My Gluten Free Life

Peaches and Berries, Oh My!

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:01:06 -0500

My DH and I went a little overboard a few weekends ago, and decided to go berry picking. When I was growing up, we would go berry picking in the summer, and bring back the best strawberries for use in pies, jams, etc. My DH had never been berry picking before (well, ok, he picked a few blackberries off of a bush in his backyard, but never had the full experience). So I took it upon myself to introduce him to this weekend activity.

If I haven’t mentioned, I grew up in CA, where the climate is more temperate, and you can spend hours out in the sun without dying of heatstroke. In TX, the weekends quickly go from warm to HOT. So after I found the pick-ur-own farm, we decided to get there early to avoid the worst of the weekend heat, which this summer has been brutal. (Is it really only the start of June?!?) We got up at 6 AM on a Saturday (earlier than I get up on weekdays mind you), drove an hour and a half, and started by picking blackberries for an hour or so. After picking about a quarter bushel, we decided to call it quits and switched to picking strawberries. Those went much faster, although were much more labor intensive, and after two quarter bushels, we moved on to the last fruit of the day - peaches.

I had never picked peaches before, and have found that those are so much easier! All you have to do is reach up and grab them. And most times you don’t even have to reach that far! Anyway, after a bushel of peaches (27lb for those who don’t talk farming), we called it a day and went home. And proceeded to spend the next three days packing them all away in a GF fashion.

Intersted in what we did with all of the fruit? Well, this is where I am going to brag. We made sooooo much stuff. Drum roll please:

1. Peach-blackberry jam (8 jam jars) and strawberry-blackberry jam (6 jam jars). Both very yummy.

2. Peach cobbler x 2, berry cobbler, peach crisp, peach pie (glutinous, to be given away).

3. Two quarts each of frozen peaches, strawberries, and blackberries.

4. GF rustic peach bread. Alas this was before I had perfected my GF breads, so they are not as awesome if they could have been.

5. Peach maple-glazed upside down corn cake and blackberry maple-glazed upside down corn cake. (Very tasty, picture of the peach version below. Blackberry version we added a glaze.)

6 . A whole lot of Strawberry daquiris! Yum! (A necessity after picking and processing all that fruit!)

Success at Last!

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:49:48 -0500

So one of the things that has been hounding me since my switch to GF living has been bread. I never used to like bread all that much, back when I was eating store-bought bakery style bread. Perhaps it was because I was trying to make it extra healthy, and was purchasing only multi-grain bread. Whatever the case, I have found that I now love bread, now that I am eating only GF bread. In fact, my husband jokes that I eat bread more than him (a confirmed carb-aholic).

My dilemma has been that GF bread loaves are much more expensive than non-GF bread loaves - at least double the price for a smaller loaf. I have therefore been on a mission to perfect baking my own bread loaves, which has proven very, very frustrating. I used to consider myself a great baker, including breads. Alas, I have since learned that yeast breads (of which I had only baked a few - most of my breads were quick breads) are a different animal all together.

Compared to making non-GF breads, I really actually enjoy making GF breads, for the simple fact that there is no kneading required. NO KNEADING. (Sooooo much easier. And no double rise. Also a great perk.) However, I tried three or four cookbooks, made my own flour mixes (per a recipe), used silicone, non-stick, and ceramic pans, all to no avail. My breads would sink after baking, be gooey in the middle, and overall not a success.

It is therefore with great pride that I announce success at last! Last weekend I bought myself a new cookbook that seems to have done the trick. I made two yeast breads (plain white and millet) both of which rose perfectly, had a wonderful crust, and taste fantastic! I have a picture of the millet bread below, you will have to trust that when cut it looks beautiful! (It has sesame and poppy seeds on top, which unfortunately fell off during slicing, but I will work on that for next time.)

Different Gluten Disorders

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:20:00 -0500

Sooo….work has been keeping me way too busy to post anything lately, although I have quite a few topics in mind for when things settle down! However, my Dad sent me a link to a Wall Street Journal article on gluten sensitivity that I found interesting. Much of the information I already knew, but for those who aren’t familiar, it gives a good introduction to the three types of gluten-related health afflictions.

You can read the article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200393522456636.html?KEYWORDS=gluten

Because I am not a medical professional, please don’t take anything I say as medical knowledge. But I am somewhat familiar with the topic, so for those who aren’t aware, there are three different types of gluten-related disorders.

1. Gluten allergy. This would be where you end up with swelling, rashes, etc. from ingesting or coming into contact with gluten. I think that gluten allergies may get lumped into wheat allergies (i.e., I am not sure if it is the gluten or some other protein in the wheat that causes the allergy).

2. Celiac disease. This is an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks the lining of the intestines after ingesting gluten. It can lead to further illnesses, such as Crohn’s disease, and can be diagnosed through blood work and intestinal scopes. (It can’t be diagnosed properly if the subject has removed gluten from their diet.)

3. Gluten intolerance. Symptoms are very similar to celiac disease, however, the body is not actually attacking the intestines. This seems to be one of those medical disorders which is a last chance type diagnoses - in other words, if it is not an allergy, or celiac disease, and removing gluten cures the symptoms, it may be gluten intolerance.

I should say that to the best of my knowledge, I am gluten intolerant. (Definitely not allergic, and negative test results for celiac disease.) Before my initiation into the world of gluten sensitivity, I had a hard time thinking about gluten intolerance as an actual disorder. It is much easier to say “this is the problem!” when you have a definitive diagnosis, such as an allergy or celiac disease. However, food intolerance should not be surprising to most people, as there is another, more common intolerance out there - lactose intolerance (which, according to the National Library of Medicine, affects some 30 million adults in the US over the age of 20). And since I am one of those 30 million adults, I don’t know why I struggled with gluten intolerance!

Anyway, that is the 5 second overview on the different types of gluten sensitivity. Hopefully it was somewhat enlightening!

Some of My New Favorites

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:00:06 -0600

It has been a few months of eating on my new diet, and I am developing a small list of favorite GF foods. I would like to share them with you, just in case you are ever interested in going my way. (It will help you avoid the numerous icky GF foods out there!) By no means do I mean this list to be all inclusive of the best GF foods out there, and I am sure that there are some people who would disagree with some of the foods I have on my list. But I like them, and I guess since this is my blog, I get to put them out there for the world to see! So here are some of my favorites, by food type.

Bread. Just in case you don’t have time to bake your own bread (which I’m sure almost no one does all the time), I really, really like Udi’s breads. Pre GF days, I was eating artisan breads - mostly whole grains with a really good texture and flavor, so switching to GF bread was a huge shock. The vast majority of the GF breads I tried tasted like sawdust - which unfortunately meant that I would eat a slide or two and then end up chucking the rest. Udi’s breads definitely do not taste like sawdust - and in fact, I probably eat more bread now than I did before. That could be related to the fact that GF bread loaf slices tend to be smaller and lighter, so I feel like I need more to be equivalent to a non GF bread. But regardless, I have liked all of the Udi’s loafs I have tried. In particular, I normally buy plain white (I am reverting to kid-dom again), mostly b/c that is the type you can find most easily). But I also like their multigrain (more like a traditional whole wheat type bread). Even my DH likes this bread (although we still buy him regular bread).

Snacks. Because everyone needs snacks! If you are going for party type snacks, this is one area where I think Glutino has it mastered. They have some really yummy multigrain chips and some awesome pretzels. The crackers are great in that they come in two small pouches within the box, so they don’t get soggy before you finish eating them. And of course, if you are going for a meal on the go, LARABARs and their chocolate twins JOCALAT bars are all GF and very filling. I always have some of those in my desk at work in case I end up hungry after lunch.

Dessert. Ok, I have finally found it! It is a chocolate cake by French Meadow Bakery. My DH and I both love it - in fact, my DH said it tasted just like regular cake. We have only found it at one grocery store by us, in the freezer section, although according to their website, it is available in more stores near us. We like the cake at room temperature or still partially frozen. I think it is the icing that makes the cake - there is no shortage - but the cake itself is very good (not dry and not super dense). We have also purchased their chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, which are good as well, but the cupcake is more like the texture of an angel food cake - lots of air pockets, which makes it seem more like a dry cake even though it isn’t. The chocolate cupcakes are definitely the best!

Fast(er) Food Options

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:06 -0600

To close my restaurant reviews, I am going to finish by writing about fast(er) food options. I don’t like fast food (McDonald’s, Burger King, etc.), so I’m not talking about that kind of dining. I am instead talking about quicker meal options that lean towards the healthy side. Knowing about these types of dining options are coming to be important, for example, for working lunches, where we don’t always have time for a sit down meal. Unfortunately, like my first post, I have not had a chance to eat at these places on a GF diet myself. However, I imagine that will be changing in the not too distant future. Unfortunately, there are limited options in this arena, so here are a the ones I have found:

Chipotle

Beans and rice anyone? One of my coworkers mentioned this as a potential dining option, since there is a Chipotle near our work. Chipotle’s menu indicates that those wishing to eat GF can eat almost anything on their menu (hooray!). Indeed, GF modifications are their first entry on their special diet page, and they even indicate that they will change their gloves if you are worried about cross contamination. (I suppose I should ask them to do that, so I will have to get over my dislike of making people alter things just for me.)

http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/menu/special_diet_information/special_diet_information.aspx

Pei Wei

I may have mentioned before that I love asian food. And so here is another faster type GF option. From the makers of P.F. Chang’s (very GF friendly, as I mentioned in my previous blog post), we have Pei Wei. I am curious to know if they have the same standard as P.F. Chang’s - a distinct station for GF meal prep, but have not asked. They have a decent GF menu - many options to choose from.

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/13/subway-tests-gluten-free-sandwiches/

Jamba Juice

Meal in a cup anyone? I know some people do smoothies for meals (I don’t generally, but I do like smoothies). Obviously, fruits and veggies are naturally gluten free, so this one should be a no brainer for the most part. The tricky part would be when you add the boosts. But Jamba Juice’s website indicates “All of our smoothies are non-gluten, with one exception - Pomegranate Heart Happy. Most of our Boosts and Super Boots are gluten free too, except Daily Vitamin, Energy and Heart Happy.”

http://www.jambajuice.com/products/dietpref/non_gluten

Lastly, I would like to make mention of one final chain - that hopefully I may soon be able to eat at.

Subway

Ok, so this is a little premature. I haven’t eaten at a Subway since I started eating GF, which distresses me to no end, since I view sandwiches as a potentially very healthy quick meal. But Subway is testing GF sandwiches and a gluten free brownie option at 700 outlets in Dallas and East Texas. Hooray! Apparently this was spurred on by Subway’s own employees - and here’s hoping that it will spread like wildfire to the other parts of the country. (As a side note, in the article it mentions that Subway apparently tries hard to meet dietary needs- with some stores offering options for those with diabetes, and others offering options for kosher meals and halal foods. Go Subway!)

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/13/subway-tests-gluten-free-sandwiches/

Dining Out

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:47:53 -0600

To continue my last post, I thought I would write about some of the national chains which offer GF dining options. I am a fan of national chains b/c you always know what you will get - whether it is in NY, CA, or TX. So, here are four national chains to further broaden my GF dining experiences. Still to come, GF fast food (and no, that does not mean my options at McDonald’s).

P.F. Chang’s

Growing up in the Bay Area, I absolutely love asian food. I have been to P.F. Chang’s many times before, never with the intent of GF dining. I had heard that they offered GF dining but had not looked into it - until my parents bought my DH and I a gift card for Valentine’s Day. My mom mentioned that she had done some intense research to go with it - she had gone to two separate restaurants and asked how they guaranteed the GF food they prepared was indeed GF. And guess what? P.F. Chang’s has a separate station specifically for GF meal prep. (That was confirmed at both of the restaurants she went to.) With this new information, I am eagerly looking forward to using my gift card (especially with their extensive GF menu)!

http://www.pfchangs.com/menu/

Carino’s Italian Grill

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? GF food at an Italian restaurant? I will be honest, I was hesitant to try it - but we were in a smaller town with fewer dining options, and it was late, so we went for it. (I had previously verified that they did indeed offer GF options.) When we got there, I asked for the GF menu. It was not too bad, there were quite a few options. The disadvantage was that they basically have you order the normal options and specify how to make it gluten free - i.e., no flour on the chicken. However, they did work with the Gluten Intolerance Group to develop the menu, so they have tried very hard. When I ordered, the waitress asked if I was allergic to wheat. Now, to those who don’t have food issues, there is a very big difference between food allergies (i.e., will result in asphyxiation), diseases (i.e., celiac disease where your body attacks itself), and intolerances (i.e., will just make you sick). To the waitress, I said no, I am not allergic. And she said that if it was an allergic thing, they make sure to prepare it carefully - different utensils, prep, etc. After hearing that, I said ok, for your purposes, I am allergic. Long story short, I had no problems after eating there.

http://www.carinos.com/menu/75020/showgluten/1062

Olive Garden

I know, enough with the italian already. But this was actually the first national chain I ate at while on a GF diet. Similar to the menu at Carino’s, the menu at Olive Garden is limited GF menu, but, as I have a husband who loves italian food, it is nice to know that I have options.

http://www.olivegarden.com/menus/gluten_free/

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

Pizza anyone? I have had their GF pizza several times, and am a big fan. (I think it’s the sauce.) My DH likes the beer, so it’s a win win. :) They also have other GF options (soup, baked potatoes, etc.). It’s similar to some of the other restaurants in that you have to specify the meal modifications, but for the most part, you just have to tell them no croutons.

http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/sites/default/files/GlutenAllrgnMenu0610_Cmm.pdf

Local Dining

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:00:06 -0600

Well in honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would write a post on a few of the different dining options (i.e., restaurants with gluten free options) I have been told of over the past few months. For now I’m going to focus on restaurants I know to be local to me. There are also national chains with GF fare that I will mention later.

Java Dive Cafe/Java Dive Bistro

Thanks to my Mom for sending me the info on this one. Ironically, I met my vet here before I knew it was a dining option for me! I’m going to have to try them out sometime - they are a GIG Certified Gluten Free Restaurant. Sorry folks, this is strictly a local restaurant.

http://javadivecafe.com/default.aspx

Z Tejas

I’ve been to this restaurant pre-GF days, and have always loved the southwestern style food. Not one, not two, but three locations in Austin to choose from, this place offers separate GF lunch and dinner menus, developed in conjunction with the GIG. Ok, this is not a local chain per se, but there are only a few states in which Z Tejas has locations. Menus vary by location. This is a favorite working lunch spot - thanks to my coworkers for pointing this one out to me!

http://www.ztejas.com/index.html

Maudie’s Tex Mex

For those who like tex-mex. (Since you can’t live in TX without eating tex-mex.) A local chain, they just opened up a restaurant by me, although I haven’t been there yet. If you need a beer to wash down the salsa, they serve Red Bridge! (And no, I’m not into beer so have no idea if it’s any good.)

http://www.maudies.com/5303003_47893.htm

A Plethora of Options

And lastly, not to steal another writer’s thunder (because she put a lot of work into reviewing GF Austin area restaurants), here are a whole bunch of other local GF dining options:

http://www.yelp.com/list/gluten-free-restaurants—-austin-austin

New Flour

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:00:07 -0600

For those of you living near me, no I don’t mean Newflower Market (recently renamed after it’s parent, Sunflower Market). I am talking about my adventures with new types of flours. Remember how I have been putting my grain mill through its paces? This weekend I get to grind another new flour - quinoa flour.

I have been baking my way through some of the cookbooks I got for Christmas, and one of the recipes I will soon be trying - Blackberry Quinoa Muffins - calls for, you guessed it, quinoa flour. These muffins sound great, and as I know that quinoa is a superstar in terms of nutrition, I am looking forward to trying them.

Last week I experimented with another new flour - buckwheat flour. I am sure that buckwheat flour is also a nutritional superstar, but you definitely have to be prepared for the taste. Although the taste is not bad, if you are not interested in experimenting, I might recommend skipping the buckwheat flour.

I made apple buckwheat muffins - which were made solely with buckwheat flour. I added more apples than called for, but the buckwheat is definitely the primary flavor. However, these muffins are fantastic in terms a snack - two muffins will hold me from breakfast through to lunch - a rare feat!

All in all, I will always recommend trying new foods, so don’t look to me to scare you off! But I might recommend quinoa first, as it has more of a mild flavor. And yes, to those who have been asking, someday I will get around to giving you all the names of the cookbooks I have been using.

Cooking with Julia

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:00:07 -0600

Today I got to enjoy a great movie - Julie and Julia. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it is based on a blogger who spent 365 days cooking a la Julia Child. The first time I saw the movie, I got a pang to be like Julie and cook my way through Julia’s cookbook as well! Watching it again today, I got another pang - and this time, I’m going to follow through (although not all the way through the cookbook)!

If I were Julia Child, I’m pretty sure I would think it was a crime to try to master the art of french cooking sans gluten (and, gasp, sans dairy). Let’s be honest - I think true french cooking probably is a crime without those ingredients. So let’s not tell her what I’m going to try!

Unfortunately I don’t have the stamina to try cooking 365 days of Julia Child, and my waistline will probably thank me for it. I do however, have an important date coming up (Valentine’s Day w/ the DH) - and if I feel up to it, I may just try a new dish (or two).

Luckily for me, not all of the recipes involve wheat. In particular, I am thinking about making Boeuf Bourguignon. It would be quite appropriate given the freezing cold weather we’ve been having, but mostly I want to make it because they made it in the movie and it sounded good. I also love love love sauteed mushrooms and onions!

I remember when I was in school we always watched Julia Child make a Buche de Noel at Christmas, and I always wondered how she could make such awesome looking mushroom meringues. Now, although I won’t be making a cake, I’m still looking forward to cooking with Julia!

Outdoor Adventures

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:00:07 -0600

It’s almost that time of year again! And no, I don’t mean it’s time to file my taxes. It’s almost time to go camping! For those of us who live in the great state of Texas, there is a very small window for camping (unless you own a RV, which I don’t). It happens to be in the spring - particularly March & April. I suppose I could go camping in the winter, but I have not yet been able to psyche myself into camping in the cold weather (and yes, it can get very cold here).

My DH and I LOVE to go camping. In the spring, our camping gear does not leave the garage. Our dog in particular is a huge fan, and goes crazy when she sees her camping bed being put in the car. :) This year we are determined to go camping more than last year, including hopefully a one week camping trip to test out the huge cooler my DH got me for xmas.

This year I will get to do my first round of GF camping meals. Now, this may sound easy, but camping meals are an art of their own. Some of our meals have included disasters such as pot gumbo (cheese, chili, and pasta I believe, definitely the worst meal I have ever cooked, camping or not) and tasty dishes such as shishkabobs.

As I am preparing to go camping this year, there are a few meal considerations I have to consider:

1. Heat. Even in the spring it can be hot in Texas. I remember one camping expedition when it was in the high 90s in March. Talk about hot! Any meals that I prepare have to be fairly easy to store in a cooler. Obviously there are exemptions for the meal on the first night/morning, but all of the days after… This year we will be trying dry ice to keep stuff cooler longer.

2. Cooking method. While I do have quite the array of camping gear, I am still cooking on a propane burner, through very thin aluminum pans. So rice and other such time intensive foods would likely need to be prepared in advance.

3. GF. Obviously! This should hopefully be fairly easy. For breakfast, I foresee GF oatmeal, GF muffins, cream of rice instead of cream of wheat, eggs, fruit, etc. For lunch, we can have sandwiches on GF bread. Snacks can be fruit and crackers, Larabars, etc. Dinner is the trickier part. We could do shishkabobs, burgers with GF buns, potatoes, veggies…but I am curious as to substantial meals.

If anyone out there has suggestions for GF camping dinners, let me know! I am trying to come up with dinners for a week - meeting all of the criteria above, obviously.

Dreaming of Girl Scout Cookies

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:02:06 -0600

Today’s post is really short, but to the point. I wish that there was a gluten free Girl Scout Cookie! I have, once, purchased a dozen boxes of girl scout cookies and shipped them overseas for a friend and his troops. :) Normally, I purchase about a half dozen boxes for my DH and I, and put some in the freezer to savor in the months when Girl Scout Cookies are no longer for sale. Although many of the cookies are off limits to me due to the lactose intolerance, I am a huge fan of the Thanks-A-Lots, and of course, the Thin Mints (although I haven’t had one of those in years)! Anyway, apparently the Girl Scouts have decided that there isn’t enough interest in specialty cookies (i.e., sugar free, wheat free, etc.) They tried a sugar free cookie once, but it wasn’t profitable. I totally understand that they are running a business (no comments here about the way the cookie drive is done, from rumors I have heard), but perhaps if I tell them that I am willing to buy a dozen boxes it would help change their mind? Just a thought!

Stay Positive

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:00:10 -0600

I was reading a magazine the other day that noted something striking. The article said that “quality of life can actually decrease and symptoms of depression can increase for some individuals in the first year after diagnosis” (from Gluten-Free Living, Number 4/2010, p. 58).

I must admit, as you probably gathered from one of my previous blog posts, I have definitely had my struggles with my new GF life. However, I am lucky to have a supportive husband and family, and my support network does its best to prop me up when I am feeling low.

One of the small benefits I have found in my new dietary restriction is that I was already lactose intolerant, from many years back. As a result of that restriction, I am used to the routine of avoidance. In the early years of the lactose avoidance, I would cheat and occasionally eat a small amount of that which was off limits – a bite of ice cream, a cream puff – those things which could not be recreated to my view of success in a dairy free manner. However, after a few years, I finally decided that it just wasn’t worth eating dairy, and stopped eating even the tiniest bit.

The habit of reading labels and being food wary appears to have become ingrained in me over the years. Now, as I am working through my new dietary restriction, I find it is not difficult to draw up the willpower to completely avoid foods that are not good for me. That doesn’t mean I don’t miss the cranberry-nut bread made fresh at my local grocery. However, since the start of my GF diet, I have not cheated once. (At least knowingly.) Perhaps that is because of the ramifications, or perhaps I am now a grown up and capable of letting the rational part of my brain win. Either way, the fact that I am now feeling better, and that I have a great support system is enough for me to stay positive.

GF Everyday

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:00:07 -0600

There has been quite a lot of discussion among friends, family, and coworkers as to how difficult my everyday meal selection must be. I have heard everything from “Why do you have to come on the days we have Italian”, to “You are impossible to cook for” and “Name one type of junk food you can eat.” Well, for those who haven’t had to live GF, let me set one thing straight: when you are in charge of your own meals, it is quite easy to survive GF.

I will of course preface this by saying it is much more difficult when you are not in charge of your own meals, and that yes, I am still sad that I can’t just eat whatever I want without regard to ingredients. And, of course, this will depend on how open you are to trying new foods, and in general, how willing you are to eating healthily. However, my DH and I really enjoy cooking, so I am trying hard to see this as another culinary avenue we must take.

As background, my DH and I typically eat very healthily. We have for years read label ingredients, mostly due to my other intolerance to lactose, but to check for sugar content because of a genetic tendency towards diabetes on my DH’s side. We really like to try new recipes, cook from scratch, etc. We get tired of sandwiches, and so take our leftovers to work for lunch. So that we don’t get bored, we almost always cook new recipes from books and magazines.

To give you an idea of what we eat, day-to-day, I have listed the types of things we have made the past few weeks. I will preface this list with we typically tend to lean towards the vegan (only b/c vegetarian often has dairy, which I cannot eat). This seems to have been a gradual change over the past year, which I think is a result of many little issues that I will discuss some other day. So, here is the list I was mentioning:

Spaghetti with masala sauce (in my lunch today);
Rotisserie chicken;
Beans and rice;
Three bean chili with cornbread;
Tuna salad sandwiches (really tasty with a little mayo, lime juice, red onion, cilantro, and a little salt, with avocado, tomato, and lettuce);
Mushroom risotto;
Mushroom soup (I love mushrooms);
Flank steak with soy sauce/brown sugar marinade;
Quinoa with snow peas and tomatoes (and lots of other ingredients, this turned out fantastically and assembled fairly quickly!)
Tropical citrus shrimp ceviche; and
Chef salad with flaky biscuits.

Obviously, this is not a complete meal plan, and we eat our veggies on the days we don’t eat vegetarian (artichokes are in season again, hooray!). I am also not going to list all of the GF items I have baked the past few weeks (you can read the rest of my blog). I won’t go too far into detail on the many types of GF food items available for purchase, however, I have also bought:

Pasta sauce;
Spaghetti;
Cookies;
Cupcakes;
Bread (a staple in my house); and
Apple cranberry rolls.

As I mentioned initially, part of the purpose of this blog is to cheer me along in my new GF life. So, I say to you and to myself: “No Fear! Life can be quite tasty and varied on a GF diet, when you cook at home!” Some other day we can talk about eating out (also not quite as daunting as often feared).

Frustration with My GF Life

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:00:00 -0600

It is well known among my family members that I am not the most patient of people. I have gotten much, much better over the years, but I blame this on genetics - I can trace such a family trait up through my family tree for generations. The pitfall of such a bad habit is that when one is GF, one must be very, very patient. Let me elaborate.

The first couple of months of my GF life, I was able to stop the torture that was my non-GF life simply by cutting out the large sources of gluten. Bye bye bread, pasta, and half of the stuff in my pantry. However, once my body readjusted to that, it decided to get uber picky. Bye bye fake crab meat [and California Rolls! :*( ] Bye bye old vitamins (which I absolutely loved! grrr….) Bye bye lots of other random little stuff that I am still finding out.

When I had to cut out dairy several years back, it seems to have been much simpler. No cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, or ice cream, or anything made with those ingredients. Nothing that has milk (lactose, casein, whey, etc.) in the label. The good news about having to cut out the dairy was that I became very good at labels. And after a while, I didn’t even miss having dairy (or anything made with dairy) - which I am sure has been a great thing for my waistline.

However, my new dietary restriction seems to have more challenges. Not only do I have to read labels, I apparently have to think about random other things I don’t necessarily associate with gluten. Caramel coloring in liquor (i.e., whiskey) anyone? Not for me, thank you. And on top of that, I have to keep reminding myself that just because something says it is wheat free does not necessarily mean it is gluten free (i.e., my vitamins, *sniff*…)

Now after tossing the big players, I find myself having to go to what seems to be a microscopic level to remove gluten from my diet. Store brand aller-dryl medicine made with food starch? Bad news. But children’s liquid store brand aller-dryl? A-ok. Non-organic chicken? I’ll pass. (Who wants the stuff I can no longer eat in my freezer??)

I feel like I need to keep a list, or mark on the labels of everything I own: SS (Stephanie Safe) or NSS (Not Stephanie Safe). I am trying to remind myself that I am new to this GF game, and I keep hoping that this will eventually get easier. But for now I am still in the paranoid state. Does that tomato paste in that pasta sauce include wheat by chance? Let’s skip it to be safe.

Gluten Free Travel?

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:24:06 -0600

I am a huge, huge fan of travel. I love that just by going somewhere different you can learn new things, see new sights, meet new people, and taste new foods…and therein lies the problem. Now that I am having to eat GF, I am wondering how exactly I will be able to travel GF.

I am sure it can be done. In fact, I know it can - but my experience is limited to traveling to family - who can be warned in advance of my peculiar dietary needs and will graciously pick up GF foods so I don’t starve. (Thanks again to my in-laws, who were the first people have to suffer through a visit by a GF me! And to my parents, and to my aunt and uncle, who have all also had to suffer through visits by a GF me!)

This year, my DH and I are planning a major vacation - work schedules permitting. You see, my DH is fortunate enough to work for an awesome company that is providing him with a 4 week paid sabbatical. And how often does anyone get 4 weeks off of work? Not I, that’s for sure. So we are going to make the most of his time off, which can be combined with vacation time, holidays, company down time, etc. to make one massively long vacation - although that is not our plan. We are planning to go to Europe for all four weeks!

It has been quite a while since we have been to Europe (about 10 years for each of us aside from a 2 week stint to Germany for work for my DH), and we want to use this time to explore new countries and see friends and family. Right now, the plans are for 1 week in each of four different countries, perhaps with smaller day trips to other countries in between. Our current thoughts are Germany, France, and England, with the fourth country to be determined.

However, now that I am having to eat GF, I am wondering how I will successfully pull this off without getting sick. It appears that I am now having to be super stringent with what I eat, and so I am just a tad bit paranoid that I won’t be able to make this work, aside from bringing a suitcase full of food just for me. Aside from having to investigate where to go, what to do, and who to see, I now plan on investigating my food options as well.

For example, lets start with the first leg of traveling. Has anyone ever gotten hungry at the airport, or on an airplane? I know I have. My standard option is to bring food with me, airplane snack boxes being prohibitively expensive. This works really well for GF travel, since I control what I eat. But how will that work for an 8 hour flight? Bring two meals, perhaps? And if I do that, I will have to plan carefully to ensure the food stays good over the 8 hours… At the airport, my snack options are also fairly small - luckily fruit and Odwalla drinks seem to be plentiful, but what if I want more sustenance? I can only handle so many peanuts…

More to come on my adventures in GF travel, and I would welcome any advice people might have on their GF travel experiences!

My New Favorite Kitchen Toy

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:00:07 -0600

One of my favorite Xmas gifts came in the form of the attachment for my Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. Can anyone guess what it was? No, not the pasta maker I already mentioned…Give up? It was a grain mill!

One of the things that has been a painful realization the past few months is exactly how much all of this GF stuff costs. I mean seriously - it is practically 50c an ounce for flour mixes! That is sooooo much more than a 5lb bag of flour costs! And of course, now that I can’t have traditional bread stuffs, I have been craving baked goods - hence, my purchase of GF flour stuffs.

I initially started buying the pre-blended flour mixes (Bob’s Red Mill, etc.). However, the new cookbooks I have been working through (another xmas gift from my DH) mentioned that there is no truly great pre-blended flour - that flours should be altered based on what you are cooking. I don’t know if I totally believe it (laziness will always win in the end), but I am willing to try making my own flour blends (mostly because of the costs, as I mentioned previously). So, after I ran out of the pre-blended flour, I bought bags of individual blend components - rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, buckwheat flour, teff flour, almond flour…I am sure I am missing a few components there… You know all that room I had in my pantry from cleaning out the gluten free stuff? It has now been filled. (And so has my fridge, in which I am also keeping GF flour mix stuffs.)

Each of the flour blends in my cookbooks makes about 10 cups or so of flour, and practically uses a whole 22oz bag of rice flour. So, after I had gone through a couple of bags of rice flour (and tried to much avail to find pre-ground millet flour in my local stores), I decided I was going to take the next step and get a grain mill (which was actually given to me by my parents - how thoughtful of them)!

This week, I have been putting my new favorite kitchen toy through its paces. I started by grinding millet flour - which turned out perhaps to be not the best grain to grind first. For those of you unfamiliar with millet, it is very small, very hard little grains, which take forever to grind in the grain mill. But my awesome mixer pulled through (with multiple breaks and ample time to avoid overheating the motor), and I now have a quart sized bag of millet flour I consider millet gold - I mean, it is golden in color after all.

I have subsequently started grinding rice - I bought an entire 5 lb bag of rice at the grocery store for this exact purpose. Let me be the first to say that grinding rice is much easier than grinding millet! My awesome mixer can plow through a hopper of rice in about 10 minutes! I am on my second quart size bag of rice flour, and have been grinding a little every evening this week in anticipation of refilling my now empty container of rice flour blend A (as my cookbook calls it).

[The picture below shows the grain mill at work, grinding rice. My engineering mind was curious that the rice flour is not evenly distributed throughout the chute, but instead comes out on either side (which you probably can’t very well see since the image isn’t totally in focus).]

Take 2

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:08:00 -0600

So, it is only the first month and already I have been quite remiss lately in my blogging duties. I blame it on the East Coast weather! Just kidding, although I was back east for about 5 days last week, so that is officially my excuse. In the past two weeks I have had a LOT to think about GF wise, and have gone through several more baking attempts, which I will be describing today.

One of the things I noticed in my GF baking is that apparently I am not quite the chemist I like to think I am. By chemistry, I of course mean baking, which we all know is actually a science. My first attempts at baking, which I have described in my previous posts, were all not quite as perfect as I would hope. So I have started my second go round on those same recipes to see if I could do better - hoping that it wasn’t going to be ‘third time’s the charm!’

My first take 2 was for the lemon poppy seed muffins. I decided to try this recipe again for two reasons, neither of which is that I am stubborn. First, I liked the flavor; second, I thought they were awesome because they fell out of the silicone muffin tins with ease. So, I repeated this recipe and this time used almond milk instead of rice milk, and lemon extract instead of lemon zest (to try to bring out the lemon flavor more). Well, it turns out that this time they were light and fluffy, just the way muffins are supposed to be! They had a little too strong of a lemon flavor, but that’s probably due to error on my part. (See the picture below - they even browned nicely!)

My second take 2 was cinnamon rolls. I was very, very disappointed in the cinnamon rolls the first time around, because they were not soft and didn’t rise at all. So this time I followed a slightly different recipe. The recipe had the same ingredients, except for a beaten egg white which was folded into the batter for the first recipe. The main difference was in the way the author of the recipe indicated to let the dough rise: in the baking pan, with the baking pan in a larger container filled with hot water halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Well, I have to say, I now have a new favorite cinnamon roll recipe! These rolls rose perfectly, and tasted fantastic. The only slight problem was I think that I took them out of the oven a little too early in my rush to taste them! So perhaps, I will have to try this one again, to make them absolutely perfectly (to say nothing of the fact that I would love to try them again)!

The even better news is that it appears that in the past few weeks, with all of the repeated attempts, my baking skills have improved. For last night I made another new recipe - Blueberry Boy Bait (apparently so named for its ability to attract all the neighborhood boys, although that is not the reason I made it…) This recipe - basically a cake with blueberries - came out wonderfully on the first try - even according to my husband’s GRE tutor, who was a willing (and gracious) guinea pig.

Cinnamon Rolls

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:20:00 -0600

New Year’s Eve I decided to attempt something I have only done once before (with wheat flour) - make cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls! They are particularly tasty when they are right out of the oven, soft and gooey and sugary. As a treat, and because we were going to visit my sister who is also on a GF diet, I decided that I would attempt to make GF cinnamon rolls.

I followed a recipe in one of my new GF cookbooks - and yes, this time (unlike the pasta fiasco) I followed the recipe exactly. The dough turned out really well; it was soft and moist, and held together famously even while I was stretching it out into a rectangle. Everything was going great until I left the dough to rise…which it never did.

Eventually, after about 2 hours, I decided enough was enough, and tossed the pans in the oven. This is where I made a mistake - because I was expecting the dough to rise, there was space between the rolls while they were baking. I should have combined the pans so that when the rolls baked they would touch and be soft around the edges. Alas, due to my inexperience in making cinnamon rolls, I did not, so the rolls were on the hard side.

I made the rolls New Year’s Eve, and refrigerated them over night. We brought them to my sister’s house the next day, and reheated the rolls. I have to say, I think they were probably better the first day, but they still tasted good after they had reheated in the oven for a while. Ironically, the longer they heated in the oven, the softer they became. Of course, the frosting didn’t hurt! It is possible that I am a critic, because I thought they were a little dry, although the other guinea pigs (aka my family) thought the rolls tasted alright. This is one recipe I will have to try again!

Pasta alla KitchenAid - Part 1

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 15:54:00 -0600

For my husband’s birthday last year, my wonderful mother and grandmother decided to make him a special meal, a tradition on birthdays in my family. Unfortunately I was on crutches and could not help them, else I would have fully understood the calamity that was his lobster ravioli.

Let me preface this by saying that my husband is a serious pasta lover. In a sad twist of fate, as soon as I started eating GF, he could see the end of the road for his whole wheat pasta days. For his birthday last year, his lobster ravioli was made out of won ton wrappers, the quick chef shortcut endorsed by popular cooking magazines for other types of ravioli such as pumpkin ravioli. For those of you who have not made ravioli out of won ton wrappers - don’t bother. In my limited experience, they do not hold together while cooking, and therefore the contents don’t all stay together.

For Christmas this year, my mother decided that my husbands birthday was the last time we would make won ton ravioli. Therefore, she bought my husband a pasta maker attachment for our KitchenAid mixer. As you can imagine, I was very eager to try this new kitchen toy, especially since I am also on the hunt for a yummy GF pasta.

To date, I have tried multiple boxed pastas, and a pasta alla Olive Garden. Perhaps it is because I can still practically taste whole wheat goods that pasta doesn’t taste quite as good when it is GF. So, I decided tonight was the night - my first attempt with the new mixer attachment!

I followed a basic flour and egg pasta dough recipe, and was impressed that it seemed to hold together well and was not too dry. If I had been rolling and cutting my pasta, it probably would have been a success! However, in my zest to make a nutritious pasta, I made what was probably my first mistake. I ground broccoli in my food processor, but did not puree it as my puree attachment was dirty and I am inherently lazy (i.e., I didn’t bother to clean it). I added the ground broccoli to the dough, and it still seemed to hold together well. Unfortunately this is where the fun started.

I tried to roll the dough to roughly fit the pasta sheet roller. This is where things got sticky (literally). I ended up adding more flour to the dough to attempt to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin/wax paper. After a few attempts, I was able to get sheets which looked like they would fit in the pasta maker. So I tried to make spaghetti. Unfortunately the dough was not thin enough, and so would not go through the spaghetti maker.

Eventually (after a drink and much help from my husband - well, let’s be honest, he basically took over production), we were able to run the dough through the pasta sheet roller, but were never successful at running the sheets through the spaghetti maker. The spaghetti maker made spaghetti bits - the dough kept breaking apart on its way through the spaghetti maker.

The verdict: the pasta bits/cut pasta pieces tasted pretty good, but we definitely get an F for presentation. I thought it might be the broccoli causing the pasta to crumble, but I am not so sure that was the only cause since it crumbled all over, not just where the broccoli was. I will definitely have to try this one again, without the broccoli, to see if it holds together. If not, I will be on the hunt for another pasta recipe!

Adventures in Baking

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:52:00 -0600

One of the joys of my year is when my husband’s work closes down the week before New Year’s. If he gets to take vacation, then so will I! This week happens to be said week, and in light of my new found free time, I decided to spend some serious time baking.

As a little bit of background information, it has now been approx. two months since I have started living a GF life. Before my GF life, I was never a serious carb eater. However, like anything else, once it was taken away - I wanted it! In those two months I have been experimenting with pre-made GF baked goods. Some of them (ahem, Glutino breads) tasted like dust to me. Others tasted like chemicals (odd for a supposedly natural food). I have found some of the boxed mixes to be OK, but nothing fantastic. Although if you add enough butter it is almost OK…but I digress.

I have tried substituting GF flour mixes (including adding xanthum gum) to normal recipes, to no avail. Some turn out fairly well (pie crusts), while others are a disaster (drop biscuits which are still soggy - *sigh*).

For Christmas, my DH bought me a plethora of GF cookbooks. Where they shall be stored, I do not know. But I think he got tired of my complaining, and knew that deep down I like to bake. For both of our sakes, I am determined to make a go of this GF baking business.

This week I have begun my baking spree. I started by creating my own GF flour mixes - one standard brown rice flour mix and one basic bread mix. The bread mix involved millet flour - not to be found in my three local grocery stores, so I tried to grind my own (which turned out to be an adventure all by itself…but again, I digress).

I am still getting used to baking GF. My first few attempts taught me that I have to carefully monitor the baking time, as GF free baked goods do not seem to brown like gluten containing goods. I have also noticed that most of the things seem to be a little on the dry side, although that could be because I am using almond milk instead of rice milk (which is more watery).

So far this week, I have made blondies and lemon poppy seed muffins from scratch. Still to come this week are pasta noodles, buttermilk biscuits, and cookies. The blondies were very dense, not what I am used to from my Duncan Hines brownie days, but still tasty. They had an interesting texture - with a delicate top crust that was very sweet. The lemon poppy seed muffins were tasty, but light on the lemon flavor. I think my favorite part about the muffins was that they dropped right out of the silicone muffin cups!

Hopefully all my adventures will convince those not in the know that GF cooking and baking is not all that tough - more to come on whether I succeed in my endeavors!