Versatile Granola Bars (Optional Vegan, Optional Gluten-Free, Soy-Free)
Notes: We discovered this top rated recipe on AllRecipes.com. We have made several ingredient substitute suggestions below, but feel free to experiment with your own! If you are looking for a vegan granola bar, the egg may be omitted, but consider adding an extra Tablespoon or two of liquid or binder, such as soy / rice milk, applesauce, or nut butter.
Ingredients:

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup whole wheat flour (may substitute white or oat flour)
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup raisins (may substitute chocolate chips or dried berries)
½ cup wheat germ (may substitute oat bran or ground flaxseed)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup applesauce
½ cup honey (may substitute agave nectar or maple syrup)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, oats through walnuts. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend the remaining liquid ingredients. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan, then turn out onto a cutting board and cut into bars.

Anne's Rice Bran Muffins (Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)
Anne, of Debra's Natural Gourmet, shared her GFCF / Vegan "Not-Your-Average Mac'n'Cheese" recipe with us. Anne let us know, "I'm mainly interested in gluten free food, but have made my recipes dairy free as well because many celiacs have a hard time digesting it as well as gluten." While these breakfast-worthy treats do call for rice bran and brown rice flour, as the name would imply, they also feature a special, little known gluten-free flour, Teff ...

Teff is a grain native to Ethiopia, and a nutritional powerhouse smaller than a poppy seed. If you've ever had injere, Ethiopian pancake-bread, you've had teff. In the recipe below, you can sub potato starch for the corn starch, but don't use potato flour, which is made from ground whole potatoes, rather than just their starch. If you use potato flour, your muffin will tastes like a potato, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Anne's Rice Bran Muffins

1 c sweet brown rice flour
¼ c teff flour
¼ c rice bran
¼ c tapioca flour
¼ c non-GMO corn starch
1 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp aluminum-free baking powder
½ tsp each salt and xanthan gum
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ c Earth Balance spread
1/3 c Sucanat or Rapadura
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 c organic raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or two (for 12 muffins) and set aside.

Using mixer, cream Sucanat or Rapadura with butter (or Earth Balance spread). Add eggs, peeled bananas, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Combine remaining dry ingredient together, and add blend to wet mix with hands or a spoon. Scoop batter into muffin tins, filling each cup to the top. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until muffin bounces back when pressed lightly.

This recipe makes a great base for all sorts of variations. Just sub out the bananas and raisins for any other fruit you want. For example, make cranberry-orange, or blueberry-spice (add cardamom).

Makes 12 muffins

Banana Choc Chip Muffins w/Granola Crunch Top (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)
Recipe from Enjoy Life Foods.
Ingredients:

2.5 C Gluten-Free Flour Mix (see below)
1 C Brown Sugar, loosely packed
1-1/2 t Baking Soda
1-1/2 t Gluten-free baking powder
½ t Salt
½ t Cinnamon
1 t Xanthan Gum, Agar, OR Guar Gum
2 C Mashed EXTREMELY Ripe Bananas (about 5-6 bananas)
1 T gluten-free vanilla extract
½ C Grapeseed or Canola or Sunflower Oil
1/3 c water, room temperature
2 C Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
2 C Enjoy Life Cinnamon Crunch Granola
*Gluten-Free Flour Mix:
Feel Free to use your favorite gluten free flour mix (gum-free, if possible) or try our suggestion:

1 C Buckwheat
1 C Brown Rice Flour
¾ C Tapioca Starch
¼ C Amaranth
½ C Sorghum or Teff Flour or Quinoa Flour
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Line two muffin tins with muffin cups OR lightly oil the tin.

3. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients EXCEPT granola and chocolate chips. In a separate bowl or pyrex measuring cup, combine all the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until batter is uniform and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Using a half-cup measure, scoop batter into muffin tin until all batter is used. Lightly tap tin on counter to make batter more uniform in tin and force out air bubbles.

5. Sprinkle granola over tops of muffins to cover entire surface. Not all of it will stick - that’s okay.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out dry. Allow to cool.

7. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container for up to two days. Muffins may be frozen.

Chickpea Flour Pizza (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)
A sampling from the Food Allergy Survival Guide, reprinted with the permission of Jo Stepaniak

"This unusual dish is a cross between a pizza and a high-protein flatbread. It is simple to prepare and tastes amazing. If you have chickpea flour on hand, it can be on the table in a jiffy. Serve it with sliced tomatoes, a salad, or a vegetable dish."


1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled between your fingers
1/4 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled between your fingers
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Generous pinch of cayenne or pepper
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Combine the chickpea flour, salt, oregano, basil, garlic powder, cayenne, and turmeric in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the water, beating well after each addition until completely smooth. Generously oil a 10-inch skillet (nonstick will work best) or mist it well with nonstick cooking spray, and heat over medium-high heat. Stir the batter and pour it into the pan, scraping all of it out with a rubber spatula. Drizzle the olive oil over the top. Cook until the top is set and the bottom is nicely browned, about 5-7 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary to prevent over-browning. Carefully turn the dough over and cook the other side until well browned, about 5 minutes. Slide onto a round plate and slice into 8 wedges. Serve hot.

GFCF White Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free)
By Alisa Fleming - In the March edition of Foods Matter, a magazine for food allergies and intolerances, Lucinda Bruce Gardyne shares a very detailed article on 'Making gluten-free bread.' Lucinda is a skilled ‘special-diet’ cook – see the review of her new book, How to Cook for Food Allergies - but her speciality is in fact, making gluten-free bread. Though you will need to get your hands on an e-copy of the March issue to read her full article (which is awesome, including explanations for why we use wheat flour to bake and the roll of the various ingredients in bread making), I was granted permission to share Lucinda's wonderful Gluten-free White Bread recipe with you. It just so happens to be dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and vegan too! ...

Gluten-free White Bread

To make a 900g (2lb loaf)
110g potato flour [approximately 1 cup]
110g gluten-free corn flour [approximately 1 cup]
55g tapioca flour [approximately 1/2 cup]
110g rice flour [approximately 1 cup]
2 teaspoons fine salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2 level teaspoons xanthan gum powder
2 sachets of dried yeast granules
approximately 350ml tepid water
2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil
millet flakes, poppy seeds or sesame seeds to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Lightly grease and flour a 900g loaf tin, tipping out any excess flour.

2. Once the oven has come up to temperature, sieve the flours, salt, sugar and xanthan gum powder into a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast granules. Make sure the yeast is mixed in properly to avoid pockets of yeast activity and uneven rising.

3. Measure out 350ml of tepid water.

4. Pour 300ml of water onto the dry ingredients, add the oil and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon, until smooth. The dough should be firm enough to hold its shape but soft enough to fall slowly from a spoon. If the mixture seems too firm or dry, beat in the remaining water, plus a little more if necessary.

5. Spoon the bread mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Smooth the surface of the bread mixture with the back of a large spoon dipped in water. Sprinkle over the millet flakes or seeds and place on the middle shelf of the preheated oven to rise.

6. Bake for 45–60 minutes or until the bread is crisp and golden brown on all sides. If the base and sides of the bread are pale, place the bread upside down in the tin and return to the oven for 10 minutes. The bread is cooked when all sides are brown and firm and the underside of the bread sounds hollow when rapped gently with your knuckles.

7. Remove the bread from the tin and place it on a wire rack to cool. Do not slice the loaf until it is completely cold. Eat really fresh, store for up to two days in an airtight container or slice and freeze in a sealed plastic bag.

Italian Foccacia with Rosemary and Thyme

Follow the recipe for gluten-free white bread, using olive oil, and spoon into a greased and floured 20cm round cake tin. With the back of a wet spoon, spread the dough out to fill the tin evenly. Using the back of a wet teaspoon, make shallow indents at regular intervals on the surface. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the bread mixture and sprinkle with a large pinch of sea salt crystals and ½ tablespoon each of roughly chopped fresh rosemary and thyme. Bake in the oven for 30 –45 minutes or until risen, crisp and golden brown. Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool.

Bread Rolls

To make 4–6 bread rolls ~ Follow the recipe for white or brown gluten-free bread (see below) but instead of using a loaf tin, using a wet spoon, neatly place tablespoons of bread mixture onto a greased and floured baking tray. Smooth the surface of each roll with the back of the wet spoon and sprinkle with millet flakes, buckwheat flakes, poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Bake in the oven at 200C/400F/Gas mark 6 for 15–20 minutes or until crisp and golden brown on all sides.

Gluten free brown bread

To make a fibrous brown gluten-free loaf, simply replace the caster sugar in the white bread recipe with dark brown sugar and 55g of rice flour with rice bran (available from all good health food shops) and make as above.