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....

The Curious Case Of Potatoes vs My Nails

I've been having problems with my nails for longer than I can remember and I've always blamed it on being a coeliac and having vitamin and mineral deficiencies, despite the fact that I do the best I can to make sure I'm not deficient.

I think it was at some point earlier this year that I noticed that when I was prepping potatoes, my nail polish would chip and come off. Obviously not great when dealing with food so I started not wearing any if potatoes were on the menu that day. Then I noticed that my nails were getting into a horrible state, lots of layers peeling at the tips. I've been using professional nail treatments for months now and despite a few days of improvement, my nails always end up peeling again.

Gluten Free Macaroni Cheese Discovery

I'd had a craving for macaroni cheese for months but I couldn't find any gluten free macaroni to make it with. Imagine my delight on my first trip to an Asda, right there in the frozen cabinet, a gluten free macaroni cheese ready meal!

I wasn't disappointed, it was proper hearty comfort food and both the rice macaroni and the cheese sauce were delicious. Amy's Kitchen who make this have other gluten free foods available too. If you want a filling gluten free meal that's ready in minutes, this is worth a try.

http://www.amyskitchen.co.uk

PPM, Do You Understand What It Means? I Didn't

PPM = parts per million. That's how much gluten in is your gluten free foods.

Hang on, surely I just wrote that wrong, right? How much gluten is IN my gluten free foods?! Yep, you read it right and I wrote it right. If you are a new coeliac this might be news to you.

Up until earlier this year I had no idea about PPM. I'd read bits and bobs but to be honest, it all went over my head. That was until I was glutened by a gluten free product.

Xinxim Recipe Las Iguanas Style - Gluten Free Of Course!

Delicious Xinxim

What is Xinxim? (pronounced Shin Shim) If I hadn't been to Las Iguanas I would be wondering that too. This is how they describe it:

It's a traditional Brazilian dish of chicken and crayfish in a peanut and lime creamy sauce.

This is how I would describe it:

Blooming tasty! But it isn't something you would want every day. It's a dish that when I get a craving for, I have to have it!

I don't use crayfish in my Xinxim recipe but as far as I'm concerned, I've nailed the taste pretty darn close to the Las Iguanas one. It looks pretty much the same too. This is a really rich dish that you'll either love or hate, but you'll probably make that choice as soon as you see the ingredients list.

Saturday Kitchen and That Coeliac Chef

This has been out there for a while now, but seeing as I was one of those who complained to the BBC about the incident and documented it on here, I thought I may as well bring the drama full circle.

My Love Affair With DS Gluten Free Foods And Why I'm Angry

I've been eating DS Gluten Free foods for a good few years now, I believe I started off with the crackers and then as more foods got introduced I scoffed my way through those too. I'm a seriously sensitive coeliac to the point that I can only tolerate a very low PPM and I've never had a bad experience with DS Gluten Free, ever. (Of which the same cannot be said for another gluten free company, that's going to be a long post that I'm not looking forward to writing).

Owen Potts Quick For Cooks - Good Find!

Since becoming a coeliac I can't tell you how much time I have spent in the stock cubes aisle of my Tesco. Sure it would be lovely to make my own stocks and gravys, but there's just no time when work is so constantly hectic. For well over a year I didn't have a stock cube problem, I was using Kallo chicken stock cubes and very nice they were too (not a patch on my beloved Telma cubes though).

Pho Restaurant Review Wardour Street, Soho, London - Avoid!

It's been a while since I've had the time to write anything on Free From G, but oh my, there's been a lot of stuff that I've been keeping bottled up to write up here the first chance I got. This is that chance.

My last post was a glowing review for a restaurant chain called Pho in glorious Brighton . Seriously, it was the most laid back, stress free meal I've had out since becoming a coeliac. With that experience in mind, when my (now) future In-Laws came visiting from abroad, it seemed an obvious choice to go to a London branch of Pho for the same experience. Let me just state this now, if you or anyone you are dining with is a coeliac, DO NOT go anywhere near this place!

Pho Restaurant Review - Brighton - Gluten Free Friendly

It's been a while, so much to post about yet so little time to actually do it. I have a backlog of loads of gluten free recipes which I could post, but there's no photos to accompany them, so it would all look a bit dull really.

Anyway, a while back myself and my other half went for a day trip to lovely Brighton. When planning this trip we had terrible trouble locating somewhere to eat that was gluten free, there was just no definitive list. After a while we came across a restaurant that we had never heard of, Pho. We investigated the menu, read some gluten free reviews and decided that's where we would have lunch.