Guest Post - Geanna's Perfect Summer Green Smoothie!

I'm a big fan of using fresh, local, and seasonal veggies and fruits in my diet. Thus, I'm often looking for new and creative ways to try out the items I see at my local farmers' market.

Eating seasonally and locally is one of the easiest ways to eat a gluten-free and vegan diet. Not only is it great for the local economy and community, it's also good for your health and often cheaper, too.  

Plus, nothing beats something that was picked or harvested ripe this morning and sold to you this afternoon.

These pictures show one of my favorite summertime creations: the Perfect Green Smoothie. It's vegan, gluten-free, raw, soy-free, and just plain old delicious.

Kale is a very important step in the process...otherwise it can't be called a green smoothie!

I recently discovered how adding [melted] cocoa butter and unsweetened chocolate can really make the smoothie pop.

And, of course, serving it in a cute container is key. 

Perfect Green Smoothie
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1/2 apple, cubed
~10 fresh strawberries, or less if they are really big (de-stemmed)
1/2 orange, cut up
1/2 banana, cut into one-inch slices (I used one I had frozen, but fresh will work as well)
 4 leaves of kale, de-stemmed and ripped in thirds
1 T. cocoa butter with 1 oz. unsweetened cocoa, melted together in a double broiler

Prepare:

1. Add the apple, strawberries, orange and banana to a food processor and process until smooth. 
2. Add the kale, a few pieces at a time, and process until mixed. 
3. Finally, add in the cocoa and mix some more. Pour into a cute container and enjoy immediately.

Optional add-ins: fresh blueberries, almond milk, cashew cream, and spinach. 

Please Welcome Geanna and Her First Guest Post!

Hello again my lovely readers! I am staying true to my word about introducing gluten-free foods and posts by my guest bloggers a couple of times a month! I'd like to introduce to you Geanna, another vegan blogger I had the pleasure of befriending via Twitter. Here's a little more about Geanna:

Geanna writes a blog about how to live an eco-conscious life while eating gluten-free and vegan along the way, found at www.greenveganliving.com. She lives in Portland, Oregon, and in her spare time, enjoys gardening, exercising, being outdoors, baking, cooking, and entertaining friends. She is a part-time librarian and also loves to read and craft when the time allows. Talk to her on Twitter @greenvegnliving, or email her at greenveganliving [at] gmail [dot] com. 

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 So, without further ado, here is Geanna's first guest post with a yummy recipe!!

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VIVA VEGAN!!

Everyone likes a good burrito, right? Nothing beats a warm, humongous wheat tortilla wrapped around seared seitan, grilled vegetables, and melted, stringy Daiya cheese. However, for gluten-free vegans like myself, this presents a very large problem. At best, I can scrape the vegetables out of the burrito, but at worst, I, like many others, suffer from Celiac Disease, and my body will absolutely HATE me if I ingest even a smidgen of gluten. Thus, I learned early on in my gluten-free journey that I can easily and happily eat tacos (both soft and crunchy) and most anything else including corn tortillas.

I bought the lovely cookbook Viva Vegan! when it came out about a year ago, but I looked at it only once or twice before it ended up, dusty, on my cookbook shelf. I felt that I had made a mistake in purchasing it because in any quick browses, I found that recipes often called for wheat flour or seitan. It was only recently that I began discovering again just how many delicious and completely gluten-free recipes there are inside.

The book usually is the starting point for my inspirations. I look at a recipe, decide what can part of it I want and what part needs to be changed, and go from there. The other day I bought spicy tempeh from Turtle Island Foods (who also make Tofurky). There was a recipe on the back of the box [link: http://www.tofurky.com/recipes/recipe_details.asp?RecipeDataID=50] for Spicy Tempeh Tacos and I knew immediately that, combined with some inspiration from Viva Vegan!, I was going to have a really delicious dinner. 

After flipping through the cookbook, I decided to make the Homestyle Refried Beans (found on page 86) and I adapted the recipe for Corn Tortillas with ingredients I had on hand. This deliciously spicy meal was made even better with gluten-free beer from a local brewery in Portland.

Corn Tortillas [adapted from Viva Vegan!]

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

¾ c. corn flour

½ + 1/8 c. warm water

1 t. salt

Prepare:

1. Mix together the ingredients into a bowl. Scoop out 1/3 c. portions and flatten with hand before putting into a hot skillet. Flatten some more into the skillet, taking care to keep the tortilla whole.
2. Let cook a minute or so, then flip the tortilla with a stainless steel spatula. Let cook on the other side before removing from the pan and serving. Serve hot.

Introducing Mrs. Lidia & Her First Post

Hello loveliest of lovely readers...and you less than lovely schmucks, too, I suppose. I have an announcement to make, so pay attention:

I've decided to invite two other bloggers to post once a month as some of you have asked about gluten-free vegan food and how to make some of my recipes GF. I will freely admit that I know next to nothing about gluten-free living aside from the fact that you don't eat wheat. So, in trying to cater to youse guise, I have invited two lovely bloggers that I respect to post stuff like that for you. The first post will be an intro to being GF by the lovely @LidiaLF. Lidia writes the blog AirEater.com - aptly named because people think being gluten-free and vegan means you eat just that...air. But, as you will learn, being GF isn't a death sentence, but an opportunity to not only educate yourself but to also try a whole new plethora of tasty goods. 

Here's a little bit about Lidia:

Scarborough born, 32 year old, written for Generation Go and Four Green Steps specifically about being a gluten free vegan by choice. Currently, working in the marketing/packaging industry at a food company. Wife to @MathieuLF and cat mom to two lovely beasts residing in Toronto. 

And because someone is shy...here she is:

So, anyway, that was my big news. I will still be posting my normal type recipes and rants and stuff like that, but I'll be trying to pay more attention to the GF issue as I would like to learn more about it myself. So, I hope you appreciate how hard it was to secure Lidia as a guest blogger. I had to pay her WAAAY too much and give her all sorts of perks. You all better be thankful. 

I kid. Kind of.  So, let's please welcome Mrs. Lidia!!


Here's her first post!

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An Intro to Gluten-Free Living!

I was recently asked, on Twitter, about tips to being gluten free for beginners.

The best piece of advice I can give is to always read the labels and use common sense. My day job involves food packaging. I am always amazed at the different words for gluten and how some companies try to cover it up.

There should be clear labels on all products denoting common allergens avoiding any misconception, however, until that day comes it's best to be uber aware of what ingredient statements mean.

Here are the many words for ingredients that often contain gluten:
- wheat
- durum,
- bulgur
- dinkel
- kamut
- spelt
- semolina
- couscous
- starch
- bran
- hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- dextrimaltose
- stoneground flour
- wheatgerm flour
- malted wheatgrain flour
- wholemeal four
- malt
- caramel
- butter flavour
- Chocolate, pudding, candy, and frosting
- Creamer substitute
- Dextrin, dextrose
- Food dyes
- Herbs, spices
- Hydrolysates or hydrolyzed anything
- Miso and other soy products, such as soy sauce and teriyaki sauce
- Modified Food Starch (can be from other sources)
- MSG
- Mustard Powder
- Nitrates, nitrites, sulfates or sulfites
- Oat Flour or oats
- Vitamins
- Edible Starch
- Einkorn
- Enriched Flour
- Farina
- Graham Flour
- Granary Flour
- Hard triticum
- High Gluten Flour
- High protein Flour
- Hordeum
- Triticale
- Udon
- Vital Gluten

There are more, but this gives you an idea.

Let's start at the beginning. You wake up to shower - is your soap/shampoo/conditioner gluten free? Is your toothpaste/mouthwash gluten free? What about your creams/make up/perfume?

Amazing how wheat can be in your everyday items. Being gluten free includes all these things.

What about breakfast? There are many options when it comes to gluten free bread and cereal, if you're a traditionalist, but a protein smoothy is a great way to sneak in protein without really noticing.

I'm a big fan of Vega, it's gluten free, vegan and free of most common allergens. Invented by a Canadian Iron Man, Brendan Brazier, Vega is easy to make and quick. I know I don't have much time in the morning, due to my own fault, but at least I know I'll get my fill of vitamins/minerals no matter what else I eat during the day. See Vega's health claims here.

Here are the Nutritionals for the Chocolate flavour, my particular favourite, I suggest checking out the site for a non fuzzy version.

In between breakfast and lunch, I'm a big fan of snacking, I usually have a Larabar and or fruit/nuts at my desk.

Lunch can consist of anything, if you're willing to put in effort or find a restaurant you know that can promise a non contaminated meal. It doesn't have to be all salads and bird seed. You can have a sandwich on gluten free bread, or gluten free pasta, gluten free pizza - anything really. It's just a mental thing interms of breaking free from the, "What the heck am I going to do now?!" thinking. Being gluten free just requires a bit more thought in terms of your meals. The difference being to walk into any restaurant and feel comfortable with the handling and preparation of food.

Eating at restaurants is a bit harder in terms of finding people who really understand what gluten can do to you if ingested. I find the closer you are to a city the easier it is.

Say goodbye to drinking: beer, whiskey, malt based drinks, gin and some vodkas. All of these drinks are made with some form of gluten. I find I've come to appreciate wine more. I was also pleasantly surprised that my favourite vodka, Iceberg Vodka, was gluten free.

There's gluten in the candy coating shell in Smarties, Blue Cheese, Rice Krispies and a number of surprising places just to name a few. It takes a while to adjust passing by rows and rows in the grocery store that contain gluten. It's a shame really, but that just opens the doors to more natural fruits and vegetables that are gluten free and much better than anything processed could be. On the bright side, it gets you cooking and more aware of your health than ever before - not really a bad thing?

If you're interested there is a "Dummies" series for living gluten free:


Hopefully this post has helped.

Check out great links like:
http://www.celiac.ca/
http://www.torontoceliac.org/contact/index.shtml
http://www.celiacguide.org/diagnosis.html

Happy eating!