popcorn

Poppy cooks...

1. Heat
   1.5 tablespoons coconut oil in a large pot with a lid on medium heat.
   
   
2. Test whether the oil is hot enough by placing one corn kernel in the oil to see if it pops. If not, wait until it does.
   
   
3. Add
   1/4 cup popping corn and
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt, tossing in pot to coat corn kernels in oil and salt.
   
   
4. Periodically shake pot to keep the corn kernels from burning and leave the lid slightly ajar to allow the steam to escape to prevent chewy popcorn.
   
   
5. Once all the corn has popped, turn off the heat and stir through
   1 tablespoon nuttelex until melted.

flourless chocolate cake

Poppy bakes...

My best critic is my husband; so the fact he likes this cake makes it a winner! It is a variation of the popular Thermomix Magic Bean Cake, but if you don't have a Thermomix, you can do the exact same process with a blender and mixer or food processor. I love how it contains red kidney beans as a flour replacement, but you can't taste them. You can make this cake vegan too by using a flax egg or egg replacer.

Serves 10


CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 180º and line a cake tin.
   
   
2. Puree
   400g red kidney beans or butter beans, drained and rinsed,
   1 tablespoon water,
   1 egg and
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth on speed 7; then set aside.
   
   
3. Without washing the mixing bowl, beat
   125g butter and
   140g coconut sugar for 30 seconds on speed 5.
   
   
4. Add
   4 eggs and beat for 20 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
5. Add bean mixture back in and combine for 5 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
6. Add
   65g cacao powder,
   1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder,
   1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt and blend for 10 seconds on speed 4.
   
   
7. Pour batter into cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
   
   
8. Allow the cake to cool, then remove from tin. You can simply decorate it with
   raspberries and
   desiccated coconut; and/or serve with a generous dollop of
   coconut ice cream.

JAM

To take this cake to the next level, you can add some raspberry jam to cut through the dark chocolate taste.

1. To make the jam filling, in a small sauce pan heat
   1/2 lemon, juiced,
   1 tablespoon coconut sugar and
   2 teaspoon rice malt syrup.
   
   
2. Once the coconut sugar has dissolved, add
   1 cup raspberries,
   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and
   2 tablespoon white chia seeds; gently mashing the raspberries with a fork.
   
   
3. Remove from the heat and cool in the fridge until the chia seeds have absorbed most of the liquid to form a jam.
   
   
4. Slice cooled cake in half and spread the jam between the two layers.
   

ICING

This is the best healthy chocolate icing! I don't have any pictures yet but I will be making this for my daughter's next birthday cake, so I'll share some pictures soon.

1. Pour
   150g dark chocolate buttons into a stainless steel mixing bowl over a boiling pot of water and slowly stir with a whisk until melted.
   
   
2. Add
   1 cup coconut cream and slowly whisk together until combined.
   
   
3. Cool in the fridge until the right consistency to spread onto the cooled cake.

CHOCOLATE SHELL 

This is another icing option which creates a thinner and harder layer of chocolate around the cake which I use when I make this cake in my Wilton 5 Layer Cake Tin Set.

1. Melt
   150g dark chocolate and
   3 tablespoons coconut oil in a double boiler, refrigerate for about 20 minutes just before it sets then whisk until fluffy. Pipe or spread over cake - voila!

In this picture I have spread the raspberry jam between the 5 layers and encased the cake in the chocolate shell and topped with freeze dried raspberries.

paleo macaroni and cheese

Serves 4

For a non-paleo version that the kids will love, substitute the cauliflower (so, substitute the whole of step 1) for some brown rice pasta.

Poppy cooks…

1. Saute
   1.5 cauliflower, cut into florets in
   2 tablespoons nuttelex,
   1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt and
   1/4 cup filtered hot water until cauliflower is cooked and lightly caramelised, then set aside and keep warm.
   
   
2. Saute
   2 tablespoons nuttelex,
   3 squash, diced,
   carrot, diced,
   onion, diced,
   3 garlic cloves, minced,
   3/4 teaspoon ground mustard and
   1 teaspoon celtic sea salt.
   
   
3. Add
   165ml tin coconut cream and simmer until the coconut cream is slightly reduced.
   
   
4. Place in a blender and puree until smooth.
   
   
5. Add an
   egg yolk and blend well.
   
   
6. Return sauce to the pan, then add a
   bag of spinach and stir through until spinach is slightly wilted.
   
   
7. Add
   cracked black pepper to taste.
   
   
8. Serve cauliflower florets topped with sauce.

creamy zucchini pasta bake

Serves 4

Poppy cooks…

1. Saute
   zucchini, diced,
   2 carrots, diced,
   handful green beans, chopped,
   1 cup purple cabbage, diced,
   4 garlic cloves, minced,
   pinch of italian herbs (such as marjoram, basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme), celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper in
   olive oil, then set aside.
   
   
   
2. To make sauce heat
   1 tablespoon nuttelex and
   2 tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan, then add
   4 tablespoons brown rice flour or buckwheat flour and stir with a whisk to form a paste.
   
   
   
3. Slowly add
   2 cups rice milk, followed by
   1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes,
   1 teaspoon garlic powder,
   1 teaspoon celtic sea salt,
   1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg,
   1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar and
   1 teaspoon dijon mustard, stirring on low heat until it thickens.
   
   
   
4. Cook
   500g buckwheat pasta or brown rice penne in accordance with packet instructions.
   
   
   
5. Drain the pasta then combine in a baking dish with zucchini, 
   1/2 cup semi sun-dried tomatoes, quartered, sauce and sprinkle with
   chives, chopped.
   
   
   
6. Bake in a 180ºC oven for 20 minutes or until it starts to crisp on top.

pear cake

Serves 12

Poppy bakes…

1. Preheat oven to 180º and prepare a cake tin.
   
   
2. In a mixing bowl combine
   250g gluten-free plain flour,
   1/2 teaspoon baking powder and
   pinch of celtic sea salt.
   
   
3. Place
   250g coconut sugar into Thermomix and mill 20 seconds / speed 10.
   
4. Insert butterfly whisk; then add
   250g nuttelex and mix 3 minutes / speed 3.
   
   
5. Add
   4 eggs,
   1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and
   zest of 1/4 lemon on speed 3 until combined.
   
   
6. Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and combine using a spatula.
   
   
7. Gently fold through
   3 packham pears, peeled and diced.
   
   
8. Pour mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes.

smashed cannellini bean, cucumber + avocado open sandwich

Serves 1

Poppy cooks…

1. In a small mixing bowl add
   1/2 tin of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained,
   tablespoon olive oil,
   squeeze of lemon juice,
   pinch of celtic sea salt + crack black pepper and mash together with a fork.
   
   
2. Spread some
   nuttelex on
   2 slices of gluten-free toasted bread, and then cover with the smashed bean mixture.
   
   
3. Top with
   1/2 avocado, sliced or chopped and
   1/2 lebanese cucumber, sliced or chopped.

apple + maple syrup cake

Serves 10

Poppy bakes…

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a cake tin.
   
   
2. In a mixing bowl combine
   5 tablespoons nuttelex, melted,1/2 cup coconut sugar,
   1/2 cup maple syrup,
   1 egg, lightly beaten and
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
   
   
3. Stir through
   1 cup gluten-free plain flour,
   1 teaspoon baking powder,
   1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt and
   1.5 cups granny smith apples, chopped.
   
   
4. Pour mixture into cake tin, bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and allow to cool before serving.

orange + beef stew on creamy mash

Serves 4

Poppy cooks…

1. Between 12 to 24 hours before you plan to cook this meal, put
   500-600g organic diced beef in a large pot or french oven and season with
   celtic sea salt + cracked black pepper.
   
   
2. Add
   750ml red wine (1 bottle),
   3 sprigs fresh thyme,
   2 bay leaves,
   5 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks,
   half an orange cut into wedges,
   onion, cut into rings, and
   2 garlic cloves, sliced. Place in the fridge to marinate.
   
   
3. When you are ready to start cooking, heat some
   olive oil in a frying pan, remove the beef from the marinade and brown on all sides, then set aside.
   
   
4. Place pot with marinade on the cooktop and bring to the boil, then lower to a simmer.
   
   
5. Add chuck steak back into the pot with
   170g tomato paste and
   2.5 cups of hot filtered water and leave to cook on low with the lid on for 2 hours or until meat is tender, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid for approximately another 30 minutes for the liquid to reduce to form a thick sauce.
   
   
6. In a separate pot, boil
   1.5 kg royal blue potatoes, peeled and diced until they crumble with no resistance when pierced with a fork. Drain water and mash with
   tablespoon nuttelex and
   1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt.
   
   
7. Serve mashed potato topped with stew mixture, making sure to discard the bay leaves and orange peels.

salmon with a summer salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 red onion, finely diced

green chilli, seeds removed and finely diced

red capsicum, finely diced

mango, cubed

avocado, cubed

lemon juice

4 potatoes, cubed

hot filtered water

celtic sea salt

nuttelex

4 salmon fillets

Method

1. Toss red onion, chilli, capsicum, mango, avocado and a squeeze of lemon juice together in a salad bowl and set aside
2. In a pot, add potato with enough water to immerse potato. Cook until tender, drain and mash
3. Add nuttelex and salt to mashed potatoes to taste
4. Cook salmon skin side down first until crispy, then turn over until cooked through
5. Divide mashed potato amongst serving plates, place salmon fillets on top followed by salsa. Garnish with micro herbs

Notes
This is a perfect dish for the warmer months. For a lighter meal, you can omit the mashed potato. Another alternative is to swap the mashed potato for mashed cauliflower.

tropical crumble

Serves 8

Ingredients: fruit mixture

1 mango, cubed

1 pineapple, cubed

3 tablespoons coconut sugar

1 vanilla pod, de-seeded

Ingredients: crumble 

1 cup gluten-free flour

1/4 cup coconut sugar

5 tablespoons nuttelex

1/2 cup fine desiccated coconut - toasted

Method

1. Combine mango, pineapple, coconut sugar and vanilla pod in a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes
2. Combine flour and nuttelex using a fork
3. Add coconut sugar and coconut and combine
4. Freeze crumble mixture for 10 minutes
5. Top fruit with crumble mixture and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown

Notes

If you want to make individual serves, simply spoon the fruit into ramekins before topping with crumble mixture and baking in the oven. You can also halve the amount of desiccated coconut and substitute with quinoa flakes.

blueberry, lime + coconut cake

Serves 10

Dry ingredients

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon coconut sugar

Wet ingredients

4 free-range eggs

3 tablespoons nuttelex, melted

juice + zest of 1 lime

zest of 1/2 lemon

6 tablespoons coconut milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

punnet (1/2 cup) blueberries

Glaze ingredients

1/4 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

30ml coconut cream

Pinch of celtic sea salt

25ml honey

15ml lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. In a bowl combine dry ingredients
3. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients, excluding blueberries
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients using a spatula
5. Combine blueberries into mixture
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
8. On low heat, combine glaze ingredients until smooth
9. Cool glaze in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before spreading over cake

Notes
This is a delightfully light and fluffy cake, due to the use of coconut flour. Like most cake recipes, you can use this same mixture to make muffins - this recipe makes about 6 large muffins.