Saturday, February 13, 2010

The World of Gluten Free Cooking

Today my family and I went on another trip to Bob's Red Mill. The goal today was to get as many different kinds of flours/baking ingredients for gluten free cooking/baking as possible!
My little boy, Luke, just turned 2. We have been trying to get help for his food allergies for a long time. We finally switched all of our family health care to an ND who is FABULOUS if you are looking for one! The sad news is that we have to pay all out of pocket since Steve's company doesn't offer any help for us. One day we'll switch health plans or just have emergency coverage through his job and use all the extra money to see our ND.
Anyway, she did an extensive allergy testing on Luke and we found out his body has delayed allergic reactions to eggs, gluten, and possibly dairy. I wrote about it in my blog ( http:/www.engelmanfamily.blogspot.com)
if you are interesting in the science behind it.
Anyway, this is why I am needing to go all gluten free for the next few weeks to few months to possibly even longer.
For anyone out there who already uses these items, I"m all ears for ideas you have, recipes you've tried, etc.
So far, I have done pancakes and homemade pizza today, both were yummy!!!
Here is what I got from Bob's today:
White Rice Flour, Fava Bean Flour, Xantham Gum, Brown Rice Farina, Coconut Flour, Buckwheat Flour, Quinoa Flour, GF Baking Flour, Corn Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Tapicoa Starch,and probably more I am forgetting!
I am trying to educate myself on gluten and what I need to add to it in order to have recipes turn out as good. You can't just swap these gluten free flours 1:1 for wheat flours. Xanthan gum, tapioca starch, etc are needed.
In some ways I appreciate this challenge in my life because its forcing me to try out new things!
Tonight for example the pizza recipe called for herbs I've never put into the dough before. It was such a great combination of rosemary, garlic, fennel,and oregano that I will use it in my normal pizza dough.
What a journey it is for me right now as I study natural medicine, vaccinations, gluten free cooking, and actually vegan cooking too. I miss seeing everyone, hope you are all well!

2 comments:

Heidi said...

You might enjoy http://elanaspantry.com and http://grainfreefoodie.blogspot.com.

I am on a gluten-free protocol called the GAPS diet - it's beyond gluten-free, though - it's also free of grains and starches in general. It's incredibly healing especially for food allergies.

http://gapsdiet.com

Good luck with all your new adventures!

Bethany Rydmark said...

Lisa!~ I've missed seeing you, too... I'm glad to hear of your new ingredient adventures. We're hoping to maybe get a little Food Group reunion event together for the springtime.

When I was quite young, I was off of wheat, yeast, and eggs, and I know it was a big challenge for my mom. I'll be thinking of you and little Luke as you guys experiment to find delicious healthy food for your family...

Much love!
Bethany

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