Category: Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Brooke was diagnosed with celiac in 2009 and ever since we work as a family to live our best life gluten free.

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

A very Scandinavian Jul

Good morning and God Jul (‘Merry Christmas’ in Norwegian). If you celebrate, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. This year my mom’s parents came to visit us and they are very Norwegian. To celebrate we decided to embrace our ancestral heritage even further and make a few classic Scandinavian treats. We made gluten free Krumkake, Ebelskivers, and Scandinavian Sticky Cake… don’t worry we left the lutefisk out of this holiday menu. There are various “dialects” for each of these Scandinavian specialties and we tend to focus on the, you guessed it, Norwegian version.

Let’s start with the Krumkake. We have a Krumkake iron which makes baking them easier, and it gives them a delicate and lacey design. Krumkake is a crisp waffle cookie made of eggs, butter, flour, sugar, and cream. To make them you simply scoop out two tablespoons of the batter into the iron and bake for about a minute or until your iron says they are ready. After it’s ready to be taken out you have to move quickly while they are warm and pliable to roll them into their cone shape before they cool and solidify. The cookies are fragile and a perfect canvas to add your favorite ‘fixings’ weather that be whipped cream and peppermint, chocolate, or just enjoying them plain.

Fragile Christmas Story GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY
…”must be Italian!” -A Christmas Story 1983

Our Scandinavian cuisine tour continues onto our next stop which is Ebelskivers a Danish-style filled pancake that can be made sweet or savory. This time we made jelly filled Ebelskivers, but you can doctor them up with chocolate, lemon, herbs, cured meats, or cheeses and cover them in whatever sauce you like. I also like to eat them plain! Ebelskivers are light, airy, and offer cloud like bite. If filling them, I recommend a non-traditional method of using a piping tip to fill them once they are out of the pan. This will save your pan from any potential burnt sugar and save you when the time comes to clean up!

Our tour today concludes with Scandinavian sticky cake. Chocolate cake that perfectly integrates lava cake and brownies. You all know that we could not have gotten through the holidays without a chocolate dessert. This melt in your mouth dessert is a sure fire bet to convert even the most skeptical dessert conosiours (My anti-chocolate sister) into world class chocoholics. It was so easy to make and was ready within an hour, perfect to whip up at any get together, it serves roughly six to eight.

As our tour comes to a close I had to give a shout out to the Uffda Shop in Red Wing Minnesota for providing us a window into our heritage, as well as the different pans for the Ebelskivers and Scandinavian Sticky Cake. I sent my friend pictures of our treats and he asked, “What makes them Scandinavian?” I was thinking about this question for a while before responding. The easy answer would the geographical origin of the recipes, but that seemed too shallow. I think what really makes these treats Scandinavian, or any family recipe distinct to a region, is the people that embrace them and the loving connectivity that the recipes bring to a family table. Thank you for joining me for our Scandinavian family Christmas and I hope this New Year brings you all peace, love, joy, and good food!

Until next time,

Brynn💖

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Ted Lasso Weekend Extravaganza

“If the Ted Lasso way is wrong, it’s hard to imagine being right”- Trent Crim, The Independent. This post is dedicated to all of the Ted Lasso fans out there. As a character one of my all time favorite shows, Ted Lasso’s Trent Crim perfectly depicts my feelings about this Apple TV Plus series dedicated to radical kindness. I couldn’t think of something the world needs more at the moment, than a dose of radical kindness. I’m not a TV-show critic or reviewer, so I promise to stay in my lane of gluten free goodies. The inspiration for this post 100% comes from my new-found love of Coach Lasso and the UFC Richmond team. Early in season 1 Ted begins a tradition called ” Biscuits with the Boss” where he brings his boss fresh, homemade, biscuits every morning. Rebecca Welton, Ted’s boss, seemingly adores these biscuits and they look delicious. Naturally, I decided to make these iconic biscuits gluten free. I used the following recipe (with a gluten free flour substitution of course): https://www.today.com/food/here-s-official-ted-lasso-biscuit-recipe-t230627 . I’ve shared these tasty treats with many people that I hold dear and the reviews are in: “Pure buttery deliciousness,” “Melt in your mouth,” and “The perfect balance of traditional shortbread consistency without being too dry.” The overarching theme is that I will most definitely be making these again soon. They are a shortbread cookie, as we would say here in the States, that pair beautifully with tea, coffee, matcha, or hot chocolate. I made them Friday night in order to celebrate the new weekly episode being released. I munched on them while immersed in Coach Beard’s night on the town. To keep my Ted Lasso weekend rolling, I thought it appropriate to attend my first ever Soccer match. I went to an MN-UFC Loons game and had a blast! After this weekend I’m becoming more and more of a soccer fan. I can’t wait for next Friday’s episode to be released and to make more Ted Lasso biscuits soon. That’s all for me today, I challenge you to be radically kind to someone-even if that someone is yourself.

Until next time,

Brynn 💖

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Bittersweet Birthday Cake

It was my 20th birthday this past week, and to celebrate my roomates threw me a small soirée with the six of us that live together. In addition to decorating the apartment and taking me to dinner they ordered a beatiful gluten free and dairy free cake from Bittersweet Bakery in Eagan. The cake itself was vanilla with vanilla frosting decorated with frosting lettering and flowers. Being gluten free, it’s rare to be able to eat a store bought cake and I had not had one in many years. When they surprised me with this delicious dessert I was over the moon with excitement. I was almost as excited to eat that cake, then I was to take on my twenties with my fabulous friends. I will be celebrating my birthday at home with my family this weekend and have elected for individual butter cakes with fresh fruit and ice cream. I couldn’t be more grateful to be surrounded by such delicious cakes and such amazing friends and family not only on my birthday, but everyday. I hope you all have sweet treats and many smiles in the up and coming weeks.

Until next time,

Brynn 🎂

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Thank You!

Hello my wonderful people! I just wanted to write up a quick post thanking those of you who take the time to frequent our Gluten Free Goalie Girls page. I also send my thanks to those visiting my blog for the first time. You are all the motivation and renewed inspiration for consistently updating the blog with new recipes, stories, and posts. The blog has been experiencing higher levels of traffic the past few weeks and it means a lot to us knowing that our information is helping fellow members of the gluten free community. As I’m reflecting, I teamed up with my sister to blog almost a year ago and what a crazy year it has been. I am so grateful for your support of this page as we have expanded this past year. Our goal at Gluten Free Goalie Girl is to reach, connect, and share information with as many people in the gluten free community as possible. Moving forward we will be increasing our social media presence, experimenting with various gluten free brands, and of course trying out many new recipes. If you have any recommendations for recipes, we would LOVE to hear from you! I hope you all have a great day wherever you are reading this from, and from my kitchen to yours I wish you all peace, joy, and good eats 🍴💖

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Many thanks until next time,

Brynn

Categories
Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Ringing in the New Year

Cheers to 2021 Everybody, here’s hoping that by the end of this year we may slowly start returning to a version of normalcy. Thank goodness cooking and baking remains relatively stable from one year to the next. I often find that many traditions, whether intentional or not, are very food focused. Now that the holiday season has come to a close that has become very evident to me. Regardless of your background or culture, traditions are a beautiful way to join together in celebration and share in jubilation. As I mentioned above, the core of these events is food; food has a wondrous power to bring people together in joyful memories. Try for a moment thinking of some of your favorite memories of 2020, I know there might not be many, but think about where you were and who you were surrounded by. Some of my most fond memories from 202o were in the kitchen with my family or roommates, having frosting battles or experimenting with new recipes. It truly is the little things that can bring joy and light to unexpected circumstances. I hope that you were able to think of a memory that made you smile. Looking back I have appreciated my family’s traditions more than usual this past year, I think this is largely because they were a source of stability. The end of the year proved challenging, consistent with the rest of 2020. I have felt bad for having so few posts this month, but my hope was that many of you were enjoying the holidays and time with your loved ones. Final exams wrapped up about the second week of december, and consequently I returned home for the holidays. Before the festivities could begin I did have to undergo a minor surgery on my hand which slightly inhibited my ability to type the past few weeks. Now it is healed enough to type so I can finally update you all, and get going on some new recipes for the new year. Who knows maybe 2021 will bring new traditions or perhaps some new make again meals. I wish you all the very best and will be back with some great gluten free updates soon.

Until next time,

Brynn

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Pros and Cons of Gluten Free Diet

Hello All, I hope you had a rest-filled weekend. Some of you have reached out and inquired about the pros and cons of the gluten free diet so as promised, here is a post that hopefully clears up any questions you may have. First thing’s first, you should always consult your doctor or dietitian prior to starting a new diet. When you meet with your doctor or dietitian be sure to ask about how to maintain a well balanced diet that includes all of the key nutrients. When it comes to making the decision to go gluten free be ready to commit-there are no “cheat days”. The gluten free diet can be restrictive and isolating, for both adults and children alike. Educating yourself and the rest of the world on the seriousness of your needs can be exhausting; the importance of becoming your own best advocate cannot be overstated. I pride myself on being honest and to be completely transparent I would not have chosen the gluten free diet unless it was medically necessary. I love gluten as much as the next person, but I know that putting my health first is a must. I also feel so blessed to have grown up in an environment where anything and everything could be made gluten free-a big shoutout to my Mother for that. Financially the gluten free diet is not overly cost efficient. Often times gluten free products are up-charged at restaurants, and are always more expensive than gluten-filled products at grocery stores. Health wise gluten free products are also higher in sugars, fats, and complex carbs; because of this it is not a diet for weight loss. Now I know if you’re reading this it may just feel like a “cons” list, but I am just trying to lay foundation for the seriousness of this decision. The most obvious “pro” is if you are diagnosed with Celiac Disease or non-celiac gluten intolerance by going gluten free you will ge putting your health first, allowing your intestines to heal, and you will no longer be getting sick. Besides going gluten free will allow you to check out this awesome blog all the more frequently. Now i’m only half kidding of course. Being gluten free also allows you to tap into your creative cooking/baking side and have fun in the kitchen, while sharing sweet creations with those that you love. I sincerely hope this post provided some clarity and I wish you all the best in whatever your decision may be. I am so grateful for those of you who commented with questions-I started this blog to assist others within the gluten free community throughout their journeys, regardless of which stage of the journey they may be experiencing. Please continue to reach out with any questions and from my kitchen to yours, stay safe and be well.

Until next time,

Brynn

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Halloween Pumpkin Bars

It’s spooky season Everyone and what better way to celebrate than with taste bud tingling pumpkin bars. My roomates and I were looking forward to a quiet evening in, watching movies and enjoying the seasonal tricks and treats. The bars were very quick and easy to make. To be honest, playing around with the presentation of these bars was my favorite part of making them. I safely burned the edges of the parchment, and used ketchup as “blood”. I tried a new recipe this weekend and the bars rose very well, had a great texture/consistency, and tasted delicious. I used a creepy cinnamon cream cheese frosting to top off the bars. To accompany the bars I brewed up a non-alcoholic ghoulish green potion. One of my roommates is vegan so this punch consisted of water, ginger ale, and lime juice. You could also include lime sherbert for an additional level of flavor. I know Halloween looked a little different this year, but if we continue to do our part to stay safe then we will be able to put an end to this nightmare. I hope you all had a happy Halloween filled with more treats than tricks, and as we enter into the Holiday season spread some peace and joy. From my kitchen to yours stay safe and be well.

Until next time,

Brynn

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Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Fall Festival Cupcakes

Hello Everybody! I’m back and boy oh boy have I missed you. Since being back at school life has been crazy busy, but I am thinking about new posts all the time. This is a particularly fun post for me so buckle in folks. It is fall and I know I have told you all at least one hundred times that classic fall flavors are some of my favorite to work with. Allrecipes was hosting a fall Sweets and Treats contest so of course I had to enter. We find out the results of the contest on October 28th and I can’t wait. For the contest I entered my Fall Festival Cupcakes inspired by, you guessed it, the classic flavors of fall: apple and pumpkin. The flavor of the first cupcake was a caramel apple cupcake with an apple spiced cake, caramel filling, and a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. The flavor of the second cupcake was a pumpkin spice cake, with a brown-butter glaze filling, and the same cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Truthfully these cupcakes came out as the best cupcakes I have ever had, period. I am very proud of them, and am excited to see where else I can go from here. I shared them with a family friend, who loved them and assured me that quote: “If the whole lawyer thing doesn’t work out at least we know you would be a damn good baker.” What means more to me than the compliment or that the cupcakes even turned out decent is that these cupcakes made people smile and made their day a little better. After all, that is what I love most about cooking, baking, and sharing my gluten free experience: making food that can bring a smile to someone’s face. By doing so it allows me to do my part to make this world a little sweeter of a place to be. There is only so much a person can do to make the world a little better, but at least do that. Do your part to make someone’s day brighter, even if that someone is you. My roommate and I joke that we could have quite the side hussle if we went around campus selling our gluten free treats, I mean hey the Girl Scouts that come to campus during cookie season seem to do exceptionally well, and they’re seasonal! My roommate and I live here all the time 🙂 Anyway please reach out with comments if you would like to see a post about the cupcake recipes. Otherwise from my kitchen to yours stay safe and eat well.

Until next time,

Brynn

Categories
Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Surviving The College Dining Hall…

Back to school may look a little different this year, but as more college students return to campus, or first year students arrive for the first time, the dining hall is open for business. The college dining experience can be overwhelming enough as it is, but when food allergies or dietary restrictions are added to the mix even eating lunch can be stressful. I am calling on my dining hall experience to give insight on how to navigate the dining hall when you have food allergies/dietary restrictions.

When I started my first year of college I was going into it newly diagnosed gluten free and dairy free. I was stressed about having options and cross contamination. My anxieties were verified as soon as I stepped into the dining hall on day one. There was so much food and so many people, Freshman Brynn was lost. Food was labeled and there was an electronic system in place to match the menu that described what the food contained, this was good in theory, but it was rarely correct. Even so options were very limited; for the first week I had sticky rice, chicken, and pineapple for lunch and dinner everyday. You would think: “Okay she’s following her dietary rules and doing the best she can, at least she’s not getting sick.” Wrong. I got sick 2-3 times a day everyday for about two months. I ended up losing about 18 lbs. Part of this was stress related, but a larger factor was getting glutened or accidentally consuming dairy due to mislabeled information. It seemed the more I branched out to try new things labeled “gluten free and dairy free” the sicker I got. This didn’t make sense because I was following all of the labels and eating everything I should be able to.

Even though I was newly diagnosed gluten free and dairy free, I was not by any means new to working with dietary restrictions. I grew up in a gluten free household, and in my home Brooke and I were taught to cook and shop in order to accommodate food allergies from a young age. That was done on purpose so we would become self-sufficient, knowledgeable, and could vouch for ourselves. After 10 years of this lifestyle you understand how it works. As I mentioned above, much of the menu and food placed out was not labeled properly. For example, they wouldn’t account for the malt in carmel coloring within the soy sauce they used, so anything with soy sauce was wrongly labeled gf. Throughout the semester there was an issue like this almost everyday with different foods- I was so frustrated. You may be asking yourself now: “Yikes how do I not end up like her?” Don’t worry I am getting there. From this experience I learned many things that I will summarize for you next.

When you get to campus the first thing I would recommend doing is meeting with your on campus dietitian, make this person aware of your situation so they can help you navigate the dining hall right way. Unfortunately when I arrived on campus my dietician was on maternity leave, so I had to figure out the dining hall on my own. I would suggest you inquire about a weekly menu rotation, that way you can plan what you are going to eat ahead of time. At some colleges and universities you may even be able to call down to the kitchen and place an order that fulfills your needs if there isn’t anything on the menu. You are your own best advocate, so stand up for yourself and your dietary needs. As my Mom says: “Be on team You!” That means telling the dining hall staff to change their gloves, and affirming that yes you need your sandwich made on a separate cutting board with separate ingredients and utensils, even if that means a little more work for them. That said get to know the dining staff so they can help you to the best of their abilities. Don’t be afraid to politely, but firmly inquire about what is in the food if you think it might not be totally safe. As the semester goes on you will be more familiar with the dining hall and you will have your trusted food favorites. College is a lot of fun and there are so many things to experience, make your dining experience a positive one by heeding my advice. If you are going back to campus this year please stay healthy, be safe, have fun, and eat well. Remember you got this! If you have any further questions about surviving the dining hall please feel free to reach out.

Until next time,

Brynn

Categories
Living a Gluten Free Lifestyle

Gluten Free Cosmetics

Gluten can hide in many places, and when you have Celiac Disease the last thing you want to worry about is getting glutened from non-food substances. A tricky hiding place for gluten is within cosmetics. Not only are gluten ingredients disguised in hard to understand names, but there are very few companies who list the ingredients on their products or certify their products as gluten free. According to the Gastroenterology Center of Connecticut common makeup ingredients that contain gluten are Triticum Vulgare (wheat bran), Secale Cereale (rye seed extract), Hordeum Vulgare (barley), and Avena Sativa (oat bran). That said, if your makeup offers an ingredient list look out for these gluten filled red flags. Now I know that people have their favorite makeup brands, and I am not saying you need to ditch all of favorite products because they are not gluten free, but you do need to be careful. If your favorite makeup is not gluten free, and you apply it with your hands, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly. When you have Celiac or a gluten intolerance, the most important makeup products in your bag that have to be gluten free are your lip products. Below I am going to display a list of gluten free makeup brands and lip products that are safe for individuals with Celiac or a gluten intolerance to use.

Jane Iredale

Ulta Lip Oil

Thrive Cosmetics

Hourglass

Burt’s Bees

AVYA

Afterglow Cosmetics

Alima Pure

Bare Minerals

BITE Beauty

Covergirl

Ecco Bella

E.L.F.

em michelle phan

Gabriel Cosmetics

Lancome

Lili Lolo

Maybelline New York

Mirabella Beauty

NARS Cosmetics

Too Faced Cosmetics

Yes To

Pat McGrath

Korpari

Trish McEvoy

Urban Decay

Zuzu Luxe

Olivespa Lip Balm

Carmax

Blistex

EOS

Bobbi Brown

Chanel

Arbonne

Dior

Lancomb

Mac

Neutrogena

Buddha Balm

Soft Lips

Vaseline

ECO Lips

Bonne Bell

I am sure there are more lip products and cosmetic brands out there that are gluten free, but based on my research, those listed above are among the safest. Within this list are products for every budget and occasion. It’s sad to say, but fall and winter are quickly approaching, so be sure to take good care of your lips. I hope you found this post helpful, and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Until next time,

Brynn