There is quite a bit of difference between almond FLOUR (even differences between commercial brands - some are coarse, some more fine, some include the skins, others are blanched and skinless) and almond MEAL (ground almonds at home), and the third choice, almond flour made from the dehydrated pulp leftover from making almond milk (the perfect 2 for 1 product). I use all of them - it just depends on the recipe and results I want. My preference is to use almonds that I sprout and dehydrate first because they are easier to digest and it's also MUCH cheaper to make my own than to purchase commercial almond flour. But saying that, I always have a bag of Honeyville Grain Almond Flour in the house. I also avoid white and brown sugar and high-glycemic starches and flours common to many gluten-free cookbooks. If you find recipes that use rice flour you can mill your own, but use short- or medium-grain rice (white or brown - your choice) instead of long-grain rice. Long-grain rice is fine for a thickener or dredging, but not for baking. If you want to make cookies (or other baked goods) with almond flour, I'd suggest checking out Elana Amsterdam's web site - www.elanaspantry.com. The recipe for Pecan Shortbread Cookies linked below is a favorite recipe. Elana Amsterdam suggests using Honeyville Grain Almond Flour, and for her recipes I agree that's the best choice. Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour just doesn't cut it - it is much coarser and you'll get a grainy finished product, or you will get a lot of crumbling by using coarse almond flour. BTW, I was baking with almond flour long before we went gluten-free because it's low-glycemic. Same with coconut flour, another low-glycemic choice. Honeyville Almond Flour is one of the finer grinds you can find commercially. When you make your own almond flour using whole almonds, you chance making almond butter by the time you get the fine grind similar to Honeyville Grain Almond Flour. You may need to add sugar to the almonds while grinding. I get a much finer grind using pulp from almond milk made in the Vitamix compared to pulp from almond milk made in the Ninja blender. When completely dehydrated, I give the pulp a whirr in a small Ninja food chopper to break up the clumps - or run a rolling pin over it. I also get less pulp using a Vitamix. It's not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to texture provided by the different almond flour/meal products. When it comes to cookies, this one\-bowl recipe is by far the easiest. I often make this recipe when I have one ripe banana and bake them in my solar oven or in the convection/microwave oven on a pizza pan. SUPER\-SIMPLE BANANA COOKIES 2\-3 mashed bananas (2 large bananas or 3 small) 2 c. gluten\-free oatmeal 1 c. chopped dates (can use any dried fruit, or a mixture of dried fruit and mini\-chocolate chips, cacao nibs, finely chopped nuts, etc.) 1/3 c. coconut oil 1 t. vanilla 1/8 t. of salt (can omit) Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper, or use ungreased baking sheets. Mix all ingredients well and drop by teaspoonful (I use a \#50 portion scoop) onto baking sheets. Lightly press the dough until it is about 1/4\-inch thick and form into rounds. Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. You can bake these cookies until soft or lightly crunchy \- your choice \- depending on how long you bake them. I like to use dried blueberries or dried apricots snipped into 1/4\-inch cubes using kitchen scissors. Dried cherries (snipped into smaller pieces) and mini chocolate chips makes a nice combination. Using one banana: 1 mashed banana 1 c. gluten\-free oatmeal 1/3\-1/2 c. dried fruit or mini chocolate chips (or combination) 2 T. coconut oil pinch of salt PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH COOKIES Melt together: 1 stick butter 3/4 c. peanut butter In a large bowl add butter/peanut butter mixture and the remaining ingredients. Mix with an electric hand-held mixer. 1 t. baking soda pinch of salt 2 eggs 1 c. unsalted dry-roasted peanuts 1/2 c. raw or roasted sunflower seeds 1/2 c. almond flour 1/2 c. palm sugar 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut 1/2 c. cacao nibs (optional) Cover two baking sheets with parchment. Use a #50 scoop for dough portions (note: make small cookies as this dough spreads). Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12 minutes. BLUEBERRY COCONUT PECAN BREAKFAST COOKIES These cookies are similar to Super\-Simple Banana Cookies. http://www.kumquatblog.com/2012/03/blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIE BARS (which are cookies, not bars) (Source: The Everything Coconut Diet Cookbook) Makes 24 1/2 c. coconut flour 1/2 c. coconut sugar 1/2 c. rolled oats 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut 1/2 c. coconut oil 1 egg 1 t. baking soda Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, sugar, oats and shredded coconut. Melt coconut oil; add egg and baking soda. Mix well into dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet; bake for about 10\-12 minutes, or until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack. \[Grainlady Note: I generally double the recipe. Use a \#50 portion scoop and press the cookies down before baking.\] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are my original recipes I developed for a local sorghum mill..... NUTELLA WHITE SORGHUM FLOUR COOKIES 1/2 c. Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 c. white sorghum flour 1/2 c. dried potato flakes 1/4 c. flaxmeal 1/2 T. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt Preheat oven to 325\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat Nutella and butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the white sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix by hand, only until ingredients are incorporated. Using a portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12\-minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheets for 2\-minutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool. Makes 65, 2\-1/2" cookies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHOCOLATE CHIP/COCONUT SORGHUM FLOUR COOKIES 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/4 c. sour cream 2/3 c. white sorghum flour 1/3 c. dried potato flakes 1/3 c. flaxmeal 1/3 c. unsweetened coconut 1 t. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips Preheat oven to 325\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat butter until light and creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg and sour cream just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, coconut, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix only until ingredients are incorporated. Using a small portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 10\-12 minutes. remove cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheets 2\-inutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool makes 44 two\-inch cookies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHITE SORGHUM PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 1/2 c. natural peanut butter 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 c. white sorghum flour 1/2 c. dried potato flakes 1/2 c. flaxmeal 1/2 T. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat softened butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the white sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. By hand, mix into peanut butter mixture, only until ingredients are incorporated. Refrigerate dough for 20\-minutes. Using a portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets and press with a fork dipped into coarse sugar. Bake 8\-10 minutes in a pre\-heated 350\-degree F. oven. Remove cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheet for 1\-2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool. \-Grainlady This post was edited by grainlady on Tue, May 27, 14 at 8:43

Another vote for Udi's bread. It looks and tastes like the real thing. Who knew heaven could be found in a grilled cheese sandwich? LOL I tried Redbridge beer and hated it. My reaction was "ugh, why bother?" but you need to know that I love dark, rich beers. Give me a Black Butte Porter or one of my hubby's homemade chocolate porters (made with real chocolate, yummm) any day. Redbridge reminded me of lite beer. Not even close for me. I have 5 beers left of the 6-pack I tried so I'll give it a go in a recipe and hope for the best. I guess it's a good thing that I'm more a fan of wine than beer. My restaurant experience has been hit and miss with no rhyme or reason regarding my success getting GF meals. The worker at Chipotle Grill put down a fresh paper wrapper on the counter before making my corn tacos. He did it without my asking, which was simply amazing to me. My catered meal courtesy of Wolfgang Puck's in Dallas included green beans laced with soy sauce. The staff had been alerted to my GF status, I also talked to my waitress before the meal was brought to me and yet, I still received a non-GF meal. The staff apparently were clueless that soy sauce contains wheat. D'uh. Thankfully, I hadn't eaten much of the meal before I realized this screw-up and my reaction was mild (I am GF intolerant, not celiac) but several of my fellow GF-diners became quite ill. Oh, yeah, we voiced our grievance with the manager. Stupid, stupid mistake. I had the most trouble while attending a symposium in September (the banquet meal was part of the same symposium). There is a basic misunderstanding of what GF means, add in language barriers and oh, wow, the fun starts. The servers at breakfast tried multiple times to bring me French toast or crepes - the vegetarian meal - instead of my GF meal. For 2 of the 3 mornings, they served me scrambled eggs and bacon. The last morning, they served me 3 slices of bacon and steamed broccoli! Oh, yum, I love me some bacon and broccoli in the morning. Why? Turns out someone finally realized that the egg mixture they use contains flour (to thicken it). My server took pity on me and brought me 2 fried eggs. At least I finally had the answer for why my stomach had been so upset. Our organization's rep told me that caterers don't need to fulfill food allergy requests. They only need to meet ADA requirements. I'm not sure if this is correct information (it astounds me that they would not want to meet food allergy requests, wouldn't that be a liability issue?) but the lesson I took away is to always, always, always carry GF snacks wherever I go, to request a fridge for my room (cost might be waived for us GF sufferers) and to question everything multiple times. Oh, and never, never, never eat scrambled eggs at a convention again. The hardest thing for me has been discovering the hidden sources of gluten. I was crushed the day I realized that red licorice has wheat in it. :-(

You all are wonderful. I thank you all so much for your suggestions and kindness in taking time to help me find recipes or posting them. The menu so far is roasted organic turkey (my favorite TG food), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cope's dried corn, whole cranberry sauce, stuffing balls, & gravy. I have decided to make cherry cheese cakes that use cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, and cherry topping. I will make a few more from the recipes you all shared when I have gone through them all. i was at a tea yesterday that my DD hosted and she made a wonderful raspberry baked oatmeal for me as everything else was loaded with gluten. The oatmeal was so delicious that I didn't feel the slightest bit tempted by the other items. Going GF has helped my digestion so much that it's worth the irritation of not being able to eat normally and it truly is getting easier. I've also lost twelve pounds since July so that is also an added benefit.

I am doing pumpkin pie this weekend. Here is a great recipe for pastry: http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2008/10/gluten-free-pastry.html I change it to full lard (can't have dairy) and used more tapioca in place of corn starch and more rice flour in place of potato starch. My MIL makes it as is and really likes it. Sorry I have no say for original recipe because I have to improvise but still love it. I improvise another recipe (Company's Coming Almond Torte) to this : 1/2 cup butter (I use coconut oil but give butter to those not bothered by dairy) 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup ground almonds 3 egg yolks 2 tsp vanilla Mix all these and fold in 3 egg whites I will lay out fruit (canned peaches usually) on the bottom of a parchment lined 8x8 pan and pour batter on top. Bake at 350 for 35 min or so. Top with whipped cream. I use this one a lot. It is kind of like a sponge, I think.