munchiesandmunchkins, Author at Munchies and Munchkins

Gluten Free Products We Love – Coeliac Awareness Week

May 9, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

In the last year since having to introduce gluten, dairy and soya free food to Chloe we have had to learn a lot about the various free from brands on offer. As hard as it has been to adapt to this way of cooking and shopping for her we are actually lucky that she was diagnosed at a time when there is so much awareness of Coeliac disease and also gluten intolerance. In fact there has never been a better time to be looking for free from foods. Here are some of our favourite gluten free brands and products.

First up is Feel Free, this is a fairly new brand to us. They are currently stocked in Sainsburys, Budgens and Holland And Barrett and are priced reasonably. We have tried the suet, pasta, battered fish products and fish nuggets. I must say we have been impressed with everything we have tried, in particular the fish which we all enjoyed as a family meal.

Next is Orgran, a brand which is great for anyone with allergies, all of their products are gluten, dairy, nut and egg free with the vast majority also being soya free. Chloe loves their animal biscuits and cereals. Unfortunately we don’t seem to have any local stockists so we often buy online, they are often on sites such as Approved Foods so you can get a bit of a bargain!

Sainsburys have the best free from range we have found out of all of the supermarkets. The bread is the only one Chloe enjoys and she also enjoys the brownies the have which are gluten, dairy and soya free. I believe all of the supermarkets are increasing their ranges so we look forward to getting more of a variety for her.

The Cool Chile Co have the most incredible corn tortillas, we have fajita nights here quite often and Chloe loves being a part of it. These wraps are perfect for all of us. They also have so many other goodies on their site including the flour you can buy to make your own tortillas too.

Glorious Soups have a great selection of gluten free soups, full of flavour and filling too. We love them in our house!

The Coconut Collaborative yoghurts and desserts are a great dairy free alternative but some of their products are also gluten free, I love their chocolate pots ( which do contain soya ) and Chloe loves the rice puddings!

A New Home For Dusty Knuckle Pizza

May 1, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

My very favourite street food vendors Dusty Knuckle have found a home in Cardiff and I could not be happier for them! On an unassuming street in Canton nestled in the courtyard of the fabulous Crafty Devil Brewery Bottle Shop and Bar you will find THE best pizza in Wales..and probably further afield too. Phil and Deb Noyes started their business just 19 months ago and it has become stupidly popular. If you go to an event where they are trading and you don’t buy one of their pizzas I question your sanity.

Their fans in Wales (myself included) are rejoicing that they no longer have to wait for food festivals and farmers markets to go and indulge because the DK courtyard will be open every Thur- Sun!!

Last week we were invited to their launch and ahh it was one of the most enjoyable foodie nights I have had in some time. The courtyard is relaxing, inviting and the kind of place you will want to return to again and again. I was expecting to feel the chill a little especially as winter seems to have returned to Wales this week but the heat from the pizza oven and the chimenea lit at the back provided heat and ambience. If you do get a little cooler then you can grab one of the blankets they have ready for you or a cushion for some extra comfort…or just an extra beer?

We started the night by trying the beer collaboration from Crafty Devil and Dusty Knuckle “The Devils Knuckle” its lovely, light and fresh and thats from someone who does not normally enjoy craft beer/pale ale.

The mood set it was time to eat and the food started to fill up the tables in front of us, an array of the freshest local ingredients combined to make some truly delicious starters.

We were able to try every single aspect of the starters and it was all tremendous but a special shout out to the Goats Curd and the Apple & Mint Slaw which were a little bit special.

Onto the mains Pizza ..Pizza..and more Pizza!! I tried every Pizza on the menu ( purely for research of course ) and my top two are, the Goat and Garlic followed closely by the Pepperoni ( with the signature sausage meat from Charcutier ltd ). I didn’t really develop a love for goats cheese until quite recently but DK use THE best cheeses around and the Goat & Garlic pizza is EPIC…so much so its the only one I have no photos of.

In some restaurants I find you can have amazing starters, delicious mains and then the dessert options are well a bit blah. Desserts are not an after thought at Dusty Knuckle, the choice is small yet well considered and with as much emphasis on quality as every other aspect of the menu. Chocolate Mousse topped with rosemary and crumbled honeycomb was seriously heaven on a spoon, rich, indulgent and moreish. The Panna Cotta with bergamot was light and fresh and perfectly made. The final offering is Vanilla Bean ice cream from Gwynne’s Ice Cream (not pictured) and yes I am a little biased but its a bit good, topped with Dusty Knuckle honeycomb its a simple yet fabulous dessert.

I think we can safely rate Dusty Knuckle a ten out of ten for food, they know what they do and they do it well. The layout of the restaurant and the friendly staff add to the general feel good, lets enjoy life and eat all the food vibe. Lets not forget Crafty Devil Brewery, a brand we have come to know and love. Crafty Devil have a bottle shop and bar which lead onto the courtyard, they have a humongous range of beers to suit all beer lovers and wine and sparkly bits too. They host comedy nights in the bar as well as being open to purchase bottles to take home and now its a one stop shop with the best pizza around literally in their back garden. If you still aren’t persuaded to take a trip to Canton to check it out then I don’t know what else I can tell you.. Just go. See for yourself.

I was invited to the launch event of this restaurant, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rosemary Shortbread Biscuits

May 1, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 17 Comments

You may remember my attempt last year to make Rosemary shortbread? It ended up as a Rosemary shortbread cake instead which was pretty tasty but not what I had planned. I’ve made a couple of versions since and whilst they all tasted good, they just weren’t the way I wanted.. until now! These biscuits are so buttery and crumbly and the flavour is incredible. I love the flavour of Rosemary in everything – I love it to enhance the flavour of meats, for my crispy rosemary potatoes and its fantastic in sweet treats too. I really hope you give these a go, let me know if you do!

Rosemary Shortbread Biscuits

You will need:

150g butter

50g sugar

200g plain flour

1.5 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

1.5 tbsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 180c and grease/line a baking tray. Cream your butter, sugar and syrup together, add your rosemary and mix well. Now add your flour and using your hands mix to a soft dough. At this stage if you wish you could roll out the dough onto a well floured surface and use a cookie cutter to create shapes ( it would be best to chill the dough first ), I took the lazy option and rolled my dough straight into small balls which I slightly flattened on a tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar and leave to cool on a wire rack.

This makes 12 biscuits. They are delicious when eaten slightly warm but pretty good when cold too and perfectly fine a day or so later – if they last that long!

Want some more Rosemary inspiration? Check out these recipes from some of my favourite food bloggers:

Lemon & Rosemary Donuts

Chocolate Macarons

Rosemary Chocolate Truffles

Walnut & Rosemary Oatcakes

Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

Slow Cooker Recipes For Summer

April 29, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

There was a time when I believed my slow cooker was only to be used to create comfort food in the Autumn throughout to Winter months. It was all stews and casseroles but how times have changed! I use mine at least once a week to create dishes or to slow cook hunks of meat or whole chickens but I have used it for puddings and cakes too. Now that Summer is nearly here its time to try out some new dishes. I’ve collected a selection of recipes from my fellow food bloggers as well as one or two of my own:

Starting with Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken from the Hungry Healthy Happy blog

Next up is this Lemon & Herb Chicken With Asparagus from the Queen of slow cooking Bakingqueen74:

Another Lemon based dish, my Lemon, Honey, Garlic and Rosemary Chicken:

Fed up of Pulled Pork? Try this Pulled Lamb In White Wine from FabFood4All.

This Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce recipe from Lovely Appetite looks delicious:

Slow Cooker Allspice, Lemon and Orange Chicken from Recipes From A Pantry:

BBQ Chicken Thighs from me!

Slow Cooker Lamb Ras El Hangout from Farmers Girl Kitchen:

Finally this Veggie Stew With Mushroom Dumplings from Tin & Thyme:

Tea Parties For Princesses

April 28, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I had two extremely happy and excited girls here when the postman arrived with a parcel just for them. As children of a blogger they have become good friends with our postman and the DPD delivery person..and UPS..and FedEx! They always want to help me open my parcels so you can imagine their happy faces when they opened a box full of dolls and a tea party set!

We were asked to review a Princess Sofia tea party along with some Disney Princess toddler dolls namely Sofia, Belle, Cinderella and Jasmine. The girls were very excited with their dolls, immediately choosing their favourites – Izzy picked Sofia and for Chloe it was Cinderella. They are opening Belle and Jasmine later this week after Izzy is brave at the dentists!

The tea set is pretty with a silky tablecloth and tea cups with spoons and a cute teapot.

The dolls themselves are beautiful, really well made and for once they have shoes which come off and actually go back on again! They have been taken to bed, to the cinema, out for dinner and to church – already well travelled! If I had to pick a favourite ( you are never too old to want a princess..) I would want Jasmine, she’s beautiful and Aladdin was always my favourite disney film when I was younger.

The tea set was immediately opened and they had a bedtime tea party that evening, we plan on a real tea party with school friends next week so I will be sure to share more pics then.

We would certainly recommend these dolls for any boys or girls who love Disney as much as we do!

We were sent these dolls for the purpose of a review.

Cheesy Pesto Dauphinoise

April 26, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 16 Comments

I am a bit obsessed with dauphinoise, if I see it on a menu I will normally choose it and I make it fairly regularly at home too. I first thought about making a pesto dauphinoise a few weeks ago when I make a pesto cream sauce to accompany a pasta dish. I love basil, I think its my favourite herb and if I can incorporate it into one of my dishes then I will. I don’t think a recipe idea has paid off so well for me before. This is one of the best things I have eaten in a reallllly long time. Its indulgent, comforting and fresh all in one go. In fact half of the dish was gone within about 25 minutes after it was removed from the oven..oops.

This recipe is not low fat in the slightest and as I said really, really indulgent so perhaps don’t eat it every day but every now and again DO IT.

I used this recipe as a chance to start working on my knife skills, I wish I was a little more confident and quicker with chopping and dicing but I am not! I need to practise, practise, practise. I have been sent a new knife to work with from Zwilling and its a bit awesome. It has a scalloped, hollow edge and it feels like a quality knife but its not too heavy, its easy to use and although super sharp I feel more comfortable using it than I do with my other knives. I used it to get thinly sliced onions and to slice my potatoes as well as to dice my garlic. The one I have is the Santonku knife with hollow edge. Whilst you may think £99 is a lot to spend on a knife I think the durability and exceptional quality of this product is well worth it.

Cheesy Pesto Dauphinoise

You will need:

400ml double cream
300ml semi skimmed milk
2 cloves of garlic, diced
100g (approx half a jar) of pesto
4 large potatoes, thinly sliced
150g mature cheddar, grated
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
generous pinch of black pepper and sea salt
small bunch of basil leaves to garnish

Preheat your oven to 200c. Add your sliced potatoes to a pan of boiling water and let them bubble away for approximately 5 minutes. Drain the water away and add your milk, cream, pesto, garlic and seasoning. Stir well and leave on a low heat for a further 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Carefully pour into a large baking dish and evenly spread out. Bake for 35 minutes until the potatoes feel soft and the top is golden brown. Now add your cheese and your onions and bake for a further 15 minutes. For a bronzed look and a slight crisp pop under the grill for a few minutes to finish.

This is best served with something simple such as griddled chicken or perhaps fish as it will let the dish shine – this is no ordinary side.

A few tips – don’t be tempted to use single cream or creme fraiche instead as it is far more likely to split. The combination of milk and double cream seems to stop any curdling or splitting. I imagine home made pesto would make it even better.

I do hope you try and this and let me know what you think.

*I was sent the Santoku knife as part of an ongoing ambassador relationship with Zwilling for the purposes of a review.

Peanut Butter Biscuits

April 24, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 10 Comments

We make these peanut biscuits once every six weeks or so, they are incredibly simple to make and the girls really enjoy helping me bake them. These are dairy, gluten and soya free so are perfect for those who have intolerances. I used to make them using just three ingredients, you have probably seen the recipes floating about online and they were good but something was missing. I’ve now made them so many times with the girls that I have become a bit of a fanatic about getting it just right! These have more of a crunch and chewy texture than the 3 ingredient ones.

Even with the addition of more ingredients these take a maximum of 20 minutes from weighing out to taking a bite! Obviously allow a little more time if baking with children, for the cooking process and to avoid burnt tongues too.

Peanut Butter Biscuits

You will need:

250g Peanut Butter
200g sugar – use golden caster sugar if you can, the flavour is so good
1 medium egg
25g desiccated coconut
30g gluten free flour

Preheat your oven to 180c. Grease or line a baking tray. Cream your peanut butter and sugar together, add your flour, coconut and beaten egg and mix well. Place dollops of mixture on a baking tray, evenly spaced and allowing room as they do spread. Bake for approx 8-10 minutes – they will be still slightly soft when you remove but they will firm up after a few minutes when you can the remove and apace on a cooling rack. This makes approximately 15 small biscuits.

Chloe had been a little unwell in the week before we made them but this certainly perked her up a bit! I love the way she is looking at this big pile of biscuits!

Easy ActiFry Spiralized Sweet Potato Fries

April 22, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

I love kitchen gadgets and appliances, so much so I have a whole pantry size cupboard full of them. I have had my ActiFry for quite a while now and we use it at least once a week. At first I only used it to make standard potato chips or wedges which by the way are insanely good. Then I realised you can use it to make a whole host of things. So lately we have used it for sausages, croutons, homemade chicken goujons and most recently garlic dough balls and these spiralled sweet potato fries. Whilst the ActiFry is not the cheapest appliance in my kitchen its one of my most used. We have the Express XL and it can take up to 1.5kg of chips in one go!

This recipe takes no more than 15 mins including prep and cooking time, perfect to make for a (reasonably) healthy light lunch or snack.

Spiralizers are also really handy gadgets – whether its for making courgetti or squash noodles or just for making carrots and other veggies more fun for kids, I recommend getting one! Mine is from OXO, its fairly small but does the job and hardly any space in my cupboard – result!

I should warn you that they are slightly addictive – BUT you can feel good about eating them as they are good for you too!

If you do not have an ActiFry you could also bake these in a hot oven.

You will need:

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tbsp of rapeseed oil
1 tbsp of smoked paprika (or seasoning of your choice)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Using a spiraliser create long noodles from your sweet potatoes, use kitchen towel to remove extra moisture and place in a bowl, add your oil, salt and paprika and rub to distribute. Add to your actifry and set for 10 minutes. Check occasionally, they may need a minute to two less or more. Easy!

Pictured is one serving. You should get 3-4 servings – depending on how hungry you are.

* These products were given to me for review purposes.

8 One Pot Comfort Food Dishes – #LivePeasant

April 21, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 4 Comments

You may remember last month I told you about the new campaign from Simply Beef & Lamb to encourage more people to cook simple, peasant meals. Typically low cost and cooked in one pot. Here is a collection of recipes from my fellow bloggers created for this campaign.

1. Beef Goulash from Recipes From A Pantry:

2. Slow Cooker Pepperpot Stew from Hedgecombers:

3. Lamb Tagine with Pomegranate from Little Sunny Kitchen:

4. Slow Cooked Beef with Gnocchi from Recipes and Reviews.

5. Simply Beef & Lamb, Beef Goulash from Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk

6.Lamb Tagine from BakingQueen74:

7. Slow Cooked Beef Gnocchi from Foodie Quine:

8. Finally my Beef Cobbler with Rosemary Cheddar Scones:

* I collaborated with Simply Beef & Lamb on this campaign and was compensated for my time.

Gluten Free & Glorious

April 14, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

For the last few months I have been trying out lots of soups from the brand Glorious. I’ve been spirited away on exotic adventures just from a bowlful of their Vietnamese Supergreen Soup and I have enjoyed many bowls of Butternut squash ( my permanent favourite ) on a gloomy winter afternoon.

There are some things you probably don’t know about Glorious. Like the fact that eight of their soups are gluten free! I’m lucky in that I don’t have any intolerances but my youngest can’t have gluten,dairy or soya so I know how difficult it can be to find tasty, healthy foods. The Gluten Free Soup range includes:

My favourite, New England Butternut squash:

Goan Tomato & Lentil:

Texas Four Bean Chilli:

Mumbai Lentil & Chickpea:

Singapore Crushed Tomato:

Cuban Creamed Corn:

Fragrant Thai Carrot:

West African Chicken:

But what do they taste like?

I have personally carried out the research for you and I can tell you they are all delicious but my top 3 are:

1. New England Butternut Squash has been my favourite for ages, its so full of flavour and comforting. I love it! Roasted squash with cumin mix to make a soup which tastes thick and indulgent yet is less than 1% fat.
2. Fragrant Thai Carrot – this is a fairly new one to me but oh wow its delicious.Lemongrass, ginger, chilli and a little coconut combine to make a really heady exotic flavour.
3.Texan Four Bean Chilli – I have enjoyed this a few times lately and its so filling, I serve mine with a sprinkle of cheese but its also good with a few tortilla chips to dip in! Its jam packed with beans and spices and it feels like a proper meal, filling and hearty.

Three of the soups above are also dairy free ( The Mumbai, Singapore and Fragrant Thai ) which is great if you have multiple allergies or are vegan and also gluten free. I find sometimes that foods that are free from are also lacking in flavour or substance but you would eat these without even guessing they were gluten free. They are filling and nutritious, low fat and tasty.

I have thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Glorious and my time as an ambassador for them. Its certainly made my work lunches more interesting, in fact the hardest part has been choosing which flavour to go for next.

My soups were provided and my time compensated for my role as a Glorious ambassador.

Gluten Free Products We Love – Coeliac Awareness Week

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A New Home For Dusty Knuckle Pizza

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