Eating & Living Free From 1

I first saw this magazine at the Free From Show last year. It is packed with recipes, offers, product reviews and invites contributions from readers. So I got in touch with the editor. A few months ago they got back to me and invited me to be part of their ‘cooking with kids’ feature for the March issue.

I decided that my ‘Malaysian style’ chicken curry recipe would be a nice main course and my banana loaf is probably my ‘best’ cake. Both are easy to make with the kids and get regular hits on the blog, so probably have a wide appeal.

How I cook Reply

I’m not brilliant at it. I am not conventional either. I have a stack of cookery books and I don’t want to think about what I’ve spent on food magazines over the years, especially as I don’t think I have ever followed a single recipe to the letter.

When I want to or need to cook, I usually start from a different place to most conventional cooks – I think. I rarely look at a book first, select a recipe and then buy the ingredients. I usually start in the fridge, look at what needs using up, think about what I can make and then check the books to see if there’s a recipe that matches and solves my problem.

My Free From Life 5

This month I am featured in Gluten Free Heaven magazine. They invite contributions from readers so I thought I would send mine over. I was surprised but delighted to discover they wanted to run it.

Here’s a few images.

It’s a great magazine. Not cheap at £4.99 but it is packed full of recipes, food reviews and advice to definitely one you would keep and refer back to whenever you are looking for some culinary inspiration.

Happy Shrove Tuesday 5

Pancakes are popular in this house and we eat them regularly – usually at weekends. When I first started this blog I decided to try and find a gluten free and dairy free recipe for Zac so he wouldn’t miss out on Shrove Tuesday – and would have more options for breakfast. I found one for crepe style pancakes and one for Scotch pancakes or American style pancakes. Sophia has always loved both but it was only very recently that we managed to get Zac to try them  and now he loves them too.

So it was no great surprise that they asked me to make them pancakes for breakfast today. They announced they would like ‘flipping’ pancakes, so I made the crepe style. Zac has his with golden syrup and sometimes his dairy free chocolate spread. It is really delicious – a hazelnut spread, mixed with cocoa and far too much sugar and oil, but he only has it once in a while.

Celebrating Chinese New Year 4

Of all the ‘food celebrations’ I find Chinese New Year one of the easiest to ‘do’ dairy and gluten free. Traditional Chinese cookery is dairy free by nature. And until relatively recently gluten containing grains were scarcely found or used – as rice and rice noodles are the main staples.

The one key ingredient you do need to buy ‘free from’ is soy sauce. Due to the manufacturing process this is not a naturally gluten free product – but tamari soy is. Kikkoman make one that is relatively easy to get hold of. I get it from Ocado but I have seen it in Sainsbury’s (Free From section) along with a couple of other brands.

Croup, Tonsillitis and Allergies Reply

Zac has had croup every winter since he was 2. The first bout was horrendous and required hospital treatment. After that we were told how to treat him at home and how best to manage his allergies during Autumn and Winter. We bought a steamer for his bedroom and whenever he had a cold we switched it on in anticipation of the midnight bark. His blue inhaler helped too, along with regular doses of Calpol and keeping him upright.

With each bout we got better at treating it and each episode was less severe than the one before. However, he is still prone to bad coughs and sore throats, at any time of year, and we are always told that this is just a side effect of his asthma and inhaled allergies. Happily, even they have started to improve.