Pizza, Pancakes, and (cake) Pops

Usually my weekends are pretty ordinary. Fun, but not many new gluten free discoveries worth sharing. That is until this weekend.

Friday night I met up with my bestie to watch the Lifetime made-for-tv movie, Drew Peterson: Untouchable.  We kind of have an obsession for the Lifetime Movie Network and the big time scandalous stories, as sad as that sounds. Between Rob Lowe's bleached hair and fat suit, we decided we needed pizza and some wine.  One quick phone call to Leona's and a delicious gluten free pizza was on its way to me. I heard that they started to carry gluten free pizza crust, but had yet to try it.  I was a little weary of the rice flour crust, but it actually held together very well and tasted phenomenal! I highly recommend giving it a shot if they have a location near you.

As if I wasn't spoiled enough with "new" gluten free finds Friday night, I met up Sunday morning for brunch with Andrea from Rockin' Gluten Free.  Ever since I discovered Prasino last fall, I've been dying to try their breakfast menu - hello, gluten free pancakes! I had my eye on those Carrot Cake Pancakes for quite some time, but when I looked at the menu further and saw they had crepes, I couldn't make up my mind.  Unfortunately, our server made it quite easy for me when he informed me that they didn't make the crepes gluten free. Pancakes it was.  And excellent choice, I might add.

Fluffy pancakes filled with shredded carrots, golden raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg and then topped with pecans and a dash of powdered sugar.  The side of sweat cream (think cream cheese frosting as a thin glaze) just put this dish over the top.  Incredible!

Back in September, my friends took me out to dinner at the Wicker Park location and towards the end of the night, T. and I were ordering a lovely juice drink called Honeymoon.  We were both head over heels in love with this magical concoction and probably drank three or four glasses each.  It could have been the honey, or the fresh apple slices, but either way, we couldn't get enough of them.  Naturally I had to order myself one to go along with my pancakes. How cute is that apple star garnish?

My weekend wouldn't be complete without seeing my niece and nephew, so needless to say I was thrilled when I came home and saw they were already there waiting for me.  After an afternoon reading the Jingle books, painting our nails, and making Valentine's Day crafts, we decided to put my Cake Pop Maker to good use. We each strapped on an apron and got to work making the batter.  Using the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake mix, we ended up with a katrillion little cake balls.  We ate some while they were still plain and warm, but glazed the rest and rolled them in some Glutino Chocolate Sandwich Cookie crumbles I had leftover from making the Christmas bark. Instant "Oreo" balls!

Nom nom nom!

The night ended with Downton Abbey.  Oh, how I love this miniseries! If I had a nickel for every time I gasped or "oooh'ed" I'd probably have a dollar. SO GOOD!!!  Who else is watching? How do you like this season so far?  I actually just read today that Shirley MacLaine is going to be in the next season as Lady Grantham's mother. I can only imagine how she and Maggie Smith's character, Violet, will get along! Oohh!

(Photo credit)

And We're Back... With Green is the New Breakfast

My, that was a longer break from blogging than expected! Sorry about that. Around the holidays my free time was spent at boot camp, parties, shopping, and relaxing.  I had so many great ideas for holiday blog posts (lots of movie tie-ins) that never came to light.  Next Christmas - I promise.

And again, January got away from me. I've been reading lots of wonderful books. Ironically all by female Chicago writers. I don't know how that happened, but let's hear it for my hometown girls Rebecca Skloot, Melanie Benjamin, and Wendy McClure.

Apparently January is Ladies Month in my book selections.

When I wasn't swept away in a good book, I was detoxing.  In late November I joined For the Glow's Resolution Challenge which kicked off January 1st and all I can say is, "why didn't I do this sooner?"  I had been subscribed to Jenn's updates for years now (back when she ran Sweat in the City), but didn't jump on the chance to join any of her programs until now.  With my newly recommended diet (which I failed miserably with during the holidays) I knew I had to get back on board and make some serious changes, because I felt like crap all of the time. The Detox Diet in the Resolution Challenge was just what I needed to get my body back on track. I never ate so many greens in one day in my entire life, and you know what, I loved it.

Not only did I feel incredible, I was completely satisfied with the recipes and fell in love with my new favorite things: Green Smoothies and Green Juice. I was so hardcore serious when I joined the program. I even went so far as to buy a juicer and powdered seaweed. I'm so glad I did, because I'm now completely addicted to them.  My breakfast every morning is now a Green Smoothie which gives me so much energy (thanks, Spirulina!) I'm practically dancing my way in to the office.  It's so incredible, I can't wait to share it with you.  Try it, you'll like it!

Betsy's All Time Favorite Green Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients
1 cup plain, unsweetened almond milk
2 cups fresh, organic spinach
1 cup frozen organic blueberries (or your berry of choice. I've tried strawberry and raspberry, but they tend to be a little too seedy for my full enjoyment)
1 Tbsp spirulina powder
1 or 2 Tbsp Raw Cacao

Directions
Using a blender, blend together the almond milk and spinach. Add in fruit, spirulina, and cacao.  Blend until smooth.  Enjoy!

How the yum is made.

#BeFitChat on Twitter

Tweet, tweet, tweetle-dee-dee deet!  Are you on "the Twitter"?  You know, that amazing little site where you can spew off 140 characters at a time?  You can tweet about what you're doing, what you're thinking, and best of all, have a conversation with gabillions of people (friends, family, celebrities, companies, organizations...Chelsea Handler's dog) at the same time.

Every Thursday night for an hour at 9pm (EST), there is a health and fitness chat called BeFitChat.  All you have to do is search for #BeFitChat and you're there.  These reoccurring BeFitChats are still in the early stages, but already there have been some great conversations about healthy eating and exercise.

I'm thrilled to have been asked to host the chat for tonight (12/1) about the gluten free lifestyle!  It's a big topic in the news these days and it's definitely peaked people's interest.  Whether you are celiac, gluten intolerant, gluten allergic, or going gluten free for other reasons, please join in the conversation tonight!

Also, towards the end of that chat (right before 10pm (EST), I will be giving away a copy of Elana Amsterdam's newest cookbook, Gluten Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour. 

So login to Twitter at 9pm (EST) and look for #BeFitChat.  I'll be starting off the conversation (@betsybetsybetsy).  I'll start off with a few questions to get the ball rollin'.  Be sure to include #BeFitChat with all of your replies so we can see your responses! 

Chat with you all soon!!

Souper-Duper

The Monday after Thanksgiving.  Hello. What an icky-ish day in Chicago.  Cold and dreary.  I just wanted something warm and delicious for dinner tonight.  Not too long ago I bought a head of cabbage to make one of my favorite soup recipes and tonight was the perfect night to finally whip that up.

Four years ago on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a co-worker and I came into work and said to each other, "Let's join Weight Watchers." Just like that.*  We went online, found a meeting that met Wednesdays during lunch across the street at the Merchandise Mart, and each signed up then and there.  It was within one of those little Weight Watcher booklets that one of the best recipes for vegetable soup was found.

Mise en place!

Behold...the Zero Point Garden Vegetable Soup**!  This soup is sooo easy to make, soooo delicious, and gives you room to play around with the ingredients.  Don't like carrots, skip 'em!  Love celery, go ahead and add it!  Wanna add some more herbs, OK!  Want some chicken or beef or pork or beans or tofu?  Well...you get the idea.  This is a very healthy soup to recharge your bod after a weekend of stuffing, pies, and whatnot.

Garden Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Big ol' pot of soup!

• 4 cups of gluten free broth (I use CelifibR Chicken bouillon cubes)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 Medium onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 large carrots, chopped
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 c. green beans
• 1 small head of cabbage
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. If making broth with bouillon, boil the water and prepare as package directs. If using a pre-made broth, cool, you're one step ahead!
2. Heat a large pot until warm (if you flick a little water in the pan and it sizzles, it's ready), add the oil to coat the pan.  Add garlic, onion, and carrots and saute for about 5 minutes. The onions and garlic will begin to brown.
3. Add broth, tomato paste, green beans, cabbage, basil and oregano. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. The vegetable will be nice and tender.
4. Add zucchini and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.
5. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

I added some Great White Northern Beans, yum!

* Well more like "ugh...what DIDN'T we eat this weekend? We gotta do something about this..."

** This soup is no longer zero points, since WW switched to Points+. They don't even list this recipe in their eTools database anymore, just a similar "Italian Inspired Soup" which omits the cabbage (the best part!!!) which is 1 Points+. Also if you add anything extra (like I did with the beans), that cranks up the points/calories value.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm so thankful for my readers, fellow bloggers, the amazing Celiac Disease and Gluten Free organizations who are such value resources to us gluten free rockstars, and the wonderful companies that make gluten free foods (and of course, the ones that offer me the chance to sample their products).

This little blog wouldn't be what it is without all of you, and for that I am so grateful for all of you.  I hope you all have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day!

-Betsy