is your toothpaste gluten-free?

I have been using Kiss My Face Triple Action toothpaste for years. When I went g-f, I checked the label, and while it doesn't have the symbol of being certified gluten-free on the label like some of my other favorite products do, the ingredients looked safe. I thought I would double-check when they recently changed their packaging, and here is what Heather at KMF wrote back to me:

While our toothpastes do not contain any gluten ingredients, we do not test the final product for gluten and so cannot guarantee them to be gluten free. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of further help.

OK, and this is also what Seventh Generation says on their website about all of their products from dish-washing liquids to sanitary napkins...c'mon, why can't they batch test their products? Then they could put the official G-F seal of approval on their packaging, making their products then more desirable to folks like me.

If anyone out there knows of guaranteed gluten-free household and beauty products, please let me know!

Great, helpful article

Mark Hyman, MD: Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You

G-F and veggie Shepherd's Pie (without the lentils)

Casserole season is here! Turn on the oven for as long as possible, I say, when it's super cold outside and you just can't seem to get the chill out of your bones. The perfect panacea: Shepherd's Pie, aka, Goatherd's Pie!

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie Recipe

(I adapted a spicy version of this from Karina's Kitchen, see link at end of recipe)

For the mashed potato crust:
4 large gold or red potatoes, chopped
Vegetable broth, splash
olive oil, to taste
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Chopped fresh chives, to taste
chopped fresh parsley, to taste
paprika for the top

For the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 t grated ginger root
1/8 t cayenne
1 small onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. cauliflower florets (about half a smallish head), cut to bite size
3 medium-large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 heaping cup shredded cabbage
diced handful roasted red peppers
1 c. chopped kale
1/2 c your fave g-f salsa (I like Green Mtn Gringo Roasted Garlic)
1 c. veg broth
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 can white beans or butter beans

Place the cut potatoes in a large pot and cover with salted cold water; bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about twenty minutes.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large deep skillet and add the cumin, cayenne, ginger. Stir one minute and add the fresh chopped vegetables. Stir and cook about five minutes or so.

Add the salsa, broth and vinegar, sea salt and pepper to taste, and stir to combine.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce begins to reduce, then remove from heat, and gently add in the beans. Set aside.

Mash the cooked potatoes with a little veg broth and olive oil. Season with sea salt and pepper. Add chives if you like. Taste test.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Assemble your pie:

Spoon the vegetables into a casserole dish. Top with mounds of mashed potato. I like to leave a few peaks (they get a bit golden). Sprinkle with chopped chives or parsley, paprika is nice. Bake in a moderate oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the pie is bubbling and heated through.

Read more: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/04/veggie-lovers-shepherds-pie.html#ixzz0blLxZBMn

Happy New Year!

It was 3 years ago that I made on New Year's Day my last gluten-y breakfast, consisting of an Dutch apple pancake, a recipe that I now do with white rice flour and it is just as delicious as I remember it being Jan 1st 2007, with the added bonus of not making me sick.

Today, my husband Jim and I are celebrating our new beginning in D.C. and the wellness we both have achieved through my astringent gluten-free diet with some Scrabble by the fire and some classic rock jams.

This morning, my friend Amy came by and we had coffee and played some viol duets. Woodycock from the 16th century kicked our butts, but with a little more practice we'll get it!

Here is what we had for lunch:




Faux Pho
Make some chicken broth, strain, set aside. If you're feeling more traditional, make oxtail or beef broth.
Saute shallots, minced, 4 cloves garlic, minced and half a head of cabbage, shredded
Spice it with grated ginger and red pepper flakes
Add to the broth
Pan fry some shrimp and add in
Boil up some fettuccine-style rice pasta separately (seems crazy, but if you boil them in the broth it gets kinda slimy) and set aside (or add in to your broth if you don't want it to get sticky)
Poach two eggs
[boil a few cups of water; add 1 t sea salt and 2 t rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. crack yr eggs into a small dish; turn off the heat, slide in the eggs, cover for just under 5 mins; remove from the hot water.]
Add juice of half a lemon to your broth, adjust ginger and add sea salt to taste, wheat free tamari if you like soy. Add star anise and lemongrass if you have it (more pho-like)
When your eggs are ready:
Fill yr 2 bowls with noodles, then with the broth, portion out the shrimp, and drop one poached egg in the middle of the two bowls. Garnish with scallions and dulse and chilies if you like a little heat.


And for our listening pleasure, Jim found this LP at the local CD Cellar:
Renaissance of the Celtic Harp by Alan Stivell (1971)

Stunning, repertoire spanning centuries of celtic and bardic harp, orchestrations featuring full chorus, strings, tabla, scottish drums, guitar and double bass. Basically this is my dream record!

Happy 2010 to you all. New beginnings, out with the old, fresh starts all around.

best G-F chocolate ever!!

Um, this is really, really, really x 1000 good chocolate:



Alter Eco

And that is all I have to say...! e n j o y .

Worms -n- Dirt!

Goat City Original, inspired by large communal dinners made in the AS220 kitchen in Providence in the late 90s. I think Mark Pedini and Matt Everett are the ones who named this dish so aptly.

Worms -n- Dirt

8 oz. lentils
12 oz. cooked brown rice pasta or other g-f pasta (I used Tinkyada veggie spirals)
1 bunch of beets with their greens scrubbed, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
Braggs
2-3 cloves garlic
1 t cumin
1/8 t cayenne
salt and pepper

Start by boiling your lentils til tender, about 25 mins. Prepare beets and steam bottoms for 10-15 mins, add in the greens in the last mins of steaming. Strain out lentils and place in a large bowl with your steamed beets and greens. Boil your pasta (mine took 15-16 mins). Drain and rinse, add to bowl. Saute garlic in olive oil, add to bowl, along with your spices to taste and a goodly splash of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Braggs (if I had to guess how much of each, I think 1/4 c olive oil, 1/8 c ea of vinegar and Braggs). Stir gently and taste. I sometimes add a little more Braggs, sea salt or balsamic vinegar to get the balance right. Serve warm. This feeds an army. I have made it many times for traveling bands coming through our house.
Enjoy!!

Goat City House Concert and G-F meal!

Last night some amazing folks graced our living room with their performances:





Amy Domingues, viola da gamba and voice
singing her 1600s ode to Tobacco while accompanying herself on this beautiful instrument.





Jozef van Wissem, lute
Jozef played at our house as the last date of an extensive US tour. He's flying home right now to the Netherlands on a three part flight itinerary, thanks to Delta airlines.
Before the concert, we ate this lovely spread of food:



The lasagna was a Goat City original recipe...

Goat City Spinach, Manchego and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Lasagna

for the sauce:

6-9 red bell peppers, roasted whole in oven at 500 degrees for 20 mins or til blackened, then peeled and seeded when cool.

food process 1/2 c your favorite olives (I used sundried tom stuffed greens). add roasted red peppers and a mixture of sauteed and slightly carmelized shallots and garlic (about 4-5 cloves garlic and 1 lg shallot). add a can of Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes and pulse til chunky/smooth. chop up 1/2 c parsley and stir in; set aside.

filling =
1 lg bag spinach, steamed and pureed in food processor, then dump out into a lg bowl and add: 1 pack of Chavrie garlic/herb chevre, grated lump of Manchego to taste, 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper to taste plus smashed 1/2 c toasted pine nuts (less if that's too much to your tastebuds).

I used Tinkyada brown rice lasagna noodles, 1 box.

to assemble:

ladle in 1/3 sauce in the bottom of your pan and spread. add 1/3 of your noodles. add half of the filling, 1/3 sauce, 1/3 noodles. add the rest of your filling, then top with noodles, then rest of sauce, then more grated manchego. I also grated pecorino romano on top. cover and bake at 375 for 30 mins.

Enjoy!!