Sharabelle bakes

Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Beef Roast with red wine & shallot glaze I wasn't looking forward to Christmas this year since it was the first one since dad had died. As someone with Mental health problems the festive season is not my favourite.  From my own personal experience it brings out the worst not the best in people.   So this year I decided to hibernate with a stack of books and some good food, my own idea of personal bliss.  The books turned out to be a great plan since the festive TV was so abysmal.  The food however had mixed reviews.   I started with my normal breakfast a lovely bowl of Scottish porridge, topped with fruit, yogurt, mixed seeds and a drizzle of honey.  As a nod to my favourite Childhood Christmas memories I then had a little chocolate. For lunch I planned to cook Vegetarian Beef Roast severed along with baby potatoes and Brussels sprouts.  I had really been looking forward to it, so was ...

Sainsbury supermarket has one of the most comprehensive ranges of Free From foods.  There free from  Christmas  selection has also increased as well.  When I think of Christmas festive food, mince Pies immediately pop up in my mind.   Mince Pies are a main part of our British Christmas food traditions.  Thought the ones we eat today contain no minced meat. The originally ones were filled with a mix of minced meat, suet, dried fruit and spices, which usually included cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  Only the rich could afford to buy spices, so were served to guests as a status symbol to show their wealth.   Modern mince pies thankfully no longer contain meat and the suet used is vegetarian not beef.  Households would have there own special recipe of mince meat, with their preferred blend of dried fruit and spices. They could soak the filling in brandy or rum. If you chose to make your own it has to be mixed clockwise as doi...

Christmas time is one of the hardest times of year for me, for  a lot of reasons.  Christmas reminds is of the people are who are no longer here.  This will be the first one without my dad.   It's a difficult time of year for those of us with mental health problems. My  depression and anxiety get worse, I find busy shops and streets hard to deal with.  My food intolerances increase my anxiety as well.  I dread the idea of eating out or being invited to someones house. Not everyone knows how to cater for those individuals with food intolerances.  I often wonder how many people feel they can't or just avoid inviting them at all.  There are so many foods that are naturally gluten and dairy free.   Free from foods are now more economical and readily available in our local supermarkets.  I've done some research and found ideas to share.  Hopefully making it easier for everyone this festive season.   ...

Eggnog - What is it??? The traditional eggnog recipe is a basic homemade custard, spiced and thickened with egg. Cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are the main spices used, a dding alcohol is optional.  you can serve it either hot or cold depending on your preference.   Even though the recipe originated in the UK, it's more popular in the USA. The drink seems to be mentioned or featured in nearly every American Christmas movie.  Frankly I had to look it up as I had no idea what was in it. It sounds really similar in taste to a chai tea latte, one of my personal favourite hot beverages.   It's not exactly vegan friendly recipe, however I've found some great dairy free recipes that you can make instead. Girl makes Food blog Vegan Egg - girl makes food I really like this recipe, it looks quick and easy to make.  It also includes my favourite fruit banana  Vegan Eggnog Recipe - BBC good food This recipe takes a little time as,...

Tis the season to be jolly Buying Christmas presents for people with food allergies or intolerances, can be hard.  Free From foods can be more expensive than regular varieties, so they are  perfect gift idea. My mum always makes sure I have my favourite Dairy free Caramels filled Chocolates in my Christmas stocking.    This Christmas there seems to be  a greater variety of free from food products available in our  supermarkets.    There are gingerbread stars and christmas tree's to bake with the rest of the family.  Selection boxes to put in their stockings.  Mince pies and christmas cake to suite everyones taste.   There are also plenty savoury ingredients to make your Christmas dinner meal perfect.  There are gluten and dairy free pastries, so you can bake your own pies or tarts.  Along with Gluten free crackers and dairy free Cheese.   Down below is a small selection of m...

Traditional scone's One of my favourite topics of conversation is food.  I can get over exciting talking about food and recipes.   I often take it for granted that people have the same cooking knowledge as I do.  However I've come to realise that I was lucky to have a mum and grandma to teach me how to cook and bake. Over the years Iv discovered a lot of ways of how not to do things in the kitchen. For me kitchen disasters, are just a way of learning what not to do. This knowledge comes in handy when people ask me for advice.  Scones is top of the list of recipe that I'm asked about.    There are 2 recipes below that I use, the second one is for soda bread.  When my hands started to get bad due to fibromyalgia, the soda bread recipe was the  easiest  one to make.  Sometimes we have to adapt the way we could and bake to make up for health problems.   TOP TIPS Mindful baking   I practise m...

Gluten free When you have a food intolerance there are certain things you miss more than others.  One of those things for me is Jaffa cakes.  So I was really pleased to find Kelkin  gluten free jaffa cakes in my local morrisons. They are what I call accidently dairy free,  they contain egg so they are not vegan.   Kelkin produce gluten free foods, so they advise that their products might contain milk, eggs or nuts. For insurance reasons food producers have to put this on their labels, incase there is cross contamination with the other products they make.   I'm only lactose intolerant so there okay for me to eat, if you have a milk allergy they may not be suitable. Wouldn't it be great if we could just go grocery shopping without having to check all this information. Taste wise they reminded me exactly of the original Jaffa cake.  The base a soft cake, the layer of orange jelly made using pectin from fruit and finally the ...

Live Strong Health Benefits of eating Seeds Seeds are not just for breakfast, I've found lots of ways of using them when preparing food.  There a great natural way of replacing vitamin pills.   I don't really believe in taking vitamin pills, unless they are specifically recommended by your Doctor.  My Doctor advised me to take calcium pills since I'm lactose intolerant. However trying to find a brand that does not contain lactose is really hard.  Which kind of defeats the point.  So now I try and get my calcium from my food and by eating fortified non dairy products. Main Benefits - Seeds contain more fibre per ounce than nuts.   - Good source of Protein - Contain vitamins and minerals There great as a snack or can easily be added to a lot of recipes.  The crunchy texture works well with a lot of dishes.   FOOD IDEAS -  Use Sesame seeds instead of tahini when making hummus or other dips.  Tahini is made by p...

I've grown up loving oatcakes, one of our traditional Scottish food products. We used to eat them with cheese, or served with soup instead of bread.  They are also a great served with homemade Scottish Stovies.  Personally I love them topped with hummus and sweet pickle.   Since I gave up Gluten to help manage my IBS, I switched to oatcakes because they are a lot cheaper than Gluten free bread.  Real oatcakes our naturally gluten and dairy free, however I always check the list of ingredients.   Traditional Scottish Oatcake Recipe Oatcakes must be made with 100% Oats, I get annoyed at recipes or food manufacturers that add in flour.   Im glad to say my favourite Brand Nairn, makes them the traditional way. The majority of their products are vegetarian and vegan.  They have now also added a   Gluten free - Nairn  range. Along with their traditional oatcakes, they also make a sweet biscuit version.   The most recent one Iv...