Gluten Free on a Shoestring

My diet constraints go beyond gluten free. I am allergic to all grains, including rice, and if I eat nightshade family foods (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers), my hands feel arthritic. I therefore eat essentially a paleolithic diet. Our ancestors weren’t eating grains at all or only tiny amounts until about 10,000 years ago, so our digestive systems are not well adapted to grains and beans. The best way to eat either of those is sprouted, and yes you can sprout, dry, and grind them to form a flour.

If I have to have something grainlike in a meal, quinoa and buckwheat aren’t grains, but mimic them. Chestnut flour, though pricey, makes excellent quick breads (I’ll make gingerbread pudding using chestnut flour for the holidays). You can make crepes by just using eggs, beaten, and poured in a thin layer in a frying pan (I used to make those for my kids when they were little, spread with jam and rolled up). Nut flours make incredible fried (or oven baked) chicken (or fish) – much tastier than using wheat flour! Google for recipes for socca (aka farinata), a south of France/north western Italian chickpea flour ‘pancake’ that is very yummy (especially if you’ve allowed the flour and water mixture to ferment creating sourdough and being more digestible). Also Brazilian pao de queijo (cheese bread) is usually made with cassava (yucca) flour and cheese and is very addictive!

Thank you so much1 You have the exact recipes I have been looking for since my own Celiac diagnosis. It made me almost cry, in joy, so thank! And do you know any pizza or mac & cheese recipes that are gluten/free and dairy/free?

Nicole,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! From the bottom of my heart. I am new to the gluten free diet as I have just been recently diagnosed w/ Celiac disease. I have visited some of the healthfood stores and left very disappointed by the selection (esp. breads). I have spent the last couple of hours copying and pasting your recipes so that I have something new to try. I have spent the last couple of weeks very sad b/c I was not able to eat breads. I now have a renewed sense that I can do this and do it well!

God Bless you for sharing!
Lori Conkle