Gluten Free DC Marathon Weekend

Last weekend my crazy hubby ran the Marine Marathon in DC. That's him right after finishing 26.2 miles. Smiling ear to ear. It was really a wild experience. There were approximately 34,000 Runners, wheelchair racers and hand cyclists participating.

I am not a runner, as evidenced by the sticker Chris bought for me at the runner's expo:

Every place we ate over the weekend was really wonderful and warrant their own review but here's a quick recap and photos straight from my phone:

Saturday we drove up to DC and picked up his run packet in one tent and his shirt at the expo. By the time we were through with all the lines and vendors it was starting to get dark and we were hungry. We went to Shophouse Kitchen, a southeast Asian style restaurant. It's owned by Chipotle and while the set up is a similar concept to Chipotle the result is so different. Shophouse Kitchen's food is entirely gluten free, fresh, fast and truly one of the best meals I've had in a very long time. Authentic flavors made as mild or spicy as you like. I'd love a bowl right now. The green beans were spicy hot but really flavorful, the eggplant with basil was a mellow contrast and the cold rice noodles were a yummy, if messy, base. So far you can only find SK in the DC and Los Angeles areas but I'm hoping they spread quickly to Raleigh!

The marathon morning was sunny and perfect and I was able to watch some of it from our hotel room. As Chris' finish time grew near I headed up to meet him. I thought he made great time and couldn't believe he had energy to spare. We walked from the race down to the hotel and had a very brief encounter with Taylor Morris and his adorable girlfriend Danielle Kelly who had just run her first marathon in amazing time. They are one of the most inspiring couples you'll ever read about and it was an honor to get to say hello. Check the site, please.

After that we headed out to District of Pi for gluten free pizza. Chris had been here with Joe and Marc and Marie had visited, too. So I was the lone hold out. The gluten free menu is varied and includes lots of different options and it was hard deciding just what to get. We ordered far too much and enjoyed our pizza for lunch and again for dinner. The pizzas and salad were really good, but the caramelized onion dip and kettle cooked chips - something we never order - was so delicious. Creamy dip and warm salty chips - such a great combo. The leftover pizza was just as good cold at dinner time, the sign of good pizza in my book. =D

We had hoped to get to Macaron Bee after our pizza but they were closed before we could get over to the shop. DC is not an easy place to maneuver! Since I'd been in contact with Debby prior to our visit, I emailed my apology for not making it in when we got back to the hotel. We had been in touch since I'd written to see if they had any dye free macarons. (While a macaron is a delicious gluten free treat I am careful because many of them have food dyes which cause problems for us. There were several safe varieties at Macaron Bee!) Debby wrote back and told me she'd even set some aside for me on Sunday and I felt so bad for not getting there in time. Then she told me she'd be in the store Monday, their day off, and I could stop by! The shop is so cute and I loved the bee decor. Debby was as sweet as I imagined and had a lovely selection of macarons for me to choose from. I picked out a box for Marc and Marie and one for Chris and me. Even the packaging is perfect and makes for an even more special treat. The Earl Grey/Milk Chocolate, Expresso and Fleur de sel Caramel have all been perfect. Macaron Bee will be a must stop every time we visit DC.

We then headed to the freeway and trudged along in traffic for a while and as we got further and further away from the city the fall foliage was so pretty - just starting to turn. We had to stop for one more meal and made it a late lunch. Marc and Marie had found Burger Bach in Richmond, Virginia while driving home from Maryland last month and they raved about it. The burgers really were as good as they had told us but the fries were out of this world. Whenever you can get gluten free safe fries it's a good thing, but Burger Bach has unique dipping sauces that take them over the top! While you can get ketchup, you can also try a variety of sweet and spicy dips. We chose a cilantro sauce (right) that was creamy, mild and flavorful and a jalapeno remoulade (left) that had just the right amount of kick. We inhaled them.

I'd like to visit every one of these spots again and I bet you'd enjoy them, too.

De'Lure' Desserts & Bakery Delivers!

Yesterday I had the nicest gluten free surprise! Ragan, of De'Lure' Desserts & Bakery was making a Valentine dessert delivery to Marie nearby and surprised me with a complimentary baguette.

Ragan is the talented gluten free baker who makes the wonderful gluten free focaccia and chocolate raspberry amore cakes served at Bella Monica. I've gone on about them in our Bella Monica posts before. Being able to go out for a wonderful Italian meal and be able to order nearly anything on the menu safely is such a treat and Ragan works beautifully with the Bella Monica team to make that happen.You can find her goodies at other locations seasonally such as Pullen Park and Koka Booth Amphitheater so follow her on Facebook to keep up to date.

Ragan also did the beautiful desserts for Marc and Marie's wedding and she is absolutely wonderful to work with. She asked lots of questions and made sure she had Marie's vision. She spoiled us with samples to make sure Marc and Marie knew just what would be served and were happy with their choices.

Marie's aunts and cousins beautifully arranged the dessert table, decorating the cake with fresh flowers. It was the most beautiful presentation and everything was absolutely yummy and perfect.

Ragan made the wedding cake, French macarons, mini cupcakes and amore cakes and everyone loved everything. Raved about them, actually. This was big. Really big. Why? Because everything at this wedding from appetizer to entree to cupcake was gluten free and delicious.

Should you be so lucky to have her cater your wedding desserts be sure to order more than you think you will need because they will be quickly inhaled by your happy guests.

But back to the baguette! Ragan's baguette is not only gluten free, but also corn free, peanut free and vegan.  And did I mention delicious? The kind of delicious your non-gf friends will also enjoy if you are generous enough to share with them.

Because I was the only one home last night I saved it until today to share. And, since we waited a day to sample the baguette, I can't speak to how it tastes the day it is baked but can tell you it was wonderful today.

Joe wanted black bean hummus and veggies at lunch and the baguette was perfectly suited. I sliced it thinly and toasted it for our meal. We both loved the taste, texture and crunchy crust. It dunked into our hummus and held up well.  No typical gluten free crumbles here.

We pretty much inhaled every crumb of every slice I'd toasted. We saved some for Chris to try when he gets home tonight but I will be surprised if it makes it that long.

Ragan says she likes to slice, toast and serve as Bruschetta which sounds great. Chris and I love Laura's Garlic Herb Dip and I think these baguette slices will be perfect dipped into that garlicky delight. It was also amazing with a small smear of butter.

Ragan charges $5.50 per loaf and her delivery charge in the Raleigh area is only $5. I'm placing an order soon because looking through the wedding photos makes me want one of those delicious French Macaroons.

Thank you to Katelyn McKay Photography for your beautiful dessert photos.

36 Fast, Frigid and Gluten Free Hours in Chicago & Hot Coconut Shrimp Soup Back Home!

Last night was the holiday dinner for the company Chris works for and since it was in Chicago it meant a quick flight and a weekend away together. We were really looking forward to going because while Chris had met several fellow employees on different projects there were many people he hadn't met yet. This was a great opportunity on many levels. We were also excited to have a mini family reunion with some of his family.

We flew in Friday night and visited with our personable young Kenyan cab driver while stuck in rush hour traffic before checking into our hotel.  It was fascinating hearing about his move from Kenya to Wisconsin to Chicago. We’d noticed that there was a Chipotle right across the street from the hotel so we scratched our plans for a cab and an unknown, but promising, meal across town for something quick, close and known.  As always, Chipotle was great. The customer right ahead of me had already asked the line to change their gloves for a gluten free bowl.  Our fast meal gave us an hour or so to wander up and down Michigan Avenue and experience the coldest shopping experience of my life.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at our hotel.  I brought a container of my sneaky chocolate peanut butter muffins along with and Chris brought coffee and fruit up to the room from the buffet.  It was a perfect start. We spent the morning shopping for a couple of items we forgot to pack and even found a few small Christmas gifts for our sons. The morning somehow felt even colder than the night before and the sidewalks were packed tightly with other shoppers.  This proved to be a very good thing as our fellow shoppers served as great windshields! 

Lunch was great fun.  Chris’ cousin Matt and his wife Alma picked us up at our hotel and took us to HUB 51 where we met our nephew John and his girlfriend Marina. That's all of us above. It had been seventeen years since I’d met Matt and Alma and about eleven since I’d seen John so there was a lot of catching up to do.  We all met Marina for the first time and really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know her. Reminiscing and sharing stories kept us laughing. HUB 51 has a separate gluten free menu and while everything sounded great; a sushi roll called my name.  It was fresh and perfect. I was glad I’d brought a couple of packets of gluten free soy sauce with me – it seemed silly to pack at the time but since they had run out I was really glad I had them. The dessert menu looked great but it is not gluten free friendly (they do have sorbet if you need something sweet).  Our waiter was helpful and patient and didn’t mind that we spent most of the afternoon at the table.

The party at Quartino was a brisk walk of three or four blocks from our hotel. Once there it was fun to finally put faces to the names I hear so much about and the turn out was great.  Crystal, who coordinated the event with Quartino, had made sure there were gluten free and vegetarian choices – and delicious ones at that.  The room was beautiful and dinner was just an amazing amount of wonderful food served family style.  As we sat to dinner there were plates of olives and cheeses and meats with a grape salad, a fennel salad and an apricot puree in the center of each table. All of them were very different and so tasty. Our waiter brought out a separate plate of without the bread for me and went over the night’s menu. He was very attentive to two of our vegetarian table mates as well as making sure everything was safe for me. The meal was served family style and the there were two salads coming, followed by two pastas, salmon, chicken and beef. It was no problem to skip the pasta with so many great choices. Dessert was Tiramisu but our sweet waiter brought out a little scoop of chocolate gelato for me.

Saturday was a blur.  A wonderful blur of a day. I took terrible pictures but have great memories.

This morning we had our coffee and muffins and hopped in a cab about 7:5 a.m.  We were home just after noon and in time for a quick lunch with Marc and then I was off to pick Joe up from church and shuttle him to work.  Since Marc is catching a cold and Joe’s cold is still hanging and because it's pretty cold here, too,  it seemed like a good night for a nourishing bowl of hot soup. It’s full of immune boosting and detoxifying ingredients and it’s just awesome.

This soup is loosely based on the coconut chicken soup from Nourishing Traditions. This quick and easy version is made with boxed organic chicken broth, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, shrimp and vegetables poured over a bowl of rice and garnished with cilantro, jalapeños and real fermented kimchee.  While there are a lot of healthy ingredients this soup goes together in no time at all.

Coconut Shrimp Soup 

The broth:

2 quarts Organic Chicken Broth

2 cans    Coconut Milk

1 T.         Minced Fresh Garlic

1 T.         Minced Fresh Ginger

1/4 t.       Fish Sauce (or 1 t. Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1 lb.        Peeled and deveined shrimp - any size you like

Pour all ingredients except the shrimp into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Hold the shrimp aside for now.

The rice:

2 cups Basmati rice washed and cooked according to package directions.

The vegtables:

1 lb     Mushrooms of your choice, sliced

1 cup Carrots, peeled and sliced

1         Shallot, minced

1 T     Coconut Oil

1 lb     Baby Spinach Leaves, washed

Saute the mushrooms, carrots and shallots together in a large saute pan until soft lightly browned.  Lower heat to warm.  Hold the spinach aside.

The garnish:

1 bunch of Cilantro, chopped fine

2 large  Jalapeños, seeded and sliced

1 cup naturally fermented kimchee, chopped fine

Use any or all of these to your taste.

Once the rice is cooked and the garnishes are ready add shrimp to broth and spinach to veggies. The spinach should just be wilted and the shrimp will turn pink when ready.

To serve spoon rice into bowl, top with veggies and broth and garnish as desired.  This recipe should serve about eight and can easily be cut in half for smaller appetites.

Enjoy!

France Gluten Free?? Oui, Oui!!

We had a wonderful trip to France earlier this month and I’m finally catching up on life enough to get a few thoughts down. Our trip of a week included spending time with my husband’s family in their homes and a couple of nights in a Paris hotel. We had one day of air travel on either side. Because our gluten intolerance started well after our last trip to France it was new to all the family but everyone made our stay welcoming, wonderful and safe.

As we planned our trip I did a lot of research and found so many bits of different and sometimes conflicting information.  A few blogs popped up that gave me a lot of hope (such as this one).  Chris took a look at some of the sites that were in French only. It turned out that with a little advance planning and packing a few key items the trip was a snap. 

When Chris told me he reserved gluten free meals for us I got online to check things out.  I read of consistent mistakes with our airline at the airport our flight to Paris originated.   So I packed some homemade bars, cheese rolls and plenty of healthy snacks to get us through.  The dinner turned out to be a little better than anticipated and we were able to have the entree but at breakfast only the banana worked for us.  The cereal not only had gluten but the preservatives we avoid, as well.  Since we had plenty to supplement our two meals with we were fine.  

After arriving in Paris we gathered up our luggage and got into our rental car and finally got to my mother in law’s new home. After we settled in a bit we walked with Suzie two minutes away to her neighborhood Carrefour market to get some groceries for lunch and dinner.  We had literally just walked into the store and saw a “sans gluten” sign straight ahead.  There were a few types of gluten free sandwich bread and pizza crusts right there and more to choose from elsewhere in the store. Many items were the Carrefour brand.  Because my mother in law shops each day after breakfast going to Carrefour became a treasure hunt for me every morning.  Gluten free croissants, Madeleines, chocolate cake and cookies were just some of our finds. It was wonderful.

Back at Suzie’s home Chris’ sister Carolyn and her daughter Emmanuelle arrived to say hello. Carolyn offered to take the dinner groceries to her house and cook for us.  Since Carolyn worked as a chef several years ago in Italy this was a real treat.  Champagne and appetizers around their table in their beautiful back yard with their wonderfully shaggy and sweet dog was a great way to unwind. 

Seeing Chris sit with his mom catching up and smiling ear to ear made my day. Perfectly prepared steaks, tiny buttery potatoes and salad with the ever present cheese to finish - even without the baguettes – made for a perfect dinner.

On Sunday Chris’ brother and his wife invited us to bring his mom down to their home for lunch. We drove through one wheat field after another and beautiful old towns all the way there.  I was so relieved they weren't harvesting at the time!  The fields were gorgeous to look at but I wouldn't have wanted to breathe any of it in. 

Lunch was so fantastic and the only things off limit were the tabouli salad, Steve’s homemade apricot tarts and the baguettes. We took some newly discovered Carrefour croissants along for our bread.  Grilled brochettes and beautiful salads were a perfect lunch and amazing French cheese followed the meal.  Their backyard was a picture perfect setting and the warm, sunny afternoon couldn’t have been better.

Watching the cousins get to know each other and have fun despite a huge language barrier and catching up ourselves kept us busy all afternoon.  Steve and Corletta invited us to stay for dinner and we enjoyed grilled fish, more gorgeous salads and more cheese. The creamy, magnificent French cheese was my favorite part of every family meal during our visit.   

Monday we did our usual Carrefour trip and found an armload of goodies.  We then toured the castle at Chantilly with Chris’ mom and sister. 

Going over old family photo albums was the best way to spend time with Suzie that afternoon.   All our meals were at home that day – simple, wonderful and enjoyed with family.

On Tuesday we left for a couple of nights in Paris.  Between Chris’ mom and sister’s homes (where Joe was sleeping) there was a wonderful small health food store called La Vie Claire that Chris had found on line.  We popped in for a snack as we drove to Paris.  Joe had a blue corn chip fix and we all tried the local Kombucha.  Very different than anything here – especially my homemade brew.  My biggest find, though, were all natural gluten free gummy worms to take home to Marc who I missed so much.

We arrived at our gorgeous hotel early so we dropped off our car and our bags and walked around the city.  It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner so we stopped into Haagen Daz for some chocolate ice cream.  As we walked and ate our ice cream we spied the Palais de la decouverte (pardon the lack of French punctuation) a beautiful math and science museum.  Joe was excited to go in and check out the exhibits. It was a beautiful old building with gorgeous exhibits.  We were fortunate enough to see a laser in action and Chris translated Joe’s questions and the operator’s answers for us.  Sitting with a coffee overlooking the vast museum felt wonderful after a few hour of walking in the stifling heat.

 

Later that night we ate at the Café du Trocadero with a view of the beautiful Eiffel Tower from our table. Chris had asked the staff about gluten free dining before walking in and they assured us they could accommodate us. Many bloggers recommended steak and pomme frites – or fries – as a generally safe gluten free meal.  We ordered the steak and pomme frites sans gluten and they plated it with baked tomatoes with breadcrumbs.  When Chris let the waiter know he pleasantly took our plates and returned with clean, fresh plates and new steaks and fries.  It was really fast and delicious.  We walked off our dinner with a walk to the Eiffel Tower. 

The next morning we snacked on some breakfast bars (as we did all previous mornings) and took off for Notre Dame.  The very long walk along the river was fascinating and colorful.  We were fortunate the weather had cooled considerably.  The beauty and history juxtaposed with the street vendors and con men (and women) made for some interesting conversation.  We toured the massive cathedral and marveled at all the architecture, sculptures and carvings. When we went around the corner to take the bell tower tour the line wrapped around the building so we decided to take a break for lunch and come back. 

The Breizh Café was our destination.  I’d read about the gluten free buckwheat crepes you can find in France and heard that the Breizh Café was one of the best to try in Paris.  Chris had also read about it in his research and had mapped out our walk. We enjoyed sight seeing and window shopping all the way there.  At one intersection there was an older man playing La Vie en Rose on his accordion for a little ambiance and Joe had to throw a few coins in his box. 

When we got to the Breizh Café there were a couple of parties already waiting in the tiny restaurant – at 2:00 p.m.  While we waited we watched the chef turn out crepe after crepe so quickly and with such precision.  It was just fascinating.  Our waiter assured us we would be fine eating gluten free although they do make some crepes that have wheat in them.  

It had been decades since I’d had a crepe and I’d never had anything quite like the spinach, zucchini, tomato and cheese filled crepe I ordered.  It was amazing and the guys loved their ham and cheese crepes, too.  We shared a dessert crepe and loved it just as much – it was so simple – just a crepe, ice cream and honey and just delicious.  Full and happy we wandered back to the bell tower line, climbed the stone steps and enjoyed such a perfect view of Paris. 

The Louvre was our next destination so we started walking there. The guys humored me with this visit – clearly not their favorite part of the day – yet we had a great time checking things out.  

After literally hours on our feet and miles of walking we took a tuk tuk – a small open “cab” through wild traffic back to the Café du Trocadero for dinner.   

We had pretty much a repeat of the night before.  Chris carefully ordered gluten free meals and the plates arrived with bread crumbs again.  Once again they graciously exchanged our plates with fresh plates and wonderful meals.  

As we ate the sun started to set and Eiffel Tower started to sparkle with lights.  It was a perfect moment for our last night in Paris.

Thursday morning we left the hotel and went back to Suzie’s.  She gave us a tour of a nearby town Senlis that afternoon, a small and ancient city with beautiful stone walls and homes and the tiniest little streets barely wide enough for one car to navigate. There we saw another Notre Dame – not as large as in Paris but still magnificent. 

Friday was our last day in France and Carolyn had arranged for us to have lunch at Le Theatre Saint-Vincent in Jouy le Moutier. Chef Christophe is a friend of Carolyn’s family and told her he could easily provide gluten free meals.  The only problem here was making a choice – knowing he could make anything on the menu gluten free I felt like a kid in a candy store!  The scallop and salad appetizer was to die for – literally the best scallops I’ve ever had.  The grilled tuna with port sauce was served with ratatouille.  Amazing. Locally made dark chocolate ice cream with a kumquat was our dessert. It was truly one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Enjoying it with Suzie and Carolyn made it so special.

That afternoon we made our last trip to Carrefour and I stocked up on gluten free goodies for the flight home and to share at home with Marc.

The flight home was much better as there were no gluten products at all.  There was a soy yogurt on both meal trays that appeared to contain vanillin, and since we avoid both soy and vanillin so we passed on those. We were happy to have supplemental snacks on the trip home to round things out.

One important detail is the fact we take Houston’s TriEnza digestive enzymes with all of our meals and have for years.  We never eat out without them as they contain a gluten enzyme which I feel protects us from cross contamination.  It is not an excuse to be careless but an insurance policy for me.

Overall our trip was easy, delicious and safe.  France sans gluten is indeed possible and enjoyable

Packing it all up. . .

Packing up the dinners was easy.  Saturday night we had Joe's favorite meal - Nachos.  After dinner I packed up some grilled chicken, black beans and cheese in a container and chips into a bag so he could repeat the meal Sunday night.  I put that container in the freezer with the two layered enfrijoladas.  Then because waiting until the last minute is often the way I roll I made another of Joe's favorites - lasagna pasta - which is an easy meal that I like to sneak extra veggies into.  We call it lasagna pasta because it's layered and has a cheesy filling like lasagna. I use inexpensive and easy to find rice pasta instead of gluten free lasagna noodles which I have to make a special trip for.

Here's what I do:

In an 11 cup rectangular Pyrex dish I pour one half of a 16 ounce bag of gluten free pasta.  Pour one half of a jar of pasta sauce over the pasta.  I usually puree a zucchini into the sauce.

In a blender container or bowl if using an immersion (stick) blender put 1 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese, two eggs, one yellow squash cut into large chunks, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of oregano and a dash of garlic powder.  Blend until smooth.  The squash vanishes into the sauce and no one will be the wiser.  Pour over the pasta.

Slice 8 ounces of Mozzarella cheese and lay it on the cheese.

If your family enjoys more veggies, this is a good time to add a layer of thawed frozen spinach or any veggie you like. I want Joe to come home so I did not. =D

Pour the rest of the pasta and sauce over the top.  Fill the pasta jar about half full with water, put the lid on and give it a gentle shake.  Pour the diluted sauce carefully over the top.

Cover tightly with foil and set on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for approximately one hour.

Remove from oven, uncover and top with 8 ounces of shredded Mozzarella cheese and pop it back in the oven, uncovered until the cheese is melted and golden.

This time I just let the cheese melt onto the hot pasta since presentation was going to be a mute point once I piled it into the containers.

Once cooled, the containers were packed and put in the freezer overnight.



Here's how the cooler looked as we were packing it up - frozen water bottles supplemented the cool packs. The frozen meals were pulled out and packed up with dinners on the left, lunches in the middle and the breakfast bars on the right.  On top we the almost frozen yogurt.  On the very top was a note to the kitchen supervisor with my number.

As you can see, each large bag also has a sheet of information to keep things easy for the staff.  Keeping everything clearly marked and properly sealed may look like overkill but cross contamination is such a problem.

The cooler went into a hot trailer - which wasn't what I'd expected - and they had about six hours until they were at the camp site.  That should have worked just fine because the majority of the cooler was frozen solid.

Can't wait to have him home and hear all about it.

Packing Lunches for the Retreat

The house is very quiet without Joe here this week so it's a good time to get caught up on the retreat meal posts.  His lunches were the easiest to prepare.  I made Calzones and the Ham Pocket Sandwiches to alternate each day.

Remember the black bean brownie recipe I mentioned?  I used this recipe as inspiration for a chocolate coconut brownie bite which I'll post soon.  Three to a bag for each lunch dessert - popped into the freezer until Sunday.  

Chris peeled carrots for me as time grew short yesterday and we packed them up in bags.  Each bag of carrots and brownies just went right into the quart sized zipper bag the frozen calzone or pocket sandwich was in.  The quart sized bags went into one gallon sized bag and the information sheet I printed up slid right inside.  The kitchen supervisor only needs to hand Joe a bag each day for lunch.

Still Baking. . .

Last night at church Joe was asked to go to the retreat center a day earlier to help set up for the retreat so that means a few more meals need to be packed and one less day to do it. He's so easy and doesn't care if he has a lot of variety so it's not a big deal but I don't want him eating too much of the same thing.

I decided to make these chocolate coconut bars to pack for breakfast. Baking with coconut oil is so much easier this time of year. Since we've already got a jump on summer weather the oil was soft and easy to scoop. Because I have lots of fresh farmer's market eggs I switched out the flax and water and used six large eggs instead.  Surprisingly, they were more chewy and firm with that sub and we liked them even more.

He'll need five breakfasts - so I packed up six bars just in case.  Three of these and three bars made with the oatmeal date jumbo recipe.  I just added a cup of chocolate chips to the recipe and patted it into a 13 x 9 pan to baked it for about 25 minutes.  They make wonderful granola type bars - a little crunchy but still chewy.  All the bars are roughly 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches large.

Sending cookie/cake bars may seem like an unhealthy way to start the day but remember that each recipe has a good amount of protein given the large amount of eggs, almond flour and/or peanut butter. I've also cut the sugar down to a minimum in each recipe.  The result is a nutrient dense treat.

Each bar is in it's own freezer bag and all in one larger freezer bag.  The outer bag will be marked with "breakfast bars",  his name, our church's name and my phone number in case there are any questions.

The kitchen staff can just grab one and a container of yogurt out of their bag and he'll be good to go.

Next up - lunch on the road and at camp. . . .

P.S.  Marc just walked in the door and told me he'd read my blog today.  He felt just a wee bit betrayed by the veggies in last night's layered enfrijolada dinner.  I just smiled.  =D

Sneaky Cha Cha. . .

As I continue to fill the freezer with my son's meals for his youth retreat next week my concern is balancing his meals with nourishing foods as well as making them enjoyable.  He's not a huge salad/veggie guy and I know if there's a serving of broccoli on the side of his plate it will very likely be ignored at camp.  My solution?  I'm sneaking veggies everything I can. Extra protein doesn't hurt either, since they'll be going non stop all week.

Sneaking veggies and other nutritious goodies into my family is a time honored past time around here.  Some attempts fall flat and others have become family favorites.

One favorite that I haven't made in a while is the Whole Food's Flourless Brownie Recipe. They're made with a can of black bean which you gets pureed into invisibility with all the other ingredients. I know that sounds strange but they are so good.  Really. They are fudgy and chocolaty and no one could tell the secret ingredient here. Sure you're still having sugar but you're also getting protein, fiber and minerals from the beans.  They are on my list to bake next. I'll be packing several for Joe's trip.

I decided to make a couple of servings of a layered enfrijolada stuffed with ground beef and black beans for two of his dinners.  The black bean sauce, cheese and corn tortillas are really a great protein on their own. Adding beef AND more black beans might be protein overkill at home but with the activity level he'll have each day it should work well.  A one pound bag of black beans simmered with onion, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper and was pureed for the sauce.

One large zucchini was grated into a pound on ground beef and one can of black beans.  It becomes less and less obvious as spices are added and it simmers.  It really doesn't disappear but it is almost flavorless with all the stronger flavors - neither Joe or I could taste it at all as we sampled some.

To get the right serving size for him I just layered everything into the containers.  Bean sauce, tortillas, filling, cheese, and repeated until full.   I normally use only glass for storing and cooking meals like this but that isn't practical to send to a camp kitchen.  I also don't use a microwave at home but that's what he'll be using at camp.

There's one more addition to the freezer we've packed.  Remember the Calzone experiment?  I've been playing around with different fillings. I used this cheese bread recipe for this version that has thinly sliced ham inside - it was perfect with the jalapeño jack cheese in the bread.  There are a combination of both pizza style calzones and ham and cheese pocket sandwiches in the freezer for his lunches so far.

The entree size containers will be put in a freezer ziplock and labeled by day, meal and heating instructions to make things easy on the staff.  The calzones and pocket sandwiches are in individual quart sized freezer bags which will be marked and they will each be put into a larger bag with the rest of his lunch items.

There are just a couple more items to make and some purchased items to pack.  So far everything is coming also smoothly.  I'll show you his choice for his other dinners and breakfasts soon.