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!)