Xanthan Gum vs. Guar Gum

Updates 2012:

Here are some knowledgeable women on this same topic whose advice I respect and trust. I hope you find these sources helpful in this ongoing debate.

Gluten Free Girl said in this great and informative post: Read the whole thing, it’s great! Thanks for alerting me to this post, Stephanie

So far, Danny and I have found that most recipes don’t need any replacements or gums or additives. Cookies, muffins, quick breads, cakes, biscuits, flour for dredging fish or batter for fried chicken? Don’t worry about the gums. Just make sure you are working with the right ratio of flours to fats to eggs to liquid in your batter or dough. So far, everything gluten-free that I have baked uses the same ratio as the gluten recipes.

Karen from Only Sometimes Clever said in the comments below:

Just thought I’d update a little: I’m trying to get away from all xanthan gum. I’m just increasingly uncomfortable with it not being a real, whole food. Guar gum is a ground up seed, and is totally natural.

It is a lot more difficult to work with — it can clump in wet goods, and it doesn’t “glue” things together as well as xanthan. But, when well-combined with dry goods first, there’s no problem. I have also found that guar gum gives better “loft” to the batter, before it is even baked. I haven’t re-tried it in yeast bread yet, but I’ve had good success with using guar in muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, and cookies. 

There were many other thoughts and experiences expressed in the comments below. Feel free to read through and happy gluten free baking!

**** My original experience below. Was it the weather? You decide.****

I’ve been told that xanthan gum and guar gum are interchangeable in gluten free baking so I bought guar gum last time because the store was out of xanthan gum.  Below are the results…

Guar Gum Loaf

I couldn’t even get the bread out of the pan without it falling apart, we made this loaf into french toasts since the egg helped keep it together.  I couldn’t bear to give it to the chickens.

Below is the exact same recipe a week later using xanthan gum…

Fun for the Kids

Check this out, its a fun little website where the kids can “travel” to and learn about other nations and pray for the needs in different areas of the world. My boys are having fun with their travel buddy! Go to www.questforcompassion.org

Socks don’t lie

Thing 2 and I were having a discussion the other day about the holes that seem to mysteriously appear in his socks.  I thought I had fixed the problem by purchasing black socks so that I don’t have the urge to wash the stuffing out of them anymore.  Also Hubby bought the thickest socks that could be found so they can take beating, tugging, stretching from their respective wearers.  I just about threw away every other sock the two big boys own because there are never mates and a huge percentage of them have holes.  Thing 2 had a couple pairs that got holes in them by the second wash! They are just like their dad that way. You might have heard  how I feel about socks, so you can imagine how this “discussion” was going.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, why is there a huge hole in the heel of your new socks?”

“I don’t know mom!”

“Come on 2, you really need to be gentler when you put them on.”

He looked at me with blinking blue eyes, one little curl right in the middle of his forehead, and squeaked, “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Sometimes, when people lie, they get holes in their socks,” then, just as sincerely he contorted, “but I don’t think I lied!”

So there you have it, socks don’t lie!

I realized this week that I may have “lied” when I claimed I do not menu plan!  Ha!  I was going through paperwork on my kitchen table and came across one of my many “list’ notebooks- THANKS DAD- and discovered my menu plan, nicely written out in plain black and white!  So, wether or not there are holes in MY socks here is the truth.  I do menu plan but most of the time I don’t get around to following it despite my best efforts. It’s not for lack of trying or wanting (because I do love orginazation-again THANKS DAD). The problem is I’m a mom, the menu plan thing works out about once a week, so I much prefer the make ahead  plan that way we have something  to eat the other six days. 

To keep my socks intact I will post my menu plans.  Instead of re-creating the list each week or month I stick to the same 10 meals and vary them.  When I’m ahead of the gang I throw it all out the window and do something fun or cook a huge load of food to freeze!

10 Day Lunch MENU:

1. rice cake (or gf bread) tuna melt w/ fruit
2. quesadillas or nachos w/ carrots and dip
3. deli meat wrap w/fruit
4. taquitos
5. mac n’ cheese using white sauce (add cheese)
6. fruit and cracker tray
7. hot dogs
8. soup  (often Progresso)
9. toasted cheese sandwiches (or rice cakes)
10. pizza (on rice cakes or frozen crusts)
11. ADDITIONAL IDEAS: breakfast for lunch, left over’s, egg salad sandwiches

SIDES: fruit or fruit cups, veggies and dip, pudding, chips, trail mix, apple sauce etc.

10 Day Dinner MENU:

1. salmon and rice
2. baked potatoes
3. bbq chicken (easy to make ahead)
4. spaghetti / or lasagna
5. hamburgers/ steak/ or chops
6. stroganov etc.
7. casserole
8. asian stir fry
9. tacos (beef, fish, chicken)
10. salad and soup

SIDES: broccoli, green beans, asparagus, salad, potatoes, rice, chips, veggies and dip, soup, fruit etc.

There you have it, I’ve come “clean”!  Hopefully my socks are free of holes.

Anybody want dried sourdough starter?

I’m about to give up for the time being on my gluten free sourdough attempts, but I have dried some and would be willing to share if there is anyone who would like to try. It works nicely as a mild sourdough flavor added to any bread recipe with the wet ingredients. I have had success with pancakes and bread (when I add commercial yeast). I have also had success converting it to a wheat version and it does fine. I’m just ready to get out in the garden and forget “feeding” my pet for the summer. So before I “put her up” for the summer please comment and I will send you my address then if you mail a self addressed envelope I’ll send you some of my starter. Please reply before the end of April.

Green smoothie pants and still smiling.

Well, as always I had a bit of fun this week and my darling Thinglets never disappoint. 

Little Pee Wee has been chowing down her twice daily “bulk up” baby smoothie.  It’s a mixture of avocado and banana with goat milk or water and looks exactly like Nickelodeon SLIME.  She gets a bit frantic about me shoveling it in her mouth and flaps her arms while smacking- mouth wide open, “WAHHH!” too slow mom- then smack, open again like a little bird. 

Meantime the Bubba had just emerged from an early morning (and yes, premature) bath time, thanks to potty training, so he was standing in the buff next to me insisting I “Wap Bubba, Mom!”

He wanted his “Nigh-night” wrapped like a cape around him.

“Wap!”

Smack!

WAHHH!

“Wap!”

Crash!

You guess it, the Bubba got wrapped, Pee Wee got smacked and Mamma got SLIMED! ICK!

The awesome thing is I didn’t even cry or yell.

With company coming over for a Bible Study and no time for anything fancy we made our simplest meal ever.  Another winner suggested by my wonderful MIL who is forever surprising me with easy, feed an army solutions for my crazy hand to hand combat of a life!  I think she must giggle when I try to plan ahead by calling her in the morning “Do you have any ideas?”  then when she does I have to call her three more times before I can get it all written down.  I have to giggle at myself when I finally sit down to read what I wrote and it goes something like this…

Boil

Drain

Smash

Add sour cream or ?

Stir

Serve

Nearly as simple as getting SLIMED!

My kids even ate thirds!

Potato Soup for a Party:

Do I really have to go there? (Shopping List):

• potatoes 24 sm- serves approx 15-20 people
• sour cream or non-dairy milk (16oz sour cream)
• 2 small onions
• ham (if you like)

If I can do it you can do it! (Recipe):

I made this meal ahead so if you do not have time for that start at step 4 then back to step 1.

1. Dice (into bite size pieces) and boil Potato’s (we used 24 small russets) 5-8min just until a fork can pierce one.
2. Drain off most the water then smash up some of the potatoes (this will be the broth).
3. Add sour cream (16oz- if you are expecting a crowd or if you plan to freeze and murder the menu plan  notion as I have done). You can also use Mocha Mix or another non-dairy substitute.  We pulled out some of the potatoes and made a second non-dairy batch for the Bubba.
4. Season to taste.  Puree  and saute 2 small red onions (I can’t stand the texture of onion) with 4 garlic cloves (pressed) and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. The potatoes went (mostly) into a large crock-pot and then the onion mixture got stirred in and the whole thing simmered on low until we were ready to eat.
6. Freeze the leftovers and re-heat in a pan over med/low heat or return the whole mess (I mean delicious and oh so gourmet soup) to a crock-pot on low 1hr (or more).  You can add more liquid if it is too thick at this point.  Water works fine.
7. This is also delicious if you add diced up ham. I had some in the freezer and I added it in at the last minute.

Again, my main man, the real Goof couldn’t resist calculating the cost of this one.  We scored a huge bag of potatoes on sale for $0.99 and a container of sour cream costs about the same.  Realistically a $5.oo meal.  This meal would serve approx 15 people so it’s less than a $0.35 per serving even if we had to pay more for the potatoes and use some Mocha Mix.

This has been another recipe for the “What’s for Dinner Wednesday Blog Carnival” Hosted by the Gluten Free Homemaker. Thanks for stopping and check out more great ideas here.

I’ve also submitted this recipe at the $5 dinner challenge at www.5dollardinners.com check it out, there are tons of inexpensive ideas!

Real life isn’t all roses or maybe it is.

My struggle with PPD

The trouble with rocks

Despite my desire to be organized and make life easier for myself I really don’t like menu planning.  No matter how much “flexibility” you can build into a week or month long plan it still feels restrictive to me.  I am a surprise kind of person.  When it comes to food I like to decided what to eat based on the weather, the pull of the moon, my mood or whatever suits my fancy.  Your laughing!? I know you are wondering, how does THAT work with four little ones, especially since I’m a picky eater myself?  I don’t exactly know yet but I’m working on it.

The Problem of Menu Planning Illustrated:

Saturday 3:00 pm - I have lots of help because my hubby is home.  We are FINALLY able to get outside to enjoy the first sunny and relatively warm day of spring.  This should be an excellent day for accomplishing one of my menu tasks.  Happily I dig in the dirt and the boys throw rocks into a huge hole filled with rain water just off the driveway.  I have visions of taquitos and even some green beans (veggies that I will  eat!) , that should fry up quick and give us plenty of time outside in the sun.  At the moment I’m thrilled that I’ve planned ahead. 

4:00 pm – It’s time to think about getting the boys inside and washed up so we can start dinner.  But Oh, this sun is glorious!  The big boys have moved on to riding bikes and Bubba is running up and down the driveway exclaiming with glee, “Wide Bite’s! Wide Bite’s!”  That’s “Ride Bikes” to the rest of us.

4:45 pm – Just about finished staking off the new garden. Three boys are back on a dirt mound tossing rocks. In a split second there is Thing 2 covered in mud climbing up the “bank” of the large puddle sputtering and crying, “Blood, Mom, BLOOOOD! I’m gonna DIE!”

Thing 2's Red Racecar Band-aid

5:00 pm – Time to start dinner but instead I’m carrying my 5 year old whose head is dripping with blood up to the house.  My dear husband has run to get towels, hoping not to have to look at whatever is causing all the ruckus.  He does not do blood unless it’s his own.  That Goof could cut a leg off and shrug “ah, but a flesh wound”.  Make him talk about or look at blood and he goes white in the face!  I’m on my own with this one.

5;15 pm – The head is no longer dripping and I’ve got Thing 2 properly bandaged.  The two of us are off to the ER for stitches.  The story is Thing 1 thought about jumping the ditch but wanted to see if Thing 2 could clear it first. Being the dare devil that he is, 2 was happy to try and yet being short legged and attempting the long jump uphill, landed square in the middle of the puddle which then propelled him forward into the upper bank where a large and jutted rock sat firmly planted in the dirt waiting for a tender little head to split. 

Whack! In three seconds flat (the time it takes to convince a 5 year old to jump) my dinner menu plan resolution was ruined and off I flew to the ER, leaving Hubby with Thing 1 (still howling in remorse since it was his idea  that had gotten his brother hurt), the Bubba (howling even though he had no idea why) and Pee Wee (squealing just as loudly, not to be outdone). 

While at the ER I had some time to think on the subject of menu planning and I believe I’ve got an idea.  Even if I do  menu plan I still have to find the time to cook what I’ve planned and more often than not, there in lies the problem.  My new plan:  always cook enough for 3-4 meals at once and freeze the extra!  Maybe I’ll even get one whole Sat. to cook ahead and then I’ll really be set!

Instead of taquitos around 5:30 we ate Wendy’s take out and then when I got home Hubby and I stayed up late making loads of taquitos that I hope will last a couple weeks.  But, you know what they say… “If you cook build it they will eat come.”

Rock Day Taquitos:

Do I really have to go there? (Shopping List):

Costco Baby, Costco!

1. Frozen chicken (approx. 4lb) beef works too
2. 50 corn tortillas or if you are really ambitious make your own
3. vegetable oil (for frying)
4. seasonings for the chicken if desired

If I can do it you can do it! (Recipe):

IN THE MORNING:

1. Fill your crock-pot to the brim with frozen chicken breast or thighs. Thighs are cheaper but harder to shred. Of course, in typical Goof fashion I learned the hard way.  Cook on high 4hrs.  You may want to re-arrange the pieces then turn to low and finish cooking any that need it.

4HRS LATER:

Take your son to the ER and when you return the chicken will be cool enough to shred without burning your fingers!  See there is a silver lining. 

4 MORE HOURS LATER (or whenever)

2. Shred the chicken using two forks and put in a large bowl. 

3. The easiest way we found to make large amounts of taquitos was in an electric skillet.  Preheat skillet to 300 degrees.

4. Season chicken to taste.  We poured the juice out of a can of jalapenos (put the jalapenos in Tupperware are covered again with water for use later) then added a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic as well as generous amounts of salt and cracked peppercorn (I like the colorful stuff).

5. Use just enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the skillet or pan you are using.  This will vary depending on the size of your skillet and you will have to add a small amount with each new batch.

6. Heat tortillas until they just begin to bubble then remove and place cooked side up on paper towels. We did four at a time until we had 16 then went on to the next step and repeated steps 5-7  until we had used up all the tortillas.

7. Spoon chicken into the tortilla’s (on the cooked side) and roll, then place them, seam side down, on the skillet to fry the other side.  Take a little nap on the breakfast bar until you begin to smell the tortilla toasting, it’s time to turn (approx 5 min).  Actually we were able to get 16 tortilla’s in my large skillet so by the time the last one was rolled the first only needed 1 min. more cooking time before we could begin to turn them and then only 1 more minute by the time they were all rolled to begin removing them and eating cooling them on a plate to freeze for an anytime meal.  It worked well to pack them tight because they didn’t have room to unroll.

If you are making a small batch you will cook 5 min, turn then 5 min more or until the tortilla is lightly browned and no longer soft.

8. Freeze and when you need a quick meal heat on a grill 5 min each side or microwave wrapped in paper towels for 1-3min depending on how many you are re-heating at once.

Variation: Use shredded pork and a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies

NOTE: We got a little overly excited about our hearty home made taquitos and were only able to get 47 taquitos because they were stuffed.  I would recommend going a little lighter on the chicken.  They need to wrap one and a half times around so they don’t fall apart when you try to eat them.  You will still have a far superior taquito to the store bought (often gluten filled) expensive and skimpy on the meat, taquitos.  Not to mention at about half the cost. 

My Hubby can’t resist doing the math and he figured out that our taquitos cost less than $20 for 50 which have probably 3 times the meat than the $6 box of 20 skimpy taquitos we usually buy.

This has been another recipe for the “What’s for Dinner Wednesday Blog Carnival” Hosted by the Gluten Free Homemaker. Thanks for stopping and check out more great ideas here.

Time to Fly

Time to order Fly Predators, that is!

We’ve been using these tiny little bugs to control our fly population for three years now.  I learned about them while wearking at a ranch as a horse wrangler.  They are the neatest little bugs and of course, they provide a solution that is pesticide free and in my opinion actually works better than anything out there.

Spalding Labs sends you a small package filled with little black, rice like eggs packed in wood shavings.  It’s the fly predator larve.  The bugs emerge in a couple of days and you simply sprinkle them onto the ground on or near manure, rotting hay or any other problem area.  They are not much bigger than the period at the end of this sentence but they work wonders.  The tiny bugs get straight to work eating the regular fly larve, stopping the flies before they even get a chance to hatch.

At my first introduction to the predators I was amazed but sure I would not be able to afford them.  Not so!  A monthly shipment of 10,000 predators (enough for my small farm) is only about $30, much less than a couple cans of spray and a trap that doesn’t work.  It’s cold enough here that I only need 4-5 shipments, other areas of the country may need to continue the shipments longer.

Click here to check it out for yourself.

Funny

I was just checking my messages and updating my sourdough comment on the side bar and I noticed- It is funny that Pee Wee seems to be a growth on my hip these days!  Both pictures of me have her peeking out of my jacket.  What a cutie.  Also, what you can’t see is she often sits in my lap with her little arms on mine while I type.  6mo and she is already blogging!  Not bad teaching from a self professed anti blogging mommy huh?  Do as I say not as I do right!?

Thanks to all of you, my new friends and some family who for whatever reason can’t get enough of me in real life so they stop by and read my rantings too, I’m hooked.  Blog Schmog!

An Easter Riddle

Actually this has nothing to do with Bunnies!  I have a real live dilemma and it just so happens to fall during egg hunting season, how convenient.  Here you have it!

Remember the riddle, How much would could a wood chuck chuck? Here is my version…

OWL’S EGGS:

Where on the farm would Owl hide eggs,

If  Owl could truly hide eggs?

Here on the farm Owls eggs would hide,

If  Owl could truly hide eggs.

I’ve been AWOL from the blogging sphere because if you haven’t noticed, my weather pixie has finally shed her scarf and hat.  Today we are on a real live egg hunt because the hen called Owl, has made herself a cozy little nest somewhere in the woods and has been hoarding all her pretty little green eggs! 

See you in a couple days when my pixie friend puts her stocking hat back on.  We are supposed to get back in the 40′s soon.