gluten free

Pickles Without the Heat

Some of us adore pickles and some dislike them.  If you are a pickle fan read on.  If not, read anyway as these are far better than the tired flabby canned pickles found at the grocery store.  A good gardening friend gave me this recipe.  It is really easy and rather fun to construct.  Even better is that you can pickle most any veggies. I have tried zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, green peppers, cabbage and red peppers.  Of course, cucumbers are in there too!  Debating beets….hummm. Plus there is no heating up the kitchen with canning equipment which has real appeal in this endless heat wave. sausage and beans, beets 006.JPG

You do need a couple grape leaves.  You might be able to find a neighbor with a grape vine.  I am sure you could use wild grape leaves from a state park or along a country road.   They really add to the authenticity of it so snag a few from somewhere.

Also needed are 3 dill heads (the flowers of a dill plant).  This might be more problematic but if you know a real gardener, aka someone like me, you can beg the dill heads as frankly they are not used much for cooking and I was happy to give some to the friend who gave me this recipe.  Grow your own dill for next summer; it is so easy to do and it does reseed and come back year after year.  Dill is lovely in potato salad and in other salads like my stuffed tomatoes, see that blog post… pickle jar

Refrigerator Pickles

2 cups white vinegar

¼ cup salt, I used kosher salt in mine

4 cups water (I used 3)

¾ cup sugar

3 garlic cloves cut up

3 dill heads

2 grape leaves

Bring the first four ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan and let cool fully.  Put the other three ingredients in the bottom of a gallon jar.  Cut up your veggies and pile in the jar.  Top with the vinegar mixture. Put on the lid. Put in the fridge and let marinate for 3 days before trying it.

I have pickled cucumbers, short zucchini spears, broken up cauliflower heads, thin slices of white turnip, peppers, broccoli spears, and celery chunks.

My grandson Aiden who is almost five clamors for the pickle jar to come out when he eats meals here.  I say, eat your food and you can have some pickles! He gobbles up his food and waits expectantly for me to fish out a pickle or two.

I like how fresh they are and how crunchy the pieces still are. Plus they have no additives or preservatives.  You can keep adding veggies as you use them up.  I think the tough part is fishing them out of the jar.  The other day I lost a fork in there but luckily it didn’t go to the bottom of the jar; a cuke round stopped its descent! Now, go pickle fresh veggies and have some fun with it….

Originally posted by me late last summer 2014.

Eating Out GF in Boston: Yummy!

Traveling again; in search of great gluten free food…in the Boston area. I ate at Legal Seafood, two different locations, two great meals.  I had mussels in wine sauce followed by a steamed lobster for supper one night.  It came with two gf rolls, warm and tasty…side of brown rice which was a bit drab: I think they left off the seasoning in a probably cautious decision (seasonings can be problematic due to flour in spice blends).  And my second side was sautéed fresh spinach.  Everything was tasty. The gf food arrives at the same time as everyone else’s but via a different waiter who is tasked with making sure you eat safely.  I had a dark chocolate mousse for dessert that was incredibly rich; couldn’t finish it! You should know that the owners of this chain have celiac family members so they really try hard to give you a great and safe gf eating experience.

Legallegal lobster

For lunch a couple days later my sister and I ate at a different Legals as the Thai restaurant we planned to go to was closed. I had some Portuguese seafood chowder full of perfectly cooked white fish, mussels, clams, chorizo sausage and tomato based broth.  It also came with those tasty gf rolls. I had a side of coleslaw, very fresh and crunchy. So nice to feel I can eat food that is safe for me and really tasty.  seafood chowder

There are three Legals in the Phila. and south Jersey area; check out the one at King of Prussia mall: http://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/king-of-prussia-king-of-prussia-mall.  So you can eat great gf seafood right here in PA.

myers

I also ate at a hipster kinda of Thai/Chinese restaurant in the Back Bay area of Boston: Chang and Myers… http://www.myersandchang.com/.  My shredded pea pod salad with green goddess dressing and sunflower seeds was simply amazing.  I had salmon with rice and soy sauce, all gluten free.  Perfectly done salmon.  I could have done with less sauce; not used to much of that salty stuff.  I enjoyed a wonderful baby bok choy stir fry with scallions and fresh ginger.  My only issue was the disjointed service; lots of gaps there….plus my companions’ food and mine were off synch and that took away from the wonderful flavor of my food.  I hadn’t eaten in an oriental restaurant in over three years, since going gluten free so it was a great treat to eat there. Small gf menu but everything I ate was wonderful.  I took no pictures there and couldn’t find any on line of the gf foods I ate.  You will have to trust me on the wonderfulness of my gf foods there.

the cottagecrab and shrimp salad

Ladies luncheon out at The Cottage was as great as ever. I had crab and shrimp salad with hearts of palm and a delicate lemon dressing.  It was refreshing, filling and so fresh and just beautiful to look at.  Hot gf rolls were a very nice touch.  We three ladies shared our traditional flourless chocolate torte with vanilla ice cream.  Not a scrap of that delicious dessert was left on the plate! chocolate tort

 

Finally, I had a super gf ice cream cone in Lexington at a small ice cream shop; they only charged 25 cents for a gf sugar cone.  Marvelous homemade dark chocolate topped with coffee ice cream.  Mmmmm.

 

So, if you are heading to the Boston area; there are a lot of great restaurants which have gluten free options.

Butter Poached Eggs and Beet Greens

I know it is the Fourth of July weekend and everyone is eating potato salad and burgers and guzzling booze.  Got that in my plans but this healthy and simple lunch is just the ticket to balance against all those less than healthy meals I plan on consuming. Bonus: it is naturally gluten free and tasty.

Beet greens are underutilized; most people buy beets in a can or if fresh, the beet tops are cut off.  But, if you grow your own maybe you have tried them.  They are full of vitamins and minerals and are crazy healthy (lots of protein, fiber, iron, folate, magnesium and calcium!) – some consider beet greens to be in the top ten of healthy greens:  http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=151.  I steam them a few minutes; depends on how much I put in the pan; maybe 5 minutes.  As shown above I love them with butter, salt and pepper: tasty with a subtle beet flavor.  And I still have the beets for use in another meal.  I do love raw beets in a salad; I suggest you try that sometime! I have a new recipe for that; trying this weekend.

To butter poach eggs melt a tbsp. butter in an egg frying pan at medium heat.  This is the Teflon pan I use only for making eggs.  They don’t stick when you don’t share the pan with other cooking.  I slide in each egg.  Then I add 1-2 tbsp. water and sprinkle the eggs with green Tabasco sauce.  It is far milder than the red and I love the way it goes with fried eggs.  Cover the pan with a lid and steam on low for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and if you are like me; I want my eggs barely runny; so I let them stand a minute. If you want runny take them out after the two minutes.  Butter poaching with a tablespoon or so of water gives you a soft egg, no hard edges and the flavor almost of a poached egg but shaped like a fried egg. Bonus is you have total control because you can see the yolk, even touch it to test for doneness and you can flavor it as soon as the eggs go in the pan or as the eggs cook.  My green hot sauce is my go to topper but there are a host of sauce choices out there like sriracha sauce, Tabasco hot sauce, gf soy sauce, etc. For this posting I tried my eggs with a big sprinkle of fresh feta cheese or minus the feta cheese. I loved them either way. Feta cheese lovers rejoice!

eggs and beets 001

One of these eggs is a farm egg and one is from the grocery store.  Love farm eggs!

Sprinkle with good quality salt and freshly ground pepper and you have an inexpensive, tasty and healthy protein.  Eggs were out of favor for a long while but I never gave up on them. My dad always said they were good for you and that the lecithin in them counteracted the rich yolks.  Now experts say they are okay to eat within moderation. Go figure!  Regardless, I do love them for a quick satisfying meal at a low cost and they match perfectly with the earthy flavor of beet greens.  Don’t forget a touch of butter and the salt/pepper; this dish really needs it to brighten the greens.  Enjoy!

Angie’s GF Traveler Tales

 

Recently I went down to Florida to visit family and friends. After landing I shopped at the local grocery store; leaving with food for cooking at my daughter’s place as well as some cinnamon chex for breakfast and Kind bars for snacking.   My hotel had a full breakfast but the only things I ate from there was milk, juice and yogurt. Hence the box of cinnamon chex….

I baked a birthday cake for my daughter using a box of Pillsbury GF Funfetti cake.  Not too pricy and it made two layers *some gf cake mixes only make one layer. No mixer so I used a floppy big old plastic spoon to beat the cake batter. No cooling racks; placed each layer on a plate. I frosted it with chocolate chocolate chip canned icing.  Turned out amazingly delicious and my humble gf offering was well received by a hungry-for-cake public!trip to kasey 003 Flying 1350 miles to sing happy birthday to my dear child: pricy.  The joyous look on Kasey’s face as we sung: priceless.

I cooked two suppers and two lunches for them in a very not gluten free kitchen (bread, bread crumbs, all purpose flour and cereal everywhere)  My efforts were complete with lots of pan washing and counter wiping and a host of praying for safe gluten free eating.  Prayers answered.  I did not get glutened at her apartment.  I did get a twinge on the plane back after passing a packet of pretzels to my return flight seatmate since I couldn’t eat them and he could.  Take away: don’t even touch those small snack packets; pretzel dust on the outside makes them a hazard!

I went on to The Villages for a couple of days.  My friends there have been known to bake cake but I was knocked out by two things Claire made for me; thin little cloud breads for my lunch sandwiches which I stuffed with Boar’s Head deli meat and cheese and she baked a from scratch gluten free pineapple spice cake with cream cheese icing!  The cloud bread has very few ingredients and is baked on a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. She made the recipe a few days before I got there: froze several of the pieces for my sandwich enjoyment and said she was surprised to find how tasty it was.

As to the cake, Claire bought a 9×14 throw away pan and washed all her cooking stuff carefully before hand.  The cake was excellent, a substantial fruity and nutty treat!  The cloud bread was just like mine if smaller.  She had no trouble in making either item.  I was so impressed that someone would go to this level of effort to make my visit wonderful. I didn’t ask nor would I expect anyone to bake like that for me but she did. What a friend!

They also took me out to The Outback where I enjoyed a lovely gluten free meal of grilled salmon, sautéed veggies and a baked yam. This was a real treat for sure for someone who rarely eats out. Outback is known for its great steaks but I was in the mood for salmon and I was well rewarded with my tasty entree.  They both had steaks and I was a tad envious but my entree choice was no sacrifice; it was delish indeed.

salmon at outbck

My salmon came without the salsa but was well seasoned with lemon pepper.

I then traveled north to another family member’s home up in Gainesville, she eats gluten free for wheat intolerance; no worries there for me and very good eating indeed.  I left with a sandwich supper for my long drive plus a blueberry muffin for a snack and a tummy full of safe food!

Moral of this little story: if you have celiac don’t just stay home this summer. Advise and educate others on how to feed and care for your celiac needs.  If your family and friends are educated they can make your visit safe and very yummy. Oh and a little bit of luck is necessary because gluten is just all over this country!

Strawberry Cheerios…Cheers!

I happen to enjoy the new gluten free Cheerios….haven’t been made ill by them at all, despite all the complaints about them.  My favorite is the honey nut but I also enjoy the apple cinnamon as well.  The other week I tried something new, strawberry Cheerios! I heard they were out, could only find the huge family size so that’s what I came home with. Giant box…bigstrawberrycheeriosI tried them and was not that impressed, seemed a tad weirdly flavored.  But it is a big box and I am a frugal person so I kept eating them for my bedtime snack.  Strangely, I have grown very fond of them.  They are made with strawberry puree and no artificial color or flavor.   A serving has only like 8 grams of sugar which is fairly low in the cereal world these days.

strawberry cheerios

The flavor is subtle, not artificially strawberryish, just faintly fruity.  A nice change of pace from other breakfast cereals traditionally eaten with milk poured over.  I was betting I could enjoy them with yogurt and yes…quite delicious with some plain organic yogurt.

If you see them and enjoy Cheerios I recommend this flavor, did see it last week in a smaller box, LOL.  Well; I am steadily working my way through my family size.  It is now in a Tupperware cereal box to keep it fresh; a good idea with any cereal. Enjoy!