Tonight's dinner was fish plus lots of goodies from my garden. This recipe is gluten and dairy free. For the step-by-step on how to make all three dishes simultaneously (with lots of photos) which is how it really needs to be done, check out the post on my garden blog. Below are the individual recipes.

Method:
Prepare herbs and set aside in bowls. Coat fillets in flour. Heat a little coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan. Saute fennel, then remove from pan and set aside. Place fillets in frying pan over medium heat (add more oil if needed). Cook until just tender, turning carefully once. Return fennel to pan, sprinkle over chives and parsley. Squeeze over some lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil. Remove from heat.

Ingredients:
Fresh pumpkin, peeled and cut into even sized chunks
1 Garlic bulb, broken into cloves and peeled
Olive oil
Salt
Nutmeg

Method:
Preheat oven. Place the chunks of pumpkin in a lidded casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt (I used Himalayan mineral salt) and add 1/2 cup water to steam the pumpkin. Cover with lid and bake at 180C until tender. Meanwhile, toss the peeled garlic in a little olive oil to coat. Spread in a small oven proof dish. Bake until golden brown and tender, shaking to stir every few minutes to avoid burning. When pumpkin is cooked, drain liquid off, add roasted garlic and a sprinkle of nutmeg and mash.

Ingredients:
Silverbeet or Rainbow Chard of any colour - I used Ruby Chard this time
1 slice bacon
Coconut oil
Salt

Method:
Wash silverbeet/chard. Cut off stems and put aside to be used in soup another day. Slice leaves down centre in direction of stem, the cut across-wise into sections about 1.5cm wide. Place in bowl and set aside. Heat a little coconut oil in a large pot. Cook bacon until done, then remove to a plate and chop up. Add silverbeet/chard to pot, add chopped bacon and sprinkle with salt. Toss together a little, then cover and let steam until tender.

That's all there is to it!

Really just another version of Basic Casserole, this one has no tomatoes and is low in amines, glutamates and salicylates. Added flavour comes from using homemade chicken stock instead of water.

Ingredients:
150g beef or lamb stewing meat per person (the rest of the ingredients are suitable to go with 600-1000g meat)
2 rashers bacon, chopped (optional)
1-2 onions, diced (or 1 stalk leek, diced)
3-4 celery stalks, diced
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
2-3 large garlic cloves, minced (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried or 1 TBSP fresh herbs. Rosemary is an excellent choice, but chives or parsley are lower in salicylates
600 ml homemade chickens stock (simply boil a chicken carcass in water with a little salt for 2 hours, then strain)

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F
2) Dice meat into cubes, and place in large oven proof, lidded casserole dish with all other ingredients.
3) Mix
4) Bake for 1 1/2 hours, stirring twice during cooking
5) Prior to serving, thicken if desired by mixing 3 heaped TBSP rice flour with enough water to make a slurry, then stire into casserole and bake a further 10-15 mins.

What's not to love? Sweet, tasty treats made with all natural ingredients, no added sugar. Well, they are quite high in carbs. But for an occasional treat in limited quantities,  and something you can buy in the supermarket, these are pretty great!

I found 3 varieties at New World Palmerston North - Cranberry, Original and Banana. A 70g packet contains 5 balls, which adds up to between 19 and 22 carbs per packet. If you want to loose weight or maintain stable blood sugars, total carb consumption per day is recommended to be limited to between 45 and 60 grams total carbs. I don't get obsessive about this, but I do try to be aware of foods that have a higher carb value and limit them. I do NOT recommend buying all three flavours and eating the lot in one go, yummy though that would be. :-)

When I find a good sugar & gluten free healthy product, I've decided to post about so others will know where to find them.

A fun lunch or dinner that caters for multiple preferences and food intolerances is build-your-own-pizza. Lay out lots of topping choices and each person creates their own pizza, which is then baked and enjoyed.

1) Select pizza bases - make your own, or in this case I had some Freedom gluten-free pizza bases in the freezer.
2) Chop and place in individual bowls a variety of possible toppings, and set out herbs and sauces/spreads. In this case I had

3) Heat oven to 200C/400F, let each person assemble their own pizza, then bake for 12-15 mins until done. Slice and enjoy. Left overs can be refrigerated and used for lunch or snacks the following day.

These photos are of the four different pizzas my family assembled, taken before and after cooking. Each had what they like :-). Mine was (almost) tomato free and lower in salicylates. My daughter's was cheese free.

Sometimes one just wants finger food, and pikelets topped with whipped cream, a drizzle of maple syrup and maybe some berries just hits the spot. So simple to make too!

Method: Use the Healthy Pancakes recipe, except up the xanthum gum to 1/2 tsp, and swap the oat flour for buckwheat flour (this second part is optional).

Melt some butter in a non-stick frying pan, and add a spoonful of the mixture at a time, forming 3 or so separate pikelets in the pan at a time. Cook until brown on the bottom, and which time the first bubble or two should have burst on the top, and then carefully flip over and brown on the other side. Move to a plate, add toppings and devour! (Or keep in the fridge and use as needed).

Tasty, nutritious and pretty, this simple root vege mash is a great side dish for most main meals.

After the success of my Duck, Bacon & Onion casserole a couple of weeks back, and now wanting something lower in amines and salicylates, and with even more tender meat, I modified the recipe and came up with this. The meat was fall-apart tender, and the taste was good!

Ingredients:
6-7 duck breasts
3 heaped (but not piled) TBSP each of oat flour and buckwheat flour (or 6 of one or the other)
Salt
25g butter or duck fat
250g smoked bacon, chopped (optional) (high amines)
1 white leek stem, chopped
300g pumpkin, diced (low salicylates)
600ml chicken stock (fresh, homemade by boiling chicken carcass for 2 hours, otherwise high amines)
Small handful fresh parsley, chopped

Method:
1) Place duck breasts in a pot, cover with water, and bring to the boil then simmer until cooked through, about 15 mins. Lift pieces out with tongs and place on a plate to cool down and dry off.
2) Pat chicken breasts dry, then slice into 1cm thick slices, place in a bowl with the oat flour and toss to coat. 
3) Melt butter in frying pan, and fry the pieces until browned all over, then transfer to casserole dish.
4) Add bacon, leek and pumpkin to pan and fry for  5 minutes, then transfer to casserole dish with a slotted spoon
5) Stir remaining flour into pan juices and cook one minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in stock, adding slowly at first and whisking until smooth. Place back on heat, bring to the boil, and simmer, stirring, until thickened - about 2-3 minutes. Add parsley and stir into sauce. Pour over the duck, bacon, leek and pumpkin in the casserole dish.
6) Cover and cook 170C  for 1 1/2 hours, stirring a couple of times during cooking.
Serves 5-6
Serving suggestion: serve with Cauliflower Mash and green beans

Wanting some baked treats my amine & glutamate intolerant daughter could enjoy in her lunchbox, I modified some recipes for zucchini brownies I found online. This turned out really well - quite cake-like in texture, and tasty.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sunflower oil (use olive oil if you're not intolerant)
3/4 cup Stevia blend sugar substitute
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats, ground to flour in a food processor (or any wholemeal flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup carob powder (or 1/2 cup cocoa if preferred - contains amines)
1 egg
2 cups finely shredded zucchini - Don't squeeze out any liquid.
(2 zucchini is about perfect; use the smaller side of the grater.)

Method:
Preheat oven to 175C. Oil a slice tray and line with baking paper.
Mix together the oil, stevia blend and vanilla until combined and smooth.
Add in oat flour, baking powder, and sieved carob powder and mix until well combined. It will be dry, but that is fine.
Add lightly beaten egg and grated zucchini. Mix by hand until combined - don't overdo it.
Spread evenly into slice tray and bake for 15-25 mins. The top should look cooked. A skewer will come out with moist bits on it, for a brownie finish. Cook until skewer clean if you want a more cake-like finish.

Optional icing (it really doesn't need it):
Mix 1 TBSP carob powder with 2 TBSP tahini, 3 TBSP pure maple syrup and water to thin

I saw a recipe for a one-dish Mediterranean lamb chop dinner. It had ingredients we couldn't eat or didn't like, so I used the concept and created my own versions - one low salicylate, one low amine/glutamate, and one for everyone else. It was really good!

Ingredients: (for six people, I've divided it into 3 versions - the ingredients marked * are only used in alternate dishes )
6 TBSP oil
Dried chives
3 TBSP lemon or lime* juice
6 small garlic cloves, minced
18 small lamb loin chops
1200g pumpkin and/or kumara, cut into chunks
3 onions, chopped
1 leek*, chopped
Sea salt to taste
¾ cup crumbled feta
Cream cheese*
3 cups rocket or spinach leaves
1 zucchini*
4 brussel sprouts*