Christmas Cheese Board - Angelic Gluten free

When it comes to Christmas you most certainly can't do things by halves. You have to have the world's largest Turkey (even if it doesn't fit in the oven!), the glitziest wrapping paper and definitely the most extravagant decorations, so why should your cheese board miss out?

When it comes to picking crackers I don't think a typical cream cracker will do, they need a flavour to compliment the at least 30 different types of cheese on the board... okay maybe not that much cheese, but close enough! I do love cheese!

I have found that the Angelic savoury biscuits are my favourite. They have a dry consistency with a good snap and are very well flavoured, there is no mistaking the flavours they claim to be on the box, which is fantastic. I have raved so much about their products since discovering them so if you are interested in finding out more about Angelic, click here.

I will review the individual flavours that I have not yet done in the near future. But for today I would like to let you know what I like to choose to eat with each flavour.

Sweet Chilli
These are HOT, I am a bit of a heat fearer so these may seem pretty mild to you, but it doesn't mean that I do not love them! I think these go best with a bit of brie as it cools them down but does not overpower the good kick of chilli taste that I love. However being the chilli lightweight that I am two of these biscuits is more than enough in one sitting!

Cocktail Oatcake
These are a very plain biscuit so they go with most things. What I particularly enjoy with these though are smoked cheeses, as there is no other flavour to hinder the subtle smokey taste. These would also be great with a regular cheddar, or as I have been eating them lately with just a bit of butter, odd I know but don't knock it until you've given it a go!

Rosemary & Sea Salt
I found blue cheese was a superb choice to have with these savoury biscuits. The rosemary adds a depth to the flavour that translates beautifully in the mouth. Being the sophisticated person that I am, I actually found laughing cow blue cheese was my favourite with these biscuits. I also enjoy dipping these into houmous as rosemary is a flavour that really compliments the chick peas!

Sea Salt
Much Like the oat cookies, these are perfect partners for any type of cheese or pate on your cheese board. I found that these are great for a soft cheese, with black pepper or garlic infused as these are normally quite strong and the biscuit does not want to have a contrasting flavour when eating such a cheese.

I have found that Angelic's selection of savoury biscuits are very unique for the free from market, the flavours are not easy to find elsewhere and gives a more sophisticated choice for those who do not want plain crackers with their cheeses this festive season. For the RRP of £2.59, although many places are cheaper, I feel these are the best value for the flavours and quality of food you receive. They are also dairy and egg free so all of us can enjoy them!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Hannah x

Snackly Gluten Free Snack Box - Open Box

I recently discovered Snackly when they followed me on twitter. They provide a monthly subscription box containing gluten free food which was a complete blessing as I have been searching for a product like this since I cannot eat Graze boxes anymore. When my box arrived I was so excited I had to have a sneak peak.

A box is £7.95 a month including shipping, for this you receive around 6 products. So for just over £1 per product you are able to try many new things you may never have heard of!

What was in my box?

Urban Fruit - Mango

The packet says that these are baked mango pieces. I love dried mango so I am sure I'll love these. On their website they have a lot of interesting flavours, such as pineapple and tropical, both of these excite me too!

Dosiy & Dam - Gogi and Orange Organic Dark Chocolate

What's better at Christmas than a bit of chocolate orange! This chocolate is a mighty 74% so I assume a little will go a long way! So this 40g jar should be more than enough! 

Joe & Seph's  - Popcorn with Caramel and Sea Salt

I have seen the full size bags at Cineworld but have never tried them. This sample pack is perfect to give the flavour a try, sweet and salty is one of my favourites so I am sure I'll love this!

May Smart - Fudge Chocolate Brownie

This is a small business, which when looking online started trading at the Free From Show at Olympia this year! It was unfortunate that I didn't see them. But I am excited to try this brownie as it is meant to be more or less allergy free. There is no gluten, wheat, nuts, tree nuts, soy, sesame, coconut, dairy, eggs and no artificial flavours and colourings.

Cambrook Almonds

This is an Almond brittle and is described as 'roasted almonds caramelised in a wonderfully fine glaze'. The only three ingredients in this are almonds, star and honey. Which as you know pleases me when I can read and know what all the ingredients are in a product. A bar is 242 calories so this is certainly a sweet treat!

Ceeba Treats - Yummy Coconut Brittle

The second brittle in this box is gluten free and dairy free with no syrup and butter. This too has a pretty clean ingredients list. It does have a few spices including cinnamon so lets hope its not too strong because it looks fantastic. 

I think this concept is fantastic and I will be reviewing this box at the end of January when I have tried everything and can put reviews in one post so you can see what I liked! The only downside to this box is that I had to look up each brand, where as beauty boxes I've had in the past give you a little write up from each brand, this may not bother many but I really like knowing about the brands and where these products are from.

If you have a Snackly subscription I would love to know if you get the same treats as I do not know if each box is identical!

If you would like to try Snackly visit www.snackly.co.uk and use the voucher code HANNAHMADE to receive a discount on your box!

Hannah x

*This box was a free sample to try, all opinions and views are my own.

Sainsbury's - Free From Mince Pies

One day last week I had my dinner in Sainsbury's cafe, which is not only great value but they are very good at catering to allergies and intolerances. I ordered my food and picked up an individually wrapped free from mince pie for later on. They had these last year so I was very happy to see them back!

This pie is shallow, which I much prefer to the deep fill variety, as the pastry usually tends to be my favourite bit! The decoration of a little star on the top instead of a lid I feel is very effective, with the dusting of icing sugar making it just that bit more festive.

I forgot to note down the cost but on average these individually wrapped cakes retail from £1.50 to £1.80, and have around 350 calories.

The pastry is a little harder than typical pastry and I would describe the texture as a cross between a pastry but with the hardness of a shortbread. It has great flavour and no odd after taste. I have always found pastry in gluten free form very hit or miss, but I think this one has a good mixture and balance of ingredients giving a mainstream pastry taste.

The filling is very much like a typical mincemeat, although I know many mincemeats are actually gluten free, for example Tesco finest use rice flour, which makes it more accessible to everyone. There is no spice or flavour that over powers another and this allows for a good flavour with well proportion to each flavour aspect. Particularly as I have said before I do not like things too Christmas spice in flavour, too much cardamon or cinnamon and I can't stand it.

The coffee shops in the local area have really put a great deal of thought into creating a good free from range. Both chains and independents.

If I can get hold of the Genius pastry, I may try making my own this Christmas! If I do I will let you know how they go!

Hannah x

What I ate Today!

As Christmas is getting closer, I am trying to eat a bit cleaner and healthier so I can enjoy my Christmas foods without feeling too guilty! So here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:

I was wanting to have Genius toast and grilled tomato which I have been loving over the last few days, but I forgot to pick up more tomatoes yesterday! Oops! So I put some peanut butter on my toast instead as its high protein to start the day. I also had a chocolate from my advent calendar.

Lunch:

This lunch time I am at work as it is a weekday, so I have a pre packed sandwich which I made with Genius brown bread, plain chicken pieces, mayo and tomato. I love turkey and chicken sandwiches and tomatoes are most certainly their best friend when it comes to sandwich fillings.

I then had 1/4 cucumber as I've been loving cucumber as well as tomatoes recently.

Snack:

A few Hotel Chocolat caramel buttons and a banana, because without a sweet treat I may go insane! I thought that balancing the buttons with a banana must make them healthy! Well ... I can keep wishing! 

Dinner:

For Dinner I had a Genuis chicken and gravy pie for the first time, it was fantastic! Review will be coming soon. This was accompanied by some mash and broccoli. 

Coffee:

As it was Tuesday, otherwise known in my house as Starbucks Tuesday, I had a medium Starbucks decaf skinny latte. 

It was a bit of a genius day! I'm sure next time I will have more of a mix!

Hannah x

DIY - Gluten Free Christmas Hamper

When buying Christmas presents for those who have dietary requirements, don't be afraid and feel you cannot buy them food as that selection box has the dreaded wafer chocolate or that nutty bar. Become creative!

Although I do not have any close friends that are gluten free, I know many people do and if I were to create a hamper for myself this is what I would love to unwrap Christmas day!

All my items are gluten free, but I cannot recommend this selection for any other diets as I have catered to the needs of those who are gluten intolerant, there is definitely dairy and other allergens in this hamper. But the great thing about DIY is you can find an equivalent that will suit your recipients needs.

My Hamper

I brought my basket from my floristry wholesaler for £2.50, floristry baskets are great to use as hampers because they are lined so if anything may leak it will not affect the basket. I know you have to be in the industry to access florist wholesalers but I'm sure you can find baskets in most places, I've know people to find some beautiful ones in charity shops.  This one spoke to me as it has Christmas ribbon around it.


What's in My Hamper 

Tesco Finest Free From White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies - All the biscuits in this range are fantastic, I also like how the packaging looks more grown up and sophisticated than most free from food. All the varieties wrapped together would make a great gift on their own!

Hotel Chocolat Reindeer Lollies - Don't be afraid to buy food that's not from the free from section, as you wouldn't believe the amount of products you can actually find that are ok for gluten intolerance's. These are just milk and white chocolate in the cutest shapes!

Dairy Milk Vanilla Mouse Snowman - Because the Reindeer was clearly not enough!

Nakd Bars - These are a great option for those that enjoy a healthy lifestyle as they are all natural but taste like a sweet treat. You could also use eat natural bars as they are another great option for something healthier.

Angelic Sweet Chilli Savoury Biscuits - Ok so these are not actually in the picture but that's because I have not got any at the moment! But these are my favourite flavour to have around Christmas, they go great with brie and many other Christmas cheeses.

Mrs Crimbles Jam Coconut Rings - I like to look at these as a more healthy cake option as they are more nutritional due to the coconut but they taste so good and remind me of a coconut jammy dodger!

Helens Cupcake Mix - This gives your recipient something to do after christmas, I included christmas cases which were only £1 in Ikea.

Don't be afraid to look around the shops and find naturally gluten free products to throw in! Many crisps and nuts are also great as fillers.

Would you ever make a hamper for a friend or would you rather buy something pre-made?

Hannah x

Costa - Gluten Free Christmas Cake

Is it just me that doesn't really know what Christmas cake is? To be honest Christmas cakes confuse me, they all seem very much the same, filled with boozy raisins and always a deep shade of brown and look extremely and suitably stodgy for Christmas.

But being the gluten free food hunter that I am, I found these in Costa, I had to pick one up to try, purely because it was gluten free and I like to try as much as I can find as although gluten free is becoming more mainstream, it's not yet reached the point where you can eat anywhere you fancy and find any food you want.

The other main reason I picked this up is for the icing, I could just eat sheets of fondant icing by itself. I always thought this was the best bit of a birthday cake!

This cake I believe retails for around £1.65, I cannot quite remember, but I do know 10p is donated to the costa foundation, which supports coffee growing communities and considering the amount of coffee I drink I think this is a well deserving charity.

This cake is very rich, which meant I only managed to eat half. The texture is very much like a typical fruit cake with soft dried fruit suspended in a dense, almost sticky sponge. I am not always the biggest fan of fruit cake as I don't like food with too many spices such as cinnamon and clove, but these flavours are not present in this cake. It was actually a very subtle flavour for a fruit cake, combined with the icing and marzipan meant it definitely had the essence of christmas without full on spice explosion.

This cake is packed with fruit, from what I can tell it is essentially cherries and raisins, but there is nothing worse then being promised a cake filled with an ingredient and you get one or two if you're lucky! This also does mean it's quite a bit more nutritious than other cake like a brownie as it is much higher in fibre.

I found this cake was a good middle ground as it was not too spiced but at the same time it was most definitely a christmas/winter cake. It's a very naughty treat and 350ish calories, but that's what christmas is all about!


It's put me in the mood to get out Christmas films and stuff myself silly already!

Hannah x

Udis Gluten Free - Soft & Delicious Blueberry Muffins

Muffins are one of my favourite sweet foods because I feel they are very versatile,  what other sweet treat can be acceptably eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner? In my search for the perfect gluten free muffin I have eaten more than my fair share of them!

I particularly enjoy eating muffins for breakfast so when I saw these blueberry ones I was really pleased, as this used to be one of my go to breakfasts when my sweet tooth called!

Udis blueberry muffins are also dairy free and retail for £1.90 for a pack of two,  95p each. I do feel all gluten free muffins are expensive, particularly since I brought the chocolate and toffee variety at the free from show for £1 a pack. Nevertheless they are one of the best muffins I have had that aren't a chocolate based mixture. Don't get me wrong I love chocolate, but there is a lot of free from chocolate based cakes, it's good to find something a little different.

One muffin is 277 calories, with 12.5 grams of fat, which is what I would expect for bakery goods, I have these as a occasional treat as they are not the most healthy of things. They do have blueberries though, so surely that makes it one of your five a day ;)... or at least that's what I tell myself!

This muffin has the lightest, fluffiest texture I have ever found from a gluten free muffin, very much like when you make packet mix mainstream muffins with oil instead of butter. Udis may have even made the muffins this way as the case is quite oily and this avoid dairy, I should have checked the ingredients to see! The muffin does not feel particularly greasy to eat, but does mean it just creates a moist mixture which is in no way dry, if anything they are more moist than a mainstream muffin.

There is a good amount of blueberries in the mixture, in fact I had to use the one with less blueberries in the picture otherwise the muffin looked purple! The blueberries have more or less melted into the mixture, so have no texture but the flavour still comes through strongly. There is no odd powdery aftertaste and can quite easily be mistaken for a 'regular' muffin.

I found these on tesco.com and this is the only place to date I have found these, but I am sure they may be found in your closest Tesco store, as their Udis stock seems to be growing in my store.

I really enjoyed these muffins and I would love to know if you have tried them, or any other great free from muffins for that matter!

I have a chocolate muffin comparison coming very soon!

Hannah x