Bad Day in GF Land

Life rears it ugly head again!

It was a long day today, and long days are extra tough when there is a food allergy and a bad memory to juggle as well. I found myself in the middle of errands and suddenly realizing I had forgotten to put the chicken in the slow cooker. I also realized I was starving. It was lunchtime, I had people with me, and I couldn't make it home. My companions suggested I pick a safe restaurant to eat at, because they are awesome and amazing ladies who do not begrudge me my limitations, and off we went to Chickfila.

Eating at Chickfila is pretty easy around here because they have good gluten training, change gloves for special orders, and have separate fryers. The play zones are a huge bonus because they are hard to find now a days and I enjoy letting my toddler run around while I eat in relative peace. Its awesome.

Until they get your order wrong and you are too lazy and hungry to fix it, so you eat your bunless chicken sandwich without the bacon and cheese that would have provided enough fat to prevent you from getting hungry an hour later. -.-

Once home an emergency pizza order was made, and I was totally on board with this because that gave me an opportunity to try the Pillsbury gluten free pizza crust I had found at the grocery the other day. It calls for prebaking, but it was done start to finish in less than 30 minutes. I topped it with ham and pineapple, nom, and got very hungry smelling it bake. When it was done, I cut into it and was immediately disappointed. 

It's bad. Edible, but only because I was starving. The crust sagged when I picked up a slice. It is unpleasantly thick and chewy, and has the texture of play dough. The flavor is very processed. The whole experience felt like chewing a wet piece of cloth. None of the toppings stayed on the crust, either, they slid right off. I was hoping this stuff would be good, because then I could experiment with freezing it and using it for breadsticks, but alas. More processed junk.

So today, I am just hungry. And grumpy. Bah!

20 Minute Stroganoff - Gluten Free in a Hurry!

I love cooking. And by 'love', I mean I hate it. It's all the time, three times a day. Then you are forced to clean up. Plus, it takes time. I love it, really, but it is a huge hassle! On a long day the last thing I want to go is jump into a hot kitchen and slave.

So sometimes, I don't. Sometimes I take easy stuff of a standard grocery store shelf and make that instead. This is especially true on grocery day, because I can grab two or three fast things and throw them together at the last minute. It might be a rotisserie chicken, or pre-cut stir fry fixings, but today it was 20 Minute Stroganoff.

I love this because the whole family eats it, it only needs like, four ingredients which I can get at my neighborhood market, and its frigging fast! (Neighborhood market means Walmart, by the way. As universal as it gets in this country.)

20 Minute Beef Stroganoff

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion

1 12 oz package Heartland Gluten Free pasta

1 18 oz can Progresso Creamy Mushroom Soup

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown beef in a large skillet, adding the onions in to sweat. Add the soup and heat, then stir in the drained pasta to coat.

See, was that hard? Fast 70's style comfort food, just like the Campbells like to make! Add some broccoli and you are good to go!

My Ethical Food Disclaimer

Anyone who reads this page knows something about me: I am an amateur. I don't cook or write for a living, I get most of my inspiration web surfing, and I don't want to spend all my time in the kitchen (read: lazy). At the same time, I try to eat whole foods, limit sugar, and keep the carbs to a minimum. Consequently, I frequently browse other more well managed sites like nomnompaleo.com, and Mark's Daily Apple, and quite often run into rants in one place or another.

Rants designed to promote eating grass fed, organic, locally sourced, free range EVERYTHING. I stumble across links with torture scenes worthy of PETA, and guilt trips for buying a conventionally raised chicken.

I get it. I know that feed lots are evil, and laying hens are abused. I know, and I care. I wish I could change it. (If you are unfamiliar with the subject of animal cruelty in the food industry, educate yourself here.)

But the bottom line is, I can't. I am an average upper-lower class American mom with finite funds and more than one priority. I cannot afford to feed a family of five exclusively out of Whole Foods and still expect to keep a roof over our heads. I can buy 2 dozen brown organic AWESOME eggs, or I can buy 5 dozen conventional white ones. For me that is no contest. Yes, the brown eggs taste phenomenal, and bite of cruelty free meat I have ever eaten has been without compare. That doesn't change the fact that it is out of my budget.

I have to make a choice. I can feed my family mountains processed crap from the freezer section and lots of boxes labeled 'helper', or I can give them skimpy portions of local, organic, free rage grass fed eggs and beef. Or there is option three: somewhere in the middle, with healthy sized plates of the best meats and vegetables I can manage. I can't help the fact that those meals will include animal antibiotics or a chicken in a cramped box.

This isn't to say that the food industry doesn't need to change, a lot. Quite frankly the infrastructure of most major American industries need a major overhaul. But my having my kids starve is not a price I am willing to pay for that change. (Wanna help make change? Start here.)

Baby Steps from a Box

I hate Bisquick. When I learned how to cook, I felt like I had really graduated into cooking once I lost the crutch of mixes. I was determined to learn how to bake gluten free without it. How different could possibly it be?

Very.

It occurred to me after weeks of baking failure that there was nothing wrong with baby steps, even if it did mean paying an obnoxious amount for a mix. After all, it was just until I figured out the basics. It turned out I really needed that mix, because it would have never entered my brain to put eggs in biscuits and have them actually turn out. But they do, and while they do have a certain egg-y flavor reminiscent of waffles, they are good. Better when you break down the biscuit mix and make it from scratch. Which is exactly how I learned how to do it the first time, and exactly what I did with my cornbread recipe.

And they absolutely rock when you get farm fresh eggs with yolks that are a deep orange and are practically leaping from the whites. The batter gets turned a simply gorgeous yellow color, and there is nothing like really golden baked goods.

King Midas is jealous of this batter.

Not every recipe on that box was worth recreating. Pizza crusts that taste like biscuits are not my favorite. But lo and behold, I got myself a few baking skills, and you can't argue with results.

Like golden clouds of nom.

Yes, I am still learning, and still borrowing from quite a few places as I find my brand of gluten free. I just hope I can help a few people who are in the same boat along the way. So, my adaptation of those famous biscuits, gluten free style - 

 

Basic GF Biscuits:

2 cups gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum (I used this one.)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup milk

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 400*.

Combine the flour blend, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the shortening (or other solid fat) using a pastry blender or two forks, until the mix looks crumbly. Combine the milk and eggs separately and beat the eggs well, then add to the flour mix. Stir in well, then drop by mounded spoonfuls onto baking pan lined with parchment or sprinkled with cornmeal.

 

 Bake 10-13 minutes, until lightly browned and looking nommy.

There is something cheesy about guilty pleaures

So I am not posting as regularly as I had hoped I would. That is okay, because this is just the beginning and it has yet to become habit to run here and chatter about the latest awesome foodie revelation that strikes my brain. It will eventually, trust me, and then you guys (if I even have any readers, who knows) will be begging me to shut up.

Like right now. Habits are forming because I just had my first bowl of macaroni and cheese in months and my mouth and tummy are very happy and I need a place to shout it from the cyber-rooftops. Mac and cheese is my guilty childhood pleasure that I never could kick. That blue box and I had a secret affair once upon a time and I always forget how much I miss that processed cheesy goodness until I make a box for the kids and steal a bite. I end up cleaning out the rest of the pot and if the kids are still hungry I chuck steamed veggies at them. That ended when gluten became poison because I loathed the thought of paying the prices I was seeing for pasta I was unsure would turn out right.

Enter that magical store Trader Joe's, with their rice mac that, although it was still way more pricey than conventional, was reasonable enough to take a chance on. Two boxes was enough to feed my three kids, and three dollars for a weekend lunch is not too shabby. They sat in my cupboard for two weeks before I finally made them, and now I am tempted to throw the brood in the car and drive across town just to buy more. The texture is great, the sauce is wonderful, and the neither I or the kids could tell the difference from the blue box, and in fact I think I prefer this brand anyway. The flavor is better and the sauce has a better, less slimy mouth feel.

Not my image, but, LOOK! My first blog photo!

Mama has her mac back, and maybe the blogging mojo will follow.