Spicy Thai Red Chicken Curry

I went to Thailand late last year, and it was possibly one of the hardest places I have been in terms of eating. Hardly anyone understood my translation card which made it near impossible to eat anything - I lived on steamed veggies and rice for 2 and a bit weeks (apart from in Koh Tao where we found the best little restaurant who labelled everything GF!).

So, I decided to adapt a well known classic Thai dish, Chicken Red Thai Curry into something that us coeliacs can eat - and my god was it good! 

I cheated a bit and didn't make my own paste, but Waitrose Red Thai Curry Paste is a great alternative to those of you, who like me don't get in from work until late! 

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp of rapeseed oil 

3 large chicken breasts, diced 

1x Waitrose Cooks Ingredients Red Thai Curry Paste (100g)

1 large white onion, diced

3 spring onions, sliced length ways

1 green chili sliced 

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1/2 yellow pepper, sliced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 lemon zest and juice

1 tbsp gluten free tamari (soy sauce)

1 handful of fresh Thai basil 

1x can of coconut milk (400g)

Crushed black pepper to taste 

Method:

1. In a large pan heat the rapeseed oil and then add the diced white onion and sweat (you don't want them to brown)

2. Add the diced chicken and brown

3. Add the whole jar of the Red Thai Curry Paste and your crushed garlic cloves and sliced green chili and cook off for 2 mins 

4. Roughly chop a handful of Thai basil and add to the pot along with the spring onion

5. Add in the coconut milk and simmer, then squeeze the half lemon and add the zest 

6. Season to taste with the soy and black pepper

7. cover the pot with a lid and simmer for approx 10-12 mins, while you are doing this you might want to start your plain white rice. 

8. You want the veggies to be really crispy, so these are added with 3 mins to go until finished. 

Serve how you wish, with a sprinkling of sprint onion and Thai basil to garnish - it really is delicious and would make a fantastic valentines meal for your loved one. 

Thank me later 

T :) x

Cheesy Crunchy Fish Pie

One of the Joys of living on your own, is that you can eat what you want, when you want. 

I love Fish Pie, always have, always will. Although I never had it when I was at home. That was because my dad didn't like anything creamy or that had anything to do with mashed potato. 

Here's my recipe for a tasty delicious fish pie, that will go down well will all! 

Ingredients: 

1 large salmon fillet

1 large white cod or haddock fillet

 1 packet of cooked and peeled prawns 

2 eggs, hard boiled 

400ml skimmed milk

1 hanful of frozen peas

1 tsp coconut oil

2 bay leaves

30 g plain gluten free flour

4-5 large 'floury' potatoes boiled so soft

25ml of milk 

1 tbsp butter 

1 handful of grated cheddar

2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs 

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees 

Bring the 400ml of milk to the boil in a pan, with the two bay leaves

Poach the salmon and cod in the milk until flaky

Remove the fish and place in the bottom of a pyrex dish. Add the prawns to the bottom of the dish

Remove the bay leaves, and add the flour and coconut oil to the milk and whisk so there are no lumps. Grind salt and pepper to taste

Add half the grated cheese to the mixture, and whisk again

Peel and quarter the boiled eggs and place amongst the fish along with a handful of frozen peas

Pour the white sauce over the fish

When boiled, mas your potatoes in a saucepan with the milk and tbsp of butter until soft and creamy

Spread the mashed potato on top of the filling and spread evenly with a fork

Mix the fresh breadcrumbs with the remaining cheddar and sprinkle over the top 

Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes 

Serve with your choice of veg

Hope you enjoy! This serves 4-6 people - or in my case...4-5 dinners and lunches! 

:) T x

Homemade Mac n Cheese with Broccoli and Bacon

I don't know about you, but Mac 'n' Cheese is my ultimate go to food when it's cold, and I am feeling like I need some comfort food. The last few weeks have been filled with wanting comfort food! 

I tried a new recipe a few weeks ago, Mac 'n' Cheese with broccoli and bacon using Riso Gallo gluten free pasta. 

 Yes it does sound as good as it tasted, and it's incredibly easy! 

Ingredients: 

1x pack of Gallo Riso gluten free pasta 

100g gluten free plain flour

40g of butter 

1 pint of milk 

100g grated low fat cheddar 

extra low fat cheddar for topping 

3 medallions of bacon (no fat)

1 onion 

3 to 4 large florets of Broccoli broken into smaller pieces 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 200c or 180 for fan assisted ovens 

Part cook the pasta in a saucepan until al dente. Rinse with boiling water and set aside

In an oven proof dish, break the broccoli into small pieces and place in the bottom of the dish

Finely chop the onion and bacon, then in a saucepan sweat the onion until soft. Add the bacon and cook through. Remove from the saucepan and place to one side

On a medium heat, melt the butter in a saucepan to begin the roux

Gradually add the flour - you may not need all 100g so use your judgement

Once you have a dough like constancy, add the milk gradually, whisking to eliminate the possibility of lumps. 

Add onion and bacon to the mixture 

Stir in the grated cheese until melted

Add the pasta to the dish, over the broccoli 

Pour the cheese and bacon sauce over the pasta

Top with grated cheese 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. 

This is one recipe you are guaranteed to love :) 

T x

Homemade Spiced Apple Crumble

The weekend is all about baking and creating great recipes. My boyfriend’s all-time favourite desert is Apple crumble, so I decided to make him a spiced apple crumble to warm our hearts on a cold Saturday night.

Ingredients

For the crumble:

100g of plain white flour (Doves Farm)

75g of unsalted butter (cubed)

75g demerara sugar

25g gluten free rolled oats

25g of chopped nuts

½ tsp of cinnamon to top

For the filling:

2 Bramley apples

3 Granny Smith apples

150g of golden caster sugar

1 Tsp of corn flour

4-5 tbsp of water

1 ½ tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of nutmeg

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or 150 fan assisted

Peel, core and cut the apples into cubes and place them in a bowl

Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and corn flour to the apples and combine

Add the 4-5 tablespoons of water to thin the mixture

Place the apples in a deep oven proof dish (preferably a Pyrex dish) and place in the oven for 10 minutes

While the apples are cooking, in a separate bowl add the plain flour and butter (cubed). Rub the mixture together until it resembles breadcrumbs

Add the sugar, chopped nuts and oats and combine with hands

Remove the apples from the oven and stir

Top the cooked apples with the crumble mixture and then sprinkle cinnamon  to top

Place back in the oven for 25-30 minutes

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving

I like my apple crumble served with icecream – but serve as you wish. This went down really well with Peter for a Saturday night treat! 

Peck Nutrition Orange Almond Cupcakes

The lovely ladies from Peck Nutrition got in touch a few weeks ago and asked me to try one of their nutritious recipes. Of course I jumped at the chance to try out something new, and of course...something healthy! 

The below recipe is for an actual cake, but I decided to make muffins instead, as when I make a cake, it never gets eaten!

I needn't have worried with these though - they all went! They even passed the boyfriend test - and he is a harsh judge! 

Ingredients 

125ml of olive oil

150g of soft brown sugar

3 eggs

250g of ground almonds

3 tbsp of toasted flaked almonds

200-250g of grated raw carrots

75g of golden sultanas and raisins

60ml of rum

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp ground nutmeg

Juice of ½ orange

Zest of 1 orange

1 tub of quark (250g)

1 tub of extra light cream cheese (250g)

1 tbsp vanilla

Runny honey to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Grease and line the base and sides of a 9 inch round removable cake tin.

Toast the flaked almonds being careful not to burn and set aside.

Grate the carrots and wrap in kitchen paper and squeeze out excess water. Place carrots on

plate.

Put sultanas and raisins in a small sauce pan with rum and bring to boil quickly. Turn down and then let simmer for 3 minutes. Then turn off heat.

In a large bowl whisk the sugar and olive oil until creamy and mixed with air and bubbly. The mixture should go slightly paler.

Mix in the vanilla, eggs and whisk well.

Next add the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, sultana/rum mixture, orange juice and zest. Fold together with a spoon.

Pour the mixture into separate cake muffin cases and smooth.

Sprinkle the toasted flaked almonds over the tip.

Bake cake for 30-40 minutes or until the risen and springy to touch. When you insert a skewer into the centre, it should come out clean.

When cooked cool, and remove from the tin and place on serving plate.

For cream place quark and cream cheese in a bowl with vanilla.

Beat until mixed.

Then add runny honey until sweet/to taste.

Check out Peck Nutrition on Twitter here , Instagram here or Facebook here. They really are worth checking out, they have hundreds of recipes that are suited to your nutritional needs with lots of advice and support. 

Help these ladies help you! :) 

Thank you for letting me try one of your recipes, the cakes were moist, tasty and truly delicious and I have already handed it to a few people I know who like to bake Gluten Free. Even my dad ate a few of them and he is a hard person to please!

T :) x

Cake Pops made with Udi's Gluten Free Muffins

Udi's have recently released a competition called 'What the #Hack?' - a hack being a cheat or quick make. 

My #Hack was making cake pops from Udi's pre-made blueberry and chocolate muffins - which I took to a family party. They went down a storm while through squinted eyes I waited for the verdict!

Cake pops are relatively easy to make you just need the patience of a saint to make them as they do take a bit of time. See the recipe below on how to make tasty, moist and pretty cake pops!

Ingredients: 

2x Udi's Blueberry Muffins 

2x Udi's Chocolate Muffins 

25g of  soft unsalted butter 

50g of sieved Icing Sugar 

400g of White Chocolate

Various sprinkles for decoration 

Extras: 
18 lolly sticks
Cake Pop Holders

Method: 

***

Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper

In a medium bowl Cream the soft butter and icing sugar together to make a butter cream. 

In a separate bowl crumble the blueberry muffins and take half of the butter cream you have just made and add to the cake. Mix the butter cream and blueberry muffins together until you get a stodgy cake consistency.

Take a small handful of cake and squidge it between your hands and then roll using your palms, into a ball. 

Two muffins makes roughly 9 cake balls

* Repeat with the chocolate muffins *

Place the cake balls in the fridge for up to two hours to set

When the cake balls are cooled, melt a small amount of the white chocolate in a Bain Marie, ensuring the bowl doesn't touch the water in the pan. 

Dip your lolly sticks into the chocolate and pierce the cake balls in the middle. 

Once all 18 have a stick, place back in the fridge for another hour. 

Once the sticks are set, melt the rest of your white chocolate in the Bain Marie and then transfer to a wide but deep dish - I used ice cream desert bowls but as long as the dish is deep enough to dip the cake balls completely under you can use anything. 

Dunk the pop into the white chocolate and twirl until all excess chocolate has dripped off (if you don't you will have a very messy stick!)

Decorate with your sprinkles, edible glitter or coloured sugar (you can literally use anything you like!)

Place into a cake pop stand and back in the fridge. 

I like to keep them in the fridge for up to 24 hours to ensure they are set completely. 

Repeat for all 18 cake pops. 

***

And there you have it, perfectly sweet cake pops that go down an absolute treat with young and old alike. 

You can use just normal white chocolate (or milk depending on your preference) for this or you can get candy melts online or from cake shops. Normal chocolate seems to work just as well, and is a little softer if you are giving to young children. 

Don't just take my word for it, try them yourself! 

Comments: 

'The moistness of the muffins with the butter cream gives a great texture, and you wouldn't know they were gluten free at all'

'I Can't believe they are gluten free - they taste really nice?!'