I could have sushi multiple times a week (and, confession!, sometimes I do). It’s flavorful, creative, and satisfying without being heavy. Sushi is also a great meal for sharing — the small, bite-sized items, ordered in small portions, allow you get a variety of items. And, thankfully, sushi is great option for gluten-free dining. Continue reading “Sushi, the Gluten-Free Way”
Category: Blog
Gluten-Free Pasta to Solve Dining Emergencies
One thing about the gluten-free life: it requires a lot of planning, particularly when it comes to meals. I have friends who think nothing of driving through a fast food restaurant after a long day at work. Others who stop by the grocery store to pick up fried chicken. Some who say “We’ll just order a pizza.”
For me, it’s always about “what am I going to cook tonight?”
This is one reason why I’m big on menu planning; knowing I have a plan makes the end-of-the-day process so much easier! When you’re gluten-free, the fried chicken and pizza are still options, but, unless you are very lucky, you’ll need to make them yourself. Most fast food choices require a lot of work or risk-taking (cross-contamination anyone?). Continue reading “Gluten-Free Pasta to Solve Dining Emergencies”
Specialized Gluten-Free Foods: Expensive or Important
I’ve just spent about an hour reading comments from people about the price and quality of specialized gluten-free foods. Oh yes, they are indeed far more expensive than their non-GF brethren! And, especially when you first go gluten-free, nowhere as tasty as the foods they are mimicking.
Yet, we, the gluten-free community, keep trying to make GF foods that taste just as good as “real” foods. I am of two minds on this point. One, of course, is that sometimes I really do want a grilled cheese sandwich. This means reaching into my frozen stash of Udi’s Whole Grain GF bread.
But mostly, I don’t think too much about what I can’t have — as it turns out, during the years before I went gluten-free, I gravitated almost instinctively toward “safe” foods. Not always successfully, but I found my cravings were for those foods that left me feeling good after a meal.
Continue reading “Specialized Gluten-Free Foods: Expensive or Important”
Cooking with Vinegar
Via a link in my Twitter feed, I read a blog post that indicated rice vinegar is not gluten-free. This statement gave me pause because, by definition, rice vinegar is absolutely gluten-free. The author of the post was trying to figure out why her son became sick after eating sushi, and she used bad research to determine rice vinegar has gluten.
The culprit was almost certainly not the rice vinegar in the sushi rice (it was more likely the wheat in the fake crab meat). As I researched this issue — thinking maybe I was crazy — I saw there was a lot of confusion about vinegar. This makes me sad as vinegar is a fantastic ingredient to add to your gluten-free kitchen. Continue reading “Cooking with Vinegar”
Online Grocery Shopping
I am lucky to live within a short distance of a Whole Foods Market, a Trader Joe’s, and a Von’s that has exhibited an exciting commitment to stocking gluten-free products. With three great grocery experiences available to me, I have it pretty easy when it comes to purchasing GF food options. Of course, easy isn’t the whole story.
Each of these stores stocks a limited number of gluten-free foods. Yes, I would argue, they all stock far more GF items than it seems on the surface; I would love more food producers to label their foods “Gluten-Free” — and Trader Joe’s does a great job of using a label to identify items that are gluten-free. However, in certain instances, the options are…sparse. Continue reading “Online Grocery Shopping”
Freezing Foods for Later
As I write this, I have a big pot of Bolognese sauce simmering on the stove. It smells incredible. Normally, this isn’t a sauce I’d make in the middle of summer, but I had a large number of tomatoes ripen while we were out of town. I believe they wanted to be turned into sauce.
I have two plans for this sauce. First, a mid-week lasagna. Since I use no-cook gluten-free noodles, I can throw it together pretty quickly. Dinner will take about an hour total (including time to let the lasagna sit after baking). Having the sauce made in advance means the hard part is done. Continue reading “Freezing Foods for Later”
Cravings: Traditional Macaroni and Cheese
Like most children, I was exposed early and often to the wonders of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. To this day, I can conjure the weird orangey-yellow (or is it yellowy-orange?) color of the final dish in my mind…and, with a little work, I can sort of recall the flavor. It is a food perfectly designed for finicky nine-year olds and broke college students.
I don’t know when I stopped eating boxed macaroni and cheese, but I do remember when I started making my own. It came after a meal at the Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill in Austin, Texas. They make a fantastic mac and cheese dish, and I was hooked! Continue reading “Cravings: Traditional Macaroni and Cheese”