Buy This not That

 This post is slightly different from what I generally post. I am always looking for a way to save money when it comes to gluten-free. I grew up with my mom popping popcorn. My husband grew up with popcorn from a microwave. So needless to say he was quite skeptical that popcorn is extremely easy to make.

These are both gluten-free, Project Non-gmo verified, organic choices.
You can pay $5 for Angie's Kettlecorn popcorn, from Costco. Which is an amazing price for 46 cups of popcorn.

Or you can buy from Harris Teeter, the kernels for $2 that makes 70 cups.
My mom mentioned that Harris Teeter does not sell it in her town anymore so I will have to check that out. Considering it takes 5 minutes to make popcorn, buying the kernels is the cheap way to go.

Flour Resource

Grain Free

 I have to devote a post to explaining gluten-free flours. This puzzled me at first. Basically....gluten is like "glue", as I like to think of it.
Gluten is what binds dough together, gives it elasticity. When your pizza springs back after rising, it is the presence of gluten that gives the dough this ability.

Wheat contains the properties of gluten, hence it's popularity.  Wheat is also a grain. There are many other grains: oats and corn just to name a few. Some grains can have gluten present while others do not contain any gluten.

Those with allergies to grain must avoid all grains gluten and non-gluten. Hence the grain-free flours. For a complete list of gluten-free and wheat-free flours visit: www.wheat-free.org.
For a list of grain free flours visit: www.grainfreeliving.com.

Gluten and Wheat free NOT grain free

An Allergy-Free Pantry Part 2

This post is a little more "tricky" There are many definitions when it comes to allergy-free. The food you eat depends directly on your personal allergies.

Some people are allergic to corn so Sam Mills products would not work for them. Thankfully, my children are not allergic to corn or potatoes so that is what we survive on for our fillers.
Sam Mills provides: spaghetti, macaroni, ect. pasta.

Bob's Red Mill is not the end all answer to all the other products. I use Bob's Red Mill for convenience, but you can buy these ingredients from health food store's bins.

Gluten-free Rolled Oats:
Walmart: $6. something
Krogers: $

Some argue over quinoa being a grain, but for this blog I'm gonna call it grain-free. It's up to you to research and come to a personal decision. I will say Coconut flour is going to be the flour you use the most. Potato flour is very heavy in weight and absorbs liquid. Chia is a seed which does not supplement to well in large quantities. Quinoa gives a funky taste if you use over 140 grams in a flour mixture.

Grain Free

 These flours you are going to use sparingly. Buckwheat and Millet are strong earthy taste when used too much. I haven't tasted Amaranth or Sorghum in my recipes yet, but I have not used over 20 grams in my flour mixtures either.

Gluten and Wheat free NOT grain free

An Allergy-Free Pantry Part 1

I've been lazy....no, I just pure hate having to consider allergies. I have been putting off gathering all of my allergy free baking supplies to calculate the cost. I will start in the baking cupboard.

Egg Replacer: obviously great for replacing eggs, when a recipe uses them for binding. If a recipe is calling for eggs to create a fluffy, light texture....then Egg Replacer will not get you anywhere.

Found:
Whole Foods
Lowes Foods
Krogers

Corn Flake Crumbs: great for breading recipes. Our family has some allergic to rice so corn is our main staple.

Found:
Lowes Foods

Ghee: Caisine and Lactose free!!!! Maintains the buttery flavor and texture:
                                                                                Found:
                                                                                Lowes Foods

Coconut Palm Sugar: replaces sugar 1=1 ratio

Found:
Whole Foods
Krogers

Celtic Sea Salt: maintains all the trace minerals table salt has removed. It has a strong flavor to it so a little bit goes a long way.

Found:
Whole Foods: roughly $5

Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips: replaces chocolate chips.

Found:
Food Lion: $5.69+
Walmart: $4.88
Krogers: $3.99

I will double check the prices and edit this entry.

GLuten-Free All purpose Flour Mix 6

300 g Potato Starch
300 g Tapioca Starch
200 g Coconut Flour
 80 g Quinoa Flour
 20 g Potato Flour
 20 g Millet Flour
 20 g Buckwheat Flour
 20 g Sorghum Flour
 20 g Amaranth Flour
 20 g Chia Seed Flour

This one gets a little dry. Be sure to compensate for the liquid absorption by at least 1/4 increase of what  liquids/oils the recipe calls for.

Flour Mix Lessons, Take 2

I ran out of flours this past week. I made the mistake of substituting over 200g of Quinoa to make up for the lack of other flours. What a mistake!!!! My whole family will not touch whatever I make with that flour mix. The mix gives the baked goods a dry sensation, a grainy texture, and a earthy taste.

I refer to this page a lot, when determining which flours to use.

From experience:

1. Never go over 140g of Quinoa in a flour mix period. It will dry out any recipe and give an earthy aftertaste.
2. 20 g of Millet and Buckwheat is a safe measure for all-purpose mixes.
3. If you can get away with using gluten-free oat flour, recipes turn out best with taste.

Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix 5

300g Tapioca Starch
300g Potato Starch
140g Coconut Flour
100g Quinoa Flour
100g Sorghum Flour
20g Potato Flour
20g Millet Flour
20g Buckwheat Flour


There is only a slight variation from Flour Mix 4.





To make your own recipe follow the guideline found here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/2012/07/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

A guide to how each type of flour works in weight, taste, and texture found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-free-flour.html

Gluten-Free Baked Chicken Nuggets

Step One

Step One:
Preheat Oven to 375
Cut 1 lb of chicken into squares

Step Two

                             Step Two:
                            Mix  in Bowl.
                           1/8 C Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
                           1/4 t salt

Coconut Milk

Egg Replacer

Step Three:
Beat together in a bowl.
1 1/2 ts Egg Replacer
4 Tb Non-dairy Milk

Step Four:

Gluten-Free Crumbs

In a food processor, process corn crumbs to finer grain.
Measure out 2 cups or more in a plastic ziploc bag.
1/4 ts Paprika
1/4 ts Pepper
1/4 ts Salt
1/8 ts Garlic Powder
1/8 ts Onion Powder


Step Five:
Place a wire rack that can withstand oven temperatures on a baking sheet.
Coat chicken in Step 2 bowl of flour.
Dip coated chicken into Step 3 bowl of wet ingredients.
Place wet, coated chicken into Step 4 ziploc bag of crumbs.
Shake Bag. Pull out coated chicken nuggets and place on wire rack.
Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Step 5

Gluten-Free No Bake Cookies

Courtesy of Teresa Shupe-Kilpatrick:

2 cups organic sugar
1/4 cup organic butter melted
1/4 cup vegan all natural cocoa powder unsweetened
1/2 cup organic milk
1 teaspoon organic vanilla
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
3 cups uncooked Bob's Red Mill gluten free old fashioned rolled oats

Boil sugar, butter, cocoa and milk for one minute (or a bit longer). Add vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal. Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper to cool. Work quickly--mixture can harden in the pan!


Modified version for those with dairy and nut allergies:

2 cups organic sugar
1/4 cup ghee melted
1/4 cup organic cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 cup almond milk
1 ts organic vanilla
1/2 cup sunbutter
3cups uncooked Bob's Red Mill gluten-free old fashioned rolled oats

Copyright exclusive to all photos and recipes posted. 

"Enjoy Life" Chocolate Chip Cookies modifcations

Find the actual recipe with cup measurements on the back of the Enjoy Life package.
Modifications have a *
93 grams palm oil
1 Tb Grapeseed Oil
105 grams Coconut Palm Sugar*
105 grams raw turbinado sugar*
1 Tb Vanilla Extract
47 grams water
315 grams all purpose flour**
1 ts Salt
1 ts xantham gum
1.5 ts Baking Soda
.5 ts Baking Powder
1 10oz Enjoy Life Semi-sweet chocolate chips.

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Cream Oils and Sugars. (This will come out more gritty in appearance than normal shortning and sugar recipes)
• Add Vanilla and Water. Mix until just combined. (This will create a fluffy texture)
• Combine gluten-free all purpose flour, salt, xantham gum, baking soda and baking powder.
• Add to creamed mixture and beat until smooth.
• Add in mini chips. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes.
• Drop by spoonguls onto parchment-lined baking sheet and slightly press down on each cookie to flatten.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 15-20 minutes and serve.

Makes 3 dozen (ended up with 40)
These turned out chewy and soft right out of the oven.
I had serious doubts of them rising with so little baking powder, but they rose beautifully.
**https://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-hamelinck/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix-2/351728504969020

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5 Lessons when Dealing with gluten-free flour

 These are my personal experiences over the past few weeks of dealing with flours that contain no gluten.

1. Always sift the flour!
2. Always measure out the flour in grams. (As much as I hate it, measuring by cups and oz is out the window at this point.
3. Treat each recipe as an adventure.
4. The results during the process will not guarantee the outcome. (I cannot rely on kneading dough anymore, or springy texture.....it's just not there.)
5. Be prepared to throw away. (So far I have not had any mishaps to the point I had to throw something out, but I am working on trying to stay calm if I have "throw money down the drain" or garbage in this instance.)

Gluten Free Banana Crumb Muffins

Does not work well with coconut oil

Ingredients

• 210g *Gluten Free all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 bananas, mashed
  
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
  

• 1 Eggreplacer, lightly beaten
  
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
  
• 1/3 cup packed turbinado sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons *Gluten Free all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-crumb-muffins/detail.aspx
*Flour recipe from: https://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-hamelinck/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix-1/347169055424965

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Gluten Free Quick Bread

Did not put in a small loaf pan!

165g Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix 1*
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
95g Coconut Palm Sugar
80ml Olive Oil
65g Apple Sauce
2 Egg replacer mixes (directions on Egg replacer box)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease two mini loaf pans, 4.5" x 3.25"  leave the bottom of the pan with a bit of oil.
3. Sift the dry ingredient and stir together.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, apple sauce, and Egg replacer until frothy. Add to dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, bake for 25 minutes or until the loaves are cooked through. Cover with tin foil for the last 10 minutes.
7. Allow the loaves to set in their pans for a few minutes then turn out to cool on a wire rack.

The key to this recipe is miniature loaf pans!!!! A regular loaf pan is too wide for the bread to rise properly.

Copyright exclusive to all photos and recipes posted. 

Gluten-free "Little Bites" Mini Muffins Replacement

"Little Bites" Mini Muffins Gluten-Free

Ingredients

245 grams **all-purpose Gluten-free flour
105 grams turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
70 grams vegetable oil
1 EggReplacer
70 grams sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140 grams mashed ripe bananas
105 grams mini chocolate chips (Enjoy life brand is allergy free)

Instructions

1. Whisk together your dry ingredients.
2. Mix the egg,vanilla, oil, sour cream and bananas together.
3. Combine the wet and dry until they are almost mixed thoroughly, then add in the chocolate chips. Don’t over mix the batter.
4. Place into your lined or greased unlined muffin tins and bake at 375 until beautifully browned, about 10-12 minutes for mini’s and 20-25 for large.

Adapted from:http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/how-to-make-perfect-mini-muffins-recipe

**https://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-hamelinck/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix-2/351728504969020

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Gluten-free Pizza

Gluten-free Pizza

1 Eggreplacer (see box for instructions)
250 grams *gluten-free flour mix
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
7.5 grams(2 teaspoons) baking powder
25 grams (1/4 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
85 to 190 grams (1/2 to 1 cup) warm water, about 110

1. Preheat oven with baking stone in it to 450 F
2.In a bowl sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl mix Eggreplacer according to box instructions and set aside.
4. Measure out 60 grams water and oil and add to eggreplacer.
5. Stir into dry ingredients until it forms a ball. Slowly add more water in small increments until dough is a cohesive ball, but not soggy.
6. Oil 12" pizza pan well with high temperature oil.
7. With fingers and palms of hand form dough to the pizza pan. Oil top of pizza dough.
8. Set Pizza pan with the pizza on top of the baking stone. Bake for 5 minutes.
9. Pull out and add pizza sauce and cheese.
10. Bake for 8 more minutes or until cheese is golden.

PS. I like to pull out my pizza stone and pan from the oven and slide the pizza off onto the stone to "cool" off. This cooks from the bottom up for a few minutes longer without burning it.

See link for gluten free flour mix https://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-hamelinck/gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix-1/347169055424965

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Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix 4

300g Tapioca Starch
300g Potato Starch
140g Quinoa Flour
140g Coconut Flour
60g Chia Flour
20g Potato Flour
20g Millet Flour
20g Buckwheat Flour

This flour is: gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, rice-free, and wheat-free

To make your own recipe follow the guideline found here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/2012/07/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

A guide to how each type of flour works in weight, taste, and texture found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-free-flour.html

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix 3

260g Cornstarch
  30g Potato Starch
310g Tapioca Starch
100g Amaranth
100g Oats (bob mills gluten free)
 80g Coconut
 60g Chia
 30g Millet
 30g Buckwheat

So not liking this mixture only because I did not plan it. This is what I had on hand. Didn't realize I was out of Quinoa.

To make your own recipe follow the guideline found here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/2012/07/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

A guide to how each type of flour works in weight, taste, and texture found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-free-flour.html

Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix 2

300 grams Tapioca Flour
40 grams Potato Flour
260 grams Corn Starch
100 grams Amaranth Flour
100 grams Quinoa Flour
100 grams Coconut Flour
40 grams Oat Flour
20 grams Buckwheat Flour
20 grams Millet Flour
20 grams Chia


To make your own recipe follow the guideline found here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/2012/07/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

A guide to how each type of flour works in weight, taste, and texture found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-free-flour.html

Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix 1

300g  Tapioca Flour
300g  Cornstarch
200g  Oat Flour
100g  Quinoa Flour
40g    Oat Fiber
60g    BuckwheatFlour

Yields: roughly 2.5 lbs of flour, give or take.

To make your own recipe follow the guideline found here: http://glutenfreegirl.com/2012/07/how-to-make-a-gluten-free-all-purpose-flour-mix/

A guide to how each type of flour works in weight, taste, and texture found here: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-free-flour.html