Spicy Parmesan Tilapia

Ok, readers. You are in for a treat. Tonight I share one of my signature recipes, Spicy Parmesan Tilapia. It's a very simple recipe, and it is amazing! All you need are fresh tilapia filets, Italian dressing (I prefer to use Ken's Lite Northern Italian), garlic powder, salt, ground red pepper, and Parmesan cheese. I broil the fish, and since I have an electric stove (boo!), I heat the oven to its highest heat (525, I think), and I move one of the oven racks to the highest shelf setting, closest to the heating coils. When the oven is heated, I turn on the broiler. Meanwhile, I marinate the tilapia in the Italian dressing. I also prepare a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up and cross-contamination avoidance). When the oven is ready, I place the fish on the baking sheet, and sprinkle the garlic powder, red pepper, and salt on the fish. I don't measure, I tend to go by sight. I broil the fish for roughly 10 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the fish, it may be done sooner. I check the fish constantly, looking for the edges to get a brown, crispy texture. This description always worries Aaron. he feels like the fish will be over done. It isn't, but it is a delicate balance. Only the very edge needs to be browned. This is how I know it is done. Once the fish has obtained the desired appearance, I take it out of the oven, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve! I have served it with a variety of sides, my favorites being Spanish-style rice or mashed potatoes and broccoli. I'm sorry that there aren't pictures, but I just can't leave the fish sitting uneaten long enough to take the picture! Even if you're not gluten free, this recipe is definitely worth a try. Good luck! Tell me what you think!

Goodbye to North Carolina :(

After the banana disaster, Aaron and I headed back out into town. We had lunch at Hawg Wild BBQ, which is right by the entrance to the Pisgah forest. We called ahead, and the manager gave me a thorough rundown of everything I could eat there, and it sounded like I had several choices. Armed with information, I ordered a BBQ pork platter with their Eastern BBQ sauce, which has a vinegar base, and roasted corn on the cob. I was disappointed that I couldn't have traditional sauce (Western) because it had wheat as a thickener (as does all other BBQ sauce in North Carolina - BEWARE!), but it was fun to try something new! While it was totally different to have vinegar on pork, I liked it. After that, I decided that I had spent enough time in the rain and mud, and I wanted to have a night out in a dress. We started going to a local bluegrass jam session, but it wasn't very good, so we left. We ended up at a downtown restaurant called Square Root, which had trivia later that evening. I asked if they could accommodate my diet, and they said that almost everything on their menu could be modified, and that the sous chef's girlfriend had Celiac, so he knew all about gluten intolerance. I LOVE hearing this! When I hear that someone on staff closely knows someone who has Celiac, I know I'll be taken care of. I had a salad with citrus vinaigrette, curry, and berry sorbet. Aaron's dinner was also gluten free, and he ordered the daily special, swordfish. We also split a bottle of wine. His dinner was tastier than mine. While the curry was surprisingly authentic, including raita and a poppodom, it lacked flavor. All the correct spices were there, but it was very bland. The trivia was fun, though, and my date was dreamy! ;)

On our last day in Brevard, we had breakfast, hung around the house for a bit, and then went downtown again. Our first stop was at Mayberry's for lunch. Wow! One of my favorite meals in Brevard! This unassuming deli with trivia on a chalk board has some great food! I ordered a soup and sandwich combo with balsamic lentil soup and a turkey sandwich with cranberry walnut sauce (on Udi bread!). The soup was different. It had a tomato base and an almost sweet vinegar flavor. It was very good! My sandwich, however, deserves top billing. The turkey was a slice from a smoked whole turkey, and the cranberry walnut sauce was made fresh there. The bread was cooked in butter, and while it is not at all healthy, it is DELICIOUS! I could've eaten two ore sandwiches, they were so good. I did not, however, because I do have SOME restraint. Some. :) I was interested in seeing a movie at the downtown Co-Ed Theater, a cute, historic, single-screen theater, but we had about 2 and a half hours until the next showing. Needing to kill time, we wandered into OP Taylors, an awesome toy store that mixes modern and classic toys. We also found some gifts for friends and family. We perused antiques and a really fun architectural salvage shop. My favorite item we found (though I didn't get it) was an old knitting catalog from the 70's. In Japanese. Finally, it was time to see Cars 2 (great move, loved the Tokyo scenes). After that, we went back home and cooked some dinner. We weren't really hungry, so we pieced together a salad, pan-fried okra, and for me, boiled eggs.

The drive home was fairly uneventful. I ate a large breakfast before we left, so that we did not need to stop for food. Aaron grabbed taco bell on the way out of town. Still loaded with our gluten free snacks, we kept ourselves fed until dinner, for which we stopped in Brunswick, GA, again. We ate at a Ruby Tuesdays because they have a gluten free menu, and except for Aaron's complimentary cheddar biscuits, both of our meals were gluten free. I had a pesto mahi mahi with green beans and white cheddar mashed potatoes. The fish was very good, but the sides were just OK. The green beans had good flavor, but needed more seasoning. The mashed potatoes might have had good flavor, but I couldn't tell because the whole thing tasted like a salt lick. I was expecting deer to follow us back to our car!

A Culinary Disaster!

Excited about my new rice wrappers, I decided to make banana lumpia (egg rolls) for breakfast. I cut up my bananas, added cinnamon and sugar, and started getting my wrappers ready. They were hard and stiff, so based on directions I found online, I submerged them one at a time in water for about 15 seconds before using them. I placed my banana mixture on the wrapper, folded it up, and set it aside until I had filled all the ones I was making. The oil was ready, so I dropped the first one in. It started browning up nicely right away, and I was very happy. I put a second one in with the first one, and that was a mistake. They two stuck together, and in separating them, I tore the wrappers. This was the beginning of a downward spiral. All the rest of the lumpia started out well, but when I tried to turn them or remove them with tongs, the wrapper would tear, and banana mixture would spill out into the oil. I managed to salvage some, and I thought the wrappers and spilled mixture tasted alright, but it was not what I would call a success. I think the metals tongs are too sharp. I will try this again with maybe silicone tongs or tongs with more of a paddle on the tip. Oh well! We learn from these disasters and become better cooks for it. :)

More gluten free than meets the eye

Yesterday, Aaron and I started with some breakfast, but because it was foggy and overcast, we decided to wait on exploring nature. Instead, we FINALLY checked out Poppies and wandered around downtown for a bit. Poppies market has gluten free items, but it's not anything special. Whole Foods might do a better job, honestly. I did, however, find some soup mixes that are gluten free, including a chicken noodle soup mix with corn noodles. We bought a few of those. I also found some rice wrappers, which I have been wanting to try. I bought some of those, too, and I might buy some more before we leave. All in all, though, it was not the amazing experience I was told it would be. But then, those who told me probably have never seen Chamberlin's. Central Florida has it good! After Poppies, Aaron really wanted to try Rocky's, a restaurant next to a shop called Bullwinkle's. Haha, Rocky and Bullwinkle! ;) Anyway, it is a cute little malt shop with tons of retro Coke decoration, bar stools, and charm. Aaron ordered a strange little item called a grilled pimento cheese sandwich and a cherry soda. He enjoyed it greatly! The menu did have salads and things, but there were some cross-contamination concerns, and I wasn't feeling daring yesterday. So, I chose to wait for lunch until I could come home and eat left over pasta. On the way, though, we did stop at a gelato shop that caught my eye called Kiwi Gelato. I asked if they were gluten free. They were! All of their flavors are gluten free unless they specifically add cookies to the flavor. I had the Fior di Latte flavor. With its light, sweet cream flavor mixed with a hint of strawberry, it was quite lovely. Though they had great gelato, they didn't have the flavor I wanted to try - White Squirrel. I will have to catch that one before we leave! On the way back to the car, we passed a restaurant called Mayberry's, and we noticed a sign that said they offer gluten free bread! We will try them! After lunch, the sun came out and the day warmed up, so we headed out to Sliding Rock. So much fun! It is a 60-foot rock with a current of water that propels you into an 8ft pool of icy water. After that, it started raining again, so we hunkered down at home to stay out of the nasty storm. We made a lovely gluten free dinner right here, though. Aaron made pork chops seasoned with Chef Paul Prudhomme's Veal & Pork Magic, and I boiled some corn and made a fried green tomato. :)

Lazy days in North Carolina.

So far, we've visited Asheville and we've explored Downtown Brevard and all the 4th of July celebration the city has to offer. Asheville has a lot of gluten free restaurant options available. Our first stop had nothing to do with food, though! We went to a Dillards clearance center. It was pretty cool. Aaron had more options than me, but they had a lot of good clothes at a huge discount, plus, all clothes were BOGO. After 5 hours of bargain hunting (and we still didn't look through everything), we were hungry! Aaron found an egg roll in the mall, but there was nothing for me. So, I used my handy dandy app, and we found a restaurant in the historic Biltmore Village called Neo Cantina. Lovely! They had a gluten free menu, and both the kitchen and wait staff were very knowledgeable. First, because I checked in on Yelp, we got a free queso dip. You can add all sorts of stuff to it, but I just wanted the plain queso. It was very well seasoned. I had grilled fish tacos on corn tortillas with mango salsa. They needed a little heat, so I added some Cholula hot sauce to it, and it was good. Aaron also ordered the tacos, and they put his on corn tortillas, too, so his meal was gluten free as well! That meant we could share an amaretto flan for dessert. And, we were glad that we did!

The next day, I had cottage cheese and a fresh peach for breakfast, then we headed out to the July 4th celebration in Downtown Brevard. The festival was really cute, and it reminded me of city festivals from my home town. Booths housing political propoganda, art vendors, and food lined the street. Car raffles and live music peppered the streets. The downtown shops were open for the public, too. I loved it! I was expecting to have to scrounge for food, but I immediately saw a booth from Poppies market. Hallelujah! They have a huge gluten free food selection (so I've heard - still haven't gone yet), so they are obviously aware. I asked about gluten free options, and I was able to have a bratwurst with sauerkraut without the bun. I also got an enormous piece of watermelon. I would have rather eaten vegetarian, but when options are slim, sausage is a delicious option. :) Toward the end of our downtown adventure, we found a chocolate shop called Downtown Chocolate. The chocolate is all made fresh in the store, so they know exactly what goes into the sweet treats. There were some chocolate bars with Oreo cookies that I couldn't have, but everything else was fine. I chose some toffee bars covered with dark chocolate and almonds, a coconut curry truffle, a cherry white chocolate truffle, and a Mexican hot chocolate truffle. The toffee is amazing, and I'm still working on eating it. For me, the coconut curry truffle is a little overwhelmed with curry flavor, but the cherry truffle was fantastic, and the Mexican hot chocolate truffle in addicting with its sweet chocolate, darker flavor from spices, and a spicy kick from cayenne pepper that is subtle at first and then grows. I only purchased the one truffle, but we will be back before we leave to get some to take home! That night, we waited until after the fireworks to make dinner. I made a simple side salad and some Tinkyada tri-colored gluten free pasta topped with Classico carmalized onion and roasted garlic sauce. Not a bad dinner, if I say so myself! We have left-overs, so that will be a lunch on one of our more quiet days.

Our next day, I had cottage cheese for breakfast again, and then we went waterfall hunting! The waterfalls are breathtaking! Unfortunately, at our second one, we were in the middle of a mile-long hike to reach it, and we got rained out with a thunderstorm. Boo! We wound our way further up the mountain to reach the Pisgah Inn restaurant. On our way, we saw the most awe-inspiring phenomenon. The moisture from the storm met the heat of the mountain, and it created fast-rising steam that made the mountains look like they were smoking. Beautiful! It's nothing particularly new - this is what the Smokey Mountains are known for. However, being in the Blue Ridge mountains, it was a nice surprise! By the time we reached the Inn, we were starving and freezing (because we were drenched from the rain storm). They said they could accommodate gluten free, but what I found was they had a few items that were naturally gluten free, and I could have those. And that's fine. However, they didn't realize that some items like soy sauce have gluten in them. The only thing I found to order was a pork chop with a cranberry apple chutney. I ordered this with a green bean medley and some wild rice. It all tasted very good. In fact, the pork chop was incredible. It tasted like pork and fire. I did, however, suspect (and with reason) the vegetable medley. It smelled like Teriyaki sauce. I asked if it had any sauce, and the waiter said no, but if it smells like Teriyaki, and it tastes like Teriyaki, I have a hard time believing that it is NOT Teriyaki. I don't know... I stopped eating the vegetables, but damage had already been done. So, my stomach is a bit upset. The inn is worth visiting, however, because the view is breathtaking. The restaurant is surrounded by walls of window, so you can see the view from the top of Mount Pisgah as you eat, and from the lookout porch, you can easily see about 15 different mountain peaks. From there, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville and then looped back south to meet some friends in Columbus, NC. They actually live in Orlando, too, and are visiting at the same time. They have a vacation home here, and invited us to dinner. Also, they eat gluten free, too! What an amazing dinner they served! The first course was a mango salad topped with grilled shrimp (which I did not eat, because shrimp likes to kill me) paired with a local white wine. The second course was an antipasta which had delicious vegetables, cheese, and sausage. I was excited for the vegetables! The main course was a delicious risotto. Both of these courses were paired with a red wine. Desert was a sort of Italian frozen custard with peaches paired with a sweeter red rine. A gourmet dinner with fascinating company? Anytime!

Ingles Grocery

This post is a tad out of sequence, but I didn't want Ingles to get buried in another post somewhere. It deserves its own space. Why? It's enormous. Seriously. Publix on steroids. Or, for those who remember, a lot like a large Delchamps. It even has a movie rental place (that we employed, of course). It's not a health store, and it doesn't have more gluten free options than any other grocery store. For that, I must go to a store called Poppies (which I intend to do, just haven't caught it open yet). In fact, in some categories, it has less (like Amy's products). It does, however, have a HUGE gluten free baking section, dwarfed only by Chamberlin's. It has the Betty Crocker gluten free mixes, but it also has other major brands including Glutino. The best part about Ingles, however, is their signage. They have little tan stickers that say "gluten free" under their products. The stickers are right beside the price tags and sale stickers. Not every maintstream gluten free product is listed, but several are. It's a start. I thought that was very nice. It not only helps Celiacs as consumers, but also it helps our confused friends when they try to feed us. Plus, it raises awareness in the general public that we do exist, and that there is food for us. Mainstream food. Yummy food. I don't know about you, but I always get, "Wheat, huh? That must suck. How do you eat anything?" Well, thanks to Ingles, maybe people will know!

Driving to the Carolinas!

My husband decided to surprise me with a romantic vacation this summer. I love him! We rarely get to travel just for travel's sake. Luckily, our WONDERFUL friends have a house in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina that they were willing to let us borrow for a week. So, the next few posts will be about our adventures here. We're near(ish) the border between both Carolinas, so we are planning to explore a little of both. The drive up was long, but surprisingly not boring. The drive in the mountains was sometimes downright scary! Besides the surprisingly nice drive, we also had a surprisingly nice time getting gluten free food! We did bring snacks and drinks, and Aaron, being the wonderful husband he is, purposely brought gluten free snacks so that we should share. :) But, one cannot eat snack food for 10 hours, so we did stop for lunch and dinner. The first stop was in Brunswick, GA. To find GF food, we did have to venture away from the interstate and into the town. We originally planned to eat at a Longhorn Steakhouse because we found a gluten free menu online, but then we saw a Five Guys in the same parking lot and decided it would be cheaper and faster to eat there. Oh darn! ;) They were, as always, very good about dealing with my food allergy, though they kept making Aaron's order before mine, so they had to change their gloves about five times. I giggled a little. I am very glad, though, that the gloves were changed. The food was amazing like always. About half an hour before dinner, we needed to stop to change drivers. We stopped at a Pilot station off of I-26 in South Carolina, and while we walked around, I noticed a bag of caramel popcorn from the Rocky Mountain Popcorn Company that said it was gluten and nut free right on the front of the bag. Reading the ingredients, it also looks dairy free, but I can't verify that. They had other flavors, too, but I'm a caramel fiend. We had snacks in the car, but the bag was $2, and I was curious, so the popcorn got purchased. I had a few bites, but not many because we were on our way to dinner. Oh My God! This popcorn is fantastic. Truly fantastic. It is rich and sweet, but not overbearingly sweet. And at 120 calories per serving (there are four servings in a bag), it's not a diet breaker, either. I have yet to eat anywhere near a serving, and I've snacked on it three times. I will definitely be on the lookout for this popcorn in places other than Pilot stations. This stuff is amazing! For dinner, we stopped in Spartanburg, SC. I used my Droid phone app "Find Gluten Free Near Me" to find McAlister's Deli. The menu had a lot of gluten free options, and while it is a chain, we don't have it in Orlando (though there are locations in Florida), so we were excited about the new experience. It was a great experience. The people were friendly, and the gluten free menu didn't require me to change or substitute much. In fact, my meal was ordered straight from the menu without any modification. I had a pick two meal with a chipotle chicken salad and a potato ole. The chicken salad had lettuce, tomato, chicken, tortilla strips, and a delicious chipotle peach dressing. The dressing was rich and thick, so I did not need much. The sweet and very spicy flavor really complimented the salad. The potato was topping with vegetarian chili, cheese, and jalapenos. This was also delicious! The jalapenos brought heat without it being overwhelming, and the chili had a very nice flavor. Great restaurant! We had a lovely drive, and now I'm going to stop blogging about it and experience the Carolinas!

GF Blueberry Muffins! Udi wins again!

I love blueberry muffins. I have since I was a child. I don't eat them all the time, but not eating a blueberry muffin in the year I've been gluten free has been quite sad. Enter Udi baked goods. Again. I knew they made muffins, but my Publix didn't carry them, so I'd never tried them. I was investigating a new Publix to see what they offered, and right in the gluten free bread section was the Udi muffins. The muffins come in a tray of four muffins, and are a bit pricey, but the muffins are large, and it's cheaper (and often tastier) than going to a GF bakery. While I had high hopes because I trust Udi brand products, I didn't really know what to expect. When I opened the package, I was surprised to see huge grains of sugar on all of the muffins. These are not for dieters! These muffins are for days when I exercise or eat lots of salad! The first muffin I ate, I just took right out of the container. It had a good taste, but it was hard and crumbly. I was a bit disappointed, but then I remembered that when things are a bit dried out, it helps to wrap them in a paper towel and microwave them for a few seconds. So, the next day, I tried a muffin with the microwave technique. Bingo! We have a winner! These muffins suddenly were moist, spongy, warm, and delicious. When warmed, the contrast between the soft muffin and the crunchy sugar is really punctuated. The flavor of the blueberry is brought to the forefront. These are easily the best blueberry muffins I have ever experienced, gluten free or not. I highly recommend them, and if I suddenly gain about 50 pounds, you know why. ;) (Not happening!)