The awkward first date – “check please!”

Posted on January 7, 2015 by sexymuffinlady

I love trying new wine bars, well new to me that is. I love to see what types of different wine they offer by the glass, and what type of dishes they may offer. My husband and I were in the city over the holidays with his daughter and her boyfriend. We had given them tickets to a ranger game for that evening, so we went in early and spent the entire day in the city waking around working up an appetite.  We dropped the kids off at the game and had time to kill while they were there, so we decided to get a bite near Madison Square Garden. I am notorious for yelping to find new places or somewhere close by to wherever I may be at that moment. I found this place called “AYZA wine & chocolate bar” (http://www.ayzanyc.com). Who doesn’t LOVE the combination of wine & chocolate!

We arrived to the cute space. There was outdoor seating enclosed with plastic roll downs, and a lot of heat lamps to make it as comfortable as possible during chilly nights.  Once you walk inside, you can either go left or right, which both had 2 rows for seating.  One was banquettes against the wall or tables against the window. Overall a pretty tight space no matter where you sat.  We were ok with this, but both people on either sides of us had made comments about the close proximity everyone was to one another.

Cut to food and wine…….I ordered a red (Pinot Noir) and the hubby a white (Sauvignon Blanc).  We shared the Baby Rocket Arugula salad with chicken (which also had green apple, walnuts, sweet dates & manchego cheese),  3 types of cheese (Aged Parmigiano Reggiano, Herb Goat Cheese & Tete De Moine), 3 types of chocolate (Rose Hip Pistachio, 80% Dark & Love Bug).  I thought everything was filling, fresh and quite tasty, although I wasn’t a fan of the Tete De Moine, it did not taste like swiss to me at all.  Having chocolate and wine together for me is just pure joy & happiness. The Rose Hip Pistachio was the best of the three.  As we were enjoying all the different tastes and each others company, I couldn’t help but notice the couple to my right.  As I mentioned before we were VERY close to one another, so much so that the girl to my left side started pulling my jacket from under me because she thought I was sitting on HER jacket! Really!? Back to the couple on the right, they are having the “get to know you” conversation.  It was like an interview. Of course I had to listen because now I want to know their story.  Is it a first date? Is one of them applying for a job? Whats the deal???  And as I listen more I hear the guy say, “yeah it’s a pretty nice set-up, I have the downstairs and they have the upstairs”. The girl replies, “soooo you live with you parents?”. That was it folks, after that he was back tracking and back peddling as fast as he could. The conversation became so awkward and painful, I wanted to get up and leave.  Now the girl was giving one word answers, every time the waitress came over to ask them if they wanted more wine, or dessert etc.. The girl, would answer quickly, “no, I’m ok”. Meanwhile, I’m texting my husband telling him whats going on, not realizing he was listening too!!  Yes we were sitting right across from one another and I texted him, otherwise they would have heard us.  We were so close I could sit on their laps. Now we are both cracking up, but trying not to be so obvious. Man it was painful to watch and to listen to.  They ended up getting the check, splitting it and parted ways. If I had to guess there was no second date.  As for us heading back to AZYA wine bar, my husband wasn’t wowed with the wine list being that they are a “wine” bar.  There definitely could have been more choices and variety.  I love the chocolate and cheese concept. So I won’t say never, but with the city having so many places for us to try, I can’t say when……

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Gluten Free Pies Oh My! (part 1 – blueberry pie)

Posted on December 2, 2014 by sexymuffinlady

What comes to mind when it comes to thanksgiving?

My thoughts are, it’s that amazing time of year where family and friends get together and consume an obscene amount of calories. And I mean obscene!! I recently read an article that the average person will consume 3,000 calories on thanksgiving day! 3,000!? That’s more than most people would consume in two days, let alone one meal!! Wowzers.

I have to say I fall into this glorious eating fest along with so many others. You’re eating and talking, eating and catching up, eating and trying this dish & that dish and noshing on your favorite dishes and then oh my the dessert after you are so stuffed and can not breathe but must try at least a little of EVERYTHING! Whew I’m full just writing about it lol.

My contribution to every thanksgiving I go to, is to bring the gluten-free dishes. So this year my husband prepared the gluten-free stuffing. I cooked two pies; blueberry and apple. They came out incredible and anyone who says they can tell the difference between GF and non-GF is out of their mind!

Gluten Free Blueberry Pie

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup of white sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of cold water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon of butter

5 cups of fresh OR frozen blueberries

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

1 gluten free pre-made pie crust (I used Mi-Del graham cracker crust)

3/4 cup of light brown sugar

3/4 cup of gluten-free flour

1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1/3 cup of butter; chilled and cut into small pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Blueberry Filling instructions

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, salt and water until smooth.  Add 3 cups of blueberries.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.

3. Remove from the heat.  Add butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and remaining blueberries. Stir until butter is melted.

4. Pour berry mixture into the pie shell.

Crumble Topping instructions

5. In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, GF flour and nutmeg

6. Next mix in the chilled butter and cut it in with a fork or other tool (hands work) until you have a course crumbly mixture.

7. Sprinkle the crumble topping all over the top of the pie

8. Bake for 20 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake for another 20 minutes. If you use frozen blueberries, add another 10-15 minutes of baking time.

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Gluten Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Posted on November 20, 2014 by sexymuffinlady

Pizza, how do I love thee? let me count the ways…..Now if only I could make you gluten-free then we could be lovers!!

Do you ever go to a pizza place with your friends, just wishing you could partake in this beautiful euphoric experience, knowing you can’t …….until suddenly you see, OMG yes, they have a gluten-free pizza on the menu.  But afterwards you don’t feel so great?  Not all gluten-free pizzas are not actually GF, unfortunately.  I can only attest to this of how I feel afterwards.

So I decided there had to be a way to make a GF pizza crust at home, where I could indulge in this “pizza world” whenever I wanted!  My sister has a slice nearly everyday.  My husband would have pizza everyday if he could, but refrains because I can’t eat it.  And every football game we go to….pizza place we pass….just torture.  I scoured the internet for crusts and came across a cauliflower crust.  There were quite a few different variations so I took a little from here and there and made my own.  I made crust after crust until I perfected what I end up loving.  Here is my gluten-free cauliflower pizza crust recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole cauliflower

1 whole egg & 2 eggwhites

1/4 cup of grated parmesean

1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella

1/2 teaspoon of basil

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

topping: anything you like! (Shredded cheese, mozzarella pieces, chicken, sausage, peppers, mushrooms etc)

DIRECTIONS:

1. 1 whole cauliflower, chop the florets (I used a mini food processor, but you can use a cheese grater too) until it looks like “rice”.

2. Then take your “rice” mixture and place it in a microwaveable bowl and nuke it for 4 minutes (you can steam it for a healthier option).  *At this point pre-heat your oven at 450 degrees.

3.  Take a cloth and place the “rice” mixture in the middle to squeeze out the excess water which you will drain in a separate bowl.

4. Now take all the drained cauliflower (rice mixture) in a bowl and add the following; 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella, 1/2 tsp of basil, 1/2 tsp of oregano and mix all together (I use my hands to really get in there).

5. Take a pre-oiled round baking pan and spread out the mixture so its even and flat.

6. Place the pan in your oven which has been pre-heating and should be nice and ready.  Leave in there until the top is a golden brown, depending on thickness roughly 20-35 minutes.

7. Then take it out and place whatever toppings you like (sauce, cheese, meat, veggies etc..) and place back in the oven until it’s cooked to your liking.

Now you can enjoy pizza!! XO

GF Cauliflower Pizza crust

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Why the Muffin Lady?

Posted on July 29, 2012 by sexymuffinlady

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The Muffin Lady was created because I started baking a variety of muffins….sexy was added….because to me cooking is sexy! Hence one of the reasons why I married my husband (He’s a chef)  🙂

I was diagnosed with Celiac as a child, a time when it wasn’t common at all and hardly anyone knew what “Celiac” meant let alone “Gluten Free”.  There weren’t any gluten-free restaurants, items in grocery stores or anything on menus.  You were on your own to figure it out.  It was a completely unknown world.  So much so that even my mom and I were uneducated on the subject.

When I was young, and I was going to attend a friend’s birthday party, my mom would call ahead of time to find out what the dessert was going to be so she could duplicate it for me in a “gluten-free” version…..so amazing!!  I would never know this until I got older.  As I started getting older and my mom wasn’t there making my meals and/or choices I wanted to eat what everyone else was eating; pizza, bagels, muffins, burger king (bun and all), donuts (OMG I LOVED munchkins). I would get sick all the time and just learn to deal with it.  Not realizing that I was actually killing myself slowly with long-term health effects…..which if you read up on Celiac then you know what I am talking about (http://celiac.org/celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/).  This isn’t a dietary restriction this is a way of life.

I moved to Los Angeles from New York in my 20’s.  LA was always more health conscious than New York to start with, but I really started getting into nutrition, reading labels, and exactly what I was putting in my body.  Clean food versus processed food.  Wow what a discovery, processed foods are disgusting, the sodium, the by-products, sugar, the list goes on…..  As I am living in LA making all these food discoveries, I get a call from my mom. She tells me she recently was talking to a woman about how I “used to have” celiac but “grew out of it” (as I wasn’t getting physically sick as often as I was when I was younger).  And this woman replied “You don’t grow out of Celiac, there is no cure!”.  So from that conversation on I never (intentionally) ate anything that was not gluten-free ever again.  We both started researching Celiac and reading all the long-term health effects it has if untreated (meaning you stop eating gluten).  And it explain a lot of symptoms I was dealing with, which we didn’t at the time correlate to Celiac.

Ok, we moved on, and I realized I would have to start making ALL my own food. And let me tell you, you become pretty creative when you can’t eat what everyone else is eating.  Plus since I am a foodie, I need my food to taste good, not bland and not boring.  I started looking online for ideas from other people who were gluten-free.   It’s definitely trial and error when it comes to cooking with different types of flours as I am sure it is with anything.   Between having to cook my own food, being creative and not ever wanting to eat fast food or processed foods again my love of cooking began.

Why the blog? I’ve been working in reality television for over 13 years, which gives you quite a view of what people like to see.  I love the outlet, of letting others “see inside” so to speak.  People love to see what other people are doing, saying, thinking etc… Other walks of life that you may never come into contact with, you now can see (of course through the directors eyes) that different type of life style.  It’s almost voyeuristic, and you don’t want to watch, but you can’t take your eyes off of what is about to happen.

With everything said above, I plan to share yummy gluten-free recipes, amazing places to travel and also accommodate a “gluten free” lifestyle, and I’m sure other opinions, stories that I feel like getting off my chest.

Do you know the Muffin Lady??

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