Cream makes simple things super

This is an odd one – when Mum first suggested this to me, I thought it wouldn’t work, taste wise.  We find it useful to serve at nice meals, like when people come round – it looks complicated when on the plate, but really, it just takes a bit of preparation.  This will serve two.

200g Pasta (we use Promin short spaghetti but anything low protein is fine – don’t use normal pasta)

Juice of half a lemon

Four courgettes

6 dessert spoons of double cream (3 spoons is 1/2 exchange)

A little oil

A saucepan

A frying pan

A vegetable peeler

Start boiling some pasta water (we find adding a little salt and oil to the Promin pasta water stops it sticking).  While you are waiting for it to heat up, slice the courgettes lengthways.  This means from top to bottom along the length.  When you are done, you will have an enormous pile of courgette.  Don’t worry.  It reduces a LOT.  Start frying the courgettes in the oil in the frying pan.  This can be a little awkward at first since there’s so much but persevere.  Add the pasta to the water.  When the courgette has reduced dramatically and is very soft, add the lemon juice and turn the heat right down.  Add the double cream and stir it all together.  Your pasta should be done, so divide into two bowls, stir the pasta and sauce together and serve.

Rice is nice

Risotto is not quick, but it’s easy.  I’m a great fan, it’s very filling but can be a bit fatty so maybe not one for you if you’re calorie counting.  Also not one if you’re exchange counting.  Takes 30-40 minutes from scratch.  Rices differ slightly by brand, so check your packet for how many exchanges it will be.

200g arborio rice

1 onion

1 courgette

2 carrots

1 pepper

lump of butter

2l stock – for this use the vegetarian (NOT vegan) Bouillion

300ml white wine

Wooden spoon

Large frying pan

Chopping board

Knife

Chop the vegetables.  Chop the onion and over a low-medium heat fry it gently in the butter.  When it’s turning yellow, add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes.  Once the rice seems to be absorbing the butter, add the wine.  At this point, add chopped carrot and courgette and stir until the wine has evaporated, then add stock by the ladle, stirring until the liquid has evaporated before adding the next ladle.  Depending on how hot and fast you are cooking it, you may not need to add all the stock.  When the carrot is beginning to be less crunchy, add the pepper.  Continue adding the stock until you have cooked vegetables, cooked rice (it will no longer have a hard centre) and a creamy sauce.

For other members of the family, you can fry some chicken breasts and add to their portions when the cooking is over.

Friday is pizza night

My first recipe is one of my favourites; I have this every Friday with my sister because we’re complete saddos.  The prep time depends on whether you’ve got some pizza bases already made or not – it takes about 4 hours if you haven’t, and about 30 minutes if you have.

Pizza base: 1 500g bag FATE All Purpose Mix, 50ml oil, 2 tsp salt, 450ml warm water, pack yeast (enclosed in FATE)

Pizza topping: Marks and Spencer Pizza Topping Sauce; OR Napolina Tomato and Basil Pizza Topping; OR Passata (or any other pizza sauce – those are just our favourites).

Oregano

Mozzerella Cheezly (18g/exchange)

Any other vegetable topping eg olives, capers, peppers, red onion.

Baking parchment; 3 baking sheets; 3 large bin bags

Follow the instructions in the FATE bag for making bread – mix all the ingredients together as listed above.  This bread does not need to be kneaded.  Place 6 equally sized lumps of dough on six squares of baking parchment and smooth out into pizza bases of roughly 1/2 centimetre thickness.  Place two bases to a baking sheet and put inside a blown up bin bag, closing the bin bag to ensure no air escapes and no bag is touching the bases.  Repeat with all the other bases.  Leave to rise for 3 hours.  After, take the bases out and cook for about 15 minutes each until browning round the edges but pale in the middle.  Take however many pizzas you plan to make that night, and spread topping sauce on them to your desired amount.  Add Cheezly and oregano to taste and vegetables if you like.

We don’t put veg on 😀

That was a simple one to start with, I will write more complex ideas later on.

Dusty Unicorn

PKU Cookery for beginners

Hi!

If you’ve made it to this blog, chances are you know someone with phenylketonuria, or you have it yourself.  Maybe you’re a new mum with a new PKU baby or maybe you’re just inviting a PKU round for dinner.

Either way, there’s a lot to think about and it can be a bit much and confusing.  I’ll be writing a series of pages on this website to try and explain the basics of what PKU does to us and what we can and can’t eat.  My blog posts will be recipes, food ideas, or even entire day menus to try and make things simpler for you.  I’ll also link to some UK PKU food sites for supplements, low protein products and I’ll do a few reviews too.

I hope my blog is useful for you, please don’t hesitate to comment if you want to ask something!

DustyUnicorn