Mile End Bakery

Now's the time for my BIG REVEAL: my friend Mallory over at Total Noms and I have started our own cookie company!  Mile End Bakery offers gluten free cookies as well as cookies made with wheat flour.  We have chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, ginger, oatmeal, nutella, and peanut butter cookies for your enjoyment.  If you can't choose we also offer a sample pack of all six.  They look like this:

Clockwise: Ginger, Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Nutella

Mallory makes our regular cookies and I make our gluten free cookies.  Our gluten free cookies are made in a different kitchen with dedicated gluten free utensils and quality gluten free ingredients.  You can order these delicious cookies on our Etsy store.  We ship anywhere in the continental US.

Mallory and I met in college at McGill in Montreal, Canada.  Stemming from our love of Montreal, we decided to name our company Mile End after a cute neighborhood in the city.  I am very excited about this new venture and I highly suggest you give our cookies a try!

You can see us on Facebook here or follow us on twitter here.

And now for a shameless plug: My man friend and I were feeling ambitious at the same time and while I was starting a cookie company, he started his own personal training company.  If you find you are eating too many cookies and need some help to balance it out, check him out at jtwfit.com.

Enjoy!

All Inclusive Resorts - Gluten Free

This was the view from our room.  It's ok to be jealous.

I just got back from a week in Jamaica.  It's relatively warm in New York City this winter, but compared to the 85 degree days and 75 degree nights of island life, I'm sitting here wrapped in blankets and pouting profusely.  Gone from Saturday to Saturday, it's a good thing I had today to pull myself together before heading back to work tomorrow.

Last year my man friend and I went to Mexico.  It was my first vacation gluten free and I was kind of nervous about it.  I quickly realized that with so many options available at a resort buffet, eating gluten free was easy.  I had a similar experience this year, which is why this post is about eating at all inclusive resorts, rather than Jamaica.

Whether the resort is big or small, they are feeding so many people that there will always be gluten free options.  I don't mean gluten free pasta or bread. That you certainly won't find.  But there will always be a plethora of fruits and vegetables, along with fish, meat, and rice.  This covers lunch and dinner, and for breakfast there are always eggs, potatoes, fruit, and yogurt.

This trip I didn't knowingly eat any gluten or take nearly as many chances as last time.  I still let a few things slide that I wasn't positive on like jerk chicken and curry goat (the sauces being the potential problem), but I didn't get sick once.  I can't speak on cross contamination, and while I'm pretty sensitive and was fine the entire time, this might be a cause for concern for some.  However, the staff at these places are usually pretty great, and if you want to take the time to ask, I highly recommend it.

All in all, with all the food options at all inclusive resorts, eating gluten free is easy.  You might not always get what you want to eat, but at least you aren't going to starve.  Have some lunch and go drink a pina colada on the beach.  No problem.

Le Pain Quotidien

You wouldn't expect to find gluten free options at a place called Le Pain Quotidien (The Daily Bread).  But, you also wouldn't necessarily expect gluten free cookies to taste great and they can (more on that later).

Last weekend I was meeting a friend for a quick lunch before a movie and we decided to go to Le Pain Quotidien near the movie theater.  I hadn't been in years, and I wasn't expecting anything other than a salad, but lo and behold they have a few options for us gluten free folks after all.  I tried the chicken curry salad tartine served on gluten free crackers instead of bread.  It was pretty good.  They also have a six-vegetable quiche served on a gluten free buckwheat crust that I would be interested in trying.  Their salads are also safe without the bread and I bet if you asked really nice they'd give you some of those gluten free crackers with it.  Maybe.

With several locations in New York City, and in other places around the county and globe, Le Pain Quotidien provides another good light lunch option.

Ruby Foo's - Times Square

As I think you know, my brother and I try to go to dinner once a week.  There's an endless supply of restaurants in New York City and we have tried many of them.  These days we tend to eat only at restaurants with gluten free menus.  But, after a year of this, we've pretty much run through them all.  All the ones I'm aware of anyway.

Tonight we decided to try Ruby Foo's in Times Square.  I heard of Ruby Foo's awhile ago but hadn't tried it yet for two main reasons: 1) it's pretty expensive, and 2) I hate Times Square.  Anyone that lives in New York avoids Times Square at all costs.  Full of tourists walking really slowly, there is pretty much nothing a person living in New York needs to do there.

But, wanting to try somewhere new, my brother and I decided to give it a try.  The gluten free menu has three appetizers, three entrees, three sides, and two desserts.  We shared the Chicken Lettuce Wrap for an appetizer and I got the Mongolian Orange Chicken for my main dish.  They were both fine.  I wouldn't recommend Ruby Foo's for people living in NYC, but it is a good option for people visiting the city that may be in Times Square anyway.

I'm always looking for new restaurant suggestions in NYC and elsewhere.  Let me know if you have any gluten free recommendations!

A First Time For Everything - Bread

The thought of making bread scares me.  Regular or gluten free.  It just seems too difficult.  So difficult that I had never attempted it - except for one unfortunate incident with a bread machine in the 90's that I'd rather not relive.

As all you gluten free folks out there know, there is an extreme lack of good gluten free bread.  There is even a lack of decent gluten free bread.  For the past year I took this to mean I just shouldn't eat bread.  But sometimes, just sometimes, I get a craving for a sandwich and I curse gluten while simultaneously having a pity party.

In addition, my brother has been hounding me to figure out to make great bread.  Hounding might be a strong word.  Let's go with encouraging.  So what we have is bad bread, me wanting a sandwich for lunch, and my brother encouraging me to make bread.  Then my friend Mallory sends me an email with a link to the "best ever gluten free sandwich bread".  Ok, this was it.  Time to put on my big girl apron and get to work.

This recipe calls for several things I never use like yeast, almond milk, and apple cider vinegar.  It's a vegan recipe so I needed three "flax eggs" and had to buy ground flax seed.  It also calls for xanthan gum so I finally broke down and bought some.  Normally I would omit it, but if I was going to attempt to make the best ever gluten free sandwich bread, I didn't want to be taking any chances.  Same with the vegan parts.  Could I have used real eggs and milk instead?  Maybe, but I've never made bread before, so get off my back.

Without further ado, here's the recipe from Clean Eating Chelsea.  I copied it right from her site and followed it exactly (mostly).

Best Ever Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
• 1 tbsp. yeast
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetend almond milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 flax eggs
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tbsp. honey (optional)
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Instructions:
1. Proof the yeast: Heat up 1/2 cup almond milk and 1 cup water to approximately 105-110 degrees. To do this, I microwaved my liquid for 70 seconds and checked the temperature. Once the liquid is heated, add 1 tbsp. active yeast and 1 tbsp. sugar – give it a quick stir and set aside until foamy (~5 minutes).

2. Make your flax eggs: In a small bowl or mug, mix 3 tbsp. ground flax seed with 9 tbsp. (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp.) water. Give a quick stir and set aside until thickened (~3-4 minutes).

3. Mix your dry ingredients: In a stand mixer bowl, combine 1 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup quinoa flour, 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/2 cup potato starch, 2 tsp. xanthan gum, and 1 tsp. salt. Toss for approximately 10 seconds with a spatula or fork to combine the ingredients.

4. Once your flax eggs have thickened, add 1 tbsp. olive oil, 3 tbsp. honey, and 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar to the eggs. Whisk until ingredients are combined and set aside.

5. Make your dough: By this time, your yeast mixture should be foamy. If not, you might have killed the yeast due to the water being too hot. If this is the case, just start over with new yeast! If your yeast is good to go, pour the yeast and the flax egg mixture into the flour. Using a dough hook attachment, set your mixer to low-medium speed and mix for 3-4 minutes.

6. Let it Rise: Pour your dough into a greased 9×5 bread pan, cover it with a kitchen towel, and let it hang out in an UNHEATED oven for about an hour. Once the dough has risen to the top of the pan, take the bread pan out of the oven.

7. Cook to perfection: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit once the dough has been taken out of the oven. Cook, uncovered for 45-50 minutes. The outside should be golden brown. Let bread cool completely before cutting into slices.


That's it: bread.  I only let my dough rise for half an hour because it was already well over the top of the pan.  Then, I checked my loaf after 40 minutes and the top was golden brown so I took it out.  This was a mistake.  While the flavor of the bread was good, it was a bit underdone.  How are you supposed to know when bread is done though?

While I think this would be good bread had I cooked it long enough, it is still a bit dense, as gluten free bread often is.  It's more the consistency of banana bread than fluffy sandwich bread.  How do you make fluffy gluten free sandwich bread you ask?  No one has figured it out.  I'm telling you, really good gluten free bread doesn't exist yet.  Sure, there are good ones out there, like my personal favorite, Canyon Bakehouse, but honestly, no gluten eating person is throwing down their bread to eat ours.

My brother has informed me I need to keep trying.  According to him, this is just the first in many bread attempts.  I need to figure out the science of it.  The science, as I understand it, is gluten makes things fluffy.  No gluten, no fluffy.  I'll work on it though.  Maybe.

Muddy Buddies

Their picture was prettier than mine.

I love the Super Bowl. Mostly for the food, drinks, commercials, half time show, and feeling oh so very American. And did I mention the food?

I had the usual nachos and veggies with dip at this year's super bowl extravaganza, but I also made muddy buddies for the first time. I've been wanting to make these for a long time but I knew, without a doubt, I was not to be trusted with these myself. I don't think I've even had muddy buddies since middle school, they certainly never made an appearance at my house growing up, but I just knew I would love them (and eat excessive amounts of them).

Well, I was right. And for good reason. Muddy buddies are delicious, and addicting. I copied the recipe right off the corn chex box. I omitted the vanilla because I didn't have any on hand. I also used the whole box of cereal, because really, why not?


These are a great snack, especially for kids, or adults like myself that are basically kids.  One party attendee said she wanted to pour some milk on them and eat it like cereal.  This is honestly not a bad idea.  However you eat them - enjoy!


Chex Muddy Buddies

9	cups Rice Chex®, Corn Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2	cup peanut butter
1/4	cup butter or margarine
1	teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2	cups powdered sugar

.

1.	Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2.	In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3.	Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Oh Hi

Sorry I've been missing.  I've been pretty busy with stuff I'm not quite ready to share with you yet.  It's big though, just you wait.  I have been cooking and baking up a storm though.

There are two things I'd like to recommend you make.

First, I made this chicken salad last Monday from With Style & Grace.  I mixed it with greens and had it for lunch every day last week.  It was a nice change from whatever it is I usually eat for lunch.  Next time I'll use grapes instead of raisins.

From With Style & Grace

Next, this weekend I made blueberry scones.  I had never made scones before, but I really like them.  Scones often get a bad rap, but they are perfect with a cup of tea.  They are also, as you may remember, a large part of the reason I got fat in college.  Oops.

From Celiac Teen

Lauren used currants, but I don't like currnts so I used blueberries.  This recipe was another reason I needed a food scale.  If you don't have one, I'm sorry, because I have no idea what this would be in cups.

Ok, back to my busy life now.

Gluten Free Oreos

Ok.  I did it.  I broke down and bought a food scale.  I used to be annoyed by all the gluten free recipes posted in grams.  Mostly annoyed because I wanted to make them and couldn't.  And then I asked for 10 different kinds of flour for Christmas and realized that without a food scale I couldn't use the flour in all these recipes that I've been wanting to make.  So now, here's my first recipe in grams.  I'm really sorry.

Oh, it's also my first recipe using sweet rice and teff flour.  There will be many more different flours to come.

I adapted this recipe from the Gluten Free Girl.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
80 grams sweet rice flour
60 grams white rice flour
35 grams teff flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg

For the  filling:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl combine the flours.  Whisk in the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3) On low speed, beat in the butter and egg.  It will look dry, but keep mixing, it will come together.

4) Scoop 2 teaspoons of batter and form a ball.  Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand into a round disk and smooth the edges.  Place on prepared cookie sheet.

5) Bake cookies for 5 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.

6) Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth.

7)  When the cookies are cool spread some frosting onto one cookie and then top with another.  Repeat.

That's it.  Oreos.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are another thing we made in my high school F&CS class that I have continued to make over the years.  As you probably don't remember, when I first went gluten free I was worried I'd never be able to make these cookies again and Richie Fries would take back his marriage proposal, even if he didn't remember making it.  Well, don't worry, I made these last weekend and they were just as good as their gluten filled counterparts.

I used Cup4Cup for this recipe.  It worked really well.  I also used the cream of tartar for the first time.  I usually omit it because I've never had any before.  Quite frankly, I didn't notice much of a difference with it in there, so feel free to go either way on that one.  Remember, this recipe was originally gluten filled, so if you aren't gluten free go ahead and use regular flour.

Ingredients:
Cookie -
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups GF flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Topping -
3 T white sugar
1 T cinnamon

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees (this is not a typo)

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

3) In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

4)  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

5) In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.

6) Roll dough into one inch balls.  Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

7) Bake for 12 minutes - no more.  They will look a little underdone, but they'll crinkle and set perfectly as you let them cool.

Enjoy!  Let me know if these get you any marriage proposals.

Cup4Cup

Developed by Chef Lena Kwak, with the support of Chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, Cup4Cup is designed to replace regular wheat flour "cup for cup" in gluten free baking.  With such prestigious people behind it, developed exclusively for Williams-Sonoma, and with the claim of doing everything wheat flour can do in most gluten free recipes, Cup4Cup has been getting a lot of attention recently.

Cup4Cup made it onto my Christmas wishlist but I couldn't wait until Christmas morning to open this gift. Cup4Cup is comprised of cornstarch, white rice flour, brown rice flour, milk powder, tapioca flour, potato starch, and xanthan gum.  A three pound bag will run you almost $20.  This is an awfully steep price to pay, but for all the hype I wanted to try it anyway.

With my three pounds of Cup4Cup I was able to make:

This banana bread.

These snickerdoodles.

And this corn bread.

All three turned out pretty well.  The banana bread and cornbread were a bit gummier than I'm used to my baked goods turning out.  I'm not sure if this was a result of the xanthan gum in the mixture, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  My only other critique is the breads dried out within a day or two.  With a little butter in the toaster oven they were still good, though.  The snickerdoodles were perfect.  Overall I was pretty happy with Cup4Cup.  At $20 a bag I'm not sure I'll be using it in my everyday baking, but it is a good mix to have around and for those not as comfortable mixing flours in the kitchen.

Have you tried this?  Is it worth the money?  How'd your treats come out?