Bad Girl Blueberry Muffins

About a week after my biopsy confirmed my neurologist's suspicion that I needed to be on a gluten-free diet, I remember stopping into my gastroenterologist's office for a quick check up. I was still having stomach pains, and was frustrated that going gluten-free hadn't magically evaporated all my problems. (Of course, the stomach takes a little time to heal, but I'm a bit off an impatient girl.) Worse still, I worried that giving up gluten was going to snowball until all the foods I loved were thoroughly off limits.

"I don't know if this celiac thing is the only thing going on," I sighed, sitting woefully on the exam table, "I mean my stomach still hurts a lot. Do you think I'll have to give up coffee, soon, too?"

He smiled and shook his head, "Dana. You don't drink alcohol. You don't do drugs. You're a vegetarian. You don't eat wheat. You're allowed to have one vice."

Hear that tummy? Starbucks, ho!

I'll admit it, I follow the straight and narrow like it's my job. Everyone laughs when I tell that story, Your one vice would be coffee. In my defense though, my supreme weakness, pumpkin spice lattes, are pretty gosh darn, dog-gone sinful.

So if coffee is the one and only way I pollute my system, it would go to follow that I handle stress in a similarly compulsive yet decidedly nondestructive way: baking. Ever see that Boy Meets World episode where Cory's crazy grandmother (as played by Rue McClanahan) drives her winnebago into town, promises to take Cory to get a baseball card signed, and then fails to show up because she goes to a poker tournament? Instead of telling him Grandma isn't coming, Cory's mom spends the whole day baking with him and, sure, Cory isn't fooled by the time they pulled the 8,000th muffin tray from the oven, but it did pass some of that stress time, right? (Plus Cory and his dad share a bonding moment over crazy Grandma's flaky yet virtuous heart. Then Rue shows up and apologizes and Cory learns to accept his grandma for who she is. And they have 8,000 muffins. Win, win, win.)

Anyway, Saturday night I was decidedly stressed out. I was pacing around the house trying to out run my stress, stressed. I was rearranging my room to take my mind off my stress, stressed. I was I need to bake but I have no eggs so I guess I'm going to the 24 hour Giant Eagle to buy ingredients at 11pm, stressed.

But you know what, when I stress bake everyone wins: recipe for you, muffins for me.

Coffee and muffins, man I'm trouble. Mother's of the world, lock up your sons!

Bad Girl Blueberry Muffins

adapted from Gourmet Magazine's Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) Earth Balance Spread (or butter), melted and cooled

2/3rd cup skim milk

1 egg

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups GF flour mix

3/4 teaspoon xanthum gum

scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon Expandex (fully optionally)

1 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, divided

1 - 1 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (more or less as desired)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tin with liners.

Whisk together melted (cooled) butter), milk, sugar, and egg in a medium bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, xanthum gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, Expandex, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon until well combined. Add the dry mixture into the wet, about a third at a time, stirring in between each addition. When mixed, stir in most of the walnuts (reserving a Tablespoon or two) and gently fold in blueberries. Swirl in extra 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon if you're so inclined (I was!).

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups and stud those bad girl muffins with the remaining chopped walnuts. (Don't they look totally hardcore?)

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Red, White, & Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

I know this is a fair bit late as far as Fourth of July recipes go, but you'll forgive me, right? After all, I come baring gifts...fruit, creamy, cookie crumbly gifts. Cheesecake bars. Who doesn't like a girl with cheesecake bars?

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to trying new things in the kitchen. I can't help

it, I see every mini party or afternoon guest a great opportunity to try out a new recipe. Every invitation to dinner is like an invitation to my own personal Food Network Challenge. Some in my position would dust off a tried and true recipe, spending time choosing favorite gluten-free cake that has established itself as a pastry the gluten-eaters in my life have already loved rather than working on something new. But no. I like to make things difficult.

So completely from scratch patriotically themed cheesecake bars? No sweat. With ingredients not bought until T-minus 5 hours to party time? Not a problem. I might like to make things difficult, but I don't like to make difficult things, and lucky for me, these some assembly required bars were actually pretty easy to put together.

Cheesecake has always seemed daunting, but this one was assembled all in one bowl. One bowl?! You mean I get cheesecake and a mini scale clean up? Sold.

The best part about these cheesecake bars is that they didn't taste gluten-free. Not one little "Waiter, is there a navy bean in my cheesecake?" little bit. I mean, just look at that crumbly crust! When my mom's gluten-eating friend asked me for the recipe at her husband's insistence, well I knew I had unbridled cheesecake type success on my hands.

Summer tis the season for outdoor get togethers. Hot weather just begs for eating outdoors, grilling, and tempting fruity desserts. People may think dessert means chocolate, it might be what they say that want, but set out a plate of fruity, creamy, lemony bars and they'll disappear every time, trust me.

Red, White, and Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

inspired by RecipeGirl's Red, White and Blueberry Cheesecake Bars and adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake (who adapted the cheesecake from Three Cities of Spain Coffeehouse)

1 box Cherrybrook Kitchen GF Vanilla Graham Mini Cookies

4 tablespoons of Earth Balance (or butter) melted

2 Tablespoons of sugar

1/8 teaspoons of salt

12 oz neufchatel or lowfat cream cheese

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2/3rd cup sugar

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

zest of one lemon

1 cup fresh blueberries (more or less as desired)

1/2 cup chopped strawberries (more or less as desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 inch pan (or a 5x9 inch pan) with aluminum foil, lightly greased with cooking spray.

In a blender, blend the cookies in the blender a quarter of a package at a time, until the cookies are ground into a fine crumb. Pour in to the bowl with melted butter and mix in salt and the 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Press the mixture firmly over the bottom of the pan to make an even layer of cookie crumb and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, beat neufchatel until fluffy with an electric mixture, adding the eggs one at a time. Beat in sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest until fully combined.

Spread the cheesecake mixture over the top of the crust. Scatter berries evenly and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until you touch the center of the cheesecake and find it just set.

Let cool for 10 minutes before placing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. When completely cooled, cut bars and lift them from the aluminium foil covered pan and onto a serving plate. (Or transfer bars before cutting, if easier.) Share and enjoy! :)

Let Them Eat Gluten-Free Cake!

Who doesn't like a good celebration?

Fancy clothes (or plain Jane blue jeans if it's more your style), balloons, friends and family, and yummy, yummy food. That's right, I said it, yummy, yummy food. Just cause you're celiac doesn't mean you can't enjoy your special day with gluten-free style. And just cause it's gluten-free, your cake doesn't have to be dry, dense, and oddly potato flavored.

As previously mentioned, hot tipper Tonia found herself a great gluten-free wedding cheesecake courtesy of helpful baker Lydia at Celene's Cuisine. Since then, I've been lucky enough to be contacted by not one, but two equally helpful readers anxious to connect their gluten-free brethren with scrumptious special event cakes.

If you're in the Northeast Ohio area and your looking for a traditional wedding cake, then have I got a lead for you. Thanks to hot tipper Vicki who shared her lovely wedding photos with me, I learned that White Flower at La Place in Beachwood makes gluten-free wedding cakes! As I so often write this blog from the Caribou Coffee that stares into White Flower Bakery, you can well imagine how I kicked myself for not following my instincts to walk the 50 feet from the coffee house to the bakery and inquire about the possibility of gluten-free baked goods!

No matter, Vicki thankfully did the oh so hard work of test driving White Flower for me. Of her cake, Vicki says:

The cake changed every other tier from lemon with raspberry and cocoa with ganache. I brought Marianne from white flower in a picture I saved of a cake because I thought the flowers were gorgeous. She recreated the cake into a style I loved! My favorite thing about my entire wedding was my cake!! A tad pricey, but so worth it!!!

If that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. And with such a beautiful storefront, it's not surprising that White Flower would create a towering cake that is a true work of art. On top of being so

beautiful, it sounds absolutely delicious. What more could a girl ask for at her wedding? (Other than a groom, but a pretty cake like that, a husband become just a wee bit optional, no? Just me?)

Just a little west of Northeast Ohio? Fear not readers, because thanks to hot tipper and baker extraordinaire Kristen you literally can have your cake and eat it to. Kristen is the owner and baker of The Gluten-Free Bread Factory in Toledo, Ohio - the name alone makes me want to trek out of Toledo for a visit. Lucky for me, and you, Kristen does a lot of her business online. You can order her bread mixes from the comfort of your couch, and after you get them, you can eat them from the comfort of your couch, too!

Lucky enough to live in the Gluten-Free Bread Factory's area and have a birthday coming up? Kristen makes cakes for gluten-free boys and girls of all ages. Just contact her at kristen [at] theglutenfreebreadfactory [dot] com for more information.

POM Wonderful Pomegranate Pancakes

Writing a blog about food does strange things to my imagination. The curled gray matter of my brain has long been past fire code, so stuffed to the brim with characters and stories, it's a wonder I manage to take in any new information without some of my thoughts leaping from my ears, just to free up the space. And yet, writing this site makes me think about, talk about, and dream about food. Sure I might look busy, type type typing away at my desk or relaxing on the couch watching the day's 3rd episode of Law & Order, but no, if you could see the cogs of my mind a-spinning, you'd know really I'm wondering... If lemon zest tastes great in pasta, what about orange zest? What kind of fruit cobbler would pair up best with the chocolate peppermint I'm growing outside? Can I make a homemade veggie burger with the ingredients in my cabinet?

But now the, well, wonderful people at POM Wonderful have given me a new flavor problem for me mull over while you think I'm listening to you speak. (Well, that is, if your my parents or the secretary in my doctor's office...Just kidding parents! I always listen when you're talking! That secretary though... ) Since receiving a case of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice last week, my mind's been busily working out a plan for each and every bottle - that is, aside from the ones I have already straight up consumed a beverage. (I can't seem to drink it on it's own - it's too sweet and strong for my water drinking palate - but mix a few tablespoons it to a great big, ice cold glass of H2O and you'll have good, good stuff. So good, you almost won't want to cook with it. Almost.)

To me, the obvious thing to do with POM Wonder is make some kind of cake. Lemon-Pomegranate cake. Pomegranate poppy seed pound cake. Chocolate pomegranate cupcakes. Oh my. Sure it sounds decedent, really decedent, maybe too decedent, but if the 3 pages of information on the cancer fighting, heart healthy antioxidant proprieties of their juice POM Wonderful sent me along with their product mean anything, its that consuming this juice is good in whatever chocolatey package you hide it in. (So, I tell myself, and you, anyway...)

Still, at the time I received the POM juice, my fridge continued to harbor that 1234 Cake. I'm not going to debate the merits or demerits of having one to many cakes, but regardless, a stale cake is no ones friend. So with fear of wasting perfectly good cake, I was forced to be a little more creative than a typical sweet. Lucky for me, I had my new favorite baking & cooking inspiration to turn to....

Joy the Baker. I absolutely love her. I love everything about her site. It's so darling, she's so positive, her food is so delicious. And Joy loves pancakes. And I love pancakes. And POM Wonderful Juice. And so POM Wonderful Pancakes were born. They're so spectacularly delicious, I know you'll love them, too.

** While we're on the subject of breakfast food: Thanks to hottipper and generally great source of gluten-free information Denise of the Rasin Rack, I've become aware that Van's new brand of GF Pancakes and French Toast Sticks not only have barley in them, but are not being recalled. What? What, what? You heard right. Easy peasy toaster pancakes and french toast sticks sound wonderful - but please be cautious when buying these products; read the ingredients... twice! They plan on releasing new, reformulated, barley-less products, but for now, buyer be aware when it comes to the pancakes and french toast sticks.

But who needs Van's pancakes when you have these...

Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Pancakes

adapted from Joy the Baker's Chai Spice Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup GF flour blend (I use Mr. Ritts, with xanthum gum already mixed in)

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar (I bet brown sugar would be fantastic, too)

1 egg

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup of skim milk (I didn't have buttermilk, but I can't imagine how using it would be anything but delicious)

1/4 cup of Pom Wonderful juice + 1 table spoon

2 tablespoons earth balance, melted

cooking spray, butter, etc for frying (I used olive oil spray and was surprised at how normal it tasted)

Temper a beaten egg into melted butter, then mix in milk, juice, and vanilla. Next whisk in flour, (xanthum gum if you need it), salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar, and mix until smooth.

Joy reccomends you let your batter rest a few minutes - I trust her on this. In the mean time, I heated up a frying pan (I lack a cool griddle pan) and sprayed it with my cooking spray. Make each pancake about two tablespoons of batter and let cook until the pancakes start to bubble and set. Flip, cook a few more minutes, and then keep your pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven whilst you make the rest (to avoid eating them, mainly).

Makes 12 -14 small pancakes. Serve with cherries, yogurt, or Ohio made maple syrup.

...And speaking of syrup, POM Wonderful has a recipe for Pomegranate syrup - it looked amazing, and also like something I'd probably get in trouble for getting stuck to the inside of a pan. If you make it, let me know how it goes!!

Gust Gallucci's Italian Foods

About a week ago, I happily wrote about one of the best gluten-free meals I've had to date, Spaghetti Aglio E Olio with Broccoli, using white rice pasta straight from Italy. Sure I'd heard that the best gluten-free pasta is from Italy, but that's like saying the best paella is in Spain or the best sake in is Japan. Well, of course it is! But unless you're planning a trip there anytime soon, that information does you about as much good as a big ol' plate of glutenous spaghetti and a tall, malted beer. I'd never imagined an Italian speciality store around here would carry any of this mythic gluten-free pasta, and even if it happened to, the price would likely be so exponentially compounded, between shipping and limited demand, that seeking it out would only be the worst kind of tease. 

You can understand my shock, then, as I turned the corner of the pasta aisle in Gallucci's Italian Foods, and came face to face with not one but two brands of Italian gluten-free pasta. One corn, one white rice, both at an affordable price. 

I don't know about you, but when I was first diagnosed I was in effect told by doctors "yes, you're going to feel better, but this new, gluten-free life of yours is going to be hard and it's not going to be fun. It's not an adjustment, it's a constant adjustment." But friends, gluten-free times, they are a-changing, and suddenly our needs are commonplace than annoying speciality consideration. Suddenly, buyers are thinking about our needs in addition to the general gluten-eating public. Suddenly you, too, can buy amazing gluten-free pasta at $3.99 a bag.

Upon talking to a manager, I learned of an upcoming trip to Italy the food buyers would be taking in the next week, and that a gluten-free pizza shell was on their product agenda. Let me say that again, authentic Italian gluten-free pizza shell. While the companies are still working out the logistics of packaging and shipping, it seemed that the availability of GF pizza at Gallucci's isn't so much a matter of if, but when. 

Of course, you shouldn't let the absence of pizza crust delay your trip, there's still plenty of gluten-free goodness to stock up on. Pastas aside, Gallucci's offers homemade gluten-less sauces, imported cheeses, gluten-free polentas and risottos, and all kinds of amazing direct from Italy products that - thanks to the high incidence of Celiac Disease in Italy - are all stabilized with rice starch. Still not satisfied with that array of products? Wish they had a great gluten-free dessert or bread mix? If recent events have taught us anything, it's that making our presence known as a celiac community can make a big impression on our world as a whole. 

Why not go to Galluccis, buy some of their products, ask to speak to a manager and mention you'd love to see more gluten-free goods? Tell them that if they had gluten-free coffee syrups (or almond cookies, or lasagna noodles) you know at least 20 people who'd snap them up...or 5 gluten-free people who'd buy the equivalent of 20 regular shoppers, just at the joy of having such a great product at their fingertips. 

Then go home, knowing you've made the world a better, yummier place for the gluten intolerant, and enjoy your pasta - you've earned it! 

Convenient for East and Westsiders a like, Gallucci's Italian Foods is located on 6610 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.