Old Time Bakery Organic Gluten Free Wraps

I had the best tip ever from a cafe owner in Manly (Pure Wholefoods http://www.purewholefoods.com.au/) when I ordered one of their gluten free wraps, which I must share with you.

First off, I must tell you that the wrap I ordered was so good, I actually called the waiter over to double, double check for me that it was definitely the gluten free wrap he had given me! It was, but he shared his tip.

The wrap I had was the Organic Guten Free Wrap from Old Time Bakery. I had tried them before, and didn't like them. But the waiter said to me, boil some water in the very bottom of a pan, and steam the wrap (either straight from the freezer or fresh out of the packet) for one minute, with the lid on - you'll get a lovely, pliable, easy to use wrap.

So I bought a packet of the Old Time Bakery Wraps and now feel that I have so much more choice! They can be frozen and then steamed in a minute, and I feel like I'm having a normal lunch! I've even used them for bacon and egg wraps in the morning.

What a great tip - thanks guys.

Singapore Airlines Gluten Free Food

Singapore Airlines, in my view, have always rocked anyway. But I haven't travelled with them since I was diagnosed. My husband and I have lived in Australia for nearly a decade now, but are originally from Belfast and Reading (UK) and I still have (at the moment) 3 out of 4 of my Grandparents alive, so I figured a trip to the UK with our little girl, Lucy, was in order before it was too late.

We always travel with Singapore Airlines - the service, cleanliness, efficiency etc have always been fab. And I was not disappointed with my gluten free options. Firstly, I got served first, with my little one who got her kids meal. This allowed me to eat with her, while my Hubby supervised Lucy's messy eating!

On the first leg I got fillet steak, potatoes, and yummy veggies in a tomato sauce. They had rice cakes instead of bread, a yummy gluten free cake for dessert - it was fab. On the way back from the UK I had scrambled eggs, a gluten free roll (which was so yummy), chicken casserole - I think my fellow passengers were jealous.

The only thing that let them down was there were no gluten free snacks in between meals available. Normally that would be fine, but I was 10 weeks pregnant and needing to eat all sorts of things, all the time, to keep nausea at bay. But I went prepared, so was lucky.

I would highly recommend travelling wtih Singapore Airlines - their attention to detail in the gluten free meals as fantastic. As for Qantas here in Australia - hmmm, I'll save that for another post!

Gluten Free Aussie Girl is back

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.....do I have an excuse for being offline for so long? A toddler, a job, a pregnancy and masses of travel - do they count as decent excuses?!!

I'm 10 weeks off my due date with baby number 2 - another girl I'm told! My hubby is totally cool with this prospect (he is a metrosexual afterall - loves shopping way more than me!) but has insisted we will need a house with 2 bathrooms, and room for a shed for him in the future. Fair enough! Our two year old currently demands he turns the golf off so she can watch the Wiggles, so he's got no hope with 3 of us girls in one house!

All is well, and this pregnancy has been so much easier than the first. I was diagnosed after I had my first little girl, so perhaps the gluten free diet is making it easier? Who knows.

I've travelled to the UK, Ireland, Singapore, Thailand, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane since I last wrote - so I'll try to catch up with the good, the bad and the ugly over the next few posts on travelling with coeliac disease.

Any tips for coping with a toddler and a newborn will be gratefully received! x

Gluten Free Expo 2009

Wow, this was such an awesome event! I'm so glad my hubby and I got there early, as by the time we ran out of money and wanted to pop out and back in again to the ATM, there was at least an hour long queue to get in.

I left feeling stuffed full of yummy food - lots I'd seen before, much I hadn't. Pies, cakes, breads, cereals, sauces - all the things we have to look carefully for were there.

My product picks of the day were from healthy feast (http://www.healthyfeast.com.au/). Check out their range of products - the pies are seriously yummy, I cannot recommend them enough. But they also had some yummy white rolls, quiches, the most amazing array of cakes, tarts etc I'd ever seen. To my absolute delight, I found out they are at our local farmers market (Frenchs Forest) every Sunday so I'll be up there tomorrow clearing them out of awesome products!

I found a bread company I hadn't come accross before (http://www.zehnder.com.au/) I tried their mixed grain and turkish bread and both seemed really lovely, so I'll definitely be ordering stuff from them.

The biggest message I got from the day was that if you cannot find some of these amazing products in your nearby supermarkets or delis or cafes, as the cafe owners. Everyone I asked said they could get products to me, but also could I recommend anyone they could approach. It's worth remembering, the power is with us to try to help these amazing providers get us there beautiful products.

Top ten tips for being gluten free

Check this out! My husband wrote this last night and posted it on http://www.taste.com.au/ which by the way, is an excellent website.

It's an awesome post that I wanted to share with you all, from the husband of a Coeliac, not an actual Coeliac. He talks a lot of sense, and has some great tips:

Great to see some solid advice for those who are new to the world of Gluten Free or have been diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. My wife is Coeliac and we both like to cook. It didnt take long to realise how little this needs to restrict you and in fact has helped us become more creative in the kitchen. Here are the top tips we have found

1. Join the Coeliac Society they can give you all the facts and assistance you need to get started. They also supply a great ingredient reference book.

2. Read up on what Gluten Free actually means and get smart on what ingredients and products need to be avoided. You dont need to hang around health food stores or the health food section of the supermarket. You can find gluten free products in the normal aisles if you take a look at the label and they are usually cheaper and better tasting.

3. Feel lucky you are in Australia - it has the best labeling policy in the world. If a product contains gluten it has to state that it contains it. So if it is an Australian labelled product and it doesnt mention gluten/wheat/barley/oats/grains etc then its gluten free! It doesnt have to say gluten free. Again the more reading up you do then you will understand this.

4. Gluten Free is a rapidly changing and improving market. Keep checking all types of stores for new products and try everything. We recently found some amazing GF products in a local IGA which was surprising.

5. Pasta - this can be a tricky one to replace but new brands are coming out all the time. One of the best is the cheapest - San Remo. Again just keep trying the different brands and eventually you will find something close to the real thing.

6. Bread - this is the tough one. There are many types of so called "Gluten Free Bread" which are barely edible and look more like cake with a funny chemical smell. Pick up a loaf and smell it. If it smells bad then you can guarantee it tastes similar. Dont give up hope there are some good brands out there and new ones are arriving all the time. Try Naturally Gluten Free and Choices Gluten Free

7. Someone has already made this point but it's a good one - just make naturally GF food then you are not substituting anything

8. Flour/baking - yes you can mix different flours but for me White Wings GF plain and self raising flour is fantastic so we just bake and add it to recipes as normal.

9. Keep looking online there are plenty of great websites and blogs around.

10. Enjoy it - GF cooking means using fresh quality ingredients which tastes so much better than the processed packged or take away rubbish and if you crave a pizza and a beer then try http://www.crust.com.au/ and buy some O'Brien's Lager from Dan Murphys Good luck! Jon

Not bad from a Northern Irish boy who was brought up on gluten!

Pea and Ham Soup even my toddler loves

Even my toddler can't get enough of this one! So easy, so cheap and so healthy.

500g of split peas (green or yellow, or a mixture)

1 brown onion, chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1kg ham hock

1 bay leaf

Enough water to fill a big stock pot

Rinse split peas unil water runs clear. Fill up big stock pot with cold tap water. Add peas, chopped onion, celery, carrot and the bay leaf, and then pop the ham hock in.

Bring to boil, then simmer gently for approx. 2 hours. Take out ham hock, and remove all the nice pieces of meat. Throw away bones, add meat back to soup, and it's done!

I serve it with gluten free toast, and gruyere cheese melted on top.

This will last in the fridge for a week. It goes really thick in the fridge, but thins out once you heat it up again.

Enjoy.

Gluten Free Bread - a challenge to the major suppliers

When I first was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease and tasted the supermarket gluten free bread I was horrified. Next time you're in one of our local supermarkets, pick up a loaf of gluten free bread and smell it - it's very distinct......and very unpleasant.

Thank god for wonderful niche producers like Naturally Gluten Free and Choices Gluten Free bakeries.....without them, I just wouldn't eat bread.

I would like to issue a challenge to the major manufacturers - get someone in your company who eats normal bread to smell and taste some of the bread produced and see if they would eat it! Moores, Country Life and all the others you see in the supermarket - surely we can get closer to decent, affordable, edible gluten free bread for everyone, not just those priviliged enough to be able to order from the niche bakeries?