Applesauce Cake - Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Low-Sugar

At my son's Waldorf school, birthdays are celebrated with applesauce cake. We always pack my son a wheat-free, gluten-free alternative for the baked goods. I also make them dairy-free so that I can eat them and because we try to keep my son's dairy intake down.

I was very pleased with the cake we made yesterday after I'd cobbled together several different gluten-free recipes. I substituted almond flour for most of the flour and drastically reduced the sugar (though did not omit for fear of a too-soggy cake).

Next time I will make a double batch so that we can have plenty to munch on at home! This time we had to reserve three servings for two birthdays this week (and one we'll freeze for next week). I will also increase the spices from the numbers used here, but I'll leave them for those who prefer a milder taste.





GFCF Applesauce Cake Recipe

Dry ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour (Could use other GF flours per your preference, but the almond makes it moist and sweet and gives the cake more protein)
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp (real with minerals) sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• shake of ground ginger

(increase all spices if you want more flavor)

Mix the above in one bowl and set aside.

Then mix the following in another bowl:

• 2 (pastured or at least organic!) eggs, beaten (and warmed so the coconut oil will not harden)
• 1/3 cup warmed (to liquid) coconut oil
• 1/4 cup Sucanat, Rapadura, date sugar, or maple sugar

Add to that mixture

• 1 cup applesauce (organic or local from an orchard you trust)
• 1/4 cup coconut milk mixed with water (so not too thick)
• 1/2 cup grade B maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp black strap molasses (could add more)
• 1 tsp vanilla (try for GF/alcohol-free. Could increase quantity if desired)

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry bowl. Mix well, with electric mixture for a short time if necessary.

Optional to add in nuts or raisins. If adding raisins, cut down on the sugar and/or maple syrup.

Grease pan(s) with coconut oil prior to filling them or use parchment paper to line if you don't want your food touching non-stick/Teflon surfaces.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. This should fill one 13x9" pan.

(I used a square pan and put the additional batter in a pumpkin-shaped pan, per my son's request. That one cooked in 25-30 minutes as it was not as thick.)

Enjoy!

Gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie!

I finally took a photo of a gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie this year! Two different times!

The crust was largely hazelnut and rice flour with all the spices of pumpkin pie. I used coconut oil and put a little vanilla in with the cold water, using this crust recipe (with mostly nut flour/meal). I baked the shell for 15-20 minutes before filling it with the pumpkin mix.

I used essentially the spices in the proportions on the can of pumpkin (there were no pie pumpkins available this week) with just a little extra of each spice. For one pie, Libby's calls for

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 nutmeg (that's my addition)

The liquid filling for my one pie omitted the "3/4 cup granulated sugar" and instead included:

• 2 pastured eggs from the farm
• about 1 1/2-2 cups of coconut milk (full fat, unsweetened, organic - see brand discussion below)
  
• a half cup of maple syrup
• a dollop of molasses
• less than a teaspoon of Sucanat (actually this was probably in with the dry spices)
  
• about a teaspoon of vanilla.
  

I put just a little arrrowroot in a tiny bit of water and mixed that with the coconut milk (and syrup) just to add a little stiffness. I think that was about right.

Another time I used pumpkin, which we roasted and then scooped out, but I added too much starch. That time, I included arrowroot and a few Tablespoons of rice flour in the mix, and the result was too solid, as you can see -- more like a quiche instead of velvety.

The rest of the mainstream directions I followed, after baking my mostly-nut meal crusts for 15 min first:

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a larger bowl. Add in pumpkin and spices and mix well. Slowly mix in in coconut milk/maple syrup/vanilla mixture.

Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

In all cases, the pies were delicious. People who need more sweet can add ice cream. We used So Delicious Coconut Milk Ice Cream though I am not a fan of that brand's coconut milk in a carton and always use the canned organic coconut milk that has no weird additives besides a little guar gum and water. And it tastes a lot better than the So Delicious cartons. As for coconut milk brands, Thai Kitchen is a little more expensive where I live than Native Forest, so I usually go with NF. The Whole Foods Brand is cheapest but is often more watery and less flavorful. I found I couldn't really tolerate the Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate very well, and I didn't like having to warm up and add water.

GFCF rolls with hazelnut flour

I wanted to share a photo of the GFCF rolls I made for Thanksgiving this year and an update on the recipe. The bulk of the flour this time was Hazelnut flour from Bob's Red Mill with some sorghum, rice, and tapioca. Also, I got away with using hardly any sugar and a little more molasses (along with a little more flour) than in my original recipe, which, I believe should be in the new Holistic Moms Network cookbook (I haven't seen a copy yet).

Ideally I would soak and dry my own organic nuts (or use nuts from Wilderness Family Naturals) and then grind those for my flour since Bob's nut flour is not organic. But at least the rolls don't send anyone's blood sugar through the roof!

Traditional, GFCF, and Low-Carb Eating 101

I just attended a local hospital's women's health expo and spoke to a diabetes nutrition educator who was horrified that I would pursue a low carb diet. "Why would you do that?" she asked. I dropped a lot of names, none of which she was familiar with. I just wrote her an email and decided to post it here and at my other blog for my own (and anyone else's) future reference.


Dear health practitioner,

Different people find health and wellness through different means, but it is through a gluten-free, casein-free, low-carb, low-grain “traditional” diet that I personally was able to reverse autoimmune hyperthyroidism, regain my fertility and address chronic depression.

A powerful book about the wisdom of limiting or avoiding grains is on the site of author Melissa Diane Smith. She wrote a book called Going Against the Grain that explains connections between grain intolerance and other health issues and explains why grains give so many people problems.
http://www.melissadianesmith.com/

I recently saw two speakers talk about avoiding grains at a Gluten Intolerance Group gathering in Richmond, VA.
Dr. Stephen Wangen, author of The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Solution, has written a new book called Healthier Without Wheat. Information is available at www.HealthierWithoutWheat.com
Dr. Rodney Ford makes the case that gluten has neurological impacts on people who do not have celiac disease. Information is available at www.DrRodneyFord.com
These men both gave fascinating presentations.

In terms of traditional eating, the group I referenced is the Weston A. Price Foundation
http://www.westonaprice.org/
Some quick information from the WAPF on healthy vs. unhealthy fats is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
An article on proper preparation of grains is at
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html
and in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions

A growing number of people are finding better health through increasing their intake of vegetables and decreasing their carbohydrates. Some people even point to a theory of food combining that claims putting carbohydrates with animal proteins inhibits proper digestion of food and leads to an acid/alkaline imbalance, which contributes to inflammatory conditions and to an overgrowth of Candida (yeast).

Some of this information can be found at The Body Ecology Diet - http://www.bodyecologydiet.com/ and in the BED book by Donna Gates.
Some general resources on the benefits of limiting carbohydrates can also be found at
The Gut and Psychology Syndrome - http://gapsdiet.com/
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet - http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

A great read on why follow the wisdom of our ancestors is Nina Planck’s book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why. A farmers' daughter and a proponent of farmers markets, Nina also has a new book out for fertility, mom and baby. See her website at http://www.ninaplanck.com/

I hope you’ll get a chance to look into some of these resources and share this information with your patients.

In health,
Crunchy-Chewy Mama
http://crunchychewymama.blogspot.com/

Helping children with aggression

"But he showed remorse," said my kind friend when I called her crying to apologize that my son had bitten hers at school. "What more could you want?"

Um, for him to not do it at all?

Really, what I want is for my son not to feel that kind of out-of-control anger. I know he's three and a half and that some socially inappropriate behavior is, well, developmentally appropriate. But I also know that when he went through a similar phase two years ago, some body work and energy work really seemed to help.

And I know that as someone who suffered from undiagnosed depression all through my childhood, it's no fun to feel unhappy inside. Although medication helped through a few dark periods in my adulthood, it's become crystal clear to me that what has made the most profound difference has been a combination of non-drug remedies: a gluten-free, casein-free diet; regular exercise and yoga; and body work and energy work, including acupuncture, chiropractic and craniosacral therapy (CST).

So when my son had a biting episode a few weeks back for the first time (a 12-hour playdate is a rough thing for overtired cousins inhabiting a small space on a rainy cold day), I made an appointment with the acupuncturist who saw us when he had an ear infection months ago. While I waited the three weeks before that opening, I also got him in for CST work, which I though was probably more useful for him (lasting a full hour) but is twice as expensive as the acupuncturist who works with kids.

The acupuncture was scheduled for Friday at the end of the first week of school. E seemed to enjoy school fine and had none of the crying some other kids did upon leaving their moms for the first time. But on Tuesday, the second day, he did bite the arm of his friend, G, in what was probably a tussle over a toy. "It might have been provoked," the teacher said, having not seen the lead-up. But I was deeply troubled.

My kid is nice. He's usually patient and kind. When he does physical stuff, something seems like it's just not right inside. That's an awful feeling, and I don't want him to have it. To me, the biting is a symptom. Maybe he's feeding off of my stress. Maybe it's partly the change of season, as the acupuncturist suggested. Maybe it's that we've been trying some dairy in his diet, and maybe it doesn't agree with him any more than it does with me.

What I do know is that he and I both had a nice day Friday and a pretty mellow weekend after a week of volatility and meltdowns. All the doctor did was use a little roller on a few spots and then put little acupressure stickers on his ears, hands and feet. Thinking we might try needles on him next time, she did a demo on me with a quick insertion to two points that address the kidney meridian and fear. "You'll have a good day, too," she nodded to me.

And I did. Within a few hours, the sense of urgency and crisis was gone. My son and I had a lovely time together. We'll see if he can hold onto that calm through today, the first day of the second week of school.

What did the boy inherit?

A few months back, I finally did a cheek swab test on my son to see if he did in fact inherit gluten sensitivity from me. I'd ordered the test from Enterolab almost a year earlier on the advice of Melissa Diane Smith, author of the fabulous book, Going Against the Grain. For some reason, I just had a block against finding out. I wanted to keep my boy gluten-free until he was three anyway. With all the added gluten in today's grain and the increase in gluten sensitivity, I don't think it's healthy for anyone to have much of it period, and certainly not when the gut is so immature.

The results showed that my son has one of the main genes that predisposes to gluten sensitivity and celiac sprue and one "non-celiac" gene that also predisposes to gluten sensitivity. Mainstream doctors would not diagnose celiac disease without blood testing and/or an endoscopy, but those would likely not yield positive results unless he had eaten enough gluten to do damage to his gut. That's not a risk I'm willing to take.

However, we are trying him now on cow's milk and will then do a stool test to see if he shows casein sensitivity. The idea is that the more integrity we can build in his gut now, the healthier he will be in the long run. But I don't want to keep him off of all dairy unless we know. There is so much good to be had in full-fat, farm-fresh dairy -- real milk.

So we're trying to just be up front with him, always pointing out that different people eat different things. Since this is not an issue of allergy, I want to keep out the fear, but I do want him to understand that we sometimes make choices based on information that doesn't have an immediate impact. That's next-to-impossible for someone his age to get, but I'm trying to present it just as things are and hope that it will help him eventually make choices that are good for his body rather than get stuck in some kind of right/wrong dichotomy.

Gluten-free pancakes at Original Pancake House

The Original Pancake House in Falls Church, VA now offers gluten-free pancakes using Bob's Red Mill GF blend, milk, egg and canola oil. The pancakes did taste good -- we got one order of blueberry and one of pecan -- (choices also include plain, banana and chocolate chip -- not as many choices as the regular pancakes boast at OPH). Shredded potatoes tasted like canola oil, which does no one any favors. We got some turkey links that were okay (not guaranteed nitrite-free or anything), an a fried egg that wasn't too pale in the yolk, and the real maple syrup was indeed probably worth the extra money (can't remember if it was 50 cents or $1.50, but who wants anything that's probably half corn syrup?). Decaf was not memorable either way.

I was calling it my last big carb binge before trying to seriously start a more veg-focused diet (including juicing and more raw food), but it was fun to be able to have breakfast out in the world for once. It's better at home, of course, but I'm still really glad they are offering the GF cakes.

Visit http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/

Potato Pancakes (gluten-free, dairy-free)

This is not the most stellar recipe post, but I thought I'd share that lately I've been making a quick side dish out of the extra farm eggs we have now that I'm no longer nursing and eating two each morning (and I keep forgetting to decrease my order size!). My son loves eating these savory pancakes. I essentially beat a couple of eggs and add to them grated potato, zucchini, carrot and chopped onion (maybe some spinach, too) with some herbs, salt and pepper. Then I add some tapioca flour or rice flour and/or arrowroot. It's very unscientific. I just add until I feel like the mixture will hold together. I think I tried adding in some coconut milk once -- maybe I mixed that with the flours first and then added to the egg. At any rate, I fry the mixture in a pan with olive oil or coconut oil and flip at least once. Pretty simple and good.

Gluten-Free Rhubarb-Apple-Strawberry Pie (no dairy, low sugar)

Mother's Day was also my husband's birthday. I got my special time running a half-marathon, and then we went out for brunch with friends. He didn't get much special time, having promised a neighbor we'd babysit for them. D'oh! But he did mention an idea to buy a slice of rhubarb pie for himself, so I got motivated. We also had way too many eggs because I keep forgetting to reduce my farm order to one dozen now that I'm not longer a nursing mom eating for two. So I thought, as long as I'm making crust and heating up the oven, I might as well make some quiche and a pie!

The results were yummy. I used my no-frills gluten-free pie crust recipe. For the quiche, this time I used sorghum flour, a little millet flour and rice flour with coconut and olive oils plus some oregano, pepper and basil. For the pie, I used almond flour and rice flour, coconut oil and butter plus some cinnamon and nutmeg, and maybe a dash of vanilla.

I cobbled together a few recipes for the pie with some GF substitutions and came up with this;

Gluten-Free Rhubarb-Apple-Strawberry Pie (no dairy, low sugar)

Mixture to coat fruit:
3 Tablespoons arrowroot and tapioca flours
1/4 tsp sea salt
juice of half a lemon
1/3 cup Sucanat (most recipes called for a cup or more of sugar)
1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash-1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp vanilla (alcohol-free would be better)

Fruit:
A bunch of rhubarb cut into 1" pieces
Half a pint of strawberries cut up
One apple cut into chunks -- I used half of a gala and half of a granny smith

Mix all the dry ingredients together & then mix with fruit to set for 15 minutes.
Before I put mixture into the pie crust, I tossed it with about a Tablespoon or more of coconut milk (not low fat) just for a little creaminess and a little extra sweetness.
I added a little coconut oil on top too, just because the other recipes said to dot with butter and I thought maybe it could stand some more goo. I did not put a top crust on this even though all the recipes I saw called for it. The pie baked fine.

Bake time and temp I have to make a best guess as I was also cooking the two quiche and a chicken.
375-400 worked for me, and I would guess about 45 minutes, though I would check before that and not be surprised if you didn't like the looks of it until an hour.

All agreed that it was delicious. My husband got his supplemental sugar with ice cream. I just poured some extra coconut milk on mine. Rice dream or coconut sorbet would work, too. We served it mildly warm and loved it, but it was just as good out of the fridge the next two days.

Coconut flour cupcakes

This recipe adaptation comes from Bruce Fife's Cooking with Coconut Flour

I've reduced the sugar and replaced butter with coconut oil to make a fully dairy-free and gluten-free cupcake.

These are high protein, high-fiber and rich, even without the butter.

3 Tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
3 eggs (warmed in water first so they don't clump up the coconut oil by resolidifying it)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar (pref. Sucanat, Rapadura or date or maple sugar, or regular brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons coconut milk (not low-fat)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (preferably alcohol-free if you are being strict about being gluten-free)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Blend the following:
oil
eggs
sugar
coconut milk
salt
vanilla

Combine coconut flour (first sifted or at least de-lumped) with baking powder. Whisk dry mix into wet and mix until there are no lumps. Pour/spoon into muffin tins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8-15 minutes (shorter length for mini-muffins).
Supposed to make 6 full-sized muffins.

Variations/Notes:
-Add in some carob powder to the whole batter for a chocolate-like flavor
-Add almond flavoring for more of a marzipan taste
-Don't add in cinnamon -- in my opinion, it just doesn't really work well with the coconut flavor unless you're making some more nuanced concept dish.

-You could easily double the recipe and go up to only 1/2 cup of flour, but then you're in for a half-dozen eggs! A little coconut flour goes a long way! But it also requires a lot of egg! (No, I've never tried this with egg substitute.)

Choose the right ingredient

This is what coconut flour waffles (with a little almond meal and flax meal) should look like:










This is what they will look like if you accidentally put in 2 T of xanthan gum instead of arrowroot (which we use instead of corn starch in this recipe, and we use coconut milk and almond milk)

Gluten-Free Rolls (low-sugar muffins with nut flour)

At our Waldorf school's Parent-Child class, the daily snack kids make is whole wheat rolls, which are eaten with freshly churned (shaken in a jar with marbles) butter. When the rolls come out of the oven and we sit down to give "blessings on the meal," fresh organic apples are cut as well. The teacher was open to us substituting a gluten-free recipe until we came to the realization that you don't knead GF flour, which defeats the pedagogical purpose of children getting involved in the tactile experience of moving their hands in the dough.

So we decided that we'd just bring our own GF rolls. At first I brought in yeasted rolls like those at school, but they looked nothing like the nice, round wheat rolls. I decided that for a mama (and maybe her son) with Candida issues, I might as well avoid the yeast and instead make more of a mini-muffin. Since we don't have anyone with a nut allergy in class, I've started using almond flour to make these less carby, empty calories. Here is the recipe I've hit on that I think works.

Dry mixture

• 2 cups flour -- I used almost a cup of almond flour and the rest a mixture of brown rice, millet and arrrowroot
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet mixture

• 1/2 cup coconut oil and olive oil mixture per your preferences (or go with butter if you can tolerate it)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (not low-fat)
• 2 eggs beaten (organic, preferably pastured from a farm)
• 1 T sucanat (or rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar)
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp ground flax

Mix the wet ingredients together with a mixer and then add to the dry mixture

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes
Makes 30 or so mini muffins

I didn't try using cup liners and allowed my food to touch the evil Teflon, so I don't know about the sticking factor with cup liners.

Addendum:
My son wanted to make "heart cookies" again. Although this was not cookie dough, we did have some success after I froze the dough. They weren't exactly pretty, but they made the kid happy. Cooked them 6-8 min.

Gluten-Free (Low)Sugar Cookies

My camera battery died before the cookies came out of the oven, but here are a few of our successful baking experience making cookies to take to our Waldorf school tomorrow, where the class will be be baking Valentine cookies with whole wheat. We always bring our own gluten-free alternative to our Parent-Child class.

I always like to add almond or another nut flour in recipes to add to the protein and fat content so that the cookies don't cause a crazy sugar reaction. They are also quite low in sugar compared to some other recipes, but I'd still rather have something good with my something not-so-good.

These recipes have been adapted from The Gluten-Free Gourmet and Gluten-Free Baking Classics (via adaptation by Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well)

Dry ingredients to mix together first:
- 2 1/4-1/2 cups of GF flour
I used maybe 1/3 almond flour, 1/3 arrowroot, 1/3 tapioca and the rest brown rice flour
If you use only dry sugar/sucanat/rapadura (or date sugar or maple sugar), use closer to 2 or 2 1/4 cups of flour
If you want to substitute some molasses or maple syrup (or honey) for sweetener, add in a little more flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt

optional
up to 3/4 or 1 teaspoon cinnamon
a shake (1/8 teaspoon) nutmeg

Set this dry mixture aside

Gooey mixture
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup oil -- I used half coconut oil and half butter. We can tolerate a little dairy, and I do think butter makes for better cookies. Use a little more oil if using less wet ingredients (i.e. no liquid sugar)
- 1/3 cup sucanat, rapadura, date sugar or maple sugar -- sugar that still retains some of its food quality and hasn't been stripped of everything
- a small glob (maybe 1 teaspoon) of black strap molasses

Mix these together with a hand mixer. You might want to heat the oil/butter some first to encourage the chunkier natural sugar to melt/mix well.

Add to the gooey mixture:
- 1 egg (could try a few tsp. flax meal in hot water set aside for a few minutes as egg replacer, but I didn't)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (Frontier GF/no alcohol)
optional:
- 1/2 teaspoon almond flavor or another flavoring (Frontier GF/no alcohol)

Add dry to gooey and mix with mixer until it looks like dough you could roll into a log to chill in the freezer for a bit

Put some rice flour on your rolling pin and parchment paper and roll out the chilled dough to cut into shapes

Place on cookie sheet (grease first with coconut oil if it's a sticky one, or put on parchment paper if you want to avoid Teflon)

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-14 minutes. I made my cookies quite thin (so I'd have plenty of them) and baked for 7-8 minutes. I also did a few trials in small balls and they cooked well in 8-9 minutes.

These cookies were light and had a shortbread quality -- not particularly chewy or soft. And of course with the natural sugar, they are on the brown side (and uneven in color since I didn't warm my oil and also added the egg at the same time as the oil and sugar instead of after). But they were perfect for cutting into shapes, and they sure were tasty and satisfying!

Fancy Dinner: CityZen

We had splurge Merry Christmas dinner the other night at CityZen at the Mandarin Hotel. Fortunately it wasn't until the following night that my son woke a few times before midnight. Thankfully, on our night out, all was quiet. We left at 7:30 and didn't return until 11:00 after a lovely dinner (with a neighbor babysitting for free as a swap! score!)

It's already been a week (things have been busy), but I hope I can still capture most of the intricacies of our meal. I hadn't called ahead to mention being gluten-free and dairy-free because the menu looked fairly forgiving on that front. The actual menu was a little more of a challenge, but once we mentioned the issue to our server, I felt very watched out for and taken care of.

The meal began with two amuse-bouches for each of us. My husband got a wild mushroom "pretzel" with a wild mushroom sauce. I was given three small pieces of roasted beet (two gold and one red) a tiny amount of greens. It was hard to hear the server describe the next mini-course, but it was something like jicama. He said it was Japanese potato, something I love to roast at home, but this one was marinated or pickled or something. It came with a date relish. I'm afraid the details are already blurring! LJ got a mini souffle (what he is calling custard) -- he thought it had some kind of rich cheese but was told it was just egg, cream and olive oil with paprika. We heard a woman at the next table equally incredulous being given the same explanation upon inquiring about what type of cheese was used.

The menu's seafood selections looked the safest for me, but I didn't want an appetizer and entree that were both fish. She explained that the "ravioli" in the pork belly appetizer was just some fruit inside a folded-over shaving of persimmon. So, despite concerns about nitrates, I went for the pig, and it was very yummy. This is why I ordered the Cabernet Sauvingon instead of a white wine, and, since it was on the chilly side in the restaurant, I was glad I'd gone with red. LJ got a Manhattan that came with a marinated sour cherry and was prepared "old school" with bitters. He later got a glass of Sangiovese Chianti.

LJ's appetizer was a parnsip souffle inside of a crepe with a clam sauce. He describes the experience as "cosmic." LJ was offered bread during the meal - country, foccacia or something else. He says they were good, and he had the choice of unsalted and salted butter.

His entree was duck breast that came with duck sausage and French lentils. I had a bite was rich and yummy. LJ called it "exquisite" if not perhaps a tad too salty. My entree was local Rockfish (not listed on my wallet mercury chart) - crispy skin filet - that came with citrus potato hash, baked cauliflour and a green sauce that was delightful, but I can't remember what vegetable it was supposed to come from. The fish itself was unremarkable, but all the flavors of everything on the plate were amazing.

To cleanse our palates, I was given some kind of a pear dish that was divine, and LJ had something else I'll have to check with him about when he gets out of the shower.

Desserts are usually a challenge for the bluten- and dairy-challenged. I am not usually a big citrus-eater, but the CityZen Tequila Sunrise was out of this world : poached blood orange suprêmes, orange confiture, sherbet (currently says lime on the menu but I think mine was rasberry) and a drizzling of tequila offered like pepper on a salad. I held back out of respect for my liver but wish I'd asked the server for a few more shakes. The ginger beignets went to my husband with a regretful "these have gluten." We had actually only said wheat was a concern, so it was nice to know they understood what we really meant.

LJ had a pumpkin bread pot au feu with flowering quince (whatever that means) and ice cream. It also came with some type of cookie/sweetbread.

We savored every bite of the meal and sip of our drinks and decafs. There were lots of morons smoking under the warming lights as we waited for the valet (which still cost $7 even with the restaurant stamp), but otherwise, the intake for the night was impeccable and worth the pricier-than normal nice meal we might normally pursue. With all the extra little touches, I would say it's worth the money of $75 for the fixed price. If you are flexible enough to be happy with any of the smaller number of choices (and don't have any dietary restrictions), I would guess the $50 for sitting at the bar would be the way to go, as long as it comes with all the fun extras.

Fitting in with carbs: gluten-free rolls

Kneading dough is part of our Waldorf school's curriculum, and it turns out you don't really knead gluten-free dough. The xanthan gum is what adds the elasticity. So rather than use gluten-free dough in the classroom, my son's teacher and I decided the class would use wheat as usual and we'd just bring in our own pre-made rolls.

That's fine, except that it means I need to bake! I love the taste of fresh yeasted rolls, but they are easy to get addicted to. After living two and a half years with essential no bread products, my son has quickly come to adroe these rolls! This carb-dependence is a bit of a compromise on my part (since I tend to agree with the ideas presented in Gut and Psychology Syndrome and the Body Ecology Diet that complex carbs do harm our guts), but I think the other aspects of the Waldorf curriculum are really great.

Right now we are using the recipe in the October/November 2008 Living Without magazine. I won't detail the recipe while it's still on newstands, but essentially I'm using millet, rice and potato starch flours in the rolls. The dough (pictured here before rising and after 4 minutes in high with a hand blender) is very fluffy and light after it rises -- does not roll well into balls. But they do taste pretty good. I am letting my son eat a little of the butter that is also made fresh at the school. I tried some and it sure is good. But at home, we'll try to stick to cultured butter and hopefully eventually make ghee out of unsalted butter.

I've been making one batch of twelve, but the rolls are so popular at home I think I need to make a larger batch or I'll be doing this every week!

Snacks to Go

My son has always been into things he could chew -- munching on celery at 10 months but pushing away purees. Now that he sees other toddlers eating chips and pretzels and cereal, he really wants more crunchy options than rice crackers. One new gluten-free option our local My Organic Market just started carrying is the new Mary's Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs. I like that these have no corn in addition to not having any gluten or dairy ingredients and being organic. There is a small amount of soy from wheat-free tamari. We have enjoyed the sea salt and the curry flavors but haven't tried the chipotle. My husband can't tolerate quinoa, which is in these snacks, so they don't get eaten up by anyone but us!

We also like the breakfast crusts and mineral rich crusts from Mauk Family Farms. They claim that "All seeds have been germinated and then dehydrated at 105 degrees," which should make them more digestible. At least they are not extruded, a process Sally Fallon discusses in the "Dirty Secrets of the Food Processing Industry," an article taken from her 2002 talk, a version of which I heard her give at the Weston A. Price Foundation' s fall 2007 conference.

Real, whole foods - nuts, vegetables, fruit, meat -- are always better, but when something dry and more complex is demanded, these are some of the options I reach for.

Gluten-Free Baking

I took another great cooking class last night with Monica Corrado of Simply Being Well: Cooking for Well Being. This one was on gluten-free muffins and quick breads, which were delicious!

We did a touch test to feel the difference between three types of rice flours: Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills, which were very grainy, and Authentic Foods, which was super silky. We are going to look into their growing practices as they are not organic -- want to make sure they're no-GMO and at least sustainable practices.

I had no idea that shaking/fluffing your flours could make such a difference with texture! Monica's mixture, adapted from Analise Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics, is 6 parts rice flour, two parts potato starch and one part tapioca flour Make a big batch and have it on hand so you can bake on demand!

Take Monica's classes for fun, education and yummy treats!

Gluten-Free Casein-Free Pie Crust

“I’d given up on pie until I tasted yours,” said my friend S, who recently went gluten-free and dairy-free. I think she’s exaggerating, but I admit I was pleasantly surprised to taste the GFCF strawberry-rhubarb pie I made when we gathered at her parents’ lakehouse with three other families from our Bradley childbirth class. Yes, that’s a total of five families with toddlers, plus a new baby. We’ve had gatherings and potlucks before, but this was our first on-site living and eating extravaganza. Everyone seemed to think the pie turned out pretty well. It was nice to have a large kitchen to play in and to have my son busy playing with other kids instead of using my legs as a tunnel, but I’m still always trying to do a lot of things at once, so I rarely know exactly what I’ve done.

The filling recipe will have to come later, but I’ll start with the crust. This is a simple, easy version I came up with after scouring the in-ter-nets, including Gluten-Free Girl, (whose book I look forward to reading). I’ve decided to post this recipe and whatever others seem to work fairly well both for my friend and so that maybe I can keep a little less paper around for my son to plant stickers on and possibly refine the recipe.

It worked for me, but I encourage anyone else to use their own experience and intuition to tweak as necessary. Chemistry is not my forte, so take all the additional suggestions with something like 1/16 tsp of salt.

Gluten-Free Casein-Free Pie Crust

Ingredients
1 ½ cups GF flour. I use a combination of rice and tapioca flours
¼ tsp salt
½ cup oil

(After the above): 4 Tablespoons cold (filtered) water

I used mostly coconut oil (virgin unrefined) and a little ghee (clarified butter without the milk proteins or sugars). If making a quiche or another savory dish, try olive oil. No soy-based oils or hydrogenated oils! If you can tolerate a little butter (as some otherwise dairy-free folks can), get the good pastured, grass-fed stuff and go for it.

Basic directions

1) Combine flour and salt.
2) Combine dry mixture with oil. Should get crumbles
3) Add 4 Tablespoons cold (filtered) water and mix
4) Fill a 9-inch pie pan. I honestly didn’t try to roll the dough out – just plopped it in the Pyrex and spread it out with my hands. Time is, well, time.
5) Bake in preheated oven (375 ish) for 10-15 min before removing to put in pie filling – maybe longer if the filling is very wet (like a key-lime pie or all berry with no thickener). Eyeball it. Your oven light works, right?

Optional additions (depending on recipe you’re combining this with):
Combine with dry (flour & salt):

• A little brown sugar
• A little cinnamon
• Additional salt (for a savory dish, as a counterpoint to very sweet, or to help with lack of buttery flavor)
• A little xantham gum and a tiny bit of baking soda if you’re trying to make more of a cookie-type crust.
  

Combine with wet (mixture of flour, salt and oil):

• A little molasses, agave or rice syrup
• GF vanilla flavoring
• GF almond flavoring
• GF maple flavoring (good for making graham cracker-like flavor, along with molasses)