- Able and Cole Recipe Index: great ideas for things to do with veg box contents. Amazingly un-fancy.
- The cooks thesaurus: when your wondering what the heck dende oil is and what'll make a good substitution, or can't remember what cilantro or escarole is called in the uk, look here.
- Cups to grams: to be honest, I'm lazy and mostly measure out the weight in cups using my measuring jug which also has cup marks on it and see what happens, but to be correct, dry goods and liquids are measured differently (especially things like packed and unpacked sugar), and this gives conversions for butter, oil, liquids, etc for those mission critical baking ops ;).
Nutrition and Health:
Gluten free foods are not required to be supplemented with the vitamins and minerals that added to 'regular' cornflakes and flour, and as a result dietary deficiencies are common in people with coeliac disease. Add my dairy, soy and seafood allergy and you get "whoa!" (translation: a potential calcium and vitamin D nightmare on top of the B12 deficiencies usually found). Oh yeah, before I forget, Gluten Free foods are usually much lower in fibre as well, which plays a big part in regulating weight and cholesterol.
You can deal with this by buying some rice bran to add to cereals and home baked goods. Flax seeds are a great source of soluble fibre and a good source of omega 3 to boot, and looking for gluten free pastas made with chickpea flour or buckwheat flour, which add a bit more nutrition and fibre. Toss beans and lentils in casseroles to keep the fibre up.
You can deal with this by buying some rice bran to add to cereals and home baked goods. Flax seeds are a great source of soluble fibre and a good source of omega 3 to boot, and looking for gluten free pastas made with chickpea flour or buckwheat flour, which add a bit more nutrition and fibre. Toss beans and lentils in casseroles to keep the fibre up.
I hit Nutrition Data up a lot in the beginning to get a feel for balancing my meals nutritionally. It's still great for figuring out whether you'd be mutationally better off adding the quinoa or lentils to a given dish, or how to get enough calcium from beans and leafy greens, or which non seafood dishes are highest in vitamin D.
Nutrition Diva is another resource I cannot praise highly enough. She breaks everything down nicely, and backs up her opinions with research and data, which I love. Follow her on facebook for easy updates. She's also compiled a list of nutritionists on twitter, so you can hear it direct from the experts on the next article that says that eating eggs will kill you/make you live forever.
In Oxford, I'd be lost without Uhuru Whole Foods on Cowley road. The lady who runs it REALLY knows her stuff, can tell you about the pros and cons of each Solgar vitamin on sale, and stocks the kinds of foods you appreciate the most when your gluten free. Dispute it's size and the fact that it's not open on Sunday, I find it's stock outweighs any other healthstore or "free from" section in a supermarket such that it's worth taking the time to go there every once in a while to stock up on those items I'd usually need to order online (like the fermented hemp sauce that is a gluten free replacement to the now forbidden to me what-free tamari), although I get most of my weekly supplies from Able and Cole which supply veg, GF pasta, and organic meat.
In Oxford, I'd be lost without Uhuru Whole Foods on Cowley road. The lady who runs it REALLY knows her stuff, can tell you about the pros and cons of each Solgar vitamin on sale, and stocks the kinds of foods you appreciate the most when your gluten free. Dispute it's size and the fact that it's not open on Sunday, I find it's stock outweighs any other healthstore or "free from" section in a supermarket such that it's worth taking the time to go there every once in a while to stock up on those items I'd usually need to order online (like the fermented hemp sauce that is a gluten free replacement to the now forbidden to me what-free tamari), although I get most of my weekly supplies from Able and Cole which supply veg, GF pasta, and organic meat.
