Dairy-free Chocolate recipes

lovenlearning Gluten- and Dairy-free recipes

Buying dairy-free chocolate can get expensive, and most of them are very dark.  Here are two recipes for homemade chocolate.

Kathie has recipes for both chocolate and coconutella- I haven’t made either of these, but one of my friends has been very happy with what she’s made.

For those who have a Thermomix/Thermochef/Bellini etc- this raw chocolate recipe is so easy, and very smooth. We have also enjoyed the Cacao and orange life balls (which are like the Emma and Tom’s bars)- I think these would be possible to make without a TM or equivalent, but would involve quite a lot of chopping.

Avocado (Lime!) Ice Cream

lovenlearning Gluten- and Dairy-free recipes

This recipe was given to me by a Brisbane nutritionist-student I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past few months- Nicole Hargreaves.

Non-dairy, great with rhubarb compote or slivered almonds. To make low fructose, use xylitol.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados (longer thin ones seem to be better than short round ones)

4-6 egg yolks (optional- egg free is fine)

Juice of 2 limes, with a little zest if desired (orange can be substituted)

2 cans Ayam brand premium coconut cream (or other additive free brand)

Honey to taste (about 6 tablespoons, but taste as you go), or 4 tablespoons xylitol

Method:

If weather is cool, pour coconut cream into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to mix in the oils.  Turn off heat and leave to cool until it’s not too hot to touch the cream.

Meanwhile, juice limes into a large bowl (or blender if you have no stick blender). Split and de-seed avocados, removing any hard or brown bits. Don’t bother proceeding if they’re under-ripe or too far gone.  Place the flesh into the lime juice.  Add lime zest (if desired- useful if the avocados are strong tasting or if there isn’t much juice). Add egg yolks and cooled coconut cream. Blend with a stick blender until smooth.  Add honey or xylitol until it tastes not of avocado, just pleasant, not too sweet.

Chill in an ice cream maker- note this takes much less time than for dairy ice cream. Don’t overchurn.  Freeze, though served immediately is wonderful. Note: if keeping it more than 12 hours, it sets very hard and needs to be removed from the freezer for some time before serving.  The ice cream can be taken out in an esky as it doesn’t melt terribly quickly- very handy!

—My notes—

I make this without egg yolks, but I use the entire zest and juice of the lime, because I don’t like avocado or coconut, and the lime masks their flavours.  I have made this without the ice cream maker- just frozen it on a shallow tray, then shaved it up with a spoon.

Transitioning to Gluten- and Dairy-free

lovenlearning Autism - Health and Diet, Gluten- and Dairy-free recipes

I have seen numerous questions on various Facebook groups about transitioning to a gluten- and dairy-free diet.  I can’t comment on whether or not such a diet would be beneficial to other families, but I do know that it made a significant difference to ours.  We transitioned gradually- I replaced one gluten or dairy food with a suitable alternative, until the whole diet was gluten and dairy free.

Gluten free is much easier these days than it used to be, due to the number of packet mixes and ready-made products available in the supermarket.  Once people have a suitable bread recipe (I use this one), there are sufficient gf flour mixes, pasta etc to continue to use favourite recipes with some simple substitutions.  The convenience is appealing, though the gluten-free packaged foods often contain just as many additives as gluten products. As there are certain gf flours that I don’t tolerate well, we make our own flour mix based on these measurements.

We found dairy free to be a little more challenging.  There are many different dairy-free “milks”, few of them taste much like cow’s milk, and most are very thin- more like skim milk than full-cream.  The flavours are all very different, and we found that it was simply a case of trying several styles and brands of dairy-free milks until we found something we could work with.  Nuttelex is a good dairy-free substitute for butter/margarine, though we have used mild-flavoured oils, like rice bran oil in the past. It can cause a different texture/consistency, but we still found it acceptable. There are a number of coconut yoghurts becoming available in mainstream supermarkets.  Health food shops like Flannerys sometimes have dairy-free alternatives for cheese, sour cream etc- but most of these are either based on soy or nuts, and availability can vary.  We have decided not to use any of these products.

We can make white sauces using non-dairy milk, Nuttelex, cornflour (or another gf flour if corn isn’t tolerated)- and extra salt can make it taste a bit cheesy.  We sometimes add crushed plain crisps as a topping to pasta dishes or casseroles instead of cheese.

Most people seem to be able to convert their main meals to gfdf with few problems, but are often stuck about what to do for breakfast, baking and desserts, therefore I will focus on these areas with the recipes I upload here.

Mental Health and Mistreatment

lovenlearning Autism and disability articles, Autism/Disability Acceptance and Discrimination

I found the Field of Stones: Mental Health and Mistreatment article (Never Less than Everything blog), to be very disturbing, and rightfully so. Tricia recounts her visit to an ancient state mental health institution during her college years, where her professor insisted on his students demonstrating the highest regard for the patients who had walked these halls- and explained some history of the treatment of mentally-ill patients, in both life and death.  She recalls his discussion about how the use of restraints has gradually been eliminated over the years- and was horrified to hear recent reports about autistic children being isolated, abused and caged.  Despite the progress we have made, there are still people who want to control those who are different.  I wish I could put flowers on every one of those stones, too.

Autism “Spectrum”?

lovenlearning Autism and disability articles

Is a “Spectrum” the best way to talk about Autism?, by Rose Eveleth (The Atlantic). I’ve read many articles by Autistic adults about how meaningless functioning labels are (and I agree with them!)- but this article addresses the issue from a different angle.  In trying to chart where an individual falls on the autism spectrum, she spoke with doctors, epidemiologists, self-advocates and anthropologists, none of whom could provide any clarity, or even support for the idea. Some postulated that in another 30 years, after further research, “autism” may end up becoming a lot of different diagnoses.  Research itself was discussed, as were the political-style fundraising for disabilities, advocacy, and “which” autism was being represented.

Hospital passport

lovenlearning Autism - Health and Diet, Autism - Resources (Misc), Autism/Disability Acceptance and Discrimination ,

The UK’s National Autistic Society has some great resources, including this hospital passport.  It can be completed either online then printed, or in writing, in advance of any hospital visit- and I think would be good for any medical appointment.  As well as the usual personal details, medical history and contact details for the patient’s significant people, it includes boxes to describe how the Autistic person would like hospital staff to communicate with them, how the Autistic person communicates, experiences pain and communicates pain, and what causes distress. The guidelines document contains many questions to consider when writing statements to include in the hospital passport. For example, when considering how staff are to communicate with the Autistic person- do questions need to be short and specific, do you need things written down, is there a preference for pictures or symbols, will pointing/demonstrating help, will you need a lot of time to think about and answer questions?  The final page describes the five key principles of the Mental Capacity Act, and states “Because I have autism please do not assume that I do not have mental capacity”.

ASDay Articles 2015

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults

I believe that submissions for ASDay 2015 remain open for quite some time beyond Nov 1, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the blog for updates.

Neurodivergent K has written “I’m on your kid’s side too“- a short article encouraging parents to continue helping their children with sensory issues, communication etc, but to continue to advocate for a world in which the child is seen as whole *as she is*, and autism isn’t seen as a tragedy.

Stop, Look and Listen– It’s Autistics Speaking Day, by Lindsay. Sometimes people with disabilities need more space than people without disabilities- and that is also true of conversations. She gives examples of how and why conversations can be inaccessible- and has learned to ask people to wait.

ASDay Articles 2014

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults

Some great articles from ASDay 2014!

Autistic Ways of Reacting, by ischemgeek. Between delayed reactions, low emotional self-awareness, difficulties in finding words when strongly affected by emotion, and autistic shutdowns, the author’s reactions to life’s stressful situations is not neurotypical!  She wants to see discussion and awareness of autistic reactions to stressful situations, leading to better support for autistic people.

Tardistic has written a funny post about the trinity of ASD, and has recommended some potential Patron Saints :).

ASDay Articles 2013

lovenlearning Articles from Autistic Adults, Autism - Sensory, Autism/Disability Acceptance and Discrimination

These three articles were posted for Autistics Speaking Day 2013, and cover some interesting topics!

Sparrow Rose Jones (Unstrange Mind blog) writes about Autistic History Month. Celebrating Autistic history and culture, she writes about mainstream and community heroes, symbols, books, and historical tragedies and victories. A very interesting read!

Speaking from the shadows, by Nightengale of Samarkand on LiveJournal. The author discusses three reasons why she has chosen not to be openly autistic at work (she is a doctor)- disbelief, discrediting and tokenisation.  She feels that she can currently advocate more effectively without having to wade through these issues first- and hopes to make her community and field a place where one day she can be openly autistic.

But what about those fluorescent lights? (Turtle is a verb blog). While social and communication issues are visible when interacting with others, stimming can be obvious, and issues with change can quickly become so- sensory issues are often invisible. The author outlines the effects of a fluorescent light, suggests some alternatives/accommodations- and appreciates the opportunity to discuss autism and sensory issues with people who enquire about the blue tinted glasses.