Wheat Free Recipes
You can find gluten free pasta, cereal, bread, waffles, pancakes, and/or Cookies at most
health food stores and some local grocers. Until you get the hang of shopping & eating
Wheat & Gluten Free. Here are some easy things to cook & eat.
· Cream of Rice Hot Cereal
· Potatoes
· Rice
· Eggs
· Fresh Fruit
· Fresh Vegetables
· Canned Fruit (not in heavy syrup)
· Canned Vegetables (not in sauce)
· Beef (from the butcher without sauce, or seasonings)
· Chicken (from the butcher without sauce, or seasonings)
· Fish (from the butcher without sauce, or seasonings)
· Fresh Vegetables (raw, roasted, boiled, etc.)
· Home made soups (avoid Bullion cubes, and pasta)
· Coffee & Tea (avoid flavored types unless you contact manufacturer)
· Popcorn ( air popped)
· Pudding ( thickened with cornstarch)
· Juice (All Natural 100% fruit juice. Some flavors of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice are not G.F.)
I used to list a gluten free mixture, that consisted of Corn, Brown Rice, and Tapioca Flour.
I quit using this mixture because one day I sat down and started looking at the cost for
multiple gluten free flours, xathan and/or guar gum and decided it did not need to cost
me a fortune every time I made something gluten free to eat. I continued experimenting
because I not only wanted something economical to make, but something that tasted great
too. I rarely use xathan or guar gum in my recipes anymore, and they turn out great.
I use Brown Rice Flour and Tapioca Starch in the majority of my recipes. I prefer Brown Rice
flour to White Rice flour, because it is less gritty in my opinion.
I cannot give you an exact ratio, but my logic is something like this:
If a recipe calls for 2 cups of wheat flour, I generally use 1 1/2 Cups Brown Rice Flour and
1/4 Cup Tapioca Starch. I have to adjust this according to the recipe I am converting, but that
is the general premise.
I also cook with inexpensive Corn Starch. If a recipe calls for Wheat flour to thicken the
sauce or gravy, I use Corn Starch instead.
3 Tablespoons of Wheat Flour is equal to 1 Tablespoon of Corn Starch.
I hope you enjoy our monthly recipes, and the recipes in our new cookbook. If you need
help converting a recipe, feel free to email me anytime, and I will be glad to help.
Fruity, Nutty, Ginger, Cherry Macaroons
Best macaroons in the galaxy, and gluten-free, too.
For lactose-free macaroons, see below.
These delicious macaroons are my all-time favourite food. Yummy, chewy and sweet, these macaroons have enough substance to let you know you've had a good snack.
Ingredients:
2 cups coarsely shredded coconut
2 cups dessicated (finely shredded) coconut
1 tin (415g) sweetened condensed skim milk
1 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit
125g hazelnuts, crushed (OR your favourite nuts)
90g (3oz) glace (candied) cherries, halved
90g (3oz) chopped preserved ginger in syrup
OR 1 teaspoon ground (powdered) ginger
Method:
Turn the oven on. In a large bowl, stir everything except the condensed milk. Add the condensed milk and mix thoroughly.
Dollop teaspoonfuls of the macaroons mixture on to a non-stick baking tray. Bake for 145 C (300 F) until slightly golden - about 25 minutes. Macaroons burn easily, so watch them for the last five minutes. Turn off oven and leave the macaroons in oven for another half an hour. (That stops them from going soggy.) We have an old oven bought for $30 in a garage sale, and it helps to bake macaroons high in the oven.
Leave the macaroons on the baking tray to cool slightly - well, OK, you're allowed to eat ONE now - before putting on a cooling rack.
Note: Use preserved ginger in syrup if you can. Much better than ground ginger. Crystalised ginger, chopped small, also works OK. The macaroons look really tempting if you put half a cherry on top of each one, before putting them in the oven. You'll need about 40 cherry halves.
Lactose-free macaroons: Replace the condensed milk with 3/4 cup of caster sugar, two large beaten eggs and two teaspoons of lemon juice. Bake at 170 C (350 F) for about 16 minutes. Rescue them just before they burn.
Makes about 40.
NO-BAKE LEMON SLICE
A never-fail recipe with a sweet-tangy taste which is delicious. You can't burn this slice, because you just pop it in the fridge.
Ingredients:
SLICE:
half a 415g (13oz) can condensed milk
125g (4oz) butter, melted
250g (8oz) gluten-free cornflakes, crushed
OR 250g (8oz) gluten-free rice cookies, crushed
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 tablespoon lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon OR mandarin
ICING:
250g (8oz) pure icing sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
a little hot water
Method:
Mix the slice ingredients well. Press into a lightly greased dish.
In a separate bowl, bash the lumps out of the pure icing sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix well. Very slowly add a little hot water until the icing is soft enough. Spread over the slice mixture. Refrigerate for a few hours. Cut into fingers.
The Wheat-Free Page
32 Alternatives to Wheat
Featuring 2 Wheat-Free Recipes
OK, so you can't eat wheat. Big deal. While that's admittedly not a fun diagnosis, nevertheless you can take the challenge and have some fun discovering new foods. The following list is more than any one person will want to deal with - but it represents CHOICES for you to try. Do consider combining a few flours for different results. For example, oat flour by itself can produce moist but heavy baked goods; barley and rice, on the other hand, are light and tend to be dry. Put either of them together with oat flour in a 50-50 mixture and surprising things happen. The mixture almost handles like unbleached (white) wheat flour. Other combos I've enjoyed include: Two parts amaranth with one part chickpea (or bean) flour Equal parts amaranth, quinoa and unroasted buckwheat flours Buckwheat flour made from unroasted groats, lightened with two tablespoons of arrowroot or tapioca starch flour in the bottom of each cup before filling it with the flour. (Ditto for teff flour.) Equal parts spelt and Kamut* brand flours Equal parts barley and rye flours
Experiment for proportions that you like, because different ratios will produce different results. Keep notes of which ingredients you use, in what amounts, so you can duplicate your successes and tweak those combinations you want to improve. And for heaven sake, have fun when you're playing with new foods in your kitchen!
Even though the following foods may not be in your local grocery store, you will surely find some in your health food store - and if they aren't generally stocked, perhaps they will special order them for you. All are readily available by mail order, so I include sources below, and in my books.
Now . . . what to DO with those unusual flours? See The MFA Bookstore for a description of our allergy cookbooks that use many of those flours listed below. And don't forget, you will find six sample recipes in this web site (more counting all of the variations).
Find the number next to each wheat alternative in this list and match it to the sources below for where to purchase each wheat alternative.
Items in bold print followed by (G) contain Gluten.
1. Almond - flour and meal
2. Amaranth - whole (as hot cereal), flour, puffed
3. Barley (G)whole hulled, flakes, flour
4. Buckwheat - whole groats, cereal, flour (raw or roasted)
5. Cassava - flour (whole root, dried, ground; tapioca starch is refined from this). Not generally available in stores, see mail order source.
6. Chestnut - flour
7. Chickpea - flour
8. Flaxseed - whole and meal
9. Hazelnut - flour and meal
10. Jerusalem artichoke - flour
11. Kamut* (G) brand whole grains, flakes, flour, pasta
12. Kuzu (also called Kudzu) - starch
13. Legume Flours - yellow & green pea, red & green lentil, white, lima & pinto bean
14. Malanga - flour
15. Millet - whole grain, flour
16. Milo/sorghum - flour
17. Oat (G)- Scotch style, flour, oat bran, rolled flakes
18. Pearled Millet - whole, flour
19. Poi (dehydrated) - starch and flour
20. Potato, white - flour, starch
21. Quinoa - whole, flour, puffed
22. Rice (short, medium, long grain) - whole, flour, pasta, puffed, cakes, crackers
23. Rye (G)- flakes, flour, WASA cracker(Light Rye has no yeast, only rye flour, water, and salt)
24. Soy - flakes, grits, flour
25. Spelt (G) - whole grains, flakes flour, pasta
26. Tapioca - starch flour, "pearls" of small, medium or large granules, such as Minute Tapioca (see also cassava)
27. Teff - whole (for hot cereal), flour
28. Water Chestnut - flour
29. White Sweet Potato - flour
30. Wild Rice - whole
31. Yam (true yam) - flour
32. Lotus - flour, pasta
Sources of Alternative Flours
Allergy Resources, 557 Burbank St. Suite K, Broomfield, CO 80020
Phone 800-873-3529 to order, 800-564-4019 for customer service
2,3,4,7,8,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,25,26,27,30
Contact by phone to obtain a catalog or for direct sales.
Arrowhead Mills, P.O. Box 2059, Hereford, TX 79045
Phone 806-364-0730
2,11,22,23,25,27
Purchase in, or order from a health food store. No direct orders.
Eden Foods, Inc., 701 Tecumseh Road, Clinton, MI 49236
Phone 800-248-0301
4,12,21
Purchase in, or order from a health food store. No direct orders.
Ener-G Foods, P.O. Box 84487, Seattle, WA 98124
800-331-5222
3,19,20,22,26
Order from catalog by phone or purchase in a health food store.
G.B. Ratto & Company, 821 Washington St., Oakland, CA 94067
Phone 510-832-6503
4,5,6,7,9,21,25,30
Order by phone or purchase in a health food store (probably West Coast only).
Gluten Solutions
Order gluten-free products directly from their web site.
2,4,7,13,16,18,20,21,22,24,26
The Teff Company, P.O. Box A, Caldwell, ID 83606
208-455-0375
27
Order by phone (minimum order required) or purchase in a health food store.
Nu-World Amaranth, Inc. P.O. Box 2202, Naperville, IL 60567
630-369-6819
2, 21, 26
Order by phone.
Omega Nutrition, Cascade Business Park, 5373 Guide Meridan, Bellingham, WA 98226
800-661-3529
1,8,9
Order by phone.
Purity Foods, Inc., 2871 W. Jolly Road, Okemos, MI 48864
517-351-9231
25
Purchase in, or order from a health food store. Only large orders direct.
Special Foods, 9207 Shotgun Court, Springfield, VA 22153
Phone 703-644-0991
2,5,10,14,16,28,29,31,32
Order by phone only - not found in stores.
Syrian Bakery & Grocery, 2100 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60608
Phone 312-376-8525
7
Order by phone.
* Please note: Kamut is a registered trademark.
Allergen-Free Recipes
Wheat-Free Recipes: Featuring
Amaranth, Buckwheat & Quinoa
GRAIN-FREE A-B-Q "CORN BREAD"
Amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa (pronounced "keen-wa") are not true grains, so may be pure gold to those who react to all grains! All will be found in most health food stores. For best results, buy fresh amaranth and quinoa flours where there is a quick turn-over - and smell it before baking with it to be sure it isn't rancid. (Then store air tight in your freezer.) Also, buy whole UNROASTED buckwheat groats and grind your own flour in a blender. This is easily done as the groats are not nearly as hard as grains of wheat, so you don't need a special grinder or mill. I grind one pound of groats in my blender, half cup at a time, in 7 minutes, and that includes rubbing the flour through a strainer to catch and discard any large particles that may be present. The flavor and texture of this mixed-flour pan bread is superior to that of bread made from any one of the flours. While not a sandwich bread, this corn-bread-type-bread is wonderful with salad, soup or stew, or for breakfast (topped with a fruit sauce or a little all-fruit jam).
Yields 1 pie plate of cornbread-type bread (6-8 pieces)
· 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon amaranth flour 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unroasted buckwheat flour 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon quinoa flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 3 tablespoons oil
· 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
· Almond milk or water to make 1 cup liquid
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick spray, or oil and dust with flour. Combine flours, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a bowl and whisk to blend. Measure the oil, maple syrup, and almond milk or water in a 2-cup glass measuring cup, and stir. Make a "well" in the center of the flour and pour in the liquids. Use a rubber spatula to stir a few swift strokes - only until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Transfer at once to prepared pan. Batter will be quite stiff, yet when you scrape it into the pan, it still pours. (In other words - although stiff, it's still a heavy batter rather than a dough.) Bake about 20 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly touched, and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes before cutting. Best served warm, or at least the same day.
VARIATIONS: SWEET A-B-Q "CORN BREAD"
Substitute pineapple, apple, orange, pear or white grape juice for the water, and add an additional 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to dry ingredients. Or if you prefer, add 1/2 teaspoon white stevia powder or 1/4 cup date sugar to the dry ingredients (with no extra soda). This sweet version resembles coffeecake.
SPICED A-B-Q "CORN BREAD"
Following the recipe for SWEET A-B-Q "CORN BREAD", add ONE of the following to the dry ingredients, whisking well to mix:
1 teaspoon powdered ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (gives bread a very nice flavor!) 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
INDIVIDUALIZED "CORN BREAD"
If you don't have all three flours on hand, or if you don't tolerate one of them, use 3/4 cup of each of the two remaining flours, plus 3 tablespoons of either ONE of the flours. Texture and flavor will still be better than with any one flour alone.
SIMPLE SIMON MAPLE CAKE
Cake without eggs doesn't keep very well. Solution? Make a small cake to feed up to 4 people. If you've a 6-1/2 inch skillet with an ovenproof handle, such as Corning's, you can cut this recipe in half to make just the amount of cake you will use. A small cake like this will serve three generously, or four modestly. Freeze any that won't be used the same day, but use soon - within 2 weeks - and top the thawed cake with applesauce or other fruit sauce (to moisten).
Full recipe yields 6-8 wedges, half recipe yields 3-4 wedges.
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon amaranth flour 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unroasted buckwheat flour(see NOTE below) 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon quinoa flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup oil 2/3 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
Preheat oven to 350. Non-stick spray a pie plate. Combine dry ingredients and whisk well, or sift. Combine oil and syrup in measuring cup and pour over dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir until flour disappears. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Scatter the chopped pecans over the top, if using. Bake 20-22 minutes or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.
Surprisingly good! Serve plain as you would a coffee cake, with a cup of tea, or use as dessert. Second-day egg-free baked goods can seem dry, so here's a delicious tip: Use leftovers (that were wrapped tightly overnight) the next morning for breakfast. Split each wedge horizontally and top it with a fresh or cooked fruit sauce, shortcake-style.
(Example: Cook 1 bag of frozen unsweetened peaches or blueberries + 3/4 cup water + 1/4 cup agave nectar, honey or maple syrup. In about 10 minutes when fruit is tender, stir in 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon tapioca starch dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water. Stir for about two minutes until it bubbles, thickens, and the liquid becomes clear. [May cut peach slices into bite-size pieces while fruit is cooking, if you wish.] Spoon warm peach sauce over the warm Maple Cake or Sweet A-B-Q "Corn Bread" for a delicious - and memorable - breakfast.)
VARIATION: GINGERBREAD
Whisk 1 teaspoon powdered ginger into the dry ingredients of either the bread or cake above, and mix well. Top with the peach sauce, above. Oh, Yum! (Author's personal favorite)
These recipes are adapted from Superfoods - Allergy Recipes by Marjorie Hurt Jones, R.N. This booklet features her six favorite wheat-free alternative flours: amaranth, buckwheat, Kamut*, quinoa, spelt and teff. To order those flours, see The Wheat-Free Page, above. To order the Superfoods booklet go to The MFA Bookstore.
* Please note: Kamut is a registered trademark.
For additional allergen-free sample recipes see The Gameplan For Recovery Page and The Yeast-Free Page.
Rice and Almond Flour
Pie Crust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grind 1/3 cup whole almonds to a fine powder in a blender.
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
In a 9-inch pie plate, combine the ground almond flour, brown rice flour, cinnamon or nutmeg and cloves. Mix well with a fork.
In a microwave dish, combine the water, oil and honey and heat on low setting until honey liquefies.
Drizzle the honey liquid over the flour mixture in the pie plate, and stir with a fork until well blended.
Let stand until the dry ingredients absorb the liquid.
Shape the crust by pressing mixture firmly into place with your fingers, covering bottom and sides of plate evenly. Pat top edge of crust into straight edge.
Bake before or after adding filling. Bake empty crust for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Makes one crust.
Note: Gluten-free dough will not toughen when handled.
Gluten-Free Flour Mix
Preparation time approximately ten minutes.
Yield: 3 cups GF mix
2 cups white rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2/3 cup potato starch flour
(not plain potato flour)
Yield: 9 cups GF mix
6 cups white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
2 cups potato starch flour
(not plain potato flour)
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
Sift the mixture into a large air-tight container.
Store in a container with a tight lid.
Use as a substitute for white wheat flour.
Flour Mix #2
Preparation time approximately ten minutes.
1 lb. barley flour contains gluten
1 lb. potato starch flour
(not plain potato flour)
1 lb. fine-ground maize flour
6 tsp. bread soda
3 tsp. cream of tarter
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
Sift the mixture into a second bowl to remove all lumps and distribute the leavening evenly. Sift the mixture a second time into a large air-tight container.
Store in a container with a tight lid.
Yield 3 lbs. wheat-free flour mix.