Published Articles

I've been writing for Demand Studios since November, and I've gotten to see a few of my articles published! It's pretty exciting, and I'm hoping that publishing will help to bridge our income gap, since it's harder to get a position in nutrition right now. Read my latest article about Almond Milk, and let me know what you think!

I enjoy writing, and it's something I've done since college when I wrote for Pepperdine's The Graphic. My roommate, Jami Lambert, gave me the opportunity to write health and nutrition articles for the Bent Prop, which was our AFROTC detachment's newsletter. I officially published with That's Natural in 2007, and I've been writing/publishing ever since!

Link directly to my article!

The Dessert Results and a Recipe

Congratulations to our winners for the dessert contest!

Laura Hunter won the grand prize with an international suggestion (her mother-in-law, Sue, lives in England and is new to the GF diet) for dessert. Laura is a foodie, blogger, and photographer, and her recipes are creative and delicious. Thanks for sharing Laura!

Kassi Blanchard has been intrepidly exploring brownie recipes to keep her sanity in the kitchen. Kassi has worked as the Operations Director for Day by Day Gourmet and is getting ready for a trip to Europe next year. She knows the challenge of cooking healthy, allergen friendly meals and has bravely tasted a gluten-free muffin flour experiment that I did last year. She's a brave woman.

Connie Haedener challenged me with a gluten and dairy free Cremeschnitten - Cream Napoleon, which is going to be a challenge to be sure! I have to look up a recipe for the original first. If you've enjoyed this dessert, can you tell me about it?

Thank you to Rosette Pambakian and the staff at Pamela's Products for the donation and freebie! I have found the staff at Pamela's Products to always be friendly and supportive of ideas. They donated product to a cooking class I held when I ran Thrive Lifestyles, and they donated product to the Junior League of Pueblo when we did Kids in the Kitchen at the Pueblo Health Expo. Thank you!

Pamela's Products is hosting their annual dessert contest now. If you were inspired by ideas on this blog, then go over to Pamela's for a new contest. I entered last year, and I am definitely entering again this year. Check out the recipes page they have, and get baking!

Enlightened Desserts

Are you looking for a gluten-free dessert that's not quite as indulgent as those listed above? Summer is almost breaking in Seattle, so you're probably trying to get your figure tank-top ready. Well, how about checking out your local farmers market for some fresh fruit to make a light dessert?

In Pueblo, CO, there is a peach stand that gathers peaches from Palisade and nearby regions and sets up every Tuesday and Friday morning at the Pueblo farmers market. I used to go early in the morning and help him set up the stand for a generous payment of 1-2 baskets of peaches ($14 worth). Totally worth it. You could eat those peaches straight, but I also sliced them and served them with vanilla ice cream. They were perfect for cobblers, and because we had so many, I sliced them and froze them for snacks through the fall. They create quite a bit of juice, but they're so good! You can check out the Farmers Market on Thursdays, too.

In Seattle, I look to Kayli McIntyre for inspiration from Wheatless in Seattle. She makes incredible and indulgent desserts regularly. My go-to dessert is the lemon bar, which is moist and decadent.

Cream Scones and Strawberry Sauce

For Mother's Day, I made Cream Scones from JoyofBaking.com, which is one of the best resources of regular baking. I easily convert the recipes there to gluten-free versions using a blend of Pamela's GF baking mix and bread mix.

2 cups flour mix

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Baking Mix, which contains leavening)

1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or a fork. ("Mash" the butter into the flour with the fork tines until the large pieces are broken up and most of the flour has a little butter stuck to it and resembles clumpy flour or coarse crumbs). Combine the egg, cream, and vanilla. Stir the liquid into the flour mixture and mix with a fork until just combined. Scrape and dump the dough onto a clean, floured cutting board or counter surface. Fold the dough on top of itself and press down with your palms, pressing the lumps together. Rotate the dough and repeat three times. (The original recipe calls for kneading the dough lightly)

Instead of rolling the dough and cutting out the scones, I patted the scones into a single large loaf, placed it on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and sliced it into 16 even slices and left the scone loaf together. When I removed the scone loaf from the oven, I simply pulled the pieces apart. It's much cleaner, and the scones triangle shape is preserved.

I topped these scones with a cooled, fresh strawberry sauce that I made from cooking mashed strawberries, orange juice, and a little bit of sugar together in a saucepan and simmering about 5 minutes. Add a dollop of fresh whipped cream, and you've got a gourmet dessert!

What to Eat for Gluten Free Awareness Weekend?

May 22nd and 23rd weekend is the weekend in which you can eat like those of us who follow gluten-free diets as part of the Gluten Free Challenge. It's really not as difficult as it sounds, it's just cooking at home or choosing restaurant items carefully.

If you have never eaten a gluten-free meal consciously, then you certainly have subconsciously. Generally, if you have had a meal without pasta, bread or pizza crust, then you've probably had a fairly gluten-free meal. You might have had gluten in a marinade or sauce, but that's a different issue. Choosing to eat a weekend without gluten isn't actually as difficult as it might seem at the start.

Here are my suggestions for a gluten-free day. Josh and I will be eating these this weekend, so I'll post some stories and more recent pictures of our recipes. Why don't you join me and then tell me what you thought of the menu?

Breakfast

Pamela's Products Gluten Free Pancakes

Sliced Strawberries

Plain or vanilla yogurt

Orange Juice or Coffee (or both?)

Pamela’s GF Pancakes (with modifications)

1 cup Pamela’s Pancake mix

1 large egg, beaten

¾ cup milk

1 ½ Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil

1/8 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp sugar

1) Mix sugar and pancake mix together in small bowl. 2)Combine the liquids in another bowl, stirring to emulsify. 3)Pour liquids over dry and stir with spatula until most of the big lumps are gone, but is still a little lumpy. 4)Pour a little less than ¼ cup onto very warm (almost hot) nonstick pan, sprayed with oil. Fry on both sides, about 2 minutes on each side.

*To tell if the pan is hot enough, preheat it on medium heat before you start the pancake batter. Pour a little water on your fingers and sprinkle onto the pan. When the water sizzles and jumps around, it’s hot enough.

Makes 9-10 3” pancakes.

Lunch

Gingered Carrot Soup

Toasted GF Baguette slices from Wheatless in Seattle (or your favorite brand)

Spinach salad with slices of tomato, basil, sunflower seeds

Gingered Carrot Soup

2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped

4 cups water

1 Tbsp butter

1 ½ cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp grated ginger

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp each cumin, ground fennel, cinnamon, allspice, dried mint

3-4 Tbsp lemon juice

1 cup lightly toasted cashews

1) Cook carrots in water until soft. 2) Meanwhile, saute onion in butter, and add garlic and ginger. 3) Add salt, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, allspice, and dried mint. 4) Stir in cashews. 5) Working in batches, pour half of the carrots and water into a blender or food processor. 6) Add half of the onion mixture. 7) Place a clean towel over the top of the pitcher (rather than placing the lid onto the blender). 8) Pulse the mixture until chunky, then turn to low speed. Blend until smooth. 9) Pour this batch into a large bowl. 10) Repeat with remaining carrot and onion mixtures. Blend until smooth. 11) Pour into the same bowl and stir to blend.

*You may want to return the mixture to a saucepan to reheat.

Dinner

Gluten-free Linguine noodles with Cioppino

Toasted GF Baguette from Wheatless in Seattle

Cioppino

based on The New Moosewood Cookbook, 2000

Serves 6

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup chopped bell pepper

1 ½ cups canned tomatoes in juice (14.5 oz)

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp red pepper flakes - more or less to taste

2 whole bay leaves

1 tsp salt

2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup dry white wine

½ pound fresh mussels, cleaned

½ pound fresh clams, cleaned

½ pound shrimp, cleaned and shelled

1 pound fresh scallops

1 pound gluten free linguine pasta ( I really like Tinkyada Pasta Joy brand)

2 quarts water

1 Tbsp salt

¼ cup fresh basil, sliced into fine strips

1) In a medium frying pan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Stir in bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes. Transfer to a 4-5 quart slow cooker.

2) Add the canned tomatoes, red wine, tomato paste, herbs, spices, 1 tsp salt, white wine, and vegetable stock. Cook on low for 4 hours.

3) Turn up heat to high. Add mussels, clams, shrimp, and scallops. Cook 30-45 mins until shells open. Remove bay leaves. Discard unopened shells. Fold in the fresh basil.

4) About 20 minutes before serving, heat 2 quarts water in a large stockpot. Add 1 tbsp salt. Bring water to a boil, then add the pasta. Cook 14-16 minutes, or according to the package.

5) Drain pasta and rinse quickly in water. Place pasta back in empty pot. (If not serving immediately, drizzle with a little olive oil to prevent sticking)

6) Serve Cioppino over pasta with plenty of chewy baguette toast points on the side

*Make the baguette gourmet by slicing "on a bias" (at a diagonal) and then rubbing one side of the bread with a sliced clove of garlic, as though you are scrubbing the garlic slice on the bread. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and toast in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or until toasty and hot.

See, that doesn't sound so bad, does it?

So...what's for dessert? Look for it after the 'votes' are counted for the gluten-free dessert contest!

Dessert Suggestions - update

Here are the front-runners:

Apple Pie

Dirt Dessert

Rhubarb Fool

Pound Cake

Cheesecake

Suggest a dessert, and I will send you cookies from Pamela's Products. If I choose your dessert suggestion as the dessert I convert to GF, Pamela's Products will send you some yummy food, too!

If you're not gluten-free, then you can give these delicious snacks to your local church or community center, because there is almost always someone who is gluten-free and is desperate for a good cookie! And...It's always fun to taste something new!

Cafes around Seattle are starting to get into the gluten-free food -- the coffee photo above is from Cafe Bella, mere blocks from our apartment, who serve both delicious espresso and gluten-free goodies from Wheatless in Seattle.