Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free at Hogwarts

I am very excited to host this month’s edition of Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free.  This is the monthly blog event created by Naomi Devlin from Straight Into Bed, Cake Free and Dried.  Each month a new blog hosts with a different theme.  Last month Ali from Whole Life Nutrition hosted with Healthy School Lunches.  Next month Kajora of Spice Lovely will host with Oaxacan Cuisine.

This month’s the theme is Scared Silly.  What were you afraid to eat or cook that once you did you realized it was silly to be scared?  I hope you enjoy the great recipes and foods shared.  I encourage you to visit each of these blogs and read their stories.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts Not very many people know this, but some years ago I was lucky enough to be given a ticket to ride the Hogwart’s Express to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  I first had to head to King’s Cross station in London and get on the train on Platform 9 3/4 . It was a little tricky and I was a little nervous at running into the wall, but I made it through and boarded the train.

Being muggle born (non magical family) I never knew that all of those “different” things that would happen around me was magic. I was so excited to be heading to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that I had forgotten to eat breakfast that morning. When the Tea Trolley came around on the train I nervously bought Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing with a Z Cup of Tea. Zoe said there was avocado in them and that sounded strange. Would that turn my skin green? But after eating them I wished I had bought more. They went really well with the Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs and pumpkin juice.

Once we got to school we were all sorted into 4 different houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slythern.  I was sorted into Gryffindor house which is known for its courage.   Wondering what on earth I was going to eat at this school that would be gluten free, I needed courage. After a few days of eating in the Great Hall I realized that the house-elves were amazing cooks. Each day I would sit at the table and food would just appear with a little note, Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts It started to get cold at school early in the fall and I really appreciated the Vegetarian Chili. It was full of peppers, corn, beans, tomatoes, carrots,  and sweet potatoes.  I hear they used Maggie’s recipe so She Let Them Eat Cake. I thought it was strange to serve it with Butternut Squash Bread but Linda the Gluten Free Homemaker knew there was squash in the Chili too!  The bread was moist but with a little crunch from the walnuts.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

You know, I’ve always been scared to eat squash but after eating this meal I think I like them.

All was going well until they announced this was a Hogsmead weekend. Hogsmead is the only entirely wizarding village in Britain.  I couldn’t wait to visit all of the shops like Gladrags Wizardwear, Dervish & Bangs, Zonko’s Joke Shop and Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop. But I wasn’t as sure about the places to eat.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts First a group of us from Gryffindor went to Madam Puddifoot’s for tea. There was something strange swimming around in my tea so I only drank half. Then we headed off to The Hog’s Head Tavern for lunch. There I had the Mixed Mushroom and Veggie Soup.  Melissa’s had some and said she could eat Gluten Free For Good. That soup was really good. I wonder what was else was in there because I felt like I could do anything and I kept dancing around singing peace, joy and mushroom love.  I really need to get that recipe.  I love to sing and dance.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts Romilda Vane tried the Spicy Lentil Soup. It was made with a homemade bone broth which she said was as delicious as it looked. Well that was until she found that they had forgotten to take out the chicken feet from the stock. We all laughed so hard but Kim laughed the hardest since she had given them her recipe. She swore she never left the chicken feet in the soup unless it was going to be served to Slytherins.  Using the chicken feet makes it easy to Cook It Allergy Free.

Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil decided to just have salads. They chose the Celery Root Salad with Fennel and Apples. It looked great mixed with the spinach leaves and red onion with a light honey and lemon dressing but Lavender was so full from Honeydukes Sweet Shop that she only ate half. Hallie however ate it all.  Daily Bites of apple and fennel are really good for you.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

When I asked Lavendar and Pavarti what they ate at Honeydukes they rambled off this list:  Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, Liquorice Wands, Pepper Imps, chocolate balls full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, Sugar Quills, tooth flossing string mints, Jelly Slugs, nougat, coconut ice, toffees, Fizzing Whizbees, ice mice, peppermint toads, blood flavoured lollipops, Cockroach Cluster, fudge flies, Acid Pops, sherbet balls, pumpkin tart and ice creams and sundaes of various flavours.  I can’t believe they could walk let alone eat salad after all that.

Some of our friends never made it to The Hog’s Head Tavern but they said they visited The Three Broomsticks.They ate Ginger Salmon Parcels.  I think they were delivered by owls.   I had no idea the Three Broomsticks served food like that. That must have been just for that day. Normally they just serve Butterbeer, Red Currant Rum, Gillywater, cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella and mulled mead.  But since Naomi from Dorset started working there I’ve heard that interesting things are being served. I wonder what type of spell she’s using. After you eat however, it’s Straight into Bed, Cakefree and Dried.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

Our trip to Hogsmead was wonderful and I can’t wait to go back. It’s been so much fun to go to the Quiddich games, walk around these beautiful grounds, sit by the lake, and visit Hagrid at his hut. He has a way of collecting interesting creatures. He always insists we stay for tea and Rock Cakes. I wish he’d learn to cook some of the other wonderful foods I have been eating.

Professor Sprout showed us all how we could grow our own gardens in very little space.  I will say it is easier to plant the seeds with my wand but I do like getting my hands into the dirt too.  Things seem to grow really large here on the school grounds.  You wouldn’t believe the size of Hagrid’s pumpkins.  I think someone really could live in one.

One day I could have sworn I saw Harry, Ron and Hermonie hiding behind a really big one and then I saw Harry and Hermonie taking away Buckbeak, Hagrid’s hippogriff.  But I swear I was seeing double.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts Then in just the 6th week in Snape’s Potions class, he had us make a special drink that he said would counter act the damage done to our bodies from eating things we shouldn’t. He didn’t go into details but when we all got done we had to drink what we had created. Mine was so horrible he made it vanish with one wave of his wand but Ginny had found a note in her book from Valerie about a green smoothie where City Life Eats. She created that and shared hers with us. Snape thought it must be gross since it was so green and we didn’t let on it tasted wonderful. Who would have ever thought something so green tasted so good.  I hope I can recreate that.

Then when October came, we got to have a large Halloween Feast in the Great Hall.   Everyone gathered in their robes but no one wore costumes like muggles do.  The hall was decorated with hundreds of jack-o-lanterns floating above the tables.   It was very festive and very filling.  I ate so much that night I thought I was going to explode like an erumpant horn.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

We all arrived and sat at our house tables.  As soon as everyone was seated the food suddenly appeared.  Love that!  They started with Kimchi and a Sprout Slaw. Katie Bell said the Kimchi was something that had a strong smell but the taste was amazing. She has seen it in Lexie’s Kitchen. Seamus Finnigan loved the Sprout Slaw. He said it reminded him of home but with a twist. Deanna loved it too.  It was in The Mommy Bowl which I still have no idea where that was.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

Then Cormac McLaggen said something black, orange and green was served but he couldn’t remember what it was, just that it tasted good. Alisa said it was a Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Hand Rolls that One Frugal Foodie would love. I consider myself a foodie and I loved it too!  I was however really happy to not find a hand in it.  You just never know around here.  Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin said her favorite was the Leek Puree because it was green. Stephanie shared some with me and I loved it, especially because it was Gluten Free by Nature.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

I think Susan Bones from Hufflepuff liked the Bombay Potatoes Meet Chickpea Tomato Curry. She’s a big fan of curry and her friend Shirley said it was gluten free easily. I like that.  Cho Chang from Ravenclaw tried the grilled eggplant for the first time ever. I think she had some silly notion that horrible things grew out of eggplants. I wonder where she got that idea, probably hanging out with Tia.  Did it Glugle Gluten Free?  Aside from the scary eggplant stories, we all enjoyed this dish.  Sue said she liked it best dipped in the Scary Scary Salsa but Kathleen said I Made Toast and that was what she was pairing it with.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

Just when I thought dinner was over, in came the Arepas.  I love arepas and so did Wendy who was sitting with us.  She lived where there were Celiacs in the House so having arepas were one of those foods they served.  You can stuff just about anything you can think of into a warm steamy arepa.  Pork, beef, beans, even scrambled eggs!  However I wouldn’t eat too many before playing Quidditch.

After all the dishes were cleared from dinner the desserts arrived.  I don’t think I’ve seen so many desserts before in one place. The tables were over loaded. We all made short order of the Apple Rhubarb Blackberry Crisp.  It came from the Eagle Loft Kitchen.  I wonder if the owls hang up there too?

After the feast I went to the Owlery and sent a message home about how much I loved this place and how great the food is.  I hope that someday I can find all of these recipes so I can make some of these wonderful foods I’ve eaten.  It would be great if someone put them all in one place.

As the year continued we were served:  Roast beef, roast chicken, fried sausages, stew, casserole, tripe, pork chops, shepherd’s pie, steak, Cornish pasties, lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, steak and kidney pudding, steak and kidney pie, black pudding, chicken and ham sandwiches,bread, marshmallows and crumpets, baked pumpkin, roast potatoes, jacket potatoes, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, sprouts, carrots, gravy, ketchup, custard tart, mint humbugs, ice cream, apple pies, treacle tart, spotted dick, chocolate éclairs, chocolate gateau, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, and rice pudding.

And then, there are of course the Christmas treats: turkey, chipolatas, thick rich gravy, cranberry sauce, turkey sandwiches (for tea), Christmas pudding, eggnogg, crumpets, trifle, Christmas cake. And when it gets really cold in the winter, the house-elves supply teachers and students with warming stews and savoury puddings.  An impressive list of heavy, traditional British food.  It’s a good thing I know magic or I would have left school as big as a Blast-Ended Skrewt!

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

Well the rest of my time at Hogwarts went on pretty much like that.  Oh there was lots of great classes and I learned to fly on a broomstick and apparate.  Once I turned 17 and was of age, I could start doing magic at home which my mom loved.  She really loved how I could clean the house with a few flicks of my wand.  But I never use magic to cook.  I still like the process of finding great recipes, shopping for the fresh ingredients and making it with my own hands.  However,  I still use my wand to clean the kitchen.

My 7 years at Hogwarts were some of the best times but also some of the worst times.  I’m sure you probably heard what happened there.  Oh and just in case you have not heard, they made a documentary about the whole thing.  You can see the latest edition in the movie theaters on November 19th.  They’re calling it The Deathly Hallows. You might want to get your tickets now, as I’m sure they will disappear faster than you can say Polyjuice potion.

Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free at Hogwarts

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