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.

quick meals, knit nights and holiday madness

When I first when wheat free two years ago one of the first things we bought for the new lifestyle was a rice cooker. At 9,000 feet above sea level cooking can be a challenge and I had to give up Rice A Roni that was such a staple for us. The rice cooker allowed us to make near perfect rice each time. I also made sure we got a steamer basket for veggies- tonight I had an ah-ha moment and put my spinach in the steamer for the first time along with a clove of garlic.

The result was a very simple and easy dinner that was made while I took my evening shower. I added a bit of soy sauce and a bit of leftover Christmas ham with pineapple for a tasty meal with very little prep work.

In late October I couldn't spend enough time in the kitchen at night- now I'm in a new phase and spend my nights knitting. It's almost a fetish- I learned how to knit a hat in the round at the beginning of November and now am 10 hats into the process and getting better. My first hat came out ok but looked a but sketchy at the top- I've moved on to fancier brims, smaller yarns and mixing colors. It's almost like a nightly mediation time for me. Winter brings a more stressful work environment and the knitting has been an escape. When work gets tough I just want to go home, throw Grey's Anatomy on and knit.

 A sampling of my hat work, the all blue is my first ever hat.

Two recent kid creations. 

This is the time of year when balance becomes a challenge for me. Most of the world seems to get a bit of time off for the holidays while I ramp up at work and try to keep up with the typical holiday baking and demands of life. Dave also works longer hours so I fly solo on dog duty 3-4 days a week. Thankfully the knitting, ski breaks and walks with the puppy monsters have kept me sane during the madness.   

But I've also made some time to sneak out with friends after ski/work days. There's a new movement at the Telluride Ski Resort to become more gluten-free friendly. I had a Philly Cheese steak on gluten-free bread (I believe it was Udi's- even better!) and was delighted to be able to eat in a bar like a normal person, not some salad sans dressing but real bar food. Fries are still off limits but better safe then sorry.

 

From think outside the breadbox

It's a work in progress but I'm happy to see them move in this direction.

cookies and holiday madness

As the holidays approach I'm working on perfecting my cookie skills. I've been playing with some new recipes, mixes and flours.  I wish I could say I've been so busy baking that I haven't had time to post but that would be such a fractional truth. I've also been busy knitting hats, working, dealing with change, skiing, enjoying happy hour, watching world cup snowboardcross races, working too many days in a row, grey's anatomy and many reruns of,  waking up to happy puppies, testing out new gluten free offerings at Telluride Ski Resort, skiing, playing with the puppy monsters... you get the idea. If I could I'd narrow this list down to playing with the dogs, baking, knitting while watching grey's anatomy and skiing but I have other obligations in life as well. It's sad, even the camera doesn't reflect half of the things we've been up to since the mountain opened on Thanksgiving. 

I've long since given up on being able to send holiday cards. I realize that the compressed season of the ski industry and the vast amount of work to be done in the short time between pumpkin carving and Christmas trees barely allows time for posting and puppies, let alone a night of holiday cards. 

I also made the best apple pie ever for turkey day... I was inspired by a pie on the cover of Yankee Magazine and did a snowflake crust for our holiday celebration. 

The winner of all my baking has been the snickerdoodles from the Bronski's cookbook Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking. I'm a big fan of their flour blend and their book seems to be my go-to for everything from pizza dough to pie crust to cookies. I've also started flirting with dairy and ultimately cheating and went back to real  butter for baking. I've got to be careful with how much I consume but have found that it makes things much prettier and the taste is much better as well. Yes, I cheated for a prettier pie crust and cookies that wow people.

mixing almond flour with the wet stuff

almond flour cookies

cherrybrook sugar cookie mix

mixing snickerdoodles

the cookie dough scoop makes things so pretty

snickerdoodles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

soup's on

A few weeks ago the weather here in Telluride started to change... nights got colder then BAM- winter hit. That's what Colorado is like, one extreme to another, t-shirts to long underwear and fleece.

It's the kind of change that makes you want soup- warm, hearty and welcome winter soup.

I revisited this soup but added some ginger and used almond milk instead of soy. It came out well and huge! I doubled the recipe without meaning to and it made for one large soup- thankfully I was able to get some office mates to help me finish it off.

saute the onion and ginger

add the softened carrots...

blend with squash and non-dairy milk for winter goodness

Glutened.....

Last night we hit up one of my all time favorite restaurant's for a friend's birthday. I ordered the same dish I always do in the exact same way- but after dinner my stomach twisted and I felt the evil coming on. I regretted forgetting my pepto at home and tried to fight through the discomfort. We went home and I zoned out while the gluten ravaged my body. This morning I can still feel it lingering. I put my ski boots on for the fourth morning in a row but they felt off. My feet felt contorted inside the hard plastic shell- nothing had changed with my boots from the previous 3 days to today. It was the gluten- my joints are achy, my head is in a fog and I can't get out of my funk.

From Droid for Campchaos

Even the elk crossing the ski trail couldn't do it...

popeye the gluten free chef

I've been feeling like Popeye may be a long lost relative and have been eating spinach like it's going out of style. I only learned how to saute spinach a few years ago and each fall go through my Popeye phase of eating. Dave's begun snowmaking and working late each night so I can eat what I want and play around a bit more. There's been some great creations, some just average and some flops that have potential.

Chicken, Spinach, Mushrooms and Rice

This was a winner. I sliced the chicken thin and marinated in gluten free soy sauce then topped with San-J Sweet and Tangy over rice with sauteed mushrooms and spinach. Simple, easy and tasty.

Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts were a leap off the deep end for me. I've never cooked them before and only had them prepared once where I really liked them. I should have steamed them first before the saute as they didn't really cook the entire way through. I tried to reduce some maple syrup at the end to add flavor but in all this was a FLOP.  It had potential but I really need to learn how to cook these bad boys. Dave was glad he didn't have to suffer on this one.

Garbanzo Beans

I saw Garbanzo beans in this month's Living Without- they cooked them for snack time. I cooked  them for about 20 minutes at 350 in a bit of EVOO until they were steamy then paired with rice and this month's prerequisite mushrooms and spinach. It was good but something was missing- what flavor would you add?

Quinoa Pasta

The Quinoa pasta version was a good basic meal that made me wish for a big smattering of cheese- Parmesan would have been perfect.

risotto

 I got Dave to eat mushrooms with this one. I live at 9,545 feet and it's a labor of love to make good risotto and this came out good. I sauteed chopped onions and mushrooms (small pieces for dave) then slowly stirred in warm chicken broth a cup at a time for the next 40 minutes- thankfully risotto bulks up so it's good for a few meals.

Rice Noodles

The rice noodle dish was tasty with chicken and a good all around dinner. It's similar to my street noodle creation but just a bit different. Simple noodles, chicken and veggies with a quick toss in the pan with toasted sesame oil and soy sauce.

It's been fun playing around with dinner and having enough variations of the same veggies to be able to polish off a whole bag of spinach on my own but I think I may be over spinach for a while...

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.