pork + pineapple salad

Serves 4

Poppy cooks...

1. Cook
   2 cups brown basmati rice and leave to cool (best to cook rice earlier in day or night before).
   
   
2. In a large frying pan, saute
   shallot, finely sliced, 
   2 cups red or green cabbage, shredded and
   1/4 pineapple, cut into pieces in
   olive oil until onion is slightly browned.
   
   
3. Add cold rice,
   punnet cherry tomatoes, halved and season with
   gluten free soy sauce and
   cracked black pepper to taste. Toss for 3 minutes and set aside.
   
   
4. Season
   pork fillet with
   celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper and cook in frying pan.
   
   
5. Slice pork and serve on bed of fried rice.

beef hotpot

Serves 10

Poppy cooks...

1. Chop
   800g eggplant into 2cm cubes then heat
   olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, cooking eggplant in batches so not to crowd the pot until light browned and transfer to a plate.
   
   
   
2. Repeat process with
   1kg diced beef in batches to brown and set aside.
   
   
   
3. Add
   2 onions, diced to pan and cook in olive oil until golden.
   
   
   
4. Stir through
   1 tablespoon garlic, minced and cook until soft.
   
   
   
5. Add
   1 tablespoon ground cumin,
   2 teaspoons ground coriander and
   1 teaspoon ground allspice and cook for 1 minute, or until aromatic.
   
   
   
6. Stir through
   1/4 cup tomato paste for 1 minute, or until well combined.
   
   
   
7. Add back in beef,
   400g tin of diced tomato, 
   500ml chicken broth,
   1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt and
   1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper then reduce heat to low, cover and stir occasionally for 1 hour.
   
   
   
8. Stir in
   800g carrots, chopped and cover for an additional 1 hour or until carrots start to soften.
   
   
   
9. Stir in eggplant and cook until beef, carrot and eggplant is tender. If there is a lot of liquid, remove the lid; otherwise, leave the lid on.
   
   
   
10. Cook
    6 cups rice separately.
    
    
    
11. Stir through
    handful of parsley, chopped before serving on steamed rice.

Notes
This Egyptian spiced dish is a great hearty meal for the winter months. I actually cook this and divide into 3, freezing 2 of the quantities to make the whole batch last for 3 dinners for our family of 5.

pumpkin soup

At Poppy Loves Pear, we are not only about tasty and healthy food, but also easy food. We live in an age where everyone is time poor, so we need to work smart as much as working hard.

I love pumpkin soup, and stumbled across this La Zuppa Roasted Pumpkin soup which has no nasties in it and tastes beautiful. I could make pumpkin soup myself, but this product saves me the time and mess. Simply pour into a saucepan and bring to the boil on the stovetop and it is done!

As the label says, it has no artificial additives, is gluten free and dairy free. The ingredients list is simply: water, 38% pumpkin, potato, onion and salt. It is fast food, but it is healthy and tasty fast food. It is a great pantry staple to draw upon for those stressful days when cooking is the last thing you have the head-space to do.

I find this to be a great lunch time meal when I have no time to cook. It serves 2, and I usually accompany it with 2 slices of toasted gluten-free bread (I will give you my top tips for gluten-free bread in another blog post) and with cracked black pepper and pepitas sprinkled on top.

I buy La Zuppa from Farmer Jacks in Claremont or Subiaco. Here is the La Zuppa website for more information: http://lazuppa.com.au

vegetable + bean soup

Serves 4

Poppy cooks...

1. In a large soup pot, heat
   1 tablespoon coconut oil.
   
   
2. Add
   1 bunch kale, stems removed and torn,
   onion, diced,
   3 garlic cloves, crushed,
   carrot, diced,
   zucchini, diced,
   red capsicum, diced,
   1/4 cup coriander, chopped,
   1/4 cup parsley, chopped,
   1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds,
   1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and
   1/4 teaspoon ground paprika. Saute uncovered over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables start to soften.
   
   
3. Add
   2.5 cups filtered water and
   2 teaspoons celtic sea salt, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
   
   
4. Stir in
   2 400g tins of red kidney beans, drained and mashed and
   2 400g tins of black beans, rinsed. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occassionally for 10-15 minutes.
   
   
5. Serve with desired garnish such as cracked black pepper, pepitas, coriander and flax seed oil.

Notes

You can also serve with gluten-free bread or coconut yoghurt. The use of cumin is a great source of iron and was used traditionally to help relieve allergy symptoms, reduce heartburn and improve digestion.

lamb quinoa

Serves 3

Method

1. Cook
   2 onions, halved and thinly sliced with
   olive oil in a large frying pan until soft and golden.
   
   
2. Add
   500g lamb mince and cook until well browned.
   
   
3. Stir in
   4 garlic cloves, minced and
   1 tablespoon ground cumin for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
   
   
4. Stir in
   1 cup quinoa,
   red capsicum, finely diced,
   1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce,
   chilli powder, to taste (optional),
   pinch of celtic sea salt and
   2 cups filtered water.
   
   
5. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes, until quinoa is almost cooked (add extra water if necessary).
   
   
6. Stir in
   1 cup frozen peas,
   2 tablespoons currants and
   sprig parsley, chopped.
   
   
7. Serve once peas are cooked and all the liquid is absorbed with a
   lemon wedge.

Notes
The fresh lemon juice really makes this dish pop. If you like chilli, feel free to slice extra red chillies and put on top as a garnish, or you can even try it with coconut yoghurt to counter-balance the hot chilli!

This is a great dish that uses pantry and freezer staples, so is great when you have run out of fresh ingredients and don't have time to go to the markets or shops. AND...it's a one-pot-wonder!!!

passionfruit, coconut + chia cake

Serves 8

Wet ingredients

2 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup rice milk

1/4 cup honey

1.5 tablespoons nuttelex

1/3 cup passionfruit pulp

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt

Dry ingredients

1 cups gluten-free self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup fine desiccated coconut

1/4 cup ground chia seeds

Method

1. Prepare 18cm round cake tin by greasing with coconut oil
2. Preheat oven to 180°C
3. In a food processor or hand-blender, mix wet ingredients until well combined and smooth at medium-high speed
4. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix gently to combine
6. Spoon mixture into a cake tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
7. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving

Notes
You can sprinkle extra desiccated coconut or passionfruit pulp for decoration. It also tastes great served with vanilla coconut ice cream. 

The cake pictured above was baked using double the quantities of ingredients to serve 12 larger pieces. I found that the centre of the cake didn't cook as well being a very moist mixture. That is why this cake recipe is also great for making muffins...

Does Poppy want a passionfruit, coconut + chia muffin? Sleepy face with ears pulled back in confusion.

carrot cake

Serves 12

Poppy bakes...

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin lightly with oil, and line with baking paper.
   
   
2. Roughly stir together
   1 cup gluten free self-raising flour,
   1/2 cup gluten free plain flour,
   1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and
   1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
   
   
3. In a separate medium mixing bowl whisk together
   1/2 cup coconut sugar,
   3/4 cup olive oil,
   1/2 cup raw honey,
   3 eggs and
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
   
   
4. Peel and grate
   300g (approximately 3) carrots and set aside.
   
   
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon.
   
   
6. Stir in grated carrot.
   
   
7. Pour mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour.
   
   
8. Allow to cool before removing from cake tin

If you want to 'fancy' this cake up, finish with this amazing buttercream frosting...

1. Place
   120g coconut sugar into Thermomix and mill 20 seconds / speed 10.
   
   
2. Insert butterfly whisk; then add
   250g nuttelex,
   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and
   60g rice milk and mix 3 minutes / speed 3.
   
   
3. Spread over top of cake (you might find you have more than you need) and decorate with a sprinkling of
   activated buckwheat.

chocolate + strawberry cake

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 tablespoons gluten free self raising flour

4 tablespoons coconut sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons rice milk

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

punnet strawberries

coconut ice cream

Method

1. Combine all ingredients (except strawberries and ice cream) and whisk well with a fork
2. Cut strawberries into bite-size pieces and add
3. Pour into a mini cake tin, small oven-proof bowl or 2 ramekins (or you can mix it in the bowl you plan to cook it in)
4. Bake in a fan forced oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes
5. Serve with your choice of coconut ice cream and strawberries

Notes
You can double, triple or quadruple this recipe to make a larger cake. I like being able to make a single serve cake for my husband and I for a one-off bit of indulgence. You can also cook this cake in the microwave by cooking on high for 1.5 - 3 minutes. Pictured below is an organic coconut ice cream I have come across called Coco Luscious...