New downtown Harmons store!

Have you been to the new Harmons on State Street and 100 South in Salt Lake City?

My friend D told me I needed to go, that I would love it, and well, he was right. (I've gushed about the Brickyard Harmons before, which was my first gluten free shopping experience.)

I didn't capture major pictures for you, mostly because I was completely blown away.

The chip section - see the purple "Gluten Free" tags on the shelf?

Top five reasons to visit the new Harmons downtown:
5. The ambiance is amazing - the ceiling is quite high, there are beautiful white lights on the wall, and you feel like you are in some sort of Willy Wonka dream.
4. The produce section was fresh and glimmering with all sorts of good things. (Right next to the giant fresh bakery, which gave me the shivers.)
3. The tremendous gluten free frozen section complete with gluten free pizzas, gluten free box meals, gluten free breads, and other interesting things I'd like to try.
2. It was wonderful to see how this is in an area where grocery shopping is scarce. I saw several small families who were obviously enjoying having accessible shopping. I'm a huge fan of downtown grocery stores, and after my extensive work travel, would appreciate having them in other large cities.
1. There was great selection of gluten free favorites in many aisles, including the baking/flour section, crackers and chips, soup, cereal, frozen, and more. It's truly a sight to behold.

They sell Bob's Red Mill teff flour - which I've had trouble finding lately.

Oh, and don't forget the huge gluten free pasta section here. Harmons has a great system of putting the purple "Gluten Free" tags on the shelves in front of gluten free products, and they are largely comprehensive and fairly accurate.

The difficulty a new gluten free shopper would find in not having a specific and separate gluten free aisle is made up for with the purple tags. Thanks Harmons!

The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup

Back in the day, I posted some really simple chicken noodle soup. We had been sick, and I had some flat Asian rice noodles in the pantry. But I've learned so much since then.

When we were sick recently (um, welcome to winter. When weren't we sick recently?), this pumped up version of chicken noodle soup features homemade veggie broth, which is now a staple in our household. Our bouillion sits quietly, neglected in the back of the pantry.

I started with chicken broth, and it was a lot of work and you ended up with a boiling hot chicken carcass afterward. It seemed like a pain.

Enter: veggie broth. It's based on three things, and then you can build from there. The three magic ingredients are carrots, onions, and celery. You can even do what I do and throw the end parts of these veggies in a bag and put them in the freezer. These ends are great for stock, and you get to use every last bit of the vegetables in your life. If you're cleaning out your fridge, you can throw in the ends of bell peppers, spinach stems, bits of squash or zucchini, or heads of garlic.

There was also some good local representation in this soup, between the local onions and the Dreamcatcher Farms chicken (grown not far from here in Grantsville, Utah and roasted in the crockpot). After we ate the roasted chicken, I cleaned off the rest of the good meat and froze it.

I get the "well, you clearly spend all day in the kitchen, so no wonder you have time for that."
Sort of.

In Jennifer Reese's Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, we all end up with priorities for our cooking. How do we feed ourselves 3+ times a day? This can add up to be a lot of work.

I've found that, for me, the hour I spend on dinner is power hour. I'll do the dishes, throw some stock on the stove to simmer, prep some vegetables, maybe refill my flour containers and baking ingredients, or bake some muffins for the next day. I like moving quickly and being busy, and it only occasionally results in me burning the dinner.

Stock, for its incredible rich flavor, and endless uses in dairy-free cooking, is worth the effort.

Last Year: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
Two Years Ago: Preview - Cranberry Cream Pie
Three Years Ago: Yoplait Yogurt and New Design

The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup
No chicken noodle soup recipe is original, but I took some generic inspiration from Ree's Homemade Chicken and Noodles
[Printer Friendly]

1/2 medium onion, fine dice
2 stalks celery, fine dice
2 carrots, fine dice
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley or 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 cups homemade veggie broth (very similar to our chicken broth or stock)
1 cup roasted chicken, chopped, from Dreamcatcher Farm (which I discussed here)
1 to 2 hands* of flat Asian rice noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Put a quart-sized saucepan on the stove with water to boil. In another pot of similar size, combine chicken or veggie stock, onion, celery and carrots. Bring to a simmer and add bay leaf, thyme, parsley and a bit of salt and pepper. Chop chicken and add it to the stock.

Once the water is boiling in the first pot, add noodles and cook according to the package instructions. When tender, remove them from the boiling water and run in cold water to keep them al dente. Then, add them to the stock and veggie pot, and stir to combine. Continue to simmer the soup for 15 minutes at least, so that the flavors can meld. Salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:
*With dry noodles in your hand, wrap your fingers around the noodles and touch your thumb to your index finger. One hand is a good amount of noodles for two people.
- It's easy to adjust the amount of stock to have the soup as dense or as brothy as you would like. Or, you could add extra chicken and noodles to bulk up the soup.
- This soup is so soothing on the throat. Make sure that the veggies come out firm and bright, but not uncooked. There's a fine balance for the veggies that will help them be the perfect texture - giving you the perfect soup!

Please comment: Do you have time in your life to make stock? Would you or do you? Have you tasted homemade stock. If it seems labor-intensive, try veggie stock. Faster and no messy chicken carcass to deal with.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

Something strange happened here in the last week.

We both got smartphones, and I suddenly wasn't spending absurd amounts of time on my computer anymore! (Just at work, where I sit in front of the glowing square all day).

Such things can have a drastic impact on blogging, and on life in general. The first day I had my head buried in the tiny device, downloading apps and accidentally calling people while trying to enter my contacts. Learning to type on the leetle tiny keyboard. Playing Katamari.

I had also been waiting for several things to come in the mail for the kitchen, including my latest order of Twin Valley Mills sorghum flour, and a one quart bottle of almond flavoring for poppyseed muffins. Because I had my hands full of this fragile little device, I haven't been in the kitchen nearly as much. Thankfully, there are quick snacks out there to keep us topped off.

I did just finish watching the DVD that came with Mastering Knife Skills by Norman Weinstein that I checked out from the library. I love watching others cook, and I was amazed at how deftly he tackled any piece of produce. It got me out of my chair with the phone tucked away and back into the kitchen. Thank goodness.

Do you have a favorite cooking app or recipe app? I'd love to know.

Last Year: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Two Years Ago: Tangy Jezebel Sauce
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Valentino and Toasted Coconut Ice Cream and Blueberry Compote on a Gluten Free Dutch Baby

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
adapted from this recipe
[Printer Friendly]

1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon liquid hot sauce (I used Texas Pete's)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain and rinse chickpeas and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the spices and the olive oil. Toss the chickpeas in the spice mixture and hot sauce and spread the seasoned chickpeas over a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove the pan from the oven. Use a spatula to toss the chickpeas, then replace the pan and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until browned (but not burned) and crispy. Remove from the oven and cool.

Gluten Free Dining Los Angeles: 5 Great Restaurants, 2 Honorable Mentions, and 1 Fail

I know that restaurant reviews are helpful when you are traveling, especially when you feel comfortable with the reviewer's sensitivity level to gluten, or the reviewer provides information that could affect cross-contamination. We went on a honeymoon trip to Los Angeles (yeah, I know it's been two months), but I wanted to pass on where we loved eating in the Los Angeles area. We did have a rental car, so these restaurants are all over the metro area of Los Angeles, and not specific to one neighborhood (thankfully).

We found it was quite difficult to get good reliable information on eating gluten free there as Celiacs because gluten free is so trendy! This is one time when the trendiness of gluten free eating can be a big downer. Thankfully, the best resource I came across was this article about the 10 best gluten free places to eat in that neck of the woods. Has anyone else had trouble with this? It sure made us appreciate the bountiful (and generally consciencous) restaurant offerings in the Salt Lake Valley. We're pretty spoiled here!

One other minor challenge we didn't anticipate: with our lack of dairy eating, we appreciate a hearty serving of meat in a restaurant meal. Many gluten free offerings in Southern California were vegan, and that didn't really suit what we were looking for.

So, let's start with the five great restaurants.

Our hands-down favorite of the whole trip was our dinner at The Misfit in Santa Monica. Aside from the painful parking situation (that we were just getting used to), it was phenomenal!

Atmosphere: Very low lighting with vaudeville bar feel. The waitstaff was incredibly friendly and helpful, and was by far the most knowledgeable in gluten free eating we came across. It was so comfortable there we were surprised to find we had been there for several hours!

The food: We selected some bacon-wrapped dates (left) that the husband talked about for the rest of the trip as "the best thing ever." The server helped us know what our options were very clearly, and this was very reassuring. Going back and looking at the menu I don't see it on there, but if they are serving it, you should try the bacon-wrapped dates. My entree was the shredded chicken barbecue sandwich (right). The husband thought it was boring, but the combo of extra-sweet and smoky barbecue sauce with some knock-out sweet pickles was just right. Oh, and it was served on Udi's bread! Last was the mussels with spicy chorizo and broth (center). This is a Portugese dish, and it was served with toasted Udi's bread on the side. The husband shared a few mussels with me, but the mussels cooked in the spicy broth with the bits of local chorizo was so complex and flavorful, it called for dessert. The pistachio gelato cooled our tongues and left us quite happy.

We left with full bellies and no issues to report later.

The Misfit, Santa Monica
225 Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90501

Our next win was Lunch at Zankou Chicken, a chain restaurant in Southern California. We went to the Hollywood location, and spoke with the kind woman at the counter. She recommended we get something on rice, and helped guide us on our choices, even though I wondered if she'd ever been asked about it before. Behind her, two Lebanese men were flinging pitas across the line with furious speed, preparing lunch for others. That part was just a little terrifying. This isn't the kind of place where they sit you down and explain the gluten free options. Instead, you ask for a meal on rice, ask nicely if they will change their gloves, and then sit where you can watch them prepare your food and hold your breath.

We got ours to-go, and ordered a beef kebab and a lamb shawarma, both over rice. They were warm when we got back to the stairs of the LACMA art museum where we ate before they opened for the day. We dug in, and I relished my chance at the Armenian pink pickles. The meat was tender and well spiced, the hummus was so creamy and cooled us down from some meaty spiciness, the rice tender, and the veggies were appreciated.

How did we do? Well, the man who made our food did change his gloves, and there were no pitas flying above our containers while he put our lunches together. We miraculously didn't have any issues to report, which was good because we spent 8 full hours cruising the art museum!

Zankou Chicken (Hollywood location)
1716 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90025
310.444.0550


We also had a big win with Dinner at Evo Kitchen, a tiny eatery tucked into a quiet part of West Hollywood. The restaurant is run by a family, and the menu touts that they have all sorts of folks in their family: vegan, gluten free, and others, and want everyone in the family to be able to eat. Quite apropo!

The menu was packed with information about their gluten free offerings, and we steered ourselves to pizza with Daiya dairy free cheese. The husband chose the toppings, and we got everything on there that we like - pepperoni, fresh basil, roasted garlic.

According to the server, the pizza crust is prepared and sold by a local company, and it reminded me of the crust at Pier 49 Pizza here in Salt Lake. It was definitely made of rice flour (and probably only rice flour). The server also explained that they have separate toppings set aside for gluten free pizza, and a completely separate prep area. I'm straining my brain to remember if they used a different oven, but I honestly can't remember at this point.

Also, this was our first ever organic pizza.

(Side note: it was also on the way downtown from this restaurant that we found the most normal grocery store of the whole trip. It was a Ralph's, and they actually sold things we wanted to eat! More rice cakes, some interesting flavors of potato chips, fruit, Boar's Head pepperoni - which was rare - and some root beer! We were very pleased with this find.)

It was filling and delicious, the restaurant was quiet after a long day of walking, and we loved it. We also fared well on the Celiac front.

Evo Kitchen
7950 W. Sunset Blvd. #104
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.375.3290


Dinner at Mao's Kitchen in Hollywood was quirky and interesting. The resturant had free parking, which felt like a huge bonus after all the parking fees we had been shelling out. We sat in a quiet booth in the dimly-lit restaurant, and got a chance to look at the menu. A server came out and gave us the complimentary bowl of fried wheat chips and sauce, and we asked him about gluten free food. He brought out a hip Hollywood girl (exactly what we would have pictured, just by the neighborhood) who was extremely helpful. She explained that the kitchen would hand-prepare some of the sauces gluten free, and this would slightly alter the flavor of the sauce from the original. Never having tasted the original sauce, it hardly mattered! We were hungry and ready to try. (She also kindly took away the wheat chips.)

We ordered some pork fried rice (center) which was flavorful and heaping. The husband loves a good salty order of fried rice. I chose the Orange-Ginger chicken (left), despite the menu's recommendation for shrimp, and the server was right in that the sauce was pretty mild. The husband chose a dish called Mao's Hometown chicken (right), partly because of his love for wood ear mushrooms. His was also mild, but overall the food was filling, hipster-ish, with a sprinkle of hole-in-the-wall Chinese.

I'm not sure how successful we would have been if it hadn't been for the awesome server who explained it all to us, but maybe there's someone else who works there who also knows the gluten free deal. Or, maybe she works every night? 

We were able to leave there with a tiny bit of leftovers and no gluten!

Mao's Kitchen in Westwood
7315 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.932.9681


Our last meal of true awesomeness was Dinner at Hugo's, a busy little bistro in Hollywood. Again there was free parking, which we so appreciated! We were parked a little too close to a really nice BMW, who was trying to keep someone from parking next to him. We parked there anyway, and while we were waiting for our food to arrive, noticed Jeff Goldblum and a date at another table! The BMW was gone when we left...maybe it was Jeff who was trying to take up two spaces.

We were welcomed at Hugo's with the enticing offer of fries cooked in a dedicated fryer, and a waiter with an impressive knowledge of the gluten free menu. This was only slightly dampened by two girls at a table too close to our own, who talked very loud about nothing at all. I couldn't hear the husband over the girls explanation of why someone else was totally in an unhealthy relationship. The same girl also ordered a regular pasta dish with a side of gluten free bread.

Well, we loved our appetizer of fresh fries (lower left), and they were gone in just minutes. All the walking and exploring we were doing on our trip was leaving us terribly hungry at dinner time. The husband ordered the Cuban sandwich on house-made gluten free flatbread (top), which was the star of our dinner. He gave me a few bites, and the flavors were complex and interesting. I ordered the turkey shepherds pie and a fruit cup, and while it was warm and filling, could have been more interesting. We really enjoyed our dinner, and we made it out with no gluten issues.

This had to have been because of our helpful waiter, the consciencious kitchen, and some little symbols on the menu to help gluten free and vegan dinners with their selections.

Hugo's Restaurant
8401 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
323.654.3993

Now, quickly, a shout out to the honorable mentions, and there were two.

The Casbah Cafe in Silver Lake. This was our first dinner, and the husband was terrified. We spoke with the server, and chose what seemed like the only meat options on the menu. She assured us that the posole con pollo soup and the Spanish tortillas were all prepared gluten free, as long as you skipped the baguette. When the server came out with our food, he was holding a baguette in his hand. Cue further terrified glances from the husband as I asked the server to take away the baguette. We timidly ate the soup and most of the mushroom tortilla and dashed out of there, worried for our digestive health. After some time, I felt like we made it out safely, but the husband disagrees. I think one could eat truly gluten free here, just with a little more care than we took.

The other goes to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, located across from the University of California Park Campus. We went there twice, and they were careful both times, although I don't know that anyone had ever asked them to change their gloves for the sake of gluten free eating before. The second time, right before our flight, I think we managed to have a side of gluten, although it was very minor. I'm sure you could eat there safely with a little more staff training.

And lastly, the fail.

I hate to be critical, but this was just silly. I was excited to find out there was a restaurant in Los Angeles specializing in waffles, and even had a gluten free waffle on the menu! (This was magnified by the fact that I knew there was a waffle maker under the Christmas tree for me at home, but more about that and the great recipe I've come up with for whole grain waffles later). So, yeah, I called ahead to ask if they used a separate waffle maker for the gluten free waffle, and the answer was no!!

That may be fine for some trendy folks who want to try a gluten free waffle, but for us, no way. While disappointing, I was glad we had called ahead so we weren't sitting there, hungry, and finding out that it wasn't even remotely gluten free. Uh, you should work on that, The Waffle. [To their credit, the menu does say "wheat free," rather than gluten free, so that's probably the clue right there.]

Carry on.
 
Last Year: My Break Up with Gluten Free Oats
Two Years Ago: Gluten and Dairy Free Acorn Squash Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
Three Years Ago: Turnip Souffle

Toasted Coconut Congo Bars

Toasted Coconut Congo Bars. Chocolate chip walnut blondies. These cookie bars go by several different names, and they managed to save our week, in the sense that there was a pan of them available on two different occasions for this hungry household.

I left in quite a hurry for a weekend road trip to see one of my favorite nephews (and his sister and brother, and their lovely parents.) There was a gluten free extravaganza, both by the hosts and making sure that my traveling companions were safely navigating our gluten free journey as well. Somehow people stop and wait to see if I will eat something, or listen intently to the questions I ask at the restaurant to make sure we will eat safely. And for the record, the city of Page, Arizona doesn't have a Wendy's location, which is where we were planning to eat dinner on Friday night. We bravely asked for carefully prepared Tendergrill chicken breasts from Burger King, and for those of you who are very sensitive or have Celiac, it goes unrecommended by me. (Nothing like a little fire in the belly on a road trip to make it an enjoyable time.)

I was able to throw a batch of taco soup into the fridge for the husband, who wasn't able to join us, and a batch of blueberry sour cream muffins on the countertop. He ate well, but we were certainly glad to see each other last night for our late dinner of florentine risotto and a quick batch of banana muffins into the oven.

Aside from the pile of laundry and my unpacked bags on the living room floor, we can eagerly resume our regular activities. I was grateful after Friday night to have a Congo bar at bed time that I had brought with me. Lower sugar than the traditional Congo bar recipe, and stuffed with chippy goodness and toasted coconut and walnuts.

In fact, I halved the total sugar and used honey for a portion of it, and the results were great.

It's not really a secret that we like toasted coconut in our baked goods.

Last Year: Candied Lemon Party Cake
Two Years Ago: January 2010 Food Co-op Goods (sniff, we now have no more food co-op)
Three Years Ago: Lime Avocado Mousse

Toasted Coconut Congo Bars
Adapted from this recipe by Brown Eyed Baker
[Printer Friendly]

1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup coconut oil, warmed
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips*
½ cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray a 9×13-inch baking pan, then line it with parchment paper, leaving a bit of an overhang over all the edges.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sorghum flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, sugar and honey until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and, using a rubber spatula, gently fold them into the egg mixture until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the toasted coconut, pecans, semisweet and white chocolate chips. Dump the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth it into an even layer.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, about 25 minutes. Cool the bars completely in the pan on a wire rack. (This helps maintain the awesome texture.) Remove the bars from the pan using the parchment handles and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 36 bars and serve. The bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.

*I know this is hard to believe, but adding more than the 1 cup total of chips to this recipe makes it less good, in our opinion. Too many chocolate chips? It doesn't usually sound like a problem, but with the richness of these bars, it's best to keep it to a cup. Also, we tried butterscotch chips in one of our batches of these bars and the butterscotch taste was too overpowering. Think carefully about your chips!

Grilled Balsamic Portabello Mushrooms

We spent part of this evening curled up on the couch watching The Gleaners and I, a recommend from one of the husband's coworkers. It's a French film, with subtitles, so we had to pay attention and not fall asleep. At first, the husband stated I would read all the subtitles out loud. Thankfully he gave up listening to me and turned around to watch the movie. (And grabbed some good couch real estate).

The gleaners. Those who go through the fields after the main harvesting. The movie followed gleaners in several different ways. People gleaning for food, including in ton-large piles of discarded potatoes in France, grapes after the machines have made their way through the vineyards, purposely leaving piles of still-edible grapes on the ground. Other gleaners in the show were gathering things, and the filmmaker herself was gathering...age. She reflected it to the viewer. In all these statements, though, I was struck by the people gathering food.

Mushrooms, even, though not in the show. We live in a time of such plenty, and dichotomy too. It gives me a lot to be grateful for, including these portabello mushrooms from the last week at the Utah Food Co-op before they closed for good. Grateful for the sun through the western windows. For C bringing me big bags of Bountiful Basket produce so I can stay warm and tucked in after seven a.m. For the husband starting to feel a wink better after drinking a cup of hot honey and lemon. A day off from work's bustle to be home together. Library books and cheesy ice skating anthologies on TV (the only other thing on was a dog show??)

These mushrooms are deep and meaty, but they're not meat! They're delicious vegetarian fare, especially when they've been marinated with the good stuff. A well-aged balsamic vinegar with olive oil, with awesome grill marks from the grill. These would be great with veggies and rice pilaf, grilled any time of the year.

Last Year: Candied Lemon Party Cake
Two Years Ago: RSBC Beans in Breakfast - Blender Pancake Fail
Three Years Ago: Shortbread Cookie Giveaway

Grilled Balsamic Portabello Mushrooms
[Printer Friendly]

4 large portabello mushroom caps, with the stem trimmed
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Scrub your mushrooms with a dry cloth or napkin, and trim off the stem if it's there. In a large bowl, mix the red bell pepper, garlic, oil, onion powder, salt, and ground black pepper. Spread mixture over gill side of the mushroom caps. Leave the mixture on the mushrooms for at least 10 mintues while the grill warms.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Place mushrooms over indirect heat, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

There's now an uproar if there's not a side of vegetables on the plate at dinner. (Who would have guessed this? Not me.) However, I'm very supportive of our move toward more vegetables. It's good for both of us, especially since our food can seem limited if we don't mix it up all the time.

That leaves us with all sorts of opportunities to try new veggie sides. And keep up with ones I've made before. This is a family classic, because it's so easy and it tickles my toes how sweet carrots become with some heat. The traditional approach to glazed carrots uses butter, and we can't have that in this dairy free household, now can we?

February has also come and my use of things in the kitchen that are bright orange is an all-time high. Mandarin oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes (roasted in the oven with leeks!) and the ever-present bowl of clementines on the counter are fixtures in the kitchen.

I've found that you can make these with just a touch of coconut oil. You don't need very much, especially because it doesn't have quite the same caramelizing effect that butter can achieve. You can still see in the photo, though, how it creates these tiny crisp edges on the carrot. Like little orange stained-glass windows in the light. Oooh.

You do want to salt these to taste. I used to wonder what that meant, but it turns out it's actually really easy. You taste the food. Grab a fork and get a bite of a carrot. If you can't taste the sweetness of the brown sugar, it's not that you need more, it's actually that you need a little more salt to magnify the flavor of the brown sugar. Grab the sea salt and give it a few grinds into the carrots, stir until the salt is mixed around, and taste again. Behold, salting to taste. It's genius.

Last Year: Candied Lemon Slices
Two Years Ago: Gluten Free Graham Crackers (and some s'mores)
Three Years Ago: Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots
[Printer Friendly]

4 large carrots (or 2 carrots per person, for a side dish)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon coconut oil
salt to taste

Wash carrots, there's no need to peel them. Slice them into 1/4 inch pieces on the bias, or at a diagonal, to maximize the surface area. On the stove, boil water in a small saucepan and add carrots. Boil for 8-10 minutes, or until the carrots are just beginning to soften.

Drain the water, and put the carrots back into the same saucepan. Add the brown sugar and coconut oil, and stir until both are combined and warmed. Then, salt to taste (as explained above).

Mandarin and Marmalade Cookies

Ever want something sweet just from ingredients in your pantry? Um, all the time.

I actually have a pretty extensive pantry, well-stocked for most occasions. However, this week, the cupboards were a little bare since I hadn't renewed our Costco card yet.

I dug through the shelves to find something that I could put together, and I also came across this recipe from the Mrs. Fields Cookie Book. The 1990s cookie-superstar-mall-food-court Mrs. Fields was founded in 1977 in California, but is now headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Not that it makes much difference to me. Except that it wasn't much of a surprise when I came across the cook book in a thrift store here, complete with autograph and personal note from Mrs. Fields herself to someone else in the front cover. (Apparently, they didn't care to hold on to this gem).

In the pantry, I rustled up some orange marmalade I canned last summer, as well as cans of mandarin oranges. Well, so becomes an excellent recipe adapted from the Mrs. Fields book, and updated to make it a little less sweet and a bit more focused on the orange-y goodness. (Not to mention, made gluten and dairy free).

The low oven temperature gives these cookies a seriously soft texture, almost like a Lofthouse cookie if you were eating gluten. They are studded with the bits of mandarin orange, and there's a zing inside from the orange marmalade. They don't need any frosting, and they are plenty sweet. The coconut oil gives a great, almost-buttery flavor, without any strange fake-fat aftertaste. The combination of flours gives a nice crumb (thanks to the sorghum), but enough structure to carry well in a lunch bag (thanks tapioca!)

Last Year: Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Two Years Ago: Wordless Wednesday (Smores!)
Three Years Ago: Tuile Cups with Blueberries

Mandarin and Marmalade Cookies
adapted from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book
[Printer Friendly]

1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup millet flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup coconut oil (substitute: butter, ghee, organic shortening)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup orange marmalade
one 10 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained and chopped


Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium bowl, combine sorghum flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum and baking powder.* Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, or another large bowl to be mixed by hand, blend coconut oil and sugar to form a grainy paste. Add egg and orange marmalade, and beat at medium speed until smooth. Alternately, mix by hand until the mixture is smooth. Add the flour mixture and the oranges, and blend at low speed just until combined. Do not overmix.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart. A baking sheet with a silicon mat would work well here.

Bake 24-25 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies begin to brown. Transfer with a spatula to a cool, flat surface. These cookies keep well at room temperature for about a week.

*The combination of flours could be substituted with 2 3/4 cups of your favorite gluten free all-purpose flour.

Hearty Beef Chili

I just stumbled on an interesting read, called 100 Days of Real Food. She chose to commit to cooking real, unprocessed, unsweetened, home-cooked food for her and her family for one hundred days. Eating gluten and dairy free, we come close to that. But, there's a dark little corner of the world that still has my heart, and it's the sugar. I eat a fair bit of candy, for several different reasons.

When I decided to go gluten free, knowing it was truly the right thing for me, I wanted to make sure I didn't feel deprived. I watched the husband feel pretty deprived at the beginning, when we were still figuring out how he could eat his favorite foods. That took several weeks, even months, and so we tried to make up for it in other ways. For him, potato chips. For me, candy.

Feeling deprived just as your body starts to realize it can digest the nutrients you are eating again is a tough game. You have to eat enough, and you may still struggle with some nutrition deficiencies like I did. Thankfully, that time is over.

Now we have a new vista opening in our lives, where we can take the best care of ourselves. Tuesday night as we were eating tacos, the husband inquired about our overall vegetable consumption. He was requesting more. This hasn't really been a big element for him, and so I've tried to be sneaky about vegetables for him. He's not really a salad man. But I stuff all the frozen spinach, chopped bell pepper, sauteed onion, and grated carrot I can into what he eats. But now, he apparently wants it more front and center. So last night, I prepared a delicious local roasted chicken (from Grantsville, Utah and the great folks at Dreamcatcher Farm*), roasted potatoes, mixed veggies, and a gravy made with local apple cider. Go local with veggies! He actually really like it.

The 100 Days of Real Food has a 10 day pledge. That's the direction I would have to go if I were to give up the c.a.n.d.y. I've thought about it on and off for weeks, and while I'm not ready to give up the candy for 10 days, 100 days, or a year (after all, this year has 366 days!), it gives me food for thought.

The better I am at keeping delicious fruits on the counter top, tasty veggies in the fridge, and delicious baked goods (100 Days forbids white sugar - honey and maple syrup only) to keep myself away from the temptress. What do you think? Are you already there? Would you do it? Could you do it?

And, aren't we so lucky to be gluten free and already have a head start on this?

I feel lucky.

On to the chili. We've made this chili hundreds of times. I feed it to my family with corn muffins when they converge on my house with short notice. I make large batches and freeze portions, for quick dinners or lunches for the husband.

The flavor is really classic, with the chili powder and basil playing off each other into a well-rounded spiciness. The beans are hearty and filling, and the beef comes out tender. The flavors is even better after a night in the fridge, if you have to stow it away for leftovers.

Last Year: Twin Valley Mills sorghum flour
Two Years Ago: Teriyaki Bacon-Chicken-Pineapple Skewers
Three Years Ago: Being a Community (Utah Food Co-op)

Served with a crusty boule roll from C. She gave us a whole bunch, and they were delicious! We even made sandwiches with pulled BBQ chicken!

Hearty Beef Chili (Slow Cooker Recipe)
adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
[Printer Friendly]

12 ounces ground beef (we used some local grass-fed beef from the Utah Food Co-op)
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 1/2 ounce can tomatoes, cut up
1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 to 3 teapsoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, fresh cracked

In a large saucepan, cook ground beef, onion, bell pepper, and garlic til meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain fat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen in individual portions for several months.

Crockpot/slow cooker:
Cook meat, onion, bell pepper and garlic as above. Drain fat. In a 4 quart electric crockery cooker, combine meat mixture, undrained tomatoes, beans, tomato suace, chili powder, basil and pepper. Cover; cook on low for 8 to 10 hours of high for 4 to 5 hours.

*Dreamcatcher Farm doesn't have a website. I met Susan at the Utah Food Co-op Market sale**, and brought home a 4 pound young chicken. The only online information they have is this listing. Susan did say they take phone orders, and often deliver to Salt Lake City, if you want to make an order.

**Sadly, the Utah Food Co-Op is closing its doors forever at the end of January 2012. They served the Salt Lake and Utah valleys for 6 years with great food at low prices, and cultivated a venue for local farmers and artisans to sell their delights. This is so so sad for me. I'm going to have to figure out how to get my favorites without being able to hit the market every Monday afternoon.

Book Review: Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking by Peter and Kelli Bronski



These are just a few, (and a random History of Modern Art there at the bottom)

 I have a whole shelf full of cookbooks, both gluten free and regular. I like to browse them, mark them, and toy with the recipes. I like to modify endless numbers of regular recipes to be gluten free.

But when it comes to my number one, grab and go gluten free cookbook, the one I like to reach for is Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking by Peter and Kelli Bronski. The husband got me this one as a present for our wedding, and I have made many of the recipes already.

We've had the waffles, the cornbread, cider bacon chicken, yesterday we had the biscuits (with some seriously good dairy free sausage gravy), the peanut butter stir fry, and it turns out that chipotle-marinated pork fajitas are also in this book, even though the ones I made were adapted from a website. Similar taste, yes?

In fact, we do have the same taste, and I can't be more pleased that these wonderful Colorado folks eat pretty much the same flour blend that I cook with. It's healthier than the average starch-only mix, and tasty too! You may have noticed that I'm not necessarily a flour blend type of person, preferring to mix on the spot and choose the flours that I think would be best for the recipe based on their taste and texture. But if I had one, it would be on page 15 of Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking. You can read about Peter and Kelli's flour comparison from their blog, No Gluten No Problem. Also, a very excellent read!

One other element that I find really fascinating as a difference between my cooking style and theirs is the fact that they eat a lot of seafood! I ate a lot of seafood in Italy, and we eat the occasion tilapia filet or crab cake, but the Bronskis sure like their fish! It's exciting to see what our fish-eating world would look like if we decided to embrace it. Living in Utah, we are solidly land-lubbers who like our beef, but I've seen a little sparkle in the husband's eye lately about branching out into different foods. Maybe more seafood is on the horizon for us, and thanks to this book, we'll be well equipped to prepare seafood dishes that speak to our palates!

I mentioned above the sheer number of recipes out of this book we've already tried, and I think we've already made this cookbook worth its purchase. I have to say that each of the recipes was easy to make, the directions were clear, and I was able to execute each of them with successful results. With that being said, I'm not the follow-every-last-bit of the recipe type, so it's easy for me to improvise and end up with a good result. Still, I feel like the detail is sufficient for any gluten free cook to make some great food using these recipes. The ingredients are simple and accessible, and the techniques easy to intermediate, and well described.

Thank you Bronskis, we so love your cookbook! (We paid for it, just for the record). We're going to get their new cupcake book next.

Last Year: Roasted Delicata Squash with Garlic
Two Years Ago: So what do you eat? Fruit, that's what.
Three Years Ago: Lloyd's Barbecue: Seasoned Shredded Chicken