Rice Chexie treats & cozy GF soup!

How did it get to be November?! It's that time of year when a girl's thoughts turn to outlines, memos, final exams, and stress stress stress. And cozy comfort food that's perfect for fall. Just a quick post tonight but I wanted to share two easy recipes I've enjoyed recently.

Rice Chexie treats!

By all rights Rice Krispies should be gluten-free but they contain malt flavoring, which comes from barley. No go. I am cuckoo for rice krispie treats, but the great news is that you can make a GF version that's just as good, if not better, using Rice Chex, which are thankfully gluten-free. Here's what you need:

* pan (8x8 or 9x13, greased with cooking spray. I use Pyrex baking dishes.)
* 2-3 tbsp of butter or margarine
* 1 bag of marshmallows (check the ingredients to make sure they're GF. Also, minis melt faster than the big ones)
* 6 cups of Rice Chex cereal
* optional: 1 tsp vanilla extract (again, check ingredients)

Spritz your pan. Over low heat, melt your butter/margarine and marshmallows, stirring constantly. The second it's smooth, remove from heat - don't overcook. Add vanilla and stir. Add your cereal and stir it through the goo; this is always the annoying part. Dump the mixture into the pan. It helps to use waxed paper, the back of a wet spoon, or dampen your hands to press the mixture flat. Now comes the hard part: waiting. Cut into squares or shapes and enjoy! They are amazing and taste just like the real thing. (Note: I have previously tried using organic brown rice krispies. Feel free to try it for yourself but IMO it tasted like cardboard. Rice Chex are about 100x better for this purpose!)

Cozy Comforting Potato-Leek-Veggies I Found in my Fridge Soup

On a cold fall day potato-leek soup hits the spot. I made a big batch of this soup, but it didn't last long. I brought it to school for lunch and received two compliments from passers-by who said it looked delicious. Oh, it was! I based the soup on this great and easy recipe for Cream of Asparagus Soup. I didn't take any pictures, but here's what I used, as far as I can remember:

* 1-2 tbsp butter or margarine (olive oil should be fine too)
* 2 leeks (Trader Joe's, pre-trimmed - chopped & rinsed)
* 2 potatoes, peeled & chopped (I used russet; yukon gold would be delicious too)
* about 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
* about 1/2 pound of asparagus, chopped into 1" pieces
* 1 carrot, sliced into rounds
* 2 cups of Pacific organic chicken broth (1 small box, which is what I had on hand. If you have more broth, omit the water. Of course you could also use veggie broth. It should be a total of 3 1/2 to 4 cups of liquid.)
* 1 1/2 cups water
* 1/2 cup goat milk (Whoa, GOAT? Okay, yes, here's where I got crazy. This was an experiment. Goat milk can be found at Trader Joe's and is supposedly easier to digest than cow milk, so I gave it a try. I wouldn't drink it by itself, but if you like the pungent, tangy flavor of chèvre, it's a nice stir-in for soups or mashed potatoes. While I'm still not on great terms with dairy, this milk seemed to be okay with me. You might prefer to use regular milk, Lactaid milk, or heavy cream.)
* kosher salt & pepper to taste

In a large soup pot or saucepan, melt butter/marg or heat olive oil over medium or medium-high heat. Sauté leeks til they soften. Add broth and/or water, potatoes, onions, carrots, and asparagus. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover & let simmer about 10-15 minutes til your veggies are nice and soft.

I have - and LOVE - an immersion hand-blender, which is absolutely ideal and so easy for pureeing soup (and it's dishwasher-safe). If you have a hand-blender, use that or transfer soup in batches to your regular blender and process til smooth or whatever texture appeals to you. Return soup to the pot. Add your milk and re-heat over low. Season with salt and pepper; serve with a little shredded cheese on top if you like (or perhaps a dollop of sour cream?). Deeeelish. I can't wait to make another batch!

Gluten Free Torts.

Being a first year law student means you have very little time to breathe, let alone recognize life as you previously knew it, attend to your blog (ahem), or, you know, eat. Stress and celiac disease are not a winning combination. You don't have time to eat as healthfully as you might; your stomach is going to react to your emotions; and of course being celiac already makes things a little more challenging. There's nothing I can really eat on campus, and there's only one day a week when I have enough time to go out and grab lunch between classes. Fun! Somehow I am figuring out how to get by, although it often means eating while studying or standing over the kitchen counter. Long gone are the days of experimental 3-course dinners for one.

So recently I decided to strike back with a crustless quiche - it's very quick to prepare on a Sunday, and then it's ready to reheat all week for breakfast or lunch. (And frankly, it's better for you than real quiche - without all those calories and fat from the crust and cream!) I adapted it from this recipe. It's super easy, phenomenally delicious, and you pretty much cannot mess it up. Here's how I do it:

Chop up some of your favorite veggies. (I chop veggies in advance when I have time and keep them in containers ready to deploy as needed. Or buy them pre-chopped at the store.) Some suggestions: peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, scallions, artichoke hearts, broccoli, asparagus, spinach. You could also do cubes of ham or bacon or cooked turkey if you're into that kind of thing.

Saute your veggies for a few minutes in a small bit of oil, til they're softened and the color is nice and bright.

Meanwhile, crack 6 eggs into a large bowl. (The original recipe calls for 5; I use 6 because my quiche is so loaded with veggies.) Add a little water and beat. Pretend they are your professors if necessary. Totally optional, but I add about 1 tbsp of Pamela's GF baking mix to thicken.

Stir your veggie mix into the eggs.

Cheese! Use a bag of shredded cheese, any kind you like. Depending on how cheesey you are feeling, put in the whole bag or half the bag or whatever. You could use shredded soy cheese too.

Mix it all up. Add some kosher salt, pepper, and (optional) some dried basil.

Pour your quiche mixture into a greased/sprayed 9" pie pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until it's beautifully golden on top. Voila!

Some of my other favorite things right now:
* Apple season is here! (I love fall so much!) Organic granny smiths with peanut butter.
* Annie's deluxe rice pasta & cheese is the best (worst) mac & cheese since Kraft! It comes with a squeezy pack of cheese sauce so it couldn't be easier and it is just so yummy. By far the best commercial GF mac & cheese I've tried. (why yes, the time crunch means I have pretty much given up trying to be dairy-free)
* Progresso lentil soup - yup, it's GF! So tasty on its own, or add some ground cumin & garam masala to make it even more amazing (or try pureeing it a bit with a hand-blender and throw in some basmati rice - very filling and Indian-inspired).
* Baked ziti casserole with Trader Joe's brown rice pasta, red sauce, & shredded cheese
* Scrambled eggs with green peppers, onions & cheese (basically the even-faster version of my quiche)

Hope that gave you a few ideas for good fast food! And now I'm very late for a date with my BFF, my bed.

New items at Trader Joe's!

Hello, my gluten-free friends and allies! For the last month I have been incredibly busy packing and moving into my fantastic new home and getting ready for a crazy new chapter in my life, but I'm finally getting settled. One perk of my new location is that Trader Joe's is now only 10-15 minutes away, whereas I used to drive about half an hour each way to get my TJ's GF goodies. (One of the fun realities of celiac life: it is virtually impossible to find everything you need in one place. I shop at three different food stores, at least, to find the products I want/need.) Trader Joe's has been rolling out a number of new items lately, several of which are relevant to this blog's interests.

Item #1: Peanut flour. I haven't tried this personally. I'm not really sure how one would use peanut flour, but the product card recommends using it for baking cakes and cookies. I think it could also make an interesting coating for baked chicken or fish.

Item #2: Snickerdoodles! These are free of the 7 biggest allergens (wheat, soy, egg, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish - whew, that's a relief. I hate shellfish in my cookies!) so they're vegan as well as celiac friendly. Made with sorghum flour and date paste, the texture is very soft and chewy, a rarity in GF cookiedom. They're more like a cinnamon-y fig newton than the buttery sugar cookie you might recall from pre-celiac life, so I'm not sure snickerdoodle is the most apt name. The cookies are quite small with a serving size of 2 cookies at 130 calories and 4.5g fat; each box contains only 12 cookies.

New GF bakery on the Main Line.

My helpful elves have informed me that a new GF bakery is opening soon (well, TODAY according to their website) in lovely Wynnewood, PA! The bakery is located right at the train station, accessible by the R5 line or the 105 bus. A dedicated GF facility, Main Line Bakery will offer cupcakes, cakes, bread, and other tempting baked goods. Check out their Facebook page for more information. Can't wait to try them out! It's an exciting time to be gluten-free, that's for sure - new products, bakeries, and shops just keep popping up all over the place.

In more personal news, you may have noticed I haven't been posting much recently. There are some pretty huge things going on in my life (all good, but still!) that have been consuming my time and energy - and will continue to do so. I hope that I will have time to keep this blog active, but please bear with me as posts and updates will be even more sporadic.

Odds and ends.

Just a few quick notes from today's Delaware Celiac Group meeting.

Two standouts from the sumptuous smorgasbord of snacks we sampled:

* The much buzzed-about Snyder's of Hanover GF pretzel sticks - hands down, these are the best GF pretzels I've tried. They're satisfyingly solid and crunchy and they taste just like normal pretzels, which is the highest praise I can offer. They're dairy-free, low fat, and have been certified by GIG. Definitely give these a try if you see them at your supermarket or Whole Foods (if you're lucky enough to live someplace - i.e., not Delaware - that has one).

* Best cupcake ever! Cupcake Heaven kindly donated a tray to the group, and they were indeed heavenly. Honestly, you'd never guess these were gluten free. The bakery is not dedicated GF but we were told they understand cross-contamination issues and thoroughly clean between batches. GF cupcakes are available by special order or may be bought frozen. Absolutely mouthwatering and highly recommended.

In other news, well-deserved congratulations to my friends at Fresh Thymes Café, recently dubbed Best of Delaware 2010 for healthy fare! Fresh Thymes is a cozy breakfast/lunch spot in Wilmington where the food is fresh, local, organic, super tasty, and very GF-friendly (including bread and treats from Amaranth and Sweet Christine's bakeries).

Shore thing.

I blame the heat wave we're currently suffering through for sapping my ability to think, hence this long-delayed post! My oh-so-relaxing trip to the beach seems like ages ago already. I'm happy to report, however, that it was actually very easy to find meals, and I barely touched the huge bag of snacks I'd packed. My stomach was vaguely cooperative, and I can now say I survived my first celiac vacation.

Some of the snacks I brought, for reference: organic carrot sticks, tortilla chips and mini-packs of guacamole, Flamous falafel chips, Potato Flyers, Glutino chocolate peanut butter organic bars, a box of Imagine organic potato leek soup, Thai Kitchen's Bangkok Curry instant rice noodle soup, Dr. McDougall's instant Pad Thai and tortilla soup cups, and a bag of homemade squash muffins. (Naturally, after all that preparation, I didn't need any of it!)

Finding great gluten-free food so easily was the best surprise of the trip. Our first stop was at Lucky Bones Backwater Grille on Rt. 109 (the main road into town) in beautiful Cape May. A gluten-free menu is in the works, I was told, and the server and chef were incredibly helpful. I ordered a delicious filet tip sandwich with grilled peppers, mushrooms, and caramelized onions, served with the best herb polenta I've ever had (in lieu of fries - the fryer isn't safe) and a nice, tangy cole slaw. To my overwhelming shock, they had gluten-free hamburger buns on hand so I ate my first real sandwich in months! Not only that, the bun, from Against the Grain, was really good - great flavor and texture. The meal was nothing short of miraculous and I definitely recommend Lucky Bones for GF dining in the Cape May or Wildwood area.

Also, check out their brunch menu! We weren't there on a Sunday so I'll just have to go back and investigate (darn).

My next recommendation: La Piazza Cucina at 4600 Pacific in Wildwood. This dimly-lit, old school Italian restaurant is like stepping back in time to the golden days of Wildwood; I kept half-expecting Uncle Junior to sit down next to me. La Piazza offers one type of gluten-free pasta per day. I selected penne with clams in a spicy marinara sauce, my long-lost favorite Italian meal. The pasta was so perfectly al dente, I briefly wondered if there'd been some mistake - I'm used to the soggy mushiness of brown rice pasta. But no, this was Sam Mills Pasta d'Oro, made from corn, and the texture and flavor were outstanding and almost unrecognizably gluten-free. In the interest of disclosure, I will admit my stomach was not happy after this meal, but since I still have frequent trouble even with being GF and DF, I have no idea whether it was the pasta, the corn, the clams, the garlic, the red pepper, the preparation, or something else. Verdict: be cautious, but this was one fabulous dinner and I am very excited about discovering Pasta d'Oro.

My final review: Maui's Dog House at 8th and New Jersey in Wildwood. Junk food fans, rejoice. It's a hot dog stand with picnic bench seating out front under a tent - definitely not fancy digs, and they're open for lunch only. The harried proprietress overheard me inquiring about the deep-fryer situation, and yelled over, to our great amusement, "Gluten-free?" But yes, to my happiness, nothing goes in the fryer except fries. They serve a bajillion kinds of heart-stopping loaded hot dogs, burgers, and chicken sandwiches. The hot dogs are made of beef, pork, and veal, and since I don't eat pork or veal anyway, it wasn't an issue for me. But the hamburger-sans-bun (two patties for $4.50) was juicy and flavorful. It's such a treat to be able to order fries, so of course I had to indulge. The portions are enormous ($3 for regular, $3.50 for more Old Bay than I could handle) and served in doggie bowls. Somehow our lunch wound up costing more than our Lucky Bones dinner did.

Anyway, thank you, New Jersey, for some much needed oceanfront relaxation and for being more gluten-aware than I'd expected. Thanks also to Gluten Free Philly for the super helpful compendium of GF-friendly eateries, which provided a starting point to tackle the challenge of GF vacation dining.

p.s. This Sunday 6/27 is the first and last meeting of the summer for the Celiac and Gluten Intolerant Group of New Castle County, Delaware. The event will be held at Christiana Hospital and features guest speaker Michael of the aforementioned Gluten Free Philly blog. Check out the Gluten Free Delaware website for more details and to rsvp.