Showing posts with label recommendation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommendation. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 March 2013

Rebel Bakery Cupcakes

'Contains cocktail stick'

I paid my first ever visit to Whole Foods Market last week. The lovely Alex (@HealthJourno) invited me to join him, Gluten Free Mrs D and Gluten Free B at a gluten free tour of the Kensington branch. It was a really interesting tour and Krystal, our guide, knew her stuff when it came to nutritional advice and gluten free diets. She showed us where the various gluten free products could be found in the store and even chatted about sources of extra dietary fibre and the best way to prepare grains and lentils.

An abundance of gluten free goodies!

After the tour left us all rather peckish, we headed upstairs for a vegan dinner at Saf Restaurant and to catch up on each other's news. Even after an enormous helping of massaman curry and being practically force-fed half of Alex's cheesecake (forced, I tell you! I would never steal someone's dessert), I was still thinking about all the exciting baked goods downstairs. With delicious treats from my favourites, Sugargrain and Perk!er, on offer I couldn't leave empty-handed. Thankfully, we all felt the same way and we spent a happy ten minutes picking up new finds and showing each other interesting cakes, all accompanied by a soundtrack of "ooh"s and "yum"s. I finally left the store with (among other items) a cupcake from gluten free Rebel Bakery, a new product for me. 

Decisions, decisions...

I opted for the Old Fashioned cake, in part because of the warning on the packaging, which read, "Contains cocktail stick," and it tickled me. Mostly, however, it was because the combination of whisky, orange and cherries was just too good to turn down. 

The very exciting inside of my cake!

When I tasted the cake, I knew I'd made the right decision, it was fantastic. The orange flavour was very clear and it was definitely enhanced by the whisky in the icing. Biting into the cake was a wonderful surprise, because the centre was filled with cherries! The cake was moist and not too sweet and there was just the right cake-to-icing ratio. I am really impressed by these cakes and I will be making another pilgrimage to Kensington to get my hands on some more! Unfortunately for all you nut-allergic people, these cakes aren't for you (but in my house that just guarantees that The Husband can't steal it before I get a chance to eat it!).

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Mrs Crimble's Macaroons

Anyone with Coeliac Disease will have heard of Mrs Crimble's, from baking mixes to savoury snacks, I'm a fan of their products. Until now, I've never really tried their macaroons. 

Cranberry Macaroons
I've not been able to eat coconut for years, thanks to Crohn's Disease, but since my Ileostomy surgery, I've rediscovered  foods that were previously off the menu. Imagine my delight when the wonderful people at Mrs Crimble's sent me a box of their macaroons to try. I particularly enjoyed the Cranberry Macaroons, which were surprisingly sweet and soft and overpoweringly tart, like cranberries can be.  If you love chocolate and orange, you have to try the Mini Choc Orange Macaroons, but be warned - they are incredibly moreish!

Mini Choc Orange Macaroons
Something you might not know about Mrs Crimble's is their wonderful Share the Love scheme. You can nominate someone who you think deserves a treat and Mrs Crimble's send 1,000 lucky people a free teatime treat, every month! I'm sure we can all think of someone who we don't get in touch with often enough, that we'd like to surprise with a wee treat. If you want to nominate someone, you can do it at www.letsbakelove.com.


Saturday, 9 June 2012

Gluten Free Pasta Round-up

I've been asked about gluten free pasta quite a lot recently, so I thought I'd do a wee round-up of my favourite pastas.  There are a great range of pastas available now - certainly, when you compare the variety to what we used to have, even just five years ago, you'll agree that things are pretty good for the Coeliac pasta fan!  Where we used to glad for anything resembling pasta, now we can find many more shapes, beyond the standard fusilli, penne, lasagne sheets and spaghetti.

Doves Farm Organics have expanded their range over the last year to include ditalini (perfect for soups and salads) and macaroni. I'm a mac 'n' cheese fiend, so this has made me very happy indeed.  I haven't seen these pastas in any supermarkets yet, but you can buy them from the website.

Farabella pastas are available online from Drossa Ltd and have a fantastic range of some more unusal pasta shapes (and gnocchi!).  Their acini de pepe won this year's pasta category at the FreeFrom Food Awards; it is a brilliant cous cous subtitute and ideal for summer salads and winter stews.  Their orecchiette, chitarrine and cannelloni are also definitely worth a try.  Drossa stock some brilliant gluten free breads and baking ingredients, too, so the website is one to check out!

Le Veneziane corn pasta, from Molino di Ferro is available from health food shops and online here.  They have a good range with great pastini and spaghetti.  Ask at your local health food shop, it is a delicious pasta.

I never cook gluten free pasta for as long as it says on the packet, I have found that the recommended time is usually a couple of minutes too long for an al dente pasta.  Corn pasta in particular tends to make the cooking water very starchy and yellow, so if you're using the pasta in soups or stews, I would suggest cooking it separately and rinse well before you add it to the rest of the meal.  

If you need a bit of inspiration for what to eat with all that pasta, here are a few of my favourites.

Ino's Greek Octopus Stew is a delicious way to use a rather intimidating creature.  Tender and rich, this is a real celebration dish. 
photo taken from www.kitchen22.co.uk

This lemon spaghetti from Domestic Sluttery is seriously tasty but ridiculously simple to make.
photo taken from www.domesticsluttery.com

My new favourite pasta dish is this bacon pasta from Elizabeth at Rosalilium.  It's easily made gluten free by swapping the soya sauce for gf tamari.
photo taken from www.rosalilium.com

I love my fennel frond pesto stirred into pasta.  Top tip: keep a bit of the cooking water to loosen it a bit, if needed.
Fennel Frond Pasta, by Gluten Free[k]

You can't go wrong with good old spag bol and Kate over at A Girls Guide to Gluten Free Baking hass a great one to keep up your sleeve.  Head over there and be inspired!

Tweet

Pin It



Monday, 14 May 2012

Fria Gluten Free

The Holy Grail of gluten free bread is one that has a soft, but slightly chewy, texture and tastes like 'real' bread, not that generic, bland starchy flavour that many of the usual suspects have.  Oh, and one that doesn't disintegrate when you dip it in soup or a boiled egg.  Well, such a bread exists!  Fria Gluten Free have achieved, in my opinion, the ultimate in gluten free bread.

Fria products come pre-frozen so you can store then in your freezer and only defrost what you need, ideal if you are the only Coeliac in the village because you'll never have to contend with the age-old race to finish the bread before the mould gets it.


A couple of weeks ago, I received a huge box of goodies from Fria Gluten Free and I have been dutifully greedily working my way through the products ever since...

The breads I received were, Limpan, Vita and the award winning Grova, and all were outstanding.  All defrosted at room temperature within 30 minutes and made fantastic, soft sandwiches.  


Limpan is a light brown Swedish style loaf that has the most delicately sweet hint of orange that makes a great addition to the breakfast table.  Vita is a white bread that is better than any other white bread available, (and high fibre!) it is so soft that it seems a shame to toast it, but it does make brilliant toast, too.  Grova, winner in this year's bread category at the FreeFrom Food Awards, contains linseed and caraway seeds, so it's packed with flavour and has a texture that would fool any non-coeliac!


The Minibaguette and Grov Minibaguette are just like those part-baked baguettes you probably remember from your pre Coeliac days.  Warmed in the oven, the crust becomes crispy, combined with the fluffy insides, these are the best gluten free rolls I have tried yet.


If you fancy something sweet, Kladdkaka, the chocolate brownie cake, thoroughly deserved it's commendation in the FreeFrom Food Awards!  Oh, and thanks to Caroline from Sweetcheeks for recommending Kanelbulle, the delicious cinnamon buns.

You can buy Fria Gluten Free Products at:

Scandinavian Kitchen, 61 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PP
TotallySwedish, 32 Crawford Street, London W1H 1LS
TotallySwedish, 66 Barnes High Street, London SW13 9LD
GFF Direct (delivered nationally) – www.gffdirect.co.uk
TotallySwedish (delivered nationally) – http://www.totallyswedish.com/en


Friday, 24 February 2012

FreeFrom Food Awards 2012

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

Ok, at the start of February; in London (It just feels an age ago, since the whole ileostomy/colectomy thing happened in the meantime.) I was lucky enough to be a judge for this year's FreeFrom Food Awards. Founded and run by Free From Foods Matter, the FreeFrom Food Awards are in their 5th year and celebrate those food producers who create product that are free from one or more of gluten, wheat, dairy, soya, egg, yeast or sugar.  

Coincidentally, I have been Coeliac for 5 years, so the FreeFrom Food Awards have been guiding me since the beginning of my journey!  I have bought products on the merit of being shortlisted in previous FreeFrom Food Awards and I look forward to the list being published each year, so it was a huge honour to be invited to take part in the judging process this year.

As the various judges arrived, I started to feel completely out of my depth; all the other judges were established food writers, journalists and bloggers with far more experience and influence than me.  Once the judging was underway, however, I started to relax and enjoy myself and Michelle was very warm and made me feel that my opinion was just as important as everyone else's.  I was excited to be involved with some really interesting categories, (bread, ready meals, desserts and beer) and made some very inspiring discoveries in the process.  Two of my favourite discoveries turned out to be from the same producer, Butterfly Snacks, who make the gluten free roti and gluten free spring rolls that I was thoroughly impressed by.  Also worth a mention, I think, are Dietary Specials tortelinni (filled gluten free pasta!) and The Food Resource's Fusilli al Funghi, both would make a quick and tasty lunch and are made with pasta with a decent bite to it.

The shortlist was published at the start of this week and you can view it on the FreeFrom Food Awards website  


I am very much looking forward to the awards ceremony on the 17th April and I will fill you in on all the winners then.


Tweet

Pin It




Friday, 6 January 2012

Gluten Free[k]'s Famous Five

Have you noticed that there is a new badge on my sidebar?  

FreeFrom Blogs is (as you might have guessed) a directory of great blogs written for, and by, people with food allergies, intolerances, and Coeliac Disease.  Whether you are dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, fish, free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegan, or vegetarian, you will find the right blog for your diet!  The 4 founders, Lucy, Amy, Amy, and Gemma launched the site this month - if you haven't done so - check it out now!


When Lucy, Amy, Amy, and Gemma suggested I write a post about my top 5 gluten free products, I thought it was a great idea.  There are some fantastic products out there that really make life as a Coeliac a little bit easier.  I haven't include any bread products, mainly because I think Genius and Warburtons have cornered the market as far as GF bread is concerned.  Also worth a mention are DS Ciabatta Rolls and Breadsticks.  


Here are my favourites (in no particular order).
  1. Dietary Specials shortcrust pastry.  I do make my own pastry, but this a great thing to have in the freezer for those days when life is just too short to be rubbing shortening into flour.  This is a reliable, versatile pastry that I have passed off as my own on more than one occasion...
  2. Young's Free From Fish Fingers. As a child, the only way I would eat fish was as a finger. My tastes may have broadened somewhat now but nothing beats the good old fish finger - I love them with chips, all covered in mayonnaise, or in a butty with Genius bread and loads of ketchup!  
  3. ASDA Free From All Butter Honey and Oat Cookies.  I have mentioned these on my Facebook page because they are a favourite.  Crumbly, chewy, sweet and perfect with a cup of tea.
  4. Nairns Gluten Free Oatcakes.  A definite store cupboard staple.  Not just for cheese either, they are good with sweet toppings like jam and make a great grab and run snack.  The oats in these oatcakes are farmed by coeliacs, so I am completely at ease about eating these.  
  5. Genius Gluten Free Cheese and Onion Slice.  Deliciously flaky pastry filled with tasty cheese, potato and onion, these slices are available at Asda.  I used to love Greggs cheese and onions pasties in my pre-coeliac life, and these gluten free delights are far better than I remember the Greggs version ever being.
Of course, there are many more brilliant gluten free products available.  I would love to hear from you about your favourites.