Banana Oaties

I have had this recipe sitting around for MONTHS and have finally got round to making it! It's so quick and simple, the cookies can be frozen (if they are not eaten straight away!) and its a flexible recipe with room for changing to suit your tastes/needs.

There are few ingredients, and it is dairy free, soya free, wheat free, gluten free, egg free - most major allergens free AND sugar free. It's vegan, MEWS safe, you name it, so I can see it becoming one of our staples.

Unfortunately it contains nuts, but I imagine rice protein might work instead? Or polenta?

There are only TWO left to take a photo of, the rest disappeared when my back was turned....

Ingredients

• 3 RIPE mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup of apple sauce (I used 1 banana and apple Cow and Gate infant fruit pot)
• 2 cups gluten free oats 
• 1/4 cup almond milk (or your choice of substitute)
• 1/2cup raisins (or substitute for your favourite dried fruit or nuts if safe)
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 1tsp cinnamon

Recently I treated myself to a set of measuring cups to facilitate easy conversion for cooking with Australian cup measurements. They are particularly useful for the Tiana coconut recipes too.

Mine are from TKMaxx which is a surprisingly good source of baking equipment!

Method

• Easy - mash the bananas
• Combine everything well (I use my Kenwood mixer for this)
• Spoon onto a baking sheet
• Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes!

Tip:- Best kept in the fridge for a couple of days, or the freezer if uneaten in that time. They are not hard biscuits but very soft - delicious warmed for a few seconds in the microwave.

Enjoy! 

Alpro Soya "Nut-gate"

The Interwebs are currently buzzing with the news that Alpro Soya are now printing warnings of potential hazelnut and almond contamination in their soya products as they are altering sites for production of their dairy free alternative milks. Understandably, there is an outcry as many who avoid dairy products choose soya as their dairy substitute and are also allergic to nuts. Alpro responded to concerns on the Allergy UK website. Certainly their measures sound as stringent as anything any parent of an allergic child can achieve by any other means but there are always those who will be affected. This is a production choice Alpro have made and they may indeed lose customers because of it. However, I sincerely believe the bigger issue is being ignored here.

In an increasingly allergic world there are as many combinations of allergies in individuals as there are allergic people. And any reliance on only one substitute can precipitate issues including new allergic responses. The reliance of the dairy free industry on soya is not a long term option, far too many people have IgE and non IgE responses to Soya - and it is one of the "Big Four" to avoid  according to many health professionals. Certainly Gt Ormond Street Hospital advise going "MEWS free" as an important first step when embarking on exclusion diets. (MEWS = Milk, egg, wheat and soy)

Undoubtedly Allergic Disease is almost epidemic at present with the UK topping the world table of incidence of allergic disease. More about that here, information learned when I attended the All Party Group for Allergy at Westminster this Autumn. We should not be complacent in our careful replacement of major allergens from our own or (especially not) from our children's diets. Fortification of alternatives (e.g. calcium and Vitamin D in milk alternatives) is essential, as is careful pricing of worthwhile products, support for new producers and accurate information for consumers. The fact that yet another producer appears to have caved to the litigation-prevention soft option is not good news. It seems a massive fob-off for those shopping for exclusion diets - avoiding the issue of careful checking and stringent manufacturing processes. Or does it?