Tag Archives: Costa coffee

My name is…

3 Replies

14141873_10153684384151123_244385722473814537_nI have a confession to make. In the grand scheme of things, it’s no biggie and it certainly won’t come as any great surprise to my nearest and dearest, but I have to admit that…

…my name is bluesingingdragon and I am something of a coffee shop addict.

Admittedly, I’m not yet at the stage of needing a daily fix of my favourite flavoured drink, but when the opportunity arises to partake, let’s face it, I’m not likely to say no. Days out often involve a quick game of “hunt the coffee shop for Mummy” whenever possible and travel breaks are carefully timed to match our approach to a service station housing either a Costa or Starbucks, depending on my current preference. Is it wrong to love that my kids know to order me a “decaf vanilla latte”? I don’t think so, especially when it has saved my drink on the odd occasion that Mike has forgotten one crucial element or another from my order.

img_12061My coffee shop of choice does change on a fairly regular basis, depending on the time of year and the flavoured drinks on offer. For the last couple of years, Starbucks has held the monopoly on my business from the end of September until Christmas, thanks to their Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Black Forest Hot Chocolates, which have unfailingly kept me going during M’s GOSH admissions. As for the rest of the year, well if I’m perfectly honest I’m fairly ambivalent to where my decaf comes from most of the time, but whenever G and I are having some much-needed girls time, Costa always wins hands down. Our recent trip to London for the last YPF meeting proved to be the perfect opportunity to try out a few of the free-from foods that Costa has to offer and we weren’t disappointed.

img_12511G always chooses a small soya hot chocolate* with marshmallows and loves nothing more than accompanying it with a gluten- and dairy-free cake. However, this time we were travelling late afternoon by train and I wanted to pick her up a light tea for the journey home. As well as the obligatory drink and cake, G also chose a gluten-free roll and packet of crisps to complete her meal. I was interested to find out just how much she enjoyed her sandwich and whether she’d be happy to eat it again. To be honest, G was a little uncertain about the sandwich as she’d picked a chicken salad roll and she wasn’t impressed that there was tomato in it too, img_12081but once I’d removed the offending item, she was happy to give it a go and ate the lot, telling me that it was surprisingly filling. The crisps rapidly disappeared as did the mini pecan pies that rounded off her supper beautifully.  All in all, G gave her meal 8/10, a decent score given the disappointing inclusion of tomatoes in her sandwich.

Much as I was delighted to be able to buy a complete light meal that was safe for G to enjoy, I was disappointed by the limited choice, which seemed to ignore what can be the simpler tastes of children. I know that G would have been much happier to have a plain ham roll, but the only sandwich available was the chicken salad roll and that had been challenging to find as it was hidden amongst the other sandwiches, wraps and paninis available in the fridge, something I’ve found to be true in every Costa I’ve visited in the last few months. Likewise, as fantastically delicious as the pecan pies are, they are the only safe cake available as the gluten-free chocolate brownie contains milk and their fruity flapjack contains oats. They did previously sell gluten- and dairy-free mini bakewell tarts, which were another huge hit with G, but those were discontinued and replaced by the pecan pies, something that G still grumbles about these days. I love that a mainstream, high street coffee shop is trying to cater for those with food allergies, but I think there’s still some work to be done to make this a really great elevenses or lunch-time option.

IMG_0798[1]                    IMG_0802[1]

*Costa states that milk is present in the manufacturing site/factory/supply chain of their soya hot chocolate and that there is a significant risk that this allergen could cross-contaminate the food. Do not choose this if you have a severe dairy-allergy.

BBQs and Bakewell tarts

1 Reply

bbq

The incredible summer weather that we’ve been enjoying this weekend, can only mean one thing; it’s time for a barbecue.  True to form, by around 5pm on Friday evening, the shelves of all the local supermarkets had been cleared of the sausages, burgers and other BBQ meats, but for once that didn’t spoil our plans.  Most of the BBQ selections available contain wheat, gluten or even soya, which makes them unsuitable for use in our household.

Instead, I took to a recipe that we developed after seeing a similar meal prepared on Canadian TV programme “You’ve gotta eat here“.  For those of you who haven’t seen this series, and I highly recommend that you don’t even attempt to watch it when feeling peckish,  presenter John Catucci tours Canada, searching out exceptional meals found at various cafes, diners and restaurants across the country.  The food featured not only tastes good, but often comes in proportions that defeat even those with the healthiest of appetites.  Whilst the burgers we watched being made were traditional in using beef, I adapted them to use family favourites, Welsh lamb and fresh mint.  You can find the recipe here.

The final recipe is easy and quick to prepare, delicious to eat and best of all, contains nothing that is not M-friendly.  They take around 5 minutes to cook on the BBQ or indeed in the oven and were perfect for a Saturday lunch in the sun.

SAM_1215

One of things that M has been missing, other than the by now famous egg mayonnaise sandwiches, is Bakewell tarts.  Around 12 months ago, we had discovered Costa‘s gluten-free Cherry bakewells and, as they were dairy, soya and wheat-free and M was trialling egg at the time, we were able to try them out as a treat.  M loved them and we had found something he could eat when we popped out for a coffee or were on a road trip.

SAM_1242

However, this January’s decision to tighten up M’s diet meant these had to go back on to his forbidden list.  It was a disappointment as there is so little available when we’re out and about, but we had the hope that the next trial of egg would mean that he might be able to start eating them once again.  Sadly, the current relapse and subsequent medical response means that there is no likelihood of this for the foreseeable future.

M has been hit hard by his current flare-up and so I decided to make a weekend of it and bake some much needed M-friendly treats for both M and G.  I quickly decided to investigate whether there was any possibility of making a M-friendly Bakewell tart. Having never even attempted to make Bakewell tarts in my lifetime, even before all the food allergies hit my kitchen, I looked up a recipe to see if I could adapt it.

I was confident I could make a reasonable everything-free pastry base, having successfully mastered pastry at Christmas for mince pies.  I have quickly learned that vegan recipes are my friends as they don’t contain any animal products and so instantly remove the issue of being dairy- and egg-free.  So, I quickly moved on to the next item on the list, raspberry jam.  Fortunately, M suffers no ill-effects from fruit jams at the moment, so that was an easy tick and on to the final element of the recipe: the frangipane.

This filled me with dread.  Frangipane is an almond-flavoured sweet pastry cream which, depending on the particular recipe you decide to follow, contains anywhere between 1 and 3 eggs and I just couldn’t see a way round it.  With little hope and as a somewhat last-ditch attempt, I used that faithful friend, Dr Google, once again to see if someone, somewhere had created a vegan alternative to frangipane.  Imagine my delight on discovering this wonderful recipe from fellow blogger, lucysfriendlyfoods.

I noted the ingredients, checked my store cupboards to see what I already had in stock and drew up my shopping list.  A quick visit to the supermarket and we had everything I needed to bake this masterpiece.  To my delight, every step of this recipe was easy to follow and put together.  40 minutes in the oven and my work was done.

SAM_1240M was thrilled and had to try a slice before it had cooled fully.  The slice I gave him disappeared quickly and his only comment was that he would prefer me to make individual tarts next time.  What’s more, G also tried some and enjoyed it.  All in all, this weekend has been a resounding success, be it the BBQ burgers or the Bakewell tart.