Gluten Free

For those of you unaware, Justin was diagnosed with Gluten Intolerance a few months back. Which means he basically can't eat anything! Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration , but gluten is in a lot of things, and in practically ever baked item. If it has wheat in it at all it's off limits.
Since his diagnosis, I have tried to make sure that I take his allergy into consideration. Replacing flour with cornstarch when thickening a gravy, breading his chicken with gluten free breadcrumbs, making a small pan of "lasagna" with gluten free pasta just for him. You may wonder way I don't just put us all on a gluten free diet, and that's because it's expensive! Gluten free mixes, breadcrumbs, flours, etc are very pricey. Plus I love bread - you might say I am a carbohydrate addict! :)
Anyway, I haven't really done much in the baking area when it comes to gluten free stuff. But I have started to try and build up my store of Gluten free flours in the hopes of one day baking something that might be somewhat edible. Again, for those who have never had to go gluten free, some of the items aren't the best tasting. (the first gluten free bread we tried was so bad- I don't think the birds would have eaten it)
Luckily, Justin has found a small bakery that specializes in GF items, but they are very expensive. And they try to cater to every allergy- so they stay away from dairy, soy, etc. Which pretty much limits what they can provide. I guess, what I am trying to say is I finally took the plunge and made my first baked gluten free item. (My first recipe was a Pumpkin Chocolate Bread- recipe to be posted next) I didn't go looking for a GF recipe for this item, I just decided to make the original recipe but swap out the flour with a All Purpose GF flour blend I purchased (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Glour Blend). And I must say, it turned out well. From there I went a little crazy with the baking- in the past two weeks I made GF Soft pretzels, Strawberry Cake, and Banana Chocolate Chip Bread. These 3 recipes I made with a flour blend I purchased online- Jules GF Flour and am very impressed thus far. I will post all the recipes for those in case anyone wants them. Some of the recipes started out GF and some didn't. And some were much better than others - the verdict is still out on the strawberry bread/cake.