Tesco have become the first supermarket in the UK to produce an own-brand range of chilled free from ready meals, which will be available from selected stores from 21st May.

Chilled ready meals is definitely an under catered for area in freefrom food, and Tesco told me that this is something that customers have been asking for.

Sticking to the classics, Tesco have produced ready meals in individual portions, which can be reheated in the oven or microwave depending on the dish. The gluten free pastas are sourced from Italy and the beef from ‘within the British Isles’.

Tony and I tried the ready meals together. I never buy ready meals, but Tony finds them very useful for a weeknight option, not being a keen cook and needing something quick to have on the table after the gym. Following a gluten free regime does mean he is limited as to what he can buy on the ready meal front, so not having to ready the ingredients list in full when shopping is a big plus from his point of view.

Tesco sent us three dishes to try at home. Here’s what we thought.

First, we tried the spaghetti bolognaise. This meal was microwaveable and was very quick to heat up. The spaghetti was thinner than standard spaghetti, but was absolutely delicious. The pasta was just lightly al dente when reheated. We were very impressed by the bologniase sauce. Rich and flavourful, it tasted homemade, as though it had been slow cooked which we like. We both agreed that this  was just an excellent meal in its own, let alone for a ready meal.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Next, we tried the lasagne. This one was an oven bake only, which took about 30 minutes to bake. Easy, but requires a bit of forethought. I have had lasagne ready meals before, which I haven’t particularly enjoyed being a firm believer that homemade is definitely best when it comes to lasagne, but I was keen to try this. We found the pasta and sauce quite sloppy and wet, with the bolognaise not as tasty as the spaghetti bolognaise was. I would put it on a par with a standard lasagne ready meal, which is not a bad thing at all.

Lasagne

Finally, we tried the chicken and bacon pasta bake. This was very tasty, and would be enjoyed by children we reckon. It contained a springing of peas to up the vegetable count, too. The gluten free cheese sauce is pleasant and quite well flavoured. A great option for a quick weekday meal that all the family will enjoy.

Tesco Free From Chicken & Bacon Pasta

All in all, these meals are a very welcome addition to the freefrom offering at Tesco, with the spaghetti bolognaise being by far the standout dish for us.

Here is the full range Tesco are offering:

Tesco Free From Beef Lasagne 420g                                    £2.50

Tesco Free From Three Cheese Fusili 380g                             £2.50

Tesco Free From Spaghetti Bolognese 400g                             £2.50

Tesco Free From Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake 400g                      £2.50

Tesco Free From Beef Casserole & Dumplings 400g                      £2.50

* The above lines will be £2 each from 21st May - 5th June

If you are looking for some interesting freefrom recipes to cook from, but want some ideas that you know WILL work, look no further than the Leon cookery books.

I have been a huge fan of the Leon chain of restaurants for years, which are sadly currently only London-based.  If you don’t head to London much (sadly I don’t live in London any more either), fear not – the cookery books, of which there are now three, show you how to recreate some of their most popular dishes at home. I was delighted to introduce my friends over at Good Food, Great Fun and Gluten Free to Leon when we met in London not so long ago. You can read their thoughts on the Leon experience here.

Aside from how much I like eating at Leon, I really cannot emphasise enough just how much I like their cookery books. First of all, all of their recipes are easy to make at home. I have cooked extensively out of all three books, and all the recipes I have tried have worked very well. So no let downs there. But what is even more appealing about their food is their ethos. Leon was founded by John Vincent, Henry Dimbleby and Allegra McEvedy (who very, very sadly in my opinion, does not work for Leon any more) in order to produce great quality, nutritious food to eat on the go that “does you good”. All three books are packed full of recipes that are just naturally free-from and furthermore their baking book which was published in September 2011 entitles Leon: Baking and Puddings. Book 3, contains recipes for bread, cakes and ice cream – all of which are gluten, dairy and sugar free. All three books contain pages and pages of information and photos of more unusual ingredients, so make for a really informative read, too.

Recipe highlights for me are as follows:

Leon Book 1: Ingredients and Recipes

Leon Granola, the Superfood Salad recipes, the slaw recipes, Moroccan meatballs and the recipe for the Leon better brownie

Leon Book 2: Naturally Fast Food

 Lots of lovely sides to jazz up vegetables, Keralan fish curry, Ceviche, Muesli bars

Leon Book 3: Baking and Puddings

Strawberry marshmallows, Gluten free bread and rye bread recipes which are lovely, A good chocolate cake (vegan and can be made gluten free) and Coconut Kiss ice cream, which is dairy free and raw

Disclosure: These opinions are my own. I bought books 1 & 2 myself and received book 3 as a review copy. Thanks to Conran Octopus for this copy.

I’ve recently started cooking more with Turkey.  My 6 foot plus athletic boyfriend doesn’t think a meal is a proper meal without lots of meat, and in an attempt to eat less red meat; we have started to cook with turkey more and more. What we particularly like about it, is that it is a very healthy source of lean protein and great quality lean meat is very reasonable – much more so than chicken or pork.

I buy my turkey from a local butcher. They sell local (reared in the county) free-range turkey at far less per kilo than chicken. I bought half a turkey breast, which is an enormous quantity of meat (no wastage there) for the price of six free-range chicken breasts. I found it surprising how many butchers actually sell local free-range turkey – it is not as seasonal as it may seem!

I thought I would share two of our favourite turkey recipes for cheap, quick and nutritious everyday meals.

Sweet and Sour Turkey

Serves a family of 4, or me and my hungry boyfriend!

A really tasty dish with a lovely combination of flavours and textures. We always enjoy this with brown rice (I think the texture of brown rice really works well here)

In case you think I have gone mad, I always buy good quality whole Italian plum tomatoes instead of chopped. I think they have a much better flavour. I pour the tin of tomatoes into a large bowl and crush the tomatoes with my hands before adding them to any dish. I learnt this on an Italian cookery course at Caldesi in Marylebone, and have been following it since.

Ingredients: 

• 500g turkey breast, cut into 1” chunks
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1” fresh ginger root, peeled and finely grated
• 1 x 400g tin tomatoes, crushed or chopped
• 1 x small tin pineapple rings in juice, cut into 1” chunks
• 6 x Peppadew peppers, chopped into quarters
• A couple of good glugs of good quality soy sauce (I buy Clearspring as it is lovely and also gluten free, meaning it is suitable for both of us!)

Method:

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently cook the garlic until it starts soften slightly. Don’t let it brown. Put the rice on to cook

Add the turkey chunks and cook until they are browned. This should take around 10 minutes.

Add the ginger, tomatoes, pineapple and peppers and cook for another 10 minutes or so until the turkey is cooked through.

Serve on a bed of rice and finish with a generous glug of soy sauce.

Quick turkey casserole

 This casserole can be made in about 20 minutes if you are pushed for time. It is equally good made in the slow cooker and left to cook for several hours.

I serve this with some mashed potato. We like this on a Sunday evening when we have been out all day and I can’t be bothered to cook anything more laborious! Sorry about the quality of the photos, we were desperate to tuck in!

Serves a family of 4, or me and my hungry boyfriend!

Ingredients:

• 500g turkey breast, cut into 1” chunks
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 x 400g tin tomatoes, crushed or chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 6 x Peppadew peppers, chopped into quarters
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds (reduce to a teaspoon if you are not such a fan of their flavour!)

Method:

 1)   Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently cook the onion and garlic until they start soften slightly. Don’t let them brown.

2)   Add the turkey chunks and cook until they are browned. This should take around 10 minutes.

3)   Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, peppers and fennel seeds and let it simmer away for another 20 minutes or so until the turkey is thoroughly cooked through

4)   Serve with mashed potato

I am entering these recipes into the British Blogger competition over at I love Turkey http://www.britishturkey.co.uk/. For more information on the Peppadew peppers I used, take a look at their website www.peppadew.com

I was recently challenged by Kenwood to try out their Kenwood Chef against my beloved Kitchen Aid to see how I thought the two machines would compare. I was really keen to give this a go.

My Kenwood on loan

My old faithful Kitchen Aid

Kitchen Aid stand mixers seem to be so popular and have been for many years. They are a lifestyle choice for so many people. What does it say about you and your kitchen to have a snazzy top of the range mixer permanently gracing your kitchen counter? Sounds silly, but I think lots of people see it this way – they can’t be taken seriously as a keen home cook without one, perhaps? I have to say though, they are a complete lifesaver for professional bakers and keen cooks just like me.  The stand mixer has completely revolutionized the way I cook, which has been great for me and so many others. Hands free cake and bread making really does speed up the amount of time spent in the kitchen, and especially if, like me, you are in there all day most days, that can make such a difference to your day. Part of me was a little concerned though, after I had accepted this challenge. What if the Kenwood was better than my Kitchen Aid? Having forked out best part of £400 for my mixer, how would I feel about that?

Prejudices well and truly cast aside, I set about choosing my recipe.  I was really in the mood for some delicious every day little sponge cakes, so here is the recipe I used:

Gluten Free Coconut & Lime Sponges

Makes 18 sponges in muffin-sized cases

Ingredients:

• 8oz butter or margarine
• 8oz caster sugar
• 4 medium free range eggs
• Zest and juice of 2 limes
• 4 tbsp. coconut milk
• 8oz gluten free self raising flour
• 4 oz desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp. gluten free baking powder

Method:

1)   Preheat the oven to 150C

2)   Place the butter and sugar into the stand mixer and whisk until the two are creamed together

3)   Add the lime zest, juice, coconut milk and eggs and mix until combined

4)   Add the flour, coconut and baking powder and mix until evenly combined

5)   Spoon into muffin cases and bake for around 30 minutes until golden

The Kenwood in action

The Kitchen Aid in action

Here are my observations:

• I used the flexible beater attachment on the Kenwood, which is similar to the paddle attachment on the Kitchen Aid.
• The Kenwood’s motor does seem more robust. My Kitchen Aid does sound and feel a bit clunky. Although it is a very heavy machine, it does feel as though the motor is not as robust as you may imagine for such a solid machine. I felt as though I could turn the Kenwood up higher without worrying it might break, which I do with the Kitchen Aid
• The splash guard for the Kenwood does come with a flap, which you are able to open and close whilst adding additional ingredients to the mixer whilst the motor is running. The splash guard is an invaluable feature of the Kitchen Aid, particularly when working with lots of flour or icing sugar as it does tend to coat everything else in the kitchen even with the splash guard on, so I like this idea.
• The attachments for the Kenwood feel really robust and are slightly easier to attach to the machine than with the Kitchen Aid
• I found the Kitchen Aid slightly easier to clean, as there are fewer nooks and crannies to get muck into when baking
•  The Kenwood did appear to work slightly harder than the kitchen aid, and worked the dough more quickly, even though visually both mixers appeared to be working at the same speed
• I remain convinced that the Kitchen Aid is the most visually attractive mixer. Given the frequency of use in my home and the weight of the machine, I always keep it out on the work surface, and I have to say, the Kitchen Aid looks more attractive to me.

For me, there really was very little difference in how the machines performed. I used exactly the same recipe with each machine. I do not feel as though the flexible beater worked as well on the Kenwood as the metal beater does on the Kitchen Aid, as the mixture was not evenly incorporated. I had to go round the edges and bottom with a spatula and scrape it down and mix again before filling the cake cases. I did not have to do this with the Kitchen Aid. However, that would be my only criticism.

The cakes ready to go in the oven - Kitchen Aid on the left, Kenwood on the right

In terms of taste and texture, I think the Kitchen Aid cakes are slightly lighter – you may be able to see this in the photo of the cut cakes.

The cakes out of the oven - Kenwood on the left, Kitchen Aid on the right

Kitchen Aid on the left, Kenwood on the right

I hate to sit on the fence so to speak, but the differences were so minor, it really comes down to which machine you think would work better for you.

The one big difference though, is cost.  The difference in price is very significant, with the Kitchen Aid being the best part of £100 more than the Kenwood and having fewer functions. I tried to compare the price of both machines on the John Lewis website, which I thought would be a fair benchmark as they have a price guarantee, and although they sell many Kenwood mixers, they do not stock the exact model, so I link to Comet instead. I should add that the Kenwood Chef does come with other attachments too, it is not just a stand mixer, so it does all sorts of jobs you could not do with the Kitchen Aid.  Where I have two or three machines, you only need one with the Kenwood.

So, what do you think? Which machine do you use, if any, and which one do you prefer?

Thank you to Kenwood for the loan of the mixer to review. I purchased my own Kitchen Aid from John Lewis a couple of years ago.

http://www.johnlewis.com/230855933/Product.aspx £419.95

http://www.comet.co.uk/p/385131?cm_mmc=Google-_-PPCPM%7c%7cProducts%7c%7cKitchen%20%26%20home-_-Food%20preparation%20%26%20food%20processors%7c%7cKenwood%7c%7cKenwood%20km010%7c%7c385131-_-km010&_$ja=kw:km010|cgn:Food+preparation+%26+food+processors%7c%7cKenwood%7c%7cKenwood+km010%7c%7c385131|cgid:1373628666|tsid:12089|cn:PPCPM%7c%7cProducts%7c%7cKitchen+%26+home|cid:41031336|lid:5296567821|mt:Broad|nw:search|crid:13118245986&gclid=COCY1qb7sa8CFYEKfAodl2vDHg £330

I also tested the mixers to make granary bread. Check it out here.

This is my take on an Easter simnel cake – what is certain is that it is far from authentic but a really delicious fruity, marzipan rich cake.

This recipe is gluten free but very easily adapted to be dairy free.  It’s also quick to make – no overnight soaking of the fruit or leaving it to mature for a week once cooked. What’s for sure is that everyone will enjoy this cake.

Ingredients

100g sultanas

80g sour cherries

70g stoneless prunes

100ml marsala

100g butter or margarine

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp orange flower water

155g Doves Farm Gluten free plain flour

2 eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into 0.5cm cubes

500g marzipan, of which 250g cubed and 250g to roll out/make the balls

Method

1)   Preheat the oven to 140C/Gas Mark 1

2)   Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin

3)   Place all the dried fruit into a small saucepan with the marsala. Bring to the boil, turn off the heat and let the fruit steep for a further 10 minutes

4)   Cream the butter and sugar together (I do this in my Kitchen Aid) then add the eggs and orange flower water and beat until smooth and well combined. Add the flour and mix well

5)   Pour in the fruit and liquid from the saucepan and add the apples and cubes of marzipan and stir in gently

6)   Pour the bake mixture into the tin and bake for around 90 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean

7)   Whilst the cake is baking, roll 11 balls of marzipan to decorate the top. I always chuckle to myself about omitting Judas, as my boyfriend’s car is named Judas, for obvious reasons….

8)   With the remaining marzipan, knead it well until it is nice and smooth (otherwise will crack) and roll out between two sheets of cling film. When the disc of marzipan looked  big enough to cover the cake, it took off the top later of clingfilm and put the base of the springform tin onto the marzipan and cut around the edges neatly to make a nice neat circle. I then flipped it onto the top of the cooled cake whilst stuck to the botton layer of clingfilm and peeled it off. I didn’t bother with sticking the marzipan down with apricot jam (as I didn’t have any) and it worked just fine. I decorated the cake with the marzipan balls before very swiftly cutting a large slice and enjoying it whilst still warm!

I was very interested to learn that Tesco have launched a new range of own brand dairy free products, which hit their shelves on 20th February.

The new range includes 27 products, taking the number of freefrom products that they offer to over 200, including over 90 own brand freefrom products. I’m sure we all welcome more choice in the freefrom aisle, so below I have list all the new products. As always, if you can’t see them on offer, do ask at the Customer Services Desk – as they can often get product lines in that they do not currently stock.

Anyway, most importantly, what did they taste like? I assembled a group of tasters to help me try the products, consisting of lactose intolerant, vegan, no dietary restrictions and children. Here’s what we thought of the products we tried.

First, the yoghurts. All yoghurts do taste very soya-ey, more so than other leading brands. We unanimously agreed that the mayo and raspberry and passionfruit flavours were significantly tastier than the other flavours in the range.

Next, the desserts. Well, we all agreed that it was great to see these products available, particularly the crème caramel. The heavy soya flavour was a distinct feature of all of the products we tried again; namely the crème caramel, the vanilla and chocolate desserts and vanilla and chocolate desserts on the go. The crème caramel was very successful, looking like and with the texture of the “real thing” but again with a very heavy soya flavour. Ditto the deserts, although everyone thought the chocolate and vanilla flavourings were a little too synthetic. The vanilla and chocolate desserts on the go are a great idea, although the general feeling was that people would rather have a yoghurt on the go product rather than a dessert on the go.

On to the milks now, and we tried the unsweetened soya, almond and hazelnut milks. The unsweetened soya milk was very good and everyone liked it.

The nut milks however, were less of a hit. They are very thick and have a very overpowering flavour. Neither worked in our opinion in tea or coffee and were very overpowering on cereal. The hazelnut milk is so sweet, it reminded us all of a chocolate milk. I tried baking with the almond milk in some muffins, and sadly the strong almond flavour completely overpowered the muffins.

The cheeses were a big hit. The cream cheese style spread went down very well indeed as did the mild and red cheddar style cheeses. My vegan taster made a mac and cheese which she declared to be really good, and my lactose intolerant tester made pizza which she really enjoyed, being wheat and dairy free it can be hard to make suitable pizzas. Neither of the cheddar-style cheeses melted in the same was as you would expect a hard cheese too, but they really liked the taste.

And finally, the sunflower spread. Everyone liked this and would happily use it at home on breads and in baking.

Thank you to Tesco for sending us samples to try. For more information, please see www.tesco.com

Here is the full list of products

Yoghurts

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Cherry Yogurt, 4x100g, £1.50

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Mango Yogurt, 4x100g, £1.50

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Mixed Berries Yogurt, 450g, £1.20

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Natural Yogurt, 500g, £1.20

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Peach Yogurt, 4x100g, £1.50

Tesco Free From Soya Alternative Raspberry Passion Yogurt, 4x100g, £1.50

Desserts

Tesco Free From Soya Vanilla Dessert, 4x100g, £1.25

Tesco Free From Soya Chocolate Dessert, 4x100g, £1.25

Tesco Free From Soya Creme Caramel Dessert, 4x100g, £1.59

Tesco Free From Soya Chocolate Dessert on the go, 5x65ml, £1.69

Tesco Free From Soya Vanilla Dessert on the go, 5x65ml, £1.69

Tesco Free From Raspberry Jelly, 160g, 99p

Tesco Free From Passion Fruit Jelly, 160g,99p

Dairy Milk Alternatives

Tesco Free From Organic Rice Drink Org Calcium, 1L, £1.69

Tesco Free From Almond Drink, 1L, £1.69

Tesco Free From Hazelnut Drink, 1L, £1.69

Tesco Free From Sweetened Soya, 1L, £1.09

Tesco Free From UnSweetened Soya, 1L, £1.09

Tesco Free From Chocolate Coconut Milk Drink, 1L, £1.69

Tesco Free From Coconut Milk Drink, 1L, £1.69

Dairy Cheese Alternatives

Tesco Free From Red Cheddar Style, 227G, £2.50

Tesco Free From Creamy Cheddar Style Spread, 255G, £2.25

Tesco Free From Creamy Orig Style Spread, 255G, £2.25

Tesco Free From Creamy Style Garlic & Herb Spread, 255G, £2.25

Tesco Free From Creamy Style Sweet Chilli Spread, 255G, £2.25

Tesco Free From Mild Cheddar Style, 227G, £2.50

Dairy free spreads

Tesco Free From Soya Spread, 500G, £1.30

Tesco Free From Sunflower Spread, 500G, £1.30

It’s fair to say that home baking is enjoying a bit of a renaissance of late. And is there anyone across the land who hasn’t heard of the Great British Bake Off?  I recently had the great pleasure of catching up with Holly Bell, who many people will remember as the runner up in last year’s series.

Holly Bell

Holly’s life has changed completely since the bake off; hosting a show on BBC Radio Leicester, teaching, hosting classes and writing her blog. I was keen, however, to find out what Holly was up to before entering the bake off.

An English graduate, a qualified midwife and the daughter of two policemen, who was working in advertising in London right after graduation met her husband, who proposed a mere 9 days after they met.  It’s fair to say, Holly’s life changed very quickly, as they were married after just four months together, and she moved back to Leicester to be with him. Before GBBO, Holly was a stay at home Mum of two small boys, Charlie (3) and Max (1).

One cold January evening, Holly was reading Edd Kimber’s blog, The Boy Who Bakes, not long after having her son, Max. “Let’s just say that the red wine and being more than a little postnatal made me think I was capable of anything. So, after a consultation with Mr. Bell, I applied” she told me.

A brave move, indeed, going from having two tiny children to look after, to cooking in front of millions of viewers at home. I asked Holly how she felt when she was selected to compete in the Great British Bake Off. At first, she was elated, then completely and utterly scared, as “I knew there were some gaps in my baking knowledge that could be potentially exposed on national television”. I doubt she was alone in feeling this way – I certainly would be!

Once Holly had arrived on the show, she was nervous meeting the baking legend that is Mary Berry. Holly describes both judges as incredibly knowledgeable, and “tough judges, but Mary delivers her feedback with a little more, let’s say ‘bedside manner’!” Paul has been incredibly supportive since the Bake Off ended, and has even appeared as a guest on Holly’s radio show.

Aside from that, Holly describes feeling very nervous at the start of the competition, which quickly turned to elation on getting through week one without being voted off. This turned into Holly’s weekly goal: just to stay in one more week! This strategy clearly worked very well, taking Holly right up to the final, and she describes how she felt when she learnt she had made it this far “as soon as I knew I was on the final I was incredibly relaxed. I still can’t believe I got to the final – it hasn’t quite sunk in.”

So, what does the future hold for Holly? “ I love writing my blog” she told me, “so I’ll continue with that.  I’m at home all week with the boys, so having a little creative outlet in the evening is so important to me. I’d dearly love to write a recipe book. I have an outline already. You never know!” You never know indeed. It’s been such a momentous year for Holly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Holly has very kindly agreed for me to share her macaron recipe with you here. These macarons are totally delicious, easier than you think to make, and are gluten free.

Holly's Fabulous Macarons

 You can find out more about what Holly is up to on her blog, which can be found here http://www.recipesfromanormalmum.com/meet-holly-bell/

Holly is also on Twitter as @HollyBellMummy

You can also find out more about what I am up to on my personal blog: http://charlotteskitchendiary.wordpress.com/