Rosemary Rock Salt Bagels

If you have ever been to Granville Island without making a stop to Seigel's Bagels and getting yourself a Rosemary Rock Salt Bagel toasted with butter, you have committed a crime, in my eyes.

Today, my project has been: CREATE A ROSEMARY ROCK SALT BAGEL WITHOUT GLUTEN!


I used my combination of gluten-free flour from my delightful gluten-free cookbook, and adapted a recipe from:

http://freerangecookies.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/the-hole-story-gluten-free-bagel-recipe

Yes, I used the two eggs...allergy fail. I know.

They're in the oven right now and I've followed the process on the site closely.

Differences: I used the speed-up-the-process instructions by putting my dough in the oven, covered with a wet cloth for 20 minutes. Also, after I shaped the bagels, I stuck them back in the oven for 20 minutes (both times at 150 degrees), with a bowl of water to increase humidity.

I added rosemary, thyme, and oregano to the dough, because those herbs are simply delightful in breads.
On top, I added a rosemary/rock salt combo that I have from Whole Foods.

Having never before made bagels in my life, I was surprised that part of the process was boiling them!

After 22 minutes of baking: they are amazing.

I'm serious.
Delicious.

They came out a little toasted orange-y, which I was worried about...but they are amazing.

I made myself an avocado, bacon, lettuce, and cucumber sandwich...delish.

Message me for the full recipe if you want it!





ALSO- last night I made gluten-free Rice Krispie squares! I used:

Kraft Jet Puffed Marshmallows
Kellogg's Rice Krispies BROWN RICE (new product- found at Safeway)

which are both gluten free.

Gluten-free friends, the regular Rice Krispies are not gluten-free. Malt- made from barley- sneaks right up on you in that delightful box....

Gluten-Free Dinner Idea- Fish Tacos!

Fish Tacos!

So yummy...add lime margaritas and you're good to go.

I'll put down my cooking method here but I freestyled with measurements so I don't want to fool you with wrong measurements.

Heat up olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
Add cod filet, season with salt and pepper.
Throughout cooking process squeeze lime juice onto fish!

Flip once to even cooking on both sides.
Cook cod well! This is a fish you don't want to undercook.

Heat a pile of corn tortillas wrapped in tin foil in the oven for 20 minutes.

DOUBLE WRAP your tacos- the corn tortillas are super delicate.

Pile fish, salsa verde, pico de gallo, lettuce (or cabbage if you have it!), and more lime juice (yum!) into the DOUBLE WRAPPED corn tortillas.

CONSUME!!!!!!

Cactus Club

It's important as a person with allergies to be informed when you go out to eat. So many sneaky ingredients!

Recently, I went to Cactus Club, and before I went, did some research. It's as easy as it gets. Cactus Club has a "gluten-free" menu listed on their website, informing you of the products you can order that are gluten free, or the modifications you can request to make a dish gluten-free.

Check it out! Just go to menus, and there is a "gluten friendly" bar to choose!

Going through the cupboards...

In becoming allergy-free, it's a great idea to rid your house of all the temptations that will drag you into the black hole of allergy pains.

I began this process weeks ago, but have continued throughout the past few weeks, when my boyfriend decided that he, too, was going to try being Gluten-Free (partially inspired by the book Wheat Belly). He doesn't have any allergies that we know of, but since his announcement of his trying gluten-free, too, I've further rid our cupboards of the foods that are criminal to me.

Cereal: You can pretty much say good-bye. Cole and I being big cereal eaters, we have a lot of boxes stashed in our cupboards. Mini-Wheats, Honey-Nut Cheerios, Frosted Flakes. Let's be honest. It's all junk anyways.
Replacements: Rolled quinoa flakes, gluten-free oats, rice and corn based cereals.

Pasta: Adios. I will be replacing you with rice based pastas forevermore! I love rice!

Soups: Have to read those labels. Surprise to me, Campbell's Tomato Soup has wheat in it! Chicken Noodle, most broths. Read the labels!

Crackers: Replace them with rice crackers, or there are some brands out there that are gluten-free. Again, labels labels labels.

Iced Tea Powder: Questionable ingredients like "artificial flavouring" and "caramel colour"

Granola Bars

Cookies

Sauces: I have a variety of allergies, so for me these include: Soy Sauce (gluten), Worchershire (gluten), Oyster Sauce (gluten), Stirfry Sauce (gluten), and Flax Oil (flax). I'm leaving some sauces with garlic in them, since my sweetie still eats garlic.


I've got a bag of unopened food I'm going to donate to the grocery store.
I've got a bag of opened but still good food I'm going to give to someone who needs it on the street.

Homesense and Granola!

Yesterday I went on a mission to find storage solutions for my tiny apartment. Instead, I found wonderful gluten-free goodness!

Homesense on Richards/Robson carries a small amount of gluten-free goods including: snack foods, flours, and nuts and seeds. All of these products at lower than grocery store prices!

I ended up buying:
Gluten-free organic vanilla.
Certified wheat free oats.
Black Chia.

I've been looking for Certified wheat-free oats for a while now, and got them for a steal of a deal at Homesense.

So, today, I started doing what I have wanted to do for a while!

Homemade Granola! Gluten-Free! Almond-Free! Cashew-Free! Peanut-Free!

So, here's my recipe that I created:

6 cups wheat-free oats
1 cup pepitas
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup black chia seeds
1/3 cup dried apple bits
1/3 cup dried mango bits
1 1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup liquid honey
1 cup maple syrup (has to be the real stuff...throw out your Aunt Jemima. Please. You're Canadian...or maybe not, but we can all agree the real maple syrup is much better than the fake stuff)

Mix the dry in a large bowl. Drizzle over the olive oil, honey, and maple syrup while mixing.

Transfer to 2 large baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes *****stirring once after 10 minutes*****


The verdict: Good! Next time I would add the dried fruit after the baking, but overall, yummy! Go ahead and try it for yourself!

Before:















After: Mixed with some Coconut Blueberry Yogurt

More allergies.

Bad luck.
I got the second part of my allergy results back.

The verdict:
No cashews, flax, navy-beans (strange), and pistachios.


Good-bye flax oil. Hello salmon oil.


So, you can expect any recipes I post here to also be free of these ingredients.

Oh no! Teriyaki and Soy Sauce!

Yeah, cross those off the list. I made the mistake of making what I thought was a gluten-free dish, but not...

Rice noodles, stir fried chicken and broccoli. Mixed in with a little worchershire, teriyaki, gluten-free soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
Delish, but my stomach gave me a little inkling that something wasn't right.

I'm a big fan of stir fries. I'm also a big fan of sushi. So what do we do when we can't have gluten?!

So far, I've successfully found a Kikkoman gluten-free soy sauce on the shelves of Safeway. Awesome! Unfortunately this isn't an option at any sushi restaurants I've been to, so I'll just have to go without, or bring my own, which takes some advance planning.

Teriyaki sauce...well, for me, many teriyaki sauces have pineapple which make them a no-no. Also, gluten. So I will be on the hunt for a great gluten-free, pineapple-free teriyaki sauce.

I'm also going to have to check that bottle of Oyster Sauce...might end up having gluten-too.

The list of foods to throw out grows! Oh, the pain!