Back to Baking Again

Got home from our weeks holiday to discover a power outage which meant 2 thawed fridge/freezers... & failure to record my soaps!  The latter I can catch up on via internet. The former was more frustrating as lost so much food & in particular some of my baking.  So its been all systems go in my kitchen again getting back to baking... & basics... been on Failsafe Elimination for 10 days trying to clear out some of the holiday food challenges... & subsequent symptoms.

Now the travel & birthdays are well & truly over, I'm baking with a vengeance.  So following this Failsafe Elimination since we returned from holidays means thats there been a lot of back to basics cooking, & with birthdays over the convenience go-to's which included sugar are O-U-T OUT!  For the first couple of weeks of Failsafe I relented a little on the sugar for the kids so I could grab a couple of packet items to help time-wise.  Now those are off limits & they are back to dextrose & RMS only added sweeteners.  The limited access to those two commodities in the UK left me a little rusty as I was hesitant to bake anything than my trusty oat bars or shortbread whilst there, but since back in Australia & even when away in Port Douglas I used RMS to make Oat Bars & Anzacs.  I have also adapted an old veggie muffin recipe & a cheesecake to be Failsafe, plus made some cup cakes for party replacements.  I've also experimented with natural food colourings for the birthday cake, & made it sugar-free.

I finally received my copy of Friendly Food so I'll be adapting by trial & error some sugar-free versions of any sweet dishes in there too.

I'm happy to see that Sweet Poison is now available in a UK version, which should mean on future visits glucose only sweeteners should be more readily available, well if the great British public take note of what David Gillespie has to say & stores come on board as they have in Australia.

Here is my Oat Bar recipe I'd like to share with you :

2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup GF SR Flour
1/2 tsp Guar Gum
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Poppy Seeds
2 tsp Psyllium Husk
60g Butter (Unsalted)
2 tbsp Rice Malt Syrup
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Mix together dry ingredients (except bicarb).  In a pan melt butter, add RMS, bring to boil, turn off, add bicarb, mix well till fizzes up.  Quickly add foam to to dry ingredients & mix well. Spread into a buttered baking tray. Press flat. Bake for 15min at 150C. 

Score when remove from the oven into bars. Leave in tray until cooled, then snap & store.  I find they last a couple of days in the cupboard or much longer if I freeze & the kids have no complaints eating them cold!

Party Cake Creations in a Fructose Free & Failsafe World

[Pre-Post - One of those I didn't get to finish in my busy month of August]

As party season looms for my kids (Mums group birthdays) I need to get prepped not only with some low fructose foods for my own kids functions but to take to others parties that are failsafe & replace foods that won't be suitable for Elimination or the short-term.  Thankfully in one regard we are on holiday for a week during the core month, thus avoiding a birthday extravaganza for Mr4's 5th & only return a day before Miss2's 3rd... for which she is currently requesting a mermaid cake... I have to keep on my toes as this is likely to change again, last week it was a princess, the week before a fairy & last month Dora.  I won't invest in any specific cake moulds just yet!  If I'm prepared enough I should be able to keep it simple, bake a basic cake to freeze & decorate the day we return.

The decoration though is really just the icing on the cake so to speak!  The main concern is getting the ingredients right so it doesn't contain sugar, wheat or any non-failsafe ingredients.  I've begun perusing some of the Failsafe blogs for recipe ideas & hints on colouring with natural dyes.  The hardest part about a cake for my son is finding something failsafe on holidays, as I'm unlikely to access access to full kitchen facilities in our apartment.  I may have to forgo sugar in which case, or failsafe - I don't know which is worse at this stage?!!
A sugar high & long-term effects (plus repeating withdrawal) or irritated kids & returning symptoms?? 

We are going to a wedding that week also & I've already decided that I will use it as a challenge so we don't have to put in loads of food requests to the happy couple, wheat being the only one for myself & I'll avoid desert. The fall-out we'll deal with during the week.... hoping that fresh air, beach & swimming pool may assist in tiring the kids & keeping them happy.  

[Retrospective post of holiday & birthday foods]

So how did we fair?  We attended a couple of kids birthday parties in August whilst doing elimination. I spoke to the hosts & their venues prior with regards to their catered foods & in both cases decided none were suitable & provided my own. I made each of my kids the same special pack which was colourful & decorative.  When lolly "treats" were handed out, I made sure I had suitable alternatives to switch. 

For the holiday & my sons birthday we self-catered mostly & although not a holiday in some peoples eyes I enjoyed providing for my family & some reasonable behaviour & limited symptoms. We did treat the week as a bit of a "challenge" as we ate out a few evenings, including the wedding.  But because the week was mostly failsafe "challenges" stood out.  Those were tomato sauce, hot chips, ice-cream & more than 2 salicylates a day which all seemed to trigger unfavourable symptoms in Mr.4/5.  I struggled to find a failsafe birthday cake & definitely no sugarless one was available so as he didn't ask about it I got away with it. We did allow ice-cream that night, but paid for it with a bit of irritability & sleeplessness. 

Miss 2/3 was not going to let me forget about her cake though.  On the eve of her birthday she did predictably specify a design change & requested Dora - "too late" was my firm response as I had already baked the 2 tiers, acquired the decoration & designed a whole party themed on mermaids!!  As neither kid is showing reaction to wheat at this stage I used "normal" flour for a change, but used dextrose ilo sugar & carob for one colour section  & a natural spirulina colour for the other.  The latter was potentially not failsafe & decided mine would not eat that section. I used butter icing for 2 reasons: 1) it gave the rough effect I was after for rock & sea, 2) I could substitute icing sugar easily with dextrose.  I used a legless Barbie for the decoration, no not drunk!  I made her a mermaid tail (which could be re-used by my daughters new Barbie in play.  Then just some plastic sea-creatures to keep her company. This all saved a lot of effort compared to previous years attempts with rolled icing &  lollies to decorate... & a whole lot healthier!  None of the kids picked it was sugar-free - all dived in for the plastic toys though, thinking they were edible (much to my sons annoyance given his generous loan of them).  I did however use a blue sugar sprinkle over the top for water droplet effect, in future I'd shop ahead or try dying some dextrose or something. (I dusted this off the pieces I cut for my two).

I'm glad to say that I wasn't prepared enough to bake the cake prior to the holiday & freeze... because I would have been very disappointed as our damn power went out & both freezers were off for the week soiling a whole lot of food! Not a welcome return :(

I did however bake it a day before the party & freeze overnight, so when I iced it would be easier & the chill helped create that rugged finish as the butter icing set quickly.

All other party fayre was failsafe & only one item was sugar (a marshmallow as part of the tea-cups). I made chicken bites, teacups (dextrose shortbreads, marshmallows, carob/dextrose sprinkle), Philadelphia sandwiches,  a cheese cake & provided plain kettle crisps. Simple but sufficient. My party bags have never contained sweets, except one year I put in a chocolate ladybug, so that was the easy part.