Eton Mess

This is probably one of the easiest recipes ever, I definitely recommend people to give it a go. Eton Mess is a dessert consisting of strawberries, cream and pieces of meringue... and that's it, so simple. It's also completely gluten free! It's traditionally made with strawberries, but any other berries or fruit would be just as lovely.

INGREDIENTS

• Meringue (homemade or shop brought)
• 300ml Whipping Cream
• Punnet of Strawberries
• 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar

METHOD

1. Put the whipping cream in a large bowl and whisk thoroughly. When it becomes thick, stop. Don't over whisk. To save time you can use an electric whisk or you can do it by hand.

2. Chop half of the strawberries into small cubes and save the rest to make into a sauce.

3. Crumble the meringue into bite size pieces.

4. Add the meringue and strawberries to the whipped cream.

5. Gently fold all of this together, making sure not to work the cream too much.

6. To make the strawberry sauce, take roughly 10 strawberries and put it in a food blender with 3 or 4 tablespoons of caster sugar. Pass through a fine sieve to remove any pips.

7. Pour half of the sauce into the mixture and stir gently only a few times to make a rippled effect. Serve into individual bowls and add a little more sauce on the top, and Voilà! Ready to eat immediately!

xo

Delivery!

 

Today was delivery day :) Coeliacs are allowed to get basic foods such as bread, flour and pasta on prescription from the chemist and every one or two months we get a whole load delivered to my house. I filled the cupboards today with everything that arrived, it looks like a lot but we have to spread it out over the month and that's between three of us! My favourite things that we can get are the Glutafin White Bread and the Glutafin Baguettes♥ They're absolutely yummy. We also have a supply of pasta & spaghetti, and we get pizza bases every four or five months as a treat. A lot of takeaway pizza places now allow you to take your own bases, which is such a great idea because it means we don't have to miss out entirely! You just have to be aware of cross-contamination as even the slightest crumb can have an affect on some people. Most of the things we get are part-baked, because if we had anything fresh it would go off in a couple of weeks and we don't have enough freezer space for all this bread. And everything is always individually wrapped to keep it from drying out... trust me, it's dry enough!

Strawberry Cheesecake

Cheesecake is one of my most favourite desserts of all time, and I literally have not been able to eat it for at least 6 months now, so when my boyfriend's mum came across a gluten-free lemon cheesecake recipe in the May 2011 edition of ASDA magazine, I had to give it a go! My favourite cheesecake flavour was always strawberry, especially the frozen £1 one you could get from Sainsbury's, so when making it I decided to use strawberries instead of lemons.

INGREDIENTS

Cheesecake: 

• 150g Glutafin Digestive Biscuits
• 50g Butter, melted
• 250g Mascarpone
• 250g Soft Cheese (Philadelphia)
• 100g Créme Fraíche
• 150g Caster Sugar
• ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Level Teaspoon of Cornflour
• 2 Medium Free-range Eggs

Topping:

• Punnet of Strawberries
• 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Caster Sugar

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C for fan assisted/Gas mark 3.

2. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

3. Crush the biscuits to make crumbs. The easiest way to do this is to put the biscuits in a plastic bag, seal, and bash with a rolling pin.

4. Mix the crumbs in with the melted butter making sure they are thoroughly coated, then spread evenly over the base of the tin. Press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge to set while you continue with the rest of the recipe.

5. Put the Mascarpone, Soft Cheese, Créme Fraíche, Caster Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Cornflour & Eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. You can do this with an electric or hand whisk. Do this until evenly blended and of a creamy texture.

6. Pour this mixture onto the base and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Don't peek! It can sometimes cause the cheesecake to crack if you do. When cooked, turn off the oven but keep the cheesecake inside for another 30 minutes as it cools.

7. To make a fruity juicy topping (strawberry in my case) take some fruit and put it in a blender with some caster sugar. I used about 12 Strawberries and roughly 3 or 4 tablespoons of caster sugar. Pass it through a fine sieve to remove any pips. You could also use chocolate sauce, or just leave it without a topping if you prefer it New York style! For lemon cheesecake like the original recipe, add lemon zest and juice at stage 6.

I find that it's best to leave the cheesecake in the fridge overnight to set and let the flavours blend together, so I'd recommend not eating it until the next day (if you can resist!)

And here is my finished result! <3

 xo

24th Birthday

 Every birthday in my household, we have a tradition that you MUST have a birthday cake with candles. A popular choice is Cadbury's chocolate. Well this year was the first that I wouldn't be able to have a regular cake :(

My boyfriend's mum is literally a master of cakes. She bakes them and decorates them perfectly. Why she isn't running her own little cake decorating business as her full-time job, I'll never know! As a surprise for me this year, my boyfriend and his mum made me a gluten-free birthday cake beautifully decorated and it was amazing.

It was chocolate layered sponge with chocolatey butter-creamy goodness in the middle. She cut out the butterflies herself out of icing and sprinkled it with stars. I think it's really beautiful. The sponge tasted and felt just like regular sponge, thanks to slow cooking and Xanthan gum. Homemade gluten free cakes for any occasion are a perfect substitute to regular cakes for people with allergies, just remember to make sure the baking powder is gluten free too! :)

coeliac girl

I'm 24 years old and I got diagnosed with Coeliac disease on December 23rd 2010 at age 23. Yes, two days before Christmas! :( I was undiagnosed for roughly 7 months, in which time I suffered with stomach problems, anemia and severe anxiety. I was studying hairdressing at the time and ended up leaving the course due to my illness. After countless blood tests and an endoscopy examination it was eventually revealed that I had the disease and started a gluten free diet immediately.

 What is Coeliac disease? A description on the Coeliac UK website explains it like this:

"Coeliac disease (pronounced see-liac, spelt celiac disease in other countries) is an autoimmune disease. Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye triggers an immune reaction in people with coeliac disease. This means that eating gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. Other parts of the body may be affected."

The best way I can personally describe it is, when I eat foods containing gluten such as bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits etc, it's like a "normal" person eating a raw piece of chicken. Imagine the agony the next day, and the horrible sickness/toilet symptoms... accompanied with severe stomach cramps. All day.  Iron deficiency and lack of other nutrients is also an issue due to the way your gut attacks itself. There's also a greater risk of bone/calcium problems such as Osteoporosis as well as higher risks of bowel/stomach cancer.

Coeliac disease runs in my family. My dad has been a Coeliac since he was 3 years old, and over the past few years two of his brothers and his sister have been diagnosed after hitting their forties. He has two more brothers who are yet to be tested. My sister is 20 years old and she was also diagnosed a few weeks ago, although she currently shows no symptoms. My little brother is 14 years old and also shows no physical symptoms, but is currently waiting for a second batch of blood test results to arrive, the first showing signs of anemia.

The main reason for starting this blog is so I can share my experiences, in the kitchen and while eating out. I love to bake gluten-free cakes and other goodies, I would bake all the time for my dad before I was even diagnosed, and I'd like to share some of the recipes I use (I'm not going to pretend they're my own, they're not, I'm a very amateur cook) and other hints and tips that I've come across.

Thanks for reading :) Kazz x