Endings and Beginnings

Life is returning to a measure of stability.  Where I have currently ended up is eliminating everything that is in the plant family that contains grains.  This means all grains, all pseudo-grains, sugar cane, and molasses.  The jury is still out on how much I can tolerate nuts and seeds.  Dairy is also gone.

Consequently, baking is pretty much non-existent since my diet is mostly composed of fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs.  That being the case, I am no longer going to post to this blog.  Instead I am starting a new blog called Elzbee's Place (a more generic name in order to be more flexible in this journey).  http://elzbeesplace.blogspot.com/

My hope is to offer recipes within my diet limitations so that those who share those limitations might find it helpful as I have been helped by others' blogs through these changes. 

A Baker's Demise

It is amazing how quickly one's plans can be completely overturned.  Last week I had a strong reaction to some of my gluten free bread.  What!?  And then later in the week to some wild rice.  Okay, this is getting out of hand and I need some help, so on Thursday I am going to see my doctor.  I haven't done this before now because I didn't want to go the medication route which, to me, would be just trading one set of problems for another.  The other factor was that I didn't really have anything concrete to tell her.  Now I can say that when I eat such and so, this is what is happening.  I am still not interested in pursuing medication, but I hope to get some direction to see if there might be another underlying issue that is causing me to continue reacting.  That, and possibly get a referral to a good nutritionist who can give me some dietary direction.  

That being said, baking is going on the back burner for a while.  Hopefully not permanently, but we shall see.  

A Relative Peace

Well, the white bean flour was not so great for my baking, but it does work very well as a base for soup.  My husband had some dental surgery this week and needed to be on a liquid diet for one week and then a soft diet for six weeks.  That means a lot of soups on the menu in the days ahead.

White Bean Flour Soup
  
1/2 cup white bean flour

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths

1/4 of a medium/large onion, chopped

1 cup chicken broth

Salt

Sage

Cumin

Cooked rice

Note:  I often don't measure my spices, but am guessing that I used about 1/2 teaspoon each.  Adjust according to taste.

Place chicken thigh, carrot, and onion in a sauce pan.  Add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until chicken is cooked.  Place chicken and vegetables on a plate.  Pour broth into a measuring cup and add water to make 2 cups.  Return liquid to sauce pan and add 1 cup chicken broth.  Bring to a boil.  When broth is boiling, whisk in the white bean flour.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring with the whisk.  Pour broth into a blender and blend for 1 minute.  Cut chicken into cubes and add it, the vegetables, and the seasonings to the broth in the blender.  Puree.   Return soup to sauce pan and keep on low heat until ready to serve.  Spoon soup into bowls and add rice. 

I my last round of baking I used the following combination:

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal

I stopped using the guar gum since I didn't like the results, and I want to see what I can do without using additives.  I used two eggs instead of one in my muffin recipes and was pleased with the results.  Biscuits are still a work in progress.  Otherwise I made granola, with some minor adjustment.  I will write out the adjusted recipes in my next post.

I am still have some reactions, but they are minor.  I am not going to do any other adjustments to my diet for a while, but am keeping a food diary and noting reactions.  Cooking doesn't seem so overwhelming, and I have determined for the most part what ingredients are safe for me to use.  Ahh, hopefully a peace that will last for a while.

Healthy?

"Think, think, think...", to quote Pooh-bear.  

Currently I am reading The Omnivore's Delimma by Michael Pollan--a fascinating read that has at least given me some consolation on giving up foods with corn and soy as additives.  With that in mind, though, I have been giving a lot of thought to my flour issues.  There was a definite difference in texture in my baking without the soy flour, so I do need to find an alternative. 

When I first began looking into baking gluten-free, I saw that the most common blend of flours were rice and starches.  A few initial experiments that got thrown into the trash can caused me to pursue other flour options, leading me to the sorghum, oat, and soy.  As I have looked into starch side of the equation, I have realized that it is not an ingredient I really want to make a regular part of my baking.  Creating starches, whether corn or potato and I assume others as well, is a pretty complex chemical process, so the original food has been broken down way beyond its natural form.  Using it as an occasional thickener is great, but it isn't something I want to be consuming all the time.  Plus, I seriously doubt my system would handle it well.  Even in eating potatoes, a little goes a long way with me.

So, I began to consider soy and what kind of flour might have similar properties.  Soy is a bean, so that gave me some clue as to where to start.  I have tried a mix using garbanzo flour, and it, along with whatever I had baked, went straight into the trash.  Yuk!  However, I have discovered it is not the only bean flour out there.  There is fava bean, garfava bean (a blend of garbanzo and fava), and even green pea flour, but the one I decided to try is white bean flour.  The flavor is supposed to be very mild, and I hope it will have the same affect texture-wise that the soy flour did.  I ordered some this past Friday, and it should arrive in time for me to do some baking before my next post.  I will give my review next time I write. 

 

Onward Through the Fog

Last Tuesday evening, after blogging that morning, I hit the wall so hard it knocked me down and made me cry.  I discovered yet another expensive ingredient I was using wasn't safe, and I had tried to make myself some pancakes substituting brown rice flour for the soy flour.  They pretty much flopped.  The rice flours are just not my thing.

Anyway, the next day I got up and dusted myself off, and because I didn't have any leftovers for lunch, decided to try pancakes again.  This time I went back to my resources on different flours and thought perhaps potato starch might be workable.  Sure enough!  They had good texture and good flavor--better than the blend with soy, and I had hope again. So my new flour blend is as follows:

Equal parts of sorghum flour, GF oat flour, and potato starch.

A few other changes I have made helped as well.  Hot cereal everyday is hard on the digestive system, so I made a small batch of granola again with the new blend.  Waiting to have my morning tea after breakfast instead of before is easier on the tummy as well.  And as much for my mental sanity as my physical, I am not going to focus on anything else besides getting gluten, soy, and corn out of my diet.  I need to give my body time to adjust to the current changes.

Experiments with thickeners, soy sauce substitutes, and more baking still ahead. 

Edit:  Made biscuits tonight.  Equal proportions of the above flours don't always work well.  Worked for pancakes, not for biscuits.  Back to the drawing board.

Back to the Beginning

I feel like I have returned to the days when I first married and knew so little about cooking.  As more and more of the basic ingredients I cook with fall away, I am having to work with new ingredients and figure out how they work.  

Soy bit the dust this past week in my diet.  The irony of it is that I had just received four 20 ounce bottles of traditionally brewed soy sauce I had ordered on-line to be able to deal with the corn issue.  My husband opened one to help out some soy-free sweet and sour chicken I made.  He said it was very good soy sauce.  Glad to hear that at least.  (BTW, adding a little extra salt and sugar to the leftovers helped a lot, so I don't have to slog my way through eating rest of it.)

At this point I figure that once I get through testing out foods, I will make a list of what I can eat.  To keep writing about another food that I have to drop is getting a little depressing.  Even though my diet is restricted, it is a lot more positive to go at it from the challenge of "what good recipes can I come up with using only these ingredients".

This week I am planning to play around with sweet rice flour and potato starch to determine the proportions of water to thickener.  Building block # 1.  

Two Contrary Tummys

I have lost my culinary mojo.  My rhythm has fallen apart.  My recipes are dying like flies.  Why?  Because my hubby's stomach and mine have decided to take diverging paths and don't want to share.  He cannot eat dairy and has other diet restrictions because of IBS.  I am off gluten and corn.  He can't eat butter.  Margarine is out for me.  Apple vinegar is now a mainstay for me.  He can't eat apples.  That wonderful soy cream cheese and sour cream that was the answer to several recipe challenges is off the list for me.  Argh!  When I am putting together a meal, I am constantly forgetting to get all the parts and pieces going at the right time so that the meal is ready on time.  

Sometimes lately I feel like my conversation with my digestive system goes something like this:

Me:  "What?  Are you really going to be particular about this, too?"

Tummy:  "Yes, I believe I am."

Me:  "You have been rather a pain lately--literally.  And you are starting to cost me a lot of money."

Tummy:  "Sounds like a personal problem to me."

Me:  "No kidding."

My goal at this point is to go a week without a reaction to anything.  Once I go a month, I will feel like can finally get my grocery list settled.  Maybe one day I will have a post entitled "How Elzbee Got Her Groove Back."  

 

Bingo!

Well, an interesting week....  Things are generally going well, and I am overall doing pretty good, but I a couple of times I hit the wall of pain recently and have had some minor lingering issues.  I decided to start writing down what I was eating with a key code of symptoms after which I would evaluate at the following meal time.  With a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being best, I was hovering between 3 and 4 for most things.  One thing I had eaten was some tortillas chips and, while I didn't have pain, I had a definite reaction.  They were a gluten free brand, so that wasn't it.  Hadn't felt well after eating some Mexican food as well.  Hmmm....  That leaves corn.

Off to Google last night for several hours of research.  Well, what do you know!   Corn is a common binding in medications.  It is also used in asthma inhalers.  Light bulb moment!  This explains a lot.  As I looked into it more, I find that corn truly is everywhere and in the most unexpected places.  I thought going gluten free was overwhelming, but this is like Mount Everest.  At the same time I feel like, "I've found it!"  Yes, I think gluten is still an issue, too, because I have see a change.  This morning my cheeks and nose are a nice shade of normal skin color instead of red, in spite of a tummy reaction to some salad dressing in a local restaurant yesterday which was probably the corn.  

So, along with this discovery, I am making an appeal to my family for some help.  There are going to be quite a few things in my pantry that I can't use any more (Goodbye, Celestial Seasonings tea.  I am going to miss you so much!! ), so I need to be able to pass them on.  I will publish a list after I get things sorted.  If you can use anything or know of someone who could, please let me know.  

The journey continues.... 

Seeing Red-the new kitchen protocol

The new containers arrived.  The pantry is rearranged and the kitchen re-zoned.  My poor hubby is now lost in the kitchen and I find myself opening several drawers or cabinets in my effort to find what I need.  That will all settle with time.  In keeping with the color theme, my new leftover containers and baking utensils are red, making them easy to keep separate, though I have moved my small whisk and my 1/2 tablespoon measure spoon from my old set over to the GF side, since I use those quite a bit in my GF baking.  

Thursday mornings are now my main baking time, and I have printed out a calendar to help me plan what baked goods need to be restock. The kitchen will have been thoroughly cleaned in between, so the likelihood of cross-contamination is minimized.  So far I have had one regular baking session and one GF, and I find I like having a dedicated time to bake.

As I had my first regular baking session, I realized after baking a couple of things that I was getting a headache and my hands were aching.  Ahh, flour dust--should have figured.  My husband said that he should see about getting me a haz-mat suit to wear.  :-)  Well, we don't need to go that far, but I am prepared for this week's baking.

Some might pose the question of why not just go gluten-free totally.  It would make things easier, but my husband has already had to eliminate all dairy from his diet, and I don't want him to have to give up bread, too.  Besides, even though I am challenged in a good way with the GF baking, regular flour can't be beat as far as results.  And there you have it.

The Scone Challenge

A few weeks ago our son and daughter-in-law were up for a visit, and she mentioned that she had found a great scone recipe.  I had a rather sad, "poor GF me" response.  A couple of weeks later she issued a challenge to me on her blog to come up with a gluten-free scone.  Here is the link to her blog with her challenge and my response:

Chocolate Stitches 

Of course I accepted the challenge not only for the problem solving aspect, but also for the yarn incentive. :-)  In my GF baking, I have come to realize that GF flour works best when I can make it as light as possible.  Scones are by their very nature dense, so the question is whether I can reach a happy medium of good taste and texture without the scone settling like a brick in the old tummy.  I printed out the recipe she used and will do some research on GF scone recipes.  This will be a good opportunity to try out some experiments I have been mulling over, so as my DDIL says:  "Game On!"

Colorful

Yesterday started out with the blues when I realized that by re-purposing some of my previous wheat-storing container for my gluten free oats and granola that I had most likely contaminated my food.  Yes, I washed them; but they are plastic, and I have had them many years so they are scratched on the inside.  Then I looked a little more into trying to be gluten free in a non-GF kitchen, and I became discouraged and overwhelmed.  

Some time, research, wrestling with the possibilities, and a helpful conversation with my younger daughter brought things back into perspective.  To help make this transition hold more anticipation than frustration, I am going to pursue colorful solutions wherever possible.  

First, I found some new measuring cups:

Next I am taking some mixing bowls that I was mostly using for decoration and making them my new GF mixing bowls for now.

 I have ordered some new storage containers, that while not colorful, are distinctly different from what I am currently using.  I also order a couple of stainless steel muffin tins since that is what I use for GF baking the most.  I will get some baking sheets along the way, but since I usually use parchment paper with that baking, I am not quite so concerned about that for the moment.  Also on the list are a couple of sauce pans since I have used my current ones for pasta, baking utensils, a couple of colanders (pasta issue again), and leftover containers.  I will have plenty of things to put on my Christmas list this year.  :-)

Once I have my new storage containers, I hope to rearrange my pantry to help me and my hubby keep things separate.  Concerning the actual baking, ideally I would like to keep GF baking on one week and non-GF baking the next, with a thorough scrubbing of the counters in between.  The one thing that may be hardest to remember is to scrub the rack in my toaster oven before I toast any of my bread.  I am sure there will be other issues to consider along the way, but this will be enough for me to deal with right now.

Flour Blend and a Muffin Recipe

First I wanted to write out in more detail the flour blend that I am using:

1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill GF sorghum flour (22 oz)
1 pkg. Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free oat flour (24 oz)
1 pkg. Arrowhead Mills Organic soy flour (22 oz)

I combine these flours in a large mixing bowl and mix until thoroughly blended.  I then store the flour mix in the freezer and measure it out just as I would regular flour.  Since I find the rice flours and various starches difficult to digest, I do not use them in my baking.  In my shopping for flours, the three I use were the closest in texture that I could find to wheat flour, and so far are working well for me.  

And now, finally, another recipe to share. 

Almond-orange Muffins

1 cup GF flour blend
2 Tablespoons almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum


2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup oil
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Combine wet ingredients separately.  Stir wet ingredients into the dry mixture, mixing well.  Spoon batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each section about 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until done.  Makes 10-12 muffins.

These muffins came out nice and light, lightly sweet, and with a nice orange flavor.  They met the approval of some of my non-GF family members, which is my mark of a successful recipe.  Thank you, dear ones, for being my taste-testers.  

Going Halves - Food Thoughts, Part 2

To follow up with my previous food thoughts, I am buying milk from what was a local dairy, but has been acquired by a large dairy.  It is still run by the same management, so I think it is good for a while.  Eggs I am purchasing at our local farmer's market, and my grocery store has started carrying Panorama ground beef.  Their cattle never see a feed lot.  I hope this trend will continue, and that I will see this kind of product in the other cuts of beef, chicken, and cheese.  

When the economy got very shaky, I began to look for ways to be more frugal.  Being a single income family with several children, I had always been on the look out for ways to make our dollars stretch, but I have been more relaxed in that regard in recent years.  Now my motivation is not just economic, but also the desire to be less wasteful, so I have been looking for ways to reuse and re-purpose.  This train of thought led me to find a way to use less sugar.  I like sugar and the particular sweetness it gives, and I am not a big fan of other kinds of sweeteners with artificial sweeteners being totally out.  Though I don't eat a lot of sugar, I knew it would be helpful health-wise to reduce it where I could.  Recently I tried agave nectar, and while it was okay, I still much preferred sugar.  Even so, I liked that is has a low glycemic index, so thought I could perhaps use it in combination with sugar.  That has worked out very well--about half and half agave and sugar in my tea and in my oatmeal still gives me sugar's flavor. 

With so many changes in my diet--no gluten, a lot more veggies and fruit, and less sugar--I will be interested in seeing how this affects my next wellness check.  It will still be a while until I am where I want to be in regards to being gluten free, but I am continuing to make progress.  The recipes are slow in coming because I want to tweak them, but I need to eat up one batch before making another.  Hopefully, once I get them posted, they will be worth the wait. 

Food Thoughts

I think it may be common that when one makes a major change in lifestyle, it cause an evaluation of related aspects to that change.  Going gluten free has meant that I am searching out alternative or safe varieties of the food I eat.  While the main focus has been gluten, I have also looked a little bit into the organic issue with meats and produce.  While organic growing methods may be better for the environment, I am not sure they are necessarily better for people, or if the extra cost is worth what benefit there is.  What has concerned me more is the factory-like process of raising animals for food.  There is a lot emotion tied up with this issue, and I really don't think it is helpful to hang a lot of emotional baggage to raising animals for food.  Whether or not a cow is happy or contented gets be silly in its descriptions on products.  The point to me is that we see animals as living beings, not as machines.  A cow should live as a cow is intended to live--the same with chickens, or pigs, or fish.  The mass production of animals doesn't benefit us at all ethically or food-wise.  So I have decided that if I can going to put extra grocery money toward anything, it will be toward finding companies that show respect to the animals they raise for food.  I am seeing more of these kinds of products coming into our local grocery stores, and I am checking out the brands on line to see whether there is actual substance to their claims or if it is just using words as a marketing tool.

 
As far as produce, my main source of organic will be our garden.  It is small, so we don't grow a big variety of things, but we do enjoy what we do grow.  I am not a gardener in that I don't enjoy working with plants, so the garden is much like my house work.  I don't mind doing it so much, but it is more the result than the process that keeps me motivated in it. 

My baking experiments are seeing some success--hope to post some more recipes soon.  

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Note to self:  Tamari does not mean gluten free.  Read the labels!!  

Working on recovering again.  :-(

A Seedy Activity

The alternative to my "gourmet oatmeal" breakfast is granola.  True, oats is a major component, but the mix is different.  Since I am the only one eating it, I can add any ingredient my little heart desires.  So, instead of going nutty, I decided that a little seedy activity would be appropriate.

Here is my recipe:

7 cups of gluten free oats
2 cups of a gluten free flour blend
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon 
1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal
1 Tablespoon flaxseed
2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seed
1/4 cup roasted & salted pumpkin seed
1/4 cup roasted & salted sunflower seed
2/3 cups coconut


1 cup oil
1 cup water
3/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla


Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine wet ingredients separately.  Stir into dry mixture & mix thoroughly.  Spread granola evenly onto two greased 10 x 15 jelly roll pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 4 - 6 minutes sessions (total of 24 minutes), taking granola out of the oven and stirring it after each session.  Cool.  I keep my granola in a well sealed container in the refrigerator, so it stays fresh. 

First Recipe

Just a note on my personal baking:  After trying several alternative flours, the combination that worked best for me is approximately equal proportions of sorghum, oats, and soy.  The oat and soy flours I use are gluten free, but I understand that these flours can still be an issue to some.  If anyone does try these recipes with other flour blends, I would be interested in hearing how they turn out.

During my years of baking I have found recipes that I really enjoy, so one of the main goals in my recipe experimentation is to see if I can come up with GF versions of some of my favorites.  Here is one of them:

  

Chocolate Cupcakes

1/3 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup oat flour
1/3 cup soy flour
   or other desired flour blend

2/3 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon milled flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

2/3 cup water
1/4 cup oil
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly.  Combine wet ingredients separately and stir into dry mixture.  Mix until thoroughly blended.  Spoon batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling them 2/3 full.  Bake for 18 minutes or until the cupcakes test done.  Made 11 cupcakes. 

Since this recipe uses soda and vinegar, it is important to have the oven preheated so the batter doesn't sit before baking.  I am also finding that since GF baked goods don't rise as well as their wheat counterparts that baking in small amounts (cupcakes instead of a cake) works better.

Feeling Like A Gourmet

Variety.  This is a key word for me in my current diet change.  After realizing what a big part wheat played in my diet, I thought it would be good idea to mix things up as much as possible.  Oats are going to be a major player now, so I decided that the extra expense of getting gluten free oats would be worthwhile.  Even so, I am trying to keep a variety going where I can.  Three days a week I am having oatmeal for breakfast, but not just any oatmeal.  Here are the selections:

Dried apple and walnut oatmeal with maple syrup

Dried cranberry and toasted almond oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon

Dried apricot and pecan oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger

Wow, I feel like a gourmet! :-)

I Am Going Nuts!

Walnuts, that is.  Ever wonder if some of the craziness that is going on in your life is all in your head?  This has been my thought off and on the past few months.  I am just a little past mid-century in my age, and since the first of the year have felt like age was progressing beyond its time:  achy, tired, creaky age.  The last few years have also meant rather random changes in food tolerances causing me to give up nuts, grapes, cherries, and olive oil.

A couple of months ago, I decided somewhat impulsively to give up wheat.  I had heard at various times about wheat intolerances and knew that I couldn't handle a lot of whole wheat.  Otherwise, I hadn't noticed any problem with wheat products and have been baking bread for many a year.  Still, I thought it couldn't hurt to see what would happen if I were gluten free.  

Well, the achiness has greatly subsided, there is less creakiness, I am not as tired, and strangely, my nose has stopped its continual drip.  Still, this was not enough to convince me for sure there was an issue until I decided to try the foods I had previously given up.  Started with grapes.  Hmmmm, no problem.  Nuts, however, caused a very painful digestive reaction, so with much hesitancy, I put some walnuts in my oatmeal this week.  No pain!  Three times I have had walnuts this week and no pain!  I had thought I would do a trial by eating wheat again to see if I had a reaction, but I think I am convinced without it.

The other side of this equation is having to give up wheat bread.  As I looked at going gluten free, I realized how central wheat was to our diet.  I love to make bread, and I love to eat bread.  Emotionally, therefore, this has been a difficult transition.  Thankfully, since my husband still eats wheat, I can make bread.  There is just something very satisfying about taking a lovely brown loaf or batch of rolls out of the oven.  On the other hand, I have (or at least am working on) giving up the idea that alternate flours will do the same thing as wheat.  This has been both aggravating and yet a challenge at the same time.  I have done a lot of tossing experiments as I have tried out different flours, but I am finally beginning to find several that have possibilities.  From there, I will see what recipes I can find that others had developed with perhaps a few of my own along the way.  So with both sadness and hopefulness I step onto the road of being gluten free.