Gluten free ideas

I just wanted to pass on some of my favorite Gluten free finds.  I am trying to eat mostly fresh veggies, fruit, eggs, & proteins.  Sometimes I just need crackers, pasta, or a quick bar to grab as a snack.  My favorite new find for crackers are Sweet Potato chips: Food should taste good brand.  Favorite pasta is a Quinoa pasta: Quinoa Corporation.  Favorite bar is Larabar: Small Planet Foods.   Oskri Fiber Bar, Cashews and Cranberries is amazing and has 12 gram of fiber.  I'm pretty sure all these are GF, Soy free & Dairy free.  :)  I also love KIND bars!

[ChitChatNine]

Thanks for posting and for helping to build our Gluten Free group!

C~

[mjmom69]

I love the Quinoa pasta. I need to try the Sweet potato chips, they sound like they might be good. I got some pretzels the other day that were wonderful! I wish I could tell you the name though.

[FurballsMom]

For recipe ideas, google Gluten Free Club.  The lady has already tried and failed at various recipes before posting recipes that work.

You can also just google Gluten Free Recipes.  There are insane numbers of resources available now.  You do need to understand about binders such as xanthan gum and guar gum that need to be used to make gluten free bread and pastry items work.

I wasn't able to use the quinoa pasta, though, because I am also very intolerant to corn.  I have yet to find a quinoa pasta that isn't bound with corn.  But, it is definitely a wonderful resource for people who can tolerate corn.  I found the same thing to be true of the pretzels I found.  I had to put them back.  I may need to configue a bread recipe myself from gluten free recipes I find.  I don't bake a lot, though, so don't wait for me to do this.

I've noticed that the ones who are posting various gluten free recipes are ones who have already gone through some of the trials and tribulations of testing out recipes that work, so definitely look online for recipes you want to try out.

You can even look for some gluten free rhubarb or apple crisp recipes.  These are recipes that don't need binders, because the crisp isn't meant to completely hold together.  So, you could even use a traditional recipe and substitute things like rice flour and almond meal.  Just remember, though, that unless the oat flour is certified, there is no guarantee that it's gluten free.  Oats are a special case, because oats aren't necessarily a gluten containing grain, but it matters where they're grown and how they're shipped.  If they're grown too close to wheat fields, oat pollen will actually bind with any wheat pollen that crosses in the wind.  I learned that from an old post that I saw on the celiac forum that was a lengthy video of a seminar that was posted online.  This is very necessary information for anyone who suspects or who has a confirmed case of Celiac.  You don't have to only use almond meal either.  You can combine rice flour and quinoa flour, too.  Anyway, at least this is something anyone here can try, even if not everyone here is experienced with baking gluten free.  I'm certainly not--yet.  But, this definitely works and it definitely tastes good.

Oh, I would definitely recommend getting a small digital kitchen scale.  Some recipes I've come across are measured in metric measurements.  Everything I've read on with all those confusing conversion charts and such is that you don't get the accuracy that you would with a small digital kitchen scale.  For most of us, we don't need anything that weighs huge or heavy amounts, so you don't need to spend a lot of money on one at all.  I'm low income and I still found one for a reasonable amount of money.  They work on the same principle as the big scales you see in your favorite grocery store's deli and meat markets.  They're just smaller and simpler to operate.  The one I got was the store's demo and the last one for that price.  It was a sale price, too.  The sales clerk showed me how to operate it.  She looked for the box, but it was long gone, as it was the demo model.  But, it isn't hard to understand at all.  I just decide if I need to measure in ounces or in grams, place a container on it, zero it out, then place the ingredient I need to measure out until I get the right amount.  That's it.  No fancy rocket science involved.