Gluten Free Jeannie
Member Since:
Feb. 2008
Cooking Level:
Expert
Cooking Interests:
Baking, Slow Cooking, Mexican, Southern, Low Carb, Healthy, Dessert, Quick & Easy
Hobbies:
Photography, Reading Books, Music, Painting/Drawing
I enjoy expressing my creative streak with my cooking and in many other ways. (I am a glass bead maker and jewelry designer. )In my cooking, I believe that it is better to use fresh ingredients, "real" oils and fats, mostly olive oil and real butter, whole (heavy) cream, and natural sweeteners when I use them. Food should taste good AND be good for you. Some object to this philosophy, but I have still lost weight since I started cooking this way. It is my goal to make anything I might normally cook, gluten free. So we'll see what exciting recipes I can come up with and share.
My favorite things to cook
I've been gluten free for over 2 years now, and I'm enjoying exploring healthy and delicious GF (gluten free)foods recently. I like to try new things, and my goal is to focus on healthy things, though I have a definite sweet tooth. After cooking for 6 people or more for many years, it's difficult to get used to cooking for one or two people, so my cooking has changed dramatically. I like quick but tasty with variety, and of course gluten free.
My favorite family cooking traditions
Although I've had to alter recipes quite a bit to adapt for my special restrictions, I feel very strongly about the traditional Holiday dinner we grew up with. Mom's dressing recipe (she didn't let us call it stuffing), and the other "required" dishes to accompany the turkey. My favorite was always gravy! It's what mashed potatoes are made for (to hold up the gravy). ;) And I always brought the pumpkin pie, a tradition that has now been passed to my daughter. The Gluten Free pie crust I made was the hit of the day. The traditional-crust pie was 90% untouched.
My cooking tragedies
Considering that I improvise and make up a great deal of what I cook, I've done pretty well. But when my kids were young I had a couple disasters. While trying to hide vegetables in meatloaf, I once made a truly bad, bland meatloaf. And the year I tried to grow a garden, I harvested fresh basil. Assuming dried was more concentrated, I used probably over a cup of my basil in spaghetti sauce (a dish I made regularly, but never with a recipe). It was entirely inedible. I just had to admit it. :)