The Ultimate Product List

I have had many emergency calls for those wanting to know how to  survive the Gluten, Dairy, Soy free lifestyle.  Today was the most important call from my super best friends wanting to know the secrets of this lifestyle.  This post is dedicated to Jody and Carrie!!!!  We love you and miss you guys soo much in our hellish desert sauna.

The following is the top items that enable you to survive the transition.  Literally, we got off a cruise ship at  port to buy Gerald's creamer!

Earth Balance GF, Dairy Free Soy Free Butter (Whole Foods or Sprouts)

Hummus (Kirkland)

Household Favorite (Whole Foods and  Sprouts)

Chocolate Chips ( Wait for sale at Sprouts ; then clear that shelf)

(Great for Baking)  Gerald uses rice milk with his Cocoa Pebbles)

These are used in place of sandwich bread.  Gerald's sandwich is hummus, Boarshead Deli Meat on rice crackers.  He also uses avocado or Wholly Gaucamole when he gets tire of hummus for lunch.

Yum, favorite with tuna or chicken salad!

Used in my baking  recipes to  replace eggs.

Cheapest at Krogers and shelf clear when on sale.

Pasta Joy pasta is the best, all varieties.

The best dressings when not making your own.  Just Mayo is also the best mayonnaise and  I use that to make Chicken and Tuna Salad. Found at Kroger as the  cheapest.

 Gerald's favorite daily orange juice and Apple Cider (Orange Costco in bulk)

If you can't find the Hazelnut Creamer then the  French Vanilla is the back up.  This is found at Kroger, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.

Replace soy sauce in all recipes with Coconut Aminos.  This is at Sprouts and Whole Foods.  A generic version is at Sprouts.  If you  find it, buy a few bottles.

Essential item sold at Kroger, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.  

We wish everyone the best and hopefully this list will help you  transition.

Pumpkin/Sweet Potato Muffins

These are great for the morning.  I usually make a large batch and freeze them in resealable bags for weekday mornings. I love to use fresh pumpkin when they are in season.  Although, these are a staple for my family year round, so I use cooked sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin.  I cook a large batch and then scrape the cooked sweet potato in resealable bags in 1 lb portions.  I can then easily defrost them when I need to make muffins.

I used sweet potatoes for this batch!

Ingredients

Yields: 24 Muffins

2/3 cup Shortening( I use Spectrum Organic)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup White Sugar
1 lb.Cooked Pumpkin or Cooked Sweet Potato ( I keep this portioned in the freezer)
6 Tablespoons of Ener-G Egg Replacer (Baking aisle of Sprouts, Whole Foods)
1 Tbs. Coconut Flour (if too watery)
3 Cups Fox Gluten Free Flour Mix
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 cup EnJoy Chocolate Chunk Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together except for chocolate chips in a mixer.  Once everything is blended stir chocolate chips into batter.  I use parchment cups to line muffin tins.  To fill muffins use a 1/4 cup measuring cup for the perfect amount.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Alternative Bread
You can also make bread from this recipe.  I use the small aluminum tins that are smaller 3.25x5.75.  I cook them in the oven for 40 minutes.  The recipe yields 5 loaves.

Fox Gluten Free Flour

I mix up large batches of this flour to be used in my bread, pancakes, and muffin recipes.  The main complaint from the family when I buy prepackaged Bobs Red Mill is that my baked goods have a corn taste.  I am not sure why, but I have to agree.  In addition, the cost makes gluten free extremely expensive.  We invested in a food mill and this help immensely with the cost and removing the corn taste.

 The Wonder Mill was a bit expensive, but it has paid for itself.  I also buy my rice from Costco in 25 pound quantities.  This makes a lot of rice, compared 1 bag of white rice flour for $3.50 plus.
 
    I have ground white rice, brown rice, and oats in the Wonder Mill with wonderful results on the bread setting.

    After grinding I set up to make a flour mix using a digital scale.  I put the container on the scale and as I am adding the ingredients I hit tare to start back at zero with each new addition.  This eliminates a lot of dishes.

Oats in the Hopper

Oat Flour after Grinding

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Recipe:

24 ounces of White Rice  Flour
7 ounces Brown Rice
4 ounces of Potato Starch
3 ounces of Oatmeal Flour
3 ounces Tapioca Flour

Mix in container and store in the fridge.  Cost per batch is approximately$2.00.

Pancakes Finally!!!!! Decent Gluten Free, Dairy and Soy Free no corn tasting pancakes!

Okay it only took 3 years but the pancake recipe has been finalized!!!!

The questions stated over and over are:

Does it look like a pancake?
Does it cook like a pancake?
Does it taste like a pancake?
Can it freeze well and be reheated and still be a tasty pancake?


Finally I can answer yes to all of these questions.  It also does well with add ins such as blueberries and Enjoy Life  GF Soy Free Dairy Chocolate chips.
 
 

Here is the recipe:

Yields :  Approximately 8 good sized pancakes

2 cups Fox Gluten Free Flour mix (see Fox Flour blog)
1 T Coconut Flour
1 T Oat Flour
1/2 t salt
4 t. Baking Powder
1/4 c oil
2 cups Rice Milk/Coconut (mix or use just one)

Doubling works well.  Yields about 8 pancakes.

I cook on a large pancake skillet I picked up at Frys for $20. 

Making Cooking Lard

 If you are so lucky to be able to purchase and cook with Epic Lard on a regular basis, I completely envy you!!!  I always have some on hand, but I feel this is just too epic to coat my pans on a regular basis.  This is to be used for special times especially when it costs $9 at Whole Foods.  I have found a cheater way to have pork lard on hand without making lard the traditional way, which I hear smells very bad. 

It first starts with making bacon.  I like to use the Kirkland 1.5lb bacon that is thick cut.  This renders a decent amount of grease.  After you enjoy breakfast and the oil is not scalding hot, get a bowl or large coffee cup and strain the grease with a paper towel until it is clean.

The next step is to line a cup with parchment paper and cool the grease in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Then slip the cup into the freezer for about 2 hours.  If you forget to pull it from the freezer and you see it in the morning, just let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes before doing the next step.

Remove the parchment paper and you should have a solid piece of clean pork lard.

Cut it up in pieces and store it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  I just take a couple of pieces when coating my pans for cooking.  I have also used it as a replacement for baking when I need shortening.

Juicing Oranges

Well it is late December in Arizona and that means it is time to start pull the oranges off of the trees.  I usually begin around Christmas.  After many years, of juicing oranges, I have decided to share the best process to complete this job. I begin by removing the oranges from the tree, I start with the ones that are on the outer perimeter of the tree that may have been susceptible to burning from the sun during summer, and will be at risk of frost that usually happens to a few evenings in January.  The ones located in the middle of the tree are protected and you can usually enjoy them well into February. 

If you are doing a major juicing, which for me is pulling around 100 oranges, I use the Kitchen Aid Juicer attachment.  The best way to protect your hands from getting sticky and preventing the orange juice from running down your arm is to don some disposable gloves.

I begin by cleaning the oranges in the sink.  Then drain them in the colander or dish rack.  Then cut a group of oranges to be juiced.

The best way to set up the juicer, if you do not like pulp and seeds in your orange juice, is to use a large bowl or measuring cup with a strainer positioned over the bowl below the juicer attachment.  The Kitchen Aid strainer will just catch the big stuff.

Turn your Kitchen Aid on to a comfortable speed that does not spray you, or get all over the counter and start juicing.  At times, you will need to clean the strainers and I use a spoon to do the job.

Keep the trash can right at your feet and proceed.  My yield for today was  the following:

Change of Plans Bryce Canyon

We found out that a winter storm was coming and snow was inevitable in the southern Utah area. We were going to move the trailer to Bryce Canyon area, but we knew we were going to a higher elevation, which meant 15 degrees cooler than Zion.

Instead of moving the trailer north we decided to stay because we really liked the Zion Ranch and Lexi loved all of the kid friendly activities(unlimited miniature golf), petting zoo, and the pool tables. We headed to Bryce National Park for the day.

We stopped at a fun roadside stop of taxidermy museum. It was a great museum with unbelievable amounts of "stuffed animals". We had fun and they had mule deers in back for feeding.

Back on the road we went to the only general store we found on our 86 mile trip. We needed mittens, coats, and hats. The temperature was a high of 43 degrees. We did our best at the Ruby's general store. We were completely unprepared for this weather.

It was cold but we stopped at all of the stops at Bryce Canyon. We witnessed the HooDoos and hiked the rim trail. We ended up doing the geology talk with the ranger who explained that it wasn't really a canyon. Canyons are created by a river and this was created by rain and ice. I wished it would have been better weather because it would have been incredible to take the hike to the bottom.

It was so cold we ditched the shuttle and got the truck. It just was too cold to wait for the shuttle. Lexi got her Junior Ranger badge and we headed back on the road.

It was the worst weather. It was solid raining and wind the whole way. We stopped at a small roadside restaurant for a great piece of pie and homemade vegetable beef soup. It was so delicious, all the vegetables were from their garden.

The night was crazy with beating rain and howling wind. We had a few leaks in the trailer due to condensation. We played games late into the evening and didn't wake up until after 8 the next morning.