Marmite or Chocolate? Picnic Pinwheels

With another summer picnic on the horizon I trawled back through my recipes and found my recipe for Marmite Pinwheels. I decided to make two batches, one with safe chocolate spread and one with marmite! Can you guess which is which?

Bizarrely, my little chocoholic preferred the marmite ones, my lover-of-all-things-savoury preferred the chocolate ones. They guessed pretty quickly too!

These are best warm/fresh from the oven.

Is Marmite Gluten Free?  

Previously, Marmite was previously deemed to have only very low gluten levels and therefore be acceptable on a Coeliac diet - read here.

Recent changes to the European Codex have ruled that foods labelled "Gluten Free" much contain less than 20ppm. Marmite falls slightly outside this limit.

"Results have met the criteria for the old international Codex standard for “gluten free” (below 200ppm) and the recently introduced EU regulatory limit for “very low gluten” (less than 100ppm), but not the recently introduced EU regulatory limit for “gluten-free” (less than 20ppm)."

So it's usually ok, and certainly my daughter tolerates it but including it needs to be an informed decision in discussion with your child's health professional.

STOP PRESS!

Info from Genius about their new ready to roll pastry and ready to cook pies popped into my inbox and I can hardly contain my excitement.

I'm hoping to get hold of some to try, and also to determine whether any other common allergens (soya would be an issue for us) are included in the ingredients. Fingers crossed not, as this could be revolutionary.

Trying to find full ingredients list but via Twitter Genius say :-

Ingredients are Margarine (Palm Oil, Water, Rapeseed Oil,Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Salt), Tapioca Starch, Maize Starch, Water, Egg and Stabilisers (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum), Salt, Rice Flour.

Do message me with your experiences with these new products!

Quiche - Dairy, Wheat, Corn and soya free.

My youngest son LOVES this and it goes cold to school in his lunchbox. He dislikes the word "quiche" so we call it "Egg Pie"!! I find that the terminology around food can be key to persuade children to try new foods. Humour is the antidote to most things too! Food allergic children often have a great deal of anxiety around food and eating, you need to be patient and creative. We often to food play (who says you mustn't play with your food?!) and encourage cafe type role play. Another trick is to offer something familiar and "safe"/acceptable, with a teeny tiny sharing portion of something new. I also make a point of eating when my children do - and the same thing where possible. It's not very inviting offering children something different, whilst you are tucking in to a plateful of food they are not allowed...

For this "Egg Pie" there fore, use the basic pie crust from here to make the case.

For a gluten free recipe you can also use Juvela Harvest White mix, the pastry recipe on the back.

Blend 3 eggs and one carton of oatly cream, a little salt and pepper and pour into case.

Bake as usual!

Leave plain as above (the only way my son will eat it...) or add fillings of your choice - broccoli, ham sweetcorn and tuna.... anything your child likes and can eat.

UPDATE
Today I tried this with a variation on the filling. Half a sachet of coconut cream (Patak's) three eggs and some rice milk, blended up. Looked very authentic and creamy inside.

Basic Pastry / Pie Crust - Wheat, Dairy and Soya free

I discovered this only recently in the "Kid Friendly Food Allergy Book" after trying everything to make half decent pastry! It's much tastier and more filling than a regular pice crust, holds together well and iess dry. A real winner here!

Ingredients

• 90g or 3/4 cup  Rice Flour
• 150g oatmeal (or rice bran to make this recipe gluten free)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons of honey or corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons of water if needed

Method

• In a food processor pulse until you have blended the rice flour and oatmeal.
• Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until you have a firm dough in a ball.
• Roll between two pieces of plastic wrap or press into a pie dish.
• Bake as usual