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Leena Bakes: GF World Peace Cookies!

Leena Bakes: GF World Peace Cookies!

My take on gf world peace cookies! Chocolate dough, dark chocolate chunks, and no gluten--a certified celiac mouth boner!

Last year when I had gestational diabetes, I had a real taste of what life is like for people with health-related eating issues–it sucks. Sure, there are “alternative” foods for all your unhealthy favorites (fyi–everything but Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are CRAPPY), but generally speaking, most of the world, from restaurants to food blogs, don’t really consider these people.

I had an incredibly difficult time finding restaurants that even knew if their food was diabetic-safe or not, and forget about baking. And that was only for a few months—how the hell do people with celiac disease or dairy allergies function on a day to day basis without going crazy?

They or other people in their lives research their butts off until they find food that is safe AND crave-worthy. If you read my last post, you know that my sister in law is a celiac (allergic to gluten). She also happens to be a kick-ass person that deserves a delicious food any time of year, so I’ve decided to start including the occasional gluten-free recipe on my blog. This week–gluten-free world peace cookies (crumbly chocolate salty dough with chunks of dark chocolate). My recipe and food porn after the jump!

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Leena Cooks: Gluten-Free Turkey Gravy

Leena Cooks: Gluten Free Turkey Gravy

She asked and I created! A gluten-free recipe for my sister in law.

A few years back, my sister in law started getting really sick. Everything she ate seemed to go right through her, and she lost a lot of weight for an already skinny person. After a lot of testing, they discovered she was a celiac who was allergic to gluten. Gluten is a protein that is commonly found in wheat and other cereals made into flour. It is what helps give bread it’s structure, and apparently, what makes celiacs sick. And after reading my food blog, she realized that a lot of foods she loves have gluten in them. Boo.

So in honor of her, and the upcoming holiday dinner we are going to make together, I am on a mission to research and find delicious and uncomplicated gluten-free recipes. Today’s recipe: gluten-free turkey gravy made with pureed roasted vegetables.Recipe and photos after the jump.

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Amuse bouche: Great Gluten-free blogger

One of the most popular gluten-free food bloggers today is Gluten-Free Girl, or Shauna James Ahem. She writes in a personal style about life, and cooking in her gluten-free world. This is great resource for gluten-free recipes.

Source: Gluten-Free Girl blog

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

Amuse bouche: Gluten-free beer options

For those intolerant of gluten, that often means going without a nice, cold beer at the end of the day. Thanks to Serious Eats, that doesn’t have to happen anymore, as they reviewed the top and bottom gluten-free beers available in the U.S. Front runners were St. Peter’s Sorghum Beer from the UK and Redbridge lager by Anheuser-Busch.

Source: April 22, 2010 Serious Eats article

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

Amuse bouche: What is gluten-free food?

Gluten-free food is defined as the “standard applied to foodstuffs and ingredients which have been especially processed or prepared to meet the dietary needs of persons intolerant to gluten.”

Source: Celiac.com post

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

Amuse bouche: Peanut Butter and Corn Flakes from a Super Religious, Enema-loving Spa Owner?

In the late 1800s, John Kellogg Harvey, a Seventh Day Adventist that practiced spiritual vegetarianism, opened Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health spa that featured enemas a-plenty, exercise and a special diet. That diet included peanut butter, which Kellogg invented and promoted as a replacement for regular butter (picture sandwiches with mayo and peanut butter, tomato and peanut butter, etc.). It also included cornflakes, another Kellogg invention that soon became a breakfast staple for the country.

Source: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Vol. I p. 593, Vol. II p.246

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

Amuse bouche: Early U.S. vegetarianism and S’mores-What do they have to do with each other?

Many health food movements in the U.S. were inspired by vegetarianism. In the late 1700s-early 1800s, a minister by the name of Sylvester Graham decided to dedicate himself to promoting healthy eating and God by preaching the gospel of vegetarianism around the country. His biggest development was a high bran flour called graham, which was made into a thin flat bread known as the graham cracker. It was originally a health food, but today is a key ingredient in the popular U.S. campfire dessert, S’mores.

Source: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, p.593

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

Amuse bouche: History of Health Food in America=foods with embellished and unproven health claims

Reasons for applying these untrue health claims on certain foods? Promoting public health, capitalist profit and divine inspiration.

Source: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, pp.592-93.

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

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