GF Baking: Holiday Edition

Readers, it was ON. The test of Chris' grandmother's recipe adapted by his mother for Christmas cookies, that is. (Got all that?)

Chris announced that this year, we were going to have a holiday cookie decorating party. I was excited - I'd heard about these parties but Chris never had one in the time I knew him. I assumed that he would do regular cookies and I would just help people decorate and we'd defumigate the kitchen from gluten after the fact - but no, Chris was determined to see if we could make yet another adaptation of the cherished family recipe, this time to make it GF.

Chris emailed his sister and took down the recipe; we set out to get shortening and enough Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour for the test. This one, I must say, was all in Chris' court. All I did was eat. And later, decorate.

So, the first batch was made, here are some pics:
Raw are on the right, cooked on the left.

The first batch was quite tasty; Chris decided that it needed a midge more sugar. These cookies are the icebox or refrigerator style - you make the batter the day before, chill it, then roll it out. (I was impressed he has a very fancy blue rolling pin and everything for it!) The Bob's flour turned out to work fine in this case, Chris found the dough to handle quite well. The only tweak that he made for the later batch was to add a little more sugar (we'll list the full recipe at the end).


The cookies were also kept for the decorating party. They were put in a location where I couldn't get to them and eat them all. Which was a real risk. (They are tasty and crunchy!)

Then, it was ON. It was party minus 2 days and Chris made a triple cookie batch.

Party minus one day, Chris did the epic rolling/cutting/baking. I think we ended up with 200 cookies???

Party day. Chris made the icing and broke out the jimmies, sprinkles, decorating sugar and food coloring. The piping bags were filled and made ready. The big tureen full of mulled wine was set to heat.

And then the people came. We made them decorate, and eat, and leave with cookies. We still had a lot left over, which will be dispensed at various occasions until they are gone or eaten.

It was a rousing success - definitely do it again in a future year, YAY!

Chris's Grandmother's Molasses Cookie Recipe Adapted by his Mother to be a Gingerbread Cookie Recipe, and then by Chris to be a GF Gingerbread Cookie Recipe:

Yields approx 2 dozen cookies

3/4 c. shortening
1 1/8 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 1/4 c. Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Cream sugar and shortening. Add beaten egg and molasses. Mix all dry ingredients separately and whisk together; add in batches to wet ingredients. Chill overnight. (This batter will be extremely sticky and hard after chilling.) Chilling overnight is essential.

Heat oven to 350.

Remove a portion from the fridge, warm and knead in floured hands (about 1 cup at a time of batter). Roll to 1/8 " thickness on floured surface. Cut shapes as desired, using a flexible metal spatula to help move the cookies to a baking sheet (Chris had good results with using a parchment covered baking sheet).

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool on racks.


Frosting

1 1/2 c confectioner's sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 egg white
1/4 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients together. Will take food coloring, cocoa, etc., good for piping.

Glaze

2 tsp fruit juice (lemon, orange)
1 c. confectioner's sugar

Mix together.

So long, Java Green

I was in the downtown area recently and decided to eat at Java Green. I ordered a wheat free curry tofu/rice noodle dish, sounds good right?? I was really disappointed. I have not had such a bad meal in a long time. The noodles were not seasoned at all, not even with salt. The tofu was the best thing about the dish, but that is not saying a lot. And the 'curry' sauce was cold and blanketed potatoes and edamame (edamame?) in an undifferentiated mess. Yuck.

I wrote an earlier blog about Java Green that was more favorably inclined...but in thinking about both meals I must say that they were not good and the price charged for the food was far out of keeping with the quality, flavor and presentation. I now advise to skip it entirely.

I won't be eating at Java Green anytime soon again. Too bad, because they bother to offer and post wheat free options...but it's just not good and too expensive!

Gf Baking: Macaroon, come home soon

I have loved almond macaroons (the non-coconut variety, thank you very much) ever since the first one I ate, way way before I had my celiac diagnosis. So this month I was eager to finally try the recipe for Almond Macaroons during the GF baking blitz that seems to be happening around the house. Plus, I finally had some good homemade Almond Paste to work with, which is a main ingredient in the recipe.

The dough is quick to put together; and it is true, a spare 12 cookies are the yield of the batter. I used up the last of my trusty parchment in the attempt. When making this again I would recommend taking the almond paste out of the fridge a few hours before you need it, as mine was a bit hard to work with from the cold.

The verdict was simple and unanimous on this one. I gave Chris a cookie as soon as they had cooled enough to remove. He ate it. He said, "more". There you go. "Best macaroon since Paris" I got. Hoo-ah!

This one's a keeper. (Again, thanks to Martha.)

Almond Macaroons

Lunch at NMAI

I recently had lunch with a friend who works on the Mall. She suggested we meet at the Mitsitam Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian. I figured the menu to be fairly corn-centric, plus I'd heard that it was good; besides which, I'd never been. I gladly accepted.

Even though it was just before Thanksgiving, Mitsitam was still bustling. After meeting my friend, she showed me the lay of the land: there are a number of food stations, each of which features selections based on a different regional cuisine. I started looking around to get a sense of what I could safely eat. Imagine my surprise when the cafeteria marked clearly not only vegetarian items, but also which were gluten free! No way!!! I was ecstatic - and the South American counter served me up a tasty and varied meal which included yucca fries, quinoa salad, and corn cheese cakes.

Lunch was tasty and the conversation dandy. I determined to come back to this spot, and sometime soon!

Mitsitam Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian

GF Baking Bonanza: cookies and crisps and pound cakes, oh my!

For some reason, this week I was seized by the urge to bake. I have not really baked anything in about 5 years or more, so this was both pleasurable and novel. Having recently been given a copy of the NYC Babycakes cookbook from sis-in-law Megan, I may have been inspired by the glossy pages of too-good-looking-to-be-true baked goodies. I began stocking the larder with the ingredients required for some of those recipes, but also turned to my recipe collection for some treats which could probably translate well to a GF adaptation, emboldened by my earlier success with the pumpkin muffins.

I have not yet ended up baking anything from Babycakes cookbook, largely because I have not yet found a good local source for coconut oil, which is the stand in for butter in virtually all the recipes I'm interested in trying. So to the recipe book it was.

I actually have two recipe 'books', which are blue binders of clippings of all types of vegetarian recipes from the past 15 years or so. Needless to say, the 'dessert' book has not seen too much use so it was that one I hauled down to examine. I zeroed in on a few things to make: amaretti crisps, almond pound cake (yes, I have a major thing for almonds), sesame cookies and lemon pound cake. In all cases I substituted flour one-for-one with Bob's Red Mill GF Baking Flour plus a pinch of Xanthan Gum. I was able to find the links for these online and have included ghem below.

Here's what happened:

Almond Polenta Pound Cake
Almonds and corn, two of my favorite substances, together in a delicious baked confection? Bring it on! I eyed this recipe hopefully because it already had corn as an ingredient, and not too much flour. So, I got ready to make it, when I looked more carefully at the Almond Paste I'd picked up at Whole Foods....wheat paste? You've got to be kidding me! AAAUGH! I did not look at the ingredients before leaving the store and had to return the little log of almond paste because it most definitely contained gluten, bummer. (Apparently not all brands are made with gluten so read carefully, you may be in luck.)

So before I could proceed with the Almond Pound Cake, I had to detour and figure out the almond paste situation. I found a recipe online and it seems to have worked out well.

But first, a side trip for Almond Paste
I got the blanched almonds, egg white, confectioner's sugar and almond extract together, and the almond paste went together in a snap in the big food processor. I still have more to make something else with. I don't know if it's any more economical than buying almond paste, but a lot safer in that you know what is in it and where the ingredients came from!

now, back to the Almond Polenta Pound Cake
OK, I will confess that the recipe and putting-together of this cake was overly complex. Why so many separate bowls/piles of ingredients? Why not the simplicity of the Lemon Pound Cake? At any rate, I persisted. The first surprise was that there was way more batter than to fill a 9x5 pan (I filled two 8x4s). The big disappointment was that all the polenta sank to the bottom of the cake as it baked, so we were left with something in three layers - a cakelike fluffy top layer, a dense middle layer (where most of the almond paste stuck?) and a grainy bottom layer where the polenta went to live. Sigh. I was slightly crushed, I really wanted this one to work out. I may try it again as the flavor itself was good though. No photo of this one sorry.

Amaretti Crisps
Again with the almonds! This cookie is an italian classic. It starts out quite like the almond paste recipe, except that the almonds and confectioner's sugar are folded into beaten egg whites (rather than the unaltered egg white). I was most pleased with how these came out. I might experiment next time with a slightly lower oven temp, as they got a tad browner than I might ideally like. Chris liked these too. (NB: I did not pipe the cookies, but just dropped them from a spoon. That seemed to work OK but piping might be more elegant.) Bonus? These are easy and quick to put together (seemed to work well to toast the sesame seeds ahead of time, I whirred those together with the sugar one evening and then actually made the cookies the following morning).


Sesame Cookies
I like sesame a lot too, and had never gotten around to trying the non GF version of this recipe. I figured I'd give it a go as it had only one cup of flour in the recipe. The results were OK - the Amaretti Crisps were way better, but these were still good enough to eat. They ended up being rather doughy instead of crisp. Part of this I solved by making the cookies smaller in the later baking batches, but still, a reasonable experiment that won't be repeated. No photo of these.

Lemon Pound Cake
Finally, a real winner in the cake department after the disappointment of the Almond Polenta pound cake. This made a lovely light batter and a very tasty cake. We even brought it to brunch at our friends' house, they asked to keep the leftover pieces, they liked it so much. Delicious as a snack or with coffee. The real specialness of this cake and the POW lemon flavor comes from the glaze which is drizzed all over the cake top after it comes out of the oven. Yum. Oh - notwithstanding the notice about not rising, I found that my cake did.



What's next? Possibly a reprise of the Almond Polenta Pound cake, definitely a foray to french almond macaroons...stay tuned...

ChurchKey

We enjoyed an impromptu visit from our friend Heather this past weekend. We thought she would just be staying with us for an afternoon visit, but after consulting the Amtrak schedule, she opted for a morning train instead, and we got to enjoy her company over dinner. Chris suggested that we check out the new gastropub in the hood, ChurchKey.

I'm always game to go out for a bite, and have gotten used to toughing it out, GF-culinary-wise, at places where I can eat only a green salad. I anticipated ChurchKey was going to be one of these as we scanned the online menu at home. Brewpubs are not always known to be friendly to celiacs. Nonetheless, off we went.

The interior space (upstairs) is quite nicely done, with a feature point of a large window with lovely late afternoon light streaming in. We sat and scanned the menu. Heather could tell I was bracing myself for a salad kind of a meal, when all of a sudden, we spied something we hadn't seen online (turns out we did not read carefully enough!): "the above flatbreads can be made gluten free"! No way! Our nice server explained that there was a chickpea crust option. I ordered the grafton cheddar & broccoli flatbread, cheerfully ponying up the extra $2 for the GF option, and washed it down with a hard cider by Harpoon. How cool is that??

Everyone else fared well too. My dining companions liked their non-GF flatbreads (Heather actually preferred the flavor of the chickpea crust to her version) and quaffed some fine crafted brews. We heart this place and will definitely return.

So, ChurchKey is friendly, for GF and non-GF alike. I should also mention I saw 4 GF beers on the list when we were there, so you won't be thirsty if you have a yen for a brew. Sorry to not write more about it - I'm not a beer fan myself so I was happy to try one of 5-6 ciders on the menu.

ChurchKey DC website and their menu available online.

GF pumpkin muffins (cupcakes)

My neighbor recently knocked and asked to borrow some vanilla - she was baking something with friends. We gave her the vanilla and were pleasantly surprised a little later when she knocked again with the finished treat - pumpkin cupcakes. They were cute and smelled good, and were full of gluten. Chris enjoyed them. I enjoyed looking at them.

But I got the fever.

I went hunting for a pumpkin muffin recipe and made a shopping trip, stopping at Home Rule for a muffin pan and paper liners, then Whole Foods for Libby pumpkin mix (naturally gluten free proclaimed the label) and a few other necessities.

I made the recipe pretty much as directed, reducing the sugar to 1 cup (I was planning on making a frosting), putting in the whole 15 oz can of pumpkin, and omitting the cinnamon/sugar topping. I used Bob's Red Mill GF Flour one-for-one in place of regular flour. Finding I was out of pumpkin pie spice (and so was Whole Foods), I found a handy substitution engine for it on the Land O'Lakes website.

Baking, cooling...testing, icing...the result? Quite yummy I must say. I got an unsolicited and sincere "hey this is good" from Chris. I enjoyed both iced and non iced versions. They are moist and light; delicious without icing or with.


The icing is a simple confectioner's sugar, vanilla, dot of butter, milk deal. Tinker until you have the consistency you want.

Go forth and make these. Enjoy. Repeat!


Recipe here:
http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2006/11/03/pumpkin-muffins/

Pumpkin carving courtesy of Chris.

Made from scratch GF banana bread

I like bananas, but to eat them as they come, I'll admit that they have to be the perfect ripeness: not so green as to be chalky and not so ripe they become adorned with brown spots. Once that happens, I will shy away from bananas in the fruit bowl. And watch them get riper and riper (ah, ickier and ickier).

One day, my husband saw opportunity where I had carefully avoided looking (4 very overripe bananas!) and made me banana bread. I don't know why, but banana bread was never something I ate a lot, or would go out of my way to, even before my diagnosis. Needless to say, after this encounter I was drawn to its charms. See above; how could I not be?

The moistness of the bread is well suited to a GF friendly version, because gluten does not play a central role in its composition anyway. Chris found the recipe at Simply Recipes and substituted Bob's Red Mill all purpose GF flour for the regular flour in the original recipe. I think that when he made it last he had more bananas than were called for and deceased the sugar a but. We also decided that in the future we might try substituting applesauce for some of the butter. For the vanilla we use is from Penzey's.

A disappointing mix

We had a horrendous run-in with a prepackaged GF product from Whole Foods. The mists of time had fogged my memory of just how bad this stuff was and how it should be avoided at all costs. Now I know - and so do you! Below is the rant I sent to the Whole Foods customer service email. We'll see if I get a reply.

365 brand Gluten Free pizza mix

This is a very disappointing product. For starters, the directions are convoluted, overspecific and do not resemble any other pizza crust dough directions I know (GF or otherwise). Why beat the eggs 3 minutes? Why not put the yeast in the lukewarm water with the sugar? I could not discern any benefit from following the directions as written - too many steps. The directions should be modified to should just combine the dry ingredients then mix in the wet.

The dough, once you make it, completely unworkable because it is sticky beyond belief. The directions should at least warn of this, and provide some means or suggestions to handle the dough. It cannot be kneaded or really touched. The only way I could cope with it was to heavily oil my fingers/utensil to move it around - not good.

The result, when baked, hardly resembles pizza dough. At best, it could be said to resemble focaccia. The mix makes a crust which is flavorless and pouffy. At least it does not have a grainy mouthfeel, but that is its only positive factor.

I expected way better, Whole Foods, particularly as the frozen 365 gluten free pizza prepared crusts are fairly decent!

GF cereal option

It must be said that in the past four years I've really become a hot breakfast person. Earlier in life I was much enamored of cereals, but I eventually found that eating eggs in the morning kept me going longer, plus when diagnosed with celiac many of the egg accompaniments (and eggs themselves) are best enjoyed hot: potatoes, grits, GF toast, etc.

However, fast forward to this fall and trying to figure out how to feed myself in the morning whilst caring for a newborn! So I perused the local grocery aisle, looking vainly (at first) for a good GF cereal that was not a ginormous bag of corn flakes! Also, there are a number of wheat free cereals on the market that aren't gluten free...so those aren't an option for me either.

After some lurking and looking, I found this nice little box of Perky's Nutty Rice cereal. As promised, it does stay satisfyingly crisp to the end of the bowl. It reminds me of Rice Krispies, except this is a better, denser, more adult kind of version.

Check it out!

Perky's Nutty Rice cereal

http://www.perkysnaturalfoods.com/nuttycereals.asp

NY Times article on the cost of GF foods

Sent from my friend Elaine in NYC. Unfortunately, so true as those of us with the disease know. $5 for a bag of pasta? Yep.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/the-high-price-of-celiac-disease/

Java Green

An appointment had me around downtown DC around lunchtime. I suddenly remembered I should eat lunch at Java Green, haven't been for ages. Java Green is a nice, eco friendly vegetarian restaurant which features smoothies, some raw dishes, salads, soups, noodles, sandwiches, and more. They are very allergy aware and have many yummy items marked clearly to be wheat/gluten free. As it was a hot day I opted for a salad and smoothie, but some of the wheat free noodle dishes and soups look promising to revisit in the winter.

The photo above shows my mc=e2 smoothie (pineapple, lemon, orange, something I'm forgetting now) and my very berry salad (berries and grapes, spinach, fresh mozzarella, almonds).

A good place to know about if you are downtown!

http://www.javagreencafe.com/

Madison, WI and the wonders of the Silly Yak Bakery

Madison, WI is home to a splendid farmer's market, the Silly Yak Bakery, and now, my sister and brother in law!

Over July 4 I traveled with Chris to his sister's wedding. The wedding itself was so fun, held in an old timey theater and relatives were there in abundance.

For my own selfish reasons, I was happy to return to Madison since Megan, Chris' sister, had introduced me to the delicious products of the Silly Yak Bakery.

On Saturday we made the great pilgrimage (pedestrian foot traffic is one way around the capitol - vary from this and you will be crushed by a stroller) around the capitol building and took in the many midwestern culinary sights. I was happy to find the Silly Yak tent, and bought a number of goodies for the return home.

Silly Yak is pretty cool. They shut down their whole bakery and clean it, and do GF only baking 2 days of the week. You can buy their products at the bakery, at the market, or they will ship them to you. I am by now a huge fan. Megan, busy bride though she was, had kindly left a bag of goodies (GF scones and cupcakes) in our hotel room.

What's especially good? Their rice bread, the GF cupcake, the cinnamon swirl bread are all delish. I haven't had the opportunity to sample much beyond this yet. For the bread, I like it toasted - just put it in a good quality nonstick pan on a low flame and turn often - looks and acts a whole lot like toast!!

I had heard that for the wedding itself that evening, there was to be a GF cupcake for me. I was stoked. Those things are good. Imagine my surprise when TWO PLATES OF GF BAKED GOODS made their way to me after the meal. One plate held yummy vanilla sheet cake, the other, no less than FOUR cupcakes. Here I am after having foisted some of the goodies off on other people:

Happy victim of a minimum order, I'm sure.

Silly Yak Bakery

California Eating

OK, this was my June vacation. But really it was about eating as well as possible while seeing friends, hanging out and enjoying some Left Coast time!


A recent short vacation to California was really an excuse to go and eat some good food. Pictured above is part of my first dinner there, an amazing grilled corn drizzled with crumbled queso and a spicy tomato sauce.

When in California, I am always driven to look for tamales. This trip was no exception. My hosts and I also got to sample the goodies at several local farmers' markets.

At one, in the Metrodome, a funny crescent shape layout, we found exotic mushrooms, organic veg, and a tamale lady very enthusiastic about her lard free tamales.

The tamales were from All Star Tamales


(The pork tamales were for my friends.)
A funny thing happened about the sweet corn tamales: we had this weird tamale multiplication going on. Every time we thought we had eaten them all, yet more were discovered in the pot! We finally realized that no, they were not cloning themselves in the fridge (much though we wished) but there were 2 per package.
Our verdict, the sweet corn tamales were the best ones.
Spinach and cheese depicted above.

Below, the ultimate breakfast of champions: sweet corn tamale with fresh, too-good-it-ought-to-be-outlawed local fruit.

One day, my host took me across from Oakland to SF on the ferry, which I'd never done - boy that is a fun way to approach the city. We spent some time at the Ferry Building market:
There, we ate amazing Raininer cherries, and varieties of Nectaries (Arctic Snow) and Peaches (don't remember!) that make you stop want to eat anything else, ever.

That night, we ate at Cesar in Oakland, where I had an interesting dish of spicy chickpeas, fried in their skins - I'd never had them served this way:
The next day, and yet more farmer's markets. This time it was one close by to where my hosts live in Oakland, which is held at a DMV. (I think that this is an effort to humanize the DMV and give it better karma.)

Temescal Farmers' Market

Well, it was here that were offered corn so sweet it could be eaten raw (yup!), and found our favorite savory tamales (of this trip anyway).

Donna's Tamales

Chile cheese pictured below. So delicious! And now, looking at the website, they are very aware of gluten allergies and THEY SHIP!!! I also ate, and adored, the goat cheese, sundried tomato, chard tamale.

Bottom line: if you're in the area, go find them. And eat a lot. And bring some home.

We picked up goodies for a potluck style party my host's friend was having that night.

This photo was too lovely not to post:
To cap it off, on the last night of my stay I went with my host to her friend's potluck birthday party in Berkeley. Perfect night, good company, loads of good GF food. Here is my plate (first helping I think!) which includes the amazing fresh sweet corn. (My beverage isn't beer but ginger beer!)

Good GF Pasta

I was talking with a coworker recently, and learned his daughter has gluten sensitivies, and some other allergies besides, including corn. Yikes! That would be hard for me, corn being one of the grains that powers my day.

We got to talking about pasta and I told him (and any others out there in DC GF blog land) that this is the one I like best. The key is to actually undercook, letting it coast to doneness, and make only what you are going to use at one time.

Bionaturae gluten free pasta can be found at Whole Foods, look for the pink packages.

http://www.bionaturae.com/gluten.html

Interesting sounding but as yet untested GF desserts...

A coworker forwarded me a link to some yummy sounding desserts on Apartment Therapy:

Honey Lavender Panna Cotta

and

Gluten-Free Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Amma Vegetarian Kitchen, or Ode to the Dosa

One night when my sweetie was out grabbing a burger with a coworker, I was driving home from work and said to myself, time for dosa! Inspired by the vision of tasy loveliness of the tangy lentil pancake filled with shredded paneer and other veg, I phoned in a takeout order and hopped over the bridge to Georgetown on my way home.

Amma is usually upstairs from M at around 33rd St. But recently for renovations, the dining room is actually at street level. In many ways I like this better - the diners/dining are more visible and i bet they get more walk in traffic too.

At any rate, one of my favorite things to eat there, and ever, are dosa. They are a huge flat pancake filled with one of a number of fillings. They satisfy the celiac's urge for something that goes crunch crunch crunch and you use the pancake thing to eat the filling. There are 2 dipping sauces that accompany, a veggie stewy thing and also coconut.

On this particular evening, I grabbed a paneer dosa and a mango lassi for takeout. Although the pancake part lost some of its crunch on the way home in the container, the flavor did not disappoint. I snarfed it all down and pronto.

CSA share veggies - week one

Our friends who just got married asked us if we wanted to pick up their CSA share while they were busy with wedding-stuff and honeymoon.

We said yes - natch! The farmer's market stand is at the Silver Spring market, it was super easy, they had a box ready to go and I picked it up on behalf of my friend. Inside: lots and lots of greens; turnips; swiss chard; spring onions; and I rounded this off by getting some baby zucchini, new potatoes and farm eggs at the market too.

Pictured is a salad I made today with some of the amazing greens, baby zucchinilettes, herbs, etc. I made a brown rice vinegar and orange juice dressing. Nice and tangy. Yum.

Sette Osteria in Dupont Circle

My sweetie emailed me today asking if I was interested in seeing friends for an impromptu dinner after work. Sure I said...and then learned it was at an Italian restaurant.

Great.

I'm sure there are some who recognize that sinking feeling: oh no, what am I going to eat? This is yet more dicey for those of us who are not carne nor pesce-inclined...

So my post is to report that I was very pleasantly surprised that Sette offered a gluten free pasta substitution for a nominal fee. Despair turned to hope turned to a bunch of cheezy peppery pasta in a bowl in front of me. Yum.

That was preceded by a simple buffalo mozarella salad, very tender and also yum.

Sorry no photos on this one. So, here is one Italian eatery where us GF's have some options!

www.setteosteria.com

Gluten Free Travels: Madison, WI

I'm back from a family weekend in the land of the cheese curd. Although as any celiac knows, travel away from the comforts of home and your own GF friendly kitchen can have its perils. Not so on this particular trip!

My boyfriend's rellies in Madison hit the bonanza of gluten free items for the home pantry. In fact, his sister Megan made a veritable shrine to GF delights in a corner of her kitchen:


The Silly Yak Bakery of Madison was where she picked up the bread pictured above (a rice flour based loaf) and also a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting (eaten before depicted). I grilled the bread in a pan and ate it for breakfast with eggs. As GF bread goes, it was on the better end of what I've had, definitely. The bakery apparently dedicates itself to GF delights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In getting home and looking at the website, seems like they will ship to you! Megan said there are many more items in the bakery, like cakes, doughs, pizza, and more. Good find if you are in that part of the country.

As to the cupcake, described but not depicted...it was enjoyed and eaten in short order. I haven't eaten that much of a sweet in I don't know how long! Need I say more??

Megan planned a fun family outing (and with 12 in our party, yes this was really a major culinary expedition) of a delicious dinner of middle eastern cuisine at LuLu's Deli & Restaurant. We feasted on stuffed grape leaves, seasoned feta and olives, hummus, baba ghanoush; I ate amazing tart lemony lentil soup:

and Fool, a vegetarian dish of tomatoes, fava beans, chickpeas and rice:

I also ate a bite of her eggplant moussaka, which was deeply seasoned and tender. Mmm. Delicious food and and many vegetarian and gluten-friendly options. The server was great about checking with the kitchen, but it appeared that the main source of gluten was the pita bread (which everyone else quite enjoyed). We feasted at LuLu's until we burst, seated at the "low table" which suited me fine but not Megan's 6'6" fiance...

So if you find yourself in the land of the cheese curd, do not fear there are many friendly GF options (including of course cheese curds themselves, which I did eat and enjoy. Squeaky!).

Sushi from Thai Chef

Home late on a weeknight when my sweetie had other dinner plans, I decided to get some of my favorite veggie sushi...the fabulous garden roll from Thai Chef on Connecticut Avenue in DC. Crunchy, savory, sweet...a unique blend of veggies with the unexpected snap of pear!

So hungry I perched my dinner atop the laptop!

www.thaichefsushibardc.com

Favorite fast dinner

I love this dish. It may be only me that loves this dish, but that is OK. I will go on loving it, and making it, for a long time to come. It is especially good when you are so hungry you are willing to put just about anything in your mouth, because it is very FAST to make.

Here is what you do:

• Cook some frozen peas, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup (I love peas)
• Take some leftover grain, such as rice or quinoa - both work well - add it to the peas.
• Add some nuts, which could be plain roasted peanuts, or slivered almonds, or almonds, or whatever you like.
• If you have legumes sitting around, such as the fabulous always-ready lentils from Trader Joe's, you can add some too. Always good.
• Cook (see methods below) until hot and season with butter, salt and pepper, or, my personal favorite-can't-be-without, Penzey's Lemon Pepper Seasoning.
• On the stove, I first cook the peas and then add in the leftover grain and nuts. In a microwave, start the peas first in a large bowl, then add the grain and nuts and zap again.
• Fancy add-ins - a little grated parmesan cheese, or maybe some dried cranberries, etc.
  
• Put in a bowl and eat it up.
  

Sorry my picture is a little blurry - I was hungry and wanted to eat and was maybe a little too close to the food!

Welcome to the blog

Other American cities have a strong GF presence in the blogosphere. I am trying to do the part for Washington, DC where I live and work (and eat!).

I will be posting various GF related adventures in the city and listing useful sites for celiacs, their family, friends and fellow diners.

Enjoy!

Queen of Sheba

We love Queen of Sheba, finding it a ready oasis for hungry city denizens at virtually any time, even on a Friday or Saturday night. QoS is on 9th and P Sts NW and has an unassuming store front. It is a little further away from "Little Ethiopia" up the street, but quite worth the trek.
We find it to be tastier (spicier) and more flavorful than some of the other places in town. Plus it is in the hood so location can't be beat. Prices are reasonable too.

First things first though, I have to talk about the injera, which is a spongy bread served alongside the dishes. Now, my friend Martha, who hails from Ethiopia herself, says that in country, the injera is made only from teff, which is a GF friendly grain. However, we started inquiring at a number of Ethiopian restaurants in DC, and found that their injera is typically made from a combination of teff and wheat. So, that puts it out of the running for us GF types. Bummer. But, here is what we do at Queen of Sheba...

I order the 7 veggie special and ask for them to serve it to me on a plate with brown rice and no injera. Be patient. You may need to explain this a few times. It is sometimes confusing to the servers there. But, bottom line, they really want you to enjoy the food and delicious it is. And eventually they get it. Ask for a fork, they will bring you that, and you can dig in to the mound of veggie delights with gusto.

Oh - you can eat all the veggie options except for the salad which also has injera in it. There are 8 options, so it is easy, just say Veggie 7 with all but that one salad.

In the photo above you see my food joy, and in the background, my companions' "normal" order, which was that night another veggie 7 plus beef tibs I think.

www.queenofshebadc.com

Rustico

My former office mate, who also has a friend who is celiac, told me about Rustico in Alexandria, VA a little while ago. My erstwhile GF-friendly BF accompanied me down out of town to check it out.

Rustico has a chickpea crust pizza that is fairly crispy, thick, and quite filling (even at my hungriest, no way I can eat more than half a pizza!). You can get a variety of toppings. What is even more fun, is that there are also gluten free beers so you can munch and sip and approximate ye olden days before your diagnosis...there are even several suggestions for the beers and the one I had was quite decent!

It is a fun destination for a mixed-company group (GF and non GF) as the ample menu has many other pizza options, plus burgers, a large beer selection, and a friendly, convivial atmosphere.

www.rusticorestaurant.com

Pete's Apizza

This post could be very, very short indeed. Here is what you should do:

• Get yourself to Columbia Heights. Be hungry.
• Go to Pete's Apizza.
• Order a Kyra's pizza.
• Eat. Enjoy. Smile.

In the years since my celiac diagnosis, of course finding decent pizza somewhat reminiscent of the "real mccoy" is perhaps a celiac foodie's equivalent of the holy grail. My beloved non-GF BF (that's non gluten free boyfriend) found this gem in December and I make a trip, er, pilgrimage at least a few times a month since our first time there. The proprietor is super friendly and will gladly assist you with menu questions. The Kyra's pizza is on the menu in homage to a family friend. Now, the same disclaimer does apply in this restaurant and for all restaurants where you do not prepare the food yourself - there may be a risk of some cross contamination. But, knock on wood, so far I have eaten there safely every time. So, don't walk, run...and go sink your teeth into crunchy crusty goodness.
http://www.petesapizza.com/