All posts tagged: GF

Gramcake, 15p [Cooking On A Bootstrap]

Published by Jack

Some people say socca, some say farinata; I decided to christen my breakfast this morning ‘gramcake’ – a pancake made with gram flour and little else. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to crack into my bag of gram flour, seeing it ticks all of my culinary boxes – it’s high in protein, versatile, and I can bake with it! All of which make me very happy indeed. This simple recipe made for a very satisfying breakfast – you can amend the spices and flavours to whatever you like, as the base is slightly sweet and nutty, so will complement all manner of things. I opted for spice this morning, because chilli and cumin are great any time of day, and I’m more of a savoury than sweet girl myself. (This post is not sponsored; I provide links to the ingredients that I use so you can see how I calculate my recipe costs, and I may earn a small commission if you click the links and make a purchase.) Serves 1, easily …

Mac n Swede, 19p

Published by Jack

The humble swede is a much misunderstood vegetable, and one I can truly empathise with. Misshapen, lumpy, outwardly tough, slightly bitter and difficult to get under the skin of, but once you get inside, it’s soft, delicate, sweet and surprisingly versatile. Asda have them for 20p each at the moment, and as the author of an ultra low budget cookery website, it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up really getting to know the inscrutable rutabega once and for all. The cheese in this recipe can be substituted for any vegan cheese of your choice – I didn’t have any to hand, and am not going to pretend otherwise. (I made myself a separate cheese-free portion but my 8 year old would not have touched it without the cheesy element, and parenting is challenging enough at times without fighting over liquidised root vegetables). Can be made gluten free by using GF pasta of your choice. Serves 4 at 19p each 1 large swede, 20p (20p each, Asda) 2 tbsp cooking oil, 3p (98p/1l, Asda) …

PBJ Granola, 8p

Published by Jack

Granola is one of my most favourite breakfasts to have on standby, usually sling in the bottom of an oven that already has something else going on in it, in order to utilise the hot air already swilling around in there to create something else, practically for free, from store cupboard ingredients. My Small Boy loves this with his milk warmed through and a few tiny marshmallows dotted in as a treat; a nod to the 1990s classic cereal Lucky Charms, but without all of the E numbers that send us both doolally. This also works sprinkled over ice cream, as a topping for a crumble or a trifle, or eaten from the jar with your hands. Serves 8 from 8p each 2 tbsp light cooking oil, 3p (£3/3l, Sainsburys sunflower or vegetable oil) 4 tbsp peanut butter (or nut or seed butter of your choice), 17p (90p/340g, Sainsburys Basics) 4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam, 7p (40p/454g, Sainsburys Basics) 300g porridge oats, 36p (£1.20/1kg) – to make this recipe gluten free, simply use gluten …

Crumbly Almond Cookies, 12p

Published by Jack

Last night I really, really fancied cookies, in that way that sometimes the sweet tooth takes a hold. Usually it’s late at night. Usually when I have resolved to be healthier, and better, and eat less baked goods in the smallest hours. Like, on New Years Day. Succumbing, I pottered downstairs to the kitchen, and rummaged in my flour bin (really, a bread bin full of various flours, with the ethos that if I want bread I will have to make it. Like a proper little bread martyr). The bread/flour bin turned out to be neither, as I have fed a few dozen people over the last few weeks of festivities, and somehow have managed to bake my way through my usual 3kg of plain flour kicking about the house. Instead, I had an array of what we might call ‘experimental’ flours, purchased in varying fits of panic over the last year or so, usually coinciding with some new health blogger or clean eating trend, and then sitting, untouched, in the bottom of the flour …

Gram Flour Pasta, 17p

Published by Jack

As part of my ‘health binge’ that I’m currently embarking on after the carbtastic Live Below The Line challenge followed by scarcely and sleep and a lot of crap sandwiches to power through a General Election, I decided to experiment and see if I could make gluten free pasta. I’m not a fan of ‘gluten free’ flour, having used it a few times in the past and being decidedly unimpressed with the results – and pasta being one of my absolutely favourite foods, I wasn’t going to run the risk of something that tasted like wet cardboard spoiling one of my favourite experiences. And so, the big bag of gram flour came down from the top of the fridge again, and I decided to have a play. I’ve made pasta with ‘ordinary’ flour in the past (once!), using a simple ratio of 1 egg to every 100g of flour and a splash of oil for good measure – so I applied a similar theory here to see what happened, upping the egg ratio for no …

Frying-Pan-Pizza, 14p

Published by Jack

As part of my ‘health binge’ I am currently indulging in, I bought a bag of gram flour from the supermarket. At £1.30 for a kilo (brand: KTC, widely available at major supermarkets), it’s not as cheap as Basics flour, but it is gluten free and very versatile, or so I’m told. I used to shuffle past it in the supermarket, eyeballing it, wondering what could be done with it other than bind my bhaji, so to speak.  And then I took the plunge. And got some. And brought it home. Yesterday I used it as the binder and coating on my new kidney bean and peanut butter burgers, for an extra smidge of protein, and just to get the bag down and open and into my consciousness. You might be seeing a lot of gram flour recipes over the next couple of weeks, but that’s a good thing – it completely goes against my cooking philosophy to ask my readers to buy one specific ingredient for one recipe and never use it in anything …