Gluten Free = Happy Me!

Mmmmmm-so-yummy! Try this: Gluten Free Ginger Crunch. This tasty dessert can easily be made vegan as well by substituting the butter with any vege oil blended spread (like Earth Balance or Smart Balance - or your fave). I would do this but have yet to find a butter alternative that lacks soy. I have far more issues with soy than dairy. Bonaynay knows. If you know of a lovely buttery goodness alternative lacking soy, let me know. Dairy just gives me flatulance.

Lucky you. :)

OK now, moving on to something more appetizing. Ginger Crunch. From my observations, this is a New Zealand thing. I only say this because I've not tasted it anywhere else. It's really good. I've included the conversions from NZ measurings to USA's preferances - as you will notice, some of the conversions are weird numbers - just round up or down. You'll figure it out. I believe in you! So here's the recipe! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Ginger Crunch

Ingredients

Base
125g butter, softened (.55 cup)
1/2 cup White Sugar
1 1/2 cups Healthries Simple wheat & gluten free Baking mix (or any blend of gluten free flour that you enjoy or is available to you).
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
1-2 teaspoon ground ginger

Ginger Icing
75g butter (.33 cup)
1 cup Icing Sugar (confectioner/powdered sugar)
2 tablespoons Golden Syrup (Corn Syrup will do... or an alternative if you know one for those against corn sugar stuff)
3 teaspoons ground ginger

Method/Directions

Base

1) Preheat oven to 190*C (375 *F)
2) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (with an egg beater sort of blender)
3) Sift flour, baking powder and ginger together.
4) Mix into creamed mixture. Press dough into a greased 20 x 30 cm baking pan (~ 8x12 inch, or a 10x10 inch pan would do)
5) Bake for 20 – 25 minutes.
6) Pour ginger icing over base while hot and cut into squares before it gets cold.

Ginger Icing
In a small saucepan combine butter, icing sugar (powdered sugar), golden syrup (corn syrup) and ginger. Heat until butter is melted, stirring constantly.

Ok just an fyi - the ginger icing is super sweet. I'm not sure if it's really that sweet or if my tastebuds that taste the the sugary sweet treats are ultra sensitive since my cane sugar intake levels have drastically declined in the last year (not necessarily by willpower but rather a pained gut). Long story short, I made this yesterday (third time in the past week) but this time I drizzled half the amount of icing on top and it's just the right amount (for me).

Sometimes I think I add too many (paranthesis).

Moving on. See that tab at the top right corner of this here blog, labeled "home"? For those who are interested in a gluten intolerance experience (mine), that tab will soon be labeled "Gluten Free Me" - or something along those lines. I found out just over a year ago that my seemingly random and sporadic symptoms - many of which I had no idea were even symptoms but rather "that's just the way I am" sort of thing - were actually all caused by a single microscopic protein composite found in wheat and other grassy grains...aka the big G, aka gluten.

A small sampling of my random and sporadic symptoms: extreme fatigue, "brain fog," excersize induced asthma, bloating (water retention), insomnia, concentration difficulty (ADD style), increased anxiety, Reynauld's Syndrome (discoloration/numbness in toes due to poor circulation in cold places), tingly fingers, the big D up to 5x a day, loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to feel thirst...there's WAAAAY more.

And to clarify, not all these happened at once...it was such a gradual process that my 'normal' had slowly changed so much that I forgot what it was to feel well, healthy and just plain good...my normal was to feel like crap. ok, I can go on and on and on about this, so I will leave it for that tab at the top right corner and if you have interest to learn more about gluten intolerance, please come back and check it out. My quality of life has been improved so drastically and all the above symptoms that I had attributed to stress, being busy, etc. have completely disappeared as long as I don't ingest gluten. nuts, huh?

My biggest piece of advice, listen to your body...heartburn, inexplicable fatigue, IBS, anxiety, constant sinus problems, etc - these are all ways out bodies are trying to communicate that were eating something it doesn't break down and digest very well. Maybe it's gluten...or soy...or strawberries...or rice...or peas...or dairy. Could be anything really. That's the pain in the butt part - trying to figure out what it is...but if medications or other treatments don't seem to be working - try and see if you can pinpoint the food. I no longer eat gluten, of course, but I've discovered other food issues and pretty much stay away from soy, bell pepper, dairy (except when I make/eat ginger crunch), yeast, quinoa, and eggs because they cause a range of not so great symptoms as well.

Yeah, for sure eliminating these foods seems like such an inconvenience but, for me, the inconvenience outweighs the extreme positive changes in my life. It's up to you to decided what quality of life means to you because it is different for everyone, that's for sure. Definitely one of those subjective/arbitrary/matter of opinion concepts :)

Here's to happy guts!