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.

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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.

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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:

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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:

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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.

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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.

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A lot of supermarket vegetarian burgers try so hard to resemble meat that they ignore the fact that vegetables actually taste delicious in the first place. Why try to replicate a beef burger with a monotonously colored brown thing full of mysterious ingredients and even weirder textures when you can eat a vegetable burger that actually showcases the flavors of the vegetables? Here on Eat.Drink.Better we’ve seen fantastic burgers made of black beans, white beans, lentils and portobello, and and even beets! Here’s another veggie burger that’s brightly colored, packed with exciting flavors, and simple to make with both fresh and canned vegetables. Plus, it’s healthy but still deliciously tasty thanks to the freshness of just-grated carrots and zucchini with the heft of canned chickpeas and the salty tanginess of halloumi cheese.

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This week I tried Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss, another coconut-based ice cream, on a suggestion from commenter Hungry Hungry Veganos. Coconut Bliss is soy- and gluten-free, and they use some fair trade ingredients. We used to get coconut ice cream from time to time when I was growing up, so feeling a bit nostalgic, I picked up a pint of their Naked Coconut variety to try it out.

So, let’s see how it stacks up!

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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.

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OK, confession: We had a strange temperature drop over the weekend, but I remained dedicated to my quest. This is in the name of science, after all!

I got adventurous this week and picked up a pint of organic, gluten free Banana Fudge ice cream from Good Karma. Like the Purely Decadent last week, this one is not soy-based, but it isn’t soy free, either.

On Monday night the Lady Rogue Business Network, local underground supperclub Rogue Apron’s business-oriented spin-off, hosted a Bring Your Own Pint Ice Cream Social. What better opportunity to try out a new ice cream and see what other folks thought?

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Celiac Disease is one of the most common, undiagnosed genetic disorders with an estimated 1 in 133 people, or 2 million people, afflicted with the disease in the United States alone (figures cited from here and here).  Persons of Irish, English, and other Anglo backgrounds tend to be more prone to the disease than those of other ethnic backgrounds.

This disease is not a food allergy, but an auto-immune disorder that people do not grow out of over time.  The results of this disorder vary widely by individual, and can range from mild to severe, even requiring hospitalization.

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Individual grains of teff are extremely small, just 1/150th of the size of a kernel of wheat.  When cooked as a hot cereal, the tiny grains –  comparable to the size of a poppy seed — create a deliciously smooth texture.  In fact, the taste and consistency of teff porridge is more like cream of wheat than any other gluten-free whole grain I’ve prepared.

When you see teff’s impressive nutritional profile, you’ll see why it provides a compelling case for adding this gluten-free grain to your diet.

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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.

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Some people are gluten intolerant without being Celiac, these people feel significantly healthier by eliminating gluten from their diets.  Others have Celiac disease which causes life long health issues if not treated by removal of gluten from their diets.  Some bloggers have questioned if gluten free is the new fat free… a fad diet that is “cool” to jump on board.  To that, I say “poo-poo”.  Being gluten free isn’t fun, it isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t something one does just because.  (Stay with us after the jump for gluten free recommendations and a give-away.)

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Phytonutrients (plant nutrients) are found in fresh, uncooked plant foods.  These nutrients include antioxidants and are important for prevention of disease, especially cancers.  When food is cooked (above 130 degrees Fahrenheit) many of the nutrients are destroyed and no longer available for use by your body (enzymes start dieing at 106 degrees Fahrenheit).

It is easy to get complete protein while eating a plant based diet, which includes 8 amino acids.  Plant proteins are easier to digest and don’t clog our arteries like animal proteins do.  That said, even if you still choose to consume some animal products, you will benefit from adding Raw foods into your daily diet.  We all should strive to eat vegetarian or vegan at least two days a week in an effort to reduce our impact on this great planet.  I’ve found it very easy to replace a couple dinners a week with non-animal foods and still please my carnivorous husband.

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One of my favorite places to eat in town is Jyoti-Bihanga, a tasty vegetarian/vegan restaurant run by the Sri Chinmoy folks.  If you aren’t familiar with them, I’ll tell you this - they make a fantastic fake meatloaf, they call it Neatloaf.

You can imagine how excited I was when a friend of mine e-mailed me the recipe, so now I can have delicious Neatloaf in the comfort of my own home.  The recipe as it stands is vegetarian, you’ll need to replace the eggs with an equivalent amount of egg substitute to make it vegan, switch the ricotta cheese with soy cheese or silken tofu, and double check the Lipton Onion Soup Mix as well.

Also, since I cook for a Celiac sufferer, I make it gluten free by simply replacing the Special K with gluten free corn flakes, which changes the consistency a little bit, but keeps the recipe well within the realm of “delicious”.

Here are the ingredients for the Neatloaf:

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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.

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