The Irrational Digestive Tract

Vegan Sour Cream

2013-11-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm on a roll. Whoda thunk?

I thought I'd share today one of my favorite discoveries about raw cashews. Besides the huge versatility they have in vegan baking, surprisingly cashews make a fabulous substitution to traditional dairy based sour cream!

The first attempt at making a non-dairy sour cream bombed right from the start. I tried making in from a block of tofu and other assortments of goodies, as the recipe called for. It was the WORST tasting stuff I've ever made! *shudders*

So it was off to the nets once again to find something out there that tasted better. That is where I stumbled upon this little gem from Bare Feet in the Kitchen! A sour cream recipe made from raw cashews. I was intrigued by the thought and was willing to try anything that wasn't that horrid tofu sour cream again. So I followed the recipe as written and ended up with something kind of grainy and watery tasting. Not the best but it had some serious potential.

I took another shot, modified the recipe, and by George, I had something worth making again, and again, and again! Something more along the lines of rich tangy sour cream. And as an added bonus this recipe freeze beautifully.

Cashew Sour Cream:
1.5-1.75 cups of raw cashew (I use cashew pieces from Trader Joe's, 1 bag makes 2 batches)
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Cider Vinegar
1/4-1 cup of water
Salt to taste

Soak your cashews in water for several hours to over night. Drain the soaked cashews and toss those puppies into a food processor or high speed blender. Process the nuts until they are nice and smooth and creamy. It takes just a couple of minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed to get a nice uniform consistency. Once your cashews have reached the desired consistency, slowly incorporate the lemon juice and cider vinegar. Scrape down the bowl once again. Next slowly add water until your sour cream reaches your favorite sour cream consistency. I like my sour cream on the thicker side so I only add up to 1/4 cup of water. Add salt to taste, whirl the cashews around a little more, and you have made yourself one tasty batch of sour cream.

Scoop your sour cream into a container and pop it into the fridge for a couple of hours. As the sour cream chills it will thicken up a bit.

Make, eat, repeat!

The Other Half of Almond Milk

2013-11-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

So you remember that mass of almond pulp from the last post that I told you not to toss out? You didn't toss it out did you? Good!!

Well guess what? We're going to make something good and yummy out of it. Actually, a couple of good and yummy things!

Take that mass of nutty goodness, get out your baking sheet and line it with a silpat (or parchment paper) and dump the mass out into the middle of the baking sheet. Spread the almond meal into a thin layer onto the baking sheet.

Now here is where things can go in 1 of 2 directions.

First Direction:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Pop in the pan and dry out the almond pulp. Make sure to stir every 20 to 25 minutes or so. You want to dry out the almond pulp completely. It'll take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending upon how moist your pulp was to begin. Continue baking for as long as it takes to get the pulp super duper dry. Once dry, pull the pan out of the oven and completely cool the almond pulp. At this point you can package the pulp and toss it in the freezer for later use or grind it now and make home-made almond flour for all your baking needs!

Second Direction:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toss the baking sheet with pulp into the oven. Stir this puppy every 10 minutes making sure not to burn it. What we want to do here is get a nice roast on the almond pulp while drying it out. This will go much quicker than drying the pulp for almond flour. Once your almonds have reached the desired dryness and roastyness, pull the pan out of the oven and completely cool. Pour the cooled almond pulp into a food processor 'cus we're going to make Almond Butter bitches!!

How does one make almond butter? Simple, pour almond pulp into food processor and turn it on. Voila, almond butter.

Okay, so some patience is required too.

Turn on your food processor and let the patience of a saint take over. Make sure you scrape down the bowl as necessary to get all the almondy goodness nice and smooth. It may take up to 15 minutes in the processor to get the almonds smooth and creamy. If absolutely necessary, once the almond butter starts to form, you can add a little vegetable oil to help smooth out the consistency to your preferred desire. Add in a little salt and call it good.

Now, I did, as an experiment, make honey almond butter. Super tasty, but unfortunately the honey made the butter seize up. And as I was totally bored of this project by that point, I didn't have the wherewithal to continue to process the almonds back into a smooth form. Also, I don't think my poor pathetic food processor could have handled much more in the way of processing. So much for nice creamy almond butter, but it was tasty enough to overlook the fact I mucked it up in the first place!

Almond Milk aka Nut Juice (according to the hubby)

2013-11-15T21:57:00.001-08:00

Hi again.

I see my resurrection didn't quite work. Baby steps it is.

Carpe Diem!

I have recently ventured into the world of nut milks. Specifically making my own nut milk. How economical of me, huh? Actually, it's more of a necessity. There isn't a whole lot available out there that doesn't have hoards of sweeteners, additives, preservatives, thickeners, binders, etc. What there is available that I can drink just isn't very tasty. So I embarked into home-made adventure land.

It took about a week to amass the proper equipment to venture in to nut milk production. I must make a side note to say how much I adore Amazon Prime. It's the best thing since sliced bread! You order something on line, 2 days later, poof, it's at your front door!! First to arrive from my order were the nuts, raw almonds to be exact. BTW, I heart Spicy World, they supply me in a hoard of safe to eat, gluten free processed, raw nuts in bulk. Thank you Spicy World!! Then I just happened to acquire some flour sack tea towels in lieu of a nut milk bag, since I hear those things tend to pop seams and loose shape fairly quickly. The flower sack tea towels were by far the best purchase ever!

Now that I have supplies in hand, here is how the almond milk adventure begins.

The entire recipe list includes:
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups water
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Additional water for soaking.

Yup, that's it. 2 (or 3) ingredients. Super simple.

Start by soaking 1 cup of raw almonds in water for up to 2 days. If you are soaking your nuts for longer than 24 hours, replace the soaking water at least once. The longer you soak your almonds, the creamier the end product will be (especially if you don't have a high powered blender, like I don't).

After your allotted soak time, drain and rinse the almonds. Toss rinsed almonds and 2 cups of fresh cold water into a blender. Turn the blender on to full blast and let that puppy run until you get bored. So for me, about 2-3 minutes, or until the almonds get pulverized to a small pulp. After the initial demolition of almonds, slowly pour the remaining 2 cups of water into the blender while it runs. Once all the water in incorporated, turn off the blender and get your flour sack tea towel out and line a strainer with it (the strainer is basically there just to keep the tea towel in one place while you strain) over a measuring cup or bowl.

Pour the almond and water mixture into the tea towel and let the liquid strain through into the bowl. Once the vast majority of liquid has strained through the towel, grab the towel ends and get your hands a little dirty. Squeeze the bajeezus out of the almond pulp left in the towel because you want all that liquidy goodness squeezed out of the almond pulp. For we have big plans for that left over mass of yummy nutty goodness. So do NOT toss out the left over puck of almond pulp.

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the milk, if desired (I don't recommend doing this if you are planning on using it for savory items, like mashed potatoes. I can't imagine that mashed potatoes and vanilla would really go together very well :p blech) and pour into a pitcher or storage container.

Refrigerate your milk and give it a shimmy-shake before using since it will separate in the chill chest.

That's it folks. A whole whopping 5 minutes worth of work for home-made almond milk! So now it's your turn to try it out!

Abandonment Issues

2013-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have some abandonment issues here, I have totally abandoned my blog.

How rude!

Well, I'm here to hopefully breathe some life into the poor thing and resurrect it once again. I realize I've let my life over take my blogging, and yes, that is ok, but it's time to start putting the fingers to the keyboard and start trying to get back out there!

A lot has happened in the past several months, as in since I quit blogging last year *hangs head in shame*. My health problems have been increasing, I've been moody, tired, and felling sick way more often then I should.

So I finally decided to nut up and went to see a Naturopath at the end of December to see if maybe I could get some answers.  After a lengthy discussion, the Naturopath ordered up several blood tests and we decided on adding in an allergy panel as well. I secretly hoped that the allergy panel would come up with something and secretly wished it wouldn't at the same time. Several months went by after seeing the Naturopath, I changed jobs at the beginning of the year and had to wait for my new insurance to kick in. The panels had to wait and so did I.

The day finally came when I finally had health insurance again, yay!! And off I went for my blood draw. Timing couldn't have been any better because I was well into week 4 of feeling like super crud!  Fast forward about 4 weeks later when the allergy panels came back. Let's just say, it was a super surprise to me and I was totally off basis on my food suspicions.

The panel came back with over 20 items moderate reactivity and above!! Seriously, was my body trying to give me an aneurysm???? Reassuringly the doc told me that I likely suffer from leaky gut and that most of these items were false positives and with time and healing I could incorporate most of the foods back into my daily diet.

Whew! That's at least a tiny bit of weight off of my shoulders, for now.

But that doesn't mean any of them were allowed in my diet for the next 10-14 days.

Well, that 10-14 days has stretched into the start of week 3. I've been feeling remarkably better but still have those bad days where I inadvertently ingest something on the no-no list. Like the ding-dang-darned walnuts I purchased out of the bulk bin at Whole Foods that were contaminated with gluten. I've been suffering that mistake for the last week. And I will give my husband the benefit of the "I told you so" since he told me not to buy them out of the bulk bin. You win honey, you win.

So, what's this girl allergic to? Since we don't have all day, I'll just give the breakdown of the biggies. The ones I don't think I'll ever be able to incorporate back into my normal diet.

Gluten - although this came back as no reaction on the test, it doesn't mean I don't have a gluten allergy it just means I'm just that awesome at keeping it out of my diet! *pats herself on the back*
Whey Protein - AKA dairy. Can you tell me a dairy product that does not have whey in it? I can't either.
Eggs - Both whites and yolks. Sad panda. :(
Brewer's Yeast - I'm just not going there at this moment. I refuse to believe I have to give up my last form of beer and beer like pleasures. So we're going to ignore that this is truly a problem until I actually try adding it back into my diet.
Cane Sugar - Who in their right mind is allergic to cane sugar?!? Apparently this special girl. And who knows in what food products one finds cane sugar? Just about every freaking product out there on the grocery store shelf.

So, is anyone getting the picture of what my life & diet is starting to look like?

Anyone as tired of the rhetorical questions as I am?

Good, we'll move on now.

So life as I knew it has now radically changed. I can no longer go to the grocery store to pick up something for a quick bite (not that any shopping trip was ever quick before). It's a crying shame!

There is one silver lining in this new life I now have. I am now required to do something I've always wanted to do but never had a good enough excuse to start doing. That new something is cooking fresh and homemade. Making my own homemade spice mixes, dressing, sauces, cheeses, yogurts, breads and sweets. Making things from scratch and eating the way we all should be. No more preservatives and processed foods since I simply cannot eat them any longer. Funny, how I'm now forced into eating healthy instead of pretending like I'm eating healthy.

Karma is kind of funny like that.

So the blogging will change a little as I will be cooking and baking somewhat differently than before. Hopefully I can find some new resources and become a better resource for others out there with the same allergies.  So here I am, a self-proclaimed guinea pig for new to me foods and processes. Results of said guinea pigging to follow!

It's interesting how life throws you curveballs and in realty it's just a push in a direction you already wanted to go but didn't have the courage to do so in the first place.

Russian Teacakes

2012-12-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well, this was the not so successful cookie... Which sucks since Russian Teacakes are my all-time favorite Christmas cookies.

Sigh...

As sad as it is that this recipe does not work well gluten free, I went into yesterday's bake-off with the understanding that not everything we would make would turn out. Maybe next year, I'll try to either find a recipe formulated for gluten free baking, or find a good gluten free shortbread recipe and modify it to make Russian Teacakes out of it.

This recipe came from my all time favorite cook book. The well loved, cherished and well used, vintage Betty Crocker Cookie Book. In my opinion, the holy bible of cookies!! So get out there and buy it!!

Russian Teacakes
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly. Stir flour and salt together; blend into butter. Mix in nuts and chill dough.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Dish out dough and roll into 1" balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet (cookies do not spread) and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. While cookies are still warm, roll in powdered sugar. Cool and roll again in powdered sugar.

Since the GF version of these cookies did not turn out so well, I'm not posting the modified recipe. I'm just posting the original in all it's glory and wonderful memories. Thankfully I'm learning that it's okay to be able to eat all those yummy things I used to be able to because truthfully, the are other very wonderful recipes out there that are even better than the ones I used to enjoy.

What happened with this recipe was that the cookies came out tasting really doughy. They were cooked through thoroughly but had that unbaked, floury, doughy flavor and texture. Not so yummy. That and the cookies were very fragile and disintegrated very easily when rolling in powdered sugar. So next year, I'll put in a little research time to see if I can come up with a good substitute recipe!

Thumbprint Cookies

2012-12-23T17:05:00.002-08:00

Yesterday was cookie day. My mother and I usually spend an afternoon around Christmas making cookies. I love this time of year since I cherish these rare days of mostly uninterrupted time and enjoyment with my mom. It's a holiday tradition that I hope to carry on for many more years to come!

We decided to keep the number of recipes down to 4 this year since it was an experimental year. We baked everything gluten free! Out of the 4 batches, 3 turned out very edible (I think, since I didn't actually get a chance to try the last batch of cookies [that blog will follow after Christmas, when I will get a chance to try the cookies] since they were not cool enough to pack up).

Let's start out with the first successful batch of cookies.

Thumbprint Cookies - courtesy of www.simplyrecipes.com
1 cup of butter, room temperature
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 cups of gluten free flour
1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)
3/4 cup of your favorite jam
Parchment paper

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes.

Separate the eggs. Add the yolks and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. If using nuts place the egg whites in a shallow dish on the side and whisk them until bubbly and frothy (the egg whites will be used to keep the nuts on the cookies).

Add the flour and salt. Mix until just combined. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 350F.

Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. If using nuts, dip the balls into the egg whites then roll them into the nuts until covered. Place the balls on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie. Do not press too hard or the cookie will fall apart. Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until slightly firm. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This was the first time I have actually had the pleasure of making thumbprint cookies. I can't say I was disappointed one bit! We rolled half the batch in chopped pecans and left the other half plain. The batch with nuts kept their shape much better than the plain cookies. The baking time had to be upped by about 3 minutes from the original recipe to get the proper firmness. I did find the jam decided it didn't want to stay in the thumbprints... hence the parchment paper was a great idea! Thank you recipe writer! I can't wait to try this recipe out again in the future with different types of jams and nuts.

Pumpkin Bread/Muffins

2012-12-23T16:43:00.002-08:00

Gah, I've neglected my bog! Sorry folks, it's been a really busy month. But that is to be expected when it comes to the holidays.

I thought I'd take a moment to catch you all up on what I've been doing for the last few weeks. The gluttony of Christmas cookies has continued with some other baked goodies as well. I thought I'd start out with Pumpkin Bread. I've been itching for months to make some and I finally found the perfect recipe to make.

Of course with GF cooking, some modifications were necessary. Thankfully, not much was required! Only one substitution was needed, gluten free flour instead of regular flour. I made a double batch and split it between 1 loaf of bread and a dozen muffins. The recipe below is for a single batch of bread.

Pumpkin Bread/Muffins - courtesy of www.epicurious.com
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Scant 1 cup canned pumpkin puree, not flavored pie filling
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch loaf pan.

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves in a small bowl.

Beat the butter, sugar, and oil on high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times, until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

Add the pumpkin puree and mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until just incorporated. Mixing on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and 2/3 cup water and mix until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely.

I found this recipe very easy to follow. The additional water gave me a little confusion as it wasn't on the ingredient list. I did find that with GF cooking, the batter turns out rather sticky so I did end up adding about 1/3 of a cup of water to a double batch recipe. It made pouring the batter into the loaf pan much easier. For the muffins, dish into the tins like normal. I used cupcake papers to make clean up a cinch. The bread probably took about an hour and 30 minutes to cook as opposed to the hour to hour and 15 minutes the recipe calls for. I've noticed most GF baked good seem to need a little longer cook time than regular baked good. Or it could be my old -ass oven (circa 1969) that is the culprit. The muffins cooked for much less time, but as I forgot to watch my timer, they probably spent at least 20 minutes in the oven, possibly longer. They came out fully cooked if not a little over-cooked. But the taste was just as good as ever even if it was a little drier to the tongue than I would have preferred.

This recipe was sensational! It had the perfect balance of spice and sweetness. It wasn't overly sweet or overly spiced. The added benefit of using GF flour in this recipe is the bread came out of the oven oh so moist and stayed that way until it was gone!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

2012-12-02T19:47:00.003-08:00

As the holidays are upon us and Christmas is rapidly approaching, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about traditions. One of those traditions being my absolute favorite tradition of the entire year. The day spent baking disgusting quantities of Christmas cookies just for the fun of it. Always there are Sugar Cookies, and usually Russian Tea Cakes, and Chocolate Crinkles. Sometimes Thumbprint Cookies, sometimes traditional Chocolate Chip. Spritz, Peanut Blossoms (with the Hershey Kisses), Chocolate Lassies, Gingerbread, the list just goes on and on! No matter what cookies are baked the tradition is about the day spent with family enjoying our time together, not necessarily the coma inducing calorie busting, glutton fest the cookies create.

This year, it feel like my favorite tradition has changed.

But in fact, has it?

When I sit and think about it, no, not really. The tradition can still live, I just have to modify it a little. Just because I can't eat these traditional cookies any more, doesn't mean I can't still substitute something here and there and make the traditional cookies. It doesn't mean I don't have to sit out of the fun festivities. I just means I have to eat less. And well, in my case, fewer cookies is NOT a bad thing!!

Darn.

As I've been sitting and stewing over what kind of cookies to make this year, I started out by trying a new recipe to me for some warm up. Let's face it, I'm not quite prepared for the full cookie spectrum since I have only made 1 batch of gluten free chocolate cookies to date since going gluten free. I have been ITCHING to bake something sweet since Thanksgiving, this weekend especially. The pizza dough from Friday has me geared up and revving to spend some time with my mixer and oven. So I went through my 2 favorite cookie books and came up with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chippers. Added bonus, these cookies are completely flourless and only 4 ingredients to boot!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chippers - Recipe from Best-Loved Cookies
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup chocolate chips
granulated sugar (this one doesn't count on the ingredient count in my book!)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine peanut butter, brown sugar and egg in medium bowl. Mix well until completely blended. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Dish out dough into 1 1/2" balls. Place cookies 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a table fork into granulated sugar, press criss-cross fashion into each ball, flattening to 1/2" thickness.

Bake for 12 minutes until set. Let cookies stand on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing. Move cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

These cookies are fabulous. They are like the ultimate peanut butter cookie. Nice and peanut buttery but still crisp like traditional peanut butter cookies. And with the added bonus of chocolate chips, yum!

No tweaks on this recipe the first time around it was scrumptious the way it is. Only on the method did I change it up a little. I used a disher to scoop my cookies because that's what I always do and I always bake my cookies on a Silpat regardless if it calls for a greased or ungreased baking sheet. It's just so much easier to wash 1 Silpat than it is to scrub baked on goo off of a cookie sheet.

Enjoy!

Friday Night Pizza

2012-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Many good things seem to happen when opening a bottle of beer, or in tonight's case, a bottle of Crispin Brut Cider. Not my favorite cider but it's growing on me the more I drink of it. It's probably that extra enjoyment factor of a fermented drink, usually it tastes better the closer to room temperature it gets

On Friday evenings my husband and I like to take it easy for dinner and that either means going out for dinner or having pizza of some variety. Usually it is home-made pizza but occasionally I'm a loving wife and will order the hubby his favorite Pagliacci Pizza, the Grand Salami Primo. Tonight was pizza night and this time I thought I'd include myself in the pizza eating, since I don't often choose to eat it. My eating pizza generally means it's time to put on the apron, get in the kitchen and make some home-made dough. Fortunately (unfortunately?) home made pizza is about the only way I get to experience symptom free pizza since most of the pizzerias around here have too much cross contamination in their ingredients for my overly sensitive system.

In the past I have used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust because, heck, for $5 in the local grocery store, you get 2 pizza crusts out of one bag of mix! Unfortunately I find the Bob's Red Mill is to rough on my tummy so it was time to look for a from scratch pizza dough recipe.

I decided to take a look-see at my favorite gluten free blog for all things baked goods, http://blog.julesglutenfree.com and found Jules' pizza crust. Well Jules, your baking prowess has blown me away once again! Truly, this is the BEST gluten free pizza dough I have tasted to date! Better yet, it's quicker and easier than making traditional gluten filled pizza dough!

Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp dried oregano
pinch of garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg whites, room temperature
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup warm water + 3 tbsp milk powder
1 packet rapid rise, gluten free yeast

Whisk together dry ingredients except yeast. Mix in stand mixer liquid ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients into the liquid. When thoroughly mixed, add the packet of yeast and beat on high for 3 minutes.

Line a pizza pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking oil. Spread dough out on pizza pan using well oiled hands (I find wetting hands with water while patting dough out works better than oiled hands and doesn't add the extra calories to your meal!). Place shaped pizza dough in a warm place to rise for 10-20 minutes (in a warmed oven works best). After dough has risen, poke holes in it with a fork to prevent large bubbles from forming. Heat oven to 375 and bake dough for 15 minutes until slightly browned. Remove dough from oven, top with your favorite toppings and return to the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

I did a few things different because, well, sometimes after a really long week at work, I neglect to read every step of a recipe.... Eh, it happens. I neglected to warm my egg whites to room temperature before mixing the pizza dough. In order to counter balance the really cold whites, I added significantly warmer water than I usually would for rising yeast. It worked as a good counterbalance as the mixing bowl was just warm enough for the yeast after mixing the dough. My dough also ended up REALLY wet so I did add about 3 heaping tablespoons more of flour into the mix. The other different method I chose to partake in was to rise the crust for an additional 20 minutes to give the yeast more time to wake up from the cold egg whites. It definitely helped and my crust was nice and puffy before baking.

I went a little non traditional on the toppings tonight and added some sliced mushrooms and ricotta to the traditional pepperoni and salami that dominates this household's pizza toppings. Next time I think even more non traditional would be good with this crust. A little home-made pesto with ricotta, a sprinkle of shaved parmesan and mozzarella. Maybe a little prosciutto and pine nuts too. The sky is definitely the limit with pizza!

Enjoy!

Happiest Place on Earth!

2012-11-29T12:15:00.002-08:00

Guess who's going to the happiest place on earth?

This girl is!!

That's right folks, this girl and her hubby and making a trip to California early next year to celebrate her hubby's birthday.

Want to hear something cool about Disney? They are fabulous at helping those with special dietary needs. From the rumors I hear, there are an amazing amount of dining choices inside and out of the Disney parks.

Better believe your booties that I shall be blogging from my vacation. And thought it may seem like work, I can not tell you all how excited I am to get to share my eating adventures from Disneyland!!

Pumpkin Pancakes

2012-11-24T11:52:00.001-08:00

Tis the season to keep on at it with the pumpkin. After baking a pumpkin pie, I still have pumpkin left over.

I'll tell you a little secret. Don't judge me... We purchased a 3 can pack of pumpkin at Costco, and if you know Costco, they don't sell anything small. These cans of pumpkin make 2 pies at a time and I only planned on baking one. Well, some of that pumpkin is slated for beer brewing so my genius brain and I thought, we should get another pack of pumpkin for baking purposes because I just didn't think there would be enough left after brewing. Well, the secret is, I now still have 5 1/2 cans of pumpkin left... Yup, it's about time to get my pumpkin bake on. I see some bread and cookies, and possibly other goodies in my future.

What, pray tell, can one do with a half a can of pumpkin? Well, you can use some of it to make pumpkin pancakes! And OH BOY, were these some good pancakes! I loved them so much, next time I make them I shall double the recipe to make sure there are plenty left over for the rest of the week's breakfast!

Pumpkin Pancakes - recipe courtesy of http://blog.julesglutenfree.com
1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
3 tbsp dry milk powder
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup apple cider, apple juice, or orange juice
6 tbsp canned pumpkin puree
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Combine flower through salt in a small bowl (including pecans if using) In another larger bowl combine cider, pumpkin, oil and egg. Whisk well to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium and desired amount of batter. Cook until bubbles just start to form and flip pancake. Cook other side until brown. Serve with maple syrup or a little cinnamon sugar. Add a couple scrambled eggs and some yummy bacon and call your breakfast ready to go!

I made my pancakes with the left over apple cider in the fridge and did not include the pecans. Next round I'll experiment with the pecans and try a little cinnamon sugar instead of the maple syrup (which in my opinion they didn't need). I would imagine this recipe would be just as good with gluten containing ingredients since it is such a scrumptious dish!

My first gluten free Thanksgiving

2012-11-22T14:29:00.002-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there in Internet land. I hope your day is full of wonderful food, friends and family!

I have been keeping quite busy since the last time we met. Life is good and hectic as always. I thought while I had a few hours before the Thanksgiving festivities began, I'd give a re-cap of the goodies I will be providing for this evenings food and festivities.

Since I am the only gluten-free attendee at this thanksgiving, my family has been very kind and gracious to cook this year's goodies gluten free. I truly am one blessed girl that they would all be so willing to accommodate my digestive needs! With all my family's extra efforts to make sure I can also enjoy tonight's dinner, I wanted to pitch in and help too. I'm not the the kind of person who just goes to eat at a family gathering, I go to participate and enjoy. This year because of my dietary restrictions, I volunteered to make the 2 dishes most difficult to make gluten free: the stuffing and the desserts.

Hey no heartache here, dessert and stuffing are my 2 absolutely favorite dishes of Thanksgiving so I have no problems pitching in! It also helps that I am already situated with all sorts of gluten free baking items. So let the cooking commence!

Cornbread Stuffing (cornbread courtesy of www.allrecipies.com)

Cornbread
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar (I recommend only using 3 tbsp, but this recipe work with any amount of sugar so add sugar according to your taste preferences)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup gluten free cornmeal
1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 and grease an 8" square baking pan

While oven preheats, melt butter in a large pan/skillet. When butter is melted, remove pan from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and whisk until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into butter/egg mixture. stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into baking pan and bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the corn bread comes out clean.

For the rest of the stuffing:
1 batch of corn bread
1 good handful of dried figs, chopped
1 handful of pecans, roughly chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
8 strips of crispy bacon, chopped
1/2 pack of fresh poultry herbs (my pack had thyme, rosemary and sage) or use any of your favorite fresh herbs, chopped
chicken stock

Cube corn bread and add to mixing bowl. Sauté celery in a little bacon grease until it just starts to brown, add chopped apples and continue to sauté until apples are tender. Add the celery, apple and any juices into the bowl with the corn bread. Add all remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Pour chicken stock over bread to moisten all ingredients. Pour mixed stuffing into a casserole dish and plop it in the oven, covered, about 1/2 hour before dinner is done (at approximately 350 degrees). If your stuffing seems dry part way through cooking, add additional chicken stock to keep it nice and moist.

Pies, yum!

Pie crusts - since I have yet to find any pre-made gluten free crusts yet, make 2 batches of Grandma's Pie Crust - courtesy of http://blog.julesglutenfree.com/

Pumpkin Pie
I have to admit, I use the recipe off of the back of the can of pumpkin, so no recipe to report, you'll have to read the can.

But I do have a few words of wisdom. Since GF crusts don't quite bake up the same way as regular crusts do, next time I make pumpkin pie, I will par-bake my crust. The pie took 80 minutes to set in the oven instead of the usual 40-50 minutes the recipe calls out for. I'm taking a wild guess that it was due to the GF crust. I'll let you know what the verdict is next time there is some pumpkin pie being made in our household.

Pecan Pie - Oh, the name just makes my mouth start watering
recipe courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com

1 batch of GF crust

Filling:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 cups chopped toasted pecans
1-2 tbsp bourbon
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Crust, roll out crust and place into pie pan. Line pie pan with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights (my favorite weights are an old bag of dried white beans). Place in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove pie weights and foil/parchment and put back into the oven to finish cooking for 10 minutes until the crust in golden brown.

While the crust is baking prepare the filling. In a medium saucepan combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring ingredients to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Boil mixture for 1 minute while continuing to stir and remove from heat. Stir in nuts, bourbon and vanilla. Set mixture aside for about 5 minutes to cool and then quickly whisk in the beaten eggs until the filling is smooth. Pour filling into hot crust and return to the oven to bake at 350 degrees. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a rack and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving is as yummy as ours is shaping up to be. Be safe, have fun and remind yourself of all you are thankful for!

Gearing up for Turkey Day

2012-11-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Since the beer isn't gone yet, how about Sunday's project?

Sunday's project was really Saturday's project too. I would hate to not give Saturday credit where credit is due ;)

Sunday was a bit of T-day grub since I finally got around to cooking last year's frozen turkey I got from work. Hey I had to make room for this year's turkey in addition to the half a moo cow that now resides stuffed in the freezer. Don't be jealous of my free-range, grass-fed, hormone-free, yummy bit of moo. Man are we 'bout to have some yummy fixin's this year!!

The turkey had been siting in the fridge for about a week waiting for a spare moment to cook up that bad boy. Sunday was finally that spare moment of time.

I should also note that it should be a national mandate that all turkey's are to be brined. Yup, you heard me, ALWAYS brine your turkey. You'll thank me for that little bit of advice after you have tasted your first brined turkey!

So the brine is where Saturday comes in. I had made the turkey brine several days in advance thinking there would be time during the week to cook the turkey, but alas, Sunday was the only time available. I put the turkey in the brine, added a nice heavy bowl full of ice to keep the turkey submerged, and set that bad boy outdoor to chill for a good 12 hours. The nice thing about the fall time is, it stays relatively cool enough outside to brine a turkey and to not have to worry about any sort of spoilage.

Sunday morning was all about the cooking! I started by lining a disposable pan with carrots, celery and onion before laying the turkey in the pan. Stuff the "butt" of the turkey, not with stuffing, but a sliced apple, some sliced onion and any other aromatics that sound good to you. Then throw that whole puppy in to the oven and cook until a thermometer reads 161 degrees in the thickets part of the breast.

What comes out of the oven is so moist and flavorful that you don't need to douse your turkey in gravy or cranberry sauce! When the turkey cooled enough, I plucked the meat off and shredded it for later use. The carcass was saved and frozen for a later date of making turkey stock. What meat wasn't used for dinner Sunday night (recipe to follow) was tossed back in the freezer for later use.

Turkey - Courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com
1 (14-16 pound) turkey

Brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorn
1 1/2 teaspoon allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoon candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

I would suggest following the step by step instructions in the recipe here as they are very straight forward and easy to follow. The cooking instructions are also available on the link. I never follow the aromatics section and choose to stuff my bird with whatever we happen to have laying around. Some years it is apples, some oranges, sometimes its celery instead of onions. The sky really is the limit and it's up to your personal taste preferences.

And now for what we did for dinner with some of the shredded turkey. I would call this our lazy day/"white trash" macaroni and cheese dinner.

Cheesey noodles with broccoli and turkey
1 package of GF noodles (we use Trader Joe's corn penne noodles)
1 crown of broccoli, cut into small pieces
shredded turkey
several slices of Velveeta cheese

Cook the noodles per the instructions on the package. When 2 minutes are left on the timer, add the broccoli and continue boiling. After the last 2 minutes of cooking strain the noodles and broccoli. Pour the strained noodles and broccoli back into the cooking pot. Add the Velveeta and stir until cheese is melted. Add the shredded turkey and heat.

Spoon noodles into a bowl and add Worcestershire sauce on top. Stir and eat. Don't knock it until you try it! :)

Pork Chili

2012-11-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

It was another busy weekend again. It seems the closer to the holiday season we get the busier life seems to be. As I sit here trying a new gluten free beer (I feel a pattern starting to emerge) I felt the need to post about my weekend's adventure. With limited time at home again this weekend I threw together a pot of chili in the slow cooker. Nothing screams chili like a cold day and boy was Saturday a cold one! Frost on the trees, frost on the grass, frozen car windshields, and the furnace running like crazy, the fog lightly drifting over Lake Washington... Sigh, it was a beautiful morning!

As necessity dictates, a slow cooker pot of chili always starts the evening before with the browning of the chili meat. In this case the chili meat was a pork shoulder from the freezer. Granted this pork shoulder was slated for pulled pork tacos, but alas, I have yet to find a gluten free can of chipotle in adobo sauce and I haven't quite gotten around to finding materials to make my own. So instead it made chili. A small sacrifice in the name of good food.

I began by cubing the meat and browning it in a pan with a small amount of oil (just to get the ball rolling). I browned most sides of the meat in batches and put them aside in a bowl for overnight storage. Once the browning is done, the good stuff is left to deal with, the yummy brown stuck on bits in the pan. Prior to being gluten free I frequently deglazed my meat pan with beer but now a day it is usually a cider of some sort. Since I didn't have one open and it was too late in the evening to crack open a bottle, I made due with some no sugar added apple cider I had in the fridge from the mashed sweet potatoes. I let the apple cider simmer while scraping off every last bit of the brown stuck on goodies. When the cider reduced a bit, I poured it over the pork and let it marinade over night in the fridge.

Saturday morning arrived I tossed it all in the slow cooker followed by a can of corn, couple cans of tomatoes and a couple of cans of kidney beans. All followed off with 1 box of Carol Shelby's chili mix.

Much to my surprise, this box of yummy goodness is gluten free! Good thing since we still had a box left over in the spice cabinet. Mix everything together (except the masa) and cook on low for several hours. In my case, probably about 12 hours (which so was not the intention). By the time the slow cooker was turned off we had achieved a dark caramelized looking sauce. I wasn't so sure about this dark chili sauce, frankly, it scared me. Turns out, that was one happy accident. The caramelization greatly added to the background flavor of the chili.

The only thing that is my gripe about this recipe go around is that, like most of our batches lately, the initial flavor comes out so dang blah. (If anyone out there in internet land has any suggestions on how to pump up the flavor, I am all ears for any suggestions) I should have tossed in some home-made chili powder in with the seasoning packets to add some extra pow, but never got around to it this time. Other than the bland initial flavor, the combo of the flavors really made for a nice secondary flavoring.

Pork/Beef Chili
2-3 pounds of pork or beef or a combo of both. I generally use pork and/or beef roasts and cube the meet myself.
1 can of corn, drained
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
1 can of diced green chillies (optional)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of roasted diced tomatoes
1 packet of Carol Shelby chili seasoning
apple juice, beer or hard cider for deglazing

Cube the pork/beef and brown in a hot pan with a little oil. Brown the meat in batches and remove to a storage container. When done with the browning, deglaze the pan with liquid of your choosing. Reduce the deglazing liquid a bit and pour over browned meat to marinade. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning mix all the other ingredients (except the masa) in the slow cooker and cook on low a minimum of 10 hours (longer is better, your meat will be nice and tender). When ready to eat, mix the masa pack with some water to make a paste. Pour paste into chili, mix in and heat until chili is thickened. If your chili doesn't thicken to a desired consistency, tortilla chips can be added and cooked down to thicken the chili as well.

Spoon completed chili into bowls, add a little shredded cheese and sour cream on the top (if desired). Eat and enjoy!

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conqure the world - Kaiser Wihelm

2012-11-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker and glory to his bounty by learning about... BEER."

I think Friar Tuck has that just about right! So let's learn a little about beer, shall we?

My husband and I are homebrewers.

Well, if you ask my husband, he's the homebrewer and I'm just his brewer's wench, but in my book I'm a homebrewer too.

So :P

We started this hobby well before I went gluten free and have managed to produce some very tasty and palatable beers (we won't count that batch of Mac & Jack clone we had to toss, but that was due to a thermometer breaking in the wort and the weights oxidizing in the brew. It doesn't count in the bad beer batch category, just in the bad technique category). Due to timing and the temperature of our house being too warm for most of the spring and summer, we haven not had a chance to brew lately. Fortunately for me this has been a good thing since the next batch of beer we were set to brew was going to be a Kona coffee chocolate porter for myself. Because both malt based beer and coffee are off the liquid docket for me these days, thankfully we didn't make it to brewing! At least in this case our procrastination paid off in a positive way!

Double fortunately (somehow I sense some really awful grammar in that prior statement) this next batch of brew will be our inaugural gluten free beer. There are even a pair of pumpkins still sitting on our front porch (un-carved) with fermentation chambers written all over it!!

Sadly, I have learned the hard way gluten free beers make a sorry substitution for a nice craft brew. They lack that wonderful malty flavor than hangs around on your tongue, that heavenly mouth feel of a rich, full-bodied flavor. That crisp, fruity flavor of hops... I could just go on and on. (remind me to find a napkin, I'm drooling just at the thought of a yummy winter beer!) Unfortunately gluten free beers lack all of these wonderful characteristics (in my opinion) of malt based beers. They just don't quite stack up to craft beer standards. I admit, if I wasn't a beer snob, I could probably embrace gluten free beers easier, but since I am, I'm really struggling with it. For one who is used to BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors), the gluten free regime isn't that large of a step away taste wise (again, this is all in my opinion, and again, I am a self admitted beer snob!). Considering my more discerning palate, having to go back to the BMC flavors hasn't been very fun.

Now that I started out this blog with one big digression (I just can't seem to break myself of this habit), the point of this blog was to take you through my exploration and discovery of gluten free beers and the progression of flavors they have seemed to take.

Shall we begin with the lesson? OK, it's more observations than anything else.

New Planet
The first gluten free beer was one my husband purchased for me. It was the 3R Raspberry Ale from New Planet Gluten Free Beer. My first impression was, wow, this should taste good! Well, I was but I wasn't disappointed with this one when I finally cracked the top. The New Planet 3R has that classic gluten free beer flavor of a sorghum beer but with a hint of raspberry to cover up some of the funk I wasn't used to. There was also this funny flavor that I couldn't quite place at the time but the fruit was a nice addition. All in all, this one deserved a 3 out of 5. You can't give your first gluten free beer a 5 out of 5. You're taste palate needs something to strive for.

Picture courtesy of www.newplantetbeer.com

The next gluten free beer I progressed to was also made by New Planet Gluten Free Beer. This time it was their Off Grid Pale Ale. Verdict on this beer? It has all that sorghum flavor funk to it plus the added twang of what I would call distressed yeast flavor in a barley/rye/wheat beer, a funny metallic taste on the tongue. This was the same flavor that had been mostly masked by the raspberry in the 3R. The metallic twang is so not my favorite flavor when it comes to beer. This poor beer only got about a 2 out of 5 for me. Beer good, metal taste, very bad!

Dogfish Head Tweason'ale
After New Planet, I was kind of turned off of gluten free beers for a while. Ciders turned out to be a good dalliance for a month or so. But there was still that nagging feeling of wanting and needing a good beer.

So I turned to Dogfish Head. Since I had always been pleased with their beers in the past, I was super excited to see they produced a gluten free beer. Unfortunately the sale season for the Tweason'ale is just about over, but good news, I stocked up on another 4 pack to keep me company until next year's release!

Tweason'ale was much more promising. It still has that sorghum flavor but there was enough strawberry and buckwheat honey flavor to help mask that metallic twang. It's still exists but at a much more palatable level! It's a nice light bodied, light flavored beer best suited to a nice hot summer day (or pretending it's not the middle of fall by deluding yourself that it is summer instead). I give this one a 3.5 out of 5. It is currently my go-to gluten free flavored beer (while the 4 pack lasts).

Picture courtesy of http://www.dogfish.com/

Green's Endeavour
Now Green's was a super treat for me for I had found my first dark gluten free beer. So far it's been the only dark gluten free beer I've been able to find and I do LOVE my dark beers! The added bonus to the Endeavour is is that it's a Belgian style dubbel beer. My husband will totally give me crap for this added bonus shout out because he knows I'm not a very big fan of Belgian beers. They too have a funk flavor that I usually can not stomach, but this Belgian style beer and flavor totally enhanced the gluten free flavors.

Green's Endeavour had a wonderful "dark" flavor yet a very light body. The dark flavors helped smooth out the gluten free funk and added that little something extra special on the tongue. This one gets a 4 out of 5 on the gluten free scale. I've only managed to find this beer once but I'm always on the look out for another bottle.

RedBridge
Ah, RedBridge... From the family of Anheuser-Bush, maker's of fizzy yellow pee water. Oops, did that slip out?

My bad.

I guess one shouldn't insult Anheuser-Bush too much when they do make a fairly palatable gluten free beer. I can't say the same for some of their other "beers" but once again, I'm a beer snob, so you'll have to ignore my insults. I can't complain too much about RedBridge as it has a better rounded flavor than some of the other gluten free brews I've had without too much twang. I'll admit the fridge does house a 6 pack of this beer because sometimes it's nice to just pull out a halfway decent beer to drink. All in all, I'd give it a 3 to 3.5 out of 5. I have to give you a tilt of the hat Anheuser, you surprised me.

Estrella Damm Daura
Estrella Damm Dura has been a beer I'd been waiting forever to get a hold of and try out. (This excludes the day I mistakenly purchased the Estrella Damm bottle, opened it up and took a swig out of it before realizing I wasn't drinking gluten free version. Oops... Lesson learned)

These crafty Spaniards and makers of the Dura, figured out a way to take the gluten out of a beer brewed with malt. And those wonderful Spaniards brewed something worth drinking!

Finally!

Even thought this beer is a lager, of which I have never really been very partial to, when it is the first gluten free beer you have had that doesn't taste gluten free, even a lager tastes like ambrosia! I can still recall that first light and crisp taste...

Ahh, bliss!

I'm still so in awe of this awesome beer that I can't fully express how yummy and tasty it is. Verdict? 4.5 out of 5! We have found a keeper!

Picture courtesy of http://www.estrelladamm.com

Omission
I have surely saved the best for last. Truly, the BEST of the gluten free regime!!

This beer was brought to my attention by a co-worker and fellow homebrewer. He happened to be at the market last week and decided to pick up a 6 pack of Omission Pale Ale since he is a pale ale connoisseur and any new pale perks his interest. Unbeknown to my co-worker Omission is a gluten free beer.

Upon hearing about this wonderful sounding pale ale, I immediately had to try it! And OH boy am I in LOVE!! Another crafty bunch of brewers (Widmer Brothers) figured out how to take the gluten out of malt based beer too!

I can't say enough about this beer. It is malty with that wonderful mouth feel beer should have and it is a HOPPY piece of work!! I'm no hop head by any means (that title belongs to the hubby) but I enjoy a good beer with a fair amount of bitter, fruity, floral hop to it. This beer does not disappoint when it comes to a good hoppy pale ale. By far, it is my favorite gluten free find. Score this one a 5 out of 5!

Picture courtesy of http://omissionbeer.com/

Gluten Free Lasagna

2012-11-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the hiatus again, most of my note worthy cooking occurs on the weekend but this past weekend I was away from the house. What can I say, a date with my dad to see Wicked trumps any sort of cooking!

It doesn't help we haven't made it to the grocery store in a while either... Seems to be the story of my life lately.

I thought while I was sitting here drinking a bottle of "gluten free" Widmer Omission Pale Ale (hey at 10 PPM of gluten, this beer has less gluten than Coke and Pepsi products at 200 PPM!), and OMG is this some good "gluten free" beer!!

Sorry digressing, but I had to share this amazing find!

So while I was sitting on the couch drinking a beer I thought I'd catch you all up on my adventures into gluten free lasagna that I embarked upon a few weekends ago.

I'm not so sure about this adventure though. It wasn't quite as good as I had expected. Don't get me wrong, I haven't written off lasagna for good, but I may let it stew in my brain for a while before attempting again.

I purchased a pack of Tinkyada brown rice lasagna noodles at our local grocery store and the accompanying lasagna stuffings to make a meal. And make that meal I did.

Lasagna
1 box gluten free lasagna noodles
2 jars marinara sauce
hot Italian sausage
ground beef
combo of shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
1 large tub of cottage cheese
1 egg
Italian seasoning

Soak lasagna noodles in hot water for 20 minutes. While noodles soak, brown sausage and ground beef in a large skillet. When the meats are browned, add the marinara sauce and let simmer to meld flavors. While the marinara simmers, in a separate bowl mix cottage cheese, a handful of shredded cheese, Italian seasoning (to taste) and egg.

To assemble:
Spray lasagna pan lightly with no-stick spray (just in case). Pour a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the lasagna pan. Line with noodles (my pan usually takes 4 noodles per layer plus a few pieces to fill in the ends). Since the box of Tinkyada's doesn't have as many noodles as was expected, I had enough for 3 layers of noodles and 2 layers of filling. On top of the first layer of noodles, spread half the cottage cheese, and handful of shredded cheese and top with 1/3rd of the marinara. Place another layer of noodles, spread the remaining cottage cheese, another handful of shredded cheese and 1/3rd of the marinara sauce. Place the last of the lasagna noodles and pour the remaining marinara sauce over the top. Top with another handful of shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake a 350 for 30-45 minutes or until nice and hot and bubbly.

What I found so objectionable about this batch was a) it was REALLY watery and 2) the noodles were either mushy or crunchy in the same pan. The next batch that I will attempt it think I will strain the cottage cheese to get rid of a little bit of the moisture and I think I'll either not soak the noodles or cut the soak time way down.

Another batch will probably require a little recipe research and a little trial and error to make a more palatable creation. I thought the flavor was just about spot on but the texture was a little gross at times.

Next up on the docket, Chili (of the red variety), crock pot style. A true mid-week dinner masterpiece. Stay tuned!

A Fall Feast

2012-10-30T20:16:00.002-07:00

I think there was something rather serendipitous about tonight's menu. I had pre-planned this meal over the weekend's grocery shopping excursion to be made this evening (we needed something light for dinner after the previous night of lasagna). The fact that it is absolutely dumping down rain today made this warm and tasty meal all the more appealing and scrumptious.

This evening I prepared what I am dubbing the fall spiced pork loin (due to the wonderful fall flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice), mashed sweet potatoes and a quick spinach salad.

Spiced Rubbed Pork Tenderloin - courtesy of www.glutenfreechecklist.com
Since this recipe is not available unless you sign up for a subscription to the web site (the membership is free), I will list it below.

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 tsp olive oil

Spice Rub:
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Combine the spice rub and rub over pork loin. Let stand for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large oven-proof skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan and cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

I followed this one almost to the letter. I would prefer to let my pork loin rest longer at room temperature for more even cooking, but as I was short on time, 20 minutes was about all this one got. I also cooked my pork to 160 degrees. I like a little pink to my pork but prefer it more on the medium well side than the medium.

Sweet Potatoes - Adapted from Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Mash - courtesy of www.skinnyms.com
2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 cup no sugar added apple juice
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
ground allspice
ground cloves
maple syrup
pecans

As I am away from home for well longer than this recipe cooks for in a slow cooker, here is my stove-top version:

Steam cut sweet potatoes in 1/2 cup of the apple juice and additional water for about 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender enough to mash. Drain steaming liquid (as my steaming liquid turned into a wonderful syrup like consistency, the next time I make these I will use the steaming liquid in mashing the potatoes), add the remaining 1/2 cup of apple juice to the sweet potatoes and mash. Add in spices to your desired likes and taste. Drizzle on a little maple syrup and add a handful of chopped pecans. Mix, dish and eat.

I was floored as to how good these were. Just the perfect amount of sweetness without gobs of added sugar.

Lastly, the simple spinach salad. I whipped together a quick balsamic vinaigrette while the pork and potatoes were cooking to accompany the salad.

Spinach Salad:
spinach
feta crumbles
craisins
chopped pecans

Balsamic vinaigrette:
Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped
salt
pepper
olive oil

Whisk together the garlic, salt, pepper, mustard and balsamic vinegar. Slowly add the olive oil until your desired consistency is achieved. I find I use way less oil when making a vinaigrette at home. Instead of a 2 to 1 ratio of oil to vinegar, I usually have a 2 to 1 ratio of vinegar to oil.

Toss dressing with salad, dish and eat.

Apple Pie: Gluten-Free Style

2012-10-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

I figured if I was going to post about dessert, I'd continue with another dessert.

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching and this year being my first ever holiday season eating gluten free, I thought it was time to start putting some new recipes to the test to see if they are holiday worthy.

First up, pie.

Pie of any sort works for me. My all-time favorite pie was the winner. Apple. YUM!!

As I am a horrid pie crust maker, I elected to try my hand out with making a dutch apple pie to avoid having to make 2 pie crusts.

The results, It sounds like a winner. Even my hubby thought it was pretty good. And any sort of food praise from him means I hit this one on the nose! I'm stoked my first GF pie adventure wasn't a failure!

O.K. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. I didn't do much substitution in this recipe except use gluten free ingredients where needed. Below are the ingredients I used. I have added links to the recipes I used so please feel free to view and adapt to your own needs.

Pie Crust - Courtesy of www.julesglutenfree.com
1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp shortening (I used Earth Balance Shortening)
3 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp vodka + 2-3 tbsp cold water

Follow the directions as posted on the link. They work well. My only suggestion may be to add more water. My crust ended up a little too dry which is why I think I had such a miserable time getting the dough into the pie plate and then proceeded to apply many patches to all the holes and tears. Sigh

Dutch Apple Pie - Courtesy of www.food.com
5.5 cups apples: peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp GF flour (as I mix my own GF flour, I elected to leave out the xanthan gum for this measurement)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Topping
3/4 cup GF flour (I did put in the xanthan gum for this as I didn't know if or how the topping would turn out with out it)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup room temperature butter

Again, follow the directions of the recipe link. I followed this one to the letter except (hanging head in shame) I forgot to read the part about you are supposed to use room temperature butter. Oh well, I made the topping with cold butter and it seems to have come out just fine!

Candy Cane Ice Cream

2012-10-28T20:51:00.002-07:00

I seem to have taken a small hiatus from blogging. I promise I have been cooking, just nothing really note worthy. Standard issue tacos and burgers don't really count as news worthy food in my oppinion.

I'm also awaiting my husband's photos from my last weekend's cooking adventures. Stay tuned, for when they are ready, I'll actually have a blog post with some pictures!!

Side note over... On to the real topic of conversation.

I love ice cream. Especially now that I can eat it again!

But, I HATE shopping for ice cream. Why? Have you ever read the ingredient list in ice cream? I don't know about you but I can't pronounce half of those things they put in ice cream. Even our "local" Tillamook (Tillamook is only a state away from us, so to me it's local) ice cream is loaded with all sorts of weird ingredients. For some reason I ignorantly thought that local product meant more natural... Ignorance is so not bliss in this situation.

So in lieu of purchasing ice cream, I like to make my own. It helps immensely that my husband and I recieved the coolest ice cream maker for our wedding (a big thank you to my sister-in-law for that gift!). No need to pre-freeze a core for this puppy. You just put the mix in the container, turn it on, and about 50 minutes later, ice cream is born!

You know what I love so much about homemade ice cream? Besides having the sky be the limit on flavor combinations, is that I know exactly what goes into my ice cream. I can pronounce every ingredient that I use. To me, that is absolutely worth the extra time and effort for good ice cream. And if that means I have to wait a few extra days to eat some, I'll take the deferred gratification.

As the holidays are fast approaching, I made one of our all-time favorite winter flavors. Peppermint ice cream. You can only get it in the stores around thanksgiving time until shortly after Christmas. We used to plow through cartons of this stuff when we could get it! That love of peppermint ice cream lead to this recipe concoction below.

Candy Cane Ice Cream
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 cup cream (heavy cream, whipping cream, it doesn't matter)
3/4 tsp peppermint oil (I use Simply Organic brand)
6 crushed candy canes (Spangler candy canes are gluten free)

Heat milk and cream over low heat in a sauce pan. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks vigorously then slowly whisk in sugar until your yolks have become significantly lighter in color and have achieved the ribbon stage. Once the milk/cream mixture reaches about 120 degrees, slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper. Whisk the eggs continuously while adding the milk to the eggs to ensure you don't make sweet scrambled eggs. When about half the milk has been added to the eggs, transfer the egg mixture back into the sauce pan with the remaining milk. Once again, whisk continuously. Heat the mixture on low to 170 degrees. You can switch to a spoon at any time after adding the eggs back to the milk. Stir continuously until you reach the desired temperature. Once you reach 170 degrees, pour the mixture into a clean bowl and let sit for 45 minutes, then add the peppermint flavoring.

Refrigerate overnight and churn per your manufacturer's instructions. Add the candy cane bits during the last few minutes of the churn. Or if your ice cream maker is as stubborn as ours, you'll have to hand mix in the bits yourself. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe container and harden for several hours.

Ah, now if I had not just eaten a piece of apple pie, I would seriously contemplate digging into a bowl of this marvelous frozen wonder!

Enchiladas, Gluten Free Style.

2012-10-14T19:43:00.002-07:00

I was a buys girl today.

It's nice having a few spare hours at home over the weekend.

While cooking up my applesauce this morning I finally had the opportunity to bake the whole chicken that was purchased last shopping trip. Cooking up the chicken brought on the brainstorm of making chicken enchiladas out of it. Good thing today was the day slated to hit up the grocery store again.

We came home armed with fixin's for enchiladas and some homemade salsas.

I have been know to make my own enchilada sauce from time to time, but sometimes a girl doesn't want to spend ALL day in the kitchen. So I "cheated" and bought some. Hey it was 3 for $5, why the heck not? I use the La Victoria red enchilada sauce because, awesomely enough, it IS gluten free (says so right on the label). As you will probably notice as this blog progresses, I have become very brand loyal. I will support and will continue to support companies that state right on their labels foods that are gluten free or divulging allergen warnings to items used to create a product. For instance, Kraft will always include on the label if an ingredient was derived from an allergen causing food source. So for a label reader like me, it's quick and easy to determine if a product is safe to consume.

Sorry, I have a really bad habit of digressing.

After the chicken had cooked and cooled enough to handle, I shredded the meat and froze the rest of the carcass for stock later on this year. While shredding the chicken I noticed it wasn't quite cooked through. This is another thing I am notorious for doing, under cooking chicken. My husband cant attest to this condition of mine. I remedied the undercooked condition by tossing the shredded chicken into a fry pan and cooking it through thoroughly.

Enchiladas
2 cans of La Victoria red enchilada sauce
24 corn tortillas
1 can of roasted chopped green chillies
1 can of re-fried beans
shredded chicken
shredded cheese

Start with a layer of sauce, proceed by layering 6 tortillas (or however many will cover the bottom of your baking dish). Layer tortillas with a little more sauce, beans, chillies, chicken and cheese. Ladle on more sauce, add another layer of tortillas, and repeat the steps until you run out of everything. I always end my enchiladas with a layer of tortillas, remaining sauce and some added cheese on the top.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 until hot and bubbling.

I mentioned earlier that specific items were purchased to make homemade salsa. The recipes are below.

Corn Salsa
frozen corn, or fresh if in season. If the corn is fresh I roast it in the oven or on my cast iron grill pan.
1/2 bell pepper, any color
green onions (green parts only)
1 jalapeno pepper
1 serrano pepper
1/2 aneheim pepper
cilantro
lime
salt
pepper

Chop all ingredients except corn, lime, salt and pepper. Combine all ingredients. Mix, taste, and add any additional seasoning if desired.

Pineapple Salsa
1 pineapple
1/2 bell pepper, any color
green onions (green parts only)
1 jalapeno pepper
1 serrano pepper
1/2 aneheim pepper
Fresh ginger (optional)
cilantro
lime
salt

Chop all ingredients except lime and salt. Combine, mix, taste and add any additional seasoning. Usually I add fresh chopped ginger but didn't have any this time. Use the ginger sparingly, it can be very overwhelming if too much is used (I know this from experience). Grating the ginger may produce a less biting taste. I haven't tried that yet but intend to the next time I make this salsa.

Note: you can use any combinations of peppers in these salsas. I tend to pick peppers that are available at my local grocer and are of good quality.

As another side note, if you handle hot chillies, it is recommended by me to use gloves to process the chillies. I, however, never seem to have any disposable gloves at my disposal (yes, pun intended) so process my chillies with my little piggies. What I always forget is, my little piggies stay hot and spicy well afterwards. If you like your face the way it is, I recommend not touching your eyes, nose or mouth for several days after making salsa. Believe me, I do it every time, and usually it's a finger in the eye with a nice burning sensation to accompany the act.

I know, I am a born genius!!

Fall Has Finally Arrived!

2012-10-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

That it has.

Fall is finally here. After 48 days without rain, Fall has arrived with gusto. 48 days is a long time here in the Pacific Northwest to go without rain. It was a really weird summer and start to fall for this native PNW girl.

So, what is a girl to cook on a cold and rainy morning, the true beginning of fall? It so did not help I woke up alert and perky at 6:30am this morning, but I ran with it. So what did I do with my morning you might ask? I made my all time favorite fall food. Home made applesauce!

That's right, it's apples season and I'm in love!

While making applesauce this morning I tried my hand at some picture taking. You what I've finally determined? I am abhorrent at picture taking. I SUCK. So unless my wonderful photographer of a husband is up or around while I'm cooking, it looks as though this will be a photo-free blog :'(

Sigh.

Even though my photography skills are totally lacking, my cooking skills thankfully don't lack (in my humble opinion). My applesauce turned out as yummy as ever. Most went into the freezer post cooking and the rest went into the fridge for addition to my morning yogurt.

So here is my divine applesauce recipe.

1 box of apples, I used a box of honey crisp apples
1 pot big enough to cook said box of apples
if I had to guess, maybe 1/2 cup of water. Have I mentioned I rarely measure anything?
Sugar to taste if you have to. But please, don't have to!

So this is the point where I so dearly miss the use of a food mill. Without one, every apple had to be peeled, cored and sliced (more like chunked). I spent a good hour doing the aforementioned task of prepping the apples. I made it through about a half the box before I ran out of room in my pot. Luckily or not, there are now apples left for lunchtime eating.

Cook the apples until they are of your desired consistency. I like mine a little chunky, so a little chunky I left it.

This is the first time I have used honey crisp apples for cooking. I don't think I could ever go back to any other variety. This apple sauce came out to just the perfect sweetness with a crisp apple taste!

Stir-Fry

2012-10-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

I realize as I start writing posts I should probably take some pictures of my creations. That would be idea, huh? Hopefully the next few adventures I'll remember to bust out a camera.

I made stir-fry the other nigh. Normally I don't like stir-fry. I don't know why, but it has never really floated my boat. Until this week's creation. Yum!

I had planned on a stir-fry when I last went grocery shopping banking on using the left over veggies in the crisper drawer. So I purchased some bell peppers and a head (if that is what one calls it) of bok choi. (This was my first experience cooking with the aforementioned vegetable (BTW, I love it!)). Went home, packed away the groceries and made the meal up several days later.

Little did I know my carrots and celery, both of which I had been planning to use in the stir-fry, had befallen to their flaccid state. So all I was left with was bok choi, peppers, and a few straggling baby carrots. I made due with what I had.

What we had for dinner Wednesday night was most excellent indeed. I also had to make due with what was in the fridge and pantry for the sauce as all of my normal go-to stir-fry sauces are not gluten free.

Here is what I did. And no, I never measure. Add each ingredient until you make something tasty.

Stir-fry sauce
Tamari (I use San-J since it is what is readily available in my area) or any GF Soy Sauce
Pealed garlic, I grate my on a microplane
Pealed ginger, again grated on a microplane
Rice wine vinegar
Sesame oil
Red pepper flakes
Sugar
Almond butter (I used Trader Joe's almond butter with flax seed)

I think it was the almond butter that put this sauce into the YUM category.

For the Stir-fry
Flank steak - cut into thin strips
Bok choi- chopped
Bell pepper - cut into large pieces
Baby carrots - cut however you like, if you like

Cook like you would normally make a stir fry: meat, veggies, sauce, serve. I served this one over brown rice with a little additional tamari on the top.

Chicken Chili

2012-10-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm, chili.

It's starting to feel a bit like fall around here in the mornings. But don't tell the weather that. It still thinks that summer. I'm SO not complaining. It beats the cold and the rain!

I made one of my all-time favorite chili recipes today. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili (the original recipe can be found here). Sigh, just reading the recipe title makes me giddy with chili joy!

It's been quite a while since I've been able to make this recipe. Since going gluten-free, a lot of old favorites have gone by the wayside. Slowly but surely, I'm bringing them back!

Since our local grocery store does not always have the necessary items available for the original recipe, I make do with what I can find. This time I had to make due with making new gluten-free items. I tell you, it's been darned near impossible to find a gluten-free cream-of-anything soup.

So I made my own! I'd like to thank The Happy Tummy Blog for this wonderful gluten-free cream of chicken soup recipe. Oh, and don't tell my onion-hating husband this, but I did make the recipe with onions. Shhhhhh (he didn't notice).

After making the GF cream-of-chicken soup, I will and won't ever go back to buying store bought canned cream-of-whatever-it-is-you-need soup again! This recipe was fantastically simple and quick. The only small change I would make would be using home made stock instead of store bought. The store bought broth/stock lacks depth of flavor that I think home made stock would impart to the soup. And also you can better control your salt intake (yes, I did get in trouble with the doctor for my blood pressure being to high... sigh)

Here is what I did to make my favorite chili.

Cream Of Chicken Soup
1 stick of butter
1 medium sweet onion
1 cup white rice flour
6 cups hot chicken broth
1/3 cup 1% milk

Saute onions in butter until they develop a little color (my dutch oven developed color instead of the onions so I didn't quite get that yummy caramelized onion-y goodness). Add rice flour and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in hot broth and whisk vigorously. Cook until thickened. Season with salt & pepper to your liking.

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili (the double recipe)
Boneless skinless chicken (I used thighs for this go around. A much improved texture)
4 cans of great northern beans
2 cans of corn (whatever you can find at your local grocery store)
2 "can sizes" of the above cream of chicken soup
1 large can of green chillies
1/2 cup of taco seasoning (McCormick's is gluten free) or 2 packets of taco seasoning if you don't have the Costco size taco mix tub.
2 cups chicken broth or whatever is left from making cream of chicken soup

Combine soup, taco mix, chillies and broth. Dump chicken into crock-pot. I put mine in frozen. Yes, the FDA says you should never crock with frozen foods. Well, I'm still alive and have yet to contract any food born illnesses from my frozen crock-meat, so the FDA can stick it where the sun don't shine. Use whatever version, thawed or frozen, that you are most comfortable with in this recipe. Drain beans and corn and pour over chicken. Top with the soup mixture. Turn your slow cooker to low and cook for 10 hours. Mix chili and break apart chicken. I found that this go around, the chili needed longer to cook. The chicken wasn't tender enough to break apart. So I turned my crock from warm to high and cooked another 1.5 hours.

Mix in a little sour cream, maybe a little cheese and enjoy!

I sure did!

Teriyaki

2012-10-04T12:14:00.002-07:00

I LOVE Chinese food. I LOVE Japanese food. Combine them together and I'm one happy girl!

There is a Teriyaki and Wok restaurant by our house. The owner, he is fabulous. The food, always tastey and not overly expensive.

I had to give up Teriyaki when I went Gluten Free. That is until about a 3 months ago. About that time our local Teriyaki and Wok place started a GF Menu.

SCORE!!

Until I tried it.

Sigh...

The first adventure I had was the GF cashew fried rice. It wasn't gluten free. I found that out the hard way. We're talking a good 6-months-pregnant-looking bloat-belly hard way.

Not my favorite way to end the day with.

I quit eating it for a while and just last week our local dive came out with a full GF menu. Again, SCORE!!

Again, no..

At least this time the stir fried veggies only gave me a 5-month-pregnant-looking bloat-belly...

Now the question I must ask myself is. (OK, there are a couple of questions). A. Are the ingredients that are used really gluten free? and 2. Does the cook know about cross contamination?

(and yes, I know that I went from a point A to a point 2. It's my quirky sense of humor. You'll have to humor me)

The last question I have to ask myself is, is it worth it to ever eat there again myself? I've been burned twice, is it worth risking a 3rd?

I guess I have even one more question for myself. Am I sure I'm not allergic/intolerant to something else in the food in addition to gluten?

I suppose I really should make that call to the Natrualpath to get some answers.

The introduction to the terrorist tummy

2012-09-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

glu•ten [gloot-n]

noun

A yellowish-gray, powdery mixture of plant proteins occurring in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, barley, and corn. The gluten in flour makes it ideal for baking, because the chainlike protein molecules of the gluten trap carbon dioxide and expand with it as it is heated. Gluten is also used as an adhesive and in making seasonings, especially monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Syd•ney [sid-nee]

noun
A sassy red-head who marches to her own tune. She has a quirky sense of humor and thinks she’s funny. A girl, who like many, cannot tolerate gluten.

For the past 10 years I was under the assumption I was lactose intolerant. Eat a pizza, feel like dookie. Have some cereal and milk, feel just as equally poopie. Have some crackers and Brie, same effect. Life moved on and I avoided many things I loved.

Until about 5 years ago.

5 years ago is when things really started going downhill. More often I felt sick, tired and gassy. Then the bloating and cramping became more frequent. Like many avoiders, it took me 2 years to finally fess up to my doctor. “Hey, I have these horrible stomach aches and cramping. What’s wrong with me?” Many blood tests and allergy panels later, the result – Nada, nothing, zilch. No lactose intolerance and no celiacs. They didn’t know what to do with me.

A year later I went back in for my yearly physical. I was getting married in a few weeks. My doctor, during my abdominal exam tells me, “hey I think your problem is you’re constipated”. “Um, I’m what? That doesn’t really seem to be an issue doc” But indeed my intestines were full of, well, crap. The doctor prescribed me 2 weeks of Miralax and daily doses of magnesium. I was told to call if things didn’t improve. Well, weeks went by (can you tell yet I’m a perpetual procrastinator?) and things didn’t improve. In fact, they got worse. My symptoms seem to be constant with very few hours of relief here and there.

Now let’s head back a couple of months ago.

I was absolutely fed up with the constant gas and bloating and cramping. Finally I said enough is enough. So one Friday I decided no dairy and no grains, period! (OK I ended up cheating and having some popcorn because good gosh was I starving!) By the time lunch came around I had to make a decision. What in the world could I eat for lunch with no dairy and no grains? Well pretty much no option I could find in a prepared food item. So I sucked it up and found a salad with cheese on it.
Know what I found out? That salad didn’t make me feel sick. In fact, I felt well for the first time in too long.

(Insert a light bulb above my head moment)

That’s it! I figured it out! It’s not dairy that makes me sick, but grain (gluten) that makes me sick!

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding… We have a winner.

Or a looser?

That looser was called denial (not to be confused with the river De-Nile in Egypt). I have to give up what now? Bread (OK, I’ll survive), pasta (hey aren’t there gluten free versions of that right?) and Cheese-its (NOT Cheese-its!! No, it can’t be true). And don’t forget, Beer (you want me to give up what now? You have to be joking!!).

Well, the bread went, the pasta went, even the cereal went. But not the beer. I was totally OK with the beer. Hey it small quantities it didn’t even make me feel sick any more!

Fast forward about 4 weeks after the onset of enlightenment. Mind you, I should insert that the week I discovered I shouldn’t (couldn’t?) eat gluten, my husband and I embarked on a 3 day beer binge at NHC (National Homebrew Conference). Sorry, but no self-diagnosis would have made me miss that for the world! Anyway, back to the 4 weeks. It’s the 4th of July. My husband and I embarked on a day of fun in the sun. We were going to the M’s game (to watch them get slaughtered…). Our first stop was Elysan Field. I had a salad and my new favorite beer, Yuzu’s Golden Ale. Boy was that delicious! We ate lunch, went to the game, went over to my parents for dinner and went on with life. I was still feeling pretty good.

Then it happened, that turning point where I started to feel good on a regular basis because I quilt consuming gluten (sadly, including beer).

A while ago, my hubby and I went out for lunch on a Sunday. I had a salad with chicken (I asked for it plain as I didn’t know what was in the spice mix). The chicken was spiced. I should have said something but risked it anyway. Well, that risk taught me much.

3 days later, I was still feeling that lunch…

Lesson leaned?

Absofruitly.

Here I am weeks later from my last beer and my last mouthful of intentional gluten. The verdict? I’m feeling grandiose and loving it! I can’t believe how much better I feel every day. I feel like a brand new person!