Origins - Christchurch - Vegetarian Cafe with Vegan, Gluten free and Low FODMAP options

Origins - Christchurch

95 Westminster St
St Albans

Vegetarian Cafe with Vegan, Gluten free and low FODMAP options 

Origins is a very clean, light space with a small menu, cabinet food and an interesting tea and coffee menu. You can watch the tea brewing in a glass cylinder before it is served. 

Pete had a yummy corn soup with gluten free bread while I had the Asian pancake rolls with tasty tofu, peppers, cucumber and vegan mayo wrapped in paratha.

I was impressed that they have vegetarian, vegan and low FODMAP selections with no garlic and onion in their cooking.

Both our meals were delicious but a tad pricey. Pete's soup was $15 and mine was $9. I certainly wasn't full after mine but it was a lovely lunch. I followed up with an Oolong tea $7. The cabinet didn't seem to have any savoury food left but had a variety of tasty looking sweet treats - Pistachio cake, Carrot cake, Bliss balls and Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Origins is definitely worth a visit.
  

Gluten Free Sausage Rolls - New World

Gluten Free Sausage Rolls

Yum! These gluten free sausage rolls are available at New World - $8.50 for 10. The pastry is flaky and the filling moist with a herby flavour. Very useful to keep in the freezer to bring out for snacks or a lunch. They can be heated in the microwave which makes the pastry soft but still very tasty.

If these were put out without telling guests, I don't think they would know they were gluten free. I do wish they would come up with a vegetarian filling tho.

Roots - Restaurant - Christchurch

Roots Restaurant

8 London St

Lyttelton, Christchurch

Roots is a cosy restaurant in Lyttelton, Christchurch. It scored 3 Hats in 2017 and is a top 100 restaurant in New Zealand.  It may be cosy but it is also very upmarket. It is a real dining experience.  Not somewhere you go on a regular basis unless you are extremely rich! But definitely go there at least once! I have been lucky enough to have gone twice - once with a very generous friend who shouted us and then for my birthday. Each time was simply amazing.

The menu changes regularly and is a degustation so you don't choose meals, you get whatever is on the menu. Ingredients are sourced from local and biodynamic farms, small producers and their own garden. They forage around the area as well. For lunch they have 5 courses then dinner you can choose 8 or 12 courses. Sounds like a lot but each course is tiny - a taste sensation but tiny! In saying that if you choose the wine match you are certainly full at the end! 

When I went with Pete for my birthday I informed them that he was vegetarian, gluten and dairy free. It didn't faze them. I said I was happy to have the same as Pete but they gave both of us separate meals. When you arrive they serve three little amuse bouche to set you off for the meal. Every course is served on different plates to add to the experience. Each dish is a work of art with layers of flavour combinations leaving you wishing the dish was bigger! Most of the wines are blends that you could not buy from any shop. The staff are so well informed - I don't know how the wait staff remember all the detail of the ever changing dishes. We had different servers each time, everyone in the kitchen seemed to have a go!

Getting back to the prices (per person) - so lunch only available Tues - Thurs is $105 or $155 with wine matching. 8 courses - $145 or $225 with wine matching

12 courses - $195 or $315 with wine matching

Pete had eggplant while I had a confit egg

Paua for me and a daikon steak for Pete. Only other paua experience I have had is a very chewy paua pattie - this was divine!

Candied carrots

The knife for my steak!

One of my favourites - Looks like a tomato but actually a mousse with a combination of flavours

Dessert

Cheese board and Port

Finishing sweet treats 

What an experience! After the first visit, when a friend had offered to drive us so he didn't partake in the wine, I realised that we needed a plan. A taxi to and from Lyttelton is very expensive so for my birthday we decided to make a weekend of it and book an Air BnB. We were so lucky with the weather and were able to take the ferry to Diamond Harbour for the afternoon.

If you do nothing else - go to Roots Restaurant once!

Raspberry and Banana Bread - Gluten-free and Vegan

Raspberry and Banana Bread

Gluten-Free and Vegan

This is such an easy recipe as well as tasting so good - you can't go wrong with bananas and raspberries. You can toast it, serve it with a variety of condiments, it's vegan and gluten-free and you can freeze it. 

Raspberry and Banana Bread

1 ½ cups (350g) mashed banana

½ cup (125ml) vegetable oil

½ cup (125ml) soy milk (or any other dairy-free milk)

2 ½ cups (335g) gluten-free self-raising flour

1 cup (200g) brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (80g) desiccated coconut

1 cup (150g) frozen raspberries (you could use blueberries or chopped pear)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a loaf tin; line the base and long sides with baking paper.

Combine mashed banana, oil and milk in a small bowl. Combine sifted flour, sugar and baking soda with coconut in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour banana mixture into well; stir to combine. Fold in raspberries until just combined. Spoon mixture into pan; smooth the surface.

Bake bread for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand bread in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

You can serve this with caramelised banana and maple syrup for a real treat. Melt 20g or butter or dairy-free spread in a frying pan over a high heat. Add diagonally sliced bananas and cook for 1 minute each side or until caramelised.

The bread can be toasted.

You can freeze portion –sized pieces in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

June B - Gluten and Dairy Free Cookies - Shop product

June B - Gluten and Dairy Free Cookies

Possibly the best cookie you will ever taste! Quite the claim! I had high expectations when I saw these cookies in the cafe near our old yoga studio. Sadly it didn't live up to its hype. Yes it has all the right ingredients and none of the bad stuff but the texture is dry and for me it was just filling a gap or maybe a tea dunker.

Whole Cafe - Christchurch

Whole Cafe

100 Bealey Ave
Christchurch

This container cafe was one of the first in the area after the earthquake. It now has a covered area to sit and a carpark around the back off Durham St. They have a range of healthy food with gluten free, dairy free, vegan and paleo options. The sweet treats include bliss balls and raw slices. While they have all the hot drinks covered, we were wanting a cold drink and they only had water, a couple of tonic drinks or smoothies. We choose two very yummy smoothies but they were expensive ($9) and we had been hoping for a Phoenix juice or something similar.

Vegetarian Sausage Roll with Chilli Jam

Power Smoothie with Peanut butter and Coconut Water (super yum!!)

Vegetarian Chimichunga with Sour Cream

Green Smoothie

Coffee and Cacao Raw Brownie

Raspeerry, Beetroot and Tumeric Raw Brownie

Our lunch was really yummy but, as comes with many good quality healthy ingredients, it was rather expensive. Our two savoury items, two slices and two smoothies came to $56. In saying that I didn't feel guilty about having a takeaway lunch due to the pureness of the food!

Sweetcorn, Courgette and Tofu Fritters - GF and Vegetarian

Sweetcorn, Courgette and Tofu Fritters

Gluten Free and Vegetarian

Fritters are so quick and easy. These ones are a good combination of veges and protein. The tofu makes them moist. You can serve them with the cottage cheese mix, hummus, pesto, quince jelly - you name it! And of course a salad!

4 eggs

½ cup gluten free self-raising flour

250g firm tofu, mashed

1 ½ cups corn kernels

2 large courgettes, coarsely grated, squeezed to remove excess moisture

1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

3 teaspoons lemon zest

Cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 long red chilli, seeded, finely chopped

Whisk eggs in a large bowl until well combined. Slowly whisk in the flour until smooth. Add the mashed tofu, corn, courgette, 2 tablespoons of the chives and 2 teaspoons of the zest. Stir until well combined: season with cracked black pepper.

Heat half of the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.

Add 3 x 1/3 cups of mixture to the pan and cook fritters for 2-3 minutes each side, or until golden and cooked through. Repeat with remaining batter to make 12 fritters in total, adding the remaining oil as necessary.

Combine the chilli, cottage cheese, the remaining chives and zest in a bowl. Serve fritters topped with a dollop of cottage cheese mix or try hummus, pesto or maybe even quince jelly!

Alexandra's Sticky Date and Ginger Rice Pudding - Gluten free and Vegan option

Alexandra's Sticky Date and Ginger Rice Pudding

Gluten Free and Vegan

This makes a heart warming winter pudding. Just add milk - can use a dairy free milk

These packs are available at supermarkets. At New World that are in the baking aisle. Cost $7.99

There are other flavours too like Chocolate and Blueberry.