Book of Yum

Guess what? Adopt a gluten-free blogger is home after two months hosted by my friends. I hope you enjoyed their roundups (November roundup at Meat-free Wheat-free) and (October roundup at As Good as Gluten). Thank goodness they helped me out because things have been crazy here with winter bugs and dissertation madness. However, I’m back just in time for you to try out some new recipes for Christmas!

Here’s how you participate.

1) Pick a gluten-free blogger whose recipes you admire and adopt them by commenting on this post with your name, blog name and their name and blog name.

*Blogger’s recipes must all be gluten-free or have a way to sort and read ONLY gluten-free recipes
*Please pick a different blogger every time you participate
*Please pick a blogger that has not been adopted yet this month!

2) Pick one (or two!) of your gluten-free blogger’s recipes to try.

3) Make the recipe, photograph it and write a post in your blog introducing the blogger and their recipe.

*Follow the recipe as written, as closely as possible. And, please don’t print their recipe on your post- just provide your reader a link to their original recipe.
*Provide a link to this event announcement page

4) Email me at adoptaglutenfreeblogger[at]gmail[dot]com with your photo of the recipe, the URL of your post, name of the recipe and the URL of the original blogger’s recipe post. PLEASE SIZE PHOTO TO BE A MAXIMUM OF 500 pixels wide. Otherwise I will have to resize it manually and after the first one or two I start to cry sad tears of weary despair. You don’t want me crying while I post, do you?

5) Post YOUR POST’s URL in a comment to this post, and if possible please try to visit two other blogger’s posts that are posted here (and comment!).

*The goal is to make this event more interactive and fun!

Deadlines:
Sign up BEFORE December 30(loose deadline; late sign-ups are ok)
Post your Review and Email me by January 9th (firm deadline, no foolin’)

If you don’t have a blog, you are still welcome to adopt a gluten-free blogger. Sign up to adopt a blogger, write a review of one of their recipes, including your name (or pen name), the recipe URL and recipe title. Then take a photo of the completed recipe (if you can) and EMAIL ME the review and photo. I will create a special page just for our non-blogging participants and post it for you.

I’ll start the adoptions by adopting Kim Lutz of Welcoming Kitchen . Now it is your turn!

Adoption Sign-Up Sheet:
1) Kim Lutz of Welcoming Kitchen (adopted by Sea of the Book of Yum)
2) Kalinda from Wheat Free, Meat Free (adopted by Paula Decaria, from Live Free, Gluten Free)
3) Easy to Be Gluten Free (adopted by Debbi Does Dinner Healthy)
4) Stacy and Matt at Paleo Parents (adopted by Shirley of Gluten-free Easily)
5) bill and Haley at paleo comfort foods (adopted by Pip of adventures of Pip)
6) Cassidy from Cooking Gluten (&Dairy) Free (adopted by Thomas of the GF CF Experience)
7) You Pick!

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
If you sign up and cannot complete this event byJanuary 9th for any reason, please email me immediately at adoptaglutenfreeblogger[at]gmail[dot]com and let me know. Please ONLY use this email account for Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger relevant emails.

Can’t find a blogger to adopt or looking to meet some new gluten-free friends?
Visit my Gluten-Free Blogroll
Example of an Adoption Post (I went a little crazy)

This month the Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger Event was hosted by Kalinda of Wheat-free Meat-free. I adopted Hero Beth from the deliciously entitled blog, Tasty Yummies, after her entry in my gluten-free vegetarian thanksgiving event brought her blog to my attention. She had so many recipes that I had a hard time picking and ended up making a Pinterest board of my favorite Tasty Yummies. Things have been a tad stressful at the House of Yum, with me trying to start Toddler Yum at daycare and get some serious work done on my dissertation. I needed to spend a little time in the kitchen to expend some nervous energy, and I started by making her Gluten-free Butternut Squash Enchiladas. I was intrigued by Hero Beth’s frequent usage of butternut squash in her recipes, and I loved the idea of the simple but homemade accompanying tomatillo sauce.
I served the enchiladas as one of the first sit-down-at-the-table meals we’d had in ages. We all enjoyed it, and the DH gave it a thumbs up. I made a dairy-free version for my mom, and a plain cheese quesadilla for toddler yum, who found the tomatillo “spicy.” I’d make this recipe again. The only thing I would change would be my poor choice of tortilla. I accidentally bought extra-thin mission corn tortillas, and found extra-thin was code for extra-likely-to-fall-apart. It looks like Hero Beth picked a far better tortilla for her version, and my usual Sonoma organic corn tortillas would be a good choice as well.
My favorite recipe that i found at Hero Beth’s site has to be this one for Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas with Pine Nuts Recipe. Of the recipes that I selected, I found this to be one of the her most original, taking two ordinary favorites and combining them with a very special addition. I also loved the Indian flavor of the spices added. I could eat this dish every day for a month and not get tired of it!

I must have been in the mood for beans, because that same night I also made her White Bean and Chive Veggie Patty Recipe. I loved the chives and crunchy cornmeal. But I wished I knew what kind of white bean Hero Beth used. I had both white kidney and small white beans in my pantry and didn’t know which would go better. The patties were tasty but needed a little something, so I added a dab of mayonnaise and it complimented them perfectly.

I also made a pumpkin pasta casserole with gobs of cheese and fresh pumpkin puree. I liked it, but I was out of parmesan regianno and could only use the gruyere, which made it a little more plain than the original. I added srirachi hot sauce to mine to kick it up a notch, and added generous servings of pepper and it was pretty tasty. The DH said it was his favorite of all the recipes from the Tasty Yummies blog that I tried. The pasta pictured here is brown rice penne, but I also made some batches with the new gluten-free corn pasta at (west coast) Trader Joe’s. I really like this new jumbo-sized corn penne, but brown rice pasta does look prettier for this recipe.

This was a very fun adoption month and I really enjoyed trying the recipes at Tasty Yummies. The next time I have some brussels sprouts I might have to try Hero Beth’s Shredded Brussels Sprouts with toasted walnuts and dried currants or serve a Gluten-free Vegan Apple Cobbler. Why don’t you check out the amazing recipes and great photos at her site?

This month Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger will be hosted back here at the Book of Yum. It has been a very relaxing two month vacation, and I really appreciate my friends who stepped in to help host for me.* This month, I’ll hope to see you all back here to adopt your own gluten-free blogger.

*If you have a gluten-free blog and would like to host Adopt a Gluten-free Blogger, just let me know in the comments and we can schedule you in!