Traveling Gluten Free

Our recent trip out to Kansas City really challenged my ability to eat gluten free - and has probably been the cause of some of my recent stomach distress.  It's hard to plug into the local Celiac Community when you travel. 

I have a few things that I always take with me that I know are safe to eat.  Surprisingly, Wal-Mart has become one of the places that I can count on to find portable food that I can eat.

So, what do I eat?

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oatmeal Cups.  Most hotels that have a breakfast bar have fruit and nuts that I can add into my oatmeal.  I was able to hit up the breakfast bar every morning with my oatmeal cup and add a couple of spoons of dried mixed berries.  The days that they offered bananas were amazing, as I absolutely love bananas!

Starkist tuna in the pouches.  It's a small pouch of protein!  I depend on these things when I travel.  If I'm lucky, I can find mayo or pickle relish that I can add to it.  If not, then I can eat it straight out of the pouch.  If I can find gluten free crackers to mix it up, I will.

If I'm lucky, and if I can find coconut milk yogurt, I make something with yogurt, fresh fruit, nuts, and whatever else looks tasty that is gluten and dairy free.  These mixtures have been one of my go-to staples for a very long time.

Gluten Free Bread.  Again, if I can find a loaf, I can take a couple of slices with me to the breakfast bar and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Never, never, never do I toast the bread in the toaster at the hotel bar.  I heat it, wrapped inside of a paper towel in the hotel microwave for about 10-15 seconds. 

Actually, at the last hotel we stayed at, they had spinach and hard boiled eggs at the breakfast bar.  I made a spinach and egg sandwich with my own mayo for breakfast one day.  I really, really wanted to add sausage, but I wasn't sure if it was gluten free, and I couldn't find anyone to ask.

For dinners, we always stay where we can find a kitchenette.  Salads, quick soups, and sometimes eggs will make up our menu.  I've made tacos, and taco salads over the years.  If we're staying someplace where we can drive, we've been known to take our crock pot with us.  This time, since we were moving middle child into a functioning apartment, I used his kitchen to cook meals every night, and I left him with copious amounts of leftovers.  ;)

Pollinators

I haven't seen any Monarchs yet this year.  This is from last year.

I've written before about the looming Beepocolypse and the chilling effect it would have upon our food supply.

Morgan Freeman is so concerned, he has become a Bee Keeper.

I have two dedicated bee & butterfly gardens in my yard - one in the front, and one in the back, that are dedicated to bees.  They are known to attract pollinators, and they are gorgeous.  We don't use any pesticides in our lawn or on our veggies, and we let the clover and dandelions grow to their heart's content - all pollinators rely heavily upon the honey from our "weeds".

Daughter and I have noticed a slightly disturbing trend, and we are hoping it's just a local trend and not a national one.

We have very few pollinators fluttering around our garden this year.

Most days, we count 10+ swallowtail butterflies on any given days, at least 2 monarchs, a gorgeous blue and black butterfly that we don't know the name of,  and almost every flower had at least one bee hovering over the flower.

This summer, we've never counted more than 2 swallowtails, and we're lucky if we have 20 bees hovering around our flower beds.

I even put in new flowers in the front yard this spring - Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, and Russian Sage. Still no more pollinators.  Less than I've had in the past, actually.

I'm curious.  I know I have people who read this blog from all over the place.  How many pollinators are hanging out around you?  Is it more or less than last year?

Where are the bees? 

Book Review: 50 Shades of Kale

image: http://www.amazon.com/

Ramsey, MD, Drew and Jennifer Iserloh.  Fifty Shades of Kale.  2013, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY.

Hardcover, $19.99.  ISBN: 978-0-06-227288-1.

"The best sensual relationships require discipline to thrive."  Thus begins this charming and witty book that focuses on kale, the wonder vegetable.

What does kale have to offer you?  A huge dose of Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and Calcium.  This powerhouse vegetable offers you a boatload of phytonutrients that help your body fight a multitude of diseases that afflict our bodies and take a toll on our health.

I've always been an iffy cooker with greens, at best.  This book walks you through, with step by step directions on a multitude of directions on how to cook kale, and how to best serve it raw.

From Huevos Rancheros to Zucchini and Kale Bites all the way down to Chocolate Kale Fudge pops, these 50 recipes will provide you with a variety of recipes to titillate your taste buds!

I can't wait until the farmer's market opens next week... I want to get a bunch of kale and cook my way through every recipe in the book!


Book Web Site: http://50shadesofkale.com/

Ingredients vs. Food

Note: I originally posted this on one of my now defunct blogs (Thrifty Living) back on 9/16/2010.   I was looking through the past posts this morning, and I realized that the points I made then are still valid now, almost 5 years later.  The only difference is that I have two kids in college now, and don't feed 5 of us at dinner on a daily basis!  That pot of spaghetti sauce I talk about at the end goes a lot farther now, and I frequently end up freezing the extra sauce to use later.  :)  

Mmmm... spaghetti sounds good, doesn't it?

So, what exactly is the difference between ingredients and food?  When I think food, I think of meatloaf, cake, pies, hamburgers, and salads.  You know, tasty foods placed on a dinner table, waiting to be eaten.  When I think of ingredients, I think of the things that I need to make that food: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ground beef, apples.  Do you see the difference?  Ingredients are used to make food.  Food is the prepared, finished item that is ready to be consumed.

Now, think about your local grocery store.  When you walk into the store, do you see more food, or more ingredients?  Walking up and down the aisles, looking at the boxes on the shelves, in the freezers, and on display, do you see more food or ingredients?  Think back to  your last trip to the grocery store.  Was there more food in the cart?  Or more ingredients?

Why does this matter?  Three reasons:

Firstly, prepared food is more expensive than ingredients.  A box of a hamburger meal plus the cost of the hamburger meat is still more expensive than the cost of the hamburger meat, the tomato sauce, and the macaroni.  Additionally, when you buy the ingredients yourself, you will be making more food.  This means more servings.  If you have a large family with hungry teenagers, it means that they will eat well for less money.  If you are single or a smaller family, then you will have leftovers which can be frozen and taken to work for lunch later in the week or reheated for dinner on another night.

Secondly, the caloric intake.  There is much argument in nutrition circles that the cause of the obesity epidemic in this country is caused by the consumption of these prepared foods.  The food manufacturers are trying to make a quality product, for minimal cost, and still turn a profit.  I am always curious as to what things are going into those meals.  Malodextrin.  Soy Lecithin.  High Fructose Corn Syrup.  What exactly are those ingredients?  Where did they come from?  Are they a natural product, or are they man-made from something else?  If you create the meal yourself from ingredients you bought, you are controlling everything that goes in.  You control the sodium.  You control the sugars.  You control everything.  Do you need to stretch the meat out a little bit more?  Add a few beans to the meal.  It's a healthy, inexpensive way to stretch the meal.

Thirdly, you control where the food comes from.  I know I harp on this a lot, but I can not stress enough the importance of knowing where your food comes from.  Support your local farmers.  You can buy it from the farmer's market, or you can grow some of it in your own yard.  Your local farmers most likely use sustainable agricultural methods.  The food has been picked within the last few hours, while it was ripe.  Go ahead and ask the farmers about their farms.  Ask them about their sustainable methods.  If you are at an Organic Farmer's Market, chances are they will not only tell you about their farm, they might just pull out a photo album and show you the pictures of their farm.  Many organic farms sponsor an open house for their customers to come out and visit the farm in the fall. 

Check out those labels on your foods at the grocery store.  Just who are you supporting when you buy produce from Argentina?  Do you know what kind of pesticides they used on their food?  Do you know what methods they used to grow those grapes you are thinking of putting in your cart?  When you buy something from another country, what exactly are you paying for?  My guess is that much of the cost goes to cover the transport and shipping of that product from Argentina to the United States.  Have you ever wondered just how green that produce is when it is picked and shipped to this country?

I can hear you thinking in your head now "But what about coupons?"  Make no mistake, coupons have their place in the world.  I do use coupons, but I don't use them to buy finished food.  I use them to buy ingredients.  Beans, flour, tomato sauce, pasta, rice... well you get the idea.  I won't bore you with the math, but I sat down and figured out the bottom line years ago.  For the cost of two jars of spaghetti sauce, we can make one pot of spaghetti sauce from scratch.  Two jars of spaghetti sauce will serve us for one, maybe two spaghetti meals.  One pot of spaghetti sauce will serve us a spaghetti dinner one night.  Make 2 pizzas another night.  And, it will make two pans of veggie lasagna.  One for us to eat the night I make it, and another to wrap up tightly in foil and save in the freezer for another night.  One veggie lasagna serves us dinner for one night, and we have leftovers that we wrap up and take for lunch for the next couple of days. That's at least 4 meals from a pot of home-made spaghetti sauce as compared to 2 meals from jar sauce - and it's the same cost, or less.

If you really want to do what's best for your health, and your wallet, start buying more ingredients at the grocery store.

Kale

image: www.eatingwell.com

Kale.  It's what in season right now - but how do you eat it?  I will cut it up and put it into salads and
my scrambled eggs, and I've even been known to put a few handfuls into my smoothies this time of year.

I know that it is extremely healthy, listed on many websites as full of fantastic vitamins that will help your body fight cancer.

But cooking it?  I've always struggled with how to cook it.  I am always on the lookout for new and different recipes that taste good.

I found this recipe for Portuguese Kale and Red Bean Soup in Eating Well Magazine.  We made it for dinner.  Oh my stars, was it fantastic!!!

Since daughter is a vegetarian, we made this as a vegetarian soup.  Instead of chicken broth, we used vegetable broth, and omitted the sausage entirely.  We also cooked up a little bit of brown rice separately and then each person added it to their own bowl according to their own taste before adding their own soup.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

It was very icy on Tuesday night, and I really didn't feel like braving the roads to head out and pick something up for dinner.  I scrounged some things out of my cabinets and refrigerator and put together the most amazing vegetarian enchiladas, ever.  These are not smothered in cheese--my husband and daughter are allergic to dairy products.  These are the honest to goodness, amazingly tasty enchiladas that we had for dinner!  Easy, fast, and on the table within 45 minutes.

Vegetarian Enchiladas

1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic
1 can of chopped green chiles
1 28 ounce can corn kernels
1 32 ounce can of vegetarian refried beans
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
corn tortillas
Enchilada Sauce - recipe follows

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350*.
2) Saute the bell peppers, garlic and onion in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
3) As the onions begin to turn translucent, add the corn and the green chiles.  Stir together, mixing thoroughly.
4) Add the refried beans.  The mixture will be very thick, and can burn easily.  Keep heat on med-low, and stir frequently.
5) Add cumin, salt, and pepper. (Adjust accordingly if you like it spicier or milder.)
6) Lower the heat, and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat when time is finished.

While the bean mixture is simmering, make the enchilada sauce.  Sure, you can buy the stuff in cans at the store, but this is better for you, and doesn't take long to make.  (Recipe follows this.)

Cover the bottom of the cooking pan with a layer of enchilada sauce.

One at a time, spread each corn tortilla with about 1/3 cup of the bean mixture.  Spread the mixture down the middle of each tortilla.  Roll the tortilla up, and place it, seam side down, in the pan.
(note- the corn tortillas WILL break apart.  That's okay. They're all going to snuggle up against each other in the pan, anyway.)

Fill each corn tortilla with the bean mixture, snugging the enchiladas up against each other, until the pan is full.  I usually have enough space left at the top of my pan to add 2 more enchiladas.  I use it.  I fill every available space with enchiladas.

Cover the entire mixture with more enchilada sauce.  If you made your sauce from scratch, don't use the entire pan!  You'll drown these guys!  Instead, Use about a cup to a cup and a half of sauce, spread evenly across the entire pan.

Put the entire yummy mixture into the oven and let it bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Note- If you want to punch this up, or stretch it out, add a cup of cooked rice to the bean mixture after the mix is cooked, but before you layer into the tortillas.  Stir thoroughly to incorporate before you spread it into the tortillas.

If you really want cheese on your enchiladas, add it to the pan, over top of the sauce, before you put it into the oven.


Enchilada Sauce
Make sure you have all of the ingredients measured and lined up before you begin!
 
Olive oil- enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Rachael Ray would say "a turn of the pan".
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1/3 cup chili powder
3 cups veggie broth
14 ounce can tomato sauce  (or whatever size that is - not the small, 8 ounce can, but the next size up)
1 TBSP cumin
1 TBSP oregano

• In a sauce pan over med heat, stir the olive oil and cornstarch together until the cornstarch begins to brown.  You're toasting it.  It should take about a minute - keep a very close eye on it so it doesn't burn!
• Add the chili powder, stir constantly for another minute.  Remember, you're toasting the spices to bring out their full flavor.
• Add 3 cups of veggie broth  (I used 3 cups of water and 3 vegetable bullion cubes.)
• Add the tomato sauce, cumin, and oregano, stirring to make certain all of the spices are incorporated into the liquid.
• Bring everything to a boil, stirring frequently. (You can raise the heat here, if you need to.)
• Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 Note- last one, I promise!  If I had any veggie broth cubes left over, I would have used 3 or 4 of them here.  I would have thawed them in the microwave before beginning the sauce.  If it didn't measure up to the full 3 cups, I'd add water to the thawed broth cubes to make 3 cups.)

Mindful Eating

Bays, Jan Chozen, MD.  Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food.  2009.  Shambhala.  Boston and London.

Softcover, $18.95.  ISBN: 978-1-59030-531-7.

My Review:

Mindful Eating takes a very close look at the tendency of Americans to follow the three G's when it comes to food: gobble, gulp, and go.  We eat our food without tasting it, and we eat more of our food than we intend to because of the mindless practices we have attached to the consumption of food.

Through the course of this book, Dr. Bays takes the reader through a series of exercises, mediations, and conversations that will challenge the reader to look closely at their relationship with food.  From challenging the way we approach food now, to challenging us to change the way we approach our food, the reader will find thought provoking exercises that will cause them to change the way they approach meals and eating.

How do you approach your food?  Is it stuff to be consumed quickly so that you can get on to the next item on your list?  Is it a meal for the senses, from the delightful, thoughtful presentation of food on a beautiful plate, eaten slowly and savored for the tastes and textures that were prepared just for you, the eater, to enjoy?

The guided meditations on the CD will help the reader focus more squarely on food, and the issues surrounding food, and help you to become a more mindful eater.

Dr. Bays does not promise that you will lose weight by reading this book!  However, you will gain some wisdom about what your body is asking you for, and how much it really needs.

Disclosure Notice:  Mini-Van mom is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program.  The picture of the book cover, above is a link to my Amazon Affiliates account.  Your purchase through this program will support this site.  Thank you for supporting Mini-Van Mom.