In the GI News Kitchen

Family Baking.
Anneka Manning, author of Bake Eat Love. Learn to Bake in 3 Simple Steps and founder of Sydney’s BakeClub, shares her delicious ‘better-for-you’ recipes for snacks, desserts and treats the whole family will love. Through both her writing and cooking school, Anneka teaches home cooks to bake in practical and approachable yet inspiring ways that assure success in the kitchen.

Banana and Blueberry Yoghurt Muffins 
The yoghurt in these muffins adds both a wonderful subtle flavour as well as moisture to these fruit-laden muffins. Great for a snack, you can also make them with other types of frozen berries and gluten-free flours (see Baker’s Tips below). Recipe and photo copyright Anneka Manning.

• Makes 12
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Baking time: 25-28 minutes 

2 cups plain wholemeal flour (320g)
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¾ cup raw caster sugar (165g)
2⁄3 cup shredded coconut (50g)
200g (7oz) frozen blueberries (see Baker’s Tips)
¾ cup Greek-style natural yoghurt (200g)
1/3 cup light olive oil, safflower or sunflower oil 
2 eggs, at room temperature
1½ tsp natural vanilla extract or essence
2 large (about 375g/12oz) ripe bananas
1 tsp icing sugar (optional), to dust

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Line 12 x ½-cup muffin tray holes with muffin paper cases.
Sift together the flour, the baking powder and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl, returning any husks left in the sieve to the bowl. Stir in the sugar and coconut. Gently stir in the frozen blueberries. Make a well in the centre.
Use a fork to whisk together the yoghurt, oil, eggs and vanilla in a bowl. Mash the bananas and stir into the yoghurt mixture. Add to the flour mixture and use a spatula or large metal spoon to fold together until just combined. (Don’t overmix – the batter should still be a little lumpy.)
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, dividing evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 25–28 minutes or until the muffins are golden and cooked when tested with a skewer.  Cool for 3 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with icing sugar if you wish.

Baker’s Tips 

• There’s no need to thaw the frozen blueberries before using 
them in this recipe.
• You can replace the blueberries with frozen blackberries, raspberries or mixed berries.
• These muffins are best eaten the day they are baked, however 
they freeze well – wrap individually in plastic wrap and then seal in a plastic bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
• To make gluten-free muffins: Replace the wholemeal plain flour with 200g brown rice flour, 30g quinoa flour and 30g arrowroot. 

Per serve (without icing sugar)
1225kJ/ 290 calories; 6g protein; 11g fat (includes 4g saturated fat; saturated : unsaturated fat ratio 0.57); 40g available carbs (includes 22g sugars and 18g starch); 5g fibre

Cooking with Supergrains author, Chrissy Freer 
I adapted my Seeded Spelt Bread recipe from Supergrains to incorporate wattleseed flour and make this lower GI, dense, delicious loaf. Wattleseeds (Acacia coriacea) are legumes and like other legumes they are extremely nutritious, have a low GI and are high in protein and fibre. When Prof Jennie Brand-Miller and Sydney University researchers substituted 18% of the wholemeal (wholewheat) flour in bread for wattleseed flour, they found that it significantly lowered both glucose and insulin responses. Their bread had a GI value of 46.

Homemade spelt and wattleseed bread. 
I like to use spelt flour for bread making as it is higher in protein than regular flour. However, unlike regular wheat flour, it is important not to over-knead the dough as the gluten starts to break down.

• Makes: 1 loaf (approximately 12–14 slices)
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 35 minutes, plus 1 hour 20 minutes rising time 

1 tbsp honey
2½ cups white spelt flour (375g)
300ml tepid water (about 1¼ cups or 10½fl oz))
7g sachet dried yeast (¼oz)
1 tsp salt
½ cup wattleseed flour (90g/3oz)
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp linseeds
2 tbsp rolled (porridge) oats, plus extra to sprinkle
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to grease

 
To make the dough, place the honey, half a cup of the spelt flour and the water in a small bowl, and whisk to combine. Sprinkle with the yeast and set aside for 10 minutes, by which time it should start to bubble and foam.
Sift the remaining flour and salt into a large bowl, stir through the wattle seed flour, sesame seeds, linseeds, and oats. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to bring the mixture together to form a ball, adding a little more water or flour if necessary.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work bench and knead for 3-4 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Lightly grease a large clean bowl, place the dough in the bowl and spread a little extra oil on the top to prevent a crust forming. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm, draught free place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F or 160°C/320°F fan-forced, brush a 10x20cm/4inx8in (base measurement) loaf tin with oil. Punch the dough down with your fist, shape dough into a 20cm log and place into prepared tin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle top with extra oats.
Bake bread for 30–35 minutes, or until golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cover loaf with foil if top is browning too quickly. Remove loaf from tin and set aside to cool on a wire rack. This bread is suitable to freeze, cut into slices and individually wrap.

Per slice (based on 14 slices)
630kJ/ 150 calories; 5.5 g protein; 3g fat (includes 0.3g saturated fat; saturated : unsaturated fat ratio 0.14); 24g available carbs (includes 4g sugars and 20g starch); 4 g fibre

• You can buy wild-harvested wattleseed flour (A. victoriae) from Lyle Dudley of Bushfood Australia.
• Supergrains (Murdoch Books/Random House) is available from good bookshops and online.

Meal planning made easy with Taste Planner. 
Taste Planner provides personalised meal plans including diabetes-friendly plans that you can access on your mobile (cell), laptop, desktop or tablet. They are offering GI News readers a 28-day free trial plus 24 weeks with 50% off. After your free trial subscription period, you would pay $3.98 every 28 days for meal plans. Enter coupon code GINEWS on the payment details page to redeem your 50% discount. Get a taste of Taste Planner with Chrissy Freer’s tangy black rice salad. Recipe and photo courtesy www.taste.com.au.

Black rice salad with pork and cashews 
This salad has a fresh citrus and ginger dressing. We made ours with organic “low GI” Forbidden Black Rice. See Product News below for more information. Serves 4.

1 cup “low GI” black rice
4 (about 125g/4oz each) pork loin steaks, excess fat trimmed
150g/5oz sugar snap peas (see note), blanched
150g/5oz snow peas, thinly sliced, blanched
100g3½oz baby spinach leaves
30g/1oz roasted cashews
2 tbsp (40ml) chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp (40ml) orange juice
1 tbsp (20ml) lime juice
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

Cook the rice in a large saucepan of boiling water for 30-35 minutes or until just tender. Drain. While the rice is cooking …
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Spray with oil. Cook the pork for 4–5 minutes each side or until golden and just cooked through. Transfer to a clean chopping board. Cover loosely with foil and set aside for 2¬3 minutes to rest.
Thinly slice the pork. Place the rice, sugar snap peas, snow peas, spinach cashews and chives in a large bowl. Whisk the orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, honey and ginger in a small bowl. Add dressing and pork to the salad and gently toss to combine.

Per serve
1625kJ/385 calories; 37g protein; 7.5g fat (includes 1.5g saturated fat

Johanna’s Italian Kitchen
American dietitian and author of Good Carbs, Bad Carbs, Johanna Burani, shares her favourite recipes with a low or moderate GI. For more information, check out Johanna’s website. The photographs are by Sergio Burani. His food, travel and wine photography website is photosbysergio.com.

Chocolate Raspberry Almond Smoothie. 
Here is a quick, delicious, nutritious and low GI homerun to start the day.  You can change around the fruit and the nuts.  Pinoli (pine nuts) and hazelnuts are my choices when I’m in Italy.  My son, Matteo, has just planted raspberry bushes behind his house, so I’ll probably stick with the raspberries this season. Servings: 2 (about 1 cup each).

4oz/120g) nonfat plain yogurt
½ cup nonfat milk
½ tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp honey
1oz/30g raw almonds, very finely chopped to a paste

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a blender.  Blend for 1 minute or until smooth.  Pour into two tall glasses and serve immediately.

Per serve 
900kJ/ 225 calories; 9g protein; 8g fat (includes less than 1g saturated fat; saturated : unsaturated fat ratio 0.14