To Stevia or not to Stevia.....

....that is the question.
There's been a lot of buzz about Stevia in the last few years and it's started appearing in some of our food and drink.

But how do you rate it?
 I'll be honest I tried Truvia when it first came out, hoping that it would be a pure stevia extract I could use; sadly not as it has Erythritol in it which is a sweetener.
So instead I opted for the pure Stevia powder; you can pick it up on amazon for a few pounds.
I was thrilled when the packet first came but a little put out when I opened it. Natural Stevia, unbeknownst to me, is like a green powder substance, reminiscent of the henna powder I used to dye my hair red in my teens. It doesn't smell too great either, a bit like a cross between weeds and black tea, yack!!
According to all the blurb Stevia is supposed to be 300 times sweeter than sugar, which I suppose is fine in theory but in my experience it really depends on how you use it.
I've tried several recipes replacing sugar with Stevia and they've all  been a bit hit and miss.

Finding a conversion chart for it doesn't seem to help either.In fact I've struggled to find one that works.
So far my I've tried a straight swap, stevia for sugar, and I've had limited success. If I add just a teaspoon-it is supposed to be 300 hundred times sweeter!- I didn't get any flavour at all. If I added a dessert spoon I got sweetness with an after taste of compost ( not that I'm in the habit of eating compost but I think you get what I mean). I've tried all variations in between but with limited success.
I'm not quite on the verge of giving up but I've popped it back in the cupboard for now before frustration sets in.
I'd love to hear from anyone who's used Stevia successfully or even if you've used it and suffered the same fate as me. Maybe you've found a conversion chart that's bang on and you're flying the Stevia flag. Hopefully you can shed some light on the rest us!

Busy, Busy,Busy!

I've been rushed off my feet this week as we're having a clear out and DIY fortnight before I go back to work properly.
It's amazing how much stuff one family can accumulate in a year, especially arts and crafts stuff! My cookery folders have also out grown their usual shelf in my kitchen so I'll be sorting through those and relocating some stuff.
All this busy-ness hasn't stopped me from cooking though and along with decluttering our personal things I've been clearing out cupboards and freezers.
My first recipe this week is designed to use up any cheese you might have left over at the end of the week:
Cheese and Marmite Fingers
Ingredients:

• 250g of glutenfree pastry - you can use any of your favourite pastry blends here. If you have a couple of different flour bags coming to an end you can mix them together and make pastry the same way you always do.
• 1 tbsp Marmite - if you don't like marmite you can leave it out and add vegetables to your fingers instead such as onion or tomato or you could swap marmite for ketchup.
• 150g hard cheese or a good melting soya cheese.

1.  Set the oven to Gas mark 4. Roll out your pastry between two sheets of cling film until roughly half a centimetre thick. Try to make it a rectangular shape as much as possible. Remove the top layer of cling film.
2. Grate the cheese (and onion if using. Thinly slice tomatoes if using them also) 
3. Spread the marmite ( or ketchup) thinly across half of the pastry - this works particularly well if you chill the pastry first - then sprinkle all of the cheese on top - don't forget to add anything else you'd like too.
4. Fold the pastry in half bringing the naked pastry down in top of the cheese and marmite to create a sandwich effect. Place on a baking tray using the bottom layer of cling film to manoeuvre it.
5. Score finger sized lines into the top of the pastry before placing into the pre-heated oven. Bake until the pastry is brown and crispy.
6. Slice into fingers along the score lines and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Another recipe I used this week that I hadn't used in ages was my own take on home made burgers. A while ago there was a scandal in the UK involving pre-packaged meat products and horse meat. There was such disgust and panic amongst shoppers that all beef burgers in the supermarket I usually use disappeared. This meant that for months I was unable to buy any which, to be honest,was quite lazy of me. Especially being as sitting in my cupboard was a barely used burger press, tut, tut.

So, using all sorts of different minced meats, lamb, pork, turkey and beef, I took to making my own. And when I found a rather large package of minced beef hiding at the back of my freezer over the weekend I dug out my burger press and there were burgers for everyone!

Cutting's Home made Burgers:

Ingredients:

• 500g lean minced beef
• 2 medium onions
• 1 and 1/2 glutenfree vegetable stock cubes
• 1 tbsp of olive oil/vegetable oil

Makes approx 6-8 large burgers or 10 small ones
This mixture is best blended in a food processor to combine it properly and give good solid burgers.

1. Grate the onions using the grater attachment on your food processor. Switch to the flat blade and add the minced beef- do not mix yet.
2. Using a mortar and pestle if you have one or the back of a large spoon mix the stock cubes and the oil together to create a paste and add to the food processor.
3. Blend the ingredients on medium speed until it resembles sausage meat. Taking large dessert spoonfuls either shape the meat into patties using your hands or a burger press.
4. You can freeze any burgers you will not be cooking just remember to leave on the waxed discs if using the press or freeze separately on a baking tray if shaping by hand.
5. Cook as normal burgers and serve with all your favourite dressings.

Well I hope that'll keep you going for another week, I'm off to clear out my porch now. The local charity shops will be getting quite a few goodies from our house this month!

Back from the land of the roses.

Sorry it's been over a week, I had no idea how hectic my holiday would be!
To say I need a holiday from my holiday is an understatement. We packed a lot in, especially food.
Before we left to visit my parents in Bulgaria, a friend of mine asked me if I ever worried about my food restrictions when I go abroad.
I'll be honest when I say that, at first, I was a little concerned but with the help of my family it has been quite easy to navigate.


Before my first trip away from the UK I spoke to some of my family who also have problems and asked their advice. One of my Uncles has severe coeliac disease and hasn't eaten the bread made here in the UK for many years, but when he travels to Turkey he can eat as much Turkish bread as he likes. As daft as it sounds the species of wheat they grow is totally different to ours and he's found that he can tolerate it quite easily.
 With this in mind I decided to try the bread in Bulgaria ( Turkey and Bulgaria are quite close to each other) and I found that, in small quantities, I can enjoy a piece of bread with little difficulty at all. I was nervous about it but as it turns out, if I'm careful my digestive system is able to cope.
 Not that I'm saying this is appropriate for everyone, but it has certainly proved the case with me.
 Of course there are some things I just cannot eat, things that are the same there as they are here.
The way I found to get around guess work and trying to decipher labels written in the Cyrillic language of Bulgaria was to lean on good old Google translate and find out what the word for corn was ( my only real problem food).
This helped me avoid it when buying any food, pre-packed or otherwise, but to be fair the Bulgarians don't fill their food with added unnecessary ingredients like we do.
Aside from all that, when eating out in any country the obvious rules apply:

1. Don't order anything in restaurants that has a sauce with it.
2. Don't eat pre-packed wheat products - Even if you can tolerate the local wheat that doesn't mean the pre-packed pasta and stuff is made from the same wheat, most countries import dried pasta.
3. If in doubt stick to plain meat, fish or vegetables.                                                                           And lastly, although not related to food intolerance but to food poisoning:
4. Whatever you do DON'T EAT THE RICE in restaurants. You can't guarantee it has been re-heated properly and trust me, no matter which country you go to they never cook it from fresh, just for you.

The only way to really make sure you can enjoy your holiday abroad is to opt for a self-catering apartment and take as much food with you as you can. I was lucky enough to be visiting family who, not only know my limits but also know directions to the nearest Lidl supermarket - they have rice cakes there :)

The point I am trying to make though is don't be afraid to travel abroad because you have a restricted diet. With a little bit of research and some common sense, you can enjoy a sunshine holiday just like everyone else.

It's nearly jolly holly time!

Well we're winding up for our summer holiday in our house this week so it's a bit hectic right now. I have had time to get into the kitchen though and I have two new recipes to share with you all.
 The first came out of boredom.
 I'll be honest I'm so rushed off my feet I can barely bring myself to cook a full meal when I get home from work. Ordinarily this would mean turning to my trusty slow cooker and living on one pot meals but it's a little on the warm side weather wise for that sort of thing. So we've developed what my Mum would term the " kill it and cook it yourself" approach. In other words it's every man for himself, so my kids are living on beans on toast, bless 'em. I wish I could do the same!
 Anyway, using what I had left in the fridge and freezer I came up with this little ditty:
Saffron Noodles
Serves 1
Ingredients

• 1 portion of rice noodles ( dried or the straight to wok kind)
• 100g (approximately a large handful) of prawns or diced chicken.
• 100g of frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 tsp saffron strands
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbsps of goats/cow's milk butter
• 1 tbsp of rice flour.

1. If using dried rice noodles put them into boiling water to soak.
2. Peel and crush garlic and add to a medium pan with the prawns/chicken, vegetables and butter. Fry on a medium heat, stirring frequently.
3. Once the prawns/chicken and vegetables are heated through add the rice flour to the pan one spoon at a time, stirring vigorously. This is to make a butter sauce.
4. Finally add the saffron strands and turn the heat low. Allow to bubble for 2 minutes until the sauce turns yellow, then add in the noodles and mix well until they're coated with the sauce .
 Enjoy!

My next adventure was making dairy free ice cream. I did a little research first of all and found that most recipes are egg custard based ( Gack!). Not good when you can't eat eggs, so I pressed a little further and found several that were based on coconut milk.
I found one particular recipe that works quite well but there were a few kinks in it.
Firstly, it contained gelatine and I'll be honest there's absolutely no need to add it to the mix at all so I'll be leaving that one out next time around. The second was, being an American recipe, the coconut milk in this country is a little different so the result although good wasn't as fantastic as I'd hoped. Anyway here's the basic recipe, it does make a nice creamy dessert although the ice crystals tend to be a little big, so maybe this would be good in an ice cream maker.
Coconut vanilla ice cream
Serves 8
 Ingredients

• 3 cans of thick coconut milk ( keep one in the cupboard and put two in the fridge over night)
• 150g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Using the can of coconut milk from the cupboard, add it to the sugar in medium sized saucepan. Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently until it has thickened and reduced. Set this aside until it is completely cold.
2. Empty the two cans of milk from the fridge into a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until it is light and creamy and then place in the fridge for an hour.

3. Once the condensed coconut milk is cold and the creamy mixture has been refrigerated combine the two and add the vanilla. Mix once more with the electric whisk and then pour into freezable containers.
4. Freeze for 3 hours and then mix thoroughly to break up the ice crystals before returning to the freezer for another 3 hours.
5. Serve with fruit or on it's own. If it is difficult to scoop leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften.
 I hope that'll keep you going for a week. Next week I'll be looking at eating abroad when you're on holiday and how to avoid your "banned" foods.

Vibrant veg!

I've been messing about with vegetarian recipes this week. Don't get me wrong, I love a good steak or sausage casserole, but sometimes I just want something light.
Late last week I picked up some aubergines while on my shopping travels, with no real idea about how I was going to use them. My first thought was ratatouille but that seemed a little obvious. I wanted something different!
 Searching through my cook books I came across a copy of Barbara Cousins Cooking Without.


I'd be lost without this book. When I've began changing my diet this was my go to book. It's full of simple recipes that you can make and adapt to suit your own requirements and tastes.
One of these recipes made good use of my aubergines!
Here it is:

Stuffed Aubergines
Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 2 large aubergines
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 5ml/1 tsp olive oil
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 12 black olives ( you can use green if you prefer)
• 5ml/ 1 tsp tomato puree
• 3ml/1/2 tsp dried majoram
• 3ml/1/2 dried oregano
• 10ml/1 dsp fresh chopped parsley
• 10 ml/1 dsp fresh chopped coriander
• black pepper
• 55 g/2/oz cup of cooked rice
• 55g/2 oz ground almonds ( you can omit these and just add a little more rice if you are allergic to nuts)
• olive oil for drizzling on the surface
• optional: goats cheese or feta if you can tolerate dairy.

1. Cut the aubergines in half and scoop out the flesh leaving 2cm/1/2 inch around the edge next to the skin. Dice the flesh finely and place in a large bowl.

2. Finely dice the onion and press the garlic clove. Sweat the onion and garlic in 5ml/1 tsp of olive oil until they soften and brown. Add these to the diced aubergine flesh in the bowl.

3. Skin the tomatoes and dice the flesh. Quarter the olives. Add to the bowl along with the remaining ingredients (and cheese if using) and mix.

4. Place the aubergine shells on a baking tray or gratin dish.

5. Pile the stuffing into the shells, pressing down firmly.

6. Drizzle the surface with olive oil, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C/ Gas Mark 6 for 1 hour or until the aubergines are quite soft.

These freeze quite well and make an excellent starter or light lunch.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I served mine with new potatoes and salad and I also took some to work for lunch. Yummy!

Next week my adventure will take me on a dairy free ice cream journey, wish me luck!

The bakers return!

Well, it's been a good old while since I last posted. Life can kind of get in the way sometimes!
Well in the 3 years since my last post I've developed several nasty intolerances and an allergy to corn of all things. This had made things particularly tough.
 Nearly everything on our shelves contains corn in some form, even certain types of mouthwash.
 
The problem of course, is that the UK is not as up to speed as other countries when it comes to labelling and it took me a solid week of feeling like death before I realised my new mouthwash was the problem. I mean, Come on! It's mouth wash, why on earth does it need corn oil?
Any hoo, that aside, now I know my problem I can be even more vigilant. The trouble is some of my most favourite treats relied on corn flour so you can imagine how that's shoved a spanner in my culinary works.

Still, I've tried various other thickeners for my gravies and custards with varying results.
 To help anyone else like me, who does enjoy a custard or two, here's my top 3 thickening alternatives:
1. Potato flour/starch.
Although it screams savoury, potato flour is just about the best thing I tried so far. You do need quite a bit of it though and it's not terribly cheap.
2. Arrow root powder.
Good thickening quality but it does tend to make everything seem a little bit like goo rather than sauce.
3. Rice flour.
Nice and cheap if a little grainy. It does have a tendency to suck up all of the liquid in any dish though.
So there you have it. I feel great now that I know exactly what was causing my horrible health problems but now I'm on a new improved mission to develop recipes to allow me to enjoy my food.

Speedy Snacks.

Well, its been a hectic week in our house. My 8 year old has developed a passion for singing and dancing and as a result he's enrolled in all sorts of out of school activities. This doesn't really leave much time for foodie experiments.
So, the quest for this week was quick meals or snacks for days when you don't really feel like standing in the kitchen for hours peeling and chopping.
I have tried some of the prepacked stuff that our local health food shops have to offer but they're usually chock full of salt or other such preservative nastiness. Not nice.
So as usual I've been dabbling with bits and pieces and I've come up with two quick snack like dishes that could also be used as side dishes.

Orgran Risoni is wonderful stuff. Admittedly I only remember it exists when it appears in the bargain bin of the health food shop but that doesn't take the shine off how good I've found it. I've made quite a few things with it, including paella and a tuna rice salad ( tastes just as nice cold). What I've found it most useful for, this week is savoury rice. My lot love savoury rice and cous cous which usually leaves me abit stuck for what to have myself. But I boiled up some Risoni and mixed it with mushrooms fried in olive oil and garlic and it was gorgeous. There really is no end to the different stuff you can add to it, its definitely a good store cupboard buy.
 The same can't be said for the packet Gluten Free pasta in sauce you can find in the supermarkets and health food shops. I've tried several different sorts and they've all been far too salty. Now I make my own.
I accidently discovered an easy way to make pasta in sauce while on holiday last year.
It was the last day of the holiday and I was trying to use up the food we had taken with us. I put on a pot of gluten free pasta to boil and I let it cook for too long so that there was only a little water left (oops!). Then hit by inspiration I just started throwing things into the pan and came up with this:

Cheese and Tomato Pasta

About 50-100g of Gluten free pasta

3 tablespoons of Tomato Puree

Half a vegetable stock cube or 1 teaspoon of boullion powder

half a diced onion

1/2 teaspoon of mixed herbs

1 large garlic clove

any veg or meat you might want to add, the meat should be already cooked.

handful of grated cheese, any will be good but Parmesan is really nice.


1. Cook the pasta in the usual way with plenty of water. Once the pasta is tender drain 2/3 of the water away, whats left will make the sauce.
2. Put the pan back on the heat but turn it down. Add the stock cube/ boullion, tomato puree , onions, garlic and herbs and stir well.
3. Cook gently for a few minutes stirring occasionally to stop it sticking.
4. Next add any veg or meat you'd like to the mixture.
5. Continue to cook until the sauce is thick then add the cheese, stir well and serve.

Unfortunately, this is a dish that needs to be eaten straight away. It doesn't keep very well and it can't be frozen.
ENJOY!!