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gluten-free fairy berry snack mix

Snack it to me: Fairy Berry Trail Mix

This post is part of Snack It To Me Week– a week full of recipes for my favorite snack mixes.

My desk has two drawers, a shoe drawer and a snack drawer. I might be a snack food junkie.

shoedrawer

Well, sort of.

Living gluten-free for 7 years, I have learned to never take access to safe food for granted. Every time I go out to a new restaurant, there is a snack in my bag of some kind. Sometimes it is a granola/protein bar. Sometimes it  is a snack mix. Sometimes it is a box of crackers and a packet of almond butter. But there is always something. And often several somethings.

Having an easy to grab and delicious snack on hand is incredibly important for kids and adults.

snack it to me preview

 

This week, I am going to share 7 snack mixes that are endlessly adaptable, take less than 10 minutes to throw together. And above all are delicious. My goal is to rid you of that hangry feeling that can happen when you are out, hungry and there isn’t a decent gluten-free option in sight. (There is no GORP – good old raisins and peanuts for those of you that never went to Girl Scout Camp – on this list, I want show you just how fun snack mixes can be.)

They include:

  1. Fairy Berry Trail Mix
  2. Sour Patched Trail Mix
  3. Cherry Cordial Snack Mix
  4. Mango Lassi Trail Mix
  5. Apricocious Trail Mix
  6. Raisinably Delicious Snack Mix
  7. Happy Endings Trail Mix

And, once I have shared my recipes with you, I will share my favorite pre-made gluten-free snacks.

gluten-free fairy berry snack mix

I have admitted more than once to you that I often eat like a four year old. I love purple food. The more colorful the cereal, the happier I am. And I can never turn down fruit snacks.

So, I made you this mix.

This is not your ordinary trail mix. There are no nuts. No candy. No pretzels. No flashbacks to leaky tents and mosquito bites.

It appeals to my inner child (hence the name – what four year old girl doesn’t love fairies?). It is sweet and a little chewy. There are lots of little pieces to pop into your mouth. Bright colors.

And it appeals to the grown-up that I am trying to be. Jam packed with anti-oxidants and vitamin c. The sweetness of the cherries and blueberries is balanced by the tang of the goji berries. There are no artificial colors or refined sugars.

Enjoy!

Snack it to me: Fairy Berry Trail Mix

Recipe Type: Snack
Author: Mary Fran Wiley
Prep time: 5 mins
Total time: 5 mins
Serves: 4
Dried berries are like nature’s candy. Buy fruit without added sweetener – the naturally occurring sugars intensify as the fruits dry and additional sugar is not needed. Also, feel free to use this as a template for your own creations. Dried strawberries could be awesome here so could cranberries. Let your imagination run wild!
Ingredients
  • 50 grams dried blueberries
  • 50 grams dried cherries
  • 50 grams dried gogi berries
Instructions
  1. Weigh out and combine ingredients.
  2. Store in an air-tight container for up to one month.
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HAWMC Day 12: It gets better

I am attempting the Wego Health Activist Writers’ Month Challenge. A post each day in April. So, now that I told you I am going to do it, I oughta follow through, right? Today’s prompt is to post about what you would say to yourself on the day you got diagnosed if you could go back.

I think today, I should focus on the food. Most of my readers come here because they want to bake and eat fabulously with just a lot less (read: none) gluten.

There aren’t a whole heck of a lot of things that make the sting of having to change your entire diet sting less. Or seem less daunting.

Well, except…

It gets better.

Dear Me, Age 22,

Oh, dollface, it really does get better. You won’t mind that people think you are weird because you can’t drink beer. Your migraines are going to ease up. You are going to feel like living again. Your immune system won’t decide that every bug should just come round for a cup of tea.

You are going to start eating better.

At first, you are going to be forced to eat better simply because 90% of the pre-made gluten-free stuff tastes pretty darn bad in 2006. And it is crazy expensive, and you are on a student budget. So, you are going to eat a lot of vegetables. And rice. And you are going to start to love Indian food because of how easy it is to eat out.

After a while it is going to be habit. You are even going to find the strength to lose 120lbs. (Don’t go back to eating junk when it starts to become readily available – or else you will gain some of it back).

You are going to feel like a new person.

You will have energy you never knew you could have (you are going to work 3 jobs your senior year, graduate with honors and with a couple of job offers – this time, don’t turn down Google, you idiot).

Your migraines are going to stop being constant. Your stomach will stop being upset after every meal. You will be less grouchy.

Your friends will come around.

Sure, it is hard for them. It was hard for you. They aren’t going to know what to say when you turn down dinner plans because you can’t eat somewhere safely. They are going to be weird when you can’t drink at a party because there is just a keg. You’ll get over them being weird, and they will get used to the new way you have to eat.

Sincerely, You, age 28

 

A spring in my step : Honey Lavender Ice Cream

Yes, darlings, I have been over-sharing a bit lately. Or just sharing. Spreading some awareness.

But awareness is exhausting. I need a break from telling you so much about myself. Because, soon, you are going to know me better than I know myself.

And, besides, it is spring. It even momentarily was get a pedicure and dig out the sandals weather here in Chicago.

So, I dug out some spring flavors and the ice cream maker. And I made you a treat.  Read more

strength is something you choose

HAWMC Day 7: Sensationalize!

I am attempting the Wego Health Activist Writers’ Month Challenge. A post each day in April. So, now that I told you I am going to do it, I oughta follow through, right? Today’s post was to write the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard about health or your condition.

I hear stuff all the time. Crazy, ridiculous things. Usually in the comments sections of articles. The ignorance is heart breaking, and often the grammar is just as appalling.

About Chronic Pain (I am going to go with the whole category because the ridiculous things said apply to all varieties of pain)

“It is a great way to get some sort of pity and plenty of state benefit.People look on the internet to find an illness that fits there way of life.”

“It is all in your head.”

“You just want pain killers.”

“Oh, I broke my ankle once, I know how you feel.”

“You smile so often, you can’t possibly be in pain.”

“If you just lived gluten-grain-dairy-caffeine-alchohol-free life you could cure your pain.”

About living gluten-free

“You just want people to feel bad for you.”

“Gluten-free, isn’t that like low carb?”

“I thought gluten-free people were skinny.”

“People with food allergies & sensitivities should not be allowed to reproduce so we can get these problems out of the gene pool.”

How I respond

strength is something you choose

Comments like these are par for the course when your body has some faulty wiring. In my experience, as much as I have wanted to bop these people on the head, I find that it is best to kill people with kindness.

It is dang hard.

These attitudes come from sensationalistic media and a general public that is ok being ignorant of things that dont effect them. And they hurt. They get me at my core. I would do anything for a warm, crunch, chewy french bread that didn’t taste of egg. To be able to go to any restaurant. To not need to sit near the door on the train so I can get off efficiently because I can’t stand on a moving train.

So I choose to find the strength to kill ’em with kindness. To educate. One person at a time.

And to find the strength to not bop them on the head.

HAWMC Day 5: Aspirations

I am attempting the Wego Health Activist Writers’ Month Challenge. A post each day in April. So, now that I told you I am going to do it, I oughta follow through, right? Today’s Prompt: What’s your one, three, or five year plan for your Health Activism?

After my diagnosis, I let the pain dictate my life.

When I was in my dark place, I had the idea to start writing a food blog. To share my recipes and to have a place to document my trials and successes in gluten-free baking. The thought of health activism (or any other type of activism) was so far outside of what I had planned, that sharing my struggle with food and weight even seemed out of place. I was just going to write about food. Food that just happened to also be gluten-free.

And that was ok for a while. Because I wrote about food. Just the food.

And even if you consider a blog about gluten-free food a form of activism, for me it wasn’t. I wasn’t wildly passionate about whole foods or clean eating or paleo. I never discussed the why of gluten-free, just the what. Butter, sugar, eggs. Eating all the treats that being gluten-free had tried to ruin for me.

Until I mentioned my chronic pain. It was the day that this whole blog changed.

Why on earth am I telling you this?

Because I need you to know that this whole activist thing is pretty dang new to me. And I’m not sure that activist is the right term for what I want to do.

Really.

Let me explain.

I don’t want to be a food evangelist. I don’t want to engage in debates about the evilness of gluten. I don’t want to go shouting from the rooftops that CRPS is a vile, cruel and heartless condition. I don’t want to keep explaining that the pain is not all in my head.

I want to show you that a diagnosis of an incurable and progressive disease is no reason to give up. That losing gluten isn’t so bad. That a cupcake or two is always a good choice.

I want you to have delicious treats. And I want you to see that life is a beautiful, wonderful thing – no matter what battles you are fighting. I want you to see that no matter what you can live with joy. I want you to see that anyone can embrace dancing in the rain.

7649954044_624cee2c57_z

Because the pain, it’s not taking over again. There’s a new sherif in town and its name is hope.

he who has hope has everything

Someday soon I hope to write a cookbook. One filled with treats and eats. Share my joy with the world. It would be lovely if I could get a podcast with one of the best ladies I know off the ground. I have a new project in the works that is based on all of these positive posters that I designed.

But those are the footnotes.

The things that will happen because I showed you some joy. And some home-cooked comfort.

gluten-free jammie dodgers

Ratio Rally: Shortbread (Gluten-Free Jammie Dodgers)

This post is part of the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally, a group of gluten-free bloggers inspired and empowered by Ruhlman‘s Ratio and started by Shauna at Gluten-Free Girl. We get together each month and post many different takes on the same theme. This month that theme is Gluten-Free Shortbread and the rally is being hosted by Meaghan from Wicked Good Vegan.

Come along, Pond.

It has been a while since my last contribution to the Ratio Rally, and I can’t be happier to be back. With a pot of coffee, twelve jammie dodgers and a fez.

I might be excited because I am letting my nerd flag fly just a little bit. I can’t begin to tell you how long I have been planning to make these – it has been since I found out that the rally this month was for shortbread. Because shortbread meant an excuse to make a gluten-free “jammie dodger”. A british sandwich cookie that has a jam filling. They are buttery, just the right about of crumbly and crunchy.

A cookie for a grown up who likes the charm of a sandwich cookie but with the simple sophistication of a shortbread. Ok, and a cookie for your next gluten-free Doctor Who marathon.

For those of you who are not as awesomely nerdy as I am, the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who has featured these cookies as the current incarnation of the Doctor’s favorite cookie, they even stood in for a self destruct button for the Tardis, his time machine/space ship, in one episode.

So clearly, I, as a proud nerd, had to make some. Having never had the real ones, and not being to able to ever have them, all I know is that these cookies seem to fit the descriptions of Jammie Dodgers that I could find. A shortbread cookie with a jam filling.

Done.

gluten free ratio rally logo

Shortbread is easy: 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour. And you can experiment from there. My ratio is a little different, but only because I bumped up or down amounts to get them to be even with the way butter is sold and to have an even cup of sugar (just in case you are still using your old fashioned measuring cups…shame on you!)

You can find the full list of this month’s participants at Wicked Good Vegan.

gluten-free jammie dodgers

Gluten-Free Jammie Dodgers

Recipe Type: Cookie
Cuisine: British
Author: Mary Fran Wiley
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 17 mins
Total time: 47 mins
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 460 grams (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 200 grams (1 cup) sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
  • 680 grams (5 cups) gluten-free all purpose flour blend*
  • 2 1/2 teapsoons xantham gum**
  • Strawberry or rasperry jam
Instructions
  1. Cream together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla bean paste until it is just blended.
  2. Add the flour in 2 batches, scraping down the sides of your mixer after each addition.
  3. Stir in the vanilla bean paste.
  4. Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. About halfway through this time, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough out and cut into 2.5″ circles. On half of them, cut out a small circle or heart.
  6. Pop the cut out cookies on cookie sheets into the freezer for 5 minutes before baking.
  7. Arrange about a half inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and bake for 12-15 minutes.
  8. Cool on a wire rack.
  9. Spread the half the cookies with a scant teaspoon of jam and then top with a cookie with a hole cut out of it to make a sandwich.
Notes
*This recipe will work best with Cup4Cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. You may use Jules Nearly Normal or Better Batter flours with good results. Do not use a baking mix such a Pamela’s or Gluten-Free Bisquick. **Xantham gum only needed if it isn’t in your all-purpose blend, the suggested blends already include it.
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Relish 03: March 2013

Relish 03: Put a little spring in your step

Relish is a compendium of things to enjoy greatly and that add a little flavor to your gluten-free life. Because really, life is all about the awesome sauce.

Relish 03: March 2013

March is the bringer of spring, even if that spring starts out with near-freezing temperatures and some snow. This month I was incredibly lucky yet again. I had gluten-free pancakes at Little Goat made by Stephanie Izard herself and I learned how to make a killer guacamole from Rick Bayless. I even crossed macarons off of my culinary bucket list.

But as wonderful as my month was, a fellow blogger got hit by the food elitists and took on adult food bullies (part 2).

Four Gluten-Free Recipes

This month, like every month, the internet was filled with delicious new recipes that I can’t wait to make. You might know that I am obsessed with Chunky Monkey Ice Cream…and this(01) Chunky Monkey Banana Ring Cake from Silvana Nardone looks like heaven. To health things up a bit, might I suggest these (02) Quinoa Pizza Bites from Gfree Laura. Uh, super yum! Movie nights will never be the same now that I have a recipe for  (03) Garlicky Lime Popcorn from Spiced Curiosity. But I think this month, this (04) Warm Almond Quinoa Breakfast Sundae from The Healthy Apple takes the cake. It feels almost as indulgent as the frozen custard my Papa used to give my sister and I for breakfast when we were kids.

 

relishluxuries-march

Now that we are well fed, let’s treat ourselves. You might already know that I am a lipstick junkie and that I will try out just about any lip product that comes my way. Well, I found this (01) lip scrub from local gal (well, she grew up in Aurora) Sara Happ. After months of searching, I finally found (02) perfect black flats. They are lined in suede and the leather feels like butter. (03) My “Make Cupcakes Not War” tshirt is one of my favorite designs from tshirt designer extraordinaire Johnny Cupcakes. To go on your newly smooth lips, (04) Hot Mess lipgloss from Red Apple Lipstick might be my unexpected favorite makeup purchase so far in 2013.

In April, the Ratio Rally is back! You can also follow along as I challenge myself to write a post each day for the Wego Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge.

gluten-free grapefruit guacamole

Cook the Books: Frontera by Rick Bayless and Grapefruit guacamole

Let’s talk vegetables. If you have followed this blog for a while, then you know that I gravitate more towards buttercreams and brownies.

Because, frankly, those are the things I desperately missed when I went gluten-free.

But there is this whole other world of food — one filled with a rainbow of colors and textures. And it has its own type of creamy rich stuff you can put on everything.

Read more

FrannyCakes is 2!

FrannyCakes is 2! (A giveaway!)

I really can’t believe that I have been at this for two years already. I also can’t believe that it has only been two years.

The second year of FrannyCakes has provided me with so very many opportunities, found me an amazing group of new friends and given me a voice to share my story.

FrannyCakes is 2!

I wrote my first ebook. I had my heart broken. I almost gave up on blogging, but I shared my secret and fought back. I spoke at a blogging conference. I taught a baking class at a gluten-free expo. I gave another talk on blogging. I crossed something off of my culinary bucket list. I started a new regular feature here.

I made 537 cupcakes. Read 28 new cookbooks (yes, like they were novels). Reviewed a few. I got to meet some pretty awesome bloggers.

And it was all because you stuck around and kept reading. And wanting to know more.

Thanks!

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Thank you for reading! Thank you for your support! I love you all!

Year 3 is starting with a bang. I have a giveaway. There is a recipe for macarons tomorrow. A new ebook in less than 2 weeks. And so much more exciting stuff headed your way!

To enter, you must like FrannyCakes on Facebook, and then there are bonus entries for commenting here and liking some of my good friends on Facebook too!
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