Gluten Free Recipe: Ceviche

Ceviche is a marinated seafood salad, where raw fish is essentially "cooked" in lime juice.  When making Ceviche at home, it's important to use the freshest fish and vegetables possible, because the minimal number of ingredients really allows the flavours of each ingredient to shine through.  The dish is found in many Central and South American countries, each with its own special way of preparing it.  White Fish Ceviche is the basic kind, but shrimp, salmon, calamari and other types of seafood are common and delicious in their own right.

Ceviche is generally served as an appetizer, but it also makes a lovely small lunch on a hot day.  It's naturally gluten and dairy free.

Here is a recipe for a simple, White Fish Ceviche:

2lbs. corvina, tilapia or other firm, white fish cut into 1 inch cubes
juice of 6 limes (or enough to cover fish)
1 white onion, sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, diced
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 serrano pepper or chili, finely diced (or to taste)
1 handful chopped green olives (optional, but I really like them)
1 tablespoon good quality olive oil (also optional)
pinch of cumin
salt and pepper to taste (approx. 1 tsp. salt and a few shakes of pepper)
Leaves of iceberg lettuce, for serving.  This is the best type because it's firm.  One handful of chopped cilantro for garnish.

Instructions:
1- Cut raw fish into 1 inch cubes and place in a glass casserole dish.  Cover with lime juice.  Fish needs to be covered completely, so add more lime juice if necessary. 
2- Add diced tomatoes, sliced onion, diced pepper and chopped cilantro to dish.  Add salt, pepper and cumin.  Mix well and add more lime juice if needed. 
3- Cover and refrigerate, ideally overnight.  When ready, fish will be completely white, not translucent.  Many people marinate the fish for a much shorter period, but since I'm serving it to my toddler, I like to be certain.  A few hours (4-6) should suffice if you want to make it and eat it the same day.
4- Stir and adjust seasonings.  Sprinkle with chopped olives and drizzle with oil if using.
5. Place one lettuce leaf in the bottom of each small serving bowl.  Add Ceviche, and sprinkle with reserved chopped cilantro for garnish.  Serve accompanied with plantain chips for a gluten free appetizer or small meal.  Serves 4-6.

The Ceviche at Roca Sunzal Hotel in Tunco Beach, El Salvador

As you can see from the photo, sliced carrot was added to this particular dish.  I was a little hesitant to try Ceviche the first time I was in El Salvador because of the raw fish aspect, but it's now something I look forward to.  The mix of flavours combining the lime juice, salt and heat from the peppers is addictive.  Gluten Free beer is difficult to come by in El Salvador, but it would make a perfect accompaniment.  My Salvadoran in-laws suggest rum and coconut water as a substitute, or just coconut water for children. Enjoy!

Another day, another round of gluten free goodies

Just a quick post, that may come in after midnight Eastern Standard, but it's only 10pm where I am!  (This is important to me since I have a goal to post every day this year.

Tonight, we ate another gluten free feast:
-Grilled corn with lime
-Grilled red peppers
-Kebabs with vegetables and meat
-Potatoes
-Grilled whole onions
-Rice
-Tomato and onion salad
-Tortillas
-Beans
-Fruit Sorbet

I feel so blessed to be visiting a place where providing my son with delicious food that everyone at the table is sharing is so easy.  No one has cooked separate meals for him, because much of the food they eat regularly is just naturally gluten free. 

Also, I was checking products at the supermarket today, and while there weren't any that were labeled as being gluten free, I noticed two things:

1- Many of the snack foods that are eaten here are naturally gluten free, like plantain chips
2- Several packages specifically labeled gluten as an ingredient in bold letters, making it easy to identify, even for those who don't speak Spanish,  because the word is the same in both languages. 

Looking forward to the beach again tomorrow!

Gluten Free at the Roca Sunzal Surf Resort: El Tunco Beach, El Salvador

Today we headed for El Tunco Beach, in La Libertad El Salvador.  The beach is about 30 minutes outside of the capital San Salvador, which is where we're staying.  This particular beach is named after a large rock formation that locals think looks like a pig, hence the title "El Tunco", the pig.  The entire little town is a surfer's mecca, because the beach has great waves.  We went to a little hotel called Roca Sunzal where if you spend $10/person at the restaurant and $5 for the pool, you can spent the entire day using all the hotel facilities and have direct access to the beach.  We ate lunch at the restaurant, and they waived the pool fee.

The restaurant staff was very knowledgeable and friendly, and they had many options that were both gluten and dairy free.  We asked about cooking methods, oils, etc., and were satisfied with their ability to avoid cross-contamination.  My husband and his brother ordered ceviche as an appetizer, which is made with fish and some vegetables, pickled in lemon juice and oil.  Kind of like a seafood salad.

Ceviche

For the main meal, my husband ordered grilled calamari with rice and vegetables.

Grilled Calamari

My brother in law and I ordered grilled fish with rice and vegetables.

Grilled Garlic Fish

For my son, I ordered an appetizer platter with beans, yucca, corn tortillas, tomato salsa, guacamole and fried plantain.  We asked for the cheese that usually accompanies the platter be left off.

This is what the platter typically looks like, with cheese cubes and cheese on the beans.

As you can see, he had no problem with what we ordered for him.

 After eating, we spent some time at the pool.  The hotel actually has two pools, a large one and a small one for kids.  It's shallow enough for little kids to stand up in, but deep enough that it doesn't just come up past an adult's ankles!

The kiddie pool

After much convincing, we got the little guy out of the pool and went for a walk on the beach.  The waves are too strong for children to really swim in, but walking along the water and seeing the "bubbles" in the water was enough to keep him happy.  Apparently, depending on the time of year, the beach can be rocky or sandy.  The waves suck the rocks out when the surf is strong.  This time of year there were a lot of smooth stones on some parts, and pure sand on others.  It's a black sand beach, which makes for a different experience.

A view toward the hotel.  The rock formation is in the distance.

 All in all, a nice day at the beach.  It was the first time my son went in the ocean, and he loved it.  Can't wait to hit another beach Sunday and Monday!

Gluten Free El Salvador: Eating In House

So far, eating gluten free in El Salvador has been pretty simple to achieve because we've been eating most of our meals at my in-laws' and various relatives' houses.  The traditional diet includes a lot of corn, beans, pork, fish, fruits and vegetables.  However, just like most places around the world, the traditional diet is increasingly being supplemented by a variety of foods from around the world.  Prepackaged foods abound in supermarkets and fast food chains and restaurants are everywhere. 

However, after a trip to a large grocery chain, it became evident that finding things like broth for soup or any type of gluten free cereal would be quite difficult to achieve.  Gluten issues are not as common/well known here because traditionally products containing gluten made up a very small portion of the local diet, and so there are few products geared to those who are gluten free.  Instead, we've been cooking and eating a variety of foods that are naturally gluten and dairy free.  It turns out that my son's new favourite food is a corn tortilla, which are thicker than those generally found in Canada, but thinner than the traditional Mexican ones I've seen.  He likes his slightly warm, with nothing on them.  And they have to be whole, not cut into pieces! 

Dairy free has been much simpler to achieve, particularly because soy and rice milk are easy to find.  They do eat a lot of local cheese, but we've simply avoided the issue to this point by not eating any cheese around him.  The ice cream shops sell sorbets of just fruit and water, or fruit, sugar and water.  

To give you an idea of what he's been filling his belly with these past few days:
- scrambled eggs with potato and sausage
-mango, strawberry, cantaloupe, mangosteen, banana, papaya, etc.
-bean and vegetable soup with avocado
-tortilla
-shredded pork with rice, avocado and refried beans
-chicken and vegetable soup
-mango sorbet/coconut sorbet

Tomorrow we're heading to the beach, where we'll be eating at a local restaurant known for its seafood.  My husband and I have already had a chance to go to two restaurants in the city (the in-laws graciously offered to watch Etienne after he went to bed so we could go out), and one was more gluten friendly than the other.  Tomorrow will be the first time we're taking our son to eat at a restaurant here.  I'll be posting a review tomorrow.  It will also be his first time at the beach, so I can't wait to snap a few shots of him in the water!

Wordless Wednesday from El Salvador

The lime tree in my in-laws' backyard:

My son with his great-grandfather, who is 88 years old (he was still a little shy, and he refused to pose with his great-grandmother, so I'm hoping to get a better shot soon!):

Travelling with a toddler: the airplane chronicles

I wanted to write out a better post today than the quick one yesterday to really go through what worked for us when taking our two year old on a 5 hour plane ride yesterday.  But first I have to post a photo of the gluten and dairy free cake that my niece had for her birthday part on Sunday.  My sister got the cake from the same bakery we ordered from for my son's birthday.  See here for a refresher.  My son was the only kid at the party that was gluten and lactose free, but everything available was suitable for his diet, from the chips to the meal (chicken fingers and fries in take-out containers w/boxes of mixed munchies) to the cake.  I love my sister.  Just don't tell her I said so out loud!

Now on to the real purpose of the post: a rundown of traveling with my two year old.  For a little background, we're in El Salvador visiting my husband's family for two weeks.  Our day yesterday started at 3:30 AM with a trip through the snow (in April, ugh) to the airport.  The little one was a little cranky when I woke him up, but when he realized that Grandpa would be driving us to the airport, he perked right up.  We brought two suitcases, a big and a small one, a carry on for each of us, an umbrella stroller for Etienne and the car seat for the plane.  The airport personnel were fantastic, and the only meltdown occurred at security, when my son had to give up his teddy bear to be scanned.  The security personnel were great and they tried to console him the whole time! 

Once through security, we get to our gate, and this is what I see set up in the corner:

Jungle Gym at Pearson Airport

I'm not a frequent flyer, but I'm usually on an airplane at least once a year, and I've never encountered a jungle gym in an airport before.  Perhaps they're common in destinations I never travel to, but this was incredible.  My son ran straight to it and my husband and I took turns watching him play.  The two hours before boarding passed without a hitch. 

I was concerned about my son's ability to sit through a 5 hour plane ride without getting bored, so we brought his car seat on the plane and filled his carry on with toys he had never seen before.  I had read mixed reviews from parents who put their kids in car seats on planes before, so I was a little apprehensive.  For us, it worked really well.  He was comfortable in his familiar chair, it sat up his enough that he could look out the window, and it gave him head and neck support for napping. He fell asleep for a good hour until an announcement on the speakers woke him up. The only drawback is that the airplane tray doesn't sit straight because of the seat height, but we brought along a lap tray for him.  Click here to see the one we brought.

Here he is, chilling in his car seat:

 

We had expected to have to entertain him the whole time, so his Thomas Suitcase was filled with sticker books, crayons and colouring books, trains, etc.  Turns out all he wanted to play with were the toy cars I bought on a whim before we left.  A set of four cars for $3 entertained him almost the entire way there.  He rolled them up the window, across the tray, over my arm, etc.  Bringing along his favourite meal didn't hurt either, and a good 30 minutes was spent munching on fish sticks.  He didn't sit in his car seat the whole time, he spent some time on our laps and went for a walk up and down the aisles, but then he insisted on taking his shoes and socks off and just hung out in the car seat. 

I  have to say I'm pleasantly surprised.  My son is not the most patient of children.  He likes to change activities often and he doesn't particularly like sitting in one spot for long periods of time, so we were expecting the flight to be a challenge.  However, we had other passengers tell us that they were worried about sitting so close to such a little boy, but that they were amazed at how well he behaved.  I know that being prepared set the stage for his behaviour, but I also know that luck played a role!  The best part is that it calmed our fears about flying longer distances with him.  If he's as well behaved on the way home (crossing fingers), then we're thinking about taking a longer flight at Christmas. 

The last thing I want to mention is the staff at the airport in El Salvador.  While waiting in line at customs, the staff at the airport were diverting anyone with small children, any type of special needs, and the elderly into shorter lines at customs.  A small gesture, but a much appreciated one.  Now that we're here, we can hang out in the hammocks and enjoy the weather!

Etienne with his Tio Jaime in the hammock.  This is the life!

Thank Goodness for Playsets in Airports

Well, we made it in one piece, and my little angel was, well, a little angel!  He was extremely well behaved on the flight, much to my relief.  I'm too exhausted to write the post that this deserves, but I just wanted to mention the play apparatus in the airport.  We arrived at our gate, ready to try and entertain our son for the wait before boarding.  I look up, and there is a full out jungle gym in the corner of the waiting area. 

Three slides, a mini steering wheel, a tunnel and a few different ways to climb up all amounted to a stress free wait on our part.  I will be posting the photo when I post properly tomorrow. 

For now, I would just like to send a thank you to the genius who decided that this would be a good idea, and then who convinced whoever was in charge to get it done. 

We are here, safe and sound, basking in the tropical heat.  There was snow on the ground when we left this morning.  That being said, I'm off to have some coconut ice cream before bed.  Good night!

Packing, Parties and an Early Morning Flight

Today was my niece's 3rd birthday.  The party was this afternoon, and eight lucky kids feasted on chicken fingers and fries in take-out boxes, and their own personal popcorn boxes filled with a mix of gluten free pretzels, veggie chips and popcorn.  The cake was from the same bakery that supplied my son's birthday cake, and once again it was devoured by kids and adults alike.  The weather cooperated and the children even went outside to play! 

Tonight is a whirlwind of final packing and trying to catch a few hours of sleep before our flight tomorrow.  I should be able to blog from our destination, so I hope to keep up the daily blog schedule.  I'll let you know how the flight went. 

That's it for me tonight, I'll be blogging from the road tomorrow!

Preparing to Travel with a Toddler

As I've already mentioned, we're leaving on a family vacation to visit my in-laws early next week.  This means long waits at the airport, a 5+ hour flight, line-ups at customs and a 45 minute car ride to the in-laws' place with a 2 year old in tow.  We need to be at the airport at 4am.  Oh yeah, and since the airline can't accommodate his food restrictions, it also means breakfast, snacks and lunch need to be prepared in advance.  I know I'm not the only one encountering a similar situation, so I thought I'd share some of the ways I hope to keep my son occupied, fed and happy on our trip!

The plan is to not end up looking like this at the end of the flight!

General Travel Preparations

 

 

1- We bought him his own plane seat.  Since he's over two, it was mandatory, but when we took him on a plane as a baby, it wasn't and we didn't.  We got lucky on the way home that there were extra seats, but the way to our destination was cramped, uncomfortable and tiring.  It's more expensive to buy an extra seat for a baby, but I would recommend it.  Besides it being safer for the child, it gives everyone more room to spread out and makes activities such as eating on the plane much simpler.

2- We're bringing his car seat on the plane.  Again, not mandatory, but safer than a lap belt alone.  I'm hoping that the familiarity of the car seat will help to put him at ease, and that he'll be willing to sit still for longer periods of time.  I'll let you know how this goes.

3- Stroller:  I wish we had bought one of those frames that you can attach the car seat to for the airport, but we procrastinated and didn't get around to it.  So we'll be taking the next best thing, our umbrella stroller.  I'm not thrilled about having to check it at the plane door because it takes longer when getting off, but the convenience of it is worth it to me.  This one is similar to mine.

4- Backpack/Tether:  I thought long and hard about this before I bought it, but safety won out over all other considerations.  My son isn't going to sit in his stroller the whole time, and he can bolt across a room so fast that strangers have often commented in amazement at the speed of such a little kid.  We bought a Tigger harness that looks like a backpack, and the tail is a little leash that will keep him from being able to run off unattended.  He LOVES the backpack.  We'll see how much he loves being unable to run away!

5- Thomas Mini Suitcase:  He loves anything to do with that little blue train, and the suitcase is small enough to be carry on luggage.  We filled it with activities for him to do on the plane.  Ours has a different design, but it essentially looks like this.

Pulling his suitcase through the airport

Activities

I read somewhere that it's always a good idea to bring activities or toys that your child hasn't seen before, and I thought this was a great idea.  Since I didn't want to buy ALL new toys, I started making some things "disappear" about a month ago, and they will magically "reappear" on the plane!  Here are some types of activities I think work for his age group:

1- Toy Cell Phone:  He loves to talk on his phone, and we can pretend to call just about anybody from up in the air.

2- Travel Activity Tray: It attaches to the car seat.  This way I can attach it once we're in the air, and I don't have to worry about the seat tray not reaching or being at the wrong height.  He can use it to play or eat on.

3- Toy cars/trains: Small enough that I could pack a few and rotate them as necessary.  Cheap enough that I don't care if one gets lost under the seat or gets forgotten at the airport.

4- Magnetic Drawing Board with Water Marker Board on Reverse: He can colour, erase, colour, erase, colour... you get the picture.  This one isn't the same, but it gives the general idea.

5- Story/Activity Books: A few stories he loves, and a few new ones.  He loves to lift flaps, press buttons, feel different textures.

6- Sticker Books:  I don't know what it is about stickers, but they can entertain him for ridiculous amounts of time.  I bought a book with 300 stickers for less than $5.

7- Teddy Bear: He loves talking his bear through situations.  He practices the bed time routine and reassures him that he'll be back soon, he rubs his back, etc.  Hopefully this attachment will help keep him calm and occupy some time while he makes sure his bear is comfortable.

8- Paper and crayons: Speaks for itself I think.  He can draw his Grandma a picture to give as a gift!


Meals and Snacks
This part is the most critical.  He'll have to eat breakfast, lunch and snacks from home.  Here's what I plan to bring.

1- Fruit: blueberries because he eats them one at a time, and it takes forever.  Sliced strawberries and whole bananas.

2- Packaged dried fruit snacks:  He thinks they're candy, but they contain nothing but fruit.  The packages are the perfect snack size.

3- Fritatta: This dish tastes great cold, and can be sliced and eaten almost like a piece of pizza.  This will be breakfast along with the fruit.

4- Gluten Free Crackers: He eats these slowly, and if I can get my hands on those little packets of jam they'll taste even better.

5- Fish Sticks and Baked Fries with mixed vegetables:  Not the most practical meal perhaps, but fish sticks are his FAVOURITE right now, and I know he'll eat them without a fuss.  We have a thermal lunch bag, so I'm counting on it to keep them in good shape.  I'm hoping they'll reheat them on the plane, but honestly, he'll eat them cold. 

6- Gluten Free Breakfast Bars: These can be a snack or they can supplement a meal.  Especially if the whole fish stick thing doesn't work out the way I hope!

Update: This article was updated in December 2012.

It's still tiring!



A busy April Fool's Day

I've never been particularly good at pulling off pranks, but happy April 1st anyway.  What was not a joke was my visit to my place of employment, to sign all the paperwork for my return to teaching in September.  I've been away since my son was born, but it was like walking back in after a week of holidays.  It's funny how things change, but still stay the same in many ways. 

I also had to run around today getting ready for our trip next week.  I'm trying to ensure that I have enough activities to keep a 2 year old happy for the trip.  The 3 hour wait before the flight, a five hour flight, 45 minute car ride to my in-laws...  It's going to be a long day!  On top of the activities, I'm also planning out the food plan for the day.  The airline doesn't offer gluten & dairy free options, so breakfast, lunch and snacks are on us.  I'll write a separate post about our toddler travel prep. in the days to come. 

Last week I posted my Friday Five of the five things I wanted to accomplish.  This Friday puts last Friday to shame.  Today I:

-signed papers at work
-got groceries for flight
-tried to put my toddler down for a nap for longer than I'd care to admit
-picked up new inserts for our sofas (my Aunt, from Bassett Furniture, noticed our sofa was a little saggy and ordered us new ones.  Thanks Auntie Sue!)
-purchased gifts for my in-laws and for new babies in the family, travel gear for my son, water globes for my plants, and a new carry-on
-bought some cute wedge sandals that are impractical but the first cute pair of shoes I've bought in two years
-bought a bathing suit
-picked up a sun dress and t-shirt
-got this post in before midnight!

And now my husband has decided that it's Lord of the Rings time, so although I can recite this film in my sleep....I'll talk to you tomorrow!