Sharabelle bakes

Been a bit busy the last few days, so haven't been able to blog.   I discovered on Sunday that my Brothers planned to start my kitchen re-furb on Tuesday night.  Was slightly surprised and kind of panicked. The plan is to take down the old pantry wall and make the kitchen larger.  I've put off decorating this room since I moved in over 13 years ago.  I just couldn't handle the thought of the noise and disruption involved, however I'm finally biting the bullet.   Iv CBT (Cognitive behaviour Technique) the problem.  I'm okay getting work done in the house as long as am not there when it actually happens.  Iv had to accept that there are some anxiety triggers that will always be there.  The only solution is to work round them.   Lucky for me my brothers stepped in to help.  So while they did the first stage last night, I went to my local library book club.    Then got a call from them saying they were done.   Got a...

I  Pomegranate Having I.B.S and an anxiety disorder, I avoid eating food with E number  as much as possible.  Or to be more specific any foods that have additives.  The more I avoid, the happier my digestive system is.   From an anxiety point of view, one of the side effects is that I can get really really really hyper.  Think of a stone rolling down a hill gathering speed, and that's without any extra stimulants.  I stick to herbal tea and pretty much stay far away from too much sugar or caffeine.  I hate to think what extra food additives do to me..... So my latest food experiments have focuses on how to create natural colour and flavouring in my food.  One way of doing this is creating your own natural fruit simple syrups.   Basic Fruit Simple Syrup 1 Cup Fruit (Berries, cherries, pineapple, mango and banana) 3/4 Cup Sugar 1/3 Cup Water Cook all the ingredients together in a saucepan.  Smash...

Are You Banana's about Bananas? Well I am...... One women's ongoing mission to make as many weird and wonderful recipes as possible using the humble banana.   When I first started experimenting with Dairy free and vegan baking, I learnt that Banana's were  a wonderful alternative ingredient.  The only extra worked required, was the fun job of mashing them to a puree.  Since then Iv been kind of obsessed chasing down as many global recipes as I can find using my favourite fruit. First Experiment:   Lately Iv been trying to find recipes for a Banana Caramel sauce , without much success.  There are lots of recipes for banana's cooked in caramel sauce, but they weren't what I was looking for.  I decided to take another track, and find a recipe that I could easily convert Banana Caramel sauce I found a great recipe for dairy free   Apple Cider Caramel sauce recipe   from www.babble.com. Which uses apple cider, r...

Millionaire shortbread I was experimenting making vegan caramel sauce on Friday.  I was pretty pleased with the results considering it was my first time.  My main problem was "What do I do with it now!!!"....... I'd made more than Id expected, and somehow I hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider what I was going to use it for.  I knew it would keep for a week in the fridge and tasted great as a spread on homemade scones.  However I didn't think my digestive system could handle that much sugary food.  I'm intolerant to artificial sweeteners and have to limit the amount of sugary foods I eat.  Which is why most of my recipes have a reduced sugar version.  Or use fruit to naturally sweeten them.   So it was perfectly logical to attempt to make a vegan version of a recipe that Id never made before, full dairy or otherwise.    I made a vegan shortbread biscuit base and allowed it too cool before pouring th...