Nutella Brownie Bites

It's been a while since I have shared a recipe, so I thought I would share this one here. I found the base recipe for this on pinterest (One of my new addictions!) and then added my own twist to it. Here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 Cup Nutella
10 tbsp Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Chopped Macadamia Nuts
Sea Salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Combine the Nutella, Flour, and Eggs in a bowl and mix together well. Distribute the batter evenly among muffin tins. I use mini muffin tins, as I like mine bite sized, but I have been informed that they work well in regular muffin sizes as well. Sprinkle the top of these brownie bites with the macadamia nuts and a pinch of sea salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick can be entered in and pulled out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

I made these last week and they were to die for! The pinch of sea salt on top gave these brownie bites a fantastic flavor. They are a lot lower in sugar than the commonly used gluten free peanut butter cookies and they are super simple to make. If you are an avid eater of Nutella, you probably have all the ingredients in your house already!

Enjoy!

Quinoa: The Miracle Grain

Hello again!! As I has mentioned in a previous post, I underwent some surgery this past spring. The surgery confined me to a wheelchair for about 6 weeks, and despite my best efforts I gained some wheelchair weight. I have been attempting to lose some weight by exercise, but with my Physical Therapy limitations, I have only been able to do so much. So I turned to my diet.

I noticed that I was eating a lot of rice and other grains, so my first inclination was to work on that. With much research I found that Quinoa is a fantastic gluten free alternative! Although many consider it a gain, it is actually more considered a vegetable. It's high in fiber, so a little goes a long way, and it's a complete protein.

Quinoa has a rather mild flavor, so you can really flavor it however you would like. My favorite way is to saute some onions and garlic in a pan, add the quinoa and some broth and let simmer. Then you can add anything from chicken to black beans to it. Remember to spice your quinoa when you add the broth. Otherwise it would not absorb the flavor as well.

The ratio of liquid to quinoa, much like rice, is 1 cup quinoa to every 2 cups of liquid. Quinoa is easy to find as most grocery stores, and is an easy grain to make for any meal. It even reheats in leftovers very well!

I hope you explore the benefits of quinoa. It's quite tasty, and has great health benefits!

Long Time, No Post

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I have been MIA for a while. I had to undergo some surgery this year that really threw off my entire spring semester, and some things had to take a back seat to my schooling. But I am back now, and just in time for Celiac Awareness month!

I hope that in my absence, you have been exploring new gluten free restaurants and food items. I know I have found some fantastic things lately that I can't wait to share with you all. I also have some non-celiac but still gluten-free things to share, as my mother has been diagnosed with a gluten-intolerance, but does not have celiac disease. I have learned a lot about that kind of situation and I found a lot of it helped in my diet choice as well.

Please send me an email if you have discovered a new gluten free product or restaurant that you would like to share. Remember to wear green for Celiac Awareness!!

Happy Taste-buds!

One of my favorite things to do is to go out and try new food, especially food that has an ethnic twist on it! Recently, I tried a new restaurant called Happy Jacks. It was amazing!

First off, and most importantly, they have a fantastic gluten free menu! Not only are their entrees that are exotic and flavorful, but there are appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and dessert! Most restaurants just throw together a few things on an entree menu, so finding a full gluten free menu is always something I get excited about! I also enjoy the fact that they don't just say "order without bun" for things like sandwiches. Instead they serve their sandwiches in a lettuce wrap! It's super creative and super tasty!

My latest visit, I enjoyed the Mahi Mahi dish. It was cooked in a white wine sauce and served with shrimp and scallops. It was a little piece of heaven! I enjoyed every bite of it. The flavors were amazing, which is always important when eating white fish, as it is often bland.

For anybody in the Leominster area, I highly recommend you take a trip to Happy Jacks for a tasty meal! I can't wait to go back and try new food with them! I am hoping their fajitas are just as fantastic as the Mahi Mahi was!!

A New Year and A New Bakery!!

Hello everybody! Sorry I was MIA during the holiday season! My ankle is broken (again) and it has really slowed me down. That and finals just about killed me last semester! x_X

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday full of delicious gluten free foods! I know I had some mighty tasty treats! There's a new bakery in my town that is entirely gluten free! They are a distribution bakery, so I can't go directly to them for the baked goods. Luckily there are a number of places in the area that sell their products!

The bakery is Annie's Gluten Free Bakery, and they have some of the best baked good I have ever tried!! I LOVE their gluten free sugar cookies with chocolate drizzle! And their brownies are to die for! I am sad to say that I have only had the opportunity to try a few of their products. The stores I have been to that carry the products sell out THE SAME DAY they are delivered!! If that's not a voucher for how good this stuff is, I'm not quite sure what else is!

If you live in the Fitchburg area, and would like to try some of these tasty items, here's a list of all the businesses that sell them:

Roots Natural Foods - 100 Crawford St., Leominister, MA
The Shack Cafe _ 101 Independence Dr., Kingston,MA
The Natural Cafe 25 Main Street, Ayer, MA
Bolton Orchards - 125 Still River Rd., Bolton, MA
Donelan’s Supermarket - 248 Great Road, Acton, MA
Donelan’s Supermarket - 236 Great Road, Littleton
Eric’s Garden Center - 68 Boston Rd., Westford, MA
Verrill Farm - 11 Wheeler Road, Concord, MA
M & M Convenience - 1 Front Street, Shirley, MA
Acton Coffee House - 342 Great Rd., Acton, MA
Blackbird Cafe - 491 Main St., Groton, MA
Brew’d Awakening Coffehaus - 61 Market St., Lowell, MA
The Meat House - 120 Chelmsford St., Chelmsford
Weston Nursery & Garden Ctr - 160 Pine Hill Rd., Chelmsford
The Natural Market - 148 Main Street, Groton, MA
Harvard General Store - 1 Still River Road, Harvard, MA
Clover Farm General Store - 9 W. Main Street, W. Groton, MA
Spruce Street Cafe - 5 Spruce Street, Acton, MA

There's The Quick, And The Hungry

Hello everybody! Sorry I have been MIA as of late! School has been beyond busy for me this month. I've still been looking for new and fun gluten free goodies though!

On that note, I would like to talk about something that used to be a huge inconvenience in my life. Running around like a madman trying to get things done is stressful for anybody. It can be more stressful if you are gluten free, and can't pick up fast food at any old restaurant while you are running errands. So what do you do? Power Snack. I like to keep a stash of power snacks in my locker on campus. Here's a list of some of the things I like to keep in my stash:

1. Nut Clusters
While grocery shopping last month, I discovered True North Cashew Crunch. They are clusters of cashews and rice crisps that are lightly sweetened and salted. These things are addicting. I go through about 2 bags of them a week in my power snacking. True North makes other combinations of nut clusters, but I am quite partial myself to the cashew ones. From the display I saw, they are all gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and free of trans-fats, preservatives, artificial colors, and cholesterol. Be careful of these if you have fillings in your teeth! The sweet coating is quite sticky!

2. Microwave Popcorn
If you have access to a microwave where you are, this stuff is fantastic. I love sitting the the library during a study session on a cold day with a pipping hot bag of popcorn! Just make sure that you bring some napkins with you, especially if you are eating the buttered kind.

3. Apples and Oranges
Always an easy and healthy snack. I love apples, especially this time of the year. They stay fresh for a decent amount of time (unlike a banana) but you still want to make sure that you keep an eye on them if you are storing them somewhere. You don't want to find an old moldy apple in your stash! Yuck!

4. Water and/or Other Drinks
Keeping your fluids going down on a busy day is vital. When you are running around everywhere you don't always realize how thirsty you are, or how long it has been since you have had something to drink. I like to keep a few bottles of water in my stash, and a few cans of ginger ale, in case I find my stomach isn't feeling too well, or I want to replace some electrolytes.

Now these are just the items I keep in my stash. There are tons of options, depending on your taste and dietary needs. Just make sure that you keep an eye on expiration dates if things are sitting in there for a long time.

Here's hoping that November will be slightly less busy!!! If I don't post before then, I hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!!!

Celiacs Awareness Month 2013

I know it seems like it's a world away, but National Celiacs Month is about 200 days away, and I am hoping to get together a program for the blog. I wanted to plant this int he back of your minds now because
1) The holiday season is going to fly by soon, and that will take a big chunk of planning time away
2) Some of the project I am putting together requires some planning, and I am hoping for some feedback from my readers.
3) I hope with enough advanced notice, all of you will be able to participate in my project.

For the month of May in 2013, I am planning on the following activities:
1) Gluten Free Prizes. I would really like to put together some kind of prizes for my readers to win, wither it be in a raffle form, or in some kind of competition. I think we could have a lot of fun with it.
2) Celiacs Information. I would like to fill this blog with information about what Celiacs Disease is, what the symptoms are, how to get tested, and what to do when one is diagnosed.
3) Finally, I would like to issue a Gluten Free Challenge. For one week (Probably May 5-11th) I would ask that people who wish to support their friends and family with Celiacs attempt to live a gluten free life for an entire week. There are a lot of national groups that challenge the entire month, but I feel like that is a huge commitment  and a week is a more reasonable time frame.

If you have any suggestions, any piece of information to share, or would like to help out with running this event with me, please let me know! I would love to hear from you!!