Gluten Free Support Group Meeting?

Sorry that we haven't updated the blog for a long time. We would like to hold gluten free support group meetings again if there is enough interest. If you are interested in meeting together please email glutenfreestarvalley@gmail.com  We can do cooking classes, swap recipes, and share gluten free experiences!

Nutty Coconut Bread

This recipe is from Linda Linford.

This is our family’s absolutely favorite treat at Christmas.

Nutty Coconut Bread

Beat:  4 eggs

Stir in:  2 tsp coconut flavoring

Combine:  2 cup sugar 1 cup oil

Add 1/2 tsp soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt

Add alternately:  3 cups flour
                          1 cups buttermilk, add 1 cup coconut, 1 cup chopped nuts

Bake in 2 greased and floured pans at 325° for 75 minutes.

I usually use small loaves and bake for 35 min.

Syrup:  1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbsp butter, 2 tsp coconut flavoring

Boil for 3 minutes.  Pour over cake and leave in pans 4 hours.

This year I used Jules All Purpose Flour so I actually got to eat some.  It was just as good as the batch made with the regular flour according to my husband.


Thanks Linda!

Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving Recipe from Lisa Turner

Growing up we didn't have regular turkey. We had smoked turkey. Now, before you roll your eyes, let me assure you this is the best thing to happen to turkey since stuffing! Everyone, and I mean everyone, who has ever tried Smoked Turkey has fallen in love and their Thanksgiving has never been the same.

So, if you're feeling adventurous, and tired of spending all Thanksgiving morning basting your turkey, try this recipe out.

Smoked Turkey

In a five gallon bucket combine:

          2 gallons of water

          2 bottles of liquid smoke (found by the ketchup)

          2 cups Morton Tender Quick (found in the salt section of the store)

Place frozen (yes frozen) turkey into solution for 48 hours or more. Keep in cool place. (Best done in winter. You can use a cooler to keep colder, but allow extra time as turkey will not completely thaw in 48 hours inside a cooler--and your cooler will be permanently stained by the liquid smoke.)

Make sure to keep a lid on the bucket and to stir the water a bit. The best way to stir the water is to hold the bucket by the handle and twist from side to side avoiding any spillage.

Thanksgiving morning, remove from water, rinse, remove giblets, etc. and bake as usual.

**Tips: To ensure the turkey remains under water the entire time, it is advisable to use an empty glass bottle or glass bowl to push the turkey down, the lid helps with this. We put the turkey in the smoke brine Sunday evening and place it in our cold food storage room. The coolest spot in your house is best.

Image courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Great Bread Recipe

My family has been searching for a good gf bread recipe. Box mixes are so expensive. And, as far as mixes go, Bob's Red Mill bread mix is the best. We were quite surprised by this discovery because as a family we don't like most of the Bob's Red Mill mixes. If you'd like to give it a try, Familee Thriftway carries it. I haven't found it at Valley Market.

One thing I REALLY LOVE about this recipe is that you don't need to have a flour mix. I'm so sick of having five different buckets filled with five different flour mixes. Why can't recipes just call for a specific measurement of each ingredient?!

I discovered this great bread recipe at Baking Beauties. I've included a couple of modifications in parenthesis. As a family we've found these substitutions useful:

Buckwheat flour instead of ground flax
Sorghum flour instead of ground flax
Potato flakes work great for milk powder
Sweet rice flour (a.k.a. glutenous rice flour) in place of milk powder


***We like this bread better when potato flakes are substituted for milk powder. We've tried it three ways: with milk powder, with sweet rice flour and with potato flakes. Potato flakes make a better loaf!

Another Wonderful Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

from Baking Beauties

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

2 tsp instant yeast

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup ground flax (1/2 cup Buckwheat flour)

1/2 cup potato starch

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup skim milk powder (1/4 cup sweet rice flour OR 1/4 cup potato flakes)

2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 egg whites

Directions:

Combine warm, yeast & sugar in a glass bowl. Stir & let sit 5 minutes. This allows the yeast to proof & shortens rising time.

In a large bowl or plastic bag, combine dry ingredients. Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, using a heavy-duty mixer with paddle attachment or dough hook, combine remaining ingredients until well blended. Add water/yeast mixture & combine.

With mixer on lowest speed, slowly add dry ingredients until combined. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer on medium speed, beat for 4 minutes.

Spoon into prepared bread pan or mini-loaf pans. Let rise, uncovered, in a warm, draft-free place for 30-40 minutes, or until dough has risen to the top of the pan.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom of single loaf.

Slice and wrap while still warm in airtight individual sandwich bags, then place these in a larger freezer bag. Freeze up to 6 weeks.

Bake 12 minutes for 11 mini loaves. Freeze 2 loaves/sandwich bag

**This recipe makes 1 loaf. It sticks really bad so grease bread pan well.

NOTE: Unlike the recipe, I let my loaf cool totally before slicing & packaging.

Pizza Demonstration

We would like to thank everyone who came to our meeting Wednesday night. Susan Bell treated us to some tasty pizza and shared a few wonderful tips.

For those of you interested in purchasing her upcoming cookbook, Gluten-free Cooking Made Easy, it is going to available at health food stores in Utah and Idaho and on the following websites:

amazon.com
deseretbook.com
borders.com
barnesandnoble.com

Enjoy the holidays! We'll resume our meetings next year.

October Meeting

Join us at the Alpine Civic Center on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 6:30 p.m. for a cooking demonstration.

Cookbook author Susan Bell is coming to share her Gluten Free Pizza recipe with us.

Jules Gluten Free Cookie Mix

At our September meeting we were able to sample the Jules Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix that Jules Gluten Free donated to our group.

The reviews were great!  On a scale of 1 to 10 almost all of the tasters gave it a 10!

The cookie mix was very easy to make and simple to bake.  If you are interested in a tasty GF cookie mix this one is definitely worth your while.

Click here to check out the Jules Gluten Free website to see, not only their Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, but all their other products.

Thanks Jules Gluten Free! (Thanks Kathy!)