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