Savoury muffins zucchini and pecorino

These muffins are great for breakfast with a slab or butter or a mid morning/ afternoon tea.

They are nutrient dense made with spelt and buckwheat flours and the sharpness of the pecorino cheese perfectly balances the zucchini, they are simple to prepare and babies and toddlers love them!

130g white spelt flour
120g wholemeal spelt flour
60g buckwheat flour
80g pecorino grated
150g zucchini, raw grated
250g wholemilk unpasteurised (or dairy free milk - oat milk)
1 egg
80g extra virgin olive oil (use good quality)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Black pepper freshly grinded into batter

Makes around 10-12


Method

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with papers or grease with butter so muffins do not stick
Prepare all the dry ingredients, weigh the flours and baking power and put into a large bowlwhish for a few seconds to get some air in the flour mix.
Grate the zucchini and pecorino and if you have a thermomix you can grind the hard cheese for 6 secs
In another bowl combine the wet ingredients, oil, milk and egg, blend with a whisk or use thermomix 5 secs
Combine both the wet and dry ingredients and blend well with a wooden spoon hand stirring gently until all ingredients are well combined (do not over mix)

Take a large spoon and fill each muffin hole until almost to the top

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes on 170 degrees

Nourishing chicken soup with fresh shiitake mushrooms broccoli and corn

Here is a special little soup I created for a client that needs nourishment and recovery foods for a long stint in hospital, pulling in all my food as medicine notes and experience cooking for different medical conditions I came up with this little gem that the family also enjoy.

*** Note for this recipe it helps to have chicken broth already premade, I make mine well in advance and freeze in portions and freeze for later use. ***


800g organic chicken breasts
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced finely
1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
1 lemongrass stick
1 fresh lime, juiced
1 litre home made chicken broth
300g organic broccoli, cut into florets
1 fresh corn husked
2 tablespoons tamari


Method

In a large pot add hot water and the lemongrass stick, infuse for 5 minutes, add the organic chicken breasts and poach for approx 12-15 minutes, checking at 12 minutes and making sure the thick part of the breast is cooked through.
Once done drain the chicken and lemongrass into a spider/sieve and reserve the water for use later.

Leave the chicken to cool slightly then when not to hot to handle start to shred into manageable pieces, the chicken should be very moist, that's why overcooking is not advised you need to check at 12 minutes when poaching.

Using the same cooking pot add the chicken broth and start to gently simmer, add the fresh shitake mushrooms and ginger and cook for 3 minutes until shitakes are softening. Add the corn cobs, fresh lime and tamari, taste and adjust for your palate. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, lastly add the shredded chicken and the raw broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes. The add some of the reserved poaching chicken water to get the right consistency.

Enjoy by itself or with some biodynamic brown rice

Nutritional note about shiitake mushrooms - They are 6000 years old and have been used in asian countries as food as medicine for centuries, they are also sustainable as they are forest farmed, although you will hard pressed finding certified organic ones in Australia. Used frequently for cancer patients to boost immunity. Shiitake mushrooms contain all 3 b vitamins (b2, 5 and 6) vitamin d and maganese, and are a good source of dietary fibre. They are very soft to handle and to retain all there phytonutrient properties make sure you don't over cook them. We like to add them to soups and also gently fry in coconut oil for stir fries and fantastic with scrambled eggs!