I probably should have passed this one on to you at the beginning of summer so you could enjoy it in the summer months, but since we enjoy it year-round I decided to go ahead and share it now that it has a name.
I’m quite a lot like Anne of Green Gables when it comes to names. I like a little romance or beauty in a name rather than something ordinary. I, like Anne, would never have called it Barry’s Pond when I could’ve re-named it The Lake of Shining Waters and what is a better name for a blooming orchard than The White Way of Delight? It’s like she’s in my head.
I gave up soda a long time ago – decades in fact. After a while, I actually grew to detest the stuff and the way it made me feel. However, I do somehow miss the bubbles and had to content myself with the occasional bottle of sparkling water because I’m way too frugal to drink it all the time.
Then I did some bartering one day with a friend who was doing a rummage sale with me. I traded her some tea tree oil I’d over-bought for a Soda-Stream. We had lots of fun with successes and fails as we tried various additives and blends to flavor the sparkling water we could now just fizz up in our own machine. (There is a cartridge that you trade in when it’s empty so after your initial purchase you pay only half price when you make the swap.)
We found it to be economical. We started our first cartridge around July 4th and didn’t run out of bubbles till the middle of September!
Flavorings seemed to be the sticking point. Smuffy is super picky on taste. I am super picky on healthy add-ins. Some of the ones you buy turn your carbonated water right back into soda!
After a while, I just threw something together one day as a “lime thing” and ended up loving it. Then I started serving it to guests and they liked it, which is good because when they come to my house I don’t stock “junk” drinks.
I knew this was ready to pass on to you when Lil’ Snookie gave it a name. All on his own, when he was still two years old, he began to say that anything with carbonation in it had “sillies” and would ask Pookie, his mama, if he could have sillies in his drink.
Now he’s grown to love my invention and almost every day asks me if he can have “Lime Sillies”.
And there you have it! It needed the perfect name and now it’s ready to share. No free printable necessary for this recipe because this is all you do –
Lime Sillies
1. Pour 1” to 1 ½” inches of Real-Lime or fresh lime juice into the bottom of your glass. (Everyone has a different preference as to how much lime they prefer.)
2. Add a tiny pinch of mineral salt (not the table salt gunk).
3. Add 1 doonk of THM Pure Stevia or any on-plan natural sweetener.
4. Add a couple of drops of pure vanilla extract.
Swirl the glass well or stir the mixture with a spoon before filling the glass with cold, carbonated water. Add ice if you wish.
NOTE: You cannot add the ingredients to the water. You have to add the water to the other ingredients. For some mysterious reason, dropping the sweetener into the carbonation makes the contents of the glass explode all over the counter. Ask me how I know.
Also, with a SodaStream, you must carbonate only plain water. Adding any ingredients to the water prior to pumping in the carbonation will result in more exploding things. Ask me how I know.
There you have it – Lil’ Snookie’s Lime Sillies! Fix a glass and head for the porch on these beautiful autumn days.
I fully disclose that I am a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach and at times receive financial compensation as such.
If you need support in your journey to better health and weight loss, head to the Contact page or my Food Freedom pages on Facebook and Mewe and let me know. I’ll give you all the info on group sessions which I conduct locally in person on a weekly basis. Private coaching can be done in person or by phone. Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
The Trim Healthy MamaPlan is a great way to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and certainly to lose weight safely and sustainably if you need to do that.
Leave a comment after you sip your Lime Sillies and let me know how you like it. Do you have a carbonation machine of any kind? What are your favorite flavors to add that keep it healthy and make it tasty?
[NOTE: I openly disclose on this blog that as a certified lifestyle coach through Trim Healthy Mama, I may receive financial benefit from those who desire to enlist my services privately or in a group setting.]
I’m dedicating this post to Smuffy. I’ve lost count of the times he’s told me we really needed to rate recipes. He enjoys the food on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, but just like the rest of us, he likes some things better than others. On the other hand, some are just not his cup of tea at all. He’s been recommending for some time now that I come up with some type of rating system so that he can tick the boxes at any given meal to let me know just how well he likes what’s set before him.
I’ve found the cookbooks from Trim Healthy Mama to be fantastic. Aside from some old family favorites that already fit the plan or just needed a little tweaking, I cook almost exclusively from these books now. There have been very few that I would have given a low rating and just because I like being honest and saving you time and effort, I’ll mention just a couple. Brown Rice Crispy Treats – I followed the recipe to the letter and even I, who hate throwing anything away, had to admit they were icky and chuck them over the back fence. I’m open to suggestions from anybody who can show me how to save that recipe, but I think I’ll taste yours first. Then there was Slender Slaw – oh, dear! Perhaps it’s cultural and it’s just an Aussie thing for Serene and Pearl, but I got my exercise in on another trip to the back of the property with that one.
Then, there are the winners. There are tons of recipes in the Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks that are just fabulous! I’m addicted to Cry No More Brownies and the Superfood Mounds – oh, my goodness! Then, there are Two Minute Truffles, Dreamy Chicken Lazone, Cheeseburger Pie, Lazy Lasagna, Queso Chicken Bake. I could go on and on.
However, Smuffy says we need a system so that we can create a notebook full of winners that he’s happy to dive into any time. Did I mention the Philly Cheese Meatloaf or Melissa’s Amish Broccoli Salad or Just Like Orange Juice or The Shrinker? This is making me feel all peckish.
Anyhow, we borrowed the general idea for our rating system from one that was used at an annual benefit for the area food bank where soups are judged and the winners are awarded “golden ladles”. If I might mention it, I am the recipient of six golden ladles and my #1 favorite is a recipe I invented, Creamy Leek Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato. In fact, that soup has won three of my golden ladles! Try it here and I dare you not to love it! There’s a free printable waiting just for you.
There are several aspects of food that determine whether or not a person will like it or even want to try it. We decided to include a ranking on a scale of 1-5 on whether or not we are pleased with each. Is the appearance pleasing? What about the aroma? How does it actually taste? Mouth feel is an important consideration, so we included a category for texture. Finally, we asked for a ranking on what we considered the greatest compliment – whether or not we’d order the dish in a restaurant.
So, thanks to Smuffy’s nudging, here’s the rating chart –
I’m including a free printable so that you can easily print these out four on a page, cut them apart and keep a stack near the table so that friends and family can have fun with the rating system and you can develop a great collection of winners. Create a notebook or just slap a sticky note on the page in the cookbook so that you know which recipes you can always fall back on.
I have a funny feeling that anything that does not score 3.5 or above on Smuffy’s card will probably be frowned upon from now on out.
Don’t forget your free printable !
Coming up, I’ll be sharing healthy recipes, letting you know how we’re rating them and providing notations concerning recipes that have already appeared on the blog and whether or not they fit the Trim Healthy Mama plan. I’ll be making recommendations from THM recipes and providing lots of information on my Food Freedom Facebook page where I’ll share THM knowledge, recipes, tips and all sorts of other goodies. Please “like” and “follow” at https://www.facebook.com/Food-Freedom-THM-Certified-Lifestyle-Coaching-100703354727086/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Most of all, Happy Eating!
Be sure to SUBSCRIBE, so you’ll receive an email reminder each time Midwest Storyteller has something new.
I fully disclose that as a Certified Lifestyle Coach I do, at times, receive monetary compensation as such. See The Fine Print on the “About Me” page of this blog.
Here we are, Dear Readers, over halfway through January 2021. So far, I’d venture to guess that most of you who sighed with relief at midnight on December 31, 2020 are just a shade disappointed.
Having mentored people with their health for years and being an avid observer of human nature, I think all we have to do is turn on the news lately and within thirty seconds we’ve decided we’ve had our fill of human nature.
In January, you’ve probably observed a common occurrence in either your own life or someone else’s. We muddle along through the holidays, stressed and for most of us, over-blessed, promising ourselves that, come January 1st, things will be different. “Enough of this nonsense”, you say, vowing to lose weight, get organized, take better care of yourself, serve your community more, keep in closer contact with the ones you love – the list goes on and on, doesn’t it?
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I can’t fathom why they ever designated January 1st as the beginning of the new year! It makes no sense, at least for the Northern Hemisphere. Just when the Good Lord offered us hibernation time and a nice, long rest, the calendar screams at us to jump up, get going and conquer the world and all our shortcomings. Oh, please!
Would anyone like to join my movement to have the new year moved to the first day of spring so that we could all get a little more excited about it? I know, I know, it’s a brilliant idea! That’s probably why people in high places never thought of it.
Anyhow, here we are and we seem to be stuck with it for now. This brings me back to my original question: “How’s that workin’ for ‘ya?
One thing I stress in lifestyle coaching throughTrim Healthy Mamais the concept of “tip-toeing in”. I would far rather see someone read a couple of chapters in the Trim Healthy Mama Plan book then choose three simple recipes to fit the plan that they can make in the coming week than I would to see them do a complete pantry makeover, call a family meeting on how things will change and then wear themselves out making sure every bite that goes into their mouth is perfect!
Speaking of perfect bites, let me pause to point out that “sticking to plan” with THM does not equal suffering, as evidenced by this beauty I made last week!
“Loaded Philly Cheese Meatloaf”, page 216 Trim Healthy Table, declared by Smuffy to be the best meatloaf I’ve ever fed him.
Here’s a little nugget to chew on. Repentance is better than goals. Goals involve setting a bar and then trying to measure up to it. Repentance simply involves realizing the road you are traveling is headed in the wrong direction, then turning around and going the opposite way – to a better place. (See how I did that – I’m so clever – note the heading of this blog.)
I want you to feel blessed today and not condemned. If you’re halfway through January and all those new leaves you vowed to turn over are still stuck together, just take a deep breath, take another step on the right path and find joy on the way to a better place. Then, perhaps when someone asks, “How’s that workin’ for ‘ya?”, you won’t have to hang your head and sigh.
If you’re wanting to make your journey with Trim Healthy Mama joyful, choose three recipes that fit the plan and make those this week. Ask yourself some questions about the rest of your meals and snacks and make sensible tweaks. Let 2021 take you to a better place step by step.
I like to make out a menu plan on weekends, but I only plan out four items. I enjoy my “pleasant ruts”, so I already know what breakfasts will probably consist of. I share complete weekly menus in my coaching sessions, but I’ve been on the plan long enough that lots of meals are “freestyle” now.
I thought you might like to see what a recent plan included. We have our main meal at lunch because that’s what Smuffy prefers and supper is freestyle. You’ll have your own plan for your own household.
I take it for granted that each of these main dishes will be served up with quick-fix non-starchy veggies, salads and other sides and that snacks are ready to grab.
If you need support in your journey, head to the Contact Me page and let me know. I’ll give you all the info on group sessions and private coaching, which can be done in person or by phone. Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
For info on getting started and a few questions you can ask yourself about getting started, click here. For coaching pricing, click here.
It’s a great way to come out of social distancing a better person.
Have the events of the last several months caused you to re-think how you are fueling your body so that you can build your immune system? Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts.
There you go! It’s too late now. This is like yelling, “Tag! You’re it!” or poking pink flamingos in your yard. (Actually, it’s much better than that – don’t ever do that to me!)
In fact, I’m gonna
get you twice.
First, I know the whole world is full of folks saying, “you’ve just gotta hear this/see this/try this”, but I’m challenging you to do this one thing right away. I listen to the Trim Healthy Podcast every week. I know you’re thinking, “Yeah, but Barb, you’re a health nut food nerd.” I am telling you, people, the most recent podcast by Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett, founders and authors of Trim Healthy Mama is not only a gem – it is vital!
It runs a little
longer than usual as a 2-in1, but they felt it was important, during this
outbreak of the corona virus, that you are fully armed to equip your body for
battling viruses and other illness.
Trim Healthy Podcast #165: Fear, Sugar and Your Immune System is full of rock-solid science presented in simple layman’s terms that will enable you to turn your family’s health around and head it in the right direction. They’ll give you a great list of simple foods that are real healers and a short list of things to avoid if you want your immune system to have a fighting chance. Grab a piece of paper and make a grocery list while you’re listening that will put your family on the right track!
So…GOTCHA! You’re Ambushed! I challenge you to listen to this podcast here or on iTunes, iHeart Radio app or however you like to listen to music and podcasts. iHeart Radio is my preferred method. With the app on my phone, I can wear my headphones while I pull weeds, clean house, do laundry – whatever. Get listening! And don’t let me get word that you didn’t do it because I’m tryin’ to help you, people! And it’s FREE!
My second challenge –
We’ve all been
social distancing for a while here and I love how our community is coming
together without coming together. Creative ways of making fun range from the
Great Bear Hunt to Sidewalk Art Spotting.
There is hardly a street in our town without several bears waving at
families who have watched them pop up on social media and then piled into their
cars to drive around and hunt them down.
(No animals were harmed in this
social distancing stress relieving activity.) Now, families are getting out the chalk and
posting their sidewalk art on social media, creating a new search activity for
those who’ve been cooped up and are ready to get out for an interesting drive.
My challenge is for anyone in grades K-12. It’s the –
“Cabin Fever Cook-off”! Have your parents been telling you, “Enough with the junk food!”? It’s time to share on social media the great food ideas that have sprouted from this period of confinement. What have you been binging on these few weeks? If you’ve got a great idea for a healthy meal or snack to share, send me a photo and the recipe. Post them on my Food Freedom – THM Certified Lifestyle Coaching Facebook page here. I’ll give them an honest review as to their “healthiness” and we’ll all enjoy your great ideas for eating well while you’re all cooped up! Get in the kitchen and create! The challenge is on for anyone grades K-12. Surely it hasn’t all been pizza rolls and hot pockets – has it? Remember – post your photo and the recipe. Someone else might want to take your idea and make themselves some yummy grub! It can be as simple or elaborate as you choose. Someone might need a great idea for something as simple as what to do with an apple!
Remember, everyone, a second FREE video conference via Skype will be held at 7:00-8:00 PM (CST) on Tuesday, March 31 and you are welcome to join. This week we will be talking about “What a Week of Eating Trim & Healthy Looks Like”. Email me if you’d like to be included and I’ll reply with a link that will take you straight into the conference! That’s barb@midweststoryteller.com
Share with friends right now and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
It’s a great way
to come out of social distancing a better person.
What type of
eating challenges has the recent health crisis have you been experiencing? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it.
News Flash! The immune system in your body that fights off the common cold is the same immune system that fights off COVID-19, cancer and a plethora of other baddies! Now, however, we seem to have become keenly aware of its existence practically overnight.
It’s time to pull
together and learn how to build up those vital systems. But, we’re supposed to be social distancing,
right?
Tonight, March 24th at 7:00 PM (CST) I will be hosting an hour-long FREE video conference on how the Trim Healthy Mama plan can help you take control of this issue for you and your family. We don’t know what we don’t know. Right? Food is your vital fuel to improve and keep your health! It’s time to ask yourself if you’ve been ignoring your most important line of defense.
I’ll be leading this via Skype, so if you are not already a Skyper, you’ll need to download Skype from www.skype.com/download and go ahead and set up a username and password. It’s a simple process and also free. Then, send me a quick email at barb@midweststoryteller.com and I will reply with a link. Between 6:45 and 7:00, all you’ll need to do is click on the link and you’ll join the video conference.
Nervous about
it? A few precautions are all that’s
necessary. Comb your hair. That always helps. You’ll be onscreen until you choose to turn
that feature off. Put on some lipstick
if that’s your thing. Wear pants – I insist
– you never know when that laptop or device may slip out of your hands!
In this
interactive (if you choose) video conference, we’ll talk about how your body
makes new and healthy cells, what you can do to build it up and maybe what you’ve
been doing to tear it down. We’ll have
an overview of the THM plan for getting healthy and getting trim if you need to
do that also. I’ll have info on how you
can get started all on your own or in a group setting or with me as your
private coach.
A second FREE
video conference will be held at 7:00 PM (CST) on Tuesday, March 31 and you are
welcome to join that one as well. Watch
for instructions on that early next week.
Share with friends right now and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy! You can also find this even and share through my Facebook page at Food Freedom – THM Certified Lifestyle Coaching.
It’s a great way
to come out of social distancing a better person.
Has the recent
health crisis made you give extra thought to how you’re fueling your body? Leave a comment and tell me the changes you’ve
made or are considering.
[NOTE: It is my understanding that there is a weight loss plan out there using the phrase “food freedom” in promotion. Unaware of this, I chose the name “Food Freedom with Coach Barb”. The two are in no way connected. Just providing clarity for my readers.]
I’ve been looking
forward to making this announcement and sharing my journey with you. If you’ve been with me from the beginning,
you know that health is a top priority in my life. I have shared part of my health story here on
the blog, and though some of it is scary, I really haven’t told the whole story.
Years ago (I’m thrilled to say) a cancer diagnosis played a part. If you’d like to catch up on that part of my life, you can read about it here and here.
There are things more difficult to endure than a cancer diagnosis and its subsequent surgery and treatments. Stage 3 (I’m talkin’ in the pits, folks) Adrenal Fatigue is one of them and I can honestly say that a couple of times during that awful phase I found myself fearful of not making it through the night.
When I talk to
people who seem to care little about taking care of themselves, I sometimes
find myself thinking (not sarcastically), “Well, maybe you just haven’t been
sick enough yet.” I have.
Now back to chemotherapy. I knew then, but have really come to understand since, what a hormone disrupter that is – as if we women needed another one – right? As I sat in the chemo room trying not to watch the drip, I’d hear the other women talking about how much weight they’d gained during chemo. Frightening tales of up to forty-five pounds had me shaking in my blue vinyl recliner!
I didn’t gain
forty-five pounds, but I did gain fifteen – the fifteen that would not budge –
the fifteen that kept trying to turn into twenty.
I’m tall, but
small boned, and excess weight on my body hurts. It pulls me down. Because of my height, no one really regarded
me as “fat” because I gained it all from the waist down. This whole new world of walking past a loaf
of bread and gaining five pounds was foreign and frightening territory. I’d spent my whole life eating whatever I
wanted and not gaining an ounce.
I joined that group that measures everything and counts “points”. I stuck to it for years. It worked – twice, in fact. Still, at the root of the matter was the fact that I love food. I may have left the farm, but I took my farm-girl appetite with me, if you know what I mean. I want seconds – possibly thirds. I eat. The portion control police were after me all day long and in the long run, my blood work showed that the plan did me no favors.
When adrenal fatigue showed up and my holistic doctor advised me to give up sugar and grains, my family (the supportive little darlings) told me I couldn’t do it. After all, they did know me as the Bread & Pasta Queen. I did do it. I lost a few pounds, too! Then it began to creep back on again. Was there no end?
Then, a couple of years ago, a friend of mine started losing weight. What struck me most was the fact that she seemed deliriously happy doing it. Normally, the first thing a dieter loses is their sense of humor. She’d bring food to gatherings that tasted SO YUMMY and she’d lost over thirty pounds! When I asked about the recipe, she’d name off a string of ingredients that fit my doctor’s recommendations to the letter. So, why was she dropping pounds while I couldn’t wait to get home and get the too-tight jeans off?
That’s when she told me about Trim Healthy Mama. Later, I borrowed her THM book and tip-toed in. It all made such logical sense and avoided extremes. It didn’t take away food groups. It simply showed me how to stop duel-fueling my body with fats and carbohydrates at the same time and how to feed my body what all those hormones needed so I could not only walk past the bread, but stop and sniff it and even have a slice!
After a year of baby-stepping and learning how the plan was ideal not only for weight loss, but for those who wanted great cancer prevention like I did, but is ideal for people with diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiac and any number of other issues, I bought the books, including cookbooks and jumped in.
The first recipe I tried in my “Trim Healthy Table” cookbook was Creamy Garlic Spinach Spaghetti Squash Bake. Oh, my goodness! If I could eat like this and trim down, I was in! Smuffy gave it the thumbs up, too.
Today, I have the troublesome weight off. (Actually, I think I may go ahead and drop another three to four pounds.) I feel great and this may be my biggest announcement of all today – I’m eating! I eat seconds. I eat thirds. I try to avoid out-and-out calorie abuse, but I don’t measure my portions. I eat butter! Repeat after me – B U T T E R! I pour olive oil on my salad and top it with cheese and nuts. I eat carbs. I was made for fats and carbs and am so thankful THM has shown me how to eat them in a trimming way. It’s so sensible and safe that pregnant and nursing moms can feel free to jump right in! And guys, just call yourself a Trim Healthy Papa (or Dude) because this plan works for you, too.
Knowing that I could be of help to so many others, I decided to become a certified coach through Trim Healthy Mama. I’ll be sharing lots of recipes and information here on the blog and should you need more, I offer group and private coaching, cooking demonstrations and more.
For pricing and discounts, including your first session of coaching absolutely free, plus available discounts, click here.
If your church
group, homeschool group or organization is located in my area, I would be happy
to speak to people who are ready to find food freedom, get their health back
and if they need to lose the weight – get trim!
Trim Healthy Mama originated when two moms (originally from Down Under and now in the hills of Tennessee) found themselves DONE with diets. These sisters wrote a book for their friends that became a best-seller because the simple science and healthy guidelines worked for so many people. They now have the #1 health podcast out there, plus books, curriculum and their own line of healthy food and other things that will make your body better!
Meet Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison in this short video where you’ll learn a little more about THM.
That’s my big announcement! Coming up, I’ll be sharing healthy recipes
and providing notations concerning recipes that have already appeared on the
blog and whether or not they fit the Trim Healthy Mama plan. I’ll be making recommendations from THM
recipes and providing lots of information on my new Food Freedom Facebook page
where I’ll share THM knowledge, recipes, tips and all sorts of other
goodies. Please “like” and “follow” at https://www.facebook.com/Food-Freedom-THM-Certified-Lifestyle-Coaching-100703354727086/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Most of all, Happy Eating!
How’s your New Year’s Resolution coming along? Was it, once again, to either lose weight or eat healthier? Why do you think you fail? I’d love to hear your comments!
READERS TAKE NOTE: Although I am a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach, not every recipe on this blog reflects this or fits the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan. This is an earlier post prior to my THM days. I am currently working on adapting some of these recipes to fit the plan.
Is there a bowl of sourdough starter sitting on your counter waiting to be turned into baked yummy-ness?
If you missed my recent post, Authentic Sourdough Just Like Great-Grandma Used to Make, or if you just haven’t had time to start your starter, you’ll want to save this recipe and give this wonderful bread a try. If your starter is ready to go, you can make this bread today.
There’s no
kneading involved and only a short rising time.
It’s all done in the mixer so you can overcome your fears of making
homemade bread.
A friend of mine, after tasting my bread a few times, really wanted to try this herself so I recently walked her through the process via phone and text. The result is this beautiful loaf!
Her husband loved it and now they are enjoying bread while pursuing one of their health goals – getting inflammatory foods out of their diet and enjoying better gut health.
When I touch on the topic of health, I always like to remind you of this: I am not your doctor! While there is no gluten in this bread flour, there is rye flour in the starter offered at the link above. It is my understanding that the sourdough process breaks down the gluten in the rye flour, making it null and void, so to speak. However, if you have celiac disease, you will want to consult your doctor before using the rye starter.
If you’ve tried to
go the gluten-free route at all, I’m sure you identify with the title of this
post. You’d think that restaurants and
the folks who bake things to be sold in stores would be the experts, wouldn’t
you? Yet, every single time, the menu
item or the store-bought loaf always seem to have the same common problem –
utter and complete nasty-ness! Dry as a bone, its tasteless particles, if
they can be broken, shatter into dust upon contact with the teeth or
knife. The result: Repulsion and fear.
Why do I mention
fear? It’s only human nature to think
that if the experts can’t do any better than this, anything we try at home on
our own is bound to end in disaster.
Surely they know all the
secrets to a moist, chewy, tasty slice of bread! We’re afraid of failure.
Fear no more! Let’s bake bread that is so tasty that your
biggest problem will be waiting to slice it till it’s completely cool.
First, let’s mix
up some gluten-free flour blend. I
suppose you can use a premixed type found in most stores, but this is cheaper
and so simple, so why would you do that?
Also, using this mix will ensure that there are no added weird
ingredients and that the recipe turns out just the way I’ve been making it. If you want to veer from the path, do it
later on after you’ve mastered the recipe.
I’ll give tips and tricks as I go, and at the bottom of this post you’ll be directed to FREE printables for the flour blend and the bread.
I like to give credit where credit is due, so I offer a huge thanks to Jill Nystul over at “One Good Thing by Jillie” for getting me started on making my own flour blend. Mine differs from hers in a couple of ways, because I’ve removed white potatoes and corn products from most of my recipes, but I have to admit to trying another blend offered by “experts” who have a highly rated cooking show and Jillie’s beat theirs hands down, even with my changes!
There are three
ingredients, used in equal parts. I make
bread, pancakes, buns, flatbread and pizza dough with this all the time now, so
I stir up a big batch in a large canister.
To have just enough for experimenting with this bread, you’ll need the
following:
Gluten Free Flour Blend
1 cup brown rice
flour
1 cup tapioca
flour (the package may say “tapioca starch”)
1 cup arrowroot
powder
Quinoa is a
complete protein and quinoa flour can be used to substitute for part or all of
the arrowroot powder. I’ve used this
before when I was low on arrowroot and it is really tasty. However, it is
also super expensive, so I usually skip it.
Now let’s make bread! I started with this recipe by Nicole Hunn over at glutenfreeonashoestring.com. I found it to have issues (such as falling in the middle as it cooled) so I experimented for months with rising times, baking times and substituting and adding ingredients until I got past all those bumps in the road. I knew this basic recipe was one I wanted to work with because of one stellar quality – it did not taste like cardboard rolled in sand. Thanks, Nicole, for getting me started. Without you, I might still be toastless!
Here’s my tested
and perfected version:
Gluten-free Sourdough Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups gluten-free
flour blend
2 teaspoons
xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon cream
of tartar
1 ½ teaspoons
kosher salt
2 teaspoons bread-machine
yeast
2 tablespoons raw
honey
3 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 cup “fed” rye
sourdough starter
1 ½ cups warm milk (or milk substitute of your choice) at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Instructions:
Generously grease a 9X5” loaf pan. Set aside.
(I use a Pampered Chef stoneware pan)
In
the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the flour,
xanthan gum, cream of tartar and kosher salt.
Stir. Add the bread-machine
yeast. Stir again. Add the honey, coconut oil and sourdough
starter; mix on a low setting to combine.
Reduce
the mixer speed to the lowest setting and add milk, pouring in a slow, steady
stream. Once all the flour mixture has
incorporated into the liquids, beat the ingredients on at least medium speed
for 4-6 minutes (I have a KitchenAid and I set the speed on six for five
minutes). The dough will be sticky and
thicker than cake batter, but not as thick as cookie dough.
Scrape
the dough into the greased loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula or damp
fingers.
Allow
the dough to rise, covered, in a warm humid place for 30 minutes. It will do most of its rising in the oven, so
don’t expect it to expand as much as wheat breads you might be used to working
with.
While
the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake
the loaf in a preheated oven for one hour.
Use the convection setting if you have that. It should develop a light golden brown crust
on top.
Remove
the bread from the pan immediately and allow it to cool on a wire cooling rack
until completely cool.
The dough
consistency may seem weird to you if you are used to baking wheat bread. The shorter rising time and longer baking
time, along with a lower baking temperature may seem a little different, too,
but humor me and do it exactly like this the first few times and then you can
play with all these aspects if it is not turning out exactly the way you want. Remember, when it comes to baking, altitude,
humidity and finicky ovens all play a part in the perfect loaf of bread.
Here’s a photo of the dough once my friend got it into the pan and ready to rise. I kept getting nervous little texts and photos asking if everything was coming along all right. She did everything to perfection!
A bit of advice about cooling the bread. This bread is so fabulous when it is fresh that all I want to do is eat it warm and buttered. However, its softness and loftiness is so easily squashed by even a good bread knife that I force myself to leave it alone for a few hours before nipping off a slice. Then, I refrigerate the loaf to firm it up before putting it into the slicer (as shown in the first photo) and slice the whole loaf at once into perfect slices. I put a few in a container in the refrigerator (after I’ve had my little bread feast) and the rest of the loaf goes into a freezer container with pieces of waxed paper between each slice so that I can pull some out for toast or whatever as needed.
I hope you enjoy
this fabulous bread and get into the habit of making it every week or so for
your family.
If you’d like to
switch things up a bit and turn your sourdough into something more akin to buns
for hamburgers or English muffin style rounds, you might try this idea that
popped into my head. It works great and gives
me a change from ordinary sliced bread.
Purchase ten large
stainless steel baking rings. You want
them to be the desired diameter of your finished “bun”. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and
then with the rings that have been sprayed with coconut oil baking spray. Fill the rings with equal amounts of your
sourdough bread dough, let rise 30 minutes and before baking 30-40 minutes at
350 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough is
thick enough not to creep out from under the rings while baking. If the buns give a hollow sound when you tap
them in the middle with your finger, they are ready to come out of the oven.
Here are my buns and the rings I use, which are about 4 inches in diameter.
Happy baking and
don’t forget the butter!
Still have questions
about bread or sourdough starter? Leave
a comment and I’ll try to help you out!
Share the bread
and this post with your friends! They’ll
love it, too! Let’s all get healthier
together!
Pancakes made with this sourdough starter are AWESOME! Smuffy says they’re the best I’ve ever made him! Another recipe for another day.
For more about my health journey and my thoughts on how not to just survive, but thrive, check out my Thrive! page.
