A Whole New Blog

I want to thank you for faithfully following me on here. However, I have decided to take my blog to the next level. And to do that, I need to move onto to a full on website. I have spent some time working on the new website and it is finally ready...

Please join me on my gluten free adventures over at Wix...Here's the new link:
My Gluten Free Life

Thank you so much and I will see you over there!

Thank you again for reading my posts and having the grace for me as I learned about blogging.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Mother's Day. We sure did. My hubs BBQ'd for us. It was fabulous and g free. He made marinated g free chicken and zucchini spears. 

This recipe is brought to you by the hubs. 

Recipe for the marinade:

Half a bottle of g free Kikkoman teriyaki 

1/4 c of honey

1/4 c of brown sugar 

Pepper to taste

1 tsp of ground ginger

2 scallions 

2 spoonfuls crushed garlic

Be sure to make extra to serve over the cooked chicken later. 

Stir all together 

Place washed skinless chicken breasts into a ziplock bag and poor over meat. Seal and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours. The longer the better. 

Looks yummy! 

Then BBQ it at 450-500 on the grill for 5 minutes a side. 

Slice it up, poor some more sauce on it and sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds. 

So I knew the MIL (mother-in-law) was bringing a pie for dessert, which was not going to be g free safe, so I thought I would pick up something too. I wanted to have dessert also! I swung by Whole Foods and picked up this little guy...

Salted Carmel Mousse Cake! Oh snap! Yes, yes indeed it was a good as it looked. Everyone ended up having some of my g free dessert. See?!? G free doesn't mean it has to suck or taste like cardboard. 

Enjoy!!!

The challenges of G Free Baking- The Struggle is Real

Being g free is tough enough when you have endure all your friends and family eating delicious baked goodies. There are substitutes, but let's be honest. Sometimes they are truly horrible. I have been endeavoring to make yummy g free version of baked goods counterparts. Some have been met with success and some...not so much. 

My first bust: chocolate chip cookies from a recipe. Instead of regular flour, I used plain g free flour. They tasted alright, but they were very, very fragile. They would crumble if you even looked at it wrong. So, no pics, they turned to dust before pics could be taken. I gave up on trying to make these and I leave it to the professionals. I will post about this one later. 

Another bust: g free cinnamon rolls. I had this brilliant idea of making these for Christmas morning. This wasn't so much the g free products fault as my own and apparent lack of reading ability. Tee hee I will be trying this again.

A win: banana nut bread 

My friend Cindy sent me a link to this other fabulous blog that had a banana nut bread recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/10/gluten-free-lightened-up-banana-nut.html?m=1). This turned out fabulously! I have since made this a few more times. In fact my non-g free friends like it too. The last time I made this, I added in some chocolate chips. Win! 

It turned out really most and delicious. 

Another win: pumpkin bread! 

I love all things pumpkin spice. Soooo good and perfect for fall. Or anytime you feel like having a reminder of fall. This recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. I love that website. They even have an app now. 

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/. I just substituted the regular stuff for g free safe items. 

Another one for the win: Russian Tea Cookies. I love these things. One of my favorite Christmas cookies. 

Again, AllRecipes.com to the rescue. Russian Tea Cakes I http://allrecipes.com/recipe/russian-tea-cakes-i/. 

This is my favorite brand of g free flour. It tastes great as is very versatile. 

I followed the recipe and made the cookies. 

They smelled pretty amazing while baking. After they cooked enough to handle, I rolled them in powdered sugar and let them cool. Delicious! 

There are some wins and losses in g free baking for me. But I will keep trying and keep posting about them to help others to enjoy and have an easier time on their g free journey. 

Farm to Fork Restaurants are Your Friend

The hubs and I were headed  up to Truckee for the weekend when we decided to stop in Auburn for lunch. We were going to hit up our usual place, a pub, but it was over an hour wait and incredibly loud. We were discussing where to go and that's when I saw it. Bistro 103~ Farm Fresh, Local Fare. We had parked up behind this place and had walked by it, smelling some amazing things. There was plenty of seating so let's give it a shot.

The decor is pretty cool. Lots of brick, art and of course, good food! The prices are really, really reasonable too. 

I had ordered a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomatoe and avacado. I had told the waitress that I had a gluten issue and she said that their ciabatta bread is gluten free!!!!! Oh man! That is really, really excellent news. I was good and ordered a salad with my sandwich. It came with pickled onions and some of the best dressing ever. Its called Kicked Up. It was super delicous. 

I was wearing my UC Davis shirt and the owner had greated us and said that she had went to Davis also! Bonus! When we had eaten here the first time (yes, we have been back), they were only open for 3 weeks. Our second time there, they had a crowd. I am so glad to see that.

They offer g free ciabatta bread, pastas and more. If you find yourself in Auburn, you need to check this place out.  Organic, local farmed food that not only tastes great but it is good for you too. We will definitely be going back.

  Here's the website for more information: http://www.bistro103auburn.com 

Go Ags!

It's been a long time coming...

In August of 2014, my body had decided that it was no longer tolerant of gluten. It was sudden and it was very, very clear on the matter. 

It started out with some relatively minor symptoms that were painful, but not too unimaginable. After 2 weeks of dealing with intestinal discomfort and other things I won't mention here, my mom had suggested going g free. I had always laughed at the notion, but, I was desperate. 2 weeks of this. I cut out all gluten. Cold turkey. Within 24 hours all the symptoms had left and I began loosing weight. Wow! How cool is this?

I've been g free for 9 months now. And with each gluten attack, my symptoms worsened. They worsened to the point of having 10 out of the 12 celiac symptoms. I was nervous, but mostly fed up. So I emailed my doctor to find out if I was indeed a celiac. 

He ordered the the blood test and I went in. I was a bit nervous, but I wanted to know. 

The results are in...

This is the face of a person who DOES NOT have celiacs. I am autoimmune disease free! What I do have is a severe intolerance to gluten. And like celiacs, I need to continue to avoid it. But I am so happy and relieved to know that I don't have it. I still need to be careful of what I eat. For those of you who suffer from celiacs, I am so sorry. I feel your pain, literally. But know, this blog and I will endeavor to bring forth many delicious recipes and g free friendly places and ideas! 

The Mariposa Baking Co

This last Monday, I was in San Francisco doing a walk through on a meeting sight. I took my parents along so we could have a nice day in the city together. After my meeting at the hotel, we went for lunch at the Plant Cafe. I previously blogged about this place. Afterwards, my parents suggested walking through the ferry building. I've never been there, so sure! Let's explore! 

Inside, it was like a magical place and Pikes place came together. We walked past the various shops and restaurants and then I spotted it! Mariposa Baking Co. A totally g free bakery! 

They had all kinds of things! Cookies, biscottis, pot pies, breads, doughnuts and tons more! Of course I wanted to buy it all! I was so happy, I about cried. 

Not wanting to make my poor parents wait, I quickly made some selections. 

I purchased some chocolate centered short bread cookies. 

Some biscottis that are amazing when dunked in coffee. 

I couldn't leave without purchasing some sandwich bread. Oh my gosh! This bread blows the doors off Udi's and glutino!!! It tasted like sour dough. So soft, moist and delicious!!!! 

I was sad. This bakery is only in the Bay Area. And then...the sales associate told me they ship all over! Hallelujah! I know where I will be ordering all my bread from!!!! 

Here's their website: http://www.mariposabaking.com. I will be purchasing from them again! 

A Gem in San Francisco

I was in the city (San Francisco) on Monday for work. I always like to take some time to explore and find good eats. Well this trip my parents went with me. It was fun! They had suggested this fabulous place for lunch...the Plant Cafe. They are located on the Embarcadero. 

http://www.theplantcafe.com 

This place is amazing. It's a sustainable restaurant with organic food and g free options. Just eating there, I felt like I was helping the environment. Now before you think, great a tree hugger place...have no fear. This place looks and feels like class. 

This is the view from our table! 

Lunch is not complete without a delicious glass of Malbec. 

For lunch, I decided to have the pizza as they have a g free option. 

I ordered the BBQ chicken pizza. It had scallions, blue cheese, shredded basil. It was so delicious! 

If you find yourself in the city, I highly recommend stopping here for a meal.