From Cows to Quinoa

Weldon's field trip to Cuquita's Restaurant!

2011-10-26T05:30:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, Weldon and I spoke to the Carrollton Farmers Branch Rotary Club about living gluten-free. We were invited by restaurant owner Elizabeth Villafranca, who owns Cuquita's Restaurant and lives gluten-free herself. We had a great time meeting Elizabeth (and her awesome daughter, who baked gluten-free cupcakes for the Rotary Club that day!) and sharing our story with the Rotary Club.

About two weeks after that, Weldon was able to take a field trip to Cuquita's. I was off doing something that prevented me from joining him, but he brought back a video of his experience! Long story short: Cuquita's = good, good gluten-free dining. :) Check it out! (Please don't make fun of Weldon's Spanish. First of all, he tried. :) Secon of all, I already did.)

Special thanks to Cuquita's Restaurant and Todd Kent!

How about a fun Halloween supper?

2011-10-20T05:30:00.002-05:00

Today's recipe is one of Weldon's, and it's one of his favorites to make!

It’s officially Autumn and the air is finally crisp in the mornings and evenings! That makes it a GREAT time to fire up the oven for some yummy baked goods and entrees! We have several we like at this time of year.

In honor of Halloween, I wanted to share one of my fall favorites. You can use it for Halloween dinner parties, and it’s sure to be a hit with the kids and the adults, Stuffed Jack-o-Lantern Peppers!

It also serve a double-duty. With Thanksgiving coming up, you can simply not carve the faces on them and they are just Stuffed ‘Pumpkin’ Peppers.

There are quite a few stuffed pepper recipes out there, and a lot of them use crushed crackers or other things that generally have gluten in them. My recipe is a hybrid of my mom's recipe and my own mad-scientist intuition. It's simple and tasty, and of course, gluten-, dairy-, soy-, and coren-free!

Ingredients:
1 lb. grass-fed ground beef (or organic ground turkey)
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp pepper.
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup cooked rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 12oz. can of tomato sauce
4 medium size ORANGE Bell Peppers*
*Peppers obviously must be orange. :) And make sure each pepper will stand up on its own and that all will fit side-by-side inside a deep sided casserole dish together. (Think, "pumpkin patch.")

Cook Rice. Let cool and set aside. (I recommend you prepare the rice in advance.)

Prep the Peppers.
a. Cut the tops off with a beveled edge (i.e. hold the knife at a 45 degree angle while slicing around the cap, just like you would if you were carving a pumpkin.
b. Once cut, remove the cap and trim off the mass of seeds on the inside. Set cap aside as we will use it again. Discard seeds.
c. Clean out the hollow pepper, removing seeds and ‘vein’ that forms the inside chambers.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 8 oz of tomato sauce w/ cooled rice.

Add meat, salt, pepper, chili powder, and chopped onions.

Mix well with the rice.

Pour at least a 1 tbsp of remaining sauce into the bottom of each open pepper.

Stuff the peppers with the meat & rice mixture.

Using a sharp knife with a long, thin blade, carve a Jack-o-Lantern face on the best side of each pepper.
a. IMPORTANT: When cutting shapes, do NOT remove the parts you cut out. Leave them in place on the pepper.
b. Also, cut at least a full inch into the pepper. The chamber walls can be thick in places so you need to cut completely through the pepper walls each time.
c. I recommend using simple triangles for eyes & nose.
d. For the mouth, cut just the bottom parts of two inverted triangles below nose level. These are the ‘fangs’ in the mouth.
e. Then starting wider than the eyes on the mouth level, cut a line to the top of the first fang.
f. Then connect them in the inside part, then repeat step ‘e’ on the other side.
g. Now simply cut an arc from the corners of the mouth down to the bottom of the ‘fangs’ and across to the other mouth corner. This allows the fangs to ‘rest’ on the bottom of the mouth for support. Remember to leave all pieces in place once cut.

Place peppers side by side in an appropriate sized casserole dish.

Poke a finger down the center of the open top of the pepper to create a small well inside the meat/rice mixture.

Fill the well to the top with remaining tomato sauce.

Place caps on the correct peppers. Make sure they fit right for correct look.

If dish lid will fit, use lid. If not, cover entire dish with tin foil.

Bake in pre-heated over for 30 Minutes @ 350degrees.

Remove tin foil from top of dish and replace in over for another 30 Minutes. (1 Hour total cooking time)

Remove from oven when ready and serve shortly after.

When ready to serve, remove peppers from dish and plate.

At this point, use the sharp knife to gently remove the plugs from the eyes, nose, & mouth of your Jack-o-Lanterns. (Some tomato sauce may have leaked out. That is fine. It only adds to the ghoulishness of it.)

Serve.

You can pair this with some sautéed spinach or turnip greens and arrange it as a small ‘pumpkin patch’ on the plate.

Simple Tuna and White Bean Salad

2011-08-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hello from the surface of the sun, friends. In case you're not here in Texas with us, and not paying attention, just know that it's hot. I know, it's always hot in Texas in the summer. Why do we always get caught by surprise by sizzling sidewalks and dimishing lakes? This year is actually different. Not different from 1980, but different from lots of other years. We've had just about a month of temperatures at or over 100 degrees. I think most days it's actually felt like 180. No rain since June. And we're not done yet, is the thing. No end is in sight.

During the summer of 1980, I stayed at my grandmother's house for a couple of weeks. The empty field next to her apartment complex caught on fire. Everything was so dry and crunchy that the smallest spark could set off a blaze. As we all stood on the sidewalk watching the flames inch close to the apartments, a few grasshoppers buzzed out of the grass toward the crowd. Then there were more. Then there were more. THEN THERE WERE MORE! It was amazing, friends. They were like popcorn flying up out of the burning field. Thankfully, the fire department arrived and was able to put it out and keep the apartments out of danger. Which was now inundated with uprooted grasshoppers. That's how I remember that summer. So hot that the earth burst into flames and erupted with grasshoppers.

So who's turning on their oven these days? Nobody that doesn't have to, I'll tell you that. We are no different, which is why you haven't seen a post about those yummy donut muffins yet.

We've been eating lots of melon, berries, cucumbers, lettuce, etc. Things that are cool and full of water, and that don't require cooking. One of my favorite lunches is a salad made with quinoa, chopped parsley or spinach, cucumber, chickpeas, and walnuts. Dress that up with some olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper, and you'll be super-happy and super-cool. This afternoon, I'm making a smoothie with blueberries and cucumbers.

Last night's no-cook supper was a very simple Tuna and White Bean Salad. (Because this is how I roll in the kitchen: simple.) Here's how I did it:

1 can of fabulous Pisces Tuna
1 can organic cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
About 1 C spinach leaves, chiffonaded (don't panic, see note below)
2-3 green onions, chopped (optional)
1/4 C olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place drained tuna in a medium bowl and casually cut into large chunks with a fork. We want the tuna to stay in chunks for this salad.
2. Add drained cannellini beans.
3. Add spinach and onions (if using).
4. Mix together gently.
5. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
6. Pour over tuna mixture and stir gently.

You can store tightly covered in the refrigerator for a couple of hours if you have time, or serve immediately if you don't. It is better cold, and giving the flavors time to marry is really nice.

I served this with simple and tasty toaster garlic bread:

1. Toast a slice of your favorite GF bread per person.
2. While it't still warm out of the toaster, rub liberally with a raw garlic clove.
3. Brush with olive oil or spread on your favorite butter or butter substitute.

You can serve this salad over spinach or lettuce if you like. A side of cool fruit might be nice. Think cool and simple. That's how we'll roll in August.

Note: "Chiffonade" is a French term that means, "made of rags." It's a lovely cutting technique to use on little leafy things like basil, mint, and spinach. You end up with a lovely and flavorful green confetti. To chiffonade, you stack up 3 or 4 leaves, roll them into a tight little cylinder, then slice the cylinder. (For photos, see our friends over at Fine Cooking. I love to chiffonade spinach and add it to scrambled eggs or quinoa salad. But just think of the possibilities! How many ways could you use that fluffy green confetti? See, no need to panic. :)

Bread Machine=No Oven=Good Thing When It's This Hot

2011-07-22T06:00:00.001-05:00

We haven't had a blog entry in a while. Things have been kind of in flux here at our house. We still have been posting regularly on Facebook and Twitter, so be sure to Like and Follow us there if you don't already. But it's been a while for a full blog entry.

For one thing, it's been too hot to cook much of anything! We've been eating a lot of tuna salads, quinoa salads, watermelon slices, berries and the like. Things that take little to no preparation, and certainly as little heat as possible.(For those of you outside the DFW area, it's been about 180 degrees here for several weeks.)

No matter what, though, we need bread. We need it for breakfast toast, sandwiches, and evening snack toast. I seem to have tweaked our sandwich bread recipe and made it even better. And with a bread machine, nobody even has to turn on an oven to have fresh, warm, and bendy bread. Check it out:

Dry ingredients:
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/2 C sorghum flour
1 C tapioca flour
1/2 C potato starch flour
2.5 t guar gum
1 1/4 t salt
1 T rapid rise highly active yeast
Liquid ingredients:
1 1/4 C mix of water and milk of your choice (I use almond milk.)
4 T EVOO
3 T honey
1/2 t mild rice vinegar
1 happy, organic farm-fresh egg

1. Make sure egg is at room temperature I place it in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.

2. Proof the yeast. Bring water/almond milk mixture to a temperature between 110 and 115 degrees. Add the yeast and give it a few minutes to foam up and smell good and bready. This just means that the yeast is alive and well. Leave it be while you do the rest.

3. Whisk together all the dry ingredients (except the yeast).

4. Lightly beat the happy egg.

5. Ensure that the kneading paddle is in place at the bottom of your bread pan!

6. Add to your bread machine pan: lightly beaten eggs, proofed yeast and water, and all other wet ingredients. Lightly pour the dry ingredients on top.

7. Lightly tap sides of bread pan to get everything even.

8. Place your bread pan into the machine and set to the Gluten-free setting or set to Basic and 1/2 lb.

9. During the knead cycle, be sure to help it along by scraping down the sides every now and then. When the rise cycle begins, take out the kneading paddle of you can and smooth over the top.

10. After baking, remove breadpan from machine and slide fresh bread out of it gently. Cool loaf on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

To store your bread, place slices between sheets of wax paper in a large zip top baggie. Pop the whole bag in the freezer. (GF bread dries out really quickly at room temperature, so it's important to store it in the freezer if you're not going to eat it that day.) You can take out what you need as you need it. The slices can thaw at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes, or they can go straight from freezer to toaster.

Some of you may notice that this recipe is just a few clicks off from the sandwich bread recipe you saw here a few months ago. Those clicks are just in the flour, too, so you can go back to that entry and watch the video to get the techniques if you need to.

This new version is a little starchier, and it's also softer and more bendy, like bread should be. It freezes very well and is excellent toasted or untoasted. For a snack, I like it toasted with a little chocolate peanut butter on it. You can eat it however you like. :)

Try it and see what you think. And as always, let us know. Next time, if I'll turn on the oven to bake some for photos, donut muffins! That's right, muffins that taste like donuts!

Big thanks to everyone that came to PUBlic Knowledge last night!

2011-07-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

Weldon and I were glad to see such a great turnout last night! We were so grateful for your attention, even as you endured the ambient heat of an otherwise lovely Texas evening. We truly enjoyed talking one-on-one to those of you that stuck around after the talk. It's always so nice to hear and share stories and to make connections.

Please do keep in touch, both here at the blog and on Facebook and Twitter. And let's all keep in touch as a community. Sometimes it's nice to just hear someone say, no, you're not crazy. :)

Big, big thanks to The Ginger Man for hosting us and to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for inviting us to be part of PUBlic Knowledge. We had a great time and we hope you guys did, too!

Wholesome Foods Bakery is worth a road trip to Dallas!

2011-06-30T06:00:00.008-05:00

When you live in Fort Worth, it's kind of a chore to drive to Dallas. Even the people that make the commute cross-Metroplex for work every day think it's a chore. For Weldon and me, it takes something really special to make us road trip to Dallas. Usually it's live music (like when Guy Forsyth plays at Poor David's Pub) or possibly the wedding or graduation of a good friend. Not much else will do it. Well, friends, we've found something else that will do it.

Wholesome Foods Bakery is a little allergen-free, all-natural, all-organic bakery run by two ladies that totally get it. Mother and daughter Anne Hoyt and Taylor Nicholson are celiacs that were tired of the lack of decent and delicious, allergen-free food. They said, "We can do this better." And friends, they totally can.

They bake a variety of delicious allergen-free breads that taste and behave as bread should. The slices are soft, moist, and bendy. I thought I was doing a good job making our bread at home, but friends, the bread at WFB, well, it takes the cake, I guess.

They bake cakes, too. Vanilla pound cake, chocolate pound cake, and carrot cake. Oh, and their Fudge Walnut Brownies make me see stars. They're full of deep, rich, velvety chocolate flavor. They're moist inside and a tiny bit crisp on the top. Stars, I say. You will see stars.

My other favorite from WFB is the Food Bars. Tasty, convenient bars made of puffed rice, puffed millet, a few various seeds, some "etc." that is probably secret, and of course, know-how and love. Taylor actually created these bars with her sister in mind, a busy medical student that needed healthy snacks on the go. I LOVE these Food Bars. In addition to the convenience (I have one on hand at all times in my purse and gym bag), they taste like food. They ARE food. Actual, unprocessed, whole food. Not too sweet, but still very tasty. And a nice mix of carb and protein. A perfect between-class snack for me on a long day of teaching yoga.

There are so many products from WFB that we love. Please check out their website. It's informative and thorough, showing you photos of each item and listing very clearly whether the item is GF, DF, SF, etc. (Everything is GF and SF. Many things are DF. Some can even be made EF. Just take a look at the info.) If you're up for the road trip, they're at 718 North Buckner Boulevard, Suite #154 Dallas, TX 75218. Check the website for hours of operation. They also ship nationwide, so even if a road trip to Dallas is more than just a chore, you have no excuse for not trying these fabulous wares!

Check out this video of the afternoon we spent with Anne and Taylor. They were delightful to talk to. The love they have for their work shines through as they talk about it, and that made them such a joy to hang out with. As you'll see from the video, we walked out of there with a huge bag of freshly baked goods. Rice tapioca bread, cinnamon rolls, fudge walnut brownies (!), food bars, and a bag or two of crunch. Enjoyed it all, every single happy bite.

One thing that Weldon and I noted during the time we were there, which was late on a Saturday afternoon, was the steady stream of customers coming in. It was miraculous that we found the time to film one-on-one with them! We did have to stop a few times so Anne and Taylor could do business. One woman actually cried when she tasted the bread. "I haven't eaten bread in three years," she said. Anne and Taylor said this is almost a daily occurence at the bakery, a customer being moved to tears by eating delicious allergen-free food. It seems to warm their soul in a way that only a fresh slice of bread can. Or banana bread straight from the oven, or a warm cinnamon roll. Some customers don't even have food allergies, Taylor told us. They just come for the good food.

Part of Anne and Taylor's vision is to offer downright good food. Not just "good for being GF," but "good food." Period. Friends, they definitely hit the mark.

Big thanks to Anne and Taylor for letting us hang out with them and for showing us around. Big thanks also to Todd Kent for his filming and editing of this piece. Everyone that afternoon was a joy to be with.

Come hang out with us on July 5!

2011-06-21T11:45:00.006-05:00

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is cool. I’ve been going there since I was a little bitty girl. When I was 3 or 4, their summer museum school program was where I got to pet a skunk named Daisy and touch a real live tarantula. That museum is also where I learned about trepanning and mummies and dinosaurs. Oh, and gila monsters. Those were cool, too. Dates took me there when I was in high school. So you see, the Science and History museum has always been part of my life showing me cool stuff, teaching me things, and opening up new worlds for me.

This awesome museum now runs a series of talks called PUBlic Knowledge, which they call, “A monthly adult gathering celebrating brains and brew, presented at a local watering hole….” Well, excellent! Lots of things we love!

Each first Tuesday of the month, they feature guests from a variety of fields and backgrounds to do an informal talk on a variety of subjects. And guess what, friends? We’re the resident experts featured on July 5!

That’s right, on July 5 at 7pm at The Ginger Man here in Fort Worth, we'll be talking about why and how we started living gluten- and dairy-free and how we actually "live it up" gluten- and dairy-free. It will be pretty informal, with lots of time for Q&A. And there will, most likely, be lots of comedy.

The Ginger Man stocks a few GF brews, notably, Red Bridge and a couple of ciders. There are also a couple of lovely salads on the menu that are gluten-free, or if you can tolerate dairy, you can enjoy their sausage and cheese plate. Of course, you can also just come to hang out, listen to our little talk, and ask some questions if you want. It will be a fun evening. We might even give away a few prizes...

Come see us there! We'd love to meet you!

Great Gluten-free Dining in Houston

2011-06-10T06:00:00.008-05:00

Today's entry is from Weldon, and it's all about a great restaurant in Houston. Thanks, Taco Milagro, for making sure my man was well-fed on his trip! :)

I went to Houston a couple of weeks ago to meet Todd Kent at Comicpalooza for a screening of his film, Comic Book Literacy. I appeared in this film and was to speak on a panel after the screening. Todd has also filmed some cooking segments for us which can be viewed at our YouTube channel.

When I travel, a little research ahead of time saves a lot of time and headache when looking for restaurants that have GF/DF offerings, or items that could easily be converted to GF/DF. A quick web-search turned up a wonderful recommendation for Taco Milagro Restaurant and Beach Bar in Houston.

I arrived in Houston on a Friday night and after a quick stop at the hotel, headed straight to Taco Milagro. It was easy to find. In fact, it was hard to miss! The night I showed up they had a live Latin band playing and the joint was jumpin’ and thumpin’! The outside patio was full, as was the inside, as was the dance floor. And after hearing the band, eating the food, and having one of the margaritas, it was VERY easy to see why!

I couldn’t wait to come back with Todd the next day. It says a lot about this place that it was on my mind the entire time we were at the comic book convention.

Todd: “Did you see Marina Sirtis just walk past us?”
Weldon thinking: <’Taco-Milagro…mmmmm…..’> “Huh, wha- where?"

When it was time for lunch, I was good and hungry! It was windy outside, so we opted for the inside seating. Since Todd is never without his camera, take a look:

I chatted with some of the staff and was told that one of the owners has celiac disease, so they are very well-versed in what is required to serve gluten- and dairy-free food. I felt I was in good hands. The night before, I had gotten the Pork Barbacoa platter (making sure it had no cheese). It was so good I planned on having it again the next day and even recommended it highly to Todd. Apparently I am not the only fan of this platter, as it was sold out by the time we got there for lunch! I ordered the closest thing to it I could get, which was the Pork Barbacoa Tamales (as seen in the video). They were wonderful as well! The Mole sauce has a rich smokey flavor. And it went really well with the Mexican Rice & Ranchero Beans.

I would be doing them wrong if I did not mention the salsa bar! There were about eight different kinds of Salsa available on the salsa bar. There was easily a flavor to fit anyone’s taste. I am particularly fond of their Salsa Negro. But the Mango Salsa made a nice complement to it. You serve yourself in little paper cups, so you can easily sample them all until you find the flavor just right for you. And the chips were fresh and tasty too! Nothing ruins good salsa faster than bad chips. I skipped the margarita for lunch as we were driving back soon. The margaritas here are not to be trifled with! Tasty, but watch it…they bite!

Great gluten- and dairy-free food, great drinks, and all for an affordable price. That’s my kind of place!

Taco Milagro has definitely become a ‘Must Stop’ location for me any time I am in Houston. In fact, it’s almost worth the trip from Fort Worth alone, comic convention or not!

If you are in Houston, stop by and check them out!

Check out their menu ahead of time at www.taco-milagro.com.

Dairy Free Avocado Melon Smoothie. Just do it.

2011-05-25T06:00:00.004-05:00

I have no idea why this sounded good to me, but it did. I got a craving for an avocado smoothie one day last week. I'd never even had one before, but it was all I could think about. I started doing some research, to see if an avocado smoothie was even a thing. Oh, friends, it is.

An avocado milkshake is a traditional Vietnamese treat called Sinh to Bo. It's usually made with avocado and sweetened condensed milk, whirled together with some ice. It turns into the most beautiful, creamy, refershing looking thing you've ever seen. So naturally, the dairy-free mad scientist in me thought, "I can do that."

Avocados are full of nutrition. They deliver a punch of beta carotene, potassium, and all sorts of good unsaturated fat (the kind that doesn't raise blood cholesterol). Also a slew of B vitamins and fiber. So the result of my experiment wouldn't just be a splurgy dessert or snack, but an important part of my daily nutrition. I loved where this was going. So, then I got to thinking.

We had bought a honeydew melon the week before, and it got to be a little overripe sitting on the counter. Weldon chopped it into cubes and froze them for tropical fruit smoothies. (I've recently discovered the happiness that is coconut butter, which is perfect to add to a smoothie with frozen melon and banana, but more on that another time.) Why not drop a few frozen melon cubes into this thing instead of ice cubes? The experiment was definitely on.

Here's where I ended up:

1 ripe avocado

1/2 C to 3/4 C frozen melon cubes

1 C vanilla flavored coconut milk beverage

a pinch or drop of stevia (you could also add a teensy bit of honey or sugar)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

very optional: a splash of aloe vera juice, to brighten the flavor and to add a tiny bit more nutrition

Whirl all ingredients together in your blender or fancy Vitamix until smooth and creamy. Pour into your favorite tall glass and sip with a big straw or eat with a spoon. (This would be a great application for a spraw, come to think of it. Do they still make those?)

Friends, it WILL get surprisingly smooth and creamy. It will be fresh tasting and cool and sweet. Perfect for those hot summer days that are approaching us. And here's the thing. I would recommend you try this, even if you don't like avocados. Here's why. Contrary to what you're thinking, this does NOT taste like a big glass of guacamole. The avocado lends its silkiness to the concoction, the melon and stevia bring the sweetness, and the vanilla in the coconut milk gives the flavor. There's a certain fruity freshness that your tongue notices, but you don't identify it as, "Damn, I'm drinking an avocado." Instead, you think, "Damn, I never knew a fake shake could be so creamy and good without actual milk in it!" Friends, it can. And that avocado will give you so much nutrition in one delicious serving.

I encourage you to try this smoothie. Play with the recipe if you want, and let us know what you come up with. Adding a splash of rosewater, different types of fruit, sweeteners, flavors, maybe a dab of chocolate syrup? We definitely want to hear about it. I know I'm not the only mad scientist out there. Get to work, friends! :)

Fabulous GF/DF Strawberry Birthday Cake

2011-05-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have picked up on the fact that it was my birthday a few weeks ago. It wasn't the Big Four O. That was last year. This was the Big Four One. That's right. 41. A few days before my birthday, I told Weldon, "I'm gonna be 'over 40.'" I wasn't upset about it really, it was just a weird realization. Now I'm really "in my 40s." My 30s were very transitional. I spent a lot of time undoing the damage I'd done to myself in my 20s. So I've always envisioned that my 40s would be spent using what I learned in my 30s to build and create the life I really want. And that is exactly what I'm doing, and it's pretty cool. :)

But that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about today. What I really want to talk to you about today is this: on my birthday, my mother insisted on making me a GF/DF birthday cake. This was huge, friends.

My family hasn't quite been on board with the whole GF thing. It's been very difficult for them to understand that it's not a choice, especially for Weldon. Family dinners have been hard. Thanksgiving was almost a nightmare. So when my birthday was coming around, I told my mom I'd be glad to make the cake. She said, no, it was my birthday so she would make the cake, of course. She asked me to give her a recipe and tell her what she needed to buy and she would take care of it.

It touched my heart, friends. It touched my heart completely. So I converted my favorite strawberry cake recipe to be GF/DF and supplied my mom with the ingredients she would be less likely to continue using (Spectrum shortening, GF flour mix, etc.). She did a bang up job. :)

Here's what we came up with.

For the cake:

1 pkg. white cake mix (we used Kinnikinnick and it was great!)
3 T GF flour mix (we used Bob's Red Mill All-purpose GF Baking Flour)
1 small box strawberry Jell-O
4 eggs
1/2 C water
2/3 to 3/4 C oil (use your judgment; you don't want the batter too thick or too thin)
about 1/2 C frozen strawberries, no juice (not the kind in syrup)

1. Combine ingredients until mixed.

2. Pour batter into 2 prepared 9 in. layer cake pans. (You can also make about 18 cupcakes with this recipe.)

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Bake cupcakes for 25-30 minutes.)

4. After removing pans from the oven, cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes, then flip the cooled cakes out. (If you try to flip while the cakes are still too warm, they'll break, and so will your heart.)

For frosting:

1/3 C shortening (I always use Spectrum Organic Shortening for frosting. It's perfect!)
1/4 t vanilla
pinch of salt
2 C GF powdered sugar
3 T strawberry juice from the frozen strawberry package
toss in a few frozen strawberries (optional)

1. Combine and mix with a handmixer (or a fancy stand mixer, if you have one) until smooth and creamy.

If frosting is too thin to spread, add more powdered sugar.

This cake was delicious, friends. This is the strawberry cake I've had for every birthday I can remember. This one was truly special since my mom made it GF/DF.

This was a very happy birthday, friends. I'm happy and well, I'm doing work that I believe fulfils my purpose, and I have so much love in my life. And of course, women over 40 are hot. So what have I got to complain about?

Saturday Night Fish Fry!

2011-05-04T06:00:00.004-05:00

Weldon has become a creative genius in the kitchen. He's always been very comfortable with, "let's just try this and see what happens," and that actually makes for a pretty good chef. It also means that not every experiment is successful, of course. He's apologized for plenty of dinners that didn't turn out exactly the way he wanted them to (meaning, good). But, it's this crazy rogue attitude in the kitchen that gave us organic chicken stuffed with herbed spinach and pine nuts. That was a successful experiment. Stuffed jack-o-lantern bell peppers, those were also a pretty successful experiment. It took a few tries to get it just right, but he eventualy got it.

There's a fried fish restaurant near us called Zeke's. We used to love Zeke's. For some reason, the first couple of times we went to Zeke's, it was in the middle of a torrential downpour and there was flooding in the streets. After that, every time it rained really hard, one of us would say, "Guess it's time to go to Zeke's." When I was doing Weight Watchers, one fried fish filet at Zeke's was worth 24 points, I think. Maybe it was as few as 15, but it was a lot. (And come on, who stops at one?) That didn't stop us from going. It's that good. Fish and chips is one of our favorite indulgences.

But now, well, Zeke's is off the table for us for glutenous reasons. And that made us sad. But remember what we say? Don't do without, find an equal or better replacement. And that's just what Weldon has done. He found a way to make delicious fried fish that's gluten-free. It also satisfies my biggest requirement in the kitchen, it's simple. You, yes, even you, can make this fish.

Watch Weldon do it:

See, easy. :)

You can use the same technique with chicken or pork with great results. In fact, Weldon makes wonderful little pork medallions using this same flour mix. Super good. Try it and tell us how it goes. What twists will you add? Fresh rosemary in the flour mix? Powdered mustard? What about a pinch of cinnamon? Tell us about your results. We always love to hear your feedback. :)

Just for fun, here's a great little rockin' tune for inspiration! Louis Jordan's Saturday Night Fish Fry. It's one of our favorites, friends. Enjoy it, and enjoy some gluten-free fried fish!

Another Cool Video: Popped Amaranth

2011-04-20T06:00:00.002-05:00

One of the cool things about having your food choices "limited" is that it forces you to go outside the boundaries you're accustomed to. You start to realize that there's more to life than whole wheat bread and cream of wheat.

We constantly hear from our doctors and from the media that whole grains are good for us. And the truth is they are. They're very good for us. And here's why, according to our friends at the Mayo Clinic:

Whole grains haven't had their bran and germ removed by milling, making them good sources of fiber — the part of plant-based foods that your body doesn't digest. Among many health benefits, high-fiber foods also tend to make you feel full longer.

Refined grains, such as white rice or white flour, have both the bran and germ removed from the grain. Although vitamins and minerals are added back into refined grains after the milling process, they still don't have as many nutrients as whole grains do, and they don't provide as much fiber naturally.

Here's what we tend to forget: there are many other whole grains available to us in addition to wheat, and most of them are non-glutenous, such as quinoa, buckwheat, rice, millet, and amaranth. Amaranth is the one we're going to talk about today.

Amaranth is an ancient crop that originated in the Central America, and not technically a grain but a seed. Like quinoa, it's highly complete for a plant protein. It's full of iron, copper, and zinc, and of all grains, it has the highest amount of folic acid, calcium, and vitamin E. It can be ground into flour for use in breads, cakes, pancakes, etc. or flaked for use as hot cereal like oatmeal. It also can be popped like popcorn, which is the most fun option, if you ask me. (It can also be made into porridge, which Weldon and I don't actually recommend. We had nothing to go on. Maybe we did it wrong. )

We found our whole grain amaranth at the grocery story alongside the rice. I started looking for it with the cereals, then the flours and came up with nothing. Weldon found it with the rice. (A nice example of our grocery store teamwork.)

Popping amaranth is super fun and results in a nutritious meal or snack. See how easy it is in this short video.

(Big thanks again to Todd Kent for all his work on this video!)

To pop your amaranth:

Heat your dry skillet over medium-high to high heat. The hotter the skillet is, the better the results are. (Also, since we're working with a dry skillet, don't use a nonstick skillet.)
When the skillet is so hot that water droplets dance, maybe even skitter, across the surface, you're ready to go.
Add 1/4 C of whole amaranth. You'll notice a few grains begin to quiver. Get ready for anything. It really is kind of like making popcorn with the lid off.
Using a WOODEN spoon, keep the grains moving as they start to pop. Even shake the pan a little.
Don't worry about all the leapers. You'll sweep them up later. This is all about experiencing the present moment!
When all, or mostly all, of the grains have popped to a fluffy white, stop giggling and squealing long enough to turn off the heat underneath and pour the fluffy goodness into a bowl.

You can treat it like you would treat oatmeal, adding sweetness, nuts, raisins, even chocolate chips if it's your birthday. :) You can also make it into a more savory treat with plan or flavored salt. Either way, you're getting a lot of nutrition from a single serving of whole grain.

Have fun with this and send us YOUR videos! :) Maybe you'll end up on the blog!

GF/DF Sandwich Bread with Handy Instructional Video!

2011-04-14T06:00:00.004-05:00

When we realized we were going to have to be gluten-free, one of the first things we both were concerned about was bread. It was like we had a simultaneous realization as we were contemplating the implications of living in this new way. Our eyes met and we shouted, "Bread!" Weldon's a sandwich man, for breakfast and lunch. (He makes a killer scrambled egg sandwich, by the way.) And me, I can't get by without toast. I'll eat it with breakfast, for snacks, at dinner, and as an evening snack with my tea. How would we get by without bread?

That was our first big lesson in the gluten-free world. Don't go without, find an equal or better replacement.

There are several brands of awesome GF bread you can buy. We sometimes do. However, we find it more budget-friendly for us to make our own since we use so much. Which means I make our own. :) And remember how I like to roll in the kitchen? (If you're new to the blog, simple is how I like to roll.) Our bread machine is one of the best purchases we've ever made.

The recipe I use for our GF/DF sandwich bread is kind of a Franken-bread of several recipes I've tried over the last year. It's tasty enough to eat on its own and it can also play backup to your favorite ham, turkey, grilled veggie, PBJ, or grilled cheese if you're still able to eat dairy.

Here's how we do it:

Dry ingredients:

1 C sorghum flour

1/2 C millet flour

1/2 C brown rice flour

1 C potato starch flour

2.5 t guar gum

1 1/4 t salt

1 T rapid rise highly active yeast

Liquid ingredients:

1 1/2 (but just barely 1 1/2) C mix of water and milk of your choice (I use almond milk.)

4 T EVOO

3 T honey

1/2 t mild rice vinegar

1 happy, organic farm-fresh egg

Make sure egg is at room temperature I place it in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.

Proof the yeast. Bring water/almond milk mixture to a temperature between 110 and 115 degrees. Add the yeast and give it a few minutes to foam up and smell good and bready. This just means that the yeast is alive and well. Leave it be while you do the rest.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients (except the yeast).

Lightly beat the happy egg.

Ensure that the kneading paddle is in place at the bottom of your bread pan!

Add to your bread machine pan: lightly beaten eggs, proofed yeast and water, and all other wet ingredients.

Lightly pour the dry ingredients on top.

Lightly tap sides of bread pan to get everything even.

Place your bread pan into the machine and set to the Gluten-free setting or set to Basic and 1/2 lb.

During the knead cycle, be sure to help it along by scraping down the sides every now and then. When the rise cycle begins, take out the kneading paddle of you can and smooth over the top. After baking, remove breadpan from machine and slide fresh bread out of it gently. Cool loaf on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

To store your bread, place slices between sheets of wax paper in a large zip top baggie. Pop the whole bag in the freezer. (GF bread dries out really quickly at room temperature, so it's important to store it in the freezer if you're not going to eat it that day.) You can take out what you need as you need it. The slices can thaw at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes, or they can go straight from freezer to toaster.

Use this recipe as a foundation and experiment by adding cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc. (I love chai spicing it, with cinamon, clove, cardamon, and ginger.)

Trust us. Don't go without when you find out you have a food restriction. Find an equal or better replacement. We think that you'll find, like we did, that you eat better than ever.

Big thanks to our friend Todd Kent for shooting and editing this video! Watch for more of our collaborative work in the future!

A Surprise Visit from Austin Bearded Brother Chris

2011-04-06T06:00:00.015-05:00

If you have read the blog even a little bit, you know that we like to support local businesses, farmers, artisans, and creative folk in general. (Check out our Things We Love page.) When we go out to eat, we go to the local establishments whenever possible. We shop at farmers' markets when we can, and we love to buy things that have been made or grown by people we can actually see and talk to. Last week, we had an awesome experience right along this line with our new friends from Bearded Brothers.

Bearded Brothers is a small, family-owned business based in Austin. Both brothers, Chris and Caleb are cool, outdoorsy, adventurous Austin types with a love for good, wholesome food. So these adventursome brothers, both of them bearded, were inspired to work together to create a variety of organic, raw, vegan-friendly, gluten-free energy bars and seasoned nuts. This is them, by the way. No, really. This artist's rendering is entirely accurate.

I had ordered a case (Yes, a case. Shutup.) of their handmade energy bars in an assortment of flavors. I waited and waited patiently for their arrival. I especially was excited to try the blueberry vanilla one. I mean, come on. It's blueberry AND vanilla! So, as I said, I'm waiting patiently, and one day, there's a knock at the door. . .

The dogs go nuts, as they do when someone comes to the door. As Weldon went to answer the front door, I wrangled the dogs toward the back door, all the while thinking, I hope it's the UPS guy with my case of energy bars. Weldon came to get me and said, with an enormous smile on his face, "There's a crunchy guy at the door for you."

"What?" I asked, thinking, I didn't order any crunchy guys.

"Just go to the door," Weldon said, walking along behind me.

I did, and it was not the UPS guy, but I was far from disappointed. BEARDED BROTHER CHRIS had hand-delivered my case of energy bars!!! With a perfect portrait of himself on his Bearded Brother logo t-shirt! He explained that he was on his way through town and decided to make a few deliveries as he did. I found out later my friend Isis (of The Running Couple) got her delivery that day also.

Weldon and I chatted with him for a few minutes on the front porch, thanked him ever so much for going to the trouble, and guaranteed him our repeat business and our recommendation to friends. Can we expect delivery service every time?* Probably not. But we can expect a delicious product that we can feel good about eating.

I can't decide which of the four flavors is my favorite, Ginger Peach, Mango Coconut, Vanilla Blueberry, or Chocolate Maca. Each flavor is full of actual ingredients, things you know and recognize as food. The reusable, resealable packaging keeps them moist and flavorful. You can actually taste ingredients and not weirdly overpowering "artificial flavor." And of course, they are organic, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, and dairy-free. And handmade by people who care. That we can see and talk to. That will bring their product straight to our door, just because they're headed that way. That, my friends, is all the things we love.

We definitely recommend that you try some of these energy bars. You can order them here. At the very least, keep up with these guys on Facebook. They're doing good things, so let's support that. If you're in Austin, find their fine products at these locations, and watch for the guys around town and tell them Beth and Weldon said hi.

*About that delivery service, Chris and Caleb: after hearing this story, a friend of mine who has a real thing for men with beards, told me, "If I'd known it would bring a bearded man straight to my door, I totally would have ordered some." So, just something to think about for future marketing campaigns. :)

Guest Blogger Todd Kent Experiments With 2 of Our Recipes

2011-03-30T06:00:00.003-05:00

Today's guest blogger is our friend Todd Kent. Todd is the Director and Producer of the award-winning documentary, Comic Book Literacy. (Some of you remember that Weldon appeared in that film. That's what brought our paths into convergence with Todd's.) It's a fascinating film that shows comics in a new light for the general public. It shatters the misconception that comic books are throw-away reading. If you're a fan of reading, education, or kids, find out when there will be a screening near you and just plan to go.

Todd is an avid follower of the blog and mentioned to me recently that he was trying some of the recipes. He kindly agreed to tell us about his experiences in a guest blog, which is what you're reading today. When he made our Nutty GF Cookies and Weldon's Fried Chicken, he did not, unfortunately, have a camera rolling, though he admitted he thought about it. He also admitted that he thinks about filming just about everything. Which sounds about right for a documentary film maker. Maybe next time. :) Take it away, Todd. . .

Sunday is my cooking day. I typically get home late on the weekdays and I’m in no mood to put forth any additional effort. The best I can usually muster is to pop something into the oven that I had prepared earlier. That’s why Sunday is my cooking day. I’ll usually make several dishes all at once in the afternoon and eat them the rest of the week. Thanks to my new friends Beth and Weldon, this week will be (at least partially) gluten & dairy free.

Weldon was kind enough to help me out with some past (and hopefully future) projects so that’s how “From Cows to Quinoa” first got my attention. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and have kept an eye on what type of ingredients were going into my food. But up until recently I was completely unaware of the problems gluten can cause some people. I also had the typical reaction when finding out what foods gluten allergy sufferers have to give up. It seemed like a lot of tasty staples were out the window.

That’s not necessarily true, however, as I’m learning that GF/DF alternatives can be just as good (and in some cases easier to prepare) if not better than the types of food to which I am accustomed. Going through the older entries of this blog has been quite an entertaining education for me and has provided motivation to research the topic further. And as many of my mad scientist friends have told me, the best type of research is done through experimentation.

That’s why this past Sunday was, for me, an exercise in GF/DF cooking. Many of the recipes on this blog caught my eye but there were two in particular that made their way to the top of my list: the “Nutty GF Cookies” and Weldon’s Fried Chicken recipe. The two selections were a study in contrasts, since one was well within my comfort zone and one was widely outside of it.

Starting with dessert, the cookies were absolute simplicity in their execution. As the recipe says, there are only three ingredients. It doesn’t come any simpler than that. The recipe calls for any type of nut butter, and I am a peanut butter man all the way. I take my peanut butter very seriously.

My go-to peanut butter is from a company simply called “The Peanut Butter Company” which offers a line of all natural, gluten-free peanut butters. My favorite, and the one I used, is “Bee’s Knees” which is flavored with honey (thus making it the only non-vegan product they sell). Once they started selling this line at my local market it became my exclusive peanut butter. The company even has a sandwich shop in Manhattan that serves primarily gourmet peanut butter sandwiches. It’s definitely on my list to visit on my next trip to NYC.

So the three ingredients went into the oven, by way of the mixing bowl and twelve minutes later I had a fresh batch of cookies that were sweet, but not too sweet with and had an understated peanuty flavor. They’ve definitely landed a spot in my rotating dessert baking roster.

The next thing I cooked was intimidating for me for two reasons:

1. I rarely cook fish, and

2. I rarely fry anything.

So as I said earlier, cooking fried fish was definitely outside my comfort zone but the recipe technique was not. I’ve made Cap’n Crunch Chicken many times in the past and this was a similar process. But instead of crushed up cereal (which, if I had to guess, is probably riddled with gluten and who knows what else), I’m substituting crushed up tortilla chips. Instead of chicken I’m substituting fish and instead of baking it, I’m frying it. So maybe it’s not the same neighborhood but it’s still the same zip code.

Weldon suggested using a makeshift mortar and pestle to crush the chips but I had good luck with putting them in a zip top bag and using a can of soup, first as a mallet and then as a rolling pin. As I am unfamiliar with buying or cooking fish, I played it safe and bought some frozen tilapia fillets. They seemed to work just fine. I wasn’t sure how long to cook them so I frequently cut into the fillets to see if they were done (I wasn’t worried about presentation). I even threw in some chicken breasts since my wife doesn’t eat fish.

The end result was not bad at all. The tortilla chip flavor took a little getting used to when paired with fish but they contribute a unique and contrasting texture that was enjoyable. Since I’ve experimented often in the past with the Cap’n Crunch Chicken recipe (substituting different cereals, Apple Jacks, Golden Grahams or even crackers like Cheese Nips) I plan to do that with this one as well.

I’m very fortunate to not suffer from any food allergies so I can be a little more liberal with my “breading” selections: Cool Ranch Doritos? BBQ Lay’s? Rosemary and Olive Oil Flavored Triscuits? Who knows? Like any mad scientist I look forward to future experimentations.

Todd can be reached at comicbookliteracy@hotmail.com.

Homemade Sports Drink

2011-03-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

If you checked in with us on Wednesday, you know about my dilemma to keep myself energized and hydrated lately. I work full time, teach up to 7 fitness classes a week, and attend classes as a student during the week. Energy and hydration are definitely a critical issue!

A friend of mine that runs half marathons has convinced me of the value of "sports drinks." You know the stuff. Unnatural color. Sickeningly sweet/salty flavor. Full of all the stuff we advise against: artificial color, artificial flavor, and sometimes even high fructose corn syrup if you're not careful! But it's also full of the stuff you just depleted as you sweat the morning away: sugar, sodium, potassium, and water. It drives me crazy that I feel so much better when I drink this stuff. Has it become a necessary evil for me?

Well, maybe not any more.

I found some great information over at Sports Girls Play about the formulation of Gatorade. According to Dr. Lorraine Williams, ". . . researchers agree that the optimal concentration of carbohydrates in a sports drink is about 6%. This concentration actually allows the water to be absorbed more quickly in the body than plain water alone." The formulation that Gatorade gives us for an 8 oz. serving is:

• 14 g Carbohydrate (5.9%)
• 110 mg Sodium
• 30mg Potassium
• 52 calories

According to Dr. Williams, we can get close to this formulation with no artificial anything by using this recipe:

• 1/2 C orange juice
• 9 t Sugar
• 3/8 t Salt
• Water to 2 liters

How cool is that?! We can replenish what we've depleted using these natural ingredients in this concentration. With the weather warming up, what a great thing to mix up at the beginning of a week full of workouts or weekend full of kids' soccer games. In addition to being all natural, it's also much less expensive than commercial sports drinks.

I'll be honest, I haven't tried this yet. It's my plan to mix up a batch today for use over the next couple of days. I have my heaviest concentration of classes Friday through Sunday, and they're also the most vigorous ones! It will be a true test of whether this stuff can do the job. Of course, I'm also paying close attention to my fuel. I'm not relying on this magic sugar water to get me through on its own.

So there you have it, friends. A natural version of those unnatural-looking, expensive sports drinks. I'll keep you posted on my weekend experiment!

Simple and Delicious Homemade Protein Bars!

2011-03-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling lately with feeding myself adequately on days when I'm exerting a lot of energy. I work in an office 32 hours a week and I teach up to 7 fitness classes a week. Add into that 2 or 3 fitness classes I attend as a student, and that's a lot of muscles firing! I've even found myself feeling a little dizzy and nauseated during some workouts recently, which is a pretty bad sign, if you ask me. I would lose all my street cred as an instructor if I keeled over during a class!

Because of my current focus on my own exercise nutrition (which a lot of times is about eating the right things at the right times), I've been on a quest to find homemade, DIY versions of both protein/power bars and "sports drink."

Let's face it, power bars are handy, especially when you're on the go. They can be packed with nutrition and made from super good stuff (look at Larabars, BumbleBars, etc.). They are compact and wrapped up and easy enough to throw in your bag for easy access between activities. Trouble is, it can be challenging to find the ones that are GF/DF, and when you do, they can be tough on the budget, right?

I've found a few recipes to try. My first experiment turned out to be easy and delicious! It's made with almonds, almond butter, and flax meal, all held together with coconut oil flavored with honey, stevia, and vanilla. Oh, and the whole thing is topped with organic dark chocolate. Hello. :)

Here's how we make 'em.

2 C almonds (raw)
½ C flax meal (flax seeds ground in a coffee grinder or Vitamix *)
½ C unsweetened shredded coconut (optional) I left this out and things still turned out fine.
½ C creamy roasted almond butter
½ t sea salt
½ C coconut oil **
4 drops stevia
1 T agave nectar or honey (I used honey.)
1 T vanilla extract
1 C dark chocolate chips 73% cacao (optional)

1. Toss almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut (if using), almond butter, and salt into a food processor.
2. Pulse briefly, about 10 seconds.
3. In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat.
4. Remove coconut oil from stove, stir stevia, agave/honey, and vanilla into oil.
5. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste.
6. Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish (no need to prepare the pan, there's enough oil in the dough).
7. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.
8. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously.
9. Spread melted chocolate over bars and return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens.
10. When the chocolate hardens, cut into 12 bars and serve.
11. Store in refrigerator.
Very roughly, each bar provides about 250 calories and 7 grams of protein.

* Now, about this flax meal. For those of us without a fancy Vitamix, we use a coffee grinder to pulverize the flax seeds into powder. Pulverize the heck out of them. Then pulverize them some more. Grind them as fine as you can possibly get them. If you do have a fancy Vitamix, as my friend Lisa says, blamo. You'll have flax meal.

** About this coconut oil. Coconut oil comes in a jar and is solid and looks almost like shortening. It's soft enough to scooop easily with a spoon. It's expensive, but it's worth having. Just buy some already.

So the result of this recipe is a sweet, amaretto-y, protein-packed snack. The chocolate is optional, of course, but why would you leave out chocolate? Don't forget, dark chocolate is a power food. The downside to these bars is that they're a little messy. Just touching the chocolate gets your hands chocolately, and since they have to be stored in the fridge, you can't carry them around all day in your bag. But, for that time when you get home after a long run or tough power yoga class, these are just what you need. Oh, and your kids will love them, too. They would make a perfect after-school snack. Big thanks to Elana's Pantry for this recipe! I have another one to try that may hold up to travel a little better. I'll keep you posted.

For next time, a DIY version of those crazy sports drinks. See you here on Friday!

Guest Blogger: Judy Alter on Spam (The Tasty Kind)

2011-03-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

Judy Alter (of Judy's Stew) is a dear friend. I was fortunate enough to meet her years ago in college when I did my work study at TCU Press where she was Director. Judy was a knowledgable teacher, a kind mentor, and ultimately a good friend, first to me, then of course to Weldon when he came on the scene.

One of my fondest memories of those days back at TCU is being invited every now and again to share a Sunday supper at her house with her large family. Everything she cooked was so delicious, and there was so much of it! There had to be with her 4 college-age kids and their significant-others. I always marveled, so many people at the table, and so much laughter! And Judy obviously enjoyed every moment of it, the cooking and the laughter. I loved being taken into that warm, cozy energy.

Her Sunday supper are still just as cozy, as are her casual front-porch get-togethers and her holiday parties. And her large family? Well, it's even larger now, with 4 kids and their spouses and 7 grandchildren. That's 15 people, if you're counting. Check out Judy's cookbook memoir, Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books, or any of her other books. She's written quite a few!

So on to the Spam. A couple of weeks ago on Facebook, I asked who had a secret love for Spam. A lot of us did. And a lot of us had fond childhood memories of the stuff. Here are Judy's thoughts on the subject.

Some time ago on the TODAY show, the final segment featured a chef from Food & Wine magazine talking about and demonstrating “American gourmet” recipes—pickles soaked in Kool-Aid (sorry I didn’t catch the drink flavor), Frito pie made in the bag, and Hormel Spam treated as sushi. It’s a dish from Hawaii where a slice of Spam is put atop rice and wrapped with seaweed. Popular as a lunch treat, it’s called musubi.

My thought though was that the faux gourmet draws the line at Spam. For those that might not know, it’s a canned lunch meat made of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, starch, and sodium nitrite. Since it was introduced in 1937, over six billion cans have been sold worldwide.

I used to eat it as a kid. Spam sandwiches were made much like a ham sandwich with lettuce and mayo, or you could have used mustard. My frugal mother, who’d lived through the Depression and was living through the second World War in her lifetime, treated a whole can of Spam like a ham—she criss-crossed knife slashes across the top, sprinkled it with brown sugar, studded it with cloves, and baked it. I remember liking it, but back then my favorite meal was a can of Campbell’s spaghetti and a can of spinach. What did I know? Mom sliced the leftovers and fried them for breakfast meat.

Now every once in a while I think about trying it again, buying one of those small cans and baking it the way Mom did. What stops me is the fat content—2 oz. has 15 grams of fat, and six grams of saturated fat.

Nutrition aside, Spam has become sort of an inside joke these days. Hormel has a huge Spam web site that you can explore for hours (http://www.spam.com/), but much of it seems tongue-in-cheek. The Spam Museum is apparently a virtual museum—or is it? Listing visits per year, the site says, “As many as you’d like.” There’s a page devoted to Spammobile, a gift shop that sells T-shirts, coffee cups and mugs, drop earrings with SPAM cans, lapel pins, bumper stickers that say “I love Spam,” a Spam fan club (“your membership lasts a lifetime”), and an endless list of things. The Book of SPAM is available online from amazon.com.

Today Spam comes in a dithering array of flavors—original, hickory smoked, with bacon, with garlic, with cheese, lite, turkey. There’s an annual recipe contest, and the web site has recipes—Spam stroganoff, Spam meatloaf, Spam quiche, a speedy dip, croquettes, and a minestrone soup made with Spam. There are also suggestions for adapting the ubiquitous meat to various cuisines. Prefer French food? You can have your Spam in ratatouille or something called Ragin’ Cajun Spam party salad. Asian? How about Speedy Cheesy Stir-fry? Spam a la orange? Sweet and sour Spam Cantonese? If Mexican is your preference, you can have Spam in chili relleños, ranchero eggs, chimichangas, or breakfast burritos. And finally, of course, there’s Italian—pizza is inevitable, but you can also make turkey Spam lasagna, eggplant Italiano, spaghetti sauce, or fettucine primavera. The possibilities are endless.

It’s no coincidence that spam has become the term for unwanted junk email. There’s an explanation on the web, but it went over my head.

Here are a couple of recipes that are GF/DF:

Grilled Spam
1 10 oz. jar blackberry or raspberry jam
1 clove garlic
3 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 12-oz. cans Spam Classic, sliced about ½ inch thick

1. Spray cooking oil on grill or George Foreman grill (those are great, if you don’t have one!).

2. Combine all ingredients except Spam in bowl and mix until smooth.

3. Pour into a shallow baking dish, and put Spam slices in it to be thoroughly coated.
4. Grill 3-5 minutes per side (on Foreman grill, just grill 3-5 minutes).
5. Serve, garnished with parsley, red lettuce, or fresh whole berries.

Spam and Eggs
1. Cube one 12 oz. can Spam and brown cubes in skillet. Remove.
2. Scramble 4 large eggs with whatever you prefer—water, soy milk, etc. When eggs begin to firm up, stir in Spam cubes. Cook until cubes are thoroughly heated—but don’t let your eggs get like concrete.
3. Serve garnished with chives.

GF Dining out in Austin is a SNAP!

2011-03-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Last weekend, my comics historian husband was in Austin to attend a screening of the documentary Comic Book Literacy. He appears in the film as both a huge donor to Heroes for Heroes (an awesome organization, check it out) and as an expert on the book, Texas History Movies (which has a fascinating little history all of its own). I was really disappointed I couldn't make the trip with him for a number of reasons. I wanted to see him on the post-screening panel, of course, but also because we have friends in Austin that we don't see near often enough. (Truth is, I can get a free comics history lecture any time, and often do. I don't listen to half of them. Sorry, honey.) I also miss the restaurants in Austin. All of them. There's a consciousness in Austin about different eating styles that we just don't find here in Fort Worth.

Well, it turns out I was extra sorry to have missed this trip, because Weldon found an awesome little restaurant called Snap Kitchen. They have 3 locations in all, 2 in Austin and 1 in Houston. It sounds absolutely and perfectly amazing. Read Weldon's story about it now:

I was looking forward to reconnecting with old friends while on a recent business trip to Austin. I lived in Austin in the mid 1990s. I knew that I missed the place, but didn’t realize just how much until I was down there for this trip, so getting reacquainted with my dear old friend Austin, TX was very nice.

Part of the trip was all about visiting old haunts. That’s how I ended up at the Denny’s on I-35, and I was surprised to find that getting a GF breakfast was no trouble at all. They have a ‘Slam’ option that is Mix-&-Match, so it’s easy to pick the GF/DF choices. Totally healthy? Maybe not, but GF/DF? Yes.

Part of the trip was finding new places. I had a nice GF meal at Mama Fu’s Asian House. They had a separate GF menu and kept GF soy sauce on hand.

But by FAR, the jewel of the visit was finding the Snap Kitchen.

The concept and setup is as simple and elegant as it is brilliant. Pre-prepared meals in recyclable plastic tubs. Ready-to-go food, but GOOD food, not "fast food," so you can swing in and grab something to take to work and warm up for lunch, or you can heat it up there and enjoy it on the spot. They also have a gourmet salad bar.

Manager John Whiteley explained that they believe in eating healthy, organic and local so much that they put it on their t-shirts! (Thanks to Joseph Figueroa for posing.)

Any of these meals could have easily been in a full service multi-star restaurant instead of a plastic box. Look at the Truffled Quinoa Mac & Cheese!

The food is prepared on the premises by a wonderfully talented kitchen staff. The dishes are good looking, good tasting and good FOR you.

Check out the full Menu online. You can even sort the online menu for specific needs (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian, Paleo, etc.).

I had “Thunder Heart Bison Quinoa Hash.” It was very tasty, and slightly hot, kind of a "lip smacking" hot, like a good Szechuan dish. It did have a small amount of cheese in it, but that is my bad for not reading the label completely. (And how many times have you heard us say, "Read the labels!" Sheesh.)

And the labels are NOT hard to read. In fact, quite the opposite! They have everything COLOR CODED! You simply find the color bars you need to look for and then find the food that matches. Check out this pic of the color code signs located throughout. I need to look for the items with blue and black bars.

They have 2 locations in Austin. One at the Triangle where Lamar and Guadalupe split, and one at Lamar & 6th street. And they have a Houston location as well.

If they only had a FORT WORTH location. . . Hint hint, Snap Kitchen.

Stay Healthy,

-=Weldon

Losing My Mind in the Kitchen

2011-02-23T07:00:00.007-06:00

Last Sunday was a beautiful day. I woke up early, opened the windows (well, the two windows in our house that will open), and started water for my morning tea. The house was filled with the morning quiet, that still energy of the earth that exudes possibility. Even the dogs were quiet and calm, nested in their little pillows on the floor. I decided to surprise Weldon with a Sunday morning breakfast of creamy scrambled eggs with a spinach chiffonade, boiled potates, and fresh GF honey nut bread. I made the bread in my magic bread machine, and as it cooled on the counter an hour later, I began preparing the rest of breakfast.

"Chiffonade" is a French term that means, "made of rags." It's a lovely cutting technique to use on little leafy things like basil, mint, and spinach. You end up with a lovely and flavorful green confetti. To chiffonade, you stack up 3 or 4 leaves, roll them into a tight little cylinder, then slice the cylinder. (For photos, see our friends over at Fine Cooking. I love to chiffonade spinach and add it to scrambled eggs or quinoa salad. But just think of the possibilities! How many ways could you use that fluffy green confetti?

As I was preparing my spinach leaves and running my knife through them, my mind began to wander. We've had a lot going on recently, lots of things are in flux, and my monkey-mind was focused on those things rather than the sharp piece of metal getting dangerously close to my index fingertip. And yes, you guessed it. Wammo, a minor kitchen accident. My fingernail slowed things down enough for me to react and put the brakes on my auto-cutting. As I lifted my finger to get a better look, in that split second, I was terrified of what I might see. Or not see, if you know what I mean.

But, thank goodness, I had cut the holy crap out of my fingernail and only done minor damage to the actual finger underneath. I had to finish clipping the tip of the fingernail off, exposing the raw quick underneath. It looks slightly worse than it really is. It looks pretty bad. :) But I was able to clean it up and bandage it and keep cooking.

So you would think I'd learn a lesson from that, wouldn't you? Think again.

When Weldon got up, he came to the kitchen to see that I was preparing a lovely meal for us. I showed him my pathetic wounded finger and he was genuinely concerned. But I assured him it was OK. "Be careful," he implored me. "I am," I assured him. Well, just wait.

He had put water on the stove for his instant coffee (instant coffe! don't get me started), and by the time it whistled, he was in the other room, so I was going to pour it for him. When I picked up the kettle, it didn't feel like there was much water in it. I removed the lid to see if there was enough to even make his coffee (he uses one of those giant coffee mugs). It looked like there was so I began pouring. Without putting the lid back on. So I steam-burned the heck out of my hand! Again, I reacted in time to avoid doing serious damage to myself. And that time, more than feeling scared and shaken, I just felt like a doofus.

Cooking can take on a variety of tones. It can be a social event, in which friends bond through the experience of preparing food and sharing a meal together. It can also be a quiet meditation, an experience in which the preparer focuses mindfully on the food, the smells, the textures, the sounds of the chopping, etc, and keeps love in his heart for those that brought those ingredients to his kitchen and for the loved ones that will be nourished by the food being prepared. Sometimes we can find some kind of mix between the two. And unfortunately, for some, it can feel like a chore.

That morning, friends, I wasn't in the moment or experience at all. I was somewhere else. That hasn't happened in a long time, and it was a loud wake-up call! My lesson from that morning is to slow down, wake up, and tune in. To remember that our lives are lived in this moment. And that when I'm cutting spinach into chiffonade, I'm cutting spinach into chiffonade, not trying to solve problems that haven't even happened yet.

I found this lovely meditation from Touching the Earth, by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, which I shall keep handy in the kitchen to refer to before I cook:

I shall organize my life so that I shall have enough time and energy to cook in a leisurely and peaceful way. I promise that I shall not speak in the kitchen with irritation or in an unpleasant way. I am aware that the energy of love and harmony in the kitchen directly penetrates into the food that I am cooking and will offer to my beloved ones.

When Weldon and I sit down to a meal, we do our best to remember to say our food blessing, the one you see there to the right. This helps to cultivate our mindfulness around eating food. Preparing food should be no less sacred.

Quite a lot to think about, isn't it? And all that from a near-miss major knife accident. :) Friends, when you're in the kitchen, or anywhere, just make sure you're there. :)

Special Bonus Link: Samurai Delicatessen

Hats Off to BJ's Brewhouse!

2011-02-16T07:00:00.003-06:00

Weldon recently had a great dining experience. This blog is from him. :)

Dining out and staying allergen-free can be a challenge. We've had experiences ranging from, “Here’s our GF menu and here are my recommendations,” to, “My manager says he doesn’t know what you are asking for.” Restaurants can be crapshoot. So when we find one that gets it, we like to spread the word.

A friend took me to lunch at the BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Hurst. There are many of these brewhouses scattered around the U.S., most of them in California and Texas. I had a GREAT lunch there. I'd already heard good things about their GF menu from a friend or two. When I asked our server for a copy of it, he brought me a menu that not only lists all the GF choices, but also has a chart showing common allergens in all items on their regular menu. So you can simply find the columns to look out for and select items off their regular menu. Or, as I did, select something you want and know exactly what to ask them to leave out of it.

I am gluten- and dairy-free, as you know, and I've started avoiding soy as well. So I had the Grilled Chicken Stuffed Baked Potato without Cheese & Alfredo, with Oil & Vinegarette Dressing instead. It was great. HUGE, and great. When I say "big-as-my-face," you won’t believe me. So here is photographic proof!

See, actually as big as my face!

The server knew what to help me look out for and didn’t try to offer me bread with my meal. In short, they get it. So, after eating (and tipping well), I sought out the manager, Ryan Read, to personally thank him and let him know I would be encouraging my family to eat there and that I would be posting about my experience on our blog as well.

Hats off to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse!

Remember, when you're going out, always go online to check the menu and/or call ahead. If you get the feeling that the server or manager doesn't know what you're talking about, speak up and let them know what you need. If you don't get the answers you need, that particular restaurant may not be a good choice for you. It's OK to be assertive, especially where your health is concerned!

Icebound Baking and Baking with Kids

2011-02-09T07:00:00.008-06:00

It's been cold here, friends! We've experienced 4 days of very atypical weather for us! Ice, snow, and temperatures consistently in the teens and twenties! With wind chills near zero! Our outside kitty got the week off and got to live the good life in the house. (For him, that meant sleeping in the laundry basket and sneaking up on the inside kitty when things got boring.) And look at our garden Buddha! Weldon says it looks like he's wearing a white Snuggie. And a gnome hat.

So what's an icebound girl to do with her time? I worked out a little. And I do mean a little. I got out my balance ball a time or two and did some cool stuff with that. But that didn't last long and it scared the dogs. Mostly, I drank too much tea and spent a LOT of time in the kitchen.

First, I experimented with a few new cookie recipes. Some of them, by nature of being experiments, were unsuccessful. Like the weird, sandy, peanut butter cookies that crumble when you look at them. But one, for banana oatmeal cookies, was right on. And I ended the week with my favorite cupcake recipe. That's the one I'll share with you today.

As it happens, I made these cupcakes with two of my favorite kids just last weekend. We'll call them Coraline and Indiana Jones. Coraline is the bright, funny, awesome 8-year-old daughter of my oldest friend. We had the best time baking together. Indiana Jones, Coraline's little brother, showed up once at the beginning to see what we were doing and then again at the end to eat the decorations, so really, it was a project for Coraline and me. Indiana Jones is 4, but almost 5. He's rough and tumble and sticky, just like you might imagine a little boy to be. And he LOVES superheroes, which makes Weldon very, very happy.

Baking with kids is a joy like no other. It's a very special way of living in the moment, never knowing what the next moment will bring. You say things to kids while you're baking that you never imagined saying to another human being:

"If you pick something from your teeth while you're cooking, you should stop and go wash your hands."

"If you need to do a nose spray, maybe you shouldn't do it right over the mixing bowl."

And when I turned on my friend's Kitchen Aid and a cloud of powdered sugar billowed from the bowl, coating everything around it in fine, sweet silt, I said something through my laughter that I never thought I'd hear myself say as an adult:

"SHHH! Don't tell your mom!" And to my great joy, Coraline and I became accomplices, as she giggled quietly and said, "OK."

Here's the recipe for fabulous GF/DF chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Maybe you can make them with your own little accomplice.

For cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1/2 C brown rice flour
1/4 C millet flour
2 T potato starch flour or tapioca flour
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t guar gum or xanthan gum
2 large eggs
1/2 C chocolate almond milk (there's your secret ingredient, right there!)
2/3 C sugar
1/4 C canola oil
1 t vanilla

1. Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper baking cups.
2. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine.
3. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients (including sugar).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on high for 1 minute.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
7. Cool on wire rack before frosting and decorating.

For vanilla frosting:

1/2 C vegetable shortening (I use, and highly recommend, Spectrum brand organic vegetable shortening.)
1/8 t salt
2 C powdered sugar (Watch out for powdered sugar if you're avoiding corn, as it contains cornstarch. Miss Robens is a brand you can buy corn free, or you can make your own fairly easily.)
2-3 T canned coconut milk or your favorite milk substitute
1/4 t vanilla extract

1. Place vegetable shortening and salt in a medium mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer.
2. Add sugar, milk substitute, and vanilla and whip on high, just until frosting is smooth and creamy.
3. If frosting is too stiff, add a touch more milk substitute. Remember that you want it smooth enough to spread, but not so smooth that it won't hold its shape. If you're using decorating tips, you do want it a little stiff.

So this time when I made these cupcakes, I was by myself, looking over a back yard full of fluffy snow. And while baking with Coraline was its own kind of jubilant joy, this was a different kind of joy. The kind of joy you can only get from a baking in a warm, quiet kitchen, knowing that everyone you love is warm and safe, and that you'll get to share a warm cupcake with them as soon as the ice melts.

Wishing you all much love and many cupcakes, friends! :)

More Goofy Fun with Beth and Weldon

2011-02-02T07:00:00.002-06:00

Weldon and I often have light-hearted but somehow way-too-serious conversations about things that are ultimately pretty goofy and inconsequential. For example, last weekend, on our way to the grocery store we saw a huge black bird on our street. Here's the ridiculousness that followed:

Weldon: Wow, look at the size of that bird!

Me: Is that a grackle?

Weldon: Yeah, a grackle or a blackbird or something. I don't know the difference.

Me: There's also ravens.

Weldon: And crows. But to me they're all just big black birds that are annoying.

Me: But they're not the same, they're different birds.

Weldon: I'm OK with painting them all with the same brush.

Me: What if people did that to you? 'All those comic book guys are the same.'

Weldon: People DO do that to me.

Me: And how do you like that?

Weldon: (with a sidelong glance and a smirk) You don't want the birds to be misrepresented, do you?

Me: I don't.

Weldon: (with a mock righteous tone) Well, maybe you should put a sign on the side of a bus and start a campaign.

Me: {laughing uncontrollably for 10 minutes}

Yeah, that's pretty much our life. :)

Bonus Surprise Link

Happy Anniversary Dinner at Potager Cafe

2011-01-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

If you read our last post, you know that we just celebrated our 10-year anniversary. We had always thought that we would celebrate this anniversary with a big party and a vow-renewal ceremony. Well, due to a super-tight budget, that's not what went down. But the universe works at it should, right? Instead, we spent a nice evening together, sipping wine from lovely crystal glasses and eating a delicious meal at Potager Cafe.

Potager's philosophy is all about connecting the people to each other and to their food. They cook a different menu each day with fresh ingredients, making sure they use everything local that they possibly can. They support local family farms and farmers' markets. They feed people good, real, whole food. And they do it all without setting prices or giving you a bill. That's right, friends. They have suggested prices, but nobody brings you a bill at the end of your meal. They ask that you take only as much as you can eat and pay what you honestly feel it was worth. You pay anonymously by placing your money in an envelope (a beautiful little envelope, by the way) and then placing that envelope into a watering can on a chair by the kitchen. You pay from your heart. I love this place. :)

We've been wanting to try Potager for a while, but we don't get out much due to: a. ) our restrictions, and b.) our schedule. But with our anniversary coming, we made plans for an evening out and contacted Potager ahead of time to see what their willingness and capability was to work with our crazy set of restrictions.

Friends, these folks couldn't have been nicer. I got a very kind email response from the owner letting me know that they only use rice flour in their soups and sauces, due to the number of people that have gluten issues. She said since they make a different menu each day, they could definitely make sure there were wonderful things for us to eat. I was so grateful for her knowledge and her kindness.

When we arrived at the Cafe, it felt like walking into an old friend's living room. It's a small place, with about 6 or 7 tables. Each table was different, and each one had its own charm. We sat at a dark wooden table, though we could have chosen a metal table with metal chairs, the kind you might find under a huge tree in a fancy garden, or we could have chosen from several others with beautiful lace tablecloths or beautiful bare wood. It's BYOB, so we brought a bottle of our favorite syrah. The chef came out from the kitchen, which is just on the other side of the counter from the dining room, to greet us. "Help yourselves. Wine glasses are in that hutch over there, water is over here," he told us. It really felt very homey. The owner greeted us at our table and I introduced myself as the girl who had emailed. She knew exactly who I was and told us she had designed the evening's menu with us in mind and seemed very excited to be part of our celebration. She saw that we had gotten wine glasses from the hutch, and said, "Oh, no, I washed some crystal for you. After all, this is a celebration!" We felt like honored guests. :)

There were several items to choose from on the menu, including a grilled seasoned catfish and mashed squash and turnips. We both chose the roasted pork shoulder with roasted new potatoes and sauteed broccoli. The chef, knowing our restrictions, suggested that we begin with a green salad and a bowl of vegetable lentil soup. That was such a good idea! Both were delicious. The pork shoulder was yummy. It was so tender that it must have been slow roasted for days! :) The broccoli was soft, but not too soft, just like I like it. And the potatoes were earthy and flavorful.

As we lingered over our wine, the chef said to us, "I could make you a dessert. Maybe some sauteed apples with spices?" (See in this photo how close he is to us!) We said that sounded wonderful, and friends, it was. Apple wedges, with the skins on, sauteed in some kind of cinnamony spiciness. So simple, yet so flavorful. I told Weldon after I'd taken my first bite, "This tastes like Europe." I don't even entirely know what I meant by that, but it did. And well, I had probably already had my share of the wine. Weldon eventually cut me off as a precautionary measure. :)

Then we paid our money, gave our thanks, and promised to be back, this time with other people. We have several people in mind to introduce to this lovely little restaurant.

If you're in the DFW area, get there as soon as you can. And if you have allergies or restrictions, just let them know ahead of time. They are very willing to work with you and they get it. If you don't live in the DFW area, remember that small, local restaurants are more willing and able to work with your restrictions than the larger chains. Chains lots of times have pre-made and pre-packaged items and ingredients that they have no control over there at the restaurant. If you go to a restaurant where you can actually speak to the chef, you have much better odds of getting the meal you need.

What a lovely anniversary, simple and yet so flavorful. Here's to another 10 years. Cheers. :)

Longer than always. . .

2011-01-20T07:00:00.002-06:00

On this day 10 years ago, Weldon and I were married. It was a day filled with hair appointments and last-minute mall trips followed by an evening of laughter, great music, and dancing. And in between, at 6:30pm, we said, "I do," in a candlelit room, surrounded by our friends and family.

It's been a heck of a 10 years, friends. :) Before I was married, I always heard people say that marriage is hard work. I thought, "I know what hard work is. I know what that means." Then I was married, and I said, 'OHHH! THAT'S what hard work is! OK, now I get it!"

But I wouldn't change a day. (Well, maybe one or two days, come to think of it.) Every moment has been a tiny stepping stone to where we are today. And where we are today is pretty good.

This is the song we chose for our first dance together as a married couple, Bobby Darin's "More." I still get weepy when I hear it. I guess it's "our song." Listen and enjoy, friends!

Compassion Soup for the Charity Souper Bowl

2011-01-13T07:00:00.004-06:00

This is Ramona on a cold day this week. She seems to have taken the day off. No going outside, no barking, no lifting her head. Entirely out of commission. Ramona's our rescue dog. We got her from our friends at Legacy Boxer Rescue. (She's not a boxer, she's a pit bull mix, but lucky for her, they're the ones that ended up with her.) We've had her for three years and she's the sweetest, most gentle dog. She loves children, especially little girls. And she follows commands very well. Sit. Wait. High five. Shake. And even Stay.

We've been experiencing soup weather, friends. Which is great timing for me, since I've been contemplating what to enter in the charity Souper Bowl, a fundraising blogger event for the ASPCA sponsored by Branny Boils Over. For each blog entry submitted to the event, Branny will generously donate $1 to the ASPCA. You can participate even if you're not a blogger. I don't know Branny, but she seems awesome to me. You should go read her blog.

So with Ramona off duty under the table, the other dogs curled up right beside her, and Weldon working in the other room, I went off to the kitchen to make a big pot of "cream" of mushroom soup with potatoes. I tell you what friends, it was good. You're probably wondering how faux cream of anything soup could possibly be good. I'm going to tell you right now.

What you need:

4 C water
1 1/3 C soaked cashews (soaked in water, overnight or about 8 hours)
Big pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (about 3 cups)
1 large potato, scrubbed, skin on, diced small (if the skin on makes you rethink this whole recipe, just peel it)
2 cloves garlic ( I might have used 3 or 4), finely chopped
1 t salt, to taste
1 t freshly ground pepper, to taste

What you do:

1. Combine water, drained cashews (get rid of the soaking water), and nutmeg in a blender and process until very smooth. Seriously, blend the heck out of it. You'll know you're done when it looks, honest to goodness, like frothy milk.

2. Pour into a medium saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts to boil, reduce heat immediately to low and continue stirring until the sauce is thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. As your "milk" mixture is heating and thickening, boil your diced potato until soft. Drain.

3. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook, stirring often, until golden, 8-10 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring, until tender, 5-6 minutes.

4. Add the thickened "milk" mixture and boiled potatoes and stir the whole pot of goodness together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is creamy and comfortable, woodsy and warm. Don't let a gluten or dairy intolerance lead you to believe that you'll never experience a warm, velvety winter soup again. You could also make this for your vegan friends and score all kinds of points.

Maybe we'll call it Compassion Soup. It's compassionate toward your body, or the body of your loved one with a food intolerance. It's compassionate toward animals, since it's vegan. And it's compassionate toward all those pets that will be saved by the ASPCA because of Branny's donation.

Thank you, Branny, for your challenge, and for your donation toward helping those animals less fortunate than Ramona.

Making Kjøttkaker with Judy

2011-01-11T07:00:00.003-06:00

It's been a wintery weekend, and in the last few days, I've eaten a lot of wintery food. You know what I mean. Heavy, warm, meaty, carby. Sometimes a little spicy. The kind of food that's meant to warm and sustain you through a bleak mid-winter. I like this weather and food combination. I believe it enlivens my Nordic blood and calls to memories so deeply buried in my DNA that I don't quite know they're there until I sense their twinge in my heart when cold wind bites at my face.

I really got to access these genetic memories Saturday night by making kjottkaker with my good friend Judy (of Judy's Stew). They're not quite meatballs; basically little Norwegian meat cakes simmered in brun saus, which is a fancy way of saying brown gravy.

Judy recently challenged me to make kjottkaker (which she and her family call Norwegian hamburgers, which is pretty accurate), but to make it gluten- and dairy-free. I accepted this challenge eagerly, as it sounded delicious and didn't seem too hard to convert. I did a little research on the recipe and for the meat, ended up using the recipe in her book (Cooking My Way Through Life with Kids and Books) and adding a couple of traditional spices. For the sauce, I abandoned her method altogether, since making my own brun saus would give me full control over the ingredients. Her method uses instant gravy mix and beef buillon cubes. When you're cooking with restrictions, the ingredients of both can be dubious. I was fairly pleased with my result. Judy then suggested we try a collaboration.

When Judy and I got together Saturday night to make kjottkaker together, her grandson was there, and Judy had expected him to help in some way. That hope was dashed when he declared early on, "I'm tired of cooking." We tore him away from Star Wars long enough to take this photo, though. Just before Weldon snapped the picture, he said, "Say, "Jedi!" Then he and Jacob watched more Star Wars while Judy and I cooked.

Here's my recipe:

About half an onion, diced.
3 T ghee (instead of butter)
1 1/2 lb. extra-lean beef (extra-lean is important)
2 eggs
3 T potato starch
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground clove (Trust me. You really do want to add these spices.)
Milk of your choice, as needed (I used almond milk, but you could easily use rice milk instead.)
2-2 1/2 C beef broth
2-3 T potato starch or GF all-purpose blend

1. Sautee onion in ghee until browned and remove.
2. Mix meat, eggs, potato starch, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, and clove.
3. Add milk as needed. Now, I didn't know what this meant until I cooked this recipe alongside Judy. Add 1/4 C milk. Maybe a teeny bit more if your meat is really dense. The milk "lightens" the meat and will make your texture after it's cooked a little less dense. You do want to add the milk.
4. Shape meat into little oval-shaped meatballs, about the size of a large chicken egg, and brown in the same skillet where you sauteed the onions. Removed when browned on each side.
5. Make your brun saus by adding the broth to the skillet to deglaze. Scrape up all the flavorful bits from the bottom of the skillet.
6. Add potato starch or GF flour about a tablespoon at a time and mix into broth. If you end up with some weird lumps like I did, try not to stress. They'll disappear as everything cooks. At least mine always did.
7. Return meatballish eggy things and onions to the skillet and simmer in the brun saus for 45 to 60 minutes.

You can serve with rice or boiled or mashed potatoes. Peas or green beans also go along nicely. And for a real meat-centric treat, cook your rice with beef broth. As I say, this is food that will get you through the winter.

I was very pleased that the kjottkaker that Judy and I made and the kjottkaker that I made on my own turned out almost exactly the same. The texture from our collaborative effort was better, since Judy taught me about adding milk, but other than that, I had everything else right. Judy liked the addition of the spices. It's just enough to be warm and special, but not enough that you would ever think, "Wow, who got gingerbread in my meatballs?"

I told Weldon and Judy that once I started cooking this recipe, it was like something in me took over, like I was on spiritual autopilot. I'd never made a meatball in my life (I know, crazy, isn't it?), but I automatically shaped these egg-sized meatcakes like I'd been taught by my Scandinavian great-grandmother. It was kinda cool. :) There was a connection there that I hadn't expected.

When Weldon and I left Judy's house after this meal where wine and conversation flowed and stories of all kinds had been shared, we were most definitely warm, even as we stepped out into the cold, cold night

Stephanie's Energy Cookies

2011-01-05T07:00:00.004-06:00

This is my friend Stephanie and me. Stephanie rocks. She's one of the kindest people I've ever met and carries a sweet and gentle spirit. She's also a kick-@$$ Pilates instructor. :) She recently worked me over on a Reformer (if you don't know what that is, go here and watch the little video) and I didn't even know it. We were laughing and talking as she lead me through a series of really cool exercises, and before I knew it, an hour had flown by. The next morning, I had muscles talking to me that I hadn't talked to in a while! It was awesome.

Stephanie recently shared a cookie recipe with me that is also awesome. She calls them Energy Cookies. Weldon calls them birdseed cookies. Read on and you'll see that both are justified.

What you need:
1/2 C pumpkin seeds
1/2 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C sesame seeds (I used a 1/2 C chopped almonds in place of the sesame seeds. It's what I had.)
2 T flaxseeds
4 C flour of choice (Stephanie has used spelt and regular all-purpose flour. I, of course, used an all-purpose GF blend. Bob's Red Mill makes a good one, or you can
use your own favorite GF blend. )
2 t guar gum or xanthan gum (if your GF blend doesn't already contain one of these)
1 t cinnamon (This was my addition, not in Stephanie's recipe.)
2 C rolled oats, uncooked
1 t baking powder
1 C canola oil
1 C honey
1 C carob chips* (Stephanie says the original recipe called for semi-sweet chocolate chips, which is how her husband prefers them. She prefers them with carob. I used allergen free chocolate chips and that was perfect. Enjoy Life makes great ones! *If you use carob chips, know that they are sometimes sweetened with barley malt, and are therefore glutenous. Read your label carefully!)
1 C dried cranberries plumped in 1 C hot water (reserve water)

What you do:

1. Combine seeds and roast in a dry frying pan until they crackle and smell yummy and toasty.
2. Remove from heat and place in large bowl to cool.
3. Add rest of dry ingredients
4. Drain cranberries (saving water) and add to bowl together with oil and honey. Mix with fingers or large spoon. Add cranberry water until you have a moist stiff batter.
5. You should be able to scoop mixture up with a little ice cream scoop or spoon.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (I like parchment). Cookies will not spread when baked so use a fork to press down before baking. (I kinda left mine tall and clustery.)
7. Bake at 350 for 14 minutes or until they start to brown.
8. Cool and enjoy!

This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies. They are full of protein from the all the nuts and seeds (and flour, depending on what you use) and they have plenty of carbohydrate for energy. So you see how it's accurate to call them both Energy Cookies and Birdseed Cookies.

They are delicious enough to eat for dessert, and healthy enough to eat for a morning or afternoon snack, as long as you don't go crazy. (And yes, that's the foot of a wine glass at the top of this photo. What of it? :) A happy kitchen runs best when wine is flowing.)

I do encourage you to try these. Don't get hung up on which seeds or nuts to use. Just use what you like. Store them in airtight containers for about a week, if they last that long. :)

Ring in the New Year with Vegan Hoppin' John!

2010-12-31T07:00:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year, friends! We hope you've had a joyful holiday season and that the 2011 that awaits you is full of goodness!

For the last several years, we've spent New Year's Eve at home. But this year, we're going out with friends and couldn't ask for a better plan.

Tomorrow, we'll eat our Hoppin' John, and as we linger at our New Year's table, we'll talk about our new intentions for 2011. We've already talked about some of them: spend more time with friends and family, spend more real time with each other. We'll also talk about how our new intentions for 2010 panned out. (One of my intentions for 2010 was to spend more time in the kitchen. I'd say I accomplished that one, and have loved every moment of it!)

In case you're unfamiliar with Hoppin' John, it's a rice and beans type dish, made with black-eyed peas, rice, onions, and usually a bit of ham or bacon. The recipe I've used for years is vegan, and yes, I'll share it with you here. Of course, it's also gluten-free and dairy-free.

What you need:

2 lb. fresh black-eyed peas
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C Texmati rice
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
A fresh jar of your favorite whole grain mustard
1 T EVOO
1 sprig fresh thyme or rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
3 C water

What you do:

1. Pick through the beans and remove any that are damaged or otherwise undesirable.

2. In a soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook until onion is transluscent.

3. Add the peas, stirring to combine. Add water, salt, and pepper, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil.

4. Add rice and sprig of herb. Return to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 more minutes.

7. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Serve in decent-sized bowls and let each person season their own bowl with as much whole grain mustard as they want.

Weldon LOVES when I make this. He wishes for it at weird times of the year, but for me, it's a New Year's Day dish. I guess because of the black-eyed peas.

In the South (Yes, that's South with a capital "S."), black-eyed peas on New Year's Day are symbolic of good luck and prosperity. As the story goes, when Sherman's army marched through the South, they burned the crops and took all the stored food for themselves, except for the salted pork and black-eyed peas. I don't know why they didn't take the pork, but the peas weren't considered fit for human consumption, only for cattle (they were called cow peas, remember). The Confederates that were left considered themselves lucky to have even these meager supplies and so it became a tradition to eat them for luck. I don't remember a New Year's Day in my life without them. I've heard that you should eat one for each day of the year to really cover your bases.

A good friend of mine from Pittsburgh has never (NEVER!) eaten black-eyed peas, so I told her she's coming to our house for vegan Hoppin' John. She said their tradition up north is to eat sauerkraut and sausage (she's vegetarian, so she eats veggie dogs). This is apparently a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition said to ensure good luck for the coming year. What do you eat on New Year's Day?

I'm looking forward to 2011. Weldon and I will be cooking and learning and writing about it here. We surely are grateful to have you here with us. We really do welcome your feedback any time. Tell us what you like and what you don't like about what we're cooking and what we're doing here at the blog.

With full and grateful hearts, we wish you the best 2011 you can possibly have.

Beth's Nuts. Yes, she is. :)

2010-12-28T07:00:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday morning, I went into the front yard in my green fuzzy pajamas to cut some rosemary for this recipe I'm going to tell you about today. Yes, friends, I risked getting a neighborhood nickname for this recipe, so you know it must be good. Or that I'm not proud. Maybe a little of both. :) Which is actually a nice segue into what we're talking about: nuts.

Herbed Walnuts to be precise. Toasty, herb-y, and smoky, these nuts are delicious enough to munch on at a party and nutritious enough to call a healthy snack. Walnuts are an excellent plant source for protein, and they're full of B-vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids. All very good for our brains. (Ever notice how walnuts look kind of like tiny brains?) And you know how I roll in the kitchen. They are, yes, very easy.

Here's how we do it.

Ingredients:

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T ghee (You can use your favorite butter substitute or use more olive oil.)
2 to 3 T chopped fresh rosemary (From the front yard, in your jammies.)
1/2 t rubbed sage (You could use chopped fresh sage. I was fortunate enough to find rubbed sage at our Central Market.)
1 t smoked paprika (I used smoked sweet paprika.)
Salt to taste
3/4 pound walnut halves

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Heat oil and ghee in a large skillet. Add rosemary, sage, paprika and salt and stir well. Mix in walnuts and toss to coat.

Transfer contents of skillet to a large, foil-lined baking sheet and bake, stirring the walnuts every 5 minutes or so, until toasted, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool then serve or store in an airtight container.

These wonderful walnuts can be served at a party (maybe your own little impromptu New Year's Eve party?) in nut cups or cupcake liners, or you can package them in little bags to give as party favors. Of course, they also make great gifts for any holiday. Do your best to keep them a healthy snack and limit your serving size to just about a handful, which is about half a cup.

As for my trip to the front yard in my jammies, a friend of mine told me that if her neighbors judged her every time she went outside in her jammies, she'd be in big trouble. Another friend told me that I probably already have a neighborhood nickname. Not sure what it might be, but he's probably right. What do you think it is?

Toast up some walnuts, friends. Go to the store in your slippers or in the front yard in your jammies and get yourself a nickname. What do we care? We're nuts. :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

2010-12-24T07:00:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas to all! We hope that this day before Christmas finds you in a happy place, wherever that is for you. We're preparing our home for a family dinner tonight, which feels pretty good to us.

Our Christmas Eve dinner is always something non-traditional. I save the traditional dinner-y stuff for my mom on Christmas Day. In past years, I've made southwest minestrone soup, corncakes with green onion and sour cream sauce, and tamales and chili (I didn't make the tamales, those were purchased). This year is going to be chili (the chili I made at Halloween) and drop biscuits. Then we'll pile into the car and look at Christmas lights around the neighborhood. We'll come back to our house for dessert and coffee and to talk about all the stuff that famlilies talk about.

After everyone leaves and the table is cleared, Weldon will put on "Merry Christmas, Baby" by Charles Brown and Bonnie Rait and we'll have our Christmas Eve dance. Not sure how that became a tradition for us, but it did. (If you've never heard that version, go to iTunes right now and download it. Just trust me.)

Weldon and I wish you and your families and friends the best Christmas ever. We hope it's filled with love and laughter and grace and gratitude. As my tiny little gift to you, here's one of my most favorite Christmas songs, by our friend Paul McCartney, complete with funky 80s synthesizer. We'll see you back here next week. :)

Christmas Gingerbread

2010-12-21T07:00:00.001-06:00

Wow, it's that time of year, friends! Parties, friends, family, decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, sometimes all in one day! It can get to be too much, right?

Let me encourage you to slow down, to breathe, to stop and savor the joy happening all around you. You might be thinking, "Right, Beth. That's easier said than done." But is it really? What if you try? Even for just 14 seconds? Surely you can spare that. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it's worth it.

You know what else is worth it? Spending 20 mindful minutes mixing up a hot pan of homemade gingerbread.

I'd never done that before, but this recipe from our friends at Living Without sounded so good and so easy that I couldn't resist. It's full of ingredients that you probably already have in your cabinet this time of year. It makes about 20 squares, which is plenty to enjoy and share.

Ingredients

1 C molasses
1/2 C brown sugar, packed
8 T Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or other non-dairy spread
2 3/4 C gluten-free all-purpose flour blend of choice (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-purpose Baking Flour.)
2 1/2 t gluten-free baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t xanthan gum or guar gum
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cloves
3/4 C buttermilk or plain-flavored dairy-free milk of choice*
1/4 C orange juice or orange-flavored liqueur (I went with the liqueur, myself.)
2 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13-inch pan with vegetable spray.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine molasses, brown sugar and butter. Set over low heat until butter melts, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat and cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan or guar gum, salt and spices. Whisk to blend.

4. Add buttermilk, orange juice or liqueur, eggs and molasses mixture to dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

5. Place pan in preheated oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*To make buttermilk, add a scant 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar or lemon juice to enough milk or milk of choice to make 3/4 C. Let sit for a few minutes (to curdle) before adding to recipe. (I had to look up "scant" to make sure I was doing that right. It means, "absolutely no more than." So a scant 1 tablespoon means just 1 tablespoon and not a drop more.)

As this gingerbread baked, our house was filled with the smell of Christmas carols and holiday movies with happy endings. Weldon commented more than once about how great it smelled. When it came out of the oven it was a beautiful dark golden brown, from the molasses. I could hardly wait for it to cool.

After about 20 minutes, I cut us both a square, made Weldon some coffee and me some tea, and we each ate our square with a little dollop of Rice Whip on top. Such a good day. We recommend you eat it warm, with a little ice cream or Rice Dream or Rice Whip or whip cream on top. Whatever you love and makes you and your body happy.

I really do encourage you to try this recipe. It might just be the perfect treat to leave for a certain someone on Christmas Eve. I think he would be very pleased if you did, and might even leave a few extra sugarplums in your stocking. :)

Recipes Are Not the Boss of Me

2010-12-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

I made an awesome pumpkin pie. And I did it all by myself, mostly from scratch, just using the kitchen intuition and confidence I've developed over the past several months. I had a recipe to go by, but that recipe was not the boss of me. And I feel empowered, yes indeedy. (Do powerful people say, "yes indeedy?")

I think I mentioned, either here or on Facebook, that my cousin Susan made the best GF/DF pecan pie for Thanksgiving dessert. It was sweet, but not too sweet, like pecan pie can be. And it had just enough pecans, not too many, and they were crunchy and fresh and tasted like autumn wind blowing through the trees. It was spiced with cinnamon and brown sugar, and tasted buttery, even though there was no butter in it. You know the sound that fallen leaves make when they blow across the sidewalk on a cool autum day? That's what this pie tasted like.

She sent me the recipe and I've been itching to make it all week. I've never made a crust from scratch before, but I'm a kitchen warrior these days and I was ready. I had everything I needed. Cinnamon, Earth Balance, pecans, everything. Uh oh.

No brown sugar.

Well, that's OK, I thought. I'll make it later this week, after I can go to the store. But I really wanted to try my hand at that pie crust! So I looked in the cabinet to see what we had. And we had 3 cans of Libby's pumpkin.

Woohoo! Pumpkin pie it is! We all know that there's a pumpkin pie recipe right on the can, right? Yes, but there were several challenges I had to solve. So I strapped on my kitchen warrior armor and met each one of them with a brave heart.

Challenge 1: the recipe calls for a can of condensed milk, and of course, I needed to make this pie without dairy. Easy enough. I substitute almond milk for the condensed milk. I had no idea how that would work, but I was willing to give it a try.

Challenge 2: the recipe calls for ginger and I had none. I thought about this one for a few minutes. I decided to substitute cardamom for the ginger. I love cardamom, and who knows, maybe I'll invent something.

Challenge 3: I was out of ground cloves. OK, let's not panic, I thought. It doesn't call for much, only 1/2 t. I'll just use this pumpkin pie spice in place of that.

So there we go. All the problems solved, and we're ready to make a pie!

I really felt like I earned a special kitchen badge of honor when I made this crust from scratch. Susan assured me it was easy, and she was right. If you're new to pie crust, don't worry. If I did this, you totally can.

For the crust:

2 C gluten free baking mix (I used Bob's Red Mill Biscuit and Baking Mix. So did Susan.)
1 t cinnamon
1 T sugar
1/2 C Earth Balance
1/4 C ice water

1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Cut in Earth Balance with pastry knife or sturdy fork. Dough should be crumbly, with the crumbs about the size of a pea or smaller. (I've gotten pretty good at using one of those pastry cutters, but use whatever works for you.)

3. Add a little ice water (not all of it) and knead the dough with your hands until it's sticky and you can form a ball. Add more ice water as needed.

4. Roll out to 9'' diameter. (Susan and I both took the shortcut of rolling it between two pieces of parchment paper since it's a little sticky and crumbly. This worked beautifully!)

5. Remove the top piece of parchment and flip the dough into a 9'' pan. I used a deep pan for this pumpkin pie.

6. Tidy up the dough and patch the shell as needed.

For this pumpkin pie, don't prebake the pie shell.

For the filling:

3/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cardamom (instead of 1/2 t ground ginger)
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice (instead of 1/4 t ground clove)
2 large eggs
1 can Libby's 100% pumpkin
1 1/2 almond milk (instead of a can of condensed milk)

1. Mix dry ingredients in small bowl.

2. Beat eggs in large bowl.

3. Stir pumpkin and dry mixture into eggs.

4. Gradully stir in almond milk.

5. Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 45-50 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into center of pie comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

It took WAY longer than 50 minutes for my pie to bake, but it finally did. I kept putting it back in the oven for 10 or 12 minutes at a time until it was done.

And it turned out SO GOOD! Pumpkin pie with cardamom is a new favorite. It doesn't taste quite like a traditional pumpkin pie, but like it has a secret ingredient. I encourage you to try it, just this once.

I served my pumpkin pie for dessert that night with a happy dollop of Rice Whip on top. (Rice Whip is just like canned whip cream, but it's made of rice milk. Tasty stuff. And yes, when we first got it, we ate some right from the can into our mouths. At least we waited until we got home from the store.) The crust was flaky and just a bit cinnamony, like a good cookie. The filling was custardy, but firm, and had a soft, spicy flavor. It was definitely successful. And simple enough for me, even with the homemade crust. Now, you try it. :)

I know what you're thinking. Hey, Beth, what about that pecan pie that you abandoned?

Don't worry. I haven't abandoned it, just postponed it. I'll make it. Watch here and on Facebook.

Get Earthy with Roasted Root Vegetables

2010-12-07T07:00:00.001-06:00

There's nothing like root vegetables, a gift straight from the earth itself. When I think of eating root vegetables in their natural state, I think of eating a carrot, holding it by the top like Bugs Bunny. Weldon remembers the days as a kid that he would come home from school and pick a turnip out of the garden by its big green top. He would tap it against his leg a few times to knock off the dirt before taking a great big bite of it on his way into the house.

This time of year, we tend to accumulated quite a few sweet potatoes from our fabulous organic produce co-op, which are perfect for holiday meals. Sweet, marshmallowy casseroles don’t appeal to us, so we roast them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. We throw in any other root vegetables we have lying around along with some whole garlic cloves, and top it off with some fresh rosemary sprigs from the front yard. This dish has been a big success the last two Thanksgivings! I have a cousin that requests it specifically. And of course, it's super easy. Here’s what we did:

Ingredients:
A few sweet potatoes
A few red potatoes
A few carrots
A few Brussels sprouts (I know, not a root vegetable, but a really tasty addition.)
Large onion
About 10 whole garlic cloves (or as many as you can stand)
Any other root vegetables that you like
Fresh rosemary sprigs, or your favorite herbs
Handful of toasted pine nuts, if you have them

Wash vegetables well and cut into bite-size chunks.
Peel onion and cut into chunks.
Toss vegetables and onion in large roasting pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper (you can use a spoon, but using your hands is best).
Toss peeled garlic cloves on top, willy-nilly.
Place rosemary springs on top.
Roast at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
Discard rosemary sprigs and replace with fresh ones as garnish.
Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts as garnish.

You can also use rutabagas, turnips, any kind of potatoes (red, blue, fingerling), etc. This really is a "what we have is what we're using" kind of recipe. As long as the vegetables you're using are about the same consistency and the pieces are fairly uniform, then anything goes. Just a little seasoning, olive oil, and heat is all it takes to enhance their flavors and turn them into a simple and elegant dish that you'll be proud to add to your holiday table.

Delicious GF/DF Green Bean Casserole!

2010-11-29T07:00:00.017-06:00

I have to start with an apology for not having many photos for this post. I will have to rely on my ability to paint pictures with words and your ability to feel, see, and taste the words I write.

Then I have to tell you I feel like I've learned a magic trick.

Last week, I shared a link on our FB page to a recipe from Heart of Cooking for GF/DF green bean casserole. I made it to take to our Thanksgiving celebration with my family and it was awesome! I usually test drive recipes before I take them to share with a crowd, but I didn't this time, mostly because I ran out of time. I wasn't sure how it would work without the traditional cream of mushroom soup, but it sounded so good and the blog I found it on sold it really well. :) I took a leap of faith, even going rogue from the recipe on the onion topping, and it paid off really well.

Here's what I did.

Ingredients for the sauce and green beans:
2 C water
2/3 C soaked cashews (soaked in water, overnight or about 8 hours)
Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
1 T olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (about 3 cups)
1 clove garlic ( I might have used 2 or 3), finely chopped
1 t salt, to taste
1/2 t freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 12-ounce package frozen green beans, or 12 oz. fresh – trimmed and blanched (I used frozen. As I say, time was an issue, as it almost always is around the holidays, right? Roll like I do in the kitchen. Simple.)

Here comes the magic trick: the "cream" of mushroom soup that you make from scratch to mix with your fresh or frozen green beans. This really does feel like revealing a special secret, so accept this information with reverence! :)

1. To make sauce: Combine water, drained cashews (get rid of the soaking water), and nutmeg in a blender and process until very smooth. Seriously, blend the heck out of it. You'll know you're done when it looks, honest to goodness, like frothy milk.

2. Poor into a medium saucepan and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts to boil, reduce heat immediately to low and continue stirring until the sauce is thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and cook, stirring often, until golden, 8-10 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring, until tender, 5-6 minutes. When veggies are cooked, add the thickened cashew sauce and stir into the veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You end up with a skillet full of beautiful, creamy, woodsy, spicy soup. It bubbles with elfen magic. Your kitchen is filled with the smells of simmering onions and warm, peppery love. You could easily serve this on its own. You could also use the same technique and add potatoes or asparagus instead of, or in addition to mushrooms. I guess you could also add shredded smoked chicken for a carnivorous treat. The possibilities for using this technique boggle the imagination.

3. To assemble and bake casserole: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread green beans evenly over the bottom of a shallow 2-quart baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. Top casserole with fried onions* and bake until bubbling, 18 to 25 minutes.

*Now, about these fried onions. The original recipe suggests one technique, but I followed the lead and instruction of my friend Curt. At least as best I could.

Here's what I did for those.

1. Slice a white onion into very thin slices. If you have a mandolin, use it. Curt does, and I bet that's one reason his turned out way better than mine. :) I may be investing in a mandolin soon.

2. Soak onion slices in a milk of your choice. Curt uses actual cow milk. I used almond milk.

3. Dredge soaked onion slices in GF flour. I used a mixture of brown rice flour and almond flour.

4. Fry up in a skillet, a few at a time, in super-hot oil.

5. Remove from oil as they become crispy. Cool and drain. Rather than draining directly on a paper towel, I place a paper towel on a plate, then a cooling rack over that so that the residual oil can drain away from the onions. Use whatever method works best for you.

I didn't have super-good luck. The flour didn't stick very well and I ended up with a bit of a mess. But at the end of the day, I had fried onions, which I figured couldn't be too bad. And I was right. They were excellent. Fragrant and crunchy and flavorful. The perfect topping for this casserole.

I was very pleased with how it turned out, and it was a big hit at our family Thanksgiving dinner. We have a cousin with dairy restrictions, so she was very grateful for the magic green bean casserole. (OH, and she made a GF/DF pecan pie that was amazing! Watch for it on the blog soon!) I also took some of the Cranberry Walnut Bread that I wrote about a few weeks ago. It was another big hit. And we took GF biscuits I had made with GF Bisquick so we had bread to eat.

This was our first big food holiday with food restrictions. We think it went pretty well. Honestly, we had some anxiety about it beforehand, as anyone would. But we planned well and were mindful and careful, so everything went great.

It also helped that we'd made a commitment to stay in this moment, feeling gratitude for what we have. That was part of the planning, I guess. We were surrounded by special family members, some of whom are preparing to embark on great new adventures, others preparing to embark on the adventures of every day. All of us struggling with something, or someone, but feeling a strong enough connection to each other to make the effort to be there, on that day, at that table, together. That's what it's about, right?

Tell us about your new Thanksgiving recipes, allergen-free or not, that are sure to become new traditions. We love stories. :)

Gratitude

2010-11-24T07:00:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving Week, friends! The time has finally come when we gather with our friends and family to celebrate the abundance of our lives and to reflect on our gratitude.

But it's easy to forget that, isn't it? It's easy to get caught up in the travel plans and schedules, in worrying about what's going to be safe to eat at the family gathering. It's easy to feel the twinge of distress from "the turkey incident" from five years ago, or worse. It's easy to take ourselves out of the moment, isn't it? It is for us.

We're making a commitment this year to remember that this moment is all we have. And we're committing to consciously feel our gratitude for it, and all the things that make our lives beautiful.

Here are just a few of the things we're grateful for:

Each other. We are a great team, and most of the time, we make each other better. :)
Our families. Our families are our homeland. They made us who we are. And we're actually pretty cool.
Our friends. Our friends are the families we got to choose for ourselves.
Our furry family. Our doggies and kitties bring us a joy and laughter, pretty much every day.
Our home. It's our base and our refuge as well as our shelter. A lot of our lives takes place here.
Our health. We're fit and feeling good.
We are very grateful to have discovered Weldon's gluten problems late last year. Finding the answer to what felt like a series of interlocking puzzles was a huge relief, and surprisingly, also amazingly liberating. It changed the entire tone of our household from gloom and uncertainty to hope. :)
And of course, for the neverending supply of grace and abundance we receive from the universe.

We've learned over the past year that abundance has nothing to do with jobs or money. It has to do with the joy we can find in each moment and how we acknowledge and share it. We hope that our little project here at From Cows to Quinoa has conveyed some of that joy to you, our special readers and friends.

Have gratitude for each moment and each morsel. Eat safely and eat well! Happy Thanksgiving, with love from Beth and Weldon!

Easy and Delicious (and kinda healthy) Brownies!

2010-11-18T07:00:00.002-06:00

Orange and cardamom. Maple and walnut. Vanilla and cinnamon. And chocolate and chili pepper. These are some of my most favorite flavor combinations. That last one especially. Chocolate and chili pepper. And I know more than a few people that share that affinity. These brownies are for us.

I found this recipe in one of our new favorite magazines, Living Without. It's a magazine for people living with food allergies, specifically gluten and dairy. It's full of wonderful recipes, relevant news, and personal stories. We look forward to finding it in our mailbox every other month. If you're living with a food allergy or restriction and have not subscribed to this magazine, I strongly encourage you to do so.

These brownies have a couple of secret ingredients. The first one I've already given away, cayenne pepper. (Love it!) The second is the one that makes this dessert extremely high in fiber and low in fat. You may have heard of using this ingredient in chocolate cakes before, especially if you've ever used any Weight Watchers recipes. You may even have it in your pantry right now. Give up?

Black beans. Yep, black beans. Believe it or not. They add moisture and fiber, and I promise you don't even know they're in there. You guys trust me by now, right?

Oh, and remember how I roll in the kitchen? Simple.

Here's the recipe:
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
3 eggs
5 t canola oil
1 C sugar
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C high-protein gluten-free flour (I used sorghum flour.
1 t xanthan gum or guar gum
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t cayenne or chili powder (optional, of course)
1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 C dark chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan and set aside.
3. Add black beans to the bowl of your food processor and process until a paste forms.
4. Add everything else except the walnuts and process until combined very well.
5. Add walnuts, if using, and process until they're mixed in.
6. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
7. Top with chocolate chips, if using.
8. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Each brownie (makes 12) contains 191 calories, 8g total fat, 4 g fiber, and 5g protein. If you keep up with those types of things.

Next time, I'm going to add cinnamon in addition to my cayenne pepper. I'm also going to mix the chocolate chips into the batter instead of having them on top.

But that's just because I think it will be fun to tweak. They're perfectly delicious just the way the recipe's written now. Weldon liked them a lot. And so did most of my taste-testers. A couple of them weren't crazy about the chocolate/chili combination, and that's OK. Not everyone is. If you're not, you can easily leave out the cayenne and still make these wonderfully chocolately, dense brownies. And you can throw them together very quickly! I love that about them. Everything goes together in the food processor, a few whirls around, into the pan, into the oven, and bang. Half an hour later you have brownies! Enjoy!

Kitchen Tips: Fresh Ginger

2010-11-15T07:00:00.003-06:00

I love getting brilliant tips from my friends. Everyone has them, whether they know it or not. My friend Anu and I were talking at lunch the other day, and she mentioned a storage technique she uses that has changed my life.

Fresh ginger is so good for us. It can help curb nausea, can be used as a decongestant, and is said to have anti-inflamatory properties. And, of course, it's delicious in many different types of cuisine. My friend Anu uses fresh ginger and garlic every day. This is how she does it without driving herself batty.

1. Buy at least 1 lb. of fresh ginger. Yep, this is a bit of a project, people, so do a lot at one time. Anu does about 5 lbs. at a time! (For tips on buying fresh ginger, see this post. Go to the end.)
2. Peel the ginger and cut it into 1'' chunks.
3. Drop said 1'' chunks into your handy food processor or awesome blender.
4. Add a little water and a touch of pickling salt and whirl until blended and smooth.
5. Store in small containers in the freezer.

Whenever you have a recipe that calls for fresh ginger, you can scrape off what you need from your containers of frozen ginger. The pickling salt keeps it from freezing so hard that you can't scrape it easily.

Anu does the same thing with garlic. She buys a jar of peeled garlic and uses the same method to store it.

I think this is brilliant. It's a simple and elegant and I love it!

And with cold season coming on, here's a bonus ginger tea recipe from Anu. She makes this tea for her daughters when they're sick. I can imagine how yummy this will be next time I have a bit of a cold. How good it will feel on my scratchy throat, and how soothing the warm, gingery steam will feel as it helps to clear my stuffy head.

1. In a saucepan, boil a cup or two of water with a tablespoon or two of your frozen ginger.
2. After boiling for several minutes, strain to remove the "rooty" part of the ginger root.
3. Add honey, a touch of salt, a squeeze of lime, and about 1/2 t turmeric.
4. Relax and sip.

What kinds of tips do you have for storing different ingredients, quick recipes, or using an unusual ingredient? Come on, you know you've got at least one trick up your sleeve. What is it? Tell us. You know we'll try it. :)

Cranberry Nut Bread for your holiday enjoyment!

2010-11-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Here's a cool fact about fresh cranberries: they bounce. Yes, friends, they do. They bounce like crazy! I dropped a few on the counter and suddenly my kitchen was like a fun house.

Why did my kitchen have so many cranberries in it? We got a bunch from our fabulous co-op (see if they have a pick-up location in your area). Not knowing what to do with fresh cranberries, I started looking for recipes to try. I found several. Cranberry-stuffed Acorn Squash, Cranberry Muffins, Cranberry Sauce, etc. The one that grabbed my attention was one for Cranberry Nut Bread. I thought about those 3 words together. Cranberry. Nut (Walnuts, even!). Bread. And with ingredients like fresh orange juice in addition to the cranberries and walnuts, yes, I definitely had a winner.

I found this recipe at Gluten Free Mommy, a great resource for recipes and GF baking and cooking tips. Put her on your favorites list and in your blog-checking rotation (and if she ever asks, be sure to tell her I sent you). Gluten Free Mommy has already done the trial and error on this recipe, and for that I'm grateful. She knows how to get the best result and I'm glad (and you will be, too) to learn from her past mistakes. With a background of light oranginess blended into the soft crumb of the bread, topped by the tangy excitment of the cranberries and the crunchy heartiness of the walnuts, this bread is yummy. You will want 2 or 3 loaves sliced and handy in the freezer to take to holiday parties or to feed drop-in guests. It makes a great snack or breakfast.

Here's the recipe, but also find it here.

2 C gluten free flour (I followed Gluten Free Mommy's lead and used even amounts of sorghum, tapioca, and brown rice.)

3/4 C granulated sugar

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 t xanthan gum (I used guar gum.)

1 T orange zest

3/4 C orange juice, freshly squeezed (I took GF Mommy's word that store-bought OJ just doesn't cut it.)

1/4 C butter or butter substitute, melted (I used Soy-free Earth Balance.)

2 eggs

1 cup whole cranberries (The fresh and bouncy kind.)

3/4 C- 1 C walnuts chopped- (3/4 C for the batter and another 1/4 C for the top of the bread before it goes into the oven)

a little raw sugar for the top

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients together.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.
5. Add the whole cranberries and 3/4 C of the chopped walnuts.
6. Spoon the batter into a greased loaf pan and top with raw sugar and more walnuts.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes.
8. Once the bread is done, let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan before releasing to your cooling rack.
You will want to have this bread on hand all through the holidays, so stock up on your fresh cranberries. They will keep up to 2 months in air-tight containers in the refrigerator. Be sure that you sort through them and get rid of all the non-bouncy ones before packing them up. Watch for any that aren't shiny or that have dark spots. If you pack them with your bouncy guys, they can spread their dark cloud throughout the whole bunch pretty quickly.

This was simple, friends. And the pay off is big! I was afraid of fresh cranberries before, but no more. Now I know exactly how to utilize them to make a perfectly wonderful holiday treat!

Chai-spiced Banana Chips and Pecans

2010-11-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

I love chai-spicing things. The mixture I like is a warm blend of cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, and a touch of ginger. Traditional chai tea, or masala chai is a spicy black tea and milk blend. It's wonderful, and one of the things I really miss having at Indian restaurants now that I'm dairy-free. I guess I make up for that by chai-spicing everything I can think of. Cookies, breads, oatmeal, hot rice cereal.

For some reason, these spices go really well with banana. I add chai-spice to banana shakes in the morning, banana breads, and banana muffins. It's the secret ingredient (besides love, of course) that makes these items special. So when I found a recipe for spiced banana chips, which called for Chinese five-spice powder, cumin, and cinnamon, among other things, I couldn't help but go off-road with the recipe and make it chai-spiced instead.

Here's what I did:

2 T brown sugar
2 T vegetable oil (I prefer canola.)
1 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t cardamom
1 t clove
1 t nutmeg
1 t salt
2 C dried banana chips
1 C pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, spices, and salt.
3. Add banana chips and pecan halves and toss to coat with spice mixture.
4. Spread banana chips mixture in a single layer on prepared baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes, shaking pan to toss mixture at least once during baking.
5. Cool completely in pan before snacking!

Remember how I roll in the kitchen. Simple!

This can be stored in airtight containers for up to a week, if you can make it last that long. I like to store it in about half-cup servings in those tiny little snack size Ziploc bags. Keep in mind that the recipe doubles very easily, and I recommend doing that. Also, you could probably follow this same method for mixed nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds), or just banana chips.

Good stuff! Try it and let me know how you take it offroad!

Halloween Supper with Chili and GF/DF Corn Muffins

2010-11-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was scary, but the fun kind of scary. :)

First of all, Weldon shaved his head and his Van Dyke. All for the love of a Halloween costume that's been on his mind for years, Uncle Fester from The Addams Family. He pulled it off beautifully, and even won a costume contest! (Don't worry. His hair is already growing back.)

Second, I tried out two brand new recipes to take to our friends' house for our traditional Halloween supper and trick-or-treat night. Always a little scary to experiment for other people, but Chris and Tatiana are good, old friends, so I felt pretty comfortable using them as taste-testers.

It's been our tradition for the last five years, Tatiana calculated, to spend our Halloween night at their house. It all started because we get no trick-or-treaters on our street, and they get tons just a few blocks away. We usually greet the kids on the front patio, give them their candy, comic books (yes, Weldon gives them comic books), and toy spiders, and watch them run happily back to their parent waiting for them on the sidewalk. We've been told by several kids that we are their favorite house. :) This year, we had a new addition to the Halloween supper fesitivities, Chris and Tatiana's 3-month old son, Sullivan. He wasn't around much, though. He went to bed soon after we got there. :( Tatiana promised that next year he would be much more Halloween fun.

Chili with cornbread is our traditional Halloween night supper. I supply the chili and Tatiana supplies the cornbread. This year, I also made a GF/DF pumpkin pie, that was really only halfway successful. More on that later.

For the chili, I used my friend Judy's recipe (Judy's Stew Judy) for the first time and it turned out perfectly! Just spicy enough that it had flavor and still allowed the taste the of the meat to shine through (I used half grass-fed beef and half bison). And I add beans to my chili. I know there's a lot of controversy around that ingredient in traditional chili. Some say real Texas chili doesn't have beans. I stand firm on my conviction to add beans.

Tatiana made GF/DF corn muffins that everyone said were delicious! (Since I avoid corn, I didn't try them.) She also had set the table so beautifully! Very festive and fall-y and Halloween-y.

Here's the recipe for Judy's Mild and Tentative Chili, with a few little twists and turns. First twist, I doubled the recipe, but this is the recipe as Judy provides it.

1 lb. ground beef
Enough oil to sauté onion, garlic and beef (I used EVOO.)
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup beer (I used an entire bottle of Red Bridge. It's GF. Keep in mind I doubled the recipe.)
4 tsp. chili powder or to taste (I used quite a bit, actually.)
½ tsp. Tabasco
2 tsp. salt (I also tossed in some smoked salt.)
2 c. beans (Judy uses drained Ranch Style Beans. I used black, pinto, and kidney.)

1. Brown onion and garlic; add meat and cook until all pink is gone.
2. Add everything else except beans and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes.
3. Stir occasionally, and add more beer as needed (you’ve got that open warm beer anyway).
4. Taste and add more chili powder as needed. Add beans and heat just before serving.

As I said, I doubled the recipe, and even with four of us eating, we still had enough left over for us to take some home and leave some with Chris and Tatiana for the next day. This was a lot of good chili!

And here's Tatiana's recipe for GF/DF corn muffins. From what I hear, they were awesome!

1 cup cornmeal
3/4 C chick pea flour
1/4 C sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 C milk of your choice (Tatiana used rice milk.)
1/4 C olive oil, not virgin
1 egg, beaten
12 slot muffin pan or 8x8 inch baking pan

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spritz a 12 muffin muffin pan or 8-by-8-inch square pan with nonstick baking spray.
3. Combine the cornmeal, chick pea flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
4. Combine the milk, oil and egg in a glass measure and whisk to combine.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. All of it into the 8"x8", or 1/4 cup for each muffin.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cornbread begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and is golden in color. Serve immediately

So now, about that failed pie. It wasn't entirely a failure. It looked and tasted great (as you can see from my silly friend eating it with such enjoyment). It just didn't do what it was supposed to do. It was a make-its-own-crust pumpkin pie. And, it didn't make its own crust. So it turned out to really be a pumpkin custard. Which is fine and good, if that's what you're after. It was not what I was after. So I'm still searching for a great GF/DF pumpkin pie recipe. If you have one, let me know.

After our last little trick-or-treater said his thank-yous and good-byes, we sat on the patio for a while longer, talking about how few kids there were this year compared to last, thinking maybe it had something to do with the Rangers game. We recapped all the cute costumes, all the creepy costumes, and the funny things the kids said (like the little princess girl that said to Weldon, with much trepidation, "Bye, monster.") We talked about how long we've been following this tradition of spending Halloween together, and how much we love it and depend on it. Traditions are like that, aren't they? We grow not just to love them but to depend on them. As landmarks in our lives, or maybe as stepping stones. That's how we move across the river of our lives, on the stepping stones of our traditions. We're extremely grateful for Chris and Tatiana, and now little Sully, for being part of lots of our traditions.

If you try Judy's chili, or Tatiana's cornbread, or if you have an awesome GF/DF pumpking pie recipe, let me know, either here, through email, or on Facebook. I love to hear from you guys!

Orange Cardamom Cupcakes!

2010-11-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

I haven't seen my friend Chung in a long time. A couple of years now, I guess. We used to work together, then she got another job. We definitely stay in touch, and we also run into each other in different places. One place we've never run into each other is at yoga class, and it seems like this is the one place in the world we would cross paths. She's become extremely active at The Yoga Project in Arlington and attends lots of yoga events around town. We just miss each other.

She sent me an article a few weeks ago full of cupcake recipes that use alternative ingredients that lower the sugar, raise the fiber, de-glutenize, veganize, and otherwise make them better treats for us. The one that really caught my attention was for Orange Cardamom cupcakes. I love orange and cardamom! And the ingredient list was fascinating to me: whole, boiled oranges...almond flour.... I couldn't wait to try them.

First, here's the recipe:

For Cake

2 medium-size, thin-skinned oranges, preferably seedless
6 large eggs (Yep, 6. That's half a dozen eggs, people.)
1 C sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 C finely ground almonds or almond meal
1 t ground cardamom

For Frosting
1 C plain nonfat Greek yogurt (I used plain So coconut yogurt.)
1 t honey
2 t orange zest, plus more for garnish
1/4 C confectioners' sugar
Candied orange peel, optional

Basically, your first step is to boil the heck out of two oranges. Scrub them well and place them in a pot with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary. Drain and then when they're cool enough to handle, cut them in half and remove all of the seeds (otherwise the cake will be bitter).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the oranges, peel and all (trust me), in a food processor fitted with the steel blade or blender and puree. Measure out 1 1/4 cups. For me, this is about all there was.

Then, with a hand mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar and baking powder at medium-high speed until thick and lemon-colored. Add the ground almonds and cardamom and mix well. Slowly mix in the 1 1/4 C of pulped orange that you previuosly measured out. Spray or add liners to your cupcake pan and pour the batter in, about 3/4 full.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. If the top begins to get too brown, cover loosely with foil. Place cakes on a rack to cool.

Combine all frosting ingredients in a bowl, mixing with a spoon until smooth and thoroughly mixed. Spread frosting on top of cooled cupcakes with knife or spatula. Top with extra orange zest or candied orange peel. For kids, orange jelly beans or sprinkles can be fun garnishes (just make sure they're GF, if you're going that way).

The recipe says you can also use 4 to 5 clementines, or 15 to 20 kumquats; or, if you skip the cardamom, 3 lemons.

They turned out great! Everyone that tried them loved them. Everyone agreed, though, that you can't even taste the cardamom. Next time, I may try using a little more than the recipe calls for.

Also, since I didn't use the Greek yogurt, my frosting was a little thin. It didn't, however, soak into the cake like I thought might. They were just as good the next (after staying refrigerated overnight, of course). Oh, and you're right, those are pirate cupcake papers you're seeing. That's all I could find at the store that day. I'm not about to sail the seven seas.

I encourage you to try these cupcakes, whether you have to be GF/DF or not. It was fun to bake with these ingredients, that believe it or not, make a soft, moist, yummy cake without a speck of flour.

There were some other great recipes in that article. If these flourless orange cardamom cupcakes inspire you, see the full article here.

It wasn't a rock, it was a rock Lobsterama!

2010-10-25T07:00:00.008-05:00

Lobster has always been one of those things that "other people" ate. We don't even know very many of these "other people." Weldon's sister and her husband spend quite a bit of time in Maine, where they apparently invented lobster, so they're obviously very experienced at lobster. They talk about grilled lobster tails and lobster rolls with that kind of awe that only super-fine food can inspire. And our friend Judy loves to indulge in a whole lobster every now and then. (You know Judy by now, of Judy's Stew.) She talks about how rich the meat is. But Weldon and I, no, we've never given it a try. It has always fallen into the categories of too much work for too little food, and just too extravagant for the likes of us.

Well, all that changed last weekend. A local restaurant that we love, Lucile's Stateside Bistro, has an annual Lobsterama. They have an entire lobster-oriented menu, and of course, one of their signature offerings is a whole lobster for only $11.95. We had a couple of things to celebrate, so we decided to give it a shot.

We had lots of questions for our very accomodating and knowledgable server, Jasmine. We appreciated her help so much. Not only did she show us how to, well, tear the lobster apart to get at the good stuff, but she answered lots of questions about how the sides were prepared. And she made sure that our vegetables and spinach were made without butter. She totally rocked

I started with a glass of wine, and Weldon had some awful thing in a highball glass. I tasted and it and it was like cough medicine. I was not fond of it. But he drank it down, and I sipped my wine. We knew we were in for a roaring good time.

Jasmine soon brought our little guys. (Thanks goodness they didn't make us pick them out. I know it's important to understand where our food comes from, but that would have put me off this whole experiment.) They were bright red against the pristine whiteness of the oval diner plate, and they were each gingerly holding a little ramekin of drawn butter between their giant and scary claws, like it was their gift to us.

You might be wondering about the butter, since Weldon and I stay dairy-free. Here's a quick kitchen and science lesson (and remember, I'm not an expert in either, I just know what I've researched). Drawn butter is melted butter with all the milk solids (proteins) removed, leaving just the oil (fat). The actual allergen (troublemaker) for most people in mik is casein, which is a protein. So by removing the milk solids from the butter, as in drawn butter and ghee, you're making it safe for those who are avoiding casein. As you can see this butter still looks a little foamy, so probably not 100% safe. I didn't eat it, though Weldon did try a little.

The placemat gives pretty explicit instructions on how to, well, tear this thing apart to get at the good stuff, but we were much better off with Jasmine's instruction. She was a real pro. Look at how astonished Weldon is at the giant piece of meat she literally tapped out of the claw after one strategic crack. It was like watching magic.

After Jasmine had taught us everything we needed to know, she left us on our own. We did a pretty good job. We decided it's a pretty violent meal when you get down to it. Lots of breaking and tearing and cracking. It started to feel kind of primal. I couldn't help but remember the scene in Splash when Daryl Hannah, as Madison the mermaid, bites right into the lobster with a ferocious crunch.

One of the steps on the placemat looks at first glance like it wants you to break off the legs and smoke them like a cigarette. But upon further investigation, it really wants you to suck on them to get at the tiny shreds of sweet meat that are inside them. Specifically, you sip them them "like sipping cider through a straw." We wondered why it was specifically cider. Never did figure that out. We tried it, though. Neither of us were too keen on that step.

In addition to enjoying our lobsters, we also enjoyed our sides, which were steamed spinach and a vegetable medley. They are normally sauteed in butter, but Jasmine made sure they were steamed for us. They were both great.

A wonderful evening all the way around. Great food, great service, and no gluten anywhere in sight. :)

And your bonus for reading this whole post? Rock Lobster by the B-52s.

Gluten-free Camping? Oh, yes. :)

2010-10-21T07:00:00.019-05:00

Post today by Weldon!

We went camping last week at Meridian State Park. The full-on, real-deal kind of camping. In tents. OK, we had electricity and water faucets, so it wasn’t really roughing it, I guess. But it was definitely camping!

We went with 3 other couples. Our friend, who insisted we call her "Cookie" during this trip, planned the menus and did 90% of the cooking, and was kind enough to keep our restrictions in mind! She did a GREAT job!

Beth enjoyed a couple of semi-rugged hikes around the lake with our friends (I joined her for part of one), and she was excited to find the roosting place for over 100 buzzards. She says this was impressive, though a bit smelly.

We only had a couple of minor accidents. I hurt my foot pretty badly on the hike I went on (it's getting better), and Beth accidentally folded herself in half backward doing Scorpion pose against a tree (she was OK, though, she's very bendy). One of our friends twisted her ankle and another friend got shanked by a tree. Both were fine after a little minor first aid was applied. Aside from these minor incidents, we had a wonderful time and are already talking about when we can do it again. As you can imagine, we were all pretty hungry in the midst of all this.

Here's how we roughed it with restrictions:

Breakfasts:
Scrambled eggs with hatch chili peppers, hash browns with onions, bacon, bananas. And Beth made some banana quinoa muffins to share that were a popular hit.

Potato, Onion, and Spinach Frittata, sausage links, and fresh fruit. (Just be sure to read the ingredients on your sausage links and you are good to go.)

Lunch/Dinners:
Bacon wrapped filets, garlic mashed potatoes (using chicken stock instead of milk), sauteed spinach garnished with crumbled bacon(!).

Dry-rub ribs, hamburgers, kabobs of mixed vegetables, wild rice. We brought our own hamburger buns. Of course, be sure to check ingredients on all seasoning & sauces. (And note that they are hamburgers, not cheeseburgers.)

Desserts:
Fresh fruits, roasted marshmallows, and roasted Peeps. (Check the ingredients on your marshmallows. Some are gluten free, others are rolled in flour.)

And as for ‘Roasted Peeps,’ yep, you read that correctly! This is a camping treat that I came up with on my own. We used the Halloween ghost Peeps. They are white and do not contain Yellow #6 (a food dye that I suspect contains gluten).

Why roast a harmless little Peep? Because it is goooooood! A Peep is just a marshmallow with a sugar coating. So when you put it on a stick and roast it over a campfire, you caramelize the outside while leaving a hot gooey inside. Just let the Peep cool a bit before removing it from the stick. This allows the candy shell on the outside to harden. So you get crunchy candy goodness on the outside with a yummy gooey marshmallow inside! It's like a creme brulee on a stick. They were a huge hit with our friends.

We snacked on Beth's homemade Crunchy Girl Granola, bananas, apples, and Lara Bars.

So there you go. An entire 3 day camping trip with 8 people and it was completely gluten- and dairy-free. And no one seemed to mind at all. We all ate GOOD!

How GF Bread for the Bread Machine Conjured up Memories of my Grandmother

2010-10-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

When I was a kid, I would spend a week or two at my grandmother's house during the summer. Gram wasn't much of a cook, and I don't really remember much of what I ate at her house.

I do remember the dry roasted Planter's peanuts we shared each night while we watched Johnny Carson. She would get the jar out of the cabinet at about 10:25, just at the end of the news. Her slippered feet shuffled across the kitchen floor while I lazed on the couch, anticipating the hilarity that would ensue with Johnny and his guests in mere minutes. She might also refresh our Pepsi Lights from the can she already had open in the fridge, a wad of tin foil stuffed inside the mouth of the can to try and keep it fizzy. It never worked.

I remember what she sometimes had for lunch: cottage cheese stuffed inside a fresh tomato that had been cut in an X from top to bottom so that it opened up like a flower. Alongside it was always a sleeve of Saltine crackers. Oh, and a Pepsi Light, of course. She brought it from the kitchen to the table on a little serving tray lined with a bamboo-type mat.

But what I really remember, so vividly that it makes my heart sing with joy and ache from missing her so, is the bread and butter we shared. It was always Pepperidge Farm pumpernickel with soft, creamy butter, and lots of it!

She kept her butter out on the table, so the knife just eased through it. There was no such thing as "just a little butter" either. Especially on pumpernickel bread. We would slather it on!

Since Weldon and I went gluten-free, we haven't had any other type of bread besides the sandwich bread I've been baking. I finally found a mock rye bread recipe that was for the bread machine and also dairy-free. The ones I'd been seeing had powdered milk in them, so I considered this one a real find! It came from cookingbread.com.

Here it is:

2 eggs
1 1/3 C water
1 t cider vinegar
3 T oil (I use olive.)
1 T honey
1 T molasses
1 1/2 t salt

3/4 C tapioca flour
1/2 C sorghum flour
2 C brown rice flour
1 T xanthan gum (or sub guar gum)
1 t caraway seeds
1 T rapid rise yeast

Make sure eggs are at room temperature I place them in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.

Proof the yeast. Bring water to a temperature between 110 and 115 degrees. Add the yeast and give it a few minutes to foam up and smell good and bready. This just means that the yeast is alive and well. Leave it be while you do the rest.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients (except the yeast).

Lightly beat the 2 eggs.

Add to our bread machine pan: lightly beaten eggs, proofed yeast and water, and all other wet ingredients.

Lightly pour the dry ingredients on top.

Lightly tap sides of bread pan to get everything even.

Place your bread pan into the machine and either set to Gluten Free setting or set to Basic and 1 1/2 lb.

During the knead cycle, be sure to help it along by scraping down the sides every now and then. When the rise cycle begins, take out the kneading paddle of you can and smooth over the top.

After baking, leave breadpan in machine for 10 minutes (with lid open) before removing.

Cool loaf on a wire rack.

I couldn't wait to cut into this bread! It wasn't dark like pumpernickel, but it smelled right. It was freckled with those fragrant caraway seeds. I waited a respectful amount of time for the loaf to cool, then I sliced it and gave it a taste test.

I was pleased. It was soft and tasty, with just a bit of crust. I had another slice, this time with as much butter as I could stand. Well, not exactly butter. Soy-free Earth Balance. And that made it even better.

I shared a few slices with my friends at our local Lululemon Athletica showroom, Isis and Ashleigh, and they actually said it was decadent. That may have been the butter talking. I took them real butter. I hope they slathered it on. That would make my grandmother happy.

Sweet and Nutty GF Cookies!

2010-10-11T07:00:00.007-05:00

My friend Patti sent me a cookie recipe. Patti is my oldest friend. I've known her since I was 13. Now I'm 40. So that's a long time.

We met in junior high when I was sitting on a bench with a giant jack-o'-lantern pinata. My pinata project group in Spanish class had made it. It was my idea to make a jack-o'-lantern, and by the time it was finished, the rest of the group thought it was stupid, so they made me take it home. Sure, I could have just abandoned it in the Spanish room, but I hated to see all our work go to waste. So there I was, 13 years old, awkward and insecure, probably dressed in my white Keds, baggy jeans, and Gloria Vanderbilt "Polo" shirt, looking really uncool, on a bench with my giant jack-o'-lantern pinata.

I knew Patti from some of my classes, but had never talked to her before. She came and sat next to me. She said, "I like your pinata." I thank my lucky stars every day that I was on that bench on that day with a giant silly jack-o'-lantern.

But enough with the time capsule, and let's get to the cookies. She sent me this gluten-free and dairy-free cookie recipe that has three ingredients. Yes, three. She found the recipe on one of her crafty, mommy blogs. (She is both, I am neither.) There, they had also decorated them into some kind of bear-pig-dog creature with sliced almonds for ears and raisins for eyes, nose, and mouth. Remember how I like to roll in the kitchen? Simple. Three ingredients and I'm done. No decorating for me.

We combine in a medium bowl:

1 C nut butter of your choice (Almond, peanut, hazelnut, or a combination. I used almond this particular go-round.)
1C brown sugar
1 egg

When combined (and it doesn't take long), using about 2 tablespoons of dough at time, roll into little balls. Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten out. (They don't spread out as they bake, as it turns out, so you can place them a little closer than I did in this photo.) When your cookie sheet is filled with round, shiny almost-cookies, slide it into a 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes. For crispier, darker cookies, go for about 15 minutes. Of course, every oven is different, so adjust time for time for your own oven's quirks.

You end up with almost perfectly round, sweet and nutty cookies. (The size I made resulted in 16.) Let them cool for two or three minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them onto wire racks. Let them cool completely before taste-testing.

I'm going to try them next time with peanut butter. Maybe with a little chocolate hazelnut butter mixed in. I'll keep you posted.

Try these yourself and let me know what you think. About how easy they are and about how good they are!

Oh, besides being one of the best friends of all time, a super mommy, and an insanely talented artist, Patti's also a great blogger. See what's going on with her at Two is More.

Life at our house. . .

2010-10-07T07:00:00.007-05:00

I often quote Yoga Sutra 1.1, "Now the exposition of Yoga is being made."

To me, this sutra reminds us that each moment, each "now" is an opportunity to practice yoga, to practice our ability to accept this present moment and embrace all its qualities and be grateful for the lessons that they teach us. This is especially important in those moments when our emotions are challenged, or when we're being asked to accept a situation that just minutes before seemed unacceptable. These moments can be as superficial as when a friend changes the time you're meeting for lunch, as reparable as when we find that our dogs have chewed up our favorite yoga book, or as devestating as losing a job or a friend.

Weldon and I were discussing something closer on the scale to the former, thankfully, and I said it: "Well, 'Now the exposition of Yoga is being made.'" (Actually, sometimes I kind of scream it, like Frank Costanza on Seinfeld screams, "Serenity now! Serenity now!"*)

Weldon said, "You know, every time you say that, what I think of is, 'Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!'"**

I stared at him, irritated, for about 7 seconds, until he said, in a terrible German accent, "Do you vant to touch my monkey?"

It's always a laugh a minute at our house.

*Serenity Now!

**Sprockets

Lisa's Cashew Cardamom Shake

2010-10-04T07:00:00.005-05:00

My friend Lisa had a post on Facebook one morning a few weeks ago about how much she was enjoying her Cashew Cardamom shake. I immediately wished for Lisa to live down the street, instead of across the country. How I would love to pop down to her house on my way to work and share one of these fabulous-sounding creations. . .

All I could do was respond about how fabulous that sounded and how much I wished she lived down the street instead of across the country. And of course, I asked her to send the recipe along.

She did, and it's actually a recipe from Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. Here it is:

1/2 C raw cashews (Yes, raw; neither roasted, nor salted.)
1 C dairy-free milk (I used almond. Not sure what Lisa used.)
2 T maple syrup (I didn't use this, and neither did Lisa. It didn't hurt a thing!)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t ground cardamom (I have to admit I added a little more. I LOVE cardamom.)
1 medium banana, frozen and chunked

If you have a super-duper blender or a Vitamix, you can just throw everything in and, as Lisa said, "blamo." If you have a dopey blender like I do, it's best (if not a requirement) to grind the cashews first.

This is easily done with a coffee grinder. Remember to clean your coffee grinder really well first, though! If you don't have a coffee grinder, it might be an option to soak the cashews in water overnight and drain them before adding them. This will help them to blend.

Blend all ingredients together until smooth and banana-y and cardamom-y and good. It's the most beautiful creamy color, with tiny flecks of cardamom peeking through the creaminess. And it smells spicy and warm, even though it's technically a frozen drink.

I really have no idea why I decided to show you this shake next to Red Skull riding along with my wooden animals. But I did. And yes, that's Red Skull riding along with my wooden animals. He might even be saying, "Yee haw." (Although, if you knew anything about Red Skull, you'd know that last part is pretty unlikely.) And, well, yes, that's a little metal lady doing Halasana (plow pose) on top of the alligator. I doubt she's saying, "Yee haw," or anything at all.

Anyway, this shake makes a yummy breakfast or a quick afternoon snack. A nice balance of protein and carbohydrate without too much sugar, it will keep you going for a while.

I'm glad that even though Lisa does live across the country, we can still share moments by sharing recipes. I didn't even know Lisa that well until Weldon and Facebook brought us together. She's an old friend of Weldon from back in the day. So through Weldon, Facebook, and our love of the same kinds of food, I feel a nice connection with Lisa. I hear she'll be in town over Christmas. I hope we get to share an actual meal at an actual table while she's here.

Sheri and Jeremy's Fish Tacos

2010-09-27T07:00:00.006-05:00

Here's me in a tent.

Your first inclincation might be to say to yourself, "Look how happy that girl is sitting in that tent." But most likely, your first inclination is to say to yourself, and whoever might be around you, "This crazy girl is camping in the house."

Don't worry, I'm not really camping in the house. This was just a practice run for Weldon and me to make sure we could get the tent set up. And we did pretty well, don't you think?

That's mostly because we had great teachers. You see, we're borrowing this fabulous tent, and some other essential camping equpment from our good friends Sheri and Jeremy. They had us over for dinner and a tent lesson, and both were just fabulous.

I met Sheri when she was one of my yoga students at the Y. She soon became my friend. Then, when she decided to add teaching to her yoga journey, she became my padawan. Now she's still a friend, of course, and also a colleague. It's been so cool to watch how her practice has developed and to see her become a wonderful teacher.

Her husband, Jeremy, is a cycle teacher at the Y. (They both have day jobs in addition to the Y, but that's how I know them.) He's charming and fun. They're a delightful couple to be around.

They made fish tacos for us to enjoy after our tent lesson. They were fabulous! So flavorful and fresh. I had mine naked in a bowl (the fish tacos, not me) to avoid the corn tortilla. I highly recommend trying it that way. Naked. (The taco, not you. But what you do in your home is your business, after all.)

They had everything set up buffet style on the counter, fish, fresh avocado, black beans, slaw, Mexican white cheese (which Weldon and I didn't partake of), sauce, and salsa.

The fish, which was cod, was seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin. Not quite coated, just lightly touched. Jeremy made the sauce from mayonnaise, olive oil, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and minced garlic. And the slaw, critical to a good fish taco, was pre-prepared slaw from a bag with a bit of apple cider vinegar added, and just a little Splenda to cut the bitterness. OH! And toasted sunflower seeds! Perfect touch. Black beans straight out of a can and heated up. Salsa full of cilantro. The flavors came together perfectly, like they were made for each other.

Weldon and I supplied dessert. We heated a little chocolate hazelnut spread in the microwave and served it with strawberries and sliced bananas. Little effort. Big impact. That's how we like to roll.

During dinner and dessert, wine and beer flowed, and conversation was fun and lively. Stories were told, lives were shared, and friendships were forged even stronger. Isn't that what dinners with friends are supposed to be like?

It was so kind of Sheri and Jeremy to even take us on as guests, with all our restrictions. Sheri called me a couple of times during the week before to ask questions. She was kind enough to ask what to look for on labels, and told us at dinner how surprised she was at what was actually in the food we buy. She was excited to have found corn tortillas that only contained corn flour, water, and lime. (Sometimes, they add wheat or white flour, too. You really do have to check.) Each time, she called with questions, I asked her, "What do you guys normally do?" Usually, I told her, "Just do that, we'll work around it." Or I would get to say, "Yeah, that works just fine." You really don't have to make or buy special food to eat with us. We eat pretty normally, just very consciously.

We're very grateful for the dinner we shared with Sheri and Jeremy, and for the loan of their camping equipment. And also for the new ideas for fish tacos! We'll definitely be trying those at home.

FRIED CHICKEN! (…got your attention, didn’t we?)

2010-09-23T07:00:00.024-05:00

Weldon's our guest blogger today. This recipe isn't corn free, but it is gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. Enjoy!

I tell people all the time that in my opinion, the way to live happily on a gluten-free diet is to make careful and deliberate substitutions.
Don't try to simply "do without." If you go that route, you will eventually come to feel like you are being denied or cheated out of something that you love and miss.

So in the spirit of that, I started searching for something to replace chicken-fried chicken and/or breaded fish. I love those. And I didn't want to never be able to have them again. The recipe I came up with is really quite simple, and you can easily modify it further if needed.

The secret is very light and crispy corn tortilla chips. I recommend the “El Milagro” brand. They are super light and work perfectly in this recipe.

Take a big bowl, add a double handful of chips andd crush them up. Yep. Mash the heck out of them! I use a pint glass in the bowl the same way you would use a mortar & pestle. Grind it up until it’s about the same size crumb as the bread crumbs you would normally use to bread your chicken (or fish).

You can see where this is going already, can’t you? It’s simple. Really.

Next, I mix some Cajun seasoning into the crushed chips. It will almost always take just a bit more than you think it will. I don’t know why, but put what you think is about the right amount, then add a bit more. You should be right on the money then! Don’t worry about the salt. The chips will take care of that on their own! Handy, ain’t it?

In another bowl, simply beat an egg. (You can use straight almond milk if you have an egg aversion or allergy.) Then heat a skillet with some EVOO in it. (If you're a Rachael Ray fan, you know that means "extra virgin olive oil.") When it gets to frying temperature you will need to have everything in place and be ready to move. Things go quickly from here.

You use an assembly line method. Have the raw, ready-to-go chicken (we like boneless skinless chicken breasts) or fish on a platter on one end. Next have the bowl with the beaten egg. Next have the bowl of seasoned crushed tortilla chips. Next comes the hot skillet on the stove. And last in the assembly line is the serving platter.

It's important to decide ahead of time which hand is the egg hand and which is the chip hand. Don’t go switching mid-stream or you will be wearing an oven glove made out of glued on chip crumbs.

Using your egg hand, pick up a piece of chicken (or fish) and run it through the beaten egg. Coat all sides. Lay it down in the egg, swish it around, flip it over. Make sure it gets a good, liberal coating.

Pick it up, still with your egg hand, and gently lay it down on top of the crushed chips, making sure to not accidentally touch any chips with your eggy-hand.

Next, using only your chip hand, cover the eggy-chicken (or fish) with the crumbs. Now you can pick it up with your chip hand and flip it over. Cover it completely again and make sure you coat all sides well.

Once done, pick it up with your chip hand and gently place it in the skillet.

Repeat as needed until your skillet is as full as you feel comfortable with. Quickly wash your hands and prepare for the frying portion of the assembly line.

Chicken and fish will fry differently. Fish will fry faster in most cases. But in either case, you do not want the heat so high that your actually burn the chips. They will brown. That is fine.
Flip when appropriate, but do not keep moving it around or your crust will come off.

Once you feel it’s completely done, remove with a spatula and let it rest on the serving platter for at least 5 minutes before serving.

This is so tasty that you can serve it to anyone. This makes a very nice dish to serve when you have a mix of GF and non-GF guests. Everyone gets to eat the same thing. And no one feels like they are getting the fake food. In fact, you don’t even have to tell people that it’s gluten-free if it’s not something that would concern them. It’s just another tasty way to fix chicken or fish.
Enjoy!
-=Weldon=-

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

2010-09-20T07:00:00.010-05:00

I don't bake much in the summer. We have an old house with an old oven. When we use the oven, the whole kitchen heats up, not just the oven. This is great in the fall and winter, not so great when it's already 110 degrees outside. Now that we're into September, and down into the 90s, the guideline still stands. The oven doesn't usually come on until about the middle of October. About the same time, come to think of it, that I allow for the first chili of the season to be made. Weldon says I have too many seasonal rules in the kitchen (too many rules, period, really). I say he would be willy nilly and out of control without me around. I guess that's all another story.

But let it not be said that I'm inflexible! Last week, I had to turn on the oven. Weldon's sister Rosie sent us a recipe she'd cut out of a magazine I don't recognize for Chewy Flourless Chocolate Cookies. Looking over the ingredients, I was intrigued. Not only were they gluten-free, but they were dairy-free, too, without making any adjustments. And I could make them corn-free by subbing potato starch for corn starch. Easy. I had to try them and it couldn't wait until the middle of October. You can make them, too, with ingredients you probably have in your own pantry right this very minute.

Here's the recipe:
1 3/4 C powdered sugar
1/2 C Dutch process cocoa (I used Gharardelli All Natural unsweetened cocoa.)
2 t cornstarch (I used potato starch.)
1/4 t salt
2 egg whites
1 C coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (I used pecans.)

Preheat over to 300 degrees.

Mix together sugar, cocoa, starch, and salt.

Gradually add egg whites, stirring with a spoon until mixture forms a dough. Mixture should be thick enough to form into balls; if not, add more powdered sugar and cocoa.)

Add nuts and mix well.

Form dough into 15 balls. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 16-19 minutes, until glossy and crackled.

Per cookie: 110 calories, 7g fat, Omg chol., 1g prot., 16g carb., 1g fiber, 45 mg sodium.

I've made these twice now. The first time I found that I did have to add a little more sugar and cocoa to get it thick enough, and I may have added too much. It's kind of a fine line between just thick enough and over the top. My cookies didn't flatten out as much as the photo in the magazine that first time. The second time, with a little experience to go by, I didn't add quite as much extra and they did actually flatten out. Either way, I tell you what, they were GOOD!

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical from the very beginning. This was my first experience with flourless cookie-baking, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I took a taste of the dough to get an idea of where we were going and I wasn't real pleased. With around 2 cups of powdered sugar in it, it was swee-eet, as you can imagine. But I pressed on, doing my best not to make a full judgment until we had a finished product.

On that first run, when the bell went ding and I pulled them out of the oven, as I say, they weren't as flat as the ones in the photo, but they were indeed "glossy and crackled." I moved them to a rack to cool and waited patiently. Oh, and turned off the oven so as not to continue heating the kitchen!

About half an hour later, I picked one up. It was light for its size, a good sign, I thought. Maybe a result of not being full of butter? I took a bite, and what a good decision that was. It was crisp and chocolately, crumbly enough that I had to use my other hand to catch some falling crumbs. The super-sweetness was gone, leaving these cookies with a rich and intense chocolate flavor. And the toasty nuts were a perfect touch (if you like that sort of thing).

I took one to Weldon and he made happy noises and nodded his head as he chewed his first bite. "These are great!" he finally was able to say. "Yes," I agreed. "We need to call Rosie and thank her for sending the recipe!"

For those of us that cook, and cook mindfully, it's one of the ways we show love. We pour a little bit of ourselves into each dinner we make for friends, each lunch we pack for a child, and hopefully, each quiet breakfast we prepare for ourselves.
Rosie is a great cook and a great baker. But she would never in a million years attempt to make anything with restricted ingredients. She doesn't quite get the whole gluten-free thing, though she really tries, God love her. So sending us this recipe was her new way of showing us love, and we accepted her delicious gift gratefully.

Oh, and just so you don't have a terrible vision of me sweating away in my kitchen just to feed my chocolate craving, I did this early on a Sunday morning, before the day heated up. Even when I'm crazy, I'm not stupid. :)

How Many Times Do We Have to Learn? Always Read the Label

2010-09-16T07:00:00.027-05:00

If you live with a food restriction, whether it's because of an allergy, diabetes, a low-sodium diet, low-fat diet, the G.A.R.D., being vegetarian, etc., one of the first things you learn is to read labels. Read, read, read labels. And not just the first time you buy a product. Formulas and recipes can change, so we read the label. Every. Time. We buy. A Product. This is how we keep ourselves safe.

But what happens sometimes? We're going along feeling pretty good. We get cocky or complacent, and we make an assumption. And we all know what happens when we assume, don't we? (According to someone, maybe Dr. House (?), "When you assume, it makes you look like an ass to me.")

We had a label assumption error last week.

We have been living dairy-free for quite a few months now, however, Weldon wanted some cheese for his sandwiches. Rather than accept the fact that cheese is truly off the table, being a dairy product and all, he bought some fake cheese.

Years ago, I tried vegan cheese and was horrified. It ain't cheese, people. If you're going to be vegan, I say that by definition, you let go of the pleasures of all animal products, including the joys of cheese. And cheese can be pretty joyful, I agree. What can replace the warm creaminess of a brie straight from the oven, or the sharp coolness of Wisconsin cheddar cheese curd? Nothing, that's what. And for ding dong sure, not vegan cheese.

This was my rant when Weldon brought home this unsanctioned purchase. His response: "I wanted some cheese." I think I said something, very kindly and compassionately of course, like, "Well, this ain't cheese, so good luck with that." His argument was that I had tried it years ago and that fake cheese technology must have improved since then. I think I said something else supportive, like "Whatever."

The front of the package says, "Veggie Slices." It also says, "soy-based," and "gourmet melt." The soy takes it off my list, since I avoid soy. But "gourmet melt" might have taken it off my list anyway. What does that even mean? Anyway, when you flip the package over, next to the ingredient list, it says, "Gluten Free." So we're good, right? Of course. What could go wrong with gluten-free soy-based mozzarella-flavored gourmet melt?

Weldon ate these slices on his sandwiches for a week. He even got me to taste the corner of one, just to prove to me that fake cheese technology has improved. I had to agree that they have made strides in that area. It didn't taste like ground up refrigerated glued-together soy-milk-soaked sawdust. It wasn't bad. There was actually a little creaminess to it. Which maybe should have been a clue.

Thursday night, I got a text from Weldon while he was out with some friends: "does fake cheese have gluten in it?"

I was away from home, so I couldn't double-check at the time. When he got home, he went straight to the kitchen to check. It was the first time either of us had read the actual ingredient list. It was in fact gluten-free. But guess what the second ingredient is, right after "organic soy base?" CASEIN! Casein is a milk protein! So, much to our surprise, the veggie slices, which we both had assumed were vegan, contain milk! Not vegan at all.

Time for Weldon's rant: "Why would something that's already 'veggie' be called 'Veggie Slices?' Cheese is already vegetarian! There's no meat in cheese!" He also said some other words. I like to keep the blog family-friendly so I won't repeat them here.

Once he was able think rationally and see straight again, we talked it through and decided that the soy-based "Veggie Slices" are primarily for those with a lactose intolerance, not necessarily those with a casein intolerance or allergy. Lactose is a milk sugar. These slices are indeed lactose free, even though they're not completely dairy free. (Even with all the ribbing here, please understand that Veggie Slices are a great product for some folks. The corner I tried was really tasty and very cheese-like.)

Weldon acknowledged that the package doesn't say anything about being vegan, he had just assumed based on the name. Since I wasn't eating them, I hadn't paid enough attention and assumed Weldon knew what he was talking about. He stopped eating it and the symptoms he was experiencing (skin flare-up, cold hands, temper) subsided almost immediately.

It's taken me 10 years of marriage to realize that Weldon usually does know what he's talking about. For example, there was the time he said he was going to sautee cabbage with turkey meatballs with no experience and no recipe, and then he did it. It was delicious and is now one of my favorite meals.

There was the time he said he was going to fix the door that wouldn't stay shut because our old house had settled. I was skeptical, but he did it.

There was also the time we found a possum in the backyard, about dusk, in the crook of a tree. I was instructed to keep an eye on the sleepy thing while Weldon went off to the garage. All the while, there was all kinds of hammering, sawing, and buzzing coming from the garage. Weldon came out about 7 minutes later with a weird, steampunky looking gizmo and I said, "What are you going to do with that?" He said, "I'm gonna catch this possum." Then he did. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen him actually do it.

And there was also every single time he ever told me, "Everything's going to be OK," and then it was.

So you see why I would assume that he knew what he was talking about when he said he brought home vegan cheese. Another lesson learned.

Lesson 1: read the label. Duh.

Lesson 2: even if the other person read the label, you read the label, too. Just to be sure. Even if you don't plan to eat the product, be a team player and read the label, too.

Lesson 3: never assume. Never assume that the cheese is vegan or that your husband knows what he's talking about. Check and double check until you're as sure as you can be.

And here's a question for our vegan friends: is there such a thing as good vegan cheese? Tell us.

Popping Amaranth: A Little Chaos and Cleanup Leads to a Tasty Breakfast or Snack

2010-09-13T07:00:00.009-05:00

I've been promising this to some of you for a couple of weeks now. I'm still learning how to wrangle the video into the blog post, so I hope it works for everyone. If not, please let me know.

Like quinoa, amaranth is an ancient crop that originated in the Central America, and not technically a grain but a seed. Also like quinoa, it's highly complete for a plant protein. It's full of iron, copper, and zinc, and of all grains, it has the highest armount of folic acid, calcium, and vitamin E. It can be ground into flour for use in breads, cakes, pancakes, etc. or flaked for use as hot cereal like oatmeal. It also can be popped like popcorn, which is the most fun option, if you ask me. (It can also be made into porridge, which Weldon and I don't actually recommend. We had nothing to go on. Maybe we did it wrong. )

To pop your amaranth:

1. Heat your dry skillet over medium-high to high heat. The hotter the skillet is, the better the results are. (Also, since we're working with a dry skillet, don't use a nonstick skillet.)

2. When the skillet is so hot that water droplets dance, maybe even race, across the surface, you're ready to go.

3. Add 1/4 C of whole amaranth. You'll notice a few grains begin to quiver. Get ready for anything. It really is kind of like making popcorn with the lid off.

4. Using a WOODEN spoon, keep the grains moving as they start to pop. Even shake the pan a little.

5. Don't worry about all the leapers. You'll sweep them up later. This is all about experiencing the present moment!

6. When all, or mostly all, of the grains have popped to a fluffy white, stop giggling long enough to turn off the heat underneath and pour the fluffy goodness into a bowl.

You will be giggling because it's just so silly. Watch the video to see what I mean. . .

I like to start some days like this. Once it's popped and safely in the bowl, I add about 1/2 C warmed almond milk (milk of your choice, of course), a drizzle of maple syrup, and maybe a handful of walnuts. It's nice to have breakfast made in fewer than 5 minutes. And clean-up is pretty easy.

Weldon likes it as a quick, savory snack. He adds salt, plain or a flavored variety (lemon, garlic, etc.) and eats it up with a spoon.

It really is an exercise in presence and a great way to practice acceptance. Accept that it's a little messy and pretty unpredictable. There will be some clean up. Heck, you may even burn a few of the little guys. Or a lot. Just let all that go and have fun with it. Let your hair down and allow the amaranth to fly!

If you try it, let me know how it goes!

What's up, Doc? Ginger Almond Quinoa, that's what's up!

2010-09-09T07:00:00.018-05:00

One of the things I love about quinoa is its versatility. It can be eaten hot, warm, or cold. Alone or in salads or soups. As a main dish or a side dish. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's a handy little guy to have around.

I love this particular recipe because I can make a batch of it at the beginning of the week and then take it for lunch all week long. It's a great meal all on its own or with some fruit alongside it. And I don't have to spend all day in the kitchen to make it. You guys know me well enough now to know that simple is how I roll in the kitchen.

Why the Bugs Bunny reference when I'm talking about Ginger Almond Quinoa today? Because it's full of carrot juice, of all things! But don't worry, the carrot juice adds a beautiful color, a fresh flavor, and of course, lots of vitamin C and beta carotene. It doesn't make this dish have an overly carroty taste, I promise. It gives it a fresh, yummy sweetness.

Here's how we do it:

1/3 cup chopped almonds
2 tsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger (don't panic, notes about fresh ginger are below)
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups carrot juice
1 cup frozen peas

1. Toast almonds in dry saucepan over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes, or until fragrant and beginning to brown (not black), stirring often. Don't underestimate the power of your own sense of smell here. When you start to smell the toasty goodness, they're pretty much done. Trust me.

2. Set almonds aside and wipe out saucepan; add oil and onion. Sauté onion 2 to 3 minutes, or until translucent, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in ginger, quinoa, and juice, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed.

4. Remove from heat, and scatter frozen peas over cooked quinoa. Cover, and let stand 10 minutes, until peas are thawed.

5. Stir happy little peas into quinoa.

6. The original recipe (from Vegetarian Times) calls for stirring in diced apple and shredded coconut at this time. In fact, they call this dish Gingery Quinoa Salad with Apples, Peas, and Coconut. I sometimes add the apple, but sometimes I skip it, just out of laziness, really. But I always skip the coconut because if I added it, then my Ginger Almond Quinoa would become an anti-Weldon food. I'll let you use your judgment on the apples and the coconut here. If you want to create a Kryptonite against Weldon, just add the coconut.

A couple of notes: if you don't have carrot juice, or just don't want to use it for whatever reason, use chicken broth or vegetable broth. It will give you plenty of flavor and a little added nutrition. You can even use part carrot juice and part broth. Also, even if you've never used fresh ginger before, I encourage you to try it for this recipe! It won't be the same without it. And it's not difficult.

When you buy fresh ginger, make sure it's firm to the touch and has smooth, somewhat shiny skin. If it's wrinkly or cracked, that means it's old.

Just cut off a hunk, peel it with a vegetable peeler, and mince it for this recipe. Store fresh, unpeeled ginger in a Ziploc bag and keep it in your vegetable crisper for up to two months.

Try this recipe and tell me what you think. It's one of my new favorites. If you tweak it to your taste or style, let me know that, too. I love to see how recipes evolve!

Next time, what so many of you have been waiting for. . . popped amaranth!

Granola: Crunchy Food for a Crunchy Girl

2010-09-02T07:00:00.010-05:00

I don't buy granola, nor do I buy granola bars. I don't really have a policy against either one, they're just expensive and not usually anything that I'm excited about. Granola's just not on my radar much. But when I read about Gluten-Free Girl's granola recipe that her friend Sharon loves, well, my radar started blipping. It sounded pretty good and pretty easy. So I did it.

The weekend before I left for a 4-day stretch of yoga teacher training, I got all my ingredients together and followed Gluten-Free Girl's instructions. I made a few changes, based on what I had and what we like. Here's what I used:

5 cup oats (make sure they are gluten-free; Bob's Red Mill to the rescue every time)
2 cups coarsely chopped almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
a good amount of freshly grated nutmeg (for me, a good amount was about 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon)
1 teaspoon fine grind sea salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups mixed dried fruit (I used diced dried papaya spears, unsweetened banana chips, and dried cherries)
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil

And here's what I did:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large roasting pan, mix together the oats, almonds, and pumpkin seeds. (Gluten-Free Girl suggested using a roasting pan and I will totally back her up on that. It's so easy to stir everything around without spilling that way.) Sprinkle the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, and salt over the top. Stir it up.

Toss the dried fruit over the top of the oats mixture. Stir it all up.

Drizzle the maple syrup evenly over the surface of the oats mixture. Do the same with the oil. Stir it all up until everything is well coated (not too sticky, but not dry either).

Bake for 12 minutes, stir the mixture well, then put the pan back in the oven. Repeat this process three or four more times (it really depends on your oven). You want your finished product to be not shiny, golden brown, and nicely crunchy (just like me).

Pull it out of the oven and let it cool. (Don't forget to turn off the oven.) Makes 10 cups or so. Store in an air-tight container. I use a gallon Ziploc bag labeled "Crunchy Girl Granola," but you can label it as you like.

During my yoga teacher training, I took about 1/2 a cup in my lunch bag each day, along with 1/4 cup of almond milk (in separate containers, of course). This made a great addition to my lunch each day. Now that I'm back to work, I take it each day for a delicious and effective mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack.

I think this is so much better than anything I could buy, and much less expensive. Since I made it, I know it's gluten free, all natural, and made without any weird sweeteners. A good crunchy food for a crunchy girl!

Speaking of crunchy girl, next time, Ginger Almond Quinoa. . .

Packing Enough Lunch for a Bunch of Days

2010-08-30T07:00:00.004-05:00

When you're living with food restrictions of any kind, planning becomes essential. Choosing a restaurant becomes a decision requiring online research and phone calls. Even mundane events like going to the movies become expeditions.You often look at the day ahead of you and think, "Am I going to accidentally be without a good food choice today?" It's a good idea to throw a {your restriction here}-friendly snack in your pocket, bag, or purse.

Last week, I spent 4 long days at a yoga teacher training in Arlington. I knew we would have a lunch break, but I also know how difficult it is to "run out and grab something" when you have as many requirements as I do (GF, DF for sure, SF and CF, if at all possible. I also like to stay vegetarian when eating out if I can.). I also knew that I would need several snacks throughout the day to keep my body strong and my mind sharp. So I ended up packing myself a heck of a lunch each day.

Here's what I took:

Snacks:

Energy Nuggets from Kroger

Raw Pumpkin Seeds

Rice Cake with Almond Butter

Coconut Cream Pie LaraBar

Lunch:

Ginger Almond Quinoa

Strawberries

Blueberries

Homemade Granola

Rice Dream (I accidentally got vanilla flavored, but it was pretty good on the granola.)

Other:

Yogi Tea DeTox tea

Genmaicha Matcha Green tea (an excellent Japanese green tea that's blended with roasted brown rice!)

Enjoy Life boom Choco boom Dark Chocolate Bar (just in case I needed a chocolate fix at some point.

These were the best lunches! I wasn't hungry or tired in the middle of the afternoon, which is usually my valley time. Plenty of carbohydrate, plenty of protein, and enough to keep my tummy full. And believe it or not, all that stuff fit into this fancy little lunch bag.

Over the next couple of blog posts, I'll tell you how I made the Ginger Almond Quinoa and the granola, two of my new favorite staple recipes. The quinoa is nutritious and full of vitamin C and beta carotene (and a beautiful color!) since it's made with carrot juice. The granola is spicy and warm and tastes a little like Christmas. Both, of course, are easy, otherwise I wouldn't be making them. Both are also great for making a big batch on Sunday and then taking for lunches or snacks all week. Handy stuff, whether you have restrictions or not.

How to Treat Pisces Tuna with Respect: Part 3

2010-08-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

Weldon and I love having dinner at Judy's (of Judy's Stew). I've known her since 1992 when I walked into her office at the TCU Press as a work study student. I worked for her during my time at TCU and learned a lot from her about publishing, the publishing industry, and writing. During my time at TCU Press, I considered her a teacher and mentor. She did a great job of both, and went above and beyond by having me over to share Sunday dinners with her (large) family every now and then. After I graduated, she also became my friend.

Last week, I asked her about her Southwestern Tuna Salad, since it's a perfect way to respect the Pisces tuna. She said if Weldon and I would come over to eat it with her, she'd make it. I hadn't meant to weasel a dinner invitation, but yay! She said Jacob, her grandson would be there. (That's him in the photo on the right.) He loves Weldon and me, really mostly Weldon, so we knew we were in for a fun evening. Weldon speaks the language of little boys fluently. I took fruit salad and a bag of rice chips to go with the hummus she planned to serve as an appetizer and my camera.

The recipe for Southwestern Tuna Salad appears in Judy's book, Cooking My Way through Life with Kids and Books (that's Jacob on the cover), but she says in the book she lost the original recipe and kinda has to wing it every time. Fortunately, she found the original recipe! Here it is:

Don't you love recipes like this? The kind that are so tried and true that they've been around your kitchen forever, folded and refolded, spilled on and soiled. In case you can't read this, here's what it says:

Southwest Tuna Spread (we just ate it straight, not spread on anything)

2 7 oz. cans tuna, drained
1/4 C mayonnaise (I think we used more.)
3 T red onion, chopped
3 T fresh cilantro, chopped
2 T chopped green chiles (Judy just tosses in the whole little can.)
1 t lime peel, grated
1 t lime juice
1/8 t ground cumin
1/8 t chili powder

Combine ingredients in medium size bowl. Mix until well blended. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before serving to blend flavors. Serve with tortilla chips.

Judy also made a tomato salad to go along with it, so we had a lovely, cool summer supper. Well, Judy and Weldon and I did. Jacob enjoyed a kid supper of chicken nuggets with ketchup and a few blueberries. We all had a wonderful dinner talking about everything from our favorite superhero to free expression of religion and tolerance of such expression (that was after Jacob excused himself from the table to play with his toys, one of which was a headless army man minesweeper).

Our after-dinner entertainment consisted of twisting Jacob's little Ironman figure into various yoga poses and taking his picture. Jacob thought this was hilarious fun. And so did I, actually. I speak little boy language pretty fluently, too, I think.

Jacob is apparently learning about the virtue of sharing, and every so often during the evening (usually when he wanted something you had, but baby steps), he would remind you, "Sharing is caring and sharing can be fun." This is going to be my new mantra, I'm pretty sure. Our evening with him and Judy was definitely all about sharing: good food, tried and true recipes, ideas, and love. There was definitely lots of caring and it certainly was fun.

How to Treat Pisces Tuna with Respect: Part 2

2010-08-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, I was at home in the middle of the day, working. It was about lunchtime and I was getting hungry. When I get hungry, well, let's just say, ". . . you wouldn't like me when I'm hungry." Ask Weldon. It's ugly. I get cranky, short-tempered, unreasonable, angry, emotional, stupid, uncoordinated, frustrated, and, well, see photo at right.

But there really is a simple remedy; just eat already!

So as I say, I was at home in the middle of the day getting hungry. I went to the kitchen to see what I could throw together. I opened the cabinet and was happily surprised by the wall of Pisces tuna that I'd stacked there the day before. I was in the perfect mood for a quick and delicious tuna salad.

My best tuna salad, and Weldon's favorite is my wasabi tuna salad. I've made it in the past with a store-bought wasabi mayonnaise and some other ingredients. It's so good! But on this day I'm telling you about, 1) we were out of that store-bought wasabi mayonnaise, and 2) even if we'd has some, it probably would have been made with soybean oil, so off limits for a person avoiding soy.

We had some canola mayonnaise. And we had a tiny can of wasabi poweder. How hard could it be to mix that up and come up with my own wasabi mayonnaise? Well, some of you may have seen my Facebook post that afternoon declaring my wasabai mayonnaise a major fail. It did not work out, though it seemed simple enough. I'm still working on soy-free wasabi mayonnaise, so I'm afraid I can't present you with the wasabi tuna salad recipe today. Today I present you with Brainiac Tuna Salad.

Here's what I did after cleaning up the wasabi mayo failure. I mixed the wonderfully meaty Pisces tuna with salt and pepper, a little tiny bit of smoked salt, a little bit of dill relish, a couple of giant chives, snipped into little pieces with kitchen shears (so much easier than chopping), and just enough canola mayo to bind. I served it to myself over a bed of torn lettuce and garnished with a handful of walnuts. I enjoyed it thoroughly and a Hulk-type meltdown was averted.

The omega-3 fatty acids in both the tuna and the walnuts make this the Brainiac Tuna Salad. Omega-3 fatty acids are believed to benefit the brain in many ways, including improving memory, ability to learn, and staving off mental disorders like dementia. And maybe Hulkdom? It does for me.

Tuna salad. It doesn't just go on a crustless white Wonder Bread sandwich any more. Next time, Judy's Southwestern Tuna Salad.

How to Treat Pisces Tuna with Respect: Part 1

2010-08-16T07:30:00.004-05:00

Imagine this: a long, hot, summer day. Maybe you were lucky enough to stay inside in the cool whisper of the air conditioning. Or, if you weren't so lucky, maybe you had to go outside. Just walking from the house to the car was enough to make you sweat. No way you'll be wearing that t-shirt again before laundry day. You feel the heat of the baked concrete beneath the soles of your feet through your shoes. Through your shoes! The cicadas are buzz-buzz-buzzing in the trees. The plants in your yard are getting crispy and parched, some of their leaves curling at the edges. It's going to be over 100 degrees. Again.

Now imagine this: the hot summer evening that follows that hot summer day. The sun can't hold itself up any more, and neither can you. And it's dinner time. Wouldn't something simple and cool and light and refreshing be wonderful right about now? Yes. Of course it would

This was the scenario at our house last week. So we (which is mostly me) made a quick refreshing dinner based on some things we'd seen Giada de Laurentiis do on Food Network the day before. (Speaking of hot, have you seen how beautiful Giada is? Lovely!) First, we (which was really me) made a lemony herbed quinoa salad. Then I threw together a citrus salsa, based on Giada's recipe for salmon with salsa verde, but using ingredients we had on hand. You can do the same. Obviously leave out ingredients you don't like and use what you've got around the kitchen or garden. Here's what I (there, I said it) did.

The biggest modification was to use my wonderful new Pisces canned tuna instead of salmon. It was SO GOOD

Citrus Salsa

1 handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
3 fresh scallions, green and white parts
1 small mango, diced
3 or 4 giant chives, snipped into tiny pieces
juice of 1 large lemon

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add about 3 swizzles of extra virgin olive oil around the bowl
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the tuna, I followed Giada's instructions for making a sweet, crunchy agave crust. The Pisces tuna will come out of the can like a tuna steak. A small round tuna steak, yes, but still a tuna steak. I sprinkled each side with salt and pepper and brushed with a little agave nectar. Then I seared each side for just a minute or so in a hot, lightly olive oiled pan. Since the fish is already cooked, I just needed to get a good crust on each side, not cook it all the way through. It was delicious. Try doing that with your regular brand of canned tuna!

For the quinoa, mostly following Giada's instructions, I used chicken and vegetable stock with the juice of a whole lemon stirred in. Then when it was all cooked and fluffy fragrant, I mixed in the herb dressing. Here's what I used.

Herb Dressing

1 handful of flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 small handful of fresh oregano, roughly chopped
2 or 3 giant chives, snipped into tiny pieces
About a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary

1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl with a few swizzles of olive oil.
2 Refrigerate until ready to mix with your lemony quinoa.

Obviously, use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.

This whole meal was simple and cooling. Downright breezy. And naturally gluten, dairy, soy, and corn free. Almost Paleo-friendly, except for the quinoa. But you could easily replace the quinoa with a mixed greens salad or a baby spinach salad. Sorry Vegetarians. This one aint for you.

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it. Let me know what tweaks you make to improve it, too.

Next time, more fun with Pisces: Brainiac Tuna Salad.

Holy mackerel, people! Awesome canned tuna!

2010-08-12T07:30:00.005-05:00

Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of my mother making tuna salad. Only she didn't call it tuna salad. She just called it tuna. I remember one time (yes, one time) we had tuna melts. This wasn't tuna. This was tuna melts. So obviously just "tuna" was used to imply "tuna salad."

I know you probably think I'm going to say that I remember the smell of the tuna when my mom made tuna (salad). Strangely, it's not the smell I remember at all. It's the sounds. My mom made her tuna (salad) in a stainless steel mixing bowl. And to this day, when I hear the ssss ssss ssss ssss sounds of a metal fork scraping against the side of a stainless steel mixing bowl, I'm suddenly 8 years old again, sitting on a rattan barstool with a sagging woven seat, my chin propped in my hands, watching my mom make tuna (salad). I remember the chk. chk. chk. of the knife through the celery on the plastic cutting board. The clang clang clang as she tapped her spoon against the side of the stainless steel mixing bowl to make sure no pickle relish stuck to it, that last clang hanging in the air around us.

I never knew there was anything else to do with tuna besides salad it or melt it. I must have been 28 years old before I ever even saw an actual tuna steak. Shoot, I was probably 10 before I even knew tuna was an actual fish!

I also didn't know until just a few days ago that a can of tuna could be anything special. But it can. Oh, my goodness, it certainly can.

My good friend Judy (remember her, over at Judy's Stew?) invited me to split a case of Pisces Tuna with her. (An invitation for which I will be eternally grateful.) Tod Davies talks about Pisces Tuna in Jam Today and gives the contact information for ordering. So I split a case with Judy and got a dozen 7.75 oz. cans of humanely harvested albacore tuna. It's the best canned tuna I've ever tasted. End of story. This is the real deal, you guys

Holding their brochure in one hand, and clutching a can of tuna to my heart with the other, already beginning to absorb from it the energy of the ocean and that brave family that sails it every day, I read excitedly to Weldon: "We do not use nets! Our family fishes albacore with ten hooks, and salmon with sixteen hooks aboard our 50' classic wooden boat. No dolphins are harmed, in fact they play at the bow as we fish. The salmon and albacore are humanely harvested, thorougly bled, field dressed and quickly iced at sea for the highest quality seafood for your table."

This is where Weldon interjected, "And the fish willingly surrender themselves to the fishermen. They jump right into the boat."

Shut up, Weldon.

Anyway. This is good, good tuna. Its ingredients are albacore tuna and sea salt. It's cooked only once, when canned. This helps to retain the Omega-3 fatty acids. Apparently large canneries cook the fish outside the can, then can it and cook it again.

When I opened the can, what I saw inside looked like a delicious tuna steak, and was evern seared slightly in one spot. And it tasted rich and meaty and hearty. As Tod Davies points out, it tastes like it deserves respect, and of course, it does.

To order, you have to call on an actual telephone. There's no website, no email. These people are too busy fishing for that kind of nonsense. In addition to the albacore I bought, they also have smoked albacore, chinook salmon, smoked salmon, and variety gift packs (hint, hint to anyone that may need to know that).

Here's their contact info in the photo to the left. I assume that's Daryl and Sally themsleves in the photo. They look like nice foks, don't they? If you eat tuna, support them and their family business. If not, tell everyone you know that does eat tuna (or salmon) about them. Paleo people, there's no reason that you guys alone shouldn't keep these nice folks in business from now on!

And just in case you can't read the photo to the left, it's Daryl and Sally Bogardus, PO Box 812, Coos Bay, OR, 97420. Phone numbers are 541-266-7336 or 541-821-7117.

Next time, I'll talk about some of the lovely things I've done with this fancy tuna!

Weldon's Improvised Vegetable-Beef Soup

2010-08-09T09:30:00.009-05:00

The other night, I came home from a long day of working in the office and teaching my yoga class to find that Weldon was not only home, which I hadn't expected, but had also improvised a fabulous dinner.

Weldon's MO in the kitchen really is improvising. He doesn't follow recipes, nor does he write them down. He's actually a bit of a mad scientist in the kitchen. (Remind me someday to tell you about the time he made something that wasn't a cookie, wasn't a pancake, and sure as hell wasn't gravy.) So I made him write down what he did that resulted in this fine soup right away. He told me a few times, "I don't really remember what I did." So there may be a little mad scientist magic that's missing. That's OK, come up with your own.

Even a year ago, I wouldn't have said that. I would never have been so casual about following a recipe (or not following a recipe). But for Christmas, my friend Judy (who writes a great blog called Judy's Stew), gave me a book called, Jam Today: The Art of Cooking with What You've Got, by Tod Davies. I highly recommend it. It taught me to, well, to cook with what I've got. It's not quite a cookbook, but a book of stories of things she cooked and how she did it. She says all through the book that if you don't have the same ingredient she did, substitute something you do have. It's completely changed how I approach cooking. Now I can open the refrigerator on any night, see what we have, and figure out something to do with it. Weldon is especially proud of me.

But back to his soup. I'd felt out of sorts all day and was looking forward to coming home to some tea and toast and doing a little work. Or more likely, watching Craig Ferguson on DVR. I was delightedly surprised that Weldon was home. I changed into my jammies, curled up in my big comfy chair, and ate a bowl of the most delicious, salty, soup, full of potatoes, carrots, and celery, and tender chunks of grass-fed beef. It definitely cured what ailed me that night.

Here's what he says he did. Feel free to tweak where you see fit. (My notes are in italics.)

3 large organic carrots, cut into 3/4'' pieces
4 to 5 celery stalks, cut into 3/4'' pieces
1 large potato, roughly the size of two fists, scrubbed and cut into 1'' dice (Weldon's measurement, by the way. At least he didn't say the size of a foot.)
3 or 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 lb of grass-fed stew meat (Ours come from Rusty's Grass-fed Beef. Rusty is the best. Vegetarians can leave this out for a fabulous Just Vegetable Soup.)
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper (Adjust to taste. We like things peppery.)
1 tablespoon "Back to Our Roots Herbal Salt"*
1 tablespoon fine grind sea salt (Adjust to taste. I like things salty.)
7 or 8 leaves of fresh sagey sage, finely minced (I used Purple Sage from our garden.) (You could easily use some other savory herb. Rosemary would be nice!)
1 quart organic vegetable stock (make sure it's labeled gluten-free)

1. Add all ingredients to a large pot with lid.
2. Pour vegetable stock over the top of this.
3. Stir. Stock should cover the top of everything. If not, add more stock or use a different pot. (Definitely a man's solution. I say just add water if you don't have more stock. Or even add a little wine. Red or white. Whatever you have around.)
4. Cook over medium high flame until it starts steaming and almost boils.
5. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes (stirring occasionally).

At 45 minutes, check for doneness. Make sure veggies are tender and ready to eat. You may have to adjust cooking time to match your stove.

Serve with your favorite crusty gluten-free bread and a Red Bridge (Gluten-free) beer. (I enjoyed with a glass of Gnarly Head Chardonnay.)

Again, remember to tweak as you see fit, using up vegetables you may have on hand, tossing in your favorite herbal or spice blend, etc. A chunked up onion might be nice. But whatever you do, make sure you enjoy it with someone you love!

*This herbal salt is a staple ingredient in our kitchen. It's made by hand by a nice lady in Ben Wheeler, Texas named Marjorie Vallejo. The ingredients aren't listed on the label, but I've talked to her about our gluten-free needs and she's given me a sneak-peak at the ingredient list and assures me it is, in fact, gluten-free.

This herbal salt is the secret ingredient in lots of our recipes, including my roasted root vegetables, lemon chickpeas, and Eggs Weldon (A future post? Maybe. If you ask nicely.). You can add a few shakes to any savory dish for a little herbly, flavorful magic.

Contact Marjorie at marjorieeaves@yahoo.com. She'll send you your salt and you'll send her a check. She's delightful to order from. Be sure to tell her that Beth sent you!

Your Opinion: Food Allergies in the News

2010-08-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

The other day when I went to MSNBC, the words "gluten-free" appeared TWICE in story headlines on the front page. Once for the story on Chelsea Clinton's gluten-free wedding cake, and another time for the article on gluten-free red velvet cupcakes from Sprinkles. Somehow, that felt like a major breakthrough. I had several people email me those stories along with an excited message. "Did you see this?!"

Yesterday on CNN, there was this interesting article outlining theories on why food allergies are on the rise in recent years. It's quite fascinating. At least to me. I find the science behind these theories intriguing.

Judging by these articles alone, it could be construed by some that awareness is increasing about food allergies, gluten intolerance, and celiac. What do you think? Especially those of you who are living with gluten intolerance or celiac. What are your experiences when you go to restaurants and ask about gluten-free options? What are your experiences with your family? Your friends? Those of you living with a different allergy or restriction, what are you experiences in these situations?

I want to hear your stories! Comment on this post, email me, or message me on Facebook. Looking forward to the conversation!

You can really taste the kale!

2010-08-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is Cheers. If you're also a Cheers fan, you'll probably remember one of my favorite episodes . The one where Woody gets a job doing a commercial for Veggie Boy, a juice drink made from water, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale. It's brilliant. After he shoots the commercial, in which he proudly proclaims to the camera, "I like it!" he finds out he doesn't in fact like Veggie Boy. This reeks havoc with his sweet honesty when he receives a check for his performance, so Dr. Crane rescues the situation by hypnotizing Woody into actually liking Veggie Boy. And of course, mayhem ensues. Brilliant.

At one point, Rebecca asks what I was definitely wondering, "What is kale, anyway?" Always quick with an answer, Cliff explains that it's a type of lettuce with a pungent aroma and a loose head. Huh? And for years, this was all I knew of kale.

Until the first time we got a head of kale in our co-op pickup.

When Weldon and I signed up for our organic produce co-op (http://www.yourhealthsource.org/), we agreed to try everything we got. Everything. This meant that he would eventually have to eat sweet potatoes and I would eventually have to eat mustard greens, and yes, kale. But here's what we learned. We like these things. And we didn't even have to get hypnotized into it. We just had to learn the right ways to cook them

Turns out Weldon loves sweet potatoes the way I cook them, which is cut into bite-sized chunks and roasted in the oven with rosemary, olive oil, and salt and pepper. And it turns out that kale is freakin' good when you figure out how to sautee it in garlic and olive oil!

We got kale on our last pick-up, and I've just not been in the mood for a kale sautee, so I tried Gluten Free Girl's recipe for Baked Kale Chips. What a good idea.

I followed her recipe and instructions, except for the seasoning. I used what I had, which was 1/2 t of fine grind sea salt and 1/2 t of smoked sea salt from our friends at Smokehouse Salt Co. I tell you what, that was a good idea, too!

I served these with some meat free burgers and we had a delicious meal.

Now, you may be tempted to try this same recipe with spinach. Don't. It doesn't work out. I only know this becuase I tried it. Spinach doesn't seem to hold up to baking the way kale does. I've had flash-fried spinach before at a fancy restaurant and it was wonderful. But that was obviously a different process.

Just stick with kale for this recipe and you'll be fine. Even if you've had kale aversion in the past I think by trying it in this crisp, salty, flavorful format, you'll be able to proclaim as proudly as Woody, "I like it!"

And as a bonus, I found about the last 4 minutes of one of the greatest episodes of Cheers. EVER! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfHhRLR1qJg&feature=related

Pancakes with Quinoa? Quin-Wow!

2010-07-30T07:00:00.004-05:00

Last week, I got a craving for quinoa pancakes. I've learned not to question things like this, so I went with it. I searched around and found a recipe that looked decent and do-able on Food.com. Do-able for me means, "not too many ingredients" and "all ingredients already on hand." Well, almost. I did have to buy quinoa flour. And what a great investment! The quinoa flour adds a distinctive nutty, woodsy flavor. These pancakes are easy and tasty. They're good with sweet or savory, and they refrigerate well. I've gotten several meals out of them in addition to the original dinner. Perfect for a busy family!

For our original dinner, I served them with a side of Applegate Farms bacon and diced avocado. I ate my pancakes plain, but Weldon topped his with blackstrap molasses and a touch of maple syrup for sweetness.

I packed some leftovers the next day with some fresh berries for a morning for snack.

The next night, I finished off the last ones alongside yellow squash sauteed in olive oil and ghee with a bit of chopped purple onion tossed in. Try them your own way for any meal!

Quinoa Pancakes*

1 1/2 C all-purpose GF flour mix **
1/4 C quinoa flour
1/4 t xanthan gum or 1/2 t guar gum
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 happy, organic egg (lightly whisked)
1 1/2 C milk of your choice (I used 1 C almond milk and 1/2 C hemp milk.)
3 T canola oil

In a medium bowl mix together dry ingredients.
In a second bowl combine wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients to the medium bowl all at once and whisk until just combined. As with almost any pancake batter, there will still be a few lumpity lumps.
Cook on a hot oiled skillet or griddle, flipping when you see lots of little bubbles on the surface of the pancakes. (I use a 1/4 C measuring cup to spoon the batter onto the skillet. This makes nice sized, uniform pancakes, which works well for my sense of order.)

If the nutrition information on the recipe is correct, these have about 70 calories per pancake.

*These pancakes are gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free if you use non-cow milk, and corn free if you use guar gum instead of xanthan gum.

**The all-purpose GF blend that I used for this is:
1/2 C rice flour
1/4 C tapioca flour
1/4 C potato starch flour

I make up a big Ziploc bag of this and keep it on hand in the cabinet for scenarios such as this.

Truly Living with Restrictions

2010-07-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

Now that Weldon and I are committed to living with these new food rules for the sake of our health, how will we approach our new realilty?

First of all, our lives have improved enormously from the health benefits alone! But there's so much more.

We will continue living the most beautiful life we can live with these restrictions. Although, I hardly think of them that way. A great friend of mind who's an artist (and writes a great blog, Two is More) once told me that great art comes from limitation. And I'm finding the same to be true of food.

We're cooking with ingredients we never would have used before. Quinoa, most notably, my new favorite grain. :) We also have a library of flours in our cabinet now, and I'm learning all their special, individualized properties. For example, garbanzo flour has a high protein content, therefore it can be used for baked goods that require lots of structural integrity, like crepes and wraps. And quinoa flour adds a delicate, nutty flavor to things like bread and pancakes.

We're also cooking lots more than we used to, and I'm finding that to be very special. When I'm in the kitchen, I feel both meditative and creative at the same time. And when Weldon and I cook together? Well, that's just a special kind of teamwork. And also somehow very romantic.

When we do go out, we're asking new questions and having a different consciousness about what we order. We also have a new consciousness about how we choose restaurants.

And we're reading. Reading, reading, reading. And talking, talking, talking to people about their experiences with their food restrictions. Whether they have allergies, or they've made conscious decisions to become vegetarian or vegan, if they're following the Paleo diet, if they've been ordered by their doctor to eat less fat, we're all kind of in the same boat. We all approach our food with a new consciousness, and therefore, our entire lives.

So we'll share with you along the way, here on this blog. We'll share our recipes (the successes as well as the failures, probably), anything we learn about a local restaurant that's allergy-friendly, veg-friendly, etc. We'll also share any interesting news we find that we think will be interesting to you. For example, I read recently that Jason's Deli is offering Udi's gluten-free bread! Yay, Jason's Deli!

And, most of all, we want to hear from you. We're not authorities on any of this. We're just sharing our experience and starting a conversation. So let's start talking!

Weldon's Story

2010-07-22T17:00:00.017-05:00

I met Weldon 12 years ago. But our circles of friends have overlapped by about 85% since 1985. We always knew of each other, though we'd never met face to face. Our first date was dinner at my house. Our second date was the Bedford Blues Festival. I remember driving to meet him that hot Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend thinking, "This is going to be a great weekend. Three days with Weldon, good music, and festival food under a hot Texas sky." How could I have known that afternoon what adventures awaited me? Both that weekend and in the 12 years since. I wouldn't change a thing.

I wouldn't even change the trials we've had together uncovering Weldon's problems with gluten. If I could, of course, I'd take away his suffering all these years, but discovering answers together, learning about it, and figuring out how to deal with it have strengthened us a couple. I wouldn't have had that perspective 10 months ago, I may not even have that perspective every day now, but I know in my heart that we're learning to be a better team.

So here's my husband Weldon, whose issues originally brought us down this road, telling his own story on the blog today.

I have been a lot of things. A semi-professional Clown and Magician. A Radio DJ. A mobile Party DJ. I have managed several comic book shops. I am a published Comic Book Historian. I was a Ballroom Dance Instructor. I have been a game designer, a toy designer, and a sales rep for a comic book publishing company. And now I am a Food Detective.

I became a Food Detective because of my wife. She got me to start reading the labels on what we were buying. I began noticing patterns. Some of the same stuff kept turning up in almost everything. Even places where it didn’t really make sense for it to be. Specifically High Fructose Corn Syrup.

We changed our diets to be healthier and we were more conscious of what we were eating. Soon after that, my real food troubles began. (My suggestion for a name for this blog was “HELP! My Food is trying to KILL ME!” Because that is what it has come to feel like.)

September of 2009 is when we really began to see the big picture. It has taken 10 months to even begin to see where it all began and how many diverse problems really are interconnected.

Here’s a brief breakdown of those seemingly unconnected symptoms (I’ll be delicate about the gross stuff).

Born 1963
Developed a pretty bad dandruff problem by the age of 11.
By high school, my eyes stayed red a lot of the time. I could appear to be high without being anywhere NEAR anyone smoking anything at all.
In the mid 80s, I started to have symptoms of what I would 15 years later decide must be IBS.
By the mid 90s, my guts would start churning so much that my roommate could hear them across the room. (We referred to this as my “ancestors” speaking to me through my innards.)
At this same time, my dandruff had gotten so bad I was using the strongest shampoo you could buy in a store.
By 2001, I had to switch between 2 different shampoos each week to keep my dandruff in check.
Occasional scaling of the skin on the ‘T’ zone of my face and in my hair line, eyebrows, and even my mustache and beard. It got so bad that Beth and I called it “corn flaking” because of the size of the scales.
When the dry skin came off my face, it would leave my face red and blotchy (sort of “radiation burned” looking) and sometimes it would even weep a clear fluid.
I had also developed an occasional skin condition on the tops of my feet that I thought at that time was Athlete’s Foot.
Around this time, Beth and I switched everything we could to “whole wheat” because we thought it would be more healthy for us. (Why did we think that? Because the TV commercials all said it was.)
Still in the early 2000s my (still undiagnosed) IBS symptoms has gotten so bad that I would occasionally have gut pains so severe they would double me over in pain.
By 2008 I had been officially diagnosed as having IBS. (This is done by a series of tests that rule OUT anything else it might be. This means that you don't actually have IBS, but you don’t have anything else we can find and you still have the same symptoms as IBS.)
It was in August 2009 that I began to notice that my hands and feet were cold a lot of the time.
By this time, I had become quite grouchy and easily irritated. I snapped at Beth over the littlest things. Once I got annoyed or angry, it took a long time to calm down. I wrote that off to being unhappy with my job and being stressed.
By end of September 2009, my hands and feet were continually cold no matter the temperature of the room. I wore gloves all day in the house and had trouble typing because of them.
And then my right hand began to tingle as if it were about to fall asleep. All the time, non-stop. Every day. Yikes!
In late fall of 2009, Beth sat me down for a talk. She had noticed the trouble focusing and that my short term memory was just shot. She was worried it was stress getting to me. I almost broke down and cried when I confessed to her that I was scared because I was having so much trouble thinking and staying on track.

I found myself wandering from room to room in the house, unable to remember why I had come into any specific room.
I could not remember what I needed to do in a day.
If I made a list, I could not remember to keep checking the list for the next item.
I would find that I was in the middle of 4 or 5 different things (both work and chores) and still accomplish none by the end of the day.
I would forget to eat.
Days would go by that I didn’t even set foot outside the house.
I would forget to shave, shower, brush my teeth. . . I was just a wreck.

We scheduled a trip to the doctor, thinking it was something that ADHD medication might be able to fix. He agreed it was a possibility (since none of us had put ALL the symptoms together yet). I took Adderall for a month and saw no improvements at all.

At the start of winter of 2009, it was cold. But my hands and feet were so cold that I was wearing gloves and socks to bed. And then they got even worse. I started using those chemical heat pouches in my gloves and sox at all times. Even in bed. They only seemed to help a little, but I didn’t know what else to do.

It was at this point that I said “There are just too many things going wrong with me all at once for this to not be connected in some way.” And since that sounded like the plot of almost any episode of one of our favorite TV shows, Medical Mysteries, we decided to solve it like they did. (You know how it goes. Eventually the Wife/Mother/Girlfriend hits the Internet and comes up with a surprising clue that they take to a doctor and PRESTO! A diagnosis for something obscure that no one would have ever thought of otherwise!)

So we hit the Internet with the list of symptoms I have and were OVERWHELMED by the number of hits we got that all pointed to a related series of ailments. Everything from candidiasis to celiac to Crohn’s Disease. They are all very similar in many ways.

I was convinced I had candidiasis. So convinced , and desperate for relief, that I went on the candida diet, even before I’d seen the doctor. This diet meant no grains except for rice, no dairy, no sugar (even the sugar in fruit), nothing containing yeast, nothing containing mold, no nuts. There were so many restriction I can’t even remember them all. I ate vegetables, rice, and meat. During the 3 weeks on that diet, almost all my symptoms went away, or at least were improved greatly. My doctor agreed it could be a possibility. But the test for candidiasis came back negative.

But we knew that while I was on that diet, my symptoms went away. So to make what has become a very long story a bit shorter, we came to decide that it was some kind of gluten sensitivity. More trips to the doctor. More blood tests.

My IgA antibodies are 17x higher than “normal.” My DNA test is positive for celiac.

So I got scheduled for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy at the same time. One trip, two procedures! I imagined they were going to string me like a pearl necklace or something. But as it turned out, they did one end first and then the other. (There is an ugly joke in there, don’t look for it…trust me.)

All results came back “negative.” My internist says I have no damage from celiac. This is obviously good news. But I want a definitive answer. The closest I have is this: I am gluten sensitive. (This seems like an understatement, given what it does to me, but it’s all I’ve got.)

We have decided to take me off gluten AND dairy (casein), and it helps. It helps a lot. My wife says I’m a different person. It’s night and day. And we eat really, really well. So why would I even wan to eat gluten now?

My name is Weldon Adams. And I'm Gluten Free.

More About Me, Part 2: Epilepsy and Gluten

2010-07-16T15:19:00.015-05:00

So just to recap the previous post, Weldon and I have been living gluten-free for 7 months. I've been on epilepsy medication (this time around) for 2 years. Not crazy about the medication, but aside from a few unwanted affects, life is good.

Here's where things get really interesting!

About 6 weeks ago, I decided to do an experiment. I'd been gluten-free for about 6 months and I ate half a cupcake. Not one made with tapioca flour and potato starch. A real, honest to goodness glutenful cupcake. I just kinda wondered what would happen. Would I get a migraine? Would I become nauseated? Would I have explosive diarrhea? It's the mad scientist in me, I guess.

I promised away the other half and I sat in my office and ate half a cupcake. First of all, it didn't taste that good, which surprised me. I'm not sure that I would have eaten the other half, even if I hadn't promised it away. Then I went back to work.

About half an hour later, I had a strong and distinctive aura. It stopped me in my tracks. I worked my way through it and didn't have a seizure. And then I really got to thinking. Surely there's not a connection. Is there?

I turned to the computer, pulled up Google, and typed in "gluten seizures." And oh my goodness what a wealth of information popped up.

Several articles began, “The connection between gluten and seizures has long been known.” I was stunned. I read article after article, paper after paper on the connection between gluten and wheat and seizures.

One of the most amazing things I found that day was the G.A.R.D. diet or Glutemate/Asparate Restriction Diet. This is actually a diet that’s used to treat seizures! It was researched, documented, and developed by veterinarian John B. Symes, or Dogtor J (yes, that's Dogtor J). Dogtor J himself was diagnosed with celiac, and also suffered from several other ailments that were alleviated when he went GF. Thus began his extensive research, whereby he found that by eliminating what he called “the big 4” allergens (from a human or pet diet), many neurological symptoms can be alleviated. (The big 4 are corn, dairy, soy, and gluten.) His website is extremely informative. Go to http://www.dogtorj.com/ and read for yourself!

Another strange issue I’ve contended with since childhood has been horrific nightmares that wake me out of my dead sleep with a murderous, blood-curdling, Janet-Leigh-in-the-shower style scream. When Weldon and I first started sleeping together, I gave him a heads-up about this. It can be pretty alarming. I at least know it’s a possibility and recover pretty quickly after it’s done. I wasn’t sure how he might respond if he didn’t have any idea it was coming. There was one time I remember vividly, because it made me laugh so hard later. I awoke screaming, and Weldon rolled straight out of bed and took a Ninja stance in his underwear, ready to fight whatever it was that was coming. I actually had to comfort him that night.

Weldon encouraged me to write down these dreams in a journal, partly to see if we could find any kind of pattern, any correspondence with bedtimes, what I was doing before going to sleep, day of the week, anything, but also because some of them were just so freaking freaky. Just for fun, here are a couple of entries from my dream journal:

1-3-02
Taking a nap on a day off, TV off, to sleep at 3:45pm, incident at
5pm, had lunch at 2:30pm
Traveling somewhere, stopped at someone’s house.
Little girl carried an iron like a purse on her arm. There was a scorpion
somewhere in a terrarium. A little boy had a cat arm that stretched really far.
The man kept wanting me to play with the children, didn’t seem to notice the
weird things about them. They all kind of attacked me and I screamed and woke
up.

2-26-02
To bed at 10:00, dinner at 6:30 or 7
Corpses on the
wall. This was a big, superscream.

They are all equally creepy or weird. I tell you all that to tell you this. Since I’ve gone GF, these nightmares have stopped. No screaming.

I still have dreams, but they are very nice. Sometimes I even dream myself into whole episodes of sci-fi shows, like Firefly. I had a Bladerunner dream recently, also. (That one was so freakin’ awesome!)

I found tons of stories online of people or kids whose nightmares or night terrors stopped after cutting out gluten and/or dairy. Crazy coincidence? No way, I say. This stuff is doing something to us. After seeing the changes in Weldon and me, and after reading everything I’ve read, I’m thoroughly convinced.

In Treating Epilepsy Naturally, by Patricia A. Murphy, the first page I opened to was in the section on Food Allergies and Sensitivities. In it, Dr. Robert Fried is quoted as saying, “I hold milk and milk products to be absolute poison for anyone with any neurological disorder.” POISON! Not just “inadvisable,” or “harmful,” but poison!

So now, Weldon and I are both living gluten-free and dairy-free. I'm taking it a step further and cutting out soy and corn as well, to comply with the G.A.R.D diet. Last week, I spoke to my neurologist about it, hoping that I could maybe, just maybe reduce my medication.

She wants to see me seizure-free for another 1 to 3 years before reducing medication. She explained that with my long history, we have to be extra-cautious, especially since I drive. Not exactly the answer I wanted to hear, but I understand that there are serious safety issues involved. She did acknowledge that there are connections we don't fully understand yet. And that not everything works for every patient. (That's why her job is hard!) But that since I'm one of the 10% of the population that's willing and able to stick to a restrictive diet, she wants to see me do it so we can see how it works for me. She took the information I had printed out for her, wrote down the name of the book I'd brought with me (Treating Epilepsy Naturally, by Patricia A. Murphy), and said that she's willing to consider any information.

So that's where I am in this story. Are you wondering about Weldon's story? He's the one that started us down this parth. As he points out, in trying to fix him, we accidentally also fixed me! Stay tuned for Weldon's 'story.

More About My Journey: Epilepsy

2010-07-16T11:54:00.013-05:00

About 7 months ago, my husband Weldon and I set out on a journey that’s taken us to several different doctors, and taken him through zillions of lab tests, including blood draws, allergy tests, and a colonoscopy/endoscopy. (His take on that experience? “They strung me like a pearl.”)

What we have thought was depression, ADD, candidiasis, and just plain craziness turns out to be a gluten intolerance. And even though his colonoscopy/endoscopy shows no damage from celiac disease, his genetic tests show that he’s 15 times as likely as the next guy to have it. So he doesn't physically have celiac, but genetically he does? We're still getting this figured out. His symptoms are terrible digestive problems, skin flare ups, and thinking so foggy it could sit "looking over harbor and bay on silent haunches," but it doesn't move on. His internist says that if the gluten-free diet helps, which it does (enormously!), that he should stay on that. All those symptoms are reduced by 95% when he's gluten-free.

We decided to convert the household to GF, which is just him and me, since it would be easier than trying to keep two separate sets of cookware, utensils, and food for that matter. I began to notice a difference in how I felt within days! I decided to keep gluten-free even when I was away from Weldon, both as a show of support for him, and also because I could tell it was somehow improving my health. I had an arm hiccup that went away (a minor twitch disorder) and my skin cleared up. No more migraines. And I just didn't feel tired in the afternoons.

I have epilepsy. The seizures I have are not the violent grand mal seizures that everyone thinks of when they think of epilepsy, which result from a misfiring of the neurons all over the brain. Mine are partial seizures, which means that the neurons in only one part of the brain abnormally discharge. In my case, according to my EEG, that's in my left temporal lobe. These types of seizures can manifest in several different ways, some as dramatic as sensing something that isn't there to something as subtle as a sudden feeling of utter dread or extreme euphoria. I was first diagnosed as a kid and put on phenobarbital. An awful red liquid that my mother fed me every night in a little white cup from a child's tea set. I was taken off the medication after a few years. I remained "seizure free" until one September evening 2 years ago.

Well, maybe not entirely. :) Now that I understand how these seizures manifest, I know of at least one occasion in my late teens that was most definitely a seizure. I was alone on a break in the restaurant where I worked and I said something aloud to myself. (You do it, too. Be honest.)I didn't understand what I'd said. It scared the hell out of me. I thought I might be having a stroke. I said something else aloud and I still heard it as a language I didn't understand. To this day, I don't know if I wasn't hearing it in English, or wasn't speaking it in English. Becauase by the time I could get to another person to talk to, I understood what I was saying again. I didn't tell anyone about it. I chalked it up to being tired. The things we can justify in our teens!

My incident 2 years ago resulted in me lying in the floor in the ladies room of a very nice restaurant in Dallas, unable to move, except for turning my head side to side, after losing consciousness for some amount of time. (I judge the cleanliness of restrooms now by whether or not I'd mind lying in the floor.) 2 weeks later, telling a friend about the incident at lunch, I had the same "warning" feelings I'd had before. My pupils became different sizes, but I didn't lose consciousness. My friend drove me back to the office (I'd walked to lunch) and made me promise to call her when I got upstairs to my office, and then to immediately call the doctor. I did both.

That first trip to the doctor resulted in lots and lots and lots of questions, but not many answers. It took another minor incident a couple of weeks later, and a call to my mother to get a recap of my history, to get me to a neurologist. She heard my history and a description of my latest incidents and said right away, "You're having seizures." Several test to rule out structural issues and then an EEG confirmed it. "Spiky" activity in my left temporal lobe. I ended up on two different medications.

When I asked my doctor if the medication was really necessary, she explained that no, I didn't have to accept the medication. But she couldn't let me drive a car if I didn't.

Oh.

OK, I get it. So I've been taking the medication ever since. And it's doing a great job of controlling my seizures. I've been seizure-free ever since. I've had some "auras," which are like warning signs that a seizure may be on the way. I've learned that when I feel that, if I focus on feeling something with a complicated texture, I can stave it off. But the medication also affects my balance and my memory. It also affects my command of language. Sometimes I can't remember words. Simple words. Sometimes the wrong words come out. This can be very entertaining however. Like the time I found a birdbath with a ladybug mosaic in the center of it. When I showed Weldon, I meant to say, "Look it has a ladybug on it!" and I said, "Look, it has a snowleopard on it!"

Or the time I told Weldon, when he asked what we could do for dinner, "Well, we have money for salad, and. . . "

"Money for salad?" he asked, confused.

"Is that what I said?"

"Yeees."

"Oh. I meant lettuce."

So, yeah, stuff like that happens all the time. I just don't feel my fullest, sharpest self since I've started taking this medication. Though I have learned to live with it. Aside from these wacky side effects, life is good.

So, I had to tell you that story to tell you the next one. How does all that fit in with our gluten-free diet? Tune in next time to find out.

Gluten-free Shopping at Kroger

2010-07-13T18:08:00.001-05:00

Weldon and I do a pretty good job of centering our diet around whole, naturally allergen-free foods. We eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, farm-fresh eggs, rice, and quinoa. I make our gluten-free bread each week. And while we do our best, we still have those busy weeks where we need to buy bread, or cans of soup, or boxes of pasta. And we do occasionally have a craving for some kind of specialty item that we don't normally keep on hand, like cookies or chocolate.

We've been hearing good things about the GF offerings at Kroger, so last night, we checked out the new one at Berry St. and University Dr. We were very pleased with what we found!

They had lots of GF flours in the baking section, and several different GF baking mixes. They also stock several of the Nature's Path Organics Envirokidz cereals, like Gorilla Munch (GF, but not CF). Lots of items were actually marked with little gluten-free tags! Of course, this doesn't take the place of scrutinizing labels, but it helps to give a heads up. Two items we found in the freezer section that we've never seen before are the Enjoy Life GF English Muffins (Brown Rice) ($5.99) and GF doughnuts in vanilla and cinnamon sugar! (I'm sorry, I don't remember the brand. I'll do better next time.) Both GF AND DF. At $7.99 for 6 doughnuts, these are pricey, but for a special-occasion Sunday breakfast, they might be just the thing. They also stock Redbridge beer! Hooray!

When we checked out (we bought those English muffins!), we were fortunate enough to be checked out by Carlos (maybe a manager?). As I was paying, Weldon thanked him for having the GF items marked. Carlos was very interested in whether we found what we were looking for, and said they're new to stocking and marking the GF items. He said to let him know personally if there was something we wanted and couldn't find. He must have seen us drive up in our Smart car, because he also said we had a cool car, which we do. :) We thanked him again and assured him we would be back.

As Weldon and I walked to our cool car, excited about the poached eggs and English muffins we'd have for breakfast, we agreed that the Kroger at Berry and University will definitely be part of our weekend grocery trips from now on. It won't replace our beloved Central Market by any means, but it will be a wonderful supplement.

Kroger also has a section of the website dedicated to gluten and celiac information: http://www.kroger.com/healthy_living/fitness_nutrition/Pages/gluten_free.aspx.

So, what's a converted vegetarian?

2010-07-09T09:56:00.001-05:00

About 2 years into my yoga practice, I became vegetarian. This decision was based on the concepts I'd learned about through my yoga practice of non-harm, compassion, and kindness. I remained vegetarian for 4 or 5 years (with a 6-month experiment with veganism). Weldon remained an orthodox omnivore, though he didn't mind at all the vegetarian meals I cooked. He's very adventurous with food. When we were out to eat, that's when he got his serious doses of animal protein.

Then, at the beginning of one summer, I began craving chicken.

This horrified me! How could I be a good vegetarian, one whose existence does as little harm as possible AND want to eat chicken? To me, this felt sinful. I struggled with it all summer. During those few months, I also noticed a difference in my yoga practice. I was more tired than usual. And even though I was practicing 4 to 5 times a week, I wasn't building any new muscle. My physical practice wasn't progressing. I finally came to the realization that if my body needed it, there must be a reason. Another yogic teaching is that we must always listen to the wisdom of our bodies. So with Weldon's support (and probably secret glee), I added chicken into my diet a couple of times a week. Soon I also added fish. And very seldom, beef.

My body functioned so much better. I began building a good amount of muscle, and I felt better. But I still felt a smattering of guilt each time I consumed an animal. I did my best to revere the creatures, to thank them for giving their lives so that I could eat, but it still didn’t feel quite right emotionally.

Recently, I read Women, Food, and God, by Geneen Roth. In it, she says that one of the major keys to a healthy relationship with food is learning to eat what your body wants rather than your mind. Granted, she’s mostly talking to women who are chronic overeaters, women who haven’t yet learned that it’s their mind that wants that hot fudge sundae. That their body doesn’t feel good with all that sugar, and possibly all that dairy product, rushing through it. But when I read this, I couldn’t figure out how to come to terms with something my body wants that makes my mind feel guilty. How could I learn to live in a body that needs animal protein to function and still be a compassionate person?

I had a long talk with my friend Kristie, a vegetarian since she was 18. We talked about where my guilt actually comes from. We talked about how this isn’t a black and white issue. A life and death issue, yes, but not black and white. And she said some beautiful things, things that helped me see that my decision to eat meat is conscious and deliberate, and therefore part of "right living." She pointed out that understanding where your food comes from and doing your best to make sure that the animals you do choose to eat are treated humanely by a local family farmer is much different than buying a pound of ground meat from the grocery store every week in a Styrofoam container. Energetically, these are very different acts.

And I think it’s about more than knowing where your food comes from. There’s a Buddhist prayer that says, “This is food, we are food,” which is a fancy way of saying, “you are what you eat.” All things are connected. Including the food we eat to the health of our bodies. So not only are you what you eat, you are what your food eats.

The place I’ve finally come to in my meat conundrum is this: Death is inevitable and I’m part of a cycle. It is my responsibility to make sure that my body functions optimally so I may serve my purpose here on earth, and it’s my responsibility to do what I can to reduce the amount of suffering in the world. For me, this means eating meat, and making sure that I choose to buy meat from local family farms where the animals and earth are treated humanely.

I still eat most of my meals in a week as a vegetarian, some even vegan, now that I'm off dairy (though goat milk products are on the table, every now and then). But now when I do sit down to a meal of grass-fed beef that was raised by a man I've actually met and spoken to, and really like, I feel good about it. (That man's name is Rusty Roth, by the way. Check out http://www.rustysbeef.com/.)

So that's how I became a converted vegetarian.

Hi, everybody!

2010-07-08T20:44:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much for making your way to my new blog! My husband and I are new to the world of food allergies/allergens/sensitivies and food restrictions, and I've found myself immersed in research on the topic(s). We live gluten free and casein free. We're working toward soy free and corn free as well. This blog is where I'll document my findings, not only about our experiences with the challenges of our new life, recipes (including failed experiments) and safe and accomodating local restaurants, but also about science news.

In my first few posts, I'll introduce myself, Weldon (the comic book geek of a husband), and our journey so far. In the future, I'll definitely be inviting comments and discussion from you guys. I'm looking forward to the conversations we'll have!