Ahhh....Manhattan....

So I'm home from NYC, and I can't wait to go back!! I didn't get glutened once, until I got back to the Mass pike....peachy..NYC was amazing, as always, and I was surprised that the gluten free food was not as sparse as northern Maine, but still not as prevalent as I expected. Some places we're closed due to the holiday, other just don't cater to "allergies". I did hit two places frequently, Heartland Brewery and Pret A Manger. Both eateries can be found in the 5th avenue area, both cater to gluten free amongst other food needs, but one had better employee attitudes than the other. 1st off the first waitress at Heartland Brewery didn't even know that they accommodate food allergies, great! Thst makes me feel confident...then the manager had an attitude which I proceeded to hand right back. She soon realized that not only did they advertise accommodations for celiac disease but that it was HER job to ensure all goes flawlessly. She did well, my meal was delicious, and I did return for a second meal in confidence. I can't say enough good things about Pret A Manger, this place is awesome!! Everything is labeled, ingredients are listed, and the waiters are very knowledgable! Mom and I couldn't get a table so we took ours to go and ate at Rockefeller Center. This was my favorite meal of the week, great service, great food, and amazing scenery! Well that concludes my update for now, I'll be back ASAP to fill you in some more. I'll be Doug a cookie blog soon, as I'm getting ready to send a few dozen to my brother in Florida! He loves GF food, even though he's not a GF foodie lol Talk soon <3

It's Thanksgiving, gobble gobble.....

I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving! Where has this year gone to, or this month further more lol The fall is flying by, and I must say I'm loving it since I love the holidays. This is the first year that I will not be participating in the traditional Thanksgiving meal with family, as my Mother and I will be venturing to NYC for the week! I did though, however, prepare for this and the Christmas holiday meals by recreating my absolute favorite side dish. I thought my holidays would be ruined when I went gluten free and thought I'd never eat my Mother's stuffing again! I'm pretty crafty, so I of course I found a way to avoid a major melt down at the dinner table. I knew a meltdown was certain to happen if I had to watch others eat stuffing in front of me, dun dun dun....so I found a gluten free stuffing mix and recreated Mom's recipe, and it tastes exactly the same!

Mom's Thanksgiving Stuffing:

1 pkg Aleia's stuffing mix ( prepared by instructions on back of bag)
1 tbs olive oil
2-3 tbs butter
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3-5 stalks celery, chopped
5-10 mushrooms, chopped
1 pkg breakfast sausage, chopped
chicken stock ( as needed per mix)
butter ( as needed per mix)

In a saute pan, warm olive oil and butter on med/high heat. Add in garlic, slightly cook. Add in onion, mushrooms, and celery, partially cook. Add breakfast sausage and cook all ingredients thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix stuffing per instructions on pkg, and add all contents of saute pan to bowl. Mix well with stuffing mix. Grease a muffin tin and preheat oven to 350 deg. Disperse stuffing mix in muffin tins, you should have enough mix for 12 stuffing cups. Place pan in oven and bake for approximately an hour, checking every so often as not to burn the stuffing. Stuffing should be cooked through and crispy on top.(using muffin tins ensures everyone gets some crispy bits with their stuffing, my favorite part!) Serve warm!

I hope that you are able to find the stuffing mix and create this yummy stuffing for your next holiday meal. I'm so glad my mom pushes me to recreate my favorite recipes gluten free, she is my biggest cheerleader and I couldn't ask for a better person to stand behind me cheering me on! After listening to me cry, literally, over the fact that I would never be able to enjoy holiday meals again( only time she makes the stuffing), she instructed me to google GF stuffing mix, buy it, and start experimenting! Amazing how those moms know just what to do to turn things around. I made this stuffing and realized if I could recreate this, then I could recreate just about anything! Happy cooking to you, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

6 days until this guten free diva ventures to the home of Sex And The City, Manhattan.....

ahhh, I can almost smell the smog....oh wait, that could be my dinner burning. Ha! Well, it's officially here, I have one more weekend to get through and I will be on my way to NYC for a week over Thanksgiving! As you all know, or have guessed from reading my blogs and not reading the description of this blog, I'm a gluten free diva. This means one of two things for me when traveling, either I 1. pack appropriate amounts of food to ensure that I do not run out of snacks and can eat out of my purse if there are no GF options at restaurants, or 2. I could starve and be model thin for shopping in NYC...I have chosen option numero uno, given that I'm obviously a plus size girl and a few days of starving just isn't going to work for me, or for anyone of the 50 other people traveling with me ;). I didn't realized just how much I would have to plan before going on such a vaca, I've researched lots of NYC restaurants(in the areas of highlights on my trip) to see if they are GF friendly, packed snacks ( quick,easy, and merely non perishables that will fit in my purse) that I can go to if needed, and I think I'm good lol. I did find that most restaurants in NYC have some sort of GF option if not a whole GF menu! This is a great find, along with my amazing iPhone apps that will save me when it comes to actually ordering! As for my snacks, here is what I've got going into the bag, KIND bars, crackers, perhaps an apple or three ( I know I said non perishable but I eat apples quite quickly), and water, lots of water. If you haven't checked out my review on KIND bars, you need to! They are amazing, all natural, very tasty, non GMO, GF, and low in calories(around 180 for a good size bar). As for crackers, I've got some rosemary and olive oil Crunchmasters, I actually haven't tried these before so I'll let you know what I think. They sound great, and I used to love rosemary and olive oil triscuits so I hope these are a good alternative. I do enjoy the plain crunchmaster crackers, especially with hummus. I am packing some single serving salad dressings, that I can take with me into the city, in the event I get a salad but have no GF dressing options. I am also packing a couple containers of tuna fish, this is a staple in my diet, and it doesn't need to be refrigerated, only if you don't eat your full serving. I got the ones in the plastic bag like container, that was there's no need for a can opener! ( always thinking, I am) I did think to pick up some of the single serving regular miracle whips as well, these will come in great when and if I decide to have the tuna fish, since I've already made a loaf of GF sandwich bread and frozen it so I can just take a few pieces with me for the possibility of making a sandwich! So there ya go, my food options are taken care of....now on to packing the clothes. Now this is where the hard part begins, I only can take 1 suitcase!>! eeekkkkk.....well and my carry on, which will be a hiking pack (bookbag-esque). Good thing I got a large suitcase, well I'm off to pack, let me know if there are any great GF restaurants I should hit, or if you have any thoughts on what to pack! Bon Voyage Y'all!

OMW can I EVER cook!?!!

I seriously just made the most amazing chicken and rice soup, biscuits, and gingerbread cake with real whipped cream for my fam....phew! I'm all tuckered out, time for some eggnog'n tea!! Gotta love the good gluten free life!! What an awesome happy, healthy 9 months GF It's been.....lovin' it!

I feel like Betty flipping Crocker today....

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but today I'm cooking up a storm! I'll add recipes and pics later but for now here's the days menu. To start I have chicken and rice soup in the crock pot that's filling the house with yumminess! Lol A loaf of GF bread just came out of the oven, peppermint meringue kisses are drying in the oven, and I'm about to complete dinner. I've got some GF biscuits on deck to go with the chicken and rice soup and a gingerbread cake, homemade ofcourse, with real whip cream! I usually only make gingerbread once a year on my moms bday, but since I've been GF this year I am going to try and turn Nana's gingerbread cake recipe to GF! Yahoo, that means I needed a test run haha yummy! I'll let you know how I make out! Happy 9 months of gluten freeness to me!! I fell soo much better, almost awesome ;)