I don't know about you but I can't believe we are 4 days away from Christmas. I want to see all your cooking over the festive period so head over to the Biteappy Twitter and/or Facebook page and share with us.
I love having fun in the kitchen around this time of year and have cooked up lots of yummy things so head over to the blog and check them out. I think a really good dish to serve around this festive period is meatloaf and I have made a gluten free, dairy free, Paleo style one which is absolutely delicious. It is really easy to make and a great dish to serve with a side of greens. If you are vegetarian you can make this with Quorn, I have tried and it tastes great. http://blog.biteappy.com/blog/paleo-meatloaf/
Caroline Oldham
I have another great product for you, which is excellent to serve with puddings and dessert around Christmas. It is a company called the coconut collaborative that have formed this wonderful coconut ice cream which is dairy free, soya free, gluten free and suitable for the Paleo diet. They also support charities, help plant more coconut trees and support farmers. Their mission is, of course, to spread the coconut love across the world and we fully support them doing this, coconut has so many health benefits and it is completely natural.
Coconuts are packed full of health benefits, coconuts are highly nutritious and rich in fibre, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. Coconut milk is great for those with a lactose intolerance, milk allergy and vegans as a milk substitute. It is also packed full of health benefits so it's a great alternative. The chocolate snowcocnut was my favourite of the two, probably because I am more of a chocolate person but the coconut and chocolate go so well together and is really food on its own if you just need to satisfy your cravings for something sweet.
Restaurant Hangout of the Week
This week I headed back up to London and I managed to catch up with a friend for dinner in Central. She likes the finer food in life so she chose Novikov, a five-star restaurant with five-star prices I can assure you. The restaurant itself is spilt on two levels with two types of cuisine, Asian and Italian. We opted for the Asian side of the restaurant and I have to say the staff are very welcoming and we were quickly seated. I informed my waitress about my allergies and she was very helpful. Some of the menu is labeled with gluten free but they will be happy to adapt most dishes if they can.
I decided to go for the crab and avocado mayonnaise to start with which was so beautifully presented with edible flowers. The mayonnaise contains egg but had no dairy in it, so tasty and delicious. For the main course I had market fish which was lovely but eye watering expensive, they even cooked it in chickpea flour for me and served it will a delicious garlic mayonnaise. For dessert they had gluten free Blueberry cake on the menu, was nice to see that the chef was being adventurous with the puddings, not many people dare make gluten free cake!
Top Tip of the Week
Whether you are a meat eater or vegetarian it is always good to marinate food overnight to enhance flavour. One of my favourite marinades is cumin, oregano and paprika mixed together with some olive oil. This gives food a lovely deep aromatic taste.
Tagged in Caroline Oldham