Archive for the ‘Gluten Free’ Category

Sweet Potatoe Pie – the quick version.

3 [left over] medium sweet potatoes
1 whole egg
1 egg white
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp almond extract
2TBSP palm shortening
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 C honey (or to taste)
enough almond milk to make smooth (1/4 cup?)

Whip all until smooth with a whisk, adding only enough milk to thin out enough to pour into a pie plate. Top with crumb topping if desired (it’s good either way, but a topping is easy and so good). and bake for 30 minutes in a 325  degree oven.or until hot. If you use a topping be sure to cover lightly with foil or parchment paper.

This is crustless because… well… because I was being lazy and the baby was crying at my feet the entire time and I just wanted to be done. I’m sure it would have been fabulous with an actual crust. But everyone was happy here so I think it was a success. It was just one of those things that accidentally turned out pretty good.

see, if I go about trying to create something it nearly always ends up awful…. but if the baby is crying at my feet and I’m trying to use up some left overs and I’m distracted beyond belief and I leave out the baking soda which I was planning to include, and I’m sure it’s going to be a total disaster…. it ends up tasting pretty darn good. figures.

….so, should I bother mentioning that the first time I put the topping on I forgot about the pie while I was vacuuming the stairs, and the whole top burned so I scraped it all over and put on a new topping and baked it for another 10 minutes?…. or that the reason my chicken curry would NOT finish cooking this evening was that I in fact had been measuring the temp in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit the entire time? and that it had probably been done for 30 minutes before I realized. or that I severely undercooked the rice noodles so they tasted like cellophane?

well… the pie was good. and nobody got sick. so all in all… I guess it was a success hmm?

tonight the girl came down with a stomach bug. I keep our freezer stocked with homemade chicken stock always for emergencies like this. in our home chicken bone broth (stock) is considered a healing food. it fixes whatever ails ya. and frankly it’s comforting as well. Who doesn’t want a bowl of warm soup when they are on the mend?

every week I roast at minimum one organic chicken. we of course eat the meat for dinner, and then overnight I simmer the carcass (sometimes with onion) for stock for the week. with this stock we make rice, pasta dishes, indian dishes… just about everything. and occasionally the obvious – soup. if there is any left (rarely) we freeze it.

tonight I glanced in the fridge to see what I had on hand for a quick easy to digest healing dish.

• stock (with some sauteed veggies)
• rice
• egg

and so egg drop soup it was. ok so it wan’ts traditional of one country heh… but egg drop is a traditional soup in various parts of the world and of course the main ingredients – broth and eggs. the rest is purely local flair. for us it included jasmine rice. and it was best meal I’ve made in less than 10 mins in a long time.

Eli ate 4 bowls. I stopped him after that so he wouldn’t induce sickness. the rest of us liked it a lot too. why don’t I normally make this? who knows. but it’s a keeper. it’s going to be a regular staple in out home from now on.

and because this year I vowed to include more traditional Italian recipes into our diet (and let me tell you that’s not simple thing when you’re gluten and dairy free my friends) I looked up to find an Italian version…. so in honor of my husband’s heritage:

Stracciatella alla Romana

yeah… I think I just found my new favorite Italian cooking blog.

Last time I posted I added a recipe for biscuits. I’ve come to 2 conclusion about those biscuits…. well perhaps 3 if you include how incredibly much I love them!

1. these biscuits are very yummy and biscuity when eaten directly after baking them – but they aren’t very biscuity if they sit over night.

2. they are perfect for sandwiches if they are eaten the next day – and more resemble a biscuity type roll. It is much tastier and easier than yeast/soy/gluten/corn/dairy bread for on the go.

I do still have a place in my heart for that yummy warm bread from my oven.… but I’ve had to face facts – it pretty much stinks as a replacement for sandwhich bread. you just can’t do sandwich bread without yeast. period.  So lately I’ve been focusing on other types of sandwich alternative. I do so love a good sandwich – especially with left over chicken or steak! so I’ve been working on ideas for a roll recipe. I’m ordering some roll pans from amazon soo and hopefully something fabulous will come out of this.

I still can’t say I’m glad we’re dealing with all these allergies … I mean really? ugh. BUT… looking on the bright side, I’ve not only conquered my fears of GF cooking… I’ve actually swam to the otherside and I’m making up my own recipes. desperation can make you face your fears, that’s for sure! My baby will likely out grow at least some of these allergies/intollerances, but I will always profit from all that I have learned during this time.

in other news – semi related (as breastmilk is food and this is a food blog…) Ven has been nursing for 9.5 months now! he’s actually still exclusively breastfeed, as he’s yet to hold down other foods. i’m so thankful i’ve been able to sustain him!

While there is nothing in my mind that could compete with warm flakey buttermilk biscuit, this serves the purpose well. It’s great with jam or eggs (that’s all I can attest to so far as it’s the only toppings I’ve tried yet!)  They have a slight buttery taste and if you keep in proper prospective that this should be a drop biscuit and not a roll and cut out biscuit, it’s really yummy.

I made these for the first time tonight and I am very pleased with them. I was dying for a biscuit so I tweaked by “corn-less cornbread topping” recipe. This is what I came up with.

Biscuits

dry:

• 2 C  blanched almond meal/flour
• 3/4 arrowroot flour
• 1/2 T baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet:

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 coconut oil or palm shortening
• almond milk (roughly 1/4 C)
• 3  T sugar **

Blend eggs well and sugar well, and add slowly add coconut oil or shortening. In separate bowl sift dry ingredients and slowly combine to wet while mixing. add almond milk as needed to thin. You’re going for a droppable biscuits, not a soupy mess. If by change you add too much milk let sit for a moment. almond flour expands and soaks up liquid. if it’s still too wet add more almond flour as needed.

drop by the spoonful onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated over at 350 degress for 15-20 mins.

these biscuits get done before they look done. they don’t have a large rise to them and by the time they are browning they’re past their peek of fluffy yumminess and on their ways to hockey puck statis – so stay nearby til you know how long it takes your oven to bake them to perfection.

**next time i will try honey in lieu of sugar – I was concerned it’d be too wet so I didn’t do it for my first try. I thought shortening would give it more of a biscuit buttery taste but I think I liked the coconut oil variety better. Let me know what you all think!

Those us of with high allergy needs often miss out on fun foods. Foods that are crumbly, sweet and warm get replaced with imitations that are dry, hard, and rubbery. It leaves you feeling punished for having an allergy. Isn’t it hard enough when you can’t eat something yummy at a get together? It’s just horrible to be promised GF/SF/EF/CF replacements that aren’t remotely close to the original. I rememer the very first GF dessert I ever tasted. It had been a month of watching other people enjoy their cookies and  treats while I tried hard not to think about it. I was depressed, frankly! and a local GF baker in Maryland offered me a taste of his GF cookies. I was SO excited!!! I could enjoy food again!

It’s funny thinking on that. The cookies honestly weren’t even good! I was just so excited about having *something* dessert like that the fact that it tasted like sugary grit didn’ even register! But surely, after the romance died down I was left feeling bored again. my tastebuds were so very sad.

It’s taken me about 3.5 yrs of being  gluten-free to come up with something worthwhile. I was previously living off of boxed GF cookies *shudder* and trying to ignore their lack of taste and abundance of cardboard like texture. But, then I had Vencenzo. time has shown us he is quite intollerant of many things i was eating. So now I am COMPLETELY free of (amongst many other little things):

• gluten *
• soy
• dairy
• corn
• fructose (meaning ALL fruits and many veggies)
• raw veggies  (see above)
• citrus
• leaf family
• berry family (which doesn’t include cran or blueberries as they are another family)
• pork *

(*would be off of anyhow)

I’ve finally come up with a few recipes for desserts that aren’t just “okay” by gluten standards, but dare I say… my gluten/dairy-loving relatives don’t know the difference.

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Coffee Cake:

dry:

• 3 C      blanched almond meal
• 3/4 C  white rice floud
• 3/4 C  arrowroot flour (starch)
• 1/2   T baking soda
• 1/2   tsp salt

wet:

• 1/4 C  palm shortening
• 1 .5 C honey
• 8 eggs
• 3 cap fulls of vinegar
• 1 tsp almond extract

*crumb topping-

Start with these measurements. as always this isn’t an exact science. You will need to feel it here to make sure it’s right. If it’s too sticky add more flour. If it’s too crumbly increase shortening. If it’s too oily add more rice flour…. etc. each time in slightly different. You have to learn to eyeball some things in cooking – the inner baker will come out in you once your fear of cooking with GF flours dies down!

• 1/4 C palm shortening
• 1/2 C rice flour
• 1/2 C almond flour
• 1/4C honey
• 1/2 -1 T cinnamon
• optional: sliced almonds sprinkled on top

If you want it REALLY crumbly double the topping recipe- but don’t fill the muffins quite as full or they will overflow!

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Pre-heat oven to 305 degrees. Fill a muffin tin (or 3) with parchment paper baking cups. With mixer cream shortening and honey adding slowly 1 egg at a time until each egg is thoroughly mixed. mix in vinegar and almond extract.

In separate bowl sift (of combine with hands, like I do!) all dry ingredients. Add in 3 steps with the wet ingredients until fully combined. use ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups 1/2-3/4 full and top with crumb topping. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until done. (you want it to not be too brown on top and still a bit moist – as always this will vary from oven to oven so try one batch first and see how it goes.)

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tips:

The picture above shows crumb topping – but I also tried them out as muffins – no fancy crumbly topping and everyone thought they were still good. I’m sure I’ll skip the crumb topping when I’m in a hurry.

You can make the topping in bigger batches and save for a couple of days in a sealed container in the fridge.

There is nothing like a good cobbler in the winter months. I crave that sweet bready taste but I detest the sugar-high followed by the horrible sugar-low I get after wards. Using honey in my desserts has helped me move past my sugar addiction and the impending lows it causes for me. Sugar is highly addictive and is the root cause of many aches and pains (arthritis, fibromyalia…) as well as depression. refined white sugar has zero health benefits whatsoever… on the other hand it has a long list of problems it causes. To making the switch easier you can use half sugar half honey – but I bet you wouldn’t notice the difference!

• 1-2 bags or frozen or fresh blueberries
• 1-2 cups honey
• rice flour
• corn-less corn bread topping

Simmer blueberries on low until mushy and hot. Add in honey until sweetened as desired. (the less honey you use the more natural blueberry sweetness you’ll taste!) slowly add rice flour a TBSP at a time while blending until thickened like pie-filling.

transfer mixture into baking dish or casserole and top with 1-2 batches of Corn-less cornbread topping. (we like it really bread so I use two)

This is SO easy but SO good! it’s better than any store bought cobbler I’ve had. It’s an impressive dish for how little time and effort it takes to make it and I’m willing to bet nobody would notice that it’s not sugar.

** I bet this would taste wonderful with a side some homemade vanilla or almond coconut ice cream!

we have so missed things like pot-pies and stews since going GF/CF/SF! It has taken me some time, but I’ve finally fumbled my way through many failed experiments and been able to come up with a few good recipes that are reminesent (and some, I dare say even better!) than those old days of allergy-free bliss before I had kids. This is one of my favorites for sure!

• 4-6 cooked chicken breast cubed OR one roasted chicken’s worth of picked meat
• 1-2 onions diced
• 2-4 carrots sliced thin
• 2.5 lbs ROASTED yukon gold potatoes in bite-sized pieces
• 1 carton of FRESH whole mushrooms sliced (bold dark variety like crimini )
• Garlic (roasted or it’s equivilent in powder form)
• 1/4 -1/2 Cup alomond milk
• 2-3 Cups chicken stock
• rice flour as needed
• 1-2 batches of Corn-less cornbread topping.

saute onions in EVOO  until translucent over medium-low heat.  (repeat it with me: high heat carmelizes). add carrots and mushrooms and sauteed until semi-soft. Next add in pre-roasted potatoes. Cover with Chicken stock and almond milk. simmer for 5 mins on medium-high to blend flavors. slowly add a TBSP at a time of rice flour and blend into brothy mixture until it becomes a stew like consistency. blend carefully so it does not gum up on you. rice flour is very forgiving if you just take your time. simmer 3-5 more mins.

pour into baking dish or casserole and top with 1-2 batches of corn-less corn bread topping. (depending on how you like your bread/stew ratio)

bake at 350 degrees for 30-25 mins or until golden brown on top.

let it for 10 mins to cool and then serve.

**this would also be great with the addition of cooked green beans, limas, or celery.  (I’m on an elimination diet right now so I didn’t use them myself)

While this takes time, it takes very little effort. Beans are cheap, simple and really good as a meal with rice or as a side.

To soak beans:

• 1 bag of Pinto beans (or Kidney/Black)
• cover beans with water – (4 inches above beans as they will expand)
• 1TBSP whey or vinegar

soak beans over night in this mixture (atleast 8 hrs).

Rinse and put into crock pot and add one diced onion, and cover with fresh water.

cook on low in crock pot until beans are tender (approx 3-6 hrs). add salt and pepper to taste.

YUM!

** use chicken stock in place of cooking water for extra flavour and nutrition

**my all time favorite is half kidney, half pinto.

**this is great to add to chili or over rice

White Jasmine rice is very easy to the stomach. I realize it’s a popular idea to eat brown or whole grained rice as it has more nutrients – those with delicate digestive systems have trouble with well… digesting the brown rice. While fiber in things like whole grain rice is certainly important, a person with a delicate system often needs some amount of food in semi-digested form while their body is healing from the damages of sickness or trauma (such as celiac disease). I find whole grain rice effects me with the ssme abdominal upset as gluten, but we have had much success with white jasmine rice. it’s fragrant smell is almost as good as it’s flavour. it’s versitile and can be used with any recipe in lieu of white or brown rice. as with all grains, less is more. a diet too high in grains is hard on the system.

(ratio of 1 Cup rice to 1.5 Cup liquid)

• 2 Cups White Jasmine Rice
• 5 Cups Chicken Stock (or water plus 1 TBSP oil)
• pepper
• garlic powder/freeze-dried onions
• parsley or cilantro flakes for color

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE LID BEFORE THAT TIMER BEEPS! no really… don’t. I know you want to… but resist. it lets out the heat and moisture and this is the number one reason for clumpy sticky wet icky rice. once the timer beeps, remove pot from burner, uncover (finally!) and fluff. add sea salt to taste.

**this rice is great with pinto beans, chili or alone as a side.