5 tips and tricks to make your gluten free life a little bit easier

These tips are so simple and easy but are so effective! They take those meh gluten free foods to a whole new level and help to rectify the stressful situations you could find yourself in being gluten free. So here it is 5 top tips to help make your gluten free life a little bit easier!

1. Always toast your bread

Now this may sound weird, if your not eating toast why toast your bread? Wait until you try it, whenever eating any type of gluten free bread I always toast it as it takes away some of the odd texture and flavour you can sometimes get with gf bread, plus it means you won't have crumbly bread! This hack even elevates a gluten free burger! It helps the moisture from the meat not seep into the bread and make it soggy. No one wants and pile of gluten free soggy slush so to save this from happening to you trust me guys you always want to toast your bread.

2. Always heat up gluten free brownie or choc cake

I mean who doesn't heat warm brownie any way? Heating these chocolate treats up takes away some of there dryness and overall elevates the brownie / chocolate cake experience. Especially if these are store bought goods as they can be dry and bland at times so the microwave helps to subside some of these factors to make this an even more enjoyable treat.

3. Serve brownies/chocolate cake with cream or ice cream

Now persanally I prefer to eat chocolate cake with Cream anyways, but in an extreme dryness no taste overload cream or ice cream can save a product and make it delicious so it doesn't get wasted and we get yummy desserts that we enjoy! You could even mix it up a bit and have cream and ice cream crazy I know but hear me out. Cream and ice cream ensures you get something cold and then you get the warmth from the chocolate dessert!

4. ALWAYS have food on you wherever you go

Yes, you heard it always have food on you, It will save your life. I am not saying you have to pack a full course meal but a little snack bar or pice of fruit could save you from a situation were you are starving and have no options that you can eat.

5.PLAN!

Wether you are going to meet a friend or travelling to a new country always do your research into places that are safe for you to eat at. I know that ounce I find a good brand or cafe that I like and is safe for me to eat I try to remember it so if I am ever stuck again I know were to go that I can find safe food for me to eat.

And there you go, 5 tips and tricks to make your gluten free life a little bit easier! If this was helpful, head over to my instagram page and comment wether you learnt these tips or already knew them, I'd love to hear your feedback!

Ruby x

Guide to a gluten free picnic!

So recently the weather in England has been improving which means more time spent outside! I've been doing a lot of picnics and outdoor lunch's with friends and family, but while doing these me and my friends have realised the low number of options there are for convenience foods for those in the gluten free community. From this I decided to write up a post explaining my go to snacks when on the go and some helpful tips for next time you plan to have a picnic.

Firstly if you are able to pre plan your food and bring a few snacks with you, it takes away a portion of the initial stress you could feel if you didn't have any supplies with you and it saves you time as you don't have to look for gf options! I love to bring my own choices, as it brings a guaranteed safety of having food I know I enjoy on hand and ready to go. A few of my favourite options that are really easy to prepare are:

• Pre-cut fruit and vegetables

• Homemade baked goods such as brownies, cake, biscuits, cookies, tarts etc

• Homemade sandwich or salad options such as a tuna sandwich on toasted bread (to prevent the bread going soggy) or a tuna salad

• Home bought crisps or crackers

• My favourite snack or bar options which include Livia products, deliciously Ella snacks, 108 rhythm snacks all of which are easy to find at your local supermarket or on there online shops

• Dinner leftovers - any leftovers that are in the fridge could be ate by themselves or combined with other ingredients and turned into a new meal

• Sandwich thins filled with a variety of fillings

• Homemade billines topped with your favourite topping- these are really easy to make, I use healthy living with James pancake recipe with buckwheat flour and fry into small circles of mini pancakes

I especially love to have food on me as then I know I won't miss out and I have food to share with my friends however a lot of the time I don't have these ingredients available to me or the picnic is an improvised event so I have come to learn the good, the bad and the safe foods available to get conveniently in supermarkets and small restaurants to!

We can always rely on fruit pots but this won't fill you up for the rest of your days activetys, which is why I have my go to safe options and shops which I can rely on for more than just an apple or a cucumber! Below I have listed some of my faveriote products as well as there availability and rating.

1. Schar gluten free pretzels

These pretzels are one of my favourites are they are easy to find and only cost a pound to buy. With a middle aerated texture and an outside crunch the golden couler adding flavour and texture these pretzels are the perfect salty snack for a lunchtime, as they are super versatile and could be served with a variety of dips or eaten with cheeses or alongside a sandwich or wrap option to! There are available from a variety of shops both in person and online, these include Ocado, Waitrose, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury's and Tescos. So easy to find at a wide range of shops, low in price and delicious to these pretzels are the perfect snack for a picnic or quick lunch! I would give these a 9/10 as they are versatile depending on what I want and are really easy to buy and are always delicious.

2. Small cakes

Now you may be confused by what I mean by this, but small cakes entails smaller cakes that are easy to eat with a small number of picnic members, and I've seen many options in a range of flavours to. Bigger than cupcakes or muffins and less likely to have a dry texture I've found that small cakes like these are the perfect picnic staple. There not so big that there are leftovers in need of carying yet there big enough a small party of picnic members would each receive a good portion and there cheaper to. At an average of 3 pounds per cake the price could be easily split between members. Many well known supermarkets do cakes like these from a range of flavours to carrot cake, chocolate cake, Victoria sponge cake, coffee cake there's many to choose from to suite the taste buds of the individuals. Many supermarkets also do caterpillar cakes which is a great option for children or bigger parties of people. Small cakes can be found in a range of supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, M and S and Morrisons who have a range of circular and square cakes in a variety of flavours. Persanolly one of my faveriotes is Sainsbury's choclate cake and Eric the caterpillar with a Rich fudge cake in both encased in velvety icing and adorned with toppings there a brilliant option. I would give both an 8/10!

3. Hippeas chickpea puffs

These puffs are the perfect snack option or crisp alternative with simple ingredients and a range of flavours to choose from they make for a perfect snack! While these are a great option there availability is limited to a select few shops which stock a few of there flavours so if you want to try a variety ordering from there website is the way to go! There are a few supermarkets and shops which stock a limited range of there flavours and these include Asda, boots, co-op, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, WHSmith and Holland and barret. The chickpeas are arratid and full of flavour whilst being super crunchy to! For more information on my thoughts on individual flavours head to my instagram page @rubysgfkitchen and to the mini reviews highlight were you will find my in depth opinion on the products and there availability.

4. Deliciously Ella products

Now this might sound vague but livas and deliciously Ella are two of my faveriote brands who offer easy and quick snacks for when your on the go. Deliculsy Ella do a wide range of breakfast options such as oat bars in a variety of flavours and granola to. They also do a variety of energy balls and sweet snacks which are perfect for smaller picnics were you may not have a lot of time to eat. I've found there products to be consistent in price and product as well as filling and are always delicous! I love there products because they offer a wide range of options and flavours within each product for example there choclate covered almonds come in both salted almond choclate and orange choclate. Deliciously Ella products can be found in a range of supermarkets and online locations which include Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Tesco, Holland and barret, boots and Ocado.

5. Rice cakes

I love rice cakes as there's so many different toppings you can choose for them wether its sweet or savoury there the perfect easy snack that can be easily found in the majority of supermarkets. Usually there are a selection available in the free from isle from plain, to choclate covered! I prefer to eat mine plain but there are a variety of spreads that could work for these to, some common combinations include salmon and cream cheese, peanut butter and banana, avacado, humous and veg to name a few! A naturally gluten free snack (just make sure to check the ingredients) and can be found in a variety of flavours, produced in both a larger size and individual mini bags for snacking on the go. Rice cakes can be found in the majority of supermarkets but some of my faveriotes for them is Sainsbury's (they have mini ones covered in choclate and yogurt so are perfect for when in need of a snack), M and S (do small bags with two rice cakes in each covered in different choclate and yogurt), Aldi (have both large packs of rice cakes as well as rice cake bars to).

All of these options are easy to eat on the go and you can easily share them with friends to! If you have prepared food from home it is great to carry it in a resealable container so not to spill the contents and keep it fresh. Remember: picnic foods need to be easy to eat and not have to be kept at a certain temperature. Foods like chocolate or hot pasta would melt and get colder to were they would be unenjoyable to eat and melt in your hand. aside from the products listed above there are some that are naturally gluten free found in isles other than the free from isle. below I have listed some of my favourites which make great picnic food which abides by the usual check of labels and contamination warnings:

• Humous which can be eaten with a variety of gluten free dippers such as gluten free breadsticks, falaphels or pitta bread or dipped with a variety of vegtables

• Cheeses- usually cheese such as cheddar, bourbon, rule, edam etc

• Fruit- pre packed sliced fruit are great or packs of berries or loose fruits such as apples or banna

• Smoked salmon- goes perfectly with crackers or bread or put it In a homemade sandwich

• Coleslaw- usually made with mayonnaise and chopped vegetables and is perfect for a picnic or outside barbeque to!

• Cold meats and precooked chicken pieces- a variety of these can be found such as salamis, peparoni, chorizo and salami all of which would be great in a sandwich or on crackers

• Quinoa- if your pre preparing your picnic options quinoa is a great option as you can cook it in advance and add any additions you want such as vegetables or cooked meat

• Rice- much like the quinoa if cooked or heated before hand a variety of additions can be made to flavour rice and make it a great picnic option

• Nuts and seeds- wether this is a nut mix, salted peanuts or choclate covered almonds nuts and seeds can be a great option as they are really filling and contain beneficial fats to

• Popcorn- wether this is a bag of popcorn or made into popcorn bars (I have a recipe on this in the sweet recepie section of my blog) there's a range of flavours you can experiemt with to such as toffee, salted, chocolate covered etc

• Olives- can be used as the side to a dish, in a dish or as a light starter before a main

Now the brand of products that you use can be super important in the outcome of your dish, there's a variety of gluten free brands for products such as bread, but which are the best ones? Next I am going to explore and detail my favourite brands for a key picnic ingredient...bread!:

Bread

There's a variety of gluten free breads in the Supermarket and I've found that often the best ones are a little bit more expensive and there are some easy things you can do to improve them to create the ultimate sandwich, so here's my list of great gluten free breads:

• Promise gluten free bread- I love both the multigrain and chia and quinoa loafs. At 3 pounds per loaf they are quite expensive but a great option as the slices are large with little to no holes and they hold up great in a sandwich to!

• Bfree pitta breads, baguettes and pre cut loaf- Bfree do not only delicious pitta breads that are £2.75 for four, they offer a pack of two baguettes for £1.50 which are great warmed up.they also offer small loafs of bread (£3) which could be great for an on the go picnic as it will prevent wastage

• Schar- do a range of rolls and panini rolls which are perfect for on the go homemade sandwich and toasties as well as reducing waste to! averaging at around £2 for a pack of four these rolls as great for individual lunches that are unlikely to fall apart.

• Warbotons- I love there tiger bloom loaf if your looking for a good gluten free white bread however one of my faveriote products that offer are there sandwich thins as there super versatile and can be made like a sandwich or individually topped with a variety of fillings.

I would always suggest toasting your bread before filling as this allows it to retain its structure and not so easily fall apart like how it may if it was not toasted. Most of these brands can be found in Sainsbury's free from isle, Tesco free from isle, Waitrose free from isle, Morrisons free from isle! Remember there are loads of blogs and websites with hundreds of amazing recipes all of which cater towards picnics. This can make it so much easier to prepare food in advance, whenever I'm looking for a recepie like this I head straight to instagram to see what I can find!

If you found this post helpful head over to instagram @rubysgfkitchen to let me know!

Thank you for reading,

Ruby x

My Free From Hope Cove Experience...

So I recently went to Hope Cove for a long weekend and did a proper deep dive into the gluten free food and drink avaible in and around the very small village to hopefully give you guys the best recommendations of specific dishes and places you need to try and places to avoid.

So here are my honest opinions about all the dishes I tried in hope cove...

1. The cove

This resturant is usually my familys faveriote place to eat when we come here, but one night after being packed from an england football game we were forced to try out the larger pub which was suprisngly very good and to me felt much more in control of makeing allergy safe meals. However I still do love the cove and the many gluten free dishes that it offers. Whilst they dont have a gluten free menu they do have the gfo symbol next to each dish on the menu that can be made gluten free. On the first night we were in hope cove I tried the seafood salad with chips. The chips were perfectly crisp and salty. For my salad I chose to leave off the prawns as i'm not a big fan of them. This was my first time trying mackrel and it was amazing super light and salty. I think the cove offers some of the best fish that I had on this trip.

Another big benefit of the cove is that they do a take away and a specials board which changes daily. One night we did a takeaway pizza and lord of the rings night. The cove pizza is the absolute best gluten free pizza that I have found in the UK (The best ever being in italy obvs). I chose a gluten free pizza two which was a hawain pizza so I removed the ham and added vegan cheese. The base of the pizza is not soggy, with a crispy crust it was the perfect dinner for a movie night.

2. The cove vs Hope and anchor Brownies

This night I also chose to try there gluten free and vegan brownie. Now I also got to try the pubs brownie so I could compare them. To be honest neither of them really hit the brownie spot. Neither had that crisp top with the fudgey middle. The cove brownie had a slightly coagulated texture and was not as rich as I would have wanted it, simarley to the hope and anchor brownie which was far to sweet for me with a crisp texture from the cristelised sugar.

3. Finding the best oat milk hot chocolate

I also did a side by side comparison of the oat milk hot chocolates from 3 different places, the cove, the hope and anchor and a little cafe called the beachouse which you can walk to from hope cove. My faveriote by far was the beach house it was smooth, rich and creamy whilst the other two where far sweeter and a bit thinner. My secound faveriote was the pub as the top of the hot choclate had a rich and creamy foam layer. Lastly the Cove's hot choclate for me was to sweet and thin compared to the other two.

4. My Lunch Experience...

Over the three days we bought two lunch's from the salcombe area which is a short drive from hope cove. Firstly we went to the winking prawn which does sandwhiches and salads at lunchtime. Whilst there is no gluten free bread so you are limited to the salads, there is still a range to choose from and the chips are fully gluten free to! I chose the mackrel and beetroot salad which was super fresh and contained a delicous top of salted cucumber, chickpeas, veg and mackrel. The mackrel was not as light as I would have liked but went great with the beetroot and cucumber.

From the plaice fish and chip shop takeway I also managed to find some pasties which we bought frozen to heat up at home for lunchtime. I chose the curried vegtables which had cauliflower, sweet potato, chickpeas and a curried sauce. To be honest going into this pasty I had very low expectations but this pasty blew me away. The pastry was crisp and light with a great flavour and no soggy pastry at all! My mum chose the cheese and onioun and she loved that one.

5. My Hope and Anchor dinner experience

We had two dinners at the hope and anchor, and they where both great with really attentive staff who made finding gluten free safe food feel really easy. They had a full gluten free menu with loads of options. The first dinner we tried I had crab loaded fries and batted cajun whitebait. I loved the crab on top of the fries however the fries were a little cold and not as crisp as I would have wanted them. This was my first time trying whitebait and I really enjoyed my only improvement would be to have more of the cajun flavour comeing through in the batter.

On are last night due to the cove being to busy we went to the hope and anchor for dinner where after being desperate to have my faveirote childhood sandwhich over the weekend (a crab sandwhich) I finally had one! The staff where amazing, going to check for gluten free bread upon request. The bread was actually a great sandwhich bread and usually I don't love gluten free bread unless it is toasted. The crab had a great flavour with a great crunch from the lettuce. The fries had also really improved and were crisp, light and salty.

And there it is my gluten free food review of hope cove from my long weekend away.If you found this helpful head over to instagram to let me know that it was useful @rubysgfkitchen.

Thank you for reading,

Ruby X