If you're like many people in the gluten free community, you may be trying to avoid other grains besides just wheat. Or maybe you're trying to adapt recipes to make them more nutrient-dense by using alternative flours like almond flour. And I'm sure most of us would like to reduce the refined sugars in our diet. These are all great dietary goals, but where do you start? How do you make some of your favorite gluten free meals and baked goods without the gluten free flours you've come to rely on in recipes? Consulting a cookbook like Comfort Cooking Without Grains and Refined Sugars is a great place to start. Written by Eleanor Fahey of the Cooking Without Grains website, it contains over 200 recipes (both sweet and savory). I love how the recipes use ingredients like honey instead of sugar. And I especially like Eleanor's use of almond flour, which I've always found lends a wonderful flavor and moistness to recipes (in addition to adding protein, fiber, and healthy fats -- you can't beat that!). Recipes range from appetizers and dips...to breads and muffins...to meat and seafood...to condiments and salad dressings...and even vegetarian meals. I'd like to give you... Read more →
Gluten Free Recipes
I wanted to share this easy, tasty recipe for Pumpkin Muffins (good any time of year!), adapted to be GLUTEN FREE from a recipe my older son made in his Family and Consumer Science course in Middle School (the modern-day term for what we called "Home Ec" back in my day!) I love the assortment of gluten-free flour blends on the market now -- so many good ones to choose from. Substituting them cup-for-cup for "regular" flours makes adapting recipes like this so easy. We used King Arthur gluten free multi-purpose blend, since it's easy to find in stores near us, but you can use another favorite brand of your choosing. Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Ingredients: Dry: 1 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend (we used King Arthur's GF multi-purpose flour) 1 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice Wet: 1 cup pumpkin 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup orange juice 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 eggs Topping: 1 Tablespoon Turbinado sugar or confectioners sugar Directions: 1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2.) Line muffin pans with 12 paper liners and spray lightly with non-stick spray (or spray non-stick spray directly in muffin... Read more →
Something unique happened at our son Ryan's Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts this past weekend. For those of you who don't know, the Blue and Gold Banquet celebrates the anniversary of scouting, and most packs celebrate with a dinner and entertainment for the scouts and their families. This year, our son and the other scouts in his den were being honored for earning their "Arrow of Light," the highest honor in Cub Scouts. They will be crossing over into a Boy Scout Troop next month, so this was the last gathering as part of the Cub Scout pack. For the past few years, the pack has had a Cake Contest as part of the festivities at the Blue and Gold dinner. There are various categories (most creative, most patriotic, most chocolate, and many more...sometimes they even include best "allergy free" cake). The idea is to have the boys help in the preparation and decoration of the cakes. In past years we've made a penguin-shaped cake (Ryan loves penguins) and a flag cake (a sheet cake decorated with vanilla buttercream icing and with strawberries and blueberries for the stars and stripes). The flag cake won for Best Allergy-Free Cake,... Read more →
One of my favorite gluten free Holiday recipes is a gluten free version of traditional cornbread stuffing. I've adapted various recipes to come up with this one, which can be made quickly and easily, especially if you choose to use pre-made gluten free cornbread (like the Gluten Free Bakehouse variety found at Whole Foods Market) or even just your favorite gluten free bread (cut into cubes and dried out a bit). Of course, you can always whip up a fresh batch of gluten free cornbread -- using a mix or your own favorite recipe -- and use that for the base in this recipe. Another thing I love about this recipe is the addition of sausage. You can vary the taste depending on what type of gluten free sausage you use, but in general, I love the slight degree of spiciness and saltiness sausage lends to the recipe. You can bake this stuffing in a casserole dish (as I do) or stuff your turkey with it. It can also be prepared and refrigerated the day before and then baked the day of your event. Here's the recipe, with suggestions for various adaptations: Gluten Free Stuffing Ingredients: 7 cups gluten free... Read more →
Whether you serve them with a warm latte on a cool Fall morning -- or save them as a mid-afternoon treat, these Gluten Free Cinnamon Chip Scones are easy to make and sure to please. You can use your favorite gluten free flour mixture (one that can be substituted cup-for-cup for regular flour in baking). And feel free to swap the cinnamon chips for chocolate chips -- or better yet, use fresh berries like blueberries or raspberries (or both!). This scone recipe is very versatile, so you can try a new variety each time. Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups gluten free flour (I used King Arthur brand) 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 cup buttermilk 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted 3/4 cup cinnamon chips (make sure they are gluten free -- I used Hershey's brand) You can also substitute chocolate chips, berries, or nuts -- or any combination of those Instructions: 1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees 2.) Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet (this helps prevent the scones from burning on the bottom) 3.) In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 4.) Melt... Read more →
It's Back to School and Back to the Scramble! Today we welcome Aviva Goldfarb, mother of two and the author and founder of The Six O'Clock Scramble®, an online weekly meal planning service and author of a cookbook by the same name. She also has a second cookbook, “SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue: Earth Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Meals for Busy Families” Both are available on Amazon.com. Aviva is also a Today Show contributor and frequently appears in media such as the Washington Post, O Magazine, Real Simple, Working Mother, Prevention and more. Aviva's focus is on the family dinner -- and making it easier for busy parents. After all, families who eat dinner together typically have better relationships. Plus, the kids do better in school, are healthier physically and emotionally, and are less likely to engage in risky behaviors like drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. More interesting (and rather alarming) statistics and trends can be found on Aviva's website. By following Aviva's tips below, you'll learn to save time, money, and your sanity! Most of Aviva's recipes are gluten free -- or can be easily adapted to be gluten free. Below she shares two favorite recipes, as well as... Read more →
I've always enjoyed shopping at Wegmans, especially for meat and specialty items. However, the closest one is 20 minutes from my home, so I don't typically shop there on a weekly basis. But two exciting things have happened lately: 1.) Wegmans has a new dedicated area for gluten free products -- shelf stable as well as frozen -- in the center of their store. We've been able to find the majority of our favorite brands and products here, which helps reduce the need for shopping at multiple stores to find the gluten free items our family likes. 2.) I've discovered that many of Wegmans' mouth-watering recipes in their Menu magazine are gluten free -- or can very easily be tailored to be gluten free with some simple substitutions. (Menu magazines are mailed free to you when you sign up for a Wegmans shoppers club loyalty card. Their recipes are also available free online.) As those of you who shop at Wegmans and use their Menu magazine know, their recipes contain many private label products that you can only find at Wegmans -- things like pre-made sauces, marinades, or dressings (one of my favorites is their Lemon and Caper Sauce, which... Read more →
One of the first times I visited my husband's family back when we were dating, my mother-in-law made a fantastic grilled butterflied leg of lamb for dinner. Although I'd always liked lamb, I really had never made it myself. I loved how it tasted -- the marinade was wonderful -- so I asked her for the recipe. I made it many times in the years that followed, before our son's diagnosis with Celiac Disease. Then afterward, I just tailored the recipe to make it gluten free. The only "substitution," per se, was swapping out the traditional soy sauce for gluten free soy sauce. It's been a while since I made it, but after buying lamb kebab meat last week, I dug out the recipe, and it was perfect for that as well. Whether you use a leg of lamb (get it butterflied for easier, more uniform grilling) or kebab meat, this recipe makes a great main course for summer entertaining. The longer you marinate the meat, the better it is! Ingredients: Butterflied leg or lamb or lamb kebab meat 1 cup soy sauce (obviously you'll want to use a gluten free brand like San-J or Joyce Chen) 1 lemon (juiced)... Read more →
My older son (not the gluten free one) came home from middle school a couple weeks ago telling me about a chocolate chip cookie recipe his friend got from the Mrs. Fields website. He said we HAD to try it...and my son wanted to adapt the recipe to make it gluten free. We've made many gluten free chocolate chip cookies over the years, some "from scratch" recipes and others from mixes or ready-made dough. They've all been a bit different -- but for the most part, they've all been good. We were excited to try this new recipe, since it was from the Mrs. Fields site. Here it is, with just ONE substitution -- using gluten free flour instead of regular flour. We (or should I say MY SON, since he did most of the work) used the King Arthur gluten free flour, which has been our "go-to" flour recently. We substitute it cup-for-cup both in baking and for savory cooking uses, like breading. We really liked these cookies -- perhaps our favorite, at least in recent memory. (Compliments to my husband for the photo -- all too often I forget to take photos of our GF creations!) Mrs. Fields... Read more →
I just have to share one of our family's long-time favorite recipes -- Gluten Free Garlic Chicken. It was originally passed on 15+ years ago by my husband's aunt. Of course, the recipe isn't intended to be gluten free, but back when our younger son was diagnosed with Celiac exactly 8 years ago, it was one of the easiest recipes to adapt...it merely required substituting regular breadcrumbs with gluten free breadcrumbs. Here it is, served with gluten free angel hair and stir fried kale, carrots and tomatoes. I hadn't made the recipe for a while -- I've been trying a lot of new recipes lately. But I made the Garlic Chicken again last night and was reminded how easy -- and delicious it is. I will be reminding myself to make this more often! You can vary the dose of garlic, depending on your family's tastes! INGREDIENTS: 1 package chicken cutlets (1 -1 1/4 lbs. or 5-6 pieces). 1/2 stick of butter or equivalent amount of margarine (1/4 cup) 3-4 cloves of crushed or chopped garlic 3/4 cup gluten free Italian breadcrumbs (I typically use Aleia's, but there are many other brands, and you can even make your own) 1/3... Read more →
On St. Patrick's Day this year, I made the usual corned beef in a slow cooker -- and resurrected the Irish Soda Bread recipe I'd made a couple years ago. We were having company over (including a boy named Patrick), so I wanted to make sure to include this Irish tradition as part of the meal! The recipe I'd followed a couple years back was from All Recipes (I love that site -- I adapt a lot of recipes from there to make them gltuen free). It's called Irresistible Irish Soad Bread, and it's a fitting name. It is irresistible -- and perfect ANY time of the year! I personally like the recipe, because it's plain -- it doesn't call for caraway seeds or raisins. The result is a slightly sweet bread with a nice texture that's good served with a meal -- or even sliced thin for sandwiches (although it's just a tad bit crumbly). And shame on me for forgetting (yet again) to take a picture! I followed the All Recipes recipe to a "T," but of course substituted gluten free flour, cup for cup, for the regular "all purpose flour." This year, I figured I'd try the... Read more →