Keller Family Blog

Our Allergen-Free Chocolate Cake recipe works well in Oz.  I modified the original entry to update for cooking in Australia. Now it shows the flours I have used here.  It seems the All-Purpose Gluten-Free flours here work much better for baking instead of Pancakes. Also we used Apple-Cider Vinegar too without it affecting the taste adversely.

Well we have one restaurant in Australia that we can all eat at:  McDonald’s Jaden can eat two things on the menu. A beef patty which has been placed in the box plain without bread and Fries also known as Hot Chips. The burger is 100% Australian beef with no Added Soy.  Jaden has not had a negative reaction to the fries though he has to the USA McDonald’s fries with their coating of Hydrogenated Soy.  Also Jaden could eat the fries at Burger King in the USA, but he can’t have the fries at their subsidiary here known as Hungry Jack’s as the sugar that coats them in Australia is derived from Wheat.

Needless to say if Crystal and the kids are out and about and need to get some food or when we are traveling we have an option to eat.  Not one that we would willing choose everytime, but it is possible.

Also the McDonald’s seem to always have a KFC near them, so for one occasion, we got Jaden’s at McD’s and everyone elses’ food at KFC.

While watching Giada on the Food Channel at my mom’s house, she mentioned sheep’s milk cheese.  I had just been pondering how Jaden will never have a Pizza because there wasn’t a cheese he could eat.  Well, perhaps this was the answer.  After a quick Google search, I found http://www.sheepdairying.com/Milk.htm which mentioned that many people allergic to cow and goat milk could safely consume sheep’s milk.  Well I found some Pecorino Romano cheese made with 100% Pure Sheeps Milk at a store in Louisville on Saturday (see post below) and we gave Jaden some about over an hour ago.

 I rubbed some on his arm at first.  His arm has shown no reaction.  If it had been Cow’s milk he would have had hives in that spot already.  Crystal came home with a watermelon and Jaden started grabbing it and some other foods and started eating.  Now his nose is running and he is coughing a little bit.  Uggh.  Was it the cheese or something else.  We will have to try again later.  I’ll report the conclusion and the progress as we test.

One hopeful thought was that Australia has a LOT of sheep so perhaps sheep’s milk cheese would be quite readily available in multiple types of cheeses.

Nearly all of the Coeliac / Celiac Sprue sites talk about Oats in the United States as being contaminated with Wheat. To date this has not been observed by us. Our son has had some quick reactions to wheat, barley and rye but never to a product that had Oats in it without declared wheat. In fact Jaden can eat Cap’n Crunch and Honeycomb cereal with no noted problems. I think the reason some Coeliacs have problems with Oats are based on the Avenin protein in Oats as opposed to any cross-contamination of wheat in the factory or field. Perhaps we have just been fortunate to not encounter contamination yet, but perhaps the contaminiation is not has likely as warned.  (Disclaimer: I would guess it is also possible a very minute amount of wheat gluten may not affect Jaden as much as a Coeliac.)

If you just recently found a problem with Gluten, you may consider experimenting with Oat containing products as long as you can recover from the reaction. Also there are some countries where wheat is not grown but oats are and in that case they are really sure of no contaminiation. Try a product of those countries to see if you react to the Avenin then you could try the USA Oats products. Reference.

I found an article a while back about US Government Scientists formulating a recipe for Gluten-Free pancakes that were indistinguishable from Pancakes with Gluten (Wheat) in them. The article is here. The biggest problem was that they talked about it, but NEVER published the recipe online.  Then several weeks later the journal that they published in put the issue online.  Now I can see the recipe as part of their scientific analysis of the pancakes. However it does call for putting the Sweet Potatoes in Liquid Nitrogen as a step in making the flour.

And it looks like they studied the pancakes for every type of quality with lots of scientific tests.  The only thing that is not mentioned in the article was whether the pancakes TASTED ANY GOOD or not!

Well we will find it out when we make our own.  We’ll let you know.

After some trial, my family agrees that using Olive Oil instead of Canola Oil makes the pancakes taste better.  So I ammended the Recipe Posts to say Canola or Olive.  Also frying the pancakes in a stainless steel skillet with a little Olive Oil (just below the smoking point of the oil) makes the pancakes a little better then using a non-stick skillet.

This is an improvement to our Allergen Free Pancake Recipe. This is possibly the best Pancake Recipe yet without Wheat, Egg, Soy, and Dairy.

We usually double the recipe for our family.
2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose GF flour
1/3 cup Buckwheat flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda (see note below)
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Applesauce (Motts Natural works fine. Gerber’s Baby Food works too just more expensive.)
1-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon Honey (see note below)
1 Cup water

Put griddle on Stove and turn on to Med to Med Hi. Mix dry ingredients with Wisk. Add Oil, applesauce, honey and then water. Mix thoroughly with wisk until everything is mixed well. The soda and baking powder will start working before done mixing. Pour by 1/3 to 1/4 cup on the griddle. When edges are dry flip. Top with pure Maple Syrup and enjoy.

Variation/Substitutes / Possible Changes

• Sprinkle EnjoyLife Allergen Free Chocolate Chips into pancakes as soon as they have been poured onto the griddle.
• Add 1 – 2 mashed ripe bananas to add banana flavor. In that case the Chocolate Chips cease to be optional.
• If not using Honey, consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda, plus you may want to add a teaspoon or two of sugar though not necessary.
• 1 Tablespoon of Mashed Ripe Bananas (Gerber’s Baby Food is perfect) can be used instead of Applesauce but then also consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda. 1 Tablespoon when used instead of the Applesause does not add much if any banana taste.

1 lb Ground Meat
16 oz Salsa (more if you like a saucier base)
15 oz can Black Beans-drain and rinse
15 oz can Corn
1 1/2 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. dried Cilantra
1/2 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown ground meat and drain grease. Stir rest of ingredients into browned meat. Heat on medium until mixture bubbles, then cover and simmer on low heat for approx. 15 minutes. Serve with your favorite corn chips. We like Fritos and Blue Corn Chips.

This is a major variation of our Allergen Free Pancake Recipe. Though simple we thought it should get a seperate post of it’s own.

We usually double the recipe for our family.

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose GF flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda (see note below)
1/4 to 1/2 Teaspoon salt (optional)
1 Tablespoon of Cocoa
3 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 Tablespoon Applesauce (Motts Natural works fine. Gerber’s Baby Food works too just more expensive.)
1-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon Honey (see note below)
1 Cup water

Put griddle on Stove and turn on to Med to Med Hi. Mix dry ingredients with Wisk. Add Oil, applesauce, honey and then water. Mix thoroughly with wisk until everything is mixed well. The soda and baking powder will start working before done mixing. Pour by 1/3 to 1/4 cup on the griddle. When edges are dry flip. Top with pure Maple Syrup and enjoy.

Variation/Substitutes / Possible Changes

• Sprinkle EnjoyLife Allergen Free Chocolate Chips into pancakes as soon as they have been poured onto the griddle.
• Add 1 – 2 mashed ripe bananas to add banana flavor. In that case the Chocolate Chips cease to be optional.
• If not using Honey, consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda, plus you may want to add a teaspoon or two of sugar though not necessary.
• 1 Tablespoon of Mashed Ripe Bananas (Gerber’s Baby Food is perfect) can be used instead of Applesauce but then also consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda. 1 Tablespoon when used instead of the Applesause does not add much if any banana taste.

These are the best Pancakes I have made so far. They get a strong 5 out of 6 rating (in other words 5 of the 6 in our family love them) GFCF and EF. We usually double the recipe for our family.

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose GF flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda (see note below)
1/4 to 1/2 Teaspoon salt (optional)
1 Tablespoon Applesauce (Motts Natural works fine. Gerber’s Baby Food works too just more expensive.)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon Honey (see note below)
1 Cup water

Put griddle on Stove and turn on to Med to Med Hi. Mix dry ingredients with Wisk. Add Oil, applesauce, honey and then water. Mix thoroughly with wisk until everything is mixed well. The soda and baking powder will start working before done mixing. Pour by 1/3 to 1/4 cup on the griddle. When edges are dry flip. Top with pure Maple Syrup and enjoy.

Variation/Substitutes / Possible Changes

• Drop EnjoyLife Allergen Free Chocolate Chips into the pancakes as soon as they have been poured onto the griddle.
• Include adding 1 – 2 mashed ripe bananas to add banana flavor. In that case the Chocolate Chips cease to be optional.
• If not using Honey, consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda, plus you may want to add a teaspoon or two of sugar though not necessary.
• 1 Tablespoon of Mashed Ripe Bananas (Gerber’s Baby Food is perfect) can be used instead of Applesauce but then also consider dropping Baking Soda and increasing Baking Powder by 1/2 Tablespoon as there may not be enough acid for the Baking Soda. 1 Tablespoon when used instead of the Applesause does not add much if any banana taste.