If you are allergic to wheat, intolerant to gluten, suffer from celiac disease, or you simply want to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, then learning to cook gluten free meals is essential! You’ll not only need to know what you can and cannot eat, but you’ll need to know how to read food labels, and avoid cross-contamination when cooking. Often the most difficult part of that learning curve is finding good replacements for basics like flour and sandwich bread.

More and more grocery stores and and health food merchants are carrying gluten free mixes and ingredients for preparing gluten free meals. It’s a good idea to try some pre-packaged mixes and see if they work for your family. This is a greaty way to find out which gluten free flours taste best. This way, when you feel you are ready to begin blending your own gluten free mixes, you will not need to waste your hard-earned paycheck on ingredients you know don’t taste good to you.

Pre-packaged baking mixes are a convenient and quick way to get used to how different it is to work with gluten free flours. When you’re ready to begin making your own gluten free mixes, try our gluten free flour replacement recipe to get your started.

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If you live with people who eat products containing gluten you should be especially cautious about cross-contaminating. Gluten can often be found on cooking utensils, pots and pans, counter tops and more. Here are some tips to follow in order to avoid gluten cross-contamination in your kitchen.

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Gluten is often used as an additive in processed foods. Gluten serves many roles - it can be a thickener, an emulsifier, or a stabilizer in many packaged foods.

Our guide to finding hidden gluten in prepared foods will get you well on your way to learning what to avoid. Please note, however, than gluten can be found hidden in the most curious of places. So if you are not absolutely certain what is in a particular food, contact the food manufacturer to determine whether it is gluten free.

Fortunately, new food labeling statutes regarding allergens will make detecting gluten in prepared foods much easier for gluten-free cooks.

Beware of the following words on food labels. Any mention of these is an indication the food contains gluten:

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We all know that just about every yummy recipe in the world calls for flour. It’s a shame that people living gluten free can’t just go to the store and pick up any old flour; but that’s just not how a gluten free diet works!

Here is a great gluten free mix flour replacement to use as a substitute in any recipe calling for flour:

• 1 c. tapioca flour
• 2 c. potato starch or potato flour
• 6 c. white or brown rice flour

Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. This can be used in recipes that call for flour.

Note: If you have never mixed flours, be sure there are no streaks or clumps of the individual flours. When you’re finished it should appear to be only one kind of flour.

Another ingredient you’ll often find in recipes is cream of soup. Of course, most of the store-bought varieties are not gluten free and are loaded with sodium. Here’s a simple gluten free mix cream of soup replacement to add to your gluten free arsenal:

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Here’s a recipe I’ve been meaning to try out. My kids LOVE blueberry muffins and can no longer have the pre-packaged processed kind I used to feed them (unknowingly believing it was healthy).

Let me know what you think!

1/4 c. melted butter
1 1/3 c. rice flour
1 c. sugar
1 whole egg
2 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

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As many of you already know, gluten free bread recipes are hard to come by - ESPECIALLY good ones!

If you have spent a great deal of time trying to make good gluten free bread only to be sorely disappointed, give this one a try. As it turns out, the hot and humid environment created inside a crockpot is the perfect place for getting that gluten free dough to rise!

And the BEST part is that it has a light and chewy texture, tastes great, and is SUPER easy to make!

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