Gluten-Free Food Ideas
by Melinda Knight
It seems that no matter how much time we have, our scheduled activities expand to use up all of it. Those homemade meals that we remember from our childhoods are a mere memory, leaving us scrambling to feed our families in between work meetings and after school activities. The problem is that most easily accessible convenience foods have some amount of gluten in them. Fast food places or prepackaged foods from the supermarket simply aren't safe options for anybody who needs gluten free food ideas
Sometimes the answer isn't as complicated as it seems. The pressure cooker, a tool that was once present in every kitchen, is making a comeback. Being able to prepare soups and stews that taste as if they were cooked for hours in only a few minutes is certainly the biggest reason, but that's not the only one. Newer models, called "second generation" pressure cookers, are safer than the old, hissing beasts of our nightmares. So many safety features are built into them that exploding simply doesn't happen anymore. These pots make it possible to come home from work, feed the family and then head out to the evening's activities without making any compromises in flavor, safety or nutrition.
Learning to cook with a pressure cooker shouldn't be intimidating. There are many web sites online explaining the basics of how to use them safely to get good results. They are not specifically gluten free [http://www.glutenfreefoodideas.com] food ideas, but the techniques are the same whether you are using whole grain wheat berries or rice, making substitutions quick and simple. One especially good pressure cookbook is Lorna Sass' Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. While it is not a gluten free cookbook, most of the recipes are gluten free.
Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure teaches the basics, such as how to choose, take care of and use your pressure cooker. Pressure cooking takes one third or less time than cooking on the stove top does. How else can you take soaked black beans and have them on the table in ten minutes?
Using a pressure cooker melts beans into a rich, hearty soup without the addition of any oil. Her herbed lima bean soup comes out tasting like a cream soup if the beans are soaked overnight and the skins rubbed off before cooking. The pressure cooker risotto dishes are as creamy as stove top risotto without the extended time standing over a hot stove cooking. And you certainly haven't lived until you've had hot, chunky applesauce topped with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream for dessert... and it only takes ten minutes to cook.
Lorna Sass, sometimes referred to as "the Queen of pressure cooking" has over a dozen cookbooks. Each one is better than the last, but it's important to take the time to flip through and see that it has many gluten free food ideas [http://www.glutenfreefoodideas.com] that are compatible with your dietary restrictions. It will only take a few minutes and will save you many hours of time in the kitchen without compromising your health or tastebuds.
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