Sharabelle bakes

Its that time of week again, where I blog about the latest recipes/meals Iv made using my favourite fruit the Banana.   I admit some of the recipes I have tried have been ......well strange.  But if you don't try something how will you know if it works? This week I made   Banana coconut muffins   using a recipe I found on www.vegetarian.about.com.    I love muffins, bananas and coconut so why not all three together?   They turned out great, however It's not a food combination am a fan of.  I much rather have an all banana muffin or an all coconut muffin.  Puting the 2 together in a muffin just didn't work for me.   However they did work together in my next experiment.   Banana omelet Did I mention I'm not afraid of trying strange recipes?  So making a banana omelet held no fear for me, no matter how weird is sounds. I'm lactose intolerant and only like to cook with free range eggs, if there the star of the dish.  What better way to enjo

Mental health problems are a part of me, but they don't define who I am... June 2013 - New job SAMH - Scottish Association for Mental Health This time last year (2012) I was attending Tools for Living course with   SAMH - Going Forth.  Tools for living, as the name suggests gave me the tools to live a normal live.  Like physical illnesses no one can wave a magic wand and make the hurt go away.  Through their brilliant support Iv learnt to manage my anxiety and return to paid work.    It's a group therapy course,  which was scary at first but in the end helped me alot.  Being around people, that also have mental health problems made me feel less isolated and alone.  If I told them I had a bad day there was no need to say any more,  they understood.   Go back another year to June 2011-   I still found it difficult to be in busy places or on public transport.  I would take convoluted journeys to get to my destination, just to avoid the busy high street.  My

How many times do you find yourself staring into your  fridge wondering what you could make to eat? My 10 ways to cook blogs are a way of passing on ideas, so you don't always need to cook your favourite vegetables the same way every time.   I lucked out at the beginning of the week,  when I found some fresh spinach in my local Morrison's supermarket.   I love spinach, one of my favourite meals used to be ricotta and spinach cannelloni.  Not had it for a while since  I'm lactose intolerant.   1. Soup The easiest way to cook any vegetable is to turn it into soup.  I made my own simple version with chopped onions, vegetable stock and spinach.  I added the spinach in at the end to wilt, then blitzed with my hand blender.   I turned out a glorious deep green colour and was packed with flavour.   -  Cream of Spinach Soup -  Lentil Soup with Wilted Spinach -  Hearty white bean and spinach soup 2.   Wilted Wilted is kind of a tre

Last Friday I attended a job Interview, got a phone call this Tuesday offering me the job.  Which I start Tuesday next week.  So Iv got a lot to be thankful this Friday. So I'm in extra Thank Banana's its Friday mood today xxx Banana Pancakes  - Vegan Pancakes was one of those recipes that I thought just wouldn't work without using eggs.  I'm a curious person so I decided to find out for myself.   You can make scones without eggs, so why not pancakes.   It works, the finished result was an incredibly light and fluffy banana pancake.  I  like to keep my pancakes in a clean tea towel, when I'm cooking up batches of them.  It keeps them lovely and warm.   I Simply spread the warm pancakes with vegan butter mmmm They tasted great.  This has got to be one of my favourite new recipes. There even better the next day toasted.   Vegan Banana Pancakes 1 Cup Flour 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tbsp Sugar Pinch of Salt 1/2 Cup Soya

I have 2 rules when it comes to cooking with eggs.  1.  They must be free range.  2.  They need to be the star of the recipe.   Angel food cake is a perfect dairy free recipe that puts the egg centre stage.   Google Angel food cake and you will find thousands of recipes.  I decided to make   Anna Olsons  Angel food cake  recipe.    I'm a big Anna Olson Fan.  OK not all her recipes are dairy free but it's a great cooking show to watch for learning baking techniques.   Mini Angel food cake  with cherries If you can make a meringue, you can make angel food cake.  The trick with making meringue is whipping the eggs whites enough.  First time I made them using my electric hand whisk.  Took ages to reach the firm peak stage. However I'd prepared myself with  a mug of peppermint tea and a good book, to stop me getting bored.   Since I got my stand mixer (an early birthday pressie to myself) it's even easier.   Important tips to rememb

It has been sunny here over the last few days. so I have switched to eating salads.  Like a Scottish summer,  better enjoy while it lasts.  It got me thinking, there must be more to lettuce than just using it in a salad. Not all the recipes I find are dairy free or vegan.  Some are easy to change by using dairy free alternatives.  Others give me some great inspiration, to make my limited diet more Interesting.   1.  Soup I forgot that I had lettuce in veggie drawer of my fridge.  It was slightly wilted and not really appetising, so I decided to use it make make soup instead.  It turned out great and I would definitely make it again.   -  Pea and lettuce soup  (Channel 4 food/recipes) -  Nourishing lettuce soup  (tarladala.com) You can use vegetable stock instead if the milk, or swap for your normal dairy free substitutes.   2. Braised For a side dish or light meal, try braising your lettuce.  It works best with whole lettuce cut into quarters.  I have trie

Banana Chocolate Mini Tarts Now my laptop has been repaired I can finally start blogging about my favourite fruit again.   So why Banana's?     As I get older my IBS gets worse and I find more foods I can no longer eat.  Instead of giving up my favourite treats I decided to research dairy free baking recipes and discovered a wealth of vegan recipes.  I was surprised to learn that mashed banana can be used as an egg substitute.   So I started to wonder, what other goodies can be made with the humble banana.  So started my year long quest.   First Experiment: Iv been looking for a chocolate banana ganache recipe for a while I could not find one.  So I finally decided to come up with my own one, by adapting my basic ganache recipe. Basic Ganache Recipe 100g  - Dairy free Chocolate 100ml - Dairy free milk or cream A knob of dairy free butter Place all the ingredients in a glass bowl over a simmering bowl of water.  Make sure the base

I've lived with IBS for nearly 20 years now, and am constantly surprised what manufacturer  add to our food.  I just never thought that it would include Jelly!!!! I am lactose and yeast intolerant and I'm also intolerant to products  made with  or containing meat or poultry.  I have learnt the hard way ( excruciating stomach pain),   that it's best to always check the list of ingredients before eating anything.   We made Trifle for lunch today in the canteen, which had me craving some jelly and fruit.  So I decided to see which Jellies where safe to eat.   Hartley's Ingredients:  Glucose-Fructose Syrup,Sugar  ,Pork Gelatine  ,Citric Acid ,Acidity Regulator: Sodium Citrates ,Acetic Acid ,Flavouring ,Colours: Carmines, Curcumin Hartley's is one of the most popular brands in the UK, however it's not vegetarian or vegan friendly.  I checked out the Sugar Free crystals, but the ingredients do not say where the gelatine is deri

I can live without a microwave but not my computer!!!! Iv finally got my Computer back from the repair shop and I am now back on line, wayyhaa.  As normal If it's  weird or unusual then it's going to happen to me.  The guy at the repair shop has kept my old graphic board, apparently he has never seen one burn out that way before.  After collecting it on Saturday, I had to take it back to the repair shop because it still wouldn't work.........  There was a wire loose, which is pretty much the story of my life....... Base loaf cake recipe: I am a big fan of having great base recipes that can be adapted depending on the seasons or your tastes.  It makes baking so much simpler.  The Traditional recipe for tea loaf is totally dairy free, as the only liquid used is Tea.  I have made this recipe tons of times both with or without eggs, and for me it bakes just as well.  So is easy to also make vegan. I love loaf cakes, especially sliced toasted and spread