Good gluten free cooking demands comparable alternatives for traditional flour and breadcrumbs for a wide range of holiday favorites, so we’ve put together a list of simple, delicious ideas to help you keep on track for a happy, healthy gluten-free holiday.

All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and Baking Mixes

Gluten helps provide texture to baked goods, making them light and airy. Natural alternatives such as xantham and guar gums are often used to achieve similar results. Many gluten-free baking mixes contain these natural additives, and are designed for you to use in your favorite recipes as a replacement for flour. Check package labels and instructions for best results.

Thickening
Flour is commonly used to thicken pie fillings, sauces and gravy, and sometimes soups and stews. Here are some tasty alternatives:

• Arrowroot or cornstarch – perfect for pie fillings and gravies. Our gluten free Foolproof Turkey Gravy is thickened with cornstarch.
• Rice flour and pureed potatoes, or all-natural potato flakes from a box of instant mashed potatoes can also be used to thicken gravies and sauces.
• Thicken soups with mashed or pureed potatoes or beans such as white beans.
• Gluten-free oats can be used to thicken pureed creamy soups. Simply throw in a handful, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, puree and serve.

Coating

Breadcrumbs have traditionally been used for coating fish, chicken or pork chops and for topping savory casseroles.

• Gluten-free breadcrumbs are available for purchase, or you can easily make your own by gently toasting your favorite gluten-free bread and then processing to crumbs.
• To bake or pan sauté, coat meats, tofu or tempeh with cornmeal, rice flour, ground nuts such as almonds or pecans, and a blend of spices such as cumin, coriander, garlic and onion granules, dried herbs, salt and pepper for extra flavoring.
• Potato flakes from a package of all-natural mashed potato mix makes a great coating, too!

Stuffing

Traditionally made from bread or cornbread, gluten-free options include cornbread made with gluten-free flour, homemade or from a ready-to-prepare package. Bread stuffing is best made using gluten-free bread and following a favorite recipe as directed.

• Our Gluten-Free Bread Stuffing is a wonderful rendition of traditional stuffing.
• This Gluten-Free Cornbread can be used in your favorite cornbread stuffing recipe.

Alternatives to the traditional stuffing include wild and brown rice stuffing, potato stuffing, or stuffing made from cubed winter squash. A gorgeous side-dish is winter squash stuffed with wild or brown rice, or gluten-free bread stuffing.

• This Quinoa Pilaf makes delicious stuffing.
• Here’s a colorful Wild Rice Stuffed Mini Pumpkins recipe.
• For a hearty wonderful stuffing, try this Brown Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Apricots.

Baking
Baking cookies, breads, muffins, and pies? We have a plethora of gluten-free options available that substitute wonderfully for traditional flour, including brown and white rice flour, corn meal, coconut flour and ground almond flour.

• This Gluten-Free Fruitcake is made with dried fruits and pecans.
• For absolute joy and decadence, our version of a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze can’t be beat.
• If you are baking pies this season, here’s an All Nut Crumb Crust that’s perfect for pumpkin pie, chocolate pie and banana cream pie.
• Baking Flourless Brownies is fun and hardly anyone will know the secret ingredient. 
• Gluten-Free Morning Glory Muffins are wonderful and these Gluten-Free Carrot Date Muffins are equally delicious.
• For breakfast, you might really enjoy this gluten-free variation of Irish Soda Bread.

These days eating gluten free doesn’t mean giving up holiday favorites! Here’s our gastronomic guide to fabulous gluten-free holiday recipes.

Are you planning a gluten-free holiday? Got a favorite tip or trick? We’d love to know!

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Talking about stuffing with others is an even broader exercise in diversity. I’ve found a great many commonalities, but even more differences that I have incorporated into my own recipe. The one thing all stuffing dishes share is copious amounts of fresh vegetables – a reality that has our produce buying office abuzz as we count down the days to Thanksgiving.

Fennel, just before harvest

Like roses for Valentine’s Day, the volume spike in key Thanksgiving vegetable staples is enormous. Sales in items like celery, fennel, green beans, mushrooms, potatoes and common herbs like parsley increase exponentially over a normal week’s movement in the four days leading up to Thanksgiving. Because of this, we have to plan further out in order to secure additional supply.

A further complication is the change of seasons. Already we see some of the regional and local grower supplies shrink as shorter days and cooler nights take their toll on plant growth. Even in the warmer states where we typically grow our fall and winter produce, the threat of wet and unseasonable cold weather is always with us this time of year. Another seasonal challenge is Christmas trees — trees and other holiday greenery take a ton of trucks out of circulation, making the competition for what remains fierce.

Thanksgiving celery in the field

I’m fortunate to be able to meet almost all my Thanksgiving needs locally, even this late into the fall. My recipe for pecan cornbread stuffing has changed a bit since my great aunt Ce Belle made it, but it still has the basic ingredients:

Aunt Ce Belle’s Pecan Cornbread Stuffing:
I package cornbread muffin mix – enough to make an 8×8” pie or cake pan (roughly a pound)
Medium yellow or white onion (coarsely chopped)
1 fennel/anise bulb (top discarded – coarsely chopped)
3 tablespoons olive oil (or pecan oil if you can find it)
1 ½ cups celery (tops included, coarsely chopped)
2/3 cup curly parsley (chopped)
½ cup green onions (chopped)
3 tablespoons fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small loaf of sourdough bread, cubed and dried (or 8 oz of your favorite pre-cut bag stuffing)
12 oz fresh pecans (coarsely chopped)
Chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth

• Bake your cornbread and set aside to cool then cube.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet combine the onion, fennel and oil and sauté for a few minutes and then add the celery, parsley, green onions, thyme, salt and pepper. Continue sautéing for a few more minutes, until the celery color gets deeper and the vegetables are well combined.
• I like to roast my pecans briefly (2-3 minutes) to bring out the oils and the toasty flavor.
• In a large mixing bowl combine your bread, cornbread, sautéed vegetables and pecans until well blended, adding the broth to whatever level of moisture level you prefer (I generally used an entire 14-oz can or two cups if I am making fresh turkey broth).
• Stuff in bird or bake separately for 25-30 minutes, or until the top browns and gets crunchy.

I am proud to say I have made inroads converting Erin’s family to my southern stuffing style, but I’m really not trying very hard. Truth is, I like her northern California stuffing too — as well as all the other new and different things her family brings to our Thanksgiving table.

What’s your favorite twist on traditional Thanksgiving dishes? Think your stuffing is better than mine? I would love to extend the “mine is best” challenge to everyone.

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From ALTERNET

Growing a Garden City: How Farmers, First Graders, Counselors, Troubled Teens, Foodies, a Homeless Shelter Chef, Single Mothers, and More are Transforming Themselves and Their Neighborhood Through the Intersection of Local Agriculture and Community… and How You Can, Too

Special powers have long been ascribed to farms, for good reason. A special conversation takes place there in the dirt and rain and sun, a dialogue between people and nature. The people talk and listen, while nature mostly talks, and if everyone cooperates you get a supply of food. This, arguably, is how civilization began.

If you talk to people who grew up on farms you might hear more about what the experience did to their characters than about what kind of food they raised. Some will rave about the aphrodisiac properties of farms. The therapeutic possibilities are even more rigorously documented. And the educational opportunities are off the charts. That’s why gardens and farm programs have been sprouting like dandelions in schools, prisons, hospitals, houses of government, and other places whose occupants could use some illumination and direction.

A new book by Jeremy Smith, with a forward by Bill McKibben, traces the history of Garden City Harvest, a community farm and garden organization in Missoula, Montana that seems to manifest all of the community goodness that agriculture could possibly offer. The operation includes a nine-acre farm, several community gardens scattered around town, and three two-acre neighborhood farms. Growing a Garden City (Skyhorse Publishing, 2010) is a beautifully photo-illustrated manual for how to create an organization like this in your town…

Go to article here
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

From RALPH VOSS
ACRES USA

Newspapers, magazines and electronic media outlets all over the world recently announced a break-through vaccine that will hopefully protect women against breast cancer.

The following report — from CBS — is typical of what was said by numerous sources: “In the current study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated — half with a vaccine containing the antigen and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen. None of the mice vaccinated with the antigen developed breast cancer, while all the other mice did.”

Dr. Vincent Tuohy, Ph.D., the principal investigator on the project to create the vaccine, sums up the impact: “We believe this vaccine will some day be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines prevent polio and measles in children. If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental.”

We agree with Dr. Tuohy, who performed his research at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. If this vaccine works in humans, it will truly by monumental.

Let’s turn the clock back more than 60 years and look at remarkably similar research conducted by another man with ties to the Buckeye State. Dr. Maynard Murray completed medical school at the University of Cincinnati in the early 1930s and from 1938 through the 1950s conducted tests showing that vegetables, fruits and grains fertilized with sea minerals grew stronger and were more resistant to disease. Murray’s research also showed that mammals that consumed these vegetables, fruits and grains were healthier.

In his book Sea Energy Agriculture, Murray discussed experiments conducted by the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago. Murray had an Illinois farmer, Ray Heine, grow oats, corn and soybeans on land that had been fertilized with 2,200 pounds of sea solids (sea salt) per acre. Researchers at Stritch fed the grain to numerous kinds of animals. Let’s look at one of those tests.

“C3H mice were obtained for this feeding experiment,” Murray wrote in his book. “This strain of mice has been bred so all the females develop breast cancer which causes their demise. The mice were two months of age when received and started on the feeding experiments. The life expectancy of this strain for females is no more than nine months, which includes the production of two or three litters. The experimental and control groups both consisted of 200 C3H mice and those fed on control food were all dead within eight months, seven days. The experimental mice that were fed food grown on the sea solids fertilized soil lived until they were sacrificed at 16 months; definitive examination revealed no cancerous tissue. The experimental group produced 10 litters compared to the usual two to three litters and none developed breast cancer.”

If the breast cancer vaccine story released last week was cause for celebrations, wouldn’t Murray’s story also be cause for celebration? One would certainly think so. But dig into Murray’s work a little deeper and there is much more to consider.

Murray’s experiments did not stop with the mice. He had rats injected with cancer. Those rats that ate his grain survived. Those that ate conventional grain died. Rats were obtained that normally develop eye disease. Those rats that ate conventional grain developed the eye disease. Those that ate Murray’s grain did not. Rabbits on a high cholesterol diet of food produced conventionally all developed hardening of the arteries. A dairyman whose newborn calves could not get up to nurse solved his problem by feeding grain fortified with sea minerals. In some instances where the health problems were not completely eliminated in the first generation, the problem was normally eliminated in the second or third generation.

The list goes on for pages and includes not only diseases of mammals, but also diseases of crops.

If we conclude that the recent story about the breast cancer vaccine is “monumental,” as Dr. Tuohy says, then how do we describe Dr. Murray’s “vaccine” that can conceivably protect against many, if not all, forms of cancer, as well as heart disease and numerous other diseases, ailments and afflictions?

Why has Murray’s story for the most part gone unnoted? Is it possible Murray was less adept at public relations than scientific research? Is it more likely that medical companies — with strong financial incentive in bringing their products to market — have developed a way to create public interest in new medical developments? Is it possible the media is not willing to consider that something as simple as sea minerals can conceivably be more effective than all the high-tech drugs and vaccines?

Maynard Murray’s story is a very interesting one. He more or less stumbled onto sea minerals while talking to fishermen, who told him fish and animals living in the ocean never developed cancer or ulcers. He had to see this for himself and worked on a fishing trawler for eight months. This convinced him the fishermen were correct. Among many things he learned that creatures living in the ocean do not age the same as identical creatures living in fresh water. A salmon living in fresh water will die of cancer by the age of five and one-half years. The same fish in the ocean will not only be larger and stronger, but will not get cancer. Creatures in the ocean can live many years without noticeable aging. When the vital organs of a baby whale are compared to those of a whale of 80 years of age, there is no discernible difference.

Much of Murray’s work went to the grave with him when he died in 1983. Fortunately there was a man who knew Murray and his work and was unwilling to let all of those ideas die. The late Charles Walters, founder of Acres USA, reprinted Murray’s original 1976 book and then did considerable research — including talking to those who worked with Murray — and wrote his own book entitled Fertility from the Ocean Deep.

These two books are creating a stir. They are not on the radar of the mainstream media, but I suspect that might not be too far off. Hundreds — and probably even thousands — of farmers are using sea minerals in one form or another. The most common use involves spraying sea salt on pasture and crops while applying something like compost tea, liquid fish and molasses or sugar. Those who have learned about the benefits of raw milk are certainly interested in combining sea minerals with the milk.

Mennonite farmers in central Kentucky have gone together to purchase sea salt by the tractor-trailor load from the Baja Peninsula of Mexico and are applying it to land where they are growing produce. One of the results is a great-tasting watermelon with a high sugar content. Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are also buying sea salt from the same place and in the same quantities.

Agriculture is in the midst of a revolution. The family farmer currently has great difficulty competing in the production of pork and milk. Beef and produce may be another matter. Murray made the observation that our soils have been depleted of vital minerals due to being leached of these minerals by the forces of nature, primarily in the form of rain. I sustpect when consumers realize their health may rest on the restoration of these minerals to the soils where their food is grown, the family farmer will have an edge because he will have a product the consumer wants and will be willing to pay for. The family farmer will rarely get rich, but it would certainly be nice to see him receive reasonable compensation for his labor and investment.

One passing thought. The people that bring us food are frequently demonized for what they have used to produce that food — whether it be genetically-modified grain, herbicides, insecticides, growth hormones, antibiotics and the list goes on. Could it be that the problem with our food supply is not so much what is in the food but what is not in the food? If our food supply were to contain the sea minerals that Maynard Murray and Charles Walters so strongly advocated, wouldn’t this do more for our nation’s health than all of the drugs and vaccines that are now on the market and will come onto the market in the future?
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See also How To Make Sea Salt
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

When our Upper West Side store was built at 97th and Columbus–on the very corner where the highly revered New York jazz venue, Mikell’s Jazz Club, once stood–some of the eclectic neighborhood’s long-time residents were concerned about how this new store would change their neighborhood. To demonstrate its commitment to honoring the neighborhood’s heritage, Whole Foods Market Team Members partnered with the Jazz Foundation of America, Sugar Hill Brewery in Harlem, and community activists and organizations to create the Jazz Legend Series. This series–which kicked off shortly after Upper West Side opened in 2009– recently began its second fall run. Each Friday evening during the series, the store is filled with the sounds of true, high-quality jazz performances. And due to its efforts to become a true part of its community, the Upper West Side store has not only been embraced by once-skeptical local residents, but has also become a unique gathering place where neighbors come to shop, eat, and be with each other while enjoying some amazing music.

Check out the Upper West Side’s store page to learn more about upcoming performances in the series.

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From FRANCIS LAMB
Salon.com
Story here

Light-textured, shiny with olive oil, and creamy-flavored, this complex bread only seems complicated to make

OK, so it’s not true that I’ve never baked before. Despite my fears, I’ve tried at various points to exorcise myself of my dough timidity, and once even scaled the Great Focaccia Mountain and turned out a few decent rounds. They had all the things you’d want in focaccia — a tender, light crumb, a thin pliant crust that crisped with a nudge in the toaster, and a rich flavor of olive oil. It was great, exciting and … totally lost to me after I made it, because I only did it once and tried to sneak away while I was batting 1.000.

But in baking school, kneading my way through literally dozens of loaves of bread, I felt myself growing more comfortable with doughs of all sorts, increasing in difficulty from the 1-2-and-done loaves of Irish brown soda bread to the tough-but-fair mass of bagels to incredibly sticky, challenging gloops that wanted to glue themselves to my hands, my workbench, my neighbor’s hair. Midway through Day 3, by the time we got to the school’s quick, straightforward recipe for focaccia, it felt like a vacation. It turns out that my Great Focaccia Mountain is actually more like a quaint little hill, but who says things need to be hard to be great?

The version of focaccia I’ll share below is every bit as good as the one I described above, but even better, with a complex addition of a mild, creamy tang, a gift from nature. This bread starts with a poolish, aka the evocatively named liquid sponge, a delicious but mannered yeast-and-bacteria colony that’s the midway point between just using straight yeast in your dough and going all-out with a sourdough starter…

Story here
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

When relocating our long-revered Lincoln Park store in Chicago down the street to its new Kingsbury Street location, we made a conscious effort to create an environment that pays homage to the surrounding neighborhood and to the city of Chicago itself. In the process, we gained a talented new Team Member, a one-of-a-kind work of in-store art, and developed an ongoing partnership with a local kid-focused organization. Check out this video to learn the Lincoln Park story, and to see another example of how Whole Foods Market connects to the communities we serve.

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When relocating our long-revered Lincoln Park store in Chicago down the street to its new Kingsbury Street location, we made a conscious effort to create an environment that pays homage to the surrounding neighborhood and to the city of Chicago itself. In the process, we gained a talented new Team Member, a one-of-a-kind work of in-store art, and developed an ongoing partnership with a local kid-focused organization. Check out this video to learn the Lincoln Park story, and to see another example of how Whole Foods Market connects to the communities we serve.

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From ANIMAL WELFARE APPROVED

At the recent Council for Agricultural Science and Technology symposium there seemed to be a consensus that folks didn’t trust science. Now, as some of you might know from my previous blogs (see “Beware of Bad Science”), one of my pet peeves is deceit and spin being masqueraded as real science. I believe that this practice is helping to undermine the vital role that science has to play in our lives, and is a key reason why more and more people don’t trust scientists.

On May 27, 2010, AgriLife Communications posted a press release which appears to refute claims that grassfed beef is healthier than grainfed beef. But the shocking lack of academic rigor behind this seemingly important press release demonstrates to me exactly why people are losing their faith in science.

This press release, entitled “Study shows ground beef from grainfed cattle healthier than grassfed,” claims to highlight new research by Dr. Stephen Smith, a Professor of Meat Science at AgriLife Research, a member of the Texas A&M University System. The background is that Dr. Smith was paid by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to look at the potential effects of eating grassfed or grainfed beef on cholesterol levels.

As Dr. Smith’s report runs counter to many people’s understanding of grassfed beef and its potential health benefits, it’s not surprising that it gained widespread media coverage. Indeed, many websites and blogs have repeated the AgriLife press release word for word. At AWA, however, we don’t simply copy and paste our news stories. We make a point of ensuring that the information we provide is based on up-to-date, proven, peer-reviewed science or published reports. And as we have a large number of grassfed farmers in our program we felt that a report stating that beef from grainfed cattle was healthier than grassfed warranted further investigation.

As we do with all news items, we sought to confirm the authenticity of the report by returning to Dr. Smith’s original study and reviewing its findings. Unfortunately, in this instance, our technical team could not find any references for the reported study. So we contacted Dr. Smith directly on June 6, 2010 to request further details. As we didn’t get a response, we sent another e-mail to Dr. Smith on June 9, asking for further information–this time copying the report’s co-author, Dr. Rosemary Walzem. Again, no response…

more here.

Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

When we open up a new Whole Foods Market store, we work hard to establish meaningful connections with our neighbors so that every store becomes a unique reflection of the community it serves. We get deeply involved with locally-based non-profit organizations and we partner with local artisans to create one-of-a-kind artwork and store decor that expresses the history, geography, population and personality of the neighborhood, including using local and repurposed materials in our buildings, fixtures and displays.

This is all highly evident in our Mountain Brook store in Birmingham, Alabama. Throughout the design phase, we learned about the history of Birmingham and how the Mountain Brook community came to be. Using neighborhood signs for inspiration and images from historical centers of the city, Birmingham history and present day were melded together. In the store, you’ll see the backdrop of the Sloss Furnace, which gives reverence to the city’s past while ironwork reflecting local neighborhood street signs brings in the surrounding community flavor. We also sought out folk artists to bring an Alabama flair into the store’s café seating area, and that’s how the quilts of Gee’s Bend—whose creators are the focus of this video—became a permanent part of the store’s décor and a way for us to celebrate local art rich in the history of Alabama culture.

This video is just the first of several we’re working on that will focus on some of our special community connections. Who knows? Maybe your favorite store will be the next one featured!

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