If a kitchen serves anyone who lives gluten free, all the users must agree on strategies to keep the gluten free food ‘safe’. The simplest approach is for everyone to agree to live gluten free, but that may not be realistic and will often increase food costs for the wheat eating users. On the other hand, the person living gluten free has very little room to compromise. Everyone involved needs to deal with several issues:

♦ Will baking with wheat flour be done in this kitchen? If so, the flour can  remain suspended in the air for many hours. This will affect everyone who lives gluten free and there is no simple solution.

♦ If wheat-based and gluten free cooking are to occur at the same time, there will need to be separate utensils for each type of cooking. This will involve flour sifters, colanders, spatulas, cooking spoons, muffin tins, frying pans, and cutting boards. An alternative to this would be to cook all the gluten free food first and make certain that everything is thoroughly prior to the next meal.

♦ Two toasters will be needed. It is virtually impossible to clean a toaster well enough to remove all possible cross-contamination.

♦ Double-dipping may have severe consequences. Wheat eaters and celiacs will margarine tubs, peanut butter jars, etc. In some cases, the problem can be solved by using ‘squirt bottles’  for things like catchup.

Here are two guides for assuring that your home kitchen is ‘safe’. Check out “What is Gluten Cross-Contamination?” and/or “How-to Tips for Gluten Free Kitchen Safety“.  Cross-contamination is also a big factor in determining whether your restaurant meals are gluten free. That will be the topic of my next article.

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Sourdough bread is gluten free if you are willing to bake it at home. There is even a blog dedicated to it. Here are three recipes for gluten free sourdough bread. Since titles are all basically the same, I’ll just refer to them as #1, #2, and #3. I was not able to discover any ways to purchase gluten free sourdough bread.

Does fermentation destroy gluten or turn it into a non-problem? The only honest answer to that question is “maybe”. Click here for more information.

This article contains recipes for  edible Halloween decorations, not food gluten free food in the usual sense of that term. Not all the recipes are gluten free, but the substitutions should be obvious and keep in mind that the important thing is not what the item tastes like but what it looks like.

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Keep your kitchen (and your home) cool this summer by not using your oven during August. These no-bake gluten free recipes will make it easy for you!

• no-bake blondie bars (made with white chocolate)
• no-bake cocoa bars
• vegan no-bake brownie balls
• no-bake cookies that are paleo and gluten free
• no-bake gluten free cookies
• mini chocolate cheesecakes (a video demonstration)
• no-bake gluten free coconut cookies (video / be sure to use certified oats here)

There are three basic strategies for gluten free baking: (1) You can use a recipe and the appropriate ingredients, with no attempt to combine the ingredients in advance, (2) You can make your own mixes, combining certain ingredients together in advance, or (3) You can purchase and use a mix, perhaps adding your own touches to it. Of course, few baking tasks fall neatly into one of those three categories, but these distinctions will determine how you approach your your baking.

♦ Use the first strategy if you are a relatively experienced baker with plenty of time to plan your task, and an adequate amount of work space. Be sure to have all the ingredients and utensils in place before you begin. This strategy is the least expensive.

♦ The second strategy requires less time on the day you are baking since you have measured and mixed some of the ingredients in advance. There is less opportunity for error, since you have mixed some of the items in advance, and were probably able to work at a more relaxed pace.

♦ The third strategy is by far the most expensive. The mix will  cost more than the individual items. Less work space is required. You will need relatively little time to assemble the ingredients. Less cooking experience is required: instruction will be readily available on the box.

In researching this article, I discovered that the ‘best strategy’ depends on the situation. However, it is best to think through the task before beginning. As the old saying goes, “plan the work then work the plan”.

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Our recent survey asked which gluten free flour mixes provided the best results for the members of our gluten free community. We considered 20 different products and got these results:

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“I am very baffled at how everyone complains of the higher cost of gluten free foods. The only gluten free foods that will cost you more money are the pre- packaged processed ones like these flours, cookies, cakes, tv dinners etc.. Most foods are automatically gluten free and thus do not cost us more money than anyone else such as lettuce, tomatoes, meat, potatoes, fruits, veggies etc… So if you are not relying on … pre- packaged foods (mixes and flours etc.) then there is not higher cost.” I recently received this comment from one member of our gluten free community.

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The ‘taste and feel’ of baked products depends in large measure by the flour(s) used to prepare them. American’s are accustomed to baked foods made from wheat flour. Most recipes are written on the assumption that wheat flour will be used. No single flour mimics the ‘taste and feel’ of wheat flour and recipes may or may not work if any other type of flour is used.

Manufacturers and cookbook authors have attempted to prepare mixtures that will solve (or at least lessen) this problem. People who live gluten free must make an individual decision about which mixtures to use. In January, I plan a survey to determine which mix is most popular.

Of course, this survey is less useful if I omit any brands. Here are the ones I am currently aware of. If there are others, please let me know at gfceliac@gmail.com. (As you have probably noticed, I listed these in alphabetical order.)

• Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix
• Authentic Foods Gluten Free Classical Blend
• Beth’s Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• Eagle Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Multigrain Flour Blend
• Gluten Free Pantry  All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour
• Hodgson Mills All-Purpose Gluten Free Baking Mix
• Jules Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
• King Arthur Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour
• Meister’s All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour
• Mina’s Purely Divine All-Purpose Baking Mix
• Namaste Foods Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend

Thanks for your help in building this list. To make this even more complicated, many experts have created recipes for cooks who wish to prepare their own by mix by combining several types of flour. I will attempt  to rate these recipes in a separate survey. This survey of the commercial products will be complicated enough.

Christmas mixes in a jar make unique gifts in that they are relatively inexpensive, help gluten free children decide which of their favorite foods are worth sharing with friends, and are a joyful experience for gift makers young and old. Young gift makers can learn more about how to identify a recipe that is gluten free.

There are three basic steps involved

designing the gift jar. Here is a video that should be watched by every adult who will be assisting a child in preparing the gift. Older children would probably get good ideas from it. Try this article on designing the gift jars.

choosing the recipe. Here are recipes of various sorts that the gluten free gift makers may wish to transform into a gift. Think about the recipes to decide which ones are worth passing on to friends (you might have to try them to find out for sure).  Bear in mind that all of the recipes are not gluten free. Perhaps the young gift makers will attempt how to modify the recipe to make it ‘safe’. Take advantage of the fact that most of the recipes have been photographed inside a gift jar. These pictures will provide more creative ideas.

Here are two collections of appropriate recipes. Click here or here. Try this recipe for oatmeal, peanut butter, and raisin cookies (be sure to use certified gluten free oats), and these recipes for Christmas cookies.

providing instructions. The recipients need to know what to do with the gift and what it will look like when it is finished. My system for doing this is to provide a two or three word description of the product and web address where detailed directions and a photograph are available.

Your first question is probably “what’s flammkucken?” It’s a German delicacy, a bit like pizza but made with cheeses, bacon, and many other ingredients but not involving tomato paste. The term flammkuchen translates “made in flames”.

Here are three recipes for flammkuchen. Each recipe includes photos for the benefit of those have not yet had the chance to learn what this food tastes like or look like. Each recipe includes directions for preparing the topping as well as directions for making the crust. Personally, I would ignore the directions for the crust. In my humble opinion, flammkucken is the best way to top a gluten free pizza crust. I use the Kinnickanick brand, but I have a hunch that this is not important either. Experiment! FYI: My family and I lived in Germany for 22 years and I fell in love with flammkucken during that time. My wife and I were overjoyed when our son included it in our Thanksgiving feast.

To check out the recipes I have recommended, click here and/or here and/or here. Enjoy your creation.

Are rum balls cookies or candies? They are both, although the person who is enjoying one won’t bother to think about the difference. Are they gluten free? They certainly can be. The only questionable ingredient is finally ground up cookies, usually vanilla wafers, and wheat eaters in the group will not know or care what type of cookie was used. All distilled alcoholic beverages are ‘safe’ for us.

Click here for a video demonstration of brandy or rum ball creation. In addition to preparing them, the narrator shows us how to give them a great taste and a visual appeal that will add ‘class’ to any party and be a welcome Christmas gift for anyone.

I’ve posted at least seven articles about gluten free desserts. You can find them by scrolling down to the bottom of the article and click on the tag (it’s probably red) that says ‘gluten free recipes’. Your computer will create a special page containing excerpts from each of the articles. Click on the excerpt to read the entire article. Topics cover biscotti, cheesecake, baklava, tiramisu, brandy balls, rum balls, fruitcake, and eggnog.

Eggnog is available to everyone, including those who live gluten free and those who need casein and/or dairy free foods. Even people who cannot tolerate eggs can join in this holiday tradition. Liquor is listed in many recipes, but always with the statement that these ingredients are optional.

Gluten free eggnog will probably in the dairy case at your local supermarket. It is difficult to list specific brands since there are very few dairies that sell nation-wide. I did discover Upstate Farms and Organic Valley. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to read the package labels. Wheat must be listed since it is an official allergen, I can’t imagine eggnog flavored with rye, and I found no mention of barley or rye in the dozens of recipes that I read while preparing this article.

I found literally hundreds of recipes on the internet. This recipe is labeled “traditional eggnog“. I was curious about this recipe because of the simple fact that with so many recipes listed on the web, how could one be sorted out as ‘traditional’.? My hunch, I think this was one person’s opinion about the best way to get his article ‘noticed’ on You-Tube.

Here’s a You-Tube demonstration of “Eggnog for One“. The narrator indicates that soy milk may be used. This recipe specifies that coconut milk (one of my favorite beverages) may be used. I assume that any kind of milk could be used in most of these recipes. Experiment!

Is egg-less eggnog a possibility? Sure! This recipe uses vanilla ice cream instead of eggs. These two recipes that use pudding mix instead of eggs to produce mock eggnog. Click here and/or here to have a look at them.

I’ve posted at least seven articles about gluten free desserts. You can find them by scrolling down to the bottom of the article and click on the tag (it’s probably red) that says ‘gluten free recipes’. Your computer will create a special page containing excerpts from each of the articles. Click on the excerpt to read the entire article. Topics cover biscotti, cheesecake, baklava, tiramisu, brandy balls, rum balls, fruitcake, and eggnog.

Cranberry sauce is almost certainly gluten free. Ocean Spray assures us in the FAQ section of its website that cranberry sauce is ‘safe’ or at least that all its suppliers claim that their cranberry sauce is gluten free.

Fortunately, cranberry sauce is very easy to prepare at home and virtually anything that is homemade tastes better than something that comes out of a can. This article contains ten recipes for cranberry sauce. There are at least twenty You-Tube demonstrations available. Try this one — if you need another demonstration, click here. By the way, does anyone know the difference between “Christmas cranberry sauce” and regular cranberry sauce?

Gluten free beer can be used prepare a ‘safe’ batter for almost anything that is deep fried. The writers of these articles don’t recommend a specific brand, so I guess it is up to you.

Here is the recipe for (gluten free) battered fish fry and this recipe will allow you to enjoy gluten free beer-battered fish and chips.

You can also indulge in beer-battered onion rings or beer-battered coconut shrimp.

I learn lots of things while researching these articles. I never realized the squash have blossoms and that these taste great fried in gluten free beer batter. Watch this You-Tube video to watch this cooking demonstration.

People who bake gluten free bread need a bread machine designed to deal with the special characteristics of gluten free batter. The Gluten Free Pantry the Zojirushi Model 959067. Perhaps this item belongs on your Christmas list. Click here for more information.

Today I launched a new power-page “Gluten Free Halloween“. It is our next major holiday — at least diet-wise — and is a major concern of gluten free children and their parents as they return to school. There will almost certainly be a Halloween party at school and the child’s class will certainly be composed primarily of wheat-eaters. What can be done to make sure that everyone has a ‘safe’ and enjoyable experience?

Here’s a rather unconventional solution to the problem. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of videos on YouTube concerned with how to decorate cupcakes. Little or nothing is said about what ingredients should be in the cake. A gluten free family make ‘safe’ cupcakes and then decorate them in such a unique and colorful way that no one will bother to think about whether or not they are gluten free.

Watching these videos will make a child happy to return to school and realize that his dietary restriction will not interfere with his being ‘the life of the party’.

Halloween cupcakes | rainbow cupcakes | pull-apart turtle cupcakes

cupcakes in ice cream  cones | mummy cupcakes

penguin cupcakes | pink flamingo cupcakes | cute monsters

Children who live gluten free (like everyone else) have lots of time for snacking during the summer and burn so much energy that they need at least some of those snacks. The snacks described here are ideal since they contain neither gluten or refined sugar. This article on home-made granola bars provides something for the kids to do as well as something for them to eat. This article provides 30 snack ideas. Click here if you need 12 more ideas.

Snacks are sometimes an issue when children are vacationing or traveling. I’ll write about this next Saturday. Every Saturday is “children’s day” at this site.

This article describes a friendly contest between two gluten free bakers to determine the best gluten free brownie mix. The article is well-written and details the differences between the two mixes very well. That’s the good news! The bad news is that their goal was to make a brownie that would “fool a non-celiac”. We are not obligated to “fool” anybody!!! I don’t think that is even what the contestants had in mind — what they wanted to do was simply to create a great brownie.

To be fair, this article dates back to 2005, when the goal was to camouflage our gluten free food rather than to convince skeptics (and ourselves) that gluten free food could taste good. In those days we actually used the term “real food” as if the only real food was wheat-based food. We’ve made a lot of progress since those days.

Probably. The Heinz website specifies that these varieties of barbecue sauce are ‘safe’ for us. The Honey Smokehouse, Hickory Brown Sugar, Original #7, and Masterblend versions of their Jack Daniels Barbecue sauces are gluten free. Annie’s Naturals indicates on-line that their chipotle, smokey maple, and sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauces are gluten free.

If these brands are not available. it is probably best to look at the ingredients label. Many barbecue sauces contain distilled vinegar. Most experts say that distilled vinegar is OK but some celiacs believe that it is toxic. To avoid offending customers, some manufacturers decline to label their barbecue sauces gluten free.

Preparing your own barbecue sauce is also a possibility. Click on this article for ten recommended recipes.

As you may know, many of my titles have the format “Is this food gluten free?” This format is ideal for getting the attention of the computers that place articles on google and the other search engines. You may also have noticed that in every case my answer boils down to “Yes if you take certain precautions.” I have added a tag to all articles of this type so that you can find them quickly. To use these tags, scroll down to the end of this article, past the ads. You will will see the words “is this food gluten free?”. Click on the tag and your computer will create a special page containing the first few sentences of each of my articles that have the same tag. Click on the excerpt to read the complete article.

These gluten free cookies smelled great while they were baking and looked absolutely marvelous. I enjoyed the taste very much, but I would not advise serving them to wheat-eaters. They had a distinctive taste that screams ‘gluten free’ to wheat-eaters.

The cookies are certified ‘safe’ by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO) a program sponsored by the Gluten Intolerance Group. They were manufactured on equipment that is also used to produce soy products. The website includes a coupon for $1 off on any French Meadow product.

Gluten free toast from any toaster???. Cross-contamination is not an issue thanks to No-Strick Post-It bags that can be inserted into any toaster to prevent contact with toxic materials that may be in the toaster. I use this product when I am away from the dedicated toaster that I have at home. I’ve been using the same set for about a year (with only small signs of deterioration). The package includes instructions for making garlic bread, panini sandwiches, and even warming up pizza slices. Use your imagination to dream up other projects.

If this product is not available in your local store, use the graphic at the top of the page to order if from Amazon or link here to order it from The Gluten Free Pantry.

This cookbook gives the gluten free community the best of both worlds — the convenience of gluten free baking mixes and the great taste that comes when The Cake Mix Doctor adds her own special touches to those mixes. And its not limited to cakes, this ingenious chef specializes in turning cake mixes, pie crust mixes, cookie mixes, and brownie mixes into gourmet treats.

If you can’t find this gem locally, click on the graphic at the top of the article to order it from Amazon.com. All of her books can also be purchased from her website.

Books make great gifts for the holidays. Click here for answers to many of your questions about Christmas and all the winter holidays