Smooze for summer

I discovered these last summer and have been waiting until it became warm again before posting about them, Smooze fruit ices are dairy free ice 'blocks' made from fruit juices and purees and coconut milk. Keep them in the freezer for hot day. They are very yummy for everyone. Find them in the non-frozen ice block aisle in the supermarket.

Spag Bol

I threw this together today with what I had in the fridge and it was very yummy I thought.

Serves about 4 adults and 2 toddlers (who aren't very keen on it so they only were given small amounts)

500g beef mince
4 'rashers' short cut bacon (ensure gf. Most are in Australia I think)
1/2 large carrot, grated
1/2 medium zucchini, grated
3 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
3/4 of the tin of water
1/2 tsp salt

Gluten/egg/dairy free spaghetti to serve

Heat tbsp olive oil in pan, add onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add mince and cook until browned. Add bacon, cook for a few minutes and then add vegetables and cook for a minute or so. Pour over tomatoes and water and stir. Add salt to taste.

Allow to simmer gently until reduced sufficiently (I think it was about 15-20min).

I prepared mine during the kids' rest time and then had it in the fridge so that when we came home from swimming, I could just cook the spaghetti. Much easier.

I added pepper to taste at the end. For those who can, freshly grated parmesan cheese is a must as well. Yum. I think the bacon is the secret ingredient.

A yummy biscuit

Biscuits (cookies) are a common occurrence when we go somewhere for morning tea. Usually my daughter cannot have them, so I always bring along my own. I read in this book about how when you go out you should take food that is similar to the food that will be there (ie, if it is a party, then take party food, because it's hard enough on the allergic child that they miss out on the food, only to then be given non-party food as a substitute) and now that my daughter is old enough to realise the difference between biscuits and watermelon, I have to come prepared. Since I'm not always able to bake something for her, I tend to have these in the cupboard - Leda's Gingernut Cookies. They are yummy, and not as unhealthy as some cookies (the sugar is golden syrup rather than white sugar - that's a bit better isn't it??!) and my daughter is very content with them.

Soy Cheese

Kingland Soy Products (website not great but you can see the logo) make a soy cheese without the dairy protein starter. It comes in a roll (like devon/polony) and wrapped in a pale yellow wrapper. I found it in Coles (finally!) and bought it. My daughter has had a bit of cheese a few times before we realised the dairy allergy and she loves it. So we tried the soy cheese today and she popped it in thinking it was normal cheese and unfortunately she didn't like it very much.

I think it would be best used mixed into other foods, like on a hamburger or something else. I don't know what I'll do with the rest. I'm not going to pursue it with her. It's not fortified with calcium. It just would have been a great extra food.

I also bought Tofutti's soy sliced cheese. I tried one and it was a bit yukky for me, but it could be nice mixed in a sandwich etc. She's yet to try it, but I think it will be a similar reaction.

Oh well.

Devon #2

Since my last post, a new devon product is on the shelves. It's Little Chef Devon 500g. It only contains soy so that's good news for my family. It doesn't taste too bad at all (on the devon scale, that is!).

I can't find a link about it, and so far I have found it only in Woolworths.

Holiday time

I'm going to take a week off blogging while my husband is on holidays. Have a great week :)

Friday Fish & Chips

We treat ourselves maybe once every 2-3 weeks. My tip is to find an understanding takeaway joint and make friends with them. Even though we aren't that regular, we now go in and she says "Grilled fish with nothing on it?". She then cooks it on the grill in another pan so that no contamination occurs. We didn't even ask her to do that. How great is she?!

Veal Schnitzel

I have rediscovered schnitzel. It is a great one for doing an individual portion for the allergic person and 'normal' portions for everyone else. If you do the allergen free one first, you can rinse or add to the prep plates so as not to use as many.

Serves 4
4 schnitzel cuts of veal (you can also get chicken ones and we did that this week)
2tsp 'No Egg'
4 tbsp water
1/3 cup dry gf bread crumbs (I have used Orgrans rice crumbs and their corn crumbs, both were good)
1/4 cup gf plain flour

Prepare the No Egg and water by mixing them together in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs and flour on separate dinner plates.

Coat the veal in flour then dip into 'egg', ensuring total coverage. Then coat veal in bread crumbs and place on another plate. Repeat for all. You may need extra bread crumbs.

Heat fry pan and add a decent amount of oil (the crumbs need to fry in the oil - it's almost a shallow fry really. See what you think works for you). Fry each side over a medium heat until it is golden brown. If you are doing chicken, ensure it is cooked through.

Serve with mashed potato and other vegetables.

Frozen food

I mentioned Bayview Seafoods a while ago. They contacted me to let me know of their new website. Click here to see their gluten free range of things like chicken nuggets, crumbed fish, vegetable patties etc. Please note that they are not always dairy or egg free, so do read the ingredients list before buying it.

Milk

I don't normally post on the weekends but I thought this was worth a mention. My daughter (who normally refuses all things milky) just asked for a cup of milk (to be the same as her brother) and proceeded to drink about 60ml of it (soy milk)! Now that is a milestone for her and my husband and I were quietly cheering across the table as she did it (so as not to distract her!). Will be praying it continues!!

Wacky Cake

My friend reminded me of this recipe last week. The normal recipe has no egg or dairy in it, so it is fantastic if you are just avoiding those. It apparently has its origin post-war when eggs and milk were scarce. I made a normal one and a small one with gluten free flour as well for my daughter. Even it was delicious.

1 1/2 cups gluten free plain flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup cold water (not iced)

In a 20x20cm (or similar) cake pan or pyrex dish, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened. Bake at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it springs back when touched lightly.

You can use white vinegar but I read that balsamic is a bit sweeter and also helps with the colour of the cake. This recipe is a great one especially because you tend to have all the ingredients in the cupboard already!

Hearty Beef Casserole

I forgot that I loaned my slow cooker to my Mum and had planned to do one this morning - oops! So, I googled for a beef casserole recipe you can do in the oven and this should work perfectly and it will be ready when we get back from swimming lessons.

Hearty Beef Casserole (click this to link to the original recipe at Best Recipes - there's some good ideas on the comments section)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 tsp garlic, crushed
1kg chuck steak, cubed 2.5m
2.5 tbsp gf plain flour
2 cups allergen free beef stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 carrots sliced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn kernels
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 160degrees celcius. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat in a stove-top safe casserole dish. Add garlic and onion and cook until soft. Remove to a plate.

Toss meat in flour and season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and add 1.5 tbsp oil to the dish and then add half the meat.

Cook, stirring until browned. Remove to plate and repeat with the rest of the oil and meat. Remove to plate.

Add 1 cup of stock to the dish and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the flour mixture on the dish. Then add everything into the dish. Bring to the boil, cover and place in oven.

Bake for 1.5-2 hours or until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley and serve. I plan to serve mine with rice but mashed potatoes is suggested on the original recipe.

Use only 1 cup stock if using a slow cooker.