Bring on the BBQ's!

Who doesn’t love a good BBQ in the summer? Memorial Day is the start of the summer season and BBQ season. Gluten Free BBQ in my cause! Sometimes it is really hard to go to a BBQ because hotdogs and hamburgers haves rolls on them, some of the BBQ sauces aren’t Gluten Free, and the pasta salad is made with regular pasta. Well I am here to recommend some tasty Gluten free BBQ products that are Gluten Free approved by me!

               When eating a hotdog or hamburger, you could always have it without a bun but where’s the fun is that? I have found that Udis has the best tasting buns. They have both hotdog and hamburger buns in classic and hamburger buns in whole grain if you want a healthier option. The bun is good out of the bag, but if you’d like a tastier bun,a trick my mom and I use is to put some butter on it and toast it for a little while on the grill.

               Hotdogs and hamburgers are great BBQ foods but chicken, ribs and pulled pork are even better! But you can’t have these meats without BBQ sauce! I think I might put BBQ sauce on all the meat I eat. I found out that not every BBQ sauce is Gluten Free so you have to watch out! Some products put wheat in their recipe to thicken it and some put soy sauce in their recipes too. Since I have a love for BBQ, Stubbs and Sweet Baby Rays are my two favorite BBQ sauces. Some people think that Sweet Baby Ray’s is not Gluten free because it’s not stated on their label like Stubbs is, but they are working on getting “Gluten Free” on their label. I recommend these sauces to everyone and not only for a BBQ but for regular cooking too!

               Can’t forget about the sides at the BBQ! I love pasta salad and macaroni salad. Unfortunately they’re not Gluten Free unless you use Gluten Free pasta.  There are so many Gluten Free pastas out there and trust me; not all of them taste good. My mom and I have tried a handful of pastas and have found that Barilla has the best tasting pasta we have ever tasted. Besides the great taste, Barilla has different shapes like elbows, penne, rotini and spaghetti. They sell Barilla at local food markets like ShopRite, Acme, and Giant. If you are not close to those stores like me, I found that Trader Joe’s rice or quinoa pasta is also a great substitute for these recipes.

               Now that I have recommended substitutes for a great Gluten Free BBQ, I hope you use some of my suggestions. They are great tasting products! Have a great summer filled with great Gluten Free BBQ’s and please continue to follow my Gluten Free path!

Dinner & Dessert!

As I promised to recommend great Gluten Free restaurants, here they are!  I have been living in Philadelphia for over 6 years and searched the Internet for Gluten Free restaurants and I found a few good ones! The restaurant that is one of my favorites is called Giorgio OnPine. The restaurant’s appetizers, entrees and pizzas can be made Gluten Free by substituting Gluten Free pasta or dough and they even have Gluten Free bread! I have been to Giorgio’s a hand full of times and tried at least one dish from their selection of appetizers, entrées, pastas, pizzas and even desserts. I have never been disappointed! Another great thing about Giorgio’s is that it is a BYOB! So bring your favorite bottle of wine and enjoy your Gluten Free meal. I give this restaurant 5 stars out of 5 stars for having countless Gluten Free options and those options are outstanding!

               After a great dinner everyone needs to eat dessert. So this week I decided to bake something for you because I love to bake. My love of baking comes from my wonderful mom (picture of her on the left with me). She has been baking ever since I can remember; I have always been her little helper! But now when I visit her I let her do all the work, but this time I did all the work by myself! =) I decided to make clean banana muffins. When I bake, I try to stay away from diary and use natural sugars, so here is the recipe:

• 1 large egg
•  1 ½ cup (3 large) very ripe bananas
•   ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
•   ¼ cup of maple syrup or raw honey
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking power
• ½ tsp baking soda
•  ¼ tsp salt
•  1 1/2 cup gluten free Cup for Cup flour (you might need a little more)
• Cooking spray for pan (I use Trader Joe’s coconut stray)

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray non-stick muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl lightly beat egg. Add bananas and mash well.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients except the flour and whisk to combine.
4. Now add flour and gently stir until well incorporated. Do not over mix because muffins will be tough.
5. Fill each tin almost full with batter and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
6.  Let muffins cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

 I get some of my recipes from the Internet, friends, and my mom or try myself. I have to experiment with substituting flours, sugars and fats so not all of my recipes come out like I want them to. When using Gluten Free flour instead of regular flour, you always need to add a little more or the mixture might be too wet and not bake thoroughly.  Practice makes perfect so stick with it! Please enjoy and pass along my Gluten Free recipes and continue to follow my Gluten Free Path!!

I'm Back and Better Than Ever!

I took a little break from blogging for a little while but don't worry, I'm back with some great products, baking recipes and more! Everything you read and see on my blog are products I have tried and made myself and they taste amazing! I will rate everything I eat or bake on a star scale of 1 to 5 stars with 1 star being the worst and 5 being the best. This way you will know what's really good or not so good. This will help you decide whether or not to buy this product. I am not going to lie, sometimes I can be a picky eater and tend to stay away from foods I do not like. But just for you,  I am willing to try many gluten free products because you never know they might taste really good! 

Gluten Free Snacks!

I went to my friends house for dinner the other day and her mom knows I am Gluten Free so she got me some Gluten Free crackers for and appetizer to go with the different cheeses. I can tell you that I am not a huge fan of Gluten Free crackers because they are usually dry, not crunchy and very bland in taste. But these crackers were something special because they were so crunchy, and were full of taste! You could tell that I really like them because I ended up eating the whole bag, oops! Milton’s Craft Bakers made the cracker. I went on their website and found out that they have 3 other flavors and they even make Gluten Free cookies in 3 flavors too! They sell these crackers at Costco, BJ’s, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Walmart and Target.  I would rate these crackers a 4 out of 5 stars. I gave them a 4 and not a 5 because they were very thin and broke when I wanted to dip them into a dip. But I would recommend these crackers to anyone that is looking for a great snack or to serve with cheese at a party!

 

Mmmmmm Dessert!

If anyone knows me, they know I have the biggest sweet tooth, especially for dessert. No matter how full I am from dinner, I will always make room for dessert! I like to make my own desserts from scratch, but when I don’t have a lot of time, I bake desserts that come in a box. This weekend I decided to makes a brownie mix from Traders Joe’s. They were so good that my cousin ate half of them and thanked me for making regular brownies for him, funny thing was they were Gluten Free! I give these brownies 5 stars out of 5 stars because  they tasted awesome and were easy to make!

I hope everyone tries these products because they are that good! Look out for my next blog post; it will have more products and even a restaurant! Please continue to follow my Gluten Free path!