I should preface this post with one fact: I am NOT a beer drinker. Call me crazy, but I've never, ever liked it. Growing up, my father used to brew his own beer in an storeroom that was immediately below my room and I got to have the pleasure of smelling the hops and yeast while he brewed it and while it fermented. So, obviously, I definitely don't like the smell. But, I never liked the taste either. It's too bitter and ... well, something, for me. I have tried many types before going GF thanks to my beer "connoisseur" father and husband, but I honestly just could never take it. So, I am providing this information to you based soley on what I've read about them on the internet. I can offer you no opinions on this matter but thought that it was important to share with my blog readers who may not know that even when gluten free, yes, too, beer is possible! :)
The three most commonly found brands in the United States are:
Redbridge - Produced by Anheuser-Busch, Redbridge is arguably the most commonly found gluten free beer. This rich, full-bodied lager is brewed from the natually gluten free sorghum grain.
New Grist - Made at Lakefront Brewery, a locally-owned microbrewery in Milwaukee, this beer is brewed from sorghum, hops, water, rice and gluten-free yeast grown on molasses. A crisp and refreshing Session Ale.
Bards Tale Beer - Founded by two Celiacs, this company brews the "Original Sorghum Malt Beer" with their own proprietary malted sorghum. Using only sorghum, yeast, hops and water, this American-style Lager has a medium body and an amber color.
Less popular gluten free beers that are available domestically are:
Tread Lightly Ale - Brewed by the New Planet Beer Company, this beer is made from fermented sorghum and corn, hops and yeast. This beer was inspired by the American Pilsner and has a light taste and body, low caloric content and does not have the aftertaste of other sorghum-based beers.
Ramapo Valley Brewery’s Passover Honey Beer - A blue ribbon Honey Beer, this unique beer is Kosher certified for Passover. It is bright golden in color and has notes of honey and hop. The main fermentable is amber honey, molasses is used for flavor, nutrients and color and noble hops add a touch of bitterness to balance the honey sweetness.
While the age-old, B.R.A.T (Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast) diet is popular for gastrointestinal distress, what is one to do when toast isn't an option? Organic B.R.A.T. Wellness Drink is made with a base of banana puree, brown rice and applesauce to be easy on stomachs while also providing electrolytes and nutrients. At around 100 calories for an 8-ounce glass, it is comparable to other dairy-free milks and is safe for to those with any of the top eight food alleriges.
Overall, these beverages have a smooth texture with the consistency of watered-down milk, which is thin enough to help calm upset stomachs or to consume when not feeling well. It comes in four flavors:
Original - This is similar in flavor to unflavored, original rice milk with just a hint of banana.
Vanilla - Slightly sweeter than the orignal flavor, this flavor had only a slight vanilla flavor but had a strong vanilla smell.
Cinnamon Toast - Although this had intense cinnamon toast scent, it wasn't overly "spiced" providing a light cinnamon flavor. I imagine this flavor would be great cooked into baked goods like muffins or cakes. This was my husbands favorite flavor.
Chocolate Honey - This was my favorite flavor despite my dislike of the flavor of honey. Actually, I personally didn't taste honey, just a light chocolate flavor.
In addition to being an excellent product, Organic B.R.A.T. Wellness Drink company donates 10% of its profits to various food and medical charities, including St. Jude Children's research Hospital, Feed The Children, Celiac Society, Autism Speaks, and others.
Visit Organic B.R.A.T. Wellness Drink on their website, Twitter or Facebook.
Disclaimer: While I was provided with free samples of this product, my opinions are my own and were not swayed in any way by the company.
If you live in the DC Metro Area and are gluten free, you are in luck! The Bethesda location of RAKU Asian Dining is a wonderful option for gluten-free sushi. At the bottom of the menu, "Gluten Free Tamari Available By Request" is clearly printed in bold. However, the restaurant does not have a dedicated gluten free menu (for more information on ordering sushi safely, please read my previous article on the matter). I was told to speak with my server on a dish-by-dish basis to evaluate it's status.
My server that day was a gentleman named "Pong" who was very polite, attentive and accommodating. He was very knowledgeable on what was safe but on the few things he wasn't sure of, he gladly went to talk to the chef before I placed my order. Surprisingly, the cornmeal crusted calamari was not safe, nor were the buckwheat noodles - apparently both are made with some wheat. There was a pumpkin soup that was safe as well as many sushi options. I didn't mention my soy intolerance, only my gluten intolerance, because A) I did not confuse poor Pong even more and B) I was going to avoid everything with gluten in it anyway, that would include all their soy based sauces (with the exception of their wheat free tamari for dipping, which I simply told Pong I didn't need).
I recommend the Nigiri Sushi Appetizer (ask for no sauce on the eel to make it safe) and the Double Salmon Roll, which comes topped with an awesome spicy mango sauce. It was so good, I ordered 2 of those! Both pair well with the refreshing, not-too-sweet Peach Iced Tea. The portion sizes are decent, the food presentation is very nice and the restaurant decor was eclectic and fun.
This restaurant has only three faults that I could find. First, parking, which of course is an issue in general in Bethesda. Second, and a major issue in my opinion, is the lack of a waiting area. One is forced to stand pressed against the wall behind the hostess table or in the entry way as other patrons squeese by you. Finally, this place can get very busy. I luckily went right when they opened at 5:00 pm and was given a roomy booth and were well paid attention to, however, when I left around 6:30 pm, the restaurant was packed full and was pretty noisy. For our gluten free needs, I would highly recommend going early to better assure helpful and attentive service.
A menu and contact information can be found on their website.
Spaghetti squash is a wonderfully versatile winter squash. Rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, C, potassium and fiber, it is also healthy. Use the naturally stringy spaghetti squash in place of pasta in spaghetti, eat as a side dish topped with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, or make this healthy, portable, delicious breakfast! And, it's husband approved! :)
Squash Egg Muffins
from Clara Ogren, http://www.sixfoodintolerance.com
Ingredients (for each muffin):
Oil spray
1/8 cup spaghetti squash, cooked
1/4 a piece of thick-cut Esskay Turkey Bacon (or whatever bacon you have and however much you want!)
1 tsp or 3g Daiya cheese (I mixed both the cheddar and Italian blend flavors, next time, I think I'll use 2 tsp)
1 scrambled egg
Diced scallions, optional, for garnish
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions:
1) Spray a squirt or two of oil spray into muffin opening.
(I forgot to take a picture of this step, but I'm sure you get it.)
2) Place squash into muffin tin, pressing into the bottom and on the sides.
3) Place bacon on top of squash.
4) Top bacon with 1 tsp of Daiya cheese.
5) Scramble an egg and pour on top. Garnish with scallions, pepper or whatever you like.
6) Repeat this process for as many muffins as you would like to make.
7) Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.
8) Gently pull muffins out of muffin tin and enjoy!
Today I want to talk about something somewhat food related, though not entirely. Today I want to discuss affording the food that we need to buy for our special diets. We all know that it's not cheap. I've given lots of tips before on how to make it more affordable, but really, with the various flours, alternative products, and gas spent running to all the different stores (because it seems no one store can carry everything we need!), it's just an unavoidably expensive way of life. Aside from doing all the tips and tricks that I mentioned before, another way I make this life doable is through budgeting. Everyone has a different way, I'm sure. And, like with most things, one style may work for one person, it may not work for another. Today I want to share the way that works for my family.
First of all, a bit of background. My husband and I have debt. Most Americans have debt. You, reader, probably also have debt. Being a bit vulnerably honest here, we have quite a bit of debt. We have school loan debt, wedding debt, lived-off-the-credit-cards-when-we-had-no-income debt, and of course, some naive, what-was-I-thinking, stupid debt. In spite of that, Hubby and I have excellent credit. We always paid our bills even if it meant sacrificing other things, we've never missed a due date and we're always on time. However, when it came to the leftover money for our food, entertainment and household, we didn't always know how to manage the money. We did our best but really, we just didn't have a plan.
About 3 years ago, we decided to try budgeting. For the first few months, we tried several different techniques including writing down everything with pen and paper and then reviewing it, making a humble little spreadsheet and then the "envelope" technique. Everything sort of worked, but nothing gave us the organization we wanted, the ability to fix our mistakes and to plan ahead for those big "oh crap" once or twice a year bills. So, I set out to find such a program and luckily, it was out there.
That is when the program You Need A Budget (YNAB) entered our lives. This program addressed all our above issues and even went a step further. The program creator, Jesse Mecham, developed four practical rules to budget by (like "giving every dollar a job" and "live off last months income") and they're smartly built into the YNAB program. In the last 3 years and with the help from this program, we have been able to put literally thousands of dollars into the bank and have even been able to budget for some new, non-necessary things what we just wanted - like a Wii. This was all while still putting a good chunk of change towards our debt, paying for my expensive diet, and buying other things we needed. I can not imagine having done all of this before budget. It would have been pay the debt OR buy the Wii OR buy expensive gluten free flours, but now, those "ors" are "ands" - and we couldn't be happier about it.
Oh and let me add that A), I am in no way affiliated with YNAB (other than me and my now fuller bank account being very happy customers) and B) that this review was by no means solicited by the makers of YNAB or anyone affiliated with YNAB.
I have mentioned before that I'm not a big cereal person and that as such, I didn't want to pay more money for specialty cereal, that I would just get general store cereal that happened to be gluten free. Well, that has changed. Introducing Natures Path new whole grain, gluten free cereals, Crunchy Maple Sunrise and Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise.
Both contain an impressive ingredient list which contain corn, rice, flax, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth. The cereals are organic, kosher, and a good source of fiber (3 grams per serving) and omega 3's (f0.15 grams per serving). They are also soy, nut and dairy free - score!
These cereals are not only good for you, but taste great too. As the name suggests, both are intensely crunchy and have great texture with the mixture of large corn puff balls, rice puff ovals, small crunchy balls that I think are quinoa or amaranth and multi-grain flakes. As the names also suggests, one has a maple flavor which I find is quite strong (which I like, it reminds me of the maple frosted doughnuts I used to get) and one has a vanilla flavor which is fairly mild but is great with vanilla flavored rice milk.
With the nutrition of the whole grain and the delightful flavor, these cereals are definitely winners. I found them locally for $3.99 each and they are worth every penny. Seriously, run out and by them ... Now ... They're that good. Yum!
One of the most asked questions from gluten free novices is "Can gluten free flours be substituted for wheat flour one-for-one"? The short answer is that gluten free flours do not substitute one for one with wheat - however, gluten free blends can. Let me explain.
Gluten is what gives wheat elasticity and thus provides that chewy, doughy texture. Gluten also retain gases during the baking process which enables dough to rise, makes it stronger and less likely to collapse. That combined with it's light crumb is what makes wheat the "perfect" grain and why many of those who came before us worked exclusively with it. No other flour combines all those properties into one the way wheat does. So, in order to recreate those properties, we must combine flours and make blends. By combining a grain (brown rice, sorghum, millet, etc) with a starch (corn, potato, tapioca, etc), we are able to imitate wheat by having the grain (flavor and nutrients) and the chew (from the starch). Better yet, if we combine multiple grains and multiple starches, we get even closer to wheat because each grain and starch has their own unique properties and "bring something to the table" so to speak. There are a plethora of other types of flours like bean flours, coconut flour and nut flours and those all have different properties that they can lend too. Finally, we can give flour blends a "stretch" factor and help them bind and emulsify together better by adding xanthan or guar gum. Very little is needed and it adds yet another wheat-like property to gluten free baked goods. So, a blend of flours and starches can mimic wheat and can be replaced one-for-one whereas a single gluten free flour (only brown rice or only sorghum, etc) does not have all the properties needed to replace wheat on its own.
While understanding and learning about all the different flours can be intimidating and difficult at first, the sheer variety provides numerous opportunities for creativity, an assortment of flavors, and ensures that there will be at least one blend that you will enjoy. Personally, my favorite all-purpose mix is this one, though I freely admit that I'm probably just a bit biased since I created taht mix myself! ;)
The chickpea miso tamari offered by the South River Miso Company offers the soy intolerant an exciting opportunity. Living soy free makes enjoying Asian cuisine a real challege. Although there are several other prepared Asian sauces that one can use, none the distinct flavor (which the Japanese call "umami") or versatility of soy sauce. However, chickpea miso tamari has a very similar flavor to soy sauce and is just as versitile.
According to their website,
In Japanese, tamari means "little puddle" and refers to the savory liquid that collects in a vat of miso. Our genuine tamari is similar to its cousin, soy sauce, but much sweeter and lighter in taste. Friends who buy directly from our shop come back year after year, declaring that there is no seasoning comparable to South River Miso Tamari. Gathered from the vats of chickpea miso -- Made from deep well water, organic brown rice, organic chickpeas, sun-dried sea salt, organic sea vegetables, and koji culture. Aged in wood for a minimum of 3 months.
As this tamari takes so long to make and is only made in small amount, this sauce is often very limited. If you are interested in this sauce, please order as soon as possible. The South River Miso Company tries to ensure that there is enough to go around by rationing everyone to only one or two bottles per order. So if you're interested in trying some, be sure to order soon!
While both the words miso and tamari typically mean soy, the South River Miso Company uses chickpeas instead of soybeans to make a naturally soy free miso paste. They also make two additional soy free miso pastes - one from azuki beans and one from chickpeas and barley (though this flavor is not gluten free).
