Asda Free From Chocolate Sponge Cake

Covered in chocolate icing..............

...........and a chocolate fudge centre, not crumbly...........

........heat in the microwave for 30 secs or until the middle starts to melt..........

..........pour over some cream (Lactofree cream for me) or even add a scoop of your favourite ice cream!

Delicious!! Only £3 from Asda!

Recipe - Gluten Free Tagliatelle and Meatball Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS

Gluten Free Sausages

Gluten Free Tagliatelle

Passata

Spring Onions

Seasoning (garlic salt, celery salt, mixed herbs, thyme, all purpose seasoning, garlic powder, chilli powder)

STEP ONE

Take 4 sausages and pinch the meat out of the skin (3 to 4 pinches per sausage), you can roll each piece into a ball or leave as is before adding to a pan with a little oil (not necessary if you have a non stick pan.

STEP 2

Boil a pan of water for the tagliatelle

STEP THREE

Once the water is boiling add the tagliatelle to the pan, roughly 3 to 4 bunches per person

STEP FOUR

Stir/turn the meat balls so that they become brown all over

STEP FIVE

Cut up 2 spring onions and add to the browned meat balls

STEP SIX

Add the seasoning to the meatballs, according to taste and stir

STEP SEVEN

Open the passata and add to the meatballs, then stir

STEP EIGHT

once the tagliatelle has come to a boil, remove the lid and simmer until desired texture( alldente or soft) then rinse under cold water to stop the cooking

STEP NINE

Once the meatball sauce has simmered and reduced (thicker, richer colour) remove from the heat

STEP TEN

Plate up the tagliatelle and add the meatball sauce on top

You can garnish with cheese/herbs/black pepper

ENJOY!

Gluten Free Christmas Treats

I have started to stock up on some GF Christmas treats so that I do not miss out like I did last year, as it was my first GF Christmas I spent so much time trying different brands of mince pies that by the time I went back to stock up on the ones I liked they were out of stock.

These were in Asda for £1.50 so I picked up two boxes, one box is at my mums house for safe keeping, as I have already demolished the box I kept at home (I bought these about 2 weeks prior to December)

When I opened them I remembered that although they tasted good and have a good filling to pastry ratio, they were the ones with the soggy bottom!

It's not soggy as in doughy, but they are transparent as if the filling is ready to drop out at any minute 

So yesterday I remembered where I bought the ones I liked last year, Wholefoods, so took a little detour on my way to work and picked theses up 

Good old Hale & Hearty! As soon as I saw the box (although last year I think it was black) the pictures of the mince pies confirmed that these were the right ones.

Although the price on the shelf said £4.99 when I got to the till they were £3.89. Very pricey but well worth the money

Slightly battered but I'm sure they will taste as good as I remember, very tempted to go and buy another box.

Another thing that was sold out when I wanted it lasted year was the Lactofree Cream, I am yet to buy any as need to find out the shelf life and/or if it is freezable, failing that I have noted 4 to 5 different stores that stock it in my area so hopefully I will get hold of one (or two) before they all disappear.

Now I never use to eat Christmas pudding, mainly because most of them contain nuts, but not only did I find a GF and DF one, its nut free too, thank-you Asda (although I did see the Waitrose one first)

It's a small one, just enough for one portion, so I bought one for my little brother as well because he too is allergic to nuts so has never had Xmas pud before.  These were £1.50 each.

When I saw these Mincemeat Crumble Squares in Asda I could not resist (bought the rocky road ones as well) and when I tasted them they did not disappoint

They did not stay in my cupboard for very long! At £2.00 I thought it was pricey, but again they were worth it and I will purchase another box to add to the treats at my mums house, then I at least have some variety over Christmas week.

Today (3/12/14) I picked up an Advent Calendar

At £2.69 it was the cheapest one I saw as it is free from gluten, wheat an dairy, however it does contain soya, it is towards the end of the list so I'm hoping it should be ok.

They had a larger selection in Wholefoods but at £4.99 I really didn't think it was worth it. I may go back in next week maybe and see if they have reduced the price.

Although these are not a Christmas treat per se, I picked up some Genius Lemon Cupcakes because I haven't had them since my first purchase and the Christmas packaging caught my eye.

I thought the lemon would be refreshing from all the chocolate and mince pies, except I know these won't last until Xmas week!

Enjoy your Christmas shopping!

Nestlé Gluten Free Corn Flakes - Honey

Was happy to find these Gluten Free Cornflakes on a recent trip to my local Asda, I didn't buy them the first time I saw them but when I did go back for them there was none on the shelf in the Free From section.  I was gutted and immediately thought that I should have bought them when I first saw them.

However my mum said that she had seen them on the end of the cereal aisle, which I thought was odd, however I took a look and found a shelf full of them in the "normal" cereal aisle!  AMAZING!  I suppose that since they are clearly labelled gluten free (you can't miss the huge letters) that it would be ok to place them there however, if you are on a gluten free diet, for whatever reason why would you be looking in the cereal aisle when there is a dedicated free from section elsewhere?!?

They also have the plain Corn Flakes, for those that don't want the added sweetness.

As you can see this clearly Gluten Free and I am glad that a known brand like Nestle has introduced a gluten free product to their range, hopefully they will set the trend for other brands to follow (I know Heniz was the first known brand I had seen with a gluten free range)

I have been eating this every morning now for the past two weeks and I must say that either my bowls are why to big or there is not 16 portions per box as one box lasts 7 days for me, maybe I need smaller bowls.

To be honest, cornflakes should be naturally gluten free any way as they are maize, but clearly cereals are produce in an environment where gluten and wheat are present so your standard box of cornflakes or frosties can not be labelled as gluten free.

All in all, I am happy that I have found this box of cornflakes, at only £2.00 and in the same size box as your standard cereals rather than having to pay £2.50 upwards for a smaller box of any other gluten free cereal.

I hope that this sets the trend for more gluten free products to be packaged in the same quantities and price ranges as standard foods so that they can sit side by side on the shelf.

Related Posts

Dohertys - Gluten Free Thick Pork Sausages

Breakfast - Eggs, Ham and Spinach

Breakfast - lactofree & udi's

Sunday Breakfast with Genius

Breakfast - BFree Wraps

Food and Drink Storage - it's all PURPLE

Over the past few months I have collected a range of PURPLE food and drink storage containers in the vain attempt to encourage myself to take a homemade lunch to work as on the go gluten free products are scarce and expensive. So to ensure that I don't starve and to save myself some money I have also come up with some lunch and snack ideas to store and carry with me in these lovely containers.

My first item was this thermal mug which I found in Asda known as a travel tumbler which cost £2.

http://direct.asda.com/george/george-home/asda-400ml-travel-tumbler-purple/001434665,default,pd.html?cgid=D24M09G01C06

It is great for hot and cold liquids, the instructions state that you should add boling/ice water for a few minutes to get the tumbler up to temperature before discarding and then adding your desired beverage.

I have tried both hot and cold drinks and I must say it works very well.  When I have peppermint tea it stays hot for at least an hour before the temperature starts to drop but you still have at least another hour before it goes completely cold.

So I would normally prepare my tea just before I leave the house then by the time I get to work 45 mins to an hour later it would be drinkable.  I also used it for my green juice and again it kept it ice cold format least an hour.

Overall this is a very good purchase and at only £2 it's a bargain!

My next purchase which I have not yet used was a salad bowl with a separate container in the lid for salad dressing which I found in Poundland, yep, it was only £1.

I have not yet had the opportunity to use this so I am not sure on how well it would store the salad and dressing but I don't envisage any problems as long as the container is kept in the fridge.  My plan is to make a variety of salads for lunch when I go back to work.

Next I got these separates from the Sistema brand in Asda.

http://direct.asda.com/Sistema-Purple-Gripper-Sports-Bottle/002009612,default,pd.html?cgid=D10M15G1C4

The first is a water bottle with a twist sip cap to ensure that it does not leak, when I purchased it, it was on sale at £4.  Since I bought it I have used it every day in an attempt to drink more liquids.  I would refill it at least twice a day and because I like my drinks cold I would store it the the fridge.

I did attempt to put it in the freezer but I must say that this was a bad idea as it freezes the twist cap mechanism, but that's not a major problem as all I did was put it in some hot water for a couple of minutes until the ice in the mechanism melted.

It has really helped me to consume more water throughout the day so I hope to keep this up at work as well.

Next is the large sandwich container again this was on sale I think it was £4 also, unfortunately this is no longer available in Asda

They had a smaller one which was literally the size of one sandwich, which for me would not have been practical if I wanted to add fruit or crisps or a yoghurt etc to my lunch. So opted for the larger one so that I could carry everything in one container.

Again I have not had the opportunity to use this but I would imagine that I would be able to pack in enough food for lunch!

Then finally I purchased this split container which I think was £2.

This seems to be no longer available at Asda either, but my thinking behind this was to use it for snacks, so maybe cheese and oatcakes or sliced strawberries and grapes or banana chips and sesame sticks or granola and raisins or carrot and cucumber sticks, the list is endless.

So no more crisps and fruit for lunch when I can't find a gluten free sandwich because I have taken a late lunch and everywhere have sold out of the 2 gluten free sandwiches that they stock. No more spending £5 plus a day on lunch because the sandwich alone is £3 upwards!

All in all some good purchase that benefit me in more ways than one!