Sharabelle bakes

It seems today that people have lost their connection to food.  They don't seem to know where their food comes from.  We buy our food conveniently package. I was lucky growing up my grandad used to be a farmer, and his cousin still farmed cattle.  My dad and grandad loved gardening, they grew fruit and vegetables along with other plants.  There is nothing like eating fresh picked peas from the pod.   There are more chickens in the world than people We grew up knowing where our food came from. It certainly did not come from battery farms.  Our mass consumer culture created the rise of mass production farming.  Globally there are 9 billion chickens, that's 3 for every person.   There is a movement in the UK, to stop all battery hen farming.  Due to the lack of animal welfare that occurs.  These animals do not have a life, as there trapped in cages and never see natural light.  When they can no longer lay eno...

RHUBARB RICE PUDDING WITH COCONUT YOGURT  AND GRANOLA This recipe came about by accident.  I'd been stewing some of my own homegrown rhubarb, to make a fruit compote only to find it released a lot of water.  I had soaked the rhubarb first to clean it, which led to the problem. Watery fruit compote isn't brilliant, so I strained it through a sieve instead.  I was then left with at least 300 ml of rhubarb juice.  I just thought What if?  The jar of rice was right in front of me, so I decided to give it a try. I followed a normal baked rice pudding recipe, but substituted the milk for the rhubarb liquid instead. I didn't have pudding rice, so I used normal white rice.  I think it works just as well.  I set the oven on low and left it to cook.   Baked Rice Pudding 1 1/2 oz/ 50 g of Rice  2 tbsp of sugar 1 pint of milk Place all the ingredients in a casserole dish, and bake in a low oven 150 c or  30...

One of nature's best relationships, is that of bee's and the plants.  It's thought to be million of years old.  Plants have cleverly adapted themselves since then.  Flowers developed a sweet smell even the leaves changed to attract  the bees and other insects to visit. The aim was to make it  easier for their pollen to be transferred.   It's hard to believe that something that we don't consider to be sentient, can be so intelligent.   Bee's are important crop pollinators, which is why it's important for commercial agriculture to be aware of which pesticides kill or harm them.   Pesticides are one part of the reason for the decrease of bee's in our country and worldwide. There is a thought that if a pesticide can kill bees, then it can harm humans and other animals as well.  The health of bees in the area are used as a gauge of health of the environment. Bumblebee conservation Trust - Leaflet Scottish Bumblebees BEEKEEPER...

GLUTEN FREE, WHEAT FREE & DAIRY FREE I was in Sainsburys during the week and discovered they have a new range of Free From Chocolate bars.  I'm really impressed, the majority of supermarkets retailers have their own Free from small chocolate bars. However I've never seen a range as wide as Sainsbury's.   It's great to see a food retailer catering to  consumers who have food allergies or intolerances.  I then went to the cafe for a pot of tea.  I found a choice of 2 Free From options.  Mini Cherry Bakewells and a Chocolate Brownie, both Gluten and dairy free.  I passed these up and had a bread roll with strawberry jam.   It reminded me of the Jam pieces we used to eat for a snack when I was a kid.  Normally we got them as a snack, after we came back in from playing outside.  It was the perfect thing fill us up till tea time.  A jam piece is Scottish for a Jam sandwich.  100g bars of dairy free chocolat...

FLAKED PUDDING RICE Tesco's own brand £0.80 I discovered flaked rice a few years ago, up and till then I'd never heard of it.  It can also be called Flattened Rice.  It was a new product, so I had to try it out for myself.  The great thing about Flaked Rice is that it cooks a lot quicker than ordinary rice.  You can make it on the stove top in 8 Min's, or you can cook for longer in the oven. Wiki - Flattened Rice Speed is a great selling point, another is that it is accidentally Gluten and Dairy Free. It is also really easy to cook.  Making it one of my go to comfort foods.  After writing my Rice dessert recipes blog post, I have been craving coconut rice pudding.  So bought a tin of coconut milk, and made some today.   All you really need to make rice pudding is - rice, dairy free milk, sugar.  I used my coconut rice milk to cook it, then folded in some of my Alpro Coconut Yogurt as well once it had cooled down. Th...

I'm happily sitting here with a cup of peppermint tea, and a tasty marmalade flapjack.  It seems to be a theme with me lately, buying products and not liking the taste.  The last time it was Peanut butter, this time. Product review   Morrisons Thick Cut Marmalade I always have marmalade on rice cakes along with my breakfast in the morning.  I'm very particular about the type of marmalade I like.  I love the kind with Peel in it. It also must have a sharp citrus taste.  Dundee in Scotland has a long tradition of producing marmalade, so it's probably a Scottish obsession.   So I was very disappointed when I tried out Morrisons thick cut marmalade.  It has a nice amount of peel and I nice citrus kick, but then your left with the taste of burnt caramel in your mouth.  Not a very pleasant after taste.   Recipe Review I hate waste, so I wasn't going to throw it out.  So I decided to bake with it instead....

You must be  inebriated, before you can try them DEEP FRIED PIZZA Scotland has a colder climate than the rest of the UK, especially in the North where I was born.  So historically we would eat a lot of carbs because they were also cheap.  Being able to walk into a supermarket and have an endless range of food, is a pretty new phenomenon.   Which is why favourite traditional Scot's meals are - mince and tatties - stovies - porridge - Scotch broth soup.  (must be thick enough to stand a spoon in it) - Oatcakes  - tattie scones For most of the population meat was a luxury and wasn't eaten often.  Stovies was created as a way of bulking out the left overs. So it's not too hard to understand that when it comes to our modern day take away food it tends to be heavy on the carbs. Deep fried Pizza  - from serious eats.  Seems our Scottish classic is now being served in the US. Traditionally in Scotland, the...