Spring Meltdowns and Gluten Free Comfort Foods

This has been a funny weather year in the Northeast... we had a record breaking HEAT wave in March which caused the great meltdown of the ski resorts. We managed to pull through it and set a new record for latest snowmaking on record for Sugarloaf. Those dedicated snowmakers unfurled the hoses and made snow on March 27th. Snowmaking usually ends for the season in early February and the snow from snowmaking and Mother Nature has been known to last well into April and even into May here at Sugarloaf.  The snowmaking effort paid off and the mountain recovered in good fashion and Mother Nature even came through with more seasonable temperatures and a bit of natural snow.

I'm not gonna lie- this ski bum enjoyed a week of summer temps and even sported chacos and shorts during the heat wave.  The pups also soaked up the rays of the sun in style.

 We did ski during the great meltdown and I was well prepared with my Udi's Bagel for lunch on the ski lift.

The bright side of a spring meltdown is that you actually can eat a bagel on the lift without the fear of frostbite setting in. This is a rare mitten-less photo of my hand that would not normally occur.

This new cold spell has inspired a more winter like menu and I found myself making the first Beef Stew of the winter and it created a wonderful aroma in the house as it simmered in the crockpot all day. 

 We also found comfort in a warm Risotto with chicken....

 And in Red Curry with chicken and veggies...

I've also revisited my Peanut Sauce with Chicken and Noodles

Now the calendar and Mother Nature seem to have made peace and we're going to enjoy skiing for a few more weeks here in Maine. I'll take this kind of meltdown any day over the kind of meltdown we went through last winter.  That was much harder then melting snow and it pains me whenever anyone has to go through those types of challenges. So please join me and let's send some good thoughts to Marlow from Gluten Hates Me who is facing her own roller coaster this year.
Here's a Survival Smoothie (virtual style) for Marlow and anyone else who needs some antioxidants for some serious fighting power.

Oh Bother Smoothie
1 handful ice cubes
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (Wild Maine Blueberries preferred here at campchaos)
1 cup apple juice (or a bit more)
1 scoop Spiru-tein High Energy Meal Vanilla Flavor (make sure it's labeled gluten free!)

Toss all into a blender and hit the smoothie button until smooth. Place in favorite mug and feel the blueberries power you up. 

gluten free sandwich love.... D'Ellies at Sugarloaf

I've always been a fan of a good sandwich. In my gluten-eating days I've had two great sandwich shops, The Brown Bag in Telluride and my first love, D'Ellies at Sugarloaf, Maine. I was very lucky in Telluride to have gluten free bread at the Brown Bag and when I left Telluride I accepted the fact that a good gluten free sandwich was going to be a thing of my past as I moved back to the western mountains of Maine. Then I saw it on Facebook 

So I walked in.... I made sure to go during a timeframe when it wasn't busy so I could ask questions without driving the people in line behind me crazy. We talked about bread making (in house), cross contamination (possible but they're very cautious), levels of sensitivity (high) and more. I placed my order and waited while I enjoyed a view of the Bigelow Mountain range.

 My gluten free order was similar to my D'Ellies orders of the past, turkey with carrots, cukes, hots, onions and their homemade pesto mayo but with gluten free bread instead of my beloved Anadama a glutenous bread made with cornmeal and molasses. 

As always D'Ellies included their signature homemade pickle which is a lightly picked cucumber. The bread had a good flavor but was a bit crumbly. (Toasting wasn't an option) I'm really excited to have D'Ellies back in my life and to be able to enjoy a sandwich after a day on the hill. 

"Oh Bother" Gluten Free Smoothies

I love my Eeyore mug, it's over sized is the perfect fit for a powerful smoothie whenever I'm fighting off ski country germs (all winter long). The best part about ski towns is that we get visitors from all over- the worst part is that they all bring different strains of germs along with them. I wish we could just have the people but it's a package deal.

Oh Bother Smoothie
1 handful ice cubes
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (Wild Maine Blueberries preferred here at campchaos)
1 cup apple juice (or a bit more)
1 scoop Spiru-tein High Energy Meal Vanilla Flavor (make sure it's labeled gluten free!)

Toss all into a blender and hit the smoothie button until smooth. Place in favorite mug and enjoy while fighting germs.  
Note: this won't save you from getting germs from away then getting slammed with a cold but it will taste good and help you fight the cold so you can get back on the slopes without a large pocketful of cough drops and tissues. I fully expect to see you out there regardless of how you feel. It's New England and we're hard core skiers. Now, can I borrow a tissue? What you don't want it back? Never-mind, I'll just keep my germs to myself behind my scarf here.

gluten free chicken soup for the skier's soul

Usually every soup I make ends up having a curry flavor (like this one). It's an easy one to grab off the shelf and I know how it's going to come out. This week I got back to basics and aimed for a Chicken Soup that tasted, well like chicken soup.  Dave's a bit tired of curry soup too- it could be due to the fact that I usually use a large 8qt pot and end up filling it and we end up eating a few days worth of curry soup.
The night before I cut the chicken and marinated with EVOO and some Herbs de Provence. The next day I chopped veggies (around 6 big carrots, 1/2 large onion and 3 stalks of celery) while I cooked the chicken and boiled a half of a cup of dry lentils. I changed the water twice on the lentils as I like to be sure they're nice and clean. Although I didn't have to pre-cook,  I wasn't sure how long I was going to be and I'm still adjusting to the low cook times of sea level. Do lentils ever taste dirty to you or did I just make that up in my head?
I tossed everything in the 4 quart crock pot along with chicken stock and 1/2 cup of quinoa and cooked on low for 8 hours while I went out and hit the mountain for the day. It's been super cold here in the western mountains of Maine and I'm playing around with different combos of down jackets and hard shells. I've also grabbed the warmest fleece pants I own and paired them with Patagonia capaline for the super chilly sub zero days. 
It was a great mix up from the rice and curry soup that usually hits the table at camp chaos and I even tossed a handful of fresh spinach into my bowl to for some added veggie power. The quinoa really didn't need 8 hours so I may toss it in later in the day next time. A warm soup after a chill day at Sugarloaf really hit the spot and defrosted my body.

my gluten free english muffin dealer

Part of the fun about living in a Maine ski town is the weekend crew that arrives each Friday night. These hard core skiers work a normal work week then each Friday load up their cars and make the trek north on route 27. They might hit the local watering hole when they get to the Valley but regardless they're up early on Saturday vying for first chair. It doesn't matter how cold the thermometer drops and how high the humidity climbs and how negative the windchill becomes- they are Sugarloafers and they live for these days on the mountain.

This year I'm lucky enough to have friends who will be my English Muffin dealers. They come up from the Maine coast and will swing into the "Hootin" Gluten Free Bakery and grab a four pack for me. These are the only gluten free English Muffin's I've tried but I feel I know a good baked good when I see one.

We don't rock a toaster oven at camp chaos so I toss a bit of Earth Balance in a pan on the stove top and heat these gently. Add a bit of homemade jam and it's a breakfast that will fuel any day on the slopes- no matter how cold.

Gluten free family time with a bit of Hakuna Matata

Have I ever told you that my house is called Camp Chaos?

 It's because of this guy. Chaotic isn't he? It's what we dubbed ourselves shortly after bringing home our first puppy, Chaos Monster in Febuary, 2005. The name's stuck and it's followed us from  Maine to Colorado and back to Maine. It's a great ode to our beloved golden retriever, Chaos who's about to celebrate his 7th birthday. Chaos was the first dog I ever had the pleasure of living with. He's taught me a lot since I brought him home as a young puppy in early 2005.  His soft golden mane is often a source of comfort and reminds me of my favorite Disney movie, The Lion King. I was in high school when the Lion King first came out and it earned it's place as my favorite all time Disney flick. I think that's why I love my golden puppies so much as Chaos often resembles a regal Mufasa and crazy little Mayhem is a young Simba. When the movie came back out on DVD this year I quickly snatched up a copy and enjoyed the movie along my memories of being a favorite babysitter to my young cousins.


This week my sister, Kim came for a visit with her husband and two kiddos- Moyer's who's almost 5 and Keturah who's 3 going on 7. Kim and Keturah are in the midst of a gluten free trial and Kim did a guest post a few weeks back about their Mighty Fine dining experience in Austin, TX. So far with this trial  they've discovered that Keturah doesn't do well with corn as well as gluten. As most of us glutards know a lot of gluten free items contain corn in one form or another so we stuck to a lot of naturally gluten free, corn free foods during their visit to camp chaos. Like Annie's Gluten Free Mac N Cheese with some hamburger and peas added in for fun.

The kids and I watched The Lion King the first morning here at Camp Chaos and the rest of the visit featured small voices singing lines of Hakuna Matata.

Hakuna Matata! It means no worries for the rest of your days

We even tried to make some corn free powdered sugar for our Chex Muddy Buddies...

Played Legos (because every good aunt and uncle should have a house with legos...)
Walked the dogs which was even better with shoulder rides from Patrick

But he wouldn't give the dogs shoulder rides- they had to walk

as did Moyer but he liked to run, jump and hop more then walk. He is a good runner.

We took time to make the donuts...gluten and corn free.
And of course I whipped up some knitted projects for the kids. You can see those over at Asiaramblin 

I've been really impressed with my dining experiences at the Rack since we've moved back to Sugarloaf and even more so after our trip with my gluten free, corn free niece. Our waitress (who's also gluten free) double checked the gluten free options for us for traces of corn and Keturah enjoyed a great safe bowl of gf, corn free noodles and marinaira.

 Don't you wish every gluten free meal could have a bit of Hakuna Matata?

Gluten Free Love near Sugarloaf, Maine- The Rack and the Stratton Diner

First off a big kudos to my sister for last week's guest post  A Mightly Fine GF Option from Austin, Texas and a bit of her gluten free trial. She's not the first family member to try out a gluten free lifestyle and I'm looking forward to see how this trial goes for her and my niece. Since moving back to Maine I've had a lot of people ask me about my gluten free life- it's been great to share and hear about others challenges with food and health.

Last fall I was pumped to visit the Rack at Sugarloaf and have gluten free pizza and a Woodchuck. This year they've added two gluten free beers to the lineup as well with Bard's and Daura. While I'm not a Daura fan I am a Bard's fan and have been enjoying having a beer on our weekly visit to the bar along with a gluten free pie and my once a week slip into dairy.

I'm kinda shocked to report that it's not the only gluten free pizza I've had in Carrabassett Valley since our move east. Tufulio's which is 7 miles south of the mountain also offers gluten free pizza. It's not as good as the Rack's but it much closer to our place and good in a pinch. They served baked wings- which have great potential to be gluten free but I haven't gotten a clear answer yet so no gambling for me!
We've also been hitting the Stratton Diner for breakfast. They have occasional gluten free sweets but since we go for breakfast I haven't tried any out- plus I've been working on my own sweet baking.

It's a great and safe breakfast and they even tuck some sweet potatoes among the normal home fries for a bit of extra flavor. I've safely eaten there 3 times now and enjoyed each breakfast as well as the vibe inside this renovated old diner. Plus they have old school trivia cards on the table for pre-breakfast fun with friends.

Moving back to a familiar place with a whole new way of eating was scary and a bit intimidating but I've been lucky to find options for dining out and have had the added bonus of connecting with others who have had to change the way they think about food for one reason or another. I'm working on some of my old favorites with a new twist to my gluten free classic sweets so I can share with friends.  Thus far I've had success with gluten free, egg free and dairy free baking for whoopie pies, brownies and banana bread. It's a good ego boost as I've been struggling through 4 attempts at gluten free Anadama Bricks Bread.

Tomorrow marks the first day of the 2011-12 ski season at Sugarloaf and I'm looking forward to finding other gluten free options at my favorite Maine mountain.

Leaving Colorful Colorado, Cross Country Gluten Free Travels

On each of the major roads on the Colorado boarder stands a sign that reads

 on a cross-country road trip it's one of many signs that will be encountered. On a cross country move it bears a lot more weight. I've moved out of Colorado. Think Outside the Breadbox will now be a Maine based blog. I'll work on adding some disclaimers to some Local Love blog posts but bear with me as I'm without internet at the new dwellings.

me and mayhem

Our cross country travel was interesting as always... take one 4Runner and load in two dogs and a nervous cat then one 16' Penske Truck full of furniture, ski gear, a bouldering pad, dog beds, people beds and more then drive 2,600 miles across America.

Chaos staying chill on the cooler

Mayhem checking out Dave in the Penske truck

our first PF Chang's stop

quick stop on Colorado's I-70

Dave, Chaos & Mayhem outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Add in 3 stops to PF Chang's for a glutard's safety net, 2 stops to Whole Foods and 1 stop to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH just to mix things up. And for a side of gluten stop into Cleveland's Hard Rock Cafe and order a gluten-free cobb salad off the gluten-free menu and feel the gluten seep into your whole being as you leave the city and head back toward the moving truck. Feel justified in your obsession with PF Chang's and Whole Foods as you fight off the gluten effects along Interstate 80 in PA.
Try to eat an applesauce that you found in Target as you know it's safe and will help get the gluten out....
Roll into Mass and hit up Flatbread Pizza Company for some safe gluten free pie and a bit of greens

round it out with a "goodbad" dessert

Moondance Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Cheesecake.... yum and chocked full of dairy. Now that I'm settling into my new life I'm cleaning up my act again and breaking up with dairy.

I'm also learning to bake gluten free at sea level- wish me luck!

Best Road Snacks- the 2011 List
GoGo SqueeZ Apple Sauces
Glutino Pretzels  
Banana Chips mixed with M&M's
Odwalla Mango Tango Smoothie
Surf Sweet Gummy Snacks
Mott's Medley's Fruit Snacks

Sugarloaf, Maine Gluten Free Options at the Rack

When we lived at Sugarloaf, you could find us at the Rack at least once a week but usually more often, we had mugs there and loved the selection of Maine mircobrews. It's the local brew pub and the owners are good people and pretty avid skiers and snowboarder's- one even has a few gold medals to his name.  I knew they had Woodchuck so I didn't have beer envy but had resigned myself to a night of salad as I was pretty familiar with the old menu. I was beside myself upon discovering that they had GLUTEN-FREE PIZZA! Say what?

Yes, they partnered with the Portland Pie Company to carry GF crusts.

I had pizza three times in one week (thankfully after the wedding) and it was honestly the best crust I've had in a resturant. It was a thin crust that reminds me of New York Style Pizza.  I don't say this lightly but I was impressed. I thanked the owners and asked Chase why they did it. It turns out there's a demand so they listened to their customers and came up with an option for them.

gluten-free travels

Before our road trip to Maine I did some prep work... I bought a case of chocolate Bumble Bars, a pack of Udi's Bagels, a few boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks and did some research. We drove from Colorado to Maine along I-70 the snaked up through the East coast on 84, 290 and 95. I'd plan out PF Chang's and Whole Food stops based on distance from the interstate, our hotel or dinner time.

I had all the potenial stops written down with the phone number and address so we could punch it into Gertie, our trusty GPS. We left Colorado at night and took turns sleeping and driving throught the middle part of the country and made it to St. Louis for a much needed sleep and a double whammy- Whole Food's and PF Chang's within 5 minutes of each other and I-70. Love. Love. Love.

  It's kind of a strange obsession but I've never had a reaction to either place. I picked up some trip snacks, cut fruit for breakfast and sandwich meat at Whole Foods and dinner at PF Chang's.

The next day was also a bonus as we drove through Indianapolis for lunch and had enough left over for dinner as well. This was one road trip where I had no chance to feel hungry or deprived.

 

Dave was a good sport about it too. We stopped twice on our drive east (two days in a row) and  three times on the way home (we took our time) and usually ended up with leftovers for the next meal/snack as well.

We did mix it up and the only constant was the lettuce wraps as we both love them so much.

Out of all the Whole Foods we stopped at- Denver St. Louis, Indianapolis, Portland, Maine was our favorite.

They had a great soup bar that I hit twice and options for Dave too. Plus they had a good supply of Udi's products for our time in Maine as well.

I did make a point to stop at our old food store and was shocked that the last year and a half they went from having a small shelf space for gluten-free products to 6 times the space and a lot more products.

 They even had a line of cake mixes I hadn't heard of before. Sara had picked up their strawberry pound cake and it was the bomb, great strawberry flavor with a nice moist texture.

 Cheers to Hannaford  for getting on board and making sure glutards can eat safely. 

this is gluten-free?

I'm happy to report that the only gluten at our wedding was in the form of two kegs of PBR. Thankfully I also had a few cases of New Planet Beer to counteract all that gluten as well as wine. We arrived in Maine to chilly and wet weather. On Friday Mother Nature pounded rain and our girls hike was cancelled so we stayed in to cook instead. My friend Lynne makes the best chicken limon and can now even make it gluten free. YUM, for this I will eat dairy, the chicken melts in your mouth along with the silky sauce.

She had pre-pounded her chicken to the perfect thickness (very thin) and I watched her make a silky cream sauce with mushrooms. It was one of the best meals and memories of the trip.

"let it simmer until it becomes silky" ~lynne

As Lynne was creating her magic, I whipped up a monster whoopie pie for the wedding. I didn't have time to do all whoopies so I ordered a gluten free cake from Frank's Bake Shop in Bangor, Maine and did a monster whoopie for Dave and I to cut for show.  I had made a big batch of Artisanal GF Flour and brought on the trip as well as xanthum gum for all my baking needs.

Lynne also makes a wicked chocolate martini and between that and the distraction of seeing everyone again I didn't pay close attention to the task of baking the whoopie pie.

chocolate martini

I had a feeling that something was wrong but I thought that the altitude (1,000 feet above sea level instead of 9,000) was making things come out funny. I had started with less flour and everything seemed to be in order. It took a while to bake but that was due to the large size, right?

Later that night and a few New Plant's later it hit me... eggs! I had omitted eggs while scratching down the recipe from a blog post of mine. It was only going to be for the cake cutting so I let it go and admitted my error to Dave. It still looked great and tasted fine but the texture was off.

Frank's Bake Shop did a good job on the cake. I wasn't looking for a traditonal wedding cake so just got the wedding logo that Colleen had done for us put on a gluten free sheet cake. The salesperson on the phone had no idea how the cake tasted- which is a fail to me as the sales team should know all products even gluten free ones. We did chocolate as it would hide the gluten free factor a bit for folks. I enjoyed the cake- it was a dense and moist chocolate with a sugary frosting. I only wish I had ordered more cake as it went quickly. Who knew that people really do eat wedding cake?


photo by patrick smith

It really didn't matter much and it's a good memory of the whole day. We had perfect weather, great foliage and a safe gluten free good time (except for all those people who drank the two kegs of PBR- they just had a good time.) 

Chuck Snell was our caterer and used to serve coffee with Dave at Java Joe's, picking someone we liked and trusted was huge for me. Dave was also excited as he had tasted Chuck's cooking before and it was always wonderful. He's the type of guy who takes pride in his creations and knows food well. Chuck rocked it and roasted 22 chickens on Friday and made carrots with honey and thai basil along with roasted red potatos and a hearty, colorful salad. He also served Carrabassett Coffee which is the biggest roaster in Kingfield, Maine. Chuck was great about making it all gluten and dairy free- to be honest people didn't miss the gluten. How could they when Chuck's creations were so yummy and well- normal. Do you ever have people that think you must eat really funny foods if you're gluten free?

In the planning process people told me that guests never really pay attention to food but I found that a lot of people raved about the food to us and also to Chuck.  (Cheers Chuck!) Our whole day was really about the people who helped us.
 
Our mission was to create a fun and simple day in which we could enjoy time with family and friends. We worked hard to keep it simple (hence paper plates and plastic silverware instead of dealing with plate rentals and  all that jazz). We had a naturally beautiful venue so we just added a few white lights, mason jars with rocks and candles and Kim gathered maple leaves to add a bit more flair. Sugarloaf, Maine, where we met six years ago, is one of the most scenic spots I've ever been to and the Outdoor Center is a great backdrop for any special day. The resort even had scenic chairlift rides and we had some guests that made a point to do that after the wedding.
 
Carol was our master of ceremonies and wrote the best vows ever. She pulled in aspects from our lives and it was such a comfort to have our friend preceding over the event. Big Dave was the music master and played "Waste" from Phish on his guitar as we walked out and kept the rings safe. Sara opened her home and kept everyone well fed with shepard pie and watched the puppies while we made it around to see all the guests. There's more but that's a whole other story.... so thank you to all who helped, came and were a part of our day. 
 

Here's a quick food montage as well as some fun shots of the day. 

Photos by Patrick and Kendra. Thanks guys for getting food shots!