Trifle

Finally, we seem to have a weekend worthy of being called summer. What better way to celebrate than a pudding using fresh local sumer berries. 

With a little bit of preparation (I made the custard the night before, to give it time to cool, and had left over birthday cake trimmings in the freezer), another recipe so easy, a child could do it. As you can see from the pictures, mine did! 

Cubes of Cake

Strawberries and Raspberries 

Strawberry Sauce (recipe at end)

500mls Dairy Free Custard (recipe at end)

100mls Dairy Free Cream* 

Grated dairy free chocolate or suitable chocolate sprinkles

If you can't find a small boy (or girl) to layer it up, you'll have to do it yourself!

Put cubes of cake into the bottom of 4 glasses (or a bowl).

Spoon on strawberry sauce to moisten the sponge.

Add a mixture of berries until the glass is about half full (squash down a little if necessary).

Top with custard.

Lick fingers if necessary.

Pour over cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Chill until ready to eat.

*Dairy Free Cream:
I used Oatly Cream, but if you need it to be Gluten Free too, you could try Isola Bio Rice Cream or EcoMil Cuisine Almond Cream 


Custard:

1tbsp Custard Powder, plus
1 tbsp Corn Flour (or you could just use 2 tbsp custard powder, but it will be much yellower)
1 tbsp Sugar
350mls Milk Substitute (I used Oatly, you may need a little more corn flour if you are using rice or nut milk)
150mls Dairy Free Cream

Mix custard powder, corn flour and sugar with a little milk substitute to form a paste.

Slowly add the rest of the milk substitute and mix well.

Microwave for 2 minutes (or heat slowly in a pan, stiring all the time to stop it sticking or going lumpy).

Stir well.

Microwave for a further minute, or until boiled and thick.

Slowly beat in the dairy free cream.

Beat again after about 5 minutes.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate until needed (press the cling film onto the surface of the custard to stop a skin forming).

Beat again before using.


Strawberry Sauce:

4 Strawberries
1 tsp Water
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste
1 tsp sugar

Put all the ingredients in a bowl.

Microwave for 30 seconds or until warm.

Mash together and leave to cool.

Sausage and Tomato Muffins

Ever on the lookout for a sandwich alternative for Mini Monster, I decided to use up leftover sausages in a savoury version of my muffins for this week's pack lunches. 

2 cups Gluten free bread flour (I used Dove's Farm, you might need to adjust the fluid for a different mix)

1/4 cup sugar 

4 tsp baking powder

8 tbsp olive oil (I used about 100g of melted Pure as I'm almost out of olive oil)

2 tsp Egg replacer*(works without too)

1 cup plus 4 tbsp Oat milk (or other milk substitute)

6 cooked sausages cut into slices

A handful of cherry tomatoes cut into quarters (cut smaller if using large cherry tomatoes)

A few sprigs of fresh herbs out of the garden (oregano, sage and rosemary) - a small amount of dried herbs would be fine too.

Preheat oven to 180º C.

Mix flour, sugar, egg replacer and baking powder together in a large bowl. 

Mix milk substitute and oil in a jug or bowl.

Pour into dry ingredients and mix until almost combined.

Add the sausage, herbs and tomato and continue to mix lightly - do not over mix or they will be tough.

Spoon into greased muffin tin, fill almost to the top.

Bake for 30 mins until risen and golden brown.

Alternative flavours to try:

Spinach, basil and pine nut

Ham and leek

Mustard and herb

Lamb, apricot and cumin

Courgette and lemon

Strawberry and Raspberry 'Cheese'cake

The sun is finally shining, English berries are beginning to appear in the shops and finally I've had time to post another recipe!

Usually when I've done 'cheese'cake for the boys, it's more of a strawberry mousse with mashed fruit, oat cream and gelatine. Even with acidity from lemon juice, it's not quite the same... 

I've been meaning to try it with CoYo since it became available. Fussy Five (who is no longer fussy, or 5, needs a new name - Mini Monster can keep his!) isn't keen on the strong coconut taste which is why I added the oat cream this time. His verdict... Delicious!

25g Dairy and Soya Free Spread (Pure Sunflower/ Vitalite etc)

60g Suitable Biscuits, Crushed (Tesco Free From Digestives (check ingredients, some contain soya flour), Doves Farm Lemon Biscuits etc)

2 leaves gelatine

125g CoYo Yogurt

125mls Oatly Cream (or additional 125g CoYo to make it gluten free)

1/2 tsp Vanilla paste (or extract)

1 leaf gelatine

100mls fruit puree/juice

fresh fruit

2 x 8cm rings (try double quantity for 20cm (8") loose bottom round tin)

 Melt Dairy and Soya free spread. 

Add biscuit crumbs and still until well combined.

Press mixture into bottom of tin using the back of a spoon. 

Chill in the fridge until needed.

Soak 2 leaves of the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 10 mins, drain off water, then microwave the gelatine for 10 seconds (or until just dissolved).

Mix CoYo, Vanilla and Oat Cream (if using) in a bowl.

Stir a spoonful if the yogurt mix into the gelatine, then add it to the rest of the yogurt mixture. (you can chill it until just beginning to set at this stage, then whisk, to get a moussey consistency, but I didn't have time today).

Pour over biscuit base and refrigerate until needed.

Meanwhile, soak and melt the remaining gelatine leaf as before.

Add to fruit puree/juice (I used about 120g raspberries and strawberries pushed through a sieve to remove pips - works well with frozen (defrosted) fruit too).

Pour onto yogurt base , top with fruit and leave to set in the fridge.

My Food Awards

With the winners of this years Free From Food Awards still tightly under wraps (and then many will not be suitable for MEWS free) until Tuesday night I thought I'd share some of my food hero's with you. These are nothing to do with the actual awards, and there are lots of other good products around. These are just some of the products that have made my life easier and meet our needs as a family. 

One of the frustrating things about being a Registered Dietitian is that we are not allowed to recommend a particular brand of product over another. I think that's all very well when you're talking about 'low fat spread', but with allergies, it's different. There often is only one suitable brand. Here are some for starters...

Breads and Flour Mixes (where the recipes/method need adaptation to make milk, egg, soya and wheat free, I have included a link)

DS (Dietary Specials) for Soft White Rolls,  - great store cupboard standby, when we can get hold of them, don't know why more of their rolls are not egg or soya free.

Bob's Red Mill for Wonderful Bread Mix (sadly we can no longer use this as it contains chick pea flour and mini monster can no longer tolerate pulses, but really does as it says and makes a wonderful loaf)

Orgran for Easy Bake Bread Mix (as well as several other of their products) - very versatile as can use smaller amounts of mix as needed with equal weight to volume e.g. 40g mix plus 40mls fluid. I use for 'emergency' bread, sausage rolls, pizza bases etc

Gemma at Iced Gem Bakes for her recipe's, especially for bread recipe (Contains nuts) which I have adapted for seeded bread, hot cross buns, cinnamon and raisin bread, malt loaf, and bread rolls (will post recipes one day...). Her Celebration Cakes book is pretty good too.

Hale & Hearty for Pizza mix (for bread sticks), Chocolate Chip Biscuit mix (for instant homemade cookies or lollies)

Pasta, Noodles etc

Amoy for Straight to Wok Ribbon Rice Noodles for the times I've got home late from work and need an instant carbohydrate 

Merchant Gourmet for One Minute Intant Polenta

King Soba for Pumpkin, ginger and rice noodles (admittedly, I selfishly ate all these and didn't share them with the children... We did use their Black Rice Noodles for spaghetti monsters though...)

Le Veneziane for Tagliatelle that doesn't break up when cooking or mixed with sauce!

Treats and Occasions 

Sainsbury Free From Jam Tarts - the only ones that don't contain egg (but does contain Almonds)

Tesco for Free From Digestives (thank you for taking out the soya flour)

Pudology for Strawberry Puds for an extra special treat

Bessant and Drury Ice Creams for allowing my boys to finally enjoy banana splits 

Mortimer for Pure Chocolate Powders - including white!

Dr Oetker for having so many cake decorating products that are suitable (particularly chocolate beans meaning Smarties cookies were possible)

 All that remains is to eagerly await the results of the official awards...

The Official Awards can be found here.

Mince Pies

I did find a pack of Milk, Egg, Wheat and Soya free mince pies at the health food shop in Stortford a few weeks ago, but they are no longer available (although I did see them in Cambridge last Wednesday in the health food shop opposite Lakeland). As seems to be the case with many seasonal free from foods, they only produce a small amount and when they 
sell out, that's it for another year. 

Just in case you want to hunt them out yourself, this is the box with ingredients on the back. (Sorry, not nut free)


























If you can't get them now, or you want to have a go yourself...

I do know a good recipe though.

This pastry is fab, not gluten free, with the addition of barley flour, but it gives a lovely colour and texture to the pastry. If you need gluten free as well as wheat free, just substitiute the barley flour for another 1/2 cup of wheat free plain flour.

125g Dairy and Soya Free Spread  (Pure Sunflower/Vitalite)

125g Vegetable Shortening (Trex/Cookeen) - you can use all spread, but wouldn't be so crispy

1/3 cup (75g) Caster Sugar

1/2 cup (60g) Barley Flour

2 cups (330g) Wheat Free White Bread Flour (or Wheat Free Plain Flour, plus 2tsp Xanthan gum)

1 tsp Vanilla paste 

1/2 jar Mincemeat (if like me you find it too sweet, try grating in an apple or adding chopped frozen cranberries)

Whisk Sugar, Vanilla, Shortening and Spread until light and fluffy.

Stir in flour.

Kneed gently and shape into a ball. Cover and chill for 20-30 minutes.

Roll out 2/3 of the mix to 5mm (will be too crumbly if too thin).

Cut circles to fit a greased shallow bun tin (muffin tin will be too deep).

Fill each case with 1tsp of mincemeat.

Roll out remaining 1/3 pastry and cut circles/stars/snowflakes for lids. Moisten edges with a little milk substitute before sticking on lids. You can also wipe tops with milk substitute and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake at 200ºC for about 20mins, or until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for a minute before carefully removing them and cooling on a wire rack.

This pastry also makes great apple pie...

Christmas Biscuits (for hanging, or just eating)

In an attempt to get at least some Christmas recipes on in time, I'll start with these. Recipe adapted from this months BBC Good Food Magazine (Mary Cadogan's orange and cardamom tree biscuits)

Milk, Egg and Soya free
200g/7oz plain flour
50g/2oz rice flour
140g/5oz dairy and soya free spread
100g/4oz icing sugar (plus extra to decorate)
3-4tsp milk substitute
Crushed seeds from 6 cardamom pods (or cinnamon or ginger if you prefer)
grated zest of an orange


Milk, Egg, Soya and Wheat free

150g/5oz wheat free white bread flour (or wheat free plain flour plus 1tsp xantham gum)

100g/4oz oat flour (for gluten free, just substitute with more of above flour)

140g/5oz dairy and soya free spread

100g/4oz icing sugar (plus extra to decorate)

3-4tsp milk substitute

Crushed seeds from 6 cardamom pods (or cinnamon or ginger if you prefer)

grated zest of an orange

To decorate, use clean rubber stamps.


Put flours in a bowl and rub in the spread (like making crumble).

Mix in the icing sugar and flavourings.

Pour in the milk substitute and bring mixture together using a blunt knife or spatula.

Kneed lightly until smooth and allow to rest in a cool place for 20 minutes.

Roll out to about 5mm thick cut out biscuit shapes and place on tray.

Gently press stamp onto biscuit and, if hanging, make a small hole at the top for string/ribbon.

Bake at 180ºC for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and dust with icing sugar. Put back into oven for another 2 minutes to set the icing sugar. Remove from tray and cool on a wire rack.