Hello Blogletts,

I know its been a while again, I've been struggling to find the time to blog for some time now so I have decided I am going to post as and when I can and that will be that.

Now... on with the show! Going back all the way to May on my birthday weekend. Miles and I re-discovered cheesy, garlicky heaven... "Gluten Free Styley" of course.

Imagine; warm, crispy, herby, pizzeria style garlic bread dipped in gooey, cheesy Camembert.

A quick, yet elegant dinner party starter, or even dinner for two (yes, we did!).

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... (Drum roll please...)

Camembert au four avec pain à l'ail 

or Baked Camembert with Garlic Bread, if you aren't feeling posh!

!!Warning: This dish is best shared with fellow lovers of stinky cheese and garlic!!

You will need:

For the garlic bread:

• 1 "part baked" gluten free baguette (I used Schar's)


• 1 teaspoon of Garlic Paste (More or less to taste)


• 2 tablespoons of Butter (Melted)


• 1 teaspoon of Mixed Herbs

For the Camembert:

• A ring of Camembert


• 1/2 a teaspoon of mixed herbs


• 1 large clove of garlic (thinly sliced)


• a little olive oil (I used extra virgin)

Method:

To make the garlic bread:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.


2. Slice the baguette into discs about an inch thick and put on to a baking tray.


3. Mix the herbs with the butter and garlic puree.


4. Brush the baguette disks with the butter mixture and pop in the oven for 5-7 minutes.

To make the Camembert:

1. Remove all plastic from the Camembert and place it back in the box.


2. Using a sharp knife make little slits in the top of the Camembert and suff with the chopped garlic,


3. Brush the top of the Camembert with the olive oil and sprinkle the mixed herbs over the top of it.


4. Put the Camembert in the oven for 10 minutes.


5. Enjoy, we like to dunk the garlic bread into the Camembert.

Delicious!

Evening blogletts, I have decided to add a new section to my blog to inform you all about the tasty new things Miles and I have found each month... or thereabouts!

So, I am starting with October. The month when it starts to get colder outside, and more comforting food is needed... and much warmer clothes. When the festival of October, more commonly known as Oktoberfest is celebrated and of course, my favourite holiday... Halloween. And when the leaves fall off the trees and leave a beautiful carpet of reds, browns and oranges all over the place...

... Here is what we discovered.

1. Birds Eye Gluten Free Fish Fingers: So… I found these online while doing my food shop at Tesco, they were cheaper than the Tesco Free From Fish Fingers and you get 2 more fish fingers in the packet!! So I guessed we should try them. We quite liked them they were crunchy, and the fish tasted nice, they cooked quickly too and held together nicely in a fish finger sandwich. I’d buy these again because they did what we wanted and the price was good!


2. IKEA Chicken Meatballs: On a recent trip to IKEA with my coeliac friend C, we picked up a couple of bags of these little beauties. They taste very authentic and are packed with flavour and they take very little time to turn into a delicious speedy dinner…There seems to be a theme here! I will definitely be buying these again as they are a bargain and taste damn good! NB: IKEA also make vegetable ‘meatballs’ too which are gluten free! Be aware the traditional meaty meatballs are not GF!


3.Gluten Free Peroni: So … there is a bit of debate about whether beer which is sold as GF, is actually GF. The reason behind the debate is because sometimes on the label the ingredients say it contains barley… which would really upset any coeliacs’ applecart! However, we have done a bit of research, because poor Miles really wanted to drink beer at Oktoberfest. We found out that during the process of brewing the beer the gluten is removed from the barley so that is in fact safe for coeliacs. Remember though kids… this rule only applies if the beer is advertised as gluten free. Unforch, Gluten Free Peroni is more expensive than traditional Peroni, but it tastes amazing so it is worth it and we have already been back for more! (We are not alcoholics…honest!)

4. Sainsburys Gluten Free Tortellini: So, Sainsburys have added a lot of new stuff to their gluten free chilled section recently. We don’t really do a big shop at Sainsburys, but on an odd night when we ‘have no food’ and I need to cook fast or we won’t be eating dinner I’ll pop in and pick up something new for us to try. The tortellini is amazing, you can get it in 2 different flavours and both are delicious! Although it is a tad on the expensive side, the taste and convenience of it is worth it.



Have you managed to try any of the products I have listed here? What are your thoughts on them?

*Exciting news, I am running a competition. Head over to my Facebook page and you will find more info! Remember, you have to be in it to win it!*

I will leave you with a lovely picture of Miles and I in our Oktoberfest outfits...Miles is enjoying his Peroni :)

About a month ago a good friend of mine, C, very kindly gave me a slow cooker!

I’ve wanted one for a while, but I have been unsure about them for various reasons, however C had told me of some of the amazing dishes she could make with just a little preparation beforehand. Say hello to melt in the mouth vegetables and meat! A dinner that technically only takes 10 minutes to throw together and cooks happily by itself while you go about doing your daily things!

Another hugely positive point I want to make about the slow cooker is, not only has it increased our vegetable consumption over the past month, it has also really helped us to reduce the amount of waste we have in the House of Kalamity! We used to throw away so much food, mainly vegetables and now, all I do is add any veg which we have floating around into the slow cooker and it becomes part of the meal!

Recently I have joined The Orchard, which is an initiative set up by Tesco for people to blog about foody things.


My first task is all about food waste. In the UK we waste a lot of food, and this has been highlighted in the media through various food programmes, articles and adverts. Tesco have launched a range of food to help combat waste called Perfectly Imperfect by which, fruit and vegetables which are a little bit wonky (which would usually be thrown away or replanted) are being sold as part of the range at a cheaper price than the ‘normal’ looking fruit and veg! I think this is great! They also have a second range of food called Eat Fresh, Keep Fresh which packages food into portion sizes which is very handy for when you are only cooking for a small amount of people.

So after signing up to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, Tesco very kindly sent me some vouchers for some Eat Fresh Keep Fresh Chicken and Perfectly Imperfect Pears. Unfortunately my local Tesco don’t currently stock the pears but I was able to find the chicken...



...and so I threw it in my slow cooker, with stock and some chopped up left over vegetables and it made a beautiful slow cooked chicken casserole.

You will need: (enough for 4 portions)

• 2 chicken breasts (chopped into cubes)


• 10 baby potatoes


• 400ml chicken stock


• 1 parsnip (chopped into chunky cubes)


• 1 onion (chopped)


• 1 leek (sliced)


• 1 courgette (cubed)


• 2 cloves of crushed garlic


• Salt and pepps


• Slow cooker

Method:

1. Add the all the vegetables to your slow cooker and give a good stir so that there is an even mix of each one.


2. Add the chicken cubes on top, then season with salt and pepper. Pour the chicken stock over the top and cover with the slow cooker lid.


3. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, and then serve!

I like to make gluten free Yorkshire puddings to go with the stews for a little bit of naughty luxury! (I’ll share that recipe another day)

Don’t be scared to try other vegetables with the casserole the possibilities are endless.

A couple of weekends ago, Miles' family came down for a big meal at his parents. I love family get togethers, it’s great to see everyone and have a jolly good catch up while having great food and wine!

On this occasion I decided to take something along with us as there would be quite a few people. So I made a ginger cake!

I had never made a ginger cake before, so I was a bit worried about how it would come out, especially when it’s not just me and Miles’ eating it (its not always rainbows and butterflies in the kitchen of kalamity!), but this one came out just perfectly, and it was a huge hit with the fam too!

It is so easy to make, you could do it blindfolded! Plus it goes perfectly with some warm custard or a dollop of double cream mmmmm.

You will need:

- 200g gluten free self raising flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon Xanthem gum

- 1 teaspoon ground ginger

- 1 egg (beaten)

- 2 tablespoons golden syrup

- 240ml hot water

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.


2. Line and grease a loaf tin (so it is easy to pop the cake out once it has cooked!)


3. Sift, into a bowl, the flour, baking powder, xanthem gum and ground ginger then add the sugar and stir until it is all mixed in together. (watch your nostrils at this point... the ground ginger tickles if it gets up there!)

3.  Now add the egg, syrup and water and stir again until everything is combined and you have a nice smooth cake batter.

4. Pour into a loaf tin and bake in your oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the batter has set all the way through.

5. Once cooked, allow to cool in the loaf tin before turning out and scoffing!!



6. Enjoy with a lovely warm cup of tea!

Ok before I start…we are about to enter serous territory. This post is no post for the bloggletts out there on a diet.

If you are on a diet/watching what you eat/trying to lose weight… then I strongly advise you close the browser and walk away now (unless you're planning a cheat day).

***********************************************************************

If you are not on a diet/watching what you eat/trying to lose weight, my darlings, I bring you the most delicious, squidgy, sticky, glazed doughnuts recipe. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they are everything you could want in a gluten free doughnut and more.


It all started one day, I was researching into the wonders of glutinous rice flour (or sweet rice flour) having got some a few months ago at our local Asian grocery shop. Despite the suspicious name it is 100% gluten free. (I pinky promise)

So, on my search for recipes for this marvellous powder, I found a recipe for doughnuts. I have made gluten free doughnuts before and they weren’t bad, but they lacked a little something and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Behold! It was sweet rice flour all along! I prefer these doughnuts to ‘normal’ doughnuts and Miles was very impressed when a batch of these bad boys was laid in front of his nose!

Seriously… this flour is life changing! Have you ever tried to make some shortcrust pastry, or even rolled out a packet of the pre made stuff only to have it stick to the surface (despite using flour to prevent this) then when you go to lift it, it falls apart! Well, this flour doesn’t behave like that; this flour is so close to ‘normal’ flour I still can’t believe it! You can stretch it, you can lift it, and you can wave it like a flag if you want to and it won't fall apart!

As I have said before, I can take no credit for this amazing discovery… as I am not the mastermind behind this incredible cookery, but I will share a link to her blog page… and of course the recipe for the doughnuts!

These are seriously addictive (Although I have only made them once, I have thought about them at least three times a day since), and really not hard to make. Make sure you read the whole recipe before beginning to cook and you will have amazingly perfect doughnuts in no time!

The only snag is… you may have difficulty sourcing the sweet rice flour in which case I will add a few links below to where you can purchase it (UK) online. (Trust me, it will be soooooo worth it):

- Sous Chef

- Japan Centre

- Amazon

The glazes you can add on top are endless…What is your favourite doughnut topping?

I am going to try chocolate with hundreds and thousands next!

Happy dough-nutting peeps! 🍩

Our food cupboard is bursting at the seams, which is weird because whenever it comes to dinner time Miles and I can’t decide what to have because ‘we have no food?!’.

In an attempt to use up some of the tins, pulses and other stuff we have in the cupboard before it spoiled, I decided to make dhal. The only time I can remember eating dhal before this time was at a dinner party we went to at a good friend’s house and my goodness that was good!

I also took the opportunity to use the Piadina which I had picked up while on holiday with my sister in Sicily which has been sitting getting very crushed in the food cupboard since then! I didn’t realise this at the time but Piadina is an Italian flatbread. This particular time it was made by Schar, but I have since then found gluten free recipes and I will give it a go at making it in the near future as it is perfect with curries, and it would also make a good quick pizza base too!


On with the Dhal!

You will need: (serves 2 nicely)

- 200g lentils (I used the red ones)

- 1 teaspoon turmeric

- 2 nice knobs of butter

- 1 onion (chopped)

- 2 cloves of garlic- chopped (if you like garlic, use more, I used 3)

- 1 teaspoon garam masala

- ½ tin of chopped tomatoes

- Salt to taste

Method:

1. Pop the lentils into a nice deep saucepan and add enough water to cover the lentils and then a further 2 inches and allow the water to come to a boil. I gave the water and lentils a stir at regular intervals to stop the lentils ticking to the bottom of my saucepan.

2. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down so it is simmering, add one of the knobs of butter and turmeric and stir. Leave the lentils to cook.

3. Add the other knob of butter to a hot frying pan along with the garlic and onion once the onions are softened and the garam masala and the chopped tomatoes. Then remove from the heat for now.

4. By now the lentils should be ready. They should have sucked up most of the water and be the consistency of porridge. Mix in the onion mixture and add salt to taste.

5. Serve! Yummy!

Have you ever been to Wagamama? I love it in there, and so does Miles. (Did you know Wagamama means 'selfish' in Japanese?! You do now!)

Last time I went I tried their Katsu curry, sadly this isn’t included in their gluten free menu which is a shame so I decided to make some for Miles that was gluten free, and it came out great!

For those of you that don’t know what katsu curry is, it is breaded chicken sliced up into bite size pieces with a bed of rice and a splash of thick curry sauce. Not a curry made out of chicken and cats... or was that just me?

So, I started to research how to make Katsu and came across a few different recipes suggesting using a Japanese curry stock which had honey and apple in it. Sadly I discovered this very stock had gluten in, but then I stumbled across this video and made a gluten free version of that! It was delicious and Miles liked it too! I’d even go as far as saying it was better than the glutenous version served at Waga’s!



To make the gluten free version you will need (serves two):

Katsu Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil


• 1 apple (cut into chunks)


• 2 teaspoons honey


• 2 onions (chopped)


• 5 garlic cloves (bashed)


• 2 carrots (cut into chunks)


• 2 tablespoons gluten free plain flour


• 4 teaspoons curry powder (I used medium heat)


• 600ml chicken stock


• 4 teaspoons gluten free soy sauce


• 2 teaspoons garam masala

Rest of dish:

• 2 chicken breasts


• Vegetable oil (to fry the chicken)


• 1 egg


• 150g gluten free flour


• 150g gluten free breadcrumbs


• 2 portions of your favourite rice (we used sticky rice)

Method:

1. Put the olive oil into a big saucepan or Dutch oven to heat up. Once warm add in the onions, garlic, apple and carrot and cook until they have softened just a little.



2. Add to the vegetables the honey, flour, curry powder, garam masala and soy sauce and give it a good stir.



3. Slowly add the chicken stock to the veg and spice mix, stirring continually to avoid getting lumps. Once you have added all the chicken stock, leave to simmer and thicken while you prepare the rest of the meal.



4. Prepare your rice, we use a rice cooker but if you don’t have one, prepare the rice with the packets instructions.

5. Now its time to prepare and cook the chicken. Pre-heat a deep frying pan with enough vegetable oil in it to cover half the width of your chicken.

6. While the oil is pre-heating take the gluten free flour, egg and breadcrumbs and put onto separate plates. Coat your chicken first in the flour, then the egg and then in the breadcrumbs.

7. Once the oil is ready, place the chicken into the frying pan, cook on both sides until the juices run clear and the breadcrumbs are nice and golden brown. Remove the chicken from the oil and drain on a plate covered with kitchen roll.

8. By now your Katsu sauce should be nice and thick (thick enough to coat a spoon) so, take a sieve and pour the sauce through the sieve into another saucepan. And it’s ready.

9. To serve I cut the chicken into chunks and put onto a plate, then I used a small bowl to mould the sticky rice into a dome, and then I covered the chicken and rice in the silky katsu sauce.





Delicious!

Miles and I were lucky enough to receive some free tickets to the Chilli Festival in West Dean, and we decided to go on Sunday!We have been before and there is always some gluten free bits on offer, but this year was amazing! There was such an awesome variety of different foods to try, have for lunch and to take away it was just amazing!
…and this is what we found!
1. Pakoras- we’ve actually had these delicious deep fried vegetables before, at previous Chilli Festivals and this year they were just as awesome. Basically pakoras are vegetables (literally any veg you can think of) battered in a chickpea based batter with various spices added to it. One gripe I do have is that you used to be able to buy the packs of batter, but they’ve stopped selling them.
2. Vietnamese Food- I can’t say I’ve ever gone out and deliberately eaten Vietnamese food, but it’s one of those places on the map I’d love to visit. We managed to find a stall which boasted a few GF dishes. This was amazing because Miles had loads to choose from. We both went for a dish which name escapes me right now!! But it came with rice noodles, lots of pickled and fresh veg, and mine had delicious juicy bits of chicken, whereas miles went for meatballs which were equally as lovely!


Now on to the goodies we bought home with us!!

1. The first stall we went to is one we go to every year, Spicentice. We usually pick up a variety of spice mixes and rubs… use the rubs all throughout the year and totally forget about the spice mixes which sadly end up sitting in our pantry and going off before I have another clear out! However this year we decided to mix it up a little with some mango chutney, some papaya chutney (OMG both out of this world!) and some of our favourite pots of rub! I can’t wait to share some of the things we like to make with these ingredients. I believe everything they sell is actually gluten free, but please check before you buy!!!
2. Next up was The Garlic Farm stall. We bought a garlic plait from here! I love garlic and I like to add it into as many of our dinners as I can. Especially in the summer as it really helps to keep the mosquitos away and it’s also very good for your hair! Luckily Miles shares my love of garlic teehee!

3. Then it was on to a stall I don’t remember seeing before it was called Tan Rosie, offering lots of Caribbean style sauces and marinades… and the most amazing fiery ginger beer I have ever, ever tasted, that was amazing! We got a couple of glasses of the ginger beer (wishing id gone back for a couple of bottles!) and a Jerk Chicken rub. Mmmmm mmm!

4. After a little mooch about we came across a mayo stall called Le Range Mesurier, Miles loves mayo… on everything (much to my disappointment!) anyway this stall had a variety of different mayo’s, sauces and chutneys on offer! Although they were all gluten free, Miles couldn’t try them because they were using crackers to sample the dips with, this meant I got to pick which ones we bought and we went for Sundried tomato and basil mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce and a citrus mayonnaise. Which where my favourites!
5. Now, I am saving the best till last here, simply because this particular stalls offerings where the most impressive by far and the couple who own the business are so kind, and knowledgeable. The last stall we visited was called Mum and Dad’s Kitchen.
So, sometime last year I posted about a little place in Portsmouth called Pie and Vinyl. It just so happens that the gluten free pies that Pie and Vinyl sell come from Mum and Dad’s kitchen! It’s a small world! This stall was the best. It was stocked high with not only gluten free pies, but gluten free cakes too! We ended up having a lovely chat with ‘Mum and Dad’ and ended up walking away with 3 of their pies- Egg, Bacon and Chorizo (not only has this pie won an award, but oh my goodness it is amazing!), Piesty- which is a pasty in a pie (also delish!) and Pork Pie! They were also kind enough to give us one of their beetroot chocolate cakes, which were amazing too!

I will be ordering from Mum and Dad’s Kitchen in the near future, as there is even more to choose from on their website and they are just down the road from us! They even sell their shortcrust pastry, ready-made which is suitable for sweet and savoury dishes! Miles was very impressed with his pie lunches this week too!
I was so pleased there was so much on offer at the Chilli Festival. It just goes to show that coeliac awareness is on the up! And it’s not just free from festivals that cater for coeliac disease either.

Hi there blogletts! So lovely to see you again!!!

I know its getting a bit of a habit with these gappy posts but i am hoping to get into some sort of routine soon... I promise! (I do hate writing an apology at the top of each blog post!).

On with the post!

So... In a bid to mix up my lunches a little bit (again), I began searching for nice, yet yummy, easy packed lunches to make to take into work.

I needed something that:

a) Didn't take all evening to put together (I like to relax in the evening)

b) Was tasty...Natch!

c) Didn't cost the earth to make.

Within minutes my trusty search engine returned a result which seems to be a new lunch craze which is sweeping the nation. The Homemade Pot Noodle.

Traditionally Pot Noodles are very unhealthy, they are full of saturated fat, salt and other nasties and they aren't gluten free.

However, this healthier, tastier version is easy on the eye... and ticks all my boxes! I decided to use this recipe to base my pot on, with a few tweaks... because the possibilities are really endless with these little pots of yum! And the best bit... once made up, you just add water to it, let it steep for a few minutes, and hey presto, its ready to eat.

For my version:

You will need:

• 1 teaspoon bouillon (or your favourite stock paste or powder)


• 1/2 teaspoon of Sriracha (or more if you like it hot!) or your favourite hot sauce


• 1/4 cup Sweetcorn, or your favourite veg chopped nice and small. (if using hard veg like asparagus, it is a good idea to blanch it before packing it into the pot to give it a little head start.


• 3/4 cup noodles- there are a lot of different gluten free noodles available in supermarkets and Asian grocery shops. I like to use rice vermicelli.


• a handful of spinach- chopped nice and finely.


• a handful of spring onion- again, chopped finely.


• 1 pint clip top jar/leak proof container. (I use these)

Method:

1. Make sure your jar is clean and dry. Add the Bouillon and the hot sauce to the bottom of the jar.


2. Next up is the sweetcorn, or veg... as I mention in the ingredients it is important to par boil harder veg so that when you add the boiling water to the jar when you want to eat, it is able to just heat the veg through.


3. Then add the noodles, If  am not using fresh noodles, I let them sit in boiling water for about 5 minutes, drain, and let them dry before adding them to my jar. If you find your jar is a bit full, you can always pack the noodles down a little... they wont mind!


4. Now for the garnish, sprinkle fresh, chopped spinach and spring onion on top. Put a lid on it and keep in the fridge until you are ready to eat!


5. When you do get peckish, boil a kettle and add enough boiling water to cover everything in the jar. Give it a good stir, let it steep for a few minutes and its done!

Don't just stick to this recipe, there are lots of others all over the internet and the possibilities are endless! Just remember to make sure all the ingredients are gluten free!





So Last weekend was Miles' first weekend back from his travels around South Korea so, my brother, Miles and I decided to go to a music festival... Natch! I had never been to a music festival before (well one like this) so I spent ages researching what to wear, what to bring, will they cater for coeliacs...

A few hours passed and a few drinks and boogies later it was time to grab some grub... this was where all that research really paid off, the festival boasted a beautiful selection of different foods from risotto to Thai food. We settled for a little stall selling Indian street food called Lalita’s. Not only do they have a 100% vegan menu, but everything on their menu except vegetable samosas is also gluten free! They even had GF onion bhaji!

We all went for the Masala Dosa which is a Indian pancake (Dosa) with a spiced potato filling (Masala), they also served it with a coconut chutney and another hot sauce which I cant remember the name of, and of course we had to try one of the bhajis!

We all absolutely loved the food, and left the stall with a lovely warm feeling in our mouths and bellies! Which gave me an idea... I wanted to make Masala Dosa so that I could share the recipe with you. Now, traditionally the Dosa batter is prepared by soaking rice and urad dal (a kind of bean/lentil) but I am really impatient, and I wanted dosa and I wanted it now so...I cheated and made it using a different recipe I found online with a few simple tweaks. (forgive me if I have any readers from India, please!)

It didn't taste bad at all! In fact it was very yummy, however I have to stress that you can't get better than the real deal and I promise one day I will make, and share the real recipe with you all.

You will need:

(For the potato filling)

• 1 large sweet potato


• 1 large baking potato


• Olive oil


• 1 onion (diced)


• 1 fresh red chilli (chopped finely)


• 1cm piece of ginger (grated)


• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds


• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric


• Salt and pepps


• 1 tablespoon lemon juice


• A handful of coriander (chopped)

(For the Dosa batter)

• 1/2 cup gram flour


• 1/2 cup plain gluten free flour


• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds


• 1 teaspoon baking powder


• About 200ml water


• Olive oil

Method:

1. Bake the potatoes in your oven for about an hour or until the insides are nice and soft. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before taking the skins off and setting the flesh to the side.


2. In a frying pan, add a splash of oil, the chilli, ginger, mustard seeds, onion, turmeric, salt and pepps and heat until the mustard seeds start to pop. Tip this mixture in with the potato flesh and and give it a little mash and a stir to incorporate it all together. I mashed it so that there where a few chunks of potato still. Add the coriander and set to the side.


3. Now to make the dosa! Mix together the flours, baking powder and mustard seeds and slowly add the water until you have a runny batter, add a little oil to a frying pan and allow to heat up.


4. Add a ladle of the dosa batter to the hot frying pan and swirl around so that the dosa is nice and thin. Wait for the batter to brown and go crispy on the bottom and add a tablespoon of the potato filling you made earlier to the Center of the dosa. Carefully take one of the edges of the dosa and wrap it up so it looks like a fajita.


5. Remove the masala dosa from the frying pan and serve, enjoy with mango chutney, yum!!



So, while we were in China, both Miles and I were unfortunate enough to catch a nasty cold, one of the nastiest colds I have ever had! It was GROSS!

Rather than reach for pain killers, we were advised to try drinking lemon honey tea. Much to my surprise it actually really helped keep some of the nasty effects of a cold at bay!

I currently have another cold! A day after my birthday! - not impressed! And after spending the day feeling very sorry for myself after some trusty Strepsils didn't do the trick, I came home and made myself a lovely lemon tea! I'm now much more comfortable!

Ok... So there is a downside to this. You do need to prepare this in advance and I was very lucky to have had a big batch on the go for a couple of weeks now. But it keeps for ages in the fridge so get a batch on now and you'll never be without this delicious tea again!

I actually found this recipe online somewhere but it was a while ago now and I can't find the link anywhere! The recipe is so simple though, it is one I will never forget, and it goes a little like this...

You will need: 

- 1 large clip top jar

- 2 lemons

- 1 bottle of squeezy honey, or a jar of your favourite (just make sure you have enough to cover all the lemons in the jar)

Method:

1. Boil a kettle and pour the water into the jar, clip it shut and give it a shake so that the jar is sterilised before you use it. Top out the water and leave to air dry.

2. Slice your lemons. Now, I like mine about a centimetre thick but you can slice yours as thick or thin as you fancy!

3. Put the lemon slices into the jar and cover with the honey.


4. Now is the best bit, give it all a jolly good stir, and pop the jar (clipped closed) into your fridge. Continue to stir every day and after about a week it is ready to use. I love seeing the honey and lemon turn into an amber syrup over the course of the week.

5. To make the tea, take a couple of the slices of lemon and a couple of tablespoons of the liquid and pop it into a mug. Cover with boiling water and drink just as soon as it is cool enough! Lemon heaven!


You don't have to have a cold to enjoy this drink, we love to drink it whenever, it's just so yummy! Also if you find the tea too sweet or not sweet enough try adjusting the amount of liquid you add to the boiling water when you make up the tea.

Following our trip to Ting’n’Ting in London last month, and a new love for Rice n Peas I decided to attempt to make it. I did a little research on the internet, as I had no idea how to get such amazing flavours and such creamy rice and came across this recipe. So I gave it a go and the result is amazing. The only thing I will suggest is that the rice pot is left uncovered and you continuously stir it only because my rice was sticking to the bottom of the pan I was using.


To go with our Rice n Peas I made some of my honey and mustard chicken kebabs. You don’t have to use chicken though; any meat or meat substitute will do (for the veggies out there). These are so easy to make and the longer you can leave your chicken/meat/meat substitute to marinade the more flavoursome it will be!

You will need: (makes enough for 2 hungry people)

- 2 chicken breasts

- 1 tablespoon honey

- 2 teaspoons of mustard per person (we used the mustard with the seeds in it)

- Some skewers

- 1 bell pepper (the colour is your choice)

- 4-5 mushrooms

1. Start by dicing your chicken into 1 inch squares, and then add to a bowl with the honey and mustard. Cover and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight (I left mine for about an hour and it was lovely).

2. Once you have marinated your chicken chop your mushrooms and peppers so they are a similar size.

3. Take a skewer and thread your mushrooms, peppers and chicken on it until you reach the top. Repeat the process until all the chicken and veg is used up.

4. I used a George Forman Grill to cook these but I imagine the will cook just as well using an oven or even on a BBQ. These only take about 10 minutes to cook on George, give them a turn over half way through to make sure it's nice and even.


5. They are ready to serve. Ta Da!



Have you ever had bubble tea? It's amazing! For those of you who don't know, bubble tea is tea with tapioca pearls in the bottom of it. The tea can be anything from traditional English tea (milk tea) or your favourite fruit teas. You can also get different flavoured jellies to go in the bottom too, the possibilities are endless!


I love bubble tea, soooo much! Miles likes it too but he doesn't like to have so many tapioca pearls at the bottom of his.

Anyway I decided, after a trip to the oriental shop in Portsmouth yesterday that I was going to try to make bubble tea! So I picked up some tapioca pearls along with our other bits.


I  wanted to make my bubble tea with milk tea and tapioca pearls so had a little read up on the Internet to see if there is a special technique to making this delightful little drink and there are so many different ways to make it. I used a mixture of a few recipes and this is what I got:

You will need: (makes 1 pint glass)

- 1 tablespoon of tapioca pearls (cooked)

- 400ml water

- 1 tea bag

- 1 1/2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk

- 2 tablespoons of sugar syrup*

- 2 cups of ice

Method:

1. Make your tea by placing the teabag in a big mug or jug of boiling water and steeping for 12 minutes.

2. Into a cocktail shaker, put your tea, the sweetened condensed milk, and the sugar syrup and give it a good shake to mix it all up.

3. Add the ice and mix again until the tea is cold and everything is combined.

4. Put the tapioca pearls into a pint glass, and then add the tea and ice to the glass too.

5. Add a fat straw to your glass and enjoy!


*To make sugar syrup all you need to do is put equal parts of sugar and water into a saucepan and boil until all the sugar has dissolved.

On Sunday, Miles and I decided to go to Pizza express to check out their new Gluten Free Doughballs! Exciting stuff! We hadn't been to Pixza Express in a while but I'd heard a few bits and bobs about these Doughballs and it was time to give them a go!

I love the variety that they offer on their gluten free menu, they have so much to choose from, and it only keeps getting better!

The doughballs were really nice, crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside, accompanied with some garlic butter. They were de-lish!

We shared two starters from the gluten free menu here is the other...

This was very nice too, mozzarella with pesto, olive oil and cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes were lovely and sweet, olive oil was beautiful and the pesto was packed with flavour!

My pizza was sooooo lovely! The "Fiorentina".

Miles enjoying his "Soho 65" pizza!

Thank you Pizza Express for a lovely gluten free lunch! I highly recommend the doughballs, and pizza for that matter! I can't wait to visit again!

*I have received no compensation for this post.

Back in 2014 we went to Amsterdam for a break with our good friends J and E! Amsterdam is great for gluten free grub and one of our favourite places to eat was a place called Pancakes!

While we ate here Miles had a bacon pancake with maple syrup and stuck on what to have for dinner the other night we decided to recreate it. I have to admit, I'd been putting off making these pancakes because it seemed like such an odd combination but my goodness it really tasted amazing!

Here is how you do it...

You will need: (makes 6 pancakes)

- 125g gluten free plain flour

- 1 egg

- 250ml milk

- 12 rashers pancetta

- butter (to fry)

- some good quality maple syrup

Method:

1. Place the flour in a mixing bowl, make a well in the middle and add the egg and milk and give it a good mix until it is lump free. Leave for 10 minutes.

2. In a frying pan or I like to use a wok, melt a little butter and fry each of the pancetta rashers until crispy, set to one side for the moment.

3. Drain away the excess fat from the pancetta, then add a little butter into the wok. Melt the butter then take 2 rashers of pancetta and put the back in the wok and add a ladle full of the pancake mixture.



4. Cook until the pancake is done, and repeat the process until all the bacon and batter is used up.


5. Serve by drizzling the maple syrup over the pancakes.


Warning: these are highly addictive! Enjoy!