Gluten Free Christmas Cookies

This weekend we got into the holiday spirit a little more by making some delicious christmas cookies! I went to my trusty source, King Arthur Flour, for a gluten free recipe for sugar cookies because I knew I had their gluten free flour in the pantry. We made up some icing in a few different colors and channeled our inner elves to decorate them. The cookies are delicious, not too sweet and not too crunchy! Of course, cook them to the crunchy-ness you desire! 

Here is the recipe for the cookies (from King Arthur Flour)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum


Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla stir until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl and stirring again briefly.
Add the dry ingredients, stirring just until dough comes together.
Scoop the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, flatten it into a disk, and wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and dust your work surface and dough with cornstarch or gluten-free flour.
Roll the dough about 1/4" thick and cut the shapes of your choice with a cookie cutter. Place cutouts on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes. Re-chill any dough scraps before rolling.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and cool completely before icing.

Here is the recipe I used for icing:

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

food coloring

Thankful

This year I’m doing things a little different. This isn’t to say that I’m not grateful or that I don’t care about gratitude, it’s really the opposite. I don’t think we should have just one day of the year where we think about what we’re grateful for but that we should think about it every day of the year. We shouldn’t feel pressured during the holiday season to list all the things we’re happy to have in our lives and I could never make a complete list of everything I’m grateful for. Every day of our lives should have something beautiful and wonderful for us to be thankful more. 

So this year, I’m taking a deep breath and realizing that this is simply a time to reflect on all the amazing things this life brings to us. We don’t need to make lists of all the obvious things like health, happiness, family and friends but rather think about the unique things that make this life so special. We don’t need to have everything on our thankful lists, we just need to have it in our hearts. 

So here it is, my little-bit-different thankful list:

• Skippy - I’m so grateful that this little bundle of joy came into our lives at just the perfect time. Mike and I are able to celebrate our first holiday season in our own little apartment together with our precious little furry girl. She keeps us on our town and the eyes in the back of our head moving at all times!
• Boston - I’m thankful to be able to live in such a wonderful city that allows us to be just close enough to so many of our favorite things. We’re just a short drive from Connecticut and Rhode Island to see Mike’s family and a hop, skip and a jump away from Vermont to see our friends! Also, Boston airport has some pretty cheap flights that allow us to get away from this city we love at a decent price!
• December - I’m so happy you are here! We have so many exciting things happening this month and I cannot wait for them to begin. My best friend, Lily, is coming the first weekend, my mom comes the day after Lily leaves to celebrate my graduation from nursing school with some more of my favorite people, my sister comes home from Afghanistan, a weekend getaway in Vermont the next weekend to see my favorite family, Christmas, New Years and my sisters birthday!
• Fluidity - while we try to plan many things and make our lives a little easier for ourselves, I am thankful that unexpected things happen all the time. It keeps life exciting and keeps us moving through this special time in our lives. 
• Support - I would never have made it through this past year without the amazing love and support of so many people; too many to list. I’ve certainly had the worst of the worst and the best of the best and I couldn’t have done it without these wonderful people. I’m sure you all know who you are :)
• Challenges - I'm so thankful for all the challenges I have faced this past year. I have grown and changed in so many ways and can't say I would be who I am now without this year of my life. 
• iPhone cameras - our two little iPhones have captured so many things this past year that we would have easily forgotten about without the quick click of a button. You capture the moments that sometimes slip our minds. 
• No dishwasher - at times this is a curse and at times this is a blessing. Not having a dishwasher and having a pile of dishes at the end of the night when we have friends over is the best reminder that we are so lucky to have this place of our own and be able to have so many of our best friends visit for delicious food, insightful conversation and the best company.

Gluten Free Guide to Seattle

Mike and I took a trip to Seattle a few weekends ago with the primary mission to go salmon fishing. While we did go salmon fishing, we were there for 4 days and only one of those days was spent fishing. The rest of the time we spent exploring Seattle and finding some of the best gluten free food I've ever had. 

We took a trip up the space needle...

Found delicious produce at the Pike Place Market...

 Saw the amazing Snoqualmie Falls...

Visited the beautiful houseboat community on the east side of the lake...

Caught some AWESOME king salmon...

And now for the Gluten Free deliciousness!

1. Coffee And... A Specialty Bakery

As the website says, this is a taste of gluten-free heaven. This is a small little bakery with a few tables to sit at outside and they only serve gluten-free baked goods. They are located just behind Pike Place Market in Western Ave. They have delicious coffee as well. When we stopped in they had so many things to choose from! I opted for a cinnamon roll and an almond croissant. Mike got the "Tsunami Quiche" and a butter croissant. Everything was just to die for. The cinnamon roll was soft and fluffy with the perfect amount of icing. The almond croissant had the perfect amount of flavor and was soft and fluffy. The service was wonderful as well. I cannot say enough good things about this place. One little thing, they are not open on Monday's so make sure you stop in a different day!

2. Biscuit Bitch at Caffe Lieto

This is a wonderful little shop that serves breakfast and lunch centered around biscuits and gravy. They are located just up from Pike Place Market on 1st Ave. They have both gluten-free and gluten full. We went two days in a row because it was so delicious. The first day I got a simple biscuit with egg, cheese and sausage because I needed something I could eat while we walked. We back so I could get the real deal and I sure did. I got the biscuits with gravy, eggs and sausage. Mike had the biscuits with gravy, eggs, bacon and cheese. Everything was wonderfully amazing and I couldn't get enough of it!

3. Jus Bar

Our other favorite place is a little place called Jus Bar. It is located just outside Seattle so you'll need a car if you're staying in the downtown Seattle area. It is a juice bar and sandwich shop that just happens to have amazing homemade gluten free bread! They have a few sandwiches to choose from. I had the roasted chicken club and Mike had the pastrami sandwich. We both thoroughly enjoyed them and would highly recommend it!

We had such a wonderful time in Seattle and hope to go back sometime soon!

Tavern in the Square

Hi everyone! I wanted to write today about one of our favorite places to eat in the Boston area that has delicious gluten free food. Tavern in the Square has six great locations throughout the Boston area.

They used to have a separate gluten free menu that included all the items, however they have recently combined the menu's so there is just one menu with all the gluten free items clearly indicated. They serve all their sandwiches on a gluten free roll. They have tons of appetizers, sandwiches, salads, entrees and sides that are so good. My particular favorites are the nachos, spinach and artichoke dip, feta and avocado salad, tomato mozzarella melt, the burger is always a good choice, turkey burger is great and the mashed potatoes are wonderful. The only downside is they don't have many gluten free deserts. They have trivia two nights a week and one night have a deal on burgers I think. I haven't taken pictures of the food so unfortunately I don't have any for you, but I'll add some when I go next time!!

Stop by and let me know what you think!

Snacks

Hi everyone! 

Hope everyone is enjoying the blog so far! I haven't done much baking or cooking the past few days so I don't have a new recipe for you all. However, I was able to try the new Goldfish Puffs! Two snacks I really miss are Goldfish and Cheese-its. Goldfish now has something called Goldfish Puffs that I was very excited to try. Luckily, Mikes Mom, Ann, was able to find them for me to try! They come in a pretty large bag and aren't too expensive which is nice. There are three flavors; cheddar, bacon and buffalo. I have only tried to cheddar so I can only speak for that. In any case, they're pretty good! A good snack if you're craving something salty and crunchy. They do taste a lot like Cheetos as you can imagine. 

My wonderful friend Sam recently found this recipe on King-Arthur for their cheese snack crackers. I'll make them soon and let you know how they are! 

I've also recently started getting a NatureBox every month. What a great idea! This month I got six different snacks, all gluten free! Two different types of granola, toasted corn kernels, masa chips, dried fruit and pistachio power clusters! All are delicious. They provide a great alternative when when you want a snack and also want to be healthy! 

I'm making taco's tonight so look for that on the blog soon!

xox

Gluten Free Apple Muffin Recipe!

It has certainly felt like fall up here in Boston recently and as I mentioned in a previous post, Mike and I went apple picking about two weeks ago. I made an apple pie to use some of the apples, have been eating them in my lunch every day but still have tons of apples! We both love apple muffins, so I tried out a recipe I found and altered it to be gluten free. They were super easy and turned out great! Mike brought some to work and we brought some down to the cottage this weekend; everyone seemed to love them so I have the recipe to share with you all! 

Chunky Apple Muffins

• 2 medium apples - I used Gala but I'm sure whatever you have in your produce bowl would be just fine
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour - I used King Arthur because that's what I had
• 1 teaspoon xantham gum (omit if your flour blend already had this)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk - if you don't have buttermilk you can substitute 1cup milk + 1tbsp lemon juice. Let it sit about 5 minutes and it works just fine!
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cooking spray; set aside. Peel and core the apples. Cut up in 1/4 inch squares. 

Whisk together sugar, flour, xantham gum, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apples; toss to coat. 

Whisk together eggs, buttermilk and butter in a small bowl. Gently fold wet mixture into flour mixture until combined. Divide batter amongst the 12 cups; they will be pretty full. Bake until muffins are brown around the edges - about 18 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly and ENJOY!

Penguin Pizza - Boston

This past weekend Mike and I went to the MFA in Boston for an assignment I had to do for school. Mike went to Northeastern which is right next to the MFA so he's spent a fair amount of time at the bars restaurants in the area. By far, one of his favorites is Penguin Pizza. I think he likes it more for the beer than the pizza, but that's besides the point. I had been to Penguin Pizza before but they didn't have gluten free last time I went. I called just to make sure - turns out they have gluten free dough now! We walked our way over there and got a cute little table in the corner. WARNING: no matter what season it it, it will be very hot inside. We ended up getting the traditional pepperoni and the Aegean pizzas, both on gluten free crust. To be honest, the crust was OK. It almost seemed like it needs to be pre-cooked before the toppings were put on because it seemed a little too doughy for me. It wasn't horrible though, as evidenced by the fact that we ate every last piece of both pizzas. It had good flavor and was about 10" big. We were pretty hungry so we got two, but one was way too big for just me. On a not starving day, we would have been fine with just one split between the two of us. I forgot to take pictures, but they wouldn't have shown much anyways because they put so many delicious toppings on that you can't even see the crust! 

Another plus, they had a couple different kinds of hard cider and I think two gluten fee beers. 

After pizza we were off to see our sweet friends Kim and Jan whom we hadn't seen in forever! The perfect treat to end a great night :)

Give it a try and let me know what you think! 

Gluten Free Bread - The good, the bad and the ugly.

Hi Everyone! 

I'm going to do a little review of a few gluten free breads I have tried. I live in Boston where glutie's seem to have it made pretty well. That being said, you may not being able to find all of these at your local grocery store, but likely at a natural foods store. I'll be reviewing Three Bakers - Seven Ancient Grains, Udi's - White Sandwich Bread, Udi's - Whole Grain Bread, Schar - Classic White Bread, King Arthur - Gluten Free Bread Mix, and Rudi's - Gluten Free Classic Sandwich Bread.

Three Bakers:
This is the best bread I've had yet. I tried it once because my grocery store was out of my old staple, Udi's. Best mistake ever! This bread is much heartier than Udi's. It does not crumble as you eat your sandwich and has much more flavor. I like the Seven Ancient Grains because I'm a whole wheat kind of girl, but their classic white sandwich bread has great flavor and texture too. It seems to be a little more expensive than Udi's at my grocery store, but worth the extra 50 cents!

Udi's - White Sandwich Bread and Whole Grain Bread:
If your grocery store only has one kind of gluten free bread, it is probably this one. This used to be my go-to until I discovered Three Bakers. They are both good. The whole grain is a little heartier, which I like. The white bread tends to be a little drier I think. The drier consistency is great for one thing - breadcrumbs! I always make breadcrumbs out of the two end pieces, put them in a Tupperware and into the fridge so they're always there when I need them.

Schar - Classic White Bread:

This bread is nice because it isn't frozen. However, it is very dry. I just saw on the website that they have a new recipe so maybe the new recipe is less dry. While I was in Italy, this was the only kind of gluten free bread I could find. Schar does make a lot of other bread products that are very good, but I don't particularly like their sandwich bread. Their dinner rolls are very good as well as their baguette. You pop them in the oven for a few minutes and their warm, soft and fluffy. 

King Arthur - Gluten Free Bread Mix:

This bread mix is delicious. It is a mix, so you have to make it yourself but let me tell you, if you have the time it is so worth it. This is a plain mix so you could add your own flavors if you wanted to spice it up a little bit. If you slice it up once it cools you can put it in the freezer and it will keep for longer. The texture of this bread is just wonderful. It is much more moist than the pre-made breads and has great flavor. It only takes a few ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen! 

Rudi's - Gluten Free Classic Sandwich Bread: 

To be completely honest, I don't like this bread very much. I've given it a few fair tries because it seems to be easy to find and in a lot of grocery stores but I'm not exactly sure why! It is very dry and I would almost rather eat my sandwich has a lettuce wrap than on this bread. I haven't tried all the different kinds so I can't speak to all of them, but I wasn't a big fan of the class sandwich bread. 

Ginger Exchange - Thai food in Boston

Last night my good friend Sam and I had a little bit of a girls night, complete with Thai food take-out and red wine. Gluten free Thai food can be a little dicey, unless you go to Ginger Exchange or have Ginger Exchange delivered right to your front door. We have always gone to or ordered from their Cambridge location, but it looks like they have a new location in Boston! Their menu indicates everything that is gluten free, including all sushi except things with eel, crabstick, eel sauce or tempura. They also give you packets of gluten free soy sauce! Their sushi is always fresh. The fish seems to melt in your mouth. If you sit at the bar inside you can watch them make it right in front of you. Some of our favorites rolls are the eastern keys, spicy tuna, salmon avocado, mount fuji (NOT gluten free), and over the rainbow. They have a lot of rolls that look great that do not seem to be gluten free. I have not tried asking them to make the roll without tempura; maybe worth a try!

They also have delicious gluten free pad thai. Every so often I get a craving for pad thai and this is always my go-to!

Let me know what you think if you happen to go! 

Pillsbury Gluten Free Products

Pillsbury recently came out with three gluten free products. You can see them all here. They have a pizza crust, pie/pastry crust and chocolate chip cookie dough. All are pre-made refrigerated items so you can find them in your grocery store with the other refrigerated cookie dough products. My local grocery store had only the pizza crust, so I got that a few weeks ago. The crust was definitely a thin crust pizza. It was a little bit dense and chewy for me. While I know I'll never again get that tear-it-apart, fluffy pizza crust that is full of gluten, the pillsbury dough wasn't the best substitute. I've tried many other gluten free pizza crusts on the market and would prefer the Against the Grain crust or the Namaste crust over pillsbury. Against the grain is already prepared, the Namaste needs a little preparation. 

We went to a different grocery store this weekend and to my surprise they had the pie crust and the cookie dough. Perfect timing as Mike and I had just gone apple picking so I could try the crust out with an apple pie! I used this Dutch Apple Pie recipe from Ali over at Jam Hands. I substituted King Arthur gluten free flour for the flour in the filing as well as the flour in the topping. I followed the directions on the pie crust packaging for the crust. While the crust was not light and flakey like your ideal pie crust, it is pretty darn good for gluten-free! I used to use the whole foods frozen pie crusts, but found that they were usually cracked in the bottom or were not quite done when the filling/pie were done. The pillsbury crust came out great! I make a lot of pecan pies during the holiday season so I will try it again for the first pecan pie of the year!

Dutch Apple Pie with Pillsbury Crust

While studying I needed a little "brain food," or I just needed an excuse to feed my sweet tooth and remembered I got the Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough! This cookie dough is great because it is in a plastic container so you don't have to use the whole thing at once. The cookies take 10-12 minutes to cook, one minute to cool and about 5 seconds to enjoy. These cookies were great! I used to love to Tollhouse container of pre-made cookie dough and these are just about as good. They are soft with delicious sweet flavor that is not fake tasting. Great job, Pillsbury!

Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free in Italy

This past August we traveled to Italy for a vacation. Before we left, people kept asking me what I was going to eat in Italy because "all they eat there is pizza and pasta!" I did a little research before hand so I wouldn't be totally unprepared, however it ended up being more and more frustrating to find good, gluten-free things to eat at a reasonable price. We traveled to three cities, Rome, Florence and Venice, so I'll write about some of the up's and down's of this gluten-free adventure. 

Rome/Roma

We inadvertently made the mistake of getting the best gluten-free pizza on our very first day in Rome. We found this place online Voglia di Pizza located at Via dei Giubbonari 33. It was pretty easy to find. We had the Margherita pizza and the cheese with salami. Both were delicious. The crust was similar to what I remember about gluten-full pizza. Here is a picture of me devouring my pizza. 

We also went to Cantina e Cucina at Via dei Governo Vecchio 87. Via dei Governo Vecchio was recommended to us for its numerous wonderful restaurants. Cantina e Cucina  happened to have gluten-free pasta, so we tried it out. Both of our pasta dishes were wonderful. The pasta seemed a little bit al dente to me but I think that's just the Italian way. Do as the Romans do. 

Florence/Firenze

In Florence we had a nice dinner at Osteria Dell'Agnolo. Very cute little place very close to the duomo. We sat outside. They had gluten-free pasta that was very good. I forgot to take pictures, but trust me, it was good!

We were told to go to Pizza Man for delicious gluten-free pizza. We found our way there one day to get pizza for lunch but they said "no, not yet." Apparently they don't have it during the day, but maybe if you go for dinner you'll get to try it! One of our tour guides with a gluten allergy himself said it was very good. 

We went to a more expensive, nice dinner one night at The Golden View. Great atmosphere with wonderful views of the river. They gave us a glass of prosecco when we got there and were very accommodating and understanding of gluten allergies. I had the Pesce Spadda Alla Siciliana. It was very delicious. They even brought us gluten free crackers instead of bread. 

One day we went on a day trip with Alessandro Cammilli (who I highly recommend) to Tuscany. We stopped at one of Dario Cecchini's restaurants called Dario Doc in Chianti. Cecchini is one of the most respected butchers in Italy and maybe even the world. They have about four different red meat dishes on the menu with differing prices. We all got the Super Dario. It was naturally gluten free and DELICOUS. The meat was some of the best red meat I have ever had. If you have a chance, stop by between 12 and 3 and you'll have a delicious lunch!

Venice/Venezia

In Venice we had lunch at Osteria Antico Dolo at Ruga Rialto 778. They had wonderful gluten free pasta and the service was great. They even let us use their phone to locate an ATM. 

We also had lunch at Ristobar San Polo at San Polo 2024. They had gluten free pasta that was very good and a delicious gluten free desert of some sort of fried custard with chocolate on top. It was so good that we said we would come back for dinner. We showed up for dinner and it was closed which was unfortunate. I'm not sure if it is always closed for dinner. The picture of the desert isn't that great, but trust me it was delicious!

That is just about all I have to report from Italy! They do have gluten-free bread in some grocery stores. If you ask for Senza Glutine they may have a whole section. It is like the brand Schar. Hope this helps with anyone's gluten-free travels to Italy!

Start here...

Hi All! 

Welcome to the blog, Glutie and the Beast. I'm so happy you stopped by! On this blog I'll be chronicling the adventures and mis-adventures of following a gluten-free diet with a boyfriend who can eat all the gluten he wants. We live just outside Boston so I'll write about some restaurants in and around Boston. We cook at home most of the time so I'll write about any recipes I try that come out great. We travel just about every weekend so I'll write about any new places we visit and where the glutie was able to eat. I'm sure I'll throw in tidbits about our general lives here and there as well. Feel free to ask any questions or make any comments! 

xoxo
Glutie and the Beast