Tag Archives: Baking

And that’s a wrap

I don’t know about you, but I frequently find that mealtimes can get a bit repetitive, especially when we’ve had to cut yet another staple from M’s diet. Much as I love to cook and bake, sometimes I really, really hate having to decide what to prepare for dinner. Add into the mix the need for packed lunches on a daily basis, which are generally formed of the same key ingredients due to a restricted diet and I end up pulling my hair out in desperation. M’s recent longing for a prawn mayonnaise sandwich meant that I had to seek inspiration and work out whether it was possible to create something even vaguely similar or not.

The easy bit, believe it or not, was the prawn mayonnaise. Using a squirt of some Really Not Dairy original mayonnaise, a dash of Heinz tomato ketchup and a generous serving of prawns, I was able to whip up a reasonable prawn cocktail. I diced a chunk of cucumber, grated some carrot and threw a handful of sweetcorn in to add a couple of portions of vegetables to the filling too. This mayonnaise is egg-, dairy- and soya-free and tastes more like salad cream than traditional mayonnaise, but it does the job and has been a great find for M.

Next came the more challenging aspect, the bread. G is able to enjoy Genius bread, which is the best gluten- and wheat-free bread we’ve tried, but unfortunately it contains both egg white and potato starch which are now excluded from M’s diet. M’s sandwiches are usually made from Sakata rice crackers as his bread is really only edible when toasted, but these are small and don’t lend themselves to being a critical part of a prawn mayonnaise sandwich! Mike and I both enjoy eating wraps, either for lunch or filled and baked for a Mexican inspired dinner and at last year’s Allergy and Free From show we stumbled across the amazing Bfree gluten-free wraps. These taste delicious and both children enjoyed them whilst we had some. Unfortunately, they are incredibly difficult to source in the UK, though most larger Asda stores do stock them now and I headed to our nearest shop with my fingers tightly crossed to see if they were available.

Part of my regular shopping routine, even when buying foods that I’ve bought before, is to scan quickly through the ingredients list for anything that isn’t M-friendly. Recipes do change, even on tried and tested products, so it’s worth those few extra minutes to avoid days or even weeks of pain because of a missed offending food. To my dismay, I noted that the wraps contained potato starch, which is now a forbidden food for M and I thought my chances of buying a good alternative to satisfy M’s cravings were over. I went home and even attempted to make some M-friendly wraps, but the rice flour didn’t lend itself to the recipe and the kids understandably turned their noses up at the finished product that was presented to them.

It was a couple of weeks later when I was in our local Waitrose, that I spied a new-to-me package on their free-from shelves, Newburn Bakehouse gluten-free wraps. I picked it up to cast my eye over the ingredients, fully expecting to find either egg or potato flour or both lurking there, but to my delight, this new product contained nothing that wasn’t M-friendly and I quickly snapped up the remaining pack to take home and try.

I prepared M’s lunch using one of the Newburn Bakehouse wraps and a generous spoonful of my home-made prawn mayonnaise and called him to the table. He was overwhelmed to see his much longed-for sandwich waiting for him and made short work of devouring it all. He relished every bite and, what’s more, requested a second wrap, something that doesn’t happen all that often in our household. The wraps looked and tasted good and, with 3 to a pack, there was enough left for his school lunchbox on Monday. Both M and I award them with a much-deserved 10 out of 10 – a great product, delicious to eat and suitable for a MEWS-diet, what more could a Mum ask for?

Our birthday boy

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Over the past few days, we’ve been celebrating young Master M’s 8th birthday. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long since he first crashed into our world and whilst the time hasn’t been easy, it certainly has flown past fast. The last 8 years have been filled with a lot of laughs and smiles and it’s exciting to see just how our “little bean” is growing up. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of health worries along the way – this blog wouldn’t exist without them – but those haven’t overshadowed the joy and good times of having M as part of our family.

M has become a little boy with a big personality. Like most other boys of his age, he loves everything Lego, Star Wars and Angry Birds and is a keen member of our local under-8s football team, where he can be found most Saturdays running around the pitch and even occasionally kicking the football. He loves discovering new things and although he’s not the most academic of children, his passion for new facts, knowledge of the world and probing questions have been flummoxing his teachers for years. M does struggle due to his dyslexia and dyspraxia, but the strides he has made since we got the diagnosis last year are amazing and he never lets them stop him being an active participant in class. He enjoys school now more than I ever thought possible and is keen to get there each morning to spend the day with his friends.

He adores his big sister and even though he spends most of his spare time planning new ways to wind her up, he will be the first to leap to her defense or comfort her when she’s upset. He will go off to search for a scrap of her “rag” when she’s in tears, though he will also hide it from her when he’s in one of “those” moods. They love nothing more than playing together in the garden and enjoyed most of the weekend’s sun by washing my car with M’s brand new super-soaker.

Perhaps more unusual is his flair for all things theatrical. M has never been backwards in coming forwards and I have photos of him stepping up to perform karaoke age 4. He loves to perform and is always looking for the next opportunity to do so. His current favourite musical is “Singing in the Rain”, though he’d probably also mention “Lion King”, “Matilda” and “Oliver!” in no particular order. M has a dedicated dressing-up wardrobe and has fancy dress to meet every occasion. No matter what character you’re looking for: be it “Odlaw” from Where’s Wally, “Bert” the chimney sweep from “Mary Poppins” or the “Ringmaster” from “Ninja Meerkats”; I can guarantee that M will have already been there and worn that!

When it comes to coping with his EGID and his diet, M is a trooper. He takes his medicines with the minimum of fuss and accepts the food restraints with relative good humour. He’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, far from it, and really struggles at times with frustration and anger that this is his lot in life. Yet he nearly always bounces back and keeps going with a positive attitude. The latest challenge of no potatoes has been one of the hardest M has had to face and he has really found it difficult to accept that he might have to avoid them longer term; but even he has had to agree that things have improved since we whipped them out of mealtimes and is now hoping that our next GOSH appointment will bring a food trial instead.

To celebrate in true style, I once again attempted to bake the double and created 2 cakes for M to enjoy – one for our family dinner and one for him to share with his friends at his party. The first he chose from my cupcake decorating book and the second was inspired by G and M’s current passion for all things “Despicable Me”. It took two long and extremely late nights, but I achieved my goal, was pleased with the results and, more importantly, so was the birthday boy himself.

Something nutty for the weekend

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Having tried a variety of snacks over the last few weeks – Dorset apple cake, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cream biscuits and banana bread – I decided it was once again time to turn my hand to something new. This time I felt inspired by the children’s love for all things peanut butter and decided to venture into the world of peanut butter cookies. I’ve sampled these delicious treats when visiting family and friends in Canada, but have never thought to bake them at home. We are extremely lucky that neither M or G suffers from a nut-allergy, so I was keen to perfect this recipe as another addition to my ever-expanding repetoire of M-friendly snacks.

"Perfect" cookies, courtesy of www.alaskafromscratch.com

“Perfect” cookies, courtesy of http://www.alaskafromscratch.com

The recipe I found was easy to follow, easy to adapt and most definitely easy to bake. The first batch of cookies spread to an unbelievable size, so once those had been devoured – and trust me, they really didn’t last very long at all – I used the remainder of the dough to cook another batch. This time I popped a spoonful of dough into each well of a muffin baking tray, which produced a more even and crispier version of the cookie. M loved the second batch even more than the first as he prefers his cookies with a crunch.

You can find my adapted recipe here, but I have to confess that I’m still working on reducing the sugar content as they are extremely sweet and I think could be just as good with a little less sugar. Enjoy the weekend!

My “not-so-perfect” ones

Banana bread to rival the Godmother’s!

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Courtesy of minionslovebananas.com

As part of our recent plan to given M a substantial bedtime snack, M and I sat down to discuss what sort of foods he could choose from before bed. I originally proposed a bowl of cereal or a couple of slices of toast, but quickly learned that this caused M no end of confusion. Sometimes M struggles with his understanding of the world, can take things a little too literally and is very much a creature of habit. Unexpected changes to his routine have been known to throw him for a loop and cereal at bedtime proved to be one such thing. M very much associates cereal with breakfast and just couldn’t grasp that it would be okay for him to have it again later as a snack. No amount of patient explanation would persuade my obstinate lad to change his point of view and so I gave in to the inevitable, abandoned that suggestion and hunted around for some “acceptable-to-both-of-us” alternatives.

We agreed on a few staples from the fridge and the store cupboard including Wot no Dairy! yoghurts, Frank* bars and Nakd bars, but I wanted to add something new to the equation too. Thinking hard, I remembered that M had been requesting banana bread for a while and I wondered if I could once again find and adapt a recipe to satisfy this craving. Around 4 and a half years ago, one of M’s godmothers, L, looked after him for an afternoon whilst I was at a check-up at our local eye hospital. I’m not sure she’ll even remember the occasion, but M certainly does, predominantly because that afternoon they baked banana bread together. This banana bread has gained a position in M’s memory as the best, most delicious banana bread in the whole wide world ever and nothing has ever compared, or even come close. He talks about the amazing smell and delicious taste, whilst the rest of us have, I have to confess, pretty much forgotten all about it,

My challenge, therefore, was set. To create a loaf of banana bread that not only met M’s current dietary requirements, but that also needed to equal the memory of L’s bake all those years ago and I was ready to give it a go. I found a relatively simple recipe, adapted it to suit and set about whipping up my masterpiece. The smell of baking banana bread tantalised both M and G, who were forced to wait patiently until bedtime to sample it.

Our kitchen was silent as they took their first, and then subsequent bites and Mike and I waited nervously for the verdict. G declared it instantly as the “best thing she’s eaten, ever” and was full of praise. M was a little more discerning in his comments. My banana bread was great, as the empty plates in front of my children attested to, BUT it comes a very close second, as L’s still tops the rankings in his opinion. So L, if you’re reading this and have even the vaguest recollection of that now infamous banana bread and the recipe you used, please give me a clue, so that I too can bake the “Best banana bread in the world”.

Ginger creams

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Since our appointment at GOSH at the beginning of January, I have had to flex my baking muscles in an attempt to create some tasty treats for M. Some of our old favourites have had to be shelved due to the additional exclusion of potatoes and raisins from his diet and choices have become limited. I’ve chosen to work within the constraints of rice flour, despite how granular it can taste, as we are fortunate to receive this on prescription for M. This means that every new recipe has to not only be delicious, but also moist enough to incorporate the rice flour and disguise its texture. I can’t imagine that my baking and cooking adventures will continue at the current rate, but this week’s offering is a definite winner and one I’m delighted to be able to share.

Courtesy of thedailybalance.com

One of my all-time favourite treats has to be Fox’s Ginger Crunch Creams, which combine a deliciously crunchy ginger biscuit with a cream filling that has a hint of ginger too. I’m a big fan of ginger of any kind, always have been and, having been treated to one of those delicious biscuits recently, I decided it was about time I made a version M and G can eat. I have never made ginger biscuits before, so wanted a recipe that was relatively simple to adapt for M. I found. and rejected, a number of recipes that I felt had too many steps and ingredients to work in a M-friendly environment, before settling on this recipe by celebrity chef, Paul Hollywood, who is now perhaps best known for his role as a judge on the Great British Bake-off.

As this recipe for his Mum’s ginger biscuits contains just 5 ingredients, I felt up for the challenge and set about making my M-friendly adjustments. The whole process was quick and easy, and I was very impressed with the results. I decided to leave a handful of biscuits plain, but whipped up a delicious ginger “cream” filling to sandwich the remaining pairs together. I used a simple home-made buttercream icing that I flavoured with some ground ginger and created my home-made ginger creams.

Both G and M enjoyed the biscuits, although I may have added a little too much ginger to the filling for their taste, which was reflected in their scores of 7.5 out of 10. I have taken their comments on board and will try to remember to reduce the amount of ginger I use the next time I bake these treats. I am certain that it would be relatively easy to also adapt both the biscuit and cream filling recipes to mimic the others currently produced by Fox’s, or indeed any other flavour that might be enjoyed. The rest of the family loved them and I can highly recommend them dunked in a nice cup of tea!

Time for elevenses – choc chip cookie anyone?

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Another peaceful Sunday afternoon could only mean one thing – another chance to try my hand at a new recipe. Since our last visit to GOSH, M’s diet has become even more restricted and I desperately needed a new treat to add to his lunch-box and hopefully bring a smile back to his face. Whilst the children were outside enjoying some long-awaited sunshine and Mike was working on our bathroom renovation plans, I sat at the kitchen table, pouring over my vast array of cookbooks. This may come as something of a surprise, but I only have one that is dedicated to allergy-friendly cooking, instead I prefer to take my inspiration from regular recipes, which are adapted to suit M’s food needs.

Courtesy of theguardian.com

I had already looked through my store cupboard to see what interesting ingredients might be waiting for me to use them and stumbled across a pack of Moo-free dairy-, and soya-free chocolate drops. For those who have yet to discover the delights of Moo-free chocolate, this amazing product has been a real revolution for our household. Not only do they produce chocolate buttons, but themed chocolate bars for Christmas and even Easter eggs that are suitable for both dairy- and soya-allergy sufferers. I added their Cranberry and Hazelnut chocolate to M’s Rainforest flapjacks recipe, which became an instant hit in our household last summer.

Chocolate drops could only mean one thing – chocolate chip cookies. I had a quick hunt through the books and found a recipe that seemed to be easy enough to convert for a M-friendly batch. It came from a fundraising cookbook called “Squeeze your Lemon”, which Father Christmas kindly left in my stocking a few years ago. I hadn’t before attempted a recipe from here, so was excited to see just how well the cookies would turn out.

The recipe itself was easy to follow, though the end result was a little sweet for my tastes. G and M sampled them warm from the oven and, after mere seconds of deliberation, awarded them – and me – a more than satisfactory 9 out of 10. The only complaints were that they were too crumbly, which is probably due to the rice flour used, and that they were too puffy! M insists that they would have been near-perfect if only I had made them a little smaller and flatter. Either way, the recipe worked well and a cookie has found its way into 2 small lunch-boxes every day this week. A definite bake to add to my ever-increasing repertoire, which makes it a success in my book.

A Duo of Birthday cakes

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As this year was a milestone birthday for G – her first in double figures – I wanted to bake her a cake she’d love and remember for a long time. Some time ago, I had seen this post by fellow allergy-friendly blogger, The Free From Fairy, and had duly filed away the information in the depths of my memory ready for the right occasion. I loved the idea of creating a cake for G that would be as unique as she is and would have that often elusive wow factor too.

The morning before her party dawned and having bought every colour of icing under the sun and ensuring I had enough supplies of all the key ingredients, I started to bake. In an attempt to make the cake extra-special, I decided to sandwich together layers of chocolate cake as well as plain sponge and used the tried and tested recipes I had developed earlier in the year. The chocolate cake was perfect, but I wasn’t happy with the plain sponge layers as they were too soft in the centre to allow me to successfully cut and stack the cake as I needed. I desperately searched for an alternative recipe and quickly found one that I tweaked according to the new principles of allergy-friendly baking that I have learnt this year. This second Victoria sponge worked brilliantly well and has now been added to my allergy-friendly repertoire.

With cakes baked, layers trimmed and stacked and my icing ready, I attempted to construct G’s rainbow pinata cake. I filled the hollow with a selection of G- and M-friendly sweets before struggling to cover the structure with icing, ready for the final decoration. I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t totally happy with the end result. I found it hard to create the stability needed using an “everything-free” sponge cake. With hindsight, I wish I had assembled the cake layers whole, rather than trying to create the arch of the rainbow as I think the outcome would have been even better. All that being said, G and her friends loved the cake and were thrilled to discover the pinata-effect of the sweets hidden away in the middle of each slice.

Of course, me being me, I wasn’t satisfied with just one cake to celebrate such an important occasion and once the party was over and done with, I set to finding the perfect creation for the big day itself. My inspiration for this second cake came from the amazing book, “Cupcakes, cookies & pie, oh my!“, which had been part of my recent leaving present from my job. G and M have spent hours drooling over the wondrous creations featured between those pages and I determined to create a cupcake piece of art just for G. I now have several great cake recipes to choose from, but stuck to our new favourites of Chocolate and Victoria sponges, though I ambitiously attempted to marble these together for the cupcakes.

The challenge this time round was that I needed to bake the cakes, ice and finish the decorations all in one day. Usually I bake the day before and then spend the evening before the party finalising my ambitious decorating plans, but with G’s birthday falling on a Friday, I had to do it all whilst the children were at school. Cupcakes and 8-inch cake baked, I started to prepare the icing, which needed carefully combining to ensure I had the final effect I wanted. Everything ready, I put all the component parts together and perused the final masterpiece. G had fallen in love with the cupcake peacock in the recipe book and I have to say, it has quickly become one of my favourite bakes too. Needless to say, the birthday girl was delighted and it tasted pretty good too!

A Pizza Express birthday

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The first day of December heralds the start of the busy season for most, but an especially hectic time in our household. As well as the much-awaited day itself with all the associated celebrations at school, work, choir and church, we also have to fit in a 10^th birthday and a wedding anniversary. This weekend we got the ball rolling in fine fashion with an early birthday celebration for G.

Whilst G is most definitely a December baby, this year other commitments near her birthday led to my decision to throw her party early and sneak it in at the end of November instead. The first discussion was about the format her party was going to take. G was keen to combine cooking or baking with a sleep-over. I was less keen. The prospect of organising a group of near 10 year-olds (and two 7 year-old boys) to prepare, cook and possibly decorate a selection of M-friendly foods lacked appeal. Add in M’s inability to settle and sleep at the moment and I could see that it was more likely that full-scale battle would break out, rather than the joyous birthday celebrations G had in mind.

Thanks to some wise words from Canadian friend F, I found the perfect solution – a pizza-making party at Pizza Express. Now I appreciate that throwing a pizza party for a child with wheat- and dairy-intolerances and her multiple food-allergy suffering younger brother sounds somewhat off the wall, but thanks to the gluten-free menu introduced by Pizza Express earlier this year, we knew it was a viable option. We discussed our requirements with our local restaurant and were reassured that both children could participate fully and work around their dietary restrictions.

The date was duly booked, invites sent, travel arrangements made and finally the day dawned. Following our prompt arrival at the restaurant, each child was given an apron and hat to don before their starters of garlic dough balls and a side salad were served. Thanks to the information provided by Pizza Express, I was fully equipped for all eventualities and the chef was able to lightly toast 4 slices of M-friendly bread, which was served with garlic butter that I had prepared at home.

Next the task of making the pizzas themselves. G, M and their friends were given a ball of pizza dough each and were then instructed in the art of rolling, pressing out and filling the pizza pans. The children had varying success with their pizza bases, but eventually, after a couple of false starts, everyone had a base to be proud of. They were then given a selection of toppings to add before their pizzas were baked in the ovens. G and M were able to take full part in this, preparing pizzas for Mike and me to enjoy.

Stretching and fitting the dough to the pan

Adding the GF tomato sauce to the base

Once these pizzas were ready to be cooked, G and M were then given the opportunity to make their own lunch. Our party host was fantastic and explained just how Pizza Express make sure that their GF options are kept safe from the risk of cross-contamination in their kitchens. The GF pizza bases are pre-made and kept in separate storage as is the GF tomato sauce for the base and they use different pizza pans to cook the GF pizzas, which are easily distinguished from the normal ones. I had brought our own supplies of grated goats’ cheese for G and chunks of Violife vegan cheese for M, which is both dairy- and soya-free.

G’s with goats’ cheese and ham and M’s with black olives and Violife cheese

We finished the meal with a small portion of ice-cream with various toppings they could add at their discretion. Once again I had been able to bring with me a tub of Booja-booja chocolate ice-cream for G and M to enjoy and was thrilled to discover that the Pizza Express toffee sauce was safe for them too as the party host had made the effort to check the detailed allergy listing for all their products and could reassure me that it was safe.

A game of “Pin the moustache on Paulo” entertained them whilst the pizzas were cooking

All the children had a wonderful time and we were hugely impressed by the attention to detail that PIzza Express makes to ensure that their allergy-friendly options remain safe, even down to serving G and M’s pizza on separate platters to once again ensure no cross-contamination occurred. It was a real treat to be able to offer a “normal” birthday experience to G and for them both to enjoy the birthday celebrations with their friends.

The Battle for Breakfast (magnificent muffin recipes included!)

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Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_to_work_on_an_egg

Who can forget this advice?

Over the past 12 months, there has been a lot in the national press about the numbers of children who are arriving at school without having eaten any breakfast. More schools have introduced breakfast clubs, in some cases financially supported by the teachers, to ensure that pupils get that all important start to their day. The benefits of a good breakfast to see us all through our day are well-documented and as a Mum, I’ve tried install those principles in my children.

G is a fantastic breakfast eater and always has been. I remember, at an early age, picking her up from nursery and being told by the astounded key-worker that she had eaten 3 whole weetabix for her breakfast that morning. What amazed me more, was that she had already eaten a full bowl of cereal (2 weetabix) at home before getting to nursery – where my tiny mite had put those 5 weetabix we will never know, She happily munches her way through an overflowing bowl of rice pops and cornflakes with raisins and milk and, if she has enough time, then another bowl will be consumed too.

Courtesy of controlengeurope.com

M is the complete polar opposite of his sister. He is much more like me and doesn’t like to eat as soon as he wakes up in the morning. The problem is that due to his sleep issues, I inevitably have to wake him for school and even showering and dressing before we attempt breakfast rarely achieves much success. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get M to eat even a scrap of breakfast, which simply reflects his current health and declining appetite.

Which is why I’m constantly and desperately searching for a tasty morsel that will entice him to eat first thing, whilst being relatively healthy. We’ve tried toast, bacon sandwiches, cereal, porridge, fresh fruit and yoghurts, all with relatively limited success. One day he’ll eat something like it’s going out of fashion, the next day it’s like getting blood from a stone. I was stuck for ideas until last weekend, when inspiration hit. We were up in London for an extended celebration of my Mum’s birthday and at breakfast on the Sunday morning, G disappeared off to the buffet and came back bearing a mini chocolate chip muffin for me as a thank you for taking them to London for the weekend.

As I munched my way through this tiny treat, it struck me that it was just the thing that might tantalise M’s tastebuds first thing in the morning. All I needed to do was find a muffin recipe and do some of my free-from jiggery-pokery to turn it into the perfect M-friendly nibble. We had a huge amount of rapidly-browning bananas in the fridge, so a recipe for banana muffins seemed the obvious choice. I found one, played around with the ingredients and ended up with this wonderful looking batch:

By the time I got round to photographing the end result, 3 had already been devoured by G&M – success!

Excited by the instant success, and with some left-over bacon and soya- and dairy- free cheese (yes such a thing really does exist) lurking in the bottom of the fridge, I found, adapted and baked a recipe for bacon and cheese muffins. These turned out a little more anaemic-looking and seem to be a recipe I’m going to need to tweak a little more to perfect:

Less golden than the banana ones, but still delicious

So, from one evening’s work, I’ve found 2 new recipes – banana muffins and bacon & cheese muffins – and have a pair of happy children. The only problem? As much as M loves the muffins, it appears they weren’t the weapons I was searching for and the battle to get him to eat breakfast rages on!

Pen-blwydd Hapus Mamgu!

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Or, for those of you not fluent in Welsh, “Happy Birthday Grandma!”.

This weekend we celebrated my Mum’s birthday with her and what better way to celebrate than to try out some new recipes, especially those for cake! All recipes have been adapted for a MEWS-diet and I have to say a special thanks to fellow blogger, lucysfriendlyfoods, for her egg-free meringue recipe and invaluable advice for an alternative to soya protein:

Pea protein – a new ingredient to me, but the key to a successful egg-free meringue

I made, and we all enjoyed, successful chocolate meringues and carrot cake. G and M gave both recipes a 10 in their taste tests and I finally feel as if I’m beginning to crack the M-friendly baking dilemma that’s been threatening to beat me for a couple of years. What better way to share than some photos from the day:

At this point, the mix tasted a little like that American delicacy, Marshmallow Fluff!

The final product – perfect and delicious egg-free chocolate meringues

And who’d have thought you could go from this…

…to this?

Happy birthday Mum!

7 years to diagnosis

Searching for an answer

Tag Archives: Baking

And that’s a wrap

Our birthday boy

Something nutty for the weekend

Banana bread to rival the Godmother’s!

Ginger creams

Time for elevenses – choc chip cookie anyone?

A Duo of Birthday cakes

A Pizza Express birthday

The Battle for Breakfast (magnificent muffin recipes included!)

Pen-blwydd Hapus Mamgu!