Cheap and Refreshing!

Ok so since my ode to autumn, the weather seems to have woken up and London is currently in the final throws of summer.
So for this late summer sunshine, there is only one thing I go to to keep myself hydrated (other than, of course, water) and that is WATERMELON.
Watermelon is incredibly cheap right now, I managed to get a quarter of a fruit for £2.50 from my local turkish food shop and this has lasted me over week considering I only use a couple of slices at a time. 

Easiest thing in the world, cut two slices (or however much you need) and slice the fruit roughly into a blender. Discard the tough skin. Don't worry about de-seeding, the seeds usually fall to the bottom of the blender anyway and don't end up in the drink. 
Add a couple of ice cubes, and about a quarter of a glass of water and blend! It's that simple! It is so delicious and refreshing and perfect for this last gasp of summer. 

Cheers!

A photo posted by Alice Hewitt (@seaglass44) on Aug 27, 2016 at 11:39pm PDT

(I personally don't drink, but I have also heard this is good with a shot of vodka or gin in it. Try it and let me know how it works out!)

Autumn

Sorry for the lack of Postings, I was whisked away to Paris for a surprise...

It was wonderful and magical and full of fantastically fresh french food (freefrom eating in France is a challenge in itself, and one I hope to devote an entire blog post too one day. But not yet because this trip got a little busy...)

So now I'm back downt to earth with a bump and, it is at this time every year that my brain decides to devote all it's spare processing power to thinking about autumn.

I love autumn. And winter. In fact anytime between September and December is fine with me. (January and Feburary are constantly depressing whichever way you slice it. Even I have to admit that.) Yes, spring has beautiful flowers and freshly cut grass and little cute baby animals running around and yes, summer has seemingly endlessly long hazy lazy days perfect for picnics and beaches and tiny summer dresses. (Supposedly, I mean, I live in London, so summer in actuality tends to find me glued to the morning weather report and trying to figure out if I need sandals or an umbrella or both.)
Still, autumn has it down people. In autumn, the streets are full of sunsets; reds, oranges, yellows, golds, everywhere and come on people, we get A WHOLE EXTRA HOUR TO SLEEP IN IN THE MORNING! And suddenly your clothing choices are brimming over with cosy jumpers and warming jeans and hats and scarves and gloves and the callender is full of fireworks and halloween and my birthday and various other national celebrations ;)

And that's not even mentioning the food:

Squashes and pumpkins and apples and leeks and cabbage and parsnips and swedes and potatoes and carrots and pears and spices: cinnamon and nutmeng and cloves and staranise and cyrry and thyme and sage and rosemary. Food that warms and comforts and steams, actually steams (salads for all their virtues, dont steam. Hummus doesn't steam. Comfort food should always steam.) Soups, casseroles, apple crumble witht hick, gloopy custard. Hot steaming mugs of teas, constantly covering my glasses in condensations. Its a time for harvest festivals and trick or treating.A time for crockpots and crisp cold mornings. Of walks in woods and curling up by a window reading with an apple, a cup of tea and the sound of rain.

So even though summer is still clinging on by the edge of itse sunbeams, my focus has turned to autumn. The cosy months. Also the perfect time for freefrom eatting. So stand by for a veritable harvest of recipies in the coming weeks. 

CAKE

I miss cake. I miss making cake. Some of my earliest memories are making fairy cakes and victoria sponges with my mum. I still know that recipe by heart, 4442, 4 each ounces of sugar, butter and self raising flour mixed with two eggs, a teaspoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Mix, pour into tins and enjoy. I could make that cake in my sleep. I will make that cake with my children.
When my great uncle Harold went into a nursing home, I made him an old school victoria sponge. Cut strawberries and mountains of whipped cream in the centre, covered in caster sugar. A nightmare for his diabetes, but he was 95, and he loved cake. (seriously, don't worry, the nursing home controlled his diabetes with insulin, and you could never part Harold from cake.) Harold was a lifelong recluse, and in the nursing home had achieved a stand off with the other inhabitants of the convent. He would tolerate being around people, even wheeling his chair up to groups of residents talking, as long as he didn't have to participate in the conversation. This made for some hilarious family visits.
So we get to the nursing home, plonk this beautiful monstrosity of a cake in front of Harold, turn around to find a knife to cut it, turn back and both the cake and Harold are *poof* gone.
He was eventually found wheeling himself back to his room with the cake stuffed up his jumper so he wouldn't have to share.
In university I was famous for my brownies, stuffed with either white chocolate that would melt in your mouth as you bit into them, or walnuts and sultanas for a more savoury taste. I would bake them for the whole dorm and then go door to door to see if anyone was hungry. (Not through any altruistic bent mind you, I just needed them gone so I didn't down the entire plate myself.) Later I discovered that if I brought a batch of freshly made brownies to a night out, people would buy you drinks to say thank you. Saved my broke student arse more than once. Plus it turns out that I was much better at baking than I was a drinking. But that's another story.
The point is, I think, that I have a weakness for sweetness. And baking. So when I took on a restrictive diet, the idea of being able to create sweet treats was extremely important to me.
Deliciously Ella was helpful with this (I'm going to write up a run down of my favourite free-from-foodie blogs soon, trust me Ella tops the list. I would be lost without her.) But it was Olivia Wallenberg of Livia's Kitchen who really saved me on the sweetness front. Suddenly I could curb all my cravings, and my baking habit was back in full swing. Her avocado chocolate icing recipe (which I got from her book but which can also be found here) is a lifesaver, and I use it for the following recipe. Without these wonderful women inspiring me, I wouldn't have found the confidence to start playing around with ingredients in my kitchen.

So, recipe time!

Chocolate Courgette Cake 

I mentioned in a previous post that my parents have a glut of courgettes at the moment. Well I couldn't escape their house without a bucketful, and I have had to find creative ways to use them up, particularly because my other half will not eat courgettes unless coerced. I recommend getting veg-hesitaters to try first before you tell them exactly what's in this cake... 

Ingredients:

350g Grated Courgettes
300g Doves Farm gf Plain Flour
100g Coconut Sugar
100ml Maple Syrup
100g Melted Coconut Oil
2 tbsp Chia Seeds
2 tbsp Cacao Powder
2 tbsp Cacao Nibs
1/2 tbsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthum Gum
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Powder
1 portion of Livias Kitchen Avocado Chocolate Icing

That's great Alice, just put the HIGHLY FLAMMABLE book made of PAPER on the PLACE WHICH MAKES FIRE. 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/GM 4. 

Grease and line an 18cm loose bottom cake tin with coconut oil.

Mix the chia seeds with 6tbsp of water and leave to set until it looks kind of like frogspawn. This is called a "chia egg" and believe me, even if it looks gross, it is the key to the whole recipe. 

mmmm, frogspawn

Stir everything together in a bowl until well mixed. (Or, if like me and you're lazy, grate the courgettes using a food processor and then mix everything else in using the whisk attachment. I love my food processor.)

Bake for 55 minutes. Cover with foil for the last ten or so minutes to stop the top from burning.

And: Cake! Just leave it to cool completely before slathering on the avocado icing. 

Drool....

Free From in a Small Town

I love London. I love its freedom. I love its rudeness and bustle and anonymity. I love how it allows you to be entirely yourself. I also love the food here. 
Food culture in London is nothing short of extraordinary, and, as someone on a restricted diet here, I often forget that the options I can find in London are not the same outside of the M25.

I am reminded quite sharply of this when I go back home to my parents for a few days.

I am from a very small town on the south eastern edge of England called Margate. Margate is undergoing a bit of a cultural renaissance itself right now but options are still pretty limited. What Margate is fantastic at, however, is vegetables. Fresh vegetables are everywhere in Thanet right now, and they're particularly famous for their brassica's, (think cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus etc.) But really, most things can be grown down there. Also, by virtue of being directly on the coast, the fish and seafood is always fresh and delicious. 

My parents are avid gardeners and gradually over the years they have expanded out from a small veg patch in the garden to a full blown allotment and jobs at an allotment garden; so their house is always drowning in vegetables, and right now at the beginning of August? That means: courgettes. 

All Hail Gluten Free Pasta!

When I arrived my parents had three buckets full of courgettes in their kitchen. By the time I left they had six. Large, small, green, yellow, long, globed, round or squashed (hello pattypans, I'm lumping you in with the courgettes today) you name them they had them, in abundance. This means that they (and now I, because no one leaves that house without six courgettes as a present, minimum) are having to come up with really creative ways to use them up, anything from curries to cakes are now getting the courgette treatment. (Both of these recipes are forthcoming.)

Freeform eating is pretty simple if you have the facilities and abilities to cook for yourself. Usually anywhere you can get fresh veg you have the makings for a full and nutritious meal. But sometimes when you're out and on the go it can be much harder to pick something up on the fly. I don't know about other places around the country yet, but as I travel around more I fully intend to blog about wonderful little spots I uncover on the go. 

I may be a bit of an instagram junkie. You can find me at @Seaglass44 (don't ask)

In Margate there are some lovely places to find nutritious free from food on the fly. One of my favourites had to be the indoor market by the Turner Centre Art Gallery, full of food stalls offering lots of options. My mother and I bought two vegan and gluten free curries from the Indian stall in there run by the same guys who run The Riz in Northdown Road. These guys specialise in South Indian food and I've written on this blog before about how good Indian food is for a free from diet. We bought an aubergine curry and a lentil dahl for £8 to take away and they fed four of us with some rice. Great value for money. There is also a Thai food stall, which is another cuisine that is brilliant for free from foodies, all that coconut milk! So if you're in Margate and stuck for a meal I would check out both of those. 

In fact, if you're a Thai food fan, I promise on my next trip down I am going to dedicate an entire post on the merits of The Bangkok Thai just off Northdown Road in Cliftonville. This tiny restaurant is one of my favourite restaurants I've ever been to, not just down in Margate. The food is fantastic, the service is impeccable and as someone on a restricted diet the choices are both plentiful and delicious. A must see if you find yourself in the vicinity. 

In general in small towns, if you have access to fresh vegetables and a kitchen you can feed yourself pretty easily. If you're on the go look out for Indian and Thai food places. Of course if you're really stuck, the ubiquitous hummus and veg sticks can be found in pretty much any supermarket...

So...I'm a twit

Guys, I get tired.
And when I'm really tired, I do stupid things like forgetting to take the lunch I'd prepared to work with me.

When you're eating a free-from diet finding lunch on the go can be incredibly difficult. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot easier than it once was, the fact that this way of eating is seen as "trendy" right now means that there is "hopefully" something edible in most places; but as someone with a lot of restrictions, it gets frustrating very fast.

This is where I'm actually incredibly lucky. I work on the southbank, and, if I have enough time, borough market is just a short walk away.

My first stop was the Indian food stall near Southwark cathedral. Offering just two dishes a day, this stall is both fully vegetarian and gluten free, and, if you forgo the yoghurt, can be easily made completely vegan. I've tried ordering here before and fair warning, it's so good that the line often winds around the back of the stall and down the road.  I ordered a masala dosa because I can't not order a dosa. I mean, have you tried them? They're amazing.

Dosas are large pancakes made from lentils and stuffed with a spiced potato mixture and they are divine. They are the perfect free from food and really drive home the notion that free from eating does not mean compromising on taste or flavour. These were served alongside a chickpea and pomegranate salad that complimented it beautifully. Honestly I can't tell you how good this meal was, you must try it.

From there I stopped off at The Freefrom Bakehouse stall (because of course). These guys have a cake to suit almost every diet and I bought an oat and sultana cookie for myself and a blueberry muffin for my gluten and sugar free friend. These guys are perfect for when your cravings are getting the better of you and you need something to stop yourself from diving into that all too tempting chocolate stash. (http://www.sugargrain.com/)

Lastly I finished off with a watermelon juice. Because nothing is more refreshing than watermelon on a hot day.

This is why I love the market, there are so many different things to try, and even when your diet is as restricted as mine, there will always be something there for you. Some days I run down and see how many different fruits I can by for a fiver. With a market like borough, you can be in complete control of what goes onto your plate, and in a Freefrom universe, that level of choice can be both valuable and freeing.