cupidsbow, posts by tag: food - LiveJournal

So it turns out that coconut yoghurt is a thing you can buy. And at the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I have to tell you guys that it's the best yoghurt I've ever tasted.

Before I stopped eating dairy, I tried yoghurt in every country and Australian state I visited, and of all those places, the best by a large margin was boutique-dairy pot-set yoghurts from Western Australia. The flavoured milks are the best here too. I think there's something about the climate here that makes the milk, and products made from milk, unbelievably good.

I'm not going to list everywhere I've tried the milk/cheese/yoghurt, but the second best cheese I've ever eaten was in France (I'd stopped eating yoghurt and drinking milk by the time I visited there). Western Australia's best boutique-dairy cheeses just pipped that French market stall cheese, but it was real close. If I'd had a chance to try a wider range while I was there, it's possible I would have found an even better cheese than the ones I've had locally.

Anyway, coconut yoghurt. It's a thing. And it's so good. I can't even tell you. SO GOOD. A smidge better than my favourite boutique-dairy pot-set yoghurt from Western Australia, which is saying something. Now I can eat muesli again (it's just not the same without yoghurt, and soy yoghurt sucks).

I really don't understand why coconut products aren't as common as dairy. They fill many of the same food niches, and are usually on par with, and surprisingly often surpass, the dairy equivalent.

ETA:

I got it from Manna Wholefoods, 274 South Terrace, South Fremantle. The website linked below has a store locator guide for Australia, and a link to the UK site.

COYO
Heaven in a mouthful. Australia's original coconut milk yoghurt. Dairy free, vegan, soy free, gluten free, lactose free, no added sugar.

COYO is made from the milk of the coconut and not from dairy milk. It is cultured in the same way as other yoghurts but with different strains of Probiotic cultures which are dairy free.

The writing on the label is too small for me to read the ingredients. It comes in four flavours: plain (the one I've tried so far), berry (my housemate says it's awesome), and passionfruit (the one I plan to try next), and mango (sounds delish too).

The same company also makes a brand of coconut ice-cream which I have not yet tried.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/39….

I just bumped into one of my housemates in the kitchen and said, "It's time for pieeeeeeee!" and did a pie dance of glee (which people who know me will recognise as a variation on my vegetable dance of glee) as I turned on the oven and put in a frozen gluten-free cherry pie.

She laughed at me, for some reason. I do not know why. Pie is totally deserving of a dance of glee, especially when eaten as a midnight snack!

It is possible there are reasons I may have been known to ever-so-slightly over-identify with one of those Winchesters. Shut up. Pie counts as a reason.

Also, I'm totally eating it with an enormous dollop of coconut cream once it's hot!

ETA: Mmmmmmm. I think I love coconut cream more than I used to love regular cream.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/38….

I've pretty much spent all of today marking until my eyes crossed. Gruelling. But I have only one set of assignments left to mark. Yay.

Anyway, I got home around an hour ago, which is pretty late; I'm tired, hungry, a bit headachy, and not really up for cooking anything fancy, but I'm craving a casserole. Hot, gooey comfort food with lots of vegetables. Nom nom nom. Fortunately, I planned ahead for this! I bought all the makings, and a pre-made gourmet sauce I could pour over the top and bake.

I whipped up the bits no problems: onions, lima beans, chicken. Then I went to pour over the sauce, and discovered this...

( Collapse )

My response to the surprise extra flavouring: DO NOT WANT.

It was still alive and wriggling! Yuck.

Thankfully I had a whole punnet of cherry tomatoes, so I used them and a bunch of herbs and a zucchini to finish off my casserole. But I'm scarred, people. SCARRED.

What's the worst surprise extra flavouring you've ever encountered? Share your horror stories! The grosser the better. And that's not something I say every day. :)

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/37….

In the wake of my awesome cupcakes I have been thinking about food porn. So peeps, tell me, have you ever tried some kind of food/drink/confectionary because it was discussed or consumed in one of the shows you follow? Do you think product placement actually works?

Racking my brain, this is my list:

• I'm pretty sure I tried Pepsi once after watching Back to the Future (successful product placement, I guess, but I didn't like it, so didn't drink it again. I'm not really a pop-drink fan). Verdict: Yuck. Tasted tinny and fake and overly fizzy.
  
  
• I'm pretty sure I tried okra and gumbo after watching The Big Easy. Verdict: Yum.
  
  
• I tried spaghetti a olio after watching Kindergarten Cop. Verdict: Meh. Too oily for me.
  
  
• I didn't eat anything at all after watching Delicatessen. Verdict: O_o
  
  
• I tried cream cheese after reading The Famous Five. Verdict: Meh. I think the cheese must be different in England. There's no way you can eat Aussie cream cheese the way those kids did, without suffering for it.
  
  
• I'm pretty sure I tried beef jerky after reading about it in a Western. Verdict: Yuck. Too salty, and nasty tasting.
  
  
• I have tried James Bond's martini. Verdict: Meh. Prefer gin and tonic.
  

Erm. *thinks* That's pretty much it, as far as I can remember.

What about you?

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/36….

Cafe-style Sweet Caramel Cakes, a gluten free packet mix by Melinda's gluten-free goodies.

OMG, my mouth is having an orgasm. So good. Crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, sweet but not sickly, short but not greasy. Caramel that doesn't taste artificial.

A billion calories a bite, and so worth it.

*eats warm cupcakes*

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/36….

So, my phone died. :(

I've had that phone for a really long time. I kinda hate phones, and only used it for taxis and emergencies, so never felt a real need to upgrade it. But now I must. I actually do need to be reachable for work and so on. Perhaps it is time for an iPhone? Being able to access email on it is a selling point for me.

Hmmm. I think I need help with this, or I will just... never get around to it.

*sigh*

On a totally different topic, I promised someone ages ago that I'd tell them the brands of gluten free bread I buy. cricketk, was it you? Anyway, they are:

• Schar -- imported, absolutely delicious European-style breads. They need to be toasted, but the Ciabattine and chocolate croissants are awesome! NOM. The shop can't keep them in stock. They also do quite nice pizza bases. I'm not a fan of the biscuits, though. Bleh. The shortening tastes too artificial.
  
  
• Zehnder -- this bread is in the freezer section, and comes as sliced loaves. My favourite is the sultana bread, but the wholemeal is nice too, and it also comes in pumpkin, soy and linseed, and potato. Again, it's best toasted, and it's really nice with jam.

Between these two, most of my bread needs are now met.

My favourite gluten free biscuits, if you are wondering, are Butterfingers' pure butter shortbread. So good, no one can tell they are gluten free!

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/35….

One of the things that continues to boggle me is how stymied people are by the combination of gluten intolerance and dairy intolerance.

They look at me, and earnestly go, "Wow, that must be so hard!"

I refrain from rolling my eyes, because I used to share their opinion, and they are somewhat right. So much food either has flour or milk in it. All the cheap restaurant food, especially.

People who aren't used to cooking with those intolerances in mind tend to get all caught up in the do's and don'ts and kind of miss the obvious. I used to do this too -- look first for flour or dairy "replacements" rather than just making something that doesn't need those things. There are so many great foods like that, is the thing, and they are even pretty common, but we kind of overlook them.

Take desserts. There are a very limited number I can usually order when I'm out. This isn't a major issue, as I'm not a huge dessert fan anyway. But this is just a failure of imagination on the part of restaurants, not something that's actually difficult.

For instance, today I felt a craving for something sweet and fruity and high fat, like apple pie and cream. Given that my eating philosophy is now, "I can have whatever I want, whenever I want it," I figured I'd do something about this at some point. I then proceeded to nap for most of the day, which was blissful ;) When I finally woke up, I couldn't be bothered making pie, or even crumble. I did stew some plums, though -- I love stewed plums.

But what of the cream, right? I must have had to eat those plums plain, or do something really special to replace the cream!

Yeah. I opened a tin a coconut cream and dolloped some onto the fruit.

It was fantastic. NOM NOM NOM.

Coconut cream actually tastes better than regular cream with quite a few things, like sautéed bananas. It tastes great with gluten-free Christmas cake, pie, crumble, pasta dishes that require cream, and many other things. I haven't yet tried mixing it with icing sugar and using it to ice stuff (I don't eat icing very much), but I bet it tastes great that way too.

The humble coconut = awesome.

And now I think I might go and have seconds.

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/34….

I woke up with eyes all caked up with gunk this morning -- a classic allergic reaction and one I commonly have to dairy.

As I didn't eat any dairy yesterday, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what might have triggered the reaction. But I have dark suspicions that there is a smoking peanut at work! Dum dum DUM!

I ate peanut butter crackers as a snack last thing before bed. I haven't reacted to that brand of peanut butter before, but nonetheless, I have Significant Doubts about those peanuts and their motives.

In happier food news, I discovered smoked duck at the supermarket last week. After reading the fine print I discovered it was made of duck. Heee. (If you are allergy conscious, you will know just why that is funny.) So I bought it and ate it in a salad for lunch today, and it was good.

If I have another reaction in a few hours, I shall rename that salad "smoking duck salad". If I don't, I shall be eating smoked duck and salad in gluten-free wraps for lunch in the near future. \o/

Have any of you discovered neat new foods recently?

This entry was originally posted at http://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/34….