Good Food Show Winter 2015 - Free From Haul

I used to go to the Good Food Show every year back in the days when Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver appeared on stage and did book signings. I loved it, especially the winter one to start feeling festive, but over the last few years I felt it had got too samey and nothing felt new anymore. Back then the free from market wasn't as well known either so purchases for me were limited. 

After seeing a discount code for the tickets and seeing that a few free from brands were on the exhibitors list I decided to book. We arrived just after the show had opened at 9am knowing that as the day goes on it gets busier and busier. 

I'd got a few stalls that I knew I wanted to visit. The first one I came across was The Raw Chocolate Company. I've tried quiet a few of their products but my favourite at the moment are the lovely chewy mulberries. My husband wanted to try the golden berries which he sampled on the stall and enjoyed. Warning - Once the bag is open its hard to put them down without eating the lot!

I spied on the VBites stall Schlagfix dairyfree & vegan spray cream. As its hot chocolate season I picked up a couple as they were only £2 each. I've never seen it in shops (only online) so I was happy to find it. The stall also had plamil chocolate products and VBites own brand items. 

I then headed to the Delicious Alchemy stall to say hello. They were selling all their fabulous products and their new Christmas Cake mix. I stocked up on my favourites as I always like to have a supply for when we fancy a little treat. I love making their mixes egg free by using banana in the vanilla cake mix and recently tried the brownie mix with peanut butter instead of egg. I can't wait to try out the Christmas cake mix. Was lovely to chat to the ladies. 

My husband spotted the next purchase. These Gordon Rhodes packets are designed for use in slow cookers which is fab. We love slow cooked meats so I can't wait to try these very soon. They are clearly marked Gluten Free. 

I treated my self to a little bottle of gin. I have painful chest/throat problems (would love to know why) when drinking wine and fizzy alcohol so I tend to stick to spirits. I don't drink often at all but I do like a gin and tonic once in a while. I've never tried this brand so I'm looking forward to tasting it. 

I very nearly walked past the Bakedin stall until my husband pointed out the gluten free box stood between all the normal boxes. Much to my delight the Gluten Free box doesn't contain dairy and does not require egg so it's perfect. 

Each box makes 4 mug cakes. 

I tried the brownie and it worked great. I used Vitalite and Rice Milk in my mix and it came out fab. Perfect sized portion when you fancy a sweet treat. Yummy!

I love bubble tea so I picked up a few pots of bubbles. They are a great size (3 servings per pot) as I've brought big pots in the past and they have gone to waste. These can be added to any drinks so great for Christmas cocktails.

Another favourite which is always at the show is Punjaban curry sauces. They are great to have in the cupboard for when you don't fancy making a curry from scratch. I love that they contain no dairy or coconut. They are tasty too. 

Last but not least I managed to find the BlueBird Tea Co. Earlier in the year I visited their Brighton store and brought lots of their teas. I picked up the Gingerbread Chai at the show.

I tested it out at home and really enjoyed it with a drop of rice milk. It's a nice winter warming drink.

I really enjoyed the show. I'm glad I'd given it a break for a few years as it was nice to see some new stalls and also a lot more stalls catering for allergies/intolerance's. I didn't think it was as big as it had been in the past (some stalls were duplicated too) but it was just right, we did two laps in around two hours before it got too busy. I'm really pleased with my purchases and I'm looking forward to trying them all. 

Chester Weekend 2015

Back in October we spent a weekend in Chester staying at the Abode Hotel which is conveniently located a short walk from the shops, cathedral and river.

We had a meal on the first evening in the hotel restaurant which is owned by Chef Michael Caines. The servers were very helpful in helping me choose what would be suitable and checked with the chef. We were served an amuse bouche. Mine was a lovely beetroot soup in a little cup. It was very tasty. 

For my main I decided on the pan roasted cod which came on Cauliflower florets with a nice sauce. The fish was seasoned and cooked to perfection.

Breakfast at the hotel was simple for me I always have bacon & grilled tomatoes with a side of melon. They were happy to just serve me the bacon & tomatoes instead of the full breakfast. 

While exploring Chester we came across the Roccoco Chocolate shop. The girl in the shop was very helpful and pointed out all the dairy free options which were also Vegan Society approved. I picked out some of the smaller taster bars in Violet, Rose, Moroccan Mint, Early Grey and Basil & Lime. We also picked a large Sea Salt bar and I treated myself to two cognac cherry chocolates. They were amazing and full of cognac.

Further down the street was the Holland & Barrett Extra store which I have heard a lot about on twitter. The store was very impressive but I was expecting to see a lot of new things and I didn’t. A lot of the items are readily available on the internet but not so much in shops so it was nice to see them on the shelves. I picked up a few of my favorites. I'm loving the Raw Chocolate Co. Mulberries at the moment. I also really enjoyed the Foods of Athenry Lemon & Blueberry cookie which i'd never seen before.

Later in the day we headed down to the river to eat at Hickory's. Again they were very helpful and knowledgeable with what I could and couldn’t have. We picked the sharing platter as the only item that wasn’t suitable was the hot links sausage which was substituted with one of the other meats of our choice. If you like smoked slow cooked meat this place is a must. It’s the best smokehouse house we’ve eaten at. The whole platter was delicious.

On our last day we drove into Wales to visit Conway Castle. Whilst exploring the streets in the town we came across a chocolate shop which sold handmade chocolates by Stilwells. I picked up a peanut brittle but then noticed by the counter a mound of dark chocolate coated Turkish delight. The lady pointed out that they were vegan. Of course I had to try some. I do miss Frys Turkish Delight. These were a great alternative. 

I had a great weekend with lots of safe food. Thumbs up to Chester!

Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter 2015

There is one word for this place... Beignets!!

You must visit this resort to enjoy the deliciousness that are allergy friendly Beignets.

These can be found at Sassagoula Floatworks.

 Take yourself to the pastry counter and order 3 or 6 of them! A chef will be called and he will be more than happy to go off and make you the delights.

These are one of my favourite sweet treats that can be found in Disney. They are worth visiting this resort for. While you are there take a walk around the resort and down the river as it is lovely.

Disney's Magic Kingdom Eats 2015

We'd not been to the Magic Kingdom since our honeymoon back in 2012. There's been lots of new additions since then so this year we decided to get a day ticket and go back. I'm so glad we did as it was such a fun day. We'd had a huge breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Hotel before our last visit so I didn't eat at the park. I was looking forward to eating in the park this year and felt a lot more comfortable doing so knowing how amazing Disney are with food allergies.

For lunch we stopped at Gastons Tavern in the new Fantasy Land Area (Look out for Gaston in the courtyard for some funny banter). Its a quick service counter with a small seating area in a themed room to the left of the counter.

I really wanted to try the Roasted Pork Shank. I checked with the server and she showed me the ingredients list. Thumbs up it was safe for me. It was $7.99 which isn't cheap for just a bone with meat but when in Disney! I actually enjoyed it and it did fill me up nicely.

I also knew where I wanted to eat for Tea. I'd lined up Columbia Harbor House as they had a Special Diets Menu. This is a counter service restaurant with lots of indoor and outdoor seating.

I spotted a staff member while I was in the queue and asked for the special diets menu. I think he actually turned out to be a supervisor/manager as he told me to let him know what I wanted, he put it through with the cashier and he went into the back to arrange it. 

I picked the chicken tenders with fries (yes I was close to turning into a chicken tender by the end of the holiday, I was making the most of them). I also added an Enjoy Life cookie as a sweet treat. It was a nice filling meal and great service.

I loved our Disney day and it was so nice to know that as we were there for around 10 hours I was able to have two decent meals. The park has lots and lots of options for special diets. I'd highly recommend checking out Gluten Free & Dairy Free WDW blog as Sarah has lots of reviews for the restaurants in the park (plus all the other parks and hotels). Another favourite blog is Gluten Free Orlando. She also has loads of reviews of the parks and surrounding areas.

Enjoy a free from Disney trip!

Discovery Cove Eats 2015

Spending the day at Discovery Cove is one of our favourite things to do on holiday in Orlando. You can buy a day ticket which allows you to have fun at the cove all day and includes breakfast, lunch, drinks and snacks. You can also add a dolphin swim onto the base ticket. We did this on our honeymoon but the last few visits we haven't felt the need to do it again. This year we did the SeaVenture which was great fun walking on the sea bed with the fish.

I didn't have anything exciting for breakfast as I wasn't too hungry, I opted for a fruit bowl as it was an easy option to pick out.

Around the park there a numerous kiosks with self serve drinks machines containing soda and slushies. They also have a selection of crisps which some are free from dairy & gluten and if I remember some packets of trail mix. The also serve "normal" pretzels and cookies.

For lunch I asked the server about allergies and she called out the chef to the end of the queue. He told me what options I had and I chose to have chicken and fries. He did tell me there were no safe dessert options. He came out with a plate full of chicken and fries and he's added some fresh fruit. It was a nice meal and fueled me up for more swimming.

What I did notice this year was there were no signs in the dining areas or kisoks advertising Gluten Free snacks like there was last year. There was also no sign of the allergy free snack packs that i'd had given me previous years so I can only assume they have stopped providing them which is a shame as snacks are limited.

I still like that they are good at catering for special diets and they go off and make everything separately in the back but I do think they could provide a few more allergy friendly snacks and an allergy friendly dessert option.

I highly recommend visiting Discovery Cove for the day though, its an amazing place and you wont be disappointed.

Last years post can be found here

Orlando Supermarket Haul 2015

We are lucky that within 5 mins of our villa we have a Publix Supermarket (think Morrisons), a Huge Walmart (think Tesco Extra) and 10 minutes away a Super Target (cross between Asda & Sainsburys). 

We always go shopping on our first morning to stock up the fridge. We don't eat in the villa all the time but we like to have liquids, snacks and a few meal options on hand. This year we did the main shop at Publix and then got a few remaining bits from Walmart. 

Everything is very well labelled in the USA but I do find it harder to find the free from products as they aren't always together and can be mixed in with normal items. The dairy free milks are easy to find in the chilled section. Don't expect to see many small cartons like we get in the UK, they are mainly the large family sized cartons. They have a lot more choice in types and flavours too. I liked that I could buy big cartons of Cashew milk that hasn't made it big in the UK yet.

They have a huge range of dairy free ice cream too. This photo was a section of one of the freezers, there was another shelf under these with more choices. They have the nut milk based ice cream plus the Lactaid which is their lactose free range.

Walmart did have a decent sized section of free from products but I did have to read the labels as like here they may be gluten free but doesn't mean they are free from everything else. 

These are a few specifically dairy, gluten & egg free products I purchased. I like the Amy's pizzas, the cashew milk was nice and creamy and I love the blueberry Vans waffles for a quick breakfast. The gluten free wraps were great too, they were just on a rack with normal wraps so luckily I spotted them. 

We visited Target a few days later and I found some nice items that I didn't see in Publix or Walmart. Some of these items were to bring home too. I really liked the junior mints (flattened poppets) they did have may contain dairy warning but I was fine.

These burritos were a great find as they were pretty good and a great little snack.

The chicken pot pie was also a nice find. The pastry was nice and crispy and the filling was tasty.

This wasn't a specific free from item but I thought I'd include it as I really enjoyed it. Edamame hummus is really good. 

This was our full shop from Walmart & Publix. Obviously some things aren't free from (ie husbands donuts) but there is plenty of food that is naturally "free from". I always get the Tostitos scoops with a big tub of salsa. yum!

I know some people go on holiday and never cook or venture into a supermarket but food shopping is definitely a highlight for me. I love seeing all the different products available although I always think that U.S. Supermarkets make ours look boring with the amount of different stuff they have. Or is it just because it's a novelty to me?