Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Chicken,Tomato and Pasta soup

This recipe was born out of a near empty fridge and pantry, but don't all great inventions come from bare necessity? Well, perhaps that is too great a comparison... this dish isn't really that great an invention, but it is a hearty meal, made from ingredients dug out of a pantry. My secret ingredient was actually a small tin of baked beans! Our son can't have bought chicken stock cubes since he's allergic to some of the ingredients they use. I had run out of tinned tomatoes, and I was wanting to somehow add a bit more nutrition and vegetable content to the soup... and there it was, a tin of baked beans! My husband actually really liked this dish, so it got ticks of approval from old and young.

Chicken, Tomato and Pasta soup
500g chicken fillet - cut into bite sized cubes. If you have chicken pieces then you can use that instead of course, but the fillet is the quickest option and easiest to find in my freezer.
1 onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced roughly
220g can SPC Baked Beans in tomato sauce (dairy free, egg free, nut free)
300g San Remo soup pasta, or any other pasta of your choice

Boil about 3L of water, add the chicken pieces first. Once they have been cooked on the outside, simply add all the other ingredients, except for pasta. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Add the pasta to cook about 10 minutes before you are ready to serve. Depending on what pasta you choose, you may need to add more water to ensure the pasta doesn't stick together. This is a great simple, hearty meal for those days on the run. Garnish with some parsley just to add a bit of colour.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Allergy free Spring rolls - savoury and sweet

 

Hooray, our son can eat cabbage! I can just imagine the surprise as you read that. For our son, every new food is a cause for celebration - I have to admit that on this one, I didn't follow the strict rules of half a teaspoon one day, one teaspoon the next etc. I don't think that test would have been very successful because who wants to eat spoonfuls of cabbage?!

So, my test method was actually using Coles Cocktail Spring Rolls with Vegetable filling. Two spring rolls on the first day, doubling that portion over the next few days until my son could eat no more! This is where other allergy mums will understand what my cheering was really about. The picture that I've put up is of my home-made spring rolls, but my celebration over cabbage is because it now allows us to buy pre-made spring rolls! Just in time for birthday party number 3! This means that there is one less thing I have to make from scratch and one easy option when we want to bring a plate of something to share to other parties. The reason I chose this brand is because it has the least ingredients in it, thus making it more likely that our son can actually eat it: egg free, milk free and nut free still of course, but be sure to check the packaging every time you buy it.

Up till now, I have experimented with home made spring rolls like the picture above. I used Filo Pastry which is basically just wheat and oil. I wrapped shredded chicken with thinly sliced vegetables, or else slices of apple in the pastry and shallow fried it. Apple was our son's favourite naturally. For adults, I served it with a fresh garden salad, drizzled with sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise. If you're adventurous, you could wrap them in triangle shapes instead to make samosas.

Home-made was probably more delicious, but shop bought gets my thumbs up for easier living.

Calling other allergy mums out there... do you know of a soy mayonnaise that doesn't contain egg?