New Udi’s gluten free products

Aaah. There’s always something totally ace about coming back from lunch and finding a hamper from Udi’s sitting on your desk.

Since we first heard of Udi’s last year, the US brand has slowly been introducing new gluten free products to the range. And we were chuffed to try some different Udi’s products.

We’ve tried Udi’s raisin and cinnamon bagels before which were absolutely yummy. So we had high hopes for the sun dried tomato ones – and they didn’t disappoint. In fact, I’d go as far to say that Udi’s are the best brand for bagels. These are moist, springy and tasty. The OH had one with bacon and I had mine with cream cheese. Delish.

Udi’s bagel chips are always a winner. They’re super crunchy so don’t take them to the library or cinema as a snack. Udi’s gluten free multiseed bread is very good too. The slices are smaller than – say – Genius loaves, so they’re not ideal for sarnies. But this loaf is perfect for toast. And as it’s multiseed it’s really tasty and filling. I had a couple of slices with homemade jam for breakfast, which was a great way to start the weekend.

Something else that was in our hamper was Udi’s all purpose pastry mix which, I’ll be honest, we haven’t even tried yet. But our nice friends at Udi’s sent us a brilliant recipe that we’re definitely going to try.

Udi’s Chicken, Asparagus and Garden Pea Mug Pie

The following makes two mugs.

Ingredients:

• Udi’s flaky and delicious pastry mix
• 20g chicken cubed
• Three stick of asparagus
• Handful garden peas
• One spring onion
• A few leaves flat leaf parsley
• Two eggs – one to add and one to glaze
• 50ml double cream
• Pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C /Gas mark 6
2. Place the chicken in an oven proof dish and place in the oven until cooked through
3. Add the asparagus, peas, spring onion, one egg (beaten), double cream and salt and pepper to the chicken and stir through
4. Place the mixture in a mug
5. Make up the Udi’s pastry
6. Cut the pastry into quarters and roll out one of the quarters to the thickness of a £1 coin and cut into two circles
7. Put the rest of the pastry into the freezer
8. Put the pasty lids over the filling, brush with a beaten egg and place into the oven until the pastry is golden brown
9. Allow the pies to cool. Then pack into your picnic basket!

Udi’s Chicken, Asparagus and Garden Pea Mug Pie

Udi’s products are now available Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

Connect with the nice people at Udi’s:

• Web: udisglutenfree.co.uk
• Twitter: @Udis_UK
• Facebook: UdisGlutenFreeUK
• Google+: Udi’s Gluten Free UK

The post More gluten free delights from the team at Udi’s appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Provena gluten free products

Provena has launched a range of home-baking and breakfast products that are made from pure oats and are 100% gluten free, including all purpose flours, baking mixes, cereal and muesli, instant oat meal and porridge.

Oat protein doesn’t contain the type of gluten found in wheat, rye or barley because it comes from a different family of cereals. But in order for oat products to remain gluten free, it’s important they don’t come into contact with any cereals containing gluten at any stage.

All of the pure oats used in Provena products are grown, processed and packed entirely separately from cereals containing gluten. The strictly controlled production line ensures that the Provena products are gluten-free and safe for coeliacs.

What’s more all Provena products are delicious, nutritious and full of fibre. So far we’ve tried the gluten free chocolate muffin mix with chocolate chips and despite the fact it looks like I burnt them a teeny tiny bit, these were really nice and chocolatey. They need to eaten fairly fresh though as they did go a bit dry. And the raspberry instant oatmeal was filling and tasty. As it comes in individual sachets it’s perfect for sticking in your bag and having in the office.

Provena products are available from Holland & Barrett and Amazon. Take a look at the Provena website too for some tasty recipes.

To find out more about Provena check out their website, or find them on Facebook or Twitter.

Provena gluten free chocolate muffins

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Delicious Alchemy Oats, White Bread Mix and Vanilla Sponge Mix

Founded eight years ago by coeliac sufferer Emma Killilea the company has gone from strength to strength and has recently added a bunch of new products.

So what’s in the range and what did we try?

• Baking Mixes include Oaty Cookie Mix, Vanilla Sponge Mix and Chocolate Brownie Mix
• Bread Mixes include White Bread Mix and Brown Bread Mix
• Breakfast cereals include Purely Oaty Fruity Muesli, Oats, and Rice Flake Porridge

And we managed to get our hands on the White Bread Mix, Vanilla Sponge and Oats.

First up was the Vanilla Sponge Mix. Just open the packet, add eggs and butter – and, because I was feeling adventurous, a handful of raisins – then whack in the oven. And, wow, they came out beautifully. Light and spongy (natch). But also a really lovely rich flavour due to the bourbon vanilla extract. Success.

Delicious Alchemy Vanilla Sponge Mix cakes

Next up was the White Bread Mix. Now, one of the best parts of this process was the amazing fresh bread smell that permeated the apartment when I took the tin out of the oven. I probably could have let it rise in a warm place a little longer. And I probably should have let it cool down a bit more before I dived in. But I couldn’t help it.

Delicious Alchemy White Bread Mix fresh out of the oven

I can’t remember the last time I had warm, fresh bread. So this was a real treat. Lovely and crusty on the outside and soft and bouncy on the inside.

Delicious Alchemy white bread sliced and ready to eat

And the Oats? Well we’ve not even tried them yet. But on the website it says ‘perfectly heart-warming porridge in 3 minutes’ and we believe them.

Where can you buy Delicious Alchemy? At the moment only from the website shop. All orders are dispatched within 24 hours and delivered within 48.

Most of the products are £2.49 or £2.99 and then the post costs depend on how much you buy, although, throughout June all orders over £20 are FREE postage. If the products are sent in the pretty box we received ours in, we reckon Delicious Alchemy products make a lovely gift too.

Want to taste the goods? The great news is that the Delicious Alchemy team is at the Allergy and Free From Show in July. What’s more you can grab yourself a free ticket here.

Find out more about Delicious Alchemy

• Web: www.deliciousalchemy.com
• Twitter: @4glutenfreefood
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/deliciousalchemy

The post Cook up some gluten free magic with Delicious Alchemy appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

BFree Gluten Free Brown Seeded Loaf

We’re big Genius fans here at Gluten Free Blog. So when we got our hands on a brown seeded bloomer by BFree, the fast growing and award-winning free-from brand from Ireland, we knew it had to be pretty special if it was going to make a regular appearance on our shopping list.

Turns out it is! In fact it’s one of those brilliantly made gluten free products that tastes so good it makes you check the ingredients just to be sure its GF. Actually, it’s gluten free, dairy free and soya free too.

I loved the shape, size and consistency of this bread. It was almost like a rye bread, so perfect for eggs and salmon for breakfast. Or the little goat’s cheese and tomato sandwich, which I made for lunch. And at just under 70 calories a slice it’s a pretty good choice if you’re watching your calorie intake.

Other products in the BFree gluten free range include a soft white loaf, 4 brown seeded rolls, 4 soft white rolls, plain bagels, multi seeded bagels, and a multi grain wrap. If you live in Ireland, these are all available in Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Musgrave and BWG. If you live in the UK, Asda have stocked the wraps for the last year and have just started stocking the brown seeded bloomer. As have Ocado. It doesn’t look like the whole range is here yet. But as BFree picked up an award for their plain bagels at the recent Free From Awards (Baked Goods winner in the Breakfast category) it can only be a matter of time before we see the full range on these shores.

The brown seeded bloomer is available at Asda and Ocado for a RRP of £2.59.

To find out more about BFree visit their website or follow them on Twitter.

The post BFree’s gluten free brown seeded loaf is bloomin’ marvellous appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Breaking up is not so hard to do. Warbutons gluten free bread

As you know, we went to the Warbutons gluten free launch the other week. And the two loaves we were given to try were delicious.

But the loaf I bought in Asda last week was really dry after two days, the crusts were falling off and the slices were breaking in half. It meant I lost the last third of the loaf. Boo. I put it down to the fact I hadn’t stored the loaf in a cool, dark place like a bread bin; I’d simply left it on the side in my kitchen.

But then Mum picked up a white loaf in Sainsbury’s and as you can see from the picture, the entire loaf fell to pieces as soon as she opened it! I think we rescued two slices from the back of the packet for a bit of toast.

Now, fair play to Warbutons. Mum called them and explained what had happened and they kindly put £5 of vouchers in

Money off vouchers from Warbutons

the post the same day. She was also told that Warbutons had received a number of complaints about the slices falling to pieces and were looking into it.

I really hope they do. When you actually get a good slice it’s pretty tasty. Even the white loaf is nutty and flavoursome. But who will pay a premium of £2.69 for small loaf when you’re not guaranteed even one round of sarnies out of it?

Have you tried Warbutons gluten free bread yet? How was it? Let us know in the comments.

The post Warbutons Gluten Free Bread – Falling Apart? appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

M&S Gluten Free Sarnie

Bought these gluten free sandwiches in M&S at the weekend. Pretty tasty – although the bread fell to pieces a bit. But at £3.75 I think this is too expensive for a sarnie.

As I mentioned in the post on Warbutons gluten free bread the other week, I think we’re getting charged too much for gluten free products. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

The post Marks & Spencer Gluten Free Sarnies – too expensive? appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Warbutons Gluten Free range

What did we eat? Well, it was an early start. So we tucked into tiny slices of toast topped with salmon and egg, bacon butties, sausage sarnies and toasted teacakes. And, as you’d expect, it was all quite delicious.

Warbutons decided to build their first gluten free and wheat free bakery in March 2010, in response to customers’ requests for a tasty, gluten free range. “We’ve thrown ourselves into this project with the same passion and care we show for all our products” says Jonathan Warbuton, Chairman of the family-run company. “The whole team is really pleased with the results and it’s our hope that you will be too!”

Phil Vickery is working with Warbutons to launch the new range and as you know, we’re fans of Mr V here at Gluten Free Blog. So it was great to meet the man himself and talk all things gluten free cooking. We also chatted about salad cream and crisp sandwiches, which both of us used to enjoy as kids!

Our goodie bag included Phil’s latest book, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking, which we can’t wait to tuck into. And our bag also had a white loaf, brown loaf and a packet of tea cakes which were tested on the guys as soon as we got back to the office. And all got a thumbs-up.

Warbutons Gluten Free Bread

So what’s in the Warbutons gluten free range? So far sliced white and sliced brown in 400g and 600g sizes; sub rolls in white and brown; crumpets; and fruity teacakes which are all available in all UK grocery stores.

One of the gripes, I guess, is the price. The 600g loaf retails at £2.89, the sub rolls at £1.99 and the crumpets and teacakes at £2.19. At the time of writing the small loaf (400g) is on special offer in Asda for £2 although it normally retails for £2.49. And yet the same size loaf of ‘normal’ Warburtons bread costs a measly 67p. Hmmmmm. If Warbutons really want those with coeliac disease not to “miss out on this tasty daily staple” we’d really like to see their prices come down a bit.

Read the follow up post here. Warbutons gluten free bread – falling apart?

The post Everything you’d expect from Warbutons bread – without the gluten or wheat appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Freidman’s pastrami sandwich and sweet potato fries

Friends of GFB, Wendy and Paul, recently made their annual pilgrimage to the amazing city of New York and Wendy, being gluten intolerant, was kind enough to write some notes about the places she visited that were GF friendly.

Freidman’s Lunch

A great café inside the foodie Chelsea Market. Many items on the menu can be adapted to be gluten free. I had a yummy pastrami sandwich and sweet potato fries. The bread they use was much tastier than anything I’ve had in the UK.

They also do bagels for breakfast/brunch but only at the weekend. And they stock a bottled gluten free beer called Redbridge which was really good.

Very reasonably priced.

S’MAC (short for Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese)

Great little place in the East Village serving only mac ‘n’ cheese – they position themselves as “New York’s best Macaroni & Cheese” on their website.

All dishes are ‘build your own’ where you choose your own cheese combinations and additional ingredients and can all be made with gluten free pasta. I had a ‘nosh’ size (the smallest size) though I wished I’d had the ‘major munch’ as it was so good! Only negative was that on their website they say they offer a vegan/non dairy cheese option but they didn’t have this on the day we visisted – (I shouldn’t really have dairy but did).

A filling and tasty cheap lunch.

Bar Breton, 250 5th Ave, New York

Bar Breton
UPDATE: Apparently closed now unfortunately
A smart but cosy French restaurant open for lunch and dinner on 5^th Avenue not far from the Empire State Building which specialises in traditional Brittany buckwheat galettes.

Absolutely delicious and they also have a dedicated gluten free fryer for their herb fries! We had a salmon galette with horseradish cream and also a Gruyère and Black Forest ham. Traditional Breton cider to drink served in a teacup!

Reasonably priced for the great quality.

Babycakes NYC, 248 Broome Street, New York

Babycakes NYC

Oh my God! Heaven on earth! Cute bakery on the Lower East Side selling the most delicious breads, cookies and cupcakes and all made with healthy ingredients. They don’t use eggs or dairy instead using healthy coconut oil and only use agave nectar, never sugar.

Almost all of their cakes are gluten free with the exception of a few which are made using spelt – though the cabinets are all clearly labeled and the staff always ask about intolerances when serving.

I had carrot cupcake and pumpkin bread (as it was Halloween) – really amazing and deliciously moist with the subtle taste of coconut. We need one of these in London!

Babycakes NYC cupcakes

I also bought the Babycakes book (Babycakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-about Bakery) by founder Erin McKenna so will be testing out my baking skills over the coming weeks – I just need to source some of the ingredients online first which are not as easy to find in the UK – they have great online suppliers in the US.

Other places we ate were all very helpful by adapting dishes to exclude specific ingredients to ensure that they were gluten free.

It sounds like Wendy and Paul had a fantastic time in New York and we thank them for taking the time to send us their experiences.

Get yourselves over there to try out some of these places. It’s getting cheaper and cheaper for us in the UK to visit the States. And of course, let us know if you discover or know of any other great places in New York.

The post Gluten Free in NYC appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Cheese and coleslaw gluten free sandwich from Starbucks

Starbucks have been using Genius bread for a while since they started selling the classic tuna mayo earlier this year. This week they launched a new sandwich: cheese and coleslaw made with mature cheddar and red Leicester cheese with crunchy cabbage, carrot and red onion coleslaw topped with mixed leaf salad. Perfect for summer.

“We take the health and wellbeing of our customers seriously and we’re committed to offering choice, including a great quality gluten free sandwich. We’ve received really positive feedback from our customers and this product has enabled us to provide more options for our coeliac customers but also for other customers too,” said Sarah Dunne, corporate communications manager at Starbucks UK and Ireland.

Free from artificial flavours and colours, Starbucks cheese and coleslaw sandwich using Genius brown bread is available from all UK Starbucks costs £2.95 for take away or £3.45 eat in.

Have you tried Starbucks’ cheese and coleslaw sandwich yet? What do you think?

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Gluten free tea at Claridge's

Do you remember last week we told you we’d been invited to tea at Claridge’s courtesy of Genius gluten free bread? Well, we went on Monday and we have to say it was absolutely delicious.

We enjoyed smoked salmon with horseradish and dill; organic chicken with lemon remoulade; dorrington ham; and cucumber and rocket – all with the crusts cut off, natch. And they were all made with Genius gluten free bread which will now be available as part of Claridge’s afternoon tea. (Just ring in advance and let them know.)

Gluten free cakes and pastries

As if that wasn’t enough we then tucked into gluten free scones served with Devonshire clotted cream and strawberry preserve; fruit tartlets; and to-die-for chocolate ondulay cake. These were all to Lucinda’s recipes although not part of the Genius range (yet!).

Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne Genius Founder

We managed to grab a few words with Genius’s founder, the lovely Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, who told us the sales of gluten free sandwiches in Starbucks (made with Genius bread) were selling really well. In fact, non-gluten-free-people were buying them without even realising! And she told us about new products in the pipeline, namely brown and white rolls. We can’t wait. Of course, the next step is to roll (no pun intended) Genius gluten free bread out internationally.

On the way out we received gorgeous goodie bags containing a couple of loaves of Genius bread and Lucinda’s fabulous book How to Cook for Food Allergies: Understand Ingredients, Adapt Recipes with Confidence and Cook for an Exciting Allergy-Free Diet.

Not tried Genus gluten free bread yet? It’s now available in all major UK grocery stores.

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Well here’s some good news. Starbucks will soon be offering gluten free bread in all its 600 outlets in the UK. And what’s more it’s one of our favourites: Genius.

Genius gluten free bread, you may recall, was launched last year by Edinburgh housewife Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, who developed the bread for her wheat intolerant eight-year old son.

It’s already available in Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Sainsbury’s. So we’re pleased Bruce-Gardyne has been signed up to supply Starbucks as well.

It shouldn’t be too long before you can enjoy a gluten free BLT or Club sandwich alongside your Caramel Macchiato or Caffè Americano.

The post Starbucks UK goes gluten free appeared first on The Gluten Free Blog.

Genius gluten free bread

Tried a new gluten free bread this week. And it was genius! No it really was. Genius’s gluten free bread tastes just like the real thing and is the brainchild of Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, a mum of three and a professionally-trained chef.

When she discovered two of her children had foods allergies she set about creating the perfect gluten free loaf so her little boy could enjoy toasty ‘soldiers’ with his boiled egg. Not only that, she wanted to create a gluten free bread that the whole family would be happy to eat – not just the ‘gluten frees’.

“It took me three years to perfect Genius Gluten-Free Bread and my children would often come home from school to find 14 different loaves of bread waiting for them to try. I even broke my oven. But finally I got there.” Says Lucinda.

I agree. Genius gluten free bread is soft, bouncy and tasty. And unlike some gluten free breads you can eat this bread without toasting it. I made a fried-egg sandwich yesterday and it was delicious.

Genius gluten free bread is available from all major UK grocery stores. (Sainsbury’s have got it at half price at the moment, so try it!)

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