For lunch today, I brought some leftover pancakes to have with my meatloaf. In our house, that is a somewhat standard meal (accompanied by some vegetables, of course). In this particular case, I was mixing leftovers from Sunday breakfast with leftovers from Whatever-day supper that were still in the fridge and appeared to be at least mostly edible. The fact that they were made for different meals on different days did not make this combo any less appealing or delicious. I was, in fact, quite looking forward to lunch time. So much so that I figured I'd better test out one of the pancakes before lunchtime to verify the deliciousness that awaited me.
So, I fetched myself a pancake, and proceeded to nosh on it as I walked back through the store to resume my Monday organizing. Boy, did I get some odd looks. I am accustomed to these types of looks, as I do at times bring some unusual food combinations for lunch, but I was chomping on the most common of commonplace Ummerrriccan breakfast foods. Sure, it wasn't slathered with butter and drowning in syrup. Nor was I eating with a fork from a neat cylindrical stack of perfectly cut up white disks. I had my cold pancake in hand and was taking dainty bites of it, thanks very much.
"Is that gluten free?"
"Um, yeah." Chew, chew.
"Ha." Sardonic smile, slight head shake. "Oh man."
At this point I moseyed past the stares and towards a clothing rack to get on with my organizing. From this vantage point and appearing engrossed in hangers and gloves, I overheard an exchange.
"Is that gluten free?"
"Yeah, it's a gluten free pancake. I like my Bisquick."
"A pancake? Gluten free? Can YOU even eat that?"
"Well, sure I could, but why would I want to?"
"You can eat gluten free stuff?"
Sigh. "Of course."
Chew, chew, smile. Why would you want to? Same reason you would want to eat anything: because it is delicious.
But, like many other people I encounter, these nice folks (who I know like to eat things they enjoy) remain mystified by and cordoned off from the possibility that gluten free food is food too. They regard it as sub-par at best. They view it as an inadequate substitute for something else. They assume that I am begrudgingly depriving myself for some imaginary greater good.
I will be the first to shout from the rooftops that wheat flour has some fantastic and fantastically unique qualities that verge on magical, even though it has some negative effects on me. I have never had Danish pastries like the ones I made in my apartment three years ago. But I will also tell you that that magic is NEVER the reason why people are closed off to gluten free food. I'm starting to think it's just a general fear of the unknown. It's the same phenomenon that occurs when someone doesn't like some specific food purely because they have not tried it. In this case, the Gluten Free Food has the misfortune of being labeled based on what it has NOT rather than what it HAS. Perhaps we could call gluten free foods something like Wheat Alternative Yumminess or Happy Tummy Breads.
Or maybe, just maybe, we could call them Food.
++++++++++++
Crumbly Chocolate Chip Stealth Apple Mini Cakes
(a.k.a. Gluten Free Blondie-cupcakes - adapted from babycakes, by Erin McKenna)
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup arrowroot
scant 1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon guar gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (in liquid form, but not hot)
1/3 cup UNSWEETENED applesauce (homemade is great, store bought is good too!)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup chocolate chips (I use bittersweet or semi-sweet)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325.
Grease two muffin tins or line with muffin papers.
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients including the sugar in a large bowl.
Whisk in the oil, then the applesauce. Be sure to blend thoroughly.
Add in the vanilla and hot water and mix again until the batter is pretty smooth.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Fill your muffin papers almost to the tops. You should get just about 12.
Bake for about 10 minutes, then rotate the pan.
Begin checking for doneness after about 20 minutes.
They are done when they're lightly browned and spring mostly back when pressed.
Mine took between 25 and thirty minutes.
These will set as they cool, so don't worry if they seem soft out of the oven.
They are super super crumbly, so use a plate or paper towel to catch yummy crumbs when you enjoy!
~GFG
So, I fetched myself a pancake, and proceeded to nosh on it as I walked back through the store to resume my Monday organizing. Boy, did I get some odd looks. I am accustomed to these types of looks, as I do at times bring some unusual food combinations for lunch, but I was chomping on the most common of commonplace Ummerrriccan breakfast foods. Sure, it wasn't slathered with butter and drowning in syrup. Nor was I eating with a fork from a neat cylindrical stack of perfectly cut up white disks. I had my cold pancake in hand and was taking dainty bites of it, thanks very much.
"Is that gluten free?"
"Um, yeah." Chew, chew.
"Ha." Sardonic smile, slight head shake. "Oh man."
At this point I moseyed past the stares and towards a clothing rack to get on with my organizing. From this vantage point and appearing engrossed in hangers and gloves, I overheard an exchange.
"Is that gluten free?"
"Yeah, it's a gluten free pancake. I like my Bisquick."
"A pancake? Gluten free? Can YOU even eat that?"
"Well, sure I could, but why would I want to?"
"You can eat gluten free stuff?"
Sigh. "Of course."
Chew, chew, smile. Why would you want to? Same reason you would want to eat anything: because it is delicious.
But, like many other people I encounter, these nice folks (who I know like to eat things they enjoy) remain mystified by and cordoned off from the possibility that gluten free food is food too. They regard it as sub-par at best. They view it as an inadequate substitute for something else. They assume that I am begrudgingly depriving myself for some imaginary greater good.
I will be the first to shout from the rooftops that wheat flour has some fantastic and fantastically unique qualities that verge on magical, even though it has some negative effects on me. I have never had Danish pastries like the ones I made in my apartment three years ago. But I will also tell you that that magic is NEVER the reason why people are closed off to gluten free food. I'm starting to think it's just a general fear of the unknown. It's the same phenomenon that occurs when someone doesn't like some specific food purely because they have not tried it. In this case, the Gluten Free Food has the misfortune of being labeled based on what it has NOT rather than what it HAS. Perhaps we could call gluten free foods something like Wheat Alternative Yumminess or Happy Tummy Breads.
Or maybe, just maybe, we could call them Food.
++++++++++++
Crumbly Chocolate Chip Stealth Apple Mini Cakes
(a.k.a. Gluten Free Blondie-cupcakes - adapted from babycakes, by Erin McKenna)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup arrowroot
scant 1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon guar gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (in liquid form, but not hot)
1/3 cup UNSWEETENED applesauce (homemade is great, store bought is good too!)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup chocolate chips (I use bittersweet or semi-sweet)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325.
Grease two muffin tins or line with muffin papers.
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients including the sugar in a large bowl.
Whisk in the oil, then the applesauce. Be sure to blend thoroughly.
Add in the vanilla and hot water and mix again until the batter is pretty smooth.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Fill your muffin papers almost to the tops. You should get just about 12.
Bake for about 10 minutes, then rotate the pan.
Begin checking for doneness after about 20 minutes.
They are done when they're lightly browned and spring mostly back when pressed.
Mine took between 25 and thirty minutes.
These will set as they cool, so don't worry if they seem soft out of the oven.
They are super super crumbly, so use a plate or paper towel to catch yummy crumbs when you enjoy!
~GFG
