A Gluten Free Birthday Celebration

"  My husband and I celebrated our dear friend's birthday and enjoyed a gluten free meal together.  For those of you who are not familiar with gluten free let me take a little time to explain.  Gluten is the mixture of proteins found in wheat grains, which are not soluble in water and give wheat dough elasticity. Some people are not able to properly digest foods with gluten so they go on a gluten free diet to aid in digestion.  For some, gluten may cause a few adverse affects, but for those who have been diagnosed with something called Celiac's Disease, eating gluten can be a chronic nutritional disturbance which causes major problems in their body.  Keep in mind that I have not spent a lot of time researching Celiac's disease and a gluten free diet, but this at least gives you a basic understanding."

" I'm sure most of you are probably thinking, wow, I'm glad I don't have to eat gluten free.  I can understand why you would think that.  I love my pasta, cookies, pizza and pretzels too, but guess what?  A gluten free meal if properly prepared can be great! As time goes on, more and more people are having to switch to a gluten free diet so the availability of new types of gluten free flours, cookies, pasta etc are becoming easier to find. "

"Thus far, I myself have not had a problem eating foods with gluten ,so I probably won't make a major change in my diet in this regard.  However, I find this diet to be interesting and since one of my best friends eats gluten free I was excited to learn more about cooking/baking foods that she can enjoy. When I was in culinary school I did practice making gluten free cakes, but it's been since then that I have tried doing this again.   It being my friends birthday, I asked her what her favorite dessert was and what her favorite foods were.  Two of the items she mentioned I decided to try.  The first was a yellow birthday cake with homemade frosting.  The second was macaroni and cheese. " 

"Below is the picture of the cake.  It tasted amazing! I was actually surprised myself at how good it tasted. It was very light and sort of just melted in your mouth.   I cheated a little and used a gluten free yellow cake box mix which was the flour/baking powder base.  To the base I added butter, eggs, milk and gluten free vanilla.  The frosting was butter, powdered sugar(you need to double check that the powdered sugar, as some do have gluten in them), gluten free vanilla and milk.  Lastly, I decorated the cake with all natural sugar that I dyed with a purple tint, purple frosting writing and design and chocolate roses made from homemade modeling chocolate. "

The lines on the roses are a little hard to see in the picture.

Modeling Chocolate Method

1. Melt dark or semi sweet chocolate over a double boiler - 4oz

2. Let Chocolate Cool

3. Stir in Corn Syrup that has been heated just to a boil  to the chocolate mixture- 2oz

4. Chocolate and Corn Syrup will form a paste

5. Refrigerate for about 1 hour

6. Slightly knead dough and model with it

"As I mentioned, the second dish that I made was gluten free macaroni and cheese."  It also tasted 10 million times better than I thought.  If I didn't know it was gluten free I never would have guessed.  The macaroni was tender, the cheese was gooey goodness and the sprouted grain bread crumbs on the top added the texture that the dish needed.  Sorry I don't have a picture of this one, but you can let your imagination run wild. The recipe below does not call for the bread crumbs on the top, but I recommend adding them.  I simply took Ezekiel bread and grounded it up to make the crumbs."

Macaroni and Cheese Method

http://glutenfreemom.typepad.com/gluten_free_mom/2008/02/gluten-free-mac.html

"Along with the cake and mac and cheese I also ate moist rotisserie bbq chicken and fresh corn on the cob. The corn on the cob does have some proteins in it, but is still ok on the gluten free diet."

" It truly was a great meal that I will remember.  My question for you?  Did you ever eat a gluten free piece of cake, cookie or bowl of pasta?  If you have, how did it taste?  If you haven't, TRY IT!!!!!! "