Fast, easy and good gluten-free pad thai

When I was first diagnosed with Celiac disease I was constantly looking for something fast to make for dinner. For all of you that are gluten free you can understand that this can be a challenge. Sometimes you just don't feel like making everything you eat. I found a brand called Thai Kitchen that offers many different gluten-free options. They are almost all ready in minutes. My favorite dish is the boxed pad thai. It is so easy! The box comes with sauce and noodles, and you add whatever you like to it. We usually add chicken, but we have made it with shrimp too. My favorite way to eat it is with green onions, chopped peanuts, cilantro, chicken or shrimp, and mung beans. Now my husband will not eat most of that so he just puts peanut and chicken in his. Oh well he is missing out! You should be able to find this at any grocery store. I have seen it at several different ones.

Green's gluten-free beer

So I can't say before going gluten free that I was a huge beer drinker. I occasionally had a beer when it was necessary or when there was nothing else available. I prefer wine. I tried my first gluten-free beer while visiting friends and family in Austin. We stopped by The Flying Saucer so we could have a drink before dinner. I was not expecting to be able to drink anything but a glass of wine. I was pleasantly surprised. There staring me in the face, right there on the menu, was GLUTEN-FREE BEER!!! I was shocked. The price was pretty steep at 10.00 a bottle, but I knew I had to try it. The bottles are bigger than a normal-sized beer so that helps with the price a little too. I was luckily able to talk my husband into sharing it with me because I would not have been able to finish it. The beer was a darker beer, darker than I am used to drinking, not that I'm really "used" to it anymore. It was good though. I would defiantly buy it again. Honestly I would probably buy it again just to support the company that put it out there with us gluten-free people in mind. I know there are other companies out there that brew gluten-free beer. Give it a try, especially if you are or were a beer drinker.

pure heaven! gluten-free granola bars

I stumbled across this really good and really easy recipe while reading another gluten-free blog. It is so easy and the result is delicious. There are endless ways to make these which makes the recipe that much better. I have made them twice now. The first time I used dried cranberries and almonds, and the second time I used dried cherries and apricots with chopped pecans and I threw in a little bit of coconut too. You can find the recipe here

You can order gluten-free oats here I was able to find these in a grocery store here so if you have stores around you that carry harder to find gluten-free items look for them there. I think that they have a form on their website that tells you who sales their products also.

Fish for dinner

One of my favorite and also very easy meals is grilled fish. My husband is not much of a fish eater, so he will pick up a steak for himself, and I will get fish. I like to mix it up, I love tilapia but also like Salmon, shark, mahi mahi. I love fish!

On this particular night, I chopped a sweet potato and roasted it in the oven. I quickly brushed the pieces with olive oil, salted with sea salt and fresh crushed pepper. I roasted in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. (It will depend on how big your sweet potato is and also how many of them you are roasting at a time. This was just 1 decent sized potato) I sauteed some green beans. (Frozen to save time) I sauteed these in olive oil and seasoned with the same salt and pepper. (I have a thing for olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper.) For the fish, I again brushed with olive oil, topped with fresh chopped garlic, some dry dill, and yep you guessed it a sprinkle of more salt and pepper. (I use just a dash of salt when I am seasoning my food. Don't go overboard!)To grill the fish, sometimes I will use planks, but on this particular night, I made a foil pouch (make sure and spray with a cooking spray so the fish doesn't stick!) and I covered the fish with the foil. Make sure and loosely cover it and leave an opening so that steam can escape. It will take about 8 minutes to cook on the grill again depending on how much and how big your pieces are. I also like my fish pretty cooked. If you don't own an outside grill you can easily do this on a George Foreman grill too. Just omit the foil pouch. Make sure you spray with a cooking spray!

This is such a fast and easy gluten-free meal. Obviously you can adjust any and all of this, these are just a few of my favorites. Make sure with any seasonings that you decide to use to check for any hidden sources of gluten.

Gluten-free quinoa recipe

I have grown to really like quinoa. (pronounced keen-wa) I eat a lot of rice and decided one day to try this instead. It is chewy in consistency and reminds me a lot of brown rice. The funny thing is I am not a huge fan of brown rice. One of the first ways that I tried it was by adding it to a chicken soup instead of rice, which was really good. For my lunch this week I decided to try a recipe that I found online at savvy vegetarian Although, I am not a vegetarian I prefer to eat a lot of veggies instead of meat. This recipe is full of vegetables and with the added quinoa it becomes very filling and nutritious as well.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 cup quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups cold water
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 cups cooked black beans. If using canned beans, drain and rinse well
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* Optional: 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced thin diagonally
* Optional: 1 cup chopped fresh yellow or green beans
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced OR 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
* 2 garlic cloves, minced, OR 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 red pepper, sliced thin
* 1 green pepper, sliced thin
* 1 tsp cumin powder
* 1 tsp coriander powder
* 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or basil
* 1/4 cup chopped scallions
* Optional: 1 large ripe tomato
* Optional: 1/2 cup sliced olives
* Dressing:
* 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 tsp salt
* Fresh ground pepper
* Pinch cayenne or chili powder

Directions

1. The quinoa can be made ahead of time and refrigerated
2. Soak the quinoa 1/2 hour in cold water
3. Rinse very thoroughly in water several times. For each rinse, pour off most of the water and finish draining through a large fine mesh strainer
4. Place in 2 qt pot with 1 1/2 c. water and 1/2 tsp salt
5. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, cover tightly, and cook for 15 minutes
6. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes covered
7. Fluff gently with a fork and set aside to cool.
8. Saute jalapeno, fresh garlic, in 2 Tbsp oil until garlic is browned, pepper and celery are softened
9. Add the green and red peppers and saute briefly
10. Add the cumin and coriander, cook and stir 5 minutes
11. Blend dressing ingredients with a whisk or shake in a jar
12. Gently combine sauteed veggies, tomatoes, black beans, quinoa and dressing in a large bowl
13. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cilantro and scallions, and serve warm or cover and chill for later


This is so good! I cannot wait to enjoy this meal for lunch this week.


Here is a picture. It is already packed up and ready to take to work, so excuse the throw-away tupperware!

Pamela's gluten-free brownies

Yeah yeah I know long time no post. Sorry, if anyone out there is reading this, I got sick for a few days and it has been hard to get back in the swing of things. For that I will post 2 new posts tonight.

I have already raved about Pamela's chocolate chip cookie mix in a previous post. The brownie mix is really good too. I made these brownies to take to a baby shower. I was asked to bring a desert and decided gluten-free brownies are something that everyone will like. They were a hit. Pamela's mixes are so easy, even if you are not a baker. You mix a few ingredients together and put them in the oven. It's that simple.

Now for the pictures..

Udi's gluten-free foods

My husband and I went on a little road trip last weekend to Austin. My mom and my brother are also diagnosed celiac's so it's nice to get together with them and have lots of gluten-free treats. My mom picked up some muffins, blueberry and lemon, from Central Market. The brand was Udi's These are hands down the absolute best muffins I have ever had. Sorry, I didn't take a picture, but I can assure you that I will be repurchasing more of these so I will have a picture in the future. We ate them much too fast this time! The texture of these was very surprising. They are the most moist bread that I have ever eaten gluten free. Very springy texture. We carried a couple of these back to Dallas with us and after sitting in our refrigerator for a week (we were kind of muffined out) I had one this morning for breakfast and they tasted exactly the same! I could not believe it. Normally it would have dried out. I have done a little bit of exploring online with this company, and I do believe you can order online, but you may have to call them to place the order. I did not see an online order form. Trust me on this, please order from them or find a local store that carries their products. If you don't have a Central Market or Whole Foods in your area ask your local grocer to carry them. Lots of stores will do this! Gluten free is so popular now that many people that don't even need to eat this diet do because it is so healthy. Please, please, PLEASE trust me on this one and get your hands on these products. If you live in Denver or are visiting stop by and try them in person. You won't be sorry!

pasta, pasta, pasta!

I will admit, I am not very adventurous when it comes to trying different gluten-free pastas. I have heard horror stories about a few brands. The one I liked the most and would eat pretty often after I was diagnosed was the tinkyada brand. You can view the website here This brand tastes pretty much exactly like regular wheat pasta. You have to be careful not to overcook gluten-free pasta or it becomes mushy and gross. I have never had that problem when using this brand. The only grocery stores that I have found it at are the more upscale, specialty-type stores like Whole Foods or Market Street.

One of my new favorite brands that I find myself buying a lot now is Mrs. Leepers. There are so many different types of pastas with this brand. The only thing so far that I have tried is the spiral rainbow colored pasta. So good. This brand also offers many quick-fix type pasta dinners, similar to hamburger helper. I personally have never had them, but they look good.


Another favorite of mine is the gluten-free mac & cheese. I eat this stuff all the time. My absolute favorite brand is the Annie's brand. It is a little more expensive, but when it is on sale I stock up. The other brand I buy (which you will see in the picture) is the Debole's brand. This one is more like a white cheddar style mac & cheese. This one is good too, just not my favorite.

I have a new pasta that I have not had the chance to try yet, but when I do I will post a review of it here. The brand is bionaturae I have heard from a few people that this one is the best.




and a picture of my mac & cheese

Gluten-free pancakes

All I can say is wow! These are so good. I have gotten myself used to not eating many bread products in the mornings now. Face it, if you are a celiac or eat gluten free just because, breakfast is not an easy meal. On the weekends I take more time preparing breakfast than I do during the week. I am a huge fan of Pamela's products. Everything I have tried is very good. (see my previous post about the cookies/cookie bar.) Pancakes have endless options too, try them with blueberries or cinnamon apples. YUM!

Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie is a great comfort food. Potatoes, ground beef, and veggies make this a satisfying meal. It is easily made gluten free which is even better! It is up to you on what veggies you put in it. I chose to use carrots, onion, corn, and green peas. I use the leanest ground beef I can find. (97/3)

Now for the recipe-

1 1/2 pounds of extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of your choice of veggies (carrots, celery, corn, peas, etc.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2-2 cups potatoes
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken gravy


Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking coat large frying pan with olive oil.

Saute onions in olive oil. Add vegetables according to cooking time. Carrots first, then softer vegetables after carrots are mostly cooked.

Add ground beef and brown until no longer pink. Add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. (I add quite a bit more Worcestershire sauce than this recipe calls for because we really like it. I use more like 2 tablespoons.) Add 1/2 cup of beef broth and cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Gradually begin adding cornstarch (dissolved in water) to thicken the sauce into a gravy. I didn't thicken mine quite as much as I would have liked, but it still tasted fine.

Mash your potatoes. (I use a stand mixer for mine, but you can easily do this with a potato masher that you can find in a grocery store if you do not have a stand mixer.) I throw in 2 teaspoons of unsalted butter and salt and pepper in mine as well.

Place beef and veggies in a baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes evenly over the top.

Cook in a 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown. (about 25-30 minutes) Broil for the last 5 minutes to brown the potatoes.

Chipotle, one of my favorite gluten-free fast food meals

Okay so I will admit that I am afraid to eat out, but I do love Chipotle. There are not many people that understand what celiac disease is and sometimes it can be hard to trust a restaurant and the wait staff not to make you sick. I have never gotten sick from eating at Chipotle, so I do go there often. I think I could eat it a few times a week and not get sick of it. I used to always get the burrito, but of course I can't eat it anymore since the tortilla is a flour tortilla. Luckily they have a few other options. I always get a salad because anyone that knows me knows that salad is my favorite food. There are so many endless options with a salad. The picture above is what I always get. The scoop of guacamole is my favorite. They have the best guac. You can also get a bowl instead of a salad which is basically a burrito in a bowl without the tortilla. I prefer more lettuce and dressing which is why I get the salad. I have also read from a couple of different celiac blogs that you can get hard tacos too. Check with the chipotle team before trying them just to make sure they aren't fried with anything that has gluten in it.

Another gluten-free lunch idea

One of the fastest and easiest things to make is stir fry. I love stir fry. There are so many different ways you can make it, different sauces, different veggies, different meats. There are endless choices. I almost always make mine veggie only, just a personal choice. This one has broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and sliced almonds. The sauce is a brown sauce that I use a lot in stir fry's using beef broth, brown sugar, red pepper sauce, soy sauce, and a little corn starch to thicken it. I paired mine with a serving of brown rice.

Pamela's chocolate chunk cookie mix

Out of all of the gluten-free baking mixes that I have tried Pamela's is the best hands down. She has many different products out there, but the ones I have tried are the cookie mix, brownie mix, and chocolate cake mix. She also has packages of cookies that are so great too. I have used the pecan shortbread cookies as a pie crust before. Just break the cookies up into a fine powder and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 7-8 minutes or until it starts to turn a light brown. It tastes exactly like a graham cracker crust. Today I decided to try the chocolate chip cookie mix as a cookie cake instead of cookies. It is so good! Another thing that I really like to do is spread icing over the top to make it like a true cookie cake. You can never have too much icing!

I have found that most major grocery stores chains carry the Pamela's brand. I have found them at Market Street, Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Kroger. You can view the website here

I am so excited.... Gluten-free chex now available!!

I was reading a random cooking website and stumbled across a banner add advertising gluten-free chex. I love chex and am so glad to see them jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. I cannot wait to make all the fun recipes that involve chex, especially puppy chow! Yay! Look for them the next time you are in the store, make sure they are gluten-free because some stores might still have the old boxes on the shelves. Also check out the chex website here There are tons of gluten-free recipes on their website!

Naturally gluten-free cheese enchiladas

For dinner tonight we made cheese enchiladas. So good, fast, and easy. There are a lot of recipes out there for cheese enchiladas, but I always use the recipe that is in my Betty Crocker Big Red cookbook. This was the first cookbook I ever bought, and I use it all the time. I will post the recipe below, it was taken straight out of this cookbook.

Cheese Enchiladas

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 ounces)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 cup sour cream (I use the light version)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
8 corn tortillas (I end up using 12 total for this recipe. It depends on how full you stuff them)

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Mix cheeses, sour cream, parsley, pepper and onion; set aside.

3. Heat remaining ingredients except tortillas to boiling in 2-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Pour into ungreased pie plate.

4. Dip each tortilla into sauce to coat both sides. Spoon about 1/2 cup cheese mixture onto each tortilla; roll tortilla around filling. Place seam side down in greased rectangular baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

5. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until bubbly. Garnish with additional shredded cheese, sour cream an chopped green onions if desired.


I do alter this recipe a little. I do not dip the tortillas in the sauce like the recipe says. I just pour all of the sauce over the enchiladas right before I put them in the oven and then I sprinkle more cheese and green onions over the top.


The filling



Right before they went in the oven





Enjoy!

lunch for the week

As most celiac's know it can be difficult to find food "on the go." Most fast-type foods that you can buy for breakfast and lunch are full of wheat. I have come up with several breakfast and lunch ideas to share here.

For breakfast: Fresh berries and a vanilla protein smoothie. You could blend the berries into the smoothie, but I choose to eat them separately.






For a snack: carrot sticks and roasted red pepper hummus. I love hummus!


For lunch: Chick peas with parsley, onion, tomatoes, salt, and lemon juice over jasmine rice.
Very easy, very quick, and good for you. I twisted this recipe a little, the original recipe calls for lentils, which is also good.






The finished product ready to go.

Yummy gluten-free pretzels

One of the first things I was ever brave enough to try after starting a gluten-free diet were pretzels. My mom told me that they tasted exactly like regular wheat pretzels. She was right. These pretzels are so good that people can't tell a difference. I have bought a lot of different things from this company and all of them are good. My 3 favorite products from them are the pretzels, bagels, and regular bread. You can order from them online here, you can also find a lot of their products in specialty grocery stores. I buy most everything at Market Street or Whole foods. There are a few other ones around my area that sell gluten-free items as well, but I shop at these 2 the most. Check them out, they really are great.

Thanks to Starbucks for selling gluten-free items.

Finally the buzz with gluten-free diets is starting to become much more known and talked about. I am very thankful for that. No one can quite understand unless they have experienced this what it is like to have to be so careful with everything you eat. Being sick from eating is no fun. I think personally traveling is one of the hardest things. You never know what will be around for you to eat and grabbing food on the go is not easy for a celiac. I commend Starbucks for introducing gluten-free items into their prepackaged foods because for one thing you can find a Starbucks almost everywhere. (except in Arkansas) Today I was able to finally get one of their new gluten-free muffins. It was very good and very moist. YUM! I will be back. They are supposed to be getting something new next week too so I look forward to that as well.









Thank you Starbucks!!

Gluten-free pizza

About a year ago I took a few gluten-free cooking classes at Market Street. I learned so much from those classes and had a lot of fun. I purchased the cookbook from the lady teaching the class, and it is the only book I use. Tonight we are having gluten-free pizza (well I am I don't make my husband eat gluten free, we just don't share pans) and I took some pictures to show you how easy it is. I really does taste like pizza. If you are interested in looking at the book I use for baking you can see it here this version is a little more updated than my version.

It really is amazing how much this tastes like a wheat version of pizza. I have learned that there are a lot more flours in the world other than just plain white flour, which is in almost everything, and not gluten free! The main flour in this recipe and really in all of the recipes is brown rice flour (a lot healthier than plain white flour), and millet flour along with a few other ingredients. Baking is a challenge for me already, I am much better at cooking. Gluten-free baking is an even bigger challenge. Almost every ingredient was foreign to me in the beginning.


The "baking" book that I use for all of my recipes




the prepared dough




I use the bottom of a springform pan for my pizza pan. You have to have a bumpy/textured pan for the dough. It cannot be a flat/smooth pan.



These last few steps are just like making any type of pizza, but gluten-free dough is very sticky compared to regular dough. It is a little bit trickier to spread out even. It may not look as pretty as regular pizza dough, but I'm not too concerned with that when I am eating it. :)



Dough after rising for about 20 minutes (in the summer it rises a lot faster than in the winter. In the winter I put a space heater next to it to get it to rise faster.)



Finished product. Not too bad.

Some handmade soaps that I am really loving

A couple of months ago I purchased 5 natural/handmade bar soaps from a nice person on Etsy. For some reason lately I have really been into natural soap. It started with Lush. I really love Lush, but let's be honest it is pretty expensive. My favorite soap from Lush is Honey I washed the kids. I was able to find an exact dupe for it on Etsy, so I decided to purchase a few other soaps from this seller as well. You can view this sellers items here I wish I was able to share pictures with you of my personal soap, but I cut into them so they are no where near as pretty as they were when she shipped them to me.

I purchased the pink sugar cold process soap, cannabis and coconut, honey be sweet (lush dupe), citrus bliss, and coconut orange. My 2 favorites so far are the pink sugar and cannabis and coconut. I am really loving them all though. Check her stuff out. She has a lot of really cute soaps for a really good price. Oh and of course they are gluten free. :)

PF Changs, an amazing gluten-free dining experience

If you have not already been to PF Changs to experience their amazing gluten-free menu, get to one as soon as you can! They are one of the best restaurants for a wonderful gluten-free dining experience. I went with my husband and 2 friends and we had a great dinner. They are having a special right now where you can get soup; an appetizer; entree; and dessert for 2 people, and the cost is 39.99. That's right 20.00 per person!! I had egg drop soup (this stuff is VERY good) gluten free lettuce wraps (taste like the real thing) Ginger chicken with broccoli (not my favorite dish but still good) and since none of the desserts that you could pick from were gluten-free I paid extra and got the Flourless Chocolate Dome cake!! This thing is so good! I recommend it to you if you love chocolate. It is very sweet and rich. It comes with raspberry sauce and fresh berries. It is to die for!

Check out PF Chang's gluten-free menu here


I hope you have a great experience there as well!

My first post!

So I have always wanted to start a blog, but never really knew what exactly I wanted to say, and maybe I still don't, but this is my attempt at helping people live a gluten free lifestyle. I hope to somehow help someone out there, even if it just one person. It is not easy to do and can be very confusing and lonely. Aside from gluten free posts I will occasionally throw in other things as well. Whatever I am feeling that day I will post it. It might be just about what I did that day or what I am loving at the moment. I hope you enjoy!

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in the summer of 2005. My mom was diagnosed previous to me and my brother shortly after. My mom has lived with horrible symptoms of this disease for a very long time and finally someone figured out what was wrong with her. I am happy to say after completely eliminating gluten out of her diet she feels so much better now. So as you can see it is extremely hereditary, and if anyone in your family is diagnosed, everyone should be tested.

So what the heck is Celiac disease and gluten? Celiac disease is an intolerance of gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, some oats, barley and rye. This is a very serious disease and will cause lots and lots of symptoms if not treated correctly. The only fix for Celiac disease is following a gluten free diet. The best thing about all of this is it is reversible, but you MUST follow a gluten free diet for the rest of your life. There is a lot more information about this on my favorite website www.celiac.com

With all of that said I'm excited that this is my first post and I'm finally getting this blog together. I will post as often as I can come up with something to say which will hopefully be often. :) I hope you enjoy and find this helpful!