Out and About

Giveaway of Educational Publications by Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.

March 8, 2010 · Filed Under Out and About, diagnosis, discussion, giveaway, gluten free ·52 Comments

After Ron Hoggan, Ed.D., spoke to my support group in November, he donated some of his educational materials on the effects of gluten. (You can read more on Ron and 20 Things You Should Know About the Impact of Gluten here.) Ron said that I could use his donated materials as I wished. I gave some away via a drawing at my subsequent support group meeting. I added another set to our group’s library. Still one copy of his book, The Iron Edge, and two copies of his video, Smarten Up! (How Gluten Grains Impede Learning and Behavior), are in my possession, so I am offering them up for a giveaway. In addition, I am purchasing two copies of Dangerous Grains to add to this giveaway.

The Iron Edge examines iron deficiency; its effect on learning, memory and health; the necessary tests; and how to resolve iron deficiency naturally.

Smarten Up! is a compilation of videotaped excerpts of Ron Hoggan’s presentations showing how gluten-containing grains are detrimental to learning in humans. Admittedly, the technical quality of this video is not the best, but the content is top notch. In fact, the support group member who won this video just shared with me how surprised she was at the information Ron shared on gluten’s impact on learning.

Dangerous Grains shares case histories—including Ron Hoggan’s own and that of his family members—and over 200 symptoms and conditions related to gluten. It truly is eye opening.

I’m really excited about sharing these very informative materials. There will be five winners. Frankly, I think this is my best giveaway yet. Knowledge really is power, and, as such, knowledge can be transformational.

This giveaway will end Sunday, March 14, at 9:00 PM Eastern. You can enter the giveaway by just leaving a comment. The other ways listed are for additional entries, but are not required. But, I’m so excited to share these materials with my gfe readers that I hope you will spread the word!

1. Leave a comment below and please tell me if you have a preference on which item you’d like to receive (I’ll try to oblige).
2. Tweet about the giveaway sharing the link and leave a comment saying that you did.
3. Post a message on your Facebook page about the giveaway and leave a comment saying that you did.
4. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying that you did with your link.

All entries will be tracked by the individual comments, so you must enter a separate comment to get an additional entry. One comment showing you did all these things will only be counted as one entry, so please remember to note each by separate entries.

Truth be told, if I had my way, I’d be handing out one of each of these valuable educational items to every possible person in the world, but alas I must stick with this number. So, best of luck to all!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: diagnosis, giveaway, gluten free

Maple-Nut Sundae and Xagave

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, Out and About, dairy free, dessert, easy, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan, vegetarian ·51 Comments

Full disclosure: The nice folks at Xagave sent me some of their Xagave nectar to use at the beginning of the year. They also provided a cookbook, Where Nutritious Meets Delicious, of recipes using Xagave. The Xagave and cookbook for this giveaway were complimentary as well. However, I was not paid to write this post. I am writing the post because I like the taste of the Xagave over other agave nectar products that I have used.

This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix—Agave (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang).

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner of this gfe giveaway—Lauren of Celiac Teen! Thanks to all who entered and special thanks to the Xagave folks for sponsoring the giveaway!

One of the most popular spots in our area is Carl’s Frozen Custard. Carl’s is a family-owned ice cream “mecca.“ Carl’s has been in business since 1947 and still uses its original 1940s Electro-Freeze ice cream machine. Housed in an Art Deco-style building, Carl’s has colorful neon illumination, including a giant cone. As far back as I can remember, we’d go to Carl’s. It’s been on my mind lately because it opened for the season a week ago. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t go to Carl’s as a special treat. We lived a half-hour away so we didn’t visit frequently. Now I still live a half-hour away—just in the other direction—so we still do not visit frequently. That makes any visit to Carl’s a special occasion. However, there was a period of time (part of college and a few years afterwards) when I lived just a mile or two away from Carl’s. In college, I even devised a Carl’s diet. Yes, I’ll admit it. I’d go to Carl’s when it opened at 11:00 am, get a small chocolate shake, inhale it, and then not ingest anything until I ate a small dinner. Oh, I did lose weight, but it was one of several foolhardy dieting strategies of youth and was soon abandoned. (Melissa’s recent post on her fabulous Montana Cookies mentioned The Hollywood Cookie Diet, which reminded me of my short-lived Carl’s Diet.) Because Carl’s is not open year round, we tend to go immediately when it opens for the season, stop a few times during the summer, and then stop by right before it closes in November. There’s always a line of folks waiting (except when it’s closed as shown in my photo). Often it’s a very long line, but the staff is the picture of efficiency, taking no time to exchange pleasantries. Non-locals are often amazed at how short the wait can be.

My favorites at Carl’s have changed over time. There was a period of time where I went for a simple vanilla or chocolate sugar cone. Then, I became somewhat addicted to the maple-nut sundaes. Imagine vanilla frozen custard covered with a gooey mixture of maple syrup and walnuts. Their sundae was way too sweet, but hard to resist at the time. When I became a teenager, hot fudge sundaes with nuts were my order. However, as I became more mobile, sitting to eat a sundae did not seem practical, so I moved on to chocolate shakes. Then one day, Mr. GFE and I were both in line and we heard the person in front of us order a hot fudge shake. Hot fudge shake? We both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and when the cashier/server looked at me for my order, the words, “hot fudge shake” came out. Mr. GFE ordered the same and we’ve never looked back. There’s nothing mysterious about this treat. They simply add a squirt or two of hot fudge to the chocolate milkshake before completing the mechanical stirring action. The flavor is fabulous. We both agree that we could never go back to a regular chocolate shake again. Yes, the hot fudge shake is definitely our choice these days. But, when I saw Diane’s secret ingredient was agave, Carl’s maple-nut sundae came to mind.

I found a maple-walnut syrup recipe at Recipezaar.com that sounded similar to what I wanted. However, it contained corn syrup, maple syrup, and granulated sugar. I omitted the corn syrup, omitted the granulated sugar, and added a small amount of Xagave—all of which increased the ratio of walnuts to syrup. Per the Xagave site, “Xagave is a premium blend of agave nectar derived from organic agave salmiana (white agave) and organic inulin from agave tequilana (blue agave). This combination results in the highest quality nectar with the best taste, best cooking qualities and the most heealth benefits of any nectar on the market; making our nectar the perfect sweetener for all of your cooking, canning, and baking needs.” I actually do like the taste better than any other agave nectar I’ve tasted.

In the end, the taste and consistency of the maple-nut syrup I made using Xagave, maple syrup, and water was just right—plenty sweet, but not too sweet, with softened walnuts hunks, and, of course, no refined sugar. When the maple-nut syrup was finished cooking, the vanilla ice cream was also ready. I waited for the maple-nut syrup to cool just a tad before ladling some over the ice cream. The resulting maple-nut sundae was incredibly good. Then my immediate concern became the fact that I was home alone with enough ice cream and maple-nut syrup to make several sundaes. Miraculously, Son and a buddy of his showed up … whewww, that was close! I fed them lunch and then served their sundaes. Son raved over his sundae, especially how good the walnuts tasted. That’s saying a lot because he typically does not like nuts in his dishes.

This sundae is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, egg free, soy free, and probably “more free,” but it still tastes of indulgence.

Maple-Nut Sundae
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

Vanilla Ice Cream

1/3 cup Xagave (or honey)
3 cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled (2 cans)
1 ½ – 2 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
some scraping from inside one vanilla bean (optional, to taste)

Mix all together in bowl with mixer or in blender. Add to ice cream maker and churn 20 to 30 minutes. Chill in freezer after churning if needed. Scoop and top with maple-nut syrup (recipe below).

Maple-Nut Syrup

1/2 cup Xagave
1 cup maple syrup
½ cup water
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or walnut halves)

Combine Xagave, maple syrup, and water in sauce pan.

Bring to a boil slowly, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat and simmer until syrup thickens, about 15 minutes.

Stir in walnuts; simmer about 5 minutes more. Mixture will thicken upon standing.

Cool enough to serve warm (but not hot) over ice cream or refrigerate and serve later.

Shirley’s Notes: I used a very heavy pan that was much larger than needed so I would not have to worry about stirring constantly to keep the mixture from burning. I loved the process. As the mixture simmered and bubbled, it put on quite a show as you can see from the photo above. The syrup will “harden” quite a bit in the refrigerator. Therefore, reheating or at least allowing syrup to return to room temperature may be necessary if it has been chilled for a long period of time.

It might be Friday, but it’s Sundae time … enjoy!

UPDATE: The Xagave folks are sponsoring a giveaway of a 25-ounce bottle of Xagave and their cookbook, Where Delicious Meets Nutritious. While the cookbook is not exclusively gluten free, most of the recipes are naturally gluten free (e.g., flan) or easily made gluten free (teriyaki sauce).

The deadline for the giveaway is Friday, February 26, 9:00 pm, Eastern.

Here are the many ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Subscribe to my feed via email or RSS and leave a comment saying that you did.
3. Tweet about the giveaway sharing the link and leave a comment saying that you did.
4. Post a message on your Facebook page about the giveaway and leave a comment saying that you did.
5. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying that you did with your link.
6. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment saying that you did.
7. Become a fan of my new gfe-gluten free easily page on Facebook and leave a comment saying that you did.
8. Read and comment on any of the posts in the Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. You can find all the links here. Then leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: agave, coconut, cookbook giveaway, dairy free, easy, GFE, giveaway, go ahead honey, honey, maple, nuts, slow cooker

ABC Muffins (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free)

February 6, 2010 · Filed Under bread, breakfast, dairy free, dessert, easy, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, sugar free ·19 Comments

ABC … as in Almond Banana Carrot. The ABC muffin recipe is an adaptation of an almond muffin recipe created by Kelly Brozyna of The Spunky Coconut. I’ve known I wanted to make this recipe of Kelly’s for quite some time. I just didn’t know what I wanted to include in my version. As I’ve shared before, I’m gradually learning to like baked fruit. Bananas are never a problem. I am all about including “baking bananas” in recipes and at any given time, my freezer contents prove it. (You might want to read my Going Bananas post to know exactly what I mean. I need a freezer banana exorcism right now, in fact—even after making the ABC muffins.) But, I’m still learning to love other baked fruits. My Crustless Apple Pie has certainly gotten me past my fear of baked apples (deliciously so, I might add). And, I’ve made a Strawberry Cobbler using baked peaches and, of course, strawberries. But, for this recipe, another blogger friend’s creation—and my solution—came to mind. Anali, of Anali’s First Amendment, made Banana Carrot Cupcakes a while back. When I saw her post, I just knew I’d have to make something along those lines. (I’ve been inspired to convert one of Anali’s recipes to gluten-free goodness before … yet another banana recipe—Banana Kahlua Coconut Cake.) The banana-carrot combination just sounded so good, and even healthier. Now, add almond flour, coconut oil, and some chopped walnuts to the mix and you’ve got a cross between banana bread and carrot cake. So, that’s how I came up with these ABC muffins, adapting Kelly’s great recipe with delightful inspiration from Anali.

You’ll want to make these as soon as possible. I’ve already had to email the recipe to the folks who sampled them the other morning. They refused to wait a day or two for me to post the recipe on gfe! If you like the looks of this recipe and/or are already a fan of The Spunky Coconut, you’ll want to head over to my Out and About page for a giveaway of Kelly’s cookbook—here—with some more photos of her recipes. If you need more convincing to try a version of Kelly’s recipe, Ali, at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen, also made a version you’ll want to check out—Almond Cherry Muffins. Finally, check out one of Kelly’s versions, Strawberry Almond Muffins, here. In this version, she substitutes applesauce for part of the honey and uses buckwheat flour in addition to almond flour. There are just so many variations and they all taste great—dense; moist; sweet enough, but not too sweet; and healthy.

Almond Banana Carrot (ABC) Muffins (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free)
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

Add to bowl:

3/4 cup honey
3 large eggs (at room temperature; cold eggs will harden the coconut oil—works best if eggs are stirred in one at a time)
1/2 cup coconut oil, liquefied (any other oil should work, but coconut oil is very healthy)

Beat. (You can use an electric mixer, but I just used a wooden spoon. I’m anti-mixer most of the time. I want to keep that upper arm strength.)

Add:

2 cups almond flour (I used Honeyville blanched almond flour)
1/2 cup flour or flour mix (I used my gluten-free flour mix*)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Beat.

Add:

1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
¾ cup grated carrots
¼ cup chopped walnuts
(or 1 – 2 cups total of fruit and/or nuts)

Spoon into lightly greased muffin cups, to almost full.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes.

Makes about 14.

*I can’t tolerate many of the healthier, gluten-free flours; e.g., sorghum, buckwheat. Therefore, my gluten-free flour mix is 3 parts Asian white rice flour and 2 parts cornstarch. I gently mix three one-lb bags of the Asian white rice flour and two one-lb boxes of cornstarch in a very large bowl and then store the mix in several airtight containers (like large glass jars). No refrigeration is needed. If you’d like to learn more about how to select the right gluten-free flour for all your recipes, you’ll want to check out Amy’s (Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free) current series on Understanding & Choosing Gluten-Free Flour—Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Recipe adapted from Kelly Brozyna at The Spunky Coconut

Shirley’s Notes: The batter will be orange as you can see above, but the final muffins will be a lovely deep brown with only an orange tint. My batch made 18 muffins … probably because I only filled the muffin tins 2/3 full and also because I used a total of 2 cups of fruit and nuts. Kelly sometimes uses 1 cup versus 2. She uses sliced strawberries, blueberries, etc., and even substitutes some applesauce for part of the honey or some liquid vanilla Stevia. If you are not gluten free, all-purpose flour may be used.

My muffins were actually nice and high when I peeked in on them, but alas, I had to turn off the oven and leave for an appointment. When I returned, they were cooked perfectly, but flat. Mr. GFE called them Forgotten Muffins.

Incidentally, if you stopped by looking for Super Bowl recipes or perhaps have your own recipe to share, you’ll want to check out Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix—Super Bowl Party Foods over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. As the storm of the century is occurring, I’m turning a chicken carcass into broth as my base for our favorite Tortilla Soup. But, to be honest, as much as I love snow, I’m ready for a change of scenery. So, I was absolutely pleased as punch (rum punch, that is) to see that Bean of Without Adornment has chosen Tropical Vacation as this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free theme. Check out the guidelines here. I’m sooo ready for this roundup.

Next Sunday is Valentine’s Day. To celebrate, I’m doing another acronym-titled event here at gfe—the SSS …”Triple S” … “S cubed” … A Suite of Sweets for Sweethearts. Every day, I’ll have a post with a dessert or treat. They’ll certainly all be gluten free, but some will also be dairy free, some refined sugar free, some raw, some featuring surprise ingredients … there’ll be some ice cream, some cake, something for breakfast. You’re sure to find something to make for all your sweethearts!

Enjoy … and don’t forget to go here to enter the giveaway.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!