Coeliac Awareness Week- GF Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna

Since this week is Coeliac Awareness Week, I am sharing one of my favourite gluten free meals with you today.

Gluten Free Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna

This recipe is great as it uses only a few ingredients, and you can easily add other vegetables or use beef mince if preferred.



The smell of the sauce ingredients simmering is delicious, and makes my whole house smell wonderful.



The lasagna is easy to assemble too, with three layers repeated and some cheese sauce poured on top.



It isn't the prettiest meal, but it certainly packs a flavour punch.



Best of all, the vegetables in this lasagna get coated in cheesy goodness!



My boys gobble this up (they don't even know it has mushrooms!) and it keeps well for leftovers the next day.

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Gluten Free Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna

Ingredients

• 500 grams chicken mince
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 can Watties Original Pasta Sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 cups frozen broccoli florets
• 1 sachet Maggi Gluten Free Cheese Sauce
• six sheets Diamond Gluten Free Instant Lasagna

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a large ovenproof dish with oil spray. Brown mince in a non-stick pan with a little oil spray.Add mushrooms to pan with tomato pasta sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil then simmer for ten minutes.Steam the frozen broccoli for 3 minutes until tender; drain.Make up the cheese sauce with 1 cup boiling water as per packet directions.Spread half the chicken mince over base of lasagna dish. Add half the broccoli. Place half the lasagna on top in a single layer then repeat all the layers.Pour cheese sauce over lasagna. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Stand for ten minutes before cutting and serving.

Celebrating World Egg Day

World Egg Day falls on Friday 9th October, and so of course this is the perfect day to create some delicious recipes with the humble egg.

Breakfast is always made delicious with the help of an egg or two- here are some of my favourite ways to start the day!


1. The Eggbert's Sunriser- The Pioneer Woman
2. Eggs in a Hole with Basil Pesto- Joyful Healthy Eats
3. Breakfast Pizza- Cooking with Carlee
4. Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes- Baking Bites

Lunch and dinner are also great egg-filled options.


1. Egg Drop Soup- Cook Lisa Cook
2. Eggs Woodhouse- Cheese with Noodles
3. Easy Western Omelette Muffins- Mother Would Know
4. One Pot Spicy Eggs and Potatoes- Pinch of Yum

Eggs are a quintessential part of these delicious desserts too!


1. Pots de Creme- The Pioneer Woman
2. Egg-Nog Bundt Cake- Cooking with Ruthie
3. The Best Baked Flan- One Chopping Board
4. Snow Eggs- Chef in Disguise

But eggs are not just for eating- here are some of my favourite kid friendly activities using the humble egg.


1. Egg Drop Challenge- Little Bins for Little Hands
2. Bouncing Egg Experiment- Parenting Chaos
3. Shaving Cream Dyed Eggs- Crafty Morning
4. Eggshell Mosaic- Kidspot

What will you be creating for World Egg Day?

WCW Chilli Black Bean Pizza

I love quick and easy dinners, but sometimes it is hard to incorporate vegetables into family favourites. Today I am sharing with you a pizza that my whole family loves (shhh don't tell my boys it is healthy) and is a vegetarian style, filling alternative to our usual ham and cheese pizza. The other great thing is that the Delmaine beans are gluten free, so if you use a gluten free pizza base as well, you have a perfect dinner option for those who cannot eat gluten.

Chilli Black Bean Pizza
1 pizza base
1/2 can Delmaine Black Beans in Chilli Sauce
1/2 cup pizza sauce
generous handful fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1/2 cup grated cheese
125g light sour cream
1 fresh tomato, finely diced

On your pizza base, spread a thin layer of pizza sauce and then top with the black beans.



Top with the spinach, capsicum and cheese, then bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.



Cut into wedges and serve with diced fresh tomato and a dollop of sour cream on top.



A yummy, easy weeknight dinner that tastes fresh and fabulous! You can definitely add additional topings such as olives, mushrooms or guacamole, depending on what you have available.

WCW Pinterest Recipes July

Time for another round of up of recipes I tried this month from Pinterest! This month I focused on freezer and make ahead mixes, as well as lunchbox ideas.

Up for review this month I have:
Homemade Fruit Snacks
Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies
Teriyaki Chicken
French Chicken
DIY Pancake Mix

I am always looking for ideas for school lunches, so I made the Fruit Snacks with blueberries. Unfortunately, the boys did not like them and even I found them overly tart.
Verdict: Delete.

My next try at creating a lunchbox item was a lot more successful. I made a batch of these Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies and they were amazing!
Hands down these were the best cookies I have ever made, and the coconut flavour was a great contrast to the chocolate. These did not last long in my house and I will be making them again and again.
Verdict: Keep.

I have had a busy schedule this month, and so I was looking for some freezer meals that my husband or I could put in the slow cooker and forget about until dinner time. I made the Teriyaki Chicken and the French Chicken from the same blog post of six easy Crockpot Chicken Freezer meals, and my family ate chicken without a fuss!
If you have read my previous posts, my eldest son can be very fussy with chicken, but he loved the French Chicken and we enjoyed the Teriyaki Chicken over rice and wrapped in rice paper rolls.
Verdict: Keep both!

Finally,we have a family tradition of pancakes on Sunday mornings, but I felt like I should be making my own pancake mix as it seems so easy and that way I am not having to buy the bottle mixes. This DIY Pancake Mix was a lot more simple than I expected, as usually when I make pancakes from scratch I use a fancy recipe, but this one was quick and easy to mix together.

We served our pancakes topped with fruit and maple syrup.
Verdict: Keep.

A successful month for July, and now I am looking forward to testing some Paleo and Whole 30 type meals for August!

As always, these recipes have only been tested and reviewed with the personal preferences of my family members, and so I have provided links to all of the recipes for you to try them yourself.

WCW Pinterest Recipes June

Time for an overview this week of some of my Pinterest recipe pins that I got around to trying this month. In order to keep my pins under control, I choose five recipes every month to try, and if they aren't winners then I delete therm from my board. If my family gives the dish a thumbs up, it will get moved to my Plan To Eat account for future reference. This has helped me keep my pins manageable and also let me find some new family favourites!

The recipes we cooked are:

French Toast Blueberry Casserole
Salmon and Rice Loaf
Oriental Express Chicken
Crockpot Garlic Alfredo Chicken
Taco Pasta

First up is the French Toast Blueberry Casserole. I got up an hour earlier than everyone else to have a delicious breakfast ready on a Saturday morning. My boys love blueberries, but this casserole fell flat. I think they didn't like the texture of the cooked bread, so my husband and I had a lot of leftovers!
VERDICT: Delete.

The Salmon and Rice Loaf was also a dish with plenty of leftovers- although this was alright to eat, it wasn't "wow" enough for us.
VERDICT:Delete.

Onto the Oriental Express Chicken. I have tried a few recipes from this website and have never been disappointed. I made this dinner thinking that it would get a thumbs down from my 5 year old who doesn't like chicken, but he ate the chicken straight away and asked me to make this more often! My husband agreed with the 5 year old, and I had clean plates all around.
VERDICT: Keep.

Since I had a busy weekend of crafting, I was looking forward to the Crockpot Garlic Alfredo Chicken. However, this was another dish that fell flat for us, possibly due to the fact that the sauce was average. Since this recipe relies on the sauce to carry the dish, I will be trying this with a different jarred sauce.
VERDICT: Keep with modifications.

Lastly, we tried Taco Pasta. As a family of Mexican food afficionados, we were looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. In my opinion, the cream cheese makes this dish special and it was so easy to cook.I snuck in some vegetables by adding corn and topped this with salsa before serving.
VERDICT: Keep.

Please note that these are only based on my personal preferences and the verdicts of my slightly picky children, so you may want to try these recipes out if anything takes your fancy!

WCW Pineapple Ginger Caramel Slice

I love looking through my mum's old recipe book- it is such a trip down memory lane. It is so fun to recall childhood meals and memories of lunchbox baking, and now to have the recipes to give to my family is a very special thing.

One of the recipes in my mum's book was for a slice that I remember her making for adults, which I never tried. Luckily, both of my boys like pineapple and ginger, so when I made this slice the entire family inhaled it and I had something for everyone's lunchbox!



Pineapple and Ginger Caramel Slice
125 g butter

1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp hot water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 450g tin crushed pineapple
2 tbsp crystallised ginger (chopped)

Directions  

Grease a 20cm x 30cm sponge roll tin.
Cream together the first measure of butter and sugar.
Add the hot water and beat.
Sift flour and baking powder together, and add to the butter mix.
Press mixture into tin, retaining a piece the size of a golf ball and placing this in the fridge to chill.
Bake at 190 degrees C for 20 minutes.
Heat the condensed milk, butter, golden syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan.
Pour over the baked base.
Drain the pineapple well and sprinkle this on top of the base, along with the ginger. 

Grate the reserved base mixture over the top. 

Return to the oven and bake at 160 degrees C for 10 minutes.
Cut when cool.

This is so gooey and yum, and the flavours go together wonderfully. Try to get the best crystallised ginger available for your budget as this really makes a difference to the slice.

WCW Pinterest Week April

Recently I decided to try some of the delicious recipes I had pinned on Pinterest, as there is no point in me pinning them if I don't make them! I did manage to photograph some of them, but with the light fading by 5pm every night thanks to Autumn, it was a bit tricky to get a dinnertime photo.

My menu plan for Pinterest Week was as follows:

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
Easy Baked Fish
Chicken Tortilla Bake
Pizza Steak Sandwiches in the Slow Cooker
Spicy Sausage Pasta
Cordon Bleu Lasagne
One Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
Lemon White Chocolate Blondies

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
The soup was delicious- the boys really like tomato soup and their "pasta parcels" so this was a quick and easy dish to make when I was feeling less than inspired. Verdict: KEEP!

Easy Baked Fish
This was pretty good, but didn't crisp up as much as I would have liked, I think next time I make this I will use more breadcrumbs and less mayonnaise. Verdict: KEEP!

Chicken Tortilla Bake
This was such an easy casserole to put together, and the boys especially enjoyed it. This was a great warming meal for all of us, and the husband was happy to have leftovers for the next couple of days! Verdict: KEEP!

Pizza Steak Sandwiches in the Slow Cooker
After three wonderful meals, this one didn't quite hit the mark. The meat was still quite chewy, and the boys only ate the pepperoni, cheese and bread. Verdict: DELETE.

Spicy Sausage Pasta
Now this meal was popular! The boys inhaled it, and the leftovers the next day were even better. Verdict: KEEP!

Cordon Bleu Lasagne

I wanted to like this, I really did. My husband enjoyed it, but I just found the seasonings and mixes of cheese weird. The boys weren't big fans either- they picked the chicken out but didn't eat the pasta. Verdict: DELETE.

One Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
As we sat down to eat this, my 5 year old looked at me, looked at his food and said "you are the best mum ever!" This dish is worth keeping just because of that reaction! The dumplings were so amazingly light and fluffy, and the dinner table was silent as we all were too busy eating this delicious meal. Verdict: KEEP!

Lemon White Chocolate Blondies
I had some guests over for a few coffee groups this week, and these blondies received high praise from some of the ladies who had never head of a blondie before. Next time I might tone down the icing- which was my fault as I deviated from the recipe, but as written this blondie is delicious!
Verdict: KEEP!

I have decided to make this a monthly series, with the last Wednesday of each month dedicated to seven recipes plus a dessert or baking dish I have tried from Pinterest each month. If you have any suggestions of recipes I can try, or if you would like me to try out one of your recipes, please let me know as I am always on the lookout for yummy things!

WCW Tropical Teacakes

Those pesky bananas are still lurking in my fruit bowl as my 2 year old insists on buying them every time we go to the supermarket! 

I decided to whip up these teacakes instead of the usual muffins or bread. I used a pretty baking mold but you could use a mini loaf pan or muffin trays instead. These are dairy and egg free, and perfect to whip up for a quick afternoon tea.

Tropical Teacakes

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tablespoons Healtheries Black Chia seeds

4 tablespoons ground flaxseed

1/4 cup cold water

2 small bananas

1/2 cup orange and mango juice

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

extra 1/4 cup orange and mango juice

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together. Create a well in the center and set aside.

Mix the water, flaxseed and Black Chia seeds to form a paste. Mix in mashed bananas and juice and add to the dry mixture. Mix well.

Fold in the coconut and add extra juice if needed. You want the mixture to be quite runny, about the consistency of pancake mix.

Add a dessertspoon full of the mixture to each mold or muffin tray. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned.

Serve warm or keep in an airtight container for up to three days.

WCW Baked Orange Chicken

What's Cooking Wednesday is getting a bit of a facelift this year, complete with a special badge!

I am also going to be focusing on all types of recipes, as this year one of my mini goals is to eat less processed foods. i am hoping that this way of eating will rub off on the boys- they are already pretty good at eating fruits and vegetables but it is hard to get meat into our five year old, who would happily eat ham, salami and sausages every day if I let him but is not keen on chicken, pork or beef.

I love Chinese takeaways, but no-one else in my family is that excited about it, and the family budget doesn't usually stretch to takeaways. To get my Chinese food fix whilst being somewhat healthy, I tried to recreate an orange chicken using the oven instead of frying.

Baked Orange Chicken
3 oranges, juiced and zested
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup marmalade
1.2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

2 chicken breasts, skin off, diced into cubes
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Mix the flours together in a bowl, and toss in the chicken.

Mix together the sauce ingredients, including the orange zest, and heat gently in a saucepan or microwave bowl, until the marmalade is of pouring consistency.

Place the chicken pieces in an oven dish and pour the sauce on top.

Bake in the oven at 170 degrees C for twenty minutes.



I served this with pineapple fried rice, which was a delicious accompaniment to the meal, but you could serve it over plain rice or noodles as well.

Linking up with Time For Mom.

One Bowl Cinnamon Cream Banana Bread

Due to request, I am sharing a recipe with you today instead of Wednesday. I made up a delicious bread over the weekend due to languishing ingredients in my fruit bowl and fridge, and I was very pleased with the results!

Best of all, this recipe only uses one bowl and so minimal clean up is required.

Cinnamon Cream Banana Bread
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup cream
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
TOPPING:
1 banana, sliced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together the sugars, flours. wheat bran, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.



Add in the cream, eggs and vanilla; stir to combine.



Fold in the mashed banana, walnuts and raisins.



Place into a loaf pan and then top with sliced banana, Mix cinnamon and sugar together; sprinkle over the top.



Bake at 180 degrees C for 1 hour until golden and cooked through.



This is delicious served warm or cold, and a great way to use up those ripe bananas!



This was a great way to use up some leftover cream, and I also feel happy that my kids will eat this with no complaints even though I have snuck in some healthy alternatives to our regular banana bread.