Getting old?!

This September I reach the grand old age of 35! That's a proper grown up age isn't it?! Some may say still a whipper snapper but slowly, slowly I've realised I'm not as young as I used to be! Nothing gives it away as a good old "night out" in London! Please consider the evidence.....

Dale and I went out ("out out" to quote Micky Flannigan!) as an early celebration for his birthday this week. Dale's restaurant of choice...Meat Liquor http://www.meatliquor.com/london/ . Still chasing the dream of finding "The Best Burger in London" he dragged me to what can only be described as some "hole of a joint" behind Debenhams, Oxford Street (classy yeah?!). Ok, so with age I've become a bit of a snob....I make no apologies for it, I just embrace it! 

So, call me old fashioned but when I go out for a meal I like to have enough light to read the menu, hear the people I am trying to talk to and wipe my mouth with something a bit more exciting than a roll of kitchen roll plonked on the table! (Getting old yeah?!). However, if dark, noisey, slightly spit and saw dusty burger joints float your boat then Meat Liquor's got your name on it!

Here's what I had...

The burgers are gluten free and I could have taken my own GF bun if I wanted. The fries are GF and fried in their own fryer but they are frozen so that rules me out. If I was your regular Coeliac I'd have been laughing but because I have additional issues, this was all I could have! Massive thanks to my lovely waitress though who went back and forwards to the kitchen finding loads of stuff out for me and all with a smile on her face!

Dale on the other hand was thrilled with his burger, fries and onion rings!

Another sign I'm getting on a bit.......we were back home by 6.30 and I was eating scrambled eggs with my  PJs on cos I was still hungry! The sign of a good night out yeah?!

However, my food snobbery is not always correct! (At least I can admit when I'm wrong!!). Over the Easter hols Dale and I found ourselves out and about at lunchtime with nowhere GF friendly to eat.....that is apart from Pizza Hut! Pizza Hut?!? Hmmm I hadn't eaten in Pizza Hut since I was about 14 and I seem to remember it being a bit of a free for all! I'm more of a Pizza Express kinda gal! Or so I thought.....

Let me introduce the GF vegetable pizza (Coeliac UK approved no less!)

I cannot stress how wrong I was. This pizza was delicious and in my opinion I preferred the base to the Pizza Express pizza's! It was much softer and less crispy than some GF bases....the pizza cutter was not necessary! So I eat my words (along with the pizza!) and I'll be back!!

Normality returned as I hit the shops for some retail therapy! My shopping buddy and I headed to the Outlet Centre in Ashford Kent. Plenty of choices for GF lunch and snacking! Starbucks, Spud-U-Like, Pizza Express, Cafe Nero and I think I spotted the faithful Golden Arches of McD's! I was feeling much more at home having a "grown up" chat, coffee and GF coconut and raspberry slice in Cafe Nero! (Before getting in the car and cranking up the volume to Take That!!)

FYI there were no almonds in the ingredient list either which is a bit of a rarity in some of the coffee chains!

After my dismal baking efforts over Easter I relented and bought some "back up" Free From Hot Cross from Sainsburys. Good job I did cos I needed them.....ahhhh cup of camomile tea and a nice toasted hot cross bun...does it get any better?! (Those of you who are more observant will see I can't even toast a bun without burning it!! Oooops!)

Well, I may be ploughing towards the big 4-0 BUT everyone has to embrace their inner child right?! Cadbury's Creme Eggs are to Easter what Terry's Chocolate Orange is to Christmas! The main difference being creme eggs are GF and choc orange sadly isn't! To crank up their loveliness (and my calorie intake) this year they introduces these into the mix

Woweeeee! What a treat! Does anyone know if these joyful pots are going to be around all year? Surely a pot of joy should be for life and not just for Easter?! 

Well, I'm off to put my slippers on and my feet up, in a room with adequate lighting and background noise at a suitable volume! Have a great week everyone!! X. (@lizprice79)

If At Third You Don't Succeed......Give Up?

Clearly the Easter hols have got to me and I must just have too much time on my hands because suddenly this week I had an urge to channel my inner Gluten Free Domestic Goddess! I wrestled the mixing bowl and spatula out of Dale's hand and claimed the kitchen as mine! Be afraid.....be very afraid! Those who know anything about me will understand what a rarity this is! I am not a natural in the kitchen....yes I enjoy food and yes, yes, yes I luuuuurve eating it but the preparing of it has never really floated my GF boat! Until this week.....

Challenge number one...... Many of you will know I retured from Portugal craving the small custard tarts  that are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner in all good eateries. After finding a suitable recipe and Dale muttering something about "You'll never be able to do that"..... It was baking a go go!

I painstakingly made my first ever batch of GF puff pastry and my goodness what a labour of love that was but not bad for a first go eh?

I used Dove's Farm flour and xantham gum. Pastry - done. Custard- done. Tarts- DONE!

Oh, yes, I think it would be safe to say I was feeling a little smug. "Can't do it eh?!" Put that in your pipe Dale!!

Well, they say pride comes before a fall because I woke up the next morning to find they had gone mouldy!! One, yes, ONE tart was all I got to eat!!!!! Not impressed!

(It is worth mentioning here that the day after this cooking fail I finally found Genius Frozen Puff Pastry in Asda....I've been searching for it for weeks!! You gotta smile at the irony yeah?!)

Not completely disheartened I set about challenge number 2....... GF hot cross buns!

Last year, my first attempt became famous as being a little, erm, how do you say.....well done?! So I found another recipe from BBC Good Food http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/how_to_make_ice_cream_97157

I ditched the glaze because quite fankly I just couldn't be bothered heating and sieving apricot jam! Using the trusty Dove's Fam flour again here's what happened...

Hmmmmm well I'll let you make your own judgement! What I will say is that we now calling them hot cross rock cakes. It's a good job I finally found some Sainsburys Free From ones on the same day! It probably says a lot about my baking expectations that I didn't think twice about buying a pack for "back up"! Taste ok but definitely not light and bready as you would expect from a hot cross bun! 

So many say thrid time lucky don't they?! Feeling a little deflated but still with mild enthusiasm I decide to approach challenge number 3..... GF red velvet cupcakes for church on Easter morning.

I used this recipe http://toriejayne.com/recipe/gluten-free-red-velvet-cupcakes and again relied on Dove's Farm. The cupcakes came out of the oven a treat (even if they weren't all that red!!). My cream cheese frosting was a little runnier than required so I had the bright idea of putting them in the fridge for them to harden up. *Novice Baker Alert* Yep, hardend the frosting BUT also hardened the cakes PAH!!!! I had the whole "shall I / shan't I serve them" thing going on! Then I thought blow it.....the people of church are gonna be a generous audience it's not like I've got to serve them to Mary Berry or anything so I took a deep breath and put them out!

Actually, they went down quite well! I understand that by nature Christians are kind and caring but they are also not meant to lie so based on that fact I'm taking their compliments as a good thing!

Sooooo if after 3 attempts of baking and you still don't succeed, do you give up?! Erm, NO!!! You just switch tactics! So I set my sights on the savoury side of things! I decided to cook dinner....a normal enough task I hear you say. Wrong! I have been married for four years and this makes the fourth time I've cooked for Dale!! I reckon, by laws of averages I'm good for another year now!

Thank you to the fabulous Jack Monroe @MsJackMonroe for the wonderfully easy recipe book

which meant I could confidently produce Sausage and Beer Casserole

Result!!! At last!! I used Sainsburys Taste the Difference Scicilian sausages (check the packs cos not all Taste the Diff are GF) and Green's Premium Pilsner et voila!!!

I finally allowed Dale back into the kitchen last night, as I begged him to help me with the last creation.... Low Carb Cauliflower Crust Pizza. I used the recipie from here http://www.thelondoner.me/2013/09/carb-free-pizza.html Dale needed a little convincing this was a good idea but even he was a tad impressed by our joint culinary efforts!

Blitzed cauliflower, Parmesan, mozarella and egg mushed and patted down.

Baked for bit

Toppings added and baked

Really, really good! The base didn't crisp up and remained quite soft and bready in texture which meant it was easier eating it with a knife a fork. This wasn't a problem at all and it was great having a bread free, tasty pizza base. I would really recommend giving this a go and it's definitely worth all the ringing out of cauliflower in a tea towel...even if it is a little random!

Now, it seems the insanity of the last week has left me and normality has returned. Will I bake again....yes! Will I bake again this year....probably not! Dale, the kitchen is all yours...welcome back!

Have a good week everyone! (@lizprice79)

Bom Dia! Gluten Free Girl in Portugal!

Dale and I have just returned from five fabulous days in Lisbon! I love, love, LOVE Portugal- the weather, the people, the architecture and most importantly....the food!! It would be so easy for me to write this as a travel blog but hey, that's not really my thing! Nevertheless, if anyone wants travel advice on Lisbon please give me a shout!

I must admit, I was slightly anxious about the "food situation" after the difficulties I faced on our last trip to Berlin but that wasn't enough to stop me packing my bags and heading off for some April sun!

I had no reason to worry! Ok, the Portuguese may not be completely up to date with the ins and outs of Coeliac Disease and Gluten Free menu's are hard to come by BUT all the people I met were sooooo helpful and kind. They genuinely wanted to help and didn't want to see me go hungry!

Dale and I were self catering which automatically eases the pressure as we had a fridge, hob, microwave etc so the whole range of fresh meat, fish, veg, rice etc that the supermarkets could offer were all at our disposal! I did also go armed with a selection of goodies such as Newburn Bakehouse sandwich thins for brekkie (they are flat and great for packing too), rice cakes, 9 bars etc.

There are 2 main supermarkets that I came across

and

Pingo Doce has a very small GF section which may well alter depending on which branch you visit. Jumbo has a much bigger selection of GF and would be a great place to stock up if you found one at the beginning of your hol (which we didn't!!). GF is clearly labelled as "Sem Gluten"

Another shop to look out for is Celerio which is a health food chain.

They had a surprisingly large selection of GF food as well as lactose free, soya free and vegan.

As you can probably see, it's quite expensive but if you're desperate for choco stars then I guess they are worth €4.10?! Anyway, it's nice to know there are options right?

Dale cooked at the apartment a few times using fresh ingredients from the supermarkets. Don't assume anything though.....I came across several packs of ham / cheese etc that contained gluten. Packaging is fairly well labelled but just because it's ok in the UK doesn't mean is automatically ok elsewhere! We did stumble upon GF pasta which was a bit of a treat!

We also ate out a couple of times. The first restaurant was in the Alfama district, Restaurante Farol de Santa Luzia (www.farolsantaluzia.com). I went armed with my trusty translation from Coeliac UK and the staff were more than happy to help me order my food. I had a zingy marinated pork with rice.

The food was tasty and I would definitely recommend of you are in the area....just check your chicken if you order it as Dale's was a little under done. We would have said something (and I'm sure they would have been mortified) but once we had been through the whole Coeliac palarva we just couldn't face it! A cop out I know but we were trying to be chilled out on our hols lol!

We also ate in an equally traditional and helpful restaurant in the Bairro Alto but I failed in finding the name! It wasn't glaringly obvious as it was only a small place and I can't find the receipt....bad blogger I know!! But, just to give you hope that good food is out there, this is what I had!!

Turkey in a cream, mushroom and garlic sauce with rice (common rice theme going on here....it's easier than "are your chips frozen cos I can't eat re heated potato and if they aren't frozen are they cooked in a separate fryer etc etc" my Portuguese / English translation can only go so far yeah?!)

Sooooo a holiday's not a holiday without an ice cream or two right?! Pre packed branded ice creams are ten a penny in Lisbon so you won't go without. The boards are clearly labelled with "Isento de Gluten"

 You can have your usual Magnum's, Solero's and Calippo. However, if you want something a little more home made there are several ice cream parloury places all of which are pretty helpful if you look longingly and desperately ask "Sem gluten?" (while whiping they drool from your chin!), it pretty much gets the point across. The best place I found was in Alfama

The man who served me could tell me exactly which flavours I could have, what the actual ingredients were, warned me away from the cones (which I knew were a no no but it was reassuring that he knew they were a no no too!) and even washed the scoop thoroughly before using on my ice cream (muttering "it's very important" while doing it it....too right it's important!) I could have kissed him.....a man who makes ice cream AND understands the need for strict GF measures......what more could a Coeliac girl ask for right?!

See how happy I am?!.....my needs are simple.....sun and GF ice cream.....winner!!

Well, I shall end with a few little GF snacks I sampled while away....all in the name of blogging you understand....

Chocolate chip cookies

I've come across this brand in Spain. Great mini cookies, got a thumbs up from gluten eating Dale too so must be ok!

Regular readers will know I have a thing for hot chocolate. This is clearly labelled on the ingredients list as Insento de Gluten. Drunk cold or blitzed in the micro it scratched the hot choc itch!

Fairly normal tasting white choc.....cross grain symbol on front very helpful.

Frubis.....weird.....very, very weird! Not unpleasant but a strange eating sensation! Clearly labelled as Gluten Free in English so I thought I'd have a go. 

Once you open the pack you are met with freeze dried fruit!

Once you can get your head around crunching (rather noisily) through a strawberry they are actually quite pleasant!

So, that's Lisbon! If you are thinking about it.....go for it! If you've booked it already...hurrah!! You will have a great time and you will eat well (with not a Nando's in sight hee hee!). Go with a good translation of your dietary needs and the people you meet will be more than happy to help! If I can help in anyway please do contact me on Twitter @lizprice79 I would also strongly recommend you have a look at http://glutenfreetraveller.com/ who had some useful tips before I went.

There was just one problem....as Dale tucked into his 3rd or 4th Portugese custard tart I was starting to have a little tart envy....sooo while typing I am experimenting with puff pastry and custard fillings to see if I can produce anything similar....I'll let you know next week.....wish me luck!!! X

A Tale of Two Restaurants

This week I took my life into my hands! I braved the smog and the Saharan sand to venture into the big smoke not once but twice!

Tuesday was hysterical and a prime example of what a first class ditz I can be! I had been invited to a GF event at The Hummus Bros. Being the keen bean that I am I arrived dead on 6.00 with my "gluten eating" friend who had come along to enjoy the GF ride! 

We were met by smiley and helpful staff who seated us and brought us menus...so far so good.....but no sign of an "event". Hmmmmmm?! Not wanting to come across as fussy (let's face it, requesting GF food can be tricky enough at times) but also not wanting to miss out on "the event", I queried what was going on. I was met by smiles and reassurance they would find out what was happening....clearly they didn't have a clue!

To cut a long story short I would like to commend the amazingly kind, helpful, patient and smiley staff at The Hummus Bros, Wardour St who ensured I had a lovely GF eve.......DESPITE BEING IN THE WRONG BRANCH!!!  Doh!!! Not my finest moment but hey...we kept smiling!

GF event or not The Hummus Bros offer a variety of GF food and even stock GF bread as an alternative to pitta.

Hummus with chicken and guacamole. It looked and tasted like DS bread but couldn't say for certain. Staff were clearly knowledgeable as they checked whether I would like my bread toasted as it is a shared toaster with the pittas. My friend threw herself into the occasision and dined GF for the night. She was impressed!! Yey!

They also serve what they call a GF brownie. I would say it was more torte like in texture but whatever it was, it was deliciously tasty and light! It slipped down a treat despite being stuffed full of Hummus!

My second trip to London was to sample the much raved about Wahaca. Dale and I went back to Wardour Street to try out the GF menu I have read so much about.

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed. Not anything to do with the actual restaurant or the staff but their particular style of eating doesn't really suit me.

It was great to see a separate GF menu and my server was happy to inform the kitchen of my requirements. I ordered one of the Steet Food (smaller plate) options with a side of rice. I understand the Street Food is meant to come out and different times but having my rice a good 5 minutes before anything else arrives just doesn't make sense to me.

I also had to send my steak tacos back as they were cold. By the time they arrived back on my table my rice had well and truly seen better days! Bit of a strange set up and a little too spicy by my standards. Maybe I was just unfortunate but it was interesting to see the table next to me order the same dish and leave it!

Anyway, good news....they redeemed themselves when I found out the salted caramel ice cream was GF!

I wouldn't rush back to Wahaca but it's great to see they are doing good work in the GF world. Nevertheless, I couldn't recommend The Hummus Bros enough. Look them up 

http://www.hbros.co.uk it seems they have several branches?!! I can't vouch for the other branches but the Wardour Street one is fab!

Well it's the Easter hols (woop woop wooooop!!) and I'm off to Portugal for the week. I look forward to letting you all know what Lisbon has to offer the GF world! Wish me luck!!! Xx (@lizprice79)