Fantastic Gluten Free Cookbook

I've now made several recipes from this book. It took awhile to find sorghum flour - I searched through at least six groceries stores before finding one that carried it.

In any case, I made some chocolate chocolate chip muffins that were divine. My camera card was missing in action thanks to the family ebayers, so thus far I have no pictures of them. I can tell you that the muffins had a wonderful consistency, had a moist crumb, and fantastically high crowns. I made the mistake of letting my kids try them. The remaining muffins are now hidden in a secret location requiring a password, keys and a retinal scan.

Tonight's dinner was a turkey tetrazzini (or however you spell it). I used some stunted bell peppers from my pathetic little garden, homemade gluten free bread crumbs (great way to use up those dumb little heels of gf bread) and some homemade turkey broth. Once again, the family loved it and there was much rejoicing. The adults in the household are looking forward to a lunch of leftovers tomorrow.

After the littles are in bed, I intend to attemp some cookies. I can't imagine they'll go wrong.

Happy eating!

Gluten Free Pocket Sandwich

Oh, this was GOOD. I am in love with Chebe bread. The all purpose mix makes some decent rolls and breadsticks, as well as a good thin-crust pizza. I tried making calzones yesterday. Yum! I will definitely spend a Saturday baking up a bunch of these to have on hand.

Today's calzones were pepperoni and soy cheese with very light sauce and I used the foccacia mix. I'm not big on sauce and was concerned that they'd get soggy. I made them yesterday, ate one, and froze the rest. Today I pulled out a frozen calzone, popped it (covered with foil) in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and had a fabulous lunch.

Next time, I think I'll try the all purpose and foccacia mixes and make: more pizza calzones, spinach & chicken pockets, philly steak & cheese pockets, Meditteranean veggie pockets. It would totally be worth baking up a bunch of these and freezing. I'm always eating on the go. Plus these would be easy to load up with veggies, thereby helping meet that daily allotment.

I had to fend off the children. They were that good. :)

GF Tortillas - The First Attempts

Eh. I made the first batch with a flour mix containing coconut flour and they were much too... sweet and coconutty. Oh, I ate them, make no mistake about it, but I won't make them this way again.

This batch was better... but still not quite right. They're a bit denser than I'd like, they crack a little (but not nearly as much as corn tortillas do), but they'll suffice as a vehicle for getting yummy fillings into my hungry mouth. My 8yo said that if he couldn't have real tortillas, he would totally eat these... not exactly the endorsement I am looking for, but not bad for the beginning of the GF journey.

Yum! I Am Saved!

Cookies! I have cookies! Glorious, wonderful cookies!

I followed the recipe over at Flour Arrangements with only a couple minor substitutions (1- I don't have millet flour... yet; and 2- I can't have dairy, so used almond milk) and these cookies are heavenly.

Still need to tackle the bread issue.

Adventures in Gluten Free Living Begin

Oh My Goodness! I had no idea baking could be... difficult.

I'm a pretty good cook. Recipes are a guide, not a precise rulebook to follow. I'm also a pretty good baker. My kolach impresses my mother-in-law (and she tells me so, too). I was working on "the perfect loaf of bread" awhile ago and looking forward to baking more again. (I find it hard to bake when I have babies/early toddlers.) I have never found cooking or baking to be the least bit intimidating or hard. Rarely have I turned out something inedible or totally "off" from what I intended to create. When people have exclaimed how hard baking is or waxed on about how precise one must be, I've scratched my head in wonder.

Until now.

This past weekend I decided to go gluten free in an effort to deal with health issues. I'd been putting it off because it's so drastic, so all-encompassing. But I'd had enough and was desperate to try.

Who knew baking was so... chemical... complex... and precise? Never, I mean NEVER, have I had to carefully pack, level or weigh anything when baking with wheat flour. But gf flours are... how did my friend put it... weird. That's it. They're WEIRD. Gritty, scratchy, powdery, stiff... unnatural. The resulting concoctions I've turned out this week are even weirder - tortillas that look like tortillas but taste like I don't even know what; pizza that tasted like an eggy savory German pancake (don't even ask... I don't understand... it was edible as long as I didn't pretend it was pizza); and now chocolate chip cookies that taste more like pecan sandies (which I like, thank goodness, but Toll House they ain't).

This is going to be interesting.