It turns out that one of the easiest gluten free products to find is pasta. Later in the summer, I'm going to work on some homemade gluten free pasta, but for now I'm going tell you about the store bought brands I like. I'm also going to tell you the things I love about buying gluten free pasta:
1. The price difference between gluten free and regular pasta is not as enormous as it is for some other products, like bread. Pasta generally comes in 12-16 oz packages, and I've found the prices to vary from $1.66 to $4.99 a package. The more expensive ones are usually brands with quinoa in them, since quinoa is more expensive (but delicious and very healthy) grain.
2. I have not tried a brand of gluten free pasta that I don't like. It's apparently much easier to make a good GF pasta than it is to make a good GF commercial bread.
3. Whole grain GF pasta tastes better than whole wheat pasta. This is a matter of opinion, of course, but I really like the fact that I actually enjoy brown rice pasta better than the alternative that I can no longer have.
Now, here are the brands I've tried. Many of these products are available on amazon if you live in the US or the UK or another country where amazon has online groceries (unfortunately, they don't in Canada).
1. Tinkyada http://www.tinkyada.com/
Tinkyada is probably what you should try first if you are new to gluten free cooking, because it is very hard to cook it wrong. Some gluten free pastas are very sensitive to overcooking, but Tinkyada is not. Tinkyayda has both brown and white rice pastas, and it come in a large variety of shapes, including lasagne, giant shells, little shells, fusilli, spirals, vegetable spirals, spaghetti, spinach spaghetti, penne, linguine, elbows, and little dreams, which are fun little shapes for kids (of all ages).
2. Gogo Quinoa http://www.gogoquinoa.com/products-quinoa-range.htm#5
These are rice and quinoa pastas. The are on the more expensive end, but they are very nutritious and I think they are one of the best tasting GF pastas out there. They seem to be hard to find in stores and they come in a few different shapes, but they're worth trying if you spot them somewhere.
3. President's Choice Organic Brown Rice Pasta http://tinyurl.com/6jhbvlx
This is a store brand found in Superstore and Loblaws here in Canada. It seems to only come in fusilli and spaghetti, but it's as good as the name brand stuff and also a bit less expensive. And organic.
4. Rizopia http://www.rizopia.com/
This is probably what I use most often. It seems to be sold everywhere, and I've seen it for as low as $1.66/package. It has almost as many different varieties as Tinkyada. It is a bit more sensitive to overcooking, so make sure you stir often test for doneness.
5. Mrs. Leeper's http://mrsleepers.com/products.html
Mrs. Leeper's makes both rice and corn pastas. I like the rice pasta better, but the corn is great for people who can't have or don't like rice pastas. The corn pasta is also very bright and colorful.
6. Orgran http://www.orgran.com/products
Orgran has a good range of pastas, including multigrain pastas made with different combinations of rice, corn, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, and amaranth. They also have some good vegetable pastas and fun animal shaped pastas for kids.
7. Schar http://www.schaer.com/en/gluten-free-products/pasta/
Schar is an Italian brand with pasta made from a combination of corn flour, rice flour, and pea protein. It has a good variety of shapes, including anellini (tiny rings).
8. Asian noodles
If you live near an Asian grocery store, you may find a wide variety of inexpensive gluten free noodles there. Asian noodles tend to be more delicate, so they may not hold up well in all of your pasta recipes, but they are great in soups, pasta salads, spring rolls, and on their own as a side dish. I've found all sorts of rice, buckwheat, millet, and bean based noodles at Asian grocery stores.
9. Spaghetti squash
If you're interested in a nutritious and entirely grain free pasta substitute, try spaghetti squash. You simply bake it or boil it until soft, then scoop out the flesh, which look like long stringy spaghetti noodles. Then it can be used in any of your favorite pasta dishes.
One final note about cooking gluten free pasta: It often needs to be rinsed for applications where you might not normally rinse wheat pasta. The cooking water will be very starchy by the end, and if you go to drain it and you find yourself with a clump of stuck-together pasta covered in white foam, rinse it under warm water while swirling it around with your hand to break it up a bit.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Pizza Crust (Can also be flatbread or focaccia)
This pizza crust is the result of trying many different recipes and combining what works and what I like. I'll give you the basic recipe, then talk about variations. The main flour here is brown rice flour, which is a whole grain flour but surprisingly neutral-tasting. You could substitute white rice flour for picky eaters who like a really bland pizza crust, but it's a lot starchier and I don't think it makes as nice of a crust. Cornstarch is included for its rising power. It rises really well and will fill in the little cracks in your pizza crust as you spread it out in the pan. If you are allergic to corn, you can substitute potato starch (not potato flour - it's a very different thing) or tapioca starch, but just be aware that the texture will not be as good and try to fill in the cracks a bit better. I've tried to maximize the brown rice to cornstarch ratio as much as possible without sacrificing function since cornstarch has pretty much zero nutritional value, but this is pizza we're talking about here. See the variations below the recipe for alternatives to the the brown rice flour that make it more of a multigrain/legume crust.
Basic Brown Rice Pizza Crust
1/2 cup warm water (not hot, it will kill the yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast (the yeast is used more for flavor than for leavening, so if you are allergic to yeast just sub in some baking powder)
105 grams (or approximately 3/4 cup) brown rice flour
35 grams (or approximately 1/4 cup) cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 F. We're going to pre-bake the crust before we add toppings. You get a better texture that way, but if you're in a hurry you can skip the pre-bake and just top and bake the whole thing at 350 F. What's even better to do in a hurry, though, is to make up a bunch of pre-baked crusts ahead of time and just take them out of the freezer when you need one.
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so until the mixture is bubbly. Just like you were making regular bread. Mix in the other ingredients and make sure to mix really well. You can use a mixer, but I just use a spoon. Sometimes I use my hands, but it does get fairly sticky. Some wheat-based recipes warn you against over-mixing so that you don't develop the gluten too much, but we will never have that problem in gluten free baking! Drizzle some olive oil (or other oil of your choice) onto a large rectangular or circular baking sheet. Once the dough is pre-baked you can use a pizza stone if you like or just keep it on the baking sheet, but the uncooked dough isn't going to nicely roll out and go on a baking sheet. That's okay, though. A lot of the rules you learned about baking things with wheat flour no longer apply. We make our own rules around here.
Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl with a spatula and onto the baking sheet. Notice that we are not letting the mixture sit and rise like we would with a wheat and yeast dough. You'll get enough rising power from the cornstarch and the yeast without proofing the dough all day long. Now fill the mixing bowl up with water. Dip your hands in the water, shake the excess off, and use your damp hands to flatten the dough out gradually. It will look like a bit of a pasty mess. If it does, you're doing it right. Continue flattening until the whole baking sheet (or most of it) is covered in a thin layer of dough. Try to fill in the holes as much as possible, but if there are a few little holes, they'll fill in as it bakes.
Put the baking sheet in your preheated 450 F oven and bake until the crust slides in the pan when you shake it and is just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. It's kind of magical when this pasty mess of dough turns into something that looks like a pizza crust. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 F (or you can pack it up and freeze it for later at this point). Top with toppings of your choice and bake until the cheese is melted and browned as much as you like. You can also make the crust into several mini pizzas, and you can easily double (triple, quadruple...) the recipe.
VARIATIONS:
Multi-grain pizza crust: Replace 35 gram (1/4 cup amounts) of the brown rice flour with combinations of the following flours: chickpea flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, almond flour, sorghum flour, oat flour, etc. If you do this, it's extra important to do it by weight if possible because some of these flours have very different densities. But this is a good way to experiment and find new flavors that you like. I'm a fan of a combination of brown rice flour, chickpea flour, and sorghum flour.
Flatbread: Same way you made the pizza crust, but bake at 450 F a little longer (7-10 minutes for me, but make sure to watch it) until it's a bit more browned. You can add herbs, garlic, onion, cheese, chives, sun-dried tomato, etc. to the dough if you wish. Either make one big flatbread to cut in pieces, or several little ones. Eat on their own or top with your favorite sandwich fillings.
Focaccia: Like the flatbread, but spread the dough thicker and bake at 350 F for a little longer (10-15 minutes depending on thickness, but again, be sure to watch it). It'll be a bit fluffier inside than the flatbread and obviously thicker. Eat on its own, topped with melted cheese or your favorite sandwich fillings, or split in half and stuffed with your favorite sandwich fillings.
Don't be afraid to experiment, and if doesn't come out right the first time, figure out what you didn't like about how it turned out and what might make it work better for you. Feel free to leave a comment if you're having trouble, and I'll be happy to try to help! My personal favorite topping combination for this pizza is pesto sauce, slices fresh pears, roasted parsnips, a few chunks of cream cheese (rather than grated cheese all over), and some crumbled crisp bacon.
Nutritional information per 1/4 pizza crust (not including toppings and assuming you used about 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan, if you're concerned about fat content use a nonstick pan and brush on just a bit of oil): 170 calories, 3.1 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 78 mg sodium, 32.6 grams carbohydrates, 1.8 grams fiber, 2.4 grams sugar, 2.7 grams protein, 5% of your RDI of iron. Source: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php.
Basic Brown Rice Pizza Crust
1/2 cup warm water (not hot, it will kill the yeast)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast (the yeast is used more for flavor than for leavening, so if you are allergic to yeast just sub in some baking powder)
105 grams (or approximately 3/4 cup) brown rice flour
35 grams (or approximately 1/4 cup) cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 F. We're going to pre-bake the crust before we add toppings. You get a better texture that way, but if you're in a hurry you can skip the pre-bake and just top and bake the whole thing at 350 F. What's even better to do in a hurry, though, is to make up a bunch of pre-baked crusts ahead of time and just take them out of the freezer when you need one.
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so until the mixture is bubbly. Just like you were making regular bread. Mix in the other ingredients and make sure to mix really well. You can use a mixer, but I just use a spoon. Sometimes I use my hands, but it does get fairly sticky. Some wheat-based recipes warn you against over-mixing so that you don't develop the gluten too much, but we will never have that problem in gluten free baking! Drizzle some olive oil (or other oil of your choice) onto a large rectangular or circular baking sheet. Once the dough is pre-baked you can use a pizza stone if you like or just keep it on the baking sheet, but the uncooked dough isn't going to nicely roll out and go on a baking sheet. That's okay, though. A lot of the rules you learned about baking things with wheat flour no longer apply. We make our own rules around here.
Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl with a spatula and onto the baking sheet. Notice that we are not letting the mixture sit and rise like we would with a wheat and yeast dough. You'll get enough rising power from the cornstarch and the yeast without proofing the dough all day long. Now fill the mixing bowl up with water. Dip your hands in the water, shake the excess off, and use your damp hands to flatten the dough out gradually. It will look like a bit of a pasty mess. If it does, you're doing it right. Continue flattening until the whole baking sheet (or most of it) is covered in a thin layer of dough. Try to fill in the holes as much as possible, but if there are a few little holes, they'll fill in as it bakes.
Put the baking sheet in your preheated 450 F oven and bake until the crust slides in the pan when you shake it and is just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. It's kind of magical when this pasty mess of dough turns into something that looks like a pizza crust. Remove the pan from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 F (or you can pack it up and freeze it for later at this point). Top with toppings of your choice and bake until the cheese is melted and browned as much as you like. You can also make the crust into several mini pizzas, and you can easily double (triple, quadruple...) the recipe.
VARIATIONS:
Multi-grain pizza crust: Replace 35 gram (1/4 cup amounts) of the brown rice flour with combinations of the following flours: chickpea flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, almond flour, sorghum flour, oat flour, etc. If you do this, it's extra important to do it by weight if possible because some of these flours have very different densities. But this is a good way to experiment and find new flavors that you like. I'm a fan of a combination of brown rice flour, chickpea flour, and sorghum flour.
Flatbread: Same way you made the pizza crust, but bake at 450 F a little longer (7-10 minutes for me, but make sure to watch it) until it's a bit more browned. You can add herbs, garlic, onion, cheese, chives, sun-dried tomato, etc. to the dough if you wish. Either make one big flatbread to cut in pieces, or several little ones. Eat on their own or top with your favorite sandwich fillings.
Focaccia: Like the flatbread, but spread the dough thicker and bake at 350 F for a little longer (10-15 minutes depending on thickness, but again, be sure to watch it). It'll be a bit fluffier inside than the flatbread and obviously thicker. Eat on its own, topped with melted cheese or your favorite sandwich fillings, or split in half and stuffed with your favorite sandwich fillings.
Don't be afraid to experiment, and if doesn't come out right the first time, figure out what you didn't like about how it turned out and what might make it work better for you. Feel free to leave a comment if you're having trouble, and I'll be happy to try to help! My personal favorite topping combination for this pizza is pesto sauce, slices fresh pears, roasted parsnips, a few chunks of cream cheese (rather than grated cheese all over), and some crumbled crisp bacon.
Nutritional information per 1/4 pizza crust (not including toppings and assuming you used about 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan, if you're concerned about fat content use a nonstick pan and brush on just a bit of oil): 170 calories, 3.1 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 78 mg sodium, 32.6 grams carbohydrates, 1.8 grams fiber, 2.4 grams sugar, 2.7 grams protein, 5% of your RDI of iron. Source: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Creamy Tomato Coconut Soup
If you eat dairy and you don't like coconut, you can substitute milk or cream for the coconut milk. Just be sure not to let the soup boil after you add the milk or cream, or it will curdle.
Serves 2-3 as a main dish, more as a side dish
2 14 ounce cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained (or equivalent
chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 14 ounce can coconut milk
(exact amounts of tomatoes and coconut milk are not super important,
if you live somewhere where things don't come in 14 ounce cans)
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon grape seed oil (or butter or other oil of your choice)
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, and cook until soft and
translucent. Add tomatoes and coconut milk and cook until hot.
Serves 2-3 as a main dish, more as a side dish
2 14 ounce cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained (or equivalent
chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 14 ounce can coconut milk
(exact amounts of tomatoes and coconut milk are not super important,
if you live somewhere where things don't come in 14 ounce cans)
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon grape seed oil (or butter or other oil of your choice)
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, and cook until soft and
translucent. Add tomatoes and coconut milk and cook until hot.
Friday, July 8, 2011
All About Vinegar
I love vinegar. I think it helps me digest things. My favorite is white wine vinegar. It has a very subtle flavor that compliments everything. If you are gluten free, you can't have malt vinegar, but you can have all of these kinds:
White wine vinegar: My favorite. Nice subtle flavor. If you used to put malt vinegar on your fries, try white wine vinegar as a substitute.
White vinegar: Very plain. Blends in to the background, a good substitute if you don't have anything else or if you're using for baking.
Rice vinegar: Subtle. Can substitute for white wine vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar: Has kind of a sweet flavor. Stronger than white wine, but not as strong as red wine and balsamic. I like it for baking, desserts, and some salads.
Red wine: I find it pretty overpowering and I don't use it very much, but it can be really good in salad.
Balsamic vinegar: Strong flavor, only use a little bit and maybe mix with other vinegars. Although it's strong, I don't find it to be over powering in the same way red wine vinegar is. I like it in salads, in roasted vegetables, in pot roast, and in stews.
White wine vinegar: My favorite. Nice subtle flavor. If you used to put malt vinegar on your fries, try white wine vinegar as a substitute.
White vinegar: Very plain. Blends in to the background, a good substitute if you don't have anything else or if you're using for baking.
Rice vinegar: Subtle. Can substitute for white wine vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar: Has kind of a sweet flavor. Stronger than white wine, but not as strong as red wine and balsamic. I like it for baking, desserts, and some salads.
Red wine: I find it pretty overpowering and I don't use it very much, but it can be really good in salad.
Balsamic vinegar: Strong flavor, only use a little bit and maybe mix with other vinegars. Although it's strong, I don't find it to be over powering in the same way red wine vinegar is. I like it in salads, in roasted vegetables, in pot roast, and in stews.
Cucumber Feta Salad
Another feta salad!
Ingredients:
1 cucumber
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Sugar
Cumin
Feta cheese
Slice cucumber very thinly (you can leave the skin on if they're English cucumbers). Add about a teaspoon of olive oil, about two teaspoons of white wine vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar, and some cumin. Mix and put them in a covered bowl in the fridge to marinate for an hour or overnight. If there is a lot of liquid in the bowl, drain it, and top with crumbled feta just before serving.
Ingredients:
1 cucumber
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Sugar
Cumin
Feta cheese
Slice cucumber very thinly (you can leave the skin on if they're English cucumbers). Add about a teaspoon of olive oil, about two teaspoons of white wine vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar, and some cumin. Mix and put them in a covered bowl in the fridge to marinate for an hour or overnight. If there is a lot of liquid in the bowl, drain it, and top with crumbled feta just before serving.
Corn and Potato Chowder
I love chowder, but I don't like seafood (with the exception of salmon, halibut, and shrimp), so here's a nice vegetarian chowder (that can be vegan if you want). Also, if you see "salt" listed, you can assume I mean "salt and pepper". I just don't like pepper very much.
Ingredients:
Potatoes
Chopped celery
Chopped carrots
Frozen corn
Onion
Water
Basil
Cumin
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Bay leaf
Garlic powder
Sour cream or coconut milk
Cut 2-3 potatoes into small chunks (you can leave the skin on). Chop one onion, and throw the carrots, celery, onion, and potato into a medium saucepan with about two handfuls of frozen corn. Add enough water to almost fill the pot. Add one bay leaf, and other spices to taste. Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are soft and the onions are translucent. Turn the heat down very low and add about 1/2 cup of sour cream or coconut. Cook for about a minute more. It'll be sort of pink from the paprika. Top with crumbled bacon if desired.
Ingredients:
Potatoes
Chopped celery
Chopped carrots
Frozen corn
Onion
Water
Basil
Cumin
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Bay leaf
Garlic powder
Sour cream or coconut milk
Cut 2-3 potatoes into small chunks (you can leave the skin on). Chop one onion, and throw the carrots, celery, onion, and potato into a medium saucepan with about two handfuls of frozen corn. Add enough water to almost fill the pot. Add one bay leaf, and other spices to taste. Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are soft and the onions are translucent. Turn the heat down very low and add about 1/2 cup of sour cream or coconut. Cook for about a minute more. It'll be sort of pink from the paprika. Top with crumbled bacon if desired.
Kiwi Beef Stir-fry
Ingredients:
Thinly sliced beef (you can also use chicken or pork, I was just on beef thing when I wrote most of these recipes because I needed iron!)
Kiwi (fruit)
Olive oil
Vinegar (white, white wine, or apple cider)
Salt
Sugar
Soy sauce (check ingredients)
Mushrooms
Snow peas
Cornstarch
Water
Rice
Make a marinade of finely chopped or pureed kiwi pieces, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add the thinly sliced beef to this and refrigerate for about an hour (like pineapple, kiwi has an enzyme in it that tenderizes meat). Discard marinade and cook the beef in a wok or frying pan. There's probably enough oil on the meat from the marinade that you won't need to add any. In a separate pan cook sliced mushrooms and snow peas with some soy sauce until they just start to get limp (but the snow peas are still a bit crunchy). Add the beef mixture to the veggies. Mix a small bit of cornstarch with water and a splash of soy sauce in a small bowl, and then quickly stir that into the stir fry until the sauce has thickened. Serve over rice, garnished with fresh kiwi slices if you have any left.
Thinly sliced beef (you can also use chicken or pork, I was just on beef thing when I wrote most of these recipes because I needed iron!)
Kiwi (fruit)
Olive oil
Vinegar (white, white wine, or apple cider)
Salt
Sugar
Soy sauce (check ingredients)
Mushrooms
Snow peas
Cornstarch
Water
Rice
Make a marinade of finely chopped or pureed kiwi pieces, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add the thinly sliced beef to this and refrigerate for about an hour (like pineapple, kiwi has an enzyme in it that tenderizes meat). Discard marinade and cook the beef in a wok or frying pan. There's probably enough oil on the meat from the marinade that you won't need to add any. In a separate pan cook sliced mushrooms and snow peas with some soy sauce until they just start to get limp (but the snow peas are still a bit crunchy). Add the beef mixture to the veggies. Mix a small bit of cornstarch with water and a splash of soy sauce in a small bowl, and then quickly stir that into the stir fry until the sauce has thickened. Serve over rice, garnished with fresh kiwi slices if you have any left.
Cinnamon Raisin Rice Pudding
Ingredients:
Leftover cooked rice (any kind, white, brown, jasmine, basmati, whatever)
Milk
Sugar
Salt
Cinnamon
Butter
Raisins
Take about 2 cups of leftover rice and put it in a saucepan with enough milk to cover it. Add a pinch of salt, about 1/4 cup of sugar, and a generous amount of cinnamon. Simmer until most of the milk had been absorbed by the rice. Then add another 1/2 cup of milk (enough to give it a pudding-like consistency), a couple of tablespoons of butter, and the raisins. Cook for about 5 more minutes. It's good warm or cold.
Leftover cooked rice (any kind, white, brown, jasmine, basmati, whatever)
Milk
Sugar
Salt
Cinnamon
Butter
Raisins
Take about 2 cups of leftover rice and put it in a saucepan with enough milk to cover it. Add a pinch of salt, about 1/4 cup of sugar, and a generous amount of cinnamon. Simmer until most of the milk had been absorbed by the rice. Then add another 1/2 cup of milk (enough to give it a pudding-like consistency), a couple of tablespoons of butter, and the raisins. Cook for about 5 more minutes. It's good warm or cold.
Brown Sugar Toffee with Chocolate
People are so impressed when you show up to a party with homemade candy, but it's actually really easy to make. Wear long sleeves so you don't burn yourself if you have a disaster with the sugar syrup, but be really careful not to splash it on yourself and use a pot that's much deeper than the amount of sugar you're using. Burning yourself with sugar syrup is about the worst thing you can do in the kitchen.
Ingredients:
Brown sugar
Butter
Salt
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: You will need a candy thermometer for this. Don't leave the melting sugar unattended!
Before you get started, like a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper and cover the parchment paper with chocolate chips. When you pour the hot sugar over the chocolate, it will melt the chocolate and make a chocolate coating on top of the toffee.
Put some brown sugar in a sauce pan with a pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of water, and a little bit of butter. The precise ratio of butter to sugar real doesn't matter, it's just for flavor. Using a candy thermometer, heat this mixture to 280 F, stirring frequently. Make sure to use a large enough pan that bubbling molten sugar can't get up over the sides. When the sugar is at the right temperature, pour it into the pan over the chocolate. Let it cool completely in the fridge or freezer. When it is cold, you can use the parchment paper to lift it out of the pan, then peel the parchment paper off of the chocolate side, and break it into small pieces.
Ingredients:
Brown sugar
Butter
Salt
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: You will need a candy thermometer for this. Don't leave the melting sugar unattended!
Before you get started, like a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper and cover the parchment paper with chocolate chips. When you pour the hot sugar over the chocolate, it will melt the chocolate and make a chocolate coating on top of the toffee.
Put some brown sugar in a sauce pan with a pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of water, and a little bit of butter. The precise ratio of butter to sugar real doesn't matter, it's just for flavor. Using a candy thermometer, heat this mixture to 280 F, stirring frequently. Make sure to use a large enough pan that bubbling molten sugar can't get up over the sides. When the sugar is at the right temperature, pour it into the pan over the chocolate. Let it cool completely in the fridge or freezer. When it is cold, you can use the parchment paper to lift it out of the pan, then peel the parchment paper off of the chocolate side, and break it into small pieces.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Sweet Potato Fries with Cumin
Sweet potato fries are very trendy these days and very easy to make.
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Cumin
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into thin fry-shaped strips. Place them with a bowl and drizzle them with olive oil (just a bit, you're only keeping them from sticking, not frying them), salt, and cumin to taste (or any other spices you feel like trying - cinnamon is good too). Mix this well to make sure that the olive oil and seasoning are evenly distributed. Spread them out in a single layer in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Bake them at 450 F for about 20-25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are soft. The outside will start to turn yellow (rather than orange) when they are done.
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Cumin
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into thin fry-shaped strips. Place them with a bowl and drizzle them with olive oil (just a bit, you're only keeping them from sticking, not frying them), salt, and cumin to taste (or any other spices you feel like trying - cinnamon is good too). Mix this well to make sure that the olive oil and seasoning are evenly distributed. Spread them out in a single layer in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Bake them at 450 F for about 20-25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are soft. The outside will start to turn yellow (rather than orange) when they are done.
"Deep Fried" Zucchini
Not actually deep fried at all, and made with whole grain flour!
Ingredients:
Zucchini
Brown rice flour
Water
Egg
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Make a batter out of water, egg, and brown rice flour. It should have the consistency of a pancake batter. In fact, this whole process is a lot like making tiny pancakes that just happen to have a little slice of zucchini inside them. Add garlic powder, chili powder, and salt to taste to the batter. Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Coat the zucchini slices in brown rice flour (to help the batter stick), and then dip them in the batter. Cook small batches of zucchini slices in a single layer in a heated frying pan with a little bit of sunflower oil (or whatever you like to use. Just enough so that they don't stick.) Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until the batter is cooked and lightly browned. The zucchini inside will be soft but not mushy. They're very good with ranch dip or mango chutney.
Ingredients:
Zucchini
Brown rice flour
Water
Egg
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Make a batter out of water, egg, and brown rice flour. It should have the consistency of a pancake batter. In fact, this whole process is a lot like making tiny pancakes that just happen to have a little slice of zucchini inside them. Add garlic powder, chili powder, and salt to taste to the batter. Slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Coat the zucchini slices in brown rice flour (to help the batter stick), and then dip them in the batter. Cook small batches of zucchini slices in a single layer in a heated frying pan with a little bit of sunflower oil (or whatever you like to use. Just enough so that they don't stick.) Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, until the batter is cooked and lightly browned. The zucchini inside will be soft but not mushy. They're very good with ranch dip or mango chutney.
Broccoli Salad
Ingredients:
Broccoli
Bacon (optional, can leave out for vegetarians)
Raisins (also optional. If you don't like raisins, try dried cranberries or slivered almonds.)
Sugar
Vinegar (I use white wine vinegar, but plain white vinegar also works)
Onion
This is my version of the classic broccoli-bacon-other stuff salad, created by studying numerous recipes for it and picking out the ideas and ingredients that I liked.
Before you do anything else, cook 4-5 slices of bacon until crisp and set on a paper towel to dry. Drain the bacon grease, but don't clean the pan. Finely chop one onion and cook it in the bacon pan. If you're making a vegetarian version, heat a bit of olive oil in pan to sautee the onion. Let it cool. Meanwhile, wash and cut about two cups of medium broccoli florets. Immerse the broccoli florets in boiling water for exactly one minute. Immediately drain the broccoli, rinse it in cold water, and then stick it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to stop it from cooking any further. While the broccoli is in the freezer, make the dressing. Take the onion pan, and mix in some sugar and white wine vinegar until it has the taste and consistency that you want. Take the broccoli out of the freezer and drain it again, because more water will have come out of it. If you happen to have a salad spinner, you could probably throw it in the salad spinner. Put the broccoli in a large bowl, crumble the bacon over top of it, and add some raisins if using. Pour the onion-dressing mixture over it and mix well. Refrigerate for about an hour before serving to let the flavors mix. If you like really crispy bacon, don't add the crumbled bacon until just before serving.
Broccoli
Bacon (optional, can leave out for vegetarians)
Raisins (also optional. If you don't like raisins, try dried cranberries or slivered almonds.)
Sugar
Vinegar (I use white wine vinegar, but plain white vinegar also works)
Onion
This is my version of the classic broccoli-bacon-other stuff salad, created by studying numerous recipes for it and picking out the ideas and ingredients that I liked.
Before you do anything else, cook 4-5 slices of bacon until crisp and set on a paper towel to dry. Drain the bacon grease, but don't clean the pan. Finely chop one onion and cook it in the bacon pan. If you're making a vegetarian version, heat a bit of olive oil in pan to sautee the onion. Let it cool. Meanwhile, wash and cut about two cups of medium broccoli florets. Immerse the broccoli florets in boiling water for exactly one minute. Immediately drain the broccoli, rinse it in cold water, and then stick it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to stop it from cooking any further. While the broccoli is in the freezer, make the dressing. Take the onion pan, and mix in some sugar and white wine vinegar until it has the taste and consistency that you want. Take the broccoli out of the freezer and drain it again, because more water will have come out of it. If you happen to have a salad spinner, you could probably throw it in the salad spinner. Put the broccoli in a large bowl, crumble the bacon over top of it, and add some raisins if using. Pour the onion-dressing mixture over it and mix well. Refrigerate for about an hour before serving to let the flavors mix. If you like really crispy bacon, don't add the crumbled bacon until just before serving.
Leftover Beef and Mushroom Stew
Another one from the old food blog, with minor tweaking to make it gluten free.
Ingredients:
Leftover pot roast (or other leftover meat. You can use stewing beef if you don't have any leftovers to work with.)
Mushrooms
Water
Beef broth (check ingredients)
Salt
Soy Sauce (check ingredients)
Dried minced onion
Cornstarch
Shred the beef. You can do this however you want, but I just used my hands to pull it apart into thin pieces. If you are starting with uncooked stewing beef, you can just cut it into chunks and brown it. Slice the mushrooms. Put them in a saucepan with dried minced onion (you could also use fresh minced onion if you felt like chopping onions). Cover with water (or beef broth if you have it, or some combination thereof, or add powdered beef broth...), and add a bit of soy sauce and/or salt. Simmer for about an hour, until the mushrooms are soft and the broth has started to thicken. In a small bowl, mix together some cornstarch and water. Stir this into the the stew, and continue to simmer until the stew has thickened. You can serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes, or with a side of gluten free bread if you have some.
Ingredients:
Leftover pot roast (or other leftover meat. You can use stewing beef if you don't have any leftovers to work with.)
Mushrooms
Water
Beef broth (check ingredients)
Salt
Soy Sauce (check ingredients)
Dried minced onion
Cornstarch
Shred the beef. You can do this however you want, but I just used my hands to pull it apart into thin pieces. If you are starting with uncooked stewing beef, you can just cut it into chunks and brown it. Slice the mushrooms. Put them in a saucepan with dried minced onion (you could also use fresh minced onion if you felt like chopping onions). Cover with water (or beef broth if you have it, or some combination thereof, or add powdered beef broth...), and add a bit of soy sauce and/or salt. Simmer for about an hour, until the mushrooms are soft and the broth has started to thicken. In a small bowl, mix together some cornstarch and water. Stir this into the the stew, and continue to simmer until the stew has thickened. You can serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes, or with a side of gluten free bread if you have some.
Apple Butter
Not butter at all. Make this in the fall when the farmer's market is overflowing with apples.
Ingredients:
Apples
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Salt
Peel, core, and chop about two pounds of apples into small pieces. Place the apple chunks in a slow cooker and cover with about two cups of brown sugar. Add a pinch of salt and some cinnamon to taste. Cook on high for about half an hour to an hour, then cook on low for about 10 hours (overnight is good time to do this). Take the lid off. You will have a melted sugar-apple juice mixture small apple chunks floating in it. Using a hand blender (and being careful not to splatter hot sugar stuff on yourself), blend until smooth and no apple chunks remain. Leave the cover off and cook on high until the apple butter has thickened to a spreadable consistency (this may take 2-3 more hours). Refrigerate or freeze. You could also seal it in jars for long-term storage. You can use this like as a spread like jam, as an ice cream topping, as a filling for pies or tarts, as a compliment to meat and fish, as a dip for celery sticks, etc.
Ingredients:
Apples
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Salt
Peel, core, and chop about two pounds of apples into small pieces. Place the apple chunks in a slow cooker and cover with about two cups of brown sugar. Add a pinch of salt and some cinnamon to taste. Cook on high for about half an hour to an hour, then cook on low for about 10 hours (overnight is good time to do this). Take the lid off. You will have a melted sugar-apple juice mixture small apple chunks floating in it. Using a hand blender (and being careful not to splatter hot sugar stuff on yourself), blend until smooth and no apple chunks remain. Leave the cover off and cook on high until the apple butter has thickened to a spreadable consistency (this may take 2-3 more hours). Refrigerate or freeze. You could also seal it in jars for long-term storage. You can use this like as a spread like jam, as an ice cream topping, as a filling for pies or tarts, as a compliment to meat and fish, as a dip for celery sticks, etc.
Slow Roasted Root Vegetables With Jalapeno-Raspberry Garlic Butter
Found this on my old pre-celiac food blog. I really love roasted veggies and I'll probably have a lot of different recipes for them on here.
Ingredients
One turnip, peeled and diced
Three carrot, peeled or not and cut into 1/4-inch slices
Three parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
Half a green cabbage, thinly chopped
One finely chopped onion
Two thinly sliced green onions
Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup of butter (use olive oil if you're dairy free)
1/4 cup of raspberry salad dressing
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (check ingredients, Heinz is usually safe - also note that most kinds are not vegetarian - there's anchovy paste in it, so it out or substitute some red wine vinegar if you're making this vegetarian)
2-3 pickled jalapeño slices or more if you like it spicy (mince them using a garlic press)
6-8 minced garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
You can change the vegetables around if you want. Put the vegetables in a medium roasting pan. To make the sauce, melt the sauce ingredients over medium-low heat until well-blended. Pour over vegetables in roasting pan and mix well. Roast at 325 degrees until all vegetables are soft, about 90 minutes. Stir every 20 minutes or so to make sure the sauce is well-blended into the vegetables and to keep the cabbage from burning.
Ingredients
One turnip, peeled and diced
Three carrot, peeled or not and cut into 1/4-inch slices
Three parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
Half a green cabbage, thinly chopped
One finely chopped onion
Two thinly sliced green onions
Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup of butter (use olive oil if you're dairy free)
1/4 cup of raspberry salad dressing
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (check ingredients, Heinz is usually safe - also note that most kinds are not vegetarian - there's anchovy paste in it, so it out or substitute some red wine vinegar if you're making this vegetarian)
2-3 pickled jalapeño slices or more if you like it spicy (mince them using a garlic press)
6-8 minced garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
You can change the vegetables around if you want. Put the vegetables in a medium roasting pan. To make the sauce, melt the sauce ingredients over medium-low heat until well-blended. Pour over vegetables in roasting pan and mix well. Roast at 325 degrees until all vegetables are soft, about 90 minutes. Stir every 20 minutes or so to make sure the sauce is well-blended into the vegetables and to keep the cabbage from burning.
A note about baking by weight
I am not primarily a baker. I'm much more into the non-dessert, non-bread aspect of cooking, but I do bake sometimes (especially pizza crust and flatbreads). Other people who are much better at baking than I am (including Shauna over at http://glutenfreegirl.com/) have found that gluten free baked goods come out much better if you measure flours by weight rather than volume. This also makes it easier to substitute one flour for another, because they can have quite different densities.
Weighing things may seem really sciencey and intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. I find it easier to do because you can just stick your mixing bowl on the scale and zero it each time you start adding a new flour, and you don't have to bother with measuring cups and sifters. I strongly recommend that you bake by weight, and all of my recipes for baked goods will include weights. You don't need some sort of fancy high tech scale either. I bought mine at Canadian Tire for $10, and as an added bonus I can also use it split skeins of sock yarn in half by weight, so it's a multipurpose piece of equipment.
However, I know that some of you will absolutely refuse to bake by weight. I will try to also include approximate volume measurements, but if I ever don't, this is an approximate conversion you can use:
140 grams = 1 cup
105 grams = 3/4 cup
70 grams = 1/2 cup
35 grams = 1/4 cup
Hopefully you can interpolate a bit from there. This will also help you convert regular wheat flour recipes to gluten free recipes if you're really into baking. Just use 140 grams of gluten free flours for every 1 cup of white flour a recipe calls for. I really want to emphasize, though, that your will get much better and more consistent results with your baked goods if you bake by weight.
Weighing things may seem really sciencey and intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. I find it easier to do because you can just stick your mixing bowl on the scale and zero it each time you start adding a new flour, and you don't have to bother with measuring cups and sifters. I strongly recommend that you bake by weight, and all of my recipes for baked goods will include weights. You don't need some sort of fancy high tech scale either. I bought mine at Canadian Tire for $10, and as an added bonus I can also use it split skeins of sock yarn in half by weight, so it's a multipurpose piece of equipment.
However, I know that some of you will absolutely refuse to bake by weight. I will try to also include approximate volume measurements, but if I ever don't, this is an approximate conversion you can use:
140 grams = 1 cup
105 grams = 3/4 cup
70 grams = 1/2 cup
35 grams = 1/4 cup
Hopefully you can interpolate a bit from there. This will also help you convert regular wheat flour recipes to gluten free recipes if you're really into baking. Just use 140 grams of gluten free flours for every 1 cup of white flour a recipe calls for. I really want to emphasize, though, that your will get much better and more consistent results with your baked goods if you bake by weight.
Black Bean Soup (Can be vegetarian)
Bacon and hot peppers are optional. Serves 2-4.
Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
1-2 tsp oil or butter
1 large can black beans (or equivalent cooked dry black beans)
1 cup water or broth (make sure to read the ingredients if using commercial broth)
1/4 cup salsa or tomato sauce (again, read ingredients)
Minced jalapeno to taste (I take canned jalapeno slices and put them through a garlic press. Leave this out if you don't want it hot.)
Optional garnishes: Salsa, chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled crisp bacon, sour cream, grated cheese, sliced green onions or chives, crushed corn tortilla chips (watch out for non-gluten free multigrain chips)
In a large saucepan, sautee the onion in oil or butter until it becomes translucent. Add beans, water or broth, and tomato sauce or salsa. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more liquid if you want a less chunky soup. Ladle into bowls and top with garnishes of choice.
Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
1-2 tsp oil or butter
1 large can black beans (or equivalent cooked dry black beans)
1 cup water or broth (make sure to read the ingredients if using commercial broth)
1/4 cup salsa or tomato sauce (again, read ingredients)
Minced jalapeno to taste (I take canned jalapeno slices and put them through a garlic press. Leave this out if you don't want it hot.)
Optional garnishes: Salsa, chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled crisp bacon, sour cream, grated cheese, sliced green onions or chives, crushed corn tortilla chips (watch out for non-gluten free multigrain chips)
In a large saucepan, sautee the onion in oil or butter until it becomes translucent. Add beans, water or broth, and tomato sauce or salsa. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more liquid if you want a less chunky soup. Ladle into bowls and top with garnishes of choice.
Watermelon and Feta Salad (Dairy Free Option)
Light and refreshing for a summer day that's too hot for cooking and eating. Amounts are variable. Just mix thing in until it tastes good. Allow 1/2 cup to 1 cup per person as a side dish, depending on what else you're serving.
Ingredients
Fresh watermelon in bite-sized chunks
Crumbled feta cheese (try shredded coconut if you don't eat dairy)
Chopped fresh mint or crumbled dried mint (optional, leave it out if you hate mint)
White wine vinegar (can substitute other vinegars, but this one is my favorite)
Mix the watermelon, feta or coconut, and mint together in a serving bowl. Drizzle white wine vinegar over top and serve.
Ingredients
Fresh watermelon in bite-sized chunks
Crumbled feta cheese (try shredded coconut if you don't eat dairy)
Chopped fresh mint or crumbled dried mint (optional, leave it out if you hate mint)
White wine vinegar (can substitute other vinegars, but this one is my favorite)
Mix the watermelon, feta or coconut, and mint together in a serving bowl. Drizzle white wine vinegar over top and serve.
What is gluten and where is it hiding?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and sometimes oats. The problem with oats is two-fold. Most oats are milled using the same equipment that is used for wheat, and so they are contaminated with pieces of wheat. Therefore, we can't eat them. It is possible to get wheat-free oats (they're pretty expensive), but that doesn't work for everyone because oats contain a protein called avenin that is similar to the gluten in wheat, barley, and rye. Some celiacs have no problem with it, but some react to it. For that reason, most dietitians will recommend that you avoid oats for a year or so after you are diagnosed before trying them to see how you do. And if you are having a celiac over for dinner, I would recommend just avoiding oats entirely because they wheat-free ones are pricey and sometimes hard to find, and you wouldn't want to go to all of the trouble of getting them only to find out that your friend reacts to wheat-free oats and can't eat what you made.
Of course, like everything in life, avoiding wheat, barley, rye, and maybe oats is not always so straightforward. You need to read the ingredients on everything, even if it's something you've bought before, because ingredients can change. I even read the ingredients of things that are in my cupboards before I use them because it's such a habit for me by now. Some people think that's obsessive, but I once ate a couple of pieces of non-gluten free cereal and was sick for about a week, so there's no such thing as being too careful.
This is not a complete list, but here are a few things to watch out for:
-Anything made with wheat flour (white bread is still made from wheat, even though it doesn't say "whole wheat" on the bag
-Some corn tortillas have wheat flour added to them (but corn tortillas without wheat flour are okay)
-Wheat-based pasta
-Gravy is usually made with flour, although it's very easy to substitute cornstarch or rice flour if you're making it from scratch
-Anything breaded
-Couscous (it's made from wheat)
-Barley malt extract/malt extract/malt flavoring
-LINDT TRUFFLES have barley malt extract in them, so don't eat them (but some of the Lindt chocolate bars are okay, just read the ingredients)
-RICE KRISPIES have barley malt extract in them. You'd think they would be okay because they're rice, but they're not. Same with corn flakes and basically every mainstream cereal, except gluten-free Chex the new gluten-free Rice Krispies if you're luck enough to live somewhere where you can get them.
-Soy sauce usually has wheat (in Canada, VH soy sauce is okay as of right now)
-Chinese food usually has gluten in it because of the soy sauce issue, so make sure to ask about the ingredients before eating it
-Canned soup (tomato soup has flour, cream of mushroom soup has flour, it's actually pretty hard to find a can of soup without flour in it)
-Sausages/hot dogs/burgers/meatballs often have bread crumbs in them
-Veggie burgers and veggie meat substitutes often have wheat in them
-Beer is made from barley and/or and contains gluten (unless it's gluten-free beer and it's clearly market as such). Some people mysteriously thing it's still okay to cook with beer, but I think they're confusing alcohol with gluten. The alcohol cooks out, but the gluten does not.
-Brewer's yeast is a bi-product of beer making and is not gluten free
-Malt vinegar is made from beer and is not gluten free. Other vinegars are fine.
-Worcestershire sauce sometimes contains malt vinegar and/or soy sauce depending on the brand, so read the ingredients carefully.
-Powdered broths and flavorings are not always gluten free.
-Imitation bacon bits are usually made from a combination of soy and wheat flour, so read carefully.
-Bulgur is a form of wheat
-Salad dressings can sometimes have gluten ingredients, especially "Asian"-type ones because of the soy sauce
Feel free to comment if I've missed a frequent source of hidden gluten, but those are the ones that I seem to encounter most frequently.
So what can you eat? Anything without gluten! There are gluten free versions of seemingly every gluten containing food out there, but a lot of them are expensive and full of sugar and starch and fat, so I mostly eat things that are naturally gluten free. This includes, but is not limited to:
-Vegetables
-Fruit
-Nuts and seeds
-Meat, fish, etc
-Eggs
-Dairy products
-Brown rice pasta
-Quinoa
-Millet
-Rice
-Teff
-Corn
-Beans
-Lentils
-Chickpeas (they're beans, but I love them so much that they get their own line)
-Tofu and soy products (I mostly avoid them because too much soy seems to give me stomach cramps, so you won't find too many tofu recipes on here, but you can eat it)
-Buckwheat (despite the name, it has nothing to do with wheat)
-Sugar
-Chocolate (read the ingredients)
-Tapioca
-Gelatin (I've met a number of people who haven't realized that it was safe, but it is)
-Potatoes and sweet potatoes (some people get gluten mixed up with carbs, but potatoes, rice, etc are all fine)
-Arrowroot (not those arrowroot cookies, because they have wheat flour in them, but you can cook with arrowroot starch)
-"Glutinous" rice - it's only called that because it's sticky
And many more things. Leave your favorites in the comments!
Of course, like everything in life, avoiding wheat, barley, rye, and maybe oats is not always so straightforward. You need to read the ingredients on everything, even if it's something you've bought before, because ingredients can change. I even read the ingredients of things that are in my cupboards before I use them because it's such a habit for me by now. Some people think that's obsessive, but I once ate a couple of pieces of non-gluten free cereal and was sick for about a week, so there's no such thing as being too careful.
This is not a complete list, but here are a few things to watch out for:
-Anything made with wheat flour (white bread is still made from wheat, even though it doesn't say "whole wheat" on the bag
-Some corn tortillas have wheat flour added to them (but corn tortillas without wheat flour are okay)
-Wheat-based pasta
-Gravy is usually made with flour, although it's very easy to substitute cornstarch or rice flour if you're making it from scratch
-Anything breaded
-Couscous (it's made from wheat)
-Barley malt extract/malt extract/malt flavoring
-LINDT TRUFFLES have barley malt extract in them, so don't eat them (but some of the Lindt chocolate bars are okay, just read the ingredients)
-RICE KRISPIES have barley malt extract in them. You'd think they would be okay because they're rice, but they're not. Same with corn flakes and basically every mainstream cereal, except gluten-free Chex the new gluten-free Rice Krispies if you're luck enough to live somewhere where you can get them.
-Soy sauce usually has wheat (in Canada, VH soy sauce is okay as of right now)
-Chinese food usually has gluten in it because of the soy sauce issue, so make sure to ask about the ingredients before eating it
-Canned soup (tomato soup has flour, cream of mushroom soup has flour, it's actually pretty hard to find a can of soup without flour in it)
-Sausages/hot dogs/burgers/meatballs often have bread crumbs in them
-Veggie burgers and veggie meat substitutes often have wheat in them
-Beer is made from barley and/or and contains gluten (unless it's gluten-free beer and it's clearly market as such). Some people mysteriously thing it's still okay to cook with beer, but I think they're confusing alcohol with gluten. The alcohol cooks out, but the gluten does not.
-Brewer's yeast is a bi-product of beer making and is not gluten free
-Malt vinegar is made from beer and is not gluten free. Other vinegars are fine.
-Worcestershire sauce sometimes contains malt vinegar and/or soy sauce depending on the brand, so read the ingredients carefully.
-Powdered broths and flavorings are not always gluten free.
-Imitation bacon bits are usually made from a combination of soy and wheat flour, so read carefully.
-Bulgur is a form of wheat
-Salad dressings can sometimes have gluten ingredients, especially "Asian"-type ones because of the soy sauce
Feel free to comment if I've missed a frequent source of hidden gluten, but those are the ones that I seem to encounter most frequently.
So what can you eat? Anything without gluten! There are gluten free versions of seemingly every gluten containing food out there, but a lot of them are expensive and full of sugar and starch and fat, so I mostly eat things that are naturally gluten free. This includes, but is not limited to:
-Vegetables
-Fruit
-Nuts and seeds
-Meat, fish, etc
-Eggs
-Dairy products
-Brown rice pasta
-Quinoa
-Millet
-Rice
-Teff
-Corn
-Beans
-Lentils
-Chickpeas (they're beans, but I love them so much that they get their own line)
-Tofu and soy products (I mostly avoid them because too much soy seems to give me stomach cramps, so you won't find too many tofu recipes on here, but you can eat it)
-Buckwheat (despite the name, it has nothing to do with wheat)
-Sugar
-Chocolate (read the ingredients)
-Tapioca
-Gelatin (I've met a number of people who haven't realized that it was safe, but it is)
-Potatoes and sweet potatoes (some people get gluten mixed up with carbs, but potatoes, rice, etc are all fine)
-Arrowroot (not those arrowroot cookies, because they have wheat flour in them, but you can cook with arrowroot starch)
-"Glutinous" rice - it's only called that because it's sticky
And many more things. Leave your favorites in the comments!
How To Use This Blog
If you are newly diagnosed or if you're on here because you're trying to cook for someone else who can't eat gluten, don't panic! Look over on the side to the list of labels, and click on the one called "no special ingredients". This will give you all of the recipes that don't require special flours or xanthan gum or things you haven't heard of. There will be some complicated recipes on here, because sometimes I like to figure out how to make complicated things, but for the most part the recipes on here will be simple and healthy. Sometimes ingredients are approximate, because that's how I cook. I'll try to go back and add pictures in as I cook things, but for now I'm just posting all of the recipes in my repertoire so that they're out there for people to use. If you have questions, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer!
What is celiac disease?
First of all, celiac disease is different from a food allergy. It's an autoimmune disease, and in order to have it, three things must occur: you must have one of the genes for celiac disease, you must have eaten gluten, and something must have happened to trigger your body to start reacting to gluten. I'll get into what exactly gluten is in another post, but basically it is a protein that is found in wheat, barley, rye and sometimes oats. If you have celiac disease and you eat gluten, your body thinks it is some kind of foreign invader and responds by destroying the lining of your small intestine. As you can imagine, this causes all kinds of bad things to happen.
For a much better description of all of the details than I could give you, check out this website: http://www.celiacdiseasecenter.columbia.edu/A_Patients/A01-HOME.htm and go through all of the links on the left side of the page. Dr. Peter Green is one of world's leading experts on the disease and has written an excellent book called "Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic" that I recommend if you are really interested in learning a lot more. However, keep in mind the following very important consideration:
IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE CELIAC DISEASE, YOU NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR BEFORE CUTTING GLUTEN OUT OF YOUR DIET. This is very important. I am not a doctor (although I will be in a few years, I still won't be able to give you medical advice over the internet) and a recipe blog is not a substitute for medical tests. In order to be properly tested for celiac disease, you must still have gluten in your diet. If you are not eating gluten, the test results will be meaningless because once you have been off of gluten for long enough, the damage in your body is repaired and the tests won't find it. The reason this is so important is that some other medical conditions can cause similar symptoms, and you need to know if your problem is celiac disease or something else so that you can be properly treated for it. I met someone in an online support group who thought she had celiac disease, so she stopped eating gluten, but after a year she wasn't really improving so she decided to go to her doctor and get tested. She had to eat gluten for about two months so that the tests would be accurate. It turned out she had an intestinal hernia. She was treated for that and now she's fine, but if she had just gone to her doctor in the first place she could have saved herself over a year of being sick needlessly. Some people still need to eat gluten free because they have a wheat allergy, or non-celiac gluten intolerance, or another medical condition that's helped by eating gluten free, the path to finding out why you're sick will be a lot easier if you get tested first before you cut gluten out of your diet.
About Me
I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2008. I was sick for nearly 20 years, but no one could figure out what was wrong with me so I think most people eventually decided I was faking it. But in fall of 2008, I went to a new doctor because I was just tired and sick all of the time, and it seemed to have been getting worse, and I had a history of hypothyroidism and iron-deficiency anemia. She did some blood tests, and found out that my iron levels were very low. After putting me on increasing levels of iron supplements and seeing my levels just keep dropping (at one point I was taking 900 mg of ferrous sulfate a day - that's a lot!), she knew something else was going on and tested me for celiac disease. Mystery solved! That sounds somewhat anti-climactic, but it really changed my whole life. I had been sick for so long that I didn't even really know how sick I was. It's hard to describe if you haven't been through it, but things that I thought were just normal because they had been that way for as long as I could remember (having stomach cramps all the time, not being able to sleep, being anxious all the time, going to the bathroom 6-8 times a day) suddenly changed. It really was incredible.
I was also able to lose weight for the first time ever. The stereotypical person with celiac disease is skinny and can't gain weight, but I had the opposite problem. Even though I didn't eat very much, I was really overweight. I figured it was just because of my thyroid problem. But turns out it wasn't. I was at my heaviest weight when I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and I've lost quite a bit of weight since then and I'm still losing. Lately the number on the scale has leveled off a bit because I've been doing some strength training, but my pants still keep getting smaller. Most of my recipes are pretty healthy and contain a lot of vegetables (but there will be some deserts, because we all get asked to bring desert to a potluck from time to time and you want to bring something you can eat!). I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat like one sometimes. And most of my recipes will be dairy free or have a dairy free option because I'm slightly lactose intolerant and so I limit my intake of dairy products. It is important to get enough calcium in your diet if you have celiac disease because you're at an increased risk of osteoporosis from the years of malabsorption you've probably had, but there are lots of non-dairy sources of calcium. By the way, if you do have celiac disease, it's very important to see a dietician so that you know what you can and can't eat and to make sure you're including sources of all the nutrients you need in your diet!
Aside from cooking gluten free food, I enjoy knitting, crocheting, reading, writing, swimming, running/walking, yoga, playing the violin, drawing with pastels, and dancing. I'm pretty good at some of those things and not-so-good at others, but I have fun with all of them. I'm starting medical school in a few weeks and I have a PhD in astronomy.
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