This post marks the beginning of something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I love to bake and I love to write. I love to learn and discover through experimentation and play in my kitchen and in my word crafting. I have decided to do the things I love by starting a gluten-free baking project and an individual support service for folks who are new to gluten-free living.

My baking company is going to be called, Gluten-Free Hamster, like my blog. I began concocting this idea for a baking business a couple of years ago, when I first created this blog. At that time, I was getting ready to go back to school to earn a certificate in Technical Writing and Editing at the University of Washington. I was looking for the next logical thing in my career and school seemed to be it.

So, I put this blog aside for the last two years, I completed the program, and set about finding my place in the professional world of writing and editing. Now, I work as a writer and an editor. But all these years, I have been tinkering with my favorite recipes and indulging my love of cooking and baking. I want to do both.

I am drawn to the freelancer's life. I am inspired by the progression of the freelance movement in our country. I decided to embrace this way of earning a living. But that decision comes with a lot of uncertainty. I need to balance my share of our family income and freelance writing doesn't easily promise that. It occurred to me that now is the time to follow my dream. I am excited to share my baked goods and to be a source of support for gluten-intolerant people in my community. I look forward to providing gluten-free nourishment and comfort to my fellow 'hamsters'--gluten-free or otherwise.

Gluten Free on San Juan Island?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were lucky enough to get away to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for an overnight visit. He had never been, and I went once, more than 10 years ago. In attempt to keep down the cost and because I didn’t know what kinds of gluten free accommodations I would find, I decided to make some provisions of my own -- just in case.

I packed our cooler with a cold cabbage salad, an Egg-less Egg Salad made with tofu, and a pan of Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. I only had the night before our trip to prepare, so I used what I had on hand.

The cabbage salad recipe came from the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, which I mentioned in my last post. I have to say that in my journey toward wellness, this book has become my closest companion. I have learned so much about nutrition and balance in my cooking and eating. It has changed my life, specifically in the way I cook and the ingredients that I use. I will reference it often here.

However, in my kitchen I am striving to balance this super nutritional approach with other recipes that bring me back to my roots and comforts. That is why I also reference more conventional recipes, such as the chocolate chip cookies that I baked for our trip.

We ate the Egg-less Egg Salad with tortilla chips and rice cakes -- but crackers or bread would have been nice too. This salad wasn’t what I was looking for when I set out to prepare it. I want a recipe that tastes like one I used to get at the Trader Joe’s in Huntington Beach, California. As of now, the Trader Joe's in Bellingham doesn't have it. My quest continues. 

The chocolate chip cookie bars I brought were based on the old standard Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe. I substituted my personal gluten free whole grain flour blend and otherwise followed the recipe as it is written. I baked them in a 9"x13" glass baking dish and cooled them, cut them, and left them covered in the pan to sit overnight. This way they held together well and I packed them in a big, plastic zipper bag.

I will talk more about flours in an upcoming post. It is a fundamental component of gluten free cooking and baking, and one that is often confusing and overwhelming. There are many approaches to figuring out flours and I can help you understand your options so that you are empowered to have the gluten free experience that reflects your wants and needs.

So, my suggestion when taking a trip to a place that you don’t know much about is to call ahead. Find out if the grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee houses/bakeries carry gluten free products or have a gluten free menu. If, like me, you don’t have time around, go prepared and have more fun.

As it turned out, Friday Harbor was not very accommodating to a gluten free diet. We visited a few coffee houses, a restaurant, a breakfast diner, and the grocery store. I didn't find anything. I like to be able to enjoy a baked treat with my coffee on occasion. I want to have that option, especially on a fun trip. So it was a great thing that I had an option. Because of my preparations, I felt no deprivation and I had a great time exploring everything that the island did have to offer.

the importance of having a back-up plan

Last night was a crazy one at our house. Most days are full of activities, interruptions and shortcomings. The days are also full of love, silliness and all the stuff that goes along with raising kids.

Yesterday was a day that got away from me. While our baby napped in the morning, I assembled a Wild Rice and Kale salad from the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. This is a recipe that my husband and I often enjoy for lunch throughout the week. The Co-op also makes a version of it in their deli, if you’d like to try it.

I wasn’t sure what to make for dinner, but I was figuring it would be something out of the same cookbook. I meant to decide on a recipe using dry beans, and start them quick-soaking so that I could put dinner together in the 30 minutes of “free time” I have between picking kids up from school and dropping them off at Karate class.

Well, I never decided on the recipe because of -- let’s just call it the unexpectedness of life. And so, I found myself at home at 5:45 starting dinner off the top of my head.

Thankfully, we stocked our freezer last weekend with a back-up plan. We went to Costco for toilet paper and to pick up some organic staples like eggs, butter, and sugar. My friend recently told me about some new products they are carrying that are gluten free.

Usually I don’t buy much food there because they don't stock products I want. Also, most of the convenient foods they stock are not only not gluten free, but they’re over processed and full of unhealthy chemicals. But, now our Costco in Bellingham is responding to member demands for better products!

So we came home with Dr. Praeger’s Gluten Free California Veggie Burgers and Alexia Sweet Potato Fries which are also gluten fee. Both products are in the frozen section and both are what I reached for last night for dinner. The meal was rounded out by the salad that I had made earlier in the day. It was easy and it was a meal I felt great about serving my family. Most importantly, it tasted good!

My husband and two of our boys do not have to eat gluten free. They had their burgers on toasted wheat bread. On this particular night I had no gluten free bread on hand, so I ate the burger between two pieces of lettuce with some tomato, Vegenaise, and mustard. Generally, I keep a loaf of Udi’s Whole Grain Gluten Free bread in the freezer for toast or when I want a bread option. I also topped the burgers with cheddar cheese which is how we like them.

Mary’s Gone Crackers and Larabar are a couple other great gluten free brands that Costco is now carrying.

It feels good to be successful in the face of stressful situations. There was a time when I would have caved and picked up a cheap pizza on the way home and then suffered from the effects. This feels much better!

birthday for a blog

Today is the first day in the life of my blog. I want to pause and acknowledge this because it has been brewing inside me for a long time. I feel that I have an approach to gluten free living that makes it enjoyable, interesting, varied, balanced, and normal!

This is a month of birthdays in our family. Birthdays inevitably mean cake. Perhaps this is the first year that you are living gluten free and you feel you don't know how to celebrate your birthday now in a way that is familiar. The thing is, you can have your cake and eat it too! The first thing to do is to identify what you want your birthday to look like -- culinarily speaking. Do you want an extravagant meal out? Do you want pizza and cupcakes with the kids? What kind of birthday celebration feels like yours?

Once you identify what it is you want, it's time to make it happen. There are a number of amazing store bought cake mixes that are gluten free and no one would know it. It's important to know that you can use a gluten free cake mix and still please the crowd. You will not be depriving others of a delightful celebration because the menu is gluten free! There is no need to make two cakes or offer a gluten-ful option to the crowd. I promise you, it is not necessary.

For my son's birthday I used Pamela's Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix and Dark Chocolate Frosting Mix. I followed the directions for cupcakes and it was so great to be able to sing "Happy Birthday", indulge in some decadent chocolate cake and know that there was no compromise for any of us in the celebration. I knew that I didn't have to be deprived. I wasn't tempted to indulge, only to feel sick later. I knew that it wasn't necessary to waste time making something that I could eat, along with gluten-based cupcakes for everyone else. You can find Pamela's products at The Community Food Co-op or at Fred Meyer in the Natural Foods section.

For dinner we had a very rich, traditional homemade lasagna. It was a special occasion and so my focus wasn't necessarily making it "health food". I followed the recipe exactly as it was written in The Taste of Home Cookbook, which is not a gluten free cookbook. The only substitution that I made was to use Tinkyada brown rice lasagna noodles, which I also bought at the Food Co-op.

So, in the end I didn't really have to do much differently than I would have before I stopped eating gluten. I only needed to change a couple of things to make my son's birthday feel like he wanted it to feel, while still making all of us feel good! Happy Celebrating!