Monday, June 17, 2013

GF Waffle Mix and Amazing Pectin!

Didn't get much down time yesterday, but partly that was me burning with energy and catching up on stuff, and partly appointments and a school thing last night. Did get home in time to catch "Master Chef" on FOX, the first thing I'm excited to watch in some time.

John's allergies were fine at home, but he ate a few store bought cookies and shortly after had itchy eyes, needed to blow his nose. As he was complaining about his allergies acting up, I pointed out that he had just had gluten. He froze as his eyes slowly widened. It was very funny.

I gave away the last of my wheat flour yesterday; it felt like giving away a crutch. Even though I wasn't using it, the kids had been. Now that I have a working, tasty GF flour mix there's no reason to keep it around.

Besides, I had to take it outside to scoop it out of my containers and into gallon ziplock bags, and I still reacted with itchy eyes. I didn't want the flour puffing all over the kitchen.

Reacting badly to xanthan and guar gum turned out to be an excellent thing. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have discovered pectin's wonderful properties as a GF flour binder. As a bonus, it's making my skin glow and my sense of smell come alive. I can actually smell the oil, gas and machine smell of our garage, and yes, that's a good thing. My eldest son's skin is practically luminous, and my youngest is so pleasant, I actually hugged him in joy. That NEVER happens in the morning...or ever, really. He has moments of sweetness, but he was my difficult child for the last four years. If only I knew.

He even asked me why I was being so nice to him this morning. I laughed and said that's my normal self in the morning, unless someone is a) fighting with siblings b) refusing to get out of bed for over 20 min c) shouting d) refusing to make lunch, brush teeth, nasty... You get the point. He's been a dream for the last week, and we are astonished and grateful.

Interestingly, as I've read stuff on gluten sensitivity in kids, some of the top things listed were: diarrhea alternating with constipation, grouchy disposition.

I used sesame seeds instead of the sun dried tomato and Italian seasoning mix in the waffle bread with great results. The waffle squares are also the perfect size to cradle a hot dog; I made happy munchy noises the whole time I was eating mine. I tried to stop, but they were so good!

GF Waffle Mix

12 c GF Flour Mix with Pectin
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c + 2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt

For Italian Waffle Bread, add:

3 tbsp dried tomato, ground
1 tbsp Italian seasoning

To make:

1 c + 1 tbsp mix
1 egg
1 c milk or water
1 tbsp oil

1. Mix all and cook.

I've also added sesame seeds with delicious results. Experiment and see what tastes good.

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