Pregnancy pickle

No tuna, no prawns, no soft cheese, no sushi, no Caesar sauce, no pâté, no vino, and don't do deli meat... The list of food to steer clear of while you have a bun in the oven is enough to warrant an afternoon nap once you've reached the end of it. I'm sure I've put an extra frown line in my forehead examining cheddar and yoghurt labels to make sure they're good to go.

The wonderful thing, though, is that this all makes you so much more aware of what passes your lips, knowing that it's not just for you. Being inspired to whip up super-healthy snacks in between nausea and naps, however, is a different story. So I thought I may as well share some of the things I come up with in a moment of craving (it really is a good source of creativity).

The first being good old toast. Let's face it, it's one of the staple foods of anyone who's ever suffered from morning, afternoon or evening sickness. Now that I've finally got the hang of baking gluten-free bread (Dove's g-free bread flour works brilliantly), things are starting to get interesting.

One thing I've really missed is hot-buttered raisin bread, and we finally had some this weekend - with walnuts and flax seeds thrown in for good measure.

Raisin, Walnut and Flax Seed Bread

400g g-free bread flour

10g milled flax seed (one way to get those Omega-3s in)

½ tsp salt

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2tbsp sugar or date syrup

325ml warm milk (use soya or rice milk if you can't have dairy)

2 eggs

1 tsp vinegar (I use cider vinegar)

6 tblsp oil

75g chopped walnuts

70g mix of raisins and sultanas

Mix the flour, flax, salt, yeast and bicarb together. In a large bowl mix the warm milk and sugar/syrup together, then beat in the eggs, finally adding the vinegar. Pour the dry ingredients into the milk mixture and stir until combined, then add the oil, continuing to stir until you have a smooth, sticky dough. Note: It will not come together into a ball like normal bread dough does. Add the walnuts and raisins and stir these in well. Spoon the dough into a greased loaf tin and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour (I leave mine in an oven that has been warmed to 50C then turned off). Once risen, bake covered with foil (g-free bread tends to brown much quicker) at 200C for 40 minutes. Another tip when baking with g-free flour is to have a tray of water in the bottom of your oven, which stops the loaf drying out.

This loaf is perfect with cheese and any crazy pickle that takes your fancy.