Happy Christmas 2012!

This is probably the last Free From G post of the year so I'm going to revisit my most favourite day of 2012 with some photos.

Flying Ford Anglia

Sriracha Hot Sauce

Flying Goose Sriracha

If you have an addictive personality this is one of those things that is best avoided, for you will get hooked. I'm a big chilli fan and no matter what incidents have occurred because of this, I always go back for more.

I started seeing the name Sriracha earlier this year but for some reason I was never tempted by it, the more it kept cropping up though and the great things people were saying about it made me want a piece of the action. So far, so good. Maybe one incident.

Naturally Gluten Free Nuts

An Assortment

I've never had a problem with nuts since being gluten free but I know that others have had cross contamination issues. Plain, non flavoured nuts are naturally gluten free but of course there's always the chance of gluten being in the factory process from some other product. I haven't ever encountered that myself but there's a really simple solution for those who have or are worried by it; buy nuts in their shells, naturally gluten free and no risk of cross contamination.

Swivel Store For Herbs and Spices - Have It, Love It, Solved A Big Problem!

Swivel Motion In Action

This caught my eye a while back but I wasn't sure if it would do the job as well as it appeared to in the photos. After being bought it as a gift I can honestly say that not only has it saved us a decent amount of shelf space, it's also made finding our herbs and spices really easy, not something that was previously the case.

I use lots of herbs and spices in my cooking and I used to keep them divided in two separate trays on one shelf. It meant that I could keep them all together but apart from the ones at the very front, I couldn't identify the others easily.

Rice Vermicelli Noodles

Great Store Cupboard Ingredient

I've never really missed pasta but once I started making chicken soup again I wanted vermicelli in it. These are the perfect gluten free substitute for egg vermicelli, the texture is lovely and they really drink up the flavours that you soak them in.

Hi Technorati

Here's your code: YPHEASHWHFHB

To anyone else reading, this isn't an error it's a boring need to do post for behind the scenes stuff. Apologies, here have a pic of a Harry Potter Dragon.

Rooaaarrrrrrrrr

Gluten Free Sweet Thai Chilli Jack Pots

Much Better Than Expected

If you're a regular reader then you will have seen two other Jack Pots flavours reviewed on Free From G recently, these crisps have been a great find. I wasn't planning on trying the Sweet Chilli flavour as I'm no fan of sweet chilli sauce but The Glutenite suggested they might be really good. He was right.

How To Make Gluten Free Breadcrumbs

Homemade Is Always Best

I was in the process of making a Chicken and Tarragon Kiev when I realised that I didn't have enough pre-bought gluten free breadcrumbs. It was the best thing to have run out of ever because making my own provided a much better result. It's so quick and easy, I'll never by pre-made again.

Tesco Gluten Free Ginger Cookies

Oh My.

Discovering these was a great thing and a very, very bad thing all at the same time. I'm a big fan of ginger but I'm shocked that a ginger biscuit / cookie would turn out to be the best I've ever eaten. I'm amazed that these are gluten free.

Vietnamese Style Prawn Stir Fry

Bit Of A Hybrid

This recipe is a bit of a combination, ultimately it's a stir fry but with a slight hint towards a Vietnamese Pho minus the rice noodles. The sauce / soup has a very refreshing flavour and the bean sprouts and samphire add a delicate bite. The king prawns lend a meaty texture and flavour all of their own to this simple but delicious one pot meal.

Gluten Free Crisps - Jack Pots Cheese and Onion

Amazing

After being so impressed with the Jack Pots Sea Salt and Cyder Vinegar crisps I decided it was time to try another flavour. Round of applause for Mature English Cheddar and Spring Onion flavoured Jack Pots, for they are a snack sensation.

Tesco Gluten Free Syrup Steamed Puddings

Comfort On A Plate

Microwave for less than a minute and you'll have this indulgent syrup steamed pudding on your plate. Have to admit, you don't actually get that much syrup, I added a fair amount myself. If you're going to have a syrup pudding you may as well have a syrup pudding, there's no thought of calories here.

Just When You Think You've Got It Sorted - Gluten In Skincare

Contains Gluten

I'm not afraid to admit that when it comes to cooking, I'm on gluten free auto pilot. It comes so naturally now that I find it a breeze but that's only because I've immersed myself in learning as much as I can about ingredients, it didn't just happen overnight.

So there's me thinking I'm 100% gluten free but due to one little 15ml pot of eye cream, it's transpired that I am not.

Gluten Free Chicken Kiev With Tarragon Butter

Nom

I'm a huge fan of the chicken and tarragon combination so I thought I'd use it in a kiev. Gorgeous as you would expect from those flavours.

Making your own kievs might sound like a lot of hard work but it isn't. There's a fair few steps but overall it's a really simple recipe that you can make and then put in the fridge until you want to cook it. It's definitely worth the effort.

Manuka Honey Defender Of Colds

Gluten Free Goodness

I've had an affinity with honey since my mum told me the story of her pregnancy with me. Basically I should have been born tiny, let's just say that stomach problems, anxiety combined with age and scaremongering from doctors made those nine months a challenge for her. I should have been a small baby.

I was well over nine pounds and in perfect health. The one thing that she puts this down to is a big spoonful of honey every day whilst pregnant. I don't know if that is why I defied the odds for sure but I know that honey, in particular Manuka Honey does my body the world of good because I can feel it.

Super Easy Gluten Free Lasagna

No Pasta Lasagna

It's been years since I made a Lasagna, I learnt early on that I didn't like gluten free pasta, so I've kept away from making any meal that included it. I recently saw Nigella make a Mexican Lasagna that used tortillas as the layer dividers and figured that would be a great gluten free alternative if I used my own. Problem is that I'd like this to be one of those really easy meals that you put together then have the option to put into the fridge to cook later. I'm not sure how well the tortillas would hold up on the sog factor.

So, I had a rethink and came up with the idea of using rice papers. I'm very familiar with this ingredient as we use them to make our lovely Summer Rolls, seemed like a texture that would work really well.

I'm pleased to say that it turned out better at first attempt than I could ever have imagined.

Yoki Bacon Popcorn

Microwave For 2 - 5 Minutes On High

We love Yoki Cheese Bread here at Free From G so we were very excited to see a Yoki gluten free Bacon Flavoured Popcorn in the same section during our last stocking spree*. We're big fans of Bacon as regular readers will know and I've written extensively elsewhere in the past about bacon flavoured things that aren't actually bacon. I didn't expect to be able to get to try something similar to what I had written about as you never see it to buy over here.

But...

Hello Yoki Bacon Popcorn!

Hasselback Potatoes - Naturally Gluten Free

Combination Of Crispy and Creamy

Ah potatoes, so versatile, so easy to cook and sometimes, so pretty. I only heard about Hasselback potatoes yesterday, I'd seen them come out of the oven briefly on some cooking show recently and thought how effective they look for presentation but I had no idea what they were called.

Bit of an image search gave me the name and here we are, Hasselback potatoes, naturally gluten free and very moreish.

New To The Gluten Free Diet - Eating Out

It's tough enough in the beginning to eat safely at home on a gluten free diet so eating out poses a new challenge. You know what you can eat and how to avoid cross contamination when prepping and cooking food but what about when you aren't in control of the situation?

The problem here is that you are putting your well being into someone else's hands. Can you trust that they will be aware enough to understand not only what gluten is but also how to avoid cross contamination? It's a huge thing to put your trust in someone like this.

Gluten Free Pulled Pork Chilli

Wintery Goodness

This recipe exists entirely because of a case of mistaken meat identity. I thought I got pork mince out of the freezer to make Pate, once thawed it tuned out that it was in fact pork shoulder. What to do with it easily?

I'm really impressed with the way it turned out. I'm not sure if I would actually bother using pork mince again because I'm loving the texture of the pulled pork in the thick flavoursome sauce. It's an incredibly easy recipe but will require a minimum cooking time of an hour and a half. Ideal for a slow cooker.

Gluten Free Coarse Pork and Mushroom Pate

Mushroom and Pork Pate

The next time I make this I'm going to mince the meat rather than blend it. I personally prefer a smooth pate rather than coarse but I was so focused on getting the flavours right that it didn't occur to me at the time. That's all I'd do differently in terms of method, for a first attempt at making pate I pretty much nailed it.

I've been enjoying this so much that I'm yet to actually spread it on anything.

Weekend Eats 17 - Roulade, Experiment Plans and Pig

I've just witnessed Nigella doing something unthinkable on The Food Network. No she didn't skip the midnight fridge feast, she put frozen glazed King Prawns into a Paella. I'm disgusted. They were whole prawns, not butterflied, whole, the exact kind that I use. This can only mean one thing.

There is prawn poo in that Paella.

Wooohoo For A New Free From G!

The new site design is going to be live sooner than expected, so excited! It's been talked about for a while, but we're finally updating what has been around since 2010. It won't look anything like the current version so  expect a much better user experience when visiting.

For some visual stuff that's been a bit lacking check out The Persz, she loves my chicken soup. Licky lips!

She Knows Good Gluten Free Living

That's all, just wanted to update because the site is going to have a huge makeover but it'll be better than ever thanks the the wonderful Glutenite. We're going mad on redesign, I love that!

Happy weekends dear readers. 

New To A Gluten Free Diet - Cross Contamination

As if it isn't hard enough getting your head around going gluten free to begin with there's other factors outside of what foods you can and can't eat. Cross contamination is when a gluten free food comes into contact with gluten, thus making it contaminated.

The easiest way that this happens is in the preparation or cooking processes. Say you use a chopping board that has just been used to slice bread, regular bread. Whatever you put on that chopping board is now contaminated with gluten. If you put gluten free bread into a non exclusively gluten free toaster? Contamination. Fry chips in oil that has been use to fry non gluten free breaded or battered items? Contaminated.

If you're eating gluten free but still feeling unwell, this may be what's causing it.

What Can I Eat On A Gluten Free Diet?

Back in 2009 this was the question that I was constantly asking myself. What can I eat? I'd spent two years in a pitiful state of zombie-like existence and once I knew that the gluten free diet would change that I embraced it fully. This didn't mean it was easy though, embracing it and understanding it were two very different things.

My natural inclination was to head straight for the free from aisle in my supermarket, if I said it was gluten free I could eat it, right? I ended up with biscuits and a couple of meals in pouches that you just poured boiling water into, I vividly remember getting tins of Orgran Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce. With hindsight, a nutritional nightmare, at the time, a few weeks spent eating flavourless foods that were of terrible quality. I still can't look at a tin of that Spaghetti without wincing.

If I were to be able to go back in time and advise the old me at the time of going gluten free, this is what I would tell myself...

Continental By Thorntons - No Gluten Containing Ingredients

My Chocolate Heaven

For me no other box of chocolates comes close to Thorntons Continental. I even like the Valencia which is a combination of chocolate and orange, not a flavour combination that I'm usually a fan of. This box of chocolates is pig out perfection.

Once upon a time some boxes of Thorntons were labelled as gluten free, now the labelling states no gluten containing ingredients. When it's possible for a gluten free labelled product to have as much as 20ppm of gluten in, I'm happy with this labelling. My weight conscious side is not.

Weekend Eats 16 - New Discoveries and Old Favourites

So Good

If you're a regular reader you will know that I have a bit of a crisp addiction, I'm constantly on the lookout for new gluten free snacks and this was a brilliant find. I'd never heard of Jack Pots Crisps before seeing them on Saturday, they have very eye catching packaging so I'd be quite surprised if they had passed me by previously, I guess they were new to the frequently visited crisp shelves.

Once noticed this flavour jumped out at me, it's been years since I've had a proper salt and vinegar crisp, Mrs Crimble's make a good substitute but they aren't what I would call proper crisps. 

Foodista Food Blog Of The Day!

I got a lovely surprise on Saturday evening, Free From G was the featured food blog of the day on Foodista! I had no idea as I never check email at weekends and it was only because The Glutenite happened to be checking stats that we found out when we did.

It's great to be recognised period, but to be a gluten free blog that gets recognised on a regular foodie site is an honour. 

Happy Halloween! Or Rather, The Halloween Post That Never Was

Skull Jelly

Two inexpensive skull goblets filled with Hartley's Lime Jelly = the easiest gluten free home made Halloween food ever. I was going to write about the merits of jelly being gluten free but I can't. So you'll just have to enjoy the photos and read my explanation if you so desire.

Magnificent Meatballs and Tremendous Tomato Sauce

Presentation Is Not My Strong Point, I Just Want To Eat Once Plated!

I have a little black book that contains a wealth of recipes from the past 6 years, most have been documented on Free From G, some haven't. I revisited two of those trusted recipes for dinner last night and was reminded of what my Glutenite had named them (when doing recipe experiments he often writes things down for me as I go along). He really likes this meal as you can probably tell.

The Free From G Messy Little Black Book

So I stuck with them. That's his portion up there by the way, I couldn't eat half that!

Gluten Free Oyster Sauce Revisited

I've removed previous posts on the subject because quite frankly there's a huge (insert expletives) problem. I've had to switch numerous brands over the years because retailers discontinue them and it's a staple ingredient for me. I discovered Maekrua Oyster Sauce via my OH who went to a local Oriental shop trying to source some as our previous brand was no longer available.

Nestle UK Gluten Free Product List - Updated December 2013

I found this list completely by accident but what a find! There's stuff on here that I didn't think I could have but now know that I can. Something to take note of is that Nestle UK guarantee that items on this list are safe so long as they are UK made, anything imported by retailers may not be safe so always check the label regardless. Always check labels!!!

Items listed are gluten free, items with a * contain 20pmm or less, the legal amount a product can contain and be labelled gluten free. I personally wouldn't eat these and wouldn't recommend eating them but they are considered to be gluten free by law so the choice is up to you.

I still think that gluten free should mean gluten free, no traces whatsoever.

Here's a new update, non underlined titles items in bold are updates or additions.

A Blast From The Past Perfect For Halloween!

Brain, Bacon and Cheese

Seeing as it's Halloween tomorrow I thought I would revisit a fitting recipe for the occasion. It's the Free From G Zombie Bacon Bomb! Never intended it to be a Halloween recipe it just started out that way once the minced chicken was placed on the bacon weave, it does look a bit like a brain.

Once out of the oven it had a severed limb look about it. All you need is a bit of Barbecue Sauce and you've got a creepy looking creation that tastes amazing.

Brief post today but back tomorrow with some proper Halloween goodness.

Weekend Eats 15 - Bad Blogger

Great gluten free food was eaten over the weekend as per usual but I have absolutely no photographic documentation of it. We've kind of been preoccupied by some new arrivals to the Free From G abode.

We Got Fish

We did so much research to get to this stage. Who knew that choosing/keeping cold water fish could be so complicated?! All very calming and peaceful to look at now though.

Some people buy fish for their kids, we bought ours for the Persian. Thankfully she doesn't view them as dinner, just as entertainment from her spot on the bed. They had quite a relaxing effect on all of us yesterday but this morning with the full moon approaching and no fish viewing, the Persian had a heightened version of one of her hyperactive moods. Once on the bed though, calm. We should have got fish sooner.

So now you know why there's a bit of a photo drought for the rest of this blog post. The fishes did it.

A Natural Alternative To Lemsip

Cold Fighter

As written about in a previous post, Lemsip's are gluten free (except for the Lemsip All In One Wild Berry and Hot Orange) but they don't agree with me. I've used natural remedies for years because as a child I was constantly on some form of medication even though I didn't have a long term illness. I just used to get everything going and I put that down to the fact that I had no immune system due to all the drugs I was given unnecessarily.

I'm not going to tempt fate but as an adult, aside from the need to be gluten free, yeah. I like natural remedies.

Pickled Onion Pom-Bear - Halloween Special Edition and More

So Cute!

Not sure why I've never written about Pom-Bear before, I've previously eaten so many of the Pizza flavour that I don't think I could stand another. It was of course the packaging the caught my eye and I am rather partial to pickle onion flavour crisps, so I put the thoughts of the overindulgence of the other flavour to the back of my mind and had a munch.

Gluten Free Giant Chicken Kiev

It Ooozed

Not the tidiest of photos but there's not much you can do once you've made the cut. A good Chicken Kiev should always have plenty of buttery goodness oozing from within, this was post oooze.

I fiddled about with incisions and using the mini breast fillet as a 'plug' on numerous occasions, but the butter always leaked during the cooking process. I don't bother with incisions anymore, this is a sure fire way to make the perfect Chicken Kiev every time, even if it may seem a weird way of going about it. This is a Free From G Kiev after all, why use traditional methods?!

Sea Bass, Samphire, Bacon and Toms

Tuesday Night Dinner

I've written about Smoked Sea Bass before, but thanks to the introduction of Samphire at Tesco this week I've been able to make the meal even better. When I used to live on the coast Samphire was readily available, since moving back to London some years ago, I've not seen it to buy anywhere. I actually squealed when I saw it on Saturday, I love this ingredient!

Burts Potato Chips - Pesto Flavour

Roddy Fried These*

Initially I was drawn to these because of the colour of the pack, I love it. It stood out so much just like the Firecracker Lobster ones. When I saw what the flavour was I became intruigued, Pesto? We had to give them a go, I'd never heard of Pesto crisps before and couldn't really imagine herby crisps without any other flavours to go with them.

Weekend Eats 14 - Colds, Chocolates and Quiche

*Sneeze*

That photo says a lot about the weekend, there are stinky colds afoot. The lovely Glutenite got progressively worse as the weekend went on and Lemsip didn't seem to be helping, so I took my usual natural remedy approach and added a huge tablespoon of Manuka Honey to his last mug last night. Sure enough he was vastly improved by this morning.

Though Lemsips are gluten free (all but the Lemsip Max All In One Wild Berry and Hot Orange) they don't agree with me. I caved from my natural approach last year whilst suffering from flu and it made me beyond woozy, I don't like woozy. I'll stick to my hippy dippy approach thank you very much, hence the Jakemans Honey and Lemon Menthol sweets pictured above. The cold hasn't fully got me.

Gluten Free Chicken Soup That Anyone Can Make

Chicken Soup Goodness

Provided that you have shop bought gluten free chicken stock, making this soup takes less than 5 minutes to put together. It's incredibly easy, filling and perfect for those under the weather days when you need goodness but can't be bothered to cook. I wouldn't call this cooking!

Gluten Free Cheese Straws

I Baked!

Finally! If you're reading this then it can be safely said that I improved them and am happy with the result. Before we go another further I'd just like to point out that these aren't the kind of cheese straws that you can pick up and snap in half, these are soft and bendy cheese straws just like the ones I used to love in the days when I didn't know what gluten was.

Feedback On My Novice Baking Attempt

I'm yet to do what is hopefully the final experiment on the cheese straws because quite frankly, I'm afraid of eating them. I don't know where these thick people who go gluten free for weight loss get that idea from, this blog is in danger of increasing my weight quite rapidly! I'm not baking them until my Glutenite is home from work, safety in numbers.

First Gluten Free Baking Experiment, Done!

You know what? After my last update I honestly thought that it was going to be an experimental disaster. However, 2 hours before dinner and extremely full after eating 3 of my 4 test creations (oops), I can honestly say that on first attempt, I'm almost there!!! Woo!!!

Baking Update

My foray into baking was a bit delayed due to my iPhone battery being dead and having still not unpacked everything from the move it took me an age to find a camera. Which also had a dead battery. I figured that I'd do the early stages without needing to document them photographically.

I am now at the 'dough' phase having charged my iPhone and documented a couple of steps. I have to say chaps, it's not looking good.

Weekend Eats 12 3/4

My Glutenite still doesn't believe that Roddy and his chums are actually frying the crisps. My mum does think I'm slightly mad but has some recollection of the McCain pizza toppers. Some. I think she was humouring me to be honest.

I've taken it upon myself to get to the bottom of this. I've sent a message to Roddy via the website. This is what popped up after I hit send:

I didn't ask anything rude, naughty or stupid, I asked which other flavours were gluten free. I'll let you know if I get a reply.

Oh.

Poor Roddy. He IS front page material (I knew it) just like everyone else in an alternating way when you hit refresh or go back to the fryers page. I falsely accused Burts of overlooking a much valued member of staff :/

I have since hit myself over the head with a packet of Firecracker Lobster Chips for being so hasty.

Here, have a pic of my seasonal Haribo I just ate so we can forget all about it:

Frogs and Spiders, A Bat and A Worm

What will tomorrow bring? ;)

Weekend Eats 12

Weekend Eats are always my favourite posts to write, if only the weekend came around quicker and lasted for longer though. They fly by way too fast for my liking. I don't always do a Weekend Eats post because lots of times we have the same meals because we love them so much, but this weekend I made some new discoveries.

Sleepy Head

Late mini post due to one thing, I've been asleep for most of the day.

Not sure why, but exhaustion just crept up on me and I've not been able to keep my eyes open. I'm keeping the cold at bay and I've not ingested any gluten, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to why today I've been so tired. I feel fine except I could happily go back to sleep now, it's all a bit odd.

Normal service will be resumed on Monday. After more sleep :)

Have a wonderful weekend.

Superpowers!

I was watching the Morrissey and Stephen Colbert interview where they talked about Morrissey's militant vegetarianism and how for the day that he was on set, the entire building had to be meat free. Everyone had to adopt the vegetarian diet whilst he was around.

Initially, I was thinking, what a cheek! Then it struck me, if I could have the power to make everyone gluten free in my presence, would I?

Tesco Gluten Free Choco Snaps

Definitely Not Aimed At My Age Demographic

I'm not a breakfast person, when I rarely have cereal it's as a snack. Seeing as these are chocolate flavour and how I've had a bit of a sweet tooth these past few weeks I thought I'd give them a go.

The Free From G Italian Style Bacon Bomb

One of the reasons that I didn't experiment further with the onion rings last night is because dinner was calling and dinner was this:

You Can Never Have Too Much Cheese. Or Bacon.

How To Get Batter To Stick To Onion Rings

I've made these a few times since being gluten free but they've never come out to my absolute satisfaction. I've always had issues with coating the onion rings in the batter and then ensuring that it stays on whilst cooking. Inevitably I've ended up with the onion and batter coming apart and well just not a great overall result at all. That's why I've never posted the recipe! I only ever post recipes that I'm truly content with and I have pretty high standards for my food, you'll only ever see a disaster if it's worthy of a laugh.

As this is a request from 54mu5 I figured that I needed to step my game up a bit. How can I make the batter stick to the onion rings properly? That's the only problem here, the flavours are great.

Knorr Stock Pots Are Gluten Free!

At Last!

I can't tell you how happy I am about this, sourcing a gluten free stock that is also free from pepper has been a very hard task. I've looked at these time and time again but they've never been suitable (I'm not sure if it was gluten or pepper, I just know I couldn't have them) and it's funny because if there was one stock that I wanted, it was this. Hey, if Marco Pierre White puts his name and face to something, I'm in!

The Perils Of The Gluten Free Sourcing Food Shop

So y'know, you take a wander down the world food aisles in the hope that you'll find something new and brilliant like the Cheese Bread discovery. You're scouring the various exotic looking items on offer in the hope that you'll see a gluten free label or at the very least no gluten on the ingredients list. You're just taking in everything you can in the hope that something will jump out as instinctively gluten free and you happen upon these things:

(Please note that I have no idea if these things are gluten free or not. I kind of got distracted from investigating.)

A Friendly Word Of Caution

Sourcing products that aren't branded gluten free but are safe takes time and effort. If I recommend something to you, you can be sure that I've personally researched, tried it and that it is gluten free.

If I give you a link of where to find a product, that's the only thing I'm recommending. I can't control what a site will consider to be a related product on the same page, I can only give you the name of the one that I'm recommending.

If you choose to go for a related product and not the one that I've researched and know to be safe then be sure to check the ingredients listed because a related product doesn't mean it will be gluten free.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS check ingredient lists whether you're buying in person or online.

Stay safe!

Friday Fun But Not As Intended

Sorry guys, the fun thing that I had planned on posting today didn't happen so I'll be making sure that it does over the weekend to post on Monday. It requires lots of pics. Reason it didn't happen last night is because I'm not feeling great, nothing coeliac related thankfully just a touch of cold that has been threatening me with its presence for the last couple of weeks.

Happy 2nd Birthday Free From G!

Well isn't this funny, I didn't even know when I posted earlier. I was thinking about potential posts for the future when it dawned on me that Free From G was created around this time of year. Had a check back and sure enough, 2 years ago to the day my blog was born. Never celebrated the first one, oops.

I can think of no better way to celebrate other than to post some random unseen pics from the past year, hope you enjoy! Oh, and y'know, thanks for reading my rambles :)

DS Gluten Free Chicken and Mushroom Pies

It's A Pie!

I had these last year or maybe it was the year before that I can't be sure. I wasn't too keen to be honest, I fully admit that I'm very picky when it comes to the quality of food and I really wasn't impressed by the the filling of these pies. Whilst in search of the DS Salami Pizza I noticed that it said "improved recipe" on the box, so I decided to give them another go.

Tesco Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cake Bars

The Things I Do For This Blog

If you're a regular at Free From G you will know that I've been on a bit of a sweet tooth kick recently. Were it not for the blog then I wouldn't really have an excuse to have sampled all that I have done, but seeing as all is being documented in the name of gluten free product research, I've run with it.

Have to say, I've been quite impressed with Tesco branded gluten free stuff recently, these only add to that.

The Eliza Doolittle AKA The DS Salami Pizza

I said that I wouldn't be surprised about the topping this time, but I was. I thought there may have been a slight possibility that this one might just look a bit like the photo on the box. But, to say I was wrong is an understatement.

This time we had an extra piece of salami which meant we had a grand total of 8, now we're getting somewhere! Except, we weren't. We weren't at all.

If You've Ever Wanted To Know What I Look Like...

"I noticed something funny about having you on my lock screen" Said my Gorge in an email earlier.

Appled

That was attached.

Such a stunning look, moon face!

Keep eating the cakes Lee, keep on keeping on.

BTW, have a listen, so lovely;

I listened to Capital Gold when I was a kid, odd yes, but that's me. This song I heard over and over and only in the past few days at age... 20 something..., did I find out it was by the late, great George Harrison. Very weird for an ex muso.

I may go deeper into this as I have so many funny stories about musicians, but then again, I may not, we'll have to see (if I can tie it into the gluten free stuff I will. Hard task!)

Night All.

Weekend Eats 11

It's been months since I wrote a Weekend Eats post so I thought it was about time for another. Only problem is that I don't have any photographs through laziness, but maybe I'll come up with something as I'm writing. It's going to be a case of scroll and see for both you and I dear reader.

Since we moved Saturdays have become pig out day for me, I've no idea why. I wake up hungry and spend pretty much the entire afternoon eating once we're back from our weekly food shop. Like I say, this has only been since we moved and is quite out of character for me as I've never been a big eater. I guess maybe I've found some contentment after months of stress and worry and my appetite is healthier. Much healthier.

DS Gluten Free Salami Pizza

Exciting Moment For Me!

If you read yesterdays post you will know just how excited I was about finally getting to try the DS Gluten Free Salami Pizza. I was like an excitable child! I mean just look at the photo on that packaging, it's pizza heaven. I think even my lovely gluten eater was a bit excited too.

I couldn't wait to rip the box open and see what it looked like, so I did! I tore at the side of the box which actually took some doing and and I pulled the long awaited pizza out...

Prewett's Chocolate Bourbons

Biscuit Heaven

I've been eating a lot of sweet things lately which is a bit unusual for me but as I'll probably be back in full on savoury mode soon I might as well make the most of it.

I've had Prewett's Chocolate Bourbons a few times since being gluten free and they never disappoint. They're a full on chocolate rush that consist of a chocolate biscuit, chocolate filling and milk chocolate coating. A chocoholic dream.

Mrs Crimble's Double Choc Brownies

Mrs Crimble's Know How To Make Brownies

If you're a Free From G follower then you will know that I absolutely adore Mrs Crimble's as a brand. They've been a staple for me since 2009 and I've mentioned them countless times on here, always in a very positive light as is deserved.

I've mentioned these in passing before on Free From G but they're so good that I decided they should have their own post. 

Tesco Gluten Free Pizza Bases

Packety Pack

We were hoping that seeing as it said new recipe on the pack, that it would be the same base as the new frozen pizza we had picked up a few weeks before. Just not frozen, obviously!

The bases seemed a little on the small size so we used both but decided on slightly different toppings for each.

Claims For Gluten Poisoning - Is It Possible?

I've been in conversation with an online friend and fellow coeliac about this subject for a couple of years now. As coeliacs, do we have any rights concerning being glutened, either when eating out or when consuming products that are incorrectly labelled as gluten free at home? 

Frozen Goodies And Coconut Woes

I was going to do a product review today but I'll save that for tomorrow, today I'm going to focus on the bewildering realms of the Tesco frozen aisle.

Around this time last year I got mad at Tesco for pulling their DS Gluten Free frozen range and replacing it with Genius products. I'd got used to having pizza again and an odd chicken and mushroom pie and to have those taken away and replaced by something which was harmful to me was annoying. We didn't bother with the frozen aisle for quite some months then I got an email from DS saying that they were available in Tesco and more recently we got a booklet full of free from vouchers, including frozen DS products.

As you'll read if you click on that last link, despite all the green lights that Tesco were stocking DS frozen products, they weren't.

Vita Coco So Much More Than Just A Nice Drink

I've been feeling really groggy since last Sunday. Very, very tired during the day, no get up and go, brain fog, my stomach has been quite unsettled and I've also had a really nasty water reaction on my palms that have left them cracked and sore. I figured it was the stress of the move still pouring out.

Nah ah.

Jungle Tomatoes

So Pretty

What with everything that's been going on I've found it really hard to get excited about food over the Summer, that's changed now that I'm settled into my lovely new gluten free kitchen.

I had to post a pic of these Jungle tomatoes because I was like an excitable kid when I saw them during our shop on Saturday. Not only do they look extremely cool but they taste as good as they look. Fried with a little olive oil and the skins come off super easily, so no worries about my allergy there.

I love looking at good food. Naturally gluten free too!