Chickpea and Mushroom Burgers (Gluten Free…of course!)

-->

So I was looking in my new cookbooks for recipes for chickpea and mushroom burgers – I cook most nights with my veggie house mate, so I wanted to find something new to cook. All of the recipies included a MILLION ingredients, took ages to cook and were a bit of a faf….so I experimented….and they turned out to be delicious and a hit with all of my house mates! So they are definitely one to try! Even if you are a bit of a classic burger lover (like myself) these work out as a nice alternative if you are cooking for a vegetarian or just fancy something a little bit healthier!

The beauty of these are that they feel super bad for you, but they aren’t! They are absolutely fantastic for you. Chickpeas are a great source of fiber, protein and iron. Which is great for both vegetarians and coeliacs! It means that this recipe makes a whole load of burgers and they will fill you up and satisfy any craving for something unhealthy (even though they’re really not!). Chickpeas also lower cholesterol and are low in GI….all round a good one to get in your diet!

Another beautiful part of this recipe is that it is dirt-cheap. As a student I am always searching for delicious recipes but that are cheap at the same time. I use the cheapest tin of chickpeas, a normal pack of mushrooms and basic onions. All in all the whole recipe costs less than £2.20, and if you don’t eat like a king, or if you add some sweet potato wedges or a salad, this will easily feed 4 people.

Ingredients:

2 onions

4 cloves of garlic

1 packet of mushrooms (Just the average pack of button mushrooms from the supermarket will do fine!)

1 can of chickpeas

1 gluten-free brown bread roll

Spices of your choice (I used turmeric, mixed spice, salt, pepper and ground chilies)

4 tbsp gluten-free flour

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1.     Finely chop onions and garlic and fry with a little olive oil

2.     Whilst they are frying, finely chop a packet of mushrooms (if you are a fancy pants, a food processor will do this a lot quicker!)

3.     Add the mushrooms into the frying pan

4.     Drain the chickpeas and blend them until they are mashed up ….I didn’t fully pulverize them as its night to have a bit of a bite in the burger

5.     Add the chickpeas to the pan

6.     Use the blender to make breadcrumbs out of the bread roll

7.     Add to frying pan

8.     Add spices and sesame seed oil

9.     Once fried leave to cool slightly and put some flour on a plate

10. Make little patties out of the mixture and roll in gluten-free flour…WARNING this bit is messy, you can use spoons if you don’t want to get your hands messy.

11. Re-fry the patties in a little bit of olive oil, flipping onto the other side after about 2-4 minutes (depending on the heat and the frying pan itself!)

There you have it! Simple! There are a lot of instructions, but its all basic cooking…super easy and really yummy!

I hope you enjoy them!

P.S. A Students kitchen isn't too photogenic, hence the lack of beautiful photos!

Gluten is my Bitch

-->

I am having a bad gluten day today. A bad gluten day – for me – doesn’t mean I have eaten gluten and become horrifically ill. It is more a day of wallowing in self-pity – which I think is allowed occasionally seeing as all coeliacs can no longer enjoy cheep bread, a dunkin donut or eat out without experiencing some serious stress! Today it was spurred on by the fact that because I live in a gluten eating household so I use toaster bags to make my toast in the mornings. This morning they failed me. Instead of making toast I ended up with some soggy stale bread which I only ate because I had nothing else in the house that would have constituted a decent breakfast. It was stale soggy bread or nothing.  

Sometimes these bad gluten days just happen out of the blue – when you just want to be normal again and your sick of feeling like the odd one out and sick of being so careful all the time!

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Something that has completely cheered me up today – the book by April Peveteaux – Gluten is my Bitch.

I have been reading this all week and it is truly brilliant. Although it has caused me some embarrassment – laughing to myself on the bus to work – and also reading a book with ‘BITCH’ in huge letters on the bus whilst surrounded by children on the way to school – the book is brilliant.

I recommend any coeliac going and buying it NOW! It is hysterical. It also makes you feel less alone – someone else is experiencing the EXACT same problems, and has found ways to help you over come them! What more could you want? Peveteaux describes her situation – the anger, the annoyance of it all and missing those delicious foods that you can not longer have. She also shows you that it is ok to be angry every now and again, it is going to happen!  However, she also offers a huge amount of advice and every time I pick up the book I learn something new! (And usually fine a mistake I have been making for the past year!). It is a book filled with advice, hysterical stories and recipes and has really made my day a great deal better.

The book is such an easy read, Peveteaux writes almost how someone would talk, causal, funny and yet informative. It is light hearted, yet attacks the real serious hurdles you come across being a coeliac. The book is excellently written, and so good that members of my family have sat down and read it all in a day!

So for any coeliacs in need of a pick me up – instead of reaching for the gluten-free chocolate bar or just sitting around for a day wallowing in self pity, pick up this book! It will really cheer you up – and make you laugh to yourself in public. 

You can buy Gluten is my Bitch at a really reasonable price on amazon...as its not one of those commonly stocked books in library (unfortunately!) 

Here is the link just in case any of you fancied looking! : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CPZNL6S/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B00CPZNL6S&linkCode=as2&tag=thegincoe-21

The Joy of Facebook

I have been diagnosed for about 9 months now. For the first 6 months…and a little bit after I really struggled, I felt like a bit of a weirdo. Particularly when going out for meals or not joining in on take-aways! I decided that the problem is that I know no Coeliacs. I had nobody to talk to that was experiencing the same problems or that had been through it all and could give some advice.

My dad took me to see his friend who was a coeliac during the summer. Him and his wife had some absolutely amazing advice…including letting me know that some Vodkas have gluten in them and so does normal bars of Dairy Milk! However, I was still struggling because during term time I live in York and I haven’t yet found anyone that can really, truly relate.

Then I had a bit of a breakthrough…Facebook! Now, for someone who currently works in digital coms….I was pretty embarrassed that I hadn’t thought of it before! So I went hunting…typing ‘gluten-free’, ‘coeliac’ and all sorts of other things to try to find a really active group. I had already ‘liked’ a load of gluten free bloggers to join the conversation and engage with them, but there was a lack of advice. As I’m sure all coeliacs are aware, there are a lot of recipies, but not a great deal of discussion on blogs about the problems encountered with coeliac disease.

I found a group! An amazing group. Full on people that really want to offer advice, share recipes, help with problems and let people know if they have found something new that is gluten free. It is called Coeliacs in the UK. With almost 4,000 members there is a never-ending amount of advice and help. It is somewhere where people do truly understand what you are going through, and a place where you can find out about so many more gluten free products! So for all Coeliacs – this is really worth joining. I no longer feel like a weirdo struggling on my own! I feel normal, happy and healthy!

So….I would like to thank every single member of the group on Facebook, you have made me and - I am sure many new members to come – feel normal again!

Can't explain Coeliac Disease?

I have found it incredibly difficult to explain to people why I can no eat gluten. I often end up babbling on about what gluten is and what else I eat....and finish the conversation without ACTUALLY explaining the condition.
I was just having a little look on Facebook earlier and came across this gem that Ilumi shared as a status. It is a really great video and helps explain it all in simple terms. So whether you have just been diagnosed or you find it difficult explaining Coeliac Disease to people.....check this video out! 

9 Bar Review

Whilst interning in London I was extremely busy and often had no time to make my banana pancakes. I knew about 9 Bars and read that they are a great source of energy so I decided to give them a go as an option for a breakfast replacement.  To my shock, they filled my up just as long as a normal bowl of cereal, I wasn’t hungry until lunchtime! I now have 9 bars every time in in a rush, they are delicious, feel like a treat but are incredibly nutritious at the same time!

 I went to the allergy show in Liverpool a few weeks ago and found the 9 Bar stand. I was so happy to see they had a wide range of different bars with different seeds and flavours! I decided to buy a box of them to keep at university for those days that I find little time for breakfast.

9 Bars are excellent for nutrition. Seeds and nuts are high in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. 9 Bars include hemp seeds. These seeds are exceptionally good when it comes to protect against the effects of oxidative stress and keeping full ages!

Another amazing little fact is that Vegetarian and Coeliac Societies approve 9 Bar, so there is no risk of becoming ill. They taste amazing, keep you full for long periods of time and are extremely good for you! I absolutely love these bars!

Blueberry Teff Muffins

 So I have had my first gluten free prescription this month. I haven’t had one previously because I ordered some free samples and it took me a while to get through it all! This time I decided to order some red teff flour…something I haven’t tried before. 
 

Now, I would love to tell you all about the health benefits of teff flour but unfortunately there is very little information about it online! What I can tell you is that it is an ancient grain, mostly used in Ethiopia. It is higher in protein than wheat and has a high concentration of calcium and iron. Teff is also incredibly high in fiber and low GI so perfect for those with diabetes. 

I have tried numerous recipes of gluten free muffins, these are by far the best. The teff flour seems to have a slight taste of nutmeg and cinnamon, which works really nicely in a muffin.

These are easy to make, quick, simple and so tasty so give them a go! 



 



Ingredients:

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup milk

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 ½ cups teff flour

1 ½ cups gluten free self raising flout

1 ½ cups blueberries


Method:

1.     Pre heat the oven to 180 oc

2.     Simply add all the ingredients
(apart from the blueberries) into the bowl and use an electronic mixer on a medium speed for about 2 minutes

3.    Fold the blueberries into the mixture

4.    Fill 8 muffin cases

5.    Bake for 25 minutes

Healthy Hummus

I haven’t updated my blog for a while; I’ve got back to university and with dissertation reading building up it’s been impossible to find time to try new recipes! However, I found a quick and easy, money saving, gluten-free recipe to try out for you all!

Introducing my uber healthy hummus! 

My whole house has been run down with a cold so I thought I would make a healthy snack for everyone to try.

Chickpeas are well known to be a great source of both fiber and protein, which means less snacking on unhealthy foods and they will keep you fuller for longer! Moreover, just one cup of chickpeas can provide you with 85% of Manganese…crucial for antioxidant. They are high in LDLs and have a fairly low Glycemic Index, which is brilliant for coeliacs as we are more prone to diabetes! All in all, chickpeas are a bit of a super-food in my opinion!

I decided to add a few extras to my hummus recipe...for flavor and for health reasons. I have added 2 teaspoons of cumin. Marks Daily Apple (A favorite website of mine) outlines a great deal of research that has been done on the health benefits of cumin. Other websites have noted that cumin is a good source of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidant properties. Along with this a study found that cumin is effective in increasing insulin sensitivity, so great for diabetic!

I have also added 2 teaspoons of paprika. Some studies show that paprika is incredibly high in vitamin C…that can only be good when fighting off a cold!

So if you need a snack to make you feel healthier, packed full of healthy goodness and absolutely delicious, try this out!

Ingredients:

• 1 tin chickpeas
• ½ cup of the water the chickpeas are in
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 lemon, juiced
• ½ cup of olive oil
• sea salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
  
  

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. To serve I cut up some gluten free wraps and toasted them in the oven until golden brown. It is particularly good with some pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil on top!

It takes 2 minutes, it’s much cheaper than buying it in the supermarket and is a great snack!

Happy Eating :)