Comfort food

So sorry for my lack of posting! From tuesday onwards I was hauled up on the sofa, with stomach cramps (and therefore unable to fast), drinking chicken stock and eating Konjee or Conjee, depending on your spellchecker.

According to the doctor the cramps are a natural part of the healing process. Thankfully, as of midday today they stopped. As of yet, I don't have a lot of energy so I'll have to direct you to my source recipe over at Dr Ben Kim's site, because of my diet I subbed wholegrain brown basmati rice for the white rice and it worked out fine. If you want to make it lighter, omit the eggs and cook the rice in stock until very soft.

Wishing you all good health :)

No food, no post

Have you ever had one of those days where everything that you cook goes spectacularly wrong? Welcome to my sunday. So far I have tried three dishes...and so far I have managed to destroy three dishes.

Unfortunately tonight's post is met with no recipe or photos. . . I still have to find something to eat other than flaxseed crackers and yogurt.

Wishing you a more successful evening than I!
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Experimental Thursday: Baked Apple & Rhubarb Tart

I have an admission to make; I made this dish up on the spot. Last night I bought some rhubarbs, the apple tree in the garden had shed a few fruits and I thought to myself "this would make a perfect stew, I can freeze it and use it at the end of my diet".

As luck would have it, this morning I found out that by week 4 I can have 1 serving of not-sweet fruit every few days, today is the 4th day of my 4th week on the diet and my brain went a-whirring. So I managed to create, a grain free, gluten free, sugar free (excluding any fructose in the fruits and xylitol), SCD safe, potentially paleo applicable dessert.

The thing is that I can't share the recipe with you just yet, because I haven't tested it and it wouldn't be fair to send you out into your kitchens to bake a tart that may have just been down to sheer luck (I did find a 10 pence piece in the street today) and not the right formula. So for now, all i can give you are the pictures of my first attempt at apple & rhubarb tart. I promise to perfect the recipe and have it with you shortly.

Hope you've had a wonderful day!

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Ramadan 2011 - grain free and sugar free

Hello and thanks so much for stopping by!

I know that it probably sounds crazy, but Ramadan makes me so excited. The food preparation, the fast itself, all of the mini epiphanies that you get throughout the day, everyone working together and (of course) breaking the fast at the end of the day.

I don't know about anyone else but I always get filled with a sense of gratitude and love, although that could be more to do with the physical act of fasting alone. This year the days are long, certainly the longest that I've known them ever to be, and because of all of my food problems my doctor has suggested that I go sugar free.

First off; I know, what on earth was my doctor thinking?? a sugar free diet...during ramadan?? How would anyone cope? A quick search on the internet revealed nothing so I figured that I may as well add to the lack of literature on the topic for anyone who is fasting and looking for grain free, sugar free and some dairy free recipes and anyone looking for grain free, sugar free and some dairy free recipes.

Watch this space for more posts!
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Food allergies, intolerances and the importance of tea

I can't eat wheat, corn (maize), dairy, yeast, potatoes, and a whole host of other foods that will undoubtedly crop up in the posts to come. My food allergies and intolerances are fairly recent developments and I'm continually surprised by the ways that it limits me. With every new introduction comes my patent-"allergy"-disclaimer to ensure no near death (or sometimes just very painful) experiences.

The first time that I went to see my family doctor about my allergies I was in my final year of university and had had intolerances and allergies for a few years so I had developed a dietary plan based on the main food groups substituting food supplements for any nutrients my diet was lacking and checking . In asking for help my doctor simply said "it's basically because you eat crap." which was very helpful, she prescribed me for some IBS medication and sent me on my way. The medication only made any stomach cramps worse, my symptoms were not synonymous with IBS, and I still couldn't eat any foods I had previously shown an intolerance to. In the past few years more and more of my friends are finding that they can't eat certain foods and the majority of my friends have at least one intolerance.

Two of my closest friends suffer from coeliac disease, and as time passes they're finding that their diets are becoming more and more restrictive. Because of our restricted diets we always arrange to meet for tea, visiting specialist shops and experiencing tastes and flavours that we usually have to avoid. During our most recent meeting, we got to talking about dinner parties and how they both rely on recipes that I have provided. So welcome to Cinnamon Tea and Mulberries a food blog for people with intolerances and allergies!

(Picture borrowed from flickr).

First Post

After a year of perusing cookery blogs and music blogs, I have finally decided to start my own!

Although now I'm here I don't know what to say. . . This silence will pass!

Until next time. . .