Swiss Grain free (gluten free) carrot cake

This is a Swiss Thermomix recipe, which I've adapted for gluten and grain free diets. 

Gluten (grain free) carrot cake

300 g whole organic almonds
400 g organic carrots, peeled and cut into quarters or thirds
300 g coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice)
peel of 1 organic lemon
4 large organic eggs
80 g arrowroot flour (or 25 g coconut flour)
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of Himalayan salt (or sea salt)

Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease and flour (use arrowroot flour) a 26 inch springform pan. Put almonds in the Thermomix bowl, Speed 10, 15 sec. Transfer almonds to a clean bowl.
Place sugar and lemon peel into the Thermomix bow, Speed 10, 30 sec.
Add carrots to sugar mixture, Speed 5, for 2 - 3 sec.
Add almonds, eggs, arrowroot flour, bicarbonate soda, cream of tartar and salt, Speed 7, 10 sec.
Transfer mixture to the cake pan. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, turn down to 160 C, and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn oven back up to 180 C. Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes.
Cool on a cake rack.






We squeeze fresh lemon juice over the cake before serving. ENJOY!

Waffles - a Paleo, wheat and grain free Thermomix recipe, inspired by Maria Emmerich.

This is the first day of the New Year and I wanted waffles for breakfast. Naturally they needed to be wheat and grain free. I'd seen a recipe in the latest Maria Emmerich's book The Art of Healthy Eating - Savory, for waffles that I wanted to try. Her recipe calls for Jay Robb protein or egg white powder, which I didn't have, but I had at least 7 or 8 egg whites in the fridge left over from a custard that I'd made the night before. So it was time to experiment. Actually I was pretty happy with how they turned out, so this recipe goes in my "to keep" file. I don't know how often I'll have 7 egg whites floating around, so I may need to source egg protein powder, when I next make these.

Thanks to Clever Cook for the tip on grinding the psyllium seed husks. I've used the husks for making bread and cakes and it works, but I suspect that what we buy here in Switzerland are already partly ground or that they're the baby husks. For this recipe I ground the husks to a fine powder in my Thermomix, and it worked beautifully. Clever Cook mentions in her post that some people are allergic to psyllium dust and suggests placing a piece of paper towel between the lid and the measuring cup (MC) to reduce airborne particles, during the grinding. It's a good tip to remember when milling grains, such as spelt or rye, or sugar.

Psyllium seed husks, before grinding

Paleo (wheat and grain free) waffles  - a Thermomix recipe

Ingredients

2 Tbps psyllium seed husk powder (grind approximately 4 to 5 Tbsp psyllium seed husks, speed 10, 1 min)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 Tbsp or 1 pkt of baking powder  

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup egg whites (7 to 8 egg whites)

4 eggs

1 to 2 Tbsp coconut blossom sugar or erythritol, (optional)

1 cup almond milk (or milk of preference)

55g butter or coconut oil, melted

Preparation

Grind the psyllium seed husks, speed 10, 1 min.

Insert butterfly, add dry ingredients, egg whites and eggs. Turn onto speed 3, add the milk and melted butter or coconut oil until combined, 40 to 60 sec. 

Turn on waffle iron. Leave mixture stand for 5 minutes.

When the waffle iron is very hot, ladle in the mixture taking care not to overfill it. 

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, (cooking time will depend on your waffle iron, so check after 2 minutes).

Waffle mixture

Waffles - 3 minutes

Hmmm, note the jam... so ok, no today was not a sugar free day. Tomorrow perhaps I'll do better.....

These waffles are softer than the regular wheat ones, but putting them in the toaster helps "crunch" them up some. Either way, they're delicious, plus they're gluten free, wheat free, grain free and high in protein. Perfect way to start the day!