Friday, January 7, 2011

How to Find Real Food at the Supermarket - SummerTomato.com

This flowchart gave me a good laugh and I thought I'd share the link. Enjoy!



Source: SummerTomato.com

Fool Your Friends Banana Bread

I made this banana bread last night and the first loaf is gone this morning. My favourite part about this recipe is that I really think I could fool my gluten filled friends with it. It's very silky and moist and smells incredible when it's in the oven. No one would ever know that it's gluten free.

Fool Your Friends Banana Bread (makes 2 loaves)



2 cups sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups sour milk (Sour your milk by blending in 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and adding a splash of lemon juice. Let stand for 10-20 mins.)
1 egg
3 mashed bananas
3 cups gluten free all purpose flour*

* If you have baked with your all purpose flour before, feel free to use that flour exclusively. I experimented with three different flours as well as my all purpose gluten free flour. I used 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1/2 cup sorghum, 1/2 brown rice flour, and 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 loaf pans. Cream together sugar, melted butter, sour milk, egg, and bananas. Gradually add flour to creamed mixture. Pour into loaf pans and bake in the oven for 50 minutes. I recommend checking the bread after about 40 minutes. Everyone uses different flours and that can affect the consistency of the bread. You'll know it's done when you poke it with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out dry.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Out of This World Seafood Florentine

I didn't eat a lot of fish in my gluten filled past life. Most of the pregnancy books that I read say that it's packed with essential vitamins and antioxidants and is important for the development of baby. I'm sure fish will become a permanent staple in my gluten free diet because it's so versatile. There are so many different ways to bake, poach, and fry fish.

For frugal families like mine, fish is always on sale somewhere. We buy our fish from the frozen food section and can find a bag of shelled shrimp for as little as three dollars.

Over the holidays, Mark made me this delicious gluten free Seafood Florentine that quickly became my new favourite dinner dish. Mark rarely uses a recipe so we tried to come up with one to share with our friends. I hope you'll try it and tell me what you think.

Out of This World Seafood Florentine

Mixed fish chunks and raw shrimp (we used pollock, haddock)*
1 sweet potato
3/4 pack frozen spinach
Parmesan cheese
dash of nutmeg

Cheese Sauce

1 small onion
1/8 cup + 1 tbsp butter
1 - 1 1/2 cups milk (we used lactose free)
mixture of 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup cubed cream cheese
parmesan cheese
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper
hot sauce**

* scallops, lobster and crab would be a fantastic substitute
** adding 2 or 3 dashes of of hot sauce or a pinch of cayenne make a great addition to this dish.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Slice sweet potato into thin slices and parboil until almost fork tender. Steam spinach until wilted. Grease a 13 x 9 casserole dish. Line the bottom of the dish with sweet potato slices then top with spinach.

Cheese sauce
In frying pan, saute 1 small onion in 1 tablespoon of butter until onions are translucent. Pour in 1 - 1 1/4 cups of milk. Add 1/8 cup butter and a dash of nutmeg. In a separate dish, mix 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of cold water. Add cornstarch mixture to frying pan when milk starts to boil. Let the sauce thicken. You can add more milk if you find the mixture too thick. Add 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and stir well. Remove from heat and drop in 1/4 cup of cubed cream cheese. Whisk the mixture well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add hot sauce (optional).

Pour some of the cheese sauce on top of the spinach and potato layers. Lay fish chunks and raw shrimp on top of the cheese sauce. Pour remaining cheese sauce on top of fish. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese and a dash of nutmeg. Bake for 30-40 mins until bubbly. Remove and sprinkle with more Parmesan and broil dish for two minutes until cheese browns.

Photos - coming soon!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Corn Bread/Muffin mix from Bulk Barn

I buy most of my gluten free flours at Bulk Barn here in Canada. I found a store that also carries gluten free mixes in bulk. Some of the mixes include vanilla cake, brownies, and bread. I decided to give the corn bread a try because I've never had it before.

I made it in to muffins instead of bread and they are delicious! It took the same amount of time as the bread would have (as per the directions).

Let me know if you've tried any of the other mixes from Bulk Barn. I'm sure I'll try the brownie mix next.

Visit the Bulk Barn website for more details.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Gluten Free Deep Fried Fish Batter

I've made this several times and it always turns out delicious. It's a flaky batter to wrap around a white fish of your choice. We've tried it on Pollock and Cod. I'll post a photo next time I make it.

1 c gluten free all purpose flour (plus a little bit extra to coat fish)
1 c Cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
Small bottle of Club Soda
Vegetable oil

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Slowly add Club Soda until the batter looks like pancake batter or coats the back of a spoon.

Place enough vegetable oil in a pot to cover a few piece of fish. Make sure the pot is no more than half full with oil. When the oil is hot, it's pretty volatile. Turn burner on to med-high. After 10 mins, place a small amount of batter in the oil and if the oil bubbles, it's ready.

Light coat fish with gluten free all purpose flour then dip the fish in to the batter. Make sure it's well coated. Gently place the battered fish into the oil until golden brown.

(This is much easier to make if you have a deep fryer!)

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Recipe - Version 2

I use this GF All Purpose Flour for cookies.

2 1/2 c Brown Rice Flour
2 c White Rice Flour
1/2 c Cornstarch
3/4 c + 2 Tbsp Potato Starch
3/4 c + 2 Tbsp Tapioca Flour
3 Tbsp Xantham gum

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies & Gluten Free Oatcho Cookies

I'm a pregnant lady on the prowl for sweets and, oh, how I've missed the taste of cookies. The last cookie I ate was an Oreo and that was over 250 days ago! Yes, I'm counting.

Last weekend, I decided it was time to end the no cookie madness and I made two wonderfully delicious batches of cookies. The first was a no fuss Peanut Butter Cookie and the second was a more complicated, but well worth it, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie. I hope you'll try both!


Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies



1 cup Peanut Butter (I prefer the smooth kind)
1 cup Sugar
1 egg beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c chocolate chip cookies (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and roll into balls the size of golf balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet and push ball flat with a fork. Bake for 8-10 mins at 350 F.




Gluten Free Oatcho Cookies (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip)



Preheat oven to 350 F.

1/2 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c gluten free all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 lrg egg
1/2 tsp xantham gum
1 1/2 cup gluten free oats (fine)
1/2 c chocolate chips or raisins

Cream brown sugar and butter together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (excluding raisins or chocolate chips). Slowly add dry mixture. I used my hands to make sure all the oats made it in to the batter. Add raisins or chocolate chips. Roll into balls the size of golf balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten the balls with a fork. Bake for 10-12 mins.

Note: I used a flour that contains Xantham gum and didn't feel the need to add the additional amount this recipe calls for. If you do not add chocolate chips or raisins, I recommend including it in the recipe.

Gluten Free Bread Recipe was a flop

A few months ago, I posted a recipe for Gluten Free Bread. I was excited to try it because the blogger I borrowed it from had a tempting photo of a loaf of bread and promised it would be delicious.

My bread turned out looking similar but didn't rise as much. When I tasted an end piece, I was pleasantly surprised at how familiar the taste was. It reminded me of whole wheat bread. But as I cut in to the loaf I noticed that it looked a little uncooked and gummy. I figured it was my fault for taking the loaf out too early even though I followed the directions exactly.

I tried the recipe again and left it in for an extra 10 minutes. I still had the same problem. Too gummy in the middle of the loaf. I love the taste of this bread but not the texture.

Now some of you might enjoy a moist bread and I still recommend that you try this recipe if you're on the hunt for a good gluten free sandwich bread. However, I found that I still needed to toast every last piece for that desired texture.

I'm still going to play around with this recipe. It does call for for quite a bit of Xantham gum and I'm noticing that I'm not a fan of what the gums do to my recipes.

I'm back on the hunt for a great Gluten Free Bread.



Gluten-free market is worth more than a billion-and-a-half dollars and farmers are cashing in

I found an article about farmers finally understanding that there is a HUGE market for gluten-free grains.

Eating Without Wheat: Farmers See Market in Celiac Disease Patients

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Gluten Free Flour Resource

Great list of all the gluten free flours on the market. I refer to it all the time for replacements, flavour descriptions, and behaviour. Hope you find it helpful!

List of Gluten Free Flours