Coconut and Cranberry (Tiana) Bites

Today I made a variation of an old favourite:-

Check out the Tiana coconut flour recipe here for the basic "cookie" recipe. 

In May I adapted this to make some similar treats which contained extra protein for those on exclusion diets, since this often means omitting many proteins. Check out the "Protein Power Bites" here.

Today's Recipe is just the first one with 1/2 cup of dried cranberries added. Really easy!

Raspberry Muffins

This is a variation on the Blueberry and Lemon Muffin recipe published a few months back. We have some late Autumn Raspberry canes in our garden which after all the mild weather are still producing fruit, so I have been really lucky this year.

Dairy free, soya free (depending on flour used), wheat free, gluten free, could be egg free

These are delicious iced but are equally good "plain". I guarantee these won't last long either, best fresh from the oven - I think I will be making double quantity next time!

Ingredients 

• 100 g Sunflower Oil (NOT olive oil, this is too heavy)
• 100 g Caster Sugar 
• 1 Egg (or equivalent egg replacer, used above)
• 150 g Self Raising Dove's Farm Gluten Free Flour 
• 1 tsp Xanthan Gum (if tolerated)
• 125 g Fresh or frozen raspberries 
• 6 Paper Muffin Cases (or 10 smaller cupcake cases)
• small quantity of icing sugar (optional)

Method

• Beat together the oil, sugar and egg well until batter starts to thicken. 
• Add the lemon juice
• Mix in the flour. 
• Mix in the raspberries. 
• Spoon into paper muffin cases standing on a baking tray. 
• Bake in a pre heated oven for 20/25 minutes.
• Mix up the icing sugar and drizzle on top once cool - if desired.

Tip - All muffins cook more evenly in good quality bakeware, and it will last for years so it's worth investing in some! These blueberry muffins are in a solid Denby baking tray. 

I'm linking up with the Denby "Cake Off" Competition! 

Razor Red Knife Sharpener - a review

Disclaimer:- This is an honest review of the "Razor Red" Knife Sharpener. I was not paid for this review but sent a free "Razor Red" knife sharpener in exchange for an honest review. 

I volunteered to review the Razor Red Knife Sharpener as it immediately grabbed my interested. I am always cooking, have good quality gadgets but what lets me down are my knives. I have a lovely set, plus a few individual ones for special purposes, but much to my Mum's surprise (she used to teach "Domestic Science" and is an excellent cook) I have never mastered the art of sharpening.

So what IS Razor Red?

In their own words...

I recently bought an expensive knife sharpener, but it doesn't fix to the table and it struck me as slightly dangerous. As my husband would tell you, I am almost farcically accident prone....  so I haven't used it. It also did not sharpen serrated knives, which is crucial for me. Old knives are actually really difficult to dispose of too! So I was keen to give Razor Red a try.

You can see their video on YouTube here.

My experience with Razor Red
The first one which was delivered was broken, and my initial response was that it looked rather flimsy which concerned me. Safety is a key issue for us, particularly as the children are increasingly keen to cook. But their Customer Service was excellent, a replacement was sent out immediately.

I tried the second one and whilst I still feel it is unfortunate the casing is poor quality plastic I was surprisingly impressed with the results!

The instructions (2) were clear and simple. No chance of errors.
I selected two knives I hoped to sharpen, one a favourite bread knife of mine I haven't been able to use for some time because it is too blunt.

Sharp knives are absolutely essential, recipes like my sausage roll recipe would be ruined if I used a blunt knife as the roll would be crushed when I tried to cut through.

I positioned the sharpener on two surfaces and followed the instructions, pushing down the level to secure the suction cup. It definitely worked better on my granite worktop but initially stuck firm on the wooden table too.

The top of the "Razor Red" sharpener is clearly marked to ensure you move the knife the right way down the sharpener.

The best bit is that your hands are NOWHERE NEAR the knife at any point. You just stroke it through a few times!

My favourite bread knife had indeed been successfully sharpened - I could tell when cutting but obviously I didn't feel to test it!

There is currently a bonus offer when you purchase Razor Red too, offering :-

1. Advice on buying the right knife for the job
2. Advice on How to Protect your Knives so they last
3. How to prevent the spread of food poisoning from your kitchen knives
4. How sharpening really works - and how to keep your knives stay sharp.

Conclusion

I was actually really, really impressed. I think the casing needs improving, and it was this which was broken initially. It is not a high price for a good knife sharpener, but it's pretty steep for something flimsy looking. And that's the key word here - flimsy looking - because it isn't flimsy at all and works really well. Razor Red currently have a discount offer on their site so check it out - it makes an excellent, handy little gadget and a worthwhile addition to your kitchen.

The NASG needs YOUR help

The National Allergy Strategy Group needs your help.

The have a Patient Case Study Report live on the site  and need YOU to join in with their campaign.

Despite the All Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy reporting little progress in treating Allergy in the UK  the situation is not improving and many people are receiving poor or inadequate care, inappropriate referrals and partitioning of treatment between disciplines rather than a patient overview.

Read "The Unmet Need" on the NASG site.

Please share with anyone who might be able to join the campaign. Get involved - things are moving in the right direction, it's just time to crank up a gear.

Mango Ice Cream

As everyone who knows me will agree, I like a challenge! So when Tots100 challenged Bloggers to come up with a healthy summer recipe for kids, I decided to find one which was safe for MY kids, many of my readers and would be delicious for any who wanted to try, with or without allergies.

This is what I came up with!

My children much prefer the creamier texture of ice cream (albeit "Free From") to sorbet, and certainly an ice cream texture is more filling than the sugary watery mixture that is sorbet. But without an ice cream maker, I wasn't sure I could achieve this. I have tried unsuccessfully to use milks, it always goes runny. Then I had a lightbulb moment and decided to try RICE CREAM!

There are a few types available in Health Food Stores now, I have tried a few but my favourite is the Isola Rice Cream as it is really thick. You can buy it online too. Because it is thick, a little goes a long way - although it also means it needs a little more mixing in. it ALSO meant it was perfect for "ice cream"!

You could use Oatly cream if gluten is not a problem, soya cream if tolerated, coconut cream - you choose. And equally you could use a variety of fruit -supermarkets this year are selling bags of frozen fruit chunks and my chest freezer is full of them!

Ingredients

• Rice Cream or your choice of alternative. I used 100mls for half a bag to test, so it would be 200ml for one whole bag of frozen fruit.
• Frozen fruit of your choice! 

Tip - needs to be frozen or it will be a mushy mess in your food processor before it's whizzed up properly!

Method

• Place both ingredients in the food processor and keep blending until it is mixed!
• Transfer to a freezer proof container and freeze! 
• Serve as desired :)

Creative potato cakes - fun with food!

After reading Julia's potato recipe posts on her Free From recipe blog Alimentary Bites a few weeks back, I must have made potato cakes/farls six times since then. Never before have my twins willingly eaten (and more impressively, ENJOYED) potato before, other than chips. Memories of choking were hard to shift, potato is a sticky food which children with reflux can find difficult to swallow, and scary to reflux back up. But there is something about potato cakes that is reminiscent of chips, which as long as they are not too soggy they have always been able to eat safely and enjoy.

I'm not going to reproduce Julia's recipe, you must visit her Blog to find out how to make them but they only contain potato, or possibly another flour of your choice in addition. I sometimes add a little "Pure" margarine but this is optional.

Since the mixture the recipe creates is so easy to roll and shape, as well as the gnocchi I have yet to try, you can cut it into shapes. So today, we got creative!

The pizza has some of the Redwood Cheezly soya free cheese on the top, which I cut into chunks and freeze on opening, then lift out and grate frozen as required or take a wedge at a time out for the fridge - otherwise it tends to go bad very quickly.

For the bunnies, I used carrot strips for the whiskers, and raisins cut in half (watch your fingers!) for the eyes. I experimented with my stove-top griddle to try and burn on eyes etc too.

These potato cakes have revolutionised our lunch boxes too - they are fine cold and make a lovely change from sandwiches. Today, I also added some of the protein powder I wrote about before to make them a very healthy cold snack.

Spring Chicken Casserole

I made this for lunch today, and unbelievably EVERYONE enjoyed it! Since I have two of the fussiest eaters around and three on exclusion diets making a "one size fits all" dish is little short of miraculous.... so I thought I would share!

Quite honestly, I wasn't sure what to call it! It's kind of like a casserole.... except it isn't! A bake? But without a creamy sauce..... whatever you want to call it, it worked for us.

Feeds 4 adults (or 6 with smaller appetites)
Serve with rice

Free from dairy, soya, corn, (depending on your choice of stock), wheat, gluten (same) and egg.

Ingredients

• Pack of chicken breasts - each cut lengthways into half/
• 1 red pepper
• 1 large leek
• 1 large courgette
• 500ml vegetable/chicken stock or whatever your family uses
• seasoning (salt and pepper)
• optional - before the stock goes in, add some garlic and mix it well
• 4 rashers of bacon - diced
• Free From crumbs

Method

• Cut the pepper into long thin strips and lay over the base (stops the chicken burning on the base)
• Arrange the chicken on top of the pepper
• Dice the leek and courgette finely (I was playing with my new Magimix Food Processor!) and spread evenly over the chicken
• Pour on the stock (make sure it is cooled if like me you are putting this on a delayed start) until everything is almost covered (picture 2)
• Sprinkle over the chopped bacon, 
• Followed by the breadcrumbs 

Bake for 50 minutes at 180C, until the top is golden.