Thursday 28 October 2010

Glutened

Having not been glutened since August, being glutened today was a shocker, I had forgotten just how awful it makes you feel. Feeling slightly better now, my stomach still feels like a washing machine on spin cycle but hey, the worse is over thankfully.

Problem is, no idea how it happened. I made Chicken Soup, gluten free stock cubes, no pepper in sight, all the same ingredients I usually use. It's a mystery how I got glutened. I did use the same pan to cook the lovely gluten eaters dinner of Chicken Carbonara last night, but as always, the pan was scrubbed with Fairy antibacterial liquid the same as every other time it's used.

No more chicken soup for me. The coeliac disease diet is a tough one sometimes.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Have Issues Eating Out Because You're A Coeliac?

I'm a night owl, and late last night I saw a show called Freak Like Me on BBC3. There were some freaky things that people did, but there was one person in particular who annoyed the hell out of me.

There was a women who has a hard time eating out due to her 'problem'. She described eating out "as a nightmare" Is she a coeliac I wondered? Maybe she's intolerant, or has food allergies? I was thinking, aw, I can totally relate to the eating out problem.

What was the 'problem'?

Saturday 23 October 2010

Genius Gluten Free Bread Review

I had high expectations for Genius gluten free bread as you may have already read about. I had it delivered, not by Amazon, because they don't stock it at the moment, but by my delectable gluten eating other half. He picked it up for me at Waitrose (though you can get in in lots of other places too). First off, I was surprised that it wasn't sliced, not a problem at all, but I'm used to encountering (in the bad old days) gluten free bread that is sliced, and that falls apart as you try to get it out of the bag!

Friday 22 October 2010

The Thing About Being A Well Coeliac...

With a blog about gluten free foods, is that because I'm well (thankfully), I don't obsess about being a coeliac. I don't think about needing a coeilac disease diet that much. I just get on with it and in the back of my mind I'm aware that my diet is different to how it used to be and that I do need a special diet with lots of gluten free goodness.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Gluten Free Tortillas - Fajitas Devoured!

Fajitas had been missing from the menu for quite some time in our household. There was an attempt to make my own gluten free tortillas, but they ended up like naan bread rather than tortillas. Last week we made the discovery of a site that sells gluten free tortillas and so we ordered a pack.

Result! I made Chicken Fajitas and the tortillas were lovely. They fill you up quickly, much like all gluten free bread related products, but no complaints there. The gluten free tortillas are a bit on the small size, so the chicken and vegetables had to be made smaller than I would usually make them, but again, no biggie at all.

Monday 18 October 2010

Promising New Gluten Free Bread

During a repeat of Come Dine With Me (my favourite foody show ever!) yesterday there was an advert for a new gluten free bread called Genius. A few showings of the adverts later and a bit of research and indeed, this bread does indeed look promising.

I haven't had a chance to sample this bread yet, but as soon as I get my hands on it I'm having cheese on toast! The thing about this gluten free bread is that it actually looks like bread, not like the gluten free loaves you usually see.

I cannot wait to try this and I'm hoping for a gluten free bread that actually is somewhat like bread. I hope that the next time I write about Genius it's a glowing review, but if it isn't, then it's because it's just the same as all the other inedible rubbish that we on a coeliac disease diet get palmed off with.

Genius Gluten Free Bread - anyone tried it yet?

Thursday 14 October 2010

Gluten Free Eating Out - When It Sucks

I was planning a special night away for me and the other half, so I emailed the restaurant / hotel asking whether or not they could cater for my gluten free diet and pepper allergy. I went into great detail about what being a coeliac meant, that I would require gluten free with no pepper seasonings. The owner assured me that I didn't have to worry and that he could cater to any needs that I had. So I gave him fair warning right? I emailed and then called a couple of weeks in advance and everything was set.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Avoiding Gluten Cross Contamination

Joseph Joseph make great contemporary items that are highly design led but also very practical. These Index Chopping Boards are not only great for storage, but also for piece of mind.

Each chopping board is colour coded with index tabs containing a food icon. The green is for vegetable preparation, blue is for fish, white is for cooked foods and red for meats.

Not only is this great for a regular kitchen, as it keeps foods being prepared separate from each other, but it's ideal for a gluten free kitchen where cross contamination may occur.

Cross contamination is a big problem for us on a coeliac disease diet, if there are things to make it even easier to avoid it, they're worth investing in. Even better if they look as great as this too!

There's other Joseph Joseph Index Chopping Boards Available too:
New Style Joseph Joseph Index Chopping Board
Index Plus - Chopping Board Set With Co-ordinating Knives by Joseph Joseph

Monday 11 October 2010

It's Foods Like This That Remind Me Being A Coeliac Ain't That Bad

Even if I could eat gluten, there is no way that I would want to eat this. I may fry foods from time to time, but my gluten free naughtiness recipes have nothing on this! And no, you aren't seeing things, those are doughnuts!

Gluten Free Homemade Chips

homemade chips
Straight Out Of The Pan
I don't think there's any competition when it comes to homemade chips verses frozen oven chips. For starters they're fresh and they're fried, that's what I consider to be a real chip.

Free From G is all about gluten free comfort foods and what better recipe to share than this one? Who doesn't love chips?! Good homemade gluten free chips to go with almost anything.

Here's how to make them:

Saturday 9 October 2010

Gluten Free Chicken Kievs


After discovering Hale and Hearty's gluten free breadcrumbs we decided to give chicken kievs a go and I'm so glad that we did! If you love breaded foods, you have got to try these delicious gluten free breadcrumbs, they're so easy to work with and they taste and smell divine!

I'm not easily pleased when it comes to food, I only want to eat the best, this is a coeliac disease diet product that should be mainstream, not limited to the free from aisle.

Now about those Gluten Free Chicken Kievs....

Friday 8 October 2010

Gluten Free Chicken In Oyster Sauce

gluten free chicken in oyster sauce
Who Needs Takeaway?
This is one of my most favourite meals, it's a rich, flavoursome dish that we always find ourselves having with homemade chips. If you love foods with a full flavour, this is a really lovely meal that is ridiculously easy to make. It's one of my one pot wonders!

Gluten Free Eating Out - Brasserie Blanc

Raymond Blanc is one of my all time favourite chefs, so when I found out that he has a chain of restuarants, or rather brasseries that catered for coeliacs, I was over the moon. Brasserie Blanc's can be found in various cities across the UK: London, Cheltenham, Bristol, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth and Winchester.

Thursday 7 October 2010

Gluten Free Eating Out - The Fish Rocks

I haven't been to this fish and chip shop, but if I'm ever in Leigh (what happened to the on sea bit?!) on a Monday night then I'll sure stop by. The Fish Rocks fish and chip shop has started a Monday night gluten free event and it's going down a storm!

Click here to read more.

It's people like that who make me smile.

Gluten Free Pork Burgers

gluten free pork burger
Delicious!
If you want a really moist, juicy burger that is full of flavour and with no dodgy ingredients, this is a winner.

Bit of a tip, rather than moulding the burgers by hand, using an egg ring is a really great way to get perfectly shaped burgers that don't fall apart. You simply place the egg ring into the hot pan and spoon your burger mixture in. Then you pat it down with the spoon and add more if needed. After about 30 seconds the base of the burger will be cooked enough so it won't fall apart, then you can remove the ring from the uncooked burger and repeat the process. I actually use two at a time to speed up the process.

Egg Rings: UK / US

You don't have to use an egg ring to make burgers, but it does save on the messy hands and the mixture not binding as well as it could.

On to those juicy burgers!

Mrs Crimbles Gluten Free Foods


If you haven't tried Mrs Crimbles Gluten Free products yet you're missing out!

The chocolate brownies are worth putting on a few pounds for, they're delicious! Really rich chocolatety and moist. Problem is, they are totally moreish, it's so hard to stop at just one. I figure that 4 brownies over the course of the week isn't so bad....

I just don't do it every week.

Also, the Mrs Crimbles cheese crackers are a delight. I've spent so long trying out different gluten free crackers and I've had some good ones, but these are by far my winners.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Gluten Free Egg Fried Rice

gluten free egg fried rice
Gluten Free Egg Fried Rice
This is a really quick and simple recipe that you could serve on it's own for a lighter meal or have as a side dish. It goes great with Gluten Free Hong Kong Style Pork and Gluten Free Chicken in Oyster Sauce, plus lots more.

A great tip to make authentic fried rice is to boil the rice in advance. If I'm making this in the evening I'll cook the rice earlier and let it cool, it works way better than using rice that has just been boiled. Another tip is to rinse the boiled rice in cold water once it's out of the pan, this gets rid of the starch that can make the rice sticky. We don't want sticky rice here!

Gluten Free Chicken Casserole

It's great that we coeliacs are able to find gluten free chicken stock cubes, but due to my pepper allergy, it was a while before I found ones without that in them. This coeliac recipe comes from that period and though I do have pepper free chicken stock cubes at my disposal, I find that the flavour is better by making this the old fashion way, getting the flavour from the skin and bones.

This is a deliciously rich, full flavoured gluten free chicken casserole that is perfect for those wintery dark, cold nights.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Gluten Free Hong Kong Style Pork

gluten free hong kong pork
Gluten Free Hong Kong Style Pork
This is a really lovely coeliac recipe if you are missing Chinese restaurant or take away meals. Hong Kong style pork is one of the dishes that I always used to order, and I thought that I could never have it again after becoming a coeliac, how wrong I was! With a bit of experimenting I came up with this gorgeous (if I do say so myself!) Hong Kong style pork recipe.

Tomato Allergy - Removing Tomato Skins and Pips

As any coeliac will know, it's not just gluten that we have to stay away from, we develop allergies and intolerances to other foods too. As I mention in my very first post on Free From G, I'm severely allergic to pepper of the spice variety. Black, white, cayenne probably every pepper that's out there. This is a hard one because lots of gluten free foods like sausages for example have pepper in them as a seasoning.

But this isn't about pepper, it's about being allergic to tomato skins and pips, it may be one or the other but I stay away from both now just to be sure. In my Gluten Free Chilli Con Carne recipe I use Charnue beef tomatoes (delicious!) but there's a lot of prep involved getting them safe for me to eat. One major advantage of using beef tomatoes is that they're big, so aren't as fiddly to prepare.

If you are allergic to either tomato skins or pips, or if you would just prefer not to include them in recipes, here's the easiest way to remove them:

Writing About Gluten Free Foods And Getting Paid For It

HubPagesI've been writing for a website called Hubpages for nearly 3 years now. It's an amazing site where you publish pages (called Hubs) on any subject you like (within reason, nothing of an adult nature). You can write about food, cars, places you've visted, history, health, animals, basically anything that grabs your interest.

The best bit is that you can actually make serious money writing at Hubpages. There's various ways of doing this, you can earn from Google, Amazon and eBay. You simply write about your chosen topic, for instance Gluten Free Foods, add related Amazon or eBay products to your page and publish. Once your hub is published, Google will display related ads to your content.

Gluten Free Chilli Con Carne

gluten free chilli con carne
Perfect For A Cold Day
This is a super simple one pot recipe that I absolutely love to make and devour! It's a full flavoured chilli that you can make as mild or as hot as you choose. It's totally gluten free but you would never know that from the taste, my gluten eating other half loves this meal as much as I do.

Hale & Hearty Gluten Free Breadcrumbs

There's something incredibly comforting about breaded foods. The crispy outside with a softer filling, it's a great combination. I've experimented a lot with gluten free batters and breadcrumbs, and I've had a few disasters. These breadcrumbs by Hale and Hearty are amazing, if you've been missing out on breaded foods or want an easier option than making your own, these are definitely worth trying.

We've successfully breaded onion rings, button mushrooms, chicken goujons, prawns and squid. The Hale and Hearty breadcrumbs are a lovely flavour, they smell delicious and they create a wonderful crispy coating that goes a lovely golden brown. We've also successfully used these to make gluten free chicken kiev's. EDIT: And Gluten Free Chicken Goujons

Monday 4 October 2010

Welcome To Free From G.

Hi, I'm Lee and I'm a Coeliac, I also love good food.

There won't be lots of mentions about coeliac disease the illness on this site, no medical stuff, just loads of great posts about great gluten free foods and gluten free recipes, with some other cool stuff thrown in for good measure!

If you want to eat delicious gluten free foods that don't taste gluten free (i.e. flavourless!), this is the place for you. Just because we're coeliac's doesn't mean we can't eat well, we can, we just need to get a bit more creative.

If you are on a gluten free diet, food never has to be boring, just safe. If you happen to have a pepper allergy, you're in luck, because so do I! Nothing that I cook contains pepper and it isn't missed, I have loads more safe herbs and spices to cook with. My food is far from bland!

Thanks for stopping by at Free From G, hopefully you'll be back for lots of great gluten free diet foods and recipes to come.

Lee