One of my absolute favorite healthy cereals at the moment is the Food Doctor’s Cacoa and Tangerine Granola.

This lovely cereal is made with oat flakes (so not gluten-free unfortunately), seeds and agave nectar with lots of cocoa nibs and freeze-dried tangerine pieces thrown in. It’s hard to believe that something so yummy contains no cane sugar. It has also won the Great Taste Gold Award for 2011.

The Food Doctor’s Cacao and Tangerine Granola retails at £2.99 for a 425g box and is available on the Food Doctor website and in supermarkets (I picked it up from my local Tesco).

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.

Alara Chocolate Porridge ONLY contains wholegrain oats, real cocoa, banana flakes and dates for some natural sweetness.

Alara Chocolate Porridge Ingredients

• Oats Porridge (73.5%)
• Dates Chopped (16%)
• Cacao powder (5%)
• Banana flakes (very fine, almost powder) (3.5%)
• Cacao Nibs (2%)

I purchased mine from Sainsburys for £2.49.

The porridge is really quick to make due to the smallness of the oats, so a few mins at the kitchen stove I had myself a delightful bowl of Chocolate Porridge to try.

Mmmmmmmm now I just want some more.

It has a great texture, really warming as you would expect, a fantastic crunch from the cocoa nibs (one of my favorites) and a perfect sweetness from the dates. In summary Alara Chocolate Porridge is delicious.

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.

Wheat and Raisin Free Muesli Ingredients

Jumbo Oats, Porridge Oats, Barley Flakes, Rye Flakes, Apricot, Mango, Pumpkin Seeds, Brazil Nuts, Dates, Almonds, Apple, Cinnamon.

Price: 500g – £3.89

Other Rude Health cereals: Rude Health Porridge | Puffed Oats

A bowl, some oatly milk and a splash of rice milk (I like to mix it up) and I was ready for the taste test.

This cereal is a bit pricey, but it does taste great and so many muesli’s are padded with cheaper ingredients e.g raisins, wheat and MILK POWER. One option to spread the cost of the cereal is to pad it out with a few extra oats and it would be nice with a few slices of banana too.

I have really enjoyed the different taste of this morning breakfast so I will be buying again. My only complaint and I don’t know if mine have all slipped to the bottom of the packet but it could do with a few more nuts for an extra crunch so tomorrow I might add those too.

Rude Health is sold on their website, nationwide by Waitrose and select Tesco, Co-operative & Sainsbury’s stores as well as health food stores,.

Thanks Rude Health for making a raisin and wheat free muesli that is suitable for both my partner and I.

With Goodies snacks don’t have to be naughty.

There “No Junk Promise” range of Goodies organic yummy & nutritious toddler snacks avoid added salt, processed sugars or any nasty additives and in most cases are dairy and wheat free too.

I just tucked into the Organic Carrot Cake bar; a blend of wholegrain oats, raisins, carrot juice and orange oil. It’s kind like a flap jack but less sticky and I love them, perfect to have in your back for a snack emergency.

Goodies Carrot Cake Ingredients

• Organic Wholegrain Oats 44%
• Organic Raisins 32%
• Organic Sunflower Oil 10%
• Organic Carrot Juice Concentrate 7%
• Organic Coconut 5%
• Organic Apple Juice Concentrate 2%
• Organic Cinnamon less than 1%
• Organic Orange Oil less than 1%
• Organic Orange Oil less than 1%
• Junk 0%
• TOTAL 100%

I have purchased Goodies Oat Bars in Boots (where there are often offers), Sainsburys & Waitrose, you can also buy them at Goodies for £2.25.

One bag of Bear Granola Nibbles counts as one portion of your daily wholegrains, is high in fibre and contains around 99 calories depending on the variety. Best of all, they are wheat free, dairy free and sugar free and contain no preservatives, sulphites or gumming agents.

So far, I have tried the Cherry Cocoa Pie variety which contain oats, maize, cherry pieces (cherry and apple puree), coconut, nibbed cocoa beans and grape, apple & carob extract. They are a great crunchy, chocolaty snack that kept me going between meals – and I especially loved the cherry pieces!

As well as the Bear Granola Nibbles Bear make a whole range of different healthy snacks including two other varieties of granola nibbles (Apple Crumble & Tropical Crunch), fruit nibbles and fruit yo-yos and I’m looking forward to checking them all out!

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.

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.

So keen to give them a go I riped open my new box of .Low and behold they taste just like I remember a crispbread to taste like (does anyone else have food memories, had one last night re spaghetti bolognese at school – was the one good thing on the menu) – they have the same texture and taste but with a buckwheat kick – so if like me you like the taste of buckwheat you will love these.

Gluten Free Crisp Bread Ingredients

Corn flour* (50%), rice flour* (49%), sea salt
*= certified organic ingredients

Just checked online and you can buy them from Goodness Direct for £1.79

NB On the Goodness Direct website it says they contain sugar however my box just says the ingredients as described on the Windmill Organics (people who make Amisa Range) website.

I cant wait to give my Gluten Free Crisp Bread a try at lunch with a topping – perhaps some avocado, mackerel or maybe even some sugar free jam… ummm. If you fancy a crunchy gluten or wheat free cracker then these are great – highly recommend.