The Gluten Free Path

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

When you are stepping into the grocery store and you can’t think of anything sweet to eat after dinner, don’t panic. Or if you are finishing your summer with a party and you need something gluten free for a snack and you have no idea what to do, or you are worried the cookies you bought might taste awful, fall back to the basics. Fruit is easy and doesn’t feel like it needs something else. It’s just brilliant, sweet when ripe, and it’s finger food so fewer dishes.

One of the first things you learn when going gluten free is that oats are something you have to give up for a time. If not forever, at least until you figure out whether or not they bother you. Then there is the whole kerfuffle over gluten free oats versus regular oats. If you have celiac disease you should not eat regular oats because they are almost always contaminated. If you are just gluten intolerant, either tested or just suspected, I’d suggest avoiding regular oats as well, at least for awhile. Follow your docs orders and your instincts that aren’t driven by hunger.

Anyway, once you know you can tolerate gluten free oats – it’s a trial process after you let your body heal – give this recipe a try. As with all my recipes, it’s just a guide. Add what you want, play around with it. There are few right or wrong ways to do something.

Note: In the picture below you will notice that the oil is safflower, not coconut. After some research I have decided to phase out safflower oil due to it’s high content of omega 6 oils. Those are the oils that induce inflammation. Neither Rick nor I need to induce anymore inflammation. Plus coconut oil seems to be much more nutritious and safer with high heat than any other oil.

What you’ll need:

1 1/2 cup of gluten free oats

1/2 cup of walnuts

1/2 cup of almonds

1/4 cup of sunflower seeds

2 tablespoons of flax seeds

3 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds

7 chopped Brazil nuts

2 tablespoons of flax meal

1/4 cup of allpurpose gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mills)

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 cup of honey

1 teaspoon of coconut oil (I use raw) oil

Heat oven to 200 degrees(if for some reason your granola starts to darken before it starts to crisp, turn the temperature down). Chop the nuts. Add all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate small bowl. If your coconut oil is cold it won’t mix as easily with the honey. It has a melting point of 76 degrees or so. You only really need to warm it a touch and it will be much easier to use. Once everything is mixed it the respective bowls add the wet to the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Use a cook sheet or a broiler pan, line with foil. “Grease” the foil with safflower oil. Gently spread the granola mix over the foil. Place in the preheated oven. Turn/stir with a spatula every 15 minutes. Continue until the desired crispness or whatever is achieved!

Note: If you want to add dried fruit to the mix, add it after you toasted it. Otherwise it will burn. You can also use parchment paper instead of foil. I’ve used it and like the result.

     I’ve been making gluten free zucchini bread for almost a year. It’s wonderful! Best thing ever! I couldn’t believe that I had yet to do a post about it. Well, I was mistaken, I had done a post already, over at The Modern Hippy, my other blog. Of course! I forgot! I was arguing with myself and Rick over moving that post here, because this is a gluten free specific website. Only makes sense. I just had to let go, to be okay with taking something from my first blog, what I consider to be my “baby”. A silly project I thought up one hot summer afternoon. Finally, today I feel it is okay to take away from my “baby”. I’m not taking away, I’m repurposing a post that no longer fits over there for another blog where it will fit better – hand-me-downs if you will.
     So, without further ado. Here it is with some slight alterations.

     This summer my parents have a zucchini plant. It was so cute when I planted it. And now, all that “hard” work paid off! It has produces so many zucchinis I’ve lost count. Not wanting to waste them and having fond memories of zucchini bread, I decided to make gluten-free zucchini bread. Four or more tries later, it is still the best zucchini bread ever! It just gets better with each loaf! Even people whom are not gluten-free nuts say it’s good!

     After searching for a few minutes online, I found one recipe that seemed to be the easiest to modify. This is the end result.

     Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread Recipe:

     Set oven to 350 degrees (or 325 if using a glass bread pan).
o 2 eggs
o 1 cup sugar, unbleached
o .5 cup of oil, safflower
o 2 tsp. of vanilla, fair trade
o .5 tsp. of baking soda
o .5 tsp. of cinnamon (and a pinch of nutmeg – optional)
o .5 tsp of salt
o 1.5 cups of gluten-free flour (I use Red Mills Gluten-Free All-purpose Baking Flour.)
o Pinch of Xanthan Gum, optional
o 1.5 cups of shredded zucchini, organic if you can
o 1 cup of chopped walnuts

     Mix the first four ingredients, then add the baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Carefully, (slowly if you can) add the gluten-free baking flour and xanthan gum. Then mix in the zucchini and walnuts.
     Grease and flour a loaf pan. (It isn’t absolutely necessary and I forgot to do it on more than one occasion, just makes things easier.) Pour, taste if you want and bake for up to 75 minutes, or until a knife comes clean. (I’d say tooth pick but that would be promoting disposable items which I would like to avoid.)

     Notes: Xanthan gum is optional because we don’t like the way it tastes. I’ve tried it with .5 a tsp, 2 pinches, 1 pinch, and a dusting that was so small it couldn’t be considered a pinch. People will tell you that it doesn’t have a taste. However, it does have a specific texture that it adds to whatever it mixes with – slippery, almost greasy. We don’t like it. The eggs in this recipe hold the bread loaf together well enough. It only becomes slightly more crumbly without it. So in my opinion, xanthan gum is only to be used if you don’t want to use eggs.
     Other notes: I have also substituted walnuts with almonds. It’s still good, but I prefer the walnuts. Oh and please excuse the odd bulletting, I don’t know what’s wrong with my word program, it’s temperamental.

Additional Notes:
     Last year I was cooking with two Teflon-coated bread pans. I have since learned that Teflon doesn’t biodegrade, and can end up being stored in your body, which just adds to the toxic load it already has to deal with. I use glass bread pans now.
When cooking with glass you need to decrease the oven temperature about 25 degrees. So turn down your oven to 325 degrees instead. I made the mistake of forgetting that when I made a loaf a week ago, it didn’t burn, just got really dark and looked burned. Nothing wrong with that other than it looking suspicious. I’d rather my food not look burned.

     Yes, you are right! Gluten free cornbread. It’s a favorite around here. There is just something about the taste that makes me think of sweet smelling kitchens, winter snow(or rain), and laughter. It’s just so homey.
     The funny thing is, gluten free cornbread is one of the more common mixes you can buy that turn out really well. But I wanted to take it a step further and make it from scratch because the prospect makes the super nerd inside of me shriek with joy!
Believe it or not, it’s fairly easy. All you need are a few basic components.

1 cup of corn meal (I’ve used corn grits as well, but it’s a different texture.)
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt (a couple pinches works as well. Also you can substitute sea salt)
5 tablespoons honey (Decide for yourself if you need that much – I love it sweet. Too much and it will taste like cake though.)
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 dry cup rice or almond milk (When I say dry cup I mean the cup you used to measure the flour and yogurt, the stacking measuring cups.)
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 teaspoons butter – slightly melted or room temperature

     Mix the dry ingredients. Start adding the wet ingredients. Pour into a small glass baking pan. Cook at 300 degrees. 45-60 minutes cooking time.
     Note: I’ve noticed in moving around so much in the last few years that each oven is different. What is 300 in my oven might seem more like 350 or higher in yours. I advise with this recipe to check after 25 minutes, then after 20 minutes. Depending on how it looks it might need another 15 minutes. The closer you get to 60 minutes though check more often. Do not check too often before 25 or even 30 minutes or it won’t rise properly! Also, remember that if you are cooking in glass lower the oven temperature 25 degrees or it will burn! The oven temperature listed above has already been lowered 25 degrees!

     I love soup! Until the last year or so I got all my soup out of a can. Unless my mom made it. My mother is a brilliant cook and always makes a several pots of soup throughout the winter, and even into the early summer. I decided in ’08 I had to learn how to make good soup.
A year and a half after my experiments I’m getting quite a bit better. I’ve got an idea as to what flavors go with what spices. I have even figured out how to get around food “road blocks”, like gluten. But it isn’t just gluten, it’s artificial things, like preservatives, flavors. Even “natural” things like natural almond flavor, I avoid. Things like that usually bother Rick or me.
     When it came to making split pea soup, which I love, I held off due to what I know they put in ham, which is usually used to flavor the soup. On top of that, pigs are among the most poorly treated of massively produced food animals. But that is a post for my other blog, the modern hippy I’ll be making in the near future.
     Our co-op, which I adore, carries uncured, happy pork. However, I don’t need the amount they carry and it is a little expensive. So I opted for turkey bacon raised ethically. It has the same flavor as bacon, without all the unhealthy pig fat. I have found that bacon is a good substitute for ham when needed.

What you will need:
2-3 cups dried split peas
1 cup dried black eyed peas(optional)
6-8 cups chicken broth (I make my own and freeze it)
1/2 finely chopped yellow onion
1-2 med/large carrots
Himalayan salt – to taste(or sea salt, but that will change the flavor a little)
Pepper – to taste
Sage – to taste
Cumin or Cardamom – to taste
3-6 slices of turkey bacon, torn up
( I firmly believe you should add whatever spices you like, but these will give you the split pea soup taste without changing it too much.)

     If you are using the black eye peas, soak over night or be prepared to cook them before anything else for at least an hour, maybe more. Simmer them in chicken broth, might as well start the flavor mixing at the beginning. Though remember the longer soup is cooked, the more steam be let off and the liquid may need to be replenished. This is partly why I start with so many cups of chicken broth.
     Once the black eyed peas are tender add the split peas and onions, about 30-45 minutes. If the peas still seem rock hard cook them longer. Add spices and carrots, simmer for 15 minutes until the carrots are softening but not too soft that they will over cook in just a few minutes. Lastly, add the turkey bacon. Simmer about 5-10 minutes to allow the flavor to be absorbed by the soup.
Serve with something tasty and enjoy!
      For the dinner photographed above, I also made stuffed shittake mushrooms and crisped up the extra bacon. Very tasty, though I’m not convinced that the recipe is final, so when it’s done I’ll put it up!

     Apple crisp is one of my favorite desserts. I’ve made it gluten free so that Rick and I may enjoy it as often as we would like. Remember to find, or make your own gluten free flour. Because of contamination, find good gluten free oats as well. There are many out there. If your local co-op, health food store, or regular grocery store doesn’t already carry them, make a request. Or if you want to leave out the middle man, order in bulk directly for the makers. “Bob’s Red Mills” and “Gifts of Nature” are two companies that provide gluten free oats. On a side note, Gifts of Nature oats have a higher protein content than normal which can be good for those with diabetes (my mom eats them for breakfast everyday).

● 2 cups of oatmeal + 1 cup more
● 1 cup of Gluten Free Flour
● 2 sticks of butter
● 1 cup of brown Sugar
● A couple of pinches of Turbinado sugar
● ½ to 1 tsp. cinnamon + ½ to 1 more tsp.
● ½ cup of regular unbleached sugar
● 6 medium/large apples

     Peal 6 medium/large apples. Slice into half inch cubes. Add unbleached sugar and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. Do a taste test of the apple mix, if it’s not cinnamony enough, add another ½ teaspoon!
     Take two sticks of butter, microwave, or if you have two sticks left out over night use those. Mix with 1 cup of brown sugar. Add 1 cup of gluten free flour (I use “Bob’s Red Mills”, or the bulk stuff our co-op has). Stir until smooth. Add 1 teaspoons of cinnamon. Slowly add (about a cup at a time), 2 cups of gluten free oatmeal. Combine. Take about ½ of the mix and layer it on the bottom of your baking dish, using a fork to make it smooth. It should be about a ¼ inch thick. Pour in the apple mix. Add 1 cup more of gluten free oatmeal to the topping to make the mix more lumpy/crumbly. Carefully sprinkle over the apples trying to cover the whole surface of the apple mound. Sprinkle some turbinado sugar over the topping. As much as you want!

     Place in an oven heated to 300 degrees if you are using a glass dish, if not then about 325. You want it to cook slowly over a long period of time, so that the middle gets cooked completely. Cook for an hour then check. Mine takes about an hour and fifty minutes to two hours. It is done when you can hear the apples bubbling for awhile, as long as the top isn’t too dark. To completely make sure the apples in the center are cooked use a knife or a skewer to poke into the middle.
If you have self control let cool, if not at least wait until the apples stop bubbling. Enjoy!

     I think when people hear “gluten free” their brains shuts down. On my gosh was are you going to eat? Salads, one of my favorite things, is one thing that hasn’t changed much. Only a couple of things will change – the croutons and the salad dressing. Just keep it pure, without unnecessary additives and you should be fine.

     What you’ll need for my salad:
● Lettuce – preferably something like romaine
● Grated sharp cheddar and jalapeno jack cheeses
● Slivered almonds – or just finely chop your own
● Dried cranberries
● Gluten free salad dressing (Annie’s Naturals Tuscany Italian is my favorite)

     You can of course add other veggies to the salad like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, or celery. Usually, I just like lettuce though, it’s quick and easy. Also, when picking a salad dressing be careful. Wheat and other gluten containing grains can sneak into salad dressing when you least expect it. My favorite brand of salad dressing is Annie’s Naturals. Many of those dressing are in fact gluten free. They are so delicious. Rick loves their French dressing. I’m partial, as I said, to the Tuscany Italian dressing.

     For dinner one night our friends made gluten free mac and cheese. And it was a beautiful thing. Neither of us had mac and cheese in so long. So of course we had to make it ourselves. The original recipe is from foodneckwork.com by Ellie Krieger. Thanks for the brilliant idea Ellie!

     What you’ll need:
● 1 pound of gluten free elbow macaroni (or another shape of pasta), I used Tinkyada of course!
● Winter squash – I used one whole acorn squash.
● 2 cups milk
● 4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated about 1 1/3 cups
● 2 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated about 2/3 cup
● ½ cup ricotta cheese
● 1 tsp. salt
● 1 tsp. powdered mustard
● 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
● 2 TBSP grated Parmesan
● 2 TBSP unseasoned bread crust (optional)
● 1 tsp. safflower oil
● Pinch of turmeric (optional)

     Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and stringy stuff. Set aside for the Roasted squash seeds, of course! Place open side down on cookie sheet, use foil if desired. Put into oven heated to 350 degrees. Bake until thoroughly done, about an hour. Scoop out squash. Blend to puree. Or after scooping out the nasty bits, cut squash into smaller pieces and boil until done. Separate squash from skins then puree. My friends pealed the squash before boil it, but when I tried it, it was way too much work for me.
Pre-heat oven to 375.

     Bring large pot of water to boil. Pour in macaroni and cook until tender but still firm. Drain, run under cold water.

     Meanwhile, pour milk and squash into saucepan and bring to simmer. Remove from heat, add cheddar, jack, ricotta, salt, mustard, cayenne, and turmeric. Stir until completely melted/dissolved. Pour noodles into 9 x13 pan, pour over sauce, mix until combined.

     Combine bread crumbs, parmesan and oil in little bowl. Once mixed, sprinkle over the mac and cheese. Then bake for 20 minutes. Broil for 3 minutes (watch carefully!) if wanted to achieve a nicely browned and crisp top.

     In the picture above I did not add tumeric or gluten free bread crumbs. After serving myself, because I love cheese I added more Parmesan and salt. And it was so good. Comfort food for us after a day of feeling crumby.

     If you are mourning your favorite pasta recipe that you used to enjoy, fear not! There are really good noodle alternatives that don’t taste horrible or fall apart.
     Rick’s favorite meal of all time is spaghetti. When we went gluten free, I thought the only way to enjoy this dish was with spaghetti squash. There isn’t anything wrong with spaghetti squash, but for Rick it wasn’t quite right. He missed the taste of real pasta.
     My mother sent me home with a couple smaller bags of pasta and told me to give them a try. She swore that Tinkyada was the best gluten free pasta ever! And she was right!
     We have used it for mac and cheese, and spaghetti a few times since first trying it a month or so ago. It’s amazing! It tastes great, holds together wonderfully and can stand quite a bit of over cooking and reheating!

About Tinkyada:
     It is made from only RICE! And water. No other grains make up this pasta. Which makes it not only gluten free but wheat, corn, egg, dairy, casein, meat, soy, nut and peanut free! It’s great for many others those whom have a sensitivity or allergy! It is also kosher certified. I’m not sure what that means, however, I think it’s a good thing.

     I will be writing a whole set of recipes utilizing Tinkyada in the next few weeks because it’s pasta time! Autumn is here, though we are sad to see the gorgeous sun go, we are happy to welcome those foods that come at the end of the growing season, and those hot dishes that help to keep you warm!