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 :-)

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.