Wisconsin - Favorite Things

Before we drove back to Texas, my mom, dad, Iivana, and I went to visit my grandparents in Wisconsin for a few days. It's almost been 2 years since I was diagnosed with celiac disease and when I go to visit my grandma and grandpa I am pleasantly surprised at what they've done to accommodate my dietary needs.

1. Schaum Torte

One of my favorite desserts that my grandma makes is called schaum torte. It's been a favorite of mine even before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, so I'm excited that it is a dessert that I can still indulge in. It is basically a meringue, but I think it is more fluffy and marshmallow-like. When my grandma makes it, I don't think she even uses a recipe. I was searching for recipes on the Internet to post, in case others were interested in making it. I think this one seemed close to what I remember of hers because I've made it with her when I was younger. Although I don't think she uses vinegar, but she does the second method cooking option like the recipe suggests where you preheat the oven and then turn it off after a couple minutes and allow the torte to cook for hours. Mine pictured below is topped in strawberries and whipped topping. I came across this lemon schaum torte recipe that I thought looked interesting to try to make in the future.

2. Chicken Rice Soup
Every time we would make the drive from Michigan to Wisconsin for as long as I can remember, when we would arrive my grandma would have homemade chicken rice soup ready for us for lunch. She normally uses bullion in her recipe, which contains wheat; but she makes a special batch for Kristen and me that doesn't use it. Mmm, I always try to replicate her soup, but hers is always the best.

3. Wisconsin Brick Cheese
These are my favorite Wisconsin things all wrapped into one trip! Because what is a trip to dairy land without cheese. We always buy brick cheese, which is a treat because we can't really find it other places outside of Wisconsin. It's a light, buttery tasting cheese which means you can eat slice after slice. I brought a couple pounds of it back to Texas with me!

More Goods from Vince & Joe's

When my sister, Kristen was in town this past weekend, we went to Vince & Joe's together. She showed me the freezer section where they now keep many of their gluten free baked goods. It was after lunch time, so we decided to split a gluten free pizza.

It was pre-made and packaged in a metal pan with a bag around it. It was convenient to be in the metal pan because we could cook in directly in the pan.

We followed the directions on the back of the package but thought it needed some more time in the oven. Kristen and I were rather hungry and not very patient. It was cooked, although we thought the center wasn't very crispy. It could've used more time and probably would've tasted better using a pizza stone. Plus, the pizza was only 5.49, I believe.

We couldn't pass up dessert either, so we agreed on a gluten free carrot cake. It was in the same kind of pan that the pizza came in and also in the freezer section.

We kept in the fridge so it would thaw until we were ready to indulge during the weekend.

After dinner on Sunday we eat had a slice and shared with the family. We are avid fans of their carrot cake, so this was not our first one. It was moist and full of nuts and raisins. There was a spice flavor that was nicely complemented with the cream cheese frosting.

Monsters of All Kinds

Monster sandwich! Justin is the best club sandwich maker and made these a few weeks ago. He used Rudi's multi-grain bread (we snagged some coupons at the GF Expo and they sell it at the commissary), pickles, cheese, ham, turkey, lettuce, tomato, bacon, mustard, and topped off with cherry peppers stuffed with yellow tomatoes.

I also couldn't resist posting this picture of Iivana and our Christmas tree either. She was so frightened that her hair was sticking straight up on her back. She barked at it for a good 2 minutes. Then she slowly approached the tree and to sniff it. Eventually she figured out it was okay; the tree is now up in the house and there is no more barking.

Thankful Week Off

I have the week off of work and am so thankful for it. I figure I'll be able to blog a little more, do some homework, clean the house, spend time with my hubby, work on school stuff, and start decorating for Christmas. The list seems long, but I can be flexible.

Here's a blast from the past, aka a recipe inspired by Noodles and Co. (where Justin and I met while working) before they changed their menu many years ago. Want another Noodles and Co. inspired dish: find it here. Justin and I decided to make our own version of a peanut salad.

I started by chopping carrots and green onions. After that I washed some sprouts.

I followed the directions on the Thai Kitchen Rice noodles box. Then I added some San-J peanut sauce. You can find my love for San-J peanut sauce here, here, and here.

The salad is fairly simple: spring mix combined with the rice noodles. Then I topped it off with the carrots, green onions, and sprouts. Chicken was sliced and placed on the top.

Justin made a dressing with the San-J peanut sauce combined with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste. The salad was so filling and a blast from the past. Now if I could only find some GF med dressing.

Reuben!

Remember when Justin and I went to Dallas for the GF Expo? We purchased a couple packages of GF bread mixes made by Montana Gluten Free Processors. I thought the brown bread mix would be prefect for some GF Reuben sandwiches. 

I followed a recipe that I received when I bought the mixes for European Brown Bread.

1 pkg. Montana GF Bread Mix

2 1/4 tbsp. yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. instant coffee

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds (I omitted these.)

3 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1 3/4 cup water between 110 and 115 degrees

1 tsp cider vinegar

The recipe said to mix all dry ingredients first. Then eggs, oil, and vinegar were mixed in a different bowl. After that I combined the two mixtures, and slowly added water to get a cake batter consistency.

It baked at 350 for 45 minutes. The bread came out looking well. It was moist and had a decent consistency. Since I made the bread, I couldn't get over two of the ingredients: cocoa and coffee. I felt I could taste the two and it didn't seem right. However, Justin said he didn't notice. The bread was good and worked for the Reubens.

I sliced the bread, used Boar's Head corned beef, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut.

And topped them off with Thousand Island dressing.

Delicious! First time I had a Reuben in years.

I'd be interested to try other pumpernickel/rye-like breads, of course, sans rye.

Thank You Veterans!

What a day - It's Veterans Day, 11-11-11, Friday, and my MSU Spartans are playing basketball today...if only I had the day off too. 

Look at my handsome hubby in his uniform. Thank you Justin and all other veterans; I'm proud to be your wife.

While I didn't get this Friday off, I took last Friday off to attend Justin's Community College of the Air Force graduation. He received an Associate's in Human Resources and also earned a scholarship to help pay for his current schooling.

Afterwards, we headed downtown to celebrate at Las Canarias for a decedent GF lunch.

Prosciutto wrapped artichokes on Udi's gluten free bread.

I wanted to try something different and went with a chicken sandwich on GF bread. I'm glad I tried something different, but it didn't compare to Justin's meal.

Justin ordered the lunch special, which was photographed in a shadow from our seat near the Riverwalk. I don't remember the exact name but there was shrimp, a moist and tender steak, and finger potatoes in Spanish Chorizo. His had flavor that savored in your mouth.

God Bless America.

Go green!

Homework Break

I told Justin I had a ton of homework to do this weekend, so we had to lay low. I have a literature review due in 2 weeks and haven't really started yet, so I had to spend some time this weekend working on it. Even though I've been reading on and off all day, I have yet to write anything. In fact, I still need to read through a few more articles before I commence writing.

My birthday was on Thursday the 29th of September, so last weekend we went to Dallas for my 27th birthday, the GF Expo, and the Lions vs. Cowboys football game. The weekend was awesome!

We opted to fly there because we scored a great deal on plane tickets. The only bad part was that we left Saturday morning at 6:00 am! Here's Justin on the bus to the rental car place.

We started off breakfast at the Kozy Kitchen. We arrived before they even opened, but needed a full breakfast before we hit up the Expo.

Justin ordered the "Hangover Helper" which consisted of grass fed buffalo, eggs, basil guacamole, and mushrooms. Although we weren't hungover, it was fresh, delicious, and filling. We actually could've shared this because both of our choices were huge.

Our breakfasts were filling because they were packed with fresh vegetables. I ordered the "Veggie Connection" which was an open-face omelet stacked with various in-season vegetables. Yes, I ordered eggs! I've been eating eggs a little bit more, as long as their masked with plenty of "stuff" like vegetables or meat.

Then we made our way over to the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo. We bought tickets for the vendor fair to check out different products.

I only took a few pictures...I probably could've taken one at each booth. I ate so many samples of sweets and junk food that was all GF! These chicken tenders were awesome! They are even at Disney World; I think Justin and I will need a trip to Disney World soon.

Dallas area Subway's have gluten free buns! The other day in class, it seemed everyone around me was eating Subway...how I longed for one after smelling everyone's sandwiches.

Who doesn't love Woodchuck cider? They even had a new pumpkin, which is the perfect fall drink. In fact, we picked some up after dinner last night at Central Market. I was able to enjoy one today!

Like I said, I didn't get pictures of all my favorite booths. I signed up for a two year subscription for Living Without Magazine. We also bought a cookbook that the author signed for me. I'll post more about it when we try some of the recipes. I sampled some Udi's Snickerdoodle cookies, which are even better than their chocolate chip cookies. I picked up some awesome Pamela's samples that I've never tried. I've been taking a sample of something different in my lunch everyday. I've been trying some products, I've never had before!

After we had enough of the Expo, we needed some lunch. Since I've been so deprived of Subway, I convinced Justin to go to there. Plus, we had a dollar off coupon that we wouldn't be able to use anywhere else. You can see the GF rolls are in a sealed package in the right hand corner.

 The girl changed her gloves and cut the bun with a new plastic knife. I ordered a turkey sandwich with all my favorite veggies.

We took them back to the hotel to eat. The buns were pretty good too, they were soft and had an okay consistency. It was great to have some Subway...now if only all Subways would get GF buns.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency! 

The balance of veggies, meat, and bun was perfect together!

 I also bought some bread mixes. The brown bread mix should bake a bread that we can make Reuben  sandwiches from! I'll let you know how it goes.

After lunch that Saturday, we were exhausted! We took a nap before heading out for my birthday dinner. (I'll hopefully post tomorrow about that and the rest of our weekend.)

Happy Celiac Awareness Day

It's late. I've been depriving my blog, yet again. But I feel compelled to post something on Celiac Awareness Day. I wish I had a shirt or something that I could've warn to school today. I guess I'll have to make sure to get one for next year. Today was picture day at school too!

To celebrate Celiac Awareness Day, here a couple photos from a recent trip to one of our favorite restaurants that works amazingly well with the gluten free community. Las Canarias can make pretty much anything from their menu GF. (See our July visit here). We went during lunch hours because it is reasonably priced.

We started by splitting some watermelon and tomato gazpacho. It had wonderful flavor and was super fresh. Admittedly, neither of us realized it is a cold soup. It wasn't our favorite menu item, but still had good flavor.

We also split our sandwiches for lunch, and of course had to order the Kobe burger again. The other sandwich we split was the blackened red fish sandwich. We made sure to order them gluten free so they came on GF bread. We wondered if they made their own bread or if it was bought. After questioning, our waiter showed us none other that an Udi's bread package! My plate came with a cup of fruit as well.

We even ordered dessert, which we rarely do! This was homemade gelato...we went the day of the UTSA game, so I'm trying to remember the exact flavors they had that day. The pink one was cherry peppercorn and the brown one was something to do with nuts. Both were succulent and unique than any ice cream/gelato/frozen yogurt I've ever tried!

I also forget to mention that we took a bike peddler (bike taxi) to the restaurant from the game. We took a VIA bus to the game from base and didn't feel like walking for lunch. This was an amazing idea because we were hungry and...

...it was hot! Notice the umbrella for shade.

Series of Related Events

I'm not sure where to start with this post, I have so many starting points for this story. So I think I'll try to keep it simple for y'all. A series of related events led to a trip to IKEA. 

Iivana's bed broke, so instead of buying a new one, Justin decided to make her one. Upon drawing out plans for her new bed, I suggested we turn the TV stand into her bed.

Iivana's original bed.

Our TV stand (which has evolved itself, originally free from the Airman's Attic was at one time brown and held our old TV which was a boxy-one with a huge back...this might lead to a future post on the history of our TV stand)

The combination of both to create the ultimate bed.

• I attend cake decorating class at Micheal's and before the first class I was killing time at nearby stores. One of those stores was JCPenney Home store, where I found a couch I liked. 

Remember my first cake, as seen below.

• Long story short, we decided to buy the couch!

Notice the old pink couch in the background. (This was also free from the Airman's Attic and we had it for 3 years!)

New Couch

With a new couch, and our TV stand repurposed...we needed a new TV stand. We saw a few online that we were interested in at Ikea. Unfortunately, there is not an Ikea in San Antonio; we had to drive to Round Rock which is about an hour and 45 minutes away. 

Along the way we decided to stop in Austin for lunch. Justin's instructions were to find something close to the expressway and semi-fast (of course it had to accommodate gluten free eating as well.) Thanks to my smartphone, I came across an Asian restaurant, Koriente. Not only was it close to I-35, but it also offers healthy food and was quick!

Justin ordered Obake bowl (B) with shrimp which was served with rice medallions. He ordered his with the gluten free sauce so I could try some too! Everything in his bowl was tender and fresh. 

I ordered the mix mix bibimbap with tofu and avocado (and GF sauce). They call it the mix mix, because you have to mix everything yourself. It was incredibly satisfying and I didn't feel guilty at all. All of the flavors came from the fresh vegetables. The tofu wasn't fried, but still tasted incredible. Justin said, "I didn't know tofu could taste this good and not be fried."

Probably the best part of the meal was the green tea that Justin ordered. The taste lingered in your mouth, long after your sipped it. We kept saying it tasted like dandelions, yet neither of us have ever tasted dandelions. The way it was made, you didn't want to chug it or drink it fast. We would savor each drink. It was so yummy, that Justin got some to-go for the rest of the ride to Ikea.

I want the recipe for this!

We roughly spent 3 and a half hours navigating through Ikea. We decided on a TV stand, and picked up some things for some other projects. Hopefully we get to all these projects, then I can show you all them too. Here's Justin working on the TV stand. The worst part about Ikea is constructing everything!

The finished product! I know this isn't the best picture because I was taking at night and couldn't get any decent light. I figured if I didn't post a picture, the story would be senseless!