I need to be real with the people reading the posts - even if its only my husband.  I never imagined that one little waffle would turn into a place where people who have food allergies and intolerances can go.  I have met so many people that are grateful, some with tears in their eyes, who can't believe that we actually exist.   They bring their mothers, fathers, sisters, children and friends. But with the good comes the bad. We make mistakes, we get orders wrong, we let people down.  Sometimes they get mad.....really, really, mad.  Its very hard for me to digest because it has been blood, sweat and tears to bring this to fruition.  Everyday I have a conversation with myself that I have to keep going.  Its not for me, its for the people out there that need and want this.  Know that we are doing all that we can to keep products in stock, create new products and continue to provide you great customer service.  That might mean change and shift in the way we do things to make it better.  I promise...its not to punish you.  

So as a reward I will give this nugget of information for gluten free cooking/baking. I am making myself available to those of you struggling to understand gluten free baking in your own homes. Unfortunately my husband would not take kindly to me traveling directly to your houses but in exchange I would like to hear your questions about how to approach recipes. Why didn't my recipe work? What flours should I use for this?  Send me your best questions on the blog (and your pictures) and I promise to answer them as part of a regular post that others can see and learn from. Its often hard to give general overall tips that may or may not apply to you.  If you didn't know, I'm a teacher by profession and the thing I love most is seeing others learn a concept and have the "light bulb go off" and they truly get it. 

Here's a tip to take with you - don't throw away your gluten free mistakes.  Figure out how you can repurpose what you consider a disaster into something that can be useful. 

Bread loaf that doesn't taste great or didn't rise like you wanted it to.  Warm your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the bread into cubes after it has cooled and lay it on a pan with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil. Add any seasonings like dried oregano or basil for more flavor. Turn the oven off and place the pan inside and leave overnight and you have homemade bread cubes for salads, meatballs or casseroles. 

We have all had a bad food experience at one time or another - sometimes created by our very own hands.  Before becoming gluten free, eating a bad meal was not a terrible earth shattering situation...I just moved on deciding if going back would change the outcome.  Today's I take a bad...even more so subpar meal very personally.  

Each time I go to a restaurant that is not dedicated gluten free (and there's aren't many), I dissect the menu like a high school student with a scalpel and a pinned down frog ready to get to the heart of the matter.  Do you have a separate gluten free menu? What exactly IS gluten free on the menu? How shared is shared equipment? Why do you have "low-gluten" on the menu? Many of my cues come from the server...if he or she says "ummmm, let me check with the kitchen" that is generally not a good sign. Confident servers with knowledge eagerly helping you navigate the menu are a godsend. When the meal is good and fulfills those great moments of anticipation, I am overcome with joy and relief.  Yes, I sound dramatic but its how my life is day in and day out. 

There are those times that the meal is bad. Let's not even discuss a meal that makes you sick because of a kitchen error or lack of knowledge. Rather its about the "creations" made by cooks and chefs that they serve on a plate and feel a gluten free person will just deal with.  I remember ordering a sandwich in Florida at a place that boasted "many, many gluten free options".  I assumed the reuben I ordered would be gluten free (on an Udi's or Rudi's bread if they didn't have capability to make their own).  Instead I was served a reuben on lettuce.  Last time I checked reubens don't come with lettuce and a definition of a sandwich is two pieces of bread with some type of filling.  

I have a dream one day that I will be able to walk in to other people's restaurants and order pretty much want I but until that time I have to be one of the people creating the place.  

How does eating out affect your food experience? What food items would you like to see on local menus?  

Back to the blog! Its been a long while since I have talked about baking or gluten free.  Many things have happened since the last post.  I moved (one street over but man was that work), we lost two wonderful people we knew, got a new mixer and bakery station and discovered a passion for photography and love my new camera.  So now that things are settled down a bit, I want to get back to the fun business of baking.  

I taught a baking class at The Cook's Warehouse and talked about the characteristics of flour. During the class, the topic came up concerning flours and some students wanted to know why people had to learn the characteristics of flour. I was a little shocked that people attending a baking class weren't sure why this was important.  Learning about flour has freed me from having to always turn to a pre made mix if I wanted to make something new. It also helps me to better understand what went wrong when it didn't taste or look good.  Even though I have learned quite a bit, I am still learning what each flour does and how it can compliment or even ruin my baking.  For the next 3 posts I will talk about rice flours.  

I'm sure you are ready for some recipes and thinking "Do you really need to talk so much about flour?".  Yes!  While working with flour is simple, it requires some type of liquid to moisten it (milk or water), fat for flavor or additional moistening and spices or fruit to erase the blandness and bring it to life. Each flour gives you a different taste, texture and feel.  All food is not made equal so all flours are not…. so learning the foundation makes it much easier to bake.

My favorite flour to work with is white rice flour. It's made from finely ground rice and that should give you a clue as to how it behaves if you cook with it. If you overcook rice it becomes gluey and sticky.  In the world of cooking, I personally believe white rice is and should remain banned. But for your baking, white rice will lift and aerate your baked goods because of its light, powdery texture.  The shelf life of white rice flour that is stored in a dry area tightly closed is up to 2 years making it a great staple for your baking.  

Where can you use it? Definitely not by itself that's for sure.  In all your baking recipes, your baking percentage of white rice should not be more than 50%. More than that will give you a possibly chewy and gummy product.  Luckily you can pair white rice with almost any flour that is a heavier grain (millet, buckwheat, sorghum, etc).  White rice flour is similar to your pastry or XOXO baking flour so it would work best in cakes, cupcakes and muffins.  

Where do you get white rice flour? Several companies carry this type of flour.  You can try Arrowhead, Authentic Foods or my go to flour spot, Bob's Red Mill. Also, many grocery stores are beginning to stock flours in their natural or organic food sections. Acquiring gluten free flours can get pricey as you increase your variety so when possible purchase online and in larger quantities and share with friends or coworkers who bake gluten free. 

A myth persists that that all purpose flour in gluten baking is the only flour that exists to make all things bread or bread like.  That could not be further from the truth. Below is a list of gluten flours that can be used to make breads and sweets: bread, buckwheat, cake, gluten, instant, organic, pastry, self rising, semolina, spelt, teff and whole wheat. 

So why do companies persist on making one mix and tell you that it will solve your bread and sweet needs? Gluten free baking has similar variety of flours: cornstarch, tapioca starch, potato starch, potato flour, white rice, brown rice, sweet white rice, coconut, corn, almond, quinoa.  Each flour has its own unique characteristics, tastes, feel and baking properties.  Just as in gluten baking flours are mixed, so are gluten free flours.  The question exists which flours should be pantry staples and mix well?

How do you know which flour to bake with? That's where I come in.  We will examine each flour for its properties, health benefits and how best to use it over the next few months.  Make sure to sign up for the blog as each flour is covered indepthly and sharing recipes that work with certain flour combinations.

Risotto is one of those dishes I was always afraid of and the fear of it came from the silliest of places.  I often watched "Hell's Kitchen" and one of the dishes that was always on the menu was a risotto. I can still hear Gordon Ramsay yelling something to the effect of "no you imbecile... its underdone!"  I mean, if people who cook for a living can't make risotto, what makes me think I can?  

My most recent vegetable I have fallen in love with (yes you can love a vegetable) is butternut squash. At first the relationship was awkward and hard - and I mean that literally. I would hack at it with my best knife and pour in sweat and pray not to cut off a finger.  This was until the light bulb went off and realized that roasting it was the easiest way to soften it.  I 100% recommend cutting butternut squash into a few sections and roasting.  On to the recipe....

Veggies for squash:
1 small butternut squash
1/2 an apple peeled and core (the apple adds natural sweetness)

Ingredients to add to risotto:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 small onion
2 garlic cloves
3/4 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

At this point the oven does the work and you can concentrate on your risotto.

Does the word vegan conjure images of dry, crumbly and dirt like texture in your mind? You're not the only one. I must confess that I did not hold vegan food in the highest regard.   I flirted with vegetarianism several times (especially during my first pregnancy) which is now evident in my child that has her own love-hate relationship with meat.  Going vegan was a whole different ballgame that meant I was giving up creamy, moist and flavorful food...or was I?

I must have an egg
When I first began baking, eggs when into everything and I mean EVERYTHING.  I thought it was the soul of my food and nothing baked could exist without it.  Eggs were the glue holding it all together and if I dared forget to put 1, 2 or even 3 in the mix the end result would be this week's lucky dog treat because our dog eats anything, including our green tomatoes on the vine but that's another story.  Even our biscuits started out with eggs and those that bake are probably cringing since eggs have no business in a biscuit - that is a cardinal sin.  One day with everyone arguing that this would be the end of my business, I decided to making something vegan. I started with what I thought would be the most forgiving item - the muffin.  

Making a Mix
Many times muffins start with egg and sugar or egg and oil.  This time I started with oil and sugar but I quickly realized that sugar never breaks down in oil because there is no enough liquid to encourage friction.  Adding a very small amount of milk yielded a creamy sugar substance so I pressed on.  I added my own muffin mix with vanilla extract, chocolate chips, coffee (which brings out the flavor of the chocolate) and adds color and a little more milk.  The mix looked great but when it baked it cracked badly and took me back to those thoughts of dry vegan food.  So I researched and researched and discovered there are many, many substitutes for eggs.  The tricky part is what purpose does your egg have in the baked good and how many do you need?

How to replace the egg
Binder - if the egg is serving as a binder, in other words, holding things together try a small amount (and I mean small amount) of xanthum gum. Start with 1/4 tsp per 1/2 cup of flour. 
Creaminess - if the recipe needs creaminess there is a whole world of options.  You can use different yogurts and creamy substitutes such as tofu, ricotta, sour cream, flaxseed and water, applesauce, bananas, pumpkin puree, coconut cream and Ener-G egg replacer mixed with very warm water
Leavening - if the recipe calls for 3+ eggs then they serve as leavening agents. You can add lift with baking powder and baking soda combination (generally 1 tsp:1/4 tsp ratio respectively), club soda, or yeast.  Adding a tablespoon apple cider vinegar also reacts with the baking soda to increase volume.  

Whatever you choose to use don't be afraid to hold the egg....you might just surprise yourself. 
 

Have you ever made a meal that was really good but eating it the next day kind of felt like meeting your best friend for drinks 2 nights in a row with the same outfit on? One common trick cooks overlook when making a meal is how to use the same finished dish and dress it up as a different meal the next night or even a day or two later.  For example, sweet potatoes seasoned with cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg taste good on the first day but on the third day they taste amazing. Why? Because the flavors meld even more into the dish while in the fridge.  A great way to cook sweet potatoes fast and delicious is to peel, dice and parboil (a fancy term of boiling until fork tender).  Drain the potatoes and add butter or oil and seasonings. and sauté on medium heat in a pan as a side dish.  

Those same potatoes can become a hearty soup a few days later for dinner or your lunch.  You just need a few ingredients to convert it. 

Pan Roasted Sweet Potatoes
4 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
2 tbsp butter or butter substitute
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

Place pot of water on medium heat. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender. Once tender, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the boiling process.  In a saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Remove potatoes when soft and cool.  Serve after cooling slightly. 

Sweet Potato Soup
chicken or vegetable broth
creamer (or creamer substitute like So Delicious vanilla or plain)
4-5 slices of bacon

Add the potatoes and just enough broth to cover and boil potatoes (the amount varies on how many potatoes you have left over). Bring potatoes to boil and reduce to medium heat covered for 10-15 minutes. While potatoes are boiling, ribbon cut bacon and saute until crispy. Remove potatoes from pot and place in deep bowl or blender.  Blend potatoes and slowly add creamer until desired thickness is reached. For additional depth of flavor add a dash of cumin. Top with crispy bacon.  Enjoy!

While my husband is dreading the start of school, I am counting down the days to when school starts. (In case you were interested the date is August 1st and I made up a special dance about it) I remind my kids almost daily that school is on the horizon. Yes, I might be taking this a little overboard but the day school gets out lady routine literally jumps off the cliff. Chaos ensues and it's like chasing a greased pig with a plastic outfit on. For some parents, the prospect of starting school means making lunches and making lunches means how can I give my child food they can eat without breaking the bank or packing repeat lunches that quickly bore them?  As school quickly approaches I am looking forward to posting about my children's lunches and how creative we can be as parents giving healthy, delicious and most of all allergen friendly food. Bring on your suggestions because many heads is better than one. Now off to do my back to school happy dance. 

Here it is the first year after opening a new business.  I have learned a number of things myself.  One of the greatest lessons is take nothing for granted. Just when you feel that you have mastered an element of what you are doing, a proverbial curve ball comes your way.  I am learning how to stay calm and insert humor where I can because baking ain't for wimps and running a business is not for the faint at heart. 

What still amazes me is one idea of baking a muffin so I can have something for breakfast has evolved into what you see today. I started this business based on my own need - the need to find gluten free that didn't make me irritated I just spent $10 on a mix that did not work or tasted like paper.  The need to stop the incessant migraines that left me bedridden days at a time. The need to take back control of my kitchen and know that the food I was eating would not debilitate myself or my child. As I reflect back on where I started a year ago, I am grateful for the amazing customers, employees and the experiences.  I look forward to all the new foods and watching  (and secretly hearing) people exclaim with glee while they enjoy their first ever biscuit in years or the joy of running in discovering there are still cinnamon rolls in the bakery case.  This is why I get up each morning and enter Good Karma - to bring a gluten free food with love. So Happy Birthday from me to you...I hope you enjoyed your gift. 

P.S. Your other present is buy one meal, get one meal free on Saturday, July 20th. We want you to hang out with us so its dine in only.