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.

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*

An easy and delicious way of cooking fish fillets; the ingredients can be modified for each person depending on intolerances.

Basic ingredients:
150g fish fillet per person
slices of lemon or lime (see notes below)
Salt
Butter
Foil

Method:
Lay 2-3 slices of lemon or lime in the middle of a piece of foil.
Lay the fish fillet on top of the citrus
Sprinkle with salt (I used Himalayan salt for extra minerals)
Add two small blobs of butter to the top of each fillet
Wrap each fillet up in foil like a parcel, bringing in the sides, then bringing up each end and folding it together to seal.
Lay parcels in single layer in an oven tray, and bake 180C/350F until fish just cooked and tender - check after 10 mins, and then every 5 mins until done. Cooking time will vary depending on thickness of fillet and how many you are cooking. You do not want to over cook. My 6 parcels of thick fillets took about 20 mins total.

Notes and substitutions:
* Lime is much lower in amines than lemon, so I use it for my amine-sensitive daughter
* Meyer lemons are likely to be considerably lower in salicylates than other lemon varieties, as I tolerate them better and they have a much milder taste.
* For a diary-free option, add a wee bit of coconut cream or oil instead of the butter (but coconut contains salicylates and amines)
* Citrus may be left out all together, and fish cooked just with some salt and butter

For those dealing with different multiple food allergies it their family like I am, I thought it might be useful to show and example of a fairly simple meal that provides what each person needs. Our whole family is gluten and sugar free. On top of that, I cannot tolerate salicylates or high-carbs, and my daughter cannot tolerate amines and glutamates. Since we all don't need to avoid ALL three of those all the time, sometimes it's nice to have as much variety as possible while still meeting the different needs.

A simple but tasty meatloaf free of salicylates, amines (assuming mince is fresh) and glutamates. For those without intolerances, it can be served with a tomato sauce, such as my sugar-free Garden Sauce.

"Failsafe" refers to foods that have no additives and are low in amines, glutamates and salicylates. This meat loaf recipe can be easily adapted by adding other foods to it if you don't have intolerance issues.

Ingredients:
1 kg beef mince
1/2 cup rolled oats (chopped not whole)
Piece of white leek stem, sufficient to be equivalent to 1 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp dried chives
2-3 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley (or 1 TBSP dried)
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180C/350 F and grease a loaf tin
2) Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly, using your hands at the last to ensure thoroughly "gooshed" together
3) Press mixture evenly into loaf tin
4) Bake for 1 hour, until well cooked
5) Pour off excess fat if desired - I pour it into a bowl and leave it to set, then feed it to the chooks or dogs
6) Turn out onto chopping board and slice.

Serve with mashed potatoes & suitable vegetables, or rice and vegetables, depending on your tolerances.

Notes:
*Onions and garlic contain low levels of amines and moderate salicylates, unsuitable for a sensitive person or during elimination. Leeks are much lower in both, and are a good substitute for onions in most recipes. The white stalk can be used instead of onion, and the green leaves can be used as a vegetable, or instead of spring onions.
* Parsley and chives contain the lowest salicylate and amine levels of all tested herbs, and are considered safe for most people
* Rolled oats are a substitute for breadcrumbs - they have no amines or salicylates and do not contain gluten. Celiacs should use specifically gluten-free ones, if tolerated. Other options include breadcrumbs (we don't use them as we're wheat and gluten free, and the gluten-free breadcrumbs usually contain rice and/or corn which are high in amines and/or salicylates), almond meal (salicylates) or steamed cauliflower that has been chopped to crumbs in a food processor (amines and salicylates)
* Those without any sensitivities could add spices such as curry powder (1/4 tsp), and other herbs such as oregano and thyme (1-2 tsp each) and serve with a tomato sauce.
* For the mince to be safely low in amines, it needs to be preferably less than 2 weeks from slaughter, bought and used the same day or frozen for less than 4 weeks. (Amines increase as proteins age). Most cheaper mince in the supermarkets were vacuum packed, and could be sold "fresh" up to 3 months old. These must be assumed to be very high in amines. Find a butcher who makes his own the day the carcass comes in, and buy from him on that day. Mad Butcher is often a good source.

This recipe would be nice with chicken too. The Phillipino guys my husband works with told him that duck will taste better and be more tender if it's boiled first, before other stages of cooking. He mentioned this to me without any further details, so I guessed. This recipe turned out really well, using 7 duck breasts from our own ducks which we slaughtered and froze a wee while ago. The meat was much more tender done this way, than the duck I did previously without pre-boiling.

Ingredients:
8 portions of duck - either a whole duck cut up, or breasts or other parts of your choice.
1/2 cup rice flour
Salt
25g butter or duck fat
250g smoked bacon, chopped
250g mushrooms, wiped and halved
250g baby onions, peeled
600ml chicken stock
1 tsp dried herbs (I used chives, thyme would be good too), or a few sprigs of fresh thyme, left whole.

Method:
1) Place duck portions in a pot, cover with water, and bring to the boil then simmer until cooked through, about 10 mins for breasts. Lift pieces out with tongs and place on a plate to cool down and dry off.
2) Pat chicken portions dry, place in a bowl with half of the flour and toss to coat. Optional: fry the pieces in the frying pan first until browned all over, then transfer to casserole dish before frying bacon etc as follows...
3) Melt butter or fat in a frying pan, cook bacon, mushroom and onions for 5 minutes, then transfer to casserole dish with a slotted spoon
4) 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. If using dried herbs, stir into sauce. Pour over the duck, bacon, onions and mushrooms in the casserole dish.
5) If using fresh thyme sprigs, add to the casserole dish. Cover and cook 180C (350F) for one hour. Remove thyme sprigs.  

Wanting a good substitute for our old favourite crumbed, fried schnitzel, I played with some ideas, and came up with this recipe, which worked very well. The result was a healthy, tasty crumb mix that stuck to the meat very well.

Prepare the crumbs earlier in the day, in case you need to dry them out in the oven, and prep the meat early enough to allow it to sit in the fridge for 3 hours before cooking.
Crumb mixture:
Place in food processor 1 1/2 cups ground almonds, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 red onion, finely diced, 1-2 TBSP dried oregano and a little salt. Process until finely crumbled. If the mixture is too wet, as mine was because I went a bit overboard with the onion, spread over a shallow oven dish, and bake on fan-bake at about 120C, stirring from time to time until dried out. Pop back in the clean, dry food processor with some extra almond meal and process again to break up any clumps.

To crumb meat:
Line up three bowls, one containing brown rice flour, one with beaten eggs, and one with the crumb mix. Dip pieces of meat first into flour, then in egg, then in crumbs. Lay in a tray, separating layers with baking paper, and refrigerate about 3 hours. This will help the crumbs to stick to the meat, though you can fry it straight away if needed.
Cooking: heat some oil of your choice in a large frying pan, and cook crumbed meat on each side until cooked - the time depends on the cut of meat, but for schnitzel it's about 2-3 mins per side.

Talk about healthy! This delicious meal includes steak, sweet potatoes plus 5 other veges! Once the veges are prepared, the meal is very quick to cook, so you could do most of the chopping and prepping in advance, then pull everything out the fridge and cook this lovely, colourful and healthy meal in 20 mins flat.

There are three parts to this meal - the steak, the kumara noodles, and the vege stirfry. Have the ingredients for each part prepared before you slide the kumara in the oven and start cooking.

Preparation for meal for 6:
1) You will need 150g of steak suitable for frying per person (900g for 6 people), preferably at room temp, so if frozen, put it in the fridge the night before, then get out early enough to reach room temp shortly before you want to start cooking.
2) Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and line two large oven trays with baking paper - set aside.
3) Finely slice 2-3 red onions
4) Crush and mince 3-4 cloves garlic, and place them aside in a bowl with the onion
5) Prep the following veges and pile into a large bowl: 24 brussel sprouts, base removed and cut in half, 3 cups finely sliced red or green cabbage, 10 large leaves of kale or silverbeet, chopped. (Note: alternatives to brussel sprouts are more cabbage, or roughly chopped broccoli or cauliflower  - 3 cups). Try to have a mix of colours - I had green cabbage, so used mostly red silverbeet leaves. Rainbow chard are many-coloured silverbeet plants, very easy to grow.
6) Melt 4-5 TBSP coconut oil in a small pot
7) Peel 2 very large or 4 medium orange kumara, wash and pat dry. Now use a peeler to cut the kumara into ribbons - do this over a large bowl or pot. The bulk of the ribbons may surprise you, but it will reduce down considerably upon cooking.
8) Make sure you have on hand - 2 lemons, salt, butter, coconut oil

Cooking:
Kumara Noodles: Toss the kumara ribbons with the melted coconut oil. Spread out onto oven trays, and bake approximately 20 mins, rotating the trays a few times, or using fan bake, until the noodles are golden and crunchy
Steak: Season the steak on both sides with salt (and pepper if desired). Heat 3 TBSP coconut oil in a frying pan. Add steaks when the oil is hot, and cook on both sides until done - 2-3 mins for medium rare, a bit longer for well done. Remove streak from pan and place on a plate, cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes while you cook the veges.
Vegetable Stirfry: In a clean frying pan, melt 3 TBSP butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is softened. Add the other veges, stir, pour over 3/4 cup water, and cover pan, cooking veges for 3-4 mins until brussel sprouts softened and other veges wilted. Season with salt, and squeeze over the juice of 1-2 lemons.
Serve: Place a piece of steak, and a portion of the noodle and veges side by side on 6 plates. Admire the lovely colours. Eat and enjoy! :-)

A hearty, meaty soup perfect for cold winter's nights, and is very quick to make. Left-overs can be frozen and used on days you don't feel like cooking. The seasonings are mostly optional/flexible - use to taste or change for what you have on hand.

Ingredients (to serve about 8 as a main meal):
2 TBSP coconut oil
900-1000g beef mince (prime or premium is best. If using standard mince, drain fat after browning)
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 cabbage, chopped
500g fresh or frozen green beans
1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
2 good handfuls of chopped parsley
2 jars/cans diced tomatoes (or 10 oz tomato paste for a stronger tomato flavour and colour)
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
3 TBSP tamari sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp onion flakes
salt to taste
Kettle full of boiling water

Method:
Melt oil in very large pot. Brown mince, and drain fat if excessive. Add onions, cabbage, beans and parsley. Add enough boiling water to cook veges - they don't need to be covered as they will wilt down. Add rest of ingredients, pouring in enough extra water to make desired soupy consistency (can be as thick as you like). Cook for a few minutes, then taste fluid, and adjust seasonings as needed. Simmer until veges are soft and flavours melded, about 10-15 mins.