cookie link (& love)

Kim here again.  Guest posting, uninvited, on my sister's blog.  (Watch out, Kate! Although I just started out with the occasional comment and random 'like' on Patrick's Facebook, well, you can see where gradual beginnings got me . . . Just so you know, I never intended to take over.)

My husband, Patrick, doesn't really bake. He's great on the stove top, can roast a bird, and like many men before him, is a grilling master. You can imagine my surprise then, when he executed these gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free chocolate chip cookies.

Here's the link to his recipe:

  Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Patrick's g.f. flour blend, based on ingredients available to us here locally, is 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, and 1&1/4 cups white rice flour.

 
This is our gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free daughter Keturah awaiting her made-especially-by-daddy cookies.  Keturah has big issues with milk, but no reaction at all to butter, so at this point we have no need to find a butter replacement in our kitchen.  (Yay!)

 

Are these masterfully baked cookies not one beautiful representation of the love of a daddy for his daughter?

Patrick scored double on this labor of love, though, because his g.f. wife not only appreciates the lengths gone to for our second-born, but for me as well.

 

You'll have to head on over to my blog to read that version of cookie-love, though.

thankful muffins

When I post on Kate's blog, obviously it is with gluten-free-food in mind.  Today is no different.  But although I've got high accolades for a stellar muffin resource, I'm actually posting with my gluten-eating, recipe-following, blog-savvy son in mind.

Due to my middle daughter's food limitations, all of the cooking I do at home is not only gluten-free, but corn, egg, and dairy-free too. We do a lot of recipe searching, improvising, substituting, and making stuff up on the fly.  It's a lot of restrictions to work with, and we live in a country that doesn't major in ready-made, gluten-free anything, but well, we've still got to eat.  So we make-do with simple fare, generally skip restaurants, and don't bake much.

When my kids ask what's for dinner, they are never surprised if it's completely made up. I'm very blessed with children that are not only accepting of our food restrictions, but are also a little into it.  I cannot tell you how many times over the last year or so my firstborn, Moyer, says, "Wow, mom, you made this recipe up?  You should totally post it on Aunt Kate's blog."

I love it.  He's so sweet.

Honestly, though, not so many of our meals are worth re-cooking, let alone posting on-line for the gluten-free community. And how many times would I never in a million years be able to reproduce what we just ate?

Moyer: (excited and affirming) "Mom, this is like seven thumbs up.  You should totally write the recipe down and post it on Aunt Kate's blog."

Me: (sigh--I know what's coming) "I can't, sweetie."

Moyer: "Why not?"

Me: (a little exasperated with his insistence on all meals coming from a recipe) "Well, I didn't really keep track of the ingredients."

Moyer: (whining disbelief) "You mean you don't know how to make it again?"

I know, I could have it WAY worse.

And sometimes (I get a huge kick out of this particular scenario) I have to tell him, that didn't make it up and I didn't follow a recipe:

Me: "Honey, this isn't my idea."

Moyer: (in his best adult-I-all-about-how-the-internet-works-voice) "Oh, did you find a recipe on-line?"

Me: (trying to remember exactly how dinner did just happen to unfold on this particular evening) "Well, I got the idea for the recipe on-line."

Moyer: (he's disappointed already, because he's sensing the answer) "But you didn't follow the recipe?"

Me: "Nope."

Moyer: (he still doesn't understand exactly why one wouldn't precisely follow an available recipe; he's precise like that) "Why not?"

When I'm feeling patient I go on to tell him how I converted it to a Keturah-friendly recipe or a China-friendly recipe, or how I didn't have any such and such on hand, so . . .

He's very interested in this process.  And very interested in posting all about it on Aunt Kate's blog.  Though he does wish that I'd do more recipe-following.

So today's post is for Moyer.  In honor of re-posting recipes that I find on-line, and then don't follow at all, I'm here to direct you to the best gluten-free muffin recipe that you don't have to exactly follow ever.  Gluten-free girl and the chef even invite you to mess with it.  These muffins are intended to be tweaked and turn-out.

gluten-free whole grain muffins

My very first time making them, I followed all of the advice I could manage, and still make them corn, egg, and dairy-free as well.*  They were so easy and turned out so perfectly.

So I made them again, but followed the recipe even less carefully, thinking that I was probably pressing my luck.  They worked out again.

You know what?  I've made these muffins a bazillion times since then, tried all kinds of creative substitutions,** don't measure a single thing, and don't bother looking at the print-out that I previously had been referring to, and they always turn out.

The trick is to read the whole post.  It's not just a muffin recipe.  It's kind of like a gluten-free quick-breads baking manual.  (And even though I read it, and reaped much, I'm also here to tell you that I didn't use a scale.  I used the principles and recipe as a guide, and then went by feel.)

We made them the evening before Thanksgiving, and served them up as Thankful muffins for breakfast on Thursday.

Here are my muffin models (including our newest muffin model in-training) being very thankful for them after they were cool (and iced!) on Wednesday night.



Moyer is pumped that we're taking pictures to post on Aunt Kate's blog.  Keturah is grateful that they're gluten, corn, egg, and dairy-free.  Marilla is having trouble understanding why muffins need models.  She'd rather be a taste-tester.



Thankful for great eaters, a recipe-loving boy, and an adaptable muffin recipe.  

Enjoy!

*My go-to for egg replacer is flaxseed, and I sub anything from water to orange juice for the buttermilk.

**I've iced them, topped them like coffee-cake, flavored them like gingerbread, made them orange-themed, used date-syrup as a sugar sub, and varied the oil content a great deal.  I usually use mostly buckwheat flour as the base, but actually change up the other flours and starches a lot!

Walt Disney World- the Disney gluten free dining plan

On the morning of our first full day in Disney I had this for breakfast... a banana, a cup of strawberries, an apple juice and a protein bar from my stash... notice Dave's plate of a great filling breakfast in the background. I was feel very unfulfilled and when I'm hungry- I get grumpy. 

 

The dining hall at Port Orleans was hard to navigate that morning so I pieced together a small breakfast to carry me through miles of walking in the Magic Kingdom. I wasn't feeling like I was on the happiest place on earth... I was worried that my snacks were going to last through the vacation.

So I sent an email to Disney Dining and complained.... then I went to the concierge. You might remember that I had tried to be proactive and asked a few questions before we hit Florida via email.

The concierge was hesitant... she was a cast member from another country and she stumbled through my conundrum but then did the best thing for both of us... she asked for help. Ray, her fellow concierge stepped in and quickly gave me a game plan. The best thing I could do was to ask for a chef at each dining place... this didn't make me needy but would ensure my needs were met. Dave and I walked back to the dining hall and met Chef Laura. It was mid afternoon and she gave us the rundown of options I had... they weren't limited at all!  She had so much information and the Disney Chef's are very well trained in food allergies... I love them. They had a dedicated fryer and this camper could enjoy gluten free french fries and chicken fingers... so many options and this is what I wanted most.

 In fact I had those a few more times. Except at breakfast... then I enjoyed gluten free waffles with Mickey's smiling face...

I couldn't help it. It was the best kind of comfort food and that brownie? OMG it's gluten free...  it isn't good for me but I figured it wasn't going to kill me with all the miles I walked through the park and it was a really yummy goodbad treat. Obviously as food blogger I love food and it's a huge part of memory for me. I can still remember all the fresh fruit I ate when I went to Disney back in 1989 and now 23 years later I'm in love with gluten free waffles and gluten free comfort food. If I could have found the Mickey Mouse waffle iron I most likely would have bought it so I could enjoy my own gluten free Mickey waffles at home...

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. 

soup for you! A bit of local love in Farmington, Maine

A few weeks back Dave and I found ourselves in Farmington at lunchtime. I was pretty stoked as it wasn't a Sunday and I could finally duck into soup for you! I've heard good things from friends about the Gluten Free factor down there- specifically that Buffy, the owner, is a diagnosed Celiac who knows firsthand about the importance of safe food prep.

It's an overwhelming space to walk into and has the menu posted on the back wall. It's easy to get lost in the sandwiches themed after a well-known sitcom that made the Soup Nazi famous. The soups were also temping and well marked with levels of free-dom: 

codes: v-vegetarian vv- vegan wf- wheat free gf- gluten free df-dairy free sf- soy free

Which is a wonderful thing for those of us who avoid other foods as well. I'd been craving a good sandwich so I got my classic turkey with cukes and carrots to go and it was love at first bite.

I was even lucky enough to meet Buffy in person and have her make my sandwich. No qualms about this lunch spot in downtown Farmington!

carrot curry

This boy just dried his tears.

He cried when our carrot curry leftovers lunch was all gone yesterday.

For that story, though, you'll have to head on over to my day-to-day blog. (The one about Kate's adorable nephew Moyer and stunning niece Keturah's everyday lives in Asia.)

But the lunch Moyer cried over, well, I'll post that recipe right here. (Did I mention that I may post on Think Outside the Breadbox now and again?)

First, a couple of disclaimers:

1. If you're looking for authentic curry, this is NOT your recipe.  It's curry-ish.  It's curry inspired.  I'm a Western cook however, and cannot claim any true curry prowess.

2. This is good. I wouldn't post the recipe without favorable reviews from the whole fam, but it's not gourmet. Considering that it's chief ingredient is a vegetable, though, it's remarkably tasty.

So, if you're still interested, this carrot curry is a great way to eat your veggies without actually tasting them.  Inspired partially by a recipe on yummly, and partially by the concept behind skinnytaste, I used part of our stockpile of carrots as the base for this meal.

And, by the way, since I'm working on collecting dinner ideas for our family that are corn-free, dairy-free, and egg-free in addition to gluten-free, you can use this recipe for a variety of food-sensitive eaters!

So without any further ado, the recipe Moyer cried over, folks:

~Carrot Curry~

2-3 carrots, peeled & chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 inch ginger, sliced

several cloves garlic

2 T oil

1 lemon (both zest & juice)

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 lb cooked chicken breast, in pieces

salt & pepper

3 T sweet rice flour (or other thickener of choice)

We served this on rice, so if you're planning to do that, don't forget to put the rice on!

You can fry up the chicken in a pan with a little oil ahead of time, or simultaneously.  Just chop it up into bite-sized pieces and set it aside to add at the end.  Or leave it out.  (But just a heads-up, Moyer favored the bites with chicken in them.)

Heat the oil (or butter if you like!)  in the bottom of a large wok, or medium soup pot.  Saute the carrots, onion, ginger, and garlic together until the onions are nearly translucent. Add lemon zest and toss it all around.  Pour in both coconut milk and chicken stock, cover, and simmer for twenty to thirty minutes.  Add water if needed.  When carrots are cooked all the way through, add the juice from one lemon, and run through your blender.

Pour the pureed mixture back into your wok or pot, and add the cooked chicken pieces.  Cook uncovered, then thicken as desired to bring to a curry-like consistency. 

(I removed a ladleful of puree, mixed thoroughly with sweet rice flour, and then cooked it back into the "curry" until thick.)

Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on rice. 

~

Due to the carrot content, this turns out very orange.

Do not be alarmed.

Not only was I expecting it to taste exactly like carrot puree with a hint of coconut and lemon when I served it up to the family, but I was a tad turned off by it's nearly-glowing appearance.  My first bite was taken with extreme caution, and lots of skepticism.

Needless to say, I didn't plan on making it again, didn't photograph it, and certainly didn't plan to post it.  (My goals at the time were more in the realm of getting everyone seated around the table to eat enough of it to count as the evening's sustenance, actually.)  This tangy curry-like meal was a surprise--one that everyone finished happily.

Thus, I have no pictures to offer, except the ones that I snapped after Moyer's tears were dried.

Including, of course, the boy himself . . .

Hope you like it as much as he did!

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. 

Cooking versus Knitting

I've been meaning to post more but now that we're in the thick of winter I'm finding that I'm craving knitting time more so then cooking time. Thankfully one of my gluten free sisters has been picking up my slack and offering her insight to Think Outside the Breadbox showcasing not only her lovely Pumpkin Bisque but also a hand knitted sweater covered in soup. Two loves collide...thankfully it's a washable merino wool. My knitting project list keeps growing and I seem to always have at least 3 projects rolling at once. I've been finding it hard to put my needles down to catch up on my blogging.
However, a knitter does need to keep up her energy and I've been fueling up with some great staples. I like to start my day with breakfast before I hit the needles to hard and have found that frozen Maine blueberries defrost quickly when added to a bowl of gluten free quick oats.

I've whipped up items for household use like a swiffer cover that I found on Pinterest, I need to make a few more. The textured cotton works much better then the Swiffer pads and are eco-friendly.

I made mine so I could just tuck it into the little swiffer holds.  Somehow I've even been on a salad kick lately. I'm not sure what's wrong with me as it's usually not in my rotation. Perhaps it's the Maine winter with it's lack of sunshine that's making me crave greens or maybe it's the lovely greens I've been knitting with.

I did manage to find a new gluten and dairy free dressing to use. I've also got a gf/df ranch but I'm holding that one until our next homemade chicken tenders night.

What keeps you out of the kitchen and how do you get your mojo back? I did manage to eek out a batch of Whoopie Pies for Valentine's Day (shouldn't everyone get  a little whoopie for the holiday?) but overall my flour usage has dropped considerably.

pumpkin bisque

Somebody enjoyed her soup.

That somebody is Keturah, Kate's niece. 

I'm her mom, and Kate's sister.  I've posted here on Think Outside before.  And seeing as I've pretty much joined the gluten free club, I just may post here again. (Convenient having a sister with an already up and running GF blog--besides, if I were to start my own, there's no way I could ever come up with a name quite as clever as Think Outside the Breadbox. I have loved this name for as long as she's had the blog, and am happy to be posting under it!)

We're in the experiment stage of living with dietary restrictions.  I, like Kate, am gluten free--currently in my fifth month of being gluten free, actually--while my daughter, Keturah, is gluten free plus.  For now, the 'plus' means corn, dairy, and eggs.  She's still showing signs of food sensitivities, though, so we have some testing to do, and possibly a few more limitations to try as well.

As we experiment with what Keturah can and cannot eat, we're also experimenting with meals that work for the whole family.  My husband and son don't seem to have any food issues,  but they do like their food to be good.

Which is why I was really thrilled that this Keturah-friendly soup was deemed "restaurant quality" by Patrick the other night!

~Pumpkin Bisque~

1 small (not quite bowling ball sized) pumpkin, cut into chunks

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 large carrots, peeled, and sliced

1 large onion, chopped

1 inch ginger, peeled and sliced

2 T butter

1 t ground coriander

2 T olive oil

2 t sea salt

1 t freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chicken stock

After you've prepared all of the produce, melt about two tablespoons of butter (or use olive oil) in the bottom of a soup pot.  Toss in at least a teaspoon of ground coriander, and let fry for a minute.  Toss in the chopped onion and ginger.  Saute until onions are tender.  

At this point, if the bottom of the pan has dried up, add about two tablespoons of olive oil.  Put in the sea salt, black pepper, and the rest of the produce.  Toss the produce around with a large wooden spoon until coated with seasonings and olive oil, then let cook for a few minutes (with the lid on), come back, and toss with the spoon again to rotate which veggies are on the bottom.  Repeat for about fifteen minutes, until the produce looks like it's beginning to cook, but not burn or dry out.

Once everything was hot and just slightly browned, I plopped in a tupperware-shaped cube of chicken stock that we had in the freezer.  (Boiled from the bones and meat of a roast chicken carcass from a few weeks ago.)  If you use a prepared broth that has sodium, DO remember to omit some of the salt used in this recipe!  Add water as needed, but keep the lid on, and stir now and again for as long as you have time to let it simmer.  Ours simmered stove top for almost two hours.

Then I turned off the heat, and waited until dinner time to run it all through the blender and reheat.

This turned out rich and creamy, and was a very filling main dish.  The kids both scraped their bowls clean--as did their daddy and me.

In fact, the only thing that was not satisfying about this meal was Patrick's assessment that not only was it restaurant quality, but it that it would taste fantastic in a bread bowl.

Really?

I think somebody needs to try a little harder to think outside the breadbox.

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?

a Mighty Fine g.f. option

This is my first g.f. post.  Kind of appropriate that I get to do it here, on my sister's blog, instead of over where I usually blog.  Asiaramblin is about a lot of things, but so far, gluten-free cuisine hasn't been one of them.

Moyer & Keturah excited about their Mighty Fine meals

On Monday, we were in the market for a quick lunch, not too far from my sister-in-law's place of work, that would be kid-friendly.  So, due largely to the recent g.f. status that my daughter Keturah and I have been experimenting with, we decided to skip the Chick-fil-A, and try out an Austin burger joint.

My thought: the gluten-consumers of our group would enjoy the burgers, and Keturah and I could just skip the buns.  I'm not traditionally a burger fan, but I was willing to take one for the team, since Patrick, my husband, most certainly is.

I approached the counter at Mighty Fine, to ask whether or not they'd be willing to serve up two of our burgers without the buns.

I kind of felt like Kate when I heard the service-person's response.

(I've known that my g.f. sister favors establishments that understand gluten issues, but I guess I didn't realize just how "taken care of" one can feel when there's no need to explain yourself--or your quirky eating habits--just to place an order.)

The gal on duty, not only assured us that this could easily be done, but let me know that she'd be happy to wash her hands and change her gloves before handling our orders.

She also knew exactly how their fries were handled, so we could enjoy these yummy, crinkled traditional burger sides without worrying about any gluten being served up on them.

Talk about a full-service burger joint!  Keturah and I get to continue our gluten free experiment, and the rest of our party gets traditional hamburgers.  What a win.

Keturah spies daddy bringing over our Mighty Fine bags

And then it got better.

Have I mentioned yet that these were Mighty Fine hamburgers?  I loved my bun-less version . . . even though I've never really been that big on hamburgers!  Turns out that the folks at Mighty Fine only serve up super-fresh, all-natural, hormone-free chuck, and all of the embellishments offered are fresh and cut on-site.  I can't speak for the bun-eaters of our group, but my burger was delicious.

Moyer, waiting for his meal; my bun-less burger; table-top condiments

I do think it's safe to say that Keturah enjoyed her gluten-free lunch too.

every g.f. morsel, eaten

For now, this Austin-born chain is only available in our neck of the woods, but you can visit Mighty Fine's menu from anywhere.

gluten free breakfast of champions

I took inspiration this week from Marlow over at Gluten Hates Me and ventured back to Oatmeal for breakfast. It's warm, hearty and filling which makes for a great meal after a morning walk in the Maine woods with my favorite dogs in their blaze orange vests.

I added brown sugar and a bit of real maple syrup to sweeten my oat. Did you know that not only does Bob's Red Mill make Old Fashioned Gluten Free Oats but also Quick Cooking Gluten Free Oats as well? These aren't your average Oats as Bob's takes special precautions with the growing and use dedicated Oat fields and test the oats during the process to ensure the gluten free status. 
I'm headed away for the weekend and these oats even made it into my glutarded snack and food bag for my travels for a quick breakfast away from home.