Rough Sunday

We almost burned down our house after a failed attempt at a late night mac & cheese session... Good thing the smoke coming from the burning Tinkyada woke us up! I'm almost more pissed that I wasted some of my precious Tinkyada than the fact that our home STINKS. Any suggestions on how to get the smell to go away?? I've been washing everything and all windows are open despite the cold.

And to top it off, I decided to make some Cheddar Corn Chowder. Ran to the store to pick up a few things... began making it - and realized after I was almost done, that I had put in Chicken Stock that wasn't gluten free!!!! I was so pissed. I ate a small bowl anyway, and I feel OK actually. But still, pissed. Why on earth isn't all chicken stock gluten free???

RISOTTERIA!

After reading much of the famed gluten free restaurant Risotteria - I made a trip to NYC to visit friends, and head to the Village to check this place out!

I was very excited, and we got there to find there was an hour wait, which was OK by me - I wasn't eating anywhere else, and we knew they didn't take reservations. We were finally seated at 10:30 (yikes!) and enjoyed some of the GF bread sticks in front of us. I was thinking about getting a bottle of GF beer - but we got a bottle of wine instead. I was with two friends who do not have a gluten intolerance, but agreed to eat GF so that I could try everything (so nice!)...

I have extremely mediocre pictures of the food we ate - I was embarrassed to use the flash to take pictures, so they were dark and I tried to lighten them up a bit - you'll get the idea.

To start: the White Bean & Calamari salad... YUM, this was delish, very light and a great start to the meal.

Then, for our main courses we got the Pesto Pizza with shrimp, arugula and cheese: I love thin crust pizza - so this was excellent - Actually, I think this was my favorite thing we ate there.
Then we got Risotto of course, we got that nights special which had sausage in it & was flavored with saffron- YUM:
Finally, we got a panini with chicken, mozzarella, olive tapende and something else, which I can't recall:

The panini was good, not great. I was more excited about the fact that I was actually eating a sandwich - something I haven't done since I was diagnosed, and I used to eat at least one sandwich a week. My friends thought the panini tasted the most "gluten free" - since the gf focaccia was a little dense, typical of any gf bread. I still enjoyed it - and we ate everything on that table!

We were STUFFED, but I had to get dessert - so we got the carrot cake, which was excellent - the frosting was the best part! Check it out: It was a HUGE piece.

My sister wanted me to get the dessert called "The Fudgie" which is two cake-like chocolate chip cookies with whipped fudge in the middle, it looked really good, but too rich for our full bellies. I took some of the breadstick dough mix with me to make at home - still haven't done that yet.

All in all - a great place! I will certainly be going again. The only problem is the location - it's way down in Greenwich Village and everyone I know lives in the Upper East side - so a bit of a hike, but still great. Too bad it's not bigger - and it's really too bad they don't ship!!! I inquired about it to the grumpy manager, but he just gave me an irritated look and said that they did not ship and never would and that everyone asks them that. Well Mr. Grumpy-pants - maybe you should, your business may take off!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween today - not that I'm dressing up or anything, but still a good excuse to eat sweets, speaking of which; my favorite gluten free candy bar:
YUM. I bought a whole bag of the minis thinking there is a slight chance I could get a trick-or-treater or two in my building. Chances are, I won't - which leaves more for me!

What's your favorite gluten free candy???

First Legal Seafoods Experience

I made it to Legals this past weekend for my first gluten free dining experience. YUM!

It was so great to have an entire menu that was gluten free and I could eat anything that I wanted!

I started with the hot crab dip with "seafood crackers" -- I think they were rice crackers, they were hot, and fried and great! Then I got the Seafood Casserole (had shrimp, lobster, white fish, scallops) which had a sherry butter sauce & gluten free breadcrumbs! It was excellent. It was great service too -- the manager brings over the gluten free dish, and the waitress brought over everyone elses... I guess they do that so that you know your food is prepared separately, and is, in fact, gluten free & "special". We had sorbet for dessert too... Can't wait to go back! I highly recommend it if there is one near you!

Apple Pie & Lasagna

OK -- haven't posted in a while, busy!

So, the lasagna was DELICIOUS! It didn't even taste gluten free, have I said how much I love Tinkyada pasta yet? This is certainly not a lasagna for those with lactose issues - it had 4 kinds of cheese & was great!

The apple pie however, was not so good. The crust wasn't really great, needed something else - maybe some honey or something? And on top of that - I was just trying to remember how to make it (no recipe) which was silly, I forgot to put sugar on the apples! Woops... It was kindof gross. I usually also like pie's to have a top layer of crust... I should try that almond flour crust next time that someone recommended. Anyway, experiments are good right?

Stocked Pantry

I paid a visit to the Hadley (near Northampton, MA) Whole Foods this past weekend. Let me tell you, they are STOCKED with gluten-free food. If you ever find yourself in Western Mass, this is the place to go.

They had a huge selection of Tinkyada pasta - probably every brand they carry, I was psyched to see the lasagna noodles, and am currently making my first gluten free lasanga.. YUM.

I also got scones, cookies, baking mixes, etc etc... They had the Chebe Mixes which I hear are great, so I can't wait to make those. The list goes on. Whole Foods is such a great store, I would shop there all the time if I could afford it!

So since I made the lasagna tonight, I will be making the apple pie tomorrow, I'll fill you in.

Going Apple Picking

Can't eat: Store-bought Pie Crust

Can eat: gluten free version... So what's the best one? Should I do it from scratch? I always used to buy the pre-made stuff, since it takes so long to peel & cut the apples anyway! I found a recipe on celiac.com that seems pretty easy: Pie Crust Recipe

So, let me know if you have any suggestions! Also, I plan on picking A LOT of apples, so any other ideas of what to do with them would be great!!