Foodie Friday On A Saturday - What I Ate In October - Holiday Eating, Cheating And Some Comfort Food

It's been another odd month food wise but above all it been characterised by a total fail when it's came to sticking to my gluten and wheat free diet and dealing with my intolerance's. I don't know why but this month I've been really fed up with my dietary restrictions and as a result I've ate all manner of naughty things  and generally I've paid the price. Thankfully I'm not seriously allergic or intolerant but with bloating, tummy pains and yes other nasties I've learnt my lesson by feeling crappy - was it worth it? In some cases (my holiday eats) yes, in some cases (a disappointing cheesecake) definitely not. Never mind it's out of my system now and I'm back trying to eat sensibly and trying not to aggravate my poor little tummy any more.

The majority of this post is all about the yummy food that I ate whilst I was on my hols in Cyprus. We've been to the the hotel that we stayed in quite a few times and I know for a fact that I can always find something to eat. We stayed on a half board basis, and we had a breakfast and an evening meal. To be honest when it's hot this was enough for the both of us, we just made sure that we ate plenty especially in the morning to last us for the day. All the meals in the hotel are served buffet style, where you eat as much as you like,and go back as many times as you like :).

This little lot was the first part of my breakfast pretty much every day, give or take an item or too depending on how hungry I felt. My breakfast consisted of a little dabble in the traditional cooked breakfast, with a bit of a Greek / Cypriot / Continental twist. Fried potatoes, scrambled or fried eggs and erm lots of cheese, the sliced continental type, and some Cypriot Anari and Halloumi. You can also see my first dabble into the dreaded wheat grain. They look like little pasties and I guess that's what they were, a sort of spinach and cheese pasty like spanakopita only made with puff pastry, and a sort of cheese pasty made with a very mild white cheese - gorgeous and well worth the bloating!

Next I normally had some fruit - oh yes Watermelon - OMG it was sooooo good, sooo juicy and so refreshing. Every day I pretty much just had that but these pics were taken on our last day and since this was the last official meal of our stay I thought I better stock up, hence the diddiest little croissants which were only about the length of my thumb. The other pastry type think that you can reminded me a bit of cannoli, but it was a vanilla custard in a sort of filo pastry tube - again gorgeous and so worth it x

Finally I ended my epic breakfast with a bowl of yogurt, they do such amazing yogurt in this part of the world, this is the peach and apricot flavour but they had quite a few and they were all delicious.

Yeah so as you can probably gather we didn't need to eat very much during the day, my mum had a sandwich once, and we either had ice cream, fruit or crisps to tide us over till dinner time, and of course we drank ridiculous amounts of water to keep us hydrated in the heat. I've mentioned this ice cream brand on the blog before but Nestle Nirvana deserves another mention for it's utter brilliance -  the Praline and Cream one was mine x

Then it was dinner time - we usually ate about 8.30 onwards so by this time we were usually starving. I usually divided my meal into three. First of taking my pick from the hot food buffet and the salad bar. This is just an example of what I had showing some assorted salads, some vegetables, some Cyprus potatoes and some hummus !!!!

After that I then had a fruit and cheese course, which usually consisted of either some halloumi, some anari, feta, a goats cheese or a cheddar, and again I had some melon. I probably ate an entire watermelon in the the course of the week :)

Finally pudding, the usually involved creme caramel, some form of mousse, and maybe some form of cake or trifle. Here I had a little bit of something which was a cross between chocolate biscuit cake and tiffin - soooo good!

Then on a couple of occasions I ended my meal (usually waiting for Mummy Lou who took full advantage of the starters and meat and fish items) with an ice lolly - again by Nestle these Nestea lollies were amazing, this is the peach one but they also did a berry one and they really tasted of fresh fruit - so nice and a great way to end a meal.

I wouldn't be a holiday without a drink or two, and we started early with a little cocktail in a can on our outbound flight - I had an On The Beach and my mum had a mojito - I'm blaming the turbulence for the quality of this picture ;) lol

Again something else that I've mentioned on the blog before - is this ivi - which to be honest is just a slightly nicer version of Fanta - addictive on it's own or mixed with a bit of vodka ;)

I also frequented one of the hotel bars for my customary vodka and orange juice :)

Oh and I also managed to get another one of these,

Yes the Costa Raspberry And White Chocolate Cooler, available for such a short time in the UK, I was delighted to find these in the Costa next to the hotel :)

Ah dreams of sunshine x It's no surprise that from the moment I got back home I wanted to be back out there on the beach - boo - never mind I decided to make a dish using some of the yummy halloumi and feta that I brought back with me -Nigellas Double Potato and Halloumi Bake - because of the now traditional post flight cold I also added some pickled jalapenos and some chilli flakes.

and I also had a little dessert treat that reminded me of my holidays  - Creme Caramel.

The rest of my food intake this month screams comfort food - I've wanted to eat things that are warming, soothing and that make me happy -  first up my mums gorgeous homemade cauliflower cheese, with gluten free cheese sauce, mature cheddar and Stilton.

Something else that I've eaten a couple of times this month is a ready meal. If your vegetarian and gluten free then you NEED to look at the Amy's Kitchen brand - you can get some of their bits in most larger supermarkets, online and in some health food shops. Yes, there more expensive but I've loved every single item that I've tried.This is the Cheddar, Rice And Bean Burrito which makes a great snack on it own or with salad or veg as a main meal.

Everything else in the post is all about the sugar, when your feeling a bit rubbish a bit of sugary sweetness always helps lift your spirits. We'll start off with some else out of packet - the Asda Free From Chocolate Brownie Mix

Yummy, something else that's yummy is homemade gluten free crumble - this one was made with plums and apples from my uncle's garden served with custard :)

The final fabulous things that I've consumed this month have been drinks and maybe a cheeky little chocolate treat. This month I've rediscovered my coffee and hot drink obsession and I've consumed countless cups of tea, hot chocolate, and coffee.

These are the Nestle Cafe Mocha Sachets and they are soooo good. I've been having mine with some Starbucks Toffee Nut Syrup for an Autumn / Winter warmer. I'm lusting after a pod style coffee machine now but my mum won't relent lol.

Autumn also means the return of a few Starbucks classics - Pumpkin Spice Latte to be honest doesn't do a lot of me but the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate on the other hand.....

Wow amazing, a few people have said that they find it too sweet, but for me there is no such thing - warming and sweet, you get a nice salty kick thanks to the sprinkles - make this permanent please Starbucks x Finally carrying on with the sweet and salty theme,  a pre Halloween treat - Reeses Peanut Butter Pumpkins 

So that was my foodie month, some treats, some holiday eats, and the realisation that I need to be more careful about what I eat, and I need to be stronger and try to stick to my gluten and wheat free diet no matter how much I crave things. Have you eaten anything amazing in October, leave me a comment and let me know xx