Scones on the grill

(Originally published on Buzz Aug 1)


After cooking outside on the Weber for lunch to keep the kitchen cool, I began thinking about gluten free scones and whether they could be done on the grill. Then it became an obsession. If you're looking for a short story, it was a complete success. Here's what I did. 

First, the dough was made from Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix. This is a must have for a gluten free household. You can find the recipe here http://www.pamelasproducts.com/recipe_frames.html, look under Breakfast & Lunch for Scones. We replace the currants with cinnamon chips. Next time we use the grill, I think we'll add dried apples. 

Once the dough is made, and the grill is still hot (I wanted to wait until the fire was burning clean, so as not to get too much smoke), fold pieces of aluminum foil into triangular pans. Mine were about 6 inches on the longest side. I also did one 6 inch square pan that I then cut into two triangles with an additional piece of foil. Both types worked well. They don't need to be able to hold a liquid in, as the dough is pretty thick, but they do need to be able to hold the rising dough in. Don't fill them completely. Mine barely touch the sides when I filled the pans, but completely filled them when the scones were done. 

I put them in the covered grill (a Weber charcoal grill), not directly over the coals and cooked them for about 15 minutes, turning them every five. Once they are done all the way through, I pulled them off the grill and let them sit for about five minutes. The aroma was fantastic, and made it hard to wait. But as Alton Brown would say, "your patience will be rewarded". 

This will become a standard when we use the grill. I always hate to just let the coals die down. And will probably become a staple when we camp (those of you in the SCA near me, come by and ask for one). 


Only one lasted long enough to get it's picture taken.  It didn't last much longer.

Gluten Free at Bo Lings Chinese

I've enjoyed eating at Bo Lings for a while, and after this will very much continue to.  I contacted them to see  if they could publish a gluten free menu.  This is the great and very helpful response I got:

Thanks so much for your inquiry regarding gluten free options at Bo Lings!  Soy sauce does have traces of gluten in it, so depending on the severity of your allergy, you may or may not be able to tolerate some of our menu items with soy sauce in them.  Since you are able to have the Gong Bao Chicken, most of our other stir-fried dishes should be alright for you.  We do however, offer a wide variety of menu items that do not have soy sauce in them!  Any of our entrees that are made with "white sauce" will not have soy sauce in them, nor will they have any flour.  These are chicken stock-based sauces thickened with cornstarch.  A few of our "white sauce" entrees include Sauteed Chicken with Vegetables, Shrimp with Cashews, Jade Shrimp, and Sauteed Mixed Vegetables.  Also any of our Fried Rice dishes cooked without soy sauce, such as Fresh Vegetable Fried Rice, Young Chow Fried Rice, or Chicken Fried Rice cooked with white rice, will be gluten free.  Please just let your server know about your allergy, and he or she will work with the manager to make sure your meal is prepared properly!

 
I had been avoiding the white sauces because I didn't know what was in them.  The next time I'm there, I will be trying one of them.

So, whether you are Gluten intolerant or not, please go and have some great Chinese food and keep them in business (actually they are really good and I don't think are in any danger of going out of business, but you will enjoy their food, so go).

My review of GF coffee cake

Here are my thoughts on the coffee cake my wife made. The recipe is here Gluten Free Coffee cake I from Betty Crocker GF mix.

When we first tried the cake mix, I had thought that the texture was very much like coffee cake. Sure enough, the mix does well by this.

A couple of things that I think may be worked out. It was a bit crumbly more or less right out of the oven. This may fix itself as it is allowed to sit. We saved some for later, so we'll know then.

It was a bit too sweet. I think it's because there was a little too much streusel on top (the recipe reflects this adjustment). Also, I think next time we are going to try brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. Toasted pecans would be a great addition to the streusel, but both kids hate nuts.

The kids had two pieces each and asked for more. Since the main goal of this was to try to find Gluten-free replacement foods for the kids, I would say this is a success.

The taste was quite delicious. No bad aftertaste, as some GF foods can have. As I said before, the texture was very good for a coffee cake.

Eating it with some protein or dairy will keep this low GI (and some coffee, just because) and you have a great weekend morning breakfast.

My wife, who does not have to be gluten-free, is wonderful for the work she did on this and all the experiments we are doing to go gluten-free.

Gluten Free Coffee cake I from Betty Crocker GF mix

This is the recipe my wife used.

For Streusel:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup gluten free baking mix ( I used pancake mix)
2 T. butter (cold)
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon ( more to taste)

For cake:

Betty Crocker gluten free cake mix
2/3 cup water
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter - softened
1 teaspoon vanilla - gluten free
3 eggs

Combine streusel ingredients with fork or hands to crumbly consistency, put aside.
Combine cake ingredients.
Grease a cake pan, ( I line mine with parchment paper)
Pour half cake mixture into pan, sprinkle half of the streusel mixture on top of the cake mix.
Pour the rest of the cake mix on top of the streusel layer and top with remaining streusel.

Bake in 350 oven 45 minutes (checking at 40) or more until toothpick comes out clean. Cool a bit and serve.

No help from Celiac Community?

Well, I'm kinda bummed. I just read a scathing review of E Hasslebeck's new book and the posts basically say that if you have not been officially diagnosed Celiac or Gluten sensitive, that you better not go gluten-free until you do. Doesn't matter if you can't afford the test or do want to have the tests for whatever reason.

I wonder if I ever need any help from the official Celiac community, I'm going to told I'm not worthy.

I think I'll still pick up the book in a few weeks. It's a difficult lifestyle change and I can use all the help and knowledge I can get.

Gluten-free at Starbucks

The Gluten-free cake arrived at my local Starbucks (look here) for an initial look at it. I happened to go to Starbucks this morning and was surprised to find it, so I decided to try one. I was unhappy at first, because they had one unwrapped in the case, along with the other gluten-filled pastries (cross-contamination). I asked if they had one still wrapped and they did. Here is my review of it.

Having had gluten-free baked goods already, I was ready for it to be dry, dense, overly sweet, and have a funny aftertaste. Pleasantly I was wrong.

I found it to be very moist, almost too much. It was a little dense and the combination had me worried that it would become mushy in the mouth. It never did, but it will take some getting used to to "trust it".

It was not too sweet. I found that part to be very pleasant. The orange flavor was not overpowering, although I would not have minded that. The almond flavor was also not very strong, which would have been a deal breaker for me. I love almonds, but I hate almond flavoring.

The taste was great and there was no strange aftertaste. That's the biggest problem I've had with gluten-free pastries so far. It sounds strange, but I really enjoyed it not being there.

The shape really makes you think of a muffin, but the texture is all wrong for that. It is more cake like, but a dense cake. Almost like the types of cakes that are soaked in some liquid (I've never had a rum cake, but this is the texture I would imagine one to be). For a cupcake, and especially for a muffin, it was very dense.

Importantly, I would like this even if I did not have an intolerance to gluten.

If you are meeting a friend for coffee or picking up something quick for breakfast, this is a great addition to what Celiacs can choose. Just don't let them give you the open one in the case. Those of you that don't have gluten problems will like it too. I would like to see more companies think about the gluten intolerant, so give it a try. If you like it, support it by buying one occasionally and may be we'll see more of it.

Undiagnosed Celiac

Since this blog is about what's on my mind and the gluten-free/Celiac thing is on my mind a lot, I probably should cover it here. One thing I want to get into is whether to try and get Diagnosed or not.

Always start from the beginning.

For the last several years, my wife and I have been trying to figure out why I've been having several health problems. We did not think they were all related, so I seen the doctor about some of them, but not mentioned other ones during those sessions. Some of them were starting to get worrisome, especially the inability to concentrate (fuzzy brain). We had blamed everything from lack of sleep to stress.

About 8 months ago, a friend of Patty's was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Patty felt that her friend's symptoms were very close to my own. At that time, we did not have the money to pay for a lot of tests and or the time and energy to attempt to convince my doctor I was not becoming a hypochondriac. So we decide instead to just go on a gluten-free diet and see if that change anything. We also began seriously researching gluten intolerance.

After reading several books and online articles, the most helpful being Gluten-Free Living for Dummies. I had about 80% of the symptoms listed in the Dummies book. Also, a lot of the misdiagnoses listed were things we had thought I might have, including IBS, leaky gut, migraines, depression. Over the last 6 years or so, I was even developing a blistering skin condition, which I had no idea was connected to anything, but was named and explained in the book as DH.

And I improved considerably. It's has not been 100%, but many many improvements. The DH is mostly gone, only occasional small outbreaks. The fuzzy brain problem comes back occasionally, but the depression seems to be all but gone. My dry skin problems seem to be clearing up.

Meanwhile, I seem to be becoming a lot more sensitive to gluten. A few months ago, I forgot to say something to one of my Pastors and he handed me a communion waiver. Since it bothers me that I cannot partake that part of communion, I accepted it and ate it. I was incredibly sick for about a week after. Occasionally I get sick again, but can usually trace it back to something that MIGHT have gluten in it. Eating at a restaurant is no longer fun, especially eating out with friends or team outings from work. The responses I get vary between, "are you sure you can't..." to "oh that's just terrible, I'm so sorry". Some places I can't eat anything at all.

I did not see the doctor at the beginning of these because of high deductibles on my health insurance and I did not have the time or energy for the multiple tests to convince my doctor and because I did not want to go through a cycle of "try this medicine/treatment, no that didn't work...". Especially when what I've found so far seems to be working.

Now I have insurance that does not have high upfront deductibles (it's a Health Saving program, which I think is great), but after the initial amount my company has put in, I do have a large out of pocket cost (then regular insurance kicks in). Do I go ahead and go seem my doctor and see about getting an actual Diagnoses? From what I read, to get an actual diagnoses, I will have to start eating gluten again, so they have something to test. I can't do that, because of the fuzzy brain problem really effects my job performance. Would it be a waste of time to talk to the doctor without eating gluten?

If I go to the doctor, what do I do if she does some tests, they come back negative, and she says it's all in my head, go get a pizza?

What do I do if she says I have to eat gluten for a month so I can have a proper test?

Is it worth the time and (especially) the money going through a whole bunch of test for other issues, that I'm already sure I don't have?