Elizabeth's Spaghetti Bolognese

Freaking awesome!

We needed some comfort food Friday night, so here is what I came up with:

Elizabeth's Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 14-ounce can Cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• sprinkle of salt
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 14-ounce can San Marzano cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
• 1 lb whole-wheat spaghetti
• 1/4 cup freshly shaved Romano cheese

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
2. Get all your ingredients in place (Mise En Place)
3. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Then add carrot, celery, ground beef and salt. Break down the ground beef, cover and cook, stirring to brown evenly, for about 10 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and their juices and add the wine. Let the tomatoes pop open.
6. Add bay leaves, basil, thyme, and 1/8 cup parsely. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally. 
7. Take half, or 7 ounces, of the Canellini beans and mash them in a bowl. Add the bean mash to the sauce to thicken it.
8. While sauce cooks, add spaghetti to the pot of boiling water. Cook to al dente, about 10 minutes.
9. Drain pasta.
10. Add the remaining beans to the sauce, and stir in.
11. Divide pasta into 4 bowls, top each with some sauce, some of the remaining chopped parsely, and some freshly shaved Romano cheese.

Enjoy! Very filling and full of good veggies & fiber.

ginger beer drinks

There is probably nothing more refreshing in the summer than Ginger Beer cocktails.



My brand of Ginger Beer – Reeds.
Photo from http://cilantropist.blogspot.com/



Here are some of my fav ginger beer cocktails.

Moscow Mule.

Moscow Mule Recipe from Oprah.com

Originally served in a copper cup in the mid - 1940’s to make it stand out in a crowd. Still sometimes served in a copper mug, but since they often cost more than the drink – many bars make you lay down some collateral. Oprah brough this back a few years ago, here is her Moscow Mule Recipe

 

• 1 ounce vodka
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• Fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup ginger beer
• 1 sprig fresh mint
• 1 slice of lime

Directions: In a copper mug, pour vodka over ice. Add sugar syrup and lime juice. Top with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with mint sprig and lime slice.

Dark & Stormy. 

Photo & recipe from dreamydish.com

Love sipping on a beach. Rarely have rum in the house, but I could drink these all the time and be a happy lady. Here is a recipe from DreamyDish.com

• 4 oz. dark rum (or double it if you are feeling bold)
• 2 bottles of your favorite ginger beer
• 2 Limes

Directions: In two tall glasses, fill with ice, divide rum amongst glasses, fill with ginger beer, and squeeze half a lime into each glass. Stir, add a lime wedge if desired, and enjoy!

Bourbon Orange Cocktail.

Photo from My Life as a Mrs.

Found this recipe on Pinterest, and my frugality won out and I made a knock off version.

• 4 oz. bourbon
• 1 bottle of Reed's ginger beer
• 4 oz. Orange Juice

Directions: In two tall glasses, fill with ice, divide bourbon amongst glasses, fill each glass with half a bottleginger beer, and top with orange juice. Stir and enjoy!

French Toast Sandwhich

I really love using the stuff lying around the house to make an impromptu and delicious meal. This past Sunday I started out making some French Toast, until I realized we were out of syrup from the pancakes I had recently made. No problem, made the toast, threw some nutella (similar to the pancakes E had) in between, but added some chopped bannanas and whipped cream. Delicious, gooey, sweet breakfast ensued.

A successful pancake experiment

Of course the key to any pancake recipe starts with getting the right mix. Since E, is gluten free, we can't make this stuff from scratch. Bob's Red Mill has an excellent mix that doesn't make me miss traditional pancakes at all. It may not be quite as fluffy, but the taste is excellent. The key is also what you add to the pancakes.
Yesterday I tried adding chopped banana and chopped walnuts. The result was pretty much what tasted like a banana nut muffin. The cooked banana really serves to sweeten the entire mixture, while the nuts, obviously, add a nice crunch. I topped mine with pure maple syrup. E, doesn't love the maple syrup the way I do, so I covered hers with a little Nutella. THe pancake was warm enough that it softened up the normally pretty sticky substance, and it spread easily.
Paired with this, was of course, the mimosa. A festive morning cocktail if there ever was one.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

So I will be trying this recipe again tomorrow evening, but had great success a few weeks ago, so it has been requested that I do an encore.

Ingredients
8 ounces pasta (gluten free, the quinoa stuff is excellent)
1 3/4 cups of milk (we use low fat)
3 tablespoons of flour (gluten free)
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or more if you love garlic, or just chop up some cloves)
1/2 tspn of salt
1/4 tspn ground pepper
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
1 tspn dijon mustard
Bacon or prosciutto crumbles/cubes
Taragon chopped

Cook pasta (I'm not going to question anyone's culinary abilities by explaining how)
Heat 1 1/2 cups of milk in a large pot, medium high, until it simmers.
Whisk the other 1/4 cups, plus all the flour, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the big pot, returning mixture to a simmer again, whisking constantly for a few minutes until its a little thicker.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheeses and mustard until everything is mixed and melted.
Drain the past and mix with the sauce and bacon.prosciutto.
Toss a little of the taragon on top the mac and cheese when serving.

Note - It is pretty easy to see where the cheese mixture is going, and if you want to add some more cheese, or salt or mustard to enhance the flavor in a particular direction.

Round 2, tomorrow night.

Bob's Burgers (not an animated series)

Everybody has their go to way to grill up some burgers. For some people that means buying pre-formed burgers and just slapping them on a grill. They are burgers, so they can be decent just about any way you prepare them. I tend to put a little more TLC (Left Eye Lopez is not involved). The first thing is getting good meat. The ground beef I used last night was sirloin that I purchased at a farmer's market. It has way more flavor than the preformed stuff, that doesn't look real. That's key because if you overcook it a little bit then all the flavor is in the grease pan. Good meat, is much more forgiving.

I've got the meat, but it is hardly ready to put on the grill.
Finely chop garlic.
Work the garlic into the hand formed patties without overworking the meat.
Season with salt and pepper.
Rub Worcestershire sauce on the outside.
Throw on the grill.

The extra steps infuse the burger with more flavor and moisture, keeping it savory and avoiding the hockey puck scenario.

Fixings are then important for the perfect burger experience.
Last night I used toasted sourdough.
Spread on horseradish cream sauce.
Topped the Burger with Swiss.
Add spinach and sauerkraut.

Delicious.

It has been a loooong time...

Just a couple quick food items.

Last night I made my stuffed jalepenos. The recipe is really easy.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Slice as many jalepenos as you want in half, cutting off the stem.
Seed the jalepenos with a spoon, to keep the oils from absorbing into your skin.
Fill the inside with creamed cheese.
Wrap Prosciutto around the jalepeno.
Cook for about 15 minutes
Add a little jam to the finished product and enjoy.

We had leftover prosciutto so the next day I just fried some eggs, and threw them on top of a bed of prosciutto and a little crumbled feta. It was a nice salty mix to go along with the runny yoke of the eggs.

Hello 2011

Happy New Year!

Denver Botanical Gardens 2010

B and I celebrated the New Year up in the mountains. New Years Eve we drove up to Georgetown to spend some much needed time away from the city and life. Bob’s dad prepared a New Years Eve feast for us. We enjoyed shrimp with extra spicy cocktail sauce, lobster tails, salad, baked Brie, and some drinks. Post meal and conversation, B and I were able to sneak out to the hot tub, where we enjoyed glasses of champagne and discussed the year to come – things we want to accomplish, things we are looking forward to, and things, such as his graduate program, that we will need to survive.

After our hot tub we sprinted back into the house, put on PJs, and enjoyed an episode of ‘House.’ Around 11pm, B said, “I’m ready for bed, I’m tired.” An initial thought of shock went through my mind – we can’t go to bed before midnight on New Years Eve. However, B was sick the last few days, we’ve been dealing with an extra amount of stress, and frankly, I think we were both tired of 2010. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to go up to bed and fall asleep near my honey (we were in 2 smaller bed up in B’s childhood room.) B wrung in the New Year around 3:30 in the morning when he awoke with a sore throat, stuffed up head, and cough.

Our first day of the year has been spent with one of the branches of our family. We enjoyed breakfast at the small town coffee shop in Georgetown. The fellas spent the day watching football, and as had become tradition, I spent the day reading. Since my first New Years Day in Georgetown, I have spent every New Years Day in front of the fire at my father-in-laws home, curled up with a good book. Last year, I read ‘Gluten-free Girl’ by Shauna James Ahern and this year, I cuddled up with the second installment, ‘Gluten-free Girl and the Chef.’ I saw Shauna and her husband, Daniel Ahern, speak a few weeks back at Tattered Cover. I love them.

I specifically chose this book as my New Years book because I wanted to start 2011 inspired.

With that, her are my New Years resolutions:

1)   Start running and attempt a half-marathon in June

2)   At the end of the day, I would like to leave work at work. I’ll try to do this by writing more, taking pictures, cooking, sewing, and my other various interests.

3)   Spend as much time as possible with my love.

Happy New Year to all. B and I are off to Vegas for a few days where we will eat, drink, and be merry.

My new obsessions - Project Runway and Prosecco

In an episode of 30 Min Meals, Rachael Ray suggested you buy Prosecco, sparkling Italian wine, instead of Champagne. Its cheaper, and unless your a snob, you'd never know the difference. I love a mimosa! My most favorite is the bottomless blood orange mimosa at Root Down. 

B and I have 'Breakfast for Dinner' on Sunday evenings. We've been doing screwdrives, but sometimes its nice to mix it up with a mimosa.


The new things I enjoy doing is drinking prosecco, eating popcorn, and watching this current season of Project Runway. I feel very Marilyn Monroe doing this - she enjoyed potato chips and champagne.


Anyway, I like Valerie and Mondo. I don't like Ivy and Gretchen. Valerie makes fun and flirty clothes. Mondo is just all around awesome. Mondo is also from Denver.

Tuna Melt

Sometimes life gets ya down. When that happens to me - I like to have good old fashion diner food - at home. I like a tuna melt and sweet potato fries.

I make my tuna melts untraditionally. First step, pull some gluten free bread from the freezer and pop it in the toaster. While its toasting, I mix my tuna. I mix 1 can of tuna with lots of tarragon, dill, basil, and garlic. I add sliced green olives or capers to give the mixture the moisture. and thats it. I don't like to add mayo to tuna salad when I'm making a tuna melt because it can get soggy.

I pile my tuna mixture onto each slice of the pre-toasted GF bread. Then, I top each slice with a piece of cheese. Throw it under the broiler for a few mins to melt the cheese.

I serve my tuna melts open faced. Thats how they serve them at one of our favorite restaurants, Bull & Bush. They serve theirs on an english muffin, which is what I used to use at home prior to going GF.

Update - our summer 2010

Well, again - it has been a few months and we have failed to accurately document our summer.

Here is what we did Summer 2010:

In June, Bob traveled to Michigan with his dad. They stayed with a family friend. While on this trip, Bob learned how to make Chicken Marsala. He drank a lot, smoked a cigar, fished, and came home relaxed.

When Bob returned, we celebrated our first anniversary. We went to Colorado Springs, played mini golf, saw a minor league baseball game, and enjoyed a picnic at the Garden of the Gods park. 

As with  every summer, we explored Denver and Colorado. We tried new foods at new places. Perhaps the most memorable of the summer was Liks Ice Cream in Denver - B correctly answered the trivia question so we received a free scoop. We ate our ice cream outside on a warm evening, and ended up just having ice cream for dinner that night.

In July, Bob and I enjoyed a week in the Outer Banks or North Carolina. A week of sun, fun, beach, family, and sea food. We loved catching up with the east coast branch of the family, and I learned how to pick crabs. Each night someone would take charge an make dinner for the group, and Bob's cousin, Dari, took charge of breakfasts. She made a GF waffle for me one morning! Dari's husband, Sam, and Bob's cousin, Bill, played bartenders. We enjoyed some Dark & Stormy's, homemade cucumber infused gin, and my very first bloody mary. We ate one amazing dinner out at a place with cheesy art on the walls, and B and I bummed around some local art shops one afternoon, and enjoyed East Coast style Mexican food.

While in North Carolina, I participated in a phone interview, and a day later I was offered, and accepted a new job. More hours, more money, a change of scenery, and a new chance to grow. This new job is perfect for me and I love it. The only downside is that it cuts into the education I was getting from watching a lot of daytime Food Network.

In August, I went to Las Vegas with my mom and my sister. Las Vegas is one of my all time favorite places to go. There is so much to see and to photograph. I love to walk on vacations, and Vegas is perfect for that. I treated my mom and sister to dinner at my favorite Vegas restaurant - Mon Ami Gabi, then, the rest of our stay, we hit up some buffets, at which I proceeded to eat my weight in smoked salmon with capers, crab legs, and sushi. We also "enjoyed" the soda tasting at the Coca Cola store, but I use the word enjoyed very lightly.

This summer was busy. We cooked a lot. We saw a lot. We ate a lot, and perhaps we will post about it in the future. All of our experiences shape our culinary skills. There are photos on my camera, but right now, we are tired. It time for Fall and football.

Summer Rolls in the Summer time

I love egg rolls, spring rolls, wontons, and most Asian style appetizers, but I have had to say farewell to them since going gluten free.

Now, I have become obsessed with summer rolls. I get them at FireBowl (www.firebowlcafe.com) without the dipping sauce (it’s not gluten free.) Last week I was browsing through this month’s issue of Everyday Food by Martha Stewart and found a recipe for them. The recipe looked easy enough, so I decided to give it a try.

These were so simple to make and tasted so great. I must say, summer rolls are best when they are fresh.

Veggie Summer Rolls

First, get a package of rice paper wrappers. I found mine at Sunflower Market. They were very inexpensive, which I had not anticipated. In the past, I have purchased egg roll wrappers from the refrigerated section at the grocery store. Egg roll wrappers are not cheap, they must be refrigerated, they are full of gluten, and they must be cooked. I’m never going to bother with those again, for obvious reasons, but rice paper wrappers are so much simpler and easier to use. I found them in the Asian foods aisle, next to the Wasabi Peas. I’ve had the package in my pantry for a few months. This is defiantly something I’m going to start keeping on hand.

Decide what you would like to include in your summer roll. I chose carrots, cucumber, basil leaves, rice noodles, and avocado – because that’s what Martha suggested. I decided to do things Martha’s way, and prep everything before I got started.

You will need-

2 carrots – peeled and chopped into matchsticks

1 cucumber (or half of a giant one from the farmers market) – peeled and chopped into matchsticks

Half an avocado – thinly sliced

Some nice basil leaves

Some thin rice noodles, cooked

I prepped and chopped all my ingredients and separated them out into little glass bowls – I’m still putting my wedding gifts to good use.

Now, here’s where it gets a tiny bit tricky –

Take one rice paper wrapper out of the package, and set it into a shallow bowl full of warm water. Perhaps this step would have been easier if I had a shallow bowl big enough to fit the entire rice paper wrapper into, but I didn’t. I dipped it into the warm water – I used the leftover water from boiling my rice noodles. When I realized that the bowl I was using was the improper size, I then just laid the wrapper on a plate and used a silicone grill brush to brush the wrapper with water until it was pliable. Then, I added my ingredients – a small handful of rice noodles (I don’t like my summer rolls too noddlely,) a few matchsticks of cucumber and carrot, one whole basil leaf, and a few thin slices of avocado. Then, wrap it like a burrito.

And that’s it!

Make a few. dip them into soy sauce (or in my case, tamari) and enjoy.

Let me tell you – there is nothing more amazing than the taste of basil and tamari together. I’m obsessed. I must find a recipe to utilize these flavors again…..perhaps Asian meatballs……

Jack's Chicken Salad & Karen's Tuna Salad

Last Sunday was father's day, but it was also Bob and my first anniversary. We celebrated our anniversary B & E style with a baseball game, some mini golf, a picnic, and then a movie at home. My father was kind enough to hang out with our dogs while B and I were out celebrating.

In return, we decided to celebrate father's day with a dinner yesterday. I told my dad that I would make him anything he wanted for dinner. Anything. What did my dad chose? Steak and mashed potatoes? Corn on the cob and chicken? Hot dogs and brats on the grill?

He chose chicken salad wraps.

A few weeks ago, Bob and my dad were working really hard to assemble the new bed I bought in honor of Bob and my first anniversary - prior to this we were sleeping on a hand me down mattress on the floor. They were working hard, while I made lunch. I made chicken salad with apples and spinach. It made quite an impression on my dad, so I have decided to name it after him. (Happy Father's Day!)

Jack's Chicken Salad

Grill up a few chicken breasts. Let them sit for a few mins, then chop them into bite sized pieces. Add an apple, diced into bite sized pieces - we use Gala apples. Chop up a handful of fresh spinach leaves. Add the following spices - dried or fresh - dill, tarragon, celery salt, basil, and garlic. Then, add about 1/2 cup mayonnaise - mix everything together. We eat this immediately. I eat mine with Nut Thins, and everyone else eats theirs on wraps.

Karen's Tuna Salad

I'm going to take this opportunity to post my a salad I make sometimes for my mother. My mom and I work Tuesday evenings together. During our shifts, we get a half-hour dinner break. Sometimes, we each make part of a dinner and share it.

My mom doesn't like most meats or fish, but she does like tuna. I created a healthier version of her favorite tuna salad. I read someplace about using mashed avocado instead of mayonnaise in tuna salad. I had to convince my mom that she liked avocado, but now she likes this very much.

Open up a few cans of tuna and put them into a bowl. In another bowl, mash a few avocados with the following spices - dried or fresh - dill, tarragon, celery salt, basil, and garlic. Mix together the tuna and the avocado mixture. I eat mine with Nut Thins, and everyone else eats theirs on wraps.

Because I need more projects.....

I was roving around work the other day and was struck with an idea. At work, we call walking 'roving' so it sounds purposeful. I often choose to rove in the 'cooking and entertaining' section of our library. I was putting cookbooks on display in that area when I grabbed this book:

 

How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition:) 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food

By Mark Bittman

Bob and I received a copy of this book for Christmas 2008 from my mother. Aside from last summer, we haven't really used this book. Last summer, when we were participating in our CSA, we received produce that we had no idea how to prepare, and this book came in hardy - yet I don't think we have discovered its full potential yet.

While flipping through this book, I came up with the idea of doing my own Julie/Julia project, but more appropriately named the Elizabeth/Mark project. Also, I'll be making everything gluten free.

Tonight, I made the first recipe in this 1,065 page book: Five Minute Drizzle Sauce.

Heat 4T of oil in a sauce pan. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and sauté. Add 2T of water and 2T of lemon juice. I then chose to add fresh herbs from our window box garden. I minced parsley, chives, thyme, and basil.

I then drizzled this over steamed rice. Bob and I keep a mixture of rices on hand. I buy whatever kind of rice is on sale at the store, add that bag to the container in our pantry, and then shake the container to mix it all up. I grew up on instant microwave rice and rice made in a rice maker, so when I moved out on my own I purchased a rice maker, because that is what I knew. However, I don't like having too many kitchen appliances around, so when Bob and I moved, we decided to get rid of my old, cheap, small rice maker, and instead we decided to learn how to cook rice on the stove top. Frankly, I was surprised at how easy it was.

I'll be honest, I should have looked up Mark Bittman's rice recipe to fit with the theme of this post, but I already had the rice cooking before I decided to make a sauce from the book.

Here is the recipe I use to make rice:

1. Put rice in a pot with a lid. Add water. Use the ratio of 1.5 cups water to 1 cup rice.  
2. Set the heat to high, and bring the pot to a boil uncovered.  Then put the lid on the pot, and reduce the heat to low. Let the rice simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.  

This is not food, but it is a good cause

Hi. I'm Leto


I am participating in the Denver Dumb Friends League's 2010 Furry Scurry with my friend Bob and my friends at the Arapahoe Library District. The Denver Dumb Friends League helps homeless pets find good homes. Without their help, I would have never met my fur siblings— Penny and Duncan.

 Penny, my guinea pig sister, was brought to the DDFL after being found in a parking lot, during a snowstorm, in 2006. My mom adopted her and gave her a great home and lots of love.Penny passed away last spring. I want to help animals in her honor.

Duncan, my dog brother, was sent to the DDFL from a shelter in Wyoming that didn’t have room for him. He was skinny and shy when we met him, but now he’s healthy and fun to play with. He is my best friend and I am glad that he is part of our family.





To sponsor me, Bob, and the Arapahoe Library District, please click
here



Small donations go a long way to helping animals.

Guacamole

The best thing that a person can make without doing any cooking is guacamole. By cooking I mean nothing is every heated, just mixed together. This is considered a "raw food" for that very reason. I'm not quite sure where I am on the whole raw food movement, not having had a chance to read much literature on the topic, but I do know that well made guac is delicious and quite healthy. Here's what you need to make it.

4 large avacados diced (I occassionally do more to make extra because it lasts for a while and is great to snack on)
2 Roma Tomatos diced (I like the Roma because it doesn't turn to much when you cut it up)
4 Cloves of garlic minced
4 Jalapenos diced with seeds removed
1 Cup of Cilantro finely chopped (total guesstimation here, I generally use half of what they sell at the grocery store)
2 Limes juiced
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 Tbspn ground jalapeno (this is the biggest variable to make it as spicy as you like. If you don't like spice at all, I'd just drop this. If you're a big fan like I am than go wild)
1/2 onion finely chopped (I put this at the end because I don't usually put onion in my guac, but traditionally you would.)

At this point you have everything piled in your bowl. All you really need to do is get something to mix it together. I wouldn't use a food processor because you want your guac a little chunky, not smoothly blended. My go to tool is a potato masher. This does a really effective job of getting the consistency you want and mixing it together. Once the avacado has been mostly turned into green sludge then you may just want to take a spoon and stir everything to more evenly distribute the ingredients, but the mashing does the majority of the work for you.

A couple of tips when preparing the different ingredients.

1. You definitely want to get riper avacado. If you're slicing an avacado for a sandwhich or in a salad you can lean to less ripeness because you want it to hold its shape well. When making guac your life is easier if it mashes easier, so you can get away with the riper avacado. A good rule of thumb is when you are in the store picking out the avacado is to give it a squeeze. If it hardly budges you may want to let it sit out a couple days to ripen or pick a different one. If it is soft underneath the skin then it is ready to go.

2. Score the avacado. Slice the avacado in half and then pick out the pit with that knife. You then want to draw lines in a grid with your knife on the avacado without going through the skin. Then take a spoon and scoop out the rest. It will save you from making a huge mess.

3. Be wary of the jalapeno. You may want to wear gloves when dealing with these guys. The oils that come from the jalapeno will get on your fingers and burn for a couple of days if you don't prevent it from getting there are get rid of it afterwards. They make a metal bar (shaped like soap) to remove garlic smells by drawing out the oils. This works pretty well but doesn't get under your fingernails. If you forget you will go to bed dreaming of your hand being on fire.

The taste is much better than anything you can get in a store because it is fresh. It is healthy because of the natural ingredients and the good fats that the avacado provides. This whole process probably takes under an hour and is well worth it.

Enchiladas

I love Enchiladas. At a Mexican restaurant, 9 out of 10 times I eat enchiladas. B and I make them at home on ocassion and a few weeks ago I was getting an enchilada craving. We haven't been eating out much lately and decided we'd make some at home. Here's the downside: I went shopping and discovered that canned Enchillada sauce is not gluten free. I went home very disappointed because I had to rethink my whole meal plan for that week. I began researching how to make sauce at home. In the mean time, Bob decided to go shopping and pick up some sauce. Living gluten free is still confusing to me, and I'm the one living it. B tries so hard by reading labels and helping me imagine new recipes, and it broke my heart to see the look on his face when I had to tell him that the sauce he brought home had hidden gluten in the ingredients. He was trying to take care of me and I don't blame him for being confused. I love that he tries.

Before Gluten Free (or BGF) one of my favorite places to eat was a Mexican place called Jose O'sheas. Bob and I would often go their with his sister Allison and her husband Tad. My favorite dish there was the Spinach Enchiladas, but then those bastard went and discontinued it about a year ago. Who does that? Anyway, the Spinach Enchiladas were stuffed with spinach and mushrooms, and then topped with a cheesy spinachy spicy sauce and melted jalapenocream cheese. They were amazing, so I decided to make my own spinachy sauce for my enchiladas.

Defrost a package of frozen spinach. Put in food processor with some jalapenos and blend/process well. Then heat it up on the stove with some milk or EVoo to thin it out. Pour over enchiladas and bake. 

Good and spicy. We stuffed these ones with cheese and ground beef. We used corn tortillas. We always like to top our enchiladas with black olives. 

GF flours

I am so excited to be stocked with Gluten Free flour...I just had to take a picture!

A bit about Celiacs

Guess how I spent Valentine's Day...

Holding hands with my love?

Kissing my love?

Going to work? 

Eating wonderful food?

Nope. Sitting on the couch with a tummy ache. 

Last night, B and I went out with his family to celebrate his mom's birthday. We went to a pizza place near us that has gluten free crust. Their crust was actually very good, but the GF crusts only come in small, so B and I each got a salad to start. When our salads arrived, mine had a piece of bread on the plate. I am not super assertive yet with my dietary needs, I'm just scared to be. Naive me thought that I could just pick up the piece of bread, give it to Bob, and be ok.

About 45mins later I started to get the tummy rumble. Gluten attack!

It lasted the rest of the evening. I was able to hang on for all the festivities, but then I just went to bed with a heating pad on my tummy and the worst headache ever. The symptoms continued today, causing me to call in sick to work. I described the way I felt as food poisoning.

There is now no doubt in my mind that I have Celiacs, and that my body cannot handle gluten. I never want to experience a night like that again. 

All the books say that even one crumb of bread can cause a reaction. I believe it.

My Valentine has been nursing me back to health. I love him.

Valentine Mudslide

My special to treat to my beloved wife this Valentine's day was let her experience the mudslide. This is an alcoholic concoction which is so delicious I don't mind that it diminishes my manly drinking street cred. The ingredients are Kahlua, Vodka, Ice, Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce, and Bailey's. There are debates on whether Bailey's is gluten free so I excluded it to be safe. I also used orange Vodka because that's what we had available. It actually adds a nice layer of flavor. On my second go around I added a few Bananas to smooth out the flavors even more. Don't ask me amounts. This is all on gut feeling. Pour alcohol (Vodka, Kahlua) about equally until you are satisfied that you will feel it and taste as you are drinking. Don't skimp on the chocolate, that should be a dominate flavor.