Feature my Food Friday: Introducing The Free From Fairy & her Scones (Wheat-free, Egg-free!)

It has been nice to completely switch off and enjoy time (and food!) with family by the sea…

A few of my friends have agreed to share a recipe and tell us a bit about themselves. I think that could make a nice little series. Feature my Food Friday may well be here to stay a tad longer than the summer, who knows?

Whether you are a keen baker, a blogger, one of my friends or a reader who would like to see their creation online, I would love to feature your food! Just email me a recipe (written in your own words), a landscape photo of your creation as well as the answers to the questions below.

Vicki is the first blogger I ever met ‘in the flesh’ at the Free From & Allergy Show in London last year. We had ‘met’ virtually a few months before through our blogs and our children’s restricted diets. Since then, we have become friends and Vicki even made a delicious chocolate cake all the children could enjoy (free from egg, wheat, gluten, dairy and nuts) for Wriggly’s baptism.

 Here is Vicki (centre) with Fiona from Coombe Mill (left) and I (right) at BlogCamp Bristol in June.

Vicki knows a thing or two about ‘free from’ food and she is always the first person I ask when I want to adapt a recipe. If you have not come across her fab blog, ‘The Free From Fairy’, check it out! Over to you Vicki!

Tell us about you. 

Hi, I’m Vicki Montague and I blog at ‘The Free From Fairy’.  Having suffered with IBS for over 20 years and having a daughter with coeliac disease, a dairy intolerance and previous allergy to egg, I set up my blog to share my simple, healthy, family friendly freefrom recipes…and our stories navigating the freefrom world!  I hope by doing this that I help other people who may be experiencing similar food challenges whilst teaching people how to cook simple, healthy food that everyone can enjoy!

Where do you find inspiration for your recipes? 

Everywhere!  From my time travelling in my teens and 20’s to magazines, recipe books, blogs and Pinterest.  Often in the middle of the night I wake up with a brilliant idea…but often when I wake up in the morning I have forgotten what it was!!

Is there anything you would not touch even if you were given £1,000 to eat it?

Frogs’ legs and snails (sorry Mel!).

What recipe did you choose to share today and why?

My scone recipe because so many people love scones and find it hard to find a good gluten-free and/or dairy-free version!

The recipe I get asked for again and again is for scones.  I developed this recipe a long time ago and it never fails to satisfy! As well as gluten-free there is a dairy-free option too and I even show you how to make them in one of my ‘cook-along-with-me’ videos!  These are far better than those you can buy in the supermarket and take next to no time to make!  If you make them be sure to share photos of them on social media and make sure you tag me too! I love seeing people happily enjoying a cream tea again!

Could you share a couple of tips that make your life easier in the kitchen?

Getting the kids involved in cooking from a young age widens what they are likely to eat.  I find that if the kids have helped to cook something (and try to go for savoury things not just sweet things!) they are much more likely to eat it and enjoy it!  That saves any mealtime annoyance when the kids turn their noses up at the food you have cooked for them!

1 thing no one should ever do in the kitchen:

Well I would have to say cross contaminate food!  If you follow a strict gluten-free diet for coeliac disease then any trace of gluten can make you ill… so if you are catering for a coeliac or someone who is very sensitive to gluten follow the simple instructions on my website to keep them healthy and well!

Thanks for that, Vicki! I have never made scones and I really have to try your recipe! When we next meet, we should make garlic butter together and maybe you would try one snail (just one?). As for frogs’ legs, they taste really nice (you would be surprised).

I could not agree more about cooking with children. Not only does it make children more likely to try things they would not touch otherwise (raspberry and beetroot ice cream is our most recent success), but it can also teach them the Science behind the food we eat daily (e.g. yeast makes bread dough rise) and how simple things are to make (easiest bread recipe ever).