Asian Chicken Wraps

I like fast food. Not fast food in the double-whopper-super-sauced-stuffed-crust-I'll-have-that-with-cheesy-fries-thanks sense, but food that's fast. Simple Asian stir-fries are brilliant in that sense... and healthy.

My Dubai housemate Andrea introduced me to these nifty wraps a few years ago, and, they're now a fave g-free light dinner. The ingredients always change slightly depending on what's in the cupboard, so they're never boring.

500g chicken mince (you could try pork mince, or do a combination of the two)

1 red chilli chopped

1 clove of garlic chopped

About 10 water chestnuts

A handful of sliced bamboo shoots

A dash of rice wine vinegar

Enough tamari soya sauce (the g-free version of soya sauce) to season

1 spring onion sliced

Sesame oil

Olive oil

1 iceberg lettuce (choose a nice round one so the leaves can be used as cups)

Heat a little olive oil and a dash of sesame oil (not too much as this has a really strong flavour) in a pan/wok. Add the garlic and chilli and sautée, then add the mince. When the mince is cooked, add the rice wine vinegar and tamari sauce to taste. Toss in the spring onions right at the end. To serve, spoon some of the mince mix into a leaf, fold it up and start eating. I'm sure they steam the lettuce leaves slightly in Asia so they're easier to fold, but I prefer the contrast between the crisp lettuce and hot, spicy filling. Soggy, warm lettuce is not really my thing.

You could also add a little chopped ginger, sprouts and coriander.

Bread Ahead

Eureka! We've had a bit of a breakthrough in the bread section, thanks to desperation brought on by a toast and jam craving.

I like to think that my grandfather, Basil, had a bit of a hand in it. He used to bake his own bread and I still remember pounding dough with him in our kitchen back home as he taught me the secrets of his Nutty-Wheat Bread. The 'Nutty-Wheat' part might be out, but the rest of his recipe has made its way into my first successful gluten-free loaf.

Every g-free bread recipe I've tried tells you to just add the instant yeast to the flour, mix in the wet stuff, leave to rise, bake and voila! They've never risen more than a centimetre and the tiny results weigh a ton. So I took the recipe on the bag of flour I had and made a few changes.

High-Fibre Gluten-Free Bread

2-3 tblsp date fibre*

Add g-free bread flour to the date fibre to make 450g (I used Dove's which already contains zanthan gum)

½ tsp salt

1 tblsp sugar

1 tblsp date syrup (use maple or treacle if you don't have this)

125ml warm dairy-free milk

200ml warm water

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 eggs

6 tblsp oil

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan oven). Mix the flour, date fibre, salt, sugar and baking soda together. When your warm water is body temperature, stir in the syrup (the syrup is vital as this gives the yeast the sugars it needs to activate) and add the yeast, leaving it to come together on the surface of the liquid. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, oil, vinegar and milk together and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the yeast and water mixture and stir until you have a sticky dough. Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan (I used an 8 inch x 3 inch one as a small tin is better for g-free baking), and don't worry about leaving it to rise for an hour. Place foil over the tin, leaving a bit of room for rising, and a tray of water in the bottom of the oven, which, I've been told helps to stop it cooking too quickly from the outside. Put it straight in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool before slicing.

Tip: Gluten-free bread never gets the crisp crust of normal bread and will be quite a lot denser. It also dries out really quickly, so keep it refrigerated or frozen. If you're eating it a day or so after baking, it is best toasted or zapped quickly in the microwave.

* This looks much like coarse cinnamon powder

Laze-agne

What is it about lasagne that's so darn good!? Personally, it's the fact that - when cooking for two - one dish means dinner's in the bag for a few nights to come. And everyone deserves the occasional evening in front of the TV with a ready-meal.

For the Filling

1x 250g box of g-free lasagne sheets (I used Casalare)

550g beef mince

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 tblsp g-free tomato paste

1 small bag of frozen chopped spinach

2 carrots peeled and sliced

2 celery sticks peeled and sliced

A glug of good olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

A small bunch of fresh oregano

A small bunch of fresh basil

Sautée the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent, then add the mince. Once this is browned, add the tomatoes, plus one tin of water, the carrots, celery and tomato paste. Season and leave to simmer for 40 minutes, adding the oregano leaves and some of the basil right at the end. In a separate pan sautée the spinach with a little salt and pepper, making sure you get rid of any excess water.

For the Sauce

50g flour (I use Dove's all-purpose flour. You can use a mix of rice flour and corn starch instead)

2½ tblsp olive oil (use butter if you can have dairy)

500ml milk (use soya or rice milk if you need to)

A dash of nutmeg

1 bay leaf

Heat the oil and add the flour, stirring it into a roux. Once the roux is glossy and pulls away from the pan take it off the heat. Warning: if you add the milk directly to this it will quickly cook into a doughy mess. Let it cool slightly, then add the milk, whisking continuously. Add the bay leaf and nutmeg and stir over a low heat until you have a glossy sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Remove the bay leaf.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Put a third of your mince mixture in the bottom of your lasagne dish. Cover with pasta sheets. Tip: Hold your hand over each sheet for about 10 seconds, as they tend to curl when they touch the hot sauce. Spoon a layer of spinach on top, then a third of the bechamel sauce. Repeat with the mince, pasta sheets, spinach and bechamel. With your last layer you won't put spinach on top of the pasts, just the bechamel sauce. Top with tomato slices and fresh basil leaves and bake covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 30 minutes until the top is golden. Dig in.

Christmassy deliciousness

Yes, I've started my Christmas baking already! I don't think I've been this excited about Christmas since I was six and still believed it really was Father Christmas who was eating the mince pies we left next to the fireplace. That's probably because it's our first one as Mr and Mrs. It will also be the first one I've had with my family in five years, and Nicks (that would be Nicky, not Saint Nick) will be jetting over from SA just before Christmas to see the sights of Muscat. So we'll have a full house and I can't wait.

One of my favourite memories of this time of year is the heavy Christmas cake tin my grandparents would lug from Zimbabwe down to Durban every Christmas. We'd eat that cake every day for tea for the month of December, well into January, and getting to the last slice was heartbreaking as it meant it was all over for another year. As you can gather, I'm a fruitcake fan. But not everyone is, and you'll always have someone who picks out all the cherries or the peel. So this year, I've decided to make a fruit cake that, I think, is a little more grown up. The sort of cake you sip with an espresso while catching up - Italy's panforte.

This cake is naturally dairy- and egg-free, easily gluten-free. It's traditionally made with almonds and figs and honey, but you can use whatever nuts and fruit you want, and I thought I may as well make use of what the Middle East has in abundance... dates and date syrup. Date syrup, for those who don't know, is dark, rich and treacle-like, so is perfect if you don't want things too sweet.

Panforte from the East

1½ cups nuts (I used ½ pecan nuts, ¼ pine nuts, ¾ walnuts)

½ cup mixed peel

½ cup chopped dates

¼ cup chopped dried apricot

¼ cup currants

½ cup gluten-free flour (I used half white rice flour and half corn starch)

1½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

2 tblsp pure cocoa powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup date syrup (use honey if you don't have this)

170g sugar (if you're allergic to cane sugar used fruit sugar)

Preheat your over to 180C and line an 8-inch cake tin with a round of baking paper, greased and gusted with a little g-free flour. Coarsely chop the nuts and mix them with the dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour in a large bowl. In a saucepan, heat the date syrup, sugar, salt and cocoa powder until the sugar and cocoa has dissolved and the sauce starts to get a little foamy on top. You don't want it to boil. Pour it over the fruit and nut mixture and stir it in quickly making sure everything is coated. Then pour it into the cake tin and press it down firmly. Bake for about 25 minutes. You don't want to let the sugars burn.

Wait for it to cool and slice with a sharp serrated knife. If you've never had panforte before, don't expect light fluffiness. The ones I've had before should have "do not eat it you have denture" warnings, but, made with date syrup, it isn't quite so toffee like. This is firm and chewy with a moist fruity, dark chocolatey centre. I might have to make another one.

Two Can Pecan Ice Cream

I remember the first time Gav made me dessert. It was a surprise and he vanished into the kitchen leaving me to wait for the masterpiece he was going to create. A bit of banging and crashing later, he emerged with two bowls of ice cream covered with grated dark chocolate and After Eight chocolates as garnish. We decided that that there was nothing left for him to do but open Gav's Parlour of Incredible Ice Cream Ideas.

Now that dairy is out for a while, we just have to be more creative, so having licked the last tub of mango ice cream clean, I asked him what our next concoction should be...

Coconut and cinnamon? Coconut and cinnamon and pecan nuts!! Yes, pecan nuts. And maple syrup? YES, maple syrup!!

Pecan & Maple Dairy Free Ice Cream

Note: this recipe only makes enough for two. I would imagine that you can easily double things up to make more.

1 tin coconut milk or cream (depending on how rich you want it)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 cup pecan nuts

¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup

3 tblsp 100% pure maple syrup

3 tsp corn starch

¼ tsp xanthan gum*

Mix 2 teaspoons of the corn starch with a little coconut milk/cream and then pour this into a saucepan. Add the rest of the coconut milk/cream to the saucepan, along with the cinnamon and ¼ cup of maple syrup and stir over a medium heat to make a custard. Add a little more corn starch if you'd like to thicken it more. Once this is ready, leave it to cool and then pour into a freezer-safe container and freeze for an hour. While it's freezing, heat the 3 tablespoons of maple syrup in a small saucepan with the remaining teaspoon of corn starch, so it becomes a little thicker and put aside to cool. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and give it a whiz in the blender. Return to the freezer and keep doing this until it become firm and creamy in the blender. Then stir in the pecan nuts and smooth the mixture out in an ice cream container. Use a skewer to made a few holes in the ice cream and pour the maple syrup into these, then give it a bit of a swirl.

* xanthan gum is used in a lot of gluten-free recipes. It increases the viscosity of liquids and acts as a stabliser. Most shop-bought ice cream contains guar gum, however, a lot of people with digestive problems react to this.

When this freezes again it goes very hard, so leave it out for a few minutes before demolishing.

... for Ice Cream!

Moreish Minestrone

I have this habit of making enough soup to feed an army. Last year, it was lentil soup and I should have probably stopped to ponder the "1 bag of lentils" part of the ingredients (what size bag, I don't know), but - being the impatient cook that I am - I threw in the bag I had and the result filled our freezer for months. Since then, we've discovered Gav's allergic to those too (I promise it wasn't my fault), so mom's famous recipe is sadly off the menu.

This November, I've somehow made a maxi version of minestrone by adding rice to the recipe I had in an old book of mine by Carla Capalbo, Italian: The best of Italy in 200 Traditional Recipes. Most minestrones have pasta added, but using brown round soup rice makes a heartier, more filling version.

Ingredients

1½ litres g-free stock

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, finely sliced

2 carrots, diced

2 potatoes, diced

1 large courgette/zucchini, diced

3 buffalo tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1 tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 bay leaf

2 tsp dried thyme

1 cup brown round soup rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Sautée the garlic, onions, leeks, carrots, potato, zucchini, thyme and bay leaf and rice in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes. I add the rice now, in the same way you would a risotto, so it starts absorbing the flavours from the start. Add the tomatoes, beans and 1 litre of the stock and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for an hour. Keep an eye on it to see how much the rice swells up. Add more stock if it's looking too thick. It's healthiness in a pot and you can freeze some for those nights when you can't be asked to cook.

Piling on the pancakes

"Samantha: So, how were they?

Carrie: The pancakes? Delicious, exactly what I wanted. I couldn't get enough.

Samantha: No, I was referring to the moves.

Carrie: Delicious, exactly what I wanted. I couldn't get enough."

- Sex And The City -

Before you say ooh how naughty, I am talking about nothing other than pancakes here. Anyone who is living g-free will be able to identify with just how incredibly, delectably, delightfully, deliciously (okay, I'll stop) moreish a pile of syrupy pancakes is after a week of corn flakes, rice puffs and rice milk.

I'm not going to get into semantics here, but the "pancakes" I've made here are what some people call American/Canadian pancakes; what the Aussies call Pikelets (I think, although it's very confusing); and the South Africans would consider giant crumpets. Perhaps I should just call them Panklets for the sake of world peace.

Last week's attempt at g-free pancakes South African style, ie crepes, ended in a huff and a battered ego (I thought I'd throw a terrible CSI-type pun in for my sister's amusement). They say the first pancake is never perfect, but this time it was every one. My attempts at using egg alternatives (ie egg replacer and milled flax seed with water) ended up a gooey mess.

This weekend, however, there was more excitement in the kitchen than at the cinnamon sugar-encrusted pancake stall at a farm town fun fair. Success.

Perfect Panklets

2 cups gluten-free flour blend *

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¼ cup maple syrup (a great alternative to sugar that helps soften the flavour of tapioca flour)

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup milk (I used soya)

½ cup water

2 eggs beaten (I'm afraid nothing but eggs works here)

2 tblsp oil

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs and add the rest of the wet ingredients in another bowl and then slowly add this to the dry ingredients, stirring constantly. If you can hold off for a bit, let the mixture stand for a while (I am no scientist, but apparently it helps). Then ladel it into a greased hot pan, wait until bubbles start to appear, flip, count to 10 and then start piling them up. Serve with maple syrup and crispy bacon. If you do, by some remote chance, happen to have leftovers, they can be refrigerated, but will need to be heated up to soften them (gluten-free flour toughens up overnight) for round two.

*I came across Bette Hagman's featherlight flour mix on The Baking Beauties and played with that, using 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour, ½ cup rice flour, ½ cup tapioca flour, ¼ cup corn starch, 1 tsp potato flour.

Pesto... the way mamma used to make it

Okay, my mamma has never made pesto. As far as I can gather, neither has Gav's mum. What I do know, though, is that the real deal has always been made with olive oil. But, for some reason that I'm sure would have Ligurian mammas holding their hands to their heads, one can't find a bottle out here that is made with even a drop of good old olio d'oliva.

It's the simplest thing to make, so while my basil crop (which I'm proud to say is organic) is still thriving, we'll be eating it in every possible variation. This weekend, it was a basil and sundried tomato version enjoyed just the way it should be... with friends and a good bottle of red.

Sundried tomato and basil pesto

1 cup basil leaves, as fresh as you can get them

½ sundried tomatoes

½ cup pine nuts

1 clove garlic

2-3 tsp lemon juice

¼ tsp sea salt

½ cup olive oil

Put all the ingredients in a blender (or mortar and pestle if you need to give those upper arms a workout) and give them a whiz. No mess, no fuss. There's no hard and fast recipe, so add more or less of any of the ingredients if you prefer. And if you can eat dairy, go ahead and add half a cup of parmesan or pecorino. Perfect with gluten-free fusilli, hot or cold. It is also one great way to make dry rice cakes and cold meat a whole lot more interesting.

To store this pesto, refrigerate it well covered with oil so the leaves don't start to brown.

Beet this, baby!

I miss the seasons. I'm talking about a spring that pushes your jumpers into the back of the wardrobe and sends you off on a picnic; a summer that throws you in the pool and hands you a cocktail; an autumn that is worth it's weight in gold, ruby and amber; and a winter that demands a good cuddle and a cup of hot chocolate. As wonderful as year-round sunshine and washing that dries in half an hour is, the Middle East does miss these little reminders to change what you're doing, change what you're wearing, and change what you're eating.

Call me boring, but when I lived in London I could spend hours of my weekend wandering around Borough Market. If I wasn't on a freelance budget I would have had a basket piled high, but I was just there to see what was fresh and in season.

In Muscat, while we're theoretically in late autumn (if you can consider mid 20s - celsius not Fahrenheit - autumnal), the supermarket just doesn't say the same thing, so I'm going with what's fun to cook with and just plain colourful. This weekend, in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I decided to attempt something bright pink before heading out on a girls' fundraising bash, so my poor better half was in for a treat... beetroot soup!

If you like your hands clean and your tea towels bleach white, then this probably isn't for you, but if you're having a "my body is a temple" day then go for it. This was actually inspired by a Sri Lankan beetroot curry recipe in a recipe book that's at the top of the pile in my kitchen, Life's A Beach Cottage - Second Helpings, by the Durban-based food editor of House and Leisure Magazine, Neil Roake. It reminded me of a trip to Galle, two years ago, where every dish was a taste bud-exploding spice trail. Delicious if you like things with a bit of bite, although I toned things down a lot for the soup so it's not quite so scary.

Beetroot Soup

1 onion

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

2 large beetroots, peeled and diced (wear gloves or plastic bags over your hands before attempting this)

Olive oil

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp chilli powder (more if you're feeling brave)

2½ cups hot water

1 g-free stock cube

1 cup coconut milk

Sautée the onions, potatoes, and beetroots for 5-10 minutes, then add the stock (mix the stock cube and water together) and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and blitz until smooth. If the beetroot is still a bit chunky, return to the heat and simmer a bit more. Stir in the coconut milk. Serve hot or cold with a swirl of coconut milk and a few vegetable crisps on the side.

Mental note: Don't spill any of this on your party frock.

Meatballs of fire

Herbs have finally taken off in my vegetable patch, and the fact that it's taken eight months for any real life to show in this desert garden is cause for celebration. Why did I bother attempting a veggie patch at all? I had one as a child and food was always more exciting - and tastier - when I picked it myself. I have so much basil right now, I'm giving it away, and pasta is the order of the day. Today's special...

Spaghetti and Meatballs Arabiatta

500g lean beef mince

1 medium onion, coarsely grated

Olive oil

1 tblsp milled flax seed

3 tblsp warm water

1 tsp potato flour

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt and black pepper

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tin organic chopped tomatoes

1 tsp Heinz tomato paste (this is definitely gluten-free)

1tsp sugar

1 small handful fresh oregano leaves

1 handful fresh basil leaves

Gluten-free pasta of your choice (I used Rizopia Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti)

Sautée the grated onion in olive oil until slightly caramelised. This helps with binding the meatballs a bit. Once the onion is cool, get stuck in and mix it into the mince. Mix the flax seed with the warm water and stir it until it has the consistency of egg white. It works well as a binding agent if you can't eat egg. Mix this into the mince mixture one teaspoon at a time as you don't want the mince to get too wet. Add the teaspoon of potato flour, which I find helps things come together nicely in place of the usual flour or bread. Mix in the oregano, salt and pepper and you're ready to roll. Use about a tablespoon of the mix for each ball and then dust these lightly in potato flour before browning the outsides nicely in a hot pan. Set the meatballs aside while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, sautée the chilli and garlic quickly, then add the chopped tomatoes and tomato paste and sugar. The sugar just takes the edge off the acidity of the tomatoes. Add the meatballs to the sauce and leave to simmer while you cook the pasta. When the pasta is ready, stir the fresh oregano and some of the basil into the sauce. Serve topped with fresh basil.

Got the blues?

I had serious sorry-for-myself blues last night. The sort that required something by Muddy Waters to be playing in the background. The reality of living gluten-free is that often (while you're trying to get to grips with a whole new field of flours) you will feel like you're wading through very muddy waters. A recipe that works one day, turns on you the next and it's hard not to take it to heart when hours of research and even more hours spent trawling grocery stores checking labels have gone into it.

The reason for my blues? My blueberry muffins didn't rise. Baking gluten-free makes you feel a bit like a child again. You're not really sure what you're doing, you put the pan in the oven with nervous anticipation, and then stand and watch through the oven door for the entire 20-minute cooking time, fearing that if you look away they'll flop. So there I was, watching, willing this batch to puff up in vain. It took me back to 1989. It was my sister's birthday and we had just moved to the little town of Dundee (Dundee, South Africa, not Dundee, Scotland). My mother was whipping up batter for her fail-safe chocolate cup cakes, but as each batch went into the oven they rose and then collapsed like popped party balloons. As delicious as the chewy mess in the pans was, it was devastating for my mother. The reason for the flop... altitude.

While I can't blame altitude for last night's disappointment, I needed to repair the recipe this morning. So I pulled out the tin of Happiness Tea (hibiscus, rosemary and cardamon) my great friend, Nicks, gave me a while ago, hoping it might just live up to its promise.

The tin is enough to cheer anybody up. It reads...

Put the kettle on to boil. Warm your favourite teapot. Add one tablespoon of tea for each person. Pour in boiling water, allow to brew for 10 minutes, while you do one or more of the following: Lie on the sofa like a great big slug. Hug somebody. Dance like you danced when you were five years old. Rest. Take off your shoes. Sing like Pavarotti. Shake like Elvis. Help yourself to a huge slice of chocolate cake. Call a friend. Listen. Remember the last time you laughed out loud. Tickle somebody. Sit where you can feel the sun on your face. Smile. Be still. Be present. Just be. Stir and pour. Drink.

While the huge slice of chocolate cake would be an issue, I poured myself a cuppa... and it was blue (thanks to the hibiscus flowers)! A little ironic, I think, but perfect. And then the muffin crumbled... so to speak. Why not turn flopped muffins into crumble topping? If you ever bake a batch of g-free muffins that don't turn out quite according to plan, here's a way to turn them into a treat.

Bit of a Blunder Blueberry Apple Crumble

2 cups frozen blueberries

½ cup brown sugar

1 tblsp corn starch

1 tin unsweetened pie apples

Your own crumble topping

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Heat the blueberries, sugar and corn starch in a pot over a medium heat. As they defrost you will have a lot of liquid that slowly turns syrupy with the sugar and corn starch. Take it off the heat before it starts to gel too much. Grease a pie dish (I used mini single-portion pie dishes for fun). Place the apples at the bottom. Spoon the blueberries and syrup over the apples and then top with your crumble. Bake for about 20 minutes until the top is golden and delicious blue syrup is bubbling up the sides.

Two to Tango...

Mango Ice Cream with Passion Fruit

I was sitting at a beach cottage balcony in SA's Plettenberg Bay when I decided I wanted to make my own ice cream. This was nine years ago, I think, and we were devouring a family friend's tub of homemade vanilla creaminess that rivalled anything I've ever eaten in Italy. Many convenient tubs of Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry's and heavenly scoops of gelato in Rome and Venice put that plan on hold, but today I'm pleased to say I've finally done it... gluten-free, dairy-free, but definitely not yum-free.

Shopping list...

4 large ripe mangoes

1x400g tin coconut cream

¼ tsp xanthan gum

Fresh passion fruit for the topping

The secret is super-sticky, sweet mangoes. If they're not the sort that would require you to sit outside under a sprinkler to stay clean while you eat them, it just won't taste the same. Peel and cut the mangoes up into big chunks and pop them into a bag in the freezer. When the ice cream craving calls, let them defrost a little, then let your blender do it's work until they start to go smooth. Add the coconut cream and zanthan gum and blend until creamy. If it's not sweet enough for you, add a tablespoon or two of sugar and blend a bit more. Pour the mixture into a plastic tub and place it in the freezer. I don't have an ice cream machine, although one is now on my "Dear Santa, please may I have..." list after attempting this by hand. To stop ice crystals forming you need to give the ice cream a good stir every 45 minutes or so, for about 2 hours. You deserve a few scoops after that!

In a gluten-free flap?

Last night, a friend of mine - worried we couldn't have anything she was serving - asked me if we could eat rice. It dawned on me that, these days, telling someone you're gluten intolerant instills as much panic as those words "I'm a vegan" would have a few years ago. What do you feed us?! I'll be honest, I've spent the last 10 months wondering what I feed us!

No longer Mr and Mrs I'll Eat Anything, I realised that I needed to make this easier for everyone involved. The good news is... unprocessed meat, fresh potatoes, rice, herbs and all fruit and veggies have the green light. It's when we start to get fancy with pasta, sauces, snacks and desserts that things get a little bit more confusing.

So, I'm going to share my "easy alternatives" shopping list with you. Whether you're gluten-intolerant or coeliac, or even if you're just having someone round who is, check it out and you'll see that the menu is a lot larger than you thought. Keep checking this list, as I will update it as I go along. I have also noted which products are free from dairy and eggs for anyone (like myself and Gav) who is sensitive to these too.

Take Stock

We're Baking

• Dr Oetker Gluten-Free Baking Powder - check for the blue g-free label * **
• Bicarbonate of Soda - yip bicarb is 100% gluten-free * **
• Dove's Farm Gluten and Wheat Free Plain White Flour Blend * **
• Dove's Farm Gluten and Wheat Free White Bread Flour
• Dove's Farm Gluten and Wheat Free Brown Bread Flour
• Dove's Farm Stoneground Rice Flour (blend of white and brown)
• Orgran Gluten-Free All-Purpose Plain Flour * **
• Orgran Self-Raising Flour
• Orgran Vanilla Cake Mix
• Orgran Chocolate Cake Mix
• Orgran Buckwheat Pancake Mix
• Orgran Gluten-Free Gluten Substitute
• Orgran Gluten-Free Chocolate Mousse Mix
• Glebe Farm Gluten-Free White Bread MIx * **
• Glebe Farm Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix * **
• Glebe Farm Gluten-Free Muffin Mix * **
• Hodgson Mills Milled Flax Seed * **
• Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Buckwheat Flour
• Bob's Red Mill Sweet White Sorghum Flour
• Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Quinoa Flour
• Bob's Red Mill Stoneground Whole Grain Millet Flour
• Bob's Red Mill All Natural Arrowroot Starch/Flour
• Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Amaranth Flour
• Naturkom Muhle Wholemeal 4 Grain Flour Mix
• Rosenfeller Muhle Gluten-Free Organic White Loaf Mix
• Rosenfeller Muhle Gluten-Free Organic Baking Mix
• Rosenfeller Muhle Gluten-Free Organic Millet Cake Baking Mix
• Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Mix
• Arrowhead Mills All-Purpose Baking Mix
• Clearspring Organic Japanese Kuzu Gluten-Free Starch Thickener * **
• Basco Golden Butter Cake Mix
• Basco Buttermilk Pancake Shake

Grain Fed

• Bohlsener Muhle Organic Millet
• Bohlsener Muhle Organic Quinoa
• Bohlsener Muhle Corn Semolina Polenta
• Bob's Red Mill Organic Kasha Roasted Buckwheat Kernels

Daily Bread

• Naturkom Muhle Gluten-free Wholemeal 4 Grain Energy Bread
• Organic Foods & Cafe Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free Chocolate Loaf
• Organic Foods & Cafe Gluten-free Rice Bread
• Organic Foods & Cafe Gluten-free Toast Bread

Healthy Start

• ProNutro Original - Wheat Free * **
• Nature's Path Organic Corn Flakes * **
• Barkat Organic Breakfast Pops * **
• EnviroKidz Organic Koala Crisp Cereal * **
• EnviroKidz Organic Gorilla Munch
• Kallo honey puffed rice * **
• Dove's Farm Gluten-free Chocolate Stars

Got Milk?

• So natural rice milk **
• Ma Soya Milk **
• Waitrose soya milk **
• Silk Soya Milk * **
• Rice Dream * **
• Benecol Spread * **

Sweets for My Sweet

• Thornton's Original Toffi-Chocs - Thornton's delicious chocolates are all g-free
• Nestle After Eights
• Gullon Gluten-Free Biscuits
• Barkat GMan Gingerbread Cookies
• Kallo Organic Rice Cake Thins Coated with Belgian Dark Chocolate
• Jell-O
• Plain M&M's
• Torra Chocolate
• Orgran Biscotti Classic Choc
• Orgran Wild Raspberry Fruit Filled Biscuits
• Swedish Glace Rich Chocolate and Smooth Vanilla Ice Cream * **

Time for a Cuppa

• Nesquick Chocolate Powder
• Maxwell House Instant Coffee

Sauces and Toppings

• Smucker's fruit toppings, sauces and preserves
• Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
• Hellmann's mayonnaise
• Jif Peanut Butter
• Skippy peanut butter
• Athenos hummus
• Mott's Apple Sauce
• Orgran Gluten-free Gravy Mix

Mamma Mia!

• Rizopia Organic Brown Rice Pasta Spaghetti **
• Rizopia Organic Wild Rice Pasta Spaghetti * **
• Rizopia Organic Wild Rice Penne * **
• Rizopia Organic Wild Rice Radiatore * **
• Casalare Lasagne Sheets
• Casalare Cannelloni
• Del Grosso pasta sauces
• Hunts pasta sauce
• Waitrose Sundried Tomato Paste

Turning Japanese

• Fantastic Original Rice Crackers
• Clearspring Japanese Tamari Soya Sauce

The Mexican Order

• Discovery Refried Beans
• Discovery Chipotle Paste
• Tostitos chunky salsa
• Old El Paso White Corn Taco Shells

New D(h)eli

• Patak's Original Pappadums Plain
• Geeta's chutneys
• Patak's curry sauces

The Tin Plan

• Renuka Coconut Cream * **
• Heinz baked beans in tomato sauce
• Libby tinned pumpkin
• Del Monte tinned fruit

Snack Attack

• Tyrrell's Natural Beetroot, Parsnip and Carrot Chips * **
• Tyrell's Lightly Sea Salted Potato Chips * **
• Barkat Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks * **
• Lay's Stax
• Raffles potato chips
• Hole-Sum Corn Chips Original
• Real Foods Corn Thins - Original, Soy & Linseed, Multigrain * **
• Kallo rice cakes with sesame seeds
• Kallo rice cakes
• Oskri Almond Coconut Bar
• Oskri Original Coconut bar
• Oskri Fig Fruit Bar
• Oskri Sesame Bar Molasses and Black Cumin
• Oskri Honey Bar Muesli
• Oskri Honey Bar Turkish Delight
• Oskri Honey Bar Mixed Nuts

Sugar and Spice

• Ina Paarman's beef, vegetable and chicken stock powders
• Kallo stock cubes
• Kitchen Basics Original Chicken Stock * **
• Roland Maple Syrup
• McCormick spices

Fruit 'n Nuts

• Ocean Spray Craisins

Eat your Veggies

• Green Giant frozen vegetables

Hey Sausage

• Jones Dairy Farm Golden Brown Beef Sausages

Say Cheese

• Babybel
• Philadelphia cream cheese

Gum

• Wrigley's chewing gum
• Dentyne
• Lifesavers

Drink Up

• Mountain Dew
• Pepsi
• V8 Vegetable juice
• Dewlands Fruit Juice
• Ceres Fruit Juice
• Tang

Brand websites that list gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free status clearly...

• Ina Paarman's Kitchen
• Heinz
• Kallo
• Whole earth
• Thorntons
• Nestle
• Bob's Red Mill
• Orgran
• Doves Farm
• Chebe
• Arrowhead Mills
• Rizopia
• Oskri Organics
• Glebe Farm
• Casalare Pasta

Supermarkets that clearly mark their ranges of gluten-free, dairy-free products

• Woolworths South Africa (also lists products online)
• Marks & Spencer
• Sainsbury's UK (lists products online)
• Waitrose
• Organic Foods & Cafe Dubai
• Cafe Organica (Johannesburg)

* egg free

** casein free

Please note that most of the listed products are those I am currently able to find in Oman, or when I make the occasional trip to the Organic Cafe in Dubai. Where I have listed brands, I am not endorsing these products in any way, it is simply intended to be a useful resource. If you have any questions, please email me colwynleigh at gmail dot com