Vanilla shortage, how I miss vanilla!

It was in 2015 that a vanilla shortage was first predicted, and there are still press articles coming out about it like this one from the BBC.

I love vanilla, and I had been buying ground Bourbon vanilla for some time until earlier this year when it became impossible to find anywhere. The ground vanilla was pure, no additives of any kind and I put it in my plain yoghurt and my hot raw cacao drink each evening.

I also like the Rachel's Organic low fat yogurts, particularly vanilla. So I was dismayed to find that one supermarket where I could still buy Rachel's seems to no longer have the vanilla. I haven't checked the other source, but I imagine they will also no longer stock it. It was suggested that I buy Yeo Valley vanilla yoghurt instead but I stopped buying flavoured yoghurts from Yeo Valley when they changed the ingredients to contain maize as a thickener. Rice is fine, tapioca is fine but not maize. It tells me Yeo Valley still have some vanilla, as does Green and Blacks. Other brands of vanilla yoghurts are still available, none of which I can eat.

I know I can't avoid maize completely, some of my prescription tablets contain it in tiny amounts. Maize has the same effect on me as wheat and other grain when eaten in any quantity, I once tried to use it to make bread etc.

I have managed without vanilla all year, I use cinnamon and nutmeg and have almost forgotten how much better things taste with vanilla!

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Shopping for gluten free, corn free, grain free, additive free staples.

This blog is so neglected! I blog so much on my other blog, and forget about this one entirely.

Well the subject today is shopping for those store cupboard staples that cost us so much because we can't eat the same as everyone else.

You know the rice pasta, yeast free stock cubes, organic tinned pulses (because the non organic alternatives have additives the organic is just pulses and water), spices, organic brown basmati rice (supermarkets have organic basmati, organic whole rice but not organic whole basmati).

I used to get most of my store cupboard stuff in a health shop in Bath called Harvest, and when I worked in Bath I could go there during my lunch break or after work sometimes and stock up. After I retired going there meant a planned trip into Bath, with petrol costs and parking and I tended to wait until I was pretty much out of everything, but when I got there I often found one of the items I really needed was out of stock. So I had to go without, or make a special trip back just for that one item.

This got more tricky last year when Hubby changed his job and took our only car to work leaving me without a car, and meaning that trips to Harvest were fewer and further between and involved us both going along, and still they were out of at least one thing that I wanted every time.

Then I found an online store called EcoGreen, who had everything I needed. They charged delivery which could be steep, but they gave a discount of 5% which offset the delivery charge. The service was terrible, I would order a large amount when I was nearly out and it took weeks or months to arrive. When it did arrive it was over packed, and there was always something they were out of........ deja vu? Well it wasn't usually something critical like rice.

Then one day I went to place an order and found they were in the hands of the liquidators, no surprise there. Now what can I do? Back to Harvest perhaps!

Then I had an idea, googling some, and searching Amazon for some I found that Amazon sells everything I want and more. If I choose sellers carefully delivery is free too. Most of the free delivery groceries are sold by Amazon themselves, and it is sold in bulk - but that is okay because I was buying it in bulk from the doomed EcoGreen.

So I have purchased Rizopia rice pasta, and Dove's Farm rice pasta, the latter is cheaper by a third and the quality seems to have improved. King Soba rice noodles too in all varieties, and organic whole spices - I have a cupboard full of them now. I even ordered Suma organic chopped tomatoes.

Some things I can still get locally, like Kallo yeast free stock cubes from Asda, and organic passata which only contains tomatoes and salt, but weirdly the tinned tomatoes of the same make contain citric acid. All of the supermarkets stopped selling rice pasta, introducing "gluten free" pasta of their own make which sadly contains corn which I can't tolerate either. I could still get rice noodles in Tesco for a long time but they seem to have stopped stocking those also.

We have a Holland and Barratts where I get a few things, they have more online but have reduced the organic range over the years.

I get my fruit, veg and some dairy and deli items delivered from Riverford, and sometimes chicken too.

I get the rest from the supermarkets, organic yogurt, non organic quark and cottage cheese, tinned pulses which don't really work out to be cost effective to buy from Amazon. They don't all stock all the things I need, Sainsburys stocks organic black beans, and organic Parmigiano Reggiano. Tesco stock organic chick peas, kidney beans, butter beans, and more. Asda have organic kidney beans as well as the passata and stock cubes already mentioned.

I have had to compromise my organic principles a little because I became a member of Slimming World a couple of years or so ago, and some of the basics don't come organic. Strawberries do but are too expensive to keep buying for the amount I eat now. I even grew my own plants in a effort to eat chemical free fruit but they aren't very productive.

I have never found organic quark, and the only organic cottage cheese I found was not quite as low fat as I wanted and only stocked by Waitrose - some of the time.

I did very well during my first SW year losing over 2 stone (I previously only weighed myself in Kilos, I hate the metric system and always have), then last year I went up and down but didn't lose more and put that down to a stressful year. This year was going to be different, but it has been the year from hell, super-stress! I put weight on, I have mostly lost it and got back to where I was and now I need to keep it going down for health reasons.

One thing I have discovered this year is Argan oil, which I tried in desperation when the skin on my hands was so dry it cracked and bled. I bought a little bottle of oil which I thought was pure argan oil from Holland and Barratts, the packaging was a little misleading. It said Argan oil, 100% oil, liquid gold, I found out later it was a mixture of maybe 20 or more oils including argan. It smelt gorgeous because it contained cinnamon and other spice and flower oils, and sunflower oil. It didn't last long.

It seemed to do my hands and face good, so I bought a bottle of pure argan oil next, and because it said use 3 drops on your hair 30 minutes before shampooing I thought I would - but I used it before bed and 3 drops didn't seem enough to me so I added a few more, then a few more.... woke up looking like a grease ball!
It took me days to wash it out and my hair felt like old rope, but I persisted and now my hair is lovely and strong and silky, and I noticed that my hairbrush no longer resembles a dead hairy centipede.

H&B is an expensive place to buy argan oil, you can get it in double the size bottles for half the price from - you know what is coming - Amazon! Also the one I am buying from Amazon comes in a brown bottle not clear and that has to be better for the oil.

I think that is the end of my rambling for tonight, I have run out of words.

Home made baked beans

Carol’s Baked Beans Recipe (or pasta sauce)

Ingredients.
For each tin (or box)Haricot beans in water, drained and rinsed in clean water until clear.
Add:
1 Tin Chopped plum tomatoes
1 onion chopped finely
Fresh ginger amount to taste, 1.5 cm if unsure, peeled and chopped finely
Fresh Garlic peeled and chopped finely – from 2 cloves to as many as you like up to a whole bulb
Spices, I use my own ground mixture of fenugreek, coriander and cumin, with added dried fenugreek leaves, ground turmeric, either grind whole dried chillies into the own ground mix or add chilli powder. I also have added cinnamon and nutmeg.
Fresh or frozen chopped coriander (or basil), add a little or a lot if liked.
A little oil (I add a little butter  too).
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method.
First heat the oil (and butter if used) over a low heat in a large enough saucepan, and add the chopped garlic, onion and ginger, sauté until the onion is going transparent.
Add the spices and continue to fry gently stirring all the time for 30 seconds to a minute, then remove from the heat so they don’t burn and add the tin of chopped tomatoes.
Return to the heat and stir while heating, and add haricot beans and chopped herbs and stir well, and continue to heat until the beans have absorbed the flavour of the sauce.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Alternatives ideas:
Leave out the beans and use the sauce as a base for any pasta dish, or vegetable dish.
Use cannellini beans or chick peas or any other beans of choice.
Add vegetables (fresh beans, peppers, whatever you like) to the sauce with the beans and simmer until the vegetables are cooked.

Favourite savoury snack right now

I sometimes miss toast so this is the next best thing for me. Toasted goats cheese on rice cakes, leave it plain or add slices of tomato or baby tomatoes and slices of oak smoked garlic if available.

I use one organic soft goats cheese, this is a small soft round cheese with no rind. Cut the cheese into 3 rounds and carefully press onto 3 rice cakes spreading it slightly and making sure the edges are covered, add toppings of choice or leave plain. Grill gently until beginning to colour, again the choice of how far you let it go is up to you. This is also delicious served with fresh basil leaves or a green salad.

Enjoy!

Suffering

It isn't just what I eat that causes problems, skin within, skin without all reacts. We recently had a washing machine crisis. We had to take piles of clothes to the only laundrette in town which only does service washes. I took our own washing liquid, and conditioner - both Surecare unscented, but the clothes came back with an unpleasant scent, I think tumble dryer sheets.
It didn't occur to me they would be used, and you would think the Surecare would give some clue to the fact I can't have perfumed stuff. So a couple of weeks later some articles still have that whiff, though the machine is back in action and I am eliminating it as fast as I can!

So I have really sore eyes, feel really tired and can't do much, feel awful. Lets hope I get rid of the stuff quick.

I am not coeliac

Thanks for the tip Caroline, and wherever I go and mention I have problems with wheat it is assumed that I am a coeliac.

I wish it was that easy. I can't eat wheat, even with gluten removed, I can't eat any other grain apart from rice and I can't eat maize/corn/sweetcorn.

I cannot eat things with colouring, preservatives, there is a long list. I have had problems with tomatoes and with fruit, it is very restricting and when eating out very difficult.

At work they are booking up for the Christmas meal and before I could say I would go to the place that was being offered I had to ring and talk to the chef about ingredients. He was very nice (French too) and put my mind at ease, and said if I give him a list of what I can't eat he will make sure I don't get any of in the food.

It is a very long list and it is easier to list what I can safely eat.

I have had allergy tests, only for the major food groups and the nice doctor said you are not allergic to any of them so go away and eat anything you like - I wish I could. When I try I usually suffer afterwards, sometimes I just have to try and eat the things I love, shame they make me ill.

I have had endoscopies, colonoscopies, and a biopsy, the charming doctor (who did every one of them over several years) told me he never wanted to see me again, and the feeling is mutual - I didn't ask for the tests I only wanted help with the symptoms, unfortunately the first test they send me for every time is that one!

One time my doctor told me I couldn't be coeliac as I was too fat!

I wish I could be normal, grab a quick sandwich, eat the buffet, not have to take in food that I have to heat in the kitchen and stink it out of fish and get complaints.

I only eat fish or organic chicken, no other meat.

Last night I didn't know what to eat, didn't really fancy anything I normally have so ended up cooking a pan of rice pasta and making up a cheese sauce using rice flour and adding onions fried in butter (in fact they were the base of the sauce) as I must eat some vegetables to keep my system in order, and I added organic cheese and fresh basil.

Peppermint Tea

I am fussy about my peppermint tea, and I used to try and get Heath and Heather organic peppermint tea which (in my opinion) had a far superior taste to any other make.

The shop I used to get it from (GNC in Bath) closed, and I had to hunt the internet to find the tea, and I managed to do that but you have to faff around each time on the site, and postage was high, I was normally buying other things but service was variable.

Then one day when I had run out and was in Tesco I found Taylor's of Harrogate organic peppermint tea, which not only was in a larger size box than H&H but is as good if not better.

So when I had got used to that Tesco stopped selling it boo hoo! First I was cross, then thought I will try and find it online.

Off searching again online and I found it at a site called Tea World. They have a wide selection but to find the above I had to search by manufacturer, searching for organic peppermint tea doesn't find it strangely.

The really good thing about Tea World is that postage is free if you spend over £35 and they always send you some free samples with your order so you can try other teas, and there are lots to choose from.

I can also highly recommend Pukka Three Mint tea and Tea Pigs mint and liquorice tea bags - oh and I recently bought some of the Duchy organic peppermint tea when away on holiday, from a Sainsburys, and that was very nice too (and may have been talked to by HRH)!

New product

I was thrilled to find that Doves Farm now make organic rice pasta only containing brown rice, and Tesco stock it. It is also much cheaper than the pasta mentioned below but so far only one shape is available in my Tesco (penne).

Thanks Doves Farm, I love it.

How organic is organic?

I used to drive past an organic farm on my way to work, they had a bakery making bread and cakes from their own grain, and a small shop where you could buy the goods and a few other organic products.
On Thursday they had a delivery of organic veg which they set up on a table in the barn, that was the best day to buy it as they left the barn door open and the sun was on the veg every day. After I suggested they should move the table back into the shade in the barn they did this and it made a difference.
The baker used to check the veg and select the most unappealing dried up veg to cook into pasties.

When the supermarkets cottoned on to the organic food idea the farm shop closed down as they couldn't compete on price.

Those early days of supermarket "organic" were interesting. The produce had some words in very small print on the packaging stating that the produce was grown with less chemicals or something like that.

There was a two page spread in a national newspaper once that compared organic chickens in various supermarkets from the most upmarket downwards and only two of them stocked genuine organic chicken, and they weren't the ones you would have thought of first!

I believe that the only truly organic food carries the soil association logo, there is another organic standard that was introduced by the supermarkets to get round being able to call food "organic" and that is the one that gives the food a bad name where farmers can just alter one item in the food of chickens and call them "organic" (I have heard this from a farming family), and maybe put less chemicals on the crops but not have the clean soil that the soil association demands.

Now the reason that I thought of this is that I recently bought "organic" food in two different supermarkets, M&S and Sainsburys, the veg and chicken I bought didn't have soil association on the packaging, and I worry about that. I think some of Sainsbury's food has the logo though but not all.

Tesco and Waitrose on the other hand do have soil association on the packaging so I feel happy about buying it.

Packaging is a different story, if like me you hate the amount of packaging that has to go to landfill and welcome compostable packaging you will be thrilled to find your "plastic" bag is compostable.
Tesco do sell some organic food in totally compostable packaging but not consistently, one week yes one week no, and not all of it.

For example there are packs of 4 pears ready to eat (from the USA so lots of food miles too) and they are in the most amazing poly clear shell with about three layers. This is not recyclable round here.

Sainsburys sell all their organic produce in compostable bags from my experience, good for you Sainsburys. M&S don't appear to do this at all, not the stores I visit anyway! Waitrose also use compostable packaging.

I was really disappointed to hear the promised Waitrose is not now coming to town, they sell a lot of the things I want in one place. I don't blame them with the current economic climate but we are doomed to many more years of derelict factories and mount crushmore (the pile of rubble that used to be Tesco before they built a much bigger store on the town outdoor swimming pool leaving the old store empty, to be knocked down later by a developer that never seemed to want to actually build something that might be competition for Tesco, funny that).

Tefal Actifry

If anyone is thinking of buying one from Ideal World - you can get it for 20 pounds cheaper from Amazon with free delivery!

I would like to get one, not sure where I would put it but imagine being able to make nice proper low fat organic chips - devine but then I may eat too many!

Yes you can still have pasta

I adore pasta, especially with a lovely home made tomato sauce. Shame I can't eat either any more!

You can get all sorts of pasta not made with wheat. The supermarket ones tend to leave me disappointed, not much like pasta!

I imported an electronic pasta machine from Italy thinking I could make my own, but the first attempts ended up as a pan of wallpaper paste.

Then I bought a book from the USA Amazon called Wheat Free Gourmet particularly because it had a pasta recipe. I bought the secret ingredient (Xanthum Gum) carefully measured out all the ingredients using cups (American recipes tend to use cups, and I have a set of measuring cups). It seemed a bit strange proportion wise but the pasta shapes stayed together even when cooked! Wow - but you could have used it to sole shoes with!

I probably need to practice and adjust the proportions a bit!

But I discovered some wonderful brown rice pasta in the health shop. It comes in all the usual shapes and more, and it is so good I doubt that anyone would notice the difference if you served it up without saying anything! Also because it is made with whole organic rice it is going to be low on the GI, and therefore very good for you.

The make of this wonderful pasta is: Rizopia. I buy mine in Harvest Health shop in Bath.

Goats Cheese and Celery Soup, (Goats cheese optional)

This is my recipe for celery soup, it is wheat free. It is also dairy free but there is an option of adding goats cheese if you are not intolerent.

I made this in the pressure cooker, you can adapt it to be made in a saucepan but the time should be adjusted, or a microwave in a very large container so it doesn't bubble over.

One large onion chopped roughly
One head of Celery root and tips removed and discarded in the compost bin, wash sticks well then slice thinly
A handful of red lentils (probably about 50 grams, or 2 ounces)
Water
Salt to taste
Oil - I used sunflower oil
Rice flour to thicken - could be substituted for
Small soft goats cheese - optional.
I used organic ingredients throughout.

Put some oil in the base of the pan and heat gently, then add the onion and allow to cook for a few minutes.
Add the sliced celery including leaves and continue to sautee in the oil, stirring frequently.
Boil some water - I used filtered,
Add the lentils to the the pan and top up with the boiling water, about half way up the pressure cooker - approx 1 litre, or two pints.
Add some salt if required, not too much as this can be adjusted later. (I used Himalayan salt).
Put the pressure cooker lid on and turn up the heat, when steaming turn the heat down and cook for 15 minutes. If using a pan, bring to the boil then turn down to simmer, simmer until the lentils are soft.

Turn off the heat and let the pressure slowly go from the pressure cooker, put two tablespoons of rice flour in a jug or mug and mix in some water to make it into a paste, add some soup to the paste and stir then put the heat back on under the pan and add the mixture to the soup.

Stir a few times and bring it to the boil.

Now I love gadgets, and I would normally let the soup cool a little then ladle it into my food processor to whizz it round and make it smooth, but I remembered I had a liquidiser gadget attachment for my hand mixer, used once and put away somewhere so decided to try that.
It worked a treat and was a lot easier than transferring the soup into the processor then a jug then back to the pan and it saved on washing up.

Whatever you use to make the soup smooth (processor, gadget, sieve and spoon) once this stage is complete if you want to add the goats cheese you can, and stir it round well until it dissolves.

The goats cheese I buy is the soft cheese without a rind, it is fairly easy to get hold of, organic or otherwise.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Now it is ready to serve, with rice cakes if you like them!