Chef Tryg Siverson met his wife, Vanessa Phillips, while working as Executive Sous Chef at Punch Restaurant. In 2011, Vanessa was diagnosed with a Celiac disease, which meant saying goodbye to gluten. Parting with her favorite foods certainly was not easy, thus the couple created Feel Good Foods. Tryg honed his gluten-free cooking skills by creating all of Vanessa’s favorite foods, sans gluten.
Their Asian-inspired gluten-free foods are served up with all natural, non-GMO ingredients and never with preservatives or MSG. Feel Good Foods’ appetizers and entrees are sold at many retailers nationwide including Whole Foods Market. Feel great with restaurant-quality options like fried rice, dumplings, egg rolls, Mongolian Beef, General Tso’s Chicken, Mu Shu Chicken, & Pad See Ew Noodles.
5 Tips for Going Gluten-Free
From Vanessa Phillips and Tryg Siverson
1. Don't feel like you need to deprive yourself of what you really want! It may require a little research, but all dishes can easily be adapted to be gluten-free today.
2. Learn about the different tastes and textures of gluten-free flours. This will make it a lot easier to replicate what you want and you will know what to use as a substitute for wheat in a specific dish.
3. Learn about different cuisines and you will find there are many cuisines that tend to be intrinsically gluten free! While you always need to be weary there are a lot of staples in many cuisines that traditionally do not include gluten.
4. Become a good home cook! Once you master the basics, cooking gluten-free at home will become fun and easy. Best of all, it will allow you to eat whatever you want and not feel as limited as you would in a restaurant.
5. Focus on what you can eat rather than what you CANT eat and life will be more enjoyable.
Gluten-Free Asian Chicken Salad
Courtesy of Chef Tryg Siverson (Co-Founder, Feel Good Foods)
A refreshing salad filled with crisp bites of cabbage, carrots and lettuce and topped with a sweet and tangy vinaigrette is a perfect dish for a hot summer day.
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 5-7 minutes
INGREDIENTS
For the Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark sesame oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground dry ginger
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
For the salad:
2 cups cooked rice noodles
1 small head napa cabbage, sliced into thin strips
1 head iceberg lettuce, sliced into thin strips
1/4 cup scallions, finely chopped
5 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
4 chicken breast halves, simply grilled and cut into strips
PREPARATION
Combine vinaigrette ingredients in blender and blend for 1 minute; reserve.
Cook rice noodles in boiling water until soft, about 3 – 4 minutes, then drain and place in an ice bath to cool. Remove rice noodles from ice bath and reserve.
In a large bowl combine the cooled rice noodles, napa cabbage, iceberg lettuce, snow peas, carrots, and cilantro. Toss with 1/3 cup of the vinaigrette and top with grilled chicken.