Thursday, March 12, 2009
First Signs of Spring
Monday, March 9, 2009
Gluten Free CIA Book
Oh my, have I been out of the loop! I received my Alumni Magazine from the Culinary Institute of America today- and Chef Richard Coppedge (all around nice guy and Certified Master Chef) has a gluten free cookbook. My things are a changin' since I was a student there.
I will be placing my order tomorrow. Has anybody seen it? Used it?! Tell me all.
Friday, March 6, 2009
I adopted Simply Gluten-Free
This week, I am participating in the “Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger” event hosted by Book of Yum. I adopted Simply Gluten Free, and did her Spoon Salad and Lemon Tahini Dressing.
Simply Gluten Free is a very visually attractive site with recipes that appeal to my food philosophy; good quality fresh food, simply prepared.
I chose the spoon salad because I just love my food processor, and to get to shred pounds of vegetables? How fun!
Her idea of doing enough for four or five days of salad eating is brilliant: my kitchen looked like I had been mulching garden leftovers by the time I was done. But a crunchy, fresh salad base is there, in my fridge, just waiting for me to finish however I want. I have been known to just skip salad rather than hauling out the cutting board and the knife, especially at lunch.
I’m glad she considered the recipe to be a guide, because despite my good intentions, the vegetables listed on the recipe weren’t the best that my supermarket had to offer. I ended up using swiss chard, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower and a little basil.
For the dressing, the only substitution I made was using gluten free soy sauce rather than tamari. Tamari has sweeter undertones and less harshness, and I think that would have made a difference in this recipe. I liked the brightness of the dressing, but felt that it needed a touch more sweetness in the overall balance- but that was likely my soy sauce. I will add this to my regular recipes that I use, it is a good break from the vingairette rut that I get into. My hubby suggested a touch of grated fresh ginger as well.
This was a wonderful salad for the kids- I treated it like a green salad, letting everyone put on whatever dressing they liked. The kids added shredded mozzarella cheese and ranch, my hubby did the tahini dressing with some toasted sunflower seeds, and I had just a little dressing and the salad. Even my most veggie adverse teenaged boy had seconds.
Great blog, good recipes, lots of fun- thanks Simply Gluten Free!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
What's for Lunch?
I was talking with someone who is just starting out on a gluten-free diet. Aside from the shear overwhelming nature of the change, the whole idea of breakfast and lunch without bread really had her stumped.
Lunch is really tough for gluten-free folks. The most American of lunch items, a sandwich, is challenging with gluten free bread. GF breads just don’t travel as easily as their wheat containing cousins.
It’s easier if you have access to a kitchen, or at least a microwave. For those looking for some ideas, I have added a “Lunch this Week” feature.
My lunch schedule varies quite a bit during the week- since I am an Instructor, I have a couple of days a week where I eat on the run out of a cooler, a couple of days where I have access to a kitchen and one or two days a week that I am never sure about. I have one day a week where I often eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on the road. Three days a week, the preschooler and I are home (or on the road) together at lunch time, and she eats what I do.
When I have it “together” I prep a couple of days worth of quick eats into storage containers and freeze or refrigerate them. This is really helpful because I have a hubby and teenager who pack lunch most week days as well.
I really am flexible about what I will eat for lunch: I can eat a cold bean salad or leftover chicken leg and be perfectly happy. I know that some people (my lunch-packing teenager, for example) who cannot deal with last night’s leftovers in a storage container without a microwave to heat it up.
My food choices are usually pretty simple at lunch, and I don’t rely on many gluten-free products. I don’t often run into monotony problems, because I use lunch to rework leftovers when I can.
What are your favorite lunches? What packs well and is easy, tastes good, and contains at least a little nutrition?