Dietary Specials at The Co-op

6 years on from my Coeliac diagnosis the one thing I still um and ah over is mealtimes.
In a perfect world I’d be Jamie Oliver-ing it in the kitchen getting knife happy with exotic looking veg and cooking everything from scratch . This however, is not a perfect world and I don’t have the face shape or bone structure to pull off Jamie Oliver's hair, and the most exotic veg in my local green grocers is some questionably shaped carrots and swede.
On the days when you’ve got in after dropping an all time record of 7pint glasses at the pub, or tripped an old lady up whilst showing her the cod liver oil, or a day when you hoovered your own skirt up in the Henry Hoover and flashed your knickers to a line of waiting traffic outside the shop (just a few examples of the stressful working days I’ve had in various employments) the last thing you want to do is go out of your way to pick up a quick dinner at the Big Supermarket.

And by Jove that will not be me anymore (or you either if you have a local Co-Op) because my newly appointed Co-Op mere sneezing distance from my house will now be stocking various frozen delights from the Dietary Specials range. Yes, my friends I’m now one of those people who can say ‘yeah, I think I’m just going to pick up a pizza on my way home from work’… I will be a NORMAL person (well, y’know as normal as a nut like me can get). Its all very well and good cooking everything from scratch and yes sometimes I’m massively smug about it, but I want to be able to get home from a stressful shopping trip (during which I couldn’t find a)anything I wanted and b)my mate found everything she did) and pop something easy in the oven while I chill out on the sofa in my scruffs with the best of ‘em.
As well as the Margarita Pizza, the Co-Op will also be stocking my all time favourite and lunch box lovely the Sausage Rolls and also the never be beaten Yorkshire Puddings which as an honouree Yorkshire lass myself I can vouch are A-mazing!
I've said it once, and I'll say it again it ain't all about the biscuits and cupcakes, it's brilliant to see meal options locally available from Dietary Specials. Bon appetit!

Check out Dietary Specials site To find your nearest Co-Op stocking these goodies.

Cracking Good Crepes

A lot of peoples prevailing idea of gluten-free food is that it tastes profoundly different from non gluten-free food. This is another one of those recipes where I dare any non gluten freer to taste the difference. The original recipe is from the February issue of Delicious magazine and I've tweaked it here and there to make it gluten-free. It's not vastly different from a normal pancake recipe but I think the little differences that are there make for a far nicer pancake.

Ingredients

• 75g Caster sugar
• 150g Plain flour mix, I used Doves Farm but Glutafin also do a mix as well
• 1 Egg, plus 1 egg yolk
• 300ml Whole milk
• 100ml Melted butter
• Knob of butter for frying your pancakes
• 1-2 Drops of vanilla extract (Sainsbury's do a cheap vanilla extract for just under a £1)

Serves 6-8

Extras

• Large non stick frying pan

Method

• Get yourself a large bowl and sieve your flour into it. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt and give it a quick mix.
• Make a well in the centre with your finger and crack in your whole egg and the yolk and give it a stir, bringing the flour in from the edges (like when you mix cement).
• As you stir add a little of the milk at a time and continue stirring until its lump free and a fairly thin smooth batter mix.
• Pour your melted butter into the batter mix and add a few drops of vanilla. Cover over with some clingfilm and let it sit for around 5 minutes or the time it takes you to make a cup of coffee.
• Pop your frying pan over a medium to high heat and melt a few cubes of butter. When the butter is slightly starting to spit add a ladleful (or a small cup full) of your mix to the pan and swirl and tip the pan around until the mixture covers the bottom of the base of the pan.
• It won't take long for the batter to cook,when its ready flip and cook the other side. Repeat until all the mixtures gone and your belly is full. Awesome.

Filling idea's

• Lemon and sugar classic combo
• Strawberries and dollop of mascarpone continental
• Cinnamon sugar spicy
• Golden syrup tooth rotting
• Cheese and cubed bacon savoury
• Mini marshmallows and melted chocolate good for ankle biters

"I'm ready for my close up Mr De Mille"

Alright my lovers?
I have yet again been in another Other Bowel Problem's induced blogging hiatus. With all the appointments, procedures, medications and jabs I've been feeling rather uninspired and 'A Girl's Guide..' has suffered considerably as a result. So, many apologies and air kisses for the absence.
Nothing particularly exciting has happened since the last time I posted, apart from my turning 26. Luckily I look like a cabbage patch doll and haven't aged a day since the age of 13 so turning 26 is nothing but a number to me since I get asked ID for lottery tickets and can get cheap fare on the bus thanks to my doughy cheeks and woefully ignorant bus drivers in the South. Thank-you for all the birthday messages and tweets I had a lov-er-ly day and was spoilt rotten.
The day after Valentines day I had to go to hospital for another colonoscopy (which to those not in the know, is a camera on the end of a glorified hose pipe that they put where the sun doesn't shine) so my consultant could have an up close and personal butchers at The Other Bowel Problems.
So Valentines day was spent drinking bowel prep with is a nice way of saying Super-Duper strength laxative.
Along with The Tweenies, Westlife and that scary Evian advert with the babies on roller skates, Picolax (the official name for the bowel prep I have) can be categorised under the heading of The Work of the Devil. Although admittedly it wasn't as bad this time round as it has been previously.
Typically I'm never lucky enough to have a marginally OK Picolax experience and get away with it and I knew my body would compensate me by making it nigh on impossible to get an IV in.  Two nurses tried and then sent in the big guns in the form of Gavin the gastro registrar and even he was flummoxed (poor devil). He fannied about for a while, digging around in my hands and arms like he was looking for The Lost Treasure of Atlantis, pausing every now and then to wipe his brow and sip a Red Bull. Finally he went in the underside of my wrist, which even though I'm not scared of needles or being cannulated made me want to be sick in his lap. As he was poised needle in one hand my wrist gripped in the other, it was all I could do not to leg it out of the endoscopy unit, hospital gown flapping in the wind and my bare bum exposed to all and sundry.
Thankfully after my cocktail of pethidine and an unspecified sedative (neither shaken nor stirred) I had a fairly good doze only waking up a couple of times as Dr D wove the Kodak Camera From Hell round my colon.
Moving on.
Everyone in my household forgot that it was pancake day on Tuesday and when we remembered none of us could muster up the enthusiasm to cook them, so we had our pancake day this morning. A few people have asked me what pancake recipe I use and to be honest in the past I've always used an old recipe from Good Housekeeping with a few of the ingredients tweaked for my G/F purposes. However I found a yummy sounding recipe in Delicious magazine that I wanted to try.
Now, I believe that you are either a good pancake maker or not, there's no in between. While I consider myself a good pancake maker, I'm not a very good tosser (ahem) I do admire people who have the knack of tossing pancakes but the reality is if I attempted such showmanship I'd end up with red hot oil in my face and 3rd degree burns. I know this recipe is a bit belated,but I think it's good to have a few basic recipes in your arsenal that you can use whatever the occasion.
Glutafin have invited me Gluten Free World Days in Southampton in June, I've never been to a gluten-free food/trade type show before so I'm quite looking foward to it, I'm also very excited about meeting my pal Becky from D/S at last. Is anyone else going? Let me know, I'd love to meet any and all of my blogging lovelies!
I'll leave you with a few pics from the past couple of weeks. I've decided to give up on my 365 project and just post pictures in general posts instead of under a separate link. I can never seem to find something different to take a photo of everyday and I more often then not totally forget to take my picture for that day.
Hope you all had a lovely jubbly weekend!

The Pain In The Arse IV. 2 seconds after this was taken my Dad got a gob full from a jobsworth nurse who told him off for taking a picture, 'for confidentiality reasons'..its MY hand lady!

My much hyped new electric blanket.Oh yeah.

Pretty cupcake notelets.

The big 2-6.

My pretty new bed. Thanks Grandad ;) x

Birthday cake

Pretty birthday roses from Tasha

New bedding (H&M home) and pretty Rose garland (Sass&Belle via Amazon).