Find Us at the Allergy Show

Here at Gluten Free Foods, we are counting down the days until the Allergy + Free From Show at Olympia on Friday 4th - Sunday 6th July.

We have been exhibiting at the show for many years and we love seeing the amount of stalls grow each year!

This year we will be launching our brand new gluten free pasta shells- which we cannot wait for you to enjoy as much as we do!

We will have all our products on offer and so make sure you come and pay our stand a visit!

We are looking forward to seeing all the other brands that we sell on the site as well- such as Newburn Bakehouse, Rosies and BFree.

Make sure you get your free ticket now: www.allergyshow.co.uk/go/glutenfreefoods

Say Hello to Kitty

Some things never go out of fashion. Hello Kitty is one of them. This cute little character is always a childhood favourite. So it is no surprise that Kitty has decided to bring out her own food range and to our delight it is gluten free!

Order these pasta shapes online now and your kids will be very happy at dinner time!

They take under 10 mins to cook and taste delicious with a tomato sauce or any of your favourite sauces.

We also love them sprinkled over a warming soup- and your kids will too!

Enjoy! 

Fuel for Sports Day

School is almost over for the year and it seems that all types of Sports events take over the kids' calender for the summer. Here at Gluten Free Foods, we feel that it is extremely important to make sure that your body is fuelled perfectly in order to give your best sporty performance.

Loads of Barkat food will get your body into gear for your sporty workout. We thought we'd give you just a few of our favourite wholesome recipes to get you inspired!

Tuna, peppers, spring onion, buckwheat pasta salad
Tuna is a great source of Omega 3 and as we know buckwheat is a supergrain, packed with fibre, protein and wholesome carbs.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 tin of tuna, drained
2 spring onions, finely chopped
3 peppers (we like to use 3 different colours), finely chopped
1 tin of sweetcorn
400g Buckwheat spirals

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons greek yoghurt
A drizzle of Olive Oil
1/2 lemon, squeezed
salt and pepper
1 tsp wholegrain mustard

Method:

• Boil the pasta in salted water for 10 mins. Once cooked drain in cold water and leave to cool
• Chop the onion, peppers and add to a bowl with the sweetcorn and tuna- stir really well.
• Add the buckwheat and a dash of salt and pepper. Mix well
• Mix all the dressing ingredients together and season to taste.
• Before serving add the dressing to the salad and mix. 
• Seriously easy but seriously yummy!

Wholegrain Turkey, mashed avocado and roasted veg sandwich

The lean protein of the turkey along with the wholesome fibre in the bread, makes this an ideal pre-workout lunch!

Makes 1 sandwich  (perfect for packed lunches) 

Ingredients

2 slices of Barkat Gluten Free Wholemeal Bread

Thin slices of lean turkey (ideally organic)

Butter for spreading

1 tsp of wholegrain mustard

1 tsp of Mayonnaise

1/2 courgette, sliced

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1/2 avocado, mashed

Method:

• Slice the pepper and courgette and drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 mins at 180c.
• Spread the bread with a thin layer of butter.
• Mix the Mayo with the mustard and then spread on top of the butter
• Mash the avocado and spread on top of the mayo
• Layer the turkey onto one slice of bread
• Add the roasted vegetables on top the turkey
• Top the turkey with the other slice of bread and enjoy!

Summertime Pasta Salads

We love to eat dinner outside as soon as the sun is shining- there is nothing quite as relaxing as the smell of the barbeque, jugs of Pimms and salads to share for all!

Pasta salads are one of our favourite additions to the dinner table! They are so easy to prepare and taste delicious with barbecued meats and other yummy veggie salads.

Barkat Gluten Free Pasta Spirals are the ideal pasta to use for summer pasta salads. It takes just 10 mins to prepare and taste delicious when mixed with any of your favourite salad additions.

Here's our favourite Pasta Salad Recipe:

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
350g Barkat Pasta Spirals
150g Frozen Peas
1 Red Onion, chopped
50g Rocket Leaves
50g Olives, Chopped
100g Tomatoes, chopped
200g Feta Cheese, Crumbled
1 Lemon, juice and grated zest
A pinch of Salt and Pepper
A glug of Olive Oil
2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

Method:

1. Boil the pasta in water and a pinch of salt plus a small glug of olive oil. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes until it is perfectly al dente.

2. 3 minutes before the end of the pasta cooking time, add the peas.

3. Whilst the pasta is cooking, chop the tomatoes, red onion, olives and feta cheese. Add these ingredients to the mixing bowl with the rocket leaves. Grate the lemon and add the zest to the salad bowl.

4. Once the pasta and peas are cooked, strain and rinse under cold water until cool. Add the pasta and peas to the rest of the salad. Mix well.

5. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the salad, add a glug of olive oil and red wine vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

6. Mix really well and enjoy!

Take pictures of your yummy Barbecues and don't forget to send us pictures!

Pizza is a Human Right

One of our biggest points of disappointment when being diagnosed with Coeliac was that we would have to say goodbye to glorious evenings when we would help ourselves to endless slices of pizza filled with all our favourite toppings.

Well times have changed and now not only have most of the restaurant chains introduced gluten free pizzas on their menus, some of the top fast food chains have also included gluten free options too.

Here at Gluten Free Foods, we like to spend time making our own pizza that is filled with all our favourite toppings. So let's check out our favourite topping ideas!

All you need to do is choose a pizza base- either brown rice or white rice (both full of nutritious ingredients) and then have fun in the kitchen!

Goats Cheese and Veggie Special

Ingredients:
75g Basil Pesto
50 g Olives
50g sundried tomatoes
100g Soft Goat's Cheese
A handful of Spinach

Method:
Spread the base of your pizza with the pesto
Pour boiling water over the spinach (in a colander) and squeeze out the remaining water
Top the base with spinach, goats cheese, olives and tomatoes
Bake in the oven for 20 mins and then season with salt and pepper.

Ham, Mushroom and Rocket

Ingredients:
75g Tomato sauce (homemade or plenty of options at the supermarket)
100g Ham Chopped
A handful of rocket
A handful of chopped Tomatoes
75g mushrooms, chopped

Method:
Spread the base of your pizza with the tomato sauce
Spread the base with ham, mushrooms and tomatoes
Sprinkle with rocket and season as you'd like
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes

The Classic

Ingredients:
75 Tomato Sauce (homemade or shop bought)
100g Mozzarella (good quality tastes best) sliced
A handful of basil leaves, chopped

Method:
Spread the base with the tomato sauce
Top with Mozarella
Sprinkle with basil
Season and then bake for 20 minutes

These are seriously easy and are the perfect way of getting the kids in the kitchen!

Enjoy your pizza time- we certainly do! 

Celebrating Cereal

With Gluten Free Food getting more attention than ever, we wanted to celebrate our favourite gluten free offerings- cereal. There is nothing better than being able to fill your bowl high with gluten free cereals. Barkat has over 8 different cereals to choose from which means we can always have something different for breakfast every morning.

This month Speciality Food Magazine are discussing the increase of gluten free foods. Ellis from Barkat explains how breakfast foods can now be enjoyed properly by followers of a gluten free diet: http://www.specialityfoodmagazine.com/content/news/are_you_ready_for_the_gluten_free_future

So we wanted to suggest different ways of enjoying our favourite breakfast cereals- because sometimes just adding milk can get a bit boring.

1. Add Stewed Apple
I love to add stewed apple to a bowl of Muesli in the morning- serve with a big spoon of yoghurt too and breakfast gets that little bit more exciting.

2. Almond, Rice, Coconut Milk
Sometimes cow's milk gives us a bloated feeling (which is never nice for Coeliacs!) so we like to experiment with different milks. Almond milk has a lovely sweet taste which is lovely with a bowl of crispy cornflakes. Or make your porridge a bit more creamy with coconut milk instead of the normal dairy equivalent.

3. Sprinkle with toasted nuts and seeds
Add a healthy dose of fats to your breakfast cereal. Simply toast some almonds and pecans or sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the oven for 10 mins with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Leave them to cool and add this crunchy addition to your cereal bowl.

4. Frozen yoghurt- As summer approaches sometimes it is fun to swap milk with a healthy dose of frozen yoghurt. Just sprinkle the cereal on top, maybe with a drizzle of honey and you've got an exciting breakfast sorted.

Let us know what you think of our top tips for jazzing up your breakfast!

A Vegetarian Feast

To finish off Vegetarian week in style, we thought we would share our favourite Gluten free and vegetarian meal, which hopefully you can fit in to the long weekend! Even meat lovers will enjoy this feast! Let us know what you think...

Starter: Chilled watercress and pea soup

Sometimes there is nothing more comforting than soup. We love this chilled watercress and pea soup served with a warmed Barkat roll. It only takes 10 mins to prepare and tastes delicious.

Ingredients

• 454g pack of frozen peas
• 85g bag watercress, roughly torn
• 850g vegetable stock
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp natural yogurt
• ice cubes to serve
• Barkat rolls to serve

Method

1. Place all of the ingredients, except the yogurt and ice, in a liquidiser or blender. Don’t overfill the machine – you may need to do this in two batches. Whizz everything for a couple of minutes until smooth and speckled with the watercress.
2. Season if you want to, then serve straight away or chill until needed. The soup will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a 2 days (give it a good stir before serving) or can be frozen for up to 1 month. Serve the soup drizzled with yogurt and an ice cube or two to make it even more refreshing.
3. Refresh the rolls in the oven and serve warm with a knob of butter.

Main: Veggie packed Shepherds Pie

Serves 4


Ingredients

• 1 small pumpkin/butternut squash, weighing about 1.2kg
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 25g butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 300g mushrooms, chopped (chestnut, oyster, shiitake- these have loads of flavour)
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 200ml sherry (an amontillado or an oloroso)
• 2 x 400g tins of haricot beans or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 250g spinach leaves
• 25g strong cheese (e.g. Cheddar, Gruyère), grated
• 25g Barkat gluten free crackers (put them into a food processor so they become breadcrumbs)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
2. Peel and deseed the pumpkin/squash, then cut it into chunks. Place in a pan with salted water to cover and cook over a low heat until the pumpkin is soft (about 15 minutes). Drain, then mash with a fork. Crush 1 clove of garlic and stir it in, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a frying pan, then add the onion and fry slowly until it’s coloured as brown as you like it. Chop the remaining cloves of garlic and add to the pan with the mushrooms, thyme, sherry and beans. Season well with salt and pepper and let the mixture simmer away until the sherry has reduced – about 10 minutes or so. At the last moment stir in the spinach leaves to wilt.
 4. Place the filling in a casserole dish and spoon the pumpkin mash on top. Mix the cheese with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top, then give it a light drizzle of olive oil. Bake in the oven for 35–45 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

Dessert Toffee Apple Pudding

To finish off this veggie feast, I thought a caramel sweet pudding would work wonderfully. Serve with a spoon of your favourite ice cream and your meal is complete!

Serves 6 (or a greedy 4)

Ingredients

• 85g butter, melted
• 140g Barkat gluten free flour
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp Barkat baking powder
• 200ml milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Bramley apples (or other cooking) apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• For the topping
• 140g dark brown sugar
• 50g pecans, roughly chopped

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 4. Grease a 2-litre ovenproof dish lightly with butter. Tip the gluten free flour, sugar and gluten free baking powder, along with a pinch of salt, into a large bowl. Mix together the milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract and stir into the dry ingredients until you get a smooth batter. Arrange the apples in the dish, spoon the batter on top and smooth with a knife until the apples are covered.
2. For the topping, pour 250ml boiling water over the sugar and stir together until smooth. Pour the liquid over the pudding mixture, then scatter over the pecans. Bake for about 40 mins until the pudding has risen and is golden. Use a big spoon to serve the pudding, making sure you get some of the gooey caramel sauce covering the bottom of the dish. Serve with pouring cream, warm custard or vanilla ice cream.

This is one of my favourite indulgent desserts.

So there you have a delicious vegetarian feast! Enjoy celebrating Vegetarian Week!