I can't believe I am saying this but I have a 60 page e-Cookbook available on Amazon Kindle and Kobo.

Whether you are a seasoned home-cook, or a newbie, beginning to bake gluten-free can be like learning a whole new branch of cooking. Some concepts, like beating an egg until frothy transfer word for word; others like kneading bread require a new technique. This book makes it simply with helpful hints on how to make gluten-free baking convenient and tasty. I hope you find all of these recipes as delightful to your taste buds as they are to mine.

My book features 17 gluten-free recipes, as well as dairy-free, diabetic & vegan recipes, including: Banana chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread, honey-lemon squares, sugar-free oatmeal cookies, double-chocolate salted cookies, brownies and more!

If you are looking for a gluten-free cookbook, I encourage you to check out my book it is only $4.97 CAD and make a great gift for the newly diagnosed celiac.

Find on Amazon: Life After Gluten: Cookies & Bars
Find on Kobo: Life After Gluten: Cookies & Bars

Buy the book and send me your review of one or more recipes before January 7th, 2022 and get a printed acknowledgment in my 320 page hardcover cookbook, which will be published early 2022.

June 16th, 2021

Cupcakes. They seems such a simple indulgence. Nothing is really quite as satisfying as a perfect cupcake. There is something about achieving perfection in something as delicate as a cupcake. They tend to expose every shortcoming you may have in your baking skills. Which is why we end up covering them will so much frosting. Am I right? Just think of all those culinary competitions on T.V. what are the judges so impressed by? The delicate and humble cupcake. Plain and simple... but so unctous. This cupcake recipe was a labour of love. True chocolate is not my favourite food on Earth, however, this was for you, for the little boy, the little girl. Happy birthday to you and bon appetite!

400 grams/2 cups  granulated sugar or for a low-glycemic option use date paste (see page xx)
300 grams/2 1/4 cups  flour mix #3 (page xx)
100 grams/1 1/4 cups  alkalized cocoa powder
20 grams/5 tsp  baking powder
5 grams/1 tsp  kosher salt
200 grams/⅘ cups  your favourite milk alternative5
200 grams/7/8 cup  butter or for dairy-free option use coconut oil
3 large  whole eggs
20 grams/4 tsp  pure vanilla extract

Before beginning, make sure that all of the ingredients are at room temperature.

Preheat an oven to 177°C (350°F).

Sift together the sugar, flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and kosher salt. Make a well in the centre.

Combine the milk, butter/oil, eggs and vanilla. Pour this wet mixture into the well of the dry ingredients. Whisk until combine. Beat for another two minutes until slightly aerated.

Divide the batter amongst the 24 cups in your muffin tin. This batter is so perfect that it is not necessary to line your muffin tin; however, if you have cute cupcake liners that you just would love to use, go for it!

Bake until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched in the centre, or a toothpick comes out nearly clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Breakfast has never been part of my family's Christmas tradition. I mean really we just snack all morning and afternoon until the Christmas dinner is on the table.

Usually our snack is comprised of mini quiche, sausage rolls, muffins, and naturally Christmas cookies. However, while I have a very nice mealy pie dough recipe, I was thinking about how there is not much difference between a quiche and an omelette. Isn't a omelette essentially a quiche without crust an less cream? And by that token would that just mean that omelette is the natural gluten-free, dairy-free alternative to your traditional quiche?

This that benefit in mind, there is the added bonus that this recipe use holiday leftovers! It uses gravy and the fixings in this omelette are essentially stuffing minus the bread. If you made more of my GF Parsnip Stuffing recipe for Christmas than you needed at the dinner table than this omelette is your way of re-utilizing those leftovers in a fun and tasty delight!

- BAKED -

December 10th, 2020

One day I was at work and the Sous Chef requested a few gluten-free cookies for a takeout order. No let me pause for a moment from story telling... do you find that the best thing happen by accident? Well it happened that day. In five minutes I had whipped together the best batch of ginger cookies but there was one glitch... I wasn't following a recipe.

What did I just do? I asked myself. Immediately I made a second batch and wrote down exactly what I did. This is that very successful recipe.

These cookies are crunchy, chewy and filled with delicious flavour.

Here are some of the best deals for ingredients and equipment relevant to this recipe. You will need these items for this recipe, so at now extra cost you, if you purchase one of these products then I earn a small commission that helps fund more posts like this one!

Note: If you cannot see the ad links above it is because your have an ad block or tracker program on. Temporarily disable them to be able to click the links.

#gluten-free #dairy-free #gingercookies #recipe

300 grams  vegetable shortening
200 grams  demerara style brown sugar
4 large  egg yolks
100 grams  blackstrap molasses
10 grams  pure vanilla extract
630 grams  flour mix #3 or #3b (page xx)
45 grams  baking powder
7.5 mL/1 1/2 tsp  ground cinnamon
5 mL/1 tsp  ground ginger
1.8 mL/1/3 tsp  nutmeg
1.8 mL/1/3 tsp  ground cloves
350 grams  dried cranberries
350 grams  chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat an oven to three hundred and seventy five degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream together demerara sugar and shortening. Add eggs a little at a time. Add molasses and vanilla. Stir until homogenous.

Sift together the starch, rice flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Fold these dry ingredients into the shortening mixture. When homogenous, fold in the dried cranberries and pecans.

Form dough into four centimetre (11/2 inch) balls and arrange about five centimetres (two inches) apart on cookie sheets. Flatten cookies to one half the height using the palm of your hand.

Bake for six minutes, until lightly golden but still do not spring to the touch. Let cool, cookies will cook a little further as they are cooling.

stuffing
1 large  onion, finely diced
2 medium  parsnip, finely diced
3 ribs  celery, finely diced
4 cloves  garlic, minced
1 bunch  fresh parsley, chopped
1 bunch  fresh sage, chopped
6 slices  gluten-free bread
salt and white pepper to taste

turkey
1 large  local fresh turkey
salt, powder thyme, powder sage, and white pepper

1. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Saute the onion until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the parsnip, celery, and garlic. Continue to cooking for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, dice the bread into 1 centimetre cubes.

3. Remove the onion mixture from the heat. Add the remaining ingredients.

4. Preheat your oven to 325°F/163°C. Position your oven rack so that you can fit your stuffed turkey into the oven after it's prepared.

5. Remove your turkey from its packaging. Look it over for any small pinfeathers that may have been left behind when the turkey was plucked, and remove them. Take the giblets out of the cavity. Under your turkey's tail, you will see an empty cavity. You will eventually stuff this cavity with stuffing. Reach into the cavity and remove the giblets, if there are any (they are most likely inside of a paper package). The neck may also be inside the cavity; remove it as well.

6. Sprinkle your turkey liberally with salt, powdered thyme,  powder sage, and white pepper. Make sure to cover both the outside of the turkey and the cavity with your seasonings.

7. Stuff the neck cavity of your turkey with prepared stuffing. Fold the neck flap down and lift the wings up and over the closed flap.

8. Fill the body cavity with stuffing. Make sure that you do not pack stuffing into the cavity too tightly, because it may not cook completely. Tuck the turkey legs inside the skin flap for a neat appearance. Take the flap of skin at the bottom of the body cavity and pull it up so that you can tuck the ends of the drumsticks inside. This will also help hold the stuffing inside the cavity while it cooks.

9. Cook the turkey until it reaches an internal temperature of 180°F/82°C. Put the turkey in the oven on the lowest rack and let it cook for 3-5 hours, depending on its weight. The stuffing inside should be 165°F/74°C.

- BAKED -

- November 26th, 2020 -

If you are not from Canada, or even if you are, you probably are unfamiliar with what will become your most heart warming comfort food for Christmas' to come.

Allow me to introduce you to: Tourtiere.

This comfort food is a traditional French Canadian Christmas Eve pie. It's to make it from a combination of pork and beef, and traditionally with carrier pigeon. But to offer a heart healthy alternative I offer my version of this wonderful winter dish, with no pork just turkey. However, if you like pork go ahead and use half pork and half turkey!

This pie is best suited for the cold seasons because it's loaded with what are termed warming spices. Warming spices are those spices which actually do warm your blood. Here are some examples of warming spices: ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon, allspice. I offer my humble alternate definition of warming spices: heart warming spices; i.e. those spices which a reminiscent of what mother used to make on a cold day (e.g. applesauce cake, gingerbread, and pumpkin pie)!

Between heart healthy festive turkey and heart warming spices this is a sure crowd pleaser.

The wonderful array of flavours all coalesce in this warming dish. The ingredients are many but the taste is divinely simple, and in fact the recipe is quite easy to compile.

Anyway enough of my chitter-chatter go ahead try the recipe for yourself, and please when you get a minute let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

Here are some of the best deals for ingredients and equipment relevant to this recipe. You will need these items for this recipe, so at now extra cost you, if you purchase one of these products then I earn a small commission that helps fund more posts like this one!

Note: If you cannot see the ad links above it is because your have an ad block or tracker program on. Temporarily disable them to be able to click the links.

#glutenfree #Christmasevetraditions #FrenchCanadian

1 recipe  good ‘n flakey pie dough (see previous post)

filling
1 medium  potato, cooked and mashed
900 grams  ground turkey
1 large     onion, finely diced
6 cloves  garlic, minced
2 ribs  celery, finely diced
1/2 litre     good turkey broth
10 millilitres/2 tsp  sage, ground
2 grams/1 tsp  cinnamon, ground
2 grams/1 tsp      nutmeg, ground
1 gram/1/2 tsp     cloves, ground
1 sprig     fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
50 grams  lightly packed, fresh gluten-free bread crumbs
to taste kosher salt and ground black peppercorn

egg wash
1 large     egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat an oven to 205°C (400°F). Roll the pastry dough into two equal-sized circles to fit a 23 centimetre (nine inch) pie pan. Line the bottom of the pie pan with one circle and set aside the prepared pie pan and remaining pastry for later.

2. Using a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and sauté the turkey, onion, garlic and celery until the vegetables are tender and the meat is mostly cooked.

3. Add the turkey gravy, herbs, and spices to the meat and vegetables; simmer the mixture over low-medium heat, covered, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir the mashed potatoes and dry breadcrumbs into the mixture. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Allow the meat filling to cool. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie pan. Brush the rim of the pie with egg wash. Top with the remaining pastry dough. Crimp the dough shut, flute the edges, brush the top lightly the egg wash. Cut vents in the top, and bake the pie for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350F and continue baking the pie for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

I am gluten-intolerant, allergic to cow's dairy (barring butter), allergic to shellfish, soy, mushrooms, and don't eat yeast. With all those dietary restrictions, many people jokingly ask can you eat anything?

Well when I first changed my diet I felt as if there was nothing I could eat. Perhaps that has been a mental/emotional blockage for to take that first step towards a healthier lifestyle.

All that being said I am living proof that yes there is food I can still eat, and thrive on; otherwise I wouldn't still be alive after all!

To illustrate what a day in the life a very dietary restricted person, I am going to share with you what I ate in a day:

If are finding meal planning difficult with your dietary restrictions leave a comment below, I'd love to send you a few ideas. Remember you do not have to be in this alone!

Mouth feel
Fluidity: Thick like hot chocolate 1/5

Flavour
Robust: Poor 1/5
Bitter/Roasted: Poor 1/5

Ease of Preparation
5/5

Value
Price Score: Fair value

Where can you buy this:

• That Health Food Store Whitby, ON, Canada
• Healthy Planet
  
• Amazon https://amzn.to/2IVpYVw amzn.to/2IVpYVw
  
• Walmart Online https://www.walmart.com/ip/Organic-Traditions-Macaccino-Drink-Mix-5-3oz/163388072www.walmart.com/ip/Organic-Traditions-Macaccino-Drink-Mix-5-3oz/163388072
• For many more locations see: https://ca.organictraditions.com/products/macaccino-drink-mix

You are travelling in Europe. This is it; your dream vacation and you want to enjoy the authentic Italian cuisine just like the natives do. But there is one tiny problem, you don’t speak the language, not an iota. It is okay though thousands of tourists order food from foreign countries every minute, every second and they don’t know the language either. But there is another tiny problem, actually a very big problem, you have dietary restrictions.

Now what, how do you tell your waiter/ess that you need gluten-free pasta? I mean how do you really break the language barrier to communicate the severity, the intensity of your reaction?

“What seems so simple in communicating your dietary restrictions, is unfortunately complicated.”

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kyle Dine, CEO Equal Eats (formerly “Allergy Transitions), Kingston this weekend. We agree hardily of the point of “what seems so simple in communicating your dietary restrictions, is unfortunately complicated.”

While I have been a professional chef for less than a decade, many a seasoned chef (a little pun) has asked me why everyone has allergies all of the sudden. To a chef who just wants to cook how he has always cooked, allergies may seem like a hip fad for picky eaters. There is a lot more too it.

“A dietary communication card can help convey a serious message in a credible, detailed and memorable way, reducing the chance of information falling through the cracks in busy food service settings.” Mr. Dine commented.

If you read my post Dining Out: Tips for Safely Staying Gluten-Free you will know I recommend allergy cards as the number #1 method of assuring a safe and satisfying meal out on the town.

Allergy cards don’t replace verbal communication with your server, however, from Kyle Dine’s experiences, from my own experiences, solely relying on verbal communication does not produce effect results.

Kyle Dine elaborated on this point, “Often it comes down to a game of food allergy broken telephone. When we looked at the statistics such as over three quarters of adults having allergic reactions when dining out, or oven 90% experiencing anxiety when eating outside the home, we can’t help but wonder if there could be a better way to stay safe and enjoy food. Dietary communication cards can add another layer of protection.”

Mr. Dine has a vested interest in these cards, he has had food allergies since the ‘80s. More than that his wife has celiac disease. Seeing the personal need for dietary communication cards within his own home, CEO Dine made the leap to launching Equal Eats, reasoning they weren’t the only dietary restricted persons in the world. They felt like they cannot simply enjoy food like everyone else, especially when traveling; that means that others and experiencing the same feelings, relating over the same need.

Since 2006, Mr. Dine has been providing a solution to those feelings, that need through this company Equal Eats, originally “Allergy Translations.”

The impact has been affirming, fulfilling. “Many grateful families have shared how our products have provided peace of mind when travelling, and for some, it was the catalyst for even booking the ticket to go.” Reports Kyle Dine. “Travelling should be enjoyable, and we try to help make it easier for people with dietary restrictions to have less stress and worry, so they can experience more joy abroad.”

Okay, so maybe you’ve read this far and are saying, “Okay this sounds great but I am not planning on travelling abroad anytime soon.” If that is you, I get it, I am not planning any trips either. But get this important point, this freeing point for the dietary restricted: allergy communication cards are usefully locally too!

Kyle Dine and I both have six allergens so I feel like he is speaking for both of us when he said (referencing his allergens), “I don’t expect any server to remember them, nor write them down 100% accurately unless they really make an attempt. Often, they think my peanut and tree nut allergy are one in the same, and [that] sets up a potential erroneous chain of communication. A dietary card lays out the exact allergy/avoidance's so the necessary information can be given to the kitchen staff. I don’t like feeling like a burden when dining out, and I feel my card actually makes their jobs easier – they truly appreciate the cards!”

Yes, Mr. Dine we (in the biz) truly do appreciate them.

Restaurants are busy places, your cooks are making ten, twenty meals all at once. Your server is handling five, ten tables each with two, five people seated. Take it from me, a cook, it is a struggle just to remember ingredients in a normal dish when the dining room is buzzing. When you start adding special requests, dietary restrictions your routine gets messed up, your memory forms gaps and that can lead to flukes causing allergic reactions.

The cross-contact message on Equal Eats cards provided and particularly beneficial facet as many wait staff and cooks are still very allergy illiterate. On their digital card pages they feature info on accidental contamination as well as helpful links to training resources.

I was really curious about the translation aspect of the cards. I my mind I imagined some stranger, dropping words into Google translate and presto you have a translation! I am relieved, encouraged that is not how Mr. Dine’s team operated. First of all, it is a team, not just one man who creates your card. Secondly it is a team of professionals.

“We hire outstanding translations agencies, then do a full proofread of all translations.” Kyle Dine continued highlighting this fact, “What sets Equal Eats apart, is that we do a full second proofread with native speakers to make sure nothing is missed, and that the translations work for everyday speakers [not just the academic].”

On their website, equaleats.com, they offer multiple formats: physical and digital. Digital based on a QR code system; offers you access to vastly more info, constantly updated info, than can fit on a business card physical card. The physical on the other hand carry a sense of seriousness about them and workers take note of.

For more information and chance to ask personalized questions of the service, I encourage you to visit equaleats.com

INSTAGRAM: @equal_eats