Give A Little

Go on; it'll make a difference in some one's life.

Charity is always a popular concept around the holiday season. I still contend we need that spirit all year round. People don't stop needing just because December's over you know. But for our lazier personalities who live inside our generous ones, many opportunities present themselves over the holiday season for which you can volunteer your time and/or money to good causes.

I wanted to post about two easy ways to give this season and to challenge yourself to help those who may be in need:

1) The fabulous and always hysterical Jen who runs Cake Wrecks has decided to give to a different charity every day for two weeks. She's already started, but has urged all her readers to donate just $1 a day to the charities her and the hubby have chosen. I say, catch up with her and donate-a-long. It's a total of $14 by the end of two weeks from you, but if all of her readers did it... Start now, it's fun and hey if you've got more than $1, that's good too. For the full explanation and first day of givings, check out her post.

2) The amazing and sweet-as-pie Chez Pim is co-hosting Menu for Hope 6, a fantastic fundraiser that's gathering monies via raffling off unbelievable, I mean UNBELIEVABLE, prizes. Each electronic raffle ticket is only $1o and for what bloggers world-wide have donated, that's really not that much to fork over. For full explanations of the beneficiaries, the prizes, and anything else you need to know, visit Chez Pim's blogpost.

Giving is sometimes hard in hard economic times, but I was always told if you can only give a penny, give that penny. It's a penny someone else doesn't have. I also encourage everyone to keep feeling charitable throughout the year. Remember the whole people/organizations still need help after December thing? Well, keep remembering that.

As a side note, I promise to post some actual recipes soon (as I've been cooking up quite a storm, successful or not) but since we're approaching the holiday season I thought I'd take a moment to say, give a little.

I Love... Earth Balance Soy-Free Spread

I knew I was allergic to soy at about the age of 12 or so when I ate some Tofutti at a Bar Mitzvah, and things did not go so well for me. This had never happened before with Tofutti. It was the same reaction I had gotten when I had tried to continue to eat fish at the age of 9 like I always had, but the Tofutti reaction was worse. From then on, I stayed away from tofu and isolated soy protein, but I let myself live in a fantasy world thinking that soy oils, soy lecithin, and soy sauce were different than soy protein. That is until two years ago when I took an actual allergy test (blood-test) as opposed to the oh so intuitive body-is-rejecting-it test and I learned just how allergic to soy I was. And it was a high number. I couldn't pretend it was okay to enjoy products laced with soy, and I now accept the risks when I occasionally ingest it, usually in the form of oil or lecithin. I'll admit it. It's the one allergy I have a hard time avoiding all-together because in the US, soy is in everything (especially commercial gluten-free baked goods/mixes.) It's as American as corn. Corn is also in just about everything. Hell, they're making cups, plates and silverware out of it now. According to most sources, soy is an excellent source of this and that, but it's also one of the top 8 allergens, and we can't ignore that what may be healthy for one individual is dangerous for another. I also believe this big conspiracy theory when it comes to price points, agriculture lobbying and the FDA and what ends up in our food or being praised as being good for you, but that's just my own brand of crazy.

When I was growing up, my family was totally into the health-food thing. When the sprays came out to replace greasers, we were all over that. When spreads came out to replace margarine, we were all over that too. Butter was a four letter word in my house. In fact, I'm pretty sure at one point in my little-girl mind I thought one bite of butter could give you a heart attack. I had to break my pre-conceived notions of butter about three or four years ago when I stopped to notice that vegetable oil had gone from blends to just being soy oil (in most cases) and spreads had all become soy oil-based. The soy was making me too ill to ignore it anymore. And thus I've learned how good fats in olive oil and yes even some organic butters and cheeses won't kill you; they might even improve your health.

I went home for Thanksgiving to cook a gluten, soy, corn and dairy free meal for the family. Wait, no dairy? What do you mean no dairy? This was a challenge for me. My parents are not meat/dairy mixers and I had to find another way of flavoring and greasing my dishes. I had olive oil and veggie broth at my disposal, but I really wanted the butter there too. THANK GOODNESS Earth Balance, a fantastic company producing buttery spreads to fill just about anyone's needs, recently came out with a soy-free spread. The spread is vegan and soy-free and can be used to do anything you would use normal butter for. The nutritional facts are comparable to that of 365 organic unsalted butter; however Earth Balance Soy-Free has less saturated fat and instead replaces it with some good fats. Earth Balance Soy-Free also does contain some sodium which obviously unsalted butter does not contain. All in all, this is a revelation for allergic bakers and cooks I think. I can attempt dairy-free baked goods easier than before and certainly without any concern for soy being present.

I thank Earth Balance for noticing that they had a gap in their massive product line and continuing to strive to serve all consumers, whatever their needs. Every time I bake with you when I'm home in December, I'll smile.

*Fantastic allergy chart on their website too showing they care about you and disclose info!

I'm Sick so it must be November or December

Without fail I become ill the first chance my body has to rest. This usually takes place during holiday breaks from work either around Thanksgiving or December break (which you non-Jews call the Christmas holidays.) I think this is because I'm a go, go, go kind of person, within reason. I work full days, I have hobbies that I exercise in the evenings and I tend to pack my weekends with errands and seeing friends. I can't get sick when I'm so busy all the time; it's just inconvenient. But well, because my sleep schedule got all messed up between the red-eye home for Thanksgiving, Black Friday madness and never really adjusting. It also didn't help that my office has become a bit rife with sickness itself, and since I'm at work, I'm sure I'm just perpetuating the problem.

Thanksgiving was a great success though, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I'd just like to wait until this very tiny, evil man in my head stops hitting my brain repeatedly with a very large mallet. Then I might be able to focus long enough to write something a bit more useful than this whine-fest.

See you soon!

Let's Get Ready to Gobble!!!!

You got me again Mr. Holiday, you tricky tricky beast. Here you are, and here comes my need to share a social food-based gathering with the loved ones. Why am I not worried about this though? Because I insisted on cooking Thanksgiving. If you have an amazing, supportive family like I do, they're down for letting you make Thanksgiving your way.

I'd like to take a moment to thank my mother, just about a Saint, who has to shop/prep for the Thanksgiving meal since I arrive home early on Thursday morning (yay redeye flights.) I was on the phone with her for a total of 2-3 hours this weekend explaining ingredients to her and then having her read ingredients to me while at the supermarket when she was unsure if a product was safe. This was after a detailed email. There was a lot of preparation for this since I haven't really been home all that much since I've had to give up eating the "normal" way. She remarked to me about how challenging it must be for me to shop for food; she was exhausted from running between 3 grocery stores and frustrated from being unsure what was 100% safe or good to consume. She also saw, maybe for the first time, how unnecessarily random ingredients were thrown into certain foods when we tried to find me a balsamic vinaigrette without gluten or soy (you'd be surprised.) So Mom, one of the things I'm definitely thankful for is you and how hard you've worked to let me make you a meal that could be safe for all of us, and how hard you always work to help your kids out (and anyone else who may need help on the way.)

Now that we can stop cuing the violins, I'll continue. I hate to say it, but I feel most comfortable eating when I can control how it's made. This makes me sound like a control freak, but when you're trying to stay away from sooooooooo many ingredients it really just puts your mind at ease. That's probably why a lot of allergic and intolerant folks dread going to restaurants and social occasions such as dinner parties for fear of either getting sick or being the allergic one who sticks out like a sore thumb. Sure it's fun to be on the other end of gentle teasing, "Geez, Suz, you can't eat anything!" but it's only so much fun until it starts giving you a complex. If I couldn't eat anything, I would have nothing to blog about ;) I love cooking. And I love cooking Thanksgiving. It's definitely my favorite holiday to make!

I'm going to be experimenting with a mostly grain-free menu this year, the exception being a fantastic stuffing I'm trying for the first time courtesy of the genius Shauna at glutenfreegirl and her blog. Because I will be doing the other recipes from scratch and on the fly, I will post them after Thanksgiving. After all, I'm not going to post anything I haven't tested. The other challenge is my parents are kosher. We're eating turkey so no that means no dairy. Me adding cheese or butter for enhanced flavoring are out. I take this as a welcome challenge and am surprised that I was able to find a soy-free, dairy-free butter substitute (thank you Earth Balance.) I will use that substitute, veggie broth, or olive oil plus seasonings to make the flavors shine through. I have a good feeling about it :)

I went through my blog and found some recipes that could be a welcome alternative addition to a Thanksgiving table. Good luck for good cookin' all ;)

Soup:

Butternut Squash Soup w/Leeks

Side:

Quinoa w/Cranberries

Parmesan Mashed Cauliflower (within post)

Dessert:

Cranberry Tart

Pumpkin-Applesauce Bundt Cake

Beverage:

Spiced, mulled wine (within post)

Leftover Ideas:

Chicken & Biscuit Casserole (sub turkey)

Turkey & Snow Peas w/Pickled Ginger

Turkey Cheese Roll-Ups w/Tangy Slaw (within post)

Comforty Comfort Food

After coming back from the amazing Foodbuzz festival (which I have yet to blog about, I know, bad blogger) and seeing all this gourmet and fantastically choreographed food presentation I wanted down-home country comfort food. Don't ask me why. This should prove my questionable foodie status: I ate all this fouffy, high-fashion food and all I could think when I came home is I could really go for some Cracker Barrel. I'm a bit of a disgrace, aren't I?

My best friend used to go to Cracker Barrel a lot growing up, and I often joined her and her family on said outings. Cracker Barrel is most certainly one of the least GF, perhaps allergy friendly, restaurants on the planet I'd imagine. There's flour, dough, and gravy at every turn and being someone who likes comfort food, I sopped it all up with a biscuit every time. When I think back to what I was actually ingesting, I get a little sick thinking of all the lard and chemicals I was throwing into my body. But I digress...

My favorite dish at Cracker Barrel was Chicken & Dumplings. You couldn't visually tell the chicken from the dumplings because it was all buried in some creamy gravy of some sort, but I loved that dish. And add a biscuit on the side and I was in heaven! I really wanted that dish when I returned home. I really wanted that dish and knew I couldn't have it. So how can I re-create this dish to be a comfort food for my restrictions? I'm glad I asked.

What I did was make a Chicken & Biscuits Casserole. It could also be a mock pot pie if you used a double crust (I suppose) but I enjoy making casseroles. This was generally easy to prepare and an EXCELLENT dish to create with leftover turkey after Thanksgiving, which I hear is coming up pretty soon. To make the biscuits, I used the GF Waffle & Pancake Mix from The Cravings Place which makes all sorts of GF, allergy free mixes. This particular mix was free of just about everything, except for corn (think of it as a last hurrah.) I did choose to use butter instead of shortening, which adds back dairy as well. If you're using this mix, I would also suggest adding seasoning or cheese perhaps, because although the mix holds up very well, it tends to taste a little doughy. If you want to make your own biscuit dough from scratch, go for it! Just make sure you start with at least 2 cups of dry mix in your recipe so you have enough to cover the whole dish. Ready for some fake country cookin' y'all?

Chicken & Biscuits Casserole

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs (or 2 lbs leftover poultry cooked)

1 cup 365 Garlic Chicken Broth divided (or Cream of ___ Soup, this soup had no soy so it won)

2 cups veggies, defrosted from frozen or fresh (I used organic peas, green beans)

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped or diced

2 cups Cravings Place All Purpose Waffe & Pancake Mix

1 cup water

6 tbsp butter or shortening

salt & pepper to taste

Herbes de Provence or Poultry Seasoning to taste

olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brown chicken in large pan greased with olive oil over medium heat (if you're using leftover meat, obviously skip this step.)

Grease a 9x13 dish with olive oil and spread 1/2 cup broth on the bottom of the dish.

When chicken is browned, remove from pan and arrange on broth in dish.

Salt and Pepper chicken to taste (I used some awesome truffle salt I brought back from Italy)

In the same pan you were browning the chicken, saute veggies and onion until tender.

Add veggies over and around chicken.

Season to taste with Herbes de Provence or Poultry Seasoning, and another round of salt/pepper.

Pour 1/2 cup of broth over the mixture and cover with foil.

Cook mixture in the oven at 350 degrees covered for 25 minutes.

While that's cooking, prepare biscuit topping by combing the Cravings Place mix with water and butter.

Optional: Season biscuit batter with cheese (parmesan or cheddar), savory herbs, salt/pepper, and/or crushed garlic.

After 25 minutes, remove the chicken mixture from the oven.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Take biscuit batter and use your palms to form flat circles about the size of your palms.

Layer flat circles to cover the entire 9x13 dish of chicken mixture, edge to edge.

Place biscuit covered dish back in the oven uncovered for 20 minutes.

Shut oven off and let casserole sit in oven 10-15 minutes.

Remove, eat, and wonder why you ever missed gravy-slathered junk food from a truck stop diner.

Tacolicious- Foodbuzz Street Food Fare Find

Hey there again. I know I have lots of blogging to do about the Foodbuzz Festival (true, true) so why not start here?

Tacolicious is a fantastic creation and a labor of love for all who are involved, and it can be gluten-free friendly (beware of beer braised chicken GF friends.) Anyways, aside from them making delicious, and I do mean delicious tacos, they are starting up "T-Lish Tuesdays" at the Laïola restaurant in San Francisco.

If any of you are in the San Francisco area tonight, you should definitely check them out! For more info check their blog.

Tested: Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake Mix

I got back from the UK at the end of August and since then, I have this box of Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake Mix staring me in the face. I don't know why I've been putting off trying it. Bloggers left and right were trying the mix, apprehensive as we all were that it would truly be GF, but none of us got sick (from what I've read.)

When I went back to re-read the ingredients, I was happily surprised to notice there were no corn products, as I'm largely cutting back on/phasing out my corn consumption for a time. This made it easier for me to crack open the cardboard and ready the mix for a trial run. Let's discuss how I feel about the mix, noting that I am ECSTATIC a mainstream baking enterprise like Betty Crocker got involved in being aware of the gluten-free growing population, though I may be less enthusiastic about this particular mix.

Pros:

1) The mix is relatively easy to make, just as a mix is supposed to be.

2) The product looked like regular cake product when produced, fooling any non-GF person you may be trying to trick into tasting a GF good.

3) I added some pumpkin and chocolate chips like I would into a regular mix and it came out fine.

Cons:

1) Although the mix is easy to make with a few additions, it calls for an entire stick of butter and 3 full eggs. Now I didn't try substituting applesauce/oil for butter or egg whites for eggs because I didn't want to throw the chemistry completely off. The no butter recipe on the BC website calls for shortening, none of which I could find without soy. If I could find a way to cut the butter down, I'd be a bigger fan.

2) The consistency of the cake wasn't quite what I'd expected. BC mixes produce moist, light, fluffy results. I figured that the GF of it all would make the cake denser or perhaps a tad gritty. There was no grit in the final taste, however the cake was dense. But like really dense. Like I felt I was eating a dense cake donut dense; I had to jump up for a glass of lactaid milk. Now I love cake donuts, don't misunderstand, but I expected it to be more birthday cake than dense donut. Although, I might have found a good baked donut mix ;)

Not really bad/Not really good:

1) I thought the batter looked weird. You could see a lot of the gritty textured granules staring you right in the face which led me to be prepared for a gritty texture. Since there wasn't a gritty texture I was both pleasantly surprised and equally annoyed I had expected it because of the batter.

So all and all, the mix was pretty good, but I have to say I've had better. And I might have even made better. Again, I'm more than excited that Betty Crocker took the time and effort to acknowledge there is a market out there for GF products, however, I just wish the product had been something of a Betty Crocker non-GF caliber.