Gluten-free Gourmand

The Best Whole Grain Blueberry Scones

2012-01-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

These whole-grain scones are gluten-free and delicious. Have them with your afternoon tea or for a hearty breakfast treat. These scones are made with the traditional method and all the traditional ingredients - minus the gluten.

What is gluten anyway, except an impediment to soft, delicate scones? With wheat flour you have to be careful not to manipulate pastries too much for fear the gluten will make them tough. You don't have to worry about that with these gluten-free scones: they will come out soft and delicious.

Whole-grain Blueberry Scone Recipe

The secret to getting the right texture of scones is to keep everything cold while mixing. Some people put the pastry cutter, butter, and bowl in the freezer for a few minutes before starting to keep everything cold enough. The coldness is necessary so the chunks of butter can form little pockets in the dough when they melt away in the oven. This creates air space for the baking soda to do its work and rise. The scone should come out a soft, flaky pastry.

I have provided the ingredients in metric for my international audience as well as those conscientious bakers who like to weigh their ingredients for better accuracy.

Heat oven to 400 F/ 205 C.

Mix together in a large bowl:

3/4 cup Teff flour (122 g)
3/4 cup Sorghum flour (106g)
2 Tablespoons Tapioca flour (12g)
2 Tablespoons Potato starch (17 g)
1/3 cup sugar (65g)
1 Tbsp baking powder (make sure it's GF)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Cut into pieces and drop in:

6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter (90g)

Cut the butter in with a pastry blender or two knives, coating the pieces with flour as you go, until the largest pieces of butter are pea-sized. Keep this mixture cold, chilling it in the freezer if the butter starts to soften.

Whisk together in a separate bowl:

3/4 cup chilled cream (175 ml)
1 egg
1-2 tsp orange or lemon zest (optional)
1/3 cup fresh blueberries (55g)

Add the wet ingredients to dry the ingredients. Stir until the mixture starts to hold together, then gently knead the dough a few times with your hands. If the dough is too sticky to handle once it's combined, you can add about a tablespoon of flour to coat the surface of the dough for easier handling. If the dough seems dry and won't hold together easily, add 1-2 Tbsp more cream and knead it in, being careful that your butter chunks don't melt into the dough. If the dough starts to get too warm during mixing, chill it in the freezer for a few minutes before proceeding.

Put the dough on a large baking sheet. Gently push the dough into a flat disk about one inch high. Cut into eight equal pieces and arrange them on the baking sheet about one inch apart. Brush some cream onto the tops of the scones. Bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one comes out clean.

Let cool slightly, then enjoy your scones! These can be eaten warm out of the oven, or at room temperature.

Looking for a vegan scone recipe? Try my my Gluten-free Vegan Scones.
If you liked this recipe, you might also like:

Visit the Gluten-free Homemaker's blog carnival for more gluten-free recipe ideas!

Bacon-wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Bacon-wrapped dates are a Spanish delight. You can get them at tapas places, but they are amazingly easy to make on your own. The name really says it all. There are only three ingredients:

bacon
dates
goat cheese

Just get some thin-cut bacon, pancetta, or guanciale. I used bacon here. You can cut a normal bacon strip into thirds. With a knife, slice the dates length-wise and extract the seed. In the hollow that is left from the seed, stuff in some goat cheese. Wrap the whole thing once around with bacon until the bacon folds over itself. Sear the wrapped date on a hot pan on 2-3 sides until the bacon is browned. Carefully insert a toothpick into the tender part of the bacon to keep it all in one piece. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

My Holiday Recipes

2011-12-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for holiday recipes, you have come to the right blog. Each year I have been blogging I have added several holiday-inspired recipes to my archive. Here is the tally so far:

See the Recipe Archive for more gluten-free recipes.

More Holiday Gift Ideas

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Do you have a gluten-free person on your Christmas list? Here are a few ideas on what to give them for the holidays:

The Essential Gluten-free Restaurant Guide by Triumph Dining. I used this book to help flesh out my list of gluten-free dining options in Portland, and it's been a valuable resource on trips as well.

Gluten-free Girl and the Chef. If you don't already have it, get it for yourself or a loved one! It's available here in Portland at Powell's, among other places online. My mom got this for me for Christmas last year. It's a useful recipe book to have.

A Pullman Loaf Pan. This style of bread pan is ideal for making Gluten-free sandwich loaves because it gives you bigger slices. My dad gave me one for Christmas two years ago and I've gotten a lot of use out of it. I created my Teff Sandwich Bread recipe in it.

Want to get something memorable and impressive? Try this Chantal Copper tea kettle. It's a timeless classic.

For more ideas, see my post What I would Love for the Holidays.

Dick's Kitchen Gluten-free Options

2011-12-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

Gluten-free burgers with GF buns. Flourless chocolate tortes. Gluten-free beer. Charming NW Portland. Need I say more?

Well, you probably think it's too good to be true - or too expensive to be prudent. I'm happy to say that the burger is tasty and the Jensen's GF Better Bun is fantastic. The prices are reasonable, although they of course charge a little extra for the gluten-free bun. The "Not-fries" are gluten-free and so is the flourless chocolate torte with salted caramel sauce. The caramel sauce wasn't the best part of the torte - it was too chewy - but the torte itself was excellent. The menu is very clearly labeled with the gluten-free and vegan options, and the servers are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Dick's Kitchen has two locations - one on Belmont and one that just opened in NW Portland. The Northwest location features a full bar and a cool modern diner atmosphere. Combined with the fact that it's near where I work, the Northwest location may end up being my haunt of choice.

What I Would Love for the Holidays

2011-11-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've always envied people who have birthdays in the summertime. Mine is in November. While I covet the idea of having a birthday party in the garden, I also relish the cozy world of birthdays in November. Here was my best birthday gift:

Yes, my boyfriend got me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. It was mostly to avoid being asked to mix things like this bread by hand for ten minutes straight, but still. It was the best present ever.

Some other things I'm thankful for, or that I'd love to see under the Christmas tree, include:

Traditional Bread Stuffing, Gluten-free

2011-11-23T14:42:00.001-08:00

This holiday season you may find yourself craving a good old-fashioned stuffing with moist, fluffy bread cubes and lots of sage and thyme. Well, you can have that. Even if you're gluten-free.

I had a few failures before I got the hang of making this recipe with gluten-free bread, so let me give you a few clues as to how this recipe is different than a regular one. The first thing you should know is that the bread cubes may need to be cut smaller than with gluten-containing bread cubes, especially if the bread you are using is the very firm, heavy type of gluten-free bread. That stuff can expand enormously, and you end up with huge cubes once they absorb all the liquid, or dry hard-centered cubes if they don't absorb all the liquid. Weigh the bread rather than trying to measure the cubes. GF bread just doesn't have a consistent volume per variety so you can't measure by volume. If your bread is very dry, you can skip the toasting. The other thing that makes this stuffing different is that it calls for a lot more liquid. The GF bread just needs that in order for the stuffing to work.

Use your favorite gluten-free bread. I used a combination of my Teff Sandwich Bread and a white sandwich bread, but I have had success with bread from New Cascadia Traditional Bakery using the above guidelines.

Recipe for Gluten-free Traditional Bread Stuffing

Chop into small pieces:

2 Cups Onion
1 Cup celery

In a large pan, sautee the onion and celery with:

1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter

While you are waiting for the celery and onions to cook until they are translucent, cut into small cubes:

1 pound gluten-free bread, dry or toasted

Set aside. When the onions and celery are traslucent and tender, turn off the burner and add:

1 tsp salt (less if your stock is very salty)
pepper to taste
1 Tbsp fresh sage, minced
1-2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 Tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dry thyme, minced

Stir to incorporate. Slowly stir in:

Approximately 2 cups warm chicken stock

Stir until everything is combined, but don't let the bread cubes fall apart. Add more stock if needed. The stuffing should be very moist. Stuff your bird while the dressing is hot, or cook in the oven at 400 for 20-40 minutes, or until the top starts to toast.

For more gluten-free stuffing ideas, visit the blog carnival at the Gluten-free Homemaker, where Linda is featuring stuffing this month. Enjoy!

The Best Teff Sandwich Bread Recipe

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

After countless batches of teff bread that sagged, deflated, or didn't rise, I finally came up with the perfect recipe for a gluten-free whole grain sandwich bread. I learned quite a few things about bread making in the process of developing this recipe that I'd like to share with you. The success of a gluten-free bread depends on these essential baking elements:

the correct ratio of salt, yeast, and sugar to flour
the correct ratio of xanthan gum to liquid and flours
accurate measurements, including temperature

and the most important thing, and the one it took me longest to discover, is:

a hefty amount of acid in the mix.

I learned about the ratios of salt and sugar to yeast from reading the Joy of Cooking and other reference books. What I didn't learn until now is the role of acid in bread making. It turns out that yeast performs better in an acidic environment. All the commercially-available bread mixes that I've been trying out have had vinegar and ascorbic acid in them. Adding a lot more apple cider to my existing recipe made it a whole lot better. The acid not only gives the bread quite a bit more volume but it also acts as a dough conditioner to give the bread a sturdy yet flexible structure and a better crust.

You can use this as a template to create your own recipe. Just substitute your flours by weight and keep the ratios the same. I measure the weights in metric because it's a little more straight-forward. Weighing the flour is much more accurate, but if you must use dry measures then all the flours together should be about three cups.

The Best Teff Sandwich Bread

In a small bowl or large measuring cup mix:

1.5 cups water at 110 degrees F
1 Tbsp yeast

Set aside in a warm place while you mix the other ingredients. It should sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and the water becomes opaque.

Mix in a large bowl:

200g Teff flour
100g Sorghum flour
75g Tapioca flour
75g Potato Starch

2T sugar
1.5 tsp xanthan gum
1.5 tsp salt

Whisk together:

3 eggs

Add the eggs and the water mixture to the dry ingredients with:

4 Tbsp oil or melted butter
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Beat the dough until smooth and completely mixed. Oil or grease a sandwich bread pan. Pullman loaf pans with really high sides give you bigger slices. Cover the pan with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 60 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven to 375. Once the bread has risen, bake in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour. The internal temperature should reach 200 degrees. Let cool on a drying rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy your teff bread with butter or use it as a sandwich. Either way it's delicious!

Read This New Blog

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sad. Inspiring. Hilarious. It's difficult to sum up my friend's new blog. It is not for the weak of heart. It's about her struggle with colon cancer after suffering through years of undiagnosed food allergies and digestive ailments. It's called My Butt Hurts. Read this new blog. Whether it makes you laugh or cry you won't regret it.

Gluten-free Flour Substitutions

2011-10-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

If you've looked online for a gluten-free recipe, you've probably run into this dilemma: you want to make something now, but you don't have - or can't get - one of the flours your delicious-looking recipe calls for. This quick guide is a reference for what kind of flour to substitute for what you're missing.

Keep in mind a few things when you substitute flours in a recipe: first, do it by weight if that is possible. Different flours measure very differently in measuring cups sometimes. Second, any substitution will change the texture and density of the dough. Thirdly, if you don't see the flour here that you want to substitute, try thinking of something with a similar fiber content and texture, and experiment. Starches can almost always be subbed out for other starches, and whole grain flours can replace each other, but don't sub a starch for a whole grain. Then let me know what you come up with!

Flour Substitutions:

brown rice flour - teff flour
white rice flour - finely-ground corn flour
corn meal - buckwheat
buckwheat - teff flour
sorghum flour - amaranth flour
tapioca starch - potato starch
arrowroot starch - corn starch
potato flour - millet flour
coconut flour - do not sub out! Coconut flour has much more fiber than anything else. If you substitute it, your ratio of flour to liquids will be completely thrown off. (Flours high in fiber call for more liquid.)

Do you have a favorite flour substitution? Let me know in the comments!

What to Do With All Those Tomatoes

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's been an odd year for my garden. A cool, wet spring met a cool, cloudy summer here in Portland. It never even got over 100 degrees! We finally had a couple of weeks of hot weather, during which my tomatoes really ripened by the dozen. I'm not sure how much longer this will last with my tomato plants perishing and the weather cooling off again. Every year it happens: I get tons of tomatoes at once, then I go the rest of the year yearning for them. Here are some things that I do to prolong my tomato window.

Pick them green

If it's getting to be too late in the season, the vines are starting to rot and a frost is near, just pick them and bring them inside. The green ones will ripen eventually. One year I had tomatoes ripening in my kitchen until December!

Dry them

Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker has a great post on how to "sun dry" your tomatoes in the oven. I did that last year with some tomatoes using her recipe.

Freeze them

I've heard that the simplest way to preserve tomatoes is to freeze tomatoes that you've de-stemmed and quartered. Sometimes I'm too lazy even for that. I just chuck them in a freezer bag and stick them in the freezer. When I thaw them out, I dip them in a bowl of warm water for a moment and the skin peels right off. Voila!

Make tomato sauce

It will take several hours, but making a tomato sauce is a simple way to use several pounds of tomatoes at once.

Basically, just use them in everything. If you don't have quite enough for a tomato sauce, try one of these other recipes:

Gazpacho
Beer-Braised Chicken in Orange Tomato Sauce
Sungold Tomato Salad

Beer-Braised Chicken with Orange Tomato Sauce

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe inspired by my garden. In the late summer, I often have an excess of tomatoes. I created this recipe to make use of them, and it turned out better than I imagined. All the flavors compete with each other to make a beautiful late summer meal with a Spanish influence.

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces
1/2 onion
10 oz. GF beer
1-2 lbs tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste
1/2 Valencia orange, cut in wedges

pitted black olives and juice

Recipe:

In a dutch oven or large non-aluminum pot, brown the chicken pieces on each side in olive oil. Remove the chicken and set aside. Brown the onions and remove them. Add the beer to the pot and scrape up the brownings with a wooden spoon. Reduce the beer to the desired thickness for the sauce.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Add the tomatoes, orange, salt, pepper, basil, olives with juice and cumin to the beer sauce. Stir until everything is warm and well combined.

Add the chicken back to the pot and cover with the sauce. Bake for 35 minutes or until done. Serve with rice or other side.

Grilled Artichokes: How to Cook Artichokes on the BBQ or Campfire

2011-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

My cooking partner and I are really into making food over a campfire. It's so much easier to make the whole meal on one heat source, and what is an open fire but man's first stove? When we heard about grilling artichokes, we loved the idea, because artichokes are the perfect accompaniment to so many other things that we like to grill. However, all the recipes we found involved boiling the artichokes first - not an option for the lazy camper. We wanted to cook them just on the grill. This recipe is the result of our inspiration.

How to cook artichokes on the BBQ or grill:
Serves two

Ingredients:

1 artichoke
oil
salt
1-2 Tbsp butter
1-2 Tbsp water
lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

Cut the artichokes in half, then scoop out the pale choke in the center. Oil and salt both sides. Put a few chunks of butter in the center of the artichokes where they are hollowed out. In the center and around the leaves, add a bit of water until the artichoke seems like it won't hold much more. Add a little lemon juice if desired. Wrap the artichokes in two layers of tin foil and place on the grill or directly in the campfire, flat side up. Flip the artichokes a few times while they are cooking to grill them evenly. Cooking time will vary depending on the heat of the BBQ or fire and the size of the artichoke, but typically takes 20-40 minutes. No need for dipping sauces - the flavor is cooked right in!

Here is the recipe in pictures:

Visit the Gluten-free Homemaker for more summer recipes!

First Ripe Tomato

2011-08-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

I try to always document this day in the year, mostly for my own reference. Then, there's also that desire to brag a little. This year, I'm not sure it qualifies as bragging, but I finally have my first ripe tomatoes.

These are Sun Gold tomatoes, and they ripen very early. If you consider August to be early. Well, the point is that they ripen earlier than other varieties. Last year my first ripe one was July 23rd. The year before, it was July 17th. I posted a Sun Gold tomato salad recipe on July 20th that year.

It has been a cold, wet spring in the west of the country this year. Snow packs are still high, the weather only just turned warm, and tomatoes aren't exactly getting in early. Here's a photo I took of Mt. Adams last weekend. Look at all that snow!

Not that I'm complaining. It's always nice to have water. Some of my spring crops are still going strong, and I have a ton of beautiful, huge sunflowers - all volunteers.

How is your garden doing? Are you rolling with the weather or are your plants suffering?

The Essential Gluten-free Pantry

2011-07-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

When I first started out with gluten-free baking, I did a lot of experimenting with different gluten-free flours to see what worked and what didn't. Here is a quick guide to what you should buy to try out at the start, and what you should avoid. To read more about what these flours contribute to your mix read this post.

Brown Rice Flour
White Rice Flour
Sorghum Flour
Teff flour
Potato Flour or Potato Starch
Tapioca Flour
Xanthan Gum

Here are a few things you can pass up on, and the reasons why:

Bean flours - Don't do it! They taste and smell like beans. If you need more disincentive, they are often difficult to digest and they spoil quickly.

Amaranth flour - Overrated! It's very delicate, it goes bad quickly, and sorghum tastes better anyway. Plus, it's expensive.

Quinoa flour - It has a distinctive flavor and a dry texture like corn flour. I only use it in a few select recipes, including this pancake recipe. While I like it, I don't consider it an essential. I've bought one box of it that I never finished.

What are your essential flours? Is there anything you wish you hadn't bought?

Cilantro Pesto Recipe

2011-06-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Right now, I have plenty of cilantro. It grows like weeds in my garden. I love cilantro. In honor of this prolific herb, I created a fresh pesto recipe. This recipe is dairy-free, and the lime juice keeps it fresh long after other pesto sauces would expire. See some recommendations for gluten-free pasta here.

Cilantro Pesto

2 C fresh cilantro leaves from your garden
1/3 C Brazil nuts or walnuts
1 clove garlic
1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
1 squirt lime juice
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
ground white pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until evenly minced, scraping down the sides as you go. Taste for balance of flavors and adjust. Serve tossed with hot pasta. It's that easy!

Gluten-free Denver: Papou's Pizza and New Planet Beer

2011-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I went to visit some family in Denver this weekend and was pleased to find many more gluten-free options than I had the last time I visited. I even had a few surprises: some really good gluten-free pizza, and a gluten-free beer I'd never even heard of before! Here I thought I was up on all the cutting-edge news for gluten-free beer, and I found a new one thanks to my mom's iPhone app, which led us to Papou's Pizza.

From the outside, it just looks like a run-of-the-mill pizza joint in an average Denver strip mall. However, Papou's serves some really good gluten-free pizza. It's New England-style Pizza with a Greek influence - meaning lots of good roasted vegetable toppings. I got the Mediterranean, which was roasted eggplant, fresh tomatoes, and feta. The normal pizza crust looked good, too, and the place was a real crowd-pleaser. We didn't all get gluten-free, but everyone from my 5-year-old niece to my grandmother liked the place, which is as it should be for pizza.

The gluten-free beer was something different. The one that I tried is called Tread Lightly Beer. It's made with sorghum and corn, which is a combination I'd never seen before in a beer. It is very light, and it doesn't have as much of the metallic aftertaste that most sorghum beers have. The beer is brewed in Fort Collins and appears to be available in specialty beer stores and some Whole Foods. Apparently the beer is only distributed in a few states right now, but according to the New Planet Beer website you can buy it online. It looks like we can't get it in Portland yet, but hopefully that will change!

Gluten-free Restaurant List for Portland

2011-05-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

I went to Australia earlier this year and did quite a bit of research before I left. Local blogs in Melbourne and Sydney proved to be really helpful, along with dining sites that had gluten-free search options. I thought I'd give back to the community by making a traveler's dining guide for Portland. I'll only list the restaurants that I have personally eaten at and which have strong adherence to gluten-free safety. If you would like a map of GF restaurants in Portland, you can see one at Gluten-free PDX.

New Cascadia Traditional Bakery - This dedicated gluten-free bakery serves bread, pastries, coffee, pizzas, and sandwiches.

Hawthorne Fish House - Almost all the food served here is gluten-free. See the full review here.

Deschutes Brewery - They bake their own gluten-free buns and bread sticks, and they brew their own gluten-free beer!

Iorio Restaurant - This Italian restaurant serves GF pasta as well as a whole host of other Italian dishes you've been craving! Their fryer is dedicated gluten-free, so feel free to indulge in the calamari. See a full restaurant review here.

Andina - Peruvian food with a full gluten-free menu! See full review here.

Fratelli Cucina - I found Fratelli Cucina through Triumph Dining's The Essential Gluten-free Restaurant Guide. Our server was gluten intolerant himself, so he really took care of us. They are not a dedicated gluten-free establishment, but they have both risotto and polenta on the menu that are typically made gluten-free.

Clyde Common - This is a trendy upscale establishment downtown. See the full review here.

Mississippi Pizza - Gluten-free pizza baked in a dedicated oven and GF beer.

Dick's Kitchen - They can serve any of their burgers or sandwiches on a gluten-free bun. See the full review here.

There are many more out there, and I'll be sure to update this list as I try new places. If you have a favorite GF restaurant in Portland of your own let me know in the comments!

Clyde Common Restaurant Review

2011-05-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

What a difference a server makes.

I like Clyde Common. The food has always been amazing, and their mixed drinks are equally amazing. I still remember the first time I went there. It was New Year's Eve, and for some reason the mood struck me to get a Bloody Mary. I almost never order that drink - it's usually too sweet or salty for me. Well, this one was made from a chili sauce. It was spicy and perfect.

Another reason to like Clyde Common is that many of their dishes are gluten-free without having to make substitutions. They aren't trying for it; they are just really high-end. The food is cheffy, which typically means they don't rely on a lot of wheat products. Wheat is boring and mundane, after all. Gluten is passé.

So I took a gluten-free friend to Clyde Common this winter. We got our fancy cocktails and we checked out the dinner menu. There were several things that looked doable as a gluten-free dish. I told our server about our dietary restraints and then said we had picked out a few things that we thought would work gluten-free, and he should let us know if any of it wouldn't work. (Caveat: this is not my typical strategy, nor is it the best one for informing the server of a food allergy.)

The place was crowded, so we waited a while for the food to arrive. Once it did we were pretty hungry. However, I looked at my plate and suddenly doubted my choice. Everything seemed saucier than I imagined from the description. As you can imagine, sauce is something that strikes my heart with fear. I caught my server's eye and asked him if he was sure that everything we had been served was gluten-free? He got this blasé expression on his face and told me, "Well, I think everything should be gluten-free."

Then I gave him this look. Internally, I was formulating my response. However, a verbal response proved unnecessary. My look said it all. My look said, "Do you really expect me to eat something at your restaurant that could make me sick?" Suddenly, before I could verbalize my thought, the server got a stricken expression on his face. He was suddenly scared of me. He quickly pulled himself together and blurted out that he would go talk to the chef and double-check!

He was right back. He assured us that he had consulted with the chef and that everything was 100% gluten-free. He seemed really relieved that he hadn't given me reason to cause him bodily harm. We indulged heartily in our winter repasts.

I wasn't very impressed by that customer/server interaction, so I didn't go back for several months. Then, the other day I happened by there and remembered that they usually had several things I could eat. My plan A had fallen through, so I decided to go for it. They had a beautiful chilled celery soup that they served without croutons to make it gluten-free.

They also have some snacks like almonds and olives I could eat.

And the server was very, very helpful. I will be going there again. It was delicious.

Have you been to Clyde Common? What was your experience?

Have You Started Your Garden?

2011-04-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here in Portland, the gardening season starts pretty early. In fact, you could argue that it never stops. I've been trying to budget my food expenses a bit more, so last week I decided I'd only eat vegetables that I already had, or that I picked from my garden. Here is most of what I harvested for the week:

The orange globes in the background are acorn squash I harvested last year. The big white roots are parsnips. The leafy greens are cilantro, kohlrabi, kale and mustard greens that I planted last year - they survived the winter, along with the onion. I don't eat a lot of vegetables compared to some people, but I was able to get some green in my diet every day last week, and it was all from my garden.

I already have some seeds planted in the outdoors and they are starting to sprout up. I've planted carrots, basil, onion, fennel, chard, lettuce, parsnip, broccoli, kale and leeks. I think I'll wait a few weeks before planting anything else, but I have these starts going indoors:

The big ones are lemon cucumber. I have high hopes for these starts, in spite of the fact that I usually end up killing all my starts. This year I abandoned the egg crate method and started the seeds in re-used plastic start containers from last year. So far they are doing really well. The greater volume of soil means that they don't dry out too fast, so if I forget to water them one day they don't just expire immediately. I'll try to harden them off a little in the next few weeks so I can get them in the ground when they're big enough to transfer.

What are your gardens looking like? Have you started planting yet?

How to Save Money on Food

2011-04-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

For people just starting the gluten-free diet, there can be a lot to digest. Sometimes, the biggest shock to the system isn't about the food itself - it's about how much it costs. Here are some strategies for easing the blow to your wallet.

Cut down on waste. A recent study found that Americans let 40% of their food go to waste - in spite of having almost universal access to the most advanced technology in quality control and refrigeration in the world. Have a plan for when you will eat everything perishable that you buy, and don't buy more than you can use.

Make what you have. If you find yourself running over budget in the week, try to see what you can make without going to the store. Don't have any meat in the house? Use eggs, tuna fish, peanut butter, nuts or beans for your protein instead. Necessity is the mother of invention, and you might end up creating a new recipe out of common ingredients that you can use again.

Drink only tap water. There are no nutrients that your body requires in liquid form. When people drink things other than water, it's just an easy way to deliver caffeine, sugar, or alcohol to their system. Need vitamin C? Eat an orange and get the benefit of the fruit's fiber. If this method seems too harsh, consider how much you could save by switching from coffee to tea, or by making all your caffeinated beverages yourself instead of going to the coffee shop.

Know your prices. Try to buy mostly things that you can get for less than $3 per pound. From cheapest to most expensive, this includes rice, eggs, many vegetables, and (sometimes) chicken. Supplement with more expensive items sparingly.

Serve smaller quantities. For pricier items like steak, lamb, and cheese, order smaller cuts or find smaller packages. A little bit of these items can go a long way. If you are eating more calories in a day than you need, consider your new-found frugality as another incentive to eat smaller portions overall.

Buy what's on sale. You don't necessarily have to go to the store with a set list of things to buy. See what is a good deal that week and take advantage of it. There are certain things you can stock up on when they are on sale and freeze, like butter and some meats.

Make your own breads and pastries. Find quick and easy recipes like my recipe for friands. Even though the recipe calls for almond flour which costs $9 per pound, the finished cakes cost less than 70 cents each - even if you use organic butter and eggs. That's a significant savings over something store-bought or from a bakery, and it doesn't even take much time.

Have a garden, or buy vegetables from a cooperative. You don't have to give up on organic foods to save money. My sister Rebecca has an article on the Green Baby Guide about how to save money on organic groceries.

Splurge on little things. Splurging may not seem like the best way to save money, but if you're like me being frugal can make you yearn for something decadent. Sometimes buying an exotic rice for two or three dollars per pound in order to have some variety can help your nutrition and your palate. Try to buy yourself a small treat on a regular basis so you can feel indulged. It's amazing how much of a treat it is to have a little bit of a high-end chocolate or cheese when you're budgeting everything else so tightly. If having your $3 chocolate bar prevents you from springing for that fancy $8 dessert, it's worth it.

Recipe for Friands

2011-03-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Imagine traveling to a new city, one you've never been to before. You go downtown, and you walk into a random coffee shop. There are loads of pastries in the case, but nothing looks likely to be something you can eat. You ask anyway, out of habit. The woman behind the register blandly replies, "We have several things that are gluten-free. There's a chocolate muffin that's gluten-free, and we have several kinds of friands that are all gluten-free."

That is what happened on my first day in Melbourne, Australia. And it happened almost every day after that. My mom and I were amazed at how many gluten-free things there are to eat in Australia. I even found gluten-free treats in several airports, an occurrence that has never happened in the US. Here is proof that I bought a GF pastry in the airport in Hobart, Tasmania:

In honor of the great gluten-free trip I had, I bring you a taste of Australia. Friands aren't something you find here in the US all that often, so to try them out you will have to bake some of your own. I simplified the recipe quite a bit from its traditional form, but I think the result is close to what I tried out in practically every Australian bakery I came across. As a bonus, this dense, moist cake is incredibly fast and easy to make with my version of the recipe.

Recipe for Friands

This recipe makes 4 small cakes, but is easily doubled.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 4 muffin tins or oval friand molds. In a medium bowl, mix together:

75 g (about 1/2 c + 1 Tbsp) almond flour
25 g (2+ Tbsp) baker's sugar
9 g (about 1 Tablespoon) white rice flour

In a small bowl, whisk thoroughly:

1 egg

In another small bowl or pan, melt:

45 g (3 Tbsp) salted butter

Add the melted butter and the whisked egg to the dry ingredients and mix together until thoroughly blended. The batter should be almost runny. Fill the four greased muffin cups with an equal amount of batter. Top with:

1-3 raspberries each

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops start turning golden-brown. Let cool slightly before eating.

If you would like to get the classic oval shape of the friands they sell at cafes everywhere in Australia, try buying oval molds like this one from Sur La Table (aff.):

Seven Virtues Serves GF Sandwiches

2011-02-27T11:16:00.000-08:00

Walk to the corner of NE 60th and Glisan and you'll see something that catches your eye: a sign out front of Seven Virtues lets passers-by know that they now serve gluten-free sandwiches. Upon further investigation, it turn out that they can serve their grilled sandwiches on New Cascadia Traditional flax bread. I was pretty excited about this turn of events so I had to sample a sandwich right away. I got the North Tabor which has turkey, pesto and cheese.

But first, I asked a few questions. The man taking my order that day was one of the owners, and he was very helpful. I asked if they grill the GF sandwiches on a dedicated grill, and he replied that they don't have demand or space for a dedicated grill right now, but they can give the grill a thorough cleaning before they make the gluten-free sandwiches. They also use a separate cutting board and knife for prepping the GF stuff. He told me that the sandwich would take a little longer than regular, because the GF bread takes longer to grill.

This ended up being true, but I was still very pleased with my sandwich once it arrived. Another thing that pleased me is that Seven Virtues is also selling a wider selection of gluten-free pastries now, including several things from Petunia's Pies and Pastries, a new baking company which I previously reviewed here. Almost all of the pastries that Petunia's makes are gluten-free and vegan. Now my only complaint is that Seven Virtues now closes at five, which means I can't go there for a sandwich every day after work!

King Arthur Flour Gluten-free Bread Mix Review

2011-01-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

I have to confess that I'm not very good at following directions. In fact, I almost never cook anything exactly as instructed, and I am pretty savvy about when and where to skip steps or make substitutions. When I saw that the King Arthur Gluten-free Bread Mix called for three eggs I was tempted to change the recipe entirely, but I was afraid that if it didn't turn out I wouldn't be able to legitimately review it. So I started off to make the bread as directed.

I threw in the three eggs, warm water, and 4 Tbsp of walnut oil. I mixed with an electric mixer as instructed. I added the flour one cup at a time. Somehow, in the middle of it all, my subconscious took over and I ended up doing things my own way by sheer force of habit. Sure, I added the three eggs, but I skipped another step entirely. And it still came out.

I've been making a lot of gluten-free bread recently, and I've figured out that you can completely skip the second rise with GF breads. In fact, it can improve your bread to skip that second rise. Gluten-free dough often isn't resilient enough to come back completely from being punched down, so I simply don't do it. It shaves quite a bit of time off making a loaf. Besides, the whole purpose of knocking down the dough and stirring or kneading a second time is to make sure your yeast is evenly distributed throughout the dough. If you've made most gluten-free breads by their instructions, you've already beaten the heck out of it, so your yeast distribution has already been taken care of.

This bread rose higher than any gluten-free bread I've baked. I let it rise for about 45 minutes, which is when most GF breads I've made have maxed out. This loaf even kept rising in the oven, which I haven't been able to get other GF breads to do. When it came out after 50 minutes of cooking, the top was nicely rounded and browned.

The instructions say to let it cool on a rack before cutting, but it didn't say for how long. I was semi-patient, and let it cool for about 25 minutes before enjoying a warm slice. It had a nice, resilient texture and the bread holds together better than most GF breads, making it ideal for sandwiches. With all the eggs and oil, the dough comes out fairly rich, but it's not as dense as most GF breads I've tried. Where flavor is concerned, however, I am afraid that the King Arthur bread mix is a little lacking. It's great as a substitute for white sandwich bread, but as a slice of bread to be eaten on its own with a nice slab of butter, you might go for something else. Would letting the dough rise a second time have given it more of a traditional yeasty flavor? I doubt it, but perhaps next time I'll be more patient. (See the comments below for more discussion on this topic.) Knowing how well it rose I might trust it to spring back from a knocking down. Knowing me, however, I'll probably be tempted to change something else - I just can't help it.

The King Arthur Gluten-free Bread Mix is mostly a blend of rice flour, tapioca flour, and potato starch. This blend of flours is great for giving the dough elasticity and the bread lift, but none of these flours has a lot of flavor. The mix also has emulsifiers and xanthan gum for texture and elasticity. The box comes with its own yeast packet. King Arthur has done a very good job at developing a very neutral bread product that keeps well and will be very practical for sandwiches. However, I have to wonder what a little sorghum flour would do to the bread for adding flavor and substance. I might try adding a pinch more sugar, salt, and yeast for flavor and see if that affects how it rises.

Have you tried King Arthur Gluten-free Bread Mix? What did you think? I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Butternut Squash Pie

2011-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

I love pumpkin, but for some reason, I've never liked pumpkin pie. I've tried to get into it, but it's been over thirty years now and I have to admit that I've been unsuccessful. I have, however, found a solution: Butternut Squash Pie.

I make this pie as more of a custard than your standard pumpkin pie. I go a little light on the seasonings and the sugar. Butternut squash is naturally sweet so you don't have to add a ton of sugar.

Butternut Squash Pie Recipe
(A clever substitute for Pumpkin pie)

Have a (gluten-free) pie crust ready to bake. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. With a cleaver or other dependable knife, remove all the seeds and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes:

1.5 lb butternut squash

Roast the squash on a baking sheet or roasting pan until it feels done when poked with a fork. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Puree the squash in a food processor. In a large bowl, whisk:

3 large eggs

Whisk in:

2 1/2 cups of the butternut squash puree
1 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

You may use a cooked or uncooked pie crust for this recipe. Pour the squash custard into the crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on the depth of your pan. The center of the pie should still seem jiggly when you pull it out of the oven. The pie will cook through and set as it cools. Let it cool completely, then refrigerate it for at least two hours. Serve warm, room temperature, or chilled.