Silly Yak gluten free pastry part 2

We never normally have gluten free pies for dinner, but as I had a second box of Silly Yak ready to roll gluten free pastry I thought I would make a chicken pie. The nice thing about this pastry is the end result is rather like a rough puff pastry so it lends itself to lots of different bakes both savoury and sweet. Although not made with butter ( personally I think this is a great shame ) but made with margarine a far less healthy choice, it does have a good ‘ buttery’ taste.

I used the pastry straight from the fridge while it was still nice and cold and rolled out and cut a circle for the topping to my chicken pie. My filling consisted of chicken breasts diced, courgette finely chopped, finely sliced rashers of streaky bacon and plenty of double cream and seasoning including some thyme.  I cooked this in a frying pan before putting in the oven proof dish. I have to avoid usual filling ingredients like mushrooms onions and garlic as I am intolerant to them. I find the pie still tastes delicious.

 

I struggled to find a dish small enough for two people as all my bakeware is for 4/6 or more. Now the family have all moved out I need to buy myself a pie dish for two!

The pie was popped into a hot pre heated oven for 25mins. It was a huge success with Mr S , and I’m sure I will use the pastry again to make a big family pie when everyone is back home for a meal.

With the remaining pastry I cooked down some apples and cut 4 squares from the remaining pastry and made apple turnovers. I brushed beaten egg on the outside and sprinkled a little sugar on top.

Again these were far more successful than I expected, delicious cold or warm

 

The pastry was sent to me by Silly Yak to test out and I feel that I gave it a fair try with both savoury and sweet bakes. If you are looking for an easy gluten free pastry that you can rely on this is your product. My only disappointment as I’ve said before is that it is not as yet made with butter. So Silly Yak if you read this review please consider maybe making a second product for us butter lovers. I’m sure it would be very popular.

If you try this ready to roll pastry and enjoy this product why not mention it to your local stores like Waitrose, Sainsburys, Ocado and Morrisons. It would be great to have more suppliers and make it more available.

 

Today I heated up some of the sausage rolls I made yesterday and they were delicious .

Silly yak

follow on twitter @SillyYakfoods

Facebook SillyYakFoods

The Silly Yak pastry is crossed grain symbol certified

 

Silly Yak ready to roll gluten free pastry review

Today I decided to put Silly Yak pastry to the test.

I started with a favourite, something I haven’t made for a while ,sausage rolls. The chilled pastry proved easy to use. I gave the surface a dusting of gluten free flour and unpacked the silly yak ready to roll pastry. I decided to use cling film on the pastry to stop it sticking

The pastry rolled out easily, I then used some delicious Black Farmer sausages for the filling. I just opened up one end of the sausage and squeezed out the sausage meat on to the pastry.

I sealed the pastry together with water and cut to size, Then I brushed the sausage rolls with beaten egg and popped in a pre heated hot oven 200c for 25mins.

I was pleased with the results. The appearance was good and the taste delicious.

The pastry was perfect.

With the remainder of the ready to roll pastry I decided to make a Tarte Tatin something I’ve only made once before. I used a Mary Berry recipe replacing refined sugar with coconut sugar and was very pleased with the result.

Firstly I made the sticky sauce the added the sliced apple and finally the pastry top.

Once again the Tarte Tatin went in the hot oven for 25mins

Again perfect pastry, with very little effort on my part and perfect dessert.

Once turned over you could see the fabulous sticky sauce and the perfectly cooked apples. Will now add this to my list of puddings.

The only disappointment for me is that the pastry is not made using butter. I assume to make the pastry vegetarian, margarine is used. This is something I hate. really not a healthy choice. Maybe Silly Yak would consider making an all butter version too? I know I and many others would be keen to buy it. Sadly I am not likely to buy this version again even though it has made fantastic pastry.

The pastry is available from Tesco stores here is the list  > Tesco stockists or Tesco online £1.75 for 400g

find it in the chilled section

I would be interested to know your thoughts too, as I’m sure would Silly Yak

Follow them on Facebook Silly yak and on Twitter @sillyyakfoods

or leave a message below

I’m off to make a gluten free Chicken pie and apple turnovers using more of the Silly Yak pastry, second post to follow

Happy baking!

click here for Silly yak review part 2 

A Free From Special on Bake Off tonight

Tonight on The Great British Bake Off the contestants will be asked to make a cake using an alternative to refined sugar . One contestant is making a pineapple upside down cake and another a carrot cake.

click here > Alternative ingredients 

The technical challenge is Paul’s gluten free pitta breads. It will be interesting to see how they get on with this tricky recipe. They are something I have not tried. Mainly due to the fact I can’t have yeast.

The Show stopper tonight is dairy free ice cream surrounded by jam and a light sponge.

I decided to make a Pineapple upside down cake that is not only gluten free but grain free and refined sugar free and dairy free too.

Pineapple Upside Down cake  grain free and dairy free

 

 

100g coconut oil or unsalted butter

70g coconut sugar or maple syrup

4 large eggs

1/2 cup Almond milk or regular full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g ground almonds

70g coconut flour

1 tsp gluten free baking powder

pinch salt

fresh pineapple

fresh cherries

Method

Pre heat oven 170c fan

prepare a loose bottomed cake tin

line with baking paper and fill the base with slices of pineapple,fresh sliced cherries a little coconut oil and a drizzle of maple syrup

melt the coconut oil and mix with the coconut sugar or maple syrup

 

add the 4 beaten eggs

in a second bowl mix together all the dry ingredients

Add the dry ingredients into the wet

mix well

add the vanilla extract and the almond milk

and mix well together

spoon on top of the pineapple pieces

 

 

bake in a hot oven 170c for 45 mins

cool on a wire tray in the cake tin

 

 

 

Here is a recipe for a gluten free Pineapple Upside Down cake

click here

They were a real success !

Lets hope tonights episode is really good and inspires those who need to use alternative ingredients due to choice or intolerances or allergies to bake at home.

Fabulously Free From at The Big Feastival

Last weekend was a foodie and music lovers perfect Festival, The Big Feastival.

Set in the gorgeous countryside of the Cotswolds at Alex James’s farm. Presented by Jamie Oliver and Blur’s Alex James with an amazing line up of chefs, cooks and musicians. Featuring the best street food and restaurant stalls as well as cooking classes and demos.

I was attracted to the Big Feastival this year due to the addition of a Healthy Living Zone , added to highlight all the latest thinking on eating well and healthy. There was to be gluten free , grain free, paleo , raw stalls and demos with healthy eating pioneers including Hemsley and Hemsley and Deliciously Ella . I was thrilled to be accredited with a media pass and was determined to Max out my weekend finding out as much as I could for myself and my followers on twitter and Fabulously Free From.

 

Our trip to Kingham in the Cotswolds on friday did not entirely go to plan. Our renovation project a Bambi Airstream was not as far advanced as we had thought so we spent an unexpected 5 hours waiting for it to be campsite ready! Once on the road we made good progress and arrived at Merry Weather campsite close to the Festival site , plenty of time to prepare for the two days ahead.

Unfortunately due to the teething troubles with Betty the Airstream we missed out on friday afternoon and evening at the festival . I was desperately disappointed to have missed out on seeing at the Big Kitchen Monica Galleti, Nathan Outlaw and Richard Burr of bake off fame.

 

Saturday brought sunshine and light cloud desperate not to miss a thing we were up and out quickly after  homemade grain free fruit bread and a full english ready to take on the day. Only 14 mins from the Festival site we arrived just as gates were opening . There was no massive queues and parking was easy. We checked in and I quickly purchased an itinerary in the form of a programme on a lanyard.  I knew today was going to be quite a challenge to get around everyone I wanted to see.

My main area was to be around the Healthy Living Zone and Big Kitchen thankfully the quietest part of the vast festival.

 

 

 

Firstly I made my way to the Oatly Kitchen counter to hear Anna Jones.

Here was to be the place I would be able to get up close to health food pioneers and chefs during the Feastival. Just a few tables and chairs set out in a rectangle covered by an open sided marquee with bright coloured deck chairs around the edge and a couple of bench seats. Very cosy and never overly busy.

Anna talked about her passion for healthy vegetarian food and about helping Jamie Oliver to write some of his books and how she had now written her own vegetarian recipe book.

Following Anna was Ella Woodward better known as Delicious Ella. Ella talked about managing her illness by changing her diet dramatically to healthy eating including cutting gluten and refined sugar and vegetable oil.

Admitted to being a sugar addict and advised using maple syrup etc with control and to find a balance. Ella’s top tip was to buy nuts and flour in bulk online. Deliciously Ella also talked about using coconut oil and olive oil in her cooking and baking and eating lots of good healthy fat especially her favourite avocados . I found her to be very honest and realistic . She summed up by saying she wanted to get vegetables in the centre of the plate.

Following Ella I dashed over to the Big Kitchen a partly covered large stage with simple seating and extra tv screens to go and see Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley of Hemsley and Hemsley demonstrating a lime and avocado cheesecake and other healthy meals.

The ladies talked lots about healthy fats including butter and coconut oil. They talked of their love of cabbage and bone broths. The Hemsley’s also encouraged the use of natural sugars instead of refined sugar but only in low quantities.

Raw vegan blonde was next on the Oatly kichen counter art with fresh fruit and veg.

I arrived at the end of this demonstration ready for Hemsley and Hemsley

This really was a brilliant opportunity to see them and ask questions and hear more about their philosophy . In the slow cooker they had beef bone broth bubbling away and also the famous spiraliser for anyone to come and have a go with. They spoke about their book the Art of Living well, which I can recommend.

The spiraliser was popular with the gathered crowd and a huge plate of courgetti in a pesto sauce was passed around the table to try. I had seen Jasmine and Melissa only a few weeks before in the literature tent at Latitude festival. But I have to say this was far better and easier for the ladies to demo properly.

There was time for a Q&A and in such a small group worked really well. Their passion for not wasting food and using every part of the animal was good to hear. They talked of their love of saturated fat including dripping and butter, I was thrilled. Gelatine from chicken feet and bones also got a mention as well as encouraging everyone to watch the new Sugar film called That Sugar film! Probably my favourite Health pioneers at the Feastival.

Around the healthy living arena area was plenty of food to tuck into including Raw Press from London serving cold pressed juice and almond milk. I had the chocolate raw pressed almond milk which was very refreshing

As I have so many additional intolerances as well as being intolerant to gluten I bulk baked before the festival and froze it all for our trip. Lunches and dinners for me were gluten free dough balls, grain free quiche lorraine , salad, cheese and fruit and water. If you were just gluten free there was many stalls offering gluten free options including raw press. there was also lots to sample from stalls like UGG Foods offering grain free bread and muffins to try and mix’s to buy

UGG Foods stall was very popular with grain free mixes and testers

Coconut merchant had coconut in almost every form from sugar and jam to oil

Dried Kale looked tasty, sadly ran out of time to go back and buy some.

The Primal Pantry were in the Healthy living zone offering tasters and their grain free bars for sale.

Deliciously Ella and Olivia Wollenburg were on the Big Kitchen stage demonstrating a chocolate orange brownie recipe a large crowd came to watch.

Later at the Oatly kichen counter I heard Olivia Wollenburg talk about her line of crumbles Livia’s crumble part of Livia’s Kitchen. unfortunately the crumbles are not gluten free,  I think she is missing a great opportunity but she told me that it was not cost effective as 100 % dedicated gluten free factories are more expensive.

 

 

On the Big Kitchen at 5.30 pm was Gennaro Contaldo this was a fun cooking demonstration followed by Jamie Oliver at 6.30pm as you can see I hadn’t left the Healthy Living Zone all day as there was so much to do. All this time there was music on three stages the Main stage, Udder stage and the Bandstand. Also BBQ demonstrations and even yoga

As you would expect Jamie’s Big Kitchen demo was the most entertaining he also had a guest all the way from Brazil cooking steak on a BBQ on stage.

It was difficult to get close as the crowds by now had grown enourmosly.

Earlier on the Main Stage had been Iris Gold, Johnny Borrell and Zazou , The Beach , Hudson Taylor and Grandmaster Flash

On the main stage that evening was Ella Eyre, Example and DJ Wire and the headliner was Dizzee Rascal

Sunday brought a damp start but once again knowing that some of the speakers started early we were quickly on our way after a cooked breakfast with plenty of eggs and bacon to keep us going.

Natasha Corrett was first on the Big Kitchen stage demonstrating here recipe for a grain free quiche using cauliflower in the base. She urged everyone to keep your way of eating healthily sustainable. In her opinion 70% healthy 30% normal eating So as not to make the task to great to stick to.

Natasha massaged kale with lemon juice to make it easier to eat in its raw form. She also used this in her quiche.

Next on was Joe Wicks The Body Coach I have to admit not knowing the name at all but he had a huge following mainly amongst the ladies.

A star of the internet due to his 15 minute meals and new book called Lean in 15 . Joe chose to make a Thai green curry which looked good and then a turkey burger using lean turkey mince and a white processed burger roll, really not sure that was the best choice! He did though encourage the use of coconut oil and rubbished the old school pyramid way of eating.

Emily Watkins was up next on the Big Kitchen Stage as the ran poured outside we stayed huddled under the stage over hang . Emily is a local chef who ‘s pub The Kingham plough is ranked in the Times top 25 pubs for food and two AA rosettes .  She made a delicious looking trifle

I had to leave Emily’s demo before the end to head back up to the Oatly kitchen counter for Adam Henson from the Cotswold farm park and Countryfile presenter final chat followed by

 

Natasha Corrett Honestly Healthy a self  trained cook who encouraged the gathered crowd to avoid meat, dairy and sugar and to cut out processed food. She was asked during the Q&A what she couldn’t live without  food wise Nashasha answer was Lemons and avocados . The weather by now was not too nice and we were all tightly packed under the open sided marquee.

I was very excited about the next speaker the very lovely and talented Raymond Blanc

It was amazing to be so close and hear him talk with such passion about good local healthy food and the quality of british chefs, he teaches many of them! We heard all about his recent series on TV Kew on a plate and about seasonal fruit and vegetables and seasonality. He is also passionate about the environment and was very animated when speaking it was quite hard to take a photograph as he never sat still.

Raymond was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me.

Jamie Oliver was once again on the main stage but due to the sheer number of people watching we decided to take the opportunity to look around more of the festival.

The choice of food stalls was amazing, even for those who avoid gluten there was a good choice

Some delicious pork belly cook on the BBQ

corn on the cob

Duck and seafood

and sausages

Here is a list of the gluten free stalls from my earlier blog post

There were also gluten free treats including

Ice lollies

and cakes

I preferred the healthy Paleo bars from Primal Joy Foods

especially the grain free chocolate brownie

lots to try and buy!

We sheltered under our umbrella to listen to Rae Morris who sounded amazing

and then the weather started to improve

We watched Mabel Rogers on the Bandstand 

and enjoyed a Rocktail

After all the speakers it was time to relax!

This festival is very family friendly with the best choice of food I have every seen at a festival. No wonder its called Feastival

It felt very much like an old fashioned English fair with fairground rides and independent local food stands Bales of hay to sit on

and a helter skelter, bunting, fairy lights and balloons. Plus an enourmous live music stage with some big names over three days.

There was so much to do I barely scratched the surface. I really focused on the Healthy Living Zone which I loved . The Feeling with Sophie Elis Bextor followed by Paloma Faith brought the Big Feastival to a grand finish. Even the earlier rain couldn’t dampen the festival goers spirits

I’m sure we will be back next year for more tasty food, great music and interesting talks and demonstrations. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Follow The Big Feastival on Twitter @thebigfeastival

The website is TheBigFeastival.com

 

Early bird tickets now available for next year Friday 26th – Sunday 28th August 2016

Update –

Tickets now available for Feastival 2016

2016 LINE UP SO FAR

 

The new Healthy Living Zone and much much more at The Big Feastival

In less than two weeks it will be The Big Feastival presented by Jamie Oliver and Alex James.

A Food and Music Festival at Alex James farm in Kingham in The Cotswolds for all the family. A festival that not only celebrates the best in live music but also the best in delicious food. From some of the most tasty and creative street food vendors in the country to top chefs and health food pioneers.

This year there will be a brand new Healthy Living Zone which has been added to the Feastival . Due to the rise in interest of eating healthily using fresh local ingredients and avoiding processed food. The line up highlights the up and coming health food pioneers at The Oatly Kitchen counter including  Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, of Hemsley + Hemsley ,

Jasmine and Melissa will be at the Feastival on Saturday

Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella

Ella will be at the feastival on Saturday doing a talk at 12, a demo at 2.30pm and a book signing at 3pm

and Natasha Corrett of Honestly Healthy

Natasha will be there on Sunday on the Big Kitchen main stage at 10.30am for a demo and at 12.30 will be doing a talk with a 1.30pm book signing.

Olivia Wollenburg of Livia’s Kitchen

Olivia will be doing a demo in the Big Kitchen at 2.30pm on Saturday and a Kitchen counter session at 4pm talking about how she started her business. There will be chance to sample crumble too!

These timings may change, Please check your programme for up to date times

This year looks like The Big Feastival is going to be the place to be to get inspired to eat healthily and look at ways to cut down on the amount of grains and sugar from our diet.

Also in the Healthy Living Zone will be rising stars in the Paleo market My very favourite UGG Foods will be there

as well as Primal joy foods

and Primal Pantry.

 

All of which I have reviewed in the past on my blog. I will put a link to these at the end of this post.

Also Lickalix  natural ice lollies using real whole fruit which are free from lactose, dairy and gluten. You can find Lickalix in the food and drink producers market

Also on stand HH07 you will find the lovely Gluten free Baking and living who will be amongst other things launching a new gluten free plain flour. You will also be able to learn about their baking courses and they will be sharing gluten free recipes.

Coconut merchant who as the name suggests will have an array of coconut products including raw extra virgin coconut oil and coconut water.

The Health Hub will be serving festival fare with everything from freshly pressed juices to raw salads and air dried kale chips.

The action station will be hoping to re energise festival goers offering a full programme of activities including yoga and even clubbercise!

In the big kitchen will be top chefs  Jamie Oliver, Gennaro Contaldo,  Monika Galetti, Mark Hix,  Raymond Blanc to name just a few. With Demo’s running on all three days of the feastival

 

Street food alley will have the best of the street food scene

Here are a few stalls that advertise that they offer gluten free,

Big Apple Hot Dogs – advertise gluten free sausages

Crepe Lucette – offer gluten free crepes, they told me “we use separate equipment and cleaning products for our gluten free options.”

Happy Maki – they should have have gluten free vegan Sushi

Popdogs–  these hot dogs are gluten free and can be served with a gluten free buns. Normally served with a gluten roll ?

The Duck truck – says it has gluten free options  ( they say you can take your own gluten free roll which they will fill )

Beach food company– say they have plenty of fresh crab and lobster and gluten free fries, they say they do their best to avoid contamination

With all of these Food Stalls you will need to make up your own mind as to whether you will give them a try , If you have Coeliac disease please take extra care. I always pack a gluten free healthy picnic to take with me just in case. A festival is not somewhere you want to find yourself if you are glutened.

 

Churros – are Dairy free ( But Not gluten free )

 

As well as the big names in cooking there will also be three days of live music and DJ’s including Groove Armada, Dizzee Rascal, Example and DJ Wire, Ella Eyre, Paloma Faith, Rae Morris and Badly Drawn Boy and The Feeling.

and more music from Iris Gold, JP Cooper, Booka Brass band, The Beach, Hudson Taylor, Vangoffey etc

If you follow me on Twitter @nels3 Gluten free Helen you will know I love live music and going to festivals. This festival looks to have a great selection of well known and new music acts preforming over the three days. I also love the camping side of festivals although when I say ‘camping’ I guess I really mean staying in a camper van or caravan. More than anything this offers me somewhere to store chilled food for the time I’m away from home . With some many food intolerances and being gluten free I normally have little or no options at Festivals. This Feastival I hope will be very different. I hope to blog about my experience to hopefully encourage more Free Fromers to give it a go next year.

Latitude 2015

 

When I heard about the new Healthy Living Zone at The Big Feastival I was really excited, great music and healthy food together. What could be better ? The added bonus of stunning sunny weather would be a great addition too.

I was thrilled to have been accredited to have a Press Pass for this years  Big Feastival I hope this will give me as a blogger for Fabulously Free From access to many of the health food pioneers etc and report back to you all about all things healthy eating and review the new Healthy Living Zone. Maybe you will be inspired to go along next year?

 

Maybe I will see you there! Do let me know if you are coming along

Some Day tickets are still available for Friday . Camping tickets and Weekend tickets are now sold out 

Review of Primal Joy Foods > click here

Review of UGG Foods > click here 

Review of Hemsley+Hemsley > click here

Review of Primal Kitchen > click here

 

Follow on Twitter @thebigfeastival

Follow on Facebook Thebigfeastival

The Big Feastival will be raising money for the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation

Video of highlights from last year

Eating healthily at Latitude festival

Freshly back from a long weekend a Latitude Festival near Southwold Suffolk and unlike most festival goers  I’m feeling healthy and am not nursing a hangover! Latitude is the most laid back family friendly music and arts festival. A weekend spent chilling in the woods to bands and an array of different musicians, sunbathing at the Obelisk arena or dancing to the latest bands at the 6 music big top, listening to poetry and crying with laughter in the comedy tent plus much much more.

 

With numerous food intolerances, festivals aren’t the easiest of venues for me. But I think its worth the effort to plan ahead and go and have a relaxing and worry free time. We normally stay at the venue either hiring a family size camper or squeezing into a VW camper van but this year due to a last minute hitch we stayed quite close by in Ipswich with friends who kindly came to our aid.

Having Coeliac disease and Crohns disease with numerous food intolerances including onion and garlic means I have to organise my weekend with military precision. The week before the event I start baking a freezing. This year grain free fruit and cherry bread,  gluten free cheese scones, and a grain free bacon and vegetable quiche with extra cheese. I also get an order delivered from Ocado with things I can’t buy locally.

 

 

This year I took two large cool bags full of ice packs one containing eggs, salad, tomatoes, spinach, fruit and the freshly made quiche. The other containing the frozen fruity bread and frozen cheese scones, unsweetend almond milk, bacon, butter and gluten free cold meats, this year it was corned beef and ham from Waitrose.

Each day I would take a small cool bag with mini ice packs that fits inside my ruck sack and a container for almond milk. If you are staying on site with a fridge with freezer compartment you can refreeze these every night. This year I was able to use our friends freezer and fridge. They kindly cleared a shelf for my food.

I can honestly say during our 3 days at the festival I was never hungry. I was however often envious and a little sad to not be able to partake in some of the delicious festival food on site, Im only human! Due to my IBD and wanting to avoid sugar, I am careful not to over do it with alcohol so over the entire weekend I had a couple of gin and tonics. If I could have found the Pimms i’m sure I would have given in to a glass.

Some good news if you are gluten intolerant, or prefer not to eat gluten is that there are plenty of stalls advertising gluten free. From amazing beef brisket and rice to paella with chicken and seafood and chicken provencale. These choices seemed free from any gluten on the stall so probably fine for Coeliacs.

I even spotted gluten free pizza ( baked onsite with gluten containing pizza ) , chips with toppings and indian cuisine. Unfortunately all these had contamination risk and with all the above contained food stuffs that I am intolerant too.

One example of having to stay vigilant is that one afternoon I went an ordered a tea from a waffle stand ( very few stalls were solely tea and coffee stands. The guy serving me was covered in flour, up his hand and arms and all over his apron. I watched as he put his gluten floury hand inside my cup and picked up a tea bag. This was one of those occasions when you just have to be bold! I explained politely that I was a coeliac and that I was intolerant to gluten, I might of even used ‘Allergic’ I cant remember , just to get my point across and asked if it was possible for someone else to serve me. They were really understanding and quickly someone else took over with a new clean cup. It caused a little conversation with my fellow customers but that is always a good way of raising awareness.

Every day I took in a slice of quiche with a green salad, a cheese scone, individual wrapped cheese cubes, fruit and the homemade fruity bread and a treat nak’d bar or gluten free biscuit. Along with the almond milk for tea and plenty of water I was well away.

It is worth mentioning drinks at festivals. Reuseable cups are used and beer and larger is the drink of choice for most. Gluten is obviously an issue here both in the drink and in a poorly washed up cup.

There was gin and tonic on offer cider and pimms , I was able to have a couple of cheeky G & T’s . The spirits were served in a smaller reusable festival cup. Water taps are available for refilling your bottles.

The variety of music, comedy, theatre etc is incredible and you can never get around everything. My highlights were Chilli Gonzalez and the kaiser quartet , Badly Drawn Boy, Soak, Songhoy blues, Naomi Shelton and the gospel queens ,Years and Years, Catfish and the bottlemen, José Gonzalez and Lianne La Havas. I Missed out on seeing Leon Bridges as he clashed with other bands and we couldn’t get in to Stornoway’s set but listened outside.

 

Comedy standouts were Alan Davies, Jason Manford and Shappi Khorsandi

Gareth Malone brought together festival goers to create a choir that sang on the sunday lunch time spot at the Obelisk ( main open arena )

Thanks to @dansmythphoto Withay.co.uk  for some great music recommendations

Sunday saw a visit from Hemsley and Hemsley to the Literature tent. I was fortunate to arrive early and picked a great spot up the front. Jasmine and Melissa talked about their food philosophy and their book and I was in total agreement with what they said. Lots of up to date information on good fat, the importance of bone broth and avoiding processed food, food high in sugar and avoiding grains etc. Generally enthusing the audience and inspiring us all to take a good look at what we were eating. Also how we could make favourite meals more healthy. It was good to hear Jasmine and Melissa talk about digestion and chewing and the ladies even talked about learning more about ‘what is a healthy poo’. and getting your digestion on track.

 

I can recommend the book they have written together with 150 recipes. I have made many of the recipes over the last few months already but feel even more inspired to continue making more. click here for website and book details Hemsley Hemsley

You can catch Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley again this year at The Big Feastival  where they will be talking and demonstrating, along with Deliciously Ella and others passionate about healthy eating.

Maybe you will consider a Festival next year or go along to The Big Feastival especially the Healthy Living Zone 28th – 30th August 

Hoping to be at The Big Feastival myself, maybe see you there!

 

My review of The art of eating well by Hemsley Hemsley < click here

Pecan and date bread

Looking for a breakfast alternative from gluten free bagels and fruit bread that you can toast or eat as it is? Well I think this could be the answer. Not only gluten free but grain free too ! With a sweet flavour it makes for a delicious breakfast treat.

 

Free from yeast or refined sugar this bread is easy on the tummy and most importantly very yummy.

 

Pecan and date bread

130g ground almonds

30g flax seeds

1 tsp baking powder – gluten free

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

150g pitted dates

70g finely chopped pecans ( i used my food processor )

3 free range large eggs

50ml melted unsalted butter or 50ml of melted virgin coconut oil

100ml almond milk or regular cows milk

Method 

Pre heat oven 170c 35-40mins

grease 81/2 in x 4 1/2 in loaf tin

put the ground almonds, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and flax seeds into a bowl stir well together.

 

chop pecans in a food processor and add

 

Put the pitted dates in a food processor and cut until it forms a paste add a splash of hot water to help loosen the paste.

 

Add the date paste to the dry ingredients along with 3 beaten eggs , the melted fat and the milk.

 

Stir all ingredients together well

 

spoon into a greased loaf tin . I lined the bottom of the tin with greaseproof paper too.

 

and pop in a pre heated oven 170c

check after 35 mins

 

leave to cool before turning on to a wire rack

slice and serve on its on or with butter or nut butter . Good toasted in the morning with your favourite low sugar jam or marmalade. Homemade no sugar jam would be perfect. I like homemade blueberry jam. Cut thicker slices for toast for best results.

 

You could try using a different finely chopped nut like walnuts or add 50g of raisins

This bread freezes well, ready sliced or whole.

 

Happy Baking!

 

 

 

Gluten free at Big Church Day Out

On a sunny Saturday in May my sister and I packed up the car and took a drive down to Wiston house, a beautiful stately home in West Sussex for Big Church Day Out.

Big Church Day Out is a gathering of Christians from around the UK and Europe. Now in its 7th year BCDO has coined the phrase ‘A celebration of all that is good’

This was my first visit to BCDO and I would describe it as a music festival with Christian music from ever genre. An opportunity to hear the very best christian rock, folk, jazz , pop, classical, dance, soul, gospel reggae, singer song writers and worship bands from across the world. A number of big names from The States playing a big part in the weekend. click here for acts > BCDO ARTISTS

The festival is very much a family day with a fab marque area for Big Church Kids,and a soft play tent for the under 7’s. A Big Church fete on the stunning front lawn of Wiston house offered village fete fun.

 

The avenue was the place to find delicious food. I was very pleased to see gluten free, vegetarian and vegan clearly marked in the programme. These stalls were listed as offering gluten free options- Tasty Thai, Jumping bean burrito, Woodburn Racletterie , Goodness gracious, Healthy foods and Goan fish curry. There was also gluten free biscuits available in the tea tent. Next year I would really like to see a 100% gluten free food stall including some dairy free options.

 

 

I choose to pack a gluten free picnic for BCDO there was plenty of places to sit and enjoy your own food.

Make sure to take a big blanket to sit and listen to the varied music acts. With a choice of the Main stage, Illuminate stage and on ( what looked like ) the croquet lawn by the Tear fund tea tent  surrounded by the beautiful gardens of Wiston house.

There was plenty of places to find something to drink, coffee stalls and the tea tent along with a Pimm’s tent and an Ale tent. At the Tear fund Tea tent there was soya milk as a dairy alternative. I would love to see almond milk available next year. Plenty of water and juices available too.

 

I packed boiled eggs, sliced peppers, tomatoes and celery. homemade gluten free cheese scones and cold meats along with some gluten free crisps from Seabrooks and a large bar of Green & Blacks dark chocolate. The day was sunny and warm and a picnic was the perfect choice for my sister and I.

 

The highlights for me on Saturday were Martin Smith both his set at the Tear fund tent and on the main stage , The Abrams brothers and NeedtoBreathe.

 

I returned on Sunday and my highlights were Switchfoot and Rend Collective.

 

The site is not flat so be prepared for some walking. One particularly large hill leads up to the fete and the tea tent and church. Well worth the hike!

I must mention my fellow festival ‘Big Day Out’ goers, the friendliest happiest crowd I have ever had the pleasure of spending a weekend with. So much so, that on Sunday I went back the the festival on my own, not something I would do at any other festival. But I never felt alone, we danced and sang together and worshiped our Amazing God and it was fantastic!

 

Big thanks to Tim Jupp and team for a wonderful weekend

I will certainly be back next year!

 

Follow Big Church Day Out Twitter here > @bigchurchdayout

Website here >  bigchurchdayout.com

 

Facebook > Big Church Day Out

 

My top tip –  buy your tickets Early for the best price tickets. I paid £40 for an Adult weekend ticket. Super Early bird price was £36 for the entire weekend!

Watch  BCDO video 

Gluten free at Eric’s Fish and Chips on the North Norfolk coast

Last weekend we were up on the Norfolk coast and as always the sun was shining. This gave us the perfect excuse to go and try out a newly opened Fish and Chip restaurant and take away in Thornham next to the lovely Drove Orchards.

The restaurant is set next to the Drove orchards farm shop and fields of strawberry plants ready for the pick your own season and wild flowers, a gorgeous setting.

 

 

The restaurant and take away is a new venture from Head Chef Eric Snaith of Titchwell Manor just along the coast road at the pretty village of Titchwell . Eric had the idea to open a Fish and Chip restaurant, something that he felt was very much lacking from the North Norfolk coast and one that would  be a contrast from the fine dining and informal dining of the Hotel.

We decided to pop along for a very late lunch and received a very warm welcome from Manager Kayleigh Roe.  The restaurant itself has a contemporary retro feel with coloured tiles, retro light fittings and bright yellow tables.

 

The restaurant felt very clean and bright and had a very cool feel with great music adding to the atmosphere.

 

After studying the menu on a large retro style pin board I decided on the gluten free haddock and chips and my husband choose Cod and chips with mushy peas. I was very careful to explain that I had Coeliac disease and would require gluten free. Kayleigh was most helpful and reasurring and offered me either to have it cooked in beef dripping or rapeseed oil. She double checked with the Chef and the beef dripping was free from cross contamination so I choose that. I think if I have any comment is that I would prefer to see a dedicated fryer that was only ever used for gluten free products or chips. This would just help to avoid any cross contamination. This of course may already be the case. The gluten free batter is also yeast free.

 

 

The delicious fish and chips arrived to our table very promptly. My batter was much lighter in colour than my husbands gluten version ( I think mine looked the best ! )

I have to say the mushy peas looked delicious and I wish I had ordered a portion too. I’m sure the majority of people, take eating fish and chips out very much for granted but when you are intolerant to gluten it is a very different experience. Fortunately more and more Chippy’s are getting on board and offering a safe gluten free version for Coeliacs and those who are gluten intolerant.

 

Back to the amazing crispy light battered haddock! It was perfect, not overly greasy and in a beautifully crisp light batter with moist fresh haddock inside. The chips were also very good and plenty of them, I couldn’t finish all of mine. My husband enjoyed his cod, chips and mushy peas too and was even more thrilled that we had found another restaurant where I could eat at safely.

Fish and Chips costs £9.50 to eat in.

haddock & chips is £5.50 and cod and chips is £6.50 to takeaway

Both my sons and other halves have recently eaten at Eric’s Fish and chips and both ranked the meal very highly.

 

Eric’s Fish & Chips takeaway menu

It appears that I am not the only person that has enjoyed the gluten free Fish and Chips at Eric’s , here are just a couple of comments from the reviews online

“It was totes delicious, loved the gluten free batter”

“great gluten free fish and chips!!! will be back soon!”

 

I am thrilled to have this new restaurant so close to our home and cannot wait to visit again very soon.

Follow

@EricsFandC – Twitter

EricsFishandChips – Facebook

ericsfishandchips.com

find out more about  Drove orchard < here

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