Showing posts with label Gluten Free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gluten Free. Show all posts

May 14, 2013

Trader Joe’s Tuesday


If you’re new, this a series I started last week where I’m going to post a new Trader Joe’s product every Tuesday. If you like TJ’s a product, and want to guest post, PLEASE, by all means, email me!



So, I’ve been Gluten Free for about 2.5 years now, and TJ’s actually has a number of gluten free products I buy on the regular, mainly because they carry Rudi’s bread. I get all my hamburger buns, hot dog buns, regular sliced bread, and bagels from TJ’s. They don’t keep it frozen, but if you’re gluten free, you know is rare in most grocery stores. To me, this rocks.

Another gluten free product I get from TJ’s is their gluten free granola. It’s not a traditional granola, like it doesn’t have oats in it, but it’s close enough and super tasty.


It’s more like a cereal with nuts and dried fruit… and I know calling something out as gluten free can turn a lot of people away from a product because they don’t think it will taste as good as the ‘real thing’ with gluten, but that is just not the case with this.


My new favorite thing to make with this granola is to mix it with fat free cottage cheese, also from TJ’s, obvi, and fresh cut strawberries… I also add a dash of cinnamon and ginger, because I’ll take any excuse I can to add cinnamon and ginger to ANYTHING.

October 6, 2011

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Donuts

Donuts


My Aunt, Uncle & cousins on my Mom’s side got me a Babycake donut maker for my birthday this year and sadly this weekend was the first opportunity I had to try it out. (My birthday is in July… it is now October. I really need more donut making time in my life).

Sunday, still enjoying our lazy weekend I decided to finally break-out the donut maker and what better thing to make at the beginning of Fall then pumpkin spiced anything. I didn’t even have to go to the store because luckily we still had to cans of organic pumpkin for last year.


I was surprised at how great the consistency of these donuts were. They were similar to muffins, which I'm okay with because I feel like I'm eating something healthier.

Have you made any Fall foods yet?

October 3, 2011

Gluten Free Quiche

GFQuiche
Anyone who has tried to feed my quiche in the past 15 years is looking at the post stunned. I don’t like quiche, I don’t eat quiche, I am not a fan. And, while it’s still not my favorite dish, I did enjoy this quiche this weekend, so I will probably not turn my noise up at the idea of quiche if someone else tried to feed it to me.

When we woke-up on Saturday morning Hubs felt like he was coming down with a cold. I suggested we lay low all day, watch movies and I’d make soup and grilled cheese. Well grilled cheese turned into paninis and paninis turned into quiche. He was sick and has been working so hard lately I couldn’t say no, when we asked for a quiche.

I was just going to make the quiche for him, using a pre-made crust still kickin’ it in my freezer, but once we’d purchased all the yummy veggies (zucchini, cremini mushrooms, and onion) it started to sound more appealing. Then once I’d researched how to make the crust from scratch and thought, “I can totally do that!” it was on.

Here’s how I made it…

(Click recipe to enlarge)

What food do you usually refuse to eat? Would you try it again?

September 15, 2011

Sept 15th – Today’s Small Pleasure

Sept15

Today is a Sister Day, meaning I’m getting to spend a lot of time with my sister. We got food trucks for lunch and she’s coming over tonight for fro-yo and a movie. We’re going to watch X-Men first class because we’re a bit obsessed with X-Men movies and we haven’t seen it yet.

These are the tempeh bacon tacos we shared, along with some organic pesto fried rice, (all gluten free) from the Seabirds Truck today. It’s a small pleasure because it was time spent with my sister, plus we were eating organic food, purchased and made locally by a group of awesome women. I love being able to support local businesses, especially ones with a business ethic I respect.
SmallPleasure


Photo Challenge originally found here.

September 8, 2011

Sept 8th – On My Plate

sept8
My good friend from school, Jenette, was so sweet and surprised me at work this morning with a card and gluten free cookies… I’ve already eaten all 3 :-/ No worries though because they counted as my breakfast and part of my lunch, so we’re good, right?

HoorayCookies
Photo Challenge originally found here.

August 15, 2011

Gluten Free Cheesy Biscuits

The other night at about 8pm I got a craving for biscuits. I hadn’t felt well earlier in the evening, so I didn’t have dinner, which meant I needed to make the biscuits right then because I was HUNGRY! Luckily, I had purchased a box of Gluten Free Bisquick a week ago for some pancakes I forgot to take pictures of and therefore couldn’t blog about.

I found a recipe on Betty Crocker’s website for Cheese Garlic Biscuits and altered it to fit my needs craving.

Here’s what I made…

(click recipe to enlarge)
LNCheesyBiscuits



What do you crave for a late night snack?

August 11, 2011

Copy Cat – Spaghetti Squash Casserole

It’s been a while since I posted a copy cat recipe, but I last week I went back to True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach and discovered a dish I really enjoyed that I knew it would be easy peasy to make at home. {Did you click on any of those hyperlinks? Go ahead, I’ll wait ;-)}

First off, if you live in Orange County and haven’t been to True Food Kitchen at Fashion Island yet, make a plan to go soon. You will not be disappointed! My sister and went (again) recently and I decided to try something new, the Spaghetti Squash Casserole.

TFKMenu

I forgot to take a picture (bad blogger), but luckily Kay C. on Yelp took this…

yelpversion
Kay C’s actually looks a bit more tomatoey (What? That’s a word) than mine did, but you get the idea.

How do you make it? Easy, it looks like this…

steps
You want an actually recipe? Sheesh, you’re picky ;-) Kidding of course, I would too.

(click recipe to enlarge)

Mmmmm, melty cheese…

Alldone
Have you copied a recipe you’ve loved at a restaurant?

May 26, 2011

Sneaky Peek - What I’ve been working on.

I think it’s probably pretty obvious, based on the amount of posts I’ve had in the past few months, that I’m busy. I don’t pretend to be any busier than the next girl, but I’m busy for me. I thought I’d share with you all what I’ve been working on at school… especially since next quarter I’m going to have to set-up a website of my work and share it with the world anyway, I might as well try to get over the “OMG people are going to hate it” thing now. You know that feeling when someone “in real life” says they saw/read your blog and you have a mini panic attack in your head? What is it we’re so worried about? Well, in this case it’s the opposite. My people “in real life” have seen my projects, but you? Not so much.

Soooo, this is the work in progress of my Senior Studio project (aka SS1 & SS2 – a two quarter class. I’m in SS2 now). We were given a city (mine is Boston) and a building (we all got the same fictional building) and were told to come up with a use, then space plan, design, etc the project.

My project is “Clean Kitchen”, a food allergy clinic.

CleanKitchen5

It’s a multi-use building (mainly because it had to be) meaning there are different uses for the building, both commercial and residential. In the basement there is an allergy-free food market, tiny bookstore area and a pharmacy. Seriously, I would LOVE to have a market this large to get gluten-free stuff.

051011 BASEMENT A1
On the main floor (aka the first floor) there’s a allergy-free cafe, two temporary residences for visiting speakers & chefs, and two cooking classrooms. The idea is that young families and adults can come here to learn to cook tasty allergy-free food. I wish the places near me, with cooking classes, would have specific allergy-free cooking classes. The cafe then serves the types of food you can expect to learn to make in the different classes.

051011 FIRST FLOOR A2
On the second floor there are two more temporary residences (we were required to have 2 on each of the above ground floors), laundry, storage, a conference room, admin offices and Drs’ offices. I imagine the awesome Dr. who diagnosed my food allergies working here with an amazing view of Boston out her window. Not like the lovely view of Orange County she has now is bad ;-)

051011 SECOND FLOOR A3
Those plans and my branding is the main thing we worked on last quarter. This past Tuesday we turned in our progress boards… basically the furniture, finishes etc that we see being used in the project, displayed in a way similar to the way our final board (yes one, but it.is.HUGE. Like taller than me) will lay out.

A4Board1
I’m not 100% happy with the residence right now. I started out with that first picture (from Crate & Barrel) as inspiration, because I like the art work and sideboard, but I found it difficult to find the other furniture I need to express what I was going for. Honestly, I think I was a little burnt out and I’ll start fresh again next week. Now, that I’ve had time to step back and look at it with a different eye, I know what I need to do.

A4Board2

My teachers really liked where I was headed with this project and that made me really happy and proud of what I’ve accomplished so far. The one compliment that really sticks out in my mind is, one teacher said, “It looks like the 60’s I wish I’d lived in.” Totally what I was going for, YES!

A4Board3

And, that’s what I’ve been working on for the last 4 months. Obviously there is a lot more, we had a few papers, a rough (ROUGH) model and I’m working on a booklet (like Blurb), but this is the gist.

What was/is your Senior project?

April 27, 2011

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

If you follow some of the same board I do on Pinterest, chances are Sugar Derby’s Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries popped up on your feed. They popped up in mine a couple times, last week. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to make them AND since I was already thinking of making a strawberry centered dessert for Easter, it was really easy to switch from gluten free strawberry shortcake to these tasty treats. Especially, since I could tweak the recipe a bit and make them completely naturally gluten free. Meaning I wouldn’t have to buy any ingredients that normally had gluten in them specifically made to be gluten free. SCORE!

After researching cheesecake stuffed strawberries on the interwebs, I found several different recipes and based this recipe on those. However, I have to give Sugar Derby credit for giving me the idea.

Strawberry1
Here’s how I made them…

(Click on recipe to enlarge)

And, because I stuck and forgot to take pictures as I was doing each step, I drew you some pictures...
StrawberrySteps


Okay, I know this is a lot of steps, but trust me when I tell you it's totally worth it. As your hulling and coring 50 strawberries, know that this is delicious. Plus, as my friend Jeannie says, "Who doesn't like food stuffed inside other food?"

So, I ask you, what is your favorite food stuffed in other food?

April 5, 2011

Gluten Free Corn Dogs

Hubs & I went grocery shopping together for the first time, in a very long time, on Sunday. Lately, while I’m in school we pretty much fend for ourselves food wise or eat out. It’s not the healthiest because I end up eating cereal and cheese and he eats Top Ramen. We’ve both decided we need to make and effort make more food at home. I’m really excited to start cooking again and make/discover more gluten free recipes.

While at the store we found pretty fancy hot dogs.

ApplegateFarms
Hot dogs are one of my guilt pleasures, but the nitrates and other junk they add gross me out. Hubs found these fancy ones and I promised if he bought them for me, I’d make him corn dogs.

While researching things I can make with my Gluten Free Bisquik, when I came across this recipe for gluten free corn dogs on Live Gluten Freely.

How do you make them?

(Click recipe to enlarge)

CornDog2
They aren’t the fanciest looking corn dogs, but I used considerably less oil than I would have if I owned a deep fryer ;-)

March 16, 2011

OperationLayla Bake Sale

operationlayla
If you read my blog (thank you) you probably like food about as much as I do… specifically baked goods. Am I right? Well, here is a chance to get freshly baked, baked goods delivered right to your front door. #OperationLayla is hosting a bake sale right now!

Please check out “Bake Sale Info” for a detailed description of how this Bake Sale works.

goodie
Each item below starts with a minimum bid of $15, and to officially bid on any particular item, you must leave a comment with at least a $1 (one dollar) raise in price. All buyers have until 11 pm EST to submit their bid.

goodies
Thank you very much for your generous contributions and support. We will try our best to moderate the comments throughout the day. If you would like to comment anonymously or have any questions or concerns, please email OperationBakeSale@gmail.com. Happy bidding!

I’m donating Chocolate Covered Rice Cereal Bars, gluten free - of course. However, since I’m in the middle of finals right now, I wasn’t able to make them this weekend and take a picture for the website… so I drew one.

Hisbirdie
Mmmmm, don’t THOSE look tasty? The upside is these will be extra fresh when I mail them out :)

HAPPY BIDDING!!

January 7, 2011

Gluten Free Zucchini Pancakes

Hubs bought breakfast sausages at Trader Joe’s earlier this week and I immediately thought, “Score, breakfast for dinner!” We ate the healthy fish and salad then night he brought it home and I planned to make the sausage with some gluten free pancakes the next night.

On my way home from work on pancake night, I started thinking these pancakes needed to be a little more exciting than just plain pancakes. Blueberries? Raspberries? What should I add? Then it hit me, I should make them more nutritious too! I decided to attempt zucchini bread-ish pancakes and they turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself… and Hubs said so too.

ZuccPancake

How did I make them?

Click on recipe to enlarge

Mmmm, veggie pancakes :)

January 5, 2011

Flourless Chocolate Torte

Remember this picture? Janey&Me
It was taken the night I made this cake/torte, at the event I made the cake/torte for… Christmas Eve. Flourless chocolate tortes were one of my favorite restaurant desserts before I went gluten free. Thank goodness, I can still eat one of my favorite desserts without having to modify it in anyway – Yay! As much as I like them, however, I’d never baked one myself before. So, when Jane’s mom, Sandy, asked me to bring a dessert for Christmas Eve, my choice was easy.

My first step, of course, was to Google “Flourless Chocolate Cake”. Naturally, this resulted in hundred, if not, thousands of results. Ultimately, I decided on this recipe from Macrina Bakery , found on Gluten Free Girl.

(Click recipe to enlarge)

PowderedTorte
You guys, this cake is TO.DIE.FOR! DELICIOUS! and it look pretty, if I do say so myself. The only problem – I don’t think it was supposed the cave in like it did. Do you see the sides? They’re all caved in and the top is too.

CutTorte
I should probably do a little research to see if I did something wrong. Perhaps I mix things too much… or baked it too long. Oh, well! We all ate and enjoyed it :)

TortePiece

January 3, 2011

2010 Recapped

I was MIA around the holidays. I kinda stopped posting all the Reverb10 prompts, only doing the ones that really spoke to me and wouldn't repeat something I’d already talked about. I haven’t posted the gluten free dessert I made for Christmas Eve yet… etc. I’ve decided to do a recap post for 2010 a little later than most. Let’s be honest though, it’s only the 3th, so I’m not that behind.

I really liked the way KJPugs did her 2010 review, so I’ve decided to copy her. Don’t worry, I asked… although, I didn’t really wait for her to respond and say it’s cool. Anyway, here we go…

January we upgraded our TV stand and general appearance of our  living room.  BA 

February
I discovered two of my favorite “go to” recipes: Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes with Mascarpone Icing & Enchilada Casserole.feb
March Hubs and I went to Vegas for meet-up with the Bees and celebrate my bestie from college’s 30th Birthday. Of course, a trip to Vegas would not be complete without eating at Battista's Hole in the Wall.

batts

April Joy from How Joyful redesigned my blog and created those adorable little birdies.

HowJoyful 
May I started making recipe cards for my recipe posts. The first two I made were for the salad I recreated from a local French restaurant & Margarita Cupcakes.

RecipeCards
June I made several desserts using fruit from our local CSA, my favorite was the fruit pizza I invented with the help of Amy from Dandelion Paperweight.

fruitpizzapic 
July I turned 30 and made a kick-ass flag cake!

july 
August Hubs and I celebrated our one year Anniversary and played travel roulette with some friends and ended up in Austin, TX.

SheldonAustin

September was a pretty busy month: I hosted a Giveaway from one of my favorite artists, I discovered  my local food truck meet-up and I took an allergy test and discovered I cannot eat gluten,

OhanaNidhi 
October I did my first guest post and rattled on about the wonder that is Jazzercise.

guestpost 
November I blogged every single day… errr, posted every single day. Let’s be honest sometime we blog more than once a day but schedule those posts out. I also discovered Chipotle,

ChipTweet 
tried Gluten Free Bisquick,

GF Bisquick 
hosted a beautiful necklace giveaway from Honey My Heart 

HoneyMyHeart 
and finally finished my wedding recaps.

OhanaPhoto
And lastly, in December, I attempted Reverb10, made Potato Latkes and guest posted for Forty Twenty Four about my on-the-cheap/modern Christmas table setting.

 dec 
Happy New Year everyone! I hope I have even more to recap for you at the end of 2011 :)

 

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