@jasminetarkheena, I think it's so cool when family members that don't have to avoid foods are willing to make alterations for other family members. It's definitely not the same as "traditional" food, but sometimes you find something new that's a different kind of good. I have an aunt who has some of the same issues as my mom, and her husband and most of her kids aren't willing to help her avoid foods or eat different foods with her. So I hope to be able to share the recipes we have tried and liked with her and encourage to her to eat what's right for her.

Today, my littlest sister made the flatbread. She didn't have the right pan size and so didn't roll it thin enough, so the texture was kind of funny. But the flavor was good. We will be trying it again and definitely rolling it thin like the recipe says to do.

After tasting the tigernut flour, I think it will pair well with apples, cinnamon, and molasses. I would like to try making a gingerbread cookies or cake with it, but so far I haven't found a recipe that I currently have all of the ingredients for.  

SnowAngel

@snowangel It seems that are more alternatives these days than there would have been about, oh say 30 years ago. The other day, I saw gluten-free oreos... it was made with oat flour. And I've tried coffee creamer made from oat milk (it was maple and brown sugar flavor.. it tasted almost like oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar).

Posted by: @jasminetarkheena

There’s a pasta dish called a rishda. 

I've been wanting to reply to this ever since you posted about it. What culture is this from? Is this something that you've made in your family? I've never heard of it before and was just curious about it.

Posted by: @snowangel

The tapioca flour is arriving today and then later in the week I should get cassava flour and tigernut flour.

Still laughing at this post. I'm just sitting over here googling everything you post about Snow, because I've never heard of half of them. Tigernuts in particular, how did you run across them? When I looked it up, it sounded like it would make a similar dough to potato roll dough, which my mom has used for years (though she still uses flour in hers).

Posted by: @fantasia

Posted by: @jasminetarkheena

There’s a pasta dish called a rishda. 

I've been wanting to reply to this ever since you posted about it. What culture is this from? Is this something that you've made in your family? I've never heard of it before and was just curious about it.

I've never made it. It was just something I found online. I think it's Libyan, North Africa. I will perhaps make it at one point.

Posted by: @snowangel

The tapioca flour is arriving today and then later in the week I should get cassava flour and tigernut flour.

Still laughing at this post. I'm just sitting over here googling everything you post about Snow, because I've never heard of half of them. Tigernuts in particular, how did you run across them? When I looked it up, it sounded like it would make a similar dough to potato roll dough, which my mom has used for years (though she still uses flour in hers).

I think topica is used a thickener to make berry pie filling or berry cobbler. There is also method to thicken gravy with cornstarch in place of flour.

@jasminetarkheena is right about it being a Libyan dish — here's a recipe for rishda that I found through Google, @Fantasia. It seems to be a sort of pasta dish with a variety of legumes and a tomato base and a variety of spices. It looks much nicer than the person, for sure.

I actually remember all those flours from back when I was interested in the Paleo and Primal diets — tapioca and cassava flour come from the same plant; I think tapioca is the more refined of the two. Tigernuts are another type of small tuber, and it's been suggested that an ancient hominid known as the Nutcracker Man mostly subsisted off them.

Is anyone making anything special for Thanksgiving this year? (Or already has, for our Canadian members.) It's not fancy, but I'm planning to make sweet potato casserole — the kind with the cinnamon, sugar, and pecan topping:

@rose You're right about the rishda pasta looking nicer than the person. (I wonder if CS Lewis ate some while he was working on The Last Battle, and decided to name the Calormene captain that. )

I think most sweet potato casseroles have marshmallows on top (which a lot of people aren't fans of). I would possibly prefer the one with the cinnamon crumble topping.

When I was a kid, marshmallow topping all the way!!! My mom's sweet potato recipe has an orange glaze, which, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of. Haha! So it was a treat when we went to Grandma's house and she had marshmallows. 😉 But nowadays I like my sweet potatoes with loads of salt, butter, and brown sugar (probably as healthy as marshmallows!) Your recipe looks great @Rose. 😀

Really interesting info about the Rishda dish. 🙂 

@Fantasia, I remember eating the kind of sweet potato casserole with the marshmallow topping at one of my grandparents' houses when I was a kid, but I think I mostly ate the marshmallows off the top. Nowadays, though, I find the marshmallows way too sweet to pair with sweet potatoes, and you get so much nice flavor and crunch from the cinnamon pecan topping.

@JasmineTarkheena, I thought about this the other day but forgot to mention it re: your pumpkin cake roll and your cousin's lactose intolerance — there's a brand called Green Valley that sells a lactose-free cream cheese. I don't know if it's available in any of the stores in your area or if it would work for your cousin, but it might be easier/cheaper than a vegan alternative. I think those tend to use raw cashews or macadamia nuts pureed with lemon juice or vegan yogurt.

@rose I'll have to look into it. There's a way to make dairy-free buttermilk, like take whatever plant milk, and add lemon-juice or apple cider vinegar, and let it curdle. I know that there are vegan alternatives to everything these days (even more so than there would have been about 20 years ago). I think there's even a method of using nutritional yeast in place of Parmesan.

My parents and I don't necessarily have problems with dairy, but we do buy plant milks. We get almond milk, because that is what's most available. I've tried almond milk, soy milk years ago (not my favorite), coconut milk, cashew milk, macadamia milk, and oat milk. I haven't tried flax milk yet, but maybe I will get to one day.

I've just unexpectedly discovered something newish on Amazon while I was looking for something extra to bring my basket up to £10 to qualify for free delivery... The Gourmet Cuisine of Narnia: A Cookbook with Magnificent Recipes from Narnia, by one Johny Bomer. The "look inside" preview didn't show any of the actual recipes, but it did show their titles, and I was intrigued, so I've bought it.

I don't know if Mr Bomer is aware there is an official Narnia Cookbook by Douglas Gresham — I've got that one too and it's very sweet, although most of the recipes are rather basic. This one sounds more sophisticated. Some of the recipe names, going by the contents page (which is as far as I can read in the online preview), are:

Aslan's Pineapple Drink (don't know where in the Chronicles we're told Aslan makes such a thing, but pineapples are my favourite fruit, so I'm delighted to know they have the Lion's blessing!! )

Herbal Tea of Centaurs

Tashbaan's watermelon drink

Classic English soup (no idea what might be in that, despite having lived in England myself for 10 years, but we'll see)

Fish and Chips (also don't recall those ever being served in Narnia, but as they're a staple of both my native and adopted countries, I thoroughly approve )

Centaur's porridge with nuts and fruits

Tumnus's Sugar-topped cake

Shasta's Meat Pasty

Marmalade rolls

The magnificent Menu of the Victory Feast by King Aslan

The specialty of the Feast Old Narnians arranged after defeating the Telmarines

Beavers' fried fish

King Tirian's Special Stew

Susan's Lamb Shanks

Edmund's favourite Turkish Delight (given by the White Witch) — which had better not have the same effects as her Turkish Delight in the book...  

Jill and Eustace's Crumble Cake

... There are plenty of other recipes in there, but I've just picked out the ones that have the most obvious references to the characters and memorable meals found in the books! Whether or not any of these recipes are any good remains to be seen. But I love cooking and I'd like to try out any of these that sound worth it, so if any of them are successes, I'll be sure to post about them here!  

@courtenay We love fish and chips on the west coast in the US. It's actually great with tartar sauce. We've made Turkish Delight years ago. Our church was putting on a stage performance of The Lion, The Witch, And Wardrobe (I was a wood-nymph), and we made Turkish Delight to sample. I think it would almost be like Aplets and Cotlets (apple and apricot flavors). Marmalade roll sounds like a winter time treat with a cup of hot tea. And I think the watermelon drink of Tashbaan would be great for summer.

Posted by: @jasminetarkheena

@courtenay We love fish and chips on the west coast in the US. It's actually great with tartar sauce.

Yum.  We eat it with that in Australia and Britain too, but I like it the best with just a squeeze of lemon.

That's so cool that you got to be in a Narnia play! I'm not a fan of Turkish Delight (too sickly sweet), but there's a chocolate coated version of it that my dad likes and I used to buy it for his birthday or Christmas when I was little.

Will update everyone on the cookbook when it comes! Has anyone else here heard anything about it?

Posted by: @courtenay

...there's a chocolate coated version of it that my dad likes and I used to buy it for his birthday or Christmas when I was little.

That actually....doesn't sound good at all! LOL I didn't even know it exists.

Posted by: @courtenay

Will update everyone on the cookbook when it comes! Has anyone else here heard anything about it?

@Twigs, what's the Narnia cookbook that you own?

Posted by: @fantasia

Posted by: @courtenay

...there's a chocolate coated version of it that my dad likes and I used to buy it for his birthday or Christmas when I was little.

 

That actually....doesn't sound good at all! LOL I didn't even know it exists.

It's this one: Fry's Turkish Delight Doesn't appeal to me either, but Dad loves it and I wouldn't argue with him!

I had the notification today that The Gourmet Cuisine of Narnia has been despatched by Amazon, so hopefully I'll find out what it's like in the next few days... I do, as I said, have the original Narnia Cookbook by Douglas Gresham, but I've never tried any of the recipes in it, most of which are pretty simple, but it's aimed at young cooks. This one sounds more elaborate and perhaps aimed more at an adult audience. At least, making fish and chips the proper British (and Aussie) way involves deep-frying, which isn't something you'd want kids to do unsupervised!! (You can make them by simply pan-frying the fish and oven-baking the chips, which is healthier, but it's not the same. )

@courtenay Homemade Turkish Delight is probably better than store-brought, and I'm sure you could cover it with chocolate if you want. It would be like chocolate covered marshmallows (my mom has made homemade marshmallows). I haven't tried any of the recipes from The Narnia Cookbook either but some do actually sound good. I think there was one for coffee calormen, and it sounded like Turkish coffee. I'm sure you could do a Calormene tea in the same method as Turkish tea (make it in the double boiler).