Gluten free = Expensive

I saw GF crumpets for sale at the expensive cost of just over $9 for 4, then tonight on tv I saw that one of the supermarkets is selling 'normal' crumpets for $0.99 and they had more in the packet, why are GF ones so much more expensive?

YAY for IGA

Readers of my blog will know that I absolutely love my local IGA, they have the best selection of GF foods that I have ever come across in one place (ok except for at the GF expo's). The store has been closed for the last 2 months doing reno's on the place and finally re-opened on Thursday and it couldn't have come soon enough in my opinion. I went to the store straight after work and brought some GF lollies, neenish tarts, choc covered rice cakes, carrot cake mix and carrots ... hmmm yes I did buy lots of junk food, but couldn't find the cheese balls not sure if they don't stock them anymore or have just moved them, will go back soon and check it out when there are less people around, it seems the whole town was waiting for the IGA to re-open. SO happy :)

GF mini dounts

I brought a donut maker yesterday from KMart for only $9 so of course I wanted to make donuts today. I brought a donut flour mix from Fairley's and made up the mixture, below is a photo of what I started with:

Here is a photo of my end product:

This is only half the mixture, I have 2 sandwich bags full of donuts left over which I am going to try and freeze.

YUM, YUM!!!  :)



Brownies

Here is a photo of the brownies I made for a morning tea that we had at work. I made them from Woolworths macro brand, packet mix and they tasted SO good!!!!

Well and Good - bread from a packet

Here is what the Well and Good (packet mix) bread looks like once cooked ... well my version of it anyway. It's not as good as Dr Schar bread, but it's not awful either, overall I would give it a 6.5 out of 10 (it loses points for the amount of time I had to wait for it to prove) :-p

A day of High's and Low's

Yesterday was such a mixed day in my gluten free life. Since I have moved back to Victoria I have been ordering my Schar products on-line from Werribee and have just been buying the foods that are sold in Coles and Woollies.

The High:

I went to Fairley's IGA (http://www.fairleys.com.au/index.html) as some of the girls at work had told me that they sell a lot of GF foods their and OMG they were right!!! They have Schar products, as well as the Irresistible lolly range that I like, Byron Bay Triple Choc Cookies, the standard frozen stuff, as well as so many more pre-packed foods PLUS they have already made GF products in the bakery section!!! They had apple pie, apricot pie, lamingtons, swiss roll, chicken and beef pies, rum balls, cakes OMG I was in heaven!!! I can't believe I have never been to this store before. If you are ever looking for me, try this store first before anything else, I think I am going to move in!!!

The Low:

I went for dinner last night at the Shepparton RSL and had the Chicken Avocado after the lady at the register checked with the chef asking if the sauce had flour in it. She said that it didn't so I ordered my meal and got a receipt, the receipt even had the words 'Gluten Free' written on it. Once the meal arrived I ate it and it tasted quite nice. Not too long after I had a reaction to it had to frequent the toilets their quite a few times. In the end Mum and Lionel were waiting at the front door for me as they were wanting to go home so we made the dash home hoping that the urge to go to the toilet didn't it (which it didn't thankfully), once home I had to sit on the porcelain bowl for a little while longer till it was all out of my system. What a sucky end to such an exciting GF related day :(

11 years prison for a man who sold fake gluten free products

Check out this article (link below). 11 years prison for a man who sold products saying they were gluten free when they weren't.

Man who sold fake gluten free products

Perth's Gluten Free Expo

Today I went to Perth's Gluten Free Expo at the Convention Centre. I learnt from last years mistake and took more cash this time, which was just as well as I brought lots :)

From Schar I brought: Pan Carne bread, Twinny snacks, Ciabattine bread, Pepitas Cookies and another item called Snack.

From Bodhisattva Bakery I brought: Lemon shortbread and a Choc Orange Jaffa biscuit.

From Confectionary Link I brought: Rocky Road, mud cake and junior mints

From Eskal I brought: a few varieties of pasta

I also brought 2 cook books @ $5 each :)

Carl brought some Cheeseballs and marshmallows, items he loved from last years expo.

I like the expo as you get to try the food before you buy it. There are also guest speakers and cooking demonstrations. I also like that you get contact details for stores and websites so that I can get the food after the expo moves on.

A good afternoon :)

Star & Garter Hotel Kalgoorlie

I was in Kalgoorlie for the weekend just gone visiting family and was taken to the Star & Garter Hotel for dinner. It was a standard looking Kalgoorlie Hotel, full of workmen relaxing after a long days work and of course there was a skimpy that wasn't too badly dressed considering what some of them wear (or not wear). Anyway the big surprise was the restaurant, it was simple but nice, the meals were big and reasonably priced. I had the surf and turf, the chef made me a garlic sauce without any flour and it scrumptious, such a lovely meal. A nice night out and I would recommend it to other people :)

Gluten Free Expo

Mark it your calendar peoples, the Gluten Free Expo will be at the Exhibition Centre Perth on March 12th and 13th. I'm very excited, Dr Shar's is listed as attending, I'm hoping that Kez's will be there too. This time I am going to take more money with me now that I know what to expect and that so much can be brought. It's going to be a good day :)

Spoilt by Claire

Yesterday Rae and I had a play date with Claire and Sox. While Rae was hiding from a friendly Sox, Claire made me an awesome lunch. She made marinated honey, soy and garlic chicken (GF Fountain's marinade) with a lovely salad. It was YUM!!! Claire inspired me to make my own so I brought marinade and a pre packaged salad today and now my chicken is currently marinating in the fridge. I can't wait to cook and eat it tomorrow night.

Thanks for introducing me to marinated chicken and such a scrumptios lunch Claire Bear xoxo

GF Chocolate Self Saucing Sponge Pudding

Today I made Basco's GF chocolate self saucing sponge pudding. It was SO nice. I am glad I am the only person that wanted any as now I have left overs for tomorrow :)

I love the Basco's brand, their cake's and cupcakes always turn out well. I hope they are represented at the Gluten Free Foods Expo in Perth next month., i'll be buying up big :)

GF foods in America

I have been in America for 3 days now and up until tonight I hadn't really found many GF foods. Tonight though I went to the hotel restaurant and had a steak with mushrooms and fries, then for desert I had a piece of flourless chocolate cake. It's nice to have these options, especially when traveling :)

Gluten Free Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone :)

On the menu today for my GF Christmas are the following foods:
 - Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (Mum brought me a tray of 50 different flavours)   :)
 - GF Ham
 - Chicken
 - Pavalova with a Byron Bay chocolate biscuit crushed over top and then Spring Hill's GF (and nut free)  Rocky Road cut into chunks and put on top
 - There might be some plain cadbury chocolate consumed as well

Yum Yum Yum!!!!!! Can't wait

Gluten Free eating in Shepparton

Hi. I am currently in Shepparton Victoria at the moment visiting family for Christmas. I have found 2 places that do GF pizza's so far, they are Riviera Pizza and Pizza Place. The Woolworths has a fantastic range as well, they stock some of the foods I can only get in IGA's in Perth. Oh the biggest excitement was that I found WizzFizz in a store and it's GF!!! I haven't had one since I was a kid :)very exciting

Kinnerton Allergy Friendly Chocolate

So I was looking in the Christmas food section at KMart this afternoon and came across Kinnerton's Luxury Belgian Milk Chocolate. It is egg, nut and Gluten Free and it tastes Devine!!! I checked their website (www.Kinnerton.com.au) and it appears that this chocolate is also sold in Big W, Target, Aldi and Coles. I wonder why I have never noticed it before? Not to worry I have found it now :)

The Inglewood Hotel - tasty Gluten Free food

I had a lovely lunch at the Inglewood Hotel today. Carl and I had been meaning to eat there for awhile but hadn't got around to it, so when my Dad rang to see if we wanted to go out for lunch it was the perfect choice. Lunch was with my Aunt Sue and step-mum Or as well.

The Hotel had a very good menu, It was reasonably priced and they had fantastic GF options too. I had the chicken ceasor salad (of which it being GF was an option, best I've ever had) and a piece of GF Venetian cake, which was chocolate flavoured, this was an option on the specials menu and was delicious). There was also a pineapple and coconut flourless cake on the menu, imagine that people, 2 dessert options and neither was a bowl of fruit!!

The room closest to the car park (verandah bar?) would make a great place to have a function. I will definitely be having my next function here.

The Inglewood Hotel gets 2 thumbs up from me :)

Coles

Hi

Well I don't have much GF related to report at the moment. But I will tell you that I have been impressed with what the Coles in Bedford/Inglewood have been stocking lately. They are getting more and more varieties and brands. Anyway, so I emailed them today to tell them that I was impressed. I think everyone should be told if they are doing a good job :)

Take care xoxo

GF chicken caesar salad

Tonight I have made a chicken caesar salad at home for dinner. It was so yummy. I used the Kraft Caesar salad dressing as it is GF and did not put any crutons in. I did add avocado though :) I love them!!! Nice simple dinner.

Subiaco IGA

I was in Subiaco last weekend having lunch and seeing a movie with a friend for his birthday and stumbled across the Subiaco IGA (Mercado's). We had some spare time before the movie started (we were seeing The Town, not a bad movie, quite enjoyed it actually), so went in a checked it out. It is one of the best IGA's I have even been too. They had a lot of different GF foods, such as the Byron Bay biscuits that I love, GF lollies, and GF bread!!!!! I was SO excited I honestly never thought I would be eating bread ever again as i find that i don't like the taste of most GF breads, but this bread is fantastic. I brought the Ciabattine dinner rolls by Schar. Check out their website: http://www.schaer.com/en/gluten-free-products/bread/ they have a variety of GF breads and I swear this IGA has them all.

Now I will warn you that this is also the most expensive IGA that I have been too but I found it was well worth the cost as the food is very tasty. I don't mind paying a bit more for quality :)

I swear IGA's are the saving grace for West Aussies that can't eat Gluten.