The most important meal of the day

Dear blogger friends,

I am terribly embarrassed by my lack of posts. Here we are in February 2011 and the last time I fed your appetite for information was August 2010! I will do my best to catch up with you, including posting a pizza sauce recipe that I made at the end of the summer with homegrown tomatoes. I took lots of pictures and as soon as I can pull them off the camera for you I'll get that out.

As for today...

This post finds me in the middle of my breakfast. I stopped by the new Food4Less on Western Avenue and Route 30 (worth checking out) and browsed for a while to get a sense of the place. My main curiosity involved whether or not they had a gluten free section, and if the prices were competitive. I took some looking, I but I found it, tucked in the area with seasonal items on one side and soy milk on the other.

I was pleasantly surprised that while the section was small, the prices were fairly good. I got a box of Glutenfreeda Apple Cinnamon with flax instant oatmeal for $3.88 while I usually see it at least $3.99, but usually over $4.00. On the way home, my stomach grumbled and I imagined what my first bite of oatmeal in a year and a half might be like. Would it be chalky like some instant oatmeal? Overly sweet with artificial flavors? Thick and paste-like or a nice blend of clumpy oats and creaminess? (At this point you might be asking why was at Food4Less so early today, if you've been paying attention to the timeline. As it happens, I took a friend to the airport at 3:30 this morning and made it back into the area around 5:30. Since they just opened, and we had no milk, I decided to wait for 6 to have a look)


Before making the oatmeal, I preheated the oven to 350°F and put in two slices of Udi's GF White Sandwich Bread to toast for a few minutes. While my bread toasted, I added the water to the oatmeal, following the packet directions, which call for ½ cup of boiling water for each packet. I had two, like I said, I've been waiting for breakfast since around 3:30 a.m..... I let the oatmeal fully absorb the water before adding 2T of half and half, spreading my toast with unsalted butter and gearing up for a delicious breakfast.

My somewhat anxious musing did not prepare me for the understated flavor and wonderful consistency of this quick and easy breakfast. While not something I'll eat on a daily basis as I can get make breakfast more cheaply each day, I will definitely buy more. (A quick check of amazon.com's gluten free grocery section shows it to be fairly equal pricewise, so no sense in waiting for it to be shipped)

While we're talking breakfast, did you hear about Post Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles? They are now labeled gluten free! While there is some disagreement over whether their verification process is good enough, Post asserts they "followed a gluten free validation procedure that included certification from all ingredient suppliers, outside laboratory testing of all ingredients, testing the production line, and outside laboratory testing of the finished product. In addition, Post has instituted process controls to ensure there is no cross-contact with gluten containing products." (taken from an email cited in that last link).

Not being a scientist, medical doctor or nutritionist, I can only tell you what I have experienced. I have gone through two boxes of Fruity Pebbles since they went gluten free, and have had no apparent symptoms. Personally, I feel that a company like Post would not risk it's reputation if it had not covered all the bases, but use your own discretion when deciding whether to eat this cereal or feed it to your gf child.

Another great breakfast option which I regularly enjoy are Van's WF GF Waffles. You make them in the oven, so they take a little more prep time, but they come out just right and are well worth the wait. 400°F for 10 minutes give you golden, crispy waffles just like you'd get from Eggos or other toaster waffles. If you lack a waffle iron, patience for making homemade waffles or time to do it, this is definitely the next best thing.

I feel somewhat better about my long absence after filling you up with so much information today, while it was only product reviews, I hope it helps, and will be getting back to recipes and meal evaluations soon. Happy eating!

Peace, love and (gf)cupcakes,
Meaghan

Breakfast of (Incan) Champions

Since going gluten free, I have discovered several foods I might otherwise not have tried. One such food, quinoa, sadly, might never have entered my consciousness, let alone my diet.

Quinoa (KEEN-wah), a small grain (well, technically a seed, but we're going with grain), originally hails from the Andes Mountains and was sacred to the Inca. With at least as much protein as milk, ALL the essential amino acids, and myriad vitamins, quinoa has been called a supergrain, and rightly so. It cooks similarly to rice but can be prepared to consistencies ranging from rice to creamy porridge. All depends on the type and amount of liquid used to cook it, as well as the cooking time.

One of the cool things about this food is that you can do almost anything with it. Last weekend I used a 2:1 chicken broth to water combination to cook up a large batch to use with dinner. This leads me to the other cool thing about this grain. A small amount with last you for a while, a large amount with go on forever! When cooking quinoa, you MUST remember that it practically triples in size from raw to cooked. I wasn't thinking about the grow factor and made so much on Monday that I had to give some away or risk it going to waste. And that was after I packaged some in single serve bags in the freezer!

As I waited for the liquid to cook into my quinoa, I was engrossed in the book I'm currently reading, Gluten Free Girl by Shauna James Aheren. It just so happened that I came across the section discussing gluten free grains, among them, quinoa. After reading her ideas on the grain, I did some internet research and discovered the idea of cooking quinoa in fruit juice for breakfast rather than broth for dinner. I gave it a try the other day and made a few discoveries.

1. I still have to work out how much to cook for a single serving
2. Either quinoa takes longer to swell in fruit juice, or my slightly out of round pan is letting too much steam escape the edges of the lid
3. Keep the temperature high
4. If it's too dry/not done/didn't grow, just add more liquid and keep going!

Because I simply can't wait to share them with you, today will be a double feature in terms of recipes :)

Savory Quinoa

• uncooked quinoa
• broth of your choice, water or a mixture of them
  
• cloves of garlic
• fresh herbs such as basil, cilantro, thyme, oregano or a mixture like Mrs. Dash
• sea salt

You'll notice I've not included amounts. This is because your needs will vary. To decide how much of these things you will need, decide how much finished quinoa you want to yield. You need twice as much liquid as grain, and you only need 1/3 the amount of finished quinoa when you measure the raw quinoa. If you want 3 cups of cooked quinoa, use 1 cup uncooked and 2 cups of liquid. The liquid I used was 2/3 low sodium, fat free chicken broth and 1/3 water. Experiment.

The spices are the same idea, if you make more, use more, and vice versa. Into the pan I tossed my quinoa and liquid. I peeled and chopped the garlic, adding it directly to the liquid in the pan, and adding the herbs at the same time. I ground a small amount of sea salt into the pan. Over a high flame, heat to a boil, cover and boil for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

I served my batch with a chicken stir fry made of diced chicken breast, strips of peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and chopped carrots. It would stand all on its own though.

Cranberry Apple Walnut Quinoa

• ½ c uncooked quinoa
• 1½ c Cranberry Apple Juice
• ¼-½ c chopped apple
• ¼-½ c chopped walnuts

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan with a lid
2. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, cook for 15 minutes on high or until liquid is absorbed
   

If the consistency is not that of porridge, add more liquid (I just add water), put the lid back on and keep cooking. It might take longer than 15 minutes to get a softer texture, but if you like a couscous-esque texture, you can stop there.

After transferring the cooked cereal to a bowl, I like to add a little half & half or vanilla soy milk. Delicious!

More information about Quinoa