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.

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!

Sexy Strawberry Daiquiri's

The best thing about these bad boys is that they taste just as awesome with or without the rum. Plus fruit (even if it is mixed with a sugar laced syrup) surely counts as one of your five a day.  I've seen quite a few recipes which use sugar cane syrup, but it's not always easy to get hold of. This recipe uses a super duper easy home made sugar syrup which you can knock up and keep in the fridge until the earth ends because it never goes off. Plus if you want to whip some more cocktails up at a later date you'll have your syrup a'ready and a'waiting. It amazes me sometimes that I'm not a member of Mensa.

Ingredients

•  6 Fl Oz Rum, or you can use Vodka. If your wanting your daiquiris on the t-total side skip the spirits
• 260g Strawberries (or raspberries if you prefer)
• Juice of 2-3 limes
• 4-5 fl oz Stock syrup (see recipe below)
• Few handfuls of crushed ice to serve

Extras

• Knife
• Blender/smoothie maker
• Glasses

Method

• Cut the tops off your strawberries and throw them in the blender with the juice of the limes, the syrup and if your adding rum chuck that in to. Whizz the whole lot together until its smooth. If the cocktail is a tad sharp add some more syrup to sweeten the mixture. Crush some ice in glasses of your choice and pour over the daiquiri mix. Put on your favourite summer frock, and daiquiri in hand moon for hot weather.
• You can make the syrup mix well in advance, just make sure its cool by the time you use it for your cocktails. Bring 300ml's of water and 300g of caster sugar to the boil over a gentle heat, giving it a stir every now and then to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar has melted, boil the mixture for a few minutes and then allow to cool. Keep in a sterilised jar or bottle. Don't know how to sterilise jars? see my tutorial here.

     

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!

Oopsy Daisy Upside Down Apple Cake

After you've finished yakking after reading my vom worthy 'Daddy Cool' post I thought you might like to indulge in a yummy-o, calorific Apple Upside Down Cake (the point being you turn the cake upside down,not eat it whilst upside down...but you knew that already).
I wouldn't have ever attempted an upside down anything due to my innate ability to pretty much drop anything I pick up, but my Dad found it while flicking though my new Rachel Allen cook book (a barginlicious £5 from W H Smith) and I had promised him a dessert of his choice for Fathers Day and this was what he chose, and blow me if it didn't actually come out pretty much perfectly! I refuse to revel silently in my success since nothing ever really goes exactly how I want it when I make it!

Ingredients

• 3 Eating apples (I used Pink Ladies,cos I like the name and the stickers on them)
• 250g Light brown sugar (you could use caster sugar but the darker sugar works well with the apple and the cinnamon)
• 50g Butter
• 200g Plain Flour (Doves Farm as per usual)
• 2 Large eggs
• 3 fl oz Sunflower Oil (veg oil would also do,but not olive oil-too strong in taste)
• 1 tsp G/F baking powder (I use Dr Oetker)
• 1/2 Salt
• A generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda (Dr Oekter again)
• A nice big heaped tsp pf cinnamon
• 7 fl oz Buttermilk

Extras

• You can make this in a largish oven proof frying pan (around 10inches across) or you can use a Pyrex dish as I did. (I'll give instructions for both methods)
• Sieve

Method

• Whack your oven up to Gas 4.
• While the oven warms you can get on with melting your butter over a gentle heat in a frying pan. Once its melted add in half the sugar giving it a good old stir and cook the mixture of a low heat for around 2-3 minutes. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the sugar. Burnt sugar on a pan is a pain in the arse to get off.
• Slice your apples to a decent thickness and add into the pan. If your cooking your cake in your frying pan, set to the side while you get on with making your cake mix. If your using a dish spoon the toffee/apple mix evenly over the bottom of your dish and set aside.
• Sieve your flour, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon and salt together into a big bowl and give it a quick stir. 
• In a separate bowl crack in your eggs and whisk with a fork. Add in the buttermilk, the rest of the sugar and the oil, giving it all a proper good stir to combine.
• Pour the egg/buttermilk mix in with your dry ingredients, give it some welly and stir until you have a smooth cake mix. Don't worry if there's a lump or two here and there. Raymond Blanc isn't coming to tea.
• Pour the cake mix over the apples (whether in a pan or dish) and pop your pan/dish in the oven for around 30minutes or until the cake has turned golden and is firm to touch.
• When it's cooked, take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool. As it cools it will start to come away from the sides of the dish/pan.
• Now for the utterly terrifying bit. Find yourself a big plate and place (face down) over the frying pan/dish and flip the pan/dish and plate over quickly and in one motion if possible. If the cake doesn't quite come away, leave the dish upside over the plate, it will start to suction away after a few seconds.
• If like my Dad and I you can't wait and are willing to risk third degree burns to your gullet tuck in. It's also yummy a bit cooler with a drop of cream (I don't even know why I said that since I hate cream on puddings). 
• Take to Twitter and tell the world you have successfully completed an upside down cake.Back of the net.

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.

Tasty Tempura Prawns with Mango Yogurt Dipping Sauce

I always use sparkling water for batters because you get a much lighter,less greasy batter. Feel free to use beer for the batter if you want, although with this recipe a beer batter will probably overpower the taste of the prawns.


Ingredients

• 200g King prawns (uncooked)
• 100g Plain gluten-free flour (Doves Farm,Glutafin)
• 250ml Sparkling water
• 25g Cornflour (or you could use potato flour)
• 1 Egg
• 2 Pinches of salt
• 200g Plain yogurt (I used Greek)
• 2-3 Tbsp's of mango chutney (Sharwood's is g/f. If anyone has a recipe for mango chutney send it over)
• 1 Lemon
• Vegetable or sunflower oil

If you omit the dip

Serves 4

Extras

• Wok
• Slotted spoon
• A few sheets of kitchen paper

Method

• In a bowl beat your egg and add in the sparkling water, giving it all a good stir. Add the flours and a few pinches of salt and give it a gentle whisk until everything is well mixed in. Don't worry if its still lumpy at this stage.
• Stir your prawns through the tempura mix making sure they are coated all over with the batter.
• Half fill your wok with the oil over a fairly high heat. It's hot enough when a tiny blob of the tempura batter (a bit without a prawn in!) bubbles and browns when dropped into the mixture.
• Cook a few of the prawns in the oil at a time. They should only take as long as 2-3 minutes to cook and for the batter to go golden. Be careful not to overcook them, prawns can get chewy easily and can be like chewing on a Michelin tyre if they're overdone.
• Using your slotted spoon (or something similar that will help drain the fat away when you remove the prawns from the pan) take your prawns out of the wok and pop on a plate covered with kitchen paper to absorb some of the excess oil.
• To make the mango yogurt dipping sauce, plop your yogurt and mango chutney into a small bowl and give them both a thorough stir until they're well combined.
• Dip away from my friends, dip away!

 Adapted from a recipe from Delicious magazine

Sublime Scones

Scones are one of those things that are hard enough to get right when they're not gluten-free, and they're even harder to re-produce when you take gluten out of the mix (literally). This recipe is one that I've adapted from a Phil Vickery recipe. Phil uses his own flour mixes, but I find the Doves Farm flour mixes are brilliant and work great for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 300g Self raising gluten-free flour (we need to give these bad boys a fair chance at rising!)
• 4 Tsp's baking powder (check that it's gluten-free)
• 25g Caster sugar
• 2 Tsp's xanthan gum (I use Doves Farm)
• 100g Butter at room temperature plus extra for greasing
• 2 Eggs plus another egg beaten to glaze your scone tops (optional)
• 120ml Milk
• Pinch of salt

Makes 12-14

Extras

• Baking tray
• Something to cut your scones out with, a tumbler will do if you don't have a proper cutter.
• Brush to glaze your scones with
• Rolling pin

Method

• Pop your oven on high to gas 7. Get on with greasing your baking tray, you can either use butter or a little bit on sunflower oil.
• Get yourself a nice big bowl and sift your flour in. Add the baking powder, sugar and xanthan gum and give it all a good stir with a wooden spoon. 
• Cube the butter into the flour mix and rub in lightly with your fingers and then make a well in the centre of the mixture.
• In a jug or small bowl whisk the eggs and milk together and then pour into the well you've made and mix everything together to make a nice soft slightly sticky dough. 
• Sprinkle some plain flour onto a clean surface and plop the dough onto it. Using your rolling pin lightly roll out the dough until its about 2cm's thick.
• Using your cutter, cut out your rounds and evenly space them on the greased baking trays.
• Brush your beaten egg over the tops of your scones and pop in the oven for around 10-15minutes. They should go a nice golden colour on top and be very firm to the touch.
• Take your scones out of the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
• Dig out your jam and clotted cream and get spreading. on a diet? Use a little low fat cream cheese instead of clotted cream, with a dot of jam you won't even notice the difference.

Iron Maiden

http://kay-ay.tumblr.com/post/3191866580/get-motivated-be-healthy

Between being Coeliac and The Other Bowel Problems my poor old body significantly lacks in various different vitamins and things of importance, namely iron and vitamin B12.  While my deficiencies are caused namely by TOPB, initially Coeliac's was to blame for my low iron levels and episodes of Anaemia.

The Iron Low Down

In Coeliac's changes in the bowel (the flattening and scarring of the villi- the Cadbury's finger like wiggly bits in your small bowel) makes it less able to absorb all the lovely nutrients and minerals and the fat soluble vitamins your body needs such as A, D and K.
This can lead to many (but not all) Coeliac's developing iron malabsorption which is one of the primary causes of iron deficiency Anaemia.

so what is Anaemia?

Here's the sciencey bit now folks....
Anaemia is a lack of red blood cells in the body. The red blood cells are responsible for carting the oxygen round your body. Less red blood cells means more work for the remaining red blood cells, thus your body is having to work harder but with less rescources.
As well as many Coeliac's sufferering from Anaemia, it is also estimated that as many as 8% of women in the UK suffer from iron related Anaemia.
Anaemia can also develop due to a lack of a few other vital vitamins, but we'll go into that at a later date because I'm starting to confuse myself.

Symptoms of iron deficiency Anaemia 

• Fatigue/ tiredness/ sleepiness
• Trouble breathing/ respiritory depression/ palpatations
• Paleness/ yellow lemon tinge to the skin
• Hair loss
• Fainting
• Soreness in the corners of your mouth (angular cheilitis). Not to be confused with cold sores
• Brittle hair and nails
• Headaches
• Mouth ulcers

Upping your iron and boosting your absorption

In most cases, iron defiency is treated by your GP with iron supplements. Obviously if your worried about not getting enough iron in your diet or that you may be Anaemic go and see your doctor and ask their advice.

Fancy improving your iron intake? Course you do! Here's some iron heavy foods you can get your chops round and some tips for helping you up your absorption.

• Liver (if you can stomach it) contains 9mg of iron per serving,thats a whopping 50% of your RDA for iron.
• Meat, namely red meat is also iron rich. Chicken and turkey are also good sources of iron.
• Fish and various seafood such as prawns and shrimp.
• Beans, e.g lentils, black eyed peas, peas, soyabeans (otherwise know as pulses)
• Dried fruit such as apricots, prunes, figs and peaches
• Nuts, almonds, peanuts, macadamia's and the like.
• Wholegrains (obviously Coeliac's need to avoid the nasties such as wheat, bran and barely) like brown rice, millet, and quinoa the all round super grain which, it has been said, contains more iron than a slab of steak.
• Breakfast cereals (again be careful if your Coeliac) many are now fortified with iron and other nutritional lovelies.
• Dark green leafy veg such as kale, chard, mustard leaves and bok choy.

A note about spinach:
Spinach as lovely as it is and packed full of iron as it is, it actually contains a substance which makes it harder to absorb iron.

Ways to up your absorption

• Chug a glass of OJ with your meal. The vitamin C in the orange juice helps break down the iron in your food thus increasing your absoption by up to 30%. 
• Don't drink tea or coffee with your meals. Like spinach, they also contain substances which hinder absorption. Nasty nescafe.
• Stop smoking. Tabacco as well as causing a host of other problems and wreaking havoc on your health and body, surprise surprise it also decreases your iron absorption. Stub it out.
• Sup on chamomile or rose hip tea, both full of iron.
• Mollases (treacle like natural sugar) is the secret weapon to boost your iron. 2 tsp's will give you 13% of your RDA of iron. Im not gunna lie, it ain't heaven to the taste buds, but spooned in your tea you'll never taste it.

Benefits of iron

• Helps produce collagen. Yes thats right ladies, a good supply of iron in your body could help keep your mush plump and wrinkle free.
• Helps regulate your body tempertature. Are you that person who says 'is it me or is it cold in here?'
• Iron is responsible for getting blood and oxygen round your body,your brain uses 20% of your bloods oxygen, therefore a good intake or iron facilitates brain function-thats concentration, co-ordiantion and the like to you and me.
• It boosts your immune system. Which could mean less sniffles and colds and could mean that you recover quicker from injuries and general maladies.
• Gives you more energy. Iron is extracted by the body from food, the body then facilitates conversion of iron into energy which is then used by the body.
• Getting your beauty sleep. Iron is often used in the treatment of insomnia, and encourages restful sleep.

I hope that this has been of some help. Again, I must stress I'm NOT a dietican or any other type of medical professional (despite all the wishing in the world to the contrary) the information I have given here,whilst obtained from a reliable source and also from my personal experiences should not be used in lieu of a professional opinion should you believe you have anaemia or need to address your iron intake.  Your GP isn't making making silly money a year for you to not utilise their services, so go see them!
Any questions on the subject of anaemia and Coeliac's and the whole iron schbang I can only answer from personal experience, which I'm more than happy to do.
I have also been asked if I take any iron supplements and the answer to that would be not anymore since I've been under treated for Anaemia with my consultant. I have, however tried various different iron supplements in the past including Spatone which is a natural iron supplement that you can add to orange or cranberry juice. Floradix is another liquid iron formula I've used in the past, as well as multi vitamins containing iron.

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.

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?