Gluten Free Palm Sugared Cashew Beef Wok Noodles & a Happy Chinese New Year from Amoy

These gluten free palm sugared cashew beef wok noodles are the star of the show at my gluten free Chinese New Year banquet, sponsored by Amoy!

Yield: 2 to 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

A Gluten Free Chinese New Year Banquet

Chinese food has always been a big part of my life; it's one of my favourite cuisines whether I'm enjoying it in a tucked away, authentic Chinese restaurant in Manchester's Chinatown or am curled up on the couch with a takeaway and chopsticks. My love and respect for Chinese food has meant that I've steered clear of it in the kitchen, fearful of ruining it and slightly intimidated by the delicious complex flavours.

#tastytuesdays no 92 with 9 incredible international recipes

 

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Why We Eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday + 22 Delicious Pancake Recipes

Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day!  Celebrate the occasion with one of these fantastic pancake recipes & discover why we eat pancakes before Lent!

A stack of gluten free pancakes with Confetti.co.uk's chevron cake bunting.

Why We Eat Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday

Like many things, over time, the original meaning or purpose behind traditions gets lost or forgotten. The tradition of eating pancakes for Shrove Tuesday is one of these things; many of us pile up the pancakes on our breakfast plates on Fat Tuesday but not very many of us know why!

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of indulgence before Lent. Traditionally, partakers of Lent would use this day to eat up the foods that they weren't allowed during Lent: fat, butter and eggs. Stacks of towering pancakes are one of the most indulgent breakfasts or desserts you can have and good for filling yourself before you abstain for the 40 days of Lent.

Although I'm not Catholic, I, like many of you, can't resist munching on stacks of fluffy pancakes on Shrove Tuesday! So, this year, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite pancake recipes written by myself and my fantastic food blog friends. We all hope you find something that catches your eye from this collection of traditional and not-so-traditional pancake recipes! Pancake Day is Tuesday, 17 February. Get your spatulas ready!

Decadent and healthy this oatmeal is laced with creamy Nutella and topped with raw cashews!

Yield: 1 bowl
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 2 minutes

Gluten Free Cashew & Nutella Oatmeal

This decadent oatmeal is the ideal way to start the weekend! The creamy Nutella adds an element of indulgence to what would be an ordinary breakfast. Fresh, raw cashews are perfect for adding crunch and protein and work well with the oats and chocolate spread.

#tastytuesdays 91 & 10 purely decadent chocolate treats

Three important announcements:

1. Please link up your PINS and not links to your blogs. This is a Pinterest party & only pins are re-pinned! This is to benefit your Pinterest analytics! 
2. Please visit at least three other pins linked up & spread the love! If you like what you see, re-pin! 
3. Today, I invite you to link up your VALENTINE'S DAY RECIPES to be featured in a massive VALENTINE'S DAY ROUNDUP THURSDAY!

 

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Gluten Free Parmesan & Purple Basil Gourmet Popcorn

Cheesy, fresh popcorn tossed with purple basil and doused with butter is an easy gourmet snack!

Yield: 3 to 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
 Cook time: 10 minutes

Homemade White Cheese Popcorn

When I was 8 years old, my classmates and I went on a white cheese popcorn binge. Every day in our lunches, we'd have bags of white cheese popcorn, the kind that kids adore: that coats your fingers in a fuzzy layer of quasi-artificial cheese powder.

I'd like to say that now, exactly 20 years later, my tastes have refined and matured, but the truth is, as soon as I step foot onto American soil, I make a beeline for that white cheddar cheese vending machine popcorn. There's just something decadent about it!

While I do like to indulge in the bad stuff every now and again, this recipe celebrates the good stuff! The lovely folks at Designer Habitat popped a VonShef Fat-Free Hot Air Popcorn Maker to me just before Christmas and since then, every weekend we've enjoyed fresh popcorn. In fact, this is just the first recipe of many I'll be sharing with you!

Gourmet popcorn is such a thing and I absolutely love that. I've been a hardcore popcorn fanatic all my life. No cinema experience is complete without it and my kitchen cupboards are not fully stocked without a box of the microwavable stuff. Except for now. The microwavable stuff has been replaced by kernels and toppings for homemade gourmet popcorn! 

I'm easing you into the world of homemade gourmet popcorn with a straightforward recipe today that will bring out the kid in you!

#tastytuesdays no 90 + CALL FOR VALENTINE'S DAY RECIPES!

Three important announcements:

1. Please link up your PINS and not links to your blogs. This is a Pinterest party & only pins are re-pinned! This is to benefit your Pinterest analytics! 
2. Please visit at least three other pins linked up & spread the love! If you like what you see, re-pin! 
3. Today, I invite you to link up your VALENTINE'S DAY RECIPES to be featured in a massive VALENTINE'S DAY ROUNDUP!

 

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Ilumi Gluten Free Meals Review

These gluten free and nutritious ready meals from Ilumi, make lunchtime for Coeliacs bearable!

Ilumi Gluten Free Meals

The worst times for being gluten-free are lunch. Lunch options tend to usually be centered around gluten: sandwiches, wraps, burgers, pasta--they're all lunchtime staples and they're all big no-nos for coeliacs. This limitation makes lunch times increasingly difficult, but there's hope in the form of the unbelievably delicious meals from Ilumi!

Dye your own fondant icing at home with this easy tutorial and save money!!

Yield: a ball of fondant
Prep time: 15 minutes

How to Dye Fondant Icing

Fondant already comes in a rainbow of delicious-looking colours, but unless you're a profesh baker or have a project coming up where you can justify purchasing 500 grams of the stuff in every colour known to man, you may find yourself wasting it and tossing what you don't use in the rubbish bin. Or, you could just buy the plain white stuff, break off a hunk of it as needed and dye it then and there, saving you loads of money and ensuring you aren't too wasteful.

 I've been sitting on this post since last year, when I made those triple chocolate eclairs. Those little red and pink fondant hearts were so easy to make and so cheap, too! Instead of spending money on a pack of pink fondant and a pack of red, I just bought white, cut off two bits, dyed them and then made hearts. Easy!

#tastytuesdays no 89

 

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