Chapter 1 Preparing for Your Gluten-Free Cooking Adventures by Takeboxs

Preparing for Your Gluten-Free Cooking Adventures by Takeboxs

In this part . . .

Here we offer you all the preliminary info you would like about gluten-free

cooking before you dive in and check out the recipes. We cover what’s and

isn’t gluten-free, nutrition, shopping, fixing your kitchen, and

figuring out the way to cook anything gluten-free even once you don’t

have recipes

Chapter 1

Gluten-Free: Not Just a Diet, It’ s a Lifestyle by takeboxs

What is this in Chapter

Making long-term choices
Getting the goods on gluten

If you’ve been eating gluten (technically and in DannaSpeak that

would cause you to a glutenivore) for an extended time — like, oh, say, most

of your life — then abandoning foods as you recognize them like bread,

pasta, pizza, cookies, crackers, and, yes, beer could seem sort of a tough

transition initially .

Did I say diet? Because this is often really quite that — it’s a life-style .

Sure, it’s a diet within the sense that it concerns the items you set in

your mouth, except for most of the people , choosing to be gluten-free may be a

long-term commitment, and one that affects every aspect of their

lives.

Making lifestyle changes requires conscious changes in your

outlook on eating. It requires long-term commitments and an excellent

deal of education. Starting with, “What is gluten, anyway?!?” This

chapter is a springboard into the planet of gluten-free

cooking.

Defining Gluten in Layman’s Terms

You can define gluten during a few ways, and interestingly, the

definitions actually contradict one another a touch bit.

One way to define it’s the scientific definition, and it involves life-ofthe-party terminology like gliadin, secalin, hordein, and prolamins. This scientific definition further explains that gluten is found altogether grains — yep, you heard right. All grains. Rice. Corn. All of ’em. Yet we only eliminate wheat, rye, and barley on the diet .Well, that’s why there’s a layman’s definition.

The layman’s definition of gluten is “a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley.”

Although oats don’t contain gluten in and of themselves, you avoid them on the diet due to crosscontamination issues which will arise during the assembly

process. So something that’s gluten-free, by definition, is wheatfree. But it doesn’t necessarily hold true the opposite way around.

Wheat worries

Gluten-free means wheat-free, but wheat-free doesn’t necessarily

mean gluten-free. Something are often wheat-free but still contain

gluten if it’s , as an example , malt, which is typically derived from

barley. therein case, the food would be wheat-free but not gluten-free

because barley contains gluten.

A lot of confusion is caused by labels claiming to be “wheat-free”

when the products aren’t . Spelt and kamut are two examples.

They’re definitely not wheat-free (they’re actually sorts of wheat),

yet they’re commonly marketed as being wheat-free, or being wheat

alternatives. Calling spelt a wheat alternative is like calling me a

human alternative.

Last time I checked, i used to be a person’s , no matter

what some people might think; and spelt is, no matter what they

call it, wheat. and since spelt and kamut are sorts of wheat, they

are not gluten-free, regardless of what the package says.

Common foods that contain gluten

Sometimes once I rattle down the foods that commonly contain gluten,

people stare at me as if I’ve just recited War and Peace or

something. It’s true, the list is long. Our society has become

accustomed to eating gobs and gobs of gluten; it’s the foremost

prevalent food type far and away .

You can find more detail on the foods and ingredients that are okay

and those that aren’t in Chapter 3. As a general rule, anything with

flour (white or wheat) may be a no-no when you’re avoiding gluten. These

are a number of the more obvious offenders:

Bagels
Baked goods (cookies, cakes, brownies, and so on)
Beer
Bread
Cereal
Crackers
Malt
Pasta
Pizza
Pretzels
Soy sauce

It’s important to notice that there are not-so-obvious offenders, too,

like natural flavorings and licorice. So you’ll need to get comfortable

reading labels, memorizing ingredients, and calling manufacturers to

find out more details about their ingredients. (Again, Chapter 3 can

help you.)

Don’t be discouraged. Although the list may appear daunting initially ,

it’s important to recollect that the list of belongings you can eat the

gluten-free diet may be a lot longer than the list of belongings you can’t.

Furthermore, for each product during this list, there’s a delicious

gluten-free substitution available. I talk more about specialty items

and where you’ll find them in Chapter 7.

Deciding Whether You Should Be Gluten-Free

Many people who go gluten-free do so not because they need any of

the conditions listed during this section, but because they’re striving for

a healthier lifestyle.

Connie and that i believe gluten isn’t good for anyone (more thereon in

Chapter 2), especially within the highly refined form that the majority people

know, like bread, bagels, and pasta. Cutting wheat and other glutencontaining grains out of your diet certainly isn’t a nasty thing and may have significant health benefits if you eat a wholesome, diverse diet.

Heck, it can even be the key to maintaining your weight!

Maybe you’ll find it compelling to adopt a gluten-free lifestyle when

you realize that the diet may relieve or maybe completely

alleviate these health problems (and more):

Headaches (including migraines)
Fatigue
Gastrointestinal distress (including gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, reflux)
Depression and anxiety
Joint pain
Infertility
Autistic behaviors
ADD/ADHD behaviors

Wipe that look off your face; I’ve seen it before. I rattle down of these things that a diet can help with, and other people give me that incredulous I’m-gonna-make-her-feel-stupid-now-and-catch-her-inher-exaggeration look, and that they challenge me, “Reeeaaally? Allllthose things are often helped with a gluten-free diet?” Yeah. Really.

This isn’t a diet du jour. I realize that new diets crop up faster than

celebrity babies with odd names, which the diets last about as

long because the celebrity marriages do. this is often a life-style . It’s a life-style

that’s perfectly in sync with the way our bodies were designed to

eat — and that’s why it’s so effective in improving our health.

Our bodies weren’t designed to eat that junk listed within the “Common

foods that contain gluten” section. Bagels? Cereal? Pasta? I don’t

think so! Our bodies can rebel against those foods in ways in which can

sometimes severely compromise our health, and for several people,

the diet is that the best — sometimes the sole — treatment.

Chapter 2 explains more about gluten’s effect on the body. For

extensive, detailed information about the various medical conditions

that enjoy a diet , see the companion book to the present

one, Living Gluten-Free For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Doing Gluten-Free Nutritiously

As much as I preach about being gluten-free, I also urge people to

eat a healthy diet — and therefore the two don’t always go together. I’m

tempted to mention there’s the “right” way and therefore the “wrong” thanks to do

gluten-free, but that might sound a tad opinionated (who, me?!?), so

I’ll stick with calling them the healthy and unhealthy ways.

The easiest thanks to do gluten-free is additionally the unhealthiest. I call it the

Simple Substitution method — you stroll through the aisles of your

friendly food store and find product after product with cute

little “gluten-free” logos that make it oh-so-easy for you to spot

those products as being safe on your gluten-free diet! But being

gluten-free doesn’t make it healthy. the very fact that those products are

packaged and labeled generally makes them unhealthy — albeit

gluten-free.

The healthiest thanks to go is to stay to the “If artificial it, don’t eat

it” general rule. meaning cutely labeled, processed foods aren’t

gonna cut it. Don’t get me wrong — some very nutritious packaged

products are out there. I’m trying to generalize here, and from a

bird’s-eye view, the healthiest thanks to be gluten-free is to stay to

natural, inherently gluten-free foods.

The healthiest thanks to eat is to follow the advice: If artificial

it, don’t eat it. It’s pretty simple, really. Foods that fall under the

“if artificial it, don’t eat it” allowable selections include lean

meat, poultry, fish, seafood, fruits, veggies, nuts, and berries.

One pitfall people fall under once they go gluten-free is that they turn

to rice, corn, and potatoes. Those would appear healthy enough, and

appear to pass the “if artificial it” criterion — but those foods

really offer little or no within the way of nutritional value, and on top of it,

they’re high glycemic index foods which will cause you to gain the

pounds. (If you didn’t follow that prime glycemic index part, don’t

worry — we mention that more in Chapter 4.)

I encourage you to explore unique gluten-free grains-that-aren’treally-grains-but-we-call-them-grains like quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and teff. They’re nutritional powerhouses loaded with vitamins,

minerals, fiber, and protein — and that they offer unique flavors and

diverse consistencies. They’re an excellent break from the rice, corn, and

potatoes routine and pack a much more powerful nutritional punch.

Chapter 3 features a lot more details on these and other gluten-free

alternatives.

Getting Ready to Cook

It’s time to urge able to cook! “Getting able to cook” means more

than just donning your favorite apron, especially when you’re

cooking gluten-free. it always involves a touch planning, some

shopping, and preparation to form sure your gluten-free food stays

gluten-free. These sections assist you start on the proper foot.

The gluten-free lifestyle could also be restricted, but it’s definitely

not restrictive.

Figuring out what to buy and where to buy it

I highly recommend planning your meals in advance. Sometimes gluten-free cooking requires ingredients you might not normally have on hand, and you don’t want to get halfway through a recipe to discover you don’t happen to have any xanthan gum handy.

I also encourage you to experiment with unique, gluten-free alternatives such as quinoa, millet, buckwheat, teff, sorghum, and wild rice (more on these in Chapter 3). They’re loaded with nutrition and offer you the opportunity to think outside your usual menu plan and add new flavors, consistencies, and combinations.

Some of the unusual ingredients you may want to have on hand include xanthan gum, guar gum (when you try it for the first time, don’t stray far from the potty because it can cause — ahem — “gastrointestinal distress” in some people), and unique flours like rice, tapioca, potato, and mesquite.

You can buy these specialty items online or at health food or specialty stores, co-ops, or farmers’ markets; we talk more about where to find these specialty ingredients in Chapter 7.

Keep in mind that if you do gluten-free the healthiest way possible, you can find all the ingredients you need in a regular grocery store — around the perimeter. You’ll just be shopping for lean meats, poultry, fish, seafood, fruits, veggies, nuts, and berries. You’ll be happy, healthy, gluten-free, and relieved that you don’t have to track down tapioca starch at 10 p.m

Setting up your kitchen

Thankfully, once you plan to adopt a gluten-free lifestyle,

reorganizing and fixing your kitchen may be a one-time deal — and

you’ll devour some habits that you’ll ease into nicely. Oh, and the

oven really works in your kitchen!

Setting up your kitchen just means you’ve got to believe crosscontamination. Cross-contamination is once you accidentallyglutenize your perfectly good gluten-free meal because you toasted

your gluten-free bread during a toaster that has gluten-containing

crumbs clinging on for dear life.

Crumbs can kill. Not literally, really, but they’re killers during a kitchen

where gluten-freebies share space with glutenators (people who eat

gluten). Using separate utensils for cooking, and even having a couple of

separate appliances, may be a good idea. Chapter 5 covers everything you

need to realize readying your kitchen and pantry for gluten-free

cooking.

You don’t need completely separate utensils and pots and

pans for your gluten-free cooking. Washing thoroughly between

preparations is ok for removing gluten left over from cooking.

Wiping away crumbs between dish preparations is crucial, and

you’ll find that even the order during which you cook things is altered

when you’re cooking gluten-free. You don’t, as an example , want to fry

a gluten-free grilled-cheese sandwich within the same pan you only

cooked a daily sandwich in unless you thoroughly washed the

skillet in between. (The easier solution is to cook the gluten-free

sandwich first.)

You’ll get it; it’s not rocket science, but it’s crucial

to keeping your kitchen as safe because it are often .

You may find it helpful to possess a separate area in your pantry

or kitchen to stay gluten-free products. It makes them easier to

find and reduces the probabilities that someone’s getting to goof

Cooking without Recipes (But You Can Use Them if You Like)

Connie and I believe if you give people a recipe, you feed ’em for a meal. Teach them to make anything gluten-free, and you feed ’em for a lifetime. Okay, we kind of borrowed that concept from the Native American saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a meal. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” but you probably figured that out.

The point is, you can make anything gluten-free, and you’re not constrained by recipes or the fact that you can’t use regular flour or bread crumbs. You only need a little creativity and some basic guidelines for using gluten-free substitutions, which you find in Chapter 7.

If you’re a die-hard recipe fan, never fear — we have them here. Real Cookbook Author Connie spent months developing the amazing recipes for this book. Most of them are super-simple to follow but leave your guests with the impression that you spent all day in the kitchen (and being thusly indebted, they’re expected to do the dishes).

But I’m not a Real Cookbook Author. I don’t “do” recipes. I’m more of a toss-it-in-and-see-how-it-tastes-then-modify-from-there type of cook. It stinks, because I can never make the same dish twice. I don’t measure (who has the patience?), I never have all the specified ingredients on hand, nor do I know how to pronounce them or where I’d find them if I looked, and “proofing” to me involves finding typos or errors in my writing (turns out, that’s a bread term that means “to rise”). Suffice it to say that I’m no Julia Child, but I don’t have to be, and neither do you.

Connie and I believe that the most important element of cooking gluten-free is to be creative and think outside the recipe box. So I hand you a pole and say go forth and fish. May your gluten-free goodies be gastrolicious, and your fish be free of bones.

Getting Excited about the GlutenFree Lifestyle

Most people who embark upon a gluten-free lifestyle do so

because of health issues, which means they need little or no

choice within the matter. When people are forced to form changes in

their routine, especially changes that affect what they will and can’t

eat, they’re not always so quick to ascertain the enjoyment within the adjustments.

The truth is, we envision ourselves skipping merrily down a nicely

paved road of life, eating what we would like once we want. We don’t

envision ourselves having to dodge cleverly disguised gluten-laden

land mines scattered about like worms after a tough rain (worms are

gluten-free, just in case you were wondering).

So if you’re a touch but — ahem — excited about being glutenfree, I understand. But prepare yourself to possess that frown turned upside down because there are many reasons to be excited about

the gluten-free lifestyle.

Gluten-free doesn’t mean flavor-free

People who are new the concept of gluten-free sometimes

comment that the diet is boring. once I ask what they’re eating,

their cuisine routine usually centers around bunny food and rice

cakes. Well duh! Who wouldn’t be tired of that?!? That sort of a

diet is appalling, not appealing.

I’ll tell you immediately i really like food. i really like the flavour , the sensation

of being full, the nutritional value it provides — most of all, I

love to explore new foods I’ve never tried before, as long as

they’re gluten-free, of course. There’s no way I’d encourage you

to endure a diet of blandiose foods that would double as packing

materials.

A healthy, diet doesn’t need to be boring or restrictive.

You’re not constrained to eating 32 individual portions of fruits and

vegetables every day , sort of a rabbit nibbling nervously on carrots. If

you enjoy bland foods, snaps for you. But if you think that gluten-free has

to be flavor-free, you’re certain a pleasing surprise.

Think about it. Spices are gluten-free. Onions, garlic, peppers, and

other flavor-enhancing foods are gluten-free. There’s really no need

to languish over lackluster flavors simply because you’re enjoying the

health benefits of being gluten-free. So slice, dice, and spice it up for

a meal that’s flavorful, not flavor-free

Getting out and about

There’s no reason to let the gluten-free lifestyle hold you back from

doing anything you would like to try to to . Well, okay, there are some things

you can’t do — like eat a daily pizza and donuts. But as far as your

activities and lifestyle are concerned, it’s important to urge out and

about as you usually have.

I realize that for the foremost part, it’s not always as easy as walking

into a restaurant and posing for the gluten-free menu (a girl can

dream). But eating at restaurants is certainly doable; you only need

to master the art of the special order and tune to contamination

concerns. Traveling may be a breeze after you’re comfortable eating at

restaurants and once you get a handle on language considerations if

you’re traveling abroad. getting to social events just requires a touch

advance planning, and holidays will barely faze you — after you get

the hang of getting out and about gluten-free style.

Living your life during a bubble is for helium molecules. The

gluten-free lifestyle shouldn’t hold you back from doing

anything (except eating gluten).

Raising kids to love the lifestyle

Kids are flexible and resilient. Adopting a replacement lifestyle like being

gluten-free is typically harder for the oldsters than it’s for the kid .

There are many things that are key in raising happy, healthy,

gluten-free kids. a number of the highlights include

Giving them control of their diet from day one Always having yummy gluten-free treats on hand Reinforcing the benefits of the gluten-free lifestyle Always remembering that they’re learning from you how to feel about their lifestyle

Giving them control of their diet from day one
Always having yummy gluten-free treats on hand
Reinforcing the benefits of the gluten-free lifestyle
Always remembering that they’re learning from you how to feel about their lifestyle

For more inspiration and practical advice, see my book Kids with

Celiac Disease: A Family Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy, Gluten-Free

Kids.