the trouble with food allergies and sensitivities... being gluten free in santa barbara

When I first went gluten free, I struggled with the idea of losing my favorite foods and the satisfaction that went along with eating them... the donuts, pasta, and assorted sweets I tend to obsess over here on this blog every so often especially. I didn't fully realize how it would affect me socially. I was raised in a food-centric Mexican household where sharing a meal and cooking were inextricably linked to family and love-- we always gathered around the table to eat and talk... always.

Now that I'm older, the convenience of ordering up a pizza in 20 minutes or less, dropping into a restaurant during road trips, the absentminded food grazing at parties, the family get-togethers... all of my social 'food freedom' ended in a snap. Sure, I went through a period when I would have some pizza because I missed it so much (terrible, I know) and suffered the consequences immediately and for two weeks after... but it's the commitment my GF diet requires that sometimes has me daydreaming of a stomach that can handle gluten... if only to have an unguarded experience with food out in public. To talk about a recent party experience that involved platters of crazy deliciousness from C'est Cheese where the wheat crackers were spread around chunks of cheesy goodness and knives that had been used to spread the soft cheese on wheat causes me great pain-- it was like food hell... you can look and smell but can't eat it. BLERGH! Side note: GO TO C'EST CHEESE! It's cheese heaven... don't even get me started on the Burrata.

While my health has improved infinitely since I cut gluten out, I do miss the freedom of wandering into a restaurant and ordering anything off the menu without fear of the repercussions. There are some restaurants here in town that I have never had a problem with, but there have been some that are hit and miss, and some I just avoid like the plague-- even refusing to go for the "I'll have the salad" route... yikes.

Anyway, enough of my rant... and onto my gluten free chicken noodle soup.

a donut fail is the saddest fail.

I was going to take a picture of the dough I made from Donuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to make at Home but I wound up so impressed by how far OFF from any sort of dough (gluten free or otherwise) that I resisted recording it for eternity. If I was being forced to comment on it, I would have to say the only thing it was good for was sticking to my hands and not coming off until I busted out the dish scrubber.

I'm not sure exactly where I messed up (could have been in all the liquids I was mixing? the humidity here in town?) but the sticky round blobs that wound up in the frying oil did come out fairly tasty-- at least the small pieces that I cooked all the way through... most of them, well... they weren't cooked in the middle.

It was sort of a production to make them... lots of waiting (which requires patience that I lack when donuts are involved) for yeast to do its magic, reserving of this, 110 degrees that, blahdeblooh. And now, I have nothing to show for it. I can tell you this much... if you aren't patient, this recipe might make you a little frustrated.


I'm going to try again and give a full recap. Maybe if I document the process I'll be less likely to mess it up. Hmm.