How to Live With Gluten Eaters

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There is one rule in my apartment, and one rule only really: No Gluten Allowed. This means my husband doesn't get to keep his normal food in the apartment (this does not seem to bother him), and if we have guests they cannot bring gluten in. The reason I decided this would be my rule of the apartment is that I want to be 100% confident that I will not get sick from eating or cooking anything at home.

But does your kitchen need to be 100% gluten free? 

No, probably not. It is not feasible when you live with family, roommates, or gluten loving spouses. But there are a few things you may want to consider to reduce the risk of cross contamination:

1. Clean everything extremely well. Counter tops, utensils, plates, cutting boards, frying pans, pots, whatever it is, if it has touched gluten make sure it is thoroughly cleaned before gluten free use.
2. Consider having a gluten free cupboard. Back when I lived with roommates we each had our own cupboard and our own shelf in the fridge - this made it really easy to keep all my GF stuff separate and I knew I would never accidentally grab the wrong thing when preparing food.
3. Get your own toaster. You don't get to share. I did have a four slice toaster before and served one half for gluten free use, but there is still a risk of cross-contamination.
4. Cloths, sponges and dish towels: don't share. Someone wipes their hands or counter, you wipe your hands or counter... keep a separate dish towel and use paper towels for sanitizing surfaces. Sponges need to be replaces regularly.

In my last place before moving in with my husband I shared with non-gluten free roommates. It was only problematic when I had one roommate for a short period of time who did not thoroughly clean dishes (or anything really, but that is a whole other story). 

Do you have a gluten free kitchen, or does it share space with gluten? How do you avoid cross contamination.

Gluten Free Biscotti in Hell's Kitchen

I have known about Bis.Co.Latte since I moved to New York. What brought this cafe to my attention was the fact that they have gluten free biscotti. And despite it being about 6 blocks from where I live, I just finally made it there the other day. 

And thank goodness I did.

It was one of those wet days where you just want to be inside and dry. So my husband and I got a table and ordered lattes and decided to try the gluten free biscotti sampler. Although I cannot remember all the flavors, I can say each was amazing. There was one with apricot and something, a chocolate, an almond with chocolate chips. We shared each one so we could have the full sampler effect. And to top it off it's probably the best latte I've had in the neighborhood.

Oh and I did notice on their website you can order online. So if you are not in New York and want to try some amazing GF biscotti you know where to find it. If you are in New York it is worth the journey over to 10th Ave. Personally, I really enjoy it and my afternoon date with my husband.

My handsome hubby enjoyed  the latte & biscottis 

What is your favorite treat to enjoy with a coffee?

Gluten Free Rant - Travel Preparation

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I am getting ready for a bit of travel, and like a good gluten bigot, I am researching GF options in each city I am visiting. The first place I look for places to eat is blogs, real guidance from other celiacs/gluten intolerant is priceless. And I easily found blogs with good tips. Then I did some good old google map searching which yielded even more as they scrape reviews from across the web (including TripAdvisor). This time though I came across a guidebook. Travel guidebooks are all a bit dear, but I was astonished at what was being charged for this particular one. Based on how many actual eateries were lists, it worked out to be more than a dollar per suggestion, which I think is crazy since I had starred at least as many on my map based on fast and few internet searches.

The reason this gets under my skin is there are so many people making money off the fact that I cannot eat gluten. A 'cheap' loaf of bread is $5, and I've paid up to $12. Dining out I'm often charged for gluten free substitutions. Or they remove most of the food from my plate and I am charged the same amount. We pay a premium to be gluten free, and it bothers me, and I certainly think that the gluten intolerants and celiacs of the world should not be inflicting that on each other - especially if you're charging for something that can easily be attained for free. Of course if you're printing a book, the cost of research and your time writing, there needs to be a markup, etc, and the authors may not have had a say in what the final price was. But I just found it to be one more way to try to monetize off of a medical condition in which the diagnosed have no choice but to have to navigate the world gluten free, which can be challenging.

Needless to say, I did not buy said book. I just stared more than the number of restaurants and grocers on Google Maps. This was at no cost other than about 15 minutes of my time review reading included. I will post everywhere I ate whist there after my trip. And I promise I will not charge for it :)

The Trick To Gluten Free Baking

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Lately I have been looking to branch out a bit and try to adapt gluten-containing recipes into gluten free ones. There are so many fantastic gluten free recipes out there that sometimes it feels like trying to recreate the wheel, but I also think it will help me have a better understanding of gluten free baking and will hopefully lead to some fun discoveries.

Starting off this venture, I found two posts which I think are so great I just had to share them with you:

• High Protein Gluten Free Flour on the Gluten Free Recipe Box. I came across this looking for high protein gf flours to use to adapt a pizza crust recipe. It was promptly bookmarked in my browser and I have already gone back a few times.
• How to Make Gluten Free All Purpose Mix on Gluten Free Girl is a great post on composition and types (starches vs whole grains). Also bookmarked.

I definitely recommend checking out these resources if you are looking to get creative with your gluten free baking ingredients.

Do you have a favorite flour mix? Or any tips on modifying recipes?

My New Favorite Cookie | Pure!

My excitement over the package shown left, is not describable. Although I don't even recall the exact reason why this type of cookie brings up such fond sentiment for me. All I know is I saw this bag of cookies, and after saying no to several sweets they went immediately into my shopping basket.

The cookies are by the brand Pure! which I don't think I had tried before (unless may biscotti once a very long time ago). Any shred of self restraint was gone when I saw the orders Walnut Strawberry and limited addition. 

I had to have one basically as I had put my groceries away. And was I ever glad that I got them. The text is very nice - a bit crumbly, and one did completely betray me and fall apart while I was eating it. A lot of gluten free cookies are very dry and I did not find these to be so. And the actual taste was quite divine in and of itself. My favorite part is easily the jelly in the middle of the cookie. My only complaint is I now have a daily exercise of willpower to not indulge in more than one. Oh, and they were quite dear, I believe they were around $8 for the package.

Do you have a favorite or sentimental cookie? 

An Easy Midweek Meal

After a long day at work or at school, the last thing most people want to be is couped up in the kitchen slaving over a meal. That why I love 'make it once eat it lots' meals. On one of those I don't want to cook days, I decided to make some sweet potato gnocchi. 

To switch up how I had served it last, I decided to make a simple browned butter sauce. To make that, all I did was melt 1/4 cup of butter over a low heat until it browned - just make sure and mind it so it does not burn. I prepared this why the gnocchi cooked. 

Since there was no meat in the sauce, I decided to serve some gluten free dry Italian salami on the side. I just rolled it up and stuck a toothpick through it to make the presentation a bit nicer. I also served a spinach salad with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. 

I was a fan of the meal, it seemed like something that would be much more work than it actually was after a long day. 

Do you have a go to meal for work/school days? What's something you make that seems fancy but is really simple?

Gluten Free Hot Wing Recipe

From time to time Is like to make a pub inspired dinner - often because there aren't a lot of gluten free friendly pubs that have all my favorites. Of the pub meal, my favorite component is chicken wings. I remember years ago going for pub dinners based on 10 cent chicken wings. Play pull tabs just added to the fun of the meal. 

Now I make chicken wings at home. But instead of making the deep fried pub version I make a baked version. Using this gluten containing recipe, I easily adapted it to be gluten free.

To make my version, you will need:

• Chicken Wings. I buy mine pre-cut at Whole Foods, and make about 9 or 10. 
• 2-3 heaping tablespoons of white rice flour
• 1 tsp-ish chipotle pepper spice
• 1/2 tsp-ish garlic powder
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Get a quart size ziploc bag. Put the white rice flour and spices into the bag and mix it up. Then add the chicken wings and give a good shake. The wings should be generously coated. You can add more flour if you need to. Now put them back in the fridge in the bag for about an hour.

Preheat your over to 400F. Once the hour is up, prepare the hot sauce. Melt the butter either in a sauce pan or in a bowl in the microwave (my preferred option). Once the butter is melted, add the hot sauce and mix. Now, one at a time, roll the chicken wings in the sauce until the are completely coated with the sauce. Then place the wing onto a baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, flipping once half way though. You may brush with more hot sauce after baking if you really like hot food. Serve immediately, with gluten free blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Gluten Free Brunch in Park Slope

My cappuccino came with love.

I admit that I am one of those people that lives in Manhattan and rarely leaves the island. There is so much to do, see, and eat here that my motivation to do so was really low. But lately my husband and I have taken to exploring neighborhoods in the other boroughs, which brought us most recently to Park Slope. 

A quick Yelp search on where we could go for brunch brought us to Cafe Dada. It was quite busy when we went but fortunately we were able to be seated right away. I ordered a cappuccino to get my day started, and it was indeed very nice. The crepe menu is extensive, and you can order both the sweet and the savory gluten free. 

I was stuck between the crepe suzette (sweet, something I would typically order) and the carrot crepe (savory, not something I would typically order when there was a sweet option). I ended up choosing the carrot crepe and was very glad I did. It was filled with grated carrot and bechamel sauce - absolutely fantastic, the mild sweetness of the carrot with the richness of the bechamel. Very nice. 

I will certainly return to enjoy this cafe again, and have a few crepe that I would like to try already picked out.

What Gluten Free Flours Do I Need?

When you went gluten free were you completely overwhelmed by the number of gluten free flours available? Or the opposite, did you just go by rice flour and try to act like it was normal flour to highly disappointing results? Personally I started with just the rice flour, then I learned about all the options and didn't know what to do so I basically bought them all.

Off the top of my head at any given time I will have: white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, coconut flour, garbanzo bean flour, sorghum flour, soy flour, millet flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat flour, corn flour, almond meal/flour, corn starch. Sometimes you will find teff flour, amaranth, or arrowroot as well. This is in addition to maybe a box of gluten free pancake mix, pizza crust mix, and maybe a cake mix I keep on hand. Now that's a lot of flour for a tiny Manhattan kitchen! I have so much because everything I make uses at minimum three flours as there is no direct translation with gluten free flour to replace the gluten version in recipes.

This is a big investment, I think when I first moved to Manhattan I probably spent about $80 on flour to get set up, so if you're new to the gluten free world, or you're not a big baker that much flour probably isn't necessary. I'm frequently asked what my must have's are, so I thought I would like them for you. 

• White Rice Flour
• Brown Rice Flour
• Tapioca Starch
• Potato Starch
• Coconut Flour
• Xanthum Gum

The rice slours find their way into most things and are the cheapest. Tapioca and potato starch are really frequently used in my recipes. Coconut flour is my absolute flavor for its taste and delightful texture and fluffiness. I listed xanthum gum as well as it is critical to gluten free baking. Gluten is a binder, so when we remove it we're essentially taking away the glue that makes our goodies stay together. Xanthum gum is  a binder. Sadly it does not come cheaply, though it is worth the money as most recipes will require 1 tsp or less (ie - a little bit goes a long way).

What flours do you keep on hand? Which is your favorite to bake with?

My Favorite Gluten Free Flat Bread Recipe

If you follow me on tumblr, you will have seen me post this recipe before. I recently made it again as flatbread is a staple in my freezer. It's super easy to grab a flat bread and make a burrito or a wrap with some meat and/or veggies for a quick lunch, or as an east dinner with soup or a salad on the side. I have also made delicious crepe type breakfasts with them.

The recipe is remarkable and does not need any tweaks honestly - I am reposting here just to make it easier to follow (click the link to explore more recipes, I just noticed this one the ingredients were out of order so I botched it when I made it once as I was just following the ingredient list). This flatbread is remarkably easy to make and is both gluten free and paleo friendly (win). You'll need:

• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 1 cup egg whites (I usually buy Trader Joe’s egg whites)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup water

Preheat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Put together all the dry ingredient and mix together. Then add all the wet ingredients. Scooping out 1/4 cup at a time, drop batter onto hot frying pan, slosh around a bit so it's nice and thing and at least somewhat circle shaped. Cook about 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook. Makes about 10. Double recipe if you wish to stock pile them. They are good in the fridge for a couple of days. They freeze very well. 

What recipes do you double? Is there any gluten free staples you like to have on hand like flatbread?

Easy Gluten Free Meal | Soup & Sandwich

 This week is crazy, last week was crazy, you know those bouts in your life where things are just a much to come home and sort out a proper meal for yourself. Sometimes on days like these I allow my husband to twist my rubber arm and order a delivery (perk of living in Manhattan). My preference is to make something myself as eating out/deliveries can be a bit much in itself. If it's a truly lazy meal I don't even go to my freezer for my pre-made heat and eat meals, just my pantry where I will open a can of soup and make a toasted sandwich.

Sometimes the sandwich is a standard grilled cheese. More often I simply add some deli meat, some spinach, and maybe a few slices of onion. I toast the sandwich in a pan, which is quite addictive once you start doing it, because it makes for a nice hot sandwich. Plus, gluten free bread is better toasted and the last thing you need after a long day is bad bread. For the soup, I grab whatever is in my pantry. I have a few favorites which I like to keep at least one or two cans/containers of. The soup pictured is on of my staples: Gluten Free Cafe's chicken noodle soup. It was quite nice and has actual chunks of chicken in it. Funny enough I dislike the chicken and always put all the chunks into my husband's. 

This meal is a fantastic work/school night meal, as well this is a common lunch at the weekend for me, especially on Sundays where I'm typically in the kitchen making goodies to blog about. 

What's your favorite gluten free soup you buy ready made?

Easy Healthy Gluten Free Snack

Snacking is a challenge. I have to eat every few hours or I don't feel well, and making sure my choices are good (or at least mostly good) is a challenge for me. I am very much a 'path of least resistance' snacker, whatever is the easiest possible thing for me to eat. One of my favorites at the moment based on it's pure simplicity is apples with peanut or almond butter. It's really simple, all you need is an apple, a knife and some peanut butter. For this I love the Justin's Almond Butter individual packets as you don't have to worry about measuring. Just cut up the apple, squirt or spread on almond butter and you have a delicious yet still healthful snack which is naturally gluten free! It also happens to be clean diet/detox friendly, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, and paleo (if using almond butter) as well. 

On days where I am craving chocolate, I love the
chocolate peanut butter. It serves my craving. 

Gluten Free Hell's Kitchen | Nizza

Nizza is a restaurant I have completely sentimental feelings towards. This happens to be the restaurant I went to with my then-boyfriend the night he proposed (prior to the actual proposal). Then, when I was in New York next, days after being married and the first time I was there after my husband had moved into our apartment, it's where we went for dinner. Now whenever I go, I remember those two events. 

Aside from my sentiment, Nizza has a gluten free menu. And it's good. I go here semi-regularly, however it had been a few of months since I had been so I we headed there for dinner a few nights ago.

Gluten free bread always arrives shortly after ordering. It is served with olive oil and ricotta cheese. The bread is actually quite nice but a bit crumbly. On this trip, we ordered the asparagus with prosciutto to start. Apologies for the dark photo, this is the results of low light, a camera phone and refusing to use a flash. It was a lovely starter, massive fan of asparagus and their was cooked quite nicely. Plus the prosciutto was lovely. 

For my main I had what has become my typical meal (and this time I used my flash) - the La Mia Socca. If you've not had socca before it is a chickpea flatbread. It has a slightly crispy texture and pleasant taste. It can be eaten on its own, or found as it is here behaving like a pizza. The caramelized onions and touch of peppers really bring me back to this dish, though the Ziti Pomodoro is a close second for my favorite. I find the single serving to be quite large, even if I don't have a starter. Typically I just have half and have them pack up the other half for me - it re-heats really nicely in the oven the next day. 

It is located immediately next to Five Napkin, so also a nice option if you are trying for a burger but the queue is larger than the ability for your appetite to wait. Also, I love the patio in the Spring/Summer. 

Do I Need Gluten Free Make Up?

"Do I need gluten free make-up?" Probably one of the most common questions among the newly diagnosed gluten intolerants and celiacs. There is the obvious group of cosmetics which you will want to make sure are gluten free: your lip products. But other than that, are gluten free cosmetics really necessary?

After much research, all I've been able to determine is that no one really knows. While gluten cannot be absorbed through the skin due to its molecular size, there are gluten intolerants and celiacs who do reporting reactions. Also consider the likelihood of products ending up in your mouth. Face makeup has the possibility of travelling, plus between touching your face and touching your mouth it's something to consider. Will your eye shadow end up in your mouth? Probably not. But can you get sick if it gets into your eye? Unfortunately I couldn't get any information on this as my searching just led me to  websites for gluten free makeup. What about hair care. I certainly do not intentionally injest my conditioner or blow dry balm - but my hair seems to end up in my hair quite often. 

At this point it seems to be something that you should determine at a personal level. Most of my products are gluten free, but I have loads which I am not sure of (mostly my hair products). If you're looking to find gluten free products, I did stumble upon a few great lists which are really helpful:

• Sephora maintains a list of gluten free products. Many products they have that are GF are not listed (ex: Dior's line is GF but not listed).
• L'Oreal provides a list of gluten derived ingredients (this applies to all L'Oreal brands including Maybelline New York)
• GF Makeup Girl has a list of certified GF products, and reviews. To get the list you have to sign up for the newsletter (you can unsubscribe right away if you don't want to receive it). 
• The most comprehensive list of gluten free products I have found so far on glutenfreeveganmom.

Happy Paddy's | Gluten Free Potato Farls

The most Irish thing I have planned this Paddy's Day is having a nice breakfast at home. While I would make an Irish Fry (or as close to it as you can get in America), I only eat about two things served in a fry. Instead, I decided to make something I hadn't in  ages, potato farls. I fell in love with farls back when I lived in Dublin. These are truly one of the ultimate comfort foods.

They are really easy to make, even the gluten free variety. All you need is:

• 4 potatoes (I use russet or yukon)
• 1/2 cup of white rice flour (or other GF flour of your choice)
• 1/4 tsp xanthum gum (optional)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1-1.5 tsp salt.

Start by cutting up, boiling, and mashing the four potatoes. Make sure and mash well. Then add the flour, xanthum gum if using, butter and salt. Mix well. The dough will be very potato-y but should hold together nicely. Add a bit more flour if needed. 

Next, flour the surface you will be rolling the dough one, and take a big ball (about one quarter of the dough). Flatten it to make a disc shape, flour the top and roll to 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin. Once rolls, cut into quarters (if ninths as I did).

Now it's time to cook them! With about 1/4 a tbsp of butter for each go, melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium low heat. Put farls into pan and few a couple of minutes per side until browned. Repeat until dough as all officially farls.

You can enjoy these with a fry, or on their own toasted or fried again with butter. They refrigerate well. When serving, simply refry the farls. For best results when re-frying, fry in bacon fat. Completely bad for you I know, however this results in the most amazing farl you'll ever have.

Enjoy and Happy Paddy's Day!

Celebrate St Patrick's Day With GF Beer in Hell's Kitchen

Saint Patrick's Day is tomorrow! Of course, the most common drink being drunk will be beer. As a gluten intolerant / celiac you aren't going to be able to oblige in a Guinness (one of the only things I truly miss), however there are a range of gluten free beers on the market for you to not have to miss out on the festivities. If you're in Manhattan you are in luck as well as we have pubs that offer gluten free beer! Here are a list of a few places I go that offer gluten free beer in Hell's Kitchen (AKA my neighborhood!):

• Valhalla: Serves Green's beer, my personal favorite. They have the amber, double and triple on offer. All are good. Pictured above is a triple (left) and double (right). Sure to be busy on Patty's Day as this place is always jammed.
• House of Brews serves Red Bridge. There are two locations in Hell's Kitchen.
• Heartland Brewery is a pub style environment and the TS location has a GF menu that includes chicken wings. I haven't been in a while, they used to have a GF beer but I don't see any listed now.
• 5 Napkin Burger, while a restaurant, has Celia. 
• While I haven't tried either, Vintner is listed as having Omission Beer. I have been excited to try Omission Beer so you may find me at Vintner today giving it a go - it is actually made from malted barley which is not GF, but they found a way to remove the gluten. 

Hope you have a fun day and enjoy - just try not to over enjoy, no one wants a hangover on a Monday.

How will you be celebrating Patty's Day?

Detox Diet Friendly Irish Curry Fries / Trio Recipe

With St Patrick's Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to have a few Irish food posts. To start it off I could think of nothing better than posting about Irish Curry Chips, one of my favorite foods of all time (especially after a few cocktails). Although I can get them in one chipper in New York it is not convenient, nor healthy. And there is a twist available, which somehow I did not experience until my last trip to Dublin - the Trio.

I wanted to make a not terrible / somewhat healthful version, and the components are easy to make. For the fries I simply cut up the potatoes into fry (chip) shapes, toss with a bit of extra virigin olive oil and salt, and bake in the oven at 425F for about 8 minutes, flip and bake for another 8 minutes or so. 

While those were baking I made the curry sauce - about 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk with about 2 tsp chopped garlic and 2 tsp-ish curry powder. Cook on medium-low to low heat until hot. It doesn't thicken much with the unsweetened coconut milk, if you use the canned variety it will. 

To enjoy just curry fries put the two together in a bowl and enjoy!

I took it is a step further and added rice to make a trio. It sounds so weird to North Americans, but it is so good. I used volcanic rice, but any variety would do. I had some pre-made that I heated up in the microwave, then added fries and finally the curry sauce. While it can't hold a candle to the trios you can get in a Chinese restaurant in Dublin, these certainly suffice for my cravings. 

Gluten Free Mac & Cheese Recipe

This has been a hectic week, and the coming weeks are looking to be even busy. Whenever my schedule is predictably crazy I try to make meals I can serve again. One of my favorite 'make it once, enjoy it lots' meals is gluten free macaroni and cheese. Certainly not a health food, it serves nicely as a side dish or a main. Making it from scratch as opposed to from a box is certainly worth the effort, and it's overly complicated.

I used this recipe as my basis and adapted to my preference and based on what I had on hand. I make mine with:

• 1 box Quinoa Pasta elbows
• 1/2 cup of onion
• 2 cups of 2% milk
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp tumeric (optional)
• 1/2 tsp curry (optional or add more)
• 7oz block of Dubliner Blarney Castle Cheese
• Gluten Free Bread Crumbs (optional)
• Parmesan Cheese (optional)

To make, start by heating up a pot of water and cooking the pasta elbows and preheating your oven to 350F. While they cook, cook the onion over medium heat then add the milk, salt and pepper, and spices. While the milk heats up, cut the cheese into cubes while remembering to frequently stir the milk. Once the onion/milk/spice concoction is heated and starting to bubble add the cheese and drop the heat down to medium-low. Stir constantly until cheese is completely melted.

If you've timed it nicely the pasta will complete cooking at about the same time the sauce is ready (it's okay if the pasta is ready prior). Strain the pasta, then add into the sauce and mix well. Then put into oven safe dishes (I used my la creuset, but my old dollar store ceramic dishes were fantastic as well) and bake in oven for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy promptly, making sure not to burn your tongue.

This time, I served it with a simple spinach salad on the side. You can add some twists into this dish as well. Adding bacon to the sauce ups its comfort food level a few notches. Or, cook small cubes of chicken with the onion and add hot sauce along with the milk and spices to make buffalo chicken style. There are so many ways to change it up. 

Reheats nicely in the microwave.

Gluten Free Product Review | Glutino Toaster Pastry

During a trip to Westerly the other day, I came across Glutino's new Gluten Free Toaster Pastries. I used to love Pillsbury Toaster Strudels (though never a huge Pop Tart fan) so I decided to pick up a box to try. They had both Strawberry and Apple Cinnamon, I got the latter. 

I enjoyed one this morning with my coffee. I don't actually have a toaster (small Manhattan kitchen problems) so set my oven to broil and once it heated up I put the pastry in for two minutes. The product was suprisingly delightful. They are dry and flaky, the dryness actually works in their flavor. Flakiness is something difficult to achieve gluten free so I was really happy. The filling was very nice. Like all gluten free products they are high in sugar and price, so they won't be a regular in my pantry, but will definitely find their way there from time to time. 

Have you tried them? Which flavor do you prefer?

Gluten Free Dining | Buddakan

After residing on my 'I really want to eat there' list for more than a year, I finally made it to Buddakan last weekend. While it does not have a gluten free menu it was listed as celiac/gluten free friendly, and I was really excited to go.

Upon arriving I had a cocktail. In fact I had three over the course of my meal there (Reflection, Fate and Charm). I started off with Reflection, which was quite nice and less sweet than I anticipates. What I liked best was the way in which was server (photo left, it is the back left drink, right is Charm, photo right is Fate). After being seated and having a moment to look at the menu, I was completely lost in what my options would be although there were a few things I was hopeful about. My server was really knowledgeable about the menu, unfortunately with my restrictions (gluten, seafood and shellfish) they where really limited. I was able to choose from the following:

• Appetizers: Crispy Calamari Salad without the calamari.
• Entree: Charred Filet of Beef or Mongolian Lamb Chops (I don't eat lamb either).
• Sides (noodles, rice, vegetables): Vegetable Rice or any vegetable dish could be modified to be GF.

There were more options for those that have fish. I ordered the beef, vegetables rice and cauliflower stir fry. While my immediate reaction disappointment. I had read they were accommodating so I was hoping their would be more options. Typically I only dine in restaurants where there is a dedicated gluten free menu, so I've become unaccustomed to limitations; although I was happy for it being an asian restaurant that I still had options and didn't have to leave (that has happened several times). 

My disappointment was very short lived though, and quickly turned to delight. My beef arrived and looked amazing. My attempted at photographing it with no flash had limited success, so I apologize for the dark photo (left). It had chips on the side (think Terra Chips) and a mustard sauce. I typically despise mustard but actually liked the sauce. And the beef itself was quite nice.

Next to arrive was my vegetable rice which had a curry foam (right). I was most excited for this dish as it was the only item I was really hoping would be GF prior to consulting my server. The presentation was fantastic. I mixed it all together. And it was heavenly. The perfect amount of curry, rice was cooked to perfection. Just amazing. 

Finally, my cauliflower stir fry arrived. I though this would be boring - I was told it would basically be steamed cauliflower and they would try to make a sauce for it. Also, the pork was omitted as it was pre-marinated in soy sauce. When I tried it though it was amazing. It was seasoned with chili flakes, and I love spicy food. Again, not generally a fan of cauliflower but this was so good I had to have the remainder packed up.

Although we were stuffed from dinner, my husband and I agreed to share a dessert when we found out there was gluten free options. The sorbets are gluten free, as well as the chocolate peanut butter mille feuille. I heard chocolate peanut butter and I was sold. This was easily the highlight of my meal - it was absolutely incredible and will easily warrant revisiting Buddahkan simply to enjoy this treat.

In sum, despite the limited options for gluten bigots, a meal at Buddahkan is certainly worth it and I hope to return if only for the mille feuille.

TV Night Snacks

Although I'm not much of a television watcher, Monday nights are the night I am glued to it. It used to be to watch House (I miss that show), now it's to watch the Bachelor / Bachelorette / Bachelor Pad. I know it's complete trash television but it's good to indulge the odd time, right? I like snacking while watching, and have been really into making cheese platters lately. 

The crackers I have on this board are from Mary's Gone Crackers, plus some lentil crackers. The cheese is a light havarti, a herbed gouda, and a sheep milk I can never remember the name of. Inspired by my favorite wine and cheese place, I like to have some accompaniments on the side, on this board I included walnuts and a few pieces of  chocolate. It's a nice board to put out for all to enjoy, and it plays in nicely to my Monday night indulgence.

Will you be watching the Bachelor finale tonight? What do you like to snack on when watching bad reality television?

Homemade Macarons!

This is also known as my happy place.

Hi, my name is Jennifer, and I'm a macaron-aholic. If I am walking down the street, minding my own business, and I see a macaron shop, I am going in. And buying way too many. I have no self control when it comes to these delightful morsels of heaven. When I made gluten free eclairs the other day, I had egg whites left from the pastry recipe. Never wanting to be wasteful I Googled what could be done with them. Bam. Macaron recipes appeared. I had never made them myself before so I thought, why not? After the pretzel fiasco I had nothing to lose.

I used the macaron recipe on YumSugar (with my own spin on it of course). Here's my version:

• 1 3/4 cups almond meal (I made it myself!)
• 2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature
• 10 tablespoons raw organic cane sugar

First things first, I took sheets of parchment and wanted to tract a guide to where the dough would go. I read on the internet to use a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter. I don't have one of those. So I used a shot glass. Classy, I know, but I've collected them while travelling for years. And it worked excellently. Then I put the parchment paper onto two big cookie sheets (ideally with edges).

With that sorted. I beat the egg whites until soft peaks formed. Then adding the sugar 2 tbsps at a time I continued to beat until firm peaks formed and there was a shiny/glossy appearance to the concoction. I folded in the almond meal and icing sugar (add 1 cup almond meal and 1/2 cups sugar first, once that is nicely folded, fold in the remainder). 

Here I went a bit renegade. I wanted vanilla and chocolate. I split the dough in half, separating half into another bowl. In one I added 2 tsp of carob powder and folded to blend again. In the other I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract and folded. If you are really awesome you may even choose to add some food coloring to make pretty colorful macarons - I kept it tame this time since it was my first.

Once again using ziploc bags, I squirted the dough onto the cookie sheets using the circles to guide me. Some still all ran into each other, I should have added less in some places and probably more in others. I chalk it up to inexperience. Once done, I let it hang out for about 15 minutes so they would dry a bit. Then put in a 380F oven for 16 minutes (swapping racks half way through). Once they were cooked, they were removed from oven and let to cool before removing from the parchment paper. 

The last step is filling. I actually used the left over glaze from my eclairs to fill my chocolate macarons. For my vanilla ones I used dulce de leche I had brought home with me from my trip to Argentina. I have already sampled both and they are delicious. Since I made so many some are going to work and most are in the freezer for future enjoyment.

Chocolate on the left, vanilla caramel on the right.