Fruit pies

The recipe I gave for meat pies can easily be adapted to fruit pies.  I tried it this weekend, and found that it worked very well.

Here is what I did:

Take a pie dish, size of your choice.  I tend to use one of these:


These particular pie dishes go in the dishwasher easily, they last for years, and as far as I know,  are made in USA.

Grease the dish with a small amount of liquid oil.
Heat the oven to 350F.

Using fruit of your choice (I used lightly sweetened canned peaches), fill the dish not QUITE up to the top.  I had a some canned peaches in the large can (I think it is a #303 can?  In any case, it held about 20 ounces of fruit) that I drained the syrup off of and chopped up.

Add to the fruit, sugar to taste.  For already sweetened peaches, you might need no added sugar; for lightly sweetened fruit, 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, for unsweetened fruit, 1/4 to 1/3 cup or more, to taste.

Next, make the biscuit topping:
You will need the following dry ingredients.  I have measured them out by weight, but volume conversions are found elsewhere on this blog.  For this, sweeter, biscuit topping I've lowered the rice flour and cornstarch, and raised the sugar and oil quantities.

4 ounces rice flour (scant 3/4 cup)
.5 ounce cornstarch (4.5 teaspoons)
1 ounce tapioca starch (3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon gelatin (optional)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons oil
4 ounces (1/2 cup) water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the oil, mixing it into the dry ingredients.  Finally, add the water.  This will make a very 'soft' dough (too soft to roll out).  Using your fingers, or a spoon, place the biscuit topping on the pie top.

Set the pie plate on a cookie sheet, in a 350 F oven.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.  In the last 10 minutes, if the biscuit topping is not yet browned, you might want to raise the temperate to 375F, to get a golden brown top layer.

Remove from oven, using oven mitts, and let rest for 5 minutes.
 
This is 'rough and ready' and must be altered according to your taste.

Meat Pies

When eating a gluten free diet, it is very easy to become bored with food.

Typically, folks who end up gluten free have gone through months, or years, of dietary and digestive discomfort before they discover they have celiac disease, or another condition that requires they be gluten free.

The damage that ingesting gluten can cause to the digestion means that, even when gluten free, it is possible that your digestion STILL remains sensitive.  This is the case of my wife, who, despite being gluten free for decades now, still has many different food issues.

When you learn what foods you CAN eat, it is easy to 'get into a rut' and eat the same thing, over and over, prepared in the same way.

You might not be able to vary WHAT you can eat, but you can vary the ways in which you do eat it.  Here is a variation that we make relatively little use of the in the USA:  make meat pies.  Here, we tend to think of 'pie' as a sweet treat, like an apple or cherry pie.  In other countries, meat pies are often served as meals.

Here is an example that I made yesterday out of leftovers.

The ingredients:

1.  Round steak:  I had cooked a round steak that was VERY tough, too tough to eat as a steak.  So, I chopped about 1.25 pounds of steak up, put it in the food processor, and chopped it to shreds.
2.  Rutabega/turnip:  Chop a turnip/rutabega, about the size of a baseball, into small chunks.
3.  Frozen peas:  About 10 ounces (by weight)
4.  4 stalks celery, including the leaves
5.  1/2 teaspoon herb seasoning of your choice (I used an Italian Herb blend)

Place these in a saucepan, cover with water, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Take a pie plate or other oven safe dish, and grease it well with the cooking fat of your choice.  I used safflower oil.  Scooping the now mostly cooked ingredients from the saucepan, place them in the pie plate with  enough water to make it 'moist' but not drowning.

Now, make a gluten free biscuit topping.  You will need the following dry ingredients.  I have measured them out by weight, but volume conversions are found elsewhere on this blog.

4.5 ounces rice flour (scant 3/4 cup)
1 ounce cornstarch (3 tablespoons)
1 ounce tapioca starch (3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon gelatin (optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil
4 ounces (1/2 cup) water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the oil, mixing it into the dry ingredients.  Finally, add the water.  This will make a very 'soft' dough (too soft to roll out).  Using your fingers, or a spoon, place the biscuit topping on the pie top.

Set the pie plate on a cookie sheet, in a 350 F oven.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.  In the last 10 minutes, if the biscuit topping is not yet browned, you might want to raise the temperate to 375F, to get a golden brown top layer.

Remove from oven, using oven mitts, and let rest for 5 minutes.

This is the same ingredients we eat frequently, but it tastes totally different done this way.

Keep asking for gluten free items!

I had the opportunity through my day job to spend 10 days in the United Kingdom.  During this time, I took the opportunity to visit supermarkets, to buy things for my stay there and some things to bring home.

I noticed that many products say "Suitable for Coeliacs" and "Gluten free" on them.  Further, every supermarket has a "Free From" aisle where you can purchase items that are gluten free, dairy free, egg, free, etc.  Obviously, some items are gluten free, but have eggs; some items are egg free but have dairy, etc.  You can also purchase really nice gluten free flour for a very reasonable price.

All these items ARE available in the USA.  They are unfortunately often cost prohibitive.

So let's keep asking for gluten free, dairy free, egg free items.  Use your email and your telephone and make requests for food companies. 

Now that I'm back you'll start seeing more recipes and other practical stuff.