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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Some things I want to try

So I wrote before about this cookbook I found at the library called "The Gluten-Free Kitchen" by Roben Ryberg. I posted the recipe for the gluten-free Sweet Biscuits previously that turned out pretty good. The book was due back at the library yesterday and I just wasn't ready to let it go. Being unable to be up lately and cooking like I had been since I had knee surgery (on Dec. 28th) has been really frustrating and I haven't been able to really try any new recipes. Beyond that, I'm sad to admit it that I have not stuck to the yeast-free...in fact I've been quite far from it and that as well is frustrating. It isn't easy to just get up and cook myself some eggs or a pot of chili or any number of other 'safe' foods, besides the fact that for the last month Kris has done all the grocery shopping and his responsibility has been him and the kids, so there is very little here in the house that doesn't require a lot of work and time up on my feet. I'm FINALLY getting to where I can be up for small amounts of time and need to go grocery shopping so that I can get the things I need to start eating right again. We've had WAY too much fast food and junk. Fortunately over the last month since I hurt my knee I've been able to maintain my weight but have not managed to lose any-I'm disappointed, but not surprised. It's really beyond time to get back on track and I've got to just push through the pain and do it! I did get a little sidetracked here didn't I? Back to the library book. Fortunately I was able to renew it so I have it until Jan. 30. But because there are SO many recipes in it that I can see myself actually making on a weekly basis, I think that I am going to just have to break down and buy it. Now it's just a matter of finding the 'best' (cheapest) price and convincing my husband to buy it for me for my upcoming birthday! ;)

I intend to force myself this week to try the following two recipes. It is going to become even more important for me to stick to the yeast-free diet because my youngest, Olivia, is allergic to soy bean oil and if she eats yeast-free, it will be easier to keep her healthy. Because she has been having so many reactions lately, it is imperative that I get both myself and Olivia onto the eating yeast-free track.

The first thing I want to try is Coffee Cake. I am a HUGE coffee cake fan and now that I have some Swerve (http://www.swervesweetener.com/) I can substitute the sugar with that instead of agave nectar and it substitutes cup for cup. I love agave nectar, but because it is a 'liquid' sweetener, you do lose a little bit in the consistency of the recipes, so I've been hesitant to try these recipes. But I now have some Swerve (they make a confectioner's sugar too which I think is really cool), so I am going to try the coffee cake. Oh before I get to the recipes, I did make a yellow cake a while ago with chocolate frosting. It was from the same cookbook and was really easy to make. The problem (for me) is that it did not taste like the good ol' from a box Betty Crocker version. I didn't expect it to, but it just wasn't what I crave in a yellow cake w/chocolate frosting. I took a bite of it and it was tolerable but not nearly sweet enough. The kids did eat it, though the older kids are telling me that they didn't really like it. It will take some work to 'perfect' that recipe. Ok, back to the coffee cake recipe.

I am going to put the recipe here, but am substituting Swerve for the sugar. Now, I have no idea how this will impact the recipe itself but seeing as how I shouldn't be eating 'real' sugar, I may have to just get used to foods I love not being as sweet as I want them to be.

Topping
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp Swerve (or sugar)
2 Tbsp butter, softened

Ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil (I learned recently most vegetable oil out there is just soy bean oil, which of course my kid can't have)
1/4 cup Swerve (or sugar)
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp shortening

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine topping ingredients and set aside.
In medium bowl, combine all other ingredients. Mix well to remove all lumps. Pour batter into greased 8x8 pan.
Sprinkle the topping over the cake batter and use a knife to cut the topping into the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle is clean.
Makes 9 servings
Using real sugar, there are 234 calories per serving and 13g fat. I haven't calculated it with the Swerve yet, but Swerve has 0 (YES ZERO) calories or fat) so it actually will have fewer calories and fat grams than when using regular sugar.

The other recipe I am wanting to try this week is Meat Loaf. Kris hates meat loaf so he isn't going to be too thrilled about this but I think the kids all like it.

Ingredients
2 lbs ground chuck
1 onion, chopped
1 egg
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 small potato, unpeeled and grated

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Put mixture into a 9x4 loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, until it is cooked through. When using a meat thermometer, the temperature should reach 160 degrees.

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