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The Wheat and Gluten Free Experiment

This Winter, after reading Dr. William Davis’ book “Wheat Belly” I have decided to attempt a wheat free lifestyle! Some tried and proven wheat free recipes can be found below.

Wheat and Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
Yields 8
These are terrific and you don’t need to be gluten-free to appreciate them.
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
40 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 cups almond flour
  2. 1/4 cup sugar
  3. 1 tsp baking powder
  4. 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  5. 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  6. 2 large eggs
  7. 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
  8. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  9. 2 TBS plain yogurt
Instructions
  1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Place liners in 8 cups of a standard muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups almond flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
  2. In a small bowl, combine 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil , 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, then stir wet mixture into dry ingredients. (It’s OK if there are lumps in the batter.) Use a rubber spatula to fold 1 cup blueberries into the batter
  3. Spoon batter into muffin pan, filling each cup to just below the top. Bake 5 minutes, then decrease heat to 350 dgrees and continue to cook until tops of muffins are lightly golden and dry to the touch, 15 - 20 minutes more. Transfer muffins to a rack to cool.
Notes
  1. Try ripe bananas and chopped pecans or cranberries and walnuts instead of the blueberries.
Adapted from a recipe in the Wall Street Journal
Adapted from a recipe in the Wall Street Journal
John Haskins Graphic Design https://haskinsdesign.com/
Wheat and Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Pancakes
These are a good substitute for the real thing. Similar to buckwheat pancakes.
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Ingredients
  1. 4 eggs
  2. ½ cup milk
  3. ½ cup of plain yogurt
  4. 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  5. 1 TBS honey
  6. 1/2 tsp sea salt
  7. 1 tsp cinnamon
  8. ¾ cup coconut flour
  9. 1 tsp baking soda
  10. butter for frying
Instructions
  1. Preheat skillet over low heat and preheat your oven to 250F. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in milk, yogurt, vanilla, honey, salt and cinnamon. Then add in coconut flour and baking soda, and blend together until you have a smooth consistency.
  2. Grease pan with butter. Ladle approx. ¼ cup of batter into pan for each pancake. This batter will be slightly thicker than your usual pancake batter. So you will have to spread out slightly with the measuring cup or back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick.
  3. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Add butter to the pan before each new batch.
  4. Once the pancakes are finished cooking, place them on a cookie sheet in the oven to keep warm while you cook other batches. Makes approx. 10-12 pancakes, depending on the size of your eggs.
  5. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.
Adapted from Nourishing Days
Adapted from Nourishing Days
John Haskins Graphic Design https://haskinsdesign.com/
Wheat and Gluten Free Pizza
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 1 head cauliflower, cut into 1-to 2-inch pieces
  2. About ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  3. 2 large eggs
  4. 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (12 ounces)
  5. Choice of meat toppings: ½ pound sausage, sliced pepperoni, ground beef, turkey, or pork
  6. 12 ounces pizza sauce or 2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
  7. Choice of vegetable toppings
  8. Basil
  9. Oregano
  10. Black pepper
  11. ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Cook the cauliflower until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain the cauliflower and transfer to a large bowl. Mash until the consistency of mashed potatoes with minimal “chunks.” Add ¼ cup of the oil, the eggs, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and mix well.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a pizza pan or large rimmed baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pour the cauliflower mixture onto the pizza pan and press the “dough” into a flat, pizzalike shape no more than ½ inch thick, mounding it up higher at the edges. Bake for 20 minutes.
  3. If using ground meat, cook in a skillet until browned and cooked through.
  4. Remove the pizza “crust” from the oven (leave the oven on) and spread it with pizza sauce or tomato paste, the remaining 2 cups mozzarella, vegetable and meat toppings, basil, oregano, and pepper. Drizzle with the remaining ½ cup olive oil and sprinkle with the Parmesan.
  5. Bake until the mozzarella melts, 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Cut the pizza into wedges and use a spatula to transfer to plates.
Notes
  1. The next time I make this I will cook the "crust" until it starts to brown. This is not quite wheat pizza, but a very good substitute!
Adapted from Wheat Belly
Adapted from Wheat Belly
John Haskins Graphic Design https://haskinsdesign.com/

 

National Debt Clock

Does the US National Debt concern you? Should it? Do you know how much 12 trillion is?

Our National Debt

“Most of us don’t comprehend the vastness between $1 million, $1 billion and $1 trillion. For better appreciation, look at our tax dollars as if they were units of time. One million seconds is approximately 11.5 days; one billion seconds runs nearly 32 years, and one trillion seconds represents more than 30,000 years.”

– John Schweizer

 

The First World War in Colour

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A new book by Peter Walther, “The First World War in Colour” is out with color images from WWI that were made with the “autochrome” process. These extremely rare photos have hardly ever been seen before now.  Although heavily staged, the images give a shocking glimpse into what life must have been like at the front. Image above from Taschen.

Here is a link to the Taschen website that has the book for sale and more images to view.