Summer here we come!

Hi Friends! As you know, summer is coming, so grab your bathing suit and get partyin’!

Grandma Lillie’s Apple Dumplings

Hi Friends! Tiramisulover5 here with a new recipie 4 u to enjoy!

Lets begin!

Ingredients:

3-4 tablespoons oil (sunflower, safflower, almond, canola)

2 apples, peeled and cored an thinly sliced into rings

6-8 eggs

4 tablespoons brown rice flour

Cinnamon

Instructions:

Heat oil in a medium/ large skillet and saute apples until soft. Beat eggs with flour and pour batter on top of the apples in skillet and heat on medium heat until bubbly. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Put in a pie plate or pan under boiler until it fluffs up. Cut into wedges and serve with syrup, almond butter, or jam.

Yield: 8 servings

What is Gluten Free anyhow????

Hi there loyal friends!!!!  I think I need to back up a little bit and just give the basics, because some are asking what gluten free really means.  It would certainly be helpful if that were cleared up, wouldn’t it? (Duh me!! I should have thought of that sooner!)  The gluten free diet is a diet in which no gluten can be eaten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, oats, barely and rye.  That means nothing made with any of those grains or with the flours made from those grains, or anything derived form any of those grains.  So obviously, no wheat bread.  No white bread.  No oatmeal.  (Darn.)  But it can get more difficult, as you find you must also eliminate barley malt, which is most every cereal on the market.  You can’t have any canned soups thickened with wheat flour, or anything like that.  So that is the basics!  Hope that is helpful! 

 

Love,

Kath

Amazon.com

Hi! Tiramisulover5 here to say: At Amazon.com you can find many things. To Babysitter’s Club Books, to Webkinz. But guess what? They have gluten-free snacks and flours! Yup, it’s true. My fam bought (a couple of months ago) some yummy licorice and cookies. I bet your wondering… why do we need gluten-free licorice? Well, most licorice contains wheat flour (blech!) like Twizzlers. I miss Twizzlers, but it’s no big D. Anyways, the brand is called Candy Tree.

Candy Tree Organic candy vines, (wheat and gluten free) pack of 12, only $27.14

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

Hi GF Zone fans! Tiramisulover5 here back with some more recipies that will turn up your taste buds. My recipie today is: Pumpkin bread!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups GF flour blend of choice

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1  1/2  teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup canola oil

2/3 cup water

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree

2 eggs, beaten

Here’s what to do:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine flour blend, xanthan gum, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, water,pumpkin,and eggs.

Combine the dry and wet mixtures thoroughly.

Divide the batter equally among three 8×4 inch loaf pans or two 12-compartment muffin pans that have been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Bake loaves for 45 to 50 minutes; bake muffins for 40 minutes.

When the toothpick in the center comes out clean, the loaves/muffins are done. Cool completely before cutting& serving.

YIELD: 3 loaves or 24 muffins.

Kid-Friendly GF Recipies

Hi! Tiramisulover here and I have some kid friendly GF recipies.

GF potato pancakes:

3 cups mashed potatoes

1/4 cups of garbanzo bean flour

1/2 cup of brown rice flour

1/2 tapioca starch

1/2 tablespoon of xanthan gum

1/2 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoon oil

3 tablespoon rice milk

* Mix ingredients well in a large bowl
Roll out pancakes between two floured pieces of wax paper
Cook on high heat on a griddle until brown turning once

Bagels!

Ah, bagels…the carbohydrate- and calorie-laden staple of the nineties, whether slathered with cream cheese or topped with salmon and tomatoes and onion and yeah, still cream cheese, we all have eaten our share of this bready treat. Well, in 2008 I don’t want a bagel every day anymore, but i still want one sometimes! We tried two brands this spring, and one outshone the other like a spotlight outshines a flashlight with a low battery (don’t they all have a low battery? Always?) So I am thrilled to recommend Kinnikinnick’s Gluten Free Bagels! TaDah!!!! The kids like them, too. We enjoyed ours with real butter and a locally made blueberry preserves.

I found these at our health food store. About $4.50 for a pack of 4.

Good Luck!

Kath

OH NO, We were Glutened!!!!

You can never let up. You have to be on top of your game at all times, even 40 minutes form home in a van full of hungry people. Of course you can get a snack. Of course it can’t be from McDonald’s. OH, the pain….

A Really Decent GF Bread

When starting your GF journey, one of the most daunting tasks may be finding a good, safe bread. There are a few choices on the market, from loaves to machine mixes to flours and recipes to make your own. I love to bake, but let’s be serious…who has time to bake all the bread their family is going to eat? I mean, you get it out of the oven and it is gone! So, I really prefer to buy a ready bread at the health food store, and now I can even get them at the closest grocery store!

For beginners, I can recommend Ener-G Foods Tapioca Loaf. It is the most like a white bread of any of the loaves I have tried. My dad ate it and did not notice anything odd about it at all. But here is the thing that I can’t under emphasize–you MUST TOAST ALL GF BREADS. Always. No exceptions. I don’t really know why, I just really know it is true. Toast it to a lovely brown, and it is perfectly fine for sandwiches, toast and jelly, and a great PB&J.

I think changing to a GF bread from regular is a bit like changing from regular soda to diet, or changing from whole milk to skim. At first it is all “EWWWWWW! Skim!!!!”, but once you get used to it, the whole milk tastes like you are drinking butter. Keep this in mind as you try your GF bread. Your tastebuds will adjust, and you will be just fine.

Kath

Mistakenly Gluten Free

Hi there GF friends!

So, I have been gluten free now for 6 months. I never intended to become GF, and I never thought I would benefit from this change. You see, I was only going GF to support my children, who have Asperger’s Syndrome, and who really needed something to help with the challenges they face as Aspies. Gluten Free has made a tremendous change for them…it really has…but it also has made a tremendous change for me!

Most of my life, I have been the sickly one. Most of my trouble has been belly trouble. I had a tender tummy since forever, and I will spare the gory details! Imagine my wonder when I went GF and found that I don’t have to be sick all the time! I have never loved this way in all my 37 years, and there is no going back now. Why would I want to? I feel so much better!

And what of crusty French loaves at the Bakers on Broad? Undoubtedly the best bread ever to pass these lips, served up fresh and hot just a short walk from home–how could I live without it? Would I not feel deprived? Denied? Wouldn’t I crave a fresh slice to dip in the broth of my mussels Saturday night?

Nope. Not once. Bizarre. Inexplicable. But true. I have never missed gluten foods at all.

So good luck, my GF companions! Enjoy the freedom of feeling well, maybe for the first time ever! I sure am!

Kath