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

I think California Pizza Kitchen is the most well known but I have seen and had this dish at many restaurants.  I was in the mood but needed to make a dressing.  I had been putting it off until I had a kitchen full of ingredients. I had actually prepared toppings for Pho soup but messed up the broth (I used some frozen oxtail and I think it was bad.)  Anyway, I had a ton of cut up cilantro, onions and other stuff. What to do with the toppings?  Make a really yummy salad.  Many places use cabbage for their oriental chicken salad, but the nice thing about cooking at home is you can do what you and your taste buds want. The salad consisted of: Lettuce Shredded Carrots and Daikon radish Sprouts Cucumbers Thin slice yellow onions Scallions Roasted Peanuts Mandarin orange slices sliced grilled chicken that I had seasoned with salt and turmeric cilantro For the dressing combine: 4 Tablespoons of Rice Wine Vinegar 4 Tablespoons of GF Hoisin Sauc...

There were two really good dishes I have had recently.  Both were good enough that I made them at home.  Both were easy to make at home. First up roasted beet salad with micro arugula, feta cheese, hazelnut brittle and honey yogurt.  I had this appetizer at Island Prime which is one of the Cohn Restaurants in San Diego.  It is attached to C Level and you can see  my blog post  about their restaurant for more information. We ate here after seeing the Grinch at the Old Globe Theater which is a great San Diego tradition if you are in town around the holidays.  The dish was delicious. At home I roasted some red, yellow and zebra beets.  Arrange them on a plate.  Top with the brittle and micro arugula.  I found the arugula at a local farmer market.  As for the brittle, we did not have hazelnuts so I used pecans.  There are a ton of brittle recipes on the web but make sure you have a candy thermometer.  For the dressing...

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!! There is not one other day where so many Americans will be parked in front of a t.v. and eat and drink and eat.  This year we are laying low and going to watch at home.  I might just spend all day in my pajamas. In case you were wondering what to cook for you and your friends here is a short list of options. 1.   Super Easy Pulled Pork .  This is one of our regular recipes but it is great for the Super Bowl because  everyone can make a sandwich throughout the game.  You can even make pulled pork sliders by using  Brazi Bites. 2.  What can serve along side the pulled pork?   Creamy Cole Slaw  of course. 3.  Wings!!  You can't go wrong with Buffalo Wings .  Here is my simple recipe for the wings and sauce. 4.  Want something cheesy?  These  Cheese Crisps  are one of my kids favorites.  I guarantee if you make them they will disappear like a bag of...

First of all - I want one.  It was so nice to go to a true GF GastroPub where you can order a flight of GF  beer and anything on the menu because it was all GF.  If they want to open one in San Diego I would in line to be an investor. I found Harvester Beer  when I first traveled to Oregon.  I have been through the GF beer train and have settled on New Planet as the closet anyone has come to making a GF beer taste like a beer.  That was until I found Harvester - their beer is incredible and I would easily serve it to non-GF friends and not feel embarrassed that they had to drink it - I'm sure many people wouldn't even notice it was GF.  Actually I'm too selfish to offer it to friends since I can't find it in San Diego yet.  Any bottles I bring home I cherish and save for special occasions. When I heard that Harvester opened a Gastropub next to the brewery I made plans to go there on my next trip to Oregon. This was a good sign that I was ...

I really love garlic.  It is great in pasta sauce, soups, veggies and meats.  The one problem is that peeling a lot of garlic can be a chore, the skins stick to your skin and buying a bottle of pre-peeled garlic is expensive. So, I have a new method for you.  I can't remember where I exactly learned this - but I remember it was around some holiday and everyone was talking about cooking. WARNING:  This makes a lot of noise , but it is fun and you can take out some anger if you have to. First, break off the cloves from the head.  Use as many as you need. Next,  toss them into a metal bowl.  You can peel as many as you need, I have peeled two whole garlic heads at once.  You will need two bowls of the same size and I find it is best for it to have a lip to hold onto the bowls when you shake them. Cover the bottom bowl with an similar size bowl (identical if you have it - we have lots of bowls).  You can see how the lip gives you ...

For those of that live in southern California we are extremely lucky to have Disney, Legoland, Sea World, The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park all within close driving distance.  For visitors there are tons of places to visit. Most of these places do not offer great dining options for the Gluten Free traveler.  Disney has done a really good job, you can see my post  here on the blog.   Legoland is another place that offers a bunch of GF options and the staff always seems to be well trained, you can see my post  here.   The San Diego Zoo and Animal have much to be desired when we were there last so pack your own food. All of these years here we had never visited  Knott's Berry Farms.   It is only a few miles past Disneyland if you are coming from San Diego and two turns off the highway and you are pulling into the parking lot. If you search the Knott's website under dining it lists all of the dining options but there is no mention of GF opt...

This year I choose to do something different.  Every year I'm working, shopping and then come Thanksgiving Day I'm off of work.  And you know what I do - wake up early, cook and cook and cook and cook.  We eat and then spend way too much time cleaning up.  By the time friday rolls around its back to work and I'm tired. And what is the best part of Thanksgiving?  Leftovers! So this year I decided to eat leftovers for Thanksgiving.  No cooking, no cleaning.  Just eating, watching football, more eating, playing football, drinking and lots of dessert. SUNDAY On Sunday I made the ice creams - cinnamon and mint chocolate chip. For the Philadelphia Style Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Mix together 2 cups 2% milk, 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp peppermint extract, 1 tsp GF vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp salt.  Place into ice cream maker.  Once it is done stir in 1 cup of mini chips and store in freezer For the Cinnamon Ice Cream Mi...