Convention

Yesterday I found the dorkiest thing ever!  It's a whole convention about gluten free stuff!  And I kind of want to go!  Here's a link to the website if you are interested.  Gluten Free Expo  It's in Dallas in October and I keep trying to convince my husband to go with me but I don't think I'm getting anywhere.  It looks interesting.  One of the speakers scheduled in Chicago is the Cake Doctor whom I love.  And I think the vendor fair would be great.  It'd be nice to taste stuff and make notes on what's good instead of having to buy stuff and find out if it's good after baking it.  So we'll see.  I really think I might go.  We'll see if I get my husband talked into going with me.

I found something else I really like.  I've been looking for a good pizza crust.  I found some Udi's pizza crusts a couple weeks ago at Green Acres and they are really good.  They are the best we've had so far.  Like most gluten free things they are fairly small and fairly expensive for two crusts but they taste really good.  So if you can find them near you, try them out.

We made another batch of confetti cupcakes tonight.  They were the first baked good I've eaten in two months.  We just don't bake stuff very often because then we have to eat it by ourselves.  And people have brought stuff to work or church but I can't eat any of it.  Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed that cupcake.  It's amazing how much I miss stuff like that.  I eat a lot of chocolate instead but nothing beats a good cupcake.

Chebe Sticks

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now but I've been kind of busy at work so that hasn't happened.  A couple weeks ago we had some soup for supper and since I can't put crackers in my soup I like to have something else I can use to soak up the soup.  Kent made these Chebe sticks for me and they were really good.  We had garlic and onion with cheddar cheese.  I tore them into pieces and put them in my soup like crackers and they were really good that way.  They are also good plain.  Here's a link to the Chebe website.  They have several other gluten free products.  I'm looking forward to having more breadsticks.  Kent said they were also easy to make.  Just mix them up, shape into sticks and bake.

Kent was gone a few days this last week and I was working late.  Normally on days like those I stop by Subway or Pizza Hut on my way home to get myself supper.  I was driving home and was so hungry and I remembered how easy it used to be to grab a cheese pizza.  That made me sad.  I really miss pizza and subs.  So I came home and made myself a gluten free grilled cheese.  It's one of the first times I've really missed being able to eat those types of things.

Easy Recipe

I was sitting here thinking of things I could make for supper and I thought of this recipe and though I should share it.  It's a Hamburger Helper-style recipe that uses gluten free noodles.  It would also be good with regular noodles but those of us that occasionally rely on the simpleness of Hamburger Helper and have had to quit, it's a good substitute.  I got it from a recipe book called "Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free Cookbook for Kids and Busy Adults".

Skillet Supper
1 lb. ground beef
2 cups water
1 15 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp. oregano
2 cups gluten free elbow macaroni
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

1.  Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat.  When meat is browned, stir in the water, spaghetti sauce, and oregano.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

2.  Stir in macaroni.  Cover the pan and simmer for 6 minutes until macaroni is just cooked, stirring frequently.  Stir in cheeses.  Cover pan and let stand for 1 minute or until cheese is melted.

In my first experience with this recipe we discovered that the noodles really need more than 6-7 minutes to become tender.  Great for leftovers!

Birthday Treats!

My birthday was last week and it's tradition for me to take treats to work.  Normally it's funfetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting.  Obviously I can't have that anymore.  So as mentioned before, my husband made me confetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting from Anne Byrn's The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free and they were awesome!  You couldn't even tell they were gluten free.  If I remember correctly he just added some sour cream, orange juice, and pudding.  The confetti is decorator sprinkles that melt when you bake them.  And you might notice they were in princess cupcake wrappers.  A not so subtle insult from Kent.

Along with the cupcakes, I tried making gluten free bread this week.  Actually Kent baked it.  It's so good.  It took longer to rise than the recipe said it would but it came out in the end.  It's white bread.  We've toasted it to eat with soup since saltines are out.  We also made garlic bread out of it and Kent used it for a grilled cheese.  I highly recommend this particular brand.  As you will notice it's over halfway gone.  I got it at Green Acres in Wichita but I'm sure it's available elsewhere.

My First Gluten Free Christmas

I've been in the process of working on this post now for a week and a half.  I've decided it's time to get it done.  I am an accountant and January 1 starts our busy season so in the last week I've worked 13 more hours than I generally have been.  So I've been a little tired and I go home at night and sit on the couch not doing anything and go to bed at 9.  But anyways, back to my post.

I feel like I should get one of those Christmas ornaments like you get for "Baby's First Christmas".  We got one as a gift for our first Christmas we were married.  The figurine who is me has blond curly hair but she's super skinny so I guess that's OK.  And she looks tall.

I thought I'd post a few things about Christmas.  My mother-in-law made a gluten free lasagna that was delicious!  My usual lasagna usually has a lot of tomato sauce and not so much cheese.  Hers had a lot of cheese and less tomato sauce and I think I like that better.  She used some fresh mozzarella and ricotta.  I love ricotta!  She also made a loaf of Pamela's gluten free bread for supper and it was also really good.  The next day I toasted it for a chicken salad sandwich.  That made a good sandwich.  You couldn't even taste that it wasn't real bread.

When we were at my mom's she made gluten free chicken noodle soup.  Instead of egg noodles she put in gluten free shells.  It was so good.  I never make homemade chicken noodle soup.

We went to my mom's again yesterday for a family dinner.  For dessert we had gluten free yellow cupcakes from a recipe out of Ann Byrn's book The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free.  I've used her books for regular cakes and always loved them.  These cupcakes were great!  They were a boxed yellow gluten free cupcake with some stuff added.  It made them taste homemade.  I had two!  My birthday's coming up and my husband is making the same recipe for me except adding confetti to it.  He always makes me a batch of funfetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting for my birthday treats for work so he's going to see if this recipe can be the new substitute.  I'm looking forward to them.  I hope the people at the Sterling co-op are, too, because that's what you're getting this year.

When I started this blog we were only a couple days into the new year and I felt like I should comment on that.  So here it is.  I guess I'm looking forward to 2011.  I don't know why I wouldn't.  My grandma asked me the other day if I wondered what would happen this year.  I guess I hadn't thought of that.  It was a Deep Thought by Grandma Arlene.  I'm know I'm looking forward to April 16th and that's as far as I've gotten.  That's the day my job gives me my life back.  We're also thinking about going to Philadelphia and the surrounding areas.  I'm pretty excited about that!  I found an all gluten free bakery in Philadelphia I might just check out and I think we might go to the QVC studios for a tour.  I love QVC!  We're also considering another trip to Disney World.  I hope everyone has a happy new year and good things come to you this year.  I guess we'll see what happens!

It's Like Christmas!!!!

I found sandwiches!!!!  (In my head I said that in my Oprah voice so you should too for extra impact.)  I'm just realizing that blog title would be a lot more impactful had Christmas not been just a few days ago.  Oh well.

This is a fairly long story but at the end you'll be so glad you read it that you might want to read it twice.  Probably not.  I went to Jason's Deli once a long time ago when I was in Wichita taking one of my CPA exams (Have I mentioned I'm a CPA yet?  If not, I meant to.  It sounds really important, doesn't it?).  Anyways, I believe that day I had a roast beef sandwich and it was good.  Then I was in Wichita last Wednesday waiting for my sister and husband so we could check out the new IMAX theater (which is pretty cool, by the way) and had to eat lunch by myself.  I didn't want to go to On the Border or someplace like that and eat alone so I thought I'd go back to Jason's Deli because they have soup.  And I don't feel dumb eating there by myself.  I had the broccoli and cheese soup and it was delicious.  My husband and I went back to Wichita yesterday to do a little more shopping so we decided to go to Jason's again because it seemed like a light lunch and we ate a crazy amount of food over the past few days.  So he got an Amy's Turkey-O and I had the biggest baked potato you've ever seen.  It's the Potato Au Broc.  It comes smothered in the broccoli and cheese soup and it's delicious, too.  But it's a meal for like five people really.  You should definitely get the smaller portion.

Review time: I've now been to Jason's Deli twice in one week.  That's really important here.  So Kent had finished his lunch and I was still barely 1/10 of the way into mine.  He was looking over my should and he says, "Why didn't you get a sandwich?"  In my head I'm thinking he's kind of dumb.  I can't eat sandwiches, right?  I don't know where he's been but we've gone over this before.  And then he says, "They have gluten free sandwich bread."  WHAT?????  Yeah, there's a sign on the counter that says in big letters "GLUTEN FREE SANDWICH BREAD".  I have now walked right past it twice in the last week and my husband once.  That's three trips past the sign.  You can tell we really pay attention.

So I'm curious about this, of course, so I go to the counter and read the sign.  It says that they bake their gluten free bread in the same kitchen with their other bread so it's not suitable for people with Celiac Disease.  However, people who have slight allergies, intolerances, or choose to eat gluten free for other health reasons can eat it.  Then I asked the girl behind the counter and she says you can get ANY SANDWICH on gluten free bread.  I about died right there!  Sandwiches!  I felt like this: (in your best Oprah voice) You get a sandwich!  And you get a sandwich!  And you get a sandwich!  Everybody gets a sandwich!

Now I'm dying to go back so I can actually get a sandwich.  See Subway, it works.  You should really look into it. 

Here's a link to the Jason's Deli website if you'd like to scope out the options.  I recommend it.  But they should really advertise this gluten free option more.  Like a TV commercial during my favorite show.  And apparently you should address me directly or I won't get it.  They have a blog on the website.  The posting from November 23, 2010 is about the new gluten free options with a link to a special gluten free menu.

In other news, I'm going to post another blog at some point about my Christmas eating experience.  I know you're on the edges of your seats for that!

More Holiday Baking

Before I get to the baking I must tell you something else.  I went to our little grocery store here in Hesston yesterday, the Hesston Food Market, and they have gluten free Bisquick!  I was so excited!  I bought some in Lawrence at Hy Vee and you can hardly tell the difference between GF and regular waffle mix. I had my sister buy four boxes to bring home this weekend.  Now I don't have to have her get them.  I can get them myself.  Way to go HFM!  I also tried their gluten free pizza crusts last week and they aren't too bad.  They don't beat Pizza Hut or Papa John's but they work.

Now to the really important stuff.  This weekend is our Diener family Christmas.  For those of you not privileged enough to be a Diener, I will tell you it's basically a food fest.  First we eat lunch.  Then we open presents.  Then for some reason we break out about a million different snacks and pig out on those.  Then we eat supper.  My stomach hurts just thinking about that.  My Aunt Sharon always makes caramel from scratch and it's wonderful.  I'm in charge of the mint chocolate brownies.  My mom usually does puppy chow and cinnamon popcorn...you get the picture.  Snack time has changed in recent years because of the gluten free issue, but it's still a smorgasbord.

One of my other favorite things to make beside mint chocolate brownies (more on those later) is poppy seed bread.  I needed some for this weekend and it's snack day at work tomorrow so I'm taking the second loaf there.  Sorry to spoil that surprise for my co-workers.  I used my flour mixture from the previous baking post in place of the regular flour and it worked wonderfully.  My loaves are slightly shorter than normal but taste AMAZING!  You'll notice in my picture that one loaf is a wee bit shorter than the other.  That's where I cut off my sample piece.  The ends are soooo good!  I'm having a hard time not eating it all!  Below is a picture and the recipe if you want to try it.

Poppy seed Bread
2 cups flour or gluten free flour mixture
1 tsp. butter flavor
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond flavor

Mix ingredients.  Pour into two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  While hot and still in pan, drizzle with glaze.  Remove from pans after 10-15 minutes of cooling (loaves will fall out easily).

Glaze
1 Tbsp. orange juice
1 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. each vanilla, butter, almond flavor
6 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Back to the mint chocolate brownies.  The pan on the left is Betty Crocker gluten free brownie mix, also from Hesston Food Market.  The one on the right is a glutenous brownie.  Tomorrow night I'm going to make a green mint layer and then chill them.  When that's set, I add a chocolate layer on top and chill again.  YUMMY!