Pumpkin Update - Pumpkin Soup!

So my pumpkin had enough to cook with! Yay! I knew I wanted to make a soup. But instead of following a recipe I couldn't find one that I had everything in my cupboards, or were not to my taste so I went with what I thought would go, here's what I came up with!

Ingredients

• 500g pumpkin
• 3/4 onion
• 1/3 bottle white wine
• salt
• pepper
• cinnamon
• ground pepper 

Method

• Put a dash of oil in a pan and cook down onion followed by the pumpkin
• Add the salt, pepper, cinnamon and ground pepper to taste 
• Pour the wine and some water into the pan and bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes
• Blitz the soup until it is smooth and keep on the heat until as thick as you desire. 
• Add any more seasonings to taste.
• Serve!

Simple as that! This soup is quite fresh and as I had no stock cubes I just found bits I thought would go! It turned out quite well but of course you can add milk or cream if you wish, but I prefer soups which are more of a broth style! And for under 500 calories in one batch which can serve two for lunch or one dinner, it is a fantastic healthy choice! 

Happy Halloween!

Hannah x 

Nature's Store Swiss Chocolate Muesli

Weekday breakfasts are always the hardest meal of the day I tend to wake up uninspired as to what I want as I know I have to rush out the door, rushing and eating isn't a combination I do well, particularly if I make something I want to share with you all, as I spend hours photographing them!

So when I saw Nature's Store Swiss Chocolate Muesli on The Witt Family's vlog quite some time ago I thought it would be something I would love to try to replace my usual boring toast. I had bought some bits in the past from Natures Store at the free from shows and a couple of bits in stores, but never actually saw the muesli. So when the free bag of corn rolls with an order started (which I LOVE) I thought why not order direct and shop the full range!

I always thought Muesli was oats, dried fruits, nuts and other grains so would be quite hard to achieve for the free from market. In fact this muesli is much more like a mixed cereal, and it's made up of what seems to be cornflakes, puffed rice and puffed oat with beautiful dark chocolate swirls interspersed through. Although this isn't what most would expect from a muesli, I have to admit it is the best breakfast cereal type product I think I have eaten since having to change my diet!

The ingredients itself state that there are only cornflakes, rice puffs, gluten free oat pops and swiss chocolate curl, which is fantastic as I can read all those ingredients and I know that there is nothing nasty in my cereal. It is also wheat, gluten and GM free. 

Here's the nutritional information:

per 100g : 
Energy : 491kJ/ 116 kcal
Protein : 2.0g
Carbohydrates : 24.1g
(of which are sugars) : 5.5g
Fat 1.0g
(of which are saturates) : 0.5g
Fibre : 1.0g
Sodium : 0.3g

I believe a portion size was 30g which means depending on what type and how much milk you use this breakfast can be well under 100 calories so is great for those who like to have a smaller breakfast so you have plenty of calories for the day!

The flavour of this cereal is very much like if you were to mix cornflakes, puffed rice and sugar puffs together so is quite a plain taste but quite sweet. The welcome hit of dark chocolate is made more prominent because of this adds a richer undertone to the product. Formed into thin curls I feel also enhances the flavoursome chocolate as it snaps and then crumbles in the mouth. If you are the sort that like your milk turned chocolately by cereals, just be warned the milk doesn't take on the chocolate due to being such a dark and solid texture. 

I really enjoyed this cereal and would certainly buy it again and seems to be available in a variety of stores. Some actually have it cheaper than Nature's Store do on their site. I got mine for £2.99 online but Tesco.com do have it for £2.50 currently, which I think isn't too unreasonable as this is the typical price for free from cereals, so is what you tend to expect!

I also think this would be great to make crispy treats from making them by coating them in milk chocolate and one they have set dip one side in white melted chocolate, making a dip dye crispy bite, to give a twist to an old classic!

I would love to know what other quick breakfasts you enjoy. I think I may see what else Nature's Store have to offer!

Hannah x 

We Went Pumpkin Picking!

For months now we have been looking for something a bit different to do as I don't know about you but we always get caught up doing the same things, mainly shopping! I had been looking for local days out, such as pumpkin picking and when one of the girls that comes to the youth club where I work told me she had been to one just down the road I told James we just had to go!

So Sunday we popped on our boots and headed out to the pumpkin patch. We were there two hours looking through all the pumpkins looking for ones that had a charm to them or a little personality! We finally managed to find some we liked and I even picked up seven mini white ones to do as part of a Halloween craft at the Youth Club! All seven mini ones plus our three large pumpkins only cost us £7 and with free entry it's certainly the cheapest day out we have had in a while.

I am really hoping that my pumpkins will have enough to make some pumpkin soup for a future blog post this week. I did try to find quite heavy ones in hope that there would be more flesh in them! We will see!

All going well and if I have enough I will be popping a soup recipe up this week, if not I will show you what I do with my pumpkin anyway!

Hannah x

Angelic Multi-seed Crackers*

Some more savoury goodies I have been trying today! Angelic Multi-seed Crackers are one of the newer flavours in the range. With whole seeds, these crackers have a fibrous texture and a fresh flavour.

This one stop shop for egg, dairy and gluten free people alike, these crackers are only 88 calories a portion. Perfect for cheese, soups, creating 'snackables' and general eating as they are so plain in flavour!

The cracker itself it quite small, reminds me the size of a hair band, four do make a good sized portion. I find that there is a good amount of seeds in the cracker, but unlike some seedy crackers these hold their structure and haven't affected their integrity. Like all Angelic products these have the same crispy crunchy cracker texture which snaps fantastically but doesn't crumble. Slightly drier in texture but not overly so making them hard to eat.

The flavour itself is quite plain but the seeds add a touch of interest, making this the ideal cracker to have with almost anything as there is nothing powerful which would overpower or taste peculiar. I have had these with broccoli and stilton soup, cream cheese and tomato, salmon and Philadelphia and much more and each concoction has been better than the last. Even with just some butter is a fab snack!


Available in Holland and Barrett a box of crackers retails for £2.60 currently which is a fantastic deal as I get around 6 portions from one box I believe, so under 50p a portion! I would recommend trying these if you are looking for a plain cracker for everyday or even something ready for your Christmas cheese board as it's fast approaching!

Hannah x

*This product was gifted to me to try, all opinions are my own

Udis - Cheddar and Garlic Bagel Chips

After whats seems like months of searching, I finally found the Udis Cheddar and Garlic bagel chips on the Holland and Barrett website. I have had the plain ones for some time and really wanted to try the flavoured ones.

A box costs £3.50 and has 170g, which is a good amount of product, certainly enough to pop in a bowl for a sharing snack with some dips in front of a film! Free from what seems almost everything other than milk means that almost everyone can enjoy this snack.

The texture of the chips are the same as the plain variety, have a snap and very crunchy, very comparable to croutons in texture, just flat, not square! They would be perfect to dip in tomato soup too!

The flavouring is a dusting on the top of the chips so some are more coated than others, which is something I quite enjoy when it comes to crisps or chips, some full of flavour and some not so. The powder itself has a strong flavour and you can certainly tell there is garlic powder in the mix, the cheddar is present too but I tend to find the garlic as the more dominating flavour.

I find these store really well too in an airtight container so although they are perfect to share, it's so easy to portion them out and have the box to yourself!

As always my biggest complaint is this product was so hard to find, like many gluten free food I spend a lot of time looking for the products I want to try! I know not all retailers could stock every item but I wish when newer products are released stores could be more proactive in stocking them!

I would 100% recommend trying these if you can find them as they are a little different and great to dip into melted cheese, dips and soup!


Hannah x

 

M&S - Popcorn Bar Mini Review

Popcorn covered in white chocolate? Yes please! New to my M&S store this week was this little beauty sporting a gluten free logo! This bar is caramel, white chocolate covered popcorn with milk chocolate laced over the top. As this is another gluten free product in the regular M&S range, I always recommend looking in there for a bit more unique or hard to find free from food. As there is not too much to say on this bar I thought I would do a mini review and bullet point my views!

Positives

• This bar is 200 calories, so a perfect option if you are looking for a sweet treat but not go too overboard on calories! 
• There isn't too much chocolate so it is fundamentally a popcorn bar, rather than a chocolate bar!
• The white chocolate makes this bar much lighter in taste than milk chocolate would.
• The bar is the normal snack sizes ones you find in M&S so you can feel you join in on cake day!

Would be even better if

• If they sold them in multipacks, the same style you get KitKats or and cereal bars I would certainly buy them!
• I think they would also be fantastic sold as squares with mix and match chocolate, for example white chocolate, laced with milk, milk laced with dark and dark laced with white. 

I hope you liked a different approach to a mini weekly review, I thought it would suit the style of post as I only have a quick hidden iPhone snap from work! 

Hannah x 

Whole Creations Gluten Free Spiced Chicken Pizza

Sunday's are a funny day for me, some months of the year, mainly through spring I have real lazy Sunday's but then the other half I am set building for the local drama group or running my stall at a craft fair. This means quick dinners are a must, or should I say dinner where I don't have to tend to the meal! Standing doing meal prep after a busy day isn't my idea of fun!

Today I tried Whole Creations gluten free spiced chicken pizza. I wanted to give this pizza a go for so long because I feel that is the only 'normal' adult pizza flavour that you can get ready made. I understand you can do anything with cheese and tomato and pepperoni is child safe too, but sometimes it is nice to just be able to pick up a ready made, more interesting pizza. This fills that gap in the market.

This pizza consists of spicy chicken pieces, which are quite large, caramelised onion and red pepper. The caramelised onion is very much like a chutney on a pizza. Odd sounding I know, but honestly this was the best bit of all the topping elements! When looking at the pizza the distribution was very central, as it is frozen you cannot really move anything until it was cooked. I found unlike many other  pizzas in the frozen section, there is a good amount of toppings. The chicken I found could be cut down and spread it over as the large chunks meant there was plenty of chicken to spread around.

The constancy of the pizza base is very similar to other free from pizzas I have had, crispy edges which feel almost like fried bread and a very fluffy middle. The chicken was succulent and not overly spicy, I think children could eat this without being too hot! I think the larger chunks meant it didn't dry out whilst cooking, as chicken on pizza can get dry.

A whole pizza is 714 calories, half a pizza is a serving but I tend to eat the whole thing, as I am the only gluten free one it would be wasted. Although if someone would be happy to share I think this would be great with a side salad of spinach, tomato and cucumber. A whole pizza has a good amount of fibre, which is fantastic, but obviously, with all pizza this is high in fat and carbs, but great for a treat!

Per 1/2 pizza

• Energy kcal 204 
• Fat 14.5g
• Of which saturates 6.0g
• Carbohydrate 44.3g
• Of which sugars 1.6g
• Fibre 2.8g
• Protein 13.5g
• Salt 1.6g 

This pizza seems to not contain any egg ingredients either, so if you cannot eat egg, this could be the pizza for you! Although due to the cheese there is milk!

I really enjoyed this pizza and overall I think it is the best frozen free from pizza I have had. The favours are fantastically unique and for £3 I think this is a fantastic deal for a shop pizza. The only downside to this pizza is that this flavour is a Tesco exclusive, we do shop online at Tesco once a week for bulk items, but this is the first week I have seen it available to order and my delivery comes from a tesco.com centre rather than a store, and a huge one at that! So it may be hard to find! 

Now I have got hold of this pizza, I will certainly buy it again!

Hannah x

Angelic Tomato & Mediterranean Herb Crackers*

When I was at the free from show, there were so many new and interesting products to try. I have only just got around to opening these crackers! Crazy I know. I purposely try to get through things  in date order to prevent having too much open and things going bad before I had a chance to try.

I am quite glad I didn't open these earlier though as I know I am going to always have a box of these stashed in the cupboard now. Hands down these are the best free from crackers I have ever eaten by miles! Flavoursome and crisp, these crackers have the perfect combination!

Four crackers is considered to be a serving size, making a portion 85 calories. There is only 0.5g of fibre per serving so I would recommend having these with some fruit, veg or nuts to make the meal more wholesome in nutrients. Being gluten, dairy and egg free. These are perfect for a buffet table, particularly at Christmas. I always have a lot of festive cheeses (if that is a thing!) at Christmas as part of a buffet. These would be fantastic as so many people now have allergies. Being 100% natural too is something I like to look for, I can read all the ingredients and I think it is so important to know what you're eating. I am not against having sweet treats, but for my meals I do tend to like natural, clean foods.

Flavour wise, these crackers are one of the most unique in the free from market. For people who have not had Angelic before, this is now the product I recommend trying first. Using tomato paste and mixed herbs makes the flavours really make a stand on their own. I don't tend to just eat plain crakers, but with these I can. Although this week I have been eating them with an M&S cheese triangle and sliced cherry tomato. You must try it!

The texture is pretty consistent with all Angelic crackers, so you know what to expect. A drier, crisp consistency with a good snap. I don't always like to use the word 'dry' when taking about gluten free food as it brings to mind connotations of hard to eat, crumbly, stodgy food. This is not the case with these crackers, it is a crisp dry bake; not soggy or stale feeling, like the feel of some crackers I have tried.

I believe that these are available in Holland and Barrett, although I do recommend buying online as all of my local Holland and Barrett stores are small and only stock a tiny range. Also many health food stores stock them!

I would love to know what you tend to eat with crackers. Is it a strictly cheese and cracker relationship you have, or do you did them in soup like croutons or just eat them plain with butter?

Hannah x

*These products were gifted to my to try, all opinions are my own.

What's in my Snackly Box? - October 2015

It's that time again, where I share all the goodies that arrived in my snackly box. This month is a little different as the price has been reduced by £1 and we get one less snack. This is to make way for their new service which means you can choose to have your snack box weekly! I think I will still stick to monthly as I don't think I would get through them fast enough, but if there is a few of you sharing the box, I think it's perfect!

So what was in this months box?

Beech's - Anglesey Sea Salt Chocolate - RRP £1.75
I got one of these in a box a few months ago, but I saved it to take on holiday. It actually came home unopened so I now have two of these to dig into! A whole bar is 334 calories, so although looking large it isn't so much difference to a bar like a snickers.

Beyond Dark - Moments of Pleasure - RRP 95p
70% dark chocolate with a hint of orange, these chocolate drops are gluten, wheat, dairy and nut free. 189 calories for the whole bag is one portion size, I think I would split this down into two portions as that is a lot of dark chocolate in one go! I love orange chocolate so I can't wait to try these!

Kent & Fraser - Spicy Ginger Cookies - RRP £2.25 Full Box
We have had these in our box before, they were delicious! Good amount of ginger but not too spicy, so I am looking forward to having these again!

Sassy's Red Velvet - Cashew, Coconut and Pomegranate - RRP £2.25
Something completely new in the box, this 'cake' has no added sugar and is vegan, wheat and gluten free, as well as raw. The only ingredients are cashew nuts, dates, desiccated coconut, beetroot powder, raspberry powder and pomegranate powder. This makes me think that it's be very similar to a Nakd bar. The whole bar is 205 calories.

The Protein Ball Co. - Peanut Butter - RRP £1.69
Made out of dates, date syrup, dried egg white, peanuts and peanut butter, these make a very natural protein snack. This snack is gluten free, no dairy, vegetarian, wheat free, all natural, no GMO's, no soy and no added sugar. One pack contains 158 calories and has 20% of your daily intake of protein. I love peanut butter, so much so I have a jar in my desk, so these are so my kinda snack!

Teapigs - Apple & Cinnamon Tea - RRP £1.30
We also received a sample of a Teapigs tea, I have had the apple and cinnamon before and it is warm and autumnal, so perfect for the season! There is also a £5 discount code on the card!

I would love to know what you got in your Snackly!

Hannah x

M&S Made Without Wheat - Honeycomb Crispy mini review

For mini review Sunday M&S seem to have released a number of these snack bars in the last couple of weeks, from millionaires shortbread to brownies, my local store seems to be filled with them! They are even on 2 for £2!

Honeycomb always speaks to me and so I picked this up to try! I was most certainly not let down! Very much like a luxury version of a crispy cake, these bars have honeycomb which is very similar texture to what you would find in a crunchie. The bar had a good crunch overall and was not packed with hard to get through solid chocolate. Light and airy, this bar had not gone soggy or like a rock, which can be an issue with crispy cakes! There was a hint of caramel to this bar which added some extra interest. Described on the back of the pack as puffed rice and honeycomb covered in milk chocolate and caramel, topped with chocolate drizzle. Which really is all there is to say about this bar. That is exactly how it tastes.

This bar is surprisingly 237 calories, which I personally wouldn't expect from a crispy treat as they tend to be something you would give to children or something I would consider as a lighter cake option. With 22.3g of sugar  and 9.5g of fat in this bar alone, this is most certainly something you do not want to be eating daily, but is a fantastic Friday treat!

This bar does contain milk and soya, but seems to not contain egg, although not claiming to be egg free. It is also not suitable for nut allergy sufferers due to manufacturing methods.

A quick review to say as this product is quite simple, but delicious, I would recommend giving them a go. I am hoping that M&S may make these in the bitesize tubs like the millionaire's crispies as I think they will great on a buffet table and a treat not just us gluten free lot would enjoy! This way it would save me cutting up the bars!

Hannah x