Dairy-free and egg-free weekly menu plan

Friday - chicken fajitas 

Saturday - bacon and spinach pizza, salad

Sunday - sweet potato cottage pie, steamed cabbage and peas 

Monday - leftover sweet potato cottage pie with baked beans

Tuesday - bacon, butternut and pea risotto 

Wednesday - lamb and veggie casserole with dumplings

Thursday - slow cooker minestrone with home made scones

Spiced apple turnovers

Method:
Peel, quarter, core and slice 1 kg of cooking apples
Add to a pan containing 100g sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, quick grating of nutmeg and about 100ml of cold water, add lid to pan
Cook on hob, covered, for about 10/15 minutes
Add filling to ready made pastry - you could make one big pie ... 
Glaze lids with soy milk and sprinkle on granulated sugar
Serve with dairy free ice cream 

Paprika, bacon, butter bean and veggie soup

Method:
Finely chop one onion, one green pepper, two sticks of celery
Sauté for a few minutes
Add 1 clove of chopped garlic and 1 tbsp smoked paprika
Sauté for one minute
Add 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 400g tin of butter beans, about 100g of cold cooked gammon and 200 ml of chicken stock
Simmer on the hob for about 40 minutes
Serve with home made scones ... heart shape scones optional but it amuses my kids 

Slow cooker bolognese

So good to have a quick supper to hand ... just have to cook up some pasta as the sauce is already cooked.  

Here's what I did: 

Chop one onion, 2 carrots, 2 sticks of celery, 2 cloves of garlic 
Sauté for a few mins in a frying pan
Add 500g lean steak mince, cook until well browned
Add 2 tbsp sun dried tomato puree, 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper, bring to boil
Transfer to slow cooker
Cook on low for 8 hours
Serve with fresh basil 

Slow cooker bacon, sage and veggie soup

I've dusted off the slow cooker this week.  

Soup as follows:
Finely chop 3 rashers of bacon, 1 onion, 4 carrots, 1 leek, 1 sweet potato, 2 sticks of celery and 2 tbsp fresh sage
Saute in a large frying pan in a glug of olive oil for a few mins, season with salt and pepper 
Transfer to slow cooker, add 1.5 litres of veg stock
Cook on low for 8 hours
Blend, and serve with home made bread 

Treat of the week

Jus-rol pain au chocolat are dairy free and egg free ... here ... although with the 'may contain' disclaimer.  The Allergic One tried them but wasn't keen ... he is more of a savoury man ... the rest of us managed to polish them off.  

Dairy-free and egg-free weekly menu plan

This week we will be eating:

Friday - slow cooker spag bol and garlic bread

Saturday - sausages and roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips with steamed cabbage 

Sunday - grilled trout, mashed potatoes, sautéed leeks, spinach and peas 

Monday - pizza with pancetta and olives, spinach and tomato salad 

Tuesday - slow cooker beef and sweet potato casserole, baked potatoes, steamed cabbage 

Wednesday - garlicky tuna, courgette and red pepper pasta, home made focaccia 

Thursday - spicy beef tacos and salad 

Sausage and chestnut stuffing balls

These are well worth making, not much effort but made a roast supper seem a bit more special.  

I made them like this: 
Chop one onion, one leek, one celery stick and saute for a few mins with 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
Allow to cool
Add to 100g breadcrumbs, 200g cooked and peeled chestnuts and 375g skinned sausages ... or any sausagemeat.
Shape into balls, I think this mixture got me about 15.  
Set onto greased tray, cook under foil for 15 mins and then uncovered for a further 30 mins, oven at 180 degrees.  

We ate them, as below, with a Sunday roast supper and cold the next day with cold chicken, jacket potatoes and salads.

Dairy free advent calendars in Waitrose

Cornflake cookies

More from Sally Wise's 'Leftovers' book.  It's a good read.  

Breakfast crumpies

Quick and easy for brekkie when you have run out of bread ... recipe from Jamie's Great Britain.  

Treat of the week

Chewy muesli cookies, from 'Leftover Makovers' by Sally Wise.  

Dairy-free and egg-free weekly menu plan

Friday - roast chicken, sausage and chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes, steamed cabbage, carrots, peas and gravy

Saturday - leftover roast chicken and sausage and chestnut stuffing, jacket potatoes, watercress, tomatoes, red pepper, grated carrot, sweetcorn, cucumber

Sunday - leftover roast chicken, leek and bacon pie, mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans 

Monday - last of the chicken ... chicken noodle soup with home made scones 

Tuesday - salmon fishcakes, sweet potato wedges, coleslaw, watercress and tomato salad with a balsamic dressing 

Wednesday - leftover salmon fishcakes, corn on the cob, broccoli 

Thursday - tuna, courgette and basil pasta 

A bit of Autumnal cooking

Ah, back from the Southern hemisphere to an Autumnal feel in the UK ... hence batch cooking shepherd's pie, extra mash for fish cakes, and butternut and sage soup ... recipe from this month's Good Food mag.

Emirates made us dairy free and egg free children's meals!

Wow, Emirates, you made my day!  Ten out of ten for kindness and planning although points deducted for execution ... here's the details:

The Purser on our flight from London to Dubai said that she would make a note against The Allergic One's name and request dairy free and egg free children's meals when on board in future.  I thanked her for this kindness but thought no more of it.

On our return flight from Perth to Dubai, and then from Dubai to London, what should appear but ... dairy free and egg free children's meals!  They do exist!

Here are some photos.  They were taken in artificial light and are a bit out of focus but are hopefully better than nothing!

Dairy free and egg free breakfast on flight from Perth to Dubai:

We got: melon cubes, Fruit pot (peach and pear), OJ, packet of dried apricots and sultanas, Ryvita-type crackers, pots of margarine, vegemite and jam.  The hot meal was cooked tomato, mushrooms, spinach and potatoes with a sachet of ketchup.  

He ate: just the melon ... and the vegemite sandwiches on white Baker's Delight bread, a soy vanilla yoghurt and a 250 ml carton of soy milk that I'd packed for him.  

Questions (not meaning to sound ungrateful): er, is this a balanced meal, it's almost exclusively comprised of fruit and veggies ... why no protein?  e.g. even if there was no suitable meat/fish, could he not have had the baked beans that were included in the breakfast of the Non Allergic One's child meal?  why no bread roll?  

Dairy free and egg free breakfast on flight from Dubai to London:

We got: a bag of sliced apple, a plastic pot of jam, a cake and some OJ.

He ate: the apple ... and a packet of mini cereal (cornflakes) and some soy milk which I'd packed for him.

Questions: hello protein?  and ... why could the airline not add a small carton of soy milk and mini cereal box?  

Dairy free and egg free lunch on flight from Dubai to London: 

Ah, it was all going so well.  I was so impressed with Emirates and then all of the good work was undone by a careless steward or stewardess who stuck a main meal containing pizza and a snack box containing cow's yoghurt covered raisins and cow's milk containing cookies on the tray ... thank goodness I am (rightly ... smug I know) a control freak when it comes to my son's food and I thought to check before he tucked in:

The pizza was swiftly replaced by the main meal below ... and the 'treats' were replaced with ... nothing:

So, we got: main meal of aubergine (a favourite of every 3 year old?), potatoes, tomato and onion relish, carrots and green beans.  Plus cucumber, carrot sticks with cherry tomatoes, more melon cubes and a piece of rye and caraway seed bread

He ate: cucumber and carrot sticks, melon cubes ... and lots of rubbish food that I'd bought for him ... Oreos and crisps essentially.  

Verdict: Emirates ... thank you so much for trying, you exceeded my expectations (and thus surely the expectations of the person I spoke with in your London call centre before we flew).  But ... your carelessness almost made my son have an allergic reaction!  Catering for allergies only works if every person along every link in the chain from food preparation to food service cares about the implications of getting it wrong!  If ever you feel your staff need more information about this please contact me and I will be happy to go on and on and on ... and on and on ... and on and on ... about it.

After school snack - fresh bread

Yummo, fresh warm white bread with Marmite and marg! 

NB: do not give to three year olds watching TV on the white sofa ... 

Dairy-free and egg-free weekly menu plan

We are now back at home so quick and easy food finds itself on the menu this week to enable us to cope with jetlag and getting back into the familiar routine ... a short week too:

Monday - bacon, courgette, mushroom, tomato and basil fusilli

Tuesday - bacon and mushroom risotto 

Wednesday - bacon (yes, I bought a double pack of bacon!) and veggie pizza, potato wedges and salad 

Thursday - beef and lentil bolognese (from the freezer)

Treats of the week

Two treats here ...

A soya milk babycino when the adults were enjoying a coffee ... 

And Granny's Kentish cake reinvented in dairy free and egg free form for The Allergic One ...

More flying with dairy and egg allergies

I've been shopping in Perth supermarkets for food for the return flight from Australia to London.  Here's what I've found:

Tacos with soy cheese

These went down so well ... thanks Aunty Rach, you are indeed a most excellent Aunty.  She used a bolognese sauce, grated carrot, diced capsicum and cucumber and soy cheese.  The taco shells are Old El Paso branded ones - dairy and egg free. 

Summer supper

Coles own brand garlic bread is dairy free!  Served with spag bol and salad. 

Cooking with Granny

Here is The Allergic One making meatballs with his Granny.  I'm hoping to take a copy of the recipe home with me as both boys loved it. 

Can we eat out and order anything else besides a burger and chips?

It would seem not!

My husband carefully quizzed the restaurant and asked them what sorts of foods were available for The Allergic One.  Sadly the answer was ... burgers and chips.

However, when the burger arrived at the table I checked it to be sure and was so glad I had as ... they had made us a damn cheeseburger!  I was so cross but managed to be polite to the kitchen staff and asked them to make us another one pronto.  Lesson learned: trust no one, always check.

Annoying afterthought ... we had explained our allergies to the server twice ... why, after we requested they make us another burger not containing cheese did they ask us if we wanted a gluten free bread roll?  Do 'most people' think that dairy and egg allergies = a gluten problem?  

Treat of the week

I've only just realised that Oreos are dairy and egg free ... not all of the different types are but this particular one - Oreo Classic - seems to be.  It's such a nice treat to be able to offer a 'chocolate biscuit' when we've been having picnics and away from my recipe books.  

In praise of ... Praise

I have my mother-in-law to thank for this find.  The Allergic One loves it.  It's a low fat 'creamy mayonnaise' mayo that contains neither milk nor eggs but is available in the mayo aisles of mainstream supermarkets here in Australia ... compared to in the UK where vegan mayo is only to be found on some supermarket free-from shelves and health food shops.  It doesn't advertise itself as dairy and egg free but neither substance is to be found on the ingredients list and The Allergic One has not reacted to it in any way.  

I suspect I'll be bringing more than a few of these home with me.  

Flying with Emirates with dairy and egg allergies

I asked the Senior Stewardess who greeted us at the 'plane door if I could speak to someone, at a suitable time, as to how I would go about reheating the Allergic One's Marks and Spencer ready meal whilst on board.  She was very smiley and helpful and said she'd come to see me before we took off.  She duly arrived at my seat (in Economy, of course) and explained that she was the Senior in charge of Business so would ask a colleague to come and talk to me but that it would be no problem to use the microwave available to the Business cabin.  After a few minutes another Stewardess arrived at my seat in a real panic and began stroking The Allergic One's leg ... she asked me with real concern if I was okay and I politely answered 'yes'.  She then asked if the boy next to me was my child, perhaps noting my casual tone, to which I answered 'yes'.  She then said 'he's having a serious allergic reaction!' ... to which I answered 'er, no', and explained how she had her wires crossed.  Panic over, she retreated and was prompted to her seat by the Purser who informed us we were in a rush as the 'plane had imminent clearance for take off!  I didn't see her again!  The Allergic One did not have his spag bol ready meal on this leg of the journey! 

I had ordered the Allergic One a vegan meal in the hope that he would eat some of the bread, margarine, fruit and salad that I thought would be a part of the tray.  Sure enough there were these things present but as I had supplemented the food below with a soy milk, a soy yoghurt and some chocolate buttons (as his non-Allergic Brother had chocolate included in his Emirates 'kids' meal') he was uninterested in what Emirates had to offer, I think he managed a bite of bread roll and a chunk of melon.