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Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger: Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs

by Valerie on September 1, 2010 · 5 comments Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, created by Sea of Book of Yum and hosted by Shirley of Gluten-Free Easily this month, is really the perfect event for those of us constantly bookmarking and printing recipes, as it provides an organizing principle.  This month I adopted Ricki, the voice behind the blog Diet, Dessert and Dogs, and author of Sweet Freedom (see my review here) because just as I was thinking about who to adopt, I made Ricki’s Peas in a Creamy Curried Sauce with a side of Pudla: I made these two items after a particularly long day, the kind where you are so tired that cooking dinner requires extra concentration and moment of “did I already add the tomato paste, hmmm, the jar looks like it has less in it, wait the sauce is pink, I must have.”  Wait, you don’t have moments like that? Despite my complete distraction, both recipes came out perfectly delicious.  That, friends, immediately makes trying more recipes from the same blog (or cookbook, because I still do cook from cookbooks, sometimes) very interesting.  Especially when one is feeling revived by the fragrant peas and marveling at how easy the pudla was to make and how tasty everything was (note, the only substitution I made was to use coconut palm sugar instead of sucanat). I had meant to save a pudla for the next day, as Ricki recommends pudla topped with avocado as a scrummy breakfast or lunch, but my husband and I just finished off the quarter-batch of pudla that night. Can you blame us – they are golden and a tiny bit crunchy while being soft on the inside: That happy post-meal flow is also when you think of dessert, incidentally. I remembered Ricki’s Coconut Flour Biscuits.  It’s been a long time since I have had biscuits, and I had just received coconut flour from my Iherb giveaway.   While I did not make the biscuits that very night, I did google  “Adopt a gluten-free blogger August” to see if anyone had already adopted Ricki this month.  And no one had, so it is my distinct privilege to share more about Ricki’s blog with you today.

I actually started reading Ricki’s blog a very long time ago – sometime in late 2007. I cannot quite remember how I found her blog, but I do remember having it bookmarked along with Orangette and Chocolate and Zucchini on my laptop that died sometime in the fall of 2008.  Yes I still used bookmarks and had not yet upgraded to Google Reader.  This was before either Ricki or I had switched to a gluten-free diet.   At that point I was still trying to find my blogging voice, having gotten myself thoroughly sick of blogging about green beauty products (remember when those were not as ubiquitous as now) and trying all sorts of approaches to blogging.  I also had been having quite a few health problems in 2008.  The laptop dying right about Labor Day Weekend of 2008 was actually the beginning of a very chaotic month, including me getting a job in Washington, DC and leaving New York, and needing to move within a matter of weeks.  I am sad to say I missed reading Ricki’s culinary adventures for several months, not to mention her lovely narratives that include the Girls chiming in.  One thing that I always enjoy about Ricki’s blog posts is that you always get a wonderful narrative with your recipe, whether it is about life or goals or growing up.

By the time I started reading Ricki’s blog again regularly, I had started putting two and two together and realizing that my various health problems could  be related to food intolerances.  Having begun working with an ND, I was looking for tasty food-intolerance-friendly recipes to complement the new diet protocol I was on.  I had a vague recollection that Ricki’s blog, beyond having great stories and recipes and the Girls, had something about eating a more restricted whole-foods based diet.   By the time I did rediscover Ricki’s blog, she had actually switched to a gluten-free diet as part of her ACD protocol.  I was so grateful to rediscover Ricki at that point as blogs like hers have been a huge part of my adventure in understanding food intolerances as well as providing with me with a sense of community.  Ricki has also been absolutely lovely to chat with via email and twitter.She also hosts the  S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge with Kim of Affairs of Living.

And Ricki’s biscuit recipe is delicious.  Look at how light and crumbly these look: Especially with some coconut cream (aka the thicker part of the contents of an unshaken, just-opened can of coconut milk) and blackberries: I also wanted to make Ricki’s Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Soy-Free Whipped Cream to go with the biscuits, but the coconut cream won out for ease.  There’s always next time, and the whipped cream recipe looks brilliant.

I did, however, make another keeper of a recipe from Ricki’s blog: the Hail to the Kale Salad. It is the first kale recipe salad other than a basic olive oil and lemon one that my husband has decreed a remake (he does not understand my obsession with a tahini-lemon-nutritional yeast-hot sauce kale salad). Ricki’s kale salad is lime- and almond-butter infused and absolutely wonderful: I encourage you to check out Diet, Dessert and Dogs as well as Ricki’s cookbooks.  And thank you to Shirley for hosting this month’s Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger. 1 Ricki September 1, 2010 at 7:11 pm

Valerie, wow! Thank you for this incredibly thoughtful and detailed review, and all your kind words. And I had no idea you'd been reading that long (see, you should have left comments earlier!)

I am thrilled that you liked the recipes and that hubby has a new kale salad in his repertoire. Oh, and yes, I most definitely do have those "did I already do that?" moments (more and more these days, it seems!). But at least peas and pudla are always reliable. . . 😉

Thanks again! 😀 2 Pure2raw twins September 2, 2010 at 3:00 am

WOW all these look great! Thanks for sharing, the cookbooks sounds great!

You will love coconut flour, we use it all the time. 3 Maggie September 2, 2010 at 8:38 pm

Great post Valerie! I made the pudla too and LOVED it. So easy and so yummy. I am working my way through Sweet Freedom and then I'd like to buy her new eBook. She's a machine, isn't she? 4 Zoe @ Z's Cup of Tea September 4, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Everything looks wonderful and I'll be off to check Ricki's coconut flour biscuits! I love her blog, too, especially when her Girls give input. I'm new to your blog (finding you through the comment you left on my Adopt a GF Blogger post, thank you), and I love it! I will be coming back. 5 Iris September 9, 2010 at 1:20 pm

I don't know what pudla is, but I want some now! Seriously, everything looks delicious! Adopt A Gluten-Free Blogger is so much fun!




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