Tara Prana

Mother. Teacher. Foodie. Friend.

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Choc pudding jellies

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IMG_6107 IMG_6098 IMG_6102I have been ‘refined sugar free’ for a couple of years now. Well, I was.

It started off as just sneaking some dark chocolate after the kids were in bed. Every night. It was organic, good quality, dark chocolate so it wasn’t that bad. Then it became hubby and I eating a block between us. One night I *may have* demolished one by myself after a particularly stressful day. After a while I realised that I couldn’t really claim to be mostly ‘sugar-free’ when I was inhaling chocolate daily. Plus, I was craving the chocolate, or anything sweet really. I knew I had to go cold turkey on sugar again.

Small problem: I fail at self-control. So I decided to trick my brain and replace the naughty chocolate with a healthier, refined sugar-free version (yes, yes- I know these still contain sugar). I had made these a few times as large pudding squares from a recipe by Aimee of Primal Influence, and so I made up a batch using some recently bought silicon chocolate moulds I got from K-Mart. These guys helped to make my self-trickery even more effective.

These really are very easy, and provide a bit of variety from my recipe for Healthy Jellies that uses fruit juice (recipe here and in my lunchbox eBook, ‘Forget the Sandwich!’). Pop them in the fridge and whenever you have a sweet craving reach for these- and don’t feel guilty.

Choc pudding jellies
 
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A protein-filled healthier chocolate alternative.
Author:
Recipe type: Lunchbox, Sweets
Serves: 30-50
Ingredients
  • 275ml coconut milk
  • 2 Tbs coconut oil
  • 2 Tbs filtered water
  • 1-2Tbs sweetener of choice (honey, maple, coconut syrup, coconut sugar)
  • 3 Tbs cacao or cocoa powder
  • 4 Tbs Great Lakes' Grass Fed Gelatin
  • Macadamia oil for greasing.
Instructions
  1. Lightly grease silicon chocolate or ice cube moulds with macadamia oil.
  2. Place all ingredients except gelatin and honey (if using) into a saucepan and mix well. Do not heat yet.
  3. Evenly sprinkle the gelatin over the surface and leave for 5-10 mins to 'bloom'.
  4. Turn heat onto low and slowly whisk together.
  5. If using honey, add now and continue whisking.
  6. Pour into the greased moulds and transfer to the fridge straight away.
  7. Depending on the size, the 'chocolates' should set in 1-3 hours.
  8. Store in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Notes
Tbs = Australian metric Tablespoon which is 20mls.

 

 

 

 

Healthy Jellies!

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IMG_1521 I didn’t really know much about Gelatin before going grain-free.

I knew that Jelly (or Jello if you are North American) was yummy but assumed it was not that good for you due to the sugar and artificial colouring it contains. This is actually an interesting point as it is probably most recognised as the food served in hospitals!

During my personal health journey of healing my gut with bone broths and stews, I quickly realised the benefits contained in good quality Gelatin from grass-fed meat and their link to gut repair. After all, this is predominantly how I healed myself by following the GAPS protocol. Because I was following many Paleo and GAPS diet blogs, I started seeing a Gelatin product that was sourced from grass-fed animals being used in various recipes. I purchased some and started experimenting with jelly and jelly shapes and then I heard about a ‘benefits of Gelatin’ workshop being run locally to me. It was run by Aimee from www.primalinfluence.com and taught us how to make the Jelly shapes that I had already been making using juice, but also Marshmallows and a Jaffa Panna Cotta! Don’t worry, I will share these other two recipes with you in another post- they were so delicious!

These days, I make the Jelly shapes about once a week and my daughters have them in their lunchboxes everyday. As a lunchbox addition it is just a wonderful sweet, fruity ‘treat’ but is packed with so many health benefits. Gelatin contains calcium, collagen, amino acids and magnesium and has gut-healing, anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. I make sure that I always use the best-quality juice that I can get and only use Great Lakes’ Grass-fed Gelatin.

This recipe features in my eBook ‘Forget the Sandwich!- Fast, easy, whole-food, kid-approved lunchbox recipes and ideas by a Teacher, School-Mum and Food-Blogger’, along with other easy, nutritious snack and lunch ideas.

** This recipe has been amended- it previously read as 2 LITRES instead of 2 CUPS, an error which has now been fixed. My apologies if you tried the recipe with the incorrect measurements**

Healthy Jellies!
 
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Healthy jellies perfect for a healthy snack or lunchbox item.
Author:
Recipe type: Snacks/Lunchboxes
Serves: 20+
Ingredients
  • 2 cups 100% Fruit juice
  • 4 TBS (AUS 20ml) Great Lakes Beef Gelatin powder
  • optional- 1-2TBS raw honey (or other sweetener)
  • optional- pinch of Beetroot powder
Instructions
  1. Grease jelly or chocolate moulds using macadamia oil (coconut oil will solidify).
  2. Pour the juice into a saucepan with a large surface area- don't heat yet!
  3. Sprinkle the Gelatin lightly and evenly and allow to 'Bloom' (it will start to look brain-like and the children will love watching!) for 5-10 mins or until translucent.
  4. Heat pan on medium heat and whisk until dissolved.
  5. If using, add optional sweetener and powder and keep whisking (I tend not to use sweetener if I am using apple juice)
  6. Pour into moulds and place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
  7. Remove from moulds and place in a container in the fridge.
  8. Lasts approx. 5 days in the fridge. Yield depends on molds.
Notes
You can purchase Great Lakes Gelatin from www.iherb.com. If I am using straight apple juice I use the beetroot powder to give it an appealing pink colour. I have also experimented with combining apple, pear and beetroot juice to obtain that colour. Play around with the fruits that your children enjoy.

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One fine Mum’s Carrot dip

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RosemaryCrackers-5

Do you have recipes that you know only as ‘Mum’s ____ recipe’, that have no known author and have been tweaked and changed on the same bit of hand-written paper that someone gave her (your Mother) in the lunchroom 16 years ago? I do. A folder full of them, in fact. This recipe is one of them, and I enjoyed it for years before going grain-free or dairy-free. I didn’t even know that it was Paleo/grain-free/lactose free/GAPS-friendly /SCD or whatever, and neither did Mum. It was just yum.

Following my grain-free lifestyle change, I even made one further adjustment myself to the ratty piece of paper. My very own tweak, to make it mine. (*Be warned, this recipe is steal-able. It was my signature offering at get-togethers before I shared it with my lovely friend Meghann. I’ve now seen it gracing her nibblies platter at our BBQ pool parties!).

Here it is:

 

One fine Mum’s Carrot dip

4 medium carrots

1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock/bone broth

1/4 cup extra-virgin cold-pressed Olive oil

1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (raw and with the mother, eg Bragg’s)

1 clove minced garlic (or more to taste)

1/4 tsp EACH of oregano, paprika and cumin.

  1. Boil carrots in Chicken Stock/Bone broth until soft, then drain.
  2. Blend carrots in a blender or food processor.
  3. Add remaining ingredients to carrots and blend until a smooth consistency.

Serve with vegetable sticks, sesame crackers or Paleo Pita bread. I even enjoy this on my Paleo toast, or by putting a dollop of it on my salad. Or sometimes just with a spoon!

Try it out at your next BBQ and let me know the response.

Enjoy your Sunshine!

Tara x

 

 

(Pretty-much) Paleo kids Party

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Well, I think I did it. I made my three year old daughter’s birthday party as close to Paleo as I could and there were no tears. Only two kids came up to ask me where the party bags were (I was SO scared of the potential fall-out from not having ‘lolly bags’) and to my surprise they looked at me, processed it, accepted it and walked away- albeit perplexed!

As party hosts I think we are often scared to not provide something that the children expect as a given- we don’t want our party to be a flop and we don’t want our own child to be disappointed! I am obviously a healthy-living person and limit my children’s intake of sugar and junk foods, but their birthdays are the two times in the year where I let them let loose and I stock up on the expected sugar and junk for their birthday parties, trawling the supermarket aisles that I never normally step-foot in.

This year is the first year that was different. Firstly, I emphasised to guests that it was a casual birthday get-together, a  ‘party’ in inverted commas. This somehow made me more relaxed and I didn’t feel like I had to prescribe to the extensive list of birthday party standards (lolly bags, cupcakes, games, lolly hunts, pinatas). Unlike past parties where I have planned them months ahead and colour-coded or themed everything to a tee, I wrote a list two days before of some paleo-ish menu items and made them ahead the day before.

Here is my list:

  • Sausages on a stick. This replaced the usual sausage in bread and was SO much easier! We sourced good-quality gluten-free sausages (you could use Paleo Sausages instead) inserted with a bamboo skewer. My husband said how easy they were to turn when cooking and they were easy to serve.
  • Sushi-platter. My lovely friends own a local Sushi restaurant so I ordered a platter using their fresh, quality ingredients.
  • A big bowl of plain salted Potato Chips. While not Paleo, they were free of flavours and the healthiest chip option.
  • Rice crackers and locally-made aged cheeses.
  • Fruit platter with Strawberries and Watermelon (use all berries to make it properly Paleo).
  • A bag of apples and an apple-slinky machine. This was surprisingly popular!
  • Paleo brownies. These were made by my lovely friend Suzi using rasberries, sweet potato, eggs, honey and coconut oil.
  • Date balls from The Merrymaker sisters’ eBook ‘Make your kids party Paleo’. I highly recommend this recipe and it was so easy!
  • Apple and Elderflower jelly cups. I made these in disposable plastic shot-glasses with a mini spoon inserted using Great Lakes grass-fed Gelatin, and they were a hit!
  • Spring water and cups for drinks.
  • Gluten-free Hummingbird cake for the Birthday cake. Made by my amazing mother and sister!

My elder daughter turns seven next year, so I may feel brave enough by then to try these methods on that older, much more critical, age group. I will let you know!

Tara x

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