Should You Eat Oats?

For a discussion on the health concerns about consuming oats, follow this link to an article at the Celiac Sprue Association. Celiac.com maintains a list of articles about oats that you can go to from their site. You can also read Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic (Collins, (c) 2006) by Dr. Peter Green and Rory Jones. It has a discussion on consuming oats, talking with your doctor and the safety of certified gluten free oats.

Talk to your doctor, if you've been given the go ahead for consuming certified gluten free oats, you can find them at: Gifts of Nature, Gluten Free Oats and Cream Hill Estates.

Before cooking oats for others who must maintain a gluten free diet make sure they have their doctor's okay to eat them.

As for me? I've talked to my doctor and she has given me the go ahead to eat certified gluten free oats.

Update 9/3/2007: Health Canada has updated their position on consuming oats. You can read more about it at Health Canada's website.

Berries & Cherries Granola - Gluten Free

One of the challenges of being gluten free is finding nice breakfast cereals. I prefer granola types of cereals, rather than more processed types of cereals that are made into shapes. My preference is for organic and low Glycemic Index ingredients, but that isn't always possible when you are gluten-free.

I have wanted to create my own granola for some time. Something I could always have on hand regardless of what the stores have in stock or make a batch in advance and take it with us when we travel.

With a granola goal in mind, I purchased a larger stock of Madhava Organic Agave Syrup and started to work on my recipe. I began experimenting and worked up a recipe for a Fig & Apricot Granola. However, I didn't realize that Agave Syrup is very sensitive to burning if it is cooked too long or at too high a temperature. So, my granola was a bit over toasted as were the figs, they didn't like being cooked too long either.

I went back to the working on the recipe and came up with The Berries & Cherries Granola. It is a nice lightly sweet cereal that was a hit with my family.

Recipe

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup dried berries & cherries
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Tb melted butter
1/2 cup agave syrup
2 tsp flax seeds
2 tsp flax meal

Line a cookie pan with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then spread out onto the parchment paper. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Turn over the granola every 10 minutes to keep it from browning too much.

Note: Feel free to adjust the amount of flax seeds and flax meal to your preferred amounts.

My family voters were thrilled with the granola. Especially our sheltie, she couldn't get enough of the dried berries & cherries. This one is a keeper.

Time For Gluten-Free Holiday Cookies

I've been looking for some gluten-free sprinkles so I can start my marathon baking of cut out sugar cookies. I just wanted to say...I've been successful! The sprinkles are called "lets go...Sprinkelz". They come in two types that I've found so far. The pastel Sprinkelz are called Carnival and the chocolate Sprinkelz are called Chocolatey.

I purchased my boxes at Whole Foods, but Gluten Free Pantry sells them as well. You can find them under the baking supplies at the Gluten Free Pantry's website.

More Gluten Free Oats

Another location that you can purchase gluten-free oats is the Gluten Free Pantry. You can find them under the Cereals section of their website. They sell rolled oats in two sizes from Cream Hill Estates. Or you can buy their oat flour which is located under the baking supplies. You can find the Gluten Free Pantry at: www.glutenfreepantry.com.

You can also order direct from Cream Hill Estates. Their website is: www.creamhillestates.com.