This is interesting.  When My DS was 2 he looked like a starving 3rd world baby.  He was so skinny and had this huge distended tummy.  He was a fussy eater and would hardly eat a bite after lunch.  He had problems with his bowels and got sick very easily and had enlarged tonsils and snored so loudly we could hear him 3 rooms away!! I really wanted to avoid him having any surgery and we took him to a Naturopath who suggested that we take him off not just wheat but gluten.  I was horrified and wondered how I was going to manage without gluten in his diet (this was btm - before Thermomix).  We did no testing as it involved a general ansethtic.  When I finally came around to going gluten free I was astonished as to the change in him.  He put on weight, his bowels inproved, his tonsils shrunk and he stopped snoring.  His energy levelled out (before he was a little hyperactive).  We very very strict for the first 2 years and whenever we slipped up he would get sick.  I thought it could be celliacs disease, but slowly we tried to reintroduce gluten into his diet and now he can tolerate lots of differnt grains, but he still seems to be sensitive to wheat.  Every now and again he might OD on gluten products and need to go gluten free for a while until he feels better, but it really doesn't seem so hard now.  Thankfully he seems to find spelt is fine for him so I make any cakes with this and pizza doughs etc.  It is so much easier to be gluten free with a TM.  So for my ds I think it is more of an intolerance rather than celliacs.  I think in Australia the availability of good healthy gluten free products is fantastic, we are very lucky here. When we went to America 3 years ago it was really difficult to find gluten free stuff and ended up eating lots of nachos. I also agree with andiesenji that unless it's needed it is not necessarily a healthy choice to go gluten free (the rest of the family aren't gluten free but will eat gluten free meals - gluten free lassagne, rice porriage etc).       

You are amazing Jd.  Very quick work.  I have my lovely mum close by who has a lemon tree full of nearly ripe lemons so I might try it out. Thanks for following it up.

Judydawn this recipe is very similar to the dishwashing one (that wrecked my bowl!!)  Is it very abrasive?  When making this I would probably get it out of the TM as soon as it is done to prevent it from etching the bottom of the TM jug. 

Great suggestion with the cranberries,  I have thought it would be interesting to try them. Thanks Nay Nay

I loved the idea of Rara's cherry ripe bites, but don't like glase cherries.  These are a tweaked version inspired by Rara (thanks rara ) Dried cherries claim to be a superfood and are very high in anti oxidants.  We love them.



Dried cherry bites (inspired by Rara):
makes 26 small balls:

Method:

Blitz sugar in TM for 10secs, spd 10
Add almonds, and coconut 20secs, spd 10
Add dried cherries, 10 secs, spd 7
Add boiling water and mix until mixture comes together, 10-20 secs, spd 4

Roll into small ball shapes and place, on a tray lined with baking paper, in fridge for ½ an hour.

When ready to coat with chocolate break chocolate into pieces and grate 10secs, spd 8.  Melt chocolate for 1-2minutes, 50oc, speed 3

Take cherry balls out of fridge and dip into melted chocolate, until covered (can use a toothpick or skewer for this).  Place back onto tray and put in fridge until chocolate has set.

Ingredients:

20gm raw sugar
50gm raw almonds
50gm organic desiccated coconut
120gm pitted dried cherries
1 tbls boiling water
100gm organic chocolate (milk or dark)


Preparation:

Blitz sugar in TM for 10secs, spd 10
Add almonds, and coconut 20secs, spd 10
Add dried cherries, 10 secs, spd 7
Add boiling water and mix until mixture comes together, 10-20 secs, spd 4

Roll into small ball shapes and place, on a tray lined with baking paper, in fridge for ½ an hour.

When ready to coat with chocolate break chocolate into pieces and grate 10secs, spd 8.  Melt chocolate for 1-2minutes, 50oc, speed 3

Take cherry balls out of fridge and dip into melted chocolate, until covered (can use a toothpick or skewer for this).  Place back onto tray and put in fridge until chocolate has set.

We also love this recipe when we make the homemade red curry paste to go with it.  I have tweaked it a bit to give it some more flavour.  I add a kaffir lime leaf when making the paste (taking out the centre part of the leaf first).  I don't cook this in my TM as I make up a heap of it with lots of vegetables to bulk it out (carrot, brocolini, zuchini, baby buk choy).  I also add a little more lime or lemon juice when I am cooking it along with the extra kaffir lime leaves and add 1-2 tbls of fish sauce.  My ds (7) loves this so much he always asks for us to keep him some leftovers for breakfast (as he does eat it)

ahoney I have found some organic tapioca flour that is preservative and additive free.  My local wholefood store stocks it The brand is lotus and it comes in 500gm packs and I pay about $5 for it.  I sometimes use this in custard if I am out of cornflour.  Hope this helps. 

I loved the idea of this recipe, but really don't like glase cherries.  I was in my local wholefood store and - bingo - they had a packet of dried tart cherries.  I thought I would try them out.  I blitzed some almonds into paste with a little raw sugar, then added the dried cherries and some shreaded coconut and blitzed this on spd 7-8 until I liked the look of them.  I added a tablespoon of boiling water and stirred them until them came together.  I then rolled them into balls (refridge) then melted some chocolate and coated them.  They were really yummy and the kids were rapt - didn't make a big batch though about 20.  Anyway thanks for the idea - certainly a great treat.