Monday, June 30, 2008

Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger: Melissa at Gluten Free for Good

Have you ever come upon someone's blog and thought to yourself "I could totally see myself being friends with this person if we knew each other in real life." Well, months ago, after just skimming the blog of Melissa over at Gluten Free For Good, I knew hers was going to be a favorite. Melissa has the unique perspective of being a gluten-free nutrition therapist and exercise physiologist. Not only does she have tasty recipes, but she goes into great detail about the foods that she cooks and bakes with and their attributes.

This is my first time participating in Book of Yum's Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, but I have always been a fan. In fact, I was honored to be "adopted" by Ginger Lemon Girl (another one of the blogs I frequent) during last event's round-up.


As you might be able to tell by the above photo (I was using my parents camera and didn't have it on the correct setting; please excuse the blurriness), I chose to make Melissa's most recently posted recipe: Melissa’s Strawberry Rhubarb Juicy Crumble Tart. Boy, am I glad I did. Sunday's are usually family day in the life of the Good Eatah, meaning I'll be having a large feast of some sort with my parents, grandma, sister, brother-in-law and niece, and this time I was in charge of dessert. So, after reading all of the wonderful nutritional benefits of the glorious rhubarb on Melissa's blog, I knew what I was going to whip up.

You can't get any more simple than this recipe: Melissa used fresh strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, gluten-free flour, vegan margarine and nutmeg and cinnamon to make up this delicious crumble. No xantham gum, no baking soda, no hard-to-find flours -- just your basic ingredients, combined and baked to perfection. The only change I made was that I used three stalks of rhubarb, instead of five -- and that was only because that's all that I had.

Like the quotes from film critics in a blockbuster movie trailer, my family's praise of the crumble was stellar.

My sister exclaimed "This is really good; I especially like how the crumble part stayed crispy"

My Mother, who eats gluten and dislikes the taste of many gluten-free desserts stated "Write on your blog that I have a discerning palette and that I really like it." Got it.

My brother-in-law, whose ultimate compliment is comparing something he likes to eat to pot roast noted "Yum. This tastes like pot roast" Okay, he really didn't say that, but there is a running joke that if he makes the statement that something tastes like pot roast -- it means he likes it.

And Grandma, the one who nicknamed me "The Good Eatah" cleaned her plate.

Oh, and I can't forget about Henry and Elsa; they usually spend their days together mouth-wrestling, trying to choke each other by grabbing the collars around their necks and batting one another in the face with their paw when they want attention (okay, that's only Henry), but once I took a bowl of the crisp in my hand and assumed the photography position they were calm. It was a false hope, they weren't getting any crumble, but it made for a cute photo opp.


Great work, Melissa! I will surely be making this again and again.

9 comments:

Jen said...

that looks so good! I should make that for the 4th!
Cooking classes are so freakin expensive and undoubtedly contain crazy amounts of wheat flour and so I teach myself with books. I can never have too many books.

Anonymous said...

This does sound really good, and I love the family reviews!

(Also enjoyed the description of Henry and Elsa, of course--"mouth wrestling"--Elsie and Chaser spend hours doing that!).

Nice new banner!

Allie said...

YUM.

I'm thinkin' i may need to make that this weekend also! thanks for posting... ;)

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, Lizzie, thank you so much! First off, yes, I knew we would be friends the minute I saw Henry's (I mean your) photo. You have SO much good energy. I see it, feel it, and swish it up when I visit your blog. Yeah! Plus, you have a bike helmet on — how could I not like you. You're a little fitness girl. Oh, and I almost forgot about the GF/DF part.

I LOVE the new Henry photo header and can I steal a copy of the dogs with the crisp for my photo board? Please? I'll share a photo of my guy, Fairbanks, with you. Hey, we should do a dog blog day.

Anyway, I'm so thrilled that you liked the rhubarb crispy tarty thing. I made it with rhubarb and raspberries the other night. Yum, you just can't go wrong with that recipe. How about apples? Other than all the sugar, it's pretty healthy. :-) I think the cup of pecans gives it some real crunch.

Thanks so much for the kind sentiments, Lizzie! You're such a sweet heart.

Melissa
xoxo

Kate said...

This crisp really was fantastic. Maybe I'll make it this weekend with raspberries -- that's a great idea. And Melissa, now I have to add your blog to my favorites!

Tiffany said...

I really like Melissa too! She is one of my favorite bloggers :) It seems like we should get together or something, living in the same metro area and all!

I love the pic with the dogs! Henry seems so well behaved! Our little Queso still needs to learn his manners :)

Gluten free Kay said...

I love the new Henry header! He's quite the media darling!

I just polished off my cherry crisp last night and was wondering what dessert to make next. Thanks to this post and a glorious second crop of rhubarb in the garden, I think I'll try Melissa's cobbler.

Emilia said...

That looks really good and I'm tempted to try it now.

I like Gluten Free For Good too, there's a lot of info there which is always nice.

Liz said...

Thanks Jenny! It's a great dish to take to parties.

Thank goodness, Ricki! I thought the mouth-wrestling was a Henry and Elsa thing -- good to know other dogs do it.

Hey Allie! Thanks for stopping by. It's a tasty crumble.

Melissa, you rock! Your comment made my day. I had so much fun making the dish and sharing it with my family -- even they thanked you! Absolutely use the photo. A dog blog day sounds like a good idea :)

I'm glad you liked it Kate because I'll be making it again and again...

That would be so cool, Tiffany! If you two got together I'm sure you'd come up with some healthy, delicious dish!

GF Kay -- you just got me in the mood for cherries -- yum! And thanks for the comment on the new header. He's a wacky mutt -- always jumping into my photos ;)

Emilia -- it's a fool proof recipe, I say go for it! That's the best thing about Melissa's blog -- she really wants people to learn about their food.