Summertime and the living is....chaotic?

Okay, so I have found myself severely remorseful that I have not maintained my blog properly. But when the spring months hit, life becomes just a little more crazy at work and I tend to take on a little more too or perhaps it is a case that everything that I took on in September finally comes full circle in the Spring months; who knows.  So now I find myself with the month of July nearly gone and I still have not updated with news of all the wonderful gluten free things that I have consumed and/or made.  It is all such an incredible journey but there are just not enough hours in the day to do everything  that I want to do. :(

First things first, before I talk about two incredible meals at fabulous restaurants that I had to celebrate my birthday in May;  Joy McCarthy is coming to Halifax in August for a book signing. If you read my book review post in the winter you will know that she is the author of Joyous Health and a holistic nutritionist. I have, since writing the review of Joyous Health, made some of her recipes including: Chia Black Bean Brownies, Detox Juice, Double Chocolate Gluten Free Cookies, Apple Beet Carrot Slaw with Honey Dressing and Raw Carrot Cake Balls (absolutely fabulous). I have more recipes earmarked to try as I find the time. Anyhow, she will be at the Healthy Bug on August 22nd and Organic Earth Market on August 23rd. You can find a link to her site here. I will definitely be going to one of the signings and hear what she has to say about organic living and healthy eating. Hopefully others will come out and show her some Maritime/ East Coast hospitality.

Secondly, I will be reviewing Chef Michael Smith's newest cookbook, Family Meals. Looking forward to doing this and to see what kind of family friendly recipes he has to offer. My nephew or parents may be the guinea pigs for this food experiment. :) Stay tuned, as the review will be forthcoming in the next two weeks. He will also be in Nova Scotia for an event in September as well.

So for my birthday in May I decided to do something a little different this year. Traditionally I go to the Wooden Monkey, primarily because I know that it is a safe spot for me to eat. However, I had been wanting to try Morris East for quite awhile but never quite got around to it. I knew that they had gluten free options, as Schoolhouse Bakery supplies them with the crust, so I know that it is completely safe. I decided it was time to give it a try. My parents came into the city 2 days before my birthday, on the same day as Open City. The weather was horrible and I only managed to get to Lost Cod Clothing Co. before meeting my parents to treat myself to a couple of new t-shirts, but dinner with Mom and Dad more than made up for it.

Morris East--Kale Sprout Salad

Morris East has two locations, downtown on Morris Street and just off Larry Uteck Blvd in the Bedford area. Mom and I decided that we would be better off going to the Larry Uteck location, as my father does not have patience for driving downtown at the best of times, let alone in the pouring rain while trying to find a parking spot.  The atmosphere at the Larry Uteck location is very modern and Art Deco. Photos that I have seen of the Morris Street location show a more old world pizzeria feel.  There was a lot of light from the floor to ceiling windows but alas it was pouring rain. The menu was still their winter/spring menu, so the menu has now slightly altered for the summertime. I first looked at the wine menu, as I had already determined that I wanted a glass but was dismayed by their lack of Nova Scotia wines on the list. I contented myself with a Pinot Grigio from Mission Hill B.C. and it was light and fruity and crisp but not quite what I had wanted. I ordered the Kale and Brussel Sprout salad to start, while Mom had the Beet Salad with warm goat cheese. I loved the Kale Salad with its big flakes of parmesan cheese, candied hazelnuts and mustard vinaigrette. My Mom did not enjoy her salad as much as the beets were a cold contrast to the warm goat cheese and she had assumed that the beets would also be warm. We ordered separate pizzas, as my parents decided they wanted a regular crust as opposed to my gluten free crust. My parents are supportive of my need to be gluten free, but sometimes they just don't wish to eat it. So they ordered the mushroom and sausage pizza on a whole wheat crust while I ordered the enchilada with blackened chicken on my gluten free one. I loved the fact that you can see the flames in the oven from the dining room and the pizzas coming from said oven did not disappoint. There is something about a pizza from a wood fired oven. It crisps the crust so beautifully and melts and browns the cheese so perfectly that you want to stare at it and savour the woodsy smell before diving in for the first slice. My parents thoroughly enjoyed theirs and I almost regretted not ordering the same but on my crust. I liked mine, as it was what I was in the mood for at the time, but I cannot say with definitiveness that it is something that I would order again. The dessert that we all shared, on the other hand, was this gluten free, chocolate lovers dream. It was a chocolate, cheese mousse confection piled high with white chocolate shavings resting on a chocolate ganache base. It was decadence on a plate and it took the three of us to make quick work of it. I would, without hesitation, order that again if given the chance. All in all I was impressed by Morris East and as long as they have gluten free options, I will make an effort to put it on my safe list and frequent it a little more. They just need to work on that wine list a little ;)

Morris East--Beet Salad

Morris East--Mushroom and Sausage Pizza

Morris East--Dessert, Salad and Enchilada Pizza with Blackened Chicken

2 Doors Down--Grilled Salmon

2 Doors Down--Pot de Crème

The second birthday celebration I had, was a week later and with my friends Michelle and Shawn. I almost opted for the Wooden Monkey with them, but again looked around at my options and really wanted something different. I chose to go to 2 Doors Down with them. This restaurant tries to use as many locally sourced things as possible and gives a variety of vegetarian and gluten free options which is really nice. I had eyed the menu online and kind of knew what I wanted when we got there. The rustic décor surprised me and I felt kind of overdressed once there. I liked the fact that we were served water from a Fox Hill Dairy glass milk bottle. It was a nice touch for a place that prides themselves on locally sourced items. Their wine selection was really good but the minute I placed my order for a glass of Blomidon Baco Noir, I was informed that they were in the process of changing over to the summer wine selections and there was no Baco to be had. I was disappointed to say the least as my wine selection was going to complement my dinner selection. So I settled for a glass of Seyval Blanc and changed my dinner selection consequently. I had wanted the burger with gfo, but opted for the salmon which really is not a bad alternative and when it came out perfectly grilled with perfectly roasted veggies and vinaigrette it truly was a good choice and one that I was extremely satisfied with. Michelle and Shawn respectively enjoyed their burger and poutine/calamari as well. Michelle and I shared a Chocolate Pot de Crème, which was essentially a small Mason Jar of chocolate mousse and we were enamoured by the genial use of the jar. It was another birthday well spent and I honestly cannot wait to go back to 2 Doors Down and finally try their burger for myself and hopefully they will have some lovely Baco Noir to pair with it.


Here's to Root Vegetables & Red Wine....A Little Chocolate Doesn't Hurt Either!

Well, I am now to the point where I do not know where to begin. So much has happened over the last little while and I have made and consumed so many good things that it is impossible to detail them all in one post. So I will write about my most recent adventure in the kitchen because I am truly proud of this accomplishment, because it made people happy and used one of my grandfather's favourite things; beets.

Beets are the funniest things. They are a vegetable and like most they can be baked, boiled and pickled to your hearts content. They are wonderful for all natural dyes; I know this because most days I go to work with beet stained hands from peeling one to juice it. Luckily for me that my students are so enthralled with my jam jar of juice that looks suspiciously like jam; that they do not notice my hands. I was never fond of beets growing up, but I would occasionally eat my mother's Harvard beets or the odd pickled one if it magically appeared on my plate, when sitting next to my grandfather at Sunday dinner. Since getting my juicer; beets are now a staple in my vegetable crisper. I tend to buy a big bag from Tap Root Farms, Elmridge Farms or Oak Haven Farms once a week when at the market. When I first got my juicer I told my friend Michelle about the benefits of it and how I could take some of pulps and bake with them. It took me awhile to get around to doing just that, but I did. I started with carrots into muffins and Joyous Health's Raw Carrot Cake Balls and then two weeks ago I decided I was going to make my friend Michelle a chocolate beet cake for her birthday. There was just one problem; I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

I had never made a beet cake before, let alone a gluten free one. So I poked around the trusty internet and came up with nothing. Hmmmm....odd for the internet. Most recipes called for the beets to be cooked and puréed, which I did not want to do. I wanted to use the pulp from my juicer. I noticed that some recipes called for strictly beets and no flour and others called for a small amount of almond meal. I have a recipe for really awesome, fudge like, gluten free brownies which uses cooked rice and a small amount of rice flour so I decided to employ that same theory to my cake; beet pulp and some almond meal.  I followed a few other aspects of my brownie recipe to get the chocolatey goodness I desired but modified it to get a cake like batter as opposed to a brownie batter. The end result looked like this.

Chocolate Cake and Red Wine....Yum!

 
It was the most moist cake I have had in awhile and I used very little sugar to make it. I used the Avocado Pudding that I make when I am having an intense chocolate craving and it worked perfectly as a frosting and takes no refined sugar. It was the best cake, if I do say so myself and I really do. My friend Michelle and her partner were raving about it for days; which is a compliment as Shawn tends to be somewhat picky. I am just glad that it worked out for really having no clue what I was doing and I made it the day that I had them over for dinner. If you want to try your hand at it, give the recipe a try and judge for yourself if this is not the most wonderful chocolate cake ever! Gourmandises Avenue's Intense Cocoa Powder was also a great addition to this recipe

Chocolate Beet Cake

4 Beets Medium/Large

½ cup or 125 g Almond Meal

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Xanthan Gum

1 tsp. Crystal Salt (I have a salt grinder so it is less)

4 eggs Large/Xtra Large

1 ½ cups Coconut Sugar

2 tsps. Vanilla

2 cups Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (these are gluten free) + 2 tbsp Cocoa

1/3 cup coconut oil

1. Take beets and process through a juicer. You need to separate the juice from the pulp. 4 good sized beets should yield roughly 2 to 2 ½ cups of pulp. Place pulp into a bowl with the almond meal, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum. Set aside. Place the juice in the fridge or drink as you desire.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar together with a mixer until frothy.

3. Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil together until blended.

4. While the mixer is running, slowly pour the melted chocolate into the egg and sugar mixture and then turn the mixer up so that it is completely incorporated and voluminous.

5. Add beet mixture to chocolate mixture along with the vanilla and mixture until thoroughly combined.

6. Line a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper and oil it as well. Pour batter into the pan and place in a 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool before removing it from the form.

8. Once it has been removed from the form and has completely cooled, you should be able to use a serrated knife to cut it into two layers, if you so choose. I did and used some of the “frosting” in the centre. I made a double batch of the pudding

9. Frost and enjoy.



 

Frosting!

 

Oh Yeah! We had dinner first!

I will have to give the details about dinner on a later post because it was truly fabulous as well.

If gluten free was a superhero, it would be...GRAIN POWER

 

Book: Paperback | 210 x 133mm | 224 pages | ISBN 9780143186908 | 07 Jan 2014 | Penguin Canada

 In case anyone missed the point of this entire blog; I love food! I think it comes from my Mom and Dad, both of whom enjoy good food and they rarely went out to sit down restaurants without my brother and I in tow. We were not much of a fast food family and much preferred the quietude of a restaurant with service and varying menu. You could almost call us food snobs, but we did have the occasional fast food sojourn which was not as fun as our restaurant adventures and usually occurred due to convenience and time constraints.

It wasn’t until food stopped loving me and caused me absolutely nothing but grief in 2010 that I lost my passion for cooking and subsequently eating. I began existing on the things that would keep my stomach from aching, my energy levels from taking a sharp nose dive and my weight from plummeting. Even when I was off and on the gluten free lifestyle, while waiting for testing, I felt like a fish out of water not knowing where to turn, what to cook and eat for the best. It has been a series of trial and errors, up and downs and I am wishing that a book like Grain Power: Over 100 Delicious GLUTEN-FREE Ancient Grain & Superblend Recipes by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming existed then. It did not however, but I am so very glad that it does now. The biggest hurdle has been getting enough fibre and grains into my diet and it has not been easy. I have existed on mostly chia, flax and buckwheat and psyllium fibre with the occasional quinoa and amaranth thrown in for the last year, but now with this book I can become further educated on the other types of grains that exist for those of us whom wheat is no longer an option.

The first 30 pages of this book are a rich resource for those either just beginning their journey using these ancient grains or who wish to further enhance their knowledge. Each grain has a brief description written about them in the introduction, detailing their origins and uses, however it does not end there as it does in most other whole grain cookbooks. Each grain is then given the star treatment and Patricia & Carolyn give in depth details about how to use each grain, cook each grain, turn each grain into flour, the yields they produce and each grain has a checklist that describes their flavour, texture, gluten-free status, classification as seed or grain and whether or not they are a complete protein. A detailed nutritional chart is also included in this section as well as a how-to section on sprouting the grains. Every piece of information that you could possibly wish to know is in this section.

Beyond the introduction the reader then delves into the nitty gritty of the book, the recipes. When I first received the book from Penguin Canada I flipped the book open to a picture of a chocolaty concoction that looked too good to be true; Chewy Chocolate Granola with Cherries & Buckwheat (Pg. 52) and I knew that this would be the first recipe on my list to try. I had to pick up a couple of ingredients to make this, as my pantry was not well stocked at the time in either the proper ingredients or the suggested alternatives listed. The recipe instructions were easy to follow and all the nutritional information was at the bottom of the page. The granola really was as good as its picture made it out to be although I think the next time I make it; I will cook it a little longer and crisp it up slightly. Two different time allotments are in the recipe and chewy is the lower time allotment but there is no indication as to what type of chewy that would be. As it turns out it is no cook, chocolate macaroon chewy before they are set. A good baseline indication would have been helpful for the recipe as I prefer my granola in between chewy and crunchy. The other thing was the fact that the recipe calls for slivered almonds, but I noticed in the photograph that natural, sliced almonds are present. Anyone who does any baking will know the difference between the two and I guess it boils down to a matter of preference. I prefer natural almonds and generally have them on hand in my cupboard as a staple to any type of blanched almond.

The next two recipes that I tried after indulging my chocolate craving, were two things that went perfectly together and were a perfect winter meal and made enough for me to have it for lunch all this week at work. I made the Smoked Ham & Leek Amaranth Soup (Pg. 116) and the Cheddar Garlic Ancient Grain Biscuits (Pg. 104). The soup was really quick and easy to whip up and I even had the amaranth in the cupboard as I use it in another recipe. It was tasty the first night, but better the next day after the flavours had melded together. I made one major swap in this particular recipe and that was the cream. In order to keep my soup dairy-free I used an almond/coconut milk combination instead of the cream and it worked just as well without altering the flavours. The amaranth and the starch from the potatoes (I added a little bit of sweet potato too) gave the soup a split pea soup consistency which was pleasantly surprising and belly filling. However, soup without biscuits just seems wrong, so it did not take long to make the batter and add the cheese and parsley and bake them up. One thing did confuse me about the recipe and that was in the preamble when the authors state, “Potato starch helps keep them gluten-free and gives them a lighter flavour,” (Green & Hemming, Pg. 104) But all of my ingredients were wheat and gluten-free, so how does potato starch “keep” it gluten-free? An unseasoned gluten-free cook might also be confused by this terminology.

Overall the book is put together and organized well. Most of the recipes have corresponding swaps suggested by the authors in case you do not have something on hand and most have an accompanying photograph that tantalises the reader in to wondering what to make next. I am already trying to determine that myself and I am intrigued about trying to make my own crackers. I am glad this book has found its way into my collection and I have a feeling that it will be put to good use. Kudos to Patricia & Carolyn for putting Grain Power into the hands of those who need it and those who just want to experiment with different types of whole grains.

 

 Chewy Chocolate Granola with Cherries & Buckwheat

 

 

Soup before the ham

 

 Biscuits, before the oven

 

Biscuits, after cooking

 

Supper!