No.G Too Good to Be Gluten Free - Sausage Roll*

I know I have only just done a post on the No.G pork pie, but these are fresh foods and I really want to get these reviews up before Christmas, so you have time to get hold of them for the festive season, as lets face it, pastry is what Christmas food is all about!

Like the pork pie, this is a good sized sausage roll, suitable for lunch or even with some mash and beans for dinner! It would also be fab cut into bitesize pieces on the boxing day buffet table. With seasonings such as ground white pepper, lemon juice, ground coriander, mushroom extract, ground nutmeg and ground clove, the sausage meat is very flavoursome and very well seasoned, but not overpowered by spices.

Like all pastry products, these are quite calorie laden, one roll is 410 calories with 28.6g of fat of which 12.5g are saturated. But if you can't indulge at Christmas, when can you? In comparison to  the DS/Schar sausage rolls I would certainly pick these as firstly they are fully baked so will not take as long to warm up, they also they have a much more flakey pastry, representative to a true mainstream sausage roll. Nevertheless they are both great products just No.G top the convenience factor and also are larger so at 2 for £5 are a much better value.

The pastry is something that particularly stands out to me. So light and flakey, like a true puff pastry, which is something all other brands creating sausage rolls I have tried have not quite mastered. It's buttery and light and just such a beautiful texture. The taste is also as you would expect. When I saw the pastry looked perfect, I was certain the taste would be compromised, as it seems to me a lot of the time one or the other has to be lacking, even if it is only slightly. But I was wrong, there was not dryness on the back of my throat or powdery taste or any bitter aftertaste. So it was an all round fantastic pastry recipe!

Two of these rolls were sent to me to try, so I decided to try one hot and one cold and they were lovely both ways and it is honestly down to preference to how you wish to eat this, rather than having to heat it to make it change to a more pleasant texture, which is something we sometimes have to do with breads and pastry.

If you have a Sainsbury's locally who stock No.G or ordering from Ocado, I'd recommend popping these in your basket quickly!

Have a fab Christmas

Hannah x

*This product was sent to me to try, all thoughts an opinions are my own

Saks Fifth Avenue - Gluten Free Menu

As some of you may have noticed, I have not been blogging for a little while, this is because I have been in New York! James and I went for a mini break for five nights and trust me, we spent WAY too much!

Whilst we were there James proposed in Central Park and to celebrate we went to have lunch at Saks. The menu is fantastically laid out, with all the gluten free meals having a star next to them as it is very clear what is and isn't gluten free. As it is so close to Christmas, it was their festive menu on offer. I chose the Turkey Cob salad, a festive take on a salad is not something I've seen before!

The salad itself consisted of mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes, crispy bacon cubes, roasted turkey, crumbled blue cheese, crumbled egg and a salad dressing. It was quite refreshing and made a nice lighter choice compared to typical rich christmas food!

The salad was so fresh and with the succulent roasted turkey, this salad was perfection! I particularly enjoyed the creamy blue cheese and crumbled egg as this is quite an unique element, which I've not seen before together! Combined with salty crisp bacon, this salad had complex tastes and textures to create what I feel is the best salad I have ever eaten! It didn't feel like just a boring salad which on paper sounds fabulous but in reality is not as expected, but more of a whole meal with a real depth of flavours.

The aspect I enjoyed the most is that taste or texture has not been compromised to be gluten free, which is how food should be, gluten should not be needed to add flavour or texture, so many fresh natural gluten free ingredients can make delicious meals!

I hope you all had a great couple of weeks whilst I was away!

Hannah x

No.G - Too Good to Be Gluten Free - Pork Pie*

Last week I was sent a few bits to try from No.G. Branding as 'Too good to be gluten free' is something that highlights their confidence in their products, and they really should be as I got increasing nervous whilst eating this pork pie that maybe I had picked up the wrong one, because the pastry was perfection!

Described as a gluten free hot water pastry with seasoned British Pork, this pie seems to be dairy free too, the only bold is egg, which I assumed was used to glaze the pastry. The pie is ready to eat, so no need to heat and there is a good amount of it!

Retailing at the £2.50ish price mark, this pie is quite large, and could be cut into four as part of a buffet, as well as a larger single portion or even shared between two, with salad for lunch or as part of a dinner! At 391 calories, and 26g of fat, 10g of which saturated, this is most certainly something you do not want to be eating everyday. I would say though if you are looking for a treat or a pork pie for your Christmas buffet, I would 100% recommend these ones over the mini ones that M&S have, as they have a much harder, drier pastry. This pastry has a better natural crumble and even the meat tastes of better quality as well as the all important jelly which lacks in the M&S pies. But don't worry it is not overloaded either like cheap mainstream ones, I feel that ratios are perfect.

The texture itself is how I remember a mainstream pork pie. The glazed pastry has structure but you can still cut or bite into it without struggling or it crumbling apart. The flavour is subtle and a good classic pastry, with no after taste or powderiness, which is one of my bug bares with free from pastry. Sometimes I avoid pastry as it can feel that you are eating cardboard, this so isn't the case with these pork pies, it's extremely refreshing to find such a high quality free from pastry.

The meat is as you would expect from a pork pie, very dense and compact in texture. The black pepper and nutmeg used to season brings out the flavour and add a little warmth and character to the pie, very much perfect for the festive season as it feels like a true filling comfort food!

I have found theses on Ocardo online and Sainburys also have some of the range, but my local Sainsbury's does not stock any and the online store only has a couple of options, so if I were you I would opt for looking at Ocardos range as they seem to be the better stockist.

I would love to know if you try the range and what you think. When I reorder I will have to get a few, as I had to fight  all the gluten eaters for mine once they saw them!

Hannah x

*This product was sent to me to try, all thoughts and opinions are my own 

Gluten Free Christmas Gift Ideas!

Finding something foodie but thoughtful for those with allergies isn't always the easiest, so when I was making some raffle prizes for my local drama group, it got me thinking... Everything I made was naturally gluten free anyway! So I thought I would share!

Hot Chocolate Reindeers
Super simple and effective! For this all you need is your preferred hot chocolate and some marshmallows. In terms of decoration, I used cone shaped cellophane bags, red pompoms, wiggly eyes and pipe cleaners!

All you do is pop a serving of hot chocolate in the cone, top with marshmallows and tie up! Then you add the pompom nose and eyes, done! So easy and makes this so much more interesting than a tub of hot chocolate, perfect for childrens stocking stuffers!

Sweetie Wine Glass
Pick out the recipients favourite gluten free sweeties and in layers add these to a wine glass, here I just used the basic 4 for £1 wine glasses, but you can use the large ones! once this has been done get some food safe cellophane and some floristry ribbon and tie them up! This gift can cost as little as £1 each but looks so thoughtful!

Chocolate Pint Glass
Something for the men! Chocolate pint glasses, just the same as the sweetie wine glasses, just with bitesize chocolate! Of course you can fill these with sweets too, or the wine glasses with chocolate, but this was just my preferred way! This one is mainly filled with Cadburys but any gluten free and dairy free chocolate can be used!

All of these can be tailored to more allergies, it just depends on what you pop in them!

Hannah x

No G - Too Good to be Gluten Free Haul*

Today I have received some goodies from No.G -Too Good to be Gluten Free. When they reached out to me on twitter I didn't know what to pick first as all their products seem so good! I have seen them at the allergy show once before, but travelling on the tube, I wasn't sure if they would make the long journey home!

After much deliberation I decided on the sausage rolls, as I wanted to be able to compare these to other brands that I have tried. As sausage rolls are popular and somewhat a staple in a lot of gluten eaters diet, I thought it would be a great place to start. This is the same reason why I picked pork pies as I have tried the likes of M&S and I wanted to see how they compare!

The crustless garden vegetable quiche was completely an indulgent choice. Before I was diagnosed I used to love a broccoli and feta quiche from the Morrisons deli. This quiche has a medley of green vegetables and topped with feta and pine kernels, which I love too! This is such a unique gluten free product, very much like products I see in my M&S for the mainstream audience.

I feel that the quality and flavour are the main focus of their brand, which is something that really refreshing and appeals to me, as there is only so many fish cakes, chicken burgers and nuggets one person can eat! No.G make more unique lunch and dinner options, and as a foodie some pre-packed free from food can be quite plain in flavouring, presumably to cater masses, but this more niche section of gluten free eating has a demand too!

A range of their products are available on Sainsbury's online and Ocado, currently Sainsburys limited range is on offer for £2 each, Ocado have the full range for 2 for £5. As these are individually packed I think that these are reasonably priced, particularly for the quality and amount of ingredients used.

On first impressions, I am very excited to try these products and no doubt there will be in depth reviews!

Hannah x

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

What's in my Snackly! - December 2015

We have hit a year of Snackly! And I have to apologise in advance for my quick iPhone snap, but when you are faced with Honeyrose choc chip cookies, you just have to eat them straight away... If you have no will power that is!

When you fist open the box you will see a small thank you card for supporting their first year, but I'm sure you'll all agree we are just as thankful for them posting new treats through the door each month, opening us to new brands and small sized snacks, perfect for the single gluten free whose surrounded by gluten eaters!

So without further ado, lets see what's in this months box!!

Honeyrose Organic Triple Chocolate Cookies
I guess I will have to mention this one first as it is clearly my favourite in the box as I had no will power and ate it... Straight after I felt terrible though as I then remembered last time I had this I forgot to review it and told myself I must take a nice picture next time I got one. Which clearly didn't happen! Sorry Honeyrose! But this biscuit has a softer texture as there is large rich chocolate chunks which mixes so well with the crisper biscuit mix. If you see these anywhere I would 100% recommend them!

The Protein Ball co. - Protein Ball
I got a pack of these in October's box, I have been saving these as I am the secretary to a local Am Dram group and our panto is this week, so with organising tickets, raffle prizes and all the masses of paperwork, I thought these would be great for the three days we do the performances as I tend to be rushed off my feet and don't get chance to eat much, I have two bags now, so that's even better, so we will see what they are like!

The Melting pot - Salted Caramel Fudge
I was hoping the Melting Pot would make an appearance soon! Rich, smooth fudge is one of my favourite treats, I believe we had the chocolate flavour and the plain one before, so salted caramel sounds perfect to me! I have a craft fair on Sunday... I know I'm crazy, four panto performances in three days, followed by a craft fair! Bu I think when I get home on Sunday, I will pop on a Christmas film, decorate the tree and sit down with a hot choccy and this fudge... Heaven!

The Foods of Athenry - Multiseed Gourmet Crackers
Around 6 months ago these crackers made an appearance, I really enjoyed them then. You can see my review here! I am glad they are back in the Snackly box, and as it is wintery, I have half a pot of tomato soup in my fridge, I think I will grab some butter and have this for lunch tomorrow!

Snact - Apple and Mango Fruit Jerky
Something new from Snackly, I imagine these to be a bit like those fruit bowl fruit flakes, only bigger and maybe not coated in sugar! If so I will love these! Under 65 calories a bag, these are the perfect on the go fruit snack, because lets face it a sticky apple or orange isn't always convenient to eat on the go, particularly for someone like me who sells jewellery and fabric hairbows at craft fairs, sticky fingers and my handmade products don't mix well!

We also got another Teapigs sample, this month I got the chocolate and mint, which is my all time favourite flavour of theirs, so I am over the moon! I like the sample of tea that's been included, particularly over the winter months, as I am a very seasonal eater!

I hope you enjoyed your last snakily box of the year! Let's see what Snackly has in store for the next year!

Hannah x