Category: Coeliac Disease

When making snow dragons and other mythical creatures, keep your energy up with chestnut biscuits!

These delightful biscuits have a crisp crunchy outside and a cake textured middle. They are so easy to make and do taste very sweet  – ideal served with a sweet wine at Christmas, after walking in the snow (doing some exercise to burn off the calories, obviously!) Or after expending energy making snow men/creatures in the cold like IMG_0789 the dragon in the picture above, we made him about 3 years ago. I often wondered what people thought of him, we made him along a country walk near to where we live, I think he probably lasted two or three days. The biscuits are wheat, dairy, egg and gluten-free and should be suitable for most people following a low fodmap diet – as long as you tolerate almonds, as almonds can be rather high in fodmaps but obviously, this also depends on how much you add to a recipe and you could always use more gluten/wheat free flour to replace the almonds if you are following the exclusion phase of the Low fodmap diet. IMG_0792

Ingredients

250g dairy free margarine

100g icing sugar

40g soft brown sugar

260g of wheat and gluten-free plain flourIMG_1612

40g of ground almonds

1 x 250g tin of sweet chestnut spread

Icing sugar to dust

Method

It couldn’t be easier – add all ingredients in to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer till all the ingredients have been incorporated into a stiff batter.

Spoon about a tablespoon size drop on a greased baking tray and cook at gas mark 6/200 degrees C, till nicely browned.

Place on a cooling rack and sprinkle with icing sugar, I’m not sure if they are really a cake or a biscuit – I suppose this depends on whether it goes hard or soft on standing (cake goes hard once stale, biscuits go soft.) Will have to let you know.

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Christmas Eve special supper – spicy saffron red pepper and courgette/zucchini Quiche

IMG_1610

Low Fodmap, low lactose, wheat free + gluten-free.

Ingredients

200g of gluten free wheat free flour mix.

90g of milk free margarine

Pinch of salt

(or 1 packet pastry mix for gluten free, wheat free pastry – this can contain chickpea flour, so make your own if you have problems with lentils and chickpeas)

pinch of saffron

4 tablespoons of water

1-2 red peppers

1 courgette/zucchini

1 red chilli

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon of turmeric

saffron-rex1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 oz of finely grated fresh parmesan.

Salt to taste.

Method

Place a tablespoon of just boiled water into a cup and add the saffron, leave for approximately half an hour to release the colour and flavour.

Weigh out the flour, add salt (if not a packet mix) and rub in the margarine, add the water and saffron mix to the pastry. Bring the dough together, work it well – the better it is worked in, the easier you will find it to use.

Roll out the pastry on a well floured (gluten and wheat free!) board or roll between two sheets of cling film. Line the base of a flan ring/dish. Cut out circles or shapes for the top of the flan.

http://animatedtoast.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/santa-imposter-gallery.html

Break the four eggs into a bowl and mix well, add chilli powder, salt and turmeric, mix well.

Use a small amount of the egg mix as a wash for the base of the flan and the cut out shapes. Bake these for 15-20 minutes in an oven set a gas mark 5 or 190 degrees C. Also add to the oven a baking tray containing sliced pepper, finely chopped chilli, sprinkled over smoked paprika and spray oil. Place the peppers at the top of the oven till roasted.

Slice the courgette.

Cool the pastry, grate the parmesan. add the courgette to the base of the flan, then layer on the pepper. Pour over the egg mix, decorate with the pastry discs and sprinkle over the cheese. Cook at gas mark 6 or 200 degrees C, for approximately 20 minutes. Exclude the chilli if you find it too much for your digestion. Check your spices are wheat and gluten free if you need to.

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Remember, remember the 5th of November – bangers and roots!

I hated history at school, queen this, king that, on this date such and such, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah yawn, zzzzzzz , then awoke with a start as my head dropping forward jolted my brain awake, before the teacher noticed – I hoped. It all seemed to merge into one confusing mess, I could never remember any of it, even with a very young brain. Perhaps it was the way that it was taught, I don’t know, or perhaps it didn’t really appeal to me. No Horrible Histories for us as children, wish I had this when I was younger. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7exoXGUbIA

I have found as I have got older that actually I am quite interested in history, linking historical events to festivals is one very good way of remembering. Guy Fawkes was part of a band of catholics who plotted an assassination attempt against James the first and others at the state opening of parliament in 1605. He was found just about to light the gunpowder, arrested, sentenced then hanged, drawn and quartered – nasty business! The discovery of the plot is commemorated every year with bonfires – traditionally with a burning Guy, fireworks and lots of warming food to eat!

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/File:Sparkler.JPG

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t’was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England’s overthrow.

By god’s mercy he was catch’d
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.

I found the above copy of the traditional poem on the website for Leigh School – some really cool information on celebrations – check it out here

http://www.leighinfants.co.uk/southendpn/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=print&ceid=68

Now on nights were you want to be out watching fireworks and doing other fun stuff cooking is probably in the back of your mind. How about this bangers and roots recipe? – really simple to make, FODMAP friendly and just the ticket to eat outdoors, if you wish. If you are having a barbecue you can put these vegetables on skewers instead and put them on the barbie.

Ingredients

1 orange carrot

1 purple carrot

1 yellow carrot

2 Parsnips

Small handful of chopped pumpkin

Small handful of cherry tomatoes (care with the amount)

1/2 dozen gluten-free sausages (if you are following a Low FODMAP diet please check flavoured sausages for onion and garlic powder.)

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil.

Method

Wash vegetables and peel carrots, parsnip and pumpkin, chop. Chop potato with skins on and add them all to a large baking tray. Pile ’em all in – no need to be prissy about it.

Drizzle over garlic infused oil and lay the sausages on the top. Sprinkle over the chilli powder and smoked paprika, add a small amount of salt (I didn’t need salt – perhaps you should taste it after cooking and add it if needed.)

Place in an oven (or on the barbie, cut vegetables thinner and skewer) gas mark 6.

Cook at the top of the oven till nicely browned – yum, a real crowd pleaser on a chilly November night (the purple carrot looks a bit burned, I assure you it’s not – it’s just the dark purple colour, perfectly done!) This should keep you warm whilst outside enjoying the festivities, serves three.

Take care with your real bangers and keep your furry critters in the house away from harm.

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Kedgeree, breakfast like a king! Low FODMAP, low lactose, wheat free, gluten free

Imagine that you are in Edwardian England and a rather wealthy person! As part of the many breakfast choices would be this dish, originating in India and traditionally composed

Downton Abbey cooks Kedgeree

of hard-boiled egg, fish and rice. You can just taste the opulence, great to breakfast like a king – but this meal is great for a light brunch, served on wheat free bread also – really yummy! I often like to imagine if I was alive in Edwardian times as I love the dresses and the lifestyle – but the reality would be more likely to involve wearing plain clothes, clogs and working in the mills in Lancashire, as my relatives did!

© IWM (D 25995)

This dish is very mild, no spicy hot flavours, just like a fishy korma – some of the Lancashire men I spent my early working career with, used to call chicken korma ‘chicken soft lad’ and were merciless in their deriding of any man choosing this option when going out for a curry after the pub! However its good and mild for dodgy guts, so enjoy your fish ‘soft lad!’ If you have coeliac disease then check your spices have not been contaminated with gluten! My version of this wonderful dish is as follows:

Ingredients

175g of smoked Haddock

175g of Basmati Rice

4-5 dry green cardamom pods

5cm strip of cassia bark

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander

300 mls of lactose free milk

4 teaspoons of cornflour

2 hard boiled eggs.

Method

Poach the haddock in lactose free milk until cooked, drain off the milk and retain for the sauce. Flake the fish and remove any bones and retain till later.

Add the rice to a pan, cover with water about 2 cm above the rice and add crushed green cardamom, cassia bark, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, when boiling turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Remove cardamon pods and cassia bark. Cool.

Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes and cool under running water, remove shell and cut into slices – retain till later.

Add oil to a pan with the rest of the spices and cook till the spice aroma is released. Add cornflower to the pan and cook for about a minute. Slowly add milk to the pan – this will form a thick paste initially and needs to be mixed well to avoid lumps. After 1/3 – 1/2 of the milk has been added you can add the rest quickly and bring to the boil and stir till thickened.

Add the sauce to the rice, add fish and mix well, taste and add more seasoning if needed. Warm in the microwave prior to serving, serve with sliced eggs on the top.

If you are interested in Edwardian food check out the following website http://downtonabbeycooks.com/

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Bilberry and lemon fairy cakes – gluten free, low fodmap, dairy free, lactose free.

Went on the hunt for bilberry again – however a less successful foraging trip. Hiked for two and a half hours up hills, through bramble (will be back for bramble berries later next month!) and over bogs and moorland. I did find some, but less that last time and really only enough to add to cake, or breakfast, or yoghurt. I chose to bake some fairy cakes, as I will take some in to work on Friday and share them (keeps the family from eating them all – a good tip!) The weather was a little cloudy but I did see a little sun, I am glad that I decided to go in the morning as it is raining again now, but this is the reason we have such beautiful plants and wonderful countryside.

Ingredients

175g of wheat free gluten-free self raising flour*

125g dairy free margarine

175g of golden castor sugar

juice and grated peel of 1 lemon

A few bilberries (depends how many you can gather!)

1 cap full of vanilla extract.

2 eggs

Icing sugar and decorations (please ensure these are gluten-free if coeliac and following gluten-free diet, however a small amount of contamination from wheat should not cause a problem if you are following the Low FODMAP diet)

Method

Heat up your oven to gas mark 4.

Add margarine and castor sugar and vanilla essence to a mixing bowel and mix till pale with a hand mixer.

Add 1 egg and a tablespoon of the flour to the mix.

Mix till well incorporated. If the mix curdles slightly (starts to separate) you should add a little more flour.

Add the other egg and another tablespoon of flour and repeat the above process.

Grate the rind off the lemon and add to the bowl and mix well.

Add the flour and fold the mix using a metal spoon till all the flour is incorporated.

Cut the lemon in two and juice on half – add to the mixture and mix well.

Add bilberries and mix.

Spray silicone moulds with spray oil add some mixture to each, this makes about 15 buns.

Cook for 20 minutes or until golden and well risen.

Place on a cooling rack – do not remove the buns from the cases till fully cool, or you may find that they stick.

Juice the other half of the lemon and add to a bowl incorporate icing sugar into lemon juice till you have a runny consistency. Drizzle icing sugar over the buns and add decoration.

These are no higher in fats and sugar than normal buns – but they are high, so have one, don’t eat too many if you have IBS, as fat can cause symptoms if you eat too much. Share the rest with friends and see if they can tell that they have no wheat. *Please watch the flour if you are following a low fodmap diet as some gluten-free wheat free flour contains psyllium husk flour – to keep things moist, this can cause symptoms for some people.

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Day 3 – getting complacent?

Just look at my scones, aren’t they just perfect? Guess what? I made them without the recommended 28g of oil – so slightly lower in fat too, so I’m not just thinking of gluten-free now, but healthy eating – multi tasking diva, lol! They were from a packet mix so I suppose I cheated a little but so what? Just a good food for a treat, they are a little better having been made for a day and they don’t have the ‘bicarbonate’ taste you sometimes can get after eating scones. So all good then?

Well, perhaps I speak too soon – all was not perfect with the pasta I made for my lunch. I followed the instructions on the packet. I always tell people to do this, since a previous experience of ending up with a lump of starch once when preparing gluten-free pasta. I was stirring the pan as advised as tasted the pasta which was a little too al-dente, then in a matter of seconds it went very mushy. I have still prepared my pasta salad for lunch so I will report back how this tastes later today.

I’m up early today, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for whatever the day may bring. Reflecting on things this morning and I do feel that it is really important as a dietitian not to impose your food likes/dislikes on others, I have always been somewhat aware of this when I recommend sip feed drinks to patients but also in clinic. I recommend those people who are newly diagnosed coeliac, it is really important to try as many different foods as possible as we all like different food. I may not like many of the gluten-free biscuits, for example, but others may – so I would advise to try again with foods if you are struggling with. So don’t let my feelings on gluten free biscuits cloud your judgement, they are worth trying for a treat. This is also good advice for people who have been coeliac for a number of years and who are stuck in a rut of eating the same food all the time – my experience over the past few days is that even in a short period of three years the choice of gluten-free food has improved significantly.

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