I thought I would start this blog, that will follow me through my gluten free journey! About 6 months ago I started a gluten free diet. I don't have celiacs disease, but have a lot of stomach problems,and have for many years. My dr.'s think it's Crohn's disease, but tell me it can take 2 years to diagnose! 2 years...of being sick feels like FOREVER! My Mom was very instrumental in my healing process. She did lots of research and read books, and found that for many people who have IBS. Crohn's and other stomach conditions, a gluten free diet seemed to really help their flare ups and condition tremendously.So here I am....I wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise, the gluten free diet has helped a lot. There's just one problem...sticking to it! I am a girl who LOVES to cook! Especially bake, it's my speciality! It's always been my dream to go to culinary school and own my own little bake shop one day.
Then finding foods to eat...now that's another HUGE problem! My favorite foods are pizza, pasta, anything Italian, bread, and pastries. And let me tell you, that was NOT easy to give up! I can't tell you how many times I went out to eat with family and friends, and gazed longingly at their plate of food. lol Can you imagine that? I would be at a restaurant, and even start salivating over a complete strangers plate of food....all the way across the room! How embarrassing!!!
The thing I miss the most, are my pastries! I miss baking, and creating delicious desserts so much! I really didn't know how to cook gluten free food. All I knew was, I couldn't make these amazing fettucini alfredo's anymore, or my homemade pizza's, or my killer desserts. I began to check out Gluten Free Cookbooks, and to be quite honest, they scared me! I'd flip through and find a dessert or bread that I wanted to make, and it called for things like , sorghum flour, rice flour, potatoe flour, xanthum gum, millet , and the list goes on and on. I had no clue what this stuff was, or even how to find it! To be honest, it seemed like a really scary science experiment. And I began to feel like I was going to need a degree in chemistry in order to be able to make a simple cake!
Then there's the problem of ingredients. I live in a little country town. So small that when a McDonald's was finally built, it was all they could talk about for an entire year! And you can forget finding xanthum gum, or any gluten free foods at our tiny grocery store. It' s a 30 mile drive to get to some of these ingredients, and even further for others! Between the gas and the astronomical prices on some of this stuff, it was out of the question! I couldn't figure out why recipes needed 3 or 4 different types of flour. I was so overwhelmed, that I gave up all together. And I began to really miss what gives me such great joy. Baking!
Today on my trek to Kroger, I found a miracle in a box. Literally! Gluten Free All Purpose Flour! This was BRILLIANT! Why hadn't anyone mentioned this to me before??? This was pure genius! I almost started screaming when I saw it beaming down at me from a shelf! And the price, $3.99 for a box??? Are you serious??? Did I just read that wrong??? That's incredible! Most Gluten Free products are triple the price of normal products.
According to the box, nothing special was needed. No xanthum gum, millet, rice flour, potatoe flour, nothing! Just use in place of regular flour to make your favorite recipe! Could it really be this simple?
I took it home, and began my very first gluten free baking project! Now let me start off by saying, when it comes to cooking, I am a prude! Nothing from a box will do for me! So needless to say, all of the gluten free cake mixes, did not satisfy this culinary queen!
I went home clutching my box of Gluten Free All Purpose Flour to my chest, determined to make something edible. I did as the box instructed, and made one of my favorite recipes, and just substituted GF flour for the regular. I made my famous Hershey's Chocolate Cake mix. I baked 12 chocolate cupcakes, and 1 chocolate cake. And the result, was not only edible, but completely DELICIOUS! I couldn't believe how great it tasted!!!
It gave me a whole new confidence to try some of these recipes. Although, I still don't think I'll be using all of the flours, they still scare me! It gives me flash blacks to science projects gone terribly wrong! But this particular experiment, was a complete success!
