How to Cook Gluten Free

A guide to start cooking gluten free and avoid possible issues

Cooking can be tough even in the best of situations for beginners, but it can be even harder for those who are trying to be gluten free. There are many things that have to be done differently, special ingredients, and risks that can come into play.

When you are first starting out, it is important to not only know what it is you're cooking with but also how you are cooking it as well. My goal is to help make this process much easier.

So, let's start with the basics.

Get the right ingredients

When shopping for ingredients, there are a few things you need to check. If you've read some of my previous blogs, I've talked about some things you need to look out for. I'll list some here for any newcomers.

• Barley

• Rye

• Malt

• Oatmeal

• Wheat Bran

• Matzo

• Couscous

• Wheat Germ

• Semolina

Always make sure that there are none of these ingredients on the nutrition label. Some of these things are in foods, but since they are not directly wheat they will not always tell you that there is wheat in the product. So it's better safe than sorry!

Find replacements

It can be tough to find out that some of your favorite foods and ingredients have gluten. Trust me, I've definitely experienced that! That's why it's nice to find safe ingredients and foods that can swap normal things.

There are a few brands that I enjoy shopping from for my gluten free food, like Mom's Place and Feel Good Foods, but it's also nice to find things that are a staple in my house. Here are a few of my favorite things that I've found over the years.

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First we have Cup4Cup flour and you can hardly tell it is gluten free in any of your cooking and baking, it is light and makes my life much easier. Then there is King Arthur's Pancake mix, this is a big hit with my family, the pancakes are fluffy and delicious. The of course you can't go wrong with gluten free Kraft Mac n Cheese, it taste exactly the same! You can also use Kikoman's gluten free soy sauce, Schãr Artisan bread that is yummy, and delicious Krusteaz gluten free Wild Blueberry muffins.

Avoid Cross Contamination

When we think of cross contamination, we usually think of something like this picture; raw meats touching stuff like fruits and vegetables which can make us get sick. However, when it comes to being gluten free there is another dangerous type of cross contamination: when gluten free food comes into contact with glutenous food.

When cooking food, whether it's from home or you're ordering food from a restaurant, there is always a possibility for cross contamination with gluten. In my own home I try and make sure everything is gluten free, but there are bound to be things that end up having gluten.

For an easy example, my husband has normal bread rather than eating my gluten free bread. If my husband were to make toast and spread butter on his toast and put the knife back in the tub of butter, everywhere the knife touched would then have some cross contamination where if I were to get butter from the same place, I would get sick.

This is in any situation. If you are making food and there is anything around that has gluten, you have to be extra careful to not get it contaminated. Always make sure you make everything gluten free before doing normal food. So if you're wanting to use the same cutting board to cut homemade bread, always make sure to do gluten free first and then regular.

Another thing is to make sure you are always washing utensils thoroughly when handling normal food so you don't get sick.

Have fun!

The most important part about learning how to cook gluten free is to just try and have fun with it!

Learning something new can always be hard, but if you are willing to explore new things and do your best, you can turn something hard into an adventure!