Dairy-Free

Gluten Free Waffle Tales

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Since I went gluten free eleven years ago, I’d never tasted a homemade waffle. I made regular waffles for my kids when they were at home and purchased frozen waffles for myself whenever I had a hankering for some. Until 2024! As soon as the new year was born I began to think about waffles. Alan had an old waffle maker from before my time, so I dug it out, cleaned it up, and mixed up some gluten free batter.

Complete fail! The waffle maker must’ve lost its nonstick coating because the first waffle stuck to the surface even after I’d oiled it. So I dug it all out (with a plastic utensil) and started over. This time the waffle maker stuck together like glue. No manner of pulling could pry it apart. So that one went into the landfill and I made the rest of my batter into an unsatisfactory pancake. I was so sad because I’d felt so virtuous cleaning up the waffle maker and putting something old to use again. Unfortunately, it wasn’t old old, it was just early 2000’s old which means it was built for obsolescence.

Then I fumed, hemmed, and hawed for a couple of days, wondering what the best solution was and still craved waffles. I decided to purchase this Cuisinart waffle maker because the design was simple, it had lots of good reviews, and the price was right. I didn’t want bells and whistles; I just wanted it to make good waffles.

The day after it came, I read all the instructions, wiped it down with soap and water, brushed oil on it and plugged it in. I whipped up a new batch of batter in the blender this time, (I will always mix GF waffle batter in the blender from now on), poured in my first half cup of batter and closed the top. Success!!! It didn’t stick, the batter didn’t pour out the sides (the bane of waffle making!), and the waffle tasted delicious.

I made the whole batch, cooled the ones I didn’t eat on a baking rack, and then froze them in a single layer on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, I popped them into a zip-top bag and put them back in the freezer. Because the size of the waffle is too big to reheat in the toaster, I put it in the toaster oven to defrost. (I tried breaking one up into fourths and defrosting half at a time in my little two-slot toaster but by the time the second half was ready, the first was cold.)

After eating eggs and toast for years, I’ve been switching it up with eggs and a waffle. I’m sure I’ll tire of them after a while, but right now they’re really making my mornings happy. Since I’m not drinking coffee right now, mornings have been a bit hard to face, to be honest. I LOVE coffee, even the decaf I’ve been drinking after I turned forty. But I was having so many health problems and after reading that coffee is a significant source of mold, I decided to cut it out of my diet, along with some other things, at least for now. Every morning it’s a battle as I remind myself of all the ways my health seems to be improving after only ten days but it’s still difficult not to give in. I keep looking at the calendar asking, “Hasn’t it been at least a month yet?”

Back to the waffle story…

If you’re interested in making these waffles, here is the recipe from the Mama Knows Gluten Free blog.

A couple of tips:

I don’t recommend using cooking spray on your non-stick waffle maker surface. Use oil and a silicone brush. Olive oil, sunflower oil, refined coconut oil–any of those oils are great. Cooking spray has other stuff added besides just oil and it will gum up your waffle maker. In fact, I don’t recommend cooking spray on anything and haven’t used it in about fifteen years. A silicone brush or a paper towel and some oil work just fine.

I used my own gluten free flour blend to make the waffles. I mix up a good amount of flour all at once so I have it for several weeks at a time. (Here’s my gluten free flour recipe: 4 cups brown rice flour, 2 cups sorghum flour, 2 cups tapioca flour/starch, 1 cup arrowroot powder/starch/flour, 5 teaspoons xanthan gum. Mix really well and store in an airtight container.)

If you use the gluten free waffle recipe above, put your waffle ingredients in a blender if you have one. You can blend in a stand or hand mixer, but there will likely be lumps. Just put in the liquid ingredients first and then the dry ingredients and blend, scraping down the sides with a spatula a couple of times. Then transfer to a bowl while you make the waffles.

And if you spring for this Cuisinart waffle maker I just purchased, only use a half cup of batter at a time. Pour it into the middle and spread with a spatula, close the top and let it do its thing. Just once I put in a little more than half a cup and the batter oozed out all around which is what used to happen when I made regular waffles years ago in a two dollar garage sale waffle maker for my kids. And that’s what made made me think I hated waffle making. So whatever instructions come with your waffle maker, read them and find out how much batter exactly to pour in. It will make for a very pleasant experience and you likely will make waffles much more often.

Let me know if you make gluten free waffles (these or others) and share your tips!

How To Make Alan Pollack’s Indian Red Curry with Shrimp

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Alan surprised me with a new curry recipe for dinner earlier this month; it was so delicious I begged him to make it again last week and to write it down so I could share it with you. He started with a Red Curry Lentils recipe from Pinch of Yum and in the fashion of all true cooks, he added a bit more of this ingredient, eliminated that ingredient, and before he knew it, he had a whole new recipe. If you are a fan of spicy Indian food, you will want to make this ASAP!

Alan’s Indian Red Curry With Shrimp

serves 4-6

1/2 large onion, diced

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons red curry paste

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon garam masala

2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 14-ounce can tomato puree

1 14-oz can coconut milk

Juice from 1/2 a lime

I lb. or so baby bok choy or spinach

2 cups green beans, ends trimmed

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pepper, sliced or cut into pieces

1 lb. shrimp, thawed and peeled

Cilantro for garnishing

Rice for serving

In a large saucepan, melt the coconut oil, add onion and sauté for a few minutes. Add spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomato puree, stir until spices are evenly distributed.

Add green beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, bok choy, and coconut milk, and cook until veggies are soft, 15-20 minutes. (If using spinach, wait until the last few minutes.)

Add shrimp, if using, the last few minutes and cook until done. Add lime juice and cilantro (if using) and serve over rice.

Happy cooking, readers! Oh, and you should definitely check out Alan’s art on Instagram or his website.

Strawberry Scones, a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Recipe

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My mom came over this week for a belated Mother’s Day lunch and as I always do when anyone comes over, I wondered (worried about) what I should make. When planning a meal, I almost always think of dessert first because that’s the fun part. I hadn’t baked scones since last summer, and I had a few cups of organic strawberries in the fridge I needed to use up, so the scones definitely had to be strawberry. This is a recipe I’ve baked many times and it’s adapted from this recipe on the blog Sarah Bakes Gluten Free.

Strawberry Scones

1 3/4 cups gluten free flour blend, plus more for dusting the counter

1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top of scones

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

5 Tablespoons of chilled Earth Balance soy free vegan butter, or another dairy free alternative such as palm shortening

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, plus more for tops of scones

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sliced strawberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking pan with a Silpat or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the vegan butter with a pastry cutter until butter is pea-sized. Pour in the almond milk and vanilla extract and knead with hands until combined. Fold in the strawberries.

Turn out the dough onto a floured countertop. With floured hands, shape and flatten the dough into a 12 inch diameter circle. With a floured knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 8 wedges and place onto lined baking sheet. With fingertips or pastry brush, moisten the top of each scone with almond milk and then sprinkle sugar over the moistened tops.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.

Note: To warm up a day old scone, place in a toaster oven for a few minutes. These freeze well.

Oh, and if you want to know what else I made for lunch when my mom came over: Shallot, Portobello, and Spinach Crustless Quiche (dairy-free) and a tossed salad with homemade vinaigrette. (Plus watermelon and cherries.)

How to Make Cashew Milk

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I am going to show you how to make the easiest nut milk available! As someone who lives dairy-free, I have attempted to make my own nut milks before. Almond milk is great, but it requires the dreaded nut milk bag to strain the bits of nuts out of the milk. Which requires cleaning said nut milk bag, which is quite tedious and a definite mental hurdle to me making almond milk on a regular basis. 

Enter cashew milk: it requires no nut milk bag and no straining, which makes it a breeze to make. The only equipment necessary is a high speed blender such as a Vitamix or Ninja so that you won’t have bits of nuts floating around in your milk.

This makes an amazing coffee creamer, as well as a treat with a gluten free graham cracker or biscotti!

So here is the recipe:

Cashew Milk

(yields approximately 6 cups)

2 cups raw cashews, whole or pieces

4 cups filtered water

2 Medjool dates (optional)

2 Tablespoons vanilla extract (optional)

pinch of sea salt

Place cashews in bowl and cover with water. Place a clean dishcloth over bowl. Let sit on counter for at least 4 hours. (It was more like 10 hours for me because that’s when I got around to making the milk.)

In a colander, strain out the water and rinse cashews. 

Place cashews in blender with 4 cups water, dates and vanilla (if using), and sea salt. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes.

Place in clean mason jars or glass pitcher in fridge and drink it up within 4-5 days.

You can always cut the recipe in half if you can’t drink it as fast. And you can always add more water to the recipe to thin it out if it’s too creamy for you.

Let me know what you think!