celiac disease

as some of you know, my son has celiac disease.  Bummer – he doesn’t drink alot but you can’t count on getting a microbrewed beer that is both good and gluten free.  Not to say that you can’t — you just can’t count on it.  And pizza …

The best short description i have found about this is from www.chefhome.com, – the link is to the page and i have, sans permission, extracted the part on celiac’s disease below.

“Celiac Disease

Just thirty five years ago American Physicians insisted that celiac disease did not exist. And there are still a lot of physicians who are completely unwilling to entertain the notion that food – excepting for sugar in diabetics and beef fat in people with high cholesterol – can have any adverse effect on anyone. “that’s why they call it food…”

The gluten in wheat causes a kind of autoimmune reaction in the gut which causes the cilia – the little protrusions in the gut that absorb nutrients – to shrivel up and die. The consequence is that food nutrients are not properly absorbed and the digestive system ceases to function normally. If it gets bad enough it can be a life-threatening disease.

The cure seems simple enough – avoid gluten. The problem is that gluten is a part of almost all grains except rice and corn, and that almost every processed food in the grocery store contains at least one of these grains. Most canned chicken stocks, for instance contain it. And when you eat out, almost every sauce will contain it.

In short, if you have celiac disease and must treat in aggressively, it means cooking everything from scratch and/or being ruthless about reading labels. In ‘Against the Grain’ the author recommends carrying cards in many languages saying, in effect, ‘I am deathly allergic to wheat. Please be certain that nothing you prepare for me contains it.’ and in America ‘and if I get sick I will hold you personally responsible for all hospital bills.’ Whenever she orders at a restaurant she explains her problem and hands the waiter a card. She suggests that this really works.

The good news is that Southeast Asian cuisine is delicious and except for a few dumplings and noodles, it is completely free of wheat. In additon [sic] to Gluten-free cookbooks, look for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Vietnamese, and Mexican recipes. There’s a lot of great food to be found in these traditions. According to Aunt Jemima, corn does not contain gluten so one can eat corn tortillas with impunity. Between corn and rice flours, most of the common baking needs can be met.”

Two comments – the cards with “please help me” for other cultures, and “gonna sue your butt” for americans is so poignant.   Second, the comment about tortillas just isn’t always true.  Many manufacturers  will not put “gluten free” on their packages.  This is both to eliminate law suits and the possible need for inspections by FDA/ et al., and because some manufacturing or packaging areas might grind/process/package foods with wheat/gluten in them.  As i like to say “gluten is like rat poison to my son – a little goes along ways.”  Not that a crumb might kill him, but how much poison is too much?

Martha, Ginger and Molasses. No Gilligan

This is from the Martha Stewart Cakes cookbook (Martha Stewart’s Cakes: 150 Recipes for Layer Cakes, Loaves, Bundts, Cheesecakes, Icebox Cakes, and More).   It sounded interesting, if you food process the ginger, it’s really easy, baked in 45 minutes, and people seemed to approve of it.  Spicy with the fresh ginger, and varying the molasses will fine tune how sweet it is.

PREP: oven at 350, prepare a large bundt pan with butter, flour or a baking spray.

INGREDENTS

• 8 oz fresh ginger, chopped to make circa 1 cup
• 3 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup unsulfuted, dark or blackstap mollasses
• 2 eggs
• 2 sticks melted and cooled butter
• 1/3 cup hot water

1. Take two large stems of ginger about 5-6 in long. Scrape off the skin with spoon and finely chop to total about a cup. Food processor works well for this. The particles of ginger will be distinct in the cake, so don’t leave too many large chunks but don’t turn it into powder.

2. Whisk together  3 cups (375 gms)  of flour with baking soda and salt.

3. Whisk together 2 large eggs, 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2/3 cup molasses. Add butter and 1/3 cup hot water.

4. Stir the flour into the wet ingredients, and then the ginger. To avoid gluten development, stir just until incorporated and white flour has disappeared.

5. Pour into pan, bake for 45 minutes. Cake will be dark, but moist so that you probably won’t need to tent it with foil at the end.

Cool completely before removing. Suggestion of dusting with powered sugar before serving, or topping with whipped cream.

Cake has a nice crumb and will cut will with a serrated knife. Easy to transport, sans powered sugar.

rick bayless salsa mac and cheese

Cooking the flour to make a simple roux makes a major difference – not much harder than box-pasta, but so much better.  Original here.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour – 30 gms
2 cups milk
1 1/2 to 2 cups salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound dried spiral pasta

DIRECTIONS

cook flour and 2 tbsp butter 2 minutes (golden brown), add two cups of hot milk, stir and bring to boil (4-5 minutes).

Off fire, add salsa, add cheese, stir until smooth.  Salt generously (1-1.5 tsp salt)

Add cooked pasta.

Stir.

Apple-Cinnamon Cake

Cooking Light, October 1997

(http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cinnamon-apple-cake-10000000520875/)

Cream cheese and apples. Gently sweet, apples are chopped or could be shredded? You don’t get much texture from the apples. You don’t have to over-cream the butter and sugar, but you do need to have the butter and cheese soft. Especially with the spring-form pan, assuming you are trying to cut into wedges, you have to get the cake firm AND cool completely.

• 1 3/4 cup white sugar, divided
• Room temperature 1/2 stick butter
• Room temperature 6 oz (170 gram, cira 3/4 cup) no/low fat cream cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour (187 gms)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups Rome apples, peeled and chopped

Directions

Oven at 350. 9 in square or spring-form pan, greased

Combine 1/4 cup sugar with 2 teaspoons cinnamon, reserve to toss with apples and on top of cake

Peel and chop 3 cups (2 vary large or 3 average) apples: rome or honeycript (firm) apples

1 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp vanilla , 1/2 stick soft butter and 6 oz (170 grams) of no-fat, low-fat soft cream cheese. Beat for 4 minutes. Add 2 eggs, individually and combine

Combine 1 1/2 cup flour (187 grams) with 1 1/2 teaspoon baking power and 1/4 tsp salt. Add to butter\sugar mixture and combine.

Cut up apples, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar\cinnamon, toss, fold into to batter. Pour (it’s never poured for me) into pan, top with reminding sugar\cinnamon

Bake for more than one hour (1 1/4?) until pulls from sides of pan and set in center. Cool. Cuts poorly if warm. Actually seems to get better with time and is MUCh easier to cut.

Gluten-free cornbread

There might be issues getting gluten-free cornmeal – since it is corn, you might think all is well, but there are rumors…  I am fortunate that Alex is not bothered by Quaker.  I also have tried grits instead of corn meal, and it comes out crunchy – or toothsome.  Alex liked the texture, i am mixed and Alice would have hated it (gritty).  Adapted from GlutenFreeMommy.

• 1 cup rice flour (brown or white)
• 3/4 cup cornmeal (stone-ground, grits?)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking power
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Combine flour, flour, salt and baking powered with sugar and mix together.

Put 1 tbsp butter into 8″ square baking pan or smallish cast iron skilled in 450 oven to melt the butter. When melted, swirl to coat the container.

Whisk together eggs, milk, 1/4 cup melted butter.  *Consider adding corn kernels or mild green chiles or possibly a couple of tablespoons of salsa.  Might grate some cheese on top?)

Pour into flours, stir to combine (no flour, stir as much as you like…) pour into hot container, bake for 10 minutes, rotate pan (probably not needed) and bake for another 10 minutes.  Will pull from sides and toothpick will come out dry.

Strange (not real cornbread) texture, but acceptable.

cranberry cake

from www.mykitchn.com.  Takes some time to beat the sugar and eggs together, but makes a 9×13 pan of cakes.  Note:  i have fake vanilla (without alcohol) but the almond extract has ethanol in it.  The optional kirsch is a liqueur.

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) soften butter, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tbsp kirsch (last two optional)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 cups (one bag) cranberries.

Oven at 350, grease or grease and parchment paper a 9×13 pan (10″ springform?)

Beat eggs and sugar for 5-8 minutes to 2x volume and pale yellow leaving ribbons when you lift the beaters.

Add butter, vanilla\almond\kirsch to mixture and beat for 2 more minutes until butter incorporated.

Add flour (probably need to fold in with spoon) and then the washed and picked over cranberries.  Mushy ones are not good.  Pebbles are worse.  Dump (pour or drop and smooth) mixture into pan.

45-50 minutes in 9×13 or 60+ minutes in springform.  Consider foil on top for last 15 minutes.

In my experience, the inside stays moist and the top did not need tenting.  The sides did not pull away.  Takes a while to cool down so you can cut it.  This cake is tart, you might consider adding orange juice (there are no other liquids and i could not pour it so more liquids might be OK) – and orange jest to balance the tart taste.  Might add chocolate or cinnamon chips – some of the cranberries were at the top and browned up like nuts or chips.  Didn’t rise much.

Recipe has an optional nut topping (added before baking):

1.4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar added to butter and stirred in
1 cup toasted pecans (walnuts?) added and cooked until smooth and glossy.  Spread onto cake  before baking.

Cranberry Roast beef

one of several chuck-steak or pork roast recipes posted by Stephanie O’Dea (crockpot365.blogspot.com). 

• 1-2 pounds check roast or pork roast
• 1 tbsp of dried, dehydrated onion flacks
• 2 tbsp of (GF) soy sauce
• 16 oz cranberry sauce with berries

2-3 # chuck steak or pork roast (i got 4# and it worked ok in a 4Qt slowcooker) into pot (could be frozen, could be already cut up. I put a touch of sauce in the bottom and cut the 4# steak into two long slabs). Sprinkle 1 tbsp of dried, dehydrated onion pieces (not onion powder in this case) on top of meat.and 2 tbsp of (GF) soy sauce over the meat.
pour (or smear) on 15-16 oz cranberry sauce with berries over the top

Cook for 8 hours on low.

You can also put some potatoes (red skin? cut into common size circa 2″?) in the pot with the meat (carrots?) around the outside. In my case, i put the potatoes between the two slabs of meat in the center.

Onions will rehydrate, sauce will cook down. I reduced the sauce a little more and added some corn starch (add to cold water and shake up before adding) to make a passable gravy.

zucchini and cinnamon

2-4 medium zucchini or summer squash
1/4-1/2 cup chicken stock
salt\pepper to taste
cinnamon
garlic (smashed cloves or chopped in water)

With 2-3 medium sized zucchini, washed and ends removed –

Cut into halves lengthwise, then into slices or chunks with alternating angled cuts to make trapezoids or triangles along the length of the halves.  If you were doing this on round carrots, it would be called ‘rolled cuts’ because you would roll the carrot 1/4 turn each time you cut across the carrot at an angle.

With a heavy pan, heat some olive oil, then briefly heat some garlic until fragrant (1-2 minutes)

Add the zucchini slices and brown, moving the chunks around to heat and caramelize the surface of at least one side. Doesn’t have to be dark, just add some color.

When ready, add salt, pepper and 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the zucchini.  Toss to mix, then add a small amount of chicken stock (1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on how much) and stir to distribute the spices.  The zucchini will finish cooking with the steam from the stock. Try not to overcook the zucchini – if it is in chunks this will be easier.  Ideally the stock will be reduced to a syrup  which you can coat the zucchini in or pour over the plated vegetable.

simple quinoa recipes

Basically – cook the quinoa, add ingredients or cool and add, then taste for spices.  Or cook with ingredients and add more at the end.

500 best Quinao recipes. Camilla V. Saulsbury. HPL: 641.631 SAU

GREEK Quinoa Salad

Cook and cool 3 cups of white or black Quinoa

Combine 1 peeled and chopped cucumber, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 1 cup chopped or halved cherry\grape tomatos, 2/3 cup chopped red onion, 2/3 cup feta cheese, 1/2 brine-cured black olives (14 oz chick peas)

Whisk 2 tbsp fresh dill, 3 tbsp red vinegar and 3 tbsp olive oil, 1tsp dijon mustard, salt, pepper

Mix cucumber + quinoa, dress with dressing. refrig for 30min – 2 hours.

CARIBBEAN peas and Quinoa

Rinse one cup of Quinoa, combine with 1 clove garlic, 1 tsp drived thyme, 1/2 tsp all spice, 1 cup light coconut mile, 1 cup chick stock and hot pepper sauce to taste. BOIL, reduce, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes. Fluff

Stir in 1 can drained and rinsed dark kidney beans. Salt, pepper. Stand for 5 mintues to warm beans

PARMESAN Lemon chickpeas and Quinao

Heat 2 tsp oil in sauce pan. Add 3/4 cup quinoa, 1.5 tsp ground coriander, 1.5 cups water to boil. reduce, cover simmer 10-11 minutes until not quite dry. Add 1 can (14-19 oz) chickpeas and simmer 2-3 minutes until liquid done. Take off heat, covered for 5 minutes, then fluff.

Add 1/2 cup parsley, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt and pepper, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.

mini-cupcakes

with great hopes, i purchased two 12-cup mini-cupcake pans.  I was NOT willing to spend extra for the cupcake liners (actually, i did but initially i have not used them).  The idea is to ‘grease’ (or ‘PAM”) the inside of the cups enough that the cupcakes come out easily enough.  the good news is that it sorta works.

The bad news is that although several people commented well on the first offerings, there were relatively few eaten – and Steve specifically said they were too small.  Small mini-cupcakes – who would have thought…

Anyway, i am still collecting recipes:  here are some

Katharine Hepburn Brownie Bites

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (with this little flour, use gluten free?)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee power
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

– Grease a mini-muffin pan (makes 12?) and reheat oven to 325 degrees.
– In a small bowl, combine  flour, cinnamon and salt
– Melt the butter in saucepan, low heat. Sift in cocoa powder into butter and stir to combine.
– Add the instant coffee. Stir  until melted butter + mixture smooth then cool at least 3 minutes,
– Add  eggs, one at a time, into the butter/cocoa mixture, stirring. Add vanilla.
– Add sugar, dry ingredients, nuts and chopped chocolate.
– Using two spoons, scoop the batter into the prepared mini-muffin tin.
– Bake for 15 minutes or until a dry, papery crust forms on the top but the brownies are still gooey.
– Cool and transfer to wire rack.