Living Gluten-Free

I just made this Banana Crunch Cake from Gluten Free is Life. It was moist and delicious. She said it was a coffee cake but it would be just as good without the oatmeal crumble topping IMHO. It was not grainy -- it seriously took me back to my gluten days. It was full bodied and had a crumb just like a cake. It only called for oat flour -- no mixing or multiple flours and no guar or xanthan gum! It was easy and yummy!

It still amazes me how the gluten free products I try just keep getting better and better. I have learned a few things in the past year. 1.) The pre-made items are okay but can range from food grade cardboard to good but grainy. 2.) Some of the best brownies I have had were from a gf mix. Mixes are better than already made gluten-free products. 3.) The best gluten-free products that don't taste gluten free are the ones made from scratch.

I think I may be dreaming of this banana cake tonight. I am glad I did make it tonight (and sample it), with Little Miss Muffet's help (she helped sample it, also), because this means breakfast is made for in the morning.

Gluten-free living is getting easier. This past weekend we went on a scout camp out. It was rainy and cold! We were so glad our troop was in charge of cooking, that meant we could help out in the kitchen in exchange for beds in cabins and buildings. The first morning all those campers filed in looking forward to that warm liquid to help warm them up, whether it be hot chocolate or coffee. There were murmurs of the coldness and dampness and hopefulness it would warm up. My room was blazing hot, probably 90 degrees. It was absolutely stifling. I didn't dare complain because I was so glad to be warm and not sleep on rocks and have a bathroom literally three footsteps away from where I laid my head.

Working and helping out in the kitchen was fun. My entire family lent a helping hand with each meal in some capacity. One neat thing about helping with the food was access to the menu before hand -- also there was the boon of making sure there was not any cross contamination. Knowing the head cook helped so much because he kept our food needs in mind. I forgot we were having spaghetti, so really it only helps when one remembers things they shouldn't forget. We talked about what LMM and I would eat for dinner that night. We were hoping there would be a left over hamburger patty from lunch for each of us.

It's neat how things work out. We were both able to eat spaghetti!! Another camper also had Celiac. Her mom had made an entire package of gf pasta noodles. When she dropped them off in the kitchen ahead of time, I was able to introduce myself and I was able to glean some neat ideas from her. Her family has been gluten free for 8 1/2 years! She told me of an Asian market in town where I will be able to buy stir-fry to go and flours/noodles much cheaper than at the health food store. Yippee! She offered to share the noodles with us also. Usually, I would have thanked her but said no-thank-you. Not that afternoon, the noodles were good, they were not any noodles I had bought before. They were good, I just seemed to have required a lot of sauce with the noodles. I hope I can one day repay the kind act. Maybe I will make this banana cake and wrap up a couple of slices for her dear daughter.

The gluten free life just keeps getting better and better.