Day 59, 60 ~ Brown Rice Quinoa Bread

Attempt number 2 at a decent g-free yeast bread.

These loaves that I made yesterday turned out very pretty. The original recipe called for cooked brown rice to be added along with brown rice flour and tapioca flour. But I substituted cooked quinoa, since I had some leftover in my fridge already and I knew that it is kind of similar to brown rice. 

Here are my bags of quinoa--two are white, and one it red quinoa:

This is a wonderful grain that can be used just like rice, except that it is very nutritious. It also cooks up just as fast and easy as rice. And it has a nice, mild flavor. So I was pretty sure it would substitute just fine in my bread recipe, and it did.

This bread sliced up so nice, I decided it was sturdy enough to make a little hamburger for lunch with my fresh baked g-free bread. So I cut up the veggies, and cooked some hamburger meat. My hamburger patties had to be kind of small to fit the bread. All in all, it was pretty good.

So then this morning I made toast with my new bread...and it was ok. But, I decided that the reason most people on gluten-free diets just don't eat bread is that even when it is ok...it still just does not have the flavor of wheat. I never knew that wheat had such a lovely flavor before. Bread just tastes flat without wheat and gluten! 

Day 58 ~ Moving on to another bread recipe...

I ate my chick pea flour bread as toast this morning. I had to really pile the jam on thick to cover up the flavor of the bread. I decided that I really did not care for the bread much...but turns out that my grandson's seemed to think it was just fine, so I sent most of the loaf home with them! Maybe I will get a report from Julia in a few days about it. I do have a new recipe picked out to try--Brown Rice Bread. Surely that will have a better flavor.

Day 57 ~ GF yeast bread

It got rainy today, so that inspired me to make my first yeast bread.  Well, basically, it worked...

The bread was easy to make. You don't kneed it, but the thick cake-like batter did run in the mixer for 10 minutes. And it only does one rising--in the pan it is baked in. They have you rise it in a warm oven as moving it can make it fall. So you leave it in the oven, then just turn the oven on at the right time to bake--kind of like a bread machine, I supposed.  The bread rose over the sides of the pan, I noticed just in time, and slid a baking sheet under it in the oven. Right away, overflowing hunks broke right off--a clean break, much like silly putty does. Without gluten, there is no stetchiness at all, and the bread must have side supports to rise. I think my pan may have been a little too small.

The texture was good and it sliced perfectly--even thin slices. But here is the bad part--it didn't taste very good. This recipe is Chick Pea Flour Bread, made with chick pea (garbanzo bean) flour, plus other flours. I think I just do not really care for the strong flavor of chick pea flour. It is not horrible, but not delicious either. I think this bread might be ok for grilled cheese sandwiches, and maybe toast and jelly--I will try that in the morning.

But I am encouraged because the bread worked well. I just need to find a flour type that I enjoy the taste of. I am also trying to use the more nutritious flours...so that will be tricky, as they have the stronger flavors!

Day 56 ~ Now...why am I doing this?

Sometimes I have to remind myself, or explain to others, why I am going gluten free for what was originally 6 months...although I have moved my deadline to one year now.  I get so caught up in the effort of NOT eating gluten, that even I forget my purpose...well, sort of.  So here is a good Google explanation:


Gluten sensitivity is actually an autoimmune disease that creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints,digestive tract, and more. It can be the single cause behind many different "diseases." To correct these diseases, you need to treat the cause--which is often gluten sensitivity--not just the symptoms.


Basically, it is the inflammation that causes joint pain and stiffness that I am looking to reduce.  And if it turns out there are more benefits from GF living  than that even--then all the better.  But I will be happy if I can just squat down and hug a grandchild without pain. That is all I really want!

Day 55 ~ Keebler saltines calling me

Yesterday I had some sort of stomach bug and didn't want to eat much. Today, I am eating a little, but not much sounds good to me. Except one thing: Keebler saltine crackers. Isn't that what everyone eats when their stomach feels queasy? But those crispy simple crackers are made of wheat. So I pulled out some GF rice crackers. I nibbled them some, but they didn't really help my stomach. Maybe it is just that I have always eaten saltines when my stomach was upset, so it just feels like nothing else will make me feel better. Oh well, I made it through two days of the stomach bug with no saltines, so I guess I will make it.

Day 54 ~ G-free 1st birthday cake

This time I got to eat the cake! Carissa made this cake from chocolate, pureed garbanzo beans, and eggs. It was very good. However, Sylvia was not interested in eating chocolate cake at all--she never took a bite, even when we tried to force feed her!

The rest of us loved the cake though--especially me!

Day 53 ~ G-free cookbooks

I have been checking out and cooking from several GF cookbooks from the library. I finally decided that 2 of them were useful enough to buy--so I just ordered them today on Amazon. Now I feel committed--I have purchased cookbooks.

Day 52 ~ GF at P.F. Chang's

We were going out for a nice dinner tonight--so I requested P.F. Chang's, as I had read that they have the most extensive gluten free menu of any restaurant, and that their waiters are very knowledgeable about G-free. We really did have an excellent meal and a helpful waiter. The only thing I was a bit displeased about, but I do understand why, is that each g-free dish was at least a dollar more than that same item on the regular menu. But it was nice having a good, full menu to choose from--all gluten-free.

Day 51 ~ Better food choices

I love how eating g-free forces you to make better food choices--especially for snacks and fast meals. You just can't go the easy quick route and still eat g-free--you have to make a new groove. I would say my fruit eating has doubled--they are my fast snacks now. Before, I would eat fruit when there was nothing left to choose. Not that I didn't like fruit--but crackers, breads, and cookies just call out louder than fruit does! Tonight I needed a fast meal that didn't involve cooking, if possible. I found this great recipe for a quinoa mango salad. I made it very quickly , and it was absolutely delicious and completely filling and satisfying for the end of a hot summer day.....http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/05/mango-quinoa-salad/ 

Day 50 ~ Eating gluten politely

I had a new friend make a desert for me at a dinner tonight...she knew I am gluten free. She was sweet to take the pie she had made, and put some filling in a little dish for me, so I could avoid the wheat crust...but then she forgot that the fruit filling had flour in it to thicken it. I really did appreciate her effort to try though, so I shrugged it off and ate it. It was very delicious, and I suppose that I will surly live.

Day 49 ~ Addicted to grocery shopping

Anytime I hear of a new grocery store to go to, I just can't resist going to see what they have that is gluten free. Seriously, I have been to 4 grocery stores in one week. And I just can't help buying anything new and different that I see that is g-free. I really do need to take a break from shopping and try out some of the g-free foods I have bought and have not opened yet! Today I found g-free corn flakes--I have a recipe for a pie crust that calls for them, and had not seen them anywhere till today. So that pie will be my plan for tomorrow...

Day 48 ~ Spicy Hot Turkey Corn Wrap

For a quickie lunch, I made the wraps from What We Cook (page 74), but instead of flour tortillas I used g-free corn tortillas. I warmed the tortillas in my vegetable steamer, which worked really well, and held the tortillas warm for second servings. This wrap tastes different on corn tortillas, but I think I like them even better. So many of my favorite recipes I can't make anymore, so it was nice to revise this one and like it!

Day 47 ~ A good g-free eating day

I had 3 great meals today, kind of by accident, as I didn't really plan any of them till the last minute. At breakfast, Carissa called me over to try her Socca Nicoise--which is flatbread (from Italy), made from chick pea flour and cooked in a skillet, then browned in a hot oven. I added some scrambled eggs on the bread and it felt like breakfast!

For lunch I tried my hand at making spring rolls with damp rice paper. I never thought of making spring rolls before, because I was always leery of them as I had no idea what the transparent wrap was made from--I worried that maybe it was something like what they pack sausage in, and maybe it was made from pig intestines or something...Well, I found out that is not the case. The transparent paper is just rice rolled very thin-hence, rice paper! (I know that Julia will think I am crazy that I ever thought this, since she loves spring rolls!) But aside from all that, what I PUT in the spring rolls is what is interesting. Basically, I cleaned out my fridge! I had some leftover fried venison strips, which I sliced very thin, then some leftover corn on the cob which I cut the corn from, some lettuce, cabbage slaw, sticky rice, and slices of mango. I know that sounds like an odd combo, but it was great. We dipped the rolls into spicy Thai sauce. David said it was one of the best meals he ever ate!

Then for supper I made baked chicken taquitos from corn tortillas and cooked up some spicy black beans. I had extra taquitos to put in the freezer for quick meals.  

Often my days feel like sad food days because I am struggling with at least one g-free meal that doesn't go well--but today was a happy food day.

Day 46 ~ No birthday cake for me

Today was Ethan's 5 year old birthday dinner--and my first grandchild's birthday cake I didn't eat. I brought g-free peanut butter cookies I made to eat instead--and I had the ice cream, so it is not like I was missing a sweet treat. But it made me kind of sad--not because I wanted the cake, but because it felt like I wasn't celebrating properly.

Day 45 ~ Peach pie goes g-free

After researching a half dozen different GF pie crust recipes over the past few weeks--many of them made completely different and with different kinds of flours--I finally settled on one that seemed it might be the most "normal" of the bunch. This crust made up easily in the food processor, and it was kind of nice that you don't have to worry about overworking the dough, like you must watch with a wheat flour with gluten crust. I had this feeling by the way the dough handled though, that I should save myself the frustration and not make a bottom crust till I was sure of the dough. So I just put a top crust on my peach pie and made it more like a cobbler. The dough broke off in pieces even as I laid it on top. You can see how it is kind of pieced together.

The flavor was good, though not in the same way as a flaky wheat crust. Maybe if you had never had a really good homemade pie crust, you would think this one was wonderful. And actually, it is defiantly tastier than a store bought crust. However, it does not surpass a good homemade gluten crust. Here is the odd thing this crust does: when a piece of crust goes below the filling, it does not get soft and dumpling-like as a wheat crust will do, rather, it dissolves! That is pretty weird. So I found when I served this, that is it important to keep all the crust bits on the top, and don't let them sink down into the syrup.  But, when all is said and done, it is hard to make a bad fresh summer peach pie--especially served warm with a scoop of ice cream. I think I will try some yogurt on the leftovers in the morning, which should then qualify it as a breakfast food.

Day 44 ~ 4,000 Gluten laden hamburgers

Today David and I helped assemble 4,000 hamburgers in the kitchen of Houston's First Baptist church for their outreach VBS program--the Houston Project, which takes dinner and VBS and adult Bible studies into 19 low income housing areas in Houston this week.  There was a lot of gluten flying around the church kitchen with 8,000 sides of buns! We both walked away with absolutely NO desire for a hamburger anytime soon! I was happy to come home and eat g-free.

Day 43 ~ Bread substitute

I am always looking for some kind of stand-in for bread. This morning I sliced up cold grits from last nights supper, and fried them in some butter along with fried eggs. Eating the fried grits slices definitely gave me the same satisfied feeling as a biscuit might. I even wondered if they would be good with jelly...but I didn't have enough slices cooked to try that options out.

Day 42 ~ Oh dear--pigging out on g-free cookies...

I read in one book that when people first go g-free, they often loose some weight, just because they are not really eating deserts, breads, and the like...But then, after a few weeks, they learn how to find/make many of their favorite treats and sweets...then the weight all comes back. Well, I am not too interested in loosing weight or gaining it either. However, it did make me feel good to think I was eating more good food, and almost no bad food just by default. But then I had my 2 days of chocolate cake, my really good waffles yesterday, then today Julia brought me a quite a few leftover gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that a friend left at her house. I have missed cookies...so I ate quite a lot of them, but the cookies were kind of on their last day of goodness, so I HAD to eat them...

Day 41 ~ Waffle happiness

Tonight I made buckwheat/cornflour/almond flour waffles for supper, and to my surprise they were wonderful! It makes me so happy when my baking is a success. These waffles were tasty, hearty, healthy--and I think I would have made them even if I wasn't eating gluten free--except then, I would not have all these flours and xanthan gum at my fingertips! I even have extra for the freezer, so we can have a quick, wonderful breakfast one day soon.

Day 40 ~ Back to back days of g-free chocolate cake

Yesterday, Carissa baked me a chick pea chocolate cake that was awesome. It actually was more like a brownie. Today I went to Julia's grandmother's 100th birthday party. I knew there would be cake. In fact, there were 3 kinds of cake. It was the first time that I felt tempted to eat a wheat flour cake...but I told myself to just eat an extra little bag of potato chips, since I was not getting cake. So I did. Then just as I finished bag 2 of chips, some g-free chocolate cup cakes showed up! I was so happy to eat a little cake, but I was bummed that I had eaten the extra bag of chips for no good reason!

Day 39 ~ A week of eating g-free away from home

Overall, I would say I did pretty well last week eating g-free while on vacation. There were times it was difficult both when eating out, and when eating in someone else's home. A few restaurants had limited amount of foods for me to choose from. Sometimes this made me unhappy when others were eating things I wanted to try. But I tried to focus on the conversation and having fun visiting--not the food. There were a few times I hit gold eating out--like when we went to eat Korean food--that worked great, and I had a wonderful naturally g-free dish that was so enjoyable. I even looked up the recipe for my dish, Bibimbap- http://rasamalaysia.com/bibimbap-recipe/

Eating at other peoples houses was a little tricky at breakfast. A couple times I had to pull out some g-free nutrition bars I brought along. To be polite, I did eat some chicken offered me, even though it was obvious to me that the coating was a light breading of wheat flour. But I survived with no ill effects. Sometimes it is better to be nice, than to do eat perfectly right.

Day 32....~ Going on my first g-free vacation

I am taking off today to go on a sister-in-laws road trip to see my pregnant niece, Monica, in Georgia. Us girls will be eating in the car while we drive. I really wish I had made up some good GF sandwich bread... but that has not happened yet. So I am taking a hard boiled egg, cheese, g-free crackers, and fruit. I should be fine, and hopefully not too messy! I am sure this will be a challenging week, trying to stay g-free, not only driving, but also while eating at someone elses' house. I don't want Monica to do anything extra for me...so we will just see what is naturally g-free that appears before me!

I will be back blogging next week--unless I manage to snag a computer while in Georgia...we will see.

Oh, by the way...want to do something to surprise me when I get back to the blog? Click on Followers on the right hand side of this blog. So far only Julia is my lone following. I know this is just to make me feel good--and yes, it does make me feel good to see your name on my following!