Gluten Free camp cooking?

[georann]

Hiya
In a few weeks time Im going camping for a week with my girlfriend who is wheat/gluten intolerant.
Obviously she can still eat rice and potatoes (slightly less convenient while camping), but couscous/pasta/pitta bread etc are obviously all off the menu. Has anyone got any good food ideas for providing the main carb element to a meal other than just rice or potatoes (which could be stewed or baked reasonably easily I guess)?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Mesquite]

What does she eat for her main carb intake when she's at home?

 

[Ahjno]

Hiya
In a few weeks time Im going camping for a week with my girlfriend who is wheat/gluten intolerant.
Obviously she can still eat rice and potatoes (slightly less convenient while camping), but couscous/pasta/pitta bread etc are obviously all off the menu. Has anyone got any good food ideas for providing the main carb element to a meal other than just rice or potatoes (which could be stewed or baked reasonably easily I guess)?

Thanks
Dan

Dan,

Have a word with Mary (Toddy) mate, IIRC she's also gluten intolerant and also camps out

 

[georann]

Good idea Ahjno

Mesquite- she eats gluten free pasta too and lots of salad etc with her meals, but I'd rather have carbs with a meal as salad never really manages to satisy me! Plus cooking 2 different types of pasta is impractical, but I guess I could acquire a taste for gluten free!

 

[Retired Member southey]

Jus have a look in the "free from" isle in your local tesco, Asda whatever place matey, though sweet potatoes cooked in the embers of the fire are fantastic!

 

[Toddy]

If there's just the two of you cooking together, would you just accept no gluten foods too ?
It just means things like gluten free pasta instead of your usual stuff and gluten free flour used to make things like potato scones, or doughballs (dumplings) in stew.

What kind of camp food do you normally eat ? There are always Gluten Free alternatives. Use real buck wheat (not the fake stuff, but the real variety which is a seed not a grass grain) instead of couscous, cornmeal to make tortillas, gram flour for Indian cooking, and rice flour and soya protein for Chinese.

The only caveat is the bread, which is admittedly pretty dire even the expensive (£3 a small loaf) Genius stuff isn't 'right', but you get used to it.
The DS baguettes are pretty good at camp; they toast, they make paninis, they're fine split, buttered/cheesed/garliced, wrapped in tinfoil and baked a bit, to be served with soup or stew

I used to really like a salad sandwich; juicy, tasty, crunchy........it's not the same with gluten free bread, it's just not the real stuff basically there's no joy in bread just as bread anymore. I loved Vogel's seedy loaves but the pain's not worth it.

Rice cakes are... ach, I eat them, sometimes, but more just because they're there than that there's any pleasure in them. I find I can eat oatcakes (the wee hard crispy Scottish ones) in moderation

How strict does your girlfriend have to be with her gluten intolerance ? Its her diet and she'll probably have a good idea of what she not only 'can' eat, but what might work well at camp too

Best of luck with it, and if you come up with good recipes, please pass them on there's more than just me interested in this; there are quite a few Gluten intolerant folks among the membership.

cheers,
M

 

[lub0]

Quinoa, go check it out, it is perfect for celiacs!
Interestingly from what I have gathered over the years I believe gluten grains are no good for anyone of us with celiacs simply being the unlucky ones who really don't get on with it. If you want to be disease and pain free then I believe everyone should cut out gluten grains, not just celiacs! I've managed to eradicate grains from my diet, just eating the odd piece of cake on birthdays and the like. I feel 10x better when off grains even though I'm not officially intolerant of them.

 

[georann]

Thanks Toddy some great ideas there. I'll be sure to pass on any good ideas we have!

 

[Toddy]

Quinoa's good I liked it even before we knew I didn't do well with gluten. Coarse corn meal cooked like skirlie's good too. I think this is what the American's call 'grits' ? but it works in a meal like couscous
Tapioca (cassava) isn't just for puddings, it makes savoury dishes too Sorghum is kind of gluey, best used in a mix to help baking rise, I find.

Basically Georann if you sort of give a menu of the usual foods you'd like we can probably find you simple alternatives.

cheers,
M

 

[santaman2000]

My daughter is a celiac and crohn's as well. Generally healthy people shoud NOT avoid gluten as it also means avoiding fiber.

Quinoa is good IF!!!!! you ad loads of butter, salt, etc. Otherwise it's pretty bland, Same for grits; no Mary they're not course cormeal, they're dried and ground hominy (which is slightly different) What you're thinking of is Italian polenta. However the quinoa flours are very good. I find the brown rice based pastas do better though as they have a starchier texture and hold on to sauces better (and coincidentally a high fiber content as well) Beans are also a good carb source (particularly for us diabetics as they are a slow absorbing carb) and combine well with rice and sausage.

As Mary said most GF breads are edible at best. However the muffins and biscuits (you'd call them scones) pancakes, crackers, etc. are a bit better so I suspect a GF pita might be as well. We eat a lot of Southern cornbread (but we always did) Just be sure to make it with cormeal and not self rising mix as that contains wheat flour.

There are also gluten free camp foods for backpackers but they are expensive www.thebetterhealthstore.com/gluten-free-pasta.html

 

[Toddy]

Ah, see I can't eat dairy either Santaman so butter's out I like the slightly crunchy (that's the wrong word, it's not hard) texture of Quinoa, and I find it's good with just a little powdered marigold stock added to the water it's boiled in. Herb it up with whatever comes to hand, (ransoms are good when out Georann) basil, chopped tomatoes, mushrooms....it's variable, depends what I've got, tbh.

Cornbread is very good, and it doesn't need eggs so the vegans can eat it too.

I meant that our skirlie is like the American grits, and that coarse cornmeal can be cooked like that, not that it's the same thing. Just the way it's served and used in a meal. Cooked until it's soft but slightly chewy and tasty ? yes ?

I don't eat gluten but there's no way my diet is deficient in fibre.....or do you think of fibre as just being the bran of the grains ?
Fibre is in a lot of foods, our five a day fruit and veg covers most of us. Supposedly we need 18g a day, but the average healthy adult manages 14g or so and seems to do fine. Add in some kind of beans/legumes in a meal and you're sorted.
Literally

To quote one of my favourite camping partners, "Five a day? it's five at every meal when Toddy's cooking! ", I know, I'm a Mum and I like veggies

cheers,
M

 

[lub0]

My daughter is a celiac and crohn's as well. Generally healthy people shoud NOT avoid gluten as it also means avoiding fiber.

Quinoa is good IF!!!!! you ad loads of butter, salt, etc. Otherwise it's pretty bland,

Nutrition and health is my number one interest and I can tell you with 100% certainty that gluten-based grains are not only completely unnecessary for human health but are actually difficult for the body to digest and that most if not everyone does better when not eating these types of foods. Fiber is contained in all vegetables and Quinoa is a very fibrous carb which is why it's so low on the GI scale.

Bread is merely a convenience food for the masses, and I consider it junk food and an occasional "treat" for myself.

You're right about Quinoa being quite bland, so I cook it in the chicken stock after I've boiled my dogs chickens. I always save the water I cook meat and vegetables in, then make a huge stew at the end of the week.

@Toddy I too do not get on with dairy. If I drink milk or eat cheese/cream my sinuses go crazy producing thick mucus for days after. Butter however is different; I can eat quite a lot of butter without the ill-effects of milk/cheese/cream and I never knew exactly why until recently when I read that the process of making butter drastically reduces the concentration of the offending component of milk that causes uncontrollable mucus-production. I forgot the name of the component and the website I read it from, but thank god I can get away with butter cos I love it!

 

[Baggy]

Quinoa (keenwa) is also a very good source of protein containing all nine of the essential amino acids, well we actually need twenty two amino acids but we can make the rest from the nine.

 

[santaman2000]

Nutrition and health is my number one interest and I can tell you with 100% certainty that gluten-based grains are not only completely unnecessary for human health but are actually difficult for the body to digest and that most if not everyone does better when not eating these types of foods. Fiber is contained in all vegetables and Quinoa is a very fibrous carb which is why it's so low on the GI scale...

True enough there are other ways to get fiber (beans are my favorite) but usually most people don't eat enough of these foods to make up the fiber in whole grains. Ironically they also don't eat enough whole grains; instead they get gluten high, low fiber breads.

 

[santaman2000]

Ah, see I can't eat dairy either Santaman so butter's out I like the slightly crunchy (that's the wrong word, it's not hard) texture of Quinoa, and I find it's good with just a little powdered marigold stock added to the water it's boiled in. Herb it up with whatever comes to hand, (ransoms are good when out Georann) basil, chopped tomatoes, mushrooms....it's variable, depends what I've got, tbh.

Cornbread is very good, and it doesn't need eggs so the vegans can eat it too.

I meant that our skirlie is like the American grits, and that coarse cornmeal can be cooked like that, not that it's the same thing. Just the way it's served and used in a meal. Cooked until it's soft but slightly chewy and tasty ? yes ?

I don't eat gluten but there's no way my diet is deficient in fibre.....or do you think of fibre as just being the bran of the grains ?
Fibre is in a lot of foods, our five a day fruit and veg covers most of us. Supposedly we need 18g a day, but the average healthy adult manages 14g or so and seems to do fine. Add in some kind of beans/legumes in a meal and you're sorted.
Literally

To quote one of my favourite camping partners, "Five a day? it's five at every meal when Toddy's cooking! ", I know, I'm a Mum and I like veggies

cheers,
M

Yes if you cain't do dairy there are certainly other ways to add flavor.

However the USDA daily reccomendation for fiber is not 18 grams, it's 24. Yes you can get fiber elsewhere IF! you eat enough of the other foods. The relatively high incidence of colon cancer would indicate that most people don't; that and high cholesterol (fiber acts as both a sponge and a broom to absorb choleterol and sweep it out of the system) Perhaps as a vegan that's less of a concern but for most of us it's important.

That said, another problem for celiacs being that many (if not most ) also suffer from crohn's; they simply aren't allowed most of the high fiber foods because they irritate their bowels also. Add to that the fact that they absorb nutrients more poorly than the rest of us and it makes their diet especially tricky.

Cornbread does indeed require an egg (and milk or buttermilk) Any other recipe is hoe-cakes or johnny-cakes, not cornbread.

And yes, cornmeal can be cooked that way and it is indeed similar to grits (for a Yankee anyway LOL. But then again, they like Cream of Wheat)

 

[Toddy]

Okay
..........I take.........

One scoop of coarse cornmeal,
one scoop of gluten free self raising flour,
2 teaspoonsful of marigold stock powder,
2 level tspoonsfuls of gluten free baking powder.
Stir it all together evenly.
Add in enough fizzy water to make a frothy dough.
Stir in one scoopful of good strong grated red cheddar.

Bake in a silicon paper lined dish in a hot oven until golden brown.....or inside a dutch oven or the two pots with wee stones underneath one set up. Inclined to stick to a bakestone but you can dust it with fine cornmeal first and it's fine.

For the vegans and dairy intolerant add three puddingspoonsful of good oil, pumpkin and olive mixed is good and some finely chopped whatever you have's........peppers, sundried tomatoes, fried mushrooms.....

'Very' carbohydrate and fat high food, but it's brilliant when you're out or working hard

Not apparantly cornbread

cheers,
Toddy

 

[santaman2000]

It doesn't sound bad at all Mary but no it's not cornbread. For cornbread you need to add one egg and use milk (or buttermilk) instead of water.

The normal recipe (if gluten isn't an issue) is:

-1 cup of cornmeal
-1 cup all purpose flour
-1 tablespoon baking powder (omit if using self rising flour or add another tablespoon of baking soda if using buttermilk)
-1 tablespoon oil
-1 egg
-teaspoon of salt (optional)
-enough milk or buttermilk to make a thick batter (similar in texture to pancake batter)

Preheat oven and heavily oiled skillet to 375f (preferably cast iron skillet) while prepping other ingredients. Mix all dry ingredients thouroughly then add egg, milk, and oil and thoroughly mix. Pour into hot skillet and bake for 25 -30 minutes or untill browned. Let cool 10 minute or so until you cab turn it out onto a plate and slice into wedge shapes as you would a pie. They actually make special cornbread skillets with the pie shapes in them so that you don't need to slice it and every piece has a crust all around (similar to muffin pans which are also popular)

Obviously I adjust this recipe with a GF flour now. Other variations include adding creamed corn, cracklins (bacon rinds), or jalepenos to the batter. Hush puppies would be made by adding more seasonings and diced onions to the batter and dropping balls of it (about an inch or so diameter) into hot oil to fry rather than bake.

A simpler variation (not true cornbread) is "johnny-cakes" or "hoe-cakes) which is a simple batter of pure cornmeal and water cooked on a griddle like pancakes (tha nam hoe-cake came from the fieldhands cooking then on their hoes in the field)

 

[Toddy]

Your hush puppies (those are shoes here :yikes: )I would think of more like pakora. The cornbread sounds much like our soda bread with an egg in it. Good plain food and quickly and easily made. Good for camp too since it doesn't need rising.

Interesting

cheers,
M

 

[sandsnakes]

try this link old chap

http://www.trufree.co.uk/trufreerange/

They make wonderful stuff also do a flour that makes great scones and bannock. Frankly it actually tastes better than the gluten containing stuff. To hold things like corn meal or polenta together add buckwheat.. no its not wheat but its very sticky and will bind the none gluten containing grains/flours very well.

Sandsnakes

 

[georann]

Gluten free custard creams! If I was intolerant that would have made my year
Thanks for all the info guys (and gals)