New eBook - the grain free school lunch box

A collection of coconut flour recipes for the school lunch box

A simple collection of grain free baking to help you pack something healthy and healing in your child's lunchbox. Everything is free from gluten, grains, refined sugar and nuts. Most are dairy free and some free of eggs.

These recipes are not suitable for RPAH Elimination and Failsafe diet.

eBook is only $5.95

See the BOOKS tab for more information and a recipe index

Crunchy Coconut Cookies

Grain Free, Nut Free, Egg Free Coconut Cookie

perfect for Lunchboxes

Ingredients

2T coconut flour
30g coconut sugar
90g tapioca starch
50g coconut oil
30g rice malt syrup
1t vanilla extract
1/2t bicarb soda

Method

Blitz the coconut sugar in Thermomix until fine, 130 seconds, speed 10
Add remaining ingredients and combine, 30 seconds speed 4
Scrape down well and repeat
The mix will not come together in a ball, but look like moist bread crumbs
(do not be tempted to add more moisture)
Tip out into a bowl and using your hands bring the dough together into a ball
Carefully press small tsp size balls into discs using the palm of your hands
(The mix will fall apart if you try to roll into balls in your hands)

Place onto a lined baking tray
Bake for 10 minutes 180 degrees celcius
Remove from the oven briefly and flatten carefully using baking paper and MC

1. Cookies ready for oven 2. Cookies partially baked
3. Cover with baking paper and carefully press using MC
4. Pressed Cookies now ready to finish baking

Return to the oven for a final 5-10 minutes until golden
Cool on trays
Cookies will be soft when warm and will harden upon cooling

If you do not want to press your cookies mid baking,
they will still work perfectly fine, just be a little puffy like this

Pressed cookies - the crunchy texture is really delicious with the thinner pressed cookie

Store in an airtight container in the pantry

Notes:

Recipe Abbreviations
 A double quantity fits in the Thermomix bowl easily

If you prefer to replace the Rice Syrup with an alternative sweetener, use a liquid like maple syrup or honey

 

Too Crunchy?

If you would like a less crunchy cookie,
use ghee instead of coconut oil - you can use all ghee or half ghee/half coconut oil
use baking powder instead of bicarb soda

 

Other uses:

The mix would make a great crumble topping for fruit or a base for cheesecake or chocolate tart or sandwich between marshmallow

Sausage Rolls

Gluten free Pastry for Sausage Rolls

This is a simple pastry which is easy to handle and very flexible. It is able to be used to make sausage rolls, meat pies, savoury pasties and sweet fruit pies as well.

The recipe can be found for traditional mixing or by hand in Kersten's Kitchen: Allergy Free, Not Flavour Free and for Thermomix in Thirty Second Baking.

Here are some step by step photos to help with preparing sausage rolls:

STEP ONE

Prepare the dough either by hand, in KitchenAid or Thermomix
(You can double the recipe if you want to make a big batch to freeze or for a party)

Dough Tips: Mashed potato should be just a potato, boiled then mashed. Do not use TMX mash potato as it is way too runny. Consistency should be thick. Add water slowly and mix. The guar gum takes time to activate and if you add to much liquid you will end up with a sticky mess. Once the dough comes together, stop adding liquid and use your hands to knead. Add a little extra flour to your bench as above and knead to get your dough into a ball shape. If you grind your own flours they will not be as fine as store bought. You will need to add a little less liquid or more flour to compensate for the coarser texture. I find if you use store bought white rice flour and tapioca/arrowroot starch and only grind the brown rice texture will be fine. Dough should be soft and pliable, and very easy to handle and roll out. It will feel similar to playdough...

STEP TWO

Roll out half the dough until about 5mm thick adding extra flour to your rolling pin and surface so the dough doesn't stick
Cut into a rectangle shape

STEP THREE

Roll sausage meat into a log and place on the long side of the rectangle of pastry

 

STEP FOUR

Using the baking paper to help you, lift the pastry and roll over the top of the meat, lift the paper away from the pastry and continue rolling until the meat is enclosed and the pastry starts to over lap. Then cut away excess pastry.

STEP FIVE

Cut into serving size and place on lined baking tray and brush with milk or egg to glaze

STEP SIX

Repeat with remaining pastry and meat

STEP SEVEN

Bake 180 degrees celcius for 40 - 50 minutes until golden

TIP: If you would like to freeze sausage rolls for later use, par bake for approx. 30 minutes and freeze portions. Reheat and complete cooking the pastry for 15-20 minutes

Lunchboxes

Back to School!

Well the holidays are almost over...

some of us have little ones starting school for the first time, others are excited to be returning (and maybe a few mums counting down the days!) 

How can we get organised and pack their lunches quickly in the morning... what can we pack so our child's lunch box is not full of artifical colours flavours and allergens? It takes a bit more work, but is worth it!



lunch boxes... one with lots of artifical ingredients, one with none

Here are some tips to take some stress out of your busy morning

 

What to pack

 

PROTEINS

It is hard to include protein when you are concerned about amines... the amines will be increasing as the meat sits there uneaten. I give my children protein for morning tea... they eat meat for breakfast and then have a small portion in their morning tea box. I cook it while we are getting dressed for school, and then pop it in the box. That way it is eaten as close to cooking as possible. It will be cold, keeping it warm will increase the amines more... My children are happy to eat these protein snacks cold... choose one that your child will too.

If you have a very sensitive little person, you might not be able to send meat protein with that time delay (I couldn't at first either). My solution for that was to offer a serving of meat at breakfast and one for straight after school, the lunch box is just snacks. If you can have legumes, you could send hommus as their protein snack.

MEAT

meat balls, sausage rolls, schnitzel, drumstick

SNACKS

cupcake, pretzels, cookies, rice muesli bar, millet slice, cruskits, water buttons, chips, crimpers, custard

If you really want to send some bread, try a gluten free roll or slice of focaccia... these keep well till lunch

 

FRUIT and VEG

hommus and celery sticks or crackers for dipping, choko sticks, diced pear, choko and pear crumble, pear or choko jelly, whole pear (teacher to peel)

 

How to cook and store in advance

 

PANTRY

Cookies, pretzels, water buttons, rice muesli bar slice can all be made in advance and store well in the pantry

FREEZER

Meat balls - can be made in advance and frozen raw ready to pop in the oven
Schnitzel - can be crumbed and frozen in layers on baking paper ready to cook
Sausage Rolls - can be made and frozen ready to pop in the oven
Drumsticks - freeze individually raw and pop in the oven while getting ready
Cupcakes - can be made and frozen... put in lunch box frozen
Bread Rolls and Focaccia - make and freeze, reheat and crisp in the oven

FRIDGE

Hommus - make and store in little containers
Celery - chop and keep a bag ready to pop into lunchbox
Custard - make and put into 'Squeezy Bags' ready to eat or in little containers
Crumble  - can be made and then divided into little containers ready to eat
Diced Pear - Pears in Syrup are low chemical and come in very large tins... chop and divide into individual serves ready for lunch

 

 

All recipes for these protein ideas and snacks can be found in my recipe book...

Kersten's Kitchen: Allergy Free, Not Flavour Free

 

They are free from gluten, dairy, egg, nut, soy, corn, sugar and are Failsafe

and suitable for the RPAH Elimination diet