Reflections on the Gluten Free Journey!

Gluten Free 'TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE'

2009-06-16T02:22:00.000-07:00

oH mY! If you've been craving 'good stuff' since being told you have to be living a Gluten Free life, this is it! Good old chocolate brownie, but I'm a chocoholic and so I have added more chocolate to my recipe!

125g Olivani (Dairy Free Butter/Spread)

2 large eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup Gluten Free Flour (less 1 Tbspn) (I use 'Family Choice' from Binn Inn)

2-4 Tbspn Dairy Free cocoa (I use 'Pams')

1 tspn vanilla essence

1 tspn baking powder (Edmonds GF)

Chocolate - as much as you like!

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius

Melt butter in microwave proof bowl until just melted, but not hot. Beat in with a fork the sugar, vanilla & eggs.

Sift in flour, cocoa and baking powder, stir well.

Lastly add chocolate. I use 3 rows of Cadbury Dream, 3 rows of Cadbury Dairy Milk and 2 rows of Cadbury Old Gold chocolate, chopped up as small or large as you like. I mix this through.

Line a 20x30cm slice tin and carefully spread brownie mix unitl evenly spread.

Bake in the preheated oven for 27 minutes (not fan forced, if so, decrease the time)

Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream or icecream.

Gluten Free 'SPAGETTI & MEATBALLS'

2009-06-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

WOW! A meal my children loved, doesn't happen much at the moment, it's no easy task trying to find meals that the littlies love. I simply adapted an old meatball recipe and the rest is easy peasy! My recipe is based on a family of 5 and the portions are medium sized and include 1 teenage boy and a man!

Pasta.. I use San Remo GF Spagetti pasta

Tomato Sauce..

1 tin chopped tomatoes (I use plain chopped without added herbs-up to your tastebuds)

1 small tin tomato paste

1 Tbspn balsamic vinegar

1 Tbspn brown sugar

1/4 tspn salt

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Pepper to taste

1/4 cup water

You can add herbs to taste, its personal preferance! We don't like herbs much.

I put this all into a frying pan and simmer away for about 10-20minutes until it's well reduced and has thickened.

Meatballs..

700g+ good quality prime beef mince

1 medium finely chopped onion

1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 egg

1 heaped tspn beef stock powder (I use Massel Beef Stock Powder)

1 tspn soy sauce (I use 'Sungold Soy Sauce - Thick, bought for $4 from Pak'n'Save, NZ)

1/4 cup GF breadcrumbs (or I use Orgran GF all purpose Rice Crumbs)

Salt & Pepper to taste

I mix this all well in a bowl and roll desertspoon fulls into balls and put into a frying pan with 1cm olive oil. Cover & cook for 10-15 minutes turning regularly and until cooked in the centre)

I take out the meatballs and put them into the frying pan with the tomato sauce and heat through when ready to eat.

Cook spagetti pasta while cooking the meatballs and serve tomato sauce covered meatballs on top of a pile of spagetti, you can grate parmasan or cheese over the top. I am really looking forward to trying mozerella on top, one day!

As mentioned we have a little one who cannot eat tomatoes at the moment, so I do not put his meatballs into the tomato sauce, but simply leave them without a sauce and he loves it all the same. (you could use a 'No-Mato' sauce recipe, if they like it!)

BAKING GLUTEN FREE BREADS

2009-05-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

I think one of the hardest things when we went gluten free was finding what foods we could and could not eat, which brands were not only reliable, but cost effective and easily sourced. It is hard when you get conflicting advice from different friends, I found that I had to try each one, and with much frustration at each of my many failures, I was finally able to work out what worked and what didn't. Which recipes the kids would actually eat and bread was one of the hardest, but I have finally cracked that one-Yay!

Healtheries GLUTEN FREE BREAD RECIPE

Healtheries Simple Bread Mix...It isn't the same as buying a big, soft white, preservative filled loaf, its much nicer, fresher and yummier. I make this in my breadmaker. The packet provides you with 4 different recipe options, I have been using the top one and it makes a gorgeous loaf, yummy as toast or eaten fresh on the day it is made. We don't eat that much bread, but it freezes well and we toast it when we want it. It has that yummy homemade bread taste with a gorgeous soft centre, lovely with Olivani and jam. www.healtheries.co.nz

Healtheries Baking Mix is also great, but I'm still experimenting with recipes at the moment, see my Pikelets Recipe below, its gorgeous but the gluten free flours brun a lot quicker so be aware to keep the temperature lower than usual and keep an eye on your baking.

If anyone has any suggestions for the Healtheries Gluten Free Baking Mix, please let me know, I'm alwasy keen to try another recipe.

Another Gluten Free Bread Recipe is as follows. A little disclaimer first. I was given a GF bread recipe for use in my bread maker, it didn't work for me, it fell apart, was hard to use and I dreaded making toast in the morning, it was terrible for sandwiches. I'm sure it must have been something I was doing wrong, but never-the-less, I went to work altering it to make it suit my families needs and have created something that i yummy, tasty and doesn't fall apart. (Keep in mind that without the GLUE-tin to hold it together, gluten free bread doesn't hold together the same and nor does it keep for very long-it needs to be frozen)

Champion Gluten Free Bread Mix 10kg (this is bought from a bulk foods store like Toops or Foodstuffs as a commercial bread mix. It is Gluten Free, but it does contain dairy, our boys don't eat it, but my husband does-he isn't dairy intolerant.

Champion GLUTEN FREE BREAD RECIPE
300g Champion Gluten Free Bread Mix
1 Tbspn Psyllium
1 tspn Raw Sugar
1 tspn Edmonds Dry Active Yeast (yellow lid)
1 Tbspn Olive Oil
1 tspn Xanthum Gum
2 cups Hot Tap Water

I put all of this into my breadmaker and set it on a basic medium bread setting (3 1/2 hours). I start my load before i go to bed and leave it to make itself overnight. The next morning it is cool enough to slice well without it falling apart. I place small pieces of baking paper between each slice and put it into a large snaplock bag and freeze it straight away.

This loaf is great for sandwiches if eaten the day its made, it is just ok for sandwiches if taken from the freezer, but is great for toast-it needs to be toasted twice for that firm toasted feel, but it crisps up nicely and is great for breakfast or with a topping for lunch.

I have no problem sharing any recipes that I have created to be gluten and dairy free and encourage you to share them and try them. If you have any recipe requests, you can ask me by making a comment on this post. I will see if I am able to help or at least try to point you to someone who can.

Low Lactose and Gluten Free Pascall Lollies

2009-05-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Did you ever want a list of what you actually CAN eat? Upon being diagnosed as Gluten Intolerant, we took our 21 month old son to see a nutritionist. We were given a list of low lactose foods and another list of gluten free foods. I have been told that many foods that do not contain lactose (even dairy) cannot say 'Lactose/Dairy Free' due to being produced in a factory that also produces products containing dairy. So unless you are very sensitive to dairy products or are allergic, your body should be able to tolerate these foods. Our son is not allergic, but will get diarrhea within hours of eating lactose/dairy, he is though, able to tolerate all foods that are low in lactose with no apparent response. (However this is personal and may be very different for someone else-it needs to be trial and error for each individual)
Now, I have 2 littlies with in tolerances and trust me me, it isn't easy to find foods that they like, that are nutritious and provide a bit of all the good stuff. Little snacks, dinners that are kid friendly and on par with what we have been eating etc. Standing in the supermarket choosing the lollies that we treat our littlies with has become a big stress.
I endeavor to share this list with you as I cross reference the list of lollies low in lactose and the gluten free lollies.

Lactose and Gluten Free Pascall Lollies

Curiously Strong Peppermints

Pineapple Lump

Jaffas

Rainbow Buttons

Mint Imperials

Spearmint Imperials

(this list was a lot larger when I first wrote it, for some strange reason, either there has been more research done, or manufacturers have started to put gluten in our lollies for no obvious reason).

This information was given to me by a hospital dietician who gets all of her information from www.mfd.co.nz It isn't my own research, just an opportunity to share what I have been given.

Please feel free to comment if you need to know anymore. I will add other lists as I come to doing them, I am a busy Mum!

GLUTENFREE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

2009-04-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

I have been making these muffins for years. I have only just started making them gluten free though. All I have done is make sure all the ingredients I'm using are gluten free. I have added lots of different goodies to this recipe and all work well. I made them into 'Black Forest Chocolate Muffins' yesterday by adding drained bottled cherries and chocolate chips. I have added 3 types of chocolate to make them 'Triple Chocolate Muffins' too. The creativity is endless, just use your imagination (& cravings) to guide you. If you need to make these 'DairyFree' as we do, change the milk, butter and chocolate to dairy free options.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 3/4 level cups GF Flour
1 heaped Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (I use Dairyfree Chocolate)
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Sugar

Stir through the dry ingredients.

75g melted Butter (I use Olivani spread)
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Milk (I use 'Liddells' Lactose Free Milk)

Mix these 3 wet ingredients together and then stir both mixes together. Only stir until just combined. Add a little more milk if it is too thick. Spoon mixture into greased muffin patty cases and bake for 10-14mins at 200c.

This recipe makes 6 large or 12 small. You can sprinkle with icing sugar or drizzle chocolate over the top. Lovely served fresh & warmed with DairyFree icecream.

GF PIKELET Recipe

2009-04-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, my blog is still under construction, I'm still learning. Please keep checking back periodically to see new recipes etc...so here comes my first pearl of wisdom. We were fortunate to know others who have been gluten free to some time, so help was close at hand, but not everyone has that and I hope this is a way we can all support one another.

PIKELETS

I use the 'Edmonds' cook book pikelet recipe, or any other trusted recipe you have.
Replace the flour with 'Healtheries Baking Mix'.
Ensure that all other ingredients are GF too.
You might need to add a little more milk if the mixture is too thick.
These are the fluffiest most gorgeous pikelets we've ever had!

(PS..I have only tried the Edmonds pikelet recipe myself )

2009-04-23T03:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our Gluten Free Journey! I'd love to share this with you. It's a "where do we start" type scenario when you are told to stop eating gluten. What went through my head ... "is there anything out there that's gluten free?" "how do i cook for my family without gluten?" "where do i buy gluten free food/ingredients from?" "it costs how much?" "who's right, what ingredients are best?" "who can i talk to...?" There's a whole heap more, but you get the point and if you're reading this I'm sure you can empathize with what I'm saying.

This is a blog where I can share my thoughts, recipes, ingredients, new found treasures and wisdom as it accumulates within. I also want to learn as I go, I don't know it all, I'm still learning and I see this as a way we can all help each other. Please feel free to share recipes (but only if tried and true), thoughts and information.

Bookmark this site, watch it grow and be a part of THE GLUTEN FREE JOURNEY with me!