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)