• Sticky Welcome To Allergy Awareness

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Wednesday, 05. Mar, 2008 – 18:49:23

    Nearly 39 years ago I was diagnosed with my first allergy. I was 6 weeks old. Despite the medical profession assuring me that I would grow out of my allergies I never had. It is true that a lot of children will not carry their allergies through to adulthood, and it is true that at certain times of my life my allergies have been less sensitive than at other times, but on the whole I still have my allergies and I still take medication for them.

    Simply speaking I feel that the medical profession has not done all it could for me and has let me down considerably and consistently.

    I have multiple allergies and it is practically impossible to avoid everything that I am allergic to. I try to do the best that I can and have done an extensive amount of research into exactly what causes my symptoms. It transpires that I react differently to different allergens and require different medication depending on the symptoms.

    This blog is intended to document my studies in the hope that it will save a lot of leg work for anybody else researching allergies and intolerances.

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  • How To Cook for Food Allergies

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Wednesday, 16. Jul, 2008 – 17:36:03

    The book people currently have the book "How to Cook for Food Allergies" on offer at £4.99.

    Packed with delicious, easy-to-follow recipes, this useful book will not only satisfy the requirements of those with a gluten, dairy, egg, nut or soya allergy, but everyone else at the table, too. With over 100 recipes, including sauces, pastry, bread, cakes, main courses and desserts, this practical yet stylish cookbook will become a trusted source of advice - and inspiration!

    You Can Find The Book By Clicking Here

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  • Why Are Special Dietary Needs Foods So Expensive?

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Monday, 10. Mar, 2008 – 17:40:02

    Well, obviously because it's a limited market and the companies that produce the food need to make sure that their running costs are met and they don't have as high a turnover as regular brands.  Just supposing though that the companies that produced these foods, manufacter and market them just the same as the larger food companies. Just suppose that Mrs Crimble was as well known and popular as Mr Kipling, surely the costs of these products would fall.

    Until that happens though ( as if but it's a nice thought ) carefully check the food that is readily available in your regular supermarket.  If you are wheat-free (as opposed to gluten free) you will still be ok with Ryvitas, Nairns Oatcakes and Kallo Rice Cakes.  Vitalite is dairy and soya free, plus it's now suitable for Vegans, it's a fraction of the cost of the specialist margarines. 

    In fact everything that I use in my recipes, with the exception of Xantham Gum, I buy at my local Tesco Store.

    I tend to avoid the 'health food' section at Tesco as the prices are up there with the Specialist Diet ranges, but check out the prices in the World Cuisine sections.  You can pick up a 1.5kg bag of Natco Rice Flour for less money than the 1kg of Doves Farm Rice Flour.  Tesco stock many other Natco items in their Indian cuisine section, including chana dal and dried chick peas.  The Natco red split lentils are cheaper than the Tesco own brand and if you use a lot of them you can buy them in a bulk 2kg bag which works out even cheaper.

    I was concerned about the effect my special diet was going to have on my families grocery budget, but thankfully a bit of careful research has paid off and we know a variety of regular brands which we can just buy straight off the shelf.

    I noticed a couple of nice offers in our Tesco today.  AlproSoya chilled Soya milks are 2 for £2, this is only a small saving on the original flavour one, but  on the chocolate one the saving is over £1.  Also on offer are the Green & Blacks chocolate bars which usually cost £1.28 each, the new Cherry, Ginger and Almond flavours are all dairy-free and are suitable for Vegans.

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  • Chocolate Pouring Sauce / Chocolate Spread Recipe

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Monday, 10. Mar, 2008 – 16:22:10

    This is another accidental recipe that occured when I was trying to invent a home made dairy free chocolate spread.

    It is gorgeous hot straight out of the pan (would be good for chocolate fondue) and can be kept in a tub in the fridge and used on ice-cream, in fact it tastes very similar to the chocolate ice-cream syrup that you can buy.

    It is simple to make and if you double up on the cornflour you get chocolate spread, although this thickens up when chilled and can be awkward to spread straight from the fridge.

    The quantities are very versatile as everything is measured by volume. Just make sure you use the same size measure for each ingredient. As a guide I find that if I use 1 quantity = 1 tablespoon and double up on the cornflour I have enough chocolate spread for a few rounds of sandwiches. If I use 1 quantity = 1/4 cup (60ml) then I have enough chocolate sauce for a fondue or a tub of ice-cream syrup in the fridge.

    The sauce works beautifully on Vanilla Swedish Glace and Raspberries.

    Dairy-Free chocolate sauce


    Dairy-Free Chocolate Pouring Sauce / Chocolate Spread

    Ingredients
    • 1 qty Cornflour (plus another 1 qty if you want chocolate spread instead of sauce)
    • 1 qty Cocoa Powder
    • 1 qty Sugar
    • 2 qty Icing Sugar
    • 2 qty Soya Milk
    Method
    1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a saucepan until well blended.
    2. Add enough Soya milk to form a smooth paste and then add in the rest of the soya milk.
    3. Place over a low heat and bring to the boil, stirring (or whisking) continuously.
    4. Once it has thickened remove from the heat.
    5. Either use as it is or leave to cool.
    6. If cooling the sauce keep stirring it from time to time, or place it in a food mixer left running on low speed.
    7. If making spread pour it into a clean, dry, warm jam jar.
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  • Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Egg-Free Spiced Biscuits

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Monday, 10. Mar, 2008 – 14:14:04

    These biscuits have a dry and crumbly texture making them perfect to have with a cup of tea or a smoothie.  They are quite spicy and not too sweet, more for grown-ups than for children.


    Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Egg Free Biscuits


    Ingredients
    • 150g corn flour
    • 150g rice flour
    • 100g sugar
    • 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
    • Large pinch salt
    • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
    • 1 tsp ground ginger
    • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    • 75g allowed margarine (I use vitalite)
    • 200ml Soya Milk

    Method
    1. Preheat oven to 180C.
    2. Combine all the dry ingredients into a bowl.
    3. Rub in the margarine until crumbly.
    4. Mix in the soya milk until you have a soft and ever so slightly sticky dough.
    5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (I use rice flour) and kneed slightly.
    6. Roll the dough out to half cm thick and cut out into large rounds.
    7. Place on a greased tray and bake in hot oven for 15 minutes.
    8. When cooked gently lift onto a cooling rack.

    Makes approximately 20 large biscuits.

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  • Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free & Egg-Free Chinese Chicken Nugget Recipe

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Sunday, 09. Mar, 2008 – 18:59:37

    This recipe happened today by accident. Usually the best recipes do occur that way so I thought I had better write down what I did before my husband and children demand more of these things.

    Last week I borrowed a recipe book from the library called "Allergy-Free Food" by Tanya Wright and had a go at making the Millet & Rice Savoury Biscuits in them. Texture wise they were light and crumbly and not too bad. Unfortunately there was a bit of a bitter aftertaste which I assume was from the millet. So I adapted the recipe slightly to include ground ginger and some sugar in the hope it would disguise the taste. It was better, and the biscuits went rather nicely with banana smoothies at breakfast time.

    That was a couple of days ago. Today when I went to get a couple of biscuits from the Ziploc bag I kept them in, there were nothing but broken bits. The biscuits had totally crumbled up.

    Determined not to waste it, I smashed what was left into crumbly powder. I then added some extra spices and toasted sesame seeds. Voila! Chinese Crumb Coating - perfect for chicken. 

    My adapted Ginger Biscuit Recipe went like this

    Ingredients

    • 125g Millet Flour
    • 125g Rice Flour
    • 1/4 tsp Salt
    • 2 tsps Gluten Free Baking Powder (Supercook Baking Powder with the white lid)
    • 75g sugar
    • 1 tbsp ground ginger
    • 50g Vitalite margarine
    • 100ml water
    Method
    1. Preheat oven to 180c.
    2. Combine the dry ingredients together.
    3. Rub in margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add water.
    4. Mix together until thoroughly combined and the mixture resembles a soft dough.
    5. Roll out to 1/2 cm thick, cut into circles and place on greased baking tray.
    6. Bake for 10 minutes and then place on wire rack to cool.
    This recipe yielded 35 ginger biscuits

    To make the Chinese Crumb Coating all you need to do is crumble the biscuits until fine.  I just left them in the Ziploc bag and used a rolling pin on them.  Then mix in the following -

    • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
    • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
    • 1 tsp Ground Cloves
    • 1 tsp Ground Ginger
    • 1 tsp Ground Lemon Grass
    • 2 tbsp Lightly Toasted Sesame Seeds
    Chinese Chicken Nuggets
    Gluten, Wheat, Dairy,& Egg Free Chicken Nuggets


    Ingredients

    • Chinese Crumb Coating
    • Soya Milk
    • Chicken Breast
    • Vegetable Oil For Frying
    Method

    1. Cut the chicken into pieces approximately 1cm thick by 2cm x 3cm.
    2. Pour some soya milk into a bowl and some bread crumbs in another bowl.
    3. Immerse each piece of chicken into the soya milk and then press both sides into the crumb mixture.
    4. Leave the coated chicken pieces in a pile until you are ready to cook them.
    5. Add more milk or crumbs to the bowls as you need them and save any left over crumbs in an airtight container for use another day.
    6. Pour approximately 1cm of vegetable oil into a frying pan and heat it up.
    7. Cook the nuggets by placing several pieces of chicken flat in the hot fat.  Cook for a few minutes then turn over and cook the other side also.  Cook the 'nuggets' until golden brown and the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

    I serve these up with brown rice noodles and salad.

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  • Additives Which Trigger Asthma

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Sunday, 09. Mar, 2008 – 13:36:53

    Benzoates and Sulphites are common triggers for asthma. They are widely used in the UK as preservatives in food. The following list is compiled from the Mutual Benefit Marketing Health Guide

    • E210 Benzoic acid
    • E211 Sodium benzoate
    • E212 Potassium benzoate
    • E213 Calcium benzoate
    • E214 Ethyl para-hydroxybenzoate
    • E215 Sodium ethyl para-hydroxybenzoate
    • E216 Propyl para-hydroxybenzoate
    • E217 Sodium propyl para-hydroxybenzoate
    • E218 Methyl para-hydroxybenzoate
    • E219 Sodium methyl p-hydroxybenzoate
    • E220 Sulphur dioxide
    • E221 Sodium sulphite
    • E222 Sodium hydrogen sulphite
    • E223 Sodium metabisulphite
    • E224 Potassium metabisulphite
    • E225 Potassium sulphite
    • E226 Calcium sulphite
    • E227 Calcium hydrogen sulphite
    • E228 Potassium hydrogen sulphite
    • E441 Gelatine
    • E539 Sodium thiosulphate (converts to sulphite and has similar side-effects)

    It may seem a little strange that Gelatine is on that list as it is usually listed as an ingredient rather than an additive. However if you are sensitive to sulphites then you should be wary of eating anything with Gelatine in it as it can contain E220 (Sulphur Dixoide)

    Other additives which can trigger asthma or cause breathing difficulties include

    Colourings

    • E102 Tartrazine
    • E104 Quinoline Yellow
    • E107 Yellow
    • E120 Cochineal (also carminic acid,  ammonium carmine)
    • E122 Azorubine, Carmoisine
    • E124 Ponceau 4R, Cochineal Red A, Brilliant Scarlet 4R
    • E128 Red 2G
    • E129 Allura red AC
    • E132 Indigotine, Indigo carmine
    • E133 Brilliant blue FCF
    • E142 Green S
    • E151 Brilliant Black BN, Black PN
    • E155 (Chocolate) Brown HT
    • E160(b) Annatto, bixin, norbixin
    • E180 Lithol Rubine BK, Pigment Rubine

    Other Additives
    • E413 Tragacanth
    • E414 Acacia Gum, Gum Arabic
    • E536 Potassium ferrocyanide
    • E621Monosodium L-glutamate (MSG)
    • E623 Calcium di-L-glutamate
    • E626 Guanylic acid
    • E627 Disodium guanylate
    • E628 Dipotassium guanylate, 5'-
    • E629 Calcium guanylate
    • E630 Inosinic acid
    • E631 Disodium inosinate
    • E632 Dipotassium inosinate
    • E633 Calcium inosinate
    • E634 Calcium 5'-ribonucleotides
    • E635 Disodium 5'-ribonucleotide, Sodium 5'-ribonucleotide
    • E928 Benzoyl peroxide
    • E930 Calcium peroxide

    This is the list I manually extracted from hundreds of items.  It is more than likely I have missed something, but at least it's a start!

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  • Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Egg Free Deep Pan Pizza Base Recipe

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Sunday, 09. Mar, 2008 – 09:51:26

    When I realised that I was going to have to avoid wheat and dairy again my first reaction was "No more pizza!" . 

    Not prepared to face life evermore without pizza I started on my quest to make a decent deep pan pizza base.  I was not prepared to have one of these 3mm thick biscuit bases either.  I was a woman on a quest.

    Eventually with a bit of research over various bread & pizza base recipes, I found a few that were pretty close.  However they were still not right, and so I concoted this recipe.  It is time consuming to prepare and the batter/dough is rather sticky to prepare but I reckon it is worth it.

    It's so yummy in fact that I barely notice the lack of cheese.

    The batter/dough does need to be left in a warm place to rise.  I preheat the oven to the lowest temperature (40c) whilst the yeast mixture is standing .  Once the dough/batter is in my frying pan I place it in the oven (please check that your pan is suitable for oven use before doing this!)

    Yummy Mummy's Wheat, Gluten, Dairy & Egg Free Pizza
    OneProudMomma's Deep Pan Pizza

    Ingredients
    • 1 tsp dried yeast
    • 240ml warm water
    • 1 tsp sugar
    • 130g rice flour
    • 100g corn flour
    • 1 tsp xantham gum
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 2 tbsp olive oil

    Method

    1. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water.  Stir in the yeast and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
    2. Throughly mix the rest of the dry ingredients (flours, gum & salt), add olive oil and yeast mixture.
    3. Stir until you have a soft sticky doughy batter, similar to this
      Pizza Batter/Dough

    4. Place the mixture in a well oiled frying pan and leave it in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes.  Use this time to prepare your toppings.
    5. I opt for double concentrate tomato puree with oregano, basil and garlic as the paste, with sliced peppers, red onion, olives, sweetcorn and mushrooms for the topping.
      Pizza Toppings

    6. When risen place the frying pan on the hob on a medium/high heat.  Lightly pan fry the pizza base for 5 minutes, then flip it over and fry the other side for 5 minutes.  Both sides should be golden.  Preheat oven to 180c whilst doing this.
      Part baked pizza base

    7. Lift the pizza base onto an oiled baking sheet and apply toppings.  Bake in hot oven for 15 minutes.
    Eat As Soon As Possible!

    Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Vegan Deep Pan Pizza

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  • Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Egg Free Vegan Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Friday, 07. Mar, 2008 – 16:05:44

    I had a lovely gluten-free chocolate cake recipe passed onto me from a friend a few years ago, unfortunately it contains eggs, vinegar and rasperry jam. All of which I am currently avoiding.  With a little adaptation I came up with this delicious cupcake recipe this morning.

    As I use Vitalite margaine and AlproSoya Original soya milk it is also suitable for Vegans, substituting the Soya milk for a rice or nut milk would also make it suitable for a soya-free diet.

    As you can see the cake is soft & moist inside without being dense.

    Soft & moist gluten, dairy & egg free chocolate cake.

    The cakes do not rise up in the middle which means they are suitable for icing.

    Gluten, wheat, dairy & egg-free Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

    I make them in muffin cases (much larger than fairy cakes) and this recipe yields 24 cakes.  I have never tried freezing them, but they have the potential to last for a few days if stored in an airtight tin.  They rarely last for 24 hours in this house, but that's because they are so tasty everyone eats them!

    Want to know how to make them? Then read on...

    OneProudMomma's Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Egg Free Chocolate Cupcakes

    Ingredients

    • 125g rice flour
    • 110g cornflour
    • 50g cocoa
    • 275g sugar
    • 2 tbsp gluten free baking powder (Supercook does one with a white lid)
    • 150g margarine
    • 250ml soya milk
    • 2 large or 3 small very ripe bananas (more black than yellow!)

    Method

    1. Preheat oven to 180C (fan assisted)
    2. Line muffin pan with paper cases.
    3. Sift dry ingredients together (flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder).
    4. Add margarine and milk, then beat with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.
    5. Mash the bananas.  Add them to the mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
    6. Half fill the paper cases with mixture and bake for 25 minutes.

    When they have cooled you can ice them if you want but they don't need it!

    Gluten, Wheat, Egg & Dairy Free Chocolate Cup Cake

    Enjoy.

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  • Allergens In Anti-Histamines

    by OneProudMomma Pro @ Thursday, 06. Mar, 2008 – 13:13:38

    Since I've been trying to cut out everything I'm allergic to, I figured that I ought to change my anti-histamines so that I move onto one that is safe.

    Strangely I have not been able to find an over the counter anti-histamine in either tablet or liquid form that does not have some form of potential allergen in it.

    All the tablets that I have looked at are lactose based. Of all the liquid anti-histamines I have looked at only one does not contain Citric Acid, instead the Piriton syrup contains methyl, ethyl and propyl hydrobenzoates (E214, E216 and E218) - known asthma triggers.

    I would have thought that common sense would kick in somewhere in the pharmaceutical industry and that somebody would produced a hypo-allergenic anti-histamine!

    Thankfully ;) my milk allergy is to the proteins in milk not the sugars. This means that I am okay with the tablets. I'll be stuffed if I have to use the liquid anti-histamines though!

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