Low GI muesli

A visitor recently was kind enough to compliment my home-made muesli.  It isn’t something you expect anyone to notice, breakfast cereal.  So I appreciated the remark, and here's the recipe as a way of saying thank you.

Breakfast is probably my main carb meal most days.  Unlike most commercial mueslis which contain oats and wheat, this is based just on oats, and has no dried fruit either.  So it has a fairly low glycaemic index, although please note, it’s not nut-free and would only be gluten-free if made with gf oats.  It isn't exactly low-carb, though leaving out the dried fruit makes it much lower-carb than normal shop-bought muesli.  But what it is is a good filling breakfast, with slow-digested carbs and plenty of fibre, plus some healthy fats and and a small amount of protein from the nuts and seeds.

I make this with jumbo oats when I can get them.  They cost a bit more than ordinary porridge oats, but not a huge amount, and the texture is vastly better.  

You will need:

Porridge oats or jumbo oats or gluten-free oats

Oatbran (optional - I don’t think gf oatbran is widely available, though logically it must exist)

Flaked almonds

Broken or chopped brazil nuts

Hazelnuts, preferably roasted

Pumpkin seeds  }

Linseeds            } - (or a ready-made seed mixture, like H&Bs “Omega mix”)

Sunflower seeds}

Take a large glass or clear plastic storage jar with a tight-fitting lid (I use a two litre Kilner jar).  In it, put the ingredients in layers, starting with the seeds and nuts.  Exact measurements don’t matter, but I would aim to have thicker layers of seeds and thinner layers of nuts; maybe 1½  to 2cm of each of the seeds and 1cm of each of the nuts.  I like to vary it; this batch, for example, is a bit heavy on the sunflower seeds.

You want the seeds and nuts together to fill about two fifths of the jar.  Next, fill the jar almost to the top with oats and finish off with a couple of tablespoons of oatbran.  

Now empty the whole lot into a large bowl and stir together thoroughly.  

Spoon back into the same jar and you’re done. 

Serve with milk or plain yoghurt, and added fresh fruit if you want. 

Seedy lemon biscuits

These are inspired by the lemon and poppyseed muffins that some coffee shop chains sell, but using that flavour combination to make a crunchy no-added-sugar biscuit rather than a sticky sugary muffin.  They're nut-free, but not sesame-free; I still haven't completely cracked the "no allergens" puzzle.

100g/4oz/1 cup No 2 baking mix
1-2 tsp xylitol
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp poppyseeds
Finely grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
25g/1oz butter or margarine
1 egg
1-2 tsp lemon juice

Stir the baking mix, xylitol, seeds and lemon rind together, then rub in the butter to get a mixture like fine breadcrumbs.  Add the egg and stir in; the mixture needs to be fairly stiff, but not so dry that it won't hold together; you want something of about the same density and texture as wholemeal pastry.  If need be, add a little lemon juice to help it to bind.  Gather together, then divide into 9 or 10 small chunks and roll each into a rough ball.  Flatten onto a non-stick or greased/lined baking tray and bake at 150 degrees C (fan) for about 15-20 minutes or until just starting to colour.

No 2 baking mix

Yes, I have developed another option!  This one is nut-free, so I now have the option of not poisoning my younger brother, which has to be a good thing, I think?!
I haven't yet tried this with a wide range of recipes, so can't vouch for how well it will do as an all-rounder.  It certainly worked fine with the biscuits I made last night, though.  As it lacks ground almonds, with their humectant qualities, I suspect things baked with this mixture may go dry rather quicker than those made with No 1 baking mix.  It also means this has a higher carb load than No 1 and less protein.  But to compensate for that, it's lower in fat.

100g/scant 4oz/1 cup linseed meal
90g/3oz/1 cup soya flour
125g/5oz/1 cup fine cornmeal

Mix together and store in an airtight jar.

Apricot, ginger and walnut buns

These were thrown together in a hurry, using my good friend the Muffin Method, which is why the ingredients are only in cups.  I'm really pleased with how well they turned out.  However I should mention that they're not as healthy as my usual cake recipes, because there's a small amount of real actual added sugar in them.  Shock horror.  I was using up a small amount of crystalised ginger, and even though I rinsed off the outer coating of sugar crystals, the crystalisation process itself has infused a lot of sugar into the ginger, and a quick rinse isn't going to get rid of that.  But by damn, crystalised ginger is sooo good! 

Not the best photo of food I've ever taken; the camera is more interested in my tea mug than the bun...

1 1/2 cups No 1 Baking Mix
1/4 cup broken walnut pieces
1/4 cup chopped soft dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped crystalised ginger (with the sugar rinsed off if you are trying to minimise the carb hit)
1 tsp xylitol
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
Mixed seeds (e.g. pumpkin, sunflower and sesame) for a topping, if you like

Seive the baking powder and spices into the baking mix, add the xylitol and the nuts and dried fruit and stir all together.  Add the eggs and oil and enough water to make a soft but firm consistency.  Spoon into greased bun tins or muffin cups - it made seven medium-sized ones for me - and sprinkle with mixed seeds if you like a crunchy topping.  Bake at 150 degrees C (fan) for 25 - 30 minutes.

No-added-sugar rich fruit cake

I've been meaning to post this for ages, in fact since Christmas...

This is adapted from my mother’s family Christmas cake recipe, switching the fruits for less-sugary ones (so, for example, no candied peel) and removing all added sugar.  It made a lighter cake than usual but one with a really good fruity flavour and fantastic golden colour.  It kept well and still tasted good after a week.  Unlike a conventional Christmas cake, though, I don’t think it would respond well to being made a month in advance.

4oz/100g blanched whole almonds, chopped

4oz/100g raisins

8oz/200g dried apricots, chopped

2oz/50g dried mango, thinly sliced

2oz/50g dried cherries

Juice of 1 large lemon

1 tea bag, made into tea (can be herbal or normal tea, but NB no milk! I used a spicy rooibos blend)

4oz butter

4 tsp xylitol

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

4 tsp ground mixed spice

4 heaped tsp baking powder, sieved

2 cups No 1 baking mix

Whole blanched almonds, whole walnuts or pecans and whole dried apricots to decorate

Soak raisins and apricots in tea, and dried mango in lemon juice, for at least a couple of hours.  Cream butter and xylitol together and beat in the eggs one by one along with the vanilla.  Drain the soaked fruit, reserving some of the remaining liquid, and stir the soaked fruit, the cherries and the chopped almonds into the mixture, then gradually stir in the baking mix, spice and baking powder, adding some of the fruit soaking liquid if necessary to get a soft, dropping consistency.  Line a medium-sized, fairly deep cake tin with greaseproof paper or baking parchment and spoon the mixture in, level it off and decorate the top with a pattern of nuts and dried fruit.  Bake at 150 degrees C (fan oven) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Test with a skewer or narrow knife blade; when the blade comes out clean it’s done.  Remove and cool for 20-30 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a cake rack.

Sesame-chilli cornbread

One of the problems with having coeliac friends is getting hooked on cornbread; it's wonderful stuff but recipes tend to have a fairly high GI.  This is one of the better reduced GI versions I've come up with so far.

1 cup/5oz/125g fine cornmeal

½ cup/2oz/50g No 1 baking mix

1/3 cup/ 2oz/50g sesame seeds, plus 1 tsp

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp chilli powder

Pinch of salt

1 medium egg

2 dsstsp vegetable oil

½ cup water

A tsp or two of milk

Grind about half the sesame seeds roughly in a mortar or in very quick bursts in a blender.  Mix the ground and whole sesame seeds, sieved cornmeal, baking mix, baking powder, salt and chilli powder in a bowl and stir in the egg and oil and enough water to make a stiff mixture that will hold its shape.  Turn out onto a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray and shape into a neat rounded mound.  Brush the top with a small amount of milk and sprinkle with the reserved 1 tsp of sesame seeds.  

Bake at 150C fan oven or the equivalent for 20-25 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Serve fresh with butter, hummus or guacamole; also makes good toast when it's a day or two old.  But be careful when cutting as it's pretty crumbly - delicious, but short!

Broccoli with cashews

A really simple quick steam-fried dish using green veg, with a good amount of protein from the nuts.  This would also work with cauliflower florets, spring greens or savoy cabbage - personally I'm not a big kale fan but I'm sure that would be okay too!  Vegan and gluten-free, but (obviously) not nut-free.  Good as a veggie side dish with dhal and rice, or on its own; any leftovers are equally good cold served as a mildly spicey salad or rolled in a flatbread with some cooked tofu or quorn or pan-fried halloumi cheese.

For two as a light main dish or four as a side

One medium head of broccoli, broken into fairly small florets
1 cup whole or broken cashew nuts
1 small onion, finely sliced
6-8 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
Veg oil
2-3 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
Juice of a lemon
Tamari soy sauce
Water

In a large wide frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onions on a medium heat until softened and just starting to catch a little; add the garlic, cook for another minute or so and then add all the broccoli.  Stir thoroughly to mix and raise the heat slightly, cook four to five minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the cashews and the spices and stir through; cook a few minutes more, stirring constantly; don't allow the cashews to burn (a bit of colour is okay but no more).  Add the lemon juice - it should hiss and give off a fair amount of steam - and continue to stir; when that has evaporated, add the tamari and a little water and continue to stir.  Continue stirring and adding small amounts of water (approx 1 tbsp at a time) until the veggies are cooked but not gone mushy.  There should be just a little liquid left at the end.