without wheat

living gluten free doesn't have to be hard

Recipes
More
Recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as desert!
Product Reviews
More
Product reviews for various gluten free business, and restaurants.
Research
More
Research and information on various aspects of being gluten free.

mixed fruit sour cream muffins

July 25th 2010 Posted at recipes
0 Comments

I have recently started a new job, and in the last two weeks I have created the reputation for myself as “the one who brings in muffins,” especially as far as my coworker Stacy is concerned. First I brought in a simple chocolate chip muffin, then the week after I made the raspberry corn muffins. I didn’t have any muffins on Thursday or Friday, and I could tell Stacy was a little upset. I decided to make some muffins over the weekend, and I found this delicious recipe from Gluten Free Goddess.

I tweaked the recipe slightly, using a 12 oz bag of frozen mixed fruits (blueberries, strawberries and raspberries), and using Bob’s Redmill Gluten Free All-Purpose mix instead of Pamela’s (although I had some). Overall, though, the muffins were DELICIOUS and I think Stacy will be happy this week!

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Beat together in a large mixing bowl:

2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup extra light olive oil

Add in and beat:

1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Slowly add in and beat:

2 cups Pamela’s Ultimate Baking Mix

Gently stir in:

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I omitted this)
1 heaping cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper cups. Spoon the batter into the cups till full. Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes (if berries are frozen) or 20 minutes (if berries are fresh). Cool on wire rack in the tins, then tip the muffins out. Continue to cool them on the wire rack.

the importance of research: check EVERYTHING

July 7th 2010 Posted at research
0 Comments

First off, I want to apologize for the silence on this blog. I have not forgotten about it, nor do I mean to be so silent. A lot of things have happened in just a month (getting married, starting a new job, moving into a new apartment), and it sure takes a toll on regular blogging!

What I want to talk about today is something I have mentioned before and will most likely mention a million more times: CHECK INGREDIENTS ON EVERYTHING!

Where did this come from, you may ask. Well, I had been sick for about 2 weeks. Low-grade, nothing like my usual flare-ups, but enough that it was a pain. It was mostly an upset stomach randomly throughout the day, never so bad that some ginger tea and yogurt couldn’t alleviate it. After the start of week 3, though, I started to get irritated (mentally) and wonder what the hell is going on. I attributed it to the limbo status of our move (staying with a friend for a few weeks), the stress, eating out more, and not drinking enough water.

On Monday morning I was talking to my friend that we’re staying with and I mentioned I was still feeling ill. She asked me if I had checked my bathroom stuff to see if it was gluten free. I said that I was sure I had, but I’d double check. Lo-and-behold, mid shower, I realized that my conditioner (which I had been using for a while) had wheat protein in it.

I felt great that I figured out what could be the source of my ickies, but I wondered how damaging it really was. I knew it wouldn’t be absorbed through my skin, but I knew I was absorbing it somehow. After researching, I realized I was contaminating myself more than I had thought. Each time I touched my hair (which is a lot lately since I need a haircut), I was contaminating my hands, and then touching food or other things. No wonder I felt sick.

I spent a good part of the next day checking my makeups, my lotions and face wash, and my other toiletries. So far everything is safe, and the conditioner was the only culprit. I had checked my detergent and dryer sheets weeks before, but I double checked them just in case. When we move into our new apartment and I get to unpack the rest of my toiletries, you can bet that I will be checking the ingredients of every single thing before it goes into my cabinets.

I know now that I need to be much more diligent than I had thought, and that being gluten-free isn’t as simple as watching the foods you eat. It is a 100% lifestyle change, in every sense of the word.

test baking for new in-house bakery

June 1st 2010 Posted at admin
0 Comments

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but I am a barista at a local cafe. My fiance is also the manager of said cafe. Over the last few months, we’ve been talking with one of the four owners, SW, about getting a small convection oven and mixer, so we can make our own pastries and goodies in-house instead of ordering out from two separate bakeries. The aforementioned owner was receptive, even when we started talking about the baked goods being gluten free. Two of the owners, J and B, recently came back from their sabbatical, and we had started talking again about baking goods in the cafe. After speaking to B about how hard it can be to eat gluten free downtown, and how some days I am at the point of tears just trying to eat lunch, I think she became even more receptive to the idea.

Needless to say, we officially have the green light to get a convection oven!

I have been test baking all day, since we need to find a bunch of recipes to not only replace the items we have (scones, bagels, cookies, cheesecake and bundt cake), but to maybe add a few more things (tartlets, cupcakes and muffins).

I went out and purchased all the ingredients I’d need to test 4 recipes; plain bagels, corn muffins, scones and chocolate chunk cookies.

I started out with the scone mix, which I separated and filled half with blueberries, and the other half with raspberries. While those chilled in the fridge, I made the chocolate chunk cookies. My fiance ate one right as they were cooling, and his only negative comment was that they were too “gooey and soft.” I know that for some people this is not an issue. They tested chocolatey without being too sugary, and were definitely gooey.

After those baked I worked on the corn muffins. I also separated the batter into halves, adding blueberries to one bowl and raspberries to another. I managed to fill all 12 muffin cups, and had extra batter left over for some cute little mini-muffins. My fiance’s reaction was “are you sure these don’t have gluten?!” They were delicious, sweet without being too much, and had the taste of corn without being overwhelming.

By that point my scones had chilled and I was ready to bake. I made them into “scone-shapes” and topped with raw sugar. My fiance’s response was that they were a little small, but I hadn’t known how they were going to bake. Now I know to double the portions when I separate them into individual scones, but they’re perfect for taste-testing.

Last of all was the bagels. I was the most afraid of this, since I used one of two recipes (this one being the easier, in both preparation and ingredients, of the two) and had never made bagels before. They turned out AMAZING. My fiance is laughing maniacally in the background while he eats his mini-bagel. Ha!

I am so happy and relieved with the baking today. Gluten free baking has intimidated me before, and while I try to be optimistic and positive, it is a little tricky sometimes.

End results:

Chocolate Chunk Cookies: 4 of 5 stars
Raspberry/Blueberry Scones: 4 of 5 stars
Raspberry/Blueberry Corn Muffins: 5 of 5 stars
Bagels: 5 of 5 stars

know your ingredients: guar gum

May 24th 2010 Posted at research
0 Comments

I have a whole list of ingredients that I had never heard of until I had to start baking gluten free. My goal, ultimately, is to research each one, and post them here. The last ingredient I researched was teff flour. This week I am researching guar gum.

Guar gum is a fiber, found in the guar plant, which can otherwise be known as the cluster plant. The guar plant grows in Pakistan, and the Northern regions of India, since it thrives on the drought/monsoon cycles that are prevalent in those climates. The seeds are harvested after the monsoon season, and are dried before they are processed into flours, or sold as individual seeds. Guar gum is very high in soluble fiber.

The main purpose of guar gum in gluten free baking is as a binding agent, similar to tapioca flower and cornstarch. Gluten is a binder, and when you remove that from recipes, you often get cookies that are too runny, and brownies that are like soup. The guar gum added will rectify that. Guar gum also has an ability to bind water molecules, preventing frozen foods (like ice cream) from forming ice crystals.

Common medical uses of guar gum are as a laxative, and it is recommended for people with digestive issues, such as IBS and diabetes. It also helps to reduce cholesterol. It had been used as an ingredient in diet pills, since it would swell in the stomach and cause a sense of “fullness” but it was banned by the FDA for this purpose. Guar gum in every day baking or cooking recipes, however, are approved and safe.

Guar gum, while exotic sounding, is not hard to find. You can purchase it online from Bob’s Red Mill, and it can easily be found in packages or in bulk sections of health food or natural food Co-Ops. It may seem expensive to buy guar gum in large quantities, but it is worth the cost if you make a lot of things from scratch at home. A little guar gum in recipes can go a long way, so it will be an investment that will last for quite a while.

[ sources ]

1. WebMD
2. WiseGeek
3. About.com – Gluten Free Cooking
4. Bob’s Red Mill

gluten free on the go

May 11th 2010 Posted at research, restaurant review
0 Comments

Eating gluten free while you’re at home is easy, once you get the hang of it. You find out what grocery stores carry foods you can eat, and you eventually learn which restaurants offer gluten free food, or will work with substitutions. It is easy to become comfortable, thinking that you’re new diet is easier than you expected and that it wasn’t such a cause for concern.

Then you go on a road trip.

This weekend I went to Seattle, WA, to mourn the passing of a close friend. While in Seattle, I used three resources pretty extensively to make sure that I knew where I could and could not eat: Yelp, Urban Spoon and Allergy Eats.

With any internet resource, it’s always best to read the reviews and find out WHY a restaurant is listed under gluten free. I realized that not everything listed was a restaurant, either (take Jiffy Lube popping up under GF restaurants in Yelp while in Southern Idaho). Some people will say that a place offers NO gluten free food, but since it contains the magic words, the restaurant pops up.

For every great restaurant and bakery found through the websites, I found 1 or 2 places that were subpar experiences. While I will review the restaurants on Allergy Eats, I figured I’d offer a mini review here.

Wheatless In Seattle (0003 Greenwood Ave N., Seattle, WA  98133):
This was a cute bakery, located in the Ballard neighborhood. They did not have a menu, so I wasn’t sure exactly what they offered. I wasn’t sure what the toppings were on any of the pizzas in the case, but the baked goods were all labeled. The food was delicious, however. The only other downside (the first being the lack of menu) was that the owner was a little abrasive. She was presumptuous when I spoke with her, assuming that I was asking her to do custom orders for me when I really was asking for something else, and snapped at a customer when they had asked if she could do frostings with soy (claiming it was impossible since she couldn’t make it work, which I know to be false as I have made many before).

Flying Apron (3510 Fremont Ave North Seattle WA 98103):
This bakery was AMAZING. Located in the Freemont neighborhood, the restaurant is perfectly situated to accommodate a lunch crowd. The bakery case was stocked full of delicious looking treats, which were all gluten free and most were vegan. They also offered lunch options, like vegan mac & “cheese” or chili. The staff was really pleasant, and they were constantly restocking the bakery cases. There was a long line of customers of every walk of life streaming through their door constantly.

Whole Foods (2001 15th Avenue W, Seattle, WA 98119):
Lots of great baked goods, made in a dedicated GF bakery. The cupcakes were delicious, after they warmed up (they were very cold, and the frosting was almost frozen, making it hard to eat). The chocolate chip walnut cookies were thick, cake-like and amazing. They also had two large end-caps full of gluten free goods, so finding products was easy.

After going through Seattle, we stopped in Olympia.

The Urban Onion (116 Legion Way, Olympia, WA):
THIS WAS AWFUL. No, I didn’t accidentally leave the bold option on, this restaurant and the experience was truly awful. Not only did they not have running water when we were there (first red flag), the waiter was rude and inattentive, and their menu mislabeled. I ordered a burger without the bun, with fries (which simply said “french fries” so I assumed I could eat them). I got my food, and realized their french fries are breaded. I had thought this would have been mentioned on the menu, and nowhere did it say this. I was upset and disappointed that I had to pay full price for a meal I could only eat 1/3 of. I refused to leave a tip, and wrote a note on the back of the receipt explaining why. I left the restaurant on the verge of tears.

Batdorf and Bronson Coffee (111 Market St. NE, Olympia, WA):
I am SO glad we stopped here before we left. Having left lunch shaking and upset (not elaborating), we stopped for coffee. I ordered a drink, and my spirits lifted slightly. Then I saw their bakery case… they had gluten free baked goods, ranging from fudge brownies to carrot cake to molten chocolate lava cakes, all baked locally and distributed through a local GF grocery called GF Joe’s. I bought a carrot cake to go with my chai, and I was so happy I was almost skipping out of the bakery.

Moral of the story: do a lot of research, before you leave and while you’re on your trip. Read the reviews and find out why they show up. Then do MORE research. I found a GF pizza place that also offered vegan and raw options, only to find out that cross-contamination could be an issue. Know your options and plan ahead. When you find a place that rocks, be sure you tell the employees how much you appreciated the experience. Document your reviews on websites like Yelp and Allergy Eats so that others can have more information, too.

hearty lentil soup with bacon and herbs

May 4th 2010 Posted at recipes
0 Comments

At the first Farmer’s Market of the year, we purchased a 5 lb bag of lentils. I thought to myself, “What are we going to do with 5 lbs of lentils?! I’ve never cooked lentils before!?” I quickly got over my fear, and made this delicious soup!

Hearty Lentil Soup with Bacon and Herbs

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
3 slices chopped bacon
2 tsp minced garlic
7 cups chicken stock
2 cups dried lentils
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tbs chives
2 tbs parsley

Combine onion, celery, carrots, bacon and garlic in a heavy Dutch oven. Cook until tender, covered, over medium-high heat, about 7 minutes. Add broth, lentils, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until lentils are tender. Discard bay leaf. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chives and parsley.

As typical in my house, I doubled the bacon quantity. You can go as much or as little as you want with the bacon, or even eliminate it completely and replace the stock with vegetable stock for a vegetarian version!

Jules Gluten Free CookiE-Book, free today!

April 29th 2010 Posted at special offers, website review
2 Comments

I was browsing through the many gluten free feeds I follow on Twitter this morning when I stumbled on this gem.

@GlutenFreeBee Jules Gluten Free TODAY ONLY ecookie book for free plus even greater savings …

I immediately popped over to the link and saw that Jules Shepard, of Jules Gluten Free, was offering her e-book online for free, today only. You can download the book by going to Jules’s website, and entering “cookie1″ in the coupon field.

Jules isn’t stopping with just that, though! Her starter kit, which features a 5 lb. bag of all-purpose gf flour and three e-books (Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating, Jules’ Baker’s Dozen Recipes and Jules Gluten Free™ – Bread Baking 101) is on sale. The package, a $70 value, normally sells for $39.95, and if you order it today it is only $34.95.

Jules has a lot of other great products, books and resources on her website. Check it out, if only for the CookiE-Book, but stay for the other awesome information!

Betty Crocker GF mixes, part two

April 20th 2010 Posted at product reviews
0 Comments

A couple weeks ago, Lenore reviewed Betty Crocker’s GF Devil’s Food cake mix. I just tried Betty Crocker’s brownie mix and was just as impressed.

The mix required two eggs and water and the batter turned out a little more thick than the brownies I remember making, but I had no problem working with it. The cocoa smell quickly filled my house as they baked, and Mr. Husband refused to wait for them to cool off before digging in.

As this was my first attempt ever using non-wheat flour, whether in a mix or from scratch, we were both a little skeptical about how it would come out. I imagined funky after-tastes and awful textures. Thank goodness I was wrong. The brownies tasted awesome, both right out of the oven and room-temperature the next day. I tasted a slight difference between the GF brownies and the brownies I had grown up with, but Mr. Husband didn’t at all. Even with the difference, they’re delicious.

This is cool, too: Betty Crocker provides alternative recipes for their four gluten-free mixes. At my house, we’re especially excited to try the Brownie Ganache Torte with Raspberries and the carrot cake, which features Betty’s yellow cake mix.

(By the way, if you appreciate companies who either make gluten-free lines or clearly label their products as gluten-free, be sure to write them a thank-you note. You can write to Betty Crocker here. If they hear from enough of us, who knows — maybe they’ll release more yummy mixes!)

the importance of research: ask, don’t assume

April 17th 2010 Posted at research, restaurant review
0 Comments

Today my fiance and I went on a drive through some of the smaller towns that surround our own little haven in Northern Idaho. We ended up in a small cafe located in Troy, Idaho, called the Filling Station. We have been to this cafe before and had ordered drinks that were well enjoyed. We stopped in hoping for a drink, and Andrew was sucked in by a crab-cob salad. I looked through the bakery case, and the menu, and saw that there was nothing I could eat. It was all sandwiches and scones, pastries with crusts and soup with pasta, and salads (which are a whole different issue for me). I ordered my drink, and sat watching Andrew eat his lunch. I have to admit, I was a little depressed. Rarely has there been NOTHING I could eat at a cafe or restaurant, and I was pretty disheartened. While my drink was delicious, I was too bummed to really enjoy it. My blood sugar was also low, which probably did not help.

As we were leaving, the owner of the shop struck up a conversation with us. Andrew talked coffee with him, as we use the same coffee roaster at the cafe where Andrew manages and I work as a barista. I mentioned, casually and without trying to be condescending, that I was a little sad that there was nothing gluten free for me to eat. The owner lit up, and said “Oh, but we do!” and pointed to the gluten free biscotti that I had missed on my pantry scan. His wife, who is the chef/baker at the cafe, mentioned that the tarts and small pies were also gluten free, and that they had corn tortillas on hand to turn any of the sandwich choices into a wrap. I was so excited! They said that they had started offering gluten free options for a close friend, but had quickly realized that there were many people who eat gluten free and requested menu items.

I was so happy that I ordered a wrap, even though we were about to leave to drive back home. We’ll definitely make their cafe a frequent stop off over the summer, as it is nice to get out of town and have a little date elsewhere. Troy is also located at the end of a local bike path, which makes it all the more alluring for summer visits.

Moral of the story: Ask if there is anything gluten free BEFORE you assume. It may not be in the front bakery case, or written on the menu, but there could be something there. I was definitely mad at myself for assuming that I wasn’t able to eat anything and sulked for a good 20 minutes when I could have been enjoying food and the trip out of town.

know your ingredients: teff flour

April 16th 2010 Posted at research
0 Comments

One of the things that struck me as the most daunting when I started living gluten free was the incredible number of new ingredients I was forced to become familiar with. Many of these ingredients, ranging from xanthan gum to sourgum flour, I had never heard of before. Some I had heard of, but not as a flour, like coconut and tapioca.

After going to a gluten free cooking class and hearing about yet another flour (teff) that I had not once heard before, I decided to do a little research. The instructor of the class knew some basic information about each flour, but outside of a few basic facts, I was left wanting more. I decided that once I week I would pick an ingredient common in gluten free baking, research it, and post it here.

This week’s research topic: teff flour.

Teff, which is believed to have originated in ancient Ethiopia (about 4000 and 1000 BC) although many claim that teff flour has been found in ancient Egyptian pyramids before that. Teff gets its name from its size. “Teffa” is the Amharic word for lost, and teff is a very small grain and easily lost if dropped. It is also considered the smallest grain in the world, since the bulk of the grain consists of bran and germ. This makes it very nutrient dense. It has a high calcium content, and contains high levels of phosphorous, iron, copper, aluminum, barium, and thiamin. Since it can withstand high heat, it is an ideal grain for difficult and unpredictable climates.

In Ethiopia it is primarily a cereal crop, and it is also grown in India and it’s colonies, as well as Australia. There are few places in the United States where teff is grown, let alone sold; Idaho and South Dakota are the only places where teff is cultivated.

Teff is a slightly darker grain, and is recommended in recipes where “browning” is a goal. Most gluten free flours do not brown, and can lead to over-baking. Teff flour has a slightly nutty flavor, and can even have a molasses like sweetness. Teff is very versatile, and it can be used as a replacement for sesame seeds in grain form, or for some of the flours in many recipes (about a fourth of the all-purpose flour called for). It is also a great thickening agent for soups and gravies.

Teff flour can be purchased online, as well as in many natural food stores and Co-Ops. Bob’s Red Mill also makes a teff flour, which is sold through their website.

[ sources ]

1. Chet Day’s Health and Beyond
2. Bob’s Red Mill
3. Teff Co.

« Older Entries

Copyright 2010 without wheat | Powered by WordPress | Designed by Diamonds Designers