Coley's First Creations!

I'd never given much thought to giving up gluten. When my tummy problems were really flaring up, I never considered gluten. My favorite meal of the day is breakfast... so when I worked, I used to love going down to the cafeteria and ordering the most beautiful fluffy pancakes, a perfectly toasted sesame bagel or, on light mornings, simple toast or an English Muffin.

When my tummy would be thrown into turmoil, my brain automatically blamed the butter on the toast, the cream cheese on the bagel or the syrup on the pancakes. Never once did I look at the star of the show. How could I? I had been raised on "toast and tea with lemon" when you're sick!

Many days have passed since then and having now completely committed, along with my husband, to living a gluten free life, my tummy troubles seem to be getting further away in my rear view mirror. There are only a few problems with this... gluten free foods in the grocery store are either non existent, hard to find, extremely expensive, teeny tiny sized or some combination of the aforementioned. This has spurred me to, as my fore-mothers did, take matters into my own hands and kitchen!

Yesterday was my first attempt at homemade gluten free bread. I made a big batch of flour mix that I modified a bit from one of my gluten free cookbooks.

Four Flour Bread Mix

3 cups Garbanzo Bean Flour

1 cup Sorghum Flour

4 cups Tapioca Flour

4 cups Cornstarch

3 Tbsp Xanthan Gum

1 Tbsp Salt

1 Tbsp Egg Replacer

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup sugar

Using this mix, I made...

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Honey Sweetened Hawaiian Bread

Dry Ingredients

3 cups Four Flour Bread Mix

1/3 tsp Baking Soda

3 Tbsp Almond Meal (finely ground almonds)

4 tsp Yeast

Wet Ingredients

1 egg, plus 2 whites

1/4 tsp vinegar

3 Tbsp Honey

4 1/2 Tbsp margarine/butter

9 oz. Pineapple/Orange/Banana juice

1/3 cup water

Grease chosen pans and dust with rice flour.

Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl or bowl of stand mixer whisk the egg & whites, vinegar, honey & margarine/butter (in chunks) until blended.

Combine water & juice and heat to 110 degrees for hand mixing (for bread machine, follow manufacturer's instructions)

For Hand Mixing, with mixer on low, add dry ingredients a little at a time.

Alternate between dry ingredients and water/juice to maintain cake like batter.

Turn mixer to High and beat for 3 1/2 minutes.

Spoon into prepared pan, cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place for 35 minutes for rapid rise yeast, 60 or more for regular yeast or until the dough has reached the top of the pan.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 50-55 minutes, covering with foil after first 10 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning.

For Bread Machine, place the ingredients in the machine pan in the order suggested in the machine manual. Use the setting for light crust.

This bread is really perfect for popping into the toaster to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning. The sweetness from the honey & the fruit juice gives it a really nice flavor. While this is not a light airy bread, it does not weigh 4 lbs either. It's somewhere in the middle with a texture similar to a banana bread.

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Dinner was another new experiment! In honor of Fat Tuesday, I decided to make a pot of Chicken Jambalaya. The new part was the G-free Fried Shrimp I made as an appetizer!! Sadly, when you have to avoid gluten, that usually means the world of fried foods is often a distant memory. This is why I've modified my family "Fried" chicken recipe... but that's a recipe for another day! :^)

The Mr. also has some trouble with milk, but not cheese ironically. I had been trying to think of ways around it and tried one out last night with much success!

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Gluten Free Fried Shrimp

Thawed, deveined & peeled large shrimp

Dry Station

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

Wet Station

1 cup plain non dairy creamer

2 Tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 beaten egg

1 Tbsp hot sauce (optional)

Heat frying oil to 375 degrees.

Dip shrimp in dry concoction, then the wet and back to the dry.

Allow shrimp to sit for a few minutes.

Give shrimp another pass through the wet and finish with the dry before dropping into oil.

Fry shrimp for 2-3 minutes or until they begin to float.

Remove shrimp from oil and place on rack to cool.

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The brilliant thing about this recipe and the multiple dredgings is that the breading really creates a nice crust that won't break off during cooking. I'm looking forward to using this for one of our board game nights for chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks or... Ooooh!!! Homemade Broccoli Bites!