Amy's Kitchen - Gluten Free Chunky Tomato Soup

Monday's are always a tricky day for packed lunch at work, after having the freedom of cooking up whatever I fancy at the weekend, I always find Monday's really restricting. Amy's Kitchen soup have been on offer in Tesco recently so I thought I would get some. I tend to get fresh M&S soup but obviously with these they keep for much longer as they are canned!

Mrs Crimble's sent me some cheese straws, so I thought I would have a couple with my soup! A whole can of this soup is around 200 calories and other than vegetables there is only cream in the ingredient list, it is a clean food and all ingredients are organic too!

A full list of ingredients:

• Organic Tomato Puree (34%), 
• Organic Diced Tomatoes (33%), 
• Filtered Water, 
• Organic Cream (Milk) (4%), 
• Organic Sugar, 
• Organic Onions, 
• Sea Salt, 
• Organic Cracked Black Pepper

The soup itself is very thick and chunky, it smells slightly of garlic, although I think it is the combination of onion and tomato with pepper. Whilst eating this soup, I thought that by adding pasta and a few veggies you could make a great minestrone, or even simmered down in a pan with pasta and roasted vegetables to make a fab pasta dish! I enjoyed that there was some texture, as when a soup is too smooth and is almost a drink in texture I find that they are not very filling! 

I couldn't believe how fresh this soup tasted for a tinned one, the pieces of tomato tasted like I cut and cooked a fresh one that day. It truly tasted like a homemade soup, I am not sure if its the quality of the ingredients or if it is because it is organic, but either way it is a beautifully flavoured soup! 

I also have an Amy's Kitchen vegetable variety in the cupboard, so I am really looking forward to trying this one too! I would love to know if there are any other flavours I should try, let me know! 

Hannah x 

Mrs Crimble's Birthday Haul*

It was my 21st on the 16th, so the wonderful people at Mrs Crimble's sent me a little hamper of goodies to try! When the box arrived I couldn't believe how generous they have been. I have a big mix of all sorts to try!

I think I will go from savoury to sweet to not get too confusing! So here's what I got!

Cheese Straws
Made with puff pastry, these are one of the only ready to eat gluten free cheese straws I have seen! You can also heat them to have that lovely warm crisp flakey pastry taste. A box contains 6 and retails for £1.99 which I do agree is a considerable amount more than the mainstream counterpart, however, unless you want to be in the kitchen for hours, these are a perfect snack or quick addition to a buffet. I very much look forward to trying these as I love cheese and pastry and at only 90 calories each, they make a great snack!

Fusilli with a Cheese and White Wine Sauce & Fusilli with a Rich Tomato and Mediterranean Herb Sauce
Another hard to find product in the free from market. Comparable to a mug shot style pasta packet, these are 100% gluten free and fab for on the go. It recommends that these can serve one as a meal or two as a side. But at around 400 calories per whole pack, this seems it would be a very filling meal, which isn't too calorific. You could even add some veg and chicken or bacon if you wanted to! Ready in just 10 minutes, this will be perfect on those days when you barely have time to eat. These flavours seem so versatile too and with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, these seem they would be great for children. These packs retail at around £1.99 each

Hot Chilli Cheese Crackers
Something I know I love is the Mrs Crimble's cheese crackers, I have repurchased them multiple times, but never have I seen the hot chilli ones! At 82 calories per 4 crackers these are great to have with some laughing cow light as a snack or even as a meal as part of ploughman's style dinner. I am just hoping these are not too too hot! This box is only £2.09 so is great value of a whole box!

Classic Madeleine & Chocolate Madeleine with a Choc Filling
These were the item I was searching for originally, unfortunately they are currently not in stock online, which I have been told is the only outlet to buy this product from. Each pack contains 6 wrapped cakes and retail at £2.50 per bag, which is incredible value for a gluten free product and isn't too different in price to branded mainstream equivalent. Made in France, these are marketed as being authentic, which if the taste and texture lives up to those, I'll be very happy, particularly as they are only around 130 calories each!

Cereal bar - Banana - Apricot and Sultana - Cherries and Berries
Another Mrs Crimble's product I haven't seen locally, my stores are not the best at getting in a good mix of products so I do have to resort to online shopping to find new things! Each bar is 150 calories, so again is not too bad for a snack or even breakfast on the go. These flavours sound amazing and at only 89p a bar, they are also well priced. Packed with bright colours, you can really see the fruits in these bars and are lovely and chewy feeling!

6  Large Coconut Macaroons
These are a firm favourite in my house in the summer, I typically buy the ones that have the dipped chocolate bottoms, as this is all I find stocked locally. So to try the plain ones is something that really interests me, again below the 150 calorie mark per portion means that these are not too bad for a snack! Coconut is one of my favourite flavours, so I can't get enough of these!

Special Edition 6  Large Coconut Macaroons with Stem Ginger
I have a post going up later in the week on some ginger biscuits dipped in chocolate I have fallen in love with, so combining ginger, chocolate and coconut could only mean great things! So I am sure there will a blog post raving about this product!

Thank you Mrs Crimble's for your generous Birthday gift! I can't wait to tuck in!

Hannah x

*These products were sent to me to try, all opinions are my own 

Prewett's Dark Chocolate & Ginger Cookies

Last week I forgot to bring my lunch to work, which led to a trip to Sainsbury's and picking up way too many naughty treats! One of which were these chocolate covered ginger cookies, one of my all time favourite treats!

Prewett's seem to have two lines of products, their basic line, and new to my store, their luxury line. Being able to pick from more ranges makes me feel more normal! Why should we have to settle for rich teas and bourbons!

These biscuits in particular are leaps and bounds above anything else I have tried before. I honestly could have ate the whole box in one go, and considering there are 8 in one box, that's really saying something! At £2.25 per pack, these are comparable to the mainstream brand, Borders.

At 96 calories per cookie, these are quite a satisfying sweet treat. A bobbly cookie with chewy ginger pieces and a dark chocolate coating, these are certainly worthy as a coffee morning treat! Each cookie is around 1cm thick and has a good crunch, but isn't as hard or crisp as some, which I think is a nice change! The rich ginger and chocolate compliment beautifully and the texture is so comparable to the mainstream brand, you really would not be able to tell the difference!

Although they do contain milk, there is no mention of egg in the recipe, so this may be an option for those of you who are unable to eat egg too! They are also readily available in supermarkets, so even the older ladies I know who are gluten free and do not use a computer can get hold of these. Things are much better than they were and more of the really tasty gluten free foods are in shops now, but at one point it felt that anything that was worth eating could only be found online!

I would love to try more from this range now, knowing how good they are. I would even give these to my gluten eating friends at a coffee morning, to see if they could tell!

Hannah x

Angelic - Chocolate Chip Oat Biscuits

Angelic was the first stand I hunted down at the London Free From and Allergy show last summer, which wasn't too hard as they were right by the door! I was looking to buy a few items from the range, particularly the individually wrapped biscuits with a good date, they have lasted until now and have been great for work!

At the show I think they were in the region of 2 for £5 so I stocked up but I am sure depending on where you shop prices will vary and you may find a deal just as good. The box contains 5 twin packs, which is perfect for either one adult or to share between a couple of children, making them the perfect handbag snack. Particularly as they are only 65 calories per biscuit!

Made in scotland, these biscuits are gluten, egg and dairy free, so I assume they would be perfect for vegans too! They are also 100% natural and a source of fibre. Oats also are known for keeping you fuller for longer which is better than the quick hit you get from a chocolate bar.

The biscuit itself is the typical crisp, crunchy, drier consistency, identical to all the Angelic biscuits. This is something I love about Angelic, the fact that you know that each base cookie, regardless of flavouring is made to the same standard. So if you know you like the base taste and texture of Angelic, all you have to do is choose the flavours that are for you!

Beautifully rich, this dairy free chocolate has lot of flavour, on appearance it is questionable how chocolatey they would be as there wasn't many chips, but they are so flavoursome. They really stand on their own! Perfect with a cup of black coffee or hot chocolate, these biscuits are so versatile and the oats add such a lovely flavour as well as texture. I feel that these biscuits would be suitable for all ages, as although the chocolate is rich, the proportions are perfect to give plenty of flavour without overpowering.

I find that these individual packs that the free from companies are producing are fantastic, so it pleased me back when I saw Angelic were doing the same. The only drawback to the Angelic brand is unless I want to order them online, the show is really the only place I can find a good range, as my local Holland & Barret's stores are quite small and do not hold may options in stock. For those I know who don't use the internet, this makes getting hold of them a little tricky! But hopefully as the demand grows, my Holland and Barret may stock more, and who knows Angelic may pop up in supermarkets one day!

Hannah x

Small Tesco Haul

As I left swimming, I popped into Tesco. I am very much a fan of the thought of Miranda Hart's cake-ercise, leaving the gym the same weight you entered! So when wandering through Tesco here's some of the sweet treats I picked up.

Popchips -£1

As they were only £1 and I love this flavour, I picked it up to portion to take to work, as they are only 97 calories per portion. They are not pictured as I forgot before I portioned it up!

Nutribix - £3.75

Jeez, these are quite pricey but were the main reason I visited Tesco. My local Sainsbury's has the worst free from section known to man, so I tend to have to hunt around a bit! (They haven't had gluten free wraps since before Christmas). These are meant to be just like Weetabix, which is clearly something we can't enjoy. I am hoping that Nutribix will be just the same and so much so I may be able to make chocolate easter nests from them!

Udis chocolate wafer/ Udis lemon wafer - £1.50 per pack
This was the impulse purchase of the trip! I saw they were half price and I am hoping they are a lower calorie sweet treat, as I have got a very fitted dress for my party in two weeks, so I am watching the calories a little! I love lemon flavoured sundaes/ice-cream and sweets so these are something I am really looking forward to, and as it was half price, why not try the chocolate ones as well!

Have you picked anything new recently and looking forward to trying it?

Hannah x

Make it Gluten Free Haul*

Last week I began to follow Make it Gluten Free on Twitter when I discovered them through a competition that was giving away some of their packet mixes that they stock and I thought it looked like something I would really enjoy. So when they reached out to me to try some bits I couldn't believe my luck!

Being imported from the USA they stock some mixes you just would not find easily in the UK market.  A range of cakes, muffins, pancakes, waffles and breads can be found on the Make it Gluten Free website. All products are free from gluten, non-GMO, kosher and free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, which is fab as other than my sweet treats, I like to keep things as clean and as basic as possible in terms of ingredients on a daily basis. Make it Gluten free are registered with Coeliac UK and in the 2016 food directory if you wanted to take a look!

So what did I receive?

Simple Mills - Banana Muffin Mix - £4.75
If you know me personally you would know that I love bananas in baking and food! I add it on top of honey, Nutella, peanut butter and golden syrup on toast, not altogether mind! My go to snack in the colder months is banana and custard, so it just made sense that banana muffins would be for me! The mix itself does not need a banana added but suggests to add one if you would like it more "banana-y" but I think I may do that after trying it as a basic recipe first!

Simple Mills - Pizza Dough Mix - £4.75
This mix creates two 8" pizzas so I think I am going to save this for when James and I have a movie night with handmade pizzas! What could be better? We are both fans of more flavoursome pizzas and gluten free pizzas do not tend to come in many flavours, so why not make your own!

1.2.3 Gluten Free - Brownie Mix - £3.50
Brownie mixes seem to be a staple in most gluten free brands product range, but I really enjoy brownies, so I like to try them all from all different brands! The basic mix only needs 4 eggs and some butter but does give optional suggestions of toffee bits, chocolate chips and nuts... I personally think it would be rude not to throw some of these in! I love a chunky brownie and I may see how much this mix makes and I am thinking of doing a smaller fully loaded batch and just a small plain recipe batch out of one mix, as it does say it makes 2x more than other brands on the front!


1.2.3 Gluten Free - Pan Bar Mix - £3.50
This is by far the most interesting mix I was sent, it has the ability to become courgette bars, banana bars (YUM!), pumpkin bars, apple bars, carrot cake bars or even sweet potato ones, making this extremely versatile to have in the cupboard! As much as I want to make banana bars or carrot cake out of this mix, I think I will end up making courgette cake as it is my Fiancés favourite, but we will see!

I would love to know if any of these mixes have got your tastebuds tingling and if you are going to give any a go too!

Hannah x

*These products were sent to me to try, all opinions are my own