Passover 2009

This past week was Passover, the greatest holiday for gluten free people. Living in NYC (or any area with a large Jewish population) grocery stores stock up on Kosher for Passover foods, many of which are gluten free. The one Passover food that we, as gluten free eaters, need to watch out for is Matzo. Although we have to avoid matzo, matzo meal, and matzo byproducts there are so many goodies available around the Passover season which I buy an store to eat all year round.

My top 5 favorite GF Passover foods available are:

1. Ossem Pound Cake
2. Gefen Wine Noodles
3. Streit's Soup Croutons
4. Jennies Coconut Macaroons
5. Shabtai Cakes, Cookies, and Baked Goods (I am eating the Chocolate Chiffon Cake right now!)

Being that I am the only person with Celiac in my family I have everyone come over to my apartment for holidays. This way I know what is being made and I know that there is no possibility for cross contamination. This year we had a smaller group that normal. Passover fell on a weekday and my cousins from Ohio decided not to come in. We had 2 Seders and the menus consisted of the following:

Menu:

• Home Made Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls
• Purple Cabbage Salad
• Cucumber-Dill Salad
• Roasted Garlic Chicken Stuffed with Dried Fruits and Nuts
• Cranberry Chicken
• Primavera Chicken
• Two-Tone Potatoes with Pesto Sauce
• Roasted Garlic Asparagus/String Beans
• Unbelievable Brownies with frosting
• Sorbet Ruffles

I will post all of the recipes shortly along with a Kosher for Passover wine list. Over the past few years the wine for Passover has significantly improved!

Passover is coming!

My favorite part of Passover has always been the matzo ball soup! Since going gluten free I have been using this outstanding recipe from potato flakes that actually tastes like Matzo Balls!

Try it out for yourself!
Ingredients
4 Eggs
3 tb Chicken fat/margarine
1 ts Salt
1/4 Teaspoon xantham gum
1 c Instant potato flakes
4 tb Chicken stock
Dill- optional
Beat eggs and fat, add salt, dill and xantham gum to potatoes and add to the eggs. Add stock, mix well and chill for 20-30 mins. Wet hands and form into balls cook in simmering soup for 20 mins.

Let me know what you think!

Long Pause

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the long pause...I was in Grand Central right after I started this blog and I had an unfortunate incident with tea. It spilled on my hands and I got second degree burns. NOT FUN! Now I am back in action and ready to blog! This weekend my sister came to visit me...overall a nice visit.
Friday Dinner: Luscious Thai (1st ave and 61st) great red curry and are aware of wheat/gluten allergies!
Saturday Bruch: Beaches Cafe (2nd ave and 72nd) AMAZING brunch, I told the waiter I was allergic to gluten...his response was "oh you have celiac" the eggs were great and the service was so nice.
Saturday Dinner: S'MAC (1st ave and 12th) all they serve is mac and cheese, which was one of my favorite foods B.C. (before celiac). It is very rich, but worth the calories every once in a while!

Lable Reading...

So, I was searching through my fridge today trying to figure out what to make for lunch and I came across a package of frozen veggies. Good thing I looked at the back of the package, because low and behold the "Asian veggies" I purchased had soy sauce powder as an ingredient.

Being that my apt is completely gluten free I normally don't read labels once food is in my apt. I recently decided that I need to read ALL labels at the grocery store and then AGAIN when I go to eat the product in question. Although I complain about having to put in the time and effort into continuously reading labels, as I am sure everyone blessed with CD knows, is SIGNIFICANTLY less painful than being glutenized.

About Me

My name is Amy and I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in December of 2007. Since my diagnosis I have been trying to learn as much about living a gluten free life style as possible. Recently I have decided that I don't want to live a gluten free life style, I want to live my life style which happens to be GF. I want to be able to travel, shop, eat, cook, entertain, work, and do all the other things I enjoy without feeling embarrassed, guilty, or nervous. So, I figured the best way to help myself through this "life changing" diagnosis is to combine it with my one true love...GOSSIP!!! The more I know the more I want to share. My commitment to this blog is going to be to simply share any and all information, recipes, travel tips, restaurant reviews, and fun facts with you. I hope you enjoy!