3 Great Grain Free Smoothies

Did you know that babies actually say “wah”?  I tried feeding my little one some rice cereal this week only to find that she got extremely frustrated with me, she wanted to eat the food but could only push the mash out when I put it in her mouth. Half of the food went on her bib, but the other half made it’s way into her mouth. 

I found that having an infant is similar to playing a video game, every time you master a level you are sent to a more difficult level with new challenges. Making good baby food and having her learn to eat it is my new challenge.

I plan on making my daughter’s baby food ahead and freezing it, so I have been experimenting with smoothies to get an idea of flavors and textures. Frozen fruits and vegetables store well, not to mention they make for a nice treat on a hot summer day. So far, these are my favorite adult versions. A friend recommended the Bassomatic  but I decided to use my Magic Bullet instead. This is nice because I can drink straight out of the machine or can be poured into a pretty glass.

Creamy Kale Shake

Combine one cup of frozen (chopped) kale tightly packed, a quarter cup of milk, a tablespoon of sunflower seed butter, and a scoop of chocolate mint chip ice cream (optional) in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Kale has become the new super food, high in iron and vitamin A and C. This smoothie has a nice creamy flavor and will give you a good dose of fiber!

Vitamin C Blend

All the fruits in this recipe are frozen. Blend pineapple, mango, orange juice, and cashews. Cashews give the drinks a creamy flavor but they are optional for a lower calorie version. This drink is so tasty and perfect for a summer day.

Cookie Dough

Add two tablespoons of almond butter to six dates (pitted) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The outcome, a healthy smoothie that even the pickiest eaters will love (and it will actually be good for them too!).

I’m going back to the kitchen to come up with some new combinations. My daughter might not be ready for solid food yet but when she is, I will be ready for her.

Single? Here's Some Novel Dating Sites

Is your love life a little bland? Maybe it’s time to find a summer fling to spice things up. I discovered a few resources for people whose lifestyles revolves around food. The daytime television show The Chew, an answer to foodies who don’t want to watch The View, featured three foodie oriented websites for online dating.

Many people have been turning to the gluten free lifestyle, with a lot of negative responses. While they may or may not have a food allergy, they pay attention to the things that they put in their bodies. Singles With Food Allergies breaks down their website to all the different types of food allergies, gluten, rice, milk, and anything else you can think of. Then, the site allows people with food allergies to find like minded individuals to share in their quest to enjoy life through food. In a society where much of our food has become industrialized it is impossible to really know or understand the contents of our food, which makes finding someone who takes the time to look into ingredients difficult. Joining this great new dating site is free for a limited time.

For vegetarians there’s Veggie Date. They have specialty subsections ranging from Quaker vegetarians to Rastafari vegetarians, to cultural Humanist vegetarians. Joining this site is free!

If you’re looking for a farmer to help you get access to some delicious vegetables there is this website, that also allows “nonfarmers” to join. You might have seen this site advertised during the superbowl and wondered if it is real, I sure did. Knowing that your significant other will not wince at the thought of raising a cow that you will later put on the table may be a turn on… Like they say on their website, “City folks just don’t get it.” I’m a city girl, but someone else might. Farmers Only allows users to join for free for a limited time.

Check out these dating websites and respond on my blog for a chance to win a copy of one of my gluten free cook books. I will be giving away one book every month this summer. Just comment on any post on the blog to enter!

Book Review and Free Kindle Cookbooks!

In honor of National Celiac’s Awareness month I have decided to look back on when I started cooking gluten free foods a little more than two years ago. Converting my recipes gluten free became an obsession.  A close family member was diagnosed with celiac's disease, then I sought to alter my lifestyle so that anything I made could taste good without adding gluten. My journey towards gluten freedom began with buying an endless array of gluten free cookbooks. Now that I have some experience with gluten free cooking, I make alterations to existing recipes rather than pick up a new cookbook. However, every once in a while I come across a good gluten free cookbook with unique ideas worth purchasing.

This morning I opened up some of my mom’s old cook books.  I perused them for some of my favorite recipes.  I wondered, what cook books would my daughter thumb through, with fond memories of the meals we shared together?

Recently I obtained a copy of a great gluten free cookbook from a chef in New Zealand. I have made some of the recipes from the New Zealand Gluten-Free Cookbook and the food tastes great. The chef, Jim Boswell, doesn’t just take regular recipes and make them gluten free… he found recipes for dishes that contain no gluten ingredients and compiled them into one edition. This book is published by Penguin and is available here. You can also find many of his recipes free on his facebook page. I keep coming back to Mr. Boswell’s book for ideas of dishes to bring to parties.

Also, if you type in gluten free in the kindle reader section on Amazon.com you will see a host free gluten free books. You can also follow the Gluten Freely Frugal blog for a daily list of free kindle books on gluten free cooking.

Three Days of Pasta

I prepared three gluten free pasta dishes made from RP's Fresh Pasta, the best gluten free pasta I ever tasted. Using the pasta crafted by award winning Chef Peter Robertson, I prepared these dishes and no one could tell they were gluten free. Moreover, these pastas can last in the fridge for months and taste just as fresh.

Day One: Buttery Spinach Fettuccini

The spinach pasta I received from RP’s Fresh Pasta came out firm and delicious after cooking. I prepared the noodles slightly al dente. For the sauce I combined half a stick of butter and some walnut oil in a shallow saucepan to make a butter sauce. I added a stalk of green onion, minced, to the sauce and then added two splashes of Sancerre wine. After adding some salt and pepper I shared it with my family. Everyone, including those without gluten allergies, was amazed that the pasta was gluten free. These pastas were created by a pasta chef and use brown rice, tapioca flour, and potato starch to make the perfect consistency. Looking forward to day two!

Day Two: Angry Fussilli Pasta

An ode to the arrabiata, I took a sweet twist on the spicy tomato sauce. I caramelized some onions in black truffle oil. When the onions were caramelized I added some prepared tomato sauce. The “angry” addition was three tablespoons of the Tunisian chili sauce called Harissa. After the sauce cooked to my liking I poured it over one package of cooked RP’s fusilli pasta.  Spicy and delicious.

Day Three: Roye’s Linguini

My brother decided to help me prepare this batch of linguini right before going out for NYE. I had some leftover oyster mushrooms and had read that sautéing them in butter gives them the flavor of shrimp. My brother decided to take charge and prepared the mushrooms, threw in the fungus with some pine nuts and kept them on medium heat until they browned. Then he added some garlic and salt to give it flavor. Finally, we added the al dente linguini to the sauce and sautéed it with some parmesan cheese. I plated the dish with some extra parmesan on top. Benissimo. 

Burbank's Gluten Free Market, Pam MacD's

After seeing Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market featured in Los Angeles Magazine’s article of gluten free places to check out in Los Angeles, I decided to do just that! I had been in this Burbank store before but the sparse shelves seemed sad and empty. Since it was featured in the magazine along with two other gluten free stores I figured, maybe it was worth a second look.

I learned that Los Angeles Magazine is not the only ones giving Pam MacD’s attention. Tia Mowry dropped by to pick up some ingredients to make her son Cree a gluten free birthday cake for his first birthday. The Cake Divas in Beverly Hills were used to craft baby Cree’s amazing gluten free vanilla cake adorned with a real sized Elmo on top.

The idea behind the store:

When I paid Pam MacD’s a visit, I had a chance to speak with the proprietor Pam Macdonald and her staff. A main hope behind the store is to normalize the shopping experience for people with food allergies. This store allows people with gluten intolerance and celiac to have everything, from cakes to cookies to prepared meals. There is nothing that people with food allergies cannot find.  

Samples of some of the products to try

To assure the safety of all her products, Pam and her staff puts each one through a strict “illicit test.” Pam MacDonald explains that much of the gluten free products sold in stores are junk. The labeling laws for gluten free products in the United States fail to require a low level of gluten. Countries across Europe have stricter labeling laws because gluten intolerance and celiac disease are more prevalent. Most notably, in the United Kingdom all manufacturers have to comply with the labeling laws passed. The labeling law in the UK had a grace period which expired two weeks ago. Now all residents of the UK with gluten intolerance and celiac can enjoy products labeled gluten free without the worry that they will experience repercussions of hidden gluten in their products later on. Products certified as gluten free in the UK can contain up to 20mg of gluten per kg of a product, which is a tolerable amount for celiacs according to studies.

Megan recommends the
almond cookies 

Until the United States finalizes its gluten labeling laws, Pam provides her shoppers with some pointers for taste and safety. She said to avoid chips that can have gluten in the flavoring and other cookies and breads. When asked which bread she prefers flavorwise, she said without hesitation, Kinnikinnik. I picked up a loaf of this Canadian company and found that it is better than the Udi’s brand that I prefer. The loaf is actually a normal size and suitable for making sandwiches that look like regular sandwiches.

Gluten free gift baskets are a great
gift for the holidays 

What to look for in the future:

Pam MacD’s will make access to gluten free products all over Los Angeles more available. She plans on expanding to locations including Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, northern San Diego, and possibly southern Orange County. Also, there is talk of branding special Pam MacD’s products. Now that they have a good idea of the product mix that is tasty and safe they plan on picking it up and dropping it into the other locations across southern California.

In March Pam MacDonald will be speaking with Robyn O’Brien, the author of “The Unhealthy Truth” at the Natural Foods Expo West. Robyn received a Fulbright grant for her work and her exciting studies featured in a Ted Talks Forum. Look for her and Pam MacDonald at the convention in Anaheim. It is one of the largest conventions for natural food in the country.

Pam MacD’s is a great place for nutritionists to meet with their clients or browse through the aisles and recommend a food regimen. A comfortable lounge in the front provides a location to hang out and read current literature on celiac’s disease. The community bulletin board in the entrance of the store is also full of useful information.  

Goat Cheese and Chive Latkes

Last year, I made these gluten free latkes for a friend’s holiday party. I barely got to eat one and they all disappeared. Hope you enjoy the recipe!

I have tried a few iterations of this delicious Hanukah treat, including a zucchini strings version, and found that this is the tastiest one so far.

Goat Cheese and Chive Latkes

-          3 large potatoes, preferably Yukon Gold

-          2 large egg whites

-          ½ cup rice flour

-          ½ cup crumbled fresh goat cheese

-          2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

-          1 teaspoon salt

-          ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

-          Grapeseed oil for frying

Fry latkes until just golden brown

Grate the potatoes and rinse them until the water running through it is clear. Squeeze the potatoes dry and pat down with a kitchen towel. Put the potatoes in a large bowl and add the egg whites, rice flour, goat cheese, chives, salt and pepper.

Heat grapeseed oil in a pan on medium-high. Scoop ½ cup of the potato mixture and drop into the pan. Flatten the potato mixture with whatever you used to scoop it. Repeat spacing the cakes but filling the pan as much as possible. Fry the cakes until golden brown, three to four minutes. Flip and fry on the other side for 2-3 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pan and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining potato mixture. 

Sweet Broom of the Intestines

The broom of the intestines, otherwise known as shirataki noodles in the US seem to have swept the gluten free diet community. What are these “miracle noodles”?

My sister recently made a batch of clear noodles with some soy sauce and splenda. She says she has been eating it all the time while she is away at school. With zero calories, it’s satisfying effects fit right into her low calorie diet. I have to give her credit for her ability to keep the calories down, but now I know her secret. These noodles are great!

I experimented with some recipes [1]and this is what I came across. Replacing the soy sauce with tamari sauce makes the dish gluten free.

Shirataki noodles are high in a soluble fiber called glucomannan[2]. The noodles come from a vegetable called a Japanese yam or kannyaku in Japanese. They have been used for centuries in Japan for weight loss and constipation. You can find these noodles at Asian markets or in the tofu aisles of most super markets for around $1.29. Make sure to choose the pure yam noodles and not the variety with tofu if you want to make a zero calorie meal.

Sweet Shirataki Noodles

-          1 cup cloud ear mushrooms

-          ¾ cup tamari sauce

-          4 tbsp brown sugar

-          1 tbsp pepper

-          7 oz shirataki noodles

-          A stalk of chives

The noodles out of the bag will have a fishy smell. Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse them for two minutes in cold water.

Dry fry the shirataki noodles in a frying pan. Add the tamari sauce and cloud ear mushrooms. Allow the soy sauce to evaporate as you finish dry frying the noodles. Add the sugar to the mixture and allow the crystals to melt.

Dice the chives and mix half into the noodles. The other half can be used to garnish the dish.

Easy as pie and delicious. Serve while hot. Can be reheated.

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[1] http://www.livestrong.com/article/279267-are-shirataki-noodles-gluten-free/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucomannan