GIG Recap: Breakfast

Our August meeting for the Chicago Chapter of the Gluten Intolerance Group was all about breakfast foods.  Did you know that there are many delicious options out there?  Start your morning off on a great foot with a filling meal!

At the meeting, we made waffles using Namaste's waffle mix, a little water, eggs and oil.  In mere minutes, the eggs were broken, the mix blended and the waffle iron worked its magic!  Everyone at the meeting had their very own hot waffle - a first for our GIG chapter!

We also sampled lots of different breakfast products.  Ener-G has chocolate donuts (regular and donut holes) and  English muffins that were great tasting.  O'Doughs sent us a variety of their flavorful muffins and bagels   Our members left with a bag of Bob's Red Mill's new certified gluten free oat bran and coupons for frozen waffles from Van's Natural Foods.  Many thanks to these generous companies!  Our members certainly enjoyed tasting everything during our meeting!   You even have some new fans!

Reminder: Use a dedicated gluten free waffle iron!  They are surprisingly cheap.  I use mine a lot and make several batches of waffles at once and freeze them.  They are easy to heat in a toaster.  Speaking of toasters, every gluten free kitchen has a dedicated toaster, right?  Those pesky wheat crumbs go everywhere - don't let it touch your gf food!

Products we tried today:

Oat bran from Bob's Red Mill http://www.bobsredmill.com/

Chocolate doughnuts, chocolate doughnut holes and English muffins from Ener-G http://ener-g.com/

Muffins and bagels from O'Doughs http://odoughs.com/

Waffles from Namaste Foods http://namastefoods.com/

Frozen waffles from Van's http://www.vansfoods.com

Cuisinart Waffle Iron - $39.95

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=624259#axzz22lX0j5eg

Great Resources for Lots of Breakfast Recipes

http://www.gluten.net/recipe-database-search.aspx?id=5 

http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/type/breakfast_recipes/ 

http://theokiecollegegirl.com/recipes/category/breakfast/ 

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2008/09/brunch-and-bakery-recipes.html

Broccoli and Italian Sausage Egg Muffins

http://www.snackinginthekitchen.com/2010/05/mothers-day-2010-brunch.html

Gluten Free Pancakes – Hold the Xanthan Gum

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-pancakes-hold-the-xanthan-gum/

Gluten Free French Omlette

http://jenncuisine.com/2012/03/a-gluten-free-french-omelette/

Vegan Chocolate Spinach Shake
http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/recipes/vegan_chocolate_spinach_shake/

Next GIG Meetings:

8:00pm.  South Loop Whole Foods Classroom, Chicagp.  FREE gluten free event.  Open to all!

September 10, 2012.  Lunches on the Go and Smart Shopping.

October 1, 2012. Octoberfest: Beer Tasting and Tasty Treats.

November 5, 2012.  All Are Welcome (Thanksgiving).

December 3, 2012.  The Twelve Cookies of Christmas.

Namaste Waffles

I first tried Namaste Foods' products last month.  They were dirt cheap ($3.99 a bag) at Home Goods (of all stores) and that was a deal too good to pass up!  The company is fantastic for the allergic and intolerant community - their dedicated facility is free of gluten, wheat, soy, corn, potato, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and casein!!!  I have become hooked on their products.  Their brown paper bags contain normally twice as much product as similar products - at a lower price.

When I tried their waffle mix, I fell in love.  In mere minutes with my waffle iron, I was able to make a waffle that tasted better than the ones I would wait around 30 minutes in line for in college.  All you need is the mix, eggs, oil and water or rice milk.  Mix and pour into the waffle iron.  Couldn't be easier!  I ate one and then froze the rest, separated by wax paper.  In the morning before work, I simply threw the waffle in the toaster and instant breakfast!  Faster than pouring a bowl of cereal!  Need more reason to try their waffles?  I made them for my dad and sister and it got the sister seal of approval: "You don't even know these are gluten free!"

Another reason I am now in love with Namaste Foods - several of their mixes are sugar free.  I've made some delicious muffins and kept them fructose free and super tasty by mixing in some poppy seeds.

Asparagus for breakfast

Pinterest is now my unconventional but extremely useful resource for finding new recipes (my page is here). At Whole Foods, I was tempted by their organic asparagus and took it home without a single recipe in mind. I searched Pinterest for asparagus recipes and found some gorgeous pictures of asparagus, along with some inspiring new ways to prepare the yummy (and low in fructose) vegetable.

On Seriouseats.com, there is a an excellent recipe for Asparagus with Butter and Soy! The ingredient list is simple: kosher salt, white vinegar, eggs, asparagus, vegetable oil, soy sauce, butter, and sea salt. Using Earth Balance butter and San-J Soy Sauce made this dish effortlessly gluten and dairy free.

This is a multi-pot meal, but it still tastes great as leftovers, so do not be daunted! The eggs are poached, the asparagus is flash cooked, and then the asparagus simmers in its soy sauce and butter mixture. This was my first time ever poaching eggs - not too daunting! (Just need to work on plating the egg...) What a great grain-free and gluten free breakfast! It is now my favorite dish to kick off the morning!

Breakfast

As part of my challenge, I'm eating breakfast. Weekdays, that means I have to get up the first time my alarm clock sounds - not after the third time hitting snooze. So far, I've been eating Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (certified gluten free from Bob's Red Mill), toast with peanut butter, or fruit. This morning, I wasn't under any time pressure, so I made myself a proper breakfast.

With spinach.

One of the benefits of doing this challenge is access to related events. On Thursday evening, I went on a Health Starts Here tour of Whole Foods (actually, you can always go on a tour of the store - just ask an employee - I've always been too shy to do it before). Our first stop was the mangos in the entryway. Becky showed us how to choose a ripe mango and I asked what would go in a mango smoothie. (After all, the Mega Mango from Jamba Juice is my go to drink. Maybe I could make a similar product myself...) She and Mary from asmallloss suggested anything...but add spinach! (Mary also suggested some frozen berries, which I bought but haven't used yet.) I bought two mangos and took them home. It seemed like a crazy idea, but maybe they were on to something...

I mixed my smoothie and had some toast with peanut butter and a side of grapes. Bread is the only way I am cheating or bending the rules with going vegan. I found some egg-free bread, but have loads of gluten and dairy free bread in the freezer that needs to be eaten to make some room for the vegan bread. I'm currently loving Glutino's flax seed bread - a find in the clearance frozen section at Jewel a few months ago! Apparently no one was buying it? It was a ridiculously low price, I want to say $2.00 or so. Don't worry - the bread is almost gone and I'll be making some gluten free, oil free, vegan bread tomorrow!

My Mega Spinach Mango Banana Smoothie

1 banana

2 mangos

1 handful of spinach, washed

1/4 c rice milk

Mix all ingredients together in a blender. Add ice cubes and straw.

Makes: 1 generous serving

This shake was a far cry from my delicious chocolate one that I totally did not eat for dinner that night (in case my mom is reading). Was it good? Were Becky and Mary on to something delicious? Yes. Couldn't even taste the spinach and I've been on a spinach kick lately!

Breakfast for Dinner

One of the gluten-free books I read mentioned that there is nothing wrong with having a bowl of cereal or other breakfast items for dinner. So why not? Eliot and I thought it was perfect for a quick meal (we were both too hungry to cook much else) for our Friday night dinner. I'll be honest: he did all the cutting, cooking, and plating. I just did the dishes.

Breakfast for dinner was orange juice, a grapefruit, and hash browns made with onions and potatoes with four sunny-side up eggs carefully plated on top before being garnished with bacon and celery. Don't worry - there was more bacon on the side! We have a bacon problem... Even with splurging for some higher end bacon, this was a really inexpensive meal! Not to mention great tasting!!