Archive for December, 2010
Easy Summer dinner idea: Chicken, chorizo and vege kebabs
Dec 18th
The other night I wanted an easy and quick dinner option and thought it would be a good idea to use the BBQ since it finally feels like summer (in Sydney).
I had seen on the menu at a pub the other night chicken and chorizo kebabs on a green salad. Unfortunately I could not eat the dish as the chicken was marinated in something glutenous, however it gave me the idea to make my own kebabs.
Two trips to the shop later (after first realising we had no skewers and then realising there was no gas in the gas bottle) I More >
Amazing gluten free bread… it does exist!
Dec 17th
All those that have to follow a gluten free diet (and probably most of their family and friends) know that finding a good gluten free bread is pretty much impossible. I was under this impression until yesterday at lunch, when I decided to make a sandwich using the Chia Seed loaf Lifestyle Bakery sent me.
As I always do (with gluten free bread) I went to toast the bread for my sandwich. I find this makes gluten free bread bearable to eat. However, just as I was about to do so, I thought I might just try a bit of the More >
Macarons – La Renaissance, The Rocks
Dec 16th
There is a lot of rave about Macarons at the moment thanks to Masterchef. Having not tried one before I had been searching desperately for some gluten free ones. So when I was in The Rocks with a friend the other night and we walked passed La Renaissance I crossed my fingers and went in to find out if their macarons were gluten free. Much to my excitement they were!
La Renaissance have a number of different flavoured macarons including:
- Dark chocolate ganache (Valrhona Guanaja 70%)
- Passionfruit milk chocolate ganache (Valrhona Jivara 40%)
- China jasmine green tea white chocolate ganache
- Rose scented butter cream
- Salty caramel More >
Mezze Cafe, Chatswood
Dec 15th
My friend introduced me to Mezze Cafe in Chatswood soon after I started working here. We were meeting for lunch and she suggested a few places where we could go. I was immediately drawn to Mezze Cafe as they label all their gluten free items.
I went there so many times in the first couple of months that they remembered what I wanted everytime, The BIG M salad and a chai tea. The BIG M salad consists of sumac chicken, prosciutto, parmesan cheese, boiled egg, mix leaves, fresh tomato, spanish onion, avocado and harissannaise. The salad is a great twist on a More >
Product review: Lifestyle Bakery Christmas Puddings
Dec 14th
I recently received a package in the mail from Lifestyle Bakery, who have a number (20 to be exact) of gluten free products including bread, muffins, pizza bases, and seasonal products. They cater for a number of dietary requirements and therefore also have dairy free, soy free, yeast free, egg free etc products (you can search products on their website by dietary need here). The package I received contained a pack of Christmas puddings, bread crumbs and a loaf of their Chia Seed bread.
I was very excited to try the Christmas puddings having recently just made two Christmas cakes, a More >
Almond Cake
Dec 13th
We recently had an Italian house warming party and I was in charge of making an almond cake. Let me tell you now that the recipe I chose (well my Mum chose, telling me it was a really easy cake to make….) takes a lot of work and makes a rather small cake.
The recipe is taken from The Australian Women’s Weekly Italian Cooking Class Cookbook and the final cake looks pretty spectacular and it also tastes amazing (I would have been very disappointed if it didn’t after all the work I put into it!).
Beware when piping the almond mixture on More >
