laborofwonder

Where Whine Meets Wine

Jun 27

I Was Feelin’ Saucy

by motherofwonder

So I went to a cousin’s graduation party over the weekend, and my aunt sent me home with TONS of food!! So yesterday as I was looking through all the leftovers and trying to decide what kind of meal I could make with it- and really not wanting to have to go to the store… I had a gallon bag full of veggies (broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, peppers, and celery) but no meat. Suddenly, I remember that when I was separating chicken to put in the freezer, one of the bags had been leaking so I’d rewrapped it it another bag…which meant I did have chicken after all. So I decided on a stir fry. I should mention that this was what I wanted because I was sent home from some BWW (Buffalo Wild Wings) sauce that I thought would be perfect for a stir fry!

So I cut up the chicken in stir-fryable pieces, threw them in the pan, and then realized I’d forgotten the container of sauce on my Auntie’s counter! Shoot! I was so disappointed. And I knew that I’d just thrown out the last of our very expired teriyaki sauce last week when I cleaned the fridge out! So just when I was contemplating running to the store after all (or more likely, sending hubbyman to the store)…I thought I’d just look up some stir fry sauces and see if I could happen to have the ingredients. Turns out, I didn’t. But I had similar ingredients. It turned out AMAZING. Hubby was so impressed!! He even asked that I make it in bulk and freeze so that it can be used again and again! I’d call it a success!!

So as I cooked the chicken, I got out all the veggies (leaving out the celery) out, and began to throw together the sauce. True to my normal form, I don’t have exact measurements for you, but hopefully close enough! And it’s all about taste anyways! So if you like more of one ingredient, and less of another- do that!

4 chicken breasts cut into strips

as much and many veggies as you want (I did throw the tomatoes in, but not until the very end)

sauce: 3/4 cup soy sauce (our favorite brand just went gluten free! so exciting!!), 1/2 cup sunflower oil (you could use olive oil, or if you had some- sesame oil would be perfect), 2 1/2 tsp (ish) ginger (I may have used a little more, but I like ginger), minced garlic (about 1/4 tbs), some toasted sesame seeds, and some crushed red pepper (maybe a little too much but it just swooshed on out of the jar), about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and maybe a tbs or two of honey (because that’s all I had.) Oh yeah, and a couple pinches of corn starch to thicken it up. See, I told you it’s not exact, but it was good… maybe next time I’ll get specifics.  I also took pictures, but for some reason they’re not wanting to upload…so I’ll have to add them as soon as they do! Ok, so still can’t find my camera (boo!), so I had to use my phone…so they’re small and not great quality, but they’re there, so there you have it!

I may have had some swooshing out of the toasted sesame seeds as well...

 

It looks like we’re going to have our first sunny day in weeks today! So I’m hoping to get out and enjoy it!!

Chicken Recipes

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May 10

Spicy Mama

by motherofwonder

You would think my husband would know my cooking by now, right? You would think that after all these years he’d know to take a “taste test bite” before he starts shoveling it in like someone who’s never tasted the wonders of food before. Well, apparently, when hungry, that goes out the window. I had gotten this amazing cheese at the grocery store and was excited to try it out! I made “macaroni” (or my homemade version of) for the kids and so I was able to pull this amazing dish out of the leftovers that are currently taking over my fridge. Which brings me back to my original point- the food shoveling. You see, the cheese I used was cheddar. Habanero cheddar. And since both hubbyman and I are spice enthusiasts, I thought this would be a great way to spice up plain ‘ol macaroni. (pun not intended, but what a happy coincidence! *wink*) I was so excited to see his expression! Unfortunately, he though it was just plain and shoveled it in, only to have his mouth catch on fire, and exclaim, “What did you put in this?!” I’m not sure if he thought it was another prank or not (see here, here, and here), but I just about cried because I’d been so excited about my new twist on a classic that I did not see this coming at all! I probably should have gone with it being a prank.

Spicy MamaRoni

noodles (I used rice)

Parmigiano Reggiano (or whatever kind of parmesan you have on hand)

Habanero Cheddar (for a little kick but less overall spice, you could use pepper jack)

milk

butter

flour (I used coconut flour)

oregano

cracked pepper

garlic

seasoning salt

It’s really, really, really simple. Boil your water, cook your noodles, and while noodles are cooking in a sauce pan over med. heat cook 1 cup of milk, 2 tbs butter, and 2 tbs flour. Bring to a boil, about 2 min. Add in cheese. O used about 1/2 cup of the habanero cheddar and 1/2 parm. Add in seasoning (I just used pinches of mine because the cheese already had so much flavor). I also added in about a cup-cup and a half of cubed chicken, because I had it on hand. I think it would be really great with spinach and maybe even broccoli. That’s how I’ll try it next time. I garnished with some diced red onions that needed to be used up and it added a nice crunch!  This was seriously, so, so, so good! And once he knew it was spicy, hubbyman also agreed it was good. And he had some for lunch the next day and declared it really good. As in something he’d like to eat again…when he’s been properly informed of the spice factor.

(end note: I highly recommend going to your local grocer and get the most flavor infused variety of cheese you can find, and then coming up with ways to use it! Put it in a recipe that you already make that maybe could use a little excitement!  Plus, cheese freezes pretty well, so cut it/shred it up and freeze it in “this is how much I’d use before it goes bad” amounts!)

Gluten Free Pasta Recipes

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Apr 27

Impressively simple

by motherofwonder

So this is quickly becoming a favorite, at least for me… or I see it becoming a favorite is probably a better term because I have only actually made this twice, but it is so yummy!

It’s pretty much the same chicken recipe that I used here With a few new twists. I found that this chicken is both delicious and easy. And since we also have guests this week it’s a good meal to make if you want to impress with your culinary skills and stick to a time limit and a budget! I think this would also be good served over rice (or quinoa), but I wasn’t sure when I made it, so I skipped that part. Next time, I think I’ll add rice. This time I used a ton of chicken (I figured it would be a crazy week so I cooked up between 6-8 (I can’t remember which now!) chicken breasts that I’d cut into strips. After cooking through I took out about 1/3 of the chicken to save for future meals. If I were only cooking the amount for this dish I would have cooked the “mix ins” along with it. The “mix ins” were one yellow onion, about 2+ cups of fresh spinach, about 2/3 cup of fresh chopped mango, about 1 cup of Trader Joe’s tomato-less salsa (a corn and chili salsa- so, so yummy!) with a few drizzles of olive oil. I did this in a pan along side the chicken.

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Once I removed the chicken to save for the rest of the week, I added in the “mix ins,” cooking over a low heat while stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. I also realized at this point that I’d forgotten to cook the chicken in lime, so I squeezed some extra lime juice in the mix. Voila! 20 minutes and dinner was done! And delicious!

See, wouldn’t this look terrific on top of rice?

So good, so easy, sooo… go make it!

Chicken Gluten Free Life According To Me

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Apr 18

Something Fishy Is Going On

by motherofwonder

This year’s April Fool’s pranks have become the never-ending-prank! Since that fateful day hubby tied the hose down with a string, the hose now likes to “stick” as if being held down. About once a week you turn on the faucet and the hose starts spraying… all of these times it happened to me! Never to him! And a couple of times there’s been witnesses to these water drenching attacks! Now I hadn’t told hubby about it, because (obviously!) I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction that would go along with it! Until yesterday- he witnessed it. Boo! Hiss! But, he was nice enough to make dinner and do clean up so I guess I won’t hold it against him. At least not today.

We know lots of fisher-people (both men and women) and so we have lots of potential for (free!!) fish, especially over the summer! While we previously haven’t taken full advantage of this, this year we definitely plan to! Anyhow, I had a walleye in the freezer, just awaiting the hubs to skin and bone (I just can’t)… and he went ahead and did it all! Yeah hubby! Ok, I did make the batter… just so you know I wasn’t laying out, drinking mimosas in the sunshine while he slaves away or anything.

Anyway, this fish is so good, the kids love it, we love it… and if you’re starting to know me and my cooking at all, you know I always make enough for a)hubby to take to work tomorrow and b)at least one lunch for the kids (I try and only really cook one meal a day), so when I say there were NO leftovers– that’s a big deal.

Finger lickin’ Fish Bites Batter

1/2 cup flour (I used GF all-purpose)

2/3 cup corn starch

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 cup water

Stir the flour, starch, sugar, salt, and pepper together. If you especially like a certain seasoning- add it in! I added extra salt, pepper, and some Lowry’s seasoning to the mix as well. Because we like it (obviously!) plus the all-purpose flour we have has garbanzo beans as a main ingredient and I wanted to help hide some of the “vegetable-y-ness” of it. (*note: could not taste it -the beans- at all! The best batch we’ve probably ever had!) Add in the water stirring thoroughly. I had to add in a little extra water to mine because it just seemed a little thicker than normal, but I normally make it with all the gluten-free flours and not the all purpose, so I’m thinking that may be the difference. Anyhow, if you find it to be too thick, just add in water by the tbs.

I’m a new fan of grape seed oil. It’s pretty flavorless, but much better for you. You can, of course, fry it in whatever your oil of choice is. If you do use something like grape seed oil, you can always drizzle some olive oil over afterwards for the taste.

side note: this was enough batter for a whole walley plus two chicken breasts cut into strips. I wish I would have done another two chicken breasts so we would have had leftovers!


Totally Rockin’ Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup mayo (homemade or otherwise)

2 big, juicy pickles (or 2 tbs relish)

2 good squirts of lemon juice (or 1 tsp if you need specifics)

Mix it all up and enjoy! It is so yummy! There was enough to cover all the food plus have a little left over! I know I’ve said this a couple of times already, but I can’t emphasize this enough…I wish we were having it for lunch today, and as Erik’s probably currently scarfing down the yogurt he got instead, he’s probably thinking the same thing!



Family Gluten Free Recipes

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Apr 13

We’re expecting

by motherofwonder

As I sat out on my deck enjoying the beautiful weather yesterday, I couldn’t help but thinking, I’m going to cry if it snows again. Leave it to my husband to burst my bubble, but… we’re supposed to have snow this weekend (Ok, so he didn’t choose this weather, but because he informed me, that really becomes a moot point.). And I really may cry if we do see snow. We have, after all, had snow since October.

Anyways, this had me thinking about expectations… we expect spring to follow suit and spring into summer, but here that is not always the case.  It likes to dabble it’s way in and out until we’re in full meltdown, and then it’s winter again. Aren’t there many things in life this can relate to? We have expectations about so many things, both realistic and unrealistically. Like the expectation so many have that you’re going to live happily ever after, because you have found the one. My brother is getting married in less than a month and he and his fiancée spent the weekend with us, which also got me thinking about expectations. There was a little squabble about him not being willing enough to continue helping with the projects that are of course leaving this soon-to-be-bride a little frantic. Erik and I laughed and said, You think it’s hard now, just wait. (We’re so encouraging, right?) And we both reiterated that the first year or two or three… are spent learning each other in ways you maybe thought you already knew. And most importantly, you will learn how to fight with each other. I don’t mean you’ll learn how to defeat each other with one fell swoop (although you will learn which button to push to do just that). What I mean is that you will learn the way each other fights (this was a point from our pre-marital counselling that really was so helpful to us). You may learn that he needs to work issues out immediately or that she really needs to be given some space before being able to talk through an issue. Either way, you learn, and you adjust.

What does this have to do with expectations? Well, we expect things to be easy, we expect to continuously feel love, we expect to always feel/work/live/love as we do now. Unfortunately, what people often fail to take into consideration is this simple fact: Life does not just happen. We make choices. I think what it all boils down to, and what much of the last weeks’ Love Dare has been talking about, is that we can choose. We can expect the worst or expect the best, but if we’re not actively choosing the best, we’re not going to get it. Expectations are not the enemy, lack of choosing to pursue them, is. Especially in our relationships. As most newlyweds/new relationships of any kind (whether dating or friendships) you have this rush, this glow that you may feel defines your relationship and surely you will always get butterflies whenever you see them. I’m not saying you can’t have a great relationship throughout the years, what I am saying is that you have to actively pursue that. Because even though I have known my husband for hundreds of years (ok not that long, but 1/2 of my life! That’s gotta count for something!) he cannot read my mind! No matter how badly I want him to. He knows everything about me, all my secrets, all my fears, hopes, and dreams… and yet he cannot read my mind! And your other half can’t either. No matter how many sentences you can finish, no matter how many times you find the thing they were looking for (before they asked for it), no matter how much you can convey through looking at each other… Because he cannot read my mind, and because I often don’t speak what’s on it…we run into problems. And sometimes that leads me to days where I don’t particularly enjoy being his wife. And I think I can say with some authority, that on those days, he’s probably not enjoying being my husband either. But we choose to continue to be. Year five of our marriage was a bit tumultuous for us, as individuals we’ve had hard things emotionally and physically, and as a couple we’ve struggled between how to be a loving couple while working and raising children, very young and close in age children. And on the days that we weren’t really feeling like being active participants in this marriage, we choose to do it anyways. We chose to kiss each other goodnight, good-morning, and goodbye every day, even when we don’t really feel like it. Which is why, as we’re gaining on year 7… we’re not itching (you know, the 7 year itch). In fact, because we CHOSE to push our way through, to love our way through, to pray our way through…we are probably in the best place of our marriage, thus far. We are leaning on each other more, we trying to voice our feelings (especially the good ones) more, and we’re loving more thoroughly. But it is not by accident.

We believe in living with intention, and not just in our food. In our lives too- in our parenting, in our interactions with each other and with those around us, and in the way we love and show love. We don’t just believe in living that way, we practice it. It’s not perfect, and it’s not easy, but it is why I have the expectation that we’ll continue living and loving together as a family for as long as God allows.

 

Better Than Expectations Pizza

I know I mentioned previously doing pizza fridays (and I still really want to do that!) but because it was so good, I’m going to share this recipe with you now, on a plain old Wednesday! Friday I’m going out to buy an adapter for this stupid camera! So maybe Pizza Friday will be pictures! Anyways, the hubs texted me a couple weeks ago saying Buffalo Chicken Pizza sounded good. We’ve never had one before or made one, so I did what I do when something sounds good that I haven’t made before… I google as many recipes as I can. And then I make something completely different! Here is what I made:

Super Yummy Pizza Crust (Makes 2 small pizzas- fed four)

  • 1/3 cup brown rice flour
  • 1/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup tapioca starch/flour
  • 3 tbs dried milk powder
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tbs olive oil (evoo)
  • 1 tsp cinder vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray sheet for easiest crust removal. Combine flours, dried milk, salt, baking powder, and xantham gum. In a separate bowl, whisk the water, oil, and vinegar. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flours, mixing slowly with a spatula until it is a smooth and soft, that just holds its shape (more than pancake batter but less than cookie dough). Transfer about 1/3 of the dough to a pastry bag, or resealable bag (what I used) with one corner snipped off. Divide remaining dough between the two pans, spreading it thinly with a spatula- about 7inch rounds. Pipe a raised, “rim” around the edge of each one. *Brush all over with egg white (1 egg white, lightly beaten) to help sealing and browning. Bake until puffed and starting to brown, about 20 minutes. Cover with pizza toppings, return to oven for another minutes, or until bubbling hot.

*This crust was SO good! I think next time I make it I will double the recipe to make bigger, and a little thicker crusts.

Flying Buffalo Chicken

  • 3 cups of chicken breast, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (or whatever your favorite hot sauce is)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs flour (I used tapioca flour)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tsp buttermilk ranch seasoning
  • Shredded Cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)

While pizza dough/crust is in the oven (you can of course buy or make whatever kind of crust you like best), I do the topping: cook chicken over medium-high heat. When a little over halfway cooked, add in hot sauce. Stir to coat chicken thoroughly.

My husband isn’t a big fan of blue cheese, but you could always do the “sauce” with a blue cheese dressing, or ranch dressing from bottles. You could also use the hot sauce as the pizza sauce if you wanted a stronger taste/flavor and then have something for dipping. I make my own sauce:

Combine butter, flour, milk, ranch seasoning (the only mix I could find that is MSG and food coloring free!) in saucepan over med. heat. Boil two minutes, stirring frequently. If seems too thick add milk (by the tsp) if it’s not thick enough add flour/starch (by pinches).

Spread sauce on crust (as much or as little as you want), spread chicken generously over pizza and cover in as much, or as little, cheese as you like.

Stick back in the oven for about 7 more minutes, or until cheese is thoroughly melted and bubbling.

Enjoy! I’m not a big “buffalo” flavor lover, but this was really good- we’ll definitely be making it again!

Chicken Gluten Free Life According To Me Love Dare Marriage Recipes

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Apr 6

Revenge of The April Fool

by motherofwonder

While I’m not sure I feel avenged, I have had some form of revenge on my hubby who thought it was oh-so-clever to attack before I’d had coffee. First of all you should know something about that husband guy of mine- he thinks I’m pokey. In truth, sometimes I can be. People in my circle (you know the four and under circle) tend to be very pokey…I may have joined their ranks.  Anyhow, he thinks I’m pokey. His basis for this is that he can get ready faster than I can. And what that really means is that in the time it takes him to get ready, I have to get three children dressed, redressed, and redressed again. And then try and get myself ready. Clearly, the odds are not in my favor. For my revenge against this ruthless prankster (seriously, you have to be pretty ruthless to rage war on someone before coffee… are you getting the gravity of coffee’s importance?!) I figured I’d use my “pokiness” to my advantage. I’d just claim that the prank was returned in “my time” and therefore could still fall under the safety of April Fools.

So I’d saved the thread that matches our hose identically and positioned a few dishes in the drying rack, just to be safe. And I figured that I might need some assurance that he’d be pranked one way or another, so just in case the hose didn’t get him (if he happened to position himself just right)… I took his canteen/thermos/metal water jug (apparently I don’t know what to call it, but you get the point) and placed it on the counter, the way I normally do, so he’d know it was a clean one. And then I poured a teaspoon, or two, of salt into the bottom.

I was giddy with excitement as I went to bed! And as I waited in the dark of the morning, listening for signs of a prankful success… I heard him turn on the water, followed by some louder-than-normal banging around as he headed out the door. (I knew if he’d managed to escape the spray he’d have come down and gloated about it, so the fact that he just left… music to my ears! ♫♪♫) Just thinking about it makes me smile. The point wasn’t really to actually drench him the way I’d been… it was more of less just to prove that I could get him if I wanted to! And the salt…well, that was just for good measure. *grin*

Unfortunately, we both had rather craptastic days… so by the time he’d gotten around to drinking his salt-laden tea, I’d forgotten about it. I’m not sure it created as much of an emotional reprieve for him as it did for me. But when he texted me to ask just what form of poison I’d put into his tea, well, I don’t want to gloat, so let’s just say I enjoyed that moment thoroughly.

While I don’t claim all of the pranking to be over… I do think we were about even. At least he’d had his coffee by the time he hit the salt.

So after the craptastic-ness of the day, coupled with the fact that it’s killing the children to have it LOOK like spring and yet not FEEL like spring (we attempted a walk to the park, but even they admitted it was just too cold)…I decided a little comfort food was in order. And for me, nothing says cozy comfort like grilled cheese and tomato soup! It’s about the only soup my husband will actually eat, and that’s only when coupled with grilled cheese. Plus, I had a bunch of tomatoes that were about to go bad so they needed to be used up and so tomato soup was perfect! I made a super yummy almond bread (I’m so proud of myself for this one, because I made the recipe up!) the day before and used that for the sandwiches. The kids had nutella, PB, and jelly sandwiches earlier (hubster is still working way past their dinner time). So I made a grown up version of grilled cheese. So good… I might make one for lunch.

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Gluten Free Life According To Me Recipes

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Apr 4

The Flip Side

by motherofwonder

So the two questions I’m finding that I get asked the most is how can we afford to cook everything homemade and natural/organic, and how do I have the time? …but basically the REAL answer to both questions is that I can’t afford NOT to. My little MissE is allergic to… a lot of things. Food coloring, preservatives, tomatoes, citric acid, MSG, wheat… and those are just are “for sure” ones. It was to the point that no matter how careful we were or what we didn’t give her, she had hives with every meal. Eventually they were just always present around her mouth. So we gave up. We gave up over-processed, over colored, and over preserved foods. We started making things from scratch… like really from scratch. What we filled in it’s place was fresh, tasty, healthy food. We are healthier for it, and so are our children. And for the first time in MissE’s little life, she is hive free.

It started with when we moved from the apartment (affectionately dubbed “the little house” by my children) to “the house.” We started a garden and we practically have a farmer’s market in our backyard (I know, how great is that?!)… and so we made the decision, for both health and financial reasons, to go scratch. Threw out all the boxes and over-processed crap, and never looked back… well, maybe an occasional glance, but only to say, can you believe we ever ate that stuff?! Yes, the initial set up of buying all the cooking and baking ware and goods will cost you something, but we cut our grocery bill in half, therefore quickly recouping the initial costs. And then there’s the, “I wish I had time to cook. You’re so lucky you have all this time to cook since you’re home with the kids.” (insert irritated-by-your-condescension laugh) First of all, because of my daughter, I really don’t have a choice, I HAVE to cook this way, and number two…it actually doesn’t take as long as you think it does. Seriously. I can MAKE noodles/pasta in the amount of time it takes to boil the water. And in the same amount of time it would take you to make a box of hamburger helper, I can make a homemade version. And it will be so much better for you, and it will taste so much better too. Seriously. Plus, since I’m making it all from scratch and have the things necessary to do so at home… I go to the grocery store WAY less. And I LOVE not having to do that so often! Plus, the less you go, the less you’re tempted to buy things that you don’t need! For me, the key to the time I spend cooking, is organization. Keeping my supplies…supplied. And having things that can have multiple purposes. Or doing things in advance. Or whenever you have a few free moments. Already making an alfredo/tomato sauce for tonights meal? Double it and put the rest in the fridge/freezer for next time. (Frozen sauce really take very little time to thaw.) Cooking up some chicken to throw in that alfredo sauce? Cook some extra to go on salad for lunch tomorrow. Easy things like that. And when you’ve done some of these steps, when you have nights where you just don’t feel like cooking…you’ll have something easy to throw together. Or simple enough your significant other could do it! Really. And trust me, hubby cooks breakfast on the weekends…and that’s about it (at least during the winter- during the summer he does quite a bit of grilling, when he’s home before dinner time anyhow), so I make the meals myself, so I know some days we just don’t wanna do it! But anytime we’ve “taken the easy route” and gone out to dinner 3 things happen: 1) by the time we get to the restaurant and receive our food- we could have cooked and eaten a meal at home. 2) we’ve paid for food that in general would have tasted better if I’d of made it myself. 3) we have to deal with the kids in a restaurant.

Now, how do we afford to do this? (Again, really no other option, but…) There are lots of helpful hints. Buy in season. Buy in bulk. (we ♥ Costco and on-line… lots of good deals there, and lots free of charge shipping) Buy local. Freeze, dry, can, store… figure it out. And do it. You’ll never regret it, and as it is with lots of things, you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is. Seriously. And make the most of what you have. Yogurt on sale? I’ll buy a ton and make frozen yogurt popsicles (my kids prefer them to actual ice cream or regular popsicles, which they can’t have anyways!), or fruit roll ups. Also a great idea for when you have yogurt that is about to expire and you don’t want it to go bad- freeze it! We try to waste as little as we can, so if I have a bunch of tomatoes about to go bad- I make tomato sauce, and freeze it or can it. Spices I’ve boughten fresh over the winter and don’t use up- I dry it. Which basically saves you twice. Because you got the fresh spice and then when cooking you don’t have to buy an expensive bottle of anything, because you’ve already got the fresh/recently dried, better tasting stuff anyhow. Another great tip that I’ve learned is stocking up on things that are naturally (or regularly) made gluten-free. You’ll be surprised by how many things there are (Trader Joe’s even has a list in it’s store -that you can take home- that has all of it’s products that are gluten free). We were so thankful that our favorite (as a household) snack is chips and salsa. Bread (for sandwiches and toast) is the thing we miss most. In the beginning I was pretty good about making bread weekly, but haven’t been so good about it lately. Although we’ve learned other tricks, like PB&J roll ups on corn tortillas. Add a little nutella and they think it’s a special treat!  PS. trader joe’s is a GREAT find! Things are so reasonable that you’ll want to buy everything! And they have a great selection of gluten free things (including one of my favorite things- Almond meal… double the amount of what you’d find at the store for less than half the price! Score!).

Another thing that really helps -that’s SO simple- is: make friends! Farmer’s markets are great for that! We (truly) go every week, so by the end almost of the summer almost every stand would have some little treat waiting for my kids every week, because they knew we’d by, and they’d come to know us. We buy our beef from a hobby farm (which is a great money saver on organic, hormone-free, icky-stuff-free beef) that’s owned by a friend of my mother-in-law. We get eggs from *a guy through hubbyman’s work who raises chickens. We get corn from a friend of my Grandparents who farms. Seriously, people are willing to share- if they know you’re interested. Our neighbor knows we love veggies and such and so whenever people give her things from their gardens- she brings it over to me! So reach out- post a facebook status that says, who knows where there’s a crop share available? Or who has extras from their garden? I bet you’d be surprised with the responses, I know I have been. Farmer’s markets are my favorite way of buying produce, and the cheapest as far as buying organic and pesticide free go too. Yes, organic food stores (and even organic in your neighborhood grocery store) can be spendy, so you should figure out what’s in season (it’ll be cheaper) and stick to the most important ones to go organic on. They’re commonly referred to as “The Dirty Dozen.” (think- celery with no protective “skin” against pesticides vs bananas with a peel you don’t eat anyways.) Another thing, make cyber friends too! I was amazed with how many blogs and sites I found with people with similar ideas and lifestyles as my family. Support and good ideas all in one! Plus, real mom recipes are the best kind- you know, ones a real person has actually made. Someone who maybe has a bunch of kids running around and a husband and a life and still cooked a meal, and was willing to share it… chances are, it’s gonna be a good one. (plus that takes so much of the guess work out on your side!)

When we first started making things from scratch, and then again when we went gluten-free, we got lots of comments about how much time it would take, how hard it would be to find anything to eat, and how expensive things would be. We muddled through anyways. And through intentional shopping and eating, we’ve found it to actually have been a really good experience. And we believe our kids will be healthier for it. Which in today’s society, is unfortunately becoming more and more rare. I have a lot more to say about intentional eating, and living… but I’ll save that for another day. Monday Funday means no TV/DVDs/Computer Games for my kids and so… it’s interactive, which requires my participation!

Maybe later I’ll let you in on our afternoon’s adventure- making cannoli! I loved when my mom would make it growing up, and so now I’m continuing the tradition! Plus, my kids love cooking along side of me! I love traditions and getting my kids involved- so it’s a double bonus for me! And them!

 

*we now get beef, pork, and hopefully soon- chicken from him too!

Gluten Free Life According To Me

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Mar 31

Breakfast 4Ever-y meal

by motherofwonder

(*We had these again! Still a fan favorite! And we’ve tested it out on Grandparents and Uncles… let’s just say, we don’t normally have leftovers of this meal!! Pictures have been added! (hooray!) And I noticed an oops! I switched the amounts of sugar vs. water in my sauce! Yikes!! So the parts that have been updated are highlighted!)

These are SO delicious… I felt a little selfish not sharing them with you! Really- soooo yummy! Good enough that my 4 year old that DOES NOT eat pancakes, NEVER HAS eaten pancakes will eat two of them, in one sitting. And says they’re “Ooooh, delicious!” They’re that good. I guess I should also note that Husband is the one that does our weekend breakfast cooking (you know, the days when you feed yourself and your kids things other than yogurt, cereal, or oatmeal). And so he found this recipe online and made it two days in a row!

Now the original recipe called for Gluten Free Bisquick (side note: I find it uber annoying when things claim to have these wonderful gluten free recipes and then say generic things like, use gluten free bisquick or substitute gluten free all-purpose flour for wheat flour… blah!! I know in general it’s for simplicities sake, but for me, it’s an extra trip to the grocery store) and it had you using a cup of “strawberry syrup” (I assume, like the ice cream topping). True to form, I HAVE to make it my own. So the first time we did the recipe exactly as it called for with the exception of the strawberry syrup- we just used a can of strawberry pie filling, and it was good (good enough to make again), but we knew it could be even better! So day #2 I made my own strawberry sauce, and of course, me being me…I made enough to freeze some! So there was my leftover fix of the night! And I mean this in all sincerity when I say it was so good that I will be trying it on various fruits and hope to never use generic pie filling FOR ANYTHING ever again! And so this time I made them (because we’re on week 3 of Husband working late) and I made them my way! So… I’m including my recipe! (c’mon, this is my blog after all.)

Yummy In My Tummy Pancakes

  • 1/3 cup almond meal/flour
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 1/3 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 Tbs sugar/honey/sweetener of choice
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbs canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 package cream cheese, 1/4 in cubes *

Mix together the flours, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl beat the egg and oil, add to the dry ingredients. Add in milk and mix. Once mixed add in the cream cheese, folding gently (you WANT lumps of cream cheese, not for it to be mixed in)…. and cook. Griddle 350 degrees or med. high heat on the range.

(Substitutes): You can substitute any/all of the flours for 1 cup of all-purpose flour (gluten free or otherwise). You can substitute the milk for whatever your “dairy” preference would be (would be so yummy with almond milk). You could also substitute the canola oil for oil of your preference. I wanted to use my sunflower oil, but couldn’t find it until after I’d made them.

*freeze cream cheese for best/easiest results


Berry Delicious Strawberry Sauce

  • 1 pkg strawberries
  • 1/4 cup sugar/honey/sweetener of choice
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp corn starch
  • 1/2 tsp coconut flour

Wash and slice strawberries. Place in sauce pan over med. heat. In bowl add water and thickener -about a tsp of whatever thickener you prefer will work- and mix, add sugar. Add to strawberries. Cook until boiling, about 2 more minutes. Strawberries should be soft and syrup the preferred consistency, adding water by the Tbs as needed, or pinches of thickener as needed. You may like more sweetener as well. I started out with a small amount so that I could add it as necessary and keep my sugar content to a minimum!


So go ahead and pick up whatever you need for the ingredients and make your family your own version of this yummy, yummy treat!!

Gluten Free Life According To Me Recipes

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Mar 30

The Leftover Mama

by motherofwonder

I have at least 3 other posts in the works… but I’m just not feelin’ any of ’em. At least at this particular moment. In fact, the reason I haven’t done any new posts for about a week, is I haven’t been feelin’ any topic! I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I’m going to attempt and muddle my way through to break the spell.

I stay busy…pretty much all day, pretty much every day. And I am guilty of snack meals. I make the kids lunches and yet I just grab something quick. If at all. Sometime in the afternoon, the cups of coffee without any food jitters start to set in… and then I grab something. For me the worst is when the husband is working late… I make the kids dinner and sometimes will eat with them. But I’m very much less into making a family meal, when we’re not eating as a family. Which is silly because by the time I’ve searched through the pantry or fridge trying to decide on something that sounds good… I could have actually made something that tasted really good. Last night was a victory for me, small, but a victory none the less! You see, I’m kind of queen of the leftovers! I LOVE finding random things left over from meals that don’t have enough left to be a meal itself and finding a way of combining and making it new!  Especially when it’s just the kids and I (they’re much less picky!). So this last week or two we’ve had: chicken sausages (the yummy kind from Trader Joe’s), cannelloni (ricotta filled!), pizza (Chicken, spinach, white ranch sauce), and of course various forms of noodles, just to name a few.

So night-without-daddy #1: There were only 2 chicken sausages left. Sweet Italian and Jalapeño. I put them in the food processor, mixed with some ricotta (left over from the cannelloni and ravioli) and put over noodles. (note: I always make at least one extra serving of all meals so that there’s enough for hubby’s lunch the next day). The kids ate THREE whole bowls full- each! I repeat: 3!! I barely had any, and there was none left for Daddy! But the kids were happy and full, and let’s face it, we wouldn’t trade that for all the lunches in the world!! Night #2: Also inspired by leftovers. Made rice noodles (that taste like wonderful egg noodles- seriously, so, so good!). Used leftovers from pizza! Ranch sauce had been thrown in the fridge in a dish with the spinach and chicken, so I put it all in a pot. Sauteed some more spinach, threw a small dish of leftover breakfast sausage in the food processor, and added in some of my “add to everything” almond flour… it was so yummy! Night #3: Made kids their favorite kind of sandwiches: gluten-free waffles (used just like 2 slices of bread) filled with nutella, a dollop of peanut butter, and a drop of jelly. Just as I was thinking about eating a waffle myself… I looked at the breast and a half of thawed chicken that needed to be cooked anyway. And the leftover mama (how many names can I make up out of this?) opted for delicious! And all but the almonds were left over from previous meals: spinach, blue cheese crumbles, chicken, toasted almond slices, and strawberry poppyseed dressing. So good.


We are hoping to start eating more fish… here is what I’m making this weekend:

Chili-Seared Salmon

  • 2 Tbs chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 4 (6 oz) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • Sweet Pepper Salsa

Combine chili powder, salt, and pepper; rub evenly over salmon fillets. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add salmon, cook 4 minutes on each side or to desired degree of doneness. Serve with Sweet Pepper Salsa.

sidenote: For an easy but delicious salmon dish with crispy skin, be sure to use “pure” olive oil, not extra-virgin olive oil, which burns more easily.

Sweet Pepper Salsa

  • 4 plum tomatoes, seeded and julienned
  • 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
  • 1 lg yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienned
  • 1 sm red onion, julienned
  • 2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 Tbs fresh lime juice
  • 2 tsp cider vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Stir together all ingredients. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I may double it, just so I have leftovers I can work into another recipe! What are your favorite meals to make out of leftovers?

Chicken Gluten Free Recipes

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Mar 14

Pasta-licious

by motherofwonder

I’ve been working through a post about WHY we eat and cook the way we do…but it’s not quite *there* yet. So, until it is, just know, my recipes will be gluten free, or how to make them gluten free… And usually, easy. I really enjoy cooking, but mainly only have time for easy. And I want to share recipes that other people would actually use- within the amount of time a normal parent has to get dinner going and on the table! That being said, I’m going to share 2 noodle recipes. Each are good, easy…and gluten free. Hubbyman even made the noodles yesterday!

Version 1 (from Gluten Free Italian)

  • 2/3 cup brown rice flour *
  • 1/3 cup tapioca starch (plus extra if needed)
  • 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 lg egg
  • 1 lg egg yoke
  • 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tsp for cooking the pasta
  • 1 tbs water

Combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, xantham gum, and salt in food processor and process to mix. Combine the egg, egg yoke, and olive oil, and water in a small bowl, and whisk.

With motor running, pour the egg mixture over the flour and pulse until the dough forms into a rough ball. (If it’s too wet to roll out, add about 1 tbs tapioca starch; if it’s too dry, add a few drops of water.)

Turn out, crumbs and all, and pat together into a disk. Cut the dough in half and work with one half at a time. Enclose the other one in plastic wrap. Place the ball of dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll into a very thin, even rectangle approximately 10×12 inches, turning the sheet of dough several times. Repeat with 2nd ball of dough.

If using immediately, peel off plastic, and cut into strips of desired width. Lay strips on clean kitchen towel and let dry slightly, for about 10 minutes. If freezing the dough, leave the sheets inside the plastic wrap and cut later.

to cook: bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add 1 tsp of salt and the pasta. Stir occasionally, until pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. Drain and toss with butter and Parmesan (3 tbs butter and 2 oz Parm), or sauce of choice.

*Italian cooks say you should be able to read a newspaper through it- hubbyman says then put a light behind it! We used white rice flour instead of brown, because it’s what we had! And no food processor, because it was less to clean! We also doubled the recipe and rolled out the two extra sheets and froze. They thaw in about the time it takes water to boil. This time we used it in a pasta salad and it was so good!

Version 2:  (my version)

  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/2 cup corn starch
  • 3 tbs potato starch
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 4 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs

Mix dry ingredients together. In separate bowl beat eggs oil, then mix with dry ingredients. Work dough into a firm ball, kneading for 2 minutes. Roll out as thin as possible (using potato starch instead of flour to prevent sticking). Cut in size/shape desired.

Salt boiling water with 1 tbs oil and add noodles.

*these ones came out very thick. I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t roll them thin enough or just how the noodle is. (my first attempt at pasta and my only try with this recipe) Would make excellent noodle for soup! (reminds me a lot of traditional chicken noodle soup noodles) And they were so, so, SO yummy!

Mangia!

Gluten Free Pasta Recipes

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