What is Gluten anyway?

Gluten is an elastic protein that is found in wheat, rye and barley. The latin root for the word actually means “glue”. Ironically enough, this is what makes the regular gluten foods most people are used to hold together and retain their elasticity. You know that awesome French bread that everyone loves? Especially when it’s fresh and chewy? Yep that’s the gluten.

“Can I still have oats?”:

Some people say yes, some no, it depends what your sensitivities are.  One issue with oats is cross contamination, the other problem is that there is still some similarities that could cause problems for people sensitive to gluten, click here for more information.

“Gluten is only in stuff like breads and noodles right?”:

Well you would think wouldn’t you?... Almost all baked goods and pastas contain gluten

However,… gluten is lurking everywhere. You name it: breads, cakes, pies, pizza, pastas, sauces, most processed meats, the list could honestly go on and on (it will be a blog post all in itself later)… but you get the general idea.  

“Wheat free = Gluten free?”:

It's important to note that a Wheat allergy and Celiac Disease/Gluten Sensitivity are completely different. Just because something is wheat-free doesn’t necessarily mean its gluten-free.

Wiki has a really good description of what gluten is too actually, if you are interested to read more in depth information I suggest to check it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten

Delicious Lattes with a Kick

Mocha Java Spice Lattes 

 

Makes 4 servings

What you will need:

1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup heavy or whipping cream

3 cups strong, freshly brewed coffee

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more for garnish

Whipped Cream

Instructions:

In medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk chocolate chips, cream, coffee, sugar and pumpkin pie spice until chips are completely melted and mixture just starts to boil. Divide among 4 coffee mugs. Top each with whipped cream and a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice. 

It's a bit chilly here in Winnipeg this morning, would be a perfect time to have a nice latte, mmm. Can you believe it's almost April already? Why is the snow still here... 

Have a potluck coming up at my church next week, excited to have ideas brewing in my head for what I want to make already. I'm thinking of making an orange creamsicle pie (gluten free, yes!). Speaking of gluten free stuff, I found an awesome "conversion chart" on pinterest, you can take almost any "regular" recipe and turn it into being gluten free.


<Insert awesome chart here>

Credit to my Kitchenaid cookbook for this Latte recipe. (Which I got for free from using Sears Wedding Gift Registry, thanks guys!)

Mmm Apple Pie!

So who says that being gluten free means that you can't enjoy your pie and eat it too??? Hello this is 2013! Surely we can make a great apple pie for our gluten sensitive folks? We can!!! And did!
Made this pie for my hunny as it was his birthday. Happy birthday dear! (He prefers pie over cake, who wouldn't right?)

Don't be scared, this recipe is super easy! Lets get baking...

Gluten Free Pie Crust:

Things you will need:
½ cup Butter or Margarine (I used margarine)
3-4 Tablespoon Ice cold water
1 ¼ Cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend (see below)
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Extra margarine to grease pie plate

Pastry Cutter
Rolling Pin
Wax Paper
9 Inch Pie Plate

So this recipe is pretty simple, to top the pie off, you can either prepare 2x the pie crust recipe and top the pie this way, or if you are lazy like me, then I just make a crumble topping!
Crumble Topping:
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter/margarine, chilled.

(Mix all ingredients together and cut butter in with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly, then put it on your pie! Yummy Yum!)

I love love love this GF Flour blend:
I omit the sorghum flour and replace it with more brown rice flour, also replaced the potato flour with tapioca starch flour. Where I live Brown Rice Flour is about half the price of Sorghum, hehe. This couple’s blog is amazzzing, best gluten free recipes I have ever found.

Instructions:
1.)     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2.)     Combine all dry ingredients and mix well, place in freezer
3.)     Measure out margarine and water to be used and also place in freezer, leave them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. (Pie crust turns out best when everything is nice and cold.
4.)     While you are waiting for ingredients to chill, tear off a piece of wax paper (as big as you need for rolling), and also grease the pie plate!
5.)     Take ingredients out from freezer and using a pastry cutter, cut margarine into flour blend. (Try to work quickly, you don’t want the margarine to melt)
6.)     Add in ice water, mix the dough quickly with your hands (only long enough until everything is combined)
7.)     On a piece of wax paper that has been floured, carefully roll out the pie crust. I find flouring the top and bottom of dough helps, as well as flouring the rolling pin itself.
8.)     Once you have the right thickness, I find it is easiest to “plop” the pie crust down into the pie pan, the wax paper should lift right off of the crust.
9.)     At this point you can try to “shape” the crust into the pan, and craft the beautiful trim on the edges of the pie plate. 
10.)   Poke bottom of pie crust with a fork and bake pie crust in preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Apple Pie Filling:
I used the filling recipe from this site, made some pretty amazing apple pie:
Click here for apple pie filling recipe! Mmm 

Credit also to http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsandsweets/r/gfapplepie.htm - got the recipe for the crust (except for the flour blend) from this site.

Great Find! Been looking everywhere...

Finally I found gluten free oats! Found them at Bulk Barn on Kenaston. I have looked in almost every "regular" grocery store and alas, did not find any.

Also found this all purpose gluten free flour blend that is super duper easy! Also love this blog -

http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.ca/2010/04/artisan-gluten-free-flour-blend.html

A New Adventure, In Many Ways

I got married November, 2012 to the love of my life, Colin. After we were married, I started noticing that he was feeling sick after he ate pretty much all the time. Of course I was very concerned, and felt bad, like I was doing something wrong - thinking maybe my cooking was to blame? But then...

During a conversation at my workplace, one of my girlfriends had mentioned that she had a gluten intolerance. Of course my first reaction was "Huh? What the heck is that???". I asked her more about it as it peaked my curiosity, she explained what she could and could not eat. I found the whole thing very interesting, especially because the reason she ate this way was not a diet fad but because she had to so she didn't feel sick.

That night I went home and spoke with my husband, I told him the conversation I had earlier in the day with my co worker, and at that point started asking if he knew any type connection to certain foods that made him feel sick. It took us a while to put it together, but realised that he had some type of gluten intolerance - He was completely gluten free for a week and then tried to have a meal with it containing gluten, and sure enough that old familiar feeling came back.

The funny thing is, reading online - a lot of people can be Celiac or have a gluten intolerance and not even know it. Also, even if you are not Celiac, they may not be able to diagnose an intolerance. I cannot even imagine how people live with this, and sometimes, like my husband, grow up thinking that its "normal" to feel sick after eating sometimes (depending on what you eat). From the point that I started doing more research on gluten free things, I can tell you this STUFF is almost in everything! Its ridiculous how much of a "filler" it is. Even if you stay away from breads and pastas, its in sauces, dry mixes, deli meats, almost any processed food you can imagine.

 I also don't know why some people would want to choose to live this way based on a diet fad, etc... It can be very discouraging to find out you basically cannot eat out anywhere! Sure you can go to some places still (Mongos Grill is a great one), but if you go to a place with a "Gluten Free" option or menu, you usually are paying an arm and a leg for it. $12 for a small Gluten Free Pizza from almost anywhere? Give me a break! Forget about where most people love to eat out, burgers, subs, you name it.

Okay, some of this entry has clearly been me stating the negatives, but heres the GOOD:
I thank God that we were finally able to find out what made Colin feel sick!
I thank God that I have had a great time adjusting to cooking/baking with gluten free stuff. God has blessed me so much that I have been able to have success without getting frustrated.
 I thank God that I have been able to find out a way to make all Colin's favorite foods/desserts Gluten Free!
I love cooking, and find that alot of the recipes I am making that are gluten free, you can't barely tell the difference (woohoo!).

I'm always on the hunt for good recipes and gluten free news. I love my husband and want to take care of him the best I can. I have never cooked/baked with gluten free things before like Brown Rice Flour, etc, but it has been great to be able to find such amazing information and recipes on my pinterest account.
Check me out on pinterest @ http://pinterest.com/superjammin/

Gluten Free Burritos Recipe!

Well... new to this whole blogging thing, but will try my best to make this entertaining for y'all. My man loves burritos, but unfortunately because of his gluten sensitivity it costs around $2-$4 PER burrito at the store (Ouch)...

Changing the cooking in my house to being 100% Gluten Free has been an interesting adventure. While sometimes it might seem challenging (as you have to closely check all ingredients!) it is worth it because when I cook this way my husband no longer feels sick. 

In the recipe below - I think its important to note that when I am making burritos, I double the recipe for the tortillas, this yields about a dozen Tortillas (It depends how big you make them of course).

*Will upload an image of my own later*

Making The Tortillas:

Things You'll Need:

• 1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water

Instructions
1 - Combine the dry ingredients in large bowl and mix thoroughly.
2 - Add water to the mixture and mix with your hands.
3 - Separate the dough into 6 to 8 equal parts. Roll them into balls, just larger than the size of a golf ball.
4 - Place a ball of dough in the center of a sheet of wax paper. Flatten with your hand. Cover with another sheet of wax paper. Roll it with a rolling pin into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.
5 - Carefully remove the top layer of wax paper.
6 - Flip the tortilla over (dough side down) onto a hot pan (medium heat) and pull the wax paper away. Be careful not to touch the pan with your hand.
7 - Cook your tortillas on each side until they are golden brown. Serve them immediately



These Tortillas Are Awesome!!! They bend and are flexible like tortillas from the store. I have used them for wraps, burritos, and also for pizza crusts! (I just leave them a little bit thicker if its for pizza crust). I have not tried this yet - but I'm sure you could also cut them up and make chips out of them.
Note *** I have also used Sorghum Flour in place of Brown Rice Flour and it works well, I personally prefer it with the Brown Rice Flour though. 

 ~ SPILLING THE BEANS ~

Bean & Cheese Burrito Filling:

Things You'll Need:

4 Cups cooked beans of your choice (I like using Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Mix)

2 – 2.5 cups of Cooked Brown Rice

1 – 1.5 cups of Salsa

¼ cup Corn oil

¼ cup Old Cheddar Shredded Cheese

1 Tablespoon of minced Garlic

½ pkg of taco seasoning (make sure its gluten-free!)

Hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions

1.      In a deep frying pan, over low – medium heat, mix together beans, rice and oil
2.      Begin to slowly incorporate everything by mashing ingredients in pan together.
3.      Add the remaining ingredients (salsa, cheese, garlic, seasonings) to the pan, again making sure to do this slowly so you don’t get salsa everywhere. Keep mashing for about 5 minutes.
4.      Taste the mixture at this point, if you feel it needs to be adjusted, then do so to your taste (if you want it smoother then add some more salsa and mash longer, etc)

Once you have gotten the mixture to your desired taste and consistency, let it cool and then stuff it into tortillas! I love to make homemade burritos from scratch and put them in the freezer so my husband can pull a few out if he is feeling hungry.

(To freeze your homemade burritos – Fill them and place them folded side down on a waxed cookie sheet. Freeze them this way individually and then place them in separate freezer bags to avoid them sticking together.) Hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I have! Sorry I didn’t save pictures, I will try to add some later!)

Tortilla Recipe Credits: 

Read more: How to Make Gluten Free Flour Tortillas | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5816396_make-gluten-flour-tortillas.html#ixzz2O5S8tUSF