As a kid, you could not pay me to eat cauliflower!

So this past week I made two pizzas, and neither of them contained bread in any form. I decided that I wanted to try a cauliflower crust pizza. I noticed about a year ago on Pintrest that it was becoming the popular gluten free pin and at the time I pinned it, like many other things, with every intention of trying it. Nearly a year went by before I re-entered the foray of pinning; shocking I know! My pin was still there however this time I decided that I was going to give it a go.

I went to the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market last weekend and I made sure that I bought a good sized cauliflower from Elmridge Farms. It is funny but I would say that cauliflower in the last number of years has become my go to vegetable. I always throw it in a stir fry or steam it with broccoli and carrots or just dip it into hummus. I refused to eat it as kid and would pick the broccoli out from around it and eat the broccoli only if Mom steamed them for roast beef dinner. How times change. Now I want to use it as my pizza crust.

I found this really good recipe on Nutrition Stripped by McKel Hill, a dietician. I had every single ingredient needed and I even had nutritional yeast in my cupboard. I can't believe that I just admitted that but it's true. I needed it for a recipe last year and it called for it. The only thing I didn't have was the cauliflower, so I put it on my list when I went to the market.

When I got home I gave it a rinse and proceeded to grind up my cauliflower as the recipe directed. I put some cheese cloth in a bowl and dumped the cauliflower in as I ground up small batches in my food chopper.

One medium cauliflower ground up



I then let it sit over night and let any water drain out of it. The next day I squeezed off any excess and started to assemble the crust as per the directions in the recipe. As the crust was pre-baking as per the instructions, I chopped the rest of my ingredients. I had decided to make a Margherita-style pizza with fresh Basil from Riverview Herbs, Onion, Plum Tomatoes and Sweet William's Turkey Pepperoni all drizzled with Olive Oil and lactose-free Mozza.



Margherita-style

This pizza gave me four meals at one slice per sitting along side a various salad bought from either Fruition or Little Red Kitsch'n. So midway through the week, I still had cauliflower left and a need for another pizza because the first one was so good. This time, however, I decided to make a regular pizza with tomato sauce, Turkey Pepperoni, Bacon and Onion alongside the lactose-free Mozza. I decided I wanted to make a bigger pizza this time, so I doubled the crust and I had just enough cauliflower left for it. The only adjustment I was that I combine 2 eggs with a 1/2 cup of eggs whites instead of using 4 whole eggs and it worked.

#2 in less than week

 Although you have to pre-bake the crust, it really does stay quite moist but does not become saturated with the sauce to the point of becoming a gooey mess. I have become a fan of this crust in short order. You would never really know that it isn't bread until you bite into it. The nutritional yeast gives it a slightly yeasty smell when you are mixing the "dough." Best of all you are not left with a heavy, weighted down feeling in the pit of your stomach. I find that even a gluten-free crust can sometimes be too much for me. I like the fact that I can have my pizza toppings on a vegetable and I am satisfying my craving for pizza with less carbs than a regular pizza.

A slice paired with Broccoli Salad from Little Red Kitsch'n

All by itself

Finding New Things and Getting Creative

I like finding new things and experiencing new things and food is no exception. I love food! Unfortunately, I have to be very careful with my new food experiences. So I am always on the lookout for things that I can have.

There is one place in Halifax that is a very safe place for me and though I am not Vegan, there is not too much, if anything, that they make that I do not like. Fruition Natural Foods is at the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market. I love the fact that their offerings are Raw, Soy Free, Dairy Free and Gluten Free. They currently have a cozy corner of the upstairs at the market. I remember when they first came to the market and had a small little table and had Kale Crisps, Sundried Tomato Pate and Coconut Almond Bars. I had all three of them and I really enjoyed them. As they started to expand their line up, I kept trying things.  I even started to get really creative with their stuff when paring it with my own things or things from the Schoolhouse Gluten Free Bakery, who can also be found at the market.

The only pictures I don't have of things from Fruition are their Coconut Almond Bars, Chia Pudding, Blueberry Mousse and their Mocha "Cheesecake." These items are never around long enough for me to get a picture of them; but trust me when I say that they are awesome!

Beet Salad with a Broiled Chicken Breast, seasoned with Pepper

My favourite lunch of Sundried Tomato Pate with fruit and cheese on Schoolhouse bread.

A veggie burger with cashew mayo on Schoolhouse bread and Sweet Potato chips from Covered Bridge



Another variation on my favourite lunch with added chicken

 



Birthday without a cake?

We celebrated my Mom's birthday at the end of August and anyone who is friends with me on Facebook probably got a little tired of seeing my Instagram pictures about the cake I made for her.

The whole idea of the cake started at the beginning of August when we took a trip to Saint John and ended up in the Liquid Gold Store; never mind the fact that we have yet to frequent the one in Halifax. While perusing the titles of oil in the store, my mother happened upon a recipe for a cake which was pinned next to a vat of Meyer Lemon Olive Oil. Needless to say she was intrigued, bought a bottle of the oil, got a copy of the recipe both of which ended up in my possession, because you cannot be expected to make your own cake.

It was not a complicated recipe and I personally gave up using butter in cakes and cookies long before I had to go dairy free. It was an eggless cake though which worried me. I had never attempted a gluten free, eggless cake. I really did not want a disaster on my hands and a birthday without a cake. I looked through my cupboards to see what gluten free flours I had on hand. I thought about using all rice flour with a little bit of coconut flour to absorb any excess liquid, but that would have made for a high carb, low fiber content cake and resembling more of a sponge cake. I had Teff flour in my cupboard and while it is a really good flour for bread and I have used it with other flours to make muffins, it can be a little dense. I had Sorghum flour as well and that is what I normally mix with my Teff flour for my muffins. I like a dense muffin but I didn't want an overly dense cake. Lastly, I had Garbanzo and Fava Bean flour which is also good; but again, I was unsure of how it would react in a cake. I decided to mix Teff flour, Rice flour and Coconut flour together and crossed my fingers that they would work. I also decided that white sugar was not an option. I know my Mom watches her intake and I try to use it sparingly now that I am gluten free, just because it is such an additive in a lot of pre-packaged gluten free options. I opted for coconut palm sugar instead and then pretty much stuck to the rest of the remaining ingredients with the addition of xanthan gum.

 The end result was better than I could have hoped for. The batter did what it was supposed to do when the baking soda reacted with the vinegar as leavening. It wasn't too heavy, nor too light and it wasn't overly starchy. It looked and felt like a cake when I removed them from the pans. I frosted it with a classic vanilla buttercream and you can see the end result below.

 

It ended up being one of the best cakes that I have ever made and I would definitely make it again, with or without the lemon infused olive oil. It had a nice hint of lemon with a touch of vanilla in the frosting and it was very light and moist. My Dad went back for a second piece. I always know I have made something good whenever my Dad goes back for more.

 

Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake (Gluten Free Version)

2 1/2 cups Flour ( 1 cup Teff flour*, 1 cup Rice flour, 1/2 cup Coconut flour)

1 3/4 cups Coconut Palm Sugar

2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Gluten Free Baking Soda

2 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 cup Liquid Gold Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

2 3/4 cups Whole Milk (I used Ran-cher Acres Goat Milk Kefir)

1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Tbsp Vinegar (I used Cider Vinegar)

* Make sure you use Teff flour, because Teff looks like a small seed in the bag whereas the flour looks ground.

Heat oven to 300F.

Mix dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix liquid ingredients and whisk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to incorporate. Pour into two 9" round pans that you have greased with olive oil or lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 45 minutes or until baked through, rotating pans part way through baking.

Gluten Free for 1 and a 1/2 years

I have been toying with the idea to write a blog for some time now. What really sparked my interest was all the good food I had over the summer and the number of gluten free places and items I am beginning to find here in Halifax but also throughout Atlantic Canada. The other reason is to share some of the things that I have learned along my journey, and a few of the recipes I have found and adapted along the way.

Going gluten free for me was not an easy task; nor was it a quick, spur of the moment decision brought on by the desire to follow the latest fad. The journey began two years prior to my going fully gluten free.

In the fall of 2010 I didn't feel like myself, I was tired all the time and I had developed a rash all over my neck. Went to the doctor and all she did for my rash was prescribe hydrocortisone cream. The rash went away somewhat but I was still extremely tired. I slept through most of Christmas that year and I was starting to feel cold all the time. My hands literally felt like blocks of ice and my very core felt like cold water had been poured down it. I went back to the doctor, who ordered bloodwork; which led to the discovery that my ferritin levels were at 15. 5 points above the low end of normal. Most people have anywhere between 45 and 92. I could not be declared anaemic though as my hemoglobin levels had managed to stay in the normal range, which meant that my blood was oxygenated. Doctor told me to take iron supplements. Great! Problem solved! Just one thing was wrong with that curative; iron pills are nasty. I had developed nausea when eating and upper right quadrant pain in the area of the gall bladder. Iron pills were going to compound the problem in my opinion. I tried taking them at night and I tried taking them in the morning, however the lowest dose of iron made me so nauseous and I had a new problem forming.

I was still tired all the time and my fatigue was leading me to bed at 8pm on nights that I wasn't curling; the problem being that I was waking up anywhere between 1am and 2am with upper right quadrant pain and no way of getting back to sleep. So I went back to the doctor. I went through weeks of having different forms of sleeping pills prescribed to me, but my breaking point came when finally I was up to 150mg of Trazadone and I was still waking up, in pain. The doctor suggested an SSRI which really is a fancy title for an anti-depressant. All of my physical symptoms were suggesting to my doctor that I was depressed. It is funny thinking about it now, but it wasn't so funny at the time. I was the least depressed person that I or any of my friends knew and here was my doctor suggesting that I was depressed. I was getting anxious by the fact that they did not know what was wrong with me at this point, extremely frustrated and angry that I was being pigeon-holed into a category because I was not a textbook case of physical symptoms and I was rapidly losing faith in the medical profession as a whole. I was dropping weight like crazy, my hair and skin were an absolute mess by this point and family and friends were starting to worry, and I was still so incredibly tired, and I could not concentrate for more than 10 minutes at a time because I was so exhausted. I refused the SSRI and found a Naturopathic Doctor and made an appointment. At this point I had finally reached the two week break for the Canada Winter Games and I had lunch with two friends. They watched as I ate and then turned 50 shades of white within 15 minutes. The idea of me being depressed was already absolutely absurd to them, more so after that lunch date.

I met with the Naturopath two weeks after that lunch date.  She listened patiently and read all the paperwork that I had filled out and she concluded that I needed to come off dairy, gluten and start taking some supplements because I was clearly lacking nutrients. She put me on a form of iron that did not nauseate me, she gave me B12 shots to give me a little more energy and she wrote letters to my doctor explaining the tests that she wanted me to have done. I am glad of my decision to see her.

Going gluten free was not easy. When I first started I felt like I was in the woods without a map, compass or GPS to guide my way. I was given a few hints of how to get started and I even went so far as to purchase the Complete Idiot's Guide to Gluten Free Cooking. That book was money well spent because it gave me a list of all the things that I needed to have and all the things that I needed to avoid. A co-worker even loaned me Alyce Feindel's Living and Eating Gluten Free cookbook. I made some recipes out of that book but I noticed that my confidence in the kitchen had dwindled a fair bit because I was unfamiliar with the ingredients and it wasn't my normal way of eating and cooking. It took some time for me to realise that it was indeed my new normal but I still had tests that needed to be done, which meant a return to gluten and the sick and nauseous feelings.

I finally had the gastroscopy done in March of 2012 and I went gluten free for good on March 28th, 2012. I have not looked back since. Sure I have had a few setbacks when I have not read ingredients carefully but that goes for anyone really. I have regained a lot of my confidence in my cooking, especially this past summer and I have started to experiment with converting my old recipes into new gluten free creations. My hair and skin are finally beginning to look more nourished and I can actually sleep normally again. I still take some supplements to ensure that I am getting enough nutrients, but I am trying to eat as many of my nutrients as I can. I am beginning to find more and more things here in Halifax that I can have and am focusing more on that, rather than what I have to go without. Hopefully this blog will be helpful to those who are also struggling being gluten free in Halifax.