Simply Wize Gluten-free bread

Not a recipe but I had to share this. I love baking bread and eating it whilst still warm. I have found a number of bread recipes online but had yet to find a recipe that satisfied 100%.

A while back I was contacted by the P.R. company on behalf of the Simply Wize range of Gluten-free products. I was really excited when I received a box of the Crusty Bread and French Stick gluten-free bread mixes and absolutely LOVE being able to make my own bread as good as (if not better than) bakeries that refuse to cater to customers who are hunting for gluten-free bread.

The first time I made up the mix I left out the required yeast and it fell a bit flat. Definitely needs the yeast but still very tasty and eaten all too quickly! Hot bread with butter is just so hard to resist!

The next time I used fresh yeast sachet and formed the bread into a round shape and placed it in a round metal dish and let it rise for over 30 minutes in a warm part of my kitchen (turning the oven on to warm the room helped) 



There's nothing like crusty bread just straight from the oven.
Great with a little bit of tahini spread (sesame seeds) and a drizzle of honey. Delicious!

The addition of sunflower seeds made it extra delicious!

Easy satay popcorn

As a starving student living in on-campus accommodation with a $20 a week food budget I quickly learned to think creatively with food staples and healthy snacks.

One night I was hungry and only had a jar of peanut butter and a packet of popcorn kernels, some chilli powder and some butter. And that's how I made my 'easy satay popcorn'

• 1/2 cup of popcorn per person
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter per person
• 2 teaspoons of butter
• Chilli powder (optional)

Method:

1. Pop the popcorn via an air popper, in a saucepan or in a brown paper bag (bag opening taped up with sticky tape). Make sure you don't add too much popcorn or there may a lot of un-popped popcorn whilst the popped corn starts to burn. Make in two batches if required. 
2. Melt the butter and peanut butter in a saucepan, stirring every few seconds until combined. Taste and add more peanut butter if required.
3. Pour the popped popcorn into a bowl and pour melted butter and peanut butter over the popcorn.

Variations:

• Some find that the addition of honey added to the melted peanut butter and butter mix and omission of chilli was more to their liking. 

• Another variation is to mix the popcorn and butter together with a fork or spoon and place in a dipping bowl and use the popcorn to dip into the mix if you don't have access to a stove or microwave.

Welcome to Vanessa's Mess

Hi! I'm Vanessa Pike-Russell from Illawarra Food Reviews and Illawarra Gluten-Free. I decided to make a new blog dedicated to my cooking efforts, tips and tricks. One thing you'll learn about me is that I only cook when I feel inspired. I am lucky enough to have an amazing hubby who loves to cook and whose main hobby is reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows!

I have been focusing on gluten-free meals and modifying my favourite dishes to meet my needs. I will also share the restaurant and cafe meals that inspire me from around Australia and my own version of the dish. I have a rather experimental style of cooking where I rarely stick to a recipe and make up my own flavour combinations.

I am fortunate to have a pantry and spice cupboard full of ingredients, herbs and spices from all around the world and access to some fantastic European and Asian grocery markets and supermarkets with a wide range of products for me to experiment with flavours, textures and combinations that sound unnatural but taste amazing!