Happy Gluten-Free New Years!

I've taken a bit of time off from blogging for the holidays, and I'm trying to prepare myself for what is bound to be an exciting and fun 2007! Part of the reason for a break from the gluten free blog was to of course enjoy the holidays, time with family and friends, and just something different for a while. I've been able to do some of each, and have had time to refresh myself a bit.

It's also been a rather strange year-end here in Cleveland, OH, as temperatures have been well above normal for this time of year. Yesterday I took full advantage of the 50+ degrees and sunshine, and parked a lounge-chair outside on the South side of my house where the sun was reflecting nicely off the white siding, and sat there in shorts and a T-shirt enjoying the equivalent of 70-degrees or so. What a treat for almost January in Cleveland! (though, I find myself asking how bad the greenhouse-effect and global warming must be for this to occur.)

Not everything the last week and a half has been relaxation though. My daughter and I were busy making sales calls to retailers throughout Ohio that are now carrying our book, and that has stirred up all sorts of upcoming "to-do list" items for the coming year. The largest retailer of natural and organic products in Northeast Ohio, the Mustard Seed Market and Cafe', is now carrying our book and would like my wife and I to do a gluten-free baking lecture and/or book-signing event as soon as we can schedule one. This is certainly wonderful, but oh my gosh do I now feel the pressure to get some practice prior to doing a larger show! Our local health food store also wants us to do an event, and that will likely be where we work out some of the kinks before taking on a much larger crowd.

We have also run into an interesting outlet for our books through the medical professionals in the region, especially allergists (wheat and/or gluten allergy treatment) dieticians, and doctors that treat autism. Seems there is a fairly strong correlation between autism and celiac disease, and these professionals are regularly dealing with children that they want so badly to enjoy all the normal experiences of childhood (like, eating a wonderful birthday cake, or enjoying cookies and brownies at a party) while remaining on a gluten-free diet. And, the practitioners are thrilled with the prospects of being able to finally provide their patients with fantastic recipes that will let them realize this goal - ours!

In fact, this same group of doctors has been encouraging me to consider raising the price of our book since they feel it is so above-and-beyond what our "competition" offers; they are telling me to charge $39.95 for it, which I am not inclined to do since my goal all along has been to get the book out to as many Celiac and gluten-free persons as possible and not make price a barrier to acquiring the book. But, I do find the suggestion encouraging, since quite a few persons have now made similar comments that we have done a great job with the recipe book and have kept the price quite reasonable for a full-color satisfaction guaranteed gluten-free desserts recipe and baking guide.

Next, I have been really, really happy to realize my goal of helping other gluten-free, wheat-free, and coeliac persons find complete satisfaction, and even amazement, in their desserts again! I just received a testimonial a few days ago from a lady whose father has been wheat-free and gluten-free since the 1980's. She decided to purchase the book and make her father something he has long since desired: a great birthday cake. She chose our Chocolate-Ganache Cake to bake for her father, and she was completely new to glutenfree baking. I received a few emails from her regarding where to aquire ingredients, and she was able to track down everything just in time to bake the cake for her father's birthday. He was so utterly impressed by the results, that he told her it was the best cake he has had since going GF nearly 20 years earlier, and was blown away by how moist and delicious the cake was. Turns out he was accustomed to dry or crumbly cakes/muffins and such til now, and has appointed his daughter the new "gluten-free baker" in the family. This story just made my day when I read it! It has made me completely confident that I did the right thing by taking the past couple years to complete this book (with much help from my wife and daughter).

2006 was a year of challenge, excitement, and happiness that now seems like a big blur in the rear-view mirror. And, I now enter a gluten-free 2007 knowing I have all sorts of things I want to accomplish this year as well. There are all sorts of new gluten-free recipes coming soon, since my wife had time during the holiday to perfect a few more wonderful recipes. I have a goal of traveling around a much larger portion of the country selling our book (since we only had time for northern Ohio before the holidays). I resolve to give exercise and fitness plenty of emphasis in 2007, as I did in 2006. But, first and foremost, I will try to maintain a focus on enjoying life and finding happiness in what I do. And, I wish everyone that same happiness and enjoyment for their New Years and all of 2007!

The night before gluten-free Christmas is near.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Rang the noise of the mixer, the cause of my rouse;
The only creature stirring, it seems, is my spouse.
The recipe notes, jotted down with great care,
The next winning formula - something with flare?

Could it be yet another one of those breads,
An awesome addition to holiday spreads?
Will this new recipe be considered "a wrap",
or may it turn out that something else is on tap.

Baking gluten-free foods, a serious matter,
especially great ones, worthy of some chatter.
Burn through ingredients and piles of cash,
Making recipes for the holiday bash.

The gluten-eaters among us just won't know,
The "fun" it has been creating this new dough.
Through trial and error, what should appear,
pumpernickel bread with spinach dip near.

Although a bit challenging, with the right trick,
This new GF bread is ready for St. Nick.
Anyone else that can not eat wheat grain,
is sure to enjoy this one all the same.

No barley, no gluten, no wheat in our mixin',
This recipe is done - no need for more fixin'!
Once again my wife has heeded the baking call,
When it comes to glutenfree, she's in for the long haul.

More recipes are coming in 2007,
Some bound to make you think you've gone to heaven. :)

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the gluten-free recipes published over on our book site's recipe page. It is time for me to take a break from blogging for a few days, and focus a bit more on some things I need to wrap up before the holidays. (quite literally in some cases.) I'll be back to posting on the blog before I know it, since time flies, especially around this time of year.

I hope everyone has a wonderfully enjoyable Christmas and holiday season!

No Gluten or Dairy Pumpernickel Bread Recipe

The Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe is now available at our Glutenfree recipe library! I had promised this recipe a few days ago, and it seemed I had a few people getting a bit anxious for it, so there is the link to it. I described this recipe in my previous post where I showed it in use as a gluten-free pumpernickel sandwich bread. It works great for this, since it has a nice hearty crust and a soft spongy center, all infused with plenty of pumpernickel bread flavor.

In addition, I posted a recipe for a simple and versatile dill and/or spinach dip recipe. I don't know about you, but spinach-dip served with cubed pumpernickel has been rather popular at parties - both around the holidays and any other time of the year. Many people carve the center out of the loaf of pumpernickel bread, and fill the bread with the dip... using the carved out portion to form the cubes of bread for dipping. This glutenfree pumpernickel will work fine for that, since it is made in a round pyrex 2-liter dish, and achieves a height of about 4 inches when baked. So, plenty of volume for holding dip. Personally, I prefer keeping the dip in a separate bowl so as not to cause the remaining pumpernickle loaf (the part of the loaf you are using for a "bowl") to become soggy. This goes for bread with or without gluten. Why waste any great GF bread to sogginess? :)

Here's a picture of the dip with some cubed-pumpernickel bread - all glutenfree of course.

The Glutens have arrived! Beware!

So, I have been playing around with this idea to start a "Glutens" cartoon of sorts, and I missed my first target of Halloween for an initial prototype of what one of the "Glutens" looks like, but here is the first incarnation just in time for Christmas.

My daughter sketched up the gooey little elastic gluten-ball "monster" that will hereafter serve as the basis for my "Glutens". After I had a bit of fun with the sketch in Photoshop, the Gluten monster lives in full-color. The above picture is what we envision those pesky and evil little glutens looking like as they prepare to do their dirty work on our intestines. Certainly they have evil intent! :) This one has even gone as far as to appear incognito with a Santa hat to throw us off his scent.

So, what do you think? Is this what one of those "Glutens" would look like? They are always lurking in the shadows and preparing to mess with us, and I figure this one in particular is going to be out there trying to make Christmas less than optimal by tainting our holiday food if we are not careful. So, watch out for the Glutens that would steal Christmas -- I know they are out there!

Gluten Free Perfect Pumpernickel Bread

My wife has worked tirelessly on perfecting a GF pumpernickel bread (dairy-free too!) over the past few weeks, and she has finally achieved her goal! I just had to take a picture of my lunch today, which is a tuna salad sandwich on this new glutenfree pumpernickel bread she just finished baking earlier today.

The bread is wonderful. A nice hearty crust, and a soft spongy center! What more could anyone ask for in a pumpernickel? Oh, yeah... taste... it tastes great too! I think it is very much like a real pumpernickel. In addition to the sandwich, we tried it with a dill-dip, and a spinach-dip is in the making as I type. Oh my, it is once again time to start planning how to burn off these extra calories! But, I much prefer having this "problem" of calorie expenditure over the problem of not being able to find good food to eat as a Celiac person.

With a fair number of breads in our repertoire now, there really isn't too awful much I find "missing" from my daily eating habits when compared to the pre-gluten-free days. I am so glad to have a wife that is quite gifted with baking gluten free recipes, and most food in general. And, if something gives her a rough time, she takes it as a challenge to figure it out and perfect it. Soon this recipe and a couple others will join our online GF recipes collection. Probably by the end of the weekend.

UPDATE: Here's a direct link to the Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe.

I noticed Lynn Barry just finished a version of pumpernickel recently too! I guess it is the perfect season for pumpernickel! Can't wait to serve it at a Christmas party or dinner.

GlutenFree Sesame Cookie Recipe

This one is definitely a winner - a delicious gluten-free sesame cookie recipe! I think I put on a pound today as I ate about a dozen of them! That's not likely to be a pound of muscle either, though I did make sure I went out and walked a mile and jogged another mile today. Still doubt that will offset the calories in these gluten-free temptations of the day, but better than nothing.

I have to give credit to my daughter for this recipe. She just wrapped up another semester at college and is done with her GRE's, so she finally has had a bit of extra time between grad-school applications to get back into the gluten free baking spirit! This recipe took her a couple tries, but she definitely prevailed with a tasty cookie that has a wonderful texture.

This cookie has sesame and coconut inside and out, with sesame tahini in there too! So, plenty of flavor, and plenty of calories to boot I'd guess. But, it is a cookie and as such calories just have to take back seat to wonderful taste! Now if this recipe would have come along a few months back, I'd surely have considered putting into our new gluten-free desserts cookbook, but this recipe was just a bit late arriving on the scene.

I have another recipe to post soon, also from my daughter: a gluten free tea-leaf and honey cookie. That one reminds me of a sugar cookie, but not. It worked well for holiday cut-out cookies for Christmas, and was delightfully crisp and crunchy with accents of honey and tea. Different, and good. It'll be coming soon.

Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake Recipe - Bundt

Here is another gluten-free recipe I promised a while back. I just recently uploaded the GlutenFree Pumpkin Bundt Cake Recipe to our free recipes library for anyone that is looking for a holiday pumpkin treat that is a bit different than a traditional pumpkin pie.

This recipe is easy to make, and has much of that pumpkin-pie type flavor but in the form of a cake. All sorts of flavor comes together in here: clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger - and even a bit of cocoa. This recipe is also dairy-free, in our push to accommodate those of you who can not tolerate milk products very well.

We made this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner, but it should be equally welcome around the Christmas holiday table - whether for dinner or at a party. We have tried it both with and without added Xanthan gums, and it works fine either way (the Xanthan gum does give it a bit better bounce, and makes it less likely to crumble), so take your pick whether to include that in your gluten free recipe or not.

Now, if I can only remain this productive in my blog postings for the rest of the week! I am finally catching up on a few of those outstanding recipes. Some of the others outstanding include a new type of GF and dairy-free/casein-free muffin my wife came up with; there is also a chocolate angel-food cake to post; some cranberry pumpkin muffins; pumpernickel bread, and a few others. I have quite a few other things I want to still get done this week though, so time will tell whether they are posted sooner rather than later on this gluten free blog. :)

Gluten-Free Panettone Bread Recipe

My daughter recently created a rather tasty gluten-free Christmas Holiday bread in the style of traditional panettone bread. It features orange/citrus flavors in a sweeter dough that has dried fruit and nuts in it. Here is a link to the gluten-free panettone bread recipe (as pictured above).

I promised this recipe to my blog readers a while back, and finally the gluten free recipe is online and ready for others to try. Baking a panettone, in the traditional full-cylindrical form would probably be a bit rough for a variety of reasons: first being the tall cylindrical shape, which I doubt many would have a specialized panetone pan for. I have wondered if it could be baked in a coffee-can or a couple smaller cans, though I do not know if it would come out of the can easy when done, or if it would rise enough to fill the entire height like a gluten-containing one would probably have an easier time of.

Regardless, this version of a panettone is done glutenfree (sorry, not completely dairy-free this times), and is baked in a standard springform pan. The bread has a nice mellow flavor, with a touch of sweetness, and accents of orange. Perfect for the Christmas holiday. If anyone tries it, please let me know your thoughts. And, as always, if you have variations or improvements, feel free to share them.

Dairy-Free Focaccia Bread & Crouton Recipe

I had time to post the Gluten-Free and Dairy Free Focaccia Bread and Croutons Recipe today that I promised in my last blog. Has plenty of pictures to go with the various steps too. The picture above shows those wonderfully tasty caramelized red onions that are both in the dough and on top of the bread. The onions combine with garlic, pepper, rosemary, and more to create a very flavorful bread and crouton. It's a bit of a specialty bread, and I have not had focaccia in a long time (since going GF), so we may still end up tweaking the recipe a bit over time. But, I think it is plenty good enough for public release -- readers, you tell me what you think after trying it.

Hope everyone enjoys the recipe!

We are finally getting a break from the snowfall here, and none too soon. I was getting tired of going out every few hours to shovel, but I didn't have much choice. I've had quite a few friends and acquaintances actually stopping by the house to pick up a copy of our new book, and the last thing I need is someone falling down on an icy sidewalk or such. So, better safe then sorry, and the shoveling also doubles as exercise for the day -- which, giving me a reason to be outside, I definitely prefer to going to the basement and riding the exercise bike (that is a bit boring, even with music playing). Every year about this time I get the urge to buy a small LCD TV to mount from the ceiling in the basement so I could pipe in some CNBC or CNN or something while I exercise, but I never get around to it. Doubt I will this year either, because it is surely not a real "need". And, with just music on, I have time to do a bit more relaxing and letting my brain wander and think about all the recipes I should be getting put on the website, all the books I need to ship, and... (hmm... doesn't sound all that relaxing after all!). Maybe that TV idea isn't so bad. heh.

I know I have promised other gluten free recipes for public release in prior blog entries. I will get to them... they are all sitting here on my Windows desktop, waiting to be formatted into HTML and uploaded to our gluten-free recipes-library. As always, more things to do than time to do them in.

Gluten Free and Dairy-Free Focaccia Bread Croutons

My wife has once again outdone herself!

Today's undertaking was GlutenFree and Dairy-Free Focaccia Bread, and subsequently some Croutons (shown above) made from that bread. The results, in my opinion, are remarkable. These are some darn fine croutons! Loaded with flavor to say the least... red onions, and all sorts of herbs. Fantastic!

The Focaccia bread itself was plenty fine too. It has been a LONG time since I had focaccia bread, and that is a bit of a problem for me since my memories of it are a bit faded. I think what she has created is rather like the real deal, but I'll be looking for others' feedback once they try the recipe. I was mixing up bruchetta and focaccia in my mind at first, which goes to tell you how long it has been. Needless to say, there have not been any memorable gluten-free focacia breads in my diet since going gluten free -- until now. That's one thing about Celiac Disease you have to watch out for... you avoid so much of what you used to eat, you start forgetting what the "real" thing tasted like. That is also why we enlist the help of our friends and neighbors (not gluten-free persons) in taste-testing, just to make sure we have a valid test-group.

I'll get the recipe up here as soon as she makes it available to me. This one is a winner in my opinion!

Almond Paste in Baking GlutenFree Recipes

I have had a few people ask me about Almond Paste as an ingredient in various Gluten-Free recipes. We use it in a fair number of recipes, as it adds a nice flavor to certain desserts and breads. To being with, Almond Paste is not to be confused with Almond Butter. Almond Paste is a combination of Almonds, Sugar, and water basically - it is a very thick paste. We use a canned variety of pure Almond Paste from a company called Solo for our GF recipe baking.

I contacted Solo Foods today, verified the gluten-free status of their "pure Almond Paste" product (which I was told is glutenfree, has been for quite some time, and although their company produces other products that are not GF, that they have not had any issues with cross-contamination). I also inquired about the ability to purchase direct from them, which you can since they are one of the few manufacturers that will sell directly to the consumer as a benefit to persons that can not locate the product close to them. Moreover, if you call their customer service number (800-328-7656) you can order a 6-pack of 8-ounce cans on the phone with your Visa, and with shipping included in the price, it is only $22.50! (trust me, at $3.75/can, this is much cheaper than we were buying from our local Tops store before - they were over $5/can there), and direct to your door!

I may begin stocking a dozen or more cans at a time for friends and family that need a quick source for Almond Paste when they are doing their glutenless recipe baking, especially if they do not want to order 6 cans at a time. I have to believe this stuff will last "forever" (years?) in the unopened cans. We use a can per month or more, but then again we do a lot of baking.

I plan to put a link on our cookbook site to this article and to the Solo Foods site. Maybe, if there is enough demand, I'll allow people to purchase a can of Almond Paste along with a book just to get them started. I know we use it in our wonderful Pecan Pie / Tart, and a few other tasty gluten free dessert recipes. It really adds a nice flavor.

What do 3 TONS of cookbooks look like?

Better yet, what does your body feel like after moving 3 tons of recipe books to your basement? From (very recent) first hand experience, I can tell you: not good! I do not even want to know what I will feel like tomorrow. Thankfully, the work was spread between three of us - me, my wife, and our daughter. We had a decent system for moving the cookbooks from the garage to the basement worked out, and created a rudimentary "slide" to quickly get cartons down the steps. So, one person at the top, another placing them on the slide, and another loading a hand-truck at the bottom to transport to the storage racks. Then, getting them from the hand-truck onto the racks. Oh, what a workout! What have I gotten us into?

The next thing is knowing that we'll have to move some of these same boxes out shortly to take to, or mail to, our retailers, and to everyone on our pre-orders list that is waiting for their gluten-free desserts book to arrive just in time to make some delicious treats for Christmas and the holidays. But, at least the cookbooks are out of the way, and we can get an automobile back in the garage.

After being nearly 2.5 weeks late from the shipping company (arghh!), I feel a huge sense of relief and satisfaction knowing that the cookbooks are now in our hands, and the glutenfree/celiac population that is eagerly awaiting them will soon also feel some gratification when they get their hands on one. I apologize to anyone that has found the waiting as tough as I have -- when/if we reprint another batch, I'll allow more time for delivery issues (and, hire some teenagers to move the books).

So, it seems we have a seriously busy week ahead of us getting these things out to everyone. I think the post-office will love me, though anyone behind me in line at the post-office waiting to send holiday gifts is going to absolutely hate me (as I take a long time in front of them)! :)

For those of you overseas that have asked about ordering online -- give me a couple more days to get the international shipping rates updated and implemented. The only international destination ready to go right now is Australia for quantity-one shipments only (that was my "test case" where a very patient Australian has helped me work through the process). I'll soon be ready for Canada, UK/Great-Britain, Germany and a few others. Just need to figure out how much the rates to each location will be; of course the "flat rate" package the post-office had for international would not quite fit the book!

As I type this gluten free blog entry, I think that tomorrow may well be a good day to do some "desk work"... anything non-physical, as I already feel the exertion really taking hold in my knees, lower back, and elbows. I know what will help, at least for a few minutes: a nice gluten-free dessert/snack; perhaps even going overboard and eating some celebratory Haagen Dasz ice cream!

What could be better than Almond Milk?

Chocolate Almond Milk of course! I have used Blue Diamond's gluten-free regular or vanilla Almond Milk (Almond Breeze line of products) for some time on cereal in the morning, and I find it just as tasty as Soymilk for this type of thing. In fact, I overwhelmingly prefer Soy or Almond Milk to regular milk when it comes to my cereal. I find the nutty flavor of either one really complements the flavor of whatever grains are in the cereal.

I had not tried the Blue Diamond Chocolate Almond Milk until just a few hours ago, and, I must say, I really like it! I happened to see it for sale at Trader Joe's right alongside the other flavor I normally get, and I though - sure, why not give it a try. I am glad I did. The chocolate flavor and almond essence really come together for an overall great flavor. I can actually enjoy drinking it just for something different - and, it is another way to get a bit more calcium in the diet (or whatever other excuse I can find to get more chocolate into my diet) :)

I don't plan to start pouring the chocolate variety over my morning cereal, but I will keep it around for something to drink when I just do not want water or juice. And, for anyone allergic to Soy and dairy, this may be exactly what you are looking for in a milk-replacement. As an added bonus, it is gluten free!

So close, but yet so...

OK, bad news is no books today (as expected). GOOD NEWS: I now am in contact with Cleveland warehouse -- they have the books! They are delivering to me Monday. Funny thing is they are literally a block away from a friend's house that I am going to visit today. I could walk from my friend's house to pick them up, but I have no vehicle capable of handling 3 tons of books. I tried to get the shipping company to allow me to pick up a few boxes today, but as expected, they won't let me take a partial load.

So, the timeframe SHOULD now be a definite one. From here on I am to deal with Cleveland people (no more LA contacts), and, they better not let me down! Though, chances are we will have snow Monday, which will make moving the books more fun. Of course, the entire week they were supposed to be here the weather was wonderful - sunny and 60's! Arghhhh.

I think I can relax a bit now at least. Just knowing my gluten-free cookbooks are within 10 miles of me makes me feel much better.

I am celebrating with a wonderful Glutino Sans Gluten Sesame Bagel (pictured above), with some Roasted-Almond Butter - I definitely recommend these bagels. I prefer them toasted (like many GF products), but the textures and such is really pretty decent when toasted. It's not a Panera Bread fresh bagel by any means, but it probably isn't that much different than a normal frozen bagel. These glutenfree bagels hold up rather well in the fridge too -- in fact, I have had this one in there for at least 4 or 5 weeks, and it was fine toasted.

I have been contemplating a book-launch party for sometime in the next couple weeks. We have quite a few friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances that were involved in our recipe trials and such, that is just seems appropriate to have some kind of celebration and get-together. I have a feeling this is going to be a challenge when competing against all the company Christmas parties and the like. Worst case is I can push it off until January I guess.

And, I see I now have a tree I need to deal with -- the winds ahead of this inbound snowstorm just blew a good sized tree in our yard over (snapped it off) and it is laying mostly in our neighbors back yard. The tree has been dead for a year, so I guess it is not too surprising even though it was a foot thick. All sorts of excitement today! Good thing no persons or objects were in the way of its fall. On the upside, I guess I'll have some firewood for the party!