The Wonderful Brown Rice

Right now I feel as though I am going to turn into brown rice. I have started the gluten free diet and am patiently waiting for my blood work results to come back to tell me if I indeed am Celiac or not. I'm eating brown rice at breakfast, at lunch, and dinner. I'm eating rice in the form of rice cakes, crackers and I have even made brown rice pancakes.
Here are two recipes that are actually really quite yummy.

In both of these recipes I used Bob Red Mill brown rice flour. Look for Bob Red Mill products in your grocery store, there are many different types and they are all gluten free. http://www.bobsredmill.com/index.php

Brown Rice Crackers:
(3 dozen)

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup cooked brown rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup safflower/olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax) - optional

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Lightly oil large baking sheet. In bowl, mix flour, rice, salt and oil until combined. Add the water and mix until the dough holds together. Knead into a ball and the press onto a lightly oil or lined baking sheet. Score into 1-2 inch squares. Sprinkle seeds ontop. Bake 30 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Brown Rice Pancakes
(makes about 6-8)

1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 egg
2/3 cup soy milk (vanilla or plain)
1/8 tsp baking powder * (baking powder can tend to have traces of gluten and/or corn, so a safe bet is to make your own baking powder. 1/4 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp cream of tartar = 1 tsp baking powder)

Combine all ingredients together. Heat a large skillet with either safflower/olive oil or soy margarine. Drop a blob of the batter into the pan, once the surface begins to bubble, flip over. Cook until both sides are golden brown.

I have a food sensitivity to maple syrup, so instead I spread blueberry fruit spread onto the pancakes. I even drizzled some hot honey ontop. They're even delicious all on their own. If you want, you can make a double batch of these and wrap the leftovers and freeze them. When you are ready to enjoy them again you can either defrost them in the microwave or at room temperature, or pop them in the toaster frozen!

Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Fig Sauce

This sauce is free of many allergens, and a quick and easy recipe to follow. It has a sweet but tangy taste and can be served on any poultry, game, pork and even ontop of cheese and crackers.

Takes about 15 minutes
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup apple sauce
3 dried Kalamata Figs
1 tsp honey
2/3 cups of cranberry juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In Saucepan over medium heat, bring cranberries, juice and honey to a boil. While boiling, boil about 1 cup of water in a seperate saucepan- transfer to a small bowl with the figs, and allow figs to soak (around 10 minutes). Once the cranberry mixture boils and the cranberries have popped out of their skins, add in the apple sauce- bring to a simmer. With a hand mixer or blender, puree cranberry mixture until smooth. Dice the figs and add in to the pureed mixture, puree it with the figs and then stir in the cinnamon.
- serve hot or cool.

Two Years Ago too Now

I first began having stomach problems two years ago. I would have really bad abdominal pain and frequent trips to the bathroom. When I went to the doctors, all she could say was I probably had a case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I also had a lose of period, she told me to gain weight...but that wasn't so easy. I then began seeing a chiropractor who tried to relieve my IBS symptoms, but that didn't work.
A year later my stomach pains were still not going away, they were getting worse, they were even met with other symptoms, such as sadness, irritablity, hair lose, mild acne, tiredness and headaches. I visited a naturopath and thought my problems were definitely solved! I took a vega test to determine if I had any food sensitvities. Unfortunatly I had many: caisen, brewers yeast, dairy, corn, cane and beet sugar, maple syrup, tomatoes, oranges, strawberries and couple other random ones. I was also under stress during that time, so she said that could have effected it. Getting help with my stress and my stomach issues was bound to help me feel better...but, it didn't. I was still having stomach pains and bathroom trips, weight loss, headaches and tiredness. When I felt sick, I felt sad, so who knows if the stress caused these food intolerances, or the food intolerances caused the stress. A few months after the visit to the naturopath, I went back to my GP and she suggested I get tested for Celiac Disease. Yesturday I went for blood work and am patiently waiting for the results. I wouldn't be surprised if they come back negative.