Food restrictions are tough. It makes it difficult to eat out. You may find a few trusted places to eat, but even those are a risk. The possibility of cross-contamination is always there. The knowledge that one change of the menu could take away the only option you have at the restaurant. It’s frustrating.
Having multiple food restrictions makes it really hard. I’ve talked before about my wife having an issue with both gluten and rice. She didn’t know there were other people that had problems with rice until last week when a reader commented that they, too, couldn’t eat rice. It made her feel not so alone about it, that was a nice side effect I never thought about when I started this blog. Thank you for your comments, it makes our world just a little bigger.
So…. if food restrictions make it harder to eat out, what options do you have? Pre-packaged meals or cooking. Pre-packaged meals are often expensive and not too tasty. Cooking, for some (my bride included) can be overwhelming. When you have multiple food restrictions it can be difficult to even find a recipe. I can instantly find pages of gluten free recipes with a simple google search. When I add rice free into the search the options dwindle greatly.
Recently, we wanted to make a gluten free and rice free pizza. I know we have done a pizza post before, but this is not (exactly) a pizza post… just a suggestion of pizza. Anyway, I was looking though the inter webs for a pizza crust that had neither rice or gluten. Not too many recipes came up. I looked further and found a few, but they looked questionable. I decided I was going to have to make my own.
I referenced a focaccia bread recipe I have used in the past, for some ratios, and jumped in. I experimented with several flours to see what we liked best. I will include the recipe we ended up liking best. We top it with some sauce, cheese and toppings and enjoy pretty tasty pizza (see Notes following recipe). You could also top it simply as a more traditional focaccia would be.
Gluten Free Rice Free Focaccia
1 1/8 C Buckwheat Flour
1 1/8 C Quinoa Flour
3 T Buttermilk Powder
1 t Baking Powder
1 1/4 t Salt
1 1/2 t Xanthan Gum
1 T Granulated Sugar
2 1/4 T Instant Yeast
1 1/2 C Lukewarm Water
3 T Olive Oil
Place warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside for a few minutes or until yeast activates, you should see some bubbles or foam.
Mix remaining dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer (if you do not have a stand mixer see notes at the bottom of this recipe). Blend dry ingredients together until mixed well. Add activated yeast mixture to bowl. Add olive oil to bowl. Mix well. Now beat this mixture on medium high speed for 4 minutes. The mixture should look smoother and fluffier after the four minutes.
Cover bowl and rest dough, on counter, for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375.
Butter or grease a 9 x 13 pan (you could also use parchment paper), I use a lipped cookie sheet. Gently spread dough out in pan. Bake 20 – 25 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed. Let rest for a few minutes and enjoy!
Notes:
*If you do not have a stand mixer you can still make this recipe. They texture will be a bit more dense, but we enjoyed it that way for years. To get the lighter texture you really do need to use a stand mixer, that can not be done by hand.
*If you are using this for the crust or base of a pizza I recommend baking for about 12 minutes, removing from oven, adding your sauce toppings and cheese and then baking for a 15 or until cheese has browned. Also, for pizza we use two 9 x 13 pans preparing one as a pizza and the other as breadsticks or a dessert pizza. For dessert pizza, we top with butter, cinnamon and sugar. The crust can be made thick or thin depending on your preference.
Who doesn’t like chili, right? Everyone has a favorite style, and there are many styles out there. Maybe you like yours super spicy or vegetarian. Perhaps you only like your chili on a hot dog. In my house the question has always been: to bean, or not to bean? My other half loves a bean… any kind of bean. I grew up in a family of bean lovers, but I was not one of them. I don’t know why really, I was just never a fan. I have avoided them most of my life. Growing up in Texas you are taught that chili is beanless. Chili is meat, chilies, tomatoes, onions and spices. No beans. Even my bean loving family didn’t put beans in chili. I loved chili, specifically Wolf Brand chili with no beans. It was my favorite.
When I was growing up my mom was single with two kids. She was working to support the kids and putting herself through nursing school for a better future for the three of us. Money was tight. We might not have had a lot, but we always had food in the pantry. She made sure we were well fed. Every payday she would go to the store to stock the pantry and freezer. That is something that has stuck with me. I always make sure that there is food in the pantry and freezer. You can do without a lot of things in life, but food is not one of them. You gotta eat. When my budget is sparse, I may hit as many as five different grocery stores to get the best deals so I can to stretch my dollar as far as it can go. When my budget looks better, I try to stock up a little for when it dips back down.
GotNoThymeForGluten 