Pumpkin Crisp....move over pumpkin pie!

I am a huge pumpkin pie fan.  It seems people either love it or hate it, well, I am in the 'love it' camp.  And, it has to be fresh pumpkin, none of the this canned stuff.  I always buy the small pie pumpkins as soon as they show up at the store in October, so I can have them on hand through the holidays for pumpkin pie, bread, cookies...and now CRISP!

I have to admit, I have been ignorant on the ways of pumpkin crisp until this past week.  My daughter's class had a formal Thanksgiving feast this past Friday.  All the families were invited, and it was pot luck style with all of the traditional Thanksgiving Day foods.  Let's not even get started on how this can suck for someone who is gluten-free, but that is not the point of this post.  As I was eating away at my safe plate of mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (which I made), I was eyeing this dessert dish labeled pumpkin crisp.  I had never heard of it before, but everyone seemed to be going crazy about it, and saying it was amazing.  I knew I couldn't eat it, but I knew I could go home and recreate it.  

As soon as I got home that afternoon, I went online and searched "pumpkin crisp", and I kept finding blog posts referencing a recipe from Southern Living (November, 2005), which coincidentally is one of my favorite magazines. Of course the recipe was not gluten-free, but really...is that going to stop me? No. And, I just happened to have some leftover pumpkin from a pumpkin pie I made earlier in the week.

I made this yesterday for friends and I can't stop eating the leftovers.  And it is so easy to make!  It is more like a pumpkin cake rather than what I would think of as a crisp (thinking apple or berry crisp), but has the right amount of cake and crispy texture on top.

A word of warning, this is not low fat.  

Here is my version.  The recipe calls for pecans on top, and since I am not crazy about nuts in my food, I have left that out, and made a couple of other small changes (less sugar, and gluten-free cake mix).


Pumpkin Crisp
2 cups fresh, roasted pumpkin (a 15 oz. can of pumpkin will also work)
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 package of yellow cake mix, I used Betty Crocker, gluten-free yellow cake mix
1 cup melted butter
Directions
1. Preheat over to 350'
2. Stir together pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon;
3. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish;
4. Pour the pumpkin mix into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture;
5. Drizzle butter evenly over cake mix;
4. Bake at 350' for an hour or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream if desired.

This is so sinfully delicious and easy, this may be my new go-to dessert for the holidays.  I am even thinking of replacing my traditional pumpkin pie with this. I don't think you will be disappointed.

It's getting chilly...

It is crazy how fast time flies, but that is clearly evident to me when I come to my blog, and see my last post was...3 months ago.  Yikes!  If I had as many posts as the ones I wrote in my head this blog would be much longer. And now it is almost winter!

It seems that my countless hours of volunteering for my daughter's school (namely being PTA Co-President this year - what was I on when I thought that was a good idea?), and the community have taken up a lot of my time.  But it doesn't mean that I have any less thoughts, recipes and gluten-free experiences.

Right now I am getting ready to host 9 people for a Thanksgiving feast...just 4 days away.  Gosh, it seems like it was just Halloween.  I have been planning my menu, writing shopping lists and deciding if I have enough dishes and pans to hold all of these dishes.  From roasted Brussels sprouts to classic mashed potatoes.

What is your favorite dish to cook and/or eat on Thanksgiving?

Uncle Maddio's Pizza

I recently discovered Uncle Madio's Pizza when my daughter wanted to go out for pizza her birthday.  Well, I wanted pizza too! Yes, I guess I am that selfish, that I actually want to eat pizza along with my family and not have to sit there drinking my drink, waiting until I can go home and eat.  Crazy, I know!

We have a lovely pizza place in our cozy neighborhood, that is walking distance, has a gorgeous patio and is the place to hang out and see friendly faces and socialize, but unfortunately, the only thing I have when I go there is wine. Well, maybe that is not so unfortaunte, but seriously, I get to sit next to everyone else and smell their pizza, while I sip my wine.

So, when I went to the Twitter community and asked for suggestions for gluten-free pizza places that were kid-friendly, Uncle Maddio's was mentioned.

I was thrilled, it has a Chipotle-style format, so you go through a line, and decide on what topping you want for your personal pizza.  They were very helpful in telling me how they prepare the gluten-free pizzas and that it is on a separate dish than the gluten-filled crusts.  It is quick, it is clean and it is yummy.  And honestly, I think my crust looked tastier than the gluten-filled alternative, but then...what do I know?

Uncle Maddio's put out a PR release today with a quote from me, announcing kid-sized gluten-free pizzas.  Check it out.

I look forward to going back soon.

It may be called gluten-free, but is it really??

Many companies are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon these days.  Capturing the gluten-free market seems like a no brainer and a marketing gold mine, but some companies are so quick to market it, to have something they can provide that is "gluten-free" they don't really take the time to educate themselves first.

Case in point...  I am going to keep the company's name anonymous for the time being.  A new bakery-type place opened up not far from me in Intown Atlanta.  They are hip, cool and the latest thing, and I have heard nothing but rave reviews (from my gluten-able friends).  Someone mentions to me a couple of weeks ago that they will soon be serving gluten-free items.  Of course hearing that gives me hope.  I decide to call them last weekend to see if by some small miracle they have already introduced them.  I was told no, but that they were working on a recipe and they should have them soon, and that they had lots of people looking forward to it.  I believe I was speaking to the owner as they seemed to know what they were talking about.  I asked them how this item would be prepared....Onsite? In a separate area? At a separate time of the day? Using separate pans?

I was then told, that they would be prepared onsite, in the same area, and for this one particular item...in the same fryer!  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Obviously this person is not educated on what it means to be gluten-free.  I attempted to nicely explain that this is not gluten-free.  Once an item like a gluten-free chip or fries are fried with something breaded or containing flour, this negates all gluten-freeness.  The owner went on to tell me that her items are not really going to be meant for people who have to be gluten-free out of necessity, and that those people should really not be eating in a bakery in the first place (gasp!).  And that her new gluten-free items would only be for people who were gluten-free to live a more healthy lifestyle.

Deep breathe here.

I get that for someone with celiac to eat at any place with a shared kitchen (which is about 99.9% of eateries out there) we assume some kind of risk, and it is up to us to judge, for ourselves, what is acceptable.  But, when you put something in a shared fryer that is not just accidental cross-contamination, that is deliberate. That is not gluten-free.  You can not advertise something that is in a shared fryer as gluten-free.

There are many bakeries I feel comfortable at, and I know they are knowledgeable and take precautions to assure everything is as safe as possible.  Two places in particular are Swirlz cupcakes in Chicago, and BabyCakes.

I also had to mention that people who choose to eat gluten-free in order to live a more healthy lifestyle are most likely not eating these very fattening items anyway.  Those people are not looking for replacement items, period.  It is those with celiac that want to eat gluten-free versions of tasty treats everyone else gets to enjoy.

Not to mention, this could easily backfire on them.  Because, as we who are gluten-free know, when a company introduces something that is gluten-free, and people come in from all over just to have it, only to discover it really is not gluten-free....well, that is going to spread like wildfire throughout the gluten-free community and be no good for anyone.

In the end, I hope I was able to make a difference, and this place will either A) just not offer them; or B) educate themselves as to what really is gluten-free, and make them properly.  I really hope this unnamed company will get their act together.

How would you feel if a company started introducing something that you were really looking forward to, only to find out it really wasn't gluten-free after all?

Something to think about at the sushi bar

The other week M and I had the luxury of a date night.  It doesn't happen often, and I decided I wanted sushi, so we checked out a new sushi place.  I was feeling like a splurge and decided to go for an appetizer, and thought that the edamame was probably the only safe thing to order.  This is fine with me..because who doesn't like sucking out salty beans from their pods.  And then it struck me to ask...what water do they use to boil/steam their edamame?  And sure enough, they use the same water that they cook their (gluten) noodles.

On a plus side, they did have gluten-free soy sauce on hand.

That was a close one!  Always remember to ask when you order something steamed or boiled that it is not being steamed or boiled in the same water as something gluten-filled.

My public service announcement for the day.