes.
5. Bake the buns in a pre-heated oven of 180 - 200 degrees Celsius for 20 - 30 minutes (depending on the size of the buns).
6. Glaze the buns with melted honey and butter, or try inserting a piece of dark chocolate into the centre of the bun just as it gets out the oven. The result is a spicy honey pan au chocolat wannabe.

P.S. Dogs will want to eat these yummy tasting buns but raisins are SUPER TOXIC for dogs, as they can cause kidney failure! Keep watch over your furry friends around raisins (and grapes) please.

A little soup is good for the soul

As Mike said to Bella in Twilight:

"Hey Arizona, how you likin' the rain, girl?"

The almost constant wet weather is now firmly rooted in the middle of its second week.

I could quote another Twilight gem here, I suppose, as a prelude to this post:

"...Under a near constant cover of clouds and rain..."

We have a high-energy Irish terrier/Irish wolfhound cross, whose wiry fur seems to absorb atmospheric water vapour like a sponge, who doesn't quite know what to do with herself. 

There's been a lot of inside pillow lying with wistful stares towards the garden through the misted up windows interspersed with bouts of wild passage "fetch" sessions to release some of the pent-up energy.

Meego: "Le sigh."

This rather wet Autumnal weather has also led one of the bi-peds in the house to have cravings for soup at the oddest times of day, like, for instance, breakfast time.

Since I have never really been one to quarantine food stuffs to particular times of day (dessert makes a perfectly good breakfast on occasion), soup for breakfast really isn't half bad (at least its healthier than dessert for breakfast).

Enter the magic helping blades of the food processor.

Just bung whatever fresh vegetables and herbs you have in your fridge into the bowl; blitz to the desired consistency; throw in a soup pot; cover with boiled water; add seasoning and 30 - 40 mins later; you have a tasty wet weather cure for whatever grey-sky blahs ail you.

Carrot, green bean, red pepper, Swiss chard, basil, lemon thyme, bay leaf soup
(with a fried egg for Simmy)

Sweet potato, carrot, green bean soup
(with hidden shavings of pecorino cheese melting at the bottom of the bowl)

Tree of Life Yoga

Tree of Life Yoga aims to offer affordable yoga classes for everyone who has a desire to experience the many benefits of yoga, regardless of shape, size and fitness levels. All levels of experience are welcome.

The benefits of yoga occur on many levels. With regular classes, you may begin to experience increased flexibility, fitness and balance, as well as an intrinsic sense of well being.

At Tree of Life Yoga, we practise serious yoga with a sense of humour!

My journey with yoga began in 1999, and over the past 16 years I have found the practise to be one of the most portable of movement forms. Have mat - will yoga!

I have studied and practised yoga under the guidance of wonderful teachers around South Africa and various parts of the world. As a veteran of the Iyengar style of yoga, I remain inspired by Trevor Koch, the yoga teacher who first modelled advanced poses to me in classes, as well as their modifications, proving that yoga can be accessible to all levels of practitioners. I have taken this teaching approach to heart, and like to incorporate modifications to suit a variety of needs.

I'm no yoga purist, and you'll sometimes spot other movement forms I have studied, namely NIA (w. Kathy Wolstenholme), ballet (w. Joy Cooper) and kickboxing (w. Shihan Pat Carney), making their way into my yoga sequences (especially yogalates classes).

Since teaching my first yoga class in 2003, I have come to realise that true yoga can be practised anywhere, from noisy recreation centres to crowded school halls to small home studios. The setting ceases to be so important when you realise that it's within the temple of your own body that the transcendent experiences in yoga are created.

Come join in the fun!

Class schedule.

Class fees.

Location.

Of New Years and Lunches

New Year = New Recipe Books

There's nothing better than a spot of cooking motivation to start off the new year well.

And boy, do these two recipe books deliver!

#1

The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

This book is a visual feast of vegetarian recipes, with each recipe visually represented not only with a photo of the finished product, but also of the ingredients.

The quirky layout and imaginative recipes will have you coming back again and again to these pages.

#2

Lunch At The Shop - The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal by Peter Miller

This is an extremely orderly book, written by a book store owner who decided to make lunch a daily habit, shared in preparation and enjoyment with his staff and co-workers.

Peter Miller's structured writing and nuanced descriptions of luncheons, no matter how simple, make each and every one sound like a feast.

   "...Lunch is important. It is, in a way, the good part. It is the separation between the front of the day and the back, a narrow strip between stretches of work. Talking and sitting with others allows us to leave the pencil, or the laptop, or the phone and enjoy a break. We can get back to work in a few minutes, revived.

   Now that we make it every day, we anticipate it, we sit for it, and, in quiet, subtle ways, we work at is. It can save a workday all on its own, this moment of a little care and community. It is a time to relax and enjoy - no small matter in the gears of the workday." (p.10)

Ginger Biscuits

Made by: Simeon

Recipe: Adapted from Jamie Oliver's "Jamie" magazine, December 2013, pg 54.

Allergens: Milk (in the butter)

Makes: 22 - 24 biscuits

Takes: About 30 mins from start to first batch out the oven.

Smells like: Christmas

Ingredients:

• 300 grams gluten-free cake flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice (or just nutmeg, if you prefer)
• 125 grams butter
• 100 grams sugar
• 1 Dsp honey

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line two baking sheets with baking paper and dust them with a little extra flour.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Melt the butter, sugar and honey together over low heat.
5. Stir the butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
6. Use a tablespoon to measure out balls of the mixture, which you then press flat(ish) on your palms.
7. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until a little golden brown at the edges.

P.S. These taste like Christmas too.
 

Cute *PRODUCTS* and cool *READING*

Useful for what Nigella Lawson calls "the cook's treat".

The Nibble Cake Taster - Talia Wiener - available on Superbalist here.

Who wouldn't want to go camping in one of these?

VW Campervan Tent - The Monster Factory - available on Superbalist here.

A short, beautifully written piece on transformation and flow, written by the handcraftedtravellers here, whose motto is:

Live simply, live well.

Good advice.

*Upcoming Event*

Would you like to meet some local cookbook authors?

Where:

Reader’s Warehouse (Tokai branch)
Block 1, No 1, South Palms Centre,
Corner Bark and Main Rd
Tokai

When:

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Contact details:

Tel (021) 701 0632

About the event:

All eight authors will be signing their books (personalised Christmas gift for someone, perhaps?)

The book signing event is officially from 12 noon to 1pm.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be served, courtesy of Peacock Coffee and Mantelli’s bakery (wonder if there'll be any gluten-free yummies?)

There will also be some braai sets as giveaway prizes, courtesy of Penguin Books.

So if you happen to be in Cape Town next weekend, and feel like popping in, now you know where to be!

*Sponsored GIVEaway* and *Recipe*

I've been watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage to the Core, in which Hugh "wants to sow the seeds of change and revolutionise the way [people] use fruit in Britain." He reckons that Brits have a fairly solitary view on the use of fruits, and wants to shake things up a bit. 

Watching these episodes has got me to thinking how my own tastebuds have changed of late, and in the past few months (especially in this hot Summery weather), I find myself craving fruit and savoury pairings.

A slice of Italian smoked provolone cheese on a bed of peppery wild rocket with slices of juicy, tangy nectarines.

Roast chicken with sweet, fresh mango pieces.

Salads with salty feta cheese, radishes, bell peppers and golden delicious apples.

I do so love a good apple. 

Sadly, apples are a Winter fruit, and are a little past their freshest and crispiest best at the moment. However, they are still available to buy and are still fantastic for cooking with!

Favouring the sweet and salty, I prepared this recipe based on what I was craving for lunch.

Enjoy.

Apple-licious sautéed Onions with 

wilted Baby Spinach on

Basmati Rice, served with

fresh Radish slices and

home made Yoghurt

Steps to follow:

Step 1: Pick your cooking apple of choice. For savoury dishes, I prefer Granny Smith apples, as their tart acidity and subtle sweetness holds up admirably against stronger savoury flavours such as cooked onions.

Step 2: Sauté three small onions and one large Granny Smith apple, chopped, on medium heat in some fruity olive oil until the onions are soft and transparent. Sprinkle lightly with salt and set aside to cool.

Step 3: Wilt some baby spinach in a pan (with a lid) over high heat. Season with a little salt and set aside to cool.

Step 4a: Simmer some Basmati rice with some coarse sea salt and a fresh bay leaf until ready (follow the instructions on the packet as cooking times vary according to brand).

Step 4b: Dish up some Basmati rice in an individual serving bowl.

Step 5: Add some wilted baby spinach leaves.

Step 6: Spoon on some sautéed Granny Smith apple and onions.

Step 7: Garnish with a few thin slices of fresh radish.

Step 8a: Serve with some fresh plain yoghurt (buy your favourite or try making it at home - it's a manageable and rewarding experience)...

Step 8b: ...and a sprinkle of black pepper.

* All fresh produce used in my recipe courtesy of Spar's Freshline range of produce, and all ingredients were bought with a two-hundred rand (R200-) voucher kindly provided by Spar.

Voucher giveaway:

Spar have generously donated a three-hundred rand (R300-) voucher which one lucky South African reader can win and enjoy in any of the many, many branches of Spar spread across our country.

To enter, simply leave a comment (or a simple "me too" if you don't feel like being verbose) in the comments section below. Please include your e-mail address so that I have a way of contacting you should you be the lucky winner!

Entries close at midnight on 30 November 2013. 

The winner will be drawn on 1 December 2013.

Good luck! 

Update: And the winner is...

Congratulations to commenter Yoga ist Toll on winning the Spar voucher. I'll be in touch to organise your prize getting to you.

*New Section: Q and A*

I've received a lot of questions regarding allergen-free living, products and recipes specific to the South African context over the years of this blog's life. I don't know why it hasn't occurred to me to start a Q & A section ages ago (?!) but now that has been rectified and here it is:

Q and A

The questions and answers listed here are directly related to my recipes listed on this site. I will add questions I've been asked on a broad range of foodie topics in the coming months.