Coeliac By Design

14/11/2024

We had brisket for tea the other night and it was SO tasty!! My intention was to cook it in the slow cooker but unfortunately it’s broken, so I used the oven instead. Brisket used to make an appearance on the monthly menu when I worked as a cook, in a rather wonderful privately owned nursing home, many years ago. I would slow cook it in the oven on a generous bed of chopped carrots and onions. I’d season the meat well and pour over some water, before covering the roasting tin with foil and sliding into the oven to work its magic! And that’s how I cooked it the other night - except I cooked it in my cast iron pot from . The only addition was a handful of diced swede that I had leftover in the fridge, which I mixed in with the chopped carrots and onions before placing the meat on top. It wasn’t a huge piece of meat (can’t even tell you the weight as I asked the butcher for a piece big enough to feed 4!!) but I slow cooked it for about 3.5 hours 160C Fan. The meat juices absorb into the veg as it cooks and the left over stock from the roast makes a cracking gravy when simply thickened with a little Bisto gravy granules. Whilst the brisket was beautiful, my favourite thing on the plate was most definitely the root veg combo that’s just ridiculously flavoursome!! I Will EVENTUALLY get this fully written up on the blog, but it will have to get added to my to do list for now. In the meantime shout if you need me to fill in any culinary gaps with what I’ve shared 🫶
Liz x
P.S. I had the leftover root veg last night with lots of white pepper (checked ) and it was crazy good!!!!

12/11/2024

Popped into my local the other night to grab a few packs of their fibre flakes, but ended up coming out with a few additional goodies as well!! Did a quick impromptu video about what I bought and I’ve just posted it over on my YouTube channel Coeliac by Design should you fancy checking it out. Recipe demos will resume on my channel next week, as I’ve filmed something already, and after a touch of editing it should be good to go by this time next week! Hope your day’s been a good one 🫶
Liz x

09/11/2024

I was never great at making standard pastry. I’d over handle it and it would end up as tough as old boots. The beauty about pastry is it LOVES to be handled, as by kneading it for a good few minutes before rolling out, makes it an absolute dream to handle. Also gluten free pastry doesn’t require chilling, as pastry is chilled to relax the gluten, which of course ain’t there!!! You can find the basic gluten free pastry I use (it includes my gluten free pastry video link) over on my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com search shortcrust pastry when you arrive 🫶
Lovely weekend to you!
Liz x

08/11/2024

Got the slow cooker out this morning to make this hearty stew. Ideally I’d have liked to have browned the meat first, but I was short of time and it was more important that we came home to a good home cooked meal. To the 500g of diced beef I added 3 large carrots, 3 sticks celery, 2 onions and half a swede (all roughly chopped) and then poured over about 1 pint of beef stock ( beef stock cube - marked gf - dissolved in boiling water), sprinkled over some dried parsley and gave it a good stir before popping the lid on. I cooked the stew on high for half an hour then turned down to low and left it to work its magic for approximately 7hrs. I thickened with a couple of spoonfuls of gluten free Bisto gravy granules and then seasoned to taste with salt, pepper and a splash of . For quickness, and as there were no potatoes in the stew, I threw a few bubble and squeak cakes in the oven… they’re lovely and are all good to go for my diet. I added a spoonful of M&S horseradish (this is currently gf but not all horseradish sauces are) to my dish, but to be honest the stew was tasty enough without this 🤩
Liz x

04/11/2024

Recieved a lovely email from a lady telling me she’d used the chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream recipe from my blog to make a rather wonderful birthday cake for her grandson. She kindly sent pictures too, but thanks to my reply email bouncing back I’m unable to get in touch to thank her for taking the time to get in touch, and also to check if it’s OK if I share the pictures. If it happens to be you who sent me the email THANK YOU ❤️ and I’m so happy that both you and your granddaughter - who have coeliac disease - were able to totally join in the celebrations and tuck into your grandson’s birthday cake with it being completely gluten free!!! This chocolate cake is an easy peasy bake, as it’s made using the all in one method. The most time consuming thing you’ll have to do, is to sieve the icing sugar for the buttercream, but don’t skip that part as it pays off, with a glorious silky smooth chocolate finish!! For the full recipe pop over to www.coeliacbydesign.com and search chocolate cake with buttercream 💫
Liz x

02/11/2024

I mentioned the other day that I’d tested the Christmas/fruit cake recipe on my blog with an alternative to brandy and I’m delighted to tell you it was a roaring success!!! It’s a super simple suggestion should you want to make the cake alcohol free. All I did was soak the fruit overnight in the juice of an orange (perfect way of using up the orange after grating the zest). I also added the lemon and orange zest at this point to intensify the citrus flavours within the cake at an earlier stage. After baking, I left the cake to mature for a week or so before cutting in and honestly I can’t tell you how good it tastes!! I’m so very grateful to a lovely lady who got in touch with me to ask about using orange juice instead of brandy in the cake, as her enquiry prompted me to give it a whirl. I’ve updated the notes at the bottom of the Christmas cake recipe on my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com to explain in a little more detail how I made the switch. Hope it’s helpful. Give me a shout if you’re unsure of anything.
Liz x

01/11/2024

Finally got around to finishing updating the bread and butter pudding recipe on my blog. I wanted to tweak the wording and more importantly freshen up the pictures, to hopefully make this delicious comforting pudding enticing when you check the recipe out! The pudding is SO very easy to make. I suggest soft brioche rolls in the recipe, but any gluten free bread of your choice would be splendid. There’s a few rather lovely serving suggestions at the end of the recipe too… should you fancy jazzing up your pud a little!! Yes, so it’s all refreshed and ready for you to check it out whenever you like. Just pop on over to my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com and search bread and butter pudding and all should be well. As always I’m here if you need to run anything by me.
Happy Friday to you!
Liz x

30/10/2024

BIG shoutout to for a truly FABULOUS three night stay!! Well managed, such lovely fun staff, and crucially my dietary needs were so well catered for and the food was extremely delicious!! The situation of this hotel is idyllic… the view from our bedroom was breathtaking!! The Manor is family run and is classed as a boutique hotel, with just seven bedrooms. Our room was immaculate, had a great en-suite and a large window seat for us to sit and admire the views. This hotel was such a great base for us to explore Conwy and beyond and I can’t speak too highly about the place!! Thanks to all at The Manor for making a special autumnal stay for me and Neil a wonderful one!!! Hope we get to return sometime!!
Liz x

25/10/2024

It delights me to see how many people have gone to the trouble of decorating their homes in preparation for Halloween this year. Whilst we won’t be going the whole hog with Halloween decorations, we’ll certainly have a lit carved pumpkin on display, to let would be trick or treaters know they’re very welcome to knock!

Thinking about Halloween and bonfire night gatherings, thought I’d suggest a couple of easy delicious warming ginger based recipes that you may like to give a go.

🎃 Grandma’s ginger biscuits - a hands down favourite on the blog for a very good reason… they’re simply delicious!! Perfect to munch on around a bonfire with a nice warming cuppa!

🎃 Ginger spiced cake - super simple, splendid bake that can be rustled up in no time. Delicious sliced and spread with butter. Switch the crystallised ginger I suggest in the recipe to a few finely chopped balls of stemmed ginger (of course always check gf) to take the flavours to the next level!!!

🎃 Brenda’s sticky ginger - a fab recipe that I grabbed from the lovely Brenda’s Hotpoint recipe book. It’s got all the rich traditional gingerbread flavours you’d expect. And another bake that’s truly scrummy spread with butter.

🎃 Ginger sponge - a favourite from my childhood days. My mum made this a lot and whilst you can enjoy it just as it comes, or perhaps dusted with icing sugar, for me it has to be served up with lots of nice hot gf custard!

You’ll find all these recipes (and so many more) on my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com just use the search 🔎 feature on the top right of my homepage to hunt out what you’re after.

Happy Halloween/bonfire baking 🫶
Liz x

22/10/2024

Been a busy few weeks with one thing or another. Hence my distinct lack of posts on here. Thank heavens for quick sharing stories! Here’s a little of what I’ve been up to and what’s made me happy since I last posted 💫

Had a lovely few days away with my dad in Wales. Will post again about where we stayed, as they catered really well for my gluten free diet. Unfortunately we had to cut our stay short as my dad tested positive for COVID. Thankfully he’s much better now - he was out mowing his lawn yesterday and plans to paint his gate today!! Such a trooper ❤️

After 6 years of writing my blog I’m absolutely thrilled to see how views and visits to my site have shot up over the last few months. It’s taken a long time to get to this stage and I know I have a LOT more work to do, but I’m loving that things seem to be heading in the right direction and most importantly you find the things I share helpful 🙏

When it comes to views on my blog, it’s hands down recipes that you want from me (you flipping love the dumpling recipe!!). And I can’t tell you how happy it made me when my nephew messaged me to tell me he’d gad a go at the Florentine recipe!!!🥰

Yesterday I tested a recipe, it’s a variation of the Christmas cake recipe I have on the blog. I’m eager to see how it would work, with an alternative to brandy. Watch this space for an update!

Today, I’ve rustled up a bread and butter pudding, as I wanted to refresh the pictures/recipe to tempt you to make it! Again, I’ll let you know when it’s peep worthy!

Gosh I’ve been a bit wordy haven’t I?!! Thanks for reading (and most importantly making the things I share) hopefully it won’t be too long before I natter with you again.

If you’ve not already checked out my site, here’s where it’s at www.coeliacbydesign.com should you want to have a nosey. Message me if you have any questions.

Liz x

18/10/2024

⚠️ Sainsbury’s are recalling by Sainsbury’s Onion Rings because they contain milk, soya and wheat (gluten) which are not mentioned on the label. This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to soya and/or an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents, wheat or gluten and/or has coeliac disease ⚠️
Click on the image for more information.
Liz x

Sainsbury’s are recalling by Sainsbury’s Onion Rings because they contain milk, soya and wheat (gluten) which are not mentioned on the label. This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to soya and/or an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents, wheat o...

13/10/2024

⚠️ Aldi is recalling The Fishmonger Soy & Ginger Fusions Tuna because it contains wheat (gluten) which is not mentioned on the label. This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with coeliac disease, and/or an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten ⚠️
For more information click on the image below.
Liz x

Aldi is recalling The Fishmonger Soy & Ginger Fusions Tuna because it contains wheat (gluten) which is not mentioned on the label. This means the product is a possible health risk for anyone with coeliac disease, and/or an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten.

11/10/2024

I get so giddy when I’m able to bring you fresh content! So today I’m THRILLED to let you know I’ve just posted a new video over on my YouTube channel!!! This time I’m sharing with you how I make a delicious Christmas cake. I’ve had the written recipe over on my blog for a couple of years now (original recipe by Delia Smith), but after a recent request for a video, I was spurred on to get on and make my Christmas cake and film the process. The only thing that I hope from sharing this video, is that you’re inspired to make your very own Christmas cake, that you’ll be SO proud of and love tucking into and offering up to your precious people over the festive season! Head over to my YouTube channel should you fancy checking out how I make a gluten free Christmas cake 🫶
Liz x
P.S. I’ll add the video link in stories… you can also get to it via the video section on my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com

08/10/2024

I tend to natter about products I enjoy on my stories. However, I was so taken with this pepperoni pizzetta I thought I’d spotlight it on the grid!! This cute sized pizza is truly yummy and the perfect thing to enjoy when you’re a little short of food prep time. The base is deliciously light and crisp and the topping is lovely and flavoursome. I cut the pizzetta into four and enjoyed it with a hefty amount of essential coleslaw ( and gorgeous). It would also be LOVELY with a nice colourful salad. So yes, this fab pizzetta gets a big 👍 from me. I picked it up and will certainly be grabbing a couple more to pop in the freezer ASAP
Liz x

07/10/2024

⚠️Waitrose is recalling Waitrose Easy to Cook Scottish Salmon En Croute with Cheese and Chive Sauce and Waitrose Easy to Cook Salmon and Sweet Potato Curry because they contain milk, mustard, soya and wheat (gluten), which are not mentioned on the label. This means the products are a possible health risk for anyone with coeliac disease, and/or an allergy or intolerance to milk, mustard, soya and wheat or gluten⚠️
For batch details click on the image below.
Liz x

Free Allergy Support & Resources

07/10/2024

Coeliac UK South Gloucestershire hosts regular meet-ups for the gluten-free community and the next one is on Thursday 17th October. Thought I'd share in case it's near to you and you fancy popping in for a brew and natter. Click on the image for more information.
Liz x

Coeliac UK South Gloucestershire hosts regular meet-ups for people affected by the illness.

04/10/2024

If you’ve visited my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com (I do hope you have!) you’ll notice that currently I don’t have an option to print out recipes. In hindsight I feel I should have added this function from the start. And whilst it’s not impossible to add now, it would take a heck of a lot of time to do!!! To make life easier (if you don’t already do this) you may fancy doing what I do when I spot a recipe online. Rather than printing recipes out (or keep having to refresh my screen), I scribble down the recipe and method and work off that. Firstly this saves the faff of turning the printer on, and as I also scribble things in shorthand (that probably only I can understand) it makes following the recipe nice and easy - If I’m happy with how things turns out, I’ll write it out a bit neater into a book, adding any additional notes and adjustments I made. As I frequently share versions of other people’s recipes I jot down where I’ve found the recipe to ensure I credit the original should I share it on the blog at a later date. Rogan Josh that I made the other week is a classic example of how I scribble a recipe down.
Hope my ramblings this morning is of help. Thanks as always for supporting my blog, and most importantly giving the recipes a whirl … despite me not having a printable option 🫶
Liz x

02/10/2024

The dumpling recipe on my blog is by far the most viewed recipe I have on there. I mentioned to you yesterday I’d been checking things out on my website and I was quite taken aback by how many views this recipe has had!! I’m also a bit blown away with how the visits to my site have significantly increased over the last week or so and I just wanted to say thank you for your support and trust in the things I share. I especially love hearing when you’re happy with how things turn out!! If you fancy giving the dumplings a go (they are simply splendid in a tasty stew!) then head over to my blog www.coeliacbydesign.com and search dumplings. And as always, do get in touch if you have any questions.
Liz x