Nice Rice baby !

Yesterday was an adventure in flour buying - amongst other foods. While you can live gluten free with meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, starchy things become a problem. Things like corn, potatoes , flax and rice will serve you for many things, but there will come occasions when you want to have an actual slice of sandwich bread or a roll or even a birthday cake. There are many commercially made mixes on the market today , but sometimes you just do not want to be trapped into what someone else decides that you should be limited to eating. Here is where the multitude of gluten free flour enter your life. From what I have discerned from several recipes on line, the tools (flours) of the trade are rice flour, potato starch, besan flour, corn flour, tapioca flour and xanthan gum, so it was my intention to get a supply of each and do some experimenting. Could not find the tapioca starch ( trip to Whole Foods later today will remedy this) and I was blown away by the price of xanthan gum ! A small bag costs nearly 20 dollars. I have no idea what the heck a xanthan is, let alone why it's gum is so darn expensive, but thankfully you use small amounts when you use it. I brought it home, found shelf space for it ( not an easy thing here) , and kissed my bag of brown rice , for being so versatile and so cheap ! I was especially thankful for one of the nummies it can create- rice pudding. We have a custom of having a treat on Saturday night, and lately it has been a thing from the bakery in a single serve portion. Mine used to be brownies, but the contain gluten( wheat flour, white flour, rye flour or barley flour) and are a no no. In anticipation of this dilemma, on Friday I made Brown Rice pudding in my crock pot

Rice Pudding GF (6 servings)

3 cups cooked brown rice
3 cups almond milk
1/2 cup splenda
2 chopped apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
3/4 teaspoon vanilla ( extreme sensitives should use gluten free vanilla powder)

Combine all in a crock pot and cook on low for 4 hrs.

The weather is supposed to be nice today, so we are off to play on a driving range today and hopefully get in a walk in the woods. There has been a lot of flooding in the area , and several trails have been underwater or a sea of mud, so hopefully we can find something clear to walk on !