GF {w/DF option} Strawberry Banana Ice Cream

Holy GF banana ice cream batman!!!

So anyone who really knows me, knows that I am not an ice cream fan but when I discovered Coldstone's banana ice cream I about fell in love many years ago. I haven't actually had it in probably 3-4 years now because of the celiac and the heaviness of it never agreed with my stomach, but I have never forgotten about it!
I originally saw a recipe on the night time mom bleeps on the Disney channel for homemade banana "ice cream" that was just frozen bananas and I re-saw a few different recipes on Pinterest that really made me want try it. So tonight I did!!

I made a version of the coldstone concoction I LOVE. Banana split decision :-) made with banana ice cream, fresh strawberries, melted fudge and roasted almonds bits. You can easily do a plain banana, strawberry banana or try one like this! It was really tasty and minus the chocolate it would be totally dairy free too!

All you need is a ninja or a food processor, frozen banana chunks {I used two large bananas}, a handful of frozen strawberries, around 1/4 cup chocolate of choice {I used dark, melted} roasted almonds, and a few fresh strawberries.

Place frozen banana, frozen strawberries and melted chocolate into the ninja or processor and use the blade attachment first, after a few pluses and you see everything chopped up into small pieces {it looks dry, but it's not!} switch to the attachment that has no blade. Pulse and watch the ice cream create!!! It's fun as it turns to see it coming together :-) scoop out and top with fresh strawberries and almonds! So easy!! I'm sure too if you did like it creamier you can add a splash of milk, cream or dairy alternative. Just not too much bc you don't want to water it down.

This made about 3 servings, but I find, when making it you only want to make enough for 1-2 times eating bc it is fresh and I don't think it freezes and re-eats like it does the first time. But your choice totally!

The best part of this, it's super low cal, fruity and yummy, and you do NOT have to feel bad about splurging bc it's not real ice cream that's heavy and full of junk!

The only thing that has dairy I used was the milk in the chocolate but you can use DF chocolate too for a full DF.

ENJOY!!

WIAW

So today is my first WIAW and I have been inspired to do so by my cousin whose been actively pushing me to pursue my goals. I feel we help one another to do so all the time! It's great to have her in my life :-)

So today for my first WIAW I wanted to post my dinner from last night! Ever since I was diagnosed with a severe case of celiac disease last April I have been missing my favorite foods. I haven't had too many cravings, but now that I'm almost 10 weeks pregnant the cravings for all the things I simply cannot have, have been kicking in like crazy!

One of my favorite foods since I was in middle school is chicken lo mien. Love, love, love Chinese food. In past blogs posts I've done pork pot stickers from scratch and they were AMAZING and although I've made stir fry and lo mien before it just hasn't hit the spot like the REAL thing till last night.

I think I nailed it this time. And mostly due to the change in noodles. I had been using Thai rice noodles prior and I decided to try brown rice vermicelli by the brand Peacock instead, and WOW I impressed myself again.

For the veggies this time I used:
Water chestnuts
Red peppers
Green peppers
Onions
Carrots

{I also like use sprouts, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots but stuck to what I had on hand last night.}

For the sauce and marinade I used:
Tamari GF soy sauce
Orange juice
Water
Ginger paste
Ginger powder
Garlic powder
Minced Garlic
Salt
Pepper

And the noodles were brown rice vermicelli

So good!!

Gluten Free cooking has been an adjustment for me, but not giving up and trying again and again till I hit perfection has been key. Don't give up new Celiac's! There is hope :-)

Take time Tuesday

Lately I have not had a lot to be thankful for. Sounds harsh but I've had quite the ride the last few years with my health. Especially the last year in particular. But through it all I do have a few things I can say I'm thankful for.
Last week after dealing with most of my hair falling out I decided it would be best to cut it all off and start fresh. My dr's still aren't exactly sure why it's been falling out but hopefully in the coming weeks there will be some answers. Anyways I was terrified to cut all my hair off. I've had long hair for about 3-4 years now. So I picked out some photos and found some really cute cuts. Much to my surprise I REALLY loved the end result! I was so comfortable in my long hair routine but when it started falling out rapidly it looked like death there were short pieces and long looked bad. But I'm loving the low maintenance of my new do and the many compliments I've been getting from people who see me regularly!
Also being 9 weeks pregnant has not been easy on me, but I'm thankful for my healthy bean growing and our family expanding. So many people have had a hard time getting pregnant and I feel lucky (even being told I would be infertile.) I have not had any issues getting pregnant this time or the first. We have been truly LUCKY.
With that being said Cj and I had quite the bath time fun on Saturday. He can be a handful but gosh is he funny and full of life. I love him so very much. Absolutely thankful for him and my husband everyday.
Lastly although the snow keeps deciding to fall down we were lucky enough to have some sun and in the high 30's Sunday so the family and I took a nice few mile walk and it gives me hope spring is around the corner and my winter blues are coming to an end!! Thank goodness!!! :-)

Allergy Testing

Soooo I started allergy testing two weeks ago. Was pretty interesting. Started with all the environmental factors. Then this week starts the 48hr process of food testing. Little nervous for the food stuff, but very excited to start a new chapter in my life, hopefully with a new agenda on what I can and can not eat besides gluten. The dr was amazing and one of the best I've had so far. Caring, understanding, sympathetic... Everything I was looking for. She went over my extensive medical history and kept calling me fascinating and one of a kind. And that's not the first dr, and I know it won't be the last. I should be dead, literally. But I'm not. I'm here fighting daily.

Anyways.... :-)

During my first session I got a glimpse into the reality of my allergies. I've always had seasonal allergies. Started when I was about 12, ironically that's when my milk intolerance started. I always remember how sick I would get each season with no help from Allegra, Claritin, and Benadryl. It kinda all makes sense now after talking to the dr. On a scale from 1-4 I was a 4 on everything except dogs I was fine, and cats I was a 3. But apparently I am a 4 on 4 different seasonal trees, grass, ragweed, mold, mites and 3 other things. They are going to go over all of it on Thursday.

When I was getting pricked with the needles..by the time he got to the last one the MA said "WOW! You're what we call dermagraphic!" I then replied "and that means??!" He explained it meant either I had really sensitive skin or I was allergic to everything and chuckled. But went on to say "but that's highly unlikely."

Well after 10 minutes had passed (a total of 15 minutes for the test to fully set) he came into the room panicked, alarmed and very concerned. He screamed as he first came in. I knew what was up after feeling like I wanted to itch my skin off 8 minutes prior. He quickly started wiping everything off and cleaning my back. He said he need to get the dr and there was no need for the last 5 minutes, that it was already clear and I didn't need to be tortured any longer. He then got the dr and she did the same thing when she came back in...screamed a yelp as she first caught a glimpse of my back and came over quickly and started reading off my results...and she was chuckling as she was reading them..."well here we go...4..4...4...4...4...4...3...4" She also went on to say she hasn't had someone react like that in some time.

She said after everything I had been dealing with, with the celiac and EOE she wasn't surprised. And she said she anticipates the food ones coming back just as clear. Again, I'm looking forward to it! I'm so tired if being sick and being scared of 99.9% of things that enter my mouth.

Here's a few pictures from my experience .... The red one of my back was taken 15 minutes after everything was cleaned off and the swelling started to go down. Ouch!

My everyday

There are some days when I feel like writing something, then ultimately decide not to because I don't want to sound like a complainer...And there's another side of me that says "Why not? You could help someone!" Well...today I have some spare time while the bebe sleeps so I thought I'd get some frustrations out.
I haven't updated much as far as my prognosis and what is going on as of late, or maybe even at all. Most of the time it's because outside of my husband and a few select individuals no one gets my everyday, let alone my life.
About 3 months ago I had to undergo a endoscopy and colonoscopy after 7 months of gluten free and being diagnosed with Celiac disease late April. During that surgery I had nearly 10 biopsies done. That was about 5 more than originally expected. The result was that the Celiac disease really did a number on my intestines, probably from being undiagnosed for so long.There were white blood cells covering my esophagus, intestines and part of my stomach, as well as mucus. The dr also explained to me the mass amounts of damage to my esophagus. Which in turn lead to them finding Eosinophilic Esophagitis also known as EOE. An inflammatory disease usually caused by food allergies but is relitively rare in adults. My dr also was telling me, up until 2011 there were hardly any known cases of this in adults, only children. Which really makes me think. It is also a pretty hard to understand disorder. Go figure it had to be added to my list of issues.
I'm now going through crazy amounts of allergy testing because of it. Just a month previous my dr said I have Fibromyalgia as well. I was 'cleared' last year for MS, but as of recent, I have to go through the testing again. Along with further RA testing after my RA factor came up over the "normal limits."

So at this point I have:
Primary Hyperoxaluria type 2 (Very Rare, DX in 88') Currently have 3 kidney stones..
Hashimoto's (Auto Immune, DX in 09')
Celiac (Auto Immune, DX in 12')
Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease (DX 12')
Trochanteric Bursitis (DX in 12')
EOE (allergies DX in 12')
Fibromyaliga (DX in 12')
Corn allergy (dx in 13)

And in the reprocess of testing for MS and new testing RA and allergies.

Everyday I have symptoms for each and every one of these. Some days I'm in so much pain I can't get out of bed, but I have no choice. I know it could be worse but I wish people that constantly complained about trivial things took the time to say hey you know what, I've got my health and that's pretty solid compared to some people. And I also wish that some people I talked to about my struggles wouldn't compare them to something silly. Makes me cringe and really build a wall up. I wish the things I had we're temporary and silly, but they're not.
Vent done :-)

Gluten Free & Vegan--Quick tofu and snap peas over rice

Fast and easy lunch, dinner or in my case---breakfast!! I'm a little odd, I like savory over sweet in the morning. I've never been a cereal person (except when I was pregnant last year!) never took to donuts, same with sweets. I like them here and there. So I oddly made this for breakfast yesterday morning :-)

What you need:

Tofu extra firm
Snap Peas
1/2-3/4 cup Jasmine Rice, also tastes great with brown rice. I usually alternate.
Ginger
Tamari 3 tablespoons
11/2 tablespoons of water
Garlic (optional)
15-20 minutes cook time
Season tofu after cubed and in pan

Start rice, then set aside.

First, drain your tofu, then press the excess water out, gently. I like to get a lot of the water out of mine so it has more of a dense feeling rather then a silky bit. Just a texture thing in the recipe, if you prefer a silky one, just simply cook it less time. I cube it and sauté it in a combo of Tamari GF low sodium soy sauce, ginger, pepper and garlic. I cook it flipping it occasionally for approximately 15 minutes.
While this is going on, steam the snap peas for about 5-7 minutes until the consistently you like. Crunchier about 5, softer about 7.
Around the last 5 minutes of cooking throw the amount if snap you'd like into the pan and sauté them together. It dries them out a little (still leaving them soft) and give them a good taste.

When done serve over jasmine rice and ENJOY! Simple easy and flavorful :-) hope you like!

Gluten Free Asian Pork Pot Stickers {from scratch}

I was in a major medical funk today after some news from my one of my many dr's. So I asked myself today, what is something I miss eating that has Gluten in it? One of the first things that popped into my head was Chinese food, pork pot stickers to be exact. I love lo mien, but I'd like to consider myself a pot sticker connoisseur. No really....haha...

I've tried them all over the U.S. Detroit, Denver, Philly, Portland-OR {the best, Shanghai Tunnel!} Atlanta....ok you get the point. I really like them. So after hearing one of the many Celiac's I follow post a tweet about #celiacproblems and making them a #celiacsolution I felt inspired to try something {scary} and new. Make them from scratch.

I've had a transition challenge from gluten cooking to gluten-free cooking. Something that's kind of been frustrating because I had felt I had mastered the one and the other has so far been hit or miss, usually dealing with a texture/baking issue. Because the two are drastically different and a work in progress.

So today I was in a happy place thanks to seeing my BFF after a long time apart., and felt inspired so I made them from scratch!! Took almost two hours total between prep and cooking. So this isn't a quick recipe, but a good {worth it} recipe!

Plus, a bonus, you can easily freeze them after the first boil process for a later date and then reboil them as stated below and then pan cook till light/to preferred darkness. Then definitely a quick 30 minute meal perfect for the hustle and bustle of the week! :-)

I will say I have a little bit of cooking experience. A few years behind my belt with some training from an old roommate-chef and my grandma. Along with a lot of trails and errors over the years. I am 50 % Polish surrounded by a lot of 100% Pollocks so I have some experience making pierogi's from scratch so I found a great recipe I've used for GF pierogi dough and paired it with this and it worked perfect!!

Anyways ok finally the recipe--!

What you need/ what you need to do with it---
Insides:
1 lb of ground Pork
1 bunch of Bok Choy
1/2 of a onion
-Chop up bok Choy into small shreds and mince onion
-Mix in bowl with ground pork and season with below spices. Set aside.

Seasoning:
Sea salt
Pepper
Crushed red pepper
Tablespoon of fresh minced ginger
Garlic
2 tablespoons of tamari (Gf soy sauce)
1 tablespoon of Coconut oil, to fry in at end

For the Dough:
2 cups tapioca flour
1/2 cup corn starch
3/4 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
2-1/2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
Have an extra 1/2 of flour mixture for rolling out the dough and when it gets thin and or sticky.
approximately 1-1/4 cup water (you can substitute some of the water with a little gluten-free sour cream or Greek yogurt, I use about 1 tablespoon of Greek)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 large eggs, beaten seasoned with a dash of sea salt and pepper.

To make the dough, whisk all dry dough ingredients thoroughly.
Add oil, egg and water; and mix thoroughly to form a stretchy type of dough, the consistency of raw biscuit dough.
Add a little cornstarch, enough to allow you to handle without sticking to your hands.
Sprinkle a smooth surface generously with tapioca flour. Flour your hands and rolling pin, too. Roll out thin, but not as thin as possible, as this will cause the dough to stick to the surface and tear while filling.
Roll enough dough out so that you will be able to cut out 3 1/2 - 4” circles. I use a medium size cup to do the perfect size with a little water near by just in case it gets sticky, you can dip it before you make the cut out.
To each circle add about 1 heaping teaspoon of filling and close to form a half circle.
Pinch each pot sticker closed
Boil water in a large pot. Cook until the pierogies float to the top, about 8 minutes.
I prefer them sautéed them in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil after boiling them. Fry them until golden brown. I usually sauté them until they're crispy about 5-7 minutes. Check the insides to make sure the meat is fully cooked. Usually takes 15-20 minutes total for me.

I am so impressed with myself I won't lie. They tasted so good. I paired then with a simple homemade sauce.

A mixture of Ginger, crushed red pepper, Gf soy sauce and water. Yum!!

Hope you like!