Bread Pudding. Yes! Bread Pudding!

Gluten Free and Dairy Free bread pudding??

YES!!

And the best thing about this is that you don't have to buy the really good, really expensive gluten free bread for it.  However, you can't buy bread that you would not eat, but you can buy the prepackaged GF bread that you find in your progressive grocery store's freezer.  I use Udi's Whole Grain bread for this along with the slightly stale ends of an expensive loaf of bread (I forgot to put the twist tie back on one rushed morning - doh!)

And here's the secret, I use both canned coconut milk and the So Delicious coconut milk together for the cream and milk and it lends a really lovely richness with a slight coconut taste that I just love.  You do need to use the canned coconut milk, it replicates the richness of cream and is a fantastic binder for all your flavors.  But if you want to switch up the flavors a bit you can substitute almond or hazelnut milk for the SO Delicious coconut milk.

And its so easy to make, just like regular bread pudding should be.  You can also easily half or quarter this recipe depending on how much stale bread you have.
And feel free to substitute according to your tastes and or pantry with the dried fruit and nuts.  raisins, apricots and pecans are my favorite combination.  But it you prefer walnuts, or golden raisins, or dates, or what ever change it up.  Make the flavors that make you happy.

Gather the following

stale bread cubed to equal 8 cups
6 eggs
2 cups coconut milk (I use the So Delicious brand)
1 can coconut milk (I use the Taste of Thai brand)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup cut up dried apricots.

Whisk together the eggs and milks until thick.  Add the sugar, spices, and maple syrup and whisk until completely incorporated.

Toss together the bread and dried fruit and nuts into an oven safe dish that has been lightly greased with margarine.

Pour the custard mixture over the bread, making sure to cover everything.  Make sure there are no dry pieces of bread and that the mixture is basically level.  The top layer will form a wonderful crisp crust, but you want to make sure there are no dry pieces peeking up or they will get burned and won't be too tasty.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until the center is firm.  Give the pan a little jiggle and see what the center does, if it undulates or moves too much, back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the center moves like firm jello.

Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before diving in.  This is best served warm or at room temperature.  And if you want to be really indulgent you can drizzle some maple syrup on it, or serve it with some coconut sorbet.

The Loaded Cookie

When I want a cookie, I want something that is chewy and crunchy and full of flavors and textures.  I want everything in one cookie.  Well, everything except chocolate.  If I want a cookie with chocolate in it, then I don't want anything else in it.  Those I prefer pure.  But these cookies are everything I want loaded into a chewy and crispy cookie with a hint of spice.  So that is what this recipe became, The Loaded Cookie.

And they are not hard to make, they freeze beautifully (if they make it into your freezer that is).
And here's the kicker, I use whole grains but the cookie still taste like a decadent indulgent cookie.  I use oat flour; you have to be careful and make sure you get certified gluten free for any oat product you buy due to the high risk of cross contamination; brown rice flour, and ground flax seeds to fulfill the whole grain.  It gives it a deeper flavor and is less sweet than a traditional base for a cookie, which is my preference for cookies anyway.  I want to taste something other than sugar.

Here is what you need:

1/2 cup margarine - I use Earth Balance Baking sticks
1 cup raw sugar (or 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar)

3/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup oat flour (or quinoa flour)
1/2 cup brown rice flour (or if you prefer white or sweet rice flour, but this removes some of the nutrition)
1/4 cup tapioca starch (or potato starch)
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tbsp ground flax seed.














1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 cup raisins
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sift all your dry ingredients together and whisk to incorporate, this removes any lumps of flour and makes sure that when you add the flour mixture there are no pockets of one type of flour, it is already incorporated.

Cream your margarine and sugar together.  Then add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Then add your flour mixture all at once and mix until completely incorporated.

Add the raisins, coconut and nuts and mix for only a few seconds until they are throughout the dough.  You don't want to smash the raisins and pecans into pulp.

Drop by the tablespoonful onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 - 18 minutes.  My oven runs cool so I need the full 18 minutes.  Check yours after 15 and see if the center of the cookie is soft or firm to decide length of time.

Remove from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.  These are delicious warm or room temp.
Enjoy!

Making Chicken Stock

This past week I came down with the worst cold ever.  Usually I can get through my days with a cold as long as I have a box of tissues handy.  But not this time, I was knocked out for almost a week.  And while I was ill all I could think about was homemade broth and soup.  There really is something to the old wives' remedy of hot broth when you are wrapped in blankets on the couch bemoaning the fact that you have yet to buy stock in Kleenex after you blow your nose for the millionth time.

Making stock is really the simplest of things and so wonderful to have on hand all the time.  The only catch is that you need time.  I tend to make stock on laundry day, when I know I will be home for several hours.  Plus there is the added incentive that after going up and down 5 flights of stairs to the laundry room, when I walk into the apartment it will smell heavenly.

Not all stocks that you can buy in the store are gluten free, you have to be very careful and read the labels.  Plus, they add so much sodium to them that I can't stand the overwhelming salt flavor.  So I make my own. All you need to make your own chicken stock is a leftover chicken carcass from a roasted chicken.  What if you don't roast your own chicken?  Well, you should try that one day, but even if you don't, I am willing to bet that once in awhile you buy those roasted chickens at the grocery store to bring home for dinner.  And there you have your carcass once you have picked it clean. Now you don't have to make the stock right away, I often don't have time to make stock after dinner, nor am I going to leave our gas stove on overnight while we sleep.  All you have to do is put the carcass in a zip lock bag and put it in your freezer until you are ready to make stock.  That is what I did with the stock I made for this post.  I had roasted a chicken two weeks ago with sage, lemon and sea salt.  When we were done I saved all the bones in the freezer until I was ready to make stock.

Once the stock is made I put them in 4 and 8oz sized Tupperware containers and freeze them until I need them.  A friend who has a smaller freezer than I uses zip lock baggies and freezes them flat so that they take up less room.  Whatever works best for your storage is what you should do.  Once frozen the stock lasts up to a year, however you will find that you never let it stay that long in your freezer.  I use my stock for soup, mashed potatoes (instead of adding milk or cream), stew, curries, and the base for some sauces.

Now this recipe is for one single carcass, which makes approximately a gallon or so of stock.  I don't have a stock pan large enough for more than one carcass, and I also don't have the freezer space for more than a gallon of stock.  If you have more than one carcass, and a stock pot large enough, you can easily double or triple the recipe.

What you will need
one large onion
4 or 5 stalks of celery
2 large carrots
two cloves garlic
2 springs rosemary
5 sage leaves
about 4 or 5 sprigs of thyme
10 peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
chicken carcass

Now - these are the herbs that I like best in my stock, I encourage you to play around with herbs and see what you like best.  I have a friend who loves dill and always uses it in her stock.  The vegetables, or aromatics, used are also a part of the flavors for your stock, and what I have listed are the basic aromatics for stock making.  You could also use leeks, mushrooms, shallots, or parsnips according to what you like for flavors.

I would suggest making the recipe as it is listed above if you have never made stock before, then once you know how to make this stock, play around and discover other flavors.


Remove the papery outer layer of the onion and garlic.  Then chop the onion, carrot, and celery into large chunks. No need to be overly particular about size, and you can keep the tops of the celery and carrots intact.  Place in your stock pan with the oil and garlic over medium heat and sweat the vegetables for about 3 minutes.

Once the onions have started to become a little translucent, add the herbs, salt and peppercorns.

Cook for one minute, then turn down the heat to low and add your chicken and enough water to cover.

For those of you with sharp eyes - yes, that is a lemon wedge floating in there.  Remember I had frozen the carcass?  Well, apparently I had missed a lemon from the cavity and once submerged it floated out.  I am leaving it though, there is no reason why my broth can not have a wee citrus zing. 

Put a lid on your stock and simmer on low for 4 to 6 hours.  Every 15 minutes of the first hour you should check the stock and skim off any "scum" that rises.  The scum is nothing more than denatured protein from the carcass, and is not bad for the stock, if you do not skim it off it will eventually dissolve back into the stock, but will leave your broth cloudy.  It is purely an aesthetic choice to skim the scum.  If you forget or don't want to, don't worry about it.

If the water level drops significantly while it is simmering (maybe your stove top runs hot, or your lid does not make a good seal with your pan), top it off with more water.

After simmering for 4 hours taste test it.  If you are happy with the flavor, great.  If you want the flavor to deepen more, then allow to simmer longer.  Once done, remove as much of the carcass as you can and strain the broth through a fine sieve into a large glass or ceramic container to cool.  The broth will be hot, so I don't recommend putting it in any plastic container to cool.  The bones and vegetables will also be hot - learn from my experience and don't immediately put them in the garbage - they will melt your garbage bag and make a mess.  Wait until they also have cooled and then thrown them out.

And now you have your own stock to use as you please in lots of wonderful ways.  Enjoy!

Dulce Sin Leche

Many of my friends already know this recipe I am about to share, and most have tried it.  It is my version of an Argentine classic, Dulce de Leche.  A Sweet caramel spread that the Argentines put on EVERYTHING.  When we lived in Buenos Aires you could not escape the stuff, and everyone raved about it.  But - it is made from cream and butter and sugar.  Not Debbi-Friendly.  But that has never deterred me before, I wanted my own version!  A dairy free version!

I was told it was not possible.  I was told it could not be done.  So I asked questions, I did research, and I came up with a dairy and gluten free version of this South American sweet.  And you know what, it's pretty good.  :-)  The best compliment I received was from an Argentine friend who told me that it was really good, so good she almost preferred it to Dulce de Leche, BUT, I could not call it Dulce de Leche.  Because it was not.  So I came up with Dulce Sin Leche because I like both truth in advertising and a play on words.  :-)

This recipe is simple, but time consuming.  Do not start it if you have a toddler about to wake from a nap, have an appointment in 20 minutes, or anything else pressing you for time.  This is truly an Argentine developed recipe in that time does not matter and the caramel will come together when it is ready to and not before.  Make sure you have some good tunes in the kitchen, or some great podcasts from NPR to listen to while you are stirring.  :-)

Dulce Sin Leche

1 cup coconut milk (unsweetened, full fat, no extras!)
1 cup margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey (non pasturized)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the sugars, honey and vanilla in a large sauce pan and caramelize   In a separate pan, warm the coconut milk and margarine until the margarine is melted, mix well.




Once the sugars are caramelized, add the warmed coconut milk mixture.  STIR constantly!  Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce and cook over very low heat.
How do you know when it is done??  Well, when the caramel is thickened and slightly viscous and smells like butter and sugar and chocolate.  Honestly every time I make this the time is different, I don't know if it is the humidity, the coconut milk, the minute change in heat from each time, or what.  But you have to cook this by feel and sight, it can take up to 45 minutes. Really. (I told you that you needed time!)

This is what you want it to look like:

isn't this just gorgeous?!?!?

Do you know that feeling when you are making scrambled eggs over very low heat, and they just start to turn from thick liquid to soft egg curds?  That is the feel you want in this caramel.  Easy?  No.  I screwed up twice my first attempts.  If you over cook the caramel, it instantly turns to a burnt sugary mess.  So here are some pictures from my failure.  If you over boil it, it will look like marshmallow and then seize into a solid lump of granular nasty.

Houston, we have a problem....

And there is no salvaging it when it gets to this stage

NOT Caramel!! - FAIL!!!

Once the caramel is done, take it off the heat and set aside to thicken.  It will thicken as it cools, so don't worry that it is still liquid-y, it will firm up.  And now for the joy.  You can drizzle this on anything you would like.  My personal favorite is on coconut sorbet.  I have also filled crepes with it, drizzled it on pancakes, and eaten it by the spoonful.  There is a traditional Argentine cookie called a Alfajores - which is basically a sweet shortbread cookie with dulce de leche in the center and then dipped in chocolate or rolled in coconut. I am working on adapting the Alfajore recipe to be GF and DF - so look for that soon!  Then you can make a Dulce Sin Leche sandwich cookie that will be out of this world!

Oh yes, there will be muffins.....

I thought in the first few months of my diagnosis that I would never have another muffin again.  Growing up in Boston, Dunkin Donuts was sort of a big thing.  I remember as a kid getting a blueberry muffin from DD with my dad and it was an Event.  Crusted with sugar on top, full of blueberries, and sweeeeeeet!

Nowadays my palate runs to the less sweet, but I still love muffins.  Especially hot from the oven.  And on the day of a blizzard hot muffins from the oven sounded like just the thing to do.
 Ok.  It was a blizzard in the Northeast corner of the country today, and NYC only had about 7 inches.  But still... there was cold, there was snow and there was wind.  So therefor there were muffins!

The thing with baking gluten free is that it is really chemistry.  Nothing can replicate wheat flour and the wonderful things that gluten does.  However with a little chemistry and knowledge you can replace it and be happy with the results every time.  The key is that there is no such thing as a cup per cup replacement of wheat flour.  Doesn't work that way.  Have you ever bought a $6 gluten free muffin and been appalled at how gritty it was?  That's because someone did not do their homework, or were cheap, and used only rice flours.  That's gross.  And not good eats.  When replacing wheat flour you have to use a combination of gluten free flours and starches to create texture, depth, and flavor.  The great thing about this is that there are a wide variety to choose from out there, and you can mix and match once you understand how to create the right mix.  For muffins, in order to get the right body and texture, you have to have a combination of protein flours and starches.  It is also important to work by weight, not cups with gluten free flours.  The weights of the different flours varies tremendously and so a 1/2 cup of sweet rice flour will not equal the same as a 1/2 cup of tapioca flour.  This can cause your baked goods to fail, and no one wants that.  So invest in a small digital scale, it will make your life so much easier!

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be changed up according to what you want to put into it.  I had cranberries that I had in the freezer from when they were sold fresh at the farmer's market in November,  so those plus coconut that sounded like a winning combination to me.  But you can add any dried fruit, nut, or fresh fruit that is not too watery (no strawberries, bananas, or other delicate berry - however blueberries, apples, pears all are great!).

If you have a favorite gluten free all purpose flour mix that you like to use as opposed to mixing your own and you try using it in this recipe, please post a comment below and let us know what you used and how it came out.  Please make sure to stick to the weight however!

Cranberry Coconut Muffins

Preheat your oven to 350.
If you have traditional metal muffin trays, you will want to use liners or grease them.  I have silicone trays and I love them!  No grease, no liner, just muffin!

80 grams almond flour (can substitute any nut flour)
80 grams quinoa flour (can substitute teff or buckwheat flour)
85 grams sweet sorghum flour
55 grams sweet rice flour (can substitute brown or white rice flour, but I prefer the texture of sweet rice)
50 grams of tapioca starch (can substitute potato or cornstarch)

For a total of 350 grams of GF flour muffin mix.

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil (I prefer to use coconut or almond oil, but any oil will do, keep in mind the flavor of the oil when you choose it however)
1 1/2 cups almond milk (you can substitute coconut milk or any other nut milk, however I would avoid soy or rice milk for baking, and try to choose milks that do not have added sugars or vanilla - too sweet!)

Mix together your flours, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  It is best if you sift them together in order to remove any lumps that might be in the flours.  No one wants to bite into a nugget of flour in a muffin - blech!

In your mixer, blend together the brown sugar and oil until incorportaed.  Add the eggs and milk.  Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.  Stir in the cranberries and coconut by hand.

But wait!  I did not tell you how much of those to add!
Yup.  I know, sorry.  This is one of those to taste things.  I personally like my muffin to fruit ratio to be about half and half.  When ever I adapt a muffin recipe and they write "Add a 1/2 cup berries" I scoff and double or triple it.  I know others who prefer the muffin to simply be the vehicle that holds the fruit together, and still others who want a couple of chunks of fruit in the muffin.  So I am giving you free reign to add however much you like of both.  But, if that makes you uncomfortable, this is what I added:

1/2 cup coconut
1 heaping cup frozen cranberries.

Ok - continue!

Fill your muffin trays so that each muffin is almost to the top, you want to leave about 1/2 inch of space.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. If you use a metal muffin tray, it will most likely cook faster due to the metal heating from the outside.  My oven runs low, and the silicone trays creates an even cooking surface, so mine take the full 35 minutes.  Start checking at 25 and if you need a few minutes past 35, don't fret.  That's fine.  You want to make sure that the muffins are firm and that a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool on a rack until they are room temperature.  Then enjoy!

How it all began....

“I think you have Celiac Disease…”  my very young doctor said in his lilting Argentine accent as I sat in the clinic in Buenos Aires on a hot January day.  My mind reeled; I had a hard time understanding what he was telling me.  I had just spent 4 grueling days in the worst pain I had ever experienced without a break;  laying on the floor of our bathroom crying from exhaustion and pain until I decided to stop eating in order to feel better.  After not eating for 2 days, I decided I really ought to see a doctor, mostly because not eating was not conducive to living.  I knew that whatever I was suffering from was food related as I had no other symptoms that matched up with a flu or illness.  Luckily a good friend was able to recommend this clinic and off I went, shaky and pale but hoping for answers.    

“It is an auto immune disease that affects the intestines and your body treats gluten as a poison.  There is a simple blood test I want to do.  Then we can talk about how to introduce food back into your life.”

When the test came back positive and I started educating myself on what this disease meant and how my life was about to change, I thought it was the end.  I was mad.  Furious actually.  I already had food allergies that restricted my diet – shellfish, bovine protein – so no beef or dairy, mushrooms, and beer.  And at the time of my diagnosis I was near the end of a six month sabbatical living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the beef capital of the world, and I was already trekking 35 minutes one way on a bus to do my food shopping in Barrio Chino, the Chinatown of Buenos Aires, in order to find fresh herbs and produce, along with fish that was expertly filleted for me by a Chinese Argentine who did not understand my Spanish.  And now I had to eliminate all things wheat.  No pasta, bread, grains, cereal, oatmeal, or anything that had been a staple of my diet while living there.  Not to mention the hidden gluten in soy sauce, marinades, prepared foods, deli meats, etc.  Suddenly my food world felt insanely small and I felt like I would never enjoy food again.

After yelling a bit, and maybe throwing a few unbreakable items, I went from angry to determined.  I was determined to eat, and eat well, despite the new restrictions on my life.  And I was going to have pancakes again! And bread!  And muffins! And pasta!  It took me a little while to realize that those things were not entirely necessary in my life, but were a lovely treat.  I was also in the throes of withdrawal from gluten.  Oh yes, your body can go through withdrawal symptoms when you cut out gluten from your diet, I know I was impossible to deal with at the time. I even craved things I did not like... it was a dark two weeks. And the work I would have to put into developing those treats was daunting, because I did not want to eat something that was less than amazingly tasty. “Good enough for gluten free” was never in my vocabulary.

From Buenos Aires we moved to New York City, where I thought all my woes would be cured.  I practically ran to Whole Foods and stood amazed in the special aisle of gluten free foods.  And then I was amazed at the prices.  $8.00 for a box of 10 cookies?  And they ended up tasting like dry starchy Styrofoam, definitely NOT amazingly tasty.  A box of cereal was $9 and it had so much sugar I could not imagine even trying it.  I went from awestruck to dumbfounded in a manner of minutes.  I would find that there were a few good items that tasted fine among all the ones that tasted hideous, if they had a taste at all. But it was an expensive endeavor to figure out which ones they were, and even then, they did not thrill me.  Not to mentioned every baked goodie that I found was filled with butter, cream and sugar, to make up for the lack of traditional wheat flour.  So it did not matter that they were gluten free, I could not have them anyway.  I felt deprived all over again.

Then I stumbled upon a tiny specialty food shop in the Upper West Side called G-Free NYC, where the entire store was gluten free and many items were also dairy free, and the owner had tried every single item she carried to make sure it met her high standards of taste.  My first visit I was not sure, but she offered me samples of a few dairy free items and made some recommendations.  I was supremely happy with what I purchased my first visit, and was able to buy my GF flours and basics from her, along with a few treats that I felt confident buying without trying because I knew that everything in that store had passed her test.    

Then I wanted more. I came from a family where things were baked at home, from scratch, and I used to do that.  I Wanted to do that.  I wanted to bake at home.  If I wanted a muffin I did not want to have to wait until I had a day off to go visit my favorite GF store in the Upper West Side.  I wanted to be able to bake them at home, in my jammies, at 9am on a Sunday morning.

So in my small NYC kitchen (is there realistically any other type?), I felt better able to make whatever I wanted having the supplies I needed and the knowledge I had learned, and I started testing out ideas for cooking and baking.  Some recipes were immediate successes, most were not.  A few never succeeded, but I have not given up hope on them.  This blog is where I will share my stories, recipes, ideas and information about living gluten free.  Which I have decided is a phrase I would like to change, it immediately puts you in the mind of being denied, restricted, without.  And it is not.  Having a gluten free life is simply something different, something else, an alternative way of viewing food and flavor.  And you can for sure not miss out on anything.