Hello and welcome to my food blog.
I am a gluten-free home cook who likes to experiment in the kitchen.
My boyfriend often takes to take photos of the food I make and share the images online with his friends and mine. Our friends have repeatedly asked for recipes of a number of the meals so I figured that I’d start a blog and upload recipes and images of the meals that I’ve created.
This is an easy side that i make sometimes so that when we eat rice it doesnt always taste the same and we dont get bored of it.
Ingredients
Rice
Creamed coconut
Dryed Thyme
Salt
So you may have noticed ive not included measurements but changes depending on how many people im feeding.... i have a rice measuing cup it ive checked and it fits 100ml of liquid. And i use 1 cup measure per person.
Method
Measure out the amount you need in my case i was cooking for 2people so i did 2cups of rice and then washed wash the rice... acfew years ago there was a big thing where i discoved that some people dont wash rice. Always wash rice people look how cloudy the water is. That is due to excess starch on the rice which causes the rice to be sticky.
So wash the rice change the water and wash it again till the water runs clear.. normally i do it directly in the saucepan but i figured that it would show up better in a photo if i did it in a tupperware.
So then i drained off the water and put the rice in the saucepan.
I then put in 4cups of tap water in the saucepan. I know some people measure it diffrently but this is how i was always taught.
Cut a slice of cremed coconut from the block about 1cm thick per person.. more or less depending on how strong a coconut taste that you want.. i dod a few slices as my block has broke at a funny angle
Add it to the pot of rice and water with 1/2tsp salt and 1tsp of dryed time.
Bring the it to the boil and then turn it down low so that it simmers then in 20mins you will have perfectly cooked fluffy coconut rice. Just give it a little fluff.
80g packet of Instant mash or 300g mashed potatoes
1 tin tuna (145g)
40g Spring onions
1 tbs Lemon juice
1tsp dryed Chives
1tsp dryed Parsley
1tsp Black pepper
1tsp garlic powder
Vegetable or sunflower oil
Vegetable
First off if your using instant mash like me make that up following the instuctions on the packet however you only need to use 300ml on water.
Add in your seasonings, lemon juice and spring onions and mix welll.
Drain your tin of tuna and add it into the mix.
Once it looks like this its time to heat up a frying pan(skillet) while its heating take a table spoons worth of the mixture and roll it into a ball in the palm of your and gently flatten slightly. place each disk on some grease proof papper so its ready when you need it.
Once tge oil is hot place each ball into the oil. Id advise you to cook only 3 or 4 at a time mine ended up too close together and were really hard to flip.
Cook them for 5-6minutes on wach side till they are golden
Remove and place on paper towels so that it absorbs some of tge oil. Then it is ready to serve.
Here i have paired it with a olive and feta salad.
This is a nice quick easy brunch breakfast which just happens to be vegitarian. Leave out the cheese and it will make it vegan, though im pretty sure that there are some pretty good vegan cheeses which would be very much usable. I personally dont like olives but my boyfriend does.. so on mine i left them out.
Serves 1
Ingredients
2 Glutenfree wraps
40g Baby Spinach
20g cheddar any kind you like is fine.. im using the small bit that was left in my fridge.
20g Feta
30g Chargrilled peppers. You can use fresh bell pepper instead
20g Red onion
6 Olives im using green but which ever tupe is your favorite is fine
So first up you want to rinse your spinach if your using unwashed spinach like me and wrap it in a clean teatowel or paper towels so that some of the water can be dryed off it. Then slice the rest of your vegetables.
You want to slice the onion in half and do thin long slices orr a rough dice.
the olives are fine just bring halfed and thin slices of the pepper.
Sooo now that all your veg is prepped.. grater the cheese or if your lazy like me cube your cheese.
Put a nonstick frying on a medium heat and once warm place your wrap directly on it and then sprinkle with cheese.
Then spread a layer of spinach on top.
Followed by a the peppers, onions, olives and feta.
It should look a little something like this.
Now take your second wrap and place it on top. And let it continue to watm through for 3-4 minutes.
This is the hardest part you need to flip it over without the filling falling out, so that the top wrap can toast for another 2-3minutes.
All tgats left is to slide it out onto a plate and to cut it into quaters and its ready to serve.
Its not often that i make pastry myself alot of the time i will just buy the ready rolled genius one but i can only ever find that as puff pastry and not short crust but when i need to this is how i tend to make it.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
19cm 7.5" diameter 5cm /2.5" deep loose base flan tin
Or 6× 10cm /4" diameter flan tins.
Pastry
200g glutenfree plain flour
100g butter/margarine
4-5tbs water
And for the filling
1 egg
125ml milk
80g ricotta cheese
80g spinich
A Pinch of salt
1tsp black pepper
1tsp garlic powder
1/2 a red onion
Mix the flour and butter till it forms a crumb and then slowly add enough water until it comes together.
I like to turn it out on to some cling film to kneed film so that i know the butter and water are evenly distributed and the cling film helps it to not stick to my chopping board.
At this point i divided it into 6 as i was making individual quiches, so that i know i know how much dough i have to work with for each one.
You can then roll out the pasrty and place in your pan with the aid of your rolling pin.
However its possible to just press a thin layer in your tin which i find so much easier and beneficial to anyone who doesnt have a rolling pin. I am using a non stick tray though so I'm not sure if others may need line your pan with grease proof paper.
Trim the edges of the pastry and pop the tray in the freezer for 10minutes to firm.
While that chills out wilt the spinich and slice your onion and I diced some to incorporate it in to the mixture and and wanted rings to make the top look pretty.
Take the tray out the freezer and using a fork lightly prick the bottom of the pastry sooo any trapped air will easily be released and bake for 10 minutes so you don't end up with a soggy bottom.
While that bakes
mix the egg and milk together and season with salt and pepper then incorporate the diced onions and wilted spinach.
Take the pastry out the oven and you should notice that it has pulled away from the tray slightly that is perfectly normal.
Pour your prepared mixture into the pastry
Then artfully place rings of onion ontop to make it look pretty and bake for a further 20-25 minutes if doing small ones like me or 30-35 minutes if your making a large one.
Pop it out the oven and its ready to serve here ive plated it with some rocket.
This was a quick and simple to make lunch for me and my boyfriend
Ingredients
159g Gluten free Pennè pasta
80g baby Spinach
60g Ricotta cheese
100g Chargrilled pepper’s
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic granules
Paprika
Chives
Method
In a saucepan bring some salted water to a boil
Add your pasta and turn the temperature down to medium and cook for 8minutes.... or 2minutes less then the packet instructions.
While the pasta is cooking wash your spinach and slice your peppers.
In a bowl mix your ricotta cheese with salt, black pepper, chives and paprika.
Once your pasta is done turn down the heat and pour some of the pasta water into your seasoned ricotta to make a sauce and mix well... pour away the rest of the pasta water.
Add the spinach to the saucepan return it to the heat and stir...
Once the spinach has started to wilt add in your peppers and sauce.
Stir well till everything is evenly coated and serve.
Usually for valentines me and the boyfriend would go on some kind of adventure, and then have dinner in a nice restaurant with covid about we knew nothing of that kind was gonna happen.
So for valentines day we decided that instead of joining the masses of people ordering fancy takeaway all at the same time we ordered a diy kit.
Sooo we ordered pattie and bun's Jamaican mule kit box for £31 including delivery and were able to choose a delivery date from what was available.
In the morning I was emailed a time slot which was updated and we were able to track the driver as he got closer.
I've visited the restaurant before and they we able to give the option of gluten free buns but with the diy kit it wasn't an option which I was surprised about but I was also surprised to see that there was also a few items not included in the box, tomatoes little gem and ketchup. So I had to go out and buy those but I did forget ketchup its not a sauce we tend to have in the house.
I also realised that there also enough toppings to make 4 burgers so brought some patties from my local supermarket since I was going to have extra buns anyway.
I was surprised about how much oil came from the burgers as I fried them.
Then cut my buns in half and put them under the grill the gluten free ones on the right the ones from the kit on the left.
I then followed the instructions in putting the burger together, which were easy to follow and I was right there was enough for 4 burgers.
My boyfriend had fun making the cocktails and they were tasty easy to make, and we had enough for 4 drinks each.
I served it with a side of fries and coslaw. The patties that came with the kit were soo much more tender and juicier then the supermarket brand i brought. Their smokey mayo is lovely.
I decided to make brunch for valentines but obviously this makes a great dessert and for any kind of day. Often I do make things on the fly and just know what the consistency of it should end up like before cooking and in this case I tasted it up until I added the eggs. My boyfriend is often amazed at how I can go in the kitchen and bake something without a recipe. This time though I took the scales out and made note of the quantities that I used.
Makes 12 fritters
Ingredients
2 bananas
1tsp mixed spice
1/2tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1 tap vanilla
30g caster sugar
40g soft brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
2tbs milk
140g plain gluten free flour
Vegetable/sunflower oil
Method
First off you need ripe or over ripe bananas... if like me you brought your bananas 2days ago and they are still tinged with green throw them in the microwave for about 30seconds to help soften them up. The picture above was taken after I had microwaved mine so you don't even need to peel them for this. It just makes it soft enough so that your not going to have a hard time mashing them.
Soooo mash your bananas well and add in your spices, sugar and vanilla essence, And mix it well.
Sooo when that's well mixed in add in your flour... if unlike me your not feeling lazy sift it so that you'll end up with a lighter fritter.
As you can see i just dumped my flour in.
Once mixed in I found that it was a tad two thick which is where the milk comes in... you can add the milk in when you added the egg but this when I did it.
So because I was making these for me and my boyfriend and at this point he was still in bed... I'm an early riser and he doesn't usually get up till after 10am so I just left my batter to rest in the fridge until he was up. About 40minutes. Usually batters are left to rest to help the gluten to develop but there ain't no gluten here so technically I don't think its needed. But I'm just letting you know what I did.
Heat up some oil in a large frying pan till its quite hot.. then using a dessert spoon dollop spoon fulls of the batter into the oil. You can tell if the oil is hit enough if you can see bubbles form instantly around your fritters.
When you can see bubbles forming in the batter you can flip one of your accidental drips if its nice and golden like this its time to flip the rest.
Once its golden on both sides take them out and place on some kitchen towel to absorb excess grease.
Once all the batter is done its ready to serve
I drizzled mine in toffee sauce and his with honey and added sliced strawberry to both.
Honestly a lot of the time I like to make food that’s easy to make and as a Christmas present I received an instant pot sooo I’m still figuring out the best ways of using it but I think it’s great for one pot cooking as you can brown/sauté your food then pressure cook it for a few minutes and your done.
Anyway on with the recipe
Serves 2
Ingredients
6 sausages
4 potatoes
300g leeks
1 onion
4cloves of garlic
Vegetable/sunflower oil
Black pepper
Mixed herbs
Parsley
Stock
You can see im using a wine flavoured beef stock pot and caramelised onion sausages but you can use what ever flavour sausages and stock you enjoy.
Method
Peel and dice the garlic and potatoes
Peel and slice the onion and leeks
Easy right... now if your using an instant pot turn it on in sauté mode and add some oil
If your not heat up a frying pan and add some oil.
Either way once hot you want to brown your sausages. Don't worry bout making sure its cooked though your after colour here.
Once browned you want to remove the sausages and then fry off your garlic and onion and leeks.
If like me your using an instant pot mix your stock as the packaging tells you too and pour it into your instant pot and stir with a wooden or silicone spoon spatula
For both methods you now want to add your sausages and your diced potatoes and season with black pepper and mixed herbs.
I then switched instant pot to pressure cook on low for 10mins and added the lid. Once it was done I opted for fast release the pressure gave it a taste and added more dryed mixed herbs. Some of the potatoes has broken down adding some thickness to the stock.
If your making this in a saucepan add your lid and set it on a low heat for bout 20minutes give it a stir and adjust seasoning to taste.
Serve and topped with parsley... and because my boyfriend enjoys spicyer food then I do i also added chilli flakes to his.