Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding

This a pudding that the whole family love. Very yummy.

Serves 4, Preparation time 20 minutes, Cook time 35 minutes.
Ingredients :

85g/3oz Sugared stoned chopped dates
85g/3oz Light soft brown sugar
45g/1.5oz Unsalted butter
1 Egg
115g/4oz Juvela gluten free white mix
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Vanilla extract
For the Toffee Sauce

150g/5.5oz Demerara sugar
85g/3oz Unsalted butter, softened
4 tbsp Double cream


1 Heat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Butter a 16 x 12 cm (6.5 x 5in) ovenproof dish.

2 Put the dates in a bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover them.

3 In a separate bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter. Beat the egg into the creamed mixture with some of the Juvela mix and baking powder before adding the rest of the Juvela mix.

4 Add the bicarbonate of soda and the vanilla extract to the drained dates and then stir into the creamed mixture until well mixed. Pour into the ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 30–35 minutes or until well risen and a cake skewer when inserted comes out clean.

5 Just before the pudding is cooked, make the toffee sauce. Heat the grill to hot. Put the Demerara sugar, butter and cream into a saucepan and heat gently. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the pudding from the oven, pour half the sauce and place under grill until it bubbles.

6 Serve the pudding while hot with the remaining sauce poured over the top or alongside as an accompaniment.

Cooking for a Coeliac Guest

My wife Linda is a coeliac and when we go out for a meal with friends or relations, they are often worried about what gluten free meals they can cook. Hence I thought I would outline a few useful tips to help anyone in that situation. It really is easy and almost any recipe can be adapted. I will also include a couple of recipe ideas which might help.

Main Foods to Avoid;
(the list is not conclusive, it just covers the main things to avoid)

• Obviously wheat, barley and rye.
• No biscuits.
• No semolina as it comes from the outer coat of wheat.
• No couscous is semolina rolled and coated in wheat flour.
• No Bulghur wheat.
• Spelt is a type of wheat with less than normal gluten but for coeliacs it should be avoided.
• No Beer and larger ( unless you buy special beer made without wheat barley or rye)
• No soups that may have been thickened with flour.
• No minestrone or noddle soups.
• No gravy or sauces that contain gluten.
• Sausages unless they are 100% meat gluten free. Marks and Spencer sell gluten free sausages.
• No Chinese chow mein
• No Soya sauce
• No Mustard's
• Some sweets and chocolates such as Ferrero Rocher and Maltesers contain gluten.
• Not all ice cream's are gluten free check labels.

Things that coeliacs can have;

• Most good food stores and super markets sell gluten free beers. One good make is Greens. Greens is available at the following super markets - Asda, Co-Operative, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, waitrose and other independent retail outlets.
• Obviously coeliacs cannot have bread or rolls, but you can buy gluten free bread. It is more expensive and normally does not taste as good as real bread. More often people toast it otherwise it can taste a bit like cake. However a new brand has recently come onto the market that tastes fantastically like real bread. In fact some people who can eat ordinary bread prefer it because it is lighter. My wife Linda loves it and she can now have normal sandwiches with out having to toast the bread. It costs about £2.50 and you can buy it from Tesco and Sainsbury's and other selected supermarkets. Take a look at their website on www.geniusglutenfree.com/ They plan to bring out another 18 products in the coming year.
• If you use gravy or stock in your meal make sure it is a gluten free brand such as Bovril or Knorrs.
• Heinz Tomato Ketchup is gluten free.
• One thing you can use to thicken sauces is Corn flour.
• When buying foods look for the gluten free symbol. A circle showing a wheat grain with a line through it (see the symbol in the picture above of the genius bread).

Some things to be careful with in preparing and serving meals:

• Never use the same cooking oil or fat that has been used for food cooked in batter or bread crumbs. Cook gluten free food separately in clean oil.
• Use separate butter dishes knifes and spoons to avoid cross-contamination with gluten, bread crumbs etc. This applies to Jams and pickles and other food in jars, use a clean knife or spoon and place in separate dishes for the gluten free guests.
• Make sure all work surfaces and chopping boards are clean and crumb free. Never shake a tea towel out in the kitchen if it has bread crumbs on it.

Things to come:
My wife Linda is qualified in confectionery and is a superb cook. What I plan to do, is to link this blog to others giving some useful recipes and step by step instructions showing how food is prepared and cooked. So please check this blog regularly for more information.
Linda's Cakes
Linda also makes cakes and puddings for Birthdays, Weddings etc in fact any special, or even ordinary, occasions. Linda can personally design your cake and make it for almost any dietary requirement, such as Gluten Free, Lactose Free, and also cater for nut or dairy product allergies.
Some images of cakes Linda has made are shown below;


I will set up another Blog with more details on Linda's cakes so lookout for up dates. If you live around the Langley, Windsor area and need a cake made please give Linda a call for more details Phone Number 07853 202877

Paella Recipe (serves 4)

One meal I like to make is Paella it is Gluten free and it can be made to suit people with all sorts of allergies. My wife Linda cannot eat onions as well as being Coeliac, so this meal is a real winner. There are many versions of this meal but the one we like the best is outlined here. You can also add onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and substitute saffron for turmeric because saffron is very expensive (although I think Saffron tastes better). You can also include all sorts of fish, mussels, crayfish, cockles, pork, sherry anything you want. In fact that is how Paella was first created in Spain, it was a meal that used up all the leftovers. Now days however it has become more expensive because of the cost of the ingredients.

Ingredients
1/2 Pint of Chicken stock
1 Glass of Dry white wine
10 Small Squid cut into rings
160g Cooked Prawns
3 Pinches of Saffron
Salt
Ground Pepper
3 Chicken Breasts Cut into Cubes
160g Risotto Rice
3 Cloves of Crushed Garlic
1 Large Pepper Red or Orange diced in cubes
300g to 400g piece of Cod
110g Peas

Method: preparation 15 mins cooking time 45 mins
Heat the olive oil in a very large frying pan add the chicken cook for a few minutes then add the pepper, garlic and lightly season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 5 minutes then add the rice, stock and some of the wine. Reduce the heat to simmer and occasionally stir. Continue to cook until the rice is nearly cooked 15 - 20 minutes. Make a well in the middle cut the fish into several chunks and add with the squid. Once the fish is cooked stir the mixture so that the fish breaks up into pieces. Finally add the prawns and peas again stir in and add the remaining wine to prevent the paella becoming too dry. Traditionally you leave it to simmer without stirring but I find this makes the rice to stick to the pan. Hence stir every now and then. Taste and season to suit your requirements.

To decorate the paella and make it look even better, add whole cooked prawns and a few giant green mussels in their shells. I have not shown this in the pictures below, it is optional and improves the presentation. The smell and taste will more than make up for the lack of presentation and it will save you fiddling about pealing prawns which can be a bit messy.

Enjoy

What is Coeliac Disease?

What is the Coeliac (or Celiac) Disease Condition

The picture shows a normal small bowel lining covered by villi. The villi are destroyed when a person has the Coeliac disease.

Coeliac disease (or celiac disease) is a digestive disease in which the small intestine becomes damaged and prevents the absorption of nutrients from food. Coeliac disease sufferers will experience an abnormal intolerance or reaction to gluten, wheat, rye and barley. When a coeliac disease sufferer consumes food, vitamins or products such as lip balms containing gluten, their immune system will respond to this by damaging the small protrusions located on the outer surface of the small intestine called villi. The function of villi are to allow nutrients from food to be absorbed through the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Therefore when these villi become damaged, regardless of how much food the sufferer consumes, they will become malnourished. Symptoms of coeliac disease will vary and can occur in either the digestive system or within other parts of the body. The symptoms can also cause great discomfort. Digestive symptoms may include abdominal bloating and pain, chronic diarrhoea, vomiting, constipation, foul-smelling or fatty stool and weight loss. Due to lack of nutrients absorbed into the blood stream you may also experience higher levels of irritability. Symptoms which affect other areas of the body can include iron-deficiency or anaemia, fatigue, bone or joint pain, arthritis, bone loss or osteoporosis, depression or anxiety, tingling sensations or numbing of the hands and feet, missed menstrual periods, ulcers or sores inside the mouth from a lack of vitamin C absorption. It is possible for sufferers of coeliac disease to experience no immediate symptoms but they may develop complications of the disease over time. Long-term implications can include malnutrition which can lead to anaemia, osteoporosis, miscarriage, liver diseases, and cancers of the intestine. The factors which determine symptoms can vary depending on your age and the degree of damage to the small intestine. It is possible to have celiac disease for a number of years before the symptoms emerge and the disease therefore diagnosed. The longer a person goes undiagnosed and untreated however, the greater the chance of developing long-term complications. It is often difficult to diagnose coeliac disease as the symptoms can be similar to those of other diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), anaemia or iron deficiency caused by menstrual blood loss, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal infections, and chronic fatigue syndrome. As a result, coeliac disease can often be misdiagnosed. Recently improved and developed blood tests however are the most reliable and accurate method a GP will use to diagnose coeliac disease. Sufferers will maintain higher than normal levels of particular auto antibodies which are proteins that react against the body's own cells or tissues and these auto antibodies will show in their blood tests. The most effective way to treat coeliac disease is by undertaking a gluten-free diet which for many, can mean a drastic diet and lifestyle change. The sufferer will be required to eliminate many staple foods such as bread, cereal, pasta and processed foods which can be difficult to give up. Even the smallest portion of gluten will cause damage to the small intestine therefore it is vital that it is completely eliminated. Many foods containing gluten are actually unbeneficial for a non sufferer of coeliac disease and it certainly does not mean you cannot maintain an enjoyable and healthy diet. There are many gluten free alternatives available in supermarkets and health food shops and the awareness of coeliac disease has increased rapidly over recent years. Following a gluten free diet will relieve symptoms, heal existing intestinal damage, and prevent further damage. The cure is of course a gradual process but one that will eliminate discomfort, increase your feeling of well being and ultimately, keep you healthy.

Author Resource:- Megavista-Health.com is an independent website giving cutting-edge information on positive, holistic health and nutrition. For further information on how to cure coeliac disease please go to Megavista-health Laura Yates is a Holistic Health Writer for Megavista-Health.

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