Raise Awareness

I have plenty of T-Shirts and many of which raise some type of awareness.  From Invisible Children to TWLOHA, it stops and makes people think and ask questions.   Those are two great organizations and if you have a second I highly recommend talking a look at their sites and seeing what they are all about.

So, if we wear shirts for organizations, why not wear one for Celiac Awareness?  Check out these links from Cafe Press for your Celiac, Gluten Free, Wheat Free etc t-shirts, bumper stickers, aprons, bags/totes etc!!  Spread the word this month!

Cafe Press : Celiac

Cafe Press: Gluten Free Stuff

Cafe Press : Celiac Chicks

Cafe Press: Gluten Free

May is Celiac Awareness Month!!

Gluten Free

May is Celiac Awareness Month!!  Want to help spread awareness?  Please read the an excerpt from the Triumph Dining Blog

"Celiac Awareness Month (May) is quickly approaching, and we're looking to get the word out in a big way! Each year, it seems we get closer to the tipping point, with more restaurants offering gluten free menus and more groceries labeled as gluten free. But, there's more we can do in our quest to truly make Celiac Disease and the gluten free diet mainstream.

That's why we've teamed up with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) to run a website badge campaign to generate awareness. Placing a badge (like the one above) on your website is a great way to get a dialogue started and to let the world know that you support Celiac Disease Awareness.

And, until the end of May, when you add the badge to your website we're going to give $5 (up to a total of $5,000) to the NFCA, to help them raise even more awareness of Celiac Disease. Participating in this event and using the badge is 100% free for you. We'll make the $5 donation on your behalf. So, what are you waiting for? The only thing standing between the NFCA and up to $5,000 is a 30 second copy and paste job.

Thank you for participating in these efforts and helping to raise awareness of Celiac Disease. The more we do to the get the word out, the better all our lives become. Together, we can make a difference!

Sincerely,
Ross Cohen
President, Triumph Dining

How to Participate

1. Copy the code for any of the badges below and then paste it on your home page.


2. E-mail us at awareness@triumphdining.com with a link to where you placed the badge on your site.


3. You'll automatically be entered into a drawing for one of several Triumph Dining Gluten Free Survival Kits (a $50 value!).


4. Help us spread the word to raise even more money for the NFCA with the sharing tools (e-mail, twitter, and facebook) below.


5. Celebrate your good deed for the day.

At the end of May, we'll present a check for up to $5,000 ($5 per person who pastes a badge on their site) to the NFCA."

Get your Celiac Awareness badges HERE

Gluten Free

For more information about Celiac Disease please visit:

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness

Celiac Disease Check List

Favorite Cookbooks (at the moment)

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there but I read cookbooks, not just skim the recipes but read them like they are a novel.  I truly love cookbooks (and books in general).  Then I go back and put little sticky notes on all the recipes I want to try. This past Christmas I got a few of them as presents and sadly some of them I haven't even cooked from yet.  Once the big move is over and we are finally settled somewhere my big plan is to make weekly menus for at least a month from all of these cookbooks that I have in my collection.

There is one in particular that I can't wait to cook from, and that is Tom Colicchio's Think Like A Chef. The recipes in this cookbook are simply amazing sounding.  I would love (and I mean LOVE) to eat at one of his restaurants in the near future!  Who knows maybe it will happen.

Lately I've been adapting recipes from a cookbook that my friend Janine had signed and sent to me by Ellie Krieger called So Easy.  And she isn't kidding her recipes are very easy and extremely tasty.  One of my favorite ones so far is her Garlic-Basil Shrimp.  I could probably eat this once a week (but I don't).



Another current favorite cookbook of mine is the Allergy-Free cookbook by Alice Sherwood.  I use many of her recipes also.  For example the great blueberry muffins that I just made are from this cookbook.  This cookbook is so helpful because it will take a recipe and tell you how to make it: gluten free, nut free, dairy free, and or egg free!!



A friend of ours got me a cookbook for Christmas because he always sees me posting recipes or pictures of food on facebook and saw that it said gluten free.  Turns out to be an amazing cookbook that got some rave reviews!  Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking.  I've made a few recipes out of here and they were all very very good.  Even Bryan's mom made a recipe out of here on my last night in New Jersey.

On the list of cookbooks to concur when we move (besides Tom Colicchio's) are the following:

The Flying Apron



BabyCakes




On the list of cookbooks to buy are the following:

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook



Jamie's Food Revolution



The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook



Gluten Free Girl and the Chef

A new take on chicken tenders and fries

A few weeks ago I filled out a form on Tropical Traditions website to be considered to review their coconut oil.  Not thinking that me and my little blog would get picked but I did! Yesterday I received my Coconut Oil in the mail and instantly began to think "what should I make first?", "should I use one of their recipes or try and create my own?", "what does it smell like?", "will it have a strong coconut flavor?".  Needless to say my brain was on 20 question mode, but I had a photo assignment last night and couldn't experiment right away, so I did it tonight.  I was nervous and excited to experiment and swore that if my first try came out bad I wouldn't blog about it.  Thankfully it came out pretty tasty!

I've read so many great things about coconut oil, both for cooking/baking but also the health benefits of it.  Below are a few interesting facts that I have found in my research:

• Coconut oil is very heat stable so it makes an excellent cooking and frying oil. It has a smoke point of about 360°F (180°C)

• The oil is also used to give movie theater popcorn in the United States its distinctive flavor


• Made from fresh coconuts, not dried copra


• Has a fresh coconut fragrance


• Apart from coconut oil, the only other source of lauric acid found in such high concentrations is in mother's milk
  

I had been curious about coconut oil for a while now and been wanting to try it out for myself so I am very thankful to Tropical Traditions for sending me this amazing sample to experiment with and write about.

So back to my 20 questions:

"what should I make first?" - I decided to try and make a play on chicken nuggets and fries.  Instead I made coconut flour dusted chicken tenders and sweet potato fries.  They were fried in a little bit of coconut oil (recipe below).  It was very very tasty.  The chicken came out fantastic!!  So juicy and tender with a hint of coconut flavor (just a hint).  The fries came out great too, however I think I prefer my fries baked instead of fried.

"should I use one of their recipes or try and create my own?" - I went with making my own recipe this time, but Tropical Traditions has tons of great looking recipes that I look forward to trying!

"what does it smell like?"- It definitely smells like coconut but in a good way (not like suntan lotion).

"will it have a strong coconut flavor?" - A slight coconut flavor is there but its not over powering or anything like that.  I rather enjoyed it.

Chicken Tenders and Fries

1/4 cup of coconut flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 medium to large sweet potato - cut into "fries"

2 boneless/skinless chicken breast - cut into 1/2 inch strips

coconut oil - enough to lightly fry the fries and chicken - about 1/4 -1/2 cup

In a medium bowl mix the coconut flour, tapioca flour, salt and pepper until combined.  Dredge the sweet potato fries in the flour and shake of any excess flour before adding to the oil.  One the fries are finished cooking cool them on a wire rack.  Lightly sprinkle with salt (if you desire).  Next, add the chicken to the same flour mixture, coat lightly and shake of any excess flour before adding to the oil.  Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until fully cooked. I dipped my chicken in a little bit of honey....oooh so good!!



Seeing as I was given this very generous sample to try I have decided that for the next month before packing everything up to ship across the country I will make one coconut oil recipe a week, so please stay tuned for more recipes and reviews. Now...what to make next, hmmmmm  Maybe I'll try baking something next.

Please check out this video from Tropical Traditions about their Coconut Oil:

Sweet Baby Ray's (review)

Back East we have "cook outs" where you cook outside on a grill, usually some steaks, BBQ chicken, veggies etc.  However, when I moved to California people call cook outs BBQ's, which I found a little confusing.  I was invited to my first BBQ thinking "oh, nice we are going to have some BBQ pork or chicken".  No, there was NO BBQ sauce to be found anywhere.  Cooking on a grill (or as they call it here, a BBQ) was what they were talking about all along.  Needless to say I was a bit disappointing and still haven't gotten over the difference from one coast to another.  In my mind to have a BBQ - you must have BBQ sauce!! (I know I'm not alone on this, but people here think I'm crazy)

Since moving here and being to many BBQ's with out BBQ sauce I realized a few months ago, that I haven't had BBQ sauce in years!!  Bryan is always raving about this one brand, his all time favorite to be exact - Sweet Baby Ray's.  I said well if its gluten free, lets try it. I read the back of the package and I didn't see anything containing gluten/wheat so I went online and sure enough its gluten free!! Its a good thing that it is, because I don't think he can live with out it, and he is very excited that I can eat it.  Here is what it says on their website:

Allergen

Is the product gluten-free?

All products except for the meatballs with sauce are gluten free.  Always read labels closely for ingredients before consuming.

This stuff is AMAZING.  Such a great flavor, not too over powering but the perfect balance of tangy sweetness.  Its thick and has a little bit of a kick to it.  I've only tried the original one but they have several other flavors: Honey, Hickory & Brown Sugar, Ray's Hot 'N Spicy and Sweet Vidalia Onion. Probably one of the best sauces I have had.  You can pretty much find this everywhere so if you haven't tried it yet you should.  It's almost summer time lots of grills will be heating up waiting for some BBQ chicken!! I don't we'll ever have another kind of BBQ sauce in our house.

I don't own a grill right now (and hopefully we'll be able to get one when we move to Rhode Island) so tonight I'm baking some chicken drumsticks that have been brushed with Sweet Baby Ray's and when they are just about finished I'll pop them under the broiler for just a little bit to get that char on them.  Then of course I'll be dipping the meat in the sauce :) Tonight's meal will be some steamed broccoli, Sweet Baby Rays Chicken and a tomato and cucumber salad.  Light and tasty.

Blueberry Muffins

I've been searching for some new breakfast ideas.  In the past I've made some bagels, muffins, or the old stand by crustless quiche. Lately I've just been having some yogurt or eggs for breakfast. Usually my weekends are my baking time but not so much this weekend,  I had to work on Saturday and today was spent watching one of my best friends and her mom cross the line of the Big Sur Marathon, then off to hang out and relax with them for the day.  - Way to go Lisa and Lorraine.  But tonight when I got home I was determined to make some muffins before The Amazing race started.  I picked up a bag of frozen blueberries today and blueberry muffins would be made tonight!  I went to one of my favorite Gluten Free Cookbooks - The Allergy Free Cookbook by Alice Sherwood (if you haven't tried any recipes from this cookbook you really should).

Blueberry Muffins (page 63) - The Gluten Free Version

1/4 cup butter

2 cups GF all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup superfine sugar plus extra for dusting (optional)

2/3 cup milk + 1/4 cup - per the gluten free version of this recipe (I use soy)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

1 cup blueberries

1/4 cup chopped pecans*

ground cinnamon for dusting*

* I added the pecans and cinnamon (into the mix) which weren't called for in the recipe.  The cinnamon was just suggested for dusting.

Line 6 large or 10 small sections of a muffin pan with paper muffin cups or butter the pan well.  (I have cupcake tins so I needed all 12 of mine lined) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Melt the butter in saucepan.  Remove from the heat and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Stir in the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Make a well in the center, pour in the milk, lemon juice, vanilla extract and egg.  Fold the mixture quickly to combine, but don't worry if there are a few lumps.  Fold the blueberries and pecans carefully into the mixture.

Spoon (I use an ice cream scoop) the mixture into the prepared pan (they will be almost full).

If desired, sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake in the oven until risen, lighlty golden in color and the centers spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack, dusk with superfine sugar and let cool.

These muffins are so good!! Same great texture of a real muffin, awesome flavor and I think the addition of the cinnamon and pecans into the recipe was a good idea :)  Eventually I would like to get a muffin tin to make slightly larger ones but for now my cupcake tin works just fine. The great thing about this recipe is you could add pretty much any fruit you like to it...next time I think I'll add some cranberries, orange zest and a little bit of walnuts, hmmmm.

I love this cookbook and the recipes I have tried out of here.  This is also the cookbook that I get my bread recipe from.

Cupcakes - what's not to love??

So last week I made two different brands of brownie mix and this week, you guessed it...cupcakes! Technically it's cake mix that I am comparing this week just made into cupcake form. In my mind cupcakes are way better than cake :) Little individual cups of yummy goodness.  Again, its Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix compared to Arrowhead Mill's Vanilla Cake Mix. I've made the Betty Crocker ones before and loved them and I'll be making the Arrowhead Mill's ones for the first time.  The Arrowhead Mill's mix was in the batch of mixes one of my co-workers brought me a few weeks ago.

I love cupcakes, and I seek them out.  Over the Christmas I went to New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts to visit Bryan and our families.  On one of our little adventures to NYC we got the chance to go to BabyCakes!  Now those are some tasty cupcakes!! Wow.  I think I spent almost $40.00 on cupcakes, why?? Not because of the price (well sort of) but because I couldn't decide which ones to buy.  Sooo Bryan and I picked a few and got two of each so we could both try them, because I don't share cupcakes very well.  I think we ended up with the Vanilla, Chocolate and Brownie cupcakes.  All of which were AMAZING but I think the brownie ones were our favorite. - I can't wait to go back there again!

When Bryan came to visit me in February we took a weekend trip up to San Francisco.  We kept seeing this van that says "Kara's Cupcakes" on the side and I obviously kept trying to figure out where they were located.  On our last night there, we are heading to go pick up the car at our hotel and he saw there store and Bryan, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, went in just to see if they offered gluten free cupcakes.  To both of our surprise they did!  But, sadly they were sold out.  I was a little crushed until he told me that they had another store, and if I knew what flavor I wanted they would call over to see if they could hold two for us.  Thankfully the other store had some left, we got there right before they closed and the best part was, they were two blocks from out hotel! ha ha.  While at the store I started chatting with the girl behind the counter and to my surprise they started with Erin from BabyCakes NYC's recipe and adapted it to make it their own...no wonder why they were so good and we loved them so much. We were patient enough to not eat them until we got home (about 2.5 hours) before digging into our little gems.  Again, the cupcakes were AMAZING!!

This summer when I move I am hoping to try some cupcakes from Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery (also in NYC).  If anyone has tried them, I would love to hear your thoughts :)

So here are the results of this weeks battle of the cupcakes (both sets of cupcakes will have the same frosting-yes its gluten free!!):

Betty Crocker Chocolate Cupcakes with Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Rainbow Chip Frosting

vs

Arrowhead Mills Vanilla Cupcakes with Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Rainbow Chip Frosting

Betty Crocker - I followed the directions on the back of the package and cooked it according to the time given.

Moist, tasty, chocolaty.  Taste and texture of a "real" cupcake.  As with the brownie mix from Betty Crocker you can't tell the difference from the gluten containing cupcakes.

Arrowhead Mills - I followed the directions on the back of the package and cooked it according to the time given.

Moist, tasty vanillay.  The taste was pretty good, however the texture was a bit different.  They were a little grainy, almost like it has a little bit of a crunchy texture, more like cornmeal-ish texture to it.  Over all they were still very good, I really enjoyed them.

Now I have a little more than two dozen cupcakes and I am only one person so as with the majority of things I bake these will be coming to work with me tomorrow.  My co-workers have become my "test kitchen" over the past two years.

And the winner is....

I have to say that the winner of this one has got to be the Betty Crocker mix, but probably only because of the texture of the Arrowhead Mills.  You really can't tell that these and the frosting are gluten free.  Betty Crocker has done very well with these mixes, I am highly impressed.

Now to wash these down with a nice big glass of soy milk!!

Trader Joe's Vegetable Panang Curry - Gluten Free!

When I first was diagnosed with Celiac I was told that Whole Foods and Trader Joe's were the best places to shop for Gluten Free items, and I don't think I will ever forget the first shopping trip I did - it almost ended in tears!  No lie, I about cried in the middle of whole foods.  I was beyond overwhelmed with this new lifestyle.  Which is kind of funny seeing as in my opinion Whole Foods is by far the best place to shop for Gluten Free items because everything is labeled, not just on the package but on the shelves they have these little tags that say what is Gluten Free.   I just wasn't used to this kind of shopping.  I wasn't used to having to read everything on the label and learning what many of these ingredients that you need to carry a dictionary around with you to figure out if they contain Gluten Free or not.  If you have Celiac or shop for someone who does, I'm sure you can relate to my experience.  Over the past two years I've gotten better with reading the labels and figuring out where gluten "hides" on the ingredients list.

Trader Joe's on the other hand doesn't come right out and label everything.  Well they have gotten better over the last two years, but when I first started shopping for Gluten Free items it was so frustrating.  Their Gluten Free list isn't store specific like Whole Foods is, they don't put any markings on the shelves and for the most part you had to read every ingredient on the box, do some research online etc to figure out what was Gluten Free and what wasn't.  Now thankfully they are starting to label many of their products as Gluten Free!  (Thank you Trader Joe's!).  Their selection is still a bit limited compared to Whole Foods and they aren't labeling everything but they are getting better.



For the most part I try to buy fresh ingredients, including herbs, meats, veggies etc. and try to avoid many of the processed/packaged foods, but lets be honest, sometimes its just hard to do.  Some days I just want to grab something quick and not have to prepare a whole meal just for myself.  I've tried a few of the frozen meals from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's...they are okay for a quick meal, but I try not to eat them too much.  About a month ago I tried this frozen meal from Trader Joe's and it was very very tasty, however I went to get another one to blog about and they were gone.  Today on my lunch break I tried to restaurants in town and both were extremely rude and unhelpful with my gluten free diet so I decided to run over to Trader Joe's and see if by some chance they had any in the freezer section and they did!  So I grabbed one to bring home for dinner and decided to blog about it.



(You can find this in the frozen section at Trader Joe's (items vary by location))

Vegetable Panang Curry with Jasmine Rice

Ingredients: Thai Jasmine Rice, Brown Jasmine Rice, Panang Sauce (coconut milk, Thai Chili, Shallots, Garlic, Basil, Galangal [Thai Ginger], Kaffir Lime Leaf, Palm Sugar  Lemongrass, Coriander, Soy Oil, Sea Salt), Vegetable Blend (Zucchini, Onion, Asparagus, Kale, Green Beans, Snow Peas, Baby Corn and Spinach).

Granted this isn't the healthiest of meals but its tasty and good for a quick meal as long as you don't eat it too often!!  So if you are looking for something tasty, quick (takes all of five minutes in the microwave), filling and GLUTEN FREE check this out!  You really can't go wrong for only $2.49!!





Now if Trader Joe's could stock my local stores with some Gluten Free baked goods I would be all set!!

Brownie Battle

Last week a co worker of mine brought me a bunch of gluten free mixes to try.  They were from Arrowhead Mills (Brownies, Yellow Cake, Cupcakes and Chocolate Chip Cookies).  I made the brownies and they were pretty tasty.  I have a hard time just eating straight chocolate, I really like to have something with it such as nuts, peanut butter, coconut etc.  Yesterday I found some of the Betty Crocker mixes (which I haven't seen much of around me or they are either way to much money to buy and try). I made the Arrowhead Mills Brownie mix last week and the Betty Crocker Brownie mix today and here are my thoughts on them:

Arrowhead Mills

I followed the directions on the back of the package, and added about a 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.  I baked them in a square pan and these turned out to be very cake like, very thick and chocolaty.  I think the peanut butter and nuts were a great addition to these!  I don't know if I would of been as much of a fan of them if they were just straight brownies.

Betty Crocker

Again, I followed the directions on the back of the package.  They also listed the baking times for different pan sizes, so this time I decided to bake them in an 11x7 pan.  The brownies were a lot thinner, which I enjoyed sooo much more.  I like the crunchy edges and these tasted just like the real ones.  Even though they came out a bit thin due to the pan size they were very moist. I couldn't tell the difference at all with these.  I will buy these again for sure.  My other favorite Betty Crocker GF mix is the chocolate cake - Love it!

I would have to say that the Betty Crocker ones are by far my favorite of these two mixes.  I just loved that they still truly tasted like the original Betty Crocker mix.

Here are the final product from the Betty Crocker Brownie mix:

Coconut Macaroons by Elana's Pantry

I truly love the recipes on Elana's Pantry. They are tasty and easy to do. Today I made Elana's Pantry's Coconut Macaroons and they are awesome. The only alteration I made to the recipe was I topped it with some melted chocolate. I'll be honest, it's really hard not to eat these all tonight. I've had about three little ones already and could continue to eat them. You should all give these a try.

Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons
6 egg whites
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups shredded coconut

1. In a mixing bowl whisk egg whites and salt until stiff


2. Fold in agave, vanilla and coconut


3. Drop batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet, one rounded tablespoonful at a time


4. Pinch each macaroon at the top (like a kiss)


5. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned


6. Serve