Gluten Free Recipes

Paula Youmell, RN Holistic RN, Natural Health Educator, Author

Gluten Free Living It Up with Healthy Whole Food Recipes Why Should I Avoid Wheat, Even Whole Wheat?

98% of the wheat in the US is ground and refined into flour: all purpose, cake, bleached, unbleached, with added germ and/or bran..... They are all refined “white” flours.

There is now “white wheat” on the market that is very pale (white) whole grain wheat. It was cross bred to please the American population obsessed with their 'white' bread, a way to get 'white' into a healthier whole grain bread. Keep in mind, this hybrid wheat has all the complications of wheat and gluten sensitivities.

Gluten is in: wheat, barley (beer!), rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. Oats are available certified gluten free as oats do not have gluten in them naturally. Oats are contaminated in the handling process. Beer is available in gluten free varieties.

I have always loved this quote; it says it all about refined foods and their eventual, degenerative effects on the body: “The whiter the bread the sooner you are dead!”

Refined flours have had the bran and germ removed. This removes the fiber and most of the nutrients. Refined wheat flours are sticky like glue; they were once used as wall paper paste.

This stickiness gums up your digestive tract contributing to constipation and bowel disease.

Eating 100% whole grains, 100% whole grain flours and 100% whole grain products avoids these health problems. (As well as eating a diet high in plant based foods and the fiber involved with those food choices.)

So why avoid wheat, refined or whole wheat?

Wheat, real wheat, has been destroyed by human manipulation. It has been cross bred so many times it is far from what heritage wheat was centuries ago. This cross breeding, creating hybrid strains, has changed the nutritional value of the wheat. Commercial wheat is now extremely high in gluten as compared to wheat's heritage counterpart (old seed varieties that have not been cross bred, einkorn wheat).

Gluten is the protein part of the grain in the endosperm. Cross breeding which has increased wheat’s gluten content. More gluten means higher rising, lighter, fluffier bread; the American ideal. Gluten is what people are sensitivities or allergic to. Cross breeding has made this sensitivity more dramatic because of the higher levels of gluten and the resultant imbalance of nutrients.

A term used by health and whole food advocates is “frankenfood”. Wheat has definitely been cross bred into a frankenfood.

Gluten, which is very high in these frankenfood strains of wheat, causes inflammatory reactions in your body. Some people are genetically sensitive to it and eating wheat causes severe distress. This is celiac disease. Others simply have low level inflammatory responses. This is a harder situation to deal with as the distress is not severe and only creates low level symptoms.

People are not sure what is causing their bloating, swelling of limbs, headaches, joint pain, skin rashes, chronic cough, sinus and allergy symptoms... the list goes on and on.

Wheat is no longer harvested as it once was: cut and bound and left to dry “cure” in the fields.

Modern wheat is harvested and removed immediately from the fields before it has a chance to sun ripen. This, despite what agricultural “authorities” will tell you, seriously changes our body’s physiological interaction with wheat.

Our modern bread and flour products are no longer made in traditional manners: sprouting the wheat berries and/or fermenting with a sour dough rising process. Our bread and flour products are now made with fast acting yeast. Sprouting and sour dough fermentation changes the gluten in the flour making it digestible and tolerable to most people (unless you have celiac genetic disease). http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/can-sourdough-change-the-gluten-free-diet/ Another issue with wheat is the use of pesticides on agricultural fields. These chemical pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and even the chemical fertilizers become part of the soil the food is grown in. These chemicals are absorbed through the plant roots and are a part of every cell of the food you eat. If these chemicals are sprayed onto the plants, the chemicals are absorbed into the whole plant just as a chemical rubbed onto your skin would be absorbed into your body and become a part of every one of your body cells. Chemicals destroy your gut microbial health and irritate and inflame your digestive tract lining.

Avoiding wheat completely will help to heal your gut and your whole body. Wheat, and wheat based products, are in everything from soy sauces, packaged foods like soups/stews/salad dressings and sauces of all varieties, vodka, cosmetics, glues (even the glue you lick on envelopes!). Avoiding wheat takes educating yourself, practice and….

Thickening stews, gravies, puddings, sauces, etc.: Use organic corn starch (organic avoids GMO corn) and tapioca starch. Certified gluten free oat flours works but does not thicken gravies and sauces as thick as other substances.

Making Recipes Gluten-Free: Any recipe can be made gluten-free. Just substitute gluten free flour for the gluten containing flour in a recipe. If a recipe calls for 2 cups all-purpose flour use 1 ½ cups of whole grain, gluten-free flours. Let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes then stir again and decide if the consistency is too runny or too thick for whatever you are making. Add liquid or flour accordingly to thin or thicken the batter.

Reading the Labels The best way to be sure that your food does not contain wheat is to read the labels. Anything that contains monosodium glutamate (MSG), modified starches, or malt will usually contain wheat. Unless the label says otherwise, it is almost safe to assume that the product contains wheat. Certified gluten-free labeling means the product is wheat, rye, and barley free.

Gluten Free Products Gluten-free on the label does not mean it is healthy. There are thousands of gluten free products on the market: cakes, cookies, breads, pastas, noodles, macaroni, crackers, pretzels, pizza crusts, boxed mixes; processed food heaven. Learn to read labels. Most of these products are full of fillers. Yes the “fillers� in question are gluten free, but they are also refined, nutritionally devoid foods. If the natural, whole food nutrition is not in the food, the refined food product will rob your body cells of nutrients and contribute to degenerative diseases. You are trading off one health problem for another health problem of equal degenerative quality.

Things to look for are: white rice flour, corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch. Basically cheap, filler ingredients that just do not seem real; keep refined ingredients out of your diet.

These fillers create a host of health problems in your body including blood sugar and insulin issues that contribute to inflammation and exacerbate health issues.

Brown rice bread without fillers is a good alternative and is carried in many health food stores and health food sections of grocery stores. Avoid the White Rice Flour bread and products; these are refined, white rice!

What is cross contamination of gluten into gluten free foods? Contamination happens when someone touches gluten free food or utensils with utensils that have been touching gluten containing foods. Examples would be: knife in butter after using on wheat toast, a toaster being used for both gluten free and gluten containing bread, cooking gluten free pasta in the same water as gluten pasta has been cooked in (happens in restaurants), using spoon to stir gluten free food after it has stirred gluten containing food, dips that people are dipping gluten containing crackers into makes it unsafe / unhealthy for gluten free people.

Whole Grain Gluten Free Pancakes 1 egg, preferably from naturally raised chickens 1 cup gluten free, whole grain flour* 1 cup milk from grass fed cows, goats, sheep, etc.

2 tbsp. melted butter from grass fed cows 3 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. unrefined sea salt

*buckwheat, quinoa, teff, amaranth, millet, certified oats Mixing directions: 1. Beat egg until fluffy, then beat in the rest of the ingredients.

2. Butter your pan (not margarine as it is very toxic food “product”) and cook like regular pancakes.

3. Optional: Add blueberries, other berries, raisins, or very small chunks of your favorite fruit.

4. Enjoy with small amounts of real maple syrup or local, raw honey. Pancakes are also good with nut butters and fruit. Just roll them up and enjoy.

I also use this batter for waffles.

Making Dry Mix You can create your own gluten free, wholegrain pancake mix by mixing together the dry ingredients, just double or triple all ingredients and keep in a tightly closing container such as a wide mouth canning jar.

Add the beaten egg, milk, and melted butter; cook and enjoy.

Brownies: Gluten Free   

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1 cup butter, gently softened (I prefer pasture raised butter) 5 eggs (free range, pasture raised) 1 cup sucanat/rapadura sugar (I always use unrefined sugar and I always use only ½ cup) 5 square unsweetened chocolate (each square is equal to 3 tbsp. cocoa and 1 tbsp. butter) 3/4 cup gluten free flour 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

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Preheat oven to 350F Butter a 9x13 baking pan Melt chocolate or measure cocoa powder Mix butter and sugar together Add eggs one at a time, beat well with each new egg Stir well as you are drizzling in the chocolate or blending in the cocoa powder Stir in flour Spread into pan and bake 20 minutes

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French Breakfast Puffs These yummy ‘lil muffin puffs taste like donuts but are easier and no frying required!

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1/3 cup butter, melted (melt a little extra to coat the muffin tins) ¼- 1/3 cup unrefined, dehydrated cane juice sugar (sucanat or rapadura) 1 egg 1 ¼ cup gluten free, whole grain flour ½ cup milk 1 ½ tsp. b. powder 1-3 tsp. vanilla ¼ - ½ tsp. nutmeg ¼ - ½ tsp. cinnamon

-preheat oven to 350F -use extra butter to grease 8-9 muffin cups -whip butter, egg, milk, and sugar together -mix dry ingredients well and fold into the wet ingredients -fill muffin cups to 2/3 full -bake at 350F for approximately 25 minutes. They will pull from sides of tin when cooked.

Whole Grain Buttermilk Doughnuts          

2 eggs ½ cup unrefined, dehydrated cane juice sugar 1 cup buttermilk (add 1 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar to 1 cup milk and let curdle 5 minutes) ¼ cup butter melted 1 tbsp. b. powder ½ tsp. salt 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 ½ tsp. nutmeg 2 tsp. vanilla 4 cup whole grain flour

-in a large mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar. Stir in all other ingredients and mix well.

-cover dough and chill for about 1 hour -shape dough into 2 balls and roll to ½ inch thickness. Cut dough with doughnut cutter and put doughnuts on lightly greased cookie sheet until ready to fry -heat lard or coconut oil to 365F and maintain the temperature between 365-375F. Too high burns, too low and doughnuts get greasy.

-carefully lift the doughnuts from the cookie sheet and put into hot oil. Cook 4 – 5 at a time, no more. Too many reduces oil temp quickly and makes for fat soaked doughnuts.

-doughnuts will sink and rise again.

-cook about 1 minute on each side, they will be golden brown.

-you can coat with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, powdered sugar mixed with cocoa powder, or eat my favorite way… plain!

-ENJOY!!!

Suggestions for making gluten free baked goods:         

Relax and do not worry if the finished product does not look normal.

Practice and alter recipes as you figure out what works and doesn’t work for you in your kitchen.

Notice that all whole grain baked goods look varying shades of deep brown (not white like refined flour baked goods).

Use more than one gluten free flour in your recipes. I usually blend 3-4 different flours depending on what I am making.

Gluten free is not a license to make all kinds of sugary goodies. Sweet treats are a special occasion item, not daily food.

If cookies or other baked goods seem crumbly, try adding an extra egg the next time.

Eggs bind the other ingredients together.

Write notes on your recipes so you remember what worked and what didn’t.

Follow the guidelines I gave to convert any recipe to gluten free and convert your own favorite recipes.

Eat knowing you have put 100% whole food ingredients and love into what you made.

This is powerful cell regenerative food!

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