A wonderful way to enjoy a bagel.

At the start of the week, I posted about the Pure Bred bagels that I found on the shelf at Woolworths.

I asked for your help in deciding what I should have on my bagels, for I had never eaten a one before.

The suggestions I received, sounded delicious. I chose three of the suggestions and one of my own to help me review and discuss.

These Pure Bred 4 Poppy Seed bagels can be found in the bread aisle of Woolworths, You can purchase the pack of four for $5.75AUD.

The poppy seeds end up everywhere, so you should take care when removing the bagels from the packaging and cutting them in half. 

The bagels themselves are soft and tear easily rather than the rubbery bread that gluten free options usually provide. There was none of the dryness you may have come to expect from gluten free bread products. As the boiling process of bagel production usually creates they are slightly chewy but not in a negative way.

They don't taste under cooked or doughy and where the poppy seeds remain they provide a lovely texture. 

The first bagel combination that I tried was the breakfast bagel.

I scrambled eggs with chilli flakes and pan fried gluten free chorizo  and layered them together.

I warmed the bagel up slightly under the grill and the bagel became moist and soaked up the juice from both the egg and chorizo.

On the second day I decided to go with a lunch bagel. This option was suggested by Kahli; she said that two of her favourite combinations were tomato and cream cheese and salmon and cream cheese. I decided to combine both of her favourites into one. I spread cream cheese on the bagel, added sliced tomato and cucumber and then spread some chilli salmon over the top.

The sweet gooey texture of the cream cheese was balanced with the sharp spice from the chilli salmon. The tomato and cucumber slices provided a beautiful fresh flavour and wonderful crunch.

The third day saw me visit some exotic seasonings. I created a base of gluten free chicken and ham slices in a spiral with a dab of cream cheese in the center. I grated some carrot and sliced mini capsicums to add colour. Finally I added some lovely wasabi for an extra kick. This one tasted more like a sandwich roll but the denser dough reveals the difference. It was light and filling with small hits of the strong horse raddish flavour. It was absolutely fabulous. This creation was suggested by Vanessa. 

Finally, after all the savory bagels I had tried, I decided that it was worth seeing how the bagels handled sweet. The first person to suggest  a sweet dish was Manni. She suggested jam and berries however I wanted to try adding greek yoghurt and desiccated coconut to the mix. I wasn't sure how the poppy seeds would affect the sweet factor. I wiped off a majority of the poppy seeds and replaced it with the desiccated coconut.

The plain, dense bagel worked perfectly well with the fillings and balanced the overly sweet black forest of jam so that the combination didn't result in a sickly sugary laden treat.

I am not sure if I prefer these over plain bread rolls, I probably will purchase them again but at the same time if the bread rolls are cheaper it wouldn't make a different to me. The Pure Bred range however has provided some amazing quality in terms of their bread products and these bagels have piqued my interest as to the quality of their other products.

Let me know what other ways do you bagel? Also, If you have any other products you would like me to review or just a suggestion of a product you'd think I would enjoy, leave a comment on the post.

Don't forget to check us out on facebook, twitter or instagram for real time updates and photos and to join in the conversation.

Ashlee xx.

#Fourdaysofbagel

I had never eaten a bagel.
When Mr B and I grabbed then off the shelf I asked, "Is it a bun or a donut?"
He laughed.

This morning I put out a cry for help on our social media pages, asking:
"What bagel combinations do you enjoy?"

Four bagels in a pack means four ways I can try out bagels.
Let me know in the comments below, on our Facebook page, via instagram or tweet me your delicious gluten free bagel combos.
At the end of the week I'll post my review of the bagels and the ways I enjoyed them, mentioning anyone who suggested them.

You can follow my live bagel journey via our instagram and join in with #fourdaysofbagel and #aussiecoeliac

Ashlee xx

AGFL "The Box" - June

My June box arrived on Wednesday 17th, this is my third box from "Australian Gluten Free Life".
You can find my previous box reviews listed here.
The box as previously mentioned ships in the third week of the month.

If this is your first time reading about the Gluten Free Box from AGFL the prices are; $30AUD for one month or $80AUD for 3 months including shipping.
If you wish to order the July box, the cut off date for payment is 5pm on Sunday the 12th of July. The box should begin shipping the following Monday.
The recipe in this box was Hot Cakes with Maple Glazed Bacon and Whipped Butter, yum.

With the formalities all complete, we shall begin.
Once again the box arrived with my cursive name tag and addressed envelope. I opted out of taking a photo this time around as by now they all look very similar.

In this box there were only six items in the box compared to the eight items in the May box and the nine that arrived in the April box. However when totaled these items were worth the most out of the three boxes I have purchased.

The first thing I noticed in the box was a product I did not imagine i'd see in the box.

Bioglan Probiotic Digestive Balance tablets, a box of 30 capsules.

The card and box both announce the fact that it helps to relieve bloating, gas and abdominal discomfort.
I haven't used this specific brand but I do use Digestive tablets that relieve my glutened symptoms when they unfortunately occur. These tablets can be quite pricey and as the Bioglan tablets do not need to be refridgerated and have a shelf life until September next year these will be added to my 'emergency and accidental glutened kit' to help relieve my discomfort should it occur.

At Priceline pharmacies this specific size package will cost you $29.99AUD; however Chemist Warehouse can offer it to you for $19.99AUD so that is the price I will use when tallying my box contents.

The largest item in the box is another item from Simply Wize that I have had the pleasure of trying before. The Almond Bread is absolutely delicious. They are low in fat, fructose friendly and contain no artificial flavours. The pack is a full size at 150g, I've seen these before at Woolworths and Coles however at the moment I cannot find them on their online shopping options. You can find them online at Absolutely Gluten Free for $6.75AUD.
For those who are curious these are hard and crunchy but they also melt in your mouth with a wonderful buttery and nutty flavour; as well as absolutely moreish, if given the chance I would eat the entire packet in a sitting with a hot chocolate.



I've had many corn thin slices, however I can say that I can recall seeing the brand that we got in this months box. We got a foiled pack (I'm not entirely sure if this is a sample pack, travel pack or If inside the larger pack that is sold in stores the corn thins are wrapped into slices of four) of four slices Real Foods Corn Thins. I received the original flavour, however in the small pamphlet that was neatly tucked away in our envelope, there are also; Tasty Cheese, Sour Cream and Chives, Sesame,Soy, Linseed and Chia, Multigrain and Wholegrain thins.

I'm not sure if everyone received the same flavoured pack.

The 100g pack can be purchased from Woolworths for $2.00AUD, this foiled pack therefore is worth roughly 0.44 cents.

Usually for breakfast I have a smoothie, or a slice of gluten free toast with a egg when I can be convinced to spend the $7 for a loaf of bread. I think you have to be raised on Porridge or Weetbix and since I couldn't eat either I have honestly never tried them. I will however try the Brookfarm 'Porrij' sample that came in the box. My first ever taste of Porridge.

The sample doesn't have a weight on the packet so using my trusty scales I've weighed it at approximately, 50g.
The back of the packaging claims, high protein, no added sugar, fruit free, soy free,FODMAP friendly, Cholesterol free, Organic supergrains and ready in 90 seconds.
The ingredients list; organic brown rice, organic millet, almonds, organic quinoa, organic amaranth, organic golden flaxseed, macadamias and cinnamon. This product does contain tree nuts.
A 400g packet from the Brookfarm website will set you back $11.17AUD, resulting in this 50g sample being worth roughly $1.40AUD.



The trail mix we got this month is from Paleo Pure, I received the Mixed Berries variety. This will be another mixed that I blend up to use in my morning smoothies, with a selection of nuts, seeds,
coconut chips and in my version, goji berries, dried blueberries, cranberries and maple syrup. They are; grain free, gluten free, dairy free, vegan friendly, organic, hand made and low carb.
This pack from the Paleo Pure website will cost you $12.95AUD





The final item in this months box was a protein bar from Carman's Gourmet Kitchen. This protein bar is produced in a completely gluten free facility.
The flavour I received is Greek yoghurt and mixed berries. The bar contains at least 10g of protein.
You can purchase a 5 pack of these bars at Woolworths for $5.93AUD, resulting in our single bar being worth $1.19AUD.





The total cost of the products inside this box is estimated to be around $42.72AUD, so far our most expensive box.
I must say, I do miss the chocolate chip cookie style food that we received in the April box and hope that sometime in the future we are provided with more opportunities to try sweet foods as well as just the healthy stuff.

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook, for real time updates. If you received the Australian Gluten Free Living box, let me know if you got any different flavours, or what your thoughts on the products we go this month were.

Ashlee xx.