Gluten Free Vegan Kitchen Archive

My Pantry — Prepared Foods

Posted November 27, 2012 By Sandy

We don’t use many prepared foods, but we do have some can products (in particular) that I like to keep on hand for last minute meals.

Those include the following:

I also keep some processed Dry Products on my shelves.  They are:

  • Dried Mushrooms — mostly for convenience
  • Quinoa Spaghetti — lots of other gluten free noodles are available, but quinoa is my favorite
  • Gluten Free Cereal such as Rice Chex or Granola (I am not going to list any as I have to be very careful which brands I buy due to my almond and sunflower seed allergy!)
  • Mary Janes Farm Dried Organic Black Bean Chili Flakes — great ‘seasoning’ for Mexican dishes.
  • Salsa Seasoning — we use Oregon Spice, and we order it from our local health food store
  • Spinach Dip — also from Oregon Spice.  Makes a great potato topper or chip dip.

I also like to keep the following on hand that needs to be kept in the Refrigerator or Freezer:

  • Mixed Stir Fry Veggies — quick easy meal (I like the big bags from Costco)
  • Mixed Fruit — I like the tropical blends with pineapple, mango, papaya and strawberries
  • Gluten Free Bread — various kinds
  • Grapeseed Vegenaize — sandwiches, salad dressing, dips etc.
  • Earth Balance — toast mostly
  • Coconut Aminos — I use it like soy sauce and it is the secret ingredient in my homemade salad dressing!
  • Organic Catsup — love this on home baked french fries
  • Food for Life Organic Sprouted Corn Tortillas — we eat lots of tacos!!
  • Misc. pickles, pickle relish often bought at the local farmers market or Bubbies brand.

A few more things we keep around that don’t fit any category in particular

So now that you know what is in My Pantry, what types of foods do you keep in your pantry?

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My Pantry — Nuts and Seeds

Posted November 19, 2012 By Sandy

Another segment of My Pantry is set aside for Nuts and Seeds — some of the most nutritious food on the planet!  Nuts and Seeds are important to a Gluten Free Vegan Pantry as they are so useful and versatile  in recipes.

Here is a list of the Nuts and Seeds I keep in My Pantry:

Nuts
  • Pecans or Walnuts — Are the staple of nuts as they can be used in baking, numerous salads and dishes.  Can be made into nut milks by mixing with water and ground in a VitMix or blender. (Keep in refrigerator)
  • Cashews — Are the base for vegan gravies and a great addition to Chinese style dishes.
  • Peanuts — Mostly for snacking or adding to snack foods such as granola and trail mix.

This is the list of the main nuts we use, but there are lots more.  We use to keep Almonds in our pantry until we found out that we were allergic to them.  Other nuts that are good to keep on hand are hazelnuts and brazil nuts.

Seeds

  • Pumpkin Seeds — One of our favorites for adding to salads, granola or just for snacking.
  • Chia Seeds — I used these mostly in my smoothies.  Chia also work great when you are looking for a ‘gel’ or egg substitute.
  • Flaxseeds — I am allergic to flax, but my husband adds these to smoothies (rather than Chia, like me!).  Ground flax seeds also make a great egg substitute (should be refrigerated).
  • Sesame Seeds — Use these mostly for making tahini for our hummus (must be keep in the refrigerator)
  • Sprouting Seeds — there are lots of different kinds of seeds you can sprout, but we normally keep broccoli and clover seeds on hand for sprouting and adding to salads and stir-fry dishes.

We use to keep lots of sunflower seeds in our pantry, but unfortunately, both Malcolm and I are allergic to them!

Click here, iff you are interested in more info on Edible Seeds.

We buy our nuts and seeds in bulk — they are much cheaper per pound when you buy in bulk.  We keep small amounts in containers, and freeze the rest.  Nuts and seeds that should never be left at room temperature are noted above.  If you have shelf space in your refrigerator, I suggest keeping all you nuts and seed stored there.

What are your favorite nuts or seeds to keep in your pantry/refrigerator?

 

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My Pantry — Grains and Legumes

Posted November 10, 2012 By Sandy

Grains and Legumes are the staples of a Gluten Free Vegan Pantry — at least in my house, they are!  Although most of my meals are full of veggies (fresh when I can get them, frozen next and canned as a last resort!), I complement dishes with grains and legumes.

Here is a list of the Grains and Legumes I keep in My Pantry:

Grains
  • Rice — There are lots of different rices to chose from.  Right now, we have short grain brown rice because we got a good deal on a large package.  Some of my other favorites are Jasmine and Basmati which are a sweeter white rice.
  • Popping corn — Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks.  I pop it on the stove in coconut oil and add seasoning salt!  Don’t forget to buy organic popping corn so it is free of GMO.
  • Quinoa –One of my favorites for breakfast, lunch or dinner recipes.
  • Rolled Oats — Not just for breakfast as it is good in granolas, meatless dishes and cookies.
  • Teff, Buckwheat, Millet and Amaranth — I keep small amounts of those just for some variety.  I have mostly eaten those cooked for a breakfast dish, but occasionally, I find an interesting recipe that calls for one or the other.

My favorite is a grains mix by TruRoots called Sprouted Rice & Quinoa Blend.  The blend consists of organic sprouted brown and red rice along with organic quinoa and wild rice.  I absolutely love the stuff and use it in soups and casseroles.

NOTE:  If you are interested in more information on grains, check out my Squidoo page:  Gluten Free Grains.

For legumes, we have a variety of different types of bean and lentils that we use interchangeable in some dishes.  I use to eat lots of beans until I found out that my uric acid level was unusually high.  I still eat beans, but I need to limit the amount to a couple times of week instead eating them everyday.

Legumes:
  • Black Beans –King of the beans in my opinion.  I use these as a base for many of my Mexican dishes (I am allergic to pinto beans).  They are very flavorful and taste much better than pinto beans.
  • Garbanzo or Chickpeas — Wonderful in minestrone soup, salads, and as a base for my husband’s hummus recipe.
  • Red/Orange Lentils (Red Chief?) — Quick cooking lentils to eat alone or with veggies
  • Sprouting Mung Beans — we sprout and put in our salads and stir fry dishes.
  • Great Northern White Beans — I like these in salads, mock ‘chicken’ salad and in our white chili recipe.  They are a mild bean that does not overpower the taste of the ingredients you add to them.
  • Red and Pink Beans — we have a limited quantity of these beans for variety.

I also have a favorite Bean mix from TruRoots called Sprouted Bean Trio.  The mix includes organic sprouted mung beans, green lentils and adzuki beans.  This quick cooking mix takes only 15 minutes to prepare.  I have mixed it with the TruRoots grain mix and added veggies for an interesting soup.  Last night I cooked up a batch, added sauteed onions, celery and mushrooms and poured diced tomatoes and tomato sauce over the mix.  Delicious!

TruRoots makes lots of other nutritious sprouted mixes.  Check them out below:

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My Pantry — Sugars and Baking Aids

Posted October 27, 2012 By Sandy
Sugars in My Pantry

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know that once I changed my diet, all the white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, imitation maple syrup, imitation sugars (Splenda in particular) we pulled out of the pantry and gave away.

On the advice of our naturopathic doctor, these are the sweeteners we now use:

  • Stevia — use in drinks or smoothies (be careful if you use Stevia as just a small drop can add lots of sweetener to your drink!)
  • Coconut Palm Sugar — good substitute for brown sugar
  • Xylitol — substitute for regular white sugar
  • Pure Maple Syrup — for Gluten Free pancakes and waffles (I also use it in my baked beans)
  • Coconut Nectar — my favorite on Gluten Free pancakes and waffles (Maple syrup is too sweet for me!!)
  • Honey — locally ‘grown’ is the best and I use this on bread and muffins or in tea when I want a little sweetness.

You will find after eliminating and watching your sugar intake (even using the ones above) your body will no long crave sweetening and lots of the sugar foods you use to love will taste too sweet to you!

Baking Aids in my Pantry

If you want to bake your own breads, quick breads or cookies, you need to learn about different leavening agents.  Once you remove gluten from your flours, extra care and ingredients are needed to help your baked products to have the correct texture.

Here is my list of leavening ingredients:

One you start baking Gluten Free, you will see these special leaving agents in recipes.

If you are interested in some in depth information on Gluten Free Baking, I can recommend a couple resources:

  1. Gluten Free Bread Baking Tips
  2. The Art of Gluten Free Baking Tips

Jeanne, author of The Art of Gluten Free Baking, teaches classes on Gluten Free Baking (mostly in the Seattle area).  She is also coming out with her first cookbook (that I will be reviewing soon).

She also has a wonderful recipe for making Gluten Free Shelf Rising Flour:

Self-Rising Flour, Gluten-Free

1 cup Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour mix (or mix of your choice)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Do you have other sugars or baking aids in your pantry that are not listed here?  Please share them with us!

 

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My Pantry — Flours

Posted October 20, 2012 By Sandy

After finding out I was gluten free, out went all the flour which were all wheat based!  But I found there is a whole array of gluten free flours that are wonderful – and taste good too.

Following is a list of the most common gluten free flours:

Almond                                            
Amaranth
Arrowroot
Buckwheat
Cornmeal
Flaxseed
Millet
Oat
Quinoa
Rice
Sorghum
Soy
Tapioca
Teff

Beans & Nut flours

Most gluten free flours alone cannot mimic the properties of wheat flour.  Gluten Free Flours need to be mixed in different portions to have the right mouth feel, the right texture, and so they rise correctly. Personally, rather than stocking numerous different flours and mixing my own, I typically use a commercially-made gluten free flour mix.

I really like Pamela’s Products Amazing Wheat Free & Gluten-free Bread Mix.  We purchased a 25 lb. bag and I store it in a plastic pail in the freezer.  Pamela’s flour makes great bread!

When I make cookies and desserts, I prefer Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.  Jules flour is not as heavy as the Pamela’s and tastes light in baked goods.

There are lots of other good gluten free flour mixes to chose — these are  just the ones I use.

For gravy or thickening sauces, I have glutinous rice flour on hand.  Add it to cool liquids and it thickens up nicely without add any flavor to your sauces.  I would think that any rice flour would work, but I just happen to use the glutinous rice flour.

I really like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix, when I make pancakes.  Before I was gluten free, I used Bisquick.  I have not tried their Gluten Free Bisquick, but have a box on hand and am anxious to see how it tastes!

Occasionally, I enjoy playing around with other flours.  My husband bought a bag of Mommas, Gluten Free Coconut Blend All Purpose Flour, but we really haven’t used it yet.

Since becoming gluten free, I don’t bake as much as I use to. Special occasions and holidays, I will bring out the flour.  Of course, when I bake bread, I use quite a bit of it.  I notice I feel better when I don’t over do the baked goods.  I like eating my grains whole …. so we will talk about grains in my pantry in another post!

If you are interested in learning more about flours and baking bread, check out my Squidoo lens:

 

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My Pantry

Posted October 13, 2012 By Sandy

When I became Gluten Free Vegan a few years ago, I needed to rethink everything I had eaten in the past and all the food I had on hand.  Many of the items in my pantry had gluten, dairy or eggs in them.  Since my husband is still a meat eater, we kept some of those item, but moved them to a separate area in the pantry.  All the foods with excess sugar or gluten in them were pulled out of our kitchen.

We had seven boxes of ‘stuff’ when we were all done sorting!!  Unbelievable!!  Of course, we had loads of flour, sugar and baking items, but we also got rid of artificial sweetened foods (high fructose corn syrup and imitation maple syrup).  We had a couple boxes of cold and hot cereal that contained gluten plus bread, tortillas, chips and crackers that we hauled away.  I am a big soup eater, so I sorted through each can of soup, one by one, to see which had gluten and which did not.

Then we went into the bathroom.  Out went several bottles of shampoo and condition that contained wheat!  We also changed brands of toothpaste and mouth wash.  My step-daughter had just started selling MaryKay Cosmetics, so I was able to go through the list of non-gluten products with her and replenish much of my makeup!

At the time, it seemed like an overwhelming task!  We ended up giving away most of the boxes of food (I really hate to threw out food!).  But now my pantry (and kitchen and bathroom) look much different than they did.  Instead of boxes and cans of prepared foods, there is lots of beans, rice, grain, fresh produce, and fruit.  I still can’t believe how far we have come in our search for better health!

So, over the next several weeks, I am going to write a series of post on what is now in our pantry and why we have these items.  …  Thus the name:  My Pantry!!

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Juice, Blend or Chew Your Fruits and Veggies

Posted April 17, 2012 By Sandy

Do you Juice, Blend  or Chew Your Fruits and Veggies?

Personally, I blend my fruits and  veggies into smoothies.  Of course, that may have something to do with not having a juicer, but I always felt it was better to eat the pulp (the ‘stuff’ the juicing discards) than not!

I also eat a salad everyday, so I also Chew my Fruits and Veggies.

A fellow blogger, Priscilla, author of “A Gluten-Free Mom Who Knows” lists the benefits of all three ways of consuming your foods:

Juicing vs Blending

Juicing, blending and chewing are all great as we add more plants to our diet. However, as I write this, juicing is better because I am reaping the benefits of a juice fast that is not possible without my juicer.

READ FULL POST

Makes sure you check out her post as she has added a video and other articles for you to read should you be interested in more info on the topic.

Also, if you don’t have a Vitamix to make your smoothies, make sure to click on the link to the left of this article to find out how to save shipping on your Vitamix order!

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What’s in a Gluten Free Vegan Pantry?

Posted March 11, 2012 By Sandy

My fellow Gluten Free Vegan Blogger, Megan,  posted a list of items that should be in every Gluten Free Vegan Pantry.  Looking at the list, I can see that she eats many of the same things as I do and has lots of the same food in her pantry as at our house.

She suggests we keep on hand several different flours, which I do too, but alas! I am lazier than her and use mostly blends!  My favorites are Jules (for cookies and cakes) and Pamelas for my bread (although Bob’s Red Mill is good too!).

THE FLOURS

Pre-Mixed

I don’t use any of the store-bought premixed flour blends often. But for someone new to gluten-free baking it might be a good way to ease into it. I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour. ….

THE GUMS

Using gums like xanthan and guar gums are necessary in gluten-free baking. It helps give elasticity to baked goods that is lacking because of not having gluten. …

THE FAUX EGGS …

CONDIMENTS …

MILK …

FOOD AND STUFF ...

READ FULL STORY

We try to avoid soy, so we prefer Coconut Aminos rather than Bragg’s brand.  Coconut milk — the kind in the dairy case — is my milk of choice although I do use others.  And of course, I eat LOTS of salads … so our fridge is stocked with several different lettuces, tomatoes, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, cauliflower, summer squash, carrots, sprouts  …… I am the salad queen!!

What does your Gluten Free Vegan Pantry look like?

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