gluten free lifestyle

My Other Blog!

I recently started blogging on the on line version of a local magazine; Lehigh Valley Style.  You can find my posts on their site: go to http://www.lehighvalleystyle.com/ and click on blogs.  My new post goes up about the 5 to 9th of the month.  It is fun to blog for the magazine, reporting on local places to grab a gluten free bite.  If you live in my geographic area you might want to check out their site.  Working hard to find some new places to eat at; please comment if you have a local place you would like me to review as to their gluten free menu options. blondie-cupcake

This month was Blondie’s Cupcakes in Catty; great halupkies too! That’s stuffed cabbage to the unknowing…they also have fifty funky different versions of the hot dog and a few other things we celiacs can’t actually eat.  Suggest you read my review to know more.

This is a fun new opportunity for me as a blogger. More things to juggle in my busy life! blondie-halupkie

Enjoy!
Halupkie for Supper…mmmmmmm

 

Flavored Kombucha Tea: for Your Good Health

Some of us feel we have been over-indulging for the holidays.  January is a good time to make a fresh start working towards a better life style. Here is one great tip for you; get probiotics into your tummy.  There are probiotics in pills.  You can also drink kefir which I do or eat raw sauerkraut or kimchi. And then there is kombucha tea. Last year in June I posted about my kombucha tea adventures: it is a fermented beverage that has been a favored health drink for thousands of years and no, it doesn’t taste like tea once it ferments.  I’ve been drinking some daily for almost a year now.  I have to say my tummy loves it.  People with celiac have tummy/gut issues and generally need to take a probiotics every day. People on antibiotics should also take probiotics. This is a natural probiotic; you can buy it bottled in the refrigerated section of your health food store or even regular grocery store in the health foods aisle.  But, you can also make your own.  I find it easy to make and really cheap. I drink some most every day; about a cup a day, more or less.  Here is the link to a really great article on tummy/gut health that you might want to read: https://www.verywell.com/how-to-have-healthy-gut-bacteria-1945326?utm_campaign=health_tod&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cn_nl&utm_content=8689384&utm_term=bouncex3

Check my old post on it for directions on making your own. https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/kombucha-tea-for-great-health/  I find making it to be so easy; here is my current recipe – ingredients: 1 big quart black tea bag, 1 regular tea bag, filtered water and a heaping half cup of sugar.  Directions: heat 2 cups of water to a boil, add the tea bags, let it brew for ten minutes.  Remove the tea bags and add a heaping half cup of granulated sugar. Stir well to dissolve it. Then add enough filtered to make 4 cups of tea.  I bottle up the just finished batch of kombucha while it cools, reserving a cup of tea; usually from the bottom of the glass jar.  Add the 4 cups of room temperature sweetened tea to your kombucha jar; the scoby and cup of tea are already in it. Add 4 more cups of room temperature filtered water.  Put a fresh paper towel on the top and secure with a rubber band.  Put in a dark warm place for a week and taste; it should be fairly strong in flavor.  I pour it into glass pint containers and put a lid on.  I put it back in the dark spot overnight and then I like to flavor each bottle; some of my favorite ways are:

  1. half a vanilla bean; take it out after 24 hours, dry it off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  2. a small cinnamon stick; remove after 12-24 hours, dry off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  3. 1-2 ¼ inch wide slices of fresh ginger; remove after 12-24 hours, dry off and save for next week: it lasts for several batches;
  4. a 1-2 inch section of lemon peel; just wide enough to easily fit in your bottle; remove after 12-24 hours;
  5. fresh fruit juice; about ¼ to 1/2 cup; what every flavor you like.  I have even used fresh grape juice.

Let me know your ideas for what you use to flavor your kombucha tea.  Enjoy and be healthy!

 

Snacky Treats Recently Taste Tested

I love it when friends give me new gf products to try.  This week I am sharing two treats that were gifts and three snacks I bought myself.  First up: Tate’s Bake Shop Gf Chocolate chip cookies.  They are 7 oz in a waxed paper bag and in two plastic bags in a plastic tray inside.  I found them to be large, thin, crisp and somewhat addictive.  For those of us who adore chocolate chip cookies, anyway! I believe they came from Giant Grocery Store. I give these cookies a 4.5 on my zero to five scale.  Leaving room for homemade cookies; mine are a 5; see my blog post on chocolate chipperscrunchy-rice-sticks

tates-cookies

 

 

 

 

Second item is Crunchy Rice Sticks; round columns; 3.2 ounces and 8 sticks to a bag.  Fairly bland but not bad at all has rice syrup to hold it together and render them faintly sweet; the sticks are about an inch in diameter and five inches in length.  Great crunch and low calories: 50 to a stick!  I think they came from Giant.

Next up: Cashew Brittle from Aldi’s.  Not my favorite.  Way too sweet for me and not that much cashew in them.  Still, if you like cashews and sweets this might be up your alley.  Made by Crazy Candy Company.  7 ounce bag.

skinny-pop

Popcorn aisle: Skinny Pop Dusted Dark Chocolate Popcorn.  Non GMO, GF, 43 calories per cup.  I believe I found this at Giant Foods. Decent tasting if slightly drab: I have been spoiled by the drizzled with chocolate popcorn I found at Aldi’s this fall.  Now that was freaking amazing!  Can’t find it at present; hopeful it will return to the stores very soon.  There is a drizzled with chocolate and white sugar topped popcorn at Giant but it was a very small bag for nearly $4.  Crazy price for that itty bitty bag.  Time to research and product test my own homemade drizzled popcorn!

 

Final product: Veggie & Flaxseed Corn Tortilla Chips.  They were pretty decent; 10 oz bag purchased at Aldi’s; store brand chips.  Organic and in several colors and flavors although they tasty pretty much alike.  Good with a dollop of hummus.  Salsa works too.  Only thing is, I re-read the label and they are manufactured in a facility that also uses wheat products.  Rethinking this one….bummer.veggie-chips

 

I don’t recommend eating gf snacks all day long but some of these are fairly healthy and not that expensive.  We all enjoy a bit of a treat.  Enjoy!

New Year… Resolutions for a Better Lifestyle!

Well, a week late but here I go.  My New Year’s resolutions: exercise more, eat less processed foods and cut back on sugar.  I already eat a lot of veggies and fruits and plan on as much or more.  Also, sleep longer on consistent basis, (The irony of my typing this post late this night is not lost on me!) avoid harsh soaps and chemicals, find more time to relax, laugh more and smile more.  Find more joy in life

white-cheddar-puffs

So, when shopping I am going to avoid the sugar and processed foods. I bought a bag of cheese curls for my visiting family.  Last bag ever.  Swear it! A couple months ago I found some nummy cheese puffs at Aldi’s that are naturally flavored with white cheese. Their cheesiness is delicate and pure in comparison to those neon orange Utz curls.  Good decision. Keep trending that way is how I plan to roll while grocery shopping.

Less cake…more fruit based desserts is my baking resolution and I will share them with you.  I did my year of pies in 2016 and it was very nice indeed.  This year might be more like lots of hand pies, tartlets, galettes, clafouti and other fruity concoctions.  I also am trying to cut back even more on white sugar; go for honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, or coconut palm sugar. Just say FRUIT and I smile!

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peach tartlets ready for the oven last summer

I also want to explore more spicy entrees in my cooking; Moroccan, Indian, Thai etc. Love spices, love new foods and enjoy the discovery of lovely flavors and textures in my adventures into other cultures.  You may soon be seeing posts voyaging to new foods and spice combinations. Come along for the ride and be an explorer with me in 2017!

Kefir Grain ABCs; Easy and Cost Effective

Back around Christmas I posted about making kefir for improving the health of your digestive system. I was making it with dehydrated kefir powder I got at a health food store. I had heard about kefir made from “grains” that could be reused. Again and again.  Sounds kinda magical doesn’t it?

Well, I did some research online and found that yes, there is such a thing as kefir grains.  They are not grains like we think of, more like a starter clump.  I couldn’t find the grains at any local stores but I found a guy on Craig’s List who was selling enough to get started.  We met in the parking lot of a Dunkin Donuts in Montgomerville, PA. Seemed somehow illicit swapping kefir curds in a baggie for my $10!  He turned out to be a very nice young man who enjoys making and drinking kefir with his wife.  He gave me some advice and coaching on the process for a couple of weeks via emails.

Basic directions: all you do is put the gently rinsed grains (they look like soft cauliflower cut into small flowerets) into a glass or ceramic jar, pour in milk; no need to heat.  Best is raw milk, next best organic whole milk or try two percent. I don’t suggest you make it with skim milk.  I do the raw milk but my quart of it doesn’t keep very long…as I only make a pint of kefir at a time.  Anyway, pour in the milk, put a loose lid on it and let it stand on the kitchen counter top for a day to 36 hours.  I stir mine occasionally as I walk by.  It will clump up – the curds rise to the top. Plastic or wooden stirrer….no metal.

Once it gets thickened you strain out the curds, being gentle with them.  Put the jar of kefir in the fridge to chill and put the curds in a glass jar and just cover with milk, put that also in the fridge; retards the kefir grains; basically brings the process to a halt. For detailed information check out this site: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-milk-kefir-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-202022.

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I drink it cold for a snack.  You can mix it with fruit juice. I sometimes have it over crushed pineapple. It is sort of like buttermilk and yogurt had a baby; thick liquid, tangy flavor.  Great for your gut.  Full of far more probiotics than the stuff you can make using the powdered kefir. Which is what I did before.  Now I have my kefir grains and I don’t need anything but the milk to make it with.  And it is better for you.  I did buy a small plastic strainer; you shouldn’t really use metal in connection with making or storing kefir.

If you have celiac or any sort of gut issues kefir is a great healthy choice to incorporate into your life style.  I hear you can even make it with coconut milk.  Not tried that yet.  Maybe someday…  Meanwhile I have tasty, healthy authentic kefir when ever I want it.