Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You

The pre-made gluten-free things at the store are more expensive than their glutenous counter parts, but you don't have to buy those things to be gluten-free. I think part of the point is to replace simple carbohydrates with foods that are just healthier- fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, etc. And a pound of rice or lentils costs less than a loaf of bread.

Taking the time to plan a gluten-free, inexpensive lifestyle is tedious at first, but it is worth it if you feel better. And depending on how much better you feel, you may take fewer sick days and be more productive in general- that is what happened to me.
About Health
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

My Best Brioche

This is the Vanilla Quinoa Brioche from Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts and Baked Goods by Valerie Cupillard-one of my favorite gf baking books. It is simple to make; just mix together yogurt, olive oil, rice flour, quinoa flour, vanilla, etc. and bake it in a regular sized bread pan. It tastes great on its own, but when cut in thick slices, it also holds well for french toast.
More on this particular cookbook- it uses no dairy products, and lots of the recipies use soy cream and soy yogurt. Since I use the dairy versions of those, I substitute them and they work fine. For those of you who are mastering gluten-free, vegan baking, this book might be helpful because all you have to substitute are the eggs and honey.

Many Mini Loaves

This is the Basic Bread from Carol Fenster's Gluten-Free 101.
I rely on this book for a lot of simple baked goods, and while I was first reluctant to buy the three mini loaf pans required for all of her bread recipes, I always end up with thoroughly cooked, consistently fluffy adorable little slices of bread.

The Not-Quite-Best-Ever....

This morning I made zucchini quick bread from The Best-Ever Wheat-And-Gluten-Free Baking Book, by Mary Ann Wenniger with Mace Wenniger. It was a pretty simple recipe; a grated zucchini, rice flour, oil, honey, eggs, zanthan gum, cinnamon, etc. The bread turned out OK...it tastes great but did not rise that much so it's a little dense.
I am not sure how this cookbook got the "Best-Ever" in the title. I am never entirely happy with how the recipes turn out-that is when I have enough ingredients for a recipe, since throughout the book, at least 20 different flours are used, and most are difficult to find and/or expensive.
Until I develop my own recipes and find better baking books though, I am dependent on this book for its wide variety of recipes-there an entire chapter on pancakes and waffles, and while some of them are tedious and some of them don't turn out at all, I appreciate that there are so many recipes to try out, and I learn something from each one.

Get up and go for Gluten-free goods!

I finally made the trek (a 15 minute bus ride) from Southeast to the Northwest location of New Cascadia Traditional, on NW Glisan between NW 21st and 22nd. My gluten-free sister was in town so I decided to treat her to a cinnamon roll, cookies and a delicious muffin, and I think she ended up paying, but it was worth it for both of us. I wish this place opened up earlier so I could stop in on my way to work on weekdays, but for now I will have to settle on my Saturday fix.

Heavenly treats when it's hot as hell

As the weather gets warmer, I bake less frequently but can still get my baked goods fix at the New Cascadia Traditional stand at the Thursday Farmers Market on SE 20th. So far, I have tried the sweet galette, focaccia, bread pudding, and cinnamon roll. I so appreciate the luxury of buying just one treat, saving my kitchen from a mess, and not knowing how much butter went into what I am eating.
As with all gluten-free baked goods, eat what you buy that same day! I have a habit of saving something delicious for when I really really want it, but it's not going to be the same as when it is just baked. I bought the cinnamon roll and left it in the fridge for three days, and when I finally reheated it for breakfast, it was pretty dense. However I ate the galette right after I bought it (it was filled with raisins, apples and walnuts), and after the first bite I knew I had died and gone to flaky crust heaven.
New Cascadia Traditional has a store in NW, which I have yet to visit because for now I am content to wait for Thursdays when I can just walk a few blocks to the Market, but I do intend to make the trek some day...maybe when my mom visits next (shout out to mom)

brrr-ead

The unseasonably (and unfairly) cold weather is encouraging me to bake more, so this morning I used up a bread mix from Whole Foods (365 brand). It was easy to make, it smelled great while baking, it fell apart a little when I took it out of the bread pan, and it made the best French Toast I've had in a long while. I ate a lot of French Toast this morning. After work I ate some regular toast and sliced up the rest of the loaf and put it in the freezer for safe keeping.