Merry Christmas!

Ever since I saw Giada make this recipe, I realized it was a perfect candidate for a GF cookie transformation.  It was actually quite easy to adapt to GF and I made a few other slight modifications here and there (I've made these with dried cranberries before and they are awesome!).  For Christmas I make a big double batch (which is the recipe that you'll see below), but you can easily make a big batch and freeze half in a log wrapped in plastic wrap so you can slice off a few of these anytime you'd like!  So here's my signature Christmas cookie recipe that I'm excited to share with everyone:

Apricot & Nut Cookies with Limoncello Icing
Cookies
2 sticks of salted butter (at room temp)
1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp limoncello liqueur
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups almond meal (i.e. almond flour)
1 cup Pamela's GF pancake & baking mix
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup dried apricots, cut into a small dice
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 T limoncello liqueur

For the cookies, start by creaming the butter and sugar together, adding the vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon.  Mix until it is light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  On the side, whisk together the flours, xanthan gum and baking powder in a separate bowl and slowly add it to the mixer on a slow speed until it is just mixed together well.  Stir in the chopped apricots and toasted nuts and transfer the dough to an appropriately sized bowl.  Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, or a minimum of one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet in even rounds.  I used a mini ice cream scooper.  Make sure each one is a nice round ball, because they melt down in the oven.  Bake them for approximately 12-15 minutes or until they begin to brown on the edges.  Cool the cookies on a cooling rack overnight.

For the icing, stir together the powdered sugar and limoncello until it totally combines and comes together in a thick glazey icing.  Drizzle or blot it on top of each cooled cookie, as much or as little as you'd like.

I hope you enjoy these cookies any day of the year!

Cheers!

Since going gluten free, I had to give up drinking beer... which I didn't really mind too much since it's full of calories and makes you belch and pee a lot.  But it's one thing to CHOOSE not drink beer very often and it's a totally different idea to be UNABLE to ever drink real beer again.  There are a few really great GF substitutes out there, but they are super pricey and hard to find in the stores.  A fairly good alternative has always been hard cider, like Woodchuck. All it's made with is fermented apples and it has always said naturally gluten free right on the packaging.  The only issue with hard cider is that it is very high in sugar and calories, so I try to drink it sparingly.  One idea I've really been brainstorming with is ways to cook with hard cider... so here is my first experiment with fall flavors and hard cider:

Hard Cider Braised Chicken
4 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp poultry seasoning
kosher salt & fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
2 T olive oil
1 large Granny Smith apple; peeled, cored and sliced thinly
2 small McIntosh apples; peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 vidalia onion; peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 lemon; zested and juiced
1 T fresh thyme, finely chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
freshly grated nutmeg (approx. 1/8 tsp)
1 bottle Woodchuck Hard Cider (12 oz.)
1 cup chicken broth
1 T butter
1 tsp tapioca starch

Heat up a large cast iron dutch oven or a large high sided skillet with the olive oil.  Season the chicken with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.  Add the chicken and sear the meat for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until it's nice and brown on both sides.  Remove chicken and set aside on a plate.  Add the onion, apples and thyme and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Lower the heat and let the onion and apples sweat out and begin to soften.  Now add the garam masala, cinnamon and lemon zest and stir to combine.  For those of you who haven't used garam masala before, it's an indian spice blend that includes cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon.  It's very fragrant and balances the sweet and savory flavors that I'm going for in this dish.  Next add the hard cider and chicken broth and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return the chicken to the pan, nestling it into the liquid so that it is just shy of being completely covered.  Bring it up to a boil, put a lid on the pan, lower the heat and simmer for about 45-50 minutes.  At this point the chicken will be cooked all the way through, tender and very moist.  Remove the chicken to a serving plate and crank up the heat under the pan to reduce the sauce.  Take the room temperature butter and tapioca starch and smash them together in a small bowl so that it is combined well and add it to the sauce.  Whisk together and then stir the entire sauce.  Let it bubble away until it thickens to a desired consistency and taste for seasoning (adding salt if necessary).  Turn the heat off and stir in the freshly squeezed lemon juice, then serve the chicken with the sauce and apple mixture poured all over the top.  I served this with a very simple rice pilaf dish that finished it all off nicely.

This dish was a very pleasant surprise... I honestly had no idea how it was going to come out... it was dancing the line between savory and sweet, and it had the potential to be a total fail.  But we really enjoyed this one - there was definitely a sweet aspect to it, but two things made it work - the freshness from the lemon juice added at the end made all of the flavors really pop.... and the small amount of butter added to the sauce at end made it a bit more smooth and finished.  I would definitely try this again.... maybe with pork chops... and maybe the addition of some fresh, sliced fennel would really make this recipe soar even higher!  Enjoy...

Pizza Night!

Let's be honest... who doesn't love meal "theme" nights (Stefan)??  But seriously, who doesn't love pizza night?  The convenience of having a pizza delivered to the house was a luxury that I had to give up when I went gluten free.... until I became brave enough to start making my own pizza.  I started with the mini pizza crust shells that they sell frozen at the store.  I would dress them up with my favorite toppings and it would satisfy the craving temporarily.  But I didn't find true gluten free pizza bliss until I found Chebe - this is hands down, the best, easiest and tastiest gluten free pizza crust mix out there.  It mixes up quickly... rolls out pretty well... bakes up nice and thin.... and it has a nice crispy/chewy texture that lets you fold your slice just like regular pizza.  Love it!  I was always one who enjoyed thin crust pizza, so this is right up my alley.

Sausage Pizza

• Prepared Chebe pizza crust, rolled out to fit a round pizza baking sheet
• Mixed Sweet & Hot Italian Sausage, removed from the casing, browned in a pan & crumbled (I used Premio brand)
• Pizza Sauce (we had leftover vodka sauce in the freezer, so we used that)
• Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• Dried Italian Seasoning
• Kosher salt & fresh black pepper to taste

This recipe is a bit different from the others, since I've omitted the amounts of each item.  Pizza is a pretty forgiving food to prepare (even when it's bad, it's still pretty good).  I like to use minimal sauce and lots of toppings and cheese - but maybe you like the reverse.  So play around with it and enjoy it - that's the beauty of making pizza for yourself, at home!  The Chebe crust needs to be prepared as directed on the package.  When I roll mine out into a circle, I like to bunch and crimp up the edges a bit so that the edge acts as a barrier to keep all the toppings inside.  The crust needs to bake for about 10 minutes before adding the toppings, then another 15 minutes once the toppings are added.  I like when the edges start to brown a bit.  Yup.... now I'm hungry for pizza!

I love Pizza Night!!!!  A couple of slices and a glass of red wine.... talk about a great Friday night!

Go get Chebe mix and treat yourself to pizza again.  Trust me.... DO IT!  :)  You'll be glad you did.

The Comforts of Fall....

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post.... but have no fear, this DOESN'T mean I haven't been cooking!  Now that the fall is upon us, it's time to switch gears a bit - less grilling and more slow cooking on the stove top and in the oven.  What says comfort more than an indulgent meatloaf smothered in gravy?  Over the summer, I made little mini turkey meatloafs that were healthy and cooked up in 15 minutes in a mini muffin loaf pan... so, now that October had finally rolled around, I knew it was time to make a true, full size, stick-to-your-ribs meatloaf.

Italian Style Meatloaf
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
3 small carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1 T sun dried tomato paste (I used Amore brand)
1 T Italian herb paste (again, Amore brand)
1 T Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrin's)
1/3 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
3/4 cup GF bread crumbs (see Note **)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 T Heinz ketchup
1 1/4 lbs lean ground beef (93% lean)
1 1/4 lbs ground pork
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

** Note:  about the GF bread crumbs - when I buy frozen gluten free bread, I pull out the ends of the bread loaves and store them in a plastic freezer bag - when I need bread crumbs, I toast these slices well and zip them in the food processor.

For the meatloaf - preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Get out a large mixing bowl and put the ground beef and pork into the bowl, breaking it/mixing it up lightly.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Then, drop your dried rosemary, fennel seed and red pepper flakes into a spice grinder to get a coarsely ground mixture - sprinkle this mixture over the meat.  Then to prepare the vegetables to add to the meatloaf, heat up a medium saute pan with the olive oil.  Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic and saute over medium heat until the veggies begin to soften - about 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Let the veggie mixture cool slightly before adding it to the meat in the mixing bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients - tomato and herb pastes, Worcestershire sauce, grated cheese, bread crumbs and eggs.  Mix up the meatloaf using your hands until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed, but being careful not to overwork the meat.  Gather the meat mixture together and form a long loaf in a lightly greased pyrex baking dish.  Add the ketchup to the top of the meatloaf and spread it all over so that the meatloaf gets nicely caramelized on top.  Bake in the oven for about an hour, until the juices run clear.

Once the meatloaf comes out of the oven to rest for 10 minutes, you can begin on the gravy:

1 T butter
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 T gluten free flour (I used the Namaste all purpose flour)
1/4 cup marsala wine
1 cup beef broth
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter into the olive oil and add the shallot - cooking for a couple of minutes until softened and fragrant.  Season with salt & pepper.  Sprinkle with gluten free flour and mix well until the flour begins to bubble and thicken.  Add the marsala wine and beef broth and whisk vigorously to mix and deglaze the bottom of the pan.  Once the mixture begins to thicken, whisk in the mustard and Worcestershire sauce and do some final taste testing for seasoning.  Add salt & pepper if needed.

I served this meatloaf with a very simple salad of mixed greens.  It was delicious - the quick gravy was very tasty for being prepared in only a few minutes and I loved the way all of the ingredients in the meatloaf added an important step in making the final product.  Every ingredient was intentional and critical in making this an "Italian Style" meatloaf.  Try this out to warm yourself and your family up on a cool fall evening.

Happy Birthday Stefan!

Sunday was Stefan's birthday and to celebrate, he made a last minute decision the week before... he made an appointment for oral surgery and had 2 wisdom teeth removed on Thursday.  YAY!  Immediately, my selfish reaction was "Great, there goes his birthday weekend and my plans to go out for a nice dinner on Sunday!"  Once I stopped thinking about how this would inconvenience me, I realized that I needed to go out and stock the house with soft foods.  I filled the fridge with yogurt and pudding and jell-o and those great Bolthouse Farms smoothie drinks.  Good stuff - I redeemed myself!  But I was still faced with the dilemma of how to deal with the birthday dinner.  It was clear that it would make more sense to cook something at home, but what do you cook for someone who can't eat anything that exceeds the consistency of baby food?  Pureeing a dinner is only really a good option when it is appropriate to do so.  I was inspired by the autumn weather and decided to try to make my own take on butternut squash soup.  And I have to say, I hit this one out of the park....

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (Gluten Free & Dairy Free)
1 whole butternut squash
1 vidalia onion, diced into large pieces
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 fennel bulb, halved, cored and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced or just smashed
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp garam masala (indian spice blend of coriander, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon)
kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
canola oil (a total of about 4 T or so)

Preheat your oven to 425°.  Cut your butternut squash in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet with the flesh side facing up.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle with about 1-2 T of canola oil.  Place in the oven and roast for approximately 45 minutes.

Heat up a medium stock pot and add about 2-3 T of canola oil.  Add the onions, fennel and garlic - season with salt and pepper and stir to begin sweating the veggies.  Cut up the carrot and parsnips and drop them into the pot also.  Season again with salt and pepper and lower the heat slightly so that the veggies soften slowly.  Stir occasionally, but let them go for about 15 minutes.  Once the squash is done remove from the oven and scoop out the seeds (and discard).  The squash should be soft enough to scoop out the flesh.  Add all of the roasted squash to the pot with the sweating veggies.  Stir together and then add enough stock to cover the veggies (about 4 cups).  Bring it up to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

In a food processor or blender, puree the entire soup mixture in batches (as large as your machine can handle).  I was able to do this in two batches in my Cuisinart food processor.  I added the nutmeg and garam masala at this point.  I really went crazy with the puree because I didn't want any surprise chunks in there.  Add it back to the pot and simmer until you are ready to serve.

No cream at all and this is one of the richest and creamiest soups I've ever tasted.  You really appreciate the taste of the parsnips and fennel, as those aren't traditional ingredients in a soup like this.  The hint of spices gives it that distinctly autumn taste and I'm glad I didn't have a heavier hand with the spice.  It was very well balanced.  I also garnished with a dollop of plain nonfat greek yogurt mixed with a few dashes of hot sauce. Delicious and surprisingly filling for a pureed soup.  He loved his birthday dinner and didn't even need a fork or knife to enjoy it :)

Five Ingredient Gluten Free Baking?

Well... not exactly.

But this recipe was adapted from something that I saw Claire Robinson make on Food Network.  For those of you who don't know Claire Robinson, she hosts Five Ingredient Fix.  She's totally adorable, young, cool and has a lot of great cooking ideas.  We like her so much we got tickets to see her at the NYC Food & Wine Festival next month.  One Sunday morning we were watching and she made these incredible looking Brown Butter Banana Muffins and I made it my mission to make them gluten free.

Something you need to understand is that gluten free baking cannot be done with only five ingredients.  Even if you are using a GF flour blend mixture, you still need to tinker with it and add more stuff like baking powder and xanthan gum.  So that turns the self rising flour that Claire uses into 3 ingredients.  Since I blew it there, I added one more ingredient for additional flavor - vanilla extract.  So here are the ingredients that I used:

Gluten Free Brown Butter Banana Muffins
4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 stick of butter (eek!  i know... i never use this much butter, but it's worth it - plus it's being divided by 12 muffins)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake & Baking Mix
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. xanthan gum

Since Claire has already written up this recipe HERE, I'll just tell you what I did differently.  I whisked together the GF flour mix, baking powder and xanthan gum and used that in place of self rising flour.  Also, when you add the mashed banana mixture to the butter to cook for a few minutes, I added the vanilla extract.

These muffins came out sooooo good... they were very moist and for only "five" ingredients, the flavor was very deep.  What I love about Claire's recipes is that she really utilizes each ingredient to it's fullest potential.  In this recipe, by browning the butter, you get a deep, almost caramel flavor through the muffin.  Then cooking some of the banana mixture in the brown butter takes the banana ingredient to an entirely different level.  This is really a great recipe... and I would even play around with it by adding nuts and maybe a few other ingredients to make it your own.  Enjoy :)

A Fond Farewell to Summer

Labor Day weekend is always bittersweet, because it marks the official end of summer but is usually marked by beautiful weather with cool, dry air.  That's exactly what happened for this Labor Day weekend - Hurricane Earle blew by leaving a few rain drops and some wind behind.... opening up the rest of the weekend to some of the most beautiful weather we've seen all summer.  I have to admit, I was excited for fall this year, after the oppressively hot and dry summer that we've had in NJ.  And by dry, I mean rainfall dry, not humidity dry.  After a great weekend of beach, friends, a wine festival.... this is how we closed out the weekend on Labor Day Monday.... and tell me this doesn't look perfect?

Dinner on the deck with a cool, dry breeze... healthy, comforting food... a great bottle of wine... string lights and candles going... perfect.  And just to celebrate this perfect scene, you - my friends - are going to get 2 recipes in one post!  I would list the salad as a recipe, but I don't want to overload you in one post.  In that picture above, you'll see we have Gluten Free Baked Chicken Tenderloins and Pesto Polenta.  On the side is a beautiful salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, basil and flat leaf parsely - dressed lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Delish.  And now, onto the recipes... easier one first:

Pesto Polenta
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Grits (Polenta)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk (1% or 2% to make it creamy)
1/4 - 1/3 cup pesto (we made our own, but you can use store bought or use your favorite pesto recipe)

This was such an easy concept and I can't believe it took us this long to put 2 +2 together.  Polenta always starts the same way, and it's a 3:1 ratio of liquid to dry polenta.  I always mix the liquid with 1/2 chicken broth and 1/2 milk.... the broth gives it flavor and the milk helps make the polenta richer and creamier.  So bring the liquid to a boil, then add the polenta slowly - whisking as you add it in.  Lower the heat and continue to stir/whisk until the polenta begins to mass up and thicken.  When it thickens to a creamy, porridge-like consistency, take it off the heat and add the pesto.  Whisk it together and watch the green specks from the pesto spread throughout the polenta.  The smell is wonderful and it tastes amazing together.  As an added bonus, we made our pesto with basil, oregano and marjoram from the garden - this is zipped together in the food processor with lightly toasted pine nuts, a clove of garlic, grated parmigiano reggiano and olive oil.  It's a pretty standard pesto recipe, but I like to mix in other fresh green herbs besides basil to give it a deeper flavor (and use some of those herbs that are growing wildly on the deck).  And now onto the co-star of the meal:

Gluten Free Baked Chicken Tenderloins
approximately 12-14 chicken tenderloin pieces (I used the frozen packs from CostCo, and I think they had about 6-7 in each serving package)
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup gluten free flour blend, for dredging
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a few tablespoons of milk
1 cup Betty Crocker Potato Buds
1/2 T garlic powder
1/2 T paprika
1/2 T poultry seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1 T dried rosemary

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  First, season the chicken tenders liberally with salt & pepper.  Then prepare the dredging and coating assembly line - whisk together the GF flour and some kosher salt in a shallow bowl - beat up the eggs with some milk in another shallow bowl - then whisk together the Potato Buds, garlic powder, paprika, poultry seasoning, grated cheese, rosemary and salt & pepper to taste in another shallow bowl.  Using tongs, coat each piece of chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.  Then dip into the egg mixture and coat with the Potato Bud mixture.  (Here's a hint, when you get to the last few tenders, if you have a lot of coating left then do a double dip - dip in the egg again then the coating again and you get a nice, thick layer of the potato mixture.  Arrange the chicken tenders on a large baking sheet and drizzle each one with olive oil.  Bake the chicken tenders for a total of about 25-30 minutes, flipping them at the halfway point so they get evenly brown and crispy.

The Potato Buds are an excellent gluten free substitute for a bread crumb coating on baked or fried chicken cutlets or tenders.  The key to getting it really brown is adding some cheese into the mixture too.  I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this meal and I hope that you'll give it a try.

Breakfast, in a pretty little package....

Breakfast isn't usually a pretty meal.  On the weekends, I usually make something heavy - like eggs or an omelet, and while it tastes great, it's not very pretty to look at.  But when I hit the supermarket yesterday I picked up some fresh berries and some plain greek yogurt.  I like to keep these ingredients in the house over the weekend in the summer in case I get tempted for a dessert.  It's a healthy way to get something sweet after dinner.  But this morning, I decided to use this to put together a little breakfast parfait.

Yogurt & Berry Breakfast Parfait
1 cup plain greek yogurt (not an exact measurement)
1 cup Honey Nut Chex, crushed in a plastic bag
6 oz. raspberries
6 oz. blueberries
1 T agave nectar
honey, for drizzling
cinnamon sugar, for garnish/sprinkling

Rinse the berries in some water and place them in a small bowl.  Drizzle about 1 T of agave nectar on top and toss it all together, then set aside.  This will sweeten up the raspberries a bit, which tend to be need some help being less bitter.  Then take about 1 cup of Chex and pour it into a small sandwich bag.  Crush it up into small pieces with your hands.  Take a large goblet and spoon the berry mixture into the bottom.  Spoon in some greek yogurt on top, making an even layer.  Drizzle lightly with honey then sprinkle on some of the crushed Chex.  Continue to layer in this order until you get to the top - berries, yogurt/honey, Chex.  When you are at the top of the goblet, add a dollop of yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Then garnish with one blueberry and one raspberry.  Dig in and enjoy a slightly sweet, slightly crunchy, and slightly tangy breakfast.

Where's the Beef?

That will be the big question on everyone's mind when they see that my Land & Sea dinner was actually comprised of chicken and shrimp as the main characters.  It's no secret to anyone who knows how I work in the kitchen that a "one-pot meal" is KING in my book.  You get your veggies and protein together with some sauce, all in one scoopful, and it really lets all of the flavors of your ingredients get intimate with each other.  Sassy, right?  We really enjoy the flavor of chicken thighs, and it's not something that we use too often because chicken breasts are much lower in fat.  But on this day, I was willing to splurge in an effort to get the most flavor OUT of my chicken instead of putting lots of flavor INTO a much more bland, plain chicken breast.  White wine and lemon work really well together so I wanted this dish to compliment that pairing with the flavors of fresh herbs from the garden.

Here's what I made:

Lemony Fennel Chicken & Shrimp with White Wine
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 5 or 6 thighs)
2/3 lb large shrimp (this is approx, I used frozen, raw, peeled and deveined)
1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced (not diced!!)
1 large fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
4 large garlic cloves, minced finely
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/3 cup fresh herbs, mixed (I used basil, oregano, marjoram & flat leaf parsley)
fresh thyme sprigs (whole)
2 fresh bay leaves
1 cup dry white wine (I used Cavit pinot grigio)
1 cup chicken broth (maybe a little more depending on consistency)
1/2 cup gluten free flour blend (for dredging, I used Namaste's GF mix)
1/2 T poultry seasoning
1/2 T paprika
2 tsp. garlic salt
2 tsp. chipotle chili powder
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper

To get this one started, get a large cast iron pot heating up on the stove.  As the pot is heating up, get together the dredging mixture for the chicken.  Whisk together the GF flour, poultry seasoning, paprika, chipotle chili powder and garlic salt in a wide, shallow bowl.  Open up your package of chicken and season each side of the thighs liberally with salt and pepper.  When the pot is hot add a good 2-3 T of olive oil to the pot and let it start heating up.  Keep the heat on pretty high to get a good sear on the chicken.  Dredge each piece of chicken in the GF flour mixture and shake off the excess.  Get the chicken into the olive oil and DON'T MOVE IT.  You should hear a nice sizzle and you want to leave it there to get a good sear.  Sear the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side, and when it's nicely browned move the chicken onto a plate.

Since you are using chicken thighs, you'll see that some fat has rendered off the chicken.  Add another T olive oil if you need it and then add the sliced onions, fennel, carrot and garlic to the pot.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Stir things around and then this cook through until the veggies begin to soften (about 8 minutes or so).  While this is happening, defrost your shrimp in some room temp water, then drain, season with salt and pepper and set aside in a small bowl.  Add the white wine and deglaze the pot, scraping up all of the brown bits from when you seared the chicken.  Stir in the lemon zest and all of the fresh herbs at this point.  It will smell amazing.  Toss in the bay leaves and fresh thyme sprig and stir it around.  Add the chicken broth to the pot and let this mixture begin to bubble.  Using tongs, move the chicken back to the pot, nestling into the sauce and veggie mixture so that the chicken is 1/2 to 3/4 of the way covered.  You really want to braise, not boil, the chicken so make sure it's not totally covered.  Cover the pot and lower the heat to a simmer.  You want to cook this low and slow, probably about 45 minutes or so.

About 10 minutes before the dish is done, open up the pot and smell the deliciousness of it all (not a required step in the recipe).  The sauce seemed a bit thin to me so I mixed up some broth and corn starch and stirred it in to thicken up in the last 10 minutes.  At this point, add the shrimp to the pot and stir around.  Cover it up again and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.  The sauce will thicken up and the shrimp will cook through and be a nice bright pink color.  Remove the thyme sprig and basil leaves and stir in the lemon juice right before serving for a little added "freshness".  I served this with some short grain brown rice which really went well with the sauce.  I also garnished with some basil, sliced into long thin strips.  This was really delicious.  Make sure you season throughout with lots of salt and pepper, because I used lots of mild flavors in this dish.  The salt really brings it all out.  I hope you make this!

GF Pasta with a Spicy Twist!

OK guys, I'm going to be honest with this one.  I made this for dinner a few weeks ago on a Sunday and it was fantastical... we both really loved it.  I took pictures.  I had leftovers.  I even battled with some indigestion from eating too much.  But it's all too common that when I make a great dish like this, it comes together in pieces in my little pea brain, and then we gobble it all up and I never write the recipe down.  So here's the long and short of it.  I was craving pasta and I had a box of Schar Multigrain Penne Rigate in the pantry.  This is one of the best GF pastas out there and really holds up well when tossing it with a thick and chunky kind of pasta sauce.

So that's the pasta part of it.... here's the rest of my inspiration - (1) a whole stick of chorizo that was in the fridge and (2) indian spices, from watching too much of The Next Food Network Star and wanting to create my own Aarti Party in my kitchen.  So the end result was a thick tomato sauce with chunks of chicken, crispy chorizo pieces, chopped olives, and lots of spices (like cumin, chili powder, coriander and even a pinch of cinnamon).... then I stirred in greek yogurt at the end to give it a creamy and tangy finish.  It was awesome.  Sorry I can't be more exact, but I guess it will be my secret and maybe subconsciously I didn't want to share it with any of you.  Oh, and I'm looking at the picture and I see chopped green stuff.  Fresh herbs - probably marjoram and oregano from the planters out back.  Instead of telling you to enjoy this one, I'll just give you one of these :P

Weeknight Chicken Dinner... Hmmmmm?

Almost every night of the week we are faced with the same question:  What's for dinner?  It doesn't matter who you are, what you like, what special diet you adhere to - after spending a full day at work, nobody wants to spend a long time in the kitchen preparing dinner.  When I lived alone, it was easy to cook one night and have leftovers for a few nights.  Now that there are two of us, it's a little tougher to make a meal for two that includes enough leftovers for at least one other night for both of us.  And that is a requirement - we try to cook on our off-gym nights so that we have leftovers for the nights that we workout and eat at 8:30 or 9.

Lately one of my favorite weeknight dinners revolves around roasted boneless chicken breasts that are smothered in some kind of spice mixture.  We get the large family packs of chicken breasts when they are on sale and then trim, clean and cut them into large chunks - and we're good to go.  This time around, I went with the following theme for my spice mixture:

Smoky Chili Lime Chicken

1/2 T smoked paprika
1/2 T ground cumin
1/2 T ground coriander
1/2 T chili powder
1 tsp chipotle chili powder (more or less to taste - it's pretty spicy)
1 tsp garlic salt (or alternately, grate up 1 clove of garlic and add some kosher salt)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 lime, zested and juiced
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

approximately 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat the oven to 400°.  As mentioned, prep the chicken breasts by cleaning, trimming and cutting the breasts into large chunks (about 3 pieces per breast, equal sizes).  In a small bowl add all of the dry spices and stir together, then add the lime zest & juice and olive oil.  Whisk together until well blended.  Place the chicken in a large bowl and pour the spice mixture over the chicken.  Stir together with a large spoon until all of the pieces of chicken are evenly coated with the spice mixture.  Drop the chicken into a greased pyrex baking dish and spread the pieces out evenly to ensure even cooking.  Season the chicken with kosher salt and fresh black pepper to your personal taste.  Then bake the chicken for about 35 minutes, or until the chicken starts to brown slightly at the thinner edges and the juices run clear.

Now what can you do to make this a complete meal?  Add veggies and some kind of carb/grain, right?  We had some great fresh asparagus, so we seasoned it with salt, pepper and olive oil and roasted it for about 10 minutes on a baking sheet in the same oven that the chicken was cooking in.

And finally the carb this time around was quinoa.  Anyone who has had quinoa will quickly realize that it's a very plain grain, and your really need to jazz it up a bit.  So I diced up 1/2 of a small white onion and sauteed it in a small sauce pan with some olive oil.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and also threw in about 2 tsp of whole cumin seeds over the onions.  When the onions softened, I added 1 cup of quinoa and stirred it until the grains were coated in olive oil.  Then I added 2 cups of GF chicken stock and threw in a fresh bay leaf and a sprig of fresh thyme.  Once it comes to a boil, cover it and lower the heat - simmer for about 15 minutes or until the grains absorb all of the liquid and become light and fluffy.  Stir it up, remove the bay leaf and thyme sprig and then serve up the whole meal like this!  I hope you enjoy this quick, easy, gluten free meal :)

Friday Happy Hour... at Home!

Nobody said that all of the recipes that I posted had to be food, right?? Another big part of balancing out the gluten free lifestyle is finding the right "adult beverages" that I can safely consume. I tend to be very safe with the types of alcohol that I consume. I usually stick to wine as the safest bet, but I will also have drinks with rum and tequila when out, since they are alcohols that are made by fermenting sugars of some type and not grain.  At home, I always stock up on Chopin potato vodka (mostly for straight up dirty martinis - hands down the smoothest martini vodka out there) and Smirnoff vodka (many people don't know that the grain used to make this vodka is corn, which is gluten free).

Happy hour at home on Friday evenings in the Summer is something that I look forward to each week.  This summer we've been growing mint out on the deck, so rum & vodka mojitos have been in heavy rotation.  But last Friday I had a craving for a nice, strong, tart margarita.  I know a margarita is not a highly unusual drink, but I took some liberties with the ratios of ingredients and added some fresh squeezed orange juice to sweeten it up.  And no salt!  I hate salt on my margaritas :)

Margaritas
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4-5 limes depending on size)
3/4 cup tequila (I used Jose Cuervo Gold)
1/4 cup orange liqueur (I used Cointreau)
1/4 cup simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated and dissolved)
1 T agave nectar
1 orange (slice off some for garnish and juice the rest)

When playing bartender/mixologist at home, I usually start in a large liquid measuring cup and layer in one ingredient to the next counting to the next ingredient level.  In other words, I squeeze 1/2 cup of lime juice then add tequila up to the 1 1/4 cup mark then Cointreau up to the 1 1/2 cup mark.... and so on and so forth - until everything that needs to be measured is measured.  Once everything is added I stir it with a large spoon until the agave is dissolved.  I fill up two pretty little margarita glasses with ice and fill up the glass with the margarita mixture.  Garnish with a fresh orange sliced into a half moon and a straw - then stir and enjoy!  Makes 2 'healthy' margaritas.

Grillin' & Chillin'

There really is nothing that makes me happier than pulling together a great dinner on a Friday evening in the Summer - especially when it is a meal based around something grilled.  Now, this blog is not really intended to be just a listing of a bunch of recipes.  This meal, for example, is just a few different ideas that Stefan and I had that came together really well.

The first part of the meal was the main event - the BURGERS!  I've eaten plain burgers for way too long, so lately, I've gotten into playing around with different types of burgers and throwing lots of different flavors into my burgers.  This one is up there as one of the better burgers that I've tried to create.  What I envisioned with this one was the flavor of sausage - lots of fennel and garlic and some good spice.  Here's how I pulled it together:

Spicy Sausage Burgers
1.5 lbs of lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1 T fennel seed
1 T cumin seed
1 or 2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, grated with a hand held grater
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
1 T tomato paste
2 T extra virgin olive oil (since I used such a lean meat, I like how the olive oil keeps it moist and gives it a light flavor)
1 tsp Frank's red hot sauce (or more if you like - I just gave it a few shakes)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Take the fennel seed, cumin seed and red pepper flakes and grind them finely in a spice grinder.  Throw the meat into a large bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients, including the freshly ground spices.  Then, use the world's best kitchen utensils - your hands - and mix all of the ingredients together until the spices, cheese, garlic, tomato paste and sauces are spread evenly throughout the mixture.  Flatten the mixture in the bottom of the bowl and score the meat with your hand to that you can make even sized burgers.  I made 3, but you could probably use this amount of meat for 4 smaller burgers.  Form your burgers and set aside for grilling.  A good tip when forming burgers - press down in the center with your thumb so that when the middle expands when cooking, they'll be perfectly round when they are done cooking.  Now, sadly, this is the only picture that I got of the burgers, before they went on the grill.  We ate them too fast when they were done.  No time for pictures.  Sorry.  Deal with it.

The next part was a bit of an experiment in baking GF rolls.  I used a recipe from one of my favorite GF cookbooks - You Won't Believe it's Gluten Free, by Roben Ryberg.  These rolls are made with a blend of potato starch and sorghum flour.  I divided the dough evenly between these three mini springform pans that I had, since the dough is not firm enough to hold it's shape on its own.  However, these pans were a little too big and the bread ended up baking very thin.  I probably could have made just two, but that's a lesson learned.  We carefully split them in half for the burgers (with one getting ruined in the process - the innocent casualty was gobbled up while it was still warm).  Yum.  These rolls are really good and they have a pretzel like taste.  Anytime you bake with over 75% potato starch, the result is a very gummy consistency when it's warm.  But I kinda liked how chewy they were.  They cooled slightly while the burgers cooked, so I toasted them lightly before eating the burgers.

And the last part of our fantastic Friday meal was Stefan's sweet potato spears.  I didn't watch every step of the way, but he cut the potatoes into spears (as you'll see in the picture below) and seasoned them with salt, pepper and olive oil.  First he roasted them in a roasting pan for a while at about 375-400°.  For the last 10 minutes or so, he put them onto a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, and placed them back in the oven so the hot air could wrap around them and crisp them up.  He also added some chopped fresh herbs from the garden - a combination of oregano, marjoram and parsley.

And that was our Friday night meal... Since we had the day off, we started early with some happy hour cocktails and continued with some red wine sangria through dinner.  I can't think of anything better on a beautiful summer night.  Enjoy!

Sunday Morning Muffins

Before I had to eat gluten free, it used to be so easy to grab something quick and easy for breakfast - like a muffin or a bagel... I was always a Dunkin Donuts coffee fiend, and once in awhile I would grab a large, warm, freshly baked muffin for breakfast on my way to work.  The biggest problem with these muffins was that even the "low-fat" varieties had an obscene amount of fat and calories.  At the time, I knew these were not good for me.... but I had no idea how bad they really were for me.

Fast forward to now.... there's something so comforting about a fresh, warm muffin for breakfast.  But what I've found is that there's something way MORE comforting about mixing your own muffin batter and baking it yourself.  You can control what add to the batter and make it a little less of a guilty pleasure.

Leveraging some of the great gluten free baking and flour mixes out there, I played around with the idea of a muffin and what would be the best combination of flavors.  My Cherry Almond & Spice muffins have the warm flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg running through them with the sweet and tart flavors of dried cherries and a slight crunch of slivered almonds in there.  They are light and surprisingly moist for a gluten free muffin.

Here are the ingredients that I used (most of them... I may have left something out of the picture):

I thought it would be super cute to use this little mini loaf tray to make the muffins (I bought this tray for about a dollar at the Christmas Tree Shops, another of my guilty pleasures, hehe).

So here's the recipe and how to bake 'em:

Cherry Almond & Spice Muffins
1 cup Pamela's Pancake and Baking Mix (I'm guessing any gluten free flour blend will do, but this is the one that I keep in an airtight container in my fridge for my all purpose baking flour.)
1/4 cup almond meal
2 T flax seed meal
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1 6 oz. container of nonfat plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani, and all I had was the kind with honey added)
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp vanilla extract (McCormick)
1 large egg and 1 large egg white
2 T honey or agave nectar (I used slightly less since there was honey in the yogurt)
1/2 cup dried cherries (I used Trader Joe's brand)
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted lightly in a dry pan on the stove.
optional:  sprinkle some granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar on top of the muffins before baking

First, preheat the oven to 350°.  Then add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl - this includes the gf flour, almond meal, flax seed meal, baking powder and spices.  Whisk this together thoroughly until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.  In a separate bowl add all of the "wet" ingredients (almond milk, yogurt, brown sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and honey/agave).  Stir or whisk these ingredients together until they are well blended.  There is no need to use a mixer for this - as much as I love the snot out of my KitchenAid Artisan, stirring this by hand is just fine.  Add the blended wet ingredients to the dry mixture bowl and stir together by hand with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula until everything is well combined.  Finally, stir in the dried cherries and the slivered almonds and the batter is complete.

This will be enough batter for a six (6) muffin pan or eight (8) mini loaves, as I've done.  Be sure to spray the muffin pan with some Pam non-stick spray... then pour the batter evenly into each of the muffin holders.  Throw the muffin pan into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the muffins start to turn lightly brown around the edges.  Remove from the pan when they cool slightly and finish cooling on a rack.

Here are my beautiful babies, up close and personal:

I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as we do.  They are great just with a cup of coffee, but the challenge will be eating just one.  And now, just to show off a bit more.....  ;)

90 Minute Risotto

How do you take a dish that should take 20 minutes to prepare and stretch it out to 90 minutes?  Let me explain... My sister got me a CostCo membership for Christmas this past year, and I have been working that membership all through 2010 like it's going out of style.  Recently I found a 12-lb bag of Lundberg Farms Organic Brown Short Grain Rice at CostCo which really excited me... now for those of you who don't know, short grain rice is a thicker and starchy grain similar to arborio rice, but with all of the whole grain benefits of brown rice.  It's delicious, which is why that 12-lb bag found it's way into my cart, then into my car, then into this extremely oversized jar that now resides on our kitchen counter:

I love risotto.  The funny thing about risotto is that I never had it before I was diagnosed as Celiac.  Growing up in an Italian family, we never indulged in risotto or even polenta for that matter.  I guess this "newness" added to my excitement.  What I love most about risotto is that it's a one pot meal and you can add in anything you want.  One pot meals are the best thing in the world.  If I can scoop it into a bowl and eat it while I'm sitting on the couch watching TV, then I am a happy man.

Back to risotto.... Sunday, I decided was going to be a risotto night - but then the gears starting turning in my brain and I thought about all of that short grain brown rice that I had sitting on the counter.  A perfect substitution for arborio rice, I thought... and it would even be healthier.  Except, I neglected to acknowledge the fact that brown rice takes considerably longer to cook than any white rice and really only begins to soften when it is in a covered pot.  At this point, however, I still did not realize that my risotto prep time had increased from 20 to 90 minutes.  Rachel Ray would need 3 back to back episodes to complete this 30-minute meal... and about 60 of those minutes would be spent doing nothing but stirring the pot (which does not make for very good Food TV).  Here are the basics of the recipe:  

Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Short Grain Brown Rice Risotto
1 cup short grain brown rice
1 vidalia onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 T finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup of dry white wine (I used an Italian Pinot Grigio)
6-8 cups of chicken broth (more on that later - this needed much more liquid than I thought)
2 roasted boneless chicken breasts, diced (I had leftover chicken breasts that were oven roasted with lemon, olive oil, oregano and basil)
1 6 oz. bag of baby spinach
1 large yellow squash, diced
1-2 cups of cremini mushrooms, diced and sauteed in olive oil until brown (then set aside for risotto)
1/4 cup fresh chopped oregano and marjoram + some for garnish
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
salt and pepper to taste

All risotto starts the same way - first, simmer your chicken broth in a pot to the side... then melt the butter into the olive oil at the bottom of a large pot.  I like to use our small cast iron dutch oven for risotto because it keeps the heat even throughout.  Add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Add the chopped thyme.  Stir together until the onion softens and the thyme and garlic are fragrant.  Then add the rice and stir until coated.  Toast the rice lightly for a couple of minutes.  Then add the white wine and begin stirring the risotto.  This is where the labor begins and this is where I realized that brown rice takes longer to cook than white.  Normally, arborio rice soaks up the wine like a sponge.  But after 5 minutes of stirring, it was just starting to soak in.  Then begin to ladle in 2-3 scoops of chicken broth at a time, stirring the rice mixture vigorously until all of the liquid is absorbed.  Stir.  Stir some more.  Then a little more.  Then switch hands and stir again.

After 45 minutes I realized that this was not going to take 20 minutes.  I also realized that the rice wasn't getting tender and I needed more broth.  I started with 1 quart and ended up using an entire second quart (a total of 8 cups).  What I also realized at this point was that the brown rice would soften better if covered.  So I started a rotation of adding broth, stirring for a minute or so, then covering for 6-8 minutes, then stirring again, then repeating until all of the broth was used.  About 10 minutes before the rice is done, add the yellow squash and stir through.  This needs the most cooking time to soften, out of all of the risotto add-ins.  With just a minute or so left, I gave the baby spinach a rough chop and stirred it through.  Once the spinach wilts down, add in the prepared diced chicken and mushrooms and stir just to warm through.  Once the rice is fully cooked and tender, and all of the add-ins are warmed through and delicious.... the risotto should be nice and creamy.  Then, the big finish - stir in the parmigiano reggiano and the chopped oregano/marjoram mixture.  It is so important to serve risotto when it's hot - so immediately scoop into bowls and garnish with some extra grated cheese and a sprinkle of herbs.

And THAT, my friends, is how it took me an hour and a half to get a simple risotto dish out on the table.  It was definitely worth the wait though - the brown rice added a great, hearty, almost nutty flavor.  The fresh herbs made it feel totally homemade, the zucchini still had some crunch and the pre-roasted chicken had great fresh flavors running through it.  All in all, a great sunday dinner - served just before 9pm.

The Gluten Free Oats Oxymoron?

From the first day that I was diagnosed as Celiac, it was drilled into my brain that I have to avoid all foods that contain wheat, barley, rye and oats. All of my research pointed in the same direction until I started to read mixed reports about oats. Pure, certified gluten free oats could be tolerated by most Celiacs? Could this be true? About a year or so ago I picked up a bag of Bob's Red Mill Certified GF Oats at the store and I was determined to put this to the test. I'd glance at the bag in the pantry some days and wonder when that day would come for me to try it out. So finally I decided to cook up a batch of oatmeal overnight in the crock pot... much to my dismay, the next morning all I found was a soupy, watery mess. I must have gotten the ratios wrong, but for me, this was enough of an omen to say "forget it", at least for now. Eventually that open bag of oats became stale and was trashed.

Bravely, a few months ago, I found these same oats steeply discounted at Target. Another omen, I thought? More time had passed.... more internal healing had occurred.... maybe it was time to try it again? The bag sat for many months until I decided to give the overnight, crock pot oatmeal another try a few weeks ago. That morning, I anxiously ran downstairs to see the result.... a huge pot of creamy, warm, delicious oatmeal! I measured out a cup to try and gobbled it up quickly. All day I was waiting for some sign that this was a terrible idea to eat oats.... and that sign never came. I was fine! I can eat oats!

After all of this, I finally decided to try out an oatmeal cookie recipe that I had been longing for over the past few years. Nothing beats a homemade cookie, and oatmeal raisin cookies always give you that warm, homey feeling. Dessert hasn't really been on the menu for the past couple of months, as I've been watching what I eat while I destroy my body with a pretty intense workout program. I decided to replace the butter in the recipe with peanut butter to make them healthier... and honestly, what could be better than the combination of oatmeal and peanut butter???? It's a win win situation! So here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg and 1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups certified GF oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup raisins (I used SunMaid)

Cream together the peanut butter and sugars until fluffy; add eggs one at a time and vanilla until combined. Whisk or sift all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the wet ingredient mixture slowly. Mix until well combined. Finally, stir in the oats and the raisins until there are no dry oats lying at the bottom of the bowl. The mixture will be a little bit dry but just keep working it through. Form a large dough ball and chill the dough in the fridge for an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and drop rounded tablespoons of the mixture onto a heavy baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. I fit about 9 on a large baking sheet. I pressed down on each of the cookie dough balls to help encourage them to melt down and spread out a bit while baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges start to brown slightly. Move them to a cooling rack or gobble them up immediately!

The final verdict???? These cookies were delicious and cake-like! It almost reminded me of those square Quaker oatmeal breakfast bars that I used to eat all those years ago. They were really delicious and I didn't feel the least bit guilty about eating 1 or 4 of them for breakfast (with coffee, as you see in the above picture)!! :)

Welcome!

I'm Joe, and since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in December 2007, my entire way of looking at food has changed.  Celiac Disease is an intolerance to gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye.  The only treatment is a lifelong adherence to a gluten free diet.  For someone, like me, who was brought up in an Italian household with lots of pasta, bread and pizza - this meant a whole new approach to dealing with food in the kitchen - with this new approach and reborn passion for creating food that I could safely eat, New Perspectives was born.

This blog has been a long time in the making - at the beginning, I wasn't very creative.  I started cooking very plain things that I knew were naturally gluten free.  I wanted to make myself feel better and let my body start to heal.  But I knew I would never be truly happy with dull eating.  So I started to branch out and get creative.  I found spices that I could trust using, and loved the way the scents and tastes could transform something plain and ordinary to amazing.  I started to experiment with gluten free baking... and honestly, I can only remember one true baking fail to date.... which is a pretty good track record.  This became my way of taking control of this disease and showing myself that I didn't need to be afraid of food.

Life for me has now become separated into two phases - pre-diagnosis and post-diagnosis... in the post-diagnosis world, the biggest change has been the attention that must be paid to every food item that I consume.  With this attention has come a new approach to everything I make in the kitchen.  Then Stefan came along at the end of 2008.  His love for food and cooking helped me to revisit my own passion for creating things that I could eat happily while continuing to get myself healthier than I've ever been.  So much of the happiness that we've found together has revolved around time spent in the kitchen.... sipping wine or a cocktail, brainstorming the next meal, or just whipping something up on the fly.

This blog is intended to show that gluten free eating can be care free, worry free, mainstream and easy to accomplish with just the basics that you find in your grocery store.  People who do not need to live a gluten free life will appreciate all of these recipes too.... and most won't know the difference.  So here is the beginning of our recipe collection - please enjoy and share our New Perspectives.

Joe & Stefan