Mexican Churros

Churros are a fried pastry based on a choux-style dough. They originated on the Iberian peninsula, though their popularity now extends far beyond Portugal and Spain, including much of Latin America. And what's not to love? It's fried dough, after all. And in this case, it's coated with cinnamon sugar and paired with chocolate sauce.

They can be straight, curved, or spiraled, and their classic ridged shape comes from piping them through a large star-shaped pastry tip. Much like how the ridges on gnocchi help to pick up more tomato sauce, we like to think churros' ridges help to pick up more chocolate sauce, but that's just a whimsical theory and not grounded in any real fact.

Mexican Churros
Makes 12–16 churros, 6–8 inches long each

Ingredients
1.5 L frying oil
1 cup water
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups (250 g) Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Chocolate sauce

Steps
1. Add the oil to a pot and bring up to 350 deg F. Use a candy thermometer to confirm and hold the temperature.
2. In a saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Remove from the heat, add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously until a ball of dough forms and pulls away from the side of the pan.
4. Transfer the dough to the mixing bowl of an electric mixer, and mix at low speed until the dough is only warm to the touch.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to incorporate each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl each time.
6. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
7. Pipe the dough directly into the oil, using a knife to cut the dough from the pastry tip to make 6–8-inch long strips.
8. Fry until golden brown, flipping halfway through to ensure even browning on all sides, about 3–5 minutes per side.
9. While the dough is frying, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl or bread pan.
10. Remove onto a paper towel, let drain for 5 seconds, then toss in the cinnamon sugar to coat and serve on a plate.

Degrees of Free-dom
This recipe is: gluten/wheat-free, peanut-free, tree-nut-free, soy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, vegetarian.

You could likely make this recipe dairy/lactose/casein-free by substituting vegan shortening, coconut oik, or vegetable oil for the butter.

Enjoy!

–Pete and Kelli

Fruita Trail Marathon 2013

One month ago on April 20 I had my first trail race of the year. It was the Fruita Trail Marathon on Colorado's Western Slope, in slickrock canyon country above the Colorado River. On paper it was a single 25-mile loop, with 3,400 vertical feet of elevation gain and 6,800 feet of elevation change total, primarily on singletrack trails. In other words, it was my kind of race.

As usual with the first race of the season, my goal here was mostly to test my fitness and gauge the progress I'd need to make to get ready for bigger races later in the season. Based on the stats for this race, my target was to flirt with breaking four hours.

It was decently chilly the night before and morning of the race; as I recall, in the low 40s. But the day would warm quickly and remained mercifully overcast—the route is relentless exposed to the sun, with zero tree cover to speak of in the desert, and blazing sunshine and hot temps could really cook you out there.

The bombing at the Boston Marathon had happened just five days earlier, and the race began with a particularly somber moment of silence. One racer wore a commemorative sign on the back of his shirt and carried a large American flag the entire race, just one of many signs of solidarity and support runners nationwide showed in the wake of the tragedy.

The race began with a mile and a half or so of dirt road, which gave us all a little time to sort out our paces and positions before hitting the singletrack. I came into the first aid station—where Kelli and the girls were waiting—running strong. Although it took a few miles to shake some cobwebs out of my legs, once warmed up they were feeling good and I was on or slightly ahead of target pace.

Before I ever came in to that aid station, it was clear that I'd overdressed for the temps. I left my long-sleeve shirt with Kelli, and if I could have stripped off my running tights I would have, but left my shorts in the car.

The course scenery was nothing short of spectacular. We ran on the edges of various mesas and canyons, with the Colorado River far below. I'd like to think that it was this distracting scenery that caused me to trip and fall somewhere around mile 8 or 9. I didn't fully hit the deck; I put my hands down to catch myself, but the rocks cut my palms up pretty well.

My gluten-free race nutrition plan for this shorter event was pretty low key: start with First Endurance EFS in my bottle, but then refill with the race's sports drink, plus fuel up with the fresh fruit, chocolate, and soda available at aid stations.

When I came into the next aid station, there were large bulk bags of M&Ms. I kindly asked one of the volunteers to pour some into my hands, holding out my bloody palms. "What, you don't want to reach into the bag?" he said. I told him with a smile that I didn't mind, but that other racers might not appreciate that.

Then it was off for more canyon country trail running.

Despite the fact that my main goals were to a) test my fitness, and b) if things were feeling good, push to break 4 hours, it's sometimes hard to resist racing more aggressively. In the back of my mind, I kept returning to the idea that if I ran well, I could contend for a top 20 finish.

My strategy was to maintain a solid pace and "reel in" other runners as they faded later in the race. There were just two problems with that strategy: 1) the front-running racers didn't fade, and 2) I did. As the miles ticked by in the later stages of the race, I could feel myself slipping off my own target pace. Argh!

At the final aid station, the girls were there—smiling and cheering as loudly as ever, offering high fives as I came through—which offered a great motivational boost. There was one final substantial climb to immediately come, then a traverse of a ridge, long descent, and a flat on the gravel road back to the finish line.

I crossed the finish line in 4:20:10, good for 27th out of 131 finishers.

That's when Kelli clued me in to a little fact I'd somehow completely overlooked. Although in previous years the race was 25 miles, some course re-routes for this year resulted in an honest 26.2-mile marathon. I wasn't off pace quite as much as I'd thought I was. If you backed out that extra 1.2 miles, my finish time would have been just under 4:10, only 20 seconds or so per mile slower than I'd hoped to run.

The sun eventually broke through the clouds, and we made our way back to our campsite at a state park along the Colorado River a short drive away. On the way, we stopped to pick up some refreshing New Planet Raspberry Ale (gluten-free beer is always a good post-race nutrition plan!) and kick back for the afternoon.

It was a good start to the season.

All photos by Kelli except 3rd image, by Glen Delman Photography.

Review: New Planet Beer's Belgian and Amber Ales

It's been more than 7.5 months since we've posted a product review. This has been a deliberate shift on our part. As this blog and our recipes evidence, our focus is on from-scratch cooking and baking. Regularly posting gluten-free product reviews was inconsistent with our perspective, because frankly, we don't buy or use most of the products we were reviewing.

But we're coming out of retirement, so to speak, this week with a review of New Planet Beer's two new offerings: Belgian Ale and Amber Ale. Why? For one, gluten-free beer is something that we buy on a somewhat regular basis. Sure, we homebrew gluten-free beer, too. But our current capacity means that we have one—maybe two, under best-case scenario—batches of homebrew on hand. Commercially available gluten-free beer is a great way to add variety to our options. Plus, it's both National Celiac Awareness Month and National Craft Beer Week.

We have a long history of reviewing New Planet's beers. We've twice reviewed their Blonde Ale (once called Tread Lightly Ale) here and again here. When their Raspberry Ale came out, we reviewed that too. Ditto for their Pale Ale, which remains one of my favorite gluten-free beers. We've also featured New Planet in a blind tasting against other gluten-free beers, as well as in another blind tasting against barley-based pale ales. (New Planet is also a long-time supporter for my annual Gluten-Free Ultramarathon Challenge, which in three years has raised more than $9,000 for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.)

With the addition of the Belgian and Amber ales to their lineup, New Planet now offers five—count 'em, five!—gluten-free beers. Most gluten-free beer companies are one-trick ponies ... think Redbridge or New Grist, which offer a single brew. Omission offers two. Only Green's, which brews six varieties in Belgium but only imports three to the United States, rivals New Planet for variety.

So how do New Planet's new offerings stack up?

Belgian Ale

My maternal grandmother was from Belgium, and so Belgian beers hold a special place near and dear to my heart (and taste buds). New Planet's Belgian Ale is brewed with water, sorghum and brown rice extract, honey, orange peel, cinnamon powder, vanilla extract, sterling hops, and yeast. It weighs in at 5% ABV.

That they call it a Belgian Ale isn't terribly informative, however. It's like calling a beer American. What does that mean? Belgian beers are incredibly diverse: from the sour lambics to the fruit beers, from the wild farmhouse ales to the saisons and wits and Trappist ales. What style of Belgian beer was New Planet actually going for?

The inclusion of ingredients such as orange peel and cinnamon suggest a saison. But for me, New Planet's Belgian Ale largely misses the mark. Its defining characteristic is an overly yeasty flavor. The orange, cinnamon, and vanilla are nowhere to be found. Despite high hopes, this one left me disappointed.

Amber Ale

New Planet's Amber Ale is brewed with water, sorghum and brown rice extract, molasses, tapioca maltodextrin, sterling and simcoe hops, and yeast. It also weighs in at 5% ABV. I must admit, I've been craving darker gluten-free beers. After years of having mostly lighter gluten-free beers as options, the prospect of a darker amber ale got me really excited.

I'm happy to report that New Planet's Amber Ale more than delivers. It has rich, complex flavors. In my opinion, it's one of the best new additions to the gluten-free beer landscape in a long time, perhaps since New Planet's own pale ale came out a while back. The Amber Ale has earned an instant spot alongside my regular rotation of gluten-free beers. Grab a six pack and enjoy.

–Pete

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a classic Middle Eastern salad traditionally made with bulgar (wheat!), tomatoes, finely chopped parsley, mint, onion, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. There are, of course, many variations on that theme, including versions that sub couscous (more wheat!) for the bulgar, as well as gluten-free versions that use quinoa in place of bulgar. For our version, we've gone with brown rice that we ground in a food processor to give a shape and texture closer to what you'd expect if you made this dish with bulgar.

Tabbouleh
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/3 cup brown rice
2/3 cup water
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tbsp chopped mint
1/4 cup grape tomatoes, diced small
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced (about 2 tbsp)
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps
1. Grind the brown rice in a food processor until you have small pieces. This takes a few minutes. Use a fine mesh strainer to remove any "rice powder" and retain only the broken rice grains.
2. Add to a saucepan with 2/3 cup of water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 35 minutes. Remove from the heat, fluff the rice, then spread out (such as on a cookie sheet) to cool.
3. Combine the cooked rice with all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Toss to mix well. Refrigerate and serve cool.

Degrees of Free-dom
This recipe is: gluten-free/wheat-free, dairy/lactose/casein-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, peanut-free, tree-nut-free, soy-free, vegetarian, vegan.

Enjoy!

–Pete and Kelli

Celiac Awareness Infographic

Today is May 15th, which means we've officially reached the halfway point through National Celiac Awareness Month. There is much to potentially celebrate—awareness is up, rates of diagnosis are up (or so I anecdotally hear), food companies and restaurants are increasingly offering gluten-free options.

But clearly there's much more work still to be done. Rates of successful celiac disease diagnosis are still far below the actual prevalence of the disease in the population. "Gluten-free"—for better or worse—is an in vogue fad at the moment. And misconceptions about forms of gluten intolerance and the gluten-free diet persist.

A sobering reminder of the challenge still before us is hopefully encapsulated in this basic infographic I've created, which compares the Google search popularity of "gluten" vs. "celiac." Click on the image to enlarge it, and if you find it of value, please share it widely. The take-home message is painfully clear: while gluten and the gluten-free diet are surging in popularity, awareness about celiac disease in particular—at least as measured by Google searches—has remained dead flat for the last decade.

–Pete

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Bacon Demi Glace

It's been an interesting spring here in Colorado. We thought winter was over, and then—wham!—we got nailed by several major snowstorms, all in the past few weeks, including a blizzard of sorts that closed portions of I-70 for several hours ... on May 1.

All of this wintry weather has had a surprising effect on our cooking. We are well into spring, at least as far as the calendar is concerned, and so I'd expect our seasonally-inspired cooking to gravitate towards fresh fruits and vegetables that are coming into their prime. But frankly, the cold snowy weather has had us craving soul-warming foods more indicative of fall and winter. And what's more evocative of fall than apple cider? (Okay, maybe pumpkin pie would give it a run for its money, but you know what I mean...)

Instead, we're embracing apple cider (and bacon!) this spring to make a richly flavorful sauce that pairs wonderfully with grilled pork tenderloin rubbed in some basic spices. Plus, we're borrowing the amazingly successful technique from our filet mignon recipe earlier this year, and pre-warming the pork to an internal temp of 100 degrees before searing (or in this case, grilling) to finish it.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Bacon Demi Glace
Makes three 1-pound tenderloins

Ingredients

For the pork:
Three 1-pound tenderloins
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp brown sugar

For the demi glace:
6–7 strips of bacon
75 g shallots, diced
5 large garlic cloves, minced
3 cups apple cider
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp GF Worcestershire sauce
3 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns
1 large sprig rosemary

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 250 deg F.
2. Combine the salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and brown sugar to make a rub.
3. Divide evenly among the three tenderloins, rubbing to coat.
4. Place the tenderloins on a wire rack over a baking sheet or pan and pop in the oven until the internal temperature reads 100 deg F.
5. Meanwhile, start to prepare the demi glace: Slice the bacon into 1–2-inch pieces and cook in a medium saucepan (~2 L) until well done and the fat is rendered.
6. Remove the bacon and set aside. Pour off excess fat from the saucepan, retaining only 1–2 tbsp. Sweat the shallot and garlic in the retained bacon fat until soft and translucent.
7. Add the bacon back in, plus all remaining ingredients for the demi glace.
8. Bring to a boil and reduce by 1/3 (a volume of ~1.5 L should become ~1 L).
9. Pour the demi glace through a fine mesh strainer, then return the liquid to the saucepan and continue reducing by half. (An original volume of ~1.5 L should finish at a little less than 0.5 L.)
10. If the flavor of the demi glace becomes sufficiently intense but the sauce is still very runny, thicken with just a bit of cornstarch dissolved in water (or similar).
11. Heat your grill to medium-high.
12. Grill the pre-warmed pork tenderloins. Rotate periodically to get good grill marks on all sides, and remove from the grill when the internal temperature of the thickest part of the pork tenderloin reads 155 deg F. Let rest for at least 10 minutes.
13. Slice and serve with the demi glace.

Degrees of Free-dom
This recipe is: gluten-free, dairy/lactose/casein-free, shellfish-free, peanut-free, tree-nut-free, soy-free.

Enjoy!

–Pete and Kelli

Mother's Day Recipes by Moms for Moms

Throughout my life I have held many roles, but never have I been in one that has felt more fulfilling, more right, and more challenging than the role of mother. I am fortunate and feel very blessed to have two beautiful children that I get to spend every day with, and this time while they are young is a gift I genuinely savor.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, now is the time to think about how to celebrate our moms. As a child, every year we would take my grandmothers out to lunch. As a mother myself now, we have celebrated in different ways, but there is always the common theme of eating together with as many family members as can gather. There is something so fundamental about sharing food and time together that make holidays special.

For this Mother’s Day I am thrilled to be included with seven other gluten-free mom bloggers in an e-book compiled by Attune Foods, A Gluten-Free Mother's Day: Recipes for Moms by Moms. The book includes gluten-free dishes with simple ingredients for breakfast in bed, brunch, recipes designed specifically for cooking with kids, and those you can make ahead of time.

The recipes include:

• Blueberry Breakfast Pudding with Granola Topping from Kim Lutz (vegan, tree nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free)
• Turkey Strata Muffins with Orange Slices and Balsamic Glaze from Beth Hillson (tree nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free)
• Corn Flake Quiche Lorraine from Karen Morgan (tree nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free)
• Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Tart from Kelli Bronski (vegetarian, tree nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free)
• Blueberry Scones with Vanilla Lemon Sweet Cashew Cream and Homemade Blueberry Chia Seed Jam from Maggie Savage (vegan, egg-free, dairy-free, peanut-free)
• Peanut Butter Crunch French Toast with Maple-Peanut Butter Syrup from Alta Mantsch (vegetarian, dairy-free, tree nut-free)
• Chocolate or Carob Tart with Dairy-Free Whipped Topping from Adrienne Urban (vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, peanut-free)
• Strawberry Streusel Oatmeal Breakfast Cake from Kim Maes (vegetarian, dairy-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free)

Download your FREE copy of A Gluten-Free Mother's Day: Recipes for Moms by Moms.

Enjoy!
Kelli