Book of Yum

I’ve been thinking about something for a few weeks now… Some time ago I came across mention of an blog “adoption” event where a blogger would “adopt” another blogger and try one of their recipes and blog both about the blogger and the recipe. Apparently this event is not currently running, but it made me think that it would be really fun to do something similar with the gluten-free blogging community. I have to admit, sometimes I get so caught up in my collection of cookbooks and saved online recipes that I don’t always get around to making the amazing recipes that others are making. And this is truly a shame, because if hadn’t been for other GF bloggers, I would never have tried things like Maki’s Black Bean Burger’s, Erin’s AMAZING baked polenta fries, or Shauna’s avocado ranch dressing, not to mention all the great recipes I’ve gotten from BytheBay’s blog. I’ve made so many of her recipes that I might as well move into her kitchen, for pete’s sake. I know that there are many amazing, really well known GF blogs out there, but in this case it will be less fun if we all pick the same person, so I suggest that we each “adopt” a different GF blogger and stake our claim in the comments to this post. Please post your name (or nickname), the name of your blog, and the name of your adoptee and their blog. Include their URL if you like. I’ll start the ball rolling like this:

I’m Seamaiden, at the Book of Yum, and I’d like to “adopt” Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess this month because… I love her philosophy, love of life, and artistry, and am a huge fan of both her blog and recipes but somehow haven’t tried as many as I’d like to.

Now I’ve “adopted” Karina for this month, and so other bloggers *sniff* can’t “adopt” her THIS MONTH. (But next month her blog is fair game!) I will write a post sometime in the next two weeks (Deadline: March 9) about Karina, her blog, and a recipe that I tried recently. I think it’s probably best to just link to your adopted blogger’s recipe rather than posting it in your blog. Please follow your chosen blogger’s recipe as printed, making only minor changes for reasons of allergy or veg/non-veg diet.

I’ll keep a running list of bloggers that have been adopted at the bottom of this list. If we get repeats, the blogger who posted their claim earliest “gets” the blogger, and I’ll contact any bloggers who need to pick a new blog. (This is so we can discover the maximum number of GF bloggers and recipes!)

Once you adopt a blogger, you have until the event end date (2 weeks from opening of event- this month until MARCH 9th) to try a recipe and blog about blogger and their recipe. Link back to this event announcement in your post and email me at SEAMAIDEN399[at]gmail[dot]com with your name, blog name, your chosen blogger’s name and blog name, URL of your post about your blogger AND, if possible, a pretty picture you took of their dish that you made. I will do a round-up here after March 9th.

*To be eligible, your blogger must either be a gluten-free blogger OR consistently blog gluten-free recipes with a gluten-free tag for recipes that makes them easy to find. New GF bloggers would be terrific candidates for “adoption.” Recipe must be GF as written by the original poster.*

I’d like this to be a monthly event, and it would be great if we could get volunteers to host future months. The next event period would be from March 24- April 7. If you’d like to host next month, please email me or post in comments.

*You don’t have to host recipes at your site to ADOPT someone and blog about their recipes. Also, for those who are adopted- don’t worry! You don’t have to reciprocate and adopt anyone (not even the person who adopted you) unless you want to.. It would almost be more fun if people Didn’t automatically adopt the person who adopted them- to maximize the new blogs you get exposed to!

Our Adopted GF Bloggers, for the February 25- March 9th “Adopt a GF Blogger” Event
1) Karina, the Gluten Free Goddess [Adopted by Sea at Book of Yum]
2) Natalie, the Gluten Free Mommy [Adopted by Kate at Gluten-Free Gobsmacked]
3) Ellen from I Am Gluten Free [Adopted by Heather at puff.muffins]
4) Sheltie Girl from Gluten-a-go-go [Adopted by Rachel at Wheat free meat free]
5) Sea from Book of Yum [Adopted by Naomi of The Accidental Vegetarian]
6) Naomi of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried [Adopted by BytheBay of Gluten Free By the Bay]
7) Carol of Simply Gluten Free [Adopted by Naomi of Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried](postponed for next month)
8 ) Carrie from Ginger Lemon Girl [Adopted by Carol of Simply Gluten Free]
9) Mrs. GF from Gluten free recipes for life [Adopted by Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl]
10) Cindalou of Cindalous Kitchen Blues [Adopted by Natalie of Gluten Free Mommy]
11) Katherine, the gfcf Mommy [Adopted by Thomas of the GFCF Experience]
12) Christian at Stephen’s Recipes [Adopted by Cindalou of Cindalous Kitchen Blues]
13) Melissa at Gluten-free for Good [Adopted by Sally at Aprovechar]
14) Lyra of The Gluten Free Hippie [Adopted by Orla of Great Mastications]
15) Kate at Gluten Free Gobsmacked [Adopted by Sheltie Girl]
16) You pick!
………………………….

You are welcome to use one of these Event Images in your post:

On February 2nd, DH and I drove through a wintery, rainy San Francisco night to get to the Gluten-Free Cooking Spree held at the West Bay Conference Center. When I f irst heard of this gloriously Gluten-Free event, I was immediately hooked. It sounded like a new take on an American Iron Chef, with a dinner theme, a bar stocked with GF beer and hard cider, live music, and a whole party of other gluten-free folks to enjoy it with. What’s not to love? From my experience, few people can enjoy good food like gluten-free folks, and a whole party full of catered food we didn’t have to make sounded amazing. Not only that, but proceeds were to support Celiac research. A good cause AND good gluten-free food, what more could I ask for?

We arrived at the convention center and found ourselves in the lobby with the coat check and reception desks. Those with a VIP pass were allowed first dibs on the main conference room and its goodies, as well as champagne. Unfortunately DH and I hadn’t splurged on a VIP ticket, so we got our goodie bag (Containing Bob’s Red Mill GF Oats and an individual serving of Bob’s Red Mill GF cereal… there might have been another small item but I can’t quite remember), and cooled our heels in the lobby.

Delicious smells were wafting out into the hall when finally they let us in to the main room full of yummy food. The first thing we saw was a buffet table piled high with cookies and a gorgeous, decadent chocolate fountain. Marshmallows and fresh fruit were piled all around the chocolate fountain. Those chocolate fountains are usually off limits due to the prevalence of wheat-based dippers, but this time all the offerings were completely free of all gluten, so it was fair game.

The theme for the night was “pasta.” Chef teams composed of nutritionists, chefs, and doctors concocted a variety of dishes based around this theme.

Competitive dishes included:
UnGlu’d Mac’N'Cheese *there was some unfortunate confusion over this dish. Apparently one version was vegetarian and the other contained bacon. Confusingly, both times it was listed in the ingredient lists the recipe included bacon. C’mon guys, do you NEED the brown crackly stuff? If I were to make a dairy-decadent mac and cheese for an event like this, I’d personally go a bit more gourmet with it and choose a white rice pasta or at least use Tinkyada brown rice pasta and pair it with smoked cheese or more exciting cheeses than just cheddar and parmesan. To me it was a bit on the bland side.

Risotto Salsicia, a meaty dish that didn’t stand out for DH.

Chicken Schnitzel Schloss Solitude DH’s hands down favorite, a dish reminiscent of our Austrian experience

Poached Salmon with Pappardelle & Meyer Lemon Crème Fraiche garnished with brussel sprout leaves (photo on right). The pasta was overcooked, but the brussel sprouts were tasty.

and Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon with Herbed Polenta, Kasha, Dried Fig & Balsamic.

In case you were wondering, the two salmon dishes won the competition- and the mac and cheese won with the kid voters. Hmmm…
Unfortunately, while I love the idea of the competition, some of the competition dishes were only fair, especially those using the pasta. It is very difficult not to overcook pasta, and non-gluten free chefs may not realize the importance of rinsing the pasta in cool water to remove excess starch, not only stopping the cooking process but also removing excess gluey starches. Luckily there was no shortage of dishes, such as Bell and Evans gluten-free non-veg nuggets, Organic Bistro frozen meals (non-veg and not my personal favorites), and some rather plain fried rice (non-veg). Things were looking pretty bleak for the vegetarians in the audience, but luckily the Brazilian Cheese Bread Company was there to save the day.

I first encountered the Brazilian Cheese Company at the Gluten-free mecca, Harvest House in Concord, California, where they sold frozen rolls for about $12.00. It was a steep price, but I tried one pack of their garlic cheese rolls. They were tasty, but ultimately, I couldn’t justify the expense so I haven’t made them part of my regular diet. However, the rolls at the gluten-free cooking spree and the cheesy, cheesy pizza they served were out of this world and I enjoyed every bite. My favorite was the sun-dried tomato cheese bread “pão de queijo,” closely followed by that yummy pizza. Apparently they will soon be offering the pizza crust in retail stores near you, so look for it! (And prepare yourself for the probable sticker shock, sigh).

Whole Foods also generously provided a full array of pies (alas, after I was too full to eat any more!), tons of gorgeous and yummy cookies and bread. I do love their Gluten-free baked products. There was tons of different bread slices but no sundried tomato bread. *sniff* Too bad. They had…

Honey Oat Bread (Nope, I didn’t try it, but I’m REALLY curious)
Sourdough Bread
Chocolate Chip Cookies (yum! too bad I was so full!)
Peanut Butter Cookies (double yum! too bad about the being full thing, really got in the way!)
Apple, Cherry, and Pecan Pie

Azna offered gluten-free AND vegan treats for those who are lactose intolerant- a breath of fresh air for those who couldn’t eat many of the very dairy-centric dishes offered at the cooking spree. Personally I’m not sure pinto bean flour is my favorite flour base, but they offered:

Double Chocolate Brownies that looked pretty good- if only I had been hungry at that point
Scones and
Cinnamon Rolls (interesting idea but they were a bit on the flat, heavy side)

Charlotte’s Bakery had some pretty tasty bread, too. It tasted like home made rice bread, freshly baked and with no need for toasting, at least fresh out of the package. I’m not sure how it would hold up over time, but right then it tasted pretty good. They offer:

Rice Bread
Banana-Nut Bread
Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Cranberry Orange Bread

Thai Kitchen, Mr. Krispers, and SoyJoy all had tables with free samples. The Thai Kitchen noodles available weren’t my favorite (I like Onion or Garlic), so I didn’t take any. Mr. Krispers baked rice crisps were ok, but not really the kind of thing I go for either. And Soyjoy- well, I took some, but when I tried them later I regretted it. Basically think 1960s health food- bad texture, bad flavor, and totally uninspiring. If I was starving on an island somewhere, maybe I’d eat one- but otherwise, it’s the kind of GF snack you open, sniff, take a bite of, and then leave in the package to get all dusty. Sometimes you have to wonder if food companies actually TASTE their product before selling it. I didn’t take a picture, but Mariposa also brought boxes of their gluten-free brownies that were promptly snapped up by everyone in the know. Man, those things are good! I saw a few old ladies stuffing them in their purses- and who can blame them! (not like any of us were remotely hungry at that point- the sheer volume of food, especially desserts, offered was ridiculous!)

Pamela’s was also there with a huge spread of cookies and cupcakes guaranteed to send you into a sugar coma with the first bite, as well as some tasty samples of espresso-chocolate chip cookies. They aren’t quite on par with Whole Foods GF bakehouse, but you also don’t have to call them “whole paycheck cookies” either, so I guess it must balance out. Bob’s Red Mill was there, too, but didn’t have samples for tasting, to memory. All together there was a great variety of gluten-free goodies to try and enjoy. I think the highlights, for me, was getting the chance to meet people from the Celiac Bay Area Yahoo group, and of course, being able to EAT (and DRINK) every single thing there. Nothing like kicking back a Gluten-free Redbridge Beer or Hard Cider with some tasty gluten-free hot food with some gluten-free people and friends, listening to some crazy music and watching a gluten-free iron chef drama unfold… So, if the Gluten-free Cooking Spree’s coming to your town, why not pick up a ticket and see what new gluten-free goods you can try?

Note: Although I really enjoyed the event, some with multiple food intolerances had somewhat limited options, as many dishes contained dairy or some other allergen. One Celiac naturopathic doctor in line with me commented on it- “Don’t they know how many Celiacs have problems with dairy?”* While there was a little more available that was dairy free that was not immediately apparent, there were quite a few main dishes that contained dairy. Also, a bummer for the vegetarians, almost everything savory except for the vegetable plate, tapioca pizza (and dairy-free cheese quesadillas) contained non-veg ingredients. However, unless you have severe multiple allergies, it is quite unlikely that you would go hungry at this event- I’ve never seen such VOLUME of GF foods in my life. I also was a little surprised to be approached by a freelancer advertising their holistic doctor’s services- the Celiac equivalent of being propositioned by a rose vendor in Italy, I suppose. But, these peculiarities aside, I was really glad I went, and I’d love to go again next year!

*I actually thought this was a bit of a snarky comment, but ironically, it was said in front of the Organic Bistro stand, which he ignored. Must have been the microwave. haha.

**According to Vanessa Maltin, the organizer of the event, the following dishes were dairy free:
Proscuitto Salmon
The Fried Rice (unclear about the butter issue)
Pasta with Ground Turkey Marinara Sauce
and the Frozen meals: Wild Salmon, Ginger Chicken, Chicken Citron (offered by Organic Bistro)
the entire cheese plate
and many desserts (many, many desserts- if you like GF desserts, let me tell you this Is your event!)

Check out this:
Celiac Central Review
Gluten Free Guide’s to the NYC GF Cooking Spree
Glad to Be Gluten Free’s Atlanta GF Cooking Spree

Here is my previous review of Mariposa Bakery in Oakland, California.
And here are my reviews of Pamela’s GF Products

Did you attend the GF Cooking Spree This Year? Tell us about it in the comments! What did you think of the meal and GF food samples??

Didn’t make the SF Event? No worries! Attend one of the other Gluten Free Cooking Sprees taking place all over the US in 2008!