A Happy GF 4th!

I did have one! I traveled with my boyfriend to Pueblo, CO to meet up with some friends for the weekend. I really wanted to get some tamales :) but my friend said they don't make bean ones. They do in Boulder, DUH it's Boulder. So I'll have to travel up there sometime soon for some! They are Amaizing Corn Tamales found at the Boulder's Farmers Market or Berry Best Smoothies. Anyways, I traveled pretty simply food wise for the weekend. I brought things that could be eaten for many meals. I packed a lunch for the way down, 2 little containers of Whole Foods Black Bean Quinoa, tortilla chips, salsa, eggs, strawberries, granola bars. And of course I had to make a GF Flag Cake to share! Seen above, I remember making one when I was little and haven't had one for a while so I made one! I used the Betty Crocker Mix and frosting mentioned in an earlier post. It was kind of dry.... but it got eaten! And it looked pretty so that's all that matters :) The weekend worked out well with food and fun! We launched our own fireworks! Fun!

Work Lunches

Work lunches are hard, as I found out this week. Having a party/meal with my friends is easy. They all know what kinds of foods I can eat or that they need to ask me about them. At work well people don't know me, I'm the "new temp girl". They don't know people with food allergies either, so just don't know how to work with that type of person. So one of my coworkers last day was Friday so this lady planned a lunch for him on Thursday. The menu: pizza, wings and cake. Oh great. The absolute of what I can't eat. Pizza and wings: no big deal I'll just bring lunch like normal. Cake: I had, what I thought I was a very good idea. I offered to make the cake. I would use GF cake mix and regular trans fatty frosting. Well apparently our department is a bunch of pigs because the planner lady said she was going to get a Costco cake. (We don't have THAT many people, and lots of the women don't eat sweets) And said I could bring my own cake. Yeah lady, I'm going to make a whole cake just so I don't feel left out. I'm NOT 5 years old thank you. Then I remembered that Costco only has white cakes. And I know their are chocoholics in my department (me included) so I just decided to make a chocolate cake. I wasn't trying to go behind the lady's back at all. I just knew she didn't understand. And I think she's the type of person that doesn't cook. And any thought of cooking just seems unnecessary. And I'm the opposite, I would rather cook because it shows more effort and tastes better :)

So I made a chocolate cake with Betty Crocker GF Cake Mix and Frosting. General Mills has really jumped on the GF bandwagon. They have a list of GF items online. They label all their products that are GF. And have a few boxed mixes and is coming out with GF Bisquick this summer! I love their boxed mixes. Reasonably priced, turns out well, and tastes good. Some of the mixes at Whole Foods are kind of scary.... I used to be totally against Betty Crocker because most of her stuff has trans fats in it and many other ingredients I can't pronounce. But the GF stuff is surprisingly quite pure.

I brought the whole cake to work. The guy it was for thanked me, he liked the effort. A couple people tried it at lunch and liked it. And then I had some to bring home (and hide from my boyfriend)! Overall, it worked out well. This is new territory for me, work lunches. And many more to come. (Sorry no picture)

Comfort Food

So maybe I'm not the typical American when it comes to my choice in comfort food. My stomach wasn't feeling very well today (maybe it was that root beer and Reese's I had at lunch...) Not a good choice.... I've discovered that lots of sugar, like a full sized candy bar or soda triggers my migraines. So I tried to wash that down with a bunch of water! It didn't hit too hard. Anyways, my stomach hasn't been that great the last few weeks and well the last 2 years on and off. I've found this meal is always appetizing even when I don't want to eat much. Because it has potatoes! GF dream land!

-Deli sliced Black Forest Ham
-steamed broccoli
-microwaved potato with Earth Balance Butter

Quick, balanced and yummy!

Yes, I have been cooking in the last month....

I haven't been blogging but I have been cooking. I made GF/DF lasagna last week! It was so good. But my stomach couldn't take so much of the dairy free cheese :( So it hasn't been happy this week.... I started taking probiotics and digestive enzymes. Hopefully that helps!

I also made pot roast! Which was good. But a little too salty with a whole packet of onion dip. I used Simply Organic. My mom bought me a slow cooker when she came so I used it! I added potatoes, celery and carrots, yum!

I've been attending a Gluten Free Meet Up. It's nice to meet other people who are gluten free (and many other allergies). We talk about restaurants, food we eat and what's happening in the gluten free community. Good to meet new people! It's lead by this very ambitious women who is very passionate about the need for more understanding about living gluten free in our community! Her and her family also started a business about gluten free products iamgf. So great!

Last night I bought a new GF beer! It's made in Boulder, CO! Local! New Planet Tread Lightly. It's ok.... Let's just say I'll be sticking to my Woodchucks. Maybe their raspberry one will be better.... Thanks for trying, New Planet! This plays along with my philosophy; naturally GF/DF food tastes the best! Not the replacements...

Sorry no pictures from my cooking.... I kind of forgot...

Quick Weekday Dinner

I'm behind on blogging because I cooked all new things this week. So #2 for the day. I made Tilapia! A friend made some for me last summer so I knew it wasn't as scary as some seafood is. I wanted something quick and easy and cheaper than salmon and that's what I got! Talapia is Green on the seafood scale of sustainability by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. And what's super great is it is farmed right here in Colorado so it's a local food too! And it tasted good! Not too fishy!

Lemon Garlic Tilapia
(1 tilapia fillet for each person)

4 tilapia fillets
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 TBS butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
pepper

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking oil or line with parchment paper.
2. Rinse fillets under cool water, pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice and melted butter on top.
4. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley and pepper.
5. Bake in preheated oven until fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with fork. About 30 minutes.

I served with asparagus and roasted potatoes.

Enjoy!

Crunchy Risotto and an All-American Breakfast

I was all excited for the green vegetable risotto I made one night last week. I got home from work and hurried to get it on the stove. Forty minutes of stirring later, all the chicken broth is finally absorbed and the chicken in done. I didn't taste it while it was cooking, so I sat down and ate a spoonful for the first time. And wow, after that hard 40 minutes of stirring the dang risotto still wasn't done! ARG. My boyfriend didn't finish his. And you know what, I dog gone it finished mine. At the end of dinner, he was like "did you really eat all that?" I replied, "Yeah I stirred it for 40 minutes, you bet I'm going to eat it all!" But I couldn't bring myself to eat it for lunch the next day at work...... I think I messed up in a few places. First, the toasting at the beginning always throws me off. So I think I burnt the rice instead which would made it not absorb as much water. Secondly, I did not use white wine as the first liquid. Maybe that gets the absorption going. So I don't know. But I won't be making risotto for awhile. And I served the risotto with chicken breast I just baked and with lemon juice and pepper.

Meanwhile, on a good note. I made a super All-American Breakfast this weekend. I was really proud of myself and my boyfriend was super happy! Yum!

Emerald Green Risotto
Makes 4 servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup Arborio rice
1 stalk celery, diced
1/3 cup dry white wine
4 cups boiling chicken stock
1 cup broccoli florets
3/4 cup sugar snap peas, halved
1 cup thinly sliced zucchini
1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion begins to turn golden brown at the edges, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the rice, and stir until the rice is coated in oil and has started to toast, 3 to 4 minutes. (Careful!)
4. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the celery and white wine.
5. Cook and stir until the wine has mostly evaporated, then stir in one third of the boiling chicken stock; continue stirring until incorporated.
6. Repeat this process twice more, stirring constantly.7. Stirring in the broth should take 15 to 20 minutes in all.

8. Add the broccoli, peas, zucchini, and green beans during the last 7 minutes of cooking, and cook until tender. All American Breakfast of hash browns, bacon, eggs and fruit!

Cookies!

I baked something and it was actually good! Surprise! And I know why! I made these cookies and they didn't have any special flour or ingredients. They were just naturally GFDF. They don't "melt" after a while (like some gf flours seem to do) And the cookies rose and were a normal cookie texture! I'm so proud of myself! Oh and the cookies were peanut butter chocolate chip, recipe below.

Now that tax season is over I have to start thinking about what to cook again. So we'll see how that turns out.

I bought this really good dairy free cheese. I was in line at Whole Foods and the person in front of me was buying and saying they just got it in (an employee). I was making pizza that night so I ran back and grabbed a bag. It melted and tasted pretty good. Best I've had for diary free. It also doesn't have any scary ingredients :) Daiya Vegan Cheese

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes about 1 cookie sheet)

1 cup Peanut Butter (or any nut butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 c chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients together in bowl.
3. Spoon dough pieces on to the cookie sheet. (I lined the cookie sheet with parchment paper. My cookies were about 1 inch in diameter and they cooked well)
4. Bake cookies for 15 minutes. (Mine weren't brown by this point but were done enough to harden)

Enjoy!