Cheese please!

Our youngest daughter has been mourning the loss of mac and cheese since we have become a GFCF family. When we grocery shopped she wistfully would ask for mac and cheese. Recently while shopping at PCC Emily's wish came true! I found a new GFCF cheese made by daiya foods. There in the dairy case was Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. With great in trepidation I purchased both styles of cheese. Emily could hardly wait to get home and crack open the bag.

First we made pizza. When I opened the bag the texture was unusual as was the smell. I said a small prayer and placed it on the children's pizza. In the back of my mind I reminded myself I had more pizza crust waiting in the fridge if this turned out gross! The pizza turned out good. The cheese melted and the kids said it tasted good. Score!

Tonight macaroni and cheese was on the menu. Once again I turned to Bette Hagman for a recipe. I was bit concerned because it took longer than usual for the cheese to melt and the sauce to thicken. Joseph and Emily were so excited to have mac and cheese! It was good. The kids scarfed it down asking for more. I was so excited!

It is sucha joy to be able to provide good tasting food for my family. I try to read every GFCF cookbook I can get my hands on from the library. The one consistent thing I have read is how limited, icky the breads are and trying to convert recipes to taste OK. We tried this diet before several years ago and saw growth in language and behavior with our son. But quite frankly the food was expensive. I thought in order to make it work I need to use the package foods because our resources were limited and I did not have the time I thought to scratch cook.

 When I decided to have our son and youngest daughter GFCF I understood the only way to make it work this time was a complete immersion of our family. With HUGE encouragement from our oldest daughter I took the plunge. I am so glad I did. The youngest daughter's GI issues are diminishing and we are seeing good stuff with the the little guy. So if your new to GFCF living have hope! Baby steps~ one dish at a time.

Enjoy~ blair

Pasta Salad

I love how with each holiday we have certain dishes that are a must to complete the holiday menu. If I deviate from the standard meal there will be a nose out of joint trust me! Fourth of July is no different. Our standard menu is hot dogs, hamburgers, corn, pasta salad and red, white and blue cake.


Now all I need to is convert this meal so it is GFCF.
These we all no brainers.
Hot dogs~ Hebrew Nation.
Hamburger use organic meat or the leanest meat I can find.
Morning Star garden burgers
Corn, local and organic. These we all no brainers.
Heinz ketchup is GFCF
Marshmallows are GFCF ( if you have any doubt, marshmallows can be rinsed to remove the cornstarch/powdered sugar. Must then place them on a drying rack. These will be sticky!


First to convert is my pasta salad. Easy enough, use brown rice pasta. For the dressing I always cracked open a bottle of zesty Italian dressing, add some lemon juice and if it was too dry a little olive oil. Instead I made my dressing rather than buying a bottle of dressing. That was easy. Why had I never done that before?


Oh on a side note: I can tell you that Wishbone dressings are celiac friendly. The company will always list gluten when necessary.


I took my salad to Northshore Special Families cook out and everyone raved. They could not believe it was gluten-free! Remember buy local produce as often as you can. The sky is the limit with what vegetables you include more the tastier


Pasta Salad


Gluten- free pasta
red peppers
green peppers
yellow peppers
orange peppers
carrots
cucumbers
yellow squash
green squash


dressing ingrediants
Gluten-free pasta. Cook according to manufactures direction. While the pasta is cooking chop those veggies. Drain pasta. Allow the pasta to completely cool, otherwise it will start to cook the veggies when added. Mix veggies and pasta adding marinade for the artichoke hearts. Add lemon juice, olive oil, and Italian dressing. Season with salt, pepper and parsley.


Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. This salad is actually better the next day but it never makes it that far.
Enjoy! ~blair

Purely decandent

Hot weather = ice cream! Of course you do not need it to be hot to enjoy ice cream. But it is a good excuse to eat some:0)

The weather in Seattle is wonderful don't believe what you hear! Yes we get rain but Miami and NYC get more than us yearly. This year the weather has been weird to say the least. Seattle went over 250 days with out going over 70 degrees. It makes sense that most homes in Seattle do not have air conditioning so when it gets hot here it is really hot!On July 4th we watched the fireworks wrapped in blankets and coats. Three days later it is 95 degrees!

On a recent trip to PCC we found a new ice cream Purely Decadent . It is made with coconut milk. Can you say delicious? It truly is decadent. Our favorite is chocolate mint chip. I must tell you that I like this better than dairy ice cream. We have also tried the chocolate ice cream bars, as well as flavors vanilla, mango and cookie dough.

The youngest and the oldest were introduced to Turtle Mountain products when they sampled ice cream, yogurt and milk at vegfest. They loved it! Not only is the taste unbelievably awesome but as far as frozen treats go it is better for your body than most. Can that be possible? Yes! The Turtle Mountain coconut based product line is soy-gluten-casein free, low glycemic (sweetened with agave) and the fats are the healthy kind like found in avocado and bananas. Mmmm healthy ice cream.......

On your next shopping venture check out the freezer section. Purely Decadent is so good you will want to hide it in the back of your freezer and not share. :0)

Stay cool! ~blair

Pasta Salad

I love how with each holiday we have certain dishes that are a must to complete the holiday menu. If I deviate from the standard meal there will be a nose out of joint trust me! Fourth of July is no different. Our standard menu is like most: hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled corn, pasta salad and s'mores or red, white and blue cake.

 

Now all I need to is convert this meal so it is GFCF. These were no brainers:

Hot dogs~ Hebrew Nation.

Hamburger use organic meat or the leanest meat I can find.

Morning Star garden burgers

Corn, local and organic

Heinz ketchup is GFCF

This year we roasted marshmallows. Marshmallows are GFCF (if you have any doubt, marshmallows can be rinsed to remove the cornstarch/powdered sugar. Then place on a drying rack till they are no longer damp. These will be extremely sticky!

 
 

Converting my pasta salad was easier than I thought. For the dressing I always cracked open a bottle of zesty Italian dressing, add some lemon juice and if it was too dry a little olive oil. This year rather than buying a bottle of dressing I made my own Italian dressing. That was easy. Why had I never done that before? I took my pasta salad to Northshore Special Families cook out and everyone raved. They could not believe it was gluten-free! Remember buy local produce as often as you can. The sky is the limit with what vegetables you include more the tastier

 

**~Oh, on a side note: Wishbone dressings are celiac friendly.

 
 

Pasta Salad

 
 

Gluten- free pasta

red peppers

green peppers

yellow peppers

orange peppers

carrots

cucumbers

tomato

broccoli

cauliflower

salt

pepper

parsley flakes or fresh

 

dressing ingredients

 

Cook pasta according to manufactures direction. While the pasta is cooking chop those veggies. Drain pasta. Allow the pasta to completely cool, otherwise it will start to cook the veggies when added. Mix veggies and pasta adding marinade from the artichoke hearts. Add lemon juice, olive oil, and Italian dressing. Season to taste with salt, pepper and parsley.

 
 

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. This salad is actually better the next day but it never makes it that far.

Enjoy! ~blair