Five years ago we decided to home school. We joined a local homeschooler's co-op and it changed my life.
I listened to the other moms talk about nutrition and how it affects learning, and I started to research and learn about different ways of eating. My kids got to the point where they would visibly cringe when they saw me talking with someone about food. You have to understand, we have always been a food loving family. Good southern style cooking, complete with fluffy biscuits smothered in sausage gravy with a side of fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.....ah-manna from heaven!
"Gluten-free" was a term that kept popping up. I thought, "Good grief, I must be killing my family with this evil gluten!" So I began to feverishly clean out cabinets and refrigerator in my quest to eradicate that evil villain. I jumped in with both feet, only to find the reception chilly on a good day. My family was miserable! Gone was the luscious, creamy mac n'cheese, the smooshy white bread, the fluffy biscuits with creamy gravy only to be replaced with unfamiliar grains and textures that, well, did not please the palate to say the least.
I had not done my homework well enough. I was in such a hurry to jump on the gluten-free band wagon that I tried to completely change what we ate. It was an epic failure.
Five years later, and hopefully much wiser, I am still convinced that while not evil, gluten is indeed not good for the people in my family. So instead of trying to take all of our good southern food away and replace it with dry, tasteless meals, I am trying to find the gluten free version of what we love-comfort food!
It started with bread rolls, which we don't often eat. I stocked my pantry with things like rice flour and potato starch and gave away the wheat flour. I ground oat groats. Not bad.
Next was cornbread-made with fresh ground dent corn. Superb! It tasted like hot, buttered corn on the cob. But one cannot live by rolls and cornbread alone, so I decided to tackle that most elusive of all palate-pleasers....the gluten-free biscuit.
Now if you are from the south, you understand that biscuits are supposed to be crisp and browned on the outside and fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness on the inside. And when you are working with flours made from freshly ground, whole grains that combination is hard to achieve.
The Internet is a wonderful thing. I have found so many great recipes to start with. My favorite site so far is www.simplygluten-free.com
I found a fantastic starter recipe for a melt in your mouth biscuit. If I can feed my family gluten free biscuits and they go back for seconds, then I think I just might be able to make this work.
Life, it's all about compromise!
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