Whilst in Rye, James and I took a look in their Deli as it seemed bursting with some really interesting and unique food! As you would expect from a deli there were plenty of quiches, pies, cheeses and meats but also a wide range of cupboard foods, from crackers to boozy chocolates, there was something for everyone!

They had a huge range of different gluten free bits too, brands that I find it hard to get hold of or even some I had never heard of! The staff were also exceptionally helpful, they tried to help find products that may have been of interest to me and locate certain items they knew they had, it was a very refreshing shopping experience!

I could have bought so much but as we are moving soon I thought it would be best just to get a couple of bits and pop back there, maybe in the winter, I love shopping in small towns in the cold weather!

So here is what I chose;

RW Garcia Organic Veggie Tortilla Chips - £3.95
We love nacho nights and most Mexican food, so when I saw these and the blue tortilla chips, I knew I had to try one! In the end I decided on the veggie ones as the blue ones are meant to taste like normal tortillas, whereas these are spinach and garlic, beetroot and onion and carrot, tomato and sesame flavours. They sound really unique and tasty with some Mexican dips and fajitas!

Farmhouse Biscuits - Traditionally made English biscuits with chocolate chips - £3.95
Let's be honest, the packaging drew me to this product, particularly for Christmas! The whole styling spoke to me and I hope they taste as good as they look! I have had quite a few chocolate chip biscuits but these look crisp and buttery, so I'm hoping for great things!

If you are ever in Rye I would seriously suggest you pop in the Rye Deli and take a look around, I will certainly be going back for some of their fresh produce too!

Hannah x

On Tuesday James and I had a day off so we thought we would do some baking. As we didn't have much time we thought the Simple Mills mix from Make it Gluten Free Ltd would be perfect. I love these natural mixes with ingredients that are easy to understand, so you know exactly what is in the cookies.

This really simple packet mix only requires 15 minutes, and that includes the baking! Just a couple of ingredients later, you have perfect cookies!

To make these cookies, we added 2 tablespoons of milk, 4 tablespoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to a bowl. Mix these together and then slowly add the dry mix. We then put tablespoon sized balls on a baking tray and flattened them, pop them in the oven for 10 minutes and that's it! Perfect chewy centre and crispy outer choc chip cookies.

The amount of chips in each cookie was unbelievable, they were packed! I trialed them on the whole family and everyone enjoyed them which is always a good sign! Like all the Simple Mills mixes I have tried, the main component in this mix was almond flour, I have yet to have a dry or crumbly bake when using an almond flour, so I do have a lot of confidence in these mixes turning out as they should first time! I was not let down by this mix either, the texture was so true to what I could remember. On the website it states you could make 20ish cookies, as the box is American and has an american recipe it said makes 12. I made 10 in the end as I wanted quite large cookies, as these are one thing hard to find in the shops gluten free.

If you are looking for a large cookie, like the ones I look longingly at in a bakery, I would strongly suggest giving this mix a go. Being quick and pretty mess free it isn't too time consuming and means it's an easy evening bake, possibly even quicker than popping to the shops for treats!

Retailing at £5.20 you can find these mixes from Make it Gluten Free Ltd either on their website or at one of the many shows they attend, I believe they are in the Excel Centre this weekend if you are looking to try some products!

Hannah x

I used to bake every Wednesday but since going gluten free I find baking a bit more tricky as things do not always work out as planed, mainly things not rising as I would expect them to. So I have been looking a packet mixes in the hope that I will see what I'm doing wrong and hopefully I can learn to bake a good cake!

I baked these about two weeks ago now but I made sure to take plenty of pictures as I went along!

Here is how to bake the cookies:

Step One:
Put the mix, egg and butter in the bowl and mix until a breadcrumb texture.

Step Two:
Add The Honey and vanilla essence and incorporate

Step three:

Roll into balls and place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.

And here is the result!

I shared these between my family who do not eat gluten free and they loved them! They said they couldn't tell much of a difference, just they were slightly more crumbly. 

I actually didn't enjoy them very much but I think that could be down to my error of using quite a strong honey that is not as sweet as typical honey. I think they needed some extra sweetness but other than that they have turned out much better than anything else I have baked!

Next time I think I will try doing a cake!

Hannah x

It's baking hot today in the UK so this weeks Foodie Friday I have kept well away from chocolate and anything that could get all melty!

So I opened my cookies I brought at the free from show. I was leaving these as long as possible because I love them and wanted to save them! Crazy I know!

I met the Angelic team at the Olympia show, they were lovely and spent a lot of time talking to James and I. It's good to find smaller brands in the gluten free market and when the people behind the brand are lovely, it just makes it even better!

When I brought these at the show it was mainly because James loved them, as James is not gluten free, he does not like anything gluten free that doesn't taste 100% 'normal' so I trust his opinion. I was getting excited about the savoury flavours but he said I had to buy these too, so I did.

I am so glad he did make me because now I want to try the other flavours!

These cookies have a good snap and a crunchy texture but they are not dry or stick in your mouth like bad gluten free cookies (you know the type I mean, the kind that give you a funny film feeling in your mouth and you have to drink something to clear it.) This made me extremely happy as ginger can be a dry flavour naturally.

The taste of these are great! Now if you don't like ginger you WILL NOT like these but as I love ginger, and I love these. They have a very strong ginger taste and leaves that wonderful tongue tingling after taste.

Pros:

• Great taste and texture 
• Under 75 calories a cookie
• The lady who runs Angelic is lovely!

Cons:

• Where they are a smaller brand they are harder to get hold of - you can order online. 

If I get hold of the other flavours I'll be sure to let you know what I think!

Hannah x