Sunshine Wraps for Lunch!

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day - certainly not typical for January in our area. Tomorrow's forecast is cloudy and at least twenty degrees cooler so we had to make the most of today.  The sun is shining, the breeze is perfect and it made a great day for lunch on the porch.

This was our gluten free lunch.  Quick to make, easy and healthy. We love these wraps made with Sunshine Burgers. They are my favorite go to fast food.  I don't buy many processed or packaged items but these are gluten free, soy free, casein free, vegan and delicious.  The Southwestern is our favorite.  (For Feingold friends I am sure the original flavor is approved but you'll have to check your foodlist on the others).  Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas make fabulous and sturdy wraps. We added a green salad and a tall glass of cold Kombucha and for just a few minutes it felt like summer.

Sunshine Burger Wraps
(Makes six large wraps)

2 Boxes Sunshine Burgers - your choice of flavors (3 per pkg.)
1 pkg.    Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas
1            Red Bell Pepper, sliced into matchsticks
2            Carrots, grated
1            Cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
1/8         Red Onion, sliced paper thin
1 Cup    Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
1 Cup    Guacamole


Heat the Sunshine Burgers according to package directions.

Have your veggies ready (and be creative with your own favorites), assembly goes quickly.

I use a  large cast iron skillet and heat each tortilla for about a minute on each side to soften.

Plate the warm, softened tortilla and crumble a Sunshine Burger down the center.  Layer on all the toppings and roll it up keeping the ends on the bottom, cut in half and serve.

Time to get back outside and play!

Gluten Free Bread

It has a negative connotation, doesn't it?  Dry, crumbly, just plain odd when it's purchased. Too many hard to find flours to mix and too difficult to master when you make it. It doesn't have to be that way.  Premade gf breads are getting better all the time. There are some great mixes when you're new to gf or when you just want or need the convenience.  Pamela's Products are my favorite. Pamela's bread mix tastes like good, soft honey wheat bread and there are recipes on their site for many variations, soft pretzels, bagels, etc.  Check it out.

That said, I still prefer to make my own.  Baked from scratch gluten free baking isn't really difficult, it's just different.  Different ingredients and different chemistry.  There's a learning curve to be sure but it shouldn't scare you.  I'll share tips and recipes on making great loaves of gf bread easier in a future post.

When I asked my sons what recipe should be first on this blog they both said cheese bread.  Cheese bread isn't a true bread in the yeast and rising sense.  It's a quick bread that takes on many forms in our house from rolls to bread sticks to pizza crust.  It's a great place to start in gluten free baking.  Using different cheeses and herbs gives you endless variety.  Shaping it into bread sticks to dip into warm marina is great and a perfect Super Bowl snack, too.

This recipe came into our lives when I stumbled upon Gluten Free Gobsmacked a year ago. I completely fell in love the site.  As I checked out Kate's collection of recipes I found Pao de Quejo or Chebe Bread.  Chebe mixes are great, but I have to order them.  An easy, accessible recipe like this was gold.  Kate's version is wonderful and so adaptable.  It is neither low carb nor low fat, but it is very high in protein with all the eggs and cheese.  It makes any sandwich or burger delicious.  I find that adding flax keeps them softer and less likely to be crumbly the next day.  Providing they make it to the next day.

Here's our favorite version:

Pepper Jack Cheese Sandwich Rolls
(Makes 12 large rolls)

Ingredients:

1 lb.    Tapioca Starch (see note)

1 lb.    Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese (allow to come to room temp after shredding)

1 T.     Baking Powder

6         Eggs  (allow to come to room temperature)

3/4 C   Grapeseed Oil

2 T      Finely Milled Golden Flax 

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

Mix all ingredients together - I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer on medium for about 2 minutes.  (You may need to add a bit of water depending on the moisture content of the cheese and size of your eggs.  Add a spoonful at a time. You want to keep the dough stiff enough to be shaped into round rolls.)

Divide into six rolls per baking sheet, leaving room between as they spread.

Bake until golden and just browning - about 25 minutes in my oven.

Note:  Tapioca starch is available in nearly every Asian market in clear bags or small paper bags like you'd see regular flour in at about $.99/lb in our area.  You can find it in health food stores and some grocery stores but it typically will cost much more.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

In the beginning. . .

The photo in the corner is a tiny glimpse through my kitchen window and since I spend a whole lot of time at that window it seemed appropriate.  I love to cook for my family and friends (and the sweet little boy who calls me chacha) and in doing so I make sure our food is gluten free, additive free and tasty!  Before I get to recipes, I want to back up a few years to the beginning of better health for us.

The Feingold Association was our first step in 2005.  It is an elimination diet that helps you discern what foods and additives (if any) are problems for your family.  In removing artificial dyes, flavors, preservatives and sweeteners we got rid of migraines, headaches, and a host of other issues.  With the knowledge of other parents on the member's support and keeping a detailed food diary I was able to figure out just what caused problems for us.

 salicylate (Suh-LIH-Suh-Late) 


This was a new term for me.  Salicylates are naturally occurring chemicals in fruits and vegetables. Feingold breaks the program down into two stages. You start out removing the stage two (higher salicylates) items along with the artificial ingredients. We quickly found berries, for instance, cause one of us to go a little bonkers.  They are very high in salicylates.   Even so, we are not terribly salicylate sensitive and can enjoy most all fruits and veggies.

Feingold began a journey of educating myself on nutrition and supplementation.  Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Body Ecology Diet, Nourishing Traditions are just a few of the books that have found a way into our diet and I look forward to sharing about them.  By no means am I an expert - what I have done is to study and apply principles that made sense for our family.

But back to Feingold and the foodlist - the items that make the list  have been researched and are free of the offending FG additives.  Mac & cheese with yellow dye gets traded for Annie's all natural mac & cheese. Ice cream with artificial colors and flavors get's traded for Breyer's all natural choices.  Easy switches - no deprivation.  List updates come in newsletters throughout the year to easily stay on top of the latest additions or deletions.

Now that I finally apppreciate that our bodies were remarkably created to process food, not chemicals, I would never go back to our old way of eating even if we could do so reaction free.

In 2006 I began to have issues with gluten and a year after that one son did too. My digestive issues stopped when I stopped eating it.  The eczema he battled all his life, among other things, stopped when he gave up gluten. Now three out of the four of us are gluten free. That's where the fun begins....