**Review** - Marks and Spencer Gluten Free Crumpets

Being a Coeliac means that you miss so so many things

Doughnuts, Rich Tea Biscuits, Smarties and Muffins, to name but a few, but I always missed Hot Crumpets dripping with butter

I've tried various gluten Free brands of crumpets but none could quite match up, until Marks and Spencer!!!

 

I'm always wary when trying a new Gluten Free product because 9 times out of 10 they just end up being a huge disappointment. I still try them though because if you don't try them you'll never know.

 

So a few months ago I picked up a packet of crumpets from Marks and Spencer's "without wheat" range, at £2 for 4 I did think it was a little pricey but to be fair I should be used to that by now.

I was intending to have them the next day for breakfast but I got too excited when I got home and had to try them

When they're first out of the packet they felt a bit hard but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I popped them in the toaster on a number 5 for roughly 4 and a half minutes, this may seem like along time but it crisps the top up nicely.

Once done I coated them with clover and took my first bite.....

 

WOW!!!

 

I was in heaven, I think I might have even squealed with excitement

The top of the crumpets had gone lovely and crispy, the base had a lovely crunch and the inside was fluffy and tasted divine, the clover melted in beautifully to make the crumpets have a lovely buttery taste and make them that little bit more meltingly good

They were that good that I ate all four in one sitting and only allowed my mum to try the tiniest bit (she was not impressed)

I have since bought lots more and I am very disappointed if I go to my local store and they don't have any

 

So to conclude, a scrumptious 10/10 for Marks and Spencer who have managed to achieve crumpet perfection and make my breakfast times so much more enjoyable!!!

 

Thanks for reading

Love and Hugs Cheryl xxx

Living Gluten Free - It's necessary!!!

11 years ago in November my brother and I were diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, after my Mum previously being diagnosed some years before.

As a 17 year old being told you have to completely change your life is so hard

The blow was softened by the fact that my brother and I had our Mum there who had already been living as Gluten Free for a good few years.

When we were diagnosed there was barely anything out there in the shops, if you wanted bread it had to be homemade, which would only be fresh for two days, or you had to get it on prescription and to be honest that was barely edible.

So it has been nice to see supermarkets, restaurants and take aways finally catering for people with specific dietary requirements. 

Now for the technical bit, when someone has Coeliac Disease they can't eat gluten, why I hear you ask, because in the small intestine there is something called villi, villi are like little hairs that absorb the nutrients from our food, when you have Coeliac Disease gluten knocks these villi off so then the nutrients aren't absorbed which can lead to all sorts of problems.

So you can imagine how much it enrages me when people make comments, post blogs and stories and stupid little pictures saying that gluten free is a lifestyle choice and people are being picky. UTTER CRAP!!!!! 

For some people gluten can be as dangerous as nuts to a nut allergy sufferer, they can't even cut bread on a bread board used to cut regular bread.

Imagine doing your shopping and having to check the ingredients of every packet, imagine going out for tea and being so unsure about how the chips, sauce or gravy is cooked that you end up with steak and a jacket potato every time.

People who don't have Coeliac Disease have no idea how lucky they are to be able to eat anything they want, to be able to pay 80p for a loaf, anyone know how much an average gluten free loaf cost?? £2.50!!!! And sometimes that loaf is the size of a small hovis loaf.

Sometimes I get people looking at me like I'm stupid because I'm asking about the ingredients used in dishes and 9 times out of 10 they don't know what gluten free is. People seriously need educating, especially when working in the catering trade.

Now for a nice part, a little while ago my brother offered to treat the family to a Domino's, who do a gluten free base. So we put the order through online and waited for our yummy tea to arrive. About 5 mins after the order was placed he got a phone call from our local Domino's,  the lovely man on the phone explained that the meatballs my brother had chosen for his pizza contained gluten and what alternative would he like!!! To be quite honest I was gobsmacked at first, not only are they clued up enough to know which of their ingredients contain gluten they had the sense to phone my brother and bring it to his attention. Well done Domino's!!!!

So if you work in the catering industry, in a supermarket or even in customer care, do a little homework and educate yourself so at least we don't feel like we are the stupid ones.

Love and Hugs 

Cheryl xxx

The everyday pain of being in pain.

Ever have a night when you don't sleep properly? Ever sit down and you can't get comfy?

Ever feel like the pain you're feeling won't go away?

More importantly ever struggle to hold your head upright or drive without your hands and arms going numb?

Everyday I live with all these problems. What is the cause of this you ask, a minor car accident I had nearly 13 months ago. Let me go back in time a little bit....

On the 2nd April 2013 I was minding my own business sitting in a line of traffic, with my handbrake on, when suddenly there was a boom and my car went into the car in front. "Apparently" the women's foot slipped from the brake to the accelerator, load of bol***ks in my opinion. Anyhoo I was flung forwards then backwards and ended up in a whole load of pain. After going to the local walk in centre I was told I had "whiplash". Cue rubbing salt into the wound,  my car was written off with over £4000 worth of damage.

Through my insurance company I saw a private doctor who diagnosed whiplash and intermittent paraesthesia and sent me for physio, after having physio, which helped for a total of a week, my pain was back with a vengeance. I contacted my claim handler and he organised for me to go and see the private doctor again, who subsequently sent me to see an orthopaedic surgeon who is sending me for an MRI (which I'm still waiting for).

So back to the present, since the crash I've had to give up playing football :( , I don't get a full night's sleep as I can't get comfy and some days it's a struggle to walk kez, my dog. When im having a particularly bad day it's a supreme effort to hold my head up. I can't drive in the "correct" manner of hands at ten to two because my hands and arms go numb. Initially I was given diazapam and zapain, which only succeeded in making me high as a kite thinking I was walking on the bouncy mushrooms from a Mario game. My GP prescribed me amitriptyline to help me sleep, took it once and was hungover for 2 days, and tramadol for the pain which apparently I'm allergic to. Imagine waking up with your whole body itching, even your eyeballs and tongue, bloody awful!!!! I don't want to be popping pills all day and night though. Especially as I have a full time job supporting people with spinal injuries.

If you were to meet me in the street you wouldn't know because for the most part I'm suffering in silence, I loathe the fact that I have to ask people for help in everyday life, I find myself getting frustrated and grumpy due to lack of sleep and I just want this pain gone. People say "oooo but think of the money you will get" and yes that will help but right now I just want to be pain free, have a full nights sleep and feel like myself again.

I'm welling up as I'm typing this because it's so hard being like this when I don't want to be. Trying to ignore something that is persistently there and being unable to find anything that can relieve it. 
So my message is this, you never know what people are dealing with on a daily basis so   be that little bit nicer and have a bit more patience and you could just make someone's day have a little more sunshine.

Love and hugs
Cheryl xxx