Gluten Free Cooking Ideas

Cooking for the family on a gluten free diet is a daily challenge. I have this situation in my own home and I am fully aware of the challenges that become involved when your family eats a standard American diet and you have diet restrictions keeping you gluten free.

Fortunately, as you progress through your gluten free journey, you find alternatives for standard American dishes that you would'nt have known existed while you ate standard American food. Here's a few of my favorite ways to serve meals that my family still enjoys, while keeping me gluten free. Here are some great gluten free cooking ideas that work for me and are good to use anytime.

Fish Fry Breading

Instead of wheat flour, I've started to use rice flour mixed with well ground corn meal for fish frys. To prepare this I mix a 50/50 mix of both rice flour and corn meal in a brown grocery bag, close the bag by bending the top over and shaking it well to mix the 2 ingredients thoroughly. Next, place your cut fish square into the bag but don't fill the bag too full with the fish so the rice flour and corn meal breading coat the fish well. Then shake that mixture until your fish is well coated. Fry in deep fryer as you normally would until cooked.

Rice Noodles

I've grown accustomed to rice noodles now that I have to be gluten free. You can get them in a lot of oriental food stores without any trouble at all and it's the same thing when you go out to eat. You can eat at pretty much any oriental restaurant because they have lots of options for gluten free folks like rice wraps, and rice noodle dishes that are every bit as tasty as wheat noodles. The only difference is you stay pain free after eating the rice products.

The kids don't seem to mind the rice noodles instead of the wheat type either. At first it took some getting used to, but they adjusted without a lot of trouble involved. They eat them in wraps with some of their favorite foods and you can get other types of rice noodles to serve in more traditional meals.

Wheat Free Desserts

If you look up "wheat free desserts" on the web, you'll be amazed at how much you can do with desserts that aren't wheat flour based. One of my personal favorites is wheat free brownies made with cocoa, applesauce and brown rice flour. The only sweetner in those is the applesauce. The consistency is delightful and the kids loved them on the occasions that they've had them.