Stockholm glutenfri

... and I woke up and found myself in gluten-free heaven.

Yesterday I went to McDonalds and bought myself a cheese burger. A gluten-free cheese burger. Actually, it is possible to get a gluten-free bun for ever burger you like. But I went for a cheese burger. I've never thougth that a cheese burger can make me so happy.


I've heard that it is quite easy to get gluten-free food in Sweden. But trust me, you have to experience this yourself. I'm attending a conference in Stockholm this week and gluten-free life has never been easier. During the morning break there are gluten-free rolls waiting for me (the best gluten-free rolls I've ever had), every restaurant at the fair has gluten-free options and in the afternoon there are gluten-free muffins or cinnamon rolls available. Today three different menues were offered for lunch and I could eat ALL of them! They are even gluten-free appetizers available! The best thing though: You don't have to explain. It's always the same answer: Glutenfri? No problem. Just two minutes. I go and get you something.

Breakfast has never been easier. Can you see the bread, the muffin, the cookies and the cinnamon roll in the picture above? All gluten-free. I was actually meant to eat everything this morning (which I almost did because it was so good).

I haven't been to a supermarket yet. But I'm already excited to test all the gluten-free things that are available.

Spring Fever

Spring is finally here. After all these grey cold days we've had a clear blue sky and sunshine almost 7 days in a row. The thermometer even hit the 30 degree mark today. Okay, it was plain sunshine on our balcony but who cares? People have been waiting for this for too long, spending as much time as possible outside.

It's time for a smoothie.

I actually got addicted to smoothies during my time in Australia. It's just perfect on a warm summer's day. And when I close my eyes I can still feel the Australian sun shining on my face.



Blueberry-banana-smoothie

1 cup plain yoghurt (I use low-fat)
1 banana
1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup orange juice (Apple juice works beautifully. I just can't have it any more because of my sorbitol intolerance.)

If you use fresh berries add a couple of ice cubes. Put all ingredients in a blender and pulse for about one minute. Fill into glasses and enjoy immediately! Serves two.

Les Galettes

After reading Pimping My Crêpes from David Lebovitz' blog, I just had to make galettes. I've always been a fan of crêpes, sweet or savory, and learning that traditional galettes are just made out of buckwheat flour and are therefore gluten-free got me really excited!
I must admit though that right after going gluten-free I couldn't stand the taste of buckwheat flour. Fortunately, my taste has changed quite a bit and I've learned to love food that I really disliked before. But that's another story. Nowadays I love the nutty flavour of buckwheat and even my non-gluten-free boyfriend enjoyed these galettes.
You actually don't need a recipe. I prepared the batter according to the instructions the guys at Breizh Cafe gave David Lebovitz which you can read here. All you need is buckwheat flour, salt and water.
For frying heat a bit of olive oil (but not too much - you don't want to deep-fry the galettes) in a special frying pan for crêpe (I'm sure any other frying pan will do as well) and add about one laddle (depending of the size of your pan) of batter. Then smooth the batter with a rake evenly in a circle.


After about one to two minutes flip the galette over to fry the other side. Add now the filling for the galette. You can use about anything you would like to add to your galette. We used some feta, herbs, mozzarella cheese and some ham. Eggs would be great with galette, too.
You can also make a sweet version and use jam or chocolate. We actually saved our last galette for a sweet one with chocolate and it was so delicious!


When it's done flap the edges over to form a square. Eat immediately while preparing the next galette. Repeat until the batter is used up. Serves two. Enjoy!



Sorry for my long absence. I got addicted to this 3000 pieces puzzle and spent every spare minute finishing it...

Raclette

Happy new year everyone! I hope all of you had a nice holiday!

I spent Christmas with my family in my hometown Bielefeld. It was my first gluten-free Christmas and my Mum arranged a great Christmas dinner: Raclette!

Raclette is really perfect for celiacs. Everybody has his or her own pan and most of the ingredients are fresh and raw.

Traditionally, Raclette is a Swiss dish. The Raclette cheese is melted and scraped onto everyone’s plates. With the Raclette grill, you can melt a slice of cheese in your little pan and enjoy it on top of your arranged food.


Well, we do it a bit different though. We heat everything in our little pan with a slice of cheese on top and enjoy it. In addition, our Raclette grill has a hot plate where we fry meat, prawns and bacon.


There really is no limit to the ingredients. You’ll discover quickly what you like. The most important ingredient is however the cheese. If you can’t find Raclette, I’m sure any other meltable cheese will do (I’ve tried it with Gouda before and that worked well).

Some suggestions:

Raclette cheese (500g per 2-3 persons)
beef tenderloin, cut into bite-size pieces
pork tenderloin, cut into bite-size pieces
chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
dried dates wrapped in half a slice of bacon (Altough I can’t have the dried dates because of the high sorbitol content, I still enjoy the bacon.)
prawns
pre-boiled patatoes
capsicum, sliced
corn
mushrooms, sliced

If you like, you can serve some bread with the Raclette. But in my opinion, you really don’t need it! (The little white bowl with bread in the back of the picture is my gf bread).
Some people also have pickles with the Raclette.

In Germany, Raclette is actually pretty famous on New Years Eve. So we enjoyed Raclette again on New Years Eve. And we’ll probably do it a couple of times again this winter!

Raclette is a very social thing. Just get some friends over and get started!