Gluten Free Vegan Living

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:

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!!