DIY All-Purpose GF Flour

I have fallen in love with this recipe.  So easy. Not to mention, cheaper than commercial GF Flour blends. And in MY humble opinion... better tasting.  But that's another topic.  Several people asked me to post this recipe after posting my Banana Bread recipe.  So, here it is! 

Start with these ingredients:

End up with this: 

DIY All-Purpose GF Flour 

6 cups white rice flour 

3 cups tapioca starch flour

1 1/2 cups potato starch  

1 TBSP Salt

2 TBSP Xanthan Gum  

What's really interesting about this recipe is that the ingredients aren't necessarily found in the gluten-free section of a grocery store.  Most of mine were found in the ethnic foods section of my local grocer.  And the best part about finding the ingredients in the ethnic section is the price! For example,  a 14oz bag of Tapioca Starch is $1.08!

This Hodgson Mill Xanthan Gum is a packet that sells for .48 for a .32oz packet at my Walmart.  I need two packets per recipe.  (each packet is 1 TBSP)  

Bob's Red Mill sells an 8oz package for 12.48, which breaks down to 1.56 per ounce.  

(Three small packages are *almost* a full ounce = $1.44, so bigger isn't always cheaper!) 

My Chosen brands and prices: 

Thailand-distributed Rice Flour 16oz  $1.34 (use three) 

EnerG Potato Starch Flour  16oz  $3.66  (less than one pkg per recipe)

Cock brand Tapioca Starch 14oz  $1.08 (one pkg per recipe)

Hodgson Mill Xanthan Gum packet that sells for .48 each  (use two per recipe)  

THE BOTTOM LINE: 

Homemade= $8.82 for 64oz. (4 lbs)

Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose GF Flour= $12.54 for 64oz.

Oh, and the One-Gallon Jar is from Walmart- $5.47 

Gluten-free Banana Bread

For me, fall wouldn't be fall if I didn't bake and fill the house with warm cinnamon, apple or banana goodness.  However, over the last year, I have been overwhelmed at the idea of gluten-free baking.  I've successfully made-over family favorite recipes to be gluten-free, I've scoured the web and Pinterest for new recipes to try... but the idea of baking really got my palms sweating.  Until this weekend.  The weather has begun to cool here in Minnesota and loving all things fall, finally decided to give it a try. 

Banana Bread. I figured I've mastered pancakes, so how hard could a quick bread be?  I have what I believe to be the best, most moist banana bread recipe ever, so I carefully measured out my ingredients, substituting my gf flour blend (which is SO easy to make yourself!) and put it in the oven.  I waited. and waited. and waited.  It looked right. It smelled right. And while I had to add a few extra minutes to the baking time... it TASTED right!  Ohmygoodness IT WORKED! I was tickled pink that our family banana bread recipe was easily modified.  It made two loaves, and one loaf was gone within an hour. My family approved.  I feel like I just won an Oscar, or the Nobel Peace Prize, or at least it feels like it after a big hug and the gratitude of one little girl who has been missing treats like this. 

So, without further ado, here is our recipe for Gluten-free Banana Bread: 

1 cup (about 4) ripe mashed bananas 

1 cup of Buttermilk or milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

2 cups flour (I used gluten-free) 

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

I literally add the ingredients in the order they are listed, mix with an electric mixer until there are no lumps and pour into a greased bread pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Make sure you let it cool before you cut into it, I would feel bad if you burned your mouth because you didn't. 

Pumpkin Spice Creamer

I was on Pinterest this morning, and came across a recipe for Homemade French Vanilla Coffee Creamer from Mrs. Happy Homemaker.  I was so excited, I ran to the kitchen and made it right away!  




Well, while making my To-Die-For Pumpkin Pancakes this morning, I had half a can of Pumpkin puree leftover.  I decided to try a Pumpkin Spice Creamer!




Here's my variation: 

• 14oz sweetened condensed milk
• 14oz half & half
• 8 oz pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• a mason jar (quart is perfect)

Pour all of the ingredients into your mason jar.  Screw the lid on tightly, and shake vigorously for a few minutes until well combined. 

Wow!  Pour in your coffee, dribble over your pancakes or drink from the jar, uh, okay maybe not, but this stuff is amazing! 

To-Die-For Pumpkin Pancakes...Seriously

Oh.My.Goodness! I feel like I just stumbled upon a gold mine! Making pancakes for my family this morning,  I didn't want to just make the ordinary pancakes you eat with syrup. And I wanted to add a "healthy" component so I had a thought... "What if I add pumpkin puree instead of oil?" And THAT is how this now-family favorite recipe was born.  My husband, who can be a really tough critic, deemed them "Phenomenal!"

I'm still drooling just thinking about it.  See that butter, sliding off the pancake? Oh, and that little cup... Pumpkin CREAM!

Add caption

I suppose I should just get to the recipe? Okay then. Here we go. 

Holly's To-Die-For Pumpkin Pancakes

1 (22oz) bag of Bob's Red Mill GF Pancake Mix* (approximately 3+ cups)

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups milk (can use Rice, Almond, Soy. etc)

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar (or your choice of sweetener) 

1 TBSP vanilla

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

pinch of salt

Honestly, I just dumped it all in the bowl and used my whisk to get lumps out.  Add more milk if batter is too thick. 

Pour by 1/4 cups into a hot buttered skillet (med-high heat) 

wait for edges to set and flip 

when you flip them, they fluff up! 

Serve hot with butter and your choice of applesauce or Pumpkin cream (recipe to follow!) 

*We like Bob's Red Mill GF Pancake Mix. It's reasonably priced, the flavor is good and its fairly easy to find.  The thing about Pancake mix is that the leavening is already included so you don't need to mess with that.  You can substitute your choice of milk, too, so you can be dairy- free and serve them with applesauce! 

Who Am I?

I suppose there are a lot of people who start blogging at the beginning of a new year as a resolution to a new habit.  There are probably countless blogs that are abandoned by March of that same year. 

For me, this is not a resolution, I am thinking from a purely functional basis and as it's I attempt another resolution--to be more organized- that this blog is born.  I originally thought, "hey! This will be a great place to store recipes, links and information I've gathered about being gluten-free!"  However, I have so.many.friends who have talked to me about it- wanted more information and I want to be able to share what I know so that I can help others. 

Well let me introduce myself then!  My name is Holly, I'm a Midwestern girl, I'm married and I have three children. Silas is 8, Ellie is 7 and Laney is 4. I am blessed to be a stay at home mom, housewife, homemaker- or whatever the PC jargon is at the moment. However, our budget is tight on only one income. When we began  the gluten-free lifestyle (because it's not a diet) it was only Ellie and I. Ellie is my most culinarily-open child, if there is such a word.  She will tell you her favorite vegetable is beets.  She loves to eat raw Cilantro- by itself...

So, when we began taking gluten out of our lives, she was very open to trying new things. 

I had heard of people who were "going gluten free" and sadly even had the thought, "Thank GOD I don't have to do that!"  How closed-minded I was. We love our breads and pastas and crackers and tortillas... 

Ellie is now 7 and she is healthy. But she wasn't always that way. She was born 14 months after her big brother, and seemed pissed-off at the world from day one. Little did I know she had reflux and it took us 4 months to figure out. She also had a sensitivity to dairy products, which we figured out around the time we discovered her reflux, so I took dairy completely out of my diet because I was nursing her. We saw incredible improvement. 

Fast forward several years to Kindergarten.  She was sick EVERY.TWO.WEEKS. A high fever would pop up with no other symptoms.  It would go away and we thought it was just a little virus she was fighting.  We went to her Pediatrician at least every two months to see what might be going on.  Blood tests, strep cultures, etc. with no real answers.  She missed a lot of school and we saw her really struggling.  I wish I had thought of keeping a food diary, or trying a dietary change earlier. But as my Dad likes to quote a line from the movie GRUMPY OLD MEN  "You can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which hand gets filled first."   Crude, yes, but also true.  

It wasn't until Ellie's teacher came to us with a concern of AD/HD that I finally dug deeper.  We even went through the surveys done by parents and teachers to assess whether or not a child "has it".  Wow, what a scientific approach to use OPINIONS about a Child's behavior to diagnose and then MEDICATE them!  I was appalled that it only took so much to put a child on medication. While I hesitate to say that I believe there are some cases where medication is required or even start on a discussion about what we put into our kids bodies, whether I choose to vaccinate or not, I WILL say, I believe this: 

GOD GAVE US THE TOOLS WE NEED IN SIMPLE NUTRITION. 

That being said, I researched and even though studies published by the Mayo Clinic and other reputable medical establishments are in favor of drugging our children, they noted *Significant improvement when gluten was taken out of a child's diet.    So, that was my starting point.  I delayed my doctor's desire to put Ellie on medication by this:
"Can we just do a two-week trial on a gluten-free diet?"  He agreed we had nothing to lose and so, two weeks before the school year, Ellie and I began our new lifestyle.  Was it easy? No.  Did we make mistakes? Yes- and we learned the hard way because when we mistakenly ate something containing gluten, we both had a tummy ache.  

I didn't believe that I needed to take gluten out of my diet, But I didn't want my little girl to go through it alone.  I have been blessed in the process, however, and have seen benefits I didn't know I needed.  

Weight loss, water loss, not feeling bloated, the bags under my eyes are gone... and other things I probably haven't realized yet.  

Recently, my husband was diagnosed with Diabetes. Now that he has to watch his carbs, it was a logical conclusion for us to make the decision for our entire family to eat gluten-free.   One of the main things to note about a gluten-free diet is that you are removing highly processed foods, which oddly enough, are high in carbs.