Kabuto Noodles

The quirky people at Kabuto Noodles got in touch recently and sent me some samples of their new range of instant 'upmarket' noodles. Food 'on the go' is always a difficult one for coeliacs. I'm generally on my best behaviour and take a packed lunch to work - salads, sandwiches, soups - the usual fodder. But, sometimes time is against you or you just fancy grabbing something that's hassle free. Kabuto have launched two of their instant noodles made with flat rice noodles resulting in a new completely gluten free lunch option.

Prior to becoming gluten free I think I'd only ever tried the 'well known other brand' of instant noodles once and in the dark days of studenthood, I may fallen into the depths of the own-brand supermarket variety. Both had that murky nondescript taste to them. As a coeliac you get used to reading the ingredients list before trying anything. One thing I liked about these new Kabuto noodles was that the list wasn't an endless list of 'flavour enhancers' you have never heard of. It was a simple and expected list of ingredients. So how did they taste? Surprisingly good actually both had a freshness that you wouldn't expect from essentially re-hydrating food! Rice noodles can be infamous for getting stuck together but simply adding boiling water and leaving for a couple of minutes gave you silky smooth strands. The chicken one was definitely my favourite, it just seemed to have a bit more going on. I found the miso one perfectly palatable, if a little bland. I'm sure you could 'pimp' your noodles with a little chilli oil or (gluten free) soy sauce if you wanted to add a bit more flavour.

All in all, a good product and great to have another gluten free 'on the go' option. These would be great to take as an emergency supply to a festival or travelling if you weren't sure exactly what you could eat. Let's hope there's even more to come.

Available from Ocado, Wholefoods and now Sainsbury's for around £1.99.

How To Organise a Gluten Free Wedding!

I thought I'd interrupt the honeymoon food blogs with what is really just a shout out to some of the fantastic suppliers who helped make our wedding day so incredibly special. Food was always going to be important to us and we succeeded in having a completely gluten free wedding (without people even noticing!).

When we found Sarah our caterer, we were overwhelmed by the passion with which she spoke about food! She didn't even hesitate when accepting the challenge of ensuring absolutely everything was gluten free. Sensational canapés including tempura vegetables with a sweet chilli dip, mini Norfolk sausages in a honey glaze and shots of tequilla laced gazpacho were devoured by our guests. We managed to source gluten free breads from Kelly's Bakeries at Lenwade. They provided a whole host of different flavoured breads which were all beautifully baked and delicious. We always wanted food to be a big part of our day and Sarah pulled out all the stops creating a fantastic wedding breakfast and in the evening, a cheese truckle with cooked Norfolk ham and beef, more gluten free breads and crackers and various pates, olives and pickles. Everything was perfect!

We found an excellent bespoke wedding cake designer and they assured us they could do everything gluten free. One of the best bits about organising the wedding was definitely sampling the copious amounts of cake at Vanilla Patisserie! We had 5 tiers, with lemon cake, carrot cake and a classic raspberry cream cake with white chocolate design.

We both love Macarons and couldn't resist a Macaron tower to go with teas and coffees. We're lucky that the masterchef finalist Tim Kinnaird has set up his shop Macarons & More in Norwich. Macarons are usually naturally gluten free so make a great addition to any coeliac wedding! They created a fabulous Macaron tower for us which I'm sure took a lot longer to make than the speed with which it disappeared!

We did our own home-made jams and chutneys for favours. After quartering my 200th cherry tomato I was questioning whether this was the right decision but they went down brilliantly and were well worth the effort.

Actually, it was surprisingly easy to create our perfect gluten free wedding because everyone involved knows just how perfect you want it to be. We went the whole way and had everything gluten free which I would definitely recommend. It allows you to relax and eat what you want on your wedding day!

We had so many fantastic people involved to make so incredibly perfect... Katherine Ashdown captured our wedding perfectly providing us with some superb pictures to look back on.... Studio 1208 blew us away with their video which we can't stop watching (and you can see here)... We got married at the breathtaking Kimberley Hall and Sarah Goodson and Sarah Softley made sure everything ran like clock work... Fabulous flowers were arranged by Libby Ferris... The Ben Weston Quartet jazzed up our canapé reception in style... Captain Scarlet played the hits that made sure the dance floor was full to the very end... Thanks to everyone involved who made marrying my beautiful wife so perfect.