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Archive for the 'gluten-free-ness' Category

Sheri on Aug 9th 2008 BS, gluten-free-ness

Triumph works to triumph over Celiac

Through the month of August, Triumph Dining is giving away free American dining cards to help raise money for Celiac Disease.  They’re calling this fundraiser “The $10K Challenge.”  If they get 15,000 people to sign up, they will donate $10,000 to a national Celiac Disease awareness campaign that we get to have input on!

There’s no purchase necessary; all you have to do to get the free card is go to this site.

When Triumph Dining sent out their restaurant guides not too terribly long ago, I requested a set of cards to see what they were all about.  After a quick scan through of the cards, they immediately went into my wallet.  I am waiting to get up the nerve to actually use them, though LOL.

Go and check it out - you aren’t out anything, you get a freebie, and it benefits all of us gluten-free folk in the end.

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Sheri on Nov 7th 2007 BS, gluten-free-ness

These things actually happen in this house

From one minute to the next, I do not know what is going to come out of The Man’s mouth. This morning, I was standing at the stove preparing my breakfast when he came up and said, “What are you doing?” Because I just love stating the obvious, I replied, “Cooking.” His next question? I sit here shaking my head while remembering this one - “Cream of Wheat?”

Cream of Wheat.

CREAM OF WHEAT?

I swear - he really does know about the gluten thing. He brushes his teeth and rinses before he kisses me. But oh my God, sometimes the brain and the mouth just DON’T connect.

It was Cream of Rice with turbinado sugar and currants, by the way.

2 responses so far

Sheri on Nov 4th 2007 BS, Sides, gluten-free-ness

I could have named this post a number of things


Sheri and Shauna

The first post title could be “If you don’t know how to drive safely in a construction zone, stay the hell off of the highway.”

The second post title could be “Overdosing on damn good chocolate-banana bread causes coma.”
The third post title could be “Successful first gluten-free dining experience in a restaurant.”

The fourth post title could be “I laid around and did mostly nothing on this vacation but I did think about this.”

Now, the explanations for all of these.

The first actually kind of goes with the second and third. I was on my way to Chicago to meet up for dinner at Vinci with Shauna James Ahern and two other wonderful women, Cari and Tina. What should have taken just under an hour to drive took over two hours because of a nasty accident 17 miles from my home. Yes, it took me an hour and a half to go 17 miles. Thank goodness that Shauna, Cari and Tina were willing to wait to have dinner until I finally got there. I always feel horrible when I see an accident like that but more than likely, the people involved in the accident were driving well above the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic. There’s a reason for the reduced speeds in construction zones - the lanes are usually narrower and rough, people. End of rant.

I sincerely hope that the people involved in the accident are okay.

I ate well, even though I was stressed to the max. Their panna cotta was amazing (I ate one bite and fell in love with a dessert that I had never been terribly impressed with - I made a batch for my dessert tonight LOL) and the hen cooked under a brick was succulent and delicious.

Tina and Cari
Since Shauna was in the area, I decided to make her chocolate-banana bread (in her book) on Friday. Big mistake. I ate half the pan in the first sitting and another big wedge yesterday afternoon after pigging out on gluten-free goodies at the monthly Gluten Free Wikiduke meeting. I forced myself to put the rest in the freezer and have had to repeatedly tell myself to STAY OUT OF THE FREEZER.

So that basically covers possible post titles 1 through 3.

I had mentioned at some point last week that I had recipes brewing, which was true. I just didn’t have the motivation to make anything other than that banana bread. For the last two weeks, I have had a cold that started in my head and dropped with the weight of an elephant into my chest. I spent most of Thursday sleeping - slept most of Friday afternoon, too. Yesterday I spent chasing around doing stuff and today I had to do my cooking thing for the boss.

I did manage to clean my kitchen and bathroom. I also started the closet changeover from spring and summer clothing to fall and winter.

I decided that enough was enough and that I was going to make myself something good to eat. There’s nothing like a good steak, roasted brussels sprouts, and potato pancakes to make your cold sit on the back burner for a little while.

Potato Pancakes with Green Onion and Gruyere
From my head

4 large potatoes, peeled and grated (about 4 cups total grated)
2 eggs
2 tbsp potato starch
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/2 cup gruyere cheese
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil

Grate the potatoes and chop the onions. Place into a colander and press to push out as much moisture as possible. Set aside, allowing to drain.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, potato starch, cheese, salt, and pepper together. When the potatoes and onions are drained well, place them into egg mixture and fold to combine.

Melt the olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When the mixture is hot but not smoking, drop the pancake mixture by 1/2 cupfuls into the skillet, pressing with a metal spatula or the back of the measuring cup to flatten them out. Cook on the first side until golden brown (about 5 minutes), then flip and do the same on the other side.

Makes 6 to 8 pancakes. If you are making more than one batch, keep them warm by placing them in a 200 degree oven until ready to eat.

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Sheri on Oct 9th 2007 BS, Haunted Barn, Sweets, The Vault, gluten-free-ness

Bananas for breakfast & a great way to pass the evening

I de-glutened another recipe from the vault a couple of days ago, but because of the barn, I was unable to get it posted before now. Such is life, I guess, at least for another 3 weeks.

But first, because it’s fun, I am going to rip on a couple of people:

–The adult female that came out of the barn crying shortly after a 7-year-old that was visibly upset yet not crying.

–The high-end (read: at least 17) teenager that got the dry heaves after going through the barn.

Ripping done.

This evening, I received a box from Amazon, which contained a much-anticipated book written by Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl fame. As soon as my boss left with 4 days worth of food tonight, I put on my most comfortable jammies and curled up on the couch under a snuggly blanket, sipping a blackberry Izze (I love this stuff!), and read contentedly while the zoo competed for lap space.

Shauna unknowingly paid a huge part in my decision to get tested through Enterolab. Back in 2006, I was reading Bakerina’s website while she was taking part in Blogathon. I had just been diagnosed with a multitude of environmental allergies, two of which were wheat and rye. I was researching if environmental allergies could affect digestion and reading Bakerina’s hourly posts at the same time. I sent her an email asking if she had ever tried converting her bread recipes to wheat-free and she replied promptly with a link to Shauna’s site. I clicked on the link and went out to our back porch to have a cigarette.

Food Network was playing on the TV. I lit my cigarette and had a drag. I don’t remember which show was playing - all I remember about that moment was what happened next… The show cut to commercial. Normal time-wasters played and then when I started paying closer attention, a woman was in a green kitchen was talking about eating gluten free. My mouth fell open, the cigarette falling to the floor to burn a hole in the carpet, when she said she had a website called Gluten-Free Girl.

Holy shit.

I take omens and the like seriously. I took this as a sign that I had to do some more research immediately. I went back in the house (after picking up my cigarette and making sure the carpet wasn’t going to start on fire) and read every post that night. Every symptom she described, I had.

Holy shit.

I made the decision to go gluten free that night. It took some stops and starts, but now that I have been gluten free for a year, I can honestly say that I feel better now that I ever have in my life. For someone who had a cold or bronchitis every couple of months, pneumonia every year, and a host of other issues that were “all in my head” according to the rest of the world, I can report that I have not had even so much as a sniffle - unless I have been glutened. Enough said, there.

So, thank you, Shauna, for helping bring Celiac and gluten intolerance to the forefront. Oh, and for writing this great book.

I better get this recipe posted so I can get back to reading it!


Banana-Chocolate Chip-Walnut Coffee Cake
Adapted from a recipe from The Vault


1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
3 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 baking dish and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Set the streusel aside.

Sift together into another bowl the rice flour, tapioca starch, cornstarch, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixer bowl, combine the egg, butter and sugar, mixing until light and fluffy. Add the milk and bananas. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix well.

Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the prepared pan (I have found that the very edge of a rubber scraper works well for this - just move the batter a little at a time). Sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter, then spread the remaining batter on top of that. Sprinkle the remaining half of the streusel on top.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan; serve warm.

3 responses so far

Sheri on Aug 25th 2007 gluten-free-ness

Baking for Bette

Sea at Book of Yum is hosting a GF blog event in honor of Bette Hagman, a pioneer in the world of gluten-free cooking and baking. I have two submissions for this event.

When I first started toying with the idea of being gluten free last summer, I did what I always do - research on the web and get some books to read. I started my quest with Amazon and, in entering the words “gluten free” in the search engine and selecting cookbooks, all of Bette’s books popped up. Because there were so many of them, I figured that she knew what she was doing and ordered two, “The Gluten Free Gourmet” and “The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy.” When they got here, I did what I always do with a new cookbook - read it through from cover to cover, marking what I thought I might like to try. There were lots of multi-colored post-its sticking out from the margins. She is the one that told me that yes, I could be gluten free and not miss a thing.

As I gained confidence in my GF baking skills, Bette’s books stayed on the shelf more and more often because I got away from the whole flour mix thing. However, there are 2 recipes in “The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy” that I go back to time and time again. These two recipes are pictured below…

Brownie Pie - chocolate decadence for a chocoholic like me

Cheese Crackers - because who doesn’t love a cheesy cracker?

If you have this book and haven’t tried these two recipes yet, do. They’re simple and oh so tasty.

And Bette (see Sheri waving to the finally-blue skies above), thank you for all your hard work from those of us that benefit most. You will be missed.

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Sheri on May 31st 2007 gluten-free-ness

The metamorphosis from ChronicBabe to GlutenFreeBabe

Jenni over at ChronicBabe is going gluten free during the month of June. She will be blogging about her trials and tribulations during the GF period, so everyone needs to swing by her new site and cheer her on!

One response so far

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