Chocolate quinoa rum balls

I have a heap of bits and pieces in my food cupboard that I would normally use to make cakes or biscuits. Alas in my current apartment there is no oven. So I decided to make an adult version of rum balls. If you have a decent blender then you can certainly blend the mix to reduce the need to pre-soak the dates-I won't have a blender until I move to Berlin. The rum is of course optional and can be replaced by water, although it makes a quick snack into a lovely adult dessert for a dinner party.

Ingredients

• 12 dried dates, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup quinoa (if grain free you could use flaxseeds and linseeds)
• 1 cup water (to cook quinoa)
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes (or coconut sugar)
• 2 tablespoons cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon plant oil (I used coconut oil but any would work ok)
• 2 tablespoons rum 

Instructions

1. Soak dates in hot water over night. Drain.
2. Dice dates in small pieces (scissors work really well) and place in a mixing bowl
3. Dry fry quinoa until it changes colour (about 2-3 minutes)
4. Add water and cook quinoa on a low temperature for 5 minutes, will be softer but still have a little bite.
5. Drain and add to the dates. 
6. Add the almond meal, cacao powder, olive and rum and stir well until all ingredients are well combined. 
7. Place mix in the fridge for an hour to make it easier to roll.
8. Take about a tablespoon of the mix and roll into balls.
9. Roll the balls in coconut flakes and store in a sealed container in the fridge or serve.

Gluten free Cauliflower pizza base

                       

I've been reading articles in the food media that suggest that cauliflower is going to be big this year as a vegetable and a health food. I'm not so much a no carb/low carb kind of person but i like trying recipes that are different to my usual repertoire. 

Before commencing I researching a few different recipes on various paleo and vegan sites. 

The initial stages of pizza base making are all the same really:

1.  Process the cauliflower into tiny pieces using a food processor
2.  Cook cauliflower either through boiling, baking, steaming or microwaving
3. Place the cauliflower in a cloth over a bowl and squeeze out as much liquid as humanly possible.
4. Mix the cauliflower with other ingredients then bake the base in a hot oven until cooked.
5. Top with pizza toppings and cook again.

The biggest challenge is making the pizza crust crisp rather than soggy and thus able to be held in one hand. To achieve this, various recipes have different suggestions from adding cheese to the base to nuts and flour. I looked at what ingredients I had at home and I tried a couple of different things, one pizza using egg replacer and corn flour and one using almond flour and corn flour. The latter worked the best.

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed/nut flour
• ¼ cup corn flour
• water or dairy free milk if needed
• Pizza toppings (e.g. tomato paste, mushrooms, onions, olives, capsicum, basil, dairy free cheese). 

Instructions:

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees celcius (437 degrees fahrenheit).
3. Place tray in oven to heat. You want it nice and hot before you put the pizza base on it to help it cook through. 
4. Cut cauliflower into small pieces and blitz in a food processor until it resembles a rice like consistency
5. Boil for 10 minutes until tender. 
6. Transfer to a bowl lined with a clean cloth (such as a new dish cloth). 
7. Bring the sides of the cloth together into a ball and squeeze the cloth to remove as much liquid as possible. 
8. Add herbs, salt and pepper, almond flour (or ground flaxseed) and cornflour to the bowl. 
9. Mix together (it should be fairly dry but if it is too crumbly add some water or dairy free milk to shape it to a dough like consistency
10. Shape the dough into one large or four small pizza bases. 
11. Transfer the dough onto the same baking tray and flatten with the back of a spoon until a thin pizza crust forms.
12. Bake for 20-30 minutes so until crispy and browned around the edges.
13. Top with toppings of choice and bake for another ten minutes or so until cheese is melted and topping is browned. 

My verdict:  It reminded me that I don't really like cauliflower all that much. I love broccoli, but cauliflower has a stronger taste that just doesn't interest me. Despite what some people would like to believe, cauliflower cream pasta sauce tastes like cauliflower pasta sauce, not cream. And thus, cauliflower pizza base taste like, you guessed it-cauliflower! I've tried cauliflower mash with truffle oil which wasn't all that great, although I like cauliflower rice. If you like cauliflower, you will love this pizza. 

Quinoa, barley and pickled vegetable salad

Despite appearances to the contrary, I don't eat fried food and sweet stuff all the time! My favourite food is actually soup which I love to cook (and eat) and I like making up recipes using what I have on hand. Ever since teaching preserving workshops, I'm a big fan of pickled vegetables. They are incredibly easy to make and great for gut health.

I'm a keen pickler. I love making kim chi, picalilli,  pickled beetroot and pickled cucumbers amongst other recipes. They go wonderfully with so many different snacks and meals and can also be enjoyed by the jar, standing in front of the fridge with a fork.

I can't eat a lot of wheat so I'm always on the look out for tasty grains. I finally found pearl barley at the supermarket here in Leipzig so I decided to knocked up a simple salad. Grains can be cooked in bulk and frozen in zip lock bags for easy meals, just add some veggies and seasoning and the food is on the table before you know it!

This is a salad where you can add veggies you like and omit those you don't. I would have used fresh parsley but was unable to find any in the supermarket so dried had to do. The dressing is light and can be flavoured with herbs or chilli if you like.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 2 tomatoes 
• 2 spring onions 
• 1 cucumber, 
• 1/2 capsicum, 
• I kohlrabi
• 1 carrot
• 2 garlic cloves
• 6 large cucumber pickles
• 2 tablespoons Sauerkraut ( I used a homemade red cabbage one)

Dressing:

1. 1/4 cup of pickle juice
2. 1/4 cup of olive oils
3. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
4. Black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Boil barley and quinoa in 2 1/2 cups of water until tender and almost all water has evaporated. Turn off heat, place lid on saucepan and leave to cook from the steam. 
2. Leave to cool
3. Dice vegetables and pickles into small pieces. 
4. Add grains and vegetables to a serving bowl and mix to combine. 
5. Mix dressing in a jar and shake well.
6. Add to salad and serve