Krusteaz Gluten Free Double Chocolate Brownie Mix

Thumbs up on this one. This mix was new at my local grocery so I thought I would give it a try.  The brownies pass the ultimate GF test, which is you can’t tell that they are gluten free.  Moist dense, and chocolaty, with the added chocolate chip bursts.

You just need to add add oil, an egg and water, so they whip up fast.  I do recommend whisking the egg before adding the water and oil and then again before the mix.  The more air you whip into eggs in any GF recipe helps them rise better.

Because they recommended the 8×8 pan rather than a 9 x 13, the brownies are fairly tall, and take a while to cook.  But they’re worth it.

Canyon Bakehouse Hamburger Buns Review

Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Hamburger Buns are a new product at one of my local grocery stores (Stop&Shop/Giant).  You can also buy them direct from Canyon.  Hubby is a big fan of the taste and texture of these over a bunch of other buns we have tried. They are light-brown, unsurprising given that Brown Rice Flour is the top ingredient (also features Tapioca, Sorghum, Millet and Potato), have a texture close to that of wheat bread, and more taste than a lot of gluten-free products.

They are certified GF. They are also dairy, nut and soy free as well, if those are issues for you (but do contain eggs).

The only downside seems to be that they can get a bit squished in the freezing process (or more likely transfer), so it was hard to cut one or two of them and use them for an actual hamburger because the bottom was mangled up.  But a definite thumbs up. They are now a repeat buy.

Gluten Free Heaven – Against the Grain Factory Store

Against the Grain Factory Store

It has been over 90 degrees here the last few days, which makes me a little reluctant to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. (Like most New England homes, especially ones that are 125 years old, ours does not have built-in AC. Even with window units, it’s still pretty toasty.)

Instead I’m posting about a fun GF-related outing we just had. Hubby and I just spent a lovely weekend in Vermont. We were planning on doing some hiking and kayaking, but ended up having a lot more sedate trip because I fell and broke a rib last weekend. (Ouch!) So definitely NO kayaking, and sadly for Hubby, not even much fun driving the little back roads as we might as otherwise had since my bruised ribs and the car seat were not getting along very well.

Our first stop in Vermont was the Against the Grain factory store, which is located in their production facility in Brattleboro, Vermont.  If you are not familiar with Against the Grain products, they are really good, especially the GF French baguettes.  We’ve met the owner briefly a couple of times now at another Vermont event, the Strolling of the Heifers. Unfortunately, they don’t have a factory tour, (hint, hint) but they do have free and discounted ATG items, and given the price of gluten-free foods, it was well worth it.  They also have samples, cookbooks and some GF merchandise (including their tongue-in-cheek “#gfyourself” t-shirts.)  The GF, Vegan cookies were excellent. (I’m a big dairy fan, and usually not so into the vegan, so if I say something vegan is good, it’s pretty good).

We could only buy what we could eat in the next few days, since we didn’t have access to a freezer.  But we did get some super yummy rolls and baguettes. No, the texture and taste of an Against the Grain baguette is not quite the same as a “real” wheat baguette, but believe me, if you haven’t had one, they are worth getting.  It is both by light years the closest we have found, but also stands on its own.  It doesn’t need to compete to be “real.”  This is one of the products that passes the test of – I eat because I want to, since I don’t have to eat GF. They just had the plain baguettes as seconds, which is yummy, although the rosemary version is even better, I think.

Nancy Cain, the founder, doesn’t like using gums as binders and so for this bread basically uses cheese as the binder. Generally ATG products use lighter flours (tapioca, etc.) The result is a loaf that is light (yes, a gluten-free product that is light without being tasteless!) and airy, has a good chew factor (not as crunchy as with wheat), and is very tasty.  It’s sort of like a cross between standard French bread and a cream puff shell. Along with tasting good, the company tries to do good with its business practices, using as much green energy as possible and paying a starting wage of $15 a hour for all workers. She has a new cookbook out, which I bought and will be trying recipes from so you will hear a lot more about that.

Is this a gorgeous picnic spot or what?

We had brought ham, cheese, tomatoes, berries and drinks with us.  Now with the bread, we had all the elements for a spectacular picnic.  We ate along the West River in Dummerston, just under one of Vermont’s many covered bridges. I gingerly descended the steps to the river and we were definitely rewarded for the effort because it was a gorgeous spot and we had a wonderful picnic, watching the rapids and little kids (and some grownups) jump around in the water.

PS. If you do go to Against the Grain, the store is quite hard to find, so don’t give up.  You turn in from Rt. 5 just before the Agway.  There’s a set of industrial buildings just to the back of it, and you need to go in there and follow around the edge of the building all the way to the other side.  (There is a very, very tiny sign). Alternatively, you can go around the front of the Agway and back around on that side.

Udi’s Plain Gluten Free Bagels

Some things you can make easy approximations with Gluten Free materials.  Pancakes we have down cold now.  Others are harder.  Sub-rolls are still eluding us, for example. 

Bagels are also doing the same.   Let’s face it.  Finding a good bagel isn’t always easy even when you’re not talking gluten-free. While I would be quite sad to say good-bye to bagels and cream cheese, Hubby was never a massive bagel fan. He could take them or leave them.  He ate largely cinnamon-raisin bagels when my parents were down and made a big bagel run, but wasn’t  a devoted fan.  None-the-less, he decided to try Udi’s GF bagels, for a change if nothing else. 

The Udi’s are softer than non GF bagels.  Hubby’s opinion was a shrug, albeit a positive one.  His comment was that they were more like fluffy white bread than bagels (and they are a bit soft).  That said, it was among the best fluffy white bread he’d had, especially for gluten-free. 

A caveat: he’s anti-cream cheese so he used these with just butter or as part  of an egg sandwich.  Cream cheese would probably hide a multitude of sins, but nothing can give them that chewy texture of your average wheat flour bagel.  On the whole, however, they are a good GF product.  Udi’s also makes cinnamon-raisin and whole grain gluten-free bagels.

Gluten-free Cornbread

I love, love, love cornbread. So does the gluten-challenged spouse.  I’ve experimented with my own recipes, and finally came up with a pretty successful recipe. I’ll post the details later, but I settled on a hybrid of bean flour, buckwheat and a bit of tapioca.  However, I haven’t bothered to make it lately because we’ve discovered this mix (From Bob’s Red Mill), which is fabulous.  You won’t miss the gluten, trust me.  All I have to say is go, Bob!

It’s easy to make (the mix plus oil, milk and 2 eggs). The flavor and texture are very good.  It’s moist, with a good mouth feel and not at all gritty or bitter.  It also rises up, so you don’t end up with an inch high pancake.   The only trick is remembering to set the ingredients out to warm up to room temperature beforehand — although 30 seconds in the microwave can make up for your forgetfulness.   If it actually lasts that long, it’s okay for about two days and then becomes a bit stale. 

Quick Overview:  Easy to make,  good texture and flavor, fluffy and high-rising. Two thumbs up.

Winter Meal

  A perfect meal for a snowy winter night. We found some fabulous leeks that lit the desire

Steak with Cabernet Shallot Reduction, Gluten Free Cornbread, Garlic Parmesan Spinach and Leek & Potato Soup

for my favorite winter soup, Leek and Potato, especially with a touch of bacon. We matched it with a fabulous gluten-free cornbread, a cabernet reduction for a petite steak, and garlic parmesan spinach. Yum.

Tinkyada Lasagne Noodles

Product Review: Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagne Noodles

One of our tests for any GF food is whether I will eat it if I don’t have to (since my husband is the only one with the gluten intolerance).  I mostly still eat regular pasta, although that’s generally because of the cost (GF pasta cost 2-3 times what regular pasta does), and I do prefer the standard semolina pasta taste, especially if I’m going for one of my comfort foods (pasta, butter and a little parm). But my husband quite likes it and my mother-in-law actually prefers the rice pasta and started buying it after we introduced her to it.  Also, generally for any kind of casserole, cream, pesto or tomato sauce you generally can’t tell the difference, at least if you buy Tinkyada.

This is also the case for lasagna. The Tinkyada worked quite well. You have to be careful not to overcook the noodles.  They don’t feel mushy in the al dente sense but they will tear quite easily.  I would cook for no more than 8-9 minutes, especially since they are then going to be in the oven for another half hour at least.  (This is less than half the recommendation on the box, so be aware.) 

While most big grocery stores around here carry the basic Tinkyada spirals and ziti, for these noodles you may have to visit a specialty or health food store or online.  In general, Tinkyada makes the best GF pasta.  It doesn’t come out super mushy or taste really odd. Brown rice seems to hold up better than white and also means the pasta is more of a standard color and taste. I haven’t had other GF Lasagne noodles so I can’t compare at the moment, but I have no complaints except for the box recommendation on cooking time. The last time I used them I used the method of starting with uncooked noodles and putting in a little extra water in the sauce, covering tightly and cooking longer.  They were a bit on the chewy side, so this time I decided to cook them.  Next time, I might just blanch them, so they start to cook but are still fairly stiff and easy to work with.

Brief Comments:  Good taste and texture, but cook for only half the time the box recommends.

The Great Sub Roll Hunt

One of the things the hubby misses most is a good cheesesteak (He hails from Philly, the home of said delicacy — aka a steak and cheese sub).  While most other types of bread have now been duplicated for GF — sub rolls are not one of those things.  So I have been blundering about looking for a substitute.  I decided to try Gluten Free Pantry french bread and pizza mix.  I didn’t really expect it to have the texture of French bread, since that’s almost impossible to achieve at home even with gluten, but I thought it might achieve the fallback position of making a decent sub roll.  I used the oven method, but did not put it in a standard bread pan as I wanted the roll shape.  The dough is quite sticky, so you will need to use extra GF flour in order to shape it.   I divided into two loaves.  However, the dough didn’t rise all that much, and in the oven flattened out even more, so one of the loaves better resembled a cibatta than a french loaf.  The directions called for mixing with a mixer for 2 minutes, which may have something to do with the lack of rising. 

On the whole, it tasted pretty good, although not that much like French Bread, rather more like pizza dough.  The texture was neither French bread nor a sub roll but more like a rather thick biscuit.  We still enjoyed our cheesesteaks.  And on the plus side it doesn’t have that xanthan gum bitter taste to it.  

After meal life:  The bread was pretty filling, and I couldn’t finish my cheesesteak, so I tucked it in the fridge for the next day.  I couldn’t eat it, though, as the bread was roughly the consistency of lead.  So if you make the bread, put any leftovers in the freezer promptly. 

We had put the other loaf in the freezer, and took out one of the pieces two days later to cut up to make croutons.  Those were excellent — a little olive oil and butter and some spices.  Scrumptious. 

Overall rating:  4 out of 5. 

Brief Comments:  Not really French bread, but still fairly tasty.  You must immediately freeze the leftovers.