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! :-)