Gluten-Free Girl

This is the story of a woman who has loved food, beginning with a 1970’s-80’s childhood and adolescence packed with bottled salad dressings, Oscar Meyer variety-pack meats and squishy Wonder Bread. As her tastes elevated from Velveeta on Wheat Thins to Mahon on quinoa crackers, she gradually eschewed these synthetic foods so far removed from their natural origin. But with wheat and other glutens being at the core of the standard Western diet, it was virtually impossible to avoid them without a near-militaristic approach. Ahern describes the extremity to which gluten is embedded in our world – present not only in the obvious form of bread, crackers, pasta and cereal, but salad dressings, mass-processed deli meats, candy and popsicles – even lipstick.

lox on gluten-free bagel

Diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2005 after a lifetime of undiagnosed and nebulous health issues leading up to a near-fatal car accident, Ahern chose to embrace the disease’s gluten-free mandated diet as a blessing rather than a sentence. Eliminating gluten not only allowed her to feel healthy and vibrant for, essentially, the first time in her life, but also opened her eyes and mouth to a world of tastes to which she had been previously oblivious. Sorghum, millet, amaranth, teff, rice, to name only a few, are grains and flours that are free of gluten, contain more protein and iron than wheat flour, and offer textures and tastes not found in the ubiquitous wheat and other glutenous grains.

gluten-free brownies, fig cookies and chocolate banana bread

Although I have no wheat or gluten allergies, I chose to incorporate many of these grains into my meals, nonetheless. The way I explain my amaranth and tapioca flour-laced potluck contributions to dubious friends is this: “Yeah, I’ll eat apples. Apples are just fine. But why would I eat only apples when there is a big, beautiful bowlful of oranges, nectarines, persimmons, grapes, raspberries and cherries available to me? In other words, why is everyone eating only apples – or, wheat, as it were, when there are several other delicious grains to be had? In the name of variety and good eatin’, it just doesn’t add up.

Several recipes peppered throughout the book give instructions for gluten-free banana bread, crusty sorghum bread, piecrust, and a chilled millet salad with jicama and mango.

The recipes are not limited to starch-based dishes and baked goods; a roasted cauliflower with Spanish paprika and cocoa powder was one of my contributions to our family’s Thanksgiving meal recently. I will say that the three-step cooking process of blanching, sautéing and then roasting seemed a little superfluous - and used far more pots and pans than one vegetable side dish warrants, but that Russel Wright bowlful of earthy, dusty red cauliflower was a winner, even at the kids’ table.

I also gave the pizza crust recipe a whirl, proudly toting my par-baked rectangle to a pizza-making party. This is not, as Ahern fairly warns, your father’s pizza crust. (Unless, of course, your father happens to be Bob Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, Inc.). But if you have a taste for a full-bodied and toothsome flatbread, you will not be disappointed. I liked it, and so did a few other equal-opportunity pizza-eaters in attendance. In any case, it offered a variety amongst the traditional chewy, white flour crusts.

gluten-free pizza crust

I have referred to the Web site over the past year or so, using it as a resource for recipes as well as general guidelines on substituting non-wheat flours in baked-good recipes. A highlight of glutenfreegirl.com is the expert and enticing photographs (shown on this post) shot by Ahern, which are sadly absent from the book. This seems a shame.

When I found out that the author would be signing copies of her book at the aforementioned Bob’s Red Mill (the gluten-free and whole grain mother ship) in Milwaukie, Oregon last month, I made the short trip from my home in Portland. I was, of course, excited to have the chance to meet her in person and buy eight varieties of wheat and gluten-free flours and grains, all in one fell swoop. As full of life in person as she comes across in her book and blog, Ahern greeted my friend and me at the entrance of the store with a glowing smile and a basket of brownie bites made from one of Bob’s several gluten-free baking mixes. She also jotted-down the formula for her preferred all-purpose gluten-free baking mix (1 part sorghum flour, 1 part tapioca starch, 1 part potato starch), which I appreciated very much, and with which I experienced successful and pleasing results in a recent gluten-free adaptation of a favorite pumpkin cookie recipe from the Joy of Cooking. Thanks, Shauna!

Oh, and the aforementioned love story? The icing on the rice and tapioca flour cake for Ms. Ahern: her newfound lease on life led her, at almost 40 years old, to a man that, honestly sounds way too good to be true. You’ll have to read the book for details of this veritable Harlequinian fairy tale, but let me tell you that this is the only gluten-free resource guide/memoir that has ever brought tears to my eyes. I actually cried at the end of the book; Ahern could surely find work creating scripts for Hollywood-made romance flicks - once this writers’ strike ever gets resolved, that is. I’ll even forgive the walking through the grocery store, as the author shameless reports, with-hands-in-each-other’s-back-pockets a la 10th grade.  She earned it.

All photos of food above courtesy of glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com

Book jacket photo courtesy of amazon.com

I finally allowed myself sit my behind down long enough to check out the November issue of Saveur that arrived in my mailbox last week.

Among the usual tear-inducing features accompanied by the usual tear-inducing photographs, there is a very nice piece (beginning on page 64) called “A Splendid Table.”  And when I say “tear-inducing,” what I mean is that these photos and recipes move me to tears: tears of envy, tears of longing, and tears of joy. It is written by Lynne Rossetto-Kasper and Sally Swift, the host and managing producer (respectively) of NPR’s “The Splendid Table.” Photographs are by Larry Nighswander.

The radio show (taped in St. Paul, MN) is recorded in advance and edited for its weekly broadcasts throughout the year, but for their annual Thanksgiving show, they go live, inviting listeners to call in with questions and guidance as they prepare their own holiday meals. The article tells of past calls, ranging from the panicked hosts stranded without a roasting pan, to cooks looking for new inspiration and ideas to spice up the traditional standbys. The Splendid Table crew spends the several weeks prior to the day researching and testing new recipes and turkey-cooking methods, ready to share their knowledge and experience with the audience.

Rossetto-Kasper and Swift provide a time-schedule outline of their hectic Thanksgiving day, detailing mishaps surrounding the preparations of their own meal, excerpts of particularly memorable listener calls (holding the hand of a vegetarian roasting a turkey for the first time), and then the post-show ritual: the crew and their families gathering for an extended family feast at Swift’s rural home outside the Twin Cities.

The article showcases these latest inspirations, accompanied, of course, by recipes and (did I mention?) very lovely photographs:

Yams with Ginger and Scallions – I’ve already tabbed this recipe for my family’s meal.  Along with ginger and scallions, it includes 16 cloves of garlic (for 8 servings), jalapeños, and fresh basil and lime juice. 

Broccoli with Sicilian Sauce

The Perfect Bird: Crisp Apple-Scented Roast Turkey with Cider-Calvados Gravy, along with detailed, step-by-step instructions.

Cardamom-Buttermilk Pie

Well, even if I do not end up using any of the suggestions and recipes, the article has stimulated my dormant and often difficult to muster holiday enthusiasm.

The book is divided into five categories:

1. CHOCOLATE, morning to noon: chocolate granola, three grain chocolate breakfast cereal, power protein smoothies, various muffins, coffee cakes, French toast and pancakes.

2. CHOCOLATE Cookies and Other Petite Treats: standard bar and drop cookies, in addition to English toffee puffs, chocolate Madelines and a few versions of truffles.

3. Let Them Eat CHOCOLATE Cake: chocolate gingerbread, chocolate strawberry shortcakes, maple chocolate chip cupcakes and several other inventive creations.

4. CHOCOLATE Dessert Decadence: chocolate cardamom pots de crème, chocolate panna cotta with tart cherry sauce, chocolate, caramel and rum flan, and more.

5. Savory CHOCOLATE: soups (spiced pumpkin, black bean, Moroccan chickpea, chicken), strawberry and mesclun salad using cocoa powder in the dressing, beef stew, baked beans and a smoky cocoa and cumin-spiced popcorn.

Again, “light” and “low fat” are indeed relative terms. I’m all for reducing the caloric footprint of delicious desserts, but take heed: you cannot eat 3 servings of cocoa cabana pudding cake if you are trying to keep it “light.” At 258 calories and over 4 grams of fat per serving, it’s only lighter.  And in her introduction, Saulsbury points this out.  “Enlightened Chocolate isn’t a diet or health-food book,” she writes.  “The new way of looking at chocolate and cocoa as beneficial ingredients inspired me to look for new ways to use and appreciate them in cooking and baking.”

I chose to try out a recipe for multigrain chocolate chip cookies, something familiar and for which I have a frame of reference, having eaten roughly 1400 oatmeal cookies over the course of my lifetime.  I have made reduced-fat oatmeal cookies in the past that, with the help of applesauce and/or bananas in place of a portion of the butter, achieve much greater chewiness and satisfaction than these ones did. But if you prefer a more cake-like cookie, you will not be disappointed.

More compelling and original than the chapters on cakes, cookies and hot chocolate (I think most people can figure out how to put together a low fat/sugar hot chocolate at this point) is the chapter on Savory Chocolate. With recipes that incorporate chocolate in lettuce wraps, meatloaf, roasted onions and grilled chicken, Saulsbury gives us, as promised, original and inventive ways to use a familiar and much-loved ingredient.  You know, in case you’ve been having trouble figuring out how to get enough chocolate in your daily diet….