There is so much helpful video information being uploaded to the Internet all the time. It’s easy to miss if you’re not specifically looking for it every day. Keeping up with it all would easily be a full-time job and I don’t think that many of us can afford to spend that much time searching for all this information.

Fortunately, I found a way to pull all the gluten free related videos from YouTube.com into one location and incorporate it into a new feature we have just added to this site called the “Gluten Free Video News” page.

It is all set up and can be accessed by clicking the new video graphic in the Right Hand Column of this page. (I’ve included a “click-able” copy of that graphic above, so you know what you are looking for.) Check it out. (more…)

Continuing on from the last post, here are a few pointers to help you find the kind of raw materials you need to make the delicious porridge mentioned earlier.

Of the buckwheat that is produced for human consumption, most of it is milled into flour. The whole buckwheat kernels themselves, unfortunately are not commonly available in regular stores or supermarkets.  More often they are quite easily found in most Health Food or Natural Foods Stores.

What you will be looking for is the RAW, HULLED seeds of the BUCKWHEAT plant. Depending on where you live it may be referred to as: (more…)

Guess what!
I’m tired Of Eating Oats. 

Yep, I’ve gotten tired of eating the plain oat breakfast I wrote about in one of my August’07 posts. (CLICK HERE to refer to it) 

Actually, I DO really still love it, it’s just that you want a CHANGE every now and then. You know what I mean?

We’ve been doing some exciting things with buckwheat lately. (NOT the buckwheat flour, but WHOLE RAW BUCKWHEAT), so this gave me a bit of an idea.

Why not use the same procedure used in that whole Oat Recipe but instead ….. make a ….

MIX of 50% whole oat groats + 50% whole raw buckwheat?  

YES!! That sounds great. I’ve never made that mix before. So I got excited, immediately raced to the kitchen, and got the ingredients together to start the process. …….. And you know what?

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On a couple of occasions we’ve been asked about how to make gluten free baked products lighter (we understand that “door-stop bread loaves” are just not the fashion any more); and how to make your own self-rising flour for use in gluten free cooking. 

As is the case with all kinds of flours, the only difference between the “plain” and the “self-raising” flour, is that the self-raising has had chemical leavening agents (baking powder) added to it that causes it to rise (this process was first invented back in the mid-1800’s B.T.W.).

What You Need To Know About Baking Powder:

Typical quantities of baking powder used in a recipe would be as follows:
100grams of flour,
3 grams of baking powder
and just a pinch of salt (up to 1 gram).

The basic formulation for baking powder itself, varies, but it commonly contains sodium bicarbonate (an alkali) combined with a starch (to keep it dry) and some form of acid salts such as cream of tartar or certain aluminum salts. (Here is a LINK to ingredients used in common baking powders plus more fascinating info) 

It’s the body’s excessive exposure to aluminum salts that are of BIG concern. These are usually found in what are called “double-acting” baking powders and should be avoided. Studies have presented compelling evidence of aluminum being directly linked with senility and Alzheimer’s, just to name a few. (Other aluminum-containing formulations are found quite commonly in underarm deodorants as well). (more…)

This dish is one of our favorites. It is quick, simple, very nourishing and awesomely tasty.  The liquid base for this recipe is a good quality chicken broth, that we almost always have on hand either in the fridge or freezer. (for those unfamiliar with the best way to make broth, we’ll demonstrate the method we use at a later time).

We also like to use Sea Vegetables as much as possible. Arame (the black slivers you see in the photo) was used for this recipe. It is available in most healthfood stores or Japanese food outlets. It is very mild to the taste, is one of the richest sources of iodine and also high in calcium and iron. It has lots of applications and is very easy to work with.

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I’ve actually been trying some things I’ve never quite done before (in this way), so it has been my opportunity to have some fun. (It is also my excuse to get to have more time in the kitchen as well…… “Move over sweety, I’ve got some more of my millet project to do !!”

I find it interesting that I tend to see lots of fancy, gluten free recipes out there, but very little of the simple stuff. Maybe I’m only one of a few who feel it is important to get to learn to work with basic, wholefood ingredients first.

Maybe it’s just a reflection of the complicated culture that we live in, but this simple approach doesn’t seem to get talked about much. So, I invite you to join me and try these simple recipes too. So much can be done with so little.

I hope by now you would have tried out the basic millet recipe in the previous post. It was a wonderful plain, fluffy millet and both Karen and I thoroughly enjoyed a nice portion of that as part of an evening meal. It was a wonderful change from what we had been having.

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Now that you have the right kind of Millet as described in the previous post, you can feel confident that if you follow the directions in this blog you’re going to end up with a delicious and wholesome dish that just about anyone would enjoy.

Most Westerners, unfortunately,  still associate millet with bird seed and it might take a little while to adjust to the idea of using it. The use of this gluten free grain, however, goes back thousands of years in Asia, Eastern Europe and parts of the African continent.

We were first attracted to using it ourselves years ago because we were looking for ways of including more alkalizing foods in our diet, while at the same time getting a bit more variety and excitement into our meals. We were surprised to find millet to be a versatile and “friendly” grain suitable for many types of occasions.

Millet has an Alkalizing Effect on the Body:
As you probably know, the Western diet tends to be more acid forming and an overly acid system means “trouble”, stressing the body’s reserves of alkaline minerals and resulting in many and varied states of dis-ease. The good news is that millet plays its part in helping to restore balance in this regard (along with most land vegetables, sea vegetables, good quality sea salt, and a list of other special foods).
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Has this happened to you ? You decide to make something different, something a bit more exotic. …….. Like Millet Pilaf !  (yes, that sounds like a great idea) . You expect something relatively light, almost, “melt in you mouth”. Like the recipe says, right? ….. and the result is that you end up with a dish less palatable than you expected and annoying, “bits and pieces” stuck between your teeth.

Well, don’t despair. You are not alone. We have had this kind of a comment so many times from those attempting to work with this wonderful, gluten free grain. It’s likely that you did everything right, except that you had the wrong kind of millet to work with.

If you are experiencing this problem then it is likely that you have bought Un-hulled Millet.

Yes, aside from the specific variety, there are essentially TWO kinds of millet. Hulled and Un hulled. It is the Un hulled that is virtually impossible to make a pleasant dish out of. (it is that form that is commonly sold as birdseed, and not really suitable for cooking). (more…)

Are you ready for your THIRD serving of oats in this blog ! ?

I want to start by saying that we have some potentially shocking scientific references in this article that may open up a whole new world for you.

The “Cereous” Business Behind Preparing Oats Properly.
In PART 2, I was “monkey-ing” around a bit, attempting to get the point across, that traditional wisdom has a lot to offer us in terms of how we can prepare our day-to-day foods. That this age-old approach may hold valuable keys to have contemporary consumers THRIVING instead of just surviving.

Using our oats theme as an example, today’s article weaves in some of the many scientific studies which confirm the transformative processes of soaking, fermentation and cooking.

For the celiac, or those concerned with the contamination of their oats with other gluten-containing grains, it has been suggested that “rolling your own” oat grain is the ideal solution. This way you can not only sort through and pick out any offending, alien grain, but you also gain the added benefit of freshly rolled oats.

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Have you been wondering where I’ve been all week ?
(And NO, I didn’t go on a hiatus.)

Believe it or not, a large portion of the time, since my last entry into this blog has been spent on writing this one (!!!!)  Well, where is it then ?

Do you REALLY want to know what happened ? 
Well, I got SO excited and enthused with this topic that I ended up writing pages and pages ! Way too much to post here.

Then, finally, as I was proof-reading it to Karen I got a big hint that there was something very wrong, ……. when I could see her eyes start to glaze over……….  Does that tell you something ? I had lost her already and I had barely started.

Oh boy !! I’ve got SO much to learn about blogging and being able to condense my thoughts, facts and data down into a usable form (it’s very frustrating sometimes.) …..

 BUT WAIT A MINUTE !! 

Come to think of it, the culmination of this past week’s oat writing experience DOES, in a strange kind of way, come together as an excellent analogy to the subject matter at hand. (I suddenly see the gestalt of it all !! Yes !!  ) (more…)