Dear Diary

I haven't done a self indulgent update/diary post for yonks have I? This is either indicative of my rather uneventful life or my bone idleness. I prefer you believed the latter!

First off...how do we all like the new look of things around here? I finally got round to putting up the header my gorgeous Skye designed for me a few months back, and I love it. Remember this gorgeous little cupcake cross stitch Skye did for me a while back? Well she's only gone and opened her own online shop i am hand-made stuffed with loads of gorgeous cross stitches (and loads of other lovely things in the pipeline) everything is on sale at the moment so check it out for perfect stocking fillers.

It's a bit of a work in progress as far as the blog makeover is concerned, I wanted to get the whole lot done at once but I've not be terribly well again so I've had to do it in drips and drabs when I've felt well enough, plus I'm not exactly what you would call a whizz with the HTML so sometimes I find it as hard going as my gran finds trying to get out of a beanbag, but I thought my little old blog deserved some TLC after making the Cosmo Blog Awards shortlist!

Ruby over at Rubelle's Moon is giving herself the ultimate Gluten-Free Challenge of trying to cook various gluten-free recipes...kudos to Ruby though, she's doing some tricky things I have never attempted like puff pastry and naan bread. I challenged her too make gluten-free bagels, and gave her my mincemeat recipe shes making as part of her challenge. Shes lovely so go check out her blog and give her loads of support and encouragement!


Caleigh from Gluten Freek has organised a gluten-free 12 days of Christmas and asked myself and a few other gluten-free blogger's to be involved. the premise being that we all cook something different on each of the 12 days. I called dibs on the Gingerbread recipe which coincides nicely with my own Christmas challenge...last year it was to make my own mincemeat with the ultimate intention to whip up gluten-free mince pies for the first time ever...this year I'm attempting a gluten-free gingerbread house. I'm both excited and absolutely bricking it...I don't possess the gentlest of touches so the likely hood that i muck the house up on the first few attempts by putting a finger through the roof or snapping a wall in half out of sheer excitement is very high.

I've created a new page on the blog which is dedicated to readers pictures of my recipes. So if anyone has had a go at any of my recipes and has any snaps do pass them along and I'll whack you up in the hall of fame 'Your Katie-boo Bakes and Makes' what a snazzy page name, eh? Email me at thekatieboobaker@hotmail.co.uk or drop me a tweet @katieboobaker .

A few weeks ago we got a 14week old kitten from the Charity Worthing Cats Protection League-although with this little physco cat it's us that needs protecting more than him. He will eat anything, chase anything and hang off anything. He launches himself at your pj toggles and chews on any stray wisps of hair escaping my pony tail. We literally haven't a clue what the crapping Nora we're going to do at Christmas when the little bugger is left alone with the tree or presents. He's scales the curtains like a commando and uses my room like an obstacle course and I can imagine him mulling over the Christmas tree as some sort of challenge he must complete, like a kitty Everest of sorts. Christ.

Anyway. This has turned out to be a rather wordy post and its going to be rather picture heavy too, many apologies. I shall hopefully be back tomorrow with a Twice as Nice post.

Bought various winter woollies to keep the cold out. Dietary Specials kindly sent me some of the new recipe frozen goodies to try out and I can confirm they were all very yummy. I've started drawing again in an attempt at diverting my attention when The Other Bowel Problems are causing me pain, it isn't always ideal especially when all I want to do is lay down but its helping.

Sorted my baking cupboard out in an attempt at order before the Xmas baking rush is upon me. I'm living off coffee and fruit tea's at the moment with it being so cold. Been trying to sort out my recipe books and order them but I'm rapidly running out of bookshelf space.

Sainsburys' very nicely sent me a selection of the new items from the Free From range, reviews coming soon! Enjoying finding gluten-free goodies, loving this g/f cereal, miso soup and taco trays.

My gorgeous bracelet from Becky as my consolation prize for not winning the Cosmo blog awards! Keeping my hot water bottle topped up in this weather and while I've been poorly and spraying my pillows with this sleep therapy spray to help me relax at night. I've been flicking through my Kath Kidson 'Sew' book for pressie ideas to make for my friends.

Found a lovely frame for my lovely Flo print from Natasha at The Secret Tea Party, discovering gluten-free chips are available at my local chippie ALL THE TIME and once a month you can get g/f onion rings,sausages and fish! Here's Sleeping Physco himself. Finally getting film for my Diana.

Mum bought me this a few weeks ago after I made the Cosmo blog shortlist, the F got bent after the whole thing fell off the top of my wardrobe and onto her head.

Just A Bunch Of Hocus Pocus

Since I’m 26, and no longer in a position where trick or treating and dressing up in an Disney Princess Costume won’t look weird/creepy (no matter how short and childlike I appear) I have to satisfy my inner child and love of this time of year with Hocus Pocus marathons and marvelling at various blogger skills with a knife when it comes to pumpkin carving (Looking at you Beth!).

Although as I’ve said before these are about the only few things I love about Halloween. As I’m officially A Grumpy Old Cow now I usually kick off Hallow’s eve by unplugging the doorbell to deter children from begging for Cadbury's Giant Buttons and Haribo at my house. But I have to admit I do miss dressing up and knocking back a skin-full and then attempting to gain entry to a club which is filled to the rafters with girls dressed as slutty versions of every possible variation of animal. Many a year I enjoyed drunkenly trying to apply cat whiskers to my own face with liquid eyeliner which I’d be trying to hastily rub off the next day on the way to a lecture.

Anyway, I thought I'd make the effort to get into the Halloween swing of things with a I want/I love  list of goodies for you to have a butchers at. 

From left-right: Skull and cross bones ice cube tray, Bat cookie cutter, Plastic candelabra, Spiderweb placement, Halloween bunting, skull plug stopper, Spiderweb cake stand, Misted tumbler, Candle.

From Left-Right: Gluten-free carrot&ginger cake, Pumpkin party bags, Squash soup, Beth's awesome pumpkin carving, Pumpkin soup, Hummingbird Halloween cupcakes, Bodum whisker, Halloween pegs, Paper lanterns.

Twice as Nice...1 ingredient, 2 ways. Edition 1: Pastry

Another new feature I've dragged out for the depths of my imagination (which, judging by my groundbreaking titles is more like a puddle than a never ending abyss of creativeness).
As you probably gathered from the highly innovative concept, each edition will feature one ingredient used two different ways. The two recipes featured here came about after I was sent the Dietary Specials new recipe Shortcrust Pastry.
I must preface this now by saying this is NOT a sponsored post, I just really love this product. In fact I'd go so far as to say its probably in my top three of favourite gluten-free products ever. Not only because it tastes great, but because it saves me from the colossal ball-ache of making pastry from scratch. Plus you can freeze it until you need it. AND you can roll it out without the whole lot falling apart and sticking to the rolling pin, making you want to throw yourself on the floor in a grown woman tantrum. In short, I am a slut for this pastry.
The first recipe is one that I created when trying desperately to think of something with strawberries in as my recipe that could be made for a Breast Cancer Care Strawberry Tea Party. I wanted something (other than the run of the mill cupcakes) that anyone hosting a party might fancy rustling up.
I don't like to blow my own trumpet, but this recipe is one of my most genius ideas to date. Not genius in a MENSA kind of way, but ye gads its ruddy bloomin' scrummy.
I'll be honest and say the strawberry curd is a wee bit of arsing around, but I promise its so very worth it that it could be sponsered by Loreal.
The second recipe is for a sweet onion tart adapted from an ancient recipe I picked up in Waitrose when I was at uni in Sheffield.
Tarts and quiches with a bit of salad are so nice this time of year around the end of summer and unless your Mrs or Mr Cast Iron Guts you'll never eat a whole tart all at once, so you can pop it in your lunchbox or have it warm for your tea the next day. Economic, no? George Osbourne could learn a thing or two from me.Fact.

 Ingredients

• Nice big wedge of butter (around 25g)
• 2 Large red onions
• 1 Large white onion
• 200g Dietary Specials Shortcrust Pastry (take out a few hours in advance to defrost)
• 330ml Creme fraiche (go lite if your counting the cals)
• 3 Eggs (I use free-range)
• Generous pinch of nutmeg
• 15-20g Chives
• 150 Cheese (Emmental is ideal, but a mild Cheddar works just as well)

 Extras

• Quiche or flan tin
• Rolling pin
• Small sprinkle of plain flour for dusting
• Baking beans or something to weigh down the parchment during blind baking

Method

• Throw the butter to melt in a nice big frying pan. Get a sharp knife (mind fingers!) and chop the white onion up finely, then slice the red onions up thinly. Pop the lot in the pan and cook gently over a low heat for around 30-40mins. Give them a stir every now and then. 
• When the onions are soft and starting to go all lovely and caramelised take the pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
• Whack your oven up to gas 5. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out your pastry and use to line your tart tin. Use a bit of parchment to line the pastry and pop in a few baking beans or some rice and blind bake for 10mins.
• Take the tin from the oven and take out the parchment and baking beans and pop the back in the oven for 5minutes, it should colour slightly.
• Get yourself a big ol' bowl and pop in the creme fraiche, eggs and the pinch of nutmeg. Use a pair of scissors snip the chives into the bowl, season everything with salt and pepper and spoon in the cooked onions and around half of the cheese. Make sure everything is mixed thoroughly and pour the lot into the pastry case and scatter over the rest of the cheese.
• Return the filled pastry case to the oven and bake until golden and set and the mixture no longer has a wobble. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5minutes before you eat it or tuck in when its cold. Grab a fork, a glass of Chablis and tuck in.Yummers.

   Ingredients

• 250g Strawberries
• 150g Caster sugar
• 2 Eggs and 2 egg whites (I use free-range)
• 60g Butter
• 200g Dietary Specials Shortcrust Pastry (take out of the freezer in time to defrost)

    Extras

• Electric whisk
• Tart/flan tin
• Baking parchment
• Baking beans or rice/lentils
• Rolling pin

     Method

• Crank your oven up to gas 5. Lightly flour your worktop and get to work kneading the pastry for a few minutes and then roll out using a floured rolling pin. Line a tart/flan tin with the pastry and then line the pastry with some baking parchment and throw in the baking beans or rice.
• Pop the pastry in the oven. After around 10mins take it out and remove the parchment and beans and return it to the oven for another 5-7mins. It should be slightly browned but not drastically different in colour. Leave somewhere to cool while you get on with the curd.
• Lop your strawberries tops off and halve them, popping them in a decent sized pan with a few tbsp's of cold water over a medium heat.
• Keep the pan at a simmer for 5minutes or until your strawb's are soft. Transfer the strawb's from the pan into a sieve over a clean bowl (must be heatproof) using a slotted spoon. 
• Get yourself a metal spoon and push your strawb's through the sieve. Add the pulp to the strained strawb syrup left in the pan. 
• Next you need to make yourself a Bain-Marie which is a beyond preposterous way of saying 'bowl over pan of water'. You will need a bowl that fits into your pan without touching the cm or two of water that's in the bottom. 
• Bring the water to a simmer over a medium heat and add 50g of sugar, the eggs (beaten before hand) and butter to the bowl and give it all a proper good stir and keep stirring gently and continuously for about 10minutes.
• Crank the heat up and keeping stirring for another 8-10minutes.Stirring, I know, can get beyond boring...don't be tempted to stop because it will curdle and then you'll be so vexed you'll throw the lot at the wall.
• When the mixture starts to thicken, take off the heat and pour immediately into the pastry case and set aside while you make the meringue.
• Get yourself an OCD clean bowl and make sure your whisk is spanking clean too (any grease etc will stop the meringue from rising, and if you stopped stirring when I told you not to with the curd, your already going to be cross without flat meringues).
• Separate your remaining eggs and plop the whites into the bowl. Using an electric whisk (or a hand whisk if your a martyr to the cause) beat the eggs whites on a medium speed until stiff and foamy. 
• Add a tbsp at a time of the remaining 100g of sugar and continue to whisk it all until the meringue is very stiff, white and glossy. You can  risk it for a biscuit and try the old 'bowl over the head' trick if you want, but if its forming peaks I'd pass on the biscuit risking!
• Spoon the meringue over the curd in the pastry case, make sure you can't see any of the curd.
• Pop back in the oven for 8-10minutes, the meringue should be slightly golden on top. Leave for a few minutes to cool before eating, or gobble it down directly from the oven and burn your entire digestive tract. Claim ownership over this recipe when people tell you how tummy gurgling awesome it is...I'll let you just this one time.

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Hello my lovelies! Tis I, back from the depths of blogging hiatus! Thank-you to those who have stuck around to see me blog another day and hello to any new readers!

Of course my absence, as always, can be blamed on none other than the No.1 culprit The Other Bowel Problems.
The weekend before last I was back in A&E again, clutching my poor tummy and babbling incoherently in my state of dehydrated delirium. Not how I'd usually like to spend my weekends, no matter how much morphine is involved. A nice nurse tried to conjure up a vein from the abyss of my arm and I was finally rehydrated and medicated up to the eyeballs.
It always seems that whenever I'm in hospital I'm only ever designated the young, good looking male doctors. Which on the face of it wouldn't be too bad, if my ailments were of the non embarrassing variety.
After reeling of every intimate detail of my bowels to a dishy A&E doctor I was then wheeled round to the Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) where I then had to repeat the same conversation again with another handsome specimen, who I could hear outside at the nurses station snapping on a pair of sterile gloves while I lay on a sweat box of a hospital bed imagining what fresh hell could be about to occur that entailed the wearing of sterile gloves.
However I managed to side step the bum exam he intended for me by protesting I'd already been violated in A&E. Which I hadn't, but there was a flying bacon's chance I was got to let dishy doc numero deux anywhere near the junk on my trunk.
Anyone who has been in hospital will tell you its not the restful place it proclaims to be. When your not having your veins sized up, your being x-rayed, having your Ob's taken or being interrogated by all and sundry. Besides all this there is always plenty to keep you  awake, which was especially true of  my ward that night.
The lady in the bay next to mine, although perfectly able to walk seemed to enjoy punishing the nursing staff by being completely unco-operative and unhelpful every time she needed the commode 'I need a tinkle, NURRRRSEEE!', thus forcing the tiny Filipino staff nurse and equally dinky HCA to awkwardly maneuver her onto the bog on wheels.
Even after all this palaver she still manage to tiddle on the floor, which escaped the nurses notice up until the moment when putting the lady back in bed she waded through the puddle, booming in a voice that was surprisingly loud for someone the size of a Polly Pocket 'Oh darling, look! LOOK! You peed on the floor! Bed pan for you next time!'. 
I then forced myself to stay awake during ward rounds,which is my favourite part of the hospital day (after painkiller time) as you get to eavesdrop and find out whats wrong with everyone else on the ward. Not as if its hard really, since a peice of material pulled round a hospital bed hardly keeps people from being unable to hear whats going on behind it.
I was also pleased that I was awake to witness the effeminate cleaner mopping the floor with one hand on his hip humming 'I Want To Break Free' by Queen.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

Despite all this hospital high jinx, I managed to escape and have been moaning and bitching in the comfort of my own home ever since.
I've got to be honest and say that I've been finding my illness very hard to cope with recently, but I've devised a battle plan for my blog which will hopefully mean that I will be posting much more regularly and thus help to distract myself from feeling cruddy.
The Other Bowel Problems have dominated my life far too much recently and I've had to cancel some dates which have been really important to me, including one of my oldest friends Liz's wedding, which I was heartbroken to miss.
It annoys the crap out of me that my illness dictates so much of my life, and its all very well for people on the outside looking in to say 'well you shouldn't let it dictate your life' but with all the will in the world I cannot make my body behave just because I want it too.

Anyway. I have tonnes of recipes and interviews and all sorts of nice things in the the pipeline for you lovely lot.
Just starting uni? Head on over to Saara's blog The Gluten Free Student Cookbook for tips, advice and recipes on being a Coeliac student. Saara's lovely, and I've had a chance to get to know her a bit better through Twitter and she's a diamond so go check out her blog.
Skye posted an absolutely yummy looking cake recipe on her blog at the weekend, which I cannot wait to try. Skye has been an amazing friend to me over the past year and now that shes moved to Brighton I can't wait to spend some time with her.

Buckets of peppermint tea in my favourite mug have been keeping me going.

Filling in my pretty recipe file that Steve's mum bought me for my birthday this year.

My Dad and I are in love with Delicious mag at the moment

The super cute cupcake cross stitch that Skye sent me

Cosy new winter jammies.

Channel 4 Food

If you follow me on twitter you will have probably seen me babbling on repeatedly about this over the weekend so I shan't hold it against you while you tune out the next few sentences!

So, very recently I was contacted by Channel 4 Food and asked if I would like to be featured on their blog about  gluten-free and allergy friendly food blogs and websites. Obviously I said yes (as if I'd say no!) and the feature went live last Friday, all very exciting non?

I use Channel 4 Food's website a lot so it was beyond exciting to be asked, but to be called witty (By CHANNEL 4 no less) almost made my head rotate at great speed a la Beetlejuice. It was also totally eye popping to be dubbed one of the best gluten-free blogs, as hard as I work and as many hours I put in on my blog, I never believed for a ruddy second that I was on a par with some of the other amazing gluten-free blogs out there so it was all very humbling.
Yet again I'm feeling so very grateful for the opportunities my blog has afforded me, especially after a slow couple of months recently where  the frequency of my posts have been concerned.
I just want to take a moment just to thank Becky and everyone at Dietary Specials for their support over the past year. They really are an awesome bunch and a great company, I'm not sure my blog would have got off the ground if it wasn't for them championing me from the start.
If you'd like to have a nosey at the Channel 4 feature click here there's 9 other brilliant blogs featured which all deserve a follow so go and peruse at your leisure.

On to even more shameless self promotion...

The Cosmo Blog Awards 2011 are coming up and it would be super duper ace if you could vote for me on their site under the category Health, Diet and Fitness.If I win (not very likely but still) I shall keep you all in cupcakes for a year, or failing that I'll dish out some hugs. Bet you can't resist now, eh?

Thanks for all the positive feedback from the Speedy Sides Feature, if you have any speedy side recipes you think would be suitable to be featured email me and let me know I'm always on the look-see for recipes, and don't be shy, I'm like a dopey Labrador and not in the least bit vicious. Have a fab week, it's almost hump day! (as in the middle of the week, not the other...).

The Mentalist.

The last few weeks have been a smidgen fraught although fraught makes it sound more like I was having trouble finding a dress in my size in the Topshop sales.
My poor old moggie Max was put down which was really more upsetting than I ever thought it would be. And after all the ball aches and mess around's and appointment changes RE my barium meal I finally had the ruddy thing done, but it took an age (my tum decided that was the day it would have a 'slow bowel transit'-couldn't have done that at my graduation could ya un-coperative bowel) and by the time I'd left the radiology unit day had turned into night and I felt like David in Flight of the Navigator when he wakes up in the boat in the dark and finds out he's been transported to the future.

This is probably far to much information than anyone reading this blog wants to hear, but I very recently stopped taking 'the pill' after 8 long years, due to The Other Bowel Problems rendering it quite useless, and being 'with child' is one more ball than I think I can juggle at the moment (although I don't juggle as such,just pass two balls back and forth between two hands).
For years I thought the pill was the only thing keeping my wild emotions sedate enough that I didn't kill anyone. But it turns out sans pill I am not as violently angry as I believed myself to be, belligerent yes.Pathologically violent,no.Well,maybe sometimes.

Although it turns out I'm even more tearful than I first realised. And highly strung.And emotional.
During a shopping trip to Brighton I cried in the middle of a restaurant. Steve was mortified. The waitress turned tail quick march when she spied me blubbering and the couple at the table next to us, at first thinking Steve was proposing in some restaurant with low lighting engagement scenario, quickly realised this was not that case and hide their acute embarrassment behind a bottle of Pinot Grigio. Poor Steve couldn't do the same as he'd only ordered juice and sat looking ready to bash his brains out with the pepper grinder.
My  lovely buddy Skye (go read her blog,shes the most darling person I've ever met perhaps ever) had told me about The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton so Steve and I took a stroll down The Laines trying to dodge the hoards of exchange students who had chosen that day to descend upon Brighton despite the miserable weather.
Sadly no dice at the bakery as they'd sold out but do follow the link if you fancy pre ordering your own cupcakes (the non g/f ones looked yum-tastic so I've high hopes for the g/f versions).
I don't want to cast aspersions on lovely European people, but my god some of the exchange students were rude, I was practically thrown out of the way by one very rude mare in Starbucks who very nearly ended up with my skinny caramel latte in her lap.The only thing stopping me was that I had queued since the year dot for the ruddy thing in a line longer than the equator.

Anyway folks, I'm looking for some gluten-free recipe for future Twice As Nice posts and also for my Your Recipes tab so if you have some yummy yummy in my (or your) tummy recipes knocking around the place email me at thekatieboobaker@hotmail.co.uk. it doesnt matter if they're non gluten-free as I can convert them easy enough (depending on what it is, I'm not Jamie Oliver).

Anyway my lovers, I hope your all fine and dandy, and 'hello!' to my new Katie-Boo Babes-I'd like to tell you that my posts aren't always so nutty, but that'd be a bare faced lie. Enjoy!
I'll be back at the weekend with the first edition of Twice as Nice,which I have long promised and have only just got round to doing. See you all then!

First try at homemade gluten-free duffnuts (donuts)

My lovely old moggie Max (right)

Taking refuge in my cluttered but cosy bed-byes on poorly days.My mother constantly wonders how theres room enough for me

 

Yummy quinoa salad, recipe here

My gorgeous new Diana F+ that my gorgeous boyfriend bought me. Smug?Me?Yup thats right!

The Importance of Being Ernest

Here's dear old Ernie with a bottle of Vino and a very awesome looking kitty.

The title was my attempt at being a smart arse, since today's quickie recipe is for Daiquiri's and one of the most famous Daiquiri's on the block is the Hemingway Daiquiri. Anyway.

On Monday I had a trip to the hospital for a Gastroscopy. Happily my pre-gastroscopy stats put my blood pressure within the normal range, not something it tends to be. I think nerves and panic pushed it up out of my boots where it usually resides.
 The Marvelous 'Sister B' (that makes her sound like shes part of some sort of hiphop/rap crew-she's not as far as I'm aware) who had done my gastroscopy/colonoscopy spit roast  in 2008, did my procedure, and she and the nurses assisting were lovely. We had a chat about this blog etc and Nurse S asked to be remembered as beautiful and talented in any memoir of the day I might write (promise kept!). I didn't like to argue since was holding a needle and foraging for a vein in my arm, and was also about to participate in a procedure where a camera was to be forcibly inserted down my throat. I thought it best to stay on her good side.
All in all the morning wasn't too bad, the staff were lovely (they're beginning to recognise me now, I'm there so much, quelle horreur) and the sedative induced a four hour nap when I got home. Lovely.

I was meant to have a Barium meal today, but I haven't been all that well so I had to cancel. God knows how they get away with calling it a 'meal' since its hardly spaghetti and meatballs. A friend of my Mum's can't tolerate Barium and apparently they give her marshmallow's instead which work the same as barium and is highlighted on x-rays (I'm not sure if this is medical fact so don't quote me!).
I did mention the possibility of Flump's Vs Barium to my consultant but he looked at me like I'd just sneezed in his coffee. No harm in trying though right?

Has anyone seen the new Waitrose gluten-free sandwiches? I gave up being excited about this sort of thing after Marks and Spencer's bought out gluten-free sandwiches with the crappiest availability known to man. So it was with very low expectations that I staggered into Waitrose after my gastroscopy in search of gluten-free gold dust-and man alive, as if they didn't have not one, but both fillings! I bought one of each, resisting the urge to relieve the Worthing branch of Waitrose of their entire stock of gluten-free sandwiches.
I can confirm that the egg salad one was lovely, I wasn't massively keen on the prawn mayo, but that has more to do with my dislike of prawns in sandwiches than any failing on Waitrose part. Just the novelty of being able to buy a sandwich alone contributes 70% to my overall enjoyment! Waitrose, I'm sorry I ever doubted you.

As I mentioned at the beginning, today's recipe is for Strawberry Daiquiris, although a Hotpot would probably be more weather appropriate at the moment. Don't worry if your not on/off the wagon, the method caters for a rum riddled recipe and a virgin version as well. I'm too good to you. Enjoy!

Welcome to Bad-Blogger-Ville. Population:1

Hello there my lovelies!
I really am the blogger of broken promises aren't I? Annoyingly I can only blame part of my absence on the shocking service provided by Google Blogger recently (no signing in for 4 days anyone?).
Although I am not as one anon suggested 'a lazy bitch', I have had a lot of difficulty getting myself motivated in the face of The Other Bowel Problems and it's attendant miseries of late. Believe me when I say, no-one gets more annoyed when I don't post than me. And I'm mean to me.
I love my blog and I love writing it, I've put a lot of the proverbial blood, sweat and tears into it's content over the past year and I really am massively grateful for the opportunities it has afforded me, the people it has bought into my life and the outlet it provides me when things are difficult and the outlook is less than rosy (more a murky brown sometimes.Yum).

Anyway.

Hooray and Thank-you, I reached 100 followers on Google. Gaining readers and followers has been a steady process and I'm grateful for everyone that reads, follows and comments and to those who big up this blog. Although I don't rate my blog in terms of how many people are following me it's nice to know that folks enjoy what I write and like my recipes.

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening...oh, apart from me being featured IN A MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY THE MAJOR GLUTEN-FREE COMPANY DIETARY SPECIALS. Sorry, got a bit carried away there for a minute (be glad you missed me strutting around and getting my gargantuan head stuck in doorways and the like). For anyone that missed my star turn, here it is for you to peruse at your leisure. Muchos gracias to the ever lovely Becky and Michelle for asking me to do the reviews in the first placed, I loved every minute and thank-you for the huge parcel of goodies you sent my way, it thawed the icicles of my stone cold heart and bought a tear to my bone dry eyes. It also fed me for a week.

I got to spend a few marvelous days house sitting with Mr. Katie-Boo while my parents were away in Rome. Not sure if it constitutes house sitting when it's your own home, but we had a lovely time none the less. It was touch and go whether the 'rents would actually make it to Italy because in some vomit-inducing-Home-Alone style nightmare their alarm failed to go off. When 4am rolled round (a good hour after they were due to get up) my mother could be heard screaming 'WE SLEPT IN' at the top of her lungs. If you heard something that sounded like a banshee screaming in the early hours of last Tuesday, now you know what it was.

For now I'm going to refrain from making any promises about blog posts and upcoming recipes (mainly so I don't annoy myself more than anything) but I'm going to try my best to post as and when I can. I know that's irritatingly vague but unfortunately while The Other Bowel Problems ride shotgun, this blog and many other things in my life have to take a back seat while I try to get better both physically and emotionally. I hope you all understand and will bear with me for the time being.

MayDay

Hello my Lovelies and a big hello to my new lovelies, glad you could join us :)
May is one of those blah sort of nothing months for me, my birthday is a distance memory and all the exciting things are usually a whole month or more away. The only thing I've got to look forward to this month is the 'rents going away to Rome so I'll have free reign of the house, whatever that means since my parents stopped babygating my room when I was three.
Young Steven will be joining me (I'm far too much of a wuss to stay in my house alone for four days and he'll cook dinner every night) so I hope the weathers nice so we can have dinner in the garden and do nice summery things and wear maxi dresses (me, not Steve).
The 16th to the 22nd of May is Gluten-Free Week. Coeliac UK are asking people to shop, cook and eat gluten-free for one week to raise awareness (and also, I imagine, to demonstrate what a ball ache it can be sometimes). My dad has gallantly decided to take on the imaginatively named Gluten-Free Challenge for the week, and I'm interviewing him pre and post challenge for my blog just to see how he found it. He's (almost) as humourous as myself so I'm sure you'll find the interview if not interesting then at least entertaining.
Not coeliac or gluten-free and fancy taking up the gauntlet ? To get involved in The Challenge visit  coeliac.org.uk/glutenfreepledge .
Im doing my first ever guest post on saturday over at Where Are My Knees? so make sure you pop over and have a read. If your trying to diet, the girl's blog is a great community to get ideas, recipes and encouragement, plus some great testimonials and inspirtation from various guest bloggers and the girls themselves.

Fabulously Spicy Fish Steaks

As I said before this was adapted from a Delicious recipe. It's actually gluten-free, but I nearly took the roof of my mouth off with the spices so I have tweaked it a wee bit in order to make it not so spicey, but I'll also list the ingriedents if you like a bit of spice in your life and aren't a total wuss like me.


Ingredients

• 4 Cod steaks (or any other white fish)
• Sunflower oil
• A couple of limes to squeeze over your fish or for making your plate look fancy!
• 2 Tsp cumin seeds (halve this amount if your a wuss like me)
• 2 Tsp coriander seeds (halve this amount if your a wuss like me)
• 3 Tsp fennel seeds
• 1 Tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 Tsp ground turmeric
• 1 Lemon
• 75g Plain yogurt (I used greek natural yogurt and 100g of it to mellow the spices)
• 1 Small red onion
• 2 Tbsp fresh coriander
• 4 Tsp fresh ginger 
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1/2 Tsp salt

Serves 4

Extra's 

• Spice grinder or a pestle&mortar

Method 

• First you need to get on with making the spice mix for the fish to marinade in for a few hours. So get all your spices to hand, and fry up the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a frying pan until they start to give off a scent then pop in your grinder or pestle and mortor and give them a good old grind under they're powder.
• Next toast off the cayenne and turmeric in the pan in the same way and add to the other spices.
• Pop in a bowl with the juice of the lemon, yogurt, 4 tsp of grated ginger, onion, garlic, salt and fresh corinander finely chopped (I use scissors, it's so much easier then fannying around chopping with a knife) and give it all a good old stir.
• Smother the fish steaks in the mix and then place in a bowl/tray in the fridge covered with clingfilm and marinade for a few hours.
• When your ready to cook the fish up, preheat the grill to a medium heat and brush a small amount of oil on a baking tray that you can pop in the grill. 
• Pop the fish on the tray and under the grill for about 10minutes. you shouldnt need to turn them over and 10 minutes should be pleanty for the fish to cook through.
• Take them out of the grill, and serve up with the limes, rice or any other accompanyment you might like.
• At 192 calories and only 0.7g of saturated fats its a lovely nice healthy din dins for the summer, so get stuck into the tucker!

       

You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth

Afternoon my lovers!
And what a lovely sunny afternoon it is, not that I'd know since I don't leave the house for anything less than an emergency.
Yet again The Other Bowel Problems and related ball aches have struck me down and hindered the blogging process, I won't go into it all because your probably more fed up of hearing about my ruddy  Bowel Prob's than I am about having them. I basically started on two new tablets last week and one was torture, after a phone call to my consultant and after much pleading and crying (me not him) we (I) decided that I would stop taking said medication. Which is probably best for everyone involved since I was a living breathing nightmare for the short time I was on said tablets.
Anyway.
Did anyone hear about 'Gluten-Gate' aka the 'Demetre Disaster' aka The Royal Muck Up That was Antony Demetre Appearance On Saturday Kitchen?
The general gist as I understand it is Anthony Demetre chef extraordinaire (ahem) appeared on Saturday Kitchen (cooking show here in England for any over sea's folk) and took the opportunity to say that since he became Coeliac he 'eats pizza and pasta every 3 months' because otherwise his 'body rejects it'. Now I won't go into how misleading his comments are  or how irresponsible what he said was or how he failed to issue a satisfactory statement complete with apology because theres only so many ways I can express my anger and irritation without resorting to losing my rag and throwing some unsavoury language about the place.
But.
I will say this...(waves goodbye to dream of gluten-free baking show on the BBC)
The BBC had a responsibility to issue a statement and a apology to the viewers of Saturday Kitchen and also the Coeliac community due to the sensitive nature of the comments made regarding a serious disease and the misleading comments that were made about lifestyle regarding said disease.
Gluten Free Guerrilla's emailed the BBC on three occasions only to receive wishy washy responses and NO formal apology (the BBC also failed to issue any apology on the show despite complaints and outrage)
What made the situation even more frustrating was that Demetre's comments suggested that many Coeliac's could probably get away with the odd bit of gluten here and there such as he does, as he's 'one of the lucky ones' dontcha know! That statement is maddeningly confusing for coeliacs, especially those newly diagnosed, but also totally misleading for everyone else. Imagine turning up to your friends house for dinner and discovering they'd ordered pizza with the works because 'Anthony Demetre said it would be OK to have a sneaky bit of gluten every now and then' (my words not his). It's hard enough trying to impress upon people how serious the condition is without someone totally down playing what can be a very debilitating illness.
Obviously he's a chef not a doctor but people in the public eye have a responsibility to the general public to be careful about not making misleading or false statements such as the ones made on Saturday Kitchen and the BBC should have made an immediate apology and clarified the comments as false.
Anyway. I've said my piece, and made a complaint to Ofcom and the BBC. If you want to hear more on the story visit Gluten Free Guerrillas where you can see Demetre's agents statement and also the emails from the BBC to the Guerrilla's.
Did everyone have a good Easter? My mum and I spent 40 fraught minutes in the town on Good Friday shopping for things for her and my dads trip to Rome in May. The rest of the weekend was spent sorting and tidying and trying to sleep off the after effects of the poison, sorry, tablets.

Pretty sparkly egg from my Mama

Spring flowers

Gluten-Free Cupcake from The Swallow Bakery

My super cute and super bonkers cat Poppy asleep on top of the microwave

Pretty birthday wrap in a cheapo sainsburys frame, cute no?

Easter card

I haven't done much baking or cooking lately or though I have a few bake dated recipes which I'm

popping up soon. 

Today's recipe is from Delicious. If you don't read Delicious you have to get your hands on a copy, I love it. That and Sainsbury's food magazine are my favourites and I always find lots of ideas and the recipes don't often need much tweaking to make them gluten-free. 

I know I promised a give away before Christmas and I haven't forgotten, I'm going to do it when I get to 100 followers, that will give me time to accumulate a few lovely bits and bobs for the prize. 

My dad is doing a sponsored walk on the 12th of June in aid of Children's Hospices UK and Breast Cancer Campaign, it's a bit of a trek-a good 20 miles from Teddington Lock to the London Eye . 

I'm dead proud of him because it's not been long since his heart scare thing and him then being diagnosed with Angina so he's doing really well bless him. If you would be interested in sponsoring him email me at thekatieboobaker@hotmail.co.uk.

Sass & Belle

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a slut where dotcomgiftshop is concerned, but recently my gal pal Sophie introduced me to the oh-so-cute Sass&Belle...and a new obsession has been born (god help Mr Bank Manager).
Don't believe me? Check out this too-cute-for-words bits and bobs yourself. They're perfect little pressies for Easter (or for you, just because your awesome).

'Mama's cooking up a cheery piiiee!'...so pretty pinny

For those 'I.Just.Can't.Be.Arsed.You.Do.It' days

great for pegging recipes or notes up on your noticeboard!

 For keeping your cookbooks in order.

Are you sensing a theme here?

Mushroom madness...salt and pepper shakers.

Not very baking related I know,but adorable none the less.

Hang up your utensils (y'know..your spatulas and what not)

Magnetic noticeboard, pop up your recipes,memos or family pics.

Who doesn't love a bit of bunting?

Gluten-free toast only!

Kreativ Blogger Award

My gorgeous and lovely pal Sophie from Cider with Sophie tagged me in this award.She's such a sweetheart and is so creative and clever so go check out her blog!)

Rules:

Say 10 facts about yourself

You must tag 10 bloggers

Tell them about the award!

Who I am tagging:

• The super sweet Caleigh at Gluten-free[k]
• The girls over at the ace new dieting blog Where Are My Knees?
  
• New find and fav read of the week, Bee at vivatramp
  
• Lovely Ms Pink at  The Pink and Blue Blog
  
• My gorgeous buddy Skye at "even artichokes have hearts"
  
• The very cute Lyzi at being little
• The cheeky Emma at Voodle
  
• Another lovely Lizzy at EABeauty
  
• The ridiculously clever Chris at Dulcie Blue Bakery
  
• The amazingly talented Sally at Sally Faye Illustration
  

                            Now, ten things about me:

1. Despite my fear of the dark I wear an eye mask to bed.

weheartit

 2. I like my orange juice warmed in the microwave for 30seconds. I don't even know why.

weheartit

3. I'm a terrible coward, my list of fears is endless...heights, deep water, kids, spiders and eyeballs...happily not needles.

4. For the past 2 weeks I've been sucking a dummy at night because I read online it could help me stop clenching my jaw at night. Sexy.

5.My favourite book when I was a kid was Sophie's Snail by Dick King Smith

6.My favourite book now is a toss up between The Secret History by Donna Tartt and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

weheartit

 
7.I used to work at Gap, it was the best job I've ever had, namely because we got to wear radio head sets and could do Britney dance routines in the fitting rooms

8.I once tricked my mum into putting mustard on her sunburn when we were on holiday in Majorca. I broke the news that I made it up 3 days later.

9. I'm unashamedly obsessed with all things Disney, my favourite holiday is Florida and Disney World, I'm currently working on The Boyf to get married at The Disney Wedding Pavilion. He said he's rather blow his brains out.

10. I have a talent for accents. My speciality is Australian.

Lovely Lemon Macarons (Are you on Team Macaron?)

 So here we go a lovely gluten free macaroon recipe you can get your teeth into. Make sure you make these on a day when you have no appointments/things to do/people to see/sleep to be had. The times I've had to ring up and cancel appointments because my macaron's aren't ready..
The original recipe is gluten-free anyway, but I couldn't resist twiddling with the recipe and changing the lemon curd around so I could use my own recipe for it.

  
Ingredients

• 2 Large eggs (I always use free range, chickens have feelings to y'know)
• 60g Ground almonds
• 110g Confectioners sugar  (icing sugar to you and me)
• 20g Superfine white sugar
• 1 Tbsp of lemon juice
• Yellow food colouring (optional)

For the lemon curd

• 50g Butter
• 1 Large egg
• 2 Heaped tbsp of cornflour or potato flour
• Zest and juice of a nice big chunky lemon
• 50g Caster sugar

Extras

• Saucepan
• Piping bag and nozzles
• Hand whisk

Method

• Make your lemon curd first then you can let it cool and forget about it until you need it later. Whisk the egg in a small pan, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk over a medium heat for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. When it reaches this stage turn the heat down to the lowest heat and simmer for about a minute. Take off the heat and let it cool and then pop in the fridge.
• Pop the oven up to gas mark 5. You need to finely grind your almonds and icing sugar together, so whack them in a blender together and whizz up until the mixture is fine enough to strain. Next strain over a baking tray lined with parchment and cook for 5-7 minutes and take it out to cool.
• Separate your eggs and plop the whites in a big bowl and whisk into peaks with your hand whisk or by hand if your Iron Man. 
• Gradually add the superfine sugar a bit at a time whilst still whisking on a fairly fast speed. At this stage you can add your lemon juice and your food colouring if you want to add it, it just makes the mixture nice and yellow and lemony looking.Obviously.
• Fold your cooled almond and sugar mixture into the egg white mix until nicely combined.
• Spoon the mixture into your icing bag (you'll need a fairly wide nozzle, big enough to make small(ish) circles). Pipe your macarons mix onto a baking sheet with fresh parchment and let it stand for an hour somewhere nice and dry away from tiny hands, nosey boyfriends and clumsy cats, until the macarons have started to form a crust on the tops.
• Pop in the oven for 10-12minutes. Once cooked let them cool and then gently (and I mean gently because after all this faffing your going to scream the house down if you break them by being a clumsy oaf) remove them from the tray and leave to cool completely on a baking tray.
• Next you can sandwich the macarons together with the lemon curd you made about 36 hours ago.  Spread the curd carefully over a macaroon and sandwich another on top. Pop them in the fridge for another hour before you dish them out to family and friends. Cupcakes not looking so bad now, huh?