Banana Cake

This is one of my favourite recipes, its quick, easy and always turns out perfect.

Ingredients:
1 Overripe Banana
150g Wheat free flour mix (I use Doves farm self raising)
150g Sugar
150g Butter
2 Medium Eggs
1/2 tsp Baking powder (1tsp if not using self raising four)
1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
pinch of salt

Before starting:
Set your oven to 180c, butter and flour your pan (I use a round loose bottom baking pan but this also works with a loaf tin).

Method:
1) add your butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy

2) Peel and slice your banana (small dice) and mash with a fork

3) Add the banana to the sugar/butter mix and beat until incorporated

4) Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated and add your vanilla extract.

5) Add the xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a set of scales, add your flour until the whole lot weighs 150g.

6) Add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until incorporated.

7) Put your mix (should be the constancy of a thick pancake batter) into your pan and bake at 180c for 30minutes or until a knife comes out clean.


This cake can be eaten as is, or goes really well with a Nutella layer in the middle.

Enjoy!

Top 5 gluten free restaurants

We have all been there, your friends or family want to go out for a meal and the inevitable topic comes up 'James you better chose because you're the one who can't eat anything'. This situation used to make me feel so awkward, especially back in the day when very few places catered to those on gluten free diets. But it doesn't need to be that way, there are loads of restaurants that now offer wheat free food and most will be sitting on your high street. So without further adieu, these are my top 5 UK restaurants that offer wheat free food.

5) Donatello's 

This one is a bit of a cheat as it is a one off based in Brighton, but i couldn't bring myself to not put it on here as it was the first restaurant i found that catered to my diet, and this was long before the big chains caught on the the whole thing. At the time I was 13 and the only person in school who was wheat intolerant and it was nice to know that others must have it too. My parents often drove the 45 minute journey for meals out, just so I wouldn't end up with a Caesar Salad AGAIN.

My Pick: Gluten free Carbonara 

4) Wagamama's

I honestly don't think i have ever met someone who doesn't love this restaurant, they dont have the largest choice for the gluten free, but I have never found myself not being in the mood for their delicious food

My Pick: Prawn summer rolls and Chicken Itame

3) Yo Sushi

This would be higher in my list, but I know so many people who refuse to try sushi, so i end up not going very often. This os one of few places where you have so much choice being gluten free. I have often stacked up one to many plates and ended up forking over a fortune but it tastes soooo good.

My Pick: Mini Spicy Tuna ISO rolls 

2) Prezzo 

Prezzo serve up the best gluten free pizza on the high street by far in my opinion,  and for a long time it was the thing i missed most about being gluten free.

My Pick: Gluten free Pizza, Vegetarian with extra chicken 

1) Pho 

There was no contest here, Pho is by far my favourite place to eat out. No only is everything I have ever eaten there delicious, but practically the entire menu is naturally gluten free. Serving Up soups salads and stir fries in an amazing atmosphere, its a restaurant everyone needs to try.

My Pick: Pho Bo Combo (Pho soup with brisket, beef and meatballs)

Gluten Free Baking: The Basics

If you have just switched onto a wheat free diet, you probably don't know where to begin, maybe you have tried a few of your old favourite recipes and they have turned out to be a disaster, but don't give up, it is possible to make delicious wheat and gluten free cakes, and its a whole lot cheaper than buying the pre made stuff you find at the supermarket.

So here are my top tips to start wheat free baking:

1) Xanthan Gum

This useful little ingredient is a thickening ad stabilising agent normally used in sauces and dressings, however, when used in wheat free breaking it replaces the gluten and gives your bakes a much improved texture.

2) The Flour

Now most wheat free flours tend to only include one ingredient; Rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour ect. These are no good by themselves for most bakes, you need a blend. There are two options here, Either make your own blend (Gluten free girl makes a brilliant and versatile flour blend that you can find here) or buy a pre mixed blend. Most pre mixed flours i couldn't get along with, until i found Doves wheat free flour blend which i find to be the best and suits most bakes i have attempted.

3) Measure By Weight

This one is simple, recipes that use volumes to measure out their ingredients rarely turn out well when converted to gluten free. Find a recipe that measures by weight and you're on the right track 

4) Keep Trying

Gluten free baking is all about trial and error, when i started years ago, nothing turned out right. If you try a recipe and it comes out dry, add more liquid next time, if its too moist add extra flour next time. Anyone who bakes wheat free is lying if they say they haven't baked a disaster when converting a recipe, if you keep going you will soon get the hang of it, and when you do, your friends would never guess your cakes are wheat free

5) Your not the first

If all else fails, look it up on the internet, wheat and gluten free diets are become more and more popular every year, one quick google search will probably reward you with just the recipe you have been looking for, and if not you can always make alterations to one.

Aldi wheat free bread - Affordable... but is it edible

So for some time now i have been a bit stuck in my opinions when it comes to what brands of wheat free items I buy and eat, i mean having been gluten free for nearly 10 years now I know what I like and I stick to it.

For the last few years I have sworn by Genius gluten free bread(http://www.geniusglutenfree.com/) as the best on the market, and I still honestly believe that it is; its soft, tastes good and comes in the right size, unlike most of these loaves that are a fraction of the size of a normal loaf, and solid as a rock.

However, Genius bread is EXPENSIVE, I normally pay around £3 a loaf, just for bread, and when you compare that to a regular loaf it's extortionate.

So imagine my surprise when i cam across wheat free bread in Aldi of all places. At £1.70 it defiantly wins on price so i thought i would give it a go, and would you have guessed it, its decent. Don't get me wrong, i don't think its quite up to the standard of genius, but I didn't expect it to be, and its still miles ahead of the majority of supermarket branded options.

I've been using it for about a week now, and will point out i normally toast it ever so slightly, just to soften it up but it works for me and saves me some money at the same time.

sorry Genius, looks like your on the back burner for now.

P.S. I have realised that the Aldi bread can be a bit difficult to find in some areas, it seems to come in waves to different areas so if you cant find it i would recommend asking the staff, if enough people do, shops will always get the products in.

Finally decided to do this

So I have been thinking about starting up this blog for quite some time now, I keep meaning to start and then never get around to it, but now I have the perfect opportunity.

I've had to start up another blog for a digital marketing module at university, and so i had to set up a blogger account and that I will be spending some time on here at least once a week.

Basically I plan to add a range of different posts into this blog all to do with wheat free food and living; Product reviews and recommendations, restaurants that feature wheat free products on the menu and even some recipes that i feel are good enough to share.

Thats it for now, new post coming soon.