Sharabelle bakes

Bananas about bananas This is a re-post of an older blog. I had committed myself to year long mission to experiment making as many recipes as possible with my favourite fruit the banana. Why?....... It all started with as a joke during a conversation with a friend, who noted I seemed to add Banana to a lot of my recipes. I had just become totally Lactose Intolerant to the point that I have to read ingredients labels on foods and prescription pills to make sure they don't contain any milk derivatives. (Some pharmaceutical companies use lactose to bulk out pills, since its cheap) I went back to my research roots and started surfing the net looking for dairy free recipes. What I discovered was the wonderful world of vegan baking, Where I learnt that it was possible to bake dairy and egg free.  Banana's make a great substitute for eggs in some recipes. Perhaps it's because I'm Scottish but baking without eggs is pretty appealing, since it costs less money since I ...

Alpro Ice cream When I saw this was on offer at my local Morrisons Store, I decided to treat myself.  The weather has been so hot in Scotland, so perfect for Ice Cream. The Ice Cream was easy to scoop out of the Tub, it has a nice smooth texture and melted on the tongue.  You can just make out the taste of the Hazelnut, through the Chocolate flavour.  It's not as strong a taste as Nutella, but I liked that. They 2 flavours were evenly blended together.  I prefer dark chocolate, so could have done with a stronger flavour.  However those of us that like dark chocolate are in the minority.  I believe this one would be perfect for children.  I didn't become lactose Intolerant until I was an adult, so can only imagine how a child must feel when others get to eat ice cream. The tub is only 500ml and retails at £3:50.  Dairy free ice cream costs more because they need to ensure strict hygiene throughout the process to stop cross cont...

        Milk about to  pass best before date   Waste Not Want not       Since my mum has moved back to Fife, Iv started to buy Semi skimmed milk to keep in the fridge for when she visits.  Only problem I have is I'm left with milk I can't drink because I am Lactose intolerant.   While I always have Dairy free milk in the fridge for myself, I find I only really use it too make hot chocolate or when baking.  Again I end up with the same looming expiration date problem.   I hate throwing anything out let alone food.  I usually pass it on to someone that can make use of it, or in the case of milk.....  I bake.   My mum has not had to buy Scones in a while, since she has a constant supply ready to defrost from my freezer.  Funny enough my bottom freezer drawer is now totally taken over with baked goods for my mum.  This weeks Waste not Want not post is ded...

It's Banana's It's Friday again, so time for more banana themed recipes.  Part of my ongoing mission to make as many meals and recipes using my favourite fruit.  As I am lactose intolerant, all the recipes have to be dairy free. I've been craving a banana ice cream sundae since we made banana splits for dessert at work.  Lucked out and found my local Morrison's had some Swedish Glace dairy free ice cream in the freezer section.  Perfect timing. Caramel and banana sundae Took a lovely big scoop of dairy free ice cream , topped it with sliced banana and dairy free caramel sauce.  I've not had ice cream dairy free or otherwise in over a year, so forgive me for getting a bit to excited about it.  The Vanilla Swedish Glace tasted lovely and had a great texture, well worth the wait.   Some of the best recipes come about due to necessity, in this case I had run out of yogurt for breakfast. I am not really a big smoothie fan, i ...

Craved a scooby snack last night and remembered I'd frozen a banana before it went bad.  I've got to give a big shout out to all the vegan blogger's out there.  Who with out this advise, I may have never eaten ice cream  again.  (I'm Scottish, have you seen the price of non dairy ice cream in the shops!!!!)  Banana and chocolate soft serve 1 serving 1 Frozen sliced banana   - 1 tsp cocoa powder soy milk or yogurt to mix (agave nectar to sweeten to taste) Equipment blender Put the banana and cocoa powder in the blender and pulse to break up.  Add some milk to allow the blender to break down the banana.  Pulse and blend till your happy with the texture. The frozen banana freezes the soy milk to create a soft serve consistency.  Watch how much milk you use or you'll end up with a milk shake.   Also if you blend for too long, the heat of the motor will melt your mix.  Scoop into a bowl....