Happy Pancake Day! (Thermomix Pancake)

Shrove Tuesday is the day in February or March which is preceding Ash Wednesday. This day is celebrated in some countries by having pancakes.

Today is pancake day. Let's have some pancakes!

Ingredients:

1. 50gm butter (have some extra for frying)
2. 300gm oat milk
3. 2 eggs
4. 2 bananas (mashed)
5. 200gm buckwheat flour
6. 5gm baking powder
7. 1/2 tsp salt

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1. Place butter into TMX jug and set 2min/70C/speed1.

2. Add the milk, eggs, buckwheat flour, baking powder, salt and banana and mix 10sec/speed 5.

3. Heat up a frying pan.

4. Add some butter to the frying pan.

5. Pour a ladle of batter and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbles start to appear on the pancake surface.

6. Flip the pancake over and continue frying for another minute or two.

7. Repeat with the remaining batter.

8. Serve hot with butter or maple syrup.

Bon appetit!

Thermomix Mango Sorbet

Ingredients:

1. 150gm of frozen bananas
2. 150gm of frozen papayas
3. 100gm of frozen mango

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1. Place the frozen fruits into the Thermomix jug.

2. Close the lid and MC and set 1 1/2 minutes. Slowly increase the speed to 10.

3. Serve immediately or keep in airtight container to be placed in freezer.

Bon appetit!

Yoghurt with Bananas

Ingredients:

1. 3 tablespoons of organic/natural Greek yoghurt
2. 1 medium sized banana (cut into chunks)

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1. Mix together and enjoy!

Did You Know...

... That beer can be made from bananas? This is very popular in eastern Africa.

This alcoholic beverage is made from fermented mashed bananas

Sorghum, millet or maize flour are added as a source of wild yeast.

For the recipe on how to make your own homemade banana beer, click on LINK.

Gluten-Free Banana Cake

Ingredients:

1. 50gm of glutinous rice flour
2. 150gm of white rice flour
3. 25gm of brown rice flour
4. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
5. 4 eggs (room temperature) - beaten
6. 5 medium sized bananas (mashed)
7. 1/4 cup sugar
8. 1/2 cup of rice milk (for recipe, click on LINK)
9. 1/3 cup of sunflower oil
10. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
11. 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds

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1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking soda and sunflower seeds.

2. In another mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla until combined.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all are mixed well.

4. Preheat oven to 170C.

5. Line baking tray with baking paper.

6. Pour mixture into baking tray and bake for approximately 20 minutes.

7. Allow to cool.

Bon appétit!

Cooking For Joel: Polenta Banana Muffins!

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups of gluten-free flour (you can buy this or make your very own gluten-free combo)
2. 1 cup of polenta
3. 1/2 cup of white rice flour
4. 4 medium sized bananas (mashed)
5. 2 teaspoons of baking powder
6. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
7. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
8. 1/2 cup of sunflower oil
9. 1 teaspoon of soft brown sugar
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1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. In another mixing bowl, pour the sunflower oil and sugar. Stir them together for a few minutes.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix thoroughly.

4. Add the mashed bananas and mix until well combined.

5. Preheat oven at 180C.

6. Line muffin trays with baking muffin paper cups.

7. Fill the paper cups with the mixture.

8. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

9. Allow to cool.

10. You can keep them in the freezer if you're unable to consume everything.

Bon appétit!

Gluten-Free Baked Banana Fritters

Ingredients:

1. 4 large over-riped bananas
2. 1 1/2 cup of rice flour
3. 1 large egg
4. 1/2 cup of sunflower oil

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1. Break the bananas into small chunks. Place them in a large bowl.

2. Add the flour, egg and oil.

3. Mix the ingredients until they are well blended.

4. Preheat oven at 200.

5. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

6. Using a tablespoon, place scoops of the banana batter onto the baking tray.

7. Bake for about 1/2 hour or until golden brown.

8. Allow to cool before attacking the delicious baked fritters!

Bon appétit!

Moist Banana Cake

Ingredients:

1. 250gm salted butter (softened at room temperature)
2. 2 tablespoons of soft, brown sugar
3. 4 eggs
4. 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
5. 4 tablespoons of milk (liquid)
6. 2 tablespoons of powdered milk (do not mix with water)
7. 6 to 7 medium sized bananas
8. 2 cups of organic plain flour
9. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
10. 1 teaspoon of baking powder

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1. Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add in the eggs, one by one.

3. Add in the vanilla essence and milk (liquid) and mix throughly.

4. Add the mashed banana into the mixture and mix well.

5. Add the sifted flour, powdered milk, baking soda and baking powder bit by bit and mix thoroughly.

6. Preheat oven at 160C.

7. Pour the batter into a baking tin lined with baking paper.

8. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

9. Allow to cool.

10. You can slice it and keep it in the fridge or the freezer (if you want to keep it longer).

The 2-Ingredient Cookie

Ingredients:

1. Bananas (mashed)
2. Organic rolled oats

*I am not writing down the amount as it is up to you to how many bananas and how much oats you want to use. Just bear in mind that if it is too runny, just add more oats.
*You can add chocolate chips or even nuts to your cookies.
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1. Mix the two ingredients above together.

2. Preheat oven to 180C.

3. Use a tablespoon to scoop the mixture.

4. Drop the mixture onto a baking tray which is covered with a sheet of baking paper.

5. Flatten the mixture with the back of the spoon.

6. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the oats turn to golden brown.

7. Scoop up into container once cool.

8. Keep in refrigerator (if there is any left!).

Bon appétit

Banana & Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

1. 3 medium sized eggs
2. 75gm soft brown sugar
3. 175gm of organic all-purpose flour (sifted twice)
4. 2 teaspoon of baking powder
5. 1 teaspoon of sea-salt
6. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
7. 175ml sunflower oil
8. 3 medium sized bananas (very ripe and mashed)
9. 175gm of grated carrots
10. 175gm of pumpkin seeds (OPTIONAL)

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1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture thickens.

2. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

3. Mix well and then add the oil.

4. Add pumpkin seeds. Mix thoroughly. (If you are not able to tolerate pumpkin seeds or any other seeds, omit step 4.)

5. Lastly add the grated carrots and mashed bananas.

6. Mix well.

7. Preheat oven to 170C.

8. Line a baking cake tin with removable base with baking paper.

9. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour or until golden brown.

10. Once it is done, allow the cake to cool.

Bon appétit!

Moist Banana Cake

Ingredients:

1. 250g butter
2. 1/2 cup brown sugar
3. 4 eggs (room temperature)
4. 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
5. 1 cup of home-brewed soya milk
6. 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
7. 3 cups of self-raising flour (sieved twice)
8. 8 ripe bananas (mashed)
9. A teaspoon of oats

*Note: Bananas contain amines.

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1. Cream butter and sugar in large mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add the beaten eggs one at a time while continuously stirring the mixture.

3. Add mashed bananas into mixture bit by bit while stirring continuously.

4. Then add the sieved flour and soya milk alternately while mixing continuously until everything is thoroughly mixed.

5. Preheat oven at 190C.

6. Pour mixture into 2 round baking pans which are lined with baking paper.

7. Sprinkle some oats on the mixture before baking the cake.

8. Bake at 190C for 10 minutes. Then bake at 170C for about 20 minutes.

9. Allow to cool.

Bon appétit!

Before baking.

Fresh from the oven!

The 3Bs Pancakes!

Ingredients:

1. 300gm of organic all-purpose flour (sieved twice)
2. 100gm of organic buckwheat flour (sieved twice)
3. 6 large bananas (mashed)
4. 50gm of barley flour (sieved twice)
5. 2 3/4 cups of barley water
6. Sunflower oil
7. 1 teaspoon of sea-salt
8. 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
9. 4 eggs (beaten)

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1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients above.

2. Whisk the mixture with an electric whisk until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly and the mixture is smooth. (*Add more barley water if mixture is too dry.)

3. Heat the frying pan.

4. Pour a ladle of the mixture into the pan.

5. Once the bottom side of the pancake is browned, flip it over and cook the other side until it is browned too.

6. Repeat steps 4 to 5 until the mixture is all used up.

7. Serve warm.

Bon appétit!

Banana, buckwheat & barley pancakes!

Salicylate-Free Banana Scones

Ingredients:

1. Self-raising flour (2 cups)
2. 2 large eggs
3. 1 1/2 cups of home-made soya+oats milk
4. 5 large bananas
5. 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
6. 1 teaspoon of sea-salt
7. 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

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1. Sieve the flour, salt and brown sugar into a large bowl.

2. Beat the eggs.

3. Mash the bananas.

4. Make a well in the dry combination and pour half of the beaten eggs, bananas and soya milk.

5. Mix the ingredients thoroughly.

6. Add the remaining eggs, bananas, soya milk and sunflower oil and continue stirring until everything is thoroughly mixed.

7. Heat a frying pan.

8. Place tablespoons of the mixture on the hot pan. Flip it over when one side is browned.

9. Once it is done, allow it to cool.

10. Serve when it is warm.

Bon appétit!

Salicylate-Free Pancakes

Bread, crackers and oat crunchies for breakfast everyday for months is no longer appealing to my stomach. Of late, my appetite has not been itself. I cannot finish my meals. My appetite is waning. And I am starting to feel sick of eating salicylate-free food everyday. I am smelling curry, amazing sinful food (but forbidden) in a fragrance-and-smell-free room! I want to eat EVERYTHING!

I made pancakes today. And I use my home-made soya+oat milk instead of the usual fresh cow's milk that comes in a box. I used to be able to drink tiny amounts of the chilled fresh cow's milk. Now I can't anymore. It burns my mouth and triggers a reaction. Well, at least I have soya milk to drink! :)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of all-purpose flour
2. 1 cup of high-protein bread flour
3. 2 large eggs
4. 3/4 cup of soya + oat milk
5. 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
6. A pinch of sea salt
7. 1 cup of filtered water
8. 30g of salted butter
9. Sunflower oil
(10. 2 large bananas - if you want to make banana pancakes)

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1. Mix both the flours, eggs, brown sugar, salt and filtered water into a large bowl.

2. Whisk all of them with an electrical whisk. (The mixture will be very much smoother)

3. In a frying pan or flat wok, melt the 30g butter.

4. Once the butter is melted, scoop it up and mix it into the batter.

5. Fry the pancakes. *

6. Serve them while they are hot. You can serve with butter or any toppings that you are able to take.

*I left about 3 large scoops of batter. I then mashed the 2 large bananas and mixed it with the remaining  batter. I then fried the banana pancakes with sunflower oil. It tasted like 'goring pisang'!!! It was heavenly!

The really smooth batter (the trick is to use an electric whisk)

Pancake batter with mashed bananas

Soya + oat milk pancakes

Banana + soya + oatmilk pancakes 

Here is the link to the home-made soya + oat milk recipe:
Recipe for soya+oat milk

I also made chicken nuggets using minced chicken. I ate it with sushi rice and a fried egg.

Lunch!

It is back to school tomorrow after a one week of school break. Bed time will be early for me tonight as it's back to rising in the morning before the sun. Have a great week everyone. I wish you health.

It's All About Buckwheat

I ran out of home-made bread and buns. I was one very hungry person this morning. So I made biscuits, buns and bread today. And I plan to have my bread for breakfast tomorrow with my soya+oats milk! Yummy!

Here is the recipe for the food I made today.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of buckwheat flour
2. 1 cup of wholemeal flour
3. 1 cup of high-protein bread flour
4. A pinch of salt
5. 1 tablespoon of dry active yeast
6. A teaspoon of brown sugar
7. A bowl of warm water (400ml)
8. Sunflower oil (1/2 cup)
9. 4 bananas

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Buckwheat Biscuits and Buns

1. Mix the brown sugar and warm water until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Add the yeast to the mixture and let it stand until the mixture becomes frothy.

3. Sieve all the 3 flours and salt into a large bowl.

4. Mix the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and start kneading.

5. As you knead, add in the sunflower oil a bit at a time.

6. Take out 1/3 of the (not fully kneaded dough) and place it in another bowl.

7. Continue to knead the remaining dough until it is smooth.

8. Cover the bowl with cling-wrap or a damp towel and let the dough sit for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until it has doubled in size.

9. Divide the dough into half.

10. With the first half, make lots of tiny balls out of it. Then take some flour and roll it between both hands until it resembles a baby snake.

11. You can also make snail shapes too. Just turn the long strands around until it resembles a snail.

12. Place them on baking trays and bake them at 180C for 40 minutes or until crunchy and crispy.

13. When these are in the oven, take the remaining half of the divided dough and make balls the size of a tablespoon. Place them on another baking tray.

 Before baking

Fresh from the oven

14. These are baked at 200C for 25 minutes.

Banana Buckwheat Bread

1. Mash the bananas and add them to the 1/3 dough which was separated into another bowl.

2. Mix the mashed bananas and the dough together and knead it until it is smooth.

3. Pour the mixture into a greased tin or a tin lined with foil.

4. Bake this at 200C for 25 minutes or until browned.

Today's buckwheat baking accomplishments! I will be trying buckwheat pancakes and pasta noodles on another day.

Going Bananas Over Bananas

We spent the whole day baking. And we made cupcakes (AGAIN!) due to popular demand by a little young man. We made crackers again. And we experimented in making banana crackers. The sides were crispy, but the texture of the middle parts were like roti canai. I am not complaining, but it would have been nice if all of them turned out crispy. But the little young man enjoyed them. We also attempted banana chips. But they did not turn out crispy. They turned out chewy instead.

Here is the recipe for the banana crackers.

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cup flour (1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, high protein bread flour and whole-meal flour)
2. 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3. 3 tablespoons of butter
4. About 6 tablespoons of cold water
5. 2 large bananas

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1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl.

3. Add the butter into the bowl and mix the ingredients until it resembles bread crumbs.

4. Mash the bananas and add it into the mixture.

5. Add the cold water and mix the dough until the mixture forms a compact ball. If it is crumbly, add more water. If it is too sticky, add more flour.

6. Divide the dough into 4 to 6 round balls.

7. Put a ball of dough onto a baking sheet and roll it until it is evenly flat. The thinner it is, the crispier the crackers will be.

8. You can use a pizza cutter to pre-cut the crackers before putting them into the oven. I used a butter knife. Use a fork to poke holes into the flattened dough.

9. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until it is brown.

10. Once it is cool, break the crackers into pieces.

Recipe for banana chips.

1. Preheat oven to 90C. Coat baking tray/foil with a thin layer of butter.

2. Slice bananas thinly (about 1/8") and place on baking tray.

3. Bake for about 2 hours + or until brown and crispy.

Banana cupcakes with sprinkles (by the little young man)

Wholemeal crackers

Cupcakes, Cupcakes and MORE Cupcakes! And Crackers Too!

My little young man got back his appetite all of a sudden after indulging in my home-made banana cupcakes. He has been talking non-stop about cupcakes, eating cupcakes for breakfast, morning tea, afternoon tea and supper, breathing cupcakes and most likely dreaming about cupcakes at this very moment!

I baked a smaller batch yesterday and Joel finished everything by this morning's breakfast! I made banana cupcakes yesterday. It is salicylate-free if you do not add the sprinkles on the top. Here is the recipe for the banana cupcake.

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Ingredients:

1. 3 tablespoons of butter
2. 2 tablespoons of refined brown sugar
3. 2 large eggs
4. 3 large bananas
5. 1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
6. Sprinkles (optional)

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1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.

2. Add in one egg at a time and beat it well.

3. Mash the bananas and add them into the creamed mixture.

4. Beat them well.

5. Add the sifted flour a bit at a time and continue to beat it well.

6. Fill the paper cupcakes with the batter.

7. You can add some sprinkles on top if desired.

8. Bake them in pre-heated oven of 190C. Bake for about 20 minutes or until slightly browned.

Enjoy your cupcakes!

The plain cupcakes are salicylate-free

The little young man made these today. He prepared all the paper cups, mixed the ingredients, beat the ingredients well and did the sprinkling. All I did was to scoop the batter into the cups and put them into the oven to bake and to take them out. He even helped a lot in the 'eating part'!

We made lemon and banana cupcakes today. If you are able to tolerate lemons (I cannot tolerate them at all), you can replace the bananas with the rind of 1 lemon and juice of 1 lemon.

Cupcakes galore! Lemon cupcakes (in front container) and banana cupcakes (in container next to casserole).

I managed to bake wholemeal crackers yesterday. I used a bit less butter than the original saltine crackers recipe. I find that it has its own unique taste. And I have to stop pigging out on crackers and work more in the garden. If not, I'll be looking like cupcakes SOON!

Just replace the all-purpose flour with wholemeal flour and you're all set to bake wholemeal crackers!

Here's the link to my salicylate-free salt crackers:

Salicylate-Free Salt Crackers Recipe



Bon Appetit!

My 'Chemical & Salicylate Free' Gastronomic Creations

I have been told so many times that the kind of life that I am living is not a life because of my limited food intake that I've lost count. 

And then I have been told that I am losing out so much in life because I can't eat all the 'wonderful' food which is sold outside.

I won't deny that I do feel very tired with cooking everyday. I won't deny that I do long for all the 'forbidden' food! Sometimes there are long stretches where I can't push myself to cook at all, thus it's chicken soup with all-sorts-of-ingredients for a few days 'till my son tells me that the food is boring! Haha!


One of the benefits that I have reaped from this diet, is that my scalp which was sickly and hair that dropped in clumps AND a severe amount of white hair became healthy and turned so black and thick that my hairdresser thought I had actually gone for a hair dye and some extremely expensive hair treatment! I told her that I'm so allergic to everything that a hair dye is the last thing on my mind. 

For those of you who are in the same boat as I am in, I will share with you how I have been surviving for this past 30 months.

As of today, I am practicing the rotation diet. This means I do not eat the same food twice in a row. What I have eaten today, I'll eat it again next week or 3 or 4 days later. By doing this, the Salicylates which have accumulated in my body do not over-accumulate and cause another attack which could result in anaphylaxis.

My diet consists of chicken (which is free of antibiotics), fish, a selected group of vegetables and fruits and some beans and peas.

I usually cook with just salt and sunflower oil and sometimes pepper. I hardly use sugar anymore because by using natural ingredients, the food is naturally sweet and thus, I do not need to add sugar. It's healthy too! 

I make my own pastries, biscuits and bread too. I use a small amount of sugar for pastries. What are pastries without sugar right? Hehe...

Here are a few examples of the food that I am able to take:
*Some of the food here contain slight amounts of Salicylates which I am able to tolerate (on good days that is).

Roast chicken with salt

Chicken stew with carrots, potatoes, tomatoes (which were from my garden), big onions and celery. This was cooked with just salt and pepper. The rice in the background was cooked with garlic and butter.

Banana cupcakes

Curry puffs (Without the spice and curry that is!)

Egg Tarts

Fried bittergourd with egg

Stir fried mixed vegetables (cauliflower, carrots and brocolli) with chopped garlic

Fried corn fritters

Wholemeal bread

Butter cookies

 Vermicelli fried with choy sum vege and prawns with shallots and garlic

Baked oat crunchies (made with brown sugar, sunflower oil and eggs)

Deep fried baby white pomfret! *Yummy!!*

Steamed chick peas

Stir fried okra with garlic and shallots! Okra's from my garden.

Biscuit bread

Butter cake

An example of my meal: Fried egg, fish cake, and lettuce iceberg with rice.