Gluten-Free Ratio Rally - Gluten-Free Fettuccini

Pasta is one meal that makes an appearance on our dining table frequently.

Part of the reason why is that it can be made and on the table in about an hour, starting from the simplest of ingredients.

And you can do the same, especially if you check out all the variations created for this month's Gluten Free Ratio Rally.  After all, there is so much more you can do once you have the basic pasta recipe perfected.

Pasta, Gluten-Free Pasta with ease

Homemade Gluten-Free Fettuccini

By Dr. Jean Layton
2011-07-06
Gluten-Free Pasta roundup including ravioli, linguini, lasagna with Homemade Gluten-Free Fettuccini Recipe

Prep Time:
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole grain flour mix
1 cup white flour mix
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pixie dust

Instructions:

1.In a large bowl, weigh all the flour mixtures and salt.

2. Add the large eggs and beat well till combined.

3. Knead the mixture in the bowl for a minute or till it starts to get a bit sticky

4. Cover the bowl and let rest 15 minutes.

5. Spray the first piece of parchment paper with spray oil, place ball of dough then spray with oil again, before covering with parchment.

6. Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick or thinner. Remove the top layer of parchment paper.

7. Cut dough into thin strips using a pizza cutter or sharp knife.

8. Replace the top sheet of parchment, turn over and then remove the back sheet of parchment.

9. Allow the pasta to air dry while getting ready to cook the pasta.

10. Fill large pot with water and bring to a boil, adding 2-3 tablespoons of salt.

11. Add the noodles. Cook till they float.
Serve with sauce or cheese of your choice.

Check out all these amazing versions of gluten free pasta, starting with this month's host,
Jenn of Jenn's Cuisine created Tagliatelle with smoked salmon
Brooke from B & the Boy! made Ravioli w/strawberry filling and chocolate berry sauce
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Multi-grain fettuccine
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Ravioli w/ shrimp, spinach, mushrooms, & cheese filling in browned butter
Gretchen from Kumquat made Vegetable lasagna
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Tagliatelle with smoked salmon, peas and parmesan
Lisa from Gluten Free Canteen made Lokshen kugel
Karen from Cooking Gluten Free made Homemade gluten free pasta
Mary Fran from Frannycakes made Pasta with pink vodka sauce
Meaghan from The Wicked Good Vegan made Vegan gluten-free homemade pasta, in creamy artichoke tagliatelle
Meg from Gluten-Free Boulangerie made Fettuccine with sun-dried tomatoes
Pete and Kelli from No Gluten, No Problem made Tortellini
Tara from A Baking Life made Fazzoletti with wild mushrooms and spring onions
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Tomato basil pork raviolis

Gluten- Free Raspberry Custard Pie with a Butter Crust and a preview

Sometimes a good idea seems to just spring from the ether.

An idea that resonates with so many people that, when it is shared, it is embraced by all who hear it and so it spreads.

That is what seem to happen when the idea of a pie party was mentioned on Twitter.  As of an hour ago, it looks like 1500 people are baking, photographing and tweeting about pie.

Gluten-Free Whole Grain Flour Mix

Whole Grain Gluten Free Flour Mix

For the whole wheat lover, who misses the more developed flavor of whole grains as well as the higher fiber and vitamin content in their gluten free flour mix.

This combination has

whole brown rice flour working as the backbone,

sweet (aka glutinous, no, not gluten) rice flour to recreate some of the structure,

sorghum flour to help develop the rounded flavor and

millet flour to recreate the ability to have a tender crumb and provides a lovely golden color.

When you make the batch, make sure to blend it thoroughly so there are no pockets of an individual flour.

Love the flavor and nutrition of whole wheat, But now you're #glutenfree Try this!

This works far better as a quartet than a solo.

You will have a lovely batch of pale brown goodness, reminiscent of whole wheat pastry flour.
If you are like me and desire to use whole flours primarily, realize that you can substitute this flour blend- by weight- for the white flour mix at any time.  The finished product will likely be a bit more dense but still tasty.

Yes, this means you need a scale.  Believe me, you will love it once you try it.

Baking by weight means you will consistently have wonderful baked goods.
I use a large Cambro container with a tight fitting lid to mix my batch,  it gives a bit of room to mix and seals tightly for storage.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Pfefferneuse Cookies-Christmas in a cookie

Pfeffernüsse (Pepper Nut) Cookies
Snowy globes of sweetness. Spicy notes of cinnamon, anise and cloves, echoing smooth white pepper. Rich in cardamom and honey with the tang of orange peel, Pfeffernüsse are Christmas in each crunchy bite.

My mom turned me on to Pfeffernüsse, also known as pepper nuts.

She loved any cookie from the rich baking tradition of Germany, but these were her favorite.

When the first square white cardboard box with candy cane striped cotton twine arrived in late November from Langer's bakery,  and the spicy aroma of these cookies wafted out, we knew that Christmas was on the way.

I was fortunate to grow up in Demarest, NJ, just a town away from Mr. Langer.

Working with his brick oven, Mr. Langer's bakery turned out the most amazing water rolls studded with poppy seeds.

Airy meringues were a special treat when the oven was being cooled down for cleaning.

But Christmas was a time when all the butter rich cookie recipes from the old country would be brought front and center in the long glass-fronted walnut display case.

We would have such a hard time making our choices.  Lebkuchen, springerle, sprizgeback and zimtsterve - rich with honey, sweet spices and nuts were all there. But Mom's and my favorite cookie was the snowball of pfefferneuse.

When we went gluten-free, this was one recipe that I just had to convert but I didn't have an original recipe.

So Pfeffernusse (Pepper Nut) Cookies Gluten Free Recipe began to be developed.

IFBC- International Food Bloggers Conference Recap

The muses have awoken me and I am compelled to respond. My legs are still twitching from all the walking yesterday but movement now is essential.
My back creaks a protest, the vertebrae refusing to aline without pain.
My shoulders seem permanently hunched from typing so much this weekend.

The muses call me.

I am grateful.


Grateful that these aches and pains were worth it. That the effort of sitting in a darkened room for 2 days hunched over my laptop were not in vain.

Grateful that I was able to go to IFBC. The International Food Bloggers Conference. 

Although, maybe the muses are my dogs, anxious to stretch their legs and clear their bodies.

Either way, it is 6 am on Monday August 30th and I am again at my computer.
Feeling recharged in a way that I had hoped, all uncertainty gone about whether I am a food blogger.

Uncertainty gone about whether my craft will ever improve,
Uncertainty about whether I can make a good picture happen or not, gone.

I know now that those are the results of massive amounts of effort.
I am ready for that effort, ready to reach out in very different ways.
Ready to engage, to truly hold a conversation, to ask for feed-back.
Eliminating the places to hide and step out into the light.

Ready to truly guide you to health.

I am Ready!

Why, you ask am I sounding so different?  Why am I talking to you rather than seeming to be so polished and professional?

Because at IFBC this weekend, I learned that you want to meet me.

ME?! The one who always sat at the back of the classroom, reading a clandestine book of science instead of having to participate in classroom discussions. My brain already knew the answers for the teachers but was frustrated by the process.  I knew it, why in the world didn’t other kids?

Me, the introvert who likes to scan a room, seeking out the lone person who interests me.
The one who can force herself to be gregarious and companionable but hides behind a veneer of professional coolness.

What happened to change my perspective?  IFBC happened.
250+ people crammed into a chocolate factory like those interlocking canned sardines. Writers of reference books, bloggers, photographers, corporate shills, sponsors. All gathered to share their knowledge, their passions, their products.
To food bloggers.

Us,

Me.

This is the summer of my re-creation as a writer.  I have been writing this blog for almost 5 years. Overall, I have been ok with it but haven’t ever truly felt like I’ve connected to my audience.

And now I know why that is so.  I’ve never talked with you in my own voice.
I’ve projected a defensive veneer of professional confidence, coupled with a simplified vocabulary to not overwhelm.

I have been wrong.

Because if I am truthful and honest about how I talk to patients, colleagues, and friends, I use big language, complex ideas and medical terminology freely.

But here I have not,

I have been afraid to show you my geeky, nerdy- kid in the back of the room reading a textbook that has nothing to do with the subject- self.

I have been afraid that you won’t like to read my stories.

But, now I have confidence you do, or you will. Because you have found yourself here by some random turn of the web, or with guidance from a friend.


So welcome to the new improved Gluten-Free Doctor. 
I have decided that this place will be updated on a weekly basis, typically Thursday.
I cook daily for most of our meals but hate the precision needed to bring a recipe to this page.

For you, I want to have that focus. Because when you make one of my recipes it needs to work.

Lynne Rosetto Casper has nothing on me, I routinely use 5 random ingredients from my fridge to make dinner. Otherwise my family would be hungry.

Can I measure each ingredient as I go to make it again? Rarely.

I want to feed my family. I want to move along in my life and just eat.  I don’t like to fuss, writing down with precision each herb, spice and carrot, and remember to make pictures of each ingredient, each cooking step and the luscious finished product. 

Besides, my kids are a bit tired of me making them wait till I have just the right light to photograph their dinner.


Wild abandon is the watchword of my nightly cooking with only a few guiding principles.

My meats have low to no added hormones, chemical solutions or tremendous distances traveled. No nitrates, nitrites except for celery seed.

2. My eggs are from chickens who have seen sunlight, bugs and grass in their lifetimes. Hopefully they have created eggs that reflect that. Till a month ago, they lived in my backyard. Damn, that homeowners association!

3. That my vegetables and fruits are pesticide free, hopefully at the peak of ripeness and haven’t been shipped from Venezuela.  I like mine from Whatcom County.

4. My fats are organic because pesticides and herbicides attach themselves to the fats in plants.  Endocrine disruptors all, I see no need to increase my chances for breast cancer.  Those are high enough already just from genetics.

5. My gluten-free grains are not genetically modified nor doused in pesticides and herbicides. I wish I could get most of the grains I prefer locally, but that is not truly an option. So I source them from the nearest safe gluten-free mill in Portland.

I like to keep my carbon footprint small because I have kids who want to grow up in a world that isn’t underwater from global warming of the glaciers.

Ok, so there you go, My philosophy in a nutshell.

Locally grown, low chemical content, happy animals, small carbon footprint.

When I can slow down and do the measuring, I can post a recipe that reflects those principles as well as instruct you.

That can only truly happen once or twice a week because my life is busy.

I am a doctor who specializes in gluten intolerance but sees the gamut of patients from birth to elder.

I am a wife to an amazing acupuncturist who depends on my social media knowledge for promotion of his community acupuncture clinic.
As do my other clients for social media setups.  I am a geek who loves the infrastructure set-up of social media.  So I have another business doing just that for artists, writers, brick and mortar stores.  If you want me to help you, send me an email.

I am the mom to two incredible daughters. Young ladies about to embark on middle school- the 3rd circle of hell in my memories.  They need my focus to journey through.

I lead their girl scout troop. Girls do need to learn how to build fires, cook over coals in a dutch oven, learn about science and math, trail blaze and sometimes just kickback and enjoy working with their hands. Oh, and sell some cookies too.  Without a strong leader, they will never experience some of those things.  Our troop has been together since first grade.  Don’t you think they might get through middle school with a bit more confidence since they know they can depend on their friends from Girl Scouts?

I serve on the board of our local gluten intolerance group, lead the Healthy Gluten-Free Kids support group here in town. I even write about all of this on 4 blogs, twitter and facebook.

I teach classes (look under the events tab)  so newly diagnosed folks can change to a gluten free life that is healthy.
There is life and bread after diagnosis.  Gluten free sourdough bread, actually.  One that has a crunchy crust, tender insides and a flavor that can transport you to San Francisco.


All this and a bunch of continuing education seminars, conferences and such to round out the demands on my time.

So once a week is it for here.  Talk with you next week.
Or better yet, leave me a question to answer or a recipe to remake.  I like challenges.
And if you want to see my pictures of IFBC, click here.
Just realize that till I heard Penny de los Santos speak, I was taking pictures not yet making pictures.

Mrs. Mac's Homemade Butterscotch Candy Recipe

Halloween brings back so many memories of costumes from the attic that my mom made for my older siblings that were passed down to us "little kids".
We are a largish family of 6 kids so we had the older trio and the littles.

Shattered Butterscotch-Ready to eat

Are there other folks out there who are still referred to as the "little kids" in their 50's?

The costumes were so much fun, Raggedy Ann and Andy complete with wigs.
Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz with the Scarecrow.
I remember lots of long gowns, even longer dress gloves and the occasional high heel too.

I continue the tradition, making the costumes for my girls and occasionally their friends too.
Like the year I made 9 girls into a Mob of Meerkats, starting from sweatsuits.

A Mob of Meerkats - from the British Series Meerkat Manor

But most of all Halloween meant trick or treating home from school and Butterscotch.

My mom MADE her Homemade Butterscotch Halloween candy every year.

It was legendary in Demarest, New Jersey where I grew up.
Mrs. Mac's butterscotch was the candy everyone traded anything to get. I never had as many friends as the week before Halloween.

Even my teachers got into the act. Since I had siblings who were 10+ years older than I was, the teachers had seen a lot of Mrs. Mac's Butterscotch. Each year our teachers would be gifted the hard, wax paper wrapped disc of pure, sweet, dark brown candy. I wonder if they looked down their rosters at the beginning of the school year to see if they would be the fortunate ones with a McFadden in class that year?

We even had to carry along some as we went Trick or Treating to give to adults who remembered getting the butterscotch when they were kids.  Yes, really.  I had neighbors who wouldn't give me a treat till I gave them a present of Mrs. Mac's Butterscotch Candy first.

I was always amazed at my mother's planning for the production.She stated her purchasing early to stock up on the light brown sugar. It had to be regular cane sugar, C&H brand in a one pound box. Doubling the recipe was taking foolhardy chances. It never came out right if you did.

Then pounds of unsalted butter started to appear in the freezer. Considering that this was a house that had truly embraced margarine, you knew it was a special recipe.

The rolls of waxed paper would be purchased, and our jobs would begin. We kids were the beginning and the end of the process of creation. We greased the muffin tins with melted butter, not too much, just a bit, to allow release of each golden disc from the pans and we wrapped.

Mom was the one who handled the boiling sugar, guess she didn't want to use her nursing skills while she was so busy being a confectioner.
We would start the production a week or so before Halloween. If you hold them too long, the little cakes get sticky and sugar out. They just aren't as nice when they get held.
On a clear, dry day, she would get out our flat bottomed stew pots and begin with just one batch. This batch was the tester, the one batch we all would get a piece from to try.

Candy making has so many variables, ambient temperature, moisture of the butter, dryness or not of the sugar, temperature of the pan and the weather that you have to make a batch to see how to compensate.

In would go the butter, then the sugar and finally the cider vinegar and water.

She would stir the ingredients together over an "egg light". Every one of us kids knew exactly what that meant on our cranky old gas stove. It meant the height of the flame appropriate to cooking a scrambled egg without burning or overcooking. A little consistent flame. Since we all learned how to cook an egg for breakfast as soon as we could safely handle the stove, it was a familiar part of our world.

The butter would begin to melt, coating the bottom of the pot in fat. The sugar would start to melt and give off the scent of molasses.
Mom would stir and stir to combine the two and the alchemy of the vinegar and water assisted.

I would get such headaches from the smell. I think it was the vinegar, but the finished candy is worth it.

Then Mom would stop stirring and let the mixture cook till a hard ball stage. She wouldn't stir to prevent stirring in the sugar crystals that occasionally occurred on the side of the pot. Then she would test by dropping a bit into a cold glass of water.

Everyone of us knew how to test the crack stage before we were 6.
Mom would ask us to get the little ball of mix out of the glass of water. Guess our hands were just the right size to fit. We would get to play with (or eat) the little bit of candy to see if it was ready.
Was it still sticky, not glossy? Still needed a bit more time then.
Did it have resistance to being squished and snap when you bent it? Good, then it was done.

Then Mom would do her Butterscotch dance.

Taking the pot off the heat and moving quickly to the counter where the prepared muffin tins sat, she would take her metal cooking spoon - dip and pour, dip and pour till the syrup was deposited perfectly in each little cup. Her shoulders would lead the way to the next empty muffin space to deposit the boiling syrup. Her hips would get into the rhythm. Her fingers would fly.

Somehow, perfectly, 18 pieces of candy would be cooling before it solidified in the pot, with only a few drips on the pan to become kid food. Then the pot would be back on the burner to begin again.

We were in charge of the wrapping part of the production.
First, we had to cut the paper in perfect rectangles. We managed to do this without losing too many fingers to the sharp cutter on the box.
Then each rectangle was cut to form a 4x6 inch rectangle.
We would stack them up in bunches of 18 since that was the production from a batch, although occasionally there would be a bit less.
Each one was wrapped in a square of waxed paper with a butchers fold on top and the precise corners folded underneath.

Waiting for the candy to cool was always a torture. The dribbles on top were our solace, they cooled rapidly. If you got them before they were cold, you could stretch them into lovely lacy strings to wrap around your tongue. We would clean up the pans while we waited.

Popping out the discs was another skill learned young. You had to put the point of the paring knife down the side of each compartment just right to POP out the disc without creating flakes on the sides.
But if you did flake, it was just another piece for the family.

See why Mom made one batch for us? She wasn't crazy, she knew we would get sick of it fast and preserve the rest for the trick or treaters.

Popping out the discs, passing them to my sister to wrap. Waiting for my brother to find the shoe boxes to stack the completed ones into for storage till the big day. That was the weekend before Halloween for us.

I remember when the concerns about Halloween candy safety started when I was in 3rd grade.
First kids wouldn't eat apples, thinking there were razor blades hidden. Then all unwrapped foods got to be suspicious. No more popcorn balls, fudge or little baggies of candy corn.
We started to put an address label on each piece of candy so folks who were newer in town could call us to check if they wanted.

But occasionally, we would see a child leave the house and throw the candy away.

My mom was so hurt.

She kept making the candy to hand out on Halloween till I was in 6th grade. Then she stopped.
My mom loved to do this yearly event even after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She would make a batch just for us, or maybe a batch for the Legion or the firehouse. The older kids in college always got a care package. But she was always hurt that she couldn't make it for her community.

Now I look at the recipe and see family history.

So in honor of my mom.

Mrs. Mac's Homemade Butterscotch Candy Recipe

By Dr. Jean Layton,
2009-10-31
Classic, crisp butterscotch candy. Now you can make your own right at home

Prep Time:5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: 18 discs of candy
CategoryCandy
Equipment needed: 18 holed muffin tin
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 pound of light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions:
1. Melt butter in flat bottom stew pot over slow flame.
2. Add sugar and stir to combine.
3. Add vinegar and water.
4.Heat slowly till sugar melts.
5. Continue to cook till hard crack stage (300 degrees)is reached.
That means 300 degrees on a candy thermometer or when a ball of the syrup dropped in to a glass of water is firm glossy and breaks when tapped.
6.Grease muffin pans with melted butter using a pastry brush.

When the syrup has reached the hard crack stage, use a metal spoon to pour a 1/4 cup or so portion into each muffin cup.

Let cool completely.
Pop out the discs by inserting a paring knife tip into the side of each muffin compartment.
Wrap in waxed paper.
To Eat: slap the disc hard on a flat surface to break into pieces
suck, don't chew.

Fruit Scented Play Dough Gluten Free

August 16, 2009 by Jean Layton

For all those people wondering if their child should use conventional Play Dough once they are diagnosed gluten-free, the answer is NO.

After all, haven’t we all pulled something out of our child’s mouth, typically minutes after telling them to not eat it? With conventional Play dough, that simple act will mean that your child just got a big dose of gluten.

So to keep the peace, and for your child to not feel left out, here is a simple recipe for fruit scented playdough.

Fruit Scented Play Dough Gluten Free

By Dr. Jean Layton,
2009-08-16
Using simple ingredients common in many gluten free households, we create a pliable and smooth tactile toy that won't make your gluten-free child sick. You will need to go purchase some unsweetened Kool Aid mix. Don't get color changing ones, they are just weird.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 1/2 cup play dough
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 c boiling water
• 3/4 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1-2 pkg Koolaid (unsweetened)- Vary the color choices for multiple colors of dough.  Don’t use the ones that change color. For a good yellow, you will need 2-3 packets of koolaid.

Instructions:
Boil the water in a pan with the salt and oil.
Add the koolaid color of your choice now. It will dissolve and make the color more vibrant without creating blotches like we did when we added it after adding the flour. 

Don't do this, add the Koolaid to the water and oil . 

Stir in the flours all at once and allow it to cook for 30 seconds or so, stirring the entire time.
Take it off of the heat, allow to cool.
Then knead the play dough till it is pliable and smooth.
Be careful with the kneading, some of the color might come off onto your hands.  I found that oiling my hands before touching the dough prevented most of the color sticking.

Make another batch for each color desired.

Because of the citric acid in the KoolAid and the salt in the recipe, this dough, if kept in a covered plastic container, lasts for months.

With thanks to my young hand models- Fiona, Katie and Madelaine.