Gluten free~ Casein Free One Year Anniversary!

Happy one year of being
Gluten~ Casein Free to our family!!!!!

A year already?! I can remember how daunting it felt to even think about going GFCF. I had failed once why not twice? But I have not. There have been a few infractions  (cough, cough, Jeff!) but nothing serious. We are seeing improvement with our 2 youngest in skills and behavior and overall our health is a lot better. :0)

I am so proud that WE  have reached this milestone. It would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of our oldest daughter Heather; Sarah Elizabeth for being a great cheerleader encouraging Joseph to try new things; Emily as my eagle eye label reader; Jeff for trying even though you never wanted to lose eating meat daily and processed foods and Joseph for eating just about anything that I served you. Even though you don't like veggies have been secretly eating them up a storm. Finally, I thank my readers. You have encouraged me to share recipes and develop a passion I never knew I would have, cooking and writing.

I look forward to this next year, exploring new foods and dishes. Getting to know our local farmers and markets. Attending cooking classes. Cooking with Emily in the kitchen and serving yummy healthy food to my family. 

May your table always be bountiful.

~b

P.S Over the last few days, I have been looking at the recipes I have posted trying to decide what to serve in honor of this great achievement. I decided on Ginger Black Beans and Pasta. I thought it was appropriate since it was my first post in seriously blogging and being GFCF.

Ginger Black Beans and Pasta

2 tsp seame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions. minced (I used what ever onion I have on hand)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 C diced combination yellow/red bell combined with yummy salsa.

2 Cups black beans, rinsed

pinch of cinnamon

2 Cups of of rice spaghetti

In a skillet over medium high heat, heat the oil. Add the garlic, green onions, and ginger. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the peppers and stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add black beans and cinnamon. Decrease heat to simmer. Cook 1-3 minutes.

Serve over quinoa pasta.

A simple spinach salad topped with walnuts, strawberries as a side dish. We use oil and vinegar for dressing.

Easter Bunny and baskets

Spring is in the air! With spring comes the celebration of Easter and Passover. For those of you who celebrate with the Easter Bunny or give candy at Passover , now is the time to be goody shopping. As always you need to read the labels. Companies change their "recipe" from time to time without trying to educate the masses.

I have been researching candy, just to make sure there were not any changes from Halloween. The website gfcf diet intervention  has a good comprehensive list. Here is a good place to find a  dairy-free bunnies list.

I do not know about you, but I have been decreasing the amount of sugar and adding more gifts. What kind of things do put in your basket?

I forgot that PEEPS are gf/cf! My youngest daughter and son both love them. I admit I love them as well. I stab a few holes in the package and forget about them. They are great stale. My youngin's love to use them for s'mores. I recently found gfcf graham crackers. Sprinkle a little Enjoy Life chocolate chips and slip then in to the microwave. Yum!

Root Beer Cake

Picture from blog: Hey, that tastes good!

From the moment I saw this picture for Root Beer Cake I knew that I was destine to make it! I hesitated until I knew that I would have more than our family to share with. 

Emily is a chocoholic and I am addicted to sweets~ horrible to be diabetic.

I would like to think what enticed me to make this cake was to satisfy my sweet tooth craving and Emily wanting to make a cake or I have been looking for something fun to make with Emily and a new go to recipe for potlucks. But the truth be told I just had a hankerin' to  make this cake. It looked so moist and the icing divine. I found looking at this picture made me want a glass of milk and a slice of cake!

OMGolly! This is one of the BEST GF/CF cake I have  EVER eatin. It was so easy to make. I did make a few modification but you could follow the recipe to a "T" and still come out with a phenomenal outcome. :0)

I hope you enjoy this cake as much as my family!

May your table be bountiful~ blair

Chocolate root beer cake

From Hey, that tastes good from Joy the Baker, from the Baked Cookbook. 

2 c root beer (be careful because not all rootbeer is gf)

1 c cocoa powder (unsweetened) * I used 1/2 c

1/2 c butter, cubed

1 1/4 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 c rice flour mix * SEE BELOW

1 1/4 t baking soda

scant 1/2 t xanthan gum

1 t salt * I used no salt

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325, and butter and *(rice) flour a 10" bundt or tube pan . *

In a small saucepan, combine the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted, then add the sugars and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside. Combine the flour mix, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in a small bowl. Beat the eggs together in a large bowl, then whisk in the cocoa-root beer mixture. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined, don't over mix it. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack while you make the frosting. 

* When I make a chocolate cake or brownies I either use the dry ingredients to "flour" my pan. You could also use unsweetened cocoa powder.

* I used 2 nine inch pans to bake this cake. Cooking time was 20 minutes.

* FLOUR MIX

2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch

Next time I think I will not used brown rice flour. Makes things to grainy. But I do love the nutty flavor it gives.

Chocolate root beer frosting

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 c butter, softened

2/3 c cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 t salt

1/4 c root beer

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

Beat the butter and the cocoa powder together with a mixer, then beat in the rest of the ingredients, until smooth. Spread over the top of the (cooled) cake, and served. I garnished the cake with strawberries.

What's cookin?

Don't you just hate it when it is 5 pm everyone is asking what's for dinner? While you are wondering the same thing, they turn around and ask YOU!

For years I fought meal planning. I thought it was a waste of time and effort spending hours making plans. When I tried it would never failed that SOMETHING would mess it up. Then a dear friend shared her meal plan. I thought she was crazy. It was such a simple plan. I tried it and holy cow it worked! My kids thought it was great. One of older daughters friend would even scope out the menu to decide when to spend the night so she could have french toast for breakfast! :0) Love you Gwynne <3

Oh, and if I deviated from this schedule, there was heck to pay from the kids! They liked knowing what to expect. We were not GF/CF at this point in our lives so processed foods made for quick meals.

Emily's creation: GF pumpkin, flax seed and pomegranate bread.

Breakfast
Sunday: cereal
Monday: muffins
Tuesday: french toast w/bacon
Wednesday: eggs w/bagels
Thursday: cereal
Friday: french toast w/bacon
Saturday: eggs, bacon, biscuits
(or we would go to our favorite stand by Tudor Biscuits~ or~ First Watch

Turkey meatball soup.

Lunch
Sunday: leftover soup from night before
Monday: sandwiches w/chips
Tuesday: spaghetti
Wednesday: clean out the fridge
Thursday: chicken nuggets or fish sticks w/fries
Friday: sandwiches
Saturday: kids choice

Bakes acorn squash.
Who knew squash was so amazing?!

I still look at this photo in disbelieve
 we eat like this all the time now!
Asparagus and mushrooms.

Dinner
Sunday:Beef or pork
Monday: casserole
Tuesday: chicken
Wednesday:  dinner at Church
Thursday: spaghetti
Friday: eat out or order in
Saturday: hamburgers/hot dogs

http://blessingsfromlife.blogspot.com/2008/10/pictures-from-our-cross-country-trip.html
Check out our great photos traveling cross country!

So what happened to this great plan? Our sons health became compromised and we moved.
We lived at the Seattle Ronald McDonald House for 3 months followed by a month stay in a hotel. When we finally found a condo, we were only there for about 2 weeks before we had 2 go back to WV for a month. We took 2 weeks to drive cross country back to Seattle after we closed up our WV house. When we were on the road, that was the easiest meal planning ever...pb&j, fruit and water for lunch, what ever breakfast was offered by the hotel and dinner was what ever we could find near our motel. By the time we returned we had to jump in quickly with life including dr. visits, therapy and tons of hospital visits.

Blackberry

Wow, I am tired of just thinking about all that craziness. After we came back to Seattle, meal planning would have made a huge difference as would have pre-made meals stashed in the freezer. I still could not get it back on track but baby I'm back! Our family is eating SO MUCH healthier these days. I look back at all the carbs we ate and it is any wonder any of us could fit through the door! For the most part our whole family now eats gluten/casein free w/no processed foods. Jeff and I cook from scratch most every meals. I am so proud. I wish I had listened to my girlfriend Debbie Davis Graff years ago. She tried to bring me out into the "light" years ago but I balked at her. She was eating great before it was "cool" to be eat local and organic. :0)

Typical dinner setting. Check out the sprouts jar. :0)

So what does our meal plan look like today? Much to my husbands dismay we eat meat maybe twice a week now aside from eggs with him eating occasionally tuna and the kids salmon. Fish prices are out of this world. I wish that we could incorporate more into our diets but that would be like putting premium gas in my van....too rich for my kitchen.

I can taste these sweet strawberries.

This was my 1st attempt at a GF coffee cake. I was so proud!

Breakfast

Sunday: muffins, scones or coffee cake w/fruit

Monday: porridge w/flax seed, honey and bananas (oatmeal, quinoa or rice cereal) or hard boiled eggs

Tuesday: french toast w/fruit

Wednesday: eggs w/veggies and black beans

Thursday: pancakes w/fruit

Friday: french toast w/bacon 

Saturday: kids choice (lately this has been flax seed banana waffles) 

Can you believe my kids request things like this to eat. yum!

CF potato casserole

homemade hummus!

Lunch 

Sunday: clean out the fridge  

Monday: leftovers from Sunday night dinner

Tuesday: pasta  or humus, with veggies and brown rice

Wednesday: sandwiches w/fruit

Thursday: leftovers 

Friday: soup w/sandwiches

Saturday: kids choice

Cabinet soup

potato soup

GF/CF eggplant and polenta lasagna 

Dinner

Sunday: main meal of the week (Jeff cooks) usually chicken w/starch

Monday: veggie soup

Tuesday: stir fry w/rice or quinoa

Wednesday:  veggie dish, black beans

Thursday: pasta

Friday/Saturday: potato bar, taco, pizza, black bean, portabella or hamburgers.

Lookie at all those vegetables on his plate.

Our meals do vary but I try really hard to stay on this schedule. With every afternoon driving 45 miles  with 2 hour therapy sessions for the younger kids this has been a life saver. (add another 20 miles for classes) When it is baseball/soccer season I try to cook as much in the morning as possible and then pack the cooler. Having this schedule has also helped my husband. He is so great to cook in the afternoon when he gets up. (He works midnights) he use to think this meal plan was umm a bit controlling or obsessive. Sometimes he deviates from the schedule, but he sees how wonderful it works. Especially when our son has been hospitalized, or ends up going to the hospital. I always try to cook extra to sock away in the freezer but it never works. :0( Someday!

stuffed peppers with rice

I ran across this creative menu/recipe/shopping list holder. But sadly  Mine is printed on white paper tucked in a sheet protector located in our family notebook. I wish that I was more organized. All in all I think I have a good system for our family. I would love to hear how you plan your meals, shop and save $$.

So, the next time someone asks what for dinner...will you have an answer or will you call take out?!

My your table be bountiful~ blair

Gluten free girl and the chef~ A love story

The timing could not have been better. For the last week I have been fighting bacterial pneumonia. I think I have watched every lifetime, AMC, TBS, on demand and our private collection on movies to fill my quota for the next 5 years. My brain is numb.

My husband to the rescue! My copy of Shauna James and Daniel Ahern's book GF Girl and the Chef cookbook came in at the library. I must say that I have been so looking forward to reading this book. I adored her first book! The recipes look divine and the photography is lovely. My heart melted when I saw her dedication to her daughter Lucy thanking her for joining them at the table. :0)

Her style of writing makes it feel as if you have pulled up a stool in her kitchen and she is talking one on one with you.  This is not your typical GF cookbook. She does not dwell on the fact that she is cooking GF, what GF folks cannot eat and nor does she treat the reader as a novice GF cook.
Her recipes range from simple to delish. If you would like a wonderful read that will make your mouth water and your tummy grumble than this is the book for you!

Cake Mix Dr bakes gf

Last night was gf girls night out, a first! The oldest and youngest daughters went with me to my first ever book signing, Cake Mix Dr. Bakes Gluten Free.
First and for most author, Anne Byrn is a wonderful example of a Southern woman! She loves to cook and has been writing about Elvis and food for more than 30 years. She has authored 7 books, with her newest book her first on GF. Her recipes are not casein free. Most can easily be adapted. She does make references in her book of alternative milk substitutes. 

     "Now comes sweet news for people on gluten-free diets. They can bake their cake and eat          it, too. Anne Byrn shows how to transform gluten-free cake mixes into rich, decadent, easy-to-make, impossible-to-resist desserts. Performing the magic that’s made her a best-selling baking author with more than 3.3 million copies of her books in print, she doctors mixes with additions like almond extract, fresh berries, cocoa powder, grated coconut, cinnamon, lime zest, and more – naturally, all gluten-free ingredients. Dessert is back on the menu." Quoted from her website.

peanut butter cookies

At Anne's booking signing, I had the opportunity to sample her peanut butter cookies and lemon bars. The lemon bars were moist, awesome lemon flavor and great texture. The peanut butter cookies were good. I think making them with crunchy peanut butter would knock them out of the park. In general I do not like crunchy peanut butter but occasionally in cookies.

Lemon Squares

I am looking forward to creating some wonderful yummy goodness for my family. Will let you know in a future post some of my favorites.
May you table be bountiful~ blair

Port O' Bella Soup

Rustic Lentil Soup with Kale @ Food Connections.com

For a week now I have been in the mood to make my girl friend April"s Super Easy Vegetable Casserole but I have not had the right ingredients on hand. Today I found Rustic Lentil Soup with Kale at Food Connections. Now I wanted to eat both. 

Hmmm, I think it could have also been because of my failed attempt at mushroom soup last night. Well it really was not a failed attempt. It just did not turn out as I had hoped. I had frozen a gallon of sauted mushrooms. I thawed these slowly adding sea salt, black pepper, parley, basil, oregano, chipotle, and gran marsala. I sauted garlic and onion. Mix the sauted garlic and onion into the mushrooms. I pureed everything together adding a can of chicken stock and a little olive oil. Brought it to a light boil. The problem was it was exceptionally thick, almost like a paste. I served the soup over white rice. Joseph loved it. Anything mushroom and he could eat his weight. :0)

Porta Bella Mushrooms

This afternoon I got to thinking about the porta bella mushrooms I got yesterday and how disappointed I was in last nights soup. Then I stumbled upon Debra's recipe. As I started to lay out items April''s recipe kept coming to mind. So I added a little from April and a little from Debra. Voila!

Look at those beautiful colors!

I LOVE the smell of carrots cooking, yum!

No kale on hand so I used mustard green. Such vibrant color.

My younger daughter who does not like mushrooms told me this was one of my best soup's yet. WOW! The youngest daughter said that she was hanging on the fence even though her's did not have lentils as she "cannot stand them" and I had picked out all the mushrooms. Jeff thought it was "very good". I must admit it was really good. I hope that you enjoy this as much as we did. From prep to completion dinner was ready in less than 45 minutes. I will definitely be adding this to the menu rotation.

Sliced oranges were a lovely side dish.

Port O' Bella Soup 

7-8 C of water

6-8 porta bella mushrooms

4 small yams (I used red skin)

4 small red potatoes

4 carrots

1 red pepper

3 Tbsp garlic powder or several cloves of fresh

4 Tbsp dried parsley

1 Tbsp black pepper

1/2 tsp smoked chipotle

1 bag of lentils

1 bunch greens (I used mustard)

1 C of red wine (* See note below)

An hour before you plan to start cooking, rinse and soak lentils. Soak for 1 hour. If you have more time 2 hours works. You can also soak lentils the night before, drain and refrigerate.  Cover with cold water until it's an inch above lentils. Bring lentils to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cooking for 30-40 minutes. Remove from heat.

While lentils are cooking gently scrap black gills from the porta bella mushrooms, removing stems. Chop mushrooms into chunks. Dry pan fry mushrooms (*See note below) and set aside. 

Bring water to boil. Add herbs, chopped potatoes and the greens stems to boiling water. Saute chopped red pepper, carrots, and garlic if using fresh. Adding to the boiling mixture after 15 minutes the mushrooms, red peppers, carrots and garlic.  During the last 5 minutes add greens.

Serve soup over lentils. If added to vegetables it will thicken soup too much. 

Enjoy!


* Please Note: A quick dry-heat cooking method using a pan on a stove top. No oil is used and the pan is uncovered. 


* Note on Wine: Debra recommends adding a 1 C of port to her lentil soup. If I had port on hand, I definitely would have add it!

Brown Betty~ Who does not love apples, cinnamon and brown sugar?!

One of the greatest compliments my children can give me about my cooking is to ask for it again. Brown Betty is one of those dishes. I consider Brown Betty, aka apple crisp, to be one of the go to comfort foods. Just imagining warm apples with brown sugar and cinnamon makes my mouth water.

I was taking stock of my deep freeze this afternoon to make my meal plan for the up coming week, when I found a hidden bag of assorted chopped apples. It was a toss up, make coffee cake, apple muffins or Brown Betty. I set the apples on the kitchen counter and continued with the task at hand. The oldest daughter caught site of the bag of apples. She asked, "Your making a Brown Betty aren't you?!" So a Brown Betty it would be!

My 1st cookbook!

My recipe comes from the Kraft Cookbook my Mother bought me when I was about 18. I wonder if she could ever imagine how many times I would use this cookbook and how much I cherish it. The pages are starting to be ratty and yellowed. I would not trade this cookbook for anything. It was my first grown up cookbook. My first cookbook ever was a Better Homes and Garden Junior Cookbook. I have wonderful memories cooking with my Mom and cooking on my own. I have since past this gem on to my oldest daughter.

The traditional Brown Betty recipe can be found here.

May your table be bountiful~ blair

Well this did not even make it till dinner.
Sometimes you just gotta eat desert first!

Brown Betty 
6-8 apples of your choice
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/2 C oatmeal * see note below
1 C packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 C earth balance softened
2 Tbsp brown flax seed (optional)
2-4 Tbsp water (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place apples in baking dish, No need to grease. If your apples are not golden delish you might want to add 2-4 Tbsp of water.

Combine brown sugar, oatmeal, cinnamon and earth balance. Mix well. I add flax seed to give a little nutty flavor. Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Serve warm. We always eat this with vanilla soy or coconut ice cream. Just to cut the sweet!

Please note:

  I cannot wait till there is smellvision on the internet!

There is much controversy over consuming oatmeal due to the possibilities of cross contamination with wheat when grown.  My children seem to tolerate oatmeal just fine. If needed, you may omit the 1/2 C oatmeal and use 1 C of brown rice flour instead.
Enjoy!

Oh my golly Udi has done it again!

Drum roll please..............

                                                  
Cinnamon Raisin Bagels and Bread!  
They are Awesome! In West Virginia we enjoyed Pepperidge Farm cinnamon swirl bread. Golly I miss that bread. The bread was soft and moist. Not too sweet with the perfect amount of cinnamon and brown sugar. Udi's Cinnamon Raisin Bread is the closest thing I have found to PF. Udi's cinnamon raisin bread makes the best french toast ever!


May your table be bountiful~blair

Quinoa, the other breakfast cereal

Little man's favorite 3 bears book!

Our son has been on a porridge kick! It may have something to do with the fact that one of his all time favorite story is Goldilocks and the 3 bears! You think?!

As far as I am concerned porridge (aka oatmeal) is an amazing cereal. It is rib sticking and packed full of good stuff. I had been hesitant to serve him oats but so far it does not seem to bother him. Never the less, I do limit his porridge consumption to once or twice a week.

I’ve wanted to provide an alternative hot breakfast rather than eggs, french toast and pancakes. Little man use to eat Cream of Rice but stopped when he developed sensory issues with food a few years back. At the present time this seems to be subsiding. Yea!! Maybe in another month or two I will be able to reintroduce this to him.

Little man LOVES rice! He could eat it all day. When I serve it for breakfast I add almond milk, honey and cinnamon.

This morning I had some quinoa left over on the stove from last night’s dinner. Little man saw it and asked for it. I thought what the heck, he eats rice for breakfast occasionally why not quinoa?  He loved it so much he had 2 bowls!

Enjoy~ blair

Breakfast Quinoa

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1 cup rinsed quinoa

1 dash of cinnamon or nutmeg

1 dash salt

1 squeeze of honey (optional)

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a light boil. Lower heat, cook for about 35 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg. If you like add a squeeze of honey.

Sweet potato-tomato soup

Have I ever mentioned what wonderful cooks my daughters are? They are so imaginative and creative! Our girls throws caution to the wind and just "wings it"! I am a little too OCD to do that.  Our youngest created a pomegrante coffee cake over the holidays that was out of this world! If we can recreate it, I promise to share. 

Our family was blessed with a big batch of beautiful tomatoes.  The weather was so blustery that day. I thought about freezing tomatoes but the oldest suggested soup. MMMmm, I could use some warming up, so soup it was! The following is one of our oldest “wing it” soups.  

For those of you who have never blanched tomatoes before click here. It is so easy you may never buy canned again!

May your table be bountiful ~Blair

Sweet Potato-Tomato Soup

8-10 large tomatoes

Select Harvest sweet potato soup

2 tbsp Sea salt 

2 tbsp Black pepper

2 tbsp Cumin (dried)

1 tbsp Gran marsala (dried)

1 tbsp chiplote red pepper (dried)

large handfull basil (dried)

large handfull parsley (dried)

6 cooked baby carrots pureed

1 whole sweet onion

6 cloves of garlic

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

Add chopped garlic, carrots and onion to lightly oiled skillet cook till translucent. Blanch tomatoes. Combine tomatoes, garlic, carrots and onion to blender and liquefy. Place mixture into a stock pot bringing it to a slight boil. Add seasonings, adjust accordingly. Add sweet potato soup to mixture. Heat thoroughly.