Gluten and Stress

Its a Monday afternoon and I should have been in Uni for the past 5 hours. Instead I am sitting on my bed with a poorly tummy and blinding headache. After a long weekend away I had takeaway last night. My local takeaway were really good when I was first diagnosed and told me what I could and couldn't have. Last night I had what I always eat from them. In the past I've been fine with it. But this time it made me ill.

I am noticing a link between gluten and stress. I'm not overly happy with life at the moment and yesterday was also dealing with some news that I didn't want to hear. Anyway I find whenever I'm in this kind of situation I am more susceptible to gluten.

I need to research into this further.

Anyone else notice a link between gluten and stress??

Apologies

Apologies for my lack of posts for the past week or so. It was my first week back at uni after exams last week and it was pretty hectic. I spent this weekend meeting up with some good friends I have not seen for far too long, at a reunion. So there has been little time for cooking or blog posts.
I did make some banana muffins the other day but they need more work to make them as good as possible.
I promise to post some recipes and tips as soon as possible!

"Children's" GF Soft Rainbow Cookie Recipe

This is actually a very similar recipe to the Adult GF Soft Cookie Recipe below but thought it deserved its own post (partly because it has its own pretty picture!) The basic recipe is the same but I substituted the chocolate chips/chunks for children's sweets. In this batch I used skittles and snowies. I guess M&M's or any other GF coloured sweets would work too.

Children's GF Soft Rainbow Cookies

125g soft margarine
150g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
150g GF flour
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
A splash of milk
2 packs of GF sweets

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum
4. Add the milk and stir in
5. Stir in the sweets
6. Make small blobs and spread out
   
7. Bake at 200C for 15 mins
   

Leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins until cool

The skittles melt and burn a bit around the edges but I quite liked that!

"Adult" GF Soft Cookie Recipe

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon in Birmingham. I finished my exams yesterday and am feeling free! So I decided to bake. I had a few ideas but had a request from a good friend of mine for cookies so that's what I made!

One thing I miss being gluten free is soft cookies so I decided to play with a few non-gluten free recipes in the attempt to make a GF alternative.

I'm quite impressed with the outcome!

Adult GF Soft Cookies

125g soft margarine
150g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
150g GF flour
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
A splash of milk
half pack of white chocolate chips
half a pack of milk chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and the sugar
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence
3. Add the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum
4. Fold in with a metal spoon
5. Stir in enough milk to make into a smooth slightly runny dough
   
6. Mix in the chocolate chips
7. Divide into blobs and bake at 200C for 15 mins

I made 8 quite big cookies but I think I'd go for 12 medium size ones next time.

Make sure you spread them out well as they expand a lot on cooking.

Leave them on the baking tray to cool for 5 mins before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Tiffin Recipe

I seem to have a problem finishing packs of biscuits! I open a pack, have a few, and then forget I've opened the pack! Then a week later I re-find the pack complete with soft biscuits. And as gluten free biscuits are so expensive I am reluctant to throw them away. So I came up with a solution!

My Granddad (affectionately known as "Beck-Beck") has always loved tiffin - a chocolately, biscuity tray bake. To me it has always been a comfort food reminding me of good times and safe places. So I decided to try a gluten free version of it to use up my half eaten packets of (now soft) biscuits.

Tiffin

200g dark chocolate
50g margarine
50g sugar
crushed GF biscuits
dried fruit

1. Melt chocolate and butter in pan
2. Stir in sugar
3. Remove from heat and stir in crushed biscuits and dried fruit
4. Set in fridge
   

I used Kinnerton chocolate - free from gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts. But any GF chocolate would do.

The amount of biscuits and fruit depends on personal taste (and how much biscuit you've got!) I just added the biscuits I had left.

Traditionally my mother and grandmother have always made this with raisins and glace cherries. I had neither of these so I added some tropical fruit mix.

You could also try adding marshmallow pieces and making a product similar to Rocky Road but I think I'd omit the sugar if I tried this.

Happy baking!

My Favourite Bread Recipe

My latest gluten free bread!

GF White Bread

Wet Ingredients:

3 cups water (luke warm)
3 eggs
25g melted butter/oil
5ml GF vinegar

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups Dove's Farm GF White Bread Flour
2 cups GF rice flour
2 tablespoons Xanthan Gum
2 teaspoons GF baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup dried milk powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 sachet of yeast

1. Add the wet ingredients to your breadmaker
2. Place the flour on top of the liquid so it completely covers liquid layer
3. Add Xanthan gum. baking powder, and dried milk powder on top of flour
4. Place sugar on top of flour, followed by salt and finally the yeast
5. Cook according to breadmaker instructions
   

This loaf rises really well and tastes great. Its a little bit sticky but works well for sandwiches without being refreshed first for the first couple of days.

I have made the dough in my breadmaker before and allowed it to rise, then removed it and made burger buns in the oven.

This rises right to the top of my breadmaker.

I cook it on the basic white bread setting as a 1lb loaf with a medium crust. I'd like the crust to be crispier so may try it on a darker crust setting next time or even try cooking it on the timings for a 1.5lb loaf.

As always these things need some experimenting to perfect. Still I love this bread.

Warning it is a little sweet. I'm reluctant to change the sugar content as it seems to be vital to the success of the recipe. If I find a way of reducing the sweetness while still producing such a nice loaf I will let you know!

JML Handy Seal

I often buy on impulse! I'm attracted by pretty things and money off deals and usually end up buying things I will never use.

It was with my impulsive head that I picked up the JML Handy Seal when it was reduced to £3.99 from £4.99 in my local Holland and Barrett.


But this is far from useless! I find that, in an attempt to make the best gluten free foods possible, I try lots of different types of flour, sugar, GF cereals etc. These things mainly come in plastic bags that need sealing after I have opened them. I've tried lots of different fiddly methods but still often find spills of these ingredients in my cupboards.

This is the best little machine! OK so really its just a basic mini heat sealer but its so easy to use, effective and quick, that I've quickly become one of its biggest fan. It's AA battery operated, has a guard to prevent it switching itself on and is magnetic backed so it sticks to the fridge.

Such a simple idea and yet so useful for all those half-used bags of flour!

Mario's Fish Bar, Brownhills

My second fish and chips of the month (I'm spoilt nowadays) came from Mario's Fish Bar in Brownhills.

Andy doesn't have a website yet but he does his gluten free night alongside his regular menu on the second Tuesday of the month. He has separate fryers and keeps everything apart so there is no cross contamination.

Mario's is located at 97 High Street, Brownhills and you can contact them on 01543371487 if you want any more information.

Andy has a family member (I think it's his aunt) who is coeliac and decided this would be a good thing to offer and he's certainly not compromised on taste to do it!

These are the best fish and chips I have had in a long time (including before going gluten free!) They use fresh fish (and it really shows in the taste) combined with Glu-to-Go batter. His chips are to die for as well!

Glutened!

I went out to a local Chinese buffet, Modern China in Stockland Green, Birmingham last night with my friend's parents. It seemed at the time a nice, welcome break from revision.

I was a little bit concerned about what I would eat but decided to go anyway. A quick conversation with the waiters made it obvious they didn't really know what gluten was, or what was in their dishes. I decided I would avoid everything with soy sauce in and be as careful as possible. Obviously the risk of contamination at these places is massive but I took the risk. I'm really regretting that today!

I had rice and plain stir fried vegetables along with crispy duck and rice pancakes (without sauce) and felt fine. I then got to the dessert section. I had some of the Chinese jelly and fruit to start with. I then found some mango and tapioca pudding (like rice pudding but tapioca.) I had some of this and felt quite sick after it. I assumed I had just eaten too much and went home.

When we arrived home we played Mah Jong (awesome Chinese tile game) to finish the evening on the same theme! (well actually because we love it.)




I felt tired as we were playing and this got worse and worse. When I am going to have a fit I first lose the ability to talk. I can understand what people are saying to me but I struggle to respond. It's like one of the connections between my brain and my vocal cords stops working.

I then passed out and began fitting (well they are like fits - we call them "twitches" because they are less violent than "fits"). My hands and head shake and I have occasional spasms down my whole body. My friends said it was the worst one they had seen me have. It lasted about 10 minutes. I then came round and was aware of what was going on around me again but I still couldn't talk. I can read and write after such attacks but am unable to coordinate my brain and my vocal cords to produce speech.

It usually takes a good night's sleep to regain my ability to speak. I feel rough today, like I've been hit over the head hard, and my stomach is in its usual turmoil but I feel a bit better.

I should probably point out that I don't have a typical response to gluten. Lots of research has been done into the neurological symptoms of coeliacs and there is a group of consultants that believe the fits suffered by some coeliacs are because the antibodies produced in response to gluten are particularly attracted to the cells in the brain, or due to the inability to absorb key nutrients.

Dr M Hadjivassiliou from Sheffield does a lot of research into this. Most the articles require free registration to view them so I can't link to them all. This article on "Neuromuscular disorder as a presenting feature of Coeliac Disease" is a free one though. If you are interested in this and want to read more put "Hadjivassiliou", "coeliac" and "neurological" into Google. It comes up with plenty of results but they are quite technical so some scientific knowledge is useful.

So yes, last night I took a risk with food and it didn't pay off and I am suffering. That'll teach me!

Atlantic Fish and Chip Bar, Tamworth

I have just had my monthly fish and chips from Atlantic Fish Bar, Tamworth. I am now feeling very full!

Sean, Elena and the team do a gluten free night on the first Monday of each month. They clean out the fryers and do a full day of gluten free goodies using Glu-to-Go batter.




They do fish, chips, fish cakes, pineapple fritters, kebabs (they even buy gluten free pittas), sausages and more!

It's so good to know that I can have so much choice and it all be safe. Sean is very careful and aware of cross contamination issues.

It's also a good place to meet other local coeliacs.

I drive a round trip of 25 miles to get my monthly fish and chips but it's well worth it!

Choosing Dry Pasta and Fresh GF Pasta Recipe

I used to hate gluten free pasta! I found it sticky and awful! I soon realised that rice pasta (for me) was a poor replacement. My mum bought me some Orgran Corn and Vegetable Pasta when I went to visit and I loved it. It was more tasty than wheat pasta and the texture was similar to that of 'normal' pasta.

I then discovered Sainsburys Free From Corn Pasta. Again the texture was less sticky and closer to what I was used to. I find this better for pasta bakes as it has a less distinctive flavour than the Orgran one.

So for me corn pasta was definitely the way forward!

I was then bought a pasta machine for Christmas last year. This enabled me to make fresh pasta with eggs and also opened up the possibilities of making filled pasta. (like ravioli.) I used the recipe from my pasta machine with an extra egg and a mix of cornflour and Doves Farm GF plain flour. I later added the Xanthan Gum as the first batch was too crumbly to put through the machine.


(This was the first successful pasta I made with my machine, drying)

Fresh GF Pasta

350g Plain GF Flour
150g Cornflour
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
4-5 eggs
2 tablespoons of oil

1. Mix the flours together in a big bowl
2. Add Xanthan Gum
   
3. Beat 3 of the eggs in with the oil
4. Add the liquid to the flour bit by bit, mixing in between
5. Add more egg as required to make the mixture come together into a ball of dough
6. Wrap dough in cling film and place in fridge for 30 mins
7. Remove cling film and split dough into 8 similar size pieces
8. Take a piece at a time and follow the pasta maker instructions to make pasta shapes of your choice!
   

You can freeze this as dough or as pre-made pasta shaped as long as you use it within a month of freezing.

Splitting the mixture into 8 should make it manageable sized to put it through the pasta maker - it stretches a lot during the process and can get quite difficult to handle if the pieces are too big.

Just a word of warning - making pasta this way is reasonably time consuming as each section is put through the machine up to 10 times to get the desired thickness and shape.

This pasta can be kept in a sealed tub in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Cook it by placing in a pan of boiling water for 2-3 mins. Spaghetti shaped pieces also make a good replacement for egg noodles with oriental meals.

Try making filled pasta parcels by leaving the stretched pasta as long strips (like lasagne) and cutting into squares. In the past I have made mixes of mascapone and cooked spinach (gorgeous) and soft cheese, salami and smoked ham. Seal them with any left over egg. These need cooking for a bit longer to ensure the filling is heated through.

Banana Breakfast Omelette

(Don't knock it til you've tried it!)

One of the biggest problems I've found since diagnosis is what to eat for breakfast. I've never been a fan of cereal (except Weetabix and porridge, both of which became off limits.) So although there are some pretty nice GF cereals around it's just not what I want in the morning.

Although I'm a student, I am in uni 9-5 most days as pharmacy is pretty hard going so I need something to keep me going until lunch time. I also am not great at getting up and like to stay in bed as long as possible so don't have much time for breakfast.

Two things I've always found both appetising and filling in the morning are bananas and eggs. So in my normal cooking style (mix things together and see what happens!) I decided one morning to mix these two. It's a simple idea but the results are great!

Banana Breakfast Omelette

2 eggs
1 banana

1. mash the banana and beat the eggs
2. mix together
3. heat some oil in a frying pan (I use an oil spray)
4. add the mixture and cook on a low heat for a few mins
5. when sufficiently cooked turn one side into the middle
6. then slide a spatula underneath the fold and roll the omelette over again so you get a sausage shape without any visible folds
7. cook for another minute or so
8. serve immediately

I usually drizzle it with honey as soon as I put it on to the plate but have also been known to spread Nutella on the top for a chocolatey treat.

Yum!

Gluten free treats - whilst out shopping

I love shopping and I don't like to have to plan what I will eat before I go or be restricted by time once I start. This became a problem when I began a gluten free diet as I could no longer just grab a sandwich or burger when I got hungry.

I do most of my shopping in Birmingham city centre and have discovered quite a collection of treats that I can buy when I'm out shopping. Most of them can probably be found in other towns and cities too.

My number one favourite has got to be the Marks and Spencer's Lemon Macaroons. These come in a pack of two and are found with the cream cakes in the fridge section. They consist of coconut macaroons sandwiched together with lemon cream. So so good! Unfortunately I can't find a picture of them.

Muffin Break are another favourite. Their branch in the Bullring, Birmingham always has one flavour of gluten free muffins and sometimes two. I really like them - especially the ones with the gooey topping! And at £1.75 they are only 10p more than the non-gluten free versions.

Caffé Nero in the Pallasades (above New St train station) does a gluten free brownie which is also very good. Also in the Pallasades is Holland and Barrett which sell a range of gluten free goodies including fruit and nut bars, flavoured rice cakes (try the Kallo yeast flavoured ones - they taste like Marmite!) and also gluten free cakes and biscuits including the Mrs Crimbles range (read the packaging carefully on these as some are wheat free but NOT gluten free.) I also love the So Crispy Paprika flavour snacks which can be found in most health shops and supermarkets.

Boots also do vegetable chips in a bag which are tasty and gluten free.

And if I need something more filling there's always the 'Coeliac's Best Friend' aka the jacket potato! Although if you are having cheese with it check whether they buy their cheese ready-grated and, if so, what is used to prevent it all sticking together. Sometimes they use wheat flour in ready-grated cheese.

Wing Yip Supermarket, Birmingham

I decide to have a few friends round for a meal on New Year's Eve for food. As students, such a gathering usually involves a phone call to the local takeaway. However we decided on Chinese and I knew I'd feel bad enough on New Year's Day from the alcohol without risking food contamination!

So I decided to cook. I went to the local Chinese supermarket, Wing Yip in Nechells, Birmingham.

When I first went in a was a bit disillusioned. You enter at the sauces section and after reading the ingredients of a few jars it became apparent that there was not much in that section I could eat. But I persevered and soon found some sweet chilli dipping sauce and fish sauce flavouring that were GF (and surprisingly cheap.) Further round I found rice paper cases for making spring rolls, or to serve with crispy duck, tapioca flour and vermicelli noodles made from peas, corn starch and green beans.



I was temporarily distracted by the alcohol section (!) where I bought some Sake - rice based spirit as seen at Wagamamas etc.

Further round I found coconut milk and a Singapore curry sauce that were both GF.

But the visit for me had two gems. The first was Hutu porridge which is corn based and seems really easy to make (haven't tried it yet - will report back when I have.) The second was a confectionery product. It was flaky rice pastry filled with red bean paste and topped with sesame seeds. There were 4 in the pack and they were slightly sweet. I really like them. In fact I'm off to test some recipes for Chinese rice pastry. I'll let you know when I find a good one.

So a visit to your local Chinese supermarket is very much recommended.

Oh and my bill came to £13 which included the sake, some chopsticks and some vegetarian soy bean starters as well as the other things I have mentioned. Not a bad deal!

Basic Gluten Free Cooking Tips

If you remember nothing else about gluten free cooking there is one golden rule that never seems to fail me.

If you are trying to use a recipe using wheat flour and replacing it with gluten free flour:


Always use more liquid than the recipe says!



That's it! That's the number one rule. How much depends on what you are making and what flour you are using. But experiment! That's part of the fun of baking!

For example if I'm making a GF sponge cake I add a bit of milk after the flour. The mixture looks more runny than it would if it wasn't GF but the cake comes out much more moist.

Also, again if you are trying to transform recipes that you used to use before diagnosis, if the recipe calls for self-raising flour either:

1) Use normal GF flour and add a teaspoon of GF baking powder per 100g of flour. Supercook do one but be careful - it looks like their non-GF one and I find supermarkets often mix them up.

2) Some companies actually make self-raising flour (Orgran do) but these are quite expensive if you can't/don't get them on prescription.

I personally go for option one.

Also buying some Xanthan Gum was a lifesaver. This is a naturally gluten free product that can be used to replace gluten in GF products. It adds some of the stickiness and versatility lost by using GF flour.

I use it mainly in bread (or use GF bread flour which already has it added) but also find it useful in muffins and sponge cakes. (recipes to follow!)

Peanut Goo Recipe

This is my take on flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies but I find it works better as a tray bake. Its a quick and easy recipe so good for those times when you are craving something sweet.

Peanut Goo

1 jar crunchy peanut butter
2 medium eggs
50g sugar

1. mix peanut butter and sugar together in a bowl
2. beat the eggs and then add bit by bit
3. grease baking tray and spread mixture over the bottom
4. Cook at 200°C for about 10-15 mins until the edges begin to come away from the side of the tin.
5. Leave to cool in tin then cut into squares and enjoy!

By adding the egg bit by bit you should avoid the mixture getting too sticky but if you put too much in, add a little GF flour until its manageable again.

Try glazing the bake with any left over egg mixed with some milk.

You should end up with a sweet, gooey but crunchy tasty treat!

Tampopo Restaurant, Trafford Centre

I was shopping in the sales at the Trafford Centre, Manchester the other day when time flew away (along with money!) and I found myself hungry.

I'm always very wary of eating out gluten free but am determined to live a "normal" life and also to raise awareness of Coeliac Disease amongst restaurant owners and staff.

We found an oriental restaurant called Tampopo which covered a range of cuisines across East Asia. There was a lovely atmosphere to the place, with shared tables like Wagamamas. When the waitress came to take our drinks order I said I was Coeliac and was ready to explain(!) when she said, "I'll just get you the allergy menu." I was shocked!


There were 3 or 4 main dishes I could have along with prawn crackers. I chose Chicken Pad Thai - a lovely dish with rice noodles and flavoured with chilli, lime and peanuts. Delicious! And no adverse effects.

The Allergy Menu can also be viewed on their website.

To sum up: a great restaurant with lovely, safe, gluten free food!

Mince pies

Might be a bit late for this year but I was given an awesome sweet pastry recipe by someone on the Gluten-free message board

Gluten Free Mince Pies

250g unsalted butter
550g flour
100g icing sugar
2 eggs
GF mincemeat

1. beat butter and sugar together
2. beat in eggs
3. blend in flour
4. chill in fridge for one hour
5. roll out, use a pastry cutter to make round cases
6. fill half the cases and cover with the other half
7. Cook at 180°C for about 15 mins until golden brown

For regular pastry use ordinary butter and leave out sugar

(Ok so these aren't mine. I forgot to take photos of them! But the post is prettier with a picture!)


I glazed them with egg and milk and then sprinkled them with demerara sugar and cinnamon.

So good! It was great to have gluten free pastry which didn't just fall apart when you tried to shape it.

I found I had to add a little bit of water to the mix to make it come together.

I also made some jam tarts from the same pastry...yum!

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog!

I thought I'd start this blog to share some recipe ideas, restaurant reviews and general insight into life as a gluten free student!!!