My Kitchen Window

This is one of my favourite views - which is a very good thing when you consider how much time I spend in my kitchen at the moment. I love the view beyond the window but I also enjoy the pretty jugs and pots of flowers on the sill. You can't see the garden or the cherry trees in this photo as I have just this minute taken it and its starting to get dark.

Terry has mentioned in his blog that his excellent vegetable garden is producing a lot of lovely tomatoes and more courgettes than we can use and I have been turning them into ratatouille and tomato soup to stock our freezer. I have frozen 6 single serves and one 3 person punnet of Roast Tomato Soup today. I used The Gluten-Free Goddess' recipe (more or less) from her blog and it turned out to be very very good.

As well as preserving goodness from our vegetable garden there have been apples and nectarines to freeze from the orchard and the peaches are nearly ready to pick. I have also been doing a lot of baking in my kitchen lately as we both prefer to eat gluten-free biscuits and bread - and they are much nicer made at home. I've regularly been making Gluten Free Flatbread and I'll give you the recipe for that shortly. Its much the nicest Gluten Free bread I've had, homemade or bought and it freshens up nicely in the toaster after its been frozen.

Do you remember back in very early January we had a visit from two of our favourite people from France? Caroline and Bruno gave me the large red gerbera on my window sill and it has had between 2 and 5 flowers on it ever since. Which is why Terry bought the little orange one the other day to keep it company. Don't they look nice in front of my little group of orange and red jugs? I bought the middle sized one in Lyon and Caroline's mother gave me the matching plate. I'm looking forward to our kitchen extension which should give me some room to display the plate too - although I will lose my lovely kitchen window!

Here is my adaptation of this Gluten Free Flatbread recipe:

Gluten Free Flatbread
· Heat 1.5 cup water to blood temperature (40 sec on high in microwave)

Add:

• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 Tablespoons instant yeast

Leave to froth while you mix together in a bowl:

• 2 cup fine brown rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 2 teaspoons xantham or guar gum
• 1 teaspoon salt

Mix in food processor

• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 eggs

Then

1. Add yeast mixture to wet ingredients
2. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
3. Beat well.
4. Spread mixture thinly with spatula to cover two non stick biscuit trays
5. Place dough in a warm spot, allow to rise for 35-40 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 deg C Bake.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is slightly browned.
8. It will come out of the oven with a slight crust that will go away as the bread cools. Allow the bread to cool 15-30 minutes before using. It will become flexible and soft.
9. Cut into large pieces to use as a folded sandwich bread