New Blog on Wordpress!

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to let you know that I am switching over my blog to wordpress.

My new site is: glutenfreenewsy.wordpress.com

I will be keeping this site up. However, all my new posts will be on my wordpress site.
Thanks for understanding! Please check out my new site and follow for new recipes and gluten free restaurant reviews!

Have gloriously gluten free day!

~The Gluten Free Newsy

There's Always Salad

Those nefarious waiters. You ask if the restaurant serves gluten free dishes and they tell you there is PLENTY to choose from. Immediately you begin visualizing plates of quiche, fried chicken, shrimp gumbo, and perhaps even a some gluten pastas to choose from. The restaurant's definition of the word "plenty" however differs from mine.

What do they offer time and again without fail? SALAD! That's right leafy greens, without the grilled meat, or salad dressing or croutons of course (because those contain gluten too). Croutons in my opinion are what make the salad worth eating in the first place. Despite this fact, may I again emphasize that the waiters like to offer you a salad without the salad dressing and without the meat! If I wanted to be a vegetarian I would hang out in my own back yard and eat the greens growing from my garden...not go and buy overpriced greens at a restaurant. The point of going to a restaurant is to order delicious food that you are not able to make at home or do not have the time to make at home. It is supposed to be a service where you pay for the convenience of not having to cook the food yourself.
Ahh for those good old days when all you had to complain about was the slow service.
For this reason, it is important to know where the good gluten-free restaurants are so that you can have a tasty meal without the hassle of searching for two hours for a place that offers something other than salad.

This is why I need YOU to follow my blog so you can stay updated on the latest and greatest gluten free restaurants, trends and recipes.

Caramba!- Gluten Free Whistler

The air is warm and balmy, people stroll past chatting and I am lounging in a chair sipping ice cold water, and lifting a forkful of calamari drizzled with lemon and dipped in aioli to my mouth.
I lean back and savor each bite. The calamari is slightly chewy and carmelized on one side in butter.

I take a sip of water and reach for a slice of gluten free margarita pizza (and no, it does not contain alcohol you uncultured swine).

Rather it is a slice of thinly baked, white crust toasted and drizzled with oil, a light sprinkling of melted cheese, fresh mozzarella melted in dollops on each slice and lightly roasted fresh cherry tomatoes. The pizza is my favorite.

My mom however favors the Patatas Bravas. 

Patata Bravas are a unique appetizer of fried potato slices, with a spicy coating, drizzled in salsa and aioli. I agree that it is excellent and unlike anything I've had before.

Other dishes I sample include a gluten free seafood pasta. The restaurant uses penne pasta in place of the fettucine noodles. The tomato sauce is nicely balanced between salty and sweet and does not overpower the seafood nor drown the pasta but maintains a nice ratio.

My brother is eating the lamb wrap minus the wrap. Instead they serve him the tenderized lamb meat in a dish served with a side of cherry tomatoes, onions, and aioli sauce for dipping. He eats up every last bit. 

I thoroughly enjoy the food, it is light but filling and leaves me satisfied. 

~Gluten Free Menu Options~

The menu had each gluten free item labelled with a "GF" symbol. All of the pasta and pizza could be made gluten free for an extra fee of $2.50. There was a delicious sounding pulled pork sandwich that was gluten free but it cost $22 and was a bit out of our price range. 

Roughly around 90% of the menu was gluten free, and most of the items if not explicitly gluten free could be made gluten free if requested.

I would recommend this restaurant for a nice dinner sometime as its slightly more expensive but has high-quality, delicious food.

~Thus sayeth the Gluten Free Newsy.

Gluten Free Steveston, B.C.

I visited Steveston, B.C. the other day to watch the filming of Once Upon a Time.

Immediately upon arriving I was fascinated with the town itself. Which unlike Storybrooke, is a thriving, bustling tourist spot with cute souvenir shops, coffee shops and a plethora of restaurants serving fish and chips lining the water.
While there, my family and I enjoyed the many gluten free options available.
For dinner after perusing the menus of several quayside restaurants, we settled on Dave's Fish and Chips (http://steveston.bc.ca/online/daves/) who served us tasty gluten free fish and chips.
They do not beer batter the fish, but instead coat it with rice flour and lightly fry it. I found it more palatable than other greasy fried fish I've had other places. It was delicate, flaky and made a nice meal.

For desert we headed over to Bell's Bake Shop for gluten free cupcakes. The frosting is what made this cupcake special for me. The actual cupcake was decent, but the frosting was a fluffy light mound of whipped butter and sugar- (not overly sweetened) with an airy texture. The cupcake itself was nothing to brag about not dry, but not moist, just okay. The link for their website is here if you want to check them out. (http://www.bellsbakeshop.com/)

There were other gluten free options as well including Paesanos Italian Restaurant which can substitute gluten free rice pasta in its dishes.
The other restaurants also had gluten free menus, but most of their options consisted of items like grilled fish, or salads which are naturally gluten free (so nothing very unique there).


I so enjoyed watching the filming of Once Upon a Time; but I don't think it would have been as special if it weren't for the tasty food.

Gluten Free, Paleo Thai Shrimp Cakes

Thai Shrimp Cakes

Tired of turning down all those delectable fried shrimp/crab cakes they serve at virtually every Thai restaurant? I am! So I made these Thai shrimp cakes and they put the restaurant's shrimp patties to shame. 

• These shrimp cakes have a Thai flair and the medley of flavors combined with the sweet tangy chili sauce really help the flavors pop.

Thai Shrimp Cakes

1 pound cooked baby shrimp

1 garlic clove

2 medium grean onions thinly sliced

1/2 tbl. lime juice

1/4 unsweetened dried coconut

2 tsp. gluten free fish sauce

2 tsp. hot chile sauce

1 1/2 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger

1 large egg lightly beaten

Another large egg

1 cup of almond flour

Coconut oil for frying.

Place shrimp in a food processor

Put shrimp in a bowl and mix with 1/2 cup of almond flour, 1 egg, and the rest of the ingredients until well blended.

Heat coconut oil in a cast iron skill until the oil covers the bottom of the pan.

Shape the shrimp patties in to small patties and dip in the other egg 

Once it starts to sizzle put the shrimp cakes on the griddle and cook until they are golden brown on both sides.

Sweet Chili Sauce

4 tbl. honey

4 tbl. rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. grated ginger

small pinch minced garlic

1 tsp. ketchup

Stir until well blended

Gluten Free Krumkake Recipe

 With Christmas fast approaching and as a tribute to my fabulous friend who gave me the recipe for these delicious Norweigan cookies I am posting a recipe on how to make krumkager (krumkake). 

Now my friend is completely awesome. (Not to brag or anything) So I knew that if she suggested this recipe it would be fantastic! All I had to do was tweak it in order to make it gluten free. So I did.
I use my standard all-purpose gluten free flour and coconut silk eggnog in place of whipping cream. It is delicious. The only drawback is that it is rather time intesive.

4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup eggnog or whipping cream
Pinch Nutmeg or Cardamon
2 1/2 cups flour

Bake in a krumkager iron on medium/high on the stove. Bake until light gold, time varies so watch closely. Use 1 tsp. of batter to each iron.
Remember- to flip the krumkager iron over about halfway through baking.
As soon as you are done baking the cookie take it off the pan with a spatula and immediately roll it into a cone shape using the end of  a rolling pin or if you have it, the special rolling cone that should come with your iron. As the cookie cools it will harden.
Eat with whipped cream or "Real Whip" a dairy free, healthy alternative to cool whip.

Check out my new blog!: glutenfreenewsy.wordpress.com

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie with Honey Sweetened Filling

Pumpkin pie (in my humble opinion) is an essential of all Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Unfortunately it would seem that nearly all pumpkin pie recipes not only are not gluten free, but also use condensed milk as one of the ingredients for the filling.

Pumpkin is thick
And sugar is sweet.
So why the need for condensed milk?
My family and I are all lactose intolerant so condensed milk definitely was not an option.
My mother had for years experimented using yogurt and/or almond milk for the pie. These pies always tasted regrettably sour.
Compounding the difficulty was my family's desire for it to be sugar free. So we tried using honey- but somehow the pies always had a slight sour taste.
I finally went to my ol' pal "Google" and typed in "sugar-free pumpkin pie filling."
I found a recipe by Martha Stewart that was not only condensed milk-free but was also sugar-free. I tweaked it slightly and managed to make a delicious honey sweetened pumpkin pie from scratch.

So Voila! Here is my Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe. I use the same crust as the one for the smoked salmon tarts except I add a dash of sweetener to the dough


Pie Crust Recipe
1 cup Key Gluten Free Mix (below)    
2 Tbl. sweet rice flour
6 Tbl. cold butter
1 tsp. honey or sugar (add to dough after ingredients are all mix)
1 Egg
1 Tbl. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Mix the flour. Cut the butter into tablespoons and add to the flour. Cut the butter in by working it into the flour with a fork or a pastry cutter. You want the butter mixed in until it is in pea sized pieces. Next make a dip (or well) in the middle of your flour. Pour in the egg and lemon juice. Mix in starting from the center and working your way out.
Take a piece of floured parchment paper and roll out your crust on it until is as thin as a piece of thickish fabric. Put it on a cookie sheet and refrigerate it for 5-10 minutes. When it is done chillin' take it back out and mold into your pie tin. (I used mini pie tins for my quiches but I would recommend using a regular sized one). Prick the crust with a fork before putting it inot the oven to bake for 10 minutes. The crust should be barely cooked, a pale golden. Put it to the side until you have prepared your filling.

Pumpking Filling
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

To prepare the pumpkin (skip if using canned pumpkin): Cut pumpkin into slices and scrape out all the seeds. Bake in the oven on cookie sheet on tinfoil at 350 degrees farenheit for 35 minutes or until soft. Let cool. Scrape out the pumpkin and blend in a blender. If possible, put pureed pumpkin through a cheese cloth in order to squeeze out any excess liquid. Finally freeze the pumpkin puree you won't be using.

To prepare filling: Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit. Combine pumpkin puree, eggs, maple syrup, milk vanilla and salt. Stir until well blended. Pour into the pie shell and bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until set. By "set" I mean that the filling will be fairly firm and won't stick to your finger if you touch the pies surface. If the crust begins to overbake you can cover it with tinfoil.
Once it is completely baked let it cool.
Serve with icecream, whipped coconut cream, or "truewhip." Truewhip is a dairyfree, healthy alternative to cool whip that I am particularly fond of.