mari made

Let's get Naked!

2011-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Pizza that is! Meet San Diego's newest purveyor of scrumptious gluten free pizza pie. With locations scattered across the United States and even a few in Dubai, here in San Diego we are blessed with not one but two Naked Pizza's, one in Hillcrest on 5th Avenue and the second in Pacific Beach. Their mantra, to make the worlds healthiest pizza without sacrificing deliciousness, and by golly they nailed it! Using ingredients free of chemical additives, trans fats, and preservatives, skim milk mozzarella, growth hormone and antibiotic free meats, tomato sauce and dough free of added sugar, and by adding prebiotics and probiotics to their crust they have managed to create a pizza you can actually feel good about eating. Oh and bonus! On the weekends they are open till 3am!

Viva Viva Pops!

2010-08-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

To improve upon something as perfect as a popsickle, now that's a company after my heart! Viva Pops has been serving up frozen deliciousness on a stick since the summer of 2008. Whether you are enjoying their delicious frozen confections at one of San Diego's local farmers markets or from their shop in Normal Heights these innovative flavors packed full of fresh local seasonal fruits are just the treat for a hot summer day (or chilly day eaten in your car with the heater on)!

Take me out to the ballgame take me out to the crowd...

2010-07-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Buy me some gluten free beer and a hot dog...wait that's not how it goes, or is it!?

It's true! It's true! It's true!!! Petco Park in San Diego has a gluten free food cart! Nestled in a corner near the Omni hotel entrance to the park the all gluten free cart offers hot dogs and hamburgers on the yummiest ever gluten free buns, pretzels, hummus and veggies, and yes, even gluten free beer!

Boy was I ever a happy camper! I think this was my first time ever having a hot dog and a beer at a ball game, it felt like an American summer time rite of passage. One thing is for sure this gluten free gal is going to be attending quite a few ballgames this summer!

Deliciosness on wheels

2010-07-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

After years of drooling over the fabulous food truck scene in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland (swoon!) San Diego has at last hopped on the bandwagon. The past few years have brought with them a number of scrumptious new mobile food providers, many with regulars and raving fans that follow the trucks just to get a taste of their daily deliciousness. As part of my job I have had the pleasure of sampling and getting to know many of these gourmet restaurants on wheels (I know, such work! ;-) It's hard to pick and choose but for your dining pleasure I will share two of the gems I have most recently found myself frequenting.

Miho Gastrotruck

Whether serving lunch in a business park, dishing up dinner at the Whistlestop, or popping up to share their mouthwatering creations at events around the town, Miho has taken food truck cuisine to a whole new level of delicious in San Diego. They specialize in hand crafted street food and they master this beautifully by using fresh ingredients sourced from local farms and food purveyors, and making many of their sauces and condiments from scratch.

Their menu changes weekly and varies by season, which in my opinion speaks very highly of their creativity and brilliance in the kitchen. As a longtime fan or Homi as they call it, I have tried many different dishes and never once has one made me feel anything less than completely enamored with their ability to combine ingredients in such a delectable fashion.

Tabe

Tabe has taken two of my favorite cuisines and managed to combine them in a way that leaves my taste buds hollering for more. Using some of the most delicious flavors found in Asian cuisine and melding them with Mexican they have created a delicious new twist on street tacos.

One of my favorites are the spicy pork tacos, pork marinated in a spicy Korean sauce then grilled and served up soft taco style or atop a bed of lettuce for us gluten free folks (on occasion they carry corn tortillas too, just ask!).

They also have an amazing take on the So.Cal classic, carne asada fries. Fresh cut fries topped with cheese, their yummy tomato salsa and sour creme. Made Tabe style by seasoning the fries with their custom blended Asian spice mix and melting the cheese atop with a blow torch (so cool!).

There are so many more to list, like Joe's on the Nose and their amazing horchata latte. Oh and Corner Cupcakes and their creative offering of gourmet cupcakes like buttermilk bacon and chocolate stout! Sadly, I do not yet have any photos to share from these, guess that means someone is going to be going out food truck sampling again soon! Stay tuned!

Swirly pesto goodness

2010-05-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I saw a gluteny version of these savory baked buns though I can't for the life of me remember where or when. What I do recall is that I was so taken by the thought of them that they immediately and permanently found a place in my heart and I knew without a doubt that I would someday recreate these scrumptious bready morsels.

Finally, last May that delicious day came! The Pearl Hotel was hosting a vintage prom and I arranged a girly champagne prom prep party. Bubbly and berries, check! Swoon worthy cheeses, check! Caprese salad, check! Carbs...... oh no! I had not planned on carbs and a pre party party with champagne definably calls for some yummy carb filled goodness. As I searched through my pantry and fridge I assessed the situation, no bread, no crackers, not even tortillas....someones gonna have to get creative and in a hurry as the ladies were to be arriving within the half hour. After scouring through the cabinets I at last came upon the perfect combination....

Chebe original bread mix + homemade pistachio pesto + parmigiano reggiano cheese. My memory of those delicious buns came back in an instant and I quickly got to work.

Easy peasy swirly pesto buns

Ingredients

1 bag Chebe original bread mix and ingredients required to make that (eggs, oil, milk) or you can feel free to use any other pizza or gf roll mix or recipe you might have.

Pesto

Parmigiano reggiano cheese

Preparation

Prepare your dough and roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle, cinnamon roll style. Then smooth a generous layer of the pesto atop the rectangle and top with cheese.

Roll into a log.

Slice into rolls and place upon a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake as indicated on the bread mix package or until rolls are slightly golden brown on the exterior, mine took about 35 minutes.

Sooooooooo good! In fact we were all so exited to eat them that it slipped my mind to even snap a picture. In lieu I will share with you some of our fun prom night pix :-)

For the love of a lovely gluten free lunch

2010-05-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time when I was a full time office manager working in Solana beach and this little bloggy blog was still brand new I use to write lovingly about one of my favorite lunch spots, Waters Catering. So much has happened since then, moving to a new office then to a new job, in a new part of the city that was not within lunch break distance of my dear Waters on hwy 101. But wait, just when I thought all hope to frequently dine at this most delicious of restaurants was lost I remembered there was a second Waters Catering location only a hop skip and a jump away from my office! Hurray!

As always I had my favorite sandwich, the turkey panini on house made gluten free focaccia bread (swoon!), a decadent chocolate peanut butter bar, and an Orangina.

They also had these delicious cinnamon crisps for sale, so yummy!

Cinco De Mayo Fiesta

2010-05-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have never really done anything festive for Cinco De Mayo and so my dearest friend Kate, whom I have been friends with since we were toddlers, decided that at age 30 it was high time we celebrated this festive holiday properly.

We started off the evening at El Camino Super Cocina in Little Italy where we…

Had our picture taken with a Zonkey! (though I think he was really a pony so that would make him more of a Zoney I suppose). Nonetheless he was super cute and I felt like this definitely qualified as proper Cinco de Mayo festiveness.

Unfortunately, El Camino was way too packed to sit for a proper meal, which was sad because their food is amazing!! Last time I was there their nightly special was baked chile relleno, yes it was baked not fried and not breaded meaning completely gluten free and very much swoon worthy as far as deliciousness goes.

Before heading out we squeezed our way to the bar for a celebratory toast with tequila served in itty bitty boot glasses (so cute!)

Even though we were sad to not be eating at El Camino we were not that sad because instead we got to go to my favorite pizza place in San Diego.

Pizza Fusion

Gluten free crust topped with tri color peppers, mozzarella and the most delicious pepperonis I have ever tasted. I could not have picked a better meal for Cinco de Mayo or any night of the week for that matter.

They also just happened to have a new gluten free cider on the menu.

Fox Barrel Black Currant Cider. Now I am not typically a huge beer or cider gal but this stuff may have just chanced that. The flavor of the currant really comes out in the most perfect subtlety sweet not at all bitter way, I think I have a new favorite beverage to pair with pizza!

We may not have stuck to the typical Cinco de Mayo theme as far as celebrating goes but I must say I think we did it up just right.

Lights, camera, yummy food... ACTION!

2010-03-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

Hello friends :-)

I have been a busy busy bee here at Specialty Produce lately! Working on lots of fun new things like visiting fantastic farms and scrumptious restaurants and learning all sorts of facts, tricks, and tasty tidbits from chefs and other fabulous foodies.

One new project that I have been particularly enthused about are the new videos we have been making here at Specialty featuring some of our favorite restaurants as well as some delicious how-to’s and recipe sharing features.

Creating yummy little videos like these has been on my to do list forever now so I am excited that making them is now part of my job description here. It has also inspired me to at last start working on my own gluten free version of this project. I just recently shot a video at this heavenly new gluten free place and hope to have the delicious footage up in the next week. For now here are a few of my yummy videos from the Specialty Produce U-Tube channel.

Vin De Syrah

Saffron

Yummy Caprese Salad with Tondo Balsamic

Soda Pop

2010-01-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Now, I am typically not much of a soda drinker but this particular bottle of gluten free soda pop caught my eye. Sugar and artificial sweetener free, containing an array of natural ingredients like kola nut, clove bud, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange oil, and cassia, and with a bottle label that boasts, “This feel good diet soda with give you a natural lift”, how could I not give it a try?!

The carbonation was not overwhelming and the flavor was spot on, the perfect balance of subtlety sweet and delicately spiced with absolutely no trace of icky artificially sweetened soda taste. I think I will definitely be treating myself to this again!

Spicy snacking

2010-01-14T19:26:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed snack time this week has been jam packed with sweets so I figured in order to maintain the nutritiousness of this site I should make an effort to diversify my diet a bit and throw in a snack that may be lacking in the sweet department but more than makes up for it with its scrumptious spiciness.

The floks at Harvest Roast have been making slow roasted pumpkin seeds since the 90’s. They started out selling at farmers markets in Oregon and today they have happily expanded and now share their scrumptious seeds with natural food stores throughout the west coast.

High in zinc, iron, protein, and omega 3’s these spicy little seeds are perfect for snacking on when you find yourself with a case of the mid day munchies.

The chili lime flavor was delish! I can’t wait to get my hands on their other 4 flavors, sea salt, garlic herb, honey sesame, and my potentially future favorite, jalapeño…I likea the spice! ;-)

Saffron special

2010-01-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

It’s been down right summery here in San Diego the past few days, nothing but warmth, blue skies and bright sunny days until today that is, when the skies clouded up, the temperature dropped and scattered showers lightly drizzled our normally sunshiny city. This proper winter weather arrived just in time for one of my favorite food days of the week…chicken pumpkin
curry Wednesday!

Every Wednesday the wonderful folks at Saffron cook up this scrumptious seasonal special. Fresh roasted chicken and kabocha squash mingling together in a perfectly spiced pumpkiny curry served alongside their yummy fruit chutney and spicy cucumber salad. Splurge a bit and order it with their delicious organic red rice, trust me you won’t be disappointed!

Another Sweet Snacktime

2010-01-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

January, a time for resolutions, eating healthier squeezing in more exercise and veggies and cutting back on fat and sugar intake. Now I am all for exercise and am probably one of the biggest fans of fruits and veggies you will ever meet but when it comes to denying myself the sweet things in life, now that’s where I draw the line. Eating a gluten free diet is restrictive enough, to try and cut out cheese, chocolate and other sweets would just be downright tragic in my opinion. Everything in moderation has always been my mantra when it comes to eating, so if your body is craving pizza, pasta, cookies or cake go ahead and give in (just don’t eat the whole lot of it!).

Today as I was perusing the isles of Whole Foods for something yummy to snack on, I was thrilled to find one of my favorite packaged gluten free and vegan cookies.

Made by Dr.Lucy in Virginia these crispy little cookies are not only gluten free and vegan but also nut free as well. Many of the ingredients are organic and she incorporates garbanzo bean flour into her flour mix for added protein.

My two favorites are the cinnamon thins (left) and the oatmeal (right) but she also makes a scrumptious chocolate chip and sugar cookie as well.

Sweet Snacktime

2010-01-11T23:25:00.000-08:00

Nothing bests sweet new gluten free treats that are delicious and good for you to boot! “Tree Huggin’ Treats” Crispy Cat Mint Coconut bar has to be one of my favorite sweets right now. I discovered these scrumptious bars at Mothers Market in Irvine over the holiday when visiting the family and was pleased as a peach to find that they are now selling them at my local Whole Foods in Hillcrest.

Organic coconut (fruit with healthy fats!) and brown rice (grains are great!) covered in organic dark chocolate (yay antioxidants!).

So maybe you can’t quite classify it as a nutrition or meal replacement bar but as far as sweet snacky foods go it’s a much healthier alternative to many other candy bar type treats out there and one that us gluten free and vegan food fans can enjoy worry free.

If my testimony to their deliciousness is not reason enough for you to run out and buy yourself one or two or ten of these right now maybe the owners sweet message on the back will persuade you.

PS I am dying to try their Chocolate Sundae bar but can't find it anywhere! If anyone finds a store carrying it please let me know! :-)

My delicious desk

2010-01-09T19:19:00.000-08:00

There was lots of fun produce picture taking and editing to be done at work today, so much so in fact that I totally lost track of time and forgot to eat lunch! Lucky for me when this happens (and it often does) there are no shortage of yummy restaurants just a hop, skip, jump or in my case short drive from my little office. Tonight’s yummy late lunch/early dinner came from Saffron in Mission Hills.

Chicken salad rolls with peanut and sriracha sauces for dipping.

As always they were delish and since I still had an ample amount of tinkering to do with the fruity photographs for the day, they were happily enjoyed at my messy desk while editing a picture of Mutsu apples.

Gluten Free tip: Saffron has lots of yummy rice noodle dishes on their menu and has gluten free soy sauce available by request, yay!

GF Party People

2010-01-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

The only thing better than baking gluten free sweets for a party is getting to attend the party as well! A few months ago I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a fabulous nutritionist named Elizabeth Alkhas. Elizabeth specializes in gluten free nutrition, digestive health and helping spread the gospel on the joy and ease of eating delicious nutritious body pleasing foods. Since we met I have had the pleasure of baking for her on a handful of occasions, most recently for her birthday party at Carlsbad Wine Merchant. The incredibly friendly and knowledgeable staff served up tastes of a variety of different wines that were all among some of the tastiest I have ever had (and I have had quite a few!). In addition they had prepared a mouthwatering feast, all of which was gluten free!!

How rare is it for us gluten free peeps to be able to go out somewhere, especially an event, and be able to graze freely and sample any tasty treat that happens to tempt our taste buds?! I was in heaven!

The wonderful people at Carlsbad Wine Merchant who are quite accustomed to putting on parties and events said that after doing a comparison of costs of what they typically spend on similar food for an event and buying the same type of foods but with an emphasis on gluten free, sustainable, free range type goods the cost was only 8% higher! Now there’s a fact to share with all those naysayers that complain that it’s too expensive to eat healthy.

Of course in addition to the yummies provided by the Wine Merchant there were sweets made with love by me!

Chocolate ganache raspberry tarts

Chocolate salted caramel cake

It was a delicious evening made all the more memorable by the incredibly talented, friendly, brilliant birthday girl and all of her wonderful friends! I feel so blessed to have been in attendance and to have the opportunity to meet so many wonderful new food loving friends!

It's tomato time!!

2010-01-08T17:19:00.001-08:00

Today I was updating some of the tomato pictures at Specialty Produce and you know what that means….

Tomato salad for lunch!

Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes and Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes mingled with fresh buffalo mozzarella and basil all drizzled in a rich balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with black pepper.

I know it’s not very seasonally minded of me but I don’t care! I could and happily do eat tomato salad all year long. Thank goodness I work at a produce company!

I <3 Lockwood!

2009-08-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

I did not think it was possible to be busier than I have been this past year but low and behold my schedule as of late has made all the months prior to it seem like a walk in the park. Not that I can really complain all that much, in my opinion all of the uber long work days/nights and lack of adequate sleep are a welcome sacrifice to be able to do what I love.

For those of you that don’t already know, since late July Mari Made baked goods have been available at a lovely little café in Solana Beach called “The Lockwood Table”. Located in the Cedros Design District, Lockwood Table offers an array of tasty breakfast, lunch, and sweet treats. Almost everything on the menu can be tinkered with to be gluten free if it is not already and they always have a delicious selection of my gluten free baked goods.

Currently we are offering…

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Strawberry Cupcakes

Lavender infused Chocolate Cupcakes

Black Bottom Cupcakes (with cream cheese + chocolate filling!)

Myer Lemon Tarts

Blueberry Muffins with crumble topping

Lockwich Sandwiches (2 oatmeal cookies with sour cherries + white chocolate and a vanilla filling)

Banana Bread (once a month, email me for dates!)

The menu will change seasonally (look for pumpkin scones and caramel apple pie tarts in the fall!) and as always custom orders are available by emailing gfmarimade@gmail.com

We are working on a bread to be used for sandwiches and French toast but in the mean time all of the sandwiches can be made as a wrap using French Meadow GF tortillas, which are amazzzing (imagine your old favorite flour tortilla, but that its 100x’s better, really!!)

I am there Monday and Thursday nights baking so if you want something really fresh or want to ensure that it is not sold out stop by within a day or two of bake night.

xoxo

Rachel Marie

http://www.lockwoodtable.com/index.html

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lockwood-table-cafe-solana-beach

New! GF Menu at Urban Solace

2009-08-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

As if this restaurant was not wonderful enough already, they now offer a gluten free menu that clearly points out all of their delicious dishes that are or can be made gluten free, yay! I dined there recently and wrote this yummy review for Specialty Produce….

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/28/solace-in-the-city/

xoxo

Rachel Marie

p.s. more to come soon! As in tonight when I get home from work :-)

Whistling While I Work

2009-06-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

Been busy as a bee lately, snapping pictures at Specialty, hiring summer staff for the theater, helping keep the office organized at FDG, and baking delicious gluten free treats every chance I get. I feel so busy sometimes that it makes my head spin but overall its been an exciting few months. I know my work schedule won’t be like this forever, maybe not even for the rest of the year so I am trying to enjoy my crazy life right now just as it is. The only thing that has really saddened me is my lack of time to write consistently on here. Squeezing in more writing time is sitting pretty high on my list of priorities right now, I won’t make a promise of when because I know myself too well to do that but I will say this, it may not be this week or even this month but a semi consistent writing schedule is on the horizon and before the end of the summer I plan to be back in the saddle or more specifically in the kitchen and behind the keyboard again.

Until then here are a few blog posts I had the pleasure of writing for Specialty Produce. If you love food (and if you are reading this I imagine you do) then you are going to swoon for this yummy webby site. It's consistently packed full of delicious tidbits like scrumptious new San Diego restaurants, farmers market finds, and recipes. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Sweet Syrah

TGI(pizza)F(usion)

The Taste of Little Italy

Lovely Lemons

Scrumptious Simplicity

xoxo

Rachel Marie

Whole Food Finds and the return of Rachel Marie

2009-04-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

I know it’s been quite a while.

There are stories to tell, recipes to share, new products and restaurants to gush about, and lots of catching up to be done but for now let me start with something simple. A delicious trip to the grocery store.

I headed to Whole Foods for lunch today not knowing exactly what I wanted and after wandering up and down most of the isles, trying out a few lotions, and tasting a few samples of cheese and watermelon my basket was filled with a scrumptious selection of gluten free goodies.

For lunch I decided on a salad from their organic salad bar.

Spring mix
Spinach
Sunflower sprouts
Carrots
Beets
Corn
Peas
Sunflower seeds
Dried cranberries

I opted to wait till I got back to the office to eat so I could use my own yummy dressing

To drink I found a delicious new Kombucha!

Botanic #9 which has bilberry, honeysuckle and red clover.

And for my sweet tooth I picked out an Enjoy Life Chocolate bar with crispy rice.

This GF vegan chocolaty treat reminds me of a Crunch bar but better!

I also picked up a snack to have after yoga tonight.

A chocolate banana muffin from a local bakery called Muffin Physics. All their treats are wheat, dairy, soy, nut, egg, and gluten free.

Like I said earlier, there is much more deliciousness to come and soon, I promise!

xoxo

Tasty Taco Thursday

2009-02-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

Working in the San Diego Metro area makes it so much easier for me to talk myself into meeting up with friends for dinner, drinks and other downtown evening adventures. As of late I have been devoting Thursday nights for meet ups with my brother, Chris. Last week we went to Bernardo and Melanie Bermudez’s condo for a delicious dinner al fresco.

Chris works in Imperial Beach and is always so kind as to pick up lots of fresh Mexican goodies whenever we are meeting up for dinner. The night of our gathering at the Bermudez’s he brought along some pollo asado, queso fresco and a bundle of freshly made corn tortillas and since I was coming straight from Specialty I brought along some fresh veggies.

Super Scrumptious Soft Tacos and Stuffed Peppers

Feel free to mix and match ingredients as you like. Between the four of us these just happened to be the ingredients that we had on hand and they made for a most delicious dinner.

Ingredients for Stuffed Peppers

Bell Peppers

Mushrooms, roughly chopped

Garlic, minced

Onion, minced

Queso fresco, crumbled

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut the tops off the peppers, deseed them and then set aside. In a small bowl combine the chopped mushrooms, onion, garlic, queso fresco, salt and pepper.

Stuff each pepper with the filling and then set aside.

Ingredients for Tacos

Bell Peppers, cut into bite sized pieces

Zucchini, cut onto bite sixed pieces

Corn Tortillas

Queso Fresco

Pollo Asado

Once you have all the peppers stuffed and the veggies for the tacos prepared you are ready to head out to the grill and get cooking. Arrange all of your goodies on the grill and let cook until the veggies are tender, the chicken cooked through, and the stuffed peppers piping hot.

Once the taco filings are done warm the tortillas on the grill, fill them with the veggies and chicken, and top with a sprinkling of queso fresco.

We also made salads with field greens, cucumbers, mushrooms and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and balsamic.

Everything was delish! Bernardo and Melanie’s condo has a wonderful outdoor sitting area that not only has a grill but a lovely arrangement of couches, chairs and a fire pit perfect for relaxing with friends long into the evening.

Many thanks to the Bermudez's for having us over for such a delicious dinner! In addition to being fabulous hosts Bernardo and Melanie are both talented artists as well. Melanie is a fabulous painter and web developer and Bernardo is an amazing singer.

The Return of the Sandwich

2009-02-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

Quesadillas have been my go to dinner dish lately. Tortilla + any number of veggie, fruit, spice, and cheese combinations = a most delicious dinner. Another delicious way to enjoy the afore mentioned ingredients is nestled between two slices of gluten free bread. As much as I love spending the day making fresh baked bread sometimes there is just not enough time in the day for all of that kneading, rising and baking. Luckily there are some fairly good gluten free breads on the market these days, such as:

Glutino

Food For Life

Ener-G

The key with store bought gluten free breads is serving them warm, preferably toasted which is perfectly peachy because one of the most delicious types of sandwiches are grilled paninis.

GF Grilled Paninis

Ingredients

A few slices of your favorite gluten free bread

Earth balance, butter or olive oil (for non stick and browning purposes)

Thinly sliced veggies and cheese (soy, rice or moo cow)

Here are a few of my favorite combinations:

Thinly sliced bell peppers + tomatoes + basil +minced garlic + mozzarella cheese

Thinly sliced bell peppers + minced garlic + spinach + pepper jack or mozzarella cheese

Gather up your ingredients, chop up your veggies, and grab a large pan and cast iron skillet if you have one.

Butter one side of each slice of bread while your large skillet warms over medium high heat. Place the bread in the hot pan butter side down and top one of the slices with the cheese and veggies. Top this with another slice of bread to complete the sandwich and let cook on medium heat until the underside is browned. Carefully flip the sandwich and then if you have one, press a cast iron skillet gently atop it.

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet you can simply press down firmly on the sandwich using a spatula. Let this cook for another few minutes or until bread is browned and the cheese is all melty.

Delicious!

I am eager to try and recreate one of my favorite sandwiches from my last visit to Amsterdam, thickly sliced dry salami + mature cheddar + butter = yummers!

For the Love of Lunch

2009-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Since I took up work at Specialty my days of running home for an hour long homemade lunch break have pretty much come to an end. Switching from a 2 mile commute to a 26 mile one has a tendency to do that. Instead of running home for lunch I now snack on cheese and crackers, trail mix, and fresh fruit from the warehouse. Once a week I also go out for a yummy lunch, one of my favorite lunch spots lately has been Natures Express in Hillcrest.

Formerly known as Kung Food, Natures Express serves up a most delicious selection of vegan, raw and gluten free deliciousness. (Thanx to Kate for being my lunch date and being so gracious as to model with the Nature's Express Sign!)

Food is laid out cafeteria style with little labels listing the ingredients and whether or not the selection is raw and or gluten free.

Their selections change from day to day, personally I like to try a little of whatever new gluten free dishes they have on display. I do have a few favorites though that I always keep an eye out for like the spicy lentils, peanut tofu salad, and their mashed potatoes and gravy. Now typically I am not much of a mashed potatoes and gravy girl but I l-o-v-e these spuds!

Back when they were Kung Food they charged by weight, now they charge by the plate offering a small and a large plate that you can eat there or take to go. I typically go with the smallest plate because I always like to save room for one of their delicious raw desserts.

Cookies, chocolate mouse, and my personal favorite… the coconut cream pie and chocolate cream pie.

To be honest while the coconut pie is delicious and beautiful I must admit the chocolate is my favorite of the two. This rich, chocolaty slice of goodness is not only raw but completely gluten free! They also have a vegan + gluten free frozen yogurt that I am very much looking forward to trying on the next warm sunshiny day I happen to be dining there.

In addition to inside and outside sit down dining they also have a drive thru with lots of vegan fast food items like burgers, hot dogs and sweet potato fries. I don’t think there is much in the way of gluten free dining options at the drive thru but I have yet to investigate it. After my next visit I promise to return with a full report on any gluten free discoveries I might find.

Baking Buddies

2009-01-30T02:13:00.000-08:00

The other day I went for wine with a lovely new foodie friend, Kimberly who has a lovely blog and a delicious home baking business called Brown Sugar. We had originally intended to meet at one of my favorite north county wine spots, Gaffneys in Encinitas but upon arrival I was crushed to see that they had gone out of business! Luckily Gaffneys will eventually be opening in a new yet to be determined location and Kimberly knew of another wine bar just down the road a bit, the slightly newish Wine Steals in Cardiff. We arrived just in time for their happy hour, which got us $3 glasses of vino (woohoo!). We also shared one of their scrumptious fruit and cheese boards while we chatted about our mutual love of baking, dinner parties, planning and preparing elaborate meals, and other delicious tidbits. We chatted for hours about recipe development, the joys of starting a business, and made plans to meet up sometime in the next month for a joint Brown Sugar and Mari Made baking endeavor. One of Kimberly’s most popular baked goodies at Brown Sugar are her brownies, she also makes a strawberry cake that apparently is to die for. As soon as I heard her description of this sweet pink treat I knew I had to come up with a gluten free version.

Berry Sweet Cupcakes

Because its not quite strawberry season yet and fresh berries are still a little pricy I opted to use frozen strawberries. The frozen berries worked perfectly but I am sure this cake would be even sweeter with fresh berries. This recipe make 12 cupcakes but you can always double the batter if you want 24, and if you have any hungry family or friends around trust me you will want more than 12!

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup brown rice flour

½ cup potato starch

¼ cup tapioca flour

½ teaspoon xanath gum

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 3 oz package strawberry jello

½ cup canola oil

½ cup milk (soy or moo cow)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup strawberries, thawed if using frozen

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 then combine the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat until well combined. In another bowl sift together the flours, xanath gum, baking powder, salt and jello mix then set aside.

In a third bowl combine the oil, milk, vanilla and strawberries and using a stand mixer or hand mixer blend on medium high until the berries have broken down.

Slowly add the liquid berry mixture and the flour mixture to the bowl of egg and sugar and beat at medium speed until fully combined and slightly fluffy, about 1 minute.

Pour the rosy batter into a paper cup lined muffin tin and bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until cakes have browned along the edges slightly.

Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before removing them from the tin. Let the cakes sit on a wire rack until completely cool and then top with your favorite frosting. I used a cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

½ cup cream cheese (or tofuti brand if you want dairy free)

½ cup butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk (moo cow or soy)

Preparation

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add to this the sugar, vanilla and mil and mix until completely smooth.

Spread the frosting onto the cupcakes. Any extra frosting can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Soooo yummy! Soft fluffy gluten free cake, sweet strawberries, and rich cream cheese frosting all wrapped up in a pretty pink package, what more could a cupcake lover want!?

January Daring Bakers Challenge

2009-01-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

As much as I love gluten free baked goods, I must confess, when it comes to consumption of sweet treats I think I just might like ice cream a teensy bit more. Especially when that ice cream is in the form of a most delicious and decadent scoop of creamy gelato. At work the past week I have been pleased as a peach because my most recent photographic assignment has been completing the pictures for the gelato catalog (I know, such tough work!). After 3 days of playing with an array of different flavors of frozen deliciousness I was more than ready to take some home with me and I had the perfect excuse to do so.

Hamilton’s Birthday!

I don’t know anyone that enjoys ice cream more than this man and so for his birthday I knew that there was nothing he would love more than a giant tub of gelato from Gelato Vera.

As luck would have it I also still had yet to do my January Daring Bakers challenge and it just so happened that there was a most scrumptious way for me to tie my baking assignment in with the birthday gelato.

Tuile Dessert Cones

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Angelique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. All changes made to the original recipes to make them gluten free are noted in italics.

Tuiles are thin, delicate, crisp cookies that are molded into shapes while still warm. You can form the batter into a desired shape using frosting piping or a stencil. Popular shapes for tuiles are cigar shaped tubes, circles with the ends curled up, flowers, taco shell shapes, even butterflies. Since I was planning on serving my tuiles with gelato I decided to make my tuiles into cone shapes. To do this I made a stencil out of cardboard by cutting a large circle out of it using an exacto knife.

Ingredients

¼ cup softened butter (not melted but soft)

½ cup confectioners sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar (or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract, I used 1 teaspoon)

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

¼ cup gluten free oat flour (or almond flour), sifted

1 teaspoon cocoa powder or food coloring of choice, (optional)

Butter spray to grease baking sheet

I also made a second batch making the following changes:

Substitution: ¼ cup fine ground brown rice flour (sifted) in lieu of the oat flour

Addition: 1/8 teaspoon xanath gum

Preparation

First heat your oven to 350. Using a hand whisk or stand mixer fitted with the paddle cream the butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste on low speed.

Keep mixing while you gradually add the egg whites. Once the egg whites are combined with the butter gradually add the flour (and xanath gum if using the rice flour recipe) a little bit at a time and stir just until the batter is smooth. Be careful not to over mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. The batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out and let it sit for 30 minutes before you plan to use it. When you are ready to make the tuiles line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with butter spray and then chill the pan in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will make the batter easier to spread, especially if you are using a stencil. Press the stencil onto the chilled baking sheet and using an offset spatula spread the batter over the stencil.

If you want to decorate the tuile you can mix a tablespoon or two of the batter with a few drops of warm water and the cocoa powder or food coloring. You can now decorate the cookies any way you like. I added polka dots and stripes to mine using batter colored with cocoa powder in a piping bag.

Bake the tuiles for 5 – 10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn a golden brown. Immediately release the cookies from the baking sheet and then quickly shape/bend the cookies into the desired shape. I used a few sheets of paper rolled into a cone and secured with tape to form my cookies into cones.

The cookies have to be shaped quickly while still warm so you may want to only bake a few at a time or if need be pop them back into the oven to warm them again.

Once you have shaped the cookies set them on a wire rack until they are completely cooled.

Tuile cones are perfect for filling with all sorts of deliciousness, chocolate mouse, whipped cream with fresh berries or dulce de leche gelato drizzled with homemade caramel sauce (recipe coming soon!).

The delicate tuiles were melt in your mouth delicious and the perfect accompaniment for the rich and creamy gelato.

Making my own cones and caramel sauce from scratch was such a delicious endeavor and while the gelato was no doubt some of the most scrumptious I have ever tasted I couldn’t help but get to thinking how much fun it might be to learn how to make my own some sunshiny summery day soon.

Spring Preview

2009-01-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

The calendar may still say January but the days have been warm and sunshiny here in San Diego, there are even patches of poppies starting to bloom in the front yard! As fond as I am of hot bowls of oatmeal and warm banana bread all these springy things got my taste buds craving something fresh and fruity for breakfast. Lucky for me there just happened to be a full container of bright red strawberries in the kitchen just begging to be made into something scrumptious.

Strawberry Cacao Waffles

For these waffles I used raw chocolate coconut butter which is not only vegan, gluten free and packed with healthy goodness but scrumdiddlyumptious! Studies have shown that coconut oil is a great energy booster, supports a healthy immune system, and can aid in weight management (when consumed in moderation of course). Raw cacao has a wide array of health benefits as well ranging from supporting healthy brain and cardiovascular function, relieving stress, and adding radiance to your skin and hair. You can find this delicious jar of goodness at many specialty stores that sell raw products. I found mine at my local Jimbo's Grocer.

Ingredients

4 or 5 fresh strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons raw chocolate coconut butter (I used Artisana)

1 gluten free toaster waffle (I used a Vans buckwheat waffle)

Preparation

Pop the waffle in the toaster and while it is toasting warm up the cacao butter until it is a spreadable consistency. Once the waffle is done spread it with the warmed cacao butter and then top with the berries.

Delicious and the perfect fix for my springalicious breakfast craving.

Fruit and Veggielishious Breakfast

2009-01-14T23:18:00.000-08:00

The only thing I like more than a delicious homemade breakfast is a delicious homemade breakfast with friends. My dear friends Kate and Mark have been so kind as to let me stay over at their house in South Park a few nights a week the day before my shifts at Specialty Produce. Not only has this cut back on my work commute but it has made it so I have much more play time with my dear friend Kate. The morning of my last visit we awoke bright and semi early to make a nutritious breakfast to start off our days with.

Spiced Breakfast Potatoes

Ingredients

2 russet potatoes

2 sweet potatoes

2 bell peppers (whatever color you like, we used red and green)

salt and pepper

dried oregano

cinnamon

cooking spray or olive oil

Preparation

First off heat your oven to 350 and coat two baking sheets with olive oil or cooking spray. If you want to save on clean up you can line your baking sheets with aluminum foil or a silpat first. Wash the peppers and cut into 1 inch squares. Then wash the potatoes and slice them up nice and thin, this will help them cook faster.

Kate recently got a brand new set of super sharp knives and did an expert job slicing the spuds. Arrange the russet potato slices on one pan and the sweet potato slices on another. The potato pieces can overlap some if you run out of room. Drizzle the potatoes with the olive oil or a spritz of cooking spray. Season the sweet potatoes with a sprinkle of cinnamon and salt. Top the russets with the pepper pieces and season with a sprinkle of oregano, salt and pepper.

Pop both trays in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are browned.

While the potatoes were in the oven we brewed some coffee and prepared another delicious breakfast treat.

Broiled Grapefruit

Ingredients

2 grapefruits

Sprinkle of sugar or a drizzle of honey

Preparation

Slice the grapefruits in half and then loosen the grapefruit pieces with a thin knife as you normally would before eating one. Sprinkle the grapefruit with sugar or top with a drizzle of honey. Heat the broiler in your oven or toaster oven and once hot pop the fruit in the oven and broil for a couple minutes or until the edges of the grapefruit start to brown and the sugar bubbles up a bit.

The potatoes were just the right crispness and perfectly seasoned and the broiled grapefruit was super juicy and sweet as candy!

Nothing like a delicious breakfast to start off the day, hope you are having a delicious day too!

Yummy Year

2009-01-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

2008 was such a delicious year! Each passing month brought scrumptious new gluten free discoveries, new adventures in the kitchen, and new ways to fill my days with deliciousness. At first when I parted ways with the day job I was worried that I might have too much time on my hands. But busy people always find ways to keep busy and in no time flat I was busy as a bee again.

Of course December was full of baking! I finally had time to bake all those cookies, cakes, pies, candies, tarts, and sweet holiday treats I had been wanting to. December also brought with it a delicious new endeavor in the form of a new part time job.

The last thing on my mind in December was finding a new job but of course that’s when one managed to find me anyways! I have always believed that everything happens for a reason so when a friend asked me to come in to her work to interview for a filing job, even though I would rather spend a day at the dentist than 8 hours filing, I decided to go in and check it out. Obviously, the filing job was just not for me but it turned out that there was another position available that I was perfectly suited for.

For the past month and a half I have been working at Specialty Produce as a food photographer! Twenty lovely hours a week where I get to play with food, make it look pretty, and then take and edit pictures of it. I also get to work on other fun design tasks and help out with event planning. Which next to playing in the kitchen and taking pictures of food are two of my very favorite things to do! I love exploring the warehouse and freezers and learning about all the different fruits, veggies, spices, oils, and cheeses we carry. I also love the area I work in (between Old Town and Little Italy) and I have been having such fun getting to know all of my wonderful new coworkers!

The new job has also made its way into my kitchen in the form of fresh produce. Every meal I eat now has some sort of fruit or veggie component to it. One of my favorite things to make as of late has been a colorful mix up of fruits and veggies all bundled up in one of my favorite gluten free starches, corn tortillas.

Very Veggie Quesadillas with Mango Salsa

Use any combination of veggies you like! Sometimes I like these with just bell peppers and zucchini and other times I go all out and add a little of everything. These are also scrumptious stuffed with spinach, topped with fresh slices of avocado, or sprinkled with a dash of hot sauce like Tapatio.

Ingredients

For the Mango Salsa

Mango, peeled and cut into small squares

1 or ½ teaspoon jalapeño, chopped (add more or less, seeds or no seed depending on how spicy you like it)

About 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves

Juice of ½ a lime

For the Quesadillas

Onion, chopped into small bits

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced

Bell Peppers, cut into 1 inch squares

Zucchini, cut into ½ inch thick slices

Cherry tomatoes, cut in half and de gutted if you like

Mushrooms, sliced

Assorted Mexican seasonings (oregano, chili pepper, cumin)

Salt and pepper

Corn Tortillas

Veggie slices pepper jack cheese

Olive Oil

Preparation

To get started wash and chop up all your veggies.

To make the salsa combine the mango, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime juice in a bowl and set aside.

Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet and warm over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add the onions and let simmer until the onions are softened and start to brown up and caramelize a bit, about 5 minutes. Next add to this the garlic, stir around and let sizzle until the garlic and onions are all mingled together.

Now you can add the peppers, zucchini, and mushrooms. Let these cook, stirring occasionally until they are slightly browned. Lastly add the tomatoes, cilantro, and dry spices, stir until combined and then remove from the heat and set aside.

Now its time to assemble the quesadillas. Put a couple tortillas in a large skillet and warm over medium high heat, top one of the tortillas with the cheese and veggies

Then top with another tortilla. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of the quesadilla with olive oil, then flip over. Let it cook a few minutes until the tortilla is browned, spread a bit of olive oil over the other tortilla and then flip and let cook another few minutes or until the tortillas are slightly crisp and the cheese melty.

Enjoy with the mango salsa on the side or stuffed in the quesadilla. Top with avocado, hot sauce or any other delicious addition you might like.

So yummy! Fresh peppers are so flavorful and fun to work with. There are so many tasty things you can do with them, and not just for dinner but lunch and breakfast too!

365 Delicious Days

2009-01-01T23:20:00.000-08:00

When the clock struck midnight on January 1, I like many others clinked my glass of champagne and exchanged x’s and o’s with a handful of my nearest and dearest friends in celebration of the New Year. Like many of our gatherings the occasion was a delicious one, there were fruit, veggies, salami, gluten free crackers and cheese (one amazing cheese in particular was a blueberry stilton that I found at Barons Marketplace that tasted like a cheesy blueberry muffin!)

Kate chopped the veggies, Mark grilled veggie burgers and sausages, and I whipped up a pot of mulled wine and a pitcher of sangria.

Mitch was kind enough to bring all the provisions needed to mix up his now famous cosmopolitans

I am typically not too keen on cosmos but these tasted like candy!

Friends, food and fun, I could not have imagined a better way to end one fabulous year and kick start another.

There was also another joyous occasion to toast at midnight this year because January 1, 2009 was not only the birthday of a new year but also the 1^st birthday of my blog! One year ago today Mari Made was born, her first few posts were not specifically focused on food but of course food managed to make its way into each post and eventually took over as the sole focus of the content. Writing the blog has brought so many wonderful changes to my life. My passion for cooking, traveling, writing, and gluten free baking has turned from a part time hobby to a full time passion and blossoming career. It has also given me an opportunity to befriend and get to know so many creative, intelligent, and fabulous new foodie friends. I cannot put into words how much I have enjoyed where this year has taken me. From cooking up new recipes for the blog and sharing delicious gluten free discoveries to baking for my dear Mari Made customers and sharing baked treats at events, I have loved each and every sweet moment and am looking forward to all the delicious adventures yet to come in 2009.

In celebration of the day I decided to bake a sweet birthday breakfast treat using a fruit that has been the star of many Mari made recipes this year.

Bloggy Birthday Banana Bread

Makes one loaf

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice flour

¼ cup potato starch

¼ cup tapioca flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon xanath gum

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 whole egg and 1 egg white

1 cup mashed banana

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup oil

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized bowl sift together the flours. Add to this the baking powder, baking soda, xanath gum, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt then stir until combined.

In a large bowl slightly beat the eggs and then add to this the oil, sugar, and mashed banana.

Mashed banana is an ingredient I often make use of so naturally I have become quite experienced with several different banana mashing methods. Forks and mashers work fabulously as do food processers but there is one method in particular that I have become quite fond of and so I thought I might, on this festive birthday occasion share my favorite banana mashing method.

Using a riper banana makes the mashing process much easier and limits the likelihood that the banana will spring a leak before its adequately mashed. If you manage to mash the banana fully without rupturing it use a knife to cut off the top and then squeeze the banana goo into your measuring cup.

Stir the wet ingredients until fully combined and then add to them the flour mixture and walnuts then stir just until moistened. Pour this into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

Serve warm with a little bit of earth balance or butter.

Delicious!!

Mari Christmas

2008-12-29T00:23:00.000-08:00

Each and every year, without fail, the last two weeks of December fly by like a whirlwind of festivity. Days and nights packed to the brim with family, friends, wrapping paper, dinner parties, tree trimming, and sweet treats. This year was no exception, there were gatherings with family and a darling new baby cousin to be cuddled, visits with dear friends from near and far where delicious food, beverages, and hugs were shared. There were holiday lights to look at, festive tunes to listen to, and old movies to be watched (some like Rudolph, Christmas Story, and Christmas Vacation for the 100^th time). There was baking to be done, and not just for family and friends this year but for all of my lovely Mari Made customers, and there were holiday meals to be planned. The first meal was a Christmas Eve dinner with Mom and family, which was to be completely gluten free!

Green Bean Casserole

Made by Aunt Leah

Recipe coming soon!

Roasted Root Veggies

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients

5 skinny yams

5 beets

4 or 5 parsnips

½ cup honey

¼ cup olive oil

5 sprigs of thyme

salt and pepper

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 425 and then peel and slice all the root veggies to ½ inch thickness. Toss the veggies in a large bowl with the oil, honey, thyme, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour the veggies onto one large rimmed baking sheet or two medium ones, whatever it takes to have the veggies in a single layer. Cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes, or until the veggies are fork tender (halfway thru cook time give the veggies a stir to make sure they are not sticking). Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until the veggies crisp up just slightly on top.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 gloves of garlic, minced

½ cup pecans, chopped

A pinch of nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large bowl toss together the Brussels sprouts, olive oil, maple syrup, garlic, pecans, nutmeg, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour the sprouts onto a large baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, or until fork tender.

Sweet Root Beer Carrots

Serves 8

Ingredients

½ cup water

12 oz bottle of gluten free root beer

½ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon clove

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 pounds baby carrots

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

Preparation

In a large saucepan bring the water, root beer, sugar, spices, and salt to a boil. Add the carrots to the pot and let simmer covered for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to simmer carrots, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until fork tender. Place the carrots and some of the sweet liquid into a serving dish and sprinkle with thyme.

Nutty Stuffed Chicken

Serves 8

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, cut in two and flattened

1 bag fresh prewashed spinach

1 cup feta cheese

1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 or 3 eggs

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 375. In a large dish or wide bowl combine the chopped nuts, salt and pepper and set aside. Crack the eggs into another wide dish, mix and set aside as well (start with 2 eggs, if you find you are running out of egg during the assembly process you can add the third). Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer pound the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of wax paper until flat, about ¼ inch thick. Once the chicken breasts are all flattened you are ready to assemble the stuffed chicken. Start by laying out one of the chicken pieces and placing about a tablespoon full of feta and 5 or 6 spinach leaves scrunched up in the middle. Wrap the chicken around the stuffing tucking the ends under and then using a pastry brush paint the chicken with the egg wash. Once coated with egg dip the chicken in the nuts and press the chopped nuts into the chicken until coated. Place the chicken onto a rimmed baking pan and repeat process until all the chicken is stuffed. Bake chicken for 25 to 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Pecan Pie

Makes one delicious 9 inch pie

Crust Ingredients

¾ cup brown rice flour

¼ cup Potato Starch

1/8 cup Tapioca Starch

¾ teaspoon xanath gum

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and chilled

1 egg

1-2 tablespoons cold orange juice

Filling Ingredients

2 eggs

2 ½ cups pecans, coarsely chopped

½ cup sweetened flake coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup gluten free semi sweet chocolate chips

Preparation

First off preheat your oven to 375.

In a food processor or mixer combine flour, xanath gum, salt, and sugar and mix until combined. Add the butter and pulse or mix until crumbly. Add the eggs and then drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the chilled orange juice and pulse or mix until the dough comes together. Add a second tablespoon of orange juice if needed. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, form into a disc shape, and pop in the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes.

Once chilled, roll dough out between two sheets of wax or parchment paper until wide enough to cover a 9 inch pie pan. Transfer to the pan, crimp edges, prick all over with a fork, and then pop in the oven to pre bake for 5 minutes.

While the crust is baking you can prepare the filling.

In a large bowl beat the eggs and then add to them the vanilla, chopped nuts, and coconut flakes, stir till combined, and then set aside. In a medium saucepan combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt over medium heat and mix until the butter is melted. Add the sugar mix to the egg, coconut nut mixture and stir just until combined.

Once the pie crust is prebaked sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the bottom of the crust. Pour the pie filling atop that and then pop back in the oven to bake until done, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool before serving.

The dinner was delicious! Even the non GF diners were pleased.

My personal favorites were the flavorful root veggies and the sweet chocolaty pie of course!

After a few more hours of catching up with family, exchanging gifts, watching holiday films, and having marshmallow gun fights it was off to bed for sugar plum dreams and a peaceful nights sleep.

The next day after a breakfast of banana oatmeal and taking a family photo in the yard with Mom and the brand new Red Ryder BB Gun Santa brought her

Chris and I headed up to Irvine for Christmas day dinner with Dad. Dad had gotten a ham and made a green bean casserole. While I chopped veggies for a salad and whipped up a batch of mashed sweet and russet potatoes.

I did not write down the specific measurements but here is an approximation of the recipe.

Yummy Mashed Sweetie Potatoes

You can use all sweet potatoes if you like or substitute yams for the russets, we just happened to have these particular potatoes on hand so this is what we used and the combination turned out scrumptious!

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

3 russet potatoes

¼ cup vanilla soy milk

1 or 2 pats of butter

Sprinkle of cinnamon

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. Drain water from the pan and mash with a masher or squish through a potato ricer. Add the soymilk, butter, and cinnamon and mash until smooth. Add more milk or butter if you like and season with salt and pepper to taste.

We enjoyed our dinner with a delicious cab that I had given Dad for Christmas last year.

The remainder of the evening was spent catching up and chatting about a snowy Christmas adventure to Lake Arrowhead that the three of us would be departing for in less than 24 hours.

December 26^th we awoke to a sunshiny Southern California day, packed up our things and headed east, past Riverside, up a tall mountain and windy road until the palm trees turned to pine and the green grass to rolling hills of white.

When we arrived at the cabin and I first stepped out of the car I was welcomed with a rush of brisk 34 degree air and a super slippery walkway of white frozen snow that blanketed the ground.

Once we got settled into the cute cabin Chris and Dad shoveled part of the 3+ feet of snow from our deck so we could have a bit of a view while I immediately went to figure out how to turn on the heater in the cabin.

After exploring the house and warming up a bit we bundled up and headed out into the snow to check out the town where we found...

Ducks

Soda machines

Shopping carts

And a Coach store!

After wandering in the cold for a while we decided to head over to the Lake Arrowhead Resort to thaw out a little and take a peek at some of the old pictures of Hollywood stars and starlets from the past that had visited the lake while shooting films like Heidi, Your Never Too Young, and Parent Trap .We also sat a while at the bar and enjoyed some warm beverages. Chris had an Irish coffee, Dad had a scotch, and I had a Keokie coffee.

After finishing our toasty drinks we headed back to the cabin and got started on dinner for the night. Chris made pollo asado and I made black beans and corn with hot sauce.

Dinner was delicious and helped warm us up on the chilly winter night. With each passing hour the temperature continued to drop so we gathered some wood for a fire and decided to make some hot beverages to warm our hands and bellies with. The only thing better on a cold winter night than hot tea or cocoa is hot mulled wine so Chris mixed up a pot of it with a bottle of cab, cup of sugar, 2 cups of water, and whole spices (cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and orange rind).

We sipped our wine, took in the heat of the fire, and admired the glistening snow outside till our eyelids were too heavy to stay awake any longer.

The next morning we awoke to find it was another brisk day out.

Most of the snow had frozen completely over night so the guys went out to shovel us a sledding trail in the front driveway while I prepared breakfast.

French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

Vegan and Gluten Free

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups vanilla soy milk

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 loaf of gluten free bread, cut into thick slices (about 1 inch thick)

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon sugar

Preparation

Mash up the bananas in a deep rimed dish large enough to hold all the pieces of bread. Add to this the vanilla, soy milk, and cinnamon and mix until combined.

Place the slices of bread into the mixture and let soak for 2 or 3 minutes, flip and let soak for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Heat a lightly greased pan over medium heat until hot and then cook the soaked toasts on each side until golden brown on each side. Be careful not to burn the toasts or let them stick too much to the pan.

While the toasts are cooking put the blueberries in a pan with the water and sugar and cook over medium heat until all the berries pop and meld together to form a lumpy sauce.

Top the toasts with the blueberry sauce and enjoy!

The remainder of our day and trip consisted of sledding.

And playing old games like Clue while finishing off the mulled wine. It was an adventurous, delicious, and relaxing weekend that fulfilled my white Christmas craving and left me feeling very appreciative of the sunny southern California winter weather we had waiting for us back home.

29 Candles

2008-12-21T01:08:00.000-08:00

I love birthdays! Some people look at them with doom and gloom but I for one think they are fabulous! A day when you can look back and celebrate all of the fun you have had in life thus far and at the same time look forward to all the adventures and new experiences that still lie ahead. With each passing year comes an increase in knowledge about so many things, practical stuff like how to change a tire or bake a decadently delicious 4 layer cake but also about soulful things like how to better love others or what you are most passionate about in life.

Not only are birthdays a day of recollection and reflection but also a day of fun filed jubilee! In my opinion whatever it may be that you love and enjoy most in life is what you should be doing. So, in celebration of the start of my 29^th year on the planet I decided to plan a festive day full of all of my most favorite things!

A leisurely breakfast involving banana

Now it’s no secret that banana oatmeal is my most favorite breakfast food but since it was a special day I thought I should try making something new and since I have been on a vegan baked goods kick I decided to incorporate that too.

Banana Birthday Pancakes

Vegan and Gluten Free!

Makes 10-12 small pancakes

Ingredients

¾ cup brown rice flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup potato starch

1 teaspoon xanath gum

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups light coconut milk (or soy milk if you don’t have coconut, but you should because its delicious!)

1 large really ripe banana, mashed up

Optional Topping Ingredients

Toasted walnuts or pecans

Maple syrup

Earth Balance spread or butter

Honey

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl sift all of the flours together using a sifter, fine mesh sieve, or whisk. Add to this the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until all the flours and spices are well combined.

In a separate bowl combine the vanilla, coconut milk, and banana and using a hand stick blender blend until smooth. If you don’t have a stick blender you can also use a regular standing blender, if you have absolutely no blending device you are going to get a work out when you use the whisk to power mix until the liquid ingredients are as smooth as you can get them.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.

Spray a large skillet lightly with cooking spray or coat with a smear of oil and heat to medium high heat then lower to medium. Pour the batter into the pan and let cook until little bubbles start to form atop the pancake, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the pancake (I find its easiest to run the spatula around the perimeter of the cake then after loosened a bit in one quick push of the spatula under the cake lift and flip). Let the cake cook on the other side for another minute or two and its done. If your skillet is large enough you can cook multiple pancakes at once. I like to keep the completed pancakes warm on a plate in the oven set to the lowest heat.

Once the cakes are all done you can top with any number of scrumptious additions. I choose to use toasted walnuts for a bit of protein, earth balance, and some of the delicious maple syrup my dad brought me back from his trip to Montreal.

Delicious! They tasted like a cross between banana bread and a pancake. I can’t imagine a tastier way to kick off my 29^th year of life.

Pampering and playing with Kate

Birthdays are the perfect time to pamper your body and thank it for getting you through another year. My feet walked heavens knows how many miles this year so my oldest and dearest friend Kate and I decided to treat our toes to a pedicure at the lovely Bergamot spa in Encinitas. We both got the Island Style treatment which included a relaxing soak in coconut scented water complete with beautiful floating plumaria flowers (my favorite!)

After the soak we were treated to a sugar cane scrub, coconut butter massage, and a bit of pretty polish. We left feeling rejuvenated and ready for the rest of our day, which included more of my favorite things like…

Shopping at Anthropologie and drinking my favorite holiday beverage, winter dream tea lattes from the Coffee Bean and then gluten free panini’s from my favorite lunch spot Water’s Catering in Solana Beach.

Bubbly beverages with the woman that gave me life

My mom and I have so much in common which is one of the reasons why I consider her not only my mom but one of my best friends too. First and foremost though she is my mother and so my birthday is not only a special day for me but for her as well. That’s why I am always sure to wish her a happy birth-giving day and take time to celebrate the day together. This year we shared a few glasses of one of our favorite celebratory beverages, champagne with maraschino cherries.

Deliciousness and dancing with loved ones

A few days prior to my birthday this year Josephine and my Dad were sweet enough to come down to Encinitas and treat me to dinner at a restaurant I have been longing to try, Q’ero. As always spending time with my dad was wonderful and the dinner was one of the most spectacular I have had all year. Warm spinach salad with roasted beets and goat cheese, arepas stuffed with cheese, blackened snapper with grilled yucca, chocolate truffles, and the most scrumptious sangria I have ever tasted. Sharing delicious food with my loved ones is possibly one of my most favorite things in life, which is why I decided to do it again on my birthday with 18 of my nearest and dearest friends.

The delicious evening started off at a super cute Mexican restaurant in South Park called El Camino. The owner of the restaurant is also a designer and his creativeness is most definitely reflected in the décor of the eatery. From entrance to exit the restaurant is decked out in colorful kitschy décor. Everything from extravagant murals painted on the walls and religious figurines to collages made of chiclets and old wrestling movies playing at the bar.

In addition to being beautifully decorated the food at El Camino is incredibly scrumptious. We ordered a few pitchers of the house sangria for the table and they brought us some chips, jicama, and cucumber sticks along with a wooden block fitted with four bowls of delicious salsas for dipping.

For dinner I ordered my favorite, the sweet potato soft tacos, which came with darling little pots of black beans and rice. I also ordered a side of esquite or corn with cheese, mayo and hot sauce (yummers!).

At the end of the meal they brought me a piece of cake, which I could not eat but none the less thoroughly enjoyed the happy birthday serenade, blowing out the candle on my gluteny cake, and then eating the cherry off the top of it before passing it around to my friends.

After our dinner we headed across town to one of my favorite bootie shaking establishments, Air Conditioned Lounge. We twirled, giggled, and danced the night and first few hours of the morning away to the musical styling’s of Dj Schoeny

It was the perfect way to end an absolutely perfect birthday. After so much fun, love, and deliciousness my heart was full and I was exhausted and so I headed home and said goodnight to my first day as a 29 year old Rachel Marie.

Silk Nog Saves the Day

2008-12-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

This morning I awoke to the sound of rain pitter pattering on the roof, at last some proper winter weather here in San Diego! To celebrate the stormy day I decided to make a winter weather breakfast favorite, banana oatmeal. I measured the oats, toasted the walnuts, sliced up a banana, gathered a few spices and went to the fridge to get the vanilla soy milk only to find that gasp! There was none to be found!! Oats without milk would just not be the same! I searched and searched thinking there must be some hidden in the back somewhere but alas there was none. What we did have though was a full carton of delicious silk nog and with that a delicious new oatmeal creation was born.

Happy Holiday Oats

Serves one

Ingredients

1 cup silk nog

½ cup oats

½ teaspoon vanilla

a dash of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove

1 small banana, sliced

Topping Ingredients

a sprinkle of brown sugar

1 tablespoon walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

a splash more of silk nog

Preparation

Combine silk nog and oats in a small saucepan and cook over medium high heat until bubbly then lower heat to a light simmer. Add to this the vanilla and spices then stir to combine, let simmer a minute or two and then add the sliced bananas. Let this cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed into the oats.

Once the oats are done pour them into a bowl and top with all of the scrumptious toppings.

Now put on some festive tunes or your favorite holiday film (I highly recommend Elf or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), sit by the fire and enjoy your delicious bowl of holiday goodness.

Tis the Season

2008-12-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

The air is finally cool and crisp enough that wearing a scarf and mittens does not seem out of place (even in San Diego), little lights on strings line the houses around the neighborhood, the stores are all bustling and playing festive tunes, and houses are more often than not filled with the lovely scent of pine and home baked goodies. There are so many things that I love about this time of year, from gatherings with loved ones and friends to the hours spent in the kitchen cooking up delicious holiday goodies, I must admit I am completely smitten with the month of December. Whether you are gluten free, dairy free, vegan, or none of the above the holidays are a most delicious time of year for everyone.

So, just incase you are having a hard time getting into the spirit of things and need a little help finding your holiday cheer here are a few of my favorite festive things.

Eggnog Sans Egg

Now I like to consider myself a pretty adventurous eater, old smelly cheese, delish! Banana curry, yes please! Sea urchin, bring it on! But there is one thing that still after 29 years makes my stomach churn,

eggs.

It’s not for a lack of trying, once a year I make an effort to try eggs in a new way to see if I have had a change of heart. Scrambled with cheese, tomato and basil, egg white omelets with cinnamon and vanilla, quiche with spinach and feta all sound like they would be so scrumptious but alas that eggy flavor still shines through. So of course drinking a beverage that has egg as its namesake is not normally on my list of delicious holiday activities. Leave it to my favorite soymilk producer to come up with a most delicious alternative for all of the vegans and egg loathers such as myself out there.

All the delicious flavor of eggnog without the egg yolks or moo juice! It has been years since I have had real eggnog but as I recall it was rather thick, silk nog however has a consistency more like regular silk which in my opinion is much more palatable. The only thing better than a glass of silk nog, is a glass of silk nog with dark rum and nutmeg enjoyed in front of the Christmas tree.

Advent Calendars

As if counting down the days till Christmas was not exciting enough on its own. Add to that anticipation the joy of starting every day of the month with a delicious bit of chocolate, a month can’t get much better than that! Since I was a little girl almost every December I have enjoyed an advent calendar, some made lovingly by hand and others bought in the store. This year I was overjoyed to find my advent calendar at Trader Joes.

Cute pictures spotted with little cardboard cutout windows filled with candy, just as I remembered them only with one extra special difference.

Yet another reason to love Trader Joes!

Holiday Parties

Whether with work colleges, family, neighbors, or friends the holidays are a perfect excuse to share food, wine, and stories with all those lovely people in your life that you don’t see nearly enough of. I love all types of holiday parties, from formal dinner parties with all the fixins to silly theme parties, any excuse to dress up and spend time with the people I care about sounds like a perfectly peachy way to spend an evening to me!

Christmas Lights

Its funny how something as simple as little twinkly lights on a string can bring such joy. As soon as lights appear on the first house on our block my heart skips a beat and I immediately want to run home light a fire and start watching holiday movies or listen to Christmas music and make a hot cup of peppermint cocoa.

Pictures with Santa

For years every holiday season parents have dressed their kids in their Sunday best and headed off to town centers and malls across the country to wait in lines tended to by cute little elves just so their little bundle of joy can have a few minutes on the lap that jolly old man dressed in red and white. The annual picture with Santa has become a tradition for many families throughout the years. I myself had a few when I was a little tyke and then many years later as an adult I realized that a cute holiday photo with Santa need not be reserved for the 10 and under crowd.

As lover of all things delicious for me nothing says Christmas quite like baking cookies. Rolled into balls and dipped in powdered sugar, coated with chocolate and bits of peppermint, or cut into festive shapes and sprinkled with colorful sprinkles. Christmas time would not be complete without making a batch or two or three and sharing them with all the cookie lovers in your life. For all of you gluten free cookie lovers out there here is a scrumptious sugar cookie recipe from me to you!

Sugar Cookies

Makes between 20 and 30 cookies depending on how big or small you make them

Ingredients

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup brown rice flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup sweet rice flour

1 teaspoon xanath gum

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional Additional Ingredients

Sprinkles and red hots for decorating

A few drops of food coloring (for colored cookies)

1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring (for a slight lemon flavor)

A sprinkle of cinnamon (for a bit of spice)

Preparation

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add to that the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

In a medium sized bowl sift together the flours using a sifter, fine meshed sieve, or whisk. Add to that the xanath gum, baking powder and salt and mix to combine.

With the mixer on low speed slowly add the dry ingredients one cup at a time until a smooth dough is formed.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Once the dough is adequately chilled and you are ready to bake cookies pre heat your oven to 375 and lightly grease a cookie sheet or cover with a silpat. After the dough has sat a room temperature for a few minutes place it between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out to about ½ to ¾ inch thickness.

Use a cookie cutter to make desired shapes, decorate, and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or until light golden brown in color.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack until completely cool before serving. If you can’t resist eating one while they are still hot handle with care because they will be a little fragile until they are cool.

Happy Holidays!!

xoxo Rachel Marie

Hello Again Hole-y Bread

2008-12-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

As evident by my lapse in posting I have been busy as a gluten free bee lately baking up a storm for holiday orders. Gift baskets, birthdays, holiday parties, fundraisers, meetings, and presents for lucky gluten free girls and boys. Since so much of my time is spent in the kitchen baking sweet treats I have not had as much time to prepare leisurely meals for myself so I have had to mix up my cooking regimen a bit. Now just because I am busy does not mean I’m going to toss in the towel and microwave a frozen dinner or even worse make a run for the border (no offense to all you Taco Bell lovers out there, admittedly I use to be one too!). What I did do though was revisit a favorite quickie meal of my youth, one that I use to make when I was of an age where I was just barely tall enough to reach the knobs on the oven and use of a stove involved parental supervision. While this meal is most definitely quick and easy it by no means sacrifices nutrition or deliciousness one itty bitty bit.

Back in the day when I was a busy student/theater worker one of my go to meals between school and work was a toasted bagel. Spread with sweet cream cheese, topped with peanut butter, or smeared with butter and jam, warm toasted bagels were always a quick, delicious and filling meal for a girl on the go. When I gave gluten the boot, bagels by default were shoved out of the picture as well, for a while at least. After a few months into the diet one day while shopping I noticed gluten free bagels in the freezer section of one of my local stores, at this point in my new gluten free diet I was still feeling scorned by many a disappointing frozen gluten free baked good experiences so I shyed away from the round, holey baked goods not wanting to develop any negative feelings about a food I use to enjoy so very much.

Flash forward a few years of gluten free eating and baking later and I find myself at the grocery store, taking a quick break from my baking to pick up a few missing ingredients and searching for something delicious and quick to prepare for myself for dinner. I made my way to the alternative breads section as I always do to check for new products and peruse the tasty gf offerings. They had all my usual prebaked bready favorites, brown rice tortillas, Kinnikinnick pizza crusts, and sweet brown rice bread. I went to reach for the tortillas thinking I would just make a quick quesadilla and that’s when I noticed them, right between the flax seed bread and some vegan muffins a bag of big, fluffy, sesame seed speckled Glutino bagels. Now I knew from past experiences that Glutino had proven to be a pretty reliable source of scrumptious gluten free baked goods, their mini pretzels are my favorite and their cinnamon raisin bread when toasted is one of the yummiest frozen breads I have found. So I figured there was a pretty good chance that their bagels might be a tasty choice and plopped a bag of 5 in my basket and headed for the check out.

As soon as I saw the bagels I knew what I was going to make, as much as I love bagels with sweet toppings it was well past dinner time and all I had to eat that day was taste tests of many of the baked goodies I had been preparing since I awoke that morning so I needed something with a bit more substance than a bagel with sweet goodness on top.

One of the first cookbooks I received as a child had a recipe for pizza in it, now mind you this was a recipe book for children in the 6 to 7 year old range so there would be no oven involved in the original recipe. This pizza recipe involved a bagel, pizza toppings, and a mommy to pop the completed pizza in a toaster oven to cook. Since I don’t have a toaster oven I improvised and used a big girl oven, otherwise the method for preparation was about the same and the end product just as delicious as I remember it.

Gluten Free Pizza Bagels

Ingredients

2 gluten free bagels, sliced in half

Tomato sauce

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Deli ham, cut into small pieces

Pineapple, cut into small slices

Sprinkling of dry Italian herbs

Preparation

Pop the bagels in the toaster and while they are toasting gather the ingredients you are going to be using as toppings. I decided to make a Hawaiian pizza but feel free to use whatever toppings you like best on your pizza. Once the bagels are toasted set them on a cookie sheet and then add your toppings. I like to start with a swirl of tomato sauce, then add a sprinkling of cheese, a few pieces of ham and pineapple and finish with a dash of dried Italian spices like oregano and basil.

Once the bagels are topped pop the cookie sheet in the oven set to broil until the cheese melts and starts to bubble up a bit.

Enjoy your pizzas right out of the oven with a glass of vino or grape juice if you really want to reminisce on childhood meals past.

As with many of their other products the Glutino bagels did not disappoint and in fact tasted just as good as I remembered bagels to taste. I am already looking forward to making some of my sweet bagel favorites with them. In fact I think I might have found the perfect excuse to open that last jar of peach butter I have been saving from last summer.

Sweetie Pies

2008-12-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

I am a firm believer than when it comes to food it is very important to listen to your body. Taking the time to recognize what you are truly craving, what your body not only wants but needs at that given meal or moment and then when you figure out what it is you want taking the time to prepare and then really enjoy and savor every scrumptious bite. That’s how I like to eat and how I feel one can truly come to fully appreciate food for all of its nourishment and deliciousness.

So, when after a long day of working hard at multiple jobs, meetings, and errands on a day that by Southern California standards was pretty darn chilly I arrived home and found myself feeling famished, I searched my heart for what my body desired and without hesitation it replied...

Apple pie!

Now at the late hour of 11 pm when you are already in for the night and know you must rise again in less than 9 hours for another equally busy day the thought of spending hours making a gluten free apple pie from scratch seems laborious to even the most adventurous of baker. Lucky for me I had all the provisions on hand for an impromptu quick applepieish dish of sorts.

Midnight Apple Pie Waffles

Ingredients

2 Vans Apple Cinnamon Waffles

1 baking apple, peeled and sliced into small squares

1 teaspoons brown sugar

A sprinkle of cinnamon

Earth balance or butter

Preparation

Pop the waffles in the toaster and while they are toasting gather the ingredients for the apple topping. In a small sauté pan heat a dab of earth balance or butter until bubbly and then add to that the apples. Sautee apples for a few minutes until slightly softened then add to this the brown sugar and cinnamon, sauté until the sugar has dissolved and the apples are softened completely.

Spread a smidge more earth balance on the toasted waffles and then top each waffle with the sautéed apples.

Warm, sweet, and ready in less time than it would take to peel all the apples needed to make a whole pie. The waffle was scrumptious as is but I think would be even tastier served with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

The waffles were the perfect solution to m late night pie craving. I think they would work for other pie cravings too.

Blueberry Cheesecake = Vans Blueberry waffle + cream cheese sweetened with brown sugar + frozen or fresh blueberries warmed in the microwave

Pumpkin pie = Vans Homestyle or Flax Waffle + pumpkin butter

Pecan Pie = Vans Homestyle Waffle + maple syrup + tablespoon of chopped toasted pecans + sprinkling of sweetened shredded coconut

Strawberry Pie = Vans Homestyle Waffle + fresh whipped cream + fresh sliced strawberries

Chocolate Cream Pie = Vans Homestyle Waffle + Nutella or favorite chocolate spread + whipped cream

Bananaramma

2008-12-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I am a fan of bananas, sliced and served warm atop ice cream, mashed up in a bowl of oatmeal, dehydrated and sprinkled on cold cereal, stuffed with marshmallows and chocolate and roasted over an open fire, or straight from the peel. Any way you slice and serve it I am more than happy to give it a try. Most recently I have been trying to branch out and try some new bannany dishes, a recent visit to Bombay in Hillcrest introduced me to a most scrumptious and savory banana dish, Dizzy Noo Shak or Banana Curry.

Sooooo good! It tasted like a cross between a spicy Indian curry and sweet banana bread, it was one of the most unique and delicious Indian dishes I have ever tasted. After trying this dish I felt inspired to cook up a scrumptious new banana breakfast treat the very next morning.

Sautéed Banana Waffle

Ingredients

1 Vans homestyle waffle

1 banana, cut into 1 inch thick slices

A pat of earth balance or butter

Drizzle of agave nectar or honey

3 or 4 crushed macadamia nuts

a sprinkle of shredded coconut

Preparation

Pop the waffle in the toaster to toast and then in a small sauté pan heat the earth balance or butter till it starts to sizzle a smidge. Add to this the banana slices and cook until the banana pieces start to brown on each side.

Once the waffle is toasted to desired toastyness top with the caramelized bananas, a drizzle of honey or agave nectar, and a sprinkle of crushed macadamia nuts and shredded coconut.

Delish!

If you don’t have time to muss with the stove and sauté the banana slices, banana waffle’s are equally scrumptious when served with nutella and nut butter.

Spread the toasted waffle with a smear of nutella and nut butter of your choice (I used Peanut Butter) and then top with sliced banana.

Yum!

Daringly Delicious Days

2008-11-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Since saying my goodbyes to the 9 to 5 life I have been given a most wonderful gift, the gift of time. Gone are the days of rising at the painfully chilly hour of 6am only to rush off and spend the bulk of my day sitting on my bum in front of one computer or another plugging away at tedious busy office work. My rushed eaten in the car on the way to work breakfasts have been replaced with slow cooked oatmeal, fresh baked muffins, and hot tea with milk mornings. Lunches and dinners are well thought out, perusing farmers markets and flipping through magazines for inspiration then taking my time in the kitchen, preparing ingredients, jotting down notes, taking in the scrumptious smells and vibrant colors of everything cooking, and snapping delicious pictures along the way. Though I am still busy with odd jobs and orders for baked goodies here and there when I need them to be my afternoons and evenings are free leaving me plenty of time for meeting with friends both old and new, exploring new restaurants and shops, experimenting in the kitchen, and at the end of the day writing delicious bits and pieces about it all. My life has flip flopped in a most pleasant way. I am quite accustomed to being busy as a bee but this is a brand new kind of busy for me. My days and weeks are still jam packed full but they are now spent doing things that I love love love, and that makes me one very happy Rachel Marie.

One delightful thing in particular that I have been able to do recently with my time is join a lovely group of talented bakers and writers called, “The Daring Bakers” and just in time for a most delicious November Daring Bakers challenge, Caramel Cake with Caramel Frosting. For this challenge we used a scrumptious recipe for caramel cake from Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and Alice Medrich’s recipe for Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from her book, Pure Dessert. Assisting our darling challenge host this month are the lovely Alex aka Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo, Jenny of Foray into Food, and Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.

So without further adieu here is my gluten free Mari Made take on this delicious challenge and my first Daring Baker blog post.

Caramel Cupcakes with Carmel Frosting

Recipe from Shuna Fish Lydon
Changes to recipe ingredients and/or cooking methods noted in italics.
Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients for Caramel Syrup

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

Preparing Carmel Syrup

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand.

Brush down any stray sugar crystals with a wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until caramel turns a dark amber and starts smoking slightly.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. {Or you can be extra cautious and wear gloves and protective eyewear}.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it}.

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin {or you can just keep those stylish rubber gloves on while whisking}.

Ingredients for Carmel Cupcakes

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1¼ Cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup
2 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup super fine brown rice flour

½ cup potato starch

½ cup tapioca flour

1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup vanilla soy milk, at room temperature

Preparing the Carmel Cake

First off preheat your oven to 350F then decide what you want to bake. If you want to make a cake Shuna says to butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan. I decided to make cupcakes so I could easily share my first delicious baking challenge with both my family and friends at the theater. I found when cups were filled 2/3 full that this recipe made for 18 perfectly portioned cupcakes.

After you have prepped your pans in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt and cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room the temperature caramel syrup into the mixing bowl.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and increase speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again and beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder into a separate bowl.

Turn the mixer to the lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off the mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan or spoon into cupcake cups.

If making a cake place the cake pan on a cookie sheet and pop in the oven, bake for 30 minutes then rotate the pan and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. If making cupcakes bake for 13-15 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool cake(s) completely before icing.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

Ingredients for Caramelized Butter Frosting

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Once butter has cooled pour it into the mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until the mixture looks smooth and all of the confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

The cupcakes were absolutely divine! The cake was fluffy, perfectly sweet, and had the most wonderful texture. They also maintained their deliciousness even after sitting on my counter in an airtight container for three days. After I made the caramel candies (recipe bellow) while some of the caramel was still warm I cut off a chunk and stretched it into strings to decorate some of the cakes with pretty spiral patterns. You would probably only want to do this with the softer caramel, as the harder ones might be too much of a texture contrast to the soft fluffy cake.

As if caramel cake with caramel frosting was not enough deliciousness for one day there was still another sweet treat left to make.

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels

From Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
Changes to recipe ingredients and/or cooking methods noted in italics.
Makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels

Ingredients

1 cup caramel syrup
2 cups sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment

A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer
Parchment or wax paper for wrapping caramels

Making the Caramels

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the caramel syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F.

Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 245°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

These caramels are divine! I definitely prefer the soft ones to the hard but really both are delish. I wanted to make my first batch a pure vanilla caramel but am already looking forward to experimenting more with the recipe for the holidays. My taste buds are already tingling at the thought of dark chocolate and sea salt caramels or maybe soft scotch mellow caramels. So many delicious possibilities!

So my first daring bakers challenge was such fun, a great learning experience, and I’d say a most delicious success. I can’t wait to see what delicious challenge December has in store, stay tuned!

Savory Waffles

2008-11-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

For weeks now I have been craving sandwiches but for some reason I have been unable to find a spare moment to bake a loaf of bread and I just can’t bring myself to buy frozen gluten free bread, especially not when my freezer is full of delicious toaster waffles. So I decided satisfy my sandwich cravings and put some of those waffles to good use and make a scrumptious toaster waffle sandwich.

Grilled Toaster Waffle Ham and Cheese

Ingredients

2 Van’s Homestyle Waffles

Earth Balance butter spread

Gluten free deli ham (I used ham from Fresh & Easy)

Cheddar cheese, grated

Dijon Mustard (optional)

Making the Sandwich

Lightly butter one side of each of the waffles

Place one of the waffles butter side down in a skillet on medium heat. Spread the top of the waffle in the skillet with mustard (if you like mustard), top with the ham and cheese, and then top with the other waffle, buttered side up.

Cook on each side for 4 minutes until waffles are toasted and the cheese has melted. If you find that your waffles are toasting too quickly lower the heat or you can always heat the finished sandwich in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt the rest of the cheese.

On a brisk fall day grilled waffle ham and cheese makes a most savory lunch and is perfect when accompanied by a bowl of soup and a hot cup of tea.

I enjoyed my sandwich with a bowl of Butternut Squash soup from Fresh and Easy.

Toaster waffles are perfect for grilled gluten free sandwiches and in my opinion a much tastier option than any frozen gluten free bread I have tried. Here are a few other tasty ideas for grilled waffle sandwiches:

- Peanut butter + chocolate chips

- Granny smith apple slices + gouda cheese

- Ham + turkey + raspberry jam

Berrylicious Breakfast

2008-11-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

I love blueberries! In the summer I buy pints of them at the market weekly, mixing them into yogurt, topping my cereal with them, and sprinkling them atop vanilla ice cream with a sprinkle of cinnamon. In the winter I buy blueberry syrup, and frozen and dried blueberries. Adding them to oatmeal, topping pancakes with them, and mixing them into batter for muffins and scones. One of my favorite ways to enjoy blueberries year round is with one of my favorite nut butters atop one of my favorite toaster waffles.

Rachel Marie’s Favorite Blueberry Breakfast

Aka

Blueberry Waffle with Almond Butter and Blueberries

Ingredients

1 Vans Blueberry Waffle

1 – 2 tablespoons raw almond butter

1 teaspoon honey

2 teaspoons dried blueberries

Preparation

Pop your waffle in the toaster and while it is toasting put the almond butter in a microwave safe dish and warm in the microwave for 5 seconds (if your almond butter is not refrigerated you can skip this step as it is just to soften the cold refrigerated almond butter a bit). Add to the almond butter the honey and blueberries and mix to combine.

Once your waffle is toasted spread the almond butter mixture atop it.

Enjoy the ooey gooey blueberry deliciousness with a cup of tea or a glass of milk and a napkin.

Delivery of Deliciousness

2008-11-24T01:25:00.000-08:00

As crazy as life can get and as difficult as it may be at times for us to understand why things happen when they do I have always felt that its important for us to remember that everything that happens in life does so for a reason and many times for reasons that are beyond our ability to fully understand at that given moment. In these sometimes challenging and confusing situations I think it’s always best to look for the positive, keep faith in whatever you believe in, and move forward with love in your heart and a smile on your face. Losing my dependable day job at first seemed like the end of the world but in reality was a step towards something that I had been dreaming of doing full time for a while but was too afraid to go out on a limb and try on my own. Sure, not getting paid on a regular basis anymore might have a few downfalls to it but I'm not going to waste time and energy dwelling on the negative and instead choose to follow my heart and keep faith that everything will work out for the best and that not only will I be spending my days doing something that love but that I will be able to find a way to pay the bills, have fun, and put delicious food on my table too.

No less than two days after the news of my layoff I received the latter of the three in the form of an email from a lovely PR company for natural food producers. They had recently stumbled upon my little blog and when they discovered my love of recipe development and all things delicious and gluten free thought I might be interested in trying some gluten free toaster waffles made by a lovely company they were working with called Van’s. I quickly replied back with a most definite “yes please!” and five days later I arrived home to find a large box on my doorstep labeled with a cute penguin and a "freeze upon receiving" sticker.

Now I must admit, this was not my first time trying these delicious waffles. I have actually been a big fan of the Van’s Gluten Free Flax Waffles for years now. But it was not till I opened the big box on my doorstep that I discovered not only did Vans make my favorite flax waffles but five other scrumptious waffle varieties as well!

Sitting on the floor in my kitchen surrounded by all of my new frozen gluten free goodies my heart leapt with glee. Just when I was starting to feel a little worrisome about being able to afford some of my favorite gluten free groceries the groceries found a way to come to me! Not only would these boxes of gluten free goodness provide me with a multitude of meals but they would also serve as a most delicious source of inspiration too. Sitting and gazing at the boxes before me with visions of delicious waffle creations floating about in my head I could hardly wait to get to work creating yummy waffle themed treats, so I didn’t!

Mini Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

Serves 2

These scrumptious mini sandwiches are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or a sweet and nutritious anytime snack.

Ingredients

4 Van’s Homestyle Mini waffles

1 large banana

Honey

Peanut Butter

Preparation

Pop the wafflesickles in the toaster and toast until desired toastyness is achieved. While the waffles are toasting slice the banana lengthwise into eight pieces. When the waffles are ready break them into sixteen mini waffles and spread a bit of peanut butter on eight of them. Top the eight peanut butter spread waffles with one of the banana slices and a drizzle of honey then complete the sandwich with the other eight mini waffles.

Enjoy with a tall glass of chocolate milk (moo cow or soy).

The peanut butter + honey + banana combination has always been a personal favorite of mine and sandwiching the three between two crispy yet soft circles of waffley deliciousness take this scrumptious combo to a whole new level of yum!

Mari Made Missed You!

2008-11-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

It has been 4 weeks and 1 day since my last blog post and I will be the first to admit that even for busy as a bee me that is quite a long time to go with out sharing a tasty gluten free tidbit or two with you my dear readers. Please forgive my absence but the past few weeks have been a dizzying array of sudden changes, new plans, and sorting through mixed emotions.

Like so many others these days due to the sulking economy the little company I was working for during the day had to lay me off. At first I was crushed by the news, mostly because I had become quite comfy with and attached to my coworkers, health insurance, and steady paycheck. The thought about all of a sudden not being at this place where I had been spending 40 hours a week at for the past 18 months frightened me almost as much as the thought of not getting paid anymore. After a few days the initial shock wore off, I stopped crying, and I started to look at things in a new light. As much as I have enjoyed the company of my coworkers and my daily routine, and splendid as I was at organizing and managing an office in reality I really was not passionate about my work. When I was a little girl there were many things I imagined myself doing as a grown up Rachel Marie, I dreamed of being an actress in musicals, a fashion designer, a cooking show host, a restaurant owner, pastry chef, or a columnist in a magazine. But I never dreamed of the day I would grow up to be the office manager of a land development company. When I took a step back and looked at the situation in a way this is exactly what I had been praying for. I have always loved cooking, exploring the world, writing, and sharing my discoveries and creations with others. This past year with development of my blog and as my baking business has grown I have finally started to feel complete career wise and that I had really found my niche doing something that I loved so much that it did not matter if the only time I had to do it was at 12am after working two jobs. As my passion for the baking and bloging has grown so has the time I want and need to devote to it. So much so that I was quickly approaching a point where I knew I was going to have to make a decision and decide if I wanted to keep this passion as a part time career or if I was ready to take the leap and put my whole heart into it. I have prayed for months that if this is what I was suppose to be doing with my life that a path be paved out before me and that I would have the courage to travel that road, ready or not I guess that has happened! Sometimes we all need a little encouragement and I guess this is the universes way of gently pushing me in the right direction.

I am both overwhelmed and incredibly excited about all these sudden changes and am looking forward to seeing where this new road takes me. There are so many things I have wanted to do but have not been able to because of time restraints. For the blog there will be an increased frequency to the posts, which means more recipes, grocery shopping guidance, and product reviews. Additionally, I will be starting to do more gluten free travel writing in the new year starting with delicious trips to NYC and Breckenridge, Colorado in January. There will also be lots of new treats up for sale on the Bakery site and Mari Made products available in some local San Diego stores sometime in mid 2009. In addition to sharing recipes on the blog I have also started development of Mari Made’s first cookbook, so clear a space on your bookshelf now as I promise it will be a scrumptious read!

2008 has been such a delicious adventure and I am very much looking forward to all of the new adventures to come in 2009 and beyond. Thanks so much for all of your love and support my darlings, without you my work and life would not be this sweet!

Stay tuned for there is still much more Mari Made to come!

xoxo

Miss.Rachel Marie

The Happiest Place on Earth

2008-10-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Southern California is full of fun filled day trip destinations. In less than 2 hours travel by car you can be frolicking in the waves at the beach, hiking in the mountains, picking apples in Julian, looking at lions and giraffes at the Zoo or going on rides and rollercoasters at one of many So Cal amusement parks. Lego Land, Knots Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios are all lovely choices when you are looking for a day or two of amusement park fun. For me though there is one park in particular that I have a soft spot in my heart for. A place ingrained in my memory from years of visits for school field trips, family vacations and mini road trips with friends. A magical place that still makes me feel as giddy as a kid upon arrival and whose rides are as much fun today as they were when I was a little tyke (even if I do have to take motion sickness medication now to enjoy them!).

From the candy stores and old world style shops lining main street to the drawbridge at Sleeping Beauty’s castle a day spent at Disneyland always manages to bring a smile to my face and fill my heart with childlike joy. I love all the colorful rides like Alice in Wonderland and Mr. Toad’s wild ride which remind me of story books from my youth. Then there are the mountain rides like Big Thunder, Space and Splash Mountain that are the perfect combination of slightly thrilling and fun. And of course then there are the classics like Pirates of the Caribbean, Tiki Lounge and Haunted Mansion which manage to maintain their appeal even though you go on them every single visit. As if this was not enough goodness to pack in one place there is another wonderful thing to love about Disneyland, something that has nothing to do with rides, characters in costume, or mouse eared hats. My newest and most happy reason to love a visit to the Magic Kingdom has to do with something near and dear to my heart and that as you may have already guessed is gluten free food.

Disneyland has so graciously embraced the gluten free community and offers a most extensive menu of gluten free snacks and meals throughout the park. Whatever you are craving from hot dogs and fries to pizza and pasta they have it. Not only do they offer gluten free options but they take the utmost care in ensuring your food is not subject to cross contamination when it is prepared. Every time I have ordered something gluten free they always send the chef out to talk to me and the chef will either personally make my order or watch the food being prepared themselves to make sure my meal is completely gluten free.

In the past I have dined at Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port in Tomorrowland and had the most delicious pizza made with Kinnikinnick crust. Also available at Redd Rockett’s are rice noodles with marinara as well as a selection of salads and grilled chicken.

Most recently I visited the magic kingdom with my dear friend and fellow Disneyland enthusiast Natalie to see the Nightmare before Christmas decorations.

The Haunted Mansion has always been one of my favorite rides (next to the People Mover (RIP) of course!). It was such fun to see it all decked out for the holidays in Nightmare Before Christmas style. Before we arrived I had imagined that just the outside would be decorated but nonono not only was the exterior different but the inside of the house and the whole ride was completely different!! I don’t want to spoil it for any of you who might be planning a trip there soon but let me just tell you, if you are a Hunted Mansion fan like me you are in for a most pleasant surprise

The Haunted Mansion was fabulous as were all of the other lovely rides we went on and happily my motion sickness medication even at a half dose worked like a charm. Anyways, back to the food! For our first snack we headed to Tomorrowland Terrace where we ordered french fries cooked in the fries only fryer. They also offer these fries at a number of locations throughout the park.

Now fried fries are not normally something I eat but I am a sucker for things that are specially made gluten free for me so I had to give them a try! They were just as I remembered them, crispy yet soft sticks of potato that were made even more delish when dipped in a mixture of ketchup and hot sauce. Yum!

For lunch later that day we headed to Frontierland to a place called Rancho Del Zocalo where I enjoyed chicken tacos on corn tortillas with a side of beans and rice.

I was pleasantly surprised! The tacos were much better than I imagined Mexican food from Disneyland could be. They even had bottles of hot sauce on the tables that boasted a “gluten free” label on them.

We had planed on getting some pineapple frozen yogurt from the Tiki Juice Bar but once the sun went down the chilly air unfortunately nixed any cravings for cold dessert we had been having.

There are numerous other delicious gluten free options available throughout Disneyland, California Adventure, Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel ranging from pancakes and waffles to pasta dishes and cheeseburgers. To get your up to date listing of the parks offerings go to City Hall on Main Street when you arrive and ask for their gluten free restaurant and menu list. You can also call the head Chef at Disneyland, Chris Justesen at 714-781-3569 if you are planning on going to any particular restaurants for a nice sit down meal and let them know when you are coming so they can make sure they have what you want on hand.

So if you are looking for somewhere fun and gluten friendly to take the kids to or just to go and play like a kid again for a day or so yourself, Disney’s theme parks are a most delicious and fun filled destination.

Shopping for Deliciousness

2008-10-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of grocery shopping, big, little, alternative, international, co-op or health no matter what their specialty may be I am always up for a trip to the market. Whenever I visit a new place my favorite things to do is scope out their local food purveyors to see what types of scrumptious goods are prevalent in the area. Exploring new markets is always an exciting adventure, perusing the produce, searching the isles for new gluten free goodies and discovering new tastes and flavors. One of my most favorite types of market is an outdoor street market or farmers market. Not only are they the perfect way to see what is fresh and most flavorful in a particular place but it’s a great way to learn more about food straight from the people that grow, pick, bake, package and prepare it. By shopping at markets like this you are supporting all the lovely hard working local food producers, which is really a splendid and delicious thing to do! San Diego has a plethora of farmers markets to choose from, at least one for everyday of the week. My most recent farmers market outing was a few Sunday ago when I went to spend the day with my brother and Julia at Chris’s newish place in La Jolla.

This lovely view is just a hop skip and a jump away from his front door (lucky boy!).

The open aire market at La Jolla Elementary School is only about a mile walk from his apartment at Wind & Sea. The market boasts a wide array of different vendors selling goods ranging from baked treats, cheeses, arts and crafts, flowers, herbs and of course fresh fruits and veggies.

There is also a huge food vendor area with almost every type of food imaginable. Julia had a delicious looking crepe with lemon and sugar while Chris hit up Jackson & Sons for some slow roasted meat.

At Jackson & Sons they rub their Australian meat with a secret spiced rub and then slow cook it for hours in a special portable slow cooker until it’s so tender that it melts in your mouth. As their tag line states, “you don’t need teeth to eat our meat!”. I tried a bite before it was sauced up and sandwiched between two slices of bread and it was indeed some tender and flavorful meat.

We went and sat down at some tables to enjoy our delicious market finds and just as we were settling in we started to smell something scrumptious cooking at the stand behind us.

Once I realized that they were making corn tortillas from scratch right there I knew I had to have some! Fresh corn tortillas with homemade refried beans and spicy salsa, I was in heaven!

I also got a fruit cup of mango and papaya spears sprinkled with chili powder and lime that was perfect for the warm morning.

After a delicious meal we continued on with our shopping. I picked up some Greek olives from my favorite olive purveyor (who also makes a top notch olive oil!)

I also picked up some organic hot peppers and heirloom tomatoes from Sage Mountain Farm.

Next to Hillcrest and Ocean Beach the La Jolla market is now one of my favorites. The only thing they are all missing is a gluten free baked goods booth, perhaps I will have to look into filling that void myself someday soon :-)

Thanksgiving in a Burger

2008-10-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

Every year around this time when the evenings start to cool down and the holiday season begins sneaking up I start to day dream about a number of delicious dishes. Stuffed acorn squash, hearty Italian soups, rich and gooey mac and cheese and everything slow roasted. Another dish in particular that for me is just the epitome of fall and a family favorite are thanksgiving turkey burgers. All the deliciousness of thanksgiving dinner wrapped up in a burger served alongside a scrumptious sweet potato side dish. Quick and easy enough for a casual dinner but also delicious enough to serve at any occasion. Last year we were out of town for thanksgiving in Pismo Beach and my family ordered a premade and gluten laden dinner from Coco’s so I bought all the fixins for my burgers and whipped up my very own gluten free feast.

I originally found a recipe for the burgers a few years ago in a Rachel Ray magazine and have altered and tweaked it each time I make them to the point now where I don’t even use a recipe anymore and just add veggies, spices and herbs till it smells and looks delicious. I like my burgers super flavorful and with a bit of spice but by all means adjust the seasoning to your particular taste.

Thanksgiving Turkey Burgers
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey, extra lean or lean
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 apple, finely chopped (McIntosh work well in this recipe)
1 small white onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter or earth balance
3 or 4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon or so of chili powder (optional if you like it spicy)
A handful of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
olive oil
1 can or jar of cranberry sauce (whichever you like, I prefer whole berry)
8 slices of bread, toasted (When I don’t have fresh bread I use Glutino flax seed bread which has a hearty flavor that works well with these burgers)

Turkey Burger Preparation

After you have chopped all your veggies and gathered your spices grab a large rimed pan and over medium heat melt your butter or earth balance. Once melted add to this your celery, apple, onion, poultry seasoning, chili powder, salt and pepper and cook until onions and apples have softened up a bit, about 5 or 6 minutes then transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Once the mixture is no longer hot (room temperature is fine) you are ready to assemble the burgers. Combine the turkey, pre cooked mixture and flat leaf parsley using your hands to combine.

At this point if you like a spicier burger (like me!) you can add more poultry seasoning and or chili powder. Once you have spiced your burgers to your liking you can form them into four burger shaped patties.

Heat your large skillet over medium high heat, lightly greasing the pan with olive oil. Cook the burgers on each side till they start to lightly brown a bit, about 5 or 6 minutes per side. If you notice they are browning too fast then lower your heat to medium and cook until burgers are done and have turned a golden brown color on both sides.

Putting it all together

When burgers are done top them with a generous spoonful of cranberry sauce and sandwich them between two slices of toasted bread.

Ingredients for Baked Sweet Potato Fries

3 or 4 sweet potatoes or yams (the orange ones), peeled and cut into ¼ inch rounds or fry shaped sticks
1 tablespoon brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
olive oil

Preparation

Grab a large baking sheet and line it with a silpat or parchment paper. In a large bowl combine your sweet potato pieces with a drizzle of olive oil and using your hands toss them to make sure they are all lightly coated. Next lightly dust the potato bits with the cinnamon sugar mixture, tossing again to make sure they are all are coated a bit with the delicious mixture.

Arrange the potato pieces on your lined baking sheet in a single layer then pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes have passed flip the potatoes and then cook for another 15 minutes. Take the potatoes out and poke them with a fork, if they are still hard cook at 5 minute increments until a fork can easily pierce them.

Once the potato pieces are fork soft and slightly golden turn your oven to broil and cook the potatoes until they start to get light brown spots on them (not too many dark brown or black spots unless you like your fries charred!). Flip the potatoes and brown the other side then transfer them to a serving dish.

Time saving tips for preparing this meal

Before you start the burgers preheat your oven to 400 for the fries.

Chop up the sweet potato while you are chopping the other veggies for the burgers.

While the apple, onion, celery mixture is cooling prepare the sweet potato fries and pop them in the oven to start cooking that way by the time you finish cooking the burgers they will be ready.

Toast the bread and put the cranberry sauce in a dish while your turkey burgers are cooking.

Oatmeal Season

2008-10-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

As much as I love me a delicious bowl of oatmeal the past few months of heat and humidity have put a bit of a damper on my normal morning oatmeal cravings. While the daytime hours are still mostly sunshiny and warm here the mornings and nights have at last started to cool, this past weekend it even dropped down to the upper 40’s late at night! That being the case the early work day mornings are at last the perfect temperature for hot oatmeal breakfast again. After weeks and weeks without my favorite breakfast food it was so hard for me to narrow down the delicious mixins to include in my oats to just a few, so I decided not to!

Autumn Everything Oats
Serves one

This recipe was inspired by the cooling weather, my indecisiveness and a chat with my peachy keen Georgia friend, Elliott about our mutual love of oatmeal.

Oatmeal Ingredients

1 cup vanilla soy milk
½ cup oats
½ teaspoon vanilla
a dash of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove
1 small banana, sliced
1 tablespoon pureed pumpkin

Topping Ingredients

a sprinkle of brown sugar
1 tablespoon walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
more vanilla soy milk or vanilla hemp milk
a spoonful of peanut butter or raw almond butter

Preparation

Combine soymilk and oats and cook over medium high heat until bubbly then lower heat to a light simmer. Add to this the vanilla, spices and pumpkin, stir to combine, let simmer a minute or two and then add the sliced bananas. Let this cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed into the oats.

Once the oats are done pour them into a bowl and top with all of your scrumptious toppings.

On a cool day oats are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Personally, I have been loving this new Coconut Chai Tea from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea.

Served with a bit of milk and sweetener (I like stevia) it is delish!

October weather at Oktoberfest

2008-10-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

I may not be able to drink beer or even eat much bratwurst anymore but that doesn’t mean I don’t have room in my heart for a festival that embraces the two! Happily fall decided to stick around for one more day in San Diego making the cloudy, cool and sporadically drizzly Saturday afternoon an absolutely perfect day for Oktoberfest festivities. Instead of trying to muss with parking we decided to take public transport and made our way to the Fashion Valley MTS Transit center.

Taking the San Diego trolley east we made our way to La Mesa the location of the largest 3 day Oktoberfest celebration this side of the Mississippi. Located in the La Mesa Village this street festival spans 6 blocks and includes a plethora of food, beer, carnival, craft, and crazy gadgets you just can’t live without booths. In addition to offering an endless supply of the official beverage of the day the three beer gardens all have lovely polka music playing. In the main beer tent they had an oom pah pah band playing and a dance floor where they played traditional Oktoberfest tunes for shaking your bootie to such as the chicken dance!

While everyone enjoyed their brats and fried goodies I had some grilled corn topped with Tapatio, lemon, salt and gluten free "I can’t believe its not butter" spray.

After meandering our way though the fair a bit more we popped into a little café for more beer and watermelon and pistachio gelato for me.

So, I may not have indulged in any traditional German food and beverage (Mexican corn and Italian gelato) but nevertheless I still managed to have a delicious time at Oktoberfest.

Later that night we went for sushi at Sushi on the Rocks in La Jolla. I had the Barrio Roll which came with tuna topped with a spicy salsa and avocado slices.

I also had an equally delicious Philly Roll that was filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese and since we decided to go for sushi on a whim I did not have any gf soy sauce with me so I made a dip for my sushi using water, wasabi and sea salt.

Not as yummy as soy sauce but it did the trick and gave my sushi that lovely wasabi kick that I adore.

Back at Chris’s apartment we made some coffee and found two gluten free milk options in his fridge.

I choose to have the Coffee Mate French Vanilla creamer because I use to love this in my tea and coffee and had not realized it was gluten free so had not had it in years!

Another delicious day, and one that actually made it feel like fall here in San Diego at last. According to our local weather man though that was as fallish as we are going to get for the week and that the hot summery weather might not be gone for good just yet.

Finally Fallish

2008-10-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

So far this season very much non-fall like fall weather has been pretty consistent here in sunshiny San Diego aside from one day where we had a taste of not only temperatures that did not rise above 75 degrees but clouds and drizzle as well! In celebration of the start of this cooler fallish weather I rushed right home Friday evening after work and turned on my oven for an evening of roasting and baking.

Nothing says fall to me quite like slow roasted food. I love the way the house fills with the most delectable scent of whatever you are cooking and the cooler weather makes it so keeping the oven on for hours at a time is a toasty treat rather than a sweltering sauna. Tomatoes are still pretty scrumptious around here so of course I found a way to incorporate this delicious summer fruit into the first roasted dinner of the fall.

Roasted Stuffed Chicken with Potatoes and Tomatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded flat
4 or 5 handfuls of fresh spinach, about ½ of one of those salad bags should be enough
½ cup of reduced fat feta
10 or so little red potatoes, cut in quarters
10 or 12 cherry tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
sea salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat the oven to 450 and set aside a baking dish large enough to hold all of the potatoes, tomatoes and chicken in a single layer. Combine the potatoes, tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of the rosemary, all of the garlic except for about a ½ teaspoon (saved for the chicken), olive oil, sea salt and pepper in a large bowl tossing with your hands to get all the lovely bits of spice and oil on the potatoes and tomatoes. Pour this mixture into the baking dish, be sure to arrange the potatoes and tomatoes so there is an open space in the middle of the dish for the stuffed chicken you are going to prepare next.

After pounding the chicken breasts flat (I found the best way to do this is putting the chicken between two pieces of parchment paper and using the flat side of a meat tenderizer) cut the flattened chicken into 4 or 5 pieces, removing any unwanted bits of chicken and discarding. Take your flattened chicken and put in the middle a sprinkling of feta and a handful of spinach.

Roll this up and place with the opening side down in the baking dish. Once all the chicken pieces are stuffed drizzle the chicken with a bit of olive oil and season with the remainder of the garlic, fresh rosemary, sea salt and pepper.

Pop this in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are done and the tomatoes start to pop and wrinkle up a bit.

All of the flavors melded together so deliciously! The sweet tomato juices combined with the rich feta and garlic added a most scrumptious flavor to both the chicken and the potatoes.

After a leisurely dinner it was back to the kitchen for me to work on an order of scones for a tea I volunteered to bake for. On the menu were more of the yummy pumpkin scones baked earlier in the week and a new recipe I mixed up on a whim wanting to make something that would pair perfectly with the pumpkin ones.

Maple Pecan Oat Scones with Maple Glaze

Soooooo yummy!!! The flavor of these reminds me exactly of these buttery Christmas ball cookies my family use to make every holiday. I immediately added them to the Mari Made Bakery menu and plan on tweaking the recipe slightly to make a festive holiday scone recipe come Christmas time.

Lucky for us the pleasant Friday evening fall weather lasted through the night and well into the following day which was perfect as we had plans to attend a very autumn activity come Saturday afternoon.

Wine Time

2008-10-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I fell in love with a glass of red wine and like many young ladies in love I often gabbed (and wrote) about my new found love (like here and again here). For sometime I was only able to find this lovely blend of ruby deliciousness served by the glass for a pretty penny at the Linkery until after weeks of searching I finally found it for sale by the bottle at a delightful place in Hillcrest called Wine Steals.

As if I needed another reason to be smitten with this fine San Diego purveyor of grapy goodness. For those of you that have not yet had the pleasure of visiting this fabulous wine bar/shop allow me to offer you a list of reasons why you should drop everything and head down there right this instant.

For your tasting pleasure they always have 35+ wines from around the world available by the half glass (little tasting), full glass (big tasting) or bottle (really big tasting). Their extensive list of wine offerings change weekly so if you don’t find a favorite one week come again the next and try again!
Monday through Friday they have happy hour (woohoo!) where they offer $3 glasses of wine between the hours of 4pm and 6pm. They also have tasting specials on Tuesdays in Hillcrest and Wednesdays in Point Loma between 5:30pm and 7pm for only $5.
If your weekdays are jam packed already there’s no need to fret because on Saturdays from 4pm to 6:30pm they have a wine tasting special where for $10 you can sample up to 25 different wines. Even sharing a tasting with a friend we were only able to make it through about 16 on our Saturday visit! If you are shopping for new wines this is an excellent way to taste before you buy, and a much better way to pick a good bottle than by looking for the prettiest label, not that I do that sorta thing ;-).
In addition to their extensive wine offerings they also have a scrumptious menu of small bites and other delicious tummy pleasing plates. My favorite are their boards which can be ordered with any number of delicious snacky things such as fresh fruit, cheeses, olives, nuts, meats, bread and crackers. I always bring my own gluten free crackers along when I know I am going to be sharing a board with friends. For those of you that can eat gluten their panini’s and pizzas are scrumptious and for those of us that can’t they are great inspiration for creating gf versions of their offerings at home (personally I can’t wait to make my own GF brie and raspberry jam panini).
Last but defiantly not least Wine Steals is fabulous because they offer an outstanding selection of wine at very reasonable prices. My bottle of Chucker came to only $17 a bottle, when compared to the $9 a glass I was paying that is quite the sweet deal.

Until fairly recently I had only been to the Hillcrest location of Wine Steals, actually I did not even realize that there was more than one location until I was making plans for an evening there with the Fords and Kelly suggested we try out the newish Point Loma location. Located in the former Naval Training Center now collection of shops, offices, parks, restaurants and galleries known as Liberty Station the Point Loma Wine Steals has the same delicious wine and food offerings as the Hillcrest and also boasts a quaint outdoor sitting area as well as an eclectic mix of rustic couches, chairs and wine cask tables on the interior making it a most cozy place to gather with friends for a night of deliciousness.

The Fords had a gift certificate which was good for 4 glasses of wine for 4 people

and an everything board

The Fords also ordered the Chardonnay Pizza which was topped with apples, pulled pork, cheese and a scrumptious chardonnay sauce. Everything was delicious! I even snagged the toppings off one of the slices of pizza!

Our waiter was a little ditzy and forgot to bring us our fourth glass of wine, the cheese on our everything board (the best part!), our chocolate board and our pizza. Luckily the vino made his spacyness more comical than annoying and after much reminding and with the help of a second waiter we ended up getting everything we ordered and then some including the last bottle of my favorite wine…

An Appley Adventure

2008-09-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

As of September 22nd autumn has officially arrived. Sure here in Southern California the sun is still shining, the leaves are not falling, and temperatures are still soaring in the upper 90 degree range but all that weathery stuff aside, according to my calendar it is now fall which brings to mind one awesome apply autumn event in particular.

Harvest Days in Julian!

Having been excitedly anticipating apple picking for months now I decided heat wave or not I was going to head up to Julian for the first weekend of the harvest. After a delicious fall breakfast of homemade pumpkin scones my favorite apple picking companion and I headed east, through the hills and curvy roads to the cute little town of Julian. Our first stop was Main Street to peruse the town in search of gluten free snacks. Most of the shops and restaurants in town have been there as long as I can remember, the Julian Cider Mill on the corner of Main and B is one such place.

The Cider Mill is of course known for their delicious apple cider. For a $1 you can get a cup of cold cider in the store to sip while you shop and on brisk fall and winter days they sell hot cider out front of the store which is the perfect sweet fall treat to enjoy while strolling through the town. They also have jugs of cold apple or apple berry cider available in the store for sale so you can take some of their delicious cider home with you.

In addition to cider the Mill sells all sorts of delicious snacks and spreads. Nuts, candies, dried fruits, teas and mixes. Their apple butter and pumpkin butters are heavenly and the perfect topping for muffins and toast.

I opted not to buy my usual jar of apple butter this year because I am hoping to try and make my own with some of the apples picked from this trip. Instead we bought some dried peaches, papaya spears, and lemon chili pistachios to snack on during our drive home later.

Next stop was a cute little restaurant called Cow Girl Café. They offer an array of sandwiches, soups, burgers and salads. They also have a few vegan friendly options as well, BBQ riblets and gardenburgers (a former gluten laden favorite of mine!). As far as gluten free eats you could get a salad without the dressing or a sandwich sans bread (or bring your own and ask that they use it for you). We were still a bit full from our scone breakfast so we opted for a sweet treat instead.

Apple cider + vanilla ice cream. Normally I prefer my cider hot but this Apple Cider Float was the perfect cool, appley beverage for a hot summerfall day.

After wandering our way through the town on foot we hopped back in the car and made our way to Julian Orchards Drive for some apple picking. There are a handful of orchards along this road, we had originally hoped to go to Apple Starr Orchards for their organic apples and pears but they were closed for the weekend so we went to one of our old favorites.

1284 Julian Orchards Drive
(760) 765-2431
Open 7 days a week form 9am-5pm (until the apples are gone!)

With 8000 trees and seven different varieties you will have plenty of apples to choose from at this orchard. For $10 you get a medium sized paper bag that holds about 40 of their cute little apples. I did not keep track of which type of apples I was picking but I was sure to taste test each new row I picked from.

While we were picking apples we overheard music and festivity coming from a neighboring plot of land so after we filled our bags well above the brim with apples we headed up the road to Menghini Winery where the Julian Music and Art festival was going on. While we were enjoying our $5 wine tasting we had a random run in with some San Diego friends.

We shared a few of our fresh picked apples with them, sat on the back porch of the winery and watched some belly dancers perform at the festival.

After we had our fill of Julian fun we started the trek back to San Diego but of course stopped along the way to pick out a Halloween pumpkin at Mountain Valley Ranch.

This lovely ranch has teeny tiny pumpkins, ginormous monster pumpkins and every size in between.

Steve liked the huge ones and I fell in love with this cute in between sized one and decided to take him home.

They also have a little petting zoo, corn maze and something called a corn cannon for your fall festivity pleasure. If it had not been in the 90’s out still I might have been more inclined to wander through the corn maze but I just kept having visions of not being able to find my way out fast enough and dying of dehydration inside the maze of corn walls.

Back home in San Diego even at 5pm it was still super hot so what did we decide to do? Sit on the porch and taste test some of the hot olives we got at Menghini Winery of course!

Stuffed with jalapeños they were a scrumptious and spicy snack that paired perfectly with the last bit of Trader Joes organic Zinfandel I had left over from last week.

Even though it was a swelteringly hot day our apple adventure was packed full of fall festivity, so much fun in fact that I think I might make a second trip this season at the end of October with my Dad and brother when my apple supply has depleted and the weather cooled enough so I can enjoy some hot cider without breaking a sweat!

New Seasonal Scone at Mari Made Bakery!

2008-09-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing says fall quite like pumpkin flavored baked goods. So when deciding what flavor to offer for my new seasonal scone at the Mari Made Bakery there was no doubt in my mind what it was going to be.

I made these for the first time this weekend and let me tell you even the first test batch had me and my taste testers grinning from ear to ear. The scone itself is perfectly spiced, rich in pumpkiny flavor, and drizzled with a sugar and spice glaze. They are perfect for a sweet breakfast treat and a delightful addition to an afternoon snack or tea (I have been snacking on them the past 3 days!).

In fact, my first order for these delicious pumpkin baked goodies is for a tea party this weekend. If you would like some for your own tea party or as a just because fall treat check out the bakery webbysite or email me at gfmarimade@gmail.com and I would be happy to bake you a batch!

xoxo

Rachel Marie

GF & V Restaurant Roundup

2008-09-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Before I had to eliminate gluten from my diet I was on another diet of sorts, not by necessity but by choice. I was part time vegan full time vegetarian, eating mostly veggie meats, tofu, soy milk products and of course an array of grains, fruits and veggies. Once I realized I had to give up gluten I slowly started to incorporate real cheeses, white meat and even fish into my diet thinking that it would be impossibly challenging to be gluten free and vegetarian. Over the years while I have come to love my new diet (how did I live without real cheese before!?) I have also realized that being vegetarian or even vegan and gluten free is not the impossible task I once imagined it would be. While I am no longer vegetarian and have no immediate plans to go back to being one I am however selective about the meats and other animal products I do cook with and consume and would say about 75% of the meal I prepare and eat end up being vegetarian ones. I am also a big fan of eating vegetarian when dining out. Many restaurants are becoming more and more conscious of food allergies and alternative diets and changing their menus to accommodate the wants and needs of the dining public. Here are a few of my vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free friendly restaurant favorites as well as a few new finds.

Pizza Fusion

This was my second visit to the newish Pizza Fusion in Hillcrest and it was just as delicious as the first! This pizza place really does have something for everyone, gluten free crust, soy cheese, goat cheese, light mozzarella, free range meats, organic veggies and fake meats. My dear friend Natalie just happened to go on a Thursday which is gluten free night and each pie comes with two free toppings. We shared a gluten free crust pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, feta and half pepperonis for Nat and half tri color peppers for me.

I love that they offer a full sized gluten free pizza here! The thin crust is the perfect amount of bread as to not fill you up to fast or distract from the deliciousness of the topping ingredients.

Spread

The owners of this place use to have a shop called Nutters downtown that sold homemade peanut butter and peanut butter sandwiches. They still sell their swoon worthy peanut butters at the new place but they now also serve incredibly creative, fresh and delicious vegetarian dishes, some of which incorporate their peanut butters. They are open for dinner but I highly recommend going for Sunday brunch (if you go be sure to call first though because they travel for catering often and are sometimes closed on random days). Their menu changes daily depending upon what fresh and flavorful ingredients they find at the market and the owners are awesomely knowledgeable about food allergies and always recommend something delicious and gluten free for me. Be sure to pick up one of their decadent peanut butters before you leave, trust me you will not be disappointed.

Soltan Banoo

This is quite possibly my favorite restaurant in San Diego! If it was not so far from where I live I would be there once a week. Healthy and amazingly delicious Persian food served by the friendliest staff. The restaurant itself is incredibly cozy, gorgeously decorated with Persian rugs, paintings and furniture, and exudes the most welcoming ambiance. Their menu boasts an extensive selection of both vegan and vegetarian options and most dishes that include meat can be made with tofu instead. Even though it takes a bit longer to prepare one of my favorites is the Salmon Kebab Plate which comes with fresh grilled salmon, jasmine rice with dill, roasted veggies, and their delicious shiraz salad. Just be sure to order it without the pita if you are gluten free. Also equally yummy is the Zereshk Pollo which is jasmine rice speckled with barberries, orange peel and almonds and can be served with tofu instead of chicken if you are vegetarian.

If you can by chance get there on a Tuesday their daily special the Fesenjoon is the best I have ever tasted!

A scrumptious stew of pomegranate and walnut served with chicken or tofu alongside basmati rice, sooo yummy! They also have an extensive tea menu as well, the orange robious with soy on a cool evening is always a delicious way to end a scrumptious Persian meal.

Veggie Grill

This OC gem is a vegetarian and gluten free paradise! All of the salads and sandwiches on the menu are vegetarian and they also offer a supplemental gluten free menu which instructs you how to order some of their scrumptious offerings gluten free. For dinner I choose the Baja Fresh Salad and a Raspberry Strawberry Cooler.

The salad was packed full of fresh fruits and veggies like papaya, avocado, roasted corn salsa, cucumber and chopped romaine. Served atop a bed of quinoa and drizzled with a ginger papaya vinaigrette this scrumptious salad is not only vegan but completely gluten free.

Many of their sandwiches can be made gluten free as well by substituting tempeh for other fake meats and using kale in lieu of a bun. My only wish is that they could get a second fryer so they can make a gluten free version of their sweet potato fries as they are my favorite!

Hacienda De Vega

At the south end of Escondido there is a lovely placed right off of Center City Parkway called Hacienda de Vega. Almost all of their seating is outside surrounding a beautiful fountain and lush landscaping and their menu consists of flavorful and fresh home style Mexican dishes. On Friday nights they have live music and their Sunday brunch on a sunshiny day is always a treat. The boast a veggie menu called garden selections that have tasty offerings such as potato rolled tacos with black beans instead of refried. For gluten free diners obviously steer clear of any fried dishes and flour tortillas and mention to the server that you have food allergies and they are great about checking with the chef to make sure a dish is safe. Their Mahi Mahi Tacos are spiced to perfection and served with fresh and hot corn tortillas.

Of course I also love their fresh salsas and their muy grande mango margaritas.

Apertivo

This charming Italian tapas restaurant and wine bar in North Park is really great with food allergies and special diets and if you tell them you cannot have gluten or do not eat meat they will recommend a long list of delicious offerings that you can have. I love the chicken diablo, roasted baby carrots, crimini mushrooms, caprese salad, and the butternut squash when in season.

Ki’s

Located in North County coastal along the 101 in Cardiff is a vegetarian friendly place called Ki’s. They offer casual take out and dine in downstairs during the day and dinner upstairs in the evenings. When I worked in Solana Beach I use to frequent this place for their delicious salads on my lunch breaks. Dining upstairs in their indoor/outdoor patio in the evenings is the perfect spot to enjoy a beautiful San Diego sunset and some fresh seafood. I love the Baked Salmon in Parchment cooked with basil tomato and feta served with oven roasted potatoes and fresh veggies. Equally delish is the Mahi Mahi served atop wild rice and asparagus topped with a chunky mango salsa and macadamia nuts.

Inform the server if you cannot have gluten and they will let the chef know and make sure your food is prepared properly. If you are a fan of wine try to go on a Tuesday as they offer half priced bottles.

SpiritLand Bistro

If you happen to find yourself in or nearby the fabulous town of Santa Barbara you must find time to make your way to this delightful eatery which I reviewed last June. Everything on the menu is fresh, organic, made with love, and incredibly delicious. As if that was not enough every item is also labeled clearly as to which diet it is safe for (GF, V, Veg, SF, EF, DF, and Raw).

Blissful, Living Food and Juice

There use to be a chain of raw food restaurants in San Diego called Cilantro Live, sadly they all went out of business but the same owners have recently reopened a new place in Carlsbad called Blissful. I have yet to try this new restaurant but their menu seems to be fairly similar to what was offered at Cilantro. I like to go for raw food whenever I feel like I need something really healthy and nutritious (since everything there is!) and the best part is that every item on the menu is gluten free and vegan so you have plenty of options to choose from. As soon as I have a chance to visit this new place I will be sure to post a full review of my tastings!

Deliciousness and Dinosaurs

2008-09-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

Nestled between Escondido and San Marcos in a fairly isolated area of North County is a gem of a place known as Stone Brewery. You may know them as the local beer purveyors whose bottles have pictures of gargoyles on them and boast charming names like Arrogant Bastard Ale. While they have yet to make a gluten free beer they do have a fantastic, special diet friendly, supremely scrumptious restaurant on site called Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens. The “and gardens” portion of their name is justly given because the grounds of the restaurant and brewery are gorgeously landscaped with a plethora of trees, vines, shrubbery, fountains, fire pits and of course lots of stones. The owners of Stone are big advocates of the Slow Food movement and make great efforts to use fresh, local, organic, and in season ingredients as much as possible in all of their delicious dishes. They also make many of their sauces, glazes and condiments in house as well so there is never any question as to what might or might not be an ingredient in something they offer. Restaurants that embrace the principals of the slow food movement like this are perfect places for people with food allergies to eat at because so much thought is put into where all of the ingredients come from and how they are processed before they reach the kitchen and eventually your plate. Let your server know you have a food allergy and what dishes look most appetizing to you and they will talk with the chef and offer you substitutions or suggestions to make sure whatever dish you order is safe for your consumption.

In the past two weeks I was fortunate enough to have dinner at this lovely allergy friendly bistro on not one but two Wednesday evenings in a row. The first visit we decided to start with one of my favorites, Caprese Salad made with bulbous and bright heirloom tomatoes and the most amazing buffalo mozzarella cheese.

Drizzled with a thick balsamic reduction and olive oil I think this was one of the tastiest caprese salads I have ever tasted. The cheese was so fresh, even though it was cold it almost melted in my mouth and the tomatoes were super thick and the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. I think I would be perfectly content if I could eat this for one of my meals every day!

For dinner I ordered the 3 BBQ Duck Tacos, with chicken instead of duck since I prefer my ducks quacking and eating gluten free bread crumbs from my hands rather than in taco form.

These were delish! Served with a generous portion of their coconut black beans and a super spicy pineapple habanero salsa this dish was a delightful mélange of different textures and a most scrumptious amalgamation of hot, sweet and savory flavors.

Dinner was so delicious that we decided to return again one week later for another delicious diner and to catch the last of the Stone Summer Movie Series. Just below the outdoor seating area is a large lawn encircled with lovely lush landscaping and stones. For the screening evenings they put up a big movie screen and set up a bar in the back where they serve Stone beers, beer mac and cheese, breakfast burritos, Ethiopian coffee, and Mexican spiced hot cocoa. Before sitting down for dinner we set out our blankets and claimed a nice movie watching spot on the lawn for later.

For dinner I decided to order the Grilled Tandori Style Chicken. Normally this dish comes served with risotto and creamy sauce but after checking with the chef they decided neither of those items were safe and nixed them from my order. My custom gluten free dish consisted of a free range chicken breast generously coated with tandori spices, grilled and served atop seasonal veggies. The chicken was spiced perfectly and the veggies were fresh and super flavorful, even without sauce. It was a delicious light meal which was perfect because it was a warm evening and I did not want anything too heavy or filling to make me sleepy during the movie. After we finished our dinner we headed down to the lawns to cozy up on our blankets and watch the show.

The only thing better than watching a silly classic like Jurassic Park outdoors with a bunch of friends is watching it with Weird Al and Mike Nelson (of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame) doing silly commentary throughout the whole thing. During intermission they played some fun shorts from Rifftrax and my brother and I shared one of their delicious Mexican Spiced Hot Cocoas (served in a pint glass no less!).

Delicious food, friends and a side splittingly silly movie, such a lovely way to spend a warm Wednesday evening, I am already excited for next year’s movie series!

For the Love of Leftovers

2008-09-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

For most of my life I have turned my nose up at leftovers. Unless the leftovers consisted of baked goodies or cold thanksgiving turkey (preferably eaten while standing in front of the open refrigerator) I was just not interested. It has not been until fairly recently that I have started to develop a taste for leftovers. This sudden change of heart is due largely in part to a change in my cooking style. With the two and a half jobs occupying most of my free time I am left with very little meal cooking kitchen time Monday through Thursday. At the same time though I really like to eat yummy, nutritious home cooked, gluten free meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I quickly realized that unless I wanted to quit one of my jobs or eat nutrition bars at every meal (which I did for a while) I was going to have to change my ways and start eating leftovers. But these leftovers would be slightly different than the neglected leftovers of my past because instead of being scrapings from unfinished meals they would have been prepared with a specific purpose in mind. Cooked, packaged and saved for later with the sole intention of being a leftover.

For the most part Sunday evenings have become my unofficial meal prepping night. Typically I am only working the one job on Sundays so after work I come home and prepare a nice leisurely dinner. While I am cooking Sunday’s dinner I also prep a few things for the week. Some Persian rice, a batch of banana nut muffins, a pot of black beans, maybe a loaf of gluten free bread for sandwiches. I am so accustomed to juggling multiple tasks at once in my day to day life that doing the same in the kitchen comes quite naturally and is really a fun challenge, one that makes me feel like I am on Iron Chef (minus the fish flavored ice cream).

Aside from preparing meals that can be enjoyed throughout the week I also am quite found of preparing condiments in bulk that can be packaged up in jars to be dipped, spread, and sprinkled on things later when I am hungry and in a hurry. Spicy humus for dipping veggies in, cream cheese caramel dip for apples, berry syrup for pancakes, and one of my favorite’s fresh pesto. Homemade pesto has a knack for increasing the deliciousness of many meals. Melted into warm pasta, spread onto sandwiches and quesadillas, served with cheese and crackers or eaten straight out of the jar any way you decide to serve it is scrumptious!

Pine Nut Pistachio Pesto

Traditionally pesto is made with pine nuts and by all means if are not a pistachio fan this recipe can be made with a full cup of pine nuts in lieu of the pistachios. Likewise this recipe is equally delish when made with all pistachios and no pine nuts. Personally, I find that the half pine nut half pistachio combination gives you the best of both nuts but feel free to play around with the nut combinations till you find one that you like best.

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted shelled pistachios
½ cup pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
½ or so cup extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

Add your nuts and garlic to a food processor or blender and pulse a few times until the nuts and garlic are roughly chopped. Add to this all of the ingredients except for the olive oil, then drizzle in about half of the ½ cup or so of olive oil. Pulse or blend until smooth adding more olive oil until you reach the desired consistency. Season to taste with more salt or pepper if need be. Pesto will keep in a jar with a tight fitting lid for a week in the refrigerator.

Tip: Before putting the lid on the jar pour a bit of olive oil atop the pesto after each use, this will keep the top layer from browning and prolong the freshness of your scrumptious spread.

Favorite pesto accompaniments:

- Melted into rice pasta (preferably Tinkinyada) and sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese.
- Spread onto crackers and topped with soft goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes.
- On a grilled turkey, roasted red bell pepper, mozzarella, and spinach sandwich.
- Smeared onto a brown rice tortilla and topped with tomato, spinach and soft cheese folded or

rolled up and warmed in a pan.
- Spread onto homemade GF French bread, topped with garlic slivers and broiled in the oven.

Lost in the Supermarket

2008-09-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

When I first started eating gluten free grocery shopping quickly changed from something that could be done in quick 5 minute trips where I sped through the isles grabbing things scratched down on a post it or mental list to a half hour long event involving print outs of glutenous ingredients and meticulously scanning the fine print of labels on boxes, bottles, and bags. After a few years of shopping gluten free and figuring out my favorites I no longer need to carry around lists of bad ingredients and while my grocery store outings have gotten much shorter they are not quite back to those quick 5 minutes trips past and really that is just fine by me. I love going grocery shopping now each trip is like a mini adventure! I peruse the fruit and veggie section to see what looks the freshest, spend time checking labels of new items I might want to try, and when at a gluten friendly store like Trader Joes, Henrys, Barons, or Whole Foods I am always scanning the isles for new gluten free tags.

Recently I have had a few requests for gluten free grocery shopping tips so in addition to posting about where I get some of the ingredients I use in my recipes I will also be sharing my scrumptious grocery store scores from time to time as well. This weekend I made two trips to the store and here is what I found.

Henry’s Farmers Market

Henrys is great about labeling a lot of their GF items in the store but not everything that is GF is labeled as such so if there is something you want and don’t see a GF tag on it be sure to check it yourself, you never know it just might be gluten free. At most Henry’s they also have a GF section where lots of scrumptious GF items are gathered for your shopping ease.

Can of Pumpkin
Pepper Jack Veggie Slices Cheese (perfect for quesadillas!)
Polenta
Corn tortillas
Henry’s hot salsa
Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes
Organic light coconut milk
Frozen chopped organic spinach
Great northern beans
Earth balance spread
Blue Diamond Pecan Nut Thins (one of my favorite gluten free crackers)
Enviro Kids peanut Butter Panda Puffs (super yummy cereal)
Annie’s rice pasta boxed Macaroni and Cheese (add some extra shredded cheddar for a super cheesy treat!)
Bulk bin walnuts
Yerba Matte tea (my favorite tea, delish with soymilk and stevia or honey)
Avocados
Zucchini
Bananas
Raspberries
Mango

Trader Joes

Trader Joes has so graciously been putting out a gluten free shopping list in PDF form on their webby site for the past few years. Fairly recently they have begin putting little yellow GF tags on most of their GF items in the store. All of their new Trader Joes products that are gluten free are also now being labeled with a “g” as well. Similar to Henry’s not everything that is GF is labeled as such so be sure to check the online list or the labels at the store if there is something you want that does not have a GF tag.

Trader Joes Brand items

Greek style 0% fat yogurt (the best priced greek yogurt I have found)
Soy cherry chocolate chip ice cream (my favorite ice cream ever and its vegan and gf!)
Blueberry green tea
Nothing but banana flattened
Frozen berry medley
Frozen roasted sweet corn
Organic baby greens mix
Roasted baby beets (delish in salads)
Lentil rice biryani

Assorted items

Acorn squash
Tigers milk bars
The Ginger People ginger chews

A Dinner for all Seasons

2008-09-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

Keeping with the theme of the in between season for Friday night dinner this week I decided on a dish that always hits the spot no matter what season it is, enchiladas. As a youngster one of my favorite dinners to make with friends were enchiladas. Warmed corn tortillas dipped in sauce and stuffed with shredded cheeses, simple and scrumptious. Years later they are still one of my favorite Mexican dishes to make and in addition to my old cheesy favorite are even more delish when stuffed with a number of different veggies, legumes and spices. In the summer months you can cram them full of fresh, colorful veggies and in the winter they are equally delish when filled with sautéed greens, roasted squash or beans. Topped off with a spicy sauce and sprinkled with savory cheese enchiladas are a delicious dinner choice whether its winter, spring, summer or fall.

For Friday’s batch of enchiladas I decided on a combination of ingredients that embrace the deliciousness of both summer and fall, a mishmash of fresh veggies and frozen and topped off with a light cheese as to not distract from all the distinctly delicious flavors of the veggies.

Enchiladas de Jardin
Serves 5 or 6

Enchilada Sauce Ingredients

Making sauce from scratch is a fun and easy way to tweak the flavor of your sauce to your tastbuds delight. If sauce making is not your thing you can easily use your favorite canned sauce instead.

2 14 oz cans diced or crushed tomatoes
½ cup salsa (as spicy or mild as you like)
1 can green chilies or 3 or 4 home roasted chilies of your choice (The hotter the better in my opinion!)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon chili powder
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processer and blend until all the ingredients turn into a smooth and saucy consistency.

Enchilada Filling Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 10 oz. packages frozen spinach, thawed

1 zucchini, cut into bite sized slices
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon garlic, minced (about 4 or 5 cloves)
1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
½ teaspoon oregano
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of cinnamon
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled (fat free, reduced fat or full fat)

Wrap the spinach in a towel to remove as much of the moisture as possible and then set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the garlic for a minute or two. Add the spinach, zucchini and bell pepper and cook for 7 or 8 minutes or until the zucchini has softened.

Add to this the white beans and then season with oregano, nutmeg, cinnamon, sea salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and then mix in the feta and stir until combined.

Putting it all Together

12 corn tortillas
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
Prepared enchilada sauce (recipe above)

First thing first, preheat the oven to 350 and then gather up the sauce, filling and other ingredients needed to prepare the enchiladas.

Cover the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish with some of the enchilada sauce and set aside close by to where you will be assembling the enchiladas. You will also need a second dish such as a pie tin or a large shallow bowl to prepare the enchiladas in. Pour about ½ cup of the enchilada sauce into this dish and set aside as well.

To get started with the assembly you first need to warm your tortillas a bit. This can be done using a microwave or by using a pot of boiling water and one of those spiffy steaming screens that look like a cross between a badminton racket and fly swatter.

Once you have a warmed tortilla place it immediately into the saucy preparation dish, flipping the tortilla over twice to coat both sides with the sauce. Dollop about 2 or 3 tablespoons of the scrumptious filling into the tortilla, roll it up, and then place in into the prepared baking dish.

Repeat this process until all the filling has been used or you run out of room in your baking dish. Pour an ample amount of the sauce atop the enchiladas and sprinkle with feta.

Cook for about 20 minutes.

We enjoyed our enchiladas with some homemade guacamole and steamed frozen sweet corn seasoned with Tapatio sauce.

We also opened a bottle of one of my favorite wines, Happy Canyon, Chucker 07 Bordeaux Blend. This was my first full bottle of Chucker, previously I have raved about it after ordering it during my last few visits to the Linkery for dinner. Since I fist tasted it months ago I have had an eye out for it every time I visited a wine bar or shop until finally it was discovered at Wine Steals in Hillcrest. At $14.99 a bottle this robust red is bursting with rich berry flavors and pairs perfectly with everything from savory cheeses to spicy Mexican food.

Speaking of Wine Steals this weekend I will be heading to the Point Loma location for an evening of wine and cheese so be sure to check back next week for a full review of all of their delicious gluten free offerings.

Berry Good Breakfast

2008-09-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite fruits to incorporate into breakfast meals, aside from bananas of course are berries. Colorful and nutritious little baubles of deliciousness that brighten up any dish and help you start your day with a smile on your face (and sometimes berry bits in your teeth). During the warm summer months fresh berries are plentiful and easy to find in grocery stores, farmers markets and roadside stands. Even in the off season though you can still enjoy berries that have been frozen, dried, or mashed up and made into jellies, jams and preserves. In the warmer months berries are great when tossed into smoothies or sprinkled atop ice cream or yogurt. When the weather starts to cool down a bit in the fall and winter berries make the perfect addition to a hot bowl of oatmeal and are particularly scrumptious when cooked into a thick sauce and smothered onto homemade waffles, pancakes or toast. As much as I love leisurely mornings that involve sipping tea and making breakfast from scratch during the busy work and school week most of our morning schedules do not allot for that kind of breakfast. No need to fret though or worse skip breakfast there are plenty of quick, delicious and nutritious gluten free berry breakfast options out there. Here are two of my personal quickie berry breakfast favorites.

Yogurt with Fresh Berries

This is one of my summertime breakfast on the go staples. Light and cool yet packed full of healthy goodness. Greek yogurt is higher in protein and lower in sugar than most commercially available yogurts and even the nonfat kind still manages to be super rich and creamy. There are many different companies that make greek yogurt, Fage, Oikos, Chobani and they are all delicious. Both Fresh and Easy and Trader Joes make their own brand of greek yogurt that are both equally delish and very reasonably priced as well. Plain greek yogurt is pretty bland on its own so I like to sweeten mine up with a smidge of stevia. Stevia powder is great as an alternative sweetener in things like tea as it has zero calories and does not affect blood sugar levels. It has 300 times the sweetness of sugar so when you use it do so sparingly.

Ingredients

1 cup fat free plain greek yogurt
A handful of fresh raspberries (or whatever berry you like best)
4 or 5 walnuts, chopped
A tiny sprinkle of stevia powder (or preferred sweetener)

Put the yogurt and stevia in a small bowl and stir to combine. Add to this your berries and nuts and either enjoy as is

Or mash up the berries to make a rosy bowl of deliciousness.

In the cooler months more often than not my tummy wants something warm in the mornings to help get my day off to a cozy start. When there’s no time for oatmeal this is a favorite quick and warm berry breakfast treat.

Toaster Waffle with Almond Butter and Berries

Happily there are a plethora of gluten free toaster waffles on the market and they can be found at many grocery stores. A few personal favorites of mine are Vans with Flax Seeds, Trader Joes Banana Waffles, Natures Path Buckwheat Wildberry or Mesa Sunrise, and Henrys Homestyle Blueberry. You can toast the waffles and eat as is or smother them with any number of tasty toppings. Personally, I love the taste of raw almond butter which is high in protein and rich in nutrients and healthy fats.

Ingredients

1 toaster waffle
2 Tablespoons raw almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
1 Tablespoon dried berries or frozen berries (I like to use blueberries)
1 teaspoon honey

Pop your waffle in the toaster and while it is toasting you can prepare the topping. If using frozen berries you will want to defrost them first. Combine the almond butter, berries and honey in a microwave safe dish and warm for about 30 seconds or until the almond butter softens to a spreadable consistency. Once the waffle is adequately toasted top with the almond butter-berry-honey concoction.

Savor the way the warm topping settles into all the delicious nooks and crannies of the crisp waffle, so scrumptious!

Summer-fall

2008-09-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Fall has most definitely been starting to sneak up on summer, this morning for instance the thick fog and crisp morning air inspired me to not only crank the heater in my car but to turn my bun warmers all the way up to 4! But by the time lunch rolled around the sun had come out in full force and the temperature shot up to a toasty 91 degrees. By sunset tonight I am sure the air temperature will quickly drop back down to sweater and scarf weather and warrant more car heater use and possibly even an extra blanket on the bed. This mishmash of weather leaves me feeling both summery and fallish throughout the course of a day. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate this weather than with two different delicious dinners that embrace the best of the overlapping seasons.

So Long Summer BBQ Menu

Grilled cedar plank salmon with dry rub
Grilled colorful veggies
Brown basmati rice
Tropical fruit salad (mango and pineapple)

Recipes

Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon with Dry Rub

I love cedar grilling planks! Not only do they give your meats and veggies a most wonderful flavor but the smell of the cedar slowly burning is such a soothing scent. It reminds me of beachy bonfires or the comforting smell of warm walls in a dry sauna. We used a recipe for dry rub that was found on the interior pamphlet of the planks. Before using your cedar plank you want to soak it in water or a water juice mix for at least an hour or up to four. This prevents the wooden plank from catching fire on the grill.

Ingredients

1 2lb Atlantic salmon fillet
3 or 4 Tablespoons dry rub (recipe below)
1 cedar grilling plank, soaked in h20 and then rubbed with pineapple

Ingredients for the rub

This rub was delish on our fishy but I think it would be equally scrumptious on chicken or pork.

2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (we used dark, but light would be delicious too)
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 Tablespoon paprika (I like hot paprika but sweet would work too)

Heat your BBQ grill to 325 and while it is warming up you can prepare the salmon. After washing your fish place it skin side down on the plank. We rubbed our soaked plank with some pineapple slices since we had some extra bits lying around from our tropical salad. Sprinkle as much of the dry rub as you like on the fish, we like our fish on the spicy side so we used about 4 Tablespoons of the rub.

When the grill is hot enough put the plank with the fishy atop it onto the grill, close the lid and let this cook undisturbed for 20 minutes. I know it’s hard not to peek but doing so disturbs the cooking process and lowers the temp of the grill dramatically so be patient and after 20 minutes have passed you can check the fish with a fork to see if it is cooked enough.

If it’s still too pink or juicy give it another couple minutes of cook time before taking it off the grill.

Grilled Colorful Veggies

Ingredients

Whatever pretty veggies your heart desires! We used mini sweet peppers and asparagus.

Preparation

Drizzle your veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning of choice. We used sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Arrange the veggies directly on the grill or on a grill pan and cook on high with the lid of the grill open, turning veggies every so often for even grillage. We ended up cooking ours for just shy of 10 minutes (I like my peppers pretty charred!)

We served our fish and veggies with brown basmati rice and a tropical fruit salad consisting of pineapple and papaya.

Look how pretty the inside of the pineapple is!

We also opened a delicious bottle of wine from Trader Joes that I had picked up because it boasted having vanilla undertones and was under $6, yay for inexpensive and delicious wine!

(Yes, in case you were wondering that is indeed gumby riding pokey, a Buddha statue and Jesus candle in the background)

Dinner was delish! I had a little bit of everything and two glasses of the robust yet slightly vanillish wine.

As promised to celebrate the seasonal transition I have a second equally delicious dinner to share with you. This one was inspired by a recipe found in the September issue of Rachel Ray and a delicious apple tasted on my most recent visit to the farmers market.

Chicken Apple Chili

I love Rachel Ray, not only because she has a super snazzy name but because she is always coming up with scrumptious recipes that capture the deliciousness of the season. This recipe was found in an article that celebrated everything appley. I tweaked the fat content, eliminated the gluten, altered the spices a bit and added more of my favorite fall ingredient, apples.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
A sprinkling of salt and pepper
4 apples, cut into bite sized cubes
2 Tablespoons earth balance (or butter if you prefer)
2 cups gluten free chicken broth
¼ cup tapioca starch, potato starch or brown rice flour
¾ cup milk (soy or moo cow)
2 15 oz cans of white beans
Shredded monterey jack cheese for topping

Preparation

In a large sauce pot or dutch oven, warm 2 Tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add the chicken pieces, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper and cook for 7 or 8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 more tablespoons olive oil in the pot over medium heat, when it is warmed add the apple and cook until apples soften, about 5 minutes. Then remove the apples and set aside as well.

Add to the now empty pot the earth balance or butter and melt on medium low. Add to this your flour of choice and whisk until combined. Next add the chicken broth and then the milk and stir until thickened. Add to this the chicken, apples and the beans and bring to a light boil and let simmer for a few minutes. Portion into bowls and sprinkle with monterey jack cheese.

This is the perfect meal for a cool fall night and is a most savory and delicious way to enjoy fall apples. I think in another month when the daytime hours start to cool down and match the evening weather more this chili will be perfect to make ahead of time and enjoy for lunch.

Falling for Fall

2008-09-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

The first few weeks of September are always so bittersweet. As summer slowly starts to slip away half of me wants to cling with all of my might to all the deliciousness of the sunshiny season, bright colored berries and peaches as sweet as candy, tomatoes so plump and rosy you want to eat them like an apple, and the lovely way that the warmth of the day lingers on long after the sun has set. Yet at the same time another part of me is giddy as can be at the thought of all things fall, dressing in layers, planning for holiday meals, ooey gooey pumpkin carving, apple picking, and slow cooked comfort foods that warm the house and your belly. The past few days I have felt fall beginning to sneak up on summer, pumpkin patches popping up in parking lots, the taste of a particularly scrumptious apple at the farmers market and a new crispness to the morning and evening air that was most definitely not there a week ago. Rather than lamenting the loss of summer I have decided to embrace fall full on and what better way to do this than to make a fun filled fall to do list!

Comfort Foods

First and foremost I am looking forward to the way the shifting season inspires changes in the foods we long to eat and how we prepare them. Summer was filled with colorful salads packed full of fresh veggies, flavorful fish tacos, and late night bbq dinners when it was just too hot to turn on the stove. The return of fall means its time to break out the Dutch oven and get ready for a return to slow cooked comfort meals. Rich stews that have simmered on the stove all day, hearty soups served with fresh baked bread, slow roasted root veggies and potatoes, and homemade chili and cornbread.

Apple harvest in Julian

Picking and eating apples straight from the tree, in my book fall doesn’t get much better than that. Harvest season in Julian kicks off mid September and lasts through most of October. For those of you who can eat gluten be sure to stop by Mom’s or Julian Apple Pie Company for some delicious baked apply goodies. For all of my dear GF friends I promise to scour the town when I venture up there this year for a scrumptious appley GF treat but if you go before I do be sure to get a mug or two of delish hot apple cider.

Delicious warm beverages (both old and new)

Sure summer time brings all sorts of fruity smoothies and other icy concoctions but I have always been partial to warm beverages so when September rolls around and all the local coffee and tea shops start to bring back their fall beverages my warm beverage loving heart starts to flutter. New flavors like pumpkin spice lattes pop back up on the menus of both Starbucks and Coffee Bean and old favorites like the Bean’s always delicious Moroccan Mint tea latte are even more comforting and delicious on a brisk fall day.

Halloween

What’s not to love about Halloween? A holiday where you get to dress up, eat lots of sweet treats, and stay up late carving pumpkins and partying the night away. Trader Joes has an amazing selection of gluten free candies if you are looking for something sweet to serve at a party and for those of you with gluten free little trick or treaters, here is a list of some statements from a handful of common manufacturers that produce some of the Halloween candies your little ghosts and goblins might be bringing home. Not only is Halloween an uber fun filled holiday in itself but after it’s over with you still have 2 months of holiday fun to look forward to ahead of you!

Thanksgiving

Holidays like Thanksgiving combine two of my favorite things, planning for and cooking elaborate meals and spending time with my loved ones. Like many family gatherings every turkey day I make several gluten free dishes to share at the family dinner. This year we are doing a completely gluten free Thanksgiving as a few more of my family members have recently started eating gluten free as well. I have been given the honor of planning the meal and recipes and will be cooking with my mom, uncle and anyone else that wants to squeeze in the kitchen and cook with us. There will be old favorites like green bean casserole and sweet potatoes, a few new dishes still in the works, and of course gluten free pies. I will be sure to post a full account of our gluten free feast and recipes after we awake from our Turkey induced naps.

Day after Thanksgiving shopathon

Pardon me while I be a girly girl for a moment but my dear friend Natalie and I have a special tradition that we look forward to all year long. After a short nap after our Thanksgiving dinner we awake at 12amish on November 28 and drive as South as one can go before leaving the country to a place called Las Americas Outlets for the day after Thanksgiving sales. Not only are there amazing deals to be found like 50% off and more at most stores and freebies galore but there is something magical about shopping during the wee hours of the morning with hundreds of other people. As if that was not enough wonderfulness the Outlet center is always decorated with Christmas trees, garland and every store can be heard playing holiday music for your shopping pleasure. I know for some people this probably sounds like a nightmare but for a holiday lover like myself it’s a little piece of heaven.

As you can see fall is truly a fabulous season and one that is jam packed full of not only delicious fall foods and drinks but a plethora of fun outings, events and holiday festivity!

My dearest Fruit of the Soul Friends,

2008-09-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone that came out for Fruit of the Soul 2008! Thanks to your attendance and the efforts of all of the talented chefs, artists, musicians, organizers and volunteers the event was a beautiful, fun filled and delicious success! I personally felt very privileged to be serving up delicious treats alongside so many talented chefs. One of my favorite things in the world is sharing delicious food with others so having the opportunity to bake for over 600+ people warmed my heart through and through. I wanted to hug every person that came up to me and said, “So these are the cupcakes everyone has been talking about!” and the handful of you that came by and were gluten intolerant, eyeing my table with glossy I wish I could eat that eyes, the look of pure joy on your face as I informed you that everything I bake is gluten free made me want to cry tears of joy and confirmed in my heart that this is what I am suppose to be doing with my life.

A special thanks goes out to Kelly Orange and her crew for putting on such a spectacular event, not only is she an amazingly talented artist but the energy and effort she puts into making this into the amazing event it is every year is commendable.

I also must thank my Mom and Hamilton for so graciously turning over the kitchen, refrigerator, oven, dining room and many other nooks and crannies of the house to me the past few weeks as I prepared for the event. Thank you so much for all of your love, support and taste testing!

Many thanks to Dad and Chris for always being there to give me pep talks and advice when I need it. Your constant support, encouraging words, and faith in my abilities has been inspirational and really means the world to me!

Lastly many thanks to the best friends and assistant chefs a girl could ever ask for Kate and Steve. You made a seemingly impossible work load not only possible but so much fun! I love you both dearly!

Again, thank you to everyone that came and made the event the success that it was. I hope you had as much fun as I did and I look forward to baking goodies for you all again soon! Until then take care and have a delicious day!!

xoxo

Rachel Marie

Comfort Food

2008-08-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their own personal go to foods that they like to eat when they are sick. For me its normally fresh squeezed orange juice, slow cooked homemade chicken gluten free noodle soup (or Pho with extra rooster sauce from a local Vietnamese restaurant), and of course hot tea and honey (sometimes when feeling particularly ill with a spot of whisky). This past weekend I was sick, and sadly far too sick to sit in a restaurant and eat Pho with a bunch of healthy people and way to exhausted to even think about preparing a pot of homemade soup. I wanted something quick and comforting, something that would fill my belly, please my palate and lull me into a long afternoon nap. First thing that came to mind was toast, that would be quick and most definitely easy, but sadly I had no bread. Then my thoughts turned to one of my favorite go to comfort foods, oatmeal but at the moment even that seemed like it would take far too long to prepare. Then my eyes fixated upon an almost past its prime banana sitting on the counter, aside from being cooked up into a delicious bowl of oaty goodness one of my most favorite ways to enjoy a banana is a delicious something I like to call…

Peanut Butter Banana Quesadilla
Serves one

Ingredients

1 Brown rice tortilla (preferably from Trader Joes, theirs are the best!)
1 or 2 tablespoons peanut butter
a swirl of honey
1 small banana, sliced

Preparation

Warm the brown rice tortilla in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once warmed on both sides smother one side of the tortilla with the peanut butter. Add to this a swirl of honey and top one half with the banana slices. Wait a few moments then fold the tortilla over and let it cook on both sides until browned to your preferred taste.

Serve with a glass of chocolate milk (soy, rice, almond, hemp or moocow).

I also had some watermelon with my quesadilla because getting adequate hydration is important when you are feeling under the weather and watermelon is a most delicious way to increase your water intake.

As always the quesadilla was delish and the perfect balance of nourishment and quick comfort food that did indeed lull me into a most restful 2 ½ hour nap.

For the <3 of Oats

2008-08-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

Fairly recently I was informed of a delightful addition to the list of delicious gluten free foods. McCann’s Steel Cut Oats. Oh happy day, as if I needed another excuse to eat more oatmeal for breakfast! Apparently they have been gluten free for sometime, but this was new news to me. I checked the McCann’s website to verify that the rumor was true and found in the faq section that they cannot completely guarantee that the oats are gluten free due to an 0.05% chance of cross contamination but they are pretty darn sure that the oats will be okay for most people. Oats are one of those things that are fine and dandy for some celiacs to digest and an impossible pain for others. My personal experience has been that once I had allowed my tummy adequate time to recover after my initial celiac diagnosis as long as the oats are processed in a (relatively) gluten free facility I am okay. So what did I do to celebrate this joyous oaty news, I made oatmeal of course!

Steel cut oats are much thicker than rolled oats, they look more like a rice grain than the flaky oats most of us are accustomed to cooking with. This gives them a different taste and texture and also means that they take a bit longer to cook. Trust me though the nutty flavor and chewy texture makes the extra cooking time more than worthwhile. For cook time shortcuts check out the McCann’s webby page where they have some great time saving tips.

Sweet and Nutty Steel Cut Oats
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 teaspoon earth balance or butter
1 cup steel cut oats
5 pitted dates, roughly chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 cups water, boiling
1 cup milk (soy, hemp, rice or moo cow)
1 teaspoon vanilla
a handful of pecans, toasted
brown sugar for sprinkling (or agave)

Preparation

In a large pot melt the butter. Add the oats and stir for a couple minutes or until toasted. To the butter oat mix first add the cinnamon stick and chopped dates, give a good stir and then add the 3 cups boiling water, reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

After the majority of the water has absorbed add the milk and vanilla to the pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the oats reach the consistency you prefer.

Portion into bowls and top with a splash of milk, toasted pecans, and a generous sprinkling of brown sugar (or agave nectar if you prefer).

Recipe for a Relaxing Summer Holiday

2008-08-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Start with a long four day weekend. Add to that some scrumptious home cooked Mexican food and delicious local beverages. Mix in some leisurely sports and an ample amount of time lounging on a beautiful isolated beach. Oh and the secret ingredient (or should I say un-ingredient) absolutely no cell phone service and no clocks.

Aside from two visits to Tijuana in my youth this was my first real visit into Mexico. Prior to my departure I was told many frightening tales of Mexican holidays gone awry and presented with several reasons why traveling to Mexico might not be the safest way to spend my summer holiday. But passing this atop a mountain enroute to Ensenada made me feel much better.

Really a place with an enormous stature of Jesus can’t possibly be that bad. Our first stop was half way to our final destination for lunch at a place called La Fonda.

The ocean view at this sea side restaurant was gorgeous, the drinks strong, and the food delish. I originally ordered a scrumptious sounding fish dish but when it came it was breaded and fried (a double gluten whammy) so I passed it off for others to enjoy and ended up making a plate consisting of tasty bits of everyone else’s food instead.

After lunch we headed further south for the last leg of our journey to place called Club de Cazadores de La Grulla. This private hunt club/resort sits along the edge of the Estuary of Todos Santos Bay and dates back to the 1920’s. The beautiful adobe clubhouse is built in mission style architecture and consists of several suites and bedrooms, a huge sala, dining room with adjoining kitchen and a library full of books and old pictures of members past and present on holiday there (including one of Clark Gable one hunting season).

There were lots of leisurely games to be played such as bocce ball, paddle tennis, horse shoes, shuffleboard and croquet.

I have always loved croquet but surprisingly I found I was even more skilled at bocce ball (must be that Italian heritage kicking in).

Most recently at the club they have planted grapes and started a lovely little vineyard.

Almost all of our meals were eaten together at the long family style table in the dining room. Every morning I had warm corn tortillas, refried beans, fresh fruit and coffee.

I had forgotten how much I loved beans for breakfast! In London I used to frequently start my day with a breakfast of beans on toast. Beans with tortilla is a delicious gluten free version of my old British breakfast favorite.

In addition to hanging out at the clubhouse we also spent the late mornings and early afternoons at the club beach house located 4 miles from the clubhouse at Estero Beach.

The isolated sandy shore was the perfect place for sea shell collecting and catnaps in the sunshine. There were also kayaks and boards if you were water sporting inclined.

One afternoon the kitchen staff came to the beach house and prepared lunch there. Carne asada and onions grilled outdoors over a fire pit.

Even non red meat eating me tried some and found it to be quite scrumptious. I actually ate red meat three times on this trip! In addition to the delicious beach house lunch I also had some thinly sliced steak at dinner one night and crunchy tacos with shredded beef for lunch one day.

Another afternoon we spent a few hours at La Bufadora.

Where we marveled at the blowhole and were careful not to fall in the ocean.

Had a few drinks at Habana Banana.

Did some shopping/haggling.

I found a cute hat and dress, dad got a couple tablecloths, Chris got a statue of a turtle, and Steve bought a mask.

The night of our final dinner we had mariachis come play at our cocktail hour in the sala (my favorite, yay!).

Followed by a traditional Mexican dinner by lantern light in the dining room.

We had guacamole salad to start, cheesy enchiladas and super spicy make you sweat with one bite chile rellenos for the main entrée, beans and rice on the side, and sweet and custardy flan for dessert.

Everything was amazingly delicious, I particularly enjoyed the extraordinarily spicy chiles. I have always loved the way different foods can affect your senses, sometimes like the chiles in dramatic ways.

Not having a clock or cell phone made the experience all the more pleasant. Staying up as late or sleeping in as much as my body told me to and not having to worry about missed calls or emails was incredibly refreshing.

I also surprisingly enjoyed not cooking for a few days. It was a pleasant change of pace to not have to make plans for food and meals at all and instead just eat whatever delicious dish that was prepared. I will admit that by the 2nd day there I came pretty close to going to the kitchen staff and asking if I could watch and/or help prepare one of the meals with them but my Spanish is so rubbish now and I was not sure I could explain my intention of joining them in the kitchen properly so I opted to stay in the dining room and enjoy the fruits of their labor instead.

After one last delicious breakfast we started our trip back to San Diego. The drive back was quick and smooth except for the 2 ½ hour traffic jam crossing the border. Luckily there were lots of different vendors passing by the windows for people watching to help pass the time. I resisted all the impulse buys but did end up giving 10 pesos to a tiny little boy that kept juggling in front of and tapping on my window. I was also tempted to buy something from this man with all the flags but took a picture of him instead.

Happily Mexico turned out to be an incredibly enjoyable and safe place to vacation. Delicious food, good company, and beautiful scenery the perfect recipe for a splendid summer holiday in my book.