Now that you’re gluten-free, you don’t have to say goodbye to your favorite recipes. If you have tons of family recipes that have been handed down to you, this can be very good news!

The conversion process is simple: just use gluten-free flour blend (which you can make yourself using my gluten-free flour blend recipe—or buy it prepackaged) one-for-one. This applies to cookies, pancakes, and muffins.

Does your recipe require cake flour? You can make your own by combining 1 ¼ cups of your gluten-free flour blend with ¼ cup of tapioca starch or flour or ¼ cup of corn starch.

The one-for-one substitution doesn’t apply to all recipes, though, such as with Danish sweet rolls and yeast breads.

Miranda Jade
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

b.a.

The gluten-free version of this classic topping is easy and delicious. Top your favorite desserts with it for a new, scrumptious twist!

INGREDIENTS

½ c firmly packed brown sugar

½ c quick-cooking GF oats

1/3 c GF flour mix

6 tbsp butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, and flour.

2. Stir in melted butter.

Miranda Jade

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

The Pure Pantry offers mixes that are not only delicious, but good for you, serving as proof that gluten-free, dairy-free, casein-free, soy-free, and even sugar-free don’t equal taste-free—quite the contrary!

The Pure Pantry offers a variety of mixes for gluten-free cookies, cakes, and pancakes, and even an all-purpose mix for creating other baked goods such as biscuits, muffins, and breads. The mixes are also versatile. We added tons of nuts to the Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, and we loved them. They were not only delicious, but so healthy tasting.

Other mixes include Wholegrain Chocolate Chip Coconut Organic Cookie Mix, Buckwheat Flax Pancake and Baking Mix, Organic Sugar Cookie Mix, and the decadent Wholegrain Dark Chocolate Cake Mix, oh so chocolately and full of good-for-you nutrients including protein, antioxidants, and protein from ingredients such as quinoa. The Organic All-Purpose Baking Mix is vegan and free of gluten, sugar, dairy, and casein and remarkable for its versatility. It’s even kosher!

Elizabeth Kaplan, Founder of The Pure Pantry, was diagnosed with celiac disease several years ago. Discontent with the poor nutritional value of gluten-free products, Elizabeth put her skills as a trained chef to work to develop great-tasting as well as healthy gluten-free substitutes. The Pure Pantry’s website, http://www.thepurepantry.com, features recipes, an online store, and resources for the gluten-free community. I highly recommend checking out their mixes for your gluten-free baking.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

k.m.

Tina Turbin

A dear friend sent me this unique cupcake recipe.  So unique in fact that it would go perfectly with my one-of-a-kind recipe for Aztec hot chocolate.

Vegan & GF Chocolate Chip Avocado Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Dakota Prairie GF Millet Flour Blend ( or any other GF flour blend of your choice)
¾ cup Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy free)
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 avocado (pureed)
1 cup sugar
¾ cup coconut milk
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp. vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners
• Whisk all dry ingredients
• Blend all wet ingredients
• Mix all ingredients together
• Spoon batter into prepared cupcake cups
• Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick is clean when center is pierced
• Cool and top with avocado frosting

Avocado Frosting

Ingredients:

2 avocados (pureed)
juice of 2 lemons
¼ cup sugar

• Puree all ingredients together and refrigerate if not in use

Contributor: Mara Rouse

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

As a celiac, I can’t eat gluten. Town after town, I walk by bakeries with their windows adorned with scrumptious cupcakes, wedding cakes, and tarts. My friends walk in and enjoy the tasty delights they can consume, leaving me longing while I attempt to satisfy my needs with a coffee or tea sweetened with stevia, as if stevia really does the job.

Well, San Francisco’s Crave wholesale bakery has filled my needs, my desires, and my longings for GF baked goods. The cupcakes are like the ones I remember eating as a child, with no bad aftertaste or aftereffects. The cakes are of a quality of the finest dining experience. It was unanimous among all my staff and field testers, including an arranged testing I hosted: Crave rules! Keep in mind my testers consist of picky, non-GF eaters (lucky folks), kids with “discriminating” taste buds, and then some GF guys who are as picky as they can be.

Founder Cameo Edwards started Crave, a wholesale bakery, in 2003 after a year of frustrating physical difficulties, which she found to all be stemming from gluten, which she now had to cut out of her diet. She longed for delicious treats and eventually created a delicious brownie. Retail shops started ordering from her, and the rest is history.

Cameo makes gluten-free products taste delicious. They are all baked in small batches and delivered immediately. Her vanilla and chocolate cupcakes are large and moist, and the frosting is heavenly. Her cheesecake is light and the crust unlike any we had tried before. Her chocolate cake is rich and brownies unique in flavor, and honestly, we couldn’t get enough.

With a mission to ensure her customers satisfy their cravings for traditional baked goods with her own, she offers a multitude of goods to satisfy everyone’s needs. Cameo omits gluten and casein from all her products, trying to service the needs of most celiacs, as many can’t tolerate casein. She uses free-range eggs from Petaluma chicken and supports local producers and family-owned operations.

Her products are literally scattered all throughout the Pacific Coast rocky regions, and she accommodates any shipping needs. Maintaining freshness is the priority. She’s there to service and to continue to present the most delicious GF wholesale bakery. One can order select items from her website in the shop section. Currently, all her products are available all throughout the Pacific coast and in retail stores as well as in Whole Foods in the Rocky Mountains.

Cameo custom-bakes beautiful, eye-appealing wedding and birthday cakes to order while adding the right touch to any event. All of Crave’s products are packaged in beautiful, see-through containers, allowing the customers to eye the goods freely. Seeing her items will make anyone purchase them without a hint of disappointment.

This food company is given a thumbs up and is HIGHLY recommended by me.

Tina Turbin

www.glutenfreehelp.info

We had SO much fun baking to our hearts content, decorating with our imaginations soaring, eating Pamela’s Products and enjoying one another’s company.

I am honored and grateful be able to have incredibly delicious ingredients and fun give-aways for my parties, all from Pamela’s Products as well as Nature’s Food Patches LOADED gift bags , once again.

If anyone is interested in helping to spread the word about making the AWARENESS of celiac much more broadly known, as it should be, please e-mail me and I will share how to bring this about in your area.

We need everyone’s help and support! We need to unite and share each and everyone’s special skills and interests in this area. The profits from this party were all donated to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Thank you, Tina Turbin

I so wanted to be a winner in her December contest and get those delicious cookies ( the gift) delivered to my door BUT the another wonderful baker got the prize. Lucky gal!

You can see my competition here and see my muffins sitting right next to the winner in the top left:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128591&id=9321268761

You can also view the photo of one of my GLUTEN-FREE cupcake parties in which I donate all the money rasied to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness( NFCA) on her second page. See all the lovely kids and moms!

My hats off to Yvonne M.B. for coming in first place with those adorable cookies.

Check out my recipes anyway as they are scrumptious.

OK folks, next time – right! …..:)  Tina Turbin

Celiac Disease and 18 Month Old  Leah!

A new mom, feeding journals, diaper journals, sleep schedules… all trial and error! Leah’s precious life started with a week in the NICU, but as a fighter she bounded out and has been that way for her six dear years. Leah never delayed her eating and loved noodles, bread, cookies and of course her fruits and vegetables. However, Leah seemed to have one cold after another, Eczema and vomited every so often. Again as a new mom, nothing seemed odd just part of the development course. At 18 months, however we realized that her shape was that of a bird and a food deprived child with an extended abdomen. Our pediatrician indicated her weight was declining rapidly and she was diagnosed with “Failure to Thrive”.

Obviously fear struck (don’t look up Failure to Thrive) we quickly tried to find what the cause was. Fortunately, two family members had heard of Celiac Disease and mentioned it to us. Having an amazing pediatrician, he requested a blood test which was an immediate indicator of Leah’s issues. Soon after Leah endured an endoscopy and received the diagnosis of Celiac. In just three months we went from scary to diagnosed.

Ok, so what now? Daunting! As a new mom and truly not a person who enjoys cooking, the challenge was on. We were on a mission, what was Leah going to eat, how were we going to establish a “typical” lifestyle for her, what resources were available? Needless to say we began our education process and we had tremendous support from our family. Once gluten free Leah’s health improved tremendously and rather quickly. Leah is an amazing child and has taken responsibility for her nutrition and diet, always asking if there is gluten in the item or just declining gracefully. We take great strides to make sure Leah fits right in to any food situation by contacting party hosts to see what food is served, we are in constant communication with teachers and we have open conversations with her about the food she will eat and why it might look different. As a positive being gluten free is a healthy alternative and the world today has become more aware of what it is to be gluten free.

For parents of newly diagnosed children I say take a deep breath and take it one step at a time! Become informed and join a local ROCK (Raising Our Celiac Kids) group online if possible. Know it is overwhelming at first, but there are some great resources. Try to make an event, holiday, or food based situation about the event and not the food!  Having Celiac is challenging, but manageable.

Lauri