A Food Tinkerers Journey

We had some friends round this afternoon for a play date with the little ones and some food. I decided on slow cooking some pork shoulder for pulled pork after seeing a post on Facebook by the #merrymakersisters. Cooked it overnight in the slow cooker so all I had to do this morning was pull it apart and let it stew in the spicy juices till we were ready to eat it. Combined it with a sweet potato slaw. I'm not a fan of conventional slaw, cabbage and salad cream is like hell for me! So I make this super healthy slaw sans cabbage and with out a dressing. Grate or use a U peeler to combine the following veg. 1 medium sweet potato 1 carrot 1/3 cucumber (no seeds) 1 spring onion. You could also add some green apple which would be good with ham. If you feel the need for a dressing you could go with a nice fruity vinegar dressing, like raspberry or fig balsamic to compliment the sweet potato.

Cook at 160 for 15 or until golden, alow to cool on the tray.

Dino chickpea shortbread!

They will be dino shaped this time too as I will have some assistance from my son in making them.

Started today with a variation on the buckwheat porridge posted earlier. Instead of frozen berries I went with a green apple and banana, and a slosh of hazelnut milk for good measure! Tea tonight was a gluten free roll toasted and served with olive oil and vinegar (balsamic syrup and a fig balsamic) and some Brussels pate! Very nice it was to on what has been a ridiculously hot day!

Chickpea shortbread

Preheat oven to 160 C / Gas 2 1/2. Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Process chickpea flour, butter, icing sugar and rose water in a food processor until a firm dough ball is formed. Roll dough out thickly on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Alternatively, shape into small thick rolls and slice. Transfer onto prepared baking trays. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Let biscuits cool completely on the tray. Store in airtight tins

#raspberrykombucha

So I’m a bit of a foodaholic, not just the eating but the making and adapting and messing about with ingredients. A few months ago a relative introduced me to the “paleo” food lifestyle. And after reading a bunch of blogs, web pages and Facebook posts and trying a few things came to the conclusion that although I don't have any auto immune issues or intolerances as such, the way I had been eating was not doing me any good. In fact the way I looked at food changed entirely. The essence of paleo as I see it is not the slightly crazy "eat what only our cave man ancestors did" but rather eat good food rather than processed crap, avoid things that upset your gut and eat more nutrient rich foods. Back in the 70's the US food board (whatever it's called) advocated a diet low in fat and high in whole grain cereals. Of course they were funded by the big US cereal industry, so no bias there. Since then we have been converted to the "fat is bad" way of thinking. Until now. The most recent research has found that saturated fat is essential and that there is no direct link to heart disease as previously reported. There is also an unexplored correlation between the introduction of the low saturated fat guidelines in the 70's and an increase in Alzheimer's disease. After all your brain is made of a high proportion of fat. So I have ditched the low fat and high sugar crap, the over processed products and wheat (because I get a gluten baby bump when I eat it) This blog is intended to be a place I can gather together interesting info on foods and to share my food experiments as I venture in to the no wheat, no processed sugar world of baking and cookery!