Smart Cookies

Since yesterday I posted about my Wisconsin stop on my visit north, I decided to write about another dessert my grandma made for Kristen and me. I have no idea where she found this recipe, obviously a magazine. These peanut butter cookies only contained four ingredients: chunky peanut butter, brown sugar, an egg, and baking soda. I think if you click on the picture, it will get bigger if you want to read the directions. Basically you mix it all together and bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes!

I think hers looked just like the ones in the magazine. These cookies were more on the crunchy side, but the wonderful flavor of PB is what makes them great! I will have to try to make them on my own. Another bonus for celiacs and non-celiacs who like to bake for someone with the disease, is that they don't require an expensive flour. They are flour-less!

Vince & Joe's

Updating from Michigan.

Last week I decided to check out Vince & Joe's, which is a market that has quite a few gluten free items. I wandered through out the store, mostly browsing. They have a wonderful selection of baked gluten free goods; however, I couldn't find the cake section. They must have moved it since I was there last, remember my Favorite Things - Michigan post from last summer. I decided to purchase these butterscotch macadamia cookies.

I ate all the cookies by myself! I liked the fact that they were a thicker cookie which was soft in the the middle. I know I've said it, but I'll say it again: I'm not the biggest fan of crunchy cookies. I love butterscotch, but usually don't like nuts in my cookies. However, the combination was perfect for me. The butterscotch flavor was present in all bites and the nuts weren't overbearing. 

Now, Cape Cod chips are not new to me. They are often part of my lunch or a go to snack in out house. I knew they came out with the 40% less fat Aged Cheddar and Sour Cream flavor a while back, but I couldn't find them in Texas. I was pleasantly surprised to find them at Vince & Joe's. This flavor didn't disappoint either, I think it fell in the same quality category as the rest of the chips that Cape Cod makes. I think they were more Cheddar-y than Sour Creamy though.

Gluten Free!

I'm sure I'll be making another trip to Vince & Joe's soon.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

I wanted to update tonight but have to keep it short. Why, you might be asking? I think that procrastinator should be my middle name. I had a whole week off for spring break and have a literature review due for class this week. Am I done? No...I spent most of yesterday reading articles and today I finally started writing. But I found time to go to the gym, watch my spartans win, and cook dinner today. I successfully avoided it the rest of the week. Oh well, I need the pressure to focus to get it done. I figure I can knock out 2 pages tomorrow, 2 pages on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I can reread, revise, and edit. Oh yeah, I also need to do the reading for class. Ah well, my break is coming to an end.

Before Justin left he wanted some monster cookies. I made them big this time and omitted the Chex.

We made them even better with some vanilla ice cream!

 Our very own GF ice cream cookie sandwiches...so yummy.

Monster Cookies

More talk about monsters in December? It is not Iivana either!

We had Justin's co-workers over today for a little holiday luncheon (they are not the monsters either.) They were also having a cookie exchange. With all the cleaning, it didn't leave much time for a GF cookie recipe from scratch that might not turn out. My sister, Kristen sent me a couple recipes for some cookies. And one of them was for:

Easy Monster Cookies

Kristen said the cookies were good, so at least I knew the recipe was solid. This provided a perfect opportunity to make GF cookies fairly easily. I had made the chocolate chip Betty Crocker GF cookies before. I remember the dough was crumbly and the cookies had a slight after taste. Adding the peanut butter must have helped hold the batter together a little more because it wasn't crumbly this time.

 I decided to roll the cookies into balls in an effort to create a uniform shape.

Chocolate chips and M&Ms are a plus to make these taste even better!

They came out looking beautiful.

I thought they tasted yummy as well. Justin agreed, but we both questioned if we had too much of a GF acquired taste. I baked them on the lesser amount of time, so they would be chewy. When I took them off the cookie sheet they were fragile...I broke a few, which meant more for me to try!

I was curious how the Chex cereal would taste in them, would it add crunch? To be honest, I didn't noticed the Chex much at all. Does that mean it's not needed at all or the opposite, that more should be added? Only time will tell; I know I'll be making these again, because they were easily to make in a crunch! Plus, they taste great.

15 days since my last post?!?

So I said I would post about these amazing pumpkin cookies:

And I seem to be a broken record the last couple months:

I'm busy, busy, busy!

Justin used this recipe, but he substituted the the regular wheat flour for Cup 4 Cup flour from Williams-Sonoma.

He didn't make the frosting either and chose Pillsbury Cream Cheese frosting.

I thought the frosting was the perfect compliment, especially since it's GF!

They were soft, puffy cookies! I L-O-V-E soft cookie...I was so proud of my hubby for baking these for me. They had a good consistency and the Cup 4 Cup flour was a good substitute in this recipe.

I wouldn't share them with anyone either! (I'm usually not that greedy.)

Now I'm inspired to try more recipes with the Cup 4 Cup flour! And try more recipes with pumpkin.

My Latest Obsession

After dinner on Friday we stopped at Central Market HEB, which was down the street from Paloma Blanca. We wanted to browse their huge wine and beer selection. We also checked out their gluten free options.

I knew Udi's semi-recently came out with cookies, but this was the first time I saw them anywhere. I had to buy some, so I chose the chocolate chip ones.

I think these cookies are awesome because they are chewy! It seems like the majority of the GF cookies are hard and crunchy. These are kept in the freezer, which is nice so you can pull one out whenever you want one. They defrost pretty quickly or I put one in the microwave for a few seconds.

I think they're comparable to other cookies nutritionally too. The serving size is two cookies for 7 grams of fat and 150 calories.

My mouth waters just looking at this picture. They are rich and buttery tasting with tons of chocolate chips. I'm interested in trying their other cookie flavors.

Not Satisfied

Over the summer, I've some how acquired some terrible habits.

One of those being -  snacking.

My night time snacking has often left me feeling unsatisfied. I first usually try something healthy like a piece of fruit. Then I usually move on to some cheese whether string cheese or cottage cheese. Through out the whole thing, I'm still craving something sweet!

Recently, Justin was craving some Oreos. I told him he could buy some, but he insisted on getting some GF chocolate sandwiches.

The commissary carries Gluntino brand cookies. While they don't have the cool packaging like Oreos do, they actually taste decent. I'll take my double bagging in a gallon Ziploc to be able to eat something comparable.

They taste like an imitation Oreo, as if you were buying a generic store brand of Oreos.

 The ratio of cookie to cream filling was pretty equal.

I can eat them my favorite way too! I twist them in half and lick the cream center, then eat the cookie.

I ate the serving size, 2 cookies, and felt satisfied! Two cookies isn't too bad either, 6 grams of fat and 140 calories. Just be sure to not eat the whole row at once.

My Favorite Things - Michigan Trip

I love making lists.

I was away on vacation for 14 days, which would be nearly impossible to catch up all of the details from my amazing trip.

As a result, I'm going to share some of my favorite Michigan things.

1. Family 

Me & Kristen (my fellow celiac)

Of course, number one on my list is seeing my family. I saw all three of my sisters, my niece, my nephew, my parents, Justin's parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandpa, even my grandparents from Wisconsin came! I had fun with every single person I saw.

2. Faygo Pop

So many flavors at Meijer.

My favorite flavor is diet Rock and Rye. I describe it as a cross between cream soda and red pop. In fact, at the store I questioned if there was actually rye in the pop. Then Justin's mom made a good point, is there actually pepper in Dr. Pepper? Just to be certain, I emailed Faygo about their gluten status. Here was their response:


Hi Karen,

All Faygo products are gluten free.

Thanks for writing!


3. My Jenna Kator Handbag

I had been obsessing about these online for quite awhile. When looking at the shop locations, I knew I would have to pick one up on my trip! My procrastination got the best of me and I waited until the day I left to search for this Corktown purse. The handbag came with a longer strap as well, that I've been rocking for the summer time. There are little pockets inside that make organizing easy.

Jenna Kator went to Michigan State and named her collection after places in Michigan, which I love! I will hands down support a Michigan designer over other designers.

4. Desserts! 

Everywhere I went, everyone was very supportive of my dietary needs. Justin parent's bought a toaster oven for GF stuff only! My mom always made meals that were naturally GF. Kristen and I were always eating first to avoid cross contamination with bread crumbs. Everyone was so amazing.

Desserts are a treat for me. I honestly don't eat as many cookies and cakes that I used to. When I was home, there was no shortage of desserts!

Disclaimer: I have more photos of the desserts than I do of my family. Some of the pics are not the greatest quality either because I felt like my dog, Iivana, with my mouth watering while I looked on.

Julie brought GF cupcakes from a bakery in Berkley. The carrot cake was my favorite.

My mom took me to Vince & Joe's to pick out some things from their GF bakery collection. I chose:

Bumpy GF Cupcakes

The topping was outrageous!

The frosting to cake ratio was almost equal.

My mouth is full, yet I'm still smiling.

I also picked out some GF peanut butter candy cookies. (aka Reese's Pieces inside)

I've had some amazing cakes since being gluten free, but cookies are a lot harder to replicate, in my opinion. I love soft, chewy cookies. Most cookies I've tried are as hard as a rock. These were a little stiff, but the peanut butter and candy made up on the crunchiness. 

Then Kristen arrived in town and was craving carrot cake from Vince & Joe's. The carrot cake was moist and filled with raisins. Like I said, so many delicious desserts.

My mom made homemade strawberry pie with Michigan strawberries for my grandpa's birthday. So she made me a crustless version. I never really liked pie crust anyways. The insides are the best part of the pie!

5. Biggby Coffee  

My mom gave Justin and me a couple gift cards to Biggby (formerly Beaner's). After quick research, I concluded there should be some GF options for me. To confirm these suspicions, I questioned the barista. He read me the label, asked me questions, and was patient. We went to Biggby twice. One time I ordered the Caramel Marvel iced. The next trip I ordered Caramel Mellow (caramel + marshmallow) hot. I love that you can order hot, cold, or frozen. I didn't take any pictures of my drinks :(

But if I had the option between Starbucks and Biggby: it would be Biggby every time!

• They offer several GF options. Upon further research I found:

Biggby Coffee Did you know all of our sauces and syrups are gluten free?? Only one drink currently on our menu has gluten - our chocolate chip cookie creme freeze. B happy!! ^FF

This was a recent Facebook post from May 23!

• And they are Michigan based!

 Check out my other favorite things here.

Sweet Tooth

We've been trying to not buy as much junk food, but after dinner I always have a sweet tooth. Last time we were at the commissary, I noticed some GF Lucy's cookies.

There were three different varieties at the store, but I chose the sugar cookie to try first. Initially, I wasn't going to get them, because like I said we've been trying to eat better. (Being bums with Iivana this weekend has totally killed the lack of sweets in the house.) But when I looked at the nutrition facts, I decided to add them to the cart. Three cookies for 4.5 grams of fat and only 130 calories. To me, that's a decent snack of sweetness.

The cookies had a pretty good sugar cookie taste. I prefer soft, chewy cookies and these were all crunch! I'd buy them again though since they seemed to satisfy my sweet tooth and didn't pack on too many calories. Justin wasn't much of a fan and thought they had an aftertaste.

Why CC?

Cross country? Where did the name come from...you may have wondered (or not really at all.) Well, I'm not a cross country runner, although for two of my sisters, Julie and Jill, this title would make sense. The cross country is for a couple reasons:

1. My fellow celiac sister Kristen lives in Chicago (which is far across the United States from me in Texas).

Andy, Me, & Kristen at our first GF Thanksgiving tailgate in Detroit.

2. Justin's in the military, so I never know where we'll be.

This was at a recent award's ceremony!

3. We often travel back to Michigan (or other places on the way), which means my posts are not consistently about one city only.

Please excuse my randomness back and forth about current daily posts and recapping vacations. I want to try to be better about updating the day things happen, but that requires more time, which is often hard to find.

For our trip to see Maren, we were able to visit friends as well. Having not been to East Lansing, since probably our wedding, it was a different experience eating gluten free.  We couldn't visit all of our old favorite places anymore.

Justin found a pizza place, Guido's, in Okemos that was GF that we decided to try with Dave and Amanda. Apparently this is the only Guido's that has GF foods. We talked with the man who makes the pizzas and he was very knowledgable about cross contamination. In fact, he said he was opening an entire GF deli in a few weeks. I will definitely try it next time I'm in the EL area! I was excited when we entered to see some GF desserts: brownies and cookies! I decided to buy a cookie because Jill had the brownies at her house! The cookies weren't made at the pizzeria, but it had been a while since I had a sugar cookie.

It was a good thing I bought the sugar cookie, because it took forever to get our pizza. I know this was because of my BBQ chicken GF pizza. As I mentioned, the chef was very knowledgeable about cross contamination. It was the best crust I've had yet as GF! The toppings were okay, but usually GF crust is paper thin, crunchy, and tasteless. This crust was a little thicker, soft, and chewy.

The pizza was a little pricey at $23.00 but I took the leftovers to my sisters. I was adamant about eating the leftovers too, in order to not waste money! I didn't notice how much bacon was in the pizza until I ate the leftovers. They weren't too bad microwaved, but I bet would taste even better reheated in the oven.