Celiac Support Network

Archive for the ‘Recipe’ Category

I’m really glad to finally see some gluten-free condensed soups coming to our local markets!  It is going to make cooking so much easier!  Until now, I’d been using Alfredo Sauce, which worked well with most casseroles, but I was missing the variety of condensed cream of chicken, condensed cream of mushroom, and condensed cream of celery soups.  Low and behold–look what I found at the store this week!  It’s a gluten-free condensed cream of chicken soup by Pacific Natural Foods! Way to go Pacific!  You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter, if you’d like–and be sure to thank them for helping out the gluten-free community!

Okay, as for the review…

• the texture & consistency were good
• the flavor was a little bland (next time I may add some chicken bouillon)
• the price was affordable (around $2.00 per carton, I think)

Would I buy it again?  YES!  And I plan to try the condensed cream of mushroom and the condensed cream of celery in the near future!  Thank you, Pacific!

Now, if you’re more of a do-it-yourself person, here’s a quick & easy recipe for condensed soup that you can make at home:

Condensed Cream Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp chicken bouillon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• dash of pepper

1. In a small saucepan, whisk milk and cornstarch till well blended.
2. Stir in butter, bouillon, salt, and pepper.
3. Heat to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer on low for one minute more to thicken.

Use in recipes to replace one can of cream of anything soup.

Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup:
Stir in a drained 4 ounce can of mushroom pieces to the recipe above.
Use in recipes in place of one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup:
Stir in 1/2 cup cooked chicken pieces to the recipe above.
Use in recipes in place of one can of Cream of Chicken Soup.

Condensed Cream of Celery Soup:
Stir in 1/2 cup sautéed chopped celery to the recipe above.
Use in recipes in place of one can of Cream of Celery Soup.

Special thanks to Annette Hensley of the Kalamazoo Celiac Support Group for sharing this recipe that she found on http://www.gfutah.org.

What I really like about this recipe is that it doesn’t make you use four different flours, Xanthum gum, and other fussy ingredients.  It simply says “gluten-free baking mix”, so you can choose your favorite one.  My recommendation is for Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix, which gives an excellent texture to baked goods and is easy to work with, as the measurements are 1-to-1 with regular flour. And it’s even on sale right now through Amazon!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup real butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/4 cup gluten-free baking mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt, optional
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two large cookie sheets. Blend butter and sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl, blend remaining dry ingredients; slowly fold in sugar mixture. Spoon in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by the teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake 7-10 minutes. Cool and serve. Yield: 2 dozen large cookies or 3 dozen small cookies.

Sounds yummy, right?  If you have a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie that you think can beat this one, please email it to me!  I’d love to try it!

I’m so pleased to share a recipe with you today from the “Once-A-Month-Cooking: Family Favorites” book that we are giving away!  The allergy consultant for this book was Lori Baird from Eating Allergy Free.  Lori has Celiac, in addition to a host of other food allergies.  Lori demonstrates how easy this recipe is in the video below.

Here is the recipe for this amazing soup:

VEGAN CREAMY TOMATO SOUP               * Serves 4 in 45 minutes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 14.5 oz. can unsalted white beans, rinse and drain
1/4 cup onion, ,finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried tarragon crushed
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 14.5 oz. cans unsalted, diced tomatoes, undrained

Tip: If you do not have lemon on hand, use 1 teaspoon distilled vinegar or rice vinegar.

HEAT oil in large stock pot on medium high heat.

SAUTE onion with 1/8 teaspoon of salt until tender, but not brown; for 1-2 minutes.

STIR in garlic.

ADD carrots.  Sauté vegetables until tender for 1-2 minutes; stirring occasionally.

STIR in tomatoes, beans, and tarragon; bring to boil.

TURN heat to low and simmer for ½ hour; stirring occasionally.

ADD lemon juice, zest, cracked black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

PUREE until smooth.

ENJOY soup hot or cold!

Serving suggestions: Try this with a pinch of cayenne and stir in some fresh finely chopped spinach or watercress before serving.

This recipe is free from: Gluten  Wheat  Lactose  Casein  Dairy  Soy  Yeast  Corn  Egg  Nuts  Seafood and  Shellfish.  Also is low in sodium and no add sugar.

1 c. oil
3 1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. GF All purpose flour mix
1 3/4 tsp. xanthum gum
2/3 c. water
2 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda

2 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. softened butter
4-6 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

• Do not make too thin or most of the glaze will end up on the cake plate.

Let cake cool for about 30 – 45 minutes before removing from pan then drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Thanks, Rachelle, for sharing this family favorite!

If you missed the April meeting, you missed a real treat!  Bridget brought in some homemade Morning Glory Muffins that were absolutely AMAZING!  She’s been nice enough to share the recipe with us!  Enjoy!

Thanks Bridget!

Join us on Saturday, February 16 from 10 am – 3 pm for our 1st Gluten-Free Fair at the Hudsonville Harvest Health Location.  We will sample a wide variety of Gluten-Free products, vendors will be on hand to talk about their products and we will feature Special One Day Pricing on certain Gluten-Free Products!  Customer drawings for baskets of G/F products. Bring your favorite – tried and true – Gluten-Free recipe to share or email it to Info@HarvestHealthFoods.com.

I’ve been sampling some of the Full Flavor Foods mixes, and I have to say that I have been very impressed. The brown and turkey gravies were both very good and the only real difference that I noticed was that they formed a skin on top as they cooled down (faster than non-gluten versions). Once you stirred it again, that disappeared and it was fine again.

The other “experiment” that I tried turned out really well. I used a packet of the cream soup and a packet of the cheese sauce together. Here’s the recipe:

Chicken Spaghetti Pie

• Cut up cooked chicken breasts into small cubes
• Cook Tinkyada rice penne, per directions, and drain
• Prepare FFF Cheese Sauce and Cream Soup mixes together, as directed

Mix penne, sauce mixes, and chicken together. Add shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar and mozzarella) and stir. Put in baking dish/pan and cover top with more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is thoroughly melted (we even like ours a little browned on top), approximately 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

I think this has been the biggest GF hit that I’ve made yet. My husband and teenage boys are anxious to have me make this again!

There are more tips and ideas for FFF mixes on their website.  You can purchase these mixes at Otto’s Turkey Store and they are coming soon to Meijer!  We are anxious to have Paul Swanson (owner of FFF) with us in January!

We had a really great meeting last night.  We had 18 people, only 3 of which had been to a previous meeting, so that was really great!  Many of the people who attended our meeting found out about it through an article in the local newspapers.  Unfortunately, our special guest had an emergency and wasn’t able to join us.

 We sampled some Miss Roben’s Soft Pretzels that the Allergy Grocer was so nice to supply for us.  Susan, who was not able to attend the meeting, was nice enough to prepare these for the group. [Thanks, Susan!]  Some preparation notes that she sent along:

These were prepared with yeast, olive oil, and vinegar.  I used warm water.

• Way too thick & sticky for a hand mixer.  Use a heavy duty stand mixer.
• Takes 15 min. (at least ) to brown on bottom before you turn them.
• Pretty much have to make “sticks” because dough is very difficult to work with.  I attempted a “pretzel shape” & it did not work.
• I baked these on a silicon baking sheet instead of greasing a pan–this may have affected browning.

We were also treated to some donut holes from Celiac Specialties in Chesterfield Township, near Detroit.  These were pretty much amazing!  They sent us glazed and cinnamon sugar.  They were a cake-like donut, not fluffy, like a Krispy Kreme style. 

 Allison was also nice enought to make us some really, really good peanut-butter, chocolate chip cookies from a recipe found on the All Recipes website.  [Thanks, Allison!]  For convenience, I will reprint the recipe here, but be sure to visit the site for a LOT of really great recipes!

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

Submitted by: Jackie Rated: 5 out of 5 by 29 members

Yields: 15 servings

“This recipe is gluten-free and delicious! Pecans are great in these, but feel free to use peanuts or any other nut you choose.”

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups peanut butter 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs, beaten

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional) 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheet.
2.	Combine peanut butter, eggs, and sugar and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spoon dough by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet.
3.	Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 to 10 minutes before removing.

Everyone who attended received a bag full of sample products from various gluten-free vendors.  We will be posting reveiws of these products in the near future.  If you would like to add your comments about the pretzels, donut holes or cookies, please do so by leaving a comment.

I have been using allrecipes.com for a while now to find gluten-free recipes.  They have an amazing amount of recipes that are inherently GF or can be adapted to be GF.  If you search for “gluten free“, you will easily find over 300 recipes!  They even have a Gluten Free Section with a Daily Recipe! 

It’s free to sign up.  Once you sign up, you can save recipes in your very own online recipe book for future reference. 

Here’s one of the GF recipes that looked pretty good to me:

Delicious Gluten-Free Pancakes SUBMITTED BY: Joe Oliver
“Makes fluffy pancakes with a consistency and taste comparable to those made with wheat flour. Serve with your choice of condiments.”

PREP TIME 20 Min
COOK TIME 15 Min
READY IN 35 Min
SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: 10 pancakes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup rice flour
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
1/3 cup potato starch
4 tablespoons dry buttermilk powder
1 packet sugar substitute
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups water

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, mix or sift together the rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, dry buttermilk powder, sugar substitute, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum. Stir in eggs, water, and oil until well blended and few lumps remain.
2. Heat a large, well-oiled skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Spoon batter onto skillet and cook until bubbles begin to form. Flip, and continue cooking until golden brown on bottom. Serve immediately with condiments of your choice.

I’ll also add the Daily GF Recipe RSS Feed to our website (on the Resource page), so it will be easy for everyone to find.