Being coeliac – one year in

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I received the news that my blood tested positive for coeliac antibodies under the full 3 categories. I had no idea what coeliac disease was when I was diagnosed, but looking back everything started to make sense! I then had my diagnosis confirmed a few weeks later after my biopsy. It’s so surprising when I think about how much I’ve changed my diet over the past 12 months, after discovering I’m also intolerant to dairy and soy. It’s been a very crazy year but I’m finally starting to feel much better and have had such a positive response to my Instagram account and blog. Knowing I’m helping others find food they can enjoy makes me so happy 😊.

In this blog I’ve listed some of my favourite recipes and how to make them, some of my snacks and a few of the new restaurants and cafes that I’ve discovered over the past 12 months. Hopefully this list will help you find some new free-from goodies and some great places to eat out! Please get in touch if you have any questions about my recipes, or want to know more about the food I eat and the places I go to 😊.

Favourite homemade recipes/meals (follow the links to see what I use and how I make them)

• Homemade granola
• Potato gratin
• Breakfast frittata
• Spinach, pea and potato cakes
• Sweet potato hash
• Sausage, mash and gravy – I use 2 large potatoes per person, Tesco Finest pork sausages and Tesco’s own gluten free chicken gravy
• Peanut butter chicken stir fry – I LOVE having a peanut butter chicken stir fry for tea. I get my peanut butter from either Waitress or Tesco and sometimes add coconut cream as well, so the chicken can be marinated. When I haven’t marinated any chicken i just add 2 teaspoons of peanut butter to the frying pan, whilst cooking. My favourite noodles are the thick Mama Vermicelli rice noodles – you can get them from most Sainsbury and Tesco stores

• Roast dinner – I always look forward to a delicious roast dinner on a Sunday! I use either Marks & Spencer or Tesco stuffing mix and add sausage meat. Tesco’s gluten free chicken gravy is a must have too!

Favourite brands  

• Moo free – Moo free chocolate is definitely one of my favourite finds, all of their products are gluten, dairy, soy and egg free! I LOVE their orignal chocolate bar and choccy drops. Some of their other bars include mint, orange and honeycomb pieces!

• Warburtons Gluten Free – Warburton’s has a number of delicious gluten free products, some of my favorites being their sandwich thins – which are perfect for quick lunches, crumpets – which are great to have for breakfast and their tiger loaf – which you can slice as thick as you like and use to make delicious sandwiches!

• Doves Fam – I’ve been using Doves Farm’s rice pasta, their brown rice spaghetti is delicious, I always use it when having meatballs for dinner now
• Schar – Schar is probably one of the most well-known gluten free brands. They have so many delicious snacks that I’ve tried over the past 12 months. They make gluten free bourbons and custard creams as well as gluten free pretzels and crackers – unfortunately these products do contain either lactose or soy, but if you’re only gluten free they are great snacks to try! I can have their breadsticks, they are delicious, I’d definitely recommend them

• Gusto Nero –  Gusto Nero is a brand I’ve only very recently discovered. They make delicious pasta out of black jasmine rice. Their Linguine pasta is my favourite, I cooked it for my family memebers too and they all thought it was very tasty! I’d definitely recommend trying some of their products

• Violife – before discovering my intolerance to dairy, I used to have cheese most days, I LOVED it! Finding a dairy free replacement has been hard, but when I discovered Violife cheese I was sooo relieved. It tastes just like normal cheese but it’s coconut based, so 100% vegan too!

• BFree Foods – BFree make the most amazing gluten free pizza bases! They are perfect for nights in. My favourite homemade pizza was made adding tomato and basil sauce and Violife cheese topped with minced beef, spinach and cajun spice to a BFree base

Supermarkets

• M&S free from range – some of my favourite products from M&S include the famous gluten free naan bread, cod cakes, tempura chicken, courgette and butternut spaghetti, red thai chicken curry ready meal and their hake with lemon and rosemary potatoes ready meal. M&S also have a great coconut cream pot, this is perfect to use as a paste when marinating meat. I’ve used it before to marinate chicken with peanut butter and Quorn chicken with a tandoori paste

• Tesco – my local Tesco has a wide variety of gluten, dairy and soy free products. Some of the Tesco own branded free from products are great too – some of my favourites include their gluten free chicken gravy and stuffing mix, both perfect for Sunday roast dinners. I LOVE their gluten and dairy free garlic dough balls and garlic baguettes. They make their own pastas, biscuits, cookies and chocolate too. Tesco also sell a number of the Blue Dragon gluten, dairy and soy free stir fry sauces, a variety of Tilda rice packs, a number of different tomato based cooking sauces, rice noodles, potato waffles, gluten free chips and wedges – it’s the perfect supermarket for a large, weekly free from shop!
• Ocado – Ocado has a full free from range on their website, I get all of my rice packs from here, as they have such a wide variety. They also sell all of the Violife cheese packs, Orgran gluten free rice and vegetable pasta, Doves Farm pasta, Moo Free chocolate and the Aviko herb diced potatoes – the most delicious potatoes ever! All of these products are hard to find in any supermarket stores, so it’s great to have everything available on Ocado

Favourite restaurants/cafes 

• FarmerJ – based on Leadenhall Street, I love going to FarmerJ as it’s a quick and easy place to grab lunch, or dinner on the way home from work. All of their food contains allergen stickers and the staff as so helpful when ordering. I’ve never had any problems after eating here despite it being ready-made so cross contamination does not seem to be an issue!

• Hawskmoor – they have a number of restaurants in City of London. I usually go to either St Pauls or Spitalfields. Staff at both have always been so helpful, they walk through every part of the menu with you and explain how they can adapt certain dishes to meet your requirements. The steak here is amazing, one of my favourite places to eat out. Their triple cooked chips are gluten free too!

• Brentwood Kitchen – my local cafe for weekend brunches is The Brentwood Kitchen. The vast majority of their menu is gluten free so you can enjoy a lovely fry up! They do omelettes as well, they are delicious. They stock duck eggs too which is great for those that are intolerant to chicken eggs

• Prezzo – they have a large gluten free menu and quite a few of the options are dairy free too! My favourite dish of theirs has to be their gluten free pasta with giant meatballs – definitely recommend this to anyone that plans on visiting Prezzo! They do great a great gluten free garlic pizza bread and full sized pizza and their penne alla norma is the BEST vegan dish I’ve had in ages!

• Pizza Express – every pizza here can be made gluten free, they have vegan mozzarella too and their signature dough balls can also be gluten free! I LOVE having the pollo ad astra (a pepper, tomato, chicken, vegan mozzarella pizza with cajun spices) with extra garlic oil

• Giggling Squid – an amazing Thai restaurant with a number of restaurants in Essex. They have a full ‘non-gluten’ menu with so many options and the staff have always been happy to help me adapt my meals to ensure they are dairy and soy free too. I’ve enjoyed a number of stir fry dinners here and some of their lamb dishes too, but my favourite has to be the sleeping honey duck with orange, it was delicious!

I hope you’ve discovered a new product, recipe or place to eat after reading this blog post. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions xxxxx

K. x