Monthly Archives: May 2011

Mock Peanut Butter Cups

Okay, I have to admit it. I used to love, love, love Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I couldn’t get enough. But then I got all healthy and somewhere along the way read the ingredients and they were quickly and efficiently but not deliciously eliminated from my diet: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, and Soya Lecithin and PGPR), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, and TBHQ and Citric Acid.

Reeses indicates a risk of gluten cross-contamination and besides that with the milk, peanuts, soy, corn (from dextrose) and preservatives, this is an allergenic, autistic and ADHD kid’s (or adult’s) worse nightmare! Add to that the excessive sugar (sugar, sugar and dextrose) use in it and my blood sugar starts rising just thinking about it? And hmmm…. what exactly is PGPR and TBHQ?

Hersheys is pretty smart, propaganda wise, PGPR and TBHQ sound almost cute, but their full names tip us off that these are additives of the worse sort. PGPR or Polyglycerol Polyrcinoleate  is a food additive experiment. Read about its chemical composition here. It’s a chemical used to decrease the amount of cocoa butter needed in a chocolate product while still allowing for the chocolate flavor and texture. Mmmm… Just what I want, less chocolate and more chemicals!

TBHQ or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone is really, really scary. It’s a metabolite of BHA or butane, and according to Schilderman (1993) it “appeared to be a strong inducer of oxidative DNA damage.” And according to Naturalnews.com “Consuming high doses (between 1 and 4 grams) of TBHQ can cause nausea, delirium, collapse, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and vomiting. There are also suggestions that it may lead to hyperactivity in children as well as asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis. It may also further aggravate ADHD symptoms and cause restlessness. Long term, high doses of TBHQ in laboratory animals have shown a tendency for them to develop cancerous precursors in their stomachs, as well as cause DNA damage to them. It is also suggested that it may be responsible for affecting estrogen levels in women.”

Okay, so what’s a healthy, chocolate loving, allergen and chemical avoiding girl to do??? Well make her own healthy, allergen free, and raw (if desired) version of course!

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We are a bread centered country. For breakfast we eat toast, for lunch we eat sandwiches and with dinner we have dinner rolls, pizza or French bread. It’s ridiculous how dependent on bread we are! So when needing to go gluten free, what are you to do? Add to that the complications of needing to be dairy free and egg free and things get really gnarly! What is worse is all of the other food sensitivities to different grains that are popping up, which makes buying commercial gluten free bread downright impossible and usually, frustratingly non-tasty!

With all of the food allergies and sensitivities that abound, making a purely allergen free bread is nearly impossible. For all the people that have a sensitivity to rice, an equal number can’t do quinoa or buckwheat or coconut (heaven forbid). This makes personal experimentation key. And yes… kitchen disasters inevitable, but who cares? So, what you make isn’t perfect or the desired holy grail of bready slicing goodness. Make tweaks, make changes and try again… and again… and again. Learn to relish experimentation, learn to seek out the right texture, learn to anticipate the changes in humidity and how that will affect your bread’s rising. Every mistake is a learning opportunity–in life and in bread making.

This bread was my favorite for a time–gluten free, vegan and tasty. I’m on to new experiments, but I share this one as a starting point for you to create your own allergen-free masterpiece. I dedicate this bread to Joanne Thompson, owner of Yoga For Self in Denver, who is starting her own gluten free bread odyssey.

May your yeast rise, your flours bind and your digestion be calm, strong and a beacon of energy and life force… Cheers!

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strawberry ice cream

I need a little somethin, somethin that makes me feel like it’s almost summer in Denver. Nothing does that quite as well as ice cream. Luckily I have a secret…. A secret that every dairy free, egg free, gluten free, sugar-free food lover should know…. A secret that will make satiating your ice cream needs a snap.

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