Gluten Free Sausage Balls

I have had a lot of interest in my gluten-free sausage balls.  My family asks for these regularly and they never stick around long.  Simple to make, they are an easy appetizer if you are eating gluten-free or know someone who is.

Ingredients, pre-mixing

What you'll need:
1 1/4 cups gluten free Bisquik
1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temp--or, because I am impatient, I just zap mine in the microwave for 30-45 seconds)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 lb hot sausage, uncooked (check your ingredients to ensure you have a gluten free sausage--I prefer Jimmy Dean)

While gathering your ingredients, preheat oven to 400F.

Mix all of your ingredients together in one bowl.  Forget utensils, they don't work.  Use your hands!!  I keep a box of latex gloves in the house specifically for the purpose of making sausage balls. A pair of gloves will prevent getting all the soon-to-be-yumminess under your fingernails (yuck!).

I was out of gloves this day, a plastic baggy was a compromise. 

After all of your ingredients are thoroughly blended, roll the mixture into balls (about silver-dollar size).  My mother's are usually perfectly rounded.  Again, since I am impatient, mine usually look more like amoebas and less like balls, but are tasty none-the-less!

Finished product!

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400F.  I check the bottom of the sausage balls for a nice brown color to know they are done.  After cooking, remove sausage balls with a spatula and place on paper towel lined plate or bowl.  Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!!  I guarantee these will go quickly!

Gluten Free Asheville

Recently I was visiting Asheville, NC for my college roommate's bachelorette trip.  One of the most anxiety-driven moments of travel for me is, always, what am I going to eat?  Those of you with celiac disease or any other dietary restriction understand, it is not always easy to find food you can eat (much less enjoy).  From what I had heard about Asheville, I was not too worried, but like always I did a little reconnaissance before the trip to know what options were available.  I was thrilled with the options! I am going to share my gluten-free Asheville trip with you (pardon the quality of my photos, they were all taken on my phone!).

The first night our group ate at Tupelo Honey Cafe. It was awesome!  They had a separate gluten free menu which made ordering easy--even if the decision was not!

Tupelo Honey's Gluten Free Menu

I decided on the Charleston Chicken Sandwich and a cup of the ToMAYto-ToMAHto Soup.  It was perfect on that chilly night to have a warm sandwich and hot cup of soup.  Although they don't take reservations, we called ahead and had to wait only a few minutes upon arrival (for a group of 11).  The place was packed, but I can see why--the food was great.  I heard not one complaint and everyone, gluten-eating and non, enjoyed their meal! 

Tupelo Honey's Charleston Chicken Sandwich and ToMAYto-ToMAHto Soup

On our second day in Asheville we toured the Biltmore House and decided to eat lunch while on the property.  Being a touristy-type of place I was not overly optimistic, but was pleasantly surprised!  We ate at Cedric's Tavern and although they do not have a specific gluten free menu, the waiter was well-versed in the available options.  They also carry gluten free bread and buns so you can order any of their sandwiches gluten free.  I ordered Chef Mark’s Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Ashe County cheddar, house-made boursin, Cabot white cheddar, crispy bacon and tomato) with a side of mashed potatoes.  The grilled cheese was creamy and cheesy and definitely hit the spot!  The also have amazing homemade pickles to snack on while waiting for your meal.  

Cedric's Tavern Chef Mark's Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Cedric's Tavern Homemade Pickles

Our final dinner in Asheville was at a place I have been wanting to go for several years now, Posana Cafe--- an entirely, 100% gluten free restaurant.  I was like a kid in a candy shop!  It's a wonderful feeling to be able to walk into a restaurant and order ANYTHING on the menu.  I didn't have to speak to a chef or manager, or ask for a special menu, or get a confusing list of allergen information someone just printed off the Internet.  Their dinner menu looked exciting and I was not entirely sure what to order until the waitress told us about the daily specials.  I ordered a pork tenderloin with gnocchi.  It was fabulous!  

Posana Cafe's Pork Tenderloin and Gnocchi

Several people ordered the fried chicken appetizer and it got mixed reviews from the gluten eaters of the group.  It's not your typical flour-dredged fried chicken, so if that's what you are wanting/expecting it might be surprising. 

Posana Cafe's Fried Chicken Appetizer

I think overall, most of us were extremely satisfied with our dinner.  I also ordered dessert, a trio of pumpkin desserts--mousse, mini-cupcake and profiterole.  I basically licked my plate and didn't offer to share.  

Enjoying my gluten free desserts and brew!

Posana also has an impressive list of gluten free beers.  I tried two, 1) Brunehaut Blond Ale and 2) Bard's.  Although I stilled haven't found a gluten free beer I "love," I am thrilled to get to try so many new types.  

Posana Cafe's Gluten Free Beer Selection

The weekend was not about the food, however, it was about spending an amazing weekend with my dear friends whom I don't get to see often enough.  But I was excited to get to eat out with my friends without always ordering a salad or a burger without a bun.  I appreciate my friends being willing to try places they might not otherwise, or finding restaurants safe for me to eat.  I am truly blessed to have such an amazing group of friends.  

Good friends make for great memories!

Hamburger Cupcakes

Last night was an awesome night. Those of you who know me know my love for Tar Heel basketball.  We had some friends over to watch the Duke/UNC basketball game, including two Duke fans (one alum).  If you caught the game you know the ending, but if you didn't, let me just tell you--it wasn't even a fair fight.  Duke, on their home court, just did not show up.  UNC led within the first few seconds and never gave up the lead.  Maybe not the most exciting game to watch, but an awesome retaliation from last month's loss to Duke.

I made hamburger cupcakes for the game.  A student of mine did their demonstration speech last week on how to make these and I immediately wanted to attempt a gluten-free version.

Final Product

I found the recipe on Pinterest, so you can see the original pin there, but here is what I did to adapt the recipe.  Not having time to make cupcakes from scratch I went with the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mixes.  You need two mixes, one yellow cake mix and one chocolate.  You need 1 tub of icing (unless you make your own), a bag of coconut, sesame seeds and food coloring. 

Bake the yellow cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes according to the box directions.  While the cupcakes are baking you can mix your icing.  I used half of a container of icing for the yellow (mustard) and half for the red (ketchup).  Mix in bowls and put in separate plastic baggies.  Cut a small tip off one corner of each baggy to create your icing bag.  This will allow you to pipe icing onto your cupcakes like condiments would come out of a squeeze jar.

Take about half a bag of coconut and add green food coloring to create your lettuce--use a utensil to mix so you don't dye your hands green (or wear gloves).  Set aside.

Once cupcakes come out I sprinkled some toasted sesame seeds on the top of the yellow cupcakes to make them look more like buns.  This is obviously an optional step, I happened to have the seeds in my cupboard.  I gently pressed the seeds into the tops of the cupcakes to keep them from falling off.  Let both sets of cupcakes cool.

Once cupcakes are cooled cut the yellow cupcakes in half to create your "buns."  Cut the bottom 1/4"-1/2" off the chocolate cupcakes to create your "burgers."

You will begin each burger by putting down the base of your yellow cupcake (bottom of the bun), then piping on your yellow icing to look like mustard.  Then lay the chocolate cupcake section on top of the icing.  Layer again with your red icing to look like ketchup.  Sprinkle with your green coconut--your lettuce.  Finish with the top of your yellow cupcake and a toothpick (bonus points if you have the deli-style toothpicks with the little plastic "fringe" on top).

You have now completed your hamburger cupcake! 

Not pictured: Betty Crocker Yellow Gluten Free Cake Mix

What I would do differently:  First of all, if you don't have to make them gluten free then don't :)  Making anything gluten free is more expensive and usually more complicated than making a "normal" comparable.  Secondly, if you do want to make them gluten free I would recommend making the yellow cupcakes from scratch.  The mix tastes more "gluten-free" to me than a homemade cupcake.  But, if you are short on time, like I usually am, go with the mix! I think for the chocolate cupcakes the mix works well because you are using such a small part of it.  Thirdly, I would buy some icing already dyed red.  It is very difficult to get a true red using food coloring.  My "ketchup" therefore ended up more hot pink than red.

What to do with the leftover chocolate cupcakes?  You can freeze them and have cupcakes later or use them to create a delicious looking Triple Chocolate Trifle  or some amazing Chocolate Cake Balls.

Pinterest Goes Gluten Free

As I am sure many of you are, I too am obsessed with Pinterest lately. However, many of the foods that I have been drooling over are not gluten free, meaning my son nor I can eat them.  So, I set about finding some of Pinterests best gluten free recipes.  The problem with many gluten free recipes is they require many, many ingredients and much more time than I seem to have.  This week was a rare week for me because I actually had time to try several of the Pinterest recipes I found.  These were my requirements for trying recipes:
1) It was gluten free, or,
2) could easily be made gluten free (with small alterations),
3) required few ingredients (I don't have the time or patience),
4) used ingredients I would normally use or have on hand, and
5) was good enough that my non-gluten free husband would also enjoy them.

Here's the recap...

One of my favorite foods is a nice, fresh caprese salad, so when I saw this recipe for a Hot Caprese Dip I definitely added it to my "to-try" list.  At only three ingredients (mozzerella, tomato, and basil), this dip was super easy to make.  I followed the directions exactly but found the dip was watery and almost inedible without a knife and fork.  I served the dip with gluten free lentil chips.  Even though the dip was runny and required a fork to eat, I managed to eat the entire thing by myself, in one sitting.

Before baking

My recommendations for the future:  I used fresh mozzarella (still in the water) to make my dip.  I think in the future I would use bag shredded mozzarella as it would have much less moisture.  Some of the reviews for the dip suggested using some cream cheese to help create a creamier texture and that may also be a direction I try in the future.  

After baking

Next recipe was for Mama's Meatloaf. I LOVE a good southern meal and meatloaf is one thing I can never order in a restaurant due to use of breadcrumbs.  I have tried to adapt several meatloaf recipes in the past and had decent success.  This one was no different, it was a decent meatloaf, but the sauce and the presentation made it fabulous.

Mama's Meatloaf Cupcakes-Post Production

How I made this recipe gluten free: I used Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Panko-Style Breadcrumbs.  I used Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce in the recipe because it is already gluten free.

Mashed potatoes: To save time I used OreIda's Steam n' Mash.  Microwave for ten minutes and then add butter and milk.  I used my icing piper to pipe mashed potatoes onto my mini meatloaves.
 
What I would change for the future?  Nothing.  I really liked this recipe, however the time invested into making meatloaves mini was probably a bit excessive for a normal dinner (to me, at least).  I will use this recipe again, but probably as a normal sized meatloaf unless it's a special occasion.


The same night we had the meatloaf cupcakes I made this Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole (try saying that three times fast).  It is actually a breakfast recipe, but it seemed sweet enough to make for a dessert.  A mix of bread, cream cheese and berries made this breakfast look sweet and decedent.

Before Baking

How I made it gluten free:  Used Udi's Gluten Free Sandwich Bread cut into pieces for the base.  Gluten free frozen organic berries in the casserole and used gluten free blueberry pie filling as the topping.
What I would do differently?  When the dish was done it looked so rich and sweet, but I found instead some "chunks" of cream cheese that I expected to taste more like a cheesecake just tasted like cream cheese.  For breakfast I would keep the recipe as written and if made as a dessert I would add a little bit of powdered sugar to the cream cheese to up the sweetness factor.  None-the-less, it was a success with the entire family.  The pictures aren't so pretty, but it was yummy!

After Baking & Eating :)

Tonight's dinner was Mini Mexican Pizzas.  As posted the recipe is not gluten free, but it was an easy fix.  It was yet another recipe that required a muffin pan, so it's gotten good use this week.   Following the recipe as posted I found the mini pizzas did not come out of the pan very easily.  I had three mini pizzas where I left out the salsa step (as per husband's request) and they came out quite nicely. I also added a can of mexicorn, just to give a little more substance and variety. I guess the salsa gave the pizzas too much moisture so the shell never got crunchy.  I thought these were easy and a nice change from our normal food rotation.  Baby, husband and I all ate happily.

Prior to baking--Not too pretty, but yummy!

How I made it gluten free:  Besides making sure your refried beans, taco seasoning and salsa are gluten free, the only substitution I had to make was using corn tortillas instead of flour ones.  Since corn tortillas are less pliable, I put the tortillas in the mircrowave between two wet paper towels for 45 seconds to give them a little moisture and increase the pliability.
Changes for future?  I think the only thing I might try is using ground beef instead of turkey.  Although it was good, the ground turkey kinda got lost in the mix.

Again, not too pretty, but the yummy post-production Mexi-pizzas

And last, but not least, I wanted a late night snack. Craving something fried and cheesy I remembered the Pinterest gluten free mozzarella sticks I pinned recently. The recipe as posted is gluten free, and I used Southern Homestyle Tortilla Crumbs and seasoned as directed.  They were fabulous!  Husband and I both thought they were just as good as "normal" mozzarella sticks.  This will be a permanent fixture in the gluten-free recipe book.

The process of making the gluten-free mozz sticks

Finished mozz sticks--fried cheesy deliciousness!

Changes for the future?  Not a darn thing except to make these more often!!

All in all, a good successful week of new ideas and new recipes.  Most were successes, but I learned some things that will help if I indeed make these recipes again in the future.

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My Soapbox

This blog was inspired by a conversation I had with a co-worker today.  A co-worker innocently asked me, "isn't gluten-free the latest fad diet, kinda like Atkins?" Now, those of you who know me know this sort of question can really ruffle my feathers, but this particular person was really asking out of curiosity and interest.  My answer, however, was disjointed, confusing to even myself, and sounded more like a read of my medical chart than an intelligent conversation.  So, I would like to take a moment to actually answer the question here...

I am not a doctor, so what I offer here is not a medical opinion.  I do, however, have celiac disease and have done a lot of research on the gluten-free lifestyle.  So, I offer my personal opinion.  It boils down to this, there are three types of people 1) those who suffer from celiac disease, 2) those who are gluten intolerant/sensitive, and 3) everyone else.  Notice that I do not have a category for those who are "fad-dieters" or those who think a gluten-free diet will help them lose weight.  There should be no category for those individuals, I will include them in category #3.

1)  Individuals with celiac disease have an autoimmune disease.  It is not contagious, you can't catch it.  It is genetic and like many autoimmune diseases some people are asymptomatic and others have many difficulties.  Symptoms look different in different people which is one reason is is difficult to diagnose.  The "gold standard" of diagnosis is a biopsy of the small intestine (done during an endoscopy for which sedation is required). It is estimated 1 in 133 people have celiac disease (celiac.com).  There is no cure, so a lifetime strict gluten-free diet is mandatory.  Even if someone is asymptomatic (which is rare), the repercussions for not eating gluten free are severe.  Untreated celiac disease can cause other autoimmune diseases, increases the risk of neural-tube birth defects in pregnant women and leaves an individual 40-100 times more likely to get cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (celiac.com).  

2) The second tier of individuals is those with gluten-intolerance/sensitivity.  Many people may have this and not even realize it.  This could manifest itself similar to celiac disease, however there may not be any intestinal damage.  These individuals will not test positive for celiac disease but seem to have symptoms when they eat gluten.  Similar to lactose intolerance, these individuals range in their sensitivity to gluten.  You will find some individuals with gluten intolerance who are diligent and strict in their diet.  You may find others who are less sensitive who can "cheat" now and again.  In either case it doesn't mean it isn't real, it means it is a spectrum disorder and it manifests itself very differently in different people.

3)  The third group is everyone else.  It is my personal opinion the food pyramid is a warped perception of how "we" (Americans) should eat.  The "bread, cereal, rice and pasta" group represents the largest portion of the pyramid.  The problem is that most of the average American is eating in terms of bread, cereal and pasta is not the variety of whole grain breads and pastas, it's in the form of overly processed, pre-packaged foods of convenience with an expiration date 2 years from time of manufacturing.  Food items like pastries, cakes and cookies have no place in this part of the pyramid, yet somehow people attempt to fit them under the "bread" heading.  With this being said, I think everyone (myself included) could more closely regulate our processed food consumption.  But how would cutting back on bread, pasta, cereal and pastries benefit someone without celiac or gluten sensitivity?

There are individuals who remove gluten from their diet in an attempt to lose weight.  The premise of this diet is similar to that of South Beach or Atkins diets.  If you remove gluten from your standard diet you are essentially removing carbs from your diet.  If you, however, replace those foods with gluten free versions of the same foods, you are still consuming the same amount of carbs and therefore will not see significant weight loss.
Books like this are not helping promote the truth that most individuals who eat gluten free have major health issues and reasons for doing so.  The notion that gluten free is the latest fad-diet makes it hard to be taken seriously when I order a meal from the gluten free menu or for a waiter to understand that I get very sick when I consume gluten.  I am not ordering off the gluten free menu to be needy or to be fashionable.
(Side note, the book I linked above promotes the removal of wheat from the diet.  Gluten is more than just wheat, it is barley and rye as well.)

Now, there are athletes and non-athletes alike who are removing gluten from their diet and they seem to say that feel like they have more energy and better mental clarity.  My speculation is that some of these individuals may have a gluten sensitivity, but there are other reasons tied to athletic performance as you can read here. 

Questioning if you should try a gluten free diet, this website lists some substitutions for common gluten-filled items.  It also discusses who should go gluten free and the reasons for doing so.

The choice, if it is a choice, is not an easy one.  I do know that now I am much more aware of the foods that go into my body.  If there was a magic pill I could take and eat a Papa John's pizza and Cheesecake Factory cheesecake tomorrow--I would!  However, I know I am much healthier for eliminating so much of the "crap" from my diet.  My point boils down to this, I believe everyone can benefit from reducing the amount of gluten they ingest.  It's not a miracle weight-loss diet, it's just a step in the direction to a healthier lifestyle, and for me it's definitely not a choice. 

Ok, off the soapbox now--and I promise the soap was gluten free ;)

Why yes, I have been staring at this bottle of ranch dressing for 20 minutes

Friday, January 22nd

On this day I am 5 months from turning 30. My husband and I talked of wanting to start a family this year, and January is the first month in this new year. Then the bombshell of a celiac diagnosis and my mind-set shifted entirely from baby-making to gluten-free bread making.

On this morning, as he has done every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since, my husband got up and made me a gluten free breakfast of homemade hashbrowns and eggs. I teach early classes those mornings and if I don't eat breakfast I feel very sick and very weak. I used to grab something to eat in the car on the 20 minute ride, but most of those items are gluten-filled. I can't believe he wants to get out of bed before he has to make me breakfast. I love having that time, however brief it is, together in the mornings.

Today is bigger than me however, for today, I tackle the grocery store. I feel confident in saying I spent less time in the store where I picked and bought my wedding dress than I did the grocery store on this particular day. I spent hours reading ingredient labels, trying to understand words I had never seen before and usually couldn't pronounce. At this point I have still not been back to the doctor and the Internet sites seem conflicted about whether MSG is bad or harmful for celiac's, so I decide best to avoid it. That small decision cut out another huge portion of things I couldn't eat. I tear up several times, and just decide to avoid the cereal and cookie aisle at all cost.

I spent a good 20 minutes in the salad dressing aisle trying to find a ranch dressing or mix without MSG. I gave up, defeated, and continued on my quest to finding the "gluten free" land. Well, when I got there, I realized it wasn't so much a land, as three shelves on a short aisle of organic, vegan, or allergen-friendly foods. I saw mostly an array of flours I had never heard of in varieties I never knew existed. Who knew tapioca had a flour? And who chews Xanthan gum? I settle on some gluten free pre-made cookies, some rice mac & cheese, and some Quinoa pasta (Quinoa-another word I was unfamiliar with). When the cashier hit the "total" button on the register, I realized a new and before absent side effect of celiac's--it has a sneaky ability to rid you of your hard-earned money before you can crunch into a gluten-free wafer bar. To this day the sticker-shock has not worn off and I am still amazed at how expensive gluten-free foods are. I realize I may have to be willing to buy less shoes and have less-amazing looking footwear in order to have a more-amazing looking intestine. I have often made sacrifices in the name of fashion, but I can no longer afford to be making sacrifices in the name of health.

WAY late update: Two weeks after my celiac diagnosis I found out I was pregnant with our first child. Mothers with undiagnosed celiac disease can experience low birth weight babies, babies born with neural tube defects and an increased risk of preterm labor. Thank God for my timely diagnosis--He works in miraculous ways.

Cameron Rhodes Scott was born on November 3, 2011 (2 weeks late!) at a healthy 8 lbs, 2 oz.