Meal in a bottle - some wonderful new options!

Some really useful finds this week! Our daughter is still on a really restricted diet and I've been on the look out for complete meals for ages, for those times when you end up in hospital and they can only feed your child cold chips, (which is all they ever seem to be able to offer a child on a medical exclusion diet... goodness knows how they think parents manage!) or a school/choir overnight trip where you need a nutritional back up for the inevitable times the caterers get it wrong.... and now I have some! 

HUEL shakes and bars. I've known about HUEL complete meal supplement powder for a while. You can live on it, it's complete... but it was still a little too "medical"and lacking in convenience. The shakes are A delicious, complete, and affordable meal in a handy bottle, containing all 26 essential vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates, protein, fat, fibre and phytonutrients. They are quite thick, like custard and in fact we now use the vanilla one instead of custard, and they are very palatable, not sickly sweet. (A rare thing in free from food world!) 

Flavours are Chocolate, Vanilla, Berry and now creamy Banana. I'll be honest, if your child has become used to the over-sweet free from treats from the supermarket food aisle, then you are going to have a tough time convincing them that these are acceptable. The chocolate one for example tastes like chocolate milk - the dairy sugar sweetened type, not the fake artificially over-sweetened hot chocolate taste of a Starbucks hot chocolate. You can taste the cocoa, not the sugar as the primary taste. (I think it's perfect, I've struggled for over a decade to find sensible free from alternatives which don't sacrifice flavour for artificial sweetener!)

Interestingly, my youngest son (who is now on a full diet) has asked if he can have a bottle of Huel instead of sandwiches (which he hates) for lunch on the odd day for school. He is 15, so it must be socially acceptable..... and he *does* have a sweet tooth, so it can't be that bad!

BOL Brekkie power shakes. We can't use any other BOL products, they have tomato and or garlic in, or wheat or one of the many other things K has to avoid, but these are FAB and very high in protein. 

They come in six flavours, and are really high in protein and contain a full spectrum of essential vitamins and minerals. The Columbian Coffee one might not suit young children but it's 15g protein is pretty impressive, and Bol offer a "Build a Box" option, with free delivery for 12+ shakes. Given the weight of these that's also pretty impressive. The glass bottles are of course recyclable, but make rather smart smoothie bottles to use again..... 

Vegetarian, protein-rich Lasagne

This is by way of responding to the many requests for recipe details via social media, since I posted this last week!

I'm afraid it's going to be more of an advisory post, rather than a specific recipe, since I made a basic lasagne which was safe for my children rather than following a recipe to the letter.

Lasagne is made up of layers of pasta sheets, a meat or vegetarian tomato based sauce and white sauce, topped with a sprinkling of cheese. Or at least that's the regular version! So here are my versions of each layer, and I usually have pasta, veggie sauce, pasta, veggie sauce, white sauce, pasta, veggie sauce white sauce but that's only a personal preference.

Pasta Sheets
We like the Organ mini sheets, since they only need a quick boil on the hob and are so soft - but don't fall apart. The boxes have changed recently though so you might not spot them straight away!

Old box

new box!

White Sauce
I make my white sauce in the traditional manner. So same quantity of fat to flour (e.g. 3oz Pure Olive margarine to 3oz safe flour, warm to make a "roux" (whisk together) then gradually beat in your safe milk. Almond milk is great for cooking with, or hemp milk. There are also lots of other "milk" ideas here. Gradually heat (I do this in the microwave but check frequently) and keep stirring until a thick sauce is achieved. These substitutions will work in a regular white sauce recipe.

"Meat" or Veggie Sauce
This time I really cheated. I diced and fried an onion in a little oil, chopped the olives we had left over and tossed them in, added a can of Amy's soup (a few to choose from here ) and a can of chopped tomatoes. I often use soup in this way, Amy's soups are great and whilst not all are safe for us, they tend to be full of pulses and not at all watery.

Lastly I always have cans or fresh packets of pulses around, so I added some puy lentils. Then for flavour I added a little more basil, oregano and pepper.

Topping
I had considered grating some Violife cheese but this time went for a sprinkling of paprika for colour.

Bake at 180C for around half an hour and there you go! Freezes perfectly in portion size pieces too, perfect for speedy after school meals!

Pizza - Using mixes or baking from scratch?

For years I have used the following Pizza base recipe which is free from – wheat, dairy, egg, soy and corn. It does mean cooking from scratch but I find it's by far the tastiest we've tried.

Prep Time - 15 minutes

Cook Time - 25 minutes

Ingredients 

• 1 Tablespoon dry yeast
• 2/3 cup brown rice flour 
• 1/2 cup potato flour/ tapioca flour 
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning (optional)
• 2/3 cup warm rice milk (or your choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar (optional)
• Extra rice flour for sprinkling

It's great - but there are no other options you can buy, premixed and infinitely tastier than the ready made bases which cost a fortune in the supermarket.

Alternatives

1. Isabel's Pizza Base Mix This has been recommended but Recipe Resource followers on Twitter as one of the best. BUT - and it's a MASSIVE "but" ... it contains milk powder. Which excludes us and many others I know. As a recipe for coeliacs it sounds great however, the same is true of the Glutafin mix.


2. If you receive Juvela mix on prescription, there is a recipe on their website here
   
   
3. Orgran have a multi mix you can use to make pizza bases, a little more straightforward than the Juvela recipe, and you can purchase their mix online from Goodness Direct, FreeFrom for Kids or Ocado.
   
   
4. BobsRedMill Gluten Free pizza base mix. This is one I have tried, it is free from most major allergens but again, there is a "but". It is not milled/produced in a certified nut free environment. The ingredients are in the picture below.

So there are alternatives, but we still like our original recipe! Here's how you do it:-

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees . In medium mixer bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend the yeast, flours, xanthan gum, salt, and Italian seasoning on low speed. Add warm milk, sugar, oil, and vinegar. 

• Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough. 

• Put mixture on a greased 12-inch pizza pan. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to hold the toppings. 

• Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Top Pizza Crust with sauce and your preferred toppings. Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Suggestions for toppings:-

• Tomato sauce and fresh cherry tomatoes, sprinkled with Redwood Cheezly Dairy and Soya free cheese.
• Spinach with the above
• Vegusto Melty (if tolerated) cubed and added on the top to resemble a Pizza Express Pizza
• Shredded chicken and sweetcorn
• If you are allowed eggs, a poached egg and spinach are a great combination on top!

Thanks to members of our Facebook group for providing the photo and Twitter followers for excellent advice!

Clearspring Organic Purees

Disclaimer - I was sent a selection of Clearspring organic purees for an honest review. The views expressed are entirely my own.

About Clearspring

From their website:-

Clearspring have been trading in the UK for over 20 years, last year (2013) Clearspring celebrated their twentieth birthday. Marketing "Authentic, wholesome, easy-to-prepare and great tasting Japanese and fine foods for optimum nutrition" Clearspring has a wide range of products to suit everyone.

• All their products are 100% vegan with no artificial additives, MSG, colourings, preservatives or refined sugars and they subscribe to extremely high standards. 
• Clearspring have won many awards, being Commended in the Free From Food Awards in 2014.
• All Clearspring products are Dairy Free and refined Sugar Free.They also have a Gluten Free range and a Nut Free Range

Perfect for Us 

We at The Recipe Resource struggle with complex food allergies, and are always on the look-out for new products with single or few ingredients. Clearspring purees are perfect in this respect - but what *really* got us excited, beyond the obvious single ingredient, ease of use in cooking/baking, perfect weaning food options was their new range of pouched purees!

Clearspring "On the Go" Fruit Pouches

My eight+ year old twins have just gone into Year 4, and no longer is it deemed acceptable to take  fruit puree pouches in that have come from the baby food aisle of the supermarket. I have used such brands for years, but however good the contents are you are not going to persuade either of my two that they acceptable in their lunch anymore. Also, since both have swallowing issues and many allergies it can be tricky meeting their nutritional requirements each day, and with a few wobbly teeth to boot its impossible biting in to fruit however soft! So I'm thrilled about these pouches - as are they.

Clearspring Puree Range

Like many parents feeding children on exclusion diets, we avoid multiple proteins. All too often the food industry substitutes these proteins (which often add flavour) with processed fillers and excess sugar and sweeteners. This is one reason why I won't purchase cakes, biscuits etc for my children. I rely on fruit to give homemade treats a naturally sweet flavour, and purees are perfect on meringues, in cakes, on cereal, in fact they have so many uses I like to keep a stock of them all the time! 

Without a doubt Clearspring offer the best variety of purees I have ever seen. They offer are a variety of blends as well as pear on its own. Often, in strict exclusion diets pear is one of the first foods you are asked to try, as it is one of the least allergenic foods. (see this chart for a Food Allergen Scale.

Any banana puree can also be used as a raising agent, so the pear and banana puree is ideal for adding to muffins to help them rise - often a problem is you are excluding, and substituting egg. (See this chart for other egg alternatives.)

I used the pear and banana puree to make some fruit muffins:-

The basic banana muffin recipe is here and I made pear muffins here and added cocoa powder. This time I made the banana muffins with the puree, banana helps them rise and the pear was a lovely additional flavour. The texture was really velvety smooth too.

Lastly I wanted to make some fruit puree lollies but my lolly moulds split recently. Instead I used the strawberry and apple puree to make a lolly mixture, using this recipe but obviously the puree instead of the frozen fruit. It was delicious but would definitely be better as lollies in proper moulds, like these!

'Laumuchun' or Turkish pizza

This is from Cheryl on our Facebook group who says

"My kids love this recipe, adapted from a Turkish recipe called 'Laumuchun' or Turkish pizza (it's great as they don't use cheese). Great with humus on the side. "

Ingredients:-

• Pack of gluten free pita (these don't contain egg) 
• 400g grams mince meat or lamb (or mixture of both, also works with chicken) 
• 1/2 tin of tomatoes Fresh Parley 
• 1/2 lemon juice grate mushrooms, or corgettes, or peppers (what ever you like really) 
• Seasoning 

Method:-

• Put the pitta in the toaster until they open a bit, then cut in half. 
• Put all the mixture in a bowl, mix well. 
• Smother the mixture over the pita and squeeze it down with the fork. 
• Then pop under a grill until cooked.

Cakes!

This is a general post about cakes, the birthday cake post I wrote some time ago is still valid, in so much as it works well, and the cake is still available. Tesco's chocolate version is even more yummy though!

It comes ready iced too, always a bonus! All our family love this moist, chocolatey cake.

There are lots of options now, it is definitely getting easier to find cake alternatives or ingredient alternatives. My children love decorating their own cakes and biscuits with icing pens too.


If you prefer a dry mix, I have tried two recently. The Hale and Hearty mix on the right (which is good but I prefer their brownie mix for taste)
and the Glebe Farm Mix which is fool proof, works every time and I would love to know why it is so much better than my own efforts when the ingredients are pretty much the same!

My friend Suzanne at "Free From for Kids" has a reliable stock of the Hale and Hearty mix, sometimes found in Sainsbury's and the Glebe Farm one is increasingly available at local outlets like farm shops etc. They make a blueberry muffin mix, carrot cake mix and pizza base mix which I have recently bought to try. Muffins were very successful!

Of course, you can use a regular sponge cake recipe (4oz/100g of flour, same of marge, same of caster sugar with 2 eggs) and substitute everything for free from ingredients which I do very successfully pretty frequently. Works fine with muffins and if you can tolerate banana they help with the rising for beautifully tall cupcakes and muffins.

There are lots of variations on this theme on the "Sweet Treats" page. There is a fantastic chart for alternatives to egg in cakes here too.

Happy Baking! 

Genius!

So clever! Again, from our Facebook group - this extremely clever idea to encourage your children to eat!

Poke gluten free spaghetti through free from sausages (eg left) then boil.

Fill your own puree pouches!!

I know many people who spend a small fortune on purees from the supermarket, children with reflux/EGID and babies tend to have a lot of pureed food and it can become quite expensive.       I was interested to see that JoJo Maman Bebe now sell empty pouches to fill yourself - means you can create your own blends too! 

I LOVE Waitrose!

Can I just say how much I now love Waitrose, and how very very much I am enjoying having a massive branch of the store in our town.

A friend informed me about a company who sell free from sausages for children through the company, including the novel "Sqaushages" for children who struggle with the skins. Let's face it, kids with allergies invariably have other eating issues alongside and my children certainly do.

 

So, I logged into Waitrose and added as many of the varieties of "Good Little Company" Sausages that my local branch could sell me. Then I discovered that their free from range extends far beyond the (pretty good) selection Ocado currently offer. So definitely have a look! I know Waitrose isn't cheap, I had a few issues with their website too but I can honestly say I am genuinely excited anticipating our order on Monday!!

Oh and if you register for a "My Waitrose" card you qualify for a free hot drink of any type each week day. Can't be bad...

Of course, you could always buy some gluten free sausagemeat from our local butcher, we've done that too ;) but I think this company deserve a medal for being so inspired!