Treat of the week

Just chocolate crispy cakes ... made with agave, cocoa, vegan marg, sugar and cornflakes ... easy ... and a big hit of course.

Dairy free, egg free weekly menu plan

This week ...


Friday: roast gammon, roast sweet potatoes, steamed carrots, broccoli, baby sweetcorn


Saturday: gammon pizza, jacket potatoes, salad


Sunday: gammon, pea, tomato risotto


Monday: salmon fish cakes, green beans, corn


Tuesday: oven roasted chicken thighs and ratatouille, jacket potatoes


Wednesday: salad niçoise


Thursday: beef and lentil spag bol (from freezer) 

In praise of a roast dinner

We eat a lot of roast dinners.  In our enforced dairy-free and egg-free world it's a meal option where it doesn't feel as if one is 'missing out' through not having dairy or egg on the plate ... excepting cauliflower cheese of course ... but even that is surely not an essential feature of a roast supper?


Here's this week's offering: roast butterflied leg of lamb, roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, carrots and baby sweetcorn and gravy ... the plate was cleared ... save for a couple of florets of (clearly offensive) broccoli.

Return to the allergist

Care for allergies on the NHS can be a bit hit and miss.  We are among the lucky ones I think.  Although, it took a few months before we felt fortunate - when our boy was six months old our GP was not as helpful as he might have been ('is he eating carrots and potatoes? he'll be fine if he's eating those'), and the paediatric generalist at the hospital was also not so great ('give him goat's milk' ... which would have provoked the same reactions in our Allergic Boy as cow's milk).  We then found a consultant paediatrician specialising in paediatric allergies and paid to see him privately at first.  We now see him on the NHS, usually once a year.


We have just returned from our latest visit.  The visit before last was a hopeful one, we were offered a milk challenge, although with the caveat that it would likely be unsuccessful so were advised to wait six months and try then.  We arrived at this year's appointment, quietly optimistic that we would be nearing the end of our allergy journey.  I had heard so many stories about most children growing out of their allergies around their third birthdays - a milestone which our son had just reached.  As we are ultra careful (on the advice of the consultant) to avoid coming into situations where our Allergic One might touch, let alone eat, any dairy or eggs we had no indication as to how the level of his sensitivity was faring.


The skin prick test is always better than I think it will be.  The nurse attaches some numbered tape (see below), drops of the offending allergens are placed onto the arm.  A very very very sharp needle is then used to pierce the skin where the allergen is and then we wait 15 minutes ... 

The nurse then draws around the 'wheal' that the allergen has provoked to obtain a measurement of the reaction.  The wheal feels hard under the skin, it's a solid lump.  In the above photo the '++' is the histamine/control, '1' is dairy, '2' is egg white, '3' is egg yolk.  


Sadly, the reaction to dairy has increased since our last test.  The egg ones have remained constant but they are all at a level which gave our, hitherto optimistic, consultant reason to suggest that he may now not grow out of them.  He explained that the recent pattern of allergic diseases is that children are growing out of allergies much later than they used to.   


So, we accept that 'our normal' is dealing with allergies; that allergies were probably not just a passing phase to be endured, but a part of our life.  We left armed with an Emergency Management Plan document to pass to our son's new school ... containing the advice of when to call an ambulance ... it's all rather sobering.  


Allergies are so common in our world today and of all the medical problems that a little one could be landed with then of course, allergies are not so bad .. and we can deal with this.  It could be so much worse.  

Home made chicken nuggets

There are dairy free and egg free chicken nuggetty type things available at the supermarket ... but I would much rather make my own using some free range chicken.  


Usual recipes for home made chicken nuggets call for a dousing in egg to bind the breadcrumbs to the meat. I've experimented using vegan egg replacer but it just tastes a bit 'gluey' and the crumbs went soggy - verdict: fail.  


I found much better results by painting a thin layer of sunflower oil onto the meat, which helps the breadcrumbs to stick and makes for a crispier nugget.  I shallow fried them first for a few minutes each side and then finished them in the oven to cook through.  

Served with home made wedges and chunks of avocado, carrot, cucumber and red pepper.  

Starry soup

Well, it's certainly not a photogenic dish ... but it tasted amazing.


I've had an unwell soldier this weekend, so as well as dishing out the Calpol, I made up a batch of some 'medicinal' chicken soup.  Just finely chopped onion, carrots, celery and garlic plus the meat from two chicken thighs all sautéed... then add some stock ... cook for 15 mins, then add some soup pasta, in this case the cute little stellette, or star-shaped pasta, and cook for another 10 and voilà, 'starry soup'.    

Treat of the week

Chocolate cupcakes, white icing and chocolate buttons ... the boys have been eating these two at a time ... not sure I quite approve, but they are yum.  

Dairy free, egg free weekly menu plan

This week our suppers will be: 

Friday – home made free range chicken nuggets, potato wedges, salad


Saturday – gammon, jacket potatoes and salad


Sunday – Roast lamb, roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes, steamed carrots, broccoli, cabbage, gravy and home made mint sauce

Monday –  left over lamb turned into sweet potato shepherd’s pie

Tuesday – prawn and veggie risotto

Prawn risotto 

Wednesday - ham and spinach pizza and salad

Thursday - beef and lentil spag bol (from freezer)

Lunches will be:

Soups from the freezer, plus I'll cook a gammon which will last for a few sandwich and salad meals.  Also hummus, avocado and rice cakes, and the usual baked beans on toast feast.

I also want to try making these falafel burgers:

Breakfasts will be:

Home made granola, yoghurt (Alpro vanilla), fruit, home made bread and lots of Alpro milk for the boys and strong coffee for grown ups.  

Dairy free pizza

Ah, dairy free pizza!  My two boys love this.  Us dairy and egg free types are not able to call on many convenience food options from the supermarkets but this recipe can be on the table in half an hour so still ticks the 'fast food' box.  My top tips for making a dairy free pizza as good as it can be ...


1. Make your own dough ... it's so easy and quick, just bread flour, instant yeast, olive oil, salt, sugar and water ... no need to bother with the wait to let it rise in this dough recipe:  http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1234/roasted-spring-vegetable-pizza


2. Make  your own pizza sauce ... one tin of tomatoes does for three pizzas so you can freeze two portions making the preparation process even quicker in subsequent weeks!  The sauce is just onion, garlic, sundried tomato puree, a squirt of ketchup, a tin of chopped tomatoes ... cook for ten minutes and add salt and pepper to taste.  Whizz it all up in the food processor until smooth and add lots of fresh basil.  


3.  Use toppings with strong flavours, e.g. bacon, tuna, olives, anchovies ... the strong flavours mask the fact that there is no mozzarella! 


4.  Then tear up three slices of Tofutti cheddar style fake cheese ... it works for us.

Pizza is oven ready! 

Supper is served! 

A small amount of sun, strawberries, bread and pasta sauce

A nice quiet day yesterday, to coincide with  the fact that, at last, a teeny tiny bit of sunshine appeared amidst the so far very grey June ... and I found we have six, yes, count them, six strawberries!

I baked some bread ...

... and made a really quick and easy pasta sauce for supper.  Just very finely chopped onion, courgette, garlic, sundried tomato puree, tin of tomatoes, olives and lots and lots of basil ... sometimes I add bacon, sometimes tuna, last night it was tuna.  The boys call it 'red pasta'.

Analysis of Sainsbury’s online freefrom range for those of us with both dairy and egg allergies

We went to a ‘carpet picnic’ (English summer to blame) at a friends’ house the other weekend.  Our kind hostess (hello Penelope!) had thoughtfully perused the freefrom aisle in her local Sainsburys’ hoping to find a treat for our Allergic-y One and found … not much!

Sainsbury’s promote their freefrom range as ‘free-from wheat, gluten and/or dairy’.  Supermarkets will offer products that make them money.  I suppose that wheat and gluten allergies and intolerance are more widespread than dairy and egg allergies?  Also, it seems as if there are a few mainstream, non-freefrom alternatives available to us ... 

A few days ago I had a very unscientific look at Sainsburys’ website and tried to analyse their online freefrom offering in terms of what it has to help those of us who are dealing with dairy and egg allergies. 

It looks as if there are 66 products listed in their online range.   Of those, 25 are both dairy free and egg free. 

Five of those are corn pasta products, which are thankfully not a consideration for those with dairy and egg allergies as we are able to use most other dried pasta products. 

Of the remaining 20, 7 are breakfast cereals which have mainstream alternatives, not within the freefrom range, that us dairy and egg allergic folks can eat (granola, muesli, muesli bars, cornflakes, oats, rice and buckwheat porridge, express oats).

Of the remaining 13 products, most have dairy and egg free alternatives within Sainsburys mainstream, non freefrom ranges.  These 13, and their (most of them cheaper!) alternatives are:

Sainsbury’s freefrom product	Dairy free and egg free, non freefrom branded, alternative
Treats
Jam tarts - £2.00 for 230g	Mr Kipling Jam Tarts - £1.00 for 235g
Mint crisps - £3.98 for 150g	Elizabeth Shaw Dark Mint Crisp - £3.69 for 175g (although with ‘may contain milk’ disclaimer)
Oaty flapjack slices - £1.99 for 140g	Nature Valley Oats and Chocolate Granola Bars - £2.39 for 210g
Rich tea biscuits - £1.39 for 150g	Sainsbury's Rich Tea Fingers - £0.54 for 250g
Toffee and nut bar - £2.19 for 180g	Jordans Frusli Bars Cranberry & Apple -180g for £1.98
Convenience food
Chicken nuggets - £3.75 for 425g	Sainsbury's Breaded British Chicken Nuggets - £2.00 for 200g
Chicken steaks (looks similar to above product!) - £3.74 for 380g	Sainsbury's Chicken Steaks In Crispy Crumb - £2.00 for 380g
Chicken hotpot - £2.29 for 300g	Sainsbury's Classic Chicken Hotpot - £3.00 for 450g
Fish fingers - £2.29 for 300g	Birds Eye Fish Fingers 100% Cod Fillet, £2.49 for 336g
Oven chips - £1.50 per kilo	Sainsbury's Crinkle Cut Chips - £1.00 for 900g
Spicy bean burger - £1.89 for 224g	Sainsbury's Meatfree Moroccan Burgers - £1.75 for 320g
Tomato and basil soup - £1.29 for 300g	Sainsbury's Tomato & Basil Soup - £1.60 for 600g
Tikka sauce pouch - £1.69 for 300g	All other ready made tikka sauces contain dairy. However, an alternative could be a couple of tablespoons of Patak's Original Tikka Paste, £2.02 for 300g, plus a can of coconut milk, Pride Coconut Milk, £0.99 for 400g

I don’t think we’ve ever bought any of the above products.  The one freefrom product we do seek out is one that doesn’t seem to be available online; where are the freefrom, dairy free and egg free chocolate buttons please?  I found them in a Sainsbury’s shop yesterday but why are they not available online?!

My top 10 dairy free and egg free convenience food products

I thought it might be useful to blog about the products which have really helped me to be able to cook and serve 'more normal' food for my child with allergies.  

1. Top of the list for my family is Alpro Soya Junior 1+ … it’s a far from perfect ‘milk’ substitute containing as it does ‘fructose-glucose syrup’ but I can’t afford to be picky when it comes to getting enough calcium into my two (the move to this drink from Neocate Active was suggested by an NHS dietician when the Allergic-y One was almost 2 and a half).  My boys usually drink two cups each for their brekkie every morning no problem.  I often use it in when baking cakes and scones too.

2. Pure marg – vegan margarine, there is a sunflower, a soya and an olive oil version.  I stay away from the soya version as my boys have a lot of soya in their diet from other sources (er, mainly Alpro, I think we keep them in business!).  I use the sunflower version for sandwiches and baking.  You could also use Vitalite … which is cheaper than Pure.

3. Alpro yoghurts and desserts – again, these contain lots of sugar so are far from ideal but it’s another easy way of getting calcium into young ‘uns.  The chocolate one is out of this world.  Useless factoid: Alpro custard is the same product as ‘Alpro vanilla desserts’, except cheaper. 

4. Vegan mayo – er, this is not ‘mayo’ as we know it but still a nice addition to a salad or sandwiches.  

5. Sainsbury’s dairy free chocolate drops – so good to be able to give the boys a treat.

6. Tofutti Creamy Smooth Slices, Cheddar Style – absolutely yuck when eaten raw (in my opinion) but when served as a ham and cheese toasty or on pizza … well, almost passable.  The best imitation cheese I’ve found (out of a very bad bunch) so far.

7. Fish fingers – yay, most fish fingers are dairy free and egg free.  Serve with sweet potato wedges, peas and ketchup for a much loved junky supper.

8. Swedish Glace Dairy Free ice cream – another invaluable product. 

Combined with …

9. Carousel or Barkat ice cream cones  and strewn with sugar strand sprinkles; it almost feels as if the dreaded allergies are not causing them to miss out. 

10. Fox's Party Ring Biscuits – the taste of a kids party buffet, containing nutritional nasties (partially inverted refiners syrup anyone?) although ‘no artificial colours, flavours & preservatives’. 

Inauthentic risotto

Risotto without cheese?  I would not have been game for that in my pre allergy life.  Although, I suppose many fish and seafood risotto dishes do not contain cheese so it would be possible to pass off a dairy free risotto as an authentic one.


Is it just 'savoury rice'?  Or more akin to a paella or a jambalaya?  Anyway, risotto in our house is a good foil for using up leftover roast chicken, it's cheap, quick and loved by three of us, tolerated by the other.  I made ours with leek, courgette and peas and this week, the extremely untraditional sweetcorn ... at the request of one boy.  I really don't miss the lack of cheese now ... who would have thought it?  

A morning of baking

I got quite a bit done yesterday morning.  I do enjoy these big batch cooking sessions, I find it relaxing and love being able to get organised.  The boys were happy colouring at the kitchen table (new colouring books for their birthday) and I could keep an eye on them and help if they needed me but still managed to make a bit of progress with the food.  

Bread on to mix 

Bread on to warm whilst I ...  

... prepared a double batch of soup for the freezer (butternut, sweet potato, carrot and lentil) 

... which puttered away whilst I ... 

... got together the ingredients for chocolate chip cereal bars

Cereal bars just out of the oven 

Cereal bars ready to eat 

My morning's work: two loaves of bread, five lunches worth of soup (four for the freezer, one on the stove), a ham (which should last for a few days of lunches), and chocolate chip cereal bars (which might last three or four days too)

Dairy free, egg free weekly menu plan

I try to start my menu plan on a Friday as the husband works from home so I can schedule a nice big family meal, plus I can usually figure on getting lots of extra cooking/baking/prep done on the weekend.  Before I shop, I do a little audit of any perishables that might need using up in the fridge and freezer and try to ensure that these ingredients feature towards the beginning of the week. 


This week:


Friday - Roast chicken, lemon breadcrumb stuffing, roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, carrots, cabbage, gravy 
(then pick the carcass that evening, make chicken stock over the weekend for the risotto) 


Saturday - Cold leftover chicken, jacket potatoes, home grown lettuce and spring onions, shop bought tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, sweetcorn, avocado, red pepper 


Sunday - Chicken, courgette, pea risotto 


Monday - Tuna pasta, with onion, garlic, courgette, carrot, mushroom, red pepper, tinned tomatoes, puree, black olives, lots of home grown basil 
(reserve a few spoonfuls of the pasta sauce for the pizza sauce)


Tuesday - Tuna pizza with home made potato wedges and home made coleslaw 


Wednesday - Sausages, bubble and squeak, green beans 
(reserve four sausages)


Thursday  - Sausage, sweet potato, lentil and pea pasties, jacket potato and salad 


Lunches will be home made bread, home made soup from the freezer, and a combination of ham, tuna with vegan mayo, hummus and avocado and salad sandwiches.  Beans on toast also feature on a couple of days.  


Breakfasts are home made granola, yoghurt, fruit and toast.  


I have a storecupboard full of things like dried pasta, risotto rice, tins of tuna, bread flour, garlic plus huge amounts of Alpro are stockpiled (will blog on both my larder and Alpro another time) etc so I only need to shop for the fresh stuff.

Ten minute supper

Thanks to the intentional surplus mash from last evening ... I could have supper on the table pretty quickly today.  I knew we would be out of the house until late so would be in a rush to cook.  I'd already taken two salmon fillets from the freezer this morning so as soon as I came through the door I dabbed some vegan marg on them, covered them in cling film and microwaved them for two minutes.


Whilst they were cooking I boiled the kettle, washed and prepped some baby corn and green beans and popped them into the steamer then put them onto cook for 8 minutes.  I chucked some cornflour in a bowl and then located the cold mashed potato.  I then added a tablespoon of vegan mayo and a tablespoon of ketchup to the mash and flaked in the salmon as soon as it was cooked.  I made this mixture into twelve or so patties, rolled them in the cornflour and then fried them for two minutes each side.


Here's what they looked like:

Husband and I ate ours a little later, once the boys were in bed, with some home made coleslaw, cherry tomatoes, roasted beetroot and some home grown salad leaves.  

Lunch and supper from the freezer

Today I raided my freezer stash of home made ‘ready meals’ ... for lunch we ate the last of what had been a large batch of of sweet potato, carrot and lentil soup.  Supper was made from a very useful block of puff pastry (some Jus-Rol products are dairy and egg free) and a portion of a big vat I'd made of beef, barley and veggie casserole.

Before ... 

During ... 

Oven ready ... 

After ... 

Unappetisingly chopped into 'three year old mouthful' sized bits! 

We ate our pies with mashed potato, baby sweetcorn and green beans.  I made twice the amount of mash as it's salmon fish cakes for supper tomorrow.  

Bread and cakes

I usually get the bread mixed, kneaded and on to warm whilst the boys are breakfasting.  Making two loaves at a time saves lots of time, I work on this amount lasting for three or four days.  

There were two bananas that were nearing the end of their lives - no one wanted to eat them.  So they became Chocolate and Banana Muffins for dessert ... recipe from the 'invaluable for treats' Food Allergy Mama ... 

Here is our lunch ... the bread, home grown lettuce and spring onions, with bits of tomato, avocado, sweetcorn and carrot ... plus the remains of a gammon joint.  Kept everyone happy.  

3rd birthday party!

Decisions, decisions … what to include on a 3^rd birthday party menu for 14 - eight adults and six children?  Of whom one is both dairy and egg allergic, one is a vegan and all six of the children can be, er, fussy.  

I need to get the right balance of healthy/nutritious (to appeal to me), junk (to appeal to the children), treats (to appeal to the birthday boys) and allergy friendly (to prevent an unwelcome trip to A&E), quick (don’t want to waste precious birthday morning in the kitchen), with the appearance of having made an effort (don’t want valued guests to think I’ve not gone to a little trouble). 

Well, not too much of a difficult decision in the end …

Sausages of course – cooked on the grill

Burgers – cooked on the BBQ

Vegan sausages and burgers – cooked in the oven

Jersey royals with home grown chives

Corn on the cob

A bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and home grown spring onions, plus a veggie plate of sticks of carrots, cucumber, peppers

Bread rolls

Ketchup, vegan mayo, mustard, tomato relish

Followed by …

Vegan chocolate cake, one for each birthday boy, covered in chocolate butter cream (well, ‘margarine cream’) icing, vegan smarties (aka ‘whizzers chocolate beans’ … the last of a stash – are these not being made any more?), and oodles of sprinkles with three candles each. 

Plus, vegan ice cream, dairy ice cream and

Strawberries