Book Review: The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Part 2

Title: The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Part 2
Authors: Iris Higgins and Brittany Angell
Publisher: Triumph Dining, Inc.,
Copyright: 2012

Earlier this year a dear friend of mine, Iris Higgins the author of the website "The Daily Dietribe" asked me if I would like to try a few recipes from one of her new books, "The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Part 2." I was delighted. Iris is a registered hypnotherapist with a master's degree in psychology and is working on her second master's in nutrition.

Iris is also a passionate writer with a love of living holistically. Adding to her list of accomplishments, Iris also has a private wellness coaching practice in which she helps women to have a healthy relationship with food, with their bodies, and with their emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

And on top of ALL of that? Iris somehow finds the time to create recipes of all sorts! Iris' new cookbooks are published by Triumph Dining. They are entitled, "The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guides Part 1 and Part 2." Iris along with her co-writer and co-recipe developer Brittany Angell (author of Real Sustenance) studied and experimented with 12 different gluten-free flours to learn about their properties and how they worked best. Then they both worked tirelessly to develop a number of recipes for each gluten-free flour.

One of the recipes I have tried so far are her basic Brownies. The brownies are very simple and are made with a new gluten-free flour called cassava flour. Cassava flour is made from the same plant as tapioca starch.  I made the brownies in a round glass pie pan for dessert one night last week. WE LOVED them! My inlaws had no idea they were gluten-free! They were gooey and rich and super crispy on the outside. The brownies were perfect with coconut milk ice-cream! 

The next recipe I tried from Iris' book was her Yeast-Free, Vegan Sandwich Bread.

This bread is simply amazing. I truly don't know how else to describe it. I have tried for YEARS to create a yeast-free bread that tastes like a normal sandwich bread. A yeast-free bread that doesn't crumble when it's cut, that is sturdy, yet pliable. That just tastes like good sandwich bread...and Iris' recipe nails it, plain and simple.

I have several friends who cannot tolerate yeast and I love baking egg-free (mostly because it's cheaper) so personally to me, this recipe alone is worth the cost of the book!!

This recipe uses sorghum flour, teff flour, and potato starch. It is a super light, fluffy bread and it contains a secret ingredient to give it structure and a texture that is incredibly similar to yeast bread.

It's seriously easy to make and I think this bread is my new weekly sandwich bread. I love that it doesn't use eggs and it's a high fiber, "normal" sized loaf of bread.

The cookbook is not only chock full of great recipes, but also handy baking tips, interviews with gluten-free baking experts, research on gluten-free flours, etc...

Basically this book along with the first, are both THE ESSENTIAL books you need to learn about the most useful gluten-free flours and the best ways to incorporate them into your everyday baking. There aren't many books that I would recommend to people who are learning how to bake gluten-free... but these books? Get them. Use them. And have a whole lot more fun baking gluten-free!

Iris...you're a genius girl. Simply genius! And those pastry tarts... I'm so making those next!

The only Pinterest idea I've used so far...

I love Pinterest and can spend hours looking at awesome ideas which I would absolutely never use (due to time, cost of materials, or because I'd rather be reading a book or cooking... lol)

But when I was cooking on Sunday evening... I remembered this little Pinterest tip...

Just use an old clothing (usually a skirt or pants) hanger with clamps to hold a magazine or cookbook (or as I have here, a print-out of a soon-to-be published cookbook) at eye level while prepping food and recipes in the kitchen... just awesome!

This Week's Menu - Slow Cooking on Sundays

I just started a new series on the blog entitled, "How to be gluten-free on a TIGHT budget" on my first post, I shared a recent shopping trip. We spent $42.77. 

Here's what we got: 

I know, the english muffins are NOT gf... those are hubs -- he has breakfast
"McMuffin" sandwiches every day during the week.
Those waffles though definitely ARE GF and after the BOGO sale + a coupon
they were .89 a box! :-) 

The grocery items were what I needed to make the recipes on our meal plan for this week. I've gotten into the habit of cooking on Sunday nights or Monday nights (whichever is easiest) and I cook for the entire week: breakfasts, lunches, dinners, (and what I hope to incorporate this month) afternoon snacks. 

One of the keys to cooking everything one night a week is using my slow cookers. Newer slow cookers cook hotter and faster than older ones (especially on high heat), so I can cook as many meals as I have slow cookers and in 3-4 hours they are all cooked and ready for the week ahead. 

Most of the meals I made this week are from my upcoming slow cooker cookbook! 

This Week's Menu: 

Dinner & Leftovers for lunch each day: 

• Saturday (We had a family cookout!) -- grassfed burgers, french fries, broccoli salad, cooked apples, AWESOME GF brownies (from The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Pt. 2) and ice-cream
• Sunday -- Leftovers
• Monday -- Slow cooker swedish meatballs with gravy (pg. 71 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) & gluten-free toast served with a caesar salad
• Tuesday -- Skillet meal of sauteed yellow squash, onions, carrots, and sausage
• Wednesday -- Slow cooker barbecue chicken & white beans (pg. 245 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) served with green beans and sweet potatoes
• Thursday -- Slow cooker meal of sausage & spinach quinoa (pg. 253 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) served with a green salad
• Friday, Saturday, Sunday -- weekend cooking with friends! Happy Labor Day! 

Breakfasts:

• For Carrie -- soaked oatmeal (I'll post about this soon!) with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds + 1 fried egg and 1 slice bacon (made enough for each morning at work this week.) 
• For Michael -- a homemade "McMuffin" each morning -- made from one english muffin with a fried egg, 1 slice of turkey bacon, and 1 slice of cheese. He's hooked on these, but says he has a much better day when eating these than Poptarts... go figure.. lol

Check out hundreds of more menus at Org Junkie.
For specifically gluten-free menus, check out the roundup at Angela's Kitchen today!

What "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook" is all about

My new cookbook, "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook" will hit the bookstore shelves and your favorite online stores like Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Barnes & Nobles in less than two months (on October 18th, 2012.) I'm SO SO SO very excited about this and I would love for this book to be shared with every gluten-free family on the planet! (Okay, that might be a little extreme, but I can dream right? lol) The book will be available initially as a paperback, but e-book formats will be available as well (soon after publication, if not immediately after!)

"Hot Chicken Buffalo Bites" from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook"
This photo is from Sarah of Celiac in the City, she tested many recipes for me
including this one! 

A Few Highlights:

• The book contains (of course) 300+ gluten-free recipes and nearly EVERY recipe can be adapted to be casein/dairy-free as well if it's not already listed as dairy-free! All, but a very few were tested using dairy-free ingredients such as almond milk and daiya cheese (even if it's not listed as such!) so rest assured this book super helpful for those with multiple food allergies and intolerances!
• The book contains about 40% "whole foods" recipes -- meaning over 125+ recipes in the book are for naturally gluten-free foods like fresh vegetables, meat, chicken, eggs, rice, potatoes, etc... all things are generally frugal options in the grocery store and make very healthy meals!! 
• There are also gluten-free "quick food" options using helpful and easy-to-find convenience ingredients such as gluten-free pasta, canned vegetables and fruits, etc... 
• There are GLUTEN-FREE, DAIRY-FREE BAKED GOODS included in this book! YES! You can make homemade gluten-free BREAD AND CAKE in your slow cooker!
• The book contains chapters for kid-friendly foods AND recipes that use 5 Ingredients or Less (not including salt/pepper)... super easy, kid-approved meals for every day of the week! 

Once I get 3000 "likes" on my GingerlemonGirl.com facebook page, I will be giving away 2 copies of "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook" along with a brand new 4 quart slow cooker (my favorite size!)

My Favorite little red 4 quart slow cooker! You'll get a chance to win this soon!
I just need 3000 likes on my facebook page! Can you help me share the link? 

A Handful of Recipes From the Cookbook: 

• Gluten-Free Cornbread
• Blueberry French Toast Casserole
• Swedish Meatballs with Gravy
• Fingerling Potatoes with Herb Vinaigrette
• Comforting Chicken and Rice Soup
• Lone Star State Chili
• Easy Italian Spaghetti
• Tamale Pie
• Chicken and Gluten-Free Dumplings
• Rotisserie-Style Chicken
• Meatloaf-Stuffed Green Peppers
• Spiced Apple Cider Turkey
• Simple Tomato Soup
• Cheesy Toast Casserole
• Slow Cooker Yeast/Sandwich Bread
• Creamy Hot Fudge Sauce
• Maple Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Intrigued? You can PRE-ORDER the book now at the lowest price on Amazon! It's currently less than half the retail price!! Please share with your friends and family!! 

Review: Zema's Madhouse Gluten-Free Foods

A few months ago Jill Motew, founder of Zema's madhouse foods contacted me and asked if I'd like to try some her products. I told her I'd love to try the pizza crust. So Jill sent me a super cute package of Zema's Gluten-Free Rosemary-Millet Focaccia & Pizza Crust Mix.

Then life went a little haywire for me and I didn't get to try Jill's mix until a few weeks ago.  We tried it one afternoon when I got home from work late and I didn't have anything planned for dinner.

Jill's mix is super healthy and contains lots of whole grains and healthy seeds like millet & chia. She doesn't use any gums in her mix, so it was very wet dough (compared to other gluten-free pizza doughs I've tried.) One thing I really liked about Jill's mix was that it contains enough mix to make a LARGE pan of pizza or focaccia. We used a 9x13 pan and the batter made a really thick dough.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the dough, but it made a very thick crusted pizza. Over the past 5 years of being gluten-free my taste buds have changed and I now prefer a thin (almost cracker-like) crusted pizza, so for me personally, I think I would have enjoyed this mix more as a thick, chewy bread stick or garlic bread as opposed to a pizza crust. But if you're a fan of a very thick-crust pizza, Jill's mix is for you!! The pizza made a very filling dinner and we had plenty of leftovers to stick in the freezer to take for lunches at work!

I love Jill's simple packaging and her food philosophy. The company strives to use healthy whole grains, no refined sugars, and they are free of most food allergens! Go Zema! If you want to support a family owned business that believes in super healthy gluten-free living, please check out Jill's great company!