A new posting by the Be Free For Me Blogger

Here is a link to a posting on the Be Free For Me Blog, that I thought you may get some helpful information from... http://www.befreeforme.com/blog/?p=4957.  It was an informative read for me even though we have been dealing with celiac for almost 18 months now...

At long last - the rest of the pantry, fridge and freezer contents!

Now that we have all the medical issues resolved - at least for the time being - I can get back to my blog!  I apologize for my absence!  It has been a roller coaster around here, and this just sort of fell off the ride, so to speak...  But now here is the rest of what is in my panty, fridge and freezer:

Chex cereals - Rice, Corn, Honey Nut, Chocolate
Erewhon (Brand - not product) GF Corn Flakes
V-8 Fruit Fusions - Our Favorite is Strawberry Banana
Fleischman’s Yeast
Yoplait Yogurt - Key Lime, Orange Creamsicle, Vanilla, Lemon Burst, Strawberry Banana, Mixed Berry, Strawberry
Kozy Shack pudding - chocolate, strawberry and rice
Great Value melt n dip cheese bar
Kraft shredded cheese
Great Value shredded cheese
Oscar Meyer Beef Bologna - and 98% Fat Free Bologna
Great Value Cream Cheese
Great Value Parmesan
Heinz Ketchup
Heinz Spicy Brown Mustard
Smart Balance mayonaisse
Kroger Private Selections 100% Maple Syrup
Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce
Borden Lactose Free Cheese
Kraft 2% milk cheese slices
Marburger buttermilk
Great Value Cottage Cheese
Great Value Romano Cheese
Great Value Butter - regular and salt free
Great Value Extra Creamy Whipped Cream in a can
Olivio Spray Butter
Kikkoman Soy Sauce
Better Than Boullion Beef and Chicken Base
Ocean Spray Cran-grape and Cran apple
Nestle Premium White Chocolate Morsels
Nestle Milk Chocolate Morsels
Bob’s Red Mill Xanthan Gum
Make N Mold Premium candy wafers in Vanilla and Peanut Butter (lot of other flavors available - purchased  
      at Craft’s 2000 in Parkersburg
Great Value Brand Mashed Potato Flakes
Great Value Brand Creamy Peanut Butter
Great Value Brand Powdered Sugar
Great Value Brand Brown Sugar
Ian’s Chicken Nuggets
Ian’s Fish Sticks
Steak-umms Steaks
Lloyd’s Beef, Pork and Chicken Barbecue (Heat N Eat)
Lloyd’s Rack of Ribs (Heat N Eat)
Turkey Hill Ice Cream
Del Monte Fruit Chillers -Freeze N Eat

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST:   REDBRIDGE GLUTEN FREE BEER BY BUDWEISER!!!

One of two MOIST GF dessert bread recipes that we LOVE!!

Land O Lakes Glazed Triple Chocolate Bread

2/3 Cup firmly packed brown sugar, Great Value Brand
1/2 Cup butter, softened, Great Value Brand
1 Cup GF Chocolate Chips, Nestle Semi-sweet, Milk or White *
2 eggs
2 1/2 Cups GF flour, Tom Sawyer Brand
1 1/2 Cups applesauce, Great Value Brand
1 tsp baking powder, Clabber Girl Brand
1 tsp baking soda, Arm & Hammer Brand
2 tsp GF vanilla, Simply Organic Brand **
1/2 Cup chocolate chips, set aside

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together brown sugar and butter in large bowl.  Add melted chocolate chips mix well.  Add eggs, applesauce and vanilla.  Mix well. ***  Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Blend in 1/2 Cup chocolate chips.  Spoon batter into 5 mini or one regular sized greased and sugared loaf pans.****   Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until center crack in bread is dry when touched - or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely, put glaze on and let it set, then remove from pans.  I also slice it, bag it in sandwich bags and freeze it.  It stays fresher and more moist if you freeze it.

Glaze

1/2 Cup chocolate chips
1 TBSP butter
5 tsp water
1/2 Cup powdered sugar, Great Value Brand
1/4 tsp vanilla
Dash of salt, Great Value Brand

Combine chocolate chips, butter and water in a small saucepan.  Melt over low heat and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat, add powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stir until creamy and smooth.  Frost each loaf with glaze.  Cool completely.

NOTES:
*I use Milk Chocolate Chips in the bread and White Chocolate Chips in the glaze...
**The reason why you have to make sure your vanilla is GF is that it has alcohol in it, and you have to make sure it isn't "grain" alcohol...
***The reason you add the chocolate chips and mix them well before adding the eggs, is sometimes the chocolate is warm enough to make the eggs cook a little and that would leave egg chunks in your bread.
****I use greased and sugared pans instead of greased and floured pans because it tastes better and you don't get a hit of dry, gritty flour as your first texture when you pop this bread in your mouth.

A few juicy tidbits of information to share...

First of all, I am sorry I wasn't on here yesterday (and maybe the day before...)  Some crazy things happened around here and needed our attention, but I am ready to go again!!  Aren't you lucky?!?

First I want to remind everyone that May is CELIAC/ GLUTEN INTOLERANCE AWARENESS month!! Find a way to celebrate!!

Here are some links to some websites you may find helpful.  The first one is for Angel Food Ministries - a discount way to get food - think food bank, and now they have a GF box!!!  YAY!!

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

http://www.glutenfreely.com/

And this last one is a study they have been doing on other conditions existing in the stomach of celiacs and others with gluten intolerance...

http://glutenfreeworks.com/blog/2009/09/10/treating-candida-albicans-intestinal-yeast-overgrowth-in-celiac-disease/

I will be back later today with the last post about what exactly is in my pantry, and a few great recipes that my friends have been requesting!

So WHAT exactly is in my pantry...

Ok, I bet you are wondering just what exactly is in my pantry.  I won't include my food that is full of gluten, but all of the GF stuff!  Get ready, here we go!!

Koolaid - Grape and Lime
Great Value (Walmart Brand) granulated sugar
Tom Sawyer GF flour
Smucker's Magic Shell Chocolate Flavor
Del Monte Canned Peas and Green Beans
Great Value Brand canned whole potatoes and sliced potatoes
Great Value Brand sliced Carrots, Whole Kernel Corn and Cut Green Beans
Green Giant Canned Corn
Swanson Canned Chicken Broth (100% natural, 99% Fat Free, No MSG added)
Swanson Beef Cooking Stock
Del Monte Canned Sliced Pears
Betty Crocker GF Chocolate Cake Mix, Brownie Mix and Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
Ener-G Lasagne noodles
Minute Rice Brown Rice
Hamburger Helper Cheesy Hashbrowns
Bisquick GF Baking Mix
DeBole's Corn Elbow Style Pasta
Carnation Canned Fat Free Milk (at Cmas I have the Carnation Sweetened Condensed Kind too)
Mrs Leeper's Chicken Alfredo,  Beef Lasagne, Beef Stroganoff, and Cheeseburger Macaroni
DeBole's Corn Spaghetti
Heartland GF Spaghetti
Chebe bread mixes (pizza crust, cinnamon bun, cheddar rolls, flat bread, and all purpose)
Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust Mix
Bob's Red Mill Corn Muffin Mix
Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix
Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
Great Value Brand Brown Rice
Red Star Quick Rise Yeast
Bob's Red Mill GF Quick Cooking Oats - eat these very sparingly until you get used to them b/c they will
                                                                   make you POOP!!!!!
Nestle Toll House Cocoa
Great Value Iodized Salt
Clabber Girl Baking Powder
Argo Cornstarch
Baker's White Chocolate Baking Squares
Knox Gelatine - Unflavored
Simply Organic madagascar pure vanilla extract
Great Value Clover Honey (almost gone b/c I am replacing it with...
Pure Honey from Kevin L Queen - Jane Lew, WV 304-884-6429
Great Value Marshmallows
Mayacama's Turkey Gravy Mix
Mayacama's Alfredo Sauce Mix
Mayacama's Hollandaise Sauce Mix
Great Value Apple Cider Vinegar
Great Value Shortening
Progresso Vegetable Classics French Onion Soup
Kroger Pure Olive Oil
Great Value Pure Olive Oil
Contadina Tomato Paste (NOT flavored with anything)
Contadina Tomato Sauce (NOT flavored with anything)
Lipton Iced Tea mix Wild Raspberry
Karo Dark and Light Corn Syrup
Great Value Canola Oil (for frying)
Mix 'n Drink Pure Skim Milk Powdered Milk
Great Value Natural Applesauce in the jar and in the cups for lunch
Bush's Best Kidney Beans
Libby's 100% Pure Canned pumpkin
Bumblebee Chunk White Albacore Tuna (Chicken too)
Halstead Acres (Save-A-Lot) Chili Hot Beans
Wylwood (Save-A-Lot)Chili Hot Beans
Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce

Now that's just my one cupboard.  I have food in the fridge, fridge freezer, and a small chest freezer too.  We just got fresh eggs and a whole organic chicken today from a customer on my husbands route!  He gets to meet so many neat people!  I will continue this list from my other places tomorrow.  Hope this helps!!  I must also note that I LOVE to cook and bake from scratch, so I make almost all of my husband's food and snacks.  We have some go-to quick foods, but that will be tomorrow's list too....are you hungry yet??

Setting up your GF pantry

If you plan on having GF food and food containing gluten in the same kitchen, you aren't alone.  It is practical to have everyone on the same diet, but not always enjoyable.  If everyone follows some simple but STRICT rules, it is possible to do it all and stay safe.  The first thing we did here is I went through every single food item in our entire house, every single one, drinks included.  Then we designated a set of cupboards that would have ONLY GF food in them and I set up all the GF food in that cabinet.  All the food containing gluten was moved to another set of cupboards.  There was a drawer in the fridge crisper designated to store all the flour blends, xanthan gum, chocolate chips and perishable baking items in.  If you need to share cupboard space then the GF foods MUST be on the top shelves.  This is so that if any food containing gluten should fall out of it's containers, the natural direction to fall is down, so it is safer to have gluten foods on the bottom.  This is also true of storage containers that you store in shelves or anything for that matter.  We have a separate section in our silverware drawer for his utensils too.  We shared silverware for a long time, but b/c of the little grooves on the butter knives and the nooks and crannies in the forks, we just got him some separate silverware.  We also got separate containers to hold GF utensils too.  We got two toasters, and a separate set of non-stick skillets.  Gluten is microscopic and can hide in the tiniest cracks or scratches in pots, pans, utensils, bowls, etc.  So to protect the person with gluten sensitivity, it is just simpler to have two of these things.  Even when you store things in the fridge, save the top shelves for the GF fare, and keep the lower shelves for regular food.  Try to keep the freezer separated in the same manner too.  If we have to share freezer space, the food with gluten is always put into freezer bags to keep any crumbs from getting loose.  Please if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to put them in the comment section, and I will get you answers ASAP!  I know I will think of more stuff to say about it as soon as I sign off on this post, but the longer you are GF, the more you will be able to see little things that can be changed in your specific circumstance to make things easier and safer for you.  It DOES get easier!!

The long-awaited Easy, Delicious GF Bread Recipe

Ok, I got it together and here it is!!  The much anticipated, delicious, easy GF bread recipe...(*dramatic music*) Be sure and save the crumbs (and the crumbs from any bread or cracker product you try and don't particularly like) to use in meatloaf, to bread chicken breasts or fish filets...Keeps you from feeling like you are throwing money away...

Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Bread

3 1/4 Cup Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder - Clabber Girl brand
1/2 tsp salt - Great Value Brand
2 TBSP sugar - Great Value Brand
3 tsp Fleischman's active dry yeast

Place these in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low.  Remember to use the regular beaters for this recipe.  Do NOT use the bread dough hooks!!  After these are blended together well, turn off the mixer and create a shallow indent in the dry ingredients.

In a separate small bowl, combine:

2 TBSP olive oil - Great Value Brand
2 eggs - we use farm fresh locally gathered eggs
1/2 tsp cider vinegar - Great Value Brand
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk

Beat the wet ingredients until well mixed.  Pour into depression in dry ingredients, and mix till all moist.  Set mixer on high and beat for two minutes.  Batter will be VERY soft and have the appearance of cake mix batter.  Grease a bread pan well and flour it.  Then place the batter into the bread pan and set it in a warm place to rise until doubled - about 2 hours.  When bread has doubled in size, place in a 350 degree oven and bake until nicely brown and edges pull away from sides of the pan, about 40 minutes.

NOTES:  Always make sure you are not using the same mixer for your GF recipes as recipes containing gluten, and always use a designated GF toaster too, don't share!!  You could use a regular hand mixer instead of a stand mixer if you prefer, just make sure it is not used for foods containing gluten!!

My tips:  I have only made this recipe using the Tom Sawyer's GF flour.  It bakes up nice and smooth and reminds me of English muffins.  Other flours may be grainy or gritty, I'm not sure, but you could substitute any flour blend you prefer.  The reason I use cider vinegar is that white vinegar is usually grain based and can easily be a source of gluten.  The cider vinegar comes from apples.  You can decrease the amount of water and increase the amount of milk to satisfy your specific taste, and you can also substitute dry powdered milk for the liquid.  Also, GF bread can be rather heavy, and this recipe can be that way too, so instead of using one regular size loaf pan, I make it in two smaller loaf pans and cut the slices as thin as I can with an electric knife.  Chris also prefers it to always be toasted.