The Trials and Travails of Gluten Free Existence

Gluten Free Products Coming

2009-03-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

I heard in the GF here and theres that Chex is going to turn some of it's product GF. Rice Chex is currently gf, but they're gonna add (I'm pretty sure, but WAFO then GIGO to be certain...) Strawberry chex, honey nut chex, corn chex and cinnamon chex. Yay!

Publix (a southern grocery store chain) has a list you can get at the front service desk of all of their gluten free products, it's like 10 pages long. It's one of the more upscale grocery stores here. If you have an upscale store in the area, ask the service desk... more companies are starting to feel the pull of GF.

Wal-Mart is starting to carry more GF products. Ours carries the DeBols Rice noodles, like penne and fettucini. We bought them, but I prefer the rice/corn mix noodles that our local whole foods store carries. The rice stuff just tastes kinds funny to me.

I've been making bbq sauce because I can't find anything that doesn't look like it may be hiding gluten in it (even if it doesn't SAY wheat...) but Ken's Salad dressings owns Sweet Baby Ray's. They have posted on their website that ALL Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce is GF! Yippie. Fast and happy. They also post that their sweet vidalia onion lite salad dressing is GF. That's a super great sandwich dressing and part of Steele's fav Pink Stuff Salad Dressing.

More to come!

GF Flatbread

2009-03-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

I stole this recipe from Glutenfree Gobsmacked and modified it for my son.
Big thanks for this. I hope the site owner is cool with my theiving. I did modify it... but it is her recipe.

Personally, it's a complete pain in the buttocks to smooth out the dough. It's gonna be a few years before I can have Steele making this for himself which brings it down a few levels on my "cool recipe" index. The horrible endeavour of smoothing it out almost makes this recipe prohibitive for me, but it's the best tasting, decent texture bread like substance I've found in GF land.

We tried the bread at the GF store and it tastes like you're eating gritty sand with an aftertase of behind-dirty-ears-sweat. Not something you want to feed to anyone who has tastebuds. I honestly don't know how they sell that crap. My bro-in-law took one bite and spat it into his palm whilst gagging and spent the rest of our shopping trip wiping his tongue.

I measure out the dry stuff and put it in ziplocks at a rate of about 7 packs per month so all I have to do is shake a bag, toss it into the mixer and go daddy go. We use it for Pizza crust and sandwiches. I can even fake a garlic breadstick with this if I gotta.

GF Flatbread Recipe
3 Tbsp Quinoa Flour
3 Tbsp Millet Flour
3 Tbsp Sweet Sorghum Flour
1/4c Potato Starch (not Flour)
1/4c Tapioca Starch
2 Tbsp Buttermilk Powder
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
.75 tsp Salt
(end of bagged dry prepack stuff)
1C Warm/Hot water
1 packet Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1.5 tsp Agave Nectar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix sugar and yeast in a small bowl, add scant cup of warm water. Let yeast proof. (Get all foamy and stuff) It takes about 5 mins or so.

In stand mixer add dry ingredient bag. Once yeast water is ready, dump it into mixer and add the rest of the wet ingredients. Beat on low to combine.
Once it's all together, turn mixer to high and beat the hell out of it for no more than 2 minutes. This puts air in the dough and causes it to become a creamy marshmallow fluff kind of thing.

Put Parchment Paper on cookie sheet. Yes, I mean parchment paper. Anything else does not work and makes all your smoothing for naught.
Scrape dough onto paper and start smoothing it out with a flexible spatula. Dip the spatula into a bowl of water between tries to drag and push and smooth the dough until you start cursing. Keep smoothing until the dough is mostly smooth and covers the total area of your cookie sheet-parchment paper. You may need to hold the parchment paper with one hand while you're gorilla-ing this dough into the proper shape and thickness. When it's close enough that you shake your head and want to stick it in the oven anyway. Let the dough sit out for about 20 minutes in a relatively warm environment. Use this time to put away all your stuff and wash up your baking debris.

Bake for 14-16 minutes.

Cajun Coconut Tilapia with Apricot Mustard Sauce

2009-01-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe online and modified it to be gluten free.

Yeah, I know that the sauce is totally an optional item, but this is one you really don't want to miss. It rocks!

Cajun Coconut Chicken or Fish

1.5 lb tilapia or skinless chicken breast

1c Rice Chex cereal

1 bag Shredded Coconut

1c Cornstarch

2 Eggs

2 tbsp Milk

3 tbsp Cajun Seasoning Mix

1 tsp Zatarains Gumbo File (optional)

Peanut Oil or Canola

Dump cereal and coconut into Food Processor, pulse until crumbly and fine, not powdery.

In a large bowl, combine the rice chex, coconut, cajun seasoning and gumbo file. Put cornstarch into a bowl by itself. Beat eggs and milk in another bowl.

Heat your oil or preheat oven to 350 if you want to try it baked.

Coat meat in cornstarch, shake off excess.

Dip into egg wash.

Press into coconut mix. Coat both sides thoroughly.

To Fry:

Place coated meat into pan and fry until both sides are golden brown.

To Bake:

Spray both sides of coated meat with Olive oil grease spray and place on baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.

Apricot Mustard Sauce

1/2c Apricot Preserves (or Apricot Pineapple if you can find it!)

2 tbsp Brown Mustard

1 tsp Horseradish (or Tiger Sauce if you prefer)

Put all ingredients into bowl and mix with fork until well combined.

Spoon gently over cooked fish or chicken.

Chef Steele

2008-07-03T09:02:00.001-07:00

I made Steele a reversible apron and hat. They have dinosaurs on the other side.

He's sharing his fresh breakfast bread with Greykatt

GF Taco Salad

2008-06-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

This is a big kid pleaser. We made it for Steele's birthday dinner and it was a total hit!

2lbs Ground Beef
2 packets GF Taco Mix (read the backs, I think Old El Paso is a good one)
8oz bag of Mexican cheese mix
2 bags of salad or a head of iceberg lettuce
One large GF mild salsa or two small ones.
One bag of Doritos or Tortilla Chips
2 chopped tomatoes or one can of diced tomatoes(optional)
1 chopped medium onion (optional)
sour cream (optional)

Brown ground beef, drain and add taco mix as per directions on packet.
Shred lettuce and put in bowl. Add shredded cheese.
Add other veggies if desired. Toss salad.
Once the meat has simmered down, take it off the heat and add the salsa and stir.
Let the meat cool. It can be warm-ish, but if you put it in while hot, it'll wreck your lettuce.
Crunch up the tortilla chips and add to salad mixture. Stir.
Once meat has cooled enough , add it to the salad mixture and stir.

Throw it in some bowls, maybe hit it with a blob of sour cream and get down!

If you must serve dinner at different times then keep the salad, chips and meat separate until ready to serve.

GF Meal Plans

2008-06-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

This is a quick and dirty of our menu system.

For most meals, when eating gluten free there is a dizzying array of things you can have.
Others...well.... it's expensive or time consuming to turn a gluten food into a non-gluten variant.

In my head, I generally know what we have on hand in the pantry and fridge.
From this, I choose how many of what Steele can have offered to him.

For example: We have rice cakes out the wazoo, no muffins and 3 eggs.
Ok, he can have rice cake cereal every other day, eggs tomorrow and I'll make muffins on wednesday.

Standard Breakfast Options :
GF Oatmeal
Rice Cake Cereal
Breakfast Muffins
Eggs with Cheese
Stuffed Omelet
Grits or cheese grits

Standard Lunch Options:
Hummus and chips, with fruit on the side.
Peanut butter & jelly rice cake, GF potato chips and some dried fruit.
GF Bread Sandwich - usually a deli meat or bologna option, corn chips and a pickle.
Cheddar cheese rice cake with deli meat & cheese, applesauce and Lays stacks.
Beanie Weenies and fruit.
Chef Salad - I like apple chunks and raisins in this one. I'll hide any amount of fruits and veggies in a salad.
Tuna Salad rolled into a lettuce leaf.
Ants on a log, chips, fruit.

Standard Dinner Options:
Pork Chops, garlic mashed potatoes, glazed carrots.
Chicken Nuggets, french fries, broccoli with cheese.
Pork roast with onions, fried cabbage and rice.
Meatloaf, brussels sprouts and parsley potatoes.
Mad Salad - three different types of lettuce, veggies (carrots, tomatoes, onions, yellow squash, radishes, cucumbers, fresh mushrooms, snow peas....pick a few!), shredded cheese, soy bacon bits, almond slivers, apple chunks, raisins and some form of meat. (Rotisserie turkey breast, ham, chicken breast, beef or pork slivers) With a modified raspberry vinaigrette we call "Pink stuff"... it's just GF Raspberry Vinaigrette and GF Ranch Dressing mixed together.
Taco Salad - see recipe
Fruit Salad
Fajitas on Corn Tortillas
Tamale Pie - this is in the cornbread recipe here.
Baked Chicken, baked sweet potatoes and coleslaw.

See? It's not stuff too far out of the ordinary.

GF Chicken Nuggets Recipe

2008-06-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

My kids are pretty spoiled when it comes to food. I've never been one for the overprocessed quasi-meat-like substances.

Big example. Prefab chicken nuggets. Yukkkkkk!

Here's how we do it around this house.

GF Chicken Breast Nuggets

3lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1c Zesty Italian Dressing
1c GF Flour Mix or 1/3c Brown Rice Flour + 1/3c Corn Starch + 1/3c Tapioca Flour
1t Seasoning Salt
1t Lemon Pepper
1t Baking Powder (to help with browning)
1/2t Garlic Powder
1/2t Onion Powder
1/2t Cumin

3c Oil and pot and slotted spoon or Cookie sheet, spray grease and spatula.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Throw into a closed container with the Italian Dressing and shake to coat. Let sit in the fridge for at least a half hour. Mine usually sits from noon until 4pm. It's ok.

Put GF Flour and spices in a ziplock bag. Shake to mix.

Fried Chicken Version:
Put about 3 cups of oil (I love the peanut oil when I'm getting expensive and frisky) in a medium sized pot and put on medium heat. You'll know the oil is ready when a few drops of water flicked into the pot pop in the oil.

Toss some chicken a piece at a time into the flour bag and shake when you've got 15 in.
Gently transfer the chicken pieces into the hot oil, a piece at a time, shaking the loose flour off and into the bag. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes per batch.

Be sure to check your chicken! Take the largest piece out, put it on paper bag or paper towels to drain. Cut into it...is it pink? If it is, leave the chicken in for 2 more minutes and check it again.
I check every batch, always the largest chunk just to be certain it's cooked thoroughly.

Cook more than 15 at a time if your pot permits, mine doesn't. You don't want the chicken crowded in there.

If you're not into deep frying things, that's cool too. We usually do ours in the oven, but fried chicken is a special treat.

Baked Chicken Version:
Preheat the oven to 375.
Spray grease on a cookie sheet.
Toss some chicken a piece at a time into the flour bag and shake when you've got 15 in.
Transfer the chicken pieces onto the cookie sheet, a piece at a time, shaking the loose flour off and into the bag. Continue until all chicken is coated.
Spray grease on the chicken itself when you've gotten them all onto the sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Find three large pieces of chicken from different parts of the pan.
Cut into them, does the juice run clear? Are they pink?
Pop em back in the oven if you have any doubts. Raw chicken is BAD.

Serve with a side of french fries and some fresh fruit or broccoli and cheese. Happy kids.

Our wheatless lil man.

2008-06-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the Nestle Bar cake-subsitute from last year. Steele chose a Cowboy Duck theme for his 6th birthday party.

GF BBQ Sauce

2008-06-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of the tomato based bbq sauces that run more towards the sweet than the tangy or the spicy.

This one is tangy and a little spicy and if you're not into tomato based sauce you can cut the tomato sauce halfway or none at all.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put a million things in it.

Get out a medium sized pot.
Throw in:
1c Water
24oz Bottle Catsup
1/2 med Onion (minced)
1/3c Dark Brown Sugar
1/3c Honey or Molasses
1T Raisins
1T Yellow Mustard
1T Minced Garlic
1t Lemon Juice or Lime Juice
1t Black Pepper
1/2t Seasoning Salt
1/2t Cayenne Pepper
1/2t Chili Powder
1/2t Ginger Powder
1/2t Cumin
1/4t Onion Powder
1/4t Garlic Powder

Simmer on low-med for about 30 minutes, stirring often but not constantly.
Watch for the onions to turn clear. Once that happens, the simmering is to cook it down to almost your desired thickness.

Let the sauce cool for about 20 minutes and pour it into a food processor and puree.

Pour it into a bottle and go daddy go.

Notes:
Once you've made this and tasted it, if there's anything you want...add.
More spicy? Add cayenne.
More tangy? Add lemon.
More sweet? Add brown sugar.
Just needs something? Add adobo criollo or garlic powder.

Enjoy!

GF Meatloaf

2008-06-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

We make a pretty mean meatloaf around here. Good enough for sandwiches, not that there's usually any left.

Since I'm making a gluten and a gluten free meatloaf, I set it up as a double cook.
Do everything that doesn't have gluten, make the GF version and start it cooking then make the gluten version and cook that after. I'll make this one as if we all were going to eat GF tonight.

**Cheapskate alert**
I wait until there's a sale on chuck roast or sirloin tip and it's like $2 a pound, then have the grocery store grind it for me. They'll do it, you just have to ask the Meat Man. When I get home, I weigh it out into parcels and ziplock n freeze it. Good quality freshly ground beef for less than standard decent ground beef prices. Darn tootin!

3lbs Ground Beef
3 Eggs
3t Minced Garlic
2t Onion Powder
2t Cumin
2t Seasoning Salt
1t Pepper
1c GF Bread Crumbs (see Bread ideas for recipe) or 3/4c Oat Bran

Toss everything except the bread crumbs or oat bran into a bowl.
Mush between your fingers until well mixed.
Add bread crumbs or oat bran until your meat starts to toughen up.
You'll feel it. It will start to get harder to mush. Not too hard, though.

Toss in a pan and bake at 350 for 45mins.

The oat bran will make your meatloaf springy but it's still tasty.

Gluten Free Cookie Batter Recipe

2008-06-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a basic cookie batter that does pretty well.
I like being able to add whatever to make cookies different from time to time.

2c GF Flour Mix - Sweet or Standard
2t Baking Powder
3/4c Sugar or Brown Sugar
1/2t Salt
1/4t Xanthan Gum
2 Eggs
2/3c Oil
2t Vanilla or your favorite flavoring

Oven to 400

In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients until combined.
In a smaller bowl, whisk wet ingredients until combined.
Add wet ingredients to well in dry ingredients, mix until combined.

Spoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

Additions:
Folks, it's cookies. Add what you like: chips, nuts, dried fruit, coconut, lemon rind, cinnamon....

GF Bread Odd Ends - Ideas

2008-06-14T18:47:00.001-07:00

Here's the thing. We use a bread machine. Not a fancy gluten free one. Just one I got from a freecycle site and scrubbed the heck out of. When Steele's bread is done, it's a large short square that's a little too big to slice horizontal for sandwiches. I usually cut two edges down so it fits his bologna or is the same size as 'normal' bread.

Then I end up with all these bread strips and being the cheapest person on the planet I have to find some way to utilize them, even if it means a feed the ducks run.

One way:
Save the strips and freeze them. Thaw and toss on foil and broil until brownish and dry, then throw in the food processor and make bread crumbs for his meatloaf.

Another way:
Save the strips and freeze them. Thaw and butter lightly. Slice sticks into cubes then roll in italian spices and a little bit of adobo. Toss on some foil and broil until brownish and dry. Voila, you now have croutons.

Another way:
Save the strips and freeze them until you have enough to make bread pudding. (see recipe)

If you haven't used your strips in two weeks... here duckie, duckie, duckie....

GF Stupid Cheap Cereal Recipe

2008-06-14T18:30:00.001-07:00

After reading the word "malt" or "wheat" on every cereal box on that aisle in Wal-Mart, I decided something had to be done. I took a trip to the whole foods store and looked at their cereals. I was aghast at the prices of cereal. Dude, it's just cereal. It's not made out of silver, it doesn't come in a gilded box. Dang!

It was time to put on the old thinking hat, while holding firmly onto my wallet.

Buy some rice cakes. They've gotten better than they were in the 80's, I swear.
They have them in many flavors and they're readily available. (I still read the backs, tho.)

Single serving Cereal:
1.5 rice cakes crumbled into small bits. (I like the apple cinnamon or peanut butter)
Add something to make it fun for a kid.
Examples: Mini marshmallows, a squirt of chocolate syup or strawberry syrup, raisins, dried fruit bits, slivered almonds or pecan bits...

Add your milk. Tah-Dah!

One screaming heck of a lot cheaper than GF cereal and no messy baking dishes to have to deal with.

GF Rant

2008-06-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of things are just naturally gluten free.
Marinated chicken, pork chops, corn on the cob, baked potatoes....
Most of that stuff is standard recipe crap. It's the other stuff that bites ya.

Since our son was diagnosed his ability to eat baked goods has suffered the most.
YOU try having a little boy who's not allowed to eat cake and cookies and Happy Meals and see how 'normal' takes a screeching backseat to 'why is gluten in rice-freaking-crispies?!?!'

To add insult to injury Gluten Free foods are expensive! Example: Kraft Mac& Cheese $1.29/box vs. Pastato GF Mac and Cheese $2.89/box. Cheap ass cereal $1.00/box vs. GF Cereal $4.50/box.

Our large family (read: tribe) would be living in a cardboard box if we had to all eat gluten free all the time. Gas prices are skyrocketing which drives up food prices. Yay, more penny pinching.

I'm thrifty by nature. My man still laughs about our discount 3 legged hamster. Yeah, that's what I said. Her name is Stumpy Lou and we love her to death, thank you very much. Steele loves chicken legs, so that's how I get around on the cheap if I make a gluten menu. I keep a box of GF pasta for when we do Spaghetti. I buy him 2 slices of ham or deli meat or deli cheese.

I even made lil man his own reversible chef hat and apron so he can get involved with his own personal cooking.

I'll post my standard GF recipes here, but my emphasis is on the stuff you can't just run to the store and grab off the shelf, like bread, cookies, muffins.... and the stupid cheap ways around this whole wheat intolerance issue.

Take a breath and see what you can do. Meal plans really are the most cost efficent way to handle it. Find your "oh shit" subsitute (like his chicken legs) and you're halfway there.

GF Birthday Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-06-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

Before Steele was diagnosed with a wheat allergy, we'd been making his birthday cakes in a rubber duck 3d pan. He digs the ducks, man.

The first year we tried a GF Cake mix. We ended up with half a duck that was hard as a rock on the edges, gooey in the middle and frightening enough to be in a Wes Craven movie. Steele's cake that year was a large nestle bar with candles stuck to it with frosting dots.

This year I decided to try my hand at cupcakes.

Did you know Pillsbury frosting is gluten free? Not the strawberry, so I hear. Check your lists, be certain. Corporations change recipes faster than my boys change socks. GIGO. The Gluten Fairies ARE after you.

But I digress. I went out hunting my fav GF sites and found a recipe that ROCKED!
This recipe was stolen from http://glutenfreemommy.com/

GIGANTIC DANCING THANKS FOR THE RECIPE!!!!

1 1/4c GF Flour Mix - Sweet (you can use standard too)
3/4t Xanthan Gum
2/3c Cocoa Powder
1 1/2t Baking Soda
1/4t Salt
1 1/2c Sugar
1 1/3c Buttermilk
1/2c Unsalted Butter (1 stick) @ room temp
1 1/2t Vanilla
2 Eggs @ room temperature

Preheat oven to 350

Wisk together all the dry ingredients.

In stand mixer:
Cream butter and sugar together. Beat until fluffy.
Add eggs one @ a time, beating well between.
Add vanilla. Beat some more.
Alternate buttermilk and dry mix, adding slowly and beating well between additions.

This will make a thick creamy batter.

Spoon into cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake 17 minutes.

These were amazing. They tasted like normal cupcakes, but richer.
My lot ate the whole pile of cupcakes and Steele got to feel like a normal kid.
I'm pretty sure this is what I'm going to make the next time he has to bring a snack to school.

GF Bread Pizza

2008-06-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Steele has pizza parties at school. It's just a fact of life around here. I have to be ready in a day or two to make him a pizza. We have 5 kids. Time to deal with pizza dough isn't always easy to find.

1 top or bottom slice of GF Breadmachine bread.
2T Spaghetti Sauce
1/2t Minced Garlic
Adobo Criollo con Pimienta (Spanish Garlic salt with pepper)
Italian Spice Mix
Cheese
Favorite Pizza toppings.

Spread Spaghetti sauce onto bread (while thinking of what dinner to make with the rest of the can)
Sprinkle italian spices, minced garlic, adobo onto sauce. Add parmesan cheese to the sauce layer if desired.
Top with chopped onion, mushrooms, green pepper, pineapple.. whatever veggies make you smile.
Add some cheese. Not a lot...not yet...
Add meat layer: two slices deli ham torn up, pepperoni slices, some sausage. Again, whatever meat makes you happy.
Add another cheese layer.

Bake at 350 on a greased piece of tin foil on a cookie sheet until the edges get brown and the cheese is all melty and nice.

The last time I made this for Steele, I had to stand over it with a butcher knife and attack cat until the pizza cooled enough to be put away for his lunch or he wouldn't have had a lunch the next day.

No, I'm really not kidding.

GF Breakfast Muffins

2008-06-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

This makes nine cupcake sized muffins.
I give Steele 3 at a time for breakfast.

1/4c Nut Flour or Coconut Flour (or regular bagged coconut ground in a food processor)
1/4c Tapioca Flour or Banana Flour
1/4c Sweet Rice Flour
1/8c Sweet Potato Flour or Oat Bran or Soy Flour
1t Baking Powder
1/2t Xanthan Gum
1/8c Brown Sugar
1T Sugar
1/2t Salt

Pour all dry ingredients into a mixer and combine.
Or use a large bowl and whisk by hand.

1/4c Jelly (I'm all about the apricot preserves right now)
2T Melted butter
1 Egg
3oz Milk (or Soy Milk)
1t vanilla or your favorite extract... black walnut, almond, orange

Mix all wet ingredients in a small bowl until combined.
Add to dry and mix well.

Fill cupcake liners or grease muffin tin.
Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.

Additions:
Dried any fruit: raisins, cranberries, chopped orange essence prune bits, blueberries.
One small mashed banana (add 2 minutes to the bake cycle)
Chopped nuts
Chocolate chips
A dash of cinnamon or nutmeg or both.

This is also a great fast breakfast.
If you mix the dry ingredients and put em into a ziplock bag or three, you can dump the bag right into the mixer and throw in the wet while your oven is heating up. If you want to just put it in a canister, it's 2c + 2T dry mix per batch.

GF Hummus

2008-06-14T16:35:00.001-07:00

When I'm not into making bread or out of supplies, this is what I make for Steele's lunches. He eats in on tortilla chips and digs it bigtime.

1 can Garbanzo beans
1 1/2t Lemon juice
1t minced Garlic
1/4t salt
2T Olive juice
10 olives
1 cup Tahini (Sesame Seed Paste, I find mine at Publix)

Dump beans and the juice from the can, lemon juice, garlic, salt, olives and juice into
a pan and simmer until garbonzos are soft.

Let this sit for about 10 minutes.
Toss into food processor or use heavy duty mixer stick. (The thunder stick, I love ours!) Puree.
When your bean base has become smooth add the tahini and puree again.
Tahini thickens when put into hot stuff, so this will thick up on you.
Taste it. More salt? More garlic? More lemon? More tahini?

Steele likes it when it's about the same consistency as peanut butter, maybe a little thinner. The thickness is dependent on the amount of liquid in the bean base and the amount of tahini you use.

I've tried it without the green olives because our other children profess an undue hatred of green olives. However, they don't like the hummus as much unless I sneak olives into it. Once it's pureed they'll never know. Unless you get busted.

Optional additions:
Sun dried tomatoes
Fresh basil and rosemary (if you're into the herb-y thing)

GF Bread - big thanks to Mary Frances!

2008-06-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

I nabbed this recipe from www.glutenfreecookingschool.com
Ok, so I modified it slightly.... but it's like 98% her recipe.
We use it in our bread machine and it comes out fine.
My big gripe, GF bread is heavy. Not light and airy like
breads made with wheat. I have to cut the slices kind of thin
or Steele's sandwich feels like it weighs more than he does.

1T Yeast
1T Sugar
1.5c Water at 100 degrees (a bit warmer than your finger)

Put yeast and sugar in a small bowl, stir gently.
Add water to this, stir gently again.
Let it sit while you do everything else.

2.5c GF Flour Mix Standard
2t Xanthan Gum
1t Salt
1/4c Dry Milk Powder

Whisk the dry stuff in a large bowl to combine.

2 Eggs
1.5T Oil
1t Cider Vinegar

Beat the wet ingredients very very well.

Make a well in your dry bowl and add the egg mix, then the yeast mix and stir.
If you get a mildly lumpy goo like substance, you're on the right track.
Remember: yeast is alive, so be gentle with it and try to get the large lumps down
to smallish lumps while making sure there's no hidden pockets of flour stuck to the
bottom of your bowl.

Scrape goo into bread machine pan, hit start and wait.

Yay! Bread that doesn't taste like sand.

GF Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-06-14T16:15:00.001-07:00

A chum brought some cookies over for our kids, forgetting that Steele was GF.
We whipped these cookies up and made a young boy happy again.

1c Peanut Butter
1c Sugar or 1/2c Sugar & 1/2c Brown Sugar
1 Egg.

Beat the egg. Throw in the peanut butter and sugar.
Mix thoroughly. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet.
Flatten dough with a greased glass or your hands.

Bake at 350 for 8 mins.

GF Flour Mix Sweet

2008-06-14T16:09:00.001-07:00

This is the flour mix I use for sweet baked goods, like muffins or cupcakes.

1/3c Maseca (Corn Flour)
1/3c Nut Flour or Coconut Flour
(You can get regular coconut and shred it to death in a food processor)
1/3c Brown Rice Whole Grain Flour
1/3c Potato Starch (NOT Potato Flour)
1/3c Amaranth Flour or Banana Flour
2/3c Sweet Rice Flour
2/3c Corn Starch

I have a large tupperware container that I throw the ingredients in and then shake the
bejeebers out of. My son likes that part best!

GF Flour Mix Standard

2008-06-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is the flour mix I use for baked non sweet goods, such as bread and pizza dough.

1/3c Maseca (Corn flour)
1/3c Soy Flour
1/3c Potato Starch (NOT Potato Flour)
2/3c Tapioca Flour
2/3c Brown Rice Whole Grain Flour
2/3c Corn Starch

If you're anti-soy, you can switch it for another GF Flour like amaranth, millet or teff.

Extra thanks to glutenfreecookingschool.com for this one.

Lighter than Air Pancakes WITH GLUTEN

2007-06-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

THIS RECIPE HAS GLUTEN!!!
It's just the coolest pancake recipe I've ever run across. The batter comes out thicker than your average pancake batter, it's even ready made for waffles if you have a waffle iron. The pancakes are light and fluffy and thick. Yummmmmm!

Pancake Batter
3 c All Purpose Flour
2 Tbs + 1 tsp Baking Powder
1 t salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Vinegar (it causes a reaction with the baking powder and makes the batter bubbly)
3 c Milk
2 Eggs
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp Oil or Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla - optional
1/2 tsp Cinnamon - optional
1/2 tsp Nutmeg - optional
Spray oil

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl beat all the wet ingredients except the vinegar. Make a well in your dry stuff, add the wet in batches of 1/3 at a time, while stirring. When all the wet is mixed in and the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir.

On medium heat, get your griddle or pan ready. Grease between batches, not between flips. Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the batter and put it on the griddle, it will heap up in the middle. Use the edge of the measuring cup to spread the batter into a circle. Cook until the top looks dry around the edges, then flip and cook for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Makes about 30 small to medium sized pancakes.

Gluten Free Salad Bread Bowls

2007-06-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Try this treat around a nice salad. Yeast and I have big problems working together. Everything I've ever tried to make with yeast has turned out horribly. Most of my breadlike recipes do not use yeast. Advanced options are listed at the bottom.

GF Bread Bowls
1 c Gluten Free Flour (I use a packaged multi purpose GF flour mix)
1/2 c GF Cornstarch
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
3/4 c Milk
1/4 c Oil
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
3 Medium sized Metal bowls (just standard 2 cup mixing bowls, nothing special or expensive)
Foil
Cookie Sheet
GF Spray Oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together, add wet ingredients, stir. Knead into a soft ball. Be gentle with it. Separate into 3 balls. Let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes. Line the Cookie Sheet with Foil, then spray oil the foil lightly. Invert your bowls onto the foil covered cookie sheet. Lightly spray some grease onto the outside of your metal bowls. Press dough ball to cover the outside of the bowl. Use your hand to make sure the bottom (now the top) of the bowl remains flat, and try to keep a little extra dough there as well. (That's where all the salad dressing will soak in later)

Bake 10 minutes, until the bread has become a nice golden brown. Let cool. Gently lift the bread off the metal bowls and invert. Tah-Dah! If the bread is overcooked it becomes a little more crumbly.

Advanced Options
Add 1/4 c cheese to the dough, mixing it with the dry ingredients.

Add 2 Tbs parmesan cheese to the dry ingredients and 1 tsp of milk to the wet.

Use a GF Buckwheat Flour Mix instead of a standard GF Flour Mix.

Making a Caesar Salad or a Greek Salad?
Add 2 Tbs chopped Sundried Tomatoes to the dry ingredients.
Add 1/2 tsp rosemary, basil and oregano to the dry ingredients.
Add 1 tsp Diced garlic to the wet ingredients.

Make a bowl for fruit salad or ice cream.
Add 1 Tbsp Honey to the wet ingredients
Add 1/2 c dried chopped fruits (cranberries, raisins, pineapple, apricots, dates...) to the dry ingredients
Add 2 tsp GF Flour mix to the dry ingredients

Quick and Dirty Lunches

2007-06-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

When you're looking in the cupboard and don't see too much, or you're looking for something that doesn't really involve cooking. Here we go.

Rice cake & peanut butter, covered in chopped dried fruit instead of jelly. (I make a smiley face with dried apricots, figs and raisins)

Ants on a log - Peanut butter filled celery with raisins on it. (Use chopped dates, yum!)

Tuna salad made as-you-like-it wrapped like an egg roll in a lettuce leaf.
(Pretend you're making an envelope, cut a square as big as the leaf allows, toss tuna in the center, pull the bottom corner up, fold in the side corners, roll until you get to the top corner.) You can also use chopped ham or leftover chicken, any kind of meat salad thing will work. Once you get the right amount for your taste folded into the lettuce, these are wonderful.)

Hummus rolled in lettuce leaf (Use way less hummus than you would tuna salad)

Egg salad rolled in a lettuce leaf or stuffing a tomato.

Crustless Quiches

2007-06-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

These are great. Make em, throw em in the fridge and nibble them cold for the next few days. I found this recipe when the Atkins Diet was popular and realized that they're GF and a very cheap and easy breakfast for the little dude.

Quiche
Note *if you stuff these quiches with lots of goodies, the recipe will make more than you expect and you may want to add another egg to keep it together.
5 Lg. Eggs
1/2 c GF grated cheese
1 c Your favorite breakfast meats. (Bacon and pork sausage should be precooked to remove the grease and to be sure they are all the way done when the quiche is)
1 c Your favorite breakfast veggies.
1/4 c GF Oat Bran
2 Tbsp Milk (cow milk, soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk. Whatever grooves you.)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Dash of Onion Powder - optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Precook any meats that need it. Chunk or crumble meat. Slice, dice or chop veggies. Lightly grease cupcake/muffin tin. Keep a second one available (ungreased) in case you've got more than one tin of batter. Get your gear all ready and together.

Beat eggs, milk and spices together. Toss in your tasty additions. Stir. Add oat bran and stir some more. Use more oat bran if you are adding lots of extra meat, cheese or veggies, this will be soaking up the extra grease and veggie water.

Using a small cup measure or scoop, stir-scoop from the bottom of the bowl and pour into cupcake pan, filling each hole 2/3rds full. Bake. Once the tops look dry but glossy, it's usually done. Eggs keep cooking after removed from heat, but that will only take you so far. I hate gooey egg stuff, so I tend to overcook these. No big deal, I like it that way. Don't freak out, the quiches will rise above the sides of the cupcake holes. Let them rest and they will drop easily out of the tins. Eat them warm or once cooled, toss them in ziploc bags and throw them in the fridge.

Advanced Option

If you want to get tricky, use some of the grease from the meat, mixed with water, salt and pepper and GF cornstarch to make a white gravy, and spoon it over the top.

Recipes to come....

2007-06-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Chinese Beef w/Broccoli
Chinese Chicken w/Rice Noodles and Vegetables
Pancakes That Don't Suck or Taste Like Dirt
Quick and Dirty Breakfasts
Quick and Dirty Lunches
Kitchen Sink Salad
MaJulie's Cornbread
Shepherd's Pie
Baked Sandwiches (kind of hot pockety)
Breadmaker Sandwich Bread
Breakfast Bread
Hummus
Crustless Mini Quiches
Fried Cabbage
Marinated Salad w/Crumbled Bacon

Be warned. Once you taste most of these recipes, they will ruin you for store-bought goods. I'm old school, I do stuff from scratch. The taste and texture is something that you can't just find on aisle 6. I also take as many short cuts as possible.

My Favorite Ingredients

2007-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

This is a list of my all time favorite ingredients. Things that add super coolness to your recipes.

Diced Garlic - get the large bottle.
Onion Powder - even if you hate onions, it adds something special.
Adobo con Crillollo - spanish garlic salt w/pepper. Replaces salt or garlic salt in most applications.
Maseca - spanish corn flour. Used for tortillas and such.
Ken's Caesar Dressing - Great marinade. I'm pretty sure it's GF. If you know for certain it's not, please let me know.
Lemon Pepper - get the big shaker, it's so worth it.
Bullion - ham, tomato w/beef, beef, chicken, vegetable. If you can find it GF, get it. It can be exchanged for salt, but adds flavor too. I use it in rice to give it some oomph.
Cumin - is a flavor enhancer
Ground Oregano - flavor enhancer
Sesame Oil - kind of expensive, but when you're cooking chinese, it makes the whole house smell amazing.

GF Recipe - Sassy Cornbread Pie (not a dessert)

2007-06-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

This is adapted from my grandmother's cornbread recipe and my need for gf "whole family" style meals.

As with all my recipes. GIGO. Gluten In, Gluten Out. If you put stuff in it that has gluten, your meal will contain gluten. Not my fault. Read your ingredients, know your manufacturers.

Meat Mix

1.5 lbs Ground beef
1/2 tsp Adobo Crillollo (spanish garlic salt w/pepper)
12 oz Bottle of Chunky Salsa
1/2 tsp Cumin (flavor enhancer)
1 tsp Diced Garlic
12 oz can Diced Tomatoes
1 egg
Green Tabasco Sauce - optional
8 or 16oz Shredded Cheese (Jack Blends, Mexican Blends. Whatever makes ya happy)
1 tsp Lime juice - optional

Brown and drain beef. Add tomatoes, garlic and salsa. (and lime juice and tabasco if you're up for it) Stir. Add cumin and adobo. Stir. Taste. Need anything? Add it now. When tasty, add egg and stir. Get the ingredients ready for part two. The meat can cool while you're working on the rest of the recipe.

Cornbread Mix

3/4 c GF Yellow Cornmeal
1/4 c Maseca (spanish corn flour)
1 Tbsp Vinegar 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 C Milk
1 Large Egg1 Tbsp Oil
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion - optional
1 Can of Corn - optional
cast iron skillet - not optional

Put oil into cast iron skillet, swirl around. Put skillet into oven. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heating the skillet and the oil is necessary.

Sift all dry ingredients together. When totally blended add onion or corn to this mix if you're gonna going for the options. Beat egg into 1 Cup of milk. Add to dry mix and stir. Slowly add the rest of the milk until your batter resembles a drippy-thin pancake batter. Not watery, more like a beaten egg, sticks to your spoon a bit. Add vinegar and stir again.

Pour cornbread mix into hot skillet. Yes, that is hot oil. Yes, you can get burned. Be careful, kids.

Stir gently to distribute oil through mix. Pour meat mix into center, leaving about 1/2 inch without meat around the edges. Use spoon to distribute evenly. Lift heavy, hot skillet and slide into oven. Bake for 25 minutes. When you remove from oven, sprinkle cheese over entire top of pie. Let this rest for about 15-20 minutes. Slice like a pie and enjoy.

Serves 8

GF Recipe - Pizza Dough and Sauce

2007-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe online, but it needed a little tweaking.

Makes enough to feed a 6 year old almost 3 times.

I'm going to freeze the spare dough, cheese and sauce. Since we generally do Pizza on Fridays, it won't live for months in my freezer. I figure, the dough is enough for two meals and the sauce is enough for 4, the cheese is probably 4 as well. (It would be 2 for most others who don't constipate at the drop of a hat)

Cost analysis per meal at bottom of recipe.

PIZZA DOUGH
1 c Gluten Free Flour
1/2 c Cornstarch (that has not been processed in the same facility as wheat)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Adobo Con Crillolo (Spanish Garlic Salt w/Pepper)
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
3/4 c Milk
1/4 c Oil
Foil
Cookie Sheet

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add milk, stir. Add oil, knead. Will make a very soft dough. Let dough sit for 5 minutes to breathe. Put foil on cookie sheet to protect from accidental cross contamination. Flatten dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick. If you want to get tricky, get some mozzarella string cheese and quarter them lengthways, then roll them into the edges of the crust. Bake for 7 minutes. This will keep the dough relatively soft in the center. If you bake it too long it becomes a really hard cracker type disc thing.

SAUCE

8 oz can of organic tomato sauce

12 oz can of diced italian style tomatoes

1.5 tsp Diced garlic

Oregano

Basil

Adobo or Sea Salt

Italian Spices

Sugar

Mix diced tomatoes, garlic, sugar and sauce. Add spices as desired. Or not. Add adobo/salt or not. Spoon tomato mix onto dough, as far towards the edge as possible. Use as much as you feel you need. Sprinkle with cheese, veggies, fruit, meat... it's pizza. Pick your own toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges become pretty and golden.

COST ANALYSIS (guesstimated)

Dough

GF Flour - $6 per bag. Cost of 1 cup = 50 cents.

Cornstarch - $1.50 per box. Cost of 1/2 cup = 15 cents.

Baking Powder - 5 cents

Xanthan Gum - 35 cents

Milk - 50 cents

Oil - 20 cents

Spices - 20 cents

Total cost = $1.95

Divided by 2 for my kid is about $1.00 per serving

Sauce

Tomato sauce = 80 cents

Diced tomatoes = $1.25

Garlic - 15 cents

Spices - 20 cents

Total cost = $2.40

Divided by 4 for my kid is about $.60 per serving.

Pizza Toppings

Cheese - 8 oz = $1.25

Peperoni - $2.00

Total cost = $3.25

Both of these are comfortably cut into 1/3rds and rounded up to $1.20 per serving.

Bottom Line

Meal expenditure full total = $7.60

My per meal cost = $2.80