Monthly Archives: April 2016

Vegetable curry

Posted in food, gluten free, healthy eating, meat free, Uncategorized, vegetables by

Preheat oven to 180c / gas mark 5

Ingredients:

Curry paste- 2tsp ginger puree, 2tsp garlic puree, tsp curry powder, 1tsp turmeric powder, 1tsp chilli powder and a splash of water.

1 onion chopped

1 pepper coarse chopped

1 potato diced into small cubes

3 carrots diced

1 courgette  cubed

Small cauliflower

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Method:

Sauté onion, pepper and potato cubes in a casserole dish. Add curry paste and tomatoes. Add carrots and courgettes and stir. Place cauliflower in the centre and bake in oven until vegetables are cooked.IMG_20160425_201046

One week…

Posted in food, fructose free, gluten free, meat free, specialised diet, Uncategorized by

So…one week has passed and I have not eaten any meat at all (I have had some fish) and I cannot believe how much better I feel. The sluggish feeling has gone completely.

It has however made me realise how ‘alternative’ diets are still not readily catered for and I wonder if they ever will be. Let me explain what I mean. Yesterday, I spent a glorious day  helping out at a function with several people. All the helpers had lunch provided – a picnic. A picnic with standard fayre – an assortment of tasty looking sandwiches, crisps and delicious looking cake. It wasn’t an event ahead of which you would state you are gluten-free, fructose free and meat free – so having helped at previous functions I knew to take my own food.

The point I’m trying to make is that I couldn’t eat any of this ‘normal food’.

When my husband and I go out for dinner it can be quite disheartening when I look down the menu to see only a couple of items that I can choose from and a few more for him because he is only gluten-free..

Now I know, and I’ll say it before you do, that these diets choices I have made are from personal choice not a medical directive so maybe I should suck up and shut up. But, there are millions of people out there for whom a change of diet is a necessity to stay well.

I wonder when the balance of ‘normal’ food to ‘different diets’ will shift?

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted vegetable and cauliflower cheese tart

Posted in food, gluten free, healthy eating, Uncategorized, vegetables by

Preheat oven to 200c / gas 6. Prepare a 20cm loose bottom tin.

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry:

80 g rice flour, 140 g buckwheat or chestnut flour, 70 g ground almonds, 2 pinches of salt, 2 tsps ground linseed, 1/4 tsp xanthum gum, 100 g salted butter – chilled and diced, 2 eggs 3-4 tbsps cold water.

Method:

Mix all dry ingredients, rub in the butter with your fingertips until  it resembles  coarse breadcrumbs.

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Stir in the beaten egg with a fork. Add small amounts of water as you toss the crumbs together. Continue until dough is formed. I find that a gluten free dough takes up more water than a wheat dough and is quite a sticky dough.Knead briefly to bring to a ball. Wrap

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in parchment and chill for at least an hour.

Roll out and place in the flan tin. Prick the base with a fork ( I trim of the excess pastry after cooking to allow for shrinkage).Line pastry with parchment and baking beans.  Bake blind for 10 – 15 mins.

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Filling

Ingredients:

Carrots, peppers, parsnips and sweet potatoes prepared and roasted in olive oil

Halved mushrooms  – sauteed

1 onion sliced in to rings – sauteed

Tomato sauce: chopped tomatoes, 1tsp of chilli, handful of chopped basil leaves and small carton of passata – simmered to reduce the water content

Cauliflower -cooked

Cheese sauce

Basil leaves

Assembly:

1. Lay roasted veg around the cooked cauliflower
2. Spoon the tomato sauce over the veg and arrange mushrooms, onions and basil on top
3. Drizzle cheese sauce over the cauliflower

Finally put back in oven to heat through – 15-20 minutes (moderate temperature).

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Fruit cake

Posted in cake, food, Uncategorized by

Prepare a 2lb / 900 g loaf tin

Preheat the oven to 150c / Gas 2

Ingredients:

225 g gluten free self-raising flour

175 g butter

160 g muscavado sugar

4 eggs ( 3 if non gf flour)

275 g mixed fruit

rind of lemon

1 tbsp milk if needed

Method:

Place all ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly until well blended.

Turn in to the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake in the oven for about 2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool before turning out.

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Meat…or not?

Posted in food, healthy eating, Uncategorized by

I have been contemplating for a while to try a meat free diet. Not just on a whim, more of an experiment to see the impact on my health. I have always thoroughly enjoyed meat dishes and do wonder how I will find this new diet approach. One thing I am very much aware of is that over the last couple of weeks I have felt my digestion processes to be much more sluggish (not wanting to be too graphic!) and over the last few weeks I have eaten more meat than I usually would. Is this related I wonder?

There are such a lot of conflicting views out there with everyone having strong opinions –  some say to help us live longer then all animal products should be avoided; some state that red meat is harmful whilst others say as omnivores we are designed to eat meat and should.

For me, I want to feel healthier. Actions I have taken so far – being gf and eating miminum fructose have made me feel better.. and so for the next 4 weeks (miminum) this is the additional change I will try.

Here goes…

 

Lemon drizzle cake

Posted in cake, food, Uncategorized by

Preheat oven to 180c / gas 4

Prepare a 20cm square tin

Ingredients:

175 g gluten free self-raising flour

175 g butter

160 g demerara sugar

4 eggs (3 if not using gf flour)

Rind of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tsps gf baking powder

Topping – juice of the lemon and 150g sugar

Method:

Put all the ingredients for the cake in to a bowl and mix well until smooth.

Turn mixture in to prepared tin.

Bake for about 35 mins – until skewer is clean.

Whilst the cake is still hot spoon the lemon/sugar mixture all over the top of the cake. Once cool remove the cake from the tin.

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Granola

Posted in food, healthy eating, superfood, Uncategorized by

Ingredients:

Rolled oats – 2 cupfuls

1/2 cup each of cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

Coconut oil – sufficient to lightly coat all the dry ingredients

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Spread out on a baking tray and roast in a hot oven for 10 minutes or until the nuts turn golden brown

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Allow to cool and store in an airtight jar. If it lasts this long, will stay fresh for a couple of weeks!  Enjoy playing with different combinations.

 

Apple and cinnamon cake

Posted in cake, food by

Ingredients:

170g gluten free self raising flour

150g dark muscovado sugar

170g butter

4 eggs

1tsp baking powder

2tsps ground cinnamon

2 cooking apples peeled, cored and chopped in to slices

Method:

Put all ingredients ( except apple) in to a bowl and mix. Once all blended stir in the apple slices.

Line a 20cm square tin and tip mix in.

Bake in the centre of the oven 180c / gas 4 for about 30 minutes 120416

Not quite Dauphinoise potatoes

Posted in food by

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

5 large white potatoes – peeled and thinly sliced

2 onions – 1 red and 1 white  – thinly sliced rings

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

butter

mixed herbs and pepper

400ml whole milk

Method:

Put a layer of onions and then potatoes in to an oven proof dish. Sprinkle with herbs and pepper and garlic. Repeat. On the final layer of potatoes place a small piece of butter across each potato. Pour the milk on.

Place in a moderate/hot oven (180-190) until cooked through and crisp on top (45- 60 mins)

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