Thursday, August 25, 2011
New Website
I found this website today and it's pretty neat. It was developed by General Mills. Here's a link to an article describing the website. And here's a link to the actual website, Gluten Freely. It's got some pretty good looking recipes using fairly common and easy to find ingredients. There's one for a Fruit Swirl Coffee Cake using GF Bisquick that is making me drool. There's also a shop with a lot of name brand GF products. I haven't done any price comparing as of now but it might be something to keep in mind. There's free shipping on orders over $40 until the end of August. There is a bulk section with some items at a cheaper price for buying over a certain quantity. I'm going to have to look into that coffee cake recipe.
Monday, August 22, 2011
FDA Comments on Gluten Free Labeling
I forgot to put this in my other post. I read a blog called The Savvy Celiac and it had a link to the FDA's website where you can comment on new GF Labeling Requirements. If you're interested here is a link to the The Savvy Celiac's post.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Random Things and Exciting New from Subway
I haven't been doing too much new lately. I baked chocolate zucchini cake and a peach pie for the fair and got two blue ribbons. I'm pretty proud of that! They were made with real flour though. I couldn't bring myself to use $6 worth of special flour and then have my stuff get thrown away. My mom says I should lobby them for a gluten free category.
I read an exciting article about Subway from a friend in the gluten free world. They are testing gluten free bread!!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!!! I went to Jimmy John's the other day. They make sandwiches wrapped in lettuce. They advertise this as the "carb free" option. They really ought to advertise it as the "gluten free" option because that's why I got it. It was pretty delicious except for the overuse of the mayo. Eat this with caution as it went down the same line as all the bread sandwiches. Here's the link to the Subway article if you are interested. I would go back to my once a week visit if they did this!
http://www.qsrweb.com/article/183399/Subway-expands-gluten-free-test
Recently I've been having a craving for salted caramel cupcakes. There used to be a bakery in Wichita that made them and they were to die for. They've gone out of business but I was thinking yesterday how I wish I could get one of those. Then I thought.....why not make some myself? So my next big experiment is going to be GF Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I have a family thing coming up mid-September that I am planning on trying them for. This is slightly scary since doing this involves actually making caramel, something I've never done before. I can handle the actual cake part but the caramel is going to be tricky. I'm hoping they will be good. Look for an update on that in a few weeks.
I read an exciting article about Subway from a friend in the gluten free world. They are testing gluten free bread!!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!!! I went to Jimmy John's the other day. They make sandwiches wrapped in lettuce. They advertise this as the "carb free" option. They really ought to advertise it as the "gluten free" option because that's why I got it. It was pretty delicious except for the overuse of the mayo. Eat this with caution as it went down the same line as all the bread sandwiches. Here's the link to the Subway article if you are interested. I would go back to my once a week visit if they did this!
http://www.qsrweb.com/article/183399/Subway-expands-gluten-free-test
Recently I've been having a craving for salted caramel cupcakes. There used to be a bakery in Wichita that made them and they were to die for. They've gone out of business but I was thinking yesterday how I wish I could get one of those. Then I thought.....why not make some myself? So my next big experiment is going to be GF Salted Caramel Cupcakes. I have a family thing coming up mid-September that I am planning on trying them for. This is slightly scary since doing this involves actually making caramel, something I've never done before. I can handle the actual cake part but the caramel is going to be tricky. I'm hoping they will be good. Look for an update on that in a few weeks.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Hawaiian Sweet Bread and Zucchini Cake
Over the 4th of July weekend I did a couple different GF recipes. The first was the Hawaiian Sweet Bread recipe from the Aug/Sept issue of Living Without. See the website for the recipe if you don't get the magazine. This recipe worked pretty good. I had some trouble getting my bread to rise. I finally put the bread on my deck in the sun to rise and that worked better than anyplace in our house. Apparently the house was too cool. My loaves rose pretty good but I think they did need longer. They were almost to the top of the pan when I took them out of the oven and then they sank as the cooled. So next time I'm going to focus on fluff. The taste of the bread was good though.
I also made a chocolate zucchini cake for the 4th of July party we had. I used the GF flour mixture and it worked wonderfully! This cake is a good one for substitution. It came out really moist and was as tall as the cake would have been with regular flour. I just got the recipe from a local church cookbook. We served it with homemade ice cream. Delicious!
I also made a chocolate zucchini cake for the 4th of July party we had. I used the GF flour mixture and it worked wonderfully! This cake is a good one for substitution. It came out really moist and was as tall as the cake would have been with regular flour. I just got the recipe from a local church cookbook. We served it with homemade ice cream. Delicious!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Zucchini Bread, Cherry Limeades, and Guacamole
Cherry limeades...what an awesome summer treat. These are GF I want to post the recipe because they are just so darn good. The last couple of weeks my husband and I have been making cherry limeades every evening. We got into making our own a couple of summers ago after my mother-in-law made some for us. She used to work at Lo-Mar so she knows all the secrets. Lo-Mar had the best cherry limeades. I'm probably giving away the family secret here but they are so good I just have to share.
Melinda's Cherry Limeades
-2 limes
-grenadine (or other flavoring of choice)
-simple syrup
-club soda
-ice
1. Make simple syrup. We use 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. To dissolve the sugar, heat the water and sugar on the stove.
2. Fill cup 1/3 full of ice. We make ours in a 32 ounce cup.
3. Squeeze juice out of both limes. The recipe says to use 6 ounces of simple syrup. We usually use less. Less syrup makes the limeade more tart, more syrup makes it less tart. You can play around with that.
4. Fill cup almost to the top with club soda. Then add grenadine. Stir. I usually pour in enough grenadine to make the limeade nice and red and then taste. If it's not enough cherry I add more.
TIPS: We tried POM pomegranate juice the other day. It's good but not as good as the cherry version. You can add any flavor you'd like just like they do at a certain drive in fast food place. We get our cups from gas stations. They come with plastic lids most of the time which is also handy if you want to make one and take it somewhere. Instead of using a lime press, we've found it easier to use a lemon press. The lime one was really too small for our limes. We buy those at Sam's. You can get a big bag of them for around $3 instead of paying .50 for one at a grocery store.
My next recipe is guacamole. Also GF but not why I'm posting it. Five years ago I wouldn't have touched the stuff with a 10 foot stick. I don't know why. Probably because I never ate it growing up so I was assuming I didn't like it. But my husband talked me into trying some and I've been a fan ever since. For some odd reason we decided to try making our own the other night. I thought it was awesome! The only mistake we made was buying an avocado that was too firm. It didn't mash well so the guac was kind of lumpy.
Guacamole
-2 avocados
-cilantro
-1 Roma tomato
-2 Serrano peppers
-small white onion
-1 tsp. salt
-lime juice
1. I put the cilantro in a food processor with 1/4 of the onion. I also put in 1/2 the tomato (take out seeds and ribs) and 1 1/2 of the peppers (take out ribs and seeds). I pureed it up as best as I could.
2. I got the avocados out of their skins and mashed them up in a bowl with the food processor mix and the salt.
3. Sprinkle with lime juice and mix some more. This should keep it from browning, at least for a little while.
TIPS: This is also a recipe you can play around with. If you want it hotter, use more pepper or leave some seeds in. The cilantro is something that you'd have to add to taste. We threw in maybe 8-10 leaves. When we were done eating, we put in more lime juice and covered it with plastic that was tight against the dip and put it in the fridge. The next morning the top was brown but the stuff on the bottom of the bowl was still green and good to eat.
This last week I also made gluten free zucchini bread with a homegrown zucchini. It is pretty good. It's even been approved by my sister-in-law. I think that's the ultimate test of a GF recipe. If non-GF people like it then it's good. Here's the recipe I use for that.
Zucchini Bread
-3 eggs
-2 c. sugar
-1 c. oil
-3 tsp. vanilla
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 cup nuts (optional)
-3 c. grated zucchini
-1 tsp. salt
-3 c. GF flour mixture (see here) or regular flour
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.
3. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
This make 2 loaves.
And aren't those the simplest directions ever?
Tomorrow project - gluten free Hawaiian sweet bread. I'll let you know how it goes.
Melinda's Cherry Limeades
-2 limes
-grenadine (or other flavoring of choice)
-simple syrup
-club soda
-ice
1. Make simple syrup. We use 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. To dissolve the sugar, heat the water and sugar on the stove.
2. Fill cup 1/3 full of ice. We make ours in a 32 ounce cup.
3. Squeeze juice out of both limes. The recipe says to use 6 ounces of simple syrup. We usually use less. Less syrup makes the limeade more tart, more syrup makes it less tart. You can play around with that.
4. Fill cup almost to the top with club soda. Then add grenadine. Stir. I usually pour in enough grenadine to make the limeade nice and red and then taste. If it's not enough cherry I add more.
TIPS: We tried POM pomegranate juice the other day. It's good but not as good as the cherry version. You can add any flavor you'd like just like they do at a certain drive in fast food place. We get our cups from gas stations. They come with plastic lids most of the time which is also handy if you want to make one and take it somewhere. Instead of using a lime press, we've found it easier to use a lemon press. The lime one was really too small for our limes. We buy those at Sam's. You can get a big bag of them for around $3 instead of paying .50 for one at a grocery store.
My next recipe is guacamole. Also GF but not why I'm posting it. Five years ago I wouldn't have touched the stuff with a 10 foot stick. I don't know why. Probably because I never ate it growing up so I was assuming I didn't like it. But my husband talked me into trying some and I've been a fan ever since. For some odd reason we decided to try making our own the other night. I thought it was awesome! The only mistake we made was buying an avocado that was too firm. It didn't mash well so the guac was kind of lumpy.
Guacamole
-2 avocados
-cilantro
-1 Roma tomato
-2 Serrano peppers
-small white onion
-1 tsp. salt
-lime juice
1. I put the cilantro in a food processor with 1/4 of the onion. I also put in 1/2 the tomato (take out seeds and ribs) and 1 1/2 of the peppers (take out ribs and seeds). I pureed it up as best as I could.
2. I got the avocados out of their skins and mashed them up in a bowl with the food processor mix and the salt.
3. Sprinkle with lime juice and mix some more. This should keep it from browning, at least for a little while.
TIPS: This is also a recipe you can play around with. If you want it hotter, use more pepper or leave some seeds in. The cilantro is something that you'd have to add to taste. We threw in maybe 8-10 leaves. When we were done eating, we put in more lime juice and covered it with plastic that was tight against the dip and put it in the fridge. The next morning the top was brown but the stuff on the bottom of the bowl was still green and good to eat.
This last week I also made gluten free zucchini bread with a homegrown zucchini. It is pretty good. It's even been approved by my sister-in-law. I think that's the ultimate test of a GF recipe. If non-GF people like it then it's good. Here's the recipe I use for that.
Zucchini Bread
-3 eggs
-2 c. sugar
-1 c. oil
-3 tsp. vanilla
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 cup nuts (optional)
-3 c. grated zucchini
-1 tsp. salt
-3 c. GF flour mixture (see here) or regular flour
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.
2. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.
3. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.
This make 2 loaves.
And aren't those the simplest directions ever?
Tomorrow project - gluten free Hawaiian sweet bread. I'll let you know how it goes.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Passing on a Link
A fellow gluten-free gal passed this link on to me so I thought I'd share with everyone. It's good for people who eat gluten-free and those who are trying to cook for those that are gluten-free. It's how to read labels to tell if something has an ingredient containing gluten in it. I hope you find it useful. I thought it was pretty interesting.
Gluten Free Label Reading
Gluten Free Label Reading
Monday, June 6, 2011
Vacation - Philadelphia
I've been kind of slow on updating this. But I've been kind of busy lately and haven't had a whole lot of new information either. However, we did go on vacation a couple weeks ago to Philadelphia and I have some interesting information to pass on.
First I have to say, we loved Philly (we can call it that because we've been there). We also went to Hershey and Lancaster County. If you're considering it and looking for activities to do (or not do), let me know. I won't post them all here, but it was a great vacation!
I was looking into GF places to eat in Philly before going. I figured since it was a large city with a diverse population there would be more options than you tend to find around Kansas. I hadn't had a whole lot of luck until I found a Facebook page called Living Simply Gluten Free Philadelphia. It's awesome because it has a whole bunch of information about places to go. Since I only found this website about a week before we left, I decided to email them to find out their best suggestions without having to go through all the information. And they came through big time! The creator of the website wanted to know my preferences. Then she sent me a big list of places based on the budget I told her and our favorite types of food and where we were staying. It was so great!
Because of our time constraints, we only got to two places that had GF options. Most of my meals were hot dogs with no bun which is not exciting or healthy. The first place we tried was Giorgio On Pine. It was fantastic! We had a stuffed portobello appetizer. I had the gluten free prosciutto and arugula pizza. My husband took one for the team and had GF spaghetti so that I could try it. It was good stuff! The portobello was probably my favorite. And we had creme brule for dessert.
We also stopped at Sweet Freedom Bakery. I picked up several items to take along and try. I had two different cookie sandwiches, a vanilla cupcake, and a samoa cupcake. My favorite, by far, was the samoa cupcake.
Hershey was, of course, a great place. I love candy and I can eat almost everything they make. Can't go wrong there.
Lancaster County was hard. It's known for it's Amish community so everywhere you go there are homemade pies, breads, whoopie pies, cookies, etc. I managed to avoid most of it. I did have a small piece of bread because I wanted to try the fresh butter at one place we stopped. If you are there, definitely get the Lapp Valley Farm ice cream. I don't think there are words to describe how amazing this ice cream was! We had chocolate marshmallow. If I could have brought it home, I would have!
That's just a quick update. I guess the best thing I learned is that if you are planning on going somewhere and can find some sort of web page like I did, don't be afraid to ask! I would never have found Giorgio had I not asked and it was good!
First I have to say, we loved Philly (we can call it that because we've been there). We also went to Hershey and Lancaster County. If you're considering it and looking for activities to do (or not do), let me know. I won't post them all here, but it was a great vacation!
I was looking into GF places to eat in Philly before going. I figured since it was a large city with a diverse population there would be more options than you tend to find around Kansas. I hadn't had a whole lot of luck until I found a Facebook page called Living Simply Gluten Free Philadelphia. It's awesome because it has a whole bunch of information about places to go. Since I only found this website about a week before we left, I decided to email them to find out their best suggestions without having to go through all the information. And they came through big time! The creator of the website wanted to know my preferences. Then she sent me a big list of places based on the budget I told her and our favorite types of food and where we were staying. It was so great!
Because of our time constraints, we only got to two places that had GF options. Most of my meals were hot dogs with no bun which is not exciting or healthy. The first place we tried was Giorgio On Pine. It was fantastic! We had a stuffed portobello appetizer. I had the gluten free prosciutto and arugula pizza. My husband took one for the team and had GF spaghetti so that I could try it. It was good stuff! The portobello was probably my favorite. And we had creme brule for dessert.
We also stopped at Sweet Freedom Bakery. I picked up several items to take along and try. I had two different cookie sandwiches, a vanilla cupcake, and a samoa cupcake. My favorite, by far, was the samoa cupcake.
Hershey was, of course, a great place. I love candy and I can eat almost everything they make. Can't go wrong there.
Lancaster County was hard. It's known for it's Amish community so everywhere you go there are homemade pies, breads, whoopie pies, cookies, etc. I managed to avoid most of it. I did have a small piece of bread because I wanted to try the fresh butter at one place we stopped. If you are there, definitely get the Lapp Valley Farm ice cream. I don't think there are words to describe how amazing this ice cream was! We had chocolate marshmallow. If I could have brought it home, I would have!
That's just a quick update. I guess the best thing I learned is that if you are planning on going somewhere and can find some sort of web page like I did, don't be afraid to ask! I would never have found Giorgio had I not asked and it was good!
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