Toni

As I may have mentioned before, we have two gerbils. One of them just became one very expensive Pocket Pet.

This is Toni, and along with his twin brother Tavo, these two little guys rule the roost here in Queens. Everyone in our household loves these little guys. My boyfriend says that they have changed the whole atmosphere of the family.

So, it comes as no surprise that, when he fell off the kitchen table Wednesday morning and hurt his leg, I took the day off work and took him to Vet. To the tune of I-don't-even-want-to-talk-
about-how-much.


When I was finally able to bring him home in the evening he had been through anesthetic, x-ray, digital x-rays and he now has a cast and "Elizabethan' collar so that he can't chew his cast.

The brothers now have to be separated because Tavo also wants to chew on the cast too. Hopefully we'll get a screen up between them so they can at least talk to each other.

Right now this little guy is the center of my life until he gets better.

I'll get more reviews up soon, and this months Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free (the one where no one cooked) is looking pretty good when my time is devoted to Toni.

Summer Holiday

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July weekend. Our office was closed for the week, so I took the opportunity to visit my parents for a long weekend. I had a very nice time with my parents, and a rather eventful visit.

On first arriving at the Detroit airport I was met by my mom and we headed straight to the ice rink. It was nice to be back in my old stomping grounds, so to speak, and to be back on the ice after not skating for a while.

When we got home I surprised my dad. I had my mom keep the visit under wraps, a birthday surprise for my Poppa. And he was pleasantly surprised. It helps that he's a rather oblivious gent and didn't pick up on the possible clues: cleaning the house, washing the sheets on my old bed, stocking up on gluten free foods, my ice skates arriving UPS.

This is the fat lazy squirrel who kept hanging out on our deck. He made himself pretty comfy. I can't really blame him for being so worn out. It was pretty hot and humid when I arrived.

The heat didn't last long. As we were finishing the really nice dinner my mom prepared it started to storm. The picture doesn't really portray how strongly the trees were whipping around in the back yard.




There was a lot more wind than anything else. The sky didn't even get that dark. After dinner I started to make Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies and halfway through the power went out.

As we went out the next morning the we discovered that a tree in our neighbors yard had split, and the half the fell had knocked over the street light on the corner. We were ultimately without power for about 32 hours.

It wasn't too bad, it was just our area, about a half mile radius, and we were able to eat all of our left overs before they went bad, and we had enough that we didn't have to cook. The power came back on on the Fourth, just in time for our neighbors backyard party. Since they recommend bringing a dish to share. Since I knew there wouldn't be a whole lot for me to eat I took a sausage by Amylu, which my mom likes and are clearly labeled gluten free. And I made a Blueberry Tart to make sure that I would have a tasty dessert. It was nice to catch up with folks I haven't seen in years.

Saturday was my dad's birthday, so we had family breakfast and fixed my folks my Teff Quinoa Pancakes, which they loved. Instead of a birthday cake I made a new twist on my dad's favorite dessert, Apple Vitti, which we enjoyed after taking him out to dinner. Our family's birthday restaurant of choice is The Real Seafod Co., where you get a free meal and dessert on your birthday. They also have a special menu that has all the gluten free options clearly marked. Never the less, I asked the waitress lots of questions and she was very conscientious and wanted to make sure she understood my restrictions. When we had concerns about the flourless chocolate cake the manager came to assure us that it really was gluten free (it looked like it had a crust on the bottom, but I guess that's just the way it cooks).

We had a great meal and a great visit. I've been very busy since I got home. It's taken me a whole week and I finally got to finish this post. I wish I could fall asleep as soon as I turn the TV on like my folks can!

Glutino Lemon Wafer Cookies

On Friday we had a birthday in the office. Since the VP was turning 40 she had been dropping not very subtle hints that she wanted something nice. So we had a catered lunch.

When I received the food from the delivery guy and started to set it up in the lunch room I was struck that the woman who ordered the food had actually made an effort to order food that I could eat. The receipt read: Mozzarella tomato plate, cold cut sandwich plate, fruit and chocolate plate, salad. This looked promising.

It wasn't. Well, the mozzarella tomato plate was great. The cold cut plate was really sandwiches and the chocolate plate was cookies and brownies with fruit sprinkled around it. I was glad that I had brought my own lunch, not wanting to take any chances. I had a nice slice of tomato and really good mozzarella with my turkey burger.

But it was so nice to see that they had really tried to accommodate my needs, just not knowing what questions to ask to ensure a safe meal for me. But I must remind myself that they tried.

Not being able to join in the fruit and chocolate plate, I delved into my store of samples for something to share.
I came up with these Glutino Lemon Wafer cookies.

Lately, here in New York the weather and calendar both say it's summer. It's almost to hot to do anything. Almost to hot to think even.

And the cookies were light and refreshing. Everyone agreed that they were a great summer desert. Sweet and tart with a great crisp bite.

(and they went pretty well with the champaign we were having. In the middle of the day, of course.)

Trader Joe's

I seem to be doing a lot of trekking these days. Not out in the wilderness, but in the wilds of New York city. Often times I have to hit two or more stores to get all the things I need. I try to go to one store a day, or do a continuous trip, getting the heavy things last. I do all of my shopping on foot.

Today was my Treader Joe's trek. I take the train from work and then walk a mile to the store to load up on as much as I can. I love Trader Joe's because they have great prices on unique things. I can pay the same price for organic and free trade foods as I would at the standard grocery store.

The other great thing about Trader Joe's is their gluten free list. They have a list of all the products in the store that are gluten free. You can download the list on your desk top, or, if you're like me, you can grab on from the customer service desk and take it around the store with you as you shop. I wanted to try a few new things for next week and I made about three trips back to check the list.
Today they had Beef Jerky, which reads 'gluten free' right on the label. All you herbivores, look away. This jerky is great! I like things to be spiced, but I wouldn't call this 'spicy'. It's sweet and smoky and not too dry. I had some of it on the walk back to the subway and it really sut my tummy up.

My other find today was Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding. When something says chocolate and gluten free right on the label I feel that it is my duty to sample, for your benefit. Into my shopping bag in went.

I had to wait to get home to try this one.

After putting away my groceries and washing my lunch dishes I decided I could treat myself to a little chocolate pudding.

As a I only got to have Jello-type puddings at friends houses, so any kind of creamy, chocolaty snack is a real treat and this exceeded my expectations. It's thick and rich without the artificial aftertaste I always associated with pudding cups.


Plus: it's got a cute little cow on the label!

S'MAC

Yesterday I was finally galvanized into action.

New York may very well be the only city in this country that can support a restaurant devoted to macaroni and cheese. And not just one, either, I know of at least three.

I heard the chatter that S'MAC had introduced gluten free macaroni and cheese, but for some reason I just couldn't get my but over there.

Yesterday was the day of no more excuses, in honor of their 2nd anniversary S'MAC was offering $1 mac-n-cheese, $2 for gluten free. The allure of inexpensive, gluten free food finally pulled me in.

After working up my appetite by walking all the way downtown to 12th Street from my office at 49th Street, and a minor detour and call to 411 to verify the address, I found this hole-in-the-wall joint hopping with people. All of them loving their mac-n-cheese.

I stepped up the counter, paid my $2, and fought my way to a counter seat. It no time my cute little skillet of All American mac-n-cheese arrived. And it was good.

I grew up with Kraft in the blue box and a distinct aversion for anything Velveeta. After trying mac-n-cheese at picnics and food service offers in cafeterias I was bewildered as to why so many people consider this a comfort food.

Now I know. This warm, cheesy, gooey skillet of goodness could just about cure all ills as far as I'm concerned. I can tell you how great it was, and how I want to go back and try all the different combinations. I can't really make educated comparisons, but I can say that this is the best mac-n-cheese I've ever had.

Appearantly, they have created all their recipes to be gluten free, even the bread crumbs, and only the noodles are gluten. There is an additional $1 charge for gluten free noodles in any style or any size. So if you're ever in New York City I will be overjoyed to take you to S'MAC!

The Last Bite

Purely Decadent

I think that adults often forget that each days is an adventure waiting to happen. Especially so in New York City. Some days I shuffle to my job in the Diamond District and shuffle back home home to my Latin neighborhood. Some days I make my own adventure.

Walking downtown, or uptown, one travels through a cross section of New Yorks neighborhoods. As I walked my Whole Foods circuit I traveled from the suited business world through the city strata like a many-layered cake. Clothing changes, speech patterns change and the make-up of couple becomes more diverse.

I saw a well dressed young man walking down the street, and then noticed that he was wearing catholic school-style short pants with shiny black shoes and black socks pulled all the way up, and he was perfectly confident that he looked better than anyone else. I love to see the diversity around my adopted city, it reminds me why I moved here in the first place.

I made another wonderful discovery at the Whole Foods in Chelsea. I stopped by for bread for my boyfriend and raw cacao for myself, but every once in a while I wistfully peruse the frozen dessert case. As far as I'm concerned, most of those selections are off limits because of questionable flavoring ingredients. But what did I see? I saw Purely Decadent dairy free frozen desserts, and three flavor said gluten free. Snickerdoodle, Key Lime Pie and Blueberry Cheesecake.

I had to get one. After trekking to two more Whole Foods to get everything on my list I finally got a seat on the F train home to Queens. I pulled out my flimsy plastic spoon and opened my new find. I have never had a soy based frozen dessert, but I am always curious. Gelatos are often gluten free, and they are rich and creamy. Low calorie options are often a lot like iced milk or have weird flavors. I was trying not to get my hopes too high.

What I got was a cool, delicious, light, smooth cinnamon ice cream with real big chunks of gluten free snickerdoodle dough. It was great. It didn't taste like dairy ice cream, but it didn't need to. It was over all a little lighter and the snickerdoodle pieces tasted just as good as any snickerdoodle dough I've ever made.

I was reading the ingredients and although the packaging says that it is both dairy free and gluten free it also appears to be egg free as well.

Really, the best endorsement I can give is to say that, without a doubt, next time I go to Whole Foods I am going to try one of the other flavors.

Happy Father's Day

A belated Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there. Although this post is late, I did call mine on time, and I also wished it to the three father's that I live with. My boyfriend and I had a very nice day together, although his son did not come to visit or call. I'll keep my mouth shut about that since it's really not my place.

For breakfast I made a new pancake recipe that I've been experimenting with. Ever since I first intorduced my boyfriend to pancakes he's had a growing appreciation for them. He even started having one for breakfast every morning. Since he was eating them and I wasn't it seemed sorta silly to spend so much money on a GF pancake mix. I got him a whole grain oat bran mix and made him those. Actually, I mixed the batter and taught him how to cook one for himself each morning.

Then, watching him enjoy his pancakes, sorta wishing I could at least have a bite, I had a little scare. I cooked his pancake for him, and then on a whim and without thinking a tossed a Van's toaster waffle into the same pan to toast. I didn't realize what I had done until after I'd eaten most of the waffle. Luckily, if I had a reaction it wasn't bad enough for me to really notice.

Between that and our mutual search for lower carb, higher protein, whole grain options I decided that my best bet was to try to make my own pancake concoction, where I had complete control over the ingredients. All the gluten free mixes had far to many carbs for his taste, and were too refined for mine. After several batches, which weren't bad at all I came up with these. Saturday morning I was told not to change this recipe, they were just right. He couldn't even wait to let me take a picture.

Without further ado, let me present the Teff Quinoa Pancake.
low in carbs, high in protein, and super yummy.

1/2c. Quinoa flour
1/2c. Teff flour
1 Tbsp. Flaxseed meal
1 tsp. baking soda
2Tbsp. NutriBiotic ruice protien powder
2 egg whites
1c. Milk

ValpiForm Chocolate Chip Cookies

This review is long over due. I received two boxes of these ValpiForm cookies in my goody bag from the first Worry Free Dinner and I was trying to save them, for what, I’m not sure.

The last two weeks were incredibly stressful, between my aunts memorial, my boss getting back to the office and the ensuing drama, having these cookies in my office was a mistake.

I’m not sure what they’re actually called, but they ought to be called Way, Way, Way Too Good Chocolate Chip Cookies. They come in three packs of three in each box and despite all my best intentions I didn’t even have the willpower to save one for photography. These are seriously too good. I managed to eat both boxes in four days. Which might have had something to do with the amount of stress I was under.

But I digress. These cookies have a fantastic; they have a light crispy texture and smooth taste. They crumble a little but crumbs are the best part, right? And the chocolate chips are soft and sweet.

Not only are they gluten free they are also milk free and nut free.

The only reason I wouldn’t buy these cookies would be because I was afraid that I would eat them all at one time.

Worry Free Dinner: Craftbar

I’ve been so busy this week that I’ve been remiss in my posting. On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the third Worry Free Dinner. The wonderful staff at Craftbar worked with the wonderful Allergic Girl to create a special menu for us Special Diners where we could eat good food with out worries.

Craftbar created a wonderful menu that was gluten free, as well as being free of many other allergens. I chose to start with the mixed greens salad, followed by the dry-aged sirloin. We each had out own menus, on which we circled our selections and were able to write any other instructions, requests or concerns we might have. The chef and waiter were great, one of my fellow diners made mention of a caffeine intolerance and the waiter returned to tell her that the lentils in her selection were soaked in coffee. Now that’s paying attention.

The online health news network HealthCentral Network sponsored the event. A representative, Joy Buchanan came to speak with us and ask us questions. The network is interested in being of more use to celiacs and other gluten free folk. It was very nice to speak to someone so interested in our experiences, and to hear what we need or would like to be able to find on the internet as well.

As I have said before, it’s so nice to go out and get together with like-minded people. The company was fantastic, I met some very interesting people, and the food was superb. I don’t usually to get to indulge in meals this fancy. My budget is a little tight, and although my parents taught me to enjoy good food my boyfriend does not have such a discerning palette . . . yet. Even though the do not have a special gluten free menu I would feel absolutely confident dinning at Craftbar again. I know that the staff would listen and honor my needs.

We also got a great goodie bag of certified asthma and allergy friendly goodies. A pillow, pillow covers, a stuffed animal and teddy bear, a T-shirt and a Fast & Fit cook book, published by none other than Hatherleigh press where my friend used to work. Funny how everything comes around in a circle.

So a great big thank you to Allergic Girl and Craftbar for a great Worry Free Dinner!

First BBQ of the Season

Featuring Pamela’s Products Cake and Frosting Mixes

Yesterday Alyssa hosted a long overdue apartment warming BBQ with her new roommate. She was with me as I was being diagnosed and she helped me through my recovery and did a lot of research with me when we lived together. She used to work for a publishing house that did health and fitness books, and she even worked on a few early gluten free cookbooks. I had really felt lucky knowing that I wouldn’t really have to worry about the food being served, or at lest the items that they were providing.

But, I had several packages of Pamela’s cake mixes that were sent to me for sampling and I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to share them, so I offered to bring a cake to the BBQ.

Now, as hard as I try, it seems that nothing I do is ever simple and this cake was no exception. It was a three-day ordeal that began on Thursday with baking the cake layers and ended Saturday, with me hand carrying an enormous cake on the subway to the gym and then on the New Jersey Transit bus to her apartment.

The BBQ was great. Alyssa and Deb had a cheese plate, home made gazpacho, fruit and meat ready to be grilled. It seems that Alyssa talks about me quite a bit and everyone knew I was the Girl Who Can’t Eat Bread. They all had questions, but they were all also very good about not contaminating the cheese knives with cracker crumbs. Each new person who arrived was quickly apprised of the situation by the other guests. It was wonderful to meet such considerate and interesting new people.

It turns out that Deb, and others there were already interested or aware of the gluten free lifestyle. It was really hard to see Deb, who admits to having a minor gluten intolerance herself, eating bread and crackers. One of Deb’s past jobs included designing the logo and website for GlutenFree Passport, a website resource for dinning out gluten free in the US and also all around the world.

All in all I had a great time. I hope Alyssa and Deb have a few more BBQs this summer. My cake was a big hit. Everyone liked it and said they would never have guessed that it was anything other than a regular cake if no one had told them. Deb said it was the best gluten free cake she had ever had. The general consensus was that over all the chocolate cake layer was a little bit better than the yellow layer, which I thought was a tad dry. The chocolate frosting was amazing and the fruit added that extra touch.

The Cake Odyssey

I started with a bag each of Pamela’s Classic Vanilla Cake, Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Frosting and Dark Chocolate Frosting mixes. My first idea was to make two marbled layers, but the cooking times and temperatures are different for the two cake mixes, so it became a two flavor, two-layer cake.

I unloaded all the pots and pans and started the oven. The yellow cake came first, in my 10” spring form pan. When that one was finished I slipped the chocolate cake, in the 9” spring form pan in. I followed the bag recipes in each case, not wanting to experiment too much the first time.

The batter tasted good, since I had to lick the bowl, and both cakes came out looking delicious. When my boyfriend got home, he looked at them and made devouring noises and motions. The cakes got covered up and packed away in our bedroom, to keep them away from the mice.

Friday was assembly day. I picked up some fresh fruits on the way home from work. I decide to put the yellow cake on the bottom, since it was bigger and it would be easier to trim that way, using the chocolate cake as a guide.

I mixed up the chocolate frosting, again following the directions on the bag, and ended up with a very thick fudgy frosting that didn’t spread very well. I managed to coax it out to the edges of the first layer; it was just enough to cover the top.

I covered that with halved raspberries and blueberries, trying to be as artistically random as I could.

While taking the chocolate cake off of its pan and placing it on top of the fruit layer, I succeeded in getting a very delicious handprint. The cake was, I hope, baked for the proper amount of time, but the top was nice and moist. The chocolate layer fit perfectly on top of the yellow, so at least I trimmed well.

I mixed up the vanilla frosting, adding about 2 additional tablespoons of water than the recipe on the bag called for. This gave me a softer, more spreadable frosting for the top of the cake. I think, perhaps I should have added even more water, since I didn’t have quite enough frosting to completely cover the sides of the cake. As it turned out, in transporting the cake most of the side frosting got stuck to the foil and I had to ‘reapply’ it when I got to New Jersey.

As an artist, I simply cannot pass up a blank canvass like the top of this cake. Along with the berries I got for the purpose I pilfered two strawberries from the refrigerator and used them to decorate the top. The end result looked pretty good, if home made, and I’m glad that no one in our house decided to sample it Friday night.

*****A special thank you to Alyssa and Deb for having this BBQ and the Pamela's Products for the cake and frosting mixes*****