Cook Book – Official Release

The last few years have been an amazing adventure. I started this book at the start of it all. The vision was to combine everything I have learned from my travels and sharing it with the everyone in a unique gluten free fashion. Each chapter focus’s on one region that I have traveled and combines the flavors into a complete meal from appetizer to dessert. The most important part of this book was that every recipe is inherently gluten-free but in an unnoticeable way. Every meal can be recreated without anyone aware that everything is inherently gluten-free.

The final result is better then I would have imagined. Large, color images fill the book. Easy to follow recipe. Plus, a bonus chapter with my gluten-free tips and tricks.

Buy it today and start cooking. Available in soft cover, hard cover or for your kindle and nook.

Buy on Amazon or Barns&Noble  

book cover

 

 

Happy New Years! 2013 In Review

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all the support over the past year. Everyday I continue to do everything I can to support the gluten free community.

I wanted to share a recent TV appearance I made. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRgfE-pn9DE

I got a great review of the impact my site has made in the past year and I wanted to share.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Tropical Pasta Salad

Pasta salad in the gluten free world can be a challenge. You need to be able to give the salad flavor with out weighing it down with all the dressing. This recipe is filled with summer flavor.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Gluten Free Pasta Twist
1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
1 Mango Diced
1/2 Cup Cilantro
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Pepper
1 tsp Oregano
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 Sugar

Cook pasta making sure you do over cook it. You want the pasta to be firm and not loss any shape. While pasta cooks, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, sugar and oregano.
When pasta is done run under cool water and drain well. Place the cooled pasta in a large bowl and add tomatoes sliced in half, cilantro and mango. Toss is all together and then add dressing before serving. Enjoy!

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NBC 10! Show: Honey Chicken and Magic Cookies

It is time again for another NBC appearance. My next appearance on the NBC 10! Show is next week and I am gearing up to make two great recipes. They are both gluten free kid friendly recipes. With the new school year in full swing it’s important to keep some easy go-to weeknight recipes.

I made both of these recipes as a kid with my mom. Get the kids in the kitchen and have them help. Kids are more inclined to eat food that they help make even when it’s the super healthy stuff. The skills they learn will be with them for life. Especially if you have children that are living gluten free, the only way they will start to understand what they can eat is by hands-on learning.

Tune into the show and find out where you can go to give the cookies a try!!

Honey Chicken

This is a real family favorite. I promise everyone think you are a super star with this one.

Ingredients –

10 Chicken Thighs Skinless and well cleaned (I like to get them off the bone but on the bone also works great)

1 Cups Ketchup* ( The store bought stuff is filled with sugar and preservatives. Make it homemade with my recipe at www.guiltfreefoodiecutie.com)

1 Cup Honey* (Local Raw honey is the best. Try using We Bee Brothers honey. ( Check it out at http://www.webeebrothers.com )

Salt and Pepper

Place the dry chicken thighs in a big bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then pour in honey and ketchup. Mix well and place in a greased baking dish. Pour extra sauce on top. Cook for 1.5 hours at 375 (cook longer if on bone).

*You can do this recipe with any amount of chicken just by increasing or decreasing the amount of sauce used. Just keep the ratio of ketchup to honey equal.

Magic Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cookies

If you have never cooked gluten free this recipe will make you better understand how taking out wheat can be really easy. This recipe will surprise you everyone and you wont feel bad giving the kids some home cooked cookies. This recipe also works well as the crust to a GF ice cream cake or for ice cream sandwiches.

1 Cup Peanut Butter (Works best with Peanut Butter and Company’s Flavored Peanut Butters. Get them all at http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/shop-online )

1 Cup sugar (feel free to sub ½ a cup of regular sugar for ¼ of splenda)

1 egg

2 tsp baking Powder

Dash of salt

Dash of vanilla optional*

Mix all ingredients well in large bowl. Roll cookies and place on lined and sprayed cookie sheet. If dough is soft they will spread on their own but depending on the peanut butter you use they may need to be pressed down a little bit but DO NOT FLATTEN. Cookies will spread so use two sheets and give them room. Cook at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cookies will burn quickly so it’s important to keep a eye on them and not overcook. They will seem very soft but will harden as soon as they stand for five minutes outside of the oven. Feel free to add chocolate chips if you want.

We Bee Brother Honey

I am always looking for great new products the are gluten free, guilt free and worth being noticed. I have always believed in the health benefits of honey and regularly useing it in my cooking. While looking for ingredients for my next show I stumbled on We Bee Brothers Raw Honey.
They are a great local family own and run company. They are retrieving bee’s from around the area and making some great honey. They also like to get creative and make fun flavor’s.
Honey is great as a drink sweetener, cooking, addition to any cheese plate, ice cream topping and many medical benefits.
I will be using their honey on NBC tomorrow along with a bunch of recipes I will be posting soon. Tune in to check it out.

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The first show of many!!!

I still can’t believe this is all happening so fast. I am excited to show everyone what I am all about. I have always been a fan of the Olympics so I wanted to be festive and make a healthy Olympic meal that is great on a hot summer day watching USA win some gold!!!!

Gold Medal Salmon Burger

1 ½ – 2 Pounds of Clean and Chopped Salmon Meat

One egg white

¼ Cup fresh Parsley

¼ Cup green onion chopped fine

3 – 4 Tablespoons corn meal

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon Pepper

1/4 lemon

Broil height each side 8 min

Yogurt Sauce:

Mix ingredients below in separate bowl and reserve for serving.

1 cup plain yogurt (Greek Yogurt works best)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh dill (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Salmon meat can come from salmon filets, steaks or even salmon belts which are usually the scraps sold at the fish market. Make sure the meat is clean, skin and bone free, and cut into chunks. Place 1/3 of the chunks in the food processor and blend. This will help give the burgers the ability to bind. Combine all the salmon and add the egg, parsley, green onion, salt, pepper and corn meal. Once meat mixture is well combined form about four patties and place on sheet tray of baking pan. Broil on high for about 8 min on each side. (Note – this can be also done on a stove top of grill but handle carefully to avoid them from breaking apart.)

Serve burgers on bun (find my gluten free favorite at http://www.sweetchristinesglutenfree.com) with lettuce, tomato and my yogurt sauce.

Watermelon Salad

4 Cups cubed seedless watermelon
2-3 hot peppers (optional)
Juice of one lime
2 Tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chopped mint
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pound fresh feta cheese

In a bowl whisk together lime juice, vinegar, chopped pepper (seeded), salt and pepper. Pour moisture over watermelon. Then, add the mint and mix. Salad is topped with feta when serving. If the cheese sits in the dressing too long it will break apart and dissolve. Salad holds well in the fridge. Add feta cheese

Red, White and Blue Sangria

1 bottles of white wine ( I prefer Francis Coppola Winery Rosso & Bianco Pinot Grigio)

2 Cups ginger ale or lemon lime soda

1/2 – 1 cup of vodka

2 Cups mixed berries (strawberries sliced , raspberries, blueberries all work great)

First put the vodka in freezer and wine in fridge and get it cold. Clean berries and place in big glass pitcher. Pour vodka over fruit and allow it to marinate and cool in fridge for 6-8 hours. Mix in wine and soda and let it chill in fridge for an additional 2 hours. Serve over ice or frozen berries.

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Sweet Christine’s Gluten Free Bakery

Sweet Christine’s Gluten Free Bakery is officially the best gluten free bakery I have ever found. I never thought I would have had a real cookie or hamburger bun ever again. From donuts to pizza she is producing products that will shock anyone. The best part is that this stuff is not a secret, you can buy it online, in the stores, at major sport stadiums and in a lot of what I do. No matter how big this company is getting the products are all made of love. Christine’s baking is a success because her purpose is not to let any one that is gluten free feel deprived. She is always trying to create and build on what she has and to make it widely available. Everything she makes is all natural with nothing artificial. She makes it all as nutritious as possible. I am always watching my calorie intake and to have a great pizza crust coming in at 100 calories is like a work of magic. This place is a must try.

If you’re local, take a trip to her store. It’s in a great little town with fun shops, wineries and of course gluten free restaurants. Give them a try and let them know Laura sent you.

http://www.sweetchristinesglutenfree.com

Sweet Christine’s Bakery
132 West State Street,
Kennett Square, PA 19348
t. 610-444-5542

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Life Changing Every Day!

It’s been about four weeks since the final show aired. My life has officially become a roller coaster ride. Every 12 hours some new opportunity or connection happens. Dreaming big and working as hard as I can is really paying off. I am spending any free time I have getting as much experience as possible. I am interning at a Steven Stat restaurant and learning from some super talented chefs. I am also about to start working with my chef idol Peter McAndrews. Peter has opened a few very well know restaurants in and around Philly but what many people don’t know is that he makes at least 80% of his menu gluten free and or adjustable. I am really excited to learn from both his artistic approach and gluten free cooking.
In addition, I am officially running a gluten free tour of the Italian Market. It will start in July and reservations are highly recommended. The tour will take visitors to many special areas in the countries oldest Italian market. I wrote the tour to show people places that are commonly missed by tourists. Most important, the tour will focus on gluten free food stops. Come hungry!!!!
Many more things are in the works. My new segments on NBC start in late July. I am writing some great recipes and connecting with many gluten free vendors in the area. I am hoping to expose people to some great gluten free products that are being produced.

Not sure what’s next but possibly a book ;).

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