I’m Back!

I am taking a break from NaNo insanity (up 23,000 words as of yesterday – hoping to break the halfway point today), to update my much neglected blog.  I am sure that the 6 of you who read this page must have missed me

I haven’t been doing a whole lot of baking recently.  I did make molten chocolate cakes a couple of weeks ago … I should have used small ramaken bowls like they say to, but it was just me and the BF, so I figured I would just make two big cakes instead.

I think that in another couple of weeks I should be ready to eat chocolate again.  And this time, I’m using a muffin tin!

The weather in the lower mainland has gotten cold and blustery.  It seems to hail just about every day.  This is the time of year that I really start to crave the comfort foods of my childhood.

Right now, I am dying for a grilled cheese sandwich and a hot cup of tomato soup.  My mom used to make that for us all time when we were little.

The last couple of months, I’ve been perfecting my small set of g-free go-to recipes.  Risotto, assorted meat and potato meals, meatloaf (cornmeal is a great sub for the breadcrumbs), cornbread, pollenta and/or grits, rice pasta and sauce, etc.

I haven’t really missed regular bread all that much, to be honest.  Until now.  I have taken a couple bashes at making g-free bread, but they all have a cake-like texture that is not really ideal for sandwiches.

And thus the search began for something I can use to make yummy grilled cheese.  I have yet to really amass a collection of alternate flours with the exception of corn flour and buckwheat flour.

My goal is to find something suitable for g-free grilled cheese before it snows this year (which may or may not give me about a month).  I am going to be picking up some more flours and starches so that I will be able to make my own baking mixes (I have officially given up on trying to keep from having to do this.  If I want yummy baked goods, I am just going to have to bite the bullet and do it >_<).

First new recipe on the block is this one: Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free
Dairy Free Buckwheat Bread Recipe

Mine will definitely not be dairy-free, though because I have a litre of buttermilk in the fridge that needs a purpose beyond cornbread   It may be a bit before I have gathered all of the needed ingrediants, but I will be sure to let all of you know how the quest for g-free grilled cheese fairs over the coming weeks.

Wish me luck!

AC

 

Gluten Free Baking – Take One – Pumpkin Tarts

It’s that time of year again.  Time to dig out the baking supplies and make something yummy.

Pumpkin pie spice is the scent that really brings the autumn and winter holidays home for me, so I figured that I would start with something simple.  Pumpkin pie!

I am between pie plates at the moment, and since I am the only one in the house who actually likes pumpkin pie, I decided to make my life easier and go with single serving pies made in a muffin tin.

Luckily, if you make your pumpkin pie from scratch, then chances are that it is already gluten-free.  The only problem would be the pie crust.

While I was searching online for a g-free pie crust recipe, I stumbled upon Karina’s Kitchen – and her answer was simple.  Leave the crust out.

If you looking for something that is vegan as well as gluten free, I would recommend trying out her pumpkin pie recipe.  It looks very tasty.

The recipe I ended up using was partly from the back of the can of pumpkin and partly improvised – because that’s what I do.

The ingredients I used were:

• 1 397g (14 oz) can organic pumpkin – I say organic because it was the only can I could find that just had ‘pumpkin’ listed in the ingredients.
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*(pie spice mix to follow)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2/3 cup of Liberte coconut yogurt
• 5 TBSP brown sugar

Spray your muffin tin liberally with cooking spray or just use plain veg oil and a paper towel to lube them up.  I filled them right to the top and got 9 tarts.  I think, however, if you only filled them about half to 3/4 of the way up, you might get the full 12.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Mix your pumpkin with the spices and salt, and then add the remaining ingredients.  Mix until combined.  An ordinary spoon will do you just as well as your hand/stand mixer in this case.  So, when I was making it, I decided to save myself the extra clean up and went with the spoon option.

The recipe on the can called for a can of sweetened condensed milk.  Because I didn’t have any of those on hand (I never do, I really ought to pick some up to keep in the pantry), I looked around for the next best thing.  I thought that coconut milk would probably do pretty well (ala Karina’s recipe), but alas, I was out of that too.

I did, however, have a container of coconut yogurt that is on hold for my attempt at Karina’s Coconut Carrot Cake (it looks super yummy also – I’ll post when I try it to let you all know how it turned out).  It’s not as sweet as sweetened condensed milk would be, and thus, the brown sugar was added.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin and bake at 425 for 8 – 10 minutes.  Turn your oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 20 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool for about 10 minutes in the tin and then up end onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.  Once cool, you can add whipped cream, ice cream, more of that tasty coconut yogurt or just nom them plain.

I must admit that I nommed 3 of them for … ah, research purposes.  Yeah, that’s it!  As the only taste tester in my house at the moment, I have to say that I think they turned out pretty damned good

Enjoy!

*Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix

• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice

 

Gluten-Free Macaroni Salad

I’ve been craving deli foods pretty much since I found out that I really can’t eat much from the deli counter anymore.  While I have been doing ok finding potato salad at the grocery store, what I have really been missing is the macaroni salad.

We picked up a ham the other day, so I figured that it was time to learn to make macaroni salad celiac-friendly.  If you’ve read any of my other recipes, then you know that I don’t really do measurements unless I am baking.  Everything is ‘to taste’.  It’s more fun that way, honest

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the result last night.  It turned out a little bolder than normal macaroni salad, but it’s easily customizable if you like your flavours a little milder.  My official taste tester assured me that it was the best macaroni salad he’d ever had

Ingredients:

• Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows (roughly 1.5 to 2 cups)
• 2 sticks of celery
• half a red bell pepper (diced)
• 4-5 diced sun dried tomatoes
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 scallions
• 1.5 TBSP olive oil
• 1.5 – 2 TBSP white vinegar
• 1 – 1.5 TBSP French’s Bold ‘N Spicy Deli Mustard (this is where you can turn the spice down – sub out for a honey mustard or just regular yellow mustard for milder flavours)
• pinch of paprika
• 2/3 cup of mayonnaise (I’m guessing at this because I just squeeze in enough to make it look like macaroni salad dressing, taste it, and if it needs a little more, I add more – experiment!  If you add too much, then just up the rest of the ingredients a little and you have more macaroni salad)
• handful of shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook the noodles in boiling salted water for about 15 or 16 minutes.  Be sure to watch them when they get close to the end so that you can pull them off when they hit ‘just right’ texture for you.  Remember that rice noodles take longer to cook than regular noodles, and they can get really squishy really easily.

Dice up the veggies and garlic and toss into a bowl.  I did this by hand, but had I remembered that my food processor was in the cupboard right above my head, I would have used that.

I made the rest of the salad while the noodles were cooking, so I just mixed it all together.  It looked a little like mayo-salad soup, but that’s ok.

Once your noodles are cooked, run them under cool water for a while until they are about room temperature (no one likes hot macaroni salad), add to your mayo-salad soup, stir it all up and voila!  G-Free macaroni salad.

This is a recipe that can be customized in so many different ways to make new and interesting flavours.  I think next time I make it, I may use balsamic vinegar instead of white vinegar, and maybe Asiago cheese (or whatever looks good while I’m at the store).

You can also add any other kind of veggies you like – cauliflower, maybe or peas.  Let the creativity flow!

Enjoy

AC

 

Vacation Redux

The universe is a funny place.  My plan for my vacation was to go and see Saving Abel, Hinder, Papa Roach and Nickelback in concert – a bit of a road trip, a few laughs, too much booze, and just generally take in the beauty of the Oregon and Washington coasts.

I honestly can’t really remember the last time I’ve taken a trip south of the border.  Long before you needed a passport to get across, that’s for sure – long before there was even talk of needing a passport if you were staying in North America.  Passports were for flying, not driving.   I kind of miss that, actually.  Governmental fear sucks – but, that is a rant for a different day.

The day before I left, they closed our office and I, along with 90% of my coworkers were layed off.  It wasn’t a huge shock, we’d known for a while that they were moving things overseas, and that it was really only a matter of time.  Hell, I knew this job wasn’t a forever job when I was hired – it was just one of those places.

But, the pay was decent, the conditions weren’t terrible, and the people were awesome.  Losing all that was still a pretty big hit, and it put going away on vacation in a very different light.  Instead of cramming as much fun as I could into 3 days, I was suddenly wondering if I really needed to be coming back at all.

Stepping out into the world without strings tying you to the place you are leaving is a nearly indescribable feeling.  It’s a little like being a kite when the cord snaps.  You hover freely in the same spot for an instant, but the next breeze that comes by can just drag you off to Oz.  Exhilarating … that is a good word for it.

Once we hit the I5, it was like being in a whole different world.  Everything had changed so much since I had last been to the States.  The little differences are the things that catch you the most, I think.  Power lines above ground, the makeup of the highway with it’s weird tiny grooves, the fact that there is no French on their signs and labels, and the way that having a kooky girl grin at you from the next car over appears to strike terror in the hearts of mild mannered commuters (which only made me want to do it more!).

When we hit Seattle, we saw the highways split and wind around each other like giant stone serpents.  I do remember that from years ago, but it is still pretty magnificent to see.  Our roads are just not that dynamic in the lower mainland.

Driving through the Puget Sound area was really nostalgic for me.  I haven’t lived there in nearly 20 years and I will probably never live there again, but I could still feel the lingering connection of my childhood home.

South of Seattle and into Olympia and southern Washington, the scenery began to change.  The trees got bigger and the whole world just got a little greener.  It started to remind me of Vancouver Island in a lot of ways.

We got to the amphitheatre at about 4pm, just as folks were starting to line up to get in.  I had been hoping for a bit of time to check out the town and maybe grab a bite to eat, but the day did not slow down for one minute.  We waited in line and chatted with people until we got to go up to the gates and get patted down by people who were definitely not comfortable having to do a cursory search of all those people for pot, booze, weapons, whatever they were looking for.

It was a little funny actually.  It was so quick and light that I probably could have had a bottle of vodka sticking out of my belly button and they would have missed it.  The searches along with the ‘you can drink alcohol’ bracelets struck me as a sort of ‘our insurance company is making us do this’ type thing.

I did learn one important thing.  The next time I go somewhere like this, I am bringing protein bars with me.  I’m not really sure what I was expecting to find food-wise at the concert, but I was hoping that there would be something that I could eat.  Alas, there was bread/wheat everywhere (even in the licorice).

I did end up munching on the inside of a cheeseburger that was not very filling or very tasty.  But, this meant that I did get a pretty good buzz off of the slushy margaritas (which were awesomely salty), so it was a decent trade – there is always time to eat tomorrow!

I got a few souvenirs – a Nickelback belt buckle, thong and a tshirt.  Also learned that I officially fit into a size Small tshirt now.  Not bad for a girl who only 8 months ago was wearing XL.

I will say, it was a little bizarre to see a couple buying the same size shirt I had for their 12 year old son.  I am still getting used to being a little person.

The show was fantastic!  I am definitely picking up Papa Roach’s new album.  I really loved the new songs – they are a little on the heavier side from what I normally listen to, but when it’s good, it’s good.

I did wish Hinder had played a little longer.  I would have like to see 4 or 5 more songs from them.

But, it was Nickelback we were all there to see, and they did not disappoint.  All kinds of fire and explosions, great music and Chad is really talented at pulling the audience in and making everyone feel like the whole show is just one big backyard party.

They played for 2 hours even though half the band was sick with strep.  I had a great time.  By the end of the show, I was feeling a little floaty – margaritas, plus the bang up job the Events staff did of keeping pot out of the venue, plus having eaten pretty well nothing since the day before gave everything a fuzzy/glowy quality.

Lucky DW was there to drag me toward the exit or I would have just wandered around aimlessly for who knows how long.  And considering that people were following whoever was in front of them, I may have gotten a lot of people wandering around with me!

After that, I remember falling asleep in the car to about six different Nickelback songs being played in all of the vehicles around us – that was a little weird.  Then we crashed at a cheap motel at about 2am.

In the morning we found ourselves in a town that we think may have been Vancouver, WA.  The part of town we were in looked a lot like a vacant lot.

We hit the road in search of some manner of food that I could eat because I was still a bit loopy from the night before, and we figured that it probably wasn’t a great idea for me to go two days solid without eating.

I have to say that I have a new sympathy for everyone in the US with Celiacs.  I complain about finding things that are easy and gluten-free at home, but it’s even harder in the States.  Even the grocery store just outside of Portland offered me very limited options.

I ended up with a ham steak, potato salad and corn chips.  I will admit that my views may be coloured by the fact that I think we were in a Costco-style store where everything is discount food to begin with.

After the grocery store, we found a mall – so there was Starbucks (SO much cheaper than at home!), and this little sushi place in the food court where the lady behind the counter sterilized everything and made me fresh g-free sushis for lunch (Alaska rolls, I think they were – real salmon and avacado). The lack of soy sauce made me a little sad, but I have discovered that ginger and wasabi still make for some yummy sushi.

I also found a GNC, and remedied my lack of protein bars so that if all else failed, I would have some manner of food for the remainder of the trip.

We bought some maps and decided that we would head up to Astoria for the day.  I love going places just because I have never been there before

The drive up to Astoria is gorgeous, and the little town itself is beautiful.  The people could use some work, however.  It’s a very artsy, snooty and mildly hostile place.  It reminds me of Salt Spring, actually.  A tourist town that has this bizarre need to shoot itself in the foot by making sure that no tourist will ever visit there twice.

*shrugs* To each his own, I guess.  I am still in love with Oregon, though.  They have no tax there.   The price you see is the price you pay.

I picked up this cute little bracelet at the local Pagan shop, and a page of guitar cords at the music store.  The sheet was $4.95, I paid with a $5 and got a nickel back.  LOL  That nickel is now taped to the cord sheet and the sheet is tacked to the wall above my amp.

That is about my favourite memory of Astoria.  That and the bird sitting on the pylon in the bay that looked like his arms were stuck up in the air.  He was just sitting there with his wings in the wind.  We took some pictures and there was a lot of giggling and ‘I can’t bend my arms down!’ jokes.

Overall, a really great time.  That’s the thing about vacations, I think.  It’s hard to not have a great time when you are on vacation.

After Astoria, we decided that we would head out to Ellensburg, WA.  Originally, I had wanted to go and see Nickelback at the Gorge so that I would also be able to drop in on my family who live out that way.  It’s been a lot of years since I have seen any of them, and I figured that it was time.

Since I couldn’t get the seats I wanted at the Gorge, I ended up getting tickets for Ridgefield instead.  When we were making plans for the trip, I thought that we could still come back through eastern Washington, and stop in to say hi.

Funny thing is, if I hadn’t lost my job, we wouldn’t have had more than a couple of hours to visit everyone.  As it turned out, we got to Ellensburg at about 11pm, and got to spend the whole next day catching up and visiting with everyone.

My uncle owns a diner in town – best food ever, if you are ever out that way, it’s called the Red Horse – and we dropped in for breakfast Sunday morning.  After 17 years, my cousin recognized me.  That was just so wild.

Last I’d heard, she was living in Texas.  I got to talk with her, say hi to my uncle and then the craziest part – I got to reconnect with my dad.  I hadn’t seen or talked to him in 14 years, and didn’t even know that he lived there.

We spent the day chillin’ with my dad and chatting and catching up with everyone and then we went over to my cousin’s house for a barbecue.  I got to meet her husband and little boy – that kid is just way too adorable.

We stayed the night, and had breakfast at the diner again the next morning before hitting the road to wander around the Okanagan before heading home.

The drive home was a little weird.  We ended up taking the Coquahalla highway, which neither of us had ever driven on before.  It’s a beautiful drive, but WAY high up.  Lots of up and down and ear popping.  I yawned so many time so fast that I felt like my head would fall off.

It was sunny and gorgeous out in the Okanagan and in eastern Washington, but once you start getting into the mountains, and the west coast, it got rainy and autumn like.  It really felt like I was leaving summer farther behind me with each mile.

We got home late Monday night.  The next morning, I was ready to hit the road again.  I didn’t want it to end.

I am headed to the island this weekend to visit more people that I haven’t seen in far too long.  Work sucks your life away from you if you let it.  I feel like I need to spend this time that I have getting all of that life back.

When I finally do get myself back into a normal life rhythm, I need to make sure that I find a way to keep that sort of thing from happening again.  No more choosing one half of life or the other.  I want it all.

AC

 

Mustard Balsamic Roasted Potatoes with Fresh Herbs and Garlic

This seems to be the new favourite potato style at my house (or a close second to the ever popular ‘Smashed Potatoes’), so I thought I would take a bash at writing a recipe so that everyone following along at home can give them a try.

Next time I make them, I will try to remember to take a picture.  For now, just imagine the yumminess

What you’re going to need (serves 2):

• 10 – 15 baby potatoes (depending on the size)
• Spicy deli (or German-style) mustard
• 4 whole garlic cloves
• 2 TBSP of balsamic vinegar
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or a liberal pinch of dried)
• 2 or 3 basil leaves (or a liberal sprinkling of dried basil)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Boil your washed baby potatoes in salted water for about 15 – 20 minutes.  Drain and place in a casserole dish (I use a glass meatloaf pan because it is the perfect size for this).

Drizzle your olive oil over the potatoes.  I eyeball it rather than measure – just try not to drown them.  The oil is just to help keep them moist in the oven.  Do the same with the balsamic vinegar.  This again, is not an exact amount (I don’t measure unless I’m baking).  The balsamic won’t stick to the potatoes like the oil, so be careful not to put too much. 2 or 3 TBSP should really be enough.

Peel and smash the garlic.  You’re going to toss them in whole.  They’ll add a really nice, mild flavour to the potatoes, and they will be SUPER sweet and yummy when roasted in the oven.  Also, if you really don’t like garlic, then you can pick them out easy at the end.

Now, the mustard.  My mustard comes in a squeeze bottle, so I just squirt enough on to cover the tops of the potatoes thinnly.  If your mustard comes in a jar, then 2 or 3 scoops should be plenty.  You don’t want the potatoes swimming in it, just enough for a thin coating.

Sprinkle on your herbs if you’re using dried, or chop/rip them and toss them in if you’re using fresh.  Add your salt and pepper.  I don’t use a lot, just a pinch of kosher salt and a few twists of the peppermill is plenty.

Stir it all up, and pop into a 375 degree oven (uncovered) for 20 minutes.

Now, we are usually having steak or some other manner of protein that cooks really fast when we have these, so we usually wait until the potatoes are done, and then give them another 5 – 10 minutes under the broiler while everything else is cooking just to get them a little crispy on the outside.  Best to keep your eye on them so that they don’t end up black!

Let cool a bit and serve!  Easy

AC

 

Theatre Under the Stars

Yesterday was a very long day for me.  It started at about 6am and didn’t end until the wee hours this morning.  After work, I came home and we had to immediately leave again for a trip out to Abbotsford.

It is so beautiful out there.  If it wouldn’t more than double my commuting time, I would consider moving out there.  If I found the right place, I still might.  It reminds me of the island where I grew up, except without the need for a ferry ride to get to downtown Vancouver.

We were finalizing the purchase of DW’s new car.  It’s a ‘95 Mazda something.  It’s indigo, and pretty

It still needs a bit of work and a run through aircare, so we won’t actually ‘have’ it until mid this week, I think.  It will be so great to have two vehicles again.  I am very excited.

We also learned through visiting with the friends we are buying the car from, that my car’s conniption fits on long drives may just be a faulty O2 sensor.  This would be SO very awesome, since I think that is something that I can replace myself.  May head out to the auto-wrecker this week to see how much a new one will cost me – I got a great deal on my new radiator there, so they are my new best car buddies.

The friend we are buying the car from is running away to join the circus.  Literally.  I think that this is just beyond cool.  I’ve never known anyone with career goals that awesome before.

We found out that he was also starring in the Theatre Under the Stars presentation of ‘A Thoroughly Modern Millie’.  He’s the flasher, among other things

He got us tickets to last night’s show, and after some visiting and paperwork, we headed back into town to see the play.  Driving from Abbotsford to Stanley Park is a REALLY long drive.  Not so long as the drives you have when you live on the island, but I am not used to that anymore.

With traffic and all that jazz, we got there just at 8pm when they were starting.  It was a fantastic show.  We found out that DW had never been to a play before, so it was super exciting for him.  And I had never been to one where I knew one of the actors.

They all did a really great job, and the show itself is hilarious.  I highly recommend that everyone who can get out to Stanley Park this summer go and see it.  A Thoroughly Modern Millie runs alternating nights with Annie until August 22nd – so you still have time!!

Another pretty cool feature of the night was the fireflies.  We don’t usually have a lot of fireflies around here, so they kind of stole the show a bit.  You could see people in the audience pointing at them and whispering to their neighbours.

DW thought at first that bugs were exploding midair – which, admittedly, would have been a lot cooler.  After a really great time, we finally headed home.  As we were leaving the parking lot, we both realized that neither of us had eaten all day and were starving.

I let DW drive home (shocking, I know, but I wanted to sleep, so I made an exception and let him drive my car).  He decided that he wanted a cheeseburger, and we went through the McDonalds drive-thru.

This was a bad idea on many levels.  First, there really isn’t much of anything on the McDeath menu that I can eat, not a lot that anyone *should* be eating, and to make it all that much more interesting, we were stuck there for a half hour.  They had one guy working in the restaurant.  One.  All alone.  Trying to man the drive-thru and cook.  Alone.

Did I mention how McDonalds was a *bad* idea? Luckily, the other people stuck in the drive-thru with us were pretty awesome, so passing the time was actually a lot of fun.  We played horn songs.

I ended up with one of their Angus burgers with ‘extra lettuce’ since I knew that I wouldn’t be able to eat the bun.  DW’s cheeseburgers were so shiny you could see your reflection in them.  Needless to say, we both felt a little sick afterwards (even with my makeshift lettuce wrapping).

Don’t think I will be making that mistake again.  Ick!

After midnight, we finally hit home, and crashed.  I don’t really remember climbing up the stairs.  It was a long day, but a pretty awesome one all around, I think.

AC

 

Cleaning Out the Pantry

Tonight, as I was making dinner, I decided to go through the pantry and de-gluten it.  It was actually a little sad

I had to say goodbye to my beautiful panko breadcrumbs that I searched high and low for.  My orzo and all manner of other pasta, rolled oats, granola, pre-packaged sauces, and of course, flour. It looks so empty now.  All that’s left is baking powder, baking soda, corn starch, sugars (brown, raw and white), the left over rice noodles, and my assorted rices.

When I started, I didn’t realize just how many of my base ingredients would end up in the trash. I am starting to see just how much I am going to have to re-learn about cooking. I can deal pretty easily with simple meals and fresh ingredients.

Where I am a little nervous is in baking, and general comfort and winter fare. Soups, stews, casseroles, cakes, pies, cookies, chocolates, and the like. Breakfast has been a real challenge thus far.

I am going to try to start amassing new recipes and maybe starting to change the focus of my food. I don’t want to have to completely give up the foods I grew up eating. My mom taught me how to cook, and I have a special bond with the foods she passed down.

That said, I think that maybe moving my tastes a bit toward the southwest, maybe a little more cajun and/or asian foods can both allow for more gluten-free meals, and spice up our diet without having to just place the substitution game. I know I have the skills to do it. All I need is the drive.

Dinner tonight was steak, fresh summer corn on the cob and mustard balsamic roasted potatoes with fresh herbs and garlic. No recipes, just dinner on the fly. Turned out pretty damned good, actually – especially the corn.

I love summer!  Yay!

AC

 

Windows 7 Journal

This is a neat little program that was actually one of the big reasons that I upgraded to the Win7 RC in the first place (that and all of the pretties – what can I say, it’s all about the pretties).

This program is like a note pad. It even looks like one with a ruled paper style. It is apparently designed to be compatible with touch screen technology.

You can draw with your mouse! It took me about 10 minutes solid of practise, but I can finally sign my initial. Luckily, it also has a Text Box option so that you can type.

It saves to a special ‘Notes’ folder, and there is a function where you can open and review and search through your old notes. Pretty simple all around, but it is giving me all kinds of ideas for getting a stylus device for either the iPhone or to attach to my computer, and start keeping my journal on my computer.

This has the potential to save me a fortune in notebooks. Plus, once our iPhone becomes MY iPhone, I can keep notes and thoughts in my phone and upload them to my computer when I get home – portability will be mine!

I love the idea of being able to be out and about and if something comes to mind that I want to write about, or I have a chance to just sit and reflect a bit, then I can pull out my phone and write it out, and add it to my journal when I get home.  This could also be great for making blog posts on the fly, since I have no ability to type on a iPhone

We will have to see how this plays out.

AC

 

Gluten-Free Tuna Casserole

This was interesting for me – fairly tasty too.  Now, the way I learned to make tuna casserole, and why it is one of my favourite comfort foods, is that you just dump everything into the casserole dish, stir it up, put cheese on top, crumble up your crumbles (some people use corn flakes, some use chips, some use breadcrumbs, etc), and stuff in the oven at 375 for about 30 minutes.

Once I found the rice pasta, I figured it would be a pretty easy conversion.  These are the ingredients I ended up using:

• Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows
• 1 can of sliced mushrooms
• about half a small packet of frozen peas – I like peas, so I just pour until I think I have enough
• spiced gouda cheese (I wanted something a little different than your average cheddar)
• Knorr Homestyle Mushroom Soup (this was the only cream of mushroom soup I could find that didn’t have wheat flour in it – Knorr uses rice flour in this one).
• 3x Cloverleaf Fresh Thai Herb Tuna Steak (this was pretty good, but I think I might go with a different flavour next time – the ginger was pretty strong and seemed a little out of place in a tuna casserole)
• 3 celery sticks that I found in the fridge
• Kettle Brand Chips – New York Cheddar and Herb (these chips actually advertise that they are gluten-free, so that was awesome)
• salt and pepper to taste

To make the casserole the way we do it at my house: almost everything other than the noodles gets dumped in at the beginning. The frozen peas (still frozen, they will cook in the oven), the chopped up celery, the tuna, the soup, the mushrooms – all into the dish.

Cook the noodles.  If you get the Tinkyada kind, the package says to cook them for 17 minutes, and that works, but if you like your noodles a bit al dente, then I would suggest shortening that to about 14/15 minutes instead.  Also, beware – rice noodles get BIG!

Dump the noodles into the dish, grate about half to 2/3 of the cheese on, and stir it all up so that everything is nicely mixed together.  Add your salt and pepper if you’re going to, and stir it up again.

I added white pepper (because that’s what’s in my peppermill at the moment), but no salt.  I always tend to dump a big handful of salt into the water that I cook the noodles in, so I don’t generally add it to the mix as well.  But, hey – if you like your food very salty, fly at ‘er.

Grate the rest of the cheese on top, and top with your crumbles (I crunched the chips up, but left the pieces fairly large – because it seemed like a good idea at the time.  And it was!)

Tossed it into a pre-heated oven for about 30 – 35 minutes, and then yum!

I have to say I was pretty impressed with my first try at altering something to be gluten-free.  And I received only compliments from the peanut gallery, so I think we can count this one as a success.

Next up, Shepards Pie!

AC

 

Living Newly Gluten-Free

There has been a whole lot of different things on my mind lately.  Most of it not really safe for public consumption, and yet I feel that I need to update my blog anyway.

A lot has changed for me over the last 6 or 7 months.  One thing that finally answered many, of the general ‘What the hell is wrong with me??’ questions was finding out that I was gluten intolerant.  Months after finding that carbs made me feel really ill, and then just cutting them out of my diet completely, I noticed that I was starting to feel really good.

I lost weight, I was happier, my asthma nearly disappeared, I stopped getting migraines and I stopped getting sick – and I have spent a good portion of my life fighting off one sickness or another.  My brother always used to tell me that I had a ‘wussy immune system’.

It was pretty clear that the ‘no carb’ diet was making a big difference.  Though, it did tend to net me a lot of grief.  People don’t take you seriously when they hear that you can’t eat carbs because it makes you sick.

One night after a very unpleasant corndog experience, we started to wonder if maybe it was something that I was actually allergic to.  A trip through Googleland found us at Food Intol.com – this is where I discovered that there is more to gluten intolerance than rashes and digestive upset.

Reading over the list of symptoms caused by food intolerences and gluten intolerance specifically was like reading over a list of very nearly every unexplained health problem I have ever had.  It also explained why I was feeling so much better after having cut carbs from my diet.

*FYI – corndogs are LOADED with gluten, even in the hotdog part

Knowing what it is specifically that I can’t have and why has made things a lot easier for me food-wise.  I no longer have to avoid carbs, sugar and starches in general (tho, I am still a little distrustful of rice and corn), and I can start to find ways to work some of the foods that I have always loved back into my diet.

I think that living in Vancouver makes this adjustment a lot easier than it would have been otherwise.  There are so many places that have gluten-free alternatives here.  There are bakeries that specialize in gluten-free products, pizza places that offer gluten-free crusts, and an endless parade of Mexican, Indian and Sushi restaurants that offered low to no gluten meals in the first place.

Our local grocery store even has a nutritionist on staff who goes through all their products every few months and makes a list of everything that they carry that is gluten-free, so that folks like me can shop without having to shuffle slowly down the isles reading every single package label looking for sneaky lurking gluten (which I have discovered is hiding in some of the most bizarre places – imitation crab meat, for example).

I think what I miss most, and what is going to make this coming winter tough for me, is comfort food.  Mac and cheese, tuna casserole, baking powder biscuits, Christmas cookies, yorkshire puddings …

It’s possible to make a lot of these things gluten-free (in fact, I am picking up fixings for my first gluten-free tuna casserole today), but it requires you to be a pretty damned good cook.  My yorkshire puddings always came out of an envelope.  Trying to not only learn to make them from scratch, but learn to make them gluten-free, is going to be an interesting endeavour to say the least.

And let’s be honest, it’s not the same.  I know that the comfort foods that my mom made weren’t made with guten-free products.  There was no rice pasta in her tuna casserole.

Aside from the ‘no wheat, gluten bad’ part of my life, living on such a high protein diet for the last several months has made my body used to a certain level of fuel.  The tummy is not satisfied or happy when it doesn’t get what it wants.  I have discovered that munching on chicken and pork is a lot like eating flavourful air.  It just doesn’t do it for me anymore – which sucks because I used to LOVE pulled pork BBQ sandwiches.

I realize that it may just be the cuts that I eat – I do know that chicken breast meat won’t have anywhere near the amount of protein as the darker meat.  I am not as familiar with pork as I am with poultry, but I imagine that the same may be true of piggie parts too.

Steak, seafood and edamame have been my life savers through all of this.  I’ve also started keeping protein bars in my purse for those times when I am somewhere where a gluten-free alternative is just not available.

It’s all good right now, because it is the summer and there are fresh veggies and fruit all over the place.  I think that the real test will be this winter on those days where I really just don’t feel like cooking.  Gluten-free and ‘fast and easy’ don’t really seem to mix.

As with all things in life, this is a learning experience for me.  I am a little excited to start a new phase of my life, and know that this time, there will be no falling off the wagon since the wagon travels over broken glass and bitey snakes!

I have a lot of blogs around, but this is one of only two that I still use.  I will probably keep a log of my progress with this crazy gluten-free journey here.  Might even share a few recipes and links that I find along the way.

So far, my favourite place for gluten-free advice and info is Gluten-Free Girl – this lady is my gluten intolerant idol.  Plus, she showed me that I can have a birthday cake next year – yay!

AC