Thursday, August 28, 2008

Gluten-free breakfasts...

Being gluten-free often makes breakfast the most difficult meal of the day. When travelling, you end up with eggs or yogurt. Cereal is problematic, as most have some form of gluten. Even at home, breakfast can get very dull, particularly if you live alone, like me.

I grew up eating substantial breakfasts, fruit, cheese, jams, arabic bread and an egg... We rarely had pancakes, or bacon or waffles, so those don't really feel like breakfast food.

I loved the breakfasts in the hotels in Spain (except for the one where we came down and there were two huge bread things in front of us). They were potato tortillas(!) cheese, fruit, eggs, yogurt. I did have to be somewhat careful, as it was all buffet style...but even so, fabulous breakfast...

In France, there were omelets, yogurt, or fromage blanc... and then I got my apartment and was able to find the gluten-free bread, so was able to have more interesting food. I just wish I'd found the gluten-free croissants that company hypothetically makes...

On the boat, man, the boat, I got gluten-free eggs benedict...I was in heaven. So good. I only thought about taking a pic when I was halfway through... they took gluten-free bread, the Canadian bacon, the poached eggs, and the sauce... I was in heaven, if I haven't mentioned that. I had also picked up some gluten-free muesli in Southampton (England) and was able to supplement with that. Fruit salad and G-F muesli is a fine breakfast.

Here in the US, there are a lot of frozen g-f breakfast items, but most of them are 'eh'. I'm not big on the traditional breakfast items like bagels, frozen waffles, frozen pancakes... most of them are either 'white flour' or dense and rocklike. So breakfast, particularly in the summer, is still a challenge. In the winter, I can make rice porridge, quinoa porridge, or even g-f oatmeal. But in the summer, hot food isn't quite as appealing...

So I need to find an equivalent to the fromage blanc of France, start making my own potato tortillas...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

On sharing a kitchen...

So I've been doing a lot of back and forth to visit my parents. And have been trying not to really eat there, because its difficult. You don't realise how many times something gets rinsed and put away, or dusted off.

I can see the cake crumbs for miles, from my dad's angel food cake. They are ALL over the kitchen. My mom rinses containers out quickly, or lids off, and puts food in (I'm not saying my mom isn't neat, she is, but when it comes to contamination, you get paranoid very quickly).

I get a little proactive, with serving myself first, putting serving spoons in everything, not using the toaster, etc, etc. But sharing a kitchen can be very hazardous. Take honey or peanut butter, for example. Someone is spreading honey on an English muffin...they reach in with the crumby knife... and voila! Contamination. No honey in my tea. And you can't always, especially in a family home, have individual jars labeled 'gluten-free', because its not practical. Take butter..you sometimes put a dollop of butter on your veggies, right? nope. None for me, thanks.

Wash the knives before you use them. I am thinking of at least getting a gluten-free cutting board, and mark it as such, for up there.

So if you have to share a kitchen, either designate a gluten-free area, or a couple necessary gluten-free prep surfaces. Or else, there were disposable cutting boards a few years ago...horrible for the planet, yes, but maybe a lifesaver for something like this. Keep the gluten-free items as seperate as possible. Have a seperate shelf. A seperate toaster or a toaster oven (toaster ovens are safer because they are easier to clean out or to put the item on foil to protect it) Mark everything clearly. And serve yourself first at family meals.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Gluten-free travels: Spain, in retrospect.

The one thing I wished I'd done differently is done some more research into things I could eat. I ended up feeling like I was being a bit of a pest. Part of the problem was being with a tour group, and not really having a lot of control over where we ate or went. We ended up being in a lot of 'touristy' areas, which didn't necessarily have stuff I could eat. I also should have asked the guys to write something out for me that I could use to communicate with waiters, etc.

That being said, there were some fantastic moments. There is always potato tortilla or cafe con leche, or even ice cream! When we got to Barcelona there was fabulous, fabulous paella... yum! There was marinated octopus, there were all kinds of fantastic things...

The only food I, unfortunately, have a picture of, is the paella. A good food blogger I am not.

Here it is, in all its sunshiny glory: