By Gina Munsey •
November 21, 2009
Life flies past us so quickly, and sometimes I’m certain the sound of the wind is actually the sound of life flying by. That’s the way it’s felt lately; a whirling blur, a constant hum, non-stop motion. Since my last post in August, I’ve gone on a 14-state road trip, moved from the East Coast back to my beautiful California, and re-entered the corporate world after a year-long hiatus. My husband quit his job to launch a graphic design business, we found a goat living on our new property, summer faded away into the brilliance of autumn, and I discovered almond flour.
Yes, that’s it. I discovered almond flour. Extraordinary, delicious, versatile almond flour.
It’s not cheap — I paid about $35 for 5 pounds from my local co-op — but I’ve never enjoyed gluten-free baked goods more. A single cup of almond flour provides the following nutrients:
- 140% of the RDA for vitamin E
- 80% of the RDA for magnesium
- 60% of the RDA for phosphorus
- 48% of the RDA for protein
- 32% of the RDA of calcium
- 16% of the RDA for folic acid
There’s more. Almond flour also makes the best banana-nut bread/muffins ever.
By Gina Munsey •
July 27, 2009
Do you ever have an insatiable craving for a delicious, summery burger — but don’t want the autolyzed yeast extract and soy protein isolates contained in many commercial veggie patties? There’s no need to go without! You can make your own grain-free version using just a handful of healthy ingredients. Organic french lentils and fresh portobello mushrooms combine to make a nutritious, mouthwatering vegan burger.
By Gina Munsey •
July 15, 2009
Summer is my favorite season. It’s the time of year for sunset barbecues and dinners on the patio, and for strings of tiny Italian lights and flickering Moroccan lanterns. Summer plays the beautiful hostess of longer days and breezy nights, polka-dotted sundresses, and peals of joyful laughter coming from children playing in the backyard.
There’s no better time than summer to indulge in a sliver of chocolate cake, so rich in contrast to the simplicity of the gingham tablecloth and the mason jars overflowing with wildflowers. This cake is made without using wheat, corn, or dairy ingredients, yet it is unmistakably, deliciously, chocolate.
By Gina Munsey •
May 27, 2009
Of the adjectives used to describe gluten-free baked goods, the word “fluffy” rarely makes the cut. Heavy, solid, crumbly, dry — yes, any and all of those. Those of us living sans gluten have gotten used to the slice-and-toast routine when it comes to wheatless breads. Fresh-out-of-the-oven-fluffy has all but vanished from our vocabulary. These fruit-sweetened beauties, though, change all of that.
For starters, the batter actually rose above and beyond the baking tin’s edge. When’s the last time you remember anything gluten-free doing that? These muffins even manage to disguise shredded fruits and vegetables without coming anywhere near the dreaded dense description.
Goodbye flat, vaguely muffin-shaped globules. It’s time to move on.
By Gina Munsey •
May 13, 2009
There are so many fabulous whole foods that are naturally wheatless, from plump, juicy, healing fruits to bright, crisp vegetables to satisfying, protein-rich legumes. But when it comes to carbohydrates — you know, the baked goods and pasta we all crave from time to time — things get a little bit more challenging. But who says being wheat-free means you have to sacrifice these things?
Whether you’re just getting into the swing of Wheatless Wednesdays, or whether you’re in the middle of a life-long wheat-free adventure, don’t despair. There are three crucial gluten-free ingredients that will leave you with your attention fully riveted to your wheatless plate, just like like the toddler in the photo above.
By Gina Munsey •
May 11, 2009
Most of us have a love/hate relationship with dill. If you grew up on Scandinavian-inspired dishes, as I did, you no doubt have a fond appreciation for its distinctive flavors — I loved to feel dill’s feathery-soft leaves against my hand when exploring in my mom’s garden as a girl. On the other hand, if your only association with dill is soggy, sickly-green supermarket pickles, then you might not be quite so keen on the herb.
Often overlooked, dill — from the Norse dilla, meaning, “to soothe” — possesses surprising characteristics. Among its little-known superpowers are antibacterial and calming properties; the annual herb can be made into a stomach-soothing tea. Dill has been popular since Biblical times, and is even mentioned as a valuable commodity in the Gospels: “You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
Traditionally used in food to season fish or as a balance to yogurt’s tanginess, dill can also be used to brighten this protein-rich, vegan-friendly, summery rice salad.
By Gina Munsey •
May 6, 2009
Wheatless Wednesday, along with her currently more popular cousin Meatless Monday, were the brainchild of Herbert Hoover during World War I. Already active as a food relief administrator in Europe, Hoover was appointed to preside over the U.S. Food Administration in 1917, just before the United States entered the First World War. It would be twelve more years before Hoover was inaugurated as the 31st president of the United States, but by that time he was already a household name.
Hoover’s massive food preservation program encouraged Americans to reduce food consumption so that the food supply for the troops and war-torn Europeans would remain strong. The uniqueness of his plan– as opposed to later World War II efforts — was that Hoover’s program avoided rationing, while still successfully reducing American food consumption by 15%.
By Gina Munsey •
March 10, 2009
If you’ve ever seen an episode of the canceled Nickelodeon show Invader Zim, you’ll undoubtedly know that Zim’s robotic pet, GIR, loves waffles. He always seems to be cooking up a batch of them at the most inopportune moments. As my fridge never seems to be without a ready-to-go bowl of waffle batter, I can definitely relate to GIR’s waffle obsession.
But unlike GIR, who has only a vague idea of what he’s put in the batter (What’s in ‘em?” Zim asks in one episode. “There’s waffle in ‘em,” GIR responds), I can vouch for every single corn-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, wheat-free ingredient. Plus, the recipe is so versatile, you can practically customize the waffle to your morning mood.
By Gina Munsey •
February 25, 2009
It’s strawberry season, at least for those of us who live in the temperate western or southern regions of the United States. But before you rush out to snatch up a flat of the sweet-smelling jewels from the stand on the corner, keep in mind that strawberries rank sixth on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen, a list of the twelve most-contaminated fruits and vegetables. Researchers found a total of thirty-eight pesticides on all the strawberries tested–up to eight different pesticides on a single strawberry alone. And despite the widespread publicity a few years ago regarding the phase out of methyl bromide, it is still being used on strawberries under critical-use exemptions.
By Gina Munsey •
February 20, 2009
Lick a gummed envelope flap to seal it, and you’ve just tasted corn. Lather up with shampoo, and you’ve got corn seeping in to your pores. Brush your teeth, and you’ve got corn in your mouth. Walk past the perfume counter in any department store, and you’ve just inhaled corn into your lungs. The madness doesn’t end here. Corn is everywhere.
For those of us with corn allergies, it’s not just the corn-on-the-cob and the hush-puppies that are the problem, thank you very much. No, it’s the vitamin D in fortified milk, the food-grade wax coating fresh produce, the dextrose mixed into iodized salt, the citric acid used to rinse loose greens and baby carrots, and the cornstarch filler in baking powder. A friend of mine used to joke that I couldn’t even drink water, and that’s not far-fetched. If you’ve taken a sip from a bottle of mineral-enhanced water recently, you’ve swallowed corn.
