Now Eating: Jennifer’s Way Bakery

After I heard that there was a new gluten-free, dairy-free bakery in town I had to know what it was all about. Actress Jennifer Esposito opened Jennifer's Way about 5 weeks ago and already I've made 2 trips there in 2 weeks, even though it's not exactly on my way home. Fortunately the weather is getting warmer and the walk over to 10th Street between 1st Ave and Avenue A is worth the hike. Truth be told, I love to eat. I love baked goods and most importantly I love taste. Until now, my gluten-free baked goods options were limited by what I actually made myself, Babycakes and Lael Cakes (only when they participate in the Vegan Shop Ups).

Since I don't often have the time or patience to bake gluten-free, dairy-free goodies I often end up at Babycakes, since it's on my subway ride home. I love their frosting, but when it comes to the baked goods, they aren't a bad way to satisfy my sweet tooth but they always tasted dense and gluten-free to me. I personally am not a fan of garbanzo bean flour and the flavor often comes through in a lot of the baked goods. Bean-y baked good never sat well with me, but since my options were limited I made do.

Lael Cakes makes gorgeous custom cakes that are on the gourmet side of the spectrum. But since they don't sell to the public on a regular basis, it's not an option I can indulge in often unless I want to order 30 slices of cake (which is the minimum order).

My first visit to the bakery I arrived late on a Sunday afternoon and a lot of the choices had been sold out. I was hoping to try some of the bread options in addition to some of the baked goods but unfortunately the breads were sold out. Fortunately I lucked out on my second visit.



The bakery itself is small but quite adorable. There is a rustic feel with chalkboard menu, reclaimed wood, small counter and a communal table in addition to 3 stools in the window. On my first visit I noticed Jennifer herself at work in the kitchen. On my second visit, she was kicking back for dinner at the communal table, so it's safe to say that Ms. Esposito is invested in her bakery in a hands on kind of way.

On both visits a bow-tied gentlemen with a Southern accent helped me make my selections. When I had questions about ingredients, he referred me to a handwritten book, that lists ingredients and allergens.



Although there was not a huge selection to choose from, it's good to know that the staff is constantly churning out fresh treats. While I was trying to make my decision, staffers were refilling the baskets. I had the chance to eat a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven that surprised me with taste and texture. The cookie was soft baked with slightly crisp edges, not a hard cookie like most gluten-free options tend to be. The chocolate chips melted in my mouth and the flavors were all right. I could scarcely believe that this treat was gluten-free. Best of all not a hint of bean-y flavor.

I also indulged in a homemade "Pop Tart". The tender pastry had a bit of flakiness to it that was good and the filling was tasty, but I wished there was more filling. It was a little bit on the dry side and I felt it was a bit on the small side, especially since it was $6. I think I would rather indulge in the other baked goods.


On my second trip I snagged a carrot cupcake which was perfectly moist and fluffy. The frosting on top had a delicious spiced flavor that complimented the cupcake well. It was a little bit walnut heavy, so if you are not a nut fan, you may want to avoid this flavor. After my cupcake, I still wanted another sweet so I tried the Oatmeal raisin cookie and it reminded me of cookies that I ate before I stopped eating gluten. I am a sucker for cinnamon raisin flavors in anything, so I was super excited that they had bread still available for purchase. I ate the Cinnamon Raisin Bread the next morning for breakfast and it had great flavor. I love bread and it's one of the things that I miss most since changing my diet and while I am thrilled to have discovered Food For Life's Brown Rice wraps and Brown Rice bread, I miss a fresh baked bakery loaf. The mini loaf was a bit dense but still soft and chewy in the middle. Aside from a few too many walnuts at the bottom of the loaf, it is exactly what I remember cinnamon raisin bread to be like.

Overall although the portions are smaller than other gluten-free bakeries and the price is also higher, you can taste the difference in quality. The ingredients are all organic, Non GMO, and the textures and flavors are well balanced. I honestly can't believe that some of these goods are gluten-free because they don't taste that way to me at all. I am definitely a fan.

Now Eating: Wild NYC

Above right picture courtesy of Daily Candy

Last week I went to the new restaurant in the West Village that I heard served gluten-free, dairy-free pizza on a vegan crust. I immediately called upon some friends to help me go test it out on Friday night. The restaurant Wild NYC was opened by Miki Agrawal, of Slice fame. Like Slice it supports local farms and promises ingredients harvested with respect to the primitive state. Even the beer and wine served is all from within the State of New York.


Usually when it comes to gluten-free, dairy-free pizza I can get a pie at an establishment like Keste but only on the less busy Monday night that will be a marinara pie with no additional toppings. It gets the job done but doesn't give me much wiggle room for options. At Wild, I was thoroughly impressed with the wide selection of choices I had. Although the menu does not state it, Wild offers dairy-free mozerella and homemade dairy-free ricotta for the dairy-free or vegan customer. If you so choose, the Artichoke Fennel, Sweet Capicola and Roasted Vegetable are all options that you can get that don't have any faux cheese on them either. Service staff was knowledgable and friendly with my questions regarding dairy-free options.

I couldn't resist the idea of a homemade dairy-free ricotta and eagerly ordered the Truffled Ricotta with black pepper and olive oil for. I ended up ordering a share portion for $26 and was a little disappointed when the tray came down to the table, since I was expecting a bigger pizza. I honestly think that I probably could've ate both pies. Maybe if each pie was 25-30% bigger it would have been more satisfying for what I was expecting? My friends who ordered a pizza with real dairy on it felt the same way.

As for the taste, the crust was very thin crust and almost cracker-like in some areas - not for those who like a pillow-y pie. The crust made with wild yeast had a good flavor that did not necessarily scream gluten-free.  The middle of the pie was what was delicious though. My first bite I hit some mozerella that tasted a lot like Daiya cheese, the next bite was what won me for taste. The faux ricotta cheese paired with sharp black pepper and the rich mouth filling flavor of truffle was a winner.

I also ordered a Ginger lemonade which was delicious. If you are a ginger fan, you'll love this drink. Ginger that has been finely shaved with a microplane grater is dispersed throughout the tart but perfectly sweetened lemonade.

I ended up splitting dessert and have to tell you that the dessert pizza for $12 is an absolute winner. It was by far my favorite thing that I tried. Fresh berries, ricotta on a warm crust dusted with icing sugar and mint leaves was delicious through and through. I would come back just to get this dessert because I almost felt like I was cheating eating dairy and gluten when logically I knew I wasn't. The pizza was about the same size as the dinner pizza, but since it was dessert, a larger pizza didn't seem necessary.

I also tried the flourless chocolate cake with berry compote which was rich and moist. My friend was disappointed that there was not chocolate lava, but the menu didn't promise lava cake. This dessert had a mild rice flour flavor that could be tasted over the chocolate. Definitely had a bit of a gluten-free taste. I enjoyed the cake as long as there was berry compote to dip it in, but it was nothing to write home about.

Overall, it was nice to go to a restaurant where I could feel normal again, pre eating intollerances. Having more than one option I can eat is pretty amazing. The quality of ingredients is high and everything tasted very fresh. However, the pizza portions are on the small side, your bill can add up quickly, even though at first glance prices seem reasonable, even without alcoholic drinks the total came up to about $33 per person for 1 pizza each, 1 beverage and shared dessert. A bit steep considering that our dining companions (the boys) ended up leaving hungry.

Wild NYC, 535 Hudson St, New York, New York. 212-929-2920

Super Easy Healthy Banana Oat Cookies

Cookies have been food group that I've had to severely reduce since I began cutting gluten, dairy and eggs out of my life. Seriously, I think countless friends have told me that I've lost a lot of weight, and it's not that I am eating less, but I am eating less in terms of baked goods. When I can get it though, I've always appreciated Babycakes Bakery's cupcake tops and cookie sandwiches as well as Enjoy Life's Snickerdoodles in the grocery aisle.

So when a friend told me at a recent get together that we were going to make sugar free, butter free, egg free, gluten free cookies, I had my doubts. Have you ever made a recipe from Pinterest? I guess there is always a first time for everything. I tried on 2 occasions with slightly different sets of ingredients and quickly learned what works best. These aren't cookies in the traditional sense, they are a bit more like dessert bars, but still tasty nonetheless.
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Tips:
*Use very ripe bananas, the more brown spots the better.
*Use quick oats. You can use gluten-free rolled oats, but quick oats works so much better. Since I'm not celiac, and I couldn't find GF quick oats, I just used regular quick oats, but they exist :)
*Mini chocolate chips work better than the chunks
*Not necessary but if you want a bit of a richer flavor, add a teaspoon and a half of melted coconut oil to your batter. You won't be sorry.

Pretty much the base recipe goes:
2 bananas
1 cup of quick oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet (don't skimp or your cookies will get stuck). Mash the ingredients together and add any mix-ins. Spoon tablespoons of your mixture onto your cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until firm and lightly browned on the edges.


For this version pictured I used 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of currants for a spin on an oatmeal raisin cookie.


I made another version that instead of cinnamon and currants, I used 1/3 cup of coconut and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can use carob chips, to cut out sugar, but they have dairy)!  The coconut added a nice texture to the recipe.

Ultimately, my bananas weren't ripe enough, and my chocolate chips were chunks, so they ended melting everywhere when I tried to free them from the pan.  Still not too shabby, and they held together just fine.

For my next attempt, I may try adding some peanut butter to the batter to see where it will take me.

New Food, New Life: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free

So at the end of last year I noticed that little by little my quality of life had started deteriorating over the last couple years.  At first my allergies went out of control manifesting themselves in strange new ways that made me feel hopelessly out of energy and on the verge of narcoleptic. I would sleep for hours on end and still wake up feeling exhausted.  On the rare occasion I had energy an activity as little as doing the dishes caused me to seek my bed again.  After I learned of my allergies I spent a fortune on allergy medication, encasements for all my bedding, an air purifier and HEPA vacuum and vigilantly washed my bedding in hot water once a week in hopes that my allergies would improve.  The allergy medication helped immediately.  I felt functional again but not good.  On my best days my energy level was an 8/10 but I always felt like I had a fog over my mind and my quality of life.

Since my body was so occupied fighting my allergies my immune system became weaker and my ability to fight off viruses and infection became way below normal.  And again I added more medication to the routine but I often felt like I was fighting a war against my body.  Arcade Fire's song title "My Body is a Cage" felt all too real to me.

I've been lactose intolerant for years but my digestion started to get worse no matter how many Lactaid pills I popped, it didn't seem to be enough.  I feel like for as long a I could remember feeling bloated and uncomfortable was normal and I thought I was like everyone else and I began to wonder if it was something else besides dairy that was making my stomach upset.  First my blame went to cabbage, then chick peas and broccoli and part of me suspected gluten but I was unsure and partly in denial.

Finally I started thinking that maybe what I felt wasn't normal and having to pop multiple pills a day for various ailments wasn't natural.  What would the long terms effects of all these drugs do to me?  Finally I decided to do something about it and take my life back into control.  I was sick of only treating the symptoms and wanted to get to the root cause so I went to a Naturopathic Doctor.  I learned that while I can't control my external allergens, my internal allergens could be controlled by watching what I put into my body.

After a 96-Food Panel blood test against the most common allergens/foods I learned a lot about what I needed to avoid.  Turns out a lot of foods have been causing my body to freak out but the major ones were gluten, dairy and eggs.  I also had to eliminate cranberries and almonds in addition to reducing tomatoes, soy and garlic.  I think it's the foods on the reduce list that make me possibly the saddest, but since they are not for the eliminate list - I am trying to not use them in my personal cooking but if they happen to be in food I eat while I'm out, I'll live with that.

I felt relief knowing that perhaps there is an answer to how my body was feeling and although I love food, I've learned as my friend Karen says, "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels". So instead of focusing on all that I couldn't have I try to focus on what I still can have and I view everything else as poison.  Maybe it sounds drastic but in order to make my quality of life and health a priority, drastic measures were needed.

Armed with a list from my naturopathic doctor I hit the grocery stores determined that food will still be enjoyable, delicious and healthy.  Fortunately thanks to the support of many friends who are also gluten-free, I've been figuring things out.

It's only been 1.5 months and I haven't gone hungry yet.  Surprisingly, I can feel the difference already.  My immune system is stronger, my mind is clearer, my body seems to bounce back better and digestion is in a place that I never remembered or knew that it could be.  Although I may be able to re-introduce some foods to my diet, I feel so good lately that I'm not sure I'll want to - although may have to add back garlic and tomatoes in full force one day!

Anyways here is one of my fave recipes for breakfast that I've modified for Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal with Toasted Pecans.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal with Toasted Pecans

Recipe adapted from Nourish Network to be Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free:
1 Cup of Gluten-Free Steel Cut Oats - I used Bob's Red Mill + water to cook it.
1 cup canned pumpkin (half a 15 ounce can)
1/2 cup rice/coconut milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar (Reduce or use agave if too sweet for your taste)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon allspice)
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and crumbled (optional)

Boil water and cook 1 cup of GF steel cut oats according to the directions on the package.  Add pumpkin, rice/coconut milk, sugar, spices to the pot.  Combine into oatmeal stirring until thoroughly heated through - maybe 5 minutes or so.  Serve with some toasted pecans on top and enjoy!  It's almost like eating pumpkin pie in a bowl for breakfast!