Enjoying Coeliac Awareness Week with Tesco Free From Foods

This week is coeliac awareness week. ( See here for more info on coeliac disease) I've not been able to eat gluten for about 13 years. At first it was a huge struggle, supermarkets were only just bringing out 'free from' products and the quality wasn't fantastic. If you've been a reader for a while you'll also know I'm intolerant to dairy and wheat. These days the free from ranges are so, so much better. One superstore that has really improved their range not just in general but with their very own range is Tesco's Superstore. Look at my local Tesco:

  The frozen section has improved the most in my opinion. There's a lot more gluten free options than dairy and gluten free but I'm really impressed with pizzas, garlic bread, breads and nuggets which my children love.

I was sent a gift card to pick up some gluten free items from my local Tesco store. The garlic bread has only been available for a few months, I can't tell you how great it is to be able to buy some!  The bread cooks quickly and well and tastes really garlicky, just like your regular non gluten garlic bread. It's also milk and wheat free.

Before we found out I couldn't tolerate the foods that were causing my stomach problems, I had never got around to trying some really good food items. One food I never managed to taste was scampi (shock! I know) I was browsing the frozen section, not getting too excited in case there was milk in them, when I saw they didn't: Hooray!! I had scampi for the first time in my life this week and It. Is. So. Good. I had mine with some veg and chips and it did not disappoint. I do find them a bit sickly if I eat more than 4/5 but other than that they hit the spot. Midge thought they were ace so I will buy some normal ones for her next time.

Before our separation, my partner used to make us a weekly free from battered fish which was delicious. I keep meaning to practice but until I get around to it I've found these crispy breaded Pollock fillets that are a brilliant replacement. They are quick and easy, we all enjoy them and I love the crispy bread crumb coating.

These lemon slices are one of my favourite treats to pick up. The center of the cakes is lemony and creamy, the sponge is firm and the topping is lemon sugar which is delicious. The children loved these too!

As you can see I have finally found loads of tasty treats and essentials I can now eat! The range of food available in Tesco's is really good to see and I am always pleased to see new items being added, especially to the frozen section because that has been some what overlooked for a rather long time!

Do you eat free from foods? Are you a coelic who has been struggling to find tasty replacements for your cupboards? I hope this post has shown you just a selection of yummy goodies available to you. If you don't find something in your store you can always speak to customer services who in my experience have been really good ant trying to get products in that are normally more commonly found in my larger Tesco store. Check out the Free From Range by Tesco online!

Cupcake Mumma 

My Dairy Free Windtorte

So I decided to make life difficult for myself this week for The Great Bloggers Bake Off by baking a Spanische Windtorte for dessert week. I wasn't going to go near a dairy free creme brûlée no matter how much I wanted to and I didn't want to do the cheesecakes because finding a recipe was driving me nuts. Some how searching the recipes I could only really find the words 'raw', 'healthy', 'sin free', 'guilt free' am I the only person who doesn't give a fig about the guilt!? I felt like it! Besides, I baked a vegan and gluten free cheesecake in a previous Bake Off challenge so I was only left with the 1 option really!

Gluten and Dairy Free Biscotti

Today I'm blogging the biscuit challenge from last weeks Bake Off. I wasn't too worried about biscuit week, I mean I don't make wonderful biscuits but they've always tasted nice and been fairly successful. This week I took the recipe from another website. I found that 2 eggs would've been better than 3 and that there was too much water for me because my dough was pretty wet and it should've been a lot drier than that.

Banana Loaf~ Gluten and Milk Free ~ A-Z Challenge

Today I bring you B is for Banana Loaf with Golden Syrup and Chopped Peanuts. I love making banana cakes so shoving my mixture into a loaf tin and adding some last minute toppings of choice is a great way for me to spend an hour or so! This recipe is gluten, wheat and milk free but of course you can easily use ingredients of your choice and experiment with your toppings. Icing sugar, caramel sauce (yeah I can't make it either- disaster!) other nuts you prefer or chocolate would taste great (naturally) here goes...

*Banana Loaf with Syrup & Peanuts.

100g butter

100g sugar (I used brown sugar as that's what I had in but can use any really)

3 eggs

200g Gluten free flour (I use Doves Farm)

2 Bananas Mashed

1/2tsp bicarbonate soda

1tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

Topping

Golden Syrup to drizzle

Handful of salted peanuts finely chopped to sprinkle

How To Bake The Mrs Cupcake Way:

Take all your ingredients and put them into a bowl. Mix really well, use a whisk before adding your banana if you like. Make sure your loaf tin is lined with grease proof paper and pour your mix into the tin.

Bake on 180• for 20-25 minutes (or when your knife comes out clean when inserted into the cake)

Carefully remove your cake whilst warm and now you can drizzle on your syrup or caramel or chocolate or whatever you've chosen as your desired topping.

Add those chopped peanuts and enjoy!

I have a rather slap dash approach to baking so if this isn't for you, may I recommend a Google search, Pinterest or maybe one of my other recipes that are more sensibly written?

Now then, whose for cake?

* If you scroll to the bottom of my blog, you'll find a handy fact sheet with all sorts of information including weights for those who don't use Grams!*

Cupcake Mumma

A Fantastic Gluten & Milk Free Pancake Day!

I love Pancake Day! A lovely friend popped over today and handed me a recipe for some gluten free pancakes. I didn't bother with weights, but I had all the ingredients and my very good (alright, overly keen) eye and piled up the plate!

Hubby went for good old chocolate spread, Midge had already eaten some at Grandmas house so decided against another round, while Little A went for a sprinkle of sugar on both of his. I however, went for banana and vanilla flavoured soya custard. It was So. Good!

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It's little mans birthday on Thursday and we usually do birthday pancakes for breakfast but since we are having a nice breakfast out, I think I will have them for birthday dinner instead! It has the positive of also being something A is definitely going to eat and they're very filling (especially so if you're a massive pig like me who had 4!!)

Happy Pancake Day Everyone!

Cupcake (Pancake?) Mumma

Free From Find #2: Baked to Taste Pasties!

Living in Cornwall you just got to have a Cornish pasty! Sadly, the good old traditional pasty is out for me but that's where Baked to Taste have come in handy!

Now of course you can make your own pasties and I have the perfect gluten, wheat and dairy free pasty recipe (filled with sun dried tomatoes and vegetables) so do check this out for something to bake and eat straight away or even wrap up and take out!

Back to Baked To Taste and their pasties. There are several flavours of pasty in the range: cheese and onion for those who can eat dairy, curried vegetable and the one I bought: sun dried tomato and spinach. The pasties are sold so far in health food stores in the frozen section. Once bought I popped the pasty in the oven and roughly 30 minutes later I was tucking in to a really rather tasty tea. The pastry isn't hard and crumbly but flakes off with a nice big bite like any other pasty! The only part of the pasty that's a bit of a let down is its crimped edges which seem to cook slightly harder and crispier than the rest of the pasty. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere too so I'm glad it isn't just me!

The pasty is filled to the brim which is so good to see. Nothing like the disappointment of a stingy pasty! The filling is quite peppery and the sun dried tomatoes add to this with their own flavour. I think it's absolutely delicious.

Cost wise they're not cheap (but free from never is) they are £2.18 and I consider them to be classed as a small pasty. The price does put them with your freshly baked pasties so you can't complain!

They are rather nice and filled me up perfectly at lunchtime...I'd probably add a side of chips for dinner though!

Product: Baked To Taste pasties (Sun dried tomato flavour)

Price: £2.18

Dietary info: wheat free, gluten free, lactose free.

Cupcake Mumma

Free From Finds #2 Delicious Jaffa Cakes!

There are some deliciously sweet treats I really missed when I found out my body could no longer tolerate gluten, wheat and dairy. Doughnuts are always the first thing I say to people I miss when they ask me the 'Don't you miss anything?' question. I don't really now, a part from doughnuts!

I used to eat Jaffa cakes at all the children's parties, (then at the adult ones too!) they made great sleepover treats and special treats in general. I can't remember when I first found these Jaffa Cakes by Kelkin, it's definitely been a few years now, but I'm surprised by how many people don't know they exist and are so easily bought from major supermarkets. One thing I will mention is that they may contain traces of milk as they are made in a factory that handles this ingredient. As I'm not allergic, I happily take the risk. This product also contains soya and egg. 

There are 12 Jaffa cakes in 1 box and they are a much smaller size compared to the original Jaffa cakes. The size is a little disappointing at first but perhaps that's just me being greedy! The Jaffa cakes are made exactly the same as the original cakes, with a sponge bottom, a jelly centre (best bit) and covered on the top with dark chocolate. I've always found them to not be as soft as the gluten and dairy cakes but that's the only thing I can complain about! They taste really nice, the chocolate is lovely, not a bitter dark chocolate but a nice sweet, tasting one to match the sponge. You can still 'dissect' the Jaffa cakes without them crumbling and falling a part (a common problem with gluten free foods) which is a bonus, I love nibbling off the chocolate, eating the sponge and saving the jelly until last, delicious!

If you haven't heard of Kelkin Jaffa cakes, check our your local supermarkets Free From section or request stock at customer service. Alternatively, health food shops often have them in store too. It's lovely to have Jaffa cakes back in my food cupboard!

Product: Kelkin Jaffa Cakes

Dietary Information: Free From Wheat and gluten. Containes Soya and Egg. May contain traces of Milk and nuts.

Price: £1.80

Bought From: Local Tesco store also available in Tesco Extra in my local area.

Cupcake Mumma

Free From Finds #1

I've decided to go back to my blogging basics. In order to love and enjoy my blog again I'm going to make sure I blog about what I like no matter what. You win some, you loose some. I'm tired of comparing myself to other blogs so here we go! With that out of the way, I've decided to reguly blog about any Free From foods I come across. Some will be known by pretty much everyone, but sometimes you come across a product or a recipe that others haven't noticed or even realised they could eat (the ingredients are long and confusing sometimes!)

I'm not paid or sent items to review so these products are those I've come across, bought myself, tried and then shared. I'll always state if otherwise.

My first find are these Sea Salted Lentil Chips produced by Cofresh. These are gluten free, dairy free, wheat free and soya free.

Best way for me to describe the smell, taste and texture? Well, think slightly thicker popadoms and I think you'll be there! They are delightfully crunchy and incredibly hard to put down! I found these in a local Health food shop so do pop in and have a look around or see if you can request they get some stock in. If anyone has seen these in a superstore, please let me know!

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Product: Cofresh Lentil Chips Sea Salt flavour (also available in a dill sauce flavour)

Price: £1.08

Dietary Info: Free From: Gluten/Wheat/Dairy/Soya/Egg

Purchased From: The Natural Store Cornwall

Cupcake Mumma

Catch Up!

It's week 2 of the Easter holidays here in Cornwall and finally some gorgeous weather has been cast upon us. I've started work on our garden which I won't show you a photo of just yet because other than a total mess there's nothing much to see! Lots of mud and digging! I'll be planting some bulbs and herbs and I have a little veggie growing challenge to rise up to (more on that soon!)

We haven't been doing very much at all this holiday but what are holidays for if not relaxing and enjoying the weather, family, time to yourself. We successfully made some homemade play doh which kept all of us entertained for hours (yeah even me!) and baked a few delicious treats for ourselves too. I adore chocolate brownies!

Some beautiful flowers have come out to play in the sun which had lifted my mood. I had my tooth extracted last week so I haven't been in the best place, I'm getting there though! I've been trying to eat better and have made some lovely vegetarian meals like the one below.

Mainly though I've been letting the children run wild and I even caved in to buying the Frozen DVD. I haven't felt much like being on social media so have taken a step back to enjoy my craft swaps.  I've been letter writing occasionally but mainly reading a lot of my books in my 'to read' pile. I've also ordered a needle felting kit because I love felting and want to make it a new hobby.

Right, that's me all caught up. Are you enjoying your holidays? Let me know what you've been up to!

Cupcake Mumma

My Budget Catch Up

The first week of February saw me blog about The Great British Budget and my personal goal of getting my menu and meal planning under control.

I'm pleased say this week we had a £50 big shop budget and it came to £46 which really pleased me! My weekly budget is usually £60 and I just shop in Tesco, usually going slightly over. Because our local tesco is just a small one, I have to send Jay to the larger store after work to collect the other Free From foods I can't buy locally.

Over the past few months we have been experimenting with how we shop and this week sealed the deal on shopping around. I've used Tesco online and couldn't find most of the cheaper value products in the search tools which really annoyed me. Not to mention it costing nearly (or sometimes over) £5 for delivery. We've tried Sainsburys but have really struggled to stay under budget. Asda have a great price for delivery (8 hour slots for £2.50) but a lot of the time I can't check out without first removing at least 3 really common products from my list (children's yogurts!). Then my shopping arrives and I have a list of subs and unavailable items staring me in the face! Totally defeats the idea of shopping online when I have to go out anyway!

So, with this in mind our shopping was done this week in Aldi, Iceland and Tesco for free from bread and cereal and other items which were more expensive in the previously mentions stores.

What also saved us money was getting back to meal planning. I looked in the cupboards and freezer, found an old menu planner in my folder and proceeded to plan!

Friday: Spaghetti and vegetables
Saturday: Pasties and wedges
Sunday: Roast!
Monday: Pasta night
Tuesday: Toad in the hole with mash
Wednesday: Jacket potato with filling of choice
Thursday: Spag Bol

With Most of this coming from the house already, all we needed was the essentials and something extra to make a few treats (like cookies!) and lunch box items.

I used the Money Hub app to help me plan my budget and I have to say I was surprised to see I spend £30 a month on Costa! I've restricted myself to one a week (£12 a month) with a few vouchers I was given I'll be easily meeting my target!

Cupcake Mumma

Hobbycraft Chocolate Moulds Perfect for Valentines!*

Now I know how a lot of people feel about Valentines Day but sadly I'm not one of them. I love the big heart balloons and making a meal for Hubby complete with anything else I can find in store!

Something I really wanted to try this year was making my own chocolates. As if it were meant to be, an email dropped into my inbox from HobbyCraft to review this great little chocolate making set with the little ones.

The set includes:

1 plastic mould with assorted heart shapes

3 large chocolate coins 2 milk chocolate and 1 white

1 Plastic piping bag

1 pack of hearts *these contain peanut oil*

Set of Instructions

We donned our aprons and got out a bowl suitable for microwave use. This was just to speed things up and as a responsible adult supervising, I felt it was fine. It's worth noting though that we melted a small amount of the white chocolate in the piping bag provided. I was surprised to see that you could just pop the bag with the chocolate into some warm water and allow it to melt. As this set is aimed at age 7+ this does allow more independence which is great. I however, have a 6 and 2 year old so I was opting for the quickest approach!

Midge broke up the chocolate and we watched for the timer to go on the microwave. We heated the chocolate bit by bit so as to not burn it and ruin the activity!

After melting the chocolate we began filling our moulds. I took over using the piping bag because Midge found it difficult to not overfill the bottom of the mould. She did however use a spoon to fill the mould up to the top and this was very easy to do, if a little messy! We had more chocolate than we would've done if we used the bag because you always get some stuck to the sides of the bag, same as icing a cake really, except when it's chocolate I hate wasting any amount!

After licking out the bowls (yes that is necessary!) I popped the mould set to one side whilst I did some washing up. After 15/20 minutes the chocolate was set! I didn't even need the fridge! Obviously popping it into the fridge you will wait even less time, I just got side tracked. Here's our two toned chocolates in their setting process:

Chocolate art?

Here they are ready to eat!

Everyone said the chocolate tasted great (no surprises there) and they looked great (they will be so good for my valentines idea!)

It was a great activity to share with Midge and an older child can be left to do most of the activity alone which is obviously fantastic.

It's worth noting that I didn't have any problems cleaning the moulds which are reusable.

Midge wants to try colouring the white chocolates next time which should be interesting!

*Hobbycraft sent us 1 chocolate making set free of charge for the purpose of this review. Thank you Hobbycraft!

Cupcake Mumma

Gluten & Dairy Free Yorkshire Puddings

If you are a coeliac like me or just avoid gluten because you feel better for it, you'll be all too aware of the things you miss out on. Those gorgeous tasting doughnuts, that beautiful fresh bread and those yummy Yorkshire puddings....

Free From Mince Pie Recipe

Super Simple FreeFrom Flapjack!

I love flapjack. It's the one thing I can whip up super quick without too much fuss, mess and everything else. Sure I can make up a batch of cupcakes pretty quick but flapjacks are even quicker and satisfy a sweet craving every time.

The recipe I use is really easy. It's one I've had in a notepad for a long time so I don't actually know where its come from. I remember first baking some flapjacks when I was about 11 with my Mum and I hadn't baked them since finding this recipe and remembering how easy they are! These lovely sweet treats are both Wheat, Gluten and Dairy free. Enjoy!

Halloween at Our House

We celebrated Halloween slightly early this year with my now-annual kids Halloween party. Saturday saw my two dressed up and excitedly awaiting the arrival of their cousins. I had prepped everything super early (unusual for me!) so I could relax before the impending chaos ensued. I got a hot chocolate and 3 biscuits down before I received a text from my sister in law to say her little ones were on the way!

We had a fun few hours and only one tantrum (from my little miss annoyingly!) First we had a go at 'pin the tail on the witches cat' which was a hit with everyone apart from Midge (because she didn't win) my nephew Z won this first game with his being so very close to the circle! Next up we played pass the parcel with a slightly more calm Midge. Knowing there are layers of chocolate to this game helps me immensely! My niece G won this game (twin power!)

After a couple of games we unveiled the food which didn't last long. They're only tiny but boy, can these children eat. I had a plate of sausage rolls and some Jaffa cakes left over plus crisps from my massive bowl so I was rather impressed to be honest! The winner this year was definitely my pumpkin with hummus dip. What do you think?

Last thing on my Halloween agenda was to face paint. This always goes down well.

G

Midge

Little Z

Even T wanted in on the action so she ran off with my painting sponge!

Calm was restored once half four rolled around and all little people were dispatched safely with their party boxes. All I had to deal with were two little monsters covered in face-paint and on a sugar crash! Here's to next year!

CupcakeMumma

Gluten & Dairy Free Custard Filled Choux Buns

It's week seven of our Great Bloggers Bake Off challenge with Jenny and Helen and it's one I have been dreading. Gluten free and sweet pastry don't exactly fill me with confidence. Suet is hard to come by and doesn't really appeal to me. I wanted to perfect profiteroles but it just wasn't happening so this week I've gone for a dairy and gluten free choux pastry, which on the second attempt was a lot more successful. They didn't rise as much but I've just discovered my oven door doesn't close properly so that's not great!

Because of the rise (or lack of) and my stubbornness to not let this challenge defeat me, I used a dairy free custard piped onto the flatter side of the bun and sandwiched the two sides together. I then melted and drizzled dairy free orange flavour chocolate on the top of the buns. Oh my they oozed and tasted delicious. On this occasion I don't mind the buns not looking great because they were so nice and very moreish too

(I had 3!)

I give you: Gluten and Dairy Free Custard Choux Buns:

Ingredients

75g Doves Farm White Bread Flour

½tsp Caster Sugar

50g Dairy free Butter

150ml Cold Water

2 Eggs

Carton of dairy free custard

150g Cooking Chocolate

3tbsp Golden Syrup

Method

Sift the flour & sugar into a bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add water and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat and quickly add the flour from the bowl into the water. Beat well to form a soft dough using an electric beater (or wooden spoon)

Beat in the eggs to form a smooth, shiny paste.

Put a teaspoonful of the paste onto oiled baking trays or pipe them on.

Bake your buns in a pre heated oven for 20/25 minutes at 200 degrees

Cool on a wire rack . When cold, pipe custard into the flat side and sandwich together with another half.

Gently melt together the chocolate and syrup, stirring to make a smooth sauce and

drizzle the sauce over your Choux pastry buns and DEVOUR!

CupcakeMumma

Our Happy Halloween!!

Yesterday I put on a small spread and invited my nieces, nephews and a friend from school to come and join in the Halloween fun with Midge and Little Man. I spent most of the morning and a little of the night before knees deep in food ideas, baking and decorating whilst my 2 slept soundly. It would seem all the hard work paid off as lots of little monsters left with big smiles and lots of laughter! Here's our day that I couldn't wait to share with you..

Little Man and Midge were really excited to be dressing up properly this year. My Mum popped over with a great little outfit for Little Man (he loves getting dressed up, much like his big sister) and Midge was already wearing her costume the minute she woke up! I painted her face later on in the morning which she always loves me doing (and I love doing it!)

My little skeleton 

Spooky Midge the witch with her pumpkin

 We had a fairly good spread set out on the table. Lots of sweet and plenty of savory to choose from. I went with cakes, chocolate fingers and tea cakes, toffee and chocolate apples, cheese ball crisps and cheese Doritos, dips with cucumber sticks, pizzas and much more.

The real hit of the party was these great little cups I made for the children (but which also got eaten by Husband and his sister!) I used Angle Delight in a vanilla flavour, coloured it green and orange for that Halloween effect and then crushed some Oreo type biscuits on top. This was described as 'mud' by my nephew and 'cremated heart' by the other! I added the cocktail stick pictures for effect and the plastic spoons so there was no rushing about looking for my teaspoon collection (because it doesn't exist...ask Little Man)

Halloween cups were great fun to make! Toffee apples are my favourite and fondant
fancies always go down well.

I went all out with my Halloween decorations this year. There was bunting, tinsel and a pinata in the hallway, lots of balloons floating around the house including hanging down from my kitchen ceiling. I did this at my sisters leaving party and since then I can't stop! More tinsel was strewn throughout the house and over photos. I love a bit of tinsel me!

I made some party boxes for all the children when they left. They all had little name tags on with a googly eye! Inside there was a selection of sweets (no one had to Trick or Treat after this party!) I added spider toys, little nick knacks and some glow sticks. I was quite impressed with myself so I hope the children liked them.

My eldest nephew came dressed as Batman. We did some face painting
at the party and this is what he chose. Cool huh?

 The final thing to show you was this pinata I've been raving about for ages. I didn't think it would be anything special because it was just a pull one. The thought of 5 toddlers bashing things with sticks was just too much to bare so I went for the safe pull a ribbon, win your sweets one! None of my monsters cared very much. My younger nephew was the winner ripping off the ribbon ('That was awesome!!' he cried) They dived in for their sweets and had so much fun.

Eagerly awaiting the 'Go'
Pulling and watching the sweets fall
'Grab!!' And no arguments. Hooray!!

The neat thing is, I can reuse this pinata for next year with a bit of crafty touching up! 

 And because you have to absolutely make sure you haven't missed a single sweet, I give you my niece:

There's always one :-)

My kitchen was covered in crisps (Little Man), my rug has had to be removed because of severe juice spillage (Little Man) and there is green angle delight with biscuit mushed into my carpets (Little Man) but it was a great party. I love all my Little Monsters and am already planning my next get together with them.

CupcakeMumma

America Day!

I've been a bit off the radar with this impending wedding of mine and I'm definitely missing my blog so I'm back to write up a couple of posts which will probably be it until after the wedding, we'll see.

Last weekend Little Miss, Little Man and I had an 'America Day!' During the summer holidays I have made a point to still make sure there is some learning to our fun (well, sometimes- lazy days are pretty good too!)

We started off our America Day with making flags. I printed some flags off and asked Little Miss what the colours of the flag were (expecting to have to tell her) and was surprised when she said 'red, white and blue Mum!' Now, I think she may have chose those colours because of the fact our flag has been paraded around everywhere (including the bunting in my kitchen!) but who am I to argue? After all, she was right!

We made the flags and talked about America. We put on some fake accents which was very funny, Little Miss was in fits of giggles (evidently I don't put on a convincing American accent!) we discussed various states and I explained to her about all the stars on the flag. That was enough for a 4 year old I thought!

We then took ourselves to the kitchen to bake a fantastic recipe mailed to me by Reecea who blogs at Fresh juniper. She very kindly shared with me a delicious Peach Cobbler recipe. We put our Cobbler together and once done it was the first treat on our table!
To the table we added some chips, hot dog sausages and buns, an American potato salad and pasta dish plus some marshmallows and Hursheys chocolate syrup. very yummy!

Peach Cobber, soya ice cream and home made banana ice cream!

Fruit Flag!

The children tucked in more than ever before so I reckon our America Day was small, but fun and more importantly- a big success!!

We're currently deciding on what country is next, we think we might go with China Day which would be good. However, lets get this wedding over with first!

Would you have a 'Country Learning Day'? I'd love to know if you do!
CupcakeMumma