Jenn Cuisine » Gluten Free

My Love Affair with Fruit Continues – Summer Fruit Salad

Jenn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:45:01 +0000

For the two of us, this summer has been all about fresh fruit. Of course we all know my love affair with strawberries, but now that the season has passed, I’ve branched out to enjoy the other tasty sweets nature has to give us along with the bright summer sun. Whether it be sharing a fresh carton of blackberries while walking home from work, picking raspberries on a path out on an evening walk, or waking up in the morning with yogurt, granola, and slices of apricots that aim to be as sweet as the ripest of peaches, we certainly have been enjoying our fruits! And then there are figs. I like to wait til they are super soft, so delicate a firm grip would end them in a fit of a sticky disaster oozing everywhere.

Not every fruit needs to be sweet to be enjoyed. Currants are a tart little explosive burst of flavor when they enter your mouth. At first I was a bit skeptical of my potential love for this fruit because of that, but they have really become a staple in our kitchen the past few weeks. I enjoy their tartness, especially paired with something sweet. They are perfect for balancing sweetness, and are exactly why they are such an integral part of this salad.

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Gluten Free Substitutions Part III – Easy One Ingredient Substitutions

Jenn — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:00:58 +0000

Welcome to Installment III of the weekly series here at Jenn Cuisine, all about gluten free substitutions. Last week I showed how many great gluten free dishes you already know how to make, and this week I’m actually going to get into some substitutions. The easiest substitutions don’t involve the many mysterious white bags of flour, as my friend Wendy so aptly described the myriad of gluten free ingredients commenting on my intro post. This week is all about the one ingredient substitutions that are so easy to incorporate into several of your favorite meals. I’m going to cover just a few of the most common substitutions that we use to make gluten free dishes, and I would really like to know what some of your tricks and techniques are as well!(...)
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Croques Monsieurs

Jenn — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:45:48 +0000

Bonjour de Paris!

So, in case you haven’t talked to me in a while, I recently found a new love in life. It’s called Paris, and is this city in France. And what perfect timing, for this month’s GAHIGF theme is all about French cuisine! We decided to go to Paris one weekend because one of my blogging friends, Lauren of Celiac Teen, was on holiday with her family, and so our little trip was also a great way to finally meet in person! My husband and I had so much fun hanging out for the day, and we got to see a lot of the beautiful sights around the city. Ha maybe too much for a day, but it was perfect.

I can’t possibly just cut this down to a couple pictures, so you are going to have to come along for the ride that was our amazing day in Paris! Here are some adventures to maybe the three most iconic features of the city – to see the rest of the trip I’ve got a set in my flickr devoted to France.

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Refreshing Summer Drinks: Coconut Iced Tea & Coffee

Jenn — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:50:57 +0000

I don’t have much experience with Swiss Summers, but this Summer has been hot! The past few weeks have regularly reached 30C (86F) and higher, and this particular spoiled American has been used to the luxury of central air for too many years. That, along with being one who thrives in cold climates, makes these past few days a bit more challenging for me than they should be. But I’m getting better, and acclimating slowly but surely. I remember melting when the temp reached 25C earlier this Spring, and now at 25C I can envision a nice cool mountain breeze caressing my face as the trees gently rustle in the wind, a completely refreshing experience. As with all things, it’s all relative and about perspective. As I adjust to non-A/C life, I notice these differences less and less. I suspect next Summer won’t be an issue at all

However, the hot weather is a PERFECT excuse to escape away to the mountains for some hiking! I am going to have to make sure to do some trips up to the higher elevations this summer – does anyone have any suggestions for some beautiful hikes up in the Swiss Alps that are a must-do during the Summer months? The mountains in my view aren’t snowcapped anymore, but I would love to see some snowy mountains again, like these off in the distance from an earlier trip to Gruyères a few months ago:

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Gluten Free Substitutions Part II – When No Subs are Needed

Jenn — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:16:51 +0000

Disclaimer – What I describe in this series is my own personal experience. I am not a licensed doctor nor am I a nutritionist. Please be advised to contact the manufacturer of any product before assuming a food product is or is not gluten free, and please consult your personal health care professional to know what foods are safe for you. This blog and this series are NOT a form of medical advice and should not be used as such.

Welcome to Part II of my weekly series all about gluten free substitutions! I wanted to start with that disclaimer, front and center. Just to remind you all that I don’t have the answers to solving health problems, and that you need to be mindful of your own issues. What happens to work for us may not work for you. Food products differ by region, and sometimes there are recalls on products, or I may even make a mistake in describing something (though I promise to do my best not to – and if I do please let me know!). I just happen to cook gluten free for my husband and I, and that’s about as far as my actual skills go. I am learning with you in this process!

Part of that learning process was realizing after I had gone through all the issues of being gluten intolerant that my husband deals with, that I already had many many naturally gluten free recipes and dishes that I made every day. I am sure you do too. This is the theme of this week’s installment. Before knowing how to make substitutions, it’s first good to know where we can start. For me, the easiest gluten free meals are always the ones that I don’t have to do anything different to – the ones that I already make and am comfortable with. Especially when I first found out about my husband’s intolerance, I found it much more positive to look at what I already could make, rather than listing all of the things that I couldn’t do. Rather than mourning over sandwich bread, I decided to embrace the naturally gluten free. And I was really amazed at just how many dishes that actually included!

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Chilled Pasta Salad

Jenn — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:53:18 +0000

I tend to lose my appetite easily when it is grossly hot outside like it has been this week, tending towards fresh fruits and greens over carbs & meats. There’s just one problem with desiring such lighter fare day after day – I don’t consume enough calories and then I am hungry. So how to eat something more substantial when I don’t feel like anything heavy? Why of course, a chilled flavorful pasta salad!

Unfortunately, pasta salads for me often invoke images of mayonnaise laden macaroni concoctions at a sweltering hot picnic brunch that leave my stomach in that “sunken” feeling after eating, like a giant boulder decided to take up residence in my tummy. It’s usually not an awesome experience. However, thanks to my friend Stacy over at Little Blue Hen, her Greek pasta with colorful visions of artichoke hearts and olives was exactly the inspiration I needed. A light olive oil and vinegar dressing and some great bright flavors sounded perfect to me.

Most everything I had already in my pantry too, which means I didn’t have to go back out in the heat to the store to buy things. Not that going to the store is an issue, but climbing the freaking hill back up to our apartment is. Did I ever tell you that I am a complete wimp in the heat (especially if there is no A/C to be had)? There’s a reason why most of my work & travels have been to cooler regions, or why my husband and I chose the chilly windy New England shore in the Autumn rather than a tropical Caribbean island for our honeymoon. A beach all to myself on a day where the high is 50ºF with 30 knot winds? Now that’s my kinda vacation:

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Daring Cooks go Nuts! Grilled Kabobs with Cashew Butter Sauce

Jenn — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:21:26 +0000

I should title this post, “the cursed food processors,” but then you wouldn’t get to know what I was making! This month’s Daring Cook’s challenge was to make a nut butter and use it in a dish. Well, nut butters mean one needs a food processor. I thought this would be a great challenge to do at home in the US visiting my parents (if I’m visiting can I still call it home?), because I knew that they would enjoy the flavors I was thinking of for this month’s dish.

Well, I get there and find that my parents’ puppy had decided that the cord of the food processor looked appetizing, and bit the cord right off of the machine! It’s quite hard to run a food processor if you have no way of plugging it into anything. Ok, so no homemade nut butters this time. Instead, I went to my nearest health store corporate giant and picked up some cashew butter. Why cashews? Well, everyone in my family loves them, and peanut butter is boring

This week I had thought about making my own cashew butter now that I am back en Suisse, but again with the cursed food processors! There was a mighty wind event the other day, and silly us left our windows open in our apt. all day. We’d gotten into the habit of this because it’s been so freaking hot lately – and trust me, you learn a totally different definition of hot when there is no A/C to be found, especially when your office faces the afternoon sun. I melt into a sweaty sticky puddle on a regular basis. It wasn’t until we left work that I thought things could be a problem. After all, tree branches don’t normally float. We got home to find so much stuff all over the floor of our apt., including the food processor!! The lid is cracked and in pieces. gahhhhh! Well, there goes making any nut butters this month. At least the wind kept our stuff inside the apt., I half expected to find our life’s belongings strewn out all over the street below.

So jarred cashew butter it is for this month. I’m ok with this, it was organic and quite tasty. As long as your’e also ok with my store-bought nut butter, onto the challenge!

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

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Gluten Free Substitutions, Part 1: An Introduction

Jenn — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:32:15 +0000

I don’t know if you remember, but a while back I said I wanted to develop a guide to gluten free substitutions. The gluten free online /cookbook communities are full of many many great and diverse recipes to replace just about any glutenicious food you might have missed, from tarte shells to puff pastries and virtually everything in between. Being able to cook and bake rather than relying solely on processed food products is incredibly freeing. Hopefully this new weekly feature here on Jenn Cuisine will help liberate your cooking and give you more confidence in your gluten free kitchen!

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Summer Berry Crisp

Jenn — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:25:18 +0000

You’re probably sick of hearing me talk about strawberries by now, but I have one last strawberry dish for you! The season is sadly ending, and I am holding out as long as I can before having to wait another year for my favorite red fruit again. Luckily, Summer is full of great tasty fresh fruits throughout the season, so now there are things like cherries, melons are coming in, and soon there will be peaches! I think I might be able to survive entirely on fresh fruit during this season, well if it weren’t for things like cheese or chocolate to distract me…ok maybe there are some other foods too that I enjoy as well

This dish, however, might be the one. And by that I don’t mean my next life-long relationship (even strawberries cannot trump the awesomeness of my husband), I mean the dish that lets the berries sing through every bite, a joyous chorus of praise and adoration for all things wonderful in life. Bright and cheerful, you can feel your spirits lifting and your cares dissolving with each successive spoonful. I think this crisp may have the ability to mollify tensions and makeup after arguments. Especially served right out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I think it could be that powerful.

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Strawberry Chocolate & Banana Quick-Bread

Jenn — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:48:50 +0000

The success of cooking is as much dependent on how well one follows the directions of a good recipe as it is on being able to add a personal element – either to suit your tastes, your current pantry, or just to give a recipe a little bit of flair to help you make a dish become a part of you. And that’s why I’m going to be embarking on a little project. Over the next month or so, I’m going to make for you a guide. A guide to GF ingredients, a guide to knowing when you can switch one thing for the other – in the hopes of giving you more tools to enjoy your gluten free cooking. I’m going to aim for a month to put it together, and I hope it will help you.

One of the hardest facets of gluten free baking is making the right decisions about substitutions – When does it matter what flours are in a recipe? When can you just substitute a box mix? Is it really necessary to own 20 different types of ingredients to make something? If you are like me, you probably have a base of 4-5 flours that you use regularly, and when you see a recipe with someone else’s gluten free flour mix, you do your best to make do with what you own rather than going out to spend even more money at the store – cause let’s face it – gluten free ingredients often bring a whole new definition to pricey groceries. I think about substitutions almost every time I bake gluten free – sometimes I am sure the end result will come out great and other times I’m praying to the gluten free baking gods that whatever is in the oven will turn out edible. As you probably well know, baking is not my original area of expertise, and even I am prone to a mess-up or two.

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