Are you missing comfort foods?
You've been told you need to cut out gluten. What will you eat? All of those yummy comfort foods you've eaten and loved all of your life are now out of the question, right? Trust me, I know how you feel. I lived in denial for a long time, thinking I could find another way around it. I just knew it couldn't be done, we'd never be able to eat "real" food again. All of my years of cooking good food, baking wonderful breads, cookies, cakes and muffins was over. I may as well start cooking from a box and give up entirely! Besides, everything will taste like a cardboard box anyway. Right? Was I wrong!
In the two years that I've been on this journey, I have tried many things, failed many times, been frustrated and ready to quit eating all together. The cost was too high, I didn't understand how to use gluten free flours and I would never learn! Truth was, I had no idea how wrong I was. Once I stopped expecting the gluten-free flours to behave like the gluten ones and started learning how they did behave and how they worked with each other and other ingredients, I started to turn the corner.
When I was a kid, my biggest inspiration in the kitchen was my grandmother. She was a wonderful cook, I never tasted anything come from her kitchen that wasn't "fit to eat" as she would say. Her comment before EVERY meal was always the same, "I hope it's fit to eat." To that we replied, "When is it not!" She would always respond with a chuckle and dinner would be served.
My grandmother taught me how to make pies, cookies, breads, cakes, cobblers and everything in between. She was a master at chicken and dumplings and Swiss steak. There is not a day that I don't wish I could call her and ask her advice about something in the kitchen. She raised a family of seven during some of the hardest times this country has seen. They were always well fed.
Learning to cook gluten-free has been a challenge, but one that has been totally worth it. As I've said before on my blog, my goal is to always have the foods I cook to be as close to the gluten version we have been so used to. Have I figured it all out? Of course not! Do I have more to learn, you bet I do! One thing I have not mastered is my grandmother's chicken and dumplings. That is a goal for this fall and winter. I know I can do it, it's just a matter of thinking about how the flours work together and what I need to add to make them do what I want them to. Using the right combination of starches and protein rich flours to bring about the flavor of my grandmother's dumplings.
There are many things that have been easy to master, stew is one of them. Do you feel like having a nice thick hearty stew is beyond your gluten-free cooking abilities? I have a few easy tips to produce a wonderful hearty stew! Using a few common ingredients you can have a hearty homemade stew tonight.
Do you have mashed potato flakes, or instant mashed potatoes? I have not looked at every brand, but the few that I have have only potatoes in them. Check the labels to be sure. Stirring a bit of instant mashed potatoes into your pot of stew will thicken it up and add some richness to your stew as well.
Another great way to thicken soups and stews is to use good old fashioned corn starch and cold water. This is a technique that I used before our gluten-free life began. It's great for chicken soup, or any soup that you desire to have a clearer broth for. Cold water and white rice flour will work much like the all-purpose flour your mom used to thicken gravy during the holidays. Shake it up and pour into a boiling pot of soup.
How about gravy, do you miss it? Gravy can be made so easily by making a roux with butter or margarine, white rice flour and stock. Need a cream gravy, use milk in place of the stock. I have made sausage gravy this way, no one knew it wasn't the traditional kind they are used to. My grandfather would eat gravy over bread for dessert any night of the week! He thought that if a person can have gravy, life is good! I think I would have to agree with him, don't you?
Do you have a craving for fried chicken? Chicken fried steak? How about onion rings? All of these can be made with rice flour, some salt, pepper, maybe some onion and garlic powder. Just like you made it before, minus the gluten that you need to avoid. I have found that I can handle a lot if I can have some of the comfort foods I miss so much.
Macaroni and cheese? Yes you can! There are many really good gluten-free pastas on the market that work very well in macaroni and cheese. Make a white sauce, much like you would for a cream gravy, using a roux and milk. Add some grated cheese to the cream sauce and pour it over the noodles. Bake it in the oven for the best macaroni and cheese you have had in a long time! Another yummy dish you can create this way is scalloped potatoes or cheesy potatoes . Same idea, just use potatoes instead of pasta!
So don't despair, don't give up on eating or feel like you'll never have any of your old comfort foods again. They are SO easy to make, in your own kitchen. Having to cut gluten from your diet does not mean it's the end. I've been where you are now, and I am here to help guide you on your way. Is there something you've been missing? Leave me a comment about it, I may just make a blog post around the foods that you've been missing! At the very least, I'll do my best to give you some options to work with and try. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I'm hoping to walk along with you and we can figure it out together!
