Heart of Cooking

Apple Cinnamon Coconut Muffins

I have always used baking soda and baking powder in baking.  After I suspected corn was bothering me, I started making my own baking powder with arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch.  Here is the recipe I was using:

Corn and gluten free Baking powder:

1 part baking soda

2 parts cream of tartar

1 part arrowroot powder

Mix well and store in an airtight container

However I never really thought that the actual baking soda may also be a problem for me until I came to the GAPS diet.  According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, baking soda shouldn’t be eaten by people following GAPS because most people with digestive issues have low stomach acid.  Baking soda is very alkaline, and therefore decreases one’s stomach acid even further.

I have been a little slow to accept this fact completely but do follow it most of the time.  I did use baking soda in the cake I made for the birthday party.  But for the most part have tried to find other ways to create leavening in my baked goods.

While I was creating the Just Desserts for Limited Diets recipe book, I created most of the cakes free of baking soda or baking powder by using egg whites as leavening.  This worked extremely well and I am continuing to use this method to create moist and springy baked goods without baking soda.

It is very simple but it does take more time and equipment.  But the results are worth the extra step I assure you.

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Dairy and Gluten Free Walnut Torte with Whipped Cream Icing

I don’t think I’ve ever made so many sweets and baked goods in such a short amount of time.  But the great thing is we have both my husband’s birthday and my son’s birthday to celebrate this month, so we can use some of the goodies for celebrating.

Over the weekend I made a Walnut Torte with dairy-free whipped cream icing.  We added a home-made berry sauce to it and it is so yummy.  I seriously don’t miss baked goods made with regular flour, dairy, sugar, gluten or grains.  A few years ago I probably never would have imagined eating a dessert free of all of these foods.  But this torte is definately a winner!

So, if you’re looking for healthy dessert recipes, low carb dessert recipes or simply sugar free baked goods, I assure you it is very possible to make them with healthy and wholesome ingredients!  And if you don’t have a clue where to start, here is the recipe for the Walnut Torte with Dairy-free Whipped Cream Icing and Homemade Berry Sauce:  (These healthy dessert recipes will be a part of the Just Desserts recipe e-book and the Holiday Limited Diet Menu Planner)

By the way, if you pre-order the Holiday Menu Planner and the Just Dessert recipe e-book, you’ll get 20% off between now and December 15th.

Now for the recipe…

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Gluten free and grain free pizza

Okay, so this may seem off topic.  But I’m doing a post about pizza today.  Reason being I’ve been wanting to do a post about this particular pizza crust for weeks and I finally got a good shot last week.  I also thought that people need some ideas for dinner prior to Thanksgiving so that they have the energy to do all the shopping and cooking this week!

I’ve been making this pizza crust for several weeks now and I really enjoy it.  My husband has confessed (a few times) that he misses the yeast-y gluten-free pizza dough I used to make.  I agree, it was tasty and tasted just like the real thing.

But since going grain free, yeast free and sugar free, the pizza crust I’ve been making marches to the beat of a different drum…

But it really is delicious in my opinion.  And if you can’t have yeast or grains or sugar, it is really a great alternative.

The best part of the recipe is it is so easy! No waiting for it to rise.  No kneading.  Only four ingredients!. Just mix and pat into a pan and then bake it.  It’s is feasible to make the whole pizza for dinner in 45 minutes depending on what toppings you use.  But you can also make the crusts over the weekend, prebake and then freeze them for later if time is an issue for you during the week.

I originally got this recipe made with hazelnut flour here.  But I used almond flour instead and I really like the texture.  I’ve also used almond meal and it also worked well.  It tasted more like a wheat crust.

This time I used the pizza stones that my mom gave me at least a year ago.  They are little so you have to make little pizzas.  The recipe made three small individual sized pizzas and the picture above is of the last piece before it got eaten for lunch the next day.

The pizza stones did make a difference I have to say.  It was a bit crispier but still “chewy” on the inside.  It had a great texture to it.

To get the recipe, visit the Grain Free Foodies blog.  The only thing I did differently was change the flour to almond flour.

Gluten Free and GAPS friendly Pizza Crust Recipe

Enjoy and have a blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving this week!

Gluten and Dairy free Green Bean Casserole

I have to admit that when I think Thanksgiving, I don’t think about the traditional Green Bean Casserole.  I didn’t grow up eating it and so I tend to think about dishes  like  mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie!  But I received a few requests for this dish on the Thanksgiving Menu Planner so I thought I would take the challenge to create a healthy, gluten-free and dairy-free version.

Most recipes I found called for canned onions loaded with sugar and wheat as well as the all-famous Cream of Mushroom soup.  Well, neither of these ingredients are anything close to allergen-friendly or healthy so I knew everything had to make from scratch!

I found one recipe at Eating Well that caught my eye.  Here is the description of the dish:

“This is not the no-mess, super-easy recipe of yore, but it is low in fat and high in flavor. To go one step further, substitute 1/2 pound fresh green beans for frozen. Simply trim and cut into 1-inch lengths. Then blanch the beans for 1 to 2 minutes in boiling water, refresh under cold water and spread in the baking dish.”

So, I took this recipe, which called for milk, sour cream and breadcrumbs and made it gluten-free, dairy-free and grain-free!  I will say that it is no longer low in fat as claimed by the original recipe.  But it is all healthy fat from nuts and healthy oils.

This recipe is part of my Thanksgiving Day Menu Planner, but I decided to make a blog post about it and share the recipe because I think there are a lot of people who would love a healthier and allergen-free version of this traditional but not so healthy recipe!

So here’s the recipe!:

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Gluten-free and Dairy-free Pecan Pie

Hooray!  Thanksgiving is coming and if you have a limited diet, you will have some amazing and delicious recipes to make!  The Thanksgiving Menu Planner is now available and it is specifically for limited diets that are free of foods like gluten, wheat, dairy, corn, sugars, starches, nightshades, and peanuts.  If you’re egg-free or nut-free, you’ll also find some great options to create a beautiful allergen-free menu for the holidays!

I want to thank my subscribers who gave me some wonderful ideas and recipes!

• Lori – she had to idea to have snacks for hungry children on the menu
• Sarah – pumpkin bars with “cream cheese” frosting
• Rebecca – stuffing and cranberry sauce recipes
• Sarah – traditional green bean casserole – I made a healthy version!
• Holly – whipped coconut cream recipe
• Rahma – sauerkraut – I included a lacto-fermented version so that people have a digestive aid on Thanksgiving
• Andrea – pumpkin dip with apples recipe
• Anonymous – Pecan Pie
• Ann – Butternut Squash and Apples
• Wardeh at GNOWFGLINS.com offered her Egg-Free Pumpkin Pie as well as the Coconut Icing

Here is the final menu:

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Homemade Ketchup and Roasted Carrots

Something I’ve been mulling over this past week is the difference between “made at home” and “homemade.”  It seems as though a lot of the food “made at home” these days is food that has already been prepared in one way or another and then we fix it up at home to be a part of our meal.

For me, I have come to realize my dependence upon certain products (even “health food products”) lately that I simply can’t have now that I’m following a much more limited diet.  I like to believe that I made all my food at home and that nothing was pre-prepared.  But I now see how dependent I was on things like:  almond milk, canned coconut milk, canned organic tomatoes (Muir Glen Fire Roasted is my favorite), breads, tortillas, yogurt, kefir, crackers, snacks, ketchup, mayo and canned beans when I was in a hurry.

Now, I’m grateful for these changes to our diet and that I am preparing much more of our food at home.  If you want to know more about why I’m beginning to make these foods myself, check out the GAPS diet.  There are a lot of limitations on what kinds of food you can eat and how it is made.  Canned food (except fish) is out as is commercial yogurt.  Ketchup doesn’t work because it has sugar in it, etc.

So, this weekend my project was to make homemade ketchup and mayo.  I didn’t get to the mayo yet but I did do the ketchup.  My son loves it and calls it “cheppy” so I’ve been wanting to make it for the past few weeks.  We also can’t have potatoes or sweet potatoes any longer, so I roasted some sliced carrots to go with it.

I could almost believe (with my eyes closed) that I was eating a sweet potato fry with real ketchup.  It really was quite yummy and satisfying.  My son gobbled them up both times I made them this week!

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Photo from Corbis.com

Nothing beats homemade, especially when it comes to tortillas.  I’ve made corn tortillas and they were simply nothing like the ones you buy in the store.  I also decided to venture into the art of making gluten free tortillas and experienced the same thing – homemade is simply yummier.  I really don’t mind the Food for Life brand of Brown Rice Tortillas – they are great in a pinch.  But if you can, plan some extra time to try to make your own sometime.

The brown rice tortillas I used to make are based on Bette Hagman’s recipe from The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Food.  I really love them.  However, since I last made them, I started soaking my flours first over night.  Without retesting this recipe, I wouldn’t know how to adapt it.  I am also grain free now which takes on a whole new meaning.  However, here is the original recipe I used to use:

(Sorry, no pictures of the ones I have made!)

Here is the recipe:

Brown Rice Gluten-free Homemade Tortillas
Servings:  4-6
Prep and cook time:  35-50  minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups GF mix*
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tsp real maple syrup or honey
1 tsp salt
2 tsp almond meal
1 cup warm water

*GF Mix:  2 parts brown rice flour
2/3 part potato starch
1/3 part tapioca flour

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Dreams do come true.  I’ve been dreaming about the ocean and the beach, literally, for the past couple of years.  I was pregnant two years ago and traveling wasn’t very easy so we didn’t go.  And last year, we went to the mountains in California but weren’t able to visit the beach on that trip.  But this year we took our 21 month old toddler to the beach in North Carolina and we had a ball.

We went with a beautiful family whom we have only recently befriended this past spring.  But with some friendships, doesn’t it seem like you’ve known each other forever?

My friends have three kids, ages 2, 5 and 8.  So counting all the heads, that made eight people to feed, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  To make things more complicated, Jana and I are both gluten-free and Elijah and I are dairy-free.  So before our trip, we did a little gluten-free and dairy-free menu planning and came up with the following ideas for our families:

For dinner:

Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries (one of my standbys)

Meatloaf (Made with Grass-fed Beef) and Steamed Broccoli (I used almond meal in place of breadcrumbs)

Chicken Burritos with Lime Guacamole (I use Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas for the gluten-free people)

Lasagna with Ground Turkey (I use Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagna noodles)

Pasta with “Cheese” Sauce and Green Beans and Peas (I use Tinkyada Brown Rice Noodles)

For breakfast:

Gluten-free pancakes (made one batch with coconut flour and one with buckwheat flour)

Grain and Gluten-free Apple Muffins (made with quinoa flour)

Omelets with Mushrooms, Onions and Tomatoes

Eggs and Toast

Smoothies

Fruit Salad

Lunch:

Chicken Salad with Celery and Raisins (I would have added chopped apples but they made faces at me when I mentioned this!)

Sandwiches and other snack items

Leftovers

Some kid-friendly tips that I learned on the trip:

I learned a lot this week about what a lot of parents struggle with daily – how to feed a children new and different foods they aren’t used to.  Luckily the toddlers are not very picky – my little one is used to my “weird” cooking and doesn’t question me about if cheese is real or not.  Jana’s toddler Zack is also a champ at eating unless he’s not hungry.

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Gluten-free pizza crust, tarte style

Notes:  I’m having some quirky problems with my website so I am using bullets to separate the paragraphs in this post.  I am also submitting this post as part of the Tuesday Twister Carnival at GNOWFGLINS.  Please visit Wardeh’s site to see all the other wonderful weekly posts.

• As promised, I am posting a recipe for gluten-free pizza crust.  However, this is a different recipe than the one that I mentioned in my review of premade pizza crusts.  The following recipe is for a tarte style gluten-free pizza crust that I adapted from a recipe in Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.  I have been slowly transitioning to more traditional methods of preparing and making baked goods, as suggested in her book.   The main step that is added in traditional methods of preparing baked goods is to soak the flour for 12-24 hours in yogurt, buttermilk, or water with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar if you can’t eat dairy products.

• This extra step (though it takes planning and time) makes baked goods much more digestible than if they are baked without soaking.  Through soaking flours, the process of lacto-fermentation begins, which is a natural process that creates healthy bacteria like the ones in yogurt and traditional sauerkraut.

• I have to say I’ve been somewhat resistant to transitioning to this new “lifestyle” of soaking flours ahead of time.  I usually end up wanting to make something right before I’d like to eat it, which doesn’t work so well for this process.

• But after making my muffins, and then this pizza dough, I am becoming sold on this way of preparing baked goods.  And it is mostly due to the way these baked goods make me feel verses ones that aren’t soaked first.

• When I ate this pizza crust, I didn’t get that “carbohydrate rush” that comes with most baked goods.  Instead, I felt nourished and fulfilled.   My blood sugar remained “stable” and it also felt more like a meal than regular pizza makes me feel.  I didn’t have any digestive upsets from it at all, which I normally have even a little bit of after I eat non-soaked flours, even if they are gluten-free.  On the contrary, I felt like it was nourishing food for my body.

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Did you you know that it used to be common practice to soak flour in cultured milk, buttermilk or cream to make baked goods such as pancakes, muffins and cakes?  For people who are allergic to dairy products, water with a little lemon juice or vinegar can be used.

Why soak the flour?

As many people know, wheat and other grains are one of the hardest things to digest.  This accounts for many of the sensitivities to wheat and grain products that people have today.  However, if the grains and flours are first soaked for 12-24 hours, this begins the “digestion process” well before it hits your stomach.

“Because they are acidic, buttermilk,cultured milk, yogurt and whey (as well as lemon juice and vinegar) activate the enzyme phytase, which works to break down phytic acid in the bran of grains.  Sour milk products also provide lactic acid and lactobacilli that help break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins.  Soaking increases vitamin content and makes all the nutrients in grains more available…”  Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, pg. 476.

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