Gluten Free Feeds

An easy, homemade turkey soup simmered in a CrockPot. My favorite cure. A certain soup slurping and prickly individual (we won't name names, to protect the innocent) has been feeling under the weather for so long now the sensation is in danger of becoming a habit. Yes, the tree pollen onslaught continues. Blessed by a wet winter, Southern California trees are celebrating with copious amounts of...

© 2005-2010 Gluten-Free Goddess All rights reserved.

When I went to sleepaway camp in the 90s, my dad would bring me those little vats of icing on parents weekend. That night, my bunkmates and I would be sitting on each other's bunks eating the icing...

Don't just settle into living a boring gluten-free life. Let's talk gluten-free fun... food, restaurants, recipes, and more

Join yoga instructor and fellow celiac, Elyse Sparkes (www.sparkeswellness.com), for a one of a kind class: YOGA for Celiacs! You must reserve your spot and pay through her website via paypal. The...

Don't just settle into living a boring gluten-free life. Let's talk gluten-free fun... food, restaurants, recipes, and more

Delicious and simple: gluten-free Irish soda bread. I'm going to share two things today. My best Irish soda bread recipe and a sneak peek of our new loft apartment (with room to set up a studio!). The tenant next door has vacated and it's coming together fast. We're moving in over the next three days. So what am I up to? I'm practicing my best Domestic Goddess routine, catching up on laundry,...

© 2005-2010 Gluten-Free Goddess All rights reserved.

Like many people who love to cook, I've got a thing for cookbooks, especially old ones. I go through old bookstores, thrift shops and even the collections of my family and friends looking for old treasures.

A while back I checked out the cookery section at Project Gutenberg, but didn't find anything all that interesting. Time makes all the difference in the world, especially when transferring old books into a digital format. Yesterday, I was back at Project "G" oogling their selection and they do have some nice ones available in the cookery section of the bookshelf.  They have a variety of ways to download the books and some versions even have the images as well. I tested the Adobe EPUB and the Read Online formats and both worked very well.

There are some old gems in this collection like The Women's Institute of Cookery (vols. I - V), The White House Cookbook and The Cook's Decameron: A Study In Taste, Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes. There are quite a few interesting recipes to be found in this collection, especially one for Starvation Soup.  It's found in The Belgian Cookbook (1915), a  book of recipes provided by Belgian refugees of World War I.

With many old cookbooks, you will have to guess at the quantities required for a recipe. They might tell you to use an equal amount of almonds and sugar or use phrases like "...reckon the quantities as follows." These types of recipes give you the chance to really get a feel for the look, texture and taste of a baked good. Although, it can be frustrating sometimes when you have to try and figure out equal weights of eggs, butter, flour and sugar.

If you're looking for something really yummy to go with this very good loaf of ciabatta, check out a recipe for Roman Sauce from The Cook's Decameron. It calls for nutmeg, raisins, lemon, herbs, pine nuts or almonds, burnt sugar in an espagnole or brown sauce. For our dinner, I ended up choosing the classic tomato sauce with basil and garlic served it over brown rice pasta and meatballs. To finish it off, I served Chocolate and Drambuie Tiramisu, the latest Daring Baker Challenge recipe, along with a cup of organic Espresso. Delicious.

Enjoy!



Recipe

Protein Content
Original: 29.12 g
Gluten Free: 28.63 g

Biga

20 g brown rice flour (1.8 g)
15 g sweet rice flour (0.09 g)
15 g arrowroot starch (0.045 g)
20 g almond meal (4 g)
22 g white bean flour (4.73 g)
1 g instant dry yeast
50 ml water (120 - 130 degrees F/48 - 54 degrees C)

10 ml agave syrup

Final Dough

25 g brown rice flour (2.25 g)
22 g sweet rice flour (1.32 g)
20 g arrowroot starch (0.06 g)
30 g almond meal (6 g)
35 g white bean flour (7.525 g)
12 g instant dry yeast
6 g chia seed meal
4 g agar agar powder
7 g sea salt
126 g biga (from above)
130 ml water (120 - 130 degrees F/48 - 54 degrees C)
15 ml agave syrup

Biga Directions

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flours, water, agave syrup and yeast. Mix together, making sure the mixture is smooth. Cover the mixture or transfer to a container and allow to ferment at 75 degrees F/24 degrees C for 18 to 24 hours. When the biga is ready to use, it will have risen and receded, yet also look bubbly.


Final Dough Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients with the exception of the salt and yeast. Hold the salt out, so it can be added later in the mixing. Place the yeast into a small container, add the water and a little bit of the agave syrup. Stir to ensure the water mixes through the yeast. Allow the yeast to proof for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Add the yeast mixture, biga, the rest of the agave syrup and blend together. Just before the dough comes together, sprinkle in the salt and then continue blending until a soft ball forms. Note: This dough should be a little wetter or looser than other types of doughs.

3. Since this dough is looser, I made a foil frame so the bread would turn out the right shape. Take a long strip of aluminum foil and fold it lengthwise until it is 2 inches/5 cm wide. Fold up 1/2 inch/1.3cm from one long edge, but don't make a hard crease in the foil. Ease the foil around until the ends over lap and can rest one inside the other. Work the corners until the fold lays flat and you have a rounded edge rectangle. Let the sides ease out rather than be straight up and down. (See the picture above.) Gently line this frame with parchment paper, so you can reuse the frame for the ciabatta (the next B&P recipe).

4. Place the dough in the center of a sheet of parchment paper that has been sprinkled with arrowroot starch. Gently pat the dough out into the frame, but don't press it into the sides or corners. The loaf should still have rounded sides. Slide the frame onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and place in a warm location to rise for 2 hours.

5. Place an oven proof bowl filled with water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Then place a baking stone on the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 460 degrees F/238 degrees C. Place the loaf in the oven and spray water over the oven box and the top of the loaf. Bake the loaf for 25 minutes. Prop the oven door open and continue to cook the bread for another 10 minutes. Remove the loaf and allow it to cool before serving.

 
What's Going On?

I was a very lucky woman and received a copy of the Culinary Institute of America's Baking & Pastry book along with their DVD's from my family for my birthday. After watching all the DVDs, I decided to work my way through the CIA's Baking and Pastry book - of course making it gluten free. There were so many skills that I wanted to develop and work on. I hope you will be interested in sharing my journey with me.


Want more?

You can follow me on Twitter and on Flickr.


Other Baking & Pastry Project Posts

Baking & Pastry #40 - Rosemary Bread (Biga)
Baking & Pastry Week 20 - More Bigas
Baking & Pastry #39 - Cracked Rice & Potato Bread (Biga)
Baking & Pastry #38 - Almond & White Bean Batard (Biga)
Baking & Pastry Week 19 - Bigas

Online PR News 03-March-2010 Gridley, Calif. (Natural Presswire) Mary’s Gone Crackers™, makers of gourmet gluten-free foods, today unveiled Mary’s Gone Crackers 'love™ Cookies,' a unique line of...

Don't just settle into living a boring gluten-free life. Let's talk gluten-free fun... food, restaurants, recipes, and more

Did you know that in many states, Food Stamp recipients can use their EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards at participating restaurants? An EBT card works like a debit card, with the state government reimbursing the restaurant for the purchase. The Food Stamp Restaurant Meals Program was started in 1974 for disabled and elderly people who couldn’t prepare food for themselves. It was expanded in 1992 to include homeless people without access to cooking facilities. Although the original plan was to allow only those specific groups into the Restaurant Meals Program, most states now offer this expanded option to anyone on Food Stamps. California has recently approved several fast food outlets (I can’t bring myself to use the word restaurant and Jack-in-the-Box in the same sentence) for the program.

Okay, I’m not going to launch into a political rant about this, but in light of our growing health care crisis and skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes, does subsidizing places like Hong Kong Express and Jack-in-the-Box sound like a good idea to you?

Currently, more than 36 million Americans take part in the Food Stamp Program and with the current recession, an additional 20,000 people join the ranks each day. On February 24th, the White House Blog posted a video of First Lady Michelle Obama taking on food deserts as part of her campaign to end childhood obesity (see video below). Food deserts are nutritional wastelands in both urban and rural areas. They’re regions with a predominance of convenience stores and fast food and no easy or affordable access to fresh, healthy food choices. As I watched this video and listened to the First Lady’s appeal to bring nutritious options to these communities, I wondered why, at the same time, we’re setting people up for potential health problems by promoting government supported fast food. There’s also a bit of irony in the fact that the government is subsidizing some of the unhealthy ingredients found in fast food and in processed food found on the convenient store shelves. Does that mean that the government is supporting food deserts and trying to eliminate them at the same time? I don’t follow the logic, but as promised I won’t launch off on my food politics rant. Just know that I’m rolling my eyes big time.

Nonetheless, I applaud Mrs. Obama’s passion and am very thankful we have someone in the White House who is on a mission to promote organic food, nutrition education and healthy food choices. We have to start somewhere. Hopefully she’s on a roll with this and if we support her good intentions, maybe we’ll get somewhere.

Please bear with me. I did a great deal of research on this and conducted my own little experiment. Here’s the breakdown. But first, my disclaimer. Obviously I can’t consider all the frustrations and difficulties people in need must endure to find, buy and prepare healthy meals. My heart goes out to them. I’m fortunate, blessed and grateful beyond measure not to have to figure out how to make a decent meal for my family with such limited resources. Having said that, I’m going to compare an organic, healthy, relatively “fast” meal I come up with to a meal from Jack-in-the-Box and see how they stack up. Can you feed a family healthy, organic food on a limited budget? (Gluten-free, no less.) Rather than spend EBT money on fast food?

Healthy, quick spaghetti with meat sauce and a side salad
1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
3/4 lb organic, 100% grass-fed ground beef
2 jars Muir Glen organic Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce (25.5 oz each)
1 and 1/2 packages Tinkyada gluten-free, spaghetti style, organic brown rice pasta
1 head organic leafy green lettuce
1 organic orange
1/4 cup raw toasted sunflower seeds
oil (I used olive oil)

Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil in a large stock pot. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook thoroughly. Pour in pasta sauce and reduce heat, stirring often. Boil pasta according to package directions, drain well. Serve sauce over pasta. Wash and prepare lettuce. Peel and chop orange into bite sized pieces, toss into salad greens. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds. No dressing needed.
* Makes 6 hearty and healthy servings

I got all the ingredients except the meat at my local Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocer (see photo above). All their produce is organic. They have a “day old” bin with select veggies and fruit for $1 per bag. I often opt for whatever is in the sale bin. I have a professional food scale and weighed the produce and calculated the price of each item I used. You’ll have to trust me on this. (Thanks for your help, Ryan – he’s the produce manager at VCNG). The meat is from Arapaho Ranch in Wyoming. The Northern Arapaho Indian Tribe raise the 100% organic and grass-fed Angus beef on the Wind River Indian Reservation in west central Wyoming. No hormones or antibiotics are used and the animals are well cared for and humanely treated. The cattle coexist with natural predators, a diverse mix of wildlife and eat the natural grasses and forbs they’re suppose to eat. The Indians sell their products to markets in the Rocky Mountain region. It’s an interesting story, please check here for details.

* When it’s CSA season, all my organic produce comes from Grant Farms.

Cost break-down for healthy, quick spaghetti with meat sauce and a side salad
organic onion – .21 (on sale for .69 per pound)
organic garlic – .19 for 4 cloves (6.19 per pound)
100% organic, grass-fed beef – 3.08 (on sale for 3.99 per pound, I used the 85% lean beef)
organic pasta sauce – 7.00 (on sale for 3.99 per jar, with $1 off if you bought 2 jars)
organic Tinkyada pasta, 12 oz package – 5.53 (3.69 per package)
organic, green leafy lettuce, 1 head – .50 (2 heads of lettuce for 1.00 in the bargain bin)
organic Navel orange – .60 (1.09 per pound)
raw sunflower seeds – .22 (2.48 per pound)
TOTAL: $17.33

Jack-in-the-Box
I’ve never been to a Jack-in-the-Box and had to visit to get prices and see what the options were. I didn’t buy anything, I just took notes and chose a variety of items, like a family of 6 might do. If you’re interested, click here for nutrition information. It took me a few minutes to realize how misleading this information was. In general, this isn’t very healthy stuff.
Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger Combo – 5.59
Southwest Chicken Salad with corn sticks (?) and dressing – 4.99
Jack’s Spicy Chicken small combo – 5.39
Deli-trio Grilled Sandwich – 5.69
Fajita Pita small combo – 5.39
Kid’s meal Chicken Strips (comes with a toy) – 3.49
TOTAL: $30.54

For almost half as much, six people can eat a highly nutritious, all organic, homemade meal. One that is lower in calories (and icky stuff) and much higher in nutrition.

Here’s wishing the First Lady good energy and lots of luck in her endeavor. (Psst! Get your husband and his buddies to support small farmers, organic farming, and EBTs for CSAs and farmer’s markets. Thanks!)
In good health,
Melissa

SAN DIEGO - (Business Wire) Restorative Remedies LLC and the National University System Center for Integrative Health will join forces to produce a series of events to call attention to a significant...

Don't just settle into living a boring gluten-free life. Let's talk gluten-free fun... food, restaurants, recipes, and more

In Part 1, we reviewed some mainstream and popular athletes who had gone the gluten-free route. The experiences that they shared showed a perceived improvement in performance on a gluten free diet. These athletes were not diagnosed with celiac disease. So, what gives? There are several potential reasons why the athletes may have in Continue reading

My Dad handed me a Men's Journal magazine, saying "they talk about gluten free in here." I looked at the front cover and sure enough, there it was at the top of the cover. "No More Wheat-the Surprising New Diet for Athletes." My very sophisticated first response was "huhmph" or something along those lines. I am rarely at a loss for words, but I was caught without anything pithy Continue reading

Erin again talks to registered nurse Shelly Stuart. In this episode we discuss Shelly's daughter's diagnosis of Celiac Disease, and how she handled issues like keeping her daughter content while other children around her were eating glutenous foods and treats. Also discussed in this episode are the diagnostic testing available for celiac disease, what each process involves, and what the pros and cons are of each method of testing. This is part Two of a three part episode, be sure to listen to the first episode for even more information on dealing with celiac disease from diagnosis to a life without gluten. Part three coming soon! Continue reading

This doesn't have anything to do with celiac disease, per se. However, last time I checked we are all human. As such, we need to eat in order to survive. Also, we need to not eat too much in order to survive, to have maximal health, to like the way we look. Right? Food is an integral part of our society-it's used in celebration, in mourning, in Continue reading

I love "make your own" type stuff. I was all about the "Choose your own Adventure" books as a kid-anybody else remember those? Custom Choice Cereal is a company headquarted in North Carolina. Hajo, one of the owner/creators is from Germany, and was inspired to create Custom Choice from a similar business in Germany based on creating your own muesli. From the Custom Choice website: Continue reading

Forward motion. Inertia. Sometimes, we just lose it. Get stuck. Stop. And then, bad things can happen. When I was in college I was running on a treadmill (this was before the knees got so bad that I couldn't run) and my ponytail was coming loose. So I stopped running, put my feet on either side of the belt and reached up to tighten my ponytail. And abruptly Continue reading

OK, not really. But kind of, in a weird virtual way. I have compiled some of my posts/articles/rants into a page that provides the "basics" of living gluten free, fit and well. As usual, I have difficulty with numbers and ended up with 12. Not 10, 12. I have a mental issue with making a "normal" length list at times, I think. Continue reading

Shockingly, the time has come. There is actually a nutrition bar that has a quality ingredient list, positive nutritional profile, and really good taste. Did I mention how good they taste? It's AmaZing! (That's actually part of the compant tagline, I can't take credit for being that creative.) Zing bars were created by a team of nutritionists who were unable to find a bar they Continue reading

In this weeks gluten free fitness and wellness podcast, Erin talks to registered clinical nurse Shelly Stuart about her experience as a celiac, how gluten affects celiacs from an easy to understand clinical view point, how she deals with celiac disease in her family. Shelly shares useful resources and information throughout this podcast so tune in to find out more. This episode is part 1 in a series of three, two more will follow in the coming weeks Continue reading

I've mentioned before my love for chocolate. I really, really like chocolate. To the point where I don't think I've ever even had a flavor of ice cream that wasn't some kind of a riff on chocolate. Really. When I plan on having a splurge, it always involves chocolate. I follow the 90/10 rule for the most part-if I eat well 90% of the time, the other 10% I Continue reading

I am excited to share the opening of the Sweet Freedom Bakery, "Baking You Happy" in Philadelphia. This is Philadelphia's first and only completely gluten-free and vegan bakery. Their products are "allergen-friendly" which means no dairy, casein (milk protein), egg or gluten. Sweet Freedom Bakery also avoids using corn, wheat, peanuts, and soy. The only sweeteners they use are natural and unrefined like coconut sugar, agave and maple syrup. Their goal is to provide delicious and satisfying sweet treats for those people with food allergies that have been deprived of their favorite cupcake or cookie, but also to provide a satisfying treat to those who are not on a restricted diet.

For those of you who have Celiac and are extremely sensitive to gluten, Sweet Freedom is a dedicated gluten-free facility. This came straight from their website: "The bakery has been built from scratch, with no gluten-containing products present in the bakery or on our equipment. We do not use any grains, such as spelt, that contain gluten."

The bakery has a large range of baked goods available every day including cupcakes, cookies, muffins and magic bars, Other treat like the Thumbprints pictured below are available as weekly specials. Check out their daily offerings here.

Heather, one of the owners, and I were in a class together at the Natural Gourmet in New York City. Every weekend she brought in another version of a cupcake or cookie that she was trying to perfect. For those of you who have tried gluten-free baking know it can be frustrating to duplicate the texture and taste of regular baked good. Everything I tried was delicious and satisfying. Clearly she has found the right combinations and now has a great venue to show off her delicious sweets.

I wish I still lived in the area so that I could visit and enjoy the fresh baked cupcakes and cookies. That is something I really miss since I have gone gluten free. The people in the Philadelphia area are very lucky to have this place. And now they are offering local delivery in selected zip codes for a small fee. More info on delivery here.

Check out their Facebook for the latest news and become a fan!

Here are the details:
The Bakery is located at 1424 South Street, Philadelphia, PA (between Broad and 15th)

Open Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 7pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. Closed Mondays.

Contact them at 215-545-1899 or sweetfreedombakery@gmail.com
(Photographs by Noelle Roberts)

I have a huge bag of Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread Mix but I don't have a large mixer or a bread machine. I have made bread from this mix before using a lot of stirring and kneading, but the bread came...

Don't just settle into living a boring gluten-free life. Let's talk gluten-free fun... food, restaurants, recipes, and more