Lactose Free Frozen Yogurt (With Casein Free Adaptation)

Frozen Yogurt

Lactase has changed my life. I'm still a little iffy with dairy, so leave it to special occasions, but those occasions are just that little more special now. For this recipe to work you'll need to obtain some lactase, from a chemist, they are expensive little bottles but they last a while.

I adapted this recipe from a french vanilla ice cream recipe. You could easily substitute the yogurt for milk and revert back. Whilst I use a thermomix, there is no reason you couldn't make the recipe with a food processor and a stove. An ice cream maker would simplify things a lot, take out most of the churning steps, but if you have a little patience it's worth the wait.




Ingredients
 4 egg yolks
500 grams of frozen yogurt (either shop bought lactose free, or converted to lactose free using lactase drops 24 hours before beginning recipe)
260 grams of sugar (I usually cut it down quite a bit but it doesn't freeze as well)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
500 grams of lactose free cream (either buy the Liddels brand from the long life section, or convert using lactase drops, I use extra drops for cream)

Casein Free Adaptation


It won't be as creamy, but still delicious. Simply buy 1 litre of A2 yogurt, convert it to lactose free using the drops, then use 500 grams of yogurt for both steps instead of the cream.

Method


1. Cook all of the ingredients except for the cream, (or 500 grams of the A2 yogurt) in the Thermomix for 5 minutes, on 80 degrees at speed 4. Alternatively, cook over medium heat in a saucepan constantly stirring.
2. Freeze for up to four hours in the container you will use to store your ice cream. (No need for a lid at this stage)
3. Break up and blend for 30 seconds on speed seven in a thermomix, or until it looks like thick soft serve in a food processor.
4. In the Thermomix add the butterfly and the remaining cream/yogurt and blend on speed four until combined. (You could use an egg beater/or a mix master to get the same result TM free)
5. Return to the tray and freeze for 10-12 hours.
6. Re churn and refreeze for an additional 10 hours. You may have to repeat this step once more if you haven't used much sugar. Alternatively serve approximately three or four hours after step six, it will be nice and creamy. :)

As I said an Ice Cream maker will simplify this recipe, and you'll need to play it by ear with the re-churning. You can always remove the ice cream from the freezer ten minutes before serving to let it soften, but if you want that shop bought always soft feel you'll need to go the extra mile, or add some alcohol/gelatin to prevent it from setting.

Sorry I have no pretty pictures, it will have to wait until I'm more organised. Just imagine, there is a photo of attractively arranged creamy frozen yogurt. Which basically just looks like ice cream, and tastes like ice cream with more tang.

Apple, Pear and Plum Crumble--gluten and lactose free, low oxalate

Christmas Crumble 

For once I have on offer a purely Jess Mess invention, not just an adaptation of someone else's ingenuity. When I was first diagnosed with fibromialgia/celiacs etc. the first meal I tried to concoct was apple crumble. I've played around with a few recipes over the years and will include all the variations as I go.

Ingredients


Filling
Large tin of plums
(Alternatively you can use between 6 to a dozen fresh plums but you will need to remove the skin, and lightly stew them)
4 large red apples
4 large pears


Crumble
1 1/2 cups of rice flour (I mill mine from basmati rice in the thermomix)
2 eggs
3-4 table spoons of brown sugar (can substitute with molasses or honey just use less)
2 tablespoons of lactose free butter/nuttelex/solid coconut oil
3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
100 grams of slivered almonds or gluten free rice bubbles
(almonds are high in oxalates)

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Peel and cut apples and pears into eighths, steam until soft but not mushy. Fill a square pyrex dish with fruit, making sure there is an even spread of pears, apples and plums. If you like sprinkle a smattering of raw sugar over the top.
3. To make the crumble, first lightly mix the rice flour and eggs together then pan fry stirring constantly until the mixture resembles toasted bread crumbs.
4. Place the 'crumbs' and the remaining crumble ingredients into a mixing bowl. This is the messy part, you might want to remove any rings or jewelry--before getting right in there with your nice clean hands and using your fingers to combine all the ingredients creating a nice even crumble. 
5. Layer crumble over the fruit filling. I usually prepare mine in the morning and leave it in the refrigerator, then pop the crumble in the oven after I've served up dinner. It takes about 40-45 minutes, but you can remove it as soon as the crumble is nice and golden and the fruit juices are bubbling.
6. Serve with custard, mango sorbet or frozen yogurt. 

The almonds in the recipe are really just for crunch. You can make it nut free, by substituting rice bubbles, or not worry about a crunchy ingredient all together, it will still be quite scrumptious. Another option for the crumbs is to buy shop bought rice crumbs, blend up whatever you eat for bread, or substitute with sorghum. For an egg free alternative simply increase the rice bubbles and mix the flour in without cooking it first. 

Lemon Drizzle Cake--Lactose Free, Gluten Free and Nut Free

Lemon Drizzle Cake


This cake is so lovely and always goes down a treat. It's secret ingredient? Mashed Potato! Now it is a lemon cake so not exactly 'low-oxalate' but moderate, especially if you use red potato. (Which I recommend regardless, it's much less acidic). The original recipe is here but it contains nuts (high in oxalate) and I double the potato. (Also the original doesn't taste as delish)

Ingredients:


200 grams of softened lactose free butter/nuttelex/butter replacement
200g golden caster sugar (I use rapadura)
4  eggs
100 grams of rice flour
100 grams of tapioca flour
(Sometimes I sub both flours for sorghum, it makes for a nicely dense wholemeal feel to the cake)
500 grams of mashed potatoes (red)
Zest of 3 Lemons (or just the juice of four lemons, if you want lower oxalate content)
2 Tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder (I use Bob's Red Mill because it's more awesome than the rest)

Drizzle:

1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:


1. Make the mashed potato using only water, no milk or butter, and refrigerate.

2. Heat oven to 180c fan/160c gas. Butter and line a deep 20cm round cake tin. Beat the butter/marg together with the sugar until light and fluffy and add the eggs in slowly. Fold in the flour, lemon, baking powder and lemon zest.

3. Pour into the cake tin, smooth out the top. Bake for forty-forty five minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Flip the cake onto a tray, and leave to cook for ten minutes. Mix the raw sugar and lemon juice and drizzle it all over the cake. Serve the cake when it has cooled down completely.

Generally this version of the cake doesn't come out as deep as you would like, which is why I make it with twice the amount of potato and a bit more flour than the original recipe. I don't increase the sugar, it's is sweet enough, especially if you use tapioca or sorghum, both are sweet tasting flours. Goes fantastically with frozen yogurt. See my recipe for lactose free/casein free frozen yogurt here.

Sorghum Burritos

These burritos are a bit more like savoury pancakes than your usual flat bread recipe. Of course Sorghum can just be made into roti by itself but I find this a tad easier, and very tasty.

Tortilla Ingredients:


2 cups of Sorghum Flour (Jowar Attar, can be found at Indian food stores, such as Crunch Munch on Cambridge street in Wembley, Western Australia)
1 tsp of salt
2 1/2 cups of boiling water (or till crepe like consistency)
2 Eggs
1 Tablespoon of oil

Tortilla Method:


1. Whisk salt and sorghum together. Add boiling water* and mix well. Cover and leave to cool for half an hour, whilst making the other burrito ingredients. *(The key to this is boiling water, if you want a recipe for a flat bread, or roti that is egg free and works pretty well with just sorghum and water, check out here.)

2. Add eggs and 1 tbspoon of oil. Batter should be the consistency of runny pancake mix or crepes. Pour batter onto medium hot frypan to make a large, crepe style pancake sized tortilla. Cook like a pancake, flipping when golden.

3. Remove and set aside, to cool down and serve burrito style with other ingredients. Should make between ten and sixteen.

Guacamole Ingredients:


1 large ripe avocado
1/2 a lemon
1 tsp of salt
1/2 an onion
1/3 of a red capsicum (sweet red bell pepper)

Quacamole Method:


1. Blend/puree/mash avocado, retaining the pip and setting aside.
2. Chop up onion and capsicum.
3. Mix the remainder of the ingredients through the guacamole, giving it one more zip with a blender to mash up the capsicum and onion.
4. Put into small bowl and place pip in the centre to stop from oxidizing. (Going brown)

Shredded Chicken Ingredients:


1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of coriander seeds
1 clove of garlic
1/2 an onion
1/2 a capsicum
1 large plum (can be from a can) or
1-2 tablespoons of Outback Spirit Kakadu Plum Sweet Chilli Sauce (gluten free)
500 grams of chicken cubed

Shredded Chicken Method"


1. Fry garlic, cumin and coriander seeds, and capsicum (sliced) until roasted. If using a Thermomix toast for 8 minutes on Varoma, soft spoon.
2. In a Thermomix simply add the onion and plum/plum sauce and blend for 30 seconds on speed ten. Otherwise transfer to a blender and pulverize.
3. Again, in the Thermomix Add 100 grams of water, 15 grams of oil and the chicken and cook for 24 minutes, at 100 degrees celcius, reverse and speed one. Otherwise, saute chicken in a frying pan, add sauce and water to desired consistency. Will cook fine, but won't have that same shredded effect. However best to leave as is, because if you blend it, you will just end up with baby food...
4. When finished set aside in a bowl, for your burrito mix.


Other Burrito Ingredients;


Grate, cheese, carrot, cut up cucumber and the rest of your red capsicum. Add some lactose free yogurt fill up your burritos and Bob's your uncle.

Serves 4.

Cinnamon Scrolls (with egg free and milk free suggestions)

Low-Oxalate, Gluten and Lactose/Dairy free Cinnamon Scrolls
My friend Kathy made home made cinnamon scrolls today, and I was so damn impressed with them (and her) that I went home to see if there was a gluten free alternative. I found this recipe but I made a few adjustments so I thought I'd add it to the blog.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons of Butter or Margarine (I use lactose free butter that I have made at home, by turning cream lactose free using Lactase drops, then churning butter in my Thermomix)
• 1/3 cup of castor sugar
• 2/3 cup of milk at room temperature (I used lactose free buttermilk, left over from making all that butter. Could easily substitute with soy milk)
• 1 table spoon of yeast
• 1 egg (optional, others have tried this successfully with no egg)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup of potato starch (potato starch is amazingly low in oxalates due to the process undertaken to create it)
• 1 cup of Tapioca Flour or Arrowroot Starch
• 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Powder)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons xanthum gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Filling: 

• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Glaze:

• 1/3 cup of icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Milk to thicken

Method: 

Okay folks, hold onto your hats, here is where it gets a bit complex. Now I made my first batch of these in the Thermomix and to be honest they came out a bit wet and difficult to work with, so I suggest only using your super expensive blender for the first step, and to make icing sugar, and do the rest by hand. 

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Cream the butter/shortening and the sugar. 
3. Proof the yeast in the room temperature milk, then whisk it through. 
4. Add the milk, and the rest of the ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well to remove any lumps.
5. Lay out some cling wrap on the bench, so that it is about 33 cm by 33 cm (perhaps a bit longer) and lightly flour with the potato starch then sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of castor sugar.
6. Dollop the dough onto the clingwrap and using powdered hands make into a ball. Lay another sheet of cling wrap, the same size over the top and press into a square with your hands. Then use a rolling pin to flatten so that the dough is also about 33 cm, by 33 cm. This step is quite tricky, and you'll have to work hard to keep the dough from getting caught under the plastic wrap, or spilling out the sides. 
7. Mix filling up with your fingers, remove top layer of plastic wrap, then sprinkle evenly on the dough, leaving 2 cm's sugar free on the edge closest to you.
8. Now, using the plastic wrap, slowly roll the scroll up, removing the plastic as you go. Once you have a cinnamon log, cut into 3 cm slices, and using  a spatula (it is quite a wet mix) flip into a greased casserole dish/glass pie pan.
9. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until brown and scroll like.
10. Meanwhile, mix icing sugar and vanilla together, adding milk to your desired thickness.
11. When scrolls are ready, remove from oven and pour glaze over in a pretty pattern. Leave them to cool down for ten minutes, then serve still warm.

This makes for a very soft, light and fluffy delight. Very sweet, the original recipe suggested 1 cup of brown sugar for the filling, but I think you could use as little as half a cup and it would be fine. Adding stewed red apple might also be nice. (Or an onion/capsicum and sweet chilli sauce for a savoury scroll) You can leave the pan in the fridge over night before you bake it, making this a very portable, tasty treat that can be cooked up at your convenience. Makes quite a large scroll, so splitting into two servings works well. Enjoy!

The Amazing Bread

Home made low-oxalate gluten free bread has proved to be nigh on impossible.  Most recipes have an ingredients list a mile long, and turn out crumbly and sour tasting. Usually I buy Country Life gluten free bread from Woolies, or Coles, but at six bucks a pop (for a tiny loaf) it gets expensive. Enter:

Gluten Free Artisan Bread! 

Based on a recipe from 'Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day', Hertzberg and Francois, I found this bread on Jo Whitton's thermomix blog  Quirky Cooking. She advertised it as bendy bread, which to all you non-gluten free people means very little... To us fighting for gluten freedom? Stumbling upon bendy bread (the kind you can use in a sausage sizzle) is like finding gold in your veggie patch. And to discover that bread can be easily converted to low-oxalate? Well I'm staking a claim.

Now, don't be put off by the amounts, this recipe will easily make two largish bread loaves (if not more). I've tried halving and it didn't work as well, I think the sticky goodness from all those eggs needs to permeate throughout your dough. If you are intimidated by the drawn out method, then you can try adding a couple of teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar to counteract the yeastiness. Your bread will not rise quite as well, or be as springy but it still makes for a very edible, slice-able loaf--and you can make it on the same day you mix the batter. I will be trialing a yeast free alternative next week, I'll keep you updated on the success.

GLUTEN FREE ARTISAN BREAD (LOW OXALATE VERSION)


Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups of white rice flour (300 grams of white rice if milling in a Thermomix, I use Basmati rice because it's lower GI)
• 1/1/2 cups/220 grams of Sorghum flour  (Also known as Jawar Attar flour, can be found at an Indian Grocer, they have it at Crunch Munch on Cambridge St, Wembley)
• 3 cups/380grams Tapioca Flour (Also known as Tapioca starch, or arrowroot flour)
• 2 Tablespoons of yeast 
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoons of Xantham Gum (Can substitute Guar Gum, but I find it doesn't work as well, and I'm a bit suss on it's oxalate freeness)
• 2 Teaspoons of Psyllium (Not in original recipe, but I find bread rises better when it's included)

Wet Ingredients

• 4 Large Eggs
• 2 2/3 cups/670grams of lukewarm water
• 1/3 cup/65 grams of olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons/30 grams of honey

Method:

1. Whisk together dry ingredients, or blend in Thermomix on speed 5, till well combined. Set aside in large bowl or plastic container. (Preferably something large with a lid)

2. Whisk the eggs, and dump onto the dry ingredients. If using a Thermomix weigh all the wet ingredients, including the eggs in the TM bowl, then mix on speed four.

3. If you haven't already mixed the oil, honey and water together, do so now, then slowly pour in to the dry ingredients, stirring as you go. Don't add all the liquid at once, or it will be lumpy. 

4. Now here is where it starts to get complicated. Once the 'batter' is thoroughly combined, cover (not airtight) and set aside to rise for about 2 hours. 

5. The recipe says to then place the dough in the refrigerator over night.  I found that when I cooked a loaf straight away it was very yeasty. However the third batch I made, I added 2 teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar to the wet ingredients. The loaf didn't rise quite as well,  but it definitely counteracted the yeastiness. (Which if you have gut problems is well worthwhile) Even second day dough was still a bit yeasty for my liking.

6. When you are ready to bake, grease a loaf tin with butter or margarine. Using wet hands take out two grapfruit sized balls, and place them next to each other in the tin. You can smooth the loaf over using wet fingers. Then cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for about 90 minutes in a warm place. (Sometimes I put the bread in the oven on low for forty minutes first just to give it a kick start).

7. While the bread is rising, pre-heat your oven to 230 degrees, and place a cake tin on the bottom tray. The bread will not rise much in this time it will just get a bit fluffier. When the bread is ready to cook, make about four quarter inch slashes across the top with a knife. Place bread in oven, on top rack, and pour 1 cup of hot water into the cake tin below. Close the oven immediately.

8. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until you've reached your desired level of golden crunchyness. Test to see if it's cooked by tapping on the top. If it sounds hollow, it is done! Remove, from tray and leave to cool on a wire rack for five minutes.

I wrap my bread in a tea-towel until it is cooled down then place it in an air-tight plastic storage container, to keep it fresh. You can make a loaf each day, or make several loaves at once, slice and freeze. I find this bread doesn't toast up that well but when you toast it from frozen it will be just like it's fresh out of the oven. 

As I said it is quite a yeasty bread, so if you have candida or yeast problems it might not be the way to go. But stay tuned, because I am going to attempt a yeast free version, and I'll let you know how it goes.

I can't believe it's not tomato sauce...

The thing I miss most? Tomatoes. Pizza, lasagna, spaghetti...*sigh.* Until my best friend Esther came up with a more than excellent alternative to tomato sauce. Introducing:

LOW-OXALATE SALSA/PASTA SAUCE 


Ingredients:


Two to three large red capsicums (sweet red bell peppers for all those non-aussies)
1/2 a carrot
1 onion diced
Small tin of apricots (can substitute with plums or a mango)
1 Tblsp of oyster sauce
1/2 Tsp crushed garlic
1/2 Tsp Oregano
1/2 Tsp Basil
1 Tblsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:                                                                                     


1. Grill, roast or fry the capsicum until it is charred and soft
2. Fry onion and carrot (optional) until caremelised
3. Blend fruit, capsicum and the remainder of the ingredients until you have reached the desired consistency. (Anywhere from a salsa to a smooth liquid sauce) Makes about 500 mls.

Voila, it tastes as much like tomato as anything completely tomato free can! Great for pizza toppings, pasta dishes, lasagna, anything that takes your fancy. I also substitute tomatoes with pureed capsicum and stone fruit, or capsicum and mango chutney for curries and soups.


(Thanks to Cat Timms for the picture http://www.catnap.com.au/)