Dairy free Cherry and sultana cake

This dairy free Cherry and sultana cake is a favourite in our house - it's the type of cake that's sturdy enough to travel well be it for M's packed lunch or a family picnic. Despite that it's not a dense fruit cake, the type you'd have for Christmas, but a lightly fruited sponge, that stays beautifully moist without being crumbly. It pairs beautifully with a cup of tea and a good gossip with dear friends, and is quick and easy enough to make and give as a gift the same day.

The most important part of the recipe is soaking the sultanas - I save a couple of teabags from my morning cuppas so there's no need to use extra teabags unnecessarily.



Dairy free Cherry and sultana cake
Dairy free, soya free
Serves 10

4oz dairy free spread (I used Pure)
4oz caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6oz plain flour
12oz sultanas
4oz glace cherries, rinsed and halved
2 teabags

Put 2 teabags in a medium sized bowl and top with the sultanas. Cover in boiling water and leave to stand - you could do overnight, but I tend to pop them in after breakfast and make the cake while the toddler is asleep - so 2-3 hours
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C
Grease and flour a 2lb loaf tin
In a separate bowl cream the dairy free spread and the sugar until light and fluffy
Add the eggs, one at a time with a large spoonful of flour each time to stop the mixture from curdling
Remove 4 tablespoons of flour and set aside
Sift in the rest of the flour and mix gently to combine
Stir the reserved flour in with the cherries until they're all covered (this helps them not to sink to the bottom of your cake)
Stir the cherries into your cake batter
Pour/ spoon the batter into your greased and floured tin
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour - after 45 minutes, check to make sure that the top hasn't caught - if it's getting too dark, cover it with a double layer of greaseproof paper
Allow to cool for 20 minutes or so in the tin, then transfer it to a cooling rack
Slice and enjoy - it keeps nicely for a few days, but longer than that I don't know as it never lasts that long in this house!

Sweet potato biscuit stars: a dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Sweet potato biscuit stars have been a hands down winner in our house this week - little mouthfuls of lightly spiced, naturally sweet biscuit are an ideal accompaniment to a midmorning beaker of oat milk, or as a pudding to go with some coconut yoghurt. Dairy, egg, soya and sugar free they are wildly simple to make, and for a bubba in his seventh week of a streaming cough and cold and his second week of cutting canines they were one of the only foods he didn't fling heavenwards.

I made these using the food processor, but a decent masher or ricer would mean they would easily make by hand. Similarly, I've used coconut oil but Pure dairy free spread, or Vitalite would work, as would gluten free flour. The biscuits keep nicely in an airtight tin, and I tend to view a portion as two of the little stars.

print recipe

Sweet Potato Biscuit Stars

by Penelope Reader October-10-2015

A dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Ingredients

• 150g Cooked Sweet Potato
• 180g Plain flour
• 60g Coconut Oil
• ½tsp Ground mixed spice
• ¼tsp Ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC 2. Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper 3. Peel, chop, and boil/microwave/bake your sweet potato. Allow to cool 4. Put the sweet potato into the bowl of your food processor (or mash thoroughly and mix the rest of the ingredients by hand). 5. Add the flour, spices and coconut oil to the food processor bowl and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. 6. Liberally dust your worktop with flour, and roll out the dough until it is about ¼" thick. 7. Cut out the shapes, and put them on the lined cookie sheet 8. Briefly knead the leftover dough, reroll and cut out shapes. Repeat until you have used all the dough. 9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. 10. Cool on a wire rack.

Details

Prep time: 10m Cook time: 35m Total time: 45mYield: 20 small biscuits

Whatever you do, don't turn your back while trying to take photos or this might just happen...

Podcast Episode 1: Living with Cow's milk protein allergy

I thought I'd try some different content today - here's what will hopefully be the first in a series of podcasts talking about life with a Cow's milk protein allergy.  Today is just an introduction to CMPA, and a bit of a chat about some of the basics of life with a baby who has a Cow's milk protein allergy.





Resources mentioned

The allergy episode of Get Well Soon has dropped off of Iplayer, but as soon as I see it's back on there I'll tweet it out.

There's links in the right hand bar to my email, twitter and facebook.

If you have any questions, please do comment below

My allergy essentials

Life with allergies necessitates organising - this month I assembled two Allergy packs, one for me and one for M.  Here are our allergy essentials

Last month I got stung by a bee. No big news story there, it happens. Last time I got stung was on Guide camp in 2010 and I had a bit of a funny reaction - my lips were tingly and swelled up a bit. I'd taken Piriton and all was fine. Back up to the other week and I started with the tingly lips again, so we thought I'd better take some Piriton. However, the packet advises against taking if you're breastfeeding. "Call 111" I told Mark, "They'll be able to tell us if it's safe." Sadly they couldn't, but thank God we did as my reaction worsened fast from then on in. Once again I say thank you hugely to the NHS, especially the Ambulance service and the hospital staff working on a blisteringly hot Sunday afternoon in Barnet General (Yes, Jeremy Hunt - A&E was massively busy - lots of doctors working incredibly hard)  Large doses of IV antihistamines and a few hours of monitoring later, me and my beesting went home with instructions to get to the GP asap. Our lovely doctor saw me that week, discussed the type of reaction I have and prescribed me an epi pen (two actually) and gave me isntructions for what to do should I get stung again.

What I know now, that I didn't know a month back is that people who are allergic don't always the first time they're stung (when I was about 7 back in my Granny's garden) and reactions from then on may worsen each time you're stung. Which makes me one of the 3 in 100 adults who have serious reactions to bee stings. I now have an essential and potentially life saving allergy pack that I carry around with me all the time.

Epi pen - one is kept on me, and one is in the house (by the radio in the kitchen should you need to know) Mark keeps one in his glove box and the other upstairs (he's allergic to wasp stings)

Cetirizine/ Piriton - The GP said that unbranded cetirizine is fine (Aldi sell it really cheaply). I keep a packet in my Medpac and a box in our First Aid box

Medpac - including ID and treatment card details. I found details of Medpac online as I was googling for soemthing to put the epi pen, Piriton and some allergy details safely in for when it's in the nappy bag. It's bright orange, so great for finding quickly. We've got the small medpacs, which (for me) holds the epi pen, pack of piriton and a sheet of all my other meds. Handily the medpacs contain an ID and treatment card which you complete with full details of relevant medical information. I've included all my epilepsy information as it's entirely likely that a sting could provoke a seizure.

Keyring from Carrie-Lou crafts I was getting organised (and I love getting organised) when I realised that looking at a handbag or the nappy bag, despite having the bright orange medpac inside, you wouldn't necessarily know there was anything in there. Caroline is well known in Guiding circles for her beautiful personalised unit hoodies and bags. I sent her an email and asked if she could make me a couple of keyrings which said Epi pen inside and allergic to bees/ wasps. She turned this around rally quickly and now on the outside of my bag I have said keyring, as well as one attached to the carabiner on the medpac.

That's my allergy esentials - have I missed any must haves for an on-the-go allergy pack?

Dairy free, egg free, vegan cake round up - CMPA friendly baking

One of the things I miss most since Harry has developed his egg allergy is cake. Previously it was so easy to whip a cake up while he napped - M could have it for his packed lunches, I could have it as a sweet treat after breastfeeding - it was all good. At first I tried using apple puree as a substitute, flax eggs and really wasn't happy with the results, although I know others are.

Over the last week I've tried some of the most popular recipes I could find for dairy and egg free cakes (which are happily vegan too I think - if I've got that wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments). Some were great from the off (chocolate fudge, I'm looking at you), others required a little tweaking. Generally I've reduced sugar and upped flavouring a little - that's just to our tastes.

I thought I'd do a round up post so all the cakes are in one place - and I've also added some links to other dairy, and egg free cakes from some of my favourite bloggers. If you've got a favourite dairy and egg free cake - pass the link on, either via email, or in the comments below and I'll be sure to add it in.

First off - here's my list:

Pina Colada cake
Chocolate fudge cake with marshmallow icing
Dorset apple inspired 'wacky' cake
Vegan meringues
Big person porridge fingers (a cakey flapjack)
Maple, apple and banana bites

Here's the round up from some of my favourite bloggers - just see my notes in italics for other allergen information:

From Munchies and munchkins (Love that name!) Peanut butter banana bread - which is gluten free too
From Family, friends, food Egg and dairy free spiced apple and raisin cupcakes Helen, also told me that in Kosher produce, food labelled parve will be dairy free - you'll have to check for soya, but it's definitely worth knowing if you have a Kosher section in your supermarket
From Fab food for all Vegan banana cake (clearly bananas work well in dairy and egg free recipes!)

From Emily recipes and reviews Vegan vanilla cupcakes - not soya free for those of you baking with CMPA in mind
From one of my favourite blogs Fuss Free Flavours - Vegan date and orange cake
From Goodie Godmother Vegan lemon cream cake not soya free - Mary doesn't mention if the vegan cream cheese contains soya - but Violife have just released a dairy and soya free cream cheese. If you can find that, that would work.
From Jen's food - Egg free, dairy free carrot and cinammon cake These aren't vegan as they contain honey, but you could substitue that for maple syrup 
From Natural kitchen adventures Banana chocolate chip cake - another one that's gluten free too. Although you'll need to check the chocolate chips for soya

From Rough measures - a Date, apple and walnut loaf (sub the egg for a banana to make it egg free)

From Tin and Thyme a Coconut, chickpea and chocolate cake also gluten free
That list should keep all of us dairy and egg free bakers busy for a while - it'll certainly keep M's lunchbox and colleagues going for a bit. Just don't tell my Slimming World leader!

Pina Colada cake - dairy free, egg free

The third of my dairy free cakes is a Pina Colada cake - a loaf cake, speckled with chunks of pineapple, with a hint of coconut rum in the background. Drizzled in a pineapple infused glace icing and topped with heaps of dessicated coconut. It's either a retro wonder, or beautiful in monochrome.

Based on the three ingredient pineapple cake that pops up all over the internet, I wanted to make this a bit different. And was thinking about my mispent youth - so of course Malibu (coconut rum) had to be paired with the pineapple.

This is such an easy cake to make, You don't need to ice it, I was mainly just prettying it up, although the pineapple juice in the glace icing does add a tartness as a foil to the sweetness of the topping, cutting through and preventing that tooth aching feeling that too much glace icing can give (unless you're 7 in which case there's no such thing as too much glace icing - I've seen Brownies icing cake, believe me I know).

Pina Colada cake
(serves 8-10)

2 cups Self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tin pineapple in juice - you should get crushed pineapple, but if like me you pick up chunks by mistake just blitz them down in either a food processor or with a stick blender (I used the latter, less washing up)
4 tablespoons Coconut rum

For the icing
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
100g icing sugar
50g dessicated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Grease and line a loaf tin
Take out 4 tablespoons of pineapple juice from the tin and set aside
In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, add the sugar and the pineapple (including the remaining juice)
Add the coconut rum
Using a hand mixer or a wooden spoon and elbow grease, beat briskly until combined. You will have a thick batter, speckled with the occasional chunks of pineapple.
Pour this into your prepared loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. 

When baked, remove from oven and allow to cool in tin.

Pineapple glace icing

Mix the icing sugar and pineapple juice together until you get a thick, glossy glaze.
Pour, drizzle or spoon this over the top of your cake. It is not meant to be perfect, part of the beauty of this cake is in it's simplicity, it doesn't need fancy icing.
Sprinkle the top liberally with dessicated coconut.

This cake goes beautifully with a mid morning coffee or as a casual pudding after supper. You wouldn't know it's dairy and egg free and to me that is part of the beauty. Once again, we are aiming for inclusivity for those of us with allergies. Inclusivity and cake.

Bread, Cows milk protein allergy and food labelling

Finding dairy and soya free bread is hard work - made all the harder when brands change recipes with no publicity. This post is a plea to all allergy parents to check the labels, even of things you've been buying for a long time - every time to make sure the allergy information is the same. I've included a bread recipe at the end as that way you know exactly what's in it - it's breadmaker friendly for ease/ laziness (if you're me!)

Useless fact of the day - I'm a glasses wearer -  only for close up things, so blogging, reading, sewing, knitting - that kind of thing. Oh and now shopping. One of the things I've come to realise about having a baby with CMPA is that you have to read the blooming labels. All of them. Every time.

Case in point - Aldi bread. We love Aldi in this family, their Super 6 fruit and veg form the basis of our meal plans. As does the special offers they run on meat (M is particularly happy on the weeks they include bacon). As a rule we don't buy much that has labels per se - we eat a lot of fruit and veg, rice, quinoa, coucous, lentils etc and of course fish and meat. We do have pasta but normally that's fine ingredient wise - although I never buy fresh pasta.

Bread products on the other hand are a minefield. Most of the time I make my own bread. I think I'm the only person still using their breadmaker on a regular basis. Lately though I'm having a break from it as I was eating waaay too much and also I've been really run down of late (that's a post in itself). Sometimes though it's nice to be able to pick up a loaf, fling it in the trolley and get on with the shop safe in the knowledge that my carb loving bubba can have his toast and fruit spread. But. Of course there's a but. A massive one. BUT... then Aldi changed the recipe for their breads. No fanfare, no publicity - just walloped soya flour in them. I get it, wheat is expensive - soya flour is cheap. There goes all our bread. Of course it's labelled properly, but I didn't think to check as I 'knew' it was dairy and soya free.

So a quick plea to stores and brands - if you change your recipe to include known allergens - please, please please can you pop something on the packaging or something for the shelf edge. Allergy parents are meticulous at checking, but sometimes - just sometimes we think we're safe in the knowledge that something is safe for our babies and suddenly it's not.

Alternatives I've found thus far are: 

Hovis seed sensations Update 9/7/15 Hovis have changed the recipe of the original seed sensations to include soya flour. However, they have updated their packaging to reflect this. Please double check before purchasing. I got a loaf this week that was fine, others have got new loaves.
Sainsburys Basics crumpets
Sainsburys white pitta bread (wholemeal has soya flour)
Sainsburys Morning rolls (other breads in storedo contain dairy and soya so these are a may contain)
Sainsburys white wraps
Jacksons bloomer loaves
Waitrose essentials white loaf
Waitrose hot cross buns (how did I not know this at Easter?!)
Waitrose rosemary foccacia (pack of 4 mini breads)
Morrisons garlic flatbread

Tesco finest seeded loaf
Tesco wheatfield wholemeal batch
Tesco plain tortilla wraps
Iceland burger and hotdog buns
New York bakery bagels (Harry loves the mini ones) 

Obviously please check these if you're sensitive to 'may contains' and for any recipe changes.

Here's our incredibly simple 50/50 wholewheat bread recipe that I do in the breadmaker...

50/50 Wholewheat bread - dairy free, soya free, breadmaker friendly

200g wholewheat flour
200g strong white flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 teaspoon/ 5g fast acting yeast
1 tsp sugar
Half a teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (or a big glug) olive oil (plus extra to oil the worktop)
280ml warmish water

As I said, I use the breadmaker and pop it on a Sandwich loaf cycle - leave it be and go about my day, but if you were to do it by hand it's super simple just a bit more input from you.

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and water together until you get a dough.
Knead on an oiled surface for 10 minutes
Lightly oil a mixing bowl, pop your ball of dough inside. Cover with cling film and leave somewhere warm for an hour to rise
Tip the dough out onto an oiled surface again
Knead for another 10 minutes
Shape into a loaf shape - be that a round cottage loaf, or pop into a loaf tin - if using a tin, flour it. If cooking free form, then dust your baking sheet with polenta or flour
Leave to rise somewhere warm for another hour
Bake at 180 for 30 minutes or until the top is nice and golden and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it.
Resist the urge to eat warm, slathered in almond butter and banana. Just me then? OK...

Huge thanks to the mums and dads in the Cows Milk Protein Allergy support group on Facebook for helping me track down a comprehensive list of alternative bread products. Especially Christine Kelly who was fabulous!

Egg free, Vegan meringues

 Have you ever made anything you're so unduly proud of that you feel like telling the world? Stopping random people on the street, and saying - "Quick! Try my..." I did this weekend. A couple of weeks back I was chatting with Helen of Fuss Free Flavours  and she mentioned that you could use the water from a tin of chickpeas as an egg white replacer. I think I spoke recently about the fact that Harry's allergies have extended to eggs so I've cut them out of my diet too. I was making a batch of houmous for the baby - chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, tahini and cumin - and ended up with the jug of mysterious looking liquid below. I was about to pour it down the sink when inspiration struck and I thought I'd have a bash at some meringues. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting much!

I sort of guesstimated quantities a bit and used the method for meringues that I was taught when much younger.

Vegan meringues - egg free, dairy free


150ml brine from a tin of chickpeas (water from 1 tin)
125g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 90 degrees
Whisk up the brine until you get to soft peaks. I did it in my stand mixer and it took ages - 7-10 minutes I'd say
Add the sugar and cream of tartar and continue to mix until you get to stiff peaks

 Line some trays with baking parchment and pipe your meringue nests - I used a big star nozzle and got three trays of nests out of this mix

Bake these without opening the door for 2 hours, then switch off the oven and leave in there to cool for another hour. 

The finished product is slightly golden and tastes a little like cinder toffee/ honeycomb - they're very light and crisp initially, but today after being stored in an airtight tin overnight are much chewier (which is my preference). My husband and inlaws had them with bowls of raspberries and vanilla ice cream. I had mine plain with heaps of raspberries. They'd be fabulous in a vegan eton mess, or just with lots of summer berries.

Maple, apple and banana bites - dairy free treats for a CMPA baby (and mummy)

This dairy free bake came about from a hormonal 'need' for something sweet but equally the need for it to be healthy enough so that I could kid myself it was good for me. Dairy free bakes are not easy (or affordable) to come by in the shops - I've always baked at home, but since going dairy free for Harry, if I want sweet things then my baking cupboard is my first port of call.

I've read a lot of healthy blogs since Harry and I have gone dairy free - and more still since we started trialling egg free. What strikes me as odd is how people fill bakes or makes up with 400g dates, tablespoons upon tablespoons of maple syrup and declare how healthy it is. Well, yes it's not refined sugar, but surely fructose is still a sugar of sorts? Anyway, who am I to question - the thought just occurred to me as I was planning to buy more dates. I love dates. How did I not know this before now?

These maple, apple and banana bites were my first go at using pureed apple as an egg replacer - they were nowhere near as light as they would have been if I'd used eggs. Chewy and dense, they were more like a sweet bread than a cake. Hence rebranding them as a 'bite'. Harry loved them, and as a side to a strong coffee (the sort you need when the neighbour leaving for work at 4.45am wakes the baby up 6 days a week) they certainly hit the spot.

Maple, apple and banana bites - makes 10 little or 4 little and 4 big

1 dessert apple, peeled, cored and stewed in a little water (no need to add any sugar) - you want this to cook down to a mush
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 ripe banana
120g ground almonds
1 tablespoon chia seeds
175g plain flour
25g custard powder
1/2 tsp sweet mixed spice
Handful of sultanas
60 - 100ml almond milk (or your dairy substitute)
Oil to grease your tins

Muffin tin/ individual pie tins

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Using a stick blender - whizz up the stewed apples, maple syrup and banana (resist the urge to eat this with a spoon)
Sift in the flour and custard powder
Stir in the almonds, chia seeds, mixed spice and sultanas.
You want this to be slightly thicker than a dropping consistency so add almond milk and stir to loosen if necessary
Grease your muffin tin/ pie tins with oil - I used coconut
Add about 2 - 3 tablespoons of mix to each muffin space. This is a dense bite so you don't want them to be too thick

Bake for about 30-40 minutes - the top should be lightly browned and should bounce back gently if you press it, and a skewer/ knife needs to come out clean

I found the little muffin sized portions were ideal for Harry - and as it set nicely it worked well as a baby led weaning pudding. I preferred the ones in the individual pie tins.

 

Cows milk protein allergy/ Dairy free cooking, baking and eating

As a new mum, learning to deal with Cow's Milk Protein Allergy has been a steep learning curve, so I thought I'd use today's post, to outline some of the products that have been useful to us over the last few months.

We've been weaning Harry for 5 months now, and have been dairy free for all of that time, and soya free for about 3 months. The difference in him is amazing. He doesn't wail, arching his back, or hold his breath because he's in so much pain with the reflux anymore. He doesn't projectile vomit every feed back up, and he's lost that slightly haunted, underweight look that made me so sad. To see him squeal and giggle, clap and stand up, and generally just be wonderful (not that I'm biased at all) really makes me not care about the chocolate, cheese, milk or anything else I can't have. He's doing brilliantly and that means that I'm coping fine.

However, for Harry and I, being dairy & soya free isn't without it's challenges. I actually don't find the day to day side of things too hard - it's the pressure of trying to be inventive - to balance making sure he's getting enough of the right kind of calories with interesting, tasty food - that I find a struggle. If I don't plan, I hit a 3pm wall as it were, when I bemoan all those quick and easy suppers that I've clearly filed away over the years that all contain dairy. So, I plan, I make sure I have the right kind of food in for him and me, and we get on with it.

Some babies do grow out of their CMPA - to be honest I'm not thinking about that because it'll be great if it happens, but I'm sticking with where we are.  I will stop breastfeeding at some point, but for now, what we're doing is working for us so I'm reluctant to make any changes.

So - onto some of our useful and not so useful products...

Almond milk - we use this for porridge, cereals, baking and pretty much for Harry anything except drinking. We haven't really broached weaning from breast milk yet - but I suspect we'll use Oat milk when the time comes. I really like the mild flavour of the almond milk, it categorically doesn't work in tea or coffee - but then I've not found a dairy substitute that does.

Coyo - Coconut milk yoghurt. This is lovely. There are vanilla, raw chocolate and plain flavours in our local Waitrose, and I pop in weekly to pick some up. Harry has his with chopped fruit normally, although I've used the plain one to make him a mild curry.

Wot No Dairy? - These yoghurt type puddings were suggested by our dietician and are not a hit. Made with pea protein, I don't know if it's the flavour Harry doesn't like (although I've tried them mixed in with banana which is his absolute favourite to no avail) but I found them oddly flavoured too.

Violife 'cheese' - we buy the mozzarella style slices as that's what our Holland and Barrett stocks, although apparently in bigger Tescos you can get it in grateable blocks too. I cannot stand the smell of this - as much as I miss cheese, I just can't do Violife. That said Harry loves it. If we're having a picnic lunch (I put out little bits and pieces of ham, cheese, veggies, rice cakes, houmous etc and we eat them off his splash mat on the floor) I swear he hones in on this and inhales it. It doesn't melt like dairy cheese does, but chopped up and popped in a warm pasta sauce it does soften nicely.

Oatly Creamy Oat - this is our hero product at the moment, used to make dairy free rice puddings, creamy pasta sauces, and in pretty much anything where I might have previously used butter/ cream or cheese. It has a really mild taste so for Harry is ideal. I need to get some more at the moment actually as we're out of our baked rice pudding.

Vitalite - I use this for baking as well as a spread. Having done some anecdotal research if you're using this for baking - watch your cakes! It cooks much quicker than butter, and I find cakes are more likely to catch so you have to be careful. We've also used the Pure spreads, but think Harry reacts to something in them, which he doesn't seem to do to the Vitalite.

We don't eat a lot of Free from type products, truth be told I find them expensive and because we're allergic to soya as well as dairy, many just aren't suitable. I also think (with a few notable exceptions) that I'd rather bake for Harry and I as that way I know what we're reacting to, rather than trying to work out from a massive list of ingredients. That said, I have a huge soft spot for the Sainsburys Free from chocolate chip cookies, and could easily eat them by the packet. All of that aside - this list from PETA of accidentally vegan snack food has been a bit of a go-to for me!

If you're dairy free for any reason then I hope this is useful for you, it's not easy so do hang on in there.

If you've got any questions or requests for help with meals do comment below and let me know. I've had some requests for lunch inspirations, much like my breakfast suggestions post so I'm working on that at that moment and of course I'll continue to blog anything we happen across that makes our lives easier.

Meal Planning Monday - late again!

I swear - first week of January and everyone else is all motivated and organised and I'm there flapping behind, trailing in a sleep deprived, teething baby haze of Calpol, concealer and coffee. But I'm here now. And almost organised. Ish.

Meal planning for the week actually happened at the end of last week as I did our online shop for Friday. It's been quite interesting planning as I've started doing Slimming World (I know it's a bit of a new mum, new year cliche but my default weightloss position of run isn't possible because of my hips) and combining that with being dairy free for Harry is a bit of a challenge. I suspect this first week won't be entirely successful as I'm struggling with balancing being dairy free, not eating artificial sweeteners, breastfeeding, Health Extra A's and also a lot of the things that seasoned slimmers rely on like low fat yoghurts are off the table for me. Overall I've been quite hungry and conscious that I'm probably not quite meeting the mark, but am hoping my food diary and notebook will help with that come Monday.

That said Harry's reflux is so much better and his weight gain (oh the irony) is off the charts with me off dairy (and soya) that even if it means that Slimming World isn't for me it's still worth it.

The weather here is freezing, so I've been having soup each day for lunch - a homemade carrot honey and chilli concoction that I really like. It's not quite syn free as it did have a couple of teaspoons of honey and a tablespoon of olive oil - but that was for the whole batch, which has done 10 portions thus far. Next week I'm doing a yellow split pea and veg soup - a variation on this Nigella one, but without the butter or frankfurters.

Breakfasts: I've been having porridge made with oat milk (but am going to try Almond milk next week) and mixed spices - aiming for a gingerbready flavour to compensate for a lack of sugar  with a chopped apple and banana in the bowl.

Lunches: It's strange that lunch is more important now as I've spent 7 months skipping it and compensating with large quantities of biscuits...  so I'm having either soup and a tuna sandwich, or a baked potato with prawns and a plateful of veggie sticks, or an omlette with mushrooms and ham.

Suppers: 

Sunday: Super slow cooked Brisket with extra veggies

Monday: Leftover roast beef with baked potatoes and veggies

Tuesday: Leftover beef turned into cottage pie with carrot, parsnip and potato mash on top and extra veggies. If I'm short on beef I'll be bulking it out with baked beans as randomly I've run out of lentils. 

Wednesday: Leftover cottage pie with frozen peas

Thursday: I've gone back to Brownies this term so will make a veggie pasta bake and leave it in the oven on low for M

Friday: Breakfast for tea

Saturday: I made a chilli con carne this week that I've frozen some portions of, so I think that would be a lovely warming supper

Sunday: Roast chicken (mainly to ensure an easy week next week!)

That's our week. Any of you out there doing slimming world with any suggestions for Slimming world friendly weeknight dinners that M would like and don't rely on heaps of dairy, please do leave your links below... I'd be super grateful for some inspiration.

Now, if someone could just poke me to remind me to link up with At home with Mrs M I'd be very grateful.