I hope everyone is having a Happy, Safe Fourth of July.  An update on the free book drawing as well as Udi’s.

First, congrats to Pam C.  She was the random winner in the drawing for the free book.  She’s a newly diagnosed Celiac, so welcome to the gluten free world!   I apologize if I missed entering anyone into the drawing (you can see the random number selection below!).   The book looks great, and has tons of great recipes. I’m eager to try some.  She makes the same recipe a few different ways, using just a single starch each time.  Looks promising!

Second, I’ve been in touch with Udi’s and have emailed them a long list of questions for my blog.  I am hoping to have those back and posted in about two weeks, so stay tuned.

The dog days of Summer are here, so stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay gluten free!

GFS

Last night, I was looking through a journal I write in from time to time.  As I opened the book, I realized I started this one when I was first diagnosed with Celiac, and was meeting with a nutritionist.  The words I read were so dead on from my meeting, that I had to share.

Whether you are a newbie, or an old-timer in the gluten free world, I think we can all relate.  The nutritionist said to me, “It’s like learning a new language. It’s not going to happen over night.”

I had forgotten she spoke those words to me, but they rang in again so true. There’s always things we are learning each day about Celiac and gluten free products and information.

I hope those words can help some of my readers - they helped me.

GFS

I used to be a big fan of Udi’s challah, back in my gluten filled days.  Today, a reader emailed me that Udi’s now has a gluten free line!  Right on!  I’ve reached out to them asking to speak with someone about more information, possibly some samples and a tour of the facility, if possible. I would love to talk with them in depth and find out more to help Udi’s and bring my readers more info. on gluten free options.  Stay tuned.

GFS

Nothing gluten free to really post about today - just giving everyone a good laugh.

I’m reading David Sedaris’ new book, and it’s my first venture into his writing.  There are parts of it that are literally laugh out loud funny.

This morning, he was talking about how he’s in Japan, and some of the Japanese to English translations on items in stores there just don’t make sense.  It reminded me of an old favorite set of instructions that came with a magnetic write on/wipe off board about five years ago.  It’s one of my favorites and I thought I’d share it with you.

If you can’t read the “Notice”, try clicking on the image below.  Some browsers will open it up larger in a different window.

GFS

After reading Ginger’s blog today, I hopped right over to order this great looking book.  I’ve heard great things about Roben Ryberg and her cookbooks.  So I decided to order an extra copy to give away to one of my readers. Here’s the deal - I should be receiving this book in about a week or so from the online retailer. If you are interested in receiving a free copy, just email me and let me know. The only request I have and that you must accept, is if you are the recipient, then you must “pay it forward” and do something special for someone else in the near future. Just a small random act of kindness.

I’ll take your emails through July 4th, and then announce the winner that following week.

Thanks for reading, and as always, be well.

GFS

It’s been a long few weeks of work.

Summer is here and so is the hot weather.

And with some long work days and the heat, Gluten Free Steve is fussy. And frustrated.

Oh, in the good old days, I could work late, and zip off anywhere to get some grub on the way home. Granted, it wasn’t always healthy, but it was easy.  A double cheeseburger and fries from Wendy’s.  No problem.

Last week, as I walked across the street to treat myself to Chipotle chips and guac, I walked by a restaurant patio section where diners where eating their sandwiches and soups and fries and pancakes and whatnot. And I was actually pissed off at every single one of them.  Just because they could eat and truthfully, they don’t even have to think twice about eating out in a restaurant.

For those of you who read my blog that can eat gluten, you really have no idea how frustrating some days can be. You have so much freedom in your dining that you take it all for granted. You shouldn’t.

The ease and comfort of just dining wherever you want and eating whatever you want is truly a gift. And to be honest, right now, all of you suck. Yeah, that’s how frustrated I am right now.

I’m tired of waking up some days with the joint pain. I’m tired of waking up with a gurgling tummy and feeling lousy for half the day. I’m tired of researching every damn place I want to eat before I go, and trying to make people realize what gluten free means.

Yesterday, we had some folks over for brunch - a quick and easy bagels and lox brunch with a gf coffee cake. And while I am thankful for everyone who came, and I’ve got a special place in my heart for each of them, yeah, I do hate the fact that none of them have to be concerned with gluten. I hate the fact that I had to make my own special plate up and keep it in the microwave, so no bagel crumbs would come in contact with my food. (On a side note, and a bright note, the Glutino gluten free bagels are hands down the best gf bagels I’ve found. Toast them up and you are good to go.)

And with that, readers, I feel much better getting all that off my chest.

GFS

Last year, I found a great bread recipe that called for 3 Tablespoons of soy flour, among rice flour and tapioca flour.  After baking the bread, I dove into that hot loaf, slathered a slice with butter and as I was chewing I thought, “Is this what soy flour tastes like?!”  To me, it had a bad aftertaste.   I haven’t touched the bag of soy flour since.

Here’s where you come in - does anyone have any good thoughts on what to do with the soy flour?  Or, does anyone want it?  There’s probably about three cups, and it did come from a “bulk” bin at Whole Foods.  Let me know if you have any good recipes for soy flour, or if anyone wants it, let me know and I can send it to you.  No cost.

Be well.

GFS.

I’m a big fan of Next Food Network Star and Top Chef (appearing on Food Network and Bravo, respectively). Each week of the series, the chefs are presented with amazing tasks, a great array of food options to choose from and are asked to basically create gold from nothing.

In this ever popular gluten free world we live in, I want to see a challenge where they have to create a gluten free meal. Or a gluten free cake. Or a gluten free bread. You get the idea. Let them show off their culinary knowledge and show us viewers (or me, in my dream of being a guest judge) what their gluten free meal, start to finish, would be.

So now the challenge - how do we get in touch with the Food Network or Bravo to have them do this challenge (and have me as a guest judge?!)

GFS

Update - a few hours after I wrote this post, I emailed Susie and Bob.  Keep your fingers crossed, and post your comments here to help get our gf challenge on the show, and get me as a guest judge!  Now, who knows someone at Bravo TV?

My mom is in town this weekend, so I was trying to find a good, easy recipe to make strawberry shortcakes.  I thought about Ginger’s cream cheese drop biscuit recipe, but it called for baking/pancake mix, and I was too lazy to get the store to buy some. 

So as I searched around online (really, what did we all do for information pre-Internet days?!), I found the Land O’Lakes site which had some great gluten free recipes, including one for Vanilla Pound Cake.  And the best part, I had all the ingredients I needed.  And even better, the cake turned out great and everyone loved it.

The recipe they have basically uses Bette Hageman’s Featherlight Flour Mix.  I altered the recipe and used 1 1/2 cups of Featherlight, and 1 1/2 cups of Carol Fenster blend (info on flour blends can be found here).  I did add the xantham gum as the recipe calls for - you’ll need that ingredient.

The house smelled amazing while it was baking (and pre-baking, I admit, the batter tasted pretty darn good).  I followed the instructions and had a great, moist, flavorful cake.    We sprayed the bundt pan with Pam and then used Featherlight to flour it (No more Bakers Joy for me anymore).

This is definitely going in the “keep” file.  My only change next time might be to add a splash of orange liquor (Grand Marnier?) to give it a little bit of orange flavor.  Or some lemon zest…that would work too!  Enjoy!

Vanilla Pound Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
4 eggs, room temp
4 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups gluten free flour (see here for my flours I use often) 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon xantham

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar and melted butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.Here’s the cake after it came out of the pan.  And I tasted it again this morning, it was still moist!

Stir together flour blend and baking powder in small bowl. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating at low speed until well mixed.

Pour batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt® or 10-inch angel food cake (tube) pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan.

 
GFS

It’s that time of year.  Backyard bbqs.  Summer cookouts.  Having friends and family over for some chill and grill time.  Kate, from Gluten Free Gobsmacked, had a great idea and started a virtual gf bbq.  Bloggers are invited to:

“Make something that you would bring to a BBQ in a park or at a friend’s house - and let’s have a party! Post your pictures, recipes, etc on your blog (or email them to me if you aren’t a blogger and I’ll help share your goodies) by July 7th and I’l post a round up for us all to share the goodies. I hope we can build a resource for everyone for the rest of the summer.”

What a great idea, Kate!  There are so many blogs to read that I never have enough time, and so many great new recipes waiting to be shared.  One of my favorites is a caprese salad.  It’s easy, quick, so full of summer flavor and always a hit.  The picture below is not mine, I admit that up front.  But it gives you the idea of what the finished product should look like.

And if you can’t get yours to stack, no worries - it still tastes good just laid out on a platter.

Yummy Stacked Caprese Salad (I had to work the “yummy” in as not only IS it yummy, but I choose the letter y from Kate’s list of choices!)
6 vine-ripened tomatoes
6 balls buffalo mozzarella (fresh is always best)
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Slice each tomato horizontally into 5 sections (so it’s slice as if you are slicing a bagel, but five times).

Slice each mozzarella ball into 4 pieces.

Place the bottom piece of a tomato onto a plate and top it with a piece of cheese and a basil leaf. Continue layering until you have “re-made” each tomato ending with the top piece. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of vinegar over each tomato. Top with coarse salt and pepper.

Happy Summer, everyone!

GFS