Archives for “appetizer”

Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger for August … I’m Hosting!

August 15, 2010 · Filed Under Adopt Gluten-Free Blogger, appetizer, beverage, bread, breakfast, dairy free, dessert, gluten free, recipe, salad, seafood, side dish ·68 Comments 

This month, I’m so excited to host the terrific Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event! Originated by the delightful Sea at Book Of Yum, the event has been going on for a few years now and, just as Sea intended, it’s a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers, introduce others to new bloggers, and, of course, try new gluten-free recipes.

We all leave comments on others’ blogs in response to recipes and photos that make our mouths water. Comments like: “Oooh, yummy. I sooo want to make that!” or “I’m definitely making that soon.” But, then life intervenes and months pass and we still haven’t made that recipe that we truly wanted to make. This event gives you an excuse to take a break from your daily routine and do just that! If I hadn’t participated in Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, I would not have made Pete and Kelli’s (No Gluten, No Problem) Pasta with Shrimp Marinara and Brownies; Kate Chan’s (Gluten Free Gobsmacked) Cheese Rolls and Pizza Crust; Melanie’s (Gluten-Free Krums) Avocado Artichoke Salsa;  or Wendy’s (Celiacs in the House) Savory and Sweet Crepes. It would have been a shame to miss out on making any one of those recipes and getting to know each of those bloggers just a little better.

To sign up for this month’s edition of Adopt A Gluten Free Blogger, leave a comment letting me know which blogger you plan to adopt. Here are the guidelines on how you can join in … nothing complicated.

1) Pick a gluten-free blogger whose recipes you admire and adopt them by commenting on this post with your name and blog name, and their name and blog name.

Notes:  The blogger’s recipes must all be gluten-free or there must be a way to sort and read ONLY gluten-free recipes. A different blogger should be selected each time you participate. And, ideally, each blogger should only be adopted once.

2) Choose one (or two!) of your gluten-free blogger’s recipes to try.

3) Make the recipe, photograph it, and write a post in your blog introducing the blogger and their recipe. Link back to this event announcement in your post.
Notes:  Follow the recipe as written, as closely as possible. And, please don’t print the blogger’s recipe on your post—just provide your reader a link to their original recipe.

4) Email me at glutenfreeeasily@gmail.com with your photo of the recipe, the URL of your post, name of the recipe, and the URL of the original blogger’s recipe post.

5) After your post is published, submit your post’s URL in a comment to this post, and if possible please try to visit two other blogger’s posts that are posted here (and comment!). The idea is to make this a truly interactive event.

Deadlines:
Sign up BEFORE August 27 (loose deadline; late sign-ups are ok).

Post your review and email me by September 3rd (firm deadline—no kiddin’). (IMPORTANT: If you sign up and cannot complete this event by September 3rd for any reason, please email me at glutenfreeeasily@gmail.com.)

**If you don’t have a blog, you are still welcome to adopt a gluten-free blogger. Sign up here to adopt a blogger, write a review of one of their recipes, including your name (or pen name), the recipe URL, and recipe title. Then take a photo of the completed recipe (if you can) and EMAIL ME the review and photo. I’ll happily post your reviews and photos as part of the roundup in September.**

If you’re stumped on who to adopt, you can take a look at my sidebar for ideas or visit Sea’s Gluten-Free Blogroll. Let’s make this a mass gluten-free adoption!

Adoption Sign-Up Sheet:

1. Iris at The Daily Dietribe (adopted by me)

2. Nancy at The Sensitive Pantry (adopted by Kim of Cook IT Allergy Free)

3. Me, here, at Gluten Free Easily (adopted by Iris of The Daily Dietribe)

4. Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs (adopted by Valerie of City/Life/Eats)

5. Ali and Tom at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen (adopted by Hallie of Hallie’s Daily Bites)

6. Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free (adopted by Zoe of Z’s Cup of Tea)

7. Karina of Gluten-Free Goddess (adopted by Tia of Glugle Gluten Free)

8. Zoe of Z’s Cup of Tea (adopted by Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake).

9. Alta of Tasty Eats At Home (adopted by Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free)

10. Jenn of Jenn Cuisine (adopted by Wendy of Celiacs in the House)

11. Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker (adopted by Alea of Gluten-Free Flavor Full)

12. Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen (adopted by Heidi of Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom)

13. Wendy of Celiacs in the House (adopted by Alta of Tasty Eats At Home)

14. Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef (adopted by Lydia of At Home with Real Food)

15. Sheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness (adopted by Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs)

16. Vanessa of Celiac Princess (adopted by Thomas of The GFCF Experience)

17. Kelly of The Spunky Coconut (adopted by Jen of Gluten-Free Life with Jen)

18. Karina of Gluten-Free Goddess (adopted by Kirstin of Our Gluten-Free Family)

19. Raj and Sonia of Flip Cookbook (adopted by Tracee of Mrs. Ed’s Research and Recipes)

20. You (and your adoptee) are next! (Yes … a few late entries would be great. Choose someone who has not yet been adopted, please.)

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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August 2010 Support Group Meeting

When:  Monday, August 9, 6:00 pm

Where: Shirley’s Home in King George, VA 
(Note: Please email Shirley for directions if you are local and plan to attend.)

What:  This is our regular monthly meeting. We’ll begin with our shared gluten-free meal (many items will be dairy free, refined sugar free, etc.).  It will be a potluck this time … no theme. Bakery on Main has sent us some of their delicious granola to try, too!

After our meal, we’ll be watching the 42-minute documentary, Generation Gluten Free.  (You can watch a 3-minute trailer here.) This video comes highly recommended. Hopefully, we’ll also have enough time afterwards to have a discussion session. You can watch a short video interview with the creator and director, Susan Cohen, here. (Note:  If you can’t attend the meeting, you may want to consider purchasing your own copy. The total cost is $4.50. That includes shipping and handling. Order here.)

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Adoption: Wendy of Celiacs in the House (Gluten-Free Crepes—Savory and Sweet)

August 4, 2010 · Filed Under Adopt Gluten-Free Blogger, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Pennywise Platter, Slightly Indulgent, appetizer, bread, breakfast, chicken, dessert, entree, gluten free, recipe, sugar free, treats ·26 Comments 

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Pennywise Platter Thursdays, and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Another one of my favorite bloggers is Wendy of Celiacs in the House. I’m pretty sure that we met via Linda’s (The Gluten-Free Homemaker) weekly gluten-free roundup. (I’m betting that’s true for many of us—a big shout out and thanks to Linda for hosting this event, now called Gluten-Free Wednesdays.) From the start, I liked Wendy’s straightforward posts, her commitment to feeding her family real food with some occasional gluten-free specialty items thrown in, her informational posts on celiac and living gluten free, her ability to convey a lot in a brief manner (I always admire that, since I often lack that skill!), and, finally, her warm, sweet nature. So, I’m adopting her this month for the Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event, originated by the lovely Sea of Book of Yum. This month’s event is hosted by another terrific lady, Tia of Glugle Gluten Free (who incidentally just happened to adopt me this month … you can see her post here!).

Several months ago, Wendy actually pondered giving up blogging … for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was being busy hosting a gluten-free foreign exchange student. Feeding a house full of gluten-free teenagers and supporting their various sporting activities definitely can keep a person too busy to blog. But, thankfully for all of us, she decided to continue blogging. The exchange student eventually returned home, summer break came, and we’ve been reading more of Wendy’s posts than ever with her terrific 30 Days to 50 series. In this series, she shared her own reflections on moving towards age 50 and wanting to be in optimum health. She also brought together some of the best blogger voices on health, fitness, and nutrition. Some of my favorite posts shared in the series are this one called Let’s Get Personal and this one on Wendy’s family history, but every single post in the series is worth a read.

We’ve also gotten to see Wendy more on Twitter, too. She gave up tweeting for a while and then came back and reinvented herself there with a new Twitter handle—midlife_celiac. I love the idea of reinventing one’s self and starting fresh! From her tweets, I found out that she’s also attending the International Food Blogger Conference. She’s one of several of us gluten-free bloggers who will be flying into Seattle at the end of this month for what promises to be an amazing conference and meet-up. Similar to what many other adoptive parents experience before adopting, I’ve seen photos of Wendy, read about her, read her writing (as an “older child”), corresponded with her via sometimes rapid-fire email exchanges and tweets/Twitter direct messages, and after flying across country, I’ll get to meet her in person and greet her with a hug. I can’t wait!

Until then, I’ve selected a recipe from Wendy’s blog to try out. To get maximize value/cooking mileage, I chose one that is really two recipes in one:  crepes, which she adapted from Carol Fenster’s cookbook, 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes.

For dinner this evening, we enjoyed the savory crepes. I followed Wendy’s lead and filled ours with a creamy chicken mixture. I used what we had on hand, which ended up being roasted chicken, bacon, mushrooms, zucchini, coconut milk, plus some mayonnaise (to add more creaminess and flavor), sea salt, pepper, onion powder, and smoked paprika. I made my roux using butter and sweet rice flour as Wendy directed. I filled my crepe and then added some grated cheddar cheese for Mr. GFE’s crepes. I adapted the recipe for the crepes even more because I don’t usually eat sorghum flour or potato starch. Therefore, I used a combination of my gluten-free flour mix, millet flour, and some almond flour, plus the other ingredients as specified. The results were great. In fact, we both absolutely loved the crepes. The last time we enjoyed crepes was in a very tony restaurant in Georgetown (part of Washington, D.C.) many, many years ago. That was a day spent with old friends visiting the National Zoo before strolling through Georgetown and running into Jack Albertson in the French Market there. (Albertson was perhaps best known for his movie roles in The Poseidon Adventure and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and later  in the television show, Chico and The Man) . Fond memories for sure. 

I definitely need more practice as far as making thin crepes and rolling them after cooking. As you can see from the photos, some of my crepes have more of an omelet fold. That didn’t affect the taste one bit though.

Wendy filled her dessert crepes with jam, which would be a simple and lovely dessert. However, I looked at what I had on hand and decided to use a ripe banana, sliced thin; slivered almonds; very dark chocolate chunks; and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Because I had cooked the entire batch of crepes at once, after dinner I placed my room temperature crepes back in my 8-inch skillet (one at a time) on medium, placing the filling ingredients in the center, and then covering the skillet for a few minutes. Then I folded the crepe for further melting. Oh, my, this combination makes for another wonderfully simple, yet upscale, and divine dessert crepe.

You’ll find a variety of recipes on Wendy’s blog. Many others caught my eye and will be on my menu in the future; e.g., fish cakes (that can made with salmon, cod, or another fish of your choice); crispy vegetable and risotto cakes; and summer turkey salad. Go check out Wendy’s blog.  You’ll end up wanting to adopt her, too! And, don’t forget to wish her a happy birthday when you visit! Last, the complete roundup of all the adoptions is up over at Glugle Gluten Free; check it out here.

Enjoy!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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About Me

Shirley BradenGluten free since June 2003, I lead a celiac/gluten intolerance group in Virginia. My passion is educating folks on gluten issues and showing how eating gluten free can be easy if you focus on “real” foods versus processed and specialty foods.

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GFE's Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, but rather a volunteer sharing my experiences. Consult your physician for medical guidance. To the best of my knowledge, all ingredients/products that I use are gluten-free (even if I do not indicate that each and every time I mention them; e.g., if I refer to "soy sauce," it's a gluten-free soy sauce). However, I take no responsibility for the accuracy of that information. Always read labels and verify the gluten-free status of any ingredients/products to your own comfort level.

Not just gf, but gfe!