Travels

We're not spur of the moment kind of travelers but can be if needed. Trip booked less then 24 hours ago and almost ready to board the first leg of our flight to Boston. Dogs are with friends and away messages have been set. Thankfully we had tome to stop for some glutaded snacks despite all the chaos as it's a long day of traveling.

a bit of local love... La Cocina de Luz now serves New Planet

La Cocina de Luz translates to the kitchen of light and has been in Telluride serving up local, organic and wholesome food for over a dozen years. It's a great spot for glutards and has just become a bit better... they now serve New Planet Beer. We tend to go when we're in town and in need of a quick bite and it's popular with both visitor's and locals. It's one of the few places in town that doesn't take a break between the busy summer tourism season and the winter snow riders since it's so popular with the local crew.

Today's fare was enchilada's with garlic roasted veggies and green Spanish rice, OK this was actually Dave's plate. I just went for one chicken enchilada with rice, I am a terrible veggie eater. There- now you know- in case it wasn't obvious from my obsession with all things deserts (whoopie pies).  La Cocina is right on Colorado Avenue which is Telluride's Main Street and has quick counter service and all the makings of a solid Mexican joint with good margaritas with fresh lime juice and all.

Stuffed Squash

Two weeks ago on our grocery store adventure- (really a full day of stocking up is an adventure) I found squash on sale. I'm working on eating more veggies and picked a few up. I did a bit of research and found Allie's Stuffed Squash and gave it a whirl with a few tweaks of my own.
I cut the squash and cooked for 45 minutes at 400 with some butter and syrup then stuffed with quinoa and spinach that I had made in the rice cooker/steamer. I fried up a bit of bacon for a garnish and moderate the insane veggie intake of my dinner.

My squash came out a bit on the dry side so next time I'll go back to my normal squash prep of cutting in half and baking the two sides upside down in a Pyrex dish with a half inch of water in the pan. It just works better for me- I live at 9,000 feet in a dry climate.  It's not a meal that Dave would get excited about but made for a good dinner and leftovers for me.

Artisanal Brownies

Our food bill has been insane this winter. It seems like prices have gone up at the store but also we've been eating more partly due to the cold weather and additional exercise with skiing, Dave's snow making and playing in the brisk mountain air with the pups. We're working on cutting it back without depriving ourselves of good food. Instead of buying a mix for upwards of $5 we're baking more from scratch and using real food. I pulled out the Bronski's cookbook and gave the brownie recipe a whirl. I have made homemade brownies before- years ago when I was a gluten eater and made the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook a few times. I really need to start marking the book with all the things I've tried, last month we were enamored with the snickerdoodles and I am now smitten with brownies.
See....

Next time I'm going to pull them a smidgen earlier as I like a gooey brownie....
I'm also trying to go back to being 96% dairy free. I've been cheating with Dairy during the holidays- eating real butter for cookies, gluten free pizza loaded with cheese and sour cream in mashed potatoes- and I feel it. My energy is low and I've gained back a few pounds... blah! So back on track I go which is going to be hard as my baking was happier with butter and the pizza has become more accessible thanks to Crazy Elk. I've started to clean it up but had pizza last night and felt the congestion hitting soon after leaving me to wonder- is it really worth it?

a bit of local love....Telluride Ski Resort- Crazy Elk Pizza Gluten Free Pizza

Today Dave and I had a much needed day with friends out on the mountain and cruised some favorite terrain before grabbing a late lunch with the crew. Last season I would have been stuck eating salad or my pocket snacks but this year Telluride Ski Resort has changed the game and has gluten free offerings a few restaurants in Mountain Village. A few weeks ago I had a Philly Cheese Steak on Gluten Free Bread at the Hop Garden and today I had pizza at Crazy Elk Pizza, no more pocket snacks or salads for me after a long ski day!
I also learned through fellow blogger, Pete, that this was National Pizza week. Which makes sense as we all seem to be into pizza lately. Check out Pete's Spicy Buffalo Chicken Pizza and Marlow's review of Briixx gluten free pizza and marvel that Allie was able to get GF pizza delivered right to her door (so jealous), who says gluten eaters get to have all the fun and good food!
I asked the busy young man at the counter what they did to not mix the pizza up with gluten and his answer was so informed I was immediately put at ease. Adam told me that it's a frozen crust that is removed from it's packaging and placed on a special single use tray then which is put on clean pizza pan. They do not cut the pizza so that there isn't a chance for the cutter to use a glutenous pizza cutter germs on it.

I know some folks at the resort had been told they are using Udi's crust (love, love, love udi's) and topped my pie with peperoni and pineapple. (I also had a theory that if I went with a funny combo then there would be no chance for confusion at the table) The pizza crust was a bit underdone but it was so nice to grab a slice after skiing I overlooked it for the most part. The group had ordered a large "normal" pie as well and after they devoured that some folks even ventured over to my GF pie.

Cheers to Telluride Ski Resort for the gluten-free offerings and well informed staff and to Udi's for making a good product for a wonderful ski day lunch.

1.1.11

My younger sister has also joined our fabulous group of glutards and it was fun to be able to welcome her to the club this past year. It's been fun going over the changes with her, since we have many of the same genes our experiences have been similar. We both lost weight, became happier and more balanced and a slew of other issues. She also tends to notice more then I do as she's still fairly new to the club.  It must have been the year for that as Gluten Hates Me also had a sibling join the Glutard club.

For Christmas I sent her a copy of Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking for her Kindle via amazon- it was really fun to sit on my couch in Colorado and have her wake up to an email on the east coast telling her about the gift. We also gifted her Gluten Free Girl for her kindle as well. I love instant gratification.

I'm still a fan of book version for cookbooks and haven't committed to a Kindle at all- but I did get the Kindle app for my droid. It's been fun for light reading but I really like making notes in cookbooks. 

The final part of her gift required more work then a few clicks, as I made her a batch of the Artisan Gluten-Free flour in a functional container and managed to get it in the mail a few days after the holiday. (I work in the ski industry, I can't even get holiday cards out at all as I'm stupidly busy from mid-November until April) 


Today she sent a photo of her first creation from her new cookbook.

From Droid think outside

Last night we kept things mellow as there was a cold snap of -10 here in Telluride and I had to work this morning. We went up to Mountain Village a put the pups in my office while we watched some fireworks and a torch light parade of skiers come down the mountain then walked home with the monsters.

Dave laughed when I bought the dogs jackets but I know they don't mind wearing them as the mercury drops.
They also have super light up collars and lights for winter walks. It must be fun for the people watching from the gondola above to see the two flashers bounding down the slope.

 

They needed the walk- Mayhem had quite of bit of energy to burn and tried to wrestle with Chaos the whole way home.  Chaos just turned six while Mayhem will hit his terrible two's at the end of March. Mayhem has brought renewed puppy energy into our house in the last year and really brought Chaos back to a second puppyhood at times.