Almond Flour Officially Rocks!

Fig Roll Ingredients

(With UK equivalent measurements)

2 Cups Almond Flour (160g)
2 Cups Potato Starch Flour (360g)
4 TBS Dairy Free Spread (or equivalent)
1/2 Cup Raw Agave Nectar (Or Honey) – (10 heaped tsps or to taste)
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt

Preheat Oven to 325 Degrees which is 160 oc

Steps for recipe and rolling on Real Sustenance website.

When mixing all ingredients in a food processor until they come together to a smooth dough, I added a little bit of water to mine to help the mix bind.

For the filling I used this Sugar Free Fruit Spread.

With no heating in my kitchen and minus 5 outside, my rolling was a little messy with such cold hands. So try this rolling technique as suggested by Real Sustenance.

That’s it lovely Dairy, Gluten, Egg Free and No added sugar Fig Roll DONE – Hope you liked them as much as I did! Thanks to Real Sustenance for a fantastic Fussy Foodie friendly recipe.

Gluten Free Balti Sauce Ingredients

The ingredients in Cofresh gluten free balti sauce are: water, onion, tomatoes, peppers, rapeseed oil, ground spice mix, tomato puree concentrate, garlic puree, ginger puree, sugar, salt, lemon juice concentrate, cumin seeds, dried coriander leaf, acidity regulator.

Cofresh balti cooking sauce is gluten and dairy free, though it does have a small amount of added sugar. Usually I would try to avoid sauces with added sugar, but the quantity is so minimal and the rest of the ingredients are so friendly, I am happy to overlook the sugar on this one.

I love having a jar of Cofresh balti cooking sauce in my cupboard for one of those evenings where we want to eat something quick and delicious using minimal effort. I buy my jar from the World Foods section at Sainsburys costing £1.3o where there is also a selection of other great Cofresh products available including sauces, dips, savoury snacks and nuts.

Lots of the soups you see in Supermarkets are loaded with dairy (cream normally), wheat and often high in salt and sugar, so a big thumbs up to this soup.

Follow link for more: Free From Soups (recipes and product reviews)

Dairy Free Carrot Soup Ingredients

Vegetable Stock (Water, Vegetables (Onion, Carrot, Leek, Celery, Garlic), Sugar, Salt, Cornflour, Sunflower Oil, Spice Oil), Carrot (26%), Coconut Cream (8%) (Coconut, Water), Potato, Butternut Squash, Onion, Sweet Potato, Ginger Purée, Vegetable Oil, Coriander, Cornflour, Fish Sauce (0.5%), Red Chilli (0.4%), Sugar, Salt, Lime Leaves, Lemongrass (0.2%), Garlic Purée, Turmeric.

I got my Glorious dairy free carrot soup from Sainsbury’s but you can also buy from ASDA and Morrisons.

Well New Covent Garden Heart Warming Soup ticks alot of boxes, and it tastes great too, check out this wheat and dairy free tomato soup

Dairy Free Tomato Soup Ingredients

Water, tomatoes (19%), onions, green lentils (6%), tomato paste, carrots, red peppers, courgettes, celery, sugar, vegetable oil, garlic, salt, thyme, rosemary, parsley, white pepper. Vegetables (20%).

The soup is tastes great, tomato(y) as you would expect but the lentils give it a lovely texture and depth of flavor – big tick to New Covent Garden Soup.

As well as tasting great The Heart Warming soup is also promoting the British Heart Foundation.

Smoked Mackerel Pate Ingredients

• 250g fresh smoked mackerel
• 1 lemon
• 25g Dairy Free Spread

In food processor blitz 250g mackerel with juice of 3/4 lemon and some fresh milled black pepper, meanwhile melt 25g of Pure add to the food processor and blitz mixture til smooth. Taste and add more lemon juice & pepper if needed.

Transfer to a bowl and leave in fridge for a few hours, I did overnight, so that it chills and firms up.

Spread your Smoked Mackerel Pate on a corn thin for taste sensation!

Now I normal just wing this recipe, but this was today’s version:

Celery Soup Ingredients

Serves: 2 as a main

• 1 celery heart, finely sliced (I included stalks and all)
• 2 inch cube of potato diced (optional – for thickening)
• 1 garlic clove diced
• 1/2 teaspoon of celery seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon of mixed herbs
• 1 tbls of olive oil
• 1/2 Free From Stock Cube (I used Kallo)
• Pepper

Nb. You will also need a kettle of boiling water.

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the celery seeds and garlic glove, stir briefly then add the celery and potato. Saute everything in the pan for a few minutes.

Add the mixed herbs and stock cube and season to taste with pepper. Cover everything with boiling water, to just below the ingredients (too much water and the soup will be too watery).

Bring to boil and cook until the vegetables are just soft, mine took 11 mins. Blend, check for seasoning and tasty celery soup done.

Bounce Energy Ball - Gluten Free Snack

Since trying my first ball (the green one) I was lucky enough to be sent all the other flavours to taste, now being the loyal person I am, I am sticking to the green one as my overall favourite but the others are really tasty too.

As the name suggest the snack comes in a squished ball shape, covered in nuts, which makes it crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle, really great texture combination that makes the eating even more enjoyable.

When I first opened it I was amazed by its dark green colour due to the spirulina and once I tucked in I was really impressed by its sweet and health taste. In fact the Gluten Free ball went down so quickly I had to pop back to the shop to buy another one so I could take some photos.

The Spirulina Ginseng Ball is the Bounce best seller, quoted by Bounce as being “unusual but tastes great” .

What is Spirulina?

Spirulina is an amazing superfood, it helps to boost the immune system, and is a complete protein and a rich source of iron & fibre.

Spirulina Ginseng Ball Ingredients

Gluten Free Rolled Oats, Almonds, Brown Rice Starch, Grape Juice, Crispy Brown Rice (Brown Rice), Gluten Free Oat Bran, Spirulina (1.25%), Sesame Seeds, Raisins, Panax Ginseng (0.62%), Vanilla, Sea Salt, Natural Almond Flavouring (no MSG), Antioxidant (E306 from natural sources).

For those like me with a dairy free diet, watch out for the yellow and the orange Bounce Balls as they have whey in, however the rest of the balls you can freely tuck into as they are all dairy free. My partner Phil tried the the Yellow and Orange Protein bounce balls and he really liked them too, even with his sweet tooth.

For local stockist follow link – priced at £1.59.

Check for stockists in your area as Bounce Natural Energy Balls are a tasty Healthy AND Gluten Free Snack.

Cornish Sardines Ingredients – Sardines, Lemon, Chilli Oil (Rapeseed oil, Chilli flavouring), Red Chilli, Garlic, Flat Leaf Parsley, Sea Salt, Black Pepper.

If you are a Sardine fan and can deal with the teeny tiny bones – check out this new product in the Sainsburys fish counter priced –  £2.99.

I served my sardines with roasted vine tomatoes, some asparagus and a few Jersey royal potato’s – top tip use a little bit of dairy free spread and salt and pepper to make the asparagus extra tasty.

It’s is also amazingly healthy and Fussy Foodie friendly.

Rick Stein’s Hainanese Chicken Rice (Khao Man Gai) – Recipe adapted from Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey

Rick Stein says: “This chicken rice, like babi guling, the slow-roasted pig from Bali, is a dish I would cross continents for. It appears in various forms all over the Far East, especially Malaysia and Singapore. There are people who wouldn’t let a day go by without a plate of chicken rice, and I can perfectly understand why. It’s the moistness of the chicken that gets to you”

Ingredients for Hainanese Chicken Rice:

• 1 x 1.5kg free-range chicken
• Freshly ground white pepper
• 25g peeled ginger, thickly sliced
• 15g garlic cloves
• 6 spring onions, trimmed
• Ginger and chilli dipping sauce (see recipe below)
• ½ cucumber, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced
• Handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander

For the rice:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 350g Thai jasmine rice, rinsed
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot (optional) ( I use a couple of kaffir lime leaf’s as easier to find)

For the chilli sauce (Fussy Foodie style):

• A teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• Half a lime juiced
• Small glove of garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 tsp of grated fresh ginger
• Squeeze of Agave Nectar

This is my sugar and wheat free version of the chili sauce:

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients and taste for seasoning you may need to adjust with more lime or salt, for your taste.

Steamed Chicken Rick Stein Style Preparation:

1. Remove any fat from the cavity of the chicken and set aside. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and white pepper. Lightly bruise the ginger, garlic and 4 of the spring onions with a rolling pin and push inside the cavity. Set aside for 1 hour (I am not a big planner, so tend to just get the chicken in the pan at this stage).
2. Bring 4–5 litre of water (enough to cover the chicken) to the boil in a large, deep pan in which the chicken will fit snugly. If the pan is too large, the amount of water needed to cover the bird will produce a watery stock. Immerse the chicken in the water, bring almost back to the boil and leave to simmer very gently for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat (yes turn it off), cover and leave for 30 minutes, then remove the chicken, cover and set it aside. Skim the fat from the stock and boil until reduced to 1.2 litres.


Chicken Ready for Steaming

3. For the rice, heat the vegetable oil in a medium-sized pan over a medium heat. Add the reserved chicken fat and leave for 2–3 minutes until melted. Remove from the heat, and lift out and discard any bits. You should be left with about 3 tablespoons fat. (This bit is not for me). Add the rice and stir-fry for a couple of minutes to coat the grains. Add 600ml of the hot chicken stock and bring back to the boil. Add the sesame oil and half teaspoon salt. Stir once, add the pandan leaf if using, cover, lower the heat and leave to cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to sit, still covered, for 10 more minutes, while you remove the chicken from the bones and cut it up into small pieces. Halve the remaining spring onions and thinly shred them lengthways.
4. Divide the ginger and chilli sauce between dipping bowls.
5. Spoon some of the cooked rice onto each plate, top with the cooked chicken and garnish with the cucumber. Reheat the remaining chicken stock and season to taste. Ladle into small soup bowls and sprinkle in the coriander and the shredded spring onion. Place a plate of chicken rice, a wedge of lime ( I love lime my little addition), dipping sauce and a bowl of soup in front of each person, and tuck in.

Steamed Chicken Rick Stein Style is my favorite recipe so far from Rick Stein Far Eastern Odyssey – give it a try love to know what you think.

What makes Free From Fish Fingers so great is that they suit a variety of restricted diets including dairy free, gluten free and wheat free. They are also suitable for coeliacs.

Ingredients: MSC Certified Pacific Cod, Batter; Crumb Coating; Palm Oil

Batter contains: Cornflour, Maize Starch, Water, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Mustard Powder, White Pepper, Stabiliser: Zanthum Gum, Colour: Paprika Extract

Crumb Coating contains: Rice Flour, Dried Potato, Salt, Emulsifier: Mono and Driglycerides of Fatty Acids

After a quick 12 minutes under the grill or 15 minutes in the oven, the Free From Fish Fingers are ready and smell divine! Served with a few chunky potato wedges and salad, they make a very tasty, satisfying and comforting dinner reminiscent of days gone by where food restrictions where not an issue. I am one very happy fussy foodie - Free From Fish Fingers made my day!