Genius Gluten Free Hamper*

Last week I received a beautiful hamper from Genius. Genius was one of the first brands I recall trying when going gluten free, 5 years later they are still a firm favourite in my bread bin! I was overwhelmed when I got home to find that it was in an actual hamper! I am totally going to re-purpose this for my wedding!

So what did I get inside?

New! Toastie Half Loaf
These are a Genius idea, see what I did there! Retailing at £1.75 these are perfect for someone like me who is the only gluten free eater in the family, they're equally as great if you like to have a variety of flavours. As they are not too over priced in comparison to a full loaf, they are a great option. It is milk free too!

Triple Seeded Farmhouse Loaf
One of my all time favourite loaves, this bread isn't too seedy to the point where the bottom of the bag is full, but there is just enough to give it flavour. I find that this is lovely toasted with yeast extract, or even toasted with garlic fry light to make it like a garlic bread! Much like the Toastie, it is milk free too!

Pancakes
These milk and gluten free pancakes are perfectly fluffy and suit a pile of raspberries and a good drizzle of honey!

Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bakes
These biscuits are perfect with a cuppa on a cold morning! The softer bake is lovely and filling for the morning as they are oaty, thick and so tasty. I find these great on a weekday when rushing around or even as a snack! I would like to note, these are not milk free!

Double Chocolate Muffins
Muffins are a true love in my life, whether as a snack or with a ton of raspberries or banana for breakfast. Muffins are a great filling indulgent treat, much like most of the range these are also milk free so a great chocolatey treat for the dairy free people in your life too!

I'm so excited to tuck into these and potentially make some new recipes from them!

Hannah x

*These products were gifted to me to try, all opinion are my own

Stuffed Pepper Recipe - Tilda Mums Helping Mums*

Stuffed peppers are one of my favourite autumnal dinners. The colours of the peppers remind me of the transition in the leaves at this time of year and I find the meal to be warming and very much a comfort food. So, when Tilda  got in touch wanting help to raise awareness for their Mums Helping Mums campaign, I couldn't think of a better meal that this one! For each marked pack, Tilda will provide at least one nutritional meal to new or expectant mothers, wherever they are needed. Although I am not a mother myself, I feel this is such an important cause!



To make my stuffed peppers you will need:

500g Steak Mince
1 White Onion
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Granules
3-4 Salad Tomatoes
5 Close Cup Mushrooms
2 Teaspoon Oregano
1/2 Cup of Tilda Rice
1 Carton Passata
6 Mixed Peppers
Parmesan Block for Grating

Cut the tops off of the peppers and deseed them ready to put the filling in. Dice the left over pepper from the top to pop in the filling.

Dice the onion and soften in a pan before adding the garlic granules.

Add the mince and cook until brown. Whilst the mince is cooking, dice the tomatoes and mushrooms and add these, with the previously diced pepper into the pan. When softened, add oregano and passata, I tend to buy something like the Sainsbury's basic one, as in fact the runnier consistency works better!

Add 250ml of water and the rice and stir well. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer until the mix is no longer watery. By this point, the rice should be cooked.

On a baking tray, stuff the peppers with the mixture. With a peeler, grate strips of parmesan on top of the peppers and pop into the oven for half an our at 180.

Once out of the oven, serve as they are or with a side salad!

If you give it a go, I would love to know what you think, or if you have any tweaks which are interesting, let me know!

Hannah x

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

Birthday Cake using Betty Crocker Gluten Free Mix

Last week was James' birthday so I decided to bake a cake. I did intend to do one from scratch but I knew I had the Gluten Free Betty Crocker Devil Cake mix in the cupboard and it really needed using.

I was going to make an anti gravity cake, but the wedding James was shooting ended early and I wanted it to be done as a surprise for when he got home so I settled for this design! I would make you aware though, this is not a cheap style of cake to bake gluten free! The wafer biscuits around the edge were £6 alone! But it is super tasty!

So what did I use?

For the Mix:

• Betty Crocker Mix
• Vegetable Oil
• 4 Eggs

For the decoration:

• 3 packets of Milky Bar Buttons (no mention of gluten so I assume are safe, and I was fine)
• 3 packets of Magic Stars (also no mention of gluten so I assume are safe, and I was fine)
• 4 packs of Tesco Gluten Free Finger Wafers
• 2 tubs of Betty Crocker Chocolate Frosting

First, I baked the cake mix as per the instructions. I do love this mix as it comes out perfect every time! If you ever need a quick fix this is one of the readily available mixes I would opt for! 

I then let the cakes cool before sandwiching them using the frosting. Using a pallet knife, I evenly filled and coated the cake into a more uniform shape where needed.

I then proceeded to open all the wafter biscuits and adhere them onto the side of the cake. 

The next step is to lay down the chocolate. In terms of the buttons, I always overlap them in a sort of fish scale manner, sticking the first layer down into the frosting. In terms of the stars, I lay them flat but interlocked sticking them down into the frosting. Many people recommend gluing down the other couple of layers of chocolate with melted chocolate or frosting but I find that makes it so much harder to cut as you have to work your way through a thick layer of chocolate, whereas placing means you can shuffle them around to cut it! 

That's it really! It's not tricky, just time consuming! I'd love to know how you decorate cakes as I don't like to do them too same-y!

Hannah x