Eliminating gluten and refined sugar from your diet doesn’t mean hours in the kitchen or expensive, exotic ingredients. Follow these smart strategies and simple techniques to create tasty, allergy-friendly meals in no time. From hearty breakfasts to decadent desserts, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free is chock-full of dishes as delicious as they are healthy, including: Carrot and Jicama Slaw, Chewy Granola Bars, Crispy Prosciutto Deviled Eggs, Chicken Cacciatore, Deep Dish Lasagne, Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies, French Onion Soup, Light and Moist Cornbread, Oven-Baked Cumin Lime Tortilla Chips, Pear and Spinach Salad with Lemon Truffle Vinaigrette, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Veggie, Onion, and Prosciutto Pizza.
Whether you’re going sugar-free and gluten-free because of an allergy or a desire to eat healthy, this book’s nutritious, satisfying, home-cooked meals will minimize weight gain and maximize good health. Amy Green, M.Ed., runs the website Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, where she shares her passion for healthy living. Over the years Green has learned that eating healthier doesn’t equal deprivation. She has lived free from refined sugars and wheat since 2004 and, as a result, is maintaining a 60+ pound weight loss.
C&B&R Guest Cook Debbie Phillips:
When our eighteen-year-old daughter was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a little over a year ago, we discovered a wealth of information on the impact of food and stress on the body. As a result, we embarked on a campaign of healthy eating: gluten-free, dairy-free, and processed-sugar-free. You can imagine the impact this had on a former Dr Pepper and Krispy Cream donut addict! Yep, we traveled a rough road. The Internet is loaded with information on gluten-free or dairy-free or sugar-free, but finding decent recipes incorporating all three is a bit tough. In addition, as a mom of four, I just donʼt have the time to spend on the myriad of steps required for most gluten-free cooking. I was overwhelmed! Enter Amy Green and her vast experience in cooking GF, DF, and SF! Her website saved me. Most recently, I discovered her new cookbook: Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free: 180 Easy and Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less. Since any dairy requirement in these recipes can easily be substituted with rice, almond, or soy milk, I now have recipes for truly delicious breads, muffins, main dishes, salads, soups, and desserts that we can prepare in 20 minutes or less. Really, itʼs true! And speaking of desserts . . .
Photo credit: Grace Phillips
Aaaahhhh, the late-night sweet tooth! This has been a real problem in our gluten-free, dairy-free, and processed-sugar-free household, especially since several eaters are still in the rebellion stage. But we recently found a delightful surprise in Amyʼs Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free: Almond Butter and Jelly Cookies. The recipe calls for agave nectar, and we used Earth Balance Buttery Spread as the substitute for butter. The result was just the right amount of sweetness in a cookie that’s rich enough to satisfy all of our dessert cravings!
Featured Recipe: Banana Walnut Belgian Waffles with Maple Berry Syrup
Author Amy Green:
Though I use bananas and walnuts here, you could just as easily use blueberries, sliced strawberries, diced pears, dried fruit, or your favorite nuts.
Guest Cook Debbie:
One challenge to this new healthy-eating switch was convincing our 13-year-old daughter, Grace, that she too should try eating this way. She dug in her heels and gave me that all-too-familiar “make me” look. Imagine my joy when she saw the Banana Walnut Belgian Waffles recipe and took on the cooking by herself! She has always been the pancake cook, along with my husband, so she jumped at the chance to make these waffles, which were wonderful. On the first batch, she didnʼt cook them quite long enough (my husband was saying they were done), but the second batch was crispy on the outside and yummy all the way through! Definitely easy and delicious! By the way, Grace even took the photos.
Note: We used rice milk and Earth Balance Buttery Spread to substitute for the milk and butter.
Photo credit: Grace Phillips
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Banana Walnut Belgian Waffles with Maple Berry Syrup
Makes 4 to 5 (6-inch) Belgian waffles
- 1 1/2 cups Basic Flour Blend (page 212)
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups low-fat milk
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 to 6 tablespoons coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
- 1/2 large firm, ripe banana, diced
- Maple Berry Syrup (optional) *see below for recipe
Preheat a waffle iron to medium-high heat.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour blend, palm sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg yolks, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
In another medium bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Stir one-fourth of the egg whites directly into the batter, then fold in remaining whites.
Lightly mist the waffle iron with cooking spray. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts on the bottom of the waffle iron. Add the appropriate amount of batter for your waffle iron (you’ll need a little less than usual because you’re adding fruit and nuts), then top the batter with 1 generous tablespoon of diced banana. Cook until golden brown and crispy. To keep the waffles warm, place them on a wire cooling rack set on a large baking sheet in a 200°F oven. This keeps the waffles from getting soggy by sitting directly on a baking sheet. Serve with syrup, if using.
Make It Dairy-Free: Use melted non-hydrogenated shortening instead of melted butter.
Quick Tip: Remeasure the dry ingredients and place them in labeled sealable plastic bags so you’ll have waffle mix ready to go anytime.
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Maple Berry Syrup
With a hint of maple syrup, this pancake and waffle topping is healthy and still delicious. The sweetness of this syrup relies on the sweetness of the fruit—add more or less maple syrup to suit your taste. Pureeing the berries with their seeds in a high-powered blender rather than a mini food chopper or food processor will give the syrup an earthy taste, so I don’t recommend it. (vegan)
Makes about 1 cup
- 1 cup frozen mixed berries, thawed
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 to 2 tablespoons grade-B maple syrup
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Puree the berries in a mini food chopper or a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Push the puree through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Return the puree to the food chopper or food processor, add the banana, and puree until smooth. Add the applesauce, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until smooth. Taste and add more maple syrup if desired.
Transfer the syrup to a microwave-safe bowl or serving dish and heat until warm. Serve immediately.
Variation: Pineapple Syrup Variation: Use 1 cup unsweetened canned pineapple instead of the berries. Puree the pineapple and banana together in a food processor or blender. Add 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and the cinnamon and salt, and pulse to combine. Taste and add more maple syrup as needed. Proceed as with Maple Berry Syrup.
Variation: Other Healthier Pancake and Waffle Toppings: try your pancakes and waffles with warm applesauce with cinnamon and nutmeg; warm yogurt mixed with your favorite all-fruit preserves; or Raw Cashew Cream (page 176) pureed with a banana, ripe pear, or berries.
Quick Tip: Make this sauce several days ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator.
© 2011 Amy Green
--From Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free: 180 Easy and Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less, by Amy Green (Ulysses Press)
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