Marshmallow Kitchen Art by Sheridan

I used to take two pieces of bread, spread peanut butter on one half and marshmallow on the other and smoosh them together, voila!!!  Sandwich for Sheridan.

Well, a few years and a few diagnosis’ later now here is what it takes to make sandwiches for my kids:

1. I get out six slices of bread.
2. I open a jar of Crunchy Barney Butter (almond butter that spreads just like peanut butter) and get enough on the knife to make one sandwich and put it on one slice of bread (I can’t double dip because Scott likes Barney Butter and double dipping would contaminate the jar with gluten.)
3. I open a jar of marshmallow (or nutella or jelly depending on the day) and get enough for three sandwiches (again, no double dipping) I put it all on one slice of bread and divide up between two other slices.
4. I smoosh Sterling’s sandwich together and give it to him.  (Sterling is allergic to peanuts so his sandwich can’t come anywhere near it so he gets his before I even open the PB.)
5. I can now get enough smooth peanut butter out of the jar to do one sandwich at a time.  (Scott doesn’t like smooth PB so it is OK to double dip)
6. I put one sandwich together and give it to Sheridan.
7. I put the other sandwich together, cut off the crusts and give it to Alyn.

NOTE: If Scott is eating a sandwich his has to be made first so the wheat bread doesn’t get near it BUT I have to make sure that no PB gets on the counter to touch Sterling’s sandwich.

<sigh>

It used to be so easy.

They're here!

Yes, it is true.  All those celiac patients out there can now have rice krispie treats!  General Mills has developed a brown rice based Rice Krispie that is gluten-free.  This is one cereal we thought at the beginning that Scott would be able to have in its regular form, but not so, it had malt in it.  In fact most breakfast cereals have malt in them.

I haven’t found these at our stores yet but we will be trying them. Brown rice is better for you for sure, but I’m not convinced it will pass my taste test in the marshmallow squares.  We’ll see.

Here is the website for Gluten Free Rice Krispies - with recipes of course!

My newest published story comes out soon.... my authors copies have arrived!

I’m up at 5:15 on a Sunday which means, hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up on some writing before the house wakes up.  The sun isn’t up yet and it sure is cool outside.  I’ve opened the window above my desk and the breeze is coming in smelling of mint.  We have a large (larger than I wanted) mint bed in our front yard.  Mint sure does travel, but I’d rather have it than the bindweed which it has successfully pushed out.

Spent a lot of time in the kitchen yesterday while both little children napped – a rarity.  Our young daughter rarely naps but needs to most days.  She is much more pleasant.  While they were sleeping I managed to:

1. cook and freeze 5lbs of hamburger (I always cook my hamburger before freezing to save time.)
2. freeze 1 qt buttermilk in 1/2 C measures (I didn’t get to use it and didn’t want it to go to waste)
3. cut up plums for 3 trays in the dehydrator
4. cooked (and burned dry) some golden beets – ruined the pan, will have to replace it.  I was reading recipes and didn’t notice the water was gone.
5. cooked 3 cups white rice
6. cooked a box of brown rice
7. put one tray of Granny Smiths in the dehydrator (I bought them to go with mashed sweet potatoes but all the potatoes have gone bad)
8. started to make chocolate chip cookies but ran out of time
9. cut up a pineapple
10. froze a bunch of beef I bought on Friday – lots of meals in the freezer now.

What I didn’t manage to do was get a nap which meant come evening I was tired and had to go to bed early.

A grocery trip on tap today after I read the paper for sales/coupons.  I don’t do much couponing any more because I buy very little convenience food.  Between the food allergies in our family and our desire to avoid chemicals there isn’t much left to buy.  I still buy boxed cereal because people are disappointed if I don’t.  I do buy gluten free cake mixes but the Betty Crocker ones have very little in the way of chemicals in them.  I also will buy lunchmeat which I know is bad for us, but is a staple – especially pepperoni.

The garden needs attention too and I still have those cookies to bake.  Other than that it’ll be watching the kids while Scott works outside I guess.  We also need to get the table we bought yesterday stripped – the previous owners tried to shellac it (it looks like, I’m not an expert but it is clear and sticky) and we need to get that stuff off.  Doubt that’ll be environmentally friendly to do.

Oh and need to take our oldest to practice parallel parking.  She takes her driving test on Thursday.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Makings of a Great, Easy Dessert

I’m not sure how I stumbled across this recipe, but I am so glad I did.  It is super easy, tastes like a dream and has very simple ingredients.  The original recipe appears here, but we eliminated most of the ingredients because we like our pudding pretty plain.

Crock Pot Caramel Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked rice (cooked a day ahead if possible)
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients in the slow cooker and heat on low until rice absorbs most of the liquid.  We like to stop it while it is a little “soupy” which makes it nicer when we reheat it later.  If you cook it the whole way initially it can get a bit dry if you reheat it.  It’s also delicious cold.

Using day old rice give you grains that don’t stick together.  Leftover rice is fine.  I have made it with newly cooked rice and it tastes fine, it just is clumpy.

I find my canned milk and sweetened condensed milk at discount stores for under $1 each which makes this recipe really reasonable – less than $3 for twelve or so servings.  And very satisfying.

• Hard cooked eggs
• Mayonaisse
• Horseradish Mustard

Cut eggs in half lengthwise, scoop yolks into a bowl.  Add enough mayo to moisten slightly.  Mix in horseradish mustard to taste – we like our bitey so add a couple tablespoons.  Add enough mayo to finish to the consistancy you like.  Spoon or pipe back into eggs.

As long as your mayo and mustard are gluten free, this recipe will be gluten free too.

Frugal, Fantastic Taco Bake

Well, that picture kind of looks awful, but let me tell you it tasted wonderful!  I found this recipe in Cook’s Country magazine back when we subscribed and four years later I finally tried it.  You can see a picture of it on their website here but can’t view the recipe unless you are a member (which costs money.)  I made major changes to the recipe and it was still great.  They used Ro-Tel tomatoes which we don’t like and more cheese and meat than we needed.

Those of you going gluten free know that Mexican food is your friend as long as you skip the flour tortillas and find (or make) a gluten free taco seasoning.  The only gluten free taco seasoning that we have found in the store is Ortega.   We used to make our own taco seasoning to make life easier but when we had the last baby we kind of ran out of time.  We’ll go back to it eventually and I’ll post the recipe.  It is cumin heavy and that is pricey.

Here is the recipe as I cooked it:

Taco Bake

• 2 11 oz cans organic diced tomatoes (purchased at Amelia’s for 50 cents each)
• 2 cups refried beans (from our freezer, recipe can be found here)
• 1 T hot sauce
• 1/4 C salsa (whatever you like)
• 2 C shredded cheddar cheese (purchased for $2/lb at Amelias)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 pkg Ortega taco seasoning (we never use the whole thing, only half)
• 12 El Paso Taco Shells (.99 at Amelias)

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 475 (yep that high.)
2. Drain juice from one can of tomatoes and save.
3. Combine one can tomatoes, beans and hot sauce and spread in bottom of 9×13 pan.  Sprinkle cheese over top.
4. Cook beef until brown.  Drain off fat and add tomatoes, salsa, taco seasoning and tomato juice.  Cook again until mixture is nearly dry – about 8 or 9 min on my stove.
5. Place taco shells into bean mixture upright so you can fill them.
6. Put in a little cheese and top with meat mixture.
7. Cover pan with foil and bake for 10 minutes or until bubbly.
8. Remove foil, cover with remaining cheese and bake until melted – about 5 or 6 minutes.  Enjoy!

That’s it.  Not a hard recipe and it makes a lot of food.  We had it with homemade apple sauce, skilled cooked apples and peas.

So I saved a bundle with finding these ingredients at Amelias and using homemade refried beans.  All the kids ate it and hubby and me!  Here is what was left at the end after 5 people had dinner (you can see my Christmas kitty trivet through the glass pan):

Leftovers for lunch!

Well, a few friends are in the WIC program and their children are either too young for peanut butter or they have an allergy so their WIC checks include a bean allowance – either a 16oz can or a pound of dried beans.  I always tell them to get the dried beans since when cooked they turn into so much more food than a single can but often they don’t know how to cook dried beans or make them taste good.

I always hand out this recipe that I got from www.allrecipes.com for Refried Beans without the Refry. I tell them to pick up a pound of pinto beans with their check and try this recipe in a crockpot.  (Which is something I think every home should have.  Skip the mixer and get a crock pot. Look at the Salvation Army, they go cheap there.)

We’ve modified this recipe to not include the jalapeno pepper.  We sometimes add the cumin, sometimes not.  I like it better without it.  We also sometimes leave out the garlic and it is still good.  We also sometimes use part chicken stock, part water but depending on the stock this can turn out salty.

This recipe makes a lot of beans after you smash them with a masher or a big spoon. (High tech, right?!?) So I save the liquid I drained off the beans for freezing.  I freeze the beans in 1 or 2 cup lumps in a freezer bag and add into it 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of the liquid.  You always have to add liquid when thawing and using the bean liquid gives them more taste.

DO kids eat this?  You bet!  My 16, 2 and 1 year olds go to town on it.  If yours is skeptical try melting a little cheese over it or using it to stretch taco meat in tacos or nachos.

And yes, this is gluten free.  Just check the beans to make sure they are safe.  All beans are now saying they may contain wheat.  We just look them over well and rinse them before cooking and hubby has never had a problem.

This is another make at home alternative to an over processed canned good that you no longer have to buy.  Cook once every month or so and keep it in your freezer!  We used some last night in this great baked taco recipe.  Yum!

Happy Teen at Thanksgiving

I love holidays but I have to admit that Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holidays as an adult.  As a child I used to go to my maternal Grandmother’s house where there were always a ton of people and three shifts (or more) at the table since my Mom has a large family.  THAT was a fun Thanksgiving.

Now I’m the cook – except I try to get my Mom to do the turkey because I hate turkey – the smell, the taste, all of it.  Ick.  (My Grandma always had duck in addition to the turkey which I did like.)  And now that we have to deal with food allergies and diet restrictions for health reasons cooking the meal itself has become very difficult.  Cross contamination is hard to deal with in a big messy kitchen too.

Celiacs can’t have bread so that means no stuffing in the bird (which my dad likes), no flour based gravy (which is the only kind my Mom likes to make) and no pies (Eek!) for hubby which is all kind of disappointing.  Luckily he isn’t keen on turkey either so this past year we made a beef roast with cornstarch gravy for the two of us while everyone else had the bird.  I enjoyed that a lot better.

At the church booksale I found a neat book called Thanksgiving 101 which is written by a man who used to teach a class on “doing Thanksgiving.”  You can read my book review of it here. 
For those who have to put on this meal or who just want some more recipes or the history of the holiday, this is an easy and fun read. It does contain some gluten free recipes and others that can be easily adapted so there would be something for the celiac at your table in here too.

The first recipe we made, and the only one so far, has been the pizza dough recipe.  Scott has made it a couple times now – including adding herbs into the crust – and our whole family has eaten it, even the teenager who avoids GF like the plague. 

The crust is not like pizza crust though, not chewy and doughy or thin and crispy.  It is more like a pastry crust I had a pizza on at some point – I think it was a deep dish pizza.  It is “flaky” which really equals “dry” but you have to oil the pan you bake it on so it has a fatty kind of mouth feel similar to a croissant. And it gets brown which I love. Some won’t.

Scott, our master pizza maker, says to follow the directions exactly when making it and make sure you allow it to brown.  It does reheat well in the microwave or the oven and the crust does not get any browner.  We use DelGrosso’s pasta sauce as the sauce and an Italian cheese blend and sandwich pepperoni (the big ones!)

Tonight we just had some take-out pizza from the local shop which was gummy and greasy and I was envying Scott his crisp, brown, flaky pizza.  Not often I envy a gluten-free product, but this is one I actually asked for a few nights ago – I had a taste for it.

We’ll have to try the biscuits next.

My last few trips to Amelia’s have landed me a wide range of Gluten Free items from snacks and canned goods to the prime purchases of baking mixes.  Yep, those overly expensive mixes that we wish we could bake up every day to keep cookies and cake in the house for our Gluten Free family but just can’t afford to.

Our Amelias has stocked both the Betty Crocker Gluten Free mixes and Gluten Free Pantry mixes in the last few weeks.  Just Saturday I picked up a Gluten Free Pantry mix for 99 cents (yes, under a dollar) that you can see here is much more expensive at our Wegmans.  It was not expired, not even close.  So a couple of those went into my cart for baking days.  (I still have a few chocolate chip cookie mixes left and boy are those good even to me the non-celiac!)

If you don’t have an Amelia’s near you but you do have something similar, keep your eyes open for a bargain!