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‘Gluten Free Doughs’ Category

  1. A Gluten Free Valentines Day

    February 14, 2012 by Saara

    Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!

     

    I wasn’t going to do a valentines inspired blog post [and to be fair I've left it a little too late] but since food is the key to everyone’s heart… or is it a man’s heart?… either way, it’s a good excuse to post a wee little val’ day inspired blog post for y’all!

    Now, since we’re all pretty much feeling the pinch and money is sparse, many of us will be wining and dining in tonight! Which is a wise move since all restaurants are over booked, over filled and over priced!

    So whether you’re cooking for someone for the first time or cooking for your loved one, Auntie Saara is here to help you with your gluten free valentines night!

    Ambience: 

     

     

    Before we even think about cooking ladies and G’s, we gotta think about the ambience, which is just a posh way of saying ‘atmosphere of a place’. I’m not talking about leaving rose petals on every nook and cranny of your house or lighting candles left, right and centre [which could potentially burn your house down!]. Oh and god forbid red lighting, you don’t want your pad looking like a pimp palace. If you’re lucky enough to use a dimmer, that’ll do or even some fairy/Christmas lights tacked to the wall. Also make sure you clean and tidy your rooms, there’s nothing worse trying to get all romantic when there’s dirty dishes, dirty laundary and general rubbish strewn around the house! 

    Music and Films:

     

     

    OK, before you rush off to buy some Marvin Gaye or Barry White music, remember that these music legends are a just little too cliché! I mean, you don’t even need any music playing, but if you do decide you want some sweet tunes in the background, try and steer clear of tracks such as Drowning Pool – ‘Let the Bodies Hit the Floor’ or Kelis – ‘Caught Out There’, no matter how much of a tune they are!

    Films are also an important feature for a good valentines night, but is also the most important as it has the potential to ruin your valentines night! Imagine, settling down with your date and they pop the film, Knocked Up, into the DVD player. You also don’t want to be forcing your other half to watch soppy, romantic films like P.s I Love You [which is enough to make anyone poke their eyes out!].

    Food:

    Now for the important part – the food. This could make or break your relationship! Imagine cooking your gluten free lover something and either giving them food poisoning or worse, accidently glutening them! So here is a wee little list of gluten free food that you can whip up to impress your other half. And nothing cries ‘Love’ more than Italian food, since it’s the love and food capital of the world! [... or have I just made that up!]

    Starters:

     

    How about many some gluten free dough balls and dough sticks with a selection of dips! There’s nothing more romantic than a couple of balls [if you pardon the expression]. Sharing some nibbles is a pretty romantic and I doubt I’m the only coeliac who misses dough balls!

    But if time is of the essence, why not try Dietary Specials Tear and Share Garlic Bread!

    Or if gluten free garlic bread and dough balls aren’t your thing! Why not try making your own gluten free tomato brushetta!

    Mains:

     

    You could impress your date with making your own gluten free pizza or go one step further and make a gluten free stuffed crust one instead using my easy gluten free pizza dough recipe!

    Or why not try and make your own gluten free pasta from scratch and relive that Lady and The Tramp moment. But before you protest about not having a pasta machine, I made mine without one. Although it took a lot of rolling it did however, tone up my arms! 

    But if you don’t fancy making your own pizza but do still want some, then why not try Dietary Specials Bontà d’Italia Margherita Pizza! It’s one of the nicest pre made gluten free frozen pizza I’ve ever had! What’s more, it tastes just like normal pizza so you share it with those who don’t have to eat gluten free! [For a more in-depth review, click here]

     

    Dessert: 

    This is probably the most enjoyable part of any three course meal! And nothing says ‘I love you’ than a box of home made gluten free ferrero rocher!

    or why not try making your own gluten free Chinese fortune cookies and popping your own fortune inside! 

    But if you’re wanting something super quick but deliciously chocolatey, why not try my 5 minute microwave gluten free chocolate cake! Doesn’t sound that appitzing, but for a quick gluten free chocolate cake, it does taste pretty yummy!

     

     

     

     

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    Category All Categories, Appetisers / Snacks / Side Dishes, Gluten Free Doughs, Italian Recipes, Meal Ideas | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  2. The Fabulous Baker Brothers Sticky Doughnut Sticks [Gluten Free!]

    January 18, 2012 by Saara

    I don’t think I’m the only person in the UK who’s hooked on The Fabulous Baker Brothers! So if you haven’t been living under a rock these past few weeks, then you’ll know these two brothers, Henry and Tom Herbert [one's a butcher, the other's a baker] are on a food mission to show others that baking’s not just for us girls! Although, that doesn’t mean the girls should turn over the channel as they’ll definitely win us over too!

    Try not to confuse the duo with the 1989 film, The Fabulous Baker Boys with Michelle Pfeiffer, as these two don’t play schmaltzy jazz style music in small clubs. These fabulous baker brothers talents lie not in music making, but in baking and cooking as they show us foodies how easy it is to cook and that you don’t need to make endless amounts of cupcakes to prove to others that you can bake!

    They obviously know their stuff when it comes to cooking as they have four generations of family foodie knowledge and know-how behind them! Which is pretty impressive to say the least but also gives you the confidence that what they’re showing and telling you will turn out just perfect!

    So to show some love to The Fabulous Baker Brothers, I thought I would make one of their recipes. Now considering I’m supposed to be on a strict healthy diet [FYI: I'm on my 3rd day and I'm already struggling] I thought it’d be the perfect time to make their Sticky Sticks with Chocolate Sauce  and change the recipe ever so slightly so it’s suitable for us coeliacs!

    “So why on earth did you pick these sticky sticks?” I hear you ask. Well, the reason was… the melted chocolate and the fact that I haven’t had a doughnut or anything similar to a doughnut for years! Plus, the recipe looked so easy and quick that I knew I’d have whipped this up in a matter of minutes! What’s more, these sticky sticks are suitable for people with an egg intolerence as well as a dairy intolerence

    Ingredients:

     

    1. 400g Water
    2. 2 tablespoons of Oil
    3. 130g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour [I used Dove's]
    4. 130g Gluten Free Plain Flour
    5. Pinch of Salt
    6. 30g Granulated Sugar [I used a little more as I have a sweet tooth!]
    7. Vegetable Oil [for deep fat frying]
    8. Caster Sugar [to coat the sticky sticks]

    Method:

     

    1. In a pan, add the 2 tablespoons of oil to the water and bring to a boil 
    2. In a bowl, mix together the plain flour, the self raising flour, salt and granulated sugar 
    3. Gradually add the water and oil mixture to the bowl and mix together with a fork [try not to over work it and the dough may feel a little sticky] 
    4. Carefully roll out the sticky sticks dough into longish sticks 
    5. Heat the vegetable oil to 170°C in a fryer or heavy-based saucepan and carefully add a few of the sticky sticks and cook for 3- 5 minutes until golden and crispy on the outside 
    6. Once cooked, drain on some kitchen paper and when cool, sprinkle some caster sugar on a plate or clean surface and roll the cooked stick to coat 
     [If you're a fan of The Fabulous Baker Brothers then you'll be pleased to know they have a cookbook out available from here]
    You can now add this recipe to the new Channel 4 Scrapbook - a virtual curation tool that lets you save recipes, features and other items from the Channel 4 websites and across the web, into your own useful ‘scrapbook’.

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    Category Baking / Cakes / Desserts, Channel 4 Food, Dairy Free Recipes, Egg Free Recipes, Gluten Free Doughs | Tags: ,,, | 5 Comments

  3. Gluten Free Tortilla Wraps

    January 17, 2012 by Saara

    One of my all time favourite cuisines, has to be Mexican food! I just love every dish, flavour, dips and all the spices, so you can understand why I was a little bit miffed when I was diagnosed with coeliac disease!

    Although us fabulous coeliac’s can still eat some Mexican food, [I've just discovered we can eat Taco's - see my post here] sometimes I really miss the good old fashioned tortilla wrap! The good thing about these wraps is that they’re so versatile that you don’t have to use them to just make fajitas/burritos, you can also make them into healthy lunch time sandwiches!

    So back in the dreary summer of 2011, I decided to make some gluten free tortilla wraps to go alongside my home made 3 bean chilli. I followed a basic tortilla recipe I found on the internet and embarked on a mission to change the ingredients to suit us coeliacs [i.e changing the flour to gluten free flour and so forth!]

    But the whole process turned out to be a complete nightmare! Not only did it break when I rolled it [or even look at it for that matter!], when I finally manage to salvage one and cook it in a frying pan, it turned rock solid! I was worried I’d end up losing a part of my tooth if I took a bite and when I did bend the ‘wrap’, it just snapped in two!

    [My first time making tortillas!]
    

    So I vowed never, ever, EVER try and make gluten free tortillas again! I decided that maybe tortillas are my kryptonite and no matter how many times I practised, I would still fail. But every day that passed I kept thinking of these flipping’ gluten free tortilla wraps and I had visions of tortillas mocking me and laughing at me [to be fair, I must have been going a little crackers]. So when I planned to make 3 Bean Chilli again for me, Mike and Pete, I thought it’d be a good time to attempt to make gluten free wraps again!
    

    However, this time I decided to use my secret weapon – my dad! He’s such an amazing cook and he has such a passion for it too. He can literally make a top notch meal that’s fit for a king, with just a few shoe laces and old dust bin lid! [All right, I may be a little biased since he's my dad but trust me, he's an amazing cook!]. But having him on the other side of the phone, helped me with my confidence with making these again!
    

    Firstly I was going to add Xanthan gum which I didn’t use before [if you're unsure what that is, I wrote about it here] to the mixture. I’d decided that I was not going to roll them out too thinly as this made them rock hard too and I was also going to roll the dough in between two pieces of cling film, [a little tip my friend Fiona gave me-thanks Fi!] which I found worked an absolute treat!
    

    Another little tip my dad did give me was to stop obsessing with rolling the tortilla out into a perfect circle. The thing is, I’m so bad a rolling dough out and no matter how many videos I watch on how to roll dough into a perfect circle, it just never happens. Plus the whole point of cooking is for it to enjoyable and I was not enjoying this at all!
    

    Ingredients:
    

     
    

      

    1. 1 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum
      2. 

    2. 1 teaspoon of Sugar
      3. 

    3. 1 teaspoon of Salt
      4. 

    4. 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
      5. 

    5. 125g Gluten Free Plain Flour
      6. 

    6. 200ml Warm Water
      7. 

    7. 2 tablespoons melted Butter or Oil
      8. 

    

    Method:
    

    

      

    1. Add all the dry ingredients [xanthan gum, sugar, salt, baking powder and flour] into a bowl and mix together 
      2. 

    2. Add the melted butter/oil and gradually add the water until it forms a dough 
      3. 

    3. On a well floured surface, kneed the dough and then separate them into 4 balls 
      4. 

    4. Generously flour two sheets of cling film and pop one of the dough balls in between the sheets and gently roll them out [not too thin remember!] and do this for the rest of the dough balls too 
      5. 

    5. Add a little oil in a non stick frying pan and carefully add the rolled out tortilla 
      6. 

    6. Cook on the frying pan until golden on both sides 
      7. 

    7. After you’ve cooked the tortillas, now it’s time to tackle the kitchen and clean up the aftermath of the flour explosion! 
      8. 

    

    

    

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    Category Egg Free Recipes, Gluten Free Doughs, Mexican Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes | Tags:  ,,  | 11 Comments
    

      
    
    
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