Making Gluten Free More Palatable

Last weekend I had some bananas that were about to go bad, so I decided to make banana muffins.  Of course, I couldn't make any old banana muffins because (remember?) I am allergic to wheat.

I remembered that there was a recipe for banana bread on the back of the bag for Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour, so I decided to give it a go.  I made my usual modification, substituting half of the flour with Trader Joe's Almond Meal, and the results were rather tasty.  In fact, the boys liked the muffins so much that they brought them for snacks three times.

Here's the recipe, originally from Bob's Red Mill, with my changes.

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins.
2. Cream together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer.
3. Add flour, almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum, and salt to egg mixer, alternating with bananas.  Mix until smooth.  Batter will be somewhat soft.
4. Pour batter into muffin cups.  Bake approx. 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted removes clean.

Yeah, the texture isn't quite the same as a muffin made with flour, but it's not bad.  My father, who thinks this whole gluten-free thing is torturous, said that the muffin was "alright."  Trust me, from him, that's high praise.

Not-All-That-Clever Ideas

My kids like a fairly tight, predictable rotation of dinners:  pizza, tacos, pasta, chicken cutlets, pork tenderloin, macaroni and cheese.  Every once in a while I try to throw in some variety; sometimes it works, other times it fails miserably.  But sometimes a Dinnertime Fail can be saved with a little change.  Here are some of my favorite changes.  Note that none are earth-shaking or particularly ingenious.

1. Sloppy Joe Night.  My kids like Sloppy Joes, but serving them on hamburger buns is, well, sloppy.  So I serve them on hot dog buns instead.  The filling still spills out of the bun, but it's far less sloppy this way.
2. Taco Night.  I used to wrap the taco meat and cheese in a soft taco shell, but now that they're as thin as notebook paper, it's another guaranteed mess.  And forget about hard shells.  If I can't eat one without the shell splitting down the middle, imagine the mess a four-year-old will make.  Instead, I bake nacho chips sprinkled with shredded cheddar in a 350 degree oven until the cheese just starts to brown, and then top the nachos with the taco meat.  I also give each of the boys a spoon, so they can push the meat onto the chip, or scoop it and eat it separately.

I had something else I wanted to talk about, but I can't think of it now.  Oh well...

Eat Your Veggies

I know, with a title like this, you'd expect to see a recipe for a vegetarian dish. Yeah, not gonna happen in this house. Instead, I tried to hide them my twist on Shepherd's Pie, which is a mashup on these recipes from Simply Recipes and Rachael Ray.

Tater Topped Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables, such as chopped carrots, corn, peas, etc.
• 2-3 TBSP butter
• 1/3 cup beef broth
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 bag Tater Tots

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F
2. Melt butter in large frying pan
3. Saute onions in butter, over medium heat, until tender (10 minutes).  Add carrots with onions.  Other vegetables (corn, pease, etc.) can be added after onions are tender, or after the ground beef has browned.
4. Add ground beef and saute until no longer pink.  Add Worcestershire sauce and beef broth.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, adding more broth as needed to keep meat moist.
5. Place beef and vegetables in baking dish.  Cover with a layer of shredded cheese.
6. Top with a layer of Tater Tots.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until topping is brown and cheese is bubbling.

Disclosure:  Not all of my kids like this.  My oldest will eat a bite or two, but no more.  My middle one will finish his entire portion.  This is the only way my youngest will eat carrots, corn, or any other vegetables I put in, but how much he eats is a crapshoot.  On the other hand, my husband loves  this.

Cookie Time!

Our supply of Trader Joe's Way More Chocolate Chip cookies ran out some time last week.  So instead of making a special trip, I decided to make a batch of homemade ones.  Great for the guys, but what about wheat-free me? 

For the first time, I made a batch of wheat-free chocolate chip cookies from scratch.  And they were pretty good, if I do say so myself!  I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com.  Please note that in addition to Bob's Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking flour, I used Trader Joe's almond meal in this recipe, which is not gluten free (it's made on shared equipment). 

Wheat Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups gluten-free baking mix
• 1 cup almond flour/meal
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add eggs and vanilla while mixing. 
3. In a separate bowl, sift together gluten free flour mix, almond meal, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Gradually add dry ingredients into the butter mixture until blended.
5. Add chocolate chips.
6. Using a teaspoon, drop cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light brown.
7. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

* A note about almond meal:  Bob's Red Mill makes gluten free almond meal, or you can make your own by grinding whole, unblanched almonds in a coffee grinder or blender (be careful not to overblend or you'll end up with almond butter). 

Finally - GOOD gluten free pasta!

I've been searching for a good gluten-free pasta since I gave up wheat about a year ago.  For the most part, rice pasta is a poor substitute.  It'll do when I really need to have pasta, but it usually turns out sticky, and it just doesn't have the same mouth feel as regular pasta.  If there's nothing else in the house, Trader Joe's rice based penne is the best of the bunch.

When J said that he wanted mac and cheese casserole for dinner tonight, I decided that rice pasta just wasn't going to cut it anymore.  I had to step up my game and try something different.  I found this on the shelf:

It's made with a blend of corn and quinoa (an ancient grain high in protein, calcium, and iron), so it won't be sticky like rice.  I bought the elbows, since that's the shape I use for mac and cheese.

What a good call!  The pasta cooked nicely, held up while baking, and tasted really good.  I should have slightly undercooked the pasta, since baking it made it mushier than I prefer, but it still was much closer in texture to regular pasta than anything else I've tried.

The big drawback to this pasta (as with most gluten free foods) is its price.  I think I paid $2.50 for an 8oz. box, which means it costs $5/pound.  I'll probably still pick up the rice penne from Trader Joe's since it's only $2/pound, but I will definitely treat myself to the Ancient Harvest Quinoa pasta in the future.