Until recently Hungry Horse pubs have not been ideal for eating anywhere gluten free.
If you identify yourselve as being gluten free at Hungry Horse pubs, until recently you would have been handed a folder and expected to work out the allergy implications yourself.
However, now there is a gluten free menu!
I can’t tell you how much easier it makes things.
As someone who is gluten intolerant rather than a coeliac I have been able to take a gamble on things before, but now I can order in confidence. This is great as there’s a nice Hungry Horse pub near to us. Well done Greene King!
Over the last few years I have had problems with my stomach. Nothing sinister, just feeling bad and making me feel unwell. Gradually it was clear that there was a connection to particular foods that I was eating. Since I’ve cut cakes, pastry, biscuits and bread out of my diet I have felt tonnes better! Like unbelievably better! I am currently awaiting tests to find out if I am a coeliac or gluten intolerant or maybe if I have irritable bowel disease. Not ideal, but we’ll see what happens.
But over the last twelve months I have eaten more gluten free and free from foods and it’s time I had a rant about it.
Do you have any idea how bad gluten free food tastes? Unless you have tried GF bread you will never know how bad it tastes. It is dry, hard to chew and tastes, simply disgusting. I never knew how much bread I ate until I gave it up. And now I’m stuck with GF crap. I tried a GF pork pie today. I was excited to eat it – my first pork pie in ages. Tasteless. So far, the best thing top eat has been GF cakes which apparently can be made to taste nice. In terms of GF bread, the best bread is made by Warburtons but you are lucky if you can find it!
Do you have any idea how much gluten free food costs? In my head, when you cut out ingredients and make something taste disgusting, you should be charged less for it, not more. But GF bread comes in loaves half the size of normal bread, and yet costs at least double the price. How can that be? I can buy a pack of Bourbon Creams for about 50p. For the GF equivalents you would pay three times that for about eight biscuits.
It is, frankly, disgusting, charging more just because people have no choice but to buy it.
Do you have any idea how frustrating it is when you call in at a cafe? We called in at a cafe on Saturday for cake and hot chocolate. There was nothing I could eat. This has happened in other places. People just don’t cater for this market well.
Birthdays? Well, they are ruined. No more cake! And people seem to think it’s funny that you can’t eat the cake. Yeah, hilarious!
You get pleasantly surprised easily! Someone mentions that something is gluten free and you are instantly delighted if you hadn’t come across it before. Wow, something else I can eat!
Artisan markets are ruined. Hi, these look lovely – are they gluten free? Nope. Sure, they look awkward when they say no, but they actually don’t care.
Gluten Free cooking is hard How hard can it be to bake GF scones? Well, we have attempted it several times and they look like dwarfed, hideous versions of actual scones. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
I am hopeful that I will only be intolerant but I worry about being totally gluten free and having to give up beer. I have my fingers crossed.
I love spam. Not the stuff that plagues my work email account. Actual spam. Check out all of these recipes on the official Spam website!
The Philly-Dilly SPAM Sandwich looks incredible!
Philly-Dilly SPAM® Sandwich.
Ingredients
Sure, the name Philly-Dilly sounds silly, but one bite and you’ll realize this sandwich makes the Philly cheesesteak look silly. It’ll also prove to you that this Philly-Dilly was definitely not put together in a willy-nilly fashion.
1 340g can SPAM® Chopped Pork & Ham
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 large yellow onion
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2?1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 slim French bread loaves
4 slices mild cheddar cheese
3 slices smoked applewood cheese
2 tablespoons prepared dill veggie dip
Method
1Cut bell peppers and onions into thin slices. Sauté in a large, non-stick frying pan with 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat, until peppers and onions are tender, about 10 minutes.
While peppers and onions cook, shave off very thin, non-uniform slices of SPAM® with a sharp knife. Remove pepper and onion mixture from frying pan. Set aside and cover.
Return same frying pan to medium-high heat and add SPAM® slices in an even layer. Add Worcestershire directly on top of the SPAM®, covering each piece. Cover generously with black pepper. Let cook 4 minutes, then stir and flip the SPAM® and allow to cook for about 5 more minutes, until SPAM® is heated through and slightly crisp.
Slice bread loaves most of the way through and toast in separate frying pan with remaining butter. While bread is toasting, return pepper and onion mixture to frying pan with the SPAM®. Mix together well, and then spread into an even layer. Place cheese slices evenly on top of the SPAM® mixture and reduce to medium heat. Once the cheese is melted, remove pan from heat and stir the mixture with a spatula to incorporate the cheese into the entire mixture.
Place toasted bread loaves onto serving dish. Spread a very thin layer of the dill dip onto the top halves. Scoop sandwich filling onto bottom halves of bread and close. Slice into desired serving sizes and serve immediately.
If you live in Cheshire East and you like ice cream then there is an absolute gem of place to visit.
Seven Sisters Ice Cream Farm is on the A50 between Knutsford and Holmes Chapel. It is near to the Radbroke Barclays Headquarters.
When you arrive at the farm there is plenty of parking for customers. You can visit the calves. Our children love to put hay in the troughs for the calves to enjoy. They also love to jump between the bales!
There is a play area which is very much suited to little ones – tyre-horse swings, stepping stones, scooters, etc. There are some nice tables outside to sit at if it’s nice.
During the summer months you can try the Maize Maze.
But it’s the ice cream at the farm which is delicious! Favourite flavours include cake batter, honeycomb, mint choc chip and activated charcoal!
You can add toppings for a small additional amount.
The waffles and milkshakes are incredible!
We bought an ice cream each and spent less than £7.
