Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried

Grain Free Carrot Cake Muffins (Gluten Free, SCD, GAPS, Paleo)

2012-01-27T10:46:00.002Z

When Maggie suggested, 'Foods That Heal' as her theme for Go Ahead Honey this month, I could hardly wait for January to arrive! Food as medicine is my mantra, so I spend much of my life exhorting people to embrace butter and eggs, add a little more liver to their lives, make bone broth, beet kvass, kefir and enjoy the amazing vegetables that emerge from the ground season after season.

But where to start? A recipe for probiotic ginger beer? My very special caramelised onion and chicken liver paté? A superfood melee of broccoli, ginger, flax oil, miso and sesame? What with the busyness of house building, teaching and work - time just ran out on these grand schemes and nothing got photographed or recorded - although we ate healing foods every single day.

So I give you a recipe that I wrote for my River Cottage Gluten Free Day. A grain free carrot muffin, filled with ingredients that heal. A cinch to make and very easy to gobble up too! I'll tell you a little bit about all the ingredients so that when you sink your teeth into the moist carroty, almond crumb and nibble on a little morsel of walnut or flax seed - you can feel that lovely warm smugness that comes from eating something that is 100% good for you.

1. Almond flour (ground almonds UK)
Whilst many gluten free muffins rely on grains, almond flour can be used as a grain free alternative. Anyone with yeast issues, IBD, coeliac disease, or autism would do well to eat as little grain carbohydrate as possible as it can remain undigested in the gut and cause inflammation and dysbiosis. Almonds are a low carb source of fibre, vitamin E, monounsaturated fats and some B vitamins.

2. Carrots
Of course we all know that carrots are good for us, but why? Well that old wives tale about helping you see in the dark is not so far fetched, as carrots contain betacarotene - converted in the body into vitamin A (which helps eyesight amongst other crucial functions). Like most brightly coloured vegetables, carrots are rich in antioxidants - which help fight free radical damage and keep us young. They're also a great source of fibre.

3. Butter or Coconut Oil
Butter and coconut oil both contain short and medium chain fatty acids, which have been shown to offer an antimicrobal, immune supporting effect. Both fats are digested in the stomach and therefore easy to assimilate and use for energy - just what you want from your breakfast muffin! Coconut oil is reputed to stimulate metabolism and butter has a perfect ratio of omega 3 to 6 and reasonable quantities of vitamins A and D. Both contain a good amount of dietary cholesterol, which is believed to support adrenal function - often needed by anyone with allergies, diabetes, thyroid disorder, asthma, yeast overgrowth and chronic fatigue syndrome.

4. Eggs
Eggs are one of nature's miracle foods. A perfect balance of proteins, fats, essential fatty acids, amino acids, trace elements, cholesterol and those all important vitamins A, D and some Bs. Eggs are an ideal food to start the day with - slowing down the digestion of carbohydrate and thus ensuring a steady stream of glucose to the brain and muscles. Eat as many as you like - they will not give you high cholesterol!

5. Date Syrup
Now this is not what I'd call a health food, but dates are a preferred sweetener for me because they come complete with many of the elements that are used in digestion of carbohydrates - magnesium and B vitamins especially. They also provide manganese, phosphorus, potassium and iron. In Ayurvedic/Eastern medicine, dates are said to support the spleen, or warm the body. This is especially important in winter when we can become spleen deficient due to the lack of sun and social/physical contact that cold weather brings. A few dates, or a little date syrup can be medicinal - a lot of it will spike your blood sugar and exhaust your adrenals and pancreas. Treat with respect!

6. Flax Seeds
High in omega 3 fatty acids and dietary fibre, flax seeds are reputed to help lower (LDL) cholesterol and keep your bowels moving in a pleasingly regular way.

7. Cinnamon
Even without any health benefits, cinnamon brings a comforting scented warmth to any baking - sweetening the flavour without adding more sugar. The extra wonder of it, is that it has been shown to help lower blood sugar by slowing down the rate at which carbohydrate is digested and increasing the receptiveness of insulin receptors. It has been shown to have antiviral properties and warms the body in Ayurvedic/Eastern Medicine.

8. Walnuts
Although consuming walnuts raw is the best way to take advantage of their high omega 3 and antioxidant benefits - they still pack a great nutritional punch when baked into a muffin.

9. Clementines
Whilst indulging in too much citrus fruit is not a great idea - as it can be mucous forming - a little citrus can do wonders. Clementines (or oranges) are a good source of vitamin C - although this is heat sensitive, so don't eat these muffins hoping to get your vitamin C quota! The best part of the clementine in these muffins is the zest, which contains bioflavanoids such as Quercetin and Rutin that are believed to have antioxidant qualities, help blood flow, vein strength and increase the body's ability to use vitamin C. It also brings a little summery citrus scent into your winter kitchen, lifting your heart on the greyest of days.

So what are you waiting for? Bake up a batch of these muffins, comforted by the knowledge that they are a treat that nourishes, both the body and spirit. Simple enough for a child to throw together - your kitchen will radiate homeliness whilst they bake.

Grain Free Carrot-Cake Muffins Makes 12-14

120g Salted Organic Butter (or coconut oil and large pinch sea salt)

4 Large Free Range Eggs

Zest and Juice of 2 Clementines (or small oranges)

¾ cup (185ml) of Date Syrup

2 Heaped tsp Cinnamon

1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

200g Grated Carrot (peeled weight)

350g Ground Almonds (or coconut flour)

4 tsp flax seeds ground in a pestle and mortar/spice grinder

Optional – large handful of chopped walnuts and a few raisins or chopped dried apricots/dates

Set the oven to 160ºC and fill a muffin tray with 12 paper cases.

Melt butter and set aside to cool.

Peel and grate carrot finely. Zest and juice clementines.

Beat together; eggs, clementine zest and juice, syrup, cinnamon and bicarb.

Beat in butter – scraping pan with a spatula to get everything in - fill to about 6mm (1/4 inch) from the top of the case. (Any left over can be baked after the first batch come out of the tray)

Beat in carrot, flax seed and ground almonds (coconut). Add optional walnuts.

Spoon evenly into the cases and bake for 30- 35 mins – until they are golden brown, risen and firm.

Cool for 5 mins in the tins and then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight box and eat within two days or freeze and defrost for 8 hours.

All About the Journey

2012-01-15T12:13:00.004Z

Chesil Beach

500 followers today! I couldn't resist taking a moment to thank you all and write a little something too. Thanks guys! Your support means the world to me.

We're in the last throes of house-building. I'll post some photos as soon as things start to take shape inside. I (as the least skilled of all the team), am honoured with the task of gofer - running here and there to fetch the bits and pieces that are needed to finish the house.

I greeted Finn at the school gates with the proposal that we drive half an hour to pick up some bolts and then half an hour back to deliver them to site. His eyes rolled up, shoulders slumped and a huge sigh escaped loudly as he trudged behind me to the car. I tensed myself for a sullen journey.

Soon we were speeding along the coast road in the golden winter afternoon light. The long, grey, pebbly shore on one side and on the other, fields stretched out into the creamy distance. Finn grumbled (in a fingernails on black-board tone) about all the things he wanted to do after school at home and how it just wasn't fair, while I tried to encourage him to make the best of a bad lot - live in the moment, enjoy just being, maybe?

I set my jaw a little firmer and focussed on the road ahead, hoping that it would be over soon.

In a box at Finn's feet was the last of Nick's birthday brownies - studded with espresso chocolate chunks and gooey with muscovado and almond. I drew his attention to the box and enjoyed the shriek of delight when Finn realised that this journey might not be so bad after all.

On the ipod we had a podcast of our favourite radio show - Adam and Joe. Finn ate the brownie as slowly as possible - saving all the chunks till last. Face painted with amber sunlight, he looked completely serene as he savoured the brownie, the radio, the view, the journey.

500 feet below us all along Chesil beach, the sea shone like a piece of old mirror. As the sky bloomed with the apricot melba colours of early sunset, we chuckled and listened, letting the scenery smooth our brows into contentment.

In barely a blink, we were suddenly there, pocketing the bolts and turning the wheel home for Bridport. The light had faded fast whilst we shopped and now the sky was a riot of orange and red - the deeper blue, blanket of evening, creeping ever closer to the horizon. Black silhouettes of trees crowded at the side of the road, jostling each other with their spindly twig fingers, huddled up against the oncoming night.

Each turn of the road revealed a new sight to be marveled at - a streak of orange across the sea, a field of sheep - all turned towards the setting sun, marmalade faced, trance like, bewitched by day passing into night.

Ahead, all the little towns along the coast twinkled their fairy light warning to passing ships and hungry travelers. A double decker bus with steamy lighted windows rose up from a blind dip, like an apartment block on wheels, all eyes turned towards the sea, papers unread, phones unheeded.

We swung into our road and Finn turned to me with a look of deep relaxation in his countenance.

'That was the best journey ever! Lets do that again some time, ok?' he said, and skipped into the new house to hand over the bolts and regale Nick with something Adam or Joe had said.

Me, I was simply glad to be reminded that there is always something unexpected and joyful out there - if you just let it happen.

x x x

Gluten Free Cheese Crackers - Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free!

2011-12-22T13:57:00.000Z

Tracee Gunter of Mrs Ed's Reasearch & Recipes is hosting Go Ahead Honey this month. Her theme? Dips and Dippers. The staple of cocktail parties, festive get-togethers and movie nights the world over.

Of course, the dip may vary between something cool and creamy, hot and piquant or deeply savoury and the dipper can be as humble as a carrot stick or as fancy as some nigella flecked flatbread, soused in garlic butter.

I'm short of time as usual, so I'm going to share with you a simple cheese cracker that takes only 15 minutes from starting blocks, to biting into a crisp, cheesy, and delicately moreish cracker. If a Christmas entertaining emergency arises - this is your cracker paramedic, on the scene before you can break a sweat.

I wouldn't really use these for dipping as they are likely to crumble, but they're a great accompaniment to an espresso shot of soup, or made tiny as the base of a delicious canape - maybe a deconstructed melanzane parmigiana? You could smear some herbed Greek yogurt on for a crisp and creamy mouthful, or dollop on a little slow cooked tomato ragout for a little pizza mouthful.

I made a quick batch of these and was photographing them before supper when Finn's hand shot into view. It's virtually a blur - as the hand arrived, I screamed, 'NO!' and the hand withdrew instantly as though it had been burnt. Fellow bloggers and children of the same - you know what I'm talking about. Don't touch the food until after the shoot ok? Grrr...

It does however serve as a testament to the kerb appeal of these crackers - they are hard to resist. Most people who like cheese just love them - so give them a go!

Lacy Cheese Crackers (Gluten, Grain and Nut free)

Allow 2oz (50g) cheddar cheese per person.

Line a few trays with non stick baking parchment and set the oven to 180ºC.

Grate the cheese on a fine grater - but not a zester.

Make flattish piles of grated cheese on the baking sheets - about 2" (5cm) across, with 1" (2.5cm) gap between.

Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes - until starting to turn golden around the edges and lacy, bubbling in the centre.

Cool on the tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a rack. Don't drain the oil that comes out - it's good for you! Full of vitamin A and D from the butterfat and a great catalyst for the calcium in the cheese.

If they're not completely crispy then pop them back in the oven for another 5 minutes - but don't overcook or they will taste burnt. They won't keep long, so just make enough for one sitting.

Gluten Free Christmas Cake - suitable for diabetics! Light, apple, prune and almond scented...

2011-11-23T13:02:00.002Z

In 2006 I wrote a few recipes for the You magazine supplement of the Daily Mail. I'm a Guardian reader myself, but I like to share recipes with whoever needs them and the response from readers was amazing. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I was inundated with calls and emails from folks asking about the recipe and then letting me know how pleased they were with the way it turned out. Little did I think that I would still be receiving calls from people almost five years later, unfurling their tattered copy of the recipe and asking me where to find rice bran!

So I thought I'd republish the recipe, for anyone who would like a light, low GI, Gluten Free Christmas cake, that can be made 48 hours before Christmas day with no fuss what-so-ever! When I make my own this year I'll update with a picture.

This recipe is also suitable for Diabetic Coeliacs, that rare and special breed. As most of these people already realise, most of the gluten free substitutes available are packed with sugars and quick releasing grains that are totally unsuitable for Diabetics. To be honest, the rest of us could do with as little of these products as possible too to avoid developing insulin resistance in the future.

So I thought I would put it up here for those of you who would like to try it too. A couple of points first though: It is best to keep it only a few days to a week to mature - it doesn't have all the sugar, dried vine fruits and booze that would preserve most Christmas cakes long enough to leave as heirlooms. This is the type of cake that you whip up quickly (after soaking the fruit overnight), cooks in only a couple of hours and fills the house with a delicious smell of apples and spice. Don't cover it in marzipan and ice it, unless you're confident that your blood sugar levels are nice and stable - definitely not if you are Diabetic!

If you have trouble finding rice bran in your health food shop you can order it from Goodness Direct. If you would prefer not to use rice bran, you could substitute another whole grain gluten free flour (not Doves Farm Gluten free flour or a similar high GI mix). I would try one of the following; chestnut flour, buckwheat flour or Teff flour. Alternatively try adding some cooked quinoa grains instead.

If you think it might take you longer than a few days to eat, slice it up and freeze on a parchment covered tray - lifting once during freezing to prevent it sticking. Then just take a piece out as you need and let it defrost for a couple of hours - or warm and serve with cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon (reputed to help lower blood sugar levels)....mmmmm!

Gluten Free Christmas Cake – suitable for diabetics

GL stands for glycaemic load. Those with diabetes or trying to lose weight should try to limit their GL per meal to 15 GLs maximum. Remember to include any carbohydrate that you eat within a couple of hours of eating this cake in your GL total. This will help stabilise blood sugar levels.

Made with palm sugar and cut into 8 slices = 11 GLs per slice or 10 slices 8.8 GLs per slice. It will be significantly higher made with honey or maple syrup.

170g (6oz) pitted prunes
115g (4oz) dried apple rings
115g (4oz) dried apricots
1 small apple grated
85g (3oz) palm sugar or ground up dates, (or date syrup, maple syrup or honey plus a dessert spoonful of ground almonds)

170g (6oz) soft butter
3 large eggs (4 medium)
85g(3oz) ground almonds
85g (3oz) rice bran or buckwheat flour or cooked quinoa grains
50ml (double measure) brandy
1-2 oranges
Desertspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp baking powder (or ½ tsp bicarb and 2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice)
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp fresh grated nutmeg or mace
2 cloves ground to a powder with a pinch of salt (or 1/2 tsp allspice or mixed spice)

The day before you intend to make the cake, chop the dried fruit roughly in a food processor – or by hand. Put into a bowl and pour over the brandy – it will not cover the fruit. Leave to soak overnight, giving it a little stir when you are passing.

Line a deep 20cm (8 inch) diameter cake tin with a double layer of brown paper, bottom and sides. Finish this with a layer of greaseproof paper. Alternatively, double line the inside of the tin with greaseproof paper and tie a few sheets of carefully folded newspaper around the outside with ovenproof string. Do not let any of the paper touch the sides of the oven though!

Set the oven to 150ºC (gas mark 2) or 160ºC if your oven is not fan assisted.

Cream the butter and sugar (or honey etc) and stir in the chopped fruit, zest from 1 orange, grated apple, vanilla and spices. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together until they are well mixed and stir them into the mixture a bit at a time. Don’t worry if it looks a bit curdled – it will be fine!

Stir in the ground almonds, rice bran (buckwheat flour or quinoa), and baking powder until a smoothish mixture is formed. Finally, squeeze the juice from half the orange and stir into the mixture to make a soft dropping consistency (add more if it seems stiff at all – you may need up to 2 oranges). Pour into the prepared tin and level the surface lightly.

Bake for 1 ½ - 2 hours until a skewer comes out clean. Cover with foil if it seems to be browning too much after 40 minutes. As soon as the tin is cool enough to touch, replace the piece of foil tightly over the top and leave till completely cold (this softens the top of the cake). Un-mould and wrap in greaseproof paper and a double layer of foil.

Eat immediately or keep it for up to a week in an airtight tin, in a cool place, before eating - but not longer or it will start to go off. Do not ice this cake, but instead enjoy it with some thick double cream or Greek yoghurt for an indulgent guilt free treat.

Gluten Free at River Cottage - A Weekend in the Westcountry

2011-10-28T15:51:00.000+01:00

For anyone wondering about whether they should head off to River Cottage in Devon to bake up some gluten free goodness, on a Thursday in November - I'm here to tell you yes!

Take the weekend off and start your Devon odyssey with my course at River Cottage on Thursday 17th November. We'll be baking Cheaty Chestnut Sourdough, buttery almond pastry and the best coconut brownies ever! Whilst your gluten free treats are baking you can fill your lungs with delicious Devon air, enjoy a two course River Cottage lunch and say hello to the sheep, cows and chickens on the farm.

On Saturday you could potter through Bridport's lovely street market, have lunch at the Bull Hotel (who are very good at catering for gluten free diets) before heading over to Poole for the Festival of Massed Voices.

Sunday should always be lazy, so maybe you could take a leisurely walk in the lovely dunes at Studland Nature Reserve and enjoy a Sunday Roast at the Knoll Beach Cafe?

Sounds like a great reason for a long weekend to me!

x x x

Cardamom Chocolate Bark

2011-10-23T17:19:00.000+01:00

My chapped hands and sore shoulders look forward to what should be their final week of house painting (for now). The finish line appears in the near distance as we stumble wearily towards it, hearts firmly propped up with thoughts of a warm family Christmas and a rest of longer than 24 hours.

The birch plywood is morphing into a kitchen and stairs, our bathroom glistens patiently in the warehouse. Porcelain tiles, maple worktops, vintage doorhandles and simple skirting boards wait for their moment to slot into place and become part of the house.

Aching muscles aside, I feel an enormous sense of homecoming each time I step through that new front door. The light dances on freshly painted plaster and rushes with abandon into the chapel of the stairwell. It is a bijou palace, neat and clever. I know every square inch of it, inside and out. We have welcomed it slowly into the family and now it welcomes us back.

Autumn is finally here, strangely sudden after a late spell of warmth. Strong winds and chill mornings remind us that Winter is a coming, lest we forget to dig out our woolen coats and gloves in time for the inevitable snap.

Spices are just the thing to bring a warming glow to soups and stews, and medicinally they bring warmth to the body. Not just chilli - cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, cumin & turmeric are amongst the many spices that keep the body warm from the inside out. Rounding out the sweetness of roast vegetables, lending depth to braised meat and excitement to the greens of Autumn, I use them with a liberal hand at this time of year.

This month's theme for Go Ahead Honey, hosted by Nooshin of For the Love of Food, was Spiced Desserts. Perfect as the nights draw in! I thought about pumpkin pie, spiced chocolate fondants, raw-food cinnamon cheesecake and nutmeg posset before settling on a quick and delicious dessert that can also stand in as a tea time nibble - or even a little walking treat - to help the troops on when enthusiasm is flagging. At the moment I just don't have time for elaborate desserts, so it had to be something quick.

I love the exotic menthol of cardamom with chocolate - it sings through the rich darkness like an upscale After Eight. Both flavours absolutely sing with sweet, bready, toasted almonds, so a simple tray of Chocolate Bark it was. Made in minutes with the minimum of fuss. You could even make this and pop the shards of scented chocolate in a fancy box as a Christmas gift?

Cardamom Chocolate Bark

80g Dark Chocolate (we use 90%)
40g Flaked Almonds (about a handful)
7-8 Fat Green Cardamom Pods with Black seeds

Toast the flaked almonds gently in a dry pan until pale golden. Cool.

Break chocolate into small pieces.

Grind cardamom seeds to a rough powder in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.

Melt 70g of the chocolate in a bain marie (bowl over simmering water) without stirring.

Off the heat, add the last 10g of chocolate and leave to melt.

Stir in cardamom and 3/4 of flaked almonds.

Scrape onto a baking parchment lined tray and spread out in a thin layer.

Top with remaining toasted almonds and allow to cool until it is set.

Snap into random pieces and cookie monster the lot.

Breakfasts and a Week of Crazy

2011-10-05T17:01:00.000+01:00

Last week I found myself sucked up in a whirling tornado, desperately clicking my shiny red heels together and saying, 'take me home, take me home', to no avail. Between bootcamps, clients and teaching a lovely group of fellow homeopaths, I just about managed to find time for those breakfasts I love.

I ate (in no particular order)...

Lamb mince, fried in a little olive oil till starting to crisp a little on the bottom with tamari and oregano. Fresh watercress and cherry tomatoes.

Avocado, sweet romaine lettuce and red peppers with cod roes and chorizo (fried in butter)

Courgettes sautéed in olive oil with peas, red peppers and parsley, scrambled eggs and butter.

Aubergine, tomato and lamb bake from the night before with a handful of watercress.

Spinach wilted in butter with a pinch of mace, peas and scrambled eggs with lots of butter

French beans, courgettes, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, basil and chorizo with scrambled eggs (weekend blow out!)

Come on - lets hear what you had for breakfast this week!

x x x

Raw Milk and Butter Straight to Your Door!

2011-09-22T09:18:00.002+01:00

For anyone wondering how they can include wonderful unpasteurised, unhomogenised milk and butter into their diet without access to a farm shop; Sussex farm Hook & Son run a mail order nationwide UK service that brings it chilled and creamy, straight to your door!

Raw milk has all the enzymes and probiotics already in it to help your fully digest the milk.

It is one of the few dietary sources of heat sensitive vitamin B6 - especially important for vegetarians who can't get this from any other source. You can also get B6 from raw meat, fish and egg yolks - but many people don't have a nice steak tartare for lunch anymore!

Raw milk is an excellent source of vitamin C and has all the butterfat and vitamin D needed to fully assimilate the calcium contained in it.

In studies conducted by Weston Price, it was found that raw milk also helped with stiffness and joint problems.

So what are you waiting for? Order up a few pints and get a yourself fantastic raw milk moustache!

Find them here at Hook & Son

A Week of Breakfasts

2011-09-21T13:00:00.001+01:00

People often ask me what I eat, or peer with interest at my lunch if I'm out and about. Visiting friends rub their hands together and ask what we might be having for supper tonight?

We love to know about other people and sharing what we eat is a great way to inspire and share our personal food culture. So this week, I'm going to try and share at least one meal a day with you, and hope that you'll do the same. There may not be photos as I'm short on time...

Breakfast today was...

Swiss chard cooked in chicken stock & scrambled buttered eggs, scattered with raw cherry tomatoes, raw red pepper and flat leaf parsley, oh and a pinch of sea salt.

What are you eating today?

x x x

A Breakfast to Go To Work On - Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free!

2011-08-27T11:11:00.002+01:00

What with all this house building, financial juggling and finger crossing, there is no time to write anything here - much as I long to.

In rare still moments we head to the beach, allowing random dogs to lick the salt spray from our fingers, opening the tiffin tin for a steaming supper of slow cooked chicken and peppers, squinting into the pink evening haze at families silhouetted behind their stripy windbreaks, a line of puppet show vignettes stretching out along the shore.

Finn kicks off his shoes and we run up the steep cliff that scales the beach, laughing and catching our rough breath, marveling at the spongy tough grass underfoot. As we run, there is nothing but now, here, racing Finn, looking for my next footfall, heart thumping against my ribs.

When stress levels are high I need to eat a breakfast that is super nutritious and slow burn. Something that will coo at my adrenals like a turtle dove, until they realise that they can stop firing because everything will be OK. Anything else leaves me hungry later in the morning and kicks my blood sugar up a notch too high.

This month's Go Ahead Honey event is hosted by the wonderful Shirley Braden of Gluten Free Easily. She chose for her theme, dishes that don't need a recipe - No Recipe Required! Go and read her post about the theme - it will inspire to you get in the kitchen and throw a few simple ingredients together just like that.

I knew my breakfast melée of vegetables and eggs would fit the bill - after all, who wants to consult a recipe just for breakfast? I simply needed to find a few moments to write about it!

My breakfast is a little like the Spanish Revuletos dish that I wrote about a while ago, but this version has no rules, and no recipe. I just chuck in a little of what I fancy and then spend a leisurely fifteen minutes chewing it thoughtfully while I read or chat to Finn. (Nick has smoothie-to-go). You vary the ingredients as the seasons roll round, casting your net wider as you take in, Summer vegetables, Autumn treats and the nutrient dense, herb leaves of Winter.

Here it is - a seasonal breakfast that bumps up the veg quota in your day!

Always include:
2 fresh organic eggs

Make up a combination of any of these to cook in a little olive oil, butter, bacon grease or duck fat:
Spinach
Cavolo Nero
Winter Kale
Frozen Peas
Courgette
Carrot
Red/Orange Pepper (or add raw)
Purple Sprouting Broccoli (can be steamed or cold from last night)
French Beans (cooked or raw)
Runner Beans (best cold from the night before)

Add any of these raw at the end:
Fresh tomato
Chorizo
Gravadlax
Smoked salmon
Nasturtium Flowers
Pea Shoots
Sugar Snap Peas
Flat Leaf Parsley
Basil
Chives
Spring onion
rocket
dandelion greens
hawthorn leaves
sprouted seeds/grains
Avocado

You want to end up with a plate full of food, so work out how much veg you need (usually equivalent of; 1 courgette, a handful of peas and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Gently sauté your cooking vegetables in the fat of your choice - I usually dice mine so I don't have to wait for hours.

Pull it all to the side of the pan, add a knob of butter or slosh of olive oil and your beaten eggs. Stir until just barely cooked.

Stir everything together, plate up and add your raw garnishes, sea salt if needed and maybe some black pepper.

Enjoy!

If you'd like to take part you still have about 24 hours to the deadline for this month to email Shirley. If not, please take part in another month's event - hosts are listed in the link at the top of the sidebar

Gluten Free Cookery Course at River Cottage!

2011-08-12T16:39:00.001+01:00

If you know someone gluten free who needs a little baking inspiration this Autumn, then send them my way! I'm teaching another course at River Cottage in November (hopefully after the house is built) and it promises to be delicious and informative day, with lots of hands on baking and a chance to ask all those nutrition questions.

We'll be baking my Cheaty Sourdough Bread, Buckwheat Breakfast Muffins, a Pissaladiere tart and the best ever Coconut Chocolate Brownies - gluten free or not! I'll also show you my famous green Pea Pikelets and Overnight Pancakes while you gather round with a cup of tea.

There will also be sessions on how to get the most out of your grains nutritionally, a guide to the enormous range of gluten free grains and flours available and we'll look at some tasty alternatives to bread and pasta. Throughout the day you're encouraged to ask as many questions as you like, to make sure that you go home feeling ready to get baking on your own with confidence.

Lunch at River Cottage is worth the trip alone! Always seasonal and beautifully cooked by the talented Park Farm chefs.

On previous courses we've had everyone from newly diagnosed coeliacs to old hands looking to spice up their repertoire. Everyone always remarks on how much they learned during the day. You don't even need to have an intolerance to get something from the course - this is your opportunity to discover a whole world of flavours beyond wheat, barley and rye!

Click here for more information and to book your place.

x x x

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Easy Sourdough Bread! Can it be true?

2011-08-01T15:55:00.003+01:00

Oh my patient darlings. I finally have a couple of moments to write up the recipe for my gluten free, dairy free, egg free soaked bread.

Picture yourself now with a lightly toasted slice between finger and thumb, thickly spread with nut butter or drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with a clove of garlic. Complex, nutty, slightly sour and with a moist crumb - your breakfast just got better.

Buckwheat Cheaty Sourdough (Egg free, Dairy Free, Gluten free)

24 hours before you plan to bake your loaf:

Mix all the following ingredients in a stainless steel, glass or china bowl and set aside at room temp for 24 hours. The mixture should resemble a stiff cake dough.

90g (3oz) Chestnut flour
220g (8oz) Buckwheat flour
40g (1 1/2 oz) Brown rice flour
80g (3oz) Ground almonds (or 70g coconut flour for nut free)
30 g (1 oz) millet grains or quinoa grains
6g (2 tsp) Gelatine powder (4g (1 1/2 tsp) xanthan gum or 2tsp agar flakes/powder for vegetarian, or increase flax seeds by 2 tsp)
3 tsp flax seeds ground to a meal with 3g (1 heaped tsp) sea salt
1 tablespoon (30ml) lemon juice
400ml water (or nut milk - not coconut milk as it quickly goes rancid) - (15floz UK or 13.5floz US)

After 24 hours:

Beat the following into the mix (if you used xanthan gum, you may need to add up to 50ml of water if the mixture seems really stiff) and leave for another hour:

40g (1 1/2 oz) Tapioca starch or arrowroot
10g (walnut sized piece) fresh yeast
1 or 2 tsp maple syrup or date syrup - less sour with more syrup

Line a 1lb (454g) loaf tin with baking parchment - the silicone type works best, but good greaseproof should be fine. Scrape in the mixture and level the top. Leave to rise in a draft free place for 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200C 15 minutes before rising time is up. Put the loaf in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 200C.

Turn the oven down to 160C and cover the loaf loosely with foil. Bake for another 45 minutes until the loaf is firm when you tap it on top and a deep golden brown.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes in the tin and then tip out the loaf and cool on a rack with the paper still on. When cool carefully peel away the paper and tuck in.

If you are not eating it in 48 hours, slice and open freeze the loaf to keep it fresh.

Zukay Live Foods - probiotic superfoods in gorgeous packaging!

2011-07-20T22:22:00.001+01:00

I'm a huge fan of fermented foods and always try to encourage clients to include something fermented in their diet every day. Fermented foods might include, sourdough bread, bircher muesli, miso, tempeh, live yogurt, kefir or sauerkraut - all addictively delicious once your taste buds get a liking for sourness and umami.

The grandaddy of fermented medicine foods has to be Kvass - a Russian tonic made from beets and whey with a sour, salty tang and a little bubbly kick on the tongue. Full of electrolytes and probiotics, you just know it's doing you good as it slips down!

However, not everyone wants to have Kilner (Mason) jars full of fermenting beets hanging around the kitchen, and we don't all have the time to be peeling beets and straining whey constantly. For those folks, help is at hand with a fantastic range of flavoured kvass from Zukay Live Foods.

The bottles arrived all the way from America for us to try and I could hardly wait to chill mine before I cracked open the Carrot and Ginger Kvass. We drank it with lunch and it was tart in the extreme, but moreish too - a great counterpoint for the avocado salad and mackerel we were eating.

Fin pronounced it disgusting as he hates anything vinegary - but I found that a pinch of coconut sugar and some sparkling water turned it into something he was quite happy to quaff as a refreshing aperitif. For anyone trying to improve their children's digestion, kvass is a fantastic thing to have on hand.

My favourite hands down was the Ginger and Beet Kvass. Satisfyingly rich and darkly beety - I found myself popping to the fridge for another nip when I needed perking up. For a lighter version, this was also great with sparkling water.

Zukay had also included a fermented vegetable salad dressing - pepper and cilantro. Tart and garlicky, with a bell pepper fruitiness, I loved the flavour, but found it vastly improved in texture when shaken up with some virgin olive oil. Salad needs oil in my opinion (oil facilitates digestion and absorption of nutrients in the salad). So I kept the bottle in the fridge and when I needed some dressing, I just shook up a little with some oil in a jar - it was fantastic and I really missed it when the bottle ran out and I realised that I couldn't just run to the shop and buy some more!

All you readers who live in the United States however, can rush out and buy some! I urge you to try both kvass and fermented dressings and pickles, both for your health and the amazing flavours. The Zukay Live Foods website lists all retailers who stock their products and they may even mail them to you too. Find them here on Facbook too.

Please Zukay - find a retailer in the UK! My tummy needs you!

x x x

PS. Sorry to keep you waiting - Egg and dairy free sourdough recipe to follow at the weekend. Thanks for being so loyal and patient x x x

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Overnight bread!

2011-06-29T21:52:00.001+01:00

Get ready folks, because I have worked out a version of my gluten free Cheaty Sourdough loaf, for all you dairy and egg free lovelies to get your chops around.

It's super easy to make, slices like a dream, keeps well, and thanks to the soaking method and low glycaemic index flours - it's also super nutritious!

Recipe will follow as soon as I have time to post it.

Also coming soon, is a post on Zukay Live Foods - fantastic fermented drinks and salad dressings that hit that sour/umami spot and get those all important friendly bacteria back into your gut.

Yeehah!

x x x

Fathers Day - Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!

2011-06-24T13:26:00.002+01:00

As much as I long to write something chewy for you to relish - I just don't have that much time, and the deadline for Go Ahead Honey is looming! Check out Living Free at the end of the month for the round up of entries.

Aubrée Cherie's theme this month was all about fathers - You Love Him, So Spoil Him! So I'll tell you as briefly as I can a little bit about Finley's father and how we celebrated him on Father's Day.

A couple of weeks ago I badly hurt my back, lifting the long larch cladding planks for our new house. I had been hefting and twisting, rollering on woodstain against the clock - when bending to lift a tub trug, I felt a pang of defeat as my back said, 'no more!'.

Nick ushered me to the car, conveyed me home and tended to my every need as I lay prone on the sofa, wincing. We drove back later from the chiropractor, my seat reclined all the way - clouds passed overhead as I let myself drift into not doing, not trying, willing my back to repair itself as quickly as can be.

Over the next week Nick took on as much as was humanly possible, and then he took on a bit more. Running from office to site, staining cladding until darkness fell and returning to the office again - without even a quinoa salad to sustain him. I felt as grateful as a person can feel that Nick was my husband and Finn's father.

The day before Fathers Day, Finn and I pondered how to possibly reward this incredible man? We thought that brownies would be a good way to say thanks - but we could hardly ask Nick to purchase all the ingredients! I was up to walking a little way and so we wandered slowly to the nearest supermarket and bought what we could - Finley carrying the goodies home in his rucksac.

Brownies made - with substitutions - Finn insisted that we make a paper chain of daddies, all holding hands, on which he wrote, 'Happy Fathers Day Nick!'. In the morning, before anyone was up - Finn hung it across the stairs to greet us.

As I presented the brownies to Nick with a flourish, I heard a wail of disappointment from the office. Finn rushed in brandishing a little white envelope with, 'and A speshell Fathers day Treat' carefully written in purple ink. He stuck it over a skewer, plunged it into the brownies and pushed his bottom lip out as far as it would go - flouncing out of the room with tears in his eyes to sit in a heap at the foot of the stairs.

See, when your dad is about as special as they come and your mum doesn't realise all the little celebratory things you have planned - sometimes things can go awry, and this can be very hard to bear when you're only nine.

Nick gathered Finn up in his arms, the brownies were cut and shared and all was well in the world again.

Below, I give you the proper recipe - without substitutions, for the best coconut brownies ever - gluten free or not!

Toothsome Coconut Brownies

(makes 8-10)(Gluten and Dairy Free)

Coconut oil brings a wonderful fudgy density to these brownies and the combination of coconut and chocolate is infinitely more than the sum of it's parts! Buckwheat flour gives the crumb a slightly malty chew and ground almonds give structure.

If you don't like coconut and want to make these with butter, I recommend adding 15 ground cardamom pods (just grind the black seeds inside).

150g 70% Chocolate

115g Coconut Oil (or unsalted butter)

2 Large Free Range Eggs

160g Light Muscovado Sugar / Rapadura Sugar

55g Ground Almonds/Almond flour (check that they are gluten free)

40g Buckwheat Flour

½ tsp Fine Sea Salt (grind your own from salt flakes)

¼ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

2 tsp Bourbon Vanilla Extract

Optional: large handful of walnuts or pecans, dark chocolate chips or chopped dates.

Set the oven to 175C and line an 8” square deep sided tin with baking parchment.

Break chocolate into chunks and place this and the coconut oil in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water to melt.

Take off the heat when it is almost melted, stir well and set aside to cool a little.

In a mixing bowl whisk eggs, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and vanilla extract until thick and slightly lighter in colour – about 2-3 minutes by hand or 1 minute with a hand held electric whisk.

Add a little melted chocolate to the egg mix and beat with the whisk until it becomes glossy again. Repeat until all the chocolate is used up and beat until the mixture is thick and glossy again.

Add all remaining dry ingredients and beat until smooth. If using nuts or dates, stir them in now.

Pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle the surface with chocolate chips.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until risen and firmish and a cake tester brings out a little gooey crumb with it rather than uncooked mixture. Err on the side of undercooking to get a truffly dense brownie once chilled. If you prefer a very cakey brownie, give it the full 30 minutes, but check in the last 5-10 minutes as all ovens vary.

Cool in the tin and wait at least 3 hours before eating. Best served slightly chilled.

Fathers Day

2011-06-21T22:14:00.000+01:00

I have a post in the pipeline, but I've been at my computer compiling insulation orders for too long now and I must just pop off my shoes and stretch out with a book before bed.

There's a brownie recipe coming as my contribution to Aubree Cherie's month hosting Go Ahead Honey. Check out her gorgeous dad photos and sigh wistfully for your own dad, or your children's father, or for your own children. Everyone has a father in their life they'd like to thank.

I hope you've contributed something too? - to celebrate all those lovely fathers out there who need a pat on the back and a little something made with love to nibble on...

Go Ahead Honey Hosts for 2011-2012!

2011-06-09T13:10:00.002+01:00

My little blog carnival is about to enter it's fifth year! I can hardly believe it! Check out the back catalogue of links at the bottom of the sidebar.

Go Ahead Honey is all about rolling your sleeves up, picking out some fantastic ingredients and joining in. We have got an amazing list of hosts and themes for you this year, so take the opportunity to browse the list below and have a drool at some incredible gluten free blogs. I hope to see your wonderful contributions as the months roll gently by...

July 2011 hosted by Diane of The WHOLE Gang with a dessert theme based on the final film from the Harry Potter series (released in July) - It All Ends Here!

August 2011 hosted by Shirley of Gluten Free Easily with just the sort of thing you want when the heat of August hits - Dishes So Simple, No Recipe Required!

September 2011 hosted by Iris of The Daily Dietribe with a lovely celebration of the Chinese Lantern Festival that falls on September 12th - Healthy Chinese Food.

October 2011 hosted by Nooshin of For the Love of Food celebrates the drawing in of nights with a warming autumn theme - Spiced Desserts.

November 2011 hosted by Brittany of Real Sustenance is bringing her fantastic real food approach to - Thanksgiving

December 2011 hosted by Tracee of Mrs Ed's Recipes and Research with a fantastic theme for holiday entertaining - Dips and Dippers.

January 2012 hosted by Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake with one of my favourite topics - Foods That Heal

February 2012 hosted by Heather of Gluten Free Cat with something to get you in the mood for love! - Hot, Spicy & Heart Shaped!

March 2012 hosted by Ali of The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen with a month that will have bloggers everywhere with pickle jars bubbling and bread mixes blooming - Fermenting

April 2012 hosted by Zoe of Z's Cup of Tea with a mysterious literary theme - to be firmed up nearer the time!

May 2012 hosted by Raj and Sonia of Flip Cookbook with a lovely reminder of mothers everywhere, for (USA) Mothers Day - Mothers Recipe Box

I look forward to seeing your delicious contributions and expanding my repertoire of delicious gluten free meals.

x x x

Soaking & Fermenting Grains for Fluffy and Nutritious Results! Plus - gluten free cheaty chestnut sourdough

2011-05-30T17:13:00.001+01:00

Diane Eblin of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang has curated blog carnival month of the most amazing posts on living successfully gluten free. I urge you to pour yourself a large cup of your favourite tea and expand your gluten free knowledge with some of the amazing posts in the blog starry line-up.

Many of my regular readers may have ntoiced that I've started soaking my recipes - see the almond pancakes or almond and buckwheat pancakes? This method is perfect for anyone wanting to get the most out of their food, and aids digestion - especially important for anyone with a damaged gut. My contribution to the carnival is a post on soaking and fermenting grains, flours and nut meals in order to make them more digestible, nutritious and fluffier!

I'm not going to blind you with science, so here's a (relatively) quick explanation of why you would want to soak or ferment. All grains, nuts and pulses contain varying amounts of a substance called phytic acid (read more on the wiki page in this link) contained in the bran of the grain, or skin of the seed/nut/bean. This acid binds with essential nutrients in the gut, such as minerals (iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus etc) and B vitamins. As we need B vitamins in order to break down carbohydrates, and grains are a majour source of B vits for many people, it stands to reason that you want to maximise your absorption of them when you consume grains.

Therefore, many people consuming a 'healthy' wholegrain diet, may not be absorbing as many of the great nutrients contained in them as they thought, and the phytic acid may also bind with other nutrients from meat, fish and vegetables consumed in the same meal as the grain.

Seeds and pulses also contain varying amounts of enzyme inhibitors, which work to prevent the seed/bean from sprouting until conditions are right. In your gut, they interfere with your own natural digestive enzymes to prevent complete digestion - and therefore result in imperfect assimilation of whatever you eat. All pulses need to be soaked before being eaten, to leech out these enzyme inhibitors and phytates, so eating any kind of protein powder made from pulses is a no no too.

Soy has such a huge concentration of phytates (in addition to hormone disruptors) that it should not be consumed unless it has been fermented into miso, tamari or tempeh. Tofu, cheap soy sauce, and soya milk can cause malabsorption if consumed in anything more than minute amounts - and considering that these foods are often consumed by those seeking to heal a damaged gut, I would advise giving them a wide berth.

Soy Protein Isolate, Textured Soy Protein and soy flour are processed in such a way that they not only contain all the aforementioned baddies, but the proteins are denatured to such an extent that they become harmful to the body. Protein snack bars, vegan meat substitutes and many processed cheap meat products contain these cheap and harmful substances. Avoid!

Refined grains such as white rice flour and processed starches such as potato flour & corn flour do not contain any phytates or enzyme inhibitors - so you might think that these are a good alternative? Unfortunately, refined foods lack any nutritional content whatsoever - simply providing a starchy carbohydrate filler. When the body receives food that is calorific and yet nutritionally empty, it goes on the hunt for nutrients and stimulates an appetite for more food, even when sufficient calories have been consumed. Try eating three slices of white gluten free bread one day and a slice of buckwheat, teff and almond sourdough the next - I can tell you now which will keep you satisfied for longer, simply because it is more nutritious.

So how can you ensure that you get the most out of your whole-grains? Do as your great, great ancestors did and ferment, soak, sprout and culture them - to eliminate the harmful elements and render all those nutritious minerals, vitamins and carbohydrates more easily absorbable!

Soaking:

You can lacto ferment whole grains before cooking them by soaking them in tepid water with a couple of teaspoons of whey (from strained yogurt) or kefir. keep for 24 hours at room temperature, strain and then cook in the usual way. This can also be done with lemon juice or vinegar in place of the whey. Porridge is also best made this way with whey/kefir, as it has the highest phytate content of all grains.

Recipes containing grain flour, bean flour or nut meal can also be soaked in this way. Simply add the liquid ingredients to the flours, including a teaspoon of lemon juice, two of whey, or some actual yogurt in the recipe. Leave for 24 hours at room temperature and add the rest of the ingredients. You'll find that breads are fluffier and more toothsome, and raising agents work better this way.

Fermenting/Culturing:

These are similar processes in principle. The sourdough process uses wild yeasts and a long leisurely rise to digest out phytates and start converting some of the starch into something that the body can digest much more easily. The process introduces a depth of flavour combining sour, savoury and umami, that may take some adjusting to if you are used to eating white cake for bread, but will soon prove quite addictive! Many cultures ferment grains into a kind of sourdough porridge making all the nutritive elements of a scarce resource, bioavailable.

Culturing generally involves some sort of lactic culture such as kefir or whey and can help render starchy vegetables (that some find difficult to completely digest) easier to assimilate, whilst providing a welcome probiotic boost to the system.

Sprouting:

You can sprout any grain, seed or pulse (athough avoid alfalfa as it contains high levels of carcinogenic amino acid ) canavanine. The sprouting process eliminates all enzyme inhibitors and introduces beneficial enzymes that aid digestion and assimilation of other foods. Eat them raw to get the most benefit, or dehydrate and mill into flour, for a maltier version of the grain. Use the flour without soaking for recipes such as pastry, which are difficult to soak.

If you'd like to try the soaking method for yourself, try grain free almond pancakes, or fluffy buckwheat pancakes, or this pancake recipe which uses whole soaked rice, or the cheaty sourdough loaf below, which keeps for about three days - but is best sliced and frozen on the day you make it. Slightly sour, with a malty, nutty backnote and satisfyingly chewy texture, it makes the best morning toast slathered with salted butter!

Chestnut and Buckwheat Cheaty Sourdough Loaf

(500g loaf)

This bread uses the soaking method to reduce phytic acid content of the grains, to make the loaf more digestible and nourishing. Soaking also improves the rise.

24 hours before you plan to make the loaf, mix the following ingredients together in a glass, ceramic or stainless steel mixing bowl, cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

90g Chestnut Flour

220g Buckwheat Flour

40g Brown Rice Flour

50g Ground Almonds

2 tsp (6g) Gelatine Powder/Granules or Xanthan Gum

250ml Lukewarm Water

250ml Live Whole-milk Yogurt
1 tsp maple or date syrup

When you are ready to start the loaf beat in the following and set aside for an hour in a warm place.

40g Tapioca Starch

10g Fresh Yeast

1 large Free Range Egg

1 tsp (3g) Sea Salt

After an hour, beat the mixture well with a wooden spoon to release all the yeasty gasses and blend everything well.

Line a 1 lb (454g) loaf tin with baking parchment. Pour the bread dough in, tap the tin to level it and put in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, until it has doubled in size.

15 minutes before the rise time is up, heat the oven to 200ºC.

Very gently ease the loaf into the oven – if you tap or bang it at this stage it will collapse, as there is no gluten in the mixture to hold the bubbles in. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 180ºC for 15 minutes and 160ºc for the remaining 30 minutes – 60 minutes in total. This prevents the fructose in the flours and nuts burning. If the crust starts to look dark, just put some tin foil loosely over the top.

If your crust is becoming too dark, just put some tin foil over the top – the crust will be pretty dark on this loaf anyway, as buckwheat, rice and chestnut all have fructose in them, which caramelises at high temperatures.

After 60 minutes, take the loaf out of the oven – it should have shrunk away from the sides of the tin a little and sound hollow when tapped on top. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and tip the loaf out into your hand. Tap it to see if it feels firm and sounds hollow. If not, just put it back in the oven at 160ºC for another 10-15 minutes to continue cooking.

Cool on a rack and do not cut until completely cold. Slice and open freeze anything not eaten within 24 hours.

Growing Up and Letting Go.

2011-05-10T10:15:00.000+01:00

Fin is going to walk the mile home from school today on his own.

Even as I think of him with his rucksack and school shorts, chest puffed and proud smile towards the world, my heart flutters with the beginnings of loss.

Each new stage of growing up is both triumph and bereavment. My milk skinned darling, who sits in my lap and lets me kiss the fuzzy nape of his neck, will broaden and grow tall and step out on his own journey without me.

My heart swelled with admiration when Fin popped through our bedroom door this morning full of plans, having checked the weather for the week and worked out his route home to the step. "I feel really ready for this new independence!", he said breezily, as though it were really rather nothing at all. Yet I could see the excitement making his restless feet twitch, to be on with the day and getting to the part where he walks home on his own.

I marveled at his rich vocabulary and excellent choice of words. This baby, who I have fed by breast and fingers and spoon, is such a person in his own right that I can hardly believe the alchemy of it all.

I can't wait for three thirty, when I see his face at the door, flushed with achievement - and still get to gather him up like a long eared rabbit and snuggle while he tells me about his day.

x x x

Totally Nákd Gluten Free Snacks

2011-05-07T12:02:00.001+01:00

Hmm, I wonder how much spam that title will generate?

Although I'm frequently asked to review gluten free products and supposedly nutritious snack items - it's rare that I find something I can actually get behind. I'm afraid my darlings, there is rather a lot of rubbish out there being peddled in the name of health food.

So I was delighted when the lovely people at Nákd sent me a care package filled with snack bars - just in case I wanted to say a little something about them.

Finley opened all the interesting post in his customary Cookie Monster style and gasped in wonder when out of one of the parcels flew seven jewel coloured bars of joy. He gathered them protectively to his chest like septuplets and took them away to a quiet corner to plan the order they would be eaten in.

The bars are made entirely from dried fruit and nuts, with flavours provided by cocoa, spices, berries and natural flavourings. A little like Lära Bars, but thankfully, not quite as sweet. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of snacking on sweet stuff, the minerals, vitamins and fibre contained in the bars provide nourishment to accompany the sweetness.

I don't really eat much dried fruit, so Fin got to test the lot. His all out favourite was the new Berry Delight bar, but he also loved Cocoa Orange, Pecan Pie, Cashew Cookie and Ginger Bread. In fact, he would have said yes to any of them!

The bars are naturally gluten free and useful if you're looking for something to keep you going, stick in your pocket for a long ramble or want a treat that isn't full of sugar and nasty fats. Pecan Pie and Cashew Cookie are even SCD legal!

Remember that although there are nuts in the bars to slow things down, even natural dried fruit can unbalance your blood sugar if eaten to excess. So treat these bars as a lovely snacky indulgence.

Some people are sensitive to the phytic acid in un-soaked nuts - cashews are especially difficult to digest for those folks. Anyone following a low salicylate diet, give a wide berth as these bars are choc full of salicylates.

Everyone else, tuck in!

Buckwheat Pancakes - Soaked, Fluffy, Nutritious and Gluten Free!

2011-04-29T12:44:00.000+01:00

I've been using Weston Price style grain preparation (soaking in an acidic/lactic medium to reduce phytic acid) for a while now and find that it not only makes grains, seeds and nuts more digestible and nutritious - but it also produces baked goods that are fluffier and tastier than their non soaked equivalents. Don't you just love it when doing the right thing makes something taste better?

Well these pancakes always seem to work out well and are a wonderful vehicle for your breakfast or brunch imagination. Top them with sour cream and smoked fish, ripe banana and hung yogurt, peanut-butter and smooshed berries, buttered spinach and poached egg or serve as part of a cooked breakfast - for mopping up all that lovely tomato, egg yolk and meat juices.

All you need to do is get prepared the day before and you'll wake up to a pancake batter all ready to go. A true fast food breakfast!

They can also be made, frozen on a tray and bagged up to use as handy snacks. Just sandwich a couple together with some butter and a bit of cheese for a snack on the go, or pop them under the grill to have hot.

Fluffy Buckwheat Pancakes

makes 30 small ones

I've used gelatin granules here for two reasons, firstly, to help the pancakes have body (in place of something like xanthan gum) and secondly, gelatine helps digestion of carbohydrates.

American Cup Measures
1/2 cup Buckwheat Flour
1/8 cup Brown Rice Flour
1/8 cup Ground Almonds (or buckwheat flour or coconut flour to make these nut free)
1/2 cup Live Wholemilk Yogurt
1/4 cup Unhomogenised Whole Milk (preferably unpasteurised)
2 Large Free Range Eggs
Pinch Sea Salt
1 tsp Geltine Granules
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda dissolved in 1 tbsp milk

24 hours before you plan to eat these pancakes, put buckwheat flour, rice flour and ground almonds (or alternative) in a bowl. Add milk and yogurt and give the whole thing a good stir. Set aside at room temperature for at least 12, but ideally 24 hours.

When you're ready to make pancakes, gently heat a heavy bottomed frying pan (skillet) and add a knob of your fat of choice (duck fat, beef fat, chicken fat, goose fat, lard, olive oil) - I wouldn't cook these in butter as it can burn quickly.

To the soaked flours add eggs, gelatine, salt and soda dissolved in a tbs of milk.

Beat well until smooth and add a touch more milk if it seems too stiff. It should be like softly whipped cream - American style batter, not a crepe batter.

Increase the heat under your pan to medium and add spoonfuls of the mixture. Wait until bubbles have risen to the surface and it starts to set (around 2 minutes), then flip gently with a palette knife and briefly cook the other side until golden (under a minute).

If your mix doesn't form bubbles in the pan, increase the heat slightly.

Hand straight onto waiting breakfast plates, or cool on a rack.

Revueltos - Brunch Spanish Style - Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!

2011-04-26T21:49:00.001+01:00

This month, Go Ahead Honey is all about that meal between breakfast and lunch - Brunch. 'Springtime Brunches' is hosted by the wonderful Maggie Savage of She Let Them Eat Cake.

Brunch is a weekend thing really, a meal for spreading the papers, or propping up a novel - a long lazy sociable meal to enjoy with your family, or a decadent solo treat for a few precious peaceful hours alone. Any way you take it, brunch conjours a langorous feeling of not needing to be anywhere but here and allows you to cast off your everyday breakfast, for something a little more substantial.

In Valencia it is quite acceptable to consume a small breakfast at home - maybe just coffee - and stop into a bar or cafe for a little meal that rests somewhere between breakfast and elevenses. At eleven O'clock, elevenses are the very thing and this should tide you over until lunchtime. On your way home from the office, you might break the journey with a little fortifying tapa to set you up for your late evening meal. Grazing might have been invented by the Valencianos!

Revueltos (reb-wel-toss) simply means 'scrambled eggs' in Spanish - but a plain old plate of eggs this is not! It's a dish to celebrate the coming of spring, with spring onions and purple sprouting broccoli, or to usher in the early summer with fresh broad beans, asparagus and jamon Iberico, when Summer is in full swing, revueltos is a vehicle for charred peppers, peas, cherry tomatoes and baby courgettes. You could eat a whole plate full (a ration) or a dainty serving on a tea plate as an amuse bouche (tapa). This kind of food is as easy going as it is flavoursome.

I won't even give you a recipe, because this is the sort of dish that happens when you look in the fridge and say, 'Aha!' - some chorizo, a little sausage, a few peas and some peppers. Bingo! Revueltos!

The key is to get some sweetness in your veg, some pep in your sausage, cut everything into cute little dice, keep your eggs soft and the curds large.

Here's a rough guide to Revueltos. I used, charred red pepper, frozen peas, courgette, beef tomato, chorizo picante, chives & home-made fennel sausage.

Revueltos (Per person quantities)

2 large free range eggs
an inch chunk of chorizo, or a similar garliky, spicy sausage, diced
a half bowl of diced seasonal vegetables
half a clove of garlic per person (optional) minced finely
some halved cherry tomatoes or half a gnarly beef tomato/marmonde tomato chopped
chives/spring onion/red onion sliced finely
protein (prawns/cooking sausage/cold chicken/cold fish/cooked shelled mussels...)

If using bell peppers, char the skin over a flame and put in a bag to steam the skins off. Rinse and dice roughly.

Throw a large knob of butter and a splosh of olive oil into a heavy bottomed frying pan (skillet). when butter has melted, add chorizo and diced vegetables (but keep out peas and tomatoes if using).

Sweat until the veg have started to take a little colour and sweeten, but not enough to make them collapse. The chorizo oil, will have turned everything deep gold.

In another pan, fry your sausages in duck fat/lard/dripping/olive oil until done and then cut into chunks when they are just cool enough to handle and add to the veg. If using cooked meat, just dice and add to the veg at this point. Add peas if using and stir for 30 seconds.

Beat eggs with lots of black pepper and a pinch of salt in a bowl.

Scrape veg to one side of the pan and add the egg to the empty side. Cook over a medium heat, scraping the egg into curds, until the egg is 80% done.

Stir everything together and finish cooking the egg - remember it will continue to cook afterwards.

Dish up onto warm plates, garnish with chopped tomato and chives/spring onion/finely sliced red onion and another good twist of black pepper.

Spread out the papers and dig in!

Stillness & the Scent of Gorse

2011-04-17T17:52:00.002+01:00

I've not written much about our house building here because it has been a very stressful business indeed! A potent mixture of waiting and hoping, long lonely hours for Nick in the office while I keep the fridge stocked, house cleaned and home fires burning. Evenings are spent poring over every line of each new version of our contract until we can't think straight, working out budgets and cost plans, hoping that it won't rain next week and the materials we ordered will actually turn up this time.

Then in the middle of our self-build tornado came a weekend of perfection. Life crashed on relentlessly outside and we knew that this was the eye of the storm. That singing stillness in our heads was the sound of reprieve - just for a weekend - and we were fools if we didn't just throw off our shoes and cool our feet in the water for a while.

On Saturday we headed down to the beach, portable barbecue and hand-made burgers at the ready. Friends came and went, sandy children ran after one another, we licked our salty fingers and basked in the warm sun as a keen wind tugged at our windbreak and fanned the charcoal.

We fell into bed as tired as children, wind-chafed and rosy, without a thought in our heads.

Sunday unfolded slowly, washing hung on the line, Finley bouncing on the trampoline. We ate a lazy garden picnic and lay like well thumbed books under a tented sheet.

We quenched our thirst with a cool, sparkling glass of probiotic ginger beer (recipe and picture to follow), whilst Nick remembered the rum and ginger cocktails of our Brixton summers before Fin. Carefree and frolicsome - even then, we still longed for a small person to complete our family.

When the light turned gold we drove to Stonebarrow for a pre-supper walk. A sea haze obscured the horizon as we stood at the cliff edge, held our breath a little and imagined floating weightless, buoyed by the sea mist.

All around us, gorse bushes shone cadmium yellow, swollen with flowers. We inhaled a lungful of pure coconut mimosa, a deeply sea-salty, iodine breeze filled, sun-creamy scent of summer.

Palms together, fingers woven, evening sun bathed our foolishly smiling faces until we decided that supper was calling.

Back home, baked potatoes and an evening on the sofa beckoned invitingly.

Ah yes! It may well be the fleeting quiet at the heart of a tornado, but we let it soothe our souls as though it would last forever.

x x x

Probiotic Carrot & Ginger Pickle

2011-04-14T15:45:00.000+01:00

For those of you thinking about dipping a toe into probiotic pickles - I urge you to try this one!

Carrot brings a sweet, fruitiness to the pickle, ginger a palate cleansing kick and a hint of lemon zest rounds the whole thing off with a fragrant top note. Yum!

You can simply nestle a spoonful of this next to cold meats, roast fish, fishcakes or flash fried tamari pork. Or it can add depth to a coleslaw, zing to a spring soup (add when the soup is in the bowl and cooled a little so you don't kill the probiotic) or pep up a simple sandwich.

I like to make a grain free wrap with a crisp piece of lettuce (gem or romaine), a wafer thin slice of cold roast beef (sliver of chicken or cold lamb kebab), slice of avocado and a spoonful of carrot pickle. You might like to add a dollop of home made mayonnaise or soured cream to really go to town. It's a great do it yourself family meal that kids seem to love too. Just pile everything on the table and let folks curate their own wrap. Delicious!

Probiotic Carrot & Ginger Pickle (makes about 800ml)

Adapted from a recipe by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions

4 heaped cups of grated carrot (about 6-8 carrots) - grate on the large holes
2-3 heaped tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp finely grated organic lemon zest (approx 1 lemon)
2 tablespoons sea salt flakes
5 tablespoons whey (from yogurt, kefir or soured milk)

Mix everything together in a large glass/ceramic or stainless steel bowl.

Pound gently with a meat hammer, potato masher or pestle until the juices run and the carrot looks a little softer (about 3 minutes).

Pile into a 1 litre glass kilner jar (or similar sized jar with an airtight lid) pour in all the juices too.

Press the carrot down in the jar with clean fingers until the juices rise to the top of the carrot and cover it by about 1cm. Cover tightly with the lid and set in a warmish place for 3-4 days. Unless it is midwinter, room temperature in your kitchen will be just fine.

Do not open it until 3 days have passed. When you do open it, it should have a little tingle on the tongue and taste a little sour - sweet and sour really. Refrigerate and eat within the month.

Lacto Fermented Pickles - probiotics that you eat every day!

2011-04-01T12:39:00.001+01:00

Anyone familiar withthe GAPS diet or Weston Price Foundation, will be familiar with the concept of fermented vegetables. In fact, even the uninitiated may well have added a little sauerkraut to their pastrami on rye?

Most cultures have their own traditional fermented foods that provide the gut with friendly bacteria on a daily basis. Yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh, sourdough, small beer and kombucha are a few well known examples of foods that are fermented to improve digestibility, flavour and shelf life.

Unfortunately, most people in the west consume a very small amount of probiotic foods these days, having moved away from sourdough to super fast supermarket loaves, milk is drunk uncultured for the most part - the buttermilk of old making the odd appearance in a scone. Even yogurts are often a probiotic free facsimile of live, probiotic yogurt.

Is it any wonder that so many people find that their gut is not functioning optimally, their systems prey to yeasts and parasites and the B vitamins produced in the gut are low?

Many people with damaged guts and under-par bowel flora find the casein in milk hard to digest and so the most common forms of probiotic food (yogurt, buttermilk and kefir) are off limits. Lacto fermented vegetables are a great solution to this problem, as they contain only the tiniest amount of casein - only a trace - and yet they are packed full of the beneficial lactic bacteria that we need for health.

I find that the sweeter vegetables like beets and carrots are a great place to start - maybe saving a more challenging sauerkraut for later on, when you are used to a sour taste. Beets are only in season here for another few weeks, so now is the time to make beet pickle.

So if you would like to dip your toe into lacto fermented vegetables, why not start with this delicious, sweet and sour, cardamom scented beetroot pickle? It livens up a Russian salad no end and sits quite happily alongside cold meats, lamb dishes and roast chicken. If you can eat dairy, then it's also a great partner for a wedge of cheddar or a scoop of hung yogurt.

Cardamom and Beetroot Lacto Fermented Pickle

(adapted from a recipe in Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions)

5-6 medium beets washed
6 cardamom pods
1/2 tablespoon sea salt (3/4 tablespoon if you use something flaky like Maldon)
2-3 tablespoons whey
2/3 cup of luke warm filtered water (you can use tap water if your supply is un-chlorinated)

If you don't already have whey, make some by straining some yogurt through muslin overnight. To do this, take a squre of muslin, lay it into a seive or colander and tie up the corners securely. I hang mine over the bars in the fridge and set a bowl under to catch the whey, but you can tie it over a wooden spoon and suspend it in a kilner (mason) jar in the fridge or a cool place. You'll also have greek yogurt or yogurt cheese if you leave it 24-48 hours.

Bake the beets in a medium oven (160C) for about 2 hours or until soft and a little shriveled. Cool until warm and peel wearing rubber gloves to protect your manicure! Leave to cool completely.

Slice cooled beets into 1cm square batons and pile into a jar that is big enough to take all of the beets and allow at least two inches above. A 1 litre (quart) sized kilner jar is plenty big enough, or a large glass pickle jar.

Crush the little black seeds from the cardamoms with sea salt in a pestle and mortar. Mix in whey and warm water and pour over the beets.

Push the beets lightly down with your fingers or a blunt object. Make sure they are completely covered, with no bits of beet rising above the liquid. If the liquid does not completely cover them, add a little more water until it does.

Cover tightly with a jar lid and set in a warmish place at room temperature for 3 days. I find that the kitchen is plenty warm enough for mine - if you live in a hot country, or have a warm house your pickle may be done after 2 days. If you see lots of bubbles forming or scum on the top then you're probably there.

Don't open the pickle before 2 days have passed, or it may not be as good. Try to wait the full 3 days before testing.

When it's ready it should taste slightly sour (sweet and sour like a traditional pickled beet, but not vinegary) and it may tingle on your tongue slightly. It will have a slightly gloopy liquid around it - this is fine!

Put it in the fridge and have a dessertspoonful with your meals. It will keep for a couple of months in the fridge, but will become slightly thicker as it ages, almost like jam.

Seasonal Spring Soup Starts with Stock! (SCD, GAPS, Gluten Free)

2011-03-26T10:45:00.008Z

This month's GAHIGF theme, hosted by Linda of Gluten Free Homemaker, is Seasonal Soup. One of my favourite meals and a classic for anyone trying to heal their gut or immune system.

A good soup starts with a good stock. Ideally a slow simmered bone broth made with the carcass of your sunday roast with the sweet, umami tin juices tipped in and a handful of fragrant herbs. A broth that wobbles, or even sets firm with nourishing gelatin, and leaves your lips sticky with meaty goodness.

Of course, you can also make fish stock! Roast your fish with it's head on and simmer for no more than two hours with a spoonful of fennel seeds, or star anise, a good chunk of celery and some leek tops. This fish stock is a tonic for the thyroid (containing as it does, the thyroid of the fish) - use it to make fish soups, paella, curries and sauces.

Lest you think me a crashing omnivore - there are also mushroom stocks for the deepest forest flavour, allium stocks for those who just want the onion without a pain in the tummy, stocks you make with all the odds and ends of veg that didn't quite get used up quickly enough. These stocks don't have the benefit of gelatin and are not as mineral rich, but they do bring an incredible depth to soups.

Bone broths should be part of the healing journey for anyone with intolerances, bowel disorders, auto immune conditions, malabsorption syndromes, or anyone who feels their gut could use a little help. They provide an array of easily absorbed minerals (especially calcium & magnesium in meat and iodine in fish stock) and gelatin to help repair the gut wall. That old myth about chicken soup being Jewish Penicillin - I'm telling you, it's not a myth!

As we emerge from the heavy blanket of winter and it's rooty stews, I start to want something lighter, fresher and greener in my bowl. But the spring vegetables are not quite here yet and so I must make a lighter tasting soup with the hungry gap vegetables that I have.

At the end of March there are some new season carrots and purple sprouting broccoli with which to conjour a little spring - but very little else. So I cheat a little with frozen peas and some lighter roots diced up dainty and cooked quickly in a rich chicken stock, that is both light and deeply satisfying.

This soup can be altered through the year, made late winter, sweetly pink with some beets and potato or in the autumn, deeply orange with squash and peppers. In the summer, it sings with courgette, sugar snap peas, broad beans, cherry tomatoes, French beans and asparagus. Just try and keep it as seasonal as possible and use the odd frozen pea or preserved pepper to bring a kick to the leaner vegetable months.

I give it as a sort of template for you to make your own - after all, soup is just a matter of good stock and seasonal vegetables with a little protein for sustenance.

The Stock

Many people say they don't actually know how to make stock. If that's you, use this simple method and you won't look back. If you don't have a whole chicken or roast joint, just save any bones you have from chicken legs, lamb chops, beef ribs etc. Freeze them and when you have enough of any one type, make some stock. You can take bones off peoples plates without fear of germs, as they are all boiled into submission by the process. It's a method rather than exact quantities.

1 or 2 chicken carcasses or 4-5 beef or lamb bones - or the bones left from any kind of roast. Include any giblets or skin that you haven't eaten.

water

stick of celery/carrot/half an onion/half a leek

cider or wine vinegar

herbs

black pepper

If your carcasses/bones are raw, set the oven to 180C and roast them for about 30-40 minutes or until the skin and meat is starting to take on a lovely golden colour and smell deliciously roasty. Bones from a roast dinner can just go straight in the saucepan.

Put the bones, giblets and some herbs in a lidded pan large enough to take everything and leave at least a few inches on top. For herbs think about a couple of bay leaves or a sprig of thyme, some fresh rosemary is lovely with lamb - it's up to you!

Add some of the vegetables on the list if you like, chopped roughly.

Cover everything with water, but don't swamp it - just enough to cover will do.

Add a couple of capfuls of vinegar, a good few twists of black pepper and bring up to the boil.

When boiling reduce to a trembling simmer, clap the lid on tightly and simmer for 6-24 hours.

I tend to make my stock after the evening meal, allow it to simmer all evening, turn it off and leave it to cool slowly overnight and then give it a few hours the next morning. If you can't boil it again until the next evening, put it in the fridge for the day and complete the stock in the evening. Don't undercook it or the gelatin and minerals won't leach out.

When it's done, strain through a sieve into a large bowl and discard the bones etc.

I then strain it straight into glass jars, put a lid on and refridgerate when cool. When I use the stock, if I don't want to use the fat that's on top, I just scoop it into a little jar for later. You can also cool the stock in a large bowl, scrape off the fat and save it for later - it's tasty and good for you - don't throw it away whatever you do!

Hungry Gap Soup - enough for 4

This is a soup for the hungry gap between winter veg and late spring veg.

1 tsp duck/chicken fat

1 tsp butter

2 Sticks of Celery

White Part of Leek (or 1/2 brown skin onion or 1/2 bunch spring onions)

2 large or 3 small Carrots

1/2 a Celeriac (or a medium potato or 1/2 a swede)

1 cup Frozen Peas

100g Purple Sprouting Broccoli or Calabrese (chopped into chunks)

250g Cooked Meat cut into dice (Chicken, Turkey, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Ham, Rabbit, Venison etc)

750-850ml Meat Stock (Chicken is my favourite, but the stock should suit your meat)

1 Bay Leaf

Black Pepper

Sea Salt

Chop celery and carrots into 1cm dice. Thoroughly wash and finely chop leek or onion.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and duck/chicken fat. Add leek, celery, carrot, celeriac and bay leaf and sweat for about 10 minutes gently until leek and celery are translucent.

Add stock and bring to the boil.

Add diced meat and broccoli stems, but keep back the purple flowering tops. Simmer until the broccoli stems are just al dente.

Add peas, broccoli flowers, black pepper and sea salt to taste (if you use ham or salted stock you won't need any). Add more stock if you think it needs it. Bring back up to the boil and cook just long enough for the flowers to be al dente.

Serve straight away while the peas and broccoli are still bright green.

Chocolate, Cardamom and Coconut Power Bars

2011-03-19T16:43:00.005Z

My little sister Amelia is the volleyball champion of the South Downs. It was her birthday a few weeks ago.

I was eleven when she was born. We had the day off school to be there when she arrived, in my mum's wood panelled bedroom. Tash and I covered our ears hard, as our mum bellowed like a lonely cow and the midwife fussed and scolded her for not spending a penny. It was with some concern that I wondered why the midwife would think of money at a time like this - we were not fans of euphemism.

Hours later, a warmly swaddled baby was put into my arms. Her tiny fists and eyes were clenched tight against the world and her face was red with the effort of being in it. I held her like a Ming vase and touched her newness as gently as I knew how.

She didn't have a name for a couple of weeks, so we called her Bonzo. If you could see her now, all willowy blonde, with the grace and attributes of an Austen heroine - you would laugh the same wheezy helpless giggle that I do when I think about it.

Because I love Amelia very much and am always grateful that she came into the world, I wanted to send her some power bars to munch after a session of jumping about looking good in a bikini. I made a mental note to get all the ingredients ready and then suddenly it was weeks later and I felt like a very bad sister indeed.

There are no excuses that can excuse bad sistering.

Anyway, I made them and sent them immediately, and they should arrive on Monday all being well. I hope they're all in one piece...

If you would like to try them for yourselves, here they are.

Chocolate, Cardamom and Coconut Power Bars

These are a very treaty bar - something to pop in your pocket for a long walk, nibble before your morning run or enjoy as an alternative to a chocolate bar.

They are sweetened with mineral rich dates, full of fibre from the almonds, rich in calcium from the carob and bound with antimicrobal coconut oil - a great fat to eat before or after exercise as it is very easily used by the body as a fuel source.

60g 90% Cocoa Content Chocolate - or pure cacao

60g Dried Dates

90g Flaked Blanched Almonds (or soaked and dehydrated almonds)

1 Heaped Dessertspoon (american tablespoon) Raw Carob Powder

35g Virgin Coconut Oil

10 Green Cardamom Pods

Pinch Sea Salt

Break chocolate into chunks and put into a food processor with, almonds, dates and carob powder. Process until very fine crumbs.

Split cardamom pods and grind the black seeds inside with a very small pinch of sea salt in a pestle and mortar. Add to the food processor.

Add Coconut oil and pulse until the mixture just starts to clump into a ball. Stop!

Press into a 1lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment - or a similar sized tupperware box. Chill for 2 hours and then slice into bars and wrap in parchment.

Store in the fridge (up to three weeks) to keep them firm, or in a cool larder for up to 10 days.

And The Real One Was...

2011-03-13T15:24:00.004Z

It was number two.

See below for this week's meme - five things I bet you didn't know about me - only one of which was true.

Yes I really was once mistaken for a chum of Richard E Grant (before he slapped the non harrassment order on me, humph!).

I'll let you in on a little secret, for anyone who guessed one of the others - they were all a little bit true, and here's how.

Number one. I was a small twinkle in the folk singing firmament - a very small bud. For anyone who knows Show of Hands - I sang with them on a couple of occasions back in the 1980's. I also did support Maddy Prior when she sang with her band at the Bridport Art Centre a few years ago. But I merely worshipped the holy folk soil she stepped upon, and never a cross word was spoken.

Number three. I did indeed work for Jigsaw Junior, for two happy years before I fell pregnant with Finley. I also used to jaunt off to Paris for the fabric fairs. I was at the newly unveiled and searingly hot Bhudda Bar when John Galliano turned up with his fawning entourage in tow. But I'm afraid that for all our efforts, we were not invited to sit at his table, or to his all night high fashion party. Just as well now eh?

Number Four. Now this really isn't true. I really am no relation of Jennifer Ehle. Although, having said that, I might be a distant relation of Meryl Streep, if my uncle Gilman Scally Noonan - poet and longtime friend of the whisky bottle - is to be believed. At every family gathering he sidles up to me, with his Cork eyes twinkling and sighs, 'ah, you're the very image of her'. I haven't the heart to tell him to get his eyes tested again.

Number five. Ok, I have never wanted to be an airline pilot - I only learned to drive a car a couple of years ago! My penchant for late breaking and a desire to get everywhere quite fast, would also mitigate against my being an excellent choice for piloting a plane. I do however, love, love, love airports and flying. I know it's an awful environmental disaster of a thing to love, and I don't actually do it that often. But I dream about packing a little overnight bag and whisking my darling off to some exotic location rather more than I should. Catch me if you can!

So there you go. I had a lot of fun with those little stories and I look forward to reading yours.

Umatji of Too Many Things In My Head, came out of the hat for a guest post - hopefully she'll have the time and inclination to pen something for you to read here?

I promise that there will be recipes here in the next few days, just hang in here with me ok?

x x x

A Few Things You Didn't Know About Me and An Opportunity For a Guest Post.

2011-03-06T09:09:00.012Z

Whew - long post title!...

One of my old blogging buddies, Carol of Simply Gluten Free gave me this little blog award - which includes a kind of meme.

Now I don't usually do memes - I prefer to let my recipes narrate for me. But I like the whimsical spirit of this one, so here it is. I have to write five details that you may not know about me - only one of which is true. You have to guess which one in the comments and I will reveal the answer at the end of the week.

Plus, I will pick one random blogger from the comments and offer them a guest post to celebrate my 403 followers. The theme of your post is entirely up to you! Get your comments in by Friday 11th to be considered.

I'm going to try to celebrate this week with a little chocolate power bar - as I missed out on the February choc-fest! I also have a great cheaty sourdough bread recipe that I've been working on, with buckwheat sprouts, malty Teff and coconut flour. Yum!

We also have some photos of our fledgling house. When Nick returns my data cable from the office, I'll get uploading those photos.

Five Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Me...

1. I grew up in a hippy commune in Dorset, and was a budding star in the folk music firmament. Unfortunately, I got into a spat with Maddy Prior over the words to, 'All Around My Hat' and was promptly blacklisted. The last thing she said to me was, 'hey nonny, nonny! you'll never work in this town again'

2. I used to work as a costume designer in film (very low budget films unfortunately!). Whilst waiting in the foyer at Angels and Bermans for the main designer to turn up, Richard E Grant walked in. I smiled broadly and raised an eyebrow in a manner that he obviously mistook for something other than mild star struckness. He rushed over and kissed both of my cheeks before realising he didn't know me from eve, and then had to style it out with some big theatrical noises and a welcome intervention from his PR person...

3. I used to design children's clothes for Jigsaw Junior. On one of my jaunts to a Paris fabric fair I happened to find myself at the same Bhudda Bar table as John Galliano, high as a kite, dressed like a very, very camp pirate. He made us watch a very long and ultimately rather boring card trick. Of course I would blank him on principle now...

4. I'm a distant relative of Jennifer Ehle. I had no idea until the BBC adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. When everyone commented on how much I looked like her, I decided to do some research and found that, we were actually relatives! How cool is that?

5. When I was little I wanted to be an airline pilot. I've always loved flying, the bit where the ground is rushing towards you and then that jolt in your tummy as the nose lifts up. My nose is always glued to the window if we're flying over land, or my eyes wistfully unfocused as the cloudscape drifts past. I even love airports! I love wafting through the perfumery and luxuriating in the timeless bubble of having no baggage to weigh me down and no place to be except here, just waiting for the flight to be called. Bliss.

I wonder which one is true?

I nominate the following bloggers to receive this very silly award:

Mise of Pretty Far West - a wonderful curator of gorgeous things and dispenser of distinctly Irish wit. Never fails to make me smile.

Kate of Love You Big - with an unfailing eye for design and a delicious mid century, scandinavian flavour that always sends me dreaming about the day our house is finished and I can make it a lovely home. She also tells the heartbreakingly lovely story of her husband's proposal that is a must read.

Katie of Kitchen Stewardship - a fellow food renegade with a light touch approach to encouraging folks to try some of the traditional foods she celebrates with her blog. Highly instructional - this blog will change your life!

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine - the most beautiful gluten free blog for miles around, Jenn gives the likes of Tartelette a run for her money. Stop by and just drool!

Megan of Food Sensitivity Journal is a mine of information for anyone needing to avoid gluten, dairy, soy, sugar - you name it!

I hope you guys want to fly with this little meme award - if not, just know that I think you're great and lets leave it at that.

x x x

OMG! 400 Followers!

2011-03-05T14:10:00.001Z

Hang tight my darlings! We've reached a new milestone and I plan to celebrate it properly.

By monday I'll have something for you.

x x x

Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free! Naughty, Charming and Downright Delicious

2011-02-25T08:22:00.026Z

This month for 'Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free', the theme I chose was, 'Love Potions & Charmed Foods'.

February can be a little bit of a wet blanket in the UK with grey weather, pasty skin, low vitamin D reserves, wall to wall brassicas and David Cameron in government. So I thought a superfood theme might encourage us all to look at the ingredients we pop in our mouths every day and delight in their life giving properties.

I urged you to throw away your culinary fig leaf and indulge in some tasty, yet nutritious dishes that fire your metabolism, gird your loins and thrill your taste buds. In short, I encouraged you to partake in a wanton display of sensual nourishment - and you did not disappoint.

To really get into the mood of the thing, we all met as dusk fell, in a clearing shrouded in long wreaths of mist. Bloggers from around the globe unpacked chocolate and spices, almonds, rose petals and many other delicious things, as they began the alchemy of preparation.

Lets have a look at what they dished up, when the banquet was set.

Megan of Food Sensitivity Journal bought a tray of Carob Molasses Fudge - full of good fats, calcium, magnesium and B vitamins! We couldn't resist!

Leanne of Healthful Pursuit bought some colour to our cheeks with a Rosy Love Potion and some delicious, heart shaped, chocolate dipped, Rose Shortbread Cookies (grain free). Full of sensual flavours and healthful almonds. Yum!

Aubree Cherie of Living Free also went to town with two dishes that will fire your passion - and possibly get you into trouble if you're anything like Aubree! First she made Chocolate Aphrodisiac Pie (the clue is in the name) and then she found she couldn't resist making a Romantically Stimulating Curry (which needs to be eaten by romantic candle-light as it doesn't win any prizes for looks!). If your love life needs a bit of spice - head over to Living Free.

Kelly of The Spunky Coconut sliced into a freshly baked loaf of Chocolate & Spice Zucchini Bread, full of lovely mood enhancing ingredients - and my favourite, coconut oil! I'd have mine spread with some salty goat butter, how will you have yours?

Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness continued the chocolate theme with a grain free, vegan, chocolate cream pie with jewel bright raspberries. There's even a secret, heart healthy ingredient in there!

Catherine of 23 Days and Counting took the chocolate theme and turned it on it's head with an SCD legal creamy orange yogurt dessert and home made white chocolate topping! Anyone who knows me well, can attest to my love of cocoa butter - a healthy saturated fat that oozes comfort. Gold star for effort Catherine!

Chelle of Life at Right Angles bought us a warm and spicy Cincinnati Chili - no picture, so you'll just have to imagine how delicious it looks and roll the spicy flavours over your tongue as you read the recipe.

Nisrine of Dinners and Dreams created these amazing looking Chocolate and Cream Cheese Truffles - I'm imagining chocolate cheese cake, what's not to love? Her list of why they are good for you and life enhancing will make you smile too.

GuFf of GuFf Blog went to exotic fruit for inspiration, creating some delicately perfumed Persimmon Spice Biscuits, with which to charm and seduce your loved one.

Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake, bought us some toothsome Chocolate Peanut-butter Power Bars, sweetened with mineral rich dates, packed with fibre full almonds and laced with raw cacao. Anyone who loves that salty, nutty, chocolate combination is sure to start drooling at the very thought of finding one of these tucked in their pocket on a long walk. In fact - I'm lacing up my boots now, anyone coming?

Jenn of Jenn Cuisine created one of the most enchanting looking desserts I've seen for a long time. Feast your eyes on those luminous orangettes, that white blanket of soothing cream, studded with ruby raspberries - I think I can see something velvety and chocolate underneath.... She also provides us with an essay on why we should be proud to be foodies that will make you puff up your chest with pride for the times you've caressed an heirloom tomato, or spent hours creating something special for someone you love to devour in 5 minutes flat.

Valerie of City Life Eats used the inspiring Vosges chocolates (think bacon or naga chocolate) as her inspiration for some curry and coconut flavoured Chocolate Curry Bites. Sweetened with blood sugar friendly stevia, they won't give you a sugar high but your armpits may smell of fenugreek... If you both eat them, it shouldn't be a problem!

I decided to keep things simple and celebrate the health benefits of almonds with my Overnight Almond Pancakes. Soaked overnight with yogurt to make nutrients in the almond flour more bio-available. Top them with something nutritious and they make a life enhancing sunday brunch, with no effort at all.

After all that chocolate, we were in a state of altered consciousness! Our bodies hummed with superfood and we danced through the forrest in a riotous Bacchanal of foodieness.

Net month's event is hosted by Linda of Gluten Free Homemaker. She chose Seasonal Soup as her theme - what better way to celebrate the vegetables that are at their very best right now, wherever you are in the world?

394! Last day for Go Ahead Honey Submissions!

2011-02-24T09:26:00.002Z

I glanced at my little band of followers just there and saw that it had crept up to 394! Ooh that makes me feel cosy. Snuggle up folks and feel the warmth. I plan to do something celebratory when we reach that 400th follower - if it's you, hurrah! King for a day!

Today is the last day for Go Ahead Honey submissions as I will post the round up on Friday night. If you sneak some in later, I'm happy to add them into the post late, but I will be away from Saturday till Tuesday night in London - seeing lovely friends, Nick's brother, visiting a museum or two with Finn and goggling at all the eco wonders at the Ecobuild show.

Our timber frame arrived last week and the roof is already more than a dream. As Finn is not allowed on site, we all went to the field next door to gasp with delight at the reality of what has only been drawn on paper till now.

Forgive me if my posts are rather sporadic - I have a lovely bread recipe to share with you and a delicious carrot and ginger probiotic pickle to rave about. I will post them when I can, just hang in here with me, keeping me warm - all 394 of you. Mmmm...

x x x

Overnight Almond Pancakes and a Pâté Epiphany

2011-02-12T15:21:00.008Z

During my research for this month's Go Ahead Honey blog carnival, I perused many lists of magical superfoods, aphrodisacs, ayurvedic healing fruits and bitter tonic leaves of chinese medicine. I dreamt of a mystical smorgasbord, dripping with fig and pomegranate, sliced tomato and just plucked brazil nuts, a plate of sea scented oysters, asparagus and saffron hollandaise, of vanilla and rose syllabub eaten with the fingers.

What a wealth of magical food there is to be sampled!

Although my eyes were like saucers in the face of all this delicious potential, I knew in my heart that my beloveds would like nothing better than a plate of pancakes - light and fluffy, fresh from a buttery pan.

So I made some pancakes using the magical almond nut - long famed for it's healing properties.

It is believed in ayurveda that almond is warming - very important in this dark, damp time of year.

Almonds help to regulate blood sugar, by providing fibre and oils that slow the digestion - avoiding mid afternoon, or evening slumps that are sure to interfere with the joys of life.

Vitamin E in almonds assists in the production and regulation of sex hormones - good for fertility, for PMS sufferers, teenagers and lovers! It's also important for smooth skin, shiny hair and healthy nails.

Finally - almonds are a good source of phenylalanine, a chemical that is a precurser to dopamine, adrenalin and nor-adrenalin. This means that consuming almonds can help to enhance your mood, relaxation and alertness by ensuring a plentiful supply of feel good hormones. Cocoa beans are another good source of phenylalanine, which is why we all love chocolate so!

To reap the greatest benefit from your almonds, they should be soaked before eating, as this reduces the antinutrient - phytic acid (found in all nuts, seeds, grains and pulses), which can prevent you absorbing all these wonderful things from the almond. Roasting or cooking also reduces phytic acid - so making these pancakes ensures you get the maximum bang for your buck, as they are soaked overnight and then cooked to crispy, fluffy perfection.

I made a plate of these pancakes for breakfast this morning - a sort of pre-valentines warm up! The beauty of overnight pancakes, is that they are all ready to go as soon as you can heat a pan and throw in a knob of grease as the mixing is all done beforehand and the (yogurt) magic happens overnight.

We piled the table high with butter, yogurt, peanut butter, ripe bananas, maple syrup and liver pâté and set about creating our own delicious combinations according to taste and whim. My whim always leads me to the liver pâté, Fin to the banana and peanut butter and Nick to the soothing yogurt. Fin and I ate with our eyes and fingers, as slowly as our greedy bellies allowed. Nick used a fork - as he is nothing if not a gentleman.

About half way through this indulgent meal, we looked at each other's yogurt smeared fingers and faces and gave a united sigh of breakfast satisfaction. Nick cleared his throat and thanked me simply for taking the time to nourish our family, for the almond pancakes, home-made, raw-milk yogurt, and fresh chicken liver pâté. He thanked me for caring enough to do all the shopping, soaking, culturing, chopping, roasting, steaming and baking that make our meals nourishing and flavoursome.

And when he was finished, Finley turned it into a song - complete with chair dancing. The song segued into a stream of consciousness trail through a number of 1980's hits - each camper than the last.

When he was done, I asked Fin if he'd like to try a little liver pâté on his last pancake? I - as you may have gathered by now - am a liver devotee, and pâté is one of my favourite superfoods. Something I regard as pure medicine - of the most delicious kind!

Although Fin gobbles most food with relish - liver and spinach remain firmly off the menu. I've managed to find ways of adding spinach to curry and stews with no wincing from Fin, but not aroused a love of liver in his nine year old heart as yet.

This morning Fin surprised me by spreading a little pâté on his pancake and eating it without so much as a shudder. And then he rendered me almost speechless by asking for a little more and pronouncing it quite acceptable and something he was willing to eat in moderation from now on, as long as I kept bringing the pancakes.

Any parent who has wished in vain for a nourishing food to be consumed willingly - will share the lump of pride and tearful joy that overcame me as I witnessed the pâté watershed this morning.

If you're looking for something to serve your beloved this Valentines morning that will nourish and sustain, boost their happy hormones, sex drive and leave them with lustrous skin and shiny hair - make them a plate of pancakes and then leave the rest up to them.

If you would like to join in this month's Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free, please do! I would love to know what you feed your loved ones to nourish and delight them. Have a look at the theme post here and send me your entry by Feb 24th.

Overnight Almond Pancakes (makes about 14) enough for three people

130-150g Ground Almonds (blanched almond flour) - about 1 cup (the smaller amount gives lighter more delicate pancake).

125ml (1/2 cup) live yogurt or kefir

2 Large Free Range Eggs

1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Pinch of Sea Salt

Some time between supper and bedtime, the day before you plan to eat the pancakes, mix the first three ingredients together in a ceramic bowl or glass jar and set aside in a warmish place until the next morning. 8-14 hours.

In the morning, add salt and bicarb to the mix and beat well. The mix should be the consistency of softly whipped cream - not completely runny. If it's too runny then add more almonds, too thick add more yogurt.

Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan to medium hot and add a teaspoon of goosefat, lard or coconut oil and another of unsalted butter. Spoon in dessertspoonfuls of the mix and fry gently until bubbles have formed all over the surface of the pancakes.

Keep an eye on the heat and turn down if neccesary as almonds are easy to burn. The pancakes will take more colour than a grain mixture would though.

Use a palette knife to flip the pancakes over and cook the other side for a couple of minutes, or until golden.

Lift out onto a warmed plate with a piece of kitchen paper on it. Add more grease to the pan if needed and repeat the process until all the mixture is used up.

Salmon & Celeriac Fishcakes (SCD, GAPS, Grain Free and Nightshade Free!)

2011-02-07T09:52:00.007Z

For my upcoming baby & toddler course at River Cottage I'll be teaching that old staple - fishcakes. Many children (and many parents for that matter!) find fish unpalatable, or even downright scary. Some parents were never shown how to cook fish and retain a fear of the unknown that they unwittingly (and unwillingly) pass on to their children. So it is my absolute pleasure to be able to show anyone how simple it is to bake a fillet of fish and flake it for use in a fish pie or fish cakes.

We also learn how to add a lovely crisp breadcrumb coating (using spelt flour or gluten free) that can transform strips of raw fish into delectable fish fingers, or fish cakes into crispy delights.

The best bit? You can use sustainable, seasonal fish, leave out the salt for little ones and have complete control over what goes into your food.

Whilst I'm quite happy to serve up those scrumptious potato fishcakes for Nick and Fin - I got to thinking about a grain free & potato free version that I might like to eat myself. As we often eat mashed celeriac in place of potatoes, and anything with a fennelly, aniseedy flavour loves fish - it seemed right that I should try some with celeriac.

I used ground almonds to absorb moisture from the celeriac and found that the finished cake had a very pleasingly crisp exterior that gave way to a soft, moist, light interior. For anyone following SCD or GAPS, these are a welcome reminder of comfort foods you knew and loved. I'd actually rather have a few of these than a potato laden version - but don't tell any of my Irish family about that or they'll never speak to me again for being unpatriotic!

I used tinned wild salmon for these (bones and all - a very good source of calcium for the dairy free), but you could use whatever fresh fish is sustainable in your part of the world. In the UK at this time of year it's coley, pollock, mackerel & crab - or some expensive fish such as brill and turbot that would be a crime to mash up in a fishcake!

They would also be fantastic spiced up with some fresh chili, garlic and chopped coriander leaf - eaten dipped in some cool yogurt.

Celeriac & Salmon Fishcakes

(makes about 14 - enough for 3 hungry or 4 less so)

30g unsalted organic butter (coconut oil/ghee/goosefat/shmaltz etc for dairy free)

1 large stick of celery finely diced(or 1/2 stick celery and 1/2 a red onion)

1/2 large celeriac (350g peeled weight)

85g ground almonds (almond flour)

1 large free range egg

squeeze fresh lemon juice

2 pinches sea salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp grated unwaxed lemon zest

2 x 213g tins wild red salmon or 400g of baked and flaked sustainable fish

Melt butter (or coconut oil etc) in a small saucepan and saute the diced celery (or celery and onion) for 10 minutes, until it looks translucent. set aside to cool.

While celery cooks, chop celeriac into inch (2.5cm) dice and steam until tender. Don't boil or it will be waterlogged. set aside to cool until lukewarm.

Place cooled celeriac in a food processor bowl with ground almonds, egg, salt, lemon zest and a good few twists of black pepper. Process until smoothish. Leave out salt for any child under two as there is salt in the tinned fish - for a baby of under a year use fresh fish and leave out salt.

Scrape into a mixing bowl, add cooked celery and drained or baked & flaked fish. Mash everything with a fork until it comes together. If it looks too wet at this stage then add some more ground almonds. It should just hold together enough for you to make cakes out of - not as stiff as a potato mixture. If you leave it to sit for half an hour it will be easier to work as the almond will have absorbed more moisture from the mix.

Scoop smallish satsuma lumps out of the bowl with clean hands, press into a ball using your cupped hands and flatten slightly to make a cake. set on a plate while you make the rest. You can refridgerate these for up to 24 hours now, or freeze for later (defrost before cooking - or bake from frozen).

When you're ready to eat, heat up some goosefat/coconut oil/ghee/shmaltz/lard in a heavy bottomed frying pan (skillet) and fry each side for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat - or until a deep golden brown crust forms.

Serve with home made tartar sauce, or cool yogurt and a big helping of steamed, buttered veg.

Love Potions and Charmed Foods - Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free!

2011-01-31T14:42:00.006Z

My Goodness, where did the time go? January was only just drawing to a close and I musing over what to post here - when suddenly a week had passed and I was late! Late for a very important date! (my very busy week included developing another course for River Cottage, for any new parents out there, River Cottage - Feeding Your Baby and Toddler)

This month Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free is three years old! So I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the contributors and hosts who have made this such an inspiring and long running blog carnival. If you'd like to review past month's themes, all of them are listed near the bottom of the side bar.

Last month's excellent host, Lauren of Celiac teen passes the GAHIGF baton to me, as I couldn't resist keeping this month all to myself!

As Valentine's day falls right in the middle of the month, I thought I'd choose something valentine inspired, without needing to slavishly adhere to hackneyed symbols of love, frou frou or extreme chocolate overload.

I challenge you - my inventive, inspiring, inquisitive friends - to explore the magical side of food and drink this month with Love Potions & Charmed Foods.

Let's pass lightly over anything heart shaped and dripping with sugar in favour of soul foods, ingredients that change your body chemistry for the better, meals that leave you feeling satisfied and yet light as a feather - ready to dance your darling up the stairs and into the night.

You might choose to post on the wonder of raw milk and give us a plate of cookies to dip in that tall cold glassful. Leave us to imagine how you might lick the milk moustache from the drinker's lip.

How about looking into foods that are considered aphrodisiac? Or maybe you might seek out spices and flavours with a mystical history - rose petals and saffron, gum mastic and vanilla beans.

You could look to Ayurveda or Chinese medicine for some guidance on foods that nourish the heart and fire the loins.

I know that cacao is the food of the gods, and it certainly does wonderful things to our blood and brain chemistry. Maybe this valentine's day we could cast our net a little wider and look for alternatives to the ubiquitous? That said - if you have a chocolate recipe with a great mythical story attached or some glorious chocolate love potion - we would all very much love to hear about it.

You know by now that I welcome all submissions for this event. I'm just happy to have you along, glad to have anyone join in and make this a noisier party. Just make it gluten free and try to get inspired by everything I said above - and then surprise me, because I do like surprises!

Email your submissions to: naomidevlin at f2s dot com by 24th Feb and I will post them at the end of the month.

x x x

Coconut Connections

2011-01-29T14:02:00.006Z

Anyone who knows me well will be aware of my passion for fat. As a nutritionist I find that I am called on almost daily to encourage people to eat it, as beef dripping or lard, chicken schmaltz or goosefat, golden pasture raised butter and raw cream, whole unhomogenised (ideally raw) milk, olive and coconut oil.

People get a furtive look as they think about all these delicious and hitherto forbidden foods and wonder if I am selling some kind of snake oil. They wonder aloud, won't they get fat or develop heart disease? Surely they will pay in some terrible way for enjoying a roast potato cooked in goose fat or a spoonful of cream in their soup? Eating their boiled eggs with a spoonful of butter? Frying their steaks in dripping? It sounds too good to be true.

It is hard to undo all that low fat, polyunsaturated conditioning and trust that your body loves these things because they ARE good for you! Saturated fat promotes a feeling of satisfaction that can prevent overeating on carbohydrate, just to get a sensation of carby fullness at the end of a meal.

Our cells are mostly composed of saturated fats. Eating them enables us to digest and absorb vitamins and minerals from our vegetables (and the small amounts of fruit we eat if we're sensible) and grains. They facilitate absorption of omega 3 and 6 fats found in monounsaturated oils such as olive, flaxseed and fish oils. Leaving them out of your diet actually promotes the sort of inflammation that causes many modern diseases.

My new saturated friend is coconut oil. For a while there, coconut products seemed to upset my system, but when I cut down on the fruit, honey and dark chocolate, there seemed to be a coconut shaped space left in my diet. So I welcomed coconut oil, milk and flour back into my life.

Some of you may know of an organisation called Coconut Connections that promotes the healing power of coconut? They boast literature with titles like; 'the coconut miracle', 'coconut oil, the way of the future' and 'how coconut saved my marriage' (ok I'm making them up - but you know the sort of thing?). Coconut's wonder properties of metabolism boosting, antimicrobal action, skin soothing and multi faceted uses as oil, milk, flour, sugar and nut seem to inspire a sort of religious fanaticism in some.

We first became aware of Coconut Connections years ago when the mother of a friend became convinced that coconut was the next saviour. This mother was already fairly fanatically Catholic and prone to enthusastic preaching on whatever righteous subject she got her teeth into.

To cope with the coconut onslaught, our friend turned to humour. Coconut Connections became our shorthand for lunatic fervour, and we laughed heartily whenever we spoke about anything coconut related.

As my own fervor increased I became aware that I might become the subject of ridicule every time I said to Nick, 'Coconut is also really great for.... (insert anything you hope for - better skin, longer legs, a faster car, George Clooney)'. He rolled his eyes and said, "Coconut Connections?"

Risking the inevitable ribbing, I even started to put coconut oil on my skin! I have a tendency to get a little eczema rash on my cheeks when I'm stressed ( I put it down to the chinese lung/adrenal/cheek connection) and putting coconut oil on it, gave an instant calming feeling and super softness to the sore patches.

That night, all oiled and ready for bed, I turned over for a goodnight kiss from my darling and was met with an expression of significant disgust. Not at all what I had hoped for!

He sniffed my cheeks and reeled back, "Eurg! You smell of inner tubes. Coconutty, slightly sour, rubbery inner tubes!".

My heart sank and I suppressed a desire to tell him that he had a new growth of ear sprouts and a few extra long eyebrow hairs tickling my face. He held his breath and gave me a goodnight kiss, as though the smell might be catching.

In the morning I offered my cheek to Finley's nose - as he is renowned for his unstinting honesty about any imperfections I might have. He proclaimed it inoffensively coconutty. Hmmm.

The moral of this story? Saturated fat rocks! Coconut oil rocks! Just try not to get too religious about it ok?

Anyone wanting to get a little more coconut in their life, might like to try these Coconut & Teff Pitta Breads - delicious spread with some coconut oil and a little mashed ripe banana!

River Cottage Gluten Free Baking Course

2011-01-24T12:42:00.008Z

My dearest readers, I would like to invite you to get excited with me about a new course I am teaching at River Cottage HQ in green and lovely Dorset!

For any of you who have not already joined Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's Fish Fight and registered your protest vote on the lunacy of fishing quotas - please do so here!

If you would like to join me on May 23rd at Park Farm (River Cottage HQ) for a day of mixing, beating, baking and licking the spoon - you can find out about it and book a place here.

The day will focus on gluten free baking using interesting and healthful ingredients such as, Teff, Buckwheat, Quinoa, and Nut flours. It is not suitable for SCD followers or those with a nut allergy, but I can give alternatives for those who avoid dairy or refined sugar.

It's an opportunity to answer any of those baking questions you always longed to ask, but never got round to. To learn about and sample a whole range of gluten free flours and meet some others who have been blessed with the opportunity to go gluten free. To bake a loaf of bread, whip up a batch of fudgy brownies, make some delicious pastry, sample some blinis along with a scrumptious lunch, cooked using seasonal produce by one of the Park Farm chefs.

I guarantee you'll have fun, get flour on your apron and go home with a smile on your face!

See you there! x x x

Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free! Follow the Calendar - Celeriac and Coconut Soup

2011-01-22T08:50:00.006Z

This month's Go Ahead Honey is bought to you by Lauren of Celiac Teen, a young blogger whose enthusiasm and general joi de vivre are completely infectious!

She chose 'Follow the Calendar' to start the year with because she's always missing food holidays and wanted to see what everyone else celebrated throughout the month of January. She provides a fantastic resource for anyone still wanting to join in, with a different food or drink celebrated on every day of January and themes for the whole month too!

January is officially Soup Month! So I plumped for soup, because it's what I crave in January and is a great antidote to any excessive consumption from Christmas. I love any kind of soup, thick and creamy, smooth and piquant, finely chopped or chunky, a celebration of one vegetable (like this broccoli soup or this pea soup), spiced (like this parsnip soup), beefed up with some lentils or chorizo (like this squash soup) or simply a comforting broth (like this simple spiced beef broth). Soup is a thing that wears a coat of many colours.

Clients frequently ask me how they can avoid the ubiquitous sandwich lunch when they don't have time to cook a meal from scratch in the middle of the day? Soup is often what I suggest as it can be prepared in advance and stored in glass jars in the fridge or frozen in portions. Then it's about the quickest meal you can find.

You can eat your soup plain and simple, or pimp it up with some of the following:

* Last night's roast vegetables, chopped and heated through in the soup (above)

* Chopped fresh herbs or spring onions

* Toasted pumpkin seeds, tamari sunflower seeds, dry roasted cumin or fennel seeds, nigella seeds, black or yellow mustard seeds

* Sprouted seeds, alfalfa, sprouted beans or pulses

* Cooked lentils or beans

* Chunks of chorizo or bacon fried crisp

* Scraps of cold meat

* Feta cheese crumbled over

* Hard cheese grated over

* A hard boiled egg chopped in or a fresh egg poached in the soup

* Strips of egg crepe

* Some spinach or watercress finely shredded (chiffonade) in the bottom of the bowl

* A drizzle of your favourite cold pressed olive oil, argan oil, walnut, hazelnut or macadamia oil

* Chunks of fresh tomato, pepper or avocado stirred in

Need I go on? You could eat the same soup every day and never have it the same way twice! Treat soup as the canvas for your creativity and you will never have a boring lunch again.

Here's a January soup that celebrates the humble celeriac, or celery root. Grab it while you can because it will only be around for another month or so. It has a subtle, creamy aniseed flavour and if you listen carefully, you can hear a coconutty rumble in the background. So I paired it with a little coconut and some chicken stock to make a soothing, creamy blanket for a cold day. Enjoy!

If you would like to join the event visit Lauren's blog for all the details and post something by January 28th.

Celeriac & Coconut Soup for 4-6

This soup is good for anyone who finds alliums a little hard to digest as they are in the stock, but not the finished soup. Anyone following a low fructan/fructose diet will also find it good for the same reason.

1 large celeriac (celery root)

450ml chicken stock (or mushroom stock to make it vegan)

1 leek

400ml coconut milk (watch out for stabilisers if you're on the SCD)

1 tsp goose fat or schmaltz (chicken fat) or coconut oil for vegan.

1 tsp butter or coconut oil

sea salt and black pepper

Optional - turkish chili flakes and olive oil to dress

Chop and clean the whole leek and put it in a smallish lidded saucepan with your chosen stock and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and simmer gently for about 15 minutes while you get on with the next bit.

Peel and dice the celeriac. Heat your 2 tsp of fat in a large saucepan and sauté the celeriac in it very gently, stirring occasionally until it has taken a bit of colour.

Strain the hot stock through a sieve onto the celeriac, discard the leek (to the compost) and bring to the boil again. Simmer with a lid on until the celeriac is soft enough to squash with the back of a wooden spoon.

Set aside until warm and then puree in a blender until velvety smooth - add more water or stock if it seems too thick. Check the seasoning and add any salt or pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice if you think the flavour needs brightening. You could also add chili flakes if you like it a little spicy.

Warm again in a pan and serve.

Raw Honey - Lower Glycaemic Index, Medicinal and Sustainably Local!

2011-01-09T16:32:00.019Z

I guess you don't need me to tell you that not all honey is created equal?

Honey is the original smallholder's gem crop. A few well kept hives can yield enough honey for a year and a few more can bring in a little cash. Bees find their nectar from flowers blooming in the local area and bring it back to a hive that the beekeeper has thoughtfully provided with some fresh clean combs. The plundered blossoms needn't even belong to the hive owner as the bee takes nothing desirable away when it leaves. In fact, the bee scrumping some pollen and nectar is a free bonus that inadvertantly contributes to pollenation of those plants and trees visited. In this equation, everyone is a winner.

After the bees have digested the nectar a few times, they regurgitate it into a cell of the comb, which is left unsealed. The moisture content is then slowly, slowly reduced by the fanning of tiny bee wings, to produce something that has keeping properties well beyond what jam manufacturers can dream of!

Honey produced in this way confers a myriad of beneficial qualities on anyone lucky enough to taste a spoonful and comes in a huge variety of colours, from pure white to deep amber brown depending on the varieties of flowers visited.

The small amounts of local pollen in raw honey, appear to reduce the symptoms of those who suffer with pollen induced hayfever - although it may not help if grass or dust is the problem. Choose a honey produced from hives as close to your home as possible, so that the honey contains pollens that are irritating you.

Due to it's low moisture content (high osmotic pressure), honey has the ability to draw water towards it - the scientific name for this quality is, humectant. For this reason, it was traditionally used to draw out splinters - by osmosis.

Honey's humectant qualities also make it a great ingredient in skin creams for dry skin - combined with beeswax it makes a delicious and nourishing lip balm or skin salve that chimes with my personal philosophy - only put on your skin what you would willingly eat!

Honey is highly antimicrobal - due to it's high acidity (which is much lower in commercial honey) and low moisture content. It is now included in skin dressings as it appears to be successful in combatting MRSA. It's certainly the first thing I reach for when I feel a cold coming on - I include it in a kill or cure drink made from fresh ginger root, cayenne pepper, and fresh lemon juice with 30 drops of echinacea tincture for good measure.

Propolis is a sticky substance that bees make from tree sap, sticky buds and other resins that they find in the local area - it can range from yellow to black in colour, depending on what the bees use to make it. They use propolis to plug up any cells that are not being used in the hive and to seal any small cracks. For us, it's a powerhouse of antimicrobal medicine - used to cure sore throats, colds and other viruses, it may have a regulating effect on the immune system (sources 1 + 2) and aid skin healing in burns. It's also made into gum for chewing and added to toothpaste for it's healing effect on the gums.

And finally, raw untreated, cold extracted honey actually scores much, much lower on the glycaemic index than commercially produced and extracted honey.

Raw honey generally scores around 30-40 on the index (making it moderate) whilst most commercial honeys seem to score between 55 and 80 on the index which is somewhere between highish and rocket fuel! (source). If the honey has been adulterated with refined glucose then it may be even higher.

This discrepancy in fuel release may be due to any number of factors. Possibly because commercial honey is filtered and blended - thereby removing some of the most beneficial elements such as pollen and other small particles, that slow down the rate at which honey is processed? It may be because some unscrupulous producers actually adulterate their honey with glucose or corn syrup - or feed these things to the bees. It may be that heating honey during commercial processing destroys essential enzymes and reduces acidity within the honey - who knows for sure? What is widely believed anecdotally and hinted at in some studies that I have read, is that raw honey produced in the traditional way will not spike your blood sugar in the same way that commercial honey does.

So if you want to use honey for sweetening food, make sure it's raw honey, as your body will thank you and your blood sugar levels remain much more stable than if you used commercial honey.

Of course if you eat large quantities of anything sweet, you will cause your blood sugar to rise - I am not handing you carte blanche to reprise the Honey Monster's top ten sticky sweet moments! Instead, I urge you to go to your local farmer's market, or search out a small local producer of traditional, cold extracted honey and press a decent amount of cash into their hand in exchange for a jar of the golden stuff.

Then the next time you want a little sweetness in your life, have a small, respectful amount - a medicinal serving - and give thanks for bees.

If you would like to add a link to your local supplier of raw honey anywhere in the world, please do! Anyone with any information on the glycaemic index of honey, or it's traditional uses, please also link at the bottom of the post, or in the comments.

Here are two of my local suppliers - long may their hives thrive.

The Beesmith in Bradpole (Bridport, Dorset) sell truly raw honey - they also have a blog and can be emailed direct at: keepers at beesmith.co.uk

Filberts Bees near Dorchester in Dorset sell their (almost raw) honey under the name of Monkey's Gift Apiary - who also sell lip balms and skin salves made with their beeswax. For a list of local stockists look here. Or pop along to Bridport Farmer's Market every other Saturday.

Maybe you'd like to try these Magic Lemon Pudding Bars, using your raw honey? Diary free, Raw, pocket sized energy bars that give Låra a run for her money!

This post is part of the Fight Back Friday blog carnival hosted by Kristen at Food Renegade. It celebrates S.O.L.E food - ie, that which is slow, sustainable, whole, traditional, local and nourishing to body and spirit. If you'd like to join in next Friday, just visit Food Renegade.

x x x

The search for a natural sweetener - is Palm Sugar the answer?

2010-12-28T13:22:00.008Z

I've been doing some research on Coconut Palm Sugar (also known as palm sugar or coconut blossom sugar) as I'm due to be teaching a baking course in the spring and would like to be able to suggest a natural alternative to cane sugar.

As I've been following SCD for some time now, I only use honey, date syrup and dried fruit to sweeten food. I try to sweeten things just enough to make them treaty, without creating something that will spike my blood sugar. I am convinced that Agave Syrup and Fruit Sugar (refined fructose) are no better than High Fructose Corn Syrup (which is digested in the liver, not the gut, which leads to laying down of visceral fat - read this great article for more info on agave and fructose). Xylitol is just too much like an artificial sweetener to make sense to me - even if it does score very low on the glycaemic index.

Dried fruit has limited uses, as you need to include a fair amount to get the sweetness required and then the treat tastes of the fruit you used. I actually love this - fig and almond with cinnamon (pan de higo), date, walnut and cardamom or apricot, pistachio and orange zest - all these suggest subtle and flavoursome combinations that are impossible to create with a sweetener that has no flavour of it's own. Many folks find honey a little too strongly flavoured and it does have a very low burn temperature. So I understand that my own tastes are more radical, due to the years I've spent taking out processed foods and it can be quite a jump for some people to make.

Liquorice and Ginger (grain free) Cupcakes

I have experimented with ground liquorice root as a sweetener - but found that it only really worked alongside strong flavours such as cocoa or ginger. I've yet to try Stevia, but I understand that as a pure herb it's similar to liquorice, with a slightly odd bitter aftertaste and is used mostly as an extract as a result? I'm not yet 100% sure about the whole-food credentials of extracts, as they come without the nutrients that make the food useful in the first place. I'm concerned that this confuses a body searching for whole foods.

So when I heard about palm sugar it seemed like a perfect alternative!

I've looked at the GI and it seems to be low (35 as opposed to table sugar's 68). It appears to be a wholefood, ie; minimally processed and still retains the original nutrients of the blossom nectar, just in a more concentrated form. If you buy fair trade, organic palm sugar it seems to be a sustainable, small scale production that benefits the producers and land alike.

So I'm going to get some and experiment. I still believe that the best option is to eat as little sweet stuff as possible, but this seems like a great way to make those occasional treats less disruptive for blood sugar levels and less of a burden on the liver.

I would love to hear anyone's experiences with palm sugar. What reasearch have you done and what are your conclusions? Any thoughts on palm sugar or alternative sweeteners, positive or negative are most welcome indeed!

x x x

A merry band of 350!

2010-12-24T15:44:00.003Z

I keep an eye on my little band of followers as it creeps slowly up. Like a round of hushed applause, it brings a flush to my cheeks as I feel the warmth of your support.

Thank you for reading what I have to say, for your thoughtful and kind comments. Thank you for the virtual community you provide that always brings a smile to my eyes, makes me want to rush to the kitchen to cook, or gives some food for thought to chew over in idle moments.

Happy Christmas, Hanukah and Winter Festival to each and every one of you, and also to all the silent readers, occasional visitors and new friends!

I look forward to seeing you all soon. x x x

Chilly Fingers and Chilblains - what to do to help yourself

2010-12-22T09:37:00.002Z

Our new house has cold floors and the weather has rarely made it above freezing for the last few weeks. When a couple of my toes started to hurt and look a little pink, I couldn't think what I'd done to them - until I remembered the friends of my youth, chilblains! As a teenager I lived in a large flint stone victorian building, heated only by stoves. I wasn't a fan of sensible clothing in those days and so every year at some point, my feet would start to smart and burn and then itch when my feet eventually got warm in bed at the end of the day.

Chilblains occur when your feet have been very cold for a period and then suddenly get warm again - or just never really thaw out! They tend to affect those with poor circulation or low blood pressure. If you know you have a tendency to get them, here are a few tips to help your feet stay pinkly snug and comfortable through the cold months ahead.

Foot Baths

Either first thing in the morning, or in the evening, soak your feet in some warm water with a few drops of olive or almond oil added and then rub them dry vigorously with a towel. This gets the blood flowing to your feet.

Warming Oil Blend

Whilst your feet are still warm from the bath/footbath, massage this oil blend into your feet - make it up in your hand to avoid it going stale.

1 capful vegetable oil (olive, avocado, almond, peach kernel, rapeseed)

4 drops ginger essential oil

2 drops black pepper essential oil

Wash your hands very well afterwards to avoid getting any of the essential oils in your eyes.

Thick Socks

After the oil blend, pull on a pair of thick walking socks, or get some thermal socks that will fit inside your shoes. This will prevent your feet from losing heat and keep the circulation going.

Move Around

Don't sit still or stand still for too long as blood flow to your feet will stagnate. Wiggle your toes and do some high stepping or jog on the spot until you feel a little flush of warmth. Going up and down stairs a few times is good too. Anything to keep your blood flowing.

Support Your Veins

The nutrient Rutin tones and supports vein walls, so it's good to increase your intake of this if you're prone to poor circulation or chilblains. You can take it as a supplement, or eat more buckwheat (makes great pancakes), citrus zest, unpeeled apples (it's in the peel), brocolli and onions. To combat the inflammation, make sure you are getting adequate vitamin C and increase your intake of omega 3 rich foods such as oily fish, walnuts, dark green leaves and use raw cold pressed rapeseed oil in preference to olive oil on your salads.

If anyone else has any tips - please leave them in the comments.

x x x

SCD Winter Breakfasts

2010-12-21T08:29:00.013Z

As many of you may know, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) was formulated to help heal the digestive system of those who suffer from inflammatory conditions such as colitis, coeliac disease and IBS. While it doesn't claim to cure the conditions, it can offer real symptom relief for those who follow it closely. The mainstay of the diet is avoidance of starchy foods; grains, potatoes, sugar and even milk sugars, as these can cause inflammation by remaining undigested in the gut.

A winter breakfast is generally a starchy affair for many - some hot buttered toast with scrambled egg, pancakes and bacon, or a steaming bowl of creamy oatmeal. Something to warm you through the morning and fill you up till lunch! But what do you eat if starch is off the menu?

Eggs are often the first thing to turn to - a plate of eggs scrambled in butter takes literally seconds to make - but day after day, they soon start to lose their shine! So I thought I'd list some of the hot breakfasts we turn to and hope that maybe you'll suggest a few of your own?

Pumpkin Pie Porridge - a hot porridge stand-in made with squash, apples and almonds, a little reminiscent of a pumpkin pie filling. You can also add some quinoa seeds when you make it (if you aren't following SCD), for a highly nutritious, oat free porridge. Make enough for a few days and just heat a portion through in the morning. Serve with yogurt and extra cinnamon.

Banana Omelette - Not the most beautiful dish I'll grant you - and not everyone likes the idea of a sweet omelette. Fin and I love a banana omelette and it takes moments!

Slice a banana into coins and fry it in a small teaspoon of butter on a fairly high heat until bits of the banana start to caramelise, scrape onto a plate. Make a standard two egg folded omelette and just before you fold it, spread the banana over half, top with a heaped dessertspoon of yogurt, sprinkle on a dessertspoon of ground almonds and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Fold and eat immediately!

Fluffy Eggs - a weekend breakfast from my childhood, updated for SCD.

Fresh homemade Chorizo Sausages - perfect with a poached egg and some garlic spiked tomatoes.

Pea Pikelets - an old standby in this house! Eat as a savoury breakfast with some ham or cheese or swap the peas for squash, apple or banana for a more pancake type experience and eat hot from the pan with a dollop of strained yogurt or some butter.

What do you eat on a cold winter's morning, Gluten free or SCD? - leave a suggestion in the comments, or a link to your own recipe.

x x x

Christmas Morning Muffins - Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!

2010-12-15T09:42:00.014Z

This month's Go Ahead Honey event is hosted by the ebullient Carol Kicinski of Simply Gluten Free. One of my earliest blogging buddies, her meteoric path through the blogosphere, onto TV fame and much coveted book contracts is a truly inspiring thing. Carol even has her own GF white flour mix! Posterity - Carol's got it covered!

For this month, Carol chose Family Traditions - a generous, all welcome, warmly nourishing embrace of a theme. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Thanksgiving or just look forward to a lovely winter break with your nearest and dearest, it's a pretty good bet that you have some traditions to mark the yearly arrival of festivities. You may not even recognise them as traditions - but if something makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, you have the bud of a tradition. You do it the same way next year and before you know it, a family tradition is born.

Traditions have crept up on us like whispers. When Finley was still a toddler, one of his granny's friends made an advent calendar for him - a total labour of love, complete with hand knitted stockings and sacks and little numbers appliqued in felt. It must have taken a month of evenings to make and assemble and we felt blessed to recieve it.

We hung it on the wall and in the night fairies bought a little treat and popped it in the pouch, every day until Christmas eve. Fin was delighted - magic! Even now, Finley puts up the advent calendar on the last day of November, and laments all those friends of his who are missing out on a daily treat because they don't believe in fairies.

Other traditions are more loosely formed. We like to have a tapas style smörgåsbord of dishes for Christmas eve - some paprika almonds, charcuterie, winter salads and maybe a little membrillo con manchego, washed down with a little festive sherry?

Nick often works right up until Christmas eve, so we leave off decorating the tree until he returns, stamping his feet and blowing on wintry fingers, into the cosy glow of fairy lights, baubles gleaming brightly from tissue nests as Finley and I unearth our collection of magpie's trinkets.

It may be my favourite bit of Christmas, the night before. The days spread out before me in a long sigh, a larder stocked with roots and nuts, plans for treats to be baked and games played, an expectant smile never far from Fin's lips.

We love a bracing walk on Christmas day and a gentle round of whatever board game is the rage with Fin (poor Nick will have to suffer Monopoly again this year). We eat, when and how we please - just enough to feel satisfied, but never enough so we need to retire to the sofa for an afternoon nap to sleep it all off.

What I cherish most is that Sundayish feeling of ease and cosiness. So I love to bake up a batch of muffins first thing, after Fin has come in for a morning cuddle and spread the contents of his stocking all over our bed. We sit in the warm kitchen, bathed in the wintry scents of clementine zest and cinnamon, or dates and ginger - sip hot mugs of tea and contemplate a whole day of doing just as we please.

This year I fancy these sticky gingerbread muffins - if you're less keen on ginger then you could substitute cinnamon and double the zest, for a spiced clementine version. They're dense and sticky, full of dates and almonds - if you like something a little more bready or lighter, try these, with some spice and zest added:

Chestnut Muffins

Brazilnut Muffins

Cocoabutter Cupcakes (SCD & Dairy Free)

Banana Muffins

Buckwheat Banana Muffins

Sticky Gingerbread Muffins (SCD) makes 7

These are very dense, sticky muffins for date lovers. On cooling, they start to resemble crinkly snickerdoodle biscuits, with a craggy, mischievous, smiling face.

3oz dried, pitted dates, chopped

3oz flaked almonds

3oz ground almonds

2 oz salted butter

1 avocado

1/4 cup date syrup - or honey

2 large eggs

zest and juice of a clementine or half an orange

1/4 cup plain live yogurt (or SCD 24 hour yogurt)

1 1/2- 2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp bicarb

pinch allspice

Set the oven to 160C and put 7 muffin cases in a muffin tray.

blitz dates and flaked almonds to fine crumbs in a blender.

Add butter & avocado and blitz to combine.

Add date syrup, 1 egg, bicarb & spices, blitz till smooth, add the second egg and blitz again.

Add ground almonds, yogurt, zest and juice, blitz until smooth. Should be a soft dropping cake mix consistency.

Spoon into muffin cases almost to the top as they don't rise that much.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until brown, risen and firmish. Cool for 15 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Eat warm or cool - I like them cool, maybe spread with a little strained yogurt sweetened with a spoonful of honey.

Roasted Roots and Warming Soup

2010-12-08T09:51:00.009Z

Each morning, the round hills and bosomy woods atop them are frosted with flour, like a bakers batch loaf. Finley and Nick put on two pairs of gloves, an extra jacket and a brave smile for the icy whoosh down the hill to school. But Fin will not be prevailed on to wear the balaclava, that last year was a prized Ninja accessory.

The cold has gotten into the very bones of the house. We sneak around looking for cracks and drafts, taping up the leaky cat flap, pinning a thick woolen blanket over the conservatory windows. I refuse to have the heating on full when we could just wrap up a little warmer and make the house a little more efficient. Every half an hour I barrel up and down the stairs to wake my fingers and toes and think about popping the kettle on for another ginger tea. Brrr!

So to keep the cold out of our bellies, I will be roasting some roots and making warming soups and stews. Who wants salad when it's as cold as this?

Roasted Beetroot

Warming Squash Soup

Pear Crumble (using my recipe from here)

Spiced slow cooked meatballs

Clementine and Cinnamon Muffins (recipe coming soon)

And maybe a bowlful of creamy

Broccoli and Lemon Zest Soup?

What will you be warming your cockles with this week?

x x x

Mmmm Muffins!

2010-12-03T11:01:00.012Z

Although our seaside location keeps us in a warm bubble for most of the year, today even Bridport is cloaked in snow and the thermometer registered a lip tingling minus seven when we woke!

We rose at first light, busy, chafing our hands against the chilly house. Nick had to take the train to London for his Passivhaus design exam and we weren't quite sure what effect all this snow would have on the road to Dorchester.

Pretty soon though, lunches and warm sweaters were packed into the car and we patted the dashboard lovingly, giving thanks once again to the marvelous efficiency of German engineering. Ice crunching beneath the tires, I crept out to the main road and we were off into the pink morning with the blower on full blast.

Out of town the countryside lay silent under a frozen quilt, trees standing stiffly to attention, hedges weighed down with a frosting of powder. Mist rendered the sky as white as the fields below. The only thing to remind us that we were driving and not floating, were headlights gleaming towards us through the milky air.

Rounding a corner to the crest of the hill we were bathed in the glorious colours of morning. Pink and gold mingled with white to form an ice-cream sundae for the eyes. At the side of the road, untouched drifts of caster sugar glistened with opalescent lustre, as though they had been dusted with tiny fragments of mirror.

We plunged back again into the shade, everything lost colour and I had the impression that we were driving through a sepia photo. I half expected to look over and see Nick in a three piece suit with a moleskin trilby in his lap.

We saw him off in good time, clouds of breath billowing, "Goodbye! and good luck!".

Finley safely dropped at school, I came home and fired up the oven for a batch of muffins to welcome him home with. There's nothing that comforts the soul like a batch of banana muffins and a warm cup of tea.

I plan to look out the window often today, as tomorrow is forecast for rain and all this magical winter white will be washed away.

Banana Muffins (Makes 12)

This recipe is gluten free, but not SCD. To make these muffins SCD friendly, just replace the flour with 9 oz ground almonds (almond flour), reduce the butter to 2 oz, add a heaped dessertspoon of yogurt and omit the xanthan gum. If the batter seems a little thick then add a little more yogurt.

8oz (220g) ground almonds (or flaked almonds ground in a food processor)

2 large ripe bananas

4 oz (110g) butter

4 large free range eggs

1 avocado

½ cup (125ml) honey

4 oz (110g) brown rice flour

4 oz (110g) buckwheat flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

6 tsp cider vinegar (or similar)

2 tbs milk or yogurt

Flaked almonds (optional)

Fill a muffin tray with cases and set the oven to 170C.

In a food processor combine, butter, honey and bicarb and process until smooth.

Add banana, eggs and avocado and process until smoothish.

Add vinegar, flours, xanthan gum, ground almonds, milk/yogurt and vinegar and pulse until combined, scraping down in between bursts. The mix should have a soft dropping consistency - if it's too stiff, add a little more milk.

Scrape into muffin cases, sprinkle with a few flaked almonds and bake for 20-24 minutes until golden, risen and springy to touch. Putting a tray of water in the bottom of the oven gives an even better rise.

Dust Settling and Banana Muffins

2010-11-30T09:04:00.004Z

I am longing to sit down for a really good chat with you now we're finally back online after nearly a month, but there just isn't time to write something longer than a few lines.

Maybe the highlights?

Our new view over hills and rooftops into the mist wreathed colours of distance.

A little garden full of grass and birds. Woodpeckers, blue tits and pigeons raking the ground for bugs.

New lanes to run in, Florence + The Machine soaring through my ears and out of my mouth...the moon, the stars - they have all been blown out....

There are still boxes in the garage and I find myself enjoying only what we have chosen to unpack. I do like a bit of simplicity.

This house has a good feeling. Each and everyone who has walked through the door so far has said, 'Oh, how lovely!'. I flouted the no smoking rule briefly and smudged the whole place with sage and played my singing bowl up and down stairs. But I think that this was just for me - maybe the house didn't need it?

I really must go! Recipes to write, remedies to send, people to chase, floors to sweep.

There's a banana muffin recipe coming very soon, I promise!

x x x

Wah Ha Ha Haaaa!

2010-11-01T09:44:00.002Z

We carved our pumpkin with a smiling crooked toothed smile on one side and a perturbed snarl on the other, set it in the window and dimmed the lights to appreciate it's flickering glow.

Fin decided at the last minute that he would dress up, as a vampire - very on trend. Appearing moments later in black trousers and shirt with collar spookily turned up, a black waistcoat and felt cape, he said he didn't quite feel vampirish enough without some fangs or something and how would we fashion these with our house packed up ready to move?

Hmm?

So I dug out some long forgotten purlescent eye shadow and a khol pencil, a little slick of hair gel and some artful smudging and Fin was transformed into a creature of the night (more kind-a boogie nights, but hey).

'Wah ha ha haaaah!' he roared - camply flapping his cloak for effect. Excellent!

We set off a sky lantern in the garden and watched until it disappeared into the inky chill. Then Fin went to an impromptu halloween party and knocked on neighbours doors with his mates - increasing his own popularity by giving every sweet away.

Later on the sofa with a cup of milky rooibos, face pinkly clean again in a pair of soft trousers, he declared it the best halloween ever. Me too.

We're moving this week, so I won't be back with you again until mid November, when my internet connection is restored.

In the meantime, I hope you can check out Diane's fantastic round up of her Halloween, Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free, event. Next month is hosted by Kajora of Spice lovely and the theme is Oaxacan cuisine! No idea what that is? Well head on over to Spice Lovely and check it out - you're sure to love it.

x x x

A New Approach to Fitness!

2010-10-28T09:47:00.007+01:00

I've recently been appointed nutritionist for a small company offering holistic fitness retreats in Symondsbury (Bridport). It's a pretty exciting appointment for me, as they are trying to break the boot-camp mold by offering training for the mind and body - with emotional support for those making a big change in their lives. To complement this, I will provide some healthy and delicious menus that focus on whole-food rather than the often highly processed, fat free, carb free, taste free fuel that many boot-camps offer. Everything is gluten free too!

As a team, I think we offer an opportunity to adopt a sustainable lifestyle that reaches far beyond the week that you spend with us.

For anyone who would like to try it out for themselves, we're offering a taster day at a bargain price! Information below...

REBOOT Boot Camp Event Day!

We would like to invite you to another REBOOT Event Day - held on Saturday 20th November in Poole, Dorset. We kick off the day at 10am and finish with a leisurely supper at 7pm.

This fun-packed taster day is a great introduction to the unique REBOOT philosophy, for anyone who would like to take part in a future REBOOT week. It could be a great way for those who bonded on a previous REBOOT week to see old friends - or maybe just a great way to spend your Saturday, working up some endorphins in great company?

Our nutritional workshop will teach you how to refuel the body between training sessions with delicious, healthy and easily prepared meals. Mind training is an integral part of the training programme, helping you enhance physical performance and providing tools for success in all areas of your life. There will be sports massage available throughout the day and a session on when to train and when to rest - you service your car, why not yourself?

Food will be provided throughout the day with recipes for you to take away and cook at home.

Schedule of events (timings are for guidance only):

10.00 am – Assessments – Current fitness levels and ability, to ensure we tailor the day to your needs.

11.00 am – Beach Circuits – Quite simply it means what it says on the tin, with a twist of Mark Hooks!

12.00 pm – Nutritional Work Shop – One of REBOOT’s nutritionists will guide you through the jungle of what to eat to stay healthy and fit. Top tips on superfoods and how to include them in your diet, balancing meals and healthy snacks.

1.00 pm – Lunch – A tasty, nutritious meal will provide all the fuel you need for our afternoon activities without unbalancing your blood sugar.

2.00 pm – Mind Training Work Shop – One of REBOOT’s mind coaches will give a 45 minute presentation on creating balance in mind and body. Balanced thought naturally brings happiness into all areas of your life, enabling greater success, weight loss, and even promoting longevity!

3.00 pm – Boxing – Using pads and mitts, we will show you how to adopt the correct boxing stance and put together six, nine & twelve punch combinations.

4.00 pm – Massage Workshop - provides information on injury intervention through prevention, treatment, specific rehabilitation and sports massage for the whole range of abilities, from competitive athletes to recreational fitness enthusiasts.

4.45 pm – Upper Body Cross Training – A great workout for all upper body muscles with a competitive touch to get every last ounce from everyone.

5.30 pm – The BIG Event – Whatever your goal is, whether it be 1.5 miles, 5km, 10km or a half marathon the route, will take you along some of the Uk’s most beautiful beaches.

6.30 pm - Stretch & Relax – A session on stretching out those hard working muscles, both pre and post exercise, and an introduction to ‘Progressive Muscular Relaxation’.

7.00 pm – The Last Supper – A chance to taste more of REBOOT’s culinary delights while you unwind and share your experience of the day with other attendees.

All meals, snacks and healthy drinks are provided throughout the day to help keep your energy levels tip top.

You can experience all of this for just £60 for adults and £20 for children.

To reserve your place please contact Mark Hooks on 07899 833084 or email me at mark@rebootdorset.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

x x x

Scared of Salmon? Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!

2010-10-26T12:37:00.010+01:00

This month's edition of Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free! is hosted by the inspirational Diane Eblin of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. Her theme was Scared Silly! - foods you were scared to try and now eat with gay abandon, laughing heartily at your former fussy ways.

I was intending to post a recipe for lambs liver with cumin, because I was a vegetarian for over 25 years and then found I needed to eat meat for my health. Liver filled me with horror, until I forced myself to cook some because I knew it was good for me! Now I eat it often and even crave the stuff when my body feels the need for some supercharged nutrition. Liver is like natures nutritional powerhouse, providing so many essential nutrients that just reading the list would exhaust you! Yet so many people quiver with fear when I suggest they add it to their diet...

But as is often the way of things, I forgot to buy any liver and the deadline loomed close, so I chose salmon instead, as my urging patients to eat oily fish often provokes the same shrieks of disgust and wrinkling of noses. 'It's too fishy!' they cry, with palms at their cheeks and a look of impending doom creasing their forlorn faces.

To make fish more palatable to those who find it too strong, I find that other strong flavours work wonders. Whether as a fish curry, some chilli roast mackerel or here, in my fish parcels, bursting with garlic, ginger and savoury tamari. It's not only incredibly good for you, it's moreishly lip smacking too!

To round off the horror, I thought I'd accompany this salmon with quinoa - that wonderful grain, packed with protein and amino acids - pronounced KEEN-WA by the daring and precocious. People seem to make a disgusting porridge with this wonderful grain and then declare it to be disgusting! Cooked properly it can be delicious - nutty and satisfying, a perfect accompaniment to succulent fish or sweet tagines.

All you dear readers who would like to eat more fish, but shy away from it's fishiness, I beg you to try this easy and delicious supper dish. Your skin, hair, joints and brain will thank you and you may even find yourself venturing into the wonderful world of herring, sardines and mackerel before you know it!

I give this recipe per person, so you can adjust it to suit.

Ginger & Tamari Salmon Parcels

175-200g Slice of Salmon Fillet (per person)

1 Carrot (or half an orange pepper or handful of green beans)

3/4 inch piece of Fresh Ginger

1 tsp Sherry Vinegar or Balsamic

1 clove of Garlic

4-5 shakes of Tamari (check it is gluten free, I use Clearspring)

2-3 shakes of Sesame Oil

Couple of sploshes of Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

(optional) sprinkle of Ground Dried Ginger

Set the oven to 200C

Julienne your carrot (slice into thin batons about 3-4 mm thick). If you leave it chunkier, like I did mine - it will still be quite al-dente.

Finely chop the garlic and grate the ginger.

Lay out a sheet of tin foil about six inches longer than your piece of salmon and top it with a similar sized piece of baking parchment. This way you can compost the paper and easily reuse the foil.

arrange your carrot on the parchment in an oblong, the size of your salmon piece. Pop the salmon on top.

Over the salmon, squeeze the juice out of the ginger, sprinkle on garlic, splash with tamari, sesame oil and rapeseed oil and shake a little ground ginger over if you really like a gingery kick.

Bring the long sides of the parchment together and fold them over twice to crimp closed. Holding them firmly, crimp over the end of the parchment to form a bag. Do the same with the foil so that you have a parchment bag sealed in a foil bag.

You can do this several hours in advance and then pop the parcels in the fridge for later. Just get them out and cook in the usual way once the oven has come up to temperature.

Place the parcel or parcels on flat baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes.

To serve, unwrap just the foil part and pop each paper parcel on a plate so that people can open their own at the table. offer extra tamari and maybe some chopped spring onions (scallions) for those who like a saltier dish.

I love to serve steamed broccoli with this as it's great for mopping up those juices - toss it with some toasted sesame seeds for a treat.

Toasted Quinoa

Put this on before you start the fish, as it can sit and steam for a good 30 minutes after it's cooked and still be hot enough to serve.

Again, per person quantities.

35g Whole Quinoa Grains

100ml Water

Put the dry quinoa in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat. Stir constantly until the seeds start to pop and colour slightly - they should also start to smell nutty. Don't let them burn though or this will be bitter, not nutty.

Immediately add the water and bring to the boil, then cover tightly and turn right down to a low simmer. Check every five minutes to see if the water has all been absorbed and then turn the heat off.

Add a couple of knobs of butter if you like and clamp the lid on until you're ready to serve. Then fluff grains with a fork. Yum!

If you'd like to participate in this month's Go Ahead Honey - there's still time! Just pop over to Diane's Blog and check out the theme for yourself, post something and email the link to Diane. She will post the round up of everybody's contributions at the end of the month.

Carbon Reduction Label - is it really going to help us make the right choice?

2010-10-13T16:40:00.012+01:00

Those of you out shopping in the UK may have seen the new Carbon Reduction Label appearing on consumer goods? It's a long hoped for aid to those of us who agonise over every supermarket tomato, wondering whether we will make the right carbon choice.

A shopping trip with me is probably quite an eye opener for someone who whizzes round, throwing whatever they fancy into the trolley. I tend to examine country of origin and work out whether this item has got here by boat (ok I think, for items that we don't grow here), whether I should buy the highly packaged organic version or the loose and unpackaged non organic version, is this British vegetable actually still in season, or is it being hot housed somewhere and acquiring a carbon footprint even larger than those beans grown in Kenya under the natural sun? It's a decision that is actually more complex than it first seems, because it's not enough just to buy everything British (or local to you) until you know that it hasn't been driven around the country or grown under lights.

As I pretty much solely buy produce and rarely anything that has more than one ingredient, I don't need to scan labels for hidden nasties like sugar, gluten or trans fats. But my wish to do what I can to reduce my own carbon footprint as a housewife means that I'd love to know what I'm contributing unwittingly through my weekly shop. For example, I buy ethical cleaning products that I know to be 100% biodegradable, produced efficiently in factories run on green electricity. Sounds excellent, yes? It may well be the best choice I could make in terms of environmental sustainability, but until I know how much carbon it accrues on it's journey from Belgium to my shopping basket, I can't make a truly informed choice.

The idea for this post came about when Nick was stirring a teaspoon of sugar into his coffee. I tolerate a bag of white sugar in my cupboard, because I would hate to be thought of as a dietary fascist - but I do secretly fetch it down and tut to myself about the stuff when Nick is out of the house. Hey ho. We make sure that this sugar is always fairtrade, or even better, British - but often struggle to find British (Silver Spoon) sugar and end up with Tate and Lyle (fairtrade).

As I sipped my own cup of roibos with goat's milk (ho ho), my eye lighted on the carbon label on the Tate and Lyle sugar, which claimed to have a carbon footprint of 390 grams of carbon per kilo of sugar produced. I rushed to the computer and looked up the same value for Silver Spoon and found that it was 500 grams. By this reckoning, Tate and Lyle sugar, processed in the UK, from fairly traded sugar cane grown on the other side of the world, produces less carbon, right?

But scratch just a little deeper and it soon becomes apparent that this carbon measurement only refers to the amount of carbon produced by a typical factory of the company in question. It does not take into account the carbon footprint accrued during production and transportation of the raw materials to the factory, or transport of the finished product after it leaves the factory.

Lets say that the sugar cane that Tate and Lyle use for their product has already been processed into molasses before it's shipped to the UK for further processing. Meanwhile, Silver spoon are starting their process with some freshly dug sugar beet from a British farmer. In this scenario, Tate and Lyle have shifted some of the carbon footprint of their product to the unrecorded, pre-manufacture protion of the sugar's journey to your coffee.

But then again, sugar cane is (according to Wikipedia...) one of the most efficient photosynthesisers of the plant kingdom - growing at a rate that would make bamboo look like an oak tree. This means that it's locking up carbon during it's growth phase. It also tends to be harvested by hand rather than machine, as this maximises the sugar content of the stems, which is reduced through mechanical damage in machine harvesting. British beets on the other hand, are always harvested by machine.

What of the large carbon footprint of the fertilisers used to grow the sugar crops? Does the sugar cane require more or less fertiliser than the beets? Should we be choosing organic sugar over everything else because it is produced without the chemical intervention of fertiliser? Where can I find these values and how far should I take this evaluation?

How I would love to find a ready reckoner for the average carbon footprint of goods that I purchase every week. If anyone knows of one, please pass it on here in the comments, so everyone can benefit!

So which one would you choose? How on earth to make this decision, that seemed at first glance to have been made simply for me, by that easily read Carbon Reduction Label.

I'd love to know your thoughts, and how you decide what ethical decisions to make.

I will continue to plump for English honey to bring a little sweetness into my life - preferably cold spun by a local bee keeper.

Lamb Shank Moussaka (Gluten free and SCD)

2010-10-08T13:15:00.008+01:00

If you go to the dictionary, under hard-working you will find Nick's name and a little engraving of a man toiling at a computer with two screens. When a man works so ceaselessly to bring home the bacon, he really deserves something great in return.

Of course, he also makes it his business to read every letter, on every page, of every document that our self-build bureaucracy-fest spews relentlessly out - even when his eyes are tired and he'd like to stop thinking about it for a while.

When that man is the sort of company director who always tries to deliver 100% to every client, because they all matter - not just the huge housing corporations. He deserves to shrug off his business shoes, roll up his sleeves and tuck into something that I have taken care over too.

One of Nick's favourite meals is Moussaka. I don't make it often because it's rare to find English Aubergines and it is rather more complicated than throwing a piece of fish in the steamer! But when I saw some English aubergines for sale in Waitrose and then spied some shanks at the meat counter, it was a done deal.

This dish is infinitely better made the long way with shanks and not mince. The added flavour and texture imparted by bones and cartilage and juicy chunks of tender meat, leave that supermarket wodge of tomato-y mince and bechmel sauce standing!

Lamb Shank Moussaka (SCD) feeds 6

Lamb Mixture

2 large Lamb Shoulder Shanks (approx 500g)

200g Diced Stewing Lamb

400g tin Chopped Italian Plum Tomatoes (check label if SCD)

2 sticks Celery (diced)

1 medium Red Onion (finely chopped)

1/2 a Large Leek (the white and pale green part, washed and finely chopped)

4 cloves Garlic (chopped)

2 tsp Dried Oregano (or 4-5 fresh)

4 Fresh Bay Leaves (or 2 dried)

2 tsp Sherry Vinegar (or Balsamic, but check label if SCD)

1 tsp Goose or Duck Fat or Olive Oil

2-3 pinches Sea Salt

Fresh Black Pepper

Optional extras - a large handful of Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and/or 4 chopped Sun-dried Tomatoes in Oil

Heat goose fat/olive oil a large pan and brown all sides of the shanks. Set aside and brown the stewing lamb in the same pan. Set this aside too.

Into the same pan throw diced celery and finely chopped onion and leek and one pinch of salt. Sweat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally and then add garlic and herbs. Sweat for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally until the mix is translucent and starting to smell sweet.

Add browned stewing lamb and tomatoes and nestle the shanks in there too. Fill the tomato tin half full with water and add this to the pot. Add a good pinch of salt and a few good grinds of pepper (be lavish with the pepper). Bring to the boil and then cover with a close fitting lid and turn down to simmer for 2-3 hours, or until the lamb is melting off the bone.

Cool and refrigerate overnight.

When you're ready to make the moussaka first salt the aubergine as described below and while it is sitting, get on with the sauce.

Scrape as much fat off the top of the lamb mix as possible and pick the meat from the lamb shanks - discarding as much of the fat as is practical. Some fat is fine - after all, this is a Greek winter dish!

Chop the lamb roughly and add it to the pan with the optional roasted/dried tomatoes. Heat until bubbling and then let the mixture simmer uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated, but not until it's dry - you're after a thick meaty sauce, not tomato paste!

Check for seasoning. Add lemon juice, vinegar, salt, pepper etc to taste - remembering that the aubergine slices will be salted. Leave to cool.

Aubergine Slices

Slice 2 fat aubergines (three modest ones - don't be stingy!) lengthways into 1cm thick slabs. Sprinkle them lightly on both sides with fine sea salt and lay on a double thickness of paper kitchen roll for about an hour.

After an hour, the surface will be beaded with moisture. Blot this with fresh kitchen paper and smear both sides of the slices with some olive oil to coat.

Heat a ridged griddle pan and griddle the slices both sides until nice black lines have appeared. Alternatively, grill (broil?) both sides under a hot grill until cooked through.

Assembly

I use a baking tray 10"x 10" (25cm x 25cm) but you could go for something a little bigger and end up with a slightly shallower moussaka if you need to.

oil the bottom of your tray with a little olive oil and arrange half the aubergine slices in a single layer. Top with half the lamb mixture. Repeat the aubergine and top with the rest of the lamb - smooth the top.

Yogurt Topping

200ml Organic Whole Milk Live Yogurt (or Greek yogurt for extra richness) or SCD yogurt

125ml Organic Whole Milk (for SCD just use more yogurt)

3 Large Organic Eggs

Pinch Sea Salt

Black Pepper

125g Cheddar Cheese (or 200g feta for a more authentic tang)

Set the oven to 180C (170C if you know your oven to be fierce)

Whisk everything except the cheese until smooth (stir in crumbled feta if using)and pour over the moussaka. Sprinkle grated cheese (leave this out if using feta) evenly over and bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is firm, puffed up and patched with golden brown (it won't be brown if you've used feta, just golden).

The top will sink when you take it out of the oven, but this is just fine. Serve with a crisp leafy salad or some wilted greens spiked with lemon.

A New Nest to Feather

2010-10-07T09:50:00.003+01:00

So we toiled through a flurry of visits to estate agents who proffered a smörgåsbord of affordably repugnant, over-priced or awkwardly configured houses and flats. Sweeping their hands and ushering us forward as they hissed and spat agent-speak like Gollom in sight of the ring.

When a three bed detached house with a garden and parking popped up on the radar, I could hardly wait the twelve hours until our viewing, feeling all Christmas eve-ish and unable to sleep.

Fin and I cycled to the place with high hopes. Nestled in a quiet little cul-de-sac, was a bijou little house and we knew almost before we were in, that this was where we wanted to spend the last bit of our journey.

As if to cement this feeling, a completely black cat padded downstairs and wound himself about our ankles, purring, 'yes', as he blinked his green eyes.

Yes.

So we completed the forms and met the landlords, who were just lovely. And I remembered to breathe again and trust that this was all going to be fine.

And why wouldn't it be?

So thank you universe. Thank you damselflies. Thank you, fairies of house rental. You told me it would be ok, and I almost believed you. I guess you'll just have to keep reminding me to trust.

Good Omens

2010-09-28T10:56:00.010+01:00

As I snapped the florets from a head of calabrese in the early-evening calm of supper making, our letting agent called to break the news that we had been served notice by our landlord. While she outlined the details, I stood, floret in hand, silently mouthing curses, mind running, running, galloping through the house and gathering my belongings, as though a fire bell had sounded.

With around six months to go before our own house is ready and two months before the landlord is standing at the front door, jangling his keys and hemming impatiently, we are plunged into another move. More boxes and packing, more credit checks, address labels, unknown neighbours and searching for somewhere that we can live for these last few months of the journey home.

With some synchronicity, a homeopathic remedy I'd ordered for myself, had arrived in the post that day. I popped it in my mouth like a character from the Matrix, hoping I'd picked the right one and would wake in the morning with a light step and new purpose.

During the night I had the most fantastical dream. I found myself at a friend's birthday party, surrounded by smiling faces, drinking a nectar-ish cocktail. When the time came to leave this delicious party, our friend drove us into the country in an open top car - warm air rushing over our laughing cheeks. We stopped next to a brook, piled out of the car into the starlit night and saw the most enormous damselflies fluttering about over the water. Their iridescent wings were larger than a pair of hands and they flew about us in little shimmering orbs of light. I knew instinctively that everything would be just fine, because these damselflies would make it so.

When Fin woke me moments later, I felt as though a huge weight had fallen away in the night.

Downstairs over breakfast we were discussing a stair lift we'd seen the day before and I told Fin jokingly that I would rather be sent out to sea on a raft with a hundredweight of dark chocolate than suffer the ignominies of using a stair lift (of course, if it came to that, I'm sure I'd accept the lift gratefully - but that's not my point here). We then fell to wondering how much chocolate one would get in a hundredweight and had to fetch down the dictionary to look it up.

Fin ran his finger down the pages, from ha to hi, to hun and then to hundredweight - 112 lb in the UK. 'Wow! That's over a thousand bars of chocolate!'. A huge smile broke over both our faces as we imagined sailing out to sea with this enormous bounty.

'Aren't dictionaries brilliant, Fin?' I asked, as we packed his bag for school, and he agreed wholeheartedly - replaying the image of all that chocolate in his mind - hundredweight, mmm....

I hugged him extra hard with a little lump of pride in my throat, because I do love a dictionary and have been known to thumb the pages idly - as though window shopping for thoughts. All is well with me if my son can appreciate one too.

So now I have that comforting feeling that something, somewhere, is looking over me.

All I need to do is get on with it.

x x x

Gluten Free Bread and Lunchboxes - Pumpkin Pittas

2010-09-25T16:52:00.012+01:00

Weeks have passed since I sat down for a chat with you my dear readers. They flew by in a rush of kitchen drawings, estimates and deadlines. Solicitors were engaged in an airless volley of words, typed on reassuringly heavy paper. Pennies trickled relentlessly through our fingers whilst we held each other tightly and waited for the eureka moment that would bring our future house just that little bit closer. Our nails are quite bitten to the quick, but we're almost there, almost...

I have been baking bread though, in an attempt to nail a perfect, lowish GI, gluten-free sandwich loaf for a course I should be teaching soon. It's pretty much there and I promise to share it when it's just so. It also happened that this month's Go Ahead Honey event boasted two themes - Bread (hosted by Choupichen of C'est Sans Gluten) and Packing a Healthy School Lunch (hosted by Ali Segersten of Nourishing Meals). I realised with some relief that I could kill both birds with one stone by posting a pitta bread recipe I've been working on! Hurrah!

I have found it strange to gather bags of flour in the cupboard again after more than a couple of years grain free. Teff and chestnut flour take up space on the shelf like exotic and temporary exchange students. I'm not about to start eating grains again, but I do love to bake and my boys gratefully sample anything bready I pull out of the oven.

First my head ticks through the properties of each flour; taste, texture, glycaemic index, colour, or digestibility - chalking up a formula for bread. After a while I start to feel the rhythm of bread making come back to me as I move about the kitchen with silent purpose, from scales to cupboard to kettle. Yeast blooms in the dough while trays are oiled and seeds sprinkled. This type of baking can be a meditation - karma yoga we used to call it when I was a child.

My breath slows to a steady in-out, hands moving with innate bread knowledge. As the kitchen warms and the windows take on a steamy tint, I feel cocooned, softened, timeless. My centre is in the middle again.

Making your own bread is deeply satisfying; whether grain free nut breads - raised with egg whites beaten stiff, or gluten free yeasted breads, beaten up from the endless possibilities of grain and starch, nuts and roots. Just try one loaf, or a batch of pitta breads and you won't look back once you've pulled those delicious morsels from the oven and seen the look of awe in your family's faces.

As this post is also about Packing a Healthy School Lunch (hosted by Ali Segerston of Nourishing Meals), I would suggest packing one of these pumpkin pittas with a combination of leaves and protein to get a balanced meal that your darling can hold in one hand whilst they pick their nose with the other (essential life skills). Good combinations would be;

* Cheddar and watercress

* Roast chicken and round lettuce

* Roast beef and rocket

* Egg mayonnaise and gem lettuce

* Walnut pesto and baby spinach

* Cinnamon lamb-mince with pine nuts and fresh coriander

* Nut butter and banana slices

Accompany the stuffed pitta with a few items from a selection of raw salad vegetables according to season; colourful bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, some leaves and maybe a small handful of nuts. Fin has his fruit for morning break, so we don't include any more here as one or two pieces are enough for one day.

I also fill Fin's stainless steel tiffin-tin with; rice salad, Pesto-Pea-Pikelets, grain-free pizza slices, cold roast meat and leaves, courgette tortilla, tuna mayonnaise and cruditées, carrotslaw and cheese crackers, home-made chorizo sausages, waldorf salad, nut bread sandwiches, egg crepes or a flask of warm soup (pea and basil, velvet soup, hot and sour coconut soup...) in the winter.

Yes, people do comment on the green-ness of his lunchbox - and he just smiles back, with a bit of spinach in his grin.

If you would like to contribute a recipe to the Bread theme, visit Choupichen here and get a contribution in quick - you could even send an old recipe if you don't have anything to post right away. To contribute to the Packing a Healthy School Lunch theme, visit Ali here. If you can find something that covers both then that would be great!

Pumpkin Pittas (makes 9-10)

I know the list of ingredients looks long, but it's mostly just a spoonful of this and that... If you can't get teff flour, then you can substitute sorghum - but it's much higher on the glycaemic index than teff, and unavailable gluten free certified in the UK.

8oz (peeled weight) Acorn or Butternut Squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped (about 1/2 - 3/4 of a small squash)

4oz Ground Almonds (Almond Flour)

1oz Buckwheat Flour

4oz White Teff flour

2oz Tapioca Flour (or arrowroot or cornflour)

2oz Brown Rice Flour

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 tsp Quick Yeast (check packet for gluten)

1 tsp of Date Syrup (or sugar - but not honey as this inhibits yeast)

1 tsp Fine Sea Salt

1 Tbs Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

1 Large Free Range Egg

185-200ml Cold Water

Steam the squash until tender and leave to cool a little while you weigh out the rest of your ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, mash the squash into a purée when still fairly warm and stir in; oil, date syrup, salt, 185ml of the water and finally the egg - beating until nice and smooth. Make sure the temperature of the mix is no more than lukewarm when you add the egg, or it will start to cook.

Sift in the remaining dry ingredients and beat as hard as you can with a wooden spoon, until smooth. You want a very sticky dough at this stage, so you may want to add the remaining 15ml of water if it feels too stiff to beat with a spoon. The consistency should be stiff enough to make beating tiring, but not so stiff so that you could roll it in your hands. It will firm up a little as it proves.

Set the dough aside, covered with a tea-towel for 1 hour, to allow the yeast to start working and the grains to soften and absorb the liquid.

Beat again with your spoon for a couple of minutes to knock it back and check the consistency - it should be a sticky dough that you can scoop, but not firm enough to roll in your hands without copious amounts of flour.

Oil 3 large baking sheets (if you only have two, just use the loose insides of sandwich cake tins - anything flat will do) and put a small pile of rice flour or maize flour (slightly crunchier) on the worktop. Scoop a satsuma sized ball of dough with the spoon, ease it onto the flour and turn over to coat with your fingers.

Press lightly between your palms to flatten into an oval ball and then pass between your flat palms to stretch it out a little - don't let it get too thin in your hands or it will tear (unless you're a pitta ninja).

Pop it on the tray and flatten out to about 3/4 of a centimetre (about 1/3 of an inch), with the edge of your hand, in a very gentle, swedish-massage style. Flour your hands if they start sticking.

Repeat with the rest of the mix until finished. Prove in a draught-free place for about 2 hours - over proving is better with these as you're more likely to end up with a pocket.

About 15 minutes before the end of proving time, set the oven to 220C. When it's at temperature, sprinkle the trays with water and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden and crisp around the edges.

Cool on a rack and freeze any that you aren't going to eat that day. Either defrost overnight, or toast straight from frozen.

If you under bake them slightly, they will be fine toasted. However, they do tend to go soft in the middle again when you toast them, so my advice is to toast and wait 5 minutes before splitting, or you may find the inside just rolls into clumps. If you over bake them then they make great crackers (only kidding - don't over bake them ok?)

x x x

Go Ahead HoneyIt's Gluten Free! - The Month There Were Two Hosts...

2010-09-11T09:03:00.004+01:00

My dearest readers, this month we are blessed with not one, but two hosts of the long running event, Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free!

Although the situation may have come out of a misunderstanding and a little lateness in posting - I think we should marvel at the unintended reflection of harvest time and celebrate abundance. After all, sometimes more is just, well - more!

So this month is bought to you firstly by wholesome Ali Seigerston of Nourishing Meals, with a healthy lunch-box theme and a truly inspiring post, bursting with ideas for lunch-boxes and a useful chart for balancing the food you pack for lunch every day. Children can even use this chart to pick their own balanced meal - a very empowering experience, and more likely to ensure that they eat everything they take to school.

I look forward to expanding my lunch-box repertoire when I read all the wonderful portable suggestions you send to Ali.

Our second host is the chic and playful French blogger, Choupichen of C'est Sans Gluten - who stepped in at the last minute when Ali was AWOL, with the exciting challenge of gluten free bread! Is there anything that says home and comfort like the smell of baking bread? As the nights start to draw in, morning air takes on a chill and carries the scent of ripening apples and earthy dew - this is the time to roll up your sleeves and crumble some fresh yeast in a warm kitchen.

I am hopefully going to be teaching a gluten free baking course in late Autumn, so I'm currently working on my perfect wholesome gluten free loaf - dark and malty with teff and light with freshly ground millet seeds. This will be my contribution - I wonder what yours will be?

Please support these two wonderful bloggers by swelling their in-boxes with entries and filling our recipe folders with your wonderful blog posts on bread and lunchbox tit-bits.

x x x

Singing In The Rain - the barbecue that never was

2010-08-26T22:26:00.009+01:00

I kept thinking that we'd have a barbecue evening that coincided with Nick being here, myself having prepared a lavish and yet impromptu banquet of salads and spiced what-nots to throw nonchalantly on the coals whilst my beloved boys lounged in the golden rays of summer evening.

And yet, as the last days of summer holiday inch closer, the weather seems less and less balmy as each hour passes. Our family of local ducks chat happily as they wander over the lawn, eating bugs as they crap randomly on the grass. Hey ho...

Knowing that Candice's Go Ahead Honey barbecue deadline at Gluten Free Frenzy had well and truly arrived despite the damp sky and conservatory strung with an entire load of wet washing. I set some chunks of lamb a marinading in a north African scented spice mixture and cranked up the oven grill all the way to eleven for Pinchitos Morunos (moorish skewers).

In the heat of the steamy kitchen, over a card game with a rude name, Fin and I pulled pieces of juicy, piquant lamb, from wooden skewers - chasing them down with garlic yogurt, crisp gem lettuce and buttered French beans. The grey evening crowded at the window - wondering what that amazing smell was, licking it's lips for a morsel of summer supper.

'Wow! This is good meat!', said Finley with a satisfied smile, laying a final paprika smeared ace on the table.

It certainly was.

I urge you to try these delicious skewers whether you get some more summer, or just want a taste of it when the rain has set in. This is my entry for Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free - hosted by Chandice at Gluten Free Frenzy. Pop over and check out the round up at the end of the month, or contribute yourself!

Pinchitos Morunos (pin-cheet-oss mor-oo-noss) serves 4-6

500g diced lamb (shoulder is good)

3 garlic cloves crushed to a paste with salt

1 fresh bay leaf chopped finely (or 1 dried, crumbled)

dessertspoon of rapeseed or olive oil

3 tsp fresh oregano chopped (or 1 tsp dried)

large pinch of saffron threads infused in a dessert-spoon of cider or red wine vinegar

1 heaped teaspoon each of cumin, fennel and coriander seeds ground in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

good grind of fresh black pepper

Combine everything in a mixing bowl and leave to infuse for at least an hour or up to four hours.

Soak some wooden skewers in water while you wait.

When you're ready to cook the skewers, thread about 5 pieces onto a skewer and cook for about two minutes over hot coals on either side (or under a hot grill as we did). Don't overcook, you want pink and juicy on the inside, not grey and solid!

You could also just cook the pieces under a hot grill and serve them in a bowl with some flatbread or crisp lettuce and garlic yogurt to accompany.

x x x

Go Ahead Honey - Barbeque Bash!

2010-08-18T08:49:00.005+01:00

This month's edition of Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free is hosted by Chandice Probst of Gluten Free Frenzy. Her August theme is all about the al-fresco wonders of barbequeing. So whether you rustle up a simple supper of back yard burgers, some freshly caught mackerel on a beach campfire or go the whole hog with exotic kebabs, fancy salads and a smörgåsbord of sauces - snap a shot of your barbeque meal and post about it whilst you're still licking the salt from your fingers.

The only condition is that it must be a gluten free barbecue - no bakery baps thanks! But if you have your own recipe for gluten free baps, or solutions for containing that juicy burger (we use romaine lettuce), pop over to Chandice and make a contribution.

I only hope the weather holds out long enough for me to stoke the barbeque for some mackerel that a friend dropped off last night, still glistening from the sea!

Spelt Sourdough - A Love Poem From the Kitchen

2010-08-15T15:02:00.007+01:00

Unlike myself and Finley, Nick is not blessed with coeliac and continues to eat sandwiches and the odd bit of toast. When he brings bread into the house we surround it with hazard signs of the skull and crossbones kind and the worktop gets far more attention than it should need.

However, these wheaty excursions seemed to be causing Nick some discomfort and afternoon lethargy - and I found the nightly trumpet fanfare rather unpleasant too. Much as I love Nick - warts and all - there are some imperfections that are more acceptable than others.

My suspicion was that phytates (enzyme inhibitors in grains seeds and pulses) were causing the wind and the high glycaemic nature of wheat was causing the lethargy. The solution was spelt or rye sourdough - lower GI and phytate free due to the leisurely proving. Unfortunately, we don't have a bakery that produces such wonders, so I volunteered to make a spelt sourdough starter from scratch and bake some loaves that would soothe and sustain Nick's digestive system and protect my nostrils into the bargain.

I bought some stoneground spelt flour and held it at arms length whilst the shopkeeper smothered it's floury belches with paper bags. Back home, flour, water and muslin wrapped red grapes sat mustily in a bowl on the kitchen windowsill, working up a pink vinegary froth as the yeasts came to life. I thought all the time of the loaves that Nick would be able to eat and found I was able tolerate this stinky house guest all the better.

After two weeks came the part I had been anticipating like a visit to the dentist - twice daily feeding of the starter with flour and water for two weeks, in order to transform pink, vinegary, slush, into smooth, living, sourdough starter.

Of course there's nothing arduous about mixing some flour into a bowl of gunk, but a coeliac handling gluten twice a day? I felt a like I had volunteered to look after a pet tarantula!

Nick sensed that I was struggling with the task and undertook evening feedings on the days when I just couldn't face the surgical hygiene required to ensure I didn't contaminate myself or the kitchen. I explained that it was really important to wipe up every drip and separate the washing up, but I guess it just doesn't sink in until you've experienced that searing pain in your gut yourself? As Nick tried to help, but failed to ensure that all traces of gluten were wiped away, I found myself bleating insistently about the dangers of wooden spoons and contaminated scourers and feeling like a hypochondriac.

For any of you out there who share a kitchen with bread or flour, you will know the tyranny of crumbs in the butter, flour on the shelf, flakes in the freezer, pasta traces on the wooden spoon. Keep on pointing this stuff out until your beloved understands that you are not being over zealous and whilst you love them enough to tolerate these foods in your kitchen - they must love you enough to grasp the importance of containment and contamination.

Eventually the starter bloomed as it should, Nick had adopted excellent gluten hygiene and beat up the batter for a spelt loaf before we turned in on saturday night.

The next day after an overnight prove, followed by a seven hour rest in the tin, I baked the first loaf with trepidation. Had all this tending a poisonous pet been worth it? Nick sliced the cool bread as I hung behind like an anxious parent. It was even textured, slightly sour and malty, moist crumbed and crusty. He ate the first slice with a thick slab of butter and made a face that melted my heart.

Yes it was worth it.

x x x

Shh! Brownies with a Secret Ingredient - Grain and Gluten Free

2010-07-28T16:04:00.010+01:00

All this running has provided the perfect excuse to pop something chocolaty in my mouth without worrying too much about the widening effect of all the extra honey, butter and almonds. I've been experimenting with grain free brownie recipes for some time now - some made with cacao, others with cocoa powder, a blend of almonds and pecans, butter, no butter, fresh dates, date syrup - shall I go on?

So when I saw a recipe that included avocado on Cara's Cravings, I had to try smooshing some of that into the batter to see how it tasted. I already know that avocado, cocoa and honey makes a deliciously creamy frosting (or dessert, depending on how greedy you are...), so why not include it in a brownie?

I have stealthfully snuck avocado into a few dishes recently without Finley (a confirmed avocado hater) even smelling a rat. Judiciously added to pea and basil soup right at the end, it simply makes it creamier and a smallish amount renders my dairy free ice-cream lollies, even more lusciously velvety.

However - a word of warning for avocado-phobes. It is possible to overdo the avocado if you're too enthusiastic, and end up with avocado flavoured lollies - rather than merely imparting a soothing texture. Finley's face said it all as he drew a fairly bright eau-de-nil lolly from the mold after school one day. 'Is it pistachio?' he asked hopefully, before taking a tentative lick and moaning loudly with disappointment as he discovered only avocadoness, where there should have been pistachio.

There's not a huge amount of avocado in these brownies - add too much and the batter takes on a sort of quiche quality, not bad - but not decadent enough for my tastes. Using a small amount of avocado does allow you to use less butter and still get the same fudgy texture. Because there's no raising agent and no flour, they're dense and shallow - a little more like a slab of truffle. Due to the high cocoa content, they're very, very dark and only to be eaten in small quantities. Eat one before bed and you're likely to be up into the wee small hours on a caffeine high!

I always make a small batch of anything this moreish - be warned...

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Brownies

(Makes 8 small ones)

3/4 cup (3oz/85g) fair trade cocoa powder

2 large organic eggs - separated

1/2 cup (2oz/55g) ground almonds

2oz organic butter melted and cooled

1/2 ripe medium hass avocado, well mashed

1/2 cup (120ml) honey

2 teaspoons of bourbon vanilla extract (or homemade)

1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 160C (fan assisted) and line a small baking tray with baking parchment. Mine measures 9" x 5"

In a squeaky clean bowl, beat egg whites with vinegar until stiff peaks form (an electric beater helps)

In another largish bowl, beat together egg yolks, honey, cooled butter, vanilla and avocado, until thick, pale and mousse-like.

Into the honey mix, fold ground almonds and sifted cocoa powder until thoroughly combined.

With a metal spoon or spatula, fold half the egg white into the mix to loosen and then the rest until just combined.

Ease into the lined baking tray, gently smoothing the top, as little as possible to preserve the air in the mix.

Bake for 25 minutes or until just firm to the touch. It's always better to undercook a brownie, so you get some real sticky bits in the middle. This one will fall as there's nothing really holding it up, so don't be alarmed if it puffs a little and then falls.

Chill overnight in the tin and then slice the next day. Store for up to three days in an airtight box, in a cool place. Put waxed paper or parchment between any layers.

Just Run

2010-07-24T16:25:00.004+01:00

Fin broke up for summer on Wednesday and the sheen of novelty lay over everything, burnishing the ordinary with wonder. Even before the morning had reached breakfast time, he lay on the couch, soaking up kids TV with lazy eyes and not a shred of hurry about his person. An apple core lay on the side table, already aging in the air.

Nick was off to work early, so I suggested that Fin accompany me on his bike for my (recently minted) morning run. To my surprise, rather than moan about being parted from the TV, he decided that a run might actually be the very thing for him too and he skipped into his trainers almost as soon as his recalcitrant socks would let him.

A few lungfuls of grassy morning air and we were off, side by side, taking turns to open and shut the gates and shout when some dog poo hoved into view.

As the endorphins kicked in we started to giggle and chat, goading each other to sprint up slopes and reach that tree first. We couldn't decide whose face was pinker or who was more sweaty, but Fin won first prize for mud splatters on the legs.

We flew past ambling dog walkers and office workers hurrying their morning cigarette. Cars chuntered by on the main road as we tumbled and joked, greeting cows and startling rabbits, leaping puddles and chewing up the grassy paths, whilst our arms and legs found their own rhythm, as though they too were breathing.

So I silently gave thanks for my body, which for months has not been able to run. For my hips that held the memory of Finley's birth, twisting my spine until eventually my neck said, 'STOP! No more!'.

We reached the top of the road, barreling down the hill as fast as we could, arms flailing, laughing in gasps until we slammed into the front door, one after the other.

'I won!' shouted Fin, doing a little victory dance on the spot.

Ok, but there's still tomorrow...

Whole Rice Pancakes - a happy accident!

2010-07-12T09:03:00.006+01:00

I'm supposed to be researching low formaldehyde plywood and self assembly Blum drawer kits for our kitchen, but I've been away so long that I just wanted to share a little pancake recipe first.

As you know, Fin has started eating rice again after a hiatus of over two years. It has been the joyful reunion of two star crossed lovers, parted by the evils of dietary restriction. Now they are together again, rice nestles next to Fin's heart as one of his favourite comfort foods.

I'm not keen on making the next step to using rice flour however. If at all possible, I like to keep grains whole in order to slow their transit through the body and avoid all the problems that got us here (grain free) in the first place. When I cook Fin's rice, I soak it overnight in water with a sprinkle of vinegar to deactivate the phytates (enzyme inhibitors) that can interfere with digestion. Then I wash and cook in the usual way.

One weekend morning in my unvarnished, day-off state, I rather overcooked Fin's rice. Instead of the usual fluffy grains, I had a small pan full of rice porridge - arg! Not wanting to admit defeat, I thought I'd try using the rice to make a pancake, and the result was infinitely better than expected. The pancakes were not the most co-operative, but they formed a nice crisp buttery edge and were pliable enough to roll up. Because they didn't employ rice flour, there was no uncooked grain taste, just that fragrant cooked rice flavour - slightly sweet and nuttily complex.

The taste reminded me slightly of naan bread - although I couldn't really say why. I just instantly imagined some cumin scented, dry curry wrapped up in one of these, with a dollop of cool yogurt. Rice and curry - it's just one of those combinations I guess? Finley imagined them with banana and honey and Nick ate his thoughtfully, just as it was.

If you do eat grains, but are reluctant to use too much flour, I suggest you try these. Rice is a notoriously fast releasing starch, but combining it whole, with eggs, butter, milk and ground nuts is a good way to slow it right down and prevent any unwanted blood sugar rise.

Whole Rice Pancakes (Makes about 8 smallish ones)

Because rice should not be kept for long once rehydrated (due to spores that occur naturally), you need to use this batter within 24 hours of making it up.

2oz Wholegrain Basmati Rice

2 large Organic Eggs

1 oz Ground Almonds (or gluten free flour such as sorghum)

200ml Liquid (made up of 1ooml rice water and 100ml goat milk in my case)

Butter or oil to fry

Soak the rice overnight in plenty of water with a half teaspoon of vinegar added.

Drain and wash the rice and cook in plenty of water until really soft. Allow the water to evaporate, but make sure there is at least 100ml left in the pan. Drain and reserve 100ml of the rice water.

Allow the rice to cool before making up the mix. Rice should always be cooled as quickly as possible, so I usually spread it on a plate and put it in the fridge.

To make the pancake batter, just put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until as smooth as you can get it. If you're using gluten free flour rather than nuts, then you may need a little more liquid to get a batter consistency. For the other 100ml of liquid you could use any type of milk - nut milk, cow's, goats or coconut milk, or just plain water.

Fry in butter (or oil if you prefer) in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat and take great care when lifting the edges of the pancake. Allow it to form a mid brown crust and then use a palette knife to loosen the pancake from the edge, all the way around before flipping it over gently. Cook for a minute or so on the other side and then transfer to a wire rack or waiting plate.

I defy you to resist breaking off a little piece of buttery crust to munch before it gets to the table!

x x x

At the End of the Beginning

2010-06-23T19:14:00.004+01:00

Of late I'm afraid I've been struggling to summon up the energy to post anything here worth reading...

See, we're 18 months into building our super-insulated, lovingly thought out, shared-equity, self-build house and we don't even have a piece of paper guaranteeing that we will be able to put the thing up. At the end of the beginning, it feels hard to hang on to a germ of enthusiasm that swelled so long ago and survives purely on our guilty, late at night forays into the world of internet architecture porn.

It's coming soon, soon, soon we hope. After the next hurdle jumped, after another raft of late nights and head scratching as Nick (a professional sustainable design consultant) combs the paperwork for errors, draws up schedules and writes dizzyingly competent notes to the many interested parties in this unique venture.

I do what I can, inhaling information until my lungs are fit to burst, learning in a steep curve that has me rubbing my eyes and speaking with newfound authority on anhydrite screed, urea formaldehyde content of plywood and the relative merits of sandstone and slate. But I am not Nick and the hours and hours of time spent hunched over a computer are his burden.

I miss him.

I keep the house, cook the meals, see my clients, practice for a gig, chat with Fin as we snuggle in front of pre-bed TV. His bedtime creeps a little later as we enjoy the syrup of sleepy company.

Sometimes I catch myself resenting the routine, I might be in our sunny rose filled garden - taking in the washing, singing whichever song I'm learning, smoothing out the creases. It feels like a betrayal to regret any part of this privileged life, to wish for more, when Nick is toiling for our future in the most selfless way.

It's the waiting that feels like a straight jacket. Waiting for solicitors to talk to other solicitors, hoping that our mortgage offer will still stand when we finally clutch that longed for contract in our trembling fingers.

Tomorrow I will whisk Fin away to the beach after school and remind myself that whatever happens a month from here, now is a place to be tasted and enjoyed.

x x x

Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free - The Hosts for 2010-2011

2010-06-15T09:22:00.003+01:00

I'd like to shout out a huge thank you to all the wonderful hosts who gave up their time and enthusiasm this year to keep the GAHIGF torch alight. You all did a fantastic job of drawing us together each month.

So, now here it is folks, the list of bloggers who have kindly agreed to host this coming year's Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free events. Please give them a huge round of applause and make sure to contribute as often as you can. After all, it's the contributions that make the event so rich and glorious - and it won't hurt to have a little extra traffic to your blog eh?

July 2010 Ooh La La! Bastille Day! Hosted by Sheryl of Breaking Bread with Davies.

August 2010 Barbecue Bash. Hosted by Chadice of Gluten Free Frenzy.

September 2010 Healthy Lunchboxes. Hosted by Ali of Nourishing Meals.

October 2010 Scared Silly! Hosted by Diane of The WHOLE Gang.

November 2010 Oaxacan Cuisine. Hosted by Kajora of Spice Lovely.

December 2010 Family Traditions. Hosted by Carol of Simply Gluten Free.

January 2011 Follow The Calendar. Hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen.

February 2011 Love Potions & Charmed Foods. Hosted by me! Just couldn't resist a February slot!

March 2011 Seasonal Soup. Hosted by Linda of Gluten Free Homemaker.

April 2011 Springtime Brunches Hosted by Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake.

May 2011 Garden Tea party. Hosted by Rajashree of Flip Cookbook.

June 2011 You Love Him - So Spoil Him! Fathers Day. Hosted by Aubrée of Living Free.

A really exciting list of themes and hosts! I look forward to seeing you there.

Dairy Free Mango Ice-Cream Lollies - Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!

2010-06-08T20:17:00.005+01:00

This month's edition of Go Ahead Honey has been a yo-yo thriller chase of find the host! Now that Zoe of Z's Cup of Tea has picked up the reigns and whipped her horse into a gallop, we can all reach into the cupboard and bring forth some dairy free treats to share. If you'd like to contribute - hop over to Zoe's and check out the theme and her wonderfully inspiring blog.

My contribution this month is a simple freezer treat that uses only ingredients from the store cupboard. Made in moments, unfailingly good and there when the weather is fine and a person just fancies a little something cold and creamy - without troubling a cow, goat or sheep for so much as the time of day.

I keep a little row of these in the freezer for Fin as an after-school treat. Sometimes we vary the flavour with some rose water, or pecans, but mostly they're a great vehicle for some delicious honey to shine through the comforting blanket of creamy, almondy, mango-ness. I do add goats yogurt to ours too, or coconut milk in place of water. Treat it as a loose template for your culinary imaginings - but remember, less is usually more.

Store Cupboard Mango Ice-Cream Lollies

(Makes 4 in a large lolly mold)

1 oz (30g) Dried Mango (unsulphured)

2oz (55g) Flaked Almonds or roughly chopped Cashew Nuts

250ml Liquid (half coconut milk and water, half yogurt and water, or all water)

2 tsp Local Honey

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (Bourbon Vanilla is excellent)

You need a coffee/nut/spice grinder that can cope with wet ingredients for this recipe or you'll struggle to get the requisite creamy smoothness from the nuts and ground mango. If you don't then you could try chopping everything and soaking it overnight before blending it in a blender jug...

Simply grind the buts and mango together until they form a fine crumbly powder and add, honey, vanilla and half the liquid to the mixture (or as much as your grinder will comfortably take without exploding! as a rule, leave at least an inch/2.5cm from the top of the liquid to avoid this), grind again until you have a silky smooth, thick mango cream.

If you have a large grinder you can then add the rest of the liquid and pulse until everything is blended. Otherwise just scrape into a jug and whisk in the remaining liquid by hand.

Taste for sweetness and pour into the waiting molds. Freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight and un-mold by running warm water around the outside of the mold.

Enjoy in the garden with sun-cream and a large hat.

x x x

Go Ahead Honey! it's Gluten and Dairy Free...

2010-06-07T09:05:00.007+01:00

Crisis averted! Zoe of the wonderful Z's Cup of Tea has kindly stepped up from the waiting list to host this month with a dairy free theme titled, 'Cream of the Crop'.

So, Lexie (of Lexie's Kitchen) who asked about this month's (sadly flowerless) theme of Yogurt, will still be able to share her successes with nut milk yogurt - something many of us will be intrigued to follow.

Any of the rest of you lovely readers and Go Ahead Honey regular contributors will need to put your thinking caps back on and reconsider any yogurt recipes you were going to post. Or maybe just pick an inherently dairy and gluten free recipe out of your repertoire and send it over to Zoe on this email address:

zscupoftea [at] gmail [dot] com

I have a little dairy free, sugar free, gluten free ice-lolly to share with you in the next few days.

These are just a few of the dairy free delights that I've shared in the past:

Almond milk for a nice cup of tea....

Dairy free pesto....

Raw Dairy Free Truffles...

Hazelbutter Truffle Cookies...

Almond Crust Custard Tarts...

I wonder what you'll contribute?

x x x

Go Ahead Honey - Uh Oh!

2010-06-02T11:26:00.002+01:00

My dears, I'm afraid this month's host for 'Go Ahead Honey it's Gluten Free!' has been a no show. I have asked some one to step in, but if they don't have time this month then I will open it up to the first Gluten free blogger to step up in the comments.

I'm almost there on the hosts for the coming year - just waiting for confirmation of a couple of themes. I will have a waiting list in case of no shows like I did this year. If you'd like to be on the waiting list, please let me know in the comments.

x x x