China Gluten-Free?

I started writing a post last week, but unfortunately got sidetracked.

I’m away for 3 weeks and will be visiting China, Hong Kong and Thailand. I have been on a similar trip twice before, but its been 12 years since my last trip and I was super excited to go again. I brought my son with me and my parents, grandmother and my aunts and uncles are all with me so it makes international travel with an 8 month infant slightly less daunting.

Eating gluten-free however is still an intimidating thought. Most places in the world are at least somewhat accommodating to a gluten-free diet, with all the sauces Chinese food however, is not. I love Chinese food and have slowly been learning to make my own gf renditions, but I knew if I came on this trip there was definitely going to be unavoidable contamination and likely even some conscious cheating. So far I have pretty much eaten rice, tofu and a little bit of chicken. I thought about cheating at lunch today, there were some apparently delicious dumplings and chow fun (rice noodles with beef and sauce) but we were going on a 3 hour bus ride directly following the meal and without access to a bathroom the thought was short-lived.

I am also armed with digestive enzymes and am taking those before I eat. I had a slightly upset tummy at lunch, but nothing too bothersome and no emergency trips to the bathroom as of yet, so I guess I’m doing ok. Wish me luck!

 

Cravings Restaurant & Lounge

My little man had his first fever and cold/flu this weekend and its been lurking for a while, so I’ve been busy.  I have some recipes I’m hoping to post soon, but for now I just wanted to talk a little bit about eating out.

When I first went gluten-free I didn’t eat anywhere and I didn’t eat anything.  But slowly that has evolved.  I now have certain meals that I eat at certain restaurants (including the mall food fair) that I know satisfy my hunger and cravings without wrecking havoc on my body.

I first visited Cravings when I still ate gluten and was impressed; the restaurant (which used to be a sandwich deli in another lifetime) had a great atmosphere, helpful servers and delicious food.  Nestled in among old apartment buildings it seemed a rare find.

I went back for my 27th birthday, I was now gluten-free, but noticed that their website mentioned that they were able to accomodate Celiac’s.  When I made the reservation I indicated that I would like to take advantage of their gluten-free options.  When we arrived I was a little dissapointed that no one seemed to know what I was talking about when I mentioned that I had requested gluten-free items, but the situation was quickly remedied.  A woman, I assume was a manager or owner, came to the table and walked me through the menu; she let me know which items were naturally gluten-free and which items could be made gluten-free.  I enjoyed the West Coast Bouillabaisse (“A selection of West coast seafood (salmon, sole, halibut, ma hi ma hi, prawns, shrimps, scallops, and mussel) cooked in a tomato broth flavoured with saffron”) and it was absolutely delicious.

My husband and I went back again this September for our 3rd Wedding Anniversary; our first “date night” since the arrival of our son.  This time when I arrived and asked about gluten-free menu items the server quickly rushed off and brought me back a “Celiac Menu”.  There was an entire page of options and they all sounded delicious; having a specific menu gave me some confidence that the food would not be contaminated that the chefs knew what they were doing.

This time I enjoyed the Roasted Squash Salad (“Roasted squash served warm with spinach leaves, carmalized pecans, and crumbled Feta, drizzled with honey vinaigrette and balsamic reduction”) and rice pasta pesto (rice pasta “and chicken breast strips tossed in fresh basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan”).  The only thing that could have made it better was fresh pasta, but despite being dried pasta it still tasted WAY better than pasta I make at home.  We practically rolled out of the restaurant and into the movie theatre.

All is all, Cravings is a great gem of a restaurant that was able to provide a menu of delicious gluten-free options, a warm atmosphere and helpful service.  We went for an early dinner around 5pm, but by around 6 it was starting to get busy, so you may want to make reservations if you aren’t normally in bed by 9:30pm like I am.

 

Gluten-free Momma (and baby cereal)

Being a new Mom means that pretty much everything in my life has changed; my world is no longer solely focued on me, and I absolutley love it.  My little man is the centre of my world and I just can’t get enough of him.  Of course there are days where I want to tear my hair out, but those days are few and far between.

As a gluten-free Momma, I have of course been researching, reading and contemplating the introduction of wheat and gluten to my son.  I have spoken to the doctor, I’ve read books and I’ve searched the internet, although my doctor recommended I go gluten-free I have not formally been diagnosed with an allergy to gluten or with Celiac’s, so of course that does complicate things slightly.  All that being said, we have decided to wait until my bubba is a year before introducing any wheat products.

To a non-gluten-free Momma that probably sounds extremley difficult, but for me its totally reasonable.  When its time to have toast, he can have Mom’s potato bread, when its time for pasta he can have rice pasta, when it came to baby cereal we stuck with just rice instead of jumping on the barely and wheat train.  Now that he’s over 6 months however, I was a little worried that perhaps rice cereal for breakfast everyday was getting a little mundane.

So after a little research, (Wholesomebabyfood was very helpful) I decided to introduce some Millet to my little man.  It is a natural source of iron, protien and potassium to name a few.  I discovered (like the other grains) you can make your own cereal by simply grinding millet down and cooking it on the stove.  Since I didn’t have any millet grain on hand, I decided to use millet flour.  The first batch was lumpy to say the least, but after  few attempts I had a pretty good system.

Gluten-Free Baby Millet Cereal

Ingredients:

• generous cup of water
• scant 1/4 cup of millet flour
• fruit puree

Directions:

• Mix together water and millet flour (this worked best in a shaker for protein shakes or a cup with a lid).
• Put mixture into a pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring often with a whisk.
• Once the mixture becomes hot, reduce heat to low-medium and continue to cook, stirring often for approx 7 minutes until the cereal has thickened and doesn’t taste too grainy.
• Scoop one portion into a dish for your baby to eat right away and mix in some fruit puree if desired.  My little man loves to eat his cereal with pears!
• The cereal will thicken as it sits, so if you don’t add fruit, you may need to thin with a little additional water, breast milk or formula once it cools enough for baby to eat.
• Put extra cereal in a container in the fridge or in ice cube trays to be frozen.  The cereal defrosts and reheats well, however it takes longer to heat back up than fruit puree, so I recommend microwaving the cereal briefly (10-15 seconds) before adding the fruit and reheating to the desired temperature.

My baby loves his millet and pears for breakfast, but I was eager to introduce oats as well, so I’ve been keeping my eye out for wheat-free oats at my local health stores.  I can always get some at Choices, I just haven’t made a trip there in a while.  Just this week I excitedly found some Bob’s Red Mill Wheat-Free Steel Cut Oats and although I’ve never had steel cut oats, I read that since they are less processed, they are actually better for making baby food.

I also picked up some millet grain, my Mom donated an extra coffee grinder that she had and suddenly I was ready to make a healthy whole grain cereal that both the baby and I could enjoy.  I have a food processor, but the coffee grinder is just so much easier for the small quantities that this cereal calls for.  I found this recipe for a millet and oatmeal cereal (akin to cream of wheat) and happily began to create.  We’ve had millet/oatmeal cereal for breakfast the last three days; the bubba had his with pears and Momma had hers with raspberries, flax and honey.  Mmm, Mmm Good!

note: the pear puree is just softening up, I do of course mix it all up for him to enjoy!

As and aside, I’ve found that I like to use 2 cups of water (rather than the 1-3/4 cups the recipes calls for) and that more stirring/whisking is required than the recipe alludes to.  All in all an easy and nutritious breakfast!

 

Gluten-Free Mabo Tofu

As I child I though Mabo Tofu was a Japanese dish, why, I’m not exactly sure.  I knew I could get it at Chinese Restaurants, but the sauce you could buy in the stores to make it at home always seemed to look Japanese to me.  Once I went gluten-free, I really wanted this slightly spicy, always delicious, tofu and pork dish.  Of course every bottle and package of sauce that I read contained soya sauce and of course wheat, so I found myself on a mission to find a recipe that I could adapt myself.

During my online searches, I found oodles of recipes, all slightly different AND I discovered that Mabo (or Mapo) tofu is actually a Szechuan dish; given the spice this really is not all that surprising.  I eventually found 2 recipes (about.com and Nook & Pantry) that seemed reasonable and feasible for me to make, and then I worked with both of them to make a recipe that I really enjoy.  I’ve made this quite a few times and tweaked the ingredients each time; I think I finally have it just right, at least for my liking  – feel free to adapt it to your tastes.

This recipe does however call for some ingredients that will require an Asian grocery store and/or a little searching.  First it requires dried and salted black beans and Chili Bean Paste (my research indicated that Broad Bean Chili Bean Paste is the most authentic, but use what you can find); make sure you read the bottles, most of them have soy and wheat.  I have included an ingredient picture for this recipe to help you find these ingredients.

Gluten-Free Mabo Tofu

Marinade Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound ground pork
• 2 Tbsp tapioca starch (cornstarch would be ok)
• 3.5 Tbsp gluten-free Tamari

Ingredients:

• ~2Tbsp vegetable oil
• splash of sesame oil
• 3 green onions, chopped, white and green sections seperated
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2.5 tsp salted, dried black beans
• 1 heaping Tbsp Chili Bean Paste (adapt to your tastes as necessary)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 package Medium Firm tofu cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp warm water
• 2 Tbsp gluten-free Tamari
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

• Mix the marinade ingredients together and set aside for about 20 minutes.
• Heat oils in a med-high wok, once hot at the white sections of the green onion and the ginger and saute until fragrant.
• Add the marinated pork to the oil and cook until brown; you will need to use the back of a spoon to push the pork apart into pieces or you will end up with one big lump of ground pork.
• Stir salt into the meat and allow flavours to mix, about 30 seconds.
• Add the salted black beans  and use the back of a spoon to mash them slightly to release the flavours and blend with the meat.
• Add the Chili Paste and mix into the meat.
• Add the stock, tofu, remaining green onion, garlic and sugar.  Mix well and continue to cook until tofu has softened and taken on the colours of the sauce.  Approximately 5-7 minutes.
• Meanwhile mix the warm water, GF Tamari and cornstarch together (add the cornstarch last).
• Once the tofu looks ready to eat, add the cornstarch mixture, stir together gently and remove from heat.  This will thicken your sauce and bring everything together (this step is optional).
• Serve over steaming white rice and enjoy!

 

Gluten-Free Waffles…from scratch!

Now that my son is getting a little bit more independent and doesn’t need Mom every single second, I think that I am slowly finding my inspiration to cook again.  Cooking GOOD gluten-free meals takes a little bit of thought and effort, and in truth for the last 6 months, I really haven’t had time for much of either.  Last weekend waffles struck my fancy; I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill GF Biscuit mix and it makes great waffles, and I’ve also tried Ginger Lemon Girl’s Belgian Waffle Recipe.  They were also delicious, but they were a little crispy throughout and not quite as soft in the middle as I would like.  So not only did I decide I wanted to have waffles I decided I wanted to adapt my family pancake recipe to be gluten-free and waffle worthy.

This recipe turned out amazing; my husband gobbled them up uttering compliments all the while telling me I should make a recipe book.  These were absolutely the best waffles I’ve had in ages.  Of course we ate them with bacon and fresh blueberry sauce, the only thing that could have made them better was fresh whipped cream!

As my eczema has been bad lately, and my milk consumption seems to affect my son’s eczema, I have been limiting my dairy products and drinking rice milk.  I made this recipe using half rice milk and half 1% milk with great results – I therefore assume that you could use any non-dairy substitute.  Similarly, you could likely replace my flour mixture with 2 cups of gluten-free flour mix with similar results, but personally I like to custom blend quantities for each individual recipe.  If you try it out with a different non-dairy product or gluten-free flour, let me know how it works out for you.

Gluten-Free Waffles

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup Millet flour
• 1/4 cup Brown Rice flour
• 1/4 cup Sweet Rice flour
• 1/4 cup Potato starch
• 1/4 cup Tapioca starch
• 1/2 tsp Xantham gum
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• 3 eggs, seperated
• 1-3/4 cups milk or non-dairy substitute
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:

• Preheat your waffle iron.
• Mix (I like to use a hand whisk) flours, xantham gum, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form (this only takes a few minutes in a stand mixer), set aside.
• Mix egg yolk, milk and oil together.
• Add dry ingredients to the milk mixture and mix.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into your batter, adding about a third of the egg whites at a time.  Egg whites do not need to be totally uniform in the batter, we are trying to add extra “fluff” to the batter.
• Spray your waffle iron as necessary, pour the batter by heaping 1/4 cups and cook according to your waffle iron directions.  These waffles do not puff as much as regular waffles, so you need to add MORE batter than you are used to if you want to get the nice full crispy waffle wells that hold the butter and syrup so well.  Trust me having a tiny bit of spillover while you figure out the exact quantity for your iron is totally worth it.
• Enjoy!

 

GF “breaded” cutlets

When I first went Gluten-Free I had been feeling sick for so long that I gave up everything.  Anything that was on a list that said it MAY contain gluten I avoided.  This included things like maltodextrin (which is in everything), however I eventually learned that like many other ingredients, it is usually derived from corn and will be labeled accordingly if it is made from wheat.

Since that time, I have started feeling better and find that I am a little more adventurous with my eating.  I certainly don’t go out and eat a croissant, bagel or something equally delicious (though sometimes I really want to), but I do occasionally try something new at a restaurant where I have dishes I know are safe to eat, or I might try something with an ingredient that may be questionable such as worchestire sauce or malt extract.

I have a friend who is Celiac and I remember being so surprised when she showed me her secret stash of Corn Pops in the cupboard at work exclaiming, “we can eat these!”  I was so excited, the next time I was at the grocery store, I scanned the box and was saddened to see that just like the rice krispies and corn flakes, the corn pops contained Barley Malt Extract.

As you likely know, Barley contains gluten and so does Barley Malt.  I had tried eating Corn Flakes while on a cruise in Italy (it seemed like a safe bet to nick a box off of the boat to take on the excursions) and though it didn’t give me a full blown attack of stomach pains and trips to the washroom, I didn’t feel good, so I knew better than to eat the Corn Pops (though I really wanted them).  Of course in time I would find my Panda Puffs, so really it all worked out.

If you, like myself find yourself reading boxes of things you know you probably can’t eat such as cornbread, corn shake & bake and teriyaki sauces, you’ve probably been suprised a few times by something you’re sure you’ve examined many times, yet this time you realized you might just be able to eat it.  That happened to me with the Corn Flake Crumbs; they contain “malt flavoring” but it doesn’t actually say malt extract.  I decided to chance it and try them out and FOR ME they seem to be a-ok.  I kind of assume that malt flavoring is artificial whereas extract is actually derived from barley, but in truth I have no idea, except that I seem to be able to eat the corn flake crumbs.  I don’t eat them too often (just to be safe) but every now and then they are a great treat, and my dear husband loves the occasional breaded chicken breast or the like.

PLEASE NOTE:  Since I have not been diagnosed as Celiac, I believe myself to be gluten-intolerant (granted I was given the Celiac test after being Gluten-Free for a year, so really it was garbage) so I feel safe experimenting in this fashion.  I am no doctor, but I know that for true Celiac’s cheating (even without symptoms) can be very hard on the body and lead to increased chances of bowel cancer, so please make your own educated decisions about your eating.

While shopping yesterday I found unbreaded turkey cutlets (a rarity) and was instantly reminded of the pork cutlets my Mom used to feed me as a kid.  Brown and crispy, dipped in honey mustard, I was salivating in the store.  Remembering the Corn Flake Crumbs in my cupboard, I hoped I could make a reasonable facsimile and I was more than impressed with the results.  Unfortunately, my husband was also excited to have breaded meat and we ate it all before we had a chance to take a photo – hopefully I will find these unbreaded cutlets again so that we can eat them and I can show you a picture.  They browned, crisped and crunched exactly the way I remember.

Gluten-Free “Breaded” Cutlets

Ingredients:

• 2 unbreaded cutlets (turkey, chicken, pork, veal…whatever suits your fancy)
• 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 egg beaten
• 3/4 cup Corn Flake Crumbs (or GF Corn Flakes pulsed in a food processor)
• 2-3 Tbsp of grapeseed (or vegetable) oil

Directions:

• Mix rice flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl or plastic bag; coat cutlets and allow to rest on a plate for about 5 minutes.
• Dip floured cutlets into egg then immediately coat with Corn Flake Crumbs.
• Allow cutlets to rest for another 5-10 minutes if possible, this will allow the coating to really adhere together.
• Heat oil in non-stick frying pan over med-high heat, and cook cutlet until crispy and golden before flipping (~8 minutes).  Cook second side ~5 minutes.
• Cutlet should be crispy and golden on both side and middle should be cooked throughout with no traces of pink.
• I like to enjoy this “breaded” goodness with honey mustard.  I usually mix mayo, mustard and honey to make a sauce, but this time I just used French’s Honey Mustard and it was great.

 

Camping Gluten-Free

Camping, like all things requires a little bit of pre-planning to do successfully Gluten-Free.  With a little bit of label reading, and armed with some potato onion bread, I enjoyed hamburgers, hotdogs and roasted marshmallows; all staples of camping.

Since I can’t have the graham crackers, and I didn’t want to attempt to make my own, traditional s’mores are out.  Instead we often just shove the chunks of chocolate into the middle of the soft gooey marshmallow and try to have enough patience to let it melt, at least a little bit.

For breaky we had bacon and eggs and even Corned Beef Hash (I know, I know, meat in a can…but seriously its a greasy yummy treat), and of course I had some earlier bowls of Panda Puffs and Rice Cereal to tide me through the early hours of morning.

We enjoyed salmon freshly caught from the river by my husband and a friend.  We had it on the BBQ with peanut butter, onions and garlic (surprisingly tasty), mayo, ketchup and mustard (my Brother-inLaw’s specialty) and also with butter, dill, garlic, celery salt and onion salt which was definitley my favourite, but I like simple things sometimes.

We also got a chance to try out Mrs. Leeper’s – Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Organic Tuna Casserole.  My parents purchsed this for me on sale in the states, and it is made with a corn pasta.  You prepare this just as you would regular tuna helper.  It was quick and easy and tasted delicious.  The noodles had good texture and the sauce was creamy and not overpowering.  All in all, I will definitley eat this again – I have not seen this product in Canada, but will keep my eyes open and let you know if I see it.  FYI, they also have a hamburger lasagna which is basically a hamburger helper, which I was also surprised to discover I quite enjoyed.

 

Rice Cooker Oatmeal

I’ve been saying for ages that I would get back on my horse and starting posting again…it really should be easy.  This blog is about gluten-free food and I eat food every day – so there should always be something to write about, shouldn’t there?

I don’t want this to become a boring list of the foods I ate, but at the same time, when you are starting off a gluten-free diet, it can be infinitley useful to get meal ideas from someone who is living the life.

I am firm believer that a good breakfast is essential to a successful day; that being said now that my little bubba has arrived there’s a lot less time for leisurely meals.  But I always eat breakfast.

Although I’ve given up milk again (except for cream in my coffee) to help ease my sons eczema, I often find a hearty hemp shake made with rice milk a good start to the day.  I am definite fan of the nutiva chocolate hemp shake – made with organic fair trade cocoa, this shake has a rich flavour and a thick consistency.

I have also been enjoying the smorgasboard of jam my Mom and I made this summer, atop gluten-free potato flax bread and peanut butter.  We made strawberry, tayberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry freezer jam this summer and if I may say so, it is all delicious!  My top 3 are definitely tayberry, blackberry and raspberry!!

When I was younger cereal NEVER held me – I needed more protein and substance for breakfast.  Now I just have two small breakfasts; one at 6am when I get up with the baby, and a second one when he goes down for his nap around 8/8:30 am.  And when it comes to cereal, my absolute favourite are Nature’s Path Peanut Butter Puffs, but  I also like the Chocolate Koala crisp and Mesa Sunrise Flakes.

Of course I still enjoy a nice hot egg breakfast (when I can sneak one in or on the weekend).  My meal of choice is a fried egg sandwich with cheese and a smear of ketchup on potato-flax bread.  If we are having an “eggs & bakey” kind of morning, I also love some nice crispy bacon or some Lilydale Daystarters chicken or turkey breakfast sausage.  Totally gluten-free, low in fat and absolutley delicious, I always buy a few packages of daystarters for the freezer when they are on sale!

I have always been a fan of oatmeal, and was disappointed to say the least when I discovered gluten-free practically meant oat-free.  Enter Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free oats and Lara’s Gluten-Free Oats (both are available at Choices Markets), however I hated having to make my oatmeal the old fashioned way with a pot of water, constantly concerned that my expensive GF oats were going to burn to the bottom of the pan. I also found the that oats were not ask silky and soft as the instant oatmeal I had become accustomed to.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you can cook oatmeal in your rice cooker;  its quick and delicious and fills your kitchen with the warm aroma of fresh oatmeal without the effort.  I followed the quantity instructions on my rice cooker and was amazed at the perfect texture of the resulting oatmeal.  I did worry that the flavours might somehow ruin subsequent batches of rice, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.  The cinnamon flavour does linger a little bit, but when rice is eaten with an Asian dish (as it most often is), the flavour is completely negligible.

Check your own instruction booklet to see if it has a different liquid ratio, or try my recipe below.  Also feel free to adjust the add-ins to suit your tastes: raisins, orange or lemon zest, berries, peaches, nuts, spices, the options are endless.  I quite like adding chunks of peeled apple and mixing them in instead of using the craisins (but it takes more time, and time is a hot commodity for me these days). I’m pretty sure however, that I could get it all setup the night before and then just have to hit “cook” in the morning…

Note: I am out of GF oatmeal right now, but will take a picture just as soon as I get to the store and buy some!

Rice Cooker Gluten-Free Oatmeal

(2 generous servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup gluten-free oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 cups water
• handful of craisins

Directions:

1. Mix oats, cinnamon and salt in the rice cooker bowl (this helps to minimize having all the cinnamon floating on the top).
2. Add the water and mix well.
3. Sprinkle craisins on top.
4. Turn on your rice cooker.
5. When the rice cooker switches over to warm, your breakfast is ready.
6. ENJOY! (I like mine with brown sugar and rice milk…mmm!)

 

GF Chocolate Chip Blondies

I had never had blondies until a few years ago – I never realized that they were basically caramely brownies.  I’m sure if I had known that I would have tried them and definitely made them much earlier in my baking  life.  Since it was one of the last things that I learned to make before going gluten-free, it was something that I definitely wanted to add to my repetoire of gluten-free baking skills.

If you, like myself, have a bit of a chocolate addiction these Blondies are for you.  Although the delightful caramel richness of blondies should be enough on their own, the truth is I needed the chocolate too.  You could mix things up and replace some of the chocolate chips – the original recipe ALSO called for walnuts, pecans and peanut butter chips, but I voted for all semi-sweet chocolate chips.   I would like to note however, this particular recipe is NOT for you if you are watching your waistline…its full of butter, sugar and all the things that make baked goods so mmm mmm good!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Blondies
(Adapted from 500 Best Cookies, Bars & Squares by Esther Brody)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup millet flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9×13 pan.
2. Whisk the first 8 ingredients together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, to wet ingredients, beating until incorporated.
5. Stir vanilla into the wet ingredients.
6. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
7. Stir chocolate chips into batter – it will be quite thick.
8. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
9. Allow pan to cool completley on a wire rack before cutting.
10. Enjoy – and try not to eat too much at once!

 

Potato Bread – the best GF bread I’ve tasted

I recently posted this on Facebook and thought I would share it here…

To those of you on a Gluten-Free diet, you MUST, I repeat MUST try the “onion potato bread” and “flax potato bread” made by the “6th Ave Bread & Deli“.

Although this is not an exclusivley Gluten-Free shop, the pans are all sterilized each evening and the bread is cooked first thing in the morning; the staff will caution you if it is your first purchase, to ensure you understand the potential for contamination. All that being said, I have had no problems with this bread and once I realized that, I’ve been eating it like candy.

The loaf looks like a large french bread, the texture is soft and light and chewy, and here’s the kicker, although it tastes delicious toasted it is equally as good without toasting. And if you eat Gluten-Free bread, you know what a feat that is. Oh yes, and did I mention the large and delicious gluten-free loaf of bread costs only $3.99.

This small shop is on 6th ave in New Wesminster, next to the Galloway’s and across from the parkade for Royal Centre (702c 6th Ave, New Westminster).

I’ll try and remember to take a picture to attach here, but no promises.

Seriously, I thought I died and went to heaven when I tried this bread…I’ve already made two trips to New West, infant in tow, for the sole purpose of buying this bread (it freezes well so I buy a lot when I go!).

Finally, last time I was in, they told me they were now making hamburger buns on saturday morning, but they are first come, first serve, so if you live out that way it may be worth a morning trip!

Let me know if you try this bread…and how much you love it!!
HAPPY EATING