Muffinska – Gluten Free Muffin Shop

My husband and I were walking around London’s Covent Garden one day and a muffin shop caught my eye -- Muffinska. I was looking at the sign and they said they had gluten free muffins available! I got very excited as usual, so we both made our way into the store.

They had four different flavors – blueberry and raspberry, white chocolate and raspberry, etc. I picked the blueberry and raspberry muffin. It felt quite hard, but most gluten free products are hard until they were warmed up. But I was excited to bring it to work for breakfast the next morning. A muffin instead of some fruit, or a bowl of gluten free cereal. I brought it to work and warmed it up and put some butter on it. The whole muffin turned into crumbles as soon as I cut it. It smelt awful -- as if it was gone off and the taste was even worse. My experience with muffinska gluten free muffins, wasn’t that great. Needless to say, I was left without breakfast that morning.

Wahaca -- Mexican Gluten Free Restaurant

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!! This holiday in the U.S. and Mexico celebrates Mexican heritage and pride and to honor and celebrate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War.

So why not celebrate with some Mexican food?!? Mexican food may just be my favorite cuisine. I absolutely love it! One of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had as a coeliac so far is at Wahaca – Mexican market eating restaurant. It was amazing!

When we got there, we let our waiter know I had coeliac and to be aware of contamination. She was so lovely and explained that they have different parts of the kitchen where they prepared gluten free food, vegan food etc. and even had a different deep fryer. She also went through the menu with me and crossed off the items I should avoid because there is some sort of product with gluten in it. You can see the X outs in the photo! The whole meal, I kept telling my husband I felt so normal for once. I could order almost everything on the menu. I just couldn’t wipe the smile off my face :-)

I ordered several of the small street food dishes and absolutely stuffed my face. Even after the meal, I did not feel sick or bloated. I just felt like my stomach was going to ripe open from eating way to much!

There isn’t much else to say other than you will truly enjoy this dining experience.

Carluccio's Italian Restaurant - Gluten Free Lunch/Dinner Spot

A few days back my husband and I took a lovely day trip to Windsor Castle. As we were walking around, we saw Carluccio’s – an authentic Italia restaurant. I’ve had many friends mention there gluten free menu to me, but we’ve never had a chance to go! So as we walked by it, we thought this would be the perfect lunch for our perfect day out!

Carluccio’s gluten free menu had quite a few choices ranging from salads, to pasta, meat dishes and quite a few desserts! I ordered the Insalata di Mozzarella (without the focaccia bread), and for my main dish I ordered Penna Giardiniera –
pasta served with courgette, chilli, parmesan and garlic. Both were absolutely

delicious! They also give very good portions so you feel quite satisfied. I love pasta and have it quite often. I’m so thankful, that gluten free pasta is one of the food items that taste quite similar to normal pasta!

The service was also very good. The waiter was aware of the gluten free menu and the diet. I always tell restaurants please make sure there is no contamination. After the meal, I did not feel sick or get a bloated stomach. So I don’t think there was any contamination!

I give Carluccio’s two thumbs up and highly recommend it!

Leon's Restaurant - Gluten Free Lunch/Dinner Spot

Another super gluten free friendly lunch/dinner spot in central London is Leon. It has absolutely delicious foods and a lot of the items are gluten free, even some delicious desserts!

Leon is a mix of Mediterranean and Indian food. It has dishes ranging from the gluten free Leon Gobi to the grilled chicken with aioli sauce. They are also well balanced meals. With dishes like the gobi and grilled chicken you are also given brown rice with a side of fresh cole slaw. Yummy!

Leon also offers a few gluten free desserts that are just amazing and taste like normal desserts! The Better Brownie, Lemon Ginger Crunch and Deep Chocolate Tart and even a piece of Pecan pie!

The menu online has GF written next to it if it gluten free. My favorite bit is that even the menu at the actual restaurant has all the symbols next to each item to let you know if its gluten free, vegetarian, hearth healthy, etc. So when you are ordering you don't have to rack your brain thinking did the website say the hummous was gluten free?

The staff members I've asked questions to are very clued up on what has gluten and what doesn't and if they aren't sure of the answer they pull out a book and check. I have never felt sick from eating a Leon meal. I highly recommend it. There aren't that many locations in London, but wherever you are it's worth the trek!

Fire & Stone - Gluten Free Restaurant Review

Like I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, going out to eat can be such a chore at times. I try to avoid it, but sometimes can’t and don’t really want too. I miss eating out, anywhere, everywhere. For example, a few nights ago my husband’s high school friends got together for dinner. I really enjoy their company so I didn’t want to miss out. We went to Fire & Stone, a London pizza restaurant.

I called ahead of time and asked if they did gluten free pizzas and of course the answer was no. However, there was a BUT. They said if I brought in my own pizza base they could make me a pizza.

So I did just that. I gave them my base when I gave the order and my pizza came when the rest of the groups came. When it first arrived it was not cooked thoroughly. So I told them to take it back and cook it again for another 10 minutes. It came back and it was cooked. It was ok. The base went very hard, probably because it was cooked in a pizza oven. It was nearly impossible to
cut. I concluded that I prefer making my own pizza at home.

The manager came over earlier and told me they have cleaned the oven, but they cannot guarantee that there would be no contamination.

I felt a bit bloated after and in the morning I felt a bit sick. I should have had a salad, but of course I opted for taking a chance for a pizza. I think for my sanity, I just wanted to be a bit normal and just enjoy a pizza like everyone else! But I know I should have made the smarter decision. Ah well, no more Fire & Stone for me.

Crussh -- A Gluten Free Lunch Spot

On cold wintery days I just love having soups for lunch with a few gluten free crackers. A lot of the soups I used to have always had some sort of pasta or rice so I had to let that go.

Since I work in the heart of London, I try to find places I can eat out from time to time. Most days I pack my lunch because 1) I try my best to avoid contamination, which can happen in restaurants 2) buying lunch everyday gets real expensive!

One hidden gem I found scattered around London is Crussh. They specialize in fresh juices, soups, salads and even small gluten free cakes and snacks. A lot of their ingredients are organic and fresh, which make all there products taste even better.

I absolutely love there soups. So many of there options are also gluten free. On any given day they have at least two gluten free soups. For those of you that also suffer from lactose intolerance, they have many lactose free options too.

My favorite soups so far are: Butternut, red aduki and ginkgo soup, Mexican red lentil, lime and pepper, Squash and coconut laksa and these are just to name a few!

Give Crussh a try and let me know your favorites!

Study Reveals Problem of Gluten Sensitivity

Check out this video. Some people that don't have coeliac disease claim that feel a lot better not eating gluten products due to gluten sensitivity.

Wagamama - Gluten Friendly Restaurant

Wagamama's Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

This past weekend I met up with my cousin and he’s like lets go to lunch. I was like no, no its ok… because its always such a hassle finding somewhere for lunch. I’m like we can go to McDonalds and I can get french fries, but he wasn’t so keen on that. :-)

He suggested Wagamama. I said sure! I’ve heard they have gluten free menu, so I said why not try it out. We told the waiter and he came by with a binder and there was a sheet that stated the dishes that were/could be gluten free with substitutes to sauces, noodles etc.

I ordered the teriyaki chicken donburi -- grilled juicy chicken glazed with orange teriyaki sauce, sticky white rice, with thin sliced carrots, pea shoots, spring onions and sesame seeds and a side of spicy kimchee. They didn’t put any sauce on my dish because they said it contained soy sauce so they brought over gluten free soy sauce in a bowl. I had asked for them to warm it up and mix it together, but they said they can’t do that. That was pretty annoying. Overall, the dish was nice and there were quite a few other options. I would definitely recommend for a coeliac to visit Wagamama… luckily it’s a global chain! 

London Pancake Day -- Gluten Free Recipe

I love pancakes! By far one of my most favorite breakfast foods. Since I was at work, I was not able to celebrate pancake day, but I plan to make it up this weekend!

A lot of the gluten free pancake recipes I find are quite complicated. So many different types of flour, xanthan gum, this and that. Seeing all the ingredients puts me off. Because I usually don't have all the ingredients since I am fairly newly diagnosed. I like plain and simple sort of recipes. And believe it or not, one of my easiest gluten free recipes is pancakes! My recipes isn't based on exact measurements, but I work around how much I plan to eat/make.
--Few heap tablespoons of gluten free white flour.
--1 egg
--1 tablespoon sugar
-- Mix it all together
--Then add milk to make it a medium consistency.
--Grease the pan, pour in some pancake mix and move the pan to the size you want it. And there you have it!

** A bit of a sidenote. These don't come to be big fluffy pancakes. They come out quite thin. I've learned that most British people prefer thin pancakes over thick. And I have got used to the thin.

Let me know how the recipe works out for you!

Gluten Free Baking -- Macarons

Every Friday at work is Cake Club day. Those that have signed up, have a specific week they bring in some sort yummy baked goods. Boy do I love cakes, muffins, cookies, brownies and all the sweet stuff you could imagine. But you guessed it -- I’m not in Cake Club. No cakes are really ever gluten free. Unless you make it with gluten free flour.

This past Friday, it was my friend’s turn to bring in something. So she brought in raspberry cupcakes, which looked amazing! She always hears me moan and groan about things I can’t eat so made me homemade macrons. Macrons are made with almond flour, so its gluten free! It was so sweet of her to make that extra batch, because macrons aren’t the simplest things to make.

Here is a recipe similar to my friends. Also, a book she recommends is "I Heart Macarons." I haven’t tried making them yet, but plan to do so very soon. They just taste like a normal desert! Because they are made with almond flour. Nothing really changes in the recipe for coeliacs. YAY for that! Even the fillings are usually gluten free. The above photo is chocolate. Another flavor I had was coffee macarons with a vanilla filling.