I'm listening to the Beatles, in the kitchen, observing the dismal weather. I decided it would be a perfect day for waffles! When I was younger and still ate dairy, breakfast treats like pancakes and waffles always left me nauseous. I've tried several different vegan pancake and waffle recipes, some using bananas as a main ingredient, some just replacing non-vegan ingredients with vegan ones. My conclusion on both the waffle and pancake front lies in, you guessed it, The Joy of Vegan Baking. (I use the "Waffles One" recipe)
This morning things changed. I had no flour. No one in my family is sensitive to wheat by any means (my mother would be in shock without pasta), so experimenting with gluten-free recipes seemed unnecessary. I was always curious though, how gluten-free products would taste and what would it be like to have to live with gluten sensitives?
A friend of mine has Celiacs disease and is a vegetarian. I had no idea until we were eating together in our school cafeteria. He had a bowl full of fresh spinach, raw tofu, plain rice, carrots, and a few other veggies. My plate was steaming with wild rice, sweet and sour tofu and veggies, herb polenta, and a fresh salad. I felt so strange- I kept pestering him with "Can you eat this?" "What about this?" questions.
When my family received Babycakes NYC by Erin McKenna as a gift, I was in awe. Each page is adorned with beautiful pictures of the most inspiring desserts. Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, cakes, and shakes...all without gluten or sugar!
I have been extremely eager to try her recipes out, although I'm having trouble procuring a few of the ingredients. My local health store doesn't even carry evaporated cane juice or xanthan gum. Once I do manage to acquire these elusive ingredients, I have diving in. Sometimes I just want to eat the pictures (my favorite is the Mint Icebox Cake).
However in searching for McKenna's gluten-free wonders, I bought what I could get. Coconut oil, soy milk powder, and Bob's Gluten-Free flour were among them.
Back to this morning, I decided I would make gluten-free waffles. For kicks! I also really wanted waffles (much to my dismay I later discovered we were also out of maple syrup). According to Bob, you can substitute his gluten-less flour 1:1 for regular flour. He recommends, "for best results," adding xanthan gum. Alas, my waffles made do without.
And so the waffle-making went along as usual. Then came the taste test! I had to admit I wasn't thrilled to begin with. The taste was very odd. It wasn't bad, it was just different. After downing a few, I came to kind of like it! Granted, it still felt a little weird, but I was enjoying the fact that it was gluten-free. Mentally, I felt really cool. I almost decided to try being gluten-free for a week, just to see how it would work for me. Well, that last for about five minutes because later on I made vegetable dumplings and dunked them in soy sauce.
But who knows, maybe sometime in the coming months I'll pledge to be more gluten-free, because I did feel so cool. And because of Babycakes NYC, I'm excited to see what gluten-free can do. =]
<3
-K
Link to Babycakes NYC website: http://www.babycakesnyc.com/
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