Life's Little Luxuries

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all having a fabulous and safe summer! 

Life is pretty crazy these days. It seems like everything is on full speed without any signs of slowing down. From the daily news about world and local affairs, Mother Nature’s outrageous ways and balancing work, family and friends- it can be overwhelming! Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the simple things that make me deeply happy. I think it’s really important to take the time on a daily basis to do something for yourself, someone else and/or appreciate something someone has done for you. It usually doesn’t cost much and feels quite good. These are some of life’s little luxuries that have been making me deeply happy on a daily basis in no particular order:

Cucumber salad w/ yogurt dill sauce-thanks Chris!

 -Walking in the door and having a homemade meal prepared for you by your husband, wife, partner, roommate or parent

-Homemade cucumber salad from our garden (must give full credit to my husband Chris-I have no green thumb)

-Fresh broccoli and cucumbers from our garden

-First Southside of the summer with warm peanuts and corn chips watching the sun go down on the beach

Fresh cucumbers and broccoli from our garden

Lobster salad with mango and fresh fruit

-Ripe avocados

-Fresh lobster salad with mango at the beach 

-Gazpacho 

-Breakfast for dinner 

-Instant sans gluten oatmeal that is good for you

-Running the track and bleachers at your old high school and being in better shape now than when you were in high school 

-Going to your friend’s house for a barbeque and everything is naturally sans gluten, fresh and delicious! 

Sans gluten and sans egg spread at the Hegs' barbeque (chicken, steak, egg free potato salad with chorizo)

Hegs' barbeque: Summer corn salad with tomatoes, avocado, fresh mozz, olive oil and lemon-yummmmm!

Track-the best free workout there is!

Heaven:)

Happy Anniversary!!!

            What a year it’s been!! In three days my husband Chris and I will be celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary.  Chris and I still reminisce about what a fairytale day we had when we became husband and wife.  We were married in our hometown with our closest friends and family members by our side on a perfectly clear day in June.  After we declared our vows of marriage we headed to the beach for our reception where the real fun began!

            The beach where we had our reception is an incredibly special place to us where we can be found long after the sun sets during the summer. Not only was the weather perfect so we could stroll along the beach, the food and the drinks were delectable. From what I hear from our guests their glasses were never left empty!

            Many of the foods that were picked for the reception were naturally gluten free. I worked very closely with Kathy planning the menu.   Kathy made sure the staff was educated on what gluten free means and they were all fantastic.  Some of the hors d’oeuvres that were passed included:

• Shooters of gazpacho
• Lobster salad on sliced zucchini
• Bacon wrapped scallops
• Endive with guacamole
• Beef skewers
• Cherry tomatoes w fresh mozzarella and basil
• Filet mignon w horseradish sauce

To top it all off I had my own personal gluten free attendant that stayed with me during the cocktail hour with all of the sans gluten hors d’oeuvres right at my disposal. I had no idea Kathy was going to provide that- it was so incredibly thoughtful!

Our entrees were Chilean sea bass or filet mignon-it’s hard to describe in words how delicious these choices were although I can say that Chris had seconds of the filet mignon (I easily could have had seconds of the sea bass but wanted to save room for the cake).

Marney White of Marneycakes Inc. created our wedding cake. It truly was a work of art! The main cake did have gluten but I had my own mini version sans gluten smoosh cake. We chose the Neapolitan flavor-one layer chocolate cake, one layer vanilla cake with strawberry butter cream in the middle. All I can say is wow! Big thanks to Marney for her masterpiece. You can see her magnificent creations here http://www.marneycakes.com/

Our first year of marriage has flown by-we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Chris and I feel incredibly lucky and fully appreciate how special and rare it is to marry your best friend. We’re looking forward to spending this summer at the beach in the place where we started our life together!

Spring and Summer Soirees

Vegetable fritatta w/ mushroom and tomato

Quinoa cakes

Chickpea salad w/ peppers and onions

Key lime pie 

Dark chocolate covered macaroons-whoa!!!!

May is one of my favorite times of the year (can’t believe it’s almost over). So many fun celebrations happen: Mother’s Day, Memorial Day-the official start of summer in my book and Celiac Awareness! One of the best things about spring and summer is being outdoors. The days are longer which gives you more time to spend at the park, beach and backyard barbeques.  Social gatherings can be tricky to navigate in terms of food selections if you’re not prepared. Luckily there are many easy ways to resolve this issue:

• Bringing a host/hostess gift that everyone will enjoy (a gift is just good manners regardless of being sans gluten). Some of my favorites include:
• SAVORY:
• Chickpea salad with chopped onion, sweet peppers, feta cheese tossed with fresh lemon dressing (or any combo of  your favorite flavors works)
• Lobster salad on sliced zucchini
• Roasted shrimp cocktail
• Greek yogurt dip with fresh vegetables
• Gazpacho
• Vegetable fritatta
• Quinoa cakes
• SWEET:
• Chocolate covered macaroons
• Key lime pie with sans gluten ginger snap crust
• Summer fruit platter with freshly whipped cream
• Frozen bananas dipped in chocolate
• Always having some of your favorite sans gluten crackers or snacks with you.  At barbeques it is usually pretty easy to find sans gluten choices that you can pair with your crackers for a somewhat balanced meal: chicken, burgers, steak, grilled veggies (if marinated make sure marinade is safe)
• Call the host/hostess ahead of time to see what will be offered. If you aren’t comfortable calling the host/hostess because you don’t know them very well that’s okay too.  Have a light meal or snack before you go so you won’t be starving if there aren’t safe options for you (it’s smart to do this regardless to prevent overindulging).

What are some things you do to make social gatherings easier to navigate?

I hope everyone reading this has a great kickoff to spring and summer... Don’t forget your sunscreen!

Easter Feast!

Table set, ready to go!

Sans gluten lasagna

Choco cream pie before fresh whipped cream

Choco cream pie after fresh whipped cream

Maggie says "Happy Easter everyone!!!"

On Sunday we celebrated Easter at my in laws and it was pretty fantastic. My mom in law, Ann, is an amazing baker and creator of many delicious dishes.  Each holiday we celebrate together there is a new sans gluten dish she creates for me based on her original masterpiece that contains gluten. Two of the best so far have been sans gluten lasagna and chocolate cream pie. The chocolate cream pie was low in added sugar so it was very easy to count the carbs and dose my insulin appropriately (for those of you carb counting you know how hard that is without a nutrition label).  The rest of the menu was as follows (notice all the naturally sans gluten foods-excellent host/hostess gifts when attending soirees;)

Appetizers:
Shrimp cocktail
Sliced pears
Cashews
Fresh mozzarella topped with prosciutto
Brie cheese

Main entree:
Honey glazed ham
Green beans with almonds
Mashed yams (could have eaten the whole dish!)
Lasagna (avec and sans gluten)
Sans gluten ciabatta rolls

Dessert:
Chocolate cream pie with corn flake crust.
Homemade whip cream (made seconds before hitting the table!)

Writing about this meal is making me very hungry all over again. The best part about it was of course how delicious it was, but also the thoughtfulness of making sans gluten dishes-I know it's a lot of work making two versions of one recipe. The leftovers aren't too bad either;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and Passover this year......

Thank you Ann!

xoxo, your best daughter in law;)

Sans Gluten Stuffed Portobello

Portobello mushrooms are one of my favorite 'shrooms to work with.  They are versatile, hearty and of course delicious. Slice them up and saute as a side dish or keep them whole and create a main dish. I like to make this dish when I'm looking for a quick and easy week night dinner.  If you have kids in the house this is a great meal for them to help you prepare!

As usual I encourage you to experiment with other ingredients that you love but see below for the version I'm quite fond of.  Feel free to adjust quantities to your liking.

Ingredients:
4 large portobello caps (remove the stem)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (optional)

For stuffing:
3/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
3/4 cup shredded part skim mozarella
1/2 cup of your favorite sans gluten breadcrumbs*
3/4 cup baby spinach (optional-I just tried adding spinach this week and it was great)

*If using unseasoned breadcrumbs try adding some of your favorite fresh or dried herbs, i.e. oregano, garlic, dried red pepper flakes,etc

Place the portobellos gill side down on a baking sheet and bake at 385 degrees for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the stuffing.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven and flip over, gill side up.

Place enough stuffing on each mushroom to almost cover the whole thing (I like ALOT).
If using cherry tomatoes place them on top of the stuffing and put mushrooms back into oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy this dish as a vegetarian main over a salad or with some sans gluten grains. IF there are any leftovers enjoy for lunch at work the next day!

NICE MATIN

Sans gluten bread with herbed butter and olive oil

Almond cookies:)

Last week my sister and I went to Nice Matin on the Upper West Side of New York City for an early dinner before a concert at the Beacon theater. We picked Nice Matin because of it's proximity to the Beacon and the menu looked great with naturally sans gluten options.  Little did we know they have an actual sans gluten menu.

When we were ready to order I did my usual "I have a wheat allergy-is there flour in the sauce, breadcrumbs sprinkled on this, etc." -you know the drill....The waiter Nick responded "Are you Celiac?"  Although I have Celiac disease and AM NOT Celiac disease I was so happy to have a knowledgeable waiter. I love it when this happens! It's an instant assessment of the intelligence of the wait staff. Of course I replied yes and Nick was incredibly helpful with the rest of my order (Arugula salad with parmesan cheese and steak au poivre with spinach-delish!). This type of interaction is somewhat standard but then.....

My sister and I asked them to remove the bread basket to which Nick replied "Do you want gluten free bread?" I think I may have screamed YES!!! This never happens so as excited as I was I was also a bit skeptical. What kind of sans gluten bread would Nick bring? As you can see for yourself above the bread tasted as good as it looks!

The rest of our dinner was delicious. I received a side of mashed potatoes without having to ask because normally the steak au poivre comes with fried onions on top.  For dessert I had almond cookies (see above). I'm not usually a big dessert girl but had to try them and they were awesome!

Overall this was a fantastic dining experience and my sister and I let the manager know before we left.  I think it's important to let people know when they are doing a great job (and when they're not-in a nice way of course).  It's nice to dine out and have naturally sans gluten options to choose from but when you have sans gluten replacement foods it really makes all the difference.

Happy Sans Gluten Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's Day is on a Monday this year so my hubby and I decided to stay low key by having dinner at home. One of our favorite dishes is turkey tacos. Super quick, delicious and sans gluten. I wanted to spice things up and get creative so I decided to make Turkey Taco burgers. Whenever I make taco I always mix the essential spices myself because a lot of the pre-made taco seasoning mixes have flour or some type of wheat derivatives in them. Argh!

The essentials spices I love to use for tacos are:
-Paprika
-Cumin
-Red pepper flakes
-Garlic powder
-Ground red (Cayenne) and black pepper

Instead of adding these spices to the ground meat as it cooks, I mixed them first then incorporated them into the turkey meat and formed burgers. Feeling especially creative tonight I also added in some mashed chickpeas. I thought black beans would have been delicious too but they weren't in the pantry.

As far as I'm concerned tacos are never complete without some guacamole! To 3 avocados I added some cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon juice. Yum!!!

Taco Turkey burger with guacamole and baby portobello mushrooms

Guacamole!!