Hot Dog Bean Soup

Socks

Excitement I

A bunch of people I know did 365 day projects last year.  So here I go, jumping on to that bandwagon.

mundane+art=humor or so I am hoping. 

Here we go

day one

Would a trip to NYC be complete without a Black and White cookie?  Plastic wrapped one is the GF one we found on the upper west side.

Long time no post

Its been a long time since I've posted and a lot has changed. My back has been killing me. The man and I decided that we ought to remake ourselves. We sprang for a new king sized bed in May. We bought an eco friendly mattress which left us in the position of needing to find a new bed frame. I searched high and how and finally stumbled upon homeandlving.com. What a fantastic resource for those of us who like to let our fingers do the research!

Not only did I find a great selection here but they also ship for free and don't charge tax! No big box can claim that. We haven't bought furniture in years but I totally fell in love with the ! Zen Collection, White Bonded Leather Tufted Bed by Diamond Sofa which can be found here:

bed frames

I totally fell in love with the wonderful button tufting on this bed! My back is now happy in the morning!

New Update on Dr Green's Celiac Bible

I've been anxiously awaiting the updated version of Dr. Peter Green's Celiac - A Hidden Epidemic. I FINALLY got it yesterday and all I can say is WOW. There was SO much good info in the first edition but this one blew me away.

Dr. Green addresses all sorts of new tests, saliva, stool samples etc. He also has a section on future treatments and the implications.

I must say, I'm really excited to see where the future of celiac disease goes. In ten years, its gone from being a grossly misunderstood and under diagnosed problem to being out there in the mainstream.

WOW!

Chocolate Banana Bread

DSC_6510
Originally uploaded by moomoos_mom

2 Cups of my GF flour mix (http://panaluu.blogspot.com/2009/09/it-was-boys-birthday.html
2 tsp of baking powder
2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 cup of melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I use enjoy life)

Mix butter, eggs, milk and vanilla in mixer on slow. Add sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and soda. When mixed through, add bananas and mix on high until throughly mixed. Slowly add flour and mix on high for two minutes. Add chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. This loaf freezes really well and I usually double the recipe and throw one in the freezer to have on hand.

I've been dying for grilled cheese

I've been dying for a grilled cheese. I'm being lazy and just don't feel like baking bread. I was in the supermarket yesterday and noticed that Glutino bread was on sale. I've NEVER bought a loaf of prebaked bread before. I bought it because of the sale. I bought the Original Cheese bread!

I whipped some out of the freezer today and viola. A REALLY good grilled cheese.

YUMMY!

It was the boys birthday...

It was the boys birthday last week. I was SUPER busy. I didn't have huge amounts of time to make a cake so I wanted something easy that I could throw together. I used two flan pans, thew the icing in the middle and made a giant cookie.

I've updated my flour recipe and I'm really liking it. DH swears that he can taste the corn flour in the other mix so I swapped out sorghum for the corn flour.

1 cup of corn starch

1/2 cup of brown rice flour
1/2 cup of white rice flour

1 cup of potato starch

1/2 cup of sorghum flour

1/2 cup of tapioca starch

4 tsp xantham gum

and I used my standard cake recipe I've been using for years:

1 1/2 cups of the above flour

1/2 cup of GF oat flour (you can grind your own)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of butter

1 3/4 cups of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

1 1/3 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Add flour and milk. Mix until smooth. For flan pan bake for 20 min or until tooth pick comes out clean.

For the butter cream icing:

1 1/2 cups of salted butter, softened

2/3 cup Crisco shortening

5-7 tbs heavy cream 2 tsp clear vanilla

2 lbs powdered sugar (about 8 cups)

1-3 tbs corn syrup

Mix the butter, crisco cream, corn syrup on low speed until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until mixed through.

P is for Pasta

I was at my favorite supermarket today looking for silken tofu and found gluten free Pasta Slim Fettuccine. It is a shirataki konjac flour noodle that is pretty much instant. The biggest bonus is, that this noodle only has 50 calories per package (2 servings in the 200g package)

I'm so excited to find a GF pasta that isn't packed with empty calories. From a nutrition point of view, that is the hardest part of not eating gluten. Normal wheat flour is fortified giving it extra nutrition. Gluten free products, especially in Canada are not. They also usually have more calories. Finding a gluten free low calorie substitute really excites me.

not so green smoothie

I love green smoothies. There is nothing like drinking your veggies. They are usually my first food of the day. I found them fairly early on in this voyage and found it hard to believe that a bunch of raw fruits and veggies pureed would calm a tender tummy but they do unlike anything else. We won't even talk about the massive amounts of fruits and veggies you get in one single smoothie. By my accounts, you get a full days 8 servings of plant matter in a single smoothie.

I always start with a base of avocado and spinach. I usually use half an avocado and a couple of handfulls of spinach. The rest I just play around with.



I had some frozen blueberries in my freezer. I have been reading about the wonderful antioxidant powers of blueberries. Keeping them frozen, makes the smoothie deliciously cold.

I am very fortunate to live in a place in canada were the climate is warm enough for peaches to grow. They are in season and pretty irresistible right now. Today I threw in a whole pitted peach along with a splash of orange juice to make things flow. I wiz it through the blender and, viola, a not so green smoothie. Thank you blueberries!

Gluten Free Date Squares

My mother and my aunties always called date square, matrimonial cake. I'm not sure why. I remember going to my Auntie's house when I was a kid and having home made date square for the very first time. She had lovingly hand chopped the dates into a fine paste. I started experimenting with date square when I was pregnant with my youngest son. Oh, what those cravings will do for you. My older two kids were as nuts for it as I was as a kid.

I realized quite early on in my celiac journey that date square would be pretty easy to make if I could find GF oats. I found them on-line from a place called Only Oats out of Saskatchewan (onlyoats.com).

No hand chopping of dates for me, its the blender all the way and I love the texture of pureed dates.

Filling

3 cups of dates

1 1/2 cups of water

3/4 cup of brown sugar

Crumble

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of butter softened

1 cup of brown rice flour

3/4 cup of sorghum flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 of gf baking soda

1 1/2 cups of GF oats

Date Filling

Place all ingredients into a large pot and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. Puree with a blender or food processor.

Directions

Heat oven 400 degrees. Grease rectangular pan (13" x 9"). Mix together butter and brown sugar, then add remaining ingredients and mix until it appears crumbly. Press half of the crumb into bottom of the pan. Spread date filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture, pressing lightly. Bake 25 to 30 min until golden brown.

Gluten Free Samosas

Gluten Free Samosas

I used to live in Little India. I CRAVED samosas something fierce when I was pregnant with the Bean. I haven't had them in YEARS and I was craving them badly today. I've been experimenting with indian food and made bharwan aloo last week. My kids went nutso bananas for that. So today was the day for the samosas. We're in the midst of a bad heatwave that makes my kitchen feel like very authentically Mumbai.

The Filling:

3 Potatos finely diced

1 carrot finely diced

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 table spoon of vegetable oil

2 table spoons of curry powder or your own spices according to taste Salt, Pepper to taste.

200ml of chicken or veggie stock.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add veggies and spices, stir well until coated and beginning to soften. Add the stock, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until cooked.

Pastry

1 1/4 C White Rice Flour

¼ C Sweet Rice Flour

4 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp gelatin

1 egg

¼-1/2 C milk of choice

1/2 cup of butter or oil

1 tsp honey

Mix together rice flour, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum and gelatin. Make a well in dry ingredients large enough to hold the liquids.

Lightly beat egg with ¼ C milk, butter and honey. Pour this into well in dry ingredients. Mix everything together until you have a soft dough.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and cool before rolling. When dough is ready to roll, place it between two pieces of heavy plastic. Cut open zip lock bags are perfect for this.

Roll each piece into a ball and roll out into a circle of 15 cm. Divide this circle into two equal pieces with a knife.

Brush each edge with a little water and form a cone shape around your fingers, sealing the dampened edge.

Fill the cases with potato mixture and press the two dampened edges together to seal the top of the cone. Deep fry the samosas in hot oil until crisp and brown take out and drain on a paper towel.

yummm gnudi

I have never been a big pasta fan. I could easily live my life without ever eating spaghetti. But als, I really MISS raviolli, especially cheese raviolli made with ricotta. I'm sure there is a way to make it gluten free but I can't even fathom how much work that would be. I was thumbing through a magazine and they had a recipe for gnudi which is, you guessed it, raviolli without the olli. Its just the cheese cheese filling boiled like gnocci then pan fried like a peroggi. I was salavating over the thought. I ran out and bought some ricotta as soon as I read it. I knew I could easily change it and make it gluten free.

After a winter with way too much snow in Toronto, that day it was pouring rain. As I walked out of the gargage with my ricotta I realized the snowbank in my garden that had encapsulated my herb pot was actually bare. Low and behold, I had FRESH from my garden thyme in the middle of february.

Gnudi with Frehs Thyme

3 eggs

1 425-g tub ricotta cheese

3/4 cup gluten free flour mix

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp sea salt

6 tbsp butter

generous handful of fresh thyme, dried will do in a pinch

fresh ground pepper

In a large bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Add ricotta and whisk until well combined. Whisk in flour, Parmesan and salt. Let gnudi mixture chill 15 minutes.

Bring a large, wide pot of salted water to a gentle simmer. Form gnudi mixture into 24 rough balls using 2 soup spoons. Gently drop each ball off the spoon and into the simmering water. Simmer the gnudi about 2 to 3 minutes, or until cooked through. They pop up to the surface like cooked gnocci. Drain and reserve on a baking sheet. (Gnudi can be made in advance up to this point and kept for up to 4 hours in the fridge.)

Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add sage leaves and cook about 5 minutes or until butter is browned. Add gnudi. Gently toss and cook about 5 minutes or until gnudi are heated through, lowering heat so butter doesn’t over-brown.

My kids went nutso for this. Next time I'll have to double it. I think it would also be fabulous with some sundried tomato mixed into the cheese mix.

pizza round two

I've perected my pizza recipe. I now use half milk half water and its fluffier and far more "realistic" than my first version.

On the menu tonight:

Thai chili steak pizza with sun dried tomatos. I'd take a picture of it, but its all in our stomachs. It was the best pizza I think I've ever made YUMMM.

It was the basic pizza crust as my pizza post.

Toppings:

jarred catelli pizza sauce
mozzerella cheese ball grated by me (preshredded cheese isn't always gluten free"
very thinly sliced steak that I buy in the chinese grocery that is sliced for hot pot
chopped up sun dried tomatos
Thai House thai chili sauce.

In a word YUMMMM.

my brush with fame

I was surfing the net for recipe inspiration today and happened upon this:

http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/2008/10/glutenfree_cupcakes_yum.html

WOW! What can I say!

This is the link to the episode of the show where they made MY cupcakes! Its approx 36 min into the video:

http://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/fullvideo.html?id=1026202446&playlist=632c488a6891879b2ae9908f30d53112850d2172

many cupcakes

It was my kids' birthday yesterday. I made 3 dozen gluten free cupcakes. I had piles of kids at the birthday party and MOST had 2 cupcakes. They were THAT good.

I used my standard flour mix:

1 cup of corn starch

1/2 cup of brown rice flour
1/2 cup of white rice flour

1 cup of potato starch

1/2 cup of corn flour

1/2 cup of tapioca starch

4 tsp xantham gum

and I used my standard cake recipe I've been using for years:

2 cups of the above flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of butter

1 3/4 cups of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

1 1/3 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda salt, set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Add flour and milk. Mix until smooth. For cupcakes bake for 25 min.

For the butter cream icing:

1 1/2 cups of salted butter, softened

2/3 cup Crisco shortening

5-7 tbs heavy cream 2 tsp clear vanilla

2 lbs powdered sugar (about 8 cups)

1-3 tbs corn syrup

Mix the butter, crisco cream, corn syrup on low speed until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar until mixed through.

In a word:

YUMMMMM

and the cookies..

I want cookies. Peanut butter cookies. I made them we'll see how they taste. My daughter is away at a friends. I'm a horrid mother for doing this but she has a tree nut allergy and we avoid peanuts but she's not here .... and I can eat a lot of cookies!

BREAD

I bought a bread machine with the illusive goal of having a grilled cheese sandwich. I made countless loaves of bread. Door stops, soup, things the dog woudn't want to eat. Then, I had one that was almost good. I had my grilled cheese and the cheese oozed into the bread.

Last night, one more attempt. I have it! A loaf of bread that looks and tastes like it should. Its four flour bread from the Bette Hagman bread cook book.

ALAS, today for lunch, my much desired drippy grilled cheese :)

going on a month

I've been gluten free for almost a month. Next thrusday, I get to celebrate my month of gluten free eating with a intestinal biopsy.

The past month has been surreal. I've travelled and managed to live and eat. Three weeks in to my journey, I realized that I had not had a headache in three weeks. I've had some form of headache for at least 20 years. Often mild but always there in some form. Last night, I slept through the night for the first time since my oldest son was born 13 years ago. Ah to sleep again.

But oh, to have a grilled cheese sandwich. I really want one on really nice egg bread. I want it SO much, I went and bought a bread machine and have a, hopefully nice, challah loaf in there this very moment. At this point, I'd be happy if it remotely resembles bread!