Gluten Free Breakfast Options - Fast & Easy!

As I’ve written previously, breakfast was always a family favorite growing up.  But by high school, I had pretty much given up breakfast.  The heaviness in the pit of my stomach left me feeling lethargic and funky.  I have never since been a regular breakfast eater.  (That is until I started making my own granola!)  Naturally, I married a man whose favorite meal is – yes – breakfast.  He wants bacon, eggs, toast or some variation on bread, juice, tea, the whole thing.  Lucky for me he doesn’t mind making it either.  This seemingly genetic predisposition has been passed on to our kids.  

School days are always a race.  Getting the kids out of bed, dressed, breakfast, lunches packed, teeth…  Whew!  We need some fast and easy solutions to getting it accomplished.  Gluten Free for Breakfast – it’s time I investigate the options for my newly gluten free son! 

Udi’s Plain GF Bagels:  Available in the frozen section of my local Whole Foods and Sprouts.  Although they come pre-sliced, I still need a knife to separate, and they sometimes break.  Oh well, toasted and slathered with cream cheese they are still the best bagel option I’ve found.  I paid $4.99 at Sprouts for them just the other day.  Udi's has coupons available online too!

Kid review:  Awesome!

Van’s Gluten Free Waffles:  Also available in the frozen section of my local Whole Foods, Sprouts and sometimes Von’s.  I love love love the blueberry waffles!  Toasted with butter is my fav way to eat them.  My son loves the blueberry and plain, toasted with maple syrup.

Kid review:  Great!

Parents of GF kids – don’t despair!  There are finally lots of GF products ready in the grocery stores or available online.  I’ll let you know about more products as we try them out!

GF Self to GF Mommy

I've been GF for years now.  Anyone diagnosed with Celiac's Disease as an adult is familiar with the challenges and sometimes trauma of learning to order, cook, shop and enjoy GF foods.  From restaurants to grocery stores, it's a new adventure.  

  

I now face a new chapter in my GF life - my GF child.   I haven’t wanted to face it.  I didn’t want to subject my little guy to the medical procedure of endoscopy and biopsy.   But with so many symptoms including migraines, we just have to face up to it.  My son has CD. 

Today is his birthday - he is 11 years old.  Old enough to have experienced and know the joys of fresh pasta, a perfect pizza, hamburgers on a bun, and my southern fried chicken.
    

I fight back tears.  It isn't that eating GF is so difficult for me.  I suppose that I feel somehow responsible, and guilty. I wouldn't wish CD on anyone, certainly not my own child.  I know that there are other moms out there who have faced this new chapter in life.   I wonder – did they shed a few tears as well?

So today, for his birthday, I’m baking a new birthday cake recipe.  A GF flourless chocolate cake.   With fresh berries and whipped cream.

I can do it.  I will do it.  My son will do it.  I just wish that he didn’t have to.

And we will enjoy our GF chocolate cake tonight!

Happy Birthday my beautiful son!  

Pasta Once Again

As many of the GF peeps know, pasta is one tough food item to give up!  I love homemade noodles and making them for my loved ones is an act of love and torture.  Recently, I had dinner at Osteria Mozza in Hollywood.  A friend had recommended the sausage pasta appetizer which really sounded yummy.  My husband couldn't pass it up and once again I thought bummer.  The waiter, knowledgeable on GF issues (what?!  how did that happen!) offered their GF version using corn pasta.  It was fab!  Naturally I asked for the brand of pasta and the waiter was more than happy to provide.  Rustichella D'Abruzzo corn fusilli is wonderful!  I was blown away to find it online - for $8 a pound!  Plus shipping.  There had to be alternatives.  I now am an avid buyer of DeBoles GF Corn pasta, available at most grocery stores.  Whole Foods just had it on sale, 2 boxes for $4.  What a deal!

Ahhh,  to enjoy pasta once again.  Such pleasure!  Thanks Osteria Mozza~!

Time Flies

Wow!  Time has flown by since I last posted anything.  School, holidays, and oh yeah - the kids - just keep things going at a fast clip.  I had a few minutes to peruse the cookbook section in a local bookstore the other day.  I was SO excited to find the new Blackbird Bakery cookbook!  I had heard about Karen Morgan and her gluten free bakery several years ago when dining at Il Sole in Los Angeles.  Great things come from her bakery!  The photos in the book are simply gorgeous too!  So naturally the book came home with me to start trying out her recipes.

One of the most used flours in Ms. Morgan's book is "glutinous rice flour."  With all of the gluten free books and recipes that I've read, I was not familiar with glutinous rice flour.  So off to Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joe's I went in search of this mysterious product.  No luck.  I turned to google.  Sweet rice flour - that's all it is.  Off to the Asian market next as Morgan recommends.  I must say, having used sweet rice flour from Trader Joe's previously, I wasn't sure if I was on the right track.  I find it to be gritty, like a touch of fine sand mixed into your cookie.  I don't know what brand Morgan uses, but what I found at the Asian market left me with the same grittiness in the cookies.  Next up, I'll try the same recipe with a different flour mix.  Fingers crossed!

Roasted Squash Soup

It's fall and that means the fall harvest fruits and veggies are here!  My CSA box brought some gorgeous apples and butternut squash.  What better to make than a fall squash soup?!     I really like this soup with a serrano chili added to steep and impart flavor.  You can puree it into the soup if you prefer a little spicier.  It can be omitted altogether if you wish.  I don't usually add the heavy cream since my guy has dairy issues.  Good thing we really do prefer it dairy free.  I like options, hope you do too!

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP 

1 medium butternut squash (approx. 3 lbs.), peeled, seeded and cut into chunks 

1 granny smith apple, quartered and cored, skin on 

1medium onion, preferably sweet, peeled and quartered 

1 shallot, peeled and quartered 

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil 

salt & pepper to taste 

4 c chicken stock 

1 Tbs maple syrup 

1 tsp cider vinegar 

¼ tsp ground nutmeg 

* ¼ c heavy cream, optional 

**½ Serrano chili, seeded with ribs removed 

Preheat oven to 450°F. 

In mixing bowl, toss squash, apple, onion and shallot with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Arrange 

mixture in single layer in roasting pan.  Roast until vegetables are golden brown, soft and 

carmelizing, approx. 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Remove apple skins.  Put vegetables into a stock pot or large saucepan.  Deglaze the roasting 

pan on the stove top with ½ cup of chicken stock.  Scrape up the fond (bits and pieces on 

bottom of roasting pan) and pour into the stock pot with the veggies.  Add remaining chicken 

stock to pot.  Using a blender stick, puree the veggies and stock to a fine smooth puree.  Add 

syrup, vinegar, and nutmeg.  Bring to a simmer over low heat. Add water or additional stock if 

necessary to adjust consistency.   

Serve, garnishing with small dollop of crème fraiche and baked apple chips. 

*Optional:  Finish with heavy cream.  Do not bring to a boil after adding cream. 

**If you like a little kick in your soup, add ½ a Serrano chili, seeded with ribs removed and 

allow to steep and impart flavor as you bring the soup to a simmer.  Remove the chili before 

serving.   

Eat happy!

Carolyne

Bring on Breakfast Granola!

It's true - I loved Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks and Count Chocula as a kid.  French toast, pancakes, biscuits...  loved them all!  But by high school, I just couldn't eat breakfast anymore.  I felt blah, headachy, like I had a cement weight in my tummy all day.  Of course we didn't know why, and my poor mom would be so perplexed.  Not even her homemade pancakes could persuade me to eat before going off to school. 


Granola has long been one of my favorites, and something that I dearly missed when diagnosed with Celiacs.  It became a mission - to create and tweak a granola recipe that I could again love.  Finding certified Gluten Free Oats has been the biggest hurdle, and there is some debate whether or not it is possible for oats to be truly GF.  Bob's Red Mill has the product.  And I have the recipe.  So after all these years, I find myself a breakfast eater!  I hope that you enjoy ~

GRANOLA

1 c. orange juice

½ c. cranberry juice

2 tsp cococut oil

1 Tbs cinnamon

pinch ginger & nutmeg

zest of 1 lemon

½ c honey

1 tsp GF vanilla

pinch salt

3 ½ c gluten free rolled oats

¾ c. gluten free steel cut oats

¼ c whole ground flax seed meal

½ c almond slivers

½ c raw sunflower seeds

¾ c dried wild blueberries

¾ c dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Combine juices, spices, zest and oil in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce by half.  Allow to cool; add honey, vanilla and salt.

Mix oats and seeds together.  Pour juice mixture over oats and toss. 

Prepare 2 cookie sheets with silpats or spray lightly with oil.  Spread mixture onto cookie sheets in thin, even layers.  Bake approx. 25 minutes, stirring once or twice, until golden and crunchy.  Cool, then stir in dried fruit. 

Makes approx. 7 cups. Store in airtight container.

GF Cake Doughnuts

My little guy asked me this morning for doughnuts!  Ok, I can try that one. Here goes:


2 c sifted GF all purpose flour
3/4 c granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder, aluminum free
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3/4 c buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs butter,  unsalted & melted


Preheat oven 425°F.  Lightly spray doughnut pan with non-stick oil.


Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthum gum, nutmeg and salt into large mixing bowl.  Add buttermilk, eggs and butter.  Mix until just combined.  Fill doughnut molds, 2/3 full.


Bake 9 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned and spring back when touched.  Let cool in pan a few minutes, and release onto cooling rack.  


Dust with powdered sugar, or if feeling a little decadent - glaze with chocolate!


Chocolate Glaze
1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer Guittard)
1 Tbs butter, unsalted
1 Tbs corn syrup
1 tsp hot water


Melt chocolate chips with butter and corn syrup (either in microwave at half power or in bowl over hot water on stovetop).  Stir frequently until all melted, and stir in hot water until desired consistency. Use immediately to glaze doughnuts.


Really yummy!  My doughnut pan only holds 6, so I thought that I would try something different with the second batch.  I mashed one half banana and mixed it into the batter.  Baked it the same.  It was even better and my boys all loved fresh hot doughnuts!


Enjoy!
Carolyne

Note:  I used King Arthur Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour in this recipe.