Showing posts with label lactose intolerance. Show all posts

Dairy Free Restaurant Review: Zizzi's

Since becoming dairy free, I have struggled with trying to find places to eat out where I can eat something other than a salad. So we are going to be starting a series (if not a little sporadic, who has the dollar to eat out all the time?!) reviewing restaurants in the UK for dairy free options on 'normal' foods! There is nothing more irritating or embarrassing then when dining out with friends, having to be a fussy bugger and avoiding Pizza Hut like the plague so we along this ride will try and help you all out!

Sofia Pizza
I was out for dinner with 2 of my friends from my old job, we tried to book many other tables but ended up on Zizzi's, as it was the Saturday just after Christmas! I knew from previous visits that I could get a decent, dairy free meal here and my friends like Zizzi's too. Our table was booked for 8.15 and I was eager to sit down and eat! We all ordered cocktails, and we all chose the 'Berry Bella', which is a mixture of amaretto, vodka, berry juices and soda water. I have to say this was delicious. I was slightly wary of the amaretto aspect but it blended in really well and made for a grown up cocktail, far away from my usual go to option of Sex on the Beach! The cocktail was £5.95 which is a little pricey, but I found it well worth the money.

Berry Bella Cocktail

Next came the choice of starters. Now, whenever I see Calamari on a menu I cannot resist, it's like a little Calamari gremlin in my head! There was a little bit of a wait on this but what I got in return could not disappoint. Some of the nicest Calamari I've eaten have been at Zizzi's restaurants previously and I was thoroughly satisfied here. The Calamari comes in small or large sizes and as tempting as large is, I can't quite justify that to myself! That still doesn't diminish the sadness I feel when I reach the bottom of the pile. The Calamari is served with garlic and basil aioli dip which I'm not sure if there is dairy in it or not, but I haven't had any adverse reactions to this. The Calamari was £5.95 for the small portion, there was a good amount of Calamari here for the price.

Calamari <3

Then came the mains. I adore pizza like it is going out of fashion and the fact that Zizzi's has Bufala mozzarella was like all of my pizza dreams coming true all at once! When ordering my pizza, I asked if I could have buffalo instead of normal mozzarella and the waiter and chef were absolutely fine with this as I explained I couldn't have the normal version. Bufala is perfectly fine with me as my intolerance is only to cows but you might want to check your own intolerances out before hand! I ordered the 'Sofia' pizza, which is part of the 'rustica' range of the pizzas, where they are stretched out thinner and longer than the normal pizza. The pizza comprises of mozzarella, spicy chicken and sausage, chillis, and pepperoni. The pizza was really delicious. I always struggle with having to cut slices of the pizza off myself and the rectangular shape meant I could fold it up and make it easier to eat. The chilli on the pizza is hot stuff, especially when you manage to get it stuck to the end of your tongue! I was really impressed with this pizza and I was absolutely stuffed at the end! The pizza cost £11.95 which I found was a good price for the size!
The pizza is huge!
The bill totalled £23.85 for myself, which I found was ok for a once in a while treat and catch up with friends, but I would not be able to afford this regularly. The bill was easily split between the 3 of us on different cards and then there was an option to give £0.25 to charity which I did. The food is mainly Italian influenced which I really enjoy and having the option to eat pizza just makes me feel just that little bit normal again. The pizza bases all come with a gluten free option too! Overall I was really impressed and will be visiting any of their chain again next year!
Hev
xoxox

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4 Ingredient Apple Crumble!

What is better than on a cold winters night than having some warm apple crumble with some soya custard? For us it's a no brainer! This is a super easy recipe to prepare as it only involves 4 ingredients and a bit of elbow grease! Get ready for some warming vegan friendly apple crumble!


Ingredients:


-3 to 4 Bramley cooking apples-
-100g granulated sugar-
-150g plain flour-
-75g of dairy free margarine-

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2) Peel, core and chop the apples into small chunks and place in a large pan of water to stop the apples turning brown whilst chopping.


3) Drain the water from the pan, add 60g of the sugar and two tablespoons of water back into the apples and simmer on a medium heat until the apples become soft and mushy. Pour the apples into an oven proof dish.


4) Using your hands, mix the flour, butter and sugar together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5) Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the apples until the apples are fully covered, you may need to make more mixture if necessary.


6) Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the breadcrumbs have turned golden brown and cooked through.

Spoon into a bowl, pour lashings of soya cream or soya custard on top, sit by the fire and enjoy!


Happy Baking!

xoxox
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Yummy Rustic Homemade Pizza

Eating without dairy doesn't mean that we have to exclude all the yummy things in life, such as our personal favourite: pizza! This pizza is made entirely from scratch, using all cheap ingredients that are really easy to find! The pizza base might take a while to prepare (has to double in size like bread doesn't it?) but you can freeze the base which will speed things up for the future. On the plus side, the sauce takes a mere 5 minutes to make, and doesn't involve scales (which makes for excellent Uni grub!)
 Hope you all enjoy!


Ingredients:
For the base:
2 1/2 average mug size scoops of flour (strong or normal, we have used strong wholemeal)
-1 sachet of quick dry yeast-
-250ml of warm (not hot!) water-
-4 capfuls of virgin or sunflower oil-
-2 pinches of salt-

For the sauce:
-Half a tin of plum tomatoes-
-Half a chopped onion-
-4 chopped sundried tomatoes or tomato puree-
-Splash of tomato ketchup-
-2 chopped cloves of garlic-
For the topping:
We enjoyed our pizza with buffalo mozzarella and salami, but you can go for anything you want!
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C
For the base:
1) Measure out all ingredients and into a bowl add the flour, yeast and salt.


2)  Make a little well in the middle of the flour, and then add the oil and slowly pour in the warm water.  Roll this mixture into whole ball of dough, at this point it doesn't matter if it is a little bit wet as the rolling flour will absorb this.


3) Spread a little of the flour onto a surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Then put back in a bowl and cover with cling film or a damp towel, and place somewhere warm until it doubles in size.
4) Once doubled in size (shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes) take out of the bowl and knead again for a couple of minutes.

5) Split the dough into portions and then roll out into any shape until about 1/2 cm thick. Pop onto a pizza tray and pre-cook for about 12 minutes to make sure the dough cooks thoroughly when the yummy toppings are added!

For the Sauce:
1) In a saucepan fry the chopped Onion and Garlic until soft. Then add the chopped sundried tomatoes (or puree), and then the Plum tomatoes. Add a splash of tomato ketchup and reduce and cook for about 5 minutes.

2) Puree the sauce if you want a smooth sauce or leave chunky for a little bit more texture.


Once the base is partially cooked and quite hard to the touch, add the sauce and then the fun bit- your chosen toppings!
 Pop into the oven for another 10- 15 minutes until the toppings are melted and cooked, and the base is starting to crisp and brown.


Take out of the oven and enjoy!


xoxox

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The Best Ever Chocolate Icing

So you have baked your Quick and Easy Chocolate Sponge and now want to ice it! Well guess what? we have the most delicious dairy free chocolate icing waiting for you to slather all over your sponge! This icing is also great for cupcakes, tray bakes, fillings and even as ice cream sauce!
You will need:
-20g of dark chocolate-
-180g icing sugar-
-50g dairy free butter (Vitalite or Pure)-
-20g cocoa powder-

1) Melt the chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl, either over a saucepan of water or in a microwave (blast for 10-20 seconds, then stir to prevent the chocolate from burning) and leave to cool slightly.
2) Beat the butter, the cocoa powder and the icing together in a bowl, being gentle at first so that the sugar does not go everywhere!

3) Once the butter and icing sugar are combined, gently pour in the (slightly cooled) melted chocolate and stir until well combined.
4) Spread on the inside and outside of all of your chocolate baked goodies!


Top tip- put the icing in the fridge to set for a little bit. This makes it thicker and fudgier!

We hope you enjoy this perfect cake icing as much as we loved licking the bowl afterwards!

xoxox


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