Gluten free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free - egg free - can be vegetarian
    In June 2013 one of my besties, who lives across the ocean, posted on Facebook that she was making a batch of potato and corn chowder. I thought that it sounded good and asked for the recipe. She sent it through with the note saying it is incredibly basic, and not to get too excited about it! She was right- it was incredibly basic - but with so much potential! So, I've tried it a couple of times now with my own additions and I'm excited to share the result. The original recipe came from a book Called Mom's Best Country Recipes- a small paperback tourist cookbook that my friends Mum (Mom) brought back as a gift from the Ozarks of Missouri. Sounds homely, hey? It is!  And it's just perfect for this time of year as winter comes upon us.
    I've figured out a process to make this soup at the same time as you make a big batch of chicken stock- enough for the this soup and at least another 2 soups! I love saving time! If you don't have time to have the stock boiling for 2-3 hours before you make the soup, that's fine, just use pre-made stock (chicken or vegetable), and leave the chicken out. I originally made it without chicken and it's still really good. Or, this would be a great soup to make with any leftover meat after a roast chicken dinner. But, let me say, if you have the time to boil the chicken and make the stock from scratch, this will be one of the best immune-boosting, healthy soups you will make. Research has now proven that mum's good old cold-and-flu remedy of chicken soup (made from chicken on the bone) really does boost the immune system. Combine that with the ginger and garlic I've added to the soup, and you've got a winner. You add the ginger and garlic right at the end, to retain most of it's wonderful nutritious properties.
     Serves 4 as a main.

Ingredients for the stock:

• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 2 celery sticks
• tablespoon whole peppercorns
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a few sprigs of parsley if you have it
• one whole organic or free range chicken

Method for the stock:

• If you don't want 'grease' in your soup, skin the chicken. Don't freak out, it's quite easy! Find a spot that you can grab the edge of the skin and just start pulling. It comes off quite easily. Cut away any chunky bits of fat that didn't come off with the skin.
• Put all your ingredients into the pot and cover with water, filling as high as possible without risking it overflowing when boiling. My pot is quite large- I had about 6 litres of water. If your pot is smaller, reduce the amount of ingredients or you'll have a very strong stock.
• Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer away for at least 2 hours- 3 is better!!
• Remove the chicken and once it has cooled a little, shred it into small, bite-sized bits. You'll need about half of it for the soup. Save the other halve for another meal or sandwich meat.
• With a slotted spoon, remove all the vegetables and peppercorns from the stock and discard. You will be left with a lovely liquid stock- some of which you will put into your soup. I put the rest in 1 cup quantities into zip lock bags and freeze them for later.
  
  Ingredients for the soup:
• 4 medium sized potatoes, dices into small (1cm) cubes
• 3 cups chicken stock (pre-made, or see directions above)
• Shredded cooked chicken meat from half a chicken or two large breasts
  
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 2 small onions, diced into small 1cm pieces
• 2 large corn cobs, kernels stripped off, OR about 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped (you could use parsley if you don't have rosemary)
• 2 tablespoons brown rice flour(or white if preferred)
• 1 tablespoon organic butter or coconut oil
• 4-6 cloves garlic (depends how much you like garlic- I like a lot!)
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or minced if you don't have fresh, but fresh is best)
  
   Method for the soup:
• Put butter or oil into a large soup pot and turn onto med heat. When butter or oil has just melted, add onion and saute until slightly coloured.
• Add flour and stir constantly for about 20 seconds till it is slightly brown.
• Add potato, corn and rosemary or parsley and stir briefly until coated in flour and onion.
• Add stock and milk. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are very tender.
• Add the reserved chicken, garlic and ginger. Season.
• Boil for a minute, check flavour for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
• Serve in bowls, with some garlic bread or bread rolls if desired.

Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - egg free - nut free
    This is a popular Chinese dish that's really fun to eat because you get to eat with your fingers! I started making this using Kylie Kwong's recipe from her book 'Simple Chinese Cooking', but I tend to vary it a bit every time I make it. An internet search reveals that there seems to be a consensus on the essentials of a Sung Choi Bao: sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, ginger, garlic, bean sprouts and spring onions. It seems to be traditional to use pork mince meat, but if you don't want to use pork, it's also really good with chicken mince, and my guess is that turkey mince would work well too.
    Not all recipes add other vegetables to the mix, but when they do, carrot, celery, shiitake mushrooms and red onion seem to be the standard. As with most recipes, I tend to use what my family likes the most and what I have on hand. We generally don't like celery in our stir fries and I often don't have shiitake mushrooms on hand. Sometimes I add finely chopped red capsicum, snow peas and I love adding purple cabbage too. All those colours make it look really spectacular.  Follow this recipe as a guide and make it your own!
     The other significant variation we often do with ours is add vermicelli noodles (made with mung beans), and turn it into a stir-fry eaten out of a bowl, rather than eating it out of lettuce leaves. 

This amount should feed 4 adults, and 4-6 people if kids are involved.
Ingredients

• 500g pork mince (preferably free-range or organic), or chicken or turkey mince
• 2 small iceberg lettuce leaves per person OR  200g vermicelli noodles
• 2 tablespoons oil (I use coconut oil, many recipes call for peanut oil)
• 2 tablespoons julienne fresh ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 red onion, cut in half and finely sliced
• 4 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine/ shaoxing wine or dry sherry
  
• 2 tablespoons tamari (wheat free soy)
• 2 teaspoons coconut or rapadura sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons gluten free oyster sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Optional vegetables:

• 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps finely sliced
• 1 celery stick, finely sliced
• 2 small carrots, finely julienne
• 1 small red capsicum, finely sliced
• handful of snow peas, finely sliced
• 1/4 purple cabbage, finely sliced

• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1 spring onion, finely sliced

To finish:

• extra spring onion
• a couple of hand fulls of coriander, roughly chopped

Method

• If using lettuce, soak the individual leaves in the sink or a large bowl, covered with cold water, for at least an hour. Dry before serving.
• If using vermicelli, soak or cook according to packet instructions and set aside
• Heat the oil in a hot wok, then add the garlic, ginger and pork mince. Cook, stirring for a minute
• Add the onions and mushrooms and cook for 30 seconds
• Add the wine or sherry, tamari, sugar, oyster sauce, and sesame oil, and cook until the pork is cooked through
• Add all vegetables and toss for just a minute, so they remain quite crunchy
• If using vermicelli, add the cooked noodles to the pan and toss to mix in
• Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the excess liquid behind, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Garnish with extra spring onion and coriander
• If using the lettuce leaves, spoon filling into a lettuce leaf, fold over to enclose, pick it up and enjoy!

Gluten free- dairy free- low sugar- egg free- nut free- vegetarian option
I love a meal that's super easy and that everyone in the family loves. Home made Sushi Rolls are one of those in our house. We fill ours full of vegetables, maybe a little omelette or tuna...or if I want to go to more effort I'll cook up some Teriyaki Chicken. Other than cooking some rice, all it takes is a bit of chopping. We put everything in the centre of the table and make them ourselves. The kids love a meal that they get to choose what to put in it, and I don't mind, because it's all vegetables, so it's all good! I used to be a bit scared of Sushi because it seemed so hard to get it to roll properly and stay tight and look good. But when you're making your own for dinner, none of that matters! We cut the nori sheets (seaweed paper) in half and make a nice long roll- no need for cutting once they're rolled.

There's no set ingredients list for this - it's a matter of personal preference for what to put in them, and the quantity is according to how many people you want to serve.  For our family of four, I usually cook 4 cups of rice. This makes 3 or 4 rolls each (a total of 2 nori sheets per person) and also gives us enough left-over rice to make some rolls for school lunches the next day. Winner! Here's what we use:

Ingredients

• Nori Sheets
  

• Sushi Rice

• Bottled Sushi Seasoning

• Tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
  

Any of the following julienne vegetables:

• carrot

• snow peas

• cucumber

• red capsicum

• spring onions

• avocado

For extra flavour:

• Pickled ginger (found in the asian food section of the supermarket or look for it in an organic food store for one without weird colourings)
  

• Wasabi

If you want to add protein:

• Omelette (try making one large omelette with one egg per person being served). Cut into long, skinny slices
  

• Strips of teriyaki chicken
  

• Tinned tuna, mixed with mayonnaise to your desired consistency
  

•  Cashews (not at all traditional, but an easy, tasty, crunchy vegetarian option)
  

Method

• It is important to use specifically labelled 'Sushi Rice'. I cook mine in an electric rice cooker.  An alternative would be do use Quinoa.
  

• While the rice is cooking, chop up all your vegetables julienne-style (long and skinny) and make your omelette or chicken or tuna if using.
  

• Once rice is cooked, stir in desired amount of Sushi Seasoning. I always use less than prescribed quantity on the bottle- it does contain sugar and I find the amount they suggest is too much.

• Put rice in a very large, shallow bowl and stir constantly for a couple of minutes. If you can, fan the rice while you stir it, and this will bring it to the right consistency more quickly. The aim is to get the rice a bit dry and sticky.
  

• Cut the nori sheets in half.  Spread some rice evenly and thinly over the sheet, leaving a gap of a couple of centimetres at one end. Smear a little soy sauce/ tamari over the exposed end of the nori sheet (this will help it stick to itself when rolled).
  

• Lay out some veges and other fillings across the width of the sheet, about half way down. Smear a little wasabi across one end if desired.

• Lift the rice-covered end over the top of the vegetables and roll tight, sealing the edge covered in soy sauce over the roll.

• Dip in a little more soy sauce/ tamari and enjoy!