Cooking ≠ Baking

As I continue my journey to mastering gluten-free cooking, I decided to venture into the world of baked goods. Specifically, I was trying to learn how to cook muffins, banana bread, and other quick goodies that I can grab to eat on the go. Since they are fairly expensive, hard to find in stores, and not very tasty, I thought – why not just bake some from scratch?

Well let me tell you… baking is MUCH tougher than cooking. I thought my recipes have gone fairly well over the past few weeks. I have made stirfrys (and lots of them, now that I have found these delicious rice noodles), pastas, burgers (homemade patties with gluten-free buns), chili, and much more. I was on a roll… or so I thought until I made these muffins.

Photographed on March 4/17

Since breakfast has always been a struggle for me, I decided my first 'on the go' food I would make would be muffins. After researching a few recipes, I decided to follow the recipe posted on Cooking Classy, a blog I follow. Specifically, this was a recipe to make 12 gluten-free banana chocolate chips muffins, which would last me weeks (I would freeze them of course) and use up the bananas I already have that were going bad. The only ingredients I really had to buy for this recipe was the gluten-free flour blend (Red Mill – Walmart – approx. 5$) and some Xanthan gum. The rest I already had, which made this an affordable go-to breakfast idea, especially with my busy schedule.

Photographed on March 3/17

All was going well… I was followed the recipe very diligently and timed the baking time to the exact minute. However, when I took them out of the oven I was shocked – they were extremely flat… and extremely burnt. They also crumbled apart as I tried to eat it, because it was very dry. This was somewhat expected, since I was cooking without gluten – the ingredient that allows food to stick and ‘fluff’ up. However, I did not expect them to be as flat, dense, and dry as they were.

This experience taught me two things – 1) never expected your life to be as perfect and easy as Pinterest and blogs make it seem… and 2) mistakes do, and WILL happen. Needless to say, it’s back to the drawing board for me. I plan to do some more research, to see what adjustments I can make to this recipe, in order to perfect (or at least tackle) the art of muffin-making. If all goes well, my next challenge is to make these cereal bars and banana bread I also found on Pinterest, another great breakfast food that I can bring on the go. Wish me luck!

My GH Evaluation Form

My Learning Tool - Wordle

Wordle is a digital tool for generating word clouds from text that you provide. It organizes these various words in a visually appealing way, giving emphasis to some words over others. Ultimately, it aims to visually display important terms/concepts relevant to a particular theme, similar to a mind map. Thus, it can be utilized in an educational context as a tool for organizing student thinking. Students can brainstorm and insert words that they believe represent a particular topic/concept, which would be especially valuable when introducing a new idea to the class. Moreover, it can serve as a great diagnostic assessment tool by organizing their initial ideas of a topic. Students can also contribute to creating a Wordle for the class, by having each student submit their ideas/words to one comprehensive word cloud. This promotes collaboration and knowledge building among students.

Due to these potential benefits of using Wordle as a learning tool in the classroom, I decided to try out the program for myself. The word cloud Wordle I created was based on the initial ideas I had about my Genius Hour – and learning how to make gluten-free cooking easy, quick, and cost-efficient. Although I am pleased with the final product, it was not developed without some difficulties. First off, this program utilizes Java Script, a plug in that not all browsers and computers operate. Therefore, before beginning you must check on the settings of your computer and the details of the browser you are using. I found using Safari (on a Mac) was most successful, however I did still need to download the most updated version of Java Script (click here to download).

Another challenge I encountered was a result of the program failing to load, which caused me to lose my work, twice. My suggestion? SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. Before entering in the words you (or your students) would like to use, type them out in a separate document. Once you have your list, copy and paste them into the text space. This way, if you click create and it doesn't load, you can begin again with a simple copy and paste without losing your work.

This is also beneficial if you want to make changes/additions to the words afterwards. The program itself does not let you edit the initial product you created, so once I had the initial set of words, I was able to start a new product by copying and pasting those words and then add additional ones to create a new product (just not completely from scratch). This will be extremely helpful when students begin using this tool, because it allows them to alter and enhance their word cloud as they learn new knowledge/terminology. It was also helpful for me because it wasn't until after I created my first version of my gluten-free Wordle that I learned how to put more emphasis on some words over others (i.e., make the words different sizes, based on importance). I discovered that the more times a word is entered, the large its size will be. Thus, I was able to re-create this product by copying and pasting the initial list, and repeating words that I found most important.

When exploring this application, I also discovered how to alter the font, layout, and colours of the word cloud. Students would be able to utilize this feature in order to personalize their work, which I believe is a great benefit! It will allow students to make more connections to the material and give them more choice in how they present their ideas. That is why I have attached a few designs I made for my gluten-free Wordle throughout this post, to show the different styles that are available. I hope you enjoy!

The Power of Excel

I must say, my garlic cheese pull bread that I made as an appetizer for my Super Bowl party was a hit! Not only was it delicious, but it also only took 10 minutes to prepare and only cost me $10.70. This brings me to the challenge I encountered when making this dish – calculating the actual cost versus the total cost of all ingredients.

As I started to explain in my last post, I initial added up the price of all the ingredients used, until I realized I didn't use all of those and was able to incorporate them into other meals. Thus, in order to record what I am spending on each meal more accurately, I decided to document all the information in an excel spreadsheet.

Screenshot, February 10/17

This consisted of entering in the food item, its cost at whole, the amount I used for that specific meal, and the estimated price of that portion. Of course, these are estimates, so they are not as accurate as I’d like them to be especially for spices and sauces (which I use so often, and such a little amount). But at least it will allow me to gain a rough insight into what I am spending on each meal, so I will be better equip to compare them to others. Afterwards, I was able to add up the total amount spent on that meal, based on these averages/portions. As you can see, this is more accurate than the total price of the items, which was significantly more expensive (approx. $19.00).

Photographed February 7/17

For this week’s gluten-free meal, I wanted to create a stir-fry with some sort of noodle base. Up until this point, I had only cooked stir-fry with rice and vegetables, but I miss the good, authentic, stir-fry I used to make with udon noodles. After some research, I was able to gluten-free vermicelli rice noodles, which were surprisingly very cheap ($1.40 for the package). Another essential ingredient I needed was gluten-free soya sauce. I was shocked to find out that HP’s soya sauce is gluten-free, since it’s such a popular brand. The teriyaki sauce in this collection is also gluten-free! Other than these ingredients, the rest of the materials were originally gluten-free, and varied based on what I had around the house (i.e., what fresh vegetables I had available).

Screenshot, February 10/17

To keep track of these ingredients and expenses, I used the excel spreadsheet I discussed earlier. I also discovered another way to save MONEY and TIME – I went to Costco and purchased a whole, rotisserie chicken, which only cost $5.00. Since this 3-pound chicken comes fully cooked, all you need to do is cut it up and add it to meals as needed. In this case, I added it to my stir-fry, and then had it for lunch (on a sandwich) and dinner the next day (with salad and potato). I got 3 whole meals out of this ONE chicken that only cost $5.00. It also saved me time, because I didn't have to cook it. I was also able to make two meals out of this (one for leftovers the next day) which allowed me to more time and have lunch on the go!

My First Attempt - Super Bowl Appetizer

With last weekend being the Super Bowl, it called for a celebration! Not only was I excited to watch Tom Brady take home his 5^th super bowl ring (you know, him being the greatest QB of all time) but I was also excited to share my first attempt at a new gluten-free recipe with my family. We decided to have a pot luck, so everyone was responsible for contributing a food dish. Since I usually miss out on all the best appetizers (unfortunately – most of them are gluten filled) I decided to make a gluten-free garlic bread for an appetizer.

Photographed on February 6/17

This recipe consists of basic ingredients: gluten-free bread, mozzarella cheese, butter, garlic, parsley, and oregano. Majority of these ingredients I already had. The hardest part was to find a large, fresh load of gluten-free bread that was uncut (in order for me to cut it properly to make it “pull-bread”). Although this hunt for gluten-free bakeries seemed tedious at first, I ended up finding a great bakery called “SuziesGluten-Free Kitchen”, which offers a wide variety of freshly made gluten-free items for a reasonable price. This location also happens to be a place I pass on my daily commute, so that was a bonus!

Photographed on February 6/17

First, I wanted to calculate how much money I spent on the appetizer, since I want to ensure I am creating meals that are cost-efficient. Using an excel spreadsheet, I calculated the total cost of each item used in this recipe. However, once I calculated the total amount ($19.00) I soon realized a problem with this: that I had most of the ingredients beforehand, and/or I wasn't using the total amount of the ingredient/item purchased. For instance, I bought the salted butter for $3.00, but I only used 1/3 of it. I was able to use the leftovers for another recipe, at which time I accounted for another $3.00 in price, when I had already had it. Thus, to account for this discrepancy, I ended up recording both the cost of the item at whole and the estimate price of the amount used. As you can see below, in regards to the butter I ended up estimating $1.00 in price, based on the portion of the item I used for this specific recipe. Therefore, this appetizer ended up being a total of $10.75, when accounting for the specific portions of the items I used.

I was also able to prepare and cook this garlic bread in a timely matter. I began by cutting the loaf of bread, vertically than horizontally. When cutting it, I made sure I did not cut all the way through, so it would still remain intact.

Left: Cutting the bread.                        Right: Placing the cheese.

Then I cut up the cheese, and placed it all throughout the cuts in the bread. I also shredded up some cheese to add to top of the bread after the garlic spread was added.

Next I needed to mix the garlic spread. I melted 200 grams of butter in a bowl, and then added a few garlic cloves (fresh, minced), as well as a tablespoon of parsley and oregano. Once it was mixed together, I poured it over the bread, covering all sides and within the cracks.

That is when I added the final bit of shredded cheese, and placed it in the oven to cook at 350 degrees for 18 minutes. After letting it cool for 2 minutes, it was ready to serve!

Photographed on February 6/17. Edited on February 11/17.

The struggle of data collection

By now, I would have considered myself to be a Pinterest wiz. That is why I did not expect the process of researching gluten-free cooking to be so challenging; I felt extremely overwhelmed and frustrated when beginning my research. There were SO many great resources on Pinterest, but I didn't know where to begin. I felt especially anxious about how many sources contradicted the information provided by others. For instance, some of the “essentials” that were discussed in one link, were not even mentioned as staple ingredients in others.

As a result, I decided to invest in a few cookbooks – and not just any cookbooks but ones that also highlighted the “tricks of the trade” when cooking gluten-free. After reading several reviews, there were two cookbooks that stood out to me and that were relatively affordable.

1. Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli and Peter Bronski (Walmart - $17 CAN)

2. Deliciously Ella Every Day by Ella Woodward (Indigo - $20 CAN)

Photographed on January 29/17

These two cookbooks included rich introductions to leading a healthy, gluten-free lifestyle and how to make it more feasible in your every day life. This included information about how to upkeep appropriate kitchen space, tips for where to start, and ideas for staple ingredients that can be used for a variety of purposes.

Ultimately, I found these cookbooks helpful because they are providing me with a starting point – by using these cookbooks as a foundation, I can now sift through the millions of Pinterest resources more confidently and expand on the recipes these books supply with more unique (possibly more affordable) ones I find on the Internet. Thus, over the next week I plan to finish reading these books. This way I can beginning searching Pinterest and other websites again, but this time with a more informed idea of what I am looking for. Wish me luck!