Glimpse into Lamingtons

This weekend in Australia is a long weekend, because on Monday, January 26th it is Australia Day. On this day in 1788, the arrival of the First Fleet of the British Ships occurred. It is now a celebration of our diverse country, our history and this beautiful land.

As with all celebrations, iconic food is a must! One such treat is the humble Lamington. Typically, this is a square of sponge cake, covered in chocolate sauce and desiccated coconut. I decided that I must create a grain/gluten/egg/dairy free version, which is also low in FODMAPs, and simple to make. Here is what I came up with, and from all accounts, it is reasonably close considering the limitations!

Glimpse into blueberry and coconut cake

For my family's Christmas Eve dessert, I made a blueberry and coconut cake. It is like a fruity, coconut cheese cake, without the dairy!

This was the perfect cake in terms of preparation, because I was able to make it the day before, and as it is a raw cake which is set in stages, you can do it a little at a time for an even lower energy consuming cake!

It was also great for a summer time treat. I had left it in the freezer til a half hour before we wanted to eat it, however, we had to keep waiting for it to thaw, and eventually ate it quite hard and frozen! It was still good, but the leftovers revealed that it was much nicer and easier to eat when left in the fridge rather than the freezer. I suggest that you set it in the freezer, but store it in the fridge so that it is soft when you come to eat it.
It can be kept in an airtight container for several days in the fridge, or will keep well for a later date in the freezer.

My recipes are usually my own creations because I rarely come across recipes which I can use that contain ingredients that I can tolerate. However, this recipe is a result of the inspiration from a recipe from The Merry Sisters. You can find it here: http://themerrymakersisters.com.au/paleo-choc-blueberry-cake-epic/. I have made changes to it, to make it more appropriate for my low fructose, grain free, gluten free, dairy free, and egg free diet. I find I have trouble tolerating too many nuts, so I went for more coconut than nuts, but if you prefer nuts, feel free to swap the 2 cups of coconut in the middle to soaked cashews.

Glimpse into ice magic

Here in Australia, everyone loves ice magic on their ice cream! This is chocolate sauce which hardens when poured on top of the cold ice cream. Here is a healthy, nutritious version, which is just as delicious!

Ice magic (1 serve)

1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of cocao
1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil

Adjust these basic quantities to suit your taste buds.

Glimpse into healthy icecream

An important part to our special Christmas recipe, which will be revealed in its entirety this Foodie Friday, is this amazing and delicious recipe...

 

Banana ice cream

Basically, this recipe is: FROZEN BANANAS! All that needs to be done, is slice up a banana for each serve, and freeze. When ready to serve, simply blend the slices in a powerful food processor.

It is delicious in this simple form, but of course, you can add healthy extras for different flavours. Here are some of my favourite combinations:

Glimpse into healthy "Bounty" bars

 

I think recipes which make healthier versions of commercial chocolate bars and lollies are super exciting and fun! Today, I want to share with you a recipe for Bounty Bars, which is of course free of gluten, dairy and egg and is low in FODMAPs. This one is so simple and quick to make you'll wonder why you would bother going all the way to the shops just to buy a bar full of sugar, wheat and dairy!

Glimpse into Foodie Friday - week 29 - coconut, and a choc chip almond cookie square recipe

I have a super simple recipe for you today. Everyone seemed to like the look of it on my instagram account, so here it is!