Lord this amazing obsession in America, brought over from Italy and France...flatbread....an appetizer, a small plate, a delicious goodness that has become a huge meal with enormous and amazing toppings....an absolute slap in the face to the gluten free community. In my opinion that is. I have tried every premade or store bought and even some fresh pizza oven places who offer gluten free pizza crusts and i have to say I am most disgusted with it. Flatbread is a general term thrown around loosly and in the gfree world seems to mean a cardboard nasty mess. DISGUSTING....until now. It has gotten so bad that Isabelle will not even TRY pizza from a pizza place or from my own oven. Poor thing associates pizza with pain, both dairy and gluten and I'm not sure which is worse when it comes to pizza for her but she HATES it and will not try it mostly at all. BUT still my obsession and life's work seems to be to find a gluten free crust that won't make her sick but meets some of my requirements too since going gluten free. It should have a bite to it, it should have a rise to it and it should LOOK like pizza, NOT a cardboard box. Most importantly it should taste amazing. Impossible? If you have been gluten free recently you would think so. I have mentioned before the Art of Gluten Free Baking and she has a pizza crust that has yeast in it and you let it rise twice and bake it twice and when I say it's good, TRUST me it's yummy! After all the crap I've tried, it is as close to a real pizza if not better than I have ever had. I made it with my friend, Henrietta, on one of our baking testing days...I can make the crust gluten and dairy free and since Izzy doesn't like cheese I leave half without! I have heard that for the dairy free Daiya cheese is a good alternative but I have not tried this yet so please don't quote me on this one!
Her crust recipe is as follows:http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2009/08/gluten-free-pizza-edited-62910/
I follow the recipe but I let mine rise a bit more than the thin style and then prior to baking I brush with olive oil and dock the dough. My favorite thing is to after it's cooled, brush again with olive oil and minced garlic then top with slices of tomato and fresh mozarella with shredded proscuitto and shredded basil and rebake until the cheese is melted and bubbly.......Izzy still picks the cheese off but I have had more compliments on this pizza than when I made it with the gluten dough....and it makes pizza marguerita taste like Italy sans glutino! Buon Appetito!
mom of 4 beautiful children. From teens to toddlers and every food allergy and culinary experience along the way...
My sweet celiac and youngest, Izzy
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
You can call me awesome if you want to....:)
One of my favorite lines that my son said to his big sis while we were driving from Atlanta to Jacksonville, on our cross country vacation, but I have to say I feel a little like saying that about one of my best friends, Henrietta, and my cooking day. Gluten Free Diva, Pasta Mama....alot of great names come to mind today with our amazing sucesss in the kitchen. We talked about it for months, we planned it for days, then...finally...it happened! We started at 9 am and cooked until we couldn't stand any longer! Henrietta has spent the last year testing for an amazing woman who is writing her own cookbook due out next Christmas called "The Art of Gluten Free Baking", her name is Jeanne and I am not kidding when I say this.....she is a GENIOUS! .....AND possibly a life saver! Here is her website: http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/
Yeast intolerant beware! Everything we made today was gluten and dairy free but Yeast was in the rolls, pizza dough, bread.....YEAH...it's one of those things that it's more of an every now and then things but man was it good!
We started out making her Parker House Rolls, like you have at Thanksgiving. I cannot tell you how I missed those lovely piles full of fluff and yeast. When we finished making the batter, the mix just smelled like bread....I thought my tastebuds would explode before I had waited for them to cook, cool and could taste one! All I can say is I CANNOT WAIT for the holidays this year! My sweet angel and close friend can eat EVERYTHING they want!!! Next we moved to pizza dough and pasta dough and pastry dough....once all the doughs were made and settled in their appropriate manner we made a real pizza marguerita, we made homemade pop tarts (strawberry to be exact), we MADE homemade PASTA (tagiatelle) and finished it with a yummy sauce of tomatoes, capers, lemon juice butter alternative, galic and olive oil) along with buttermilk biscuits and used the extra pasta dough to make Nutella Eggrolls as well, one of my all time favorite deserts! I learned to make dumplings for chicken and dumplings and also all the things we could do with the different doughs!
It was the most amazing day...we were able to have so much fun creating wonderful meals that taste like the "gluten original" and in half the time since we were helping each other. This is going to be a trend in our households from here on out. We are going to make batches of different things we would normally make in our homes before diagnosis and freeze them so we can have some easy meals on hand. I think that is the hardest thing about gluten free living. Gluten free and dairy free living is a very clean way to live and very healthy but you can't just throw a frozen dinner in the oven or order pizza EVER and not be sick. Every now and again it would be nice to be able to have something in the freezer that didn't take an hour to cook as well. ie. a frozen pizza or whatever....and it not cost an arm and a leg and taste good. Well, we made it happen! It might go down in history as one of my favorite days in life thus far. To make food that my child loves that does not taste bad or make her sick...it means so much to me and to be able to conquer my worst fears in the kitchen and gluten free realm successfully, it's the most amazing feeling ever. I cannot wait for our next cooking day when we make Biscotti an all sorts of other foods!
Yeast intolerant beware! Everything we made today was gluten and dairy free but Yeast was in the rolls, pizza dough, bread.....YEAH...it's one of those things that it's more of an every now and then things but man was it good!
We started out making her Parker House Rolls, like you have at Thanksgiving. I cannot tell you how I missed those lovely piles full of fluff and yeast. When we finished making the batter, the mix just smelled like bread....I thought my tastebuds would explode before I had waited for them to cook, cool and could taste one! All I can say is I CANNOT WAIT for the holidays this year! My sweet angel and close friend can eat EVERYTHING they want!!! Next we moved to pizza dough and pasta dough and pastry dough....once all the doughs were made and settled in their appropriate manner we made a real pizza marguerita, we made homemade pop tarts (strawberry to be exact), we MADE homemade PASTA (tagiatelle) and finished it with a yummy sauce of tomatoes, capers, lemon juice butter alternative, galic and olive oil) along with buttermilk biscuits and used the extra pasta dough to make Nutella Eggrolls as well, one of my all time favorite deserts! I learned to make dumplings for chicken and dumplings and also all the things we could do with the different doughs!
It was the most amazing day...we were able to have so much fun creating wonderful meals that taste like the "gluten original" and in half the time since we were helping each other. This is going to be a trend in our households from here on out. We are going to make batches of different things we would normally make in our homes before diagnosis and freeze them so we can have some easy meals on hand. I think that is the hardest thing about gluten free living. Gluten free and dairy free living is a very clean way to live and very healthy but you can't just throw a frozen dinner in the oven or order pizza EVER and not be sick. Every now and again it would be nice to be able to have something in the freezer that didn't take an hour to cook as well. ie. a frozen pizza or whatever....and it not cost an arm and a leg and taste good. Well, we made it happen! It might go down in history as one of my favorite days in life thus far. To make food that my child loves that does not taste bad or make her sick...it means so much to me and to be able to conquer my worst fears in the kitchen and gluten free realm successfully, it's the most amazing feeling ever. I cannot wait for our next cooking day when we make Biscotti an all sorts of other foods!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Gluten, Dairy and Peanut....Oh My!
I love that so many people are catching on to the sustainable food era. I love using local produce and meats when I can and trying to create a meal with seasonal ingredients I can pick up at the farmers market. I never thought about this when I was younger, never tried my hand at making baby food when the older girls were little and had no idea how much I love food, entertaining and cooking for other people until the last 6 or 7 years. It used to be that I LOVED getting to sleep in on a Saturday morning once the teenage girls got old enough to sleep in or watch cartoons and now I can't wait to jump out of bed and head to the Farmer's Market in our small town....I peruse and push the stroller the first time around usually and look at what each booth has to offer and then go back for a second round to pick the things I love the best....and NOW, this year our local farmers have included grass fed beef and lamb, fresh eggs and free range chicken. There are things I go the the regular store for or I need to pick up at our natural food markets to complete the meals but Saturdays have become my inspiration for the week to come. My understanding is if I made it down to Fayetteville that I could actually go three times a week and it's a bigger farmer's market....I will be trying this once it is no longer 102 degrees out though. My children's food allergies have become a sense of well being for me, I know that eating all that over processed food is not healthy...I get it but sometimes you just want easy....
Easy has not been in my vocabulary for about 2 and a half years now. Bringing home our sweet baby angel, Isabelle, and all her issues with being positive for cocaine and an allergy to dairy right off the bat after having adopted Noah right before and having his first three weeks with us screaming because of his dairy allergy and then the ongoing saga with what is Izzy allergic to this week.............who wouldn't run screaming? :) Food should not be scary! Food should be loved, and enjoyed and this is what happens when you tell me my kids can't eat:
I research, I expirament, I make until it's right.....not all things are success the first time around, some not even the second or third....but I WILL perservere. Isabelle WILL be able to eat a buttermilk biscuit that is dairy and gluten free and will not make her sick! She will be able to have a "mock" peanut butter and jelly sandwich if she chooses because all the other kids in school are taking them for lunch. She will be a normal and healthier child because of what I create for her.
I was talking with someone today who told me that they have been eliminating gluten, caffiene, dairy, sugar and yeast from their diet because these over processed things are making them sick then this weekend they cheated and had a sandwich and felt terrible because of it: I have learned one thing, when you know what food tastes like and you have to eliminate something because of an allergy......the first few months are hard. You still remember what these things taste like. And usually trying an elimination diet you are still expiramenting and alot of the food tastes terrible....so you crave the other even more. It DOES get easier. There comes a time when you are just tired of being sick from eating the wrong thing. There is a time when you say it just isn't worth it anymore. Krispy Kreme? You haven't tasted one of my gfree cinnamon doughnut muffins or Glutino's version of a glazed doughnut OR one of my homemade doughnuts with apple pie spice glaze for the fall....but this didn't come overnight. You can ask the family there have been some terrible outcomes to this new way of cooking. It is like a chemistry class....without gluten the chemical make up of things is drastically different and you HAVE to find the right combination of flours/starches/dairy alternatives and so on. One tiny slip and your biscuit is a cracker.....Totally done that before. SO, my goal is to take my amazing celiac business partner/dear friend and my wonderful guinea pig family and create until it comes out right. In the end, I hope I can share with everyone else and make their lives a little easier in the long run. it can be very depressing to have to do an overhaul of food in your life, especially if you are older and know what there is missing. I want to make it a sustainable, healthy meal that makes you not afraid to eat or cook....stay tuned!
Easy has not been in my vocabulary for about 2 and a half years now. Bringing home our sweet baby angel, Isabelle, and all her issues with being positive for cocaine and an allergy to dairy right off the bat after having adopted Noah right before and having his first three weeks with us screaming because of his dairy allergy and then the ongoing saga with what is Izzy allergic to this week.............who wouldn't run screaming? :) Food should not be scary! Food should be loved, and enjoyed and this is what happens when you tell me my kids can't eat:
I research, I expirament, I make until it's right.....not all things are success the first time around, some not even the second or third....but I WILL perservere. Isabelle WILL be able to eat a buttermilk biscuit that is dairy and gluten free and will not make her sick! She will be able to have a "mock" peanut butter and jelly sandwich if she chooses because all the other kids in school are taking them for lunch. She will be a normal and healthier child because of what I create for her.
I was talking with someone today who told me that they have been eliminating gluten, caffiene, dairy, sugar and yeast from their diet because these over processed things are making them sick then this weekend they cheated and had a sandwich and felt terrible because of it: I have learned one thing, when you know what food tastes like and you have to eliminate something because of an allergy......the first few months are hard. You still remember what these things taste like. And usually trying an elimination diet you are still expiramenting and alot of the food tastes terrible....so you crave the other even more. It DOES get easier. There comes a time when you are just tired of being sick from eating the wrong thing. There is a time when you say it just isn't worth it anymore. Krispy Kreme? You haven't tasted one of my gfree cinnamon doughnut muffins or Glutino's version of a glazed doughnut OR one of my homemade doughnuts with apple pie spice glaze for the fall....but this didn't come overnight. You can ask the family there have been some terrible outcomes to this new way of cooking. It is like a chemistry class....without gluten the chemical make up of things is drastically different and you HAVE to find the right combination of flours/starches/dairy alternatives and so on. One tiny slip and your biscuit is a cracker.....Totally done that before. SO, my goal is to take my amazing celiac business partner/dear friend and my wonderful guinea pig family and create until it comes out right. In the end, I hope I can share with everyone else and make their lives a little easier in the long run. it can be very depressing to have to do an overhaul of food in your life, especially if you are older and know what there is missing. I want to make it a sustainable, healthy meal that makes you not afraid to eat or cook....stay tuned!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Summer
Wow! It's been a while since I wrote last. Lana is doing fabulously and has enjoyed her first "new heart" VACATION! Never thought those sweet words would come so soon but they did. 3 weeks in beautiful Florida for us with a little escape for mommy to NYC kid free and MUCH needed. We left Bentonville on the 13th on June with the car loaded to the hilt...yes, I said car.........we drove from Bentonville, AR to Jacksonville, FL. Call me crazy but it was a great trip overall and Lana wasn't quite ready to fly yet and needed an appointment to check everything on our way down. SO, I packed the car full of clothes, toys, diapers, medicine and G-free food for Isabelle and we headed out. First stop, Little Rock where we checked into a hotel versus an apartment and settled in for the night before heading to Lana's appointment on the 14th.
I will back up a tiny bit but in the last several months, Isabelle had dental surgery that led to a respiratory distress that led to inhalers that led us back to our allergist in Bentonville which led to another food and environmental allergy panel to see if anything else might be triggering her recent "asthmatic symptoms". We are not not only Gluten free but peanut and dairy free also with allergies to mold and ragweed which one is in spring and one is in fall - poor kid. On top of that, during the visit with the allergist she noticed Isabelle has what is called a "flow murmur" in her heart. Given what we've been through and the fact that I also know that murmurs are not harmful and very common, I floated somewhere between panic and disbelief for several weeks. At Lana's appointment though, she did amazingly well and got the final all clear for vacation and the head of transplantation listened to Isabelle for me to calm my nerves before our trip. And calm she did. She heard the murmur and said to have the referral so they can run a few tests but said she was fine. Nothing to worry about.
We continued on our way from Little Rock to Atlanta. Flowery Branch to be exact. And we had an amazing night with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Robyn and her family. It was only a night and part of the day but it was so wonderful to be in her home, with her kids (and a bonus and awesome treat, her mom) and get to swim to get the car jitters out and catch up with her. She is and was then on an elimination diet from dairy, sugar, caffiene and gluten do to some medical issues she's been having and what a treat for me to get to share some of what I've learned with her to help her journey be a little bit easier. Now we text and share holisitic and helpful hints in life and food almost everyday. How I love that woman and her friendship! We left the Atlanta area and headed for Jacksonville. The wildfires were so bad we adjusted our trip from 75 and went down 16 to savannah and down 95. Not a bad drive and the kids were again, very good.
Our trip in Jacksonville was an amazing trip for everyone with great seafood, Whole Foods, lots of eating out and lots of friends and family, water, beach, boats, and ending with an amazing 4th of July at my Aunt Shiela and Uncle Jimmy's. It is a age old tradition to be at my aunt and uncle's and it was so much fun. Unfortunately, during the trip Isabelle was exposed to gluten, dairy and peanuts and in and out of the pool left her skin itchy, scratchy and eczema prone and her stomach was in knots. We did out best but traveling is SOOOOOO hard to do with food allergies. I want to mention that we ate out at Sakura Japenese Steakhouse and I brought Izzy's gfree soy sauce and they made her a meal while we watched the Habachi going and she was pleasantly not sick afterwards and they were so accomodating about her allergy with that and shrimp. We also found an amazing local bakery that is completely gluten free! OMG, yes i did just say that. Talk about a kid in a candy store! AND THEY SHIP, at least most of their items. Their name is Cookie Momsters and they are on Hendricks/San Jose for those of you that live in Jax, right next to Steve's Seafood Market. They offer everything you can think of from cupcakes and cookies and bread to predone gfree meals.....HEAVEN...wish we lived back there again so we could take advantage of everything
It was an amazing trip with amazing friends and family and we were sad to leave and come home but yet at the same time, so ready to get home and get back to normal and in our own environment. I have been cooking up a storm with frittatas and all sorts of things and ready to get into a groove where we are trying some new things I've learned. A new website I've discovered, thanks to a close friend is Gluten Free Girl and a Chef author and her website is www.glutenfreegirl.com expect many more new recipes that I am tweaking with our other allergies as well coming soon. She even has a homemade recipe for creme friache, although not dairy free, does not bother her lactose intolerant family members at all.....1 pint of good cream in a jar (less pastuerized the better) with a dribble of 2 tbsp of Buttermilk....shake jar and leave it on the counter for 8-24 hours to thicken. I would love to think we can make this with the new coconut kefir out now but I will have to practice it and let you know.
Frittata Recipe:
1 pound of green beans, sliced on the diagonal at 1 inch and blanched for 3 min in salted water
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 pd chopped baby bella mushrooms
4 TBSP unsalted butter (2 chopped and 2 whole) or Earth Balance olive oil replacement
12 eggs
salt and pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning or 1 TBSP fresh tarragon chopped
1/2 C shredded or grated parmesan cheese
*optional add 3 strips chopped turkey bacon cooked in oven aprox 1 min
Melt unchopped butter and add bell pepper, onion, garlic, mushrooms to saute about 7 min, add salt and pepper to taste and then add blanched green beans, saute another 2 min. Meanwhile crack and beat the 12 eggs and stir in Italian seasoning, chopped butter pieces and season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over sauteed veggies and let set. transper frying pan to oven preheated at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes, add bacon if using and parmesan cheese and allow to cook another 4 min or until golden brown and firm.
SO YUMMY!
Expect alot more in the coming weeks with my new trials....The big girls will be heading out with thier dad on vacation and in between my sister's visit and some playdates I'll be cooking and preparing for school to start back.....I am also writing another article for Peekaboo Magazine for back to school on kids with food allergies and how to deal with the fear of sending your children to school to the unknown of dealing with food allergies......will post a link when it's finished....
I will back up a tiny bit but in the last several months, Isabelle had dental surgery that led to a respiratory distress that led to inhalers that led us back to our allergist in Bentonville which led to another food and environmental allergy panel to see if anything else might be triggering her recent "asthmatic symptoms". We are not not only Gluten free but peanut and dairy free also with allergies to mold and ragweed which one is in spring and one is in fall - poor kid. On top of that, during the visit with the allergist she noticed Isabelle has what is called a "flow murmur" in her heart. Given what we've been through and the fact that I also know that murmurs are not harmful and very common, I floated somewhere between panic and disbelief for several weeks. At Lana's appointment though, she did amazingly well and got the final all clear for vacation and the head of transplantation listened to Isabelle for me to calm my nerves before our trip. And calm she did. She heard the murmur and said to have the referral so they can run a few tests but said she was fine. Nothing to worry about.
We continued on our way from Little Rock to Atlanta. Flowery Branch to be exact. And we had an amazing night with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Robyn and her family. It was only a night and part of the day but it was so wonderful to be in her home, with her kids (and a bonus and awesome treat, her mom) and get to swim to get the car jitters out and catch up with her. She is and was then on an elimination diet from dairy, sugar, caffiene and gluten do to some medical issues she's been having and what a treat for me to get to share some of what I've learned with her to help her journey be a little bit easier. Now we text and share holisitic and helpful hints in life and food almost everyday. How I love that woman and her friendship! We left the Atlanta area and headed for Jacksonville. The wildfires were so bad we adjusted our trip from 75 and went down 16 to savannah and down 95. Not a bad drive and the kids were again, very good.
Our trip in Jacksonville was an amazing trip for everyone with great seafood, Whole Foods, lots of eating out and lots of friends and family, water, beach, boats, and ending with an amazing 4th of July at my Aunt Shiela and Uncle Jimmy's. It is a age old tradition to be at my aunt and uncle's and it was so much fun. Unfortunately, during the trip Isabelle was exposed to gluten, dairy and peanuts and in and out of the pool left her skin itchy, scratchy and eczema prone and her stomach was in knots. We did out best but traveling is SOOOOOO hard to do with food allergies. I want to mention that we ate out at Sakura Japenese Steakhouse and I brought Izzy's gfree soy sauce and they made her a meal while we watched the Habachi going and she was pleasantly not sick afterwards and they were so accomodating about her allergy with that and shrimp. We also found an amazing local bakery that is completely gluten free! OMG, yes i did just say that. Talk about a kid in a candy store! AND THEY SHIP, at least most of their items. Their name is Cookie Momsters and they are on Hendricks/San Jose for those of you that live in Jax, right next to Steve's Seafood Market. They offer everything you can think of from cupcakes and cookies and bread to predone gfree meals.....HEAVEN...wish we lived back there again so we could take advantage of everything
It was an amazing trip with amazing friends and family and we were sad to leave and come home but yet at the same time, so ready to get home and get back to normal and in our own environment. I have been cooking up a storm with frittatas and all sorts of things and ready to get into a groove where we are trying some new things I've learned. A new website I've discovered, thanks to a close friend is Gluten Free Girl and a Chef author and her website is www.glutenfreegirl.com expect many more new recipes that I am tweaking with our other allergies as well coming soon. She even has a homemade recipe for creme friache, although not dairy free, does not bother her lactose intolerant family members at all.....1 pint of good cream in a jar (less pastuerized the better) with a dribble of 2 tbsp of Buttermilk....shake jar and leave it on the counter for 8-24 hours to thicken. I would love to think we can make this with the new coconut kefir out now but I will have to practice it and let you know.
Frittata Recipe:
1 pound of green beans, sliced on the diagonal at 1 inch and blanched for 3 min in salted water
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 pd chopped baby bella mushrooms
4 TBSP unsalted butter (2 chopped and 2 whole) or Earth Balance olive oil replacement
12 eggs
salt and pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning or 1 TBSP fresh tarragon chopped
1/2 C shredded or grated parmesan cheese
*optional add 3 strips chopped turkey bacon cooked in oven aprox 1 min
Melt unchopped butter and add bell pepper, onion, garlic, mushrooms to saute about 7 min, add salt and pepper to taste and then add blanched green beans, saute another 2 min. Meanwhile crack and beat the 12 eggs and stir in Italian seasoning, chopped butter pieces and season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over sauteed veggies and let set. transper frying pan to oven preheated at 400 degrees for about 4 minutes, add bacon if using and parmesan cheese and allow to cook another 4 min or until golden brown and firm.
SO YUMMY!
Expect alot more in the coming weeks with my new trials....The big girls will be heading out with thier dad on vacation and in between my sister's visit and some playdates I'll be cooking and preparing for school to start back.....I am also writing another article for Peekaboo Magazine for back to school on kids with food allergies and how to deal with the fear of sending your children to school to the unknown of dealing with food allergies......will post a link when it's finished....
Saturday, May 21, 2011
My crazy life....
It has been a few weeks since I posted last and it's comical cause who would think I had time to write a blog at all with all that goes on in my life. Just when I think I get caught up with cleaning up the house, cooking, laundry and kids....something happens.....
I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend in which we had Lana's best friend and her mother come over and spent the weekend with us and enjoyed some MUCH needed girl time with all girls and NOAH:)....My poor boy was completely surrounded by woman for the whole weekend but ironically, he seemed to enjoy it.
Then the following week Isabelle started with a stomach flu and then Noah got it. As most of you know, with Lana's recent transplant we can't have her around anyone sick, so off she went to her dad's house until the coast was clear for her and Shelby to return and hopefully not contaminate her already suppressed immune system. Luckily she escaped the madness and was able to return quickly.
Then as I was sitting enjoying spending some time catching up with a friend, you get the phone call you never want to get.....The gym called me saying we needed to go get Shelby and take her to the emergency room because she had injured herself badly. One of the mother's at the gym is a doctor and looked at her foot and said she thought it was broken....yay us:(. Luckily though it was not broken and we get to see the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday and see where the recovery process leeds us. Friday Lana had her biopsy in Little Rock and everything went according to plan but we won't have the answer to the rejection level til Monday mid day. I will update everyone then.
So, my Gluten Free notes from late....I've learned to take recipes we love and easily change a few ingredients and make them GFree but I still have not gotten over the fear of sending Isabelle to preschool - really it's Mother's Day Out- next year. It's not even food related anymore but everything from certain arts and crafts supplies to playdough have gluten. I've let her play with playdough at home thinking because she wasn't ingesting it she was safe, only to have her face swell and turn red....It's so sad. Hence, we have decided that we will homeschool preschool and Kindergarden, both toddlers and we'll see where that takes us from there. The school system here have odd birthday cut off's and both toddlers will be 7 as they exit Kindergarden which is very odd to us- so I am going to do a preschool program and introduction immersion class in French with them over this summer and will likely just enroll Izzy in dance or gymnastics and Noah in some sort of precursor to sports whether that is gymnastics or tee ball or tai kwan do.
Back to the recipes: I have been watching The Hungary Girl as of late who is a chef who watches calories and sugar in all of her recipes and have been able to interchange and make Gfree recipes from hers. The one that is most notable were the cupcakes I made today for our close friends, Henrietta and Rudy's, daughter's graduation party. Henrietta also has celiac's and we have entered this journey together for the most part. Izzy and she were "diagnosed" very closely in time yet they are years apart in age. We have shared and worked together to recreate some of our favorite gluten recipes into g free recipes. I made these chocolate fudgie brownie like cupcakes with a marshmellow topping and topped with a few mini chocolate chips (allergy friendly of course) and not only did they turn out wonderfully BUT they were around 220 calories versus the usual cupcake that is around 500 calories. Here is the regular recipe for the gluten version of the cupcake:
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/lisa-lillien/chocolate-marshmallow-madness-cupcakes-recipe/index.html
All I did was interchange her box mix of Devils' Food Cake mix with Pamela's Chocolate Cake mix which is Gfree! It worked perfectly which is rare with G free recipes compared to regular ones, there is usually something you have to tweek but these were darn good.
Another thing we have changed has been the manner in which we eat...the toddlers tend to eat breakfast really well, some healthy snacks but then they either eat a good lunch or dinner and my trainer has said it's more beneficial to have a heavier lunch and make dinners lean meat and vegeatables. So we've tried that and so far so good. This week I planned some lunches around what I got at the Farmer's Market....here is one of them:
2 zucchini roughly chopped (bite sized chunks)
1 summer squash roughly chopped (bite sized chunks)
1 onion
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 8 - 10 oz pkg of Baby bella mushrooms either pre sliced or you can quarter them
1 lb g-free tagliatelle pasta (reccomended brand SHAR)
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 C heavy cream
splash of g free chicken stock
1/4 C grated parmesan
any protien of choice
boil a pot of salted water and put in tagliatelle til al dente
while pasta is boiling put olive oil, onion and garlic and sautee til tender and onion is translucent, add squash and mushrooms and splash with chicken stock as needed til vegetables are tender. Add the seasoning, cream and parmesan until sauce has thickened slightly, add cooked pasta and toss then add your choice of grilled chicken, steak, pork, turkey, shrimp/salmon/fish or tofu (when using firm tofu not grilled dice and add with squash and mushrooms to cook and absorb the flavors.
You can also opitonally add 2 roma tomatoes diced and seeded, Kalamata olives and even fresh basil or oregano versus dried seasoning
You can serve a salad, stuffed sweet pepper stuffed with goat cheese and lemon zest with salt and pepper to taste and roasted in the oven about 10 min at 350) or fresh cold cucumber soup- this is Lana's favorite: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chilled-cucumber-soup-with-shrimp-recipe/index.html
I will update again sooner than later:)
I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend in which we had Lana's best friend and her mother come over and spent the weekend with us and enjoyed some MUCH needed girl time with all girls and NOAH:)....My poor boy was completely surrounded by woman for the whole weekend but ironically, he seemed to enjoy it.
Then the following week Isabelle started with a stomach flu and then Noah got it. As most of you know, with Lana's recent transplant we can't have her around anyone sick, so off she went to her dad's house until the coast was clear for her and Shelby to return and hopefully not contaminate her already suppressed immune system. Luckily she escaped the madness and was able to return quickly.
Then as I was sitting enjoying spending some time catching up with a friend, you get the phone call you never want to get.....The gym called me saying we needed to go get Shelby and take her to the emergency room because she had injured herself badly. One of the mother's at the gym is a doctor and looked at her foot and said she thought it was broken....yay us:(. Luckily though it was not broken and we get to see the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday and see where the recovery process leeds us. Friday Lana had her biopsy in Little Rock and everything went according to plan but we won't have the answer to the rejection level til Monday mid day. I will update everyone then.
So, my Gluten Free notes from late....I've learned to take recipes we love and easily change a few ingredients and make them GFree but I still have not gotten over the fear of sending Isabelle to preschool - really it's Mother's Day Out- next year. It's not even food related anymore but everything from certain arts and crafts supplies to playdough have gluten. I've let her play with playdough at home thinking because she wasn't ingesting it she was safe, only to have her face swell and turn red....It's so sad. Hence, we have decided that we will homeschool preschool and Kindergarden, both toddlers and we'll see where that takes us from there. The school system here have odd birthday cut off's and both toddlers will be 7 as they exit Kindergarden which is very odd to us- so I am going to do a preschool program and introduction immersion class in French with them over this summer and will likely just enroll Izzy in dance or gymnastics and Noah in some sort of precursor to sports whether that is gymnastics or tee ball or tai kwan do.
Back to the recipes: I have been watching The Hungary Girl as of late who is a chef who watches calories and sugar in all of her recipes and have been able to interchange and make Gfree recipes from hers. The one that is most notable were the cupcakes I made today for our close friends, Henrietta and Rudy's, daughter's graduation party. Henrietta also has celiac's and we have entered this journey together for the most part. Izzy and she were "diagnosed" very closely in time yet they are years apart in age. We have shared and worked together to recreate some of our favorite gluten recipes into g free recipes. I made these chocolate fudgie brownie like cupcakes with a marshmellow topping and topped with a few mini chocolate chips (allergy friendly of course) and not only did they turn out wonderfully BUT they were around 220 calories versus the usual cupcake that is around 500 calories. Here is the regular recipe for the gluten version of the cupcake:
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/lisa-lillien/chocolate-marshmallow-madness-cupcakes-recipe/index.html
All I did was interchange her box mix of Devils' Food Cake mix with Pamela's Chocolate Cake mix which is Gfree! It worked perfectly which is rare with G free recipes compared to regular ones, there is usually something you have to tweek but these were darn good.
Another thing we have changed has been the manner in which we eat...the toddlers tend to eat breakfast really well, some healthy snacks but then they either eat a good lunch or dinner and my trainer has said it's more beneficial to have a heavier lunch and make dinners lean meat and vegeatables. So we've tried that and so far so good. This week I planned some lunches around what I got at the Farmer's Market....here is one of them:
2 zucchini roughly chopped (bite sized chunks)
1 summer squash roughly chopped (bite sized chunks)
1 onion
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 8 - 10 oz pkg of Baby bella mushrooms either pre sliced or you can quarter them
1 lb g-free tagliatelle pasta (reccomended brand SHAR)
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 C heavy cream
splash of g free chicken stock
1/4 C grated parmesan
any protien of choice
boil a pot of salted water and put in tagliatelle til al dente
while pasta is boiling put olive oil, onion and garlic and sautee til tender and onion is translucent, add squash and mushrooms and splash with chicken stock as needed til vegetables are tender. Add the seasoning, cream and parmesan until sauce has thickened slightly, add cooked pasta and toss then add your choice of grilled chicken, steak, pork, turkey, shrimp/salmon/fish or tofu (when using firm tofu not grilled dice and add with squash and mushrooms to cook and absorb the flavors.
You can also opitonally add 2 roma tomatoes diced and seeded, Kalamata olives and even fresh basil or oregano versus dried seasoning
You can serve a salad, stuffed sweet pepper stuffed with goat cheese and lemon zest with salt and pepper to taste and roasted in the oven about 10 min at 350) or fresh cold cucumber soup- this is Lana's favorite: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chilled-cucumber-soup-with-shrimp-recipe/index.html
I will update again sooner than later:)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
My sister's AWESOME "Meatless Monday" go-to recipe - Black Beans and Rice
I tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red or orange bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup water
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup hot cooked rice
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Heat oil in med saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 5 mins or until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 min. Add water and next 7 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 mins or until heated through. Top rice with beans. Sprinkle with cheese.
I usually omit the red pepper...and then sprinkle it directly on top of my dish...but it’s not overly spicy mixed in.
**I made this last week and it was so good! I added some lime juice and cilantro to this as well and substituted the water for chicken strock because I was making grilled chicken with it. Her recipe is perfect the way it is but for a variation you can use any of my tips for a change.**
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Foodology, updates and such (includes Easter menu!)
First, I have not posted since our last trip to Little Rock and now we are leaving tomorrow to return. The last couple of weeks were hectic - shocker I know;). Lana's appointment at clinic went fine with some minor med changes (again) and the start of a conversation about possibly coming to Florida during the summer. The next day we had Isabelle's dental surgery. There are many different things that went into that but basically we found a great doctor down in Little Rock while we were waiting for Lana's heart and we decided we really wanted to keep that doctor for her surgery. With celiac's there is a known issue with dental health since the body cannot absorb nutrients properly the teeth tend to have enamel and other issues. Isabelle also had issues at birth that could have possibly contributed to her enamel and other dental issues....the dentist couldn't be sure but it doesn't matter now. We went into the hospital due to the extensive amount of work needed to be done. She had 3 baby root canals and crowns and 6 more caps put on. Poor thing! During her surgery she went into respiratory distress and started wheezing and had to have some intervention by the anesthesiologist...again - Poor thing! So we got our butts in the car and headed back home after loading some more stuff from the apartment. I know I've said this before but I have NO IDEA how we accumulated so much stuff in 3 or 4 months! The weekend was a little rough and we were tired but things got back to normal fairly quickly.
The last 5 days here in Arkansas went from spring to I don't know what. Started Thursday afternoon after a nice outside lunch at Petit Bistro with friends to celebrate Lana being able to get out some to picking Noah up from preschool and needing 3 things from the grocery store and leaving the store in a HAIL storm....all I have to say is OUCH! That started an onslaught of rain that has just now begun to stop yet there will be more tonight and tomorrow. We had to hunt Easter eggs inside the house to have some fun on Sunday and it was such a weird storm...it was some system that just came and "parked" right over us for 5 days! It was thunder and lightening then hail and tornados then all over again...I think we've had for than 30 inches of rain! We live in the moutainous area so the flooding here has been mild compared to what it is in the rest of the state....like the areas we will have to drive through tomorrow and Thursday to get to and from Little Rock. There was an entire town almost wiped out by a tornado with at least 8 deaths and possibly more. Hopefully after this week things will get to a more "normal" weather pattern, whatever that is...less rain is preferable!
Foodology:
As a cook, mother and food lover we always strive to create the best, most perfect "glorious food" ever imagined. I fell in love with food and cooking the perfect meal fairly young and watched and learned as my grandmothers both cooked their little hearts out and my mother began to expirament with recipes. Having a celiac child or even a celiac in the family changes everything. Suddenly your "go-to" recipes have to be reworked, your inspiration for menus has to be rethought out, there are trials and ALOT of errors! The normal hour trip to the grocery store ends up becoming a 3 hour trip, whether you have kids with you or not, just by having to read every label and ingredient (even on the gluten free items since it's not regulated). Making a fluffy biscuit or an decadent cupcake becomes a sort of obsession and an expirament in chemistry. There are nights I want to throw my hands up and say lets just eat out after I've ruined something or what I have attempted to make -this beautiful, souful meal for EVERYONE to enjoy (not just my sweet 2 year old celiac) turns to utter dispair and disappointment...only to say that eating out would be worse than trying to salvage what is already there....
But don't tell me she can't eat! There will be NO stone unturned for this child and for my family to come up with amazing recipes that everyone can enjoy even if it's gluten free. I will arm this beautiful, curly headed child with more personality than I have in my pinky with the right tools of armor for not only what is needed in life, love and all I can give as a mother but also so she can eat! One of my best friends, Henrietta, I have mentioned before found out she had celiacs as an adult and after so many years of living with gluten and being sick she and I ended up living in the same small town after several years apart. Her with celiacs, Izzy with celiacs.....there are many collective thoughts I share on here that she and I have discovered together or she has researched and made and tried and then brought things to me to see if Isabelle likes. Celiac's is not just a gender or age thing...it's real for everyone. It affects everyone that knows someone. And when the need to "just fit in" overtakes it can be dibilitating for them and for their families. SO - Easter: the rain wouldn't let up which meant we couldn't have many people over due to Lana's immune system and we had to hide eggs inside so everyone had some sense of Easter normal away from family and we needed a menu. I struggled with what we would do to make things both delicious and gluten free.
My families biggest major Easter menu tradition is lamb. We ALWAYS have lamb for Easter. No issue there with making that Gluten free...my recipe already is...but sides...lordy what to do.....and here is what we did:
I had a 7 pound bone in leg of lamb from a local farm (Van Buren, AR) that I knew was antibiotic free and raised humanely. Normally we get boneless but this time that is all we had to choose from. I trim most of the fat, leaving some marbelization and make little pockets throughout the lamb. I stuff each pocket, alternating with garlic and then rosemary and then rub olive oil, salt and pepper over the entire thing, place on a roasting rack and cover with foil. Place in the oven at 375 or 400 for 1 hour and then check. We prefer medium rare lamb so depending on the size, that could be long enough. I baste with pan drippings and then uncover for 20 minutes or so to make a nice crust. Then rest and sloce right before guests arrive.
We had roasted potatoes (halve a pound of new potatoes, season with olice oil and salt/pepper and lemon zest if you'd like and you can even slice some fennel bulb too for some added yumminess), my grandmother's mustard greens for Lana ( clean the greens, take the tough stem off. Put a hamhock or hambone in a large pot and fill with water and some salt, bring to boil and add greens, reduce heat to simmer and I simmer ours all day or two to three hours usually til tender and salty), Bobby Flay's corn salad with lime, chili powder and cojita cheese (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-corn-salad-with-lime-red-chili-and-cotija-recipe/index.html), a Fresh Medditerranean Salad with homemade greek dressing to ensure it was Gluten free (romaine lettuce, red pepper slices, cherry tomatoes halved, hothouse cucumber slices, red onion, feta cheese and kalamata olives - dressing - red wine vinegar, dash of lemon juice, minced shallots, g-free dijon mustard and olive oil with some salt/pepper to taste). We had a neighbor bring a Honeybaked Ham and Henrietta made the MOST AMAZING mini corn bread muffins and buttermilk bisuits (all g-free of course) and I had a veggie and fruit tray as well as making some Kale chips with a lemon dipping sauce ( take tough stems off the kale, chop into bite sized pieces and toss in olive oil and salt/pepper and bake at 350 for 7-10 min - lemon dipping sauce 1/2 C light mayo, 1/2 C light sour cream, zest and juice of one lemon and salt and pepper to taste....mix well) and then DESERT..........while on our last trip to Little Rock I got the Gluten Free Living magazine 1/2011 that had a whole section devoted to "Cupcake Craze" and in that section/article was an amazing Gluten free baker named, Krya Bussanich, who had a recipe for Creamsicle Cupcakes (http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-living-2011.pdf article) that turned out as the most amazing desert I have EVER made and the fact that they were Gluten free only sweetened the deal! SO YUMMY as voted by everyone at the house! WOOHOOO!
Will update more after our trip to Little Rock!
The last 5 days here in Arkansas went from spring to I don't know what. Started Thursday afternoon after a nice outside lunch at Petit Bistro with friends to celebrate Lana being able to get out some to picking Noah up from preschool and needing 3 things from the grocery store and leaving the store in a HAIL storm....all I have to say is OUCH! That started an onslaught of rain that has just now begun to stop yet there will be more tonight and tomorrow. We had to hunt Easter eggs inside the house to have some fun on Sunday and it was such a weird storm...it was some system that just came and "parked" right over us for 5 days! It was thunder and lightening then hail and tornados then all over again...I think we've had for than 30 inches of rain! We live in the moutainous area so the flooding here has been mild compared to what it is in the rest of the state....like the areas we will have to drive through tomorrow and Thursday to get to and from Little Rock. There was an entire town almost wiped out by a tornado with at least 8 deaths and possibly more. Hopefully after this week things will get to a more "normal" weather pattern, whatever that is...less rain is preferable!
Foodology:
As a cook, mother and food lover we always strive to create the best, most perfect "glorious food" ever imagined. I fell in love with food and cooking the perfect meal fairly young and watched and learned as my grandmothers both cooked their little hearts out and my mother began to expirament with recipes. Having a celiac child or even a celiac in the family changes everything. Suddenly your "go-to" recipes have to be reworked, your inspiration for menus has to be rethought out, there are trials and ALOT of errors! The normal hour trip to the grocery store ends up becoming a 3 hour trip, whether you have kids with you or not, just by having to read every label and ingredient (even on the gluten free items since it's not regulated). Making a fluffy biscuit or an decadent cupcake becomes a sort of obsession and an expirament in chemistry. There are nights I want to throw my hands up and say lets just eat out after I've ruined something or what I have attempted to make -this beautiful, souful meal for EVERYONE to enjoy (not just my sweet 2 year old celiac) turns to utter dispair and disappointment...only to say that eating out would be worse than trying to salvage what is already there....
But don't tell me she can't eat! There will be NO stone unturned for this child and for my family to come up with amazing recipes that everyone can enjoy even if it's gluten free. I will arm this beautiful, curly headed child with more personality than I have in my pinky with the right tools of armor for not only what is needed in life, love and all I can give as a mother but also so she can eat! One of my best friends, Henrietta, I have mentioned before found out she had celiacs as an adult and after so many years of living with gluten and being sick she and I ended up living in the same small town after several years apart. Her with celiacs, Izzy with celiacs.....there are many collective thoughts I share on here that she and I have discovered together or she has researched and made and tried and then brought things to me to see if Isabelle likes. Celiac's is not just a gender or age thing...it's real for everyone. It affects everyone that knows someone. And when the need to "just fit in" overtakes it can be dibilitating for them and for their families. SO - Easter: the rain wouldn't let up which meant we couldn't have many people over due to Lana's immune system and we had to hide eggs inside so everyone had some sense of Easter normal away from family and we needed a menu. I struggled with what we would do to make things both delicious and gluten free.
My families biggest major Easter menu tradition is lamb. We ALWAYS have lamb for Easter. No issue there with making that Gluten free...my recipe already is...but sides...lordy what to do.....and here is what we did:
I had a 7 pound bone in leg of lamb from a local farm (Van Buren, AR) that I knew was antibiotic free and raised humanely. Normally we get boneless but this time that is all we had to choose from. I trim most of the fat, leaving some marbelization and make little pockets throughout the lamb. I stuff each pocket, alternating with garlic and then rosemary and then rub olive oil, salt and pepper over the entire thing, place on a roasting rack and cover with foil. Place in the oven at 375 or 400 for 1 hour and then check. We prefer medium rare lamb so depending on the size, that could be long enough. I baste with pan drippings and then uncover for 20 minutes or so to make a nice crust. Then rest and sloce right before guests arrive.
We had roasted potatoes (halve a pound of new potatoes, season with olice oil and salt/pepper and lemon zest if you'd like and you can even slice some fennel bulb too for some added yumminess), my grandmother's mustard greens for Lana ( clean the greens, take the tough stem off. Put a hamhock or hambone in a large pot and fill with water and some salt, bring to boil and add greens, reduce heat to simmer and I simmer ours all day or two to three hours usually til tender and salty), Bobby Flay's corn salad with lime, chili powder and cojita cheese (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/grilled-corn-salad-with-lime-red-chili-and-cotija-recipe/index.html), a Fresh Medditerranean Salad with homemade greek dressing to ensure it was Gluten free (romaine lettuce, red pepper slices, cherry tomatoes halved, hothouse cucumber slices, red onion, feta cheese and kalamata olives - dressing - red wine vinegar, dash of lemon juice, minced shallots, g-free dijon mustard and olive oil with some salt/pepper to taste). We had a neighbor bring a Honeybaked Ham and Henrietta made the MOST AMAZING mini corn bread muffins and buttermilk bisuits (all g-free of course) and I had a veggie and fruit tray as well as making some Kale chips with a lemon dipping sauce ( take tough stems off the kale, chop into bite sized pieces and toss in olive oil and salt/pepper and bake at 350 for 7-10 min - lemon dipping sauce 1/2 C light mayo, 1/2 C light sour cream, zest and juice of one lemon and salt and pepper to taste....mix well) and then DESERT..........while on our last trip to Little Rock I got the Gluten Free Living magazine 1/2011 that had a whole section devoted to "Cupcake Craze" and in that section/article was an amazing Gluten free baker named, Krya Bussanich, who had a recipe for Creamsicle Cupcakes (http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-living-2011.pdf article) that turned out as the most amazing desert I have EVER made and the fact that they were Gluten free only sweetened the deal! SO YUMMY as voted by everyone at the house! WOOHOOO!
Will update more after our trip to Little Rock!
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