Traveling and Eating Out

I've done a lot of traveling this summer in and out of state with Justin who is gluten/dairy/egg intolerant. There are some tips I want to share in no particular order.

1. It never hurts to ask.

When I was in Payson my promise of sushi from Bashas made me a liar, so I asked a local pizza joint if they'd make a pizza for my kid if I brought in the dairy free cheese and gluten free crust (from Bashas). They said YES!, only charged us for sauce and sausage, and he ate right along side us eating pizza.

2. Know what you can ahead of time.

We stayed at a hotel in California that had a continental breakfast. The night we checked in I asked the staff what they served. I wrote it all down, and then we promptly took a trip to the store to get some things that we needed. We brought rice milk with us and simply needed to pick up some gluten free cereal. Justin was delighted with Frosted Flakes (the real deal)!

3. Bring your own condiments/substitutions.

At a sushi restaurant we were happy to order everything safely when we realized their soy sauce had wheat in it. This makes me so angry. SOY sauce. It's so stupid. Anyway, we had soy sauce at our hotel, and Ryan swung by to pick it up and returned to us at the restaurant saving the day.

At Olive Garden we brought our own salad dressing so that Justin could have a salad with us. We also brought him some bread so he could dip it in his gluten free pasta.

At Subway we brought our own bread and ordered the kids' meal for him. He was happy to get a toy and juice like every other kid.

4. Bring dessert.

I don't know about you but whenever I go on vacation I want dessert everyday, almost after every meal. It's nearly impossible to find gluten and dairy free desserts at restaurants, so we made sure to bring some with us. Dark chocolate covered almonds have become a favorite of ours. On another vacation we stopped at Cookies From Home and bought a dozen gluten/dairy free cookies for our trip.

That is all! Happy end of summer everyone. I hope you had fun vacationing somewhere!

Black and White Cupcakes

Cupcakes for everyone! EVERYONE!

AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!

B&W Cupcakes in one of the classy boxes my SIL gave me for Christmas.

The sticker reads "2011 Baked GLUTEN FREE with love by Mairi"

Excuse me, but these cupcakes are so darn good, I just can't contain myself. And best of all, they are gluten free AND vegan. Yes, that's right. My sister-in-law (different SIL) is a celiac and recently decided to become a vegan as well. Conveniently before her birthday celebration. So I had to scramble to find a vegan, gluten free cake recipe to replace the one I was imagining. I found this recipe and used it as my jumping off point. I topped it off with a little vegan cream cheese frosting using this recipe, which really just tastes like a buttercream, but it's better than any other dairy-free frosting I've had. Oh, and you know how you really have to cover GF cake with frosting to make up for the fact that it's GF? Notice how little I used on the pictured cakes? These little darlins don't even need frosting. Enjoy!

Black Cake

Gluten Free, Vegan

ingredients:

1/2 cup sorghum

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 cup white sugar (certified vegan, if you prefer)

1/4 cup cocoa powder (high quality. seriously. especially if you don't use coffee.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 cup coffee (you can use water, but coffee makes it the bomb)

2 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate (dairy free)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Beat together until smooth. Add the melted chocolate. Beat again, scraping regularly until smooth. Batter should thicken slightly and be sticky, not soupy.

Pour into prepared tin and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Makes 12 muffins or 1 8 inch cake round

Coconut Crusted Chicken with Curried Apple Rice Pilaf

In another edition of "OMGIHAVENOIDEAWHATTOMAKEFORDINNER," I put together a gourmet feast with junk I found in my kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a coconut in my co-op basket. A COCONUT.

So I went online, figured out how to prep it, let the boys whack the hell out of it, shredded it and put it in the fridge, ostensibly never to be seen again.

Flash forward to last night, I'm gazing into my fridge trying to figure out if there is a combo of eggs, bacon and cheese that I haven't tried yet when I see the coconut and a lighbulb goes off. I'm a big curry fan, so I pulled out a Pilaf recipe (from my bestie, epicurious.com) I've been serving with my Yam Cakes and the rest is in my belly. Well, probably not anymore.

Coconut Crusted Chicken

(adapted from MY BRAAAAINS)

ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 eggs beaten

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1 cup almond meal

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

Preparation:

Combine coconut, almond meal, cinnamon and ginger in a wide shallow bowl or plate. Dredge chicken breasts in egg (will egg sub work? idk.) and then coat with coconut mixture, patting to cover. Cook however you prefer (bake or pan-fry if you like) but I'm lazy, so I cooked it on the Forman Grill for about 10-12 minutes. I tend to overcook chicken because I am terrified of raw/undercooked chicken.

This is also great with a little mango chutney.

Curried Apple Rice Pilaf

(adapted from epicurious.com)

ingredients:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup basmati or jasmine rice

1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups water

preparation

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Stir in rice, apple, cinnamon, ginger, curry powder and salt. Add 2 cups water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat.

I yam what I yam

I have been enlightened!  Yams are not sweet potatoes.  Sweet potatoes are not yams.  All my life I've been walking around using the terms interchangeably, but they are actually different vegetables!  What I did know is that I didn't like sweet potatoes.  My mom loves them and every Thanksgiving she asks me if I like sweet potatoes.  What?  Ick!  No!  So because of my strong dislike for potatoes that are sweet, I've never even considered preparing them and really didn't even notice their "humble" existence in the produce section.  

I recently came across a cookbook by Susan O'Brien called The Gluten-Free Vegan.  I have been eating less meat, but assumed that being GF and vegan (can't have dairy and  really shouldn't be eating eggs anyway) would make the simple task of eating even more difficult so I was thrilled to find this gem of culinary creations.  There are a ton of great recipes!   This is where the yams come in.  I threw caution to the wind and decided to give yams a try (although they are apparently not even closely related, yams and sweet potatoes both have a sweet flavor).   I headed to my local Fry's for *gasp* sweet potatoes or yams or whatever and was thoroughly confused.  Yams.  Sweet potatoes.  Next to each other?  I thought they were the same thing?  So I bought whatever they had labeled as yams and a few other things I didn't have on hand and got to work.  If you don't rush right out and buy yams right now, you'll be sorry!  This dish is GREAT!  Here it is:

J&J's Favorite Yam and Black Bean Burritos

2 large yams (I bought 2, but only ended up using 1.)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp. seeded and chopped red bell pepper

1 small jalapeno, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped (I'm allergic, didn't use it.)

1 cup diced tomato

1 cup tomato salsa

1 tsp. chile powder

1 tsp. ground cumin (mmmmm...cumin.)

1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed (I used dry beans that I soaked and cooked myself.  Sooooo much better!  You can make a huge batch and freeze them for later!)

2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (eh, didn't make the cut.)

2 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4-1/2 tsp. black pepper

8 rice or hemp tortillas (hahahahahahaha!  We all know that rice tortillas are a joke!  I used corn.)

There are two ways you can prepare the yams for this recipe: prick the yams all over with  a fork, bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft, but not mushy (this is what I did); or prick them with a fork and microwave until soft, 5 to 6 minutes on high.

While the yams bake ( I waited until they were done, it took at least an hour in the oven), heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onion in the olive oil until soft, 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the red bell pepper and jalapeno and continue sauteing for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the pepper becomes soft.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Peel the yams, cut into cubes, and add to the vegetable mixture.  Add the tomatoes, salsa, spices, black beans, cilantro and lime juice.  Heat through.  Season to taste with any additional salt or black pepper.  Heat your choice of tortillas and dig in! (I also added avocado on top!)

These mini burritos/tacos have such an interesting spicy/sweet flavor!  So yummy!  I have more respect for yams now, but sweet potatoes can still suck it!  Enjoy!

allrecipes.com

Since having Taryn, I've received many meals from friends and family. A friend of mine who was admittedly nervous about finding gluten/dairy free recipes made me my favorite meal thus far. She used allrecipes.com for her inspiration. She served us Lime Chicken Soft Tacos simply using corn tortillas and tofutti sour cream in place of their gluten/dairy filled counterparts. She also used cilantro instead of oregano. These soft tacos were super tasty. She made us No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars for dessert using Earth Balance instead of butter and dairy free chocolate chips. These cookie bars were delicious! I ate way too many. Enjoy!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lime-Chicken-Soft-Tacos/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/No-Bake-Chocolate-Oat-Bars/Detail.aspx

Gluten Free Basics

Store bought items:
Pamela's mixes are the best (breads, cakes, cookies, muffins, etc)
Glutino's pizza crust
Glutino's pretzels (are the bomb)
Udi's gluten free bread
Kinnikinnick buns (hot dog and hamburger)
Trader Joe's Gluten free spaghetti, penne and rotini
Trader Joe's brown rice tortillas
Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes are good
Chebe mixes are good (pizza dough is good, but has to be baked beforehand)

Eating out:
We've been doing this now for a few years and have found a few safe places to eat that everyone in our family can enjoy. Chinese food places and mexican food places and generally safe (just ask lots of questions and use substitutions if necessary, ie ask for a corn tortilla instead of a flour one)

PF Changs and Outback Steakhouse have gluten free menus
Olive Garden now has a gluten free pasta option
In and Out (Order your hamburger protein style and they wrap it in lettuce for you. Their fries are also gluten free (most places' fries are not))
Cookies From Home now has a line of cookies and brownies that are gluten free
Picazzo's (A pizza place) has a gluten free pizza crust and dessert (I think a cookie). You can also buy pizza dough from them.

Cookbooks and Recipes:
Most cookbooks are stupid because they say things like, "Use your favorite gluten free flour mix." That's not helpful. However my favorite gluten free flour mix happens to be equal parts tapioca starch, brown rice flour and sorghum flour. I use this mix when I'm changing a glutenful recipe and substituting. I find Sunflower has pretty good prices on these flours if you buy them from the bins and bag them yourself. Also, buying a wheat grinder or vitamix is helpful. We use our grinder to make our own brown rice flour all of the time. It's cheaper that way. You will need Xanthan Gum for all of your baking so just suck it up and buy it. Without it nothing has the right consistency.

I find I get most of my recipes on blogs and in a great magazine called Living Without. I highly recommend getting a subscription to that magazine. You can pick it up at Whole Foods or Sunflower to check it out before buying it. I also have a lot of luck with Vegetarian Magazines as most recipes are gluten free.

My favorite gluten free blogs are:
http://glutenfreetogether.blogspot.com (This is actually my friend's blog and she, myself and another girlfriend of mine share gluten free advice and recipes on it.)
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/ (I've taken a class from this woman and have her dessert cookbook. Her stuff is delicious. She's local too and offers classes often.)

Here are links to my favorite, most used Gluten free recipes...
Brownies http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2007/05/brownies-gluten-free.html
Chocolate Chip Cookies http://gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com/2009/08/gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Gluten Free Bread http://iamglutenfree.blogspot.com/2006/04/homemade-gluten-free-bread.html

Ryan’s Favorite Gluten Free Pancake Mix (we adapted this ourselves from one of Becky's recipes)

1 C brown rice flour
3T tapioca flour
1/3 C potato starch
1T sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2t salt
½ t xanthan gum

Mix a large batch of dry ingredients and keep in a canister. When ready to make pancakes use:

1 C dry pancake mix
1 egg
1 ½ T oil
Milk until smooth

Thanksgiving

I'm in full Thanksgiving mode, although I know April could give a flying... Anyway. I'm in search of a couple of great recipes which I deftly avoided last year:

Pie Crust

Dinner Roll

Eek. I know. A bazillion recipes to choose from so I was wondering if anyone had any tried and true on the back burner. For rolls, I was looking at this recipe which sounds comparable to the "butt rolls" served at my in-laws. As far as pie crust goes, I'm overwhelmed. I'm seriously considering buying a premade shell unless someone wants to scare me off from that. Little D wants a strawberry pie (out of season, of course, he was not interested in any of the many fall selections I offered) and I'm making a pumpkin pie so I don't want to kill myself baking. Plus I'm hangin' with one of my favorite ladies on the Wednesday before.

For anyone looking for something yummy, I made this Pumpkin Cake from the Gluten Free Goddess for Little C's birthday and it was decidedly un-GF tasting and super delicious. For my CF sisters, I'm not up on my dairy-free frostings, so I'll let you handle that issue if you wish.

Help a sister out?