Gluten Free Product Guide

Check this out - I was just about to sign off for the evening and found the Commonsense Organics Gluten Free Product Guide.

I hope it's useful for you.

Cheers

Kris!

Saucy Mushrooms

This is one of our home favourites - even amongst every one of my family members - none of whom seem to have any food intolerances or allergies. Full of flavour, this easy to prepare Vegetarian gluten free dish can be served on its own, with noodles or rice, in lasagna dishes, as pie, or as a delicious sauce or condiment for chicken, lamb or steak . It's delicious every way!

Saucy Mushrooms (serves 2 hungry mushroom-loving people)

Ingredients
300g fresh mushrooms
20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (about what you get from one small lemon)
3/4 cup Australia's Own Malt Free Soy Milk
2 Tbspns Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 Tspn Sesame Oil
Freshly ground pepper and salt
1-2 tspns Massel Vegetable Stock Powder
150 g Rice Stick (L or XL size)
Finely chopped fresh continental parsely for tossing through cooked noodles.

To Cook

1. Slice or Quarter mushrooms
2. Place pan on hot plate or gas element (high setting)
3. Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil to frying pan along with pepper to taste
4. Add mushrooms to pan once oil is hot
5. Once mushrooms appear approximately half cooked, lower temperature of the stove to a vigorous simmer and add freshly squeezed lemon juice.
6. Add Massels Vegetable Stock (Gluten Free) and mix mushrooms, lemon juice and stock together until juices have reduced and thickened.
7. Add Sesame Oil and mix
8. Lower temperature to low simmer
9. Add Australia's Own Malt Free Soy Milk and mix throughout the mushrooms. The sauce should thicken slightly and be a golden brown mushroom colour.
10. Allow mushrooms to simmer very gently while you add the Rice Stick Noodles to a pot of salted boiling water for cooking (around 3-5 mins MAX)
11. Drain noodles, toss a small amount of oil (your choice) through noodles along with finely chopped parsely. (if you don't like parsley the dish is still delicious without its addition)
12. Check that mushroom sauce has thickened to desired consistency. If not, mix 1/2 tspn corn flour (Gluten Free of course!) or besan flour to a small amount of water before adding it to the mushrooms to help thicken the sauce to your desired consistency.
13. Serve noodles into two bowls
14. Spoon Saucy Mushrooms over the noodles.
15. ENJOY!

Kath's in the Kitchen!

One of the reasons we started this site was so that we could share our Gluten free and Vegetarian Gluten free recipes with you all. The good news is that Kath's been slaving over a hot kitchen stove a lot lately and you'll soon hear what she's been up to.

For my part, one of the favourites in our house will be posted here sometime tommorrow.

Coming soon...Saucy Mushrooms. Vegetarian; Gluten, Dairy, and Tomato Free. FULL of Flavour!

Online Gluten Free Grocery store!

Here's something that's sure to be useful: Gluten Free Favourites. This is an online Gluten Free Grocery store that we've just discovered. We haven't tested the delivery service out yet, but we're sure to in coming days and will definitely report back.

The range of Gluten Free products seems to be pretty good, although not comprehensive (it's missing some of our gluten free favourites) and the prices are close to supermarket prices - much better than many health food store prices. These guys offer next business day dispatch, and a 100% money back guarantee. Read what their customers say here, and CHECK IT OUT!!

Happy shopping and Have a Great Day!!

Quorn, Textured Soy protein and other alternative protein souces

If your dietary equation equals Gluten Free and Vegetarian, this one's particularly for you. For those of you who require a gluten free diet and are mostly omnivorous, but like to vary your protein sources and give your bodies a rest from daily meat intake, this will also be interesting.

Because I'm curious by nature and I like variety, I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting tasting food. I get tired of the same old stuff day in and day out and if I wasn't curious and incensed by not having different flavours and textures to eat where protein sources are concerned I'd probably be happy using eggs, nuts, legumes and plain tofu to satisfy my protein intake requirements. As it happens, I'm omnivorous by nature and have had to develop ovo-vegetarian eating habits to keep my digestive system happy. The bottom line is that I like variety and there are only so many eggs, tofu slices, nuts and beans I can eat without feeling there should be something more. It drives my partner nuts when I stop to look at every new vegetarian listed package in the cold section. Not because I'm interested and looking for something new, but because it also means that I have to read the fine print on each label of everything that looks like it might be an option.

What I've learned by reading those lablels is that while most of the vegetarian sausages and many of the burger options are soy or tofu based, they also contain wheat and or gluten. I guess it's used to help bind things together, but surely there's a better option!

In England, parts of Europe and the US there IS. Its called Quorn and it tastes GREAT. Not all Quorn products (made by Marlow Foods) are gluten free, but their fillets and nuggets (without crumbs) most definitely are. Quorn is made from mycoprotein and egg whites and provides some great nutrition - you can read about it on their web site. The downer of it all is that as great as it tastes, food regulations in Australia prevent it from being imported and sold here so I've had to find another alternative for when I'm at home.

There are some, and I discovered them at TQC Burlington Supermarkets here in Sydney. Lamyong Vegetarian Food Supply products are stocked at TQC Burlington and included in the range are a number of Gluten Free protein sources. These products are based on Textured Soy Protein, and Mushrooms, and they are the best tasting meat substitutes I've found yet. My personal favourites are the Vegetarian Soy nuggets; the Vegetarian USA Sausages and the Vegetarian Fragrant Seaweed Soy Slices. The Soy nuggets are surprisingly oily, and if you want a lower fat version, the Soy Crispy slices are probably more for you, but I find they have an aftertaste that I'm not so fond of so I try to enjoy the nuggets in smaller portions. The sausages are not strong in flavour and you need to cook them slowly so that the flavour comes out and they're well worth the effort. All of the products are equally at home by themselves, or mixed with fresh or frozen vegies in Stir fries, casseroles, or curries. Try them out.

All Soy Milks are not equal - or gluten free

Another tip for new players - if you use soy drinks, check the ingredients label carefully.

Apart from soy beans and milk you're likely to find a whole host of other additives including maltodextrin usually from Wheat or Barley. If you're looking for a good soy milk try Australia's Own Malt Free Natural Soy Drink. It has a great taste that isn't overpowering, is gluten and wheat free and carries the certification of Australia Certified Organic. Better Still it's easily found at Coles for around $2.20-$2.50 per 1 litre carton. If you're Soy intolerant or allergic, try Australia's Own Rice Milk - also Gluten and Wheat free.

Shopping for Food in Europe, Australia and the US

Training for the Australian Olympic Sailing Team meant spending lots of time (between two and a half and 6 months) overseas each year. This meant that I had to find gluten free food in several different languages over the four years of the campaign. Eating out in Europe was the biggest challenge but my good friends at Freedom Foods helped make that process a little easier by supplying me with some credit card sized cards that explained in French, English, Spanish, German and Italian that I was gluten intolerant and unable to eat foods containing wheat, barley, rye and oats. The supermarket was another challenge - the biggest of which revolved around finding the friendly supermarkets in the first place. While Freedom Foods, ORGRAN and Australia's Own all helped me out with food and soy milk supplies that I took from home, there was only ever so much that could be shipped in the container with the boat and that could be carried in the car while we travelled around from Regatta to regatta. Consequently, I can now tell you that the best places to shop in my experiences are:

1. When in the UK - TESCO and Sainsburys (TESCO is my personal favourite, but Sainsburys is OK);
2. In Europe generally - "Carrefour" will have pretty much everything you need. In smaller towns, SPAR supermarkets have a reasonable range which is supported by the stocks of the local health food shop as well as the pharmacys (Farmacia, Pharmacia, Apotheke etc);
3. In Seattle, Portland and California, USA - Trader Joe's
4. In Australia - Coles Supermarkets, with "Woolworths" coming in a close second with their new and still expanding "Free From" range.

Quick tips for new players.

Believe it or not, if you're gluten intolerant, there is still a lot of of food out there for you. And if you're gluten intolerant and vegetarian, there's still plenty of food available. These days the awareness is higher than it used to be and at least in Australia new food packaging laws require known allergens to be listed on all packaging, which takes some (but not all) of the guess work out.

That said, your Grandmothers and Mother were all right: fresh is best, and you can pretty much eat fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, and meat without worrying about gluten intake.

Exceptions to this include some processed meats. You know those really convenient small portion packs of ham and chicken and pastrami and turkey? Check the ingredients list. Those seemingly benign 'quick and easy' options often contain stuff you don't want to eat, including wheat gluten and other Wheat or Barley derivatives like dextrose and maltodextrin. Read everything if you want to stay well.

Shopping for staples is another common trap. Before you take on the breakfast cereal aisle, know that most mainstream breakfast cereals are made with wheat or at the very least, wheat based deriviatives and even those like Corn Flakes and Rice Bubbles will have our friend Maltodextrin from wheat or Barley included. Read everything carefully if you want to stay well.

As most mainstream breads are made from Wheat or Rye or Barley flours, they're also a no-go zone. There are a number of wheat and gluten free breads out now, some of them as near to inedible as you can get and a few that are really pretty good. My current favourite is stocked at Coles and is made by Moores Handmade Specialty Breads. It's a Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Yeast Free Wholegrain Low GI loaf and it tastes GREAT. It handles pretty well, toasting more like wheat-based breads than any other gluten free bread I've found and until it's a couple of days old, it holds together pretty well, making it suitable for sandwiches. It's still delicate as most Gluten free breads are, but is the best option I've found so far. A close second is the Country Life Bakery Gluten Free Multigrain loaf and their Fruit loaf which is a personal favourite as it has no added sugar (last time I looked). Performance is pretty close to the Moores multigrain loaf but it's a little more delicate and seems to need double toasting time.

Looking for Pasta? Simple, quick and cheap alternatives include asian rice noodles - they come in a variety of sizes and shapes and even in vermicilli style. They take less than 5 mins to cook and are a very quick easy answer as a snack, or can easily be made into a balanced meal with freshly chopped vegies and or meat or egg. If you'd prefer more traditional pasta, try Freedom Foods Gluten Free pasta. Alternatively Orgran foods make gluten free wheat free vegan pastas and San Remo now also has a fantastic gluten free range.