Wholesome, wheat-free, breadmaker bread. And it's not like a brick!

Since having decided to go wheat free and (mostly) sugar free I have cut back a lot on bread - mainly because they are so expensive to buy and so difficult to make.
 So, when I found a reasonable breadmix but one that was too crumbly, I set about improving on it. It changed a reasonable amount from the one I had, and I am quite pleased with how well it turns out.
 And how easy! You just put all the ingredients in your breadmaker and turn it on.
It is a nutritionally dense loaf, in that it uses brown rice flour and cornmeal. It can also have seeds etc added to it - poppy seeds are good.

 So, following the list below, put all the ingredients in your bread pan in this order -

•  1/3 C Milk, I use goat milk
• 1 1/4 C Water, warmed
• 4 T Oil, I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 t Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 T Honey, runny (needed to help the yeast)
• 1/2-1 t Salt
• 1 1/4 C White Rice Flour
• 1/4 C Medium ground Cornmeal
• 2/3 C Brown Rice Flour
• 1 1/2 t Xantham Gum
• 2 t Breadmaker yeast

Ensure that the flours cover the liquids completely and put on the wholegrain setting. Leave to cook. It keeps well for about 2 days or can be cut when cool and stored in the freezer. It is a little crumbly if sliced too thin, I think that is the case though for breads made without wheat.

Enjoy!

Wheat free oat pancakes. Quick and easy.

Breakfast for me has to be something that is going to fill me up and stop me getting hungry later on. So, I usually try and having some kind of oats - for me they fill me up and keep me well sustained. ( I still use butter as it is beginning to be considered one of the healthy oils/fats.)

• 
  
  1 cup rolled oats
• 
  
  1 cup milk, goat, cow etc
• 
  
  ¾ cup buckwheat
• 
  
  2 tsp baking powder
• 
  
  ½ tsp salt
• 
  
  1 egg
• 30g butter
  

Put the rolled oats in a bowl with the milk.
In another bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the egg to the oat mix, stirring to combine well and then pour it into the flour mix. Add more milk if it is too stiff.
Heat a frying pan till very hot, turn down to just below medium heat. Add a little butter and put spoonfulls of batter into the pan.
When bubbles appear, turn it over and cook the other side quickly. Serve hot with honey, a little butter and chopped up banana.
Yum!

Peanut Butter, Barley, Oatmeal and Chocolate Cookies.

I do quite a bit of baking for my kids and I used to sometimes add sugar for them, but in really quite small amounts. At least as far as most baking today is concerned!
I now however have enough of a retinue of baking recipes that I do not use sugar anymore.
So, here is my recipe for wheat free, sugar free cookies, adapted from Madhuram's Eggless cooking. It gave me the idea and here is my adaptation.


Ingredients -

• 1/4 C Smooth Peanut Butter
• 1/4 C Butter
• 2 D Honey, a light tasting type
• 1/2 t Vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 2 t Water
• 3/4 C Barley Flour
• 1/8 t Salt
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1/2 C Rolled Oats
• 1/2 C Whittaker's Ghana Chocolate, chopped small (or chocolate chips)
• 1/2 C Ricies
• 1/4 C Sunflower Seeds or nuts

Preheat the oven to 180 C and place the racks in the top third of the oven. Place baking paper on a baking sheet, or grease a baking sheet with butter.
In a large bowl mix together softened butter, peanut butter, vanilla and sugar. Mix till it smooth.
Add all other ingredients, if the mix seems too stiff add 1 more teaspoon of water.
Using a desertspoon, spoon onto the baking paper and bake for about 10 minutes, according to your oven. In mine they are done at 10, but I do like my cookies a little soft.
Remove from the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool, then try!
Great in kid's lunches and can be frozen.

Owl buddies (no wheat or sugar)

These cute little guys came about after I wanted a toy to add to a baby basket. I run a preschooler's music group and when one of the families has a new baby we give them a basket jam packed full of goodies.
We always add a toy of some kind, but lately I've wanted it to be more special, so I decided to make them myself.
I drew a basic shape, cut out the fabric, sewed it up and ta-dah!

I really got into it and made a few and my boys of course wanted one each as well.

They are simple and fun to make so why not give on a go?

I haven't yet scanned the pattern in, but if you were keen for a copy I could see if the scanner will be happy to oblige.

Welcome!

Trying to live a healthy lifestyle can be a tricky business these days.

After many years of trying to figure out how best to do this, I have made a start for me and my family.
First of all I slowly decreased how much wheat we were having by baking most things without wheat. Now, I am happily at a point where I do not have wheat at all. I never thought I could be happy about that!
We also have a very, very small amount of sugar. By small I mean that I have 1-2 wheat free, sugar low brownies a week. And that is all. For a sweet tooth like me it is a small miracle.
If you are unsure of the effects of wheat, sugar and dairy, why not do a google search to discover for yourself.
We still have some dairy in our diet, but it is fairly low. My sons and I drink Goat milk - I think the best of all the milks out there. What do you think?