Best Chocolate Cake Ever (gluten free or not, this is the best cake I’ve ever had!)

What girl doesn’t love chocolate cake? OK my daughter doesn’t but I think there’s something wrong with her! 😉 I was looking for something to do the other night so I went looking through my recipes for something to make. My eye went straight to chocolate cake. Why yes! I’d love some chocolate cake! Glance through the recipe. Yup. I have all that stuff. Let’s make cake!

Whether you’re newly gluten free or have been doing this a while, you know that sometimes the breads and cakes can be a little grainy in texture. This cake is as smooth as silk, as is the frosting. Well what are we waiting for? Here’s the recipe:

Cake:

1 1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking Mix

1 cup sugar (I used Splenda…48 packets to be exact)

8 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil (you can also use half oil half applesauce to cut some more calories)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together until there are no lumps. Pour into a greased 8×8-inch pan and bake for 25-30 min, or fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes.

Frosting:

4 Tbsp softened butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/6 cup water

Beat ingredients together till mixed and frost on cooled cake

The actual frosting recipe is double what I have here but it made an awful lot of frosting. Feel free to double this if you want more frosting. I’ll never know! 😉

Enjoy

Been a Long Time!

I just got a notification that I have a new follower and realized that I haven’t posted in a LONG time (over a year?!?)! I kinda got into a groove with being gluten free and forgot about it. Holy cow the things I’ve learned since then! I think instead of bombarding with everything, I’ll do a little at a time. I’ll start with a recipe. It’s a recipe I stumbled upon when trying to find out how many packets of Splenda made up a cup of sugar (I was making kool-aid for my son and didn’t want to put all that sugar in).

The site that came up was a forum for low carb eaters and the poster was asking because she found a recipe for cream cheese muffins. I thought to myself, “I like cream cheese. I’ll try these.” Turns out that they are mini cheesecakes! And they’re delicious! And I’m thinking the next time I make them that I’m going to get some gluten free graham crackers and line the bottom of the muffin pan holes with a pseudo-crust. And now the recipe:

2 8oz. pks. Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup Splenda
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Soften cream cheese about 40 seconds in microwave. Add other ingredients. Beat with mixer till smooth. Pour into 12 muffin pans lined with the papers. Sprinkle with cinnamon (optional). Bake at 350 for 20 min.

I also think I would double the recipe to make 12 muffins. They were a little thin. If you’re watching your calories, go with the original recipe but if not, go for it!

Oh and if you don’t have bagged Splenda and are using packets, 1/2 cup = 12 packets.

Have a great day!

Found New Bread!

Man! It’s been a long time! Things have been going along fairly smoothly. I did have a run in at Applebee’s. Long story short, their “gluten free” items aren’t really gf. they are naturally gf but not prepared safely so be careful out there. Make sure you’re asking the right questions about how things are handled and prepared. I took my GlutenEase and it helped.

Now back to my good news! My friend and neighbor Tara was given some Udi’s bread. Seeing that it was gf, she gave me 2 loaves of it. I was worried because I have had store bought bread when I was first diagnosed and it was terrible! I toasted the Udi’s (because I read that all gf bread needed to be toasted) and made an egg salad sandwich. It was delicious! I found them on Facebook and “liked” them. I asked about having to toast them and they said their bread is formulated to not require toasting. They were right! It’s delicious not toasted too! I’m so ver excited about it. I can’t wait to try some of their other products. Thank you Udi’s for making good bread and thank you Tara for giving me this bread!

Getting on with Things

I am getting better! As I told you in my last post, I found a pill that makes my symptoms much more tolerable. I have taken it a few times with questionable foods and been good to go. Last week we went to Applebees for dinner. On their site, they showed items that were supposed to be safe for gluten intolerant folks like me. Not so much. We ordered chips and salsa as an appetizer. Everything was going fine till we got to the bottom of the basket. I found what looked to be a crumb of batter. I had no idea that they fried their chips at the restaurant. I immediately took a GlutenEase and prayed. We finished our dinners. I had a steak and baked potato. I assume that those weren’t the problem (although you know what they say about assuming) but I threw away the leftovers the next day anyway. Anyway, we got home and I was sicker than a dog as soon as we did. I won’t go into detail but fellow celiacs know what I mean. I had never gotten sick that quickly in the past. When I was done getting sick I felt better, at least enough to be able to go to bed. The next day, I was a little queasy and in general didn’t feel well. It was basically the same symptoms, but lessened. This happened five days ago and I’m still struggling a bit. I certainly wouldn’t use it as an excuse to be able to purposely eat gluten, but it has helped immensely with symptoms.

I am very thankful that I’m getting this under control because school starts tomorrow. This is my last semester of classes before I start my program classes. I finished up my observation hours this week and can now apply for the program. I did them at St. V’s. I had to have 20 hours in an outpatient setting and either 20 in acute care or 20 in a residential setting, such as a nursing home, or 10 in each of the two. I was a bit shocked when the first pt (patient) we saw was on a vent, feeding tube and almost no movement on the right side. I was ready to completely write off acute care. It did get better after that. I had nowhere to go but up right? It obviously got much better from there. I have actually decided that I may end up working in acute care after I graduate.

Well that is all I have for now. I will check back soon.

Help Found

Well I was doing really well for a few weeks again and then had a setback. My mom was having spaghetti at her house. She didn’t realize that I needed to have absolutely clean items for my foods. I brought my own spaghetti noodles and garlic bread. She told me to rinse my noodles in a strainer. I questioned for a second that it might be contaminated but she’d never used that strainer for spaghetti so I went with it thinking that she knew I couldn’t use the other one. Oh no friends! It was not safe but I didn’t know that yet. The next day, I was so very sick! I couldn’t put my finger on anything except for the spaghetti strainer. I didn’t want to ask my mom thought cause I didn’t want her to think I was accusing her of doing something on purpose (I know she would never do anything on purpose). It was a long weekend. On Monday. I had to take my mom to the store and she knew I was feeling bad. She asked me if I had eaten anything with gluten. I told her nothing I could think of and took the opening to ask her if she rinsed anything in the strainer before I out my noodles in it. She started to say no that it was clean, then said, “oh yeah I rinsed the other noodles in it.” I told her that was enough to make me sick because of the gluten residue left behind. She told me she didn’t realize that I could get sick from that. So I took the opportunity to explain some of the ways I could get contaminated.

Very early Wednesday morning I was in the ER AGAIN! I was actually there on Monday and they did nothing for me. Gave me a shot of pain med and sent me home. No blood work or anything! The doc acted like I was an idiot! Tuesday I got in to see Dr. Reddy. She did more blood work and scripts for antibiotics and Bentyl for the cramping. Percocet didn’t help the pain and just made me sleepy. Tuesday night the pain was terrible and I started vomiting so I went back to the ER. They gave me fluids and pain meds. I finally got some relief and was feeling better.

Saturday night I went out with some friends. Was drinking my vodka and cranberry like a good girl. One of my friends asked to try it. I told him not to use the straw. Explained that not I’m not a germaphobe but he’d been drinking beer and I wouldn’t be able to drink after him. I did worry that even with him not using the straw that some gluten could get into my drink. Yesterday I was feeling like I got glutened. The stomach cramps, need to use the bathroom and nausea set in. I have heard that there is an enzyme that helps if you’re gluten intolerant and get some gluten. I went to Claudia’s (a health food store here in Toledo). They had it. It’s called GlutenEase. I took it and did start feeling better! I certainly wouldn’t use it as a way to purposely eat something with gluten in it but I now have it on hand (and will make sure I always have some) just in case! It was a little pricey at Claudia’s (as is everything there). It was $29.99 for 60 gel caps. I found it online for the same price for 120 gel caps. I definitely recommend it for contaminations though!

Organic Bliss

I have found heaven right here in Toledo (well technically Sylvania but Toledo is more recognizable). It is a deli/bakery that bakes all gf items! The name is Organic Bliss and for those of you here, it is on King Rd. between Sylvania and Central on the west side of the road. The kitchen is completely dedicated gf. They do bring in gluten items for the deli menu but they are clean. I have talked with the owner and was assured that it is safe for us. The gluten items are kept completely separate. I believe it is the owner that has celiac disease and, of course, that is why he opened the bakery.

There is good news for those of you who are not in the Toledo area. They have a web site that you can order items from! The site is http://organicblissmarket.com/. They carry all sorts of breads, muffins, cakes, cupcakes and many other baked goods that would normally be off limits to us celiacs.

I have had their soft white bread, orange/cranberry scones, cupcakes and most recently “almost” rye bread. That was one of the things I was really missing was rye bread. Let me tell you, everything I’ve had from there is delicious! Please check out their web site!

Recipe: No-fuss Beef Roast

As a reminder, I will post the recipe as it’s written. Feel free to change it to suit you (I did)!

1-8 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 Tbsp oregano
1/4 tsp reed pepper flakes
2 Tbsp corn starch
1 cup water
1 cube gluten-free beef bullion
1 lb English-cut beef roast
1 cup baby carrots
1 medium onion, sliced
1 rib celery
1/4 green pepper, sliced thin
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups frozen green beans

Preheat oven to 350

Cut a piece of heavy-duty foil that is a little more than double the length of a 9×13″ pan. Place the foil inside the pan, letting the ends hang out.

In a bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cinnamon, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch. In a small bowl, dissolve bullion cube in water; whisk into tomato sauce mixture.

Spoon 1/4 of the sauce into the foil-lined pan.

Place the beef roast in the pan on top of the sauce.

Sprinkle the vegetables around the roast.

Carefully pour the remaining sauce on the roast and vegetables.

Bring foil overhangs up to the center and fold them together securely. Fold the sides of the foil securely so the roast is totally sealed. Roast for 3 1/2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Have an adult help you remove the hot pan from the oven*.

*Remember, this book was written for kids so disregard if you are adult.

Enjoy!

Feeling Better and Testing Ricky

I am finally feeling better again since my most recent ER trip. Stomach isn’t cramping and pain is almost gone. I hope the diverticulitis doesn’t come back again. I think it was pretty bad. I am pretty sure it’s been around for at least 6 months but because of my hysterectomy in December, I attributed all left sided pain to that. I have one more day of antibiotics so cross your fingers for me ok?

Last weekend I was eating for garbage. I think that’s why I was so tired. I have been making sure I have plenty of protein so that will help. I don’t feel like sleeping all day long anymore! YAY!

I also finally got Ricky tested. My brother-in-law brought me some EMLA cream (lidacane) and with myself and 2 techs we got the job done. When the one tech told him the needle was already in he was like “it is?” LOL Now he’s going around telling everyone how brave he was! WHATEVER!! Hopefully now though he knows that it won’t hurt so if he ever needs anything else, we’ll be ok.

All in all a good day at the Brown house! 🙂

Tired

I have been ridiculously tired. I was fine the first 2 weeks after diagnosis and now after the gluten I ate last weekend, I feel like I could sleep all day! I hate feeling like this. Yesterday I think I slept more than I was awake. I’m making myself stay awake right now. I could easily lay down and take a nap. I have heard that a lot of people who have been sick for a long time can take months to feel better. It makes me mad though cause I was feeling better then started feeling worse!

I’m ready to start feeling better!!

All I Talk About?

I feel like I’m always talking about my disease. It is not what defines me but it is new and I’m learning. I feel like a ray of light has shone down on me and I finally have a reason for why I was feeling the way I did. It actually makes me happy that there really was something wrong with me. I had been feeling bad for so long without a diagnosis and I started to feel like people thought I was making it up. But now that I’m diagnosed and trying to tell people about celiac, I don’t want my friends and family to think I’m looking for attention or talking about my illness too much. I have a great support system with my friends (who are like family to me) and my actual family. I just don’t want them to think that all I can talk about is celiac. I know I’m rambling. Just putting things out there.

Fellow celiacs, how do you deal (or did you deal when you were new) with how much you talk about it?