Sticky Banana Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

This recipe comes from my old blog, it looks pretty good and the actual taste exceeds expectations. 

Isabella is busy making it for dinner tonight.

Isabella says "One of my favourite recipes ever. Super duper yummy and super duper easy to make. 
Would recommend to caramel lovers."

Sticky Banana Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 tsp baking soda
100g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups self raising flour
2-3 bananas, sliced



For Butterscotch Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
100g butter
1 cup cream


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a 22-23cm square cake tin with non-stick baking spray and line with non-stick baking paper.

2. Place dates in a small bowl with 1 cup of hot water . Bring to the boil, then add the baking soda. Stir well and cool for 5 minutes.

3. Using an electric beater beat the butter and caster sugar together until fluffy and pale. Add the eggs, vanilla and flour then beat in dates and their liquid. Mix in the banana slices then pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

4. Serve with butterscotch sauce poured over and ice cream.


To Make the sauce
1. Place the brown sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until it comes to a good boil. Boil for 1 minute then pour over the pudding as a sauce.

Pear and Tamarind Chutney

Too many pears in the fruit bowl led to this recipe being found and made.
A really nice tangy chutney, but not spicy.
It's super easy and used the remainder of a jar of tamarind paste I had in the fridge.

Ingredients

8	Pears, ripe, cored and finely diced
1 cup	Tamarind puree
1 cup	Soft brown sugar
2 Tbsp	Fresh ginger, finely grated
4 tsp	Mustard seeds
½ tsp	Salt

Directions

1. Heat pears, tamarind puree, sugar, ginger, mustard seeds and salt in a pot.

1. Simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until the sauce is thick and the pears are tender (about 30 minutes).

1. Bottle while hot into sterilised jars and seal with sterilised screw-top lids

Seed crackers (gluten and dairy free)

Someone I worked with made a linseed cracker for morning tea and they were delicious. I found this recipe which had a number of different seeds in it and gave it a try.
They are really quick and easy to make.
I double the recipe and it spread easily over two oven trays. They could have been thinner - some were still a bit soft in the thick middle. I'd try a single recipe over one - one and a half trays.

I used baking paper over the top of the mixture to flatten it out.

The finished cracker is really nice on its own and even better with cheese and chutney.

Rather than using both chia and flax seeds you could use just half a cup of one. It is important to include one or the other because they are what break down and bind everything together.

Ingredients

½ cup	Sunflower seeds
½ cup	Pumpkin seeds
¼ cup	Sesame seeds
¼ cup	Poppy seeds
¼ cup	Linseed / flaxseed
¼ cup	Chia seeds
½ tsp	Salt
1 cup	Water
1 serving	Flaky sea salt, to sprinkle

Directions

1. Heat oven to 170C. Place all the seeds and the salt in a bowl, pour in water and mix to combine. Leave for 15 minutes for the chia and flax seeds to soften and bind everything together.
   
2. Tip out on to a baking paper-lined oven tray and spread out as thin as possible (around 4mm thick) and sprinkle with some flaky sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes.

1. Remove from the oven and slice into crackers, then return to the oven to cook for another 20-30 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove to a rack to cool then store in an airtight container.

Ketogenic low carb

one piece

Net carbs: 3 % (1 g)

Fibre: 1 g

Fat: 85 % (6 g)

Protein: 11 % (2 g)

kcal: 61

Coconut Carrot Soup

With an abundance of carrots, I was challenged to find a recipe to use some up yesterday.It was a cool rainy day which very much says 'soup' to me.
I found this recipe and doubled it.
Everyone, including one family member who is not so keenon soups loved it. In fact, he went back for more...a couple of times!
As always, the picture from the recipe looks better than ours (must work on that!)...but the taste was great!



Ingredients

3 Tbsp	Harvest Organic Coconut Oil
450 g	Carrots, peeled, chopped
1	Apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1	Onion, chopped
2	leeks, 1 chopped, 1 thinly sliced
2	Garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp	finely grated peeled ginger
1 pinch	Salt and pepper
4 cups	vegetable or chicken broth
400 ml	unsweetened coconut milk
0	Red chilli paste, (for serving; optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add carrots, apple, onion, chopped leek, garlic, and ginger, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often until vegetables are beginning to soften.
3. Add broth, coconut milk, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are very tender. Let cool slightly.
4. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth.
5. Heat remaining 2 tablespoon of Coconut Oil in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced leek and cook, stirring often, until golden and crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain; season with salt.
6. Serve soup topped with chilli paste and crispy leeks.

Key Lime Pie

Isabella says...
“This is one of my favorite recipes. It took a few times to get it right.
I use malt biscuits instead of wheat meal.”
This is not traditional key lime pie because it has the meringue on top...a bit like a lemon meringue pie.


Our picture is not as pretty as the one from the recipe below...but its really yum! It's also great the next day after being in the fridge.

200g wheatmeal biscuits
1/4 cup ground almonds
100g butter, melted
4 eggs, separated
395g can condensed milk
Finely grated rind and juice of 4 limes
4 tablespoons Chelsea Caster Sugar

Step 1: Preheat oven to 170°C. Line base of a 20cm springform tin with baking paper.
Step 2: Process biscuits until fine crumbs. Add almonds and melted butter, process until combined. Press mixture firmly into the base and 3cm up sides of tin. Refrigerate.
Step 3: Separate egg yolks, and whisk with sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in lime juice.  Pour into biscuit base and bake for 5 minutes. 
Step 4: Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle in sugar and whisk until peaks are glossy.   Pipe onto into milky mixture.  
Step 4: Bake for 40-45 mins or until set. Cool. Serve with extra lime slices.

Feijoa Shortcake

This can be made with different fruit. It’s easy and looks great.
I prepared the feijoas the day before and kept them in the freezer.

Isabella says..."Absolutely delicious and super easy to make."

FEIJOA SHORTCAKE

Fruit topping

• 500 grams peeled chopped feijoas
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• zest of 1 lemon

Dough

• 180 grams butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• juice of 1 lemon
• 250 grams flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Mix the feijoas, sugar and lemon zest and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and lemon juice.
3. Mix well and add flour and baking powder.
4. Spread most of dough in greased/lined tin or flan dish, drain feijoas and spread on top of dough.
5. Drop bits of remaining dough on top of feijoa, sprinkle with brown sugar.
6. Bake at 180ºC about 50-60 minutes (I used Moscavato dark unrefined cane sugar)

Kiwi Pavlova

When we have a visitor staying from overseas there a few things that we feel it is our kiwi duty to expose visitors to. Feijoa will be one of them, pineapple lumps, L&P. Another will be the world famous Kiwi Pavlova.

Interestingly a previous visitor from Canada's description of Pavlova was part of the inspiration for the name of this blog - 'Sugar Pie'. It was not a complimentary description in the context it was used, needless to say I was less than impressed.

Of course with this recipe using so many egg whites I will be forced to make something that uses egg yolks soon...it might just have to be creme brûlée!

MUM'S PAVLOVA

4 egg whites 

1 and half teaspoons vinegar
pinch salt 

1 and half teaspoons cornflour
1 cup sugar

1. Beat egg whites and salt for 3 minutes.
2. Add sugar gradually and beat til sugar blends in.
3. Fold in vinegar and cornflour.
4. Place on baking paper on tray. Don't spread much.
5. Bake for 1 and half hours at 130 (leave oven on all the time)

I usually double the recipe and only give it an extra 10 minutes.
20cm diameter uncooked finishes up as 25cm cooked.