Traveling Gluten Free in London!

Sorry for the absence. It has been one thing after another around here! First off, TJ broke his foot about 6 weeks ago while playing basketball at work. He had surgery and had to be completely off of it until 2 weeks ago. Now he is walking in a boot. It's been a long and frustrating last few weeks but T is getting there. TJ is usually a huge help around the house and with the kids but until recently he couldn't do much. So between that and him needing a little more help himself, I have been a bit busier. Thank goodness for our helpful families!
 
(TJ at the ER right after he broke it!)

We've also had a few other things pop-up here and there, including a trip to London! TJ's work wanted him to throw together an event so I tagged along! We are here now. And I love it!
Gluten free has been a bit tricky but here's what I've learned so far...

1. Delta airlines is pretty good with gluten free meals. TJ called a few days beforehand to request it. We were served the meal first. It was still airplane food, so nothing great. But they clearly labeled the tray "gfml", which made us feel much more comfortable with it. (btw TJ hates rice cakes but found if you spread butter on it and a little salt it's kind of like popcorn!)
 
Breakfast was another rice cake with honey (not too bad if you are really really hungry) and a banana.
2. Bring food you know is good. You only have so much space when traveling, so fill it with stuff you like to eat. We made some sandwiches before we left out of Rudi's gluten free bread that I bought from Sprouts. It was terrible! The flavor was fine but the bread disintegrated as we tried to eat the sandwiches! It was in the fridge section, so maybe that's why (should have been frozen)? I could have sworn I really like Rudi's bread! We also brought an assortment of chips and candy and snacks, so we were fine. Plus Delta peanuts are OK.
3. Airport food. You can almost always find at least a salad, just have a vinaigrette if you are questioning the dressing. We also saw some various chips at the little convenience shops that are good.
4. If you come to London you should go to Otto's. Cornmeal crust pizza is amazing! They were very friendly and said 99.9% of the time everything is gluten free. If it isn't, they know it and will tell the customer. They make their own sausage but if they run out they have to buy it and that sausage is not always gluten free.
 
They were in Notting Hill. The little restaurant was so fun! And they let you get a few different types of pizza on the same pizza (see pic). We had spinach and artichoke, pepperoni, and some kind of sausage one. I really liked all of them. The ingredients were super fresh.
 
Also they had this awesome poster up, in the bathroom. Yes, I made TJ go in and take a picture of it for me! What a nice husband he is!
 
5. Also we went to Zirris. They have gluten free pasta that they will cook up for you. It was pretty good. To be honest, nothing spectacular. The noodles were under done and had a little crunch. The one thing we both really liked was the chili-infused olive oil they used on TJ's dish. It was really yummy. I had the seafood mix with red sauce. The seafood was really fresh, so it tasted pretty good.

For breakfast each day we just ate at the hotel. They had a large buffet and a chef on hand to make fresh eggs, thank goodness. We did run into a snag on day 2 when we realized they put bread beneath the bacon and sausage to soak up the grease. Turns out we noticed a little too late and TJ was not well that day. He took some peptobismal tablets and had to keep working, poor guy! 

I'll post some more of our learning experiences soon!

Smoked Pork

Yes, this meat was as tasty and juicy as it looks!
We have an Orion smoker and really enjoy using it. It is a bit of work. You have to clean it, put in wood chips (I used mesquite, but apple is amazing) and apple juice, put in the seasoned meat (lawrys season salt, pepper and garlic powder), put charcoal all around the outside and light it. Cook 3 hours. It doesn't sound like much but it takes some time. But it was so worth it! Even in 104 degree heat! (Is it seriously only May?)
I have heard some grills can be used as smokers. We got the Orion from Home Depot for fairly cheap. Most anytime we are having a big group over we just smoke some pork or turkey. Makes life easy.
We shredded this pork and put it on some Udi's gluten free hotdog buns with BBQ sauce and pickles. Threw some corn on the cob in boiling water for about 5 minutes, and stirred up some coleslaw. T and I were in BBQ heaven! So much so, that I forgot to snap a picture of the whole meal, sorry. But it was as good-looking as you are picturing it in your head!
So nice to be able to eat something that tastes like

Gluten Free Pantry Brownie Review

Yum. We are currently making this and I licked the bowl clean! The cocoa in it tastes like a higher quality. The batter really is like regular brownies. My mom, who is a self-proclaimed "chocolate-snob"(Ghiradelli are the only chocolate chips she ever uses, nothing else is as good (at the regular grocery store, anyway)). She thought these were amazing, too!
The brownies are soft and gooey. The box recommends you freeze them for an hour, I think because they fall apart otherwise. We could not wait that long, but we did eat these with ice cream and the part that got really cold was more chewy. I loved the texture of these. I didn't notice any graininess or odd flavor that is so common in gluten free baking.
There was one small piece that was left in the pan overnight that my mom and I ate. It was still amazing. A little bit of the side was crispy, but most of it was still soft. The taste was just as good as last night.
It was just delicious! We will definitely buy this brand again.
Bytheway, the "Gluten Free Pantry" is produced by "Glutino", who also makes the best gf pretzels and these cookies. I'm officially a big fan!

My Mom's Spinach Salad

Bacon, swiss cheese, red onion...This is by far my most favorite salad! TJ really loves it too. It is light, tangy, and very addictive!

3 bunches spinach
1 head ice berg lettuce
3/4 lb. mushrooms
1&1/2lbs. Swiss cheese
1 lb. bacon, fried and crumbled

Dressing:
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 red onion, sliced thin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp. dried mustard
1 tsp. salt
Poppy seeds (just under 1Tbs or so)

Make the dressing at least 3 hours prior to serving so it can marinate. Put all the ingredients in an airtight container and give it a good shake. Shake again before pouring it onto the salad, as the oil tends to separate.

This makes a massive salad, so I usually half it. If I know there will be leftovers, like if I'm making it for just our family, then I keep all the ingredients separated (mostly the dressing), otherwise it gets mushy after about 12 hours.

Prepare the spinach and lettuce by washing and making sure the bites will be manageable.
Shred the Swiss. Slice the mushrooms.

Toss as much of it together as you like! Put all the leftovers in separate airtight containers in the fridge. The dressing will taste even better the next day! It should last up to 1 week.

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

I love having muffins around the house. Something we can grab on the go or just snack on during the day.

This is my favorite recipe because it tastes like normal food and it even stays good for a few days. Most gluten free food does not taste nearly as good the next day. I just ate one of these from the batch I made Friday, so 4 days ago. It was a little dry compared to fresh, but it still tastes great!

2 cups gluten free flour (see below)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 cups ripe bananas (4-5 medium)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
Optional- 1/2cup nuts chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the dry ingredients (first 3) in a small bowl and briefly stir or sift.
I use my standup kitchen aid mixer, but a hand mixer would work great too. In a mixer or large bowl, mix the bananas until they are super smashed. Try not to leave too many chunks, it tastes better that way. Add in the eggs and mix well, make sure all the yolks are broken. Add the other wet ingredients- sugar, applesauce, oil, vanilla. Briefly stir. Add dry and mix until everything is combined.

Spray two 8x4 inch loaf pans, or muffin tins, or line tin with papers so you don't have to wash in between baking. This will make 36 muffins. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. 35-45 minutes for the bread, about 18-20 minutes for the muffins. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaves from the pans (if you can stand it, I usually can't!)

Notes-
Flour
(you can use an all-purpose if you'd like, or just play around with different combos. I like 1/2c almond flour, 1 cup rice, 1/2c mix of whatever I have on hand (tapioca, soy, sorghum, cornstarch). The almond is a must for me because I love the slight nuttiness and texture it gives. Just make sure the total amount you use is 2 cups).
I used pear sauce instead of applesauce this last time and really liked it. I generally use unsweetened applesauce. Sometimes I'll replace a little of the oil with extra applesauce.
If I am feeling like being a little healthier I also use stevia in place of the sugar, but I prefer the taste the real sugar gives. I'm sure sugar in the raw would be great for this recipe.
Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!

Glutino Cookie Review

We really like these gluten free cookies from Glutino. Both the vanilla and the chocolate are delicious. They taste a lot like regular cookies.
They are very similar in texture to Oreos, maybe a little harder. There is the slightest hint of the grainy texture that is so common in gluten free foods (usually it is from the rice flour).
Grandpa bought some for Kate a few weeks ago and she was in heaven! She probably would have eaten the entire box in one sitting, had we let her!

Gluten Free Roadtrip

It takes some serious prep-work to be gluten free. You can't just pull in to the nearest fast food like we used to. Between all the stops (including dropping off our car and putting all our stuff into another car) and just driving it took us 12 hours each way to get from Mesa, Arizona to Draper, Utah. Around 1300 miles.
Here was the meal plan...
I baked my favorite gluten free bread the day before we left and sliced it all up. Then in a medium sized cooler I packed sandwich-ready lettuce, cheese slices, turkey, squeeze mayo and mustard. I had some nut thins crackers, Glutino pretzels, Lay's stax chips, apples, Larabars, and carrot sticks. We drove caravan-style with my family, so we all stopped together to eat. They went through a drive through and we just put together our sandwiches.
It's not quite as convenient, but I feel so much better eating this over the greasy junk we used to eat. And I certainly feel better about giving it to my kids, too.
On the trip back home we had a bunch of food to take back with us. Including a couple gf hamburger buns. We stopped at a small supermarket and got a rotisserie chicken that we looked up to make sure it was ok. The lady behind the counter was very friendly and said she had a relative with Celiac too. We had some BBQ sauce and made some sandwiches. The rest of my family got some chicken strips and stuff from the deli.
We bought a drink or some fresh cheese curds or whatever looked good to mix it up. It worked out really well.