Gluten Free Beans and Bacon On Toast

I created this tasty little dish after buying a large quantity of bacon on special at the supermarket… Since then it has become my weekend brunch. Since I started calorie counting I have a new found appreciation for beans.

Admittedly as a child I refused to go anywhere near a baked bean, but for some reason I Love Butter beans in Italian Sauce… They taste some what meaty! And make a great addition to any stew, casserol or soup in winter.

I decided to put my own spin on the classic Beans on Toast kiwi dish by adding Butter Beans in Italian Sauce with Bacon. Such a Tasty treat because its DELICIOUS and surprizingly fast to make.

Gluten Free Italian Butter Beans With Bacon on Toast Recipe

It around 550 calories so you would not want to have it every day, but nice as a treat.

If you wanted to lower the calorie count you could change the type of bacon you use, or only have one slice of toast as this is a pretty filling meal.

Gluten Free Red Curry

I never Realised how many calories were in a Thai Red Curry due to the coconut milk I made one last night and after adding up the calories for this dish I REALLY wish I had measured out my serving sizes rather then tossing things into a bowl and a couple of containers.

My 1/3 sized dish came to around 700 calories due to the excessive amount of rice and generous portion size.

If I followed the instructions on the back of the back of spice paste, I would have seen that it made enough for 4 servings this would have taken it down to around 525 calories. But as I was starving I made myself up a HUGE pile (and put the left overs into two containers for lunch and dinner tomorrow).

I realised was eating it I realised it was WAY to much food, and wish I had split the dish into 4 meals, after all that would mean less cooking!!!!

So when you make this dish I recommend you make sure you follow the correct serving size on the pack and serve it with 1/2 a cup of rice, as this is more then enough. Be portion concious this winter!

Gluten Free Red Curry With Pumpkin and Potato Recipe

We arrived into rome and were dropped off the bus where we headed straight for the metro and darted into the city for some touristing.

Trevi Found, Colloseum, Roman Ruins, Monuments, Fountains, Castles and Art… There was so much to see in Rome and we managed to cram it into a few hours of speed walking in the hot sun. Today was a pretty good day for figuring out where everything is, tomorrow morning I have a tour of the vatican, so will go back to all the places I want to see again tomorrow.

I can not get over the quality of the art work in this city… it is amazing that in a life time someone can get so good at doing one thing.

After a day of site seeing it was time for a well deserved shower then a decent meal. Dinner was at the campsite and once again came with a nice Italian red wine. Dinner was an entree of salad severed with a pasta… this is where I had the best gluten free pasta of my life, which was a Eggplant and tomato spaghetti cooked to perfection with the most flavoursome sauce. It really did not get much better!

There was no dessert although the bar tenders did insist on the entire tour doing tequila laybacks (you lay back and they mix the shot in your mouth) before we were allowed to go and do washing, then prepare ourselves for the night ahead.

Once again the camping ground had a restaurant and bar so there was no need to take the metro into town to check out the night life, there were pleanty of people around to chat to, and the music and alcohol was flowing until the small hours of the morning… great if you want to party… not so great if you have to be at breakfast at 6:15am to get on a bus/train at 7am for your walking tour at 8am.

I found Florence a little confusing to walk around so was glad to have a group of friends to wander the streets with, find food, do some shopping and help me choose a leather jacket.

Today we saw the David, Castles, Statues, Beautiful rivers and beautiful buildings of Florence.

We had all sorts of weather today, rain, sun and wind so were glad to get back to the camping ground to shower, swim and soak up the sun before heading out to sample some word famous Florentine steak from a local restaurant.

The Florentine steak was really tasty… perhaps the rarest steak I have ever had, but I was a little overwhelmed by the quantity of meat we were given, I would suggest sharing this between 4 people (rather then two) as it was really to much food for me. Also tried a mushroom risotto and a side of greenbeans which were incredibly tasty… and an Italian wine of course .

After dinner I waddled around to a local bar as there was talk of karaoke, while the others went to get gelato while we waited for the bus to arrive.

Then it was back to the camping ground for a digestive, some pool and an early night as we are off to ROME tomorrow.

I got roomed with Nikki in a 3 bedroom cabin with heatpump and it’s own shower, while it was on the smaller size it was nice to only have two to a room, so we had room for our packs. Once we had settled in it was straight off to the restaurant where I was anxiously awaiting my first taste of Italy.

We sat down to a table filled with breads, oils and balsamic (which I was a little envious that I could not eat) so I opted to make the most of the Italian wine, while my gluten eating counterparts feasted on bread.

I was excited to see the gluten free meals come out first, I received a delicous gluten free peene with a tomato sauce, followed by grilled chicken and salad. This was a huge meal which I am embarrased to say I scarfed down because I was so starving! Everyone enjoyed the meal and it, was a great chatting to my fellow tour mates after our bonding in Switzerland, we were all much more comfortable around each other.

After dinner we decided to check out our new accommodation for the next few nights, complete with multiple swimming pools, founds, bars, restaurants and even a discotech then it was off to the bar to try Lemoncello an Italian Liquer and then down to the discotech to dance the night away.

I do not think I have ever been so cold in my life, and am really regretting sending most of my merino wool thermals home after Scotland, Did not really think about the fact it might be cold in Switzerland!

Today we are on a bus to Italy – Destination Florence Via Pisa for a look at the leaning tower.

Once we got to Pisa I thought it seemed a bit anti climactic – while I am sure in it’s day it was a site of wonder and joy, I think architecture has come a long way. I still did the token tourist photo of me holding the tower up – just doing my part

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Arrived in Switzerland in a little village called Lauterbrunnen around 6pm last night after a HUGE drive. Got to know a few more people on the bus and played a few games.

The scenery in this place is out of this world, Driving in it reminded me a lot of Queenstown, but the valley we are staying in is filled with snow, green grass, yellow and purple flowers, waterfalls and crisp mountain air. Can’t wait to show you in my photos.

New Friends

There is a bar at our camping grounds so After a Swiss meal of creamy chicken and Rosti we headed out for a few drinks and some sweet sounds and danced the night away to the early morning.

I feel surprizingly good after the two games of 4 kings a.k.a. Circle of death I played.

Had a free day today as I did not want to skydrive or go on the train, so just soaking up the sun and wandering round having a look at the beautiful countryside.

Off to Italy tomorrow to Florence. Will keep you posted. xoxox Loose

I checked out the

• Lourve (just the outside as the inside would have taken me the whole day)
• Notre Dame
• The Opera House
• A 10 Story Shopping Center
• Eiffel Tower

The highlights for the day were the amazing stain glass windows in Notre Damn and the Macaroons (of which some french ladies gave me a tutorial of how to pronouce Macaroon in french after giggling at my kiwi accent)

Our tour met at the park beside the effel tower for a picnic in the sun, then we jetted off to a local bar before enjoying a cabaret, which was enjoyable but a bit cheesy. (some interesting costuming choices and lots of boobs).

Was going to venture out on Paris town, but was shattered so saving it for Switzerland.

Gluten Free Escargot

We arrived in Paris late in the evening after a big day of driving on the bus. We threw off our bags hopped over the road for a dinner at a french Bistro that consisted of Escargo (Galic Butter Snails), Beef Bourguignon for the rest of the tour, and for me a Cucumber Salad and Roast Chicken and a beautiful french red wine. This place was really on to it with an allergy friendly menu and I got to pick from multiple choices.

After dinner we jumped on the bus and experienced Paris traffic for the first time!

On top of the world in Paris

After that we headed out for a walk up 300 stairs for a beautiful view of paris from above, then had a quick tour round a old church. Had my first experience with “street men” and their string – I just gave them my piss off look and walked fast – and they did not bother me.

After dinner we jumped on the bus and spent 35 minutes getting 100metres down the road in the crazy traffic, followed by a 2 hour driving tour around paris of all the sites at night. Paris looked beautiful illuminated by all the golden lights, I loved the architecture and symmetry off the streets and buildings.

Managed to score myself the double bed in our room after playing rock paper scissors and had the best nights sleep of my life.

My 18.5kg pack and I jumped on the Underground and made our way over to the hostel, and after 2 wrong terms and a visit to the “other” clink hostel, I made it!!!

The hostel beds were a little scarey as the ladders looked more like a rock climbing wall when I got into my room, also had a few issues with some bitchy french girls moving all my stuff because they had been assigned my bed – although I just got given a room number when I moved it.

Went to happy hour in the bar down stairs… only to find it was not looking particularly happy, so I befriended some nice dutch art school students who looked like the most fun for the sad looking crowd in the bar and had a few local ciders and talked about the best spots to travel in Europe.

I ended up trying out an Italian restaurant for dinner near the Tube station, I tried a marginal chicken and mushroom risotto and was dissappointed to find out they did not serve wine. I knew I had an early night so crawled into bed at 930pm only to find my phone was completely dead and would not turn on, as I was using this as my alarm clock I was a little stressed! I borrowed an alarm clock from the front desk but was worried I would miss my tour so did not really sleep much that night.

Gluten Free Kiwi In Paris

The next morning I awoke an hour early to have a shower and breakfast. Although breakfast was included with my stay, I could not eat anything as it was all cereal and toast. Needless to say I was a little grumpy, from lack of sleep and annoyed about my cell phone (which I planned on blogging this trip from) so it was a quite bus ride to Dover England for the ferry over to France.

I grabbed an english breakfast on the ferry from dover was glad to have something warm in my bell, and also feeling a bit delicate after having a few ciders last night. The ferry ride was pretty boring, so I tried to get to know a few of the people on my tour, but really would have rather curled up in a ball and caught up on some sleep.

After a long day of driving we arrived in PARIS… and so the fun begins!