The Gluti Girls...

I've been Grilled!

I've been grilled!  Carrie, at Ginger Lemon Girl has grilled me. I really had a lot of fun doing it and she came up with some great questions.  I have been a fan of Carrie's since I started blogging.  She has some really great recipes that I have made part of my regular meal plans.  So go check out my interview and be sure to check out Carrie's blog! 

My cold has finally gone away and I am totally well except for this fever I've got.  Spring fever!  Two weeks ago, I was at Lowe's looking for edging.  I was wearing my down vest and freezing to death!  I couldn't buy the edging because it was just to darn cold.  That is Indiana for you.  By last week, the coats were off and the windows open.  The world is blooming! Consequently, I have not done much meal planning or cooked anything very exciting.  I am a food blog slacker!  I promise I will make it up to you. 

I have a very busy spring and summer coming up that I am hoping to incorporate lots of blogging to go along with it.  Mother's Day is coming up and I always make a special meal for my mom and extended family.  The week after that we are having a graduation party for the young gluti girl.  This will be my first attempt at a gluten free sheet cake!  Sometime between now and the end of July, we will be hosting a going away party for our drummer who we will miss dearly. 

I always plant a small garden.  This year I have put out more herbs than normal.  I am hoping to showcase each herb sometime during the summer with recipes how to use that herb.  So far, I have planted basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley (curly and flat), oregano, sage, chives and tarragon.  Darn it all if they weren't out of rosemary!  I will find some somewhere.  That is a must have. 

During the summer, we are making our annual trip to San Diego.  This was a very challenging trip for me last year.  It was my first real time traveling gluten free.  I hope I can take what I learned last year and share it all with you.  We will have a room with a two burner stove this year, so I am hoping to be able to cook some of our meals.  Lucky for me, I know where there is a Wild Oats, Jimbo's and Trader Joe's.  That should give me lot's of options for gluten free foods.  My goal is to post nightly how it's going.  I think it will be fun and hopefully help any of you that is confronted with traveling gluten free. 

I only have one very simple recipe to share.  Last night, after working off some of the "fever" in the garden, I was so tired I could hardly cook.  I had thawed out some chicken and was about to throw it on the grill plain.  I needed something to jazz it up.  So I got out a bottle of Frank's Hot sauce and marinated the chicken it in before I threw it on the grill.  Most of you have probably already tried this trick!  But I didn't discover Frank's sauce until going gluten free.  Oh man it's yummy stuff!  That, along with some veggies I found in the fridge, was dinner for us. Since it's finally spring here, and I don't have any "real" cooking going on, I figured I would share pictures of everything budding out.  Enjoy, and happy spring!

   

My first potted flowers of the year. 

 

Some of the baby herbs being protected by Mr. Gnome :) 

Triniti is checking out the other half of the garden.  I know, it's a mess.  I'm getting old, ok.  I could only turn half of it over at a time! 

 

One of my favorite flowers, the Peony.  I know, everyone always says, what about the ants!.  I don't care about the ants!  They smell like heaven.  I always pick them and fill my house with them.  A friend gave me this bush.  I was from a 100 year old farm.  Way cool.  Oh, that fuzzy brown in the background is Mia's butt.

   

My favorite spring tree, the Red Bud. 

 

Oh, yeah, that feels good! Any one who has a dog knows what she is doing here.  Ah, the rubbing spot.  

Another favorite plant, the hosta.  I have these all over my yard!  Many varieties.  Love 'em.  

Pretty periwinkle. Hope you are enjoying spring!

Menu Monday April 14th

I'm still not feeling quite so perky, but I have planned a menu for this week.  Nothing sounds good.  It's been really hard to plan a menu.  I think it will help to have one.  It will keep me from standing in the kitchen at 5:00 looking clueless.  And hopefully my appetite will come back soon!  If I could just get that cough to go away! 

Pork Chops with Maple syrup and mustard, potatoes, salad 

Pizza 

Taco Salad 

Out to dinner with friends 

Steak, baked potatoes, grilled green beans and onions 

Lamb chops, roasted potatoes, mixed grilled vegetables 

As you can see I am keeping it very simple.  Karen at Gluten Free Sox is hosting this week so be sure to check out all the great menus! 

I have a great recipe to share.  I make this fairly often in the summer.  I made it several weeks ago and meant to post it, but since I haven't been feeling well....you know how that goes!  Matter of fact, I couldn't even remember if I had posted it.  I had to comb through my blog to refresh my memory! This is another dish of mine I don't measure anything.  This is all made by personal preference. 

Salmon Salad 

Two small cans boneless salmon OR One large can salmon with bones removed.  (You could really use fresh cooked salmon in this as well.  Just chop it up) 

2 cups cooked, cooled brown rice (approximately) 

A couple spoonfuls of mayonnaise according to taste 

chopped onion 

chopped canned black olives 

fresh parsley, chopped 

curry powder 

salt and pepper 

Mix all the above ingredients together.  How much onion or black olives you add is up to you.  Same goes for the curry, salt and pepper.  If you've never used curry before, I would start with maybe a half teaspoon and go from there. This is similar in nature to making tuna salad or potato salad.  I don't ever measure for those recipes.  I add, I taste. After you have your salad mixed up, chill it till it's good and cold.  

I like to place a big scoop of salad on a bed of lettuce with whatever vegetables I have around the edge.  It makes a great dinner or lunch and is pretty enough to serve company.  This makes a very hearty meal too, especially if you have some bread to go with it! 

My funny dog

I have not vanished from the face of the earth!  I am still trying to get well.  This is the cold that doesn't want to go away.  My husband has it too.  I have not done much cooking so there is nothing new and yummy to report.  I promise I will get well and be back in the kitchen soon! 

Until then I thought I would give you something funny to look at.  I have been pouring through old pictures.  The drummer in our band, Judy,  is moving to Florida.  Her husband got transfered.  She has been with us for 20 plus years.  I don't know how we are going to say good-bye to her.  She is one of those rare, one-of-a-kind people that you just can't replace.  There will be tears.   I am making her a scrapbook to take with her.  In the process of looking through pictures, I found my CD's of photos from my old computer.  

   

This is my baby Triniti.  My brother took this photograph of her.  She is in her Matrix outfit.  I know, I am warped.  It's my husbands fault.  I used to be normal.    

Sick again.

Blah.  This is my life right now.

That's why no blogging.  No weekly menu.  Easter wore me out and I felt really bad the first of last week.  Then I thought I felt better.  Then it came back on me.  Like a ton of bricks.  We went to a wedding on Saturday night and I came home feeling horrible. 

I have to share about this wedding.  This is something we all will run across when it comes to living gluten free.  Dinner served at a wedding.  It's funny that I didn't even think about it at first.  The wedding was Saturday.  On Tuesday before the wedding, it finally dawned on me that I had better figure out how I would eat! 

Wednesday morning I called the hotel where the reception would be held.  A very nice food management lady named Heather, told me there would be no problem making a gluten free meal.  They had done it many times.  She was going to talk to the chef and call me back with a choice of what to eat. Friday came and I had not heard from her.  So, I decided to call her back.  I did not want to sit through the whole wedding wondering how dinner was going to work out and I didn't really want to pack food to bring with me.  

When I got a hold of her, she told me all was good, they were having a buffet and there should be plenty of choices for me on the buffet.  Being a bit leery of  being able to tell what would be okay to eat on a buffet, I ask her if the servers there would be able to tell me what was safe and what was not.  She assured me they would. 

Saturday came and I did pack along an Ensure chocolate drink and had a Lara bar in my purse.  Just in case.  The wedding was lovely.  We drove to the reception and upon arriving they had a buffet of cheese, fruit and crackers.  And the crackers were at the end of the buffet, far from the cheese and fruit.  That made me feel good.  I got some cheese and fruit.  Had a glass of wine.  

Then came time for dinner.  I saw Heather, the lady I had talked to on the phone.  I went over and introduced myself to her.  She was very friendly.  She told me when they called our table to talk to the man in the blue shirt.  He would know what I could eat on the buffet. 

Finally, it was our tables turn and the little man in the blue shirt told us to go up and get some food.  I walked over to him and told him I needed to know what food was gluten free.  He was a little Indian man.  So you must imagine him talking to me with an Indian accent.  He said, "Oh no! No. That food gluten.  I get you food!"  Okay, so at that point I might have been just a tad bit stressed.  But I had had lots of cheese, fruit and a glass of wine so I just smiled.  

First I was told the chef would give me a choice, then I was told there would be food on the buffet, then I was told that food had gluten.  Now this guy was going to bring me something.  Just keep smiling. So as our whole table and then the tables around ours went to get into the line for the buffet, I am sitting totally alone at this large round table.   Nothing like sticking out.  Everyone gets their food.  The entire room is eating and I'm still sitting there.  

Finally, I see Heather.  I go tell her I don't have food.  She said she would get right on it.In a couple minutes, here comes my guy in the blue shirt.  He's carrying and extra large... well....let me back up a bit.  The room was very fancy.  White table clothes, white dinner plates, crystal, silver, red roses in the middle of the table, chairs covered with white cloth and big bows....you get the picture.  White and formal.  Okay, so back to my man with the blue shirt and he's carrying this big old round orange plate.  Yes, orange.  It's heaped with at least a half a head of both broccoli and cauliflower, asparagus and baby carrots.  Topped off with some grilled chicken.   There was enough vegetables to share with the entire table.  And, they were plain.  Totally plain.  Chicken, plain.  Totally plain. I very graciously thanked him.  After he left, I had to start laughing.  We were at the table with a bunch of people we know and they started laughing because here I am with this big orange plate full of plain veggies and chicken.  Could I stand out any more?  It was pretty funny. 

I am not complaining, so please don't think this post is a complaint.  It was really humorous being there.  The hotel really did get me a safe meal.  I really appreciate that even if it was really plain.  I always find it so weird though that most chefs think in order for food to be gluten free it has to be plain.  I have even had some chefs at restaurants ask me if potatoes are okay to eat.  I wonder where they went to school that they don't there's no gluten in potatoes. 

With summer coming, I'm sure some of you will be asked to a wedding.  If you are new to this, try not to stress to much.  Call ahead.  Keep calling if you don't get the answer you need.  Always be polite and not pushy.  When you get to the event, if you got the name of who you talked to on the phone, see if you can meet them in person.  I did this with Heather when I saw she wasn't busy. I didn't want to be a pest, but wanted to make contact with her.  And as it was, there would have been a lot of last minute confusion and stress for me had I not introduced myself to her earlier.  Always keep your sense of humor.  And most importantly, keep snacks in your purse just in case.  A meal replacement drink is a good emergency item as well!