Friday, November 6, 2015

A recipe and a new blog...



Mr E and I both have an auto-immune disease and for slightly different reasons cannot tolerate wheat without paying a digestive price for a day or two afterwards. That's not to say we avoid it entirely, but when we occasionally indulge it comes at a physical cost. 

I fell off the wagon big time the past couple of months and can honestly say I've never felt worse. After my nasty fall and a prolonged head cold during August/September I didn't put in the effort required to stay on top of our health and thus began to feel the consequences. The worst thing was seeing my beloved struggle as well. Sure, there were days when I got it right, but there were more days when I didn't.

November 1st.
New day, new month, fresh focus. 


 I spent time last weekend pulling my best healthy cookbooks off the shelf for inspiration, as well as making notes on reworking some old family favourites to suit a wheat-free and mostly gluten-free diet.
And that's where today's recipe came into play!

Mr E enjoys a treat with his cuppa, but he doesn't like it too sweet. Over a year ago we ditched sugar for about six months and that helped us break the sweet tooth addiction so now we use it occasionally, but it's in much smaller quantities and we're fussy about what kind of sugar we use. 

My re-make of Matrimony Slice is delicious so I thought you might like the recipe?

We have a NutriBullet and apart from making delicious smoothies and nutri-blasts, it also mills grain or nuts and seeds to flour. 
For this recipe you'll need oat flour (which you can purchase at the health food store) but if you have the right kitchen appliance why not make it yourself? 
 I mill a few cups of non-contaminated gluten-free oats at a time and after using what I need for a recipe the rest is stored in the freezer for my next baking day...



 MATRIMONY SLICE (wheat-free)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup milled rolled oats, or purchased oat flour
3/4 cup almond meal (almond flour)
1/4 cup rolled oats
grated zest of one lemon
1 cup dessicated coconut
75g melted butter
75g coconut oil
1/2 cup rapadura sugar
1/4 cup raw honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 heaped teaspoon aluminium-free/gluten-free baking powder
1/2 cup jam (100% fruit, no added sugar)
almond flakes

Method:
 Preheat oven to 180C (375F)
Grease and line a slice tray.

In a large bowl mix together the oat flour, almond meal, rolled oats, lemon zest, coconut, sugar, spice and baking powder.
In a large jug gently stir the melted butter, coconut oil, honey and egg until blended.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.
Press a little over half of the mix into the base of your slice tray.
Spread the jam across the top (if you warm the jam a little in your microwave it spreads very easily).
Crumble the rest of your slice mix over the jam.
Scatter the almond flakes across the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.
The top should be risen and golden brown. 



When cool, cut into 16 slices. This keeps well in the fridge for a week.
Enjoy!

 
I used to have a foodie blog, but it's been two years since I've done anything with it. One of my hopes this year was to revive it and share a lot more of what happens in my kitchen, but time ran away from me and here we are almost face to face to 2016 and nothing has eventuated.

So there I sat a little while back, up to my chin in recipes and health books and pages of ideas, wondering whether it was too late to grab that hope and follow my heart?

I decided to move all my old healthy-living/recipe posts from that forgotten blog over to a new blog. The original blog had a wealth of good things shared over a few years about life in my kitchen and I didn't want to lose them, in fact I want to revisit them myself for inspiration during the next year or so! 

Building a kitchen lovin' blog to be what I envisioned at the start of my Year of Gentle Domesticity will take time, but for now it's got a door and you're welcome to visit whenever you like. 



I've called it Cooked Simply With Love because that's the best recipe you can follow, right?

I'll still share occasional recipes on Elefantz but mostly they'll be over HERE, along with chit chat about living a simpler healthy life.

Actually, I'll let you in on a secret.
If I wasn't designing I'd be experimenting in my kitchen every day, totally immersed in healthy goodness beside a stack of notes smeared with coconut oil and sour cherries and almond flour and flaxseed...and I'd double (triple!) the number of homemade aprons that hang from my pantry cupboard.

A girl can dream.

Have a wonderful Friday,
hugs


9 comments:

Elaine said...

I'm so interested in your food choices, Jenny. This will be quite an education for me as so much of your fruit and seasoning seems quite exotic!

Kathleen said...

Glad you have decided to go back to an appropriate diet for your disorders...stay strong and healthy!

Anonymous said...

I had to go explore a bit, and I know I will look more, but I have to keep wikipedia handy because we call things by different names! Or sumac - I thought that was just a tree, as I have never known anyone in my life who talked about sumac as a spice. Now strawberry rhubarb? Yes, all the time! LOL I'm so glad you are back to eating healthy. It takes a long time to get it right, and then just days to destroy your good work, doesn't it?

Águeda said...

La receta es estupenda, y las fotos tan buenas, que me extraña no poder oler y saborear desde mi ordenador. Me alegra que retomes tu otro blog, si así lo deseas. Creo que Trabajas mucho y que gran parte de ese trabajo lo haces para compartirlo. Eres una mujer muy generosa. God bless you.

Sharon - creativity and family said...

It sounds delicious Jenny, thanks for sharing. I shall go and have a look at your foodie blog now :-) x

Melody said...

I'll definitely be a reader. I have had to change my eating habits significantly... Low fat, low salt, low sugar...so I'm on the look out for healthy things to cook. Your new blog has happened just at the right time for me. Many thanks

Brenda said...

Jenny, forgive me for being so late! Two of my new quilting friends came over again this morning and we spent all day laughing, talking and even getting a few stitches taken. LOL. I truly enjoyed reading your post, as always, but it was nice to even learn a bit more about you. I signed up to follow your new/old blog. I am not much of a cook or baker any longer because of my memory problems and far to many dangerous situations in the kitchen because of my memory. Hubby on the other hand is and so I will share with him the knowledge you share along with tasty new recipes. Thank you so much. Later on tomorrow, I invite you to check my blog for a special post about hubby and what he surprised me with. I hope that you have a wonderful creative day!

cpup40 said...

What is 75g, I live in the United States and we don't use those kind of measurements? I'm glad you're getting back on the right track for you & your husbands sake.

Baa. xxx said...

Dream away!