Sharabelle bakes

Asian steamed eggs Sharabelles personal philosophy:  The only limits on your own creativity is your imagination.   Iv boiled, fried, baked, scrambled egg's in the past. As well as mastering how to make meringue.  I just bought a new stove top steamer, so I started too wonder if you could steam them as well.   I love googling on the Internet, it reminds me of the lucky bags I used to buy as a kid.  Your never really sure what your going to get.  Seems you can steam eggs. Even better, the recipe is totally dairy free. Egg's are not really a dairy food.  Dairy foods are products made with or use the milk of animals eg cow's, goat etc I'm kind of funny about eggs...... - They must truly be Free Range, and I do check the small print on this one.  Egg's sold as barn fresh aren't always the same thing.   For me it's mainly for ethical reasons, the fact they taste bet...

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...

 Wasted food    Half of all food goes to waste I don't normally buy a newspaper, however I won't turn my nose up at a copy of the Free Metro.  Forget that it's free, it's also very well written.  Yesterdays headline was pretty shocking, globally 2 bn tonnes of food goes to waste!!!!  Problems of starvation, poverty and the credit crunch are all great reasons to avoid wasting food.  When you put food in the bin, your really throwing away money.  One of my pet hates is wasted food.   If I accidently buy something I can't eat because of my food intolerances, I give it to someone that can.   Living on a budget means I  watch the pennies, so I avoid wasting food when ever possible.  Here are some of the Tricks and tips I use to save money and avoid food waste.  First way to avoid food waste - Check the label I always check the label when  I buy something,  for the - use by o...

Dairy free, meat free Shepherd's pie Iv been craving comfort food since the weather got even colder.  One of my favourite comfort dishes is Shepherds pie, so I thought it was time it got the meat free and dairy free makeover.  As a budget baker and cook I always make more than one portion at a time, so I can freeze the other portions.   Your using the same amount of time and more importantly electricity, so why not.   Make your own convenience food for those busy days.... Due to the absence of meat I'm calling this one Shepherd-less pie.  The mushrooms give the filling a meaty taste. While the parsnips add a little sweetness to the top.  It's a lovely hearty winters meal, that tastes great.  This is one veggie only recipe that I know my meat eating family would also love.  Shepherd-less pie - Makes 4 servings Topping 2 parsnips - diced 2 potatoes - diced The smaller the dice the...

 Scotch meat less loaf My Scotch broth mix meat less loaf worked!!!  The slices did turn out a bit thick, so I just pressed them down with my hands.  Sprayed oil into my frying pan and cooked them over a medium heat, as if I was cooking a quorn burger.  It has the same constitency as sliced haggis or black pudding, without any of the  blood and animal organs. So i didn't flip it to much in case it broke up in the pan (I have no problem with blood and offal, it just doens't like me anymore.) The various grains of barley, split peas and lentils give this a great texture to eat.  They also provide the starch that binds them all together. I ate mine last night with sweetcorn and spring onion, topped in a little dairy free margarine.  It really needed some sauce, so I had some lemon mayonnaise.    I love mayo it's one of the few creamy condiments I can still use.  (I love wacky cake recipes...

Have a cake in the oven and Iv just finished licking  bowl clean.  Yup more baking therapy. Would normally be at the Pantry today but had my medical this morning. So pretty much didn't sleep well last night.  My mum went with me, so afterwards to calm me down we went to the nearest Aldi  in Kircaldy.  Well spaced Isles and not too busy, just the way I like to do my shopping.  They have a great deal on fresh fruit and vegetables at the moment.   Mushrooms, butternut squash, mixed peppers, vine tomato's, fun size apples and clementines are all 69p for a pack.  Perfect for budget cooking.  There was no way either my mum or I would use that much vegetables, so we tend to split the packs between us.  That way we both get a wide variety of veggies to eat with out wasting any food.  The only problem  I normally have with shops that Aldi's is they are usually in locations that are only accessible by car.  ...

 Creamy tomato Soup  In the kitchen today..... The Pantry canteen is shut over the weekend,  so perishible food stuff's have to be binned.  I hate any food going to waste so when I found a lot of sliced tomato's where going out,  I decided to liberate them.  (With permission off course) One of my main principles when I'm budget cooking, is to waste less food.  It's better for the environment and it's better for my bank account.  I had one lonely carrot left in the fridge and  plenty store cupboard ingredients. From this I was able to rustle  up a tasty pot of Tomato soup Waste less food soup Fresh Tomatos - chopped 1 carrot - chopped A handful of red lentils 300 ml Vegetable stock - yeast free tomato puree salt and pepper I cooked the chopped tomato's and Carrot in a pan for 5 -10 mins before adding the lentils.  I continued cooking these for another 1-2 mins, before adding the seasoning a...

It's not often I make a point of thanking shop staff, but I've had to do this twice in the past few days. On Saturday Mum and I popped into Sainsbury's cafe for a cuppa before doing some shopping.  Mum was able to get decaffeinated coffee, while I was able to enjoy a soya milk Chai Tea latte.  Costa and Starbucks have been doing dairy free alternative drinks for a while.  However Sainsbury's went one better and had 2 choices of Free From cakes on offer.  I tucked into a Dairy/Gluten and wheat free almond slice.  From my own personal experience this year, not many cafes bother.  While checking out their Free from products later on, I discovered they are now doing there own brand of Miso Paste for £1.99.  You would pay more for Clear Spring 5 single serving of 15g sachet's. Morrisons are also a stand out supermarket for stocking Free From products.  Iv been able to buy, Soya milk, yogurt and spread there for a while.  Today I dis...

Iv had a great weekend so far, my mum came for an over night visit on Saturday.  Was great catching up with her and thankfully I was able to empty the bottom drawer of my freezer of her baked goodies.  As a fellow baker, my mum is chief taste tester.  If my mum enjoys my dairy free recipes, then I know I'm onto a winner.  I think it's important for non dairy eaters to be able to share the same food as full dairy eaters. It's more sociable and a lot less stress. My mum lives nearer the north of Scotland so I haven't seen her for a couple of months.  (We keep in touch by texting and blethering on the phone often)    You can bake a lot in 2 months, which is why when I waved her goodbye this morning she left with the following. - Lemon Loaf cake - Banana, coconut & chocolate chip whoopee cushions - Spiced parsnip cake - Blueberry Muffins  - Taste test approved - Chocolate Orange cake - Chai Tea loaf  - Tas...

EASY SIMPLE AND STRESS FREE Spanish Roast Veg with Bulgar wheat A few months ago my sister in law made a Spanish Chicken dish from The Hairy Dieters   cookbook.  My mum was visiting them for the weekend and my other brother and I went through to have dinner with them all.  Picture the scene, 5 Adults and 2 kids sitting around the table in a small kitchen.  Dave the Dug (dog for non- Scots) was banished to the living room as he hasn't learnt his table manners yet.  It's really rare for all of us to be in the same place at once, unless its Christmas.  So it already was a meal I wasn't going to forget in a hurry.  While the others ate the chicken, chorizo and veg, I just  had the Veg with some  rice.  The veggies were a meal in themselves, and I couldn't wait to veganise the recipe so i could eat it again.  Hairy dieters inspired Spanish Roast Veg    - Makes 2 portions 1 Onion - cut into quarte...

Budget baking and cooking tip Have you noticed in the shops that individual flavoured yogurt pots are more expensive them a whole tub.  If like me you need to buy a dairy free version the price increases further.  I got so  fed up of having to buy 2 kinds, flavoured for breakfast and Plain for baking that I attempted to make my own,  using a bought pot as a starter.  It was a total disaster, and after a little research I worked out I was just as cheap buying it.  So now I just buy one pot and flavour my own.  There's a lot you can do with a pot of plain non dairy yogurt.  It only takes a little time to pimp it up, saving you money on your grocery's shopping.  Use small Tupperware boxes to take a portion of yogurt to work. rather than buying separate pots. My top favourite ways of flavouring yogurt, just mix one of the below into a portion of yogurt. Sweet - 1tsp Dairy free lemon curd stirred into yogurt or try your favour...

Banana and raisin porridge Scotland hasn't had the best weather this year, for every day of glorious sun we've had a of day torrential horizontal rain.   The nights are starting to get colder, and the last thing I want in the morning is a cold breakfast.  So its Porridge time again. As a canny thrifty Scot I thought I'd pass on some of my budget cooking tips, for making a nice hot bowl of porridge.    Forgot buying Flavoured individual pre packed porridge sachet, make your own and save some money. Top tip 1:  Buy a large bag of porridge and weight out a portion. Find a storage container or cup that the amount fits into.  That way when you make your porridge in the morning you don't have to worry about using the scales because you can use the cup/container to measure a portion. Top tip 2:  Instead of using a jug to measure out your milk or water, use the same cup that you used for the porridge. I...

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 ...

Engine Shed Tofu Not a great photo, but believe me this is Scottish Tofu.  Made in Edinburgh at the The Engine Shed , which comprises of a Vegetarian Cafe, Organic Bakery and Organic Tofu production. The Engine Shed isn't just a commerical enterprise, it's also a training initiative for individuals with learning disabilities.  Today I was due to visit Edinburgh Dental Hospital, which unfortunetly for me is also nowhere near the Engine Shed.  The next best thing was visiting   Real foods   Store on Brougham Street, which I knew was one of their stockists. I know most women go to Edinburgh for some retail therapy, not me .  When the list of things you can eat starts getting shorter, you start to look for alternatives.  Iv ordered from Real Foods online store several times but never had an opportunity to visit. Trips to Edinburgh are not my idea of fun!!!!  The Supermarkets and Health stores in my part of Fi...

I don't bake all the time, just most of the time.  I also cook a lot of my food from scratch.  Self preservation really, I got fed up of reading food labels to see if I could safely eat the stuff.  In some cases it takes less time to make a meal than read the bleep bleep labels.  Todays lunch My aim today was to use the tomato's in my fridge that were turning soft. ( Note to self, never buying fruit and veg from Asda again it never lasts.)  They also didn't have much taste.  So I roasted them in the oven at 180 celcius for 30 Min's, then turned off the oven and left them in.  When it was nearer lunch time I added them to a pan with some yeast free veg stock, a splodge of tomato sauce and some salt and pepper.   After a quick blitz from my hand blender, I left the soup to simmer for 20 Min's. Finally I added some basil leaves.  A lovely easy to make creamy tomato soup. Proof that you don't need to add dairy to...