Apple Cinnamon Muffins with Bistro Flour Blend

My oldest sister, Lisa, recently broke her leg skiing at Eldora.  So, my other sister, Phanie, and I have been taking turns taking care of Lisa and her 2 children, while she heals.

Phanie's husband has been making waffles for the kids on the week days to motivate them out of bed.  The kids love the waffles!  Then it was my turn to get them ready for school.  I wasn't sure if I could compete with Nathan's waffles.  I came up with Apple Cinnamon Muffins...and tied for first with the waffles.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1/4 c butter, room temperature [or smart balance to be dairy free]

1/4 c vegetable oil

1 c light brown sugar

1 1/2 c Bistro Flour Blend

1 1/2  t ground cinnamon

1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 egg

1 c applesauce

1/3 c finely diced granny smith apple [skin on or off]

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, oil, & sugar.  Cream the mixture until smooth.

Sift the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and set aside.

Add the egg to the creamed mixture and mix unitl incorporated, then fold in the applesauce.

Add the sifted flour mixture, about ½ c at a time, until all is incorporated, and the batter is smooth.

Fold in diced apples into the batter

Scoop into muffin tins.

Small Muffins: 20-25 minutes

Large Muffins: 30-35 minutes

To your health,

Kelly, Co-Founder of The Gluten Free Bistro

Gluten-free in Boulder, CO

Banana Bread Muffins: Never miss the gluten!

I PROMISE you won't miss the wheat in this recipe!  No one can ever tell when I make these to bring to a brunch that they do not have wheat flour in them.  In fact, my friend has owned a bakery for 25 years and is very pro-gluten.  He tried our banana muffin and said he would have never known the difference had we not told him.  Now that is a testimonial!

Finally, a whole grain, gluten free flour that is good for you and tastes great.

Banana Bread:

---

¼ c Butter, at room temperature

¼ c vegetable oil

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 ½ c Bistro Flour Blend

1 t ground cinnamon

¼ t nutmeg

½ t baking soda

1 t baking powder

½ t ginger powder

½ t salt

1 egg

1 cup very ripe bananas

[add a 1/3 cup of walnuts if you like]

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease 8”x4”X2” loaf pan with 1 t of butter.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, oil, & sugar.  Cream the mixture until smooth.

Sift the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

Add the egg to the creamed mixture and mix unitl incorporated.

Add the sifted flour mixture, about ½ c at a time, until all is incorporated, and the batter is smooth.

Fold in the bananas into the batter.

Pour batter into loaf pan.  For small muffins, I use a small ice cream scoop to portion them out.

Baking instructions:

Bake the loaf for 55-60 minutes at 350, or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

or Small Muffins: 20-25 minutes

The Gluten Free Bistro

Office:  720.329.3254   TheGlutenFreeBistro.com

Delicious, Nutritious, & Gluten Free!

To your health,

Kelly, Co-Founder of The Gluten Free Bistro

Gluten-free in Boulder, CO

Healthy Pizza, yes please!

I am always looking for a great tasting,  good for me pizza toppings.  I think that this a great recipe for our gluten free pizza crust!  The arugula salad on top reminds me of how one of our favorite Boulder restaurants prepares our gf pizza crust:  Radda Trattoria.  Delicious!

Pear and Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula

Ingredients

• 2  teaspoons  olive oil


• 2  cups  vertically sliced Oso Sweet or other sweet onion


• 1  (12-ounce) prebaked pizza crust (such as The Gluten Free Bistro's Gourmet Pizza Crust)


• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded provolone cheese


• 1  medium pear, thinly sliced


• 2  ounces  prosciutto, cut into thin strips


• Dash of freshly ground black pepper


• 2  tablespoons  chopped walnuts, toasted


• 1 1/2  cups  baby arugula leaves


• 1  teaspoon  sherry vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently.

3. Top evenly with onion mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Top evenly with pear and prosciutto. Sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts, on a pizza stone or directly on the rack. Sprinkle with nuts. Place arugula in a medium bowl. Drizzle vinegar over greens; toss gently to coat. Top pizza evenly with arugula mixture. Cut pizza into 8 wedges.

Sites mentioned in this article:

Purchase The Gluten Free Bistro's Gourmet Pizza Crust on line:

http://www.theglutenfreebistro.com/products.html

http://www.raddatrattoria.com/

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine, made changes to the recipe for cooking temperature and time.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1963974

Tips for Success with the Bistro Flour Blend

The Gluten Free Bistro was born due to the lack of delicious, nutritious, gluten free, and as close to whole wheat/whole grain products available in the market. The Bistro Flour Blend was formulated by 2 nutritionist and a foodie so you know it is great tasting and good for you.

The Bistro Blend has been intentionally formulated to be easily substituted for all purpose flour in most recipes.  Please feel free to contact us thru our website/facebook with any questions.

Our Bistro Blend Flour is void of most allergens (contains coconut flour) &

contains protein, fiber, b vitamins, calcium and iron.

Non-GMO & Whole Grain

TIPS for SUCCESS:

• Substitute the Bistro Blend Flour for All Purpose Flour in recipe at a ratio of 1 to 1.


• The consistency of the batter/dough should appear to be the same.  If it appears to be drier than you normally notice, feel free to add more of the liquid, a little at a time.  I have added almost 50% more liquid to some recipes.


• For cook time go slow and low. Reduce temperature in recipe by 25 degrees and increase bake time by 10-15 minutes. For brownies, muffins & quick breads, we highly suggest using a toothpick and test until it comes out clean.


• Recommended for cookies, brownies, muffins, & quickbreads.


• I also have used it to thicken stews and make roux.  Fantastic!

 

Bistro Blend Flour:  our proprietary gluten free blend contains: eco-farmed brown rice flour, whole grain sorghum flour, tapioca starch, buckwheat flour, organic coconut flour, xanthan gum

Give us feedback!

To your health,

Kelly, Co-Founder of The Gluten Free Bistro

Gluten-free in Boulder, CO

I Want a Good GF Bagel

I grew up in a small town in south Jersey that had a non-existent Jewish population and, therefore, no Jewish deli. Every Sunday, my father would get up at the crack of dawn and make the trip into Philadelphia to go to Famous Delicatessen. He would bring back bagels, lox, whitefish salad, pickles, and creamed cheese. Upon his return, my dad would walk down the bedroom hallway and declare that, “breakfast is served!”.  He would open the curtains in each of our rooms and continue to convince us to wake up. Following the smell of the platters of onions and fresh bagels, my brothers and I would scramble downstairs to the feast. We were often greeted by our family friend and neighbor, whom would already be picking at the lox and drinking coffee. This tradition carried on through divorce, college, adulthood and even through “low carb” diets.



(image of a bagel with cream cheese, lox, capers, red onions)

Now, seven years and counting of being gluten-intolerant, I have had more dissatisfying gluten-free bagels than I can count. No amount of toasting will help them and forget about eating them fresh. I have read and heard that the Udi's bagels being offered at Einstein Brothers are okay but still too bready and lack that slightly hardier texture on the outside to balance the chewy texture inside.

So, one day when we were experimenting with the very versatile Bistro Flour Blend that we make, we decided to make a bagel. This bagel was so good with the perfect texture and flavor that I had been craving. So, now what? Could we make a gluten-free bagel for retail? I will let you know soon!

-Julie

Experimenting with Gluten Free Bistro Blend Flour

Gluten Free Cranberry & Oat Muffins:  Our team has been discussing the launch of our GF Bistro Blend Flour, because there is no whole wheat flour substitute available.  Our Bistro Blend Flour blend reminds me of whole wheat.  I used to love the taste and texture of whole wheat flour.  The slightly sweet and nutty flavor of the grain is dear to me.  It reminds me of when I was growing up.

My mother, Mary Ann, was an RN, my father and she decided that she would leave nursing to raise their 4 daughters.  I know that there are a lot of wonderful mothers out in the world, but of course, I think that mine tops the charts.

When I was a teenager, she would lightly knock on my bathroom door as I was getting ready [which was a long process back in the day, long shower, followed by blow drying my long hair, followed by hot rollers (it was the 80's!), then spray, lots of spray].  Anyway, she would knock on the door, and say, "Breakfast is ready, dear."  I would open the door, she had disappeared and all that would remain is a tray on the floor with a fresh baked muffin and a cup of piping hot Earl Grey tea. How wonderful!!

Everyday, Mary Ann would make her 4 girls a different type of muffin just to make sure that her girls would eat before they left the house, which is always a challenge with teenagers.  She had a recipe book of muffins, just muffins, that had pages and pages of ideas.

This is one of my fondest memories from growing up.  She would always make the muffins with whole wheat flour, & also, just a little less sugar.  I, of course, prefer my muffins this way, just a bit more rustic which I find charming.

I have been experimenting with recreating this in a gluten free version.  Getting the batter down is the challenge, the fun is everything else that is added.

This weekend, I converted Ina Garten's [Food Network's Barefoot Contessa] Cranberry Harvest Muffins to gfree.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/barefoot-contessa/cranberry-harvest-muffins-recipe/index.html

I was really excited with how they turned out.  They reminded me of my youth, which is a very welcome feeling these days!

High altitude, gfree conversions in baking are interesting.  I found that I needed to increase the milk by 50% [I used So Delicious Original Coconut Milk http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/coconut_milk_beverage.html and a bit of buttermilk].  On the next run, I will likely add more leavening as well.

Bistro Fresh Cranberry and Oat Muffins

Ingredients

3 cups Bistro Blend flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 3/4 cups whole milk [So Delicious Original Coconut Milk]

¼ cup buttermilk

2 extra-large eggs

1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled [Earth Balance is great here too]

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries

1/2 cup gluten free oats

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir quickly just to combine. Add the cranberries, GF oats (optional) and both sugars and stir just to distribute the fruits, oats, and sugar evenly throughout the batter.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top. Bake for 40 minutes, until browned on the top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

I also made this as a loaf to take to a family brunch.  Everyone loved it, even little Cleo, my 5 year old niece.

I would love to hear your comments.

To your health

...Kelly

Becoming Gluten Free...

When I was fifteen years old, my father suffered a heart attack.  This was my trigger for the storm at bay: celiac disease.  From this point forward, I had chronic stomach pain.

I recently reconnected with a friend from high school after almost 20 years, thanks to facebook.  She said that she remembered that in French class, I would be buckled over in pain and would need to leave to go home on a regular basis.  I went to many doctors across the country and had several tests done.  I was typically diagnosed with a pre-ulcer condition and given medication to treat ulcers.  All of the medications I was given never made the pain subside.  So, after 10 years of searching for answers, I gave up.  I thought that this was what I was given and, therefore, just needed to live with it.

My condition progressively and exponentially became worse over time.  I had chronic pain, migraines, bloody noses, nausea & vomiting, and I was so exhausted.  I mean, really exhausted.  I feel like I had, had the flu for years.

I had gotten so used to the pain, it was all day, every day.  However, I could never get used to the exhaustion, so I started to go to talk to doctor's about how tired I was all of the time.  I could barely get out of bed after 10 hours of sleep.  One response I got was, " You are too busy, you should slow down your life."  But that was the problem, I wanted to LIVE.  I wanted to be energetic.  I wanted zest for life.  At the time, life was living me.  I was just surviving.

It was not until I was listening to Julie (now my business partner) in 2004.  I was listening to her personal crusade for her own wellness.  She had developed the same symptoms in her 30's that I had most of my life.  It sounded like a clip from my own life.  Julie, having a master's degree in nutrition, researched her symptoms and uncovered what at the time was a disease thought to be effecting a fraction of a percentage of people:  Celiac Disease.  This was the first I had heard of it.

Julie listened to my story and suggested that I go gluten free.  What did that even mean?  She shared with me what I would need to do.

What did I have to loose?  Nothing, but had everything to gain.

Going gluten free changed my life...or should I say, saved my life.

Within 3 days, I had more energy.  No more stomach pain.

Within 6 months, I no longer had bloody noses, no more migraines.

I have been gluten free for over 5 years.  I know that it saved my life.



To your health...

Kelly