Sharabelle bakes

Had a friend round for tea last night, and as usual we started talking about food.  Or to be more precise strange Scottish regional  food. Last nights Dairy free Menu Teraki salmon and stir fry veg Lemon bar - Haggis in a roll. Not just served for Burns supper . It's a long salami shaped haggis sausage, cut into slices.  Then fried or baked, before being served in a buttered bread roll.  There are 2 camps, those that top it with Tomato ketchup and those who use Brown sauce.  I was in the tomato ketchup camp.  - Pineapple supper .  I remember going to the fish and chip shops in Aberdeen and being able to get a pineapple fritter with a portion of chips.  Very dissapointed when we moved to Fife to find they don't do it here!!! Supper - Refers to anything served with chips from a Fish and chip Shop -   Mealie pudding  or white pudding.  Basically an Oat based stuffing in a sa...

I was at an Interviews skill's training session last Friday, which brought up a hard question for me.  What do I say when asked " Tell us a little about yourself"!!!! Doesn't seem a hard question to answer but it is.  Do potential interviews want to know about my personal history, family history or my hobbies?  How do you condense these to a short answer?  Really had to think about this one, there is more to me than baking and cooking.    I    also do love other fruit apart from Banana's Honest!!  If you ask my family or friends, there first answer would probably be my life long love of books.  I'm such a bookaholic, that I'm a member of my local libraries Evening and Afternoon book club.  The next best thing to reading a great book, is talking about it with other bookaholic's.   Normally there on different weeks, which is easy to cope with.  Unfortunately the over the past few mouths they've been in t...

Dairy and Egg free ginger cake Traditional Ginger cake was on today's lunch menu at the Pantry.  I can't remember the last time I made one.  I used to make Yorkshire Parkin for Charity cake and bakes.  Ginger cake is a great recipe that can be made a few days before the sale,  as it just gets tastier and more gingery.  If your not lactose intolerant like me I'd recommend James Martins recipe . As soon as I got home all I could think about was how to make it dairy free.  The recipe & photo above are from fuss free flavours,  It's the least complicated recipe that i could find.   The more ingredients that need to be added to a recipe, the more likely your going to forget one.  Or I should say, I'm more likely to forget one. The blog also has a great tip on how to weight out treacle.  Will definitely be making this recipe at the weekend xx

My diet might be limited due to my IBS, however would you be surprised that the only supplement I take is for Calcium and Vitamin D.  I eat a varied mostly plant based diet, which provides all the nutrients I need.  It's also a myth that meat, poultry and dairy are the only sources of protein available.  Beans, lentils and  pulses Includes all non dairy milk products made from soy beans eg soy milk, soy spread, soy yogurt & tofu Nuts and seeds Includes non dairy products made from nuts eg almond milk, nut butter, tahini, Vegetables especially green veg ones eg Cauliflower, broccoli, green peas, spinach, sweet corn Grains and cereals eg Bread, oats, breakfast cereals, pasta Fresh/Dried Fruit and berries Fresh :  Avocado, peaches and figs Dried : Figs, apricots Keeping too a varied diet, keeps me healthy.  It also keeps me from getting bored...

The Cauliflower recipe idea winner is ....... Cauliflower and potato curry After looking at all the recipes i could find on the Internet, at the end of the day being a typical Scot all i wanted was a curry.   I'm not even going to pretend this is an authentic curry, it's curry done the Sharabelle way.   The problem with most Veggie curry's is that more often than not it ends up mushy.  To avoid this I like to roast some of the veg first before mixing with the curry sauce.  It's a lot easier this way and means your not continually stirring a pot. TOP TIP:  Cut your veg into bite size pieces, toss in a little oil and some spices.  Before baking in a hot oven for about 20 Min's.  My secret ingredient this time is Maykway mild curry sauce mix.  It's a blend of Wheat flour, Fenugreek, Turmeric, coriander, mustard seed, fennel, cumin, chillies, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper.   Watch thoug...

10 Ways to cook cauliflower Went shopping on Friday and picked up a lovely head of cauliflower from my local supermarket.  I'm pretty lucky as there fruit and veg are always great.   I like to keep my meals interesting so I had a look on the Internet for inspiration.  There are more ways to cook and serve cauliflower, than just covering it in cheese sauce.  Being lactose intolerant - excludes me from using dairy cheese.  While being yeast intolerant - excludes me from using vegan cheese, since one of the ingredients is yeast extract. 1. Mashed Cauliflower Cut Cauliflower into Florette's, then boil in water till tender.  Drain then mash along with some dairy free margarine.  A great side dish. 2. Roast Cauliflower Basic recipe: Cut into Florette's and toss in a bowl with some veg oil and salt and pepper.  Bake in a hot oven at 200 Celsius for 20 - 30 Min's. You could also add ...

Frankly Red hot soup - part 2 Red hot tomato soup Dairy free 1/2 bottle Franks Hot sauce or 2-3 drops 1 Jar  Tomato Passata + same of hot water 1 Tin Chopped tomato's 1 Cup chopped carrots 1 Cup Sliced mixed peppers (Salad kind) 1/2 packet Indian spiced rice 1 Banana - mashed - Secret ingredient  Food waste mission:   I'd bought a packet of Simon Rimmers vegetable Balti, I don't normally buy processed food but thought Id give it shot.  Now I remember why I don't buy them, adding hot water to a freeze dried veggies, spice and rice is not really a filling meal.  I was left with half and really wasn't keen on heating it up again for another meal.  Only other option was change it into something else. Soup seemed the best solution, so I added tomato passata to the rice along with some hot water.  There was enough spice in the rice, so didn't bother with veggie stock. Kind of ruined my rescue the rice plan though. I ...

Found Frank's Red hot sauce for sale in our local Morrison's, I didn't realise you get it in the UK.  I'm a big Diners, drive-ins and Dives fan, and it's been mentioned in a few episodes so I was excited to give it a try. I love adding a kick to my food, so it's the perfect store cupboard ingredients for me.   That was until tonight, I decided to use up some left over spiced rice by adding it to my home made tomato soup.  Tasted the soup and it was just missing something, so got out the hot sauce planning to add a few drops ....... Only I unscrewed the top and ended up emptying half the bottle in before  I realised what I'd done oops.   Iv added an extra tin of chopped tomato's to the soup to rescue it, but it's still got a really big kick, lol. On the positive side my sinus have been playing up lately and this is one way of clearing them xxx

Chocolate Pepper Cookies Iv been doing to much again, since taking on this course through my work program provider. The problem was I didn't really think it through and i also kept doing my 2 day work experience at the same time.   It's the side effect of having an anxiety disorder that most people don't realise.  The more you push yourself outside your comfort zone, the more exhausted and mentally tired you get.  What's this got to do with chocolate pepper cookies? I needed some down time and the best way I know to relax is too bake.  My last baking experiment was a success.  The mission: - bake a carrot cake for a fussy eater who didn't like cinnamon or dried fruit.  It turned out to be a lovely light cake. It wasn't totally to my taste, but that was the point.  Custom baking is tailoring the taste to suit one person.  ( My own custom carrot cake had dried raisin's, mixed spice and cinnamon) Neede...

Vegan Carrot Cake My mission today was to bake a carrot cake for the guys at the Pantry.  One of whom hates dried fruit and really doesn't like cinnamon, 2 ingredients I always add.  I like a challenge, especially when it involves changing recipes to suit other peoples tastes.  Made my first attempt this morning, left out the raisins and replaced the cinnamon for mixed spice in the cake batter.  Had an unexpected problem though, I forgot I haven't baked this recipe since I got my new oven.  With my last oven I knew down too the minute how long to leave a cake in, however this one is fan assisted and I'm still trying to work out the times.  When baking vegan cakes, it never a good idea to open the oven door too soon.  The result is always a sunken cake, with a soggy bottom.  I did try to fix the problem by putting it back in the oven, as I hate wasting any food. There was no saving this cake though.  After a taste tes...

10 ways to cook with Carrots   1.  Vegan Moroccan carrot and chickpea tagine    Tried out this recipe today, I didn't have some of the ingredients especially the Ras el Hanout so i improvised and used some mixed spice instead.  Really versatile recipe that would be great with cous cous, rice or just with bread.  2. Roast Carrot soup Simple soap recipe, chop and roast the carrots in the oven till soft.  Then add to a pan with some vegetable stock.  Puree with a hand blender and season to taste.  3. Baked carrot chips Chop your carrots into wedges, toss in some veg oil along with salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 20 - 30 Min's at 200 Celsius.  Great alternative too plain potato chips.  4. Carrot Cake Cookies Another experiment of mine.  Yet again if I can think of it, some one else has probably already tried. There are a few recipes on the Internet, ...

Morrison supermarket own brand  Brownie mix Was half term for the local schools this week, so  my oldest niece joined me on Friday for a spot of baking.   While her younger brother opted too have a male bonding day with his cousin.  In all I have 4 niece's and 2 nephews, there ages range from 11 yrs down too 3 yrs.  There all individuals and have there own unique personalities, lol.   We headed down to our local Morrison's supermarket, with a shopping list for the goodies she wanted to bake.  Then headed straight back and we pretty much spent the whole day cooking and baking. First up Chocolate Brownies, we did cheat and use a pre-made mix for this one.  Picked up Morrison's own brand, which was a 3rd of the price of the Betty Crocker alternative.  Just because somethings cheaper doesn't always mean it's not as good.   The instructions where easy for my niece to follow.  She did all the hard wor...

Wholemeal Banana Soda bread This weeks "Thank Banana its Friday" recipe is for a healthy wholemeal banana soda bread.  It's bit of a mouth full to say!!!!  Greed was my main motivation for creating this recipe.  I just kept dreaming of  peanut butter spread over warm toasted banana bread mmmmm.  It was so good I had it for lunch, whats not to like.   1.  It counted towards one of my 5 a day fruit & veg.   2. The peanut butter is full of protein    3. The wholemeal is a heart healthy grain.   I went one step further and covered the top with sliced banana's mmm.  I had planned to take a picture, but I really couldn't wait to eat it. I've made Banana Scones in the past, so I knew the recipe should work when converted to a wholemeal soda bread.  I made it totally dairy and egg free, and to give it a lighter crumb I used 1/2 wholemeal 1/2 plain white flour.  You could ...

On the menu today at the Pantry was mince and dumplings and eve's pudding with custard.  The mince and dumplings looked just as good as my mothers. While the Eve's pudding was a last minute substitute, that was really popular with the customers.   Scotland = Cold weather = Stodgy food It might be February but it's still feels like winter outside, so stodgy filling food is the best remedy to warm the bones.  Slight dilemma this morning,  we discovered there were only 4 eggs left in the fridge.  To make a traditional jam sponge we need 6 eggs. (It's a canteen, so we make really large puddings) Plus we also needed eggs to scramble for the breakfast break.  Reducing food waste isn't just practised in the home, restaurants and cafes need to watch there costs to keep there prices down.  After checking the fridge we discovered some apples, then after a quick look in the cook books we found  an E...

Reduce Food waste mission I forgot I had lettuce in the fridge!!!!  I'd been food shopping on Saturday night with my mum, and we were able to pick up some bargains.  Food that was either near it's best before or use by date often gets reduced by shops to save it being binned.  In there own way even large supermarkets are trying to reduce there food waste.  I freeze any chilled food that I don't plan to eat that day (Always check the packaging to see if the product can be frozen) Most vegetables can be frozen, however some are best cooked first.    Lettuce being one of those ingredients that doesn't really freeze well.  Luckily the lettuce was still okay, since it was still in its packaging.  With the snow outside it's not the weather for eating salads, so I decided to make a soup instead.  It's one of those recipes you see celebrity chefs make, looks great but not something you'd cook for your self.  The anxiet...

Another first for me today, we made crepes at the Pantry to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. I usually stick to making scotch pancakes, as crepes have always looked really difficult.  Once you've seen some one make them and get the basics down, there really easy to do.  So that add's another skill to my  cooking repertoire. Since I'm lactose intolerant, there was no way I could taste test the pancakes.  I'm getting used to it though, it doesn't really bother me as much as it did.  It was just great to see other people enjoying something I'd made.  So to celebrate Pancake day in style, Iv found a few dairy free and egg free recipes on the internet. Vegan Crepes Taste of home - Egg free spiced Pancakes ppk vegan puffy pillow pancakes If you just want to make a dairy free pancake, try the one from late Grandma's cook book.  It's never failed me yet, just substitute your favourite dairy free milk.  Grandma's A g...

Sunny roast carrot soup The sun might be shining but its freezing cold outside.  On days like these I always crave a warm bowl of soup to heat myself up.  Today's soup of the day was creamy roast carrot,  proving you don't need to add dairy to create a smooth creamy texture.  I never plan what I'm going to cook when I go shopping,  I like to check out what veg looks the best.  Morrison's had a great deal on pre-packed carrots this week, only 50p for 1 kg.  After my success last week of adding roasted mixed veg to my tomato soup, I decided to do the same with the carrots. Roasting root vegetables just intensifies the flavour, making the finished soup even tastier.   I left the skin on the carrots and chopped them into roughly even sized pieces.  Then Tossed them in a little oil with salt and pepper, before roasting in the oven for 30 Min's. I tipped them into a cooking pot and added enough vegetable stock to cover the...

That you can buy Having a limited diet I never assume that anyone I visit will have something I can eat or drink.   Usually I just take my own peppermint tea bags.  So it was a pleasant surprise today when My mum and I popped in to see my brother and his family.  I was sitting down having a lovely cup of Camomile tea, when my brother passed round some penguin biscuits.  He then went back into the kitchen and got me some of my nieces dairy free choc buttons, so I wouldn't feel left out. There Gluten free, wheat free and milk free.  There also really tasty, I know my niece agrees.  Another one one of her favourite dairy free snacks is Fox's Party Rings.  There now doing a Chocolate flavour,  that's also dairy free.   Unfortunately there not vegetarian or vegan due to beef gelatin being one of the ingredients, and there also not free from Gluten, wheat or soya.  Real pi...

Iv decided to make it my mission to post at least one banana recipe a week.  I'm calling it "Thank banana's it's Friday"  Why Banana's?   They do a lot more than just taste good.  1. There a tasty self packaged portable snack. 2 . You can use a mashed banana as an egg substitute 3. There natural sweetness allows me to reduce the amount of sugar I need in a recipe 4. There high in fibre so there perfect for my IBS 5 . Great for giving an energy boost, that lasts longer than caffeine 6.  A great source of  potassium, bananas may also help to promote bone health.  Potassium is also great for your blood pressure. 7. High in other vitamins and minerals 8. . The peel can be used to fertilise your garden, especially good for roses. 9.  Great for Mental Health as it contains a compound called tryptophan , which when converted to serotonin can improve your mood.  10. They have an anti acid effect on th...