Tis the season to get merry...

Christmas is nearly here and, in my household at least, that means indulging in the odd alcoholic tipple is inevitable.  When Caleigh asked me if I'd like to take part in her 12 days of gluten-free Christmas (http://gluten-freek.blogspot.com/p/getting-festive-gluten-free.html) I jumped at the chance to do the day on Mulled wine or Christmas cocktails.  Every year my family seem to get through gallons of mulled wine at our annual Christmas party, and as I'm also partial to a cocktail or two myself, it seemed like the ideal subject for me!  

However, I soon realised that Delia Smith's mulled wine recipe is my absolute fail-safe, and I wouldn't like to even try and attempt to better that!  So instead I want to share my recipe for mulled cider, which is just as spicy, aromatic and generally Christmassy as mulled wine but, in my opinion, a lot more enjoyable to drink.  Also the leftover apple pieces are definitely worth saving from this because they taste amazing after being gently stewed in lots of yummy spices and cider!  I think they taste great just on their own, or served with vanilla custard.

My Marvellous Mulled Cider

Serves around 6 (one large red wine glass or mug each)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 litres dry apple cider
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 apple
• 1 large orange
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 clementine
• handful of whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1.5 tbs light brown sugar

Method:

• Pour all the cider into a large saucepan and add in the ground ginger and cinnamon.  Leave to simmer on a low heat. 
• In the mean time slice up the apple and orange, cut the vanilla pod in half and stud the outside of the clementine with the cloves (the more the better!).
• Add all of these into the saucepan, along with the cinnamon sticks, lemon juice and sugar.  I would suggest adding only 1 tablespoon of sugar to begin with, and adding more later if necessary.
• Leave this to gently simmer, allowing the flavours to infuse, but don't let it boil!
• Once the cider is hot, try a spoonful and try it for flavour (add more sugar now if required).

• Strain the mixture through a sieve and then serve into red wine glasses or mugs.  If I want to present it nicely I tend to put a bit of orange and a cinnamon stick from the pan into the glass too.

• Serve piping hot and enjoy with gluten-free mince pies and friends!  Perfect for a cosy winter's night in.

Variations:

• For a non-alcoholic version, replace the cider with apple juice.
• For something with a bit more of a kick, add a cheeky dash of dark rum!

A promise of things to come...

So, as expected, the last month has been hectic beyond belief!  I finished university at the end of June with a 2:1 in my degree and so have spent most of my time enjoying those last precious moments of student life with my wonderful friends.  Since then I have been trying to unpack the ridiculous number of boxes of useless and random stuff I seem to have acquired over three years at university, and start job-hunting.  Now, just over a week into my life as a "non-student", and with three interviews under my belt already, I've realised that I have not kept my promises of blogging as soon my exams were over!

Unfortunately my gluten-free food hopes for France weren't fulfilled and so I have little to say on that front.  Thankfully I was able to eat out in restaurants with no trouble at all and enjoyed plenty of fantastic fresh fish.  However, the gluten-free offerings in supermarkets were incredibly poor, and in fact, in most cases, completely non-existent; I was certainly thankful to have packed M&S Made Without Wheat loaves in my suitcase!

Despite all of this, the last few weeks have definitely not passed by without a "bloggable" moment.  On our last evening at university I invited some of my lovely friends to my family home to share a "Last Supper", as it were!  This meal was of course entirely gluten-free, and no one was any the wiser!  When cooking a meal, my pièce de résistance is always, without fail, the dessert; and our Last Supper was no exception.  For the moment I just want to share a couple of pictures of my gluten-free creations from the evening, but please trust me that I will be sharing recipes and writing properly about these in the not-so-distant future.

 

 Let's just say these are a photographic promise of the blogging delights to come!

Dietary Specials Excitement!

So a while back I registered on Dietary Specials' website with the promise of having some vouchers sent to me in the post. If you haven't already you should definitely sign up, if only to save yourself a bit of money on your expensive gluten-free food shopping!

The vouchers did take a good few weeks to come through but they have finally arrived! In your envelope you'll get some promo stuff for TruFree as well as the 'DS-gluten free planner'; the best bits in both leaflets are the grids showing you which food shops stock each of their products, which has actually been pretty helpful as I seem to be visiting different supermarkets all the time to pick up the most edible versions of the gluten-free foods I want to buy (why can they not all be stocked in the same place?!)

I think you get sent different vouchers depending on which supermarket you put down on the registration form as where you shop most frequently.  I put Sainsburys down, and you can see in the picture below what I got sent...

When I went to spend the DS voucher for £1 off their frozen food range I was spoilt for choice!  So I ended up buying both the sausage rolls and the thin and crispy pepperoni pizza.  Both were great, I wouldn't say the texture of the pastry on the sausage rolls or the pizza base was perfect but I'd definitely still buy them again for moments when I haven't got time to cook properly.  If you have a bit more time on your hands I'd definitely recommend buying the packs of DS pizza bases instead (I found them in the ASDA free from section) and topping them with some passata, fresh mozzarella and whatever else takes your fancy! These store cupboard bases don't seem to have the same chalky, powdery texture I found with the ready-made frozen pizzas.  

I haven't bought anything by TruFree before and, apart from Byron Bay cookies, I'm yet to encounter any nice biscuits but I will most definitely be using my other voucher when I go shopping tomorrow!  I'll let you know my verdict on the TruFree custard creams soon.

So if you haven't already, go and sign up for your vouchers now...
http://www.dietaryspecials.co.uk/register/?welcomebox
I'd love to hear what you think of your subsequent purchases and whether you have any other DS recommendations.

THE BLOGGING HAS BEGUN!

The idea of starting a blog always seemed like a good one, but I always wanted to be able to share something useful rather than just subjecting people to reading inane ramblings about my day-to-day life! My pending diagnosis of Coeliac disease a couple of months ago (alongside a long-standing diagnosis of Crohn's disease) has finally provided me with a brilliant excuse to start blogging. I want to share my experiences navigating the sometimes difficult world of gluten-free cooking, baking, shopping and dining (both in the UK and abroad). Hopefully my writing will prove to be helpful and interesting to someone other than myself!

As for a quick introduction of myself... I'm 21 and in my final year at Warwick University studying History of Art. With less than two weeks left of my degree now, I can't wait for what lies ahead of me. In the meantime I will be trying my best to get some work experience with a marketing firm and attempting to feed myself on a self-catering holiday in the South of France (and I will of course be sharing my French gluten-free finds on here!)