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A friend of mine just found out she can't eat gluten, and is a little depressed about it. There are lots of recipe sites, but I wondered if anyone here has ever had to cook without gluten, and if you have any favorite recipes.

My sister cooks for a friend who has celiac disese, so she knows some good recipes. The cake and brownies she makes from beans are actually pretty tasty, I'll see if I can post them later.

Try the gluten free recipes yourself before inflicting them on your friend. We've had good success identifying foods we already eat that are gluten free (no bake chocolate/peanut butter/oatmeal cookies, for instance).

Also, there are a number of gluten free baking products such as pie shells that will allow you to make many normal foods that only use flour for one part.

One other big area is pasta, and unless you're into making your own pasta, I recommend buying gluten free pasta. It has slight taste and textural differences, so it doesn't go well with bland dishes (it overpowers them) and it's better to use them in recipes that have a lot of flavor.

stienman said:

Try the gluten free recipes yourself before inflicting them on your friend. We've had good success identifying foods we already eat that are gluten free (no bake chocolate/peanut butter/oatmeal cookies, for instance).

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Just make sure to buy gluten-free oats. For a long time oats were thought to naturally contain gluten, until it was discovered/proven that it was just cross-contamination during processing.


Oh, and speaking of pie-crusts, a potato crust (kinda like a really big hash-brown) works fantastic for a gluten-free quiche. I'll try and find that recipe as well.

MMMmmmmm, hash browns....

Lol. Ad right below this text box is perfect. "Make your own gluten free bread that TASTES like real bread! Find out how!"

A friend of mine has celiac disease, and we do a lot of potlucks around here. I've found that a lot of vegetarian main dishes are safe (which is odd, but whatever), as well as most asian-inspired cooking (I seem to recall that rice is safe). Also, for desserts - meringue is a lifesaver as a vessel for other goodies, and I found a gluten-free version of a bar cookie, which is really really good (though is easier to deal with if you refrigerate it: here.)

Sorry couldn't help but think of John Pinette

About half my office is gluten-intolerant, so a lot of the baked goods that show up are gluten-free (and the rest of us try to bake gluen-free whenever possible as well.) I'll usually just pick up the gluten-free mixes at the grocery store to bake, since I really don't want to screw up and make everyone sick. One of my co-workers regularly bakes with rice flour, so your friend may want to look into that as well; everything she has ever brought in has been delicious, and I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell you any of it was gluten-free.

Celiac disease blows (I'm a celiac) but there are lots of great products out there now that weren't around ten years ago.

I'll be honest though, baking gluten free is like relearning every recipe you've ever used because rice flour, corn flour, potato flour, tapioca and all the other things you use to replace gluten containing flours behave completely differently which means adjusting amounts used, bake times, temperatures, preparation and the like.

There are some very high quality rice pastas out there now that are indistinguishable from regular wheat pasta (except in their cooking time which usually takes much longer). Those helped me out immensely. I prefer the Tinkyada brand personally but I don't know if it's available in the USA (I'm Canadian eh).

Bread, buns and baked goods vary wildly but you will never find a gluten free bread that has the same texture and taste as wheat bread. Gluten is what makes bread have that beautiful strong spongy texture and rice breads and their equivalents usually do not simulate it well. I used the Kinnickinick breads and buns for many years until finding the Udi bread and bagel line which are quite good (but will still make non-celiacs wonder how you are able to stomach it).

Celiac disease also meant no more beer... which was fine because I can still have some hard liquor made from wheat (no gluten left after triple distilling it).

You should research gluten free beer if you miss it. I made some last year and it wasn't bad. I know it exists in Canada as well.

FWIW, this is the website of one of my coworkers, who knows a thing or two about Celiac's.

From my own research, it looks like you will also want to avoid anything containing so-called "meat glue" as well.

--Patrick

My sister had these recipes to offer, attached in a zip file are:
Chicken Pot Pie
Crispy Cinnamon Triangles
Pumpkin Cheesecake

Also, links for:

Pez's Sister said:

Another good one is this pound cake. It is great Lemon Pound Cake with 1 T lemon zest and 2 T lemon juice, reduce vanilla to 1 tsp:
http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1312/vanilla-pound-cake-gluten-free-recipe
These pumpkin muffins were really tasty,
http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/recipe_Gluten_Free_Pumpkin_Muffins.htm
These oatmeal cookies are great, just make sure you use gluten-free oats:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-oatiest-oatmeal-cookies-ever-recipe/index.html
This cornbread recipe was very moist and delicious. I think I used rice flour instead of the sorghum flour, because I didn't have any:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=1637

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I've had most of these, and they're really good. The Crispy Cinnamon Triangles and the Pumpkin Muffins are especially tasty. One warning about the muffins, though. If you haven't used coconut flour before, beware that it can cause constipation if you eat too much of it (which for me is just a couple muffins).http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=1637

Do y'all have Red Mill brand flours over there? They have lots of great gluten free products, including ready-made gluten free pancake mix.