Your Gluten Free Recipes

Thanksgiving time can be difficult for those eating gluten free.  Many of the trraditional dished served contain gluten and MSG.  One of the traditional dishes I really like is stuffing.  I have used gluten free bread to make bread cubes, but have never been really satisfied with them.  This year I came up with a bread recipe that has been usable in many recipes (see my Almond bread recipe).  I use this bread to make bread cubes for this recipe.  Everyone who had it, loved it. Now you can too, in time for Christmas.


6-8 slices gluten free almond bread
1 stick +2 TBSP  butter
2.C  gluten free chicken stock
1  onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced,
1 C. mushrooms, diced
1 C. wild rice
1 C. brown rice
6-7 sprigs sage
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook brown and wild rice according to directions.  Saute vegetables in 2 TBSP of butter until soft.  In a large bowl mix together cubed bread, sauteed vegetables, chicken stock, rice, and spices to taste.  Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Harvest time brings with it many activities, raking, cleaning up the yard, walks in the crisp air, and baking. Pumpkins are one garden plant that provides a variety of foods. The obvious is pumpkin puree, but there are also pumpkin seeds that can be used. I love the wonderful crunch of roasted pumpkin seeds. These are really easy to make and are a much healthier snack that chips or crackers.


Scrape out the seeds and pulp from a pumpkin, transfer to a strainer/colander and rinse until the majority of the pulp is gone. Spread seeds out on a cookie sheet and let dry completely, about 24-48 hours. When completely dry, coat with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes (until crispy and slightly browned), stirring every 10 minutes. Let cool completely, then store in an air tight container.




Spicy Sweet variation:

2 C. Pumpkin seeds
2 TBSP Chili powder
2 TBSP Sugar
1 1/2 TBSP Salt
1 TBSP Cocoa powder
1 1/2 TBSP Olive oil

Image by anslatadams via Flickr

I consider myself a novice when it comes to gardening, and last year I decided to grow sugar pumpkins so I could make pumpkin pies and bars with pumpkins I grew. So, being a beginner, I planted as many seeds as I could. The result was a bumper crop of pumpkins! I couldn't bear the thought of all my hard work going to waste, so I had to quickly figure out how to preserve all those pumpkins. It came down to 2 choices, I could can or freeze pumpkin puree. I did not want to spend the time it requires to can the pumpkins, so I chose to make the puree and then freeze it. It is really simple.




Preheat oven to 350.
Wash the outside of the pumpkin. Cut into quarters and clean the seeds and stringy pulp out (keep seeds for roasted pumpkin seeds). Then cut the quarters into chunks, lay skin side up and roast for 45-50 minutes, until the flesh is tender.

Cool the pumpkin until easy to handle. Scrape skins off and puree in a food processor until smooth. Allow to cool completely then transfer in to plastic freezer bags. I like to measure it as I bag it up. I like to put 1 C. in each bag. Label the bags with the date and use within a year for the best flavor.

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Living a gluten and MSG life style can have its challenges. I have found the easiest way to avoid hidden ingredients is to make things myself. I make Season Salt myself because most brands list natural flavorings on the ingredients. One can never know for sure what these "natural flavors" include, so I find it is the best practice to avoid these as well. Here is my Season Salt recipe.

2 TBSP Salt
2 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp Paprika (from home grown dried peppers)
1/4 tsp. Turmeric
1/4 tsp. Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Garlic powder ( I make my own)
1/4 tsp. GF cornstarch


Combine all ingredients in an air tight container (preferably glass). Store in cool, dark place.

Tis the season for a multitude of traditions and traditional foods. One of my faorites at this time of year is Chex mix. I have fond memories of my dad cooking up a batch of chex mix on a cold Saturday sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The aromas waifting through the house was wonderful. The batch of chex mix never made it to the New Year. Since switching to a gluten free lifestyle I have had to make some adaptations to some of my favorite foods. Thankfully, this was one of the simpler recipes to adapt to a gluten free lifestyle. Chex makes several varieties of chex which are gluten free. Glutino makes a nice honeynut O cereal that blends well with the saltiness of the rest of the mix. There are also several brands of gluten free pretzles to use as well. I also make my own season salt because I am sensitive to MSG as well.

In a large raoster combine:

1 box Rice Chex
1 box Corn Chex
1 box GF O's (I like Glutino's)
2# Mixed nuts ( check ingredients to make sure nothing is added)
1 bag GF pretzles

In a pot, melt 1 pound butter.


Add:
1 TBSP Paprika
1 tsp Garlic Salt
1 tsp. Chili podwer
2 TBSP Worchestershire sauce ( check ingredients, some have wheat)
1 tsp. Season salt (I make my own)

Pour sauce over mix and stir. Bake at 225 for 2 hours. Stir mix every 30 minutes adding garlic salt and season salt at each stirring. Cool and put into air tight containers.

One of my favorite times of year is fall, with all the beautiful colors of the trees, crisp fresh air, and the garden harvest on my counter. As I sat looking at the bounty from our garden harvest, all the squash and pumpkins sitting on the counter called me to use them before they go bad. I find that pumpkin bars are one of falls traditional comfort foods. The smell of so many aromatic spices baking, warms the mind and soul. The smell of cinnamon reminds me of sitting in my grandparents kitchen, playing cards with the whole family, while pies and bars baked in the oven; some of my most treasured moments in life.

Living a MSG and gluten free life is definitely rewarding, being able to actually feel a physical improvement in your body by removing something that appears so benign - what a surprise! Makes you wonder what else there is in our food that might be causing problems - or even harm - in our bodies.
It can be an extremely challenging lifestyle choice as well. The one thing that has been hard to accept is that you will eventually find yourself making most things from scratch to insure there are no "hidden" ingredients.

One place where hidden ingredients tend to lurk quite often is in the seasonings you use. One example being Lowry's Season Salt which list "natural flavorings"as one of the ingredients. One of the natural flavorings is chicken bouillon. Most bouillon products have MSG in them. Since we don't know for certain if theirs does, it is much safer to make our own.

1 1/2 C. Sweet White Rice Flour

Since I am very sensitive to MSG, I have been trying to find a recipe for Ranch style dressing that has no MSG or free glutamates in it. I think I finally found a recipe that is both safe for me to eat and delicious.