Gluten free candy...

Well, here it is another sugary holiday and I am wondering what temptations I am going to face. So many sweets, so many chances to feel SO sick. Then I happened across this great little article at CeliAct by Giliah Nagar. I LOVE Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Butter Fingers, and Hersheys Kisses. Did not realize that they were all Gluten Free! Yeah! So am Posting the list they have in the article and then the link to the full article as well, so you can get all the great info for yourself!

Gluten-Free Dove Milk Chocolate Dove Red Velvet Swirl Dove Dark and Milk Chocolate Hearts Dove Milk Chocolate and Strawberry Swirl Baby Ruth Almond Joy Butterfinger Gimbal’s (jelly beans, sour jelly beans, sour heart shaped gumdrops, heart shaped cherry candy, heart shaped cinnamon candy, scottie dog licorice) Hershey’s Kisses (including milk chocolate, pink and red foil kisses, caramel and cherry cordial creme filled) Junior Mints (heart shaped) Jelly Belly Conversation Jelly Beans Betty Crocker Fruit Snack Valentine Minis and Valentine Hearts Lifesavers Candy & Stickers Pink & Red M&Ms M&Ms Sweet Sayings *Peeps Valentine Marshmallow Products (by Just Born) **Reeses Peanut Butter Cups Necco Conversation Hearts Tootsie Rolls with conversation messages and Valentines Pops Starburst Candy n’ Stickers Starburst Jelly Beans Wonka Laffy Taffy Valentines Candy Charms Valentines Pops Pez Valentines Candy *Their ingredients list modified food starch, but Just Born has stated that this is corn starch in all of their products. **Reeses Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups are NOT gluten-free. Also be very wary of other brands that manufacture peanut butter cups as they may not be gluten-free. Always read the labels! Not Gluten-Free Dove Dark Chocolate Truffle Hearts Hershey’s Hugs Milk chocolate cherry M&Ms Ghiradelli Boxed Chocolates Lindt Lindor Truffles Lindt Chocolate Mints Mrs. Field’s assorted chocolates Russel Stover Boxed Candy Mayfair Conversation Hearts Brach’s Conversation Hearts Balmer cuddly cuties chocolate teddy bears and dogs Brach’s candies Elmer Chocolate boxed Valentine’s Candy York Peppermint Patty Hearts Sweetarts Jolly Rancher Valentine Candy Wonka Nerds Valentine Candy

This info and much more was obtained from CeliAct

Gluten Free Protein Shakes... A Challenge? Good NEWS!!

Protein Shakes We have all wanted or needed to use them at times, right? But when you are Gluten-Free, especially Gluten-Free Vegitarian or Vegan it gets more complicated. When you get to the shelf of Protein shakes, most are not going to be usable. Of the short list left, most are going to be HORRIBLE. Sorry, it is true. When I went from "somewhat gluten intolerant" to "Unable to eat Gluten" this past year I found out by becoming VERY ILL, and it took a couple months to figure out what was going on. During that time, I stopped eating, and lost a large amount of muscle. My doctors have now told me to increase my protein intake to quite a bit more than the normal daily amount to help my nutrition recover as I try to regain as much of my strength as possible. Since I spend a large amount of time in a wheelchair, I do not want high calorie intake, and do not have a large appetite. I reintroduced eggs and some dairy and fish to my diet, leaving vegan to go more ovo-lacto vegitarian. But I still could not get my protein anywhere close to what the Doctor wanted it. So I decided to add protein shakes one or two times a day made with soy milk. The first few I tried were TERRIBLE. I am still trying to figure out how to use the powder cooked into something so I don't waste it but don't have to taste it either. I found one I liked from Aloha, but the day I went to order it, they had recalled all their protein products the day before for some kind of contaminant (will still try this one once the problem is solved again). But in the mean time, I struck Gold. My sister grabbed Naturade Vegan Smart Vanilla All-In-One Nutritional Shake for me to try. It is Non-GMO Gluten Free with 20g of Protein to 160 cal. 15 servings for $24 is average for protein shakes, and when I mix it with my Silk Soy milk it makes it 28g of Protein. That gives me the boost I need for the day, and it tastes good! Even better when it is mixed with just a couple pieces of fruit I don't get a thing, even a coupon for promoting any brand or kind of anything on this page, I just am sharing my opinion to help others hopefully not make some of the mistakes I have made. You know, like eat Pure Pea protein shakes. UGH.

Gluten-Free Girl Scout Cookies? Who Knew? Not me!

Someone tagged me the other day with a post for their child's girl scout cookies, of course. I jokingly answered, "Any gluten-free ones? And of course, received no answer in the flurry of orders and contact info she was fielding. We all knew it was a joke, a way for me to gently remind her of why I would not be ordering, or eating any girl scout cookies anymore. Last year, after increasingly having some different health problems I "tried out" a gluten free diet with astounding results. Six months later I became extremely ill. Like suddenly looking like an Agoraphobic because between being sick and being weak from being sick, you can NOT go out the front door. Huge, UNHEALTHY weight loss in 8 weeks. (Yes, overweight people can have unhealthy weight loss!) It ended up being an increased sensitivity to gluten and being basically poisoned by trace contaminants. So I am now like the crazy lady in the Movie "Nims Island". I only eat it if I cook it, or it has specific things on the label, and even then I am very suspicious and watch for a reaction.

So, back to our friends the Girl Scouts. I was a girl scout. We all like to support them. I have never bought cases of their cookies, but a few boxes to be a supporter and especially when a child will ask me themself or is very close to a special goal. But I am not even buying gluten cookies. Sorry. So yesterday my sister carries in a box of TOFFEE-TASTIC GLUTEN-FREE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES for me to try! They are NOT VEGAN. But we are no longer doing vegan for nutritional reasons, so the milk in them does not bother me, and they are CERTIFIED GLUTEN-FREE. Yahoo! But how will they taste? I made some cinnamon apple tea and pulled out a few. The first bite was a little powdery as so many gluten-free baked goods seem to be, but once you chewed it and got the toffee flavor it was actually quite good. Enough that by the end of the evening I had eaten half the box! I will not lie and say they are as good as some of the homemade cookie recipes we have come up with this year to bake, but they are as good as most of the boxed ones, and better than many. So it was a very Pleasant surprise. Good For You Girl Scouts! The information from the girl scouts website is listed below, along with the photos, and a sneak peek at another gluten-free cookie they are test marketing :-)

Indulgently rich, buttery cookies with sweet, crunchy golden toffee bits. A gluten-free variety offered only in select Girl Scout council markets for as long as supplies last.

AND if you are lucky enough to be in one of the test market areas you might want to try this cookie TRIOS Chocolate Chips nestled in a gluten free peanut butter oatmeal cookie. Millions of Americans have problems eating food with gluten—and now there is a Girl Scout Cookie just for them! Made with whole grain oats and real peanut butter, the Gluten Free Trios is premiering in a number of test markets this year.

NOT AVAILABLE IN MOST AREAS YET

Here is where to find the list of cookies that they offer http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/meet_the_cookies.asp So... if you are a Girl Scout Cookie Junkie... and have become Gluten-Free, by choice or by necessity, they have your back.

Tonight was my second time making this cornbread with one big difference. I was out of all purpose, gluten free flour. So for the first time in this journey I had to try to make my own "all purpose" type mixture of flours from scratch. It came out pretty good, although not as good as the first time I made the recipe and stuck closer to the instructions :-) So here I will share both the original, and my own modifications. Remember, this is my journey from the rankest novice in both baking from scratch and gluten free and vegan cooking at all to hopefully someday a more confident proficiency at all three skills. I decided if I share some of my mis-steps along the way, I might save some of you from making the same mistakes, and you might all be able to tell me some ways I can improve what I am doing as I go, so I don't have to do everything in the hardest possible way. Cornbread Recipe [Vegan & Gluten-free] Serves: 9 squares Ingredients: 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour) 1 ½ cups cornmeal 1 Tbsp. coconut sugar (I used regular sugar and stevia because I did not have coconut sugar) 1 Tbsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 1 cup almond milk 1/3 cup sunflower oil 3 Tbsp. brown rice syrup(I substituted agave nectar) ¼ cup soft silken tofu (*gluten-free – some brands vary in whether or not the product contains gluten. Please be sure to check the label of each of the ingredients to make sure it is gluten-free before using) (**to avoid genetically modified corn and soy I recommend checking that the cornmeal and tofu are non-gmo certified or organic) Directions: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 square pan. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients - flour, cornmeal, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt. In another large bowl, or in a blender, combine wet ingredients - almond milk, sunflower oil, brown rice syrup, and tofu. Mix until well combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the center, and stir until moistened. Pour the batter into the greased pan. Bake for 17 – 20 minutes. Recipe by Wendy Irene on http://www.givelovecreatehappiness.com/ Tonight I used 2/3 cup brown rice flower and 1/3 cup coconut flour in place of the all purpose flour. The cornbread was a little thicker and heavier, needed to cook longer to be completely done. Both batches were moist and had very very good flavor.

My first Loaf of Gluten-Free Vegan Bread!!

I Did It!! I made my first loaf of Gluten-Free Vegan bread! It is not completely from scratch, because I was chicken to go that far the first time I tried baking Vegan or Gluten-free and the first time using the bread machine, but I did have to do quite a bit of "tweaking" so it is not just a mix either. The really exciting part is it came out so good. It is not "good enough", it is good. Not dry or crumbly, not heavy and doughy. Just nice bread with a good flavor. NOTHING like what we bought at the health food store last week, LOL. So I used Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix (Gluten Free, Dairy Free) which can be used in a machine or by hand. I used 1 2/3 cups Almond Breeze milk (coconut/almond milk mix) for the milk, and 1/4 cup sunflower oil for the butter. In place of the egg I used 1 pureed banana (which made 1/4 cup) and then 2 tsp of egg replacer with enough water to fill the cup to the 1/2 cup mark, so that I ended up with a total of 3/4 cup egg replacer total (banana and mix together), which is the volume the recipe calls for on the package. I was nervous that it would not have any flavor so I added some cinnamon and vanilla flavoring to the mix at this point. Just because I always add some kind of spices to everything to make it a bit different. My machine says to make sure you have blended all the liquid ingredients well before putting them in the machine for the best results, so I used my Vitamix and mixed milk, oil, banana and egg replacer for one minute, from slow to full speed. Then I placed this in the machine, put in the powdered mix, and made a hollow in the center and poured in the yeast. I set the machine for white bread, medium crust, large loaf and started it. Three hours later we were waiting for it to cool enough to try. And we really like it. So next time I will try mixing my own flour and see if I can come up with anything as good as Bobs Red Mill mix. We will see. I want to try some sweet breads, too.

First "from scratch" Veggie Burgers

Tonight I made our first from scratch veggie burgers and they did not turn out bad! Especially when you take into account I kind of made up the recipe. I looked at several recipes and then mixed them together to fit the ingredients I had and the things we tend to like. So for our first try, and a bit last minute with part of it at that, here is the recipe I used: 4 cups cooked Kidney beans old fashioned gluten free oats Salt, pepper Garlic Powder Onion Powder Bar-B-Que Spice 1/2 cup canola oil sunflower oil put canola oil in food processor or Vitamix. Add 1 cup of kidney beans and spices to taste. Process to smooth. Add 2 more cups of beans slowly, until smooth. Hand mash remaining cup of beans until chunky pieces. Pour bean puree into mashed beans and mixed together. Add oats until thickened to paste consistency. Let sit 15 to 20 min. Heat sunflower oil in skillet and cook until brown on each side. They were not perfectly cohesive, but not too bad either. Next time may try adding a little flour, and maybe some seeds. I also tried out our new Rice Steamer tonight. It was a mixed success. The rice was a bit chewy and the water boiled over. Next time I am going to leave the steamer part in even if I do not have any veggies to put in it and see if that makes a difference. But the rice did not burn or stick, and I did not have to baby-sit it in any way. Dumped the ingredients in the pot and turned it on. So if I can figure the rest of the trick out (maybe oil in the water?) this will be a VERY cool thing. Also VERY excited by the Tahini Recipe my sister sent me!! Can not wait to try that!

Shopping at "The Grainery" in Longview today

Feb 17, 2014 Mom picked us up a rice cooker/steamer yesterday at Freds and I am eager to try it out tomorrow. We have had a real problem cooking rice well the last several times we have tried it. Since so much of what we are doing is based on improving our health and decreasing our inflammation levels, we are trying to do as much from scratch and as little processed or microwaved food as possible. There will be links here to my other blogs if you want details, but I have a muscle disease with no known cure or treatment in which the inflammation in the muscles causes them to be destroyed and not be able to heal or regenerate. So I am trying to decrease the inflammation in my body in all the natural ways I can. My mom has MS and Arthritis. After much research, a plant based, (or Vegan) gluten-free diet seems to be the healthiest choice for us. Since we were Vegetarians for years and are animal lovers, it is not against any of our beliefs or lifestyle. However, we are having to relearn and adjust to make sure we do this in a healthy way. Today I cooked up Pinto and Red beans to work on making homemade veggie burgers tomorrow. I am looking up and Pinning recipes tonight. I also want to make Hummus and Falafel but could not find Tahini today when we went shopping. Any good fairly simple recipes you want to add or put links to on comments I am happy to add to our collection :-) I have been given a bread maker and am also going to be embarking on figuring out how to make gluten free bread over the next few weeks. LOL We never do things in a small way. Mom bought 20 pounds of fresh asparagus on sale yesterday and we are eating and freezing it tonight and tomorrow to have available. We are pretty tight financially right now, so we are trying to do all this on a very, very tight budget. So buying and freezing good quality stuff when it is on sale is one of the ways we figure it is going to work. What other ways can we make this more economical? We were excited to find the Grainery in Longview and how many things it had. No more waiting to go to Tyler or even Dallas to the big stores (Whole Foods or Fresh) to do most of our shopping! We are using a Vitamix and crockpots, dehydrator, and steamer to try to make this all as labor un-intensive as possible since we both have issues with stamina due to our health issues, and are busy with my daughter and her needs as well.