Katz Gluten Free (a review)

Katz Gluten Free Bakery

I don't remember how I came across this site but they are FABULOUS!! I think I was looking for gluten free Challah, and I have to say theirs is really awesome. Though.. my favorite thing they make has to be the Cinnamon Rugelech this is the most wonderful sweet I have ever purchased and placed in my mouth. They melt in your mouth, are just the right amount of sweet and crunch, you can eat them frozen or thaw them, they are just WONDERFUL. They have many wonderful products though, I love their Hamburger buns  and their Whole grain bread makes really wonderful toasted sandwiches, its a good size and has a good crumb without being too tough. I just placed my second order with them I will have to tell you when it comes in how wonderful the new items I got (pizza crust and cinnamon strips) are. Given everything I have eaten from there I expect them to be wonderful. Also they offer a nice sample pack . Give them a try, you won't regret it.

Best EVER gluten free substitution list

http://jenncuisine.com/resources/gluten-free/

omg, I so wish I had the time to do this! but I don't have to. The lovely author of JennCuisine did it for us. This wonderful person has come up with an amazing list of gluten free substitutions thats just amazing! 15 wonderful easy to follow weeks of what gluten free is and how things work and what happens and why you should use one thing over another. For those of us who are gluten free Jenn your a godsend! For the rest of the world, look and learn, she did an amazing job (yes, I am really that amazed) and you can use these tips to make even non gluten free items!

Ok so I am on vacation.. but...

I heard about "Chef" Damian Cardon, who has decided that Gluten Intolerance is not a real issue and decided to give diners who ask for gluten free food gluten filled pasta without telling them.
"Gluten free is B***S***!! Flour and bread have been a staple of life for thousands, THOUSANDS of years. People who claim to be gluten intolorent dont realize that its all in there disturbed liitle heads. People ask me for gluten free pasta in my restaurant all the time, I tell em sure, Then I serve serve em our pasta, Which I make from scratch with high gluten flour. And you know what? nothing, NOTHING! ever happens! People leave talking about how good they feel gluten free and guess what, They just had a full dose! Idiots!"
In addition, in a later post, Damain comments, "May god help the Liberal hippie idiot who's going to ask for gluten free pasta this weekend."

"Chef" Damian Cardon
Here is what happens to me when I get gluten.

Actually I usually get like about an hour after consuming gluten before the reaction starts but then...

First comes the headache not really too bad until it develops into just short of a migraine this usually lasts for about 12-24 hours. Shortly after I start to feel nauseous, followed usually by at least one vomiting session depending on how much wheat I eat. This is followed by doubled over in pain stomach cramps that last anywhere from 2 hours to 12 hours, again depending on how much gluten I eat.
In addition to this I get the diarrhea this lasts for 8-12 hours depending on how much the intake is from. Oh and this diarrhea, it is also accompanied by joint pain and the feeling that every ounce of energy is exiting your body through your ass as the diarrhea comes out. The joint pain usually goes away after about 4 days of being gluten free.

Okay so my nonexistent hippy condition, doesn't exist, and its all in my head right? Then why is it, every attack I have had since I went gluten free has been from hidden gluten? I go back and look at ingredients, I check where I might have made a mistake and sometimes I don't find the issue, as I am sure many diners who have left your restaurant believing incorrectly that your an awesome chef who managed to come up with a gluten free pasta they couldn't tell the difference from regular (because there was none) only to have to deal with these issues.

So no someone isn't going to come back to you for giving them a gluten filled pasta instead of a gluten free one (which by the way would require more creativity on your part, I know being a busy man and all that you might not have time to be creative but well most real chefs would welcome the opportunity to learn something new.)

A real chef would never purposefully give people food poisoning. So "Chef" you do not deserve the title chef, you deserve the title Moron. 

http://theview.abc.go.com/forum/chef-poisoning-celiacs
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/food-poisoning-and-safe-food-handling-symptoms
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm

On vacation

On vacation but still looking for recipe ideas! Vacations are a new things to avoid every day, but as they say there is an app for that.. or a few, and other websites are my friend too, just google what I want to eat and gluten free, usually something pops up!
oh well back in a couple weeks with some new recipes. Until then http://foodgawker.com/

Red cabbage and something like Schnitzel

When I went to the store Friday, there were some beautiful small cabbage heads in the produce department! My  friend was coming to visit this weekend and I know he adores German cabbage. This is how today's menu was born!

"German" Red Cabbage in a Crock pot

Makes about 6 cups
Prep time 10 mins with about 5 hours cook time

Ingredients:

• 1  medium head red cabbage cut in 4th's then cored then sliced thin
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 Apple of your choice pealed and cut into large chunks
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Chili Powder (yes really and I know its not German but I like what it adds)
• 1/3 cup Apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Put everything in your crock pot but the salt and pepper and cook on high until its tender (about 5 hours for me). Salt and pepper to taste, and serve! Feel free to add more sugar if its not to your taste or less for that matter!

'Schnitzel'

Before I went gluten free Schnitzel was one of my very very favorite foods!
This is not quite it but with some tweaking maybe some day I will get it perfect, but its still awfully good.
Serves 4

Ingredients: 

• 4 Boneless pork chops of your choice
• 1 Sleeve Schar Naturally Gluten-Free Table Crackers 
• 1/2 cup OrgraN All Purpose Rice Crumbs 
• 1/2 cup Authentic Foods Classical Blend Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour 
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups Buttermilk
• 1/4 inch of oil of your choice (most any oil with a decently high smoke point will work I used Veggie oil)

Directions: 

Take your boneles porkchops and place in a zip top bag  and pound them thin one at at time, I find it helps if you slit the sides of the bag so you can open them and peel the pork off.
In a shallow bowl or pan large enough to accommodate the pork place the milk. As you finish the pork place it in the milk and let it soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Place the sleeve of table crackers in a zip top bag and pretend they are someone who drove you nuts today, the guy who cut you off in traffic or the person who had to order 5 drinks all with 10 different modifications at the Starbucks line in front of you when your already late for work. Try not to turn them into a fine powder you want it to have a little texture (otherwise I would say use a food processor but this really makes it too fine)

In another bowl combine the crackers, flour, spices and rice crumbs, mix them together well.

Prep the pan, I use a large nonstick pan with about an 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom and make it hot but not smoking)

Remove the pork 1 at a time from the milk and coat them in the flour mix then lay them in the pan fry until golden. then place on a rack (I place them in an oven that's warm to wait until they are all done).

I then drained the oil and add a couple tablespoons of the gluten free all purpose flour  (enough to absorb the remaining oil) and a little salt and pepper, and then added some gluten free beef broth enough to make it runny and sauce like, and cooked it until it bubbled. Taste, add more salt or pepper or both. If it gets too thick add more broth.

Serve and enjoy!

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

These are yummy and pretty light for biscuits! make them bigger rather than smaller they are yummy and very buttery! The cast-iron adds a wonderful crunch to the bottom!

I stole this recipe from Food.com

Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:Serves: 8, Yield:8 biscuits

• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 27 mins
Preheat the oven to 375°F Spray a baking sheet (preferably a baking stone) with cooking spray. (I used a cast iron griddle and preheated it with the oven, 1/4 stick of butter added just at then end to coat the pan)

Place the starches, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Process with six 1-second pulses. (I used a bowl and sifted these together as I measured them.

Sprinkle the butter cubes evenly over the flour mixture, cover, and process with 12 1-second pulses. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs. (I broke the butter and mixed it with my fingers until it was grainy)

Pour the buttermilk evenly over the mixture. Process for 8 1-second pulses, or until the dough gathers into a moist clump. (I used a spoon for this just carefully folding things together mixing as little as possible)

Using your bare hands, quickly gather a clump of dough, lightly form it into a biscuit shape, and drop it onto the cookie sheet. (again I used a cast-iron griddle with butter on it I also turned the biscuits in the butter to coat the top and bottom to make them yummy) Repeat this for all the remaining dough, trying to handle the dough as little as possible (it's sticky). Also, I coated my hands in some gluten free all purpose four so my hands didn't stick!
This made 10 small biscuits but the bigger they are the nicer the texture so make them bigger! When I make this again I will make 5 biscuits with it!

Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Gluten Free Cheese and Onion Bread

Ok I was craving a savory bread, I had some onion laying around and some bits of cheese that needed to be used. (As a side note my hubby who isn't gluten free likes this so much he has asked 2 more times for me to make it since last week I told him the recipe will be on my blog have at it dear)

GF Cheese and Onion bread

I found a basic Gluten Free Bread recipe at Recipe Rascal

I changed it some

Liquid Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup oil (I used 1/2 stick Margarine melted)
• 1 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon milk into which 4 Tablespoons dry buttermilk has been dissolved. Heat milk such that liquid mixture will end up at room temperature. (I used 1/2 c cream, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar and the remainder milk)

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown rice flour (I used 1cup brown rice and 1 cup white rice flour)
• 1/2 cup potato starch flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup caramelized onions cooled*
• 3/4 cup Cheese of your choice (I used finely grated cheddar and a mild swiss like cheese)

Mix sugar and Yeast into the milk let sit.

Sift all the dry ingredients together, except yeast, and pour into the bread maker.

Pour in the milk, yeast mix.

Mix eggs and butter add that to the top.

Set the bread machine to basic and Medium.

When the machine beeps add add the onion and cheese.

Try not to eat it from the bread machine.. trust me its hot in there!

*Carmalized onions.

Thinly slice two and a half small white onions (I used a mandolin for this)

In a large frying pan melt half a stick of butter put onions in the melted butter add salt and pepper to taste.

When onions are just soft add about 2tbsp brown sugar and continue to cook until soft brown and yummy allow to cool before you add to the bread or it will cook the melt the cheese into a big lump.

This turned out awesome it was moist and tasted really tasted of Onion, but next time I want to up the cheese to 1 1/2 cups. I personally couldn't taste the cheese at all!

Gluten free Flour

Gluten Free Mommy has a great post on Gluten free flours and what they do and how they work, really helpful when your working to replicate a certain flavor or texture!

http://glutenfreemommy.com/gluten-free-grains-101-the-best-flour-blend/

Oh and I want to endorse a company

http://www.bobsredmill.com/

They have gluten free and gluten filled items but they really rock everything I have with their name on it has been wonderful! Also, I hear they are an employee owned company which is a major plus in my book.

I don't think there is any gluten free flour blend that I would truly consider all purpose BUT http://www.bobsredmill.com/gf-all_purpose-baking-flour.html comes pretty darn close!

I used it to make fried chicken strips and gravy and it was even better than my gluten filled one!

it also works for sausage gravy.. now if I can just learn to make a biscuit that doesn't fail hehe.

Ok off to figure out lunch..

Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Custard Bruleed

I hate the term Creme brulee.. It always sounds so French and hard! It often congers images of tiny portions of boring custards from over priced restaurants

I roughly used a recipe from http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dia/recipeID/3794/Recipe.cfm

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup +1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tsp. hazelnut extract or 1 vanilla bean (I used Kahlua)
(if you do not have the vanilla bean then use 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
4 oz. dark chocolate, chopped (I used bitter sweet chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, ground into a paste (this can be easily done in a food processor) I used http://www.bobsredmill.com/hazelnut-flour-meal.html I didn't grind it or anything just put it in
1/3 cup freshly ground espresso (tell the person at Starbucks or Caribou that you need it ground into powder for baking) (I used about 3 tablespoons Instant espresso)
Sugar for topping and bruleeing (is that even a word?)

Preheat the oven to 300

Prepare a double boiler. If you don't have one use a pot of water and a heat proof bowl. (just a little water about an inch in the bottom of a pan then place the other pan or bowl on top and let come to a simmer but not a boil the point is low slow moist heat on the container so it doesn't burn the chocolate. Don't let this part scare you its not as hard as it sounds!

Instructions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees C. In a double boiler, slowly heat cream, hazelnut or vanilla or Kahlua , espresso, and hazelnut paste (or hazelnut meal) for 10-15 minutes, While this is heating In a separate bowl mix the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of sugar until smooth and creamy. At this point stir in the chocolate (if you used a vanilla bean remove it now). Stir until melted and the mix is shiny. (this will not be smooth if you use the hazelnut meal but it will be yummy) Remove it from the heat. Then temper the eggs, add a little of the chocolate mix to the eggs and whisk it in, then a little more and a little more until it looks like a lighter version of the chocolate, then combine the remainder. I made one more addition Bottom crust: 1 cup Hazelnut meal 1/3 cup of sugar 3 tablespoons of butter melted Mix them all together and pressed them into the bottom of each of the bowls*. Anyway this filled 4, 4 oz bowls, glass baking dish these fit nicely in placed the bowls inside then filled the bowls. Place the whole thing in the oven and slowly poured hot water in the bottom until it comes about half way up the bowls. I baked this at 300 for about 30 mins. Remove from the water bath and let sit (I used a towel) for about 20 mins to cool (you can let these chill in your fridge but I have no idea how long this will take because I can never wait) Then Lightly coat this with sugar (shake off any excess) if you don't lightly coat it the sugar will puddle and it with taste icky (yes that's a technical term). You can skip this step it will be just as yummy just have a slightly different texture. Okay if you added the sugar, you can use a blow torch if you have one of move the rack in the oven to the highest setting and place the dishes on a baking sheet and turn on your boiler but WATCH because it will burn in the bad way fast! *Ok I have these great little bowls made by pyrex I got years and years ago, they are about 4 ounces and oven safe I use them for soo many things, my favorite is baked eggs. Enjoy! Okay so this is a long complicated recipe with many steps and most people won't even try it. You should know it really is very very easy! It's worth every single step.

food today

I am getting more and more adventurous food wise, since my old stand by's are now a no no I am learning new ways to cook!

Today I made

Grogonzola pudding:

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta, drained (the ricotta has to be really well drained, even squeezed out using cheese cloth, otherwise your pudding will develop a watery layer on the bottom – if this happens, though, it doesn’t actually matter because it still tastes really good.)

1/2-3/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese (use more or less depending on how strong a flavor you like)

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup chopped, caramelized green onion

1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Then mix everything in a big bowl, then poured it into a glass baking dish, which I put into a larger roasting pan, placed near the bottom of the oven added some water to the pan and baked it for about an hour until it was lightly golden brown around the edges and pulling away. If you don't drain the ricotta I am told it makes a watery mess at the bottom but I didn't have this problem!

This is NOT my recipe, if it belongs to you or you know who it belongs to please tell me and I will put a link!

I served this with

Honey Mustard Roasted Chicken

This really isn't a recipe, kinda an unrecipe hehe.

I took a bottle of spicy brown mustard and put about half of it into a bowl, then mixed with about 1/3 cup of honey(roughly equal parts), about 3 tables spoons of lime juice and a bunch of chopped garlic (my family loves garlic) then put a small quartered white onion in the cavity of a whole chicken, placed it on my roasting pan and then coated it with about 1/2 of the honey mustard mix and mush it around under the skin with my hands then bake it in the oven at 375 for about an 45 mins then I took the remaining sauce and spooned it over the chicken and let it brown (about 15 mins)

Cut and serve! it was really yummy sweet and tangy and moist!

We had some lovely fresh steamed green beans that had been dressed with some garlic and butter on the side! YUM

Van's Wheat free gluten free waffles

these are very very yummy. texture is good and they are better than most normal frozen waffles

It's official I am sick of being sick. Being gluten free is much harder when your sick.. its been 2 weeks damn it cold go away!

Where have I been

No one reads this anyway.. it's more for me at this point.

I have been really sick, for a very very long time.

I kept getting worse, and the doctor's didn't know what was wrong.

I had migraines, stomach aches, stomach cramps, IBS like symptoms, I was constantly tired, had strange tingling in body parts for no reason, I was weak, nauseous, strange sometimes bloody stool, I bruised if you looked at me wrong, I had joint pain and I simply couldn't think or concentrate anymore.. Everything had a "cause" I had my gal bladder removed, I have reflux, I am over weight, ect.. so they had reasons but the treatments didn't help.. at all... not even a little! Also, no matter what I did (even a 500 calorie a day diet) I never lost weight.

So I started looking for causes.. there had to be more. I will be 40 this year I shouldn't feel like I am dying!

I have an autistic 8 year old.. I had been reading about that when I stumbled across a Celiac website. When I started looking at the symptoms.. All of my symptoms were on the list.. sure there were a few that were not, but the more I looked the more sense it made.

So... I started reading about what it takes to be gluten free

and reading

and reading

and I made the jump

1st I detoxed, I went on a liquid diet for a few days

then added protein

then milk

then rice

and started learning to cook again

because I felt WONDERFUL!!

It was working! finally something was working!

Then.. I got something with gluten in it (soy sauce), with in hours most of my symptoms are back I hurt all over, I want to vomit, my head hurts... I feel like I have been run over by a truck!

I have been gluten free (mostly) for about 6 weeks..

Today I have the flu hehe but still its the best flu I have had in years!

even though my ribs are sore from coughing and my head hurts, I still feel better than in years

and I am finally learning to think again, slowly the fog that my head has been in is clearing.

Slowly I am becoming me again.

Some days gluten free is hard! Especially when what I want is a grilled cheese and potato soup to chase the sick away..