Saturday, February 26, 2011

GF Roll Out Pizza Dough and Other Stuff...

This recipe for pizza crust comes pretty highly rated by the people who have tried it...definitely on the list to try. 


Also, I'm reading about how sorghum flour is hard to digest - maybe that's why I've had a stomach ache after eating some bread made with it?  


For my all purpose flour I'm using this recipe: 6 cups finely ground brown rice flour (King Arthur Flour has a stabilized brown rice flour that won't go rancid quickly), 2 cups potato starch (not flour) and 1 cup tapioca flour/starch.  This is the recipe used in the cookbook mentioned below as well as KAF's recipe.  You can substitute some garbanzo or garfava flour for part of the brown rice flour as well for more protein.  


I made the recipe for the GF bread in 5 minutes a day and it was very tasty.  It does have sorghum flour in it but not in a great quantity.  I would definitely recommend the recipe - it was easy to pull out of the refrigerator, wet my hands, shape a loaf and bake in a 7x5 pan.  I baked it for 40 minutes at 425.  It does have to rise for 90 minutes - so I ran errands.  



Thursday, February 24, 2011

Yummy GF pasta...

The other day Ruthie called me and excitedly told me about their dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  They had ordered GF pasta - but when they tasted it they questioned whether the waiter had gotten their order right - the pasta tasted so good.  Sure enough...it was GF pasta!! As they left the restaurant, Ruth asked to talk to the manager about the pasta to ask what the brand was.  He told her it was Heartland and they were quite sure their search for a good GF pasta was over.  (Ruth, you can correct me if I'm wrong here).  Anyway - she told me that the brand was Heartland and they loved it! Naturally we needed to try it, so I went to Amazon and purchased the 5 pack of spaghetti.  They're less expensive than the 8 oz. packages of corn/quinoa pasta which tends to fall apart if handled very much (as in Spaghetti Carbonara where it is tossed with olive oil, bacon, eggs and cheese).  


Tonight we enjoyed a package of this pasta along with Trader Joe's Bruschetta and Parmesan cheese.  I also fixed some Aidells sausages and sauteed red onion and kale from my CSA basket today.  Simple and delicious. I'll be purchasing more of the Heartland pasta...fortunately they have different shapes along with the spaghetti. 


So I wanted to recommend this pasta.  I talked to someone at Henry's in Laguna Niguel today about them carrying it in the stores.  Hopefully they will add it to their supply.  Definitely a thumbs up!! 

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Book Recommendation

I am very excited about a book I have found.  The name of the book is The Allergen Free Baker's Handbook and can be found on Amazon.  She also has a blog for which you can find a link in our sidebar.  I have made 4 of the recipes from this book and all have been successful.  She warns not to change recipes but I have substituted the non-dairy items for dairy and the sweeteners for sweeteners I use and all have been successful.  One thing I really like about this book is that she basically uses two flour combinations.  One for quick breads and one for yeast breads.  I have mixed both in bags and keep them in the refrigerator and then can just pull out one bag and bake an item.  I have made two of the scone recipes, the pizza crust and another bread.  One of the scone recipes is on my recipe blog The Way to His Heart
Having said all of this I am having to be careful as I am also trying to watch my carb intake.  One of the dilemas of eating gluten free that I have found is what do I just do without and what do I try and find a substitute for.  There is a substitute for almost everything but whether it is good for you or not is another question.  It is nice to have the options and be able to make pizza when I crave it and a nice scone and cup of tea occasionally!
If you are new to eating gluten free, remember that the tastes will be different but your palate will adjust over time and you will forget what the other tastes like :-)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Quinoa

Over the past 2 years our family has discovered and enjoyed eating quinoa - a tiny, power-packed little seed.  If you google quinoa you will find a lot of great information, websites and recipes to use this complete protein.  One of our favorite recipes is here .  Another recipe originally used cous-cous which of course has gluten in it, but quinoa is a great substitute for it.  Here is another recipe that looks really good.  We use it as a substitute for rice as well.  


I found a 10 lb bag of quinoa at Costco recently.  Trader Joe's, for those lucky enough to have one, and  Nutsonline.com  are also good resources for quinoa if you can't find it locally and there are also recipes available at the Nutsonline website.  We don't care for quinoa flakes - they have a bitter smell and taste...so if a recipe calls for quinoa flakes - use gf rolled oats instead. 


Last night for dinner I cooked up 1 cup of quinoa and while it was cooking we cut up baby bok choy, grated carrots, chopped up persian cucumbers and fresh basil. When the quinoa was cooked, we stirred it all together and threw in some baby tomatoes.  We drizzled EVOO over the top and squeezed in some fresh lime juice and a few sprinkles of SPIKE garlic seasoning.  Everyone loved it....it was really delicious.  You can use any combination of fresh cut up veggies you like, use a balsamic vinaigrette in place of the EVOO as well.  


Speaking of EVOO - I buy mine from this wonderful organic farm up in the Oroville CA area.  My dad was born on an olive ranch in Oroville...wonder how far this ranch is from his birthplace?  Their website is here .  Their olive oil is buttery and mild - so delicious!! If you're lucky they will still have some left from this year's harvest.