I wish.

COOKIES! Oh my gosh I wish I could eat them more often. I banned myself from making desserts awhile ago. But last weekend I just had a craving for cookies. I wish there was a place in this small of a town that I could just buy a cookie. But no so I had to make them. Making gluten free cookies from scratch = nightmare. So I bought this box mix at Whole Foods and it was even on sale too. It was really simple, only called for you to add, 1 egg, butter (I used vegan Earth Balance) and vanilla. I mixed everything up and snacked on the yummy yet very crumbly dough. What else about being gluten free is new though?! I squeezed the dough into balls and baked. When I pulled them out of the oven I was amazed to see a real cookie. Not a super flat or spread out mess. The cookies looked real, like in those old days of so called food. I was amazed and ate one when they cooled a bit. Satisfied the craving! Thank you. I froze the rest so I didn't eat them all at once (the reason for the ban on baking) and I still have some a week later. So it worked. Anyways, I recommend this mix, it's pretty quick. I also have the chocolate cake mix that I'm making for my boyfriend's birthday in a few weeks so I'll let you know how that turns out. Good eating!

It was different and delis!

My friend and I try to make dinner every Tuesday night. She has the same food standards that I do, very healthy. And she knows that eating gluten, dairy and meat free is amazing. I saw this recipe in the Whole Foods Market Local Food Magazine also. Told you it has amazing recipes. I wanted to try a different kind of quinoa recipe because I feel all of them are kind of weird. This one was very good. It made a large bowl full! So we had extras for lunch the next few days. I like it because it has all the food groups in it. Protein (3 kinds- nuts, grain, yogurt), veggies, fruit and yeah that's all I eat so yes. Anyways try it out for yourself and enjoy!

Quinoa Salad with Stone Fruit and Basil
1 1/2 cups quinoa
6 Tbs. Olive Oil-divided
4 Tbs. lime juice- divided
1 bunch fresh basil (we only used 4 leaves because we didn't want it too strong, but you could use a few more)
2 cups halved fresh cherries or sliced plums, nectarines, or apricots (I also used pears)
1 cucumber, diced
1 can (1 1/2 cups) cooked chickpeas
2 large shallots, finely chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts (we used pine nuts-yummy!)
1/4 cup plain soy yogurt

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a pot. Stir in quinoa. Reduce heat to medium, cover and let sit for 15 minutes, or unitl all the liquid has been absorbed.
2. Remove from heat and cool. Transfer to serving bowl and toss with 3 Tbs. olive oil and 2 Tbs. lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Lay 5 or 6 basil leaves flat on tip of one another on cutting board. Roll tightly into cylinder, then slives into thin strips.
4. Add basil, cherries, cucumber, chickpeas, shallots and alomonds to quinoa mix. Toss. Chill for 30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.
5. While that is going on, whisk together yogurt, remaing 3 Tbs. olive oil, and remaining 2 Tbs. lime juice in small bowl. Serve salad with yogurt dressing.

Colors!

I love the colors of this meal. Pretty sure I need to get a white plate like this because it just makes the food stand out so much more. I was at my boyfriend's and we were deciding on what to do for dinner. We thought about going out to P.F. Chang's, Maggiano's or Beau Jo's Pizza, or we could just make our own. Haha usually what I opt for, him the other. So he had these great salmon burgers from Costco that are so versatile. I thought of putting fruit on it because my friend and I did that over the summer. And we both love asparugus and it's pretty cheap right now again. And then we need some gluten free carbs and potatoes are yummy! So there's the meal. It was great and super healthy and my stomach felt wonderful afterword!

-Cut up pieces of rasberries and pineapple. (Could also use mango, peach, blackberry, lemon)
-Grilled Salmon Burger from Costco
-Steamed Asparagus
-Wash, cut off ends, place on plate, put 1/4 cup water onto plate. Microwave for 3 minutes.
-Could put tamari or lemon juice on. I didn't have any.
-Roasted Red Potatoes
-Cut up potatoes into about 8 pieces each.
-Saute in olive oil until brown on a few sides. Can also cover for faster cooking. Makes them softer also.

Trying for normalcy

Hello! It's been awhile but I have been busy with classes starting and all the randoms that come along with that. But my boyfriend did come up the other weekend and I made wonderful dinners for him. He is the new person I cook for. He is a full meat, dairy and gluten eater so I really have to impress. But he's a good sport, eats what I make and says it's wonderful. The way it should be of course. I know he loves burgers, I was going to actually make real burgers with real meat. (Local of course) But I saw this great recipe in the Whole Foods Market Magazine- Local Edition. (I swear I don't live there) Surprisingly, most the recipes in that edition were gluten free. It was a nice surprise. But anyways, back to the dinner. First of all, it took FOREVER. Somehow I labored over these burgers for 2+ hours! I think it was just the rice cooking (but I was cutting up veggies), mixing in the different steps, letting it cool, then refrigerating the burgers after I made them before grilling them. It was kind of lame. Should have had a glass of wine because I was frantic. But the burgers turned out very well. Had a little kick to them. I put in more sauce then it called for I think. But it was a different flavored mexican dish so that was nice. The guacamole on top was the icing on the cake. And I added Alexia Gourmet Sweet Potato Julienne Fries which are amazing! I had extra burgers of course so they are sitting in my freezer, waiting to be grilled on a busy day.

Hot Tamale Burgers (Makes 8 burgers)

1 cup short-grain brown rice

1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

3/4 cup corn kernels

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced, plus 2 tsp. sauce (I bought a can in the mexican section)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I despise this stuff so I left it out)

1 1/2 Tbs. lime juice

3/4 tsp. lime zest

1. Boil rice and 3 cups of water. Simmer after until soft, about 45 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, corn, chipotle, adobo sauce, garlic, cumin and salt. Saute 2 minutes, reduce to low heat. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

3. Whisk 1/2 cup water with cornmeal in a bowl. Add to skillet mix. Stir in and let cook for 10 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, stir in rice, cilantro lime juice and zest. Cool 20 minutes. Shape into burgers. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Grill!

Guacamole

2 avocados

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 TBS lime juice

1 tomato, finely chopped

1. Smash avocados in bowl.

2. Mix in other ingredients.

3. Eat with everything!

Is anything too healthy?

My doctor told me that I needed to diversify the grains that eat. Because I was eating rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She suggested breakfast as an way to add them in. Quinoa and amaranth were top on her recommendation list. I saw this recipe on the Closet Cooking Blog, that I love by the way. Is this guy single?! Really. But the recipe, yes, it was for quinoa with yogurt and fruit. I was so excited for a new way to eat quinoa. But it does kind of taste funny and all the salads I make with it for dinner kind of taste the same. So I figured I could do that and then just mix in some ammerath and we'd have a monster combo. Plus, I don't have to buy cereal anymore. Which is really expensive, not very good and not that healthy for you(?!). Sticking to whole foods, yes! So here's what I put in it:

1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup cooked amaranth
soy yogurt
fruit (I used pineapple and coconut flakes for a tropical theme, usually I'm the berry type)
nuts (I used slivered almonds)

(There is left over grains for more mornings or a group of people)

It was pretty delis. I wasn't very sweet though. That's why I like berries. So maybe I'll just sprinkle some sugar on top tomorrow morning ;-)

That was one long summer.

Wow, I have not blogged in over a month. Maybe that's because I've been hidden up in the Colorado mountains attempting to do something called school. For those of you that don't know, I had to attend a required summer field course in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It was probably the hardest month of my life considering there was nonstop class, papers, tests, quizzes and group work. I barely got through it but I made it. Now I'm back home, which is priceless, waiting until classes start again next week. So eating in the middle of nowhere was not good. I was prepared with lots of food in a mouse proof container. But I didn't think I would basically be able to eat nothing in the cafeteria. Luckily, there was another GF girl (my new friend) so they bought special sandwich bread for us. But it turned out it had GF oats in it so I was sick the whole first week. I finally asked them to get different bread and then they got the Whole Foods brand, which is super gross, and it had milk in it. Who puts milk in bread?! Then I realized that I basically can't eat anything, if they can't even get the right bread. Those were the closest things to my diet that I could eat there. They basically never had food I could eat for breakfast or dinner. I was worried about cross-contamination and the quality of ingredients they used were not up to my standards to say the least. So I ate my own cereal, used my own bread for lunch, ate their fruit and veggies. And then ate frozen dinners I had made for dinner. Needless to say, it was a boring month for eating. I thought 2 weeks in Europe was bad. But at least I figured out that I really just need my own food all the time so if I ever go anywhere I can just plan on that. My first dinner back home was no very exciting just a veggie burger, roasted red potatoes and black beans. I was too tired and stressed to make anything else. But last night I made pizza! That was yummy and still have left overs for tonight. Anyways, I don't know when I'll make something epic again. But I will blog when I do. As a parting gift, here's a picture of the beauty of the mountains. (I still love the ocean more)

A Gluten Free Santa Fe and Albuquerque

Traveling this summer has taken me many of places. Abroad, road tripping the US and to my final destination of Santa Fe, NM. Heading to Santa Fe is exciting because I love the food, culture and feel of the city. Mexican food is mostly GDF except for a few flour tortillas and cheese fillings here and there. I mostly eat mostly Mexican themed meals at home so heading down gives me new ideas to spice up my meals. Googling "Santa Fe Gluten Free" did not return with many hits. I was surprised with this health minded town. But I decided not to worry because I can just eat mexican food anyways. I kept my eyes open around town. When I visited in the spring I went to this great cafe/yoga studio called Body. The cafe has a great atmosphere. I went for Friday dinner and there was a solo guitarist playing in the background. The menu was marked with vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic and gluten free entries. I had a great gluten free vegan burger. Who know that was possible! Highly recommended! I also want to try the yoga..... The next two places I ran into accidentally. Attending the Santa Fe International Folk Art Festival, I was overwhelmed with the amount of crafts and more or less crap these people trek across the world to sell for hundreds of dollars. But considering how many people were there, maybe I'm missing something.... Already upset because I did not grab an emergency granola bar and a sweatshirt for a potential monsoon, I was not prepared for the crowds. Thumbing through the program while my mom looks around I think to look at the map for the food area. International food was well represented. I thought, oh great they'll never understand my english questions. Meanwhile, walking around I run into this booth with, wait big breath, chocolate! Just what I need. Knowing that some chocolateirs use flour, I politely ask for an ingredient list. They say it's on the items and ask what I can't have. I say gluten, and it turns out the lady I was chatting with also gluten free. She exclaimed that all of their chocolate products (chocolates, brownies, drinks) is wheat free with much gluten free. (I saw alternatives to milk used as well) Needless to say I was thrilled. I bought a GF chile brownie and chocolate pack. The brownie had some kick at the end. But not too much to burn your tongue. I have yet to try the chocolates though. The shop is called Kakawa Chocolate House. Highly recommended as well!

Well finally I'm so hungry and decided to be brave. I push threw the crowds, I start scanning the food booths for something somewhat safe and easy. The second one is Indian. Not being a huge eater of Indian food, but knowing it is mostly gluten and dairy free, I find myself a spot in the extensive line and squint to read the menu. The few entries actually seem pretty good. Rice with chickpeas, kale, carrots and broccoli. A big YUM. And it was. I saw they also have gluten free cookies and such at the restaurant in both Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Much to be tested out on my next visit. The place is Annapurna's World Vegetarian Cafe.Lastly, my mom and I spent sometime in Albuquerque. Googling this city I actually turned up with a few hits. Mainly looking for pizza because I hadn't had it in a while. I found an Italian restaurant with pretty much everything with a gluten free option. We arrived at Paisano's early on a weekday night. The first customers, the service was great. And the food was out fast. The pizza was very good (probably rice flour), very puffy, it felt like normal pizza. It was nice because my mom could get regular flour pizza (she said it was fine) and I could get my special food. I tried a new kind of pizza. Green Chiles! They put that on everything here. Never seen that on a menu so I had to try it. Let me say it pretty much put my mouth on fire. So be warned! I have a moderate to low tolerance of heat though. Anyways I imagine the place fills up nicely on the weekends. Recommended of course! Cheers to being GDF and traveling and not eating rice cakes and granola bars the whole time!