Gluten-free ~ A Day in Review

There have been several instances lately where people who are unfamiliar with Celiac Disease or the gluten-free diet ask me what I can eat.  They ask with strange looks on their faces after hearing what I can’t eat.  If you take a step back & look at the big picture, there is really a lot more food that I can eat than food that I have to avoid.  It just happens that the foods that I have to avoid are the most commonly known & available foods.  So while I was running this morning on the treadmill (yes, I ran 8 miles before 7 AM 😉 ) I thought that I would document my entire day of gluten-free eats for everyone to see. 

Pre-run snack – Banana that was not pictured because I hadn’t thought about doing this yet.

Breakfast – 2 Van’s Gluten -Free Blueberry Waffles topped with PB & Co’s Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter  topped with Pumpkin Butter and more raisins.  On the side I had a juicy white peach!  YUM!!

Snack – Weil by Nature’s Path Goji Moji Bar

Lunch – Homemade corn tortilla chips (bake with Pam & sea salt at 350 for 10 min or less); Red quinoa (double the fiber of regular quinoa) topped with leftover half of a sweet potato & grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini & okra), feta cheese & Frank’s Red Hot.

Dessert – Handful of dark chocolate covered cranberries & blueberries from Anthony Thomas (forgot to snap a picture of these).

Snack – Gluten-free Blueberry Chia Muffin

Dinner – Large salad w/mixed greens, cuke, tomato, carrot, radishes, pine nuts, dried apricots and Fat Free French dressing; Trader Joe’s GF French Roll topped with fresh sliced mozzarella, fresh basil, tomatoes & balsamic vinaigrette then broiled; the rest of my grilled veggies (eggplant, asparagus, zucchini & okra).  Small glass (2-3 oz) of what was left of a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dessert – Scoop of Turkey Hill Banana Split Ice Cream (OMG…TDF!) topped with blueberries & mini chocolate chips.

Think I am full now!  Because it is summer, I have been incorporating all kinds of fresh fruit & veggies into my meals.  Not only do I love my fruits & veggies, but they are naturally gluten-free, which is a huge bonus in my book. 

LiveJournal Tags: Meals,breakfast,lunch,dinner,snacks

Gluten-Free Blueberry Chia Muffins

It is no secret that I love food.  To feed my fascination for food, I read many food blogs to get ideas for new things to bake or cook.  I happened upon a recipe the other day for Blueberry Chia Muffins over at Another Bites the Crust’s blog.   First, love the name of the blog, how clever! 😉  The muffins looked so good in the picture and I had a bunch of fresh blueberries, so off I went to make some changes to convert this recipe to gluten-free.

Gluten-free Blueberry Chia Muffins

 

1  1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix

1/4 cup ground flax seed (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water (I used Ruth’s Chia Goodness that has hemp seeds & buckwheat in it too)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup nondairy milk (I used Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze)
1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine chia seeds in water until it forms a gel-like substance.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.  In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Fold in blueberries.  Bake in lined muffin tins for 15 to 20 minutes.  Check with a toothpick  inserted into the center for doneness.

WOW!!!  These are amazing!!!  Guess who ate them & loved them?  Mr. I-don’t-like-blueberries, none other than Jon, himself.  I couldn’t tell him about the other ingredients or he wouldn’t have touched them!  HA!!  Super healthy!  Jon asked me to make them into banana nut muffins next time.  I feel an experiment coming soon!

**If you want to make these non-gluten-free, just replace the Pamela’s mix with whole wheat flour. 

LiveJournal Tags: breakfast,gluten-free muffins,blueberry muffins

Friday Foodie Fix

I love this event that Dianne over at The Whole Gang hosts every Friday.  This week the ingredient is eggplant…ooh…one of my favs!!  I buy at least 1 eggplant per week and love to eat it roasted with other veggies.  I slice the eggplant in rounds and place paper towels on each side and then pound with a frying pan to help lessen the bitterness.  I found this tip on another food blog (though I don’t remember where….I am getting old!) and it really works.  Then I slice into chunks or leave in rounds.  After they are in the shape I want, I toss in some olive oil (EVOO as Rachael Ray says), sea salt & pepper.  Then I roast in the oven at 375 or so for 20-40 minutes.  I have also grilled in place of roasting & they turn out great!  Another idea?  Cut the eggplant lengthwise and then use a the base for a burger and top with your choice of toppings & then top with another slice of eggplant. 

Here is a favorite, simple recipe I use for eggplant.

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

1 medium eggplant
1 medium zucchini
Mozzarella Cheese (or sliced fresh mozzarella)
Parmesan Cheese
Marinara Sauce (I used homemade today, but have used Prego 3 Cheese in the past)

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Slice eggplant & zucchini.
3. Spread sauce in the bottom of a glass pyrex dish. Start to layer eggplant & zucchini and cheeses with sauce. Repeat until ingredients are gone.
4. Bake at least 30 minutes. Test the eggplant with a fork, it should be soft. Broil for a couple minutes to brown up the top.

**I have seen a variation of this recipe with ricotta cheese too. That would make it more a meal, suitable for vegetarians.

Enjoy your Friday!! 🙂

LiveJournal Tags: Friday Foodie Fix,dinner,eggplant