going bananas

going bananas

 

I don’t know about you but I love bananas. We had bunches of bananas left over from our pop-up marketplace (courtesy of Burnac Produce, which kindly provided fresh fruit for Gluten Free Garage vendors and volunteers). For the past few weeks I’ve been blending up the smoothies. Oh, but there’s so much more you can do with these potassium-packed fruits!

 

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These banana muffins are dee- to the pea-licious! They’re also vegan and gluten free.

 

I also baked a few batches of these Pea-licious Banana Muffins, which I first made—and fell in love with—in Marni Wasserman’s Gourmet and Gluten Free Cooking Class. Fresh out of the oven, they are little bites of melted bliss. I double dare you to eat just one.

 

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Pass the pudding! Magnolia Bakery’s famous banana pudding minus the Nilla wafers.

 

Next up I tried my hand at a gluten-free version of the heavenly banana pudding from famed Magnolia Bakery in NYC. Do not make this pudding if there is a remote possibility that you might have leftovers…trust me (but don’t leave me alone in a room with this pudding)! It is the best banana pudding you will ever taste in your whole life. Below is the recipe, adapted from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. I left out the Nilla wafers (round, thin, light vanilla-flavoured wafer-style cookies made by Nabisco) to make this pudding gluten free, and then I discovered this ‘Nilla Wafer recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I’ll definitely be making this again!

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
 
16 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups cold water
small box (3.4 oz) Jello instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups heavy whipping cream
4 bananas, sliced
***
1. Beat condensed milk and water in a bowl (with a mixer, or by hand if you’re tough) for about one minute.
2. Add pudding mix and continue beating for two more minutes.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours, up to overnight.
4. Whip the cream until stiff peaks have formed, then gently fold into chilled pudding mixture until fully combined.
5. In a large bowl or in little mason jars, layer bananas, pudding . . . bananas, pudding . . . bananas, pudding. Like a trifle!

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it’s Fiesta time!

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We ran out to our favourite local grocery store this week to pick up a few things. Look who’s here!

 

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Fiesta Farms is literally a gluten-free fiesta! Besides the incredible whole foods and fresh organic produce, the selection of gluten-free fare is something to party about. Here are just a few of our fave GF products available at Toronto’s largest independently owned grocery store.

 

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Delicious authentic Italian frozen pastas from Antipastos Kitchen.

 

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Sunflower Kitchen‘s hummus (we basically live on it), pestos and soups.

 

 

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Raw, organic, gluten-free snacks from Nud Fud. (Goji Energy dipped in peanut butter rocks our world!)

 

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A variety of delectable, nutritionally dense salad dressings from RawFoodz.

 

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Saigon Soul Foods‘ crunchy spring rolls, best accompanied by their tangy roasted garlic plum sauce.

 

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JK Gourmet‘s yummy grain-free granola.

 

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Gaga for Gluten-Free‘s melt-in-your-mouth cookies.

 

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And what’s a fiesta without Neal Brothers‘ savoury salsas and tortillas?

 

We are double happy to have Fiesta Farms and Neal Brothers as sponsors of the Gluten Free Garage! 

 

 

get Smart

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This gluten-free fudge had its 15 minutes of fame.

 

You know when Oprah requests something it must be divine! Gluten Free Garage guest speaker Kathy Smart‘s vegan gluten-free fudge was recently summoned to Oprah’s green room. Well, if it’s good enough for O, it’s good enough for us! But we don’t need Oprah’s seal of approval to know that Kathy’s got the GF goods!

Kathy was kind enough to share her famous fudge recipe with us here!

Kathy Smart’s Famous Fudge
(serves 18)

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter or peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt blend
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse a couple of times just until blended. Do not over-pulse or it will become runny. Line a muffin tin with liners and add 1 tbsp of mixture. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes and…voila!

Click here to watch Kathy make her fudge!

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Chef, nutritionist and leading gluten-free expert Kathy Smart kicks off the Gluten Free Garage speaker series at 10:30 am with HOW TO FEEL LIKE A GLUTEN-FREE ROCK STAR: The Top 5 Foods that will give you energy all day long! We hope her fudge is one of them!

 

The Gluten Free Garage opens at 10 am. For the Guest Speaker Series (starting at 10:30 am), once you pay your admission and get a hand stamp, head over to the Community Gallery and form a line outside the doors. The doors will open 15 minutes prior to each presentation. Seating is limited and people will gain entry on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you miss Kathy’s guest speaker session, you can find her from noon on at the Gluten-Free Find table!

 

love your gluten-free guts

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We baked these banana chocolate chip muffins today with JK Gourmet’s almond flour muffin mix. They were amazingly moist and, I’m going to use a word here I don’t use too often, scrumptious! We were off to The Mike Chalut Show on 103.9′s Proud FM, gluten-free goods in hand.

 

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Lily, aka the GFG muse, in-studio for her radio debut with the handsome Mr. “Love Your Guts.”

 

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We felt kind of bad that we didn’t bring Mike his favourite— poutine—but he was thrilled with his muffin and GFG bag. Tune in to Foodie Friday on 103.9 Pride FM!

 

We’re happy to have JK Gourmet as a sponsor of the Gluten Free Garage! They sample like crazy at the event so don’t forget to hit up their table!

a pain in the gluten-free butt

a pain in the gluten free butt

Yes, this blog post is about poo…and prunes.

Our daughter Lily, who has celiac, has been dealing with constipation problems on and off since switching to a gluten-free diet. Sometimes she doesn’t have a bowel movement for a couple of days and her tummy gets big and round and she complains about stomach pain. We’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this (pardon the pun) for quite some time. Yes, she loves rice but it’s not like she eats it every day. She does eat lots of fruit and veggies. We put ground chia seeds and flax oil in her smoothies. She takes probiotics. She gets plenty of exercise. Both her gastroenterologist and her pediatrician recommended that she take Restoralax, a gentle laxative that provides relief of occasional constipation by bringing water into the bowel and softening the stool so it’s easier to go. We mixed the powder in her water for a couple of months and it certainly did the trick, but who wants their seven-year-old to be dependent on a laxative? So about a month ago, we substituted Restoralax for a prune a day and some extra fluids and I can’t tell you the difference it’s made!

Gluten-free products are notoriously low in fibre, so we figure Lily’s not alone in her poo problem. We asked registered dietitian—and GFG guest speaker— Alexandra Anca for advice on what to do when you can’t poo. more…