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Recipe: Easy Gluten-Free Shrimp Marinade

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

There are many more bottled gluten-free marinades at the store than there were five years ago, but you can save a lot of money by making your own. The other day I needed something to use on some shrimp we planned to grill. I checked the pantry and fridge for available ingredients and whipped up something that was tasty and super easy to make.

Though we’ve only tried this marinade on shrimp so far, I think it will work with a nice mild white fish like tilapia as well as chicken. I named it garlic and wine marinade.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup white cooking wine (I use Publix brand)
  • 1 ½ t. crushed garlic (in oil)
  • 3 T. olive oil
  • 2 t. lemon juice
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

Directions:

  • Combine all ingredients in large Ziplock type bag.
  • Place shrimp in bag and massage shrimp so everything is coated.
  • Refrigerate bag of shrimp for 1-2 hours.
  • To grill the shrimp, put them on skewers and cook for approximately three minutes on each side.
  • To sauté the shrimp, you don’t need to use oil in the pan due to the amount of oil in the marinade. Heat pan to medium high heat and cook on each side for approximately three minutes.
  • Shrimp are cooked when firm and pink.

To use the marinade for fish, I’d put the filets in a shallow baking dish, pour marinade over the fish, cover with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator. Next time I might try adding some capers to the mixture as well. I love lemon and capers and seafood together, but would only use capers for the pan cooking method.

Using simple marinades is an easy way to spruce up a mid-week meal without going to a lot of trouble or much expense. Good marinades almost always take whatever you’re using them on to a whole new level of great taste. This is true for chicken, fish, pork and shrimp. With just a little bit of effort and a few ingredients you already have on hand, you can create some pretty fabulous gluten-free marinades.

If you’re not in the mood to create your own marinade, check out some of these recipes on Food.com. Just remember to use all gluten-free ingredients, as always. If beer is called for in a recipe, use Bard’s Tale or Redbridge as a substitute. Gluten-free soy and Teriyaki sauces can be used instead of the types that contain gluten. Most marinades don’t call for flour, but if you run across one that does, use a gluten-free flour blend, plain rice flour or tapioca starch instead. We’ve got almost two months of good grilling weather left in our area. I’m looking forward to making some more tasty marinades before it’s time to do all the cooking inside for a while.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Chicken Tostadas

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Since we are on the go a lot now that school is back in session and the kids have activities 4 nights a week, fast dinners are the way I survive without fast food. Not only is fast food mostly unhealthy, but eating gluten-free at a fast food restaurant can be challenging. One of my staple menu items is Mexican Pizzas. I try to come up with new, creative recipes for them so that I am not serving the same thing week after week. My kids probably wouldn’t care, as they love them, but I like some variety.

Sometimes I call these “Mexican Pizzas”, sometimes I call them “Tostadas”. I decided that now was a good time for me to find out what the difference is in the name, if any. Turns out that “Tostada” is a Spanish word that means “toasted”. In Mexico it refers to a flat or bowl-shaped tortilla! Aha! The tostada originated when tortillas became stale and were no longer fresh enough to roll into tacos, but still okay to eat. LOL! I can assure you that is not why I “toast” my tortillas. 😉 When I was growing up my mom used to call Mexican Pizzas “Chalupas”. I looked up “Chalupa” and found that it is a tostada platter in Mexican cuisine! My mom must have know what she was doing, huh? I believe that I started calling them “Mexican Pizzas” when my kids turned up their noses at the food in front of them that was called a “Chalupa”.

Chicken Tostadas

  • 1 lb chicken breast, cut into chunks
  • Old El Paso Taco Seasoning – Original is gluten-free*
  • Corn tortillas
  • Refried beans (Taco Bell, Ortega, Old El Paso are all gluten-free)
  • Red, orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • Tomato, chopped
  • Sliced black olives
  • Shredded cheddar cheese

Other toppings to consider: sour cream or Greek yogurt, shredded lettuce, salsa, jalapenos

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 350.
  2. Cook chicken breast chunks in a frying pan until cooked through. Once cooked, add seasoning packet & water, as directed on the package. You could also use your own blend of Mexican spices, such as cumin and cayenne, some garlic and a little salt & pepper.
  3. Lay corn tortillas out on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. Spray corn tortillas with spray. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, keeping a careful eye not to over cook.
  4. While tortillas are baking, heat refried beans on the stove or in the microwave.
  5. Spread warm beans, chicken, peppers and olives on the baked tortilla. Top with shredded cheddar & bake until melted.
  6. Top with tomatoes, shredded lettuce & hot sauce, if desired.

*I use only 1/2 of the packet of taco seasoning to cut down on sodium and it is plenty for good flavor

The kids often make their own tostadas or Mexican pizzas so they can choose toppings. This gives them a sense of ownership and makes it much more likely that they will eat the meal. 😉

Recipe: Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

After finding out about Pamela’s contest at the Georgia National fair, I have been thinking about attending the event and possibly even entering something in the contest. My baking skills leave a lot to be desired so I have no chance of winning anything, but I would just enter something for the fun of it – and to support such a great event.

There was a lone zucchini in the fridge that was on its last leg so I decided on a whim to make gluten-free zucchini muffins. As usual, I searched Food.com for a gluten recipe and then modified it to be gluten-free. I made enough changes to the original recipe to call the new one my own. Though some tweaking could definitely help the muffins out somewhat, they are as good as any zucchini muffins I’ve made to date They’re actually shockingly delicious, but don’t have large crown-like gluten muffins usually do and the texture of the muffins is delicate as well.

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Zucchini Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar in the raw (was out of brown sugar)
  • 1 heaping cup of grated zucchini
  • 1 ½ cup Pamela’s Pancake & Baking Mix flour
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1/4 t. baking powder
  • 1 t. cinnamon
  • ¼ t. ground cloves
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
  • ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Beat eggs until they are light and foamy.
  • Add the sugar, oil, and zucchini.
  • Blend well with a sturdy spoon.
  • Whisk the dry ingredients together and add to the egg mixture
  • Blend wet and dry mixtures well and fold in optional nuts and chocolate chips.
  • Spoon into greased muffin tin – filling each one only 2/3 full.
  • Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool muffins in a pan for half an hour and then transfer them to a cooling rack.

The batter yields approximately 15 regular-sized muffins. Normally, I use nutmeg in zucchini muffins and bread, but I used cloves instead just to be different. The recipe I modified called for a lot more cinnamon and no nutmeg or cloves. In the future, I will use brown sugar (instead of sugar in the raw), but I was totally out of it after having bags and bags of it from a 2-for-1 deal at Publix a while back. Using paper liners in the pan would have worked well, but the muffins came out of the pan quite easily without them.

The texture of the muffins was really light, which I liked quite a bit. My husband ate two shortly after they came out of the oven, due to the smell of them driving him nuts as they baked. He said they were some of the best gluten-free muffins I’d ever made and the best zucchini version of anything I’d made, period. I’m rarely impressed with anything I bake unless it’s from a mix where I just follow the directions. But I have to admit, these are some pretty good muffins and I’d gladly serve them to gluten-eaters any day!

Review: Gluten-Free Scratch Bakery

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It seems like every week there is something new and exciting happening in the Atlanta gluten-free scene. Sometimes local businesses contact me to tell me about a new product they’ve introduced or about a new gluten-free menu at a restaurant. However, some tidbits of gluten-free news I literally just stumble into. Such is the case with Scratch Bakery in the Metro Atlanta area. The bakery owner, Amy, was kind enough to sell me a small gluten-free nosh box so I could review several of the gluten-free items she bakes. Please note that such a box is not currently available for purchase.

First up for review were the brownies. The Honeybee Brownies are very rich and very chocolatey. My husband preferred those more than the Cinnamon Pecan Blondie – which was my favorite of the two. The cinnamon flavor is actually subtle and the blondie is egg and dairy free as well. Each version was quite good and had a cake-like texture. There was no odd taste or aftertaste to either one. Neither had a hint of bean flour or the grainy taste that sometimes accompanies lower-quality gluten-free baked goods. The texture was really nice and I doubt any gluten-eaters would know they were gluten-free unless someone told them so. Heating the brownies/blondies up a little and adding ice cream takes them to a whole new delicious level, by the way.

My nosh box included three types of gluten-free cookies. Our least favorites in the bunch were the Chocolate Chipsters. The cookies were not bad, but there was some flavor I could not pinpoint that I wasn’t in love with. The cookies were very soft in texture which is something I’m always on the lookout for. Also in the box were two different types of ginger cookies. My husband loved the crunchier White Chocolate Ginger Crips and I much preferred the super strong flavored White Chocolate Ginger Chunkers. We didn’t think the white chocolate chips were needed in either ginger cookie, though they didn’t detract from the taste in any way.

Other gluten-free goodies from the bakery include Better Bananamagic Bread, Smacaroons, and two other versions of Chipters cookies. Scratch Bakery does not presently have a storefront and gluten items are made in the bakery. The owner is sensitive to cross-contamination issues as she knows people who can’t eat gluten and that is how her gluten-free goods came to exist. Obviously, everyone should eat items they feel suit their personal needs best.

There are several gluten items in the Scratch Bakery line that I think would be fairly easy to convert to gluten-free. Both quick pieces of bread and scones are easy gluten-free items to make. I use unsweetened applesauce in all my quick bread, but it’s not needed for scones. I just use regular recipes and sub either Pamela’s Baking Mix or Jules gluten-free flour for the wheat flour. Whatever Amy makes is likely to be very tasty so I hope she continues expanding her gluten-free product line. Scratch Bakery offers online ordering and there are a couple of delivery options for local orders.

Mainstream Media Spreads Inaccurate Information about Celiac Disease

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Five years ago, it was almost unheard of to find information about celiac disease or the gluten-free diet in the mainstream media. Today, there is so much of it that it’s hard to keep up with it all. There was a time when many in our community agreed that all publicity was good for our plight. After seeing so much information plastered in magazines and online lately, I’m starting to rethink my position on the matter. Several recent things caught my attention that I think are worth mentioning.

First up is an article on page 61 in the August issue of Good Housekeeping titled “What’s Making You Sneeze?” The piece even made teaser status on the cover with “I’m allergic to what? Surprising triggers docs often overlook – and how to get relief”. The good news is that the article touches on food allergies and mentions food intolerances. The bad news is that the author goes on to mention that true food allergies involve the immune system as if to infer that food intolerances do not. Guess what Good Housekeeping? Celiac disease is related to food intolerance and is in fact, an auto-immune condition.

Next is this article from the NY Daily Times website. While much of the article is well done and factual, the author mentions the new Duncan Hines gluten-free mixes. Don’t get excited – according to Duncan Hines, only some of their frostings are considered gluten-free. Also, the article notes that the gluten-free diet excludes MSG, even though that is not part of the gluten-free diet protocol. MSG might not be healthy in large doses, but it is a gluten-free ingredient. Incorrect data like this just adds to the confusion over what is and isn’t gluten-free.

Last, but far from least, is the recent segment on the Today Show where ‘tummy troubles’ were discussed by the staff doctor, Nancy Snyderman, MD. I briefly spoke to Snyderman at a GMA taping years ago and she’s very personable and polite. However, she is apparently confused about the proper treatment for celiac disease. As I watched the show video online, I was seriously taken aback when the good doctor gave a fairly bad answer to an important question about the gluten-free diet as it relates to people with celiac disease.

The Today Show is produced at NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Renowned celiac expert, Peter Green, MD practices at Columbia University in NYC. What a shame that the Today Show producers didn’t think to get Green involved in the segment. If you missed it, you can watch the video here. Green would have given an accurate answer to the very important question a viewer asked Snyderman. Contrary to what Snyderman stated in the piece, it doesn’t depend on anything in regards to people with celiac being able to eat gluten eventually. Treatment for the condition is currently strict adherence to the gluten-free diet, period. Celiac disease is not the ‘disease du jour’ and though it’s true that the condition is wildly under-diagnosed – there is no evidence that it’s being over-diagnosed.