Hit the Kitchen Running
(When You Have No Time to Plan)

by Anne B. Thistle

Before going on please read this section:

Gluten is a protein found all in major cereal grains except rice and corn (i.e., maize). Chelsie must therefore avoid all food containing or derived from (or even contaminated with trace amounts of) wheat, rye, barley, and oats.

Fresh, clean, unprocessed meats, fruits, and vegetables outside the grass family are naturally free of gluten, but the moment they are even minimally processed, you must be wary. Turkeys injected with "self-basting" mixture can contain gluten. Cornflakes are flavored with (barley) malt. Rice may have been milled on equipment that milled wheat the day before. Ground spices may contain flour as an anticaking agent.

Note that extraordinary care is needed in avoiding any contamination with gluten, well beyond that necessary for ordinary food allergies--even a few molecules could be harmful, and unlike, say, Carolyn S., who can counteract small exposures with antihistamines and can generally detect her allergens at the first bite, Chelsie has no medical recourse and doesn't react until the next day.

So think carefully about sources of contamination--knives, cutting boards, crumbs in the jam jar, residue in the creases of baking pans, food additives, cross-contamination in manufacturing plants, even flour in the air if you've been baking--and pay close attention while you cook.

Seriously gluten-free cooking is beyond the scope of this page. Excellent cookbooks exist (e.g., those by Bette Hagman) that cover the subject thoroughly. My aim here is to list a few main-stream food products that are known to be gluten-free and to list ways in which some of my menus can be adapted to the gluten- and dairy-free diet. And for Chelsie, peanut-free as well!

So, on to the recipes . . .

Baking powder: Calumet or Rumford
Baking soda: Arm and Hammer
Bouillon, chicken and beef: Knorr (cubes only) or Better than Bouillon
Butter or margarine: Fleischman's unsalted margarine; no butter
Chocolate morsels, semi-sweet: Nestle's
Coffee, instant or ground: Maxwell House, Folgers Cornstarch: Argo
Eggs or cholesterol-free egg substitute: real eggs; Egg Beaters
Flour: do not use; in some recipes, you can substitute 1/3 the amount of cornstarch
Herbs and spices: Spice Islands or McCormick's, pure herbs and spices only, not mixtures like curry powder
Ketchup: Dole
Lemon juice: fresh or ReaLemon
Mayonnaise: It's safest to make mayonnaise from scratch rather than using commercial brands
Milk (fresh or dry): do not use; instead, substitute White Wave's Silk soymilk or Vance's DariFree (liquid or dry)
Noodles, plain egg: do not use
Oil (plain and olive): Mazola corn and blended oils; Bertoli olive oil
Parmesan cheese: do not use
Pasta (at least one spaghetti shape and one other shape): do not use
Pepper: McCormick's or Spice Islands
Salt: Morton's
Pepper: McCormick's or Spice Islands
Sugar, dark brown: Dixie Crystals, C&H
Sugar, confectioners's: Dixie Crystals, C&H
Sugar, granulated: Dixie Crystals, C&H
Vanilla extract: McCormick's
Vinegar, cider: White House (or substitute wine vinegar)
Vinegar, red or white wine: Regina
Worcestershire sauce: French's

MENU 1

• Barbecued pork chops: as is (Spice Islands chili powder is okay)
  
• Cornbread: not recommended; substitute baked sweet potatoes from Menu 17
  
• Coleslaw: use home-made mayonnaise and omit the milk (or substitute vinegar slaw from Menu 8)
  
• Pineapple upsidedown cake: not recommended; substitute grilled pineapple from Menu 33

• Improbable roast beef: as is (thicken gravy with cornstarch or leave unthickened; omit horseradish sauce)
  
• Smashed potatoes: as is, with Fleischman's unsalted margarine
  
• Asparagus or broccoli: as is (good with Caesar salad dressing from Menu 9, if made with gluten-free ingredients and not contaminated with croutons or cheese)
  
• Chocolate fondue: as is (omit cake)
  

• Herbed chicken: as is
  
• Chicken couscous: not recommended; substitute rice cooked with chicken bouillon
  
• Creamed beans: omit milk; cook beans in beef or chicken bouillon instead
  
• Bananas Foster: banana mixture as is; omit ice cream
  

• Wine-braised pork chops: substitute Spice Islands or McCormick dry mustard for Dijon mustard; use good-quality white wine, not cheap wine that might be cut with grain alcohol
  
• Baked sweet potatoes: as is
  
• Corn on the cob: as is
  
• Open blueberry pie: omit pie shell and cream or ricotta topping; serve just the blueberries in the blue-berry sauce, sprinkled with a little cinnamon
  

• Kielbasa: use Boar's Head kielbasa only
  
• Lentils vinaigrette: replace the Dijon mustard with Spice Islands or McCormicks dry ground mustard
  
• Marinated tomatoes: as is
  
• Strawberries or grapefruit with cream dressing: replace the cream dressing with poppy seed dressing or creamy chocolate frosting

• Chicken breasts with scallions: omit the flour; use Fleischman's unsalted margarine here and in the "lemon butter" for the artichokes; use good-quality white wine, not vermouth or cheap white wine that might be cut with grain alcohol; serve the sauce unthickened, or thicken it at the end by adding a little cornstarch suspended in water and boiling it for a moment
  
• Artichokes: as is
  
• Warm French potato salad: use dry mustard, not Dijon; use good-quality white wine, not vermouth or cheap white wine that might be cut with grain alcohol
  
• Stovetop lemon souffle: not recommended; substitute another dessert, like the fruit meringue from Menu 29 or grilled pineapple from Menu 33

Poppy seed dressing

3/4 cup Dixie Crystals granulated sugar
1 tsp McCormick's or Spice Islands dry ground mustard
1 tsp McCormick's or Spice Islands whole poppy seed
1 tsp Morton's salt
1/3 cup White House cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh onion
1 cup Mazola oil

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients except oil. With motor running, gradually pour in oil. Store covered in the refrigerator. If it separates, stir it back together.

Creamy chocolate frosting

2 oz Baker's unsweetened chocolate
1 cup Dixie Crystals granulated sugar
3 tbsp Argo cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
1 tbsp Fleischman's unsalted margarine
1 tsp McCormick vanilla
small pinch of Morton salt

Melt the chocolate and stir it into the sugar and cornstarch in a sauce pan until reasonably well dispersed (it will tend to lump up). Add the boiling water and cook and stir over low heat until thick and smooth (cook until very thick, or it won't be thick enough to spread). Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly.