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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.
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.
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.
Note to self: Tamari does not mean gluten free. Read the labels!!
Working on recovering again. :-(
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.
