Happy January: Introducing the Standard Blog of Goals for 2016...

Sorry for the delay in posting, my workload has been quite intense recently and I'm afraid I've not had many opportunities to put pen to paper! With the start of a fresh year, I have, however, come up with a list of all the things which I want to accomplish by the end of 2016! I've been fairly gentle with myself—setting relatively obtainable goals—so that I know that some items will be ticked off by the end of the year!

By the end of the year, I want to:

• Visit somewhere new
• Go to a Supernatural convention (preferably with Em)
• Finish my novel
• Finish editing my last NaNoWriMo novel
• Increase my cookery skills (particularly with savoury food) 
• Try out Laserquest
• Read at least one new book per month (I love reading so this will help me to do more of the things I enjoy)
• Watch one new film and one TV series per month.
• Double gaming score on the Xbox. 

I know that a couple of the items on this list might be quite hard to accomplish but I feel quite confident that I'll manage some of them. The book I have picked for this month is Maze Runner by James Dashner and it is a cracker! I've raced through the whole series and loved every single moment, even if The Death Cure (which is the final book in the trilogy) did make me cry!

I chose Crimson Peak as my film for the month. I have to say that I was a little disappointed after watching this film, possibly because I'd expected more of a chilling story centred around ghosts and hauntings. In any case, I thought the CGI in Crimson Peak was quite poor, giving the ghosts an almost laughable cartoon quality. Although the premise of the film was actually quite good, reminding me vividly at times of the fairytale "Bluebeard" (but with some added creepy twists), the film let itself down by placing most of its emphasis on needless gore, rather than on building tension and fear. I'm not sure I'd watch the film again; however, I have learnt that I should probably read the blurbs on films before watching them!

Gluten-Free Cheese Biscuits

It's a little well-known secret in our household that Christmas always includes a family baking session. Every year, mother and I get together to bake some festive treats for the holidays—and cheese biscuits are always top of the list.

After being diagnosed with celiac disease, I had some trepidation about making cheese biscuits this year because we'd already perfected the wheat recipe...and I was worried gluten-free cheese biscuits wouldn't be quite as tasty. Thankfully, the gluten-free recipe we have created makes delicious biscuits, too.


Ingredients:

225g (8oz) plain gluten-free flour
1/2 tsp of xanthan gum
1 small egg
175g (6oz) of butter
175g (6oz) of grated strong or extra mature cheese (Taw Valley Tickler Cheddar from Morrisons is fantastic for this recipe)
A pinch of dry mustard and cayenne pepper

Method

1) Preheat oven to 230°C (or 450°F), gas mark 8.
2) Put flour, xanthan gum, grated cheese, cayenne pepper, mustard and butter into blender and mix.
3) When the mixture starts to look like breadcrumbs, slowly add in the egg until dough is formed. (It's important that you do this slowly, as the mixture can become quite runny so you may not need to add all of the egg!)
4) Place sheet of baking paper onto tray
5) Take a strip of cling film and place across work space to stop the dough from sticking
6) Roll dough out to roughly 6mm in thickness
7) Cut dough into roughly 5cm rounds and place on tray 
8) Put in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until golden.

We also used some of the dough and rolled it out into mini sausages so that we could have thick cheese straws. They tasted incredible when they came out of the oven.

Happy Christmas Eve! x

Homemade Gluten and Dairy Free Apple Crumble

It's late afternoon over here and the sun is lost behind a mass of thick charcoal clouds which deliver a menacing promise of more rain. It's on these rainy days that I feel inspired to enter the kitchen to create something warm and homely to line my stomach. There are very few things which I enjoy more than cooking tasty treats with my mum on a damp, blustery day—and I hope you find this recipe just as fun (and tasty) to try!

This recipe is perfect for anyone who has celiac disease and wants a warming treat on a winter's evening. The added benefit is that it's also suitable for vegans.

Ingredients: 

Serves 4

For the topping: 

6oz gluten free plain white flour (I used Dove's Gluten Free Plain White Flour)
1oz ground oats (I ground up Juvela's Gluten Free Rolled Oats but any gluten free oats are good)
1oz ground almonds
3oz dairy free sunflower spread (Pure Sunflower Spread works well)
4oz unrefined muscovado sugar

For the filling:

2 medium/large sized cooking apples
1 tbsp of water
2oz of muscovado sugar or honey


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Place flour and sugar into a bowl with ground oats and almonds.
3. Rub in the margarine lightly with your fingertips, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
4. Peel and slice apples into a saucepan, adding water and a little sugar (depending on personal preference—I like my apples tart so I added 1oz).
5. Stew apples on a medium heat before spooning onto the bottom of a baking dish.
6. Place the mixture on top of the stewed apple, spreading across evenly until all of the fruit filling is covered.
7. Put in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the crumble is crisp and the apple is hot.