Gluten-Free? Never Feel Deprived Again!
Welcome to the first post of the new blog
Crazy For Yuca!
What is yuca???
It’s the key to living happy, healthy and gluten-free!
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First, let’s answer the basic question on everybody’s mind – “What is yuca???”
Yuca (pronounced yoo-ka) is an incredibly versatile root vegetable that can do anything wheat or potatoes can do, only in a much healthier way!
It’s truly the chameleon of foods!
Peeled yuca can be boiled, baked, mashed, roasted, fried, dried or fermented and transformed into breads, fries, chips, tortillas, pancakes, pizzas, empanadas, pie crusts, cookies, cakes, you name it!
Yuca is also called cassava or manioc, depending on where you are in the world. While many Americans haven’t heard of it, yuca is eaten regularly throughout Latin America, Asia and Africa. Ask anyone from these parts of the world and they will enthusiastically tell you about a traditional yuca family recipe that they love! The big question is – “Why have Americans been left out of the worldwide yuca party?” It’s my mission to bring yuca/cassava into the kitchens of every American (not just the gluten-free) as it’s just that delicious and impressive!!!
Yuca is full of immune-boosting vitamin C and resistant starch (a type of fiber that is highly beneficial to the good bacteria of the colon.) The resistant starch in yuca actually goes through most of the digestive tract undigested, so about 20% of yuca’s carbs and calories don’t count!!!! – You heard that right! Yuca just keeps getting better and better!!
If that doesn’t pique your interest – yuca is not only gluten-free, it’s Paleo, Vegan, Whole30 approved, non-GMO, and considered safe for those following an Autoimmune Protocol!
Yuca is literally THE perfect carb!!!
I know – you think I’m a little obsessed and crazy right now – and I am!
I’m literally CRAZY FOR YUCA!!!!
I’d like to take you on a little journey to explain how my obsession with yuca came to be. Along the way, I’ll share the 5 core recipes that started it all!
Who knows?……. Once you try them, you too may become Crazy For Yuca!
Feel free to click on the recipes and links along the way. They’ll likely answer all of your yuca questions and get you totally psyched to make your first fries, flatbread, empanadas, tortilla wraps, and pancakes – all out of yuca! I’m telling you – you will never miss the grain!!!
Once you make these recipes for yourself, you’ll be well on your way to mastering the basics of cooking with yuca – the most versatile food you may never have known existed!
Welcome to the “Yuca-teria”!!!
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Discover the key to eating happy, healthy and gluten free!
Never feel deprived again!!!
These 5 basic recipes will forever change your cooking repertoire!
It all started with the fries!
This past March (2017) I went to a Costa Rican restaurant with my family for my birthday and we shared “Chili over Crispy Yuca Fries” as an appetizer. We didn’t even know what yuca was! But since it was labeled gluten-free (which 3 of us are) we gave it a try. We all LOVED it!
That was the initial spark. My curiosity was piqued!
I went home and immediately started researching all about yuca. Is it really gluten free? What else can I make with it? What kinds of nutrients does it contain? Why had I never heard of it before? For the answers to all of these questions and more, see: About Yuca: Getting to Know Yuca (Cassava) and About Yuca: Yuca (Cassava) Nutrition Facts on this site.
Who could have known that this one appetizer would lead to the launching of a blog a few months later?…. A move that is TOTALLY out of character for me! I’m not a social media person, and I already have a job that keeps me really busy!
I made my first batch of yuca fries at home using a bag of Goya frozen yuca. They were AWESOME!!! My husband, daughter and I gobbled them up! I was so proud of my creation that I “plated” them in a basket, took a picture, and sent it to my older daughter with great enthusiasm! (Picture shown on the right.) This one picture is where it all began!
After playing around with a few variations, I came up with these Baked Yuca Fries. No need to immerse in oil. Just a light coating of avocado oil and you have fries that are perfectly crispy on the outside and satisfyingly soft and chewy on the inside. They hold their own as a delicious appetizer, side dish or snack, or make a perfect pair with some chili on top.
Recipe #1: Baked Yuca Fries
My next discovery was flatbread – Total Game-Changer!!!
While the fries are amazing, fries alone could never have propelled me to put all this time and effort into creating a blog! I must credit Jennifer Robbins of PredominantlyPaleo.com for this next discovery. It was her recipe for basic “yuca dough” that totally triggered my OBSESSION with yuca!
After making “yuca dough” into flatbread just once, I’ve been obsessing day and night jotting down ideas, making and revising recipes, and laughing at ridiculous yuca puns with my husband such as – Welcome to my “Yuca-teria!,” “yuca-ta” try this recipe!, and “yuca-n” make this without grain! He keeps calling me the “yuca-lady” (which in case it isn’t obvious is funny because it sounds like yukalele. Say it out loud. It’s really fun to say!) It has gotten really out of control at my house!!!!!!! I’ve been forcing yuca upon everyone who comes over! I literally can’t stop talking about yuca!!! I’m REALLY annoying!!! I either needed to get myself some serious professional help, or channel my new passion into a blog – hence the name – “Crazy” For Yuca!!!
Back to chatting about this flatbread – As a person who has been gluten-free for over 5 years, I have learned to live without a number of foods and food-related emotional experiences. This type of deprivation is something I happily accept in exchange for feeling well. Honestly, I didn’t even realize how much I missed the sensation of biting into a warm, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside piece of garlic bread until I bit into this flatbread right out of the oven! It’s true comfort food…… Like I get filled up with this deep feeling of joy and satisfaction while eating it! I can’t think of any other food that ever made me feel like that! DEPRIVATION NO MORE!!!
I must warn you – Don’t make more than you want to eat!!! IT”S ADDICTIVE!!!
The good news is – once you master this basic dough, the possibilities for seasoning variations and applications to other dishes that traditionally use grain are endless!!!!!!!!!!!………
Say good-bye to feeling deprived! You really can have it all!
Recipe#2 Garlic Yuca Flatbread 
Keep reading – It gets even better!!!
***The basic dough that was used to make this delicious garlic flatbread can be used to make an endless number of incredible things!….. Such as my family’s favorite…. EMPANADAS!!! Trust me when I tell you, every member of your family will be happy with dinner on empanada night!
Recipe #3 Yuca Empanadas!
I must admit that I don’t think I ever had an empanada before making them out of yuca. But I do remember watching a group of people devouring an amazing-looking plate of them at a friend’s house a few summers ago and thinking, “since I’m gluten-free I’ll never know what it’s like to bite into one of those.” 🙁 I just sat there listening to everyone’s moans of sheer ecstasy as they bit into that crunchy crust and praising the woman who made them. (I’m pretty good at not feeling bad for myself for being gluten-free, but that moment was a toughy!) Luckily, thanks to yuca dough, my days of deprivation are over. HELLO EMPANADAS!!
I have to say -these empanadas are THE recipe that made my family go “Crazy For Yuca” right along with me!…… as well as both sides of my extended family and all the members of my Recipe Swap Club!…. (the gluten and dairy-free healthy eating group that I run.) I can always count on Yuca Empanadas being a hit!
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Then came cassava flour!
Cassava flour – Where have you been all my life!!!
Cassava flour is a relatively new flour that has emerged on the healthy eating scene in the past few years. Its existence opens up a new world of possibilities for the gluten-free, Paleo, nut-free, and all-around healthy eater! It’s also a great option for anyone who just wants to decrease grain consumption.
Cassava flour is simply made by drying and grinding peeled cassava/yuca root into flour. It isn’t stripped of its nutrients by processing the way many flours are, and therefore retains its natural fiber, vitamins and minerals. This pure, whole-food flour looks like wheat flour, tastes very similar to wheat flour, and can replace wheat flour in a 1:1 ratio in many recipes (although if rising is required, a mixture of cassava and other gluten-free flours may be needed.)
For more info see: About Yuca: Getting to Know Cassava Flour
I use Otto’s Cassava Flour and have had nothing but amazingly delicious results! Cassava flour is not typically available in supermarkets, although it can be found in small organic markets or online.
Purchase Otto’s Cassava Flour online by clicking the link below.
Otto’s Naturals 100% Natural Cassava Flour Made from Yuca Root Bag, 2 Pound
By ordering Otto’s Cassava Flour through our website we get a small percentage of the sale which helps to support the maintenance of Crazy For Yuca. There’s absolutely no additional charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to bring you the latest yuca/cassava recipes!
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The first thing I made using Otto’s Cassava Flour was tortillas wraps!
Recipe #4 Cassava Flour Tortilla Wraps
Honestly, tortilla wraps never excited me before discovering this recipe. I always thought wraps added a slightly unpleasant taste to my food. Their only purpose was to hold the food together. By the end of my meal I’d usually unroll my wrap and just eat whatever was inside.
I experimented with cassava flour tortillas simply to decrease my daughter’s grain consumption, since she eats wraps daily (she isn’t even gluten-free!) I played around with a bunch of different variations, but many lacked the proper “bendability” required of a good wrap.
Then I came across Dr. Sarah Ballantyne’s Paleo Flour Tortillas (AIP Friendly!) from ThePaleoMom.com. These cassava flour tortilla wraps are truly OUTSTANDING! My family and I love them so much that I decided to stop trying to “re-invent the wheel!” We are adopting these as our family’s tortilla wraps! I can’t make them without eating at least one right out of the pan! I make them with Otto’s Cassava Flour.
For ThePaleoMom’s full recipe and a great video demo check out Paleo Flour Tortillas (AIP Friendly!)
These wraps not only do a perfect job of holding food together, they add deliciousness to whatever is in them. Click here for my Cassava Flour Tortilla Post and see some ways my family enjoys these wraps.
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Once I saw how great the tortillas were, I started wondering…. “What else can I make with my new cassava flour that I’d previously cut out of my diet when going gluten-free? (Obsessing about this stuff literally keeps me up at night these days!!)
The next recipe was obvious – pancakes!
Recipe #5 Yuca-ta Try Cassava Flour Pancakes!
You may wonder why pancakes would be so high on my list since there are many gluten-free flours and nut flours that can be used to make pancakes? I didn’t eat gluten-free pancakes much because gluten-free flours spike my blood sugar, leaving me with low energy, muscle aches, and extreme brain fog! I struggle with blood sugar instability and blood tests show that I’m pre-diabetic when I eat sugar and grain (so I rarely do.) Yuca/cassava is a whole-food source of carbohydrate with a low glycemic index. Foods with a low glycemic index release glucose into the bloodstream at a slow, steady rate without causing blood sugar spikes. Yuca has even been recommended as a good starch for diabetics! See: About Yuca: Yuca (Cassava) Nutrition Facts for more info.
As far as making pancakes with almond flour, the grainy texture just doesn’t cut it for me. Also, I’m honestly sick of making EVERYTHING out of almond flour! (If you are gluten-free or Paleo you know exactly what I mean!!) How many almonds can a person eat in one day?! If I eat almonds in my breakfast, and then eat nuts or an apple with almond buttr as a snack in the afternoon, I get a stomachache! I’d much rather have my cassava flour pancakes (made with a bunch of cage-free eggs) with fresh berries on top as my deliciously perfect, blood-sugar stabilizing breakfast, and save my nuts for a snack later in the day. One ounce of nuts per days is actually the recommended daily serving, which is only about 23 almonds, 5 cashews, 7 whole walnuts, or 15 pecan halves! While incredibly healthy, too many nuts can add up quickly in terms of fat and calories.
With these Cassava Flour Pancakes you won’t miss the grain! These pancakes have been tested on my husband, kids, and even my daughter’s friends (who are not used to healthy eating) with rave reviews! And not one leftover pancake! I use Otto’s Cassava Flour when making these pancakes.
Otto’s Naturals 100% Natural Cassava Flour Made from Yuca Root Bag, 2 Pound
Feel free to leave a comment below. I look forward to having an engaged community of yuca enthusiasts asking questions, making comments, and inspiring new directions for the blog.
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Thanks for reading my first post about the evolution of my obsession with yuca (cassava!) Once you try a recipe or 2 you’ll likely find yourself inspired by this incredibly transformative root vegetable as well! I have soooo… many deliciously satisfying, whole-food yuca recipes to share! Enter your email at the top, right corner of this post to join the Crazy For Yuca community. You’ll receive free recipes sent right to your inbox, along with tips for cooking easy, healthy, “real” food. I hope you will join us!
Disclaimer– At Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and require personal guidance from a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
