Healthy Gluten-Free

Grad student. Celiac. Type 1 Diabetic. Trying to eat healthy and yummy food, save money, and be creative at the same time!

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[healthy-gf]

Mexican chocolate cake

This recipe is based on this one, and inspired by me finding a bag of plantain flour in my local Latino supermarket and googling how it works and what it can be used for! Turns out that plantain flour is more elastic than most gluten-free flours, and I read a couple blogs saying the dough it makes really feels like it does with wheat flour. It has a subtle nutty taste, and doesn't really taste anything like plantains or bananas (though it smells a bit, er, plantainy). It's very absorbent, so I had to add more liquid to the recipe. It's also fairly cheap -- a 1 lb. bag was under $3. Plantain flour has a lower glycemic index (65, according to this study) as well. I think this is going to become one of my favorite flours!

I just made this with my substitutions, and I think the spices need some adjustment, so I've adjusted them below. If you don't like spicy, feel free to not use the chili powder, or to use mild chili powder, or you can just make this a plain chocolate cake and skip the cinnamon too. It's an eggless cake, so it's vegan-friendly as well.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups plantain flour

1 cup Splenda or sweetener of your choice

0.5 cup unsweeted cocoa powder

1 tsp cinnamon

0.5 tsp hot Mexican chili powder

0.25 tsp salt

1.5 cups cold water

0.25 cup canola oil (or try applesauce if you want to make it fluffier, but I didn't try it so I can't vouch)

1 Tbsp vinegar (preferably a kind with some flavor, like balsamic, rice, apple cider, etc.)

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 350° F. Lightly coat an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable cooking spray.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Pour into the pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Glaze: You can use the glaze in the link above, with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and water, or you can experiment with what you have in the kitchen. I tried a mix of cocoa powder, liquid stevia, water, and a bit of milk, and it didn't turn out that great. Too bitter, doesn't dry quickly. Next time I will probably try a combination of Splenda, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and water. Alternatively, you could use chocolate frosting instead of glaze -- whichever recipe (or can) is your favorite!

[healthy-gf]

Healthy Cold Bean Salad (recipe)

I wasn't sure what to call this, so I went with a boring title, but I'm really excited about this salad I threw together. I'm planning to live on it all summer, because it is so refreshing. It's also delicious, surprisingly filling, and not too expensive if you can find the herbs for a decent price. It's also really variable and you can do anything you want with it. I'm sharing my recipe, but feel free to make substitutions until it looks/tastes nothing like mine! Anything goes!

I usually start by cooking a package of sausage (I prefer sweet Italian, and I prefer to steam it -- easy and healthy!) and putting it in the fridge to cool, and rinsing and draining a can of beans (I prefer navy or cannellini but if you wanna make it more Mediterranean-tasting, chickpeas would be awesome). This way I have enough beans and sausage for several servings, and the veggies and herbs I add in one serving at a time, to keep it fresh. This recipe is gluten-free (as long as you make sure to use gluten-free sausage), low-carb, and low-GI. Check labels on your beans and sausage for carbohydrate specifics.

Ingredients:

1 sausage, cooked and sliced/diced

1/2 cup navy/cannellini/garbanzo beans

1/2 medium cucumber, diced (I don't bother peeling it)

1 spring onion, sliced

A few leaves each of fresh cilantro and mint, finely diced together

Toss everything together in a bowl, and drizzle with olive oil and the juice of 1/4 a lime. Mix and enjoy!

[healthy-gf]

Muffins

My muffin recipe is based on this one, but with some slight changes. I also have several flavors, but the base muffin batter is always the same.

Ingredients: 2 cups brown rice flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp) Splenda 1 egg (beaten with yolk, or just whites) 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 1+ cup milk (I use 1% / low fat)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix egg, milk and applesauce together well. Add flour, Splenda and baking powder, and mix about 1 minute. Add more milk if necessary (I usually need 2-4 Tbsp more). Batter should be thick but a bit runny. Fill lightly oiled muffin pan 3/4 full. Place in oven for about half an hour (your oven may vary).

Carbs: Flour: 248 g Milk: 12 g Applesauce: 12 g Total: 272 g / 12 muffins = 23 g each

Variations

Anise: Add 1-2 drops anise extract to batter.

Blueberry: Add about 1 cup of fresh blueberries to batter (adds 20 g carbs to recipe; each muffin = 24 g each)

Cinnamon apple: Add about 1 cup of chopped apple and 1 tsp ground cinnamon to batter (adds 28 g carb to recipe; each muffin = 25 g each)

Raspberry almond: Add about 1 cup of raspberries and 1/2 tsp almond extract to batter (adds 14 g carb to recipe; each muffin = 24 g each)

Here's what the batter looks like with some blueberries...

In the muffin pan...

And the final project... from left to right: raspberry almond, blueberry, cinnamon apple, anise. :)

[healthy-gf]

My food!

Welcome to my food blog!

I'm experimenting with new recipes that conform to my diet and my budget, and will be posting stuff I think is good. Let me know if you like what I post or have any suggestions!

My diet is low-fat, gluten-free, with carbs that are low on the glycemic index (in addition to fruit). This includes things like:

brown rice

quinoa

beans

starchy vegetables like corn

Perhaps more usefully, my diet excludes things like:

wheat

oats

rye

barley

white rice

refined sugar

large servings of oil and butter

whole milk, heavy cream, etc.

I'm also somewhat of an "accidental vegetarian" as I often find meat either too troublesome or too expensive to invest in. I like to eat tofu, cheese and nuts for protein.

If you're baking with similar restrictions, here are some tips I've found to be useful:

Use unsweetened applesauce instead of butter or oil (N.b. this creates a light, fluffy texture, so it's not so good for cookies and dense things, but very good for cake)

Use Splenda instead of sugar

If you don't have eggs or don't want to use them, you can use baking soda and vinegar (just like elementary school volcanoes), which will help bind your ingredients together.

Bon appetit! Recipes forthcoming. :)