muffin anyone?

guess what?
my sister ( who is also my lovely Camelia Sisters co- founder ) is in town. YIPPEE! :)
really, her arrival is my best excuse this week for stopping to have cake, or in this particular instance- a muffin!
(usual excuses range from 'too many eggs, so i had to bake a cake' to 'it is what Marie Antoinette would've wanted!' )
this batch of muffins were an experimental recipe that i whipped up today. i'm hoping that they'll have a 4-5 day 'shelf life' as i've substituted butter for olive oil & they are milk free.

Banana & Peach Gluten Free Muffins

1 mashed Banana

1/2 cup of chopped fresh Peach

1 cup of Coconut

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup of Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 cup of Gluten Free Plain Flour

1 tsp of Baking Powder

1. chuck everything into a bowl. grab a fork & mix mix mix

2. once everything is mixed, spoon batter into an oven tray

*TOP TIP: ditch your metal tray & embrace silicone. silicone muffin trays are tops! 

3. bake @ 180 degrees for 30ishmins. Prod with a skewer just to be certain they are cooked through

4. leave to cool in the tray for a bit, before swiftly & almost effortlessly plopping each little muffin onto a wire rack!

this recipe makes 10.

they are super tasty on there own, but i intend to cover them in cream cheese icing tomorrow for the 'official tasting'!

returns from MIA with breakfast

Wow, its been ages since I had five minutes to post. And for once, instead of it just being laziness, I've a great excuse - I've just gotten engaged :) We've decided to get married in April next year back home in Australia...7 months to organise a wedding in another country, eh what's a little pressure!

No doubt there'll be lots & lots more about my wedding coming up but in the meantime, what better way to start off a relaxing weekend than with a breakfast cooked by the hubby-to-be!

Last night he made a loaf of GF bread with the trusty bread maker, so this morning it was beans on toast + roasted cherry tomatoes + roasted ham + egg-in-the-hole :) mmmmmmm!!

And for the rest of my fun weekend I'm starting a new sewing project - an ocean-blue cocktail dress to wear to a friend's wedding in November. Here's my progress so far...

!! Yes, I have a little mountain of mess from the paper pattern which is now completely cut out. Ideally I'd like the dress finished within the next 2 weeks...we'll see how that goes. I've also got a Melbourne Cup in Hong Kong event I'd love to wear it to as well so even more incentive to get a wriggle on.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

Pam x

what is in here?

Drum roll please....

I've baked another Sponge!

i used the same recipe from my inaugural Sponge Cake post, except this time i substituted plain flour for custard powder (hence the more yellowy appearance).

am stoked with the appearance, texture and how much the cake rose & of course the fact that there are no burneeez bits. however, i felt the bottom layer was a bit dry.

does anyone have any Sponge Cake tips?

i think i should've also whipped up an icing for it, rather than just sprinkling the top with icing sugar.
mmmm...passionfruit icing! :)

final verdict: lashings of cream & jam seemed to disguise dryness, thus creating quite a tasty morning tea treat!

rachie & lydia- i should've taken happy snaps of us eating rather than the dirty dishes! :)


Jules X

thanks Donna Hay!

it is here!

 'donna hay kid's magazine'. have you seen it? it is fantastic!

i grabbed my copy yesterday & haven't put it down since- which has been quite problematic on a lot of levels! :) i adapted one of the recipes for last night's dinner.

basically i just excluded or substitued ingredients with food i had at home and/or food i hoped would be eaten. (the green onions suggested by DH were the first evictees!)

my recipe is based on 'chicken & snow pea fried rice' p 26.

 to increase the likelihood of the dish being eaten i also changed its name

chicken, peas & rice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

garlic ( i used 2 teaspoons of minced garlic)

2.5 cups of cooked white rice

handful of green beans

1-ish cup of frozen peas

half a red capsicum

half a cooked chook (no skin, bones or stuffing) shredded

splash or two of soy sauce

chicken for another day, shredded chicken & chook bits for the pooch!

1. fire up the frying pan, add some oil & the garlic. heat the garlic & then throw in the egg. once the egg is fried removed it from the heat & set aside on a plate. chop fried egg into little strips.

2. steam all the vegies until they are crunchy

i cheated and pinged my vegies in the microwave!

3. splash some more oil into the pan & then add the cooked rice. stir for a minute or so before adding vegies

as per usual- got distracted while cooking & the pot of rice overflowed!

4. mix in the chicken & stir until all the food is combined. pour in soy sauce & stir some more

5. plonk the finished product into some bowls & top with the fried egg

success! everything was gobbled up! well, everything except the capsicum...

jules X

gluten free banana waffles

On and off for about six months now its been waffles for breakfast on the weekend. Ah, so indulgent yet so easy. Finally the premix ran out, was forgotten off the shopping list, so now its experiment time!!

After trawling the internet I had about 4 receipes to modify and blend together. Basically, I like easy use-one-bowl type receipes. No separating of eggs (its a waste of yokes!), no buttermilk (what IS that anyway?), no leaving overnight. Even potato starch...what is that? Replaced it with corn flour and it seemed to work fine.

So here's my own Gluten-free banana waffles receipe:

1.5 cups gluten-free flour
1/2 cup corn flour
2 tsp baking flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon & nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp canola oil
2 eggs
1.5 cups soy milk (or normal or rice)
1 banana (mine was frozen so had to be mushed with a fork)

1. Mix all the dry incredients in a bowl
2. Create a well in the center and add the wet incredients
3. Mix well - use an egg whisk to get any lumps out
4. Use oil spray to prep the waffle iron
5. Spoon mixture onto waffle plates
6. Cook
7. Serve with Yoghurt & eat!

good with coffee ;)

Pam x

Gluten-free Fruit bread

I love toasted fruit bread for breakfast on the weekends....mmm yum. So simple to make - just a tiny extra to the normal bread recipe:

410ml water
3 eggs
45 ml canola oil (or other vegetable)
5 ml apple cider vinegar
2 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp salt
25 g caster sugar
1.5 tsp yeast
500 g gluten-free flour*
PLUS
30g sultanas
pinch nutmeg
pinch cinnamon

*my own gf flour mix = 200 g rice flour, 100 g tapioca flour, 100 g chickpea flour &
100 g soy flour

So yummy that even the boy, who hates fruit bread, went back for thirds! (Apparently they are normally too sweet - this one is not).

Next time I'm going to double the amount of sultanas and maybe even add dried apricots.

Is it wrong to have fruit bread toast for dinner too?!

Yummy gluten-free bread

Look at this gorgeous yummy loaf of home made gluten-free bread! mmmmm

I'm one of the growing number of people discovering they are intolerant to gluten. Here in HK you can buy GF bread...but it costs around AUD10! So my new baby is a bread maker :)

Here's the recipe I used to make my loaf of delicious white bread:

410ml water
3 eggs
45 ml canola oil (or other vegetable)
5 ml apple cider vinegar
2 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp salt
25 g caster sugar
1.5 tsp yeast
500 g gluten-free flour*

*my own gf flour mix = 200 g rice flour, 100 g tapioca flour, 100 g chickpea flour &
100 g soy flour

My trusty Kenwood breadmaker has a GF function on it so I'm not sure what temp & time a normal oven requires. In the bread maker it takes about an hour to bake a lovely, dense & tasty loaf.