Disappointment!

I'd heard rumours, and so imagine my delight when I saw it with my own eyes...Asian Home Gourmet really does make Gluten-free sauces!  It says so RIGHT ON THE PACKAGE! I can't say I jumped up and kicked my heels, but my whoop could probably be heard throughout the grocery store.  I could choose from so many Asian kinds of sauces...from Korean Bulgogi to Hainian rice, Tom Yum Soup to a variety of curries.  I've already tried the Indian butter chicken and loved it.

Making a recipe from scratch is one thing.  Usually it tastes pretty good, and it's a thrill when someone has no clue that it's the gluten-free version and loves it.  However, it's a real treat to get to open a package, add it to some cooked meat, and wah-lah, there you have your meal.  Around here, that's hard to find (ummm, unless you have a maid who whips something up from scratch...that's something that is a real treat too!).

After standing in front of the sauce package shelf for a while, I began to really check out the ingredients.  Butter chicken still passed.  Hainian rice passed.  Both said 'gluten-free' on the front...but so did the Korean bulgogi, and one of the ingredients listed on the back was "wheat flour."  Same on the majority of the other AHG packages labeled 'gluten-free.'  Unless I'm mistaken, gluten-free means no wheat, no gluten, no derivatives.  Talk about disappointing.  I was actually quite frustrated.  Why take the time to label something gluten-free when it isn't?  At least they have clearly labeled the ingredients on the back, and I didn't spend a bunch of time trying to figure out why I was hugging the toilet once again.

If you're reading this and you know something about AHG foods that I don't know, please enlighten me.  Until then, it's back to scratch for me.

Just an update

I can't believe that my last post was about Christmas baking!  That's long gone, and we've been working our way through lots of cakes since.  Unfortunately, I haven't been baking as much this last month as I've started my Masters (teaching) and that's all I can wrap my head around.  However, when I procrastinate, it usually involved food, so there have been times when I've whipped up a soup, bread and baking all in the space of a few hours.  I think that all of the sitting conserves energy and then I put that into my food prep.

A wonderful friend returned from the USA the other day bearing gluten-free gifts of chocolate-covered mint Jelly Bellies, "Food Should Taste Good" tortilla crackers, and...o to fix a craving I've had for so long!...Bob's Red Mill Pizza Dough mix.  I haven't used the mix yet (the other things are almost gone...and I refuse to share these ones!) but it's on my list of 'things to procrastinate by."  The other day I tried sliced ham and didn't seem to have any kind of reaction that I know of, so I will be adding that periodically to my eating list.  There's a homemade Hawaiian pizza on my horizon!

My in-laws are coming for a 5 week visit at the end of March, and they're going to bring us some goodies.  I just need to send them a list and they'll haul it all halfway across the globe for us.  My problem is that I don't know what I should be asking for!  I would appreciate any suggestions for gluten-free mixes and crackers/cookies.  I do know that I have specifics, like more of those tortilla crackers, and some Kinnickinick pancake mix.  Delicious!

One thing I have discovered here is Orgran's gluten-free licorice.  It is really, really good black licorice, and the flavour lasts a long time.  Just finished my bag yesterday and am looking forward to the next time I head into Jakarta for a food shop.  The problem is that those kinds of things are sometimes just 'one time only' and then we never see them again.

Time to start my day.
Thanks for reading.

A Good Run on Recipes

Gong Xi Fa Chai..Happy (Chinese) New Year.  We have a day off of school today, and our family is spending a lot of time just relaxing.  It's been nice to have a long weekend, eating supper leftovers and the last of the Christmas baking.  Although we've had a lot of chocolate and Christmas treats, there's always room for just a little more.  We've also been finishing off some of the best recipes I've tried yet this last year.  Flourless chocolate cake is still on the top of my list, but there's a new topper that I found on another blog.  It's Fresh Cranberry Sour Cream Streusel Cake from justpinchme.com, and although that recipe uses wheat flour, I substituted a popular flour mix that I got from the "Cooking For Isaiah"cookbook. After following the very specific instructions for a "fluffy cake",  I ended up with a DELICIOUS cranberry cake that didn't even hint at gluten free.  Note:  what a treat it was to find a kilo of tiny, frozen cranberries at a grocery store in Jakarta.  I picked up some frozen raspberries, too, and we've been eating like it's summer in Canada almost every day since!

The other to-die-for recipe that doesn't taste at all like the dry, crumbly cookies I often end up with is Land O'Lakes gluten free chocolate chip cookies.  Another great treat that looks great in a glass cookie jar on the shelf, tastes great, and freezes well.  

Finally, hallelujah for a gluten free pie crust recipe that actually works.  All my life I have loved to make pies, starting with the little jam tarts that I'd make with my mom's pie crust remnants, to freezing up to 12 autumn apple pies for the winter months when my kids were little.  For months after my diagnosis, I put off trying to make a pie, and when I finally attempted it, my pie flopped.  Thankfully, since then I have found a recipe for Pie Crust on gfzing.com that has worked for me, and tastes wonderful.  It's flaky and isn't mushy on the bottom when I make a fruit pie.  I even tried it as a chicken pot pie crust and breathed a sigh of relief when it came out beautiful.  My greatest achievement was when I found some HUGE frozen blackberries (when I found the cranberries) in Jakarta, and made my husband his traditional blackberry pie for his 45th birthday.  We have had to settle for cake these last few years, and so the berry pie was a wonderful treat.  He was even able to perform our "only with blackberry pie" tradition of licking the dessert plate clean.

It's good to start the year with good news, and my good news is that I don't have to follow the advice of a well-meaning friend, who suggested I find a new hobby.  Instead, I've turned my hobby around and found a way to make it work.  I'm thankful for people who share their recipes online, and hopefully one day I'll have more delicious recipes of my own to pass on.

Thanks for reading.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Hot off the stove! I have a favourite soup recipe using coconut milk, and today I decided to tweak it a bit by mixing it with a pumpkin soup recipe that we tried during the holidays.  Not sure what to call it, but the closest thing would be a curried Thai pumpkin soup.  Regardless of the name, we ate it for lunch and it was a hit.

ingredients:
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1 red chili, slit lengthwise, seeded, chopped (I use finger long red chilis...not too spicy)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp red Thai curry paste
2 cups steamed, mashed or pureed pumpkin
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 c canned corn niblets
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 tbsp fish sauce

top with chopped cilantro
flavour with salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, garlic, ginger and chili in oil until onion is almost translucent.  Gently stir in curry paste. Add the coconut milk, pumpkin, stock and spinach, then turn down the stove to a medium-low simmer.  Stirring with a wooden spoon, allow heat to blend the flavours for about 10 minutes.  Lower heat to lowest simmer and add niblets and fish sauce.  Simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serves 4 for a meal, 6 for an appetizer.
Pour into bowls and top with cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper if needed.  I find the fish sauce makes it salty enough.

This is a great recipe to serve with Thai lemongrass iced tea.
Enjoy!

1 Year Today

One year ago today I was standing in a cold German hospital, putting on the 2nd of my 4 layers of warm clothing, when a doctor handed me his card with "Coeliac Disease" written on it.  He told me that he didn't speak my language enough to explain the disease, and that I was to go home and do the research on how to live with it.  Ever since then, I've been researching and learning to deal with it.  

Christmas Day 2011:  my son caught me unaware

My husband reminded me this morning that late last December I had told him that I didn't know why, but 2011 was going to be a significant year for me.  I had been "discussing" life with God, and that's what the final verdict was that we came up with.  I told my husband so that he could be my witness, and true to his role, he reminded me this morning.  He also reminded me that I made it a whole year, and that I survived.  I did.  I threw out a lot of failed baking, I threw up a lot of what I thought was safe to eat, and I grew up from a baby Celiac to one who is able to advise with confidence.

white water rafting in Nth Sulawesi

My annual Celiac highlights?  Our family trip to North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where I discovered that I could indeed travel beyond the comforts of my own home.  I just need to bring a long a few of my own foods and snacks, and to communicate well with those who are feeding me.  Heading home to Canada was huge for me.  I found a bit of heaven there in both restaurants that cater to those with specific food needs, and in the grocery stores built just for people like me.  Mostly, I've found incredible joy and encouragement through friends (and family when in Canada) who know I'm coming to an event and they bring something with me in mind, or they invite me over for a meal of some kind.  I grew up surrounded with the theme that 'food is love', and I think it's something I'll never be able to unlearn.  I have just had to alter the delivery a bit.

my family 2011

I'm thankful for the challenges I've gone through this year.  I may not be stronger physically, but I believe I am emotionally.  There are days when I want to just curl up, and there are others where I live in denial, waiting for the day I can just sit down to a regular meal with my family, or order up some burgers and fries for delivery.  Mostly, though, my days are full of thankfulness that I know what to avoid, that there continues to be a growing number of options available for me here in Indonesia, and that I am alive and healthy.

Christmas...baking?

Oh, I had so hoped this morning that I would be able to sit down this afternoon and whip up a blog posting, complete with photos, of a pile of beautiful, colourful, scrumptious gluten free Christmas baking.  On my agenda was "Nonnie's Almond Tarts" (Nonnie being my husband's late grandma) and some orange-peel gingerbread men that I've been making since before my children were born.  I've successfully dipped some GF pretzels in chocolate, made rum balls (also Nonnie's recipe), and a new recipe for chocolate peanut butter balls that taste just as good if not better than a Reese's peanut butter cup (thank you Jenny H!).  A friend kindly passed on a GF sugar cookie recipe that mostly worked for me, enough that after Christmas I'll try one more time.  Unfortunately, today's baking was a FLOP, and there are no lovely photos.  Two weeks ago I made Nonnie's tarts and somehow they held together (most of them, anyways).  Today, they crumbled right before my eyes.  After dolloping each tart with icing, I gently spread the icing around and then gingerly placed each tart in a Christmas container.  No holly, no berries this time.  I'm afraid to take them out of the container, thinking they'll crumble in my fingers!    As for the gingerbread men, I thought they might work.  I recently found "gluten substitute" in a local "ex-pat" store, and thought I'd give it a try.  They cut BEAUTIFULLY and are not sticky at all. However, the cookies taste like they're factory-made and they powder in your mouth with each bite.  Not nearly as soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and full of flavour as they were when they were gluten full!  So, two more recipes to put on the back burner and keep trying until they're perfected.  The only thing is, each batch of Gingerbread Men costs about $15 for 15 medium sized figures.  Incentive to perfect isn't all that strong here.
Good thing is, I've got rum balls and chocolate peanut balls calling out to me, and they turned out great.  Two out of four isn't all that bad for my first Christmas of GF baking!

Healthy Choice: the store

Last weekend I participated in a charity event put on by a local group of ladies that I belong to.  It was a Trivia Night, and during the event we held raffles and a Silent Auction.  Prior to the night we sought out sponsors who donated a variety of items for the house, kitchen, and entertainment.  I was the "winner" of two baskets of organic, mostly gluten-free goodies, donated to the Silent Auction by the owner of Healthy Choice.  It was a real treat to come home and open the baskets, dig through and read the labels. I've been to the store before, located in the nearby district of Kebon Jeruk (means "orange garden"), but had no idea that it sold as many gluten-free items as I found in my bargain purchases.  This part of my last week has been a ray of hope to me in terms of my eating.  Another ray is that my family has agreed (and then told me) that they're all going gluten-free in terms of eating anything that crumbles or spreads (bread, flour, cookies).  This helps in that not only do I no longer have to worry about the counters and table top, I also can share their peanut butter, butter and other spreads.  Thankfully they all agree that the baking I've been experimenting with is not just edible, but actually tasty and something I can share with others.  We can eat as a family, snack as a family, and hopefully I can gain some weight and have healthier days.

Not sure how long the gluten-free family will hang in there (the gluten-free, not the family) but it's worth a try.