Heart of Cooking

You might be surprised when you start looking for the flours and gluten-free ingredients needed to make gluten-free breads and treats.  It is very possible that the grocery store you go to already has a gluten-free section for baking and will contain many if not all of the ingredients called for in the recipes I publish in the menu planners.  If you live near a health food store, your chances are even greater that you will find what you are looking for.

If, however, you don’t live near a grocery store that supplies these ingredients, there are many suppliers whom you can order them from.  There are many different ones that you can find by searching the Internet, but I will list a few here.  I will say that it pays to shop around because the prices can vary quite a bit.

Ancient Harvest Quinoa: (whole-grain quinoa, quinoa flour, quinoa flakes and pastas).  www.quinoa.net

Authentic Foods: (baking mixes, Garfava flour, Bette’s Four Flour Blend, brown and white rice flours, tapioca starch, potato starch and flour, and other GF flours and baking ingredients).  www.authenticfoods.com or www.glutenfree-supermarket.com

Ener-G-Foods, Inc.: (ready-made GF products plus gluten-free flours for baking including Egg Replacer and dough enhancer).  www.ener-g.com

The Teff Company:  (fine-milled teff flours and whole grain).  www.teffco.com

The following is a list of gluten-free flours and additional ingredients that I use when baking gluten-free breads, muffins or desserts.  I personally have used Bette Hagman’s books to learn the process of creating gluten-free breads that taste just as good as regular wheat products.  I like what she says about gluten-free baking:  “don’t believe anyone who tells you that gluten-free has to taste gritty.”

It wasn’t until I started baking my own gluten-free breads that I came to discover that what she says is in fact very true.  I had tried out the commercially made gluten-free products; some were okay while others turned me off completely.  I admit I was very happy when I discovered her recipes and flour combinations that create wonderful alternatives to wheat bread.

Bette gives a thorough explanation of the different gluten-free flours in her books, which I highly recommend purchasing if you are serious about making your own gluten-free breads and desserts.  However, I will list the main flours, which I use when baking and a brief explanation for each.  Most flours listed here work much better in combination with other flours.

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In my recipe, Creamy Butternut Squash Soup, I describe cooking butternut squash by placing it in the oven at 350 F face down in a little water for about 45-50 minutes.  After it is cooked, it is super easy to just scoop out the butternut squash.

I usually prefer the “bake” method because it is the easiest; you don’t have to go through the process of peeling the squash.  However, it actually takes the longest because of the bake time in the oven.  One way around this is to bake the squash the night before you plan to use it while you are fixing your dinner.  It doesn’t take that much more time and then it is cooked for you when you want to use it the next day.

If you are looking for quicker ways to cook your squash for your soup, you may want to consider the following ideas:

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Something I consider and play with when I am preparing a meal is how to make it visually appealing. This is where the artist in me comes out as I think about the colors and shapes of the vegetables, herbs and other ingredients that will make up the “work of art.”  When you think about it, isn’t food more appetizing when it is beautiful and created with care?

These considerations don’t have to take long.  In fact, before you know it, you will simply be thinking about them while you’re making dinner.

These are some different aspects to think about:

Colors: Try to bring some variety to the dish so that it’s not all one color.  You can start learning a little bit about colors and how they work together simply by experimenting.

One dish I make is very beautiful simply because of the colors – pink/red salmon, green spinach, and orange peaches.  I would call this a very “complementary” colored meal.

Also, nutritionally speaking, it is better to have an array of colors on your plate.  This is because the differently colored foods tend to contain different vitamins and minerals your body needs.

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Life happens and inevitably, there will be days when you go to the store and you find out that a few of the items on the shopping list were simply not available at the store you went to.  It is usually pretty rare that main ingredients aren’t available at more stores – they are usually pretty stocked up on meats and seafood.  However, there are definitely occasions when I have arrived at the store and been surprised that there isn’t a particular fish available.  This can happen when a certain fish is out of season, especially if you are looking for wild fish.

It is usually one or two of the other ingredients needed to make a recipe that sometimes goes missing in the grocery store.  Personally, I live thirty minutes from a large store with a large selection of organic and fresh foods, so it is not very easy for me to just go back the next day when the produce guy tells me they will have fennel available.

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Many recipes that I create often have some type of marinade in it which can be used on the meat or seafood the night before, or as little as 15 minutes before you cook your meal.  It does make the dish tastier the longer the marinade time, but you also have to adjust the recipes to your lifestyle.

If you end up having a little extra time in the evening before you go off to bed, this is a prime time to plan ahead for tomorrow’s recipe.  It not only gives you a head start on the recipe so that there is less to do the next day, it makes the meal that much more flavorful.

For some marinades, you can turn them into sauces, like the one in Mahi Mahi in Citrus Coconut Sauce. (This recipe is featured in the free sample Nourishing Foods Menu Planner – get it here).  The marinade is first used to infuse the fish with the flavors of citrus and ginger, but then is later made into a sauce by adding arrowroot powder to it.

As with everything in cooking, if you find yourself running out of time, you can always cut corners and marinade for less time.  It won’t be the end of the world and I’m sure you’ll still have a yummy meal!

When we are learning anything new – such as learning to cook – it is easy to get caught in the belief that you have to make a recipe perfect the first time you try it. However, making “mistakes” is inevitable when you’re learning anything new.  I think “learning experiences” is a better name for them than mistakes.  I also call them explorations.  Each time something doesn’t “turn out” as expected, I use the experience to gain knowledge as to what will most likely work better next time.  Or sometimes, I do something I didn’t mean to and it turns out better than it would have otherwise.

Maybe you already know how to cook but are new to cooking gluten or dairy-free meals. You may feel a little apprehension about it because it is brand new and requires some new learning on your part.  However, the only way anyone learns anything is to just jump in and try it.  And a good place to start is to follow some gluten and dairy-free recipes.

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While some people try to stay away from foods that are high in fat, there are many foods that contain healthy fats.  These fats are actually necessary for optimal bodily functions.  Coconut milk, coconut oil and other coconut products fall under the category as “healthy fats.”  However, make sure to buy the whole milk variety with no additives or sugars in it.

The benefits of coconut products:

• Provides calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, iodine and many trace minerals.

• The coconut contains up to 60 percent fat and this fat is 92 percent saturated.  But this is no reason to avoid coconut products.  The principle fatty acid in coconut milk, lauric acid, is a medium-chain 12-carbon saturated fatty acid that has potent antiviral, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties.

• Protects us against viruses, yeasts, parasites and other pathogens in the gut.

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I personally find that cooking and shopping is much easier when I have basic ingredients on hand, and only need to shop for the extra things weekly.  I have compiled a list of items that I use regularly when I cook and which I consider to be the staples of the kitchen cabinet.

You will see that I have jars of ginger and garlic on the list – these are two of my short cuts that make my life easier in the kitchen.  I still enjoy using fresh garlic and ginger, but when I don’t have much time to grate or crush (or am just feeling lazy), these “pantry essentials” come in very handy.

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From 2001 to 2002, I studied Classical Five Element Acupuncture at the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture in Louisville, Colorado.  I was truly fascinated by this intricate and beautiful system of healing and preventative medicine.  What particularly interested me was the deeper emotional and spiritual levels that were an intricate part of the healing process.

The following is an excerpt from an essay I wrote about the Earth element, which has everything to do with food, the stomach and digestive system, late summer and the harvest, and feeling nourished and nurtured which goes beyond the physical level into the emotional and spiritual.

The field of plenty of Mother Earth gives forth prosperity and abundance during the Harvest of Late Summer, producing and offering nourishment to all of the bodies, minds and souls of all children and creatures of this world.  As John Robbins expresses, “Eating is essentially an act of communion with the living forces of nature” (p. 21).  Every bite we eat of the food that is produced from the commingling of the Elements connects us to the source that created it.

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