Haunted Celiacs in Salem

We travel a lot. The hubby travels for work almost constantly, and the monkeys (read, our children) and I tag along whenever we can as well as try to visit family here and there. A huge part of my joy, and terror, each time we land in a new spot is seeking out good gluten free food.

Recently we've spent time in Nantucket, Salem, and Phoenix and I have buckets of experiences to share! Let's start with my favorite place in Salem, The Howling Wolf.

While they don't have a dedicated fryer (don't fall for the whole chips are gluten free in the morning thing or that fried items are on the GF menu - it's still the same fryer) and you will have to ask that your food be handled specially, they were very accommodating and the kitchen was otherwise very knowledgable. Taking the time to double check on the safety of a few things there was well worth it though. The stuffed jalapeños were amazing. They stuff them with cheese and chorizo, then wrap them in bacon, which was a brilliant, gluten free way to finish them and added immensely to the flavor and an even greater crispness than the usual breading. The textural contrast of crisp bacon to the creamy cheese was delightful, like the truffle of appetizers. The spiciness seemed to vary from pepper to pepper, but some had an awesome bite, which made them even better. The house-made pico with, I think mango, that they were served with was also fresh, flavorful and thoroughly yummy. I actually fantasized for weeks about driving all the way back to Salem just for the jalapeños. Now I just fantasize about making some... Oooh, I should do that!

Back to the food. I wish I had taken pictures, but the meal was too good to stop and click in the middle. The Hubby and the Monkeys had tacos and quesadilla on corn tortillas, which were good, but they were nothing to the cheese enchiladas, which had no sauce. Weird right? I first thought I was getting jipped for being a Celiac, as usual. But then I took a bite. Brilliance! Just the right combination of cheeses were all they needed to make the dish divine.

In the end, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone who can't do cheese, or anyone who's not comfortable working with the waitstaff to be sure you only get safe GF food. But for the rest of us? The food was wonderful, the meal memorable, the decor very fun, the location very close to all the sites, the pricing moderate, and they didn't poison me! Huzzah!

The rest of Salem was a little scary in October though, and it wasn't the witches…
Amber waves of grain are the real stuffs of my nightmares.

Happy, Gluten Free New Year!

It's gonna be a great year for baking. I can feel it!

Happy, healthy, gluten free 2014, everybody!

Bloggity blog blog blog

I suppose it's about time that I kicked off this blog in earnest. But really? I don't want to. Quite frankly, I'm terrified. To even get to this point, my brother had to start the bloody blog for me. I had to be guilted into posting in the first place. Then I had to build up the pressure of desperation and bravado, like shaking a bottle of soda, for 4 months before the top blew tonight and I'm finally trying to post again. Truly, truly, blogging scares me.

I realize that rising incredulity may forcibly roll the eyes most of the people who've actually met me. I was a thespian, drama geek, and even theater teacher before the baking became my primary obsession, and somehow it's difficult to convince people you're an introvert when they know you love the stage. But an introvert I am, and an especially self-conscious one at that. I'll play any role in the world, just as long as you don't ask me to play myself. Which of course, is exactly what blogging does. Somehow, I have to play me. And I don't wanna. 

But I do have to start somewhere. It's hard to sell books that no one's ever heard of. And harder still to justify all of the amazing experimenting I'm doing creating recipes for a holiday book when I can't sell the first one, because again, no one's ever heard of it. Unjustifiable baking. That's what I'm doing. But that's the part I love!

I love working and reworking a recipe until that eureka moment when it finally comes together just right. I love the miraculous few times when I've made something out of the blue and it was completely perfect on the first try. I even adore those few recipes that I keep tossing aside in frustration only to pick them up again a few months later to bang away at once more. Some I may never finish, but I've thought that before and pulled off what felt like miracles in the end. The flat bread and pie crust in my book were both like that. I remember making and remaking the flat bread for whole days, day after day, really aiming for a foldable tortilla but shhh, you didn't hear that. I went through so much flour! But then I turned out this batch that was so heavenly soft and satisfying that we gobbled all of them up plain. They didn't roll well without cracking, but damn! Were they ever good. One more revision, and I had my eureka moment. I felt like I was feeding myself all the way down to my soul as I took bite after slow bite of that bread. Indescribable satisfaction. That's what I found there. That's what I find in the kitchen.

Quite frankly, I just want to bake.

And eat rum cake. Blatant non-sequitur, sure, but none the less true. I do like my rum cake. Wish I had some right now instead of a blog...

Think I've been me enough for one night? Thank god! Have some rum cake.

Pumpkidoodles? New Cookies in the Works!

A friend of mine posted the coolest thing the other day... a recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles. I was boggled. Combine my passion for pumpkin with my children's insatiable appetite for snickerdoodles? Could such family euphoria be possible?

Apparently it can. I went straight to the kitchen and came up with this first draft.

The texture is amazing just cooled, with a crispy sugared outside but satiny, melting but substantial interior. It was blissful! A day and more old, the initial crispness of the exterior faded, and the melting middle became slightly caky but still in a surprisingly smooth way. I cannot adequately describe it, but we're hooked! A few more drafts to fine tune the spice and flour combinations and these will absolutely be Holy Grail worthy.

Huzzah for another new, amazing, food experience!

Here comes Kindle!

Well, I think I've wrapped up this weeks painful work (i.e.. anything done on the computer) with the submission of my files to Kindle Direct Publishing. Hurrah! Soon my 3 whole fans can download digital versions of the holiest GF cookbook on Earth.

Now time to get back in the kitchen! 

My book is available on Amazon

Are you on a crusade for cupcakes? Pining for pizza? Questing after the elusive pleasures of a good slice of toast? Worry not! For you have found the one, true Grail at last!
Prepare for a blissful revelation. The Holy Grail of Gluten Free is a once in a millennium cookbook that offers up easy to make, smoothly formatted, innovative recipes that will lead you straight to gluten free, dairy free nirvana. They rely largely on whole grain flours specially chosen and combined for flavor, texture and nutrition, and never touch the sandy, brittle rice flour, bitter tapioca starch, oddly flavored bean flours or gelatinous coconut flour that most gluten free atrocities are made from. Thanks to this we may once again delight in healthy, fluffy muffins, hearty pancakes, soft breads and wraps, addictively good cookies and decadent cakes and frostings, not to mention a pizza crust that rolls out beautifully, and the best Belgian waffles ever. There are no substitutes here, only genuinely good food and perfect indulgences. Try them and experience the true glory of gluten free in your own kitchen.
Features:
Photographs of every recipe
Complete ingredient guide including where to find them
Allergen Chart, to quickly see which recipes fit your specific diet
Guide to essential baking equipment
All recipes are gluten, dairy, yeast, and rice free
Ingredient amounts listed in both us standard volumes and metric volume/weight for ease of use