Grilled tilapia, roasted asparagus and roasted mini red-skinned potatoes

Making dinner for a friend who is an excellent cook is intimidating! I have been meaning to write this blog post up for awhile, but just downloaded the photos from a couple of Thursday nights ago, when I had Bette and Chris over for dinner. Bette is the author of Bette’s Kitchen and she and her husband Chris are great friends of mine and my boyfriend Will. They are also parents/owners of Agnes, the world’s cutest and nicest doodle. She’s my dog Martha’s best friend. So, lots of friendship and love to add to this meal!

As I said in an earlier blog post – I think cooking with friends is more fun. Cooking for food-loving friends is also fun and challenging! I wanted to make sure these pescatarians had a great Gluten Free meal!

Here’s what I made them:

• Grilled tilapia filets, marinated in my new special marinade.
• Roasted mini red-skinned potatoes with spring onions. Just chop the potatoes into bite-sized piece, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and roast on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes or so at 450. Make sure you check them often and stir them around so they don’t burn.
• Roasted asparagus

Erin’s Special Marinade (only special because it’s SO easy)

• juice of two lemons
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup (or about as much as the lemon juice) olive oil

They liked the meal and I’ve been roasting potatoes often since, they’re delicious!

Yummy GF pesto cheese pizza from zPizza!

The crust – it’s spongy and crispy at the very ends. It is actually pretty similar in thickness (or thin-ness!) to the regular crust. It wasn’t soggy and it wasn’t floppy. It had great flavor and I hope it holds up well for lunch today! The only issue that I can see with this pizza is that it ain’t cheap. What a surprise. It’s $3 extra for the gluten free crust and they can only do it in the small size. So, I think my plain and simple, 6 slice pesto and cheese pizza was about $12. I can’t really share it with just one person, it’s not enough for Will and me to share, so we’ll have to order one for me and then one for everyone else. It was a lot better than Mellow Mushroom’s GF crust, which really got soggy, but it’s smaller and slightly pricier.

Overall though, still a success and we’ll definitely keep going back (even though they forgot a few items in our order and my poor brother-in-law had to make 2 trips!).

The texture is slightly different than regular chocolate chip cookies – they’re very soft and fall apart easily. But, otherwise, they are very good! Here’s a photo of them cooling off on the drying rack.

These lemon bars don't look - or taste - gluten free!

These lemon bars are my first gluten free baking experience! I’m excited to report that they are delicious!

I made these lemon bars from Jules E.D. Shepard‘s Nearly Normal Cookbook. Jules is a fellow Celiac and baker, and has created her own Gluten Free flour mix. It’s awesome! I purchased 2 five-pound bags and 3 cookbooks and it was only $39.95. I think there’s an even better deal going on now – but I was excited to try it and see how it worked in “nearly normal” baking.

Jules’ flour contains, according to her web site:

• Expandex^® Modified Tapioca Starch
• Potato Starch
• Corn Starch
• Corn Flour
• White Rice Flour
• Xanthan Gum

The mixture is slightly different from flour – it TRAVELS. I got it all over the place, thank goodness for aprons. But it definitely clouded up in the air, too! Despite the mess, it was very similar to regular flour. It did stick to the sides of the bowl a bit more than regular flour and had a silkier texture, but the product speaks for itself. The lemon bars were very good – and the crust tasted a lot like shortbread. I don’t want to give away the recipe because I don’t want to take away Jules’ business. DEFINITELY, if you’re gluten free, check her website out!

I think my next GF baking project will be chocolate chip cookies … stay tuned!

Friday night my family dined at Tribeca Tavern in Cary for my mother’s sixtieth birthday. My mom and sister live nearby and wanted to try the newest member of the Rocky Top Hospitality group of restaurants. We also wanted to take advantage of the free entree for the birthday girl!

Because of my adherence to a gluten free diet, I called the restaurant and asked to speak to the manager so I could ensure a pleasant and gluten free experience at the restaurant. I called and asked to speak to the manager, who was unavailable. I spoke with someone else, who tried hard, but fell short. I told him that I wanted to make a reservation for 9 people on Friday night and that I was on a medically required gluten free diet. I asked what options they had. He asked if that meant that I could not eat bread and wheat, which I confirmed. He then asked if I could eat pasta, which worried me, as that is one of the most common gluten-containing “no-nos!” He said he thought he could do a burger without the bun, but he did offer to check with the chef.

Now, I’m not just your regular pain-in-the-butt diner. I haven’t eaten red meat since I was 15, so please add that to my list of prohibited foods and ask yourself if you could ever have me to dinner. Sigh.

After putting me on hold for a few minutes, he came back and mentioned that there were several options that were available to me – with a few modifications. I told him that I also did not eat red meat, and we discussed the turkey burger. He verified with the chef that it did not contain gluten and so I looked forward to eating that later that week.

When my family arrived at the restaurant on Friday night, I told our waiter, and figured he would know about my special request already, as the man on the phone told me that he would inform our server. Our server Josh, did not know about my gluten intolerance, and clearly was not educated on gluten and what that means. Again, he asked if that meant I just couldn’t eat bread.

I immediately became worried, but he told me he would check anything with the chef. I had planned to order the turkey burger, but was told by my sister that it was dry the day before, when she dined at Tribeca Tavern with friends. So, I decided to look elsewhere, but found that the choices were few and far between, even with modifications.

At this point, I selected the grilled chicken salad and told our waiter about the modifications that would have to be made – including NO croutons, no contact with any gluten-containing ingredients. I also mentioned to him that the chicken could not be marinated and must be cooked in a clean pan, and not on a grill or shared cooking service. He agreed, and said that he would check to make sure the salad dressing did not contain gluten as well.

When our meals arrived, I was extremely disappointed. The chicken was terrible. It was not trimmed, so it was fatty and it was extremely dry. The salad looked like it had literally been emptied out of the bag and they tossed a few strawberries and pistachios on top. I’m not Julia Child, but even I know that there are ways to cook chicken without drying it out and making it completely tasteless. I understand that the chef did not want to harm me, but it was absolutely bland and disgusting. Since there was no dressing, I’m assuming that the dressing was not gluten free, but I wish the waiter would have shared that information with me, so I could have chosen something else. I had to wait for quite a while after asking him to bring me oil and vinegar.

After the meal, I completed a comment card and wanted to share my disappointment with the manager – but I wanted to EXPLAIN fully what my issues were. When I spoke with Rob Pollock, I felt that he was somewhat sympathetic, but he seemed to almost chastise me for not asking for him as soon as we sat down.

I told him that I’m new to this diet, but that the “best practice” that’s been shared with me was to call first. I thought that was the best course of action. I thought that the server would call on the manager if he thought it was necessary. Mr. Pollock shared with me how versatile his menu was and seemed offended that I didn’t agree. I asked him to please consider including more gluten free options, or at the very least, something more than a burger without the bun.

It was an incredibly disappointing experience for me, but the rest of our party enjoyed the meal. We did find the atmosphere very overwhelming and felt a bit overstimulated since there are probably about 100 TVs, but it would have been a much better meal had I not felt so uncomfortable and like I had so few options.

Gluten is one of the 9 most common allergens, and intolerance to gluten is becoming more and more prevalent. I urge any readers who are associated with restaurants or the food service industry to consider offering more gluten free options and make restaurants friendlier to people with this issue. I also recommend visiting www.glutenfreeraleigh.blogspot.com, a blog that I find immensely helpful. There are restaurant reviews and a list of GF-friendly establishments. Tribeca Tavern isn’t going to be one of them.

My wonderful friend Dawn's wonderful spinach salad recipe

The best dinners are those you make with your friends! Two of my best friends came to visit and we had such a great time laughing, talking and, of course, eating. They’re incredibly supportive of my recent gluten free diet and so we decided to make a healthy, gluten free meal at home tonight.

We went to the State Farmers Market in Raleigh, which is an amazing place. There’s so much to choose from, and strawberries are DEFINITELY in season! Dawn decided to make her spinach strawberry salad. Here’s the recipe:

• Baby spinach
• Strawberries
• Vanilla cinnamon almonds (from the farmer’s market, but simple roasted almonds would be good, too)
• craisins
• Annie’s Natural brand Raspberry vinaigrette.

It really was great – and very simple and beautiful to look at, too!

Main dish! The only protein we can all agree on is chicken, so we marinated chicken tenderloins in a marinade of lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. We used my brand-new grill pan to make the chicken. Jessica handled the marinade – she’s the next Julia Child. Will turned it.

Cheesy polenta in progress - no cheese yet!

I made polenta again – it really is delicious and goes with a lot of dishes. Here’s the recipe we used this time (and it was REALLY good, better than the tomato parmesan polenta from the other night).

Cheesy Polenta

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 4 tbs butter
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever you’d like)

Lime marinated chicken, broiled asparagus and cheesy polenta

Add milk, water, salt and pepper to pot and heat to just a boil. Whisk cornmeal into milk mixture gradually, making sure it doesn’t get lumpy. Turn the heat to low and simmer, whisking often, for 20 minutes. At about 18 minutes in, stir in the grated cheddar, making sure it is incorporated.

This polenta is really delicious, not as healthy as the first polenta recipe because of the butter and cheese, but it is REALLY good. I’d like to try it with asiago or romano pecorino.

We capped the meal off with broiled asparagus, again, thanks to Jessica! YUM!

Baked tilapia, tomato parmesan polenta and spinach sauteed with garlic.

We made a delicious meal the other night – and it was totally gluten free! Delicious and inexpensive, too! Baked tilapia, dressed simply with olive oil, salt and pepper for the protein, spinach sauteed with garlic and olive oil and tomato parmesan polenta. My boyfriend liked it that evening, but the next polenta dish we made REALLY hit the spot!

Tomato Parmesan Polenta

Ingredients
1 cup milk (lowfat is fine, nonfat is not)
1 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for topping)

1. Remove the tomatoes from the can, chop them into bite-sized pieces, then set them aside. In a large saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat until simmering gently. You don’t want it to boil. Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, plus the salt, to the pan, and stir to combine. The acid in the tomatoes may cause the milk to begin to curdle, which is okay.

2. Continue to heat the tomato and milk mixture until it returns to simmering. Once the liquid is simmering, add the cornmeal in a slow but steady stream, whisking constantly, making sure there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to low, and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese until it is fully incorporated and melted.

Crunchmaster Multi-Grain Crackers

My first food review! And it comes courtesy of my coworker who went to Costco and accidentally bought a huge box of crackers that she thought she had just sampled. Bad news for her, good news for me.

She brought me these crackers today and I am very impressed. They are absolutely delicious, a little saltier than I would normally choose, but very flavorful.

The consistency is pretty much of a rice cracker. They say they are multi-grain and 100% whole grain, which made me TRIPLE check the ingredients to make sure there is no gluten in them – even though it says in huge letters: Certified Gluten Free! With an exclamation point!

They have brown rice meal as the #1 ingredient, and then sesame seeds, which is probably why I like them. I love sesame. A serving size is 15 crackers (I’ve easily put 3 servings away today) and they have 140 calories and 5 grams of fat per serving. Not terrific, but they do have 2 grams of dietary fiber as well. That always makes me feel slightly better. They are not only GF, but low in sodium (really? they don’t taste like it) and cholesterol free. Those of you who know my addiction to fiber will know that these crackers make me happy due to their fiber content and their “whole grain” status. Also, love the brand name. Who doesn’t want to be a Crunchmaster?!

I’ll be hitting up Costco for more of these tasty crackers for sure, but only if I can steal the title Crunchmaster.