Another tried and tested Gluten free recipe that I can recommend..enjoy:)

Gluten free buckwheat & buttermilk pancakes

I tried these and they were really good especially cold and served with some smoked salmon and rocket :)

Ingredients

70g buckwheat flour
70g rice flour
1 tsp gf baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp bread soda
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
15g brown sugar
120ml natural yoghurt
1 large egg
150ml  buttermilk
1 tbsp melted butter

Method:

• Sieve all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
• Whisk wet ingredients together and add to flour mix.
• Stir into dry ingredients and mix to a smooth, thick, creamy batter.
• Heat pan, add a little butter or oil and spoon mixture onto pan.  allow bubbles to appear before turning over.
• Add berries, fruit purees, nuts, sliced banana, apples and other fruits. 

NB...make a savoury pancake by leaving out cinnamon and sugar.

Coeliac self-diagnosis warning

The gluten-free fad that is taking hold could be dangerous and lead to serious diseases being missed, says Coeliac Australia.

Coeliac Australia's dietitian Penny Dellsperger said it was important for people to be diagnosed with coeliac disease before they embarked on a gluten-free diet.

"The symptoms are non-specific and can be quite vague and mimic those of other conditions, so it is important to make sure you are treating the right condition," she said. "If someone goes on a gluten-free diet without proper investigation, they could in fact have ovarian cancer or something else, so it can be quite dangerous to health."

People with coeliac disease have a permanent intolerance to gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, oats and barley that can damage the lining of the small bowel and result in nutritional deficiencies if untreated.

Although one in 100 Australians has coeliac disease, 75 per cent of them are not aware of it. Common symptoms are unexplained extreme fatigue, bloating or other gut symptoms, headaches and joint pains. Ms Dellsperger said people should not fiddle with their diet or self-diagnose but should see their GP.

People were born with a genetic predisposition to the disease. It could set in from the day gluten was introduced into their diet, usually at 6-12 months, but could develop at any age and sometimes was not diagnosed until people were 50 or even 80. It was important for people with the disease to stick strictly to a gluten-free diet or they could place their health at long-term risk of bowel cancer and osteoporosis.
"But if you have got to pick something to have, then at least with this one we know that as long as you stick to the right diet, then you are going to be fine," Ms Dellsperger said.
Information: coeliac.org.au.

Could you go without gluten for a week???

Coeliac UK challenges nation to go without gluten for a week

Coeliac UK, the national charity for coeliac disease is challenging the nation to go gluten-free from 14-20 May to raise awareness of the daily food frustrations encountered by the 1 in 100 people in the UK who have coeliac disease.

The idea of the Gluten-free Challenge is for people to shop, cook or eat out completely gluten-free for a week in order to experience what it is like to be diagnosed with coeliac disease and have to check every ingredient on every packet to ensure it doesn't contain any gluten.

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease caused by intolerence to gluten. There is no cure and no medication and the only treatment is a strict gluten-free diet for life.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and is found in bread, pasta, pizza, cakes and beer etc. However, it is also often used in a wide range of products including mayonnaise, soy sauce, sauces, sausages and many processed goods.

There are a range of activities that people can get involved with including:

• Encourage your office to go gluten-free for work lunches or the office biscuits
• Invite friends to take part in Come Dine With Me Gluten-free, taking it in turns to shop for and cook gluten-free meals throughout the week
• Go out for dinner and ask about and only order gluten-free options to ensure that eating establishments know about the demand for gluten-free food
• Schools can hold a gluten-free cake stall or cook a gluten-free recipe in food technology classes
• Talk to local restaurants and ask them to provide gluten-free options on their menu
• When shopping check the back of packets to see how many items include gluten and choose the gluten-free options
• Get sponsored for the week if you're taking on the Gluten-free Challenge.
Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Coeliac UK said: "After struggling for years to get diagnosed with coeliac disease many people are then faced with a complete change in diet and lifestyle. People may be surprised by how good some gluten-free products are and how many naturally gluten-free dishes there are on a restaurant menu.
"However there may also be frustrations by the unnecessary limitations on your diet, such as sauces made with wheat flour or fruit salad being the only suitable dessert on offer. But by taking the Challenge you will be doing your bit to help educate and to get the changes needed.

"Popping into your local restaurant and asking what they have which is gluten-free is spreading awareness and will hopefully encourage caterers to offer more gluten-free options for all customers."

-Gluten Free Bread-

Gluten free bread is not very nice, the word cardboard springs to mind everytime and the shop bought gf breads have so many additives and that just puts me right off! So I can tell you after lots of trial and error I have found a good one, "Odlums -Gluten Free- Tritamyl brown bread mix", just add water. I also add linseeds, poppy seeds and sesame seeds to jazz it up a bit and even the non glutens think its edible, to make a more savoury loaf you could add crushed garlic and olives:).

I also used the gf brown bread flour mix to make some lovely scones, however doves farm rice flour is fine too..they go very nice with some homemade butternut squash and sweet potato soup which is very easy to make also.

Gluten free Scones

Ingredients

250g/10oz Rice Flour

2 tsp Xanthan Gum

5tsp Baking Powder

4 tbsp Icing Sugar

50g/2oz Butter

300ml/10fl oz Natural Yoghurt

Water

Method

1. Mix together the rice flour, xanthan, baking powder and sugar.
2. Rub in the butter into the flour.
3. Stir in the yogurt and bring together into a soft dough.
4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and flatten to 2cm/1” thick.
5. Cut into 5cm/2” rounds or rough triangles.
6. Place on a floured baking sheet.
7. Brush the water over the top of the scones.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for 18/20 minutes.

Temperature & cooking time:
220*C/fan200*C/400*F/Gas 6

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Gluten Free News
-  If you are in the UK this show would be really good to go along to and its free!
   http://www.allergyshow.co.uk/london/london-home/

Did you know?

-  Ireland has one of the highest prevalence of Coeliac Disease in the world.

-  Research shows that coeliac disease affects 1 in 100 people in the UK, making it much more    
   common than previously thought. Under-diagnosis is a big problem. Research suggests around  
   500,000 people have not yet been diagnosed.

Tonights dinner was yummy, made some gluten free bean burgers with spinnach and rocket salad, advocado and grated carrot with a homemade balsamic dressing, followed by a gluten free toffee apple crumble at the request of my partner who has a very sweet tooth ! :)

GF Bean burgers...
Ingredients

• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 green pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
• 1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs

Directions

1. If grilling, preheat grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 190 degrees C, and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3. In a food processor, finely chop pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.               

GF Toffee Apple Crumble

175g sugar
100ml cold water
zest and juice of 2 large lemons
3 bramley apples, peeled & roughly chopped
300g gluten free flour (doves farm plain flour is good)
150g unsalted butter, chilled
80g caster sugar

• preheat the oven to 200degrees
• place the sugar and water in a large saucepan over a high heat and bring to a boil.  give it a few minutes to thicken the add the lemon zest and juice and apples to the pan and cook for 5-6 mins. place in a 24cm square baking dish.
• place the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz until smooth. just pulse in the sugar, do not overwork.  carefully spoon the topping over the cooked apples.
• bake for 25-30 mins or until brown.
• serve warm with icecream or custard.

enjoy:):)

gluten free - my story

I am writing this blog because I feel people should be made more aware of coeliac disease and realise that it is not just a gluten free intolerance that you have, or that you are being picky for the sake of it, as if!!

"Ah go on there's only a little bit of gluten in it sure you'll be fine or yes it is gluten free it contains flour"!

ahem, well I was pretty ignorant myself until I had no choice but to change my eating habits a few years ago after being diagnosed with coeliac disease, the doctors at the time were like me getting their information from the internet.  I couldnt believe all the symptoms associated with coeliac disease, simple things like a sore tongue, sore head, tiredness, slugishness which can all be connected to low iron or other vitamin or mineral defiencies caused by coeliac disease...

If a coeliac eats gluten the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged reducing the coeliac's ability to absorb the nutrients from food. This can lead to various symptoms and complications if undiagnosed such as:

• diarrhoea
• constipation
• weight loss
• chronic tiredness
• anaemia
• failure to thrive in children
• chronic mouth ulcers
• stomach pain and bloating
• indigestion
• bone pain
• moodiness or depression
• infertility
• recurrent miscarriages

It’s an autoimmune disease and it’s not contagious. The only treatment is adhering to a gluten-free diet for life after a positive diagnosis has been made. Medicine or drugs are not required.

In the small intestine there are small finger-like structures called villi which absorb the nutrients from food. When the villi are damaged (or atrophic) they can no longer absorb nutrients properly.

Hard to believe 'gluten' could cause this, however when I was diagnosed I was relieved because then I realised it wasnt all in my head as I thought it was, after years of feeling 'exhausted' I now knew it was down to my body not working as well as it should have been.

Gluten free is something I had never been aware of until a few years ago, even though my mother was born with coeliac disease in the 1950's, she didnt know she had it until someone advised they feed 'that very sick child' bananas! (1924 – The famous banana diet recommended by Haas was used extensively for many years until the introduction of the gluten-free diet. During World War II children with coeliac disease were allocated supplies of dried bananas as a supplementary ration). 

Coeliac disease can take 13 years, on average, to be properly diagnosed. It is commonly misdiagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) because the symptoms can be very similar, with bloating, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and tiredness. 

Coeliac disease runs in families, the cause is introduction of gluten during weaning, either too much or too early!