Baking was the big moment. It has always been a HUGE accomplishment for me but ever since I've become GFDF (gluten free dairy free) it's a MAJOR BIG DEAL. See what I made!!!
Darlene - the woman who came for coffee - is a new friend. We've gotten together a few times however our schedules don't mix too well so it's a bit difficult. She LOVES LOVE LOVES LOVES LOVES to bake. She can rattle on about baking like I can about sewing. It's so intimidating and fabulous to have someone to ask all these questions to.
We talked about the mixes that had arrived and what I could do to change them. For instance, putting cranberries in with the lemon loaf and/or lemon zest. I made it according to the instructions and then added a lemon glaze on top while it was cooling. I knew that much.
With the cookie mix, we talked about how to make it become gingersnaps and with the bread mix how to make it become cinnamon raisin bread. Both are previous favourites of mine.
Fiona - my host at the Copper Kettle B & B in Nanaimo - had used two of these Celimix mixes while I was staying there on my holiday. I knew they were good and wanted to start with them just to get an idea of what the things could taste like. However, they're expensive.
The lemon and apple cinnamon loaves are each $6.49 for one loaf, the cookie mix is $6.79 for about a dozen cookies, and the chocolate cake is $5.99 for one cake plus the gluten free icing. The bread mix was $17.99 for six loaves or $3.00 per loaf which is less expensive than buying gluten free bread. That's good because buying gluten free, dairy free bread is even more of a journey and so far everything I've tried tastes horrible. Never in my life have I imagined myself baking bread. This is so weird. I'm learning all kinds of new things.
I ordered The Gluten Free Vegan with (they say) 150 delicious gluten free, animal free recipes. It gets good reviews. One of the negative reviews said the book is too basic. Perfect... that works for me since I'm learning both for myself and for my family. Right now, the boys still live at home and eat what I cook. However, when I go to visit my daughter, it's difficult for her to feed me. I'd like to give my friends and family a really good, all around, basic, GFDF cookbook for when I come to visit. Hopefully, when I find one, it's not too expensive.
We are not vegetarian or vegan however using a vegan cookbook helps with the dairy free aspect of what I need to eat and both styles of cooking teach about alternate proteins which will (hopefully) give us variety in what we eat and less expensive choices than some meats.
As well, we're all blood type A's. If you know anything about the blood type diet, you'll know that the diet for A's is basically vegetarian with minimal amounts of chicken and fish. Diabetes and Celiac's disease are both autoimmune issues which are strongly associated with blood type A's as is high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart issues. I don't know about the other two but I do know that my blood pressure has gone done since eliminating gluten so you can see why this is good learning for all of us. I'd like my family to be healthy.
The next time I'm at Chapters, I'll look at Veganomican and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. The first book has 267 positive reviews on Amazon and the second has 252. They are obviously good cookbooks however, these are dairy free but not gluten free recipes. We'll see how many could work for me. I'm still learning about substitutions and it's WAY TOO MUCH.
Yesterday, while Darlene and I were talking, she said that after our last visit she had gone online to look for recipes to make for me and was intimidated by so much new and different information. If she - who absolutely loves to bake - found it intimidating, imagine how I and others who are recently diagnosed feel.
After my trip to Nanaimo, I had the brainy idea to start an online, gluten free, cooking school. Knowing how many hours Roger and Carol put into running QuiltUniversity.com, I wanted to give it a lot of thought first. I have no intention of working seven days a week. I'd gotten to the strong maybe stage when I googled the idea and, it's already being done. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, perhaps I'll take some classes.
AND THEN... it seems that I'm becoming allergic to something else. Wednesday, I made brownies and Thursday, I made the lemon loaf and both times I had a reaction although a far more severe one Wednesday. I'm not willing to figure this out and will ask my doctor to send me for food allergy tests. By comparing the ingredient lists, the possibilities are sugar, eggs, corn, potato, or rice. NOT fun. This is certainly a strange way to learn to cook, which I have wanted to do for years, but not in such an overwhelming way. Be careful what you wish for - LOL.
Kyle is off school today. It's parent teacher interviews. As I mentioned, I went for mine last night and we're going to discuss it over breakfast. Very fun! It's really just an excuse to spend some time together. Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair cut. Not sure how yet. I'll let you know. Other than that, I have plans to visit with friends, spend time with Howard, knit, sew, and read for the weekend. Have a good one.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - GFDF cookbooks, help and learning
Myrna, your lemon bread looks yummy, I hope it tasted as good as it looked.
ReplyDeleteA couple of variations I've used on my lemon bread (which I used to sell at a weekly seasonal farmer's market). Add 1 - 1.5 tbsp poppyseed.... very yummy and hands down a favourite of my customers. And as far as the lemon glaze - when I wrote down my mother's recipe initially, I apparently forgot to write the sugar as part of the glaze....... so I pour fresh lemon juice over the loaf (no sugar) while it's still hot.....it soaks into the loaf and makes it lovely and tangy. I also use the fresh lemon peel in my loaves to perk it up (my recipe calls for it). I grate it off the lemon with a fine shred grater rather than larger ones. Very nice.
Adding 1/2 - 1 cup of frozen blueberries to the mixture just before you put it in the pan is another tasty variation. It will make the dough a bit thicker due to the cold of the berries, but they won't bleed if you add them frozen. Have fun experimenting once you've seen what the basice recipe works like.
My helpful hints for today.