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

We took a trip to the East Coast this summer.  At almost every boardwalk store there was salt water taffy, fudge and rock candy.  We had always talked about making rock candy and this summer we did. Super easy. All you need is 1 cup of water 3 cups of sugar small cups sticks clothes pins food coloring (optional) Heat the cup of water over the stove and start adding the sugar.  Add small amounts at a time and keep stirring.  Eventually you will get it all dissolved. Next dip the sticks in the sugar solution, dip in some sugar and let dry.  This will help the crystallization process. Pour the sugar solution into small cups and all food coloring if you want to add some color.  I was thinking about adding some extracts next time for flavor - vanilla, orange, mint. Let it cool.  Clip the sticks to clothes pins so the stick is hanging freely in the cup (not touching the sides or the bottom). Then wait.  We kept our on the counter f...

So I like soup.  And I enjoy cooking soup.  Homemade soup is just good, filling, nutritious and delicious. But sometimes I don't have time to make soup.  I actually have a river trip coming up and I was thinking about things to pack that I could easily heat up for lunch or a snack - and soup came to mind. I looked around and did not find a ton of gluten free options.  At my local supermarket I found  Gluten Free Cafe Soups .  This is a division of the Hain Celestial Group and their products are GF Certified. I picked up the Chicken Noodle.  Opened the can and dumped it into a pot. Heated it up then poured it into a bowl. How was it?  Not too bad and actually quite good.  A bit salty, but you sort of expect that from a canned soup.  The noodles were of good texture, not mushy.  The chicken was a bit chewy.  The vegetables still had a good textural bite to them. I'll pack it on my trip as it will be easy to heat...

I was walking through our local  Whole Foods in Del Mar  and saw  Rudi's GF Tortillas .  I decided to pick them up and try them out. We used to love taco night and I have yet to find a place that makes GF corn tortilla or taco shells.  Every place that makes corn tortillas makes flour tortillas and the risk of cross contamination is too great for me.  Usually we make our own corn tortillas with  Bob's Red Mill GF Masa Harina .  Although they are good it does take some time. I had high hopes for a GF "flour" tortilla.  Let me say that Rudi's Tortillas won the test. We like to heat them over the burner.  Be careful but it warms it nicely and adds a little char. For starters we had some left over taco meat (you can see my recipe  here) .  So we heated up some tortillas (I place them right over the gas burner for 5 seconds each side) and filled with meat, cheese, lettuce and salsa.  It was great.  And my li...

A friend of mine kept telling me about a place he has visited since he was a kid.  He told me of how much fun it was and it is in the middle of no where.  They have fishing, natural hot springs, swimming and hiking.  So we planned a trip for this year after the kids got out of school. The place is called  Mono Hot Springs .  It is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains between Yosemite and Sequoia National Park.  The last hour of the eight hour drive from San Diego is on a single lane somewhat paved road.  A car or truck with clearance is recommended and if you drive to some of the far out placed a 4 wheel drive vehicle is needed, but you could get to the campground in any car. You can stay at a campsite or one of their cabins.  We choose a cabin.  They have one or two bedroom and with or without a kitchen.  Our cabin had two rooms, one with a full and one with two twins.  The cabin had its own toilet and a kitchen with a four b...