More Glutenfree mixes

Now that we have a good idea which flours can be used in the glutenfree diet, we’ll look at recipes for different mixtures.

From Betty Hagman
Fleatherlight Mix

1 part Rice Flour –say 3 cups
1 part tapioca flour 3cups
1 part cornstarch or 3cups
Potato flour (not potato starch) 1 teaspoon per cup of flours or using the same proportions
3 teaspoons


The next recipe is a particularly good mix for cakes and cookies.

From Lisa Lewis’ Special Diets for Special Kids comes a chocolate chip recipe, which more closely resembles the traditional chocolate chip cookie.

The Best GF Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients
11/2 cups white rice flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
¼ cup Potato Starch
½ cup Sweet Rice flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
½ teaspoon baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1-cup gf margarine
2 eggs
1-teaspoon vanilla
12 ounces cf chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine first seven (dry) ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream sugars and shortening until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by rounded spoonful on an increased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes in a 375-degree oven. Cool on a wire cooking rack. Can also made into pan cookies by placing in an 8” square pan and baking 20 minutes or until toothpick test dry.

Try these and see which chocolate chip recipe you prefer. Happy baking.

Gluten Free Mix

It seems everyday there are more and more people participating in some aspect of the glutenfree phenomenon. In the early days of my gluten free experience, there were only a few sources to help. One of early leaders was Bette Hagman, the author of the Gluten Free Gourmet Series. The first book was entitled The Gluten Free Gourmet followed by the Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread and several others.

I feel one of the keys to making good gluten free bread is using the best possible mix. The one I found that does the best for most of my baking chores is entitled Wheat like Flour Mix:

Mix together
5 cups brown rice flour
4 cups white rice flour
1 cup corn flour
1 cup arrowroot
1 cup tapioca flour (or tapioca starch)
1 cup potato starch
1/3 cup corn bran
5 1/3 cups milk powde (may be soy or Vance' Dairy free powder is a good product and can purchased on line or in most health food stores)
1/3 cup sugar or sugar substitute
4 tablespoons xanthan gum
4 tablespoons egg replacer-Do not need to measure generously as would in making cakes or bread.
4 teaspoons salt

Mix well and store in large container with a tight lid. This mix can usually be substituted cup for cup instead wheat flour. If you have the time or inclination, doing your own mix is the least expensive way to go. One more tip, Use a whisk and then shake the container to mix the flours well. An electric mix also does a good of blending the flours. Let me know how this works for you .Bob’s Red Mill is the originator of this mixture and their products can be purchased from their website http://www.bobsredmill.com/ or find them in many supermarkets and health food stores.

Glutenfree Passover recipes

I have been busy celebrating a very important birthday this week with family and friends. But I’ve found a few moments to share some more about GFCF and Passover which starts next week. I was lucky to hear from Nadine Gilder who is the author of the gfcf Passover guide and has many more helpful tips on this subject. Additional information can be found on her website

http://www.autismeducationalservices.net/index.html

You can also order her book at:

http://www.gfcfpassoverguide.com/index0.php

She reminds us that the kosher markings on products immediately alert us whether a product contains milk or meat. Nadine is an autism education specialist and runs her own counseling service.

Below are more Gluten-free Passover recipes that can be made for the holiday or any other time.


Banana Nut Cake
7 egg yolks
1 cups sugar or ½ cup sugar blend Splenda for baking
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas
¾ cup potato starch sifted
1 cup nuts (chopped) optional
7 egg whites (stiffly beaten)
In large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until thick; add sugar and salt and beat until fluffy and lemon colored. Stir in the bananas, potato starch and nuts. Fold in egg whites. Pour into tube pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Broccoli Soufflé

2 packages of frozen broccoli
3 tablespoons margarine
2 1/2 tablespoon potato starch or potato flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mushroom soup mix
1 teaspoon onion soup mix
2 eggs separated
Cook broccoli in microwave for about 5 minutes or until tender.
Drain. In mixing bowl, add all other ingredients except egg whites.
Beat egg whites until stiff and add to vegetable mix. Put in casserole dish and bake in 350 oven for about 30 minutes.

Hope you have good luck with these.

Passover Foods for Glutenfree Diets

Passover Products for Glutenfree Diets

Many think of Passover as a holiday when you are asked to give up many of your favorite foods. However, now that we are using a gluten free and soy free diets, we see that during this time we can obtain many prepared foods that our kids enjoy and are not available during other times during the year. Observing Passover has become popular with the glutenfree community since there is a tremendous variety of almost any kind of food that you could want and many of the big grocery chains carry a large selection, which means these foods are easily available.

A few years ago Nadine Gilder from New Jersey became active in getting information out to parents so they can take advantage of this time of year. Items are on shelves and freezers ecause no grains ae allowed during the Passover season except for matzo and its derivatives uch matzo meal, arfel, matzo cake flour. In 2007, Passover starts on the evening of April 2. But many stores already have their Passover products out—so it’s a great time to stock up.

When you check the ingredients on a Passover approved food, you know that any product that does not any of these specific items (matzo meal, arfel, matzo cake flout) is most likely to be gluten free. There are chicken nuggets, stuffed cabbage, meat balls in tomato sauce as well as full meals such as pot roast, baked chicken, or even brisket. It can make mealtime much less stressful when you buy a whole meal ala ready for the oven. There are also many other sensitive ingredients that have been eliminated from products that are only available this time of year.

During Passover no legumes or other grains are allowed other than the ones I have already mentioned. Normally desserts such as ice cream can be made with soy or milk but this is not the case during Passover. There are also cake mixes ,margarines, milk and cream substitutes that really can be used in so many different ways. In my next posting I will give some examples of how these recipes and products can add to meal variety.

Preparing ahead for Glutenfree cookies

One of the reasons I like the chocolate chip recipe I posted last week is not only the ease of preparing it but also the many ways to prepare ahead. I first made a mix of all the dry ingredients packaged as a cookie mix like you buy in stores. All I had to do was add the wet ingredients and the cookie mix was ready.

Then I discovered it was possible to make up the whole mixture to freeze without altering the texture of the cookies. But once they were baked and frozen the cookies were like fresh when thawed and served.

It is very easy to substitute ingredients in order to accommodate different food allergies. For instance many people have a problem with eggs. The powdered potato product, Egg Replacer, can be used successfully for most baked products. The directions on the package recommend 11/2 tsp for each egg. I found I get a much better result with 1full tablespoon per egg and I/4 cup of water for each egg. A normal egg will usually give ¼ cup liquid per egg. However don’t try to substitute for more than 3 eggs in one recipe because it usually does not yield a good result.

It is also possible to decrease the sugar intake by using brown Splenda or other sugar sources; that is sugar derived from concentrated fruits like, dates, mucadines, or molasses. These are still sugars but since they are so concentrated the amount can be reduced by half and still work well. Many children or adults on the gfcf diet do have issues with too much sugar.

Best Glutenfree Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back in 1998, I became interested in the glutefree caseinfree diet after my grandson was diagnosed in the pdd(pervasive developmental disorder) spectrum which includes neurological disorders like autism and ADD(attention Deficient Disorder) This diet was prescribed by his physician but we were clueless how to begin. At that time. very little information was available and the prepared foods were not good enough to replace all the foods he had enjoyed.

We spent hundreds of hours digging for information and trying to cook with a whole new set of rules. For example, we found that there are many flours that can be used but none exhibit the same properties as flour with gluten. After experimenting,we were able to find a combination that best suited our needs.

In this blog, I will try to give you the benefit of the things I’ve learned during this process. Recently the CDC released the results of a new study concerning the alarming rise in number of children being diagnosed with autism. Now one in every 150 children is diagnosed with autism. This result acknowledges autism is now at epidemic proportions. Parents will need to understand more about this disorder.and the one thing most people agree on is the importance of the proper diet to their well being.

With my weekly posts, I will share my family’s experience with moving to a glutenfree diet and hope to help others who may experiencing problems during this difficult time. In the comment section, you are encouraged to share your own experiences and tips as well ask any questions. I will try to answer as many as I can-and we can tap into the glutenfree community as well.

Today I'd like to start by sharing one of my favorite cookie recipes:

Best Glutenfree Chocolate Chip cookies

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup arrowroot flour

3/4 cup baby rice cereal

3/4 cup potato starch

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

mix all together in mixer

add chips and nuts after well bended.

Place spoonfuls of batter on greased baking sheet or pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

There are many different ways to change ingredients to accommodate special needs and I will go over those in my next blog. See you then

Welcome to Great to be Gluten Free Blog

Welcome to the Great to be Gluten Free Blog. I'm Lillian Galler, a professional dietitian, who has been working in the Gluten Free area for over ten years. I enjoy helping others who need to find alternatives recipes due to food allergies and other conditions such as Celiac or Autism. I'll be sharing information, resources, and recipes that I've developed and would be glad to address questions on Gluten Free living.