I never get tired of reminding everyone how wonderfully delicious gluten-free eating is. Case in point, this morning's breakfast:  Potatoes in cellar, Rosemary in garden, light olive oil in pantry = Chef Bill's magnificent Pommes Frites.  Life is Delicious!

Morning Parfait: Blueberries, Steel Cut Oats, and Yogurt

As deep as my adoration of sunny side up eggs is, variety is the spice of life.  This morning, my pallate was calling for flavors and textures beyond that of creamy egg yolks and sauteed vegetables.  I love carbs in the morning and it's usually the fibrous, whole grain variety I go for, though I'm the first to admit that a stack of gluten-free pancakes with real syrup and butter is a beautiful thing. (More on that a.m. indulgence when the cold weather and fall foliage comes to my neighborhood).

It had been way too long since my last visit to the bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Steel Cut Oats in my cupboard, but it's August and a steaming bowl of hot cereal wasn't in the cards, so I took a different route. My cravings and pantry inventory conspired to make the perfect breakfast parfait. 

If soaked overnight, bullet-hard steel cut oats soften perfectly. Since the refrigerator still had a huge haul from blueberry picking last week, I decided to puree a batch and simmer it down to a reduction. In went the oats and some shredded coconut to soak overnight. In the morning, I added goat milk yogurt. (When I say I'm dairy-free it's the cow products I lay off of.  Sheep and goat products agree with me just fine, but I only eat them about twice a week). The result was a fabulous breakfast loaded with flavor, complex carbs, fiber, and vitamins...plus a little calcium and protein. Perfect before a workout.  And may I say...Thank GOD for Bob's Red Mill.  Their gluten-free products are reasonably priced and fantastic!

Blueberry Breakfast Parfait

Serves 1

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Steel Cut Oats

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Flaked Unsweetened Coconut

1/2 cup goat's milk yogurt

Puree blueberries in a food processor until berries are liquidy but still a little chunky. Place in a saucepan and simmer on low heat uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The berries should be liquidy but with a little thickness. Turn off heat and add oatmeal and coconut, stirring thoroughly.  Cover and let sit overnight.  In the morning add goat yogurt and stir until blended. Serve immediately. 

Note - Sweetening with a tablespoon of agave is optional, I like tasting the fruit and coconut unobstructed so I left if out. 

Bob's Red Mill - His gluten-free products are usually in the picture on the mornings I don't have eggs

The perfect breakfast parfait - served with a side of Inspiration

The Joys of Chickpea Flour...and Lucini

Chickpea Frittata with Pesto


Since going gluten-free three and a half years ago, I've had a longstanding love affair with polenta. It's been a sensual substitute for bread on many an occasion.  Sometimes I'll bake it in a lasagna pan, then slice it into squares and sautee it in olive oil, the perfect companion to eggs or sausage.  There's also the whisked on the stove top version which results in a creamier rendition, sort of like a very thick hot cereal.  I love using a yellow, puffy cloud of it as the perfect underpinning to a juicy pork chop or crispy piece of roast chicken.

So when I came across a bag of Chickpea Frittata mix in my supermarket's gluten-free section, I was intrigued.  Chickpea flour was the only ingredient, and all the instructions asked is that I mix the 8.8 ounces of flour with 3 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of oil, and some salt. The simplicity drew me in, but the brand name sold me. Lucini.  Makers of my favorite olive oil and tomato sauce.  All their products are organic and have a wonderful, clean taste.  Their extra virgin olive oil is pungent and deep emerald, but I also adore their lemon-tinged olive oil which is infused with real lemon essence, not a fragrance. Lucini's jars of tomato sauce have taken starring roles in gluten-free pasta dinners and steaming bowls of my tomato soup, which I sometimes morph into cream of tomato with the addition of room temperature chevre. A few turns of the whisk, and viola, a velvety cream of tomato without the cow dairy.

But back to the chickpea fritatta. I'd just made a batch of pesto the day before which was aching for a purpose.  Since I love polenta topped with pesto, I decided to give this a whirl and let's just say the results were DIVINE!  Unlike polenta, there was no gritty texture to these heavenly triangles of warm, yellow dough.  The consistency was as creamy as a cheesecake, but with the substance of a soft bread...kind of difficult to describe - you've just got to experience it for yourself.

The cool thing about my newfound gastronomic love is that it tastes amazing, and is SO much healthier than most other flours because of its protein and fiber content.  Check Lucini's site for store locaters, or order online.  You won't be sorry.  http://www.lucini.com/shop/cinque-e-cinque-traditional .


As I said, the recipe for the chickpea frittata is simple.  It can be topped with a good marinara, some fresh herbs and olive oil, a mushroom sauce....just about anything you'd put on toasted bread or pizza.  I highly recommend homemade pesto because it's basil season and plentiful at farmers markets.  I have no formal measured recipe for it.  Good pesto is a matter of texture.  You need a base of fresh leaves, enough olive oil to make a paste, several cloves of garlic for flavor, and grated peccorino for flavor and further texture.  Here's how I make it, you can play with this version and change ratios as you see fit.  I usually add more oil at the end because I like pesto to be nice and liquidy rather than chunky.  It was the perfect topping to a piping hot slice of chickpea frittata this morning. And needless to say, gave me more than enough energy for a DDPYOGA Strength Builder workout.


Stacey's Homemade Pesto
1 generous bouquet of fresh basil from the farmer's market
1 bottle Lucini Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 tub of grated Peccorino Romano Cheese
1/2 lemon or t tablespoon bottled lemon juice


Pick leaves from stem and place in a food processor.  You may need to grind them in shifts and not add all at once in the beginning. Add garlic cloves, 1/3 cup of cheese, and about a half cup olive oil, or enough to make a paste out of the leaves.  Pulse for 20-30 seconds at a time until well blended.  Add more leaves if there are any until all the leaves are blended in.  You may need to alternately add more oil and cheese, depending on how pungent you want the flavor to be and how liquidy you prefer your pesto.  Pour into a serving bowl and add the juice from half a lemon or the tablespoon of bottled juice and stir thoroughly.  Serve immediately.  Cover tightly and refrigerate any leftovers.

Bon Appetit!

Fresh out of the oven...

A fitting crown to a delicious carb

...we really liked it

The Perfect Post Workout Snack

...or whenever you're craving something with sweetness and carbs.  This little gem delivers both, plus a little clean protein to balance it out, and the ingredients are simple: one toasted slice of gluten-free bread or roll, a few tablespoons of almond or sunflower seed butter, and a generous slathering of fruit spread.

After a more vigorous DDPYOGA workout (Double Black Diamond, Diamond Cutter) or dumbbell lifting at the gym, I'm RAVENOUS.  It's also the perfect time to feed throbbing muscles which are desperately in want of a glucose hit.  So I put this easy combination together for a recent recharge in between lunch and dinner.  I've also used this as a breakfast.  It's sooo good.  Especially when I have a soft, spongey roll from my area gluten-free bakery on hand.  If you don't live near Albany, N.Y. and can't get to Sherry Lynn's (http://www.sherrylynnsglutenfree.net) the Schar brand makes wonderful rolls and breads, from baguettes to ciabatta (http://www.schar.com/us/gluten-free-products).  

Yesterday I was especially fortunate because the fruit spread used was from my friends Suvir Saran and Charlie Burd.  My favorite gentlemen farmers lovingly handcrafted this glistening elixir in the Masala Farm kitchen with the help of Charlie's dear Grandmother who was visiting from West Virginia.  If the words Masala Farm sound familiar, it's because Suvir is a renowned chef, lecturer, Celebrity Top Chef star, and cookbook author.  His most recent cookbook is "Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes From An Uncommon Life In The Country."  The book weaves a tapestry of recipes and farm anecdotes so enticing,  you just might find yourself scouting the Washington County real estate ads. 

Suvir also has two previous books to his credit: "Indian Home Cooking" and "American Masala."  Both pay culinary homage to his Motherland of India as they inform a few American classics such as Suvir's succulent "Tamarind-Glazed Meatloaf" or his "Fried Chicken Masala," a creation accented by a buttermilk brining and a fragrant sprinkling of Garam Masala.

Suvir has not only given me wonderful recipes, his books impart a beautiful philosophy towards food and eating that had been sorely missing from my life for the majority of it. After reading his books and interviewing him on numerous occasions, I concluded that Suvir is indeed onto something: Kitchens are sacred territory and the central nerve of the home.

“In the Indian home, the kitchen is where we create magical tastes that have the power to heal the mind, body, and soul. All cultures that are a happy people meet in the kitchen,” he says. “I want to encourage people to go back to the kitchen and start nurturing. You are what you eat. And so my philosophy, and that of my parents and grandparents, is to cook, share, and eat with care and thought.”

Suvir and Charlie are big on sharing.  They gifted me with this jam on a recent visit for some of Masala Farm's spectacular goose eggs. When I arrived Suvir, Charlie, and his grandmother were a three-person assemblyline, steadily cranking out little mountains of pitted cherries from a local farm.  It was a mammoth task, but a labor of Love, Suvir assured me, as he place a jar of blackberry jam (they make several varieties) into my grateful hands. 

I took it home and put it in safe keeping for the occasion when I truly craved it.  Yesterday the occasion arose and I ate Suvir's labor of Love with unmitigated pleasure, and the awareness that sharing is an integral element of our sacred kitchens.

Perfect after a workout...or for breakfast

Charlie's lovely grandmother, Bernice Burd, cheerfully works the jam-making assembly line at Masala Farm. Behind her, Suvir doesn't let the pits get him down

The glorious fruits of Washington County

A tub full of cherries - a fantasy come true for me!

Let the alchemy begin. Eventually this morphs into....

...Divinity in a jar. 

For more information on Suvir Saran's books or the farm, visit www.suvir.com .

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Something Sweet...Every now and then, I just have to. So I tried a new product last week: 1-2-3 Gluten Free Chewy Chipless Cookie Mix. www.123glutenfree.com .


Since it's a chipless product, I threw in a bag of mint chocolate chips that had been in the pantry for months and were just begging for a purpose. The combination was DIVINE.  And by that I don't mean the cookies were OK for a gluten-free product. The 16-year-old food critic of the house who's not gluten-free declared them the best chocolate chip cookies he's ever had. Further evidence that eating gluten-free is not a punishment, but rather, a pleasure. 


And speaking of pleasure (one of my favorite topics), part of how I'm maintaining a 185-pound weight drop includes retooling my definition of pleasure.  These cookies were fairly good sized so I had one.  I was clear about the purpose of the cookie:  a little psychological pleasure. And make no mistake, it's an essential element of life. Just ask any chronic yo-yo dieter if you don't believe me. 


But the operative word here is a little pleasure.  I ate the cookie with focus and awareness, enjoying every crumb. Four years ago, my definition of pleasure was to eat as much as I wanted of a good-tasting food and it effortlessly spiraled into a way of life for me that felt normal. It was also a custom that got me into a bit of a pickle physically. 


So yesterday, instead of half a batch of these little gems, I ate one. Something I've learned in all this:  the freezer is my FRIEND!  I'm now the queen of squirreling away a surplus of Almond Meringue Cookies or slices of gluten-free chocolate cake. It's wonderful to have them lying in wait at my disposal when the mood for pleasure (not to be confused with numbing out and escaping) strikes me. 


These lengths I go to may sound time-consuming and elaborate but they're really not.  Like anything else, if I do it over and over it becomes...you guessed it...a habit!  And I do it because I want to keep my current wardrobe. And because it's so much easier to move around the world (and staircases and the back seat of a two-door Hyundai) if I eat for one and not seven. So now, smaller, more strategically applied forms of pleasure it is. Believe me, it's a very fair trade.


Bon Appetit!

Eggplant-Chego

Eggplant-Chego:  This is LIVING!

Chef Bill made me the most delightful dinner the other night - a cleaned up version of one of my favorites: Eggplant Parm. This dish may look elaborate and involved, but I assure you, it's very do-able.  The crux of it involves dredging eggplant slices in gluten-free bread crumbs and then baking them until crisp. The slices are then layered in a baking dish with layers of a Bolognese-style meat sauce and topped with slices of Manchego cheese, a sheep's milk cheese.  The result is positively delicious and no yucky, heavy feeling afterwards because my pipes aren't clogged with gluten or cow dairy.  If you desire a more specific recipe, give me a shout and I'll have Chef Bill dictate his magic formula for all you wonderful readers.  Buon Appetito!

The Simple Joys of Swai

Swai is one of my favorite types of fish:  inexpensive, and surprisingly moist and tender if cooked via Chef Bill's recipe below. Probably another reason I like it so much is that it bears a striking resemblance to catfish. I moan over this recipe, and I'm not a big fish lover.  The key is not overcooking. According to Chef Bill, it's best to be less concerned with the blackening than with the proper cooking of the fish.  It does not have to be traditionally blackened to taste good.  Chef Bill made this for dinner the other night, and true our gluten-free nature, served it with a side of homemade potato hash. It's also great with  green beans, sauteed spinach, baked zucchini, a side of basmati rice, a baked potato, gluten-free cappellini with oil and garlic - just about anything.  Summer's the perfect time to enjoy a little Swai.   Let me know how you like the recipe  -  Bon Appetit!


Sauteed Swai
Serves Two:

Two Swai filets
Olive Oil
Good Quality Cajun Spice such as Emeril's Essence or Paul Prudhomme's Fish Magic

Lightly brush or rub filets with olive oil. Fairly heavily season both sides of the filet with Cajun spice. Heat approximately 3 TBS. olive oil in a large frying pan till almost smoking. Sear fish on one side approximately two minutes. Flip fish over with spatula and sear for two minutes. Add one pat butter to pan until pan is about smoking. Sear for 40 seconds each side. Serve immediately.

A Glorious and Gluten-Free Meal, compliments of Chef Bill...