The Banana Tipping Point

 Every year in spring, there comes a week that I describe as the Banana Tipping Point. This is the first week where the heat, and more importantly humidity, gets too much for our fruit bowl bananas and they start to turn mushy long before they can be eaten.

I know we are at the banana tipping point when I can see 6+ brown spotty overripe bananas lurking below the apples and citrus, slowly but surely perfuming the air with the scent of almost-gone fruit. At this stage, the courses of action are really only two - throw them out, or bake them into something. (One of these choices must be made and implemented before fermentation, because that gets very mucky!)

So this morning, I was up first in my family and marched to the kitchen full of purpose to do something about Bananagate before the situation really slipped out of control.

I used up 5 overripe bananas and the rest of an almost empty tin of cocoa, 1.5 packets of gluten free SR flour and 2 cups of brown sugar, a hefty slug of vanilla, all my remaining eggs and a fair bit of milk, but at the end I have 24 good sized choc banana muffins, which have already provided treat breakfast and will do nicely for serving to guests and also for lunchbox snacks for the first half of next week. Being gluten free, thy won't be super edible after about Wednesday, but I am confident we can work our way through them before that!

I much prefer the baking solution rather than the chucking solution, if it is feasible to do it.

(This is post #18 in NaBloPoMo. 18 down, 12 to go!)

Foods that I miss (A Coeliac's lament)

In no particular order:

- Really fresh, soft wholemeal bread, and in particular, sandwiches made with above.
- Angel food cake
- Chinese takeaway
- Egg noodles
- Chocolate eclairs
- Fillet O Fishes from Maccers
- Croutons
- Chicken schnitzel

Yeah, I know I can make gluten free versions of (some) of these, but I miss, so much, the ease and convenience of just being able to eat whatever, to buy it if I don't have time or interest to make it.

Don't mind me. I'm just fractious because HUNGREH. (I'm fasting for a medical procedure in the morning).

A Tale of Two Cakes and a Solar System Party

My second girl, the lovely Miss E, turned 9 in the middle of the week before last.

E had some very fixed ideas about what she wanted of this birthday. She wanted a science-themed party - specifically, a solar-system themed party. She wanted a Samsung tablet. She wanted loom bands. And she wanted to repeat the treat that she and I shared 18 months ago, when we spent a night away together in a fancy hotel, just the two of us.

It is fair to say that Talks Were Had about expense, about being a privileged person, and about how very unlikely it was that all the things she wanted could be had simultaneously without her own contribution. We settled in the end on getting her a loom band kit from the $2 shop, going halves in a Samsung Kids tablet (she chipped in $100 from Christmas and chore money), and stalking Wotif until I bagged a supercheap deal for a night at the Windsor Hotel.

Nonetheless, I still expended more than one might necessarily expect for a child's birthday gift, once the room service dinner and breakfast were factored in (*cough* no change from $400 *cough*), so I was determined to do her solar system party as inexpensively as possible, and there I think we pulled it off nicely.


We started with two cakes, made by me, one a gluten free chocolate mudcake and the other a butter cake. My cake-making superstar friend K came over on the Sunday before the party, and we transformed the bases into a solar system, with fondant planets painted with food dye, and a coloured sugar rainbow to serve as her school birthday cake (keeping, loosely, to the "skies above us" theme).

I took a day off work the day before the party, and this was a very smart move, as it let me hit all the local $2 shops for solar system themed candy, knickknacks and whatnots to fill the Pass the Parcel, stuff the (sun shaped) pinyata, serve as prizes for Pin the Earth on the Solar System and Musical Comets (aka musical statues) and stuff the party bags.

I also bought one little luxury item that I found in the bookshop at my work - rocket balloons, which you inflate then release, so they squeal merrily around the room. They weren't cheap but they were worth it for the fun they engendered.

At the party, we served:

- Marshmallows
- Mars Bars, Starbursts and Eclipse mints
- Cupcakes with the planets written on them
- Pretzels and chips, labelled as space dust
- "Rockets" (mini hot dogs)
- Martian slime (green jelly)
- Star and Moon shaped fairy bread
- Donuts (wormholes)
- Party pies and sausage rolls

E and her elder sister made all the signs for the food, which amused them greatly and saved me a lot of time too.

We did the Pass the Parcel, Musical Comets, Pin the Earth, the birthday cake,  and the pinyata, which proved difficult to break (aren't they always??) but eventually showered the kids with a satisfying rain of sweets and trinkets.

I had deliberately underfilled the party bags, on the basis that they would self fill from the pinyata, and this turned out to be a good move, as they all left with bulging packs anyway.

Altogether, we has 17 kids here including our own three, and the day was a great success. E loved it, the guests all seemed to really enjoy themselves and be tickled pink by the loose theming we applied to everything. It wasn't an expensive party, it was just an old fashioned kids' party at home, but I think it was fun and well doable by anyone who could invest the time in trawling the cheap shops for theme-worthy stuff.

I will post soon about the night at the Windsor, which was last night, but I am a bit tired so I am off to bed now :-) If anyone wants details on how either cake was made, please say so in comments and I'm happy to provide.

Barilla Gluten Free

Disclosure: I was provided with the pictured sample pack for review purposes by Bite Communications on behalf of Barilla. No financial incentive was offered or accepted for this post, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

One of the more disappointing aspects of being a Coeliac is discovering how expensive gluten free food substitutes really are. These days, unlike when I was first diagnosed 7 years ago, gluten free analogues are generally quite tasty and pleasant - although I am yet to be fully on board with any gluten free bread, I must say - but even now, they are usually comfortably triple the price of regular products, and this can bite quite hard into a family budget.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in staple packaged foodstuffs like breakfast cereals and pasta. I have always bought cheap pasta for the kids (mercifully, none of them are Coeliac - yet) but have to supplement with pricey gluten free pasta for me, taking our cost effective spag bol nights up a notch in ways I don't like. But what can you do?

Well, you can wait until well established pasta makers start bringing out bulk gluten free lines, and then cross all your fingers and toes that they don't cook into mush and taste like rubbish. When I was offered this pack to test, I confess these were my worries, after several bad experiences with rice-based pasta in particular. I was also dreading that rice-y, slightly sour back taste that cheap (er) gluten free pasta often has, that even my rich home made bolognese sauce doesn't fully cover.

I'm happy to report that both these Barilla gluten free pastas pass the consistency and taste test with flying colours. When cooked according to the instructions on the pack, the pasta was nicely al dente, and provided no back taste at all, serving as a very suitable vehicle for the two sauces. (The Medierranean vegetable one was nice enough, but I preferred the tomato pesto - which I liked so much, in fact, that I have bought three jars for my pantry for can't-be-bothered-cooking nights).

The Barilla gluten free pastas are retailing in Woolworths supermarkets for around $3.69, which compares pretty damn favourably to other gluten free pasta available in the majors (I just did a quick brand comparison search and at today's prices, it is actually the cheapest one). This matters when you are a family on a budget, and it matters when you are a Coeliac who doesn't want to not be able to eat what your family eats.

Two thumbs up from me to Barilla for producing a tasty, quality pasta range for gluten intolerants that caters to people on a budget. I will certainly be buying this pasta in the future.

Fox in the Box: Gluten free heaven in Gardenvale

As a Coeliac, there is a special (and rare) pleasure to be had from eating at one of the few establishments around the city that run completely gluten free kitchens. To be able to pick anything - anything at all - off the menu is an almost illicit thrill for those of us used to being limited to one salad, and maybe one soup, to choose from.

More than that, though, there's such a sense of relaxation and relief knowing that there is zero chance of contamination, and that you don't have to spend a wearying and potentially embarassing  amount of time quizzing wait staff on ingredients and preparation methods, maybe also having a conversation with a busy chef, then crossing all your fingers and toes that they get it right and you don't end up in pain for days. There are some places - actually, a lot of places - where I won't eat at all, because I just can't feel confident that they understand and will respect the need I have for fully gluten free food.

All of this why Fox in the box, located in Martin Street, Brighton (or is it Gardenvale? you decide) is a lovely, lovely discovery. A cute, unpretentious little cafe, it was tagged by my good friend J as a potential lunch venue for us a while back, and today we finally got around to checking it out.

It's fair to say we were the very opposite of disappointed. The menu is a good, solid cafe menu - wraps and sandwiches, risottos and pastas, chips and schnitzel, an array of nice-sounding salads - but each dish has an interesting little twist on it. There were at least 8-10 things that sounded super appetizing to me, but at the end of the day, I couldn't go past the salt and pepper calamari with three kinds of aoli. I used to love salt and pepper calamari in the good old days before I was a mutant (or at least a diagnosed one), and I miss it very much. Besides, *three* kinds of aoli? Come on. Too good to pass up.

My friend J made the same call and we had our mains with a very pleasant house sauvignon blanc, and wow was the food good. The calamari was delicate, soft and just slightly peppery (ie perfect) and the three sauces were interesting. I wasn't sold on the orangey one to the left of the plate, which had a mustard tang that wasn't quite to my taste, but the other two were to die for, and I scraped every bit out with chips and calamari alike.

Unphotographed, but also incredibly good, was the gooey chocolate pudding with vanilla bean lactose-free icecream that I had with Darjeeling tea for afters. Honestly, I love chocolate pudding, especially the ones that lava the dark chocolate sauce from inside the middle when you break them open with your spoon. I haven't had a really awesome one since being diagnosed almost 7 years ago, and that, my friends, is a VERY long time between drinks. Today I broke the drought with the kind of pudding that leaves you with a warm chocolatey glow of wellbeing, washed down with the no-nonsense tannins of my favourite of all the plain black teas. My friend J had a chocolate tart that she was similarly enthused about, and all in all, we were very glad we waited for dessert :-)

Although not personally an issue for me, the multiply-food-challenged might be interested to know that Fox in the box also does lots of lactose-free and FODMAP-friendly dishes, and plenty of vegan options as well. No matter what your food issue is, this place can sort you out and you won't be sorry you went.

J and I were so enthused that we are planning a group brunch there in the near future to try out the breakfast menu. Two firm thumbs up from me for Fox in the box!

Disclaimer (or anti-disclaimer really): I was not asked to write this post, no inducement was offered nor accepted for doing so, and I have no affiliation whatsoever with Fox in the box or its management. Our meals were paid for by my delightful friend J as a celebration lunch for getting my new job!

Pussycat cake

It's my middle girl's 8th birthday next week, and we are having her slumber party here this weekend. So in preparation, last night we had our now-traditional cake decorating evening with our wonderful friend K - a tradition that started 3 years ago now when my eldest put in her request for the periodic table of the elements cupcakes for her science party. (And what a production that was!) We've since made love heart cakes, Dorothy the Dinosaur, a butterfly cake, a flower cake, and a ringtail possom cake.

This time, Miss almost-8 requested a cat cake, which, on the scale of difficulty, is at the modest end.  I made 2 round gluten free vanilla cakes - one large, one small - and we got to work.

First, we cut up the smaller cake to form ears, a raised nose and raised whiskers. There was plenty of small cake left, which was put aside for lunchbox treats for the rest of the week. (Carving the cake was made easier because we had frozen it; this is highly recommended for any cake design that will involve carving or slicing).

Next, we made a lot of buttercream icing and liberally smothered the cat with it. I make my buttercream with icing sugar, margarine and a little hot water; I think it comes out nicer than adding milk, and has a richer taste.

It also helps because one of my kids is mildly dairy intolerant, so I keep milk products as minimal in my baking as possible.

To cover this cake, I used 2 full packets of iciong sugar and probably 6-8 tablespoons of margarine.

During this process, of course, there was plenty of snacking - on cake leftovers, icing bowl remnants and then on fondant as we moved into the colouring phase. Whenever we're going to do a cake, I never give the kids dessert after dinner or anything sweet after school - I know they are going to fill up on baking stuff and that's part of the fun of it :-)

Next came colouring and rolling out the fondant. For this I use Orchard White Icing, which is a gluten free packet brand you can get in the supermarket. We always use K's colour gels for this stage and wear disposable gloves to knead the colour through (it does stain hands and clothing otherwise). The kids all enjoy the process of mixing the colours, and K is extremely patient with them as they work their fingers in the stiff fondant.

Both the elder two had a go of rolling out this time too, which they thought great. K got the grey base coat applied and our cat was really starting to look like a cat!

Finally, as I took Miss 4 off to bed, the elder two worked with K to create and apply all the details. By the time I emerged from settling Miss 4, our pussycat had whiskers, pink ears and a smile, and shortly thereafter, pretty green eyes and a little nose.

We think it looks great and the birthday girl is thrilled, which is the main objective!

When I get glutened

On Good Friday, at the Royal Children's Hospital Easter Appeal fair with my family, I ate some chips from the Nando's outlet at Etihad Stadium (in Melbourne).

I ate the chips because I was hungry, and because I have eaten Nando's chips before and never gotten sick from them. Nando's doesn't have any fried products that contain gluten, so, theoretically, the chips should be fine.

Except they weren't. Whether by crumb contamination or from some other cause, my chips had enough gluten on them (and it really only has to be a small amount) to set off my immune reaction.

I am a Coeliac. Coeliac Disease is an auto immune disorder, which is co-mordid with a range of other auto-immunes, some of which I also have. A friend and I were joking just yesterday that it's like a really sucky game of pick up sticks, having auto immune problems - she, a sufferer of Crohn's, has a few hanger-on immune problems like I do, and our collective array of medicaments and management strategies is simultaneously impressive and depressing.

So anyway, being Coeliac, when I eat gluten, here is what happens to me. (Everyone's reaction differs; that's why it can be so hard to diagnose).

- Within an hour, I start to feel nauseous. I rarely actually throw up, but the strong sicky feeling will hang around for 1-3 days without respite.
- Within three hours, I have bad abdominal pain and cramping. This is usually only a 2-5 hour phase, ending when it is succeeded by
- *Ahem*. The toilet part. Without being too explicit, I then spend 1-2 hours glued to the porcelain god as the first wave of reaction passes through.

I'm sort of lucky among my kind in that my gut upsets are usually all done within 12 hours. But that's not it; next we move on to Wave 2.

- The day after glutening, I wake with a kingpin headache, the kind that Panadol does not touch. This will last anywhere from 1-5 days depending on how much the universe hates me. This time, it was only 2 days, so that was a mercy.
- Late on this day, or sometimes the day after, I become aware of joint aches. They can be mild or severe. (This time - severe).
- It's also on this day that extreme fatigue sets in. As in, narcoplepsy-type random falling asleep, zero energy to do anything, and unrestful rest. This will peak on day 3 but I won't be back to normal energy for at least a week.
- My ability to concentrate on anything is shot six ways to Sunday. I find it hard to maintain linear thought, and harder yet to write. This is worst on days 2 and 3 post-glutening, and I am usually rediscovering a brain cell or two by day 5. (Which happens to be today).

I'm writing this today because I am tired of being asked why I insist on gluten free food, why I won't eat food I'm not confident about,  and why I now decline restaurant invitations if the venue cannot cater safely for me.

I'm writing this to hopefully explain that when I say, "It needs to be gluten free", well, IT ACTUALLY NEEDS TO BE GLUTEN FREE. I am not willing to sacrifice a week of my life just to avoid someone else's momentary inconvenience or social discomfort with my "pickiness".

I'm writing this because it is not fair or reasonable to ask me, or anyone else, to attend a food based function if my dietary needs cannot be met. No, it's not OK for me to "just eat before I come" (Yes, I have had people suggest this) or "just take a punt" (NO.) I do not want to sit watching other people eat while I sip my water. I refuse to risk being made sick because it's too much trouble to make my food safe.

This glutening was my own doing, sort of (I ordered the food, I trusted it based on past experiences, I ate it. These things happen). But I have been caught multiple times in the past by other people's lack of concern or lack of interest, and you know what, bugger that. If this makes me a bad guest, so be it. I'm not doing it anymore. The sequelae of being glutened is just too revolting.

Butterfly cake, gluten free

My baby C will turn 4 in 9 days, and we're having her party a week early for various reasons. Which made this week Cake Making Week!

This year, C decided she wanted a butterfly cake. A brief amount of research on Pinterest revealed to me that there are several ways of making a butterfly cake, ranging from meticulous hand carving of a sheet cake to the use of individual cupcakes to create a pointillist effect. I concluded that simplicity was king and picked the method that seemed the easiest - making two heart-shaped cakes to serve as the wings, and cupcakes to form the body.

C asked for chocolate mudcake as the base, so on Tuesday, she and I mixed and baked two fairly modestly sized heart shaped gluten free mudcakes, and commandeered 4 of a large batch of gluten free vanilla cupcakes made for the party, in preparation for our friend K's now-traditional visit to help us decorate the cake on Wednesday night.

Set up, the cake looked like this:



The next step was to douse it thoroughly in buttercream. I make my buttercream with margarine, icing sugar and hot water - I don't use milk, as I find it makes it too runny. Coated, our butterfly looked like it was all meant to be one cake - bonus!

Now comes the fun part! Using my friend K's colour gels (soooo much better for colouring fondant than liquid colouring), we made yellow, blue, pink, purple and orange fondant. C wanted a yellow-winged butterfly with a purple body, with coloured dots and stripes!



We have found that kids, even pretty young ones, can help knead the colour through the fondant and enjoy doing so, but a strong recommendation is to use disposable gloves, otherwise all kneaders end up with rainbow hands that aren't easily purged :-)

K rolled out the fondant to the appropriate thickness and width, and carefully transferred fondant to the cake. The yellow base going on started to smooth out the shape:



Next was the decorating! The three girls cut multi coloured circles and applied them at will. 7 year old E made eyes and a face for Miss Butterfly, which C loved, and we strategically applied stripes and more dots to cover any incipient cracks in the base. (Decoration covers a multitude of sins!)

Now finished, the cake is snuggled up in the fridge next to my rice milk, waiting for Saturday.



To make this cake gluten free, there are really only a few things to remember:

- Make the base cakes gluten free!
- Use a brand of white icing / fondant that is gluten free. I use the Orchard brand that you can buy in most supermarkets.
- Use pure icing sugar, not icing mixture.
- Doublecheck your colourants to make sure they are gluten free. (Most of the colour gels are).

The cake looks nice - not cake-shop nice, but hand-made nice - and even better, the kids got to be involved in every stage of the process, which means that, for C, it's much more special than a cake that we bought or that Mummy made by herself. This is Cake Team Effort, and it's become part of our birthday ritual over the last three years, one that we all look forward to.

It is getting easier to be gluten free

One's dietary life isn't always easy as a Coeliac.

Not so much in terms of eating and cooking at home, to be honest - after an inevitably painful adjustment period, most Coeliacs get the hang of gluten free home cooking and baking, and using substitutes becomes second nature. No, it's eating out that's the problem - both at the houses of friends who don't quite get the gluten free thing, and in restaurants / takeaways that may or may not understand gluten free by ingredient, but often cross-contaminate food because of shared cooking facilities.

When I was first diagnosed, almost 6 years ago now, eating out was a really risky proposition, and one I rarely indulged in without consequence. I developed a rota of boring but mostly safe gluten free go-to choices in the cafe-style restaurant and food court situation - with was, essentially, plain salads with only vinaigrette dressings, baked potatoes with cheese and salad, avocado or salmon sushi without soy sauce, steamed rice, and that's about it. Even sushi made me sick on occasion, if I wasn't really careful.

As for sweet treats, unless you went to a designated gluten free restaurant, you had to content yourself with fruit salad and maybe cream, or go without.

As the incidence and diagnosis of both Coeliac and gluten intolerance has risen in Australia, though, I have to say the eating-out situation has improved enormously. It's still wise to question providers about cooking methods - I know more than one person who's been the victim of unintended contamination - but lots of restaurants, and even takeaways, are getting it right, and being a Coeliac is feeling less and less like a weird form of first-world boo-hoo food martyrdom. (As in, the least catered for Coeliac in the entire western world still eats exponentially better than much of the world, and I'm under no illusions about that).

See what I had for lunch today? A delicious spicy pork quesadilla, in a rice flour soft tortilla. It was yummy, just what I felt like, and safe. (If it hadn't been, I would be sick by now!)

On Thursday, I bought prawn rice paper rolls and a bowl of pho from a fast food outlet on a university campus, and enjoyed every mouthful without ill effects.

A week ago, flying from one client site to another, I picked up some takeaway pad Thai rice noodles, which were delicious, and safe.

And perhaps even more excitingly - we gluten free people now get *desserts* Almost every cafe and restaurant has at least one cake or muffin in their cabinet that is gf now, and some have more than one. And lookit what I got for dessert today - macarons. Divine, beautiful macarons. Gluten free and wonderful.

You still have to be careful - of course you do - and contamination is always and ever an issue. But from my viewpoint at least, it's getting easier to be a Coeliac out in the world, at least here in Melbourne. And that is a good thing!

This is post 3 in NaBloPoMo. 3 down, 27 to go!

School holidays, yum cha and eating swords

Today is the first day of the term 3 school holidays in Victoria. This is going to be a strange spring holidays for us - I'm working four of the five weekdays in each week, and the kids are going to be spending lots of time with grandparents, friends and Daddy. It is an inevitability, given the stage of work I'm at with my projects, but I am ambivalent about it nonetheless.

We got the holidays off to a lovely start today, though, with a family day out in the city - we met friends at Southgate to have Yum Cha at the Red Emperor. The Red Emperor offers gluten free yum cha, which is a massive treat for me, and overlooks the Yarra, which, in spring, is a feast for the eyes as well.

This was the kids' first encounter with the wonder that is Yum Cha, and they were all cautious and a bit dubious about whether they would like the food. My 9 year old is a decided non-fan of Chinese food generally (the child will not even eat fried rice!), so she in particular was concerned about whether she'd end up hungry.

Well, I'm delighted to report that the kids (and my friend's 8 year old, who was also encountering yum cha for the first time) did really well. The 7 and 3 year olds made short work of the spring rolls, as I suspected they would, and also ate pork buns, sausages in batter, and prawn crisps. They also both tried steamed dumplings - they weren't a massive success, but at least they tried. To omplete their meal, we ordered some steamed rice for them and they cleaned it up also.

My 9 year old was not enamoured of the springies but was surprised to find that she loved all the various buns / bread-wrapped delicacies, and managed two steamed dumplings with prawn fillings comfortably. Overall, she pronounced yum cha to be a MUCH better way of eating Chinese food than "from the takeaway shop".

However, the real triumph of yum cha for the kids was dessert. As the trays of fruit salad, jelly cubes, custard tarts, donuts, mooncakes and beautiful pastry swans with custard filling were unloaded, the four girls' eyes lit up with excitement. "This is excellent!" proclaimed E, my 7 year old, chomping through chocolate-laced jelly triangles, donuts and tarts with great good will. My 3 year old was entranced with jelly firm enough to eat with her fingers, while the 9 year old declared the custard swans "delicious".

As for me, I ate myself silly with steamed dumplings of all descriptions, drank a very large amount of Chinese tea, chatted to my friends, cuddled my girls, and had a fantastic time. It wasn't an especially cheap meal out ($135 for our family of five), but it was a treat, and well worth the indulgence for an annual outing.

On the way back to the car, we strolled along the bustling Southbank and looked at the river boats, watched street artists painting a Bacchanalia (extremely well executed it was, too), and stopped to watch an extremely flexible performer who started with acrobatic and contortionist tricks, but moved on to juggling fire sticks and then (oooo, errr) to sword swallowing. My 3 year old had gone for a walk across the bridge with her dad by this stage, but the 9 and 7 year olds (and I) were mesmerised.

The girls were a bit scared, but in that cannot-look-away sort of a fashion. The 9 year old wrapped her arms around her little sister, which was both very sweet and also almost resulted in an inadvertent throttling as the 9 year old reacted to the sword moving down the performer's trunk. (I'm slightly shuddering just remembering it; it was truly very freaky to see).

After applauding and rewarding the performance, we wended our way back to the car. I took the sleepy younger kids in to lie in my bed with me for an hour and chat quietly, and watch a few rounds of The Duck Song on my tablet, while my husband and the 9 year old went to visit my mother in law in hospital.

Right now, the kids are playing with the neighbour kids in the lounge, the kettle is boiling, the birds are cheeping, the sun is glinting through the trees, and for the first time in a long time, I have a decent grip on work and house, an equable mood, and a positive feeling about the period ahead. It may not last, but for today, I'll sure take it.

The easiest gluten free cookie in the world

Gluten free cookies are not as hard to make as, say, gluten free sponge cakes (ugh, sponge cakes), but it's still the case that they can take a bit of fiddling to get right. So I thought I might share my failsafe easy everyday cookie recipe for gluten free sugar cookies, which I've developed over time and tweaked until it's basically bulletproof - and, more to the point, toddler-proof! I make these cookies often and they are my go-to baked sweet treat in busy weeks like this one, because 3 year old C and I can make them and have the kitchen cleaned up afterwards in half an hour.

These sugar cookies are quite plain and, despite their name, not too sweet, with a basic cookie texture and a firm smooth surface. The dough is quick and non-fiddly to prepare, they cook in 6-7 minutes, and they are perfect for icing or decorating. They keep well in airtight storage for up to 3 weeks. What's not to like?



Gluten free sugar cookies
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter or margarine (I usually use margarine)
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 3/4 cups gluten free plain all purpose flour
1 teaspoon xanthum gum
1 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder


Method
Cream the butter / margarine with the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and xanthum gum together, then mix into the creamed butter mixture. Keep mixing until it forms a dough ball.

(You can then chill the dough for an hour but I usually can't be bothered and it still works fine if you don't.)

Roll out the dough onto a well floured board and cut out your cookies. Transfer to flat baking sheets lined with baking paper. Bake in a preheated hot oven (190-200C) for 6-7 minutes.

Makes 25-30 cookies depending on the size of your cutters. Enjoy! (We do :-)

Eating gluten free in Melbourne: Black Ruby cafe

G and I went out for the day yesterday, leaving the kidlets with my parents. School holidays are upon us; this was a parent holiday in preparation.

The day, we decided, should be composed of:
- Brunch. Preferably a large one.
- City-wandering and bookshopping.
- Catching a matinee at the Comedy Festival

So after we dropped the girls to my Mum's at 9:30, we set off for Parents' Day Out Part the First - Brunch.

I first heard of Black Ruby cafe in North Carlton from the people at Absolutely Gluten Free, the gluten-free supermarket in Werribee. Shane, one of the owners, was raving about the bread Black Ruby makes.

"Best I've ever had," he said emphatically. "Good enough to make fairy bread with." We both nodded sagely. Fairy bread is one of the recognised litmus tests for gluten free bread, as is peanut butter sandwiches. Poor gluten free bread makes both these treats inedible.

I ordered some of the Black Ruby bread through Absolutely Gluten Free and liked it a lot. It did make a nice, if slightly chewy, peanut butter sandwich, and the fruit loaf, toasted, was to die for.

So when I was searching for a brunch option, I lit quickly on Black Ruby, as it's two blocks from the tramline that would take us right into town, as well as being 100% gluten free.

I'll write that again, for all the weary Coeliacs out there who have been made sick from cross-contamination one too many times -

EVERYTHING THEY SELL IS GLUTEN FREE.

ALL OF IT.

NO GLUTEN IN THE PLACE. ANYWHERE.

Being able to choose from any entire menu is, of course, a big treat, but the extra assurance of knowing that you don't have to worry about preparation methods and so on is wonderful.

Of course, I do have other criteria by which I judge the awesomeness (or otherwise) of an eating establishment. Gluten free is a strong start, but is the food delicious? Is the service good? Is the atmosphere comfortable and welcoming?

Yes.

Yes.

And, yes.

(Clearly, I do not have a great career ahead of me in restaurant reviewing :-)

To elaborate, we found Black Ruby to be a very cosy, well-set-up little cafe. We snagged a table in behind the door, which sounds cramped but was actually great - it was like our own private booth in the window, looking out to the sidewalk. Our coffees, ordered on arrival, were delivered within 3 minutes and were perfect, always a good start.

We both opted for the big breakfast and settled in for a chat, but it arrived only 15 minutes after ordering - so fast that I was a bit surprised actually! I saw on a couple of the restaurant review sites that people have been complaining about slow or unfriendly service, but all I can say is, our experience was the absolute polar opposite of that. The staff were really friendly and efficient, and it's probably the quickest I've ever gotten a cooked-breakfast order in a busy cafe on a weekend morning.

As for the food -

The food was magnificient. Delicious juicy little sausages, perfectly runny poached eggs, rashers of bacon, a little lamb chop, tomatoes, spinach, and the most yummy onion jam stuff to eat with the savouries. The eggs, of course, nestled on a thick slice of Black Ruby's home-made bread. I should've taken a photo of the food, but I was hungry and was halfway through it before it occured to me. (Another reason why I should never become a restaurant blogger!)

We washed it all down with a second hot drink - tea for me, another coffee for hubs - and rolled ourselves with difficulty out the door, with a little pocket change from $50. I consider that extraordinarily good value, given that if we had taken the kids, we would only have needed to add in an order of pancakes to feed us all bountifully. (Actually my only regret is that there was no way we could have squished pancakes in. I really wanted to try them. Next time!)

All in all - big thumbs up from both me and G, both as a gluten free eating haven and as a general top cafe. We'll most certainly be back.

Gluten free and delicious #2: Parmesan tomato and tuna risotto cake

As I mentioned in my banana bread post, I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of Coeliac Australia's recipe book and a basket of ingredients in order to trial two recipes for Coeliac Awareness Week.

The banana bread continues to be a huge hit - C and I made it again on Tuesday afternoon, in fact, and there was none left by Wednesday night. Freeze, schmeeze - it has no chance of ever making it that far around here :-)

My second recipe was a savoury one, and I wasn't, to be honest, sure what the family would make of it. I opted to cook the Parmesan, Tomato and Tuna Risotto Cake, because my family have never been willing to eat tuna but they do like risotto generally, and I am searching for more inexpensive fish meals to put into our regular menu. (They all like salmon fillets and barramundi, but we can't eat like that every night!) Tuna casserole was a total flop, and fish pie, which was a modified success (3 out of 5 liked it, 1 ate it reluctantly, only 1 refused it outright) is incredibly fiddly and time-consuming to make.

Here is the recipe, reproduced from the Coeliac Australia cookbook, Gluten Free Recipes, with permission.

Ingredients

50g butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups short grain rice (I used medium)
1 x 250g can tuna in brine
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
5 1/2 cups hot gluten free chicken stock
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano
2 tsp dried oregano
shavings of cheese to top
(The instructions say serve with salad, but as my kids won't eat salad, I served it with baked veggies).

Method

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan and saute onion. Add rice and tuna and stir for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1 cup stock, stirring occasionally until all liquid is absorbed.

2. Continue to stir, gradually adding remaining stock until all liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked (approx 15 mins).

3. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before adding beaten eggs, cheese and oregano.

4. Pour mixture into a buttered and lined 20cm spring-form pan. (Or regular one if, like me, you don't own a spring-form :-) Bake at 200C for 40 min or until set.

Allow to cool slightly before taking out of tin. Cut into wedges, top with shaved parmesan or romano, and serve with side dishes.

Well, the recipe worked - the cake cooked and set, and sliced quite well. It smelled and looked appetising. But the million dollar question is, of course - did they eat it?

Husband loved it. He's requested it again next week.

I liked it. I wouldn't say it's a favourite dish, but I'd happily eat it on a semi-regular basis.

C, aged 3, scoffed all hers and asked for more. She was a huge fan.

A, aged 8.5, approached hers cautiously, but ruled it "not bad" and ate 3/4 of her portion.

E, aged almost 7, hated it. HATED it. She couldn't manage more than two bites. I thought this might happen; it's not a fault of the recipe, it's just that E does not do well with very "fishy" fish, and, other flavours notwithstanding, this is a very tuna-tasting meal.

Still, that's not a bad outcome - I can make this one again for the four of us who ate it and just give E a substitute protein (usually poached eggs) on the night. I certainly think it's a recipe worth trying for a relatively cheap, tasty, gluten free family dinner.


Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of Coeliac Australia's cookbook, and a basket containing all the ingredients for two recipes, by Porter Novelli on behalf of Coeliac Australia, with the understanding that I would trial two recipes during Coeliac Awareness Week. No payment was offered nor accepted for this process, and all views (and cooking mishaps!) are entirely my own.

Resources for living gluten free in Melbourne: Part 2

Yesterday I published Part 1 of my top 25 Resources list; today, here's my favourite cookbooks and retail / products, to finish off the list.

Cookbooks

1. Irrestistables for the Irritable (Sue Shepherd)
Dr Sue Shepherd is one of the local legends in the gluten free and other dietary needs field, and I really like her two cookbooks in this series (there's a sequel, Two Irresistible for the Irritable, that I've also got). Her recipes are mostly simple and I have never had one fail, although there are a few I probably wouldn't attempt. (The lamb pilaf on page 81 of the second book is one of our family's favourite recipes).

2. Coeliac Australia's Gluten Free Recipe Book
As my banana bread post from Monday would attest, I like this book a lot too! The recipes are straightforward and non-fussy, and the section at the start of the book on reading labels and finding substitutions is a good refresher for me and would be invaluable to a newly diagnosed person.

3. The Eat Well Cookbook (Jan Purser & Kathy Snowball)
My brother gave me this book when I was first diagnosed, because he is kind like that :-) It is full of recipes that are both gluten free and dairy free, and contains one of my most triumphantly successful puddings of all time, the light and gorgeous Lemon & Lime Delicious Puddings (p 141).

4. Four Ingredients Gluten free
I know there are mixed views on the Four Ingredients concept, and whether it actually constitutes "cooking" as opposed to, say, "mixing". I am, however, a big fan, especially when pressed for time, and there are some corkers of dinner ideas in here.

5. From My Kitchen to Yours (Sally Wise)
My beautiful friend M gave me this book for Christmas, and I've been greatly enjoying it. I haven't made many things from it yet, but everything I have made has been wonderful.

6. 100 Best Gluten-Free Recipes (Carol Fenster)
This is a treasure of a book, but it's really a cookbook, not a baking book - light on desserts, but full of excellent and delicious main meal ideas.

Retail / Products

1. Absolutely Gluten Free
Located in Werribee, this store is like a mini gluten free supermarket. I cannot begin to tell you what it feels like, as a Coeliac, to walk into a shop where you can choose ANYTHING ON THE SHELF without thinking twice! Owners Carleen and Shane are very knowledgeable and helpful, too, and having this shop within a reasonable proximity makes my life many times easier.

2. Muffin break gf muffins
When a major chain offers regular gluten free options, it's such a big thing for me; to be able to get something when everyone else does is so incredibly nice. Muffin break offers a good selection of gluten free treats and I have never been burned with contaminated product by them, not even once.

3. Macro range (Woollies)
The gluten free component of Woolworths' Macro range (organic / health foods) have been a godsend for me. I've used many products from this range and some of them have my undying devotion (to wit: the sponge cake!)

4. Silly Yaks Gluten Free
Back when I was diagnosed in 2007, mainstream supermarket chains carried little that was gluten free. One of the first product lines I discovered was Silly Yaks' pies, which a local cafe ordered in especially for a customer who was Coeliac. I used to buy the pies in dozens and freeze them, and I enjoyed every mouthful :-) With more options now, I don't spend quite as much on Silly Yaks, but I still think they're among the tastiest of all the g free pie-type products.

5. Orgran
Again, old habits die hard - when I was diagnosed, Orgran was the only pre-mix flour available in supermarkets, and I still like it better than the newer competitors, and still prefer it in my baking, because I know how it behaves! Moreover, Orgran makes a lot of other products that I really like - their crackers and crispbreads high among them.

So that's my top 25 things that I rely on in living gluten free in Melbourne. You input and thoughts are most welcome...

Resources for living gluten free in Melbourne: Part 1

One of the things that I have found most helpful as a Coeliac has been discovering a network of services, information and resources that supports gluten free living. There are masses of web pages, blogs and recipe books; there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of products, some available in mainstream supermarkets; there are plenty of great options for eating out. Sometimes knowing where to look, or how to narrow it down to the things that will be of most use to you with your lifestyle, can be the hardest part.

So I've put together a list of my own most-relied-upon 25 resources as a Coeliac living in Melbourne. These are all services / resources / products I've used over and over again; all things that make my life easier, more pleasant, or more fun. Of course, there are hundreds more I could've chosen, and your top items might well differ radically, but these are a good place to start.

(NB: One resource that I used to love, and would have topped the list, was Gluten Shmooten, a web page for Coeliac living in Melbourne. Tragically, it appears to be now defunct, as all the links are broken. Sadness :-(

I've divided them into 4 categories - Online Resources, Cookbooks, Retail / Products, and Eating Out. Today, I've put up the first two categories - Online Resources and Eating Out. Part 2, Retail / Products and Cookbooks, coming up tomorrow!

Online Resources

1. Gluten Free Girl and the Chef
Shauna James Ahern and Danny Ahern's beautifully written and photographed blog is probably my favourite of all the many gluten free food / cooking blogs on the Internet. While Shauna and Danny make some food that I wouldn't even attempt in terms of complexity, they also have a lot of simple, easy-to-prepare recipes, and general cooking tips and tricks, that I've found invaluable.

2. Nellbe's Gluten Free Kitchen
Janelle's blog is a gem, especially because, as a Melbournian like me, she's often writing about things like supermarket specials and local restauarants that are directly relevant. I love the gluten free menu plans too.

3. Coeliac Australia
As the peak body for Coeliac sufferers here, Coeliac Australia's site gave me a huge amount of help, encouragement and clear information when I was first diagnosed and really struggling with it all. I still find it a great hub of resources and visit there at least monthly to get new ideas and updates.

4. She Let Them Eat Cake
This is a baking site with a difference - egg-free, dairy-free and gluten-free all in one! I am neverendingly amazed at the variety and yumminess of the food that Maggie coaxes out of her apparently limited ingredients. Check it out, especially if baking for vegans; you won't be disappointed.

5. Gluten free eating directory
There are many gluten free restaurant lists and guides out there, but this is the one I use the most; it seems to be updated often and contains useful information about other aspects of the venue (eg kid-friendliness) that are relevant to me.

6. Gluten free goddess
Almost as famous as the Gluten Free Girl, I like this site a lot too, although I find the writing style a little less engaging. (But the recipes? Nom nom nom...)

7. Ali V, Gluten Free
A fantastic Australian site that draws together lots of knowledge about not just gluten free but FODMAP diets and related health conditions.

Eating Out

1. Nando's
Most fast food places are completely off-limits to Coeliacs, which, while not a bad thing in some ways, does make quick family takeaways a drag. I was very excited to discover that Nando's chicken, salads and spicy rice are all gluten free (you just need to avoid the chips).

2. MoVida
Discovering that one of our favourite Melbourne restaurants for a special meal out, Spanish cuisine oriented MoVida, could provide a wide gluten free selection was an unparalleled joy for me. It's not an everyday place for us but it is so nice to know I can have a fancy meal out for special occasions and eat beautifully without fear.

3. Yum Cha at the Red Emperor
One of my greatest loves, pre-children, was the work yum cha lunch. My husband and I also adored yum cha and ate it often on Sundays, frequently meeting friends to do so. Losing yum cha was one of my top five disappointments when I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. Being able to indulge again, even if only once in a while, at the Red Emperor is such a treat.

4. Snappas Fish & Chippery (Werribee)
Gluten free fish and chips are getting more and more common, I'd pleased to say; I've eaten good gluten free food from fish and chippies in Bendigo, Geelong, near my parents' place, and so forth. Snappas is our most local one, though, and the service is always excellent. Restoring our monthly Friday night family fish & chips has been lovely for us all.

5. Fresh Chilli Thai
Thai food can often be gluten free by ingredient in any case, but when you find a restaurant that gets the contamination issue, you stick to them like glue :-) Fresh Chilli has three western surburbs branches, and their Pad Thai is my favourite thing in the wide world.

6. Sushi Sushi
This sushi chain, that operates all over Melbourne, not only does lovely sushi that is gluten free, they are now carrying gluten free soy sauce as well. Win!

7. So n So's
This Chinese and pizza restaurant (yes, you read it right!) has been providing a full gluten free menu to western suburbs diners for over a decade now, and not once have I ever been glutened by their food. I would say the Chinese food is nicer than the pizzas, but it's all pretty good, and such a relief to find locally.

I'd be interested to know what other Melbourne Coeliacs think of this list. What are your favourites and your best, to quote my 3 year old?

Gluten free and delicious #1: Banana bread

One of the biggest hurdles for many people to overcome when they receive a Coeliac diagnosis for themselves or a family member is getting their head around how to adjust to baking with gluten free flour. Wheat flour behaves in predictable (and predictably desirable) ways when baked. It has qualities that non-wheat flours of whatever description (and there are many) simply do not possess. This can lead to outcomes that are both hilarious and tragic if one tries to simply cook a known recipe with a non-wheat flour in place of normal flour.


I could write you an epic screed on my early adventures with the pitfalls of gluten free baking - the cakes that didn't rise, the biscuits that tasted funny, the muffins that were hard as rocks. Yes, I know the gluten free flour mix packets all say that they bake just like regular flour, but here's a top tip, from me to you - THEY DON'T. They're getting better all the time, and some of them do a great job in some kinds of recipes in particular, but wheat flour they just ain't, and there's no two ways about it.

I have found that, as I've grown more experienced with it all, I have been able to adapt some of my old favourite baking recipes to gluten free. (My vanilla cupcake, shortbread, gingerbread and banana muffin recipes are cases in point). Other old reliables, such as date loaf, carrot cake and banana bread, just did not seem to want to work for me.

So when I was asked by Coeliac Australia to road-test a couple of recipes in their recipe book, I put my hand up to try out the banana bread recipe, in hopes that I might finally regain this once-much-loved treat. Upon receipt of the book and a basket of ingredients, I set to work to make it.

Here is the recipe (from p85 of the cookbook), reproduced with permission:

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
A few drops vanilla essence
2 cups gluten free self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 teaspoon g free baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C (I used 165C as my oven is super hot)
2. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl
3. Beat in eggs. Blend in mashed banana, lemon juice & sugar.
4. Re-sift flour with bicarb soda, baking powder & salt.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternatively with sour cream, beating well after each addition.
6. Stir in nuts. Pour into 9 x 5 inch loaf tin.
7. Bake until tester comes out clean (45 mins or so). Cool in pan for 10 mins.
8. Turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
9. Let cool completely before slicing.

For a variation, you can substitute raspberries for the walnuts.

The first time I made the recipe, 3 year old C was helping, we were in a hurry, and I was knee-deep in contracting work, so had to keep racing from kitchen to computer to deal with emerging issues. Possibly as a result of this, I made two pretty dumb blunders:

- I put the bread in a flexible bakeware pan to cook, whereupon it promptly oozed and spread and became not so much bread-shaped as blob-shaped;

- I forgot to add the walnuts altogether. D'oh!

I also have to be honest - I didn't re-sift the flour, I just mixed the soda and baking powder in, and it was completely fine. (I am too impatient to sift, usually :-)

Despite my errors and my laziness, this first cut of the banana bread came out delicious - soft, cakey, sweet and perfect both by itself or toasted and with a little butter. C, my 8 year old, A, my husband G and I all loved it, and it lasted exactly one day before it was all gone.

The second time I made it, the circumstances were a little more conducive to not stuffing it up. My work was completed, I was cooking with C's company rather than direct assistance (other than her favourite job in all the world - mashing the bananas) and I wasn't under any great time pressure. I'd decided to make the banana bread as dessert for a meal that we were having a guest to (the main dish was roast chicken, which is quite heavy, so I didn't want anything over-rich for afters).

This time, I used a proper hard pan - hurray! And I remembered to add the walnuts. I still didn't double-sift though, as I am not made of spare time :-)

With the walnuts in, and in a hard pan, the banana bread came out nicely shaped and a rich golden colour. It smelled divine too.

I completely disregarded the instruction to wait until it was fully cooled before slicing, and carved it up still warm, dabbing a wedge of butter on each piece.

And was it good?

It was better than good; it was the nicest banana bread I've ever had (and G, who still eats the normal kind, agreed). The crunch of the walnuts just added that certain je ne sais quoi that lifted it to the next level. (Lesson learned - Don't leave out the nuts!) G and I finished it off the following morning for breakfast, lightly toasted and smeared with butter.

So if you're baking for a Coeliac - or are one! - consider this as an option. Apparently it freezes really well, although I wouldn't know, as it didn't last above a day in my house.

It's a definite winner around here, and it's going on my regular baking schedule for lunchbox treats, morning tea contributions and weekend breakfasts.

Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary copy of Coeliac Australia's cookbook, and a basket containing all the ingredients for two recipes, by Porter Novelli on behalf of Coeliac Australia, with the understanding that I would trial two recipes during Coeliac Awareness Week. No payment was offered nor accepted for this process, and all views (and cooking mishaps!) are entirely my own.

Coeliac Awareness Week, 13-20 March

Coeliac Awareness Week is coming up soon (next Tuesday, in fact) and I am planning a series of posts that will be all about gluten free food and gluten free cooking - the good, the bad and the surprising! Those posts will feature recipes, cooking tips and substitution ideas.

Before that starts, however, I wanted to cover a little bit about Coeliac disease for anyone who might not be familiar with it, or who may have symptoms that are puzzling them (or their doctors) where Coeliac disease might be a potential culprit. Coeliac disease diagnoses are massively on the rise in Australia, as more and more medical professionals become aware of the wide-ranging presentation of the condition, and include it in investigations for people with persistent and unexplained health complaints in many areas. More people are also requesting testing, realising that Coeliac disease is a possible source of their discomforts and maladies.

Despite the growth in diagnoses, many people with Coeliac disease are still undiagnosed. It is expected that up to 5% of Australians have the condition, but only around 1 in 5 are diagnosed (1% of the population).

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition. Essentially, people with the condition react when exposed to gliandin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat and other grains of the same tribe (including barley and rye and an ancient wheat variant that is now gaining renewed popularity - spelt.) Coeliacs produce an enzyme, tissue transglutaminase, which modifies the protein and the immune system then causes and inflammatory reaction in the small bowel, causing villous atrophy (that is, a truncating / flattening of the villi, tiny finger-like projections in the intestines which are responsible for absorbing many nutrients from food).

With the villi out of action, malabsorption means that Coeliacs can manifest a wide range of symptoms, many of them ambiguous. Common ones include nausea, bloating, intermittent diarrhoea, reflux and indigestion, but there are plenty of others, raging from a skin condition called dermatitis herpetiforma (scaly, red, and very very itchy) through exacerbation of nerve and skin disorders, extreme fatigue, mood disturbances, and so on. The key problem in diagnosis is that every single one of these symptoms has multiple potential causes, and there is a significant comorbidity (ie chance of having more than one thing wrong with you!) between Coeliac disease and other conditions like colitis, Crohn's disease, and IBS. Because the other conditions tend to be a bit more flamboyant in their presentation, they can mask the Coeliac - sometimes for years.

Moreover, some people - like myself, for instance - have vague, mild symptoms only, and none of them digestive. The giveaway is really in the bloodwork, which will show deficiencies well outside the normal bands for healthy bodies. Most Coeliacs are radically deficient in the minerals that are typically absorbed by the villi - iron, the B vitamins, vitamin D and calcium among them. (Chronic unexplained anaemia in the absence of bleeding is one of the red flags for a possible Coeliac diagnosis in people without other symptoms.) Long term, these deficiencies, and the prolonged gut damage that causes them, render Coeliacs many times more vulnerable to lymphoma cancers, osteoporosis, and permanent bowel malfunction. Coeliac disease might not be as spectacular a killer as peanut anaphylaxis, but, undiagnosed and unremediated, it's a potential killer nonetheless.

Coeliac disease is diagnosed via a blood test, which shows an elevation in the IgA and IgG levels (antibodies that the body produces against transglutaminase) and a gastroscopy, which visualises the small bowel and allows the surgeon to actually see the flat villi. (Gastroscopy is the gold standard test in this area). After diagnosis, Coeliacs usually are advised to meet with a dietitician to obtain advice on modifying their diets, and to have a bone density test to measure how far osteoporosis may have progressed.

The single and only treatment for Coeliac disease at the present time is: Total avoidance of gluten. The end :-) This sounds simple until you realise that gluten is in a multitude of foods, many of which are completely unexpected, and, worse, is often a contaminant even in foods that are gluten free by ingredient. Because Coeliac is an autoimmune disease, not an intolerance, it's not a matter of "a little won't hurt you." Most Coeliacs will have a reaction to gluten once they have ingested the the equivalent of 1/48th of a slice of bread. That is an extremely small amount!

Over the next week, I'll be running a series of posts on living as a person with Coeliac disease (and, more specifically, eating as a Coeliac). It can be a challenging condition to manage, because it is poorly understood and often socially stigmatised, and because there is so little margin for error (1/48th, remember...) It's easier, though, if you have resources to help you, and ways to still make your food enjoyable and nutritious.

For now, I'd simply say this - if you are a person with chronic, maybe vague, health deficits, especially if they include chronic mineral deficiencies, it is worth talking to your doctor about the possibility of Coeliac disease. A simple blood test is the first step, and may be the start of your journey to repudiating bread but gaining a great overall improvement in wellbeing. Think about it...

Dorothy the Dinosaur cake: Green, yummy and gluten free!

A few people have emailed me asking for the process K and I used in building the Dorothy the Dinosaur cake that C and her guests so enjoyed for her birthday party on Saturday. Here it is, in steps, if you are interested.

1. Make 2 x square cakes and freeze them


I used a 26cm square tin, and that resulted in a final cake that fed 35 guests and still had almost 1/3 of the cake left over. You could easily use a smaller tin if your party is smaller.

I cannot emphasise enough how beneficial it is to freeze the cakes. It makes carving the shape so much easier.

I made gluten free vanilla cakes, which were just two giant versions of my tried and true vanilla cupcake recipe.

Vanilla cupcakes

Ingredients:

* 200g margarine or unsalted butter, softened (I tried both, marg worked better)
* 1 ½ cups caster sugar
* 4 eggs
* 2 ¾ cups gluten free plain flour (I use Orgran)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

In an electric mixer, beat butter / margarine for 2-3 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined. Sift flour and baking powder and add half to butter mixture with half the milk, beat until well combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

2. Carve frozen cakes into shape



My friend K (she of the cake decorating wowiness and general cooking mojo) did the actual carving, because I was too lily-livered to try it. We had printed out an A3 picture of Dorothy which turned out not to be nearly big enough, so we compensated by the simple expedient if cutting it into four segments, placing them in the extreme corners, and adjusting by eye (well, K did, anyway!)

3. Apply liberal swathe of buttercream


Everyone has their own way of making buttercream icing. Mine is to combine margarine and icing sugar with a spoon, adding drops of hot water to move the process along when it's getting boringly lengthy. I don't use milk in my buttercream and I think it leads to a thicker, fudgier-tasting icing, but YMMV, naturally.

The main thing, no matter how you make it, is to make LOTS of it. I used 2 full bags of icing sugar to make enough to give Dorothy a comfortable layer of icing fat.

Important to remember: If you are making the cake gluten free, you need to use pure icing sugar, NOT icing mixture, in your buttercream.

4. Knead colour gels into fondant / white icing until desired colours (green, yellow and a little bit of red) are achieved


This is, undoubtedly, my kids' favourite part of the process! We use the Orchard White Icing that you can buy in most supermarkets (it's gluten free) and K brings her vast kit of colour gels (like these ones that you can get from Cake Deco in Melbourne. I understand they are also available online).

The gels are much better than liquid food colouring in most contexts, but especially for fondant, where you need to work the colour through with your hands.

Tip: You should wear rubber gloves for this step unless you don't mind everyone who kneads being a little green for a couple of days :-)

5. Roll out green fondant very carefully and lift onto Dorothy to cover cake (*you may need to stitch and patch)

This was the hardest and most time-consuming part of the process, and it was K's persistence that got us there in the end (did I mention she's a star?)


In a large cake, getting a piece of fondant that big to lift over a cake without tearing and falling apart is not so very easy. It was compounded for us by the heat of the day, which led the fondant to stick to the benchtop (and rip apart) even when we drowned the surface in a snowdrift of icing sugar. The whole business gave me a new level of appreciation for the skill of the decorators on one of the girls' and my favourite shows, Ace of Cakes. Now I really get it when they say, in their invariably laconic yet slightly pained way, "Fondant. It's heavy, yunno."

In the end, the solution was to roll it out on waxed baking paper and quickly hoist it onto the cake, patching the two areas that still did come away slightly. It was a big relief to get it covered!

6. Cut out yellow fondant into different coloured circles and apply, wetting the bottom of each circle with a dab of water to help it stick


This was another phase the kids enjoyed and in fact were able to largely complete themselves; kneading the yellow colouring, rolling and cutting out different sized circles for Dorothy's spots. K then applied the spots to the cake using a dab of water for each one.

7. Cut the white elements (gloves, eyes, hat and teeth) from white rolled-out fondant & apply

I am proud to say that, despite being nervous about it, I did this part :-) Because our template was so wrongly sized for the cake, I copied the picture but in an upsized form to make the gloves, hat, eyes and teeth. I used a small paring knife and aimed for both sharp edges and speed, as the white fondant wasn't liking the heat any more than the green.



8. Create a fondant rose for the hat!

K taught my daughters how to make roses out of fondant last year when we were making E's birthday love heart cake in May. I, alas, have not mastered the art, but I think this tutorial would be a good place to start.

9. Using black royal icing, pipe the outlines for Dorothy's hat, body, tail, eyes and edges.


I let the expert, K, do the piping, being faaaaar too nervous to try it myself. She used royal icing, made with egg whites and icing sugar, and black colour gel.

Tip: The icing looked gray in the bowl, but appeared darker when piped, and dried to a deep black.

10. You are done!!
Store in the fridge in extremely hot weather, but will be fine on a benchtop if temperatures aren't extreme. Tip from K - if fridging it, remove cake from the fridge 1-2 hrs before serving to allow the beads of moisture that will have formed to dry out.

Voila! You have yourself a gluten free Dorothy the Dinosaur cake, and, in my case at least, a very happy little birthday girl :-)