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

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

Garlic Black Eye Peas

This is one of those, "yeah, of course that's gluten free" posts but I have to say I didn't grow up eating black eye peas so when I did finally start incorporating them into my diet I was like "oh my gawd! have you tried these things!?"

Black eye peas are are earthier bean, you can find them canned, fresh or dry and I think even in the frozen section. Probably the easiest to find is the dry ones but you can essentially use any of them for this recipe. This recipe can be made healthier and also it can be made vegan too (less butter or a butter substitute or probably no butter would work) but honestly I never have proclaimed to be a health food blogger, just delicious, I can promise to deliver on delicious.

Garlic Sauce Black Eye Peas

• 3 cups cooked black eye peas
• 1 tsp salt (also season to taste)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 carrot, peels and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin seed

Directions:

1. Melt butter in large skillet and add finely chopped garlic and add carrots, celery, bell pepper and onion. 

2. Add salt and sauté until par cooked, add cooked black eye peas, and vegetable broth. 

3. Add spices, paprika, bay leaves, cumin and simmer on low for about 20 minutes. 

4. Serve warm over rice, add additional salt or pepper to taste. 

For some reason this feels like real solid comfort food and makes wonderful left overs, the broth mixed with the beans and the butter really makes a delicious sauce and really soaks into rice if you serve it that way... 

So enjoy! 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.

Key Lime Coconut Sorbet & Orange Sparkling Wine Sorbet

Coconut key lime sorbet, pictured
with orange sparkling wine sorbet,
a strawberry sweet wine syrup and
a white chocolate peanut butter heart cup.

Its easy to assume that something like ice cream, sorbet and sherbet would be gluten free, but sadly due to stabilizers with odd scientific names and sweeteners derived from wheat its not so easy to know exactly what you are consuming.

Lately I've been on a mission to not consume anything purchase from a store or restaurant that contains multiple ingedients. I'm hoping this will give wheat less places to hide in my food.





KEY LIME COCONUT SORBET

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup or more cane sugar (you can add more and determine when the mixture reaches the sweetness level you prefer. 

1. I put all the ingredients into a container and shook it to mix and then dumped the mixture into my ice cream maker. This way when it was done processing I returned it to the container for storage and I had no dirty dishes. 

2. I recommend using the Trader Joes canned light coconut milk for this. When I checked at the store all the other coconut milks had stabilizers and thickeners, including the TJ brand of thick coconut milk. The light coconut milk only had coconut and water as the ingredients so I feel safe eating it. 

This is hands down the best sorbet ever! And also will make for a great popsicle if you do not have an ice cream maker. 

ORANGE SPARKLING WINE SORBET

• 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate (be sure its only ingredients are orange juice)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sparkling white white or champagne (if I had used champagne I would have called this a mimosa sorbet but I just had some sparkling wine left around the house.)

1. Mix together all ingredients and pour into ice cream maker. This mix would not make for a good popsicle because the fizz of the sparkling wine or champagne expands as it freezes. This makes for a great light textured sorbet but would make for a mess in your freezer. If you would like to modify this to make a popsicle I recommend using a sweet white wine with no sparkles. 

I know, its easy and hardly seems like a recipe at all, but I think the best things in life shouldn't be hard.

xoxo- Iris

GlutenFreeda Bean and Cheese Burrito Product Review

 Glutenfreeda Gluten-Free Burrito, Vegetarian Bean and Cheese *** (2.5 out of 5 stars)

I picked one of these up from Sprouts during their large Gluten Free Sale. First off the price on these, on sale $2.50 each is less than impressive. Especially considering the size of the little thing.

Next the ingredients list is a major turn off for me as it has about a million ingredients.

Ingredients:

Gluten-free flour tortilla (white corn masa flour and a trace of lime, water, pregelatinized rice flour, potato flour, high oleic safflower oil, corn starch, xanthan gum and cultured dextrose), refried beans (beans, water, canola oil, salt), rice, cheddar cheese (pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, annatto color), salsa (tomatoes, tomato juice, (water, tomato concentrate, salt, vitamin C), onions, bell peppers, peppers, parsley, garlic, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, spices, sea salt, herbs), GMO free corn, sour cream (grade A cultured cream (milk), enzyme), garlic salt (garlic, salt, garlic oil). Contains dairy (milk).

Once I microwaved it the burrito's tortilla broke up in several places and the texture was all around much more like a corn tortilla than anything flour-like. So essentially its a pale wrapped up bean and rice taco.

OK, so I dwelled on the negative so now lets talk about the positives. Those millions ingredients are all recognizible food products and none that I mind with the exception of the xanthum gum (it reads xanthan gum, is that the same thing?) Anyways gums in general, I don't want in my food! However, the burrito tasted just fine, essentially nothing spectacular and what you would expect of a microwaved store bought burrito but good enough that I was able to eat it.

No, I would probably not ever purchase one again, however if I was somewhere and they were offered as an option and I was hungry I would eat it.

xoxo - Iris

Nutella Gluten Free Cupcakes

This recipe has been making the Internet rounds as brownie bites but I made some modifications and gluten freed it for your pleasure. I was wanting to make something I could frost anyways and luckily my modifications also seem to have made it more cakey anyways.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl beat 1 cup Nutella, 3 eggs till combined. In a separate small bowl mix 5 Tablespoons brown rice flour, 1 tablespoon corn starch and 2 tablespoons potato flour with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix till thoroughly combined, be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl where Nutella may be hiding.

Line mini cupcake pan with papers and fill with 1 generous tablespoon batter each. Bake for 15 minutes or until the center of the cupcake no longer appears like batter.

Remove from oven and cool.

Meanwhile you can make any kind of frosting you like to top them. I made a Nutella frosting. 1/2 cup Nutella, 3 tablespoons butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, beat with electric mixer till combined, slowly add up to 1 tablespoon milk to achieve appropriate consistency. Now beat the frosting with the electric mixer till it becomes fluffy and the color becomes a shade lighter. This works very well with a kitchen aid and makes a fluffy frosting.

Scoop frosting to bag with tip in place and pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Try not to eat every one!

Xoxo- Iris

Vegetarian Gluten Free Chili Pizza - Quick and Easy

I'm not for spicey foods but I do enjoy the comfort of a good warm bowl of chili. It's the best when it's slow cooked from dry beans and allowed to absorb all the wonderful seasonings, however I am going to give you my recipe for 10 minute chili which can come in handy after a long day.

A few days ago I made this with a friend and she and I had it with French fries. It made enough that I had leftovers which leads us to the pizza part of this story.

To make 10 minute vegetarian chili, sauté half an onion chopped, and 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic in about 3 tablespoons olive oil. Once the onions are translucent and the garlic is golden dump in one 29 oz can par drained black beans and one 29 oz can par drained pinto beans. You can use other beans instead like kidney or another combination of dark beans of your preference. Add one can puréed tomatoes, the 16 oz size. I typically do all my seasoning to taste but here is a break down of what I like in my chili: 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 3 Tablespoons smoked paprika, 3 Tablespoons Ancho chile powder, 1 tsp prepared gluten free mustard (Dijon, spices, whatever) and salt to taste, sneak up on it, your canned beans are presalted. You can also add a tiny bit of cayenne pepper to raise the heat level to where you like it best.

Simmer on stove till heated through. If you are making a salad or fries as a side let your chili cook on a low heat for the duration. Do not overcook as the beans will just dissolve but it's nice to let the seasoning simmer.

Serve hot with grated cheese, sour cream and diced onions on top.

Now for how chili becomes pizza...

You can use your leftover chili for this or buy a can of chili or use whatever other chili recipe you have. Be careful that any store purchased chili is gluten free, many contain wheat protein for texture.

I made my hush puppy batter and let it sit while I preheated the oven to 400. Letting the batter sit lets it thicken. Generously oil your pizza pan with olive oil, do not use one with holes. Spread batter across pan thinly but make sure you have no holes. Allow edges to be thicker than the center.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes or till the crust looks baked through but has yet to reach the golden stage.

Dice a quarter of an onion and grate 1 cup of cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese. Remove crust from oven and top with layer of chili. Do not go too thick with the chili just spread over the crust to cover leaving edge bare. Top with grated cheese and sprinkle with diced onions.

Return pizza to the oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese on top starts to bubble and gets hints of browning. Your crust on the outer edge should also be showing signs of goldening. As long as the cheese is melted you can remove pizza from the oven at any point if it seems like the crust might be getting too dark.

Resist the temptation to slice the pizza immediately and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes, this will make it easier to slice.

Once sliced the crust should be nice and thin but easy enough to pick up and eat the pieces with your hands... Or a fork if you prefer. :)

I enjoyed this with a nice home prepared vanilla cola. (Hansen's cola with torani vanilla syrup over ice)
Xoxo - Iris

5 minute Red Chiliquilles

The first time I ever ate chilliquilles was in New Mexico when I was kid, it's funny because for such a simple food it certainly stuck with me. I think I particularly liked that they have something called "Christmas style" which is when your plate is served with green sauce on one side and red on the other... For those not familiar with chilliquilles, it's a popular Mexican dish of fried corn tortillas in sauce served for breakfast topped with shredded chicken or ham and fried eggs.

I'm calling this 5 minute chilliquilles as I'm sure it's a cheat but it's delicious and fast just the same. heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your skillet. Toss in 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic. While the garlic seasons the oil cut your corn tortillas into triangles. I used smaller ones so cutting them into four was sufficient but if your have larger tortillas you can cut more.

Toss tortilla pieces into hot garlic oil and sauté until pieces are golden. I used store bought red enchilada sauce, and checked the ingredients to ensure that it was gluten free. Please note Trader Joes enchilada sauce is NOT GLUTEN FREE.

Pour enough sauce into the pan to coat the tortilla pieces and then sprinkle sea slat over and toss again. Serve with fried eggs, chopped cilantro, green onions, a crumbling of quest fresco and sour cream.

It makes for an excellent easy gluten free breakfast but frankly I would eat it for any meal of the day.

Xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Product Review

Let me start out by saying that as I type this post I am happily snacking away on a roll of boursin cheese and corn chips... I googled it... Boursin is gluten free.

So last weekend Sprouts Market had a sale on all their gluten free products, 25% off. I decided this was an ideal opportunity to check out all those over priced gluten free packaged products I've been eyeing. It was pretty hard to control myself.

Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Donuts *** (3 out of 5 stars)

Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar  Donuts

These caught my eye in the frozen section because of course who doesn't miss a yummy sugary donut. I have made gluten free donuts at home and they were absolutely scrumptious but oilier than the donuts you buy at the store. These do have a donut flavor but were not as good as the ones I made at home... Also they were a little doughy and less cakey as though they were almost under cooked. So if you crave a donut and these are on sale they are sort of worth the buy but they won't blow your mind or anything.

My home fried donuts from over the winter break.

Glutino Parmesan & Garlic Bagel Chips **** (4 out of 5 stars) and Pretzel Twists **(2.5 out of 5 stars)

Lets start off discussing the Pretzel Twists. They taste just like a pretzel but the weird thing is the outside almost has a sliminess to it when you eat it and so when you chew there is almost like a glue element to it (careful or I may go on a tangent about xanthum gum.) 

The bagel chips are pretty spot on though. Myself and my friend Taylor thought they were a little dry, but the flavor and texture was perfect. I have only tried the Parmesan and Garlic flavor but I've heard the others are good as well. 

I used both in some homemade chex mix and honestly once they were seasoned you absolutely would not know the difference. 

Van's Say Cheese Crackers **** (4.5 out of 5 stars)

While I am still on the topic of the chex mix I made I should mention that I also got a box of Van's cheese crackers. They would have gotten a full 5 stars from me if it hadn't been for what I believe was the quinoa creating random crunches and sticking in my teeth. Their main flour blend includes Oats, Brown Rice Flour, Millet, Quinoa and Amaranth. They are a little more like a chip than a cracker as well because they are thin and crispy so I don't think they would be all that successful as a cracker to serve with cheese or anything like that. I would buy them again but I don't need to rush out immediately and restock my kitchen with them. 

Robbie's Gluten Free Vegan Worcestershire Sauce ***** (5 out of 5 stars!)

I used to eat Worcestershire sauce on veggie burgers, in my egg salad, bloody mary's and in chex mix... until I realized it was anchovies. :( 

For those of you who are not vegetarian its ok Lee and Perkins Worcestershire sauce is gluten free so you are safe... for those of you who are vegan or vegetarian you'll be delighted to know that this tasted EXACTLY like the original salty fish based Worcestershire sauce. That sounds bad, but I mean that in the best possible way. 

Also, of interest when I googled Robbie's Worcestershire I came up with a website that listed one of the ingredients as wheat protein with a side note that it had tested at less than 20ppm. I am a delicate little flower so I don't care how many parts per zillion something contains, if it has wheat as an ingredient I do not want it IN, ON or AROUND my body! So with a heavy heart I called Robbie's directly to ask for some clarification. 

I am so glad that I did! They told me that they have since changed their recipe and it no longer contains ANY wheat ingredients at all and that they now test below 5ppm which should be fully safe for anyone. I was very pleased about this. 

This does bring up an important topic though. Apparently there are some talks with the FDA to regulate that only foods that test at 20 ppm or less can be labeled as "gluten free" even if they do contain wheat derived ingredients. I guess I'm in support of this as long as the labels still clearly indicate that they do contain wheat as I still will be avoiding any products with wheat in them. I'll be keeping track of how this progresses. 

I also got a few other products like gluten free English muffins, flour tortillas and ravioli that I will be trying out this weekend... I will let you know how they all are. 

xoxo - Iris