Dulce de Leche

I think I was sold the first time I heard someone describe dulce de leche, thick creamy caramel like, what could be better.

From what I have been able to find out, dulce de leche translates to Milk Sweets/Candy, and it is mainly just made of Milk and Sugar.

I first heard out about it after I found out that I was Lactose intolerant, and all the recipes I found for it was made with condense milk, but after days of searching, I found a website explaining how to make it from scratch, so that is what I did and it was heavenly, like nothing I have ever tasted before.

I was very curious after making it the first time, is it as good as when you make it from condense milk? So I decided to make two versions, one from scratch and one with a can of condense milk. I only had a small taste, to make out the difference as it would have given me a tummy ace to eat any, but I found that I actually liked the one I had made from scratch better.  The conformation then came a day after when I went to the fridge and saw that most of the one I made from scratch was almost eaten and the other one had hardly been touched, and asking my boyfriend (who can have milk) he confessed that he had been eating it and that he liked the one from scratch best. 

The thing is though, that it is a bit of an time consuming thing to make from scratch, but after you have made it a few times, it becomes so easy that you are finding yourself doing other things at the same time, so don't be discouraged and do try it.

1 litre Lactofree whole milk
250g sugar
½ teaspoon (sea) salt 

There are two thicknesses you can make you dulce de leche in, as a sauce that you can use on ice cream, drizzle on cakes, and so on, or as a soft caramel thickness that you can scoop out with a spoon and use in all sorts of baked goods (or eat raw ;-).

Stir it all together in a pot, and letting it simmer on low-medium heat for 1 hour 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally every 5 minutes) with a wooden spoon not letting it burn.
When it starts coating the spoon  with a thin layer that stays on the spoon, that means it is in the final stages of cooking, and this is where the difference in thickness comes in.
If you want it as a dulce de leche sauce you want to give it a good stir for a minute and then transferee it to a container to cool.
If you want it as a soft caramel consistency, you want to switch the spoon for a whisk and whisk for the next 5 minutes making sure it doesn't burn, and when you start getting lines in the dulce de leche allowing you to see the bottom of the pan, that means that it is done, and you can transferee to baked goods or a container to cool.

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Have your Oreo and dunk it too

Did you know that there is a difference between American Oreo's and the Oreo's in Europe?
 There is, the American Oreo's don't contain any dairy so that they can also cater to the Vegan market. So really good news for us Lactose intolerance or dairy allergic people, that love Oreo's.

And with products like Lactofree milk, you can even have your Oreo and dunk it too, and not feel the difference in being lactose intolerant.

There are several places that sell the American Oreo, I have even found them in the food hall at Selfridges.
But here are some great web sites where you can get them from, if you don't live near any specialty shops.
www.americansweets.co.uk
www.americansoda.co.uk

Note: it is only the classic shape Oreo with crunchy biscuit that is dairy free, but if in doubt the people at both websites are very helpful and can tell you if the product is dairy free. 

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vegetable leftovers

There is so many things to do with leftover vegetables, and one of my favourite when I have a little portion of different vegetables is to cook it in the oven with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and fresh herbs it I have any.

This weekend, I tried making a healthy balance with my food on top of all the baking I have been doing lately, so I make vegetables in the oven with pan fried fish.

·         500-700g vegetables (if using broccoli, asparagus or other vegetables that don't need as long cooking time, ad them half way through the cooking process.

·         2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil

·         1 tablespoon lemon juice

·         salt and pepper

·         fresh herbs like thyme, oregano or sage (can be left out).

·         Fresh fish like salmon, cod, plaid or any other good fish for frying.

·         olive oil

·         lemon juice of half a lemon

·         salt and pepper.

Reheat oven to 200 degrees
Chop up vegetables and transfer to a baking sheet.
drizzle on oil, juice and season with salt, pepper and herbs.
Bake for about 45 minutes, turning the vegetables a few times during the cooking time.

When vegetables are done, leave them in the oven, but shut the oven off.

Heat up a frying pan on medium heat, and fry the fish a few minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. a minute before being done, drizzle on the lemon juice on the fish and pan, and let it cook into the fish.
Season with salt and pepper.

When fish is done take the vegetables out of the oven and plate up.

Note: If you have any roasted vegetables leftover, a great way of using them is to cook them in some vegetable stock and blend for a lovely vegetable soup, or heating them through on a small pan and adding whisked up egg for a lovely frittata.

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Montezumas

Sunrise (spicy orange), Quick Fix (freshly brewed coffee), Hot Lips (Chilli and coconut),
Creme de Cacao (simple dark) and Moondance (dark almond pralines).

Have bought a few of Montezumas bars before from the supermarket, but finally got the chance to try out there vegan chocolatetruffles, and they were great, I have always had a weakness for good chocolate truffles and these are defiantly very good chocolate truffle that is worth a try.
My favourites where the Quick Fix and Sunrise, that was just perfect with a cup of tea and an old black and white movie.

The people at Montezumas has also made it very easy for people that can't have certain ingredients, marking all their products with little symbols at the bottom of each description, and if you are looking for the once that don't contain dairy, you want to go after the vegan symbol.

For more information take a look at Montezumas website

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Blueberry cheesecake cupcakes

Had some blueberries and Lactofree white soft cheese in the fridge and was craving a more exciting cupcake, and came up with this recipe and hope you like it as much as me.
Don't get discouraged by the fact that it looks like a lot of different steps for this recipe, it isn't as difficult as it sounds and things like the home made butter, I recommend you make a bigger recipe and take 50g aside before adding salt to the rest, and then you have also got butter for spreading at the same time.

plain white flour  250g
sugar 200g
1 teaspoon carbonate of soda
½ teaspoon fine salt
250ml Lactofree milk
125ml mild olive oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice

150g blueberries (frozen can be used)
50g dark muscovado sugar (can use dark brown sugar or white sugar instead)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

100g Lactofree soft white cheese
50g un-salted homemade butter softened
250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Fresh blueberries for decorating.

Because the frosting is made with homemade butter and needs to set in the fridge before piping, it is a good idea to make the frosting first.
Whisk cheese and butter creamy, then whisk in vanilla extract.
While whisking ad the icing sugar a little at a time, and whisk until creamy and fluffy.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag and place in the fridge for about an hour or until you are ready to pipe.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees
Mix flour, sugar, soda and salt in a bowl.
Mix milk, olive oil, vanilla and lemon juice in another bowl, and then combine with the flour mixture, and mix lightly until it is all combined.
Distribute batter into lined cupcake baking pan, and bake for 12-15 minutes.

While the cupcakes are baking, mix together blueberries, muscovado sugar and lemon juice in a small pan and bring to a boil and let it cook for about 5 minutes or until the berries start bursting and a syrup forms.
Set aside and let cool.

When cake and syrup is cooled, remove about a teaspoon of cupcake cake in the middle, and then fill up the hole with a teaspoon of blueberry and syrup.
Then pipe frosting on the cakes and decorate with a few fresh blueberries.

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Heart of Palms

As long back as I can remember I have been crazy about hearts of palm, it is one of those things that you only got on special occasions when I was younger as it was quite expensive back then, but the memory of helping put the slices on the bread at a very young age is a really happy one.
Happily today it is a more of a common thing and the prices are not as high, so now I quite often use slices in salads, but my favourite is still with a bit of mayo and salt on some good bread.

1 can of hearts of palm

Mayo
salt.
parsley (more for decoration and can be left out).
4 slices of good bread (I like sourdough).

There are two way of making this dish, either cut up the hearts of palm and transfer to a bowl, mix in a little mayo at a time till you get wanted consistency and ad salt to taste.
Or slice the hearts of palm and layer them on the bread, sprinkle with a bit of salt and decorate nicely with mayo.

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Spicy dip

This Mexican inspired cream cheese dip is one of my all time favourites, I actually have to restrain myself in not making it to often as once I have made it, it is very difficult to leave it alone.

Besides being the perfect thing on a sunny day with some tortilla chips and a cold corona, it is one of the easiest things to make.

I have one of those fancy blenders called a magic bullet, that I absolutely could not live without and almost use every day, it is very good for blending smaller portions so makes it easier with this dip, but you can use any blender really.

Spicy dip
200g lactofree soft white cheese
1 handful Parsley or Cilantro
1-2 teaspoons chipotle paste (discovery range in most supermarkets)
1-2 garlic cloves pressed
juice of ½ a lemon
salt and pepper

Method:
Throw all the ingredients except for Parsley/Cilantro in a blender and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper and more lemon juice to taste, and then add Parsley/Cilantro and pulls a few times in the blender till you get wanted consistency. 

Enjoy and have a lovely weekend.


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Quinoa salad

It is within the last few year, that I have learned about quinoa and are now almost addicted to it.
For those of you who haven’t heard about quinoa before, it is sort of a grain. But it is not in the grain family but related to beets and spinach, and is very high in nutrients like iron and protein.
Here in England you can also get spaghetti, bread and bars made with quinoa, and it all tastes amazing.
But one of my favorite dishes I make with quinoa is quinoa salad, that almost tastes more amazing cold the next day :)

Quinoa Salad
50g almonds
1 cup/2 dl quinoa
2 cups/4dl water
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon salt
600-700g of vegetable (like: squash, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, celery or other vegetables good for frying)
Lemon juice

Roast almonds on a pan or in the oven, let cool, and then chop roughly.
Chop onion and garlic finely and sauté in 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a pot. Add the quinoa, water and salt and bring to a boil. When boiling turn down the heat, and let I simmer for about 15 minutes, until the quinoa has absorbed all the water.
While quinoa is cooking, chop the vegetables, and fry them on a pan with the rest of the olive oil.
When quinoa and vegetables are done, mix the two together and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Serve whit the roasted almonds sprinkled on top.

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Do you know Amy's?

If not, it is defiantly worth knowing about.
Amy's is an American company that started up in 1987 and specialises in vegetarian organic ready meals.
But Amy's is also in the UK, not sure how long they have been in the UK, but am really glad that I have found them, since most of the products found here in the UK are gluten free or dairy free.

Burrito

Indian Samosa

So far I have tried three of their products, the dairy free Burrito and Indian Samosa that I found in Holland and Barrett and the Vegetable Barley Soup that I found in Waitrose.
All three products where packed with flavour, like homemade food tastes and very far from normal ready meals, so defiantly worth a try.

For more information visit the UK site or the American site.

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Soda Bread with a twist

I made this lovely soda bread this bank holiday Monday after watching the food network channel and seeing someone ad orange zest to their soda bread, and though I would try making my normal recipe with a twist.
If you are not a fan of the orange, you can leave the zest out and change the juice to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice or apple vinegar instead, and you will still get a wonderful soda bread.

300ml Lactofree milk (you can use soy or almond milk for a dairy free version)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
350g plain white flour
150g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar or agave
125g raisins
50g dairy free margarine

Preheat oven to 175° degrees.
Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Mix milk with lemon juice, orange juice and orange zest, and let it stand for a few minutes till it goes thick and starts to curdle (you just need to mix together if using soy or almond milk).
Whisk together the flours, salt baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
crumble in the margarine with hands or spoon till it resembles coarse meal.
Ad raisins (and sugar if using), and stir to distribute.
(Stir in Agave in the milk mixture, if using), and pour into the flour mixture. Stir until dough just holds together but still a bit sticky.
turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. pat and press the dough gently into a round shaped loaf, and transfer to baking sheet.
With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top of the loaf.
Bake for 30-40 minutes and the loaf is medium brown.
Let it cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Serve with some homemade butter, lactofree cheese or/and marmalade, enjoy.

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