Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin » recipes

Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail

Erin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:11:39 +0000

Actually it’s the naturally gluten free veggie of the summer.

Actually, all veggies are naturally gluten free. (That is, in their natural state, and barring any preparation styles using gluten, of course.)

Score!

Zucchini is an incredibly prolific vegetable in the summer. Around here, it’s everywhere-which is great, because it’s local, in season, tasty, and less expensive than some other veggie counterparts. It’s also an incredibly versatile vegetable. I wrote about one use of it here in my post about shredding it up with some carrots. It has an extremely mild flavor, and it takes on the flavors of whatever you cook it with.

So it can be used in both savory and sweet applications.

Double score!

Once again at the market this weekend I found myself face to face with some gorgeous huge organic zucchini. And they were cheap!

There were some mushrooms that looked lovely, so into the basket they went.

And tomatoes. I love me my tomatoes. (Yes, I know they are a fruit, technically so is zucchini, but lets not split hairs shall we?)

I had cooked up a couple pounds of pork tenderloin the other day, so I knew that would be my protein source for dinner. Why cook one pound when you can cook extra and have leftovers? Prepare ahead and set yourself up for healthy gluten free eating success.)

Now as you may know, I don’t generally follow recipes. I’m really bad at it. I forget to measure all the time. That’s why I do “not-really-recipes.” A guideline, a template for which to alter as you see fit and with what you have on hand.

This is great, it creates a sense of freedom and creativity.

Sometimes it also creates spectacular cooking fails.

D'OH! Courtesy The Simpsons and apchabraja

I decided I wanted to make zucchini pancake type things.

Without consulting any resources (which I should have done) I proceeded to shred the zucchini with a box grater. I thought I was so smart when I remembered to salt it to draw out the water and squeeze it dry. I decided it would be fantastic to add in the chopped mushrooms to give the zucchini a bit of a meatier texture. I threw in some sea salt, garlic, hot sauce, one egg (beaten,) mixed it up and called it good.

Heated up my pan with a bit of coconut oil (from the Misto-love that thing) and proceeded to form little round piles of goodness.

And what to my wondering eyes did NOT appear?

Browning. They were steaming and cooking, but no lovely carmelization and browning. The pancakes weren’t sticking together.

The mushrooms. They also have a high water content. Too much moisture=no browning for Erin. Between the mushrooms and the zucchini, I was toast. (Figuratively)

Undeterred, I mixed it all up into a pile and cooked it. And boy was it tasty!

So the moral of the story is this:

Sometimes Not Really Recipes don’t work out the way you think, but taste good anyway.

Sometimes that may happen with real recipes-not to worry!

There are a bunch of great zucchini recipes out there. Here are a few of my favorites:

The right way to make zucchini fritters at Cook it Allergy Free

Melissa at Gluten Free For Good makes a zucchini tomato basil bake (gluten free zucchini au gratin)

Shirley at Gluten Free Easily’s awesome gluten free Chocolate Zucchini Bread/Cake

And lots of ideas from Eating Well

For more cool free information on eating well and healthfully gluten free, check out GF and Fit 101.

Bring on the zucchini! What’s your favorite way to prepare it?

Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies?

Erin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:28:53 +0000

What do you mean it’s too hard to make them taste good?

It’s really not hard if you keep an open mind and take advantage of what is available.

I am very lucky to have a nearby market where they feature locally grown and mostly organic produce. I stop by there on the weekend and pick up whatever looks and smells good to me.

Last weekend, there was a bunch of beautiful bright orange carrots and some zucchini (aka summer squash-as I understand it summer squash can be either yellow or green, and the green variety is zucchini.)

It’s in season now, and was very reasonably priced. I loaded up my basket with those and some other goodies. Had I a clue of how I was going to prepare them? Nope. But, I knew I could figure something out.

Eat Yer Veggies!

In my opinion, that’s a key to preparing your own gluten free and healthful food.

Keep your options open if you are at a market such as this. See what looks good and is reasonably priced. When you start with fresh, local ingredients, generally you will have a much more flavorful start to your meal than if you are starting with something that has been shipped and/or processed. You won’t need fancy sauces or preparation methods to make them taste good.

Diane at The Whole Gang dedicated 30 days of recipes to this idea. It was seen in Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” TV program. It makes cooking less scary, more accessible, and better for you to boot.

So here I am with my zucchini and carrots. My Dad is in town for Fathers’ Day, and Jeff is at work, so it’s dinner for me and Dad. It was Sunday, so it’s my cook ahead for the week day.

I had been marinating chicken breasts in lemon juice, fresh garlic, and lemon pepper seasoning (this is my favorite) for most of the day. That would be our protein source.

I remembered seeing an idea to make pasta-ish ribbons from zucchini using a vegetable peeler. I thought that sounded good, so I scrubbed my veggies with water and a veggie brush and pulled out the peeler. 2 peels into it I decided that would take far too long. I am definitely not that patient.

I do have a mack daddy food processor which I love. I pulled it out and gave myself a quick tutorial on how to use the shredding blade. It worked fantastically.

I had a beautiful big pile of shredded zucchini and carrot.

Now what to do?

My theory is you can never go wrong with some fresh garlic. Not in the amount that would protect you from vampires, but just a touch for some flavor.

I poured a tablespoon of coconut oil into my pan, and let it warm up over medium high heat. Then I used my garlic press on 1 medium clove of fresh garlic and added that to the pan, stirring frequently as not to burn, just get that toasty garlic aroma floating through the house.

This is when my Dad was drawn into the kitchen by the smell of garlic, and I chased him off.

The chicken was in the oven cooking away while I was doing all this, and some sweet potatoes were keeping the chicken company in the oven. Especially in Florida in the summertime, if you’re heating up the oven, you may as well make the most of it.

Add the shredded zucchini and carrots to the pan, and stir. They cook quickly, about 5 minutes or so is all you need. I added a couple shakes of sea salt and grinds of black pepper, and that was it.

Shredded veggie goodness

We had a lovely meal of chicken, the shredded veggies, and sweet potato. All naturally gluten free. All wonderfully full of flavor, and easy to prepare.

Dinner is almost served...

You can see in the photo the eggy breakfast casserole in the background, and the pot in which I was cooking rice. You can do this also, and get a bunch of good food prepared ahead of time.

What’s your favorite way to prepare vegetables? If you have tricks, please share!

What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies? is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy…

Erin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:52:16 +0000

It’s hot here in South Florida. Tropical hot. Steamy hot. Stupid hot. Days like this, you don’t want to heat up the oven and by extension, the kitchen.

And so we grill.

Grilling is an incredibly easy way to get a whole bunch of flavorful and healthful food prepared at the same time.

I’m a huge believer in preparing ahead for healthy gluten free eating success. If you are cooking, you might as well cook big. By cooking big, I mean so that you have lots of food leftover, and ready to package into your own takeaway meals.

Case in point—I made a reduced fat version of scalloped potatoes last weekend. It was awesome, very flavorful, and by using smaller amounts of flavorful cheese and a lower fat cheese all the cheesy goodness was maintained. I also used about 3 pounds of potatoes. That’s a lot of potatoes. However, we had plenty of food for a few days.

Grilling imparts that wonderful smoky flavor to food.

Probably I could eat a shoe if it was marinated and grilled. Or not, I don’t know for sure, and let’s not test that out. Anyway-everything tastes better on the grill. Think you don’t like a particular vegetable? Betcha you’d like it grilled. This weekend I experimented with jicama on the grill. In all fairness, I like jicama raw, but grilling it brought out even more sweetness and yumminess.

Generally, we grill a bunch of meat. If there’s room on the grill, I’ll add on some veggies. Summer squash, mushroom, onion, and bell pepper are my favorite veggie kabob. Stone fruits, like peaches, are incredible grilled. I’ve heard you csn grill romaine lettuce, although I admit I’ve not yet tried it.

The grilling process starts a few hours before the actual onset of grilling.

In the morning I’ll trim and clean whatever meat will be grilled. In this case, it was several pounds of chicken breast and a flank steak. I then use zip top bags to hold my marinade.

Marinades:

Happily, most marinades you make at home are naturally gluten free. However, if you are trying a store bought marinade, be sure to read your labels very carefully. Also check your spice mixes.

Steak: garlic, steak seasoning spice mix (I use Montreal Steak,) fresh squeezed lime juice, 1 TBSP of coconut oil
Chicken: garlic, lemon pepper seasoning, fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 TBSP coconut oil
Veggies: fresh chopped basil or thyme, sea salt, cracked pepper, minced garlic (or use a garlic press,) dash of coconut oil
Put the ingredients of the marinade in the bag, shake to combine. Add your meat/poultry/veggies. Fish generally doesn’t need to marinade as long, so you could get away with doing the fishies just before grilling.

Grilling guide:

Stick these babies back in the fridge and go have fun doing something active. Or cleaning your house and doing laundry, which seems to happen so often on weekends.
When grill time comes, pull your food out of the fridge and it’s ready to go. Let your meat come to room temperature before grilling, and also pat it dry. Drying the surface will help it sear.
Grill for appropriate time.
Enjoy cold gluten free adult beverage of choice while food is cooking. Or water or iced tea. But it’s the weekend, kick back and have an adult beverage if you’d like.

Love the grill marks. Awesomeness.

You’ve now created not just a great meal for the night, but great food for a couple days.

Package it up in some portable containers, make lunch for work, have it ready for grab and go.

You’ve now made it easier to make more healthful choices.

When you have easily accessible real food, you will be much less tempted to grab a convenient but less nutritious snack.

A resource for more grilling ideas is Eating Well. I read the magazine and visit the site often. Many of their dishes are naturally gluten free—score!

For more tips on eating gluten free and healthfully, check out Gluten Free and Fit 101. If you’re looking for a step by step system for living more healthfully gluten free, check out my new ebook!

I’d love to hear your tips and experiences with grilling! What’s your favorite thing to grill? Share it below in the comments!

Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy… is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

The Food Revolution Marches On-and Gluten Free Coffee Cake For All!

Erin — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:19:35 +0000

Jamie Oliver’s show may be over, but the movement continues.

The basic premise of the “Food Revolution” is to move toward (actually, to move back, in a way) to eating more whole, unprocessed, naturally healthful foods.

Diane Eblin at The Whole Gang has organized “30 days to a Food Revolution” in which each day, a different individual posts a recipe and a helpful tip or thought. Despite the fact that thinking about this forced me to have a Beatles song stuck in my head all day, I was really excited about it.

I eat real food, too! (And the occasional treat-I can't lie)

All of the posts have been really good, have given me lots of ideas and inspiration. When I saw Kelly Brozyna’s (the Spunky Coconut) post for Gluten Free Coffee Cake that used beans in the recipe, I knew that I had to try this one out. I have made both chocolate chip cookies and brownies using beans-and figured “coffee cake-yeah!”

Seriously. Pure coffee cake awesomeness. Even Jeff, the glutenator, gave this a big thumbs up. He did say it would be even better with cream cheese icing, but that defeats the purpose of being more healthful than the average coffee cake. My palate is very used to lower sugar and gluten free items, so to me it was heavenly-light, moist, and just yummified. It’s not a dense heavy coffee cake-it’s beautifully light and fluffy.

I did make a few changes based on what I had on hand. Below is the recipe with my notes, and please check out Kelly’s original recipe as well.

Coffee Cake:

Add to food processor:
2 cups cooked white beans (I used canned beans, rinsed well. It was 2 almost 2 full cans)
6 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla creme liquid stevia
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I like cinnamon and used a bit more. I didn’t measure. Can’t help it.)

Puree well. (Puree the life out of it-a nice creamy consistency is what you’re after)

Add:
1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder

Puree well.

Pour batter into large rectangular greased pan.

Puree Crumble Topping:
3 cups of walnuts (Didn’t have ‘em-used some almonds and pecans, only about 1 cup)
2 tbsp butter, ghee, or coconut oil (was out of coconut oil at this point so I used butter)
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar (didn’t have this-used brown sugar)
1 tbsp cinnamon (yeah-again-I like cinnamon and used a bit more. I didn’t measure. Can’t help it.)

Spread the crumble over the top of the batter.
Using a fork or knife, really swirl the topping into the batter.
Then pat the topping down.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Great hot or cold from the refrigerator.

Store in the refrigerator after the first day.

I gave some to our neighbors and friends so it didn’t make it beyond the first day. They loved it-in fact, the text message I got was “delicious!”

I would have no hesitation serving this to gluteneaters. Especially as it seems to refrigerate well, this would be a great option to make ahead for a brunch.

Check out the 30 days. I’ll be giving my $.02 over there on 5/25/10.

Next week is the wrap up of Celiac Awareness month, and in honor of that I will be posting a tip a day. Yes, I’m going to post 5 days next week. Don’t fall off your chair.

To hold you over until then, make sure you check out the new and improved Gluten Free and Fit 101. Also, pick up your free nutrition guide.

Have you guys tried baking with beans? What do you think? Leave your experiences in the comments!

The Food Revolution Marches On-and Gluten Free Coffee Cake For All! is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Gluten Free Kind of Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies-really!

Erin — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:12:11 +0000

I have mentioned before I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

OK-I have a pretty good sized sweet tooth. I have learned to keep it in check with fairly healthful things like fruit, or protein powder concoctions. (Except for my weekly ice cream splurge-that’s for reals, kids.)

So when I came across this recipe, I was very impressed. Skeptical? Maybe a little. But I’ve used a “secret ingredient” in brownies before, and they were the awesomesauce.

My friend Amy over at Lean Bodies Consulting has a creative mind when it comes to eating healthfully, “on plan,” and tasting good. She shared this recipe for chocolate chip cookies that she saw demonstrated by Rocco DiSpirito. (He has a new book out, Now Eat This!: 150 of America’s Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories, which I’ve ordered but hasn’t arrived yet-I’ll let you know how it is.)

Mmmm...cookies....

I’ve kept you in suspense long enough. The secret ingredient is….white beans!

These cookies were really good. I employed my “put some in the freezer” portion control method. Even Jeff, my gluten eating pizza loving fiance, said these were good. (Actually, I think his actual words were “not bad”-but coming from him regarding anything remotely healthy that’s good.)

Here’s the recipe-I made it as listed this go round for testing sake, but next time I would try with stevia instead of Splenda-just personal preference.

Gluten Free White Bean Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 cup canned white cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons light agave syrup (ran out of agave-used 1 TBSP agave and 1 TBSP nonfat Greek vanilla yogurt-improvise!)
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups granulated Splenda
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate-covered cacao nibs
-1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup because I was out of cacao nibs)

Cooking Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine vanilla, cocoa, cannellini beans, and the agave syrup, and blend the mixture until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the side of the bowl halfway through blending.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. (This took forever-I used a hand mixer) Gradually beat in the Splenda. Continue to beat the whites until they are creamy and nearly stiff. (This takes freakin’ forever and I was impatient) Add one-third of the egg-white mixture to the cocoa-bean mixture in the food processor. Blend to combine, about 30 seconds. In 2 batches, fold the lightened cocoa mixture into the egg whites until they are almost fully combined. Add cacao nibs to the batter. Fold batter until cacao beans are evenly dispersed and cocoa mixture is completely incorporated. (Takes a little while to fold it all in) The batter may seem a bit loose, but it worked out just fine.

Drop mounded spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared sheets. Spread butter out to form cookies about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the cookies. (Forgot this part-I had mixed them in)

Bake for 16 minutes, rotating the pans one turn halfway through baking. Move to cooling rack and serve.

Makes about 20 cookies. (If you make them small which I did not)

Nutritional Facts per cookie:

Calories: 45 Fat: 1.4g Carbs: 9g Protein: 2g

That’s some pretty impressive stats for a “treat.” Granted, that would be for a small cookie. But this would be a way to have a little something sweet without completely going off the healthy wagon and derailing your fitness train. (Enough figures of speech?)

For more free gluten free healthier eating information, check out my free guide.

Have you tried a bean based recipe? What did you think? Share your experiences-comment away!

Gluten Free Kind of Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies-really! is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition

Erin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:23:25 +0000

You may say to yourself-”Self-I thought London Broil was a method of cooking, not a cut of meat.”

I’m right there with ya.

Being a mostly health conscious person concerned about getting the most nutrition for my caloric buck, I like to learn about food. And I like to eat. And I like to eat food that is both good for me, and tastes good. The two are not mutually exclusive, despite what you may have heard. Promise.

Photo credit: julosstock

According to recipetips.com, “Although the top round steak is flavorful and a bit more tender than other round cuts, it should still be marinated first if it is to be grilled or broiled. It is sometimes referred to as a London Broil, which is also a name given to a flank steak.”

Top round is a lean cut of beef, and is also fairly inexpensive. I use it a lot. I actually consider top round to be separate from flank steak, despite what recipetips and others call it. Flank in these here parts is a little more expensive, and to me, a little more flavorful and tender. I’ll tell you about my favorite way to cook flank steak in another post.

For now-the london broil AKA top round. As per Wikipedia (is there any other source of information-really?) “London broil is a North American beef-based food dish usually made by broiling or grilling marinated flank or round steak and then cutting it against the grain into thin strips…Although many American butchers will label a cut of meat “London broil”, the term does not refer to a specific cut.”

And yet-there are cuts of meat at the butcher labeled London Broil, no?

Anyhow-semantics. Just know that although London Broil technically is a pan-frying and strip-cutting preparation method, you sometimes see it as meat-which is round or flank steak.

Who cares, how do you eat it, right?

The other day I saw what looked like an awesome recipe at EatingWell.com. London Broil with Cherry Balsamic Sauce. All things I like. I’m in.

From EatingWell.com :
Ingredients

* 1/3 cup dry red wine
* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* 2 tablespoons cherry preserves (I had a jar of strawberry open-so that’s what I used)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Freshly ground pepper, to taste
* 1 1/2 pounds London broil, trimmed (see Ingredient note)
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
* 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 teaspoons butter

Preparation

1. Whisk wine, vinegar, cherry preserves, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place meat in a shallow glass dish. Pour the marinade over the meat and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator, turning several times, for at least 20 minutes or up to 8 hours. (Yeah-I let it marinade for 2 days-it’s been my experience longer is better for this cut of beef. YMMV)
2. Remove the meat from the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan; add shallot and set aside. Brush a ridged grill pan (see Tip) or heavy skillet with oil; heat over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook for 10 to 12 minutes per side for medium-rare, depending on thickness, or until it reaches desired doneness. (It may appear that the meat is burning but don’t worry, it will form a pleasant crust.) (I put it under the broiler-12 minutes per side) Transfer the meat to a cutting board; let rest for 5 minutes.
3. While the meat is cooking, bring the marinade to a boil; cook over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat; add butter and whisk until melted.
4. Slice the meat thinly against the grain. Add any juices on the cutting board to the sauce. Serve the meat with the sauce.

Nutrition

Per serving: 216 calories; 8 g fat (3 g sat, 3 g mono); 41 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 25 g protein; 0 g fiber; 260 mg sodium; 429 mg potassium.

Yeah buddy! This is the picture from Eating Well-I was so hungry I forgot to take one of mine.

I’ve had leftovers of this beef on top of salads, and it’s really flavorful and tasty. The balsamic marinade ties it in well with a balsamic dressing-whisk together some dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar, and you have a simple, low fat, no-unpronoucable ingredient salad dressing.

For information on how this food (among many others!) can fit into a healthy and gluten free eating plan, click here.

What’s your favorite way to prepare round steak? Share in the comments below!

Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Not Really a Recipe-Gluten Free High Protein “Pancake”

Erin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:08:17 +0000

Everyone has some things that they do so regularly, and with so little thought, that they seem like second nature.

For most of us, driving is one of those things. When we first started driving, it was really challenging, and seemed so overwhelming. After a while, it gets easier, you can turn on the radio. Then you can hold a conversation with a passenger. Eventually, you can apply eye makeup, eat, and talk on the phone all while driving. (Kidding! Totally kdding, and I do not recommend nor condone that. Although I have seen it done. I live in South Florida, remember.)

Eating healthfully and gluten free has become that way for me. I had a bit of an edge, with my fitness background I had already been eating mostly whole unprocessed food, and cutting out gluten was just an additional step. So sometimes I forget that things that seem “normal” to me are a bit foreign to others.

Case in point. My friend Kim, over at Gluten Free is Life. Kim has an awesome handle on nutrition. Last week we were on Twitter (I’ve been so impressed with the people I’ve met and information I’ve gotten on Twitter-you can find me over there @ErinElberson) and she was asking about gluten free pancakes. Well, even before I was diagnosed celiac I’ve been making “pancakes” with oats and egg whites. The only change is now I use certified gluten free oats. It makes a high fiber, high protein breakfast. And it can be very portable.

Kim took the idea and ran with it. She even posted a photo of her beautiful pancake, which I am going to steal and post here. She is a much better food photographer than I am.

See how good she is!

So here’s the “recipe” and variations:

-1:1 ratio of egg whites and oats. 1 serving is approximately .5 cups of egg whites (like in the cartons at the grocery, or I go thru a bunch of them so I use Egg Whites International) affiliate link-if you decide to order thru that link I’ll receive a small percent.
If you use eggs it will be about 4-5 egg whites or 3 ish whole eggs.

-Combine together-if you like a chunky texture you can just whisk ‘em, or you can blend them up if you like a smoother consistency. Mine vary-depends on hunger and laziness quotient.

-I add a little cinnamon, stevia, and vanilla. Sometimes some cacoa/cocoa powder. Many times I’ll also add a tablespoon or two of ground flaxseed for a little texture and healthy fats. Sliced almonds would be yum. Kim took it up a notch and spread almond butter on hers. Mmmm….almond butter…..

-You can add some fresh or frozen fruit. Kim topped hers with fresh berries. I always have frozen blueberries on hand, so those often get tossed in. Right now strawberry season has begun here. This makes me very, very happy, and means there will be a lot of strawberries eaten.

I like mine sweet, but you can also make them savory. Someone on Twitter was mentioning smoked salmon the other day-chop some up, throw it in with some spices, spread a little farmers or cream cheese on top-how’s that for a savory pancake? Anna also had the idea of making it into a wrap of sorts-that’d work!

The macronutrient and calorie breakdown for the basic 1 serving recipe is as follows:

-Approximately 200 calories:24 grams of carbohydrate of which 3 are fiber, 18 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat.

These are also highly portable. Cook em up, cut em up and toss em in a container. Heck, you could even put it in a zip top bag if you had to. These can be eaten warm or cold, and taste good either way. They’re not stinky on planes. It’s a win-win.

Enjoy! Check out Kim’s beauteous interpretation here.

If you haven’t, check out the Gluten Free and Fit basics for a good starting point here. And, for more information on gluten free nutrition, click here.

Let me know what variations you like in the comments!

Not Really a Recipe-Gluten Free High Protein “Pancake” is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies

Erin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:51:21 +0000

I’ve mentioned before my love for chocolate. I really, really like chocolate. To the point where I don’t think I’ve ever even had a flavor of ice cream that wasn’t some kind of a riff on chocolate. Really.

When I plan on having a splurge, it always involves chocolate. I follow the 90/10 rule for the most part-if I eat well 90% of the time, the other 10% I can have whatever I want and it won’t have negative repercussions on my health or physique.

Many people will do just fine taking this to 80/20.

On that splurge, I don’t worry about calories. Many times a small amount of “real” ice cream is much more satisfying than a larger amount of “fake” ice cream. And to me, a bit of really dark chocolate is a square of heaven.

But sometimes you want something sweet, but maybe you don’t want to have a full-on splurge. You may want to keep it somewhat “healthy” and yet still quench the sweet tooth.

For that, I have some answers.

For the Superbowl this past weekend I made two items that fit that bill to perfection.

Mmm...chocolate....

I was inspired by Shirley at Gluten Free Easily and her recipe for Flourless Oatmeal Cookies. I actually stayed very close to the original recipe. The only substitutions I made was that I subbed out a bit of nonfat Greek yogurt for half of the butter, and used egg beaters. This recipe does not use much sugar, but you could also use stevia-I did not this go round.

If you do, let me know how it goes!

Flourless Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Thanks Shirley!)

-3 TBSP unsalted butter
-scant 1/4 c of nonfat plain Greek yogurt
-1.5 cup gluten free oats
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
-1/8 tsp sea salt
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 c egg beaters
-2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

-Preheat oven to 350 F
-Melt the butter. Let it sit while you combine and whisk together the oats, sugars, and salt.
-Cream the butter and yogurt with an electric hand mixer. Add the vanilla and egg beaters.
-Add the wet to dry and combine with a wooden spoon. Add in the chocolate chips and combine.
-Chill in the fridge (Supposed to be 30 minutes, I was impatient and gave it about 15)
-On a baking sheet lined with parchment, place small rolled balls of dough and flatten slightly.

Fun tip-a baker friend of mine told me a long time ago she uses a tablespoon measure that looks like an ice cream scoop to measure out her drop cookies so they are uniform. It works great!

-Bake for 12-17 minutes. Mine took 17, which was odd, but I’m OK with it.

These were awesome. I admit I did taste the batter, but for the most part they made it into the oven and to the party.
They were a huge hit-they were crunchy and wonderful. I was the only gluten free person in attendance, and everyone loved them. Given that they are treats, they are relatively healthful as well.

The second treat I made was Black Bean brownies. Various versions of this recipe have been floating around for a while now, but I saw this one at Lean Bodies Fitness, which is a community I am a part of. If you’ve never tried these, I highly recommend. I didn’t tell anyone the “secret ingredient” until after they tried, and raved about, the brownies. They couldn’t believe it. These make a very dense, fudgy brownie. Not a cake-like brownie. The next time I make these, I am going to substitute nonfat Greek yogurt for the bananas. Banana flavor is good, but I’d like to see what they are like without it. Made with this current recipe they are actually vegan.

Mmmm...more chocolate...

Black Bean Brownies

-Preheat oven to 350 F
-Rinse VERY well one 15 oz can of black beans.

Combine in food processor-
-Rinsed black beans
-2 bananas
-1/3 cup agave nectar (or any sweetener of your choice)
-1/4 cup cocoa powder
-1 tsp vanilla

Process very well until smooth. I added 1/4 tsp of spoonable stevia also.

-Add 1/4 cup gluten free oats and process again

Put mixture into a nonstick-sprayed 8×8 pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

These are great ways to feed the sweet tooth without expanding your waistline. However, they do have calories, and just like anything, moderation is key. If you eat the whole batch in one sitting it defeats the purpose a bit.

For more sensible information on setting up a healthy gluten free way of eating, click here.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

The Superbowl-how to “tackle” it with a Gluten Free Fit perspective

Erin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:11:08 +0000

One day is not going to make you fat.

Not Christmas, not Thanksgiving, New Year, not even Superbowl.

What matters is the other 359 days a year that aren’t holidays, as I touched on in my “Tips for a Healthy Gluten Free Holiday Season” post.

However, these days can be a bit of a calorie bomb. If you are eating well 80-90% of the time, these days are simply a blip on the radar screen of wellness. But-maybe you’re trying to get in the swing of eating more healthfully, or simply want to be aware of what your options can be.

This, dear reader-is for you.

We generally have people over for get-togethers fairly regularly. Our house has an open floor plan, and is set up wonderfully for parties. This time, the “let’s have a few people over for the Superbowl” had turned into a 30 person party.

And so it goes.

I enjoy cooking, and I especially like being in control of the food so I know exactly what is in everything. From a gluten standpoint of course, but also so that I can make choices that reflect quality and health of ingredients whenever possible.

Here’s a sampling of our Superbowl menu:

-Cheese and crackers

I have chosen Mary’s Gone Crackers, and Nut Thins. These will be on a seperate table from the regular Wheat Thins. For my cheese, I have chosen Cabot’s 50% reduced fat cheddar (the only reduced fat cheese that I have found that tastes good and has a good texture,) regular fat extra sharp cheddar, and goat cheese. Goat cheese will be 1 log of regular, and the 2nd I will make a “spread” by adding fresh snipped herbs. Goat and feta cheeses are naturally a bit lower in fat than cheddar, and have strong flavors so you can use less. I will also have sliced cucumbers a’plenty. This is so after I have a couple crackers, I can use the sliced cucumbers instead of crackers to save some calories if I wish. (I also use the cucumber trick for salsa instead of tortilla chips.)

-Salsa and chips

I make my own salsa, for which I’ll provide as close as I can get to a recipe below. (I don’t actually measure, so it’s all
ballpark.) For chips I use Baked Scoops! and baked blue corn tortilla chips. I love, love, salsa-so after a few chips I’ll
switch to cucumber slices.

-Shrimp cocktail

Shrimp is a naturally lean protein, and quite yummy. Instead of commercially prepared cocktail sauce, I use Heinz Reduced Sugar Ketchup and horseradish to make my own cocktail sauce. I have no recipe-just combine the two, and a bit of lemon juice until you find a flavor and consistency you like. This will save some of the sugar that is common in cocktail sauce.

-Fruit plate

This will be near the cheese. Grapes, apple slices, and strawberries. YUM! Florida strawberries are just coming into
season…

-Tuna Dip

This is for my fiance. There is absolutely not much that is redeeming about this dip, and I just don’t eat it. I would if
I used low fat mayo-but to stay true to the original recipe from a local restaurant it’s full fat mayo all the way. A lot
of full fat mayo. There are so many other great choices, I won’t even miss not eating this stuff.

-Veggie crudite and dip

Love me my veggies, and it gives something very healthful to munch on. This will be red bell pepper, grape tomato,
broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots. I will make a quick and easy dip with nonfat Greek yogurt, lemon juice, garlic powder, and some fresh herbs. You can also add a gluten free powdered Italian or ranch salad dressing packet to the greek yogurt to be even faster.

-For the “real food” we are grilling chicken breast and burgers, for which we’ll use 93% lean ground beef. Nothing wrong with that. The gluten-eaters can have their buns, which I will be keeping an eye on to make sure they don’t contaminate anything, and they never go on the grill. Friends are bringing some sides.

For dessert I will be making Shirley’s Flourless Oatmeal Cookies from Gluten Free Easily. I had considered using peanut butter chips, but will use mini chocolate chips. I will also be making the stealth “black bean brownies” which deserve their own post next week. Maybe some chocolate fondue if there are any strawberries left at this point.

Not Really a Recipe: Salsa Fresca
-Whole bunch of Roma tomatoes, or whatever tomato looks good. You’ll cut these in 1/4′s, and seed them. (Squeeze them over the garbage so the seeds come out-keeps your salsa from getting too watery.)
-Bunch of fresh cilantro, stems removed
-3-4 fresh garlic cloves
-1/2 onion
-6 limes
-sea salt
-1 small jalapeno pepper (optional)

-Tomatoes, onion, garlic, and pepper all go into the food processor. I remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeno. You choose how spicy you want to go. Pulse until combined. Add cilantro, and fresh squeeze the lime juice into the processor. Pulse. Add a few shakes of sea salt, taste, and pulse. Repeat until desired consistency! Enjoy!

Make smart choices, and truly enjoy your food. Eat what you want to eat-don’t just eat something because it’s there. What sometimes gets lost is the idea that get togethers and gatherings are about the company we keep, and being present with your friends and family. Oh-and yeah-there’s a game on, right?

For more sensible information about setting up a gluten free diet, click here.

To check out the Gluten Free Blog carnival in which I participated, click here. Great stuff to see.

What are you going to have/did you have for Superbowl? Come back after the game and give your favorite commercials!

The Superbowl-how to “tackle” it with a Gluten Free Fit perspective is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition

Erin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:28:42 +0000

We eat a lot of poultry. I’ve mentioned before my fear of sprouting feathers and clucking.

There was recently a Twitter discussion about eating chicken-and Sandra of the Gluten Free Optimist (aka Maryland Celiac) mentioned her need for more ideas for baked chicken. And a dislike of Italian Dressing, BBQ, sour cream, and mushrooms. (Did I get them all? I hope so!)

So consider this the baked-chicken-with-none-of-those-ingredients “not really a recipe.”

When it comes to baking (or roasting) chicken, there are 3 basic methods I use. The first is marinades, the second rubs, and the third just seasoning prior to tossing them in the oven. I generally use boneless skinless chicken breast, as I enjoy the lean protein and ease. I am also very fortunate to have a local market where I can get boneless skinless chicken breasts in a family pack size for $1.49/lb. You could of course always use skinless boneless chicken thighs as well, and I have a suggestion for bone-in and skin on chicken breast at the end of this post.

Marinades:

Marinades are time intensive, but not labor intensive. It does require a bit of pre-planning to allow to meat enough time to sit in the marinade, get tenderized and absorb all that flavor. Allow at least an hour to marinade, several hours would be better. I have even (accidentally) allowed chicken to marinade for almost 24 hours, and it was OK. I would not recommend that though, as the chicken can get very mushy and kind of gross as the acids in the marinade break it down more than you want it to. I tend to use zip-top plastic bags to make the marinade, then add the chicken and squish it all around so it is evenly distributed. Toss it back in the fridge and let it do it’s thing!

Ideas for marinades:

(For all of these, you can add about 1/4 cup of olive or canola oil to the below combinations)

-Lemon or lime juice, fresh peeled and cracked garlic cloves, cracked black pepper, sea salt

-Red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic powder, sea salt

-Apple cider vinegar, fresh chopped garlic, sea salt

You get the basic idea. You want something acidic (citrus juice, vinegar), some herbs/spices, and then a bit of oil. The only vinegar I don’t use with chicken is regular balsamic-because it makes the chicken an unappealing brown color. (although it tastes great.) I have used white balsamic which is very tasty. You can see that you can mix and match these to fit whatever you have on hand. If you have fresh herbs you can use those also. My favorite is lemon juice, garlic, salt/pepper, and chopped fresh rosemary and thyme. Very often I don’t have rosemary and thyme fresh, so I’ll use dried.

Rubs:

Rubs are exactly as it sounds-a spice mixture that you rub onto the chicken and let it infuse flavor. You can take any of
the ingredients you would use in a marinade (just use a tiny bit of the acid and the oil-just enough to make a paste) and chop/process the solids very small, and use that as a rub. If you can, allow these to sit about 10-15 minutes prior to cooking. Not as time intensive as a marinade.

Other ideas for rubs:

-Cumin, cayenne, and 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (these are found canned, usually in the ethnic food section-a great smoky flavor)

-Cinnamon and cayenne. Sounds bizarre, I know-but it’s really, really good. You can also add a tiny bit of brown sugar.

-Onion and garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper

-Tarragon, garlic, lemon zest

Easy seasonings:

This is the simplest-just pull out the jar/can, sprinkle, flip, sprinkle, and put into the oven. Here are a few I like:
(Remember-always check labels for hidden gluten in case a manufacturer changes their formula.)

-Crazy Jane’s Mixed Up Salt

-Lemon pepper

-Lime pepper

-Creole seasoning

-Greek seasoning

-Old Bay

-Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce-not quite a seasoning, but just as easy. Cover the chicken with sauce before cooking-viola! Healthier not-wings

If you are using skin-on versions, just make a slit in the skin, and put the rub mixture/seasonings inside the skin as well as on the outside. Really rub it in well, and make sure to cover as much surface area as you can. It gives a really nice flavor.

Hopefully this helped give you a few ideas for chicken. For more (free!) information on gluten free and healthy nutrition planning click here, or enter your contact info below this post.

Share your favorite way to prepare the bird of honor in the comments below! You can never have too many ways to cook chicken….

Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition is a post from: Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin Thanks for subscribing! Be sure to check out Gluten Free and Fit 101 for lots of great info to get you started.

Gluten Free Fitness Nutrition and Wellness with a celiac spin » recipes

Zucchini-The Naturally Gluten Free Veggie of the Day and Not Really Recipe Fail

Related Posts:

What do you Mean You Don’t Like Veggies?

What do you mean it’s too hard to make them taste good?

Related Posts:

Summertime, and the Gluten Free Grillin’ is Easy…

Grilling is an incredibly easy way to get a whole bunch of flavorful and healthful food prepared at the same time.

Grilling imparts that wonderful smoky flavor to food.

The grilling process starts a few hours before the actual onset of grilling.

Marinades:

Grilling guide:

You’ve now created not just a great meal for the night, but great food for a couple days.

You’ve now made it easier to make more healthful choices.

Related Posts:

The Food Revolution Marches On-and Gluten Free Coffee Cake For All!

Related Posts:

Gluten Free Kind of Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies-really!

Related Posts:

Not Really a Recipe-London Broil AKA Top Round-the Gluten Free Fit Edition

Related Posts:

Not Really a Recipe-Gluten Free High Protein “Pancake”

Related Posts:

Gluten Free “Healthy” Treats-Kind of Recipes:Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies

Related Posts:

The Superbowl-how to “tackle” it with a Gluten Free Fit perspective

Related Posts:

Not Really a Recipe-Baked Chicken Edition

Related Posts: