Dairy-free Cauliflower Pizza Base - tested

 I made the Dairy-free cauliflower pizza base last night. mine is green because i put parsley and basil in it lol

 I didn't mind it and would definitely have it again. however there is no way I'd sneak this past any of my family. I think perhaps the dairy version with cheese would be more successful for sneaking ;)

I did learn that making one big base is not a good idea, as the edges were nice and crispy, but the middle was thick and soggy. I will make small individual "pieces" instead.

I also steamed my cauliflower in the tmx basket (lined with baking paper) and i suspect that was an error as it made it much wetter than it should have been.

For more info and links on thermomix, gluten free, eating out in canberra come over and like the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glutenfreecanberra

JO's Chicken Tikka, Lentil, Spinach & Naan Salad

from 15 minute meals.

this was..... soooooooo............ good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*drool*

http://www.aspirepersonaltraining.com.au/chicken-tikka-lentil-spinach-naan-salad/

Jamie Oliver's green curry, crispy chicken, kimchee and rice noodles (GF, DF, TMX)

tonight I made a version of this recipe.  It was nice enough though not wow. it was mild enough though that the girls quite liked it (despite initial whinges up the wazoo)

I overcooked the chicken a bit which spoiled it unfortunately. (i used breast)

with the kimchee i didn't have radishes or red or spring onions so i added grated carrot and finely sliced cucumber.  i think the radishes would have been yummier even though i liked my additions and would include them next time.

the green curry was very nice, very mild in flavour.  i cooked the whole thing in the thermomix - i had trouble making a 'paste' out of the herbs etc so i cooked it with the stock for 5 minutes on speed 6. i then added the beans and cooked them for 3 minutes on reverse speed soft then added a finely sliced zucchini and cooked 3 more minutes, all at 100'  could have added even more vegies to this, and less stock - it was very watery (but nice)

won't be a number 1 but will definitely do it again :)

page 88 of 30 minute meals

Jamie's Golden Chicken (15 min)

p 48

added a little wine to the potatoes and had to use snow peas and beans with the peas.

kids mostly liked it. i was a bit underwhelmed - it was nice but not great. would make it again though.

just a little inspiration from jamie...

my cooking mojo disappeared into the ether years ago now but jamie oliver seems to be bringing it back - just a little!

after reading lots of people raving about his 15 minute cookbook i got myself a copy around christmas time. we have had fun trying different recipes and have found several already that we have repeated more than once! the kids aren't as keen as we are but geoff and i are loving most of the meals.

with that success i went looking for the 30 minute cookbook as well. let me tell you it was NOT easy to find - i think i went to at least 12-15 stores in 2 states and a handful of different towns and suburbs before finding it (at QBD belconnen if anyone else is looking!)

the things i love most about each book are:
15 minutes - the fresh flavours and ease of cooking (once you can decipher his recipes, which is for the most part quite difficult)
30 minutes - the instructions are much easier to follow!

we've found with both books that you need to allow about double the time to make them, but that's still OK for us.  I do find the layout of the books, especially the photos, very overwhelming.

Here's what we've made so far:

15 minutes:

• chicken dim sum, p 24 - bit of a disaster, chicken too bland, vegies way overcooked
• spicy cajun chicken, p 28 - yum! we love it and have made it a number of times! i highly recommend trying the okra, it really is so good in this recipe!
• chilli con carne meatballs, p 58 - we weren't keen at all. our garam masala has too much clove taste to suit and it just seemed bland and boring
• beef kofta curry, p66 - not the best curry you'll ever had but definitely a hit in our house! flavours are just good enough to suit the grownups and the kids loved it. mind you, i made it with korma paste by accident and we have liked it that way each time!
• Lamb kofte, p 108 - really easy and yum! we won't bother with the pitta next time (well, unless we find some superfresh homemade type ones) and i did rice rather than the gluten couscous. definitely on the menu again

30 minutes:

• pregnant jools pasta, p30 - this was ok but we probably won't do it again. the frangipane tarts were nice though i'd use fresh berries next time rather than jam (i made my own gluten free shortcrust pastry)
• chicken skewers, p 110 - yum! i did add extra flavours and vegies to the noodles (cucumber, grated carrot etc)

that's all from the 30 min book so far...

if you'd like to try some of the recipes, you can find some on his website http://www.jamieoliver.com/ and you can see photos of many of the meals i've made here http://bitethebook.com/2012/10/13/jamie-olivers-15-minute-meals/

the chilli con carne meatballs - i know they look good huh! was very disappointing :(

Kiama gluten free report

we are home from our holiday in Kiama (unfortunately!) I'm glad to say that Kiama redeemed itself as i hated it last time i went there for a winter holiday as a pre-teen LOL

I'm so glad i did my gluten free research before we went, it really does make it easier to have a list of places to try!

so where did we go and how was it?

Hanoi on Manning
10 Manning Street
http://www.hanoionmanning.com.au/

we got takaway from Hanoi on Manning one night and it was very yum! even their spring rolls were gluten free (made with rice paper) so i'm guessing they have a coeliac in the family. would definitely recommend them - especially their beef salad.

Domino's Pizza
40 Terralong Street

we also grabbed a couple of pizzas for the kids one night. dominos is dominos, not world class but did the job without making her sick ;)

Cafe Parkview
82 Terralong Street


we went to cafe parkview ummmm 3 times i think LOL rora decided it was her fave and kept insisting we return. we had mixed service and food from so-so to great. i would recommend it though, mainly because our experience at short black was worse lol

Short Black Coffee cafe
88 Terralong St

we had brunch on our final day here and regretted it. the coffee was pretty good, the food was OK-ish, though i watched the chef toasting the gluten bread on the same grillplate used to cook all the bacon, fried eggs, tomatoes etc. i assume the gluten free bread was toasted on it also though that didn't occur to me til after we'd left so we spent the whole trip home waiting to see if rora would be sick or not :( luckily she'd selected poached eggs so they were safe :)
our meals took 40 minutes to arrive (we were STARVING by this time) and as we sat right across from the coffee machine and owner, we had an hour of listening to her berate her young staff. it seemed they were new and needed some guidance but a full hour of it was quite offputting.

other places we tried which were not on the list included:

Harbourview Thai Restaurant 
48 Terralong Street Kiama NSW 2533‎
https://plus.google.com/100200849563187798217/about?gl=au&hl=en

we had takeaway from here one night (we don't usually buy so much food when we camp but we had food storage issues lol). it was nice though not as nice as we get from our faves in canberra.

My Chocolate Shoppe
Shop 13, 106 Terralong Street, Kiama
http://www.mychocolateshoppe.com.au/

we didn't actually eat here but we did buy handmade chocolates for my mum (to say thank you for looking after our menagerie) and they were all gluten free :)
they do have a full gluten free menu which i have just found and am now wishing we'd gone there to try it!

Photo of Cafe Parkview, by Emelia (8)

Disappointingly average...

Tonight a friend offered to babysit the kids while we went out - our first choice was closed so we ended up in Dickson.
In the mood for Thai but with our planned restaurant shut we ended up at Thai Garden in Dickson (behind Zeffirelli). We had rice paper rolls which were quite nice, full of fresh herbs. For mains we had chicken with five herbs and beef rendang. the beef was very tender but lacking flavour, and i had the sneaking feeling it wasn't a made from scratch dish.
the chicken with five herbs was nice enough but not at all what i'd expected - i thought it would be heaps of fresh asian herbs tossed throughout the dish. instead there was a bare minimum of herbs cooked into the sauce, with a vague flavour of the dill the only recognisable herb.

the restaurant certainly seemed busy enough, particularly for takeaways, but it was a bit of a let down, so we won't bother again.

Canberra Costco - Report, Gluten Free & WW points

Costco opened in Canberra last Friday. we were pretty sure we'd join but weren't planning to check it out until the crowds died down. however curiosity overtook us and we headed out on Sunday morning, into the crowds! (we were smart enough to only take 1 child, and to become members online before going however ;))

we were impressed! it was a little hard to get around last sunday, but I went again today with mum and it was just pleasantly full.  both times we had to wait only minutes to get through the check out anyway.

while they don't (yet?) have the gluten free bread i was told they would stock when i called them a week or two before opening, there are quite a few GF products available, including:

• bhuja mix 800g $9.89
• Strawberry freddos 72pk $11.49 (now hidden from me and the kids hehe)
• corn thins 3 pk $9.49
• honey ham 500g $5.99
• organic quinoa 1.81kg $10.99
• hans hot dogs 1kg $7.19
• italian sausages 1.34kg $14.73 (we didn't notice they were italian, not sure about the regular ones!)
• Yumis 3pk dips 1.19kg (3 x 385g) $12.79 (beetroot, green olive, sweet potato & cashew)
• moira mac's chicken breast slices 400g $9.49

edited to add that there was also Carman's (?) gluten free muesli and also the muesli bars. and there is nothing GF at their cafe that i could see.

also my favourites - along with their weight watchers pro points (yes, i'm back on the wagon, and was very excited to see the fabulous points, especially for the beef!) - we don't usually buy ready made meals but we weren't sure if we might have had guests for dinner so thought we'd give these a try. so far we've had the beef rendang (delicious!) and thai green curry (nice, but a bit too sweet). we are using vegies to eke each 1kg tub to 2 meals which is plenty. so far they have been quite spicy so be warned!  weight watchers points below are for a 200g serve (which is a big serve so you might like to reduce it if you need to cut back the points)

• beef rendang 1kg $14.39 - 6 (yes SIX) WWPP per 200g serve
• thai green chicken curry 1kg $14.39 - 10 WWPP per 200g serve
• butter chicken 1kg $15.79 - 13WWPP per 200g serve

other non or not specifically gluten free things we bought include:

• 1kg frozen blueberries $6.29
• 3 pk sensodyne toothpaste $21.99 (usually around $9 per tube)
• 1.3kg fresh beef lasagne $8.99
• 2pk crumpets $2.49
• 1kg strawberries $10.99 (on sunday they had bananas for $10/kg but none left today :()
• 12pk tuna in springwater (the little ones around 120g) $12.99

i think we'll definitely get our money's worth for the membership, especially if we get out there every 2-4 weeks. maybe find someone to carpool with a 60km round trip to get there ;)

Review - Southern Cross Club - Jamison

G's sister was down with her new partner (also gluten free) this weekend and wanted to catch up with us over dinner. So we had to find somewhere where we could get gluten free, something ryan would eat, and affordable.

first choice was Digress, which sounds amazing and comes highly recommended by a friend. however we just couldn't afford $25 for ryan's lasagne plus another dish for each of the rest of us. Plus they never called me back to confirm they were gluten free...

so then i had the idea of the Southern Cross Club. we'd only been to the Woden one (for my nephew's birthday a few years ago) and while it had been disappointing (and expensive as they'd made us sign up as members, though it expired a month or so ago) we figured it was worth trying the Jamison one , and we wouldn't have to sign up as no one else in my family had needed to at Woden, just us (error on the part of the girl on the front desk)

well, we were wrong. we DID have to sign up just to eat (this is ridiculous) but at least this time it was only $12 for the family, not the $40 the woden one was.

after a short wait in the queue i ordered - kids meals for ryan and emelia (ham and cheese pizza, and a junior beef burger). Rora and i had the malaysian chicken curry, and G had the chicken parmigiana.

by the time my SIL went to order she had a looooong queue to wait in, and it took about 15 mins to order - they only had one person taking orders. not to mention stupidly having the cash register right next to the door to the kitchen, so every order in or out had to go through the line waiting...

Ryan enjoyed his burger with chips and ate the lot. emelia got chips with her pizza and that was all she ate. she said she didn't like the pizza and i have to say it was DROWNED in cheese and looked awful (unless you like extra cheese!). Our curry chicken was disappointing. it was edible sure, and it was great quality chicken (either tenderloins or sliced up breast) but the whole meal was chicken! there must have been a good 400g of chicken on the plate if not more! the sauce was kind of bland and there were NO vegies in the meal :( it did come with boiled white rice. G said his parmigiana was ok, so so...

for dessert ryan and emelia got a free icecream to go with their kids meal (nowhere on the menu did it say this, or that they got a free soft drink), ryan had a frog in a pond, and rora tried the GF chocolate mousse, which she didn't like much. G & I ate the leftovers and it was DELISH but i think maybe a bit too much of a grown up taste for rora. G said there were around 4 different gluten free cake options which is great :)

there was an outdoor play area for the kids which was great (even though we hadn't thought to bring coats ;)) and an indoor play area where you had to pay to buy tokens to play etc, bit of a money sucker. especially when the kids won 59 tickets and went to ge ttheir prizes only to discover it was minimum 100 tickets for a prize which was one tiny bouncey ball, or one tattoo. bit disappointing.

the place was VERY busy though, so obviously popular. while it wasn't faublous it's certainly nice to have another option that can meet all our needs and keep the kids happy!!!

New Grill'd at Belconnen

New Grill'd at Belconnen, a photo by brazen20au on Flickr.

We visited today for the first time...

we were curious, and excited, because they said they did gluten free!!!

unfortuantely when we read on it turned out that the gluten free buns were toasted in the same toaster as the gluten buns, so therefore not safe for rora. As it turned out we sat right next to the salad bar / assembly line and there is NO way they are gluten safe, and unfortunately rora won't be having anything except chips and possibly the meat from there (and she didn't like the chips lol). I watched them put too much sauce on a bun, scrape it off, back intot he bowl... put too much  salad on and pick up the excess of the bench (which i hadn't seen them clean) and throw it back into the salad bowls. I guess if she really wanted salad i could insist it not be from the salad bar but it all seems too hard. I also watched the way the girl doing the buns handled the GF ones (there were a few went through) and there was plenty of opportunity for cross contamination out of the toaster, quite apart from the toaster crumbs...

so, geoff had the "front" (something) steak sandwich, i had the "simon says" chicken burger, emelia had the chicken & cheese burger kids meal and ryan had the beef (and bacon instead of cheese) kids meal. I also ordered a regular chips for rora and one for G & i to share. this was a mistake as they were way bigger than i thought and we could have all shared one serve, especially at $4.80 per serve and with rora just licking the (way too much) salt off!

to buy that, with no drinks for G, rora or I was over $50, so a pretty expensive lunch. Ryan and Emelia LOVED theirs and can't wait to go again, G & i enjoyed ours but didn't think they were special enough to justify the price. we'll probably do it again but not in a hurry.

oh, it is worth mentioning that from time of ordering to delivery of food was less than 10 minutes, closer to 5 i think - excellent! they seemed to have great customer service :)

My chicken burger

Geoff's STeak sandwich

The kids' meal in box

and the queue a few minutes after i ordered (i only had one person in front of me ;)), out the door!

Grill'd website

At last!

i'm on holidays!!! hopefully i will get a bit more cooking and blogging done and maybe even find some mojo for next year ;)

this morning i cracked open the 4 ingredients gluten free cookbook, which i'd owned for a year and never used. i made the almond pancakes from the breakfast section. what a shame i doubled the mix as it was a dismal failure and my kids won't eat them :(

the pancakes break / crumble easily, take ages to cook and then burn (yes, i had it turned down way lower than for normal pancakes). they are quite dry too.

More Master So Scrumptiousness!

Today we managed to get rid of both our boys so i decided it was a good day for a another visit to Master So - our local chinese restaurant, which has gluten free options (we hadn't managed to get back there since our last visit)

funnily Emelia was wearing her supergirl shirt again so the owner recognised us straight away and asked if I was the lady who wrote about them on my blog - so this is a big hello to her :D she is hoping to have their menu updated soon to make gluten free options easier to see

today we ordered lots (taking it home for dinner for geoff & i too ;)) and it was all utterly delicious, especially the yum cha... mmmm

Har Gau (Prawn Dumpling)
BBQ Pork Bun (not GF)
Beef Chow Mein done GF
Garlic Chicken and rice

apparently the people at the next table were in the photo from our last visit too lol

Master So Kitchen, Holt - Gluten Free - Review

Master So Kitchen website (it takes a while to upload unfortunately)

a few weeks, on our way to the library, we noticed that the Chinese restaurant in Holt was advertising gluten free. we hadn't eaten Chinese since Rora's diagnosis, so we went down and got a copy of the menu to have a look at and discovered they had heaps of gluten free options!!

today we were one (fussy) child down so decided to go there to try it for lunch. when we walked in we discovered that they also do yumcha, and that there were also some gluten free options in that too!

so we decided to have a combination of regular and yum cha style gluten free dishes, with the help of the lovely lady who was there (an owner?).

Pork Ribs with Garlic

the end result was that we were very impressed and will definitely be back! we enjoyed the food - some of the dishes seemed a bit bland at first, but then as you ate more the true subtle flavour came out and was delicious! the service was good, though the young male waiters (who said they were only new) were a bit unsure of the whole gluten free thing but the lady who helped us mostly was very helpful and seemed to know a lot about the gluten free side of it. the prices were quite reasonable too.

here is what they can do gluten free (you need to specify GF), with stars next to what we tried:

Yum Cha Menu:
Seafood Dumpling
Har Gau (Prawn Dumpling)
Mixed Veggie Dumpling
Scallop & Snow Pea Dumpling
King Prawn Fun Gao
Prawn & Crab Meat Wrap
Pork Ribs with Garlic *
Plain Cheong Fun
Beef Cheong Fun
King Prawns Cheong Fun
BBQ Pork Cheong Fun
Salt & Pepper Calamari *
Desserts:
Chilled Coconut Pudding
Chilled Mango Pudding *
Sticky Rice Pudding * (girls LOVED this one!)

Salt & Pepper Calamari

Regular Menu:
Entree:
Steamed Har Gau
Sang Choy Bow
Soup:
Chicken & Sweet Corn Soup
Crab Meat & Sweet Corn Soup
Combination Short or Long Egg Noodle Soup
Specialities:
Fried Squid with Hot Rock Salt
Peking Shredded Chilli Beef
Lamb with Lemongrass & Fresh Chilli
King Prawns with Hot Rock Salt
Thai Specialities:
Thai Red or Green Curry with Mixed Veggies
Thai Red or Green Curry with Beef or Chicken
Thai Red or Green Curry with King Prawns or Seafood
Cashew Nut Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet with CN
Combination with CN
Meat Lovers with CN
King Prawns with CN
Curry Sauce Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet with Curry Sauce
Sliced Lamb Fillet with Curry Sauce
Combination with Curry Sauce
Seafood with Curry Sauce
Scallops with Curry Sauce
Ginger & Shallot Dishes:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet
Sliced Lamb Fillet
Seafood with Curry Sauce
Scallops with Curry Sauce
King Prawns
Sweet & Sour Dishes:
Boneless Battered Chicken
King Prawn Fritters
Seasonal Vegetables:
Sliced Beef or Chicken Breast Fillet
Meat Lovers
King Prawns
Seafood
Omelettes:
Vegetable
BBQ Pork or Chicken
Combination
King Prawn
Chow Mein:
Beef or Chicken * or BBQ Pork Chow Mein
Combination
King Prawn
Seafood
Vegetarian Delights:
Red Cooked Bean Curd
Bean Curd with Hot Rock Salt
Stir-fried Mixed Seasonal Vegetables
Lightly fried Chinese Broccoli with Ginger
Lightly fried Vegetables with Nuts
Law Hon Jai
Rice:
boiled rice
Fried Rice
Vegetable Fried Rice
Master So Special Fried Rice

Sticky Rice Pudding

PS: you know it must be ok when it is so busy on a Saturday lunch and more than half full of chinese people ;)

Delicious Gluten Free Foccacia!

before...

Made this for breakfast this morning and gosh it was yummy! will make this one again and again - it was also very easy!

After some research on the best gluten free "baking" book, I bought myself a copy of "Gluten-Free Baking Classics" by Annalise G Roberts from the Book Depository (sooooo much cheaper!) This is the first recipe I've tried so far and I'm very impressed.

and ready to gobble!

only thing i would change is to double the recipe as it makes a very small quantity.

the dough didn't double in size like it was supposed to, so i was a little worried, but it was light and delicious anyway! (i put it in the car to prove, as suggested by thermomix-er, but given it was nearly 30'c here at 7am perhaps it was too hot in there lol)

here is the recipe (it's called Rustic Flatbread) http://www.foodphilosopher.com/assets/docs/0706menu.cfm

I will make it again very soon and do a thermomix conversion so stay tuned!...



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Gluten Free Eating Out in Batemans Bay NSW

Last weekend we went camping for a weekend down at Batemans Bay. Hard work with kids as always but nice just the same.

It was a fairly last minute decision to go, and I wasn't feeling well before we went, so we weren't very prepared and decided to eat out most of the time (totally opposite to usual, and with all we spent will probably never happen again! lol)

before we left I did some googling and used the list of links i posted last week to find some places we could eat (see below).

First night we ate out at South Bank 2536
They were supposed to have some gluten free options available. On the Friday night they had "far out Friday" which meant for $24 each (adult) we got garlic bread, a main (5 to pick from), a dessert of our choice and a glass of wine or a beer. They also had a kids menu - burgers, nuggets, pasta or fish, all with chips, a drink and icecream for $6.90.


The GF options were the pumpkin salad or the steamed fish, neither of which was Rora-friendly! so instead they offered to panfry some chicken tenderloins to have with their fries, which were GF. She ate this happily and they only charged us the usual kids meal price which we were happy about :)

The next day we had a BBQ lunch at the tourist park, and then went to a pizza place we had spotted who had GF bases. Heat Woodfired Pizza Bar is a tiny place that does yummy pizzas! The GF bases were easily the best GF bases we've had yet!!! Unfortunately the garlic pizza we ordered also came with herbs (lots) and chilli so the kids (especially Ryan who doesn't eat cheese) weren't happy, but the cheese and garlic one was popular. Geoff and I had a mexican one hwich was quite nice too (not GF).


Heat is obviously a family business, judging from the resemblences I'm sure I could see! and the staff were very friendly and helpful (and good at tossing bases hehe). They are very popular so expect an hour or so wait for your pizza, or if you don't want to wait that long head in before 6pm and your pizzas will be ready very quickly (or call and order ahead). they don't charge extra for GF bases which was a wonderful surprise!

On the day we were heading home we had a small breakfast at the tent and then decided to have a brunch at North Street Cafe & Bar, because we didn't think there'd be anywhere to eat a GF lunch in Braidwood (and we figured - very wrongly - that it would cost us as much to buy stuff to make lunch as it would to eat a quick brunch). I was VERY impressed that EVERYthing on the menu (about 12 items maybe) could be prepared GF. Not sure about the cakes on display but assume most if not all of them would be GF too. the decor is very sleek and modern and *cough* boring lol


The food was ok, Rora's coconut bread with caramelised bananas was VERY nice, but it was quite expensive - Rora's was $10, our egg & bacons were around $12, a full cooked breakie was about $16ish i think. I was also a bit :| about the caramelised bananas part - which consisted on cut up bananas with a caramel sauce. shouldn't something that's 'caramelised' be cooked until it reaches a 'caramelised' state? the meal was OK, but we left feeling very overcharged for something quite average for the most part. (and the service could have been happier lol)

As we headed into Braidwood Geoff saw a sign saying "Lots of Gluten Free" so I made him turn around and go back for another look LOL we didn't get out and go in so have no idea what sort of things they have, but the Criterion Cafe will be one place we check out next time - we always need a driving break by the time we get to Braidwood.


For the record we stayed at Pleasurelea Tourist Park, and thought it was quite nice. we will definitely return. though next time we will be more organised and save ourselves lots of money by cooking ourselves! lol

here is the list of possible restaurants i compiled:

Aussie Pancakes. I was recently in Bateman's Bay. N.S.W. There is a restaurant/coffee shop which is, to the best of my recollection, called Aussie Pancakes.

North Street Cafe and Bar 5 North Street 4472 5710 GF items marked on the menu

Starfish Deli Old Punt Road, Batemans Bay

South Bank 2536 11 Clyde St, Batemans Bay

barkala kitchen & bar - Tapas - Address: on the promenade Batemans Bay NSW 2536

On the Pier Seafood Restaurant Old Punt Road, Batemans Bay • 02 4472 6405

Rafters on the Bay - BYO 28 Beach Road, Batemans Bay • 02 4472 4288

8 lunch bar Shop 8 Connells Arcade Orient St Batemans Bay 2536 ph: (02) 4472 4436

BERRIMA Old Bakery Tea Rooms Wingecarribee Street 4877 1343 GF sandwiches, cakes, loaf & muffins
The White Horse Inn The Market Place 4877 1204

BERRY Delicious Food by Lisa Shop 3/62 Albert Street 4464 3650 GF items marked on the menu
127A Queen Street 4464 3110 GF items marked on the menu
(Professional Member)
Burgers and More Takeaway
Berry Jetz Café 1/94 Queen Street 4464 3320 Gluten free menu available
Hedgehogs Coffee Shop Shop 4/98 Queen Street 4464 3051 Knowledgeable staff

BROULEE 3/79 Coronation Drive 4471 6890 GF items marked on the menu
(Professional Member)
Broulee Pizza

MERIMBULA Merimbula Aquarium & The Wharf, Lake Street 6495 4446 GF itens marked on the menu
Wharf Restaurant 1-11 Merimbula Drive 6495 1197 GF rolls and batter mix available.
Contamination management a priority
Hungry's Takeaway

NAROOMA 1/120 Wagonga Street (Cnr Canty Street) 4476 1241 GF items marked
on the menu (Professional Member)
Casey's Wholefood Cafe

NOWRA The Melting Pot Coffee Shop 7, The Main Arcade. Egan's Lane 4422 7775 GF options available

SHELLHARBOUR Muffin Break Shellharbour Square Shopping Centre

TUROSS HEAD O'Briens Boatshed 93 Trafalgar Road 4473 8127 List of allergens in menu items available

ULLADULLA Boardwalk Cafe 1/92 Princes Highway 4454 2555 GF items marked on the menu
Harbourside Restaurant/ Shop 5, 84 Princes Highway 4455 3377 GF items marked on the menu
Espresso/ Bar

Cliff Place Cafe Cafe, Gluten-Free, Seafood, Vegetarian Tathra

Peppercorn's Cafe Queen St Berry

Red Raven 55 Junction St, Nowra

Amy's Restaurant at the Forest Gallery - Durras Road, South Durras 02 4478 6161

The River- 16b Church Street, Moruya 02 4474 5505

The Whale Restaurant - Licensed Whale Motor Inn, Wagonga Street, Narooma 02 4476 2411

The Quarterdeck Marina - BYO 13 Riverside Drive, Forsters Bay, Narooma 02 4476 2723

Tilba Valley Winery Lake Corunna Estate, 947 Old Highway, Narooma 02 4473 7308



posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Primo Mondo Cafe, Campbelltown

Last week we headed off to visit my in laws in Campbelltown, and my mother in law wanted to take us all out for dinner. Geoff googled for gluten free places to eat out and came up with Peppers, a steak house which didn't look or sound particularly child friendly (plus it was very expensive). I remembered having seen a pizza place and did some googling of my own and found it.

Primo Mondo
R6, Centric, Park Central, 4 Hyde Parade, Campbelltown Orders/Bookings - Tel: 4626 2457

Reviews I read (but I can't be bothered to find where they were now lol) said the food was ok but the service was slow and that was definitely our experience (though i think it was more due to only one chef in the kitchen than the service itself). After a slow start we didn't get there til between 7 & 730pm and we didn't get our food til closer to 9pm - we usually eat dinner at 6/6:30ish so you can imagine how hungry the kids were!

Unfortunately the only gluten free food they had was the pizza (they said they'd run out of pasta so obviously they usually do have that) so we couldn't even order an entree to fill them up temporarily.

When the pizza arrived Rora enjoyed it very much and ate half a pizza on her own!!!!!!!!!!!! She had ham and cheese on it.

We were going to get some gelati to take home and they did have gluten free varieties but explained all the gelati was made on the same machine so contamination was possible, so we didn't worry.

as for the food, it was OK. Geoff and I shared a BBQ Carne pizza and a gnocchi with pesto. The pizza was pretty good but I wasn't happy that the pesto was creamy, ugh. I thought the food was fairly average, especially for the price (though, to be fair, all the restaurants in that area were much the same price. I'm assuming Sydney prices must be higher than Canberra prices). Certainly the quality was much the same, if not slightly below that of our fave Zeffirelli

However if you are in the Campbelltown area and are looking for a GF option give it a try for sure.

and if you know of any other places in the area worth trying - for a coeliac child who doesn't eat salads etc - please let me know!

Little Chef Cafe - Gluten Free Pizza in Belconnen

One of my friends whose mum is a coeliac had told me about a store in the Oatley Court area of Belconnen but I really wasn't sure where it was. I had to go to the nearby lighting shop a few weeks ago, with the girls, and bribed the girls with pizza if they were well behaved in the lighting shop (nightmare place to take children lol) AND if we could find it!!

Anyway, we did find it and discovered that it was a lovely place to have found! (thanks Sal ;))

Little Chef is in Nettlefold St, opposite the lighting place and the hairdresser. Their online menu doesn't feature any gluten free options, but their (hard copy) takeaway menu does. However, it is ONLY pizzas which are gluten free.

They are ahve an idea about what is and isn't GF, and very happy to check ingredients for you if you ask.

The pizza was reasonable, different to Zeffirelli, and perhaps not quite as nice (to my tastes) but certainly yummy, reasonably priced - GF is $3 extra i think, so just under $20 - and it's nice to have more options, both in places to go and in toppings. we had a chicken pizza as they roast / BBQ their own chickens and do them gluten free - yay!! you can also pick your crust size, which you can't do at Zeffs.

We ate in and it was quite nice, they get a lot of the workers from around that area, but you can also pick up and take home too. oh, they also deliver though it was a $5 charge to our suburb.

I definitely recommend giving them a try :D




posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Review - Muffin Break

On Boxing Day I took the girls out to the sales as soon as we all got up - I wanted to get more Christmas lights plus get out of the house for a while so G&R could rest (apparently ryan didn't wake til nearly 10am!!!)

I promised them we'd get something to eat after we'd had a look at a few shops (I found the sales very disappointing) so, knowing MB has gluten free, we headed there.

I do go to Muffin Break occasionally for this reason - and not only do they have GF (like most cafes), but they'll usually have 3-4 different options, whereas most cafes only have one. I have had a few of the GF cakes and slices before (shared rora's) and they were quite nice.

I do like knowing that they are recommended by the coeliac society (so they must have an idea of how to be really GF) but I generally don't go there because:

• Their muffins used to be a cheap snack but for us as a family to go there for morning tea now usually costs us over $30, which is way too much for a snack IMO
• They only accept cash
• I don't actually like their muffins - except the bran ones - as i think they are over-mixed, pre-packaged cakes, not proper muffins at all, and not remotely like homemade

The day we went and I had made it quite obvious that Rora needed gluten free - check milk shake ingredients etc, and yet they still brought out her babycino with chocolate on top, which they had no idea if it was GF or not...

I had also been there before christmas with girlfriends and we'd gone there because they told me they were open til 10pm when i asked. They were quite rude though, actually coming out to ask if we were going to order when we were still waiting for a few to turn up (no, we're sitting at the tables closest to the kitchen jsut to look pretty humph) and then they packed up totally all around us and gave us 'get out' hints, when it was only about 920pm!!!!!!!!!!

if you have a review about Muffin Break, especially in regard to their gluten free products please feel free to post in my comments :)

oh and PS: i didn't escape the gastro bug :( am just hoping the girls don't get it next :(





posted by Karen on http://brazen20au.blogspot.com/

Pasta Fagiole Tweaks

We love the Pasta Fagiole from the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook (EDC) - it's healthy, quick, easy and yummy!

I've tweaked it a little to make it even yummier and healthier...

to the basic ingredients in the EDC I add the following:

• 2-3 cloves of garlic rather than just 1
• 1 large or 2 small carrots, you can also add a zucchini
• if you love parsnips try adding 1 medium parsnip - soooooo good! (but don't do it if you don't like them in the first place lol)
• we use gluten free pasta and it works perfectly (usually i use organ brand with amaranth or quinoa, to get the extra goodness from them)
  

for other recipe tweaks & reviews have a look at this thread

Interesting!

Yesterday I went on a shopping tour put on by the Coeliac Society.  I wasn't sure how much I'd learn but I'm glad to say lots! Apart from meeting a group of lovely people - a few of whom also have young children with coeliac disease - I found out quite a lot, including:

• Jamison Coles is brilliant for GF shopping, way better than Belconnen Coles
• Arnotts Rice Cookies are no longer GF and in fact have a gluten content in the nutritional info :( (and i have a stash of them in my cupboard)
• The Changs brand GF sauces are everywhere, I had obviously been overlooking the tiny 'gluten free' on the label (or maybe the ones i looked at weren't?) so yay, we can have stir fries again!
• I found a brand of packet risottos that are GF that the girls will love for their quick lunches on Thursdays & Fridays. (sorry the brand will have to wait til I get back there to shop)
• i'm sure there's more, but i'll have to update when i remember!

After the shopping tour we had morning tea (or breakfast in my case!) at Ricardos. They have lots of gluten free options on the menu, and the option of GF bread (deeks i think, it had a very strong taste taht i think was quinoa and beans of some sort).  the meal was nice but I wasn't so sure about the drinking chocolate on top of the coffees and the icing sugar and raspberry sauce over rora's GF friand. Unfortunately I had already broken the friand in half before i clicked so it was too late to be able to take it back and ask for without. Next time i will double check whether they are GF, but just a heads up for anyone who is going there....

and yay for another lunch option in the belconnen area, especially one that is cheaper than zeffs (fine for dinner but a bit OTT for lunch)