Home-baked goodness

I seem to have reignited my love of baking this weekend.

Saturday night, on the way home from a friend's house, we decided we wanted biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Sunday morning. One of the more upsetting parts about not having gluten in my life is not being able to have biscuits and gravy. Yeah, I know they're not the healthiest thing in the world, but they remind me of being a kid, and I just love them. So to have biscuits and gravy now, I have to make the whole thing from scratch.

Step one, shopping. I know from experience that Bob's Red Mill GF Biscuit and Baking Mix biscuits are my preferred type. We had to go to two grocery stores to find the mix.

Step two, bake! I made the biscuits when I got home, which kept me up a little later than I wanted, but was well worth it come breakfast on Sunday. I follow the recipe on the back of the package, and the biscuits are yummy. They're not very fluffy, which is kind of sad, but they're perfect for being soaked in gravy.

Step three, on Sunday morning, make the gravy. I used the non-gf recipe found at Mama's Southern Cooking, and substituted the biscuit mix flour. I also used less sausage, since the sausage package had 12 oz. And for the milk, I used 1%, because that's what we had.

Step four, devour. It was so good! I restrained myself (and Mike!) and we saved some so that we could have biscuits and gravy for breakfast this morning also. So yummy.

This morning, since I woke up stupid early, I decided to try my hand at gluten free bagels. I used to make bagels a lot when I was living in the land of gluten, but I haven't attempted them since going gf. I did a bit of searching on the internet, and landed on The Gluten Free Cook's recipe. I was bound and determined not to leave the house, though, so this special gluten free flour blend the recipe calls for just wasn't going to happen. To try to stick as close to her recipe as possible, I used the King Arthur's gf blend, which doesn't have xanthan gum already in it, and added the xanthan gum called for in the recipe.

However, when I was measuring out the flour, I discovered I only had about two cups of flour, rather than the 3 1/4 she called for. I figured I'd approximately halve the recipe, and forged onward. Forgetting that the xanthan gum and salt I already measured out were not halved. I realized after pouring everything in together what mistake I had made, but I figured I'd just keep going and hope for the best.

I topped the bagels with garlic powder, dried chopped onions, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds. Everything Bagels FTW! They just came out of the oven, so I can't tell yet if they're any good, but they look like bagels! I'll be crossing my fingers that they turn out well, and looking for other recipes in the meantime.

Twist on Angell

The nerd herd (my fellow finance majors from Rhode Island College and our significant others) went out to dinner last night, and I had such a great experience that I wrote the restaurant on their webpage. Below is what I wrote to them.

I visited Twist on Angell last night for the first time, specifically to try the gluten-free menu. One of the diners in our group had done an internet search and thought it sounded interesting, so off we went. I was thrilled by the wide variety of options, the knowledge of our server, and the delicious food. I had the pan-fried "Buffalo" chicken tenders as an appetizer, and the Scallops Gremolata for an appetizer. Both were incredible, and I left completely stuffed. I have tried many different restaurants since starting a gluten-free diet, and this is hands down the best experience I have ever had. I will definitely be visiting again, and I will be recommending it to all of my gluten-free friends. Thank you for providing a safe and delicious meal for those of us with dietary restrictions.