Gluten free avocado salsa recipe

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

There's nothing surprising about a gluten free avocado salsa, but this is a nice variation on the usual guacamole approach...

Gluten free avocado salsa

1 avocado, diced to about .5 - 1 cm cubes
Half cucumber, diced same
Handful basil, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Good helping fresh ground black pepper
Four tablespoons sunflower seeds toasted on dry pan until golden brown

Mix together, eat with whatever you fancy. It's quick, healthy and nutritious gluten free food, which is what we all want, non?

Gluten Free Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

In an attempt to fulfill a desire to have take-away tasting Chinese food, we stumbled upon a recipe which we adapted to be gluten free. I can guarantee this is better than anything you'll get in most take-away restaurants. Serves 2. This takes less time to make from scratch than it takes to order the take-away, jump in the car, find somewhere to park, get wet in the rain, wait in a queue because the food wasn't ready after all, drive home and finally get round to eating your dinner. Can be cooked in less time than it takes to boil the rice.

Gluten Free Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork
200g cooked pork
1 onion, roughly chopped
small tin water chestnuts, sliced
2 handfuls of beansprouts
1 small handful of fresh or tinned pineapple, in bite sized pieces.

Sweet and sour sauce
2 tbsp honey
½ tsp Tabasco sauce (check it's gluten free)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard (make sure it's gluten free)
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ chicken stock cube (make sure it's gluten free or leave out)
2 tbsp water
½ lemon, juice only
1 tbsp tamari (gluten free of course - a replacement for soy sauce)

Combine all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce.

In a hot wok pour a little oil. Fry the onions for a couple of minutes then add the pork. Stir for 1 minute then add the sweet and sour sauce. Cook for 1 minute, then add the pineapple, beansprouts and water chestnuts. Cook for a further two minutes.

Serve with white rice and be amazed at how little time it took and how great it tastes.

No cook gluten free chocolate recipe - Chocolate Cherry Nut Cake

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free

This gluten free chocolate recipe takes about 15 minutes to prepare, zero minutes to cook and is ready to eat in 3 hours chilling time (although the desperate could stick it in the freezer to chill and half the time).

Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Nut No Cook Cake

125g butter or dairy free margarine
75g golden syrup
200g dark chocolate
150g gluten free plain biscuits
50g whole walnuts
50g sultanas
50g dried cherries

Line a 20x8cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Melt the butter or dairy free margarine with the syrup, over a low heat until the begin to gently boil.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a pan suspended in boiling water. Take care to avoid getting water into the chocolate otherwise it affects the setting. When the chocolate is melted and the butter and syrup hot, combine into one bowl.

Break the biscuits up into large chunks and the broken biscuits, walnuts, sultanas and cherries
to the liquid mixture. Mix thoroughly to ensure everything is coated with chocolate, then pour into the lined loaf tin. Chill for 3 hours and cut into 1cm slices to serve.

This recipe is really, really easy, and makes a very high class gluten free dessert or sweet treat. No-one will believe this tasty treat is "special" and doesn't contain any gluten nasties, egg or if using dairy free marg, is vegan too.

Enjoy!

Gluten free biscuit recipe - Double Chocolate and Vanilla Shortbread

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

Oh this gluten free biscuit recipe is as good as it's sounds! It's also dairy free and egg free, meaning it's also a vegan biscuit recipe. Unfortunately it's not low fat or sugar free, but you can't have everything can you! At first sight, this recipe looks like a major hassle, but it really isn't and is entirely worth the effort.

Vanilla Shortbread
150g gluten free plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
125g gluten free, dairy free margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence (check it's gluten free, otherwise use the seeds of a vanilla pod or just leave it out).

Chocolate Shortbread
125g gluten free plain flour
25g gluten free cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
125g gluten free, dairy free margarine

Filling
100g dark chocolate buttons or bar cut into tiny pieces

It's the same method for making each shortbread.

Preheat the oven to 150oC.

To make the shortbread, sift together the flour salt and sugar (plus cocoa if making the chocolate shortbread or vanilla essence if making the vanilla shortbread). Rub in the margarine until the mixture combines, using your fingertips or the back of a wooden spoon. When the mixture is combined, knead lightly for 1 minute and place the shortbread dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough on greaseproof paper to make similar sized rectangles, about 1cm thick. Place the chocolate shortbread on top of the vanilla shortbread. Sprinkle the chocolate pieces evenly over the chocolate shortbread.

Carefully roll up the shortbread, like a Swiss roll, as tightly as possible until it's about a 8cm diameter sausage about 22cm long. Pinch each end of the shortbread to make sure the chocolate is contained.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Using a very sharp knife, cut 1cm thick slices and place the biscuits on the baking tray, with even spacing. Don't worry if you have the pat the biscuits into better shape - these biscuits are very home-made and not delicate or fussy.

Cook for 25 minutes or until the biscuits turn golden (which doesn't always happen with gluten free flour, so don't leave them in the oven for more than 30 minutes.) Take the biscuits out and leave to cool or you'll burn your mouth! These biscuits keep well, but you'll eat them all before they have a chance to go off.

This gluten free biscuit recipe was a rather successful adaptation of one for regular flour. I wasn't convinced it was going to work but it worked a dream.

Top tip - if you prefer crispy biscuits, use a high percentage cornflour but if you prefer a softer biscuit, use some (say about a third) tapioca flour (which is naturally gluten free, but needs to come from a supplier that can guarantee it hasn't been contaminated.) Enjoy!