Breakfast Food (beef, corn, gluten, peanut & soy free)

Something David and I have enjoyed from the beginning of our marriage (6 years ago!) is having leisurely breakfasts together on the weekends. I would usually cook something and he'd make coffee or help with prep work and we'd linger over a great meal. When David was diagnosed with his allergies we had a hiccup in that routine but nothing major as it's easy to purchase corn free flours, if one is willing to pay the price. It's been almost 2 months since my diagnoses of a wheat and beef allergy and I have to say I've been tired of bacon and eggs for a while now...

At some point I made Walrus Bread from the back of a Bob's Red Mill garbanzo bean flour. I followed the recipe exactly with 3 substitutions. I used GUAR GUM rather than Xanthan Gum which can be (and usually is) derived from corn. For the Vinegar I used RICE VINEGAR and for the vegetable oil I used Canola. I wanted this to be alllll of our allergens free. I made the recipe to get a better feel for the flours. Unfortunately this bread is very much like a quick bread. Kind of crumbly and moist. It was okay. The Garbanzo Bean Flour made the bread taste "beany". It wasn't strong but it was NOT wheat bread. Also it didn't rise much as the flours are so different and (obviously) don't contain gluten. Since the bread wasn't flexible enough to make a traditional french toast I did it in the oven. I even threw the crumbs and bits in because they "bake" together.


Here are some recipes I've done in the last few weeks to break the monotony *and fat* of bacon & eggs.


BAKED FRENCH TOAST for 2
Ingredients
6 slices of Walrus Bread
2 TBSP butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1-4 TBSP brown sugar (this bread is NOT sweet by itself)
1 tsp vanilla
1-3 tsp cinnamon

Method
-Preheat oven to 350
-Grease 9*11 pan well
-Mix all ingredients well (except for the bread)
-Pour a few TBSP of the mixture on the bottom of the pan, enough to cover the bottom with a little extra
-Place the bread into the pan on the liquid
-Pour the rest of the liquid mix over the bread, slowly so it's absorbed
-Bake about 40 to 50 minutes or until a little brown and "dry" to the touch

To Serve
Cut into squares and place on plate. Top with powdered sugar and maple syrup. Yummy.





PANCAKES for 2
Ingredients
(dry)
1/4 cup gluten free oats, ground fine
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup sweet sorghum flour
2 TBSP flax seeds, ground fine
1 TBSP white sugar
3 tsp baking powder (Hain is GF & corn free)
1/4 tsp sea salt ground fine
(wet)
1 egg
1.25 cups milk (reserve .25 cup)
3 TBSP canola oil

Method
-Mix dry ingredients well
-In a separate container mix wet ingredients well, using just 1 cup of the milk reserving a .25 cup of the milk
-Combine the wet and dry ingredients
-This pancake mix will be thicker than one made with wheat flour but if it's too thick to pour slowly add the .25 cup of reserved milk until the batter is "pourable"
-Heat a skillet or griddle on medium heat until very warm, water should sizzle on it
-Pour the batter onto the dry pan
-NOTE: Extra oil or butter should NOT be needed and the pancakes won't cook as well if one uses butter in the skillet (I use all stainless steel traditional pans that do NOT have non-stick surfaces and my pancakes browned more evenly and looked/textured more like wheat when I used a dry skillet)

Serve
Serve pancakes with whatever you like! These pancakes are a little less sweet than traditional as buck wheat is slightly bitter.





WAFFLES for 2
Ingredients
(dry)
1/4 cup gluten free oats, ground fine
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup sweet sorghum flour
2 TBSP flax seeds, ground fine
2 tsp baking powder (Hain is GF & corn free)
1/8 tsp sea salt ground fine
(wet)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil, plus extra for the waffle iron

Method
-Mix dry ingredients well
-In a separate container mix wet ingredients well, using just 1 cup of the milk reserving a .25 cup of the milk
-Combine the wet and dry ingredients
-Heat the waffle iron until it's very warm
-"Paint" the extra oil onto the waffle iron with a basting brush or spray non sick spray on the iron (if you can find a GF, corn free one)
-Pour the batter onto the hot, greased iron and spread it out a little with a spoon
-NOTE: This batter won't "spread" out onto the iron like traditional gluten waffles. Also for some reason they love to cling to the iron. I found that oiling the iron and then letting the waffles cook until crispy brown makes them easier to remove.


Happy eating!

Buckwheat noodles

I've done very little cooking of late. There's a certain amount of shock that arrives with a food allergy diagnoses that is about as opposite as the one we already deal with. I've cleaned out my fridge & pantry twice and still find items I can't really eat (ginger keeps sneaking up on me in crazy places). On Tuesday night I tackled buckwheat noodles. While the name seems scary they are actually a gluten free product *while gluten free = wheat free, wheat free does NOT = gluten free*. I have attempted them before because I was hoping to find something wheat free to incorporate into our diet but was never happy with them and thus, discontinued using them. Being told I'm allergic to wheat was enough to get me to try buckwheat noodles again.

I cooked them by instinct this time rather than just package instructions. Since I was planning a loose white sauce I added olive oil & salt to the water as I would if I were using wheat noodles. I cooked them right at 5 mins then did a quick cold water rinse.

While the noodles boiled I used a little 1/2 and 1/2, cottage cheese & Parmesan cheese to make a loose or watery white sauce. Buckwheat seems to absorb a lot of liquid so when we loaded our bowls with fresh spinach, then the noodles then the sauce, the sauce thickened in the bowl and left us with cheesy deliciousness.

Today the plan is to make meatballs. I purchased ground pork, ground lamb & chicken breasts. I'm going to send the chicken through my food processor to get them about the consistency of ground chicken (we can't buy ground turkey or chicken it's all corny corny corny).