I have been so busy!

I have neglected my blog in the last couple of months. I have been so busy but plan to get started again very soon. Stay tuned!

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..