5 Foods That Have Sneaky Additives

June 22, 2013 · 50 Comments

5 Foods That Have Sneaky Additives

Don’t you hate it when you think you are eating something healthy and then someone tells you it’s not so healthy?

That’s exactly how I felt when I found out about these five foods.

You really have to read labels, ask questions and educate yourself about what is in your food.

This is even more important if your family is having health issues, allergies or reactions to additives.

Here are five foods that would seem healthy, but unfortunately, they can all contain sneaky additives!

1. Prawns

Prawns can contain 223 or sodium metabisulphite. Sue Dengate at her website, Fed Up says ” Prawns always contain sulphites to preserve colour. The maximum permitted level is 30 ppm, but how well is it monitored? One seafood worker explained how they use ‘metta’ (sodium metabisulphite, 223). It is a white powder sprinkled over sackfuls of fresh prawns by people wearing rubber gloves. Some prawns must have higher readings than others.”

What’s better? Buy prawns that are packaged and labelled without the 223 or get to know your fish monger and ask the questions!

2. Grated Cheese

Check on the back of your grated cheese. Quite often it will contain anti-caking agent 460. It is also called ‘cellulose microcrystalline and powdered’ – it’s essentially wood pulp! Although Additive Alert tells us it is ‘generally regarded as safe’ it has been banned in UK baby food. “Cellulose is non soluble, but can be fermented in the large intestine. Large concentrations can cause intestinal problems, such as bloating, constipation and diarrhoea.” mbm.net Not something I really want to eat, thanks all the same!

What’s better? Buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself. Use a food processor and freeze it if you want a quick option.

3. Vegemite

I can already hear you all saying, but it’s a health food! I found this one out many years ago and banished Vegemite from our house. Sue Dengate at Fed Up says that “yeast extracts contain free glutamates that are essentially the same as MSG”. Vegemite also contains natural colour (150d) which contains preservative 220. Remember I have talked about 220 before?

What’s better? You can buy alternative products like Everymite which are allergy friendly and preservative free.

4. Milk

Milk is milk is milk…..right? Not so! Read the label to make sure you are getting 100% milk! Choice Australia says “more than a third of branded “milk” products contain non-dairy additives, such as minerals, vitamins, or vegetable or fish oil. Under the Food Standards Code the manufacturers are not allowed to call these products “milk” on the label, yet they look like milk, are packaged like milk and are kept in the milk fridge in the supermarket.”

What’s better? Read labels, choose small independent milk brands, choose organic or raw milk.

5. Multi-Vitamins

Okay so not really a ‘food’, but still something we give to our kids to ingest.

The very things you buy to improve your health may actually be damaging it. Kid’s vitamins can contain artificial colours, flavours and additives. One brand for example, Flintstones, has a ridiculous amount of artificial additives and sugar in various forms.

What’s better? We love the superfood organic powders for that bit of extra nutrient insurance. Find them here.

Sooooo I don’t want to freak you all out! I just want you to know this information and be aware. It doesn’t mean you have to stop eating them. It means you now have the information to make a choice. You might like to change brands or grate your own cheese for example. Knowledge is power!

What foods have you found that contain sneaky additives?

Healthy Macaroni Cheese with Veggies!

June 8, 2013 · 14 Comments

Macaroni Cheese is such a childhood comfort food and it tastes pretty good too!

I came up with this version which is a little more healthy and choc full of hidden vegetables. It tastes really good.

Healthy Macaroni Cheese with Veggies!

Vital Stats: gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, egg-free, nut-free

Okay so this is what you need:

1 litre organic milk

100g cornflour

100g organic butter

1 cup organic cheese, grated

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

500g gluten-free pasta shapes

3 handfuls of organic baby spinach

2 cups of lightly steamed organic vegetables, diced (I used carrot, broccoli, corn and zucchini)

Herbamare or salt and pepper to taste

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Preaht your oven to medium, about 180° celsius.

Put the pasta on to cook in a pot of boiling water and follow directions on the packet.

While that’s cooking, make your white sauce (if you have a thermomix, use the bechamel sauce instructions on page 58 of the EDC cookbook).

If you are making it the old-fashioned way, melt the butter, add the flour and stir until it’s well combined and coming away from the side of the saucepan. This ‘roux’ takes about one minute. Remove from the heat and add milk gradually. I like to use a whisk to get out any lumps. Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring or whisking all the time until it thickens. Add the grated cheese and whisk in. Cool down.

Puree the spinach in a blender or thermomix and add to your white sauce.

Drain the pasta well. Add the white sauce and the vegetables and combine thoroughly. Add seasonings to taste.

Put into a greased lasagne dish (or two) and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until the macaroni cheese is warmed through and the cheese on top is brown and melted.

Serve with salad on the side.

Notes:

This recipe makes a lot so feel free to halve it or to make it and use over two nights.

The photo doesn’t show it well, but it is a really nice light green colour.

If you would like to make this recipe dairy free, use this delicious dairy-free white sauce from Quirky Cooking.

Using nutritional yeast in place of the cheese gives it a lovely cheesey flavour and is dairy-free.

To save time, I used leftover steamed vegetables in this recipe. Make extra the night before.

Okay, so that’s my natural new age mum version of macaroni cheese! I hope you (and the kids) enjoy it.

How do you make macaroni cheese?

Dairy-free ‘cheese’ spread

February 29, 2012 · 7 Comments

I love cheese. I loooooooove cheese – fetta, camembert, wensleydale, parmesan, vintage cheddar, ricotta, triple cream brie … you name it, I love it.

Unfortunately, as I get older I notice that cheese doesn’t like me all that much. Let’s just leave the rest to your imagination in the name of good taste!

So, as well as cutting back on my cheese consumption, I have been playing around with some dairy free ‘cheese’. Inspired by a recipe on the thermomix forum, I have tweaked and tweaked (I love saying tweak!) and found a version that I think is really tasty and also tastes rather cheesy!

Even if you are not a dairy-free person, this is still a lovely recipe to make in its own right. It is delicious spread on crackers or raw vegetables.

So, this is what you need:

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

1/2 cup almonds, blanched

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon savoury yeast flakes (find it in the health food store) what is it?

1 tablespoon red onion (you can use white, but I find it a bit too strong)

1 – 2 teaspoons (or to taste) Vogel’s Herbamare (find it in the health food aisle of the supermarket or health food store) what is it?

So, this is how you do it:

You can soak your nuts overnight in some filtered water if you like. Why would you soak your nuts? Find out here. (I can hear you tittering !!) 😀

If you have a thermomix, throw the onion onto the running blades on about speed 7. Add all the other ingredients and whizz the heck out of it on speed 7-8 for a minute or so, scraping down as you go. It should be light and fluffy.

If you don’t have a thermomix, grate the onion first and then put everything into a strong food processor and whizz the heck out of it. It should be light and fluffy.

I like to let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours for the flavours to develop. Serve with crackers (check out these) or raw vege sticks for a really good snack or lunch!

My kids and their friends love this dairy free ‘cheese’ spread and fight over the last bits. It’s all in the marketing with kids…. if I had told them it was a dairy free cheese alternative, they would have complained it wasn’t cheese. I just tell them it’s a yummy savoury spread !! 😛

As always, if you give it a go, come back and chat to me and tell me how you went.