Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits!

I've never exactly understood the whole idea behind gravy and biscuits... but I do love biscuits with butter or jam or used to soak up a lovely golden egg yolk, or even as the foundation for delicious summertime strawberry shortcake. It's definitely on the top of my most missed gluten foods. Well, not anymore!!

Look how golden and beautiful on the bottom and fluffy inside these are!!

I'm very pleased to announce that missing biscuits is now a thing of the past! And the ultra good news is this is a super easy recipe as well.

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

• 1 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato flour
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon cane sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold butter
• 1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. I used a food processor but you can also use a pastry cutter. Combine all dry ingredients and process in food processor until thoroughly combined.

3. Add cubed cold butter and pulse till meal consistency is achieved. 

4. Add buttermilk and stir till just combined.

5. Flour cutting board or countertop with brown rice flour. Dump biscuit dough out onto surface, it will be wet, dust with more brown rice flour to make it easier to work with. 

6. Do not using a rolling pin! Use your hands to lightly pat out dough to 1 inch thick and then using a biscuit cutter or just a glass cut out circular biscuits.

7. Place biscuits onto un-greased baking sheet. I used a silipat for this but you can parchment paper or just a decent baking sheet.

8. Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes, you are looking to achieve a golden brown on the bottom and just a lightly golden top. 

9. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, this will allow you to remove them from the baking sheet easier and not have them crumble. 

10. Serve warm as you wish! I also found these reheated very nicely as it makes about a dozen biscuits and I certainly can't eat 12 biscuits in a sitting. haha!

Enjoy! xoxo - Iris

Filled generously with butter and drizzled with honey!! 

Polenta Mac and Cheese Bake

I still haven't come around to embracing any of the gluten free pastas but I adore polenta. Trader Joes stocks the prepared polenta rolls, in the scheme of things I guess prepared polenta is kind of overpriced for what it is but the convenience makes it an excellent thing to just keep a tube of around the kitchen. Also it doesn't need to be refrigerated prior to opening either.

This takes about 15-20 minutes to prep so its a super easy and delicious dish that can be served as a side or just a main meal comfort dinner.

Gluten Free Polenta Mac and Cheese Bake

• 1 Tube of prepared polenta
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 cup cheese (I used havarti and sharp cheddar)
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 slices Udi's Gluten free bread (I use the ends)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Cube polenta into bite size pieces and place into oven safe casserole dish. 

3. Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in sauce pan. 

4. Mix corn starch into cold milk and add to sauce pan. 

5. Add you cheese, it should be grated so that it can melt easily. 

6. Cook over low heat till cheese it melted. At this point the sauce should be thick and cheesy but the corn starch that was in the milk with thicken it and cut the stringy nature of the cheese. 

7. Stir in the salt. 

8. Dump cheese sauce over the polenta pieces and stir so that all the cubes are coated. 


9. In food processor combine parmesan cheese, torn up slices of bread and 1 tablespoon butter. Process till combined.

10. Top cheese sauce covered polenta with bread crumb combination. 

11. Place into oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the bread crumbs on top are golden and crispy. 

12. Allow dish to cool just a bit before serving!

Enjoy! xoxo- Iris 

Cantaloupe Honey Sorbet

Ripe sweet melons are one of the best things about summertime. In recent years I started purchasing Tuscan Cantaloupe. Tuscan Cantaloupe is a sweeter variety of cantaloupe, the good news is that it is not genetically modified, they are a hybrid melon developed through conventional cross breeding to produce a particularly sweeter melon. I like the sugary almost floral fragrance of the melon.

Of course I must talk about the benefits of eating cantaloupe as well! They are vitamin rich in A, C and beta-carotene. Cantaloupe reduces stress because it is high in potassium which reduces stress and anxiety by promoting good heart health and increasing oxygen to your brain. Also, like some of my other favorite foods to talk about, cantaloupe is an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. So you can go ahead and add this melon to your list of super-foods!

Cantaloupe Honey Sorbet

• 1 average size Tuscan Cantaloupe (you can use a regular but make sure it is super ripe!)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Slice and cube melon, remove rind and seeds and place into blender with water. 

2.  Blend till melon is completely liquified. 

3. Add honey and juice of the lemon. 

4. Puree until completely combined. 

5. Taste mixture to determine sweetness, depending on the level of sweetness of the melon you may want to add more honey. 

6. Use ice cream maker to process mixture. I have a Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Maker. 

7. Serve frozen!

Enjoy! xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Banana Cheesecake

I first envisioned this cake on my friend Erika's birthday. I adore cheesecake in general but have been seeking out new flavor profiles. I am a huge lover of citrus so of course I gravitate toward flavors like key lime. I had no idea how wonderfully banana cheesecake would be and its immediately become a favorite of many of my friends.

This is not your typical dense cheesecake and I learned a wonderful trick from a cashier at the Smart and Final that with solve that horrid problem of cracking cheesecake. The use of condensed milk in the recipe makes it a nearly fool proof recipe as well as needing little additional sugar.

Gluten Free Banana Cheesecake

• 2 eggs
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 oz) package full fat cream cheese
• 1/8 cup cane sugar
• 4 ripe bananas
• 4 Tablespoons corn starch
• 2 cups gluten free Trader Joes' Ginger Snaps
• 3 Tablespoons soft butter
• 1 cup almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Prepare gluten free cheesecake crust by dumping 2 cups of gluten free Trader Joes' Ginger Snap cookies in your food processor and blending till crumb texture has been met. Add 1 cup of whole raw almonds. Pulse till almonds are ground into cookie crumble and add 3 tablespoons soft butter. Alternately if you can not get to a Trader Joes easily you can make a plain almond crust with ground almonds, cane sugar, butter and a few tablespoons of water till a moist crumb texture has been found. You can season the almonds as well with various spices like ground dry ginger or cinnamon.

3. Place crust crumble into the bottum of spring form pan. Press gently into place. 

4. Clean food processor and combine cream cheese, ripe peels bananas, sugar, cream cheese, corn starch and condensed sweetened milk. Blend till completely smooth and combined. 

5. Pour cheesecake filling on top of crust and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until just set across the entirety of the cake.

6. Cool on counter top for an hour, loosen with a knife and then pop off spring form ring.

7. Chill in the fridge. Serve with homemade sweetened whipped cream. I like to use whiskey in my whipped cream in place of vanilla extract for this particular recipe. 

Of course once chilled this dessert can be served the same day but I have found that waiting one allows the banana flavor to fully ripen in the cake. Its also important that you use fully ripe bananas as they will provide for the sweetest and strongest flavor. 

Enjoy! xoxo - Iris

Allergies, Sensitivities, Celiacs... oh MY!

May is Celiac's Disease Awareness Month. I follow a few other gluten free bloggers, some who choose to be gluten free because of Celiacs and others because of other medical necessities. I've never been medically diagnosed with Celiac's, the blood antibody test was inconclusive for me because I had already eliminated wheat from my diet a year pior to being tested. But trust me wheat and me we are not friends, the fine flora and I are mortal enemies in fact!

I guess on some level getting some diagnosis on paper would be some sort of affirmation for me but the only confirmation I need really is how I feel. I once accidentally without knowing it ate some wheat flour in some candy and was sick for about a week after, when I found out that their was wheat in the candy a part of me was relieved to know that my symptoms were not psychosomatic.  I guess that was kind of like my unscientific diagnosis.

For some reason though this juxtaposition of "wheat sensitivity" to Celiac's Disease reminds me of a conversation I had once with my doctor. I'm like the Queen of sensitivity over here, antibiotics and most pain medications make me projectile vomit, I once had an endoscopy in which I was unsuccessfully sedated, there is a reason my high school drug experimentation was limited to marijuana.

However, in the medical world, sensitivity or adverse reactions are not regarded with the same fear that allergies are and here is why:

My doctor explained to me allergies are a histamine reaction that causes swelling, inflammation, can inhibit breathing and can cause death, quickly. So if you say to a doctor you are allergic to something they have to take it VERY seriously.

I understand this, though I mentally compare my actual allergy to pineapple to my sensitivity to wheat. Pineapple gives me hives, it also for some reason makes me irritable, I love the flavor but sadly can not eat the stuff! However, one benedryl later my symptoms rapidly subside. Wheat on the other hand I won't even realize has snuck into something or cross contaminated my food until I am doubled over half an hour later with pain in my stomach that lasts about two weeks like someone socked me in the stomach as hard as they can.  I'd take my allergy any day over my sensitivity.

This is me specifically, of course, allergies can be life threatening so I in no way mean to down play the seriousness of allergies. I do however think that its unfortunate that sensitivities are not regarded with the same respect. It essentially has left me resorting to lying at the doctors office "I am allergic to certain antibiotics." If further questioned I like to tell them the story of how when I got my wisdom teeth out the doctor assured me that these antibiotics would be fine and then I had to suffer through days of projectile vomiting out of a mouth that hardly would open. Yes, gross! But I think it drives my point home.

So now back to Celiacs versus Wheat/Gluten Sensitivity.

Here is the scientific difference. Those with Celiac's disease have an autoimmune reaction to wheat/gluten consumption that leads their body to attack itself, specifically the lining in the small intestine. This damage over time leads to a myriad of problem including malnutrition and the forms in which that effects your overall health.

Wheat/gluten sensitivity is where, as apposed to the body attacking itself, the body attacks the wheat/gluten protein as a toxic invader. The bodies reaction is to become inflamed, specifically throughout the digestive tract. There has not been enough research on this to determine what the long term effects of this on your body would be. I supposed it really would depend on how long you've been living with these symptoms and their severity.

Both have very similar body reactions and can manifest themselves in similar symptomatic ways in your body. Remember IBS? yeah, thats probably Celiacs or a wheat sensitivity...

I am not someone that preaches a gluten free lifestyle to the masses and the estimates of how many in the population are effected dramatically varies from 5% to 50%.

I can however speak to my own personal experience and the experiences of those around me.

I first eliminated wheat from my diet in November of 2011 at the recommendation of a friend/acupuncturist who was trying to assist me with my severe and sudden onset of dysphagia.

The reduction of my symptoms was dramatic enough for me to stay the course. What began to happen though was very interesting, my overall digestive health improved fairly quickly, my skin completely cleared up and I lost about 50lbs. My body was definitely appreciating the change. Shortly after this several friends of mine decided to become gluten free, one was a long time severe heart burn sufferer. Within a week of eliminating wheat from his diet he had no heart burn, reintroduction of wheat and bam symptoms returned.

My other friend had eliminated wheat on a whim because his cholesterol was high, weeks after eliminating wheat from his diet he had lost 15lbs and his cholesterol levels dropped immediately. He expressed to me that his symptoms were not so dramatic when he ate wheat again though overall he felt better when he wasn't.

Conversely I have some friends who complain to me about symptoms that I feel SOOOOOO sure would be appeased through a diet with wheat elimination but haven't successfully tried it out. And really its easy if it doesn't make you feel better then you can go back to your wheat.

I guess the point is for me its irrelevant, to get the an actual diagnosis would be just validation, somewhere in me its a validation I want but no matter what I'll be spending the rest of my life wheat and gluten free. I know what it does to me and its important to not live your life sick.

xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake Recipe!

I have a policy at work that when someone who works in the same department as me has a birthday they can request what kind of cake they want and I'll make it. A few years ago one of the assistants in the office, who is from Mexico, requested a tres leches cake. My knowledge of tres leches cake up until this time was limited to the sighting of single slices of questionable yellow cake sitting in a puddle of milk in the bakery section of Food For Less. Needless to say I hadn't actually eaten any of the stuff myself.

wheat containing Tres Leches Cake

Not one to balk at a challenge I googled a recipe for Tres Leches Cake. At this time I was still naively poisoning myself with wheat products. The next day I brought in my homemade cake after following the recipe, which essentially is a sponge cake soaked in a sweet cream mix topped with whipped cream.  We all had a good laugh once it was actually explained to me that in fact this a cake that should remain in a dish... this seems obvious now as the milk seeped out from under the cake... Also the "traditional" cake is topped with maraschino cherries which are on my "are you sure thats edible?" list so I used fresh strawberries.  It was delicious, I still think a cake better eaten fresh homemade rather than store bought.

Flash forward...

When making a recipe "gluten freed" its important to consider texture as the key factor in replacing one flour for another. Sponge cake is actually excellent adapted to gluten free because of the egg base and the light texture.  I've been making this with a lot of success and so here is my recipe from Easter that was enjoyed by all.

Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake

• 1 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 1/8 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 pint whipping cream
• fresh berries of your choosing

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour using brown rice flour your cake pan... as long as it will fit that batter use whatever you prefer. I kind of like a casserole dish as you can serve it in the pan you bake the cake in.

2. Beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar until light in color and doubled in volume. Stir in milk, 1 tsp vanilla, combines flours and baking powder.

3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until firm but not dry. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture. Pour into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool.

5. Mix together condensed milk, evaporated milk and 1/4 cup of the whipping cream. Pour mixture over cake and allow to absorb. Whip the remaining whipping cream with a 1/4 cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla until it thickens and reaches spreading consistency. Frost cake with whipped cream and garnish with fresh berries.

Set aside in the fridge, serve after an hour... it will instantly disappear, I kid you not people were going back for seconds and licking their plates clean. 

xoxo - Iris

Carob Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

Here is another recipe for your carob cravings and since this is a chocolate free cookie feel free to share with your dog. For some reason my oldest dog, Mina, was going nuts for these!

Please note this recipe does call for oat flour which is not always gluten free so be sure that you either verify that the oat flour you are using is gluten free or make your own from whole gluten free oats. Trader Joes sells affordable gluten free oats, just dump the bag into the food processor and blend till grainy flour texture. I return the blended oats to the original bag and store them this way on the shelf.

CAROB PEANUT BUTTER OAT COOKIES

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup carob flour
• 1/2 cup gluten free oat flour 
• 1/8 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Mix butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla extract in electric mixing bowl.

3. Combine flours with baking soda and salt. 

4. Add dry to wet mixture and beat till combined. 

5. Roll into balls and place on foil lined but not greased cookie sheet.

6. Flatten balls by pressing fork in crossing pattern. 

7. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven but let cool on sheet.

8. Remove from baking sheet and enjoy!

The resulting cookie is a little bit delicate but definitely soft and delicious. 

Enjoy! xoxo- Iris

Carob Bark

Let me start off today by saying that I had an excellent food weekend. Friday I tried out my new spiralizer and made zucchini pasta, this was accompanied by a homemade sauce of crushed tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and fresh basil, topped with parmesan cheese. I also had garlic bread on the side, a recipe I fully intend to share soon but have been holding off because I really want it to be my first cooking video.

 Tamales w/my enchilada sauce from last week.

Saturday I had enchiladas for breakfast topped with a fried egg. The enchilada sauce was my homemade batch that I made a few weeks ago and froze. I was so pleased to find out how insanely easy it is to make your own homemade enchilada sauce. Mine was made with 6 dried ancho chiles, 2 dried guajillo chiles and 2 small dried chipotle peppers, simmered in water with 3 garlic cloves and some cumin seeds. Once the chiles were rehydrated I turned off the heat and let it cool, blended it in the blender with one 6 oz can of tomato paste, salt to taste and added water till it got to the right texture. I've been living off this stuff ever since, its great on enchiladas, tamales, as a dip for corn chips, everything!


The weather was so nice that I went with a friend over to check out the old historial Evergreen Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Los Angeles (est. 1877,) located in Boyle Heights. It was a perfect day for it. The neighborhood is actually really interesting and the cemetery grounds are beautiful, lots of large oak trees and shade.

When we got back to my place we ate pie and butter pecan ice cream. I had made a gluten free pie with pumpkin apple butter filling and the butter pecan ice cream was from a few weeks ago, it had a coconut milk base, sweetened with brown sugar and pecan pralines.

Same pie, just this slice is topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

Saturday night for dinner I made a vegetarian tempura soup. I simmered shitake mushrooms, and kombu seaweed for a few hours. I removed the mushrooms and kombu and added some ginger slices, a little vinegar, tamari sauce, sugar and a garlic clove and let it continue to cook on a low heat while I made my tempura. The batter was simple, 1 egg, beat with 1 cup gluten free flour (I did my standard brown rice flour, potato flour, corn starch blend) and one cup sparkling water. I made tempura sweet potato, green beans, tofu, zucchini and shitake mushroom. I ate the broth on the side with the tempura dipped in the broth and also in a sweetened tamari sauce. I can't even remember the last time I was that full but it was AWESOME.

Sunday I had toast, eggs, and potatoes for breakfast with some of my homemade catsup sauce. The rest of the day was spent thrifting and on a mission to find gluten free carob chips. Which leads me to the point of this post...

A friend of mine texted me yesterday asking about where to find carob chips. I believe she was using them to make dog safe treats. Carob is an excellent safe substitute for special doggy treats. As soon as she mentioned the word carob I immediately needed to have something with carob! Once my mind gets hooked onto something my body goes into full craving mode.

I haven't really eaten carob since I was a kid living in upstate NY. I confess to once eating a carob  Three Dog Bakery oreo cookie that was intended for dogs and admittedly it was tasty. So you ask what are the health benefits of carob? I'm not really in the camp that its a substitute for chocolate, to me it tastes very different, smokier, however it is caffeine free. Carob is already naturally sweet so it needs less additional sweetener, it regulates your blood glucose levels and lowers cholesterol. Carob also is an excellent antioxidant, anti-viral, anti-allergetic, anti-ceptic and anti-bacterial agent and aids in the digestive process as it reduces acids... thats a lot of antis! And if that doesn't sound good enough yet, ladies, a study published in Plant Foods for Human Nutrition Journal indicated that the flour has the capability to attack and target specific cervical cancer cells.  More here on the benefits of carob.

I bet just reading this you've already begun craving carob.

I tried calling over to the Ralphs around the corner, it took them about 15 minutes to confirm they do not stock carob, there was a lot of confusion as to the fact that carob was something and not a brand. My only option was to trek over to the Whole Foods in Pasadena (this became justified by my decision to also check out the Pasadena Goodwill, never miss an opportunity for potential thrifting.)

The Whole Foods in Pasadena is pretty shi shi, its two stories high, there are multiple juice, cheese and beer bars, and frankly in my opinion its completely confusing as there are about ten different places that one item could potentially be shelved. In my search for carob chips, at this time I was imagining baking up a batch of oatmeal carob chip cookies, I headed over to the baking section.

I found a bag of Sunspire sweetened carob chips, but my excitement was quickly squashed when I found that the first ingredient listed on the back is "malted corn and barley." GAH! not gluten free!

No one in the store seemed to have any idea where to direct me for gluten free carob chips. I function in the world of food sensitive restrictive dietary habits so its hard for me to imagine that I am the first person to ask for this at Whole Foods. I will say in his defense the guy who was helping me did say he had just started working there and apologized for not being able to provide me with more information.

So there I stood, in the baking section of Whole Foods with not a carob chip to my name... when suddenly I saw it: Bob's Red Mill Toasted Carob Powder.  I will warn you that the bag clearly states "Manufactured in a facility that also uses soy, wheat, and milk." however the only ingredient is ground toasted carob so for myself personally I feel its fairly safe.

So I bought the bag with no real direction as to what I would do with it... enter, carob bark!

CAROB BARK

• 1 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup toasted carob powder
• 1/4 cup Lyle's Golden Cane syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup roasted salted cashews
• 1/4 cup chopped apricots
• 1/4 cup raisons (I like golden but use whatever is available and looks good.)

1. Melt coconut oil in double boiler.

2. Add cane syrup and then mix in vanilla and carob powder. Do this all quickly or the mixture will seize up and separate.  

2. Pour onto pan (think pie pan, or small brownie pan, should be deep but not huge) covered with plastic wrap.

3. Sprinkle nuts, chopped apricots and raisons over the mixture. Do not stir in.  

4. Cool in the fridge or freezer. 

5. Break into pieces. Keep in the fridge so that it doesn't melt. 

I think you can probably change this up depending on your personal preferences, maybe different dried fruits or nuts. Stick to the ratio and order of the first part though, this was surprisingly difficult to make and my first crack at it the coconut oil separated from the carob. Tasty yummy but didn't look so hot.

Be healthy, happy and eat well! xoxo - Iris

Eating 5 Days a Week!

Lately I've been posting a lot of things for those of you who are just becoming gluten free. As much as I love sharing my recipes I also know that for the other 5 days a week you just want to stay full, fed and healthy. So today's entry is an example of food planning for the week.

These are just some basic suggestions, I'm vegetarian so I've also made recommendations for proteins to accompany the dishes for those of who are not. Also I don't address desserts or sweets really here but its always good to have some chocolate, sorbet, gluten free cookies on hand during the week for when a craving hits.

MONDAY

BREAKFAST: Warm gluten free oatmeal with butter and brown sugar. 

LUNCH: Egg salad or tuna salad scoop on top of leafy green salad with vegetables of your selection.

SNACK:  cheese cubes, apple slices, almonds

DINNER: Steamed rice with stir fry of mixed vegetables seasoned with garlic, olive oil and italian spices, or go asian with it and add sesame oil, sriracha sauce, garlic and tamari sauce. Add tofu, chicken or other protein of your choice.

TUESDAY

BREAKFAST: scrambled eggs with salsa on a warmed corn tortilla with cheese and avocado. 

LUNCH: left over stir fry from prior night's dinner.

SNACK: hummus with vegetables and corn chips 

DINNER: Sauteed pre-cooked polenta topped with marina sauce and parmesan cheese. Add vegetables to your sauce or meat to make it just a bit heartier. Side salad.

WEDNESDAY

BREAKFAST: fresh fruit, berries, sliced bananas, or other seasonal fruit on top of greek yogurt with honey drizzled on top. 

LUNCH: Crustless quiche, side salad with vinaigrette.

SNACK: Olive topenade and feta mixed with olive oil, chopped garlic and paprika or pepper flakes, spread onto corn chips. Slices of cucumbers. 

DINNER: Smashed Potatoes, stuffed zucchini. Can be served with a protein for those of you who are meat eaters, like a piece of steak or something like that. Side of veggies, think green beans, corn, whatever is seasonal. 

THURSDAY

BREAKFAST: Scrambled eggs, with spinach and onions and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Side of sliced tomatoes. 

LUNCH: Shepherd pie, use the left over potatoes and meat from the night's prior meal. Place diced meat and veggies in bottum of tupperware and top with potatoes. Can be reheated at work in microwave. 

SNACK: fresh fruit, celery sticks with peanut butter or cream cheese. 

DINNER: Enchilada casserole with beans and rice on the side. Enchilada casserole is essential corn tortillas layered with cheese, onions and beans. Pour premade enchilada sauce, store bought or made ahead and frozen. Cook plain rice seasoned with salsa and heat up a can of beans. Serve with sour cream and avocado slices. 

FRIDAY

BREAKFAST: Fried eggs, pre-made hash browns, topped with katsup and side of fresh sliced avocado. 

LUNCH: Left over enchiladas. Top with fried egg or boiled egg sliced up. 

SNACK: Mixed nuts, dried fruit, fresh juices like carrot or a green mix.

DINNER: Cauliflower Mac and cheese with side salad. Also for the meat eaters add baked chicken.

Hope these suggestions help, of course there is always a can of soup and a salad if you are in a bind... healthy, happy eating to all!

xoxo- Iris

How to grocery shop gluten free...

I was chatting a bit ago with a friend who has recently gone gluten free, she has been struggling, as I hear a lot of people do, when adjusting to a gluten free lifestyle. I say lifestyle because there is a huge adjustment one must make when becoming gluten free, so much of our socialization centers around going out to eat and consuming food with family and friends. When you suddenly find that your diet is restricted you need to make accommodations in a lot of places in your life. Many restaurants are becoming more sensitive to the needs of the gluten free consumer so luckily while eating out there may now be a few more options available. But lets talk now about  a basic trip to the grocery store, how do you feed yourself throughout the week? especially if you have a busy schedule and can't always spend a whole night preparing a gourmet meal from a gluten free cookbook or blog...

Vegetables: The good news here is when you are in the produce section you can go crazy! Think salads, stir fry, carrot sticks and other sliced veggies for munching on throughout the day. Fruit, lots of fruit! Apples, oranges, whatever is seasonally available.

There are also vegetables that make excellent substitutes, for example thinly sliced zucchini is wonderful quickly boiled and used as a pasta for any marina or cream sauce that you would typically toss a wheat pasta in. I have also heard of spaghetti squash being used for this purpose too but have not done it myself.

Starches: Potatoes, which can be prepared a ton of ways, boiled, mashed, fried, baked, potato salad... don't forget potatoes aren't just russets either. There are baby potatoes and fingerling potatoes, red and white potatoes, even purple potatoes and each is excellent. I love boiled potatoes (any variety except the russet) tossed with boiled green beans dressed in pesto sauce. Serve warm or cold its awesome.

Rice... white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, wild rice. This is the time to become a fan of risotto. Saute garlic, onions, carrots and other vegetables in a pan, toss in a little white wine, simmer down, throw in your rice, arborio is the rice of preference as it become creamy but you can use short grain regular rice, now add vegetable stock (I'm vegetarian, this would work with chicken or meat stock too I assume.) Once the rice is cooked stir in a ton of Parmesan cheese. Salt, pepper... herbs, anything to taste.

Other excellent and easy uses for rice, make it like mac and cheese, use it as a base under a stir fry, rice pudding, or brown rice cooked up and served like a warm porridge.

Alternative grains like quinoa are great but are not always available at all stores.

Breading: right now my favorite way to bread things for frying or baking is corn. It is fairly easy to find Masa Harina and the grocery store. You'll find it in the Spanish section, it is a corn flour used for tamales or homemade corn tortillas. If you wish to make breaded mushrooms, zucchini or perhaps fried chicken I suggest salting and herbing some buttermilk and tossing the vegetable or chicken into the buttermilk and then rolling till covered in seasoned masa harina. By seasoned I mean salt, pepper, whatever you like. You can fancy it up by adding some garlic powder or paprika, personally I like adding this to the buttermilk and keeping with just a little salt added to the masa, I find it seasons the food but the spices have a tendency to burn. Fry your food in corn or canola oil till crispy and cooked through.

Baking: For basics it helps to have a few things around like butter, eggs, sugar but in place of wheat flour I always keep corn starch, brown rice flour and potato flour on hand, which I use as a blend as a flour substitute  I have an earlier post where I sing the praises of Bob's Red Mill products, if you are not able to find these at your local grocery store you can purchase them online (amazon.com) and also you can use gluten free instant potatoes ground finer as a replacement for potato flour.

If you are not a baker and want something instant I will confess its readily available and not bad, check out the Betty Crocker line of box mixes. http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/gluten-free-baking-mixes The cool part is Betty Crocker's gluten free line is actually way nicer than their other products with none of the weird unpronounceable ingredients. How ironic, eh?

Condiments: be wary of salad dressings and mustards, they can contain wheat... look for soy sauce, wheat germ things like that, do not buy those products. The good news is some very basic brands now clearly label themselves as gluten free. Hidden Valley ranch dressing, gluten free. :) My personal preference is to stick to things like oil and vinegar, toss a salad in a basic herb mixture and then some nice quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar, its very lovely.

Remember soy sauce comes from wheat but Tamari does not and is exactly the same thing. Some folks are using Braggs amino acids, which is a brown sauce, I've never used it but it is popular. I also like things like sriracha and sesame oil for seasoning my Asian style dishes.

You are pretty much safe with all pickles, olives and things of that sort. Heinz Ketsup... yup, its gluten free. http://www.heinz.com/glutenfree/products.html

Salsa, this is always safe, keep a jar in your fridge at all times, can't go wrong with some chips salsa and guacamole, but it is also great scrambled in eggs and topped with cheese in a corn tortilla (breakfast tacos.)

Cheese: Buy blocks of cheese, do not buy grated Parmesan cheese or shredded cheese, there are starches and powders and "cellulose" added that are not gluten free and questionable at best. This is used to prevent the cheese from sticking together, grate your own cheese fresh, it will taste better and be safe. Other than that you are pretty safe, there is some debate on blue cheese so I personally avoid it and don't eat cheeses with beer added, that goes with out saying.

Eggs: Of course eggs are safe... you can make omelettes with veggies and meats or scrambbled eggs to eat with potatoes. Or even breakfast tacos...

which leads me to...

Breads, etc.: I personally like Udi's gluten free white sandwich bread, its also reasonably priced at trader joes. Always keep some corn tortillas on hand. Easy to make a corn quesadillas for lunch or breakfast tacos for, well, breakfast. Also a warmed up corn tortilla makes a lovely side with any breakfast that you otherwise would have had toast with.

Beverages: You should be pretty safe to drink nearly anything. No beer though. Also none of those fancy wine cooler malt beverages. Stick to things like tequila, wine, vodka(potato vodka only, Absolut vodka is made with wheat)... non alcoholic things like juice are safe and all Hansen sodas are gluten free. Beware of carmel color in sodas.

Candies: Watch out for wheat hidden in candy, that means no more jelly beans. There is wheat syrup and gums used in a lot of candies, chocolate are pretty safe but also keep an eye out for things that contain malt. Skittles are gluten free though and you can see that they label clearly which always makes me happy.

Other snacks: potato chips, NOT BBQ, all pretty safe, just check the ingredients if you are getting the seasoned ones. Corn chips, cheetos, SOME but not all Doritos.

Things to avoid, if you see any of this listed in ingredients it either means the product does or could contain wheat or wheat products:

• Cellulose
• Glucose Syrup (can be made from wheat or potatoes, barley or rice, no real way to know if its "safe")
• Soy Sauce (in the US its made from fermented wheat, so if you see it listed as an ingredient its not "soy." Look for this in marinades, salad dressing, etc.)
• Triticum vulgare (wheat)

• Triticale (cross between wheat and rye)

• Hordeum vulgare (barley)

• Secale cereale (rye)

• Triticum spelta (spelt, a form of wheat)

• Wheat protein/hydrolyzed wheat protein

• Wheat starch/hydrolyzed wheat starch

• Wheat flour/bread flour/bleached flour

• Bulgur (a form of wheat)

• Malt (made from barley)

• Couscous (made from wheat)

• Farina (made from wheat)

• Pasta (made from wheat unless otherwise indicated)

• Seitan (made from wheat gluten and commonly used in vegetarian meals)

• Wheat or barley grass (will be cross contaminated)

• Wheat germ oil or extract (will be cross contaminated)

• Vegetable protein/hydrolyzed vegetable protein (can come from wheat, corn or soy)

• Modified starch/modified food starch (can come from several sources, including wheat)

• Natural flavor/natural flavoring (can come from barley)

• Artificial flavor/artificial flavoring (can come from barley)

• Caramel color (now considered a safe ingredient, but if you're in doubt, check with the manufacturer)

• Modified food starch

• Hydrolyzed plant protein/HPP

• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein/HVP

• Seasonings

• Flavorings

• Vegetable starch

• Dextrin and Maltodextrin (both sometimes made from wheat)

Also please be aware that the FDA does not presently monitor what food or standards a product must meet to be considered "gluten free." That means don't trust labeling because that can just be marketing. The industry accepted standard is that the food must fall below 20PPM (20 parts per million.) This means your "gluten free" food product may contain wheat ingredients, so check the nutritional list anyways, if you are like me you will avoid food with wheat in them at all not just 20PPM, that is a personal choice and depends on your sensitivity.

If you ever are not sure call the number listed on the container, most companies will be fairly educated and transparent when you say that you want to know if the product is gluten free. If they can not or will not give you the information don't eat it... companies should be proud of what they are putting in their food and if they don't know or won't tell you then to me that raises a red flag anyways. 

I may think of more things but this is it for now... safe eating, safe shopping and safe consumption. 

xoxo- Iris

Cauliflower pizza crust

Yes, this is all the rage and everyone is doing it. But it's really fairly tasty and worth a shot.

Finished pizza.

Boil one average size of cauliflower. Drain and then squeeze out excess moisture. You can use cheese clothe or a colander for this part. Use your food processor to process the cauliflower. You don't want it to be a paste just broken up fairly well. Add 1 large egg, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp garlic salt and 1/4 cup brown rice flour. Pulse mixture till a dough forms.

Preheat oven to 350. Oil pizza baking pan and spread the cauliflower dough thinly across the surface. Bake in oven till edges are crispy and golden.

Top with sauce, cheese and toppings on your choice. Bake till cheese is melted and started to show golden spots.

Once you remove the pizza from the oven you need to let it sit and cool for a minute. If you try to just eat the pizza right away the crust may be too soft. I also found this reheats the next day very well.

Pizza crust with garlic slivers on top.