A Gluten Free Vegan Dinner!

Hello friends! Had to share this recipe that I made the other night! It was a new twist on an old favorite of my family's. Not sure how many of you have tried lentils or know about the many health benefits of lentils? Even if you're brand new to the lentil game or an avid fan of lentils, let me know what you think!

Here's the original recipe:
2 tbsp. of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 lb. (16 ounce bag) of lentils
1 ham bone or hock
10-12 cups of water
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 lb. of pasta
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.  Saute all the vegetables until partially softened.  Add lentils, water, and ham, bring to boil and then lower so it simmers.  Simmer for approximately 30 mins until the lentils are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook pasta in another pot until desired texture.  Strain pasta.  Serve pasta and lentils in a bowl, garnish with parmesan cheese.

Now here's MY GF Vegan version:
2 tbsp. of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 lb. (16 ounce bag) of lentils
1 tbsp. of soy sauce
1 tbsp. red wine (I used marsala since that's what I had in the house)
8- 10 cups of water
Adobo with pepper
1 lb. of Tinkyada pasta

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.  Saute all the vegetables until partially softened.  Add can of crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Add lentils and cook with mixture.  Then add water and heat to a boil again.  Lower and simmer for approximately 30 mins until the lentils are tender.  Add Adobo to taste.  Cook pasta in another pot until desired texture.  Strain pasta.  Serve pasta and lentils in a bowl.

This dish really is complete in itself, but if you want to have a vegetable along with it I suggest a fresh salad! Maybe I'll add a salad recipe on here too later...hmmm...

Sweets for My Sweettooth ;)

My family's restaurant has been looking for gluten free pastries to offer that would be similar to the "gluten" options we have.  We're known for our awesome homemade pastries that everyone loves to eat with their Italian specialty coffees!  My job, as the resident gluten free "expert", is to find us a company or bakery.  By chance my mother happened to go to Bova Food Distributors to pick up some of our Italian espresso beans and saw a sign that there would be a gluten free food demonstration that Saturday.  She called me right away.  There's two things you should know about me: I like to eat and I like to eat new things.  It used to be my job to go to the food shows to find new products, but after my diagnosis it didn't make any sense to send someone who couldn't eat the food!

Saturday morning I had out.  My hopes weren't high.  Trying gluten free products can sometimes be the equivilant of sampling cardboard, but I held on to a faint sliver of hope.  The company doing the demonstration is called "Cookies...for Me?"  They're a company that makes cookies (duh) and other treats that are gluten free as well as dairy free, nut free and egg free!!!  Of course you hear all of that and imagine that there will be absolutely NO FLAVOR left lol!  Boy was I pleasantly surprised!  The first thing I tried was a brownie.  Now I'm a HUGE fan of chocolate and very picky.  These were very good!  (Of course my homemade GF brownies are the best I've had ever...but I'm partial and these were a close behind in the deliciousness department)  Next I tried the oatmeal cookies.  Now even I haven't had issues with the GF oats, I don't make a habit of eating oats anymore.  This was the first time I was eating an oatmeal cookies since I started my GF life.  And what a very nice treat!  I could have eaten the entire tray of samples...I will admit I took two, but I didn't want to be a glutton...

Each thing I tried was great, but overall my favorites were the blueberry muffins and the oatmeal cookies!  Success!  So hopefully in the next month we'll start carrying Cookies...for Me!  Keep an eye out when you stop by the restaurant, you don't want to miss these treats! :)

Dinner for a King!

The last two weeks have felt like a whirlwind!  Xavier cut 2 teeth, meaning in short he's been UNBELIEVABLY miserable!  I would too if I had 2 teeth come through in the same week!  My poor baby...  We had a bat in our house for 3 days which always lends for a little extra chaos (because apparently mine doesn't have enough already).  And then as if things weren't crazy enough, my office is moving locations so we're in "trying to work out of boxes" stage with T-minus 5 days until launch!  Sometimes I would slap my 7 year old self if I could for asking God to give me an exciting life... *shakes head*  In the midst of all of this, I'm trying to keep clean clothes on our backs, warm food in our tummies and get as much sleep as I can in the hours that are left.  Teething doesn't equal a lot of sleep for mommy and daddy!  Though I must give a shout out to my wonderful husband who is very good at taking over with Xavier to give me a "shift" to sleep. 

Backing up a little in the story, my son developed his "pincher" grasp around 7 months but it's been difficult to find him foods that he can eat and practice feeding himself without him choking.  The gluten free cheerios didn't go so well since they don't dissolve as fast as the regular ones I guess.  That whole experience ended with Aunt Maria turning Xavier on his belly which brought the cheerio flying back out (thankfully) of his throat!  This made Mama put a NO CHEERIOS UNTIL HE HAS teeth clause in affect!  (He had to practice with scrambled eggs and pasta, not as easy but still good)  Fast forward to Xavier now having teeth.  I decided to give him some of the Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice cereal I have here.  (Which btw is delicious and "snap and crackles" just like the gluten filled Rice Crispies much to my delight!)  Not sure why I didn't think of it earlier?  He loved it!  I should have gotten a video because it was hilarious to watch him.  First he put his whole hand on them, making them stick to his fingers.  Next he banged his hands against the tray because they would "dance" and he thought that was great fun.  Finally he tried one, decided they were awesome and began shoving fistfuls into his mouth! 

It was so funny, but I will tell you to expect a MESS!  I'll probably be finding crispy brown rice until we move.  Alas the joys of having a baby :)  These are the moments you'll remember for the rest of your life.  Plus anything that will keep him busy, content and out of the stuff he's not supposed to get into while I'm working is a blessing!  I'm very grateful to be able to work from home occasionally, but having a crawler presents new challenges.  Even trying to make dinner is a new fiasco.  If I can't have dinner done or at least together and "cooking" in 15 mins, Xavier's having a meltdown.  That's about as long as any activity, even his favorites like playing in his bouncy car, will last.  Finding recipes that fit that timing is the latest challenge.  Considering the rave review dinner got tonight, I thought I'd share the recipe with you!  As you know I'm lousy at measuring, but here's my best "guess" lol.

Coconut-crusted white fish

4 - 4 oz. pieces of fish (I used tilapia this time, but any mild fish should work)
2/3 cup of GF flour (I used Arrowhead Mills All Purpose)
1 cup of Coconut
1/2 tsp. of Goya Adobo with Black Pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. of Trappey's Red Devil Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Oil for frying (unless you want to bake it, but frying fit my "time schedule")

Blend the flour, coconut, Adobo together in a bowl.  Blend the egg and the hot sauce in another bowl.  You can add more hot sauce if you want a little extra bite.  I just wanted an "accent" flavor.  Heat your oil in a pan on medium until it "pops" lightly when you flick water in the pan.  Take some flour and coat the fish.  Then dip in the egg mixture.  Then roll in the coconut mixture.  Put the fish in the pan and cook both sides.  The fish will "flake" meaning fall apart easily when it's done.

While the fish was cooking, I took a bag of salad and put some in two bowls.  Then I cut up a tomato and added some Bhuja cracker mix.  This stuff is great!  Especially since croutons in most cases are a no no for us gluten free people.  The words on the bag sum it up well "a crispy-crunchy blend of spicy snack nibbles".  *Love*  My cousin turned me on to it and I've been hooked ever since.  Giant Supermarkets by me also has all the gluten free stuff mentioned in this post!  Just add your Bhuja to any salad and it tastes exotic.  I'm not kidding!

My husband and I sat on our floor with Xavier in his Bumbo chair and pigged out on our dinner.  The food tasted like we should be handed a bill for $75 after we were done eating!  It was really THAT good!  Don't take my word for it, try it yourself...you will not be disappointed!  I don't know what my favorite part about the whole thing was - the fact that it only took approx. 15 mins to prepare or that it was inexpensive to make or that it tasted so good we fought over the last piece of fish!  *We shared, don't worry :)  So let me know what you think when you try it!  

Year 2 – We’re still in the Honeymoon Years :)

Sorry everyone for taking a brief hiatus from Social Media Land, but I have been overwhelmed as of late with interacting via SM for work and personally.  Normally, me being a social butterfly and all, I enjoy this immensely!  Not saying I haven’t enjoyed it; just needed a break to interact with my family and friends in person.  You see sometimes my wonderful husband likes to see me w/o my nose in the computer and I like to see him w/o his hands on the xbox controller.  Since our anniversary was coming up – July 25^th – we were trying to figure out what to do to celebrate.  He has to work the actual day of our anniversary.  Instead we decided to celebrate the weekend before and my son went to Nonna’s (Grandma’s) house for his very first sleepover!

We thought it prudent to stay fairly close to home since our son is only 8 months and there could be a potential meltdown that would call us home early.  We started researching shows, events, etc that were going on in Philly for the weekend at Visit Philly and stumbled upon a show playing at the Wilma Theater entitled “Life in a Marital Institution: 20 years of monogamy in one terrifying hour”.  It’s a comedic one man show by James Braly based on his life.  We love comedy and it’s our anniversary – perfect!  Then I saw that the Bastille Day Re-enactment was on the same day!  It was settled, a day in Philly followed by a night of sleep with no baby crying.  Sounds like a party to me!  Only issue was we were going to be down in Philly for dinner and I wasn’t sure of where we could go to eat that was gluten free friendly.

Enter my twitter friend Michael who has a blog called GFPhilly.  His site is a great compilation of all things gluten free in the southeastern PA region.  I went on the Eastern State Penitentiary site and then the Wilma Theater site to see which restaurants they listed that were close by.  I wrote them all down and then did a comparison with GFPhilly’s restaurants list.  I narrowed it down to 4 choices, 2 at each location.  We were all set!  Let the fun begin!

After dropping our son, Xavier off to his Nonna, I drove home to meet my husband, Ricky.  We were supposed to go get his hair cut down in the Northeast, but were running behind schedule.  I was a mess…I didn’t have anything completely ready…I looked a sight because I spent all my time getting Xavier ready and not myself!  Needless to say, Ricky had to cancel his hair appointment due to a meltdown by yours truly.  Finally we got everything together and hit the road.  We arrived with 30 mins to spare before the re-enactment started at the Eastern State Penitentiary.  We wandered around the “French themed” market they had set up, looking at all the different things people were wearing, selling and more.  About 2 blocks up we saw a restaurant called Fare.  This was one of the restaurants I had on my list!  We asked for a takeout menu so we could see what they had and if there was anything we liked or not.  We headed back to claim a space in front of the entrance and stood there reading the menu which started our mouths watering.

Having never attended a re-enactment of Bastille Day in all of the 16 years that’s it’s been in existence, we had no idea what to expect.  But we weren’t disappointed!  Who wouldn’t love a storming of the garrison ala Monty Python complete with super soakers, a working guillotine and a hail storm of TastyKakes thrown over the wall as Marie Antoinette hollers “Let them eat TastyKake”?!  Ricky, being rather tall, caught quite a few but gave them away since only he could eat them. When are you getting some gluten free options TastyKake? Hmmm?

Apparently standing in the hot sun watching a re-enactment makes you hungry…or maybe it was just reading the menu, but Fare won in our restaurant choices!  We headed there directly after and it did NOT disappoint!  The food was delicious, the service was great and there was only 1 item on the menu that they couldn’t make gluten free!!!  Here’s the menu so you can take a gander yourself.  We had a salad with mixed greens and veggies, white miso dressing, pepitas and currants for an appetizer.  Then for our entrees, we had grilled cumin crusted pork tenderloin and duck confit.  I felt like a complete glutton like Marie Antoinette by the time we were done J  Note: next year – I’ll dressing up and I’ll be eating at Fare again!

Once we finished we headed over to the Wilma Theater for the show.  I’m not a huge fan of one man shows, not knocking them, just not my favorite generally…James Braly caught your attention from the first word and didn’t let go until the very last!  It was brilliant and disturbing and hilarious…and surprisingly profound…  We enjoyed ourselves and if you’re ever wondering whether Ricky liked a show, movie or whatnot…just wait and if he quotes lines the next few days, he enjoyed it J  This time we were both quoting lines lol!  It’s a shame it only ran for 5 days here in Philly because I definitely know of some people who would’ve enjoyed it.  If you get the chance and it plays near you, go see it!  You won’t be disappointed.

Finally the day did come to an end and we were looking forward to sleeping through the night for the first time in 8 months!  Alas this was not meant to be…at least for mommy…she had a dream about her baby and had to get up and pump at 3:30 am! Oh well…a few miles north apparently a certain baby boy was awake and refusing to sleep at the same time!  Overall Xavier did really well for his first sleepover, but by morning he went on hunger strike and refused to eat until we got there and I finally nursed him at noon.  *Shaking my head* Boy is he stubborn…wonder where he gets that from? Hmmm…  It was a great anniversary and I didn’t faint this year!  Yay me! 

(For those of you who did not follow my pregnancy blog, I passed out in a diner last year when we went out for breakfast J)

The Antithesis of Martha Stewart = ME

Trying something different...let me know what you think :)



A side note...when I talk about putting your feet up and getting a good night's sleep, I mean around 5 hours :)  When you have small children 5 hours in a row is A RARITY!

It's so yummy, I'm gonna die!!!

Okay maybe not die, but boy oh boy is this good!  Yes, my friends, you all have been waiting and now is the big reveal!

Wait...maybe I should preface with a little backstory...

This dessert was a favorite of mine before I went gluten free :)  After transitioning to gluten free living it went on the back burner as I discovered new things to try.  THEN I made the mistake of buying Corn Flake crumbs to use as bread crumbs...Kellogs Corn Flakes are NOT gluten free!  (Malt is a big No No!)  So I have a perfectly good box of crumbs sitting on my counter if anyone wants it? (Those of you who are not GF of course!)  Anyway, on the back was the long forgotten recipe!  I wanted to try it SO bad, but I didn't know where to find gluten free corn flakes...enter Erewhon (and dairy free and organic WIN!) corn flakes which my Twitter friend Annelies at Attune Foods introduced me to!  Woohoo!  It was on!

Into the food processor the corn flakes went...til I had some nice crumbs...  Then I add some melted margarine and sugar, mixed and pressed them into a pan to make a crust.

Now it's important to note - The original recipe was NOT gluten free and NOT dairy free...so I had a bit of a challenge in front of me.  In particular the recipe called for condensed milk.  I was at a loss for a minute as to what to substitute, but then came up with the bright idea to try canned coconut milk!  Canned coconut milk has guar gum added to it that makes it a similar consistency to condensed milk.

After the crust was pressed in...I added more good stuff :)  Chocolate chips, shredded coconut, crushed walnuts (the recipe also called for butterscotch chips but I never used them before because I found it to be TOO much!)  Finally after layering up the goodness, I topped it all off with the coconut milk.

Now it doesn't look that good before it goes in the oven, but trust me ;)  By the way, I always get to this point and realize that I haven't pre-heated the oven...this is why I will never have my own cooking show!  Or maybe I will, "The Accidental Chef" tm (Haha)!  Once the oven reached 350 degrees, in the goopy stuff went!  The recipe called for 25 mins, but it took about 3-5 mins longer because of the coconut milk.  I pulled them out when they were golden brown around the edges.

It was painful to wait for them to cool... just saying... I finally caved and cut into them while they were still warm!  But I would recommend to let it chill or set over night for the best results when cutting it into bars.  I didn't need it to be pretty to shove EVERY last crumb of the crumbling piece I cut into my awaiting mouth : D  I did leave the rest in the pan to chill over night, hense the pretty picture!

Trust me, they taste as good as they look!  Now that you're dying to try these bad boys, here is the recipe for my GF/DF version of the 5 Layer Bars:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees :)
1 1/2 cups Erewhon GF corn flakes, crushed into crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Gluten, Dairy & Soy Free, 10-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)
1 1/3 cups coconut flakes
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1 can of coconut milk

Stir together the corn flakes, sugar and margarine, press into a crust in a 9 x 13 pan.  (I would slightly grease the pan to make sure that none of it sticks even though you're using margarine for the crust.  I didn't and mine stuck on one side slightly!)  Layer the chocolate chips, coconut and walnuts evenly.  I layered them twice to make sure it came out nicely blended at the end!  Pour the coconut milk over the top, covering it evenly.  Bake for 25 minutes or until browned on the edges.  Cool, cut into bars and serve!  Just a thought, freezing these would be an awesome summer dessert for after the bbq! ;)  The best part, you can get creative.  Add/subtract, etc whatever your little heart desires!  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear from you.

To Mum Mum or not to Mum Mum...

That my friends is the question...  We got the Mum Mum baby teething bisquits/crackers to try and review for you all.  Since this product was for my baby and not for me, I decided to give him the first say in this review.

After many trips to various stores in search of a gluten free, milk free, organic baby teething biscuit, my cousin finally found Mum Mum teething biscuits online at Amazon for me.  The ingredients are japonica rice, sugar, potato starch, salt, all USDA certified organic!  When they arrived I read over the box and saw that they did list "may contain traces of milk" in the allergen warning, but this didn't concern me due to the fact that my son has eaten other things with this type of warning (by mistake) without having any incidences.  Generally "may contain traces of milk" means that the company processes milk in the same plant where something is made and they put a warning so you "eat at your own risk" type of thing.  IF your child is severely allergic to milk, I would NOT recommend risking them eating the biscuits even if it's only "made in the same plant".  *Please see my note at the end after talking with a company representative  My son has eaten them for the last 4 days and has had no issues or allergic reactions. (Again, if he had a SEVERE allergy I would NOT have risked it!!! Your child's health is very important!)

As you can see in the video, he was a little confused by them at first :)  He was content just to use them as a drumstick on his highchair tray.  Food that doubles as a toy is ALWAYS fun!  I had to help him out a bit so he would taste it before I ran out of video space lol!  His initial reation was better than most foods when he tries them for the first time!  Usually he pulls a really yucky face like he's tasting a lemon, but not this time.  He tried to "bite" a piece off.  The texture of the biscuits/crackers doesn't allow for them to break pieces off easily which I was very happy about!  The biscuit seemed to dissolve quickly.  My son made a royal mess once he managed to gnaw down a good portion of it!  He also tried to put the whole thing in his mouth.  This can't be done simply <- very good thing, but I would still recommend that you are ALWAYS in the room watching your child whenever they're eating solid food, especially for the first time! 

After videotaping his trial, I decided I needed to try one to give an objective opinion.  I used my lips to try to mimic a baby's gumming action (NO I did not videotape myself doing this lol).  The only way I could get it to break while "gumming" was to bend it down or up with force.  This is great since most babies will not be able to break off big dangerous pieces!  The taste was very good, sort of like a rice cake but a smoother texture and slightly sweeter.  There is 1 gram of sugar in these teething crackers.  It dissolved quickly and was easy to swallow!  If your child is a normal eater, you probably won't have much of a mess.  My son likes to try to swallow his food whole because it can't get in his stomach fast enough!  This creates a bit of a mess, but still nothing major or out of the ordinary.  I only got one bite before my son was reaching and grabbing for MY bisquit!  I decided to let him finish it since they're technically his anyway :)

One of the nicest things about this product is the crackers are individually wrapped in packs of two for easy transport in a diaper bag, purse, etc!  Now I have something simple to bring on outings!  My son is very aware of food at this point and wants to eat whenever I'm eating.  He also wants to gnaw on things constantly since he's officially teething.  This spares me having to keep him off of shopping carts, restaurant tables, etc that he thinks are better teething toys then the ones I give him!  Thankfully he likes these crackers more!

My only complaints:
1. No stores around me carry these teething crackers! At least I have not been able to find them in any!
    Here's the list on their website
2. They do make a HUGE mess if you have a messy eater like mine! But come off clothes if you use HOT water.
 
Ultimately, you know your child.  If I ever have any doubts about a product, I will not give them to my child.  The fact that they are USDA certified makes me feel more confident that this product has gone through at least slightly more strigent testing.  I have an email into the company requesting information on the milk statement so I can give you a better answer.  This will also tell us how long it takes to get a customer service response ;)  *Note Added: 6/15/11 - Spoke with a gentleman from Mum Mum!  The crackers are produced on the same equipment as milk containing products, BUT they completely clean equipment in between to avoid cross contamination.  Due to the potential risk of missing something, they add the "may contain traces of milk" statement. :) 

If you’ve already tried them or decide to try them, let me know what your thoughts are!
Hot Kid Organic Baby Mum-Mum Original Flavor Rice Biscuit, 24-Count (Pack of 6)

Celiac Awareness - Year Round!

The start of June means that Celiac Awareness Month has come to an end.  This makes me a little sad...I don't suddenly become "un-Celiac" or "gluten tolerant" just because the month is over, but yet it feels like the gains we make in promoting awareness start to wane with each passing day after May 31st.  Mind you, it's only June 3rd.  Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic.  Personally, I don't think so.  There isn't a day that goes by without meeting someone who doesn't have a clue what celiac disease or living gluten free is.  Yet celiac affects 1 out of 133 people.  According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, 97% of people with celiac disease go undiagnosed!  It's seriously in need of more attention! 

The idea of having a Celiac Awareness Year was posed by some friends on Twitter.  While that might be a little difficult to get going, I came up with an alternative that could have a big impact if we work together!  From now on, starting in July, I'm going to celebrate the 1st day of every month as Celiac Awareness Day.  In my phone calendar I have reminders set up for the rest of the year.  If each of you decide to follow and tell one person who tells one person...it just might go viral!  Heaven knows things a lot less important go "viral" every day! : P PLEASE JOIN ME!!!

In other GF news, my family's restaurant has a new gluten free menu that will be unveiled next week!  Stay tuned if you live anywhere near the Lansdale, PA area or take Septa's Lansdale/Doylestown train line up or down town (or just want to take a trip to visit for the heck of it!)  I've been enjoying the food for years, but had to stop eating a lot of it once I was diagnosed.  Thankfully, my family has allowed me to work with them to offer the delicious sandwiches and Italian coffees that I love so much in gluten free versions! :)