Sunday, June 21, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Gluten Free Mother's Day Dinner
Gluten Free Mother's Day Dinner
Salmon over a bed of Asparagus and Quinoa
There is nothing I love more than a fresh piece of wild caught salmon. This is a Mother's Day dinner, I make specially for my mom!
What you need:
1/2 pound of fresh salmon per person
1/4 of quinoa per person
1/3 of a bundle of asparagus person, or about 7-10 stalks.
Chicken broth
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
To Star:
First, take your fresh salmon out of the wrapping and let it sit on a paper towel for a few minutes to absorb any excess moisture or water. Next, put a frying pan on the stove at medium-high heat, and pour in a 2 tsp. of olive oil, or just enough for the entire bottom of the pan to be coated. While you wait for the pan to heat up, get your quinoa simmering. To do that, measure how ever many cups of prepared quinoa you need, and reduce the raw quinoa to half. So, say you need 2 cups of finished quinoa, you will only use 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. Now, measure double the amount of chicken broth as the amount of quinoa and bring it to a boil, in a medium pot. Once the quinoa comes to a boil, reduce it to low and cover.
To start the fish cooking, lightly coat both sides with salt and pepper. Put the fish skin side down, into the heated pan. Add 1 tbsp. of butter. Don't flip the fish too soon. You are looking to get a nice brown crust on the skin, so let cook for 5-7 minutes before flipping. Once the salmon is able to be easily lifted, it is time to flip it. Let the second side cook for 2-3 minutes. To make sure the salmon is fully cooked, it should flake easily. The internal temperature of any fish should reach 145 degrees. Take the salmon of the heat, put it on a plate lined with a paper towel and cover with aluminum foil.
To prepare the asparagus, cut off the end, so the stalk has no hard part. Put the asparagus in the pan you cooked the salmon in at a medium heat and brown the asparagus. Once the asparagus has been slightly browned, add 1-2 tbsp, of butter. Reduce the heat, and allow the butter to caramelize and infuse flavor into the asparagus. Lightly season the asparagus with salt. Let it sit on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Take the asparagus off the heat, and put it on the bottom of the plate you are going to serve. Check to see if the quinoa is fully cooked. There should be no water left, and the white endosperms should have all popped out. Add the quinoa onto the asparagus, and top with the piece of salmon.
Congratulations, you have just cooked a fantastic meal your mom will love. Even if you burnt it, I'm sure your mom doesn't care! She is just happy you made a meal just for her! I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day!
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Gluten Free at Disney World - Part 1.
Gluten Free at Disney World - Part 1.
Last week I visited Disney World, and I want to share a few of my favorite places to go for gluten free food. Disney offers gluten free options at almost every sit-down or quick service restaurant they have, so it is pretty easy to eat gluten free at Disney.
The first restaurant I would like to share is Harbor House.
This is one of my favorite restaurants in Disney World!It is quietly located near the Haunted Mansion in Frontierland and is almost never really busy. The building has two levels, and you can sit either at the lower level or go upstairs into the higher level. You can sit right next to the windows you can see in the picture, and you will overlook the water and boarding area for the Liberty Square River Boat. The prices are average as with any Disney quick service restaurant.
They have one menu for all of the different allergies. Personally, I like the chicken tenders the best, so that is what I got! I also got the Enjoy Life cookie, since it was gluten and dairy free, unlike the OMG It's Gluten Free Cookie.
They give you a generous serving of fries, which are cooked in a separate fryer, and about 4-5 chicken strips.
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The chicken strips a lightly breaded and very moist inside!
The breading is good, but a tad too acidic.
I hope this review and the upcoming reviews help you if you can't decide where to eat at Disney. There are so many great places, but it can be hard to choose, especially since Disney doesn't publish all of the allergy menus.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below!
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Review Krusteaz Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Taste: 6.9
Texture: 7.8
Nutrition: 4.7
Cost: 10
This is one of my favorite gluten free brownie mixes! It taste great and isn't expensive at all. I found it at my local Sam's Club for only $6.99, for three packs of brownie mix!!! It's also super easy to make, as most box brownie mixes are.
I especially like this brownie mix, because it actually is "certified" gluten free. I am always weary of buying anything without this, because who knows if they properly tested the product!
It looks just like any regular brownie mix.
***Quick Note***
If you're like me, and love eating the batter, do it before you put the egg in, just to be safe!
The batter taste amazing! It almost didn't make it into the oven.
Finally, the taste of the brownie!
They have an excellent rich and deep smooth chocolate flavor. The one kind of big thing I don't like about them though is, they have a slightly off-putting burnt flavor. I think it's because they have lots of chocolate chips in the batter, and if you've ever melted chocolate chips, you know they get a very terrible flavor if they are burnt. I even baked a second batch and cooked them less, but I got the same flavor. It's not really bad or noticeable, but if you're super picky, you might notice it... The texture, on the other hand, is flawless!
Initially, these brownies look fantastic nutrition wise! That is, until you see that a serving size is a 2 inch brownie! Who is going to eat one little 2 inch brownie!?! If you're like me, it will wind up being more like two 2 inch brownies.
Fine.....! Probably more like 3... ;)
Post Baking Tip!
What I like to do, after I eat a few, is to wrap the rest up in plastic wrap while they are still warm and stick them in the freezer!
This will keep them moist for when you defrost or microwave them.
Now you have lots of delicious brownies ready whenever you are!
Please leave any comments, suggestion, or ideas for future reviews in the comment section below!
With Love,
Mel
Monday, June 30, 2014
Best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER.
Makes 48 cookies
Prep time 20 minutes
Bake time 8-10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cup of All Purpose Gluten Free Flour(I'm using Domata, but you can use any gluten free flour you would like!)
1/2 Cup of White Sugar
1 1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
1tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Sticks of Butter
1/4 Cup of Cream Cheese
2 Large Eggs
2 1/2 Cups of Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup of Shreded Coconut (OPTIONAL)
(I find that the coconut really gives these cookies a great texture.)
1.
Go ahead and set the oven to 350ºF. Now cream together the Butter and Cream Cheese. Once they are creamed, add both Sugars, and the Vanilla Extract. Whisk them together until light and fluffy (photo 1). Now gently mix in both of the Large Eggs (photo 2). Don't stir it to much, or the eggs will make the batter tough.
2.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the Flour, Salt, and Baking Soda. Now what you should do is add this 1/4 cup at a time to the Butter Sugar mixture, but if your impatient like me, just dump it all in at once (photo 3)! Stir until well combined (photo 4). Now add the Chocolate Chips and the Coconut. Stir until the Chocolate Chips and Coconut are evenly dispersed (photo 5).
3.
Spray a cookie sheet with oil. If you have a Silpat remember to use it! I absolutely love mine.Roll a quarter size amount of the cookie dough into a ball, then place it on the pan, have them spread out about 2in apart. Gently press down on the top of each cookie (photo 6). Each cookie sheet should take 9 cookies at a time. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, just until the edges turn golden brown (photo 7).The center may still look a little to light, but give them 2-3 minutes after baking to completely set (photo 8).
I hope you enjoy this recipe!!! Please post any comments or suggestion after you've made some!!!
With Love,
Mel
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Sunday, June 29, 2014
Domata All Purpose Flour
One of the first thing you need to go gluten free, is a GOOD flour.
Who doesn't love cookies and cakes???
If you ever baked with most gluten free flours, they make everything dry and dense. I have probably tried 20 different gluten free flours, and pretty much hate them all. Except for this one, Domata gluten free flour! One of the best parts about it, is it's a cup for cup replacement for regular flour. Meaning, no more Math!!! Also, this has Xanthan Gum already added, that's a huge plus! I still do find one fault with this flour, like all other gluten free flours, if you don't add more moisture to the recipe, you will still get slightly dry baked goods. For example, say a recipe calls for a cup of milk, I would go ahead and put in a cup an a half, to two cups. If you add the extra moisture, you will be very surprised at how good this flour really makes things. If you mix it right, you might not even notice it's a gluten free recipe! I will share with you tomorrow, the best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe ever! I have played around with this recipe for quite a while, and I cant wait to share it!
Currently, the only place I can find this Gluten Free Flour, is Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger stores. Here are the prices of the stores near me:
Walmart $4.99
Kroger $5.79
Amazon $5.69
Here is a link to Domata for Amazon http://amzn.com/B007P2OI1S
This is the link to Domata's website, so you can locate it at a store near you http://domataglutenfree.com/findstore.html
So, have you tried any gluten free flours you really like?
Did you find this in another store?
If so, please share in the comment section!!!
With Love,
Mel
Disclaimer
I have absolutely NO finical relationship with Domata. This review is my complete and honest, unbiased opinion.
My Story
Hi, my name is Melissa, but you can call me Mel! So here's my story....
Ever since I was about 12, I can remember constantly getting stomach aches, and never knowing what caused it.
When I turned 25, all was revealed! I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Ever since, I have been on and off gluten free.
I would try to stay off gluten, but I would always wind up back on. It's just always been so hard, especially eating out!
I have always hated to make a scene out of myself and ask, "Is that Gluten Free?". Then there's cake and cookies, my biggest weakness!
Everyone around me is always eating Gluten! I could never stay off Gluten for more than a month. Well February this year, that all changed when I had my worse Gluten attack ever. I was sick and entire day, and I kept throwing up....
I vowed from that point on, that it was "Gluten Free Time".
So far so well! It's been almost 5 months, and I haven't had any Gluten!!! All the struggle is still there, but I have learned how to just deal with it. I feel so much better now! I would love to share all of what I have learned with you!
With Love,
Mel
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