Small Steps Living

#3 Dinner Recipes

Gluten Free Tortillas

So we were invited over to a Canadian families house for a swim and bbq (as you do up here!). When Jewls (Canadian friend) was making tortilla at the bbq I asked what she was using and she said ‘cornflour and water’. I was so confused because I didn’t think that what I knew as cornflour would create the kind of consistency she got. And I was right because I got home and attempted to make tortilla’s with cornflour and water and it absolutely DID NOT WORK! How embarrassing that I even thought it could. Don’t try it. What an idiot!

So I made a call to Jewls and it turned out it was a SPECIAL corn flour that I needed. And I couldn’t find it at the supermarket – this was a health food shop find. But it was totally worth it. Apparently, you can get it on the internet, too. This flour, with water, makes a dough that you just roll out and then add to a dry hot pan and kazam! Dinner is served!

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 Gluten Free Tortillas
Gluten free tortillas
Servings
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Masa Harina
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups hot water
Servings
Ingredients
  • 2 cups Masa Harina
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups hot water
Gluten free tortillas
Instructions
  1. Mix the salt into the masa harina and then slowly add the hot water in until you’ve got a dough that is not sticky or dry but firm and springy to touch.
  2. Meanwhile heat a pan (I used a griddle pan) on high. While it’s heating, take small amounts of the mixture and place it between two sheets of baking paper and roll out.
  3. I wanted to be able to roll these, so made them pretty thin and in a rectangle (like!) shape.
  4. Once the pan is hot then cook in batches. You can see the edges start to dry out and come off the pan – turn then. You’ll probably have a bit of colour on them, like this. They really don’t take long to cook if the pan is hot.
  5. We had them with marinated chicken, guacamole, tomato and rocket.
Recipe Notes

Once you’ve had these you will NEVER buy store bought again. Have you checked the ingredients list on the back of those tortillas anyway? Yuck.

Have a go. Let me know what you think. The crew here loved them. x

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#3 Dinner Recipes

Broccoli Cauliflower and Pumpkin Patties

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that today I set myself a challenge to see if I could make broccoli and cauliflower patties. My cauli was going off and my toddler lives for broccoli so I thought I’d try and get creative. Very unlike me because usually I need a recipe, but I thought I’d wing this. And it totally paid off!

The ingredients that I’m going to lay out below are very approximate. At the end of the process you are going to have a very wet batter, but it should be sturdy enough to hold its pattie shape. I definitely couldn’t have fried these, they went on baking paper into the oven.

Print Recipe
 Broccoli Cauliflower and Pumpkin Patties
Servings
Ingredients
For The Patties
  • A small head of broccoli
  • Half a small cauliflower
  • A little less than a quarter of a kent pumpkin I really don’t know how much I used and I don’t think it really matters – see the pic below for guidance
  • Two handfuls of grated cheese (I used tasty but you could use parmesan cheddar, whatevs)
  • Three spring onions thinly sliced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbls tahini
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 cup besan flour chickpea, now I think this gave it a really lovely texture and flavour but if you don’t have it then I’m sure normal flour would do you fine
  • 1 chickpeas tin drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups breadcrumbs (use GF breadcrumbs if you are making this a gluten free dish. I used the end of a spelt sourdough loaf that I had in the freezer)
  • salt and pepper
For The Tuna And Avo Smash
  • 2 in small tins of tunaoil
  • 1 1/2 avocados
  • large handful of danish fetta
  • juice of 1 lemon
Servings
Ingredients
For The Patties
  • A small head of broccoli
  • Half a small cauliflower
  • A little less than a quarter of a kent pumpkin I really don’t know how much I used and I don’t think it really matters – see the pic below for guidance
  • Two handfuls of grated cheese (I used tasty but you could use parmesan cheddar, whatevs)
  • Three spring onions thinly sliced
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbls tahini
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 cup besan flour chickpea, now I think this gave it a really lovely texture and flavour but if you don’t have it then I’m sure normal flour would do you fine
  • 1 chickpeas tin drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups breadcrumbs (use GF breadcrumbs if you are making this a gluten free dish. I used the end of a spelt sourdough loaf that I had in the freezer)
  • salt and pepper
For The Tuna And Avo Smash
  • 2 in small tins of tunaoil
  • 1 1/2 avocados
  • large handful of danish fetta
  • juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
  2. You gotta steam the veggies first to make them nice and soft. So break the broccoli and cauli into florets and slice your pumpkin thinly so they will all be ready at the same time. I used my thermomix and I cooked at Varoma temp, speed 1 for 18 minutes.
  3. Once they are nice and soft you throw them into a food processor along with the flour, cumin, spring onion, cheese, tahini and egg and whizz it around until the consistency is smooth. In thermomix speed 4 for 10 seconds. I thought this was all I needed to do for my patties until I realised it was way too runny and I needed something more. So I added the tin of chickpeas. Speed 4 for 5 seconds
  4. It was definitely starting to come together but it didn’t have that real ‘pattie’ feel. I removed the mixture out of thermie into a bowl and ended up using what I had been trying to avoid – breadcrumbs! I found this piece of spelt sourdough at the back of the freezer.
  5. So I broke it up into four pieces and used thermie to make breadcrumbs. A few seconds later it looked like this.
  6. And after stirring it into the mixture it was definitely where I wanted it. It looked like this – bit sticky and firmer than before.
  7. So I lay a piece of baking paper onto a baking tray, oiled it and made my patties. Some’ big people size’, others ‘little people size’. Then I drizzled more oil over the top (I used macadamia oil but olive oil would be fine) and put it into an oven at 200 degrees.
  8. My oven is crappola and so these times may not be the same for you. I turned my patties over after 15 minutes. This is what they looked like on the other side. I knew I was on a winner at this point!
  9. I added a little more oil because it had all soaked up. And cooked on the other side for another 15-20 minutes. The result was a crispy on the outside and lovely and soft on the inside vegetable patty. DELICIOUS!
  10. I put them on a bed of spinach leaves and topped with the tuna and avo smash. To make that, just put all the ingredients into a bowl and smash away, pretty self explanatory. Go hard with the lemon juice – don’t hold back.
Recipe Notes

Everyone from my ten month old to my husband liked this dinner. In fact Nick said he’d pay money for it in a cafe (as opposed to my other meals….?!). It was so yummy. You could really put anything alongside the patties – it doesn’t have to be the tuna smash. We finished the last few off with just a bit of salt. I reckon they’d freeze well, so perfect for school lunches and picnics.

You gotta love when a two year old is eating a healthy dinner (even if he does have to sit on daddy’s knee to do so…..)

Let me know if you make them.

Enjoy x

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#3 Dinner Recipes

“Love this Sausage Mix-Up Dish”

Now there’s a compliment. A dish that doesn’t have a name is a favourite of my husbands. You know you’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel a few times when a ‘whatever that is’ dish is a fave! It’s really about putting random things in one pan and hoping for the best. Random things, with sausage.

Sausage mix-up dish (I know, it’s a classy name, for a real classy looking meal…)

Print Recipe
 "Love this Sausage Mix-Up Dish"
Sausage Mix-Up Dish
Servings
Ingredients
  • olive oil
  • 4 good quality sausages sliced thickly
  • 1 piece smokey bacon cut into strips (same goes with bacon – buy from a good quality butcher – just like Jamie Oliver tells you)
  • 1 small red onion diced
  • 1 red capsicum thinly sliced
  • 8 medium sized mushrooms sliced thickly
  • 1 tin diced tomatoes
  • handful basil
  • 8-10 kalamata olives pitted and sliced
  • 1 tin of mixed beans
  • crumbled feta to serve (if you fancy)
Servings
Ingredients
  • olive oil
  • 4 good quality sausages sliced thickly
  • 1 piece smokey bacon cut into strips (same goes with bacon – buy from a good quality butcher – just like Jamie Oliver tells you)
  • 1 small red onion diced
  • 1 red capsicum thinly sliced
  • 8 medium sized mushrooms sliced thickly
  • 1 tin diced tomatoes
  • handful basil
  • 8-10 kalamata olives pitted and sliced
  • 1 tin of mixed beans
  • crumbled feta to serve (if you fancy)
Sausage Mix-Up Dish
Instructions
  1. Drizzle some olive oil in a frypan or skillet. Cook off your bacon and onion and then add your sausages. When they are browned but not totally cooked through, add the mushroom and capsicum. Cook them until they’ve softened.
  2. Then add all the other ingredients and cook until nice and hot and the tomato has slightly reduced. Season with salt and pepper. Crumble some feta on top if you desire. A sliced avocado would also work nicely.
Recipe Notes

We had it along side a potato salad tonight. It hit the spot.

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#3 Dinner Recipes

Broccoli Mango Salad

I’ll admit it, I was skeptical about eating raw broccoli. But I thought I’d give it a go because I had a beautiful head that I’d just bought at the farmers market. And I loved it. More than cooked broccoli.

This is a weird combo of ingredients but it TOTALLY works! Trust me. And we used the mango to bribe my two-year-old son to eat the broccoli – worked a treat.

Print Recipe
 Broccoli Mango salad
Broccoli Mango salad
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 head of broccoli uncooked and chopped into small florets
  • 1 mango cut into cubes
  • 1 avocado cut into cubes
  • 1/4 purple cabbage sliced thinly
  • handful of almonds
  • handful of pepitas
  • splash of balsamic vinegar
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 head of broccoli uncooked and chopped into small florets
  • 1 mango cut into cubes
  • 1 avocado cut into cubes
  • 1/4 purple cabbage sliced thinly
  • handful of almonds
  • handful of pepitas
  • splash of balsamic vinegar
Broccoli Mango salad
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir so that the avocado and mango make things a little mushy.
Recipe Notes

Use as a side dish (we had it with a salmon fillet) or a meal on it’s own. Leftovers the next day would make an awesome lunch. We are thinking of including this salad on the Christmas table this year – YUM!

Do you prefer raw broccoli over cooked?

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#3 Dinner Recipes

Tasty Dipping Sauce

I needed something light to dip veggies in the other night. My son is going through a bit of an ‘anti vegetable’ phase and I’m trying all I can to get him to eat them (suggestions welcome!)

Anyway, this took two seconds and it came up a treat.

Print Recipe
 Tasty dipping sauce
Tasty dipping sauce
Servings
Ingredients
  • Natural yoghurt (I use the Five:am organic natural yoghurt which is full fat and sugar free – the best kind. A good greek yoghurt would work well too)
  • Dill fresh or dried
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • salt and pepper if you choose (I didn’t)
Servings
Ingredients
  • Natural yoghurt (I use the Five:am organic natural yoghurt which is full fat and sugar free – the best kind. A good greek yoghurt would work well too)
  • Dill fresh or dried
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • salt and pepper if you choose (I didn’t)
Tasty dipping sauce
Instructions
  1. Mix it all in together. Adjust the amounts to suit your taste. Easy, simple, healthy.
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#3 Dinner Recipes

Quinoa and Smoked Trout Salad

The meal I created Saturday night could easily have been done with pasta, and in the old days, this is probably what I would have done. But now why would I use pasta when I can use quinoa and feel awesome afterwards instead of bloated and heavy? If you experiment a little with quinoa you’ll find loads of ways to use it. I’ll bring you some more ideas. I am slowly building my quinoa repertoire.

So I wanted something quick that didn’t require lots of cooking because it’s freaking hot in this house until we get air con installed on Friday. I had been to the farmers market Saturday morning and got a nice smoked trout. I knew that it would make my husband happy and my son has eaten and loved it before. Most fish shops sell smoked trout and the supermarkets do too.

The result is a light and very tasty Quinoa and Smoked Trout salad.

Print Recipe
 Quinoa and Smoked Trout Salad
Quinoa and Smoked Trout Salad
Servings
3-4 people
Ingredients
  • 1 smoked trout
  • 1 cup of quinoa
  • handful of snow pea sprouts (rocket/baby spinach would be good too)
  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • the juice of one lemon
  • olive oil
Servings
3-4 people
Ingredients
  • 1 smoked trout
  • 1 cup of quinoa
  • handful of snow pea sprouts (rocket/baby spinach would be good too)
  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • the juice of one lemon
  • olive oil
Quinoa and Smoked Trout Salad
Instructions
  1. The trick with quinoa is that it has to be very well rinsed. In a sieve, add your cup of quinoa and then pour water over it for a good minute at least. This is very important.
  2. Once rinsed add the quinoa to a saucepan containing two cups of water and cook it the same way you would rice, using the absorption method. So bring the water to the boil and let it gently simmer. It’ll take between 10-15 minutes.
  3. While the quinoa is cooking take the skin off the fish and break the meat into chunks. Be careful to remove all bones.
  4. Place in a salad bowl. Then add your tomatoes, sprouts, lemon juice and olive oil and give it a good old season with salt and pepper. You’re pretty much done now.
  5. Just wait for your quinoa to cook. You’ll know because the outside of the little grains become transparent. It still retains a ‘bite’ to it though – like al dente pasta. Once it’s ready add to your salad bowl and mix away. The sprouts should wilt a little but not too much.
Recipe Notes

My goodness, this meal was gobbled in our house. Light and tasty.

Enjoy x

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#3 Dinner Recipes

The Easiest Chicken and Lentils

I had 15 minutes to get dinner on the table last night. So this is what I did – Cajun chicken and tasty lentils.

Print Recipe
 The Easiest Chicken and Lentils
The Easiest Chicken and Lentils
Cook Time 15-20 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 x chicken breast
  • cajun spice
  • olive oil
  • 2 x tomatoes
  • baby spinach
  • half a red onion
  • red wine vinegar
  • feta if you like it
Cook Time 15-20 minutes
Servings
Ingredients
  • 1 x chicken breast
  • cajun spice
  • olive oil
  • 2 x tomatoes
  • baby spinach
  • half a red onion
  • red wine vinegar
  • feta if you like it
The Easiest Chicken and Lentils
Instructions
  1. Turned on the oven to 200 degrees
  2. Cut a chicken fillet into big chunks and covered them in cajun spice (except for Elliott’s pieces)
  3. Added olive oil to a pan and turned up the heat. The chicken was quickly browned on both sides and then whacked into the oven on a baking tray for ten minutes to cook through (I find this the best way to cook chicken breast as it doesn’t dry out).
  4. While the chicken was cooking I drained and rinsed two tins of lentils and put them in a saucepan over a medium heat with a bit of water. I cooked them off for five minutes and then put them in a bowl to cool.
  5. I diced up two tomatoes and half a red onion and added this to the slightly cooled lentils. Then I poured about a tablespoon each of red wine vinegar and olive oil into the mixture and stirred it all up. At this point you could add some feta if you like, or leave it out if you’re not a fan.
  6. OK, as for plating up, I put some baby spinach on the plate and then the lentil mixture on top and the chicken pieces on top of that. There was quite a bit of the lentil mixture left over that was used for lunches today.
Recipe Notes

The red wine vinegar gives such a great tang to the lentils, it’s delicious. We also chomped on a carrot each with this meal, but you could add corn on the cob or even cucumber into the tomato mixture – it’s all about veggies and eating as many as possible.

Let me know if you try this meal. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get on the table .

Enjoy! x

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