RECIPE - Super Healthy Banana Bread - Gluten Free, Dairy Free (No added Sugar, No Fat!)

A healthy banana bread recipe is one of those amazing things that tastes amazing & you can eat as much as you want! My recipe is gluten free, dairy free & basically fat & sugar free too! It’s perfect with a cuppa, as part of dessert or even to take out with you as a snack. This healthy banana bread is so simple – you’re going to love it!

So banana-ry!

So I love baking. I’d bake every day if I could. Similarly to so many folk I aspire to have my own little café one day… I can keep dreaming right?!

I have definitely enjoyed baking even more in the past 5 years since gluten has been off the menu for me and dairy has been rather unpleasant for Mark.

Walking past the likes of Patisserie Valerie and seeing such beautiful baked goods makes us drool, but we know we must never taste… or suffer the rotten consequences. Instead such delicious bakeries and cafes inspire us to make alternatives that we can actually eat.

Since moving to Manchester there have been so many amazing places we have got our dose of gluten free and/or dairy free cakes from.

I have only got the chance to write about a few of the places so far, such as the amazing Tea 42, but the likes of V Revolution, Teatime Collective, Fuel and Classic Cakes are a few other delicious finds of mine, check them out when you have a chance.

However, although finding gluten free and dairy free cakes is a seriously great experience, myself and Mark have a few other little issues to contend with. As you know, we both suffer with the ‘wonderful’ problem of IBS. What causes an IBS attack for both of us can sometimes be similar and sometimes be very different. For me I really struggle with too much sugar in foods, whether that is natural sugars from fruit or more refined sugars. Mark on the other hand struggles more with fatty foods, so too much butter, nuts and fattier cuts of meat are all massive triggers. This leaves a massive problem for the pair of us and means we can’t indulge in our favourite gluten and dairy free cakes as frequently as we might like.

Such a delicious, moist texture

Instead, a favourite of ours is a tasty, healthy banana bread recipe I recently came up with. I have seen many Healthy Banana Bread recipes over time and many of them seem very healthy, but I wanted to go one step further and make it entirely gluten free, dairy free and safe for our stomachs! That meant no additional sugar – the only sugar coming from the bananas and a very small amount of apple sauce. Also the recipe contains no signs of any butter, margarine or oil. It seemed the perfect cake for us.

It is a very versatile recipe too. We like cinnamon in ours but you don’t have to. You could add nuts if you wanted to as well. For us we keep it simple. It tastes great cold with a comforting cuppa tea or, I have to say, I like to warm it up in the microwave with a little custard. This healthy banana bread loaf keeps moist and fresh for plenty of time, especially when, I guarantee, it will be eaten incredibly quickly. The combination of tasty and healthy makes you eat slice after slice… after slice!

I guarantee this healthy banana bread recipe will go down well with those who are gluten free, dairy free or not at all. It is a delicious, healthy banana bread that we can’t live without on a rainy, cold Manchester day. I hope you get the chance to give this a go too.

Super Healthy Banana Bread - Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Fat Free, Sugar Free

2015-03-17 09:48:10

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Ingredients

1. • 4 Ripe Large Bananas
2. • 4 Table Spoons of Apple Sauce (You might choose to add less if you wish)
3. • 200g Gluten Free Plain Flour
4. • 1 ¼ Tea Spoons of Gluten Free Baking Powder
5. • ½ Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
6. • Teaspoon of Cinnamon (You can add more or less of this, to taste)
7. • 2 Egg Whites

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Prepare a loaf tin (grease it or use baking parchment).
3. In a large bowl, mix together gluten free flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
4. Mash 4 ripe bananas. There is no need to make the bananas completely smooth, small chunks of banana give the bread a great texture.
5. Add the mashed bananas, egg whites and apple sauce to the dry mixture and stir thoroughly, just until combined.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes. Check the loaf is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the loaf and making sure it comes out clean.
7. Turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before eating. (It takes a while but it’s worth the wait!)
8. Enjoy!!

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

Let me know if you do try out the healthy banana bread!

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx

RECIPE - Super Healthy Banana Bread - Gluten Free, Dairy Free (No added Sugar, No Fat!)

RECIPE: Tuna Pasta Bake - Gluten Free & Dairy Free

Did somebody say its Pasta Bake night? Tuna Pasta Bake has to be one of the easiest and tastiest meals on the planet & here is a gluten free & dairy free recipe that oozes cheesy deliciousness! 

Oozing delicious cheesy gluten & dairy free tuna pasta bake!

When I stopped being able to eat gluten in 2010 it was a pasta dish at a restaurant that confirmed what I was dreading about my gluten intolerance… I had quite an awful night! I found it hard to want to even try any pasta, even gluten free pasta after that. When I did eventually try gluten free pasta I wasn’t overly impressed. It seemed to get stuck together in clumps and just not do what pasta should do; plus it was a lot more expensive.

I ended up not eating pasta for a couple of years until myself and Mark tried to make our own gluten and dairy free Chicken Carbonara, the recipe for this is up on the blog so click here to view it! (It’s super tasty!) Other than the very occaional Carbonara I don’t think I have touched pasta since 2010 until I moved to Manchester. I’ve always craved having the standard, easy dinner of a tuna pasta bake and until September 2014 I had never even tried one. I will never look back now, tuna pasta bake is one of my favourite dishes. It is so simple to chuck in the oven after a long day at work and you will pretty much have all the ingredients in your cupboards all the time – I love tuna pasta bake!

I have to say I do use a pasta bake sauce from Homepride instead of making my own for our tuna pasta bake. We found one that contained no dairy which is rare as many contain cream, milk or cheese. I would attempt to make my own pasta bake sauce, but when it is for a simple meal like this and it tastes so good already… why change anything?! If you were wondering, we use the Tomato, Garlic and Chilli flavour.

We always put tuna into our pasta bakes but obviously you could just go for more veggies, chicken, turkey… or pretty much anything into it! It’s kind of like a pizza in that you can chuck whatever you have in the cupboard/fridge in and it’ll taste pretty epic. However, for ultimate ease and taste I personally would always recommend a tuna pasta bake!

We always use courgette as our main vegetable in a pasta bake. It really soaks up the flavours of the sauce well and cooks quickly. I have a few issues with eating onions and peppers otherwise we probably would include that in the bake too. Mushrooms would likely work well too. Basically any vegetable that you like would do the job.

I really feel like all gluten free pasta has improved somewhat. Since making pasta bakes I initially just used the brand Salute but I have since used Tesco and Sainsburys own brand gluten free Fusilli and liked it just as much.

The pasta bake is just a staple homely meal that everyone needs to have every once in a while. It is comforting and just makes you smile. Any dish with cheese in it always does, right?! (Especially when the you live with a dairy intolerant and you have delicious dairy free cheese!)

I would highly recommend this dish, so take a look at the recipe for my tuna pasta bake below and let me know what you think.

Tuna Pasta Bake - Gluten Free & Dairy Free

2015-03-04 15:22:26

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Ingredients

1. - 1 500g Jar of Homepride Tomato, Garlic and Chilli Pasta Bake Sauce
2. - 200g (You could easily put a bit more in, we always do!) Gluten Free Dried Pasta (Any shape.. we use Fusilli)
3. - 2 Large Tins of Tuna in Spring Water (Not the tiny sandwich sized tins or you"ll need 4!)
4. - 1/2 a courgette chopped up.
5. - 50g - 100g of Dairy Free Cheese (We have found that you don"t need as much cheese as you would imagine!)
6. - Black Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C / Gas Mark 6 / Fan 180°C.
2. Get out a large oven proof dish that you want to cook the pasta bake in.
3. Pour the Pasta Bake Sauce into the oven proof dish.
4. Fill the empty Pasta Bake jar to the top of the label with cold water and stir into the sauce.
5. Pour you dried pasta into the oven proof dish and thoroughly mix it into the sauce mix.
6. Place the dish into the preheated oven uncovered for about 25 minutes.
7. Whilst in the oven you can chop your courgette, get your tuna ready and grate your cheese.
8. After 25 minutes remove the oven proof dish from the oven and mix around the pasta and the sauce.
9. Mix into the pasta the tuna and the courgettes.
10. You can now sprinkle the cheese over the top of the pasta or if you prefer you can mix it in. Or... you can do a bit of both!
11. Season with some pepper if you wish and place the dish back into the oven for a further 20 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven once all the cheese has melted and is bubbling & golden! (it will be super hot!)
13. Serve up and enjoy!

Notes

1. In terms of dairy free cheese we often use a mix of Mozzarisella & Toffuti for a pasta bake... both are great and fairly easy to get hold of in the UK.

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx

RECIPE: Tuna Pasta Bake - Gluten Free & Dairy Free

RECIPE - Peanut Butter Cookies - Gluten Free - Dairy Free - Vegan (Ms Cupcake inspired)

Peanut Butter Cookies are one of my favourites. These peanut butter cookies are gluten free, dairy free & vegan.. therefore they are suitable for all! They taste amazing, just be careful you don’t gobble them all up!

Peanut Butter delights!

I apologise for this blog post being a few days later than promised but I have been indulging endlessly in the ‘peanuts of my labour’. I am a huge fan of peanut butter and as a result a huge fan of peanut butter cookies.

I always manage to sniff them out wherever I venture. My favourite peanut butter cookies to purchase are definitely the delightful Chico Cookies at Cookies & Scream (a gluten free/dairy free/vegan bakery) in Camden. However, unfortunately I do not live in London, and as a result can’t get these delicious treats as often as I would like to. I decided the time had truly come to make my own.

A week ago I purchased a book I have been meaning to purchase for a very long time. Ever since I first scurried down to Brixton and came across the wonderful Ms Cupcake and her scrumptious bakery I knew her cookbook needed to be part of my collection.

When it arrived last week I drooled consistently for a few hours, as I gawped over all the recipes and amazing pictures that cover the book. The book is called ‘The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town’ and states clearly on the front how the recipes are all dairy and egg free as well as being able to be adapted to being gluten free – music to my ears!

When I came across the peanut butter cookies recipe I wept a little with happiness. The image looked amazing and the recipe seemed very simple. I adapted the recipe from that stated very slightly by using Doves Gluten Free Plain Flour, but other than that the recipe is fairly similar.

The mixture is incredibly easy and straightforward to handle and the cookies come out soft and beyond delicious. I have had nothing but massive compliments about them since I made them, and really really want to make another batch asap!

Everyone should really give these cookies a try and I highly advise grabbing your own copy of Ms Cupcake’s book… the vast amount of delicious sounding recipes within it is beyond ridiculous. It is definitely my favourite book of the moment.

Irresistible?

So basically, if you are a fan of cookies of the peanut butter variety then try this recipe out. If you are undecided whether peanut butter cookies are for you… try this recipe out. If you’ve never even tried peanut butter before, the time is now… try this recipe out.

Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free, Dairy Free & Vegan)

2015-03-15 16:49:04

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Ingredients

1. • 275g Peanut Butter – (Ms Cupcake recommends using a creamy peanut butter but I used the Meridian Peanut Butter Crunchy 100% Nuts and it worked great)
2. • 125g Dairy Free Margarine (I used Soya Spread)
3. • 140g Maple Syrup
4. • 85g Caster Sugar
5. • 70g Brown Sugar
6. • 1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
7. • 240g Doves Gluten Free Plain Flour

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius.
2. Thoroughly grease two large baking trays.
3. Measure out all your ingredients and cream everything together except the flour.
4. Once the mixture is well creamed, gradually introduce the flour, mixing it until combined. Your mixture should now be a bit more dough like. My dough was fairly soft and slightly oily due to the natural oils in peanut butter. This was perfect for the next stage!
5. Using a spoon… or your hands like I did! Form around 18 balls and place spaced out on your pre prepared baking trays.
6. Using a fork make a criss-cross design on each of the dough balls, pressing the down as you do this.
7. Place the baking sheets of delicious dough in the oven for around 15 minutes; a couple of minutes longer would do them no harm either.
8. Once you have removed them from the oven, leave for a couple of minutes to cool slightly before very gently easing the cookies off the sheet and onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
9. Indulge, enjoy and then bake some more!

Notes

1. These taste amazing lightly warmed with some dairy free / vegan ice cream too :)

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

Let me know what you think,

You will not be disappointed!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Ms Cupcake for being epic!

Becky xxx

 

 

RECIPE - Peanut Butter Cookies - Gluten Free - Dairy Free - Vegan (Ms Cupcake inspired)

RECIPE: Dairy Free & Gluten Free Bakewell Loaf Cake

I am a massive fan of all things Bakewell! But for it to tick my belly’s Bakewell box, it has to be gluten free. For it to tick Mark’s Bakewell box it has to be dairy free too! This Gluten Free Bakewell Loaf Cake is Dairy Free, its delicious and very simple to make. Filled with raspberries throughout, every slice looks great… it’s definitely perfect for every occasion! 

 You might have seen that I recently put up a recipe for Bakewell Oat Free Flapjacks (they were also gluten free & dairy free), click here to view that tasty recipe! Basically, I am a massive Bakewell fan! I remember making my first ever Bakewell Tart at secondary school and it turned out really well. I have made that exact Bakewell Tart many times since and even adapted it to be a Gluten Free Bakewell Tart. I have to say, I do prefer the ‘Bakewell’ part to the ‘Tart’ part and that’s why I have tried to create different gluten free bakewell cakes & bakes!

This gluten free bakewell was my first attempt at any sort of loaf cake, a few years ago now, and I don’t quite know why I haven’t shared it with you all until today! The cake is moist and has a nutty almond flavour which definitely screams bakewell at you! The raspberries buried within the cake not only bring a fresh, fruity & sharp taste to the gluten free bakewell loaf, but also create the most amazing bright pink splodges at sporadic intervals. I don’t always put glace icing on my actually gluten free bakewell tarts, but for this loaf cake I think it is essential. Being only glace icing, it is not heavy like other types of icing & I have flavoured it with a little almond which works really well.

In the past I have created some mini gluten free bakewell tarts that rather than using a raspberry jam, have used a lemon curd… so lemon bakewell tart! I think a lemon gluten free bakewell loaf would work really well too. Adding some swirls of home made lemon curd to the centre of the cake instead of raspberries and making a sharp lemon glace icing would work wonders! Maybe I will try this next time!

Anyway, I am definitely going off topic now… here is the recipe that you will need to make this gluten free bakewell loaf cake with fresh raspberries! It’s dead, dead simple!

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Bakewell Loaf Cake

2015-03-11 17:55:17

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Ingredients

1. 175g ground almonds
2. 175g dairy free soft margarine
3. 175g golden caster sugar
4. 175g gluten free self raising flour
5. 1 tsp of xanthum gum
6. 2 large eggs
7. 1 tsp vanilla extract
8. 200g fresh raspberries
9. Icing
10. 140g icing sugar
11. 1 tsp almond extract
12. 2/3 tbsp of water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan
2. Grease a loaf tin
3. Measure all your ingredients out into a bowl and mix thoroughly until combined. (An electric mixer or a food processor would do)
4. Pour half the mixture into the greased tin and make sure it"s level.
5. Spread the raspberries over the mixture.
6. Cover the raspberries with the remaining half of the mixture and level.
7. Place in the preheated oven for around 55 minutes. (I tend to check my loaf after 45 mins to make sure it is not getting to dark on top. If it is browning too quickly then it might be a good idea to cover the top with foil loosely for the remaining cooking time)
8. Remove the loaf from the oven and check it"s fully cooked by inserting a skewer through the middle.
9. If it is, leave to cool in the tin for a while, before removing from the tin and allowing it to fully cool on a cooling rack.
10. Once cool you can put the icing on the cake!
11. To make the icing mix together the icing sugar, almond extract and water until it forms a smooth icing. Not too thin, it should be nice and glossy.
12. Once you have spooned the icing over the cake, sprinkle on some toasted flaked almonds & some glace cherries if you like.
13. Slice and enjoy!

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

I hope you enjoy trying out this delicious gluten free bakewell loaf cake… it is definitely worthwhile! Let me know if you have any different ways of incorporating the bakewell flavours into a dessert, I would love more ideas If you do attempt to make my gluten free bakewell loaf cake, be sure to take a picture and put it on Facebook or Twitter!

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx

RECIPE: Dairy Free & Gluten Free Bakewell Loaf Cake

Tesco Free From Update 2015 (Gluten Free & Dairy Free)

I was only saying the other day that I was thoroughly bored of all the Free From (Gluten Free & Dairy Free) options in the frozen sections of the big supermarkets. They seem to make some new additions once a year and none of them are very exciting… Tesco‘s latest additions to their Tesco Free From frozen range however have brought slightly more mixed thoughts for me.

When Tesco released an even larger batch of Tesco Free From Frozen products last year I did a little article on them, check that out by clicking here.

This is the product that I am most pleased about. Essentially a gluten and dairy free Cornetto! It’s the perfect thing to have in the freezer for a summers day. I often find that family and friends struggle to know what exactly to buy when Mark and I go round with our gluten and dairy issues so these tesco free from strawberry & vanilla cones would be perfect. Whilst Mark and I are happy to search the internet and local health food shops for different gluten free & dairy free brands, I don’t expect our families to have to do the same! It’s great that they can just pop into Tesco and grab these. I’ll definitely be trying these out soon; but in the mean time let me know what you think!


For those of you fortunate to be able to eat onions then these are for you! If you can eat onions, I am very jealous right now. I love onion rings so much and would always order them as a side in restaurants. However, I haven’t been able to eat onions for a long time now and so unfortunately I won’t be trying these. (Neither will Mark as he faces the same problem!) Onion rings are definitely a favourite amongst many and I’m sure a lot of you have missed eating them when your gluten eating  friends do! I used to love them alongside, or even inside, a massive cheese burger. They would actually work amazingly alongside my gluten & dairy free burger recipe, which you can view if you click here! I would love to know people’s thoughts on these Tesco free from onion rings so if you get the chance to try them, give me a shout


Another new addition to the Tesco free from range looks to be these Southern Fried Crispy Potato Skins. Although I will always be a fan of my own gluten and dairy free sweet potato fries (which are baked not fried), click here for the simple recipe. Sometimes a busy day is on the cards and cooking all our dinner from scratch has to take a back seat. These would perfectly alongside any dish by the looks of it. Steak, burger, fish, chicken! They would also be perfect if you had friends round and wanted a few ‘party food’ type dishes. I’d love to make my home made guacamole and dip these Tesco free from crispy potato skins into it! As always though, the proof is in the taste so if you get there before me… let me know what you think!

Finally I noticed that in the Tesco free from section online that they are also selling Tesco free from cheesy garlic dough balls. Sadly I have no picture of the packaging for these at the moment, but the picture above of some SIMILAR dough balls makes me drool enough! These are sadly not dairy free but they are completely gluten free. I always find this a shame as it is nice when Mark & I can enjoy free from foods together! I will make an exception for these though and delve right in! I used to love ordering dough balls at Pizza Express and to have some pre-made, ready to chuck in the oven, is perfect; especially for those times when I’m peckish but don’t have time to make my own!

I’m always excited when one big supermarket brings out some new free from goods as it usually means that the other supermarkets will follow – I will try and keep you posted if any of the others do soon!

What do you guys think of the own brand free from products that supermarkets provide like the Tesco free from range? I know not everyone is a fan & it would be interesting to know your thoughts.

I will definitely be giving the Tesco free from ice cream cones a go, how could I not?!

Thanks for reading,

Becky xxx

Tesco Free From Update 2015 (Gluten Free & Dairy Free)

RECIPE: Gluten Free Burgers - Turkey!

I love Burgers, I love Home Made Burgers, I love Home Made Gluten Free Burgers, I love Home Made Gluten Free Turkey Burgers! So I thought I’d grab you my recipe, give it a try and also find out what my favourite Gluten Free Burger Bun is while you’re at it!

When I told everyone at work that I was making gluten free turkey burgers for dinner they all started to drool. It wasn’t the fact that they were gluten free at all. It was more the case that everyone just loves a proper home made burger! For me however the best burger I have eaten (I am not lying here) is buried within our gluten free burgers recipe!

I’ve always been a big burger fan. When I say burgers I mean proper meaty burgers. As a kid I never ate fast food burgers as I wasn’t allowed to eat beef for a long time because of Mad Cow Disease. Because of this, having a meaty burger was always a special occasion for me. We would often buy our burgers from a local farm shop where we could guarantee they were free of any nasties!  

In more recent years, since I’ve been unable to eat gluten, I have definitely reduced the amount of burgers I eat. Initially it would be the case that most restaurants still had gluten in the actual meat… this isn’t the case so much these days. It is now the case that the gluten free menu will contain gluten free burgers that are ‘Naked’. No bun and just salad doesn’t equal a burger to me… especially when I can’t eat most of the salad.

In some cases nowadays gluten free burger buns are available in restaurants. The likes of TGI Fridays and Gourget Burger Kitchen offer gluten free burgers with a gluten free bun. I excitedly have tried these and although at the time these seemed amazing… looking back on them (especially GBK) the bun was quite crumbly which isn’t my cuppa tea! I must admit (I am ashamed & saddened by this) I’m yet to visit an Honest Burgers! I have walked past all the different Honest Burgers many times in London, yet I’ve never ventured in. I’ve heard they do amazing gluten free burgers in delicious gluten free burger buns & will definitely drop by soon!

Anyway back to my gluten free burgers. As you might have realised now, we love using turkey thigh mince as an alternative to red meat such as beef or lamb. The reason behind this initially was purely because Mark can’t tolerate red meat very well; however now we have actually come to like it more. Turkey thigh mince is really delicious, moist and works really well with a variety of seasoning. I would highly recommend trying it in place of beef sometime, it really is amazing.

This is is definitely the ultimate Gluten Free dinner!

In terms of toppings for our gluten free burgers we love to put a VioLife Vegan Cheese Slice on the burger just before its finished cooking, it melts all over the burger and tastes amazing. I will then put in mustard, some sliced gherkins, a low sugar tomato ketchup and sometimes even a little mashed avocado. The result is pure heaven & gluten free burgers that I struggle to get my mouth around!

As I mentioned earlier in this post I was going to tell you about the best brand I have discovered for gluten free burger buns. Well, I lie, the best brand for all gluten free bread in my opinion. I discovered Just: Gluten Free Bakery at The Allergy and Free From Show North & have never looked back. Mark even got me a Just: Gluten Free Bakery delivery for my birthday… a range of different rolls! For burgers I’ve tried out their White Burger Buns, Seeded Burger Buns & my absolute favourite which I would recommend the most.. the Brioche Burger Bun! I must also point out that all of Just: Gluten Free Bakery’s products are not only gluten free, they are also dairy free and egg free… so Brioche Burger Buns all round! 

So you know my favourite toppings… you know what gluten free burger buns are the greatest. But what should you serve with your gluten free burgers as an accompaniment? For us its got to be delicious home made sweet potato wedges all crispy and baked in the oven. I had heard stories about people being unable to crisp up sweet potato fries in the oven so when I first made them I did a fair amount of research into what the best way is to make them super crispy… without going down the route of using a fryer. I have to admit I think we do a pretty good job with our sweet potato fries. If you want to know how we make our sweet potato fries to go with our gluten free burgers then CLICK HERE!

Gluten Free Home Made Baked Sweet Potato Fries

For now… just enjoy my Turkey Burger Recipe for the most tasty gluten free burgers on the planet

Gluten Free Turkey Burgers

2015-02-27 11:23:56

Makes 4 Large Burgers

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Ingredients

1. 800g Turkey Thigh Mince
2. 1 1/2 tbsp Garlic Paste
3. Medium handful Fresh Coriander (chopped finely)
4. 2 Egg Yolks
5. 45g Gluten Free Breadcrumbs (Helps keep the burger together)
6. 1 tbsp Oil

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to around 200 degrees FAN (we put our ours a little higher than this!)
2. Combine your mince, garlic paste, egg yolks, coriander, bread crumbs and oil in a bowl.
3. Mix the ingredients thoroughly... get your hands stuck in to the mix, but try not to handle the mixture too much.
4. Form around 4 large burgers with your hands and place them on a foiled baking sheet. (You could make 5-6 smaller burgers but we love big juicy gluten free burgers!)
5. Cook them in the oven for around 20 minutes until nicely browned.
6. They look delicious, juicy & smell amazing as you take them out of the oven!
7. Serve your burger on a tasty gluten free bun, with your choice of toppings & a large helping of sweet potato fries!
8. Enjoy!

Notes

1. These burgers are delicious served up in a Gluten Free Bun. I would highly recommend a Gluten Free Burger Bun from the folk at Just: Gluten Free Bakery. (The Brioche ones are amazing!)
2. My choice of fillings usually include: gherkins, mustard, mayo, tomato ketchup, mashed avocado and a slice of VioLife Vegan Cheese (All of these at once.. don"t hold back!!)
3. Serve with a large side of baked, lightly spiced/seasoned sweet potato fries.

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

 These gluten free burgers are simply my favourite ever. I guarantee you will love them too.

Thanks for reading,

 Becky xxx

RECIPE: Gluten Free Burgers - Turkey!

RECIPE: Blueberry Gluten Free Sponge Cake (Dairy Free)

A tasty sponge cake is perfect for any occasion, it is so versatile. What makes it even more perfect is when everyone can eat it.. heres my Blueberry Gluten Free Sponge!

I made this Blueberry Gluten Free Sponge Cake as a birthday cake but it is the perfect cake for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter or just a day with no occasion at all. Love cake!

Gluten Free & Dairy Free!

So it was Mark’s birthday yesterday and seeing as there are only a few amazing places where Mark can enjoy a cake, (due to his lactose intolerance) and even fewer where me and him can together enjoy a cake (gluten free and dairy free combined is so rare at cake shops!); I decided to get up early and bake a gluten free, dairy free birthday cake!

When I headed downstairs I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to make, some sort of sponge but that was as far as it went. Upon looking in the fridge I noticed we have a large punnet of fresh blueberries, one of Mark’s favourite fruit, and I decided they had to be involved in the celebrations!

I have never been the greatest fan of using gluten free flour to bake cakes with. If the cake is for an occasion in the past I have used regular flour and just opted out of eating it so that others can enjoy it. But not anymore; if I bake a cake… I want to eat cake too!

So basically to make the cake edible for me I opted for using Dove’s Gluten Free Self Raising Flour and some Xanthan Gum; and to make it edible for Mark I used Pure Soya Spread and a small amount of Almond Milk.

I’ll describe the gluten free sponge cake briefly before I put down the recipe… Essentially it was a classic all in one vanilla gluten free sponge cake which I then added fresh blueberries to before baking. I sandwiched the two layers together with a soya based buttercream and a thick helping of blueberry jam. The fresh blueberries stick out and look very attractive on top of the gluten free sponge cake so I then just dusted it with icing sugar.

As the cakes emerge from the oven!

I really was surprised at how tasty the gluten free sponge cake looked and smelt upon coming out of the oven. The cake had a lovely golden colour with swirls of purple oozing out of the visible blueberries. The use of the Xanthan Gum clearly did its job as the cake was incredibly sponge like and had no chance of crumbling as soon as it is touched.

The gluten free sponge cake was light, airy and flavoursome, and upon cutting a slice the fresh blueberries were visible throughout each piece. Using soya spread instead of butter in the cake really didn’t make any noticeable difference in my opinion and the few drops of almond milk I added for extra moisture worked perfectly instead of regular cows milk.

The buttercream was possibly better and tastier, in my opinion, from using the soya spread than it usually is. It came together just as easily and was a delight to liberally spread. I added a few drops of vanilla to the butter cream and the flavour went really well with the blueberry jam. I must say, if you haven’t ever had blueberry jam before, try it… it’s a great change from standard raspberry or strawberry I think!

Blueberry Gluten Free Sponge Cake (Dairy Free)

2015-03-13 12:04:18

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Ingredients

1. 6oz Doves Gluten Free Self Raising Flour
2. 6oz Caster sugar
3. 6oz Dairy Free Margarine (I used Pure Soya Spread, but any will do!)
4. 3 Large Eggs
5. Few drops of Vanilla Extract
6. 2 tbsp of Almond Milk (if deemed necessary)
7. 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
8. 1/4 tsp Xantham Gum
9. Fresh Blueberries (However many you wish as a guide I used about 150g)
10. 3oz Dairy Free Margarine
11. 6oz Icing Sugar
12. Few drops of Vanilla Extract
13. Blueberry Jam

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and thoroughly grease your baking tins.
2. In a mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, dairy free margarine, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder and xantham gum.
3. Using an electric whisk mix them all together until combined and light. (I found that by using the xantham gum, the mixture came together a lot more and thus sticking to the whisk quite a bit, don’t worry though the cake won’t crumble later as a result!)
4. Add a little almond milk to give a little extra liquid to the mixture and continue to mix till combined.
5. Evenly pour/spoon the cake mix into the greased tins and spread so its fairly level.
6. Lightly cover the fresh blueberries with a dusting of flour so that they don’t sink in the cake, and then as randomly or evenly as you like place the blueberries into the cake mix, gently pushing them in.
7. Place the cake tins in the centre of the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, the cakes should come out looking golden and risen.
8. After about a minute carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and leave to completely cool.
9. In the mean time, make the dairy free butter cream! Cream the dairy free margarine in a glass bowl.
10. Gradually add the icing sugar and drops of vanilla until all has been added.
11. Once the cakes are cool turn them over onto the plate/board/dome you wish to serve the cake from.
12. On the bottom layer liberally spread the butter cream and on the top layer liberally spread some blueberry jam.
13. Sandwich the two together and dust the top with a small amount of icing sugar.
14. Slice and enjoy ☺

Gluten Free Cuppa Tea - by Free From Food Blogger, Becky, UK. http://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/

 I was really pleased with the result seeing as I had never made a gluten free sponge cake exactly like this before. I hope if you give it a try you are equally as taken by it. Please feel free to give me any tips as to how I could improve the gluten free sponge cake or if you have any of your own recipes – I would love to try!

Thanks for reading,

Happy Birthday Mark!

 

Love Becky xxx

RECIPE: Blueberry Gluten Free Sponge Cake (Dairy Free)