The Un-Gluten Guy (My Gluten Free Recipes & GF Adventures)

Cereal - the american kids breakfast in a bowl.  Aisles and aisles of sugary cereal with cartoons on the box waiting for kids to pick it up and ask mom "can I get it?" I too, was brought up with cereal for breakfast.  My favorites from what I remember were Apple Jacks and Honeycombs. Now I usually have some cheese, a hard boiled egg and some yogurt.  Occasionally I'll do cereal for breakfast on the run but I like it more as a sweet nighttime snack. In an attempt to have some more food options I went looking and there are a lot of options out there. First I found out that Chex has been reformulated to be Gluten Free.  So you have Rice Chex, Corn Chex, and Honey Nut Chex.  I sometimes pour all three in a bowl for a little mix of flavor and texture.  Obviously now you can make your own Chex mix with other GF ingredients.  ( Stay away from the wheat and multibran they ARE NOT GF). Snap, Crackle and Pop came out with a GF version too.  The...

We used to go to Roy's  as a treat for the family.  They do a great jobs with kids and their chocolate soufflé dessert is amazing. I have not been real comfortable trusting restaurant kitchens so we have stayed away since I was diagnosed.  My wife spoke with the Manager, Brian, who gave her a GF menu and told her that any restaurant that is not offering GF food is behind the times - I totally agree. If you look online you can find their GF menu for each location.  This is the winter menu from the restaurant near us. One of things the kids like is the short ribs.  I found the recipe online and we make it at home.  It is not exactly like the restaurant version but still pretty good.  It is best a day or two after so I make it on the weekend and we eat it Monday or Tuesday for a easy weeknight meal. Braised Ribs Take 2 lbs of short ribs or equivalent meat, season with salt and pepper and brown all sides.  Add 1 chopped white onion, 1 cho...

We usually go to Park City  to ski in the winter.  Now that we were planning our trip the anxiety set in.  Where will I eat, where will I shop, how much food do I have to bring?  Luckily they have a Whole Foods in New Park so as you exit the highway heading to the Canyons, Park City and Deer Valley you can make a stop in to Whole Foods and shop.  They have other supermarkets that we have used before but I'll have to let you know how it is after I get back. What about skiing, where was I going to eat?  I contacted the resort and Deirdra Walsh, the Director of Food and Beverage from Park City Resort, was very helpful. She said all of the outlets have GF bread and GF hamburger buns.  Legacy Lodge and Summit house have GF pizza crust and corn tortillas available by request.  Most soups are GF and will be labeled if they are.  Kristi's Coffee shop has GF cookies and muffins.  And all outlets have Redbridge beer. She also send the Lege...

So off to dinner last night and the kids wanted a treat.  Into the strip mall and option #1 Baskin Robbins, option #2 Yogurtland. The kids picked  Yogurtland .  This is one of those self serve yogurt places with huge cups to fill with your choice of yogurt and then a topping bar with all sorts of fruit, sweets and cereals. To my amazement next to each flavor (and there were about 16) was a nutritional bar with, you guessed it, a GF symbol.  Obviously the thin mint and cookies and cream flavors were off limits but there were many Gluten Free options. I picked the Kona Coffee Blend, but had options such as NY Cheesecake, Lychee, Mango, Strawberry and others.  And at 33 cents an ounce this was cheaper than some other yogurt places. Taste - superb.  I have avoided places like Coldstone and Baskin Robbins since being diagnosed.  I know they have GF flavors but no telling how many times the serving spoon has been in and out of other flavors then i...

What is matzo?  It is the flat unleavened bread that the Jewish people took when they were fleeing Egypt. It is essentially a large flat cracker.  It is used for some holidays but it tastes great all year long. Well, since being diagnosed I have had to do without matzo - so I started looking and found  GF Matzo . It is made with tapioca starch, potato starch and flour, palm oil, vinegar, egg yolks, honey and salt.  It tastes great (for matzo that is). You can eat it plain, use it as a cracker for spreads or dips, make a sandwich like peanut butter and jelly or crumble it and use it as crumbs.  For breakfast we make fried matzo.  Break it into pieces and soak in some water to moisten it and then drain off the water.  Mix in eggs to coat the pieces, then fry in a pan with some butter.  You can top with salt and pepper or some people sprinkle sugar on top. I ordered on line and we received the order in a few days. The Un-Gluten Guy

I have been a huge fan of pasta.  I became limited after being diagnosed.  Away went the boxes of Barilla and I gave away my pasta roller too (no way to clean all of the flour out of it). I tried many rice pastas and found the texture to be off.  I have settled on  Quinoa Pasta  and found the taste and texture are good.  I haven't ventured into making my own Gluten Free pasta but that will be some time soon. When it comes to pasta I like simple most of the time.  A bit of olive oil, some fresh garlic, fresh chopped tomatoes and some fresh basil are a perfect combination.  Add some grilled shrimp or sausage.  You can spice it up with some dried red pepper flakes or sliced peppers.  And don't forget the cheese - some slices of mozzarella melt nicely over the pasta or shaved parmesan. 1.   Pasta with Proscuitto I don't remember where I first saw this recipe, but it was on some cooking show but i've tweaked it over the years. ...

Anyone can throw together a bunch of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, but what makes you shell out 10 bucks at a restaurant for a salad.  Its good for starters, it has fresh ingredients, different textures and it usually is visually appealing. The dressing is also the key.  You can find some good GF dressings - I like San-J Tamari Ginger for when I do an asian salad, Annie's has a few good ones and Ken's Steakhouse is our go to for Ranch and Blue Cheese.  A lot of times I make my own vinaigrette - its easy with oil and vinegar.  You can add salt and pepper or any other spice you want like oregano, fresh tarragon or parsley.  Adding some citrus like lemon juice or a bit of orange juice adds flare as well as a bit of mustard so experiment. 1.   Ceasar Salad.  This one always sounds hard but it isn't and there is no way a store bought ceasar dressing is any good. You'll need:  lettuce, anchovy paste, garlic, lemon, greek yogurt, Worcestershire...

Sometime a great dish needs a little something extra on the plate.  Or maybe you just need a quick bite between meals. 1.  Mango Quesadillas .  This is a great quick bite and if you have guests they will super happy to munch on these treats.  Take two tortillas - I used French Meadow GF tortillas.  You'll need shredded cheese of your choice, diced red onion, chopped cilantro and diced mango.  Lay down one tortilla in a fry pan, cover with the cheese, onion, cilatro and mango and cover with the second tortilla.  Flip to cook both sides and get the cheese nice and melted.  You can then cut into 4 pieces and serve plain or with a side of salsa or guacamole. 2.  Proscuitto Asparagus .  This is the way we got our kids to eat asparagus and they like helping to make them too.  Wash a bunch of asparagus and cut off the bottom tough section.  Wrap each piece with a slice of proscuitto.  Place in the oven under the broiler....

I am not a huge red meat eater but I occasionally like to have a nice steak.  I am a fan of simplicity too. 1.  Simple steak (aka steak florentine).  The key is letting it come to room temp before you cook it.  Rub the steak with EVOO and a crushed clove of garlic.  Salt and pepper both sides and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.  Get the grill hot and make sure the grate is clean.  Sear one side, then before you flip it rotate the steak 90 degrees to another part of the grill.  Then flip and rotate again so both side are done - adjust your cooking time to the desired doneness.  I then rest the steak on a plate under tinfoil and put a pat of butter on it first.  Then enjoy. 2.  Stuffed Filet .  This works well with filet mignon.  Use a paring knife to create a little pocket inside the meat - BE CAREFUL.  I stuff the inside with crumbled gorganzola.  I use a large garlic clove last to stuff in and rotate to cl...

So I have been getting questions about some of my recipes from friends.  Many of them are Gluten Free by design but some I have tweaked to now be GF. I am going to start listing some in a few topics like Fish, Meat, Apps, Quick Bites and Pizza. 1.   Salsa Fish :  This works well with a thick filet, I have used Opa and Swordfish.  I will lightly coat the filet with Olive Oil Salt and Pepper.  You can pan fry it or grill it.  If you grill it the grill needs to be super clean and oil the grates (I use half an onion dipped in oil to season the grill). For the salsa I will cut up onion (red or white), tomato (cut out the inners so you have the skin and meat), cilantro, mango or pineapple (or both) and season with salt and lime juice.  This can be made an hour ahead to better meld the flavors. I will squeeze a bit of fresh lime juice over the fish then top with the salsa before serving. 2.   White fish filet Meuniere This is a really easy re...

I used to visit Roppongi every so often.  It is an Asian style restaurant with European influences, a sushi bar and indoor and outdoor eating.  They have a large tapas style menus with other apps and entrees. I actually saw a post on  Gluten Free in SD .  They had a meeting there and had a good experience.  So after being away for a while I decided to give it a try.  We went to check it out on weekday for lunch. Gluten Free menu?  Check.  One star for that.  It stated that the kitchen staff has been trained in gluten allergies and Celiac disease and they make every effort to prevent cross contamination.  You can download it from their  website The waiter was knowledgeable about celiac disease and knew the GF menu.  One star there The menu offered a few soups, salads and entrees and about 10 tapas.  We ordered the hummus with lamb served with cucumber chips (they offer pita on the regular menu).  We also ha...

I like sushi.  Nothing goes better with sushi than beer and sake.  Well, now that some of my favorite beers are off the table what do I have left?  Sake?  Maybe. So sake is rice wine so should be safe, but what happens in the brewing process.  It is known as the "Drink of the Gods."  They first polish the rice.  This picture shows the unpolished rice above and the polished rice below. Sake is made with rice, water, sugar and Koji.  Different sakes are produced with different purtiy.  There are sakes that are made with added alcohol : Hojonzo, Ginjo-Sake and Dai Ginjo Sake I would avoid these. The sake that is made with rice without added alcohol are Junmai-Sake, Junmai-Ginjo and Junmai-Dai-Ginjo. If you have ever had sake in the US you probably have had Gekkeikan .  I like Gekkeikan Silver.  I contacted the company and they responded that all of their sake is Gluten Free and the produce only sake in their factory and t...

I was one of those people that would open up the refrigerator and/or cabinet and whip up a meal.  I was pretty sans-cookbook, I would browse recipes or watch cooking shows on t.v. to get ideas but most of my cooking was done by taste. Now baking was a different story, it requires more precise measurements.  Now without the use of flour, it became even more difficult. We were out to lunch one day when the waitress mentioned that she cooks GF at home (for health purposes, she was not a celiac).  She had great success with The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by  Elana Amsterdam .  So we picked it up at the bookstore although you can find many of her recipes on her website.  So far, we have made scones that were moist and tasty breakfast treats, not as flaky as a normal scone, but good.  She discusses the nutritional benefit of almond flour and her recipes include grapeseed oil and agave nectar. The other book that we have found to be good (that I ...

So I picked up a new book, the  Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking  and I have been trying a few of the recipes. New Years Day what better to do than to back a super sweet breakfast treat. First had to make their flour concoction which includes brown rice flour, potato starch and flour, sorghum flour and xanthan gum. After making the dough, I have to say that it looked like a dough.  So many times a GF dough looks, well, different. Then off to roll the dough to prepare it for 'the roll.' Next, you brush on melted butter then sprinkle with a lot of cinnamon and sugar.  Then you roll it up.  You pinch it shut and cut it into slices.  Next time i'll sacrifice a bit of yumminess and cut the ends flush so it looks nice. Then into the oven.  After it cools you cover with icing made from milk and powdered sugar.  My wife made up her own cream cheese icing that tasted good too.  Not too shabby, the kids and the neighbors liked it. I'll definitel...

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.  Yet another of life's pleasures put on the list of potential problems. In addition to wheat many Celiacs have lactose problems.  So you can always try  Dreams , they have rice, soy and almond ice cream.  You'll have to check the labels to see if each is Gluten Free. Edy's is pretty much GF except for a few flavors so, as always, check the label.  Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Coffee, Double Vanilla, French Vanilla, Mint Chocolate Chip, Neapolitan, Real Strawberry, Rocky Road, Vanilla, Vanilla Bean and Vanilla Chocolate are all GF based on the labels. Skinny Cow - As far as the cups go Dulce de Leche and Strawberry Cheesecake, Gluten Free. Ben & Jerry's ice cream is great.  But i'll miss mint chocolate cookie.  Luckily Butter Pecan, Cherry Garcia, Choc Peanut Butter Swirl, Chocolate Macadamia, Chunky Monkey, Coconut Almond Fudge Chip, Coffee, Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz, Creme Brulee,...