Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - egg free - nut free - vegetarian
    This soup is wonderfully thick and 'creamy', without any cream!  Soup is one of my go-to meals when it needs to be easy.  I love that you can just throw everything in a pot, let it cook a while, blend it up and voila- an yummy, nutritious meal.  My other regular, go-to soup recipe is Sweet Potato Chorizo Soup.  I also love a good Pea and Ham Soup, and when I need a comforting, immune-boosting soup, I never go past this Chicken and Corn Chowder.
    That being said, this soup recipe has one extra step if you have the time, and believe me, it's worth it.  Roast the cauliflower!  If you need to be quick, you can just boil it up in the stock with the rest of the ingredients, but if you are able to roast it first, DO IT!!  It gives the cauliflower such a lovely, nutty, caramalised depth of flavour that boiling along won't give it. 
    I usually serve this soup with some home made garlic bread, and I find it's enough for our family of 4 for 2 meals.  I freeze half of it for another day when I need a super quick meal. 

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized head of cauliflower
• 2 large brown onions, roughly chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 .5 Litres (6 cups) chicken OR vegetable stock
• About 1 Tablespoon oil for frying in (I use coconut oil)
  
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. 
• Cut cauliflower into small florets and place on a lined baking tray.  Spray or drizzle with a little oil and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Roast cauliflower in preheated oven for about 30 minutes.  Do not let the tips brown too much or they will taste burnt and add a bitterness and discoloration to the soup.  The lower oven temperature helps to not overcook them.
• While the cauliflower is roasting, heat the coconut oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes until they are soft.  Do not brown or caramalise them.
• Stir in the diced potatoes (and chopped cauliflower florets if you're not roasting them first) and cover with the stock. 
• Bring to the boil over high heat, with the lid on, and then lower heat to a simmer. 
• Simmer until the potatoes are quite soft.  Add the roasted cauliflower for the last couple of minutes of simmering, making sure the stems are nice and soft.
• Remove from heat and blend the soup until it is very smooth.  I do this with a hand-held 'stick mixer', but you could also transfer it into a blender or food processor. 
• Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper as required. 
• Serve garnished with a little grated parmesan or manchego (sheep) cheese, or chopped chives, or cracked pepper, with some home made garlic bread. 

Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - nut free - vegetarian
    I've been experimenting with using coconut flour and have finally come up with a savoury muffin that I'm happy with!  If you like a more savoury breakfast, these would be great- even better with a bit of fried bacon, tomato and mushroom on the side!  They make an excellent lunch box snack too.  They freeze well so you can pull them out when you need them. 
   Coconut flour is really nothing like regular flour.  It needs to be baked with lots of egg to help give it it bind.  These muffins are actually a bit of a cross between a muffin and a frittata due to the amount of egg.  They are grain free and dairy free.  They are packed full of vegetable and protein goodness- a great way to fill up for the day!

    Makes about 10 medium sized muffins.  Double the recipe if you want to freeze a batch for later.
Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated carrot (about 160g / 5.6oz or two medium carrots)
• 1 cup grated cheese of choice (100g / 3.5oz).  I use Manchego (a sheep cheese) or sheep pecorino, but cheddar or parmesan would work too.
  
• 1 large spring onion (white and green bits), finely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk of choice - plant based or dairy
  
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons Vital Vege Powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley or rosemary (or 1 tablespoon fresh, finely chopped herb)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• a few grinds of pepper

Note : you can leave the cheese out all together if preferred.  Or to reduce the cheese, you can leave it out of the recipe and just sprinkle a little on top of each muffin before baking, as I did here:

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 370F. 
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until a little fluffy.  Stir in the cheese, spring onion and milk until well combined.
• In a smaller bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients (coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, paprika, herb, Vital Vege Powder, salt and pepper).
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until well combined
• Leave mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
• Place 10-12 patty cases in a muffin tin. Use an ice cream scoop to put batter into the cases- this helps get a uniform amount of batter in each one.
• If adding cheese to the top, do so now.
• Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until golden on top.
• Cool to room temperature before eating.  
• Freeze extras in airtight containers.

For more breakfast ideas, scroll through these recipes.
For more lunch ideas, scroll through these recipes.

    Our pies turned out a little larger than a standard 'party pie' and smaller than a regular meat pie, as we used muffin tins to bake them in. You can make your pies any size you like, really.
     As for the pastry, we used a store-bought, pre-made gluten free puff pastry that was pretty decent.  If you want to make your own pastry, I have made many a lovely pie using this shortcrust pastry recipe (you will need to double it for this recipe).

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (I use coconut oil)

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped

• 12 button mushrooms, finely chopped

• 500g organic beef mince

• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons (gluten free) Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon mustard (dijon or wholegrain)
• 1 tablespoon gf corn flour (tapicoa or arrowroot starch will also work)
• 1 1/2 cups (gluten free) chicken or beef stock  
• 1 packet Gluten free (or other) puff pastry or a double quantity of this pastry.
• 1 egg or egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing the pastry lids (if you can't eat egg, use milk)

• butter or margarine or oil spray to grease the pie tins

Method

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan then cook the onion, carrot and mushrooms until slightly soft.
• Add the mince meat and garlic and cook, stirring and breaking up the mince, until all the mince is browned.
• Add the tomato paste, Worcestershire, mustard and tamari and stir til combined.
• Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir quickly until incorporated.
• Add the stock, stir til combined and simmer with a lid on the pan for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. It is done when the meat is still nice and moist but there is no liquid still simmering in the pan.
• Cool the meat to room temperature (if you put it in the pastry casings hot, it will cause the pastry to go soggy).

• While the meat is cooling, preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• Choose your desired size of pie tin. I used a 12 hole muffin tin, with 7cm (3 3/4) inch diameter holes. You can use one large family sized flan / pie dish or even smaller muffin tins for a 'party pie' size.
• Grease your pie tins thoroughly.
• If using packet gluten free pastry, roll out your pastry to nearly double the size of the original sheet. If using home made pastry, roll it out to about 3mm thick.
• Cut out circles that will be big enough to have a 1cm overhang above the edge of the pie hole (for my 7cm diameter pie holes I used a 12cm [5 inch] diameter bowl as my circle template). Gently fit these circles into the pie holes, ensuring you gently push the pastry right into the bottom.
• Pre-cut your circles for your lids. I used a 9cm  (3 1/2 inch) ramekin as my circle template.
• Once meat is cool, spoon into pastry cases and place pastry lids on top. Pinch the overhang of the lid together with the overhang of the bottom shell, so they are tightly stuck together.
• Lightly brush the lids with your beaten egg. Make a little slit in the top of the lid to let steam escape.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until they are golden and the filling is hot (test by inserting a knife and feeling the temperature of the knife when you pull it out).
• Serve with a generous helping of Aussie tomato sauce.