Crispy Cinnamon Granola

Okay this is the best granola I've eaten for a long time. It came from a sister who got it from a friend who got it somewhere off the internet... who knows, but thanks whomever. 

 3/4 cup brown sugar

 1/3 cup water 

1/3 cup oil 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp. vanilla 

 Boil these ingredients two minutes pour over dry ingredients and bake one hour at 300 degrees. 

 1/4 cup brown rice flour 

1/4 cup millet flour 

1 cup GF corn flake cereal 

1 1/2 cup GF rice crispy cereal 

1 cup sliced almonds 

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

 3/4 cup coconut 

1/4 cup sunflower seeds 

1/4 cup flax seed cracked

Sometimes I substitute pumpkins seeds (pepitos) or add hemp seeds and chia.  It's easy to make it everything I want to eat for breakfast.  

GF Skillet Corn Bread

Note: today when I baked this recipe I heated a 10 inch dutch oven in a 350 degree oven while I mixed the batter then I poured the mix into the pot. I baked it 20 minutes. It looks, no, tastes delicious.

first posted mar. 10 '2009

I've overlooked posting this recipe because it's one of the easiest to pull together to bake, but it's such a great basic staple! It has it's origins as one of the very first GF recipes I ever collected. Lorraine's Corn Bread 1 cup cornmeal (I grind popcorn (a whole grain!) always on hand in long term storage) 1 cup GF flour (any brand) (Lorraine used rice flour, I use Bette's Hagman's original mix, a ratio of 1 part rice flour, to 2/3 parts potato starch, to 1/3 part tapioca) 1 tsp xanthun or guar gum 4 Tbs sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/3 cup milk, 1/4 cup oil 2 eggs beaten Mix up dry and wet ingredients separately. Stir the two together until combined. Pour into muffin tins and bake 10-12 minutes or into a 13 x 9 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Lorraine, from Utah, with eight GF/CF children is my inspiration. In 1997, when this was all relatively new to me, this woman ground her own flour, made her own mixes and basically made me think I could really do this g-f thing.

Thanks, Lorraine. It's a keeper recipe, obviously because this post-it is still stuck to the inside of my cupboard, ten years, a move and many cupboard repaintings later.

• You also might like GF Betty's GF Skillet Cornbread: Canned creamed corn--delicious! 8x8 skillet.

Amaranth Bread by Karen Robertson

DESPERATE TIMES, call for DESPERATE MEASURES    not posted since 2009

It's a pandemic and that is what has forced me to revisit this blogsite and begin again to resurrect some of the recipes.  The daughter needs this and since I can't whip it up for the grandbabies first hand, I guess I can at least send her the recipe.   The oldies are the goodies anyway. 

---------------------------Time travel back to 2009

Today this recipe was emailed to me and I mixed it up and the family adore it!!! The oldest son says, "Mom, this is the first time that I've wanted to sit down and eat the entire loaf." It is the most like wheat bread that I've yet made.   (Retro moment:  Remember that 2009 was before most food channels and musical stir-the-ingredients videos.)

Amaranth Bread:

1 1/2 cups amaranth flour   (or swapped for quinoa--see the next day's recipe)
1 1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
1 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
4 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 cup warm water
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon juice

If you are combining these ingredients into mixes to send off to college with your child, leave out the yeast and add it when he/she makes the bread. Yeast doesn't store well in mixes. I guess the salt kills it. Duh! (I learned from first hand experience.)

Grease a 5x9 loaf pan.

Combine the dry ingredients separately. In a stand mixer, combine the wet ingredients reserving 1/2 cup of the water until you can test the consistency. Humidity affects flour, so you may need even more or less.

Beat the bread for 3 1/2 minutes on high. It should be the consistency of regular GF bread dough, thicker than cake batter, but not at all like wheat bread.

Scrape into the greased loaf pan, muffin tins or english muffin pans and set to rise.

Let raise until doubled, and bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Cover with foil after the first ten minutes of baking.

From: Karen Robertson's Cooking Gluten-Free! A Food Lovers Collection of Chef and Family Recipes without Gluten or Wheat

Southern Cheesy Grits

Reposted from 2009

Okay, I'm balancing green smoothy vs. oreo cookie and just when I figure the scales of health thing kinda balances out, I tip the scales with cheese grits.

These taste absolutely great and may alleviate the doubt of those from the North who just can't understand the Southern tradition of Grits. Never again will I look dubiously as Waynel tells me, "Ah, girl, you are in Oklahoma, you gotta eat grits," because her grits recipe is delicious!

3 cups boiling water

3/4 cup grits (I used Walmart's GV brand)

combine these two and boil 5-7 minutes. Pour over the following ingredients.

1 can (4 oz.) green chilis

2 eggs

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I'm looking for the recipe... I set it down somewhere....)

Stir and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for about an hour at 350 and serve warm. It's a little slice of Southern heaven.

I recommend that you double the batch if you are taking it to a GF Potluck.  It went fast!  

Incredible Hulk Soup

Easy In-A-Minute G-F Split Pea Soup

It's almost fall here in OK and the heat has lessened some.  SOUP CALLS and so does my sister who wants this recipe.  There you go KaReen.
______________________

I love split pea soup, but I want it NOW!  Delayed gratification works with food too and I want soup fast and easy.  Grinding grains in my flour mill or in my fav. Blendtec makes split pea soup quick.  Be careful and trade out your grain grinding so the beans won't burn up your machine.  2 cups beans then 2 cups of a gentler grain.

reposted from 3-17-08

Okay, so it's green!!! Really Green!!!! 







Ha! I Got It! The boys (who until lately, were of the opinion that green food should only be photographed, never eaten) loved it! They slurped it up first on Halloween, when I was hoping for something, at least one thing substantial in their bellies before the T or T and I had to whip up more.

Fortunately, that only took two minutes! TWO MINUTE SOUP that they love and isn't prefab? WOW!

2 cups water or chicken broth
3 Tbs. Green Split Pea powder (made by blending or grinding up split peas into a fine flour)
1 T. onion flakes
1 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt (or some such brand)
1/4 cup Hormel's bacon (already cooked and flaked, I keep it in the freezer to toss in stuff)
1/4 cup heavy cream (or nondairy creamer)

Mix all dry ingredients (except split pea powder) with water and bring to a boil. Whisk in powder and allow to simmer for two minutes--add cream and serve.

DELICIOUS I'm not kidding!

Tips:  Make sure you have ground the peas thoroughly.  Shards of peas take forever to cook.

YUM!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Salba Seeds - aka Chia Pet Flour

Last posted 1-18-11

Is your Chia Pet a powerhouse of energy? Dr. Oz says Yes! Your iconic hobby is healthy, and you didn't even know it! It's also Gluten-Free!

Remember when I blogged about chia flour? (Oct 2008) Well, here it is again under the name of a variation of the white seed, Salba. My friend Lori says her doc (also GF) recommends it and so I thought I'd bring it out for some discussion. The rumor mills says it has the following:

6 x calcium of milk

3 x antioxidants of blueberries

3 x more iron than spinach

8 x more omega3 than salmon

2.5 x the veg. protein of beans

15 x more magnesium of broccoli

2 g of fiber per tablespoon.

I'm eating overnight chia pudding.  The sister's recipe, 1 cup milk (chocolate, coconut or almond varieties) and 1/4 cup chia seeds--add cocoa or vanilla and a dash of your favorite sweetner to taste.  I just made it chocolate.  Yum.  

Peanut Butter Cookies

LAST POSTED 6-08-08

Here is the best peanut butter cookie recipe brought to our GF Holiday Celiac Potluck from 2008. Sorry, I don't have the contributor's name, but she is brilliant and her recipe  is delicious!

EGG FREE OPTIONS

I have modified this standard recipe before with an egg substitute for a friend who has multiple dietary allergies. I used 1/4 cup flax meal as an egg substitute (Made by blending or boiling 1 heaping tablespoon ground flax with 4 Tablespoons water--then cool and add to the recipe as an egg.)

STANDARD COOKIE RECIPE

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg (or egg substitute)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend these ingredients until light and fluffy.
Add dry ingredient mixture:

3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum

1 1/4 cup sorghum
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 cup bean flour (I used garfava)  OR,    OR,   OR

Just use  1 2/3 cup of gluten-free flour (I used my wholegrain mix.)

Blend together adding just enough of the flour to make the dough gently pull away from the edges of the blending bowl.  Make balls, (I use a melon baller)  place on cookie sheet, press with fork.

Bake 10 minutes at 375. Cool before moving to rack.

This recipe doubles fine. Today, when I doubled it for another party... I KNOW! I need intervention for party goers...!

 But this time I used 2 cups sorghum and about one cup of my healthier  wholegrain mix.

Chicken (and Wild Rice) Soup for My Soul

Last posted 11-19-2008, but I made it again last night and it's delicious.  Happy Giving 

My visiting teachers brought me dinner last night. (In my church, these are women whose purpose it is to succor, to console, to commiserate and and help each other stay sane amidst the craziness of life).

I can't imagine how complicated it was for them, when they have already been regaled for months with my tirades on finding, cooking, adapting recipes for gluten-free. But, attempting the ultimate in service, they fixed me a meal.

In our world, it's a fading absolution--bringing someone dinner. I know in this day and age, that if you are sick or poorly, you are still capable of calling for take-out, but the delivery guy doesn't come to the door with a dish wrapped in linen and a note saying, "Feel better, I love you." And that makes all the difference. (And it might not be GF take-out anyway!)

Chicken (or Turkey) and Wild Rice Soup

½ cup butter
1 finely chopped onion
½ - 1 cup frozen corn
(or ½ cup chopped celery, if preferred)
½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ cup carrots, sliced
1/2 cup corn starch
6 ½ cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 pound chicken breasts, or turkey cubed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups nonfat half-and-half (use normal half-and-half if you prefer, but you won't believe how delicious this is with the nonfat variety!)

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, corn, chicken and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté 3-4 more minutes. Transfer mixture to large pot. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly until all has been added. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper and almonds. Allow to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Then add the starch added to a little water and stir well.

Let simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours. Be careful not to let the soup come to a boil or it won't thicken properly - let it simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.

Bless you, Kali and Cheryl. I love you two too.

For your Creepy Holiday Enjoyment:   NOT April Fools,

Would you bake or eat

     G-F High Protein Flour from Crickets

Buckwheat Peanut Butter Bars

Last posted 2-23-11  Still Chewy and Delicious.

Old recipe, new flour. GF Peanut Butter Brownies, Delicious, gluten-free and a very close relative of rhubarb--yup made with buckwheat!

Okay, the Grainiac in me is again excited about Buckwheat! Why are we always so trepidatious...
[A side conversation about words:  "Trepidatious. It's not a word?" --me. "No Mom, it's not, you are experiencing trepidation"--Dia, the G-F English- major-headed-for-Hong-Kong daughter. ]  Hey, I'm inventing new words and new recipes, so the courage does tend to slough off into my fashion sense, my hair color, and consequently, my blogging. But the daughter says no, this time it won't work--I can't invent new words.

Okay, okay!!!!! Anyway,

Why are we cautious about using new flours? Most of the store bought (pre-fab) gluten-free food is pretty bad, so do we really expect our creations to taste worse???

Yet still, I have to be low on other flours before I am encouraged to switch to a new grain and that's what happened, so I'm exploring buckwheat.

This recipe (the tried and true stalwart dessert of the pinewood derby) again turned out delicious and I substituted the flour straight across--cup for cup with buckwheat!

I halved the recipe and it still made two pans.

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup butter (margarine)

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift together MIX
1 cup of a GF flour (in this case, buckwheat)
½ tsp soda
½ tsp salt

½ tsp xanthum gum (guar)

Then add

1 cup GF oatmeal or flaked quinoa and

1/4 cup milk (casein free milks like almond or coconut substitute fine)

Bake in a 9x13 inch cake pan. 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, just until the center sets.

While hot, spread with peanut butter. Wait to cool and layer on chocolate frosting.

This time I put the batter into a 9x 13, and an 8x8 and baked them for 25 and 15 minutes, respectively, until it smelled up the kitchen and turned toasty tan on top at 350 degrees. They were as chewy as I like, and there were still persons (who shall remain nameless) that ate three big pieces. Delicious!

G-F Reality Black Bean Chocolate Muffin

Conclusion:  Black bean chocolate muffins made gluten-free are the Wow Recipe of the Week.  

Hypothesis:  If  brownies can be made from black beans, I can make morning muffins just as deliciously.

Proof:  Homeschooling chemistry and the scientific method isn't hard when yum food is involved.

1/2 cup black beans (canned, rinsed, drained, blended)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup cocoa (dutched)
1 1/2 cup of a gf flour mix ( I used this one)
1/2 cup sugar  (or 1/4 cup honey)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake time:  I cook most everything at 350 degrees, unless I'm in a hurry.  And I usually bake it for 12-15 mintues.  Until a tap on the top doesn't sink in.

One more day of the test kitchen (muffins to teenagers) and then I can publish with total assurity that they are a success.

Voila, two days of recipe success!

Hints and tips, when I blend the beans, I add the other wet ingredients and give it a spin.  That may be why the muffins are baking so high, the egg gets extra whizzed.  The total wet ingredients equal 2 cups.

My husband made me sit down and try to figure out calories as he is taking them to work and people seem to be concerned with the fat and sugar content--I've halved the sugar of typical muffins and two tbs of fat is amazing for such a great muffin.  I'm estimating about 56 calories each as they are minis.

Reality Bite:  The teens I make them for are swimmers, so they can bulk up on the extra calories and protein.   Oh to be Young!

Gluten-free Reality's White Bean Penne Carbonara

A recent Wall Street Journal article focused on replacing fat with delicious.  I was really impressed  by

 the idea that  less fat could be equally as delicious because the recipe uses white bean puree.

   

Read the whole article here.  

My version of the WSJ's 'Fettuccine Carbonara'

1 head of garlic, thinly sliced and lightly saute'd (not just a clove) in 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can (14 oz.) white beans 
¾ cup chicken/veggie stock

2/3 cup frozen green peas, 

1/2 lb. kale, diced   (I blanch this for a minute in with the hot pasta water to remove the bitter--makes it delicious!)

Salt and pepper

8 ounces cooked fettuccine (I used penne - see my new favorite brand from Costco TruRoots)

6 oz. jar of artichoke hearts, drained (mine were marinated and the bite was obvious, yet tasty). 

1 cup sliced ham trimmed into long sticks

fresh parmesan to sprinkle atop

What To Do

1. Peel and dice the garlic cloves and saute for a minute in the oil.  Toss into a blender or food processor with the can of beans and purée while adding stock in a steady stream, until it reaches a creamy, sauce-like consistency . 
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to instructions on package. (Don't forget to blanch the kale for a minute in the hot water.  It's bitter and can be too strong otherwise.  

3. In a medium-size pan, heat bean purée until warm. Add pasta, sliced ham, chopped kale, artichokes and peas and stir to combine.  Divide among four serving bowls. Garnish with parmesan and pepper to taste.

Reality Bite:  Warning, ham is salty, so don't overseason -- and DON't let the auto-condimentors in your household either! 

Wholegrain GF Flour Mix

first posted 6-1-08, second posted on 10-10-10

GF Flour mixes are intended to replicate wheat's properties. Most gluten-free mixes available on the market now are mostly starches with little or no nutritional value. Some of us with CD have lived for years without nutrition and now we need food! We need good, wholegrain, healthy food.

No gluten-free grain can substitute alone for the properties of wheat flour (it's had years of biogenetics to make it the perfect baking flour--that will kill us, but that's another topic), but a combination of alternate whole grains can substitute beautifully.

Mix up some flours and use them as your flour in your pre-gf days, your favorite cookies, brownies, spice cake, muffins, banana bread. This mix will substitute beautifully.

I like mixes that use up what I have on hand. If I'm out of one flour, I substitute with a different kind. I try to end up with at least eight flours total. Most recipes are fairly forgiving, as are my husband's and children's tastebuds.

I've modified this mix since 2008 and now it's as follows:

One cup sorghum flour
One cup millet flour
2  and 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2 cups tapioca starch/flour

1 cup potato starch
1 cup corn starch
1 cup buckwheat

Now, in 2012 I use this mix in many, if not most of my recipes.  It's very versatile and delicious.  

Sometimes I add one cup of whichever other flours are on hand: coconut flour, almond flour (or almond meal--made from raw almonds in the food processor,) soy flour, wild rice flour (Montina), gar-fava flour. The following alternate supergrains have most of eight essential enzymes and can help to form a complete protein. Try them as alternatives in your flour mixes: quinoa amaranth, teff, buckwheat or flax.

I mix this up when I want a universal substitute for typical wheat flour and I substitute it one for one in muffins and quick breads, fruit breads (banana, applesauce, pumpkin) cookies, brownies, etc.

Be warned that flours that have bean flour aren't as delicious eaten raw as mixes with just sorghum.

I'm just saying if you intend to sit and eat the cookie dough and don't care about freezing capability, use straight sorghum. It makes dough yummy raw.

Fabulous Flour Table

This is a repost from 6-03-09 and 9-21-11   Happy flour storage!!!!

This table is designed to help you decide which flours combine to make a great flour mix.

Good Luck in your mixes.

EXOTIC GRAINS http://www.usda.gov nutrients of 13,000 foods we eat
TYPE **supergrain	USE IN:	QUALITIES	SOURCE	STORAGE
Almond meal $$$	In breads, mixes, desserts, crusts,	High in Proteins,	Almonds ground in food processor or blender. I do it w/ rice flour	Fridge, freezer-tightly sealed, keeps 6 months
Amaranth ** $$$	In mixes bread, muffins, bagels, pasta, milk, nut butter, cookies, gravies, sauces, pancakes, flatbreads, doughnuts, dumplings, pasta.	Excellent filler grain, 1-3 grain mix	Bobs Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills, Walton wheat, grind fresh or harvest home.com specialfoods.com	Tightly sealed, fridge, freezer, keeps 1 yr.
Arrowroot (starch) $$	West Indian starch	Swap for cornstarch	Bobsredmill.com, Arrowhead Mills	Seal tightly on Shelf
Bean, black, pinto, white, garbanzo, fava, romano, $	In mixes, as thickeners, Indian foods, baking breads	High food value, pulses mixed with grains = complete protein	Grind alternating with rice flour, high moisture, BobsRedMill.com, or Asian/India market	Shelf
Buckwheat ** aka groats (Kasha)	Pancakes, cakes, baking	Flavorful, grainy, rhubarb relative	Bobs, Arrowhead mills, grocery stores, walton feed,	Tightly sealed, 6 mo.
Coconut	Mixes, Can comprise as much as 10-30% mix	Good fiber, protein	Bobs, tropicaltraditions.com simplycoconut.com	Refrigerator, freezer
Cornstarch	Thickening- soups, sauces, and mixes	Bland, blending power	Grocery shelf, or asian store.	Shelf, cool dry
Corn flour, meal	Muffins, spoonbreads. tortillas, hot cereal	Gritty,	Grind from popcorn	Shelf, cool dry, years
Green Pea	Soups, thickening	Strong flavor,	Grind	Shelf
Flax **	In everything	Heart, colon healthy	Coffee grind, blender	Fridge, freezer, dark
Millet **	Breads, salads,	Grandma’s favorite	Grind, or steamed whole	Grain– Shelf, cool dry Flour, freezer/fridge
Nut, hazelnut, pecan, walnut,	Dessert crusts	Flaky, flavorful	Grocery stores - grind in coffee grinder or blender	Fridge, freezer
Quinoa ** flakes, flour, grain	Salads, tabouli, in place of couscous, flakes in place of oatmeal, sprouts 4 hrs.	Exotic, complete protein.	Bobs, quinoa.net, Wikipedia suggests 3 parts quinoa, 3 parts sorghum flour, 2 parts potato starch, and 1 part tapioca starch.	Shelf, dry, 1 year, longer if unground and stored in grain.
Potato Starch	In mixes, superior thickening,	Good blending power	Bobs, Asian/Indian store	Shelf
Potato Flour	Thickener, flavorful,	Moistening power	Bobs, Can grind instant potato flakes	Fridge
Rice, white, sweet, wild rice Montina, brown	Baking superior, alone and in mixes, soups, salads, performs best when mixed.	Gritty, mild, good base flour in mixes	Grind myself, or Sams, or Asian Store, Waltonfeed.com or Bobsredmill.com,	Brown whole grain rices must be frozen or refrigerated. All others shelved Wild rice– indefinitely
Sorghum ** $	Alone in cookies, makes great raw dough, in mixes,	50% swap in flours, good mix w/cornstarch	Grind, or Bobs, best source is Twinvalleymills.com in Ruskin Nebraska	Shelf, in grain form 10 years cool, dry - flour refrigerate or freeze.
Soybean	Mild nutty flavor	Never alone, mixed 30% with other grains	Versatile, I grind, Bobs	Freeze, fridge
Tapioca starch (cassava root)	Favored GF Flour, in mixes, adds chewyness	Mucilagenic	Bobs Red Mill, Asian/India market, Walton Feed,	Shelf
Teff** $$	Exotics, in mixes, soups, thickener, sprouted, salads--chocolate cake!	Tiniest grain in the world, good 30% mix	Teffco.com and natural food stores.	Sealed tight, fridge, freezer