Monday 25 June 2012

GF Caramel Strawberry Delight Pie

When I first heard of the Pie guideline for the #SABH blog hop, my original thought was a Banoffee Pie, but there are plenty of other people who had the same idea. I was still sticking to the delicious homemade caramel sauce and my eye was caught by some delicious strawberries sitting there whispering my name. I soon changed my mind and went from a Banoffee pie to a Caramel and Strawberry and Cream Pie. It looks simply devine!


http://www.thekitchencrusader.com/

The base is a biscuit and butter base, you simply blend the plain (I used arrowroot biscuits 205g) and melt the butter, mix together and push together in a pie dish and place in the fridge. This is the tastiest GF base I have ever tried and the best, so simple.

The caramel mixture is the most complicated step in this pie, it is my mum's special caramel pie recipe. I know you can buy caramel in a can but take the time and your taste buds will be rewarded! You first cream the butter brown sugar and flour, then add milk and two egg yolks, that's when it can become a bit tiresome; you pour the mixture into a saucepan on low heat and stir, stir, stir, stir, until it thickens and starts to bubble (make sure it is quite thick), then add vanilla and pour into the pie base.

If decorating is your forte then this step you will love cut the top off each strawberry and cut into quarters, place in a formation around the outside of the pie. I will pass on a tip I heard, prior to whipping cream place the bowl and beaters into the fridge, it makes the whipping process easier and quicker. Again an old family tradition is to add icing sugar and vanilla essence to the cream, it makes it that bit sweeter! Yummy! Carefully place the whipped cream in the centre of the pie, not over the strawberries (don't pile the cream up too high though) the caramel is very rich and you will make the pie too overwhelming.

I hope you enjoy this new creation of mine as much as myself and my family has. Although the washing up isn't the fun part!

GF Caramel Strawberry Delight Pie

Ingredients

1 packet arrowroot GF biscuits
120g melted butter
1 large cup brown sugar
2 heaped tablespoons of rice flour
60g butter
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cartoon of thickened cream
2-3 tablespoons of icing sugar
Few drops of vanilla essence
Several strawberries

Method
Break biscuits in half and place in blender until mixed into a fine powder. Melt the butter Arne add to the bisuit mixture, place in a pie dish and push down evenly and place in the fridge. Cream the butter and sugar add flour. Mix milk and egg yolk together add butter and sugar. Cook in saucepan until very thick (about 10-15mins), add vanilla. Stir contanstantly, place in the pie base, leave in fridge to set. Place thickened cream, bowl and beaters in the fridge until cold, whip cream, add icing sugar and vanilla, beat again. Cut strawberries into quarters and place around the outside of the pie, decorate the centre of the pie with the whipped cream, return to fridge to set. Cut into wedges and serve.

Friday 15 June 2012

Competition thank you's

My 1st Birthday competition is now over and the four wonderful winners have been drawn! I'm pleased to announce that the winners spread throughout this wonderful country with 1st prize being awarded to an amazing lady in Brisbane Queensland. 2nd prize was awarded to another fantastic women, this time a fellow New South Wales women. 3rd prize was awarded to yet another wonderful women in Victoria. Finally 4th prize was awarded to a great women who lives in Perth. The last three winners are fellow bloggers', I will first seek permission from these women, who all write wonderful blogs, to publish a direct link to their blogs here, and on my soon to be established blog roll.

There weren't only women who entered the competition, many men entered the competition, as did many others. I would like to thank you all for your support, particularly to the readers overseas who RT on Twitter even though they couldn't enter the competition, just to help me out! An extra big thanks to you, this shows how much support I have.

Without the wonderful sponsors this great competition would not have been possible. Once again I will give you the websites of the sponsors, so that you do can see what great products they have to offer. A big thank you to Mamee , Basco , Candy Brokers , Bounce Bars , The lost cereal Amarantha and quinoa , Tasty Bites .

Even if you didn't win any of the prizes, have a good look at the websites provided and try some of the products next time you go shopping. I give full credit to the companies for making gluten free products tasty and not bland and boring. I actually went out and brought a GF Basco Mac and Cheese the other night and from memory it tasted a thousand times better then the traditional gluten filled packet mix pasta. It's nice to know that we can have quick alternative meals on hand that are tasty and easy to make.

I have some delightful winter warming recipes coming up and brilliant reviews of the best takeaway and byo pizza restaurant I have been too. Keep your eyes peeled for these latest additions to my blog. The best thing about this pizza place is they actually make their very own GF dough on the spot! It's delicious and I've never ever had a reaction! I won't tempt you anymore I will save it for the review complete with pictures and all, we just need smell a vision!

Have a great and safe weekend. xx

Friday 8 June 2012

Googey Eggs

In my previous post I told you about the quinoa bread and the quinoa that my friend 'The Chef' as he will now be called, introduced me too. I have provided you with a recipe using the gorgeous quinoa grain and this time I thought I would stick with the breakfast theme, and give you an age old classic what I like to call Googey Eggs On Toast. They somehow reach new heights, a new level of class with this delicious bread.

You might be wondering why I would be providing you with such an easy recipe, but it is actually these basic recipes that are generally the hardest to master. Everyone has an old wife's tale about how to cook the eggs to make them perfect and more often then not they will turn out not so perfect.

So here is how I cook my

Googey Eggs:

Ingredients:
(for 1 person)
2 eggs at room temperature (or hold in hands to warm up eggs)
water

Method:
Place the eggs in the saucepan and cover with cold to lukewarm water (if the water is hot it will crack the eggs). Place the saucepan on a medium to high heat, once the water comes to a boil reduce heat slightly and time the eggs, from boiling time, 3 minutes will give you a perfect egg with a delicious runny centre but cooked white bits. If you prefer your eggs to not be so runny allow to cook for a minute longer.

Enjoy this simple but delicious breakfast!

You have 3 days left to enter the amazing competition to win one of 4 GF hampers filled with great GF food. Make sure you enter today. To get the most points write a comment about how this blog has helped you and why you would like to win one of the prizes, pretty simple way to earn so many points! You can follow us on Facebook, like the post, follow on Twitter or tweet about the giveway. Good luck to you all!

Monday 4 June 2012

Breakfast Quinoa with Apple Juice & Cinnamon

My first introduction to Quinoa prounced (Kin-wa), was at the Gluten Free Expo in 2011 at the Gluten Grain Free stand www.glutengrainfree.com . I purchased a packet of the ancient grain and have already provided recipes for you, cooking the grain with stock, using in replace of rice. It has a slightly nutty texture.

I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who is a talented chef, one morning he came over for me to cook him breakfast! I was nervous, even though we had been friends for years, I was cooking for a chef! He came with Quinoa bread and Quinoa. He told me that Quinoa can be used as a breakfast cereal, to do this you cook it in apple juice and add a cinnamon stick. Although,the trick he told me, with quinoa is to soak it the night before, I had heard of this but had never actually done it, but this time I tried it and the difference was amazing!

This sounded delicious! A change to the usual rice porridge or gf muesli.  I won't give away too much more as I will tell you in the method but I will say the fresher the producer, the nicer the end result will be. I used a locally made apple juice that is preservative free and the taste was divine, definitely worth that extra effort to get fresh produce.

The quinoa cooking
Breakfast Quinoa with Apple Juice & Cinnamon


Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa
Apple juice (enough to cover quinoa with about a thumb nail over, this helps if you are using more or less quinoa)
1 cinnamon stick

Method:
Place the quionoa in a bowl cover with water and leave to soak overnight. In the morning drain and place in a small to medium pan cover with apple juice leaving about a thumb nail of juice over the quinoa and add the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until small little tails begin to form on the quinoa and the apple juice begins to reduce. When the apple juice has reduce significantly taste the quinoa, it shouldn't be crunchy (if it is, it needs a few more minutes). You don't want all the apple juice to reduce into the qunioa, you want to be able to serve some of the juice up with the quinoa. You can leave the cinnamon stick in the bowl for presentation and continued flavour and eat around it.

This is honestly the most nutritious and wholesome breakfast that I have tasted, I would have to say that it is my favourite. You can order quinoa online for the gluten grain free website I provided, most health food shops sell them and even the major shopping centres are selling them, you will find them in the health food aisle.

Don't forget me amazing 1st Birthday Competition filled with fantastic GF prizes still has another week to go, you can find how to enter in the post underneath this one. It's easy you can make a comment (that's worth the most points, like my Facebook page, like the post, follow me on twitter, RT the competition post). Will you win? Remember open only to Australian residents due to Australian law as the prizes are food.