Green Options

I recently stumbled upon a great recipe for Spaghetti Squash Pancakes from Mollie Katzen’s book, The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without. It’s a winner. Although the original recipe calls for spaghetti squash (quite delicious) and gives the option of using all-purpose flour or rice flour, the recipe can accommodate any kind of squash and a variety of gluten-free flours. The topping possibilities are also endless, giving you the option to play with flavor combinations. Happy eating!

Recipe for Gluten-free Squash Pancakes (adapted from Mollie Katzen’s The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without):

Who doesn’t like food? Especially fancy food. Lot’s of people do as judged by the crowds filling the aisles and booths of the Moscone Center for the 35th Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. With so many munchies, nibbles and treats to delve though we had to restrict our nibbling, tasting and inquires to the ever expanding Natural and Organic section.

Food like anything else can be about expectation. We set the organic chocolaty bar fairly high and weren’t disappointed by the plethora of organic chocolates but we actually went in search of more interesting items. Zhena’s Gypsy teas marked our first discovery. Even though they’ve been around for about 10 year they more recently created five biodynamic teas and we felt much better after sampling the Caramelized Pear flavor. On top of the tea itself we had to like containers made from 70% recycled steel (and the cans are 100% recyclable because they contain no paper stuck with glue. They make their tea bags from non-GMO corn silk and can be composted as they biodegradable after 60 days. Having this teas makes us feel good better come 4 pm tea time.

I’ve always been of the opinion that granola should be eaten sparingly, a half a cup in the morning with yogurt and some fruit, or maybe for a small mid-morning snack.  Consequently, my favorite granola recipes have been those that aren’t necessarily “healthy”, but are darn tasty and are best consumed in moderation.  This is my favorite granola recipe, but it’s by no means health food, it has butter and sugar in it, and it’s the kind of granola that makes no excuses for itself.

This recipe is another family heirloom from my Mother In Law.  She does have a real name, but we usually refer to her by her nickname, Mama Bear.  Given her upper Midwest farmhouse upbringing, Mama Bear is a heck of a cook, and this recipe is hers, so this is her appropriate acknowledgment.

Here’s the recipe for (Mama Bears’) Gluten Free Golden Crispy Granola:

Due to circumstances beyond my control (a crazy family), I missed out on a lot of things in my childhood that others take for granted.  Strangely enough, one of those things is Chex mix.  I never tasted Chex mix until I was 30 and it was quite an enjoyable discovery.  But living and cooking for a spouse with Celiac Disease put Chex Mix back into the forbidden recipe book, never to see the light of day.

Once Chex started offering gluten free varieties of its cereals, everything changed.  I got the family heirloom Chex mix recipe from my Mother In Law (we call her Mama Bear) and have made it as an occasional snack/treat for special occasions.  This is by no means health food, it’s to be eaten sparingly and as a treat, not an everyday food.  Here’s how to make gluten free Chex mix.

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.

Gluten free baking is not for the faint of heart or the timid of soul.  The tried and true baking results that come from the familiar use of wheat flour are substantially difficult to reproduce without our old friends, wheat, rye, and barley.  With some experimentation and a little tenacity, you can find a good gluten free flour mix, and still have some of the same baked treats you once enjoyed before you relinquished all gluten related items.

In my three years of learning to cook and bake gluten free, I’ve tried numerous combinations of flours and prepackaged mixes.  Some were pretty good, but most spanned the spectrum between OK and outright terrible. I looked for gluten free flours in recipe books, in online searches, and throughout the blogosphere, and finally found the best all purpose flour mix in a cookbook - Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts.

Just because you have Celiac Disease, or are eating gluten free doesn’t mean you have to give up all your favorite foods.  You may have to relinquish a few, but with a little help, and some trial and error, you’ll find that there are wonderful gluten free substitutes for many of your favorite foods out there, you just gotta find ‘em.

In one of my earlier posts (Time saving Gluten Free Products You’ll love) I threw out a couple of products that make my life of gluten free cooking and baking much easier,  namely Pamela’s Baking Mix and Kinnikinnick Products.  Here are some other things that you may have enjoyed in your previous gluten filled life, that you thought you had to give up:

It’s been hovering in the upper 90s here in Atlanta, and weather like this makes me crave ice cream like no other. This year, I’m on the hunt for my favorite vegan ice cream! The plan is to try new pints each week and share my findings right here. I know, it’s a tough life I’ve got.

This is going to be the last week for this challenge. Next week, I’ll do a wrap up and pick a favorite!

While staring at the frozen foods, I realized that despite reviewing vegan ice creams for weeks and weeks, I’d somehow managed to not pick a soy-based brand the entire time! Let’s be honest here: part of that was intentional. I’m not a fan of that soy aftertaste, especially in desserts. Still, in the name of science, it felt like the right thing to do, so I grabbed a pint of Soy Delicious green tea ice cream. This is a soy-based brand made by Turtle Mountain: the same folks who produce the Purely Decadent coconut-based ice creams. It’s gluten free and the label touts that it’s “fruit sweetened.” Here’s how it stacked up:

Blackbird Bakery is all about the art of gluten-free baking by Karen Morgan. When Karen was diagnosed with Celiac disease years ago she struggled to find desserts that could satisfy her desires, and soon her destiny as a gluten-free baker was realized as she found her perfect personal cooking niche. Reaching out to the gluten-free world she started her food blog, The Art of Gluten-Free Cooking.

Shown above is a lemon trifle with Mexican vanilla custard and sliced almond cream and a fig paired, white truffle infused panna cotta dish.

There’s so much more to the wonderful world of noodles than old-world durum semolina pasta. And no, I’m not talking about substituting stringy spaghetti squash or strips of summer squash for pastalicious goodness.  Did you know there are gluten-free noodles made from rice, soy protein, quinoa, and even sweet potato starch?

If you’re living a gluten free life, there are a couple of companies that I’ve come to love over the years for the wonderful products they make.  They’re both great time savers for those days when you’re rushed, short of time, or just don’t have the means to prepare a meal from scratch.

Pamela’s Baking Mix is an all purpose gluten free baking mix that I use to make pancakes (just add eggs and water), scones, biscuits, and corn bread.  Many of the recipes just involve adding eggs, butter, and an ingredient or two, making them fast and easy to make.  It also has dozens of other uses as well, including brownies, breads, muffins, and bagels.