Showing posts with label adopt a blogger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adopt a blogger. Show all posts

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.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Two Thumb's Up: Elana's Cupcakes

Bad Henry. Chocolate is a big no-no for dogs, but luckily, not for me.

I'm going to be missing Mother's Day this year because I'll be on vacation with the boyfriend for a week, so I threw an early Mother's Day dinner this past weekend for my grandma, mom and sister. The dinner consisted of ham, Spanish tortilla, radish cole slaw and biscuits. But I needed a dessert! And I needed it to be gluten-free, dairy-free and light on the refined sugar. Luckily, Elana's Pantry came to the rescue.

If you haven't visited her blog, I highly recommend it. Not only does she live in one of the coolest places on Earth: Boulder, Colorado, but she has a clear, easy-to-follow blog with beautiful photos and tasty recipes. She cooks and bakes gluten-free, dairy-free and tends to work with high protein flours. I also have yet to see a recipe of hers that calls for sugar.

Now on to the cupcakes. These little gems rock; it's as simple as that. The cupcake itself is moist and has a nice hint of vanilla and undertone of coconut. The frosting was rich and amazing. I had to test out a cupcake before serving them to my family of course and the only way I can describe my first bite, which was the perfect amount of chocolate paired with a moist vanilla cupcake? Gosh darn delectible (and gluten, dairy, and soy-free).

You can find her recipe for the cupcake here and the recipe for her frosting here.

Note: I did not have celtic sea salt, so I used regular sea salt instead. I also did not have Dagoba choco drops, so I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips.