OPI Nail Envy - Problem!

I've been using Nail Envy because of my nail peeling problem that I've been having. Today I found out that it's got wheat in it. All Nail Envy products contain wheat. Just waiting on the official OPI Titter account to get back to me on whether the polishes are safe. I currently have bare nails, I don't do bare nails! But I do not want to be glutened.

I now need to contact Leighton Denny, Nails Inc and Zoya to see if their products are gluten free because these are the only brands I use. Twitter calls!

Gluten Free Tomato Sauce For Pasta, Noodles Etc

I originally made this sauce to go with Italian style meatballs but I realised that it's a great alternative to bolognese sauce. I had it with rice noodles and it was a real winner. Bonus is, it takes less than 5 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

1 tin Plum Tomatoes
1 level teaspoon Sugar
6-8 fresh Basil Leaves
250 ml gluten free Chicken Stock
Pinch of Salt

Gluten Free Pork Burgers - A Mustardy Version

I love playing around with different burger ingredients because there's just so many different flavour combinations to choose from. I only ever use pork though because I don't eat red meat and as far as I'm concerned minced chicken is a total waste of time when you can have a juicy whole chicken breast.

I haven't been experimenting with burgers for a while because I don't think it gets any better than my Oriental style burgers, but I was making them as a week day dinner for my fiance when I thought something a bit different would be nice. Cue my Burgers with a little kick:

Weekend Eats 5

These weekend eats posts originally started off as me trying to document all the experiments that go on during the weekend when I actually have time to get a little creative. What they've actually highlighted is the fact that pretty much every weekend without fail we eat the same gluten free stuff.

This is good in one respect, it means that I've perfected these meals to our liking and they're so good that we want to keep eating them. On the other hand, these posts should have been called My Randomosities. Hey ho, there's still lots to write about.

Hello to those of you from Ukraine, my stats tell me that you have been visiting often. Vitayu! (I do hope that is Ukrainian for hello and not some form of insult *insert an awkward smiley face*).

Gluten Free Mustard and Hot Dogs

 
Sometimes it's the little things I miss, like Colmans mustard. Not only did I use it as a condiment but I used it as an ingredient in things such as mashed potato and burgers. I found out pretty early on that Colmans had gluten in it so I bought the powder (which is gluten free) and tried to replicate my own. Couldn't do it, it was never the right consistency or taste.

It had been a few years since I'd had any kind of mustard but recently I'd had a craving for it. Despite the numerous kinds available it didn't take long for a label scanning mission one shopping trip to find one that is not only gluten free, but quite possibly better than Colmans.

Gluten Free Ready Meals

I really enjoy cooking when I have free time, but after a day of work I really don't feel like faffing about in the kitchen for myself. What I love is convenience. Last night for example, it wasn't a ready meal, but I had pork belly strips marinating in oyster sauce in the fridge, so I just threw a couple into a pyrex dish with a tiny bit of stock and cooked them in the oven. Gorgeous flavours but not exactly a well rounded meal.

As a really early dinner today I had an Amy's Kitchen macaroni cheese which is a gluten free ready meal. It's utter comfort food though and whilst it is very tasty, again it's not exactly a balanced meal. I'm ashamed to admit this but I don't recall the last time I ingested a vegetable. With all the deficiencies that go with coeliac disease, this isn't very smart on my part.

Cold, Cough and Covonia

I've been battling with a chesty cough for over 3 weeks now, sniffles that had also been lingering have now turned into a full blown cold and I'm seriously aching. In my pre-coeliac days, I would have whipped up a large saucepan of chicken soup and hey presto, I would be fine in no time.

Sure I can still make chicken soup, but I can't use the same stock cubes and frankly all the ones I can use just don't cut it in the taste department and I just don't have time to make a stock from scratch. That's the thing though, I'm not even sure that making stock from bones would have the same effect. If you've ever heard the expression Jewish penicillin, that's what my old stock cubes were like. Telma chicken stock cubes were like magic, not only did they make the most gorgeous tasting soup, but they always, without fail made me feel better, even if I wasn't feeling ill in the first place.

Weekend Eats 4

Not much new to report, different meals this weekend were Thai Green Curry and Chicken in Oyster Sauce with boiled rice. We usually have king prawns with the curry but decided on chicken this time round as we had prawns in our Sauteed Potatoes and Seafood lunch. I over cooked the chicken, it wasn't great. The Chicken in Oyster Sauce was a triumph though, we hadn't had that for ages.

I'm all stocked up on Amy's Kitchen Macaroni Cheese from Asda and I have become reacquainted with miso soup which I totally forgot how much I loved. I used to have the Sanchi one prior to being a coeliac and though that is gluten free I can't get it at Tesco. The one that Tesco stock is by a brand called Yutaka and is also gluten free, so thumbs up there.

A Gluten Free Nightmare

Just imagine the horror of that being regular flour in one of our coeliac homes.

I'm That Girl Too

It's hard enough being a coeliac in the comfort of your own home sometimes (gluten free foods not actually being gluten free at all!), so eating out and being That Girl who gets called a fussy eater is a familiar one.

Let Me Introduce You To Fred and Friends

If you aren't aware of Fred and Friends cool food and drink related items then you really should be. I don't know about other coeliacs, but I certainly think more about food now than I did when I wasn't on a restricted diet. Along with thinking about actual meals, I think of ingredients, cooking techniques, flavours and how I'm going to serve them.

Whilst thinking along these lines I also think of gadgets and gizmo's and this is where Fred and Friends come into the picture. See that OCD Chopping Board? How cool is that?! It has guidelines for batonnet, allumette, julienne and fine juilienne as well as others.

Sauteed Potatoes with King Prawns and Squid

A Gorgeous Quick Meal

This is a true one pot wonder, an indulgent combination of complimenting textures and delicate flavours.

Ingredients:

2 medium Potatoes (I use Albert Bartlett)
12 King Prawns
1 large Squid Tube
30g Garlic Butter
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
3 Garlic Cloves
1 level tablespoon Parsley
pinch of Sea Salt

Weekend Eats 3

I'm either going to have to shake things up or retire the weekend eats posts because we've had two of the same meals again. Thing is, when something is just so amazingly lovely, you do want to keep having it.

Chicken Goujons with Mozzarella Squares and Chilli Potato Wedges, and Red Pork with Chips and this time Pak Choi made their way back into this weekends meals. I'm actually getting a bit tired of the red pork to be honest, I love it, but I would like something different next weekend, but then I think of that sauce and I'm just drawn back in again.

Gluten Free Guacamole

Following on from the Quesadillas recipe, here's the guacamole that always accompanies it.

1 ripe Avocado
1 tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Fresh Lime Juice
Generous pinch of Sea Salt

Gluten Free Quesadillas

Quesadillas On The George

How to make homemade gluten free tortillas.

Ingredients:

1 Chicken Breast
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Orange Pepper
1 medium Onion
1 small Chipotle (you can get these from Mex Grocer too)
1 level teaspoon Garlic Salt
1 level teaspoon Onion Powder
2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce
Chicken Stock
1 tablespoon of Sesame Oil for frying
Cheese (we use Gouda)
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Gluten Free Chicken Goujons With A Twist

Beautifully Breaded Chicken Goujons

Gluten free chicken goujons have become a bit of a Saturday lunch favourite and whilst they've always been yum, last week my OH came up with a bit of a brilliant idea to make them even better. He gets total credit for this.

We were thinking about brining the chicken before breading it, but what my husband to be came up with was a triumph of simplicity and taste. You may have seen my post about Owen Potts Quick For Cooks range, if not it's here. We just popped open a pouch of his Chicken, Thyme and White Wine Gravy and marinated the chicken pieces in that overnight. Taste sensation!

Gluten Free Red Pork Recipe

Red Pork Cooking In The Wok With Pak Choi

Red pork seasoning was a great discovery, because not only can I now replicate the barbecue sauce you get from Chinese restaurants and take aways, it also makes a quick meal of beautifully tenderised pork.

This is such a simple recipe that you could serve with a variety of sides. It has a star anise, cinnamon, paprika, sweet and salty flavour combination going on. Lovely!

Weekend Eats 2

Predictable. We ended up having two of the same meals as last weekend, Red Pork and Chicken Goujons with Mozzarella Squares. The chicken goujons were done differently this time though and I remembered to make the Chili Potato Wedges. So that was Sunday dinner and Saturday lunch, Friday dinner was DS Gluten Free Margarita Pizza with added toppings and Saturday dinner was...... (it can't have been great as I don't remember - hence Weekend Eats posts!)

DS Gluten Free Pizza With Added Toppings

I take that back, it was great, we had Quesadillas! Not remembering is down to my sieve of a brain, not how good or bad the food was. I'll post the recipes (I actually refer to my own blog for them if I can't find my sexy little black book of gluten free recipes. I also sometimes write the ingredients in there but not the quantities or steps. Blonde, yes I know!), but I don't have any photos to accompany them. Photography isn't my strong point when I'm hungry.

Cockle Popcorn

Cockle Popcorn

Shellfish fanatic here. Always have been and thanks to it being natural produce with no interference, still can be! Absolute gluten free goodness.

I love watching cooking shows, no more so than when shellfish is involved, so I was excited at the prospect of some cockle and mussel recipes being featured on the Great British Food Revival. As soon as I heard the mention of Cockle Popcorn I knew I had to try this.

Nakd Infused Raisins - Gluten Free Goodness

Nakd Infused Raisins

Yet another great gluten free discovery and another that I've only been able to get at Asda. These are not only super delish but one little pack is 1 of your 5 a day. There's nothing artificial in these just sun dried raisins, citric acid and natural flavour.

Weekend Eats 1

Red Pork Seasoning

I've decided to start documenting our weekend meals, just for reference really, as sometimes we have the same meals for weeks on end then forget about them. I don't eat great during the week, I admit that. I just don't get the time to cook two different meals and as my gorgeous OH likes to eat late, that isn't an option for me so I stick to the basics. Things that can be heated or just generally eaten quickly without any fuss in the kitchen.

At the weekend I like to spend time in the kitchen cooking up with new and old favourites alike. I don't do fancy and I certainly don't bake! My weekend kitchen time is mostly spent making naughty foods that I spend the rest of the week craving. Weekend eats, while you are more than welcome to read, are just going to be my random ramblings about my gluten free cooking. No gourmet stuff here!

Thorntons Classic Collection - Gluten Free Chocolates!

Thorntons Classic Collection

I'm in chocolate heaven right now all thanks to optimism and inquisitiveness. I've been eating Tesco free from chocolate bars pretty much since finding out I was a coeliac. I've tried others but they were just too sickly and of a really unusual texture, so I've been getting my chocolate fix, but it's not been with the same enjoyment as my pre-coeliac days. How could it be?

Maybe it was Winter setting in and that need for comfort foods, but I had a mad craving for a box of chocolates. I looked online and sure enough there were some options, but they just didn't do it for me, I wanted familiar. I resigned myself to the free from bars I had made do with. That was until....