Friday Photos: yes, we eat salad too.

 

Welcome to Friday Photos, a weekly feature here on Celiac in the City — you can read how it all started by clicking HERE.

 

 

I know it seems like the only thing we eat around here is whoopie pies, pumpkin spice cookies, and monster cookies… but there are a few other things we chow down on too.

Simple breakfasts. Like a bowl of Glutenfreeda oatmeal, with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

Chicken chili with beans and quinoa pasta for lunch.

Simple salads for dinner.

Followed by full-of-flavor enchiladas from Cocina DeLeon in Brookfield. 

Sometimes we get adventurous — bear steaks at the farm.

So it’s not all sugar and desserts. (although it seems like it — and it’s fun to post about the baking and sweet treats!) We are just as happy with a fresh salad topped with a homemade vinaigrette.

Ok, and a Crispin cider. 

So what do YOU think? Are you tuning in for sweet treats… or do you prefer to see recipes for the everyday meals? Or a combo of both?

Friday Photos (a day late)

*If you are just tuning in, you can read about the reasoning behind these Friday Photos posts here.

I started this post yesterday morning — but then life happened and I spent the majority of the day running around doing name changing things. Both the social security office and the DMV proved to be adventure-like outings… but I’m happy to say, I’m now legally — Sarah Ann Nielsen. Now I just have to perfect signing it.

Next on the agenda was a meet-up with Jill from Schroeter’s Gluten Free Bake Shop. Much more to come on their tasty treats, but just know that there are whoopie pies involved and you’re going to want to be on the look out.

You can purchase their products now at the Gluten-Free Trading Company’s Chase Avenue location.

And then there was an invite to the farm. Which you know we can’t pass up. We make our way out to the countryside, then we eat, drink and be merry.

So the  Friday Photo post got pushed into Saturday.

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It’s hard to believe this was my view, just a week ago.

Weather that lends itself to a picnic.

(still waiting on New Planet to make their way to Wisconsin)

A trip to Denver isn’t complete without a visit to Udi’s Cafe — my personal favorite: the Club with bacon and avocado (which is normally served on their regular jalapeno-cheddar bread, so they offered to add jalapenos and cheddar to the GF sandwich so I didn’t miss out!) And some sweet potato fries dipped in chipotle mayo. Boom. Done.

I often have people comment on all of the food photos I take. Some friends are trained well and know not to touch our food at a restaurant until my phone is out and ready to shoot. Others are so used to it that it doesn’t phase them. Sometimes Mark says, “it’s a no-picture dinner” after I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get a clear shot at the dinner hour lately. (I’ve said it before, Wisconsin winters are lousy for evening photo lighting) But most of the time, people want to know how we have time to cook or bake AND get pictures of it all.

Don’t be fooled. We eat simple meals all the time. Convenience meals during our hectic weekdays. The kind I sometimes throw on a piece of foil, wrap up and eat at my desk when I get to work.

But it’s food. And whether it’s simple and served on foil or super fancy-pants, it’s what we do. We get in the kitchen, turn up the tunes and do our thing… and then hope the lighting is good enough to get a shot.

Friday Photos: live from Denver

 

Welcome to Friday Photos, a weekly feature here on Celiac in the City — you can read how it all started by clicking HERE.

 

 

As I type this, I’m sitting outside on the deck. The sun warming my face. No coat or umbrella needed. (the rain, wind, and cool temps of Milwaukee were a harsh send off) But Denver welcomed me with sunny skies and temps in the 70’s.

My belly is full from this simple yet satisfying breakfast.

I was a guest at a home I have never eaten at before — that can always be a little scary, but it was just fine. My hosts for brunch have a sister and niece who have Celiac Disease, so they understood my needs. I skipped the banana bread, but other than that, I didn’t go without.

I get spoiled when I come out to Denver. Both of my dear friends who I spend time with while I’m here get the gluten-free thing. And they do so without making a huge deal out of it.

Like when I arrived last night, a counter of snacks greeted me: Crispin cider, Sabra hummus, both Crunchmaster and Back to Nature crackers, cheese, fruit and Riceworks chips. We settled on the cheese, cracker, hummus combo. (loving these crackers, with both did, similar to Crunchmaster crackers)

And I have no doubt, when I arrive at my next destination today, there will be a New Planet beer waiting.

The folks at New Planet sent me some samples to try a while back, and it is by far my top choice for gluten-free beer. My fingers and toes are crossed that they start distributing in Wisconsin in the very near future. In the mean time, how many beers do you think would keep me under the 50lb limit for one piece of luggage?

In other news, did you know that the butter popcorn from the Boy Scouts is gluten-free? It says so right on the package. (check out their website for more detailed allergy info regarding their other products)

Did you head over to Writing Up an Appetite this week for my guest post? If you didn’t, you missed one heck of a pumpkin cookie recipe. There’s still time…. head over there now. Thank me later. (and yes, they are perfectly okay for breakfast. I took a poll on it.)

The weekend has only just begun here in this gold-star-GF-city  — who knows what else I might find this weekend! I’ll be sure to fill you in next week. Same time. Same place.

Friday Photos: a week in review

 

Welcome to Friday Photos, a weekly feature here on Celiac in the City — you can read how it all started by clicking HERE.

 

What have I been up to this week?

Over the weekend, we took advantage of the beautiful weather — we hit the road on the bike.

The fall colors were vivid, fascinating really.

We made our way down to Lake Geneva, to a restaurant called Smokey’s, inside of the Timber Ridge Resort. I did a quick search before we left, and it came up as having a GF menu. When I saw hot wings listed on the menu, my heart skipped a beat, but then remembered that most places that have a bar-type menu and list things as GF, often disappoint. You usually end up asking about the fryer, only to find out that they put other gluten containing items in as well.

Yes, to logical people, this does not make sense. But to restaurants looking to cash in on the GF “trend” that is going around, (that makes me bonkers) they don’t see the problem.

But Smokey’s is an exception. A true GF menu with breakfast, lunch and dinner items listed. Wings, fries, sandwiches, pretty much everything BBQ.

We shared the hot wings, then I dug into a plate of ribs and fries. 

I ate myself silly. A true food coma.

It forced me to sit on the back of the bike, full tummy, sun on my face, and take it all in. (it was super hard)

For all the sports excitement on Sunday, we grilled our fave burgers. We use this green chile sauce from Bobby Flay.

That’s a Rudi’s hamburger bun you see there — the top fell apart a little, but good flavor.

We’re up to our ears in tomatoes right now. It’s a good thing, but I’m having a hard time keeping up with them. So we added a little tomato-cucumber salad, to make the meal seem healthy.

In the mix: garden tomatoes (any kind will work), cucumbers — ours were lemon cucs from my Mamasita’s garden, onion, olive oil, a little white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, a little minced hinkel hatz pepper.

In case you haven’t yet, you really should RSVP for this month’s Gluten-Free Get Together at Cooper’s Hawk in Brookfield. You know how I like to have a sneak peek before we go places for these events, so I snuck over there this week, with my GF partner in crime. (thanks for sharing your gift cert, Amy!)

Trust me. You should come. Go RSVP.

What’s on the agenda for the coming week?

• I’m guest posting over at Writing Up an Appetite  (hint: pumpkin. spice. frosting. NICE!)
• I’ll be sharing my cherry crisp experiment with you
• Thursday I’m jetting out to Denver — most of you know, it’s my second home, place I visit most, a GF dream come true! (you can take a peek at past travels to D-town here, here, or here.)

TGIF — time for a Crispin with my soul sister!

Friday Photos: A week in review — with a special birthday guest

 

Welcome to Friday Photos, a weekly feature here on Celiac in the City — you can read how it all started by clicking HERE.

 

The Brewer game is about to start, so for today… short and sweet.

gingersnaps from Molly’s GF Bakery

road trip to South Dakota snacks

we had someone cooking for us! pulled pork, doctored-up beans and some Lays

another new cider – GO BREWERS!

fall colors = fall desserts. right? coming soon!

a windy flag football game with my nephew, the birthday boy

his partay — totally gluten-free (no one had a clue there was NO gluten)

a close up of those cool cupcakes

*Happy Birthday to one of my best buddies — our little “lion” chef. Love you more than cupcakes, kiddo!*

*new weekly feature* “Friday Photos: A week in review”

For years I have been wanting a “big girl” camera.

Take a look at this beauty!

The superhappycool thing? It’s in my home right now. The frightening part? I have no idea how to use it. No worries, there is an “auto” feature for us newbies. And I’ve heard repeatedly that the way to get better at taking photos is… to take more photos. (plus, our amazingly talented photographer from our wedding said there are all kinds of tutorials on youtube and vimeo)

I have been wanting to incorporate more of the random photos I take throughout the week here. Most of the meals I eat get photographed, if I see a new GF product at the store, or maybe just the vivid color of the yolk from my farm fresh eggs at breakfast. All kinds of pictures — too many to have a blog post on each one, so I needed something new.

Check in each week for “Friday Photos: A week in review.” (the most clever name I could come up with this morning, it may get a make-over at some point) I’ll still be posting pics on my Facebook page too, but this will help justify holding up dinner so I can get a good shot.

Happy Friday!

hello harvest!

buffalo chicken, tater tot “nachos” with waffle dippers

red eye — a top wedding gift… more on this later

herbs drying in afternoon sun

a new cider (I’m a fan… my big brother was too!)

GF Get Together @ Stack’d — good cider, great company

And sometimes, just for kicks, I might throw in someone else’s photos… like this one from Ryan Abel Photography — of course we are semi-biased because he’s family, but his work speaks for itself.

pure joy in our hearts.