Spring Time is Happiness!

Even though it is still only the first week of March here in Long Island NY I am happy cause I know spring is just ahead. How do I know this? Why am I so happy? Its because of three major holidays. St Patrick's Day, Passover, and Easter are all holidays friendly to people with Celiac Disease.

Let me start first with St Patrick's Day. This is the day where every one is smiling, even people like me who do not even have any Irish descent. Corned Beef and cabage is a meal that is definately gluten free. I highly recommend usings Freirich. It is the tastiest cornbeef out in the supermarkets and clearly states Gluten free on the packaging.
Being a nonreligious Jewish person, Passover never really meant that much to me except getting together with family and friends for the main dinner. But since being diagnosed with Celiacs, I have a new found love for Passover since due to religous requirements of not being able to eat leavened bread, there are many kosser for passover products that do not contain gluten. There are cake mixes, desserts, frozen tv dinners, frozen products, packaged baked goods such as cakes, cookies, waffles, and breads.

Let me review one such kosher for passover product. After going grocery shopping at Stop & Shop after work I was to tired to cook dinner. So since my wife had eaten all ready I decided to make a tv dinner by a kosher company called Meal Mart. This Passover Edition Salisbury Steak in Gravey served with Mashed Potatoes and seasoned carrots. The price was a little steap at 6.99 but being Kosher that was to be expected and living gluten free what isn't costly. In my prior gluten eating life I used to love eating the Banquet and Swanson salisbury steak dinners. I know tv dinners arent healthy because of to much sodium but hey they are "good eats." So how did it taste. Well the gravey was excellant. The meat was a snip to tough but tasted great. The carrots where supposed to be seasoned but you could not really taste it but I still gobbled them down really quick. The mashed potatoes remained steaming hot even after I had eaton every thing else and they tasted like any other frozen meal. So in summary I would give this meal a "A" and except for the price level couldnt find anything wrong with this tasty meal.

Now we go to Easter. What is more gluten friendly then Hard boiled eggs. They are tasty and naturally gluten free. Candy is major component of Easter and what is more tasty then Marshmellow Peeps by the Just Born Company out of Bethelham PA. They even came out with new Chocolate flavered ones but I have yet to purchase one.

Dog Is Gluten Free!

No I am not talking about Dog The Bounty Hunter which is a favorite show of my wife and I. I am talking about the furry, loveable, flea bitten, man's best friend variety. I know you are thinking it is gross and I am a hundred percent in agreement with you. I was up last night at 1AM and not being able to fall asleep I started to flip the channels and caught a program on National Geographic Channel called Taboo. This episode was about foods that were taboo in some cultures and eaten in other countries. Guess what dog was one of them. They had a market in Hanoi, Vietnam where they had all the dog bodies like any butcher would have meat. It was sick I tell you. They also had people eating snake in resturants and people who make snake wine. The last topic was about this puffer fish which i forgot what it is called thats common in Japan but you can die from its deadly toxins.

A Decade of Hope

Well the last decade saw me become diagnosed with Celiacs Disease and therefore not being able to eat any gluten. But with my Hannakah gifts I got this year from my beautiful, loving, sweat, smart and funny wife I have hope for the future. She read my mind (and my many hints) and got me a Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. Like the one pictured here. Plus she got me some attachments like the pasta maker with meat grinder, the vegitable slicer, and the citrus juicer.

How do I feel about the mixer. It is a heavy duty all man power piece of machinery. I have used it with great results from making cookies to spahgetti. It is great for making the often very thick gluten free doughs.

In addition she got me The Good Eats The Early Years cook book by Alton Brown. Alton Brown is definately food networks greatist host with The Good Eats TV show where he makes foods and often tells you how to make utensils or where to go to get the cheapest things. He talks about the science and history of what he is making. He teaches you in a way that is fun to learn.

This leads me to some bad news. In the New York Tristate area there is a dispute between Cablevision and The Scrip Network so HGTV and The Food network was taken off the air on New Years' Day by Cablevision. I am so upset i love those channels especially The Food Network since I am such a Foodie. Its a dispute about money and how much Cablevision should pay Scrips to carry them. I hope it gets settled soon cause I love Dinners, Drive In and Dumps with Guy Fieri and Iron Chef America and Unwrapped with Marc Summers.

Another unconfirmed good news is now Nathan's Famous Hotdogs are gluten free. They where the only major brand that had gluten. Now i can have there hotdogs with their awesome fries.

Its Been A Long Time....

Just wanted to say its been quite a while since I last posted. I went to Disney World in September and they where very good with dealing with my gluten intolerence. The first night we went to the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show at the Polyneasion Hotel which is where we stayed. The food was humogous. I had gluten free dinner rolls which tasted amazing. Barbaqued ribs , Hawian style, grilled chicken, salad and white rice. Since I couldnt have any of the volcano cake they made me a fruit salad. Every place I went I got to talk to the chef and they would make me something from scratch warm and tasty. I had a delicious double bacon cheeseburger on a gluten free hamburger roll with fries and gluten free cookies at Peco Bills at The Majic Kingdom. I had Amy's Gluten free peperoni piza at Disney Studios. So many good meals I cant mention at this time.

Summer is Finally Here (well almost)

With Memorial Day Weekend being the unofficial start of the summer season I will talk about one of my favorite outdoor passions which is shopping at Farmer's Markets. The Kenndy Plaza Farmer's Market in West Park Avenue in my beautiful city by the sea Long Beach NY has opened up the beginning of May but I must regrett I have not been able to stop by yet cause its open every Wensday from 11A-7P which is the hours when I must be at the hospital. Another smaller one is the one at the hospital where I work. It is the Nassau University Medical Center's Farmer's Market. This one opens up June 5th and is open from 7A to 1P. There is nothing like the fresh taste of fresh fruits and vegetables.

What is a Johnny Cake?

I heard of televison shows being a bad influence on kids but come on I am gonna be 35 next month and I always resisted peer pressure. When the Soprano's were still producing new episodes there was an episode where Joseph Gannascoli, whom played gay mobster Vito Spatafore met a short order cook at a New England Dinner where he ordered Johnny Cakes from the charactor Jim “Johnny Cakes” Witowski . I always wondered what a Johnny Cake was from that moment on till tonite where I made one from a recipe I got.

Basically, the Johnny or "Journey" cake is made from cornmeal and depending on how its made can be similer in texture and taste to regular cornbread or made into pancakes made with corn instead of the usually wheat flour. In Jamiaca it is made like small rolls or bisquits. The recipe I made was more like a cornbread and tasted delicious. I found the recipe in "The New Glorious American Food A Collection of Classic And Quintaessentlu American Fare" by Christopher Idone. Im sure copies of the book can be found online.

What other tv shows will inspire me to cook gluten free? Scooby snacks, anyone?

Betty Crocker Returns Into Our Lives!

What can I say I have not made a post since last summer and a lot has happened since then. I bought a bread maker and bake my own bread now. I have been baking cakes, breads, brownies, cookies and suprisingly they all tasted great. I have been cooking better meals for dinner and I even had success with home made pizza that has tasted pretty darn good.

Then a few weeks ago a fellow blogger at http://www.killthegluten.blogspot.com/ received samples from Betty Crocker of Gluten Free yellow cake mix, angel food cake mix, chocolate chip cookie mix, and brownie mix. All to great reviews. How she gets free food samples and this great blogger does not get any (hint hint) I do not know lol.

Well stay tuned for more Cheap Good Eats........