Gluten-free Monday: favourite pancakes

Obviously I took a week off but... here I am today, nursing a cold, ignoring a nasty diaper, and generally pinning things to my Pinterest boards that I really want to sew.

My love of sewing has been reignited the last few months.  It began when I pulled out my long forgotten and unfinished Christmas tree skirt (still unfinished, I might add).  Whenever I start to sew a project again (rather than just sew on Girl Guide badges or make minor repairs), I fall in love with sewing all over again.  My next project will be a fun bag to tote my Girl Guide stuff in.  After that, it is finishing some other quilts while making some summer skirts for the girls.  But first, I MUST finish my Christmas tree skirt.

I also have a Gluten-free goodness board on Pinterest.  You can find it here.  And like most of my other pins, I haven't made a single recipe on there yet.  Maybe I'll change that this week and try one out.  I'm thinking the chocolate cookies.  Yes..... I see a project for Henry and I today!  Expect a review next week.

In the meantime, I'm going to share my favourite pancakes with you today (sorry no photos).  This is a recipe that I got from Baking Beauties but I have fully changed around to make much better (in our opinion).  We always add blueberries but plain is good too, as is any other fruit you can think of.  You can also add canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices for a really great treat.

Karen's Pancakes

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
3 tbsp tapioca starch/flour
1/3 cup potato starch
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xanthan gum

1 egg
1 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 1/2-1 3/4 cups milk, depending on how thick you like your pancakes.
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp vanilla

Whisk all dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients separately, whisking well.  Add wet to dry and mix well.  Sometime I have to add extra milk to make a thinner batter as I don't like my pancakes too puffy.  Melt butter in frying pan and add large spoonfuls of batter adding blueberries or whatever fruit you like.

This batter also keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

I honestly don't think a wheat-eater could tell the difference eating these pancakes.  There is not GF texture here at all. Yum!

Gluten-free Monday: GF flour blend & Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I know, I know.  It's Tuesday.  I realize now that posting on Mondays will likely be difficult because Brownies is at 4:00 every Monday which means my Mondays is normally dominated by running around, getting craft supplies ready, doing some shopping, etc.

Yesterday we had a skating party at Brownies so there was little running around and no crafting to be done but Emily was home sick so the day was strange and didn't follow routine AND I am starting to cut/limit Henry's naps so there was that added in the mix as well.

And so, on this very cold Tuesday, I give to you Gluten-free Monday: the second edition!

Last week, Julie asked if I would post my gluten-free flour blend.  I'll happily do that today.

In full disclosure, this is actually Carol's Sorghum Blend and not invented by me at all.

I love this blend.  I've tried many and this one is by far the best for our tastes.  No rice flour: win! Easy to mix: win! As close to wheat in texture and taste that you're gonna get: win!

I don't use blends too often, however.  Normally I gravitate to recipes that have a number of different flours and starches in the recipe and do not depend on an all-purpose blend.  These recipes tend to work best as the ratios have been determined for that specific recipe.  This is why I like MGCC's website so much.  Their GF guru, Julie, doesn't use blends either.

There are some instances that require a pre-made blend however.  I have a couple of recipes that ask for one and I go to this blend for converting some of my square and muffin recipes.  It works well.  I wouldn't use it to convert a cake or cookies, though. Be forewarned, it won't work.  It is great for thickening sauces, stews, or other recipes that ask for 1-2 tbsp of flour as a thickener.  This will be a great replacement.

Carol's Sorghum Blend

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch (not potato flour)
1 cup tapioca starch/flour

Mix and store.

I've used this recipe in the following muffin recipe to rave reviews:

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I can't even remember where I got this recipe... AllRecipes, maybe? It's a GREAT addition to kids' lunches if they survive an hour past baking.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp shortening
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups Carol's Sorghum Blend
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream shortening and sugar in big bowl.
Add eggs and applesauce, mix well.
Mix dry ingredients, add to big bowl.
Add in vanilla, yogurt and bananas.
Mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into muffin cups.  Bake at 350F for 24-30 minutes.  Makes 20-24 muffins.

Gluten-free Mondays

I've decided, on the spur of the moment as I devour another gluten-free cheese bun that I baked this morning, to start a new series on the blog: Gluten-free Mondays. 

I've been eating totally gluten-free for two years next month.  I was dragged kicking and screaming into a gluten-free diet after almost two years of ongoing and sometimes serious health issues revealed that gluten-free was the only cure for my many issues.  You can read about my health journey to this discovery here.

Since then I have found and developed a lot of GREAT gluten-free recipes.  My mantra when I started out was that if it wasn't as good as the wheat version, I wouldn't eat it (or make it again).  I've been able to stick to that and in some cases, my gluten-free version is better than the original wheat version.

We now have a completely gluten-free household.  Emily and Hope showed signs of gluten-intolerance about a year ago and have been GF since about then.  Henry has shown signs for a while and has been GF for about two months.  I'm still not convinced that this is the answer for him or that he is truly intolerant but given that gluten-intolerance is hereditary, there's a good chance that he is, even if it isn't solving his current issue.

John decided to join us as the last man standing and after reading an article that scared him off modern, North American wheat for at least a while, if not a lifetime.

I've only just started to convert my own recipes over to a GF version recently.  More often than not, I scour the internet for an already tested recipe.  I find that if I do choose to convert, my best luck happens with muffins, quick breads, pancakes.  I still haven't mastered a from-scratch homemade bread recipe.  Bread still eludes me.  It is the toughest thing to replicate given that it is reliant on gluten to make it 'bready'.  If we want bread, I buy a tolerable version at Costco or get the Bob's Red Mill everyday bread mix.

Several of my friends are starting to consider going GF because they have ongoing gut issues etc.  And they have asked me for recipes.  Instead of putting all my links together, which would take me a LONG time.  I've decided to feature one of our favourite GF recipes here each Monday.  Most often it will be taken from someone else's website or a cookbook.  So, kudos to all those people out there who have mastered recipe conversion.  My family benefits daily from your perseverance.

This morning, as I mentioned above, I baked cheese buns.  These are not normal buns.  They're called Chipa and they're common to South America.  My sister-in-law, who is from Brazil, makes these often.  Their texture takes some getting used to - they're very chewy inside.  We're totally addicted over here.  They need to be eaten the same day they're made so if you aren't going to eat 48 little buns in one day, put some of the batter in the fridge to use the next day.  That's what I normally do and it works great.

I found this recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook's gluten-free page.  It's become one of my go-to GF recipe sources.  I've only had one recipe not work out (bread, of course).  And of course, being Mennonite, they appeal to my desire for traditional Mennonite recipes converted to GF.  This week I'll be trying their wareneki recipe from their cookbook.  Can't wait!

Chipa

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3 cups tapioca starch/flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups of strong grated cheese 

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Add oil, beaten eggs with the milk and stir in till the dry ingredients are well moistened.

Put into greased mini-muffin tins.

Bake at 350 til golden brown, 20-25 minutes.  I bake mine on 325 convection and leave them in for 15 minutes.

Delicious cheesy little pillows.