Bentos for 05/09/2011

Mr. Quayle's lunch 05/09/11

my GF lunch 05/09/11

Top Tier: Nature  Valley Granola Bar, carrot stix

Bottom Tier: navel orange, carrot stix

bowl: green salad and Sabra hummous

Mr. Quayle's lunch 05/09/11

Mr. Quayle's lunch 05/09/11

Left: Ground turkey seasoned with Shake n Bake, tomatoes, radish, mozzarella cheese, scallions

Right: red seedless grapes,  strawberry fruit rolls

Lagniappe: flour tortillas

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Bento for Mr. Quayle 05/08/11

Mr. Quayle's lunch 05/08/11

Mr. Quayle's lunch 05/08/11

Top tier: Strawberry Twizzlers, red seedless grapes, Chips Ahoy cookies

Bottom Tier: Lipton Cheese n Broccoli noodles w/leftover hot dog and scallions

Lagniappe: 2 buttered scones

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Trader Joe’s GF English muffins

This morning I decided to bite the bullet the try the GF english muffins Husband bought me the other day from Trader Joe’s. I don’t have anything against english muffins excepting the gluten free calorie count and it took me a while to wrestle myself into trying them.

Was I ever glad I did! I can’t remember the last time I had an english muffin and these weren’t muffins in the crumpety-Thomas’s sense but solid, scored muffins which did NOT crumble in my toaster, went great with peanut butter and jam and let me say again did NOT crumble!

I don’t have much to complain about here. They’re nice, solid looking baked goods with good colour, good taste, good weight (not too light, not too heavy) and were 210 calories for a whole muffin, so 2 halves. They’d be great for homemade Egg McMuffins or even under country gravy or hey, why not red beans and rice? Love um. love um, love um :)

Tasty Factor: yum! Hold up excellently in a toaster and don’t get soggy under jam.

Poopy Factor: they are a tad heavy but already scored so that’s a plus.

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Trader Joe’s GF Ginger Snaps

Husband and I were over near the Children’s Home the other day for an adoption class and had some time to kill before it started so we went to Trader Joe’s by Bakery Square. Before I forget, make sure you check out the bathrooms next time you’re in there- SO COOL!!

But back to my topic. Husband gets way more excited about GF stuff than I do-mainly I don’t buy any ‘GF’ grains or breads, I stick to naturally GF items such as corn or rice to begin with. He talked me into getting a few things and one of those things was a bag of their GF Ginger Snaps.

Let the raving start here. I’ve never been a huge fan of ginger snaps or gingerbread for that matter and I like my bikkies crispy, not chewy. But hands down to Trader Joe’s Ginger Snaps. For one, 1.99 a bag wasn’t bad at all. For two, there’s 5 to a serving at 140 calories so that’s awesome because so often GF foods are much higher in calories than their gluten-y counterparts. And for thre, they have just the right bite, just the right sweetness, just the right outer crunch and inner softness and they even look like ‘real’ bikkies. Get yourself over to Trader Joe’s and get a bag and make sure you don’t spare the tea.

Tasty Factor: delicious.

Poopy Factor: Husband claims byvirtue of not having gluten, they’re just poopy anyway. Which means he has to insult them because I didn’t offer him any.

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Check out the current Giant Ea…

Check out the current Giant Eagle circular for GF products- it’s celiac awareness week. http://www.gianteagle.com/save/gluten-free

Rose’s GF Curry Pizza

curry pizzaIf you like the flavours of Indian and the convenience of pizza, you’ll love  my recipe for Curry Pizza.

Ingredients:

Bob’s Red Mill Biscuit Mix(+ 1/2 c butter, 6-8 tbs water)

2-3 tbs Pataks Rojan Josh paste

1/4c Pataks sweet Mango Chutney

1/4 c chopped green onions

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 large beefstake tomato, chopped

1/2 c shredded  mozzarella cheese

3-4 tbs olive oil

Crust: prepare crust according to the directions for pie crust on the back of the biscuit mix package. Roll out and place in a greased 9″ glass pie plate. Cook on 450F for 1 min. Remove from oven and proceed.

Pizza: drizzle the crust with half of the olive oil. Scatter over cumin and garlic salt, then evenly spread over rogan josh paste and chutney. Arrange thin slices of tomato on top and scatter over green onions. Drizzle the remaining oil and top with cheese. Bake another 10 minutes.

Tasty Factor: Great taste. Crust isn’t exactly like pizza but good enough and cuts well. The chutney balances out the spice of the curry.

Poopy Factor: It’s a little sloppy. Some sausage slices might balance it out. The dough was a little difficult to get into the pie plate.

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Banana-nana bread

When I found out wheat was what ailed me and switched over to a gluten free diet, I secretly said to myself, thank goodness I’ll never have to bake a loaf of bread again. Because I, dear readers, am not the world’s greatest baker. Cook, yes. Bake, not so much.

But inevitably I started to hanker for some treats I wouldn’t normally have a lot of and one of those things was banana bread. Simple, uncomplicated, uses up the ripe nanners nobody wants to eat and oh so good with butter. So I happened to have a bunch and needed to use up my Bob’s Red Mill flour and the two just came together in harmony.

banana batter

banana batter

I modified the recipe for Banana Bread on the back of my package of Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour:

1/3 c corn oil

2/3 c packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla (theirs called for 1tsp)

1 c GF all purpose flour (theirs called for 1 3/4c)

3/4 c tapioca flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon (theirs called for 1 1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

2 c mashed banana (theirs called for 1 1/2c)

1/2 c roasted pumpkin seeds (theirs called for 1/2 c chopped pecans or walnuts)

2 tbs flax seeds (theirs called for 1/2 c raisins)

going into the ovenOven to 350F. Grease a glass loaf pan. Beat together all wet ingredients excepting the bananas. Sift dry ingredients separately and add alternately with bananas to batter. Pour in pan and bake 1 hour.

yum yum all done

breakfast!Tasty Factor: the taste is awesome and so is the texture. This was easy enough for me to do and do well. It holds up enough to actually pick up and eat.

Poopy Factor: Husband wasn’t so keen on the pumpkin seeds but hey, I had to use them up somehow.

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Review: Starbuck’s (Product) Red hot/cold flask

image courtesy of Starbucks.com

image courtesy of Starbucks.com

I was eyeing up one of these babies at the Oakland Forbes/ Atwood location a few months ago and had casually mentioned to Husband that for a post-payday treat he might want to pop in during one of his Starbucks raids and get me the smaller cup to take to work with me.  I fully expected to never see it and in the back of my mind set up a reminder to pay attention to the next time Starbuck’s kitted out their clearance shelf so I could score a cheap one.

But wouldn’t you know, Husband took a little trip one weekend and came home with this stonking great tankard fit to knock out a football player in one blow to the back of the head.
Weight notwithstanding, I was a little miffed that he’d brought home the heaviest possible selection but soon enough I started to see the value of his choise. Not only is my drink flask double-walled and made of stainless steel, it’s a (Product) RED-issued product, so that’s coolness in itself. I’ve definitely put it to the test- it got wall paint drizzled all over it when we painted our kitchen and cleaned up relatively easily. I’ve kept cool liquids in it up to 12 hours and partially sitting in a sun-baked car and somehow, those liquids still stayed magically cold. Today I’m sipping on a soda I poured in 8 hours ago which is still carbonated and chilly. I love it!
There are a couple of caveats, however. One of course is the price. With all the metal water bottles being sold everywhere from walmart to your local library, it’s hard to justify $19.95  for this unless the buyer is really supportive of the RED cause. Secondly, it’s quite tall and very heavy. It doesn’t sit well upright in standard rucksack pockets and you can’t shove the base of it into a standard drink holder in a car. So unless you’re going to hold it in your lap everywhere you drive, it’s not the most portable thing. Which unforunately is the point of it, so….
Another downer is the lid. You screw it on one way and turn it the opposite to open. There’s no ‘lip’ to drink from or hole to pass liquids through so it;’s almost like a little waterfall coming out at ya. Be careful or like me, you’ll end up drenched. I just think this was really poor design frankly and the lid  can get stuck. I dread the day when something gets stuck under that lid and I know it’s coming because unless you’ve got a baby’s toothbrush, cleaning the underside well is just impossible. It does leak slightly if tilted just so, and did I mention how heavy it is?
But the lowdown is that it benefits the work of RED, looks really sweet, is my favourite colour and keeps my stuff cold or hot all day long. The lid sucks and you’re stuck with it in your hand if you plan to take it anywhere but it was a gift and I like it. Why? Because it’s Starbucks and today in my personal war with Starbucks, I’m one down and Starbuck’s is one up.
p.s.s.s.s.s.t.!!! If you’re a Starbuck’s fan make sure you check the ingredient list for flours used in pastries and goodies and malt or barley flavour syrups used in drinks. Starbuck’s does carry pre-packaged gluten free goodies as well.
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Via @gizmodo, these nifty lego…

Via @gizmodo, these nifty lego lunchboxes are gluten free and nostaligic too! http://www.curiosite.com/product/lego-lunchbox.html

I just entered to win tickets …

I just entered to win tickets to the Kraft FIGHT HUNGER BOWL! You can too at http://www.HuddleToFightHunger.com. No purchase necessary.

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