Sharabelle bakes

Baking with Cognitive behaviour therapy When I started therapy to help  my mental health problems I never thought Id be using it Bake!!! It helped identify 2 of my most negative thought patterns, I was self critical of myself and had control issues.  I'm not going to lie and say I'm cured and I that don't have the same problems. However knowing your problems and being willing to admit to them, is part of the process of managing them.  In a way this blog started because of my therapy. The stigma associated with having a mental health condition is one of the main problems.  It makes it harder for individuals to ask for help. But If no one talks about mental health problems how are people that haven't experienced it start to understand? Meaning the stigma will always remain.  (this made perfect sense in my head, not sure if it translate well to the written word!!!!)  A few years ago I agreed to bake 100 cookies ...

 Orange and cranberry loaf  After baking my soda bread scones the other day, I was left with a whole orange without the zest and the remaining dried cranberry's.  What to do????  Why bake some more........ I decided to bake a tea loaf cake to take on holiday.   I figure that a loaf cake has the best chance of surviving a trip in a luggage hold. Rather than Cake or muffins, which are more likely to crumble.  It also gives me something to eat when we arrive, in case the flights delayed.  Family and friends have talked me out of packing a carton of soya milk, in case it explodes.  Not sure if that's true or not, but the idea of unpacking soaked clothes did put me off the idea. Slight over kill maybe, but along with IBS food intolerance's I also have an anxiety disorder.  The more prepared I am, the less stressed I'll get.  The less stressed I am, the less stress my mum will be. I really enjoyed taste testing this o...

Baking therapy I don't just bake as a form of  IBS self preservation, I bake because i find it relaxing.  The kitchen is one of the few places I feel in control.  I'm not scared of trying out unfamiliar  techniques, recipes or foods.  Lol, which is a total contradiction to my anxiety disorder.  Where the idea of going some where Iv never been before fills me with panic.  But who said anxiety was logical... So cooking and baking all my food from scratch, helps both my physical and my mental health.  I can understand why people can panic about cooking and baking, especially when a recipe has a long list of ingredients and steps required to make the finished product.  That's why I try to keep mine as simple as possible.  There are days when even I get stressed, on these days I follow some basic CBT  cognitive Behaviour techniques IV been taught to control my anxiety.  CBT is about splitting a tas...

Afternoon Book club What better way to spend an afternoon, than enjoying tea and talking about books we've read.  This months book was Never let me go  by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's recently been adapting into a film starring Keira Knightly.  The book posses questions on the ethics of cloning and donating organs.  Wasn't really a fan of this one. What was the point?  Scientists have found a way to clone individual organs without the need to clone an entire human being.  Lol, books like this always spark a good healthy debate.  I'm in both the afternoon and evening reading group at my local library.  I love to bake for each group, its great having a cuppa tea or coffee and a home baked treat with friends.  This time I made Glazed lemon and poppy seed fairy cakes. I used my Lemon Soda Loaf cake recipe  as the base.  Then folded 2 oz of poppy seeds into the cake batter , before spoo...

Chai Tea loaf with raisins and diced Apples There are always a few childhood memories that stand out, one for me is tea loaf cake.  As a child growing up in Aberdeen I used to go with my granny to the church.  I must admit food was my main motivation.  She would make me soft boiled eggs, which were a great treat.  Then there was the 'Fly cup' after the church service in the hall next door.  A Fly cup or fly cup of tea, was Aberdonian for morning or afternoon tea break.  When i think of the church, I immediately remember the buttered tea fruit loaf.  To this day it's still one of my favourite snacks. Even better it's Dairy free.  I used to buy it until I found a great recipe for making it myself and Iv never stopped.  While I have no problem experimenting with recipes, it's taken me a while to get creative with this one.  I mean how can you make it taste any better?  My first effort was my chai tea loaf recipe....

Necessity is the mother of invention Had a great morning today, while myself and a fellow home baker did a spot of baking for a fundraiser tomorrow.  Was great working with a fellow home baking enthusiast and sharing tips & tricks. Another topic we discussed was the cost of baking, especially in the current economy.  What she kindly referred to as being creative I call watching the Pennie's.  There's a old saying in the UK that Scots are hard to part from there money.  Well in here in Scotland It's people from Aberdeen that have a reputation of being skinflints.  And I just happen to be one.....  When I bake for charity coffee mornings, school fairs or fundraisers I try and make the tastiest treat's with out breaking the bank.  Especially when the charity has offered to cover the cost of ingredients.  No point of baking anything if they don't raise any money.  Some times your the one donating your time, ingredients and electricit...

Dairy and Egg free Scones When looking for Dairy and egg free recipes I found the humble Scone was sadly neglected.  Scones were one of the first things I learnt to make from my mum and one of the first recipes i made Dairy/Egg free.  There seems to be a myth that you need egg's to make them, however Egg's are normally only used to make Rich Scones.  In Budget baking terms there economical on the wallet and in dieting terms, have a  lot less fat than cakes.  There a great base recipe that can be adjusted to make them either Sweet or savoury. Served simply with vegan margarine or served afternoon tea style with Jam and non dairy cream.  Sweet Alternatives - Add 2 oz of Dried fruit or 2 oz of Chocolate Chips along with the sugar. Savoury Alternatives - Substitute Sugar with Chopped Sun Dried tomato's and basil, or Add 1 tsp of mustard and chives. I love to make savoury scones to have with home made soup in winter, as I ca...

Should have been, could have been Banana Chocolate chip loaf cake When I make Banana muffin's or Loaf for myself I always use an vegetable oil based recipe.  However this time the loaf cake was for a friend, so I was making a full Dairy version using a butter based recipe. Should have been simple.  I creamed the butter and sugar together as normal, added the banana, yogurt and flour.  Then folded in the chocolate chips.  Batter looked and smelt great.  I thought I'd learnt from my mistake last week. I'd made one at the Pantry last week that had sunk, thought at the time it was due to the temp of the oven being to high.  This recipe had a lower temp and longer bake time.  What could go wrong!!!  History repeated itself .  In this case my mistake was taking the cake out too soon to check if it was cooked.  Even though I returned it too the oven it was too late.....as you can see from the above result.  ...

Baked Tortillas  Quick, fast and easy tip for making your own Tortilla chips.  There also more healthy for you than bought  fried ones.   I have to watch how much oil I use when I cook, generally I avoid anything that's deep or shallow fried.  You can easily find Gluten free Tortillas in the free from section of most supermarkets.  Iv been making my own for a while and didn't really think anything of it.  I'd been talking about food one day with a friend and mentioned making a sweet version and using yogurt as a dip.  Totally baffled her, till I told her and she had one of those "Doohh" moments when you miss something so obviously simple.  All you need is a Tortilla wrap and a pair of scissors.  Rub oil onto the wrap.  Then cut up into 1/2 then 1/4 then 1/8 just like a pizza.  Pre-heat your oven to 180 Celsius, and place the triangles onto a baking sheet. Cook in oven till lightly ...

Egg Free Baking tip It seems the older I get  the list of things that I'm intolerant too grows.   Apart from a variety of Pulses, fruit and veg I can still eat Fish and Egg's.  After 20 years of having IBS I'm well used to exclusion diets and keeping a food diary's.   Over the last year along with being caffeine and dairy intolerant Iv had to cut out  yeast,  high sugar,  leafy green veg, onions, garlic, meat and poultry.  Lets just say that the person who gave me food poisoning has a lot to answer for!!!!! I love egg's but they have to be free Range and I treat them as a main protein source in my meals.  I'd rather not have to bake with them, and I refuse to buy battery egg's just to bake/cook with.  So iv been looking for egg substitutes for baking.  I did some research and found commercial egg re-placers can be really expensive.  Also not every Dairy free recipe needs an egg, so why spend t...

Supermarkets would love us to think that the only way to cope with a food intolerance is to buy expensive  free   from substitutes that they stock there shelf's with.  However vegan's, vegetarians and people with a restricted diet due to religious belief's have been coping since before supermarkets were created. Lol, I have a tiny kitchen , Limited equipment and a small food budget.  However I still cope, the secret is to make your own food from scratch.  I'v mentioned in previous post's how depressing shopping had become due to all the food labelling I had to check.  I now buy my own ingredients and make my own snacks, yeast free bread and meals without increasing how much I spend on food.  As a canny Scot I'm always looking for ways to save the pennies, so I plan to share my own tips in the hope that others will share their's. Today's  Baking Tip.  Invest in Greaseproof paper.   Instead of buying loaf tin liners or p...

Dairy free spiced pumpkin cake with home made liners I felt like baking today but i'd used all the muffin liners yesterday.  I had plenty grease proof paper, so why not make some myself.  On one hand I felt pretty smug for figuring this out and on the other hand I felt stupid that it had taken me this long to think of it!  All I needed was a ruler and a pair of scissors, cut the paper into 5 inch squares then place in the muffin pan. Allowing the paper to fold over to fit the tin.  Dohh, I'm Scottish so the amount of money that I'm going to save on making my own over wins over my feeling of stupidity.