Sure Foods Living - for celiac disease, gluten intolerance, and food allergies

“Enjoy it, Mom. Don’t eat it so fast.”

Those were the wise words of my 4 year old as I wolfed down my ice cream sandwich — a special treat we made for my birthday last weekend. To hear her echo those words of mine put a huge smile on my face, because even though our diets are limited by my celiac disease and her food allergies, I have tried to instill in her an appreciation for food, to taste it and enjoy it. But I mainly smiled because it was just so darn cute!

Anyway, enough of the chatter you say! Get to the sandwich! Okay, okay…

But first, for those of you who don’t know Babycakes Bakery in NYC, it is a very hip, mostly-gluten-free,  vegan (so no dairy or eggs) bakery with delectable treats that even non-gluten-free and non-vegan people love. Erin McKenna, the founder of Babycakes, recently came out with a cookbook and appeared on Martha Stewart and shared her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Vanilla Frosting.

I had been wanting to try this recipe, and finally decided to make it on my birthday… but the thought of baking when it was 95 degrees outside wasn’t too appealing — unless it ended up being an ice cream sandwich! So we skipped the frosting and opened the freezer instead.

The cookies are delicious. Really. And so easy. This will be my go-to recipe for gluten-free dairy-free egg-free chocolate chip (or any other add-in) cookies from now on. The recipe can be found on Martha’s website here: Babycakes Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have some tips of my own for making these cookies:

• You have to melt the coconut oil and then let it cool, as the recipe states. The coconut oil takes a looong time to cool, so definitely do this step first, ahead of time. Especially if you are making the cookies with kids who are waiting patiently (ha ha) to eat some dough. I ended up putting it in the refrigerator for a while.
• The cookies flatten out a lot — at least mine did. Make sure you space them out enough.
• The recipe makes a lot of cookies. It says it makes 24, but I made about that many and had dough left over. It is now in my freezer, ready to be made into more cookies, added to ice cream, or eaten frozen by the spoonful right out of the bag (who me?)
• I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips, which are mini. I love these chocolate chips, but I think next time I would use a regular size chip, or more of the minis.
• I cooked mine for longer than the recipe stated — obviously each oven is different, but these are soft cookies that stay soft, so you might want to cook longer if you want them to be more crispy.

Like I said, I didn’t make the frosting (recipe here: Vanilla Frosting), but put ice cream in them instead. I am kind of obsessed with coconut milk ice cream these days, and highly recommend putting either Coconut Bliss Vanilla Island or Purely Decadent made with Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean. My husband prefers good old Haagen Dazs Vanilla — that works too!

And remember: Enjoy it. Don’t eat it so fast!

Looking for gluten-free Matzoh? Want to make gluten-free Matzoh Ball Soup?
Here are some resources to help you with a gluten-free Passover!

MATZOH

Gluten-Free Oat Matzohs can be ordered from:

• Lakewood Matzoh
  located in New Jersey
  Phone: 732-364-8757
  Email: sales@lakewoodmatzoh.com
  
• Gluten Free Oat Matzohs
  located in London
  Phone: (44) 020 8455 9476
  Email: sula@waitrose.com

Or, make your own gluten-free matzo with help from Ellen at I Am Gluten Free:

• 18 Minute Gluten Free Matzo Recipe

MATZOH BALL SOUP RECIPES:

• Elana’s Pantry Matzoh Ball Soup
• Gluten-Free Bay’s Matzoh Balls Recipe #1
• Gluten-Free Bay’s Matzoh Ball Recipe #2
• I Am Gluten Free’s Matzoh Balls

More suggestions? Let us know in the comments.

I didn’t believe it when someone first suggested to me to put raw spinach in a smoothie — and that my kids would like it. It took me a year to actually try it. Well, guess what? It really does work — you can’t even taste the spinach!

At first I hid the fact that I was putting it in, thinking they wouldn’t like it just because they saw the green leaves, but they caught me and I had to confess. I told them what it was and that it makes the smoothies extra yummy and makes kids extra strong. To my surprise, they thought that all made good sense and now take turns putting the leaves in the blender!

Be aware that the spinach can greatly affect the color of the smoothie. The first time I tried it, I found out that red strawberries and green spinach make an unappetizing brown color. I quickly found that blueberries make any smoothie a beautiful and delicious purple!

Here is my rough recipe for 1 adult-sized or 2 kid-sized allergen-free smoothies. Really, you can put in anything you want — just wing it, but these are some suggestions.

Yummy Smoothie with Spinach

• 1-2 ripe bananas (or ones that you have frozen)
• a handful of spinach leaves (I buy the already-washed organic baby spinach that comes in a package)
• about 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (frozen ones are cheaper, plus this is what makes the smoothie cold and icy without having to add ice)
• any other fruit you if you want to add, fresh or frozen (note that raspberries will make little seeds in the smoothie — my girls don’t like them)
• half of a small yogurt, or more if you like (I use dairy-free soy-free coconut milk yogurt)
• a dash of liquid, either milk (dairy or non-dairy) or any kind of juice

Blend all ingredients. If the smoothie is too runny, add more banana and/or frozen stuff or ice. If you are having trouble getting it to blend, you need to add more liquid — just a little at a time.

Make sure you have straws on hand and your little ones will love it any time of the day! It makes a great nutritious snack for grown-ups too.

Yesterday I made an Indian meal in honor of all the Oscars I knew that Slumdog Millionaire was going to win. I was rooting for the film since a) my husband lived in Mumbai for a couple of years, and b) we spent our honeymoon in India, and c) it was the only Oscar-nominated movie I saw this year! I worked in the kitchen for hours, which was fine since there was the Oscar pre-show to watch, and the Oscar pre-pre-show before that.

I had decided to take on the challenge of making gluten-free samosas as part of the Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event, for which I chose another gluten-free blogger’s recipe and I made it and now I am writing about it. The event is a way for bloggers to discover other bloggers and try a new recipe. I chose an Indian Samosa recipe by Seamaiden from Book of Yum. If you don’t know this blog yet, you should check it out for great recipes! It’s good for multiple allergies too since there are a lot of dairy-free and egg-free recipes.

Honestly, I thought I was biting off more than I could chew with this recipe, but I really wanted to eat samosas. I loved them before going gluten-free and I thought my husband would really enjoy them too (he also eats gluten-free). You know what? I did it! And I have to say, they were really tasty and satisfying. Of course, they are not just like the samosas I remember (pretty hard to duplicate it gluten-free) but I thought they were really good. It was a time-consuming process, but I think that’s because I was reading the directions over and over again to make sure I was doing it right. The photos and technique for making the samosas were an awesome help. If I made them again, I could make them a lot faster.

I made the filling recipe almost exactly, but I made half, which was perfect for the amount of dough. I didn’t put in the serrano chili, and used both cayenne and paprika — I think if you used all cayenne it is spicy enough. I made the dough from the scratch recipe using my mixer (instead of a Cuisinart) and used buckwheat flour instead of teff. My dough needed 2 more tablespoons of water to roll out without crumbling. It made 8 pretty big samosas. You could easily make them smaller and make more. The technique for rolling out and folding the samosas is brilliant! I would like to make this dough again and fill it with something else — maybe even make a fruit turnover!

For the rest of the dinner I made Chicken Korma (totally cheated and used a Korma simmer sauce from Trader Joe’s — it is delicious!), rice and Raita (using this raita recipe). My husband and I both thoroughly enjoyed it as we watched our movie take all the honors. It was a winner winner chicken dinner!

Book of Yum’s Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Egg-Free Baked Indian Samosa Recipe

I am quite proud and excited (probably more than my kids) that I made an allergen-free gingerbread house. No gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, or nuts. It was fun! And not so hard with a little help from Pamela (of Pamela’s Products) and Sue (a reader of this blog). I used Pamela’s recipe for the gingerbread house and I used Sue’s suggestion for how to make egg-free icing to hold it together. It all worked beautifully.

After I baked the house, I assembled it by piping the “frosting glue” onto the house. Sue’s suggestion was to use 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar to 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar, plus a little water. I made the mistake of putting a tablespoon of water in the beginning and the frosting wasn’t thick enough so I had to keep adding more sugar and cream of tartar. I ended up using 10 tablespoons of powdered sugar, 5 tablespoons of cream of tartar and 1 tablespoon of water. This made more than I needed, so I would cut it down next time and go slow on the water. But one thing is certain — it really did work like glue. It tasted horrible, but no one really eats the seams of the house anyway (and does anyone actually eat the gingerbread, or just the candy?).

For the frosting on the rest of the house and to stick the candy, I made Pamela’s vanilla frosting mix so it would be yummy when my girls were decorating and later picking off the candy to eat. Again, go slow on the liquid to make sure that it is thick enough. I highly recommend getting frosting piping bags and tips, as this makes it so much easier and more fun. We decorated the house with leftover Halloween candy that is free of the major allergens. We used Mini Sweetarts, Starburst, Jelly Bellys (no peanut butter flavor), Skittles, candy canes and mini-marshmallows.

I sifted powdered sugar over the whole scene to make snow, and yippee! We did it — an allergen-free gingerbread house! This will definitely be a tradition at our house from now on.

I know many of you are searching for a way to make a gingerbread house that is gluten-free. Well, I have to admit I have never done it, mainly because my kids haven’t been old enough to make it worth all the effort. But this year, I may actually attempt it.

I am thrilled that Pamela (she always comes through!) has created a way to use her bread mix to make the house. Not only is it gluten-free, but it is dairy-free, soy-free (you can use palm shortening) and can be made without eggs too, using egg replacer. (The only challenge will be the icing if you can’t have eggs. I am still researching how to do this. If anyone can help, please let me know!)

So, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Pamela’s Best Gingerbread House

Ingredients:
1 bag Pamela’s Wheat Free Bread Mix (Do not use enclosed yeast packet)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/3 cup unsalted shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg (or egg replacer for 1 egg, prepared)
1/2 cup mild or light molasses for lighter cookies or dark molasses for darker cookies
1 to 2 Tablespoons water

Use heavy duty stand mixer, dough is heavy.

In a medium bowl, combine Pamela’s Wheat Free Bread Mix with salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. Whisk together thoroughly. Do not use the yeast packet in this recipe.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream shortening with sugar. Add egg, mix to incorporate. Add molasses, mix to incorporate. Add dry ingredients, mix to incorporate. Add water. Continue mixing gently together until dough comes together. If needed, add an additional tablespoon of water. (Dough prepared with egg replacer may require more or less water.)

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling out.

Use template (see below) to cut out house pieces. Roll dough out at 1/4 inch. Cut out one house piece at a time on parchment using template. Leave the cookie on parchment and pull away excess dough from around cookie. Trim excess paper around cookie to about 1-inch, then transfer cookie on parchment to baking sheet. Multiple pieces can fit on one baking sheet. Remove templates from cookies before baking.

Bake cookies twice to dry enough for building a house. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Then turn off oven leaving cookies inside with door shut. Leave them to cool completely in the heat of the oven (3 to 4 hours). When cool, remove cookies from oven, preheat oven again to 350°, then bake for an another 10 minutes. Turn off oven with cookies inside with door shut, leave until cool. Construct the house using Pamela’s Royal Icing (see recipe below) made with Pamela’s Vanilla Frosting Mix. Decorate using candies stuck into the icing.

Pamela’s Gingerbread House Template (You need Adobe Acrobat to read these, for a free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader click here.)
Gingerbread House Front & Back
Gingerbread House Roof
Gingerbread House Sides

Pamela’s Royal Icing

Mix one bag Pamela’s Vanilla Frosting Mix with 1 teaspoon Cream of Tarter and two egg whites. For salmonella concerns, substitute equivalent of 2 eggs with dried egg white powder* or meringue powder* prepared. Mix on high until icing thickens and stiff peaks form. Icing will harden when dry. Great for gingerbread houses!  Terrific for using to stick candies* on cookies! For the truly creative, try adding food color* for colored icing.

*Consumers concerned about gluten should check that all flavorings and additional ingredients added to recipes are gluten-free.

Is a house too hard? How about gingerbread men instead?

Thank you Pamela!!

Ever wonder why after a Thanksgiving meal, everyone retires to the couches and holds their bloated bellies? Gluten! This is one meal that is full of it, from the gravy to the stuffing to the pies and whatever else your family likes to add to the traditional offerings. It was right after Thanksgiving 5 years ago that both my dad and husband decided, independently, to stop eating gluten. I believe that was the meal that did it — they realized they both felt so much better without the gluten (they were both semi-gluten-free up to that point because of my mom and me). Both have been 100% gluten-free ever since.

Dairy is another common allergen, and another one that is present in so many of the traditional foods. Now how does one go about avoiding gluten and/or dairy on Thanksgiving? If you are simply a guest with no influence over the meal, I have to be honest: it’s not easy.

To avoid gluten: Stay away from gravy (almost always made with flour), stuffing (made with bread) and pies. The turkey should be fine, but if the bird is stuffed, you may accidentally get some gluten from that. Mashed potatoes should have no gluten, and neither should sweet potatoes. Cranberry sauces and salads should also be fine, but check with your host.

To avoid dairy: Gravy may or may not have dairy in it (some people add butter or cream). Stuffing should be dairy-free if the bread is dairy-free. Some people use butter in pie crusts, some use shortening. Mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and any other side vegetables are often made with butter. Be sure to check with your host on all of the above.

If you are making any part of the dinner, you can make anything gluten and/or dairy-free. For example, I make a wonderful gluten-free stuffing every year.

And here are some more tips from some gluten-free friends around the web!

• is this your first gluten-free thanksgiving?
• gluten-free thanksgiving, 2008
• Thanksgiving Recipes & Tips for Gluten-Free & More
• Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Holiday Tips
• A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Enjoy your Turkey Day!

Does this look good?

This past weekend we had a birthday party for my girls which included dinner for kids and adults, and of course cake, which I already wrote about in my post Happy Birthday to my girls. Now I want to write about our dinner menu which was my favorite part of the evening. It had to be gluten-free of course, for me, my husband, my kids and 2 of the adult guests. And I wanted it be something that a gluten-free person doesn’t get very often (or ever).

So I decided on hamburgers. Not just any hamburgers. Hamburgers with all the fixins — cheese, onions sauteed for hours, fresh tomatoes from my parents’ garden, perfectly ripe avocado — plus… a gluten-free BUN. A good bun. A homemade bun. One that brings back the memories of a real hamburger, not one encased by lettuce leaves (a la In-N-Out burger) or left naked and eaten with a fork. I wanted to sink my teeth into a big juicy burger and have saucy condiments drip down just like in the commercials.

I set out to make the buns using a bread mix and foil molds. It worked. When it was time to serve our hamburger feast, one of the guests said, “Nice buns.” Why, thank you. “Nice buns!” said another guest, not hearing the first. Thank you again. That compliment/joke just doesn’t get old! I really did have some nice looking buns if I do say so myself.

Here’s how I did it, step by step:

1. Use a bread mix or your favorite bread recipe. I used Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix.

2. Make aluminum foil molds by cutting the foil into a circle and pinching the edges all around to create a large cup shape. Make it as big around as you would like your bun to be. You can smooth the bottom of the cup with your finger if you want the bottoms to be more smooth.
3. Spray the inside of the cup with non-stick spray and place cups on a baking sheet.
4. Follow the directions to make the bread dough. I tried making them with egg replacer and they were okay, but not as good as the ones with eggs.
5. Put 2 heaping spoonfuls of dough in each cup and spread with a spatula to flatten it and fill the bottom of the foil cup. Don’t put too much dough in each cup or your bun will be too thick. I made 6 large cups from 1 of Pamela’s mixes.
6. Let rise according to the directions (usually 1 hour).
7. Before baking, you can brush the tops of the buns with an egg wash (egg mixed with water) and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. The egg wash helps the tops to brown and also to hold the sesame seeds on.
8. Bake for less time that you would for a loaf, but don’t underbake. I baked for 45-50 minutes with Pamela’s mix and covered the tops with foil for the last 10 minutes to prevent them from getting too brown.
9. When finished baking, take buns out of foil and cool on a cooling rack.

And the picture at the top shows my cheeseburger with everything on it. It did bring back memories, and it did drip!

If you are a regular reader of this site, you probably know that I am a big fan of Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix. It tastes delicious, it is flexible with regard to allergens (things can be made dairy-free, egg-free, etc.), and it is versatile. I have used the gluten-free bread mix to make more than just bread — I have made excellent pizza and foccacia too.

Now it’s your turn to experiment with her bread mix and come up with a new creation! You have until August 31st to submit your recipe to Pamela’s 2008 Greatest Gluten-free Recipe Contest. One grand prize winner will receive a $200 gift certificate to a kitchen supply store and their recipe published by Pamela’s Products. Two runners up will each receive a $100 Gift Certificate to a kitchen supply store and the publication of their recipe. But the biggest prize of all, I’m sure, will be getting to eat your yummy creation and share the recipe with those who really appreciate it!

You might want to check the recipes they already have to get ideas and make sure you come up with something new.

I’m not sure if I am going to enter the contest… need to come up with an idea and some time (always a challenge!) I’ll let you know if I do. Anyone else going to try it?

The 4th of July is near. This makes me think of freedom… which makes me think of being allergy-free! Believe it or not, thinking of freedom from food allergies makes me joyous. Even though at times I feel a loss of freedom when I have to avoid gluten, or when my daughter can’t partake in the dessert being offered at a party, I prefer to think of the freedom from all the health problems we experienced before being allergy-free:

for me, it means freedom from stomach pain, fatigue, leg cramps, asthma (and lots more)

for my husband, it means freedom from migraines (dating back to junior high), burning stomach, and acid reflux

for my daughter, it means freedom from hives, rashes, a bad tummy and sudden tantrums

Now go celebrate your freedom with a good ol’ allergy-free barbecue! Here are some tips to make your summer BBQ a hit:

Barbecue sauces
If you like your meat saucy, just be sure to read labels for allergens — manufacturers are required to list the top 8 allergens in plain English on their labels (and Kraft brand will also list if there is barley, rye or oats for gluten-free people). My personal favorite barbecue sauces are

• Daddy Sam’s (gluten-free and free of all top allergens) — spicy and delicious
• Bone Suckin’ Sauce (gluten-free and free of all top allergens) — it’s got a sweetness along with a spiciness that is so good. Go ahead and buy some!

Gluten-free hamburger and hot dog buns
I can’t say I have found any pre-made buns that I think are very good (please enlighten me if you have). My favorite buns I have made out of Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix. If you have English Muffin rings, you can use those for hamburger buns. If you don’t, just use tin foil to make a ring to fill with the bread dough.

I made hot dog bun molds out of aluminum foil and they turned out great. My advice is to make them skinny — mine turned out a little too big. I followed the bread directions, filled my molds and let them rise. I sprinkled sesame seeds on before baking and baked until they were done (normally this bread takes 60 minutes, so I think I baked them for 30 or 40, but it depends on the size of the buns). The result was a soft, not crumbly, bread-y bun.

Side dishes
For a refreshing and unique side dish try making a quinoa salad – it’s easy, delicious, and nutritious! Check out a quinoa salad recipe.

Roasted potatoes are a satisfying gluten-free side dish that everyone loves.

Gluten-free cornbread or biscuits also make a great accompaniment to the meal. Here are some I recommend:

• 1-2-3 Gluten Free Biscuit Mix
• gluten-free biscuits recipe using Bob’s Red Mill flour
• “Bisquick-type drop biscuits” from Pamela’s recipe pages
• The Really Great Food Company’s Cornbread Muffin Mix
• Gluten-Free Pantry Yankee Cornbread and Muffin Mix

Dessert
Don’t forget the gluten-free apple pie!

Have a happy 4th!