The easiest of easy lunches!

Whole Foods makes a tuna and cranberry salad that I absolutely love. But it's also... tuna salad, and I just can't get myself to spend $5 on a little container of TUNA. So I recreated it at home for a fraction of the price. It really couldn't be easier. One day I might try re-hydrating the dried cranberries by soaking them in water but this way is so delicious, it's like- why bother? And since I had a huge bag of mini sweet peppers, I stuffed some tuna in them and called it lunch. This would be perfect for those days when I'm at the office and need to eat at my desk.

1 can drained tuna
handful of dried cranberries, roughly chopped
mayo (I go super easy on it because mayo is gross, you could use olive oil here, too)
garlic powder
onion powder
dash of red pepper
s&p

Mix together and stuff!

Just a regular carrot in a baby sized body

Some people fall into Wikipedia rabbit holes, I fall into Pinterest ones. Tonight, after clicking through from blog to blog to blog, I discovered how baby carrots were born. I haven't ever put much thought into the mini veggie's origin but it turns out, they're just regular old carrots whiddled down to the 2 inch size we all know and love. They were created to reduce waste since funny shaped carrots don't sell well- the knobby, bendy ones were being chucked. To avoid having to throw so many perfectly good, if unusually shaped, carrots away, the rejects were cut down and packaged as babies. Which is all well and good, but they cost so much more! For the same thing! Just smaller.

The USA Today article on the creator of the baby carrot can be found here: http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-08-11-baby-carrot_x.htm

A Little Nutty, A Litty Spicy

There is really no way to say this without inducing snickers but, I love nuts. I especially love them when they're spiced and roasted. I made spiced pecans for the holidays and then selfishly squirreled away half the batch for myself. This time I decided to branch out a bit and added almonds and cashews to the mix. I also made this batch more spicy than spiced. How delicious do these look??

And they are! But I also learned a few things with this batch. Most importantly: pecans are the perfect nut for spicing. They get amazingly crispy and the ridges are little nut ditches just waiting for spices to pool. Cashews, on the other hand, are so flavorful all on their own. Their flavor fights with the spices and the result is just not what I was looking for. The almonds turned chewy after their times in the oven. And chewy is not what you want in a nut.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to eat all of this. But this isn't a recipe I want to share. So I'll just keep spicing some nuts and eating them- for the greater good. You're welcome.

Happy Champagne Day!

Booze can be tricky for those of us trying to navigate the gluten free world. There are some things, however, that you can always count on. Wine and champagne are two of those things and as a big fan of both, this makes me happy.

New Year's Eve is just a few days away- a holiday I like to think of not so much about the beginning of a new year but about celebrating champagne and all its gloriousness. So here's to you, Champagne- thank you for all you've done for me in 2011.

Here are a few of my favorite bottles. I'm loath to spend much money on something that I can get nearly as good for less so these are all reasonably priced. Enjoy!

Gruet - Blanc de Noirs

My very favorite! Made from red grapes and bottled in New Mexico, of all places, this is a sparkling wine that I wouldn't dare mix with anything. It's fabulous all on its own. $13-15

Ah, Freixenet. The classic standby in a black bottle. Priced well and good on its own or with mixers. You really can't go wrong with a bottle of the Brut. $7-11

Imagine that there's a picture of a bottle of Cristalino right here. For some reason I just cannot get one to post. Cristalino Brut is super cheap (around $6 at Sherlock's) and perfect for recovery mimosas.

And if you're in the mood to splurge, this is my favorite mid-priced bubbly! Iron Horse Wedding Cuvee... usually $33-38.

Non-Drowsy, Non-Gluten

Gluten is hidden EVERYWHERE. My level of sensitivity requires me to read the label on literally everything that I put on or in my body- including pills. This is something that I'm used to doing but I was pleasantly surprised to see this when I bought my generic sudafed today:

All Time Favorite Food

The week of Thanksgiving is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Inevitably I end up eating more than one Thanksgiving meal: one with my family and a couple others with friends. This is super awesome for me because my all time favorite food is stuffing. Despite it being incredibly uncomplicated to make, I only ever have it immediately before, during, and after Thanksgiving.

This year for one of my Friendskivings, I was in charge of making stuffing. The great thing about stuffing is that it really doesn't matter if you have to use gross, dense gluten free bread- it all gets soaked in chicken stock and covered in spices anyhow. My recipe calls for corn bread and white bread. Bob's Red Mill makes a corn bread mix that some of my gluten-eating friends think is actually superior to regular corn bread mix. I made a pan of corn bread and used about three quarters of it and have just been eating the rest. How good does this look?

I line the pan with foil to make it easier to get out. I also use an entire loaf of Udi's white bread. I leave it out on the counter to get stale for a day or so. I prefer to cut off the crusts but you can leave them on if you're into that. Cube both kinds of bread and throw the pieces in a big bowl.











After this is done (or during, if you're a stuffing ninja like myself), dice a medium to large onion (I always use sweet onions) and an equal amount of celery. Soften them in a pan with melted butter. As the onion becomes transparent, throw in a bunch of sage and thyme. A teaspoon of each, maybe? When they're done cooking, dump all that into the bowl with the bread.

Add more sage and thyme, salt, pepper, and a crap load of poultry seasoning (you seriously can't put too much). Start pouring chicken stock over and stirring. The corn bread will basically crumble as you stir. Keep adding stock until the whole thing is soaked. Taste as you go. The way it tastes in the bowl is exactly the same as it will taste when it cooks so continue to season until it's how you want it. Just be sure it's good and soaked- no one wants to eat dry stuffing.

Spray a casserole pan and fill with stuffing. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 with foil covering. Bake for another 20-30 with no cover or until it's browned. Voila! Best stuffing ever. You're welcome.

Roughing it with acorn squash

I spent the weekend with some friends roughing it in Pigeon Forge. And by roughing it I mean staying in a really nice cabin. We ate so well. The first night we were there we had pulled pork tacos with mango salsa, cabbage, and feta. The second night we had steak, roasted asparagus, and acorn squash. It was so delicious that I decided to recreate that meal this evening.

Turns out, making acorn squash is soooo easy. Cut them in half and place them face down on a greased pan, bake for 30 minutes at 350. While they were roasting, I sliced an apple and tossed it with some cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. I'm an eyeballer so I don't have exact measurements. After 30 minutes in the oven, I took them out, flipped them over and spooned some of the apple mixture into each one. A bit of butter and back in the oven.

I'm not so good with the photography but that's before the oven round two. They were in for another 15 minutes or so but really could have used 20. Regardless, it all turned out so well!