Search results: gluten free

Here is a blog post I hand wrote while away on my yoga training that I just returned home from. I was in Vermont for two weeks and now I’m slowly settling back in

Here I am, the last couple of days of my training and I’ve learned an abundance of information not only about my spiritual practice but… you guessed it, my belly speaks again.

Although the chef and staff on retreat have been great and very accommodating to my gluten free needs, the food has not been as clean as I’m used to and I’m certainly paying for it now.

I started getting uncontrollably tired and I wasn’t quite sure why. My body started sending more messages like heartburn and that’s finally when I put my foot down. I stopped eating the acidic meals that the chef was preparing and the next day I immediately felt a difference and wasn’t tired! I slept well, woke up refreshed and was ready to learn 🙂

My question for you is: what in your life is making you tired? Is it eating too much food that your body can’t digest? Acidity? Mucus? Sugar? Work? Relationships? What in your life is dragging you down and how can you put an end to it?

Please take a minute to stop and think about this. Tune into your body because like I always say: your body is your temple and you’re the only one who can control what goes in and out.

Have you heard of Terri? It’s a vegan café that has gluten free options! It’s basically a dream come true. Quality GF food is hard to come by, so I thought I’d spread the word if you haven’t heard about it yet.

I love getting a GF wrap when I go, just for the simple reason that I can NEVER get a sandwich anywhere anymore!

I like getting the roasted veggie wrap. Please try it out when you are around 23^rd street and 6^th avenue. I know you won’t be disappointed. Oh, and you non-gf’ers can definitely find yummy food on the menu too!

I love sharing good tips – send me one of your tips, I’m very interested in trying new things.

Ciao

It’s officially time for me to write a review about what I think is the most incredible restaurant in NYC.

Simply because it’s Italian and they offer many gluten free options as well as grass fed meat!!

WOW – this is a dream come true for me. As soon as you sit down someone comes over and asks if there are any allergies at the table. Amazing!

Then you have the option of regular bread OR gluten free bread dipped in olive oil – a serious dream come true 🙂

Bistango has been an Italian life saver. I thought I was doomed for boring grilled salmon at every Italian restaurant, but it turns out that there is hope for us GF eaters. I don’t mind eating grilled salmon, but it has to be on my terms, not because it’s the only thing on the menu that I can actually eat.

Now I’m not saying that you should go to Bistango and eat a crazy amount of food because you will most likely get a stomachache, but what I am saying is that you can have the option, if you eat the right amount, to walk out of there feeling pleasantly full without a stomachache on the horizon.

Did I mention that the owner is always there walking around in his white apron greeting guests? He is probably the nicest man I have ever encountered at a restaurant – he actually cares about his patrons and is always looking to please the customers.

You are sure to have an incredible experience at Bistango, take my word.

Everyone can find something to eat here – I promise. Next time you’re in the mood for Italian, head to Bistango and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

P.S. no they’re not paying me to write this! I just really like this place and had to share the great find with you all.

Enjoy!

Tonight everything has changed in the hamburger world. Every time I attempt to have any type of burger I’m stuck with the plain burger and no bun. Tonight, everything’s changin! My excitement about this new GF hamburger bun (that’s actually not filled with total junk) is soaring high!

On this fine night we decided to make grass-fed ground beef burgers and as we walked around Whole Foods we actually came across gluten free hamburger buns! If only you could have seen the excitement in my eyes as we quickly threw the package into our cart.

I’ve never been so happy about a hamburger bun before and boy was it worth every bit of hype. You see, I’m always the girl who makes sure her burger comes without the bun, not because I’m watching my carb intake, but because my body can’t tolerate the gluten that’s in the buns! Please check out Canyon Bakehouse for an incredible (healthier then all the rest) surprise.

We were so hungry when we got home from the market that we couldn’t wait to start cooking immediately.

I grabbed the ground meat, scallions, garlic powder, cinnamon and lime and prepared myself to make the best kickin’ burger around town.

We toasted the buns, got out the ketchup, hot sauce (for Chad) and sauerkraut. YUMMY

The cinnamon gave it the most incredible hint of sweetness. According to Chad, we made the best damn burger that he’s had in NYC!

Here’s the recipe: This will make 3-4 burgers depending on their size

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound of grass-fed ground beef

2 scallions

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ a lime

Start by removing your meat from the package and place it into a mixing bowl. Chop your scallions using the green and white parts and add them in with the meat. Then add your garlic and cinnamon and mix together. Make your patties and set them aside on a separate platter.

Place a frying pan on the stove and pour in your olive oil. Heat on high until the oil is hot, then lower to a medium flame. Place your burgers in the pan and let cook, flipping when needed so both sides cook evenly. Take the lime and sprinkle some juice over each side of the burgers. Sprinkle some extra cinnamon on each side as you flip the burgers. Cook until desired and place on a plate with paper towel to soak up any extra oil.

Load up your burger and enjoy!

GF burger!

Fully loaded burger

We just returned home from our trip to California and it was a food fiasco out there – in a good way! Our whole trip was 10 days long and we drove down the coast from Napa to Los Angeles. In each place we went, we used YELP to find wonderful restaurants – what an amazing website!!

I was completely surprised to see how many places in California were gluten free friendly and more importantly they actually knew what it meant to be gluten free and how to deal with me. That’s not something that I see frequently here in NYC and I was very pleasantly surprised. I wonder why restaurants here are not as well versed…? Any ideas?

The food was SO fresh it was almost bursting in our mouths. We went to an incredible farmers market in San Francisco on Saturday and I was shocked to see the quality, knowledge, friendliness, and uniqueness of all the vendors and their products.

They had heirloom tomatoes that literally tasted like basil and no they were not mixed with anything – it was simply fresh soil.

I also bought salt infused with lavender and one infused with rosemary – amazing flavors!

There were all different types of food stalls, including a vegan table with all sorts of interesting smoothies, sushi, and incredible flavors.

In a nutshell, Chad and I were both completely impressed with the quality and care that people take with their food out in Cali. We only wish that New York restaurants will catch on really soon because it’s a huge gap in the market. Bring on the local, organic and deliciousness of our east coast produce. I know it’s available, why isn’t it on our restaurants tables? No I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for fresh food at a place like Blue Hill Farm when Californians have it so easy right down their street.

Why is it necessary that all the “special” a.k.a. FRESH food is offered in the trendy, overly priced restaurants? I would love to understand. Thoughts?

Only in California!!

Incredible Colors

Me tasting "basil" heirloom tomatoes

Last night I had the honor of attending a cooking class at the Natural Gourmet Institute. It was a gluten free and vegan baking class – right up my alley!! The space was beautiful and it was SO much fun.

If you take one of their classes that are targeted for certain people with allergies, you are bound to meet people who have similar interests like you. Yes, that was the case here and I met some really nice women who all spoke my same health conscious language – it was fantastic!

It’s not everyday you spend 4+ hours talking about different flour combinations, types of sugar and so on… It was a really great experience.

I recommend you search through their public class catalog and get yourself to a class. It seems as though most people who attend their classes are quite health conscious, ready to learn something new and really excited to actually be there!

Give yourself a gift of taking a class there, you definitely won’t be disappointed. It really is a special place; Annemarie Colbin must be SO happy- her dream is definitely a success.

Natural Gourmet Class!

From L-R: Vanilla blueberry crumb cake, Chocolate chip strawberry scone bites, Cherry pineapple upside down cake, Raspberry peach cobbler, Coconut chocolate chip bars, Orange creme cupcakes with orange scented whipped topping - All GF and Vegan amazingness

Dear friends,

It’s been an exciting few weeks! My gluten free, vegan, baking adventure is quickly taking off. My new name is The Lovely You Bakeshop. We’re working hard on getting our samples out to lots of different people and stores to see everyone’s reactions. We’ve had very good responses so far and are continuing the process to see where this takes us.

We tackled our neighborhood of the upper west side today and it was a lot of work but we met some really great people who gave us lots of advice. Stay tuned to see where our brand winds up. If there’s a store or café that you feel we would be a good fit for then please let us know, we’d love to talk or send samples.

Thanks for your support!! We hope to spread our gluten free, vegan goodness all around New York and the surrounding states.

Don’t forget to treat yourself!

I just went for my annual physical checkup today and was so pleasantly surprised when Dr. Lee took a look at my latest colonoscopy results and stated “it looks like your colitis is getting smaller and smaller.” I’ve been having a flare up for 3 years and the time is finally here when not only are my flares getting less and less but also, the colitis is diminishing all together!

You might be asking how in the world did I do this?!

Let me explain – over the past year and a half I’ve taken the time to read many books and educate myself on how to cure myself of this belly bloating, gas producing, uncomfortable, colitis.

I know that there are lots of sufferers out there and I totally get what your going through – I promise I was right there with you not too long ago.

Instead of only listening to my GI doc, I decided to educate myself even further on the topic. I wasn’t happy about taking steroids for the rest of my life so I made a decision not to do it. Yes I did take the suppositories when needed but I coupled them with the eastern side of medicine.

I do yoga, acupuncture and see a chiropractor on a regular basis, which are all part of eastern medicine. I believe that these forms of medicine have helped calm belly.

I’ve made the conscious choice to change my diet and I haven’t looked back since. Well… maybe I’ve looked back when everyone is enjoying their glutinous filled pizza and all I want is that NY slice… I have found other options for pizza and they are pretty delicious, but when it’s right in your face it’s very hard to say no – the only way to really say no is to remember how you feel when your belly hurts and for me that’s plenty. I’m so happy to have my gluten free, dairy free Amy’s Pizza readily available when I need my pizza fill. It takes strength and a good support system but you will overcome it.

If you have specific questions on what books I’ve read or what I’ve done to help cure myself please feel free to message me. I want to keep an open communication with you and anyone you know who suffers from a hurting gut.

Please take care of yourself.

Dear blog friends,

You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been working on… my own gluten free, vegan, no refined sugar muffins! I’m creating my own brand! YES you heard me… finally after all those thoughts of creating something on my own I’m actually making it happen. Let me introduce you to:

*** The Lovely You: Treat Yourself.

I am creating a logo as we speak and am getting very excited about this amazing new market that I’m about to dive into.

Of course there are some kinks to work out, like how to get my muffin papers to stop sticking to the delicious muffins! I’ll figure it out, although if anyone has any suggestions for me I’d greatly appreciate them. I may just decide to do away with the papers and simplify the whole situation!

My IIN (Integrative Institute of Nutrition) friends are hosting an event next Saturday, June 26 where I will be having one on one yoga alignment sessions as well as selling my newly branded Lovely You muffins. Please contact me for more information (my contact info is in the tab above). This event was incentive for me to make my brand happen and I am SUPER excited to make my debut.

Stay tuned for more info regarding The Lovely You and where you’ll be able to purchase them.

Enjoy your beautiful weekend!

Here is one of the fantastic recipes that I cooked while Chad was away on his business trip. It’s quite simple and I had plenty of left-overs for the entire week!

I bought organic ground chicken meat from the supermarket because they don’t sell organic turkey – the chicken tasted very good – but you can use either one.

1 package ground organic chicken meat

2 cans chili beans or any bean of your choice. I like Pinto, kidney, and black beans.

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 can whole, organic tomatoes

½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

2 stalks celery, diced

1½ cups organic vegetable broth

salt to taste

garlic powder to taste

Start by draining the beans and washing them well in a colander. Then pour the beans into a pan on the stove – cover with water and put a lid on it. Turn up the heat and bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat off when the water starts boiling, leaving the pot covered as to keep the heat inside. Let the beans sit for an hour before draining them and rinsing with water. The reason for doing this is to allow the beans to split open to release their gases – the more gas they release, the less you will! This is to make the beans more digestible by everyone who eats them! Set them aside until you are ready to pour them into the crock pot.

Slice the onion and place it at the bottom of the crock pot – then pour the beans into the crock pot followed by the celery.

Take out each whole tomato and cut them into quarters – reserve the juice from the tomatoes so you can pour it into the pot as well. Put the tomatoes into the crock pot followed by about half the tomato juice from the can.

Start breaking off pieces of the chicken meat and put them into the pot – they will break up with the heat from the pot. Lastly pour in the vegetable broth and sprinkle the cilantro over the top.

Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 2-3 hours. I know you’re not usually supposed to remove the lid of the pot while it’s cooking but I like to stir the chili every now and then to move things around.

Serve with brown rice or quinoa – or eat plain. This also goes well with corn tortilla chips, which are gluten free! I’m serving mine with corn taco shells – YUM!