Tasty Treats to Try!

We're always on the look out for products and recipes to get Sous Chef J to try new foods... and were pleased to be offered the chance to try out some of Udi's Gluten Free goods.

First to be tried were the bagels - we had Cinnamon and Raisin.  They were toasted for a quick breakfast alternative.  Sous Chef J did try them but he's more of a porridge eating chap.  Luckily, B was on hand to polish off the bagels and was very pleased to be able to 'assist'!

 

The Bagel Chips were more of a success with Sous Chef J as he usually prefers crispy foods.  He liked the "not too cinnamony cinnamon".  We stored the chips for snack purposes and Sous Chef J suggested using them as a simple and quick Rhubarb 'crumble' topping - it worked very well, adding a spicy crunch to our pud.

Looking at the two-pack of muffins - they are different in that there was one toffee flavour and one chocolate chip... luckily J opted for toffee and B and I shared the 'half calorie' choc chip one.  It was good to see an even distribution of the choc chips throughout the muffin.  The muffins were judged to be 'lovely'.

As a favourite lunch here is dips, the Ancient Grain Crisps were very well received.  Sous Chef J does not have a preferred variety - he thought both flavours were great.

We even managed to eat outside when the sun was shining... and we think food always tastes better in the fresh air.  Plus you can top up your vitamin D whilst you're there (something we're keen on at the moment).

Finally, we got round to trying the "soft and chewy Strawberry Flavoured Breakfast Bars"...these come individually wrapped and reminded me of rather large fig rolls!  J liked them and we'll be taking them on trips out as they're so handy for places that still do not offer gluten free options.

We checked out Udi's in our local Sainsbury's and found there is a selection of their products on sale.  Our friends (who are, very kindly, always on the look out for gluten free items for us) tell us Tesco also stock a range of products including the Ancient Grain crisps.


Disclosure - we were sent a box of products to try but were not required to write a review.  The views expressed are our own.  We were not paid for this post.

Lots of Lunchbox Loveliness... and all Gluten Free!

The other day, Sous Chef J was asking about what food he'd be having for lunch.  We came up with so many options that we started to make a list... and it kept getting longer!  In fact, it contains so many ideas that it's going to take more than one post, but this is a starting point.

As a fast sandwich option, when we can source it, we use Genius Gluten Free Seeded Bread to make sandwiches - Sous Chef J likes grated cheese and homemade chutney (or if he's making them he chooses jam) as fillings.  To follow he may have an individual, home made, gluten free Lemon Drizzle Cake (sliced) or mini muffin. 

In warmer weather, a firm favourite is dip and dippers.  Avocado dip is an easy one to make, is full of 'goodness' and the range of dippers that can be used is wide - (Burt's) crisps, vegetable crisps, sticks of cheese, vegetable sticks, sliced peppers, gluten free mini breadsticks, slices of apple and so on.  Parmesan crisps are also good for dipping...

If we've made pizza, we try to freeze some slices for use in lunchboxes.  It's ready to be grabbed, put in the bag and will be defrosted by lunchtime.  Sous Chef J likes it with gluten free mayo.

When there's time, and we are planning days out, then some nut crackers will be made.  These go well with cheddar cheese, coleslaw and apple to make our own version of a gluten free ploughman's lunch.

Slices of our pastryless quiche are also good for lunchboxes.  Served with some coleslaw and a packet of Burt's chips and Sous Chef J is very happy indeed.

We have ventured into the realms of purpose made savoury lunch/brunch muffins and they were a hearty option.  Although Sous Chef J preferred them warm, they were eaten speedily with an accompanying sachet of tomato ketchup.

Recently Sous Chef J has been experimenting with lunchtime toast... a big success was grated cheese on Genius Seeded Toast with mango chutney.  So long as the toast was presented cut into 'soldiers' he was delighted with his concoction.  If making them for a lunchbox, he will "just do the cheese on toast and take a small pot of the mango chutney for dipping purposes".

Sweet things to take out and about with us are a little easier to sort out when we've had a batch baking weekend... like the one we've just had.  We made lemon drizzle loaf and two mini lemon drizzle loaves (see the top pic to see what these look like sliced!) as well as a whole tray of mini chocolate muffins (using our quick mix chocolate cake recipe and chocolate fudge icing).  Half of all we baked were cooled, bagged, labelled and frozen for easy lunchbox fixes over the coming days.

We hope the things that work for us provide ideas and inspiration to you - we have more to cover in a later post so watch this space!

Pancetta and Cheese Muffins

We spotted this recipe in the M&S Allergy Free cookbook that was a Christmas gift (sadly the same one's no longer listed on their website.)  It includes polenta and is a savoury muffin which I had hoped Sous Chef J would like as a breakfast/brunch item. 


Having decided to use half the ingredients listed in the recipe in this trial bake, we gathered together:-

½ tablespoon Olive Oil
100g pancetta, chopped
2 spring onions, sliced
87g self raising flour (Dove's Farm gluten free)
27g polenta
38g grated cheddar cheese
80ml milk (we used home made yogurt)
1 egg (we used a large one)
30g melted butter

Whilst preparing the onions, the butter was melted.

The dry ingredients were placed in a mixing bowl - about a third of the grated cheese was reserved for later.

Having heated the olive oil in a frying pan, the pancetta was browned and then the onions were added.  Once the onions were softened, not browned, the pan was removed from the heat to cool slightly.

Once we had added the melted butter to the dried ingredients in the mixing bowl, the cooled pancetta and onion was added as well. 

Using a wooden spoon, the ingredients were mixed until well combined.

Dessertspoon dollops of the mix were divided between 6 muffin cases.  It is a firm mix and was quite a stiff consistency.






To finish off the muffins, they were topped with the reserved grated cheese. 

The muffins were baked in a pre-heated fan oven (180C) for about 12-15 minutes (this will need checking depending on the mix consistency.)  They were cooled in the muffin tray for 10 minutes.

Delicious warm and still tasty the next day - we  warmed them through prior to serving.

The muffins were a hit although Sous Chef J definitely preferred them warm... and with oodles of tomato ketchup.

These muffins freeze well.  The ingredients we used made 6 muffins.

Banana Bread

Sous Chef J was delighted to get a SUSTRANS leaflet through the post about Free Range Kids.  In it he quickly spotted a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe for Banana Bread and, eyeing up the spotty bananas on the windowsill, he asked if we could bake it.  Taking a look at the ingredients, I agreed, although we did have to swap the apricots in the recipe for dates... and, of course, the self raising flour was substituted by Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour.

With Sous Chef J firmly in charge, preparation commenced.  He got the ingredients together and weighed out the things that were needed. So, we assembled 75g sultanas, one lemon, 100g soft unsalted butter, 125g sugar (recipe says caster, we had granulated), 2 large eggs, 3 large ripe bananas, 200g self raising flour (we used Dove's Farm Gluten Free Self Raising) and 75g dried dates (although recipe says ready to eat apricots!).

Then Sous Chef J moved onto the task of making the dates the same size as sultanas... but was surprisingly adept at the task and completed it without a moan!




The sultanas and dates were placed into little pots (a la MasterChef) and I was told to cream the butter and sugar.  Next an egg was added to the butter/sugar mix and combined well before repeating with the remaining egg.  At this point, the dried fruit and lemon zest were added and mixed in.

Sous Chef J then mashed the three bananas and added them to the mix.  Finally, the sifted Gluten Free Self Raising flour was carefully combined using a metal spoon. 

Next, the whole lot was added to the lined loaf tin and placed in the pre-heated oven.  As we were cooking other things in the oven, the temperature was higher (at 180ºC) than the recipe's stated 160ºC so we have a rather more brown outer loaf than would be expected!

Mmmmm... lovely Banana Bread

We checked it after 50 minutes but returned it for another 15 minutes as the inserted knife came out with cake mix on... then checked again, repeating until the knife blade came out clean.  In the end it was baked for about an hour and a quarter.  It was cooled in the tin for 15 minutes, then turned onto a wire cooling rack.

Delicious!  And well worth the wait.

Update - 7 October

Today we found ourselves with three VERY ripe bananas so Sous Chef J thought another batch of Banana Bread would be a good way to use them up.  I had other ideas and convinced him to try making muffins instead.  So, we agreed on a mix of muffins and mini muffins. The mix was shared between 12 muffin cases and 6 mini muffin cases.  The mini muffins were cooked for about 10 minutes, whereas the muffins took around 20 minutes.  Here are some pictures to show the results.

 

These are some ready to be frozen as we like to be prepared with Gluten Free goodies!

Quick Muffin Making

Today we needed another quick baking food 'solution'... so we tried out a packet of Mrs Crimbles Muffin & Sponge mix. As time was tight, muffins were identified as the baking item of choice. My sous chef read the ingredients and assembled them as detailed on the packet.

He was happy to mix the ingredients and added a liberal helping of dried blueberries into the bowl.The mixture was then shared between the 6 muffin cases and baked (for about 10 minutes) in the oven which had been preheated to 170C. Here are the "before" and "after" baking pictures.






The muffins were very simple to make and the result was light and tasty. We will definitely try the mix again and may try to do a Victoria Sponge cake next time. In the meantime, here's a picture of the inside of the muffin...
... it seems the blueberries were a little few and far between!

All in all a good 'quick cook' option for gluten free muffins... although you may need more than one packet if you have a few people to feed.