Allergy — Gluten Allergy / Gluten Free Diet / Yeast Allergy / Asthma / + other Allergies — Page 45

Gluten-free pies

by Allergy Guy

Pies make such excellent desserts that they deserve a whole section on their own.

They are versatile. Come to think of it, there can be savoury pies for the main course, but that will go in a separate section if ever such a section appears on this website.

Making a yeast-free pie is easy. Pies don’t need to have milk either.

The challenge is in making a gluten-free pie. Typical pie crusts use wheat. With the unique characteristics of wheat gluten, it is hard to replace the crust with a wheat-free version that has the same characteristics.

The pie filling, well that’s pretty easy again. For the sake of completeness, this section has fillings as well.

Gluten-free pie crusts are in a separate section. This is partly because I am experimenting with various types of wheat-free pie crust, so I expect there will be quite a few variations by the time I’m done.

Also, you could take pretty much any wheat-free pie crust and add any gluten-free pie filling and you’d be fine, so that’s another reason for having separate sections.

Gluten Free Pie Crusts

Gluten Free Pie Fillings

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Gluten-free, Wheat-free Pie Crusts

by Allergy Guy

This section contains several different recipes for gluten-free, wheat-free pie crust.

There is nothing like a great pie, and noting as disappointing as a pie that looks good but tastes like cardboard.

Some of these recipes have been tested in the Allergy-Details Gluten-free diet lab, making them wheat-free as well.

Gluten-free pie crusts can be formulated in different ways, and can be made with a variety of different flours.

It is also possible to make pie crusts without flour, for example with crushed nuts.

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Gluten-free Pie Crust with Quinoa #1

by Allergy Guy

This recipe is the first in a series of gluten-free, wheat-free pie crusts for a gluten-free diet.

I call it Gluten-free Pie Crust with Quinoa #1. it is not the first Quinoa-based wheat-free crust I have made, but the first successful one.

Making a pie crust without wheat is difficult, but I am finding, possible.

This gluten-free crust is for a nine-inch pie plate.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup Butter
  • 3/4 Cup Quinoa flour
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 2 Tbs Water

Pie Crust Instructions

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F
  2. Put the butter into a pot, and put the heat on low.
  3. When the butter is melted, add the quinoa flour, salt and baking powder. You can pre-mix it if you like, but it will get pretty well mixed during the following two steps.
  4. Using a large spoon, mix the butter into the gluten-free flour mixture. Keep mixing and pressing in the unmelted butter until the wheat-free flour is evenly mixed with the butter.
  5. Add the water. Mix until the water is evenly mixed with the gluten-free flour mixture.
  6. Dump the gluten-free pie crust mixture into the pie pan.
  7. Using your fingers, press the wheat-free pie crust into an even covering along the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
  8. Using a fork, poke holes into the base of the crust. They do not have to penetrate the crust, but it is OK if they do. Place fork-holes about every inch or so around the outer edge of the bottom of the pie pan, and round the middle too.
  9. Place the pie crust in the oven. Bake until brown (approximately 20 minutes). Check it every so often to make sure it does not burn!
  10. Remove from the oven and add gluten-free pie filling.
  11. Bake according to pie filling instructions.
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Gluten-free Pie Crust

by Allergy Guy

I can’t tell you how much I miss the apple pies of my childhood, the ones my mother used to make.

Alas, they use an excellent but wheat-infested, gluten-contaminated crust.

I’ve been experimenting with gluten-free pie crusts lately, with some success.

I have not actually formulated a formal recipe yet, but when do, I will post it in the recipe section.

The two types of gluten-free pie crusts I’ve been working on are:

  • Nut crust
  • Quinoa flour crust

Since you may want something to go on before I get the recipes together, I will describe both types of crust.

When I do have the recipes together, I will post the links to them at the bottom of this article.

Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free Nut Pie Crust

The basics for this one is just crushed nuts, pressed into a pie pan.

I’ve been using about 2 cups of assorted nuts and seeds for a 9″ pie pan. I put the nuts in a blender and run it until they become a paste.

This is a very tough job for a blender, and your average blender may not be up to this task. I recommend a food processor (I don’t have one so I use the blender).

Almonds become a powder rather than a paste. I suggest that your nut mixture is less than half the total volume of nuts.

When the nuts are processed into a paste, press it into the bottom of the pie pan and up the sides, using your fingers.

Put the pie into the oven at 375F for 15 minutes.

Remove, and add the pie filling.

Bake for another 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the filling and the temperature. I prefer a longer bake at a lower temperature, for example one hour at 300F.

Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free Nut-Free Quinoa Pie Crust

This is supposed to be a faster, easier way to make a pie than the nut crust. I’ve only tried this once, and it was more troublesome. I think I can figure out a better way of doing it though.

This is also a good approach if you are allergic to nuts. Also, quinoa is a very healthy grain (as are nuts, for most people).

List of Gluten-Free Pie Crusts

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Vacationing Wheat-Free, Dairy-Free & Low Sugar Style

by Allergy Guy

By Heather Strang

Vacations are good for the soul. But, when you have to eat wheat-free, dairy-free and low sugar, any sort of travel takes on new meaning. Preparation is key, in fact, it’s mandatory. Doing a little work ahead of time will save you in big ways, especially when your tummy starts rumbling from hunger. After a recent 7-hour trip down the Oregon Coast (what was I thinking?!), I was so grateful that I planned my menu in advance. It’s tough to find foods that you not only feel like eating, but that also meet the wheat-free, dairy-free and low sugar lifestyle. Luckily, I did some of the work for you already. Here are some tips to keep in mind when traveling: [click to continue…]

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Wheat-free Energy Bars

by Allergy Guy

By Heather Strang

Many granola bars that you find in the store contain wheat. Others really have too much sugar.

Heather’s energy bar recipe is wheat-free and low on sugar. Although the recipe does call for sugar, you can reduce the about of sugar to suit your taste and low-sugar diet needs.

This recipe is just the thing for a gluten-free diet!

[click to continue…]

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Allergy NewsLetter October 2007

by Allergy Guy

Welcome to the October edition of the Allergy Details newsletter.

This issue has articles about latex allergies, enjoying a vacation while maintaining your allergy diet, eating allergy testing , and letters to the editor.

Happy reading!

[click to continue…]

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Allergy Newsletter has New Format

by Allergy Guy

The Allergy Details newsletter now has a new format.

Up until now, the newsletter has been going out as a pdf attached to an email.

The content is now on this website, in a special section.

When you sign up for the allergy newsletter, you get a list of articles, a short description of each, and a link to the full article.

Sign up for the newsletter to get an announcement by email as each newsletter becomes available.

Previous editions of the allergy newsletter will be published on this site. This process will take place over the next several weeks.

Check out the February Allergy Details newsletter here.

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Indoor Air Quality

by Allergy Guy

By: Anne Freeman
In the winter months, when we spend so much time indoors, air quality is a concern. We need to get clean, fresh air into the house on a regular basis. You can of course, open the windows, which means a loss of heat. Some newer furnaces have a fresh air intake, but that alone may not be enough to give you the quality you would like. You can have a HEPA filter installed into your furnace or air conditioning system which will keep the air clean in your whole home, keeping the dust down as well.

If that?s not an option for you, here are some other things you can do: Invest in a good portable HEPA filter. Look for one that will trap very small particles of 2 microns or less. A portable cannot handle more than one room, so the best place to keep it is in your bedroom. If you work at home you may need a second filter, or move the one you have to your work space. HEPA filters are usually very quiet, but check it out in the store before you buy.

Dust mites and mould spores are also a problem, contributing to allergies and asthma. Your HEPA filter should be able to handle most of this. However, it will greatly increase your comfort level if you vacuum your mattress and box spring as well as your pillows. Slip covers which seal out these particles are available to do the job. Look for them in the bedding section of a better department store.

Have your furnace ducts professionally cleaned every 2 or 3 years.

Clean bathroom tiles, grouting, window frames and sills with a mould inhibitor such as Lysol, Tilex or mild solution of Javex.

If you home or apartment block is heated with gas, be sure to get a carbon monoxide detector installed. This is an electronic, wall plug-in device which you can buy in most hardware stores. They are not expensive and it may save your life. Carbon monoxide is an odourless, silent killer.

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Environmental Sensitivities – a Definition

by Allergy Guy

By: AEHA
Reprinted selection from “It’s Time for Help in Quebec,” Fall 2004 Eco-Sense (a revision of an AEHA-Quebec article by Rohini Peris).
Environmental sensitivities can occur when people become sensitive to substances or phenomena in their everyday environment at levels well below what would be considered to be acceptable to “normal” people. Sensitivity reactions can be triggered by [the toxic chemicals in] scented products, cleaning products, laundry detergents, paints, petrochemicals, cigarette smoke, pesticides, pets, plants, fuels, [and from] electromagnetic radiation, molds, and foods.
The effect of environmental sensitivities can be overwhelming. Productive people may suddenly or gradually become unable to tolerate offices, homes, schools, hospitals and public places. Employers, who may or may not be aware of the problem, may refuse to make the accommodation necessary to allow people affected to continue working in safety. Many people with sensitivities lose their jobs if they are not provided with the accommodations they need to work productively. Some become homeless. All too often, retirement savings are depleted and debts are incurred in an attempt to create safe living conditions and to fund the cost of treatment. Treatment of these problems can be expensive and difficult to obtain, and includes avoidance of offending agents. Some people with sensitivities do improve after many years if they are able to find a safe environment in which to live and work, and if they can obtain (and afford) treatments that are both tolerable and effective for them. Sadly, despite skills and education, some people with sensitivities end up on social assistance. Many become socially isolated as they are forced to retreat from places and activities they love, and for some, the devastation extends to losing spouses, family and friends who may not believe that they are ill.
This disability may be invisible, but it is real. Like others with disabilities, persons with sensitivities have special needs which include, but are not limited to: housing in a safe and tolerable environment so that their bodies can heal, well-tolerated, environmentally safe products available at a reasonable cost, consumer self-help groups, a support system, tolerable meeting places, publicly funded treatments, safe hospitals, schools and other public facilities, and accommodation in the workplace. Like all Canadians, we are entitled to freedom from discriminatory treatment, which includes the right to accessible workplaces, accommodation and public facilities. Notably, environmental sensitivities have been recognized as disabilities by the Canadian Human Rights Commission and many provincial human rights commissions.

The Allergy and Environmental Health Association (AEHA) is an Ottawa-based volunteer, non-profit, self-help organization for persons with chemical and environmental sensitivities and allergies.
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