Review of Bionita gluten free Gnocchi

I came across the gluten free gnocchi in my local farm shop and deli. My first thought was that the packet wasn’t very big, I was hoping there would be enough for two people. I think it could possibly be a starter portion for two.

The Gnocchi is very simple to cook and I made a simple cream, cheese and egg sauce to accompany the gluten free gnocchi.

 

Just a couple of minutes and the gnocchi is ready.

I fried some strips of bacon and courgette then add double cream and grated parmesan

Finally I removed the pan from the heat and added a beaten egg and stirred it in the the sauce thickening it.

I added the gnocchi to the sauce

and placed some baby spinach to my bowl and spooned the gnocchi and sauce on top.

 

 

it was delicious and I can definitely recommend this gluten free gnocchi.

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Easy gluten free scones

This week is Coeliac awareness week and so I thought I would share a really easy recipe for gluten free scones. It is the perfect weather for scone with jam and clotted cream!

 

This is a good first recipe if you are new to baking gluten free. I find Doves farm gluten free self raising flour works well.

 

Recipe

250g gluten free self raising flour

2 tsp gluten free baking powder

1 tsp optional of Isabel’s GF baking fix (binds, improves texture and extends shelf life )

80g unsalted butter or dairy free alternative (cubed)

90ml milk or dairy free alternative

1 large egg

extra flour for dusting surface

Method –

heat oven to a hot 220c fan

 

In a clean bowl add your dry ingredients flour, baking powder (and baking fix if used)

Add cold unsalted butter in cubes

Rub butter into dry ingredients with your finger tips until they resemble crumbs

 

Add the beaten egg and milk

stir with a knife until all is mixed together and it comes together

The mixture will be quite wet

 

flour surface and carefully put dough on your floured surface

flatten gently with your hand, no need for a rolling pin

 

using a cutter or drinking glass cut out 6 or 7 scones and place on a prepared tray with greaseproof paper.

if desired use egg wash to make the scones go a golden brown

 

pop in the hot oven for 10 mins

cool on a wire rack

 

serve with clotted cream and jam

 

I don’t add sugar to my scone recipe and to avoid too much sugar you could use a low sugar jam or make your own by simply slowly cooking down your choice of berries, no need for added sugar

Enjoy!

 

Happy Baking

 

Grain free crackers

I was in search of a simple grain free cracker to have with cheese that I could make easily and would store well. Shop bought gluten free crackers often contain yeast or onion powder so no good for me. There are lots of grain free recipes online and also in my many grain free recipe books I have in my kitchen , I tested a few variations out and this combination worked well. These little square crackers are tasty and are a good accompaniment to cheese .

These crackers are egg free, yeast free and dairy free too.

 

Recipe- 

200g  of ground almonds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

pinch of  salt

1 tbsp ground flax seed and 3 tbsp water mixed together and left for a few minutes

1 tbsp olive oil

( you could try using other spices or seeds )

 

Method-

pre heat oven 170c

mix the ground flax seed and water together and put to one side

mix the salt, ground almonds and all the seeds together

 

add the olive oil and the flax seed mixture

 

stir to form a dough

bring together with your hands

place a piece of grease proof paper on your work surface

divide the dough in to two halves

put one half of the dough onto the paper and put a second piece of grease proof on the top

roll out with a rolling pin, not too thin

remove the top piece of grease proof

using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into squares but leave as one piece

 

put the grease proof paper complete with the crackers on to a baking sheet

repeat with the second piece of dough

pop the two trays in to a pre heated oven 170c

bake for 15 mins

they will start to turn golden brown on the edges

 

cool for 15mins, the crackers will be ready to separate

store in an air tight container

Enjoy with cheese, butter or your favourite topping

 

 

 

 

 

Free From Christmas festival

Yesterday Sunday 14th December was the very first Free From Festival in London. Organised by Freefromfestival The venue was BL_NK in Old street, East London and had an entrance fee of £5 which could be purchased online or at the door. It was a cash only event with live music and stalls open from 10.30 until 5.30pm Offering all kinds of free from products, dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, wheat free etc

My gluten free purchases.

 

 

Bread from Romeo’s Bakery.

 

I bought my tickets in advance and then also won a couple more just a few days before the event. When I realised where in London it was I nearly decided not to go, its quite a trip from Dorking Surrey! But my husband kindly offered to drive me as he was also keen to come along.

We arrived in east London at 11.30am on the most beautiful sunny day, extremely cold and blustery but a lovely day for a drive through the centre of London and over Tower bridge. I took in all the sights as if I was on a sight seeing tour bus.

Parking proved to be very easy, we found a free parking space in an adjacent road. BL_NK was quite easy to spot on Old street but there were no Free From Festival signage. There was though a welcomer who was on the door to make sure you didn’t miss the venue. It would be good to see a large banner next year. I’m sure more people would have come in, if it had been more clear what was going outside.

Outside were 3 stalls, I felt for them because it was bitterly cold. A stall selling the most delicious looking buckwheat pancakes with delicious savoury and sweet fillings available.

 

A wine stall called L’ATYPIQUE

 

Selling natural wines @LATYPIQUEWINES

and a Polenta stall selling hot sliced polenta La Polenteria  I didn’t explore the stall which I regret .

 

 

The extreme cold and wind drove us inside quickly. After checking out the website today, I wish I had tried some. Maybe next year!

Inside in the warm were some interesting looking stalls. It was as I had expected, relatively small. But this was the first year and I’m sure by next year year there will be more stalls eager to be part of this exciting event so near to Christmas. A perfect opportunity to show off your Christmas products etc.

Freego  a gluten free online shop offering ‘the worlds best gluten free’ They search out the best gluten free products to offer on the site. At the festival there were mince pies, christmas puddings, bread mixes and posh chocolates that were also dairy free. There were samples of things to try including the mince pies which were very good. This is a site I haven’t used yet, but after chatting yesterday I certainly will go online and have a look.

 

 

Romeo’s gluten free bakery The bread looked absolutely delicious there was an array of sizes and types of bread including onion, seeded, foccacia etc. I bought two small loaves for the family. Unfortunately I am also yeast intolerant so I couldn’t try the bread but my son and husband said it was some of the nicest gluten free bread they had tried. We wish we had bought far more to put in the freezer.

 

Mini Magoos is allergy free award winning cereals . We bought some granola to try which looked very nice. The main ingredient appears to be toasted coconut flakes with blue agave nectar, almonds etc

 

 

Conscious Organic raw chocolate had five new flavours to try and buy. with an offer if you bought 4 bars , So I did!

All chocolate is gluten free dairy and refined sugar free. some are sweetened with rice syrup some with agave nectar .

 

Elvira’s secret pantry was an artisan italian bakery gluten free, dairy free and yeast free. Also some cakes were made using birch sugar ( xylitol ) I chose a selection of 3 mini cakes in a beautiful box . The pumpkin and chocolate cake I found quite dry and crumbly, I preferred the carrot and pistachio cake which was a little more moist . Elvira also sold quiches etc and other savoury products which looked very nice. All products were well displayed and presented.  The cakes contain lots of veggies, nuts etc . You can find Elvira at Crystal palace food market.

 

 

Pistachio and carrot cake

 

Foodamentalists I have been following this company for a while now on Twitter but not managed to meet the man behind this exciting company so it was good to meet Steven and have a chat about the company and plans for the future. The company is 100 % gluten free . The stall was packed with delicious looking products from sweet christmas treats like mince pies and Christmas cakes, savoury pies and delicious looking pork pies. A selection of foodamentalists mixes to were for sale. Worth coming to the festival for this stall alone! We chose lots of goodies to take home for the freezer and Christmas goodies to eat over the next couple of weeks. Including a very lovely looking Christmas cake.

 

 

Love bites A raw organic vegan stall, selling fresh salads, juices and chocolate tart. Can you guess what I chose!

 

Antillia delights a stall selling a selection of well labeled wheat free, gluten free and dairy free bakes. My worry here was that the wheat free products were made using organic Spelt flour . I queried this at the time and checked again on twitter today. My understanding is that spelt flour is still considered a type of wheat ! I was also then concerned about the gluten free cakes being made in the same location. I was given a helpful reply on twitter from @antilliadelight ” GF items are prepared apart from WF items and as GF is a very serious concern extra caution is taken to prevent cross contamination”

I didn’t feel confident at the time to buy anything from this stall although everything looked very good and well displayed.

LiveSmart 360 chocolate with a purpose…. this was a stall selling chocolate with extra health benefits. This was very expensive. not really sure about this.

As with most gluten free and free from products all the stalls were quite pricey with the exception of Foodamentalists who were good value for money.

Would I visit again next year? Yes,  I think I would make the trip if I knew there were a few more stalls confirmed . I would be particularly be interested in a grain free low sugar stall. Possibly a bigger venue might be needed too.

 

 

We queued outside for one of the buckwheat wraps. Mine had egg, cheese and spinach. Really delicious and thrilling to be able to eat out from a stall, with so many intolerances this Never happens.

We took them back inside and listened to more live music. They were really delicious and perfect on a freezing day.

Follow Free from festival Twitter here > freefromfestival

Facebook > freefromfestival

Here’s hoping for an even bigger and better event next year

 

 

 

 

 

Nominated for Free From Blogger 2014

I’m thrilled to have been nominated for Best Free From Blogger 2014. I have been shortlisted with 7 other bloggers.

 

If you like what you read and enjoy the free from recipes and reviews. Please vote before the end of today  31st October . Many thanks to you all for your continued support.

There are also lots of great gluten free and free from products, restaurants etc to vote for. Do please have a look!

Helen

Fabulously Free From

 

click below

foodsyoucan.com Free From #FFPeopleschoiceAwards 2014

A Big Thank you to everyone who voted for me, I’m thrilled to say that I came 2nd.

Here is a list of all the Winners and runners up for 2014

Free from awards Peoples choice awards

 

Review of Delicious Alchemy rice flake porridge

Delicious Alchemy sent me their porridge alternative to try, just rice flakes, no oats in this porridge ! Completely gluten free and dairy free.

I have to say I was not sure about this idea, but on the other hand I do miss a bowl of porridge in the winter.

So I decided to give it a go.

The packaging is very smart and definitely draws you in,

It may just be that I’m getting old, but I struggled to read the tiny instructions on the packet. Tiny white writing on a blue background did not make it easy.

The porridge was easy to make I chose to make in a saucepan but it can easily be made in the microwave.

In just a few minutes it was a lovely porridge like consistency . I decided to taste it plain first, now this rice porridge does not contain sugar in any form. Due to this obviously the rice porridge is not overly pleasant on its own. But adding plenty of cinnamon and a touch of maple syrup it transformed into a delicious breakfast. I actually added only the tiniest amount to sweeten. Honey would have worked well too. Berries would be a nice topping too.

I have to say I was very surprised I really liked it and would definitely buy it, especially in the winter, I think it would be good on camping trips to, as easy to make and very substantial and filling.

I made mine using un sweetened almond milk but could be made with any milk substitute or made with cows milk too.

You could also have this as a quick and easy pudding.

This packet is 450g and on the natures health box website £3.49

real comfort food!

Website here

 

Grain free Cheese scones

Inspired by finding a recipe from an Aussie with Crohns  for grain free #SCD English scones I thought I would have a go at making a grain free traditional english cheese scone. Check out more Specific carbohydrate diet recipes on scdelish.com

Click here for An Aussie with Crohns Blog #SCD #Paleo

I’m very pleased to say they turned out well and tasted great ,

Here is the recipe

Grain free Cheese scones

makes 6

1 1/2 cups Almond flour

1/8 cup coconut flour

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 cup butter or coconut oil

1 heaped cup of a good strong cheese

1/4 cup Almond milk

1 large egg

good pinch of salt

(optional extra for herby scones 2 tsp mixed herbs or herbes de provence )

Method

Pre heat oven 180c

Put ground almonds, coconut flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl

add butter or coconut oil and rub into the flour

add grated cheese and salt

beat egg

add egg and almond milk

mix together

the mixture is quite wet

handle carefully

dust surface with almond flour ( ground almonds )

flatten slightly with your hand

cut out 6 cheese scones

put on a lined baking sheet

bake in pre heated oven 180c for 15 mins

cool on a wire rack

add butter and enjoy!

Happy Baking

 

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