Not A Trace Awards 2016

Regular readers will know that each year I have my own little awards ‘ceremony’ where I acknowledge the best products / companies in various categories.

The awards for 2016 are obviously a little late(!) and as my blog posts were few and far between last year, due to a certain little person taking all my attention, the 2016 awards are more a summary of my blog reviews from last year.

Despite my inability to blog of late, it’s great to have had over 58,000 blog views since Not A Trace began. I am also very proud to see the constant stream of views every day even if I haven’t blogged for a while. Thank you to you all!

So, on to the awards / 2016 round-up….

The Stable Bristol

You may recall that back in July I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch night of the new The Stable Bristol which had just opened on Bristol’s waterfront. During that evening I was able to sample a couple of different gluten free pizzas and they tasted great.

If you haven’t seen my review of the launch night you can find it here.

Well, I am pleased to say that just before Christmas I met up with some friends at The Stable, and enjoyed a spectacular gluten free pizza! Here’s my full review…

Venice Bakery

Since first learning about Venice Bakery at The Allergy & Free From Show a few months ago, it has taken me quite some time to get around to using the two bases that I bought whilst I was there.

Having sampled some of their garlic bread at the show, I was keen to try to recreate this at home, so I opted to buy a seasoned crust, as well as plain crust to make a pizza :).

If you don’t know much about Venice Bakery, here’s a little bit more about them, taken from their website:

Founded in 1950, Los Angeles-based Venice Bakery is one of the country’s largest family owned pizza manufacturers. We supply the food service industry, grocery stores and markets, as well as restaurants and pizza chains across America. From our humble beginnings of artisanal breads and crusts, Venice continues to satisfy customers with a wide variety of delicious, convenient, and health conscious products.

The Stable Bristol – Launch Night

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch night of a new restaurant located on Bristol’s waterfront, The Stable Bristol.

As you can see from their logo, The Stable sells pizza, pies and cider and a huge variety of them at that!

If you’ve not heard of The Stable brand before, here’s a little bit more information about its concept, and the Bristol opening:

Since the opening of the first Stable in Bridport, Dorset in 2009, The Stable Bar and  Restaurant has grown from strength to strength, inspiring cider drinkers far and wide. Founders Nikki and Richard Cooper (who also own successful boutique hotel The Bull) are proud to serve stone-baked gourmet pizzas topped with locally sourced ingredients, complimented by over 57 varieties of cider! They stick with what they know and concentrate on the finer things in life: food, drink and great customer service.

Having won awards for its pizzas (PAPA Awards) and cider (CAMRA best cider bar) The Stable naturally attracts a lot of attention both from locals and out of town visitors who love the emphasis on the West Country; both the cider and produce are sourced as locally to each Stable as possible. The second Stable opened in Weymouth in 2012 and it was only a matter of time before the Stable love spread further afield. The natural choice was Bristol, in the heart of cider country!

Getting Started

Whilst still awaiting official confirmation of my coeliac disease diagnosis, I started looking to see what gluten free products were available and my boyfriend bought me the Coeliac UK Food and Drink Directory (www.coeliac.org.uk) to get me started.

Since my diagnosis, I registered as a member on the Coeliac UK website and have now received the 2013 Food and Drink Directory and this comes everywhere with me! It is brilliant to have a quick reference point if you’re unsure as to whether something is gluten free. As well as containing products by product type, it also includes products by supermarket, which i’ve found particularly helpful.

There are lots of companies who offer gluten free starter packs once you have been diagnosed and I suggest you request as many of these as possible.