Sunday, November 2, 2014

Breading for Foods like Chicken, Fish, and Eggplant Parmesan

When chicken and fish are skinless, there needs to be a coating around the food to prevent it from drying out and Breading is the perfect solution.
Using Arnel's Originals Pancake and Waffle Mix for this purpose, gives the outside a nutty, crunchy, satisfying texture, while keeping the insides moist and tasty. Eggplant Parmesan has never tasted better!

BREADING   (For about one pound of food)

      Place 1/2 cup of Arnel's Originals Pancake and Waffle Mix on a plate or flat-bottomed bowl. Use straight out of the bag!

1 egg
1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise (or a teaspoon of rice or apple cider vinegar)
sea salt to taste
oil for frying (healthy oil that is expeller pressed, not chemically extracted, is best)

    Mix egg, mayo (or vinegar), and salt together and allow meat or eggplant items to be fully coated.

    With a fork, lift one item out of the mixture at a time and carefully place on the plate with the
Pancake Mix

    Coat both sides of the food with with the Pancake mix and one at a time, place food item in
a frying pan coated with 1/8th nick of oil.

    Turn over when browned and cook the other side.

    (Optional) Spoon a sauce (tomato or white sauce), on top off the food and serve immediately.



QUICHE

PreHeat the oven to 425º.  Bake at 425º for 15 minutes then bake at 350º for 30 minutes more.

 One Perfectly flakey 9" Pie Crust from Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour

    ~ 1 cup of Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour and Pie Crust Mix
    ~ 1/4 cup softened butter (salted,) or healthy margarine, or coconut oil (add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt)
          Combine with a fork so the mixture is crumbly
    ~ 1/2 lg egg slightly beaten
          Add egg to crumbly mixture. It should now hold together. If it doesn't, add 1 Tablespoon water.

• Gather the dough mixture and place it in your pie pan.
• With waxed paper on top of the dough, press into your pie pan, spreading the dough evenly on the bottom and sides and fluting the edges to make it look appealing. (As an alternative, you could roll the dough between two pieces of waxed paper, peel one piece off, carefully flip the crust into the pie tin, peel off the second piece and press the dough into the pan. Don't be concerned that the pie crust has broken into pieces. It is very forgiving in the raw state and will connect well with its parts. )
• Pierce bottom of crust with a fork, making several air holes.

QUICHE

    There are so many variations of quiche and it is the best when you can use the vegetables you have around, I will only make limited suggestions and encourage you to be creative.

~ 1 -1/2 cup of cooked vegetables, meats, tofu, etc
~ 1 cup fresh spinach
~ 6 eggs
~ 3/4 cup of milk substitute
~ 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise
~ salt and pepper to taste

   •  Lay all solid ingredients in the raw pie crust. Mix eggs, mayo, and milk, salt and pepper together and pour over the solid ingredients

    • Bake at 425º for 15 minutes and at 350º for the last 30 minutes or so. Test for doneness.

TIPS:
• Cook all vegetables before putting them in the raw pie crust (broccoli, mushrooms, onions, etc)
• Cook all meats before putting them in the raw pie crust (ground turkey, pieces of chicken, etc)

DAIRY FREE: 
• Use 3/4 cup of a thicker milk substitute like coconut milk, or almond milk
• You can use cheese substitutes but I find most of them contain "casein or whey" which is the protein from try dairy and they have a foul texture. Use sparingly




Breading for Fish or Vegetables

Batter (for Fish or veggies)

Batter for Fish or Vegetables
   1/2 cup Arnel's Originals Pancake Mix
   1 dollop of your favorite mayonnaise


Mix the pancake mix with the mayo and create a thick batter that is wonderful for coating partially cooked vegetables or small pieces of fish.
Fry in a pan with oil until cooked and crispy.


Waffles

What makes waffles brown and crispy on the outside is sugar in the batter.
What makes these waffles amazing is their whole-grain goodness without sugar.
The waffles made from this fluffy nutty pancake/waffle mix, are delicious, nutritious, and perfectly cooked but not brown.

When I travel and find myself at a hotel with a breakfast buffet sporting a waffle maker, I am thrilled. They are usually the non-stick kind of waffle makers, which leads itself to perfectly easy cleaning. I wipe the unit free of wheat batter with a napkin and an eagle-eye and then prepare my batter.

WAFFLES for 2 people
1 cup Arnel's originals Pancake and Waffle Mix
2 eggs
1/2 to 2/3 water (keep the batter on the thick side)
    I mix all ingredients in a cereal bowl
    I wait till the waffle maker is real hot and then pour in my batter. I flip the waffle maker and wait until the timer buzzes, and then give it one minute more. Viola! A perfectly delicious gluten free waffle.

You can mix in a mashed banana, handful of nuts, chocolate chips, etc.

Top with syrup, honey, fruit, or anything your imagination comes up with.

Here is a photo of an actual waffle I made at a hotel in Sedona, AZ


Pancakes with Chocolate Chips

This is a fun very tasty version that makes lasting memories.

Pancakes for 2 people
1 cup Arnel's Originals Pancake Mix
2 eggs
2/3 cup water (more or less to your desired batter thickness)
    Mix with a fork until blended

1/2 cup chocolate chips
    Fold in the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Fry on a griddle with a little oil
Add whatever else you might want (syrup, butter, fruit)

Pancakes with Banana's and walnuts

This is my favorite version of pancakes. The banana adds sweetness without sugar, and the walnuts give it a juicy crunch.

Pancakes for 2 people
1 cup Arnel's Originals Pancake Mix
2 eggs
2/3 cup water (more or less to your desired batter thickness)
    Mix with a fork until blended

1/2 to 1 banana
1/2 cup walnuts
    Mash a banana with a fork and incorporate it into the pancake batter
    Fold in the 1/2 cup of walnuts

Fry on a griddle with a little oil
Add whatever else you might want (syrup, butter, fruit)


Saturday, November 1, 2014

Pumpkin Pie (Dairy Free)

PreHeat the oven to 425º.  Bake at 425º for 15 minutes then bake at 350º for 45 minutes more.

Our local health food store would order 95 of them each year and they sold out in a couple of days.

 One Perfectly flakey 9" Pie Crust from Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour

~ 1 cup of Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour and Pie Crust Mix
~ 1/4 cup softened butter (salted,) or healthy margarine, or coconut oil ( add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt)
~ 1/2 lg egg slightly beaten
~ 1 - 2 Tablespoons of water if needed

•  Combine with a fork so the mixture is crumbly
• Add egg to crumbly mixture. It should now hold together. If it doesn't, add 1 Tablespoon water.

• Gather a bit more than half the dough mixture and place it in your pie pan.
• With waxed paper on top of the dough, press into your pie pan, spreading the dough evenly on the bottom and sides and fluting the edges to make it look appealing. (As an alternative, you could roll the dough between two pieces of waxed paper, peel one piece off, carefully flip the crust into the pie tin, peel off the second piece and press the dough into the pan. Don't be concerned that the pie crust has broken into pieces. It is very forgiving in the raw state and will connect well with its parts. )

• Pierce bottom of crust with a fork, making several air holes.
PUMPKIN PIE FILLING
Mix until blended:
   ~  2 eggs
   ~ 1 cup sugar
   ~ 1 can pumpkin (2 cups or 15 oz)
   ~ 12 oz (1-1/4 cups) coconut milk (or any thicker non-dairy milk substitute)
   ~ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
   ~ 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
   ~ 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
   ~ 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• Pour mixture into raw pie crust and bake 15 minutes at 425º
• Then lower temp. to 350º and bake 45 minutes longer  (knife inserted in the center will come out clean)

• Cool Pumpkin Pie completely
• Decorate with TruWhip, swirls of icing, sprinkle cinnamon or cloves, etc.



Friday, October 31, 2014

Apple Walnut Honey Cake

This moist cake has that unique baked honey flavor, which is a combination of sweet and acidic.

Preheat oven to 325º

2 cups Arnel's Originals Make-a-Cake, your way Mix
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup coconut sugar or cane sugar

3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup honey

3 apples (peeled and cored) chopped in small chunks
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine the 4 dry ingredients
Beat the three wet ingredients and add it to the dry.
Fold in the apples and walnuts

Pour batter in a cake pan (square or round) or in a medium sized  loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5")
Bake for about 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Chocolate Mousse Pie

Preheat oven to 350º

CRUST 

~ 1 cup of Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour and Pie Crust Mix
~ 1/4 cup softened butter (salted,) or healthy margarine, or coconut oil ( add 1/8 teaspoon sea salt)
~ 1/2 of a large egg, slightly beaten
~ 1 - 2 Table spoons of water

        • Combine with a fork so the mixture is crumbly
        • Add half an egg to the crumbly mixture. It should now hold together. If it doesn't, add 1 Tablespoon water.

• Gather the dough and place it in your pie pan.
• With waxed paper on top of the dough, press into your pie pan, spreading the dough evenly on the bottom and sides and fluting the edges to make it look appealing. (As an alternative, you could roll the dough between two pieces of waxed paper, peel one piece off, carefully flip the crust into the pie tin, peel off the second piece and press the dough into the pan. Don't be concerned that the pie crust has broken into pieces. It is very forgiving in the raw state and will connect well with its parts. )

• Pierce the bottom of the crust in a few places with a fork. (This prevents air from bubbling up under the crust and making little hills.)

• Bake empty crust for 15 minutes at 350º.
• Remove from oven and cool.

FILLING

~ 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate (about 10 oz.)
~ 16 oz of TruWhip defrosted (the organic healthy version of Cool Whip)
            Scoop out 1/3 cup of TruWhip and set aside for the topping
~ 1 teaspoon instant coffee or 1 teaspoon of expresso

• Melt semi-sweet chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir until all particles are melted.
• Add the chocolate to the 16 oz of TruWhip (not the other way around) minus the 1/3 cup 
• Add the coffee

• Fold the ingredients together until combined and spoon into the baked pie crust.
• Cool
• Spread the left over 1/3 cup of TruWhip on top and sprinkle with cocoa powder or sprinkles

Bring to room temperature before serving but store in the refrigerator


APPLE PIE with the best GLUTEN FREE Flakey Crust

PreHeat the oven to 425º.  Bake at 425º for 15 minutes then bake at 350º for 30 minutes more.

CRUST -  Bottom (See below for Top Crust instructions)

~ 2 cups of Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour and Pie Crust Mix
~ 1/2 cup softened butter (salted,) or healthy margarine, or coconut oil ( add 1/4 teaspoon sea salt)
~ 1 lg egg slightly beaten
~ 1 - 2 Tablespoons of water if needed

•  Combine with a fork so the mixture is crumbly
• Add egg to crumbly mixture. It should now hold together. If it doesn't, add 1 Tablespoon water.

• Gather a bit more than half the dough mixture and place it in your pie pan.
• With waxed paper on top of the dough, press into your pie pan, spreading the dough evenly on the bottom and sides and fluting the edges to make it look appealing. (As an alternative, you could roll the dough between two pieces of waxed paper, peel one piece off, carefully flip the crust into the pie tin, peel off the second piece and press the dough into the pan. Don't be concerned that the pie crust has broken into pieces. It is very forgiving in the raw state and will connect well with its parts. )

• Pierce bottom of crust with a fork, making several air holes.

CRUST - Top
• Between two pieces of waxed paper, roll out remaining dough in a circle, about one inch larger in diameter than the top rim of the pie pan. Set aside.

APPLE PIE FILLING

~ 8 cups of thinly sliced apples, peeled and pared (About 6 tart apples)
       (If your apples are of a sweet variety like Delicious, add a tablespoon of lemon juice)
~ 1 cup sugar
~ 1/4 cup Arnel's Originals All Purpose Flour
~ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~ 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
~ dash of sea salt

          • Mix these ingredients together and pour into the raw pie crust
          • Top the mixture with 3 Tablespoons of butter, margarine, or coconut oil

And now for the TOP CRUST

• Carefully peel one sheet of waxed paper off of the top crust and gently flip the exposed side onto the Apple Pie Filling.
• Pinch the top and bottom crusts together and place on the bottom rack of the oven.

Bake at 425º for 15 minutes. 
Then turn the heat down to 350º and bake for 30 to 35 minutes more.


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Pumpkin Bread (walnuts) with All Purpose Flour Mix

The flavor and texture of this sweet pumpkin bread is out-of-this-world.

~ 1 1/2 cups Arnels Originals All Purpose Flour
~ 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
~ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
~ 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
~ 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
~ 1/2 cup brown sugar
~ 1/2 cup cane sugar

~ 2 eggs
~ 1/4 cup oil
~ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~ 1 cup (half a can) pumpkin

• Stir the dry ingredients
• Beat the wet ingredients
• Combine them both and beat for 5 minutes.

• Fold in 1/2 cup of raw walnuts or other nuts (optional)
• Pour batter into a small greased loaf pan

Bake 350º for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

*If you want to double the recipe, use two loaf pans or a 9 x 9" square pan. Don't use one large loaf pan (a 5" x 9") because it will take a very long time for the dough to cook in the center.

**For Zucchini Bread, substitute 1 cup of grated zucchini for the pumpkin




Monday, October 13, 2014

Buckwheat Bread, YEAST FREE

The benefits of a yeast bread is that it produces a beautifully brown crunchy crust. When yeast is an issue, however, there are alternatives to getting the bread to rise nicely and our favorite is using equal parts of baking soda and lemon juice. 

For this bread, add 2 teaspoons of fresh baking soda to the dry ingredients and 2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the bread dough at the last minute, after the dough is mixed. Put the dough in a medium sized loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5") and bake at 350º right away. Do not let it rise before baking the bread like you would with yeast. 

The rising happens because of a chemical reaction that occurs between the baking soda, which is alkaline (a base) and and the juice of a lemon, which is acidic.

This yeast alternative doesn't produce a crust, but it is delicious and can be used as a sandwich bread none the less.

Buckwheat Bread Mix (Sandwich Buns) (OTHER Flavor ALTERNATIVES)

Basically, you can add any of the following to the raw bread dough to create a variety of unique flavors and textures:

1 cup of dried herbs, or
1/2 cup fresh herbs, or
1/4 cup of chopped sautéed garlic, or
1/2 cup cooked diced onions, or
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, etc to the bread dough after it is mixed.

Because the balance of wet to dry ingredients in the bread mix is important to maintain, it is not advisable to add foods that would upset this balance. For instance, it is not a good idea to add mashed banana, or any fresh fruit to the dough.


To make sandwich buns, use an old fashioned ice cream scoop and pile a couple of scoops of dough on top of each other. on a greased cookie sheet. A 13 oz package of Buckwheat Bread Mix makes 26 oz of raw dough and approximately 8 sandwich buns.       

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Buckwheat Bread / SEEDS and/or NUTS

We chose to make Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread with roasted sunflower seeds, raw sesame seeds, and roasted pumpkin seeds but you can use any seeds and/or nuts with delightful results.  Nuts and seeds add protein, crunch, and fiber to your loaf of buckwheat bread which is very satisfying when you chew, if you like that texture. It's one of my favorites.

When the basic wet and dry ingredients are mixed for 5 minutes, add 1 & 1/2 cups of the nuts and seed of your choice. Put it all in a medium sized loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5") and let rise until double in size, about 30 minutes. Move the dough around until you make a slight hill down the center and sprinkle with more seeds. Bake for the usual 30 minutes at 350º.

Cool for an hour before slicing.


Buckwheat Bread, EGG FREE (Flax Gel)

Making Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix without egg is easiest using  flax gel, which is something you make, not buy. Here's how:

Take 1 Tablespoon of flax meal and mix it with 3 Tablespoons of boiling water and set it aside. (It's a good idea to cover it while gelatinizing.) In 5 to 10 minutes, it will gelatinize and have the consistency of a slippery egg white.

Follow the directions on Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix package and when it comes time in the recipe to add an egg, add this flax-gel mixture instead. The loaves of bread will be delicious and moist but when it cools, the eggless loaf will be slightly shorter in height as the loaves with an egg. Below are two loaves made with a very sophisticated bread machine from Japan called Zojirushi, one with an egg (on the right)  and one without an egg (on the left).





For another EGG FREE alternative, see the post on this blog for Sour Dough Bread using Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix

Buckwheat Bread / CINNAMON RAISIN

Making Cinnamon Raisin Bread using Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix is easy and delicious!

After adding the yeast, oil, egg, very warm water, and apple cider vinegar to the 13 oz mix and blended for 5 minutes, add:

1 cup raisins
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Let bread rise in a warm place (110º) until double in size (about 30 minutes) and bake at 350º for 30-33 minutes.


Saturday, April 26, 2014

SPAIN: Sin Gluten, Sans Gluten, Sense Gluten (in Basque)

Traveling in Spain, sin gluten

            After navigating 6 cities in Spain I am happy to report that our traveling family of 3 is still alive and well.   Actually, the good news is that we didn’t get sick once and that is a blessing.  Almost everyone we talked to, save for a Chinese restaurant knew in a blink what gluten free was and gave us an honest assessment of what was in the delicacies they had prepared. There was even an organic market that made homemade bread and although they made one kind of gluten free bread, the owner was careful to tell me in Spanish that she bakes everything in the same pans and that there was likely to be cross contaminación, which brings me to another important point…. a very small portion of the people in Spain spoke English (not even those at the bus station or airport) so I don’t recommend venturing to Spain unless one in your party has a good command of the Spanish language.  Navigating everything in Spain was stressful enough and I don’t know how we would have survived without me knowing Spanish. I won’t go into detail about my husband’s stolen phone, his lost luggage, needing to change lodging at a moments notice due to cockroaches and unbearable mold, having to call apartment managers about broken toilets, and navigating wiggly roads in Sevilla without road signs, because this post is about eating gluten free but trust me, knowing Spanish is highly recommended.

            I can’t tell you how excited I was the first time I saw a loaf of bread sin gluten in a Madrid supermercado or a sign on a store-front in Seville that said “Pan Sin Gluten,” or in Barcelona ”Sans Gluten” and in San Sebastian “Sense Gluten” but unless you like eating gluten free bread with little more than corn starch and potato starch, you will be disappointed because that is all I found in Spain. 




Basque for GF (San Sebastian)
      Notice the circle with the wheat sprig and a slash. That’s the official gluten free stamp in Spain.

      As a matter of fact, all the gluten free food (bread, crackers, pasta) was made with cornstarch and potato starch. We traveled in Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Cádiz, Barcelona, and San Sebastian and the options for bread, cookies, and pasta were the same almidón de maiz y almidón de patata. I saw a few packages of brown rice here and there, but it was not ground up into flour or an ingredient that was used in their GF products. I did see a bit of tapioca and white rice flour in some products but nothing whole grain. 

One of the better tasting massed produced loaves Spain offers, according to Sarah McAtee.
Bimbos was the only other option of GF bread sold in a market but had an unacceptable taste.
This large-looking loaf weighed 13 ounces, about what a loaf of Udi's weighs
Baguette Style - Looks good, tastes mealy



            Gratefully, we stayed in apartments with kitchens and refrigerators so we were able to prepare most of our own meals. The food items I brought with me from home for our two week trip that were most helpful was two packages of Trader Joes brown rice pasta, packets of GF oatmeal, one package of Arnel’s Originals Pancake and Waffle Mix , one frozen loaf of my yummy buckwheat bread, and one package of Arnel’s Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix with a packet of yeast. Believe it or not, it was EASY to bake the bread using a fork to mix the dough and baking it at 176º C. for the usual 30 minutes. I did forget to bring a loaf pan but luckily there was a local “Chino” store where I found one for 3 euros (about $4).

Arnels Originals Organic Buckwheat Bread mixed with a fork


            What we bought in Spain to nourish our tummies was fresh chicken (super fresh and absolutely delish!) fresh eggs, tomato sauce, brown rice, olive oil, salt, super fresh fruit and veggies that were really tasty, fruit juice, and peach marmalade.
            Generally speaking, food in Spain is expensive and the exchange rate for the dollar to euros is not in our favor (for $1 you get  .7 euros and for 1 euro it costs you $1.40). We ate out 4 times and each time it was disappointing. Even the healthy restaurant in Seville whose owner had celiac disease left us wanting. I ordered a “cod salad” which cost $25. I got one cut up orange with slivers of paper-thin cod draped over the orange slices and a drizzle of oil and vinegar sauce that tasted delicious. With it came two little thin GF crackers, which were on a separate plate and after consuming my meal, I was still starving. No veggies, no rice, no other food. My husband ordered a steak and there it was…a steak with the same two GF crackers. No veggies, no potatoes, no other food. We walked home $75 poorer and made ourselves dinner.
         The traditional food in Spain is paella, which consists of yellow rice, shellfish, chunks of chicken, and sautéed vegies.  We hunted for GF paella only to find out that they put wheat in the sauce and they use artificial coloring to make the rice yellow, which is supposed to get its yellow hue from very expensive saffron.

Paella, which I dared not to eat.


There is, however, another traditional food, which was happily on my thumbs up list and that is called tortilla patata. A yummy mixture of potatoes and onions and egg baked like a quiche without a crust. Thank goodness for this because if you go into a bar that serves little appetizers called tapas or pintxos, it is a safe choice.
One place in San Sebastian (Basque country) called Gandaria luckily had pintxos with GF options and for 2.50 euros each; we got fish, cheese and paté on tiny slices of GF cornstarch bread. I asked the waiter to choose 6 varieties of what he liked best and the three of us shared. (See photo below). Most of them were pretty tasty so we wound up ordering 6 more, for a cost of 30 euros ($42), which just took the edge off of our hunger.

All Gluten Free

        Although the primary purpose of our trip was to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, and our secondary purpose was to pick-up our daughter from her 3-month stay in Spain, I was eager to explore exporting possibilities.  Hopefully, that will come to fruition.

         We started and ended our trip in Madrid, where I knew of a gluten free bakery called Celicioso located a half a block from the Gran Via metro station.  They served the most delicious gluten free pastries but their bread was….well let’s just say that although it was fresh and the best Spain had to offer it needed to be toasted and eaten right away. During the first part of the trip, I brought the owner, Santi, two lightly toasted slices of my bread that I had made 4 days earlier, which had been frozen and defrosted.  Even at that, he was so amazed at the taste, texture and nutritional value,   I wound up leaving him an Arnel's Originals Buckwheat Bread Mix to bake up when we went on to explore other Spanish cities.  On the last day of our travels, we were back in Madrid and Santi and I talked extensively about the possibilities of how he could get the bread mix in bulk to Spain so he could make it for his customers but as of now, it seems too complicated.  Santi has Celiac Disease and when he was diagnosed, he immediately thought of how he could turn lemons into lemonade and that is how Celicioso was born.  At this point, Spain doesn't make it easy to import from no-European countries and although you see Starbucks, MacDonald’s, and Bimbo bread, not much healthy American food passes through their gates….up until now.  All I can say is, if I can help to change that, I will.

Gulas with garlic, bought at the San Gabriel Market in Madrid; an Alaskan fish that is cut up in strips. GF and delicious.

      Eating gluten free in Spain is definitely not trendy. It seems like the Spanish people with Celiac Disease get diagnosed quickly, and the rest of the population is knowledgeable, helpful, and respectful of their dietary needs.  You never feel like you are putting them out and that was the biggest blessing. 
      The highlight of our trip was meeting so many delightful people. Although experiencing this historic country with its ancient ruins and varied cultures was amazing, we are glad to be home.