Happy snow storm to all of my fellow Bostonians! I for one am THRILLED about all of the snow–in addition to the skiing I plan to do this weekend, the snow day gave me a chance to try out some new recipes. I’m so excited to share my favorite one with you today. I have been seeing recipes for Brazilian cheese bread or pao de queijo all over the gluten free interwebs for a while now, and was jazzed to try it myself. I made some adjustments to this recipe from Bewitching Kitchen, and the result was fantastic and super easy. These little popover-like muffins are gooey, chewy, and cheesy–we ate them fresh out of the oven and I had to stop myself from nomming on the whole tray.
Notes: The original recipe calls for farmer’s cheese, but I had cottage on hand and it worked perfectly. Also, you can use a mini muffin tin if you have one and make twice as many teeny tiny breads.
Brazilian Cheese Bread Adapted from Bewitching Kitchen!
Yield: 10 breads (you could probably made 12 slightly smaller breads)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup cottage cheese, with the liquid drained off
1 tbsp. grated parmesan
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease your muffin tin and set aside. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the blender to incorporate all of the tapioca starch. Fill the muffin cups ⅔ to ¾ of the way, and then bake for 20-22 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
There are several reasons I decided to start this blog. First and foremost, I get a ton of questions about being gluten free. Sometimes they’re related to which ingredients are/aren’t ok, sometimes it’s an overall curiosity because a friend/family member just got diagnosed, or sometimes people want to be able to bring a gf-friendly item to a party (you people are awesome, btw). The blog posts were basically writing themselves in the form of emails I kept sending and resending. So I figured, why not formalize this thing?
I’m also very, very familiar the number of gluten free food blogs that are already out there. If you want to make a gf version of your favorite baked good, type that into google or Pinterest and you’ll be stunned with how many gorgeous photos and fantastic recipes you come up with. What you won’t find a ton of, however, are real-life down-and-dirty accounts of just how plain hard it is to balance a gf lifestyle with other stuff. Just the usual: a demanding job, grad school, a tight budget, an exercise schedule, a social life, and a relationship. Phew! I’m super inspired by my voracious blog reading, and wanted to add my voice to the handful of awesome folks doing the same. I hope to be able to make the path towards a healthy, happy, gluten free Boston lifestyle a little bit easier for everyone out there. In that vein, I’m going to kick off a mini series sharing my favorite blogs, bloggers, and the recipes I’ve discovered in the blogosphere. Today I’m going to start with my top gluten friendly blogs–they’re not 100% gf, but they’re really wonderful and highly recommended. More to come in this series soon!
Katie is one of the most prolific bloggers out there–and you’ve got to hand it to her, her recipes are amazing. She specializes in “healthy” desserts, but branches out into breakfast and other meals too. I was officially a convert when I first made her chickpea blondies–which have a whole can of chickpeas in them and actually taste good! Give them a whirl and don’t tell your family they’re healthy–they’ll never know 😉
Caroline is a master baker–her treats always look like they came out of a professional bakery. While her blog isn’t specifically gluten free, she makes a number of gluten friendly recipes that run the gamut from mains to desserts to smoothies. She has some great little tutorials, too, on things like tempering chocolate and decorating cupcakes. Don’t miss her cookie dough truffles!
Full disclosure: this is actually a blog I stopped following recently. It felt like it was veering more towards a baby blog than what I’m interested in. However, Kath is a registered dietitian and her site is a treasure trove of wonderful breakfast recipes. She and I share a mutual obsession with oats, and I discovered both baked and overnight oats through her blog. I ate this baked pumpkin oatmeal every. single. morning. for about two straight months this fall. #sorrynotsorry
I have definitely plugged Lindsay’s blog before, and I’ll do it again–this lady does it all. Gorgeous photography, unique and tasty recipes, and a silly, irreverent tone you can’t help but love. A friend recently told me Lindsay writes the way that I speak–what a compliment!! But seriously, Pinch of Yum is the gold standard. The recipes aren’t specifically GF but many are easily adaptable. Don’t miss her spicy peanut chicken soba noodle salad (sub in rice noodles!)
Oh She Glows is another really popular (for good reason), top notch food blog. It’s actually vegan, which is usually not my thing, but dang can Angela make vegan food look friggin delish! Her recipes are very gf friendly and relatively simple–no crazy ingredients or epically complicated recipes up in here! On the same note about my love for oatmeal, her carrot cake oatmeal is as heavenly as the title says. Can’t wait to dive into this lady’s cookbook ASAP!
Carrot cake baked oatmeal
Hope this post was helpful! What are you favorite gluten friendly blogs to follow?
Living a gluten free lifestyle can get mega frustrating sometimes. Like when I order something that looks totally safe from a menu and it comes out with a big crumbly cookie shoved into it (be careful at Max Brenner!) Or when my friend’s college buddies use up my entire bag of GF bread to make sandwiches during a ski weekend. Or when I walk into the office kitchen to find every single surface covered in crumbs.
But sometimes, life throws you a really awesome gluten free surprise. So in the spirit of the new year, here are a few amazing things to be thankful for every time they come your way.
A bread basket surprise: one of the toughest things about eating out GF is when you’re super hungry and the bread basket comes out. Commence hanger. Restaurants who have a GF bread option? #winning!
Was served this delish focaccia at Elixir in White River Junction, Vermont–they’re fabulous.
A just because surprise: you happened to be driving by a gluten free bakery and bought me a cookie?? You have won my undying love and affection forever.
Thanks, coworkers 🙂
A dinner party surprise: I don’t like to make a huge deal about my dietary restrictions in groups. It’s awkward and uncomfortable. But I have some amazing friends who totally get it, and will make sure that some or all of the meal is GF/tell me exactly what I can or can’t eat without me having to describe my digestive function to all the other dinner party attendees. You guys are the best.
A fellow Celiac surprise: Not being the only Celiac in the room is always lovely. Big ups to my GF besties (old and new)–thanks for being there and making me feel like I’m not alone!
My GFF E and I went to Costa Rica and it was awesome. We ate all of the gluten free things.
A restaurant surprise: I have occasionally stumbled upon a restaurant or bakery that unbeknownst to me has a huge GF menu and/or totally understands how to prepare delicious food without cross contamination. Like when my favorite brunch places (The Friendly Toast and Sound Bites) first casually offered to serve gluten free toast with my omelette and potatoes. Um, yes please!
You and your pancakes forever have my heart, Friendly Toast
I want to hear from you! What gluten free surprises make you the happiest? What are the little things you’re feeling most grateful for?
Shorter and Faster 