Triple-layer EASY (and tasty!!) gluten free coffee and walnut cake

Hello :)

I'd like to start by saying a massive thank you to anyone viewing this and if you've viewed my other posts/pages, it motivates me to post and just makes me really happy! :)

So back to the point of this page....

I made this coffee and walnut cake for my Dad's birthday.

I personally like the fact the icing is a bit of a mess, but you could make it cleaner if you wanted!

I adapted the recipe from the original 2-tiered cake here, and this blogger adapted it from Nigella to make it GF.

The differences I made to the recipe in the above link are that I had no xanthan gum, so I just left it out - it didn't seem to matter. And I also used a half extra of each ingredient obviously to add the extra tier, this meant that I used:

75g walnuts

263g caster sugar

75g light brown sugar

338g butter

6 eggs

338g gluten free plain flour

3 and 3/4 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp instant coffee

3 tbsp milk

I actually doubled the amount for the icing as I planned to put it round the outside, but in the end decided it didn't need this and so I had lots if icing left over - it may be best to work it out the same as above instead.

Of course I realise the numbers above look complicated, but with digital scales its no problem to calculate or even not using digital it won't matter if not accurate to the gram. I just want to stress how easy this recipe is, all ingredients go in together after the walnuts are blitzed - that is the most complicated bit of the recipe (although its really not just to blend some nuts) which I think demonstrates it's ease.

Also it is worth any effort as I think it tastes delicious and definitely got my family's (and Dad the birthday boy's!) thumbs up. So give it a go and see what you think!

Enjoy :) xx

(ASDA) GF Chicken nuggets and (home made) sweet potato chips

Hello :)

So today I was really craving the chicken nuggets I had been saving in my freezer. And then (of course!) felt the need to have chips with them, which I didn't have so decided I would attempt to make from a sweet potato.

The result:

I know it all looks a bit orange but it tasted pretty good!! 

The chicken nuggets were the 'Georgia's Choice chicken bites' from the free from frozen section in ASDA:    






Chicken bites review:

Where: ASDA

How much: £2.40 for 20 bites (which are average chicken nugget sized!)

Value: £2.40 feels fairly expensive, especially as it works out at 12p a nugget, but then again a meal of 5 nuggets is 60p and with a cheap side this is probably a fairly standard meal price... it's just the student in me that resents paying that! Although ASDA's own 'normal' chicken bites are £2.20 for 250g, and these are £2.40 for 300g so it's not actually too bad.

Taste: Taste YUMMY to me!! I don't know if it's just because I was deprived of nuggets for a few years post-diagnosis but now they are one of my favorite foods... I don't know what that says for my taste buds :P But anyway as a chicken-nugget-lover these have my approval for sure :D


Sweet potato fries recipe:

I don't know if this is the best recipe to follow as they weren't exactly the crispy chips I was hoping for but the general taste was good enough for me so may be worth a try, just perhaps a bit more oil and at a higher heat next time.

1 sweet potato
a few sprays of fry light
salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. Peel sweet potato and cut into chips
3. Spray the chips in a bowl and using your hands (or utensils if you would rather) ensure all the chips are coated
4. Spray the baking tray with oil (or use actual oil if you prefer) and then I used a silicone pastry brush to make sure this created an even covering over the tray
5. Place the chips in a single layer on the tray
6. Sprinkle with salt or other condiments (e.g pepper) to your taste
7. Cook for 25 minutes plus, depending on the size you have made your fries, and to your taste. Turn the chips/loosen them on the tray about half way through cooking.

Hope you enjoy 

:) xx

Mmmmm homemade gluten free carrot cake

Hello :)

So I love carrot cake but have never made it before (side note M&S do a yummy GF one) and thought I'd give it a go.

The result:

I can take no credit for the recipe which I got from here & the cream cheese icing adapted from here (see below).

But just thought I'd make a new blog post to let you know how easy it was to make. 
When looking up recipes I found so many that needed loads of ingredients but the one I eventually chose (thank you BBC good food!) needed only carrots, soft brown sugar, self-raising flour (obviously use GF s-r flour here), bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, 1 orange, eggs and sunflower oil. So all of these ingredients are pretty standard store cupboard essentials, I had to buy the cinnamon but at 49p it didn't feel too excessive!

My only adaptation of the recipe was with the icing; as you can see, Mary Berry's recipe stated needing 250g full-fat cream cheese, for this I actually used a 200g pack of soft cheese (FYI this is the same as cream cheese, maybe it's just me who hadn't realised this!). I used 50g less cream cheese to avoid buying another pack as I would not eat it other than in the frosting, but also to avoid the icing tasting 'too cheesy', to aid this I also added another 25g ish of icing sugar.

So there you have it, pretty easy GF carrot cake, I like the taste of mine, its a little dry but is fluffy and made more moist by the icing. My non-GF housemates have all enjoyed it too and it has certainly gone down pretty quickly since I made it 2 days ago!

:) xx

2 ingredient - 5 minute gluten/dairy/egg/yeast free bread!!

Hello :)

So shout out to my housemates for giving me a way to make bread with just 2 (kinda 3) CHEAP ingredients, they make it with normal flour but thought I may as well give it a go, and wasn't disappointed! The recipes exact measurements are adapted from here.

1 flat bread is about 12p, making it 48p a batch, rather than £2.00 for a shop bought pack of 4 gluten free pitta breads, so I know which I would choose!
(Based on 1kg Doves farm gluten free self raising flour at £1.70 - 1 bag would make 16 flatbreads, 1 bottle of frylight at £2.20 is meant to have 950 sprays)

I make a batch of 4, freeze the ones that aren't needed and eat 1 warm with hummus, but you could also make them bigger as pizza bases :)

To make 4 flat breads:

250g gluten free self raising flour
About 3/4 cup water, but judge it as you go
Oil for frying, I use frylight sunflower oil to save the calories!

Feel free to add salt or pepper

Simple as...

1. Mix the flour and water, then knead with your hands in the bowl. Add a little more water if too dry, flour if too wet - it needs to be able to form into a ball for you to make into flat breads without sticking to the pan and without falling apart.
2. Split the mixture into 4, or however big you want the breads to be.
3. Oil a frying pan, about 2 or 3 sprays of the oil will do, or a drizzle from a bottle, and heat. You don't need oil really, which is why i have said this only uses 2 ingredients, but if your dough is really wet you definitely do need oil to stop it sticking.
4. Flatten 1 of the 4 lumps of dough to your desired thickness (I make them about 1cm thick) either by using your hands, against a floured work surface, or I do it by pressing into the frying pan, take care not to burn your fingers!
5. They take around 2 minutes on each side, but judge by looking at it and for your taste.
6. Repeat for the others. 

And there you go, hope you enjoy!

:) xx

Let's begin

So this is my first post on this new blog.

I decided to make it because I  am a member of a number of coeliac/gluten free facebook groups and people always seem to ask the same questions, so I thought why not put all the answers in one place?
I have been diagnosed as coeliac for over 6 years now and so whilst I am certainly no expert I feel I am at a good place to be able to be able to offer tips as to how I cope with the gluten free lifestyle as well as the condition. If I can help even 1 person with this it will be worth it.

Please feel free to ask questions if there are any specific questions you have!

Thanks for reading :) xx