Product Review: Nairn’s Gluten Free Biscuit Breaks

I am a big biscuit fan, and one of the things that upset me when I was diagnosed was the prospect of not being able to eat the biscuits that I had grown to love.  That being said, I have to say those thoughts are long behind me, thanks in part to these beauties.

Gluten free biscuits can be a nightmare.  You come across some that make the claim they are just like eating a normal biscuit, only to find a piece of cardboard would be a closer representation.  There is the other side of the coin as well though, with those lovely biscuits that are great, as long as you only have one a day to avoid gaining a stone in weight if you ate the pack.  A middle ground would be fantastic, a biscuit that tastes great, and doesn’t make you feel guilty if you eat more than one a day.

This is where I like to say to people who if you are looking for something that fits easily in your bag, you can eat it on the go, and you’re not going to stick out like a sore thumb if you open these up in the break room, get yourself some of these.  At the moment I have found three flavours, so you can add a little variety to life.  We have the Oat and Syrup, which are great for those of you with a sweet tooth, as they taste like half a pot of syrup went into them (I personally like that, but then again, I am a big fan of flapjacks too!).  If you feel the need to include fruit into the mix, there is an option for you too.

The Oat and Fruit is great for that morning tea break, or if you need something for breakfast and your on the run.  They aren’t quite as sweet as the syrup ones, but instead have more of a breakfast biscuit quality to them that can really satisfy that mid morning hunger pang.

The last flavour is by far my favourite, and I only spotted this one a few weeks ago in my local Tesco.  There is a Chocolate Chip variety, and it comes as a chocolate biscuit with chocolate chips inside.  These are great in the evening with a cup of tea or coffee.  I am not a huge chocolate fan, but these have just the right balance of chocolate to keep me happy, but also satisfy my chocolate lover wife into liking them and making sure that there is a box in the house at all times.  This is mostly because I end up sharing them with her when I have one of the packs, and it saves on buying chocolate to keep her placid.

Now onto some specifics.  These biscuits come in a box as four packs of four biscuits.  This makes these great as a snack you can carry in a pocket or handbag as an emergency option should you need one when out and about.  It also makes life a lot easier if you are keeping an eye on the waist line, since each biscuit is 47 calories, so one pack is just shy of 200 calories.  Another perk of these biscuits is that they don’t turn to dust like some dry biscuits I have come across, although you will need to be careful as then can break without warning as I found when out in Paris in January.  The biggest perk I have found with these though is that they actually fill you up quite well, so work well as an option for breakfast or a snack lunch, especially when travelling in areas that gluten-free products are hard to come by.

All in all, I highly recommend trying these.  If anything they make a great quick breakfast option for those on the go.  They are also really tasty and taste like a normal biscuit unlike some of the competition out there.  Nairn’s have a very good gluten-free range, with the only downside being that if you have issues with oats, then unfortunately, you are going to struggle with these.

Starting something new

Work has been dragging since I got back off holiday, but I think that has something to do with waiting for cheques to arrive and clear from my wife’s compensation.  I do have to say though that now all of the claim has been settled, I am in a much better frame of mind to write, and so I am going to introduce a couple of new pages onto the blog so that you can read my new reviews!  I thought that since I have been out to France and experienced travelling as a Coeliac now, it is about time I start posting more informative things than just me ranting about my local supermarket.

I have already started by posting about Natama meals and Cafe Mickey at Disneyland Paris, and I think what I will probably end up doing is setting up two additional pages for them, so one for products, and one for restaurants and a like.   Since I am the new kid on the block, I am resorting to reviewing products that I buy, but maybe someone might want to send me stuff later on, when the blog picks up a little more.  Reviewing food and places to eat is something new to me, so I apologise in advance if the posts come out as rants to start off with.

The other new thing that I am thinking of getting off the ground is advice on travelling etc.  I had a good hunt around the interwebs whilst planning our trip to Paris and found a lot of useful information, so I am thinking that I will link these up, and even have a go at writing my own.  It always seems that, to me at least, there is never really one place you can find things out from, you almost always end up going round the houses to find something that was on the first page you looked at, so this is why I will try to link all the advice together on pages instead of posts.  I am also going to post up a FAQ page as I am now finding the more I talk to people about being Coeliac, the more I am being asked the same questions.  I don’t know if this was/is the same for others out there, but I am thinking that putting my own FAQ page together, I might just be able to point people to that when they ask the same questions.

Anyhow, I have a stack of notes that I need to try to write-up into actual posts, so here we go.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to ME!

Firstly, belated New Year wishes to all, I was hoping that I could get this written on January 1st, but changes in plans for celebrating my birthday have meant that today is the first post of 2014.  With the new year under way, it seemed appropriate for me to make a new years resolution, there was a problem or two with this though.  I did think about giving up smoking for new year, but by December 30th, I had already been smoke free for 3 months, so I went back to the drawing board.  I thought about cutting back on my drinking, until I realised that I actually don’t really drink any more, just the odd couple of drinks once in a blue moon, so that wouldn’t work either.  Next was the lose weight and exercise more, but yet again, I had already jumped the gun and since going gluten-free, I have managed to lose a few stone, and because I have a new-found energy, I now go out power walking/jogging 2-3 times a week.  This has, as you can well imagine, left me in quite the quandary! What can I do for my new years resolution.

Well, the answer was really simple actually, and I hinted at changes coming in the new year already.  I have decided that I am going to focus more on my blogging and gaming again.  It sounds stupid in a way that this is my new years resolution, but I always say I am going to do something, and then I get distracted, and it falls to the wayside.  I really want to get things moving with this blog for starters, since I am loving being able to share my thoughts and ideas with people who are experiencing similar things to me.  I have loved that I have had more feedback from people who read this blog than any other writing I have done in the past.  It has also been a lot of fun to get back into the kitchen and start playing around with food again.  I know that my wife is amazed when she watches me experimenting with new ideas and recipes in the kitchen, and is loving all the food that I have been making.  This is where one of my big goals comes into play, and that is to really get started with posting more recipes and ideas on here, and listing them so you all can scan through a list instead of trawling the entire blog.  I also want to start to campaign more for Coeliacs and  Gluten Intolerant people as it still amazes me, even as a healthcare worker myself, the number of people who have little to no clue about what it means to live with all the issues that we run into day-to-day.  Not wanting to get on my soapbox too much today, when you think in the UK 1 in 100 people are Coeliac to some extent, yet most shops and restaurants provide very little in regards to suitable products, and providing salad does not count as a gluten-free option in my book!  I hate going into supermarkets to find free from sections that are only partially stocked, or have heavily processed foods that are more chemical than actual food.  These are things that need to be brought to every bodies attention.  On the more positive side though, I also want to promote those who do it right.  It amazes me when I can walk into a shop and ask for a specific gluten-free product and I don’t get a blank stare followed by the line ‘I don’t think so, you probably need to search on-line for that’, or when I go to a cafe or restaurant and the staff are really accommodating and understand my dietary needs.  On this note I want to show off my birthday cake (my wife tried to add some decoration to it, not all that successfully, but it was the thought that counts)  It was made by someone who I will write a dedicated post about, simply because what she does is amazing and I am desperately searching for an award for her.

Random mini chocolates and green icing aside, this cake was amazing!

I live in Clevedon, a coastal town in the South West of England.  I started to panic a little once I was diagnosed, that I would never find anywhere I can go for a coffee and cake, or maybe a light lunch.  Thankfully though, there was a saving grace in the form of Arnett’s Cosy Kitchen.  As I have already said, I will be writing more about Arnett, but what matters here is my birthday cake!  After making pretty much everything for Christmas, I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of making myself a birthday cake as well.  Thankfully though my wife made the decision to order me a cake from Arnett as a surprise.  Here is the thing about Arnett’s, whilst she does all the usual suspects you would expect in a cafe, she also caters for Gluten Free and Vegan!  My lovely carrot cake you see here she made gluten-free and nut free.  I have to say that whilst I miss traditional carrot cakes, having this one really made my day.  She got the texture right, it tasted amazing, and it meant I had a birthday cake, made locally, that did not cost the earth!

All of this aside, I do really want to thank all my readers for coming and reading my ramblings, I really do appreciate each and every one of you.  I want to wish you all the best for 2014, and here is to many more posts to come!

Food baby and planning for the future

I think I have a food hangover this morning, so much good food yesterday!  Yes, I am nursing a food baby still it seems, even though I will be attempting some morning porridge once I finish this post.  Anyhow, I was going to leave this post for a few days, but since I have the time to write it now, I thought what the heck.

Whilst I have had my little break from blogging, I have had time to think about the future, and what it brings.  For those who don’t know, my wife had a serious car crash last October, 3 weeks before our wedding day.  She is doing really well, but over the past few months all her treatment has been winding down to the point that she has been discharged from all her care providers and is now having to plan what she wants to do with her life now that she has to live with a disability.  It got me thinking that since I am about to hit another milestone in life, reaching the big 30, I need to take the same approach, and it made me think that I really want to take my blogging etc to the next level.

I have decided that I am starting the new year in style.  I have a new camera coming for my birthday, so I am going to start posting more photos as well as doing some vlogs to show day to day Coeliac living (including the god awful shopping trips!)  I am also going to start putting gaming stuff up on the blog since I am the Coeliac Gamer.  I will be posting more recipies up on here since my wife is on at me to post more of my creations up.  That about covers things for now, I don’t want to give too much away now.

All I will say though is keep your eyes on the blog January 1st 2014 as that is when it will all be starting.

 

Christmas Time! It pays to be gluten free!

Firstly, Happy Christmas to all!  Secondly, work and life commitments have been getting in the way of posting anything here, which is really upsetting, since I really enjoy writing and seeing the likes and feedback that come from all of you.  Still, all that aside, I am going to consolidate the Christmas posts into one little post here.

It has to be said, if anyone says that they have not got the space to prepare and cook a full Christmas dinner then I would like to say that I achieved this in a kitchen that can only be 3 meters by 2 meters at most!  Before my head swells too much, let’s get into the details of my first gluten-free Christmas.  The first little thing I want to say to people out there on the interwebs is that if you are having to watch what you put into your body is make it yourself! What follows is the list of what I have to eat this year, and where possible, the bulk has been made at home so that I can see what has gone into it.  We’ll look at my snacks in a bit, but first is the main event, Christmas dinner.

I have said before that planning, planning and more planning is vital for a gluten-free diet, and so I did exactly that for dinner today.  For the starter, I kept things simple.  Some nice brown bread, smoked salmon, horseradish and capers.  I let my wife and mother in law have their own nice seedy bread, and I was lazy and had my favourite Asda gluten-free brown bread.  Needless to say, this takes no prep at all other than putting the items together on a plate and getting guests to assemble themselves.  This is great as it gives time to put the finishing touches on the main meal.  Here is a list of what was available for people to choose from:

• Turkey Joint (Only three of us here, so seemed silly to get more than this)
• Garlic and Rosemary Roast Potatoes in Goose Fat
• Roast Parsnips in Goose Fat
• Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Italian Hard Cheese
• Steamed Carrots and Broccoli
• Pigs in Blankets
• Bacon Rolls
• Gluten Free Sage and Onion Stuffing
• Cheese Sauce
• Gravy

Now I have to admit that I cheated here, the stuffing and the gravy were shop bought courtesy of Mrs Crimble and Bisto Best.  I had to take some short cuts just because of space constraints.  It does need to be said though, damn! I even surprised myself with all this.  Firstly the turkey didn’t go dry!  The potatoes and parsnips came out perfectly, with a nice crispy outside and a soft fluffy inside.  The garlic and rosemary gave a subtle addition to the potatoes.  The sprouts, the bane of most Christmas dinners, ended up being dressed up a little with some bacon and Parmesan, and if you don’t see it yet, I love using bacon in my cooking.  The vegetables were steamed to leave that little bit of bite, but not seem raw.  The pigs in blankets were lovely with The Black Farmer Daughter sausages being used and doing the job perfectly.  Now, the cheese sauce was added in should people want it, and since my cheese sauce is becoming legendary in the family now, it is normally there with any roast, so why should Christmas be any different.

For dessert, there can only be one pudding, and that is Christmas Pudding.  Since we have enjoyed the rest of the meal too much, I am going to serve the pudding tomorrow for morning coffee.  It is a home-made pudding though, since finding a gluten-free, nut free pudding that tastes good is a nightmare.  This has gone the same for the Christmas cake, mince pies and cup cakes.  Leading on from this is my Christmas snacks.

The holiday season is a time for grazing, and as such I have a nice selection of treats that I can eat.  I have a lovely dried fruit selection from Asda, along with Kettle Chips and Matchmakers.  I have also got my gluten-free oatcake and crisp breads so that I can enjoy some lovely local cheeses and pate for a light lunch or evening supper.  I do have to say though that I have discovered the best selection box, and so I have been a big kid today and enjoyed a packet of Chewits, the first in close to a decade!  Drink of the adult variety is not lacking either, with a nice local dry cider to drink, and wine with dinner.  I have to say that I really do not miss beer after today.

I think that now I have been writing about all this food, I might have to go grab a couple of chocolates and another whiskey before bed.  It leaves me with just one final message for all of you.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Chris, The Coeliac Gamer

Scratching the old noggin a little

I decided that since I had put a tonne of posts up in the space of a couple of days, something I might add, I have never done before with blogging, that I would take a day and chill out.  Needless to say that day turned into the proverbial run around for bread flour and a low moment for me that I had not experienced as of yet.

You see, here is the thing that has me scratching my head a little.  We managed to finally get some bread flour, but still no Xanthan Gum.  What got me low was a trip into Iceland.  For those who don’t know, Iceland is a frozen food supermarket in the UK.  They sell some dry goods, but for the most part, it is isle upon isle of freezers, chocked full of processed food.  Now before anyone says anything, I wasn’t in there for processed food, I was buying frozen meat so I have a stock of meat in the freezer for different things.  The odd thing was I started to feel really low.  I walked past the freezers and spotted things that I liked, but found all of it contained gluten.  By the end of the shopping trip, I felt so low I resorted to grabbing a bag of jelly babies and munching them all in the car on the way home!

The thing was, the low feeling didn’t stop there.  We thought about having a Dominos pizza for dinner, a complete deviation from my dinner plan, but the idea perked me up a little bit.  That feeling, however, was not to last.  I found that there was such a high risk of cross contamination, and not wanting to be glutened, I ended up getting really low again, loosing any enthusiasm I had to make anything to eat, so my wife ended up going to Tesco and getting me a gluten free pizza.

I think the biggest thing I have taken from this experience is that I wish someone had spotted I was Coeliac when I was younger, before I got a chance to try all these other foods that I can no longer have.  I found myself annoyed and frustrated that I was so limited in my diet, even though I know that I’m not, especially when I make so much of my food myself these days.  I really did find myself wanting to scream at the staff in Iceland, just scream at them why, why don’t you have food I can eat!  I don’t know if anyone else has felt that way, but if it happened so quickly and easily with me, surely others have felt the same.

On a lighter note though, I have found that Waitrose are fantastic with their Free From range, nearly four meters of shelf space with pretty much anything you would want, although at a price as always!  Still, it was a change to be able to walk into a supermarket and just pick up what I wanted.

Any how, now that I have that off my chest, I feel a little better, and ready to face the day, after sausage bacon and egg for breakfast that is!

The Coeliac Gamer

Ideas for dinner anyone?

Good morning everyone, hope your day looks brighter than mine, it’s gray and miserable here!  Anyhow, my first post today is about that frustrating question, What’s for dinner?  For anyone this can pose a problem, with all the choices that are available now in your local supermarket, not to mention the plethora of take-away restaurants all clamoring for your business, it’s no wonder that such a simple question can cause such heated debate at times.  Now, I want you to take that thought and add in the fact you can’t have gluten, and you start to see that even removing a fraction of your choices makes this question all the harder to answer!

Whats the solution then?  Well, there are a few options, but at the end of the day, they all come back to one thing, planning.  Since diagnosis I have found myself planning meals ahead of time, stretching as far as a week in advance (any longer into the future taxes my poor man brain!).  I have to take into consideration the days that I am working since my wife ends up cooking those days, and through disability, can’t stand in front of the cooker for very long, so meals have to be quick and easy.  On the days that I don’t work however, I have free reign to do as I want in the kitchen, and so far I have made some wonderful meals, and that was feedback from others not just me.  So, here are a few tips to make meal times easier;

1. Plan, Plan and Plan some more – I can’t state this enough and has become something of a mantra for me now.  It isn’t as easy to say your feeling lazy so will just get a take-away tonight.  Whilst some take-away restaurants are starting to do gluten-free days, you can guarantee that the day your feeling lazy wont be that day.
2. Stock up on staple foods – This is a given really, but you would be amazed what a difference it can make.  I try to make sure that I have gluten-free pasta, rice, potatoes, carrots, tinned tomatoes and a full spice rack ready if the need arises.  I also have a stock of baked beans just so that at a push, I can always do myself jacket potato.  Keeping a stock of the basics gives you more scope to plan ahead, leaving you more time to cook than running round to the supermarket for each meal.
3. Meat isn’t everything – Whilst meat forms a staple for most meals, experiment with other foods.  Fish is a great meal, and with modern supermarkets now carrying more than the original cod and haddock, you can really get those creative juices flowing.  Vegetarian food is also another avenue to adventure down, just make sure you check any pre-made products you buy to make sure they are gluten-free!
4. Cook from scratch – If your a novice in the kitchen, I would advise you to investigate doing a cooking course.  You can contact local colleges in your area, and remember to ask if they do a specific gluten-free course.  Cooking from scratch allows you to be adventurous whilst being safe in the knowledge that you know exactly what you are putting into a meal.  The big bonus to this is that nothing beats a meal you have made yourself, it tastes amazing!
5. Don’t cook separate meals! – This might sound odd as you might be the only person gluten-free in your home, but there is no reason to cook a meal for you and another for your family.  My wife can still eat gluten, and I make sure she still has things that she wants to eat when I am not home and also to snack on.  When it comes to meals we eat together though, I will always make it gluten-free for the both of us.  She is actually really enjoying this since with the exception of pasta and bread products, there has been little to no change in the content of meals.  Just remember, if you stick to tip 4, you can’t go wrong, and you’ll probably find your family eats more healthily for it.

I hope these tips help, and if your still a little stuck for ideas, I will be posting up some of my favorite simple dinner recipes today to give you some inspiration.

The Coeliac Gamer

And in closing…

Well, today has been a busy day!  I have had the inspiration to set up this blog, I have been playing in the kitchen and made two amazing gluten free foodstuffs to keep me going for a little while.  I have been amazed at how quickly people have picked up on what I am posting.

I will be trying to keep the posts coming on here, and hopefully word will get round and people will start contributing through comments and any polls that I post.  You can also get involved by following me on Facebook, search The Coeliac Gamer to find my page there, and also by following me on Twitter @CoeliacGamer.  I will be posting updates as well as talking with anyone who wants to talk via both of these and if you have any questions for me, just ask, and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Time now to get some sleep though, but more posts and recipes coming tomorrow!

The Coeliac Gamer

Busy day baking

I don’t know how many people out there have noticed that whilst there are some fantastic gluten free products on the market, a lot of them are really expensive.  Now before anyone jumps on my back about the fact that you can get gluten free staples on prescription, the bread etc I like isn’t available on them.  As I said previously, I love cooking and experimenting, so as I had no work today, I decided to pick up some gluten free flour and see what I could come up with.  The results really surprised me.

To start with, I am going to sing the praises of Dove Farm gluten free flour, you can check out their range here.  When it comes to gluten free flour you have two options, blend your own from the many different base flours available, or buy a pre-blended one.  I took option two this was my first attempt at baking.  I started with a basic Victoria sponge recipe.  This was fairly easy to make the mix for, it still works in a very similar way to a normal sponge recipe.  I will give one bit of advice though, don’t rush to get the cakes out of their tins, the cake is a lot lighter than normal sponge and when it is still warm it will just break, although I managed to salvage mine before it broke apart.  Once it had cooled fully it held its form much the same as a normal sponge.  The all important part of making anything is always the tasting, and I have to say this is by far the best sponge I have ever made.  It is so light it’s unbelievable! and just with a little mixed fruit jam and a light dusting of sugar, no one would be the wiser that this was gluten free.

The next experiment was to make some bread.  Now I have made bread many times before, as there is nothing quite like home made bread, and it makes the house smell great.  Gluten free bread is very different in the process to make it.  For one, you can’t get away with just strong flour, water, yeast and a pinch of salt.  Thankfully the preblended flour contains the magic ingredient, Xanthan  gum.  It also made a change to put egg in my basic bread mix, but it made a ball of dough, all be it more like cake than bread.  It proved well though, and after cooking it looked and smelled like bread.  Again, it has to be said, leave your bread to cool completely.  I made the mistake of having some after 10 minutes of cooling and it was a little cakey.  Once it cooled though, it was a lot more like bread, but a little heavier, it tasted great though.

Overall, it was a really successful and productive day.  I will certainly be making a lot more of my gluten free staples at home as it works out cheaper, and tastes so much better.  I will post the recipes up, but pictures will have to wait until the next batch as these have already have pieces taken from them for munching on!  Well, a good cook always tastes the fruits of their labors before giving them to others!

The Coeliac Gamer

The first day of the rest of my life, literally!

The title of this first post can’t be understated, because being diagnosed Coeliac is just that, the first day of the rest of my life.  Getting the diagnoses was a blessing and a relief, it suddenly explained so many things.  I used to listen to GP’s who would go on at me that all my issues were down to my weight, that I had IBS, that only I was to blame.  I have grown up a lot over the past few years, from being a day dreaming gamer to working in healthcare and seeing the things the human body can do to itself and it started me thinking that maybe I was to blame, but not in the way it turned out to be.

You see, Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disease, it is my body attacking something that it shouldn’t.  In the couple of months since my diagnoses I have read and digested so much information on the condition, and I am amazed at one staggering fact, most healthcare professionals have little or no clue about Coeliac disease (I have overheard people stating that it is an allergy and promptly corrected them several times now!).  There is no cure for this, the only thing that someone can do to make things better is to remove the offending item, gluten, from their diet.  Now this is the kicker, there is no ‘I’ll just have a little bit’ because when you do that, all the symptoms will just flair up, so the only option is to remove it completely.  This can be easier said than done if like me, you live a fast paced life and like to cheat when it comes to food.

I would challenge anyone who wasn’t Coeliac to go into their local supermarket and do a shop for just a couple of days that was gluten free.  I know the first time I did it I could not believe just how many items on the shelves contain gluten, it was truly mind blowing!  I would also challenge them to make a meal that was gluten free, but did not use any shop bought processed foodstuffs, its not as easy as it sounds.  What makes it even more of a challenge is making a meal for a few people that is gluten free, but unless the people were told, they would think it was just like any meal, and this is the kicker, and one reason I started this blog.

Being gluten free without paying out a small fortune each time you head to the shops is actually really easy, as long as you know what your doing.  My household shopping bill is actually dropping, in part because we no longer buy lots of processed, off the shelf food.  This doesn’t mean I don’t buy some things that are processed and gluten free, but I do now cook a lot more from scratch, and have started experimenting with making some of the gluten free foods that I see in the free from sections in the shops.  The biggest secret is that if you can make the meals yourself, you know they are gluten free, and if like me you love cooking and experimenting, you can come up with some fantastic food that even people without Coeliac disease will really enjoy as well.

So, here it is, the first day of the rest of my life, and I will keep posting my experiences here, including all the yummy recipes that I come up with along the way.

The Coeliac Gamer