The great news is that Cadbury’s have revived the lovely Wispa chocolate bar. I admit I loved Wispa bars when I was little, and I was so looking forward to eating them again. However, unfortunately for me and lots of others on a wheat or gluten free diet they are not wheat free. Cadbury’s very rarely seem to produce a wheat free product. Their website does list the products that are wheat free, but I have found I still react to Cadbury’s chocolate. I think where most products are made in the same factory traces get caught in cross contamination. I also get annoyed with the labelling they have as it seems a bit hit and miss as to whether the allergies are listed, or whether you have to spend ages in the shop looking through tons of ingredients.
So here is my plea, please can we have some lovely Cadbury’s chocolate that is definitely trace free, so even us wheat free foodies can enjoy it.
Filed under: allergy, cadbury, cadburys, chocolate, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, gluten free food, shopping, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free food, wispa | 3 Comments
My husband popped into a sandwich shop in London when he was there the other day and happened to spot that they also had wheat free bread. The shop was called ‘Eat’ on Camden High Street. I must admit I don’t normally like venturing into the ‘big smoke’ but I think this might be worth a special trip. I just hope that this becomes the trend and these sort of healthy living/free from food type shops start increasing all over the country.
My husband keeps saying I should start making my own bread and start my own free from cafe/sandwich shop. There would certainly be a demand where I live for decent lunches. But, I just keep thinking of the overheads and hygiene hassles and stick to my comfy job where I have a regular wage. Maybe one day I will be brave. ;o)
Filed under: Baking, Cooking, allergy, bread, cafe, cafes, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, gluten free food, good food, london wheat free restaurants, lunch, lunchtime, restaurants, sandwiches, shopping, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free bread, wheat free food | 3 Comments
Tags: allergy, coeliac, free from bread, free from cafe, london cafes, london free from, london restaurants, wheat free, wheat free bread, wheat free sandwiches
On a good point Mr Tesco and his big blooper did help me realise that I do need different breakfast options. There are not many wheat free cereals, and although unlike Coeliacs I can eat porridge, the porridge I can eat is limited because most of it contains wheat. I do like fruit but I find I can overload on fruit, so I struggle to find alternative breakfasts.
So I was well pleased when my copy of Good Food Magazine for September came through the post box. One reader, Abigail Enright, sent in a fab recipe of Honey Crunch Granola. Basically, this is broken up flapjack without the butter, mixed with fruit and yogurt. It is quite high in calories at 591 per serving but with me mainly being limited to salad for lunch its not too bad.
For those that don’t subscribe to the mag here is the recipe:
125ml/4fl oz sunflower oil
100ml/3 1/2 fl oz malt extract (obtainable from chemists)
100ml/ 3 1/2 fl oz clear honey
250g/9oz rolled oats
250g/9oz jumbo oats (doesn’t matter if you can’t find them just use normal oats)
25g/1oz desiccated coconut (you can’t really taste this)
50g/2 oz sunflower seeds (I left this out)
25g/1 oz sesame seeds
140g/5 oz whole brazil nuts (I substituted whole almonds instead)
100g/4 oz mixed dried fruit (I used some dried apricots and sultanas)
Put the oil, malt extract and honey in a large saucepan and heat until the mixture becomes runny. Stir in the remaining ingredients except nuts and dried fruit. Tip the mix into a large roasting tin, spread to an even layer and cook in an oven at 190 deg C for about 25 mins. Add the nuts then bake for another 10 mins until golden. Leave to cool a little then break up. How long you leave to cool before breaking up depends on whether you like crunchy or squidgy. I preferred it a little soft so I broke it up when it was still warm. You can now add the dried fruit and store in an airtight container for about a month. Serve with fruit and yogurt. I have to admit I tried this recipe and thought it was fab. Don’t worry what sort of seeds, nuts and dried fruit you put in. I am not really a nut fan so next time I will add more dried fruit. Dried apricots were really nice in this, as they are too in flapjack.
Big thanks to Abigail and Good Food for this, I really enjoy this breakfast.
Comment to Good Food Mag – a regular Allergy Free Section would be fab.
Filed under: Cooking, Recipes, allergy, breakfast, crunch granola, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, fruit, good food, granola, honey, oat, oats, recipe, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free food, yogurt | Leave a Comment
Mr Tesco’s Big Blooper
Having finally been pleased that the supermarkets have extended their Free From ranges and creating their own free from foods, Mr Tesco blew it all yesterday with what can only be described as a massive big blooper.
Bread and milk are often described as staple food in a diet, and just because I am wheat intolerant it doesn’t mean that bread isn’t a staple part of my diet. With hectic lifestyles that we have these days, and generally because I don’t do mornings, wheat free bread toasted forms a fundamental part of my breakfast.
Tesco (my local supermarket) have created their own free from bread, which surprisingly for free from bread doesn’t taste too bad (believe me I have even tried to make it and it still doesn’t taste good!). This bread, as you would expect is located in their specially designated free from food section (not too clever I hear you say, but wait). They also stock other manufacturers bread as well in this part of the aisle. This section has been empty for a couple of weeks and I have been struggling to find bread alternatives in the absence of any supplies. I have asked on a couple of occasions whether the stock was to be replenished, but have been told that due to probable rebranding/repackaging that there would be a delay but it should be in soon.
My husband kindly enquired again for me yesterday only to finally find out that there they have loads of the bread stored in boxes out the back, because there isn’t enough room and they have filled the space with other products like wheat free pitta breads. Just as well he was there and not me because he firmly told them that pitta bread really wasn’t a substitute and I really couldn’t eat any of the thousands of normal breads that fill a whole two aisles. I must admit I wouldn’t have been so calm!
Mr Tesco if you make all these products at least have the sense to actually put them out, especially staple diet food. Mr Tesco you really have surpassed yourself this time!!!!!!!!!!
Filed under: Tesco, allergy, bread, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, gluten free food, shopping, supermarkets, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free bread, wheat free food | 4 Comments
Pumpkin Bread
Don’t be put off by the name, this cake is fabulous and very moreish. This recipe comes from an old chap who grows pumpkins in a little village called Slindon, near Chichester. Every year he displays and sells his fantastic pumpkins which must be grown in a field of a back garden as he seems to grow them by the thousand. He created a little pamphlet of recipes which he sells for something like 50 pence.
2 cups cooked Pumpkin, mashed
3/4 cup Veg Oil
4 cups Plain Flour
3 cups Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ginger
4 Beaten Eggs
1/2 cup Water
Pinch Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Bicarb of Soda
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
To get mashed pumpkin, cut a large pumpkin up into segments (skin left on, but seeds removed). Drop into a pan of boiling water, cover and boil until pumpkin flesh is soft. Drain and leave to cool in a colander over a bowl. Once cool chop off skin. Mash pumpkin flesh in colander over the same bowl to extract excess water and save the water. This water I use for the water in the recipe as it is pumpkin flavoured. Now you have the water and the pumpkin mash.
Combine pumpkin, eggs, oil and water. Sift dry ingredients together and add gradually to pumpkin mixture, mixing thoroughly. Pour into 2 greased loaf tins and bake at 160-180 deg C for about an hour, or until a sharp knife comes out of the middle clean. I have to admit I have not put the recipe down totally verbatim, but had adapted a couple of things only very slightly. I also use Doves Wheat Free Flour and remember to get a wheat free baking powder too. But the consistency of this cake works fantastically being Wheat free and trust me I have made it the normal way too and there are no differences.
Believe me you truly haven’t lived until you have tried Mr C R Upton’s Pumpkin Bread on Page 11 of ‘Pumpkins, squashes and things …… and how to cook them.’
Filed under: Baking, Cooking, Recipes, allergy, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, good food, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, recipe, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free bread, wheat free cake, wheat free food | 5 Comments
Yummy Choc Chip Shortbread
I couldn’t find a wheat free chocolate chip shortbread recipe, so I just made my own using a basic shortbread recipe.
6oz Dove’s Wheat Free Flour
4oz Butter
2oz Sugar
Just beat the sugar and egg together then stir in the flour, and finally bring into a dough with your hands. Then roll into small balls and squish out into biscuit shapes. Finally, chop up some chocolate (I used a wheat free dark chocolate) and push into the biscuits before cooking for about 20 mins @ 200 deg C.
How easy could it be, and because I used wheat free flour that makes the shortbread even shorter, yum!
Filed under: Baking, Cooking, Recipes, allergy, chocolate chip shortbread, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, good food, recipe, shortbread, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free biscuits, wheat free food, wheat free shortbread | Leave a Comment
West Dean Chilli Fiesta
West Dean Chilli Fiesta takes place every August in a fantastic setting near Chichester in West Sussex. There are many stall holders and eateries galore for hungry shoppers to munch at. I have to admit it is certainly a day out for anyone to enjoy. Many people are put off by those overly hot Mexican chilli dishes sampled in many restaurants today, but this is not the case with the Chilli Fiesta. Of course they day is about chillies but is also a celebration of good food and culture.
Last year I was able to sample Caribbean Jerk Chicken and the infamous rice and peas, which I have forced my sister-in-law to cook for me and teach me how to cook ‘the Jamaican way’ many times in the past. This year an additional stall made fresh gluten, wheat, dairy and egg free pakoras. This I just had to try. Mother Bhumi from Lewes/Hove area certainly did herself proud. Unfortunately, for me it is just too far to travel on a regular basis to buy more. Although, vegetables dipped in a chickpea, masala and spring water batter can’t be too hard to replicate!!!
Again, the wheat free foodie goes Indian!
Filed under: allergy, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, good food, restaurants, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free food | Leave a Comment
Benares a true fave!
I visited Atul Kochhar’s Benares Michelin star restaurant in Berkley Square last week. Indian food is always a safe bet for wheat free options as gram or dhaal (chickpea) flour is often used as a replacement for wheat flour in Indian Cuisine.
We were first to arrive at midday for our pre-theatre lunch, but I have to say even when the restaurant was busy the service was perfect. After encountering mostly allergy ignorant staff and chefs since becoming wheat free I tend to be a little over cautious and question everything that gets placed in front of me. This was something the staff at Benares obviously found a little amusing and by the time dessert arrived I knew there was no reason to question the chef’s intelligence. Even to the point that they managed to put my sorbets on toasted coconut not biscuit crumbs, something that might not sound too complicated, but believe me it happens all too often. I was in heaven, fabulous food and a chef who thought about what I could have and adapted to suit, fantastic! I do have to say the deep fried soft shell crab (in wheat free batter) was to die for.
We did, I admit go for the costly option but only because it was our wedding anniversary, but I was quite pleasantly surprised that the 2 or 3 course lunch (including glass of wine) costs between £24.95 and £29.95. I am sure Gordon and his Michelin star restaurants don’t come close to those sorts of prices.
Certainly a top choice for the wheat free foodie. Top marks Atul.
Filed under: allergy, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, good food, london wheat free restaurants, restaurants, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free food | Leave a Comment
Hello world!
After appreciating good food for many years, I discovered last year I had a wheat intollerance/allergy thing. This caused me to lose my passion for food, but I am glad to say this didn’t last very long! I am now experimenting further by taking my husband’s advice and writing about what I feel so passionately about.
I have to admit I always thought fussy eaters couldn’t be foodies, but I now find myself to be a fussy eater (not out of choice), but I hate it. So hopefully with the help of this blog I can start to do something about it and share my wheat free foodie issues with the world and gain some support along the way.
It will get better so keep watching and enjoy.
Filed under: Cooking, allergy, coeliac, food, foodie, free from, free-from food, gluten free, good food, wheat allergy, wheat free, wheat free food | Leave a Comment
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