keeping warm

NYC has had a cold weather snap for the past few days… and it’s supposed to go back up next week. *sigh*

I am in love with giada’s spicy mocha but I make it differently: one packet hot chocolate + a bit of instant coffee + a dash of cinnamon and chile powder.

I am also slowly discovering which brands of gf products I like, or at least which product lines within the brand I prefer for ready-made items. It’s interesting the vast difference among products, and at times frustrating. Fairway Brooklyn appears to have the most extensive gf section I’ve recently visited (It’s been too cold for me to double check a few other stores), but Fairway UWS doesn’t have the same selection (but I’ll use market research as an excuse to stop by it and Knitty City). I love love love Ener-G Crisp Pretzels but find their Tapioca Bread (and bagels) to be … drumroll … cardboard. Note that I am the girl that likes plain ricecakes and loved matzoh before it made me sick.

It takes a lot for me to call a bread-type product devoid of taste or flavor.

So what am I to do with the remainder of the loaf?

Tonight I made “breadsticks” by spraying a baking sheet with olive oil, laying a few slices down, dousing them heavily with olive oil, sprinkling with garlic salt and italian seasoning, flipping them, repeating the process and sprinkling the top with grated parmesan* and slicing them. I put them in a 375 oven for the 12 minutes or so it took for our pastas to cook. They ended up pretty tasty and went well with my pasta. E wasn’t too large a fan, but that meant more for me. I find that a Pecan Bread– brand I forget, but its available at whole foods and shoprite– retains moisture and doesn’t crumble while taking it out of the package and has a nice flavor all its own. If I remember to buy eggs I’ll try baking some more. I can’t find that orgran breadmix except at fairway brooklyn. :(

* Fairway Brooklyn also has wedges of real KOSHER ITALIAN Parmigiano-Reggiano (don’t hold me to it but I’m 99% sure cholov y’israel) but I haven’t yet gotten over the sticker shock (over $20 for a little wedge), but I will save some money and one day try it. I must admit that I miss good cheeses and am happy to be finding more and more kosher options available in the city. The health food store near E’s office has a very large selection and we’ll slowly try them.

• Category: food
• Tag: GF