Happy Thankgiving!!

Although my family is addicted to flour, I found myself still publishing a blog about eating gluten-free on turkey day. With all the pies and dinner rolls, too much white flour can give us that post-turkey slump we experience around 8pm on Thanksgiving day. What my family does incorporate are sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are an excellent food to binge eat on--they contain beta caratone which decreases the risk of many cancers and are also an excellent source of fiber and essential vitamins and minerals. Along with mashed yams, we celebrated game day with sweet potato french fries, baked crisp with a dusting of salt and a hint of paprika. One of my favorite ways to incorporate sweet potato into even the most pickiest of dinner plates is by making sweet potato dinner rolls. The recipe calls for flour, but one can always substitute sorghum or barley flour to make these rolls gluten-free. The thing I love about this recipe is that the rolls have a buttery taste, but contain absolutely NO butter. Since I was cooking for a super picky eater (my sister) I left out the (visible) garlic and rather dusted the rolls with powder.

As for a gluten-free day of thanks, check out this website. I found the recipe for gravy and pie crust very informative and cannot wait to actually try it!

The Gluten Band Wagon

Recently, I came upon an article in Women's Health entitled Is Gluten Bad for your Body? This further proves how far along gluten-free diets have come out of the mist and into our daily lives. Chelsea Clinton's wedding included an entirely gluten-free cake while many celebrities (as mentioned in my previous blog) has hopped onto the Gluten-Free band wagon.

What was nice about the article is that it politely informed people that going genuinely gluten-free is not as easy said than done. Not only do people have to cut many foods with thickening ingredients (soy sauce, dressings, seasonings) but they also have to deal with the nutritional deficiencies that come with being gluten-free. The article states Gluten-free doesn't necessarily equal healthy, especially when people yank vitamin-enriched and whole-grain foods from their diets and replace them with gluten-free brownies...research suggests that those who forgo gluten may be more likely to miss out on important nutrients such as iron, B vitamins, and fiber.

With this in mind, the true health benefits that lie within the gluten-free diet include not eating as much processed food. Especially when one (such as my room mate) is allergic to gluten, most people stay on the safe side by not eating foods that have long lists of ingredients. For those of us who aren't allergic to gluten but would rather take advantage of the benefits that gluten-free eating comes with, we should focus on increasing our vegetable, lean protein, and fruit intake rather than finding yummy substitutes for regular cookies.

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That being said, if anyone was wondering what to do with bad/bruised/mealy apples that didn't involve 2 cups of sugar and a side of whipped cream, I learned how to make homemade applesauce. This is great because as I came to find, little to no sugar is really needed--the apples are naturally sweet.

Just peel, core and cube your apples and put them in a pot, covered with water (as if you were making mashed potatoes).

Boil for around 10 minutes, dependent on how many apples you have.

Mash with a fork.

If you're uncertain about water, always add less than more--otherwise your applesauce will be watery.

I like to add tons of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg to my applesauce.

I think I added only a tablespoon of sugar and this yielded 5 servings of delicious (and warm!) applesauce.

Immune-boosting foods!

I'm not sure about everyone else, but our apartment has turned into a scary haven for germs and flu viruses. The trash cans are filled to the brim with tissues, and I'm pretty sure the hot water pot is constantly boiling for tea. I even found various pills underneath cushions while cleaning. The main reason for the sickly season is the heaters in most apartments that dry out air. Rather than running for the ibuprofen and coffee, we should be practicing preventative habits. My mother always used to stress that what we ingest daily has a direct effect of what comes out of us, be it a cough, sneeze or even a smile. I'm taking her food advise and passing it on to you all, so take a few of these helpful tips and reminders to heart!

A lot of our sicknesses this time of year are due to a deficiency in vitamins A B and C. Stock up your fridge with commonly found fruits like

• Cantaloupe
• Oranges
• Grapefruit
• Strawberries

***The fruits with the highest amount of vitamin C are Avocado, Guava, Papaya according to this website***

Fill your plates with veggies like

• spinach
• broccoli
• carrots
• cucumber
• green peppers

If you're already sick, try boiling water with ground ginger, honey and lemon to make tea. It really clears up my sinuses and helps with the aching. (For those of us who are temporarily out of service due to a late night of drinking, this also helps with the headache and sore feeling of a hangover)

If you're cooking healthy already, consider adding garlic to your meals. Garlic is a natural anti-biotic and some claim a natural way to effectively PREVENT the cold and flu.

Although we're not sickly yet, we are starting to crave sweater weather foods. I'm currently still using up all the pumpkin puree I have--we made pumpkin spice hot chocolate and there is some pumpkin chili on the stove. I hope you all stay warm!

Stuffed Peppers

As the coldness sets in, all we want to do is eat eat eat REAL food. I noticed that all the recipes I've posted thus far are for baked goods. Sweets are good and all, but what about the meals? Actual meals are very friendly towards all dietary needs because of their versatility. Bread crumbs that are called for in stuffings, toppings, etc. can be substituted with gluten-free breads or crackers. Now we have yet to find a good recipe for gluten-free french toast, but we have dinner pretty much covered. I recently made a very colorful dish for our friends--stuffed peppers. I took a recipe from the Internet and played around with it until it fit my vegetarian dreams and Dana's gluten-free needs.

Stuffed Peppers!

Various Colored peppers, cut in half (I used 8 peppers, which made 16 servings)

2 peppers, chopped

2-3 onions, diced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 c. grape tomatoes, halved

1 zuchinni, diced

1 summer squash, diced

1 c. canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp parsley

1 c. frozen corn

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. of a mixture of the following spices: cayenne pepper, garlic/onion powder, oregano

salt & pepper

1. c Parmesan cheese (optional)

---saute the onion in the olive oil on med. high until translucent

---add garlic until fragrant

---add zuchinni, squash, diced peppers, corn; stir to mix for a minute

---add tomatoes and chickpeas and mix

---add seasonings

---fill peppers with as much of the stuffing mixture as you can handle (it may seem a little wet)

---bake at 375 until peppers are softened (about 20 minutes)

---if you want to add cheese, add it 5 minutes before peppers are done

enjoy! the colors were so beautiful

and also feel free to improvise! I've stuffed with rice, and you can also make pizza-esque ones with tomato sauce, ground beef and loads of cheese! They are so easy to make, and look so elegant when done