Prompt: Introductions

[runpunkrun]

Hello, gluten-free friends and family! It is I, Punk, speaking to you with my words. If you haven't already, please read the community guidelines for your safety and mine.

If I can keep my act together, I'll be posting a weekly discussion topic to prompt conversation about gluten-free cooking. This week I thought we could introduce ourselves and do some light mingling.

Let's do name, rank, and preferred pronouns. And maybe answer one or more of the following questions:

• What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands?
• If your answer is "coffee," that's valid.
• What kind of foods do you like to prepare?
• How much baking experience do you have?
• What type of recipes are you interested in?
• Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker?
• If you are going to lurk friendily, please say hi just this once. We'll say hi back.

Also, as the comm opened on Pi day (3.14), why not tell us your favorite pie?

Come join me in the comments!

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Hi! Rydra (she/her, also fine with they).

I do eat gluten but not a lot of it, and tend to feel that it occupies space in food that could be filled with far more interesting stuff.

I have friends and relatives with various different dietary requirements, so I do a lot of "cooking without".

Last gluten-free thing I made with my own hands was spiced molasses cookies, yesterday afternoon.

(Also coffee this morning.)

What kind of foods do you like to prepare?

Generally things that are fairly low-effort, though I'm also good with stews that need occasional stirring over five hours. My cooking has a tendency to be somewhat experimental, but I don't make other people eat it until I've reached a version of a recipe that I'm happy with.

So nice to seee you here.

[jesse_the_k]

Spiced molasses cookies would go very well with my tea right now,

[landingtree]

Hello! Landingtree, novice, he/him. I eat gluten, but have a gluten-free flatmate, so baking/pudding tips will be useful. I have a book full of old family recipes heavy on the wheat flour, which is one reason I haven't been baking much lately (although the main reasons are disorganisation/business).

I'm working my way through a vegetarian Indian cookbook at the moment, but the last gluten-free meal I made (coffee... still has not managed to convinced me that it is a meal) was pork sausages with stewed apple.

If I run into anything gluten-free from elsewhere which seems especially good, I'll post it here, and when I cook something from here and like it I'll comment, but I expect I'll mainly be lurking.

Another Shaun Tan fan!

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for dropping by.

Lots of Indian cookery is inherently GF—samosas, for example, bring all the crunch with garbanzo-fava bean flour.

[runpunkrun]

Good to meet you!

[indywind]

Hi, I'm Indywind or Indy.
Here via rec from rydra_wong, lured in by the encouraging community guidelines.
3rd-person pronouns and I have a contentious relationship and I prefer none but that's super awkward; feel free to use on me any set that are respectful to refer to humans.

I like making all kinds of foods. I have a fair bit of experience baking, including with major ingredient substitutions or separate versions, GF and other (most of my friends have differing restrictions/issues and I like us to all have things we can eat together safely and comfortably). Have not figured out what to substitute for spoons, though, and lately I am low on them. I'm interested in lower effort recipes for now, and maybe some more involved or creative stuff to daydream about trying later.

The last GF thing I made was tea picadillo and roasted sweet potatoes. The last GF baking was banana muffins, one batch plain, one batch with double banana, walnuts, pecans, and cinnamon chips.

I'll probably mostly lurk, occasionally comment, rarely post.
I don't have a favorite pie, but I would like to share with y'all the super easy vegan GF chocolate silk pie that that my cousin-in-law introduced me to. So I'll post about that at least.

Mmmmm chocolate silk pie

[jesse_the_k]

....and a spoon substitute would be SO handy.

Is your B-I-L's pie a variation on Tofu Pie?

[loligo]

Hi, I'm Loligo (she/her). I'm just back from a week of vacation travel, so I don't actually remember the last thing I cooked! (Not even the coffee I'm drinking, since my husband made that).

I have to avoid all food products that come from mammals (cows, pigs, goats, etc.) due to an allergy. Since this forces me to make nearly all of my sweet treats from scratch, I tend to make things GF while I'm at it, even though my wheat issues are comparatively minor.

I'm the main dinner cook in my family, so I feel very comfortable with those cooking skills. What I'm looking for (and what I will mostly share) is good Sunday breakfast recipes -- muffins, scones, coffee cakes, etc. I'm also happy to hear GF & dairy-free food product recommendations!

My favorite pie is pumpkin, and I'm still trying to find the perfect dairy-free version.

[runpunkrun]

Hi! Next to dessert, Sunday breakfast is my second favorite class of recipe. I love me a muffin, scone, coffee cake, or waffle. I look forward to your posts!

[allen]

Hi. I'm Allen (he/him pronouns are usually fine). Not GF myself, but my partner has a wheat allergy, so I end up doing a lot of GF cooking.

Last gluten-free thing I made... Well, it was really two things, since I made them at the same time: a New-York style cheese pizza and a peach/blueberry pie with crumb topping. That would be last night, for Pi day.

Baking experience started in college when I started making buttermilk biscuits. Nowadays I mostly make a lot of pie, plus pancakes and biscuits sometimes. (Pancakes go GF really easily; biscuits I'm still working on.)

Favorite pie is either Blackberry Silk or Sour Cherry.

Welcome

[jesse_the_k]

I've been longing for GF buttermilk biscuits for more than a decade--I hope your experiments succeed and you share.

[nerakrose]

I'm K, pronouns are she/her and they/their, and I usually talk about myself as "this guy/dude" and "this bitch", so idk man. I'll probably mostly be a lurker, but I have some recipes to share when IRL slows down a bit more. (If it slows down...)

I went gluten free in 2012, first just trying out paleo for reasons and then I discovered that I actually have a gluten intolerance. (I also have a lactose intolerance, but that I've always known.) I left the paleo diet behind after about a year of it, though I do occasionally cook paleo-ish meals from time to time. I've been considering going back to it as that was some of the best food I've cooked for myself and overall I was really happy with it. (The only reason why I dropped it was because I love dairy and also sweet baking, and, uh, gluten free frozen pizzas became available in my country.)

What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands?
I made a chilli earlier this week that I've even reheating for days. Before that, I made Icelandic carnival buns (gluten free choux pastry buns filled with homemade low-sugar raspberry jam and whipped cream.

If your answer is "coffee," that's valid.
I don't drink coffee, but come to think of it, I made a mean hot chocoate last night.

What kind of foods do you like to prepare?
I don't actually cook much. I'm more of a frozen dinners and take away (or when spoons get really low, yoghurt & cereal or bag of crisps) kind of person. When I do cook, I typically make something that'll last me a whole week, like a pot of chilli, or lasagna, or soup. I bake occasionally.

How much baking experience do you have?
About 15 years or so, probably. Gluten free baking, 7 years.

What type of recipes are you interested in?
Anything and everything from savoury to sweet tbh. Simple recipes. I'm not much of a fan of gluten free recipes for baking that require like five different flours in varying ratios and then a stabiliser of some kind that should impossible to find in a normal grocery store. (like xanthan gum. I hate xanthan gum. I've started to think it's fictional, because I can't bloody find it anywhere, so if a recipe calls for it? I'm out.) I use mostly commercial flour blends and/or just plain oat flour when the recipe lets me get away with it.

Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker?
I'll tick all three.

my favourite pie is
Finnish blueberry pie. I had to think about this because pies aren't much of a thing here in Scandinavia (certainly not to the extent they seem to be in America) and I think Finnish blueberry pies are the only pies I've actually ever had in life. Anyway, they've got shortcrust (I think is the English term) and a filling of quark and blueberries (bilberries, to be technical). I'll share the recipe when I get a chance.

So glad you're here

[jesse_the_k]

In a post up-thread, a xanthan gum expert said one can substitute guar gum, and I will put a "all about baking gums" in our discussion queue.

I thought GF choux pastry was an impossible dream!

You've just introduced me to quark, which sounds wonderful and I need to go find some today.

[shadowkat]

1. Stir-Fry Chicken with Cauliflower and Broccoli Rice (the cauliflower and broccoli are substituted for the rice, and I got it pre-riced from Earth Bound(
2. I tend to make stuff without much of a recipe -- and I'm now very restricted (too much rice -- bad), so I like to meals mainly.
3. I've baked off and on most of my life, less now. (I suck at measuring, so once I became ceiliac, I don't do it as much.)
4. Wide range, prefer recipes that are grain free (rice, gluten free, corn-free, because I can't have those three.)
5. A friendly lurker for the most part (no time and I'm not good at remembering recipes.)

Favorite pie? Since I became gluten-free this has become pumpkin or custard pies. Prior to that? It was French Silk, Pecan and Apple.

[jesse_the_k]

Thank you for introducing me to Cauliflower and Broccoli Rice--what a nifty idea.

Happy to know you'll be reading.

[chagrined]

Krim, they, gluten-free uh 5-6 years or so, probably gonna lurk. The last thing I made and am eating now is a spinach smoothie.

Happy to have you here

[jesse_the_k]

....mmmm spinach smoothies are lovely.

[necessarian]

hi! i'm ren, she/her. i was diagnosed with coeliac disease just over a year ago, as a full-on adult with well-established eating habits... cue total lifestyle overhaul.

the last meal i made was spaghetti bolognese, the sauce from scratch. i don't tend to do much baking... i have basically zero experience beyond watching people; i can make meringues and that's about it. i'm interested in all sorts of recipes!! this is why i'm here, to learn from people who are more approachable than your average recipe blog/book :-)

for myself, i prefer to cook/am best at cooking things that aren't so much substitutes for wheat etc but which simply don't rely on that element. because of allergies i can't eat most meat, so my diet is largely vegetarian. i love to do creative things with vegetables, especially along the lines of middle eastern food. my party trick is that i can make a perfect cheese omelette.

i will probably mostly be a lurker/commenter as i don't have any baking recipes of my own to contribute, but i am definitely here to talk all sorts of Special Dietary Requirements, and also happy to chat spoonie lifestyle over DMs or whatever :-)

Savory Ideas are Most Welcome

[jesse_the_k]

I went GF at age 48 and it's ... a lot.

Have you tried out noodles-made-from-fresh-vegetables yet? They market them as "zoodles" in central U.S., since they started with zucchinis. I've also enjoyed beet, sweet potato, and butternut squash versions.

[j00j]

Hi! I'm j00j!
Pronouns: she/her
A majority of my cooking is gluten free because several members of my household are. Some of my baking is gluten free, but I still do gluten baking (aided by a separate kitchen in my part of the house) so that can be useful for comparing techniques/recipes. My partner is very into GF baking so I can bug him about things as well.
I'm interested in any recipes, but I'm most likely to make lower effort/make ahead meals since I'm very focused on keeping myself and the household fed during busy work weeks. That being said, I'm also interested in everyone's favorite holiday recipes-- Passover is coming!

The last gluten free thing I made was fried rice with leftovers this morning, but the last thing of note was a weeknight meal concept I've been experimenting with-- make your own polenta bowl bar! Components, to be selected from based on preferences and restrictions of the eater (we have one gf/dairy free person, and two who aren't always into veg. Plus toddlers! They get a bit of everything separately to try)

- 1 polenta log from the grocery store, sliced and sauteed (I did this the night we were eating; everythign else was prepped in advance).
- Veggies: This time I pre-roasted some butternut squash and zapped some steam in bag spinach.
- Beans: I marinated 1 can of cannelini beans with olive oil, italian herbs, and some sundried tomatoes.
- Sauce: 1 jar pasta sauce
- Meat: 1 package turkey pepperoni
- Cheese: 1 package shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Assemble components as desired in bowl and microwave briefly to heat.

This can be further adjusted for more or less effort by making more things from scratch, or using frozen veg or precut stuff (I did use precut butternut from the grocery store; would also do frozen). Easily swap out components for vegetarian or vegan. Can do different veg for variety, or a different flavor palate with black or pinto beans, corn, salsa.

This week I'm planning a similar concept with rice bowls.

The last thing I baked was my mom's cream cheese cookies (recipe below). Gluten free plus dairy free was a flat cookie fail-- tofutti cream cheese melts too much and the cookies spread instead of maintaining some structure. People liked them okay but I was not satisfied. Gluten free they turn out well with Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur cup for cup flour.


Cream Cheese Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour until well blended. Drop dough by spoonfuls or use a cookie press to place onto prepared cookie sheets. If using floral cookie press design, make an indentation in the center with a thimble, fill with preserves, or press candy into center.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven. Cookies should be pale.

Thanks for dropping by with two recipes!

[jesse_the_k]

We're not tagging this thread, so feel free to repeat these great ideas in separate posts (one recipe per).

The polenta bowl bar is brilliant, especially when you're feeding folks with different preferences.

Do note which brand GF all-purpose flour you use, so people can follow closely or adjust base on their own experiences. When my optional brain module is installed, I let you know.

[mific]

Hi there*waves*.

What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands? The low-carb bread rolls I just posted to the comm.

What kind of foods do you like to prepare? Stir-fry, salads, egg dishes, experimenting with low-carb cookies, the bread rolls.

How much baking experience do you have? Moderate but mostly not gf.

What type of recipes are you interested in? Ones I can adapt to be low-carb as well.

Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker? I'll mostly lurk, as the majority of my baking or cooking isn't specifically gluten-free, more low-carb. But there's some crossover.

[jesse_the_k]

There sure is cross-over, and low carb rolls is my idea of heaven.

[highlyeccentric]

Hi! Friendly lurker at the moment, but it's possible that when I get my cookery mojo back I might end up posting here. Mostly my gluten-free cooking has been of the 'thing I used to eat, but now with a substituted flour or gf pasta', which doesn't really count. My going gluten free co-incided rather awkwardly with a period of burnout and several house moves so I haven't gotten very far with interesting gluten free cookery.

Waves back!

[jesse_the_k]

I've been there.

I hope the recipes showing up here can provide a some mojo support.

[zellephantom]

Hi! I'm Zelle (she/her), and tbh I'll probably just be lurking and collecting recipes for my own personal reference.

The last gluten-free thing I made with my own hands? Ohh, that's a difficult question- I don't do a ton of cooking, and even less cooking from scratch, myself (due to various chronic health problems), but I think I made (or at least helped make- thanks mom!) a gluten-free chocolate chip cheesecake a couple of months ago?

(I don't drink coffee or caffeine in general, so I couldn't count that if I wanted to!)

When I do bake, I like to prepare sweet things in general, specifically breakfast foods (gluten-free waffles yay! yes, just using a mix and turning on the waffle maker counts as cooking, IMO) and desserts (seriously, any kind of cookie, cheesecake, cake, whatever).

I don't have a ton of baking experience, but I am really into helping my mom and grandmother (who are both really into baking) find good gluten-free recipes and figure out the weird flour replacements and all that stuff. And taste test, of course!

If cheesecake doesn't count as a pie, then probably apple pie? Or maybe pumpkin pie? At the moment, probably apple. Not that I'm not also a fan of the mathematical constant :)

[runpunkrun]

Happy to see you here, Zelle!

As far as I'm concerned, if you're in the kitchen, touching food with knives or electricity, you're cooking. :D

I made some really simple oat waffles today, and will be sharing the recipe soon!

Also an earlier poster already declared cheesecake as pie, so you've got support in the community.

[notreallystars]

I'm Remus, my pronouns are they/he. I'm full-time gluten free but not very good at it (read: I eat a lot of junk as replacement for all of the tasty things I can't eat anymore). I was slowly cutting out most gluten for three years before being told last year that I had to cut out all of it.

I'm probably going to be a lurker, though I'm hopeful that I'll also comment at least some of the time! I used to love baking and I'd really like to get back into it with gluten free recipes.

Welcome

[jesse_the_k]

...runpunkrun makes baking sound possible, and that's whey I'm here.

[schnikeys]

Hi everyone! I’m Schnikeys (she/her), and I found out a little more than a year ago that I was allergic to gluten, eggs, mushrooms, shellfish, and chia seeds. Which was devastating because I was having a bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast literally every day up until then.

What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands?
Chocolate chip cookies!! (It was vegan, which was a bad idea, so egg replacer instead of eggs, oat flour, and solid coconut oil in place of butter. I should have just used butter...)

What kind of foods do you like to prepare?
Things without a lot of dishes...

How much baking experience do you have?
almost none

What type of recipes are you interested in?
BAKED GOODS, PLEASE (also stuff without eggs, mushrooms, or chia seeds)

Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker?
I’ll probably mostly lurk, but I might share a couple!

[runpunkrun]

Hi! Not being able to eat eggs or one of the most common egg replacers must be really hard. Hopefully we'll have some baked good here you can try, like maybe these vegan spiced molasses cookies.

Thanks for introducing yourself!

[mergatrude]

Hi, I'm mergatrude. She or They is fine. I'm also lactose intolerant.

The last gf thing I made was breakfast - chia seeds and quinoa flakes with a pinch of cinnamon, soaked over night in almond milk, and served with coconut yoghurt and fresh fruit.

I've been baking most of my life, but mostly simple things. I don't have a lot of patience for fussy recipes. *g*

I love food, both sweet and savoury, but my favourite type of cooking is simple to prepare things. I enjoy the challenge of adapting recipes to the ingredients on hand.

I primarily lurk, but I will undoubtedly try recipes and am happy to share my own.

[runpunkrun]

Welcome! I'm a big fan of simple recipes as well; this is why I don't do pastries. :D

[vicki_rae]

I'm Vicki Rae, she/her pronouns, retired and cooking for me and my father. I'll probably mostly be here to comment with some friendly lurking.

I'm not gluten sensitive but the recipes Punk has been posting are interesting and helpful for thinking about cooking challenges. I mostly cook things that don't require lots of prep time. I bake, usually cookies, brownies, or gingerbread. Apple pie is my all time favorite pie.

The last thing I made that was gluten free was, maybe, all of dinner last night? Eggs & cottage cheese & extra sharp cheddar in various attempts at duplicating Starbucks sous-vied egg bites, baked sweet potato, broccoli soup (broccoli, cashews, peeled garbanzo beans, chicken stock, all pureed together in the blender).

I'm low FODMAP and low lactose. Also no fruit pulp or seeds, no fruit or veggie skins, no bean skins, no fibrous or stringy bits of veggies, no twiggy bits from herbs, grains, fruits, or veggies. Unless it's going in my Vitamix blender, because that thing would puree a shoe.

[runpunkrun]

Unless it's going in my Vitamix blender, because that thing would puree a shoe.

Hah! I dream of one day having a blender like this. Mine gets tired if I try to puree some raspberries.

Good to have you with us, Vicki Rae!

[kelkyag]

Hi, I'm kelkyag (she/whatever).

Red sauce with assorted veggies. (Which would've been a fine component of the last thing I made that was deliberately GF, which was lasagna.)

I like making food. I lean toward things that tolerate improvising madly (or use up whatever's in the fridge and needs to be cooked), but occasionally do follow a fussy recipe precisely.

Moderate, mostly non-fancy and not GF.

Whatever turns up and intrigues. The folks in my life who need gluten-free food are irregulars; the restrictions I'm more often cooking for are allium-free, nightshade-free, or vegan.

Lurking or commenting? I was just taking a peek in response to the post in omnomnom and apparently couldn't resist opining.

Apple, or sometimes fresh peach.

[runpunkrun]

Great to have you here! I know we've got several folks who avoid alliums, and there's a bunch of vegans, so hopefully you'll find some overlap in the recipes posted.

[fred_mouse]

Hi, I'm Fred-Mouse, and I answer to Fred, Mouse, Fred-Mouse, and my wallet name (although I prefer to keep that away from Fannish spaces). Preferred pronouns are they/them.

Hmm. I'm going to ignore tisanes and reheating pre-cooked items in answering the question of the most recent gf thing I made, and list the dessert I made on the weekend, which was approximately an apple crisp. Chopped apples (Gala), covered with a mix that started out one cup of mystery (definitely gf) flour, half a cup of cocoa (probably Dutched?), and a generous amount of cinnamon. This was stirred together with rice-bran oil, and when it made a loose paste, the same volume of puffed grain (millet? quinoa? whatever was in the cupboard). And then baked. Tasty. The apples do the sweet.

I've been cooking gf since the mid-90s; eating gf for the last decade (or more). I despair of most gf mixed flours, because they aren't as good as the mixes I used to make, but I've lost a lot of my oomph when baking, and do a lot of throwing things in a pan and hoping. While I intend o post about the successes, it requires me to remember, and have time and oomph to do so.

[runpunkrun]

Good to have you here, Fred!

I envy your ability/courage to just throw things together like that. I'm only just now getting comfortable with experimenting with recipes and coming up with my own substitutions. Even my apple crisp had a recipe behind it at some point. :D

[spikedluv]

Hi! I finally made it over! I'm Spikedluv and answer to she/her. I'm here because my S.O. (lovingly called Pip) has been GF for about four and one-half years now.

What's the last gluten-free thing you made with your own hands? It's not the last thing we've eaten, but the last thing I had to put some effort into: coffee cake (a King Arthur recipe).

What kind of foods do you like to prepare? Simple foods. I'm not much of a cook.

How much baking experience do you have? Just the infrequent household baking, but I'm not an experimenter usually. I'm a recipe-follower. *g*

What type of recipes are you interested in? I'll know it when I see it? A mix between dinners and desserts.

Are you here to post, comment, or just be a friendly lurker? Hopefully to post and comment.

My favorite pie is probably a tie between raspberry and lemon meringue.

[runpunkrun]

So good to have you here, Spikedluv! And oh my gosh, raspberry pie sounds delicious. For some reason I never even thought of putting raspberries in a pie.

[blood_of_tiamat]

- A GF, dairy-free meatball sub. Yum!
- Anything I can eat without getting sick.
- Not much!
- Anything I can eat without getting sick.
- Post, and probably comment if I try and like a recipe.
- Cheesecake :-)

[runpunkrun]

Hello and welcome!