Tag Archives: coeliac

Gluten Free Hidden Treasure

24 Oct

Whilst at the supermarket, I’m sure we’ve all spent far too many hours perusing the Free From section.  When we wander outside of our comfort zone into what I refer to as “the normal person aisles”, we must then spend our time reading ingredients lists in tiny tiny type.  Sometimes we’re even lucky enough to have an allergy advice box to assist us with our label checking.  Every once in a while though you strike gold, an item in the “normal person” aisle with the words “gluten free” on the packaging.  An item good enough that it is fit for consumption by regular folk, yet the manufacturers have been kind enough to label the item gluten free for us poor old gluten intolerants.  This is something that I refer to as gluten free hidden treasure.

So here are the hidden treasures that I’ve found over the past year:

Sakata crackers: You may hear the words “rice cracker” and have the instinct to run a mile.  However I cannot recommend these Japanese beauties highly enough.  These little crackers are packed with flavour and I particularly love the BBQ version (be aware this is made with gluten removed soy sauce so may not be suitable for those with wheat allergies).  Great for dipping too, and the classic cheddar flavour with some salsa is a great combination.  They’re even 97% fat free, but be warned they are addictive and I have demolished an entire pack on more than one occasion!  You’ll find these lurking in the cracker aisle next to the Jacobs and Ritz, somewhere you’d never normally look!

Pom Bear crisps: These crisps have achieved somewhat of a cult status amongst the gluten free community.  Found in the regular crisp section, these crisps are delicious.  Prawn cocktail, cheese & onion, salt & vinegar, bacon and the Halloween special pickled onion flavours  are all well worth a try.  In fact one of the advantages to being coeliac is being able to eat these teddy bear shaped snacks without anyone being able t0 mock you.  These are medicinal, and not for kids 😉

Burts crisps:  Crisps hand fried locally in Devon, these crisps are delicious and all flavours are labelled gluten free.  Burts also produce the Nandos crisp range, which are also labelled GF.  Plenty of choice in flavours too and even the new Guinness flavour is gluten free.

Heinz baked beans:  The good old classic Heinz baked beans are also labelled gluten free.  I’m sure most of you know this one, but it’s worth noting that some of the cheaper brands do contain gluten.  They’re even one of your five a day!

Birdseye potato waffles:  Beans on toast doesn’t taste the same with gluten free bread?  Don’t worry, pour your Heinz baked beans over some potato waffles instead and it tastes even better.  They’re waffley versatile too.  Some of the cheaper brands do use wheatflour in the coating so it’s great that Birdseye label their waffles gluten free.

McCain rustic oven chips:  When first diagnosed I spent a considerable amount of time reading labels trying to find oven chips that didn’t use wheatflour to crisp the coating.  I discovered these chips from McCain were not only labelled gluten free, but contain only 3% fat.  The ingredients are simply potato and sunflower oil.  I like the fact that the skins are left on too.

Almondy Toblerone dessert:  This cheeky little number can be found lurking in the regular dessert section at Tesco.  A cake like base, with a mousse topping that reminds me of a Milky Way, covered in chocolate and chopped almonds.  Really delicious and well worth a try if you are looking for a quick and easy dessert.

Amoy noodles: Amongst the Amoy range of noodles, there are a couple of varieties of rice noodle that are very clearly labelled gluten free.  They are straight to wok so perfect for stir fries, and it’s really nice to have a change from rice.  I’d recommend the ribbon variety if you can get them, as they are a bit more substantial than the thinner variety rice noodles.  Other varieties contain gluten so make sure you pick up the correct ones.

Options hot chocolate:  Well with winter approaching it’s nearly time to start enjoying a nice hot chocolate in the evening.  Finding a gluten free hot chocolate can be tricky however, but luckily the Options range use gluten free labelling.  I’ve tried the Belgian Hot Chocolate variety and it’s very nice, I’m not 100% sure if the other flavours are labelled gluten free so as always check the packaging (their packaging is far more helpful than their website I have to say). EDIT: I’ve checked the packs in Sainsbury’s today and all flavours I could find were labelled GF, including mint choc, orange choc and white choc.

Discovery Mexican:  I’ve mentioned this range in previous posts, but many of the Discovery products are labelled gluten free.  This includes the taco trays, most of the spice mixes and even the crumb coating.  Not all of the range is gluten free though, and sadly the tortillas contain wheat.

Packaging is subject to change as we have seen recently with Seabrook’s, so always make sure you read the label.  So what are your gluten free hidden treasures?  Please comment below and let everyone know!

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Gluten Free Mexican Food and Abby’s Refried Beans

21 Oct

My wife Abby is from America, where Mexican food is as common as the good old chippy in England.  So since we met 10 years ago Mexican food has been a regular feature in the Gollop household.  Fortunately Mexican food is easy to make gluten free, thanks largely to Discovery Foods great range of products – many of which are labelled gluten free.  We frequently use the taco trays to make quick and easy tacos.  Stir fry some onion and peppers with some mince or chicken with one of the spice mixes, serve with some grated cheese and salsa and you have a tasty meal in minutes.

Slightly trickier to find are gluten free tortilla wraps.  There are solutions though.  My first taste of gluten free tortilla wraps was the Lovemore version from Asda.  Quite possibly the worst gluten free product I have tried, like eating old leather boots and not something I would recommend!  Hope was restored though when we successfully tried this recipe from The Gluten Free Student Cookbook.  One of the most popular GF wraps amongst the gluten free community are the corn wraps from Mexgrcoer, and these are really nice (though only 6 inch diameter).  I’ve also had success with the Cool Chile Co wraps that are available in Whole Foods.  Another option is the easy mix available from the Foodamentalists, which is also available at Plymouth Greengrocer for Plymouth based readers.

Whether it be tacos, fajitas or quesadillas, no gluten free Mexican meal in our household is complete without Abby’s Mexican bean recipe.  These can also be re-heated in a microwave and can be perfect for parties to dip your tortilla chips in.  Based on classic Mexican refried beans, this recipe has evolved over time to use black beans instead of pinto beans.  They are much more readily available in tinned form, which makes this a simple recipe.  We have tried in the past with dried black and pinto beans and have never really had much success.  The caramelised red onion, garlic, white wine vinegar and lime juice infuse to give these beans an extraordinary flavour.  We usually serve as a side dish, but a friend we passed the recipe onto made them and just served with rice and really enjoyed it.

Abby’s Mexican Refried Beans

1 red onion. chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tins of black beans, drained

250 ml (ish) passata

Lime juice of one lime (we use bottled lime juice)

Fry the red onion and garlic in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil.  Next add the vinegar and brown sugar and cook until the onions are caramelised.

Stir in the black beans, passata, lime juice and add some salt and pepper to season. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened, or longer depending how mushy you like your beans.

Hope you enjoy and we’d love to hear from you if you try these.

Edit: For this of you asking where to buy soaked black beans, these are the ones we use which are from Sainsbury’s:

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At Last, Coeliacs Get a Pizza the Action!

16 Oct

Well come on, I work in the newspaper industry, you’ve got to give me the opportunity for at least one dodgy headline on here haven’t you?!  Anyway, if you are coeliac or following a gluten free diet then unless you’ve been living a sheltered life recently then you’ll have witnessed the wave of excitement in the last couple of weeks over three gluten free pizza announcements.  First of all Prezzo announced they would be serving gluten free pizza bases, have a look at the comments on this post for some great review comments from Elizabeth and Jessica.  This was closely followed by a Coeliac UK announcement that Pizza Hut would be following suit.  Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better it was announced the very same day that Domino’s would be serving gluten free pizza from November.

There was initially a lot of scepticism amongst the coeliac community as to whether this type of restaurant could really take cross contamination seriously enough to make these pizzas coeliac friendly.  However, it seems all three companies have worked closely with Coeliac UK and all have cross contamination controls in place.  Having looked on enviously at my social media feeds over the last week and seeing picture after picture after delicious looking pizza, I met up with fellow Plymouth gluten free blogger Sarah Ram to try the Pizza Hut offering.  Big congratulations to Sarah who passed her driving test just before we met for lunch!

I’d rung ahead to make sure the restaurant we were visiting had the gluten free bases, and also downloaded a voucher from Voucher Cloud giving any pizza plus salad for five pounds.  I had previously read that the salad bar was a bit of a cross contamination risk, so Sarah and I both avoided that and headed straight for the pizza.  Like we were there for the salad anyway!

We were told all toppings were gluten free, but being the sceptic that I am I also asked to see the allergy list so we could check our order.  We both chose the Americano, which consisted off chicken, bacon, sweetcorn and BBQ sauce.  Could you really ask for a better combination!

The pizza was a nine inch square pizza.  It looked kind of small when it arrived, but I have to say it was very filling and I was very full by the time I finished.  The pizza itself is square to make it stand out, and gives you confidence that you’ve actually been given the correct pizza.  The gluten free pizzas are baked on their own square trays to minimise cross contamination risks, and a clean pizza cutter is delivered with your un-sliced pizza again to cut out another risk from the kitchen.

The base itself was very nice.  It wasn’t very crispy if this is how you like it, but this suited me.  The balance between topping and base was spot on and we both really enjoyed the pizza.  I remember Pizza Hut being very greasy when I used to be able to eat there, but there was no hint of grease on this pizza at all.  Actually my wife always used to complain about the grease, and I would not be surprised if she would prefer this base to the standard one.

The staff seemed very keen to help and I have seen this mentioned a few times by other people.  There seemed to be genuine interest on what we thought of the pizza, and they were keen to tell us about good feedback they’d received from other customers about it.  There seemed to be some genuine interest/excitement from the staff about the new option.  They were happy to take us through the allergy list, and I even troubled them to show us the dessert options even though we’d already told them we weren’t having any.  Pretty slim pickings in that respect.

I would definitely go back for another go, and it is great to have another readily available option when out and about.  It was also really nice just to sit in a pizza restaurant and feel a little bit normal for a change.  A luxury once taken for granted and now so precious.  I’d love to hear about your Pizza Hut experience.  Please comment below and let everyone know how you found it.  I look forward to hopefully bringing you Prezzo and Domino’s reviews in the near future.

Update 28/02/12: Pizza Hut have now extended their gluten free operations, and their gluten free pizza base is now also available from their 300 delivery outlets. More from Coeliac UK below:

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/node/249829
 

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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