My Quirky Cooking Thermomix cookbook by Jo Whitton arrived and the first thing I made was the
Raw Macadamia Lime Cheesecake.   It was yummy and a big hit with all at work.  You can make one large cheesecake or mini cheesecakes.  Check out the recipe here and order the cookbook here. 

I have  been meaning to try out The Plant Organic Cafe since it opened so when I had my next day off work I visited for morning tea.   The lovely Kirra made me a coffee with hazelnut milk which was delicious and creamy.   It went very well with the Key Lime Pie which is gluten free and also I think dairy free, raw and vegan.   The Cafe has plans for more lunch options soon and sells a range of gluten free products that are worth checking out including their own Earth Candy brand.   I sampled the Kale Cashew Cheese chips and the muesli – both very tasty!   So check out The Plant Organic Cafe & Market Facebook page here.

So I don’t want to cook for Mother’s Day but my favourite cafe’s can get a bit busy and particularly since Mothers Day is the same weekend as Groovin the Moo Bunbury.   So we booked for lunch at newly refurbished Lighthouse Beach Resort.   I had the beef for my main meal which was very tender and served with a beetroot relish and creamy potato bake.   For dessert I had the creme brûlée minus the biscuit but it was still delicious with the ice cream and toffee, looked very pretty as well!   The service from Glen and his team is always excellent and the view over the ocean from the new function rooms was beautiful.

I don’t find gluten free pastry the easiest thing to work with!  Give me challenge re gluten free bread or pizza dough and not a problem.   I was never any good with normal pastry before being diagnosed with Coeliac disease.   So it was with some trepidation that I was given the challenge to try out Simply Wize gluten free puff pastry sheets.   You can buy the sheets from Woolworths for about $9 for a pack of 4 sheets.   I followed the recipe below from Simply Wize but even after leaving the pastry out to defrost wrapped in plastic I still could not manage to roll out the pastry sheet to be 26cm square.

I am not going to put a photo up as they don’t look the best, not puffy and golden and filling spilled out a bit.   But will say they still tasted delicious – pastry crispy on the outside and soft (but not puffy) on inside and the filling tasted delicious – very nice warm but could take them to picnic lunch cold.   Feel free if have any tips on what went wrong for me and why don’t look like the picture.

Ingredients

2 x Simply Wize Puff Pastry Sheets

2 bunches spinach washed and roughly chopped

100g feta, crumbled

1 sliced onion

1 clove chopped garlic

1 egg

Egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of water

1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Separate Simply Wize Puff Pastry sheets while frozen and thaw for 40 minutes in a plastic bag at room temperature. Return unused sheets to freezer.

Preheat oven to 210°C, and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Sauté sliced onion and chopped garlic in frying pan. Add spinach until tender.

Whisk 1 egg in bowl and stir in spinach, feta, sautéed onion and garlic, with salt and pepper to taste.

Dust bench with gluten free flour and roll out Simply Wize Puff Pastry sheets to 26 x 26 cm then cut into 4 equal squares.

Divide the filling among the 8 pastry squares and brush edges with egg wash (1 egg and 1 table spoon of water beaten). Fold in half diagonally to enclose filling and pinch edges to seal.

Place the turnovers on prepared tray and brush with egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Happy gluten free Easter!   I love Easter as I love chocolate, it is a four day long weekend and the weather is generally good, not too hot but not winter.   But the best thing is the chocolate.   I love Lindt chocolate particularly the Lindt balls but alas I cannot have these as the contain barley malt extract.   In fact cannot have any of the milk chocolate generally.   However I love dark chocolate so my Easter treat is always a dark chocolate Lindt bunny.   I also love the Lindt hazelnut milk chocolate carrots which only come out in the stores at Easter.   So if you are gluten free you can still have some Lindt but just check the ingredient labels particularly to make sure don’t contain barley malt extract!

I am not a huge fan of hot cross buns but at this time of the year will crave one anyway when everyone else is eating them.   So I bought some hot cross buns from the Pure Bred range and was surprised they tasted pretty good when heated up in the oven and spread with butter while still warm.

It was Aubrey’s birthday and decided to go out for dinner and try somewhere new.   With having Coeliac disease I find that I tend to keep going back to places I know I can trust.   It does make it a bit boring and hard for a non-gluten free husband who wants to try new things.   So we called Josephine’s as it is an Italian restaurant and the online menu at their website did not mention gluten free options.   The owner was very friendly and assured me could alter some of the menu options to be gluten free however they don’t have gluten free pasta which is a shame.

Aubrey and I shared a grilled field mushrooms entree which was very yummy with tomato based sauce and cheese.   I had the Chicken Josephine which was gluten free with brie cheese, potato gratin, green runner beans and a white wine creamy sauce.   Dessert options not so great but I had the cassata which was lovely but still was green with envy watching Aubrey eat sticky date pudding.   Going to have to make my gluten free version of this soon!

It has been a busy year and not had much time to cook or blog!    I hope everyone is having a gluten free Merry Christmas.   I am celebrating with gluten free ham from Coles with potato salad and coleslaw so keeping it simple.   Making Gluten Free Nespresso Trifles from recipe you can find here.   Mine don’t look so pretty but sure they are going to taste delicious as have already taste tested the Dharkan brownie and ganache!   So while I relax time for a coffee with a gluten free gingerbread biscuit baked by the amazing Julie at St Aidan’s winery!

For my birthday we had a family lunch at The Ridge restaurant in Collie.   The menu offers a range of gluten free main meals and I chose the lamb shank with jus, steamed vegies and jacket potato.   The lamb was so tasty and very tender!   Dessert options not so good on the menu for gluten free but the wonderful chef offered to whip up a gluten free bread and butter pudding.   It was served with ice cream and raspberry couli and tasted yummy – great comfort all round for what was a very wet and drizzly day for late October!

Despite the lack of spring weather here in the south west of WA we made another day trip with the in-laws to the Ferguson Valley yesterday.   We stopped in for lunch at Moody Cow Brewery and despite no gluten free beer (I had a glass of Ferguson Hart Estate shiraz!) the lunch of grilled salmon, hand cut potato chips and caesar salad (minus the croutons) was filling.   But there is always room for dessert and especially when there are three gluten free choices on offer from the fantastic chef Julie at St Adain’s winery.   I finally chose the baked chocolate cheesecake with caramel sauce.

I have my lovely in-laws here visiting from the USA so we took a trip to one of my favourite places, Balingup.   This is usually gluten free Mecca but not this trip as the local 100% gluten free cafe has changed hands and is no longer open during the day it seems.   But do not despair as the delectable cafe Taste of Balingup has lots of gluten free options prepared by a true foodie!   I had the posh steak sandwich with gluten free bread and it was very tasty with the brie cheese.   The coffee at Taste of Balingup is also much better as use Bannister Down milk and there is a range of gluten free products to buy as well.   Check out their website here.