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

Gluten Free Hush Puppies

This is hands down my new favorite food, it certainly doesn't hurt that it's crunchy fried clouds of deliciousness either!

For the record I stand by the theory that there is A LOT of unnecessary use of xanthum gum in gluten free baking, here is the proof:

 http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/gluten-free-hush-puppies-recipe.html

 Now ignore that recipe and try mine and you'll understand exactly what I mean! 

Another thing that's different about my recipe is that I have a long standing problem with the texture of corn meal. I swear no matter the recipe I always end up with an undesired crunch... Corn bread, muffins, etc. all ruined by the grain of corn meal. Enter CORN FLOUR (insert chorus.) Corn flour, all the taste, none of the grit!

Hot hush puppies, smoked Gouda cheese & fried pickles. 

• 1 cup corn flour
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/8 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 stalk scallion
• oil for frying

1. Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.

2. Add egg and buttermilk, mix well. 

3. Chop finely and add scallion.

4. Set batter aside to puff up. Heat oil in a deep pan or use a fryer. Don't be shy with the oil fill it full, these are a deep fried goodness. 

5. I generally do a single test puppy to determine if the oil is correctly hot. You want the batter to fry up the second it hits the oil but brown slow enough that the inside is able to cook through.

6. Once you have determined the oil is appropriately hot drop spoon size blobs into the oil and fry till golden brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place onto paper towels so the excess oil goes into the towel instead of pooling into the hush puppy.

7. Eat while warm with catsup or ranch dip or whatever other condiment strikes your fancy!

These are addictive I will warn you... I'm already imagining how I can make these into corn dogs! (Side note: Lightlife tofu pups contain no gluten ingredients but are not made in a gluten free facility so depending on your sensitivity its some good knowledge to keep in your back pocket.)

xoxo - Iris

Potato Flour alternatives

I use potato flour a lot in my baking. Its available at Whole Foods, its not the cheapest of the flours considering it made from POTATOES! By the way Bob's Red Mill flours are far superior if your shopping and trying to make a determination. I find their rice flours to not be chalky at all. For more on why you should support Bob's Red Mill Products check this out: GET TO KNOW THE REAL BOB (spoiler alert: when he retired he GAVE his company to his employees) But I digress...

Luckily for all us gluten free bakers Bob's Red Mill products are becoming more easily available and Ralphs Grocery Stores and other chain stores are starting to carry a limited amount of his products. However you probably will find more of the standard products and for some reason potato flour is not considered standard.

But you say "Iris I still want to bake using potato flour what do I do?" well, you are in luck! I have discovered that Betty Crocker Potato Buds are gluten free and if you stick them in the food processor and blend them up (still dry not prepared) this makes a perfect substitute for potato flour since that basically what it is.

Don't get a flavored one or anything and be sure to buy the one that actually says "gluten free" right on the box. You can see there are a few additives like preservatives and stuff but its still a great substitute for potato flour when thats what you need and thats all you can find.

xoxo - Iris

Beautifully Gluten-Free!

Going gluten free made me feel so much better in so many ways I can't even count. There were the obvious stomach and digestive issues that immediately began disappearing and I lost a lot of weight but one thing I hadn't even considered was  how my skin would be effected. I no longer get blemishes and the eczema on my arms began to disappear.

I've decided in 2013 I am going to be working on my confidence, now that I am feeling better inside I'm going to work on the outside. 

Last night I went to Sephora with my friend Erika, she was my guide in this journey of makeup exploration. I was pretty surprised to find out that there was such a limited amount of gluten free make up available. The sales-woman at Sephora recommended Too Faced as it was one of the only product lines she could safely say was gluten free. She though made sure to emphasize that the Too Faced lip liner is not gluten free. I did a little research on this and found this directly from Toofaced.com:

 Are your products gluten-free?

Actually ALL Too Faced products are gluten-free with the exception of our Borderline Lip Pencil.

So that means we are safe! 

Also, Too Faced products are vegan too. I've always been unable to use eye shadow as it makes my eye lids swell so I thought it would be interesting and worth while to find out if using a gluten free vegan product would make much a difference. I haven't been able to pinpoint the source of my eye lid sensitivity. While it could just be that I am a delicate little flower, it also could be fish in the shimmery products or wheat that I already know I am reactive to... For more information on why you too should use vegan make up products read this:

Top 10 Products You Didn’t Know Are Used in Cosmetics

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/products-in-cosmetics.php#ixzz2H2Eoaju4

Back to Sephora... I wanted to try a little bit of everything without over investing in a product that might not work for me. I was informed by another sale-woman that my skin was in need of exfoliating but that I needed to be careful as most exfoliants might be too harsh for my skin. This may have been an attempt to up-sell me on a product they were actively promoting in the center of the store for essentially a lady's facial sander, however I took the information and my friend Erika recommended making my own sugar exfoliant at home. 

In the end I purchase an eye shadow pack that contained about 8 colors varying from matte to shimmery, a lip gloss, blush, bronzer, a sampler pack with face, eye and lip primer, mascara another lip gloss and a toner moisturizer with an spf 20. This set me back about 80 dollars, not bad. I was also very tempted by their gorgeous eye liners but decided to start with what I had and maybe go back some other time. 

First thing I did when I got home was concoct a sugar scrub. I mixed cane sugar with coconut oil, a little olive oil and a bit of johnson and johnson's body wash. When I first washed my face with the mix my skin was a little red but it calmed very fast and my skin is smooth as a baby's bottom. Usually I have to moisturize but the oil in the scrub did the trick without leaving my face greasy so that was a good thing. 

Next I used the Too Faced toner/moisturizer. I only needed a tiny drop and I think I almost over-did it. Then I used the lip primer and lip gloss, a little bronzer on my cheek bones, blush on the apples of my cheeks and a combo of the eye shadows on my lids. I curled my eye lashes and used the mascara. I REALLY like the mascara. The products all went on very nicely and felt great on my skin, none were cakey and they didn't irritate my skin. 

The great news is my eyes did not swell from the shadow and my pores felt fine and breathed despite the fact that I used it as overall coverage. So I will definitely be continuing to use Too Faced products. I am considering buying their eyebrow kit and I'll need to find a moisturizer that's gluten free too.

xoxo - Iris

Gluten Free Gnocchi

I deeply miss real pasta, I have yet to feel truly satiated by any of the faux pasta replacements available on the market for the gluten free consumer. Luckily gnocchi is more of a dumpling so seemed like a fairly easy feat. The first time I made ricotta gnocchi I used primarily potato flour and my gnocchi were a bit like glue balls.

A few days before Christmas I made these. They were delicious! And absolutely for not a second will you miss your days of wheat gluten consumption! My next challenge will be to make pierogis, I do miss those dearly.

• 1 16oz container ricotta
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 1/8 cup corn starch

1. Mix all ingredients. Dough should stick together and not be too wet or dry. 

2. Divide into four part, roll out into 1/2 inch thick ropes. Use brown rice flour to keep your cutting board not sticky. Cut into one inch pieces. 

3. Bring pot of water to a boil, salt the water. 

4. Gently place gnocchi into water and boil till they float to the surface of the water. 

5. Carefully drain and then serve with sauce of preference. Make sure not to over cook or the gnocchi will fall apart. 

I enjoyed these with a fresh pesto and a tomato sauce topped with grated parmesan cheese but you can serve with water sauce strikes your fancy. 

Gluten Free Banana Pancakes and Cinnamon Syrup

Over the Christmas break my mother and her husband visited, they are not gluten free but very open to trying the recipes that I'm working on. Plates were definitely cleaned the morning I made these!

BANANA PANCAKES:

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/8 cup potato flour
• 1/8 cup corn starch
• 4 tablespoons sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon powder ginger
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 nicely ripe banana

1. Mix all dry ingredients, make a well in the center and pour in wet ingredients (eggs through oil) and mix till just combined. You can add a bit more buttermilk if the batter is too thick. 

2. Slice banana and heat large skillet greased with butter or oil. 

3. Pour scoops of 1/4 cup of batter onto pan with a medium heat. Top pancakes with banana slices. Flip and fry till both sides are golden. 

CINNAMON SYRUP

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch

1. Mix all ingredients in a cool cooking pot. 

2. Heat till bubbling and thick.

Enjoy pancakes with hot syrup poured over it!