Saturday, August 1, 2009

Breakfasts on-the-go

My favorite easy gluten-free grab-and-go breakfast items:

~A small bag of dry GF cereal; particularly CHEX...which now has many officially gluten-free options and is available at "normal" grocery stores: the rice, corn, honey-nut, chocolate, cinnamon, and strawberry varieties are ALL GF! My favorite is the cinnamon. I have tried them all, aside from chocolate and strawberry. I could eat the cinnamon all day, really! It is fantastic...sort of Cinnamon Toast Crunch-esq which brings me back to my childhood (that was, for some reason, the ONLY sugary cereal we were EVER allowed to have in our house). I LOVE it!

~Hard boiled eggs...these are so notable (and a wonderful HEALTHY option!) that I've blogged about them multiple times! Once a week or so I will prepare a bunch of hard-boiled eggs so that Jeremy and I both have an easy breakfast option for those rushed work-day mornings. We love 'em! I always buy organic eggs...not sure if it REALLY matters ;), but I figure if we eat the quantity of eggs that we do (one a day for each of us) they should definitely be the healthiest, most natural variety

~String cheese sticks....not necessarily the healthiest option (if you are in the dairy-is-bad camp), but still easy and delicious. Works for us in our house! :)

~Larabars...I've blogged about them before, too, but they are DEFINITELY notable. These are delicious...and, in the company's own words "simple. pure. delicious". These bars are made from minimal ingredients...for example, the "Peanut Butter Cookie" bar (which is the first one I tried!) is made from only peanuts, dates, and salt. YUM! My personal favorites are Peanut Butter Cookie and Key Lime Pie. Jeremy prefers Cherry Pie. YUMMY!

~Kind fruit and nut bars...my favorite varieties are Mango Macadamia, and Almond& Apricot...I will be visiting Naturally Yours here in Bloomington TODAY to stock up on more of these. These also make a great lunch...I've gotten in the somewhat bad habit of working through lunch and not eating much (I've been swamped at work!) and these are so easy to grab, delicious, and really do fill you up for a few hours

Weekends when I have a bit more time (when is THAT?!), I like to prepare smoothies (that's what we had this morning!) with a variety of frozen fruit and orange juice (That's it!) dumped in a blender and blended to frothy perfection....or scrambled eggs with feta and spinach...or GF pancakes...

Carol Fenster's Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes:
1 Cup Carol’s Sorghum Blend...this is the best GF flour blend I've found, recipe below...I keep a stash in my freezer at all times (well, except right now because I ran out! ;))
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp xanthan gum
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Butter for frying
1. In a mixing bowl or large measuring cup, sift together the sorghum blend, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum.
2. Gradually whisk in the buttermilk, butter, egg, and vanilla until very smooth. Let the batter stand 5 minutes and then adjust the consistency, if needed.
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Pour ¼ cup batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on top of the pancake, about 2-3 minutes. Turn and cook until browned on other side. Serve immediately.

I've made these when we have overnight out-of-town guests over (and double the recipe to serve 4)...I get rave reviews! I LOVE these pancakes!

And now, Carol Fenster's Sorghum Blend:
1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch or corn starch (I use potato)
1 cup tapioca flour
Mix it all together in a large container and keep on hand for all of your baking needs!

It works great in a variety of recipes! She has tips in her 1000 Gluten Free Recipes book for adapting the blend to be more suitable for specific baking/recipes, but honestly I typically just use it straight-up...

2 comments:

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

Is coconut something you can eat? (I am not up to speed on my gluten free products) I make strawberry smoothies with coconut milk and they are stunningly delicious. And the energy that you sustain from the coconut milk is wonderful.

From what I have read, you seem to be eating and living very well. I love how you have a wonderful, creative attitude about your dietary restrictions. Some people would be morose and upset but you seem to be making the most of the cards dealt to you :)

-Andrea

Rachel Lynn said...

Thanks, Andrea! I CAN have coconut...and that sounds yummy! Coconut milk, here I come!

Thanks for the positive, encouraging words, as well! :) I try to be upbeat about it...I mean, it would be even worse if I just pouted about it (trust me, though, when I see people eating pizza...or when someone brings a yummy-looking dessert to work....I get kinda cranky. HA!)....

Have a wonderful day...and thanks again for the kind words and the suggestion about the delicious smoothies! Oh, and speaking of coconut...I have your awesome granola recipe saved on my computer...I got all of the ingredients yesterday and plan on making it later today or tomorrow. YUM!!!

:)

~Rachel

 
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