Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dairy free margarine (or butter)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Assorted candies, sprinkles, or coloured sugars, for decorating (optional)

1. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic; freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes, or place in a resealable plastic bag, and freeze up to 3 months (thaw in refrigerator overnight).

2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting dough with flour as needed. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets. (If dough gets soft, chill 10 minutes.) Re-roll scraps; cut shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.

3. Bake, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size). Cool completely on wire racks. To ice cookies, spread with the back of a spoon. Let the icing harden, about 20 minutes. Decorate as desired.


Note: To make icing, sift 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar into a small bowl. Whisk in 3 to 4 tablespoons milk, water, or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If too thin, whisk in more sugar; if too thick, add more liquid.


TIPS: Use flour on utensils to keep dough from sticking: Dip the cookie cutters, and dust the spatula before transferring uncooked dough to a sheet. Rolling dough between two sheets of floured parchment will keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.
You can store cookies in airtight containers at room temperature, up to 1 week.

Muesli Bread - breadmaker recipe

This is a great recipe for people, like me, who are not good at having breakfast (cereal & milk, that is!). Toast is a whole lot easier to do when your eyes are blurry and head fuggy! I make a large 1.5kg loaf that lasts me just over a week if I slice and freeze the bread.

2 cups water, tepid
4 tablespoons coconut milk powder
2 tablespoon honey
1 tsp salt
4 tablespoons oil
4 cups plain flour
3 tablespoons gluten flour
3 cups muesli (I used a real cheap brand that had lots of dried fruit in it)
3 tsp breadmaker yeast

Place all the ingredients in the baking pan in the order in which they are listed above. Set the programme to 'Basic'.

At the end of the cycle, turn out the bread onto a wire rack and leave it to cool. It's as simple as that, and oh so DELICIOUS!

Dairy Free Muffins

Sweet Muffins

2 Cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk I use rice milk for the milk but have used soy and regular.
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs whisked

TIP ~ If just doing plain you will need to add a little more milk or it will be too dry.

1. Preheat the oven (190-200 degrees Celsius).
2. Sift flour and add sugar in 1 bowl. In another bowl put whisked eggs, milk, and oil. Add wet to dry, using a large metal spoon to mix until just combined. I use a big serving spoon for this or the mix goes smooth like a cake mix and the muffins are very heavy and don't rise.
3. 3/4 full the muffin pans and cook for 18-20 min. Leave in pan for 10-15 min before turning out.

Variations
Banana use two mashed.
Pear 1 1/2 pear mashed.
Choc chip I use chopped up dairy-free chocolate.
Jam 1⁄4 teaspoon of jam in the middle. Put 1⁄2 mix in, put jam in middle then add extra mix on top.
Honeycomb on top or mixed into the mixture.
Coconut Small amount of coconut is nice.

I use muffin cases for all my muffins and they nearly all get frozen to be put in lunch boxes.

Savoury Muffins

2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup milk (or milk substitute)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs

Variations (add any of the following to muffin mix)
chives
Basil
Coriander
Cheese
Cheese and Bacon

The savoury ones are nicest on the day they are cooked or warmed in the microwave.

PIZZA

Breadmaker Pizza Dough
400 ml Water
2 Tbsp Oil
2 tsp Salt
2 1/2 cups Plain flour
2 1/2 cups Wholemeal flour
2 Tbsp Gluten flour
3 tsp Breadmaker Yeast

SETTING: Dough

Suggested Toppings
Tomato Sauce, capsicums, onions, tomatoes, pineapple pieces, olives, herbs, salami, ham, cheese, chicken, bacon

Handshaping (or bringing it all together to make pizza)
1. Half the mix. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 25 cm round for a thick based pizza or into 2 x 20cm rounds for a thinner based pizza.
2. Place onto a lightly greased baking tray. Spread or sprinkle pizza with selected pizza toppings.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes or until base is cooked and topping heated through


Variation (CALZONE)

I do this for my dairy-intolerant daughter, because without the cheese pizza toppings tend to fall off.
1. Take a portion of pizza dough and roll it out into a circle on a lightly floured surface.
2. Spread with pizza sauce, and other assorted pizza toppings. Fold in half pinching the edges to join.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes or until cooked.

I made both kinds of pizza for dinner tonight – DELICIOUS. We used lots of different kinds of meat, purchased from the deli and chopped up, Mozzarella Cheese for those of us okay with dairy, on a base of homemade pizza sauce!

wordless pancake recipe online...

Look at what some creative genius has created - great for if you are a visual learner, or if you can't read, or if you just like the way it looks! :D I am envisaging the creation of a wordless recipe book...

Cow Clear Chocolate Cashew Cookie

(fits in well with Cession – all the ccccccc’s that is;) )

1 cup dairy-free margarine
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chopped dairy-free chocolate (dark/bitter-sweet)
1 cup chopped cashew nuts

1 Preheat oven to 180`C. With an electric mixer, cream the margarine and both the sugars together until light and fluffy.
2 In a shaker or another bowl, mix the egg and vanilla essence, and then gradually beat into the margarine mixture. Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt and stir. Add the chocolate and cashew nuts, and mix to combine well.
3 Place heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough roughly 4 cm apart on baking trays. Bake in the oven until lightly coloured, about 10-15 minutes.

TIP
Don’t chop the chocolate and cashew nuts too fine – these taste great with big hunks of chocolate and nuts – MMMMMMM!!!

3.20pm (27th September 2006)
Name changed from "Best Ever Dairy-free Chocolate/Cashew Cookies" :- Thanks Jonathan for the idea - you win, you guessed it, a yummy cow clear chocolate cashew cookie as a prize.

Cake #4

Dairy version of cake #2 – We promised to take a cake in for Aimee to share with her class, and Aimee wanted it to look like last years cake (My Little Pony on a meadow of green grass). :)

The things we mum’s do for our kidlets!!!

Cake #3

This "cake" I am pleased to say, cos' it was so terrible, was not made by me.

After a morning of shopping we didn't have time to make one, and so it was off to the supermarket to get one. Not the nicest, but did the job, so that we could all sing "Happy Birthday" once again... :D And it put a lovely smile on the birthday girls face!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!!!

Aimee’s Birthday Cake #2

Aimee had her two “boyfriends” from school over for a play date to celebrate her birthday, and so another cake was in order. I needed to find a nice dairy-free chocolate cake and couldn’t find one – so, thanks to Alison Holst, I adapted one of hers (Kirsten’s Chocolate Cake, page 258, Alison Holst’s Good Food) – it was delicious!!! A real success!

Chocolate Cake (Dairy-free & Delicious)

125g margarine (dairy-free)
2 rounded household tablespoons golden syrup
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups soy milk

1. Put the margarine and golden syrup in a microwave dish and heat just until the margarine has melted. Stir to combine the two.

2. Put everything else in the food processor, with the eggs first and the soy milk last. Mix in brief busts, then add the golden syrup and margarine mixture, and process for two 30-second bursts, scraping down the sides of the food processor after the first burst.

3. Bake in two 20cm round tins for 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, or until the centre springs back and a skewer in the centre comes out clean. Eat within three days.

TIP
Line the cake tin with baking paper to avoid the cake sticking or overflowing during baking.

Chocolate Icing:
1 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp hot water
1 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup icing sugar

1. Heat together the margarine, water and cocoa in a small saucepan until the margarine has softened and all the ingredients are easily combined when stirring with a fork.

2. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat with a wooden spoon until it has been mixed in thoroughly, and the icing is smooth.

Aimee's Birthday Cake #1

We are having a weekend of birthday cake's because Aimee is turning 8!! Tonight we had pavlova with lashings of cream - YUM! Aimee's best friend, Ashlee, stayed the night to help us celebrate! My little girl is getting older...

Kudos to my wonderful hubby…

and friends...

My wonderful man knew I was having a hard day yesterday and so he spoiled me last night with a great meal, wine and flowers all presented with panache. It’s not something he ever does all that much (if ever!) and so I was shocked out of my funk and feel in the cloud of love now!! We had sirloin steak and a really nice red, and I didn’t have to lift a finger except to eat and enjoy it! Thanks Jonathan!

Also thanks to my good friends Vania and Jodee who have both helped me feel loved and cared for this week! I was momentarily feeling overwhelmed – and they made me realise the true value of friendship – thanks…

Hotcakes by Dee (dairy-free)

These are extremely delicious and are based on a american hotcake recipe, so you get pancakes like at McDonalds without the dairy! YUM! I use a 1/4 cup to measure out the batter, and it makes the perfect size. We make them for breakfast on any special day - birthdays, christmas, sleepover brunches - you name it, in fact any day is a good excuse to make them.

2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 tin coconut cream
1/2 cup water

Place top three ingredients into a bowl. Beat egg and sugar together. Add with liquids (coconut cream & water) to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Cook on a hot fry pan, until golden, flipping when the bubbles begin to burst.

Beef and Vegetable Stew

This is a very scrumptious stew, one in which the kid’s always ask for seconds.

For 5 servings:

750g chuck or blade steak
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp instant beef stock
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp thyme
2 onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups water


1. Cube steak. Coat with the next five ingredients in a plastic bag. Brown meat in a hot frying pan. Place in the crockpot.
2. Add vegetables and bay leaves. Mix together and then add hot water and stir well.
3. Cook on LOW for 8 hours, and then enjoy served with rice and seasonal vegetables.

Stone Soup

There is no stone in this soup – but my kid’s called it that after reading the traditional story about the woman who had no food, but whose community shared what they had to produce a delicious soup. :) This is a very delicious, quick and easy to make soup.

For 4 servings:

4 cups hot water
2 tsp instant chicken stock
2 tsp instant beef or bacon stock
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp margarine
1/2 cup pasta (macaroni or any other kind of pasta)
1 small onion
1 stick celery
1 small carrot
1 small potato
1/2 (400gm) can chopped tomatoes

1. Put hot water in a medium sized pot over high heat. Add the stock powder and sugar and margarine. When this comes to the boil add the pasta.
2. Prepare and add the vegetables in the given order. Chop the onion, celery, carrot and potato into small cubes.
3. The soup should be cooked around 15-20 minutes after pasta is added.

french pancakes - crepes

Makes 14-16 five inch pancakes:

2 eggs
2/3 cup milk (tastes good dairy-free, using soy milk or coconut milk as a substitute)
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar

1. Beat the eggs. Add to the beaten eggs, the milk, water and vanilla. In a larger bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients. Combine with as few strokes as possible. The objective is to moisten all the dry ingredients and incorporate as little air as possible into the batter. Refrigerate the batter for at least 1 hour.

2. To make the crepes: Gently stir the batter. Grease the skillet using a small amount of oil or butter. Pour a small quantity of batter (about 1/4 cup) to the skillet and tip the skillet to let the batter spread over the bottom. Cook the pancake over moderate heat. When the surface looks dry, check the bottom. If it is brown underneath, reverse the crepe and brown the other side very slightly. Gently remove from the skillet. Add a little bit of fat before preparing each subsequent pancake. Spread each crepe with jelly or filling. Roll and add appropriate topping. We ate ours with icecream.

TIP
Crepes may be prepared ahead and frozen. To do so, put each crepe between layers of waxed paper, place in a plastic bag and seal tightly before freezing. Defrost in the refrigerator. Remove crepes from wrapping, lay singly on a cookie sheet and warm in a low to moderate oven.

When I was little the only pancakes we ever made were the thin crepe ones. It wasn't until McDonalds came on the scene that I ever tried "american" pancakes. I love both a lot - too much :) Hehehehe! Still, it's been years since I have made crepes, so long ago that my kid's had never tried them. Last night, I was inspired to make them for dessert - and they were DELICIOUS! We had them with ice-cream (Lite-licks for Bree). I made a half batch for Briahna, changing the milk to soy. Everyone loved them.

Dairy-Free Toad in the Hole

Yes, I tried it tonight, and it was DELICIOUS!!! A few weeks ago I tried making it for the first time - I used a recipe and made it exactly according the the directions. This time I wanted Briahna to be able to eat it - so instead of milk I used soy milk and it was Gooooo o o o d!!! :D

Dee's Most Delicious Pavlova Recipe

I get many requests from friends for this recipe - so here it is in all it's simplicity!

Makes 1 large pavlova or 2 smaller ones:

6 Egg Whites (#7 eggs - large)
2 cups Castor Sugar
2 tsp Malt Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff enough to form a peak.

2. Add castor sugar gradually until the mixture is shiny and then add vinegar and essence.

3. Pile onto a non-stick baking sheet (3 1/2 inches), on tray, and bake at 150'C (300'F) for approximately 1 - 1 1/2 hours for 2 small and 2 hours for a large one.

4. Remove from sheet and cool on rack.

TIP
If you don't have a non-stick baking sheet, use waxed paper as follows:-
Cut paper to twice the size of the oven tray and sprinkle dull side with water and then fold over so the waxy dry side is now on the outside. Pile the egg white mixture onto this and cook as above but leave it on the tray for about two minutes before removing the paper.

Bohemian Sausage Casserole

For 5-6 Servings:

10 pork sausages, sliced
1 can tomato soup
2 x cans chopped tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup red lentils
1 cup bacon or chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp dried rosemary

1. Cook the sausages in a non-stick frying pan until well browned on both sides. Transfer to a large casserole dish.
2. Add the tomato soup, tomatoes, garlic, onion, red lentils, stock, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 45 minutes in a moderate oven. Throw in the rosemary, taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Serve on large plates with winter vegetables, like broccoli and brussel sprouts.

This recipe works well in a crockpot on low setting. :)

Dairy Free Lasagne

Yes, I have altered my favourite lasagne dish to be dairy-free! It was extra delicious - surprise, surprise!!! Instead of making a white sauce with cows milk, I used Coconut Cream and added a teaspoon of Turmeric to make it a little cheesy looking. Gotta work on those visuals to make food at least a little appetising.

So here it is, off the top of my head, cos' thats how I make lasagne.

For 5-6 servings:

Meat Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
500gm minced beef
1 can tomato pasta sauce
1 can chopped whole peeled tomatoes
2-3 tsp mixed dried herbs

* Brown onions and garlic together, then add mince and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring so meat doesn't stick to pot. Add the rest of ingredients and cook another 15 minutes or so.

White Sauce
1 can Coconut Cream
1 can water with 2 tbsp cornflour added
1 tsp turmeric

* Heat all the ingredients together in a pot for about 15-20 minutes, until thickened, stirring every now and then.

Lasagne Pasta
At least 1 bag of dried Lasagne (I like the wide lasagne, Diamond makes)

* Cook the pasta in a large stock pot filled with water, a tsp of salt and a tbsp of olive oil.

When all the above ingredients are cooked, place in layers into a oven dish and cook for 20-30 minutes in a moderate oven.

my favourite non-essential kitchen appliance

Yes, my rice cooker would have to be it! My hubby doesn't really like rice, he's pretty much a meat and potatoes kinda guy, but the rest of us LOOOOOOVE rice - it's so easy and versatile. One of these babies makes cooking rice easy peasy!!!!!

Thanks go out to the Ritchie-Powell Conclave, who brought theirs over to use the night they blessed us with dinner or I would never have known how fantastic these appliances are. :)

Creamy Curried Sausages

I make this dairy free, because my youngest daughter is intolerant to cows-milk. I have learnt to be very adept at checking out the packaging on items, and to adjusting recipes. This dish is extremely delicious.

For 4-5 servings:

1 Tbsp dairy-free margarine
2-3 tsp mild curry powder
1 onion
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 cup water
400-500g precooked sausages
1 cup frozen peas
2 Tbsp cornflour
1 1/2 tsp instant chicken stock
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup rice or soy milk

1. Melt the margarine in a medium to large pot. Stir in the curry powder and cook gently, without browning, while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Cut the onion, carrot and celery into small (5mm) cubes. As each is prepared, stir it into the curry and margarine. (Make sure that you have at lease a cup of each prepared vegetable.) After the celery is chopped, add the water, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. While the vegetables simmer, skin the precooked sausages and slice them 5mm thick. Add them with the frozen peas, and cook 5 minutes longer. By this time, all the vegetables should be tender.
4. Remembering to use absolutely level measures, mix the cornflour, instant stock and sugar together, then add the milk and stir until smooth. Add to the curried vegetables and sausages and stir gently until the mixture thickens.

Serve in large bowls, on plain cooked rice or on spirals or other pasta.

Provencale Chicken

For 5 servings:

5 pieces chicken
plain flour
black pepper
ground cinnamon
3 cloves garlic
3 medium onions, peeled and quartered lengthwise
400gm can tomatoes
400gm can tomato soup
1/4 cup wine vinegar
2 tsp dried herbs (I use an Italian blend)

1. Remove the skin and fat from the chicken.
2. Mix the flour, pepper and cinnamon together in a plastic bag. Put the chicken in the bag and coat the chicken.
3. Brown the chicken in a non-stick frying pan.
4. Combine all the ingredients in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours or until the chicken is very tender.

Serve with pasta or rice and salad.

This was extremely delicious, although my husband and children didn’t like the onion. At least with this dish they can easily remove the large pieces. YUMMY!

Dahl

serves 4-6:
Olive oil for frying
1 clove of garlic finely chopped or crushed
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup of red lentils, washed well and drained (I didn't have any red lentils, so I used brown and it was still good!)
3 cups of hot water
1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
1 potato cut into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of garam masala
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and then fry the onion and garlic until the onion is a golden brown. Add the turmeric and fry for a minute. Add lentils and fry for another couple of minutes. Add three cups of hot water, tinned tomatoes, potato and cinnamon. Bring to boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add garam masala, salt and pepper after about 10-15 minutes. Cook until soft and mushy. If the dahl seems too wet, let it cook for a while without the lid on.

Serve on rice with pappadoms, natural yogurt and for the adults lashings of lime pickle.

This was yummy, although the kid's and Jonno didn't like it as much as I did. It would be great as a meatless meal, and it was adapted from a recipe I downloaded from kiddly.com. :)

Dee's Devilled Sausages in the Crockpot

For 4-6 servings:
8-12 sausages (about 500-600g)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp cornflour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 Tbsp wine vinegar
1 can chopped tomatoes (400g)
1 stick celery (chopped)
1 large onion
1 can peaches (400g) - you usually use 1-2 green skinned apples, but my youngest daughter can't eat cooked apple, so I substituted them with peaches and it's YUMMY!

1. Seperate and chop the sausages into 1 cm chunks. Brown in a heavy-based frypan and throw into the crockpot with the sugar, cornflour and salt. Add the liquids and stir until smooth.

2. Chop the peeled onion length-wise and brown in the frypan you used previously. Add browned onion, celery and peaches to the crockpot, and stir into the mixture.

3. Cook for 8 hours on low setting.

Serve on rice, with baked or mashed potatoes, and beans or broccoli.

Whenever I have cooked this dish in the past I have used the Maggi Seasonings, but this time I tryed cooking it from scratch. It was DELICIOUS, way better this way! As we were going out for a pot-luck tea, I made it stretch by topping the cooked sausages with mashed potatoes and cheese. Everyone loved it, it was SOOOO good! :) This is a recipe I will use again.

Toad-in-the-hole

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
6 thick beef or pork sausages

1. Sift the flour, salt and pepper into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

2. Blend egg and milk together and pour into the well in the flour and stir gradually to make a smooth batter. Whisk it and continue to beat for about 3 minutes.

3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a jug and set aside for 30 minutes.

4. Place the sausages in a cast-iron pan and bake at 240 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

5. Pour the batter over the hot sausages and return to the oven lowering the heat to 220 degrees celcius for 30 minutes.

Serve hot cut into wedges with fresh salad or greens.

Cooks Tip
Allowing the batter to stand lets the gluten rest, ensuring a tender batter. Do not beat again before cooking.

This was the first time I had ever made toad-in-the-hole, and it was GOOD! I grew up eating lots of different sausage dishes and it's about time I tried some of the recipes - they are cheap, good to eat, especially for families on a budget. My husband, who is a very fussy eater LOVES this dish (well, He is english afterall...).

Look out for more sausage recipes that I will put on this blog over the coming weeks.

Welcome to alimento {food}

I have decided to create a blog dedicated to trying out new recipes for my family to try. After 11 years of married life, I have gotten stuck in the habit of cooking much the same thing every night of the week. It's boring - and so my intentions are to cook something new at least once a week on a Thursday. I will post the recipe here and comment on the results {my families response and my own}.

My husband is fairly fussy, but I really want my girls (ages 9, 7 & 6) to have an extended palate - so I want to try new things - if you have any idea's feel free to comment or email me them...

A couple of months ago I started creating monthly menu plans, so that we would eat more healthily, and less often at McDonalds and other takeaway establishments. This is the next step to creating a tastier and better diet for my family.

Stay tuned.