Planning Ahead for Gluten-free on a Roadtrip

Tomorrow I will be embarking on a 3 day school orchestra trip to Atlanta, GA. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about how I handle going on school trips while being on the gluten-free diet!

In the last week, I have been slowly but surely preparing for this trip. My mom communicated with the teachers to make sure that all the stops on the bus we made would have gluten-free options! In addition to this, we called the hotel to make sure that I would be able to eat a hearty gluten-free breakfast in the mornings. I put together many snacks that I will bring along with me in case of traffic delays or genuine hunger.

Here is what I'm bringing:
1. Wellaby's Cheese Ups
2. Wellaby's Classic Cheese Crackers
3. Schar's Cocoa Wafers
4. Gluten-free Crisp Bread
5. Gluten-free Snyder's of Hanover Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzels
6. Gluten-free Snyder's of Hanover Regular Mini Pretzels
7. Fruit Snacks
8. Jif to go Peanut Butter Cups
9. Nature's Valley Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bars
10. Fruit
11. Gingermints (perfect for car sickness)
12. Lifesavor Mints
13. Hand Wipes
14. Toaster Bags
15. Carrots
16. Hand Soap (for those times when there is no soap available)
17. Trash bags (no need for trash to lay around)



Stay tuned next week for a recap of my trip!

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Have you ever tried making your own homemade yogurt? We do it all the time in our house, and it is DELICIOUS! It tastes so much better than store-bought yogurt, and it is honestly super easy to make :)! (Plus when you tell people you make your own yogurt, you get automatic cool points.) To make it into a healthy dessert, I add frozen fruit and sugar!

Ingredients 
I/4 gallon of milk
1/4 cup of store-bought regular Greek yogurt (add 3 tbs of water, and mix it)

Procedure

• 1. Heat milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring and scraping bottom of pan often with a heatproof spatula (for a smooth yogurt, make sure there aren't a lot of air bubbles), until the temperature is 185° Fahrenheit.
• 2. Cool the milk down to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  
  3. Add 1/4 cup of store-bought yogurt to the milk. 
• 4. Pour mixture into a 32-ounce jar. Cover jar and place in a warm spot in kitchen for 6 hours or until the milk gets the consistency of yogurt. 
  

  

  
  Voila! You have your own delicious naturally gluten-free yogurt!
  Enjoy!
  -Sema
• 
  

A Hint of Fall

It's getting a bit chilly in my neck of the woods (although the weather is still unstable; I'm not sure if I should totally pack away my summer clothes yet.) My absolute FAVORITE treat for the cold(ish) weather would have to be applesauce! Packed with cinnamon, this delightful treat makes the house simply smell like fall! To celebrate this colder weather, let's take a look at my applesauce recipe, which will surely make your mouth water :).

Enjoy!
-Sema

A Celebration Dinner!

Wow, it has honestly been a super exciting week for me! I got to meet Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, released my second music video, and released my third single 'The One' on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify!

To celebrate this great week, we went to Stir Crazy for a delicious dinner! I chose to order off the menu, but as they have a "make-your-own-stir-fry station," my brother opted to make his own gluten-free stir fry. The waiter forgot to note that the noodles were to be gluten-free! When my brother's food came out, I noticed that the noodles were round, and suspected they were the wheat noodles. Lesson learnt: Always make sure that the food is gf, I should have asked to speak to the chef..........When I told the waiter what had happened, he was very understanding and allowed us to order a new meal for free, and also added a dessert on the house!

I ate the gluten-free chicken Szechwan dish, and for dessert had mochi ice cream! Here's a link to their menu.

Make sure to check out my music video on YouTube!

All in all it's been a great week!
-Sema

Shepard's Salad

On Labor Day while my mom prepared some hamburgers for dinner she asked me to make something that would complement the dinner. Now we had run out of lettuce, so I decided to make Shepard's salad! This salad is SUPER easy to make, and is very delicious!

Ingredients
A few cucumbers
One avocado
Three tomatoes
Half an onion
Three tablespoons of olive oil
Salt to taste

Procedure
1. Take a few cucumbers (as many as you'd like), peel them,
and chop them into small bits.
2. Cut the avocado, tomatoes, onion and pepper about the same size.
3. Add about three tablespoons of olive oil, and salt to taste!
Voila! You have a delicious yet simple salad in which you didn't even have to use lettuce!
Enjoy!
-Sema