Eggnog

Here's the tried and tested Eggnog recipe I made for Christmas season . Some of the family preferred normal, everyday eggnog, I had coconut eggnog and soy eggnog was also deemed acceptable. So, here are the recipes:

Dairy Eggnog

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• I quart (945 mL) mix of milk and/or cream
• 1/2 t vanilla essence
• 1/3 cup rum
• 1/3 cup brandy
  
• Ground nutmeg to taste

Whisk the eggs, half of the milk/cream/mix, vanilla essence and sugar together in a saucepan at low heat until it reaches custard consistency*.

Add the rest of the dairy and slowly whisk in the rum and brandy, then cover and chill.

Serve freshly whisked and with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

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As I am gluten and dairy intolerant I had to make a GDF version, which I believe to be quite tasty.

Coconut Eggnog

• 6 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 cups coconut milk
• 8 T rum
• 6 T sugar
• 2 t vanilla essence

Slowly heat the coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan, whisking once in a while until the milk just begins to boil.

Remove from heat and slowly add small amounts of the hot milk to the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla, constantly whisking until half the milk has been used.

Then whisk the rest of the milk into the eggs all in one go.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and slowly cook until it is of custard consistency*.

Strain into a clean bowl, add the rum and chill in the fridge until serving time.

Serve freshly whisked and with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

* Custard consistency refers to when the mix coats the back of a spoon and, when a finger is drawn through the mix on the spoon a clear path remains. (Will try to get a picture of this next time I make a custard)

Welcome to my Recipe Blog!

Well, as someone who has been told by a doc that I have IBS caused by gluten and lactose intolerance I immediately searched for recipes and tips for how to change my diet to be healthy, delicious and indiscernible from a normal gluten and dairy containing one.

As a mix of a online recipe book and rant I hope that I will someday help others who struggle with the same confusion and to be honest, grief over the foods and life that I have felt.

A added challenge was making this food vegetarian for my sister as we will be moving out together in Feb 2009.

The first lesson I had to learn is this: Not all recipes will work.

2nd lesson: Experimentation is key.

3rd lesson: It's cheaper to make at home, but not always easier.

My first foray into Gluten and Dairy Free Cooking (GDFC) was a soy rice pudding. It was a total disaster, it burnt, it curdled and the rice didn't cook.

I was heartbroken, I have always been proud of my cooking skills and now I was in a area that I had only courted with to pass a assessment.

So now I've been dumped off the deep end and I'm here to record the failures and total successes of all my cooking experiments, Oh the humanity.