France, Gluten Free

This is the shot that got me in trouble at Laduree on the Champs Elysee in Paris last July.  I was told (not so politely) that photos were not allowed.  In my defense,  I couldn't resist trying to capture the incredible beauty of all those naturally gluten free cookies.  I only wish I could have captured the aroma of freshly baked macaroons.  Needless to say, we bought a box...and then came back a few days later for another and had brunch there. It was Bastille Day and the parade was over, but the crowds were still there and it was raining, so we ducked into Laduree and had omelettes and tea and dessert, all totally gluten free and made to perfection.

I've been to France before and had very little trouble eating gluten free and am always surprised to hear when people are panicked over the prospect.  I spent about ten days there this past July, five days in Paris while my husband was there on business and several more in Brittany with my Aunt at her vacation home. I am not as sensitive to minor cross contamination, so I lived a bit dangerously and did not worry about eating the fries and just tried to stick to sauces that were wine reduction to avoid flour. Here are some of the highlights:

Dessert at La Fontaine de Mars (where President Obama ate on his trip to Paris, near the Eiffel Tower)

Chocolate Mousse and Berries with Pistachio Cream

Dinner at Willie’s Wine Bar (near the Palais Royale), where you can give them a list of your food intolerances and they will find the closest fit with their menu and then make substitutions.

Leek soup, beef with herbs and olive oil, Hazelnut Panna Cotta

Dinner with my Aunt: pork chops in cream and lemon thyme pound cake (which I made with almond meal and gluten free all purpose flour.

Pork Chops with Mushrooms. Lemon Thyme Pound Cake

Lemon Thyme Pound Cake
for cake:
200 g salted butter
200 g caster sugar
100 g all-purpose flour (or GF all-purpose flour)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
100 g ground almonds (almond meal)
4 large eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. thyme leaves


for syrup:
4 T sugar
juice from 2 large lemons
1/2 tsp thyme leaves
loaf pan lined with parchment (I used a quiche pan)


Preheat oven to 325° F
Cream butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.
Sift flour and baking powder and add almonds.
Lightly beat eggs and fold them into the mixture in
2 or 3 sessions, beating in thoroughly.
Mix zest and thyme leaves and add to mixture.
Spoon into pan and bake (45 mins for loaf/25 mins quiche pan)


Dissolve sugar in lemon juice in saucepan and add thyme leaves.
Cook over moderate heat to make syrup.
Spike finished cake and pour syrup over.


(—recipe from a British magazine/newspaper article)

Obviously, the time spent with my Aunt was the easiest, because we had a kitchen and could cook for ourselves, but I also researched ahead of time and brought some gluten free things with me for treats as well as crackers to substitute for bread.  I found a Naturalia store (health food chain) online and went there the first day and bought GF bread to have for breakfast toast or for emergencies. Then I just told waiters that I needed to eat “sans gluten” and everything was fine.  In traditional cafes, I went with steak frites and avoided the sauce. I also ate moules frites (mussels and french fries) a few times and just avoided the bread they served with it. My bigger problem was that steak was too difficult for me to chew, given my TMJ issues.  Luckily, they don't overcook it there, so that made it a bit easier...as long as I cut into tiny pieces first.

So go to France and enjoy all the wonderful things it has to offer.  And leave the nasty gluten to everyone else.  You're not really missing that much.

Artichokes at the Farmer's Market, St. Brieuc, France

Karen, herself

Berry Crisp

Happy fourth of July!

Here's a recipe I adapted from the latest Weight Watcher's weekly handout.

2 cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries
extra berries for top
3/4 cup Jules' gluten free all purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
pinch salt

Rinse berries and drain, place in bowl.  Mix sugar and flour, then sprinkle 3 T of the mixture over the berries.  Put berries into an 8" square pan.  Melt butter and mix with flour and sugar.  Dot on top of berries.  Bake in preheated oven (350°) for 35-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle fresh reserved berries on top.  Serves 8.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

My topping did not brown as much as the WW one in their picture.  It may have been due to the gluten free flour.  Looks really good.  Can't wait to try it.  The WW version is 4 points (without the extra berries and the ice cream).

Have a happy holiday and stay gluten free...it's hard but it's worth it.

ps:  it tasted as good as it looked!
Karen, herself

Gluten Free Hamburger Buns

It's Memorial Day Weekend and I'm going to a a friend's place tomorrow and was asked to bring GF hamburger buns.  The only ones I know of are the Tapioca ones from Ener-G Foods, which are ok, but not great.  I searched online and found this recipe from Annalise Roberts and Claudia Pillow on another gluten free blog and tried it today.  Here is the result.  They look great.  I can only hope they taste as good as they look.  Haven't tried them yet as the recipe only made six and I wanted to take them all tomorrow.

If you're up for it, try them this weekend. Just follow the links above. I will be reporting back on the taste and with more photos after we try them!

Happy Holiday,

Karen, herself

Quinoa and Beet Salad with Tuna

Quinoa salad, tuna salad

3 cups red quinoa, cooked

1 green onion, sliced thinly

Italian parsley, chopped

1 roasted beet, diced

1 T lemon olive oil

1 T rice vinegar

1/4 tsp. dijon mustard

salt and pepper

I’ve been avoiding breads, pasta, and crackers in favor of whole grains of late and I created this quinoa salad by accident. I started out thinking that some green onion would be nice, then remembered I had parsley and then thought I would put in some left over roasted beet.  I dressed it with just a little vinaigrette made with my favorite olive oil (O and Co.'s  Au Citron). The result was sweet and savory and light. I made it for lunch one day and had enough to serve with dinner and several more lunches. I show it here with tuna salad, but it is also delicious with grilled chicken or fish.

My avoidance of bread has to do with my renewed efforts to control episodes of hypoglycemia and to fix my metabolism.  I recently found another program that is similar to The Schwartzbein Principle but that seems to fit more into my ongoing weight loss efforts with Weight Watchers — it's called Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads by Christine Avanti.  Christine is a nutritionist who, like Dr. Schwartzbein,  believes that fixing the metabolism is key to achieving optimum weight.  Her program involves eating protein and good carbs together with healthy fats (the PC combo) every 4 hours, keeping blood sugar even.  The difference is that the Skinny Chicks program is about 1400 calories per day which works out to be about 24 WW points and seems pretty compatible with Weight Watchers.

The one point that made me reevaluate what I have been doing is her recommendation to eat breakfast within one hour of waking and to never delay a meal. I tried this and noticed that I had fewer headaches.  I felt like slapping myself up the side of the head! I have known for years that I should never SKIP meals, but for some reason, I thought it was ok to DELAY my breakfast until after I exercised.  On my weigh-in days, I even delayed breakfast until after I weighed in...at 9:30 a.m.  I started wondering if this was triggering a 3-day headache in and of itself.  I also have been wondering if the calorie restriction of dieting itself was part of the problem.  So I am embracing eating by the numbers (21 g of protein and 30 g of carb per meal) and eating every four hours and having breakfast within one hour of waking.  So far, so good.  Headache days dropped from 4-5 to 1-2 per week. Not sure yet if it is a fluke.  It's only been three weeks, but it is incredible to get part of my life back.

Karen, herself

Happy Easter

Talking to my mother the week before Easter made me long for the Easter food I grew up with: Polish ham, fresh kielbasa and homemade Słodki Chleb, a sweet, egg bread with raisins. I often have this idea to recreate the old holidays, but since I left Detroit (over 30 years ago) I have never found a local source for fresh authentic Polish kielbasa. I thought Seattle must have such a place but in the nearly seven years I have lived here, I never found it...until this week. I discovered George’s Deli on Madison at Ninth Ave., and it was like a little bit of Slavic heaven on earth. Not only did I find kielbasa the likes of which I have not had outside of Detroit, but Kolachki (cookies) and Angel Wings and Polish horseradish.

Unfortunately, the cookies, bread, and potato pancake mixes were loaded with gluten. Happily, the kielbasa was not. Undeterred, I got out my grandmother's recipe for the sweet bread and my store of Jules’ Gluten Free Flour Mix and got to work. The recipe makes 2 loaves and takes 5 cups of flour, so I was a bit worried. What if it doesn't rise and I waste all that flour? Luckily, it rose like a champ and I have been nearly jumping around my kitchen with joy ever since. It was real bread. It was my grandmother's bread. It's aroma was intoxicating and the taste of it took me back to those Easter mornings of my childhood.

The kielbasa was to die for. I must have forgotten what real fresh kielbasa tastes like. It's not that heavy greasy stuff you get from the big name brands you find in the grocery. It's actually delicate and light and not greasy. The texture was soft. The garlic and herb taste was subtle, not heavy handed. If you want to know what real Polish kielbasa tastes like, go to George’s. For a gluten free version of Słodki Chleb, read on.

Grandma Cichon’s Słodki Chleb (Sweet Bread)

(makes 2 loaves)

3 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

1 heaping cup sugar

1 1/2 cups milk, warm

1 pkg. yeast ( I proof with sugar)

1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

5 cups flour (I used Jules’ GF All Purpose)

raisins (optional)

Dissolve yeast in water. Beat eggs until light. Add sugar, melted butter, milk, vanilla and yeast mixture to eggs. Add flour, salt and nutmeg. Beat 200 times by hand (or 200 beats on medium with stand mixer with paddle). Let dough rise in large bowl (covered with cloth) until doubled in size (mine didn’t exactly double), about 1 1/2 hours. Beat down dough. Fill 2 greased loaf pans half full. Cover. Let rise again (usually GF flours don’t need this step but I did it anyway for about 30 minutes). Sprinkle top with sugar. Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes (mine took 45 mins.). Test for doneness. Let cool in oven with oven door open.

This bread is great just as it is, or toasted. Try it, you’ll like it.

Karen, herself

Beyond Brown Rice Pasta

2 oz. De Boles Gluten Free Multi Grain Penne, cooked

1/2 can tuna, drained

2 tsp. mayonnaise

1/4 tsp. dijon mustard

asparagus, chopped and steamed

1/4 red bell pepper, diced and steamed

freshly ground pepper

Are you tired of plain rice pasta? Do you long for something more like the whole wheat pasta you used to eat before abandoning gluten? I did. So when I spotted this multi grain penne I jumped at the chance to try it. It is made from Rice, Quinoa and Amaranth and cooks in 8-9 minutes. Its texture seems to me to be in between that of brown rice and whole wheat pasta, a little more firm than the former. The taste is more complex than just rice pasta. I really like it. I did notice that some other GF blogs have given it a definite “thumbs down” but I suspect they overcooked it. The box says to boil for 12-15 minutes! One thing I have learned in life is to cook rice pastas for 6-8 minutes and check them and only then let them cook on if they need it. Hate mushy pasta big-time. The pasta in my photo took a bit over 8 minutes and was perfect.

According to the nutritional label on the box, 2 oz. of this pasta contains 200 calories, 1.5 g fat, and 3 g fiber and 5 g protein. It also contains Xanthan Gum, for those of you who are interested.

So try it and see how you like it. I found it at PCC Market in Issaquah, WA. I have heard some people got it at Whole Foods and it is available on line as well. It would be interesting to see who else likes this product. If you’ve tried it, leave a comment.

Karen, herself

Black Bean Feta Chopped Salad

1 cup shredded mixed greens

mushrooms and zucchini sauteed in olive oil

1/2 small avocado, chopped

1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1 stalk celery, diced

1 oz. sheep's milk feta, crumbled

1 tsp. olive oil/3/4 tsp. red wine vinegar

My gluten free self has become cranky. I am three years into this life and suddenly I am peeved (or worse) when I go to a high end restaurant in the Puget Sound area, where I have notified the staff ahead of time of my gluten intolerance, and upon arrival they are clueless, offer virtually no help and are even somewhat smug about my inability to eat some of the things on their menu. Last week I went to a place that has many wonderful cheese selections on their menu and I would have loved to have tried one of them, but didn’t because in my rush to leave the house, I neglected to bring my own GF crackers with me. I never used to feel put out when places answered “no” to my request for rice crackers, but now I feel definitely deprived and, yes, miffed. Why can't more places just have a box of rice crackers on hand?

It seems the more I notice how main stream gluten free food is the more annoyed I get with those who still don't get it. I know how this will sound to some, but I think it’s rude to invite people who cannot eat gluten to your home and serve things that are loaded with it and then say (maybe even with a laugh) ...oh, you can’t have this...or...just don't eat it (and watch everyone else groan with pleasure over it. Yeah, that’s fun).

I have started to shun parties and events where gluten is the main ingredient, even though I really wanted to go for the social aspect. Aside from my gluten issues, I also cannot skip meals because of my headaches, so going to a pizza parlor to watch my friends eat if I haven't eaten in seven hours is not an option. I even left a cranky message on the Starbucks free pastry day ad on Facebook today.

I think the reason I’ve gotten this way is that I know it can be better. I have been to places where the chef came out to meet me and made sure I not only was safe, but had an enjoyable meal. In Italy, the restaurant in the hotel we stayed at got out their GF pasta and made wonderful sauces for me. It’s not that hard.

Karen, her cranky self