Quinoa Flat Bread
Quinoa… At our May WildFlours Gluten Free Group last night we had a good discussion about this “mother of all grains”. So, Quinoa, what is it? It is actually not a grain but a seed. Quinoa is the seed of the Chenopodium plant, which is better known as the goosefoot plant because its leaves resemble a goose’s webbed foot. There are more than 120 species of the goosefoot plant, ranging in color from ivory to pink, brown, red, and almost black. However, only three main varieties are cultivated today: white or sweet quinoa, red quinoa, and black quinoa. The seeds are similar in size to millet but have a different shape—flat with a pointed oval shape resembling a cross between a sesame seed and a millet seed. Nonetheless, this ancient seed is used as a grain because of its cooking characteristics. Close relatives of quinoa are beets, spinach, and Swiss chard.
How do you say it? Quinoa is pronounced “Keen-wah”. Is it gluten free? The quinoa seed is GF and high in protein, calcium, and iron, and it is a relatively good source of vitamin E and several B vitamins. It contains a nearly perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, making quinoa a complete protein food. Quinoa is exceptionally high in the amino acids lysine, cystine, and methionine. Again, these amino acids are typically low in other grains and legumes.
We shared lots of tips for using quinoa and cooking/baking with it. The biggest thing to remember is that you need to rinse the seeds before cooking them to remove any saponin residue. Saponin is a naturally occurring soapy coating on the outside of the seed that is there to deter pests. Most of the saponin is washed away when the seed is harvested and prepared for packaging. However, I have found that there is still residue that will cause your cooked quinoa to have a soapy or bitter taste if you do not rinse them before hand. The easiest way to do this is by soaking the seeds in water and a teaspoon or less of apple cider vinegar. You can soak them for 15 minutes or as long as overnight. Either way, you will then be able to rinse away any residue much easier. Make sure you have a fine mesh strainer for rinsing or your seeds will fall right through.
I made the Quinoa flat bread above to share with the group. I found the recipe out of “Cooking with Quinoa” by Rena Patten. On page 36 of her cookbook, is her recipe for “Olive Flat Bread”. I made several adjustments to come up with the bread that we shared. The thing about baking with Quinoa flour is that it has a bitterness that can be strong. So, here is the recipe I came up with based on Rena Patten’s recipe:
Quinoa Flat Bread
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Quinoa flour
- 1/3 cup Millet Flour
- 1/3 cup Sorghum Flour
- 1/3 cup Tapioca Starch or Arrowroot Starch Flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano OR rosemary, crushed
- 2 Tbls melted coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup warm unsweetened coconut milk
- Extra coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Oil a pizza pan or line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the parchment paper.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- In a measuring cup, measure out the coconut milk and then add the oil to the milk, stir.
- Gradually whisk the milk/oil into the dry ingredients until well incorporated and smooth. You will have a very wet batter.
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth into a round using a spatula. Sprinkle the top with the extra coarse sea salt if desired.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing. Cooling helps the bread set and not crumble when cut.
One of the attendees, Kristy, gave a great savory recipe using Quinoa. Here is her recipe for you to try below These meatballs sound so delicious I cannot wait to try them!:
Beef and Quinoa Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup cooked Quinoa
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
- 1/4 cup grated carrots
- 1/4 cup grated zucchini
- 2 Tbls ketchup
- 1 Tbls garlic
- 1 Tbls soy sauce, gluten free
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with oil of your choice.
- Mix all ingredients well.
- Form into 16 balls and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Roast the meatballs in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
Note: Kristy mentioned you can substitute the following ingredients if need be for allergies… GF Tamari for the soy sauce, omit the ketchup, egg replacer for the egg, cooked oats for the quinoa.
A huge thank you to Susan Tokarz for letting us use the beautiful offices of Balance Bodyworks for the meeting! Also to everyone who came, I hope you all enjoyed learning and sharing resources. Please come again!
Happy Mother’s Day! To all you mom’s out there, all you do is so worth it!! This job of “mothering” is the most demanding thing that I have ever done. At times, I want to jump ship and declare it all “someone else’s duty”… but then there are the little moments that remind me I was given the role of mother to these children. Yes, God GAVE them to just ME. He knows your in’s and out’s, up’s and down’s and He alone designed YOU for YOUR kids.
I have said it before, I learned about being a mom from the Best Mom on the planet… my own! I see so very clearly that God made me to be her child as well as my children were made to be mine and I theirs. I know many great moms and see in them the same fingerprints of God’s planning through their kids.
So, take a moment to make something great for your kids and then take the rest of the day to enjoy it with them. I would be perfectly happy eating these gluten free blueberry teff muffins for every meal today! Sometimes, we just need to get down to simplicity and get away from the grind of every day. Really, find joy in this task of being a mom… at the end of it all, I know we will not regret it!
Gluten Free Blueberry Teff Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Teff flour (I traditionally only find dark teff)
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
- 1 Tbls ground flax seeds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup orange or pineapple juice (if you prefer, you can substitute a non-dairy milk such as plain coconut milk or rice milk)
- 1/4 cup mashed ripe pears (or apple sauce)
- 1/4 cup agave
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or grape seed oil
- 1/2 cup finely shredded coconut flakes, unsweetened
- 1/2 to 1 cup blueberries
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside. Measure out your blueberries. You can use fresh or frozen. If using fresh, blueberries… wash and remove any stems, then drain in a colander and set aside. If using frozen, blueberries… measure out the amount you are going to use and keep them aside IN THE FREEZER. Just make sure the blueberries are the very LAST thing you add to the batter! Note: frozen blueberries may increase the baking time of your muffins. I use the smaller wild blueberries which give a great flavor.
- In a medium size bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add all the liquid ingredients to the large mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir on slow speed until the batter begins to stiffen a bit. This should be like any other muffin batter, not too wet but not too stiff. If it is too stiff, slowly add a little more juice or non-dairy milk until the batter is the right consistency.
- Once the batter is ready, remove the bowl from the stand and gently fold the blueberries into the batter with a spatula.
- Quickly fill the muffin cups 3/4 full. Using an ice cream scoop makes this fast work! You will get about 8 muffins with this recipe.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Check for doneness as the muffins should feel firm and have a light spring back when ready to be removed from the oven. Don’t leave them in too long as the bottoms may burn.
- Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then remove from the muffin tin to cool completely.
Enjoy!
Just one of the presenters at the 2012 Chicago GFAF Expo, Laura B. Russell
April marked another great display of all things gluten and allergen free at the GFAF Expo, held in Lombard, IL this year. This is the 5th year for Jen Cafferty and her crew presenting the Expo and they did not disappoint! I was volunteering on Friday for the Nourished Food Blogger Conference and again on Saturday with the GFAF Expo cooking classes. It was a joy assisting really great chefs as they presented the “how to’s” on some of their favorite recipes! Laura Russell, author of “The Gluten Free Asian Kitchen”, did a fabulous job teaching several Asian recipes from her cookbook… including pot-stickers! Laura has had an amazing journey with peripheral neuropathy that brought her to healing through a gluten free diet. You may want to check out her website, Notes from a Gluten Free Kitchen, to find out more. Then, Iggy and Jerry from DaLuciano’s had a great presentation on gluten free Italian offerings from their table. If you have not been to their restaurant in River Grove, IL you are missing out! Check out the gluten free menu offerings on their website. After the comedy of Iggy and Jerry, Jen Cafferty herself took the stage and taught class attendee’s a knock-out Tiramisu that no one would suspect was gluten and allergen free! The dairy free whipped filling she made to assemble the Tiramisu was so amazing!
I am always so grateful that these chefs, restauranteurs, cookbook authors and bloggers are so willing to stand up and give their time and experience to those who need to learn about gluten and allergen free dining. Just to hear Iggy and Jerry answer questions from the crowd, explain how things work in a restaurant kitchen and how easily cross-contamination can happen was invaluable to those in the room. While this was the last year for the cooking classes, the Expo will still have presenters available on stage to provide this type of learning. Thanks Jen! I feel so blessed to be a behind the scenes part of what you do!
So, what were my favorite take-aways this year? After walking the aisles of vendors at the Expo, there were a few stand-outs this year that I want to make sure you don’t miss…
Eco Planet Organics Gluten Free Instant Hot Cereal – with 7 whole grains this has been my favorite instant hot cereal. It is great to travel with and just as easy as to prepare as the Quaker Oatmeal variety that is not gluten free. Plus, it is not just GF Oats! With the addition of amaranth, quinoa and millet this hot cereal is very tasty. It comes in several varieties. While not “new” to the gluten free scene, this hot cereal is still on top!
Sunbutter – I know I have mentioned them before, but I cannot leave them off my list! As a replacement for any of the Nut butters, Sunbutter is a winner every time. I 
have discovered their Organic Unsweetened Sunflower Seed Butter that is so delicious… I asked the team at the Expo why this is not sold in stores (currently I can only get it online) and they encouraged me to continue asking the store managers to order it. Seriously, with some jelly you will not miss the sugar! If you are allergic to nuts, this not-nut butter spread is perfect. They also sell individual serving packs which are awesome for lunches, traveling, camp, … and more!
Mary’s Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs – I have been enjoying these pretzel like sticks for quite a while now… the sea salt version that is. At the Expo, Mary’s team had the Chipotle Tomato version available for tasting. Wow! I’ve been missing out! While I am not much for a spicy kick, I really liked these a lot… so, don’t pass them up. With all the new gluten free pretzel offerings, Sticks & Twigs are chock full of organic gluten-free ancient whole grains including brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, and millet, as well as tasty and nutritious seeds including flax, sesame and chia seeds – without any starches. It is a really good pretzel of a different sort!
Against the Grain Gourmet was there serving their pizza’s. Coming from a pizza lovin’ and restaurant owning family… pizza was one of the first foods I learned 
to convert to gluten free. I wish this group had been around way back then! Their pizza crust is very good. It’s that simple! They may not use whole grain, but you won’t find any grains at all in this pizza shell! Using only tapioca starch (and not the modified stuff), they have managed to keep their ingredients very simple. Their motto “all grain free, corn free, soy free, yeast free, tree nut free, peanut free, no added sugar, but NOT TASTE FREE”. I think you will agree… their pizza is great to have on hand in the freezer!
Beanito’s – I love this chip simply because there is NO CORN! If you are at all like me, corn does you no favors… all kinds of things go wrong when I eat something made from any number of corn products. I can finally have nachos again! Beanito’s are loaded with non-GMO vegetable fiber, 4 grams of complete protein and are rich in Essential ALA Omega 3’s. Each variety of chip are always free of corn, wheat, soy, potato, trans fat, cholesterol and are verified non-GMO, gluten free, lab tested and certified low glycemic & kosher!
O.N.E. Coconut Water Kids – Now, I did not see any vendors with this product at the Expo, but I found it so recently I had to share it here. I have been looking for 
a single serving “juice box like” drink for my littlest one that we can grab and go with. Something that other kids would “relate” to… and it comes with a straw! At our local Fruitful Yield, I found these coconut water individual box servings. They not only taste great, but they have no added sugar! In addition to containing electrolytes, such as Potassium, this coconut water uses fruit juices for flavor and is free of corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, stimulants, flavorings or colorings. Coconut water is a natural source of hydration, with much lower calories then many other fruit juices.
I hope these take-aways have been helpful! Please continue to ask for products you do not see at your local grocery. There are so many new gluten free and allergen free finds available today all because those who need such products use their voices! As always, if you have more than just gluten intolerance, please read the ingredients of any product to determine it’s safety for your individual dietary needs.
Gluten Free Banana Cake with Teff Flour for Easter
Happy Easter! I hope you have enjoyed this beautiful weekend with family and friends. Things were so busy around here that I did not get to making those yummy marshmallow peeps that we had done last year… but I did manage to make the marshmallows! You see them in the picture next to the GF Banana Cake as I cut them into cubes and sprinkled unsweetened coconut flakes on top of them. If you need that recipe again, just follow the link to Z’s Cup of Tea.
I was hoping for a light cake for the finale of our Easter dinner that everyone could enjoy… and I mean everyone! So, it had to be gluten free, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free, nut free and use only Teff and Tapioca Starch flours. Yikes… Sometimes baking in this house gets tedious!! However, this cake came together so easily that I had to share it. I would make it again and again given that we have ripe bananas on hand.
Gluten Free Banana Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups brown Teff flour
- 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch flour
- 2 Tbls ground flax seeds
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup agave
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut milk
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cake pan or square baking dish with parchment, taking care to oil the sides of the pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the rest of the wet ingredients with the mashed bananas and coconut sugar. Begin with 1/4 cup coconut milk, reserving the rest.
- With the mixer on low speed, pour in the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides. Then turn the mixer on medium high for a minute. The batter should resemble cake batter and not be too stiff. If it is too stiff, slowly add the additional 1/4 cup coconut milk.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with a spatula. Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- The cake should have a light spring back when you touch the top when it is done. Remove from the oven and cool completely before serving.
We served this cake with mango sauce and homemade agave sweetened marshmallows. The mango sauce is easy to make: Blend 1 cup of ripe mango in a food processor until pureed, then drizzle in 2 Tbls melted coconut oil with the processor running at the end. Chill before serving. It is a great snacking type of cake, light and not too sweet. If you are able to have refined sugar, a dusting of powdered sugar would be great on top.
Ivory Teff Banana Cake
UPDATE 12/30/12: We have just made a great pan of banana cake using Ivory Teff Flour from The Teff Co. I used 1 cup Ivory Teff flour, 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour (you could also use Quinoa flour), and 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch flour as my flour blend. It was very moist and flavorful!
Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy some of our silly, rather “minion-like”, egg decorations!! 
Gluten Free, Dairy Free Avocado Sauce
Boy is everything green around here! So much so that my husband actually had to mow the lawn the other day… in March! I don’t think that has ever happened. It sure has been an amazing early jump into spring here in the Midwest. Something we are not used to in March; but, hey… we will adapt!
Speaking of “amazing” things, I am always amazed at the many uses for avocados. I come across many recipes for puddings, dips and sauces with this nutrient dense fruit. However, I find myself always making guacamole! Well, tonight I was in the mood for something green to go along with our squash noodles. In a hurry, I decided to try an avocado sauce… mostly because what I had in mind would only require a quick whir in the blender rather than slow cooking something to perfection. Avocado’s usually end up bitter and brown if cooked, so the ingredients I had tonight were perfect for a dinner sans the stove. I have to say that this sauce turned out so great! Here is the recipe I came up with:
Raw Avocado Sauce (GF and DF)
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/2 – 1 cup coconut milk (or milk of choice)
- 1/4 tsp Braggs Seasoning blend
- 1/4 tsp Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (or fresh squeezed lime juice)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- Halve the avocado and remove the pit. Scoop out all the flesh and place in a blender bowl (you could mash by hand if you do not have a blender).
- Add the remaining ingredients, starting with 1/2 cup of milk at first.
- Blend on high until the sauce is creamy and somewhat thick. If it is too thick, gradually add more milk until the sauce reaches desired consistency. Note: the amount of milk you use will depend on the size of your avocado. Mine was on the small side, so I only needed a little more than 1/2 cup of coconut milk.
- Taste for seasonings and adjust with salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve over hot noodles of your choice.
We had this sauce over gently blanched yellow squash that I made into “spaghetti style” noodles using a spiral slicer. You could have it over any noodle of your choice. Without meat, the avocado made the meal as it provides plenty of filling, healthy fat. To give you the details, about 75% of avocado’s calories come from fat which is mostly of the monounsaturated kind. This little pear shaped fruit has more potassium than bananas and is rich in the B vitamins, foliate, vitamin E and K. One of the other great qualities about avocados is that they have a high fiber content, with 75% being insoluble fiber. They are also very low in cholesterol and sodium. We enjoyed the “pasta” with green peas. Some other toppings you could try are: shredded parmesan cheese or alternative cheese of choice, coarsely chopped (and toasted) seeds, chopped parsley or cilantro. If you are more inclined to eat a “raw” meal, then just don’t blanch the squash and keep any additional toppings raw as well! Enjoy something green!
Note: You could also make this as a dip by reducing the amount of coconut milk used in the recipe. It would be great with crackers or tortilla chips!
Gluten Free Blueberry Teff Scones
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I launched this website. So much has happened since that first “Welcoming” article! Let’s see…
- Launch of our website on March 15th of 2011. After beginning WildFlours in 2008, it was so great to see it come to life on the web to reach more people and be a resource to those in need.
- To date, we have published 60 articles and shared 58 gluten free / allergy free recipes online! Check out the Recipe Archive page to review our growing recipe database.
- We have held 10 really inspiring WildFlours Gluten Free Group events. You can look back at what we have done on the GFGroup page. It gets better every year.
- The Gluten and Allergen Free Expo (2011). If you missed last years event, 2012 promises to be even more exciting! Check out what is coming up this April on their website. I will be there again lending a hand behind the scenes!
- We added Specific Carbohydrate Diet tips and recipes to the site with a new Grain Free Guide section to be uploaded sometime in 2012. This was a big step for our family and so we wanted to be able to provide support to others following this protocol for health and healing.
- As a group we continue to meet new faces and help others along the journey towards figuring out how to eat gluten and allergy free. That is the most rewarding part about our first year with this website!
I hope that you too take the time to notice the milestones in life. It is really good to look back at all that has been accomplished from time to time. One year anniversaries are a good time for that! These gluten free Blueberry Teff Scones are a milestone for our family. For those of you whom have been reading, you would know that some of us here follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Our youngest has been helped greatly by adhering to this diet very strictly for about a year and a half. One request that was frequently made during that time was for scones… one’s that look as yummy as the “other” ones (meaning the gluten free version I made for the rest of the family!). Granted, I have worked up some really great SCD treats and scones were on the list. Recently, we have allowed some “grain-like” seeds and seed flours such as Teff and Quinoa. So, to watch this child eat this version of a gluten free scone was truly a treasure. Every bite was savored joyfully and with a huge, beaming smile. Truth be told, I like these better than those “other” gluten free scones I made with brown rice flour and oats. Since we are still watching grains carefully, I tend to use more teff flour and we have not yet introduced gluten free oats. This scone doesn’t disappoint!
Gluten Free Blueberry Teff Scones
Ingredients:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 Tbls apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups Teff flour blend (1 1/2 cups gluten free Teff flour plus 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 Tbls baking powder
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or other raw sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 oz unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 oz coarsely chopped raw pumpkin seeds
- 2.5 oz melted coconut oil
- zest of 1 lime
- 2 oz small frozen blueberries (or you can used dried blueberries if you don’t mind the added sugar)
- additional coconut milk and coconut sugar for finishing the scones (optional)
Method:
- Stir the apple cider vinegar into the coconut milk and set aside while preparing the dry ingredients.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients. Mix well with a fork or whisk.
- Add the coconut oil and cut into the dry ingredients until a pea sized crumb is formed. You can do this step with your fingertips or a fork if you prefer.
- Create a well in the center of the dry mix and pour in your coconut milk mixture. Using a fork, gradually incorporate the milk into the dry ingredients. Do not over mix.
- Once the dough comes together, add the lime zest and the frozen blueberries (make sure to use them frozen!). Stir to combine, gently and quickly.
- Dust your work surface with additional teff flour and turn the loose dough out. Shape into a long rectangle about 1 1/2″ high by 2″ wide by 14″ long. These won’t rise when baking, so if you want a tall scone shape the rectangle taller. You will need to dust your dough with more teff flour as the dough will be very sticky.
- Cut the long rectangle of dough at about 3-4″ intervals (depending on the length) and then cut each section in half on the diagonal for triangle shaped scones. If you don’t care about triangles you can cut them any way you like!
- Move the cut scones to the prepared baking sheet and reshape if needed. Using a dry brush, gently brush off excess teff flour. Then, brush each scone all over with extra coconut milk and sprinkle with a little more coconut sugar (optional).
- Place the baking sheet into the 400 degree oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- When finished, remove the baking sheet from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with agave!
These can be stored at room temperature for two days or 1 week in your refrigerator. They also freeze well. Enjoy!
Our March WildFlours Gluten Free Group meeting was last night and we spent the evening talking about Oats and what makes them a challenge for those on a Gluten Free diet over some really awesome oat based goodies. We also tried eating oats raw… after soaking that is and found that many of us enjoyed the grain much better this way. A venture back to a cold, muesli like cereal (if you will), but much easier to digest. I will share one of the recipes I made with substitutions for Oats at the end of this article. Anyway, back to GF Oats! I have been hearing the question a lot lately… “What’s up with Oats? I thought they were gluten free?” Many people who follow a gluten free diet eventually learn that Oats are not always safe to eat. I had actually wished that someone would have told me this very early on! I think my progression toward health would have happened faster had I known that most products containing Oats and even the grain itself are a gluten risk.
So, what is the deal? Honestly, it is all about cross-contamination. The best way to explain it is to take a quote from Dr. Stephen Wangen’s book Healthier Without Wheat. Dr. Wangen writes: “There has been a great deal of debate over the years about whether or not oats are a problem for people with a gluten intolerance. Studies have established that oats do not in fact contain gluten or gliadin of the type contained in wheat, barley, rye and so on. However, oats almost always get contaminated with other grains. This can happen in the field; during harvesting, transportation and storage; or during processing. Therefore it is recommended that people diagnosed with gluten intolerance, including celiac disease, or who are otherwise very sensitive to gluten should avoid oats. That being said, some companies now produce truly gluten-free oats. They take great care to keep all oats strictly separate from other grains at every stage, from cultivation to processing. Oats from these companies are fine for people with a gluten intolerance…”
There you have it! You just need to be very choosy about the oats that you consume. In addition, some individuals have found that they are sensitive or allergic to the protein found in oats. This happens apart from gluten sensitivity/intolerance. Oats are the only cereal containing a globulin or legume-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein. The more typical cereal proteins, such as gluten, are prolamines. The minor protein of oat is a prolamine, called avenin. If you notice a reaction to oats, and you are sure they are from a reputable gluten-free source, it may be that you are intolerant to the protein in oats as well as gluten.
Tips on Cooking/Baking with Oats:
- You can make your own Oat Flour easily by pulsing a cup or two in a food processor until it resembles a fine “flour”. This makes oat flour one of the easiest to afford of the gluten free flours.
- Unless you are making granola, try using half rolled oats and half fine or coarse oat flour for the measurement of Oats called for in a recipe.
- Oats are the hardest grain to digest. So, to help aid in digestibility, soak your Oats in the same amount of cooking liquid called for (ie. 1 cup Oats plus 2 cups water) with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar overnight or for at least 8 hours. Soaked Oats will cook very fast, in as little as 5 minutes or less! In addition, you can eat the soaked Oats without cooking the same way you would any muesli type cereal.
Resources: Here are a few great Sources for Certified Gluten Free Oats:
Trader Joe’s Market – easy to find on their shelves!
Bob’s Red Mill www.bobsredmill.com
Cream Hill Estates www.creamhillestates.com
Gifts of Nature www.giftsofnature.net
Gluten Free Oats Co. www.glutenfreeoats.com – by far, these are my favorite oats!
Only Oats www.avenafoods.com – a Canadian gluten free Oats resource
Substitutions: If you find you are allergic to Oats, here are a few substitutions that will help in baking:
- Quinoa Flakes: they can be substituted equally for oats in any recipe, you may notice a different taste however
- Crispy Brown Rice Cereal: work best in “granola” type recipes or anywhere you want the crunch of oats
- Puffed Millet: good to use as an “extender” or “filler” in recipes where rolled oats are used.
Okay, so I promised a recipe when I began this discussion… I came across Shauna and Danny’s recipe at glutenfreegirl.com for GF Oatmeal Muffins that was very interesting. The recipe uses cooked oatmeal and very little sweetener. I had to try that! So, I set about making the muffins and they turned out really great! If you review their recipe, the changes I made (due to ingredients I had on hand) were:
- I used agave in place of the jam
- My flour blend was 70 grams teff, 70 grams millet flour, 50 grams finely ground gf oat flour, 20 grams buckwheat flour
- grapeseed oil and coconut milk for dairy free
- coarsely chopped pumpkin seeds in place of pistachios to keep them nut free
Thank you Shauna and Danny for a really great recipe that I will use often! As they mentioned in their article, the muffins were perfect for providing sustaining energy throughout the morning. So… I got to thinking. You must be able to do this same thing with any cooked whole grain right? With some tweaking, I came up with the following quinoa based muffin. They were equally good and sustaining for the busy mornings around here, and quinoa has the great benefit of being a complete protein. If you cannot have oats, quinoa is really a good substitution!
Gluten Free Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled (any variety will do, just make sure to rinse it very well before cooking)
- 1 recipe flax gel egg replacer (1 Tbls ground flaxseed mixed in 4 Tbls hot water – let stand 10 minutes)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2-3 tablespoons agave
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 150 grams teff flour, 50 grams tapioca starch, 20 grams quinoa flakes
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds or unsweetened coconut flakes, coarsely chopped
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with parchment liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add all the ingredients except blueberries and mix until well incorporated (by hand or using a stand mixer).
- Fold in the blueberries, gently but quickly.
- Spoon batter into the muffin tin all the way to the top of the muffin cups (if using egg replacer as these do not rise at all).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on the top and well set.
- Remove from oven and remove muffins from the tin. Cool on a wire rack. Best served warm!
So, the next time you have leftover, cooked whole grains… give the muffins a try. I think this would work with any grain! Enjoy!!
Gluten Free Pound Cake from Carol Kicinski's "Simply... Gluten Free Desserts"
I was thinking this week about how much God really shows up in my life. How he always provides and makes Himself known to me in the areas that I need encouragement. Then, I realized that today is John 3:16 Day! So, I just wanted to share with you the reality that no matter where you are at and what you are struggling with, God is ready and willing to listen and carry you through. I say that knowing that a lot of individuals looking for information online about their diet are most likely doing so because of a major life issue… maybe a health crisis or just a nagging feeling that you need to make a change to how you fuel your body.
There was a time that I thought I would never be able to be “normal” anymore… never be able to eat cake or fun foods. I was so wrong about that. The Pound Cake pictured above is evidence of that. God has really made a lot of changes in my life and the lives of my family. Those changes are all for the better today. It has been over time that I have realized the sweet rewards of waiting on God to fulfill my needs. So, I encourage you to reach out and talk to Him about what you are struggling with. Talking to God is as simple as finding a quiet place to focus and pray, asking Him to meet you where you are, acknowledging that He is able to help and then giving Him the “cares of your world” in that prayer.
A few weeks ago, I was able to get a copy of Carol Kicinski’s baking book “Simply… Gluten Free Desserts” from our local library. (More evidence of how God provides as I would never have enough resources for all the cookbooks I want to try!) I have been looking for a really great gluten free pound cake recipe for a long time now and finally found it within the pages of her book. Now, this is a “fully loaded” cake! Butter, sugar, eggs… you get the picture. The only substitution I used was coconut milk for the cow’s milk in the recipe. I made the pound cake for our Bible Study group one evening and served it with pureed mango as a topping. It was so great! I would highly recommend Carol’s book as many of the recipes that I have tried were just as great as the GF Pound Cake!
If you are in the Fox Valley area of Chicago, Illinois, I encourage you to join us this Sunday evening for our March WildFlours Gluten Free Group. Just click on the “GFGroup” link at the top of the page to find out the details. Many Blessing to you all!!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 NIV)
Gluten Free Pear Cranberry Rustic Tart (a.k.a “pie”) made with Teff Flour
Happy “Pi” Day! … or “Happy 3.14159265 Day!” as one member of our family says it. I thought I would share a slice of pie with you as I continue to experiment with Teff flour. I used a traditional gluten free pie crust and substituted the gluten free flour it called for with a blend of Teff and Tapioca Starch flour. Since I love to make rustic tarts (a.k.a “pie without a pie plate”), I decided to try it with this pie crust. The result was fabulous! You can easily press the pie crust dough into a traditional pie plate and use a filling you prefer. Enjoy a slice of Pi today!
Rustic Pear Cranberry Tart
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Teff flour
- 1/4 cup Tapioca Starch flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 Tbls cold palm shortening, cut into small pieces
- 2 Tbls cold coconut oil
- 5-7 Tbls ice cold water mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 4-5 ripe pears, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or regular sugar
- 1 Tbls Tapioca Starch flour
- coconut milk
Method:
- In a bowl combine 1 cup Teff flour and 1/4 cup Tapioca Starch, xanthan gum, and salt.
- Cut in your cold shortening and coconut oil to form crumbs the size of small peas.
- Add water by 1 Tbls increments and mix with a fork until dough begins to form.
- Place in center of saran wrap and wrap up, pressing to create a disk, refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
- Roll out on parchment paper sprinkled with extra Teff flour to a round that is about 1/8-1/4″ in thickness. Place the parchment paper with the crust on it to a baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare your filling in a large bowl by tossing the pears and cranberries with the coconut sugar and 1 Tbls of Tapioca.
- Place filling in center of rolled out pie crust and form edges up and over the filling, covering all but the very center of the pie. This is the rustic part… it is okay if it is not perfect!
- Brush the crust with coconut milk or water and sprinkle with extra coconut sugar or coconut flakes.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the filling bubbles and the edges of the crust begin to brown.
- Remove from oven and cool completely before slicing.
Harvard's "Healthy Eating Plate"
A few days ago, I was at our local grocery store shopping for our pantry needs and I found myself in the familiar “alternative foods” aisle trying my best to help another shopper find an ingredient. As I quickly filled my cart with all sorts of gluten free whole grain flours and whole seeds, she ventured out to ask me where one might find “organic wheat flour?”. I pointed her to the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat products right in front of us and asked if she needed “whole wheat or white flour”. She was clearly puzzled by my question… as the moments in the aisle ticked by, I realized in the midst of our conversation that she had no idea the difference between “white flour”, “wheat flour”, and “whole wheat flour”. Not to mention the labeling behind what is “organic” and “natural” and, well… just plain “regular”. We talked for a while and I ended up suggesting that she also look in the regular baking aisle if the item I had suggested did not seem to fit her needs. That is when she raised an eyebrow at me and exclaimed “why would I do that, I am not looking for white flour?”. I tried to explain to her that “white flour” is indeed made from “wheat” and that “whole wheat flour” is the whole wheat grain milled with the bran intact leaving more nutrients than “white flour”, but… they are both “wheat”! She did not care for my answer at all and insisted that “white flour is not wheat”. Then, she looked at the contents of my cart and very clearly let me know that she would not know what to do with “any of that”! (Obviously meaning that my gluten free flours were very foreign to her). At that point, I left her to her shopping dilemma and went on my way hoping that she would figure it out for herself.
That exchange taught me just how clueless most people are when it comes to what they eat. I recall being just overwhelmed when we had to venture down the path of “alternative foods” to avoid foods that our family was allergic to. I think at that time in my life I really did know that “white flour” was truly “wheat” as I went on to learn about all of it’s replacements. At first, it was just swapping one starch/grain for another without much thought. My research quickly brought me to learning about a healthier way of eating:
- using whole gluten free grains and seeds (brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, and teff),
- eating a more balanced meal with the right protein choices and much larger portions of vegetables than I was clearly used to,
- realizing that focusing on one food group all the time is not good,
- eating with all the colors of the rainbow in mind provides a wide array of nutrients,
- and providing my body with healthy fats (some even saturated) for good brain function.
Wow, has our family come a long way nutritionally speaking since those early days of just “avoiding allergy foods”! I am glad for it. I also enjoy helping others find their way toward better nutrition as well. Almost every grocery shopping trip provides me an opportunity to do just that.
So, when I saw that the Harvard School of Public Health had released their version of the government’s “MyPlate” (an answer to the challenging question of what and how much to eat from the food pyramid), I was pleasantly surprised by their approach. An actual “plate” with portion sizes and suggestions for each food group! Finally, someone has clearly stated that potatoes/french fries do not count in the vegetable group (something I have been trying to get my oldest child to understand ever since setting foot in school)! There are some other tips that they provided for balancing nutrition as well. According to Harvard’s website, the Healthy Eating Plate shows consumers a generally healthy way to assemble a meal:
- get plenty of produce
- choose whole grains
- choose healthy sources of protein
- use healthy oils
- drink water or other beverages that don’t contain sugar.
- It also suggests limiting consumption of refined grains, potatoes, sweets, sugary beverages, red meat, processed meats, and going easy on milk and juice.
I also liked this approach as it is a diagram that I can talk with my kids about. They see things clearly in pictures at times and this was a good tool to help them look at their own plates and assess how well they are eating. It helps them see that focusing on meats, grains and cheese is not a wise way to eat at every meal. We even talk about it as we put toppings on our pizza, which helps them reach for things like red or green peppers, mushrooms, arugula and pineapple! Whether or not we are focused on gluten free foods, there is a lot we all can do to eat better at every meal. Your bodies will thank you for it! Do you have any thoughts about the Healthy Eating Plate? Share them with us!
