Friday, January 3, 2014

A Gluten and Dairy-Free Lunch - Welcome To My World

Hi again!

You are probably thinking: Wow, two posts from her in two days? Crazy, I know! I aim to do more blogging this year ( might as well call it one of my new year's resolutions), just maybe not every day blogging, but just whenever I have something interesting to share. Now is one of those times.

I happen to be off for the first two weeks of January (YAY!) and since I have some extra free time now, I decided that today I would make myself an extra healthy lunch. Something I need to do more often :P

I mentioned in my last post that my husband is allergic to gluten and dairy, and I have just recently started having suspicions that I may have a dairy allergy too. Since we've been married, I basically adapted the gluten and dairy free lifestyle. It keeps me from buying junk food that I shouldn't have anyway, and helps me eat healthier! Plus, sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so it's nice to have a hubby who is willing to finish whatever I couldn't fit in :D So I might as well just make things that he can have all the time, right?

It's really not as difficult as it sounds. It was a little daunting at first, but as time went on, I got used to it. More and more restaurants and stores have been bringing in more options for people with those kinds of allergies. The prices on the other hand, suck BIG time, but you come to find that a lot of the stuff that you used to have, you can learn to live without.

So, today I'm going to share a little recipe that we make frequently:

~The Gluten and Dairy Free Wrap~

Here is what you start with:





In place of regular tortillas, we've found that Rudi's Gluten Free Bakery (Their products can be found at Krogers in the Natural section) has the closest recipe to the norm. And yes, they happen to be green! The spinach tortillas actually hold together better than the rice flour tortillas we have also tried out, and they don't crumble as soon as you fold it.

For lunch meat, I always use Nature's Choice, regardless of allergies. The more natural the better. Here, I used their Salami, and their new ( or new to me) Sun-dried tomato Turkey.

For lettuce, just get whatever you want. I happened to have the Private Selection Artisan Lettuce from Kroger on hand.

For cheese, we usually get goat or sheep's cheese, since he is allergic to cow's milk. I haven't really searched for a lot of different cheeses yet, I just get whatever is available to me locally. Here, I used Aldi's Honey Goat Cheese. It is unbelievably delicious! It isn't terribly expensive either, which makes me happy :)

And finally, a tomato. It's a kind of fruit, by the way ;)






All you have to do is spread the goat cheese onto the tortilla. Then place however much meat you want on your wrap. I used three pieces of each meat. Then put the lettuce on, and slice the tomatoes as thinly as you can without destroying them. This will make the wrap less bulky and less likely to break when folded. You can also put Italian seasoning on top of the wrap, but I felt that it was flavorful enough without it.


This is what it will look  like when its folded! Some (or all) of the tomatoes WILL plop out onto your plate while eating.

I also made a smoothie today, as you can see. It was really simple. It is also gluten and dairy free! I kind of made the recipe up as I went.

Strawberry/Banana Smoothie:

1 carton of fresh strawberries, chopped into rounds
2 ripe bananas
And about a cup of Orange Juice. (I didn't really measure with this one. I just poured it in until I liked the consistency.)

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until everything is mixed well. You will end up with a delicious smoothie!

                                 And here is myself and the half-eaten wrap. It was yummy!

See? Simple AND delicious.

Cheers!

~Mary






Thursday, January 2, 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (2014)!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 
I hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful! Mine was awesome. Robert and I had Christmas at our house with my family for the first time! It was great. Everything turned out perfectly and I wasn't hyperventilating in the kitchen. No cooking disasters or anything!

Here are pictures of our winter festivities:


                                                                  Our Christmas Tree

                                                               My winter/themed desk

                                         
 My decorating theme was inspired by Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), The Snow Queen, and The Polar Bear King. Some of my favorite fairy tales. And of course I had to get out my Narnia bookends :)

 
 This is me and my husband, Robert, at a local performance of "The Nutcracker". I hadn't been able to go in years and I'd never been to one with Robert, so that night was really special for us.



This is a better view of my dress. I found it at a thrift store earlier this year. It was a bit long for me, so I cut it and was going to hem it but my sewing machine is having issues at the moment. I waited until the day of to do this (of course) so I ended up just wearing it without hemming, and hoped no one would notice :D I think I'm just going to add some black lace to the bottom edge, instead of simply hemming it.


                                          The Christmas Day spread on our Dining room table.

I made gluten and dairy free gingerbreads and peanut blossums. Robert is allergic to both, so over the years I've learned to substitute. The chocolate chips I used do have butter in them though. Robert tested better with butter, so he is able to have it, just not a lot. There is white cotton candy (or fairy floss!) to the left, and dark chocolate non-pariels ( or snow caps as I prefer to call them) to the right.

                                                             The Winter Place Settings

                     Our stockings, above the little fireplace my sister created when we were kids!

A ball of mistletoe! I found this at Lowes and originally it had red velvet ribbon with a bell dangling from it. The bell hung at just the right length, so that tall people passing under the doorway would get bonked on the head. A.K.A. -  Robert.So, I found some blue snowflake ribbon I had laying around, cut off the red ribbon and the painful bell, and glued on the new ribbon. Voila, a bunch mistletoe to match the rest of my decorations!



Some of the Snowflakes we made together.


This was a Christmas gift for my sister. I bought a plain white plate and mug at the dollar tree and drew on them with a black sharpie. After drawing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and pop it in for 30 min. Design is permanent and safe! I got the inspiration off of Pinterest. They are both Narnia themed. The mug says "How would it be if you came and had tea with me?" and the plate says "It's only just 'round the corner, and there'll be toast and sardines and cake." She loved them!

Well that is all for now! Today I've been taking down Christmas decorations and thinking about New Year's resolutions. Keeping life simple and trying new things are some of them :) I think my brother plans to take us to see The Hobbit DOS tonight...I know, I haven't seen it yet!

Enjoy your Winter! You shall hear from me soon :)

~Mary