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.