Tag Archives: wheat free recipes
Patacones for Gluten-Free Sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 1 large plantain
- coconut oil, lard, or beef tallow
Directions:
Melt coconut oil, lard, or tallow in a heavy skillet over medium heat. The oil should be about 1/2-inch deep.
Peel and slice a plantain in half. Slice each piece in half lengthwise, to make four quarters. Carefully slide the four pieces of plantain into the hot oil or fat, and fry for four minutes. Use tongs or a spatula to flip the plantain pieces and cook the other side for four minutes, until golden brown. Remove the pieces to a plate lined with paper towels and let cool for a few minutes.
When the plantain pieces are cool enough to handle, smash them between two plates, cookie sheets, or cutting boards to flatten them into ovals about 1/4-inch thick. To prevent sticking and reduce clean-up time, you may wish to line the plates, sheets, or cutting boards with greased aluminum foil or waxed paper first.
Use a spatula to carefully transfer the flattened plantains back into the hot oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, until the patacones are a deep, uniform golden brown. Remove the patacones to a plate lined with fresh paper towels to drain and cool.
When they are cool enough to handle, use the patacones in place of sandwich bread and enjoy a delicious, exotic gluten-free sandwich. Unlike many nut breads, patacones are tough enough to hold together even with juicy sandwich filling. Because the plantains lend a delicate, banana-like flavor, choose bold sandwich ingredients that won’t be overwhelmed.
Some suggestions:
- Pork and caramelized onion
- Bacon, lettuce, and tomato
- Citrus-marinated shrimp and avocado
Paleo Dessert Recipe: Chocolate-Coconut Pudding Cups
Ingredients
1 can coconut milk
3 eggs
2 Tbsp honey OR 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup OR 1 tsp stevia powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 cup high-quality chocolate, grated or in small chunks
Berries or chocolate curls for garnish
Instructions
Place an inch or two of water in a large pan or the bottom of a double boiler and bring it to a boil. In the top of the double boiler, or in a heat-proof bowl large enough to sit on top of the pan of water, combine the coconut milk, the sweetener of your choice, and the vanilla extract, if using. Whisk until smooth.
Break the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk until smooth and lemon-colored. Allow the coconut milk mixture to heat over the boiling water for a few minutes until hot. Ladle some of the hot coconut mixture from the bowl or double boiler and drizzle it slowly into the bowl of eggs, whisking the eggs continuously. Repeat two more times. (This tempers the eggs, preventing them from congealing immediately when introduced to the hot coconut milk.)
Slowly pour the tempered egg mixture into the hot coconut milk mixture over the boiling water, whisking continuously. Continue to whisk the pudding mixture until it thickens to the consistency of pancake batter, which may take between two and five minutes.
Stop thinking about pancakes. They’re bad for you. Focus on your pudding.
Once the pudding has thickened, pour roughly half of it into a bowl and set it aside to cool. Return the remainder to the double boiler or the top of the pan of boiling water. Add the chocolate to the pudding on the stove top and whisk until melted and smooth. Remove the chocolate pudding mixture from the heat.
Divide the chocolate pudding between four wine glasses, champagne flutes, or other clear serving containers. Pour the plain coconut pudding on top of the chocolate layer, dividing it evenly between the four glasses. Chill the pudding glasses in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours, until set.
Garnish with berries or chocolate curls, and serve cold.
Serves four, and by “four”, I mean “me when I’m having a bad chocolate craving”.
The Only Gluten-Free Pancake Recipe You’ll Ever Need
How excited am I this morning?
I’ve just found the first recipe for gluten-free pancakes I’ve ever tried that’s actually worth the effort. Even better, it’s not only gluten-free, it’s paleo diet compliant… and it only has three ingredients. Yes, three.
Are you ready? Good– you won’t regret it, I promise.
Go to your kitchen and pull out a banana, an egg, and a handful of unsalted nuts (don’t use peanuts, which are legumes, if you’re following the paleo diet). I personally tested the recipe with almonds, but I don’t see a problem with using any other tree nut that you happen to have on hand.
Now, heat up a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat and grease it lightly. I used lard. Yes, you read that correctly. Bacon grease, butter, coconut oil, or schmaltz would also be excellent choices. I’m sure plenty of you are going to insist on using vegetable oil no matter what I say, even though it’s really bad for you. But that’s a discussion for another day.
While your griddle or skillet is heating, pour a small handful of nuts into your blender. I didn’t bother to measure, but between two tablespoons and 1/4 cup should be fine. Whiz them around until they’re ground up. Add the egg. Break the banana into a few pieces and add that, too.
Whiz it around some more until it looks like batter (scrape the sides once during the process if necessary to combine everything). When your cooking surface is hot, pour out small, two-inch diameter circles of batter from the blender jar. Don’t crowd them. My batch made eight little pancakes, but of course it will vary depending on how large you make them.
Let the pancakes cook until the bottom edges just start to brown. Flip them carefully with a thin, metal spatula; they’re delicate, but not too bad if you make them tiny, as I have suggested. Continue to cook them until both sides are golden brown and the center just begins to set up. Remove them with the spatula to a warm plate and serve. And if, after trying these, you ever go back to the potato-starch-tapioca-xanthan-gum gluten-free fake pancake mix from the store, email me so that I can tell you you’re crazy, directly.
Want to dress up these gluten-free pancakes even more? Try the following ideas!
- Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on each pancake before flipping it
- Sprinkle a few blueberries on each pancake before flipping it
- Arrange a pineapple ring on top of each pancake before flipping it
- Spoon a dollop of almond butter on each pancake before flipping it
- Place a short strip of cooked bacon on top of each pancake before flipping it
Wheat Free Recipes for Breakfast
Cereal… toast… bagels… Danishes… sometimes it seems as if there are no wheat free recipes available for breakfast. Rather than pulling out your pocketbook to buy expensive gluten-free bread so you can make French toast without also making yourself sick, take a moment to re-imagine breakfast.
Do you frequently find yourself hitting a mid-morning slump? It’s 10am and you ate three hours ago, but suddenly the thought of staying awake– let alone productive– without a shot of caffeine or a candy bar seems like a herculean effort. You’re not alone; the prevalence of carbohydrates and sugar in common breakfast foods almost guarantees a blood sugar roller-coaster ride throughout the rest of the day.
Easily digestible sugars and carbs (even complex carbs like whole grains) cause an insulin spike and subsequent crash within hours. Protein and fat– yes, fat!– yield a more stable energy source for your body that allows you to cruise through to lunchtime almost effortlessly. The almost paranoid mania to avoid fat in western culture is based on faulty research and government policy built on the back of campaign contributions and political pressure groups. The truth is that naturally occurring fats from meat, fish, and minimally processed plants like coconuts, avocados, or olives are not nearly as bad for you as the processed flour and sugar that we shovel into our mouths at almost every meal.
In fact, they’re actually good for you.
So take a fresh look at breakfast and try the wheat free recipes listed below for breakfast for a week. See how you feel after seven days. If you like the results, consider cutting out the processed food from another meal as well. We think you’ll see the benefits to your health almost immediately.
Tropical Tuna Cups
- 3 large, ripe avocados
- 1 6.4oz. pouch of chunk light tuna in water
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise (gluten-free, of course!)
Drain tuna in a bowl and mix with mayonnaise to make a simple tuna salad. Slice around the outside of the avocados and twist to separate the halves. Remove the pits by embedding the blade of a knife in the tops and twisting them loose. Peel the skin from the avocado halves or scoop them free with a spoon.
Heap tuna salad into the holes in the avocados, distributing it evenly among the six halves. Serve with tea or coconut water (available in the Asian section of many large supermarkets, or from specialty markets).
Serves three (two if they’re really hungry).
Smoky Deviled Eggs
- 6 hard-boiled eggs (locally raised, pastured eggs if possible)
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp dried dill or 1 Tbsp fresh dill
- 2 oz thinly sliced prosciutto or smoked salmon
Shell the hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolks and place them in a bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, and dill. Mash the mixture to a paste with a fork. Using scissors, cut the bottom corner off of a plastic sandwich bag to make a hole less than half an inch in diameter. Put the egg yolk mixture in the bag and squeeze it through the hole (pastry bag style) into the 12 hard-boiled egg halves.
Top each deviled egg with a paper-thin slice of prosciutto or smoked salmon and serve with tea or fresh-squeezed juice.
Serves three, or two really hungry people.
Is Jared Going Gluten-Free?
Subway may be joining the growing wave of nationwide restaurant chains offering gluten-free options, according to QSRweb.com. Starting today, Subway restaurants in Tyler and Dallas, Texas will offer a gluten-free brownie and a gluten-free roll.
The restaurants are doing things halfway, either. Foods containing gluten can cross-contaminate other foods prepared in the same are with the same utensils, so Subway will seal gluten-free items in plastic packaging. Employees will use a disposable, single-use knife to cut each gluten-free sandwich roll, and the same employee will go on to prepare the entire sandwich, instead of passing it on, assembly line style, as usually happens at Subway. Customers with gluten intolerance should watch carefully to confirm that proper precautions are taken, but Subway’s plan seems reasonable to prevent gluten contamination. In fact, the very transparency of the Subway food-making process is a boon to those with special dietary needs; instead of trusting what goes on behind the closed doors of a restaurant kitchen, customers can closely inspect the process and call a halt if they see anything that might endanger their health and well-being.
So here’s the call to action: Tyler and Dallas readers, I’d love it if you would all beat a path to Subway’s door over the next couple of days. I want the response to Subway’s experiment to be overwhelming. The only way we’ll get restaurants offering gluten-free options the right way is if we vote with our wallets, so go have yourself a gluten-free sub overflowing with healthy veggies and some nice, lean meat. I won’t even give you a hard time if you have the brownie, just this once (though you might want to take a gander at the ingredients list before you commit, to make sure it’s not loaded with unpronounceable garbage and fillers).
Kudos to Subway for making the effort, here. I think we all understand that companies make decisions like this based on the bottom line, not necessarily based on philanthropy. And that’s okay– their job is to make money for their shareholders. Sometimes, making money and doing the right thing overlap, and when that happens, it’s important to stand up, applaud, and go get a sandwich.
Celiac.com’s Wheat Free Recipes for Easter & Passover
Celiac.com has put together a resource list of wheat free recipes, free of foods containing gluten, just in time for Easter and Passover. Need a recipe for gluten-free matzoh? This is your place. Gluten and dairy-free challah? They’ve got it. Delicious desserts safe for people with wheat intolerance? Check.
New Products for Gluten-Free Baked Goods
From Foodprocessing.com:
Second-generation replacement of trans fats and the removal of glutens continue to dominate product development activity in the baked goods category of the food industry.
Yes, gluten free. While many observers (ourselves included) have been waiting several years for this trend to live up to expectations, it finally may be hitting stride.
Simply the Best Gluten-free, Dairy-Free Waffles
If you’re like me, there are still a handful of comfort foods that can cause the wheat cravings to hit full-force if you so much as think of them, and waffles are near the top of that list. Try these delicious gluten-free, dairy-free waffles on a frosty Sunday morning – I think the texture is even nicer than waffles made with wheat flour.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups rice milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
Directions:
Heat a waffle iron.
In a large bowl, whisk together the white rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly blended. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs yolks until fluffy. Add the rice milk, lemon juice, and vegetable oil, and beat until combined. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until no lumps remain. Whip the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Slide egg whites into batter and gently fold them in until smooth. Pour batter into a pitcher, and prepare waffles according to your waffle iron’s directions. Don’t panic if the first waffle sticks; it seems to be a universal rule of waffle-making that the first one is a write-off. Just dig out the pieces and eat them. The next ones will be perfect.
Slather with the topping of your choice, and devour.
Makes 6 waffles on my Belgian waffle maker. Your mileage may vary.
P.S. Don’t forget that you can spruce these up by adding blueberries, raspberries, chocolate chips, raisins, or anything else that your devious little mind can come up with. Have fun!
Company Offers Custom-Blended Gluten-Free Cereal
Custom Choice Cereal is a new company which offers you the chance to make your own “designer” breakfast cereal free of foods containing gluten. You can add dried fruit, seeds, and nuts to one of several gluten-free cereal bases, then name your creation and have a bag (or several) shipped to your door.
It will be interesting to see how Custom Choice Cereal fares in an era when big names like Chex are going gluten-free. If you want to check them out, click below for more information.
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
A diet free of foods containing gluten doesn’t have to mean a boring diet. Wheat free recipes shouldn’t require a dozen obscure ingredients that you’ve never heard of. A lot can be done with only two: rice flour and xanthan gum. Rice flour can be found very cheaply in the Asian food sections of many supermarkets, or at Asian grocery stores. It can also be found, less cheaply, in the supermarket health food section or specialty health food stores. Xanthan gum can be a bit trickier, but is vital to prevent your baked goods from falling apart; it performs the function of gluten in your wheat free recipes without causing those nasty wheat intolerance symptoms. Ask at your supermarket, check health food stores, or buy it online– http://www.herbalremedies.com sells it, as do many other online stores. Don’t panic when you see the price; recipes generally call for less than a teaspoon, so it will last a long time.
This gluten-free and dairy-free chocolate chip cookie recipe goes one step further by replacing refined sugar with natural, delicious honey. One caveat: don’t feed honey to babies less than one year old.
Okay, here we go!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dairy-free shortening
2/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (make sure your brand is gluten-free; some aren’t)
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate chips (chopped dates are also a delicious substitution)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
In a large bowl, beat shortening and honey until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the rice flour, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Stir the dry ingredients gradually into the wet ingredients and beat until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips or chopped dates.
Place greased foil or parchment paper over cookie sheets. Drop cookie dough onto the sheets by the spoonful, leaving plenty of space in between for them to spread. Avoid the temptation to make the cookies too large– we’re going for thin and crispy, here. Bake for 6 minutes in center oven positions. Turn cookie sheets 180 degrees. Bake for another 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Cookies will be tender, but will quickly turn crisp as they cool.
Makes approximately 48 two-inch cookies.
