Under Two Months

Oh boy: the wedding. It's seven weeks away!

Two weekends ago the A-man and I had a tasting with our caterer, Crazy Chefs. We used them for my sister's wedding a few years back and they were great and now we'll be using them for mine and we're ecstatic. They have been more than accommodating in the food allergy department. We had our tasting in their restaurant location, Loco, in Easton, Massachusetts. I have eaten there before and really, really like the place. It's a tapas and wine bar and again, they were great in pointing out which foods were gluten-free and which weren't.

The tasting went really well. Our appetizers were fantastic: a balsamic reduction atop grilled vegetables was the star in my opinion and Allen loved the lamb chops. We'll also be having a raw bar served in their signature boat (literally, a row boat), and a variety of more passed appetizers and a peach and mesclun salad with a champagne vinaigrette to start. The main meal will be a choice between grilled, then roasted beef tenderloin and striped bass topped with peach salsa. Both dishes rocked. I think I will be choosing the bass for my dish on the day of. The A-man -- the red meat of course.

Here are a few photos from the day: the fish, salad and some of the appetizers. I'm going to make sure to ask my photographer to take photos of the food the day of the wedding so you can see the food in all its glory on the wedding day!


In other wedding related food news, this weekend we will have our cake tasting with Celia Cakes which is super exciting. I'll be sure and post about it.

And in other news, I was adopted! Thomas of The GFCF Experience made my caterpillar cake recipe for his beautiful daughter Olivia and it seemed to be a big hit.

And! My sister clued me in to a great giveaway where you could win a cooler full of Turtle Mountain's new Coconut Milk beverage. I'm a huge fan of their coconut milk yogurt and ice cream, so I'm sure their new coconut milk drink is delicious.

Chicken Satay My Way

So, the appetite's back and all it took was writing about cake and browsing through my favorite food blogs. Just in case you want your mouth to water too, here are some of my recent drool inducing favorites: Ricki, over at Diet, Dessert and Dogs made some carob and date pancakes that cured my impotent appetite and that could easily be converted gluten-free. Kate, at Gluten-Free Gobsmacked created my all-time favorite Chinese dish, chicken potstickers -- and I thought I would never be able to eat them again. She's a gluten-free Gobsmacked Godsend, that's for sure. Book of Yum got my imagination going with her corn flour pizza; I can't wait to make that one! And Carrie, aka the Ginger Lemon Girl really knows how to get the saliva going with her post on gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, a step-by-step guide. And even though Tiffany at Life After Gluten has been on vacation recently, she still managed to create hunger pangs with photos of her birthday cake and some of the awesome meals she had in Mexico.

Now that I've wiped the drool off of my keyboard (I'm only half-kidding) I can tell you about the chicken satay I made today. Pad Thai is certainly my all time favorite Thai dish, but coming in a close second is the amazingly simple and delicious: chicken satay. Usually served with a dipping sauce, this grilled, or broiled chicken dish can be a tasty appetizer, or made into a meal. So, instead of whipping out the dough to buy some Thai takeout (and I certainly do my share, my local joint is amazing with the friendliest staff ever) try these little gems. Though I haven't tried it yet, I imagine this recipe would work well with extra firm tofu as well.

Chicken Satay My Way (gluten-free, dairy-free), inspired by recipes found here and here

serves two, or one hungry Good Eatah

1 lb chicken tenders
1/4 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup lite coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
1 tablspoon agave nectar, or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sweet red chili sauce (can omit)
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

In a medium sized bowl, combine the peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce, agave nectar, ground ginger, garlic, sweet chili sauce and chili powder until smooth. Reserve half of the sauce and put the rest in a zip-loc bag with the chicken. Let the chicken marinate in the refridgerator for at least an hour, overnight is best. Heat up your grill or broiler and cook until done. On my grill it took about five minutes total. Serve with your reserved sauce and a wedge of lime if you'd like.

Sorry Henry, showing off your downward dog won't get you any chicken satay. There's garlic in the marinade.

Superbowl Snacks

I have no tried and true recipe today, but I do have some ideas. Superbowl Sunday is coming up and I usually spend it at my parents. Last year I remember making guacamole and putting too much red onion in it, so I would like to redeem myself this year.

I did a bit of research and here is what I'm thinking:

Brocolli-Stuffed Potato Skins with Avocado Cream - this recipe is by Ellie Krieger who hosts a healty-cooking show on the food network. I'm hoping to make this recipe sans-cheddar and omit the sour cream in the avocado cream, making it more of a guacamole (I'll go easy on the red onion, I swear)

Popcorn Shrimp with Chili-Lime Dipping Sauce - another recipe by Ellie Krieger; this one calls for regular flour. I'll probably substitute with my Annalise Roberts flour mix (superfine brown rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch) and make the dip for my dairy-eating family.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries - from allrecipies. If I can find some good-looking strawberries, I'm all over this one. I'll be using Enjoy Life chocolate chips. I also heard a rumor that Stop and Shop brand chocolate chips are dairy-free, so if I can confirm, I'll use those to save me some dough.

It'd be great if I made all three; I'll be sure and post about it if I do!

Speaking of the Superbowl, this will probably make fellow Bostonians pretty pissed, but I'm hoping the Patriots lose -- here's why: Why I Hope the Patriots Lose the Superbowl

Though, I (heart) Wes Welker.