Jennie had the brilliant idea of starting an illustrated series called “Educate Your Plate,” where we inform you about foods you either haven’t been exposed to or are too nervous to try. Because let’s be honest, some foods are scary. (Kohlrabi!? What the heck is that!?). We thought we’d start by exploring some delicious and underutilized veggies! Below, you’ll find tips, tricks, and suggested methods of getting more beets, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, and cabbage from your plate into your mouth. Nom!

 Did you learn anything new? What other veggies/fruits are you scared to try?

We love our teen soaps almost as much as we love a good cheeseburger, so it seemed fitting to whip up a Supernatural themed meal this month.  Head over to Fanboy Comics or the Writer’s Guild Foundation to see our take on Sam and Dean Winchester’s perfect meal. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, rest easy and just admire these beautiful (gluten free!) burgers.

When you’re told your stomach can no longer digest gluten, your food life flashes before your eyes. As my doctor spoke those fateful words, I was physically looking at her but was seeing everything I loved and could no longer enjoy. Pizza was the number one loss. I couldn’t shake the idea that a formidable slice of cheese with mushrooms and olives was sitting next to me on that papery exam table, come to pay its respects to a stomach it would never see again. Then in walked spaghetti, breakfast sandwiches, straight up bread. Everything swam through my head in a melancholy dirge, a gluten-filled parade.

Cheez-Its, however, were late to the party. In fact, they didn’t even enter my brain-space until I took a wrong turn down the cracker aisle and found myself near tears holding a package of Goldfish, all the simple goodness of novelty shaped cheese crackers rushing back to me.

I wish I could tell that sad, cracker-clutching girl that within 5 years she would be living in one of the gluten-free-friendliest cities with close to 30 percent of the population adhering to the GF trend.

And even if that weren’t the case, I would tell her that not eating wheat really isn’t all that bad with a bit of ingenuity and know-how.

With all that in mind this week, I celebrated my fifth year of gluten-free living. And paid tribute to at least one item my past self never thought I would see again.

Ingredients

1 block of sharp cheddar (around 10 ounces)
½ cup of butter (between room temperature and chilled)
½ cup sweet white rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup potato flour
¼ cup sorghum flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of plain yogurt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325.
2. Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until a lose dough is formed, being careful not to over mix.
3. Gently finish working the dough together by hand.
4. On a (gluten-free) floured surface or between sheets of saran wrap, roll dough out to desired thickness. I rolled mine pretty thin. They bake better if they are ¼ inch or less.
5. Cut into whatever fun shape you want!
6. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Give them a little space. They may migrate just a bit.
7. Bake for 8 minutes, rotating them after 4. Stay attentive to them. Depending on your oven they may need a touch more or less time. Just keep in mind they’ll brown before you know it.
8. Let them cool and crisp up.
9. Tell your past self to get a grip and drop the gluten-filled crackers.

What are some other gluteny items you miss that you wish were gluten free? Let us know and we’ll try to develop them for you!

Last weekend, Jennie and I decided to add some new and different kitchen skills to our repertoire. So, we took an amazing class on making your own household cleaners out of everyday items found in your kitchen. The lovely and talented Annie Dumont over at A Kitchen Story taught us how to make our own all natural laundry detergent, liquid hand soap, soft clean scrub, and an everyday citrus household cleaner!

Annie teaches all kinds of classes on how to make all natural household products–everything from homemade bar soap to diaper rash cream! A couple of her recipes utilized shredded flakes of her homemade bar soaps, but she was great about providing us with alternatives in case we don’t get a chance to take her soap making class in the future (but we hope we do)!

Not only did we come away with four of our own handmade cleaners, but Annie was also a wealth of knowledge on all natural tips and tricks. We learned you can use hydrogen peroxide as a bleach alternative to whiten your laundry, and that vodka can double as “febreze” and an all-natural “dry cleaner” if you spray it on your clothes and let air dry.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon of conversation, soap making, and sharing kitchen knowledge. Thanks so much to Annie for hosting us and teaching us her ways!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day, everyone! We hope that you found some time in your weekend to have a Guinness or eat some corned beef and cabbage, or that you found a decent piece of soda bread. If you didn’t, we’re here to give you another recipe for delicious soda bread – this year, with currants I actually found at Whole Foods.

Growing up on the east coast, St. Patrick’s Day usually meant a parade and maybe some delicious food but always we had soda bread (on the holiday and just throughout the year.) I love it, and I stated making it in college. Then, upon moving to California, I found it really hard to find currants (aka tiny raisins). On the east coast, and in the midwest, they are in every grocery store you go to, but in Los Angeles they’re quite foreign.

This soda bread is delicious for breakfast, and should definitely be eaten with a generous amount of butter.

Recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cup currants
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter

1. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Add currants.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, add melted butter and buttermilk, stir.
4. Slowly add to flour mixture. Stir until combined, but don’t over beat.
5. Put in greased loaf pans.
6. Bake at 30-45 minutes at 375.

Just a note: we just switched to Kerrygold butter, and we want you to know if you’re going to be eating some butter, this is the butter to be eating. It’s delicious, it’s from grass-fed cows, and it’s a lovely consistency. No one paid us to say that, Kerrygold probably doesn’t know we exist (but if they do, hi guys!) but we think you should know it’s a delight.

Happy St. Paddy’s day from us to you – what are you doing today to celebrate?