food allergies

Summer Tomatoes Stuffed with Lemony Quinoa Salad

Tomatoes stuffed with salad, I know: very old school but I made a modern take on it the other week for company.  A gluten free version I might add! Everyone raved about the fresh flavor of the dish.  So I am posting it here so you can try it; one caveat; only use local tomatoes.  Do NOT make this with those pale imitation supermarket tomatoes. It is not possible to create something tasty if you start with bad ingredients and those plastic flavored “tomatoes” just will not work.

You can serve the filling as a side salad and I will give those directions after the tomato version. I served the salad style at a picnic last week and my sister Karen had seconds. She was not a big quinoa fan until she ate that salad!

Tomatoes Stuffed with Quinoa Salad

Makes four servings.

Ingredients:

½ cup raw quinoa, plain pale yellow type (not red or black)

1 cup water

½ a veggie  bullion cube

4 medium to large tomatoes

2/3-3/4 cup small dice burpless or European cucumber

½ cup small dice zucchini

1/3 cup small dice red onion

2 tbsp. fresh mint or parsley, diced finely

1 lemon

3 tbsp.  EVOL (extra virgin olive oil)

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste.

Directions

Put the quinoa in the water.  If it doesn’t say rinsed you should put it in a strainer and rinse it for a minute to get off any coating which can be bitter.  Add the half bullion cube, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 15 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature before continuing.

Using a sharp paring knife cut the top off of each tomato, reserve it for a lid.  Scoop out the tomato guts using a spoon. I like to use a serrated edged grapefruit spoon but almost any spoon will work.   You can use the insides for something else; in a soup, a salad or a stew?  I turn the hollowed out tomatoes upside down to drain briefly to be sure I got all the wet stuff out.

Place the cooled quinoa In a mixing bowl.  Top it with the finely chopped veggies.  You can use less veggies than I suggested; up to you. I like lots of veggies.  Make sure they are cut very small though.  Sprinkle the fresh herbs on top; even fresh chives chopped fine or basil will work great.   Use a zester or a very fine grater and get as much zest off the lemon (wash the lemon first); you can zest right into the quinoa mixing bowl.  In a small mixing bowl put the juice of that same lemon, the EVOL and red wine vinegar.  If you have more than 3 tbsp of lemon juice add a bit more EVOL and whisk to combine; add in up to ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp freshly grated black pepper.  Pour ¾ of it over the quinoa and veggies and stir to combine.  Taste and adjust seasoning and add the rest of the dressing if it is needed.  Use a large spoon to fill the hollowed out tomatoes.  Top each one with the reserved lids.  I put mine finished tomatoes on a platter and refrigerated for a few minutes so I could make the rest of the meal; no more than 1 hour.  You can serve each on a bed of lettuce or just by itself.   stuffed tomato

This is a great side dish or, if you have a vegetarian visiting, it is a substantial main dish choice as quinoa has a lot of complete protein in it. I served it with some zucchini yeast bread and some gnudi dumplings as a delicious meal for my vegetarian god daughter.

The salad filling can be served all on its own as a salad; I added a bunch of cherry tomatoes halved to it and it was ready to go.  So simple but the combination of fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, red wine vinegar and EVOL makes a great salad dressing.  If your filling seems wet; you added too much dressing.  Add more tomatoes and diced zuke and cuke.  Do not cook the zucchini – if it is fresh and tender it is fantastic raw in a salad.  If you can’t get one of those European cucumbers use a small regular one and peel the skin off it before dicing. If the seeds are large do not use the center with the seeds.  Your salad will not be as pretty if there are sloppy cucumber seeds in it.   I do cut the veggies larger for a salad; diced is fine.  But I suggest you keep the red onion bits very fine.  And start with a fresh red onion. Onion does not keep well; gets bitter so peel a new onion to make your salad if you want the best tasting results.

quinoa salad 8-14

Quinoa salad will keep a few days in the fridge, if it lasts that long! Try it with different fresh herbs. I would never make this in the dead of winter as it just won’t taste the same without the fresh summer veggies.  I try to eat seasonally and this is definitely a summer treat!

Blueberry Sheet Cake for a Picnic

This summery cake is very easy and totally delish.  It is blueberry season, this cake give you the best of all worlds, sweet berries and tender bites of cakey goodness.

blueberry sheet cake

This was the second time I made it. I have used two different flour blends, both worked. One is Better Batter and the other one is the brown rice mix I often use; see at the end of this recipe. Either works but I have to say I prefer the Better Batter for this recipe a little more than the brown rice.

As to the fruit, I bet you could use frozen blueberries or replace the blueberries with raspberries or blackberries.  Enjoy this summer treat with some friends or your family, it makes about 8 generous square servings or ten small ones.  I served it at a family picnic this past week, I was the only GF person there and everyone clamored for seconds!

Gluten-free Blueberry Sheet Cake

Ingredients; For the Cake:

  • 2 cups plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose, gluten-free flour blend
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (only if your flour blend doesn’t already have this!)
  • 2 sticks of butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2/3 to 3/4 cup of blueberries

For the Topping:
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish with butter or gluten-free cooking spray.

  1. Mix 2 cups of flour, baking powder, sea salt and xanthan gum in a medium bowl with a whisk and set aside.
  2. Beat the butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until smooth.
  3. Beat in half of the flour mixture until smooth, add the milk and almond extract and the rest of the flour and beat until evenly incorporated.
  4. Toss 2/3 cup of the blueberries with the remaining teaspoon of flour and gently fold into the batter. Spread into the prepared baking dish.
  5. Mix the topping ingredients together and distribute evenly over the top of the batter. I like to press the berries in a bit so they are not just resting on top of the dough.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Let cool at least 10 or 15 minutes before serving.

8 servings

Brown Rice Flour Mix  – mix them all in a big jar or bag
1 c. brown rice flour

1/3 c potato starch

3 tbsp.  tapioca flour

Tasty Taco Salad Southside Musikfest

Well, tonight I traveled to the South Side of Musikfest, enjoying some fantastic Creole/Zydeco of Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, then a tribute to Jerry Garcia and we topped off the night with The Avett Brothers.  I really loved the Avett Brothers; fabulously hot strings and energetic soulful singing.  I was totally wowed. Avett brothers

Less wowing was the food selection Southside for someone with celiac disease.  I could only find one thing for a main course; a taco salad they made specially for me using fried corn chips topped with the rest of their standard chicken taco salad; shredded plain chicken, black beans, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, sour cream, some pico de gallo sauce.  I put on a few splashes of hot sauce which added a much needed flavor boost.  I ate it with my fingers and with the fork they gave me.  Normally it would be in a deep fried flour tortilla. Obviously that was not possible for me to eat so they offered me the fried corn tortilla chips.  It was the best thing I have eaten at Musikfest this year.  This was at Cactus Blue up by Steel Staks.  I highly recommend it.

The only other thing besides a beverage I could find was a Breyer’s ice cream stand that had scoops in a cup.  I was too full from the taco salad to have some and I did have concerns that their scoopers might have touched cones made of wheat before scooping my ice cream.  I felt lucky enough to safely eat the taco salad as I was worried that deep frying them might have contaminated the chips. I had brought an emergency serving of quinoa salad just in case so I wouldn’t starve all night, no need to eat it but I was glad to have a back up food source.

musikfest nighttime 2014

So, I am still yearning for that GF food stand at Musikfest.  Tomorrow I will be down under the Hill to Hill bridge pouring beer and rinsing my hands lots! I will be searching for something safe to eat there. I did see some walk away main course Sundays at Shookies.  Humm? I will have to go ask them some questions but it looked promising the other day.  Go out there and enjoy some great music!

Musikfest Gluten Free…Not Easy but Possible

In the Lehigh Valley we have a big music festival in August every year, called Musikfest.  Ten days of free and paid music venues and lots of festival food.  I have been going for 30 years; missed the first year of it.  It used to be a place where I could enjoy waffles with ice cream and frozen strawberries topped with whipped cream, shared four ways; my sisters and I enjoyed that tradition every year.  Now I am GF and it is not so easy.  Below is my post of last summer and an update on so far this Musikfest.  musikfest 2014 2

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2013: Festing last week in Bethlehem was fun if slightly fraught for me. I was never sure what I would find to safely eat when I was there volunteering. The Saturday night I went with my sisters and our men to celebrate my dear sister Margie’s life, I didn’t eat anything there. The lines were long and I chickened out on asking the GF questions that have become so necessary to my continued good health.

Through the week I looked and looked. I did eat the Aw Shucks corn minus the seasoning. I had a chicken kebab minus the bread. On the last night I got adventurous and tried some kettle corn once the servers assured me it was gluten free. It was delicious! I also had some soft serve which was less than stellar although it was safe for me. I wished I had waited until I found the Bethlehem Dairy stand. Their ice cream is so good. It would have been worth the wait. Too bad I can’t eat their waffles anymore.

As to serving beer, I am considering doing wine service or serving cider. I did okay once I started rinsing my hands between beers. I will have to think about that aspect of volunteering there which I have loved for the past twelve years.

So next year, maybe there will be a stand serving GF food. Not hard if you just don’t sprinkle flour over the frozen fries, if you use corn tortillas, if you use rice seasoning that has no wheat in it. You can get GF burger and hot dog buns too. There are many good fair foods that could be easily made GF. Now I can only dream that someone will make it so….

Below is a brief 2014 Musikfest update:

No, I have found no GF stand, not yet anyway!  I have not gotten all around the fest.  I did find a walking taco in a bag that was safe; made with Doritos and the operator called the boss to check on the meat sauce and it was declared safe.  So I took the plunge and had one.  Pretty good and I didn’t feel ill later.  This was from a cash stand up by the Sun Inn in the little courtyard between the Sun and the corner building.

I had some BBQ pork Sunday minus the bun but with sauce that I was told contained no wheat.  It was less than inspiring and I won’t spend a fortune there (Leiderplatz BBQ stand) for anything else…

I am still pouring beer, endlessly rinsing my fingers and hands.  So far so good!  It is tough being the alcohol supervisor when you can’t even taste the beer to make sure it is the same beer pictured on the tap!

I need to get over to Voltzplatz and Handworkplatz to check out their food offerings.  I will be on the southside Thursday, and will see what is safe or reasonably safe there.  I want some plain roasted corn, too bad their seasoning sprinkle blend is unsafe…..And yes, ice cream in a cup and some kettle corn. Maybe I will find something in the protein family that is safe for me. Hope so!  I am not letting my GF status keep me from festing and having fun this August.

Bread Worth the Work; GF AND Tasty!

Baking tasty gluten free bread is sort of the Holy Grail for us folks with celiac disease.  I miss the flavor and texture of good quality bread.  I have tried many recipes that left me dissatisfied with the bread I baked.  In years past I used to make many different types of yummy wheaty bread.  The truth is that without the protein in wheat flour it is difficult to make satisfying gf bread.

Early this winter I discovered a website “Gluten Free on a Shoestring” by Nicole Hunn and bought the cookbook that had just come out “Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread.” I have made some of her recipes and had moderate success.  I will say that her breads are generally really good the first day you bake them.  I often freeze my leftovers before going to bed so they remain tasty.   I have made her pretzel rolls, lean crusty whole-grain bread and submarine rolls (from her website).  This week I made two of her recipes and I want to tell you about the bread.

It is zucchini yeast bread. Unusual because it is a savory bread, not a sweet dessert bread. Plus it has to chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours! I made the dough up Friday night and put it in a greased bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  This chilled resting period allows for better texture and ease in forming the bread dough.  I shaped it Sunday afternoon, let it rise a bit more than an hour and popped it in the oven. Forty minutes later it was done, golden brown, raised a bit and smelled spectacular.  I took it to my mom’s for Sunday supper along with my best friend Bernie who was my college roomie and my goddaughter Danielle, her firstborn.  We had slices with our vegetarian dinner as Danielle doesn’t eat meat.

It was spectacular, fragrant, moist, crisp crust.  I could almost swear it had cheese in it and I knew it didn’t!  Second slices were had and I was so proud of a gf bread which hasn’t happened very often.

Her flour mixes are a bit complicated and some of the ingredients are pricey but if you just want the best bread I would say her recipes are a must have so you can treat yourself to the tastiest gf bread I have ever enjoyed.

Nicole Hunn’s website is “Gluten Free on a Shoestring.”  Check it out as it is chock full of her latest recipes.  She tries them out and showcases them on her blog before they appear in her books.  I believe she is about to bring out a cookbook where she re-creates gf a favorite commercial treat like the cookies and breads of Starbucks and the like.  It will be at least her fourth cookbook.

This bread alone is worth the effort of making up her special flour mixes; first you make her basic gf flour and then you use it to make her bread flour.  She uses whey protein powder to give the protein boast gf bread recipes need to allow for best flavor and texture.   There is also pectin powder in the flour mix.  These unusual ingredients allow her breads to be shaped and formed, even braided!   The doughs are tricky sometimes to work with but I am glad I am trying and I get to eat the tasty results!

Check out her website, http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/ and try a recipe.  The zucchini yeast bread recipe is on it.  If you long for yummy tasting, fine textured bread Nicole Hunn is your baker to follow.  I use several gf cookbooks but for bread, her information is revolutionary and worth investigating.  Good baking!