So first of all, let me just say that I am SOOOO glad that our Winn Dixie now has a Gluten Free section. That's freakin' FANTASTIC!!! I can now just go down the street to get a good bit of the stuff that we need for our son and not have to go all the way to the health food store for anything other than Rice Chex and DeBoles rice pastas... we actually have a nice selection of crackers, snacks, cereal bars, flour, and other things they don't even HAVE at our local health food stores (b/c as I have mentioned before, our city apparently does not need a Whole Foods... HA)... among those are the Allergaroo products. Our store has 3 varieties and all of them are Gluten, Soy, and Milk free as well as being free of the top 8 allergens!!! AWESOME.. but how do they taste? Well, they were developed by a mom of a child with a wide array of allergies that was searching for products that she could easily buy for her child that DON'T take forever to make and you don't have to have specially shipped. Let me just say, she hit a HOME RUN with these products. My son went nuts over them, and I felt GOOD giving it to him. The ingredients are simple, non GMO veggies and chicken mixed in instead of red meats. We got him the Chili Mac for his first one and while they are expensive for such a small portion ($3.49 a pop at Winn Dixie), they are very good. We won't be buying them on a regular basis b/c lets face it, that's just not in the budget right now.. but these will be a good alternative when we need something quick that's not a drive-thru salad.
Check them out: http://www.allergaroo.com/
they for sure got a thumbs up from us!!!
Showing posts with label gluten free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gluten free. Show all posts
Saturday, September 26, 2009
vegan/ gluten and casein free ranch dressing!
My son has been SO disappointed to not have ranch dressing.. like.. ever.. so I did a little searching and found a recipe!!! YEA!!!!
1 cup vegan mayonnaise (if you eat eggs, you don't have to make this vegan.. but it can still be gluten and casien free with regular mayo like the light mayo that I use for him)
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh chopped dill or 1/4 tsp dried
1 cup vegan mayonnaise (if you eat eggs, you don't have to make this vegan.. but it can still be gluten and casien free with regular mayo like the light mayo that I use for him)
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh chopped dill or 1/4 tsp dried
Adventures in Gluten free cooking: Shephard's Pie success!
Yum yum! We LOVE some Shephard's Pie in this house! So, it was time to make some that everyone could enjoy. It turned out SO good there was none left!
5 medium potatoes
Smart Balance Light or other gluten free vegan butter
Rice milk (or whatever gluten and casien free milk you prefer)
1.5lbs LEAN ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup cut up carrots
1 medium onion
1/2 cup partially frozen green peas
2 tbsp vegan shortening
1 can beef broth (gluten free!!!)
gluten free all purpose flour
salt and pepper
Peel and cut up potatoes. Place in large pot and cover with water. Set on medium high heat to boil until soft.
While the potatoes cook, place ground meat in pan to cook and cook until brown. Preheat oven to broil.
Place cut up carrots in pot of salted water and boil until soft. Same with onions.
When meat is done and veggies are cooked, place in casserole dish and mix together. Mix in partially frozen peas.
In new pot melt shortening over medium low heat. Add flour a scoop at a time until it makes a thick paste like roux. Slowly stir in can of broth and stir until boiling. By this time it should be thickened. When finished, pour over meat and veggie mixture. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper.
Drain potatoes and mash. Stir in milk and butter until desired consistency (I used about 3 tbsp butter and about 1/2 cup of milk, but we like ours creamy). Once potatoes are mashed up and ready, spoon over meat, veggies, and gravy mixture.
Place pan in oven to broil. Cook for about 15 minutes or until hot through and tips of potatoes are browned. Remove from oven, scoop in bowls, and enjoy!
5 medium potatoes
Smart Balance Light or other gluten free vegan butter
Rice milk (or whatever gluten and casien free milk you prefer)
1.5lbs LEAN ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup cut up carrots
1 medium onion
1/2 cup partially frozen green peas
2 tbsp vegan shortening
1 can beef broth (gluten free!!!)
gluten free all purpose flour
salt and pepper
Peel and cut up potatoes. Place in large pot and cover with water. Set on medium high heat to boil until soft.
While the potatoes cook, place ground meat in pan to cook and cook until brown. Preheat oven to broil.
Place cut up carrots in pot of salted water and boil until soft. Same with onions.
When meat is done and veggies are cooked, place in casserole dish and mix together. Mix in partially frozen peas.
In new pot melt shortening over medium low heat. Add flour a scoop at a time until it makes a thick paste like roux. Slowly stir in can of broth and stir until boiling. By this time it should be thickened. When finished, pour over meat and veggie mixture. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper.
Drain potatoes and mash. Stir in milk and butter until desired consistency (I used about 3 tbsp butter and about 1/2 cup of milk, but we like ours creamy). Once potatoes are mashed up and ready, spoon over meat, veggies, and gravy mixture.
Place pan in oven to broil. Cook for about 15 minutes or until hot through and tips of potatoes are browned. Remove from oven, scoop in bowls, and enjoy!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Adventures in Gluten Free Cooking... Gluten free/Casein free Spaghetti and Meatballs!
My kids LOVE spaghetti and meatballs. I usually avoid making meatballs and just do meat sauce, but they were insistant that we needed meatBALLS this time and nothing else would work. So, I made some meatballs... and much to my surprise, they were good! I did do them kinda the "easy" way but they were so yummy and even my husband liked them. Here is what I did:
-1lb lean groud beef or turkey
-1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs of some kind (this time I used some broken rice bread pieces that I had saved, toasted them, and ground them in the food processor.. turned out perfect!!! I've also used brown rice cereal done the same way... keep in mind that Rice Krispies are NOT gluten free!!!)
-2 tbsp gluten free ketchup (like Anne's Organic)
-2 tsp garlic powder
-1 large egg
-1/2 medium onion, chopped (food processor would be great)
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning mix
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp basalmic vinegar
- red pepper flakes to taste for a little extra kick (optional!)
- some olive oil for the hands
First I preheated the oven to 350. Then I lined the cookie sheet with wax paper.
mix all ingredients together in a big bowl :-) Don't over mix though... just so everything is mixed together.
Roll into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Place on cookie sheet to bake. They will take about 20 minutes to cook.. longer for larger balls.
While those are cooking, I put some rice spaghetti noodles on to cook.
For sauce, I got a large can of tomato sauce, a medium sized can of Italian stewed tomatoes, and a small can of tomato paste. I mixed all of those together, chopped up the other half of the onion I had used earlier, and put it in the sauce to boil. Seasoned with garlic, italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and bay leaves and left it on to cook until everything else was ready.
My kids all gobbled it down.. even the little one and she's picky! :-) And I loved it too.
-1lb lean groud beef or turkey
-1/2 cup gluten free bread crumbs of some kind (this time I used some broken rice bread pieces that I had saved, toasted them, and ground them in the food processor.. turned out perfect!!! I've also used brown rice cereal done the same way... keep in mind that Rice Krispies are NOT gluten free!!!)
-2 tbsp gluten free ketchup (like Anne's Organic)
-2 tsp garlic powder
-1 large egg
-1/2 medium onion, chopped (food processor would be great)
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning mix
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp basalmic vinegar
- red pepper flakes to taste for a little extra kick (optional!)
- some olive oil for the hands
First I preheated the oven to 350. Then I lined the cookie sheet with wax paper.
mix all ingredients together in a big bowl :-) Don't over mix though... just so everything is mixed together.
Roll into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Place on cookie sheet to bake. They will take about 20 minutes to cook.. longer for larger balls.
While those are cooking, I put some rice spaghetti noodles on to cook.
For sauce, I got a large can of tomato sauce, a medium sized can of Italian stewed tomatoes, and a small can of tomato paste. I mixed all of those together, chopped up the other half of the onion I had used earlier, and put it in the sauce to boil. Seasoned with garlic, italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and bay leaves and left it on to cook until everything else was ready.
My kids all gobbled it down.. even the little one and she's picky! :-) And I loved it too.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Adventures in Gluten Free Cooking... fried chicken
Yeh, I'm a southern girl at the core. I hesitate to admit it and I think my husband is going to pass out if he reads that, but I was raised by southern parents with southern values and southern food. When we first decided to go gluten and casein free for our son, while my husband's first concern was what to do about pizza, mine was fried chicken.. LOL. Ironic considering that we are healthy eaters and don't even cook much fried food, but every once in a while some friend chicken just needs to be made, ya know? So, I searched a little on the web for recipes and didn't like any of them... so I said "forget it, I've known how to cook my own for a long time.. I can figure this out." I started thinking about how I could do it. I had a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. Perfect. I had Rice Milk. That will work b/c I didn't really want to do eggs even though we tolerate them just fine. And I have a cabinet full of spices (McCormick!). Heck yeh, we can do this!!! So here is what I did:
5 boneless chicken breasts (I'm sure you can use bone in or thighs or whatever, but we prefer breast)
2 cup All Purpose Flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 cup rice milk
Olive oil (EVOO or Light)
I took the thawed chicken and soaked it in the rice milk. I should have soaked it longer, so I'd recommend soaking it in the rice milk for at least an hour in the fridge.
1 hr later or whenever you come back, Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Mix spices into flour in a medium sized bowl.
Get a large fry pan and fill to about 1/2- 1 in of olive oil and place over medium high heat.
When you take the chicken out, dredge it in the flour mixture and place into pan to fry, turning somewhat frequently as the color changes. Once the flour mixture starts to brown, take chicken out and place in baking dish. Bake chicken at 450 for about 18 minutes or until done all through (depending on how long you left it in the fry pan).
Serve quickly with yummy sides :-). We did sweet potato fries and green beans. YUMMO!!! All the kids gobbled up their dinner and even my husband was impressed with my fine culinary skills. Yeh, I rock. It didn't look pretty so I didn't take pics, but next time I'll know more what I'm doing and maybe I can make it look as good as it tasted.. lol.
5 boneless chicken breasts (I'm sure you can use bone in or thighs or whatever, but we prefer breast)
2 cup All Purpose Flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 cup rice milk
Olive oil (EVOO or Light)
I took the thawed chicken and soaked it in the rice milk. I should have soaked it longer, so I'd recommend soaking it in the rice milk for at least an hour in the fridge.
1 hr later or whenever you come back, Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Mix spices into flour in a medium sized bowl.
Get a large fry pan and fill to about 1/2- 1 in of olive oil and place over medium high heat.
When you take the chicken out, dredge it in the flour mixture and place into pan to fry, turning somewhat frequently as the color changes. Once the flour mixture starts to brown, take chicken out and place in baking dish. Bake chicken at 450 for about 18 minutes or until done all through (depending on how long you left it in the fry pan).
Serve quickly with yummy sides :-). We did sweet potato fries and green beans. YUMMO!!! All the kids gobbled up their dinner and even my husband was impressed with my fine culinary skills. Yeh, I rock. It didn't look pretty so I didn't take pics, but next time I'll know more what I'm doing and maybe I can make it look as good as it tasted.. lol.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Trio bars rock
Okay, so since Nutrigrain bars have been out, we've been needing a replacement for a quick snack we can carry with us that he would enjoy like that. Well, I heard something about the Trio bars avaliable at Costco, so we looked for them and bought a box. I figured if my son didn't like them, my husband would eat them. He'll eat anything.
Right on the box it says Gluten free, Casein free.. hey! How easy is that!!! I love that :-) So, we eagerly opened them the next day at snack time. My son loved them.. as did my 2 year old. Every bar contains nuts, seeds, and fruit, so I feel good about giving them to them. It came in a variety pack that had Cranberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Tropical flavor. This is the ingredients in the Cranberry: Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios, Cranberries, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Dates, Raisins, Rice Malt, Natural Flavors, Evaporated Cane Juice and Sea Salt. (*Natural Flavors - Dextrose, Corn Starch, Water, Silicon Dioxide (Anti-Caking Agent))
They are a little pricey.. at Costco they are about $16 and some change.. but they are so worth it. I just have to quit eating them as I'm mildly allergic to Almonds, but these bars taste SO good.. LOL.
http://www.mrsmays.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=26
Right on the box it says Gluten free, Casein free.. hey! How easy is that!!! I love that :-) So, we eagerly opened them the next day at snack time. My son loved them.. as did my 2 year old. Every bar contains nuts, seeds, and fruit, so I feel good about giving them to them. It came in a variety pack that had Cranberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Tropical flavor. This is the ingredients in the Cranberry: Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios, Cranberries, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Dates, Raisins, Rice Malt, Natural Flavors, Evaporated Cane Juice and Sea Salt. (*Natural Flavors - Dextrose, Corn Starch, Water, Silicon Dioxide (Anti-Caking Agent))
They are a little pricey.. at Costco they are about $16 and some change.. but they are so worth it. I just have to quit eating them as I'm mildly allergic to Almonds, but these bars taste SO good.. LOL.
http://www.mrsmays.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=26
Sunday, July 5, 2009
A Gluten Free/Casein Free 4th of July!
My husband and I are both very patriotic. He was a Navy man, and several members of my family are/were military.... so of course we love to enjoy our 4th of July! Now that our son is on the GF/CF diet, we had to come up with a new menu for dinner... also we are eating healthier too anyways, so it had to fit in our diet as well. Solution? Turkey burgers on Millet buns with Tofutti "cheese", Hebrew National all BEEF franks on Tapioca buns, and individual fruit salad cups! Can't beat that!!! :-) Following dinner, we went to catch a local minor league baseball game and stayed up late to watch fireworks after the game! Talk about a fun filled evening! (always make sure to use GF/CF CONDIMENTS as well! Annie's organic ketchup is a good choice and Fench's mustard! We're also looking into vegan mayo for him)
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Gluten free/ casein free rice krispy treats!
We made healthy Rice krispy treats last night with all 3 kids using gluten free/casein free ingredients and TA-DAAAA! I was mommy of the year!the recipe was surprisingly simple:
3 tsp GF/CF butter (I used Smart Balance with Olive Oil, but it does contain fish oil if you happen to be vegan.. so you can find a vegan butter that would work)
2 cups Ricemellow (which is a whole tub)
6 cups puffed rice cereal (I used Arrowhead Mills b/c it only had one ingredient!)
1 tsp vanilla
melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add in Ricemellow and let warm. Stir in vanilla. Do not overheat the ricemellow or it tastes funny!!!Then I put the puffed rice in a big bowl and poured in the Ricemellow/butter mixture. then with MOIST hands (if they aren't moist, you'll end up with sticky puffed rice all over you!!!) mix it all together, then press into pan to cool.SUPER easy!
I read that you can add carob chips (like chocolate chips) to this to add more sweet... but we did not. They do NOT taste exactly like a gooey rice krispy treat, but they are a lighter taste and were very good. It's different to those of us that grew up on those sickeningly sweet treats, but they are good. A lot of the GF/CF stuff is like that.. good in it's own right. It's funny, though.. since we started eating healthier and since we started this diet for our son, I can taste every chemical and all the junk in the foods I used to eat.. like certain types of peanut butter that I used to just love now taste like chemicals to me as I've gotten so used to the natural peanut butter. It's all what you get used to I suppose. One day at a time, though, we're making the change, and it's definately for the better!!!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
What day is this?
I guess you could say we aren't even really to day one yet of dealing with our son. We've known for a long time that he was different. We've known since he was three that something wasn't quite right, but because of other issues going on with the family dynamic, it was usually attributed to that for him.
At three years old his preschool teacher warned me that she was concerned for the child I was pregnant with.. that she feard my older son might hurt him. She suggested we have him tested for Autism. Since that day it's always been in the back of my mind. The signs fit. He had most all the signs of Aspergers. Family members have voiced concern, friends have pointed out odd things he does or his speech.. it's always been there. We've taken him to different pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists. Since that day when that preschool teacher said the word Autism, though, it's always been in the back of my mind. As a mother, it's a nightmare when you're left wondering why your child is different and watching him struggle to make friends, missing social cues, not understanding consequences, and so on. It's confusing to know that your child is so incredibly intelligent and to see such beautiful things in him, but at the same time seeing how lonely and dark his little world can be when it should be bright and happy.
Well, through it all, we've faught for him and looked for ways to help him. When his psychologist finally said the word "Autism" I about jumped for joy, which was a really odd reaction. It's not that I wanted to hear that about my son. I certainly was not happy about it... I was just so incredibly relieved to have someone finally see what I had been seeing for so long. I actually went home and felt all the air leave my body and just sunk into the couch and cuddled with my laptop for a while to escape the reality of what had just happened. Then, after a little while, I started researching again. I started talking to my friends and making connections with people that knew what I was going through.. what we were all going through.. and could help me start the journey. I was guided by a friend of a friend (who has now become my friend in turn) to Jenny McCarthy's site. Okay, I must admit, I am a HUGE fan of Jenny McCarthy. While I was on bedrest with my middle child, I was given a copy of Belly Laughs and I just devoured it. I of course remembered her from her MTV days and was perplexed by the idea of her writing a book about pregnancy.. but it was a great read and kept me laughing through my terribly difficult and trying pregnancy and the premature birth of my son... soon after which I was given Baby Laughs. (Yeh, my family knows me.. laughter is what keeps me going!!!). I read Life Laughs almost as soon as it was released and eventually picked up Mother Warriors just because she wrote it, but never read it. Anyways, when I started reading the site http://www.generationrescue.org/, I felt this calm come over me. I had a direction.
Within a day, I had also found the Talk About Curing Autism site as well and dug my Mother Warriors book out of storage. It was time to make a change for my son. I was willing to try almost anything. Medicating him was breaking my heart, but I'm also still terrified to stop completely. Regardless, we decided to give the Gluten free/Casein free diet a chance. Our son had always had problems with an upset tummy, so this could only help. He was already on limited dairy, it couldn't be too much more work to cut it out completely, right? HAHAHA.. I had NO clue what all had gluten and casein in it!!! Really, it wasn't that hard though.. we just had to rethink our way of buying and cooking. We have found alternatives to almost everything that our son likes... some more expensive of course, but we're doing a lot of fresh, whole foods as well and that really helps keep cost down. We've been on the diet about a week or two now.. I can't even remember... but so far so good. We're learning as we go and we're getting through it as a family. We're already seeing a change in his attitude and he's starting to follow directions better. He also came to me and told me his tummy didn't hurt anymore. That right there makes it all worth it. This is by no means easy on him... it's hard to tell a 8 year old he can't have chocolate chip cookies like he always had before, but we're learning and finding alternatives!
At three years old his preschool teacher warned me that she was concerned for the child I was pregnant with.. that she feard my older son might hurt him. She suggested we have him tested for Autism. Since that day it's always been in the back of my mind. The signs fit. He had most all the signs of Aspergers. Family members have voiced concern, friends have pointed out odd things he does or his speech.. it's always been there. We've taken him to different pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists. Since that day when that preschool teacher said the word Autism, though, it's always been in the back of my mind. As a mother, it's a nightmare when you're left wondering why your child is different and watching him struggle to make friends, missing social cues, not understanding consequences, and so on. It's confusing to know that your child is so incredibly intelligent and to see such beautiful things in him, but at the same time seeing how lonely and dark his little world can be when it should be bright and happy.
Well, through it all, we've faught for him and looked for ways to help him. When his psychologist finally said the word "Autism" I about jumped for joy, which was a really odd reaction. It's not that I wanted to hear that about my son. I certainly was not happy about it... I was just so incredibly relieved to have someone finally see what I had been seeing for so long. I actually went home and felt all the air leave my body and just sunk into the couch and cuddled with my laptop for a while to escape the reality of what had just happened. Then, after a little while, I started researching again. I started talking to my friends and making connections with people that knew what I was going through.. what we were all going through.. and could help me start the journey. I was guided by a friend of a friend (who has now become my friend in turn) to Jenny McCarthy's site. Okay, I must admit, I am a HUGE fan of Jenny McCarthy. While I was on bedrest with my middle child, I was given a copy of Belly Laughs and I just devoured it. I of course remembered her from her MTV days and was perplexed by the idea of her writing a book about pregnancy.. but it was a great read and kept me laughing through my terribly difficult and trying pregnancy and the premature birth of my son... soon after which I was given Baby Laughs. (Yeh, my family knows me.. laughter is what keeps me going!!!). I read Life Laughs almost as soon as it was released and eventually picked up Mother Warriors just because she wrote it, but never read it. Anyways, when I started reading the site http://www.generationrescue.org/, I felt this calm come over me. I had a direction.
Within a day, I had also found the Talk About Curing Autism site as well and dug my Mother Warriors book out of storage. It was time to make a change for my son. I was willing to try almost anything. Medicating him was breaking my heart, but I'm also still terrified to stop completely. Regardless, we decided to give the Gluten free/Casein free diet a chance. Our son had always had problems with an upset tummy, so this could only help. He was already on limited dairy, it couldn't be too much more work to cut it out completely, right? HAHAHA.. I had NO clue what all had gluten and casein in it!!! Really, it wasn't that hard though.. we just had to rethink our way of buying and cooking. We have found alternatives to almost everything that our son likes... some more expensive of course, but we're doing a lot of fresh, whole foods as well and that really helps keep cost down. We've been on the diet about a week or two now.. I can't even remember... but so far so good. We're learning as we go and we're getting through it as a family. We're already seeing a change in his attitude and he's starting to follow directions better. He also came to me and told me his tummy didn't hurt anymore. That right there makes it all worth it. This is by no means easy on him... it's hard to tell a 8 year old he can't have chocolate chip cookies like he always had before, but we're learning and finding alternatives!
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