gluten free

One bowl chocolate chip banana bread

One bowl chocolate chip banana bread excerpted from How to make anything gluten-free by Becky Excell. Photography by Hannah Hughes.

How to make anything gluten free Are you avoiding gluten but yearn for fresh bread, all your favourite takeaways or naan bread with your curry? And for your sweet tooth do you crave jam doughnuts, bakery-style cookies and classic cakes?

How to Make Anything Gluten-Free is the first cookbook that shows you how to unlock all the food you truly miss eating—but nothing tastes or looks “gluten-free”.

Becky Excell has spent years developing delicious dishes and sharing them with her followers on Instagram. She is here to show you that a gluten-free life can be exciting and easy, without having to miss out on your favourite foods ever again.

Why restrict yourself to the obvious soups, salads and fruit? What you really want are the recipes that you think you can’t eat! From proper chicken chow mein to pad thai, doughnuts to lemon drizzle cake, cheesecake to profiteroles, French baguettes to pizza, plus dairy-free, vegan, veggie and low FODMAP options, Becky gives you all the recipes you’ll ever need with tips and advice on how to make absolutely anything gluten-free.

How to Make Anything Gluten-Free: Over 100 recipes for everything from home comforts to fakeaways, cakes to dessert, brunch to bread! is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca. (more…)

Rosemary Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted-Hazelnut Milk

Eating whole foods can transform a diet, and mastering the art of cooking these foods can be easy with the proper techniques and strategies.

In 20 chapters, Amy Chaplin, former executive chef of New York’s renowned vegan restaurant Angelica Kitchen, shares ingenious recipes incorporating the foods that are key to a healthy diet: seeds and nuts, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and other plant-based foods. Chaplin offers her secrets for eating healthy every day: mastering some key recipes and reliable techniques and then varying the ingredients based on the occasion, the season, and what you’re craving. (more…)

The best thing I ate this month – June 2015

I’ve never brimmed with excitement at the thought of onion rings. But when the server enthusiastically praised this usually humdrum starter, I thought I’d give it a go. Who knew that onion rings would become an object of my obsession for weeks to come?

These ‘Playful Onion Rings’ are coated in chickpea batter and puffed quinoa which lend them their crunchy texture. I found myself ingesting one and then succumbing to the temptation of another and yet another. Crispy, airy and never greasy, this is a superstar dish all on its own. Sauced with a refreshing chipotle avocado dip as well as a spicy mayo dip, these vegan and gluten-free onion rings transformed into something unmistakably scrumptious.

This dream inducing and divine creation is courtesy of Pure Kitchen Ottawa. And it was the best thing I ate this month.

Book Review: Williams-Sonoma Gluten-Free Baking

71uCydXe9XL

I know what you’re thinking. I’ve succumbed to the ever-present fad that is gluten-free. Let me assure you that I have done no such thing. But for many people, living with a gluten intolerance or sensitivity is serious business.

According to the CDHF, more than 330,000 Canadians are believed to be affected by celiac disease (a condition where people’s immune systems react to gluten found in wheat, rye and barley). In the U.S., that number is a staggering 1 in 133 Americans, or about 1% of the population (according to the NFCA).

With the help of Williams-Sonoma, gluten-free expert and author Kristine Kidd released her eighth book, Gluten-Free Baking, featuring 80 recipes that are naturally gluten-free. Ms. Kidd is a gourmet chef and was the food editor at Bon Appétit magazine for 20 years. After adopting a gluten-free diet due to an intolerance, she set to work developing recipes in her own kitchen, exploring an array of gluten-free whole grains with the goal to create baked goods with great flavour and texture.

(more…)

Book Review: 10 Superb Granola Recipes

10 Superb Granola Recipes

Recipes often say much about a place and time. And let’s face it, Granola will forever be associated with the hippie generation and a youth movement that placed emphasis on natural foods.

In 10 Superb Granola Recipes, author Rachel Ellner recounts that during the Free Love Era in the 60 and 70s, commune food was to be shared, and granola was made in big batches. It was an expression of wholesomeness, and an alternative to processed ingredients.

The food consciousness of that era has made a reemergence and this book conveniently provides 10 granola recipes that have an emphasis on health and are free of gluten or refined sugar.

The cookbook is succinct and in no way intimidating, concentrating on ingredients that are found in most kitchen cupboards while expanding the granola palette with new flavour combinations. You’ll find granola recipes for cocoa cherry, banana chia coconut, pistachio golden raisin, tahini date and apricot nut, and the classic old fashioned, to name a few.

(more…)

A weekend escape to T.O., part 2

CN Tower, Toronto

Sometimes I just need to escape to the big city. True, it comes with some headaches like snarling traffic and unruly crowds. But the benefits of being in a metropolis far outweigh the liabilities. If only to get me out of my food slump.

—- —— —- —- —- —- —- —- —-

Chipotle, Chipotle, how do I love thee? I may seem strange to profess ones love to a fast food restaurant but considering the jam-packed Yonge street location, I am not alone in my adoration of the burrito bowl. And like long-distance lovers reunited after a lengthy time apart, it was oh so sweet. I long for the day when we can once again be together. Chipotle, it wouldn’t hurt you to save me some gas money and move to my neck of the woods. I love thee but how much do you love me?

Yonge Street, Toronto