SOYA RICE PUDDING

ADAPTED FROM:
Alpro Soyas Online Recipe - I tryed this recipe with solely soya milk (no soya cream) as it said it will work fine but it didnt work - it was way too runny, a little too sweet and hardly any rice in it!

AND

Delia Smiths Online Recipe - This seemed to have better quantitys of ingredients so i replaced the dairy products with dairy free products.

RECIPE
4 oz (110 g) pudding rice
750ml (3/4 carton) Sweet Soya Milk (Tescos Sweetened Soya Milk)
1 carton (250ml) Alpro soya dairy free alternative to single cream
1½ oz (40 g) golden granulated or caster sugar
1 whole nutmeg
1 oz (25 g) dairy free butter e.g vitalite + enough to lightly grease the ovenproof dish.
Round ovenproof dish with a diameter roughly of 9 inches (23 cm), 2 inches (5 cm) deep

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C). Lightly grease the ovenproof dish
   


2. Place the rice and sugar in the ovenproof dish, pour in the soya cream and soya milk and give it all a good stir.
   


3. Grate the whole nutmeg all over the surface (it may seem a lot but it needs it), then, finally, dot the butter on top in little flecks.
   


4. Next just carefully pop the dish in the oven on the centre shelf and leave it there for 30 minutes, then slide the shelf out and give everything a good stir. Repeat the stirring after a further 30 minutes, then pop the dish back in the oven to cook for another hour, this time without stirring. At the end of this time the rice grains will have become swollen, with pools of creamy liquid all around them, and, of course, all that lovely skin!

Notes:
If when you take it out the oven its not thick enough for your liking, switch off the oven and leave it in the warm oven whilst you are eating your dinner! Warning: the longer you leave it the more stodgy it becomes so keep an eye on it. Tastes yummie, thick and creamy and has thumbs up from my whole family. I am also going to be trying another recipe for rice pudding that involves coconut milk and soya milk, if it works i will add it to the blog.

ETA coconut milk and soya milk also works : see below and cook in the same way as above

RECIPE

4 oz (110 g) pudding rice

600ml (3/4 carton) Sweet Soya Milk (Tescos Sweetened Soya Milk)

1 can (400gram) Coconut milk (not the light versions as they are too watery)

1½ oz (40 g) golden granulated or caster sugar

1 whole nutmeg or cinnamon stick (just place the whole cinnamon stick in and remove when cooked)

1 oz (25 g) dairy free butter e.g vitalite + enough to lightly grease the ovenproof dish.

Round ovenproof dish with a diameter roughly of 9 inches (23 cm), 2 inches (5 cm) deep

Rhubarb & Berry Crumble

ADAPTED FROM:
Book: Gluten Free Cooking
Author: Sue Shephard
Page: 129
Recipe: Blueberry and Rhubarb Crumble

RECIPE:
700g Rhubarb Stalks (cut into 3cm pieces)
1/2 cup of Granulated Sugar
2 x 425g tins mixed berrys* or blueberrys in syrup, drained
*e.g Blueberrys, Cherrys, Raspberrys
3 tablespoons pure icing sugar
3/4 fine rice flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
60g dairy free butter e.g Vitalite
Alpro Soya custard to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm/8 inch square or round baking dish
   
2. Combine the rice flour, brown sugar and dessiccated coconut in a bowl and roughly mix together. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Place the mixture to the side for later use.
   
3. Combine the rhubarb and Granulated Sugar in a large saucepan of boiling water and cook for about 10 mins or until tender. Cool in the liquid for 10 minutes (this helps retain the rich red colour). Drain
   
4. Place the cooked rhubarb, drained berrys and icing sugar in a bowl and stir until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish.
   
5. Sprinkle the 'breadcrumb' mixture evenly over the fruit in the baking dish.
   
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until Golden-ish brown. Serve with Cold Custard.

NOTES:
Serve this dessert to your wheat-eating friends and they will never know its wheat free, infact my family found it nicer than any wheat filled crumble! You could adapt this dish to make any other fruit filled crumble e.g apple crumble (stew the apples in a pan with sugar first). This is mouth-wateringly scrumptious and i can bet you will go back for seconds! (serves 8 small portions or 4 large portions).

PRODUCT OF THE DAY

Best Packet Wheat Free Bread Rolls:

Dietary Specials Rustic rolls (4 multi-seeded breaded rolls)

I only discovered these before having my gallbladder operation and they were a saviour to take into hospital with me. These are the most softest wheat free bread-like rolls i have discovered. Although not spot-on to real bread rolls, these are the most enjoyable packet bought bread i have found. Once filled with tuna and salad with lashings of salad cream or toasted and buttered with honey they taste, well actually, delicious! Ironically, i have tried dietary specials brown multigrain bread (which i assumed would have similar ingredients to the rolls) and hated it, so don't miss out on trying the rolls thinking they taste the same if you have previously tasted the bread, completely different!!

I Purchased the rolls from the nutri centre in tescos (bournemouth) for £2.49 (or you can also buy them online at goodness direct here link). The ingredients are pretty good also with no nasty hydrogenated fat which you find in most wheat free packet-bought bread.

Ingredients: water, maize starch, rice flour 6,8%, linseeds 5,9%, wholemeal rice flour 4,6%, sunflower seeds 4,28%, sugar beet syrup, buckwheat flour, vegetable fat (non-hydrogenated palm fat), thickeners: guar gum and E464, potato starch, yeast, apple juice concentrat, salt, soy protein isolate, acidifcant: tartaric acid.

THREE BOOKS I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND

1.The Big Book of Wheat-free Cooking (Includes Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free & Reduced Fat Recipes) By Antoinette Savill

• Available @ Amazon here
  
• ISBN-10: 0007154526
• ISBN-13: 978-0007154524

Over 180 recipes (Please note all not meat/dairy free and doesnot have pictures which i tend to like a recipe book to have)


2.EatWellLiveWell with Gluten Intolerance (Gluten-Free Recipes & Tips) By Murdock Books

• Available @ Amazon here
  
• ISBN-10: 1740459601
• ISBN-13: 978-1740459600

A5 Sized Book packed full of recipes (192 pages) inc pictures (Please note all not meat/dairy free)



3.How to Cook for Food Allergies (A Guide to Understanding Ingredients, Adapting Recipes & Cooking for an Exciting Allergy-free Diet) By Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne

• Available @ Amazon Here
  
• ISBN-10: 1905744048
• ISBN-13: 978-190574404

A great book for people who are ready to move to the next level and experiment and adapt there own recipes or recipes found in other books with dairy in etc.


With these three books you will be spoilt for choice with recipes (check out your local library to 'trial' them!)

SMOKED HADDOCK & PEA RISSOTO

TAKEN FROM:
Book: Low Gi CookBook
Author: Louise Blair
Page: 82
Recipe: Smoked Haddock and Pea Risotto

RECIPE:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 Small onion, finely chopped
350g (11 1/2 oz) Arborio Rice
900ml (1 1/2 pints) Boiling Wheat free veg stock (Brand Rec: Marigold Bouillon)
1 small glass of dry white wine (optional - replace with same amount of veg stock)
350g (11 1/2 oz) Smoked Haddock Fillet, skinned and cubed
200g (7 oz) Frozen Peas
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped chives
Pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large, non-stick pan, add the onion and fry for 2-3 mins until beginning to soften.
   
   
2. Stir in the rice, coating it in oil, then pour in the wine (or equivalant amount of stock) and allow to absorb.
   
   
3. Add a ladleful of stock at a time, allowing each amount to be absorbed before adding the next. Stir constantly, preferably with a wooden spoon. With the last ladleful of stock add the haddock and peas and cook for a further 5 minutes untill the fish flakes easily.
   
   
4. Stir in the chives and season well with pepper. The process will take about 20-25 mins.
   
   

NOTES:
I have tried to put in the stock all at once opposed to ladle full at a time and found it became a gooey mess so it is worth adding a ladleful at a time and stirring frequently. Although alittle more effort the taste of the dish is to-die-for and it is both mine and my fiances favourite meal. Enjoy!

PRODUCT OF THE DAY

My Favourite Dairy Free Milk:

Tesco's Sweetened Soya Milk which can be found in the longlife milk section - its non-gm, has added calcium, identical ingredients to Alpro-soya and is cheaper @ 63p per 1ltr (alpro soya 84p per litre @ tescos.com and much more elsewhere!). For all my recipes i always use this milk unless stated. My taste rating 5/5

CHOCOLATE/CHERRY CAKES

ADAPTED FROM:
Book: Carol Vordermans Detox Recipes
Page: 76
Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

RECIPE:
175g (6oz) Doves Farm Gluten Free White BREAD* flour
125g (4oz) Fine Cornmeal (Dunns River Cornmeal 500g - 55p @ tesco)
1 tablespoon (15ml) of Gluten Free Baking Powder (Brand: Supercook)
2 tablespoons of wheat free 100% cocoa powder (i used sainsburys own)
100ml of rapeseed oil
200ml of soya milk (or rice/almond/oat/sesame milk)
125ml of clear honey
1 Free Range Egg
1 Teaspoon of vanilla essence
75g chopped dairy free chocolate (green & blacks, aldis special own etc)
75g Fresh chopped cherrys (remove stones & chop to size preffered)
Optional: 75g of dairy free chocolate (to melt for topping - preffered!)

1. Preheat the oven to Fan-Assisted 180C or Non-Fan-Assisted 200C
   
   
2. Line 2 x 12 hole cake/muffin tin with paper cases (or refill after baking the first batch if only have 1 x cake/muffin tin)
   
   
3. Sift the flour, cornmeal, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl. In a seperate jug mix the oil, honey, milk, vanilla essence and egg together. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients in bowl and stir until combined (it will be quite runny)
   
   
4. Gently fold in the cherries and 75g of chopped chocolate pieces
   
   
5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin
   
   
6. Bake for 15mins in a fan-assisted oven or 15-20 mins in a non-fan-assisted oven, or until risen and golden.
   
   
7. Leave to cool for five minutes and transfer to wire rack
   
   OPTIONAL:
   
   
8. Once cooled melt the chocolate in the microwave at half power or melt in a bowl over a pan with boiling water. smoother in melted chocolate and place in the fridge to set.
   
   
9. Once set remove from fridge and store in cupboard in and air tight container.
   

NOTES:
Amazingly easy to make and amazingly tasty!

* Please Note: Doves Farm make a Gluten Free White BREAD flour and a Gluten Free Plain White flour, I made these cakes from the Doves farm Gluten Free White BREAD* flour so make sure you buy the correct one as im not sure how it will come out as i have not tested the other one yet. (Doves farm Gluten Free White bread flour £1.78 @ tesco.com)

TIP OF THE DAY

My Money-Saving Way Of Finding New Recipe Books:

A very obvious one but sometimes forgotten - Your Local Library: on one visit to the library last week i picked up three great books to try before i buy so dont forget to visit. Check als if your local library have an online database that you can check out before you visit and make a list to find when you arrive.

GreenMetropolis.com - A Green Booksite that recycles (you can buy and sell books - a bit like ebay but better) . You can buy any book on the site for one unbelievably low price of £3.75 and all standard paperbacks include FREE delivery. By recycling used books not only are we saving existing trees, we're actually planting new ones. How? GreenMetropolis.com donates 5p for every book sold to the 'Tree For All' campaign run by the Woodland Trust. By the way If you are planning to sell your books on their you recieve £3.00 for any book you sell, so why not recycle some of yours today?

Ebay.com - i dont need to say much more except make sure you are aware of a sellers feedback before you buy and usually you cant go wrong.

Amazon.com - for the best range of wheat/dairy free books but make sure you wait for the sales before you buy. This is a place i visit regularly when searching for new books (even if i am planning to buy from another site) as it shows customers reviews and usually prevents you from losing money on a rubbish book!

CRISPY FISHCAKES

TAKEN FROM:
Book: Gluten-Free Food
Author: Lyndel Costain & Joanna Farrow (in association with Coeliac Uk)
Page: 92
Recipe: Fish cakes (with fennel mayonnaise)

RECIPE:
500g/1 Ib of cod or haddock (frozen or fresh), skin and bones removed.
4 Tablespoons of soya milk
750g of white potatoes, peeled and quatered ready for boiling.
25g of dairy free margerine (i use Vitalite as it contains no hydrogenated fat)
100g Fine Cornmeal (Dunns River Cornmeal 500g - 55p @ tesco)
1 medium free range egg
Rapeseed oil for frying
Pepper to season

1. Place the milk in a pan with the fish. Cover and Cook gently for 5 mins or until just cooked through (if using frozen fish this will take around 15mins or more, it varies, please take care and make sure fish is not cold but boiling hot all the way through, i would rather overcook than undercook the fish!)
   
   
2. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling water with a little pinch of sea salt for 15 mins or until tender. drain and mash into a smooth-ish consistency (can be left chunkier if prefered)
   
   
3. Add the butter, fish and 2 tablespoons of the cooking juices (from fish) to the mashed potatoes and season with pepper to your own prefered amount.
   
   
4. On one plate lightly beat the egg and sprinkle the cornmeal onto another plate. Coat the fish cakes first in the egg and then coat completely in the cornmeal (be generous!)
   
   
5. Heat 1/4 inch of rapeseed oil in a large frying pan and fry for 2-5mins each side or untill golden brown.
   
   
6. Serve with wheat free chips and peas!
   
   
   

NOTES:
Delicious! who needs packet fishcakes?!

BLUEBERRY MINI MUFFINS

TAKEN FROM:
Book: Carol Vordermans Detox Recipes
Page: 76
Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

RECIPE:
175g (6oz) Doves Farm Gluten Free White BREAD* flour
125g (4oz) Fine Cornmeal (Dunns River Cornmeal 500g - 55p @ tesco)
1 tablespoon (15ml) of Gluten Free Baking Powder (Brand: Supercook)
100ml of rapeseed oil
200ml of soya** milk (or rice/almond/oat/sesame milk)
125ml of clear honey
1 Free Range Egg
150g of fresh or frozen blueberries (substitute: cherries/raisins etc)

1. Preheat the oven to Fan-Assisted 180C or Non-Fan-Assisted 200C
   
   
2. Line 2 x 12 hole cake/muffin tin with paper cases (or refill after baking the first batch if only have 1 x cake/muffin tin)
   
   
3. Sift the flour, cornmeal and baking powder into a bowl. In a seperate jug mix the oil, honey, milk and egg together. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients in bowl and stir until combined (it will be quite runny)
   
   
4. Gently fold in the blueberries (or substituted fruit)
   
   
5. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin
   
   
6. Bake for 15mins in a fan-assisted oven or 15-20 mins in a non-fan-assisted oven, or until risen and golden.
   
   
7. Leave to cool for five minutes and transfer to wire rack (or it will burn your mouth! hehe)
   
   
8. Enjoy...perfect with alpro soya dairy free custard, hot or cold!
   

NOTES:
Thank you carol! these are the best wheat free cakes i have tasted, spongey and not rock hard as are many wheat free cakes :) Although carol states it makes 12 muffins i found it is better to make it into 24 cakes (or mini muffins as i call them) as they cook better and last longer....if you can resist them!!

I am also planning to make these with agave syrup (low GI) instead of honey (as it is suitable for diabetics and i would like to make some for my second mum (my mother-in-law btw) i will update this post with quantitys to substitute with if this works!


* Please Note: Doves Farm make a Gluten Free White BREAD flour and a Gluten Free Plain White flour, I made these cakes from the Doves farm Gluten Free White BREAD* flour so make sure you buy the correct one as im not sure how it will come out as i have not tested the other one yet. (Doves farm Gluten Free White bread flour £1.78 @ tesco.com)