Amber's Blog at Healing Thyme

I am a proud full time mum, originally from Australia but now residing in sunny Whitchurch, Shropshire. I am drawn to all things natural and wild including my husband Ed and our two little wildlings Ostara 3 and Kin 1.

Although I’m not a trained chef or nutritionist I have always been interested in health and cooking. After my son Kin was born I realised quite early that he was intolerant to some of the foods I was eating, most obviously dairy and gluten, so I realised I was going to have to change the way I cooked.

So here it is, a blog of my adventures as a dairy free, gluten free, sugar free mum.

Hope you enjoy x

My kids love it when their Dad is off, because it usually means a pancake breakfast feast. We mostly use buckwheat for our pancakes, but it has been out of stock lately so we had to come up with a new recipe, hence Quinoa Crepes!!

I like to add more protein to my kid’s mostly vegetarian diet by using higher protein flours wherever I can, so I thought I would have a go at making my own quinoa flour by grinding quinoa flakes in my spice grinder. I put in about ¼ cup at a time and pulsed the grinder for about 5 seconds at a time until the flakes resembled flour.

The end product was not quite as fine as the shop bought variety but made a lovely soft batch of crepes. I have also tried using the quinoa seed in my spice grinder with good results (and the seeds are cheaper) and grinding quinoa flakes in my blender which also worked.

Quinoa is actually a seed and is rich in protein, minerals, Omega 6 and 3 and contains all 8 essential amino acids making it a complete food. We are big fans in our house and these crepes turned out delicious covered in banana and honey or agave and lemon.

You may notice we have used a duck egg in this recipe, mainly because the kids wanted to give them a try and it gave them a lovely flavour, but 2 chicken eggs would work just as well.

Also a good trick I have found to getting a smooth crepe is to use a soup ladle. It measures out a nice even amount without spills into your pan and you can use the base of the ladle to smooth your crepe.

Enjoy xx

Ingredients

• 1 cup of homemade quinoa flour (see above)
• 1 cup Doves self-raising gluten free flour
• 1 cup of dairy free milk
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 duck egg (or 2 chicken eggs)
• Small amount of coconut oil for cooking

Preparation

1. Place both types of flour in large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre
2. Add milk, water and egg and get your kids to beat like crazy until mixture is a smooth thin batter
3. Heat a griddle or frying pan until very hot and add a little coconut oil to prevent sticking. Take one soup ladle full of mixture, pour onto pan and smooth around pan with base of ladle. Cook until mixture starts to form small bubbles then flip and cook other side (the first one never turns out, why is that?)
4. Serve hot with your favourite toppings.

I am a big fan of juicing and I love the idea of adding fresh, local wild greens to my juices. No greens come wilder or more nutritious than nettles.

They are basically a wild (and free!!!) superfood high in vitamin c, vitamin a, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron and a great source of plant protein. You will find the more you drink the more you will want.

I was really keen to get my kids drinking nettles this year, so I involved them from the start and got them to help me with the picking, well covered and wearing gloves.

Kin, 20 months, was more interested in running around hitting things with sticks but Ostara, 4, helped out. She did get a sting through her gloves but we found a dock leaf nearby and gave her sting a good rub and she was fine.

In fact I have heard her playing this week talking about creating a potion of dock leaves, aloe vera and raspberries for her dolls stings, so maybe we have a little herbalist in the making.

These are the juices we created, one for adults and juice fans, a sweeter juice for kids and a smoothie for fussier eaters like my daughter. If you have never had nettle juice you are in for a real treat, both in terms of the lovely taste and the rejuvenating effects you will feel.

Hope you enjoy xx

Remember to use gloves at all times while handling fresh nettles

Adult Nettle Juice

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 cucumber
• 1 apple
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 good handful of nettles

Preparation

Juice cucumber, and then add nettles second to ensure they are pushed through the juicer by adding the apples and celery last. Give a little stir, pour into 2 glasses and get ready for a great chlorophyll boost!!

Kids Nettle juice (my son loves this)

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 apples
• ¼ cucumber
• Small handful of nettle leaves
• 1 cup water

Preparation

Juice cucumber, and then nettles making sure they are pushed through your juicer with the apples. Add water, give a good stir and serve.

Fussy Customers Nettle Smoothie

Serves 2

My daughter doesn’t like the nettle juice, so I pop it in the blender with some fruit and she drinks it. This is her favourite flavour; if I serve this to my son he will drink 2 cups in a row

Ingredients

• 2 servings of kids nettle juice
• ½ banana
• ½ mango

Preparation

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Serve in a glass with a fancy straw and watch it disappear.

Picking Baby Nettles

This is super simple but oh so delicious. Baked sweet potatoes are a favourite in our house, and I will often put one in the oven in the morning to have on hand as a snack for my son.

They are nutritious, low GI and make a great dessert if you have a sweet tooth (me!!!!) and are trying to keep sugar to a minimum in your diet.

I would highly recommend using organic sweet potatoes as they are so much tastier than their non-organic counterparts and it lifts these simple snacks to another dimension. These are our favourites but I would love to hear of any tasty combinations you come up with.

Preparation

Serves 2

1. Bake 2 small sweet potatoes at gas mark 5 for 1 hour (med size 1hr 15, large size 1hr 30 mins)
2. Remove from oven, slice down middle and add your fillings:

Filling Options

Coconut Oil, Tahini and Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbs light tahini

Coconut Oil, Cinnamon, Lemon and Ginger Potato

• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• ½ tbs grated fresh ginger

Kale is a real superfood. It is high in phytochemicals (disease preventative chemicals), rich in minerals such as iron, manganese, calcium and potassium and is a good source of vitamin C.

I am a huge fan so I created this super quick and easy soup in the hope my children might share my enthusiasm. Unfortunately Ostara was not so keen but 20 month old Kin, got stuck right in.

Ingredients

• 150grams Kale
• 1 tbs coconut oil
• 2 medium onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 litres of gluten free vegetable stock (I used Marigold salt reduced as it was for the kids and is also yeast free)

Preparation

1. Peel and chop onion and garlic. Add to Large saucepan and gently fry in coconut oil until translucent
2. Slice Kale and add to pot, giving a quick stir.
3. Add all of prepared stock and quinoa.
4. Place a lid on and bring gently to boil. Once boiling reduce heat to simmer gently for approx. 15-20 minutes until quinoa has softened.
5. Remove from stove and blend thoroughly using either a blender or hand wand to create a creamy soup (I have made this soup using both and I found my blender gave it a much more velvety cream like texture)
6. Add you choice of toppings and enjoy xx

CONCLUSION

Instead of using cream I added quinoa and blended well to give it a lovely velvety texture. Quinoa is also a staple in our house and is a great source of protein and is high in Omega 3’s.

We also like to add either a good handful of sprouting seeds (super nutritious and a great source of living enzymes), a couple of tablespoons of Clear Spring Sea Salad (great source of iodine and minerals), or a couple of tablespoons of Engevita or Brewer’s Yeast (good source of B vitamins) which gives it a lovely savoury almost cheesy flavour. So really the end product is a bit of a supersoup.

Hope you enjoy xx

These biscuits were created in the week between Christmas and New Year when we had run out of our usual breakfast ingredients and the shops were closed (oh and it was 5am!!!!) . So we raided the cupboards and came up with these. Once cool they are deliciously chewy and though a little sweet for me for breakfast, Ostara went mad for them and claims they are her favourite recipe.

Medjool dates are soft and sticky and easily chopped in a food processor. If you are using other dates I would soak them in warm water until they soften. You could also use a different flavoured spread; if you do I would love to hear how this works.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of gluten free oats or quinoa flakes
• ½ cup dried apricots
• ½ cup of medjool dates
• 2 tbs of sugar free raspberry spread or jam

Preparation

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz for a minute until well combined.
2. Place golf ball sized balls of mixture on a lined tray. Press lightly to flatten.
3. Bake at Gas mark 4 for 10-15mins until slightly browned
4. Leave to cool until they are firm and chewy (if you can wait!!)

These muffins were created after the Christmas period to remind my daughter that not everything chocolatey and delicious has to come in a colourful wrapper and be loaded with refined sugar. They are still sweet so she loves them and healthy enough so that I am happy too.

To be honest I really didn’t expect them to taste as good as they did and this has now become the basic recipe, minus the cocoa, for all our muffins and cupcakes. I am also working on a sugar free icing so I will keep you posted. As usual Ostara helped me cook these so I gave her naming rights, hence the title Princess Butterfly Chocolatey Flax Muffins!! I do love my daughter xx

PS Buckwheat flour, coconut flour and xylitol are available from Healing Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups buckwheat flour
• ½ cup coconut flour (replace with buckwheat if unavailable)
• ½ cup of coconut sugar or 1 cup of xylitol
• ½ cup cocoa
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
• 2 heaped tbs ground flax seeds
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup dairy free milk
• ½ cup oil (coconut or extra virgin olive oil)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Preparation

1. Heat oven to gas mark 4
2. Add to a large mixing bowl sugar, flour, ground flaxseeds, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda
3. In a jug mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and add to bowl of dry ingredients. Beat well
4. When mixture is smooth and well combined add boiling water and beat well
5. Pour into greased muffin tray or paper cases. Will make 12 large muffins or 24 patty cakes
6. Bake for 20-25 mins. Ready when inserted skewer comes out clean

I absolutely love kale. It is a powerhouse of nutrition and for me it is hands down the best thing about an English winter (yes, even better than Christmas!!) I rarely cook it and enjoy it mostly in juices or salads. I also love making various versions of kale crisps in my fruit and veg dehydrator (there are many recipes on the internet, I would thoroughly recommend you check them out. Not all need a dehydrator and can be done in an oven).

This is a lovely winter salad and I imagine instead of cashews, pine nuts or shelled hemp seeds could be used.

Serves 6 as a side salad

Ingredients

• 8 large leaves of cavolo nero kale
• 2 med-large carrots
• 1 medium-large beetroot

Dressing

• 100g cashews soaked for 2 hours
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1tsp agave syrup
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ cup of water (do not add all at once!! See recipe)

Preparation

1. Thinly slice kale. Grate carrots and beetroot and mix together in large bowl
2. Using a hand blender, blend all dressing ingredients except water until they are a creamy. Add water a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
3. Pour dressing over vegetables and massage through until everything is lovely pink and combined.
4. I served with falafels and it was delicious. Hope you enjoy x

There is something very satisfying about making your own falafels. They are surprisingly simple though do require a little forethought as you have to soak your chick peas for at least 8 hours.

This is a pretty standard falafel recipe I have been using for years, though this time I decided to add a little chilli to warm me up this winter. I’m still a breast-feeding mama so I only added half a large chilli, which gave it nice warmth, but my husband would have preferred more of a kick, so I think they could handle a whole large chilli easy.

Ingredients

• 225g chick peas soaked in water for at least 8 hours
• 6 spring onions
• 2tsp ground coriander
• 2tsp ground cumin
• 1 clove garlic
• 2tsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. bicarb soda
• ½ – 1 large chilli
• As required oil for shallow frying
• ½ lemon and sea salt for extra flavour

Preparation

1. Cover chick-peas with water and soak for 8 hours
2. Rinse and drain beans. Chop spring onions into small pieces and place all ingredients except for oil, lemon and extra salt in food processor and whizz until ingredients are about breadcrumb consistency.
3. Roll into walnut size balls and flatten a little. Should make about 30 balls.
4. Shallow fry until all sides are golden and drain on paper towel.
5. Drizzle with juice of ½ lemon and a good liberal dose of sea salt

CONCLUSION

I squeezed half a lemon over the top of them and a really good dose of sea salt and served them with my Creamy kale-slaw recipe which was my idea of great winter comfort food.

We made these biscuits over the weekend with cookie cutters my sister sent from Australia and they turned out great. We used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free oats and made both the vanilla and chocolate version. My daughter Ostara did not like the vanilla version, which was not sweet enough for her taste but just right for mine. She completely demolished the chocolate version though and happily gulped down the soggy crumbs in the bottom of her cup.

You will notice I have used Xylitol for this recipe which I find works well in cooked cakes and biscuits. It is a natural ingredient extracted from birch trees and is equal in sweetness to sugar. Treat these biscuits gently when they first come out of the oven as they are quite delicate until the coconut oil has had a chance to cool and harden. I thought they were absolutely delicious and it is a fun recipe for kid’s parties and Christmas biscuits. Enjoy xx

Ingredients

• 120g cashews
• 120g buckwheat flour (plus a little more for rolling)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 120g coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 tbs Xylitol
• 120g gluten free oats, quinoa flakes or buckwheat flakes
• 50ml water

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 3
2. Place cashews and oats (or flakes) in a food processor or blender and process until as fine a powder you can make
3. Combine cashew mixture, flour, cinnamon, vanilla essence and Xylitol in a bowl.
4. Make sure coconut oil is cool enough to be solid. Cut into small pieces and add to dry mixture. Rub coconut oil into dry mixture with fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
   
5. Add water to mixture a little at a time until it forms a ball of dough suitable for rolling
   
6. Sprinkle a little flour on to a flat surface, and flour your rolling pin. Roll until about 1 cm thick and cut with your choice of cookie cutters
   
7. Gather up any leftover dough and re-roll until all used up
8. Bake at gas mark 3 for 20 mins.
9. Allow biscuits to cool on tray for approx. 5 mins before carefully transferring to cooling rack

Variation – Chocolate Cashew Biscuits for Dipping

Add 2 tbs cocoa powder and an extra 2 tbs of Xylitol to dry mixture in step 3 and continue as usual.

The nights have really drawn in and it’s that time of year when we start to eat a lot of soup…mmm all warm in your tummy while the cold wind blows outside. And nothing is better than a nice warm piece of bread to dip in.

I have a sensitivity to yeast so it is very rare that I have bread these days, but this loaf is gluten and yeast free and so moist and delicious it didn’t last long.

As well as the traditional maize flour I have used quinoa flour, which I make myself by whizzing quinoa flakes in my blender for about 1 min. It is only a very standard blender and the flour is not as fine as would be milled but I find cooks well and is more nutritious than most gluten free flours.

Ingredients

• 1 huge onion or 2 medium sized, white or red
• 1 ½ cups of maize flour
• 1 cup of homemade quinoa flour (see above)
• 1tbs gluten free baking powder
• 1tsp salt
• 1 cup of dairy free milk ( I used Kara coconut milk)
• 2 eggs
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs fresh chopped oregano, thyme and chives (could substitute for dried but I would only use about 1tbs)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius/375 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 5. Lightly grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin
2. Thinly slice onion and cook gently in 1tbs oil for 10 mins until softened
3. Place maize flour, quinoa flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and combine
4. In a jug beat together milk, eggs and olive oil. Add to flour mixture and mix well
5. Stir through cooked onions and chopped herbs
6. Spoon mixture into tin and bake for about 30 mins until bread has risen and is golden brown (the smell is delicious!!)
7. Insert a skewer and check the end is not covered in uncooked mixture to ensure bread is cooked through. If moist, put back in the oven for another 5 mines then check again. When cooked run a knife around the outside edges of loaf and gently turn upside down onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Slice, dip and enjoy!!