Sunday 4 May 2014

Gold Dust!

Those of you who are seasoned Coeliac (or any allergy/intolerance) shoppers will know what I mean when I say that we can merrily run from supermarket to supermarket searching for favoured products and brands like a person possessed! Every time I lose a Saturday morning nipping in and out of Sainsburys / Asda / Tesco / M&S I feel like one of those American storm chasers running after  the Twisters!  The genuine disappointment you feel when your beloved bread is out of stock (or no longer sold at that branch!!!) is out weighed by the slightly inappropriate levels of joy when you actually stumble across one of these treasured items! Well I was lucky enough to experience the "Coeliac Joy", not once but TWICE this week!! How smug am I feeling?! 

GF Chinese Whispers struck and set Twitter fans into a fluster when Marks and Spencer announced the arrival of GF Scotch Eggs and Quiche Lorraine!! Something we never thought possible!!! Really and truly.....the old picnic favourites are now back on our radar! Marks and Spencer I salute you! You jazzed up our Christmas buffet's no end and now summer looks just as exciting! 


I woke early on Saturday morning, pulled on my trackie bottoms, gently stretched and prepared myself for the GF rush into the M&S chilled section......it seems I was a little late! The Scotch Eggs had gone (PAH!!) but there was quiche success! My oh my it was delicious.....the filling was creamy, cheesey and felt like a real indulgence. The base held together, tasted....well.....dare I say it......tasted like "normal" pastry!! By far the best GF quiche I've tasted! M&S you've done it again! Just need to track down those pesky Scoth Eggs now......

After weeks of looking high and low I finally stumbled across the acclaimed Genius Pain au Chocolat in Tesco (and would you believe it, I wasn't even looking for them this time!!)


*Novice Continental Breakfast Eater Alert* ......I just feel the need to start this review by saying I've never been a big "pastries" fan, even in my gluten filled days. However, when I discovered they were once again a possibility, I thought I would give them a shot...all in the name of research you understand!  They were good. Crumbly, buttery, chocolatey (oooozy cos you warm them first!) and to be honest you can almost feel the calories going in! They are definitely one of those "treat only" items! They haven't converted me to eating pastries for breakfast but they didn't taste any different to regular pastries I've eaten to I would say that's gotta be a good thing right? Based on that....if Pains au Chocolat float your boat go on and give them a go!

As part of Coeliac Awareness Week in May (12th -18th), Coeliac UK are appealing to supermarkets to carry a basic stock of 8 GF items. At least this way we know we can get what we need, even if it might not be the exact brand we want! You can help by filling in a checklist of what is available from your local supermarket. The checklist can be found on their website and Facebook page.

Somewhere where GF items are not like Gold Dust is at Whole Foods.


Call me strange but I always enjoy a little stroll around the aisles in here. I am yet to sample their hot food selection for lunches but it looks gooooood and quite a lot is GF friendly. The trouble with this shop is it's soooo easy to spend a lot! Here is just a little look at what my last trip produced!


I have read a lot about Orgran but never actually tried anything. My thumb is rather helpfully covering up some of the allergens (sorry about that!) but as you can see quite a lot is covered! Dale and I opted for making the mix into muffins rather than a whole loaf.


In my ignorance, I was expecting them to be savoury. I think the plan is you eat them with savoury stuff?? However, they had a definite sweet twang which was not unpleasant, just a bit of a surprise! Simple to make and made a nice change!

Dale spotted this Chile kit from The Cool Chile Co. The idea is that it contains all you need for an authentic Chile (minus the mince!)



Smothered in cheese it's not so easy to see what it looks like! It was very tasty with a bit of a mild kick. We opted for the "quick soak" with the beans but they were still quite hard when it came to eating them. Would definitely do the over night soak next time.

Treated myself to some Joe and Seph's Caramel and Chocolate popcorn!


Thank goodness there isn't much in the packet otherwise I'd probably still be eating it! It comes in a fancy re sealable pack but.....let's just say the "re sealable bit" wasn't necessary!!

I also bought a bacon and maple flavoured popcorn by a different brand....Dale turned his nose up at this straight away! Aha, it'll be all mine then when I finally crack it open! I'll let you know how it goes another week!

Well, enjoy the bank holiday everyone! X (@lizprice79)










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