 For you Philadelphians interested in learning more about the gluten-free diet, register for the Mt Airy Learning Tree Class Why and How to Go Gluten-Free. I am leading the workshop, which will be held at Food For All Market and Café, and in addition to some delicious samples of their gluten-free fare, I'm including my ebooks Gluten Free: Practical Advice for a Happy, Healthy Gluten-Free Life and So What CAN You Eat? Gluten-Free Paleo Vegan (mostly) Recipes for Health and Weight Loss (which I will have printed out for your benefit, of course!)
Here's the course description: Do you feel lousy and don't know why? Have doctors not been able to figure out what's wrong? Have you recently been diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance? Do you wonder if going gluten-free can help you lose weight? Do you want to know what all the buzz is about? During this fun and interactive hour and a half session, you'll get facts and practical tips for eating gluten-free safely and well. Tuesday, May 7th, 6:30 - 8 pm Food For All, 7127 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19119 $20 for the class, $5 Materials fee REGISTRATION THROUGH MT. AIRY LEARNING TREE IS REQUIRED I hope to see you there!  [Join my final webinar installment: October 29th 8 pm Eastern time, when we'll talk about eating out safely, getting ready for Thanksgiving and the secret to happiness: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E950DE85854738 October 22 replay featuring office parties, unsupportive family, and more ideas for food: http://www.anymeeting.com/clairebakerok/EC52DD858648 September 22nd replay featuring the basics for who should go gluten-free and how to shop for gluten-free foods, stay safe in your own kitchen and eat out. http://www.anymeeting.com/WebConference/RecordingDefault.aspx?c_psrid=EC50DF898547] In my gluten-free webinar series, we have been discussing getting ready for the holidays. One technique to guarantee that you have gluten-free food to eat at parties is to host it yourself or take some excellent dishes to the party at someone else's house. I created a You Tube video featuring three great party foods: Peanut Chili Dip, Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms, and Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates. Peanut Chili Dip Peanut Chili Dip has been a favorite of ours for a long time. I modified our family favorite to be gluten free. 1/3 cup peanut butter 3 T. water 1 T. Gluten-free tamari 1 T. honey 2 cloves minced garlic 1 T. chili powder Dash of cayenne Mix all the ingredients together. At first it looks like it won't mix together well, but don't worry and keep stirring. Before long it will get a creamy consistency. Serve with baby carrots. You can eat it right away, or chill it for a few hours and let the flavors mingle. Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms You definitely CAN make stuffed mushrooms with your favorite gluten-free bread crumbs, but these quinoa-stuffed babies combine an interesting texture with superior nutrition. 24-32 mushrooms, depending on size 1 cup cooked quinoa 1 T. olive oil 1 clove chopped garlic 3 T. chopped kale 1 T. chopped pecans 1 T. Herbs de Provence (or basil or parsley or whatever you are in the mood for) 3 T. cream cheese 2 T. pecorino romano cheese or parmesan cheees 3-4 drops of gluten-free liquid smoke Preheat oven to 350. Prepare the quinoa according to the package instructions. Brush/wash the mushrooms and remove stems. Saute the garlic, kale, pecans and herbs in olive oil until the kale softens, about 5 minutes. Combine with quinoa, cheeses and liquid smoke in a bowl, stirring until well combined. Stuff the mushroom caps with the quinoa cheese mixture. Arrange on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Delicious warm or served room temperature. Peanut Butter Stuffed Dates This is hardly a recipe. It's more of a reminder that you can create easy party food with two ingredients. 24 dates enough peanut butter to fill the dates Depending on the size of your dates, you may want to pit them and stuff the peanut butter inside. For the ones I did for the video, I cut the dates in half, removed the pits, and filled the date "boats" with peanut butter. They were a little sticky, but delicious. I know there are people out there who roll peanut butter stuffed dates in powdered sugar, and the guy at the health food store also recommended using Nutella. And in keeping with the bacon wrapping theme of my October 15, 2012 webinar, I've also seen bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate on-line. Experiment and have fun! A big thank you to Shanie Matthews at My Happy Path for inviting me to post about my celiac experience. Check out my piece here: http://www.myhappypath.com/finding-happy-in-the-midst-of-celiac-disease/. I love guest blogging and talking with folks about the journey to gluten-free! Shanie did a guest blog post here at So What CAN You Eat? You can check it out here: http://www.clairebakerok.com/1/post/2012/06/finding-positivity-living-with-celiac-disease.html Shanie's got a fun photo-captioning contest going on at www.facebook.com/MyHappyPath. Check it out! 
[May is Celiac Awareness Month, and I’m giving away copies of my ecookbooklet: So What CAN You Eat? Gluten-free Paleo Vegan (mostly) Recipes for Health and Weight Loss, to all who join the mailing list. Visit the homepage here.
19 fast, easy recipes!] 1) I'm cooking most of my own food, so I know what goes into it 2) I'm more likely to just get a salad (with dressing on the side) when I eat at a restaurant that doesn't have a gluten-free menu, helping me meet my weight management goals 3) I can't succumb to the temptation of workplace pizza or doughnuts when they appear 4) I'm more mindful of the nutritients and calories I'm putting into my body 5) I've gotten to experiment with new foods and have found some new things to add to my list of favorites, and they are healthy (Beets! Brussels sprouts!) 6) I've befriended nutritional yeast as a replacement for some of the B vitamins I lost with enriched carbs, and I LOVE it! 7) I've come up with new ways to prepare vegetables and make them satisfying as the MAIN dish 8) I've begun using condiments in interesting ways (yellow mustard on broccoli is delicious!) 9) Nuts and beans are great protein sources, AND they make good dips, spreads and hummuses (or is that hummi?) 10) (This should be number 1!) I generally feel so much better and have so much more energy! What gifts have you found from having to live gluten-free? I made this video when on a trip for work, but I figure it applies if you are traveling for holiday as well, especially if you are traveling somewhere that hasn't reached the enlightened state of the Gluten Free Menu, or you are staying with hosts that mean well but don't quite get it.
In short: 1) Plan ahead. How many meals and snacks will you have for the duration? On a scale of 1 - 10, how likely are you to find gluten-free fare while you are gone? The lower the score, the more you need to plan and food you'll need to pack. Will you have easy access to a grocery store where you can pick up items you need? 2) Pack it in. Be sure to take enough food for the trip and for your first meal or snack at your destination so that you have enough time to solidify your plan on arrival. 3) Implement the plan. If you flew to your location and are renting a car, maybe you can stop at a supermarket for the things you'll need before you arrive at your final location. Maybe your mother-in-law will be making a run to the store and you can offer to ride along and then pick up a few things. For the big family meal at a restaurant, suggest a place that you've researched in advance and know has a gf menu. Chain family restaurants like Olive Garden have unthrilling gf menus that can be a definite back-up plan if you don't have a more interesting choice. If the restaurant has already been established, call in advance to discuss your options. Imagine what it will be like to get all of your meals and snacks handled, and if this part is especially challenging, pretend you are a secret agent on a mission to secure the top secret gf packages. Have fun with it! Since you've got a little food on hand that you packed, no need to freak out. 4) Enjoy your stay! Once you are secure in the knowledge that you will be able to eat safely (even if your food choices aren't thrilling, like in my video), then remember the purpose of the trip -- spending time with family, networking, or whatever. Be in the moment and have fun with it. Don't spend a bunch of time being bent out of shape that you have to do all these dietary shinanigans. Life's too short. Safe travels, and let me know how it goes! |
Archives
January 2021
|
RSS Feed