Low sugar & gluten free treats?
 

DH is having some health problems and the doc says NO MORE GLUTEN for him (poor guy) and he also needs to cut back on his sugar intake.

He's got a sweet tooth, so I thought maybe I could find some recipes for cookies that are wheat-free and that are sweetened with things like raisins and/or applesauce. (Natural fruit sugars should be okay) DH loathes sucralose and aspartame so artificial sweeteners are out. Honey is borderline and should be used sparingly. Stevia MIGHT work, haven't tried that yet. (We used to grow stevia so DH is okay with that being used.)

I'm thinking oatmeal cookies? Any other ideas? He loves dark chocolate so maybe some sort of flourless, no-sugar brownie would work?

He likes pretty much every kind of fruit but his real love is sticky sugary pastries, which is totally off limits now. :(

I looked some stuff up on Allrecipes.com but there's just so much! I'm hoping someone here will have a gem of a recipe to get me started. :)

Thanks!

These are really good. I use the tiny chocolate chips so they spread around more. I have added dates or raisins, but those add sugar. And they are no bake so great for tho time of year. http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Ooo...those look GOOD! Thanks!

You can use a gluten free all purpose flour. I make my own choc chip cookies with it. We've been gluten free for almost 2 yrs and love it. It isn't hard if you really want to feel better. I buy udi's gluten free hamb buns and slice them for toast. Love my toast! You can buy natural peanut butter and natural strawberry and other jams. that are low sugar. Our snacks are - cheese apples bananas(tho they are higher in sugar) tomatoes popcorn I also like Van's Say Cheese crackers. they are good. If he is craving something sweet you can dust sliced apples with a little suger/cinnamon mixture. You get a bit of sugar but not that much.

I make my own homemade chicken and noodles with gluten free all purpose flour. I also use the flour to make sauces.

There are alot of recipes online for gf foods. I am planning on trying to make my own pudding.
There are tips I can pass along if you are going to do anything with flour from scratch.

If you want any more ideas just let me know Rhonda

What is the gluten free flour made out of? Rice? Is it something I can find at regular grocery stores? Do you have a brand you recommend? I like making veggie pot pies so would love to find a flour I could use for good gluten-free pie crusts. And gluten-free gingersnaps would be good too, I think - DH loves gingersnaps.

He's bought some Udi bread and aside from it being crumbly he likes it well enough.

Right now he's also supposed to avoid dairy, but doc says once he's been off wheat/gluten for awhile his digestive system might heal to the point where he can re-introduce dairy. He has discovered that goat-milk yogurt is okay with his system but cheese so far is bad.

We are also mostly vegetarian (I am strictly veg, but he will eat fish) so that is yet another limitation. I was raised vegetarian so I have absolutely no idea how to cook meat, so when he eats meat he either cooks it himself or we go out. It's probably smart not to trust me with that, LOL.

DH is actually a pretty good cook, but I'm the "baker" in the family. There are a few things he likes that I'd love to figure out a low-sugar, gluten-free version of. Pineapple upside-down cake is another of his favorites, but it has SO MUCH sugar in it the way I usually make it and of course wheat flour, so that's absolutely not going to work for his new diet. I need to buy some applesauce and some gluten-free flour and start experimenting!!

Most all purpose GF flour is a blend of several types - rice, cornstarch, tapioca are commonly used as well as others. There are many brands of premixed GF flour on the market. I prefer Bob's Red Mill, but also mix my own. It is helpful to invest in a few GF cookbooks. I like the GF Gourmet series by the late Bette Hagman, but there are many newer books out there. Also lots of information available on the internet.

Google Gluten Free Recipes and you will be very surprised what recipes come up !

I have a friend who is GF and she gets her recipes from many blogs she found on the net ..

The one thing I learned is that gluten free all purpose flour is great but you have to add at least xanthan gum to it to keep it from crumbling. I make homemade drop biscuits with it and they just fell apart until I used the xantham gum. I get it at Walmart it is in a packet like yeast. There are lots and lots of diff ideas on how best to do gf baking. I am a scratch cook but still haven't figured out how to make bread from scratch. It is confusing to understand all the whys and wherefores I think. But if you take some time to research there are lots and lots of good ideas out there for recipes.

I started out by reading the Wheat Belly diet as some friends had gone on this and that was my starting point. I don't follow the diet strictly but it is good info as to what has gluten in it.

This site is fun. Made these last week and they're tasty and not sweet even with a bit of honey http://detoxinista.com/2012/02/grain...-chip-cookies/ By avoiding sugar, sweet things now taste too sweet and the craving is gone. These also look good. http://detoxinista.com/2012/06/paleo...cookies-vegan/

I bought gluten free (King Arthur) flour on Amazon. And I got the xanthum gum there too. The King Arthur flour site has a whole section on gluten free baking. I feel bad for your husband. A few months ago I was having "issues" and tried gluten free to see if it helped. The hardest part was giving up real yeast bread. And it makes it more difficult for eating out because there seems to be gluten in everything, even soy sauce and Miracle Whip!

I know, I feel for him too - I have diet limitations too and I really, REALLY miss some of the things I'm not allowed to have anymore! (Coffee...oh how I miss coffee.)

DH is actually in pretty good spirits about it, though. He was worried that something really BAD was wrong with him but finally went to the doc after months of misery and stress (typical man) and found out it's not cancer or anything really horrible and he can fix it with diet. He already feels a lot better on this new diet after just a couple weeks, so he's actually pretty okay with giving up a lot of favorites in exchange for feeling better. He still misses stuff of course, but it doesn't seem to really bother him. :) I honestly think he has a worse time cutting back on sugar than gluten as far as cravings go, but he's still allowed SOME sugar so that's OK too. His palate will adjust, just like it did a few years ago when I cut us both back on our sodium intake! Now so many things I used to like are just tooo salty. Funny how that works!

Thanks for the tips on Xanthan gum...I've seen it listed in ingredients but had no idea it would help with the crumbling issue with gluten-free stuff! I will have to read up on that. You guys are awesome!

The thing I gave up when I first started was koolaid. Who would have thought it had wheat in it? We actually enjoy the gluten free life. It isn't really much of an issue. We have to cut out corn and soy as well due to intolerance issues. Those are much harder than the gluten. It seems there is corn starch and soy lecethin? in everything! I have had to go back to cooking completely from scratch. There are very few things I can buy all ready made.

I am wanting to try making my own barbeque sauce. I miss Cookie's BBQ sauce the most. I used to do BBQ ribs alot and loved them. but can't do that now.

You can still have yeast bread but you have to make it from scratch. I have seen baking mixes in the Gluten Free section. I just haven't tried them yet. I get Udi's hamburger buns and they taste pretty good. I don't like the crust so I cut that off but the bread in them is pretty good. I love it toasted the best.

I've been researching recipes and cooking GF for almost 2 yrs. I still don't have a great handle on baking with gluten free flours. I use an all purpose flour cause I just can't wrap my mind around mixing gf flours for the right consistency LOL

We started the second week of Sept 2012. We eat out alot but we only go to restaurants we know we have options to choose from. DH always gets steak and french fries. I get the smothered chicken comes with cheese and stir fried onions green peppers and mushrooms. Love it! I tend to get potatoes when we go out. I also like to get a steak at times or sometimes I get a bacon cheesburger with lettuce tomatoe and onion. Hold the bun. You can use the lettuce as a bun if the lettuce is big enough. It is different but it does work. I wrap it in a napkin to give it more stability but it tastes really good that way too.

One restaurant we go to have catfish and they will fry it without the flour if you ask. I have also gotten their huge deep fried taco without the taco. The meat and cheese and lettuce / tomato'/onion taste great eating it with a fork. I also love pork chops and will get that now and then.

Yes sometimes we cheat but not very often. I love Riverbend's lasagna and even tho I know I could make it gluten free at home I will get it at Riverbend. I've done that twice in the last year and a half.

It is possible to eat out but you do have to ask alot of questions and don't hesitate to ask. Most will be most happy to check for you.

BTW McDonald's uses a flavoring in their oil that has wheat in it. I found this on their gluten free menu online.

I'm trying to come up with vegetable dishes we could use. so if you have any ideas here that would be great!

Rhonda Your husband is going to have the healthiest diet on the planet and live to be 110 ! I am a gluten free vegan. My craving for sweets is gone. And that happened quickly. There are so many gluten free vegan/vegetarian recipes, you can try something different every day, My favorite sites are fatfreevegan, savvyvegetarian, glutenfreevegangirl, veganrunnereats. Today a lot of restaurants have gluten free options. Then you have to find veggie options, I have found restaurants where I can order the meat dish without the meat and ask for extra veggies. By now you know about Bob'sMill gf flours. I like tinkyada brown rice pasta because it doesn't turn into mush. Feel free to message me for more info since this is a fav topic of mine. I only do sweets for family get togethers. I like quick and easy meals.
Oh yes I could eat dairy after I was gluten free about a year, but now I am dairy free by choice. I use unsweetened almond milk. See godairyfree.com. This gf stuff becomes second nature after a bit and I don't feel depried at all.
Rita

for sweets, how about dried fruits? I don't know if anything is added to them that he can't have, but there are raisins, prunes, cherries, cranberries, bananas, apples, apricots, dates, figs - - -

They are quite high in calories, but ounce for ounce, probably not much worse than a candy bar.

You gotta see these
http://allglutenfreedesserts.com/top...ke-pound-cake/

My nutritionist likes me to stay away from sugar and gluten. My favorite snacks are almonds and cheese sticks. If I really need a bit of sweetness, a tablespoon of peanut butter does the trick.

It's hard at first but I've found that the more you learn to just not eat things that are bad for you rather than try to find lame substitutes, the better off you are. Sugar is a hard one to break and the first few weeks are the worst. After that, it's a piece of cake. I no longer have sugar cravings and can eat something sweet once without having to have more.

Just sort of struck me funny - seeing as that's what one is trying to avoid. :)

So happy to see this "thread". My daughter recently put herself on a gluten free diet and is feeling better. However, she craves bread. Even dreams that she is eating it. Thanks for the info.

LOL. I didn't even think of that!

I had a lot of trouble giving up bread and pasta at first. But after a few months I really didn't notice it that much. I rarely eat either bread or pasta now and it doesn't bother me in the least.

I have also used King Arthur and Bob's Mills. Both offer very good products. Which I continue to use.

Here's a recipe for Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies...gluten free....and low sugar...and DELICIOUS (kind of like no-bake cookies)

3 very ripe bananas
2 c oats
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 t vanilla

Mash bananas; add remaining ingredients and mix well. LET SIT 20 MINUTES...drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet, then bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.

Just curious if eating GF causes weight loss? Know it won't if you choose other high fat food,
to replace GF.
Thanks for this thread,sites etc.Info from "real ppl"is great.BTW,not GF here,but have already cut way back on certain foods & GF might be next.

I just made gluten free banana bread with nuts a couple of days ago. I used a regular recipe just replaced the wheat flour with an all purpose flour. I didn't have any xanthum gum so made it without. It didn't crumble too badly and next time I will use it. I bought more yesterday so I'd have it next time. the Xanthum gum helps to keep it from crumbling.

I make my Nestle toll house choc chip cookies with the GF all purpose flour and I can't tell the difference. My grands can't tell the diff either.

You do need to check your baking powder and baking soda for wheat. Not sure about the soda. it many not have any. I use it anyway as our GF is not a life threatening situation and a little bit won't hurt us. One of these days I will order the GF version online.

Some chocolate bars do not have any gluten in them. Hershey's milk chocolate bar with or without nuts is gf.
Toffee bars don't have any gluten. However I found out the hard way that tootsie rolls DO have gluten! I ate a tiny one my dgs had left and the next thing I knew I couldn't breathe.

I use homemade cocoa when I get to craving sweets and chocolate in particular. I also have to avoid corn and soy so I can't eat any chocolate candy anymore unless I make it at home.

Another idea if he likes them is no bake cookies. It is made with cocoa sugar peanut butter and butter and oats. No gluten there. But you do have to use gluten free oats.

Oats do not have gluten in them but the reg oats are processed on machinery which uses wheat flour to grease the machinery or has processed gluten products before processing the oats. So the reg can be tainted with wheat.
It is a bit more expensive but worth it.

Another idea would be to make homemade fudge or other homemade candy. I searched for gf candy ideas and there are a lot of them. if he has a favorite candy you might be able to find a gf version you can make at home.

Substituting is the key to eating the things you enjoy and not being so limited.

Pat it does promote weight loss but you do have to be aware of high carb foods and portion control. I'm still struggling on that one.

I found a brand of gf hamburger buns I love. but I have to limit the use or I'd gain weight on them. It is nice tho to have something that tastes like real bread and I can make toast with it!!

My DH and I went gluten free almost 2 ys ago. He has lost 70 pounds and I've only lost 30. However I was still eating potato chips and chocolate and he doesn't eat them. He's not much of a sweets eater and I am a chocoholic.
I've since given up both just recently to see if I can lose. It is tough tho!!

It does depend on what you choose to eat. Basically if you look at a diabetic diet it is mostly meat veggies fruits and dairy with limited carbs. That is also a Gluten free eating pattern. We just choose gf carbs instead of wheat

So going GF is a smart healthy way to live and makes you feel good about yourself.