Manna from Heaven

Conor's Bread Revisited!

This makes a really Light and Fluffy Well Risen GF/CF/SF and Yeast free bread!!!

Yes, finally after 5 months of experimentation, failure, doughy bread and chewy toast I have finally managed to create a respectable, nay comparable white bread.

What's the secret?

Well, firstly - check your loaf tin. For months I have been laboring under the misapprehension that my 1.5lb loaf tin was a 1lb loaf tin. It was only by accident that this weekend I picked up a real 1lb loaf tin.

Secondly, rising agents. Without yeast there are a few things that can make bread rise. Variously in different recipes I've seen baking powder, vitamin c tablets and sparkling water all used.

Ingredients - I've been a bit more anal than usual here and listed exactly what I used. this is because I cannot actually believe that the bread I've made is GF/CF/SF and yeast free too! I have made it twice, the second time tonight just to confirm the results. I will generalise the ingredients eventually. I would particularly like to change the rice milk for hemp milk and I'll probably try it with my own flour blend too, but for recreatable results, here's exactly what I used. Update 09/09/2009: Now verified with Rice:Potato:Tapioca mix in ratio 3:1:1. Update: 13/09/2009: For a nutty taste mix 100g of Gram flour with 350g of the white flours.

• 450g flour - Doves Gluten Free plain white flour blend (what I used originally) or your own GF/CF flour blend. I tried this with a mix or Rice:Tapioca:Potato in ratio 3:1:1 last night and the bread turned out just as nice. This has the added advantage of making the bread Soya free too!
  
• 1 Haliborange halibonbon tablet
• 1 tsp sea salt - rock sea salt
• 4 tsp xanthan gum - Life free from brand
• 2 tsp baking powder - Royal Baking powder
• 2 large organic free range eggs (M&S)
• Rice Milk (Rice Dream (+Calcium)) combine with eggs to make total liquid volume 200ml
• 200ml Sparkling water - Deep riverrock.

Preparation:

• Preheat fan over to 200 degrees Centigrade (I have a Neff fan oven)
• Dust a 1lb loaf tin with flour
• Get out a mixing bowl, measuring jug, wooden spoon, spatula, whisk

Method:

• Crush Halibonbon tablet in a pill crusher or with the back of a spoon until it it pure powder.
• Mix dry ingredients and whisk together
• Whisk eggs and add milk to total liquid content of 200ml
• Add egg/milk mix to dry ingredients and combine together
• Add sparkling water last and quickly mix to a lumpy batter
• Quickly press into loaf tin and smooth top with spatula
• Bake fo 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Shep

Emb-Ark-ing on a journey with Noah's Bread

Editorial

Ok, so this is a recipe that's knocking about all over the place, but I only just tried it yesterday. The results were disappointing. The bread came out small and lumpy. The amazing thing is, Conor ate the whole damn thing.

I made another batch tonight and it came out better. You really need to mix in the sparkling water proprely, even though you're supposed to work quickly. Quite a quandry.

Anyway, here it is. It's all over the place in various forms and with slight variations. This one works for me.

Original Noah's Bread (all credit to http://gfcfrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/10/noahs-bread.html)

from Kwan
This is the original version of Noah's Bread, developed by Kwan for her son Noah when she couldn't find any bread he could eat.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum fl.
2/3 cup tapioca flour
1/3 cup potato starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup CF milk
1/3 cup sparkling water

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees farenheit, 200 centigrade

Mix all ingredients well, except the sparkling water. Once the batter is well mixed, add the sparkling water to make the batter rise.

Work quickly and form batter into buns, bagels, roll, etc. I use hamburger form pans and rings from the Gluten Free Pantry but you can also use aluminum foil to make form rings. I also put the batter into large ziplock bags, cut a corner, and squeeze out the appropriate shape of whatever I'm trying to make, such as bagels.

The batter should be thick and look somewhat lumpy. Don't use too much batter or form too high. The bread will puff and rise and settle back down once cooled.

Bake for 20-25 min until the crust is golden brown.
The crust will be hard out of the oven but will soften once cooled.

They freeze and thaw really well.

Regards,

Shep

Play Dough Cookies

Almond and Vanilla Cookies.

I call these play dough cookies because when they are prepared and before they are cooked the kids can play with them and shape them like play dough.

These make tasty sweet cookies. We add sesame seeds on top for a bit of variety.

Ingredients

• 2 cups GF/CF flour mix (Rice:Potato:Tapioca mix ratio 4:1:1)
• 1.5 tsps xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tspbicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 cup xylitol
• 6 oz cf soft margarine
• 1/2 tsp ground almond
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees centigrade
• Mix all the dry ingredients together
• Add in the margarine and mix until the texture is like play dough!
• Add in vanilla extract
• From into small balls and flatten with the back of a glass.
• Shape as desired
• Top with sesame seeds (optional)
• Bake for 12 minutes

Ging Gang Goolie Goolie Goolie Goulash...

Ging Gang Gool Ging Gang Gool

So far to date this blog has explored how to bake gf/cf stuff and ingredients. Yesterday I took one of my all time favorite recipes and made it gf/cf/sf! The original recipe came from a book about spices, I think it was called "creative cooking with spices" or something like that, but I have modified it over the years and feel it's my own by now!

Note: This recipe takes very little effort, but should be cooked for many hours to get the taste right, so don't be tempted to rush this. Make a big batch when you have time and freeze it ready to serve.

Hungarian Goulash.

Ingredients

• 1 lb diced lamb pieces
• 1 organic onion finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 tin tomatoes (I used whole plum ones, but diced are fine)
  
• 1 tin tomato puree
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (make sure it's gf/cf/sf)
  
• 1 green pepper cut into rings.
  
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 1/2 pint stock (make sure it's gluten free)
  
• 3 tbsps paprika

Method

• Fry the onion and garlic gently for a few minutes until the onions begin to brown.
• Add the diced lamb and cook fully
• Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, tinned tomatoes and tomato puree all at once & bring to simmer.
• Reduce the heat and cook partially covered for a long time. 5 hours or more. Seriously. Do this properly and the meat will be soooo good. Keep an eye on the liquid to make sure it does not reduce too much.
• About 20 minutes before you want to serve the goulash add the coconut milk, lemon juice and paprika. Turn up the heat so the coconut milk heats and the sauce rethickens. - Note: Paprika has a very mild flavour, so you need to add a lot to register in the recipe.
• With about 10 to go add the green pepper.

Serve with white rice.

This recipe can be made in large batches and frozen. If you're going to freeze it then don't add the pepper first.

Enjoy!

P.S. There are no photos as this recipe doesn't last long enough in my house :-)

Irish Soda Bread

Yeast Free Soda Bread

Ok, so now that we have found a decent recipe for bread for Conor we now need to cut out the yeast.

So...options? There are not many, but luckily Irish Soda Bread is naturally yeast free. The question was could I make a soda bread that was gf/cf/sf and which still tasted good?


I took an old fashioned traditional recipe and substituted my standard gf/cf/sf substitutes.

Ingredients

• 16oz gf/cf flour mix (see below)
  
• 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate or soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons bextartar or cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons Xylitol
• 12 fluid ozs non dairy, non soy milk (I use hemp milk)
• 1 Free Range Egg beaten
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 230 degrees (hot!)
  
• Sift all the dry ingredients together
• Sift again a few times to capture air in the mix
• Mix milk and egg together
• Make a well in centre of flour and most of the wet mix.
• Using your hands, quickly and lightly form the mix into a ball. Add a bit more of the liquid mix if needs be.
  
• When the ingredients are mixed roll the dough lightly on a floured surface.
• Form into a Round 2" high
• Cut a deep X across the top
• Place on a floured baking tray
• Bake for 5 minutes
• Reduce temp to 180 degrees
• Bake for a further 30-35 minutes

Flour Mix

• 2 1/2 cups of rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch flour

The verdict?

Very very good.

Especially toasted with jam on top.



Enjoy.

Gram Bread for Machine Baking

Gram Flour Bread Machine Flour.

So...I'm no expert on this stuff, but I think it's lower GI and contains more protein.

I found the recipe somewhere on the internet and emailed the text of it to myself, so sorry to the author who I can't credit.

This is not my work, but it's light and fluffy and toasts really well.

It makes a 1.5 lb loaf.



Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cup Chickpea Flour (Weird measure, eh? 1/8 of a cup is 2 tablespoons) or 160g
  
• 1 cup cornstarch or 130g
  
• 1 cup + 1 Tbs.Tapioca Flour (Another weird measure, go figure) 150g
  
• 3 1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gumor or Guar Gum (I used Xanthan Gum) 10g
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt - 6g
  
• 3 Tbs. brown sugar - 45g
  
• 1/4 tsp. Ascorbic Acid (I had none :-(, but I'll try it with it next time)
• 1 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/8 cup warm water
• 3 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Method

• Combine first seven ingredients.
• Mix together, eggs, water, and oil.
• In a large capacity bread machine add dry ingredients, liquids and yeast in order recommended by manufacturer.
• Bake using white bread setting and medium crust or your specific gluten-free program. (I used medium crust setting and found it a bit hard, I'll try light next)
  

By Hand (I never succeed by hand, haven't tried this). Beat together, dry ingredients, liquids and yeast. Transfer to a lightly oiled 9-x-5-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise to the top of the pan. Bake 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Shep!

Bread Sticks!

These are GF/CF and yeast free too

The recipe is adapted form one I found here.

These turned out really nice.

Incredible in fact.

Definitely try this recipe!

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup milk - I used hemp milk
2. 3/4 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
3. 1/4 cup shelled organic hemp
4. 1/2 cup rice flour (or gf/cf flour)
5. 1/3 cup tapioca flour
6. 1 teaspoon cornstarch
7. 2 eggs - split into yokes and whites
8. 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
9. 1/2 teaspoon salt
10. 2 Tablespoons olive oil (plus 1/2 teaspoon for the baggie)
11. 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
12. Herbs to taste (I used dried chives)
    

Method

1. Preheat oven to 22 degrees centigrade
   
2. Mix the dry ingredients and herbs
   
3. Add all the wet ingredients except the egg yokes at once
4. Beat with a mixer for 2-3 minutes
5. Put some oil on a non stick baking sheet
   
6. Put some oil in a plastic bag and spoon the batter in
7. Cut the corner off the bag and working quickly pipe the batter onto the baking sheet
8. Bake for 13-14 minutes
9. Beat the left over egg yokes
   
10. Remove from oven and glaze with the egg yoke you saved from earlier
11. Sprinkle with sea salt
12. Return to oven for another 4-5 minutes

Enjoy!

I'm not telling porkies...on the contrary, I'm eating them!

Great Gluten Free Sausages and Nitrate Free Rashers

If, like me (and my whole family!), you love rashers and sausages, then fear not brave GF/CF dieter. There is a fantastic brand of sausages which have a gluten free bratwurst that is just divine.

You can find them online here: http://www.straightsausages.com/Straight%20Sausages/Varieties%20Bratwurst.html

I contacted them and they said that the bratwurst is the only one they guarantee gluten free as all the rest have oats in them.



They also do a nitrate free rasher, the only one produced in Ireland (to the best of my knowledge). I haven't tried these yet, but I'm heading up there to buy some real soon! The rasher product page is here: http://www.straightsausages.com/Straight%20Sausages/Varieties%20Rashers.html



Their products are available in farmers markets and many outlets. Check out their web site for more details. http://www.straightsausages.com/Straight%20Sausages/Home.html


Stephen!

Yeast of Eden

Edible Bread!

If you've been following this blog at all you'll already know about my pursuit of a decent sliced loaf that doesn't break the bank.

Thus far my many efforts have lead to mostly inedible lumps that would be more at home jamming a door open then they would be in a lunchbox.



That was until....dun dun duh...the breadmaker!

My boss in work loaned me his and I tried out a recipe last night. Thanks Martin!

The results? Instant success; well it took 3hours and 18minutes to cook and I kicked off the process at 9.15pm, so between waiting for the bread to cook and cool I didn't get to bed until after 2am.

The recipe I used is from the excellent "Diet Intervention and Autism" by Marilyn Le Breton.

Ingredients:

Dry Mix

• 2 1/2 cups of rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
• 1 tbsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 sachet (2.25 tsps) yeast

Wet Mix

• 3 eggs, at room temp, beaten
• 1/4 cup sunflour oil
• 1/2 cup non-dairy, non-soy milk (I use hemp)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar (optional)

Method

• Mix all dry ingredients bar yeast
• Mix all wet ingredients
• Put wet ingredients into bread maker
• Put dry ingredients into bread maker
• Sprinkle yeast on top
• Set to cook a 1.5 lb (750g) loaf.
• Pick your crust colour
• Hit start
• (Don't use start delay function as the milk could curdle)
• Wait 3 hours 18 minutes (or whatever)
  
• Remove immediately onto a wire rack
• Don't carve into slices until fully cooled.

This makes a wonderful soft fluffy white loaf that cuts really well and makes super sandwiches or toast.

I had a tow truck on hand in case the bread turned out like it's predecessors, but luckily it wasn't needed!

Enjoy!

Spreadable Nirvana

The Holy Grail of Spreads.

Well I've been searching shops since we started the diet a few weeks ago and all the non-butter spreads either seemed to have buttermilk or soya in them!

Well today, while looking for butter in Marks and Spencer, I came across their own brand Non-Dairy spread...and guess what? It has no soy either! So there we have it, a non-dairy spread that is also non soy. Horrah for M&S.

Now...let's see if Conor likes it!

Shep.

Donuts, Is there anything they can't do?

GF/CF Donuts!


If you though GF/CF meant all dry tasteless health food then think again. These beauties are lovely. Rise beautifully and actually taste a bit more like choux pastry then donuts.

They are topped with icing sugar...but what else would you do with donuts?


This recipe comes straight out of the excellent "The Kid Friendly ADHA & Autism Cookbook" by Compart and Laake...I got my copy at the DAN! conference and is nicely dedicated to Conor by the author Dana Laake :-)

Recipe:

• 1/2 cup (80g ) white rice flour
• 2/3 cup (80 g) tapioca flour
• 1/3 cup (50 g) potato starch or (40 g) cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons guar or xanthan gum
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/3 cup (80 g) oil
  
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) club soda or sparkling water

Method:

• Combine all dry ingredients and mix together.
• Combine all the beaten egg, oil and milk.
• Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingretients and mix well.
• Add the sparkling water slowly and beat well.
• Flour a board and your hands - use LOADS of flour.
• Pull small lumps about the size of the plumbs and roll them quickly into ring shapes.
• Deep fry for a minute or less - if you don't have a deep fryer then fry in an inch of oil in a pan.
• Let donuts rise in a warm oven (80 degrees centigrade) for 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and heat oven to 180 degrees.
• Brush top of donuts with melted ghee
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Perfect Scone?

Another Scone Recipe, probably the best.

Well I won't be trying any further variations on scones in any case.

I know I'm kinda obsessing on scones, but Conor loves them! These scone are light and fluffy. Perfect toasted with jam. The secret ingredient is carrot!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of GF/CF flour mix (see below)
  
• 2 tsp Xantan gum
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup or 2 ozs Margarine (I used Stork)
• 1/4 cup veg oil
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• A few tbsp of CF milk for glazing (I use hemp milk, but any should do)
• 1 carrot finely grated or juiced

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade
  
• Mix all the dry ingredients
• Beat the egg
• Add oil and marg and work until the mix resembles breadcrumbs
• Mix in the egg and carrot (or carrot juice)
• Work into a smooth dough
• Knead the dough until all the carrot is mixed through evenly
• Roll out dough on floured board until it's about 3/4 to 1 inch thick
• Cut out and transfer to a floured baking sheet
• Mix the milk with any left over egg and brush the top of each scone
  
• Bake for 12 minutes until golden brown on top

GF/CF Flour Mix

• 4 Cups Rice Flour
• 1 Cup Potato Flour
• 1 Cup Tapioca Flour
  

These are great split and topped with jam.

Enjoy!

Flour Power

Where can you buy all this weird flour in Ireland???

When I started researching this diet I couldn't figure out what flour could be bought where. unfortunately we're not in a place yet where you can just walk into a supermarket and pick up rice, gram, maize, sorghum etc.







So here's what I have found so far.

• The most common GF flour in Ireland is from Odlumns and is called Tritamyl. Unfortunately this flour IS NOT soy free.
  
  
• Health stores carry a lot of these flours, but in small quantities and at a hefty price.
  
  
• Ethnic stores carry many of them at a great price.
  
  
• Many of these flours can be known by different names. And depending on your cookbook you might need to know all of the synonyms.
  
  
• Flour & Starch seems to be used interchangeably, but I'm pretty sure they're different things.
  
  

Stores
In Dublin city there are several Oriental Supermarkets (There is one virtually on each side of the Deorges Street arcade and there one opposite the Jervis street centre at the Luas stop) which carry:

• Rice flour (* see flour mix below)
  
• Potoato flour (* see flour mix below)
  
• Tapioca flour (* see flour mix below)
  
• Gram flour
• Cornflour (really a thickener, the flour of corn seems to be called maize flour)
• Gelatinous Rice Flour
  

In Afro Caribbean stores you can get

• Sorghum flour
• Yam Flour (I have no idea what you can use this for, I just saw it there)
• Bean Flour (Likewise I have no idea what you can use this for, I just saw it there)
• Maize Flour
• Tapioca Flour
  

In Health Stores you can get

• Rice flour
• Potato Flour
• Maize Flour (I haven't found maize anywhere else)

In Tesco and Superquinn you can get Doves Rice Flour.

Flour Mix

The easiest and most universal Wheat Flour replacement I have found so for is from Marilyn Le Breton's excellent Diet Intervention and Autism. You can cook every recipe in her book with just this mix:

• 4 parts rice flour
• 1 part potato flour
• 1 part tapioca flour

Synonyms


Gram Flour aka Garbanzo Bean, Chickpea or Besan Flour
Tapioca Flour aka Cassava, Manioc or Gari Flour
Potato Flour aka Farina
Corn Flour as sold in Ireland is a thickener, not a flour
Maize flour is corn flour (I think)
Gelatinous Rice Flour aka Sweet Rice Flour




Don't be afraid to go into those ethnic shops! The folks in there are really nice and they'll really help you if you ask.

Don't Try This at Home (Really!)

Bad Ideas...

Well, the idea of this blog was to share our journey on the GFCF diet. There are going to be good and bad days I guess.

Tonight, while mixing a batch of gingerbread I had the stunning idea of adding peas. Yes, you heard it peas. The theory was sound. I got frozen peas and ground them in the coffee grinder until I had frozen pea powder. Then I added them to the mix where they seemingly disappeared.

Indeed they had not disappeared. The magical green powder absorbed moisture while cooking, and although the tops of the gingerbread men look perfect, thet behinds look distinctly soggy.

Chalk that one up the experience!

Shep

You gotta fight...for your right...to parrrrrrrtty!

Oscars 2nd Birthday.

Well we thought this would be a major hurdle, but with a bit of prep work this passed off ultra-successfully!


Several people asked us if we had caved in and purchased wheat or dairy products, but nope, it was all GF/CF/SF.

So, the main event was the cake. Once again an Orgran one. (Why mess with perfection?).

It was loved by all.

We also cooked apple scone rounds, gingerbread men and another surprise favorite with all the guests...

Vegetable chips (parsnip, carrot and sweet potato).







Shep

It's Your Round.

Another Delicious Variant on the Classic Scone


This recipe comes courtesy of my fabulous wife Irene's childhood. She made this today and it was so good she had to make a second batch. Thanks Irene! You're the best :-)


Ingredients

• 200g rice flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 50g Marg (we used stork)
• 50 g Caster Sugar (we used xylitol instead)
• 1 medium peeled cooking apple or 2 eating apples grated (eating apples are sweeter)
• 3 x 15 ml tbsp milk (we used hemp milk)
• milk and 1 more tbsp milk to glaze

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Centigrade
  
• Sift flour, salt and baking powder together
• Rub in margarine
  
• Add sugar and then the grated apple
• Add the milk a bit at a time until you achieve a soft dough that is not sticky
• Turn onto floured board and knead lightly

To make one big scone round:

• Form into an 8" circle
• Transfer onto a floured or greased baking sheet
• Score into 8 pieces
• Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden brown

To make individual scones

• Cut out scones
• Transfer onto a floured or greased baking sheet
• Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar
• Bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and golden brown

Enjoy!

It's a wrap!

Homemade Wraps

In my bid to find GF/CF alternatives I went looking for a replacement for wraps for lunchtime goodness.

Firstly I tried to make corn wraps just using corn flour, but either Irish corn flour is waaaaay different from the Mexican stuff or else I just made a complete hames of it. In either case I only managed to make a gloopy mess.

Then I tried to make wraps from gram flour. I had more success with this (100g gram flour to 110 ml water plus a pinch of salt. Mix and let stand for 10 minutes, then fry in oil like a pancake), but my mix was too think and didn't spread out right on the pan. I think if a bit diluted that this recipe could work.

Anyway, I next came across a recipe from the Irish Coeliac website and it works great. I'm not claiming credit for this at all, but I will share it (original post here).

Recipe for Corn & Gram Flour Wraps

Ingredients:

• 100g of Cornflour/starch
  
• 25g of Gram Flour ………. (aka Chickpea, Dhal or Garbanzo)
• 5g of Tapioca Flour /starch
• ½ tsp of salt
• 2 eggs
• 150 - 200ml of water (>150 ml gives a thinner wrap / tortilla)
• A little vegetable oil for coating the frying pan.
  

Method:

• Place all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and sift 3 times to mix thoroughly.
• Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, beat slowly using a hand-held electric mixer.
• The mixture should be a little thick but smooth.
• Add the water a little at a time mixing well between additions. The mixture will become very runny, that's OK...don't panic.
• When mixed thoroughly, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 mins.
• Remove from fridge and whisk slightly using a hand whisk (to re-mix)
• Transfer batter to a jug (makes pouring easier)
• Heat clean frying pan until very hot (not quite smoking)
• Oil base of frying pan slightly, pour enough batter to cover base thinly.
• Return to high heat, cook until the underside is slightly browned and the sides begin to curl.
• Flip over and cook for ONLY 20 SECONDS (actually I did mine for a bit longer) (the wrap is so hot it continues to cook after it is removed from pan). If left longer than 20 secs the wrap would be cooked right through and with the residual heat start to dry out.
• Remove the wrap and transfer to a plate, Place sheets of greaseproof paper (Baking Paper) on bottom and between layers. (this avoids wraps becoming stuck together while cooling)
  

The Wraps / Tortillas are ready for use or can be refrigerated or frozen until required.

Will keep in the fridge for about 2 - 3 days.
(stand at room temp for about 5 mins before warming)

Will keep in the Freezer for 1 - 2 Months
(defrost fully to room temp before warming under the grill)


Thanks to the original poster of this recipe. Easy to make and great tasting!

Cheap as Chips

Parsnip and Carrot Crisps

I made something a bit different tonight...vegetable crisps (or chips if you're in the USA).

Easiest thing ever.



Ingredients:

• 1 parsnip
• 1 carrot
  

Preparation

• Peel the parsnip and carrot.

• Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler shave the carrot and parsnip into wafer thin lengths.
  
• Heat some oil for deep fat frying and add the veg pieces carefully (there's a lot of water in the veg and they can spit).
  
• Let them cook until brown and crispy (don't worry if they're not entirely crispy when you life them out, they should harden in a few seconds).
• Sprinkle on salt.

Enjoy!

oh, and I also tried to make corn flour wraps (FAIL!).

Shep

Follow up 02nd May 2009: The proof of the pudding is in the eating ... and Conor loves these!!!

Better Scones?

New Scone Recipe

A simple twist on the original classic (from last week)
This is a definite success.

1. 100 g Garam Flour
   
2. 200 g Corn flour
3. 1 tsp salt
   
4. 150 ml Milk (I used both almond and rice milk in different batches with equal success)
5. 6 tsp Baking Powder
6. 1 tbsp oil (I used omega 3 oil)
7. 4 tbsp protien (see below)
   

To cook

1. Preheat oven to 180 Centigrade
2. Sift the flours, salt baking powder together and add in the protien from step 3 if desired
   
3. This is an excellent recipe for disguisiung other foods you want to be included in the diet. So far I have made this with chicken, sausage (GF of course!) and bacon. Simply get a few tablespoons of the meat (not the sausage!) and grind it down to a smooth consistency. I've been using a coffee grinder for this as it's quicker and easier to clean then the full mixer.
   
4. Add oil and milk all at once and mix to a firm consistency (slightly sticky is fine too)
5. Turn out onto a floured board and roll (I just use my hands) to about 1/2 inch thick
6. Cut out scones and place on a floured baking tray
7. Cook for 10-12 minutes ... the tops may not brown as much as you'd expect so check them!

Yeast is the Word

In Search of Good Bread.
Well so far I've tried making my own bread with limited (no) success. Thusly the recipe for stuffing and croutons!

I've tried shop bought rice bread and while Conor ate some of it it cost €8.50 for a small loaf!

Yesterday I tried the Orgran white bread mix. Results? Super. Highly recommended. Really easy to make (water and oil), and it makes a lovely risen fluffy white pan. The mix was still pricy at €4, but the results were great and it was still twice the size of the rice bread.

Still in search of a good recipe for home made bread, but this will do for now!

Shep.