Carbtastic!

I write to you today with a bulging stomach and a happy heart! I have just returned from the most wonderful afternoon tea at Sugarloaf on Potters Bar High Street. Celebrating a good friends retirement, I was a little nervous when I had heard they could "do gluten free" for me. You've all been there right?! Promises of amazing things, to be met with a rice cake and a fruit salad!! But my goodness, Sugarloaf really could "DO gluten free"! Everything everyone else ate.....I ate too, just a GF version! I didn't feel left out at all, if anything I feel slightly sick from the over indulgence but boy was it worth it! Have a look!

Apparently, all of this loveliness can be arranged if you just give them a little notice! If you're local you should go! If you're not....it's worth travelling for!

For someone that doesn't eat a lot of carbs, I've certainly packed them away this week! Ironically, as I made my annual pilgrimage to The Allergy and Freefrom Show (www.allergyshow.co.uk), I returned with carbs a plenty!! (Oh and a lot of sausages- vegan and meat....always good to stock up right?!). It's my aim to blog as I eat and even I haven't managed to wade my way through my whole stash yet but here goes with my sampling so far....

No.G (www.toogoodtobeglutenfree.com) I salute you! I finally managed to buy a quiche Lorraine and wait for it .....a sausage roll! Seriously exciting stuff!

My first quiche and sausage roll that actually taste like their regular partners! I fear this could be a dangerous discovery! Half of me weeps that my local Sainsburys doesn't stock them but the other half is celebrating for the sake of my waistline! These are amazing and definitely worth breaking the no carbs rule for......occasionally!!

I also bought this lovely looking sun dried tomato loaf from Romeo's GF Bakery (www.romeosglutenfreebakery.co.uk)

I must confess that I haven't tried it yet. I sliced it and put it straight in the freezer! If I recall, it was about £3 for this small loaf so I didn't want to run the risk of it going all "gf bread" on me, if you know what I mean?! I have tried their garlic loaf before and if it's half as good as that it'll be worth the wait!

Straying away from the Allergy Show for a bit I picked up these little beauties the other week. 

Marks and Spencer are really pulling out all the stops at the moment! These pies have already done the rounds on Twitter so I won't harp on about them but to sum up....they're good, really good, ok?! They should carry the same warning as the No.G pastries.....seriously addictive, to be enjoyed occasionally (with a splash of Tesco Freefrom brown sauce, obviously!).

Finally, I was sent a flour mix from the lovely people at Udi's (www.udisglutenfree.co.uk). I thought I would use it to make my own scones! Please compare my efforts with the earlier picture from Sugarloaf

Yep, I ended up with flat, pastry, biscuity things! Oops! Only I could mess up a flour mix! Thanks Udi's it was very much appreciated and I'm sure they would have been successful for most people but it's clearly not fool proof!

Well I'm blogging slightly early as I'm off on my hols tomorrow. Thankfully we managed to get our Tunisian holiday changed and we are now off to Lanzarote for some R&R! Have a great two weeks everyone! Xx (@lizprice79)