Shelf reliance and spelt recipes

I found out recently that shelf reliance sells spelt in the #10 cans and buckets. We are signed up on their que, which means they send us something every month. So I can order spelt now from them every month or from azure standard. Dee and I will have to sit down together and do calculate which is the better deal.
It has been interesting as we have been doing these calculations, we have found that the lowest price in the Azure standard catalog is usually only a little more than the sales we buy at the regular store, and the nutritional value is much much higher. Plus, you don't pay tax from azure standard since they are based in Oregon. So, next year I am going to order from them every month.

Shelf reliance has also added other types of healthy grains like quinoa. My friend Corrie Busch has been showing me some of her raw recipes. I have been wanting to try them out so I can see how it affects me and my family.
I feel that we would all feel much better even if I incorporated a little bit of raw every day, but it is difficult for me to justify spending $20 - $30 on one little bottle of sweetener or healthy oil or seeds. Corrie feels the same way since she also has 5 kids and one more on the way. So now when I hear people tell stories of the past about when people were so poor they could barely feed themselves. I feel like I can relate in some way.

Sister Heidi Miller just got released from being the relief society humanitarian specialists, but she still brought us some special gluten free food the other day. She gathers up what Wal-mart (where she works) doesn't sell and brings it over to our house instead of dumping it in the garbage. I need to give them a Christmas card and thank them again for being angels.
I have also found that oat flour works a lot like spelt. I ground up some oat groats and used it to make bread with a few other gluten free flours added to it, and it turned out pretty good.
Here are a few spelt recipes that are yummy from my friend Andrea, but originally from the byu channel:

Bread/ Flat Bread
9 cups flour
3 cooked potatoes (save the water that the potatoes were boiled in to add later)
sweetener
2 1/4 t. salt
2 - 3 t. yeast
mix,
let rise, punch down, put in pans and let rise again until double, cook about 30 minutes
For flat bread, roll out on parchment or wax paper into a big circle. Poke holes with fingers, drizzle olive oil and rosemary and kosher salt on top. Then cook.

Sweet scones
3 1/2 cups spelt
2 or 3 T. sugar
2 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
ginger
sweet cream
Don't overmix. Pat it out on counter with flour and cut into wedges or cut out with cookie cutters. bake 375 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

You can also cook the spelt berries and add them to salads.
Here was the salad suggested
apples cut into peices
crystalized ginger
blackberries
nuts
maple syrup
spelt grain
Omega 3 fish swirl (lemon flavored)
cheese

I haven't tried this salad yet because I have yet to find all the ingredients and have them all at the same time to put together in a salad.

Spelt sacrament bread and milk substitutes

It has been too long since I have written. Good news... Sister Cowley now makes spelt sacrament bread for all those with gluten problems in our ward. It is delicious. Now I don't have to worry about eating sacrament bread that is damaging us. If I can learn to make bread as well as she does, maybe she will let us bring it some Sundays. Dee and I are looking into getting the kids tested for allergies with the hope that results will give us specific information about what other foods might be bothering the kids. Anyone know a good place to get allergy tests?
We also decided to cut out cows milk for the most part. Grant seems to be able to control his accidents when he is off milk.

I need to compare milk prices, but we have found goats milk @ Winco and Walmart are the cheapest. Rice milk and almond milk seem to be cheaper @ these stores, too. I recently found out they sell coconut milk in a regular milk form. I haven't found it or bought it yet, though. I am also trying to keep track of phone numbers of those with gluten problems in case we can get enough people to buy enough flour to get a good deal.

My stomach was upset again today. I don't know if it was the caramel popcorn from relief society (I should have given it all away to Dee instead of half) or if I just ate too much for dinner after ending our fast yesterday.
There seem to be lots of young women who are starting to have these type of problems. I feel for them. It is hard to feel connected to people when your diet is so different. It is difficult to travel since we usually stay with family and it is a major inconvenience for them to plan meals suitable for us to eat. But, we appreciate all the efforts of family and friends who have tried to understand or have gone out of their way to help us.

2nd Azure Standard Order

We ran out of all the cookies and noodles from Azure Standard and I was a little hesitant to order again because the first order was so confusing. When I finally just got online and did it, I was surprised to find out it was much easier because they had saved our account number, shipping and drop number etc. So we are excited to have noodles, spelt and gluten free flour and cookies again.

Ideas for gluten free cooking from Katuska

Here are some tips for gluten free cooking from my sister in law who lives in Utah. She is a great cook and very creative, too.

"Hawaiian Hay stacks (do not use campbells cream of chicken, make your own (so easy) with broth, spices and corn starch. Replace the chow mein noodles with something else crunchy.
Polenta with spaguetti sauce on top
Rice and lentils, the kids love it! and with the left overs i make soup the next day. The only one that frowns is Dave.
Taco Salad ( I add rice and beans so it is more hearty and filling)
Grilled salmon with mashed potatoes and salad (wild caught, i don't like dyes added to my fish or anything else I eat for that matter and you can get it cheap at winco).
Kalua pork with rice
teriyaki chicken with rice (you have to use La Choy brand of soy sauce because kikoman has wheat in it so just read the ingredient label.)
I have a recipe for pancakes with cornmeal instead of any kind of flour. This site only uses everyday ingredients and you don't have to buy anything expensive. I will look for it and forward it to you.
Another alternative to buying the expensive flours is to get a really expensive blender like BLENDTEC, we have VITAMIX but you have to buy a separate cup ( for $100, a rip off in my opinion) and grind the rice, beans, etc... and make your own flour, it pays for itself in my opinion.
We complement meals with rice, potatoes, instead of pasta. Also, there is a quinoa/corn pasta that used to be sold at Maceys. I prefer it over the rice pasta (yuk!). Here is the link so you see what it looks like. sometimes you can especial order stuff at your store, like Maceys and I do not know that you have Maceys in Idaho.
http://www.quinoa.net/145/163.html. I paid around $2.75 for each small box of the curly noodles.
Also, you should be able to find HARINAPAN it is a corn based mix used for AREPAS which we eat for breakfast (eaten in Venezuela and Colombia and a main staple in their diet). here is a picture so you know what to look for, Maceys sells it too and it retails for about $1.99 per bag. sometimes you can buy it for $1.75 in some latin markets around here."

prices per pound

Azure standard noddles per lb.
shells $2.34
rotini $4.06
organic spaghetti $2.82
10 lbs elbow macaroni $2.34
organic lasagne $4.76

Jules.com
50 lb baking mix in bulk $2.99 lbs

julesglutenfree.com

I stopped by Cliff's market this week with the kids. I love shopping there. I would go more if we had unlimited resources.
I had a nice visit with a mom of 8 who has been feeding her family gluten free for awhile. She buys noodles through azure standard. Some of her flour and baking mixes she orders from julesglutenfree.com. If you buy bulk flour you can get free shipping.
We will stock up on it after we get our tax return. I should probably do an elimination diet to figure out what other foods are bothering me besides gluten and sugar. I'm a little afraid of what I'll find out, it couldn't be worse than what I've already given up, right?

Supermoms

It is 1:19pm and I haven't even started lunch and Grant is behind in his school work again. The good news is that I have found a supermom with 8 kids who cooks gluten free and homeschools 6 of her kids and she is willing to share her recipes with me. Maybe there is hope.