Woolworths Macro gluten free crumpet mix review

A few weeks ago I saw this mix in woollies. I must admit I was very curious! Crumpets was one of those things I had just written off that I would never have again unless I felt inspired to make them from scratch. This afternoon I made them with my kids for afternoon tea. It was really simple to make and the instructions easy to follow. I found using my silicone egg rings much easier than my metal ones, because they have handles which make them easy to flip. And the taste? Well I think they tasted really good, my kids gobbled them down! We covered them in Jam. I would certainly recommend this product and it wasn't too badly priced either. 

Lemon Meringue Pie

I think one of the hardest things to make when you gluten and dairy free is desserts. Lets face it they are usually full of either dairy or gluten. All is not lost though! This Lemon Meringue Pie recipe is gluten and dairy free!

Ingredients:
Base:
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1 cup gf self raising flour
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 125g nuttlex- melted
Pie:
- 4 Tbs cornflour
-1 1/4 cups water
- 2 Tbs nuttlex
- Lemon rind- grated
- 1 large lemon
- 1 cup castor sugar
- 2 eggs, separated

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients of the base. Then add melted nuttlex and stir until combined.
2. Cook base in the oven for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
3. Turn oven down to 160 degrees. In a saucepan combine cornflour, water, nuttlex, lemon rind and juice and  1/2 cup castor sugar.
4. Whisk over a moderate heat until boiling. Whisk a further 2-3 minutes.
5. Cool Slightly. Beat in egg yolks and pour into base.
6. Whisk egg whites until stiff.
7. Add in 1/4 cup of castor sugar and whisk until dissolved. Once dissolved add in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.
8. Pile meringue  over lemon mixture making sure in comes right down to the base all around.
9. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until meringue is golden.

Cinnamon scrolls

I must admit I have never really made cinnamon scrolls before, it's something that I have never really had and i cant actually remember eating one as a kid. It was until my friend over at The Useful Box made some scrolls for a morning tea that I actually considered them. My friend had accidentally made these cinnamon scrolls dairy free (see her Recipe). This got me thinking that I'd like to see if I can make a dairy and gluten free version. So here it is:

Ingredients:

1/2 cups rice milk

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

4 Tbs nuttlex

1 package/ 7g yeast

1 egg

3 3/4 cups GF self raising flour

Filling:

5 Tbs. of vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Method:

1. In a saucepan heat milk, sugar, salt and nuttlex until warm (not hot). The aim of this is to activate the yeast, if you make it to hot you will kill the yeast.

2. Add in yeast and a whisked egg.

3. Add the flour and stir until combined.

4. Divide the mixture into to two. Lightly flour a surface to roll out mixture to a couple of millimetres thick rectangles.

5. Brush the rectangles with oil and sprinkle over sugar and cinnamon.

6. Using a clean knife cut strips approximately 1.5-2 centimetres thick and roll up. 

7. Place the rolls on a lined tray and allow to rise for 40 minutes.

8. Bake in a pre- heated oven at 200 degrees for 12- 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

You can also add icing to the scrolls once cooled if desired.

Coles simply gluten free vanilla cake mix review

I was pretty excited when coles started advertising there simply gluten free range. I was even more excited when I looked at the prices. The vanilla cake mix was just $3. Bargain! Well it is in gluten free world. In my opinion they don't taste too bad either, but I guess you can't go to wrong taste wise when the first ingredient is sugar. I was really happy with this cake mix. It was easy to do and quick. It turned out really well. The cake was light and fluffy and tasted good. The icing also turned out well and tasted good. Overall I thought it was good and I would defiantly buy it again. I also love that this recipe can be made dairy free too by substituting the margarine for nuttlex.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the vanilla cupcakes mix is exactly the same. I've made this one too and it taste the same it just costs more. So I think if I want cupcakes I'm just going to use this and adjust the cooking time. 

Hope this helps

Sarah 

Passion fruit sponge cake

I know it's been a little while since my last blog post... Children are so time consuming! Today I thought I would share with a recipe I found from coles. It's a passion fruit sponge cake. The cake uses corn flour, which makes it gluten free, and the passion fruit in the icing make the cake delicious. It's also dairy free.

Ingredients

3 eggs
1/2 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup gf corn flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup passion fruit pulp
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp nuttlex

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Grease and line a 20cm round tin.

2. Using an electric mixer, place eggs in the bowl and whisk until firm, to form soft peaks. Place castor sugar into a sieve and slowly add, in small quantities, to the eggs while blending.3. In a separate bowl, sift cornflour, baking powder and salt. Sift again into egg and sugar mix. To combine, use a large spoon and slowly add a little at a time and then fold
4. Pour into the tin and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool
5. For icing, combine passionfruit pulp, icing sugar and unsalted butter and beat until smooth.
6. Serve with slices of mango and strawberries.


http://recipes.coles.com.au/recipes/1118/gluten-free-passionfruit-sponge-cake/ 

Gluten & Dairy Free Banana Bread

This recipe is for gluten free and dairy free banana bread with lemon icing. I really enjoy eating this banana bread, it has a really good consistency and texture. You wouldn't know it was gluten free!

Ingredients
125g nuttlex
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of mashed banana
3/4 cup gluten free self raising flour
1/4 cup gluten free plain flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice


Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a loaf tin.
2. Using electric beaters combine nuttlex and sugar. Once combined beat in eggs.
3. Add bananas. Stir to combine. Sift in flours and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well. Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin. Bake for one hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
4. Mix together sifted icing sugar and lemon. Spread evenly along the bread. Enjoy!



Recipe taken and adapted from taste.com

Muesli Slice

This recipe came about because I hate paying $5 for a Box of muesli bars. There is also that added bonus of having no nasties when you made something yourself!

Ingredients

125 g nuttlex

1/4 cup golden syrup

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup sultanas

1/2 cup cranberries

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup gluten free SR flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix together all the dry ingredients

2. Melt nuttlex and golden syrup in a saucepan, over a low heat. Once melted pour of dry mixture and mix together.

3. Spoon the mixture into a lined rectangular tin. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

* I also thing this recipe would be loverly with coconut or almonds or other kinds of nuts.

Enjoy!

Original recipe from Donna hay, adapted by me to make it allergy free.

Hazelnut and maple cookies

So these biscuits came about from an empty pantry, so I improvised  and they ended up being really delicious so I though I would share:

Ingredients:

125g of nuttlex

1 cup castor sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs maple syrup *

1/4 cup hazelnut meal

1 1/4 cups self raising flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

Method:

1. preheat oven to 180. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla.

2. Beat in egg. Add in maple syrup and hazelnut meal, stir until combined.

3. Mix in flour and xanthan gum.

4. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture onto a baking tray spacing biscuits a few centimetres apart.

5. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy! 

* be careful what maple syrup you use, some contain glucose syrup derived from wheat.

Xanthan Gum- A gluten free bakers secret

In many of my posts you may have seen me use xanthan gum. You may be wondering what it is. It's a corn- based, fermented product. In appearance in resembles baking powder. In gluten free cooking it can be used to thicken. I find its a really good substitute for gluten in things like cakes and biscuits. I find it also helps in the raising process, so if your making something that needs to rise add it in a see the difference it makes. Below is a picture of the Xanthan Gum i got from coles.

Sarah

Chicken, bacon and mushroom risotto

This risotto is delicious, especially with homemade stock. It's flavour is very subtle even my 2 year old loves it.

Ingredients:
500g/ 2 chicken breasts
3 rashers of bacon
6 medium sized mushrooms
4 litres of good quality chicken stock (I make my own, but if you don't I recommend Campbell's real chicken stock)
1 cup arborio rice
2 gloves garlic
1 brown onion
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Dice chicken, bacon, mushroom and onion
2. Begin by cooking the chicken. Once cooked remove chicken from pan and sauté onion, garlic, bacon and mushroom.
3. Put chicken back into pan and add in rice.
4. Using absorption method slowly add in stock. Season to taste.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

Sarah

Aldi 'has no' gluten free range

Recently when I was I aldi I happened to discover the now started stocking a gluten free range at very attractive prices. Two things caught my eye, the gluten free bread and the gluten free flours. I have tried out both these products recently and here is what I thought:

The bread-

I really think that the only good thing about the bread was the price! Totally missed the mark with this bread. I found it very dense and really hard to pallet. Won't be buying it again.

Gluten free flours- 

Aldi had both plain and self raising flours for sale. They cost about $3 a packet, which I really good in terms of the cost to other brands.  I have recently used both the flours I things I have made to test the flours out. I think in terms of taste, they were pretty good. However, the texture they gave was very grainy and really noticeable in things using a lot of flour. I don't think this is a good flour to use for baking. I don't think I'll buy it again.

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Yummy Meringues

Today I thought I would share with you a meringue recipie. The great thing about meringues is that it requires no changes to be wheat, dairy or soy free. To make the meringues i used a recipe of taste.com and it works really well. The only downside is that it takes ages to cook!

From Taste.com

 Here is the link to the recipe I use to make meringues. Enjoy!

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Double chocolate chip cookies

When I first couldn't have dairy I think the thing I missed the most was chocolate. I am a definite sucker for chocolate. My husband and I could easily down a whole block in a night if we wanted to. I remember the day a friend told me that Lindt 70% chocolate was dairy free. The next time I was at the shops guess what I bought? Although much to my disappointment I just didn't like the taste of dark chocolate. Recently I discovered how yummy dark chocolate could be if used in cooking. Today's experimentation was some gluten and dairy free double chocolate chip cookies. The verdict is they are delicious! Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:
125g of nuttlex
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup gluten free plain flour
1/2 cup gluten free self-raising flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
50 g a Lindt 70% dark chocolate, broken and crushed (50g is half a block)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 . Line two baking trays with baking paper
2. Using electric mixer cream together butter, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat in egg
3. Sift in flours, xanthan gum and cocoa. Beat until combined. Add chocolate chips
4. Place a tablespoon of mixture onto the trays approximate 6cm apart.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
6. Allow cookies to stand for five minutes before serving.

I should also add if you don't want it gluten free simply replace the gluten free flours for wheat flour and don't use the xanthan gum.

Sarah

Coconut and Lime Syrup Cake

Today I thought I would share with you this amazingly delicious cake. It's gluten, wheat, dairy and soy free but oh so yummy. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Cake:
250g of nuttlex or other dairy free spread
1 cup castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 2/3 cups gluten free self raising flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tin of coconut milk, scrap off separated cream from top to make 1/3 cup, then 1/4 cup of coconut milk
Zest of one lime

Lime Syrup:
4 large limes
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup water

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170/150 fan forced. Then grease and line a 22 cm spring- form round cake tin with baking paper.
2. Using electric beaters, cream nuttlex, sugar and vanilla until combined. Then add eggs and stir until combined.
3. Add in coconut, flour and xanthan gum. Then add the coconut cream, coconut milk and lime zest. Mix until well combined. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
4. When the cake is almost done, make the lime syrup. Peal the rind off one lime and chop finely. Combine the lime rind, lime juice, sugar and water in a saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until sugar dissolves. Allow syrup to boil and them simmer for five minutes. The syrup should reduce and become thicker.
5. Place the cake on a serving plate and gently prick the cake with a skewer, this allows syrup to be absorbed quicker. Slowly drizzle over hot syrup. Allow to cool then serve.


If you don't want gluten free simply use normal wheat flour and don't use xanthan gum.

Enjoy!

Sarah

The perfect crumb

I love eating crumbed food. This ranges from schnitzel, to crumbed fish or even something like chicken nuggets. But the unfortunate thing about not being able to eat wheat is that all these things go out the window, however you can make your own crumb. Sure it's not as convenient but it sure is worth the effort.

There are three basic ingredients in the perfect crumb. These are corn crumbs, egg and gluten free flour. For corn crumbs you can actually buy them in the supermarket or if you can't find them simply get a box of cornflakes and stick them in the blender. I have also done this without egg before using orgran no egg.

The process for crumbing is quite simple. Using three bowls place the flour in one, whisked egg in another and the corn crumbs in the final bowl. Place the meat in the flour first, then the egg and then the corn crumbs and your done. You can also season as desired. I usually add to the flour salt, pepper, and herbs. Lemon or lime juice is also nice. You can then cook your meat as desired, I usually shallow fry or bake in the oven.

Enjoy!

Sarah

The best apple crumble

Today I thought I would share with you one of my favourite desserts, Apple crumble. This recipe is a family recipe and I grew up loving it. I have simply modified it to make it wheat, dairy and soy free, please note the variations underneath the recipe.  Here is the recipe:

Apple Crumble

Filling

Ingredients:

•         One tin of pie apple or
•      8 apples, peeled, sliced and cooked (Can use ¼ cup of castor sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon when cooking apples to add extra flavour).

Crumble Topping

Ingredients:

•       1 cup brown sugar
•     1 cup rolled oats
•      1 cup plain flour
•      200g butter- melted
•      1 tsp. cinnamon
•      ½ cup coconut

Method:

1.  Pre heat oven to 180° c. Place apples in a pie dish and spread out evenly.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients. Then add melted butter until combined.
3. Spread out crumble over the apples, using a fork to push the crumble down and ensure it is evenly distributed.
4. Cook for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Wheat Free Variation:

-       Replace the plain flour for a gluten free plain flour.

Dairy Free Variation:

-       Use 125g of dairy free margarine instead of butter

   Sarah

Some basics

About two and a half years ago my beautiful daughter was born. A few months later we discovered she had a dairy and soy protein allergy. At the time I was still breast feeding and because of her allergy I had to cut out dairy and soy. Soon after this I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and the only thing that made me feel better was to cut out wheat from my diet. So began my journey... what on earth I could actually feed my family!

Since then I have made many discoveries and decided it was about time that I shared them, so here goes...


Some basics:

Most ingredients from 'normal' cooking can be substituted to something else which make it dairy/ wheat or soy free. Below is a list of some basic substitutions.

Dairy and soy free:

Milk- the best option here is either rice milk or coconut milk
Butter/ margarine: nuttlex (dairy free spread)- this comes in several different varieties, my personal preference is the blue one. Another substitute is lard, which I am yet to try out. I do know that lard is often used in pastry.
Cream- when in cooking I usually just use rice milk

Wheat:

Flour- I have tried making my own flours but now because of convenience I resort to a pre mixed gluten free flour. The best flour I have found it the white wings gluten free flour, however the downside to this is the price. At $6 for a kilo it's just a little bit to expensive. So I usually use the Woolworth Macro brand gluten free flour mix. Both these brands of flours are also dairy and soy free.