Happy Gluten Free Baking Week

The week before Christmas is Gluten Free Baking Week.

I found out via the National Day Calendar that the week before Christmas is Gluten Free Baking Week!

Since I attended the Cheshire Coeliac Meeting in October I've got into baking gluten free snacks, savouries and cakes.

Gluten free sausage rolls

What shall I bake for Gluten Free Baking Week?

The Cheshire Coeliac Meeting, gluten free cakes and sausage rolls

A day out doing gluten free things in Cheshire.

The bunting was out for the Coeliacs of Cheshire

I attended the Cheshire Coeliac Group Meeting in Middlewich yesterday and had a nice afternoon buying cakes, chatting to fellow coeliacs and watching the cooking demonstrations.

I bought a fair few gluten free cakes to see me through the week

Chris from the Cheshire Coeliac Group and Cakes by Noah getting to grips with Genius Puff Pastry for his gluten free sausage rolls

Here's some Chris made earlier

I bought a couple of the doughnuts from Lottie's Bakehouse - one sugar coated and one cinnamon flavour. They were both quickly scoffed

I also had a couple of wins on the raffle!

As I'd bought a lot of delicious cakes from Lottie's Bakehouse the cooking demonstration by group organiser Chris was perfect, as it gave me inspiration to do some savoury baking myself. Something I haven't done in many years. Partly because my view of food and cooking changed when I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, but also because Emily is such a superb cook.

Before cooking here are the rather rustic looking sausage rolls. I used Jus-Rol gluten free puff pastry and Morrisons gluten free pork chipolatas

After baking!

In his cooking demo Chris had suggested putting other ingredients in with the sausage meat. The three on the right are plain sausage rolls, while the one on the far left is filled with Tewkesbury Hot Mustard, the next one was Cheddar Cheese and the next one was pork and Bramley apple flavour in a nod to a Bedfordshire Clanger

They were all delicious. Even Emily said so!

Check out the Cheshire Coeliac Group on Facebook for more information.

More info on Coeliac Disease, its effects and how it must be treated with a strict and life-long gluten free diet can be found on the Coeliac UK website.

Happy National BBQ Week

National BBQ Week is running from the 25th to the 31st of May.

I heard on Twitter that this year is the 19th National BBQ Week. A time to celebrate all things BBQ!

Check out the National BBQ Week website for more information, facts and top tips about barbecuing.

Have a happy National BBQ Week!

As someone with Coeliac Disease eating safely at barbeques can be a problem. Whenever I go to a BBQ I always take my own disposable BBQ and utensils. If you are cooking gluten free food on a shared grill then use foil to separate your gluten free meat and food from anything containing gluten. Even if the grill has been cleaned thoroughly there may be trace elements of gluten.

Also, check where the gluten free buns are being warmed. Make sure they are kept and heated separately from other bread and buns.

Another thing to remember at BBQs is to check whether any of the soft drinks contain gluten? I remember being caught out by own-brand colas when I was first diagnosed - they contain barley gluten! So always check the labels.

Thankfully I have found more and more products are being made gluten free, only recently I spotted that Asda have a new range of gluten free sausages, hot dogs and toppings.

Foot long and gluten free!

But above all else do remember to have fun, eat well and enjoy the sun!

Links:
- National BBQ Week website
- National BBQ Week on Twitter
- National BBQ Week on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- BBQ
- Hot Dog
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- My life as a Coeliac in LEGO form

Isabel's Gluten Free Dough Balls Mix

Cooking up some cheese dough balls with a free from mix from Isabel's.

On a recent shopping trip to Asda we spotted a product in the Free From section that we hadn't seen before - the Gluten Free Dough Balls Mix.

The 250g box makes approximately 24 dough balls and Emily made exactly two dozen delicious 'pão de queijo' snacks from the mix.

The pão de queijo' made from the Isabel's gluten free dough balls mix

They were really nice when eaten warm and with plenty leftover we've found them to be great cold too.

Putting a twist on the recipe on the packet Emily added brie to the mix, a good choice as it melted perfectly inside the dough balls.

As someone with Coeliac Disease I pore over the ingredients, claims and small-print on every single item of food and drink I buy to ensure it's safe to consume, it's pleasing to see that all of Isabel's products are naturally 100% gluten and wheat free.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Emily's Cooking

Links:
- Isabel's Free From website
- Isabel's Free From on Twitter
- Isabel's Free From on Facebook
- Asda
- Coeliac UK

Gluten free Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

Baking some treats from the Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by Samantha Stein.

One of the Christmas food items I've missed most since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease is Lebkuchen. They are a tasty glazed - and sometimes chocolate-coated - gingerbread biscuit from Germany.

With my German-heritage I remember receiving hampers from relations in Germany and my favourite item was always Lebkuchen.

As there are no commercially available gluten free Lebkuchen in the shops I haven't eaten any since Christmas 2007.

I heard via twitter that fellow coeliac Samantha Stein (aka The Happy Coeliac) had included a recipe for gluten free Lebkuchen in her 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book! As an early Christmas present I bought the book and it was delivered in time to get baking before the big day.

The Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by 'The Happy Coeliac' Samantha Stein. The book contains 20 festive recipes

Emily is a great cook and budding baker and looked forward to cooking the Lebkuchen. As recommended in the recipe the dough mix was prepared 24-hours in advance an left overnight in the fridge so that the flavour could intensify.

We had to hunt for some Christmas-shaped cake cutters, but managed to track down a set in M&S so we could make the Lebkuchen festive.

The end result was a batch of very nice Lebkuchen and a very happy coeliac. As well as the glaze we topped some of them with melted dark chocolate. They really tasted of Christmas.

Gluten free Lebkuchen biscuits

You can buy the 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book by Samantha Stein on The Happy Coeliac website. Check out the gluten free Lebkuchen recipe on the site too.

If you sign-up for free updates from The Happy Coeliac you will also receive a free 40-page eBook 'Gluten Free For Beginners'.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- The Happy Coeliac website
- The Happy Coeliac on Twitter
- The Happy Coeliac on Facebook
- The Happy Coeliac on YouTube

Gluten free chicken and beer

Chicken and beer - a great combination.

Emily's a great cook and makes some delicious gluten free treats - both sweet and savoury. We've blogged about some of them here on The Ham & Egger Files and also posted photos and details on her Twitter feed.

The latest creation Emily has perfected is oven baked cornflake chicken (think kind of southern fried, but healthier if you will).

Southern-style baked chicken coated with crushed Nestle Gluten Free Corn Flakes, served with paprika potato wedges, BBQ beans and an avocado. Washed down with a chilled Estrella Damm Daura gluten free beer. Delicious food, gluten free or otherwise

Since my diagnosis with Coeliac Disease in 2008 I've tried a fair few of the gluten free beers available and Estrella Damm Daura is one of my favourites.

While recently shopping for a gluten free Chocolate Yule Log in Tesco's Free From section I noticed that Estrella Damm Daura were included in a 3 for 2 offer and so twelve bottles of the great gluten free beer were £12 - a great buy for a savvy coeliac like me.

Links:
- Estrella Damm Daura website
- Estrella Damm Daura gluten free beer on Twitter
- Tesco Free From website
- Nestlé Cereals website

Related blog posts:
- Gluten free Ale, Beer and Lager
- New Nestlé Gluten Free Corn Flakes and Honey Corn Flakes

- Coeliac

- Gluten Free

Cooking with Genius Gluten Free shortcrust and puff pastry

Some great gluten free cooking from Emily Gottfried.

As someone with Coeliac Disease I'm incredibly lucky to have a very understanding wife, who is also a very keen cook and baker!

One very happy Coeliac with a fresh from the oven Cheese Straw - my absolute favourite puff pastry treat

Check out the photos below for some of Emily's recent savoury and sweet baking.

A selection of Hors d'oeuvres (including a first attempt at Vol Au Vents) made using Genius Gluten Free Puff Pastry

Gluten Free Empanadas using the Genius Gluten Free Shortcrust Pastry

Apricot Frangipan Tarts made using Genius Gluten Free Shortcrust Pastry

A Pork & Mushroom Pie made with Genius Gluten Free Shortcrust Pastry. It was a little crumbly, but tasted great

Check out Emily's Twitter feed for more photos of her great gluten free cooking.

Visit the Genius Gluten Free website for more information on the Genius range of gluten free products.

Link:
- Genius Gluten Free website

Related blog posts:
- Gluten free
- Coeliac

The Simply Cook Gluten Free Box

Trying out the new Gluten Free recipe and ingredient box from Simply Cook.

The Gluten Free Box from Simply Cook

At the recent launch of the online gluten free review website Gluugle I met Karen (aka The Gluten Free Chef) from Simply Cook.

Following the event Karen sent me a sample box including four recipes and ingredients from their first ever Gluten Free Box.

The aim of the kits is to give restaurant quality food in 20 minutes, with you just needing to follow the recipe and add between 4-6 fresh ingredients.

The Gluten Free Box looks good and is well laid out in the smart packaging. The recipe cards and ingredients contained within allow you to make four interesting meals – Malay Laksa (a chicken and butternut squash dish), Pork and Chorizo Beans, Spiced Butternut Squash Risotto and Smoked Haddock Kedgeree.

The recipes are for two people – and we found there was plenty left-over for lunch the next day (or seconds).

Check out our photos of the four tasty meals below.

The first dish we made was the Malay Laksa

One pot cooking

Gluten Free Malay Laksa

The Pork and Chorizo Beans recipe card and ingredients

Dinner is served

The ingredients and recipe card for the tasty Spiced Butternut Squash Risotto - no photo of the finished meal exists as it was quickly scoffed!

The ingredients for the Gluten Free Box Smoked Haddock Kedgeree recipe

I'm a big fan of Kedgeree so this was my favourite meal of the week

Emily enjoyed cooking and eating the dinners, while I enjoyed eating the food Emily and the Gluten Free Box produced. Following our testing of the box we've sent the team at Simply Cook our feedback.

The normal price of the subscription service is £10 a month, which includes postage. Simply Cook has an offer where you can get 50% off when you quote the code 'GFRichard' when making an order on the Gluten Free Box.

Find out more about Simply Cook at the links below.

Links:

- Simply Cook website

- Simply Cook Gluten Free Box

- Simply Cook on Twitter

- Simply Cook on Facebook

- Gluten Free Chef on Twitter

- Gluugle

- Gluten free-related blog posts