I love a dedicated gluten free menu and I felt totally spoilt at Frankie and Benny's today. I haven't visited this place for a while so I was intrigued and wanted to see what was on offer.

There are burgers on there with gluten free buns, pasta dishes with gluten free fusilli and pizza with gluten free bases. They also have three nice desserts too so I was very happy. I decided on a carbonara which tasted lovely and had to have something sweet afterwards so plummeted for a banana split sundae. This is what the sundae looked like:

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Gorgeous eh? It had slices of banana, vanilla and toffee ice cream, salted caramel and dark chocolate sauce, red berry sauce, chocolate honeycomb pieces, and whipped cream on the top. So tasty and have not felt guilty about the overload of calories at all.

I visited the Littleover Restaurant in Derby where the staff were very friendly and I can recommend the online booking system if you like to be organised. It is very easy to use and there is a handy app too to load onto your smart devices. 

So overall a good experience, prices are reasonable and would visit again. let me know if you've visited Frankie & Benny's and tell me what you think.

If you would like to check out the menus and for more information, go to their website here at:
www.frankieandbennys.com

Thank you for reading today, pop back tomorrow for Autism Support Saturday. For now though........

Take care.

I suppose we all want the usual things to make us happy, good health, a bit of money in our pockets, world peace would be nice and a life's supply of Galaxy Chocolate would make me very happy. What floats your boat though diet wise? When you are on a restricted diet what makes you want to punch your fists in the air and shout 'Yes' ??

I get excited when I see something in the supermarket in the 'free from' aisle which I've not been able to eat until now. It sits there with a glow around it and the angels start singing. A bit like when they brought out gluten free Hobnobs and Chocolate Hobnobs, that was a nice day.

I love it when I walk into a eatery place and they have gluten free food on the menu, I'm happy just to see that bread can be provided for me to have a toastie or a sandwich. I also like to see more than one choice in the cake department and decaf coffee and tea available. 

These people in restaurants who provide gluten free or dairy free options just don't know how they make our lives easier, I mean just by swapping the bread for us - it's the simple things. Knowledge is impressive too as there is nothing like going somewhere and they don't look vacant but totally 'get it'.  We drink goats milk in our house because a few years ago we discovered cows milk seem to make my son a bit wheezy, never completely sure whether the milk was the problem but he felt better after the swap and we've stuck with it ever since. I prefer it to honest, it's supposed to be a lot easier to digest, bit harder on the old wallet but isn't everything that comes with a special diet? 

When buying some goats milk the other day the girl on the checkout of our local Co-op suddenly said how she loved goats milk and how it was so much better, her boyfriend didn't agree but she loved it. I felt I had a kindred spirit who understood the milk from the goat. I could of talked to her all day, it's just nice when you find people with the same things in common - like milk. There we go again I'm so easily pleased. No complicated conversations for me, my head would boggle. I don't want to put the world to rights all of the time, sometimes I just need to know there is a community of goats milk lovers.

I like to think positive and not to think of blank looks when people say gluten free? What's that? I try not to think of the lonely piece of chocolate brownie sitting in a cafe because someone lacks the imagination to bake something else or source a different product. I try not to think of the places I can't eat any dinner or take advantage of fast food. It's not really any bother, although I'd love a big Maccy D's sometimes, I might take my own cob in so I can at least have a cheeseburger.

I've made the choice and I feel better for it and I've also got to know where to eat and who does awesome cake. Maybe you could tell me what makes you happy on your diets. Is there enough out there? Do you think products could be cheaper? Would you also like a McDonalds?, Maybe we could club together and charge in with our gluten free buns, demanding equality. Oh I feel a movie coming on! Leave a comment anyway.

​Thanks for reading today, please do feel free to pop back tomorrow where I offer some information and support around Autism on Autism Support Saturday, until then, take care of yourselves.

It's definitely getting colder now and starting to feel wintery. I discussed the need for nice warm casseroles last week, well now we need to think about the most important meal of the day and that's breakfast.

You can have porridge at any time of the day really but I do like a bowl to start my day off and personally it isn't just for winter really, I've been porridging right through summer - I know, what a rebel. Oats are another food that is really down to personal preference, some people can eat oats with no problem at all, some can't. The main issue with oats is contamination and that other grains such as wheat, barley and rye which may get mixed with it. I've stuck to the gluten free varieties and haven't had any problem with these at all. It is a case of try and see which is not always a preferred option especially as it means feeling unwell.

I have used the Foodie Market Free From Organic Oats which were purchased at Aldi and the Quaker Oats So Simple which I picked up at Tesco. these are a little more pricey at £2.99 for 10 sachets (350g) compare to £1.79 (500g) for the Aldi product. The sachets are handy to take away on a holiday if you need to and as they contain 40g of oats in each sachet this makes it so easy if you are following Slimming World as it's your Healthy Extra right there in one pack.

I know, stop being lazy Sue from the Brew and just weight the Aldi stuff out! I do honestly but sometimes there is nothing like ripping open a packet and job done!. It's so easy to make up as well with the sachets, you pour the oats into a bowl, fill the sachet up with milk, pour over the oats and microwave for approx 2 minutes. I pop a bit of fruit on and that's it, super fast breakfast. 

There are of course many more gluten free oats available on the market and it's a good idea to download the Coeliac UK Gluten Free Food Checker App as you can search products and even scan products to get all the information you need. It is really good. If you would like more information about oats, here is some information from the Coeliac UK website:
www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-and-lifestyle/gf-diet/oats/

I hope this helps a little, Generally I think us 'gluten free'ers' tend to find a product that suits us and stick with it or we know to just stay away from others altogether. I can recommend the Coeliac UK website as it has so much information and if you need to know more just enquire and they will advise you on everything you need to know. You don't have to be diagnosed as a Coeliac to use it, I'm not, just tends to be an intolerance for me and I use it all the time. 

Thanks for reading and please feel free to join me for Autism Support Saturday tomorrow. 

Take care for now.

Now it's getting a little bit chilly I thinks it's time for stews and casseroles. It's official! The cold dark nights are a sign of requiring big substantial belly filling goodness. I had my first chicken casserole this week after purchasing a Schwartz Packet Mix which was Gluten Free.

Yes, hurrah we too can now eat casseroles like the rest of the gluten eating nation and I can tell you this was gorgeous. I cooked it in my multi cooker for about an hour and it was so tasty I've bought another to do again soon. It made two meals, the first evening I had it with a baked potato and then finished off the second portion just by itself. It was so easy to cook and really filling. It is literally a case of browning the chicken, popping onions and carrots in, pouring the mix over the top and leaving to cook for an hour. How good is that? No worries of being glutened either, brilliant!!!

I was always a bit put off by these packet mixes as I'm trying to stick to my Slimming World diet. I thought I would have to add a lot of syns but for this full packet of gluten free chicken casserole mix it's only 5.5 syns so that's not bad at all. I purchased this pack from Tesco and decided to have a quick look at their other mixes to see if there were any that may have been gluten free. I found some curry mixes, a Balti, Korma, and there is also. a Biryani which are free from gluten so I'm going to give them a try.

The one thing I quite like about Autumn and Winter is that I can chuck something in the oven or slow cooker and leave it cooking, there's nothing like just having it all ready in the evening. It is also nice to have a nice balanced healthy meal, makes up for the lack of sunshine and warm weather.

It's worth checking out these handy mixes which are available in most Free From shelves at the big supermarkets. Take a look at the other sauce mixes as well but always read the ingredients. The gluten free range of Schwartz mixes can also be ordered at www.schwartz.co.uk and there is a good selection:

Roast Beef Gravy
Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Chicken Casserole
Chilli Con Carne
Cottage Pie
Chicken Fajitas
Creamy Pepper Sauce
Spagetti Bolognese

So that's a quite a bit to choose from, I'm impressed and will be using more of these, let me know what you think.

Enjoy and happy casseroling!! 

Thanks for stopping by, join me again for Autism Support Saturday tomorrow.

Take care.