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Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger for August … I’m Hosting!

This month, I’m so excited to host the terrific Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger event! Originated by the delightful Sea at Book Of Yum, the event has been going on for a few years now and, just as Sea intended, it’s a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers, introduce others to new bloggers, and, of course, try new gluten-free recipes.

We all leave comments on others’ blogs in response to recipes and photos that make our mouths water. Comments like: “Oooh, yummy. I sooo want to make that!” or “I’m definitely making that soon.” But, then life intervenes and months pass and we still haven’t made that recipe that we truly wanted to make. This event gives you an excuse to take a break from your daily routine and do just that! If I hadn’t participated in Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger, I would not have made Pete and Kelli’s (No Gluten, No Problem) Pasta with Shrimp Marinara and Brownies; Kate Chan’s (Gluten Free Gobsmacked) Cheese Rolls and Pizza Crust; Melanie’s (Gluten-Free Krums) Avocado Artichoke Salsa;  or Wendy’s (Celiacs in the House) Savory and Sweet Crepes. It would have been a shame to miss out on making any one of those recipes and getting to know each of those bloggers just a little better.

To sign up for this month’s edition of Adopt A Gluten Free Blogger, leave a comment letting me know which blogger you plan to adopt. Here are the guidelines on how you can join in … nothing complicated.

1) Pick a gluten-free blogger whose recipes you admire and adopt them by commenting on this post with your name and blog name, and their name and blog name.

Notes:  The blogger’s recipes must all be gluten-free or there must be a way to sort and read ONLY gluten-free recipes. A different blogger should be selected each time you participate. And, ideally, each blogger should only be adopted once.

2) Choose one (or two!) of your gluten-free blogger’s recipes to try.

3) Make the recipe, photograph it, and write a post in your blog introducing the blogger and their recipe. Link back to this event announcement in your post.
Notes:  Follow the recipe as written, as closely as possible. And, please don’t print the blogger’s recipe on your post—just provide your reader a link to their original recipe.

4) Email me at glutenfreeeasily@gmail.com with your photo of the recipe, the URL of your post, name of the recipe, and the URL of the original blogger’s recipe post.

5) After your post is published, submit your post’s URL in a comment to this post, and if possible please try to visit two other blogger’s posts that are posted here (and comment!). The idea is to make this a truly interactive event.

Deadlines:
Sign up BEFORE August 27 (loose deadline; late sign-ups are ok).

Post your review and email me by September 3rd (firm deadline—no kiddin’). (IMPORTANT: If you sign up and cannot complete this event by September 3rd for any reason, please email me at glutenfreeeasily@gmail.com.)

**If you don’t have a blog, you are still welcome to adopt a gluten-free blogger. Sign up here to adopt a blogger, write a review of one of their recipes, including your name (or pen name), the recipe URL, and recipe title. Then take a photo of the completed recipe (if you can) and EMAIL ME the review and photo. I’ll happily post your reviews and photos as part of the roundup in September.**

If you’re stumped on who to adopt, you can take a look at my sidebar for ideas or visit Sea’s Gluten-Free Blogroll. Let’s make this a mass gluten-free adoption!

Adoption Sign-Up Sheet:

1. Iris at The Daily Dietribe (adopted by me)

2. Nancy at The Sensitive Pantry (adopted by Kim of Cook IT Allergy Free)

3. Me, here, at Gluten Free Easily (adopted by Iris of The Daily Dietribe)

4. Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs (adopted by Valerie of City/Life/Eats)

5. Ali and Tom at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen (adopted by Hallie of Hallie’s Daily Bites)

6. Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free (adopted by Zoe of Z’s Cup of Tea)

7. Karina of Gluten-Free Goddess (adopted by Tia of Glugle Gluten Free)

8. Zoe of Z’s Cup of Tea (adopted by Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake).

9. Alta of Tasty Eats At Home (adopted by Amy of Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free)

10. Jenn of Jenn Cuisine (adopted by Wendy of Celiacs in the House)

11. Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker (adopted by Alea of Gluten-Free Flavor Full)

12. Lexie of Lexie’s Kitchen (adopted by Heidi of Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom)

13. Wendy of Celiacs in the House (adopted by Alta of Tasty Eats At Home)

14. Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef (adopted by Lydia of At Home with Real Food)

15. Sheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness (adopted by Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs)

16. Vanessa of Celiac Princess (adopted by Thomas of The GFCF Experience)

17. Kelly of The Spunky Coconut (adopted by Jen of Gluten-Free Life with Jen)

18. Karina of Gluten-Free Goddess (adopted by Kirstin of Our Gluten-Free Family)

19. Raj and Sonia of Flip Cookbook (adopted by Tracee of Mrs. Ed’s Research and Recipes)

20. You (and your adoptee) are next! (Yes … a few late entries would be great. Choose someone who has not yet been adopted, please.)

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

7 Things About Me (Tied to Food & Drink)

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Months ago, Chaya (Chaya’s Comfy Cook) graciously gave me the Beautiful Blogger award. I was very touched with the award and by Chaya’s generous words. I love reading Chaya’s posts. She’s funny for one thing. I also love her post titles—always succinct and often humorous—and her very direct way of speaking to the reader. She cooks one of my very favorite foods—salmon—weekly (yes, weekly). So, if you are looking for a gluten-free salmon recipe, be sure to look on Chaya’s Comfy Cook blog.

Chaya’s a prolific food blogger. She posted 32 times in July on Comfy Cook. And, that’s not to mention how many times she posted at her other food blog, Sweet and Savory. Her Sweet and Savory blog is not exclusively gluten free. However, she has a Meatless Monday roundup, which often features recipes from gluten-free bloggers.

Read more about Chaya and check out her flourless brownies with ganache (you know how I love flourless!) in this post where she bestowed the Beautiful Blogger award to six other folks (I was in great company!) and told more about herself. Thanks, Chaya!

I thought it would be fun to do my “response” post in my birth-month (as in my birthday and the month afterwards versus the month I was born in), to tell you a little bit more about myself. Just for fun, I’ve decided to relate all to food or spirits. (Warning: There is some bathroom talk and also some words about liver.)

1. My first job out of high school was at the FBI National Academy. Before you get too intrigued, my job was in the kitchen for the academy’s cafeteria, run by the Marriott Corporation. One of my aunts (my mom has seven sisters) was a manager and I got a job as a prep cook/alternate weekend cook. I was 17 years old and had absolutely no cooking experience. My mom didn’t really teach us to cook when we were growing up. Other than making occasional cakes and cupcakes from a box, she didn’t want us in the kitchen making messes. She was (and is) still a great mom and I eventually learned to cook when out on my own. But, there were often calls to mom for advice, and sometimes I still make those calls today.

My aunt did teach me a lot in the giant commercial kitchen (stainless steel, tile, huge walk-in refrigerators and freezers, etc.) and I managed to hold my own. For almost everything I made there was a recipe and the ingredients I used were real ones, even though most were canned or frozen versus fresh. My favorite job was probably making spaghetti sauce in a huge vat. Well, for all my prep work, I pretty much made everything in a huge vat or an equally huge wheeled tub. I cracked eggs—in preparation for scrambled eggs—two at a time, one in each hand. Dozens of eggs, into one of those stainless steel wheeled tubs. Once one of the wheels caught on a crack in the tile  as I was wheeling the tub into the walk-in refrigerator and it almost tipped over. I can still see that tub full of yellow teetering. My least favorite task on the job was cleaning the grill after cooking beef liver. Cooking bacon, sausage, eggs, and such for huge quantities of folks on a schedule wasn’t that great either. I had to be at work at something like 4:30 in the morning when I was the breakfast/lunch cook on weekends. I left feeling like a big grease bomb in my gold uniform with the requisite white, ultra dorky shoes. All in all though, it was a good experience and I learned a lot.

2. Mr. GFE and I met while working in a chain restaurant. I was a waitress; he was a waiter. He had just graduated from college in December and jobs were scarce. I was still in college and always kept a job as well. (Sometimes my jobs were part time, sometimes they were full time, and usually I was a waitress, because one could make the most money for the fewest hours.) The restaurant we both worked at had never had waiters before, but Mr. GFE convinced the manager that having another male on hand for the 1 am closing was a good idea.

I can still visualize him as he looked back then. He was 22, but looked like a high school student and frankly, I found him more than a bit goofy. In short, I didn’t give him the time of day. He likes to say that I was the only waitress there who wouldn’t go out with him. Ha! He did have all the other waitresses doing a lot of his work (making salads, brewing coffee, etc.), but to be fair, he was very nice to them and helped them, too; e.g., often carrying their heavy trays. Still … I was not interested, but he persisted.

My two roommates also worked at the same restaurant. One was a hostess and the other was a waitress as well. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. GFE had quizzed them about my favorite things and he surprised me with a bag of goodies as we started our shift one evening. He told me that he’d left something for me by my coat. I pretty much ignored him and the gift until he persisted and I saw the red carnation sticking out of the brown paper bag. I relented momentarily to see what else he had brought me. There was a bag of pistachios … and a box of Nestle Quik (okay, I am embarrassed to say that I was a serious chocolate milk nut then). His simple, sincere gifts got a smile out of me. Still, when he asked me to go out dancing the following weekend, I said, “maybe.” Of course, I did eventually say “yes” … we went dancing and had a fantastic time.

3. The first meal I ever prepared for Mr. GFE was one that makes some folks turn away in horror. Chicken livers. One evening as I was leaving the restaurant where we both worked, I said I was going home to make dinner. He asked what I was having. I told him chicken livers, expecting a horrified reaction. His response was, “I love chicken livers.” So I invited him to stop by after work. As that would be after 1 am, he just expected us to stand in the kitchen and chow down. However, I served the fried chicken livers, plus mixed vegetables in butter sauce over rice at our antique dining room table. On my grandmother’s china. With her good silver. By candlelight. Okay, I admit it … by then, I’d decided I really liked him. It was a good start to many meals together. We still love fried chicken livers. Then, and sometimes, still, I just feel like I need them, not just that I like the taste. (Iron deficiency, perhaps? I did suffer from anemia when pregnant; it’s related to gluten issues. See listing.)  These days, of course, the chicken livers we eat are gluten free and fried in just a little bit of healthy oil, like grapeseed or olive oil. And, they are more likely to be served with quinoa or just veggies as a side.

4. My love of chicken livers also made for another interesting story. Mr. GFE and a group of us had gone tubing down the river near the house he rented at the time. The house was called the Little Castle because it was a multi-level, stone house, with a flat roof and turrets, built into the side of the hill. The flat roof was great for viewing fireworks over the same river. There was a Big Castle, too—the main house, which was also stone, square, and with turrets. The Little Castle had been a garage with maid’s quarters above, that had later been converted into a complete—albeit small—house, with kitchen and living room. (We ended up living there after we were married.) There was also a bomb shelter and a graveyard on the property. The current owners of both castles are friends of ours. They host an annual Halloween party between the graveyard and the bomb shelter, which we attend every year. It’s a terrific party. But, I digress.

photo credit

So we had gone tubing down on the Rappahannock River. We’d put in at a calm, peaceful area, but then proceeded to the Class III rapids. I had popped out of my tube in one “washing machine” spot and got pulled under. Mr. GFE rescued me and on we went. I had returned to my apartment hours later, grateful to be alive, but still looking somewhat like a drowned rat with wet stringy hair and wearing a damp cotton summer dress over my bathing suit. There was a knock on the door. I answered it to find a handsome stranger in a three-piece suit. He was holding a brown paper grocery bag. He introduced himself as the area Holly Farms sales rep and presented me with 5 pounds of chicken livers. You see … I’d written a letter to Holly Farms complaining that my recent container of chicken livers had been mostly chicken hearts, with very few chicken livers. A few more letters had been exchanged because Holly Farms believed that the chicken livers I had purchased were not their brand, but the store brand. I corrected them showing them that the store had only placed its pricing label on the container. I guess Holly Farms wanted to keep a loyal customer happy, but that’s what I call customer service! I still lament the fact that I wasn’t more presentable. I mean that was back in my skinny days and Mr. GFE and I weren’t yet engaged or anything.

photo credit

5. In a recent post, I mentioned my ob/gyn issues related to gluten intolerance and shared that I had suffered from postpartum depression. Thankfully, it wasn’t severe in retrospect, but it certainly seemed severe to me at the time. Also, because my body had just been through natural childbirth, I was stressed with being a new mom, and I was unknowingly gluten intolerant, I was experiencing “The big D.” Now most folks with celiac and gluten issues know that refers to diarrhea. After childbirth, “The big D” was a huge problem for me. I went to one gastroenterologist (who still practices locally) who did nothing to help me, but sent me home with one of those little plastic containers to see if I had cancer. He was about as sympathetic as a rock. No, a rock would have been more sympathetic and helpful (especially a pet rock). I never went back. (That was a pattern with many doctors over the years.) Then one of my dearest friends mentioned that her mother-in-law, who was normally a teetotaler, would drink blackberry wine whenever she had diarrhea. The mother-in-law called it a sure cure. Ah, blackberry wine … now that was a solution I was willing to give a try. (I wasn’t nursing so that wasn’t an issue.)

So Mr. GFE dutifully picked up some blackberry wine on his way home the next day, and every other evening after that for a while, to be honest. After he’d arrive, I would sip a glass or two while we chatted and Son relaxed in the baby swing for a few minutes. (Son loved the baby swing and we loved that he loved it!) In the end, the blackberry wine did nothing for my diarrhea, but it greatly improved my disposition. It made me care a lot less about the diarrhea, and even helped me stop crying for a short while. And, it was a call to the surgeon who had removed my gall bladder 3 years earlier (another sign of my gluten issues; reference gluten-related issues once more here) that got me a medication that finally helped enough with “The Big D” to start me on my way to recovery. Well, temporarily anyway. Only going gluten free really solved “the big D” issues for good. Ironically, during my periods of diarrhea and nausea, which I now know were caused by gluten, I would eat only crackers or toast.

6. Before I went gluten free, I craved gluten. (This craving is not unusual for someone with gluten issues; read more from Dr. Ron Hoggan here.) One of my favorite breakfasts was syrup and toast. I have no idea if anyone else’s family ate this meal, but you mixed up King syrup and butter to make a dipping sauce, so to speak, and then you just dipped the toast in the syrup and ate until the sauce was gone. Of course, one always made too much sauce and had to keep toasting more bread. Incidentally, King Syrup is still around, but now contains high fructose corn syrup. However, I’m fairly certain it was always pretty much total sugar anyway.

Again, I craved all bread products before going gluten free, especially cereal. I could live on cereal, one bowl after another. Now I rarely eat real bread products and don’t really miss them. I’ll enjoy them from time to time in the form of my homemade muffins, popovers, or even pre-made bread when a gluten-free friend makes bruschetta or brings Udi’s bread to our meeting for folks to enjoy. But, I still don’t go crazy about it. And, I’ve tried gluten-free cereal, but it does nothing for me and some brands labeled gluten free actually make me sick … but that’s a story for another day.

7. I’m still learning to like new foods and dishes. I really wasn’t exposed to a huge wide variety of foods growing up. That was more about my parents’ food preferences than anything like availability of foods/eating local. So it’s a delight to have found new loves over the last two decades: bacon-wrapped figs, asparagus in any form, broccoli (no sauce needed), avocados, mushrooms, and more. So, I’m looking forward to experiencing even more new foods and dishes in the future.

Technically, I’m supposed to now bestow this award on seven other bloggers but I link to the folks and posts I feel are worthy of award just about every day, so I’ll consider that requirement satisfied. You are all beautiful to me! So, grab this idea (and badge) and come up with your list of seven things about yourself if you’d like. No strict rules or anything, but I do like learning more about my blogging buddies.

Last, there’s a truly gfe-unique giveaway up on my Out and About page. Take a look and enter if it’s of interest.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Review of Three Terrific E-Books!

Full disclosure: Purchasing The Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook or 7 Quick Start Tips for a Healthy Gluten-Free Fit Life through the affiliate links in this post or on the sidebar does pay gfe a small commission fee, which helps support this blog. Sweet Freedom also has an Amazon link, which earns this site a small commission. However, those associations did not influence my decision to feature these books or my reviews. I am sharing them because I think they fit the gfe approach and  will be of value to my readers.

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Food on Fridays.

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. I’ll contact the winners via email with further instructions. (Please respond within 48 hours or new winners will be chosen.)

There are two winners of Diane Eblin’s (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang) The Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook. They are Tricia and Audrey. Tricia said: “I would love love love the Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook. For some reason, everyone sends me dessert recipes, but I’ve gotten into a rut with my daily meals. Everything there looks so delicious!” And, Audrey said: “The saddest part of becoming gluten free was giving up all my unusable cookbooks! More Cookbooks!”

Lisa Greer is the winner of Erin Elberson’s (Gluten-Free Fitness) 7 Quick Start Tips for a Gluten-Free Fit Life. Her comment was: “I’d love any of the books.  thanks…”

Roda is the winner of Ricki Heller’s (Diet, Dessert, and Dogs) Sweet Freedom. Her comment was: “I just started the first phase of the candida diet and I stumbled across Ricki Heller’s blog yesterday and I’m so excited to try so many of those recipes! I’m also excited to try your adaptation of those Banana Chocolate Chip muffins (eventually, when I’m allowed to eat again)! I’d really love to win a copy of Sweet Freedom!”

Congrats to all! Thanks to all who took the time to enter the giveaway and especially to Diane, Erin, and Ricki for sponsoring the giveaway of their great e-books. Remember that gfe readers will get a 20% discount on 7 Quick Start Tips for a Gluten-Free Fit Life by entering “gfe” when ordering; offer ends August 31, 2010. Both The Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook and 7 Quick Start Tips will remain on my sidebar if you’d like to order in the near future. You can order Sweet Freedom at Ricki’s site (on sale for $22.95 through August 15, 2010–including shipping/handling!) or on Amazon.

So I mentioned the other day that I’d be posting a trifecta review and giveaway some time this weekend. Well, the weekend passed a few days ago … sigh. Can you say birthday? I played and celebrated longer than I expected and it’s been great. Plus, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of your birthday wishes! But, let’s get to these gfe-style giveaways now, shall we?

My good friend, Diane Eblin, over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang recently published her first e-book, The Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook. If you follow Diane’s blog, including her ongoing 30 Days to a Food Revolution event, you know she believes in eating real food and “making good food no matter what”—her trademarked motto. (She shared her personal story here at gfe earlier.) Creating a diner cookbook was a plan that Diane mentioned to me months ago, so I was so excited to see her e-book published several weeks ago. She kept watching the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with host Guy Fieri and decided there needed to be a solution for all the folks who needed to eat gluten free (and dairy free). Her Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook was born. The recipes will delight everyone, not just those with food restrictions. For example, take the Boeuf Bourguignon Burger that I made the other night. The burgers included come grated carrots, garlic, and onions, with ground bay leaf and other seasonings. Doesn’t that already sound like a really good burger?  Well, while the burgers were cooking, I made the sauce as Diane directed. The sauce perfectly completes the boeuf bourguignon effect with its bacon, mushrooms, beef stock, red wine, tomato paste, and thickener.  And, the moment the sauce actually becomes sauce, well you’ll want to bathe in it! I’m not kidding. It’s easy to make, but yet a knockout with its rich flavoring, intoxicating smell (red wine does that every time!), and thick, mahogany appearance. Mr. GFE was as pleased as I was and he can’t even say boeuf bourguignon. Lucky for you, this recipe is also on Diane’s blog. You can check it out here. I made a few minor changes, adding some tapioca flour versus arrowroot to the burger and using cornstarch with cold water for the sauce. I also used ground venison, which is what we almost always use in place of beef. (It’s equivalent to lean ground beef in its low fat profile and is very similar to organic meat in many respects.) I had no tomato paste on hand, but had a tiny bit of chili sauce, so I used that. I think it’s a very adaptable recipe that won’t disappoint. (The photo below shows two Boeuf Bourguignon Burgers.)

I made one other recipe of Diane’s from her cookbook, Bacon-Wrapped Avocado. This recipe is pure decadence. It would make a great appetizer for serving with cocktails. You cut the avocado into eight slices and wrap each with a piece of bacon and then fry just like that. This appetizer was so amazing and filling that I could only eat half of one of the slices—one of those morsels in the forefront of the photo. Since Mr. GFE is not an avocado fan, I only prepared three slices. Then I ate them over the next two days. They were just as good cold as they were hot in my opinion.

Diane’s e-book contains 48 recipes. Every single one looks and sounds delicious.  The next one on my “to make” list is Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup. I had all the ingredients, but ran out of time to make it before our weekend outing. However, this soup was one of Diane’s recipes that Heidi (Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom) made and sampled over at her site. Check out her review and giveaway here. Amy’s (Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free) giveaway of Diane’s e-book is also over, but you can read her review of Diane’s ebook and see her adaptation of Diane’s Chorizo and Potato Frittata here. Now, for the really good part … I’m giving away a copy of Diane’s e-book to two gfe readers!

I mentioned Erin Elberson’s new e-book, 7 Quick Start Tips for a Gluten-Free Fit Life recently. Do you know Erin? She’s the author of the blog, Gluten-Free Fitness. We met on Twitter and haven’t stopped talking since! We’re either cheering each other, thanking each other, educating each other, or challenging each other’s ideas. All that says good friend and great resource to me! But, Erin and her e-book can be a wonderful resource for you, too. She has impressive credentials: Master’s degree in Physical Therapy and a Bachelor’s in Health Science, as well as 100% completion of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness GREAT testing (Gluten Free Resource, Awareness and Education Training) for Allied Health Professionals. However, Erin has much more to offer than her education credentials. She is so personable and down to earth when she’s sharing such great information on transitioning to eating gluten free and healthy, and staying fit. Erin covers celiac and gluten-free topics on her blog with knowledge and ease, so I was extremely honored when she asked me to do an early review of her e-book. I love the way I felt like she was talking directly to me when I read it. Truth be told, I wish I’d had her book when I first went gluten free. It’s a workbook of sorts … with lists and tips. It even includes some recipes, or as Erin calls so many of them, “not really recipes.” By that, she means dishes where you just use a concept and go from there, adapting as you like. For example, she shared my Special Turkey Breast recipe as “not really a recipe,” and made it even better by using balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar and using some different seasonings. (You can see her recipe here.) Erin’s motto is “Eat well and be well.” She has graciously donated a copy of 7 Quick Start Tips to one lucky gfe reader. If you’re one who doesn’t enter giveaways (or if later you find out that you didn’t win the giveaway, but still want Erin’s book), you can click on the link here or on the sidebar and enter coupon “gfe” at checkout to get 20% off. (Note that this coupon expires 8/31/10.)

Last, I’m also a fan of Ricki Heller’s. Ricki blogs at Diet, Dessert, and Dogs. And, yes, her blog is as creative and fun as her name. Heck, I even like her own name. It’s got spunk, and so does Ricki. She’s been trying fervently for some time to get on The Ellen Show to share her e-book, Sweet Freedom. (Note: Ricki’s book is also available on her blog or on Amazon as a paperback.) As the title states, it’s a cookbook about living refined sugar free. But, Ricki’s book and blog are about more than that. She also lives vegan. Ellen DeGeneres also is vegan and sugar free, so that’s a large reason for Ricki campaigning to appear on Ellen. See the YouTube video she sent to Ellen here. (Believe me, it’s totally worth watching!) I think Ricki would be absolutely hysterical on Ellen and a promotion of healthy eating is always welcome.

Now, big caveat … Sweet Freedom is not a gluten-free cookbook, although Ricki points out that about a third of the recipes are naturally gluten free (some not requiring flour at all) and two are designed to be gluten free—gluten-free brownies and coconut mini-loaves (or cupcakes). Ricki has been gluten free since she began following the anti-candida diet, but when writing Sweet Freedom, she was not. Ricki used a lot of spelt and barley in these recipes. I’ve written about spelt before. Spelt is not safe for anyone who has celiac, gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity, or even a wheat allergy. This is not just my personal opinion;  you can read more here. Many who eat spelt cite no reaction, but remember that lack of a recognizable reaction to a food or ingredients does not mean that a food is safe. One can actually have a reaction, but one that is different from a typical gluten reaction—different enough, in fact, that it is not recognized as such (as in Allison’s story). Or, one can truly not have a visible reaction for a long time, but then develop a very serious illness. The fact is that spelt is a species of wheat. According to the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, foods that contain spelt or kamut cannot carry “wheat-free” or “wheat-alternative” labels. Finally, my friend, Alison (Sure Foods Living), also tackled the spelt topic a while back.

But, all that said, Sweet Freedom is a cookbook that one can easily use for gluten-free recipes and one lucky reader will get the e-book version! Replacing the flour with gluten-free flours (and possibly adding xanthan gum, if needed) is an easy thing to do. That’s what I did. When I found a recipe that sounded good, I made it by simply replacing the spelt flour with gluten-free flours. I scrolled through Ricki’s entire ebook, but it was her first recipe that appealed to me most at the time—Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. These muffins, as I made them, are somewhat heartier with mostly millet and almond flours, but yet are still tender. I used honey instead of agave as that’s what we always have the largest supply of at our house, and I like the taste of honey in recipes made with nut flours. With the banana and the honey, even a little nibble with no chocolate chips is sufficiently sweet. Of course, a full bite yields the wonderful melding of banana and chocolate. Remember I told you that Ricki’s recipes are vegan. So, there are no eggs in these delicious muffins, but who can tell? I couldn’t, because the flax meal and water added to the recipe take the place of the eggs beautifully. I like these muffins far better than my usual banana muffin recipe. Son also gave them a big thumbs up. In fact, he grabbed two thirds of the batch as he was heading out the door to our mountain property for camping. The plan was to have them for breakfast the next morning, but honestly, I doubt that they lasted the night … or even the 2-hour trip to get there. They are that good!

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

1 cup mashed, ripe banana (about three bananas)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
2 tbsp ground flax seed
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup gluten-free flour mix
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin tin for 10 muffins.

In large bowl, mix bananas, honey, oil, ground flax seed, water, and vanilla extract. Let sit for 2 minutes.

Then add flours, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix a bit (without overmixing). Stir in chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Test for doneness.

Adapted from Ricki Heller, Sweet Freedom

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment telling me which of these e-books you would be interested in. Other ways to enter: Post a message on Facebook. Share the giveaway on your blog. Or, tweet. For all of these, leave a separate comment. That’s a potential of four entries, but only one entry is needed to win. I’m so thankful to Diane, Erin, and Ricki for sharing their awesome e-books and look forward to announcing the winners after the giveaway ends on Wednesday, July 28, at midnight (Eastern)!

Shirley
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