Gluten-Free Baking Month!

Gluten-free baking month, a self-imposed title, is gone. And I'm kind of bummed about it to be honest. Gluten-free baking is something that is not as hard as you might think. The month of July encompassed me making five (the goal was six, fail) desserts that were gluten-free. Gluten-free cooking/baking is nothing new, but like most things has received wider attention because of access to the worldwide web and the information available from the medical side. Those who suffer from severe reaction to gluten in terms of digestion and absorption of nutrients have celiac disease. A friend of mine informed me she was diagnosed with it late last year. And it completely changes your way of living/eating. There are many distractors and gluten, like dairy, is everywhere!

At Book Expo this past May one of the cookbooks I scored was Gluten-Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke. And what type of Baker would I be if I didn't indulge in all types of baking? A bad one? Indeed.

I haven't had many, if any, gluten-free items outside of flourless chocolate cake or other. But here was my chance to indulge and I have to say the results were pretty darn good. Anyone who may hesitate at the thought of gluten-free should think again. Of course, anything can be bad. Gluten-filled, gluten-free, vegan or other. But it takes skill, period, to make something taste good no-matter-what. So I have to say that Ms. Kohnke did a great job with her recipes because I enjoyed them all for the most part. And once I got beyond texture it was golden!

Now, the basis for most of Luane's recipes that contain wheat flour substitute(s) are as follows: brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, xantham gum, and almond flour (often added at the end of sifting the first four ingredients). Now these aren't the only flour(s) you can use but these were the ones referenced most in her recipes so I stuck to the book. As Luane lists in the frontmatter of her book you can also get gluten-free flour, cornmeal, guar gum, hazelnut flour. She provides flour blend measurements in the front which is quite helpful to get a sense of balance.

Note: The one downside to gluten-free baking with these specific flour mixtures was pricing. I spent about $30+ on flour alone. A half pound of xantham gum cost more than $10 and one of the flour substitutes was equally pricey. The others like brown rice flour came in around $4+ at 2 lbs. So when doing gluten-free baking on a budget definitely do your research to see if you can easily switch out an item or two or have to really restructure a whole recipe. There are many ready-made gluten-free mixes but it's nice to make stuff from scratch every so often so you know exactly what's in your food.

I am in awe of the time and care bakers put into creating specialized cookbooks while making sure the end result tastes good.  Good job, Luane!

First up, Jam Thumbprints (actually jelly because I didn't feel like buying jam just for this recipe).

Well these are just magical cookies! Magic, I say! They are buttery (1.5 sticks to be exact) and chewy yet crispy if that's even possible.

Note: Something I noticed about gluten-free baking, at least with these recipes, is that the transport of said cookies meant you were carrying precious cargo. They were brittle, not always to the touch but not able to take shuffling, even the lightest bit, and when biting into them would crumble.

I believe the almond flour/meal I got was the element that added a granular texture to the cookies I made. And it was most apparent in these because it was my first recipe (a) and because of the fact that the cookie was butter, basically plain (b). But  none of this took away from the taste!

Next on the list, Macadamia Nut Blondies. These blondies also had white chocolate bits (gluten-free!). I had to say that the texture was quite dense. But all I tasted was sugar. And for me even that was a bit much. It was like a shot of sugar, though my co-workers did not complain. Not bad, just too sweet for my taste and that is saying something. 

Note: When baking with flour for cookies I found that I had to pre-make the dough and then chill it for at least an hour or overnight. This resulted in me searching for some quick recipes and the blondies were one of them.

Onward to Sweet Cinnamon Snickerdoodles! Again, the transport factor weighed heavily on these cause I had to transport them to Brooklyn and gave some to a friend. After stuffing said cookies in her purse (in ziplock) they became dust. Tasty dust as I was told.

For me the cinnamon permeated in these cookies. More so than in the snickerdoodles I've made using the Sweet Melissa recipe (a fave of friends). Not bad, just too cinnamony for me. But enough butter inside and tastiness that I'd make again and that guests went through the cookies in minutes. Minutes! 

And then we have Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. I wanted to make sure to do at least one flourless recipe and ended up making these since I love peanut butter. The issue in the baking is knowing when these are done enough so that they're not too chewy but don't get burnt and firm up too much. I found a balance after the first batch and even if a recipe says wait until edges are brown that isn't necessarily par for the course. It depends on your oven and your methods. But these came out tasty. I added chocolate chips (gluten-free!) also because I just love the taste of both. The peanut butter was overwhelming in these, not a bad thing. When I make peanut butter cookies with flour there's a slight dilution of the peanut butter because of gluten and plus you don't need as much. But when they are flourless the peanut butter takes center stage and you have a mouthful of it. I barely taste the chocolate chips I put in because peanut butter had to be a diva.

And lastly we have Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These were the pièce de résistance. Chocolate cookies with a dollop of peanut butter mixture in the middle. Much like a Reese's peanut butter cup. Everyone loved these. Chocolate and peanut butter can do no wrong. Ever! 

Two stages to this one since you pre-make and chill the dough and then right before putting the cookies in the oven you make the peanut butter mixture to put inside it. Leftover peanut butter mixture makes a nice, light flourless peanut butter cookie that I liked a bit better than the Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I used because it was not as heavy on the peanut butter and had egg whites in it which helped with density.

The chocolate powder in the cookie mix isn't too overwhelming with the chocolate and neither is the light peanut butter mixture so it's a perfect balance I think. And they come in a petite size (or were supposed to as I'm heavy handed) and are a nice treat to pop in your mouth. Good times.

Even though Gluten-Free Baking Month is over in my household I still have many of the flours left over to make more items. I'm think I may try her Chocolate Cookie Cake next.

So that was Gluten-Free Baking Month. Delicious desserts with no loss in flavor at all! I'd highly suggest using and/or testing Luane's recipes for yourself. But as noted earlier in this post if you're going to invest you might as well go full on and do so for your own Gluten-Free Baking Month! I still have leftover xantham gum if you need any.

There are many resources you can find for gluten-free baking such as Gluten Free Baking, Lauren McMillan's website, Gluten Free Baking 101, Luane's website, and a host of other sites you can find via any search engine and also on sites such as Epicurious and Food Network.

Happy Baking!

Healthy(ish) Living: Mixed Results

In early April I posted about my hardcore goals of living well & healthy while on residency at Jentel in Banner, WY. Well, call me idealistic in that sense. Once I got situated at Jentel and you know how much I loved it there, there was a quick camaraderie with the other residents and it was suggested by Joyce (who'd been at Jentel previously) that some groups tended to cook each night for the group. This could cut down on shopping costs and also make for a good rotation of varied eats. As we saw when looking through the "memory books" that this was indeed something that many of the groups did often and many kept schedules and took pictures and there's a growing Jentel recipe book chock full of international eats!

So, once it became a group thing rather than an individual thing for eating and also the fact that I have crap willpower things changed a bit. Plus, chocolate was everywhere! Everywhere I tell you! (Two words: M&M Pretzels.)

So to look at the points I posed for myself let's see how I did, shall we?

1) Eat very little red meat. Result: Fail. Since I didn't eat ham or pork some of the alternates that were provided to me was beef. We also had a rotation of goods or overabundance of certain meats and that left beef as a substitute. I cooked very little beef only two servings for myself, but consumed many tasty treats by others that included it. I'm not complaining.

2) Very little if any baked goods. Result: Fail. Beyond the constantly refilling bowl of M&Ms there was also brownies to welcome us there for our first evening meal. We had some nice festivities including Joyce's delicious apple tart and as a way to get rid of excess items Rachel and I baked towards the end to try and get rid of perishable goods. I also had to try Java Moon's delicacies such as their pumpkin bar (really a cake, ok and their strawberry scone, very good). Plus, a friend/co-worker purchased a large Zabar's NY chocolate package for me and that couldn't go to waste, could it?

3) Eat at least 3 servings of fruit & veggies a day. Result: Success! Finally! Since my fellow residents were quite health concious there was always salad available with a meal of a nice veggie side and as pre-dinner apps we'd eat carrot sticks or celery sticks with hummus. During the morning I ate at least two servings of a fruit and also like some natural applesauce with my pretzels.

4) Bake rather than fry items. Result: Success! Like I said in my post I often do this at home so it wasn't a big deal to apply this while at Jentel either.

5) 1 takeout meal a week. Result: Major success! Once a week Karen was kind enough to drive us into town to try some other eateries in the area and for us to get a break from cooking and cleaning. So we didn't go out often. Mainly stayed in and cooked for ourselves which was the point, really. We went to Oliver's, Silver Spur, and Lulu's Cafe and tried Java Moon's items once we went into town every Thursday. I also did a quick Arby's trip one day. Love that stuff.

6) Eat more fiber. Result: Fail. I did end up eating oatmeal cookies. (See week 3 post of Joyce's huge cookies.) Karen turned me on to quinoa pasta which is heavy in protein rather than carbs and I ate artisan multigrain bread every so often but outside of that and wheat thins, little additional fiber added to my diet. Oh, I did have Kashi cereal which is more fiber enriched than your everyday General Mills stuff, but still I could've done better.

7) Snacks should be 100 calories or lower. Result: Mixed. I did make sure to eat the serving size for items like pretzels and wheat thins and crackers. I ate more cheese so that could've added some items but got low-fat as often as I could. Karen also introduced me to kale chips which I love! I can't imagine those are more than 100 cals per serving if you eat less than a bunch or half that. Tasty snacks. Of course snacks also included sweets like M&Ms and desserts (cookies, tart) so this fluctuated.

8 ) Incorporate seafood as much as possible. Result: Mixed. Mixed because, like I said, we cooked for each other a lot and I wasn't always in control of meals. I bought a lot of shrimp and made 5 meals from it including a large one for the group, bought some shrimp scampi and also salmon and we had fish tacos (a la Lisa one evening) and even when we went to Lulu's I ordered some salmon, so I think I did okay.

9) Exercise at least 40 minutes a day. Result: Not a fail, but not satisfactory. Some of us residents spoke about these ideals we had about coming into our residency. What happens when on residency is that you work and you work and you work. Especially if you know you won't have this time after said residency ends. So, it was like a work day and as time wound down it came time for us to put in OT! Add on top of that fluctuating weather where it snowed all day and/or rained and you have not good walking weather. When I walked I walked for over an hour and I did this on a few days. I also exercised in my room for at least 30 minutes of cardio a handful of days also. Surprisingly I saw that I did lose weight as per the scale in my bathroom. I think it was from eating less often and eating more veggies and fruit as snacks and in meals. Plus the place itself was huge so that helped getting from point a to b.

So that's my tally of excuses! Wasn't easy in the least but creatively I got a lot done and was happy I didn't add too much weight. My first week home however has been horrid and sweets abundant from co-workers so we'll see if I can try to apply said rules to my daily life rather than when I'm away.

Low-fat or Bust!: 4 Weeks of Healthy(ish) Living

In less than two weeks I'll be heading to Wyoming for a one month writing residency at Jentel Artist Residency Program. One of the main things about my upcoming travels is that I will be secluded in Wyoming away from the rowdy life of NYC and in turn will be away from all those wonderful restaurants and bakeries that I frequent and love. The main point of this residency is being spirited away from all the distractions of the city and having time and space to write. Part of that is also looking after yourself.

While some residencies have chefs on-hand to cook for residents many don't. One of my main responsibilities besides writing will be to cook meals for myself of which I will be supplied a weekly stipend.

Now, cooking (as you may have noticed) is not something I'm a stranger to. But, being far away from stores and such in a whole new environment for a longer duration of time is something to get accustomed to. Wyoming is not another country, but I don't know how much they have in terms of options for those wanting to pursue healthy living or those who may be lactose intolerant or vegans. New York City has an array of options, restaurants, night life, 24 hour delis and so on. I highly doubt Banner, WY will have as many options as I am spoiled by here. And since I'll be without a car for the most part I'll be relying on the kindness of strangers to take me into the town of Sheridan (population 28, 662 as per the 2008 U.S. Census).

The goal while in Wyoming is to make and eat items that make me feel good and more productive. I've done my part to make meals "healthier": use ground turkey or chicken instead of beef, use olive oil and not any other oils or butter when frying, using the low-fat/reduced sodium version of whatever I could find instead of the full fat. And sometimes it's hit and miss with these things.

I've also purchased or obtained cookbooks with supposedly "good recipes that are good for you." One of which was Devin Alexander's Biggest Loser Family Cookbooks. Of the several recipes I made I only liked one, and then upon reheating didn't like it. This was the low-fat meatballs (made with quick oats instead of bread crumbs) and cutting corners on a lot of other less healthy items. All of these dishes were very low in fat, but the taste just didn't keep. In fact the taste was barely there if non-existent. I've also tried a few recipes from the Cooking Light 2009 recipe copulation cookbook that didn't pan out. A risotto that wasn't too tasty and pumpkin biscuits that tasted more like dough than biscuits.

So, let's consider this my next project for 2011. Going a month on a low-fat, health conscious cooking spree! A couple of books I have on-hand to help are the Cooking Light 2009 (yes I'll give it another try since there are hundreds of recipes available) and also My Italian Kitchen by Janet Zappala which includes healthier versions of classic favorites like baked ziti and key lime pie.

I'll also have in my arsenal many Food Network recipes, particular ones from favorites like Giada DeLaurentiis and even Jamie Oliver. I'll try to stay away from Paula Deen recipes (as good as they are) which are just loaded with needs for dairy (in particular butter). I'm doing my research and checking out food blogs I like to see their progress and welcome any suggestions.

So what will I be holding myself to while away? The following are just a few items I can think of off-hand:

-Very little red meat. At most 1-2 meals containing it for the 4 weeks I'm away.

-Very little if any baked goods. (I know, I know. Why not just shoot myself? But it must be done.) At most 1-3 desserts for the duration of my stay. And by that I mean 1-3 servings, not pan of brownies = 1 dessert.

-Eat at least 3 servings of fruit and veggies a day. I tend to meet this during the week at work, not so much on weekends at home though. Hopefully I'll be able to go above this while in Wyoming.

-Bake rather than fry items. Again, something else I do while at home, but when I travel my healthy eating tendencies tend to go AWOL.

-1 takeout meal a week or every other week. By this I mean pizza or Chinese or whatever may be available for me to pick up during our weekly outings.

-Snacks should be 100 cals or lower per serving. So basically try to stay away from high calorie/high cholesterol snacks. Meaning more organic, natural things and less fried, processed items.

-Eat more fiber! (Oatmeal! And not oatmeal cookies!)

-Incorporate seafood as much as possible. I tend to eat shrimp a lot, but should eat more fish and find the best types to eat that offer good vitamins and such to promote a healthier lifestyle. And preferably, make sure these items aren't fried. (Sigh, no fried calamari.)

-Exercise at least 40 minutes a day. (Since I won't have to go to work for the most part this shouldn't be an issue. I should be able to make time to write and exercise pretty much everyday and perhaps even go over this amount if not double it per day.)

I'll more than likely add to this list as time goes on. But for the most part I know this is doable because I already do it or won't have the distractions to keep me from being more proactive and healthy. I look forward to Wyoming and some fresh air and some healthy habits. Heck, they may even stick when I return!