Month: August 2018

Shepherd’s Casserole (Pie) with a Twist

Finished Shepherd's Casserole Filling

My daughter says that pie is only pie if it has crust. When I first added Shepherd’s Pie to my recipe repertoire she was unimpressed. We have since started calling it Shepherd’s Casserole and she is much happier.

Ingredients

This recipe is healthier, and tastier, than the regular Shepherd’s Pie as it has pumpkin in the topping instead of just white potatoes. I never liked pumpkin growing up but in the last few years I have been really enjoying it and find it very versatile. I tend to buy a half or whole pumpkin and roast it. Then I stick it in the freezer ready to add to whatever I am making that day.

Cooking Veggies

This recipe is also loaded with veggies (look at all that healthy colour!), but it all mixes together in a super yummy mix that the kids love. If you are in a hurry, you can use only frozen veggies and save the time cutting up extra. Frozen vegetables are snap frozen and retain their nutrition, making them great for when you are in a hurry but want a delicious and nutritious dinner.

Pumpkin Topping

We make our version dairy-free as we have an intolerance in the family, but you can add cheese to the topping if you so wish.

Ingredients

 Filling

  • 2 Tbsp coconut oil or butter
  • 1 large clove of garlic diced
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 1 medium zucchini cut to bit sized pieces
  • ½ large red pepper (capsicum) cut to bit sized pieces
  • ½ head of broccoli. I usually cut it up quite fine so that it is easy to eat by accident
  • 500g ground (minced) lamb or beef
  • 600 g frozen peas, carrots, corn
  • 2 Tbsp Worchester sauce
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 Tbsp plain flour
  • 1½ cups stock – I like to use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder

Topping

  • 500g roasted pumpkin
  • 500g steamed or boiled potato with skins on
  • 2 Tbsp butter or vegan butter substitute
  • Salt to taste
  • Optional tasty or pecorino cheese

Directions

  1. Roast the pumpkin. Cut it into even slices and baste with some olive oil. Put in the oven for about 45 mins at 200C. You want the pumpkin starting to brown but not getting crispy.
  2. Cut up the potato. Steam or boil until tender.
  3. While those are cooking, put the coconut oil, garlic, onion, and fresh veggies in a large pan and fry until the onion is translucent.
  4. Add the ground meat to the pan and break up as it is cooking.
  5. Add the frozen veggies once the meat has cooked.
  6. Add the Worchester sauce and tomato paste and stir in.
  7. Add the flour. Mix this through and allow the flour to cook for 1-2 minutes.
  8. Add the stock and stir while the sauce thickens.
  9. In a separate bowl, mix the cooked pumpkin, potatoes, vegan butter and salt with a hand mixer until it is mixed through.
  10. Put the filling in a large casserole tray.
  11. Spread the filling on top evenly.
  12. Add the optional grated cheese on top. Pop the whole thing in the oven for about 5 minutes just to melt the cheese.

 

Pumpkin topping

Enjoy!

This recipe makes quite a lot, so you can freeze the extra or use it for lunches the next day.

 

Shepherd's Casserole

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Delicious Dairy-Free Chocolate Icing

Cupcakes 2

As I’ve mentioned before, the littlest person in our family has a problem with dairy. For previous birthdays, I have just let him have cake with dairy icing and we would deal with any potential side effects. Since it was only once in awhile he was usually fine. But it was his birthday and I wanted him to be able to eat cake without any worries (well he was never worried, he’s only 2!).

Don’t get me wrong, this is not one of my healthy recipes. Other than being dairy-free, there is certainly nothing healthy about it. But for those of you who can’t handle dairy, I wanted to share this super delicious, and super easy, alternative.

Ingredients

For my first attempt I tried the recipe with just soy cream cheese but it wouldn’t aerate and thicken up so it did slide off the cake a bit (was still delicious though). It needed the added fat from the vegan butter. This final recipe though will satisfy even the most ardent of dairy lovers.

We had just eaten cake a couple days before, so I put this icing batch on some of my Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins and it was delicious!

Little Hand

Ingredients

  • 255g of your favourite soy cream cheese (I’ve tried both Creamy Sheese and Tofutti Better Then Cream Cheese)
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter (I recently found the one pictured by Funky Fields. It tastes terrific, but it does have nuts in it so isn’t school friendly unfortunately)
  • 3 cups sifted icing sugar (I try to buy an organic one from the bulk shop but when I run out I have to get the commercial one pictured from the grocery store)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cacao powder (Quality matters here. Cheap ones just don’t taste right)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt

In Bowl

Method

  1. Add all the ingredients into your mixer.
  2. Mix on medium for about 3 minutes until the icing becomes light and fluffy.
  3. Eat, um, I mean spread onto cupcakes or cake.

Makes enough icing to easily ice a double layer cake or 24 cupcakes.

Muffin Cakes

Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from the delicious one at Natasha’s Kitchen.

Warming Socks and how they are Awesome!

 

Alex feetNeed an easy, effective, low-cost treatment for what ails you? Read on.

When I was 34 weeks pregnant with number 3, I had a cough. I wasn’t sick and it wasn’t a really bad cough. If I hadn’t been pregnant it probably wouldn’t have bothered me that much. But I was pregnant. So it did bother me. As anyone who has been pregnant, especially multiple times, can attest, things are hard to hold when you have a cough.

So I tried everything. Well I tried lots of stuff, but most things, both medical and natural, are off limits while you are pregnant so my options were limited. Then I remembered warming socks (I was pregnant with my third child so my brain was a bit slow).

Warming socks are effective in treating head, chest and sinus congestion as well as coughs and bronchitis. They are a great treatment for sleep issues including insomnia, snoring, and night sweats. They can also be used for earaches, sore throats, and to help break a fever in a child. Warming socks can also help to treat and prevent headaches and migraines. For acute concerns, symptoms usually clear in 2 to 3 nights. For more chronic conditions, it can take a few weeks to help resolve symptoms.

Sick child

Warming socks work by boosting your immune system and increasing circulation as your body has to rally itself to warm your feet. This gives your body the push it needs to fight off whatever is bothering you. Check our my blog article on Colds and Flus for more treatment options.

Warming socks are a safe treatment for the whole family and can be used as often as needed. They cost nothing and have no side effects.

So what does this treatment involve you ask? This is going to sound a bit uncomfortable, but trust me it works.

What you will need:

  • 1 pair of thin cotton socks
  • 1 pair of thick wool or polypropylene socks

Wool and cotton socks

Instructions:

  1. Place your feet either in a bucket of warm water or under the shower for 5-10 minutes. The water should be as warm as you can make it without burning yourself.
  2. Get the cotton socks wet with cold water. If you don’t have cold tap water, fill a bowl with some ice water and dip the socks in there.
  3. Ring out the socks as best you can.
  4. Put the cotton socks on your feet.
  5. Put the wool socks on over the cotton socks.
  6. Go to bed.

When you wake up the socks will be dry. Do this for at least 3 nights in a row for acute conditions such as coughs, congestion or fever and for 5 weeks for more chronic conditions such as insomnia or poor circulation.  For most children, you don’t need to warm their feet before putting the socks on as they still have great circulation. I put the socks on my little people after they have fallen asleep so I don’t have to listen to any whining and everyone sleeps better.

Warming socks may sound a bit uncomfortable, but just trust me and give them a try.  You will thank me in the morning. If you have any questions about warming socks and how versatile they are, talk to your local naturopath.