Gluten Free Illawarra - shopping in bulk to save

I love shopping at Warilla Grove. It has most things you want and you don't have trouble with parking or moving from one end of a huge shopping center to the other. Another reason I love it is because there is a huge greengrocers with deli, fruit juice bar and cooking needs.

Since moving to a gluten-free diet the price factor has hit home, especially when my freelance photography and web design work has dried up and I've been living on very little money. It makes you more cautious about buying and searching for the best prices.

At Mitchell's Fruit for Less I noticed there are bulk quantities of Polenta (corn meal) and Almond meal.

At Woolworths it is $33/kg in small bags ranging from 110g to 250g. Mitchell's Fruit for Less sels 1KG of Almond Meal for $13.99. That's a BIG saving.
There are many recipes where Almond Meal can replace other flours. It is widely used in muffins, crumble, cheesecake bases, friands, biscuits, cakes and pancakes. Mmm.. pancakes.

I've tried buckwheat pancakes but now to try out a new recipe I found today.
The lesson is learned is that the more uses you can find for an ingredient the more motivation to buy it in bulk and save yourself money over time. The one thing I have heard about Almond Meal is that when making macaroons don't freeze Almond Meal because you'll lose the 'feet' or frilly part that is so attractive. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water (for puffier pancakes, you can use sparkling water)
• 2 T oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 T sweetener

Preparation:

Mix ingredients together and cook as you would other pancakes. I like to use a nonstick pan with a little oil. The only real difference is that they won't "bubble" on top the same way as regular pancakes. Flip them when the underside is brown.

Serve with sugar-free maple syrup, Easy Three Berry Syrup, strawberry topping, or other low carb topping.

Yield: Six 4-inch pancakes

Nutritional Information: Each pancake has 1 gram effective carbohydrate, plus 2 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 155 calories.

References:
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/products/p/almondmeal.htm
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/lowcarbpancakes.htm

Gluten Free Polenta cake

After sampling the delicious Lemon Polenta cake from Out For Lunch at Wollongong University I decided to hunt around for some recipes featuring lemon and polenta. There were some delicious recipes for Lemon Polenta Cake and some intriguing looking Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pies. 

The good thing is that Mitchells Fruit for Less in Warilla Grove (and Dapto) sells natural almonds which you can grind down to a flour if you can't find almond flour locally. There is a large range of polenta available in stores these days. I purchased mine from the Contentental delicatessan in Warrawong.

Lemon Polenta Cake 

    For the cake:

•     130 g ground almonds (or almond flour)
•     130 g shredded coconut
•     130 g fine polenta (or yellow cornmeal)
•     1 t baking powder
•     grated rind of 3 lemons
•     270 g soft butter
•     270 g caster sugar
•     4 eggs (55 g each)
•     juice of 2 lemons

    For the lemon glaze:

•     juice of 2 lemons
•     sugar to taste

    For the lemon icing:

•     250 g icing sugar
•     juice of ½ lemon, approximately

-Combine ground almonds, coconut, polenta, baking powder and lemon rind, and set aside. Using electric mixer beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
-Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Fold in dry ingredients and lemon juice until just combined. Pour mix into greased and lined 9-inch/24-centimeter round cake tin (not springform) and bake at 325°F/160°C for one hour or until golden and just coming away from the side of the tin.
-Meanwhile, make the lemon glaze by heating the lemon juice and sugar gently, until the sugar is just dissolved.
-Remove from the oven and cool in the tin. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen. Pour on lemon glaze while cake is still warm.
-Allow to cool completely in tin before turning on to a plate, as the cake falls apart easily while warm.
-Spread the lemon icing over the cake when cooled completely. (You can make the icing more like a loose glaze by slightly reducing the amount of icing sugar.)

Photos and recipe by A Whisk and a Spoon

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Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pies

Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pie Recipe (printable version):

Makes 16 pies

For the whoopie pie shells:

125g butter, at room temperature

200g light brown sugar

2 eggs

450g gluten free plain flour

1 tsp salt

1½ tsp baking soda

250ml buttermilk

225g polenta, soaked in lemon juice (roughly 175g dry polenta and the juice of 4 lemons)

For the chocolate ganache:

300g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa, broken into small pieces

300ml double cream

Juice of 1 lemon

50g butter

½ tsp salt

To decorate (optional):

100g dark or milk chocolate

50g ground pistachios

1. Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Line two baking trays with baking paper or silicone mats.

2. Whisk together the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.

3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk.

4. Fold in the polenta. Fill a piping bag and pipe 5cm rounds (or however big you'd like your whoopie pies to be).

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched. Allow to cool before filling.

6. While the whoopie pies are baking, heat the double cream to the point just before it boils over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, salt and butter. Stir until the butter melts completely

7. Add the hot double cream mixture to the chocolate pieces and whisk vigorously until the heat of the cream melts the chocolate, forming a thick ganache. Allow to cool.

8. Fill a piping bag with the chocolate ganache and pipe onto half the whoopie pie shells, cover with the other shells. To decorate, you can melt the milk chocolate over a hot water bath, spread a teaspoon full over the whoopie pies and top with ground pistachios.

Photography and recipe by Mowielicious

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For more Gluten-Free recipes using Almond Flour I recommend

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam

   

Almond and Rice Flour Bread with Poppy Seeds

75 minutes Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 55 minutes
108 calories per serving view nutrition facts

Ingredients
1/2 cup almonds whole, with skins
1 1/2 cups rice flour, brown
4 tsps baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 tsps poppy seeds
1/2 cup yogurt, low-fat
1/2 cup water
1 large egg
1 large egg whites
2 tbsps vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.

Place almonds and 1/2 cup of the flour in bowl of a food processor and grind until a fine meal is formed (the flour will prevent the nuts from turning oily). Add remaining rice flour, the baking powder, salt and 2 teaspoons of the poppy seeds; process briefly.

Combine yogurt, water, whole egg, egg white and oil in a 2-cup measuring cup.

With processor motor running, pour liquid ingredients through feed tube over flour mixture, processing just long enough to mix.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining poppy seeds, and bake for 55 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool. (Bread slices best after several hours, or the next day).

Makes one 18-ounce loaf (18 slices).

PER SLICE: 90 calories, 3 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate, 4 g fat (1 g saturated), 12 mg cholesterol, 115 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle by Jacquline Mallorca, re-posted on RecipeLand

[Photo to come]