A Gluten Free Dairy Free Vacation

The Enemy is a Robber of Joy, So With That Perspective in Mind, I Needed a Quick Re-Allignment

 

 

You've heard it say that the anticipation of vacation is half the fun. In vacations past, much of my anticipation was imagining delicious sweet and savory treats from around the world. My vacations were a culinary delight. Searching for wineries, cooking classes and great restaurants. Also, making sure I could get my hands on a kitchen in order to cook with regional foods have always been part of my anticipatory pleasure of planning.

 

A few months ago, however, my world turned upside down and my view of food has turned from "living to eat" to "eating to live". It definitely changes one's focus on vacation planning. Now, more than ever, I need to focus on food - but for different reasons.

 

This time the planning stage was pretty extensive. I figured the more I planned the less thinking I'd have to do while on vacation. So, I started with a personal travel guide. His name is "Mr. Google". All I had to do was let him know some magic words, and a plethora of culinary options were at my disposal. My first suggestion to Mr. Google was a B&B in the town where we planned to stay. The magic words were "gluten free B&B in Cape May, NJ" and "voila", The Mason Cottage Victorian B&B appeared.

Patti, the Innkeeper, had written a blog seemingly just for me. It was titled, "For All Our Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten Free Guests". Well, that was the start of the "anticipation" of my topsy turvy vacation.

I have to admit, up to that point, I was not looking forward to any vacation. Simply because I was anticipating too much thought on where to find foods I could eat instead of simply finding delicious regional temptations to enjoy. But once I had at least breakfast taken care of, it gave me courage to investigate further.

 

The next thing I did was to do some mega cooking so at least one other meal could be gluten and dairy free. I spent the Saturday before we left planning, cooking and storing meals. I have to admit it was tiring, but I was happy during the week when I didn't have to use brain space for, "Now what am I going to eat".

Next, I asked my "travel guide, Mr. Google" to find gluten free restaurants in Cape May. There were a few that had gluten free menus, but one really caught my eye; it was called "Higher Grounds". It is an organic cafe which offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten free foods. YAY. It turned out to be a wonderful find. We were able to frequent it a few times and enjoyed lunch or organic coffee and cookies on their Garden Patio. We even enjoyed playing a game of chess while waiting for our food. An added blessing was the owners/servers were very amiable, knowledgeable, friendly and encouraging. We spent a couple pleasant afternoons there.

 

When we first arrived, we went to a restaurant that was supposedly gluten free friendly, but they simply took out ingredients that I couldn't have without replacing it with anything else. What I ended up with was expensive, plain tasting food. At this point I felt going on vacation was a mistake. My high anticipatory expectations came tumbling down and I had a good cry and spent a couple hours under the covers. This is when I realized that the enemy was trying to ruin  my vacation. The problem was, I was letting him.

 

 

So, I put on my Pollyanna face and forced myself to count my blessings. Come to find out there were many more happy things in my life that didn't need to be overshadowed by a couple of food allergies. I realized I needed to change my focus on enjoyments other than food (not easy when you're a foodie) - like chatting with some wonderful people who were also guests of the B&B, during tea time. Enjoying delicious specially made gluten free dairy free cookies that Patti, the Innkeeper, had made speciallly for me AND she gave me the recipe! (There I go again, getting excited about food - or maybe it was that it was baked with kindness. Yes, that must be it.)

 

Thumbprint Cookies

From Patti from The Mason Cottage, Cape May, NJ

Makes about 30 cookies

Fill these oat and nut cookies with your favorite fruit juice sweetened jam. Or just leave in a ball and roll in organic powdered sugar once they're cooled.

Ingredients

1 cup almonds or pecans
1 cup gluten free rolled oats
1 cup gluten free flour blend
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
Fruit juice sweetened organic jam OR 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Put almonds and oats into a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large bowl and add flour, oil, syrup and salt. Stir to combine well. Roll walnut-sized balls of the dough in the palm of your hand to form each cookie, then arrange on 2 large baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart. Press your thumb gently down into the center of each cookie to make an indentation. Spoon a scant teaspoon of jam into each indentation. OR leave in a ball shape (when they're cool, roll in powdered sugar).

Bake cookies until golden brown and just firm around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to let cool completely, then serve immediately or store between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container.

 

 Also, the weather a couple of days was gorgeous and my honey and I were able to explore the enchanting town of Cape May.

 

I'm not sure I've perfected the art of "eating to live" instead of "living to eat", especially during vacation; but I have learned that focusing on those who love me, on meeting new people, and enjoying the blessings God has placed in my path are where my focus needs to be in order to enjoy my future vacations - and well, life in general, yes?