Sunday, October 30, 2011

Fitting in On a Friday Night

Fellow Wichitans....If you haven't been to Mulligans Bar and Grill on the east side, it is a must. Friday night was quite busy with the World Series Game broadcasting, but I was craving a wonderful GF pizza and a beer.  As an added bonus, Friday nights is half price pizza night.  (This includes the GF pizzas).  It has been fun going out to eat and to have a few drinks when I can actually drink something with my friends.  Mulligans has Woodchuck (which in my opinion is the best hard cider ou there).  I no longer feel left out when I want to socialize in a public setting.  Thank you GF gods!  It turned out to be a fun night with some friends and family.  I also found out that Dudley's on the west side serves Woodchuck as well, for those of you with Celiac's.  I talked to our waitress there and she actually had Celiac's as well. As far as food at Dudley's she said the only thing GF would be a salad without croutons.  Her and I kinda laughed, yeah, not really craving a salad with my nice cold beer....

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Garlic French Bread-A New Type of GF Wonderful

While at the expo\conference in Dallas at the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to talk to the bakers of this product, Against the Grain GF Baguettes.  These were absolutely fabulous.  The sad thing was is that this company, based out of Vermont, does not ship to individuals. They only ship to stores, many of them Whole Foods in the Dallas, TX area.  So guess where I made my husband go before we left, you got it, Whole Foods.  You get two long baguettes for about $5.00 frozen. Totally worth the cost, these are fluffy and non grainy. I had the chance to try there pizza also and it was great.  Hopefully Against the Grain will be shipped to Kansas real soon.  :)  I made them last night with a garlic butter spread and I fell in love all over again with bread......Here is their websitehttp://www.againstthegraingourmet.com/

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A trip to the grocery worth remembering

Unlike any other boring, uneventful trip to the grocery store, last night I stumbled upon a new GF product that I was wanting to announce to the world I was so excited.  Pacific Natural now makes...drum roll please.....GF CONDENSED SOUP (chicken, mushroom, etc.)  This is unlike anything that I have seen out there and I am so pleased!  This will make cooking so much easier.  They did make gf cream of mushroom, chicken before this, but they were not condensed.  In a recipe that I had converted that would call for this item, I would always have to guess and not use the whole can in my cooking in the fear that my end product would be too watery.  This will be great for the upcoming holidays.....

Here is the link: http://www.pacificfoods.com/our-foods/condensed-soups?phpMyAdmin=64182e44c70f28d7524cc50d3f3485ec

Check it out!

Monday, October 17, 2011

I gotta love lazy days....

Yes, today is Monday, but no, it is not a contract day for me so I get to sleep in and enjoy the day off.  A quick hello to all my blog followers that are at work today. :)  My son fell asleep at 7:15 last night, which is way early for him and slept until about 7:45 this morning.  I woke up this morning actually feeling rested, minus the horrible side affects of something created by the devil himself, ALLERGIES.  On this cool morning, I was thinking about what I am craving for breakfast today, since I normally do not eat breakfast on a work morning.  I thought of a recipe that our family friends passed on to us years and years ago that I absolutely love that I have converted to a GF recipe.  This is a great light morning breakfast, for those of you that are fruit lovers.  You first preheat the oven to about 425 degrees with 1/4 cup of butter in a 9 by 13 pan and let it melt while preheating.  Then you whip 4 eggs in a blender along with 1 cup of milk.  After that is blended nicely, you will add 1 cup of GF flour mix, my favorite if Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Mix.  (This baking mix you just substitute one for one in any recipe with flour, very easy. ) You then mix well and pour into the preheated dish.  Cook for about 20 minutes.  In the mean time, warm some canned peaches and thicken with corn starch.  This will be used to pour over your cooked dough. Any fruit can be used, but I think that peaches are fabulous.  Then sprinkle cinnamon on top of the peaches and serve. Mine is in the oven now, smelling great!  And yes, be jealous of me having Monday off :)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

October is Gluten Free Awareness Month

Lots of activities going on this weekend in Wichita!  On Saturday, there are two great natural food stores that will be celebrating gluten free awareness month.  At Green Acres, N. Rock Rd, there will be a Gluten Free Fair from 11-3 with support group info, samples, and recipies. They are also featuring Gluten AllergyTesting for only $50 this day.    At Food For Thought (E. Central), there will be a Gluten Free Baking Bonanza, although I am not sure on times with this event for Saturday.  So exccited as I love trying new foods and obtaining new recipie ideas.  See you there!  Maybe for lunch I will stop at Mulligans and get a GF pizza to go :)

Here is a link to FoodFor Thought Events http://www.foodforthoughtwichita.com/uploads/Oct11.pdf

Green Acres Link http://greenacres.com/index.php/calendar/wichita/10/2011

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Gluten Free Samples Galore




On Saturday, October 1st, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Dallas and attend a GF Expo and Convention sponsored by the great magazine "Living Without" (which I suggest you read if you have any kind of food intolerance). I would say there were about 200 vendors that attended. As I anxiously stood in line waiting to hand the desk attendant my ticket, I was thinking of how I will be surrounded by people just like me. For a few hours, I would no longer be the oddball and I won't have to say no to anyone asking if I would like to try the food sample that I normally would have to turn down. As I slowly, but anxiously walk through the convention hall, there are doctors, authors, chefs available to talk to and ask questions. I would say that the best part of the expo was the free samples, shown in the picture to the left. Wow! I was overwhelmed by what I brought home. I also found some great new products, such as, (hold on to your seats, fellow gf friends) gluten free country style gravy. You know, the wonderful cream gravy that you would use to smother on biscuits or chicken fried steak. Yes, I know. I fell in love all over again. I purchased a few packets after taste testing the product and I am going to savor in some gf biscuits and gravy this weekend for breakfast. My life is just a little more complete. (By the way, the GF Bisquick is amazing!)


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

How to Survive a Zombie Invasion on a GF Diet

Since Ethan has been born, my husband and I really watch no tv whatsoever unless its Sundays for football (which I am entirely addicted to now due to fantasy football) or the random show that just happens to draw our interest. Usually these are the tv shows that we are excited to watch and we watch the first episode, then we occasionly forget the night it is on so we lose track of what's happening. That is where the wonderful world of Netflix streaming comes into this house. The only good thing about an Xbox 360 is all the live streaming that you can do through it, my husband would beg to differ. We were browsing through the Netflix selection this last rainy weekend and came across the AMC series "The Walking Dead". So far we are on episode three and I am hooked. I was wondering how this show was going to be any different than any other zombie movie/tv show/spoof out there in tv and movie land. (It is a great show and I recommend it to anyone that has even the slightest bit of sci-fi blood in them.
On the first episode of the series you get an idea of how the surviving ransack the abandoned homes of Atlanta after a zombie invasion and stock up on food to survive. Um, oh my gosh, what would I do in this type of situation? What the heck would I consume to survive? Of course, there would be your standard soggy canned green vegetables (which are naturally GF). But what about other things, like bread, packed foods, or anything else that I could find laying around the random house in my neighborhood. Would I risk starving to death or would I choke down some wheat filled substanance and feel like killing myself before the zombies would attack becasue of the massive stomach cramps that I would develop among other things that I will not mention?Would the Red Cross have a ration of GF foods for those that need them in any type of emergency situation? Thinking about this, maybe I should pack a GF emergency food kit so I have some type of survival technique just in case there would be a need, for example, a tornado, etc. For now I will hold my breath on the chance of a zombie attack in the near future, unless I hear differently. Who knows, maybe if it comes to that point in my life, I would just say goodbye to the world as I shove a large gluten filled piece of cake into my mouth

Monday, October 10, 2011

Chocolate GF Goodness-Do I Need to Say More...

Towards the end of a rainy, yet well rested weekend, I ventured to Dillons to get a few things that I needed to complete outp pantry. As I walked towards the bakery section, which is usually the place that I just skip altogether in any grocery store setting, I happened to glance at the clearance rack. My anxious eyes leared towards the bottom of this rack and to my surprise I found Udi's Double Chocolate Chip Muffins on sale, not just any sale, a "let's mark these down cuz they are about to expire and we need to get them off our shelf" type of sale. Now let me tell you how excited I was to find these on this rainy Sunday night. I appreciate any kind of sale on GF food items, since they rob you blind. Normally these chocolate muffins would run your $6.99 for four. They were marked 50% and I snatched those bad boys and guarded them with my life as I gathered the rest of my items and moved my way to the front of the store to check out.
It is always interesting to see how some cashiers react when you purchase GF foods. I am talking about the types that seem to examine EVERY item that comes down that moving belt to the scanner...And talk about every item and let me know if they have tried it or not. I find it humerous when a get a cashier that, when ringing up a gf pizza, states "Oh, I heard about this gluten free thing, I need to try it. I need to start eating healthier". Well, yes, I think to myself, it is healthy in ways, but you can still get fat eating GF double chocolate muffins...Then you get the cashiers that state, "You eat gluten free? No wonder why you are so skinny." First of all, I am not that skinny. I have curves and I like them thank you very much. And secondly, some gf flours that are found in GF items actually have a higher fat content than wheat flour. So no, in not all ways am I eating healthier, just different than you. And I don't have a choice....I wish I did, I would be a little poor when grocery shopping every other week.
When I returned home from this wonderful shopping trip, I was unloading my paper sack full of groceries that were the ones intended for the trip. The last thing that I unloaded was those wonderful muffins and my husband states, "Now I know what took you so long at the store." I just looked at him with those lustful eyes of mine and stated "It was so worth it"......

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ghosts, Pumpkins, and Bats-The Joy of Halloween


Yes, I will admit it, I LOVE Halloween! It is one of my holidays, and no, I am not a witch. With the rainy weekend almost behind me, I ventured into the GF baking realm today and made my annual GF sugar cookies in the shapes of your most common Halloween creatures. I loved the green color I made this year, I think it kind of gives a glow in the dark appearance to the cookie. My favorite recipe for GF sugar cookies is from one of my favorite GF recipie books, "Gluten Free 101: Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat", by Carol Fenster, Ph.D. I omit the lemon zest in the recipie, since I am not quite fond of lemon flavorings in my food. These cookies are just soft enough to enjoy, not too crunchy, and not too brittle. the frosting that I make is just your old fashioned powder sugar frosting made with powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. I made a double batch, which at the end, gave me about 51 cookies of various shapes. Unfortunately, in a househould of a grown man, and very hungry and fast growing 3 year, and myself, those 51 cookies will not probably last very long.

6 Years of Adjustment

6 years ago marked a time in my life when all things food changed. I know you are probably thinking that this was due to diabetes, weight loss, cholesterol, etc. But no, it was something called celiac disease. At this time, which would have been 2005, when you told a person of this disease, it was unheard of. You would have to explain what is it and give the same detailed explanation of what a gluten free diet entails (yes, this is the only cure). I can't complain considering it is a disease that is treatable, if you stick to a gluten free diet. And yet, of all places in the world, I live in Kansas, the wheat state of the USA. This would be like living in Wisconsin and not being able to eat cheese curds (For all my Wisconsin followers, you know what I am talking about).
After explaining celiac disease to everyone, the next question that is ALWAYS asked is "What happens if you do eat something with gluten in it?" And most of the time, I tell them that they would not want to know, for reason of not embarrassing myself or them. For those of you that have been around someone that is gluten intolerant and accidentally consumes it, you know what happens and you would understand why I say the above.
Over that last 6 years, I wonder how many times I have explained my disease. It has become ALOT easier as the years go on due to many GF foods that are available at your local Dillons grocery store. I have learned many new recipes and ways to prepare food, as well as handling celiacs in public places such as restaurants and even such events as weddings (which are the most awkward if you have celiacs). The popularity has even increased due to some unnamed celebrities that are "going gluten free".
The purpose of this blog is to talk about my everyday experiences with living gluten free and for people to ask questions. Everyday I have several people I know ask me for my input on celiac disease due to them having a newly diagnosed family member or they are thinking that they themselves may be gluten intolerant. So please ask away....
It is possible to be gluten free and happy, even if you do live in the wheat state.