Four Recommendations

I'm still working on the huge entry that will appear below this entry, but wanted to write a quicker note. If you only try four gluten-free products, these are what I recommend:

Tinkyada pasta. A lifesaver, especially if your family eats a lot of pasta. You can simply cook two pots (one wheat, one Tinkyada) and make the same sauce for everyone.
An all-purpose mix--Pamela's or Bob's Red Mill. They have recipes on the back and can be used for muffins, pancakes, waffles, bread, and I think even cookies. Baking from scratch can be very daunting, especially if you have to buy all the flours, so a mix is a perfect way to get baking.
Rice Chex, Corn Chex. Gluten-free cereal that is easy to find and cheaper.
MiDel Gluten-free cookies. Because everyone should get to open a bag and eat a cookie sometimes.

Places of Note:
Whole Foods. If there is a Whole Foods near you and they have a gluten-free bakehouse, it is worth splurging on any of their products. This is not something we do very often due to the price, but their cookies and muffins are so good. Try this if you're feeling discouraged about gluten-freedom.
Wild Oats. They also have some tasty chocolate chip cookies, if they still do. I have been away from Wild Oats for nearly two years, but they have had some tasty options in the past.

A Day of Meals--Extended Version

My husband has celiac disease; our two children and I do not. I try to make gluten-free eating simpler by finding recipes and foods that are naturally gluten-free. Here is a typical day around our table.

Breakfast. We are a cereal family, and B has tried it all. For a long time he ate either Envirokidz or Nature's Path corn flakes. Van's Frozen Waffles have been another staple: B likes them okay cooked in the microwave and topped with any syrup. These are not as good as homemade, so if you try these before you try making gluten-free waffles, don't be discouraged.
Currently, we have been thrilled about Rice Chex and yesterday, I brought home a box of Corn Chex. These are the best--they're cheaper and easier to find than the specialty products, and stay crisper longer in milk. I have to say, though, I have never had to go to a health food store to find any of the above products. They have all been available at Smith's, Fred Meyer, and sometimes even Walmart. Ordering products you really like from Amazon.com is another option.
Another happy discovery: gluten-free oats. There are several brands out there, and all seem to be truly safe. Our favorite: Bob's Red Mill. Bob is like one of our best friends, actually--his mixes and flours are wonderful. More on that in a minute. We like Bob's oats because they are more like quick-cooking oats than the tougher steel cut oats, and B is mastering making his own granola. We haven't tried cookies with these oats yet, though I imagine they will be tasty.
Other breakfast ideas: breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, any veggies, and cheese on a steamed corn tortilla); yogurt and fruit; smoothies; Instant Breakfast (any except malt).

Lunch. I try to send B to work with leftovers from dinner the night before. Lunch and snacks can be a tricky business. B sometimes takes soup or chili. Stagg(Hormel) and Pacific Natural Foods are favorites. We especially love Pacific Natural Foods' Tomato soups and broths. Again these products area widely available. We've also had good luck with Progresso soups. They don't say gluten-free, but if they don't have any gluteny ingredients, they seem to be safe.

Snacks (this might be more helpful for sack lunch ideas). We have tried several snack products, and I seem to like more of them than B. Rice crackers (available at Costco), and rice cakes go great with cheese, meat, spreads, and tuna. In bar form, we have many delicious options: Larabar, Mrs. May's (they have many other tempting gluten-free foods available), and KIND bars. Tiger's Milk bars are another classic option. All of these are available at Amazon.com, and I've seen many at Costco as well. These are kind of expensive to have everyday, but are worth knowing about. Another great option: trail mix. It's easy to make your own mix of nuts, seeds, dried fruits, coconut, chocolate chips...premade mixes are hit or miss, so always check the ingredients list. (The issue tends to be cross-contamination). Deli meat, cheese sticks, and Yoplait or Stonyfield Farm yogurts are favorites.

Dinner. There seems to be a basic formula for the ideal dinner: protein, grain/starch, at least 1 vegetable and hopefully 1 fruit (maybe for dessert). Learning to cook gluten-free has been the perfect excuse to cook from scratch, and because I do this everyday, I try to find simple meals. Following the above formula leaves the door open for plenty of options. We all eat gluten-free for dinner, with the exception of some mixed meals. If we're having spaghetti, for instance, I'll make two pots of pasta--1 GF, 1 wheat, and then serve with the same sauce or toppings.

Protein. every kind of meat is naturally gluten-free. The only thing to look out for is preseasoned or cooked meat. Costco sells labeled gluten-free rotisserie chickens, as do many grocery stores if you're in a hurry. Many marinades and salad dressings are gluten-free as well. We love barbecue chicken or pork, made in the crockpot. (recipe bel0w). We always have to check sauce and dressing ingredients, but we have always found something that works. Brianna's is always a favorite; Kraft also has an excellent selection.

Grain/Starch. Rice. We love medium grain Calrose (it also makes excellent flour); brown has more nutritional value and a nuttier flavor; jasmine and basmati are treats for special occasions (jasmine is what they serve with Thai food; basmati goes with Indian), and are great with anything. Wild rice is delicious (We've fallen for Lundberg, who also make different rice cakes) and also has more nutritional value. Rice noodles go well with stirfries, or as a substitute for pasta noodles. The best gluten-free pasta in the world is Tinkyada. A simple solution for mixed family dinners: make wheat pasta for the wheaties, and cook Tinkyada separately for the gluten-freebies. We have separate colanders to be especially careful. Tinkyada makes all kinds of shapes and sizes, and it never gets mushy. It also doesn't taste as much like rice as regular rice noodles.
Other starch options: baked or mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams; quinoa; polenta; and grains like millet and amaranth. And of course, corn tortillas. Steamed, fried, or baked.

Vegetables & Fruits. Salads with gluten-free dressing. Anything roasted or steamed. Vegetables (and fruits) are one area we can really relax in--they are all gluten-free! I recommend finding out what's in season. It will save money and taste better. Right now great options would be artichokes, asparagus, peas, green beans, carrots, and cabbage, among many others. As mentioned, most salad dressings are fine, but it's always good to read labels. Canned fruit, jams etc, tend to be gluten-free. Strawberries, plums, apricots are a few of the delicious offerings that come in the spring.

A word on Casseroles. There are GF casseroles out there, though I'm not as familiar with them. Basically anything with a rice base will work, just beware of using cream of anything soups--the common ones thicken with flour. If casseroles like this are a staple at your house, you may want to explore more dinner options to save yourself from cooking two meals every night. You may also find it worthwhile to look for gluten-free creamy soups, or to make your own from scratch a la Bette Hagman.

A word on Baking. The biggest hole in a celiac's life is probably baked goods. But bread and cookies and cakes do not have to be completely absent. Our house was established as a gluten-free baking zone, which means I don't bake anything with wheat. Cross-contamination is a concern, and in a mixed kitchen, that will be your biggest enemy. I still think it's possible to pull it off, if you must. There are many mixes on the market. Need a gluten-free chocolate cake or brownies? Bob's Red Mill has mixes for you. I've also heard great things about Pamela's mixes. Both companies also make mixes for cookies, bread, pancakes and waffles. If baking is still too daunting, we recommend products from the gluten-free bakehouse at Whole Foods, MiDel gluten-free cookies, and products from Wild Oats.
Flourless cakes and cookies are another option. There are countless recipes for flourless chocolate cakes, pavlova, macaroons, or these peanut butter cookies:
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2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter

Beat eggs. Mix in sugar and peanut butter. Form into balls and drop onto a cookie sheeet. press with a fork, if desired. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.
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Crockpot Barbecue Meat
Pork roast (tenderloin does well) or chicken pieces
Gluten-free BBQ Sauce of choice
1 onion, chopped, if desired

Place meat on top of onion in a crock pot. Drape the sauce over the meat, covering plus a little more. Add a little water, if desired.
Cook on high 3 to 4 hours, or on low for 6 to 8. Meat should fall apart easily when it's done. Serve with baked or mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes for more nutrition), gluten-free cornbread (made from Bob's redmill mix or Hodgson mill gluten-free cornmeal+rice flour), roasted vegetables, corn on the cob, etc.
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Celebrating Gluten-Freedom

It's not very fair of me to say any of this since I am not the one who must adhere to a gluten-free diet, but I still wanted to write about the benefits of living in a mostly gluten-free kitchen. I know it's not easy for my husband to get enough calories (we're working on it), but I still want to share the bright side I've found in celiac disease.

1. Fewer processed foods. We still end up with more than I would like, but it is much easier and cheaper to buy whole foods and make things from scratch.

2. Less Junk Food. I do not want to buy a bag of Oreos if I am the only one who will eat them. Simple.

3. Focus on fruits and vegetables. I am far from perfect at this one, but I do think about it a lot more. Being more fresh-food conscious also comes from having children--we want them to love the best foods from the very beginning. All fruits and vegetables are naturally gluten-free, filling our kitchen with a beautiful, limitless sky.

4. I love a (baking) challenge. I have learned so much more about baking than I would have without the alternate ingredients. I've also found that creativity flourishes best with some boundaries.

5. Health food stores and alternative ingredients. Many gluten-free recipes I find use natural sweeteners and whole grain flours (just not the flours we're typically familiar with). Another number of recipes or foods happen to be organic. My education with these ingredients has been a slow process, but would likely be nonexistent without gluten-freedom.

6. A built-in excuse to try new foods. Going gluten-free is hard in the beginning, when you have to learn all the no's and can'ts of the diet. After a while these become second nature and you begin to focus again on all the yeses and can's. And there are so many delicious possibilities out there.
Even just five years ago I would not have pictured myself fixing baked sweet potatoes and quinoa with butter and parmesan. That's what I ate for lunch today, and it just so happens my baby liked it too. I'm grateful that eating gluten-free is so much easier these days and hope we can continue to find delicious options.

A Few Random Food Lists

The more I learn about food and cooking, the more new foods I discover and want to try. I've been inspired by recipes with healthy foods; by French, Asian, and Mexican recipes; and by blogs like this one. I'm especially inspired by fruits and vegetables, and using different sweeteners (I'll let you know about these honey muffins I just made), and gluten-free whole grain baking ingredients.
As a list person with a budget, I've decided to make a list of the ingredients I would like to try (the budget part: I'm making this list instead of buying all these right now). If you have any recommendations for the ingredients I list, please let me know.

A Few Ingredients Tried:
100% pure maple syrup. deliciously sweet but not too sweet. We like grade A, haven't tried B.
Turbinado sugar. works so well with chocolate and great for sprinkling on top of baked goods.
Leeks. I love them. They have made this winter feel fresher and sweeter. They are especially good with wild rice and in soups.
Roasted Nectarines. So good with tapioca pudding.
Tapioca pudding. Delicious from scratch or a mix.
Coconut flour. I've raved before and I'll say it again: tasty.
Dried Apricots. These have been a great addition to fruit purees and pear sauce.
Fingerling potatoes. They had a strong potato flavor and tasted good without any adornment.
Cooking wine. We weren't big fans and tend to use chicken stock or broth instead.
Chicken broth or stock, and vegetable broth. So much better than my bouillion cubes. Now I just need to use up those cubes...

Foods to try:
Carob dust. Out of curiosity.
Currants. I've heard we can get fresh currants in Seattle in the spring. I would love to try fresh and dried and currant jelly. The jelly is especially good with fruit tarts.
Gluten-free fruit tarts. My husband is revising a pie crust recipe that will make these worth trying.
Roasted leeks.
Flaxseed.
Sea salt. I just bought some fine sea salt for baking (instead of the girl with the umbrella kind), and use kosher salt for most of my cooking. I'm feeling ready to expand to the sea.
Vinaigrette and homemade salad dressing.
Sucanat or evaporated cane juice. mostly because I would love to duplicate Bob's Red Mill chocolate cake mix and this is the sweetener they used.
Vanilla bean. I have made the switch to real vanilla (thank you, Costco--better price and gluten-free). For a special occasion I would love to try the beans.
Saffron. A key ingredient in the best Indian food. Someday I will feel daring enough to try this pricey spice.
Prosciutto. I've had it, but I haven't cooked with it.

Vanilla Ice Cream Toppings We love:
Rice Chex (add with a little sugar if desired). they taste like crushed ice cream cone.
Pecans and a drizzle of honey. This got me through January in a sweet way.
Candy or fruit. nothing original here, but always a winner.

Ice Cream Alternatives:
Yoplait Whips (I like to stick them in the freezer, especially any of the chocolate whips)
Frozen blueberries with milk and sugar. the milk freezes around the blueberries in a delightfully icy way.
Instant pudding. This is especially good with fruit.
Strawberry honey smoothie. So delicious. The honey makes all the difference in this yogurt-berry treat.

Foods that make me excited for Spring:
Asparagus. Roasted with a little olive oil and salt and pepper is so good.
Artichokes. I want to try them steamed like my good friend did.
Rhubarb. I will attempt another gluten-free strawberry-rhubarb crumble.
Fava beans.
Figs. I want to try these again, dipped in chocolate or wrapped in prosciutto.
Strawberries. Not the overgrown kind we get at the grocery store. The homegrown kind--smaller and sweeter.

Delicous Food Combinations:
bacon and asparagus (prosciutto would be good too)
strawberry and honey
honey and pecan
turbinado or brown sugar (any sweetener with more molasses) and chocolate
potatoes and leeks
leeks and mushrooms
salmon and leeks
crepes and fruit
pudding and fruit
citrus and vanilla
citrus and berries
citrus and chocolate
butternut squash and ginger
soy and ginger
chocolate and zucchini
lime and cilantro

That's all I can think of for now. What about you? Anything on my lists you want to try, or have tried?

Feeding Others

When I think about cooking for others, whether I'm taking food to them or inviting them to dine here, I get major stage fright. Now why would that be? I love cooking, and I love people. I love feeding my family, and making food for my parents or my in-laws has never been quite so intimidating. Of course I always want the meals I make to taste good, but I take it to a whole new level when I'm cooking for others: I don't even know what to make.
My anxiety over this has made me think about my kitchen, my staples. Everyone has staple pantry items, whether they are conscious of it or not. Part of my dilemma came when I realized I cannot use two of my staples in this particular instance. And that I cannot go to the store. I didn't really realize before how much I depend on citrus (especially lemons), tomatoes, and general spiciness in my cooking. Many of our dinners include all three, but most contain at least one of those key elements. Add a concern for type of cuisine and you've got one frozen chef. Looks like it's time to broaden my horizons a bit.
Of course some of the best meals to take to people are the ones I would overlook. I feel pretty confident about most of my soups. Crockpot barbecue chicken or pork is a standby classic. I sometimes forget that making dinner for someone else doesn't mean you have to put in a lot of work--using my crockpot is certainly not cheating. Is it simply pride on my part, wanting others to wish I would cook for them every night? I'm afraid this cooking blog may attest all well to that possibility.
My anxiety also brings to my attention my commitment issues. I have been making efforts to learn to make all kinds of food with all kinds of techniques. Maybe now it's time to specialize a little more, focus on a specific type of food until I can cook it really well. Like Pancakes. =)
I know what I'm going to make for our neighbors tonight--chicken tagine. I really hope they like it, but if not, that's okay too. So no more worrying about me. This has made me wonder, though, when you make dinner for other people, what do you make? What is your favorite take-away and your favorite dinner party fare?

Resolute

Holidays + a trip home = maximum indulgence conditions. Chocolate. Ice cream. Indian food. Candy. Cheese. I probably could use more self control this time of year, but honestly I find it so much easier to cut back on sweets after taking a vacation from self-restraint. So for a couple weeks I let myself eat a banana split and then finish off a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar and then maybe drink some hot cocoa. During the holidays, my sweet tooth knows no bounds.
We're back in our own place now, and ready to settle into some healthier habits. After a sweet vacation, my mind clears and I focus more on what I want my normal life to be like. Can there be chocolate? Maybe a little hot cocoa now and then. Can there be Indian food? If you allow me to call what I prepare from my best recipes Indian food, then yes, that will be in my new reality as well. For me, though, there are only two realities--the sweet vacation and the healthy home life. I have yet to find that in-between place where chocolate bars disappear in small increments and the first signs of stress do not lead to a disappeared bag of chocolate chips. Perhaps my food journey will lead me there someday, a balanced and golden place in my opinion, a place where you can have your cake and eat it (slowly!) too. For now I'll stick to my all-or-nothing approach. Which brings me to my new year's resolutions.
As I've thought about what I want my life to be like starting in 2009, one of the strongest visions that materializes is all about food. More fruits and vegetables, home-baked (gluten-free) breads, and a clean kitchen are part of the picture. I also want to continue my cooking and baking education. I have learned so much and we have tried so many new foods, but I still have foundation to lay. I hope to share my successes here, and learn from the recipes that fall apart.
So in 2009, I resolve to nourish my family with healthy, fresh food and to write all about it. I want to make this my healthiest year ever and to find or create better gluten-free foods for my husband. If that's not enough, I'm sure I'll find something else to do too.
What do you resolve to do with 2009?

Sane Menu Planning

What's for dinner? Some nights when six o'clock rolls around and I still don't know what we'll eat. Cooking dinner every night can be a real challenge, with added challenges of making something interesting/healthy/relatively simple/with leftovers for lunch/budget-friendly/gluten-free or whatever diet or taste restrictions apply. I have a love-hate relationship with cooking, and we go through cycles accordingly and to the extremes. Either nothing sounds good (I'm not motivated to cook if I'm not hungry) or everything sounds good (produce overflows the drawers in the fridge and spoils before it gets used); I can only find gourmet recipes that sound good but cannot justify buying pomegranate molasses; I get on a single-recipe kick and everything starts to taste the same (summer of 2008, aka the Summer of Curry). With a little thought and organization, I start to love cooking again, and it seems to love me. My sister-in-law Whitney inspired and reminded me of a couple great ways to organize dinner.

image from dailymail.uk.co

First, plan ahead: come up with a menu and shopping list for at least two weeks. This saves money and time. You don't have to be too rigid with specific days--sometimes Wednesday's dinner works better on Thursday--but no matter what I know I have the ingredients I need for the next few meals.

Second, cook with the seasons. It's cheaper, the food is better because it's at its peak, and it builds variety into your menu. It's also a great way to discover foods that might be new to you, and if you're like me, if something like a parsnip is new to you, it becomes rather exciting. (That's right, parsnips. Really. And leeks. Mmm.)


image from curbly.com

Third, come up with a formula. Whitney sets goals for the two weeks of meals, and her formula looks something like this:
at least 1 new recipe
2 crockpot recipes
1 vegetarian entree

Sometimes I struggle with variety and budget, and some foods are good to eat but only in moderation, about once a week. So my formula for 1 week looks more like this:

1 red meat recipe
1 fish recipe
1 vegetarian recipe
1 soup recipe (especially in the winter)
1 crockpot recipe

Breaking up planning like this really helps with the planning--first I put in the formula items, then fill in the rest of the blanks with whatever (enter the chicken! and rice!)

Now I want to know--how do you plan dinner for your family? Do you have any tricks that help you put dinner on the table?

Meg Cooks. Or, she doesn't.

I have a good excuse for barely cooking these last couple weeks--have I cooked anything? I'm not sure. I also have a good excuse for that, right?
New baby or not, sometimes I get into ruts with cooking. Especially in winter. So I'm wondering: what do you make for dinner when you don't feel like cooking and eating out isn't an option?

Cooking Therapy

My inner-50's-diva helps me take control of life through the kitchen.

Sometimes when I'm grappling with Jane's new napless/late nap schedule, the endless parade of papers and laundry, the evening settling in at 4:30 at night, withdrawals from "The Office" and "30 Rock," and my inability to see my toes, I find one refuge: The Kitchen. I cook dinner. The fresher, the better. If it's something new and it comes out well, that's the best.
I roasted my second chicken ever this week, on a night like that one. It came out juicy and browned and salty--just what we needed on a damp, cold Tuesday. Nothing magical happened with that dinner--it took hours longer than it should have, to the point of splitting it into the side dish course and the meat course--but there was something profound about watching Brad bite into that chicken, long anticipated, highly acclaimed. And it was so nice to hear someone else say they wish we weren't out of Brussels sprouts, they were so rich and flavorful. Okay, perhaps it was magical: for once, I didn't burn the rice. Or undercook it. Or add too much water.
Nothing makes this woman feel more in control than ruling every corner of my kitchen.

Cooking Fancy Foods

Maybe it's just me, but there is something so fulfilling about cooking foods or recipes that sound really fancy or exotic. Sometimes it really is an accomplishment; other times it's just satisfying to unravel a recipe that seemed so daunting beforehand. It's like joining some elite club, the club of people who know how to poach chicken or how to make a New York style cheesecake. I am definitely no master at anything and very much still a student. But that's what I find so exciting--I can be an eternal student in the art of food and still make a delicious meal for my family.


The art of New York style cheesecake still eludes me.

Renton Farmer's Market

Fresh basil, apricots, & blueberries were among our market finds.

I am in love with farmer's markets. I went to one in Provo and came home with some delicious zucchini and tomatoes last summer, and for a bargain. I love the idea of buying fruits and vegetables directly from the person who grew it, and I love how affordable it is. I also love the sense of community that comes with markets--it's beyond a shopping trip, it's an experience, from talking with growers to live music and craft booths. I am on cloud nine to find that I could go to a farmer's market every day of the week, not to mention Pike Place, you-pick farms, and fruit & vegetable stands just a few miles up our highway. We checked out our local Renton market on our anniversary back in July, and picked up some delicious treats. Brad also bought me a beautiful bouquet to show he still cares after three years. Romantic sigh. It has been a breeze with him. He's better than all the farmer's markets in the world.


My "Happy Anniversary" from Bradford. I still owe him a decent cheesecake!