Brandy snaps

We were doing sewing and chatting and brandy snaps were mentioned. I haven't had them since well before i went gluten free. My dad made them when i was a kid. Suddenly I had to have some and we had cream which needed using up so what more excuse is needed.

One trip to the shop by other half later and I have the ingrediences. They turned out well if a bit mis-shapen. the rest seemed to like them too but I forgot how eating more than one or two will make you feel sick!

Toffee Apples

Made an apple tart which was OK though the pastry turned out rather solid. I haven't got shortcrust pastry sorted yet. Dove farm flour doesn't always work though if it is left in the fridge for an hour or so it seems to help. Needless to say I didn't do that this time.

However we did discover something else. slices of apple dipped in a toffee syrup are divine. Much better than a traditional toffee apple which is hard to eat and is too much toffee followed by too much apple.

I think it might become a common pudding served with vanilla ice-cream though I may have to think of something else to serve them with for the lactous intolerant among those I feed.

Gluten Free

I have been on a Gluten Free diet for several years now. I found out by accident how badly it was effecting me but now I have more energy, my hands work better than they have since I was 18 and I don’t fall asleep after lunch!

When first cut gluten out of my diet it was quite hard to work out what I could eat. These days it has improved a lot. Food labeling has improved so much and many companies now have allergy flashes under the ingredience listing to more common allergens if they contain them. Most supermarkets do free from ranges which do gluten, wheat, dairy etc free items. Most are expensive but give you more options. So are better than others but that is always the case

I like Dove Farms plain flour for everyday use but want to try using other flours for some things. For some reason soya flour and chocolate brownies go together very well.

I also regularly cook for someone who is lactose intolerant plus someone who can’t eat tomatoes or eggs though she can have eggs in things like pastry.

The new Kitchen

After a year of using two camping gas rings and a table top oven and microwave we have a wonderful new kitchen. The units are two different shades of purple hence the name of this blog.

I have cooked and experimented a lot over the years but building work and a small child have cut back on that. I now want to be able to get back to cooking properly for all of us.