Our Gluten-free Super Bowl Menu

I am not a big sports person myself, but my husband is.  And while I am not a huge super bowl fan... I am a fan of food so at least I can get into making the snacks for the big game!

Fiesta Meatballs - I had these in the freezer from a Tastefully Simple freezer meal party I had awhile back. 

Spicy Buffalo Pizza - I modified this a bit to use the pre-made crusts and canned chicken that I already had on hand.

Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potatoes - we have made these before and LOVED them!!  Even my sister who dislikes sweet potatoes helped herself to seconds of these puppies!

Cocoa Crispy Rice Treats - at Costco recently I found a gluten-free cereal that is like Cocoa Krispies or Cocoa Pebbles.  We used that to make these tasty treats!

Are You Kidding Cake - This recipe is super easy, I used 1 gf spice cake mix, three eggs and a can of apple pie filling.  Cooked at 350 for 35min.  We topped ours with whip cream.  YUM!


What kind of yummy treats did you make for Super Bowl Sunday?

Going Out to Dinner Gluten-Free Style

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One of the hardest parts of going gluten-free is dealing with dining out.  There are great resources out there that offer tips on dining out gluten-free.  Here is an article posted on Celiac.com that is pretty detailed.  And Urban Spoon has a list of gluten-free friendly restaurants.

In addition to having a gluten-free menu Red Robin also offers a gluten-free bun. I did call ahead to my local Red Robin to make sure they serve the gluten-free bun and they do!

Olive Garden (one of my long time favorite restaurants!) has a gluten-free menu that offers a good selection of delicious looking items that are safe for gluten-free customers and suggestions on substitutions.

Mexican food has been a part of my diet my entire life.  I remember being amazed when I was a kid and watched my mom and my grandmother roll out flour tortillas for family meals.  They were so fast and that little ball of dough quickly became a perfect circle under their skilled hands and a wooden rolling pin.  So naturally I have a love for Mexican food still.  Here is a great post that offers tips on how to ask the right questions when you eat gluten-free at Mexican restaurants.  Taco Bell has slim pickings for gluten-free customers but Chipotle and Qdoba offer a selection of gluten-free options including burrito bowls and crispy tacos.

A particularly difficult cuisine is Chinese.  Many soy sauces have gluten in them and that makes it very difficult to find menu items that do not contain gluten.  Here is post with tips on eating at Chinese restaurants.

How could I do a post about dining out without including pizza?!?  The following pizza places (in our area) offer gluten-free pizza:  Incredible Pizza Company, Monical's, Rockstar Pizza, Fox's Pizza Den, BJ's Brewhouse, Dominos... we have yet to try them all but don't worry, we'll get there.  Maybe I'll do a post comparing pizza places sometime down the road.  ;-)


Now I want to emphasize that while a gluten-free diet has been recommended for Joe and Christine because of their developmental delays, none of us suffer from any severe allergies to gluten (that we're aware of).  So, we may be a bit more lenient than some int he area of cross contamination and such. If you have serious allergies you may want to consider an allergy card to use when dining out.

CSA Recipes

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Being a part of a Community Supported Agriculture produce co-op this summer/fall has stretched my cooking skills or at least broadened my range. The produce is so fresh and crisp.  We have all noticed a difference!  Ok, well, maybe not the kids.  ;-)

Stuffed Peppers Soup

Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Kale

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Make months worth of green smoothies

Swiss Chard Egg Casserole

Quinoa Stir Fry

Chocolate Gluten Free Zucchini-Banana Muffins

Stir-Fried Cabbage


If you are interested in finding a CSA near you check out this link.

DIY Thickener

Christine is on thickened liquids because she has a weak airway and micro-aspirates when she has regular fluids.  The prescription thickener (we were using Simply Thick) was running us $86 every month.  We were starting to feel the strain so Isaac researched DIY alternatives.  He found this video on YouTube.



We've been using this method for the past couple of months and it has saved us a couple hundred dollars already.  I don't have a magic bullet or whatever blender that they use in the video so I use a Mason jar and attach my blender blade to it.  That amount of thickener lasts us a couple of days. 

We have been very happy with the results.  As far as we can tell there is hardly any difference between the Simply Thick and the thickener that we make on our own now.  They both have been equally effective for us.  Hopefully this will help other families who are using thickeners. 

Do you have any DIY tricks or tips to pass my way?  ;-)

Irish Root Beer Float

My husband and I are not big drinkers but we like to mix it up every once in awhile.  I stumbled across a tasty new drink that I had to share about. I just mixed it up with a couple things we had on hand. We like to have this drink in the evening with some popcorn while we watch Dr. Who.   ;-)  It makes me all warm and tingly inside! 

Irish Root Beer Float
6oz root beer
2oz Bailey's Irish Cream
1oz Amaretto Liqueur
 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

If you are looking for something a little stronger you could try one of these cocktails I found on this bar tending site:

Attitude Adjustment (Cocktail) - Baileys Irish Cream, Root Beer Schnapps, Southern Comfort

Jager Shake (Shooter) - Amaretto, Baileys Irish Cream, Coca Cola, Jagermeister, Root Beer Schnapps

 

Pirate's Float (Cocktail) - Cola, Root Beer Schnapps, Spiced Rum

 

Jr's Vanilla Bomb (Cocktail) - Root Beer, Stolichnaya ( Stoli ) Vanilla Vodka, Vanilla Ice Cream

 

The Hollywoods Ice Cream Float (Cocktail) - Ice Cream, Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey, Kahlua, Root Beer

 

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Favorite Gluten-free Recipes

Between switching to gluten-free and being a part of a CSA produce coop I've been branching out a lot in the kitchen.  Often our coop provides me with produce that I am unfamiliar with so I have been searching for creative ways to use them that will appease my family's tastes.  The internet has been a wealth of information and help finding new recipes to try out.

My family loved the swiss chard on cauliflower pizza crust... even my mother-in-law who might be one of the pickiest eaters I know!  Kale is another item we often get that I didn't really know what to do with.  A few ways we have enjoyed eating it are in our scrambled eggs, in mashed potatoes and as chips.

Last week we went and picked strawberries with some friends and I wanted to try something new.  I found a great recipe for strawberry rhubarb upside down cake that was practically magical!


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Getting to Know Gluten-Free

We're on a learning curve here as we are beginning our gluten-free lifestyle. I kind of went crazy when I found some great deals on gf products but I know I need to be learning to incorporate less processed stuff into our diet. Its hard to completely change the way you work in the kitchen. I naively thought I'd just be able to swap flours in most of my recipes and it doesn't look like that is how it works. But we're looking forward to finding our new "normal" eventually. Hoping God makes it clear that this is what our family needs.

I have been trying to be creative with our meals to keep us from missing the usual meals so much.  I was inspired by Money Saving Mom and Musings of a Housewife to post our menu for our first couple of weeks of being gluten-free.

Breakfasts
frozen gluten-free pancakes
gluten-free cereal
scrambled omelets (we like spinach, bacon and cheese)
fresh pancakes

Lunches
fruit, cheese and Nut Thin crackers
yogurt and fruit
leftover bean & cheese taquitos
bbq pulled pork baked potatoes

School lunches for Joe were a little challenging at first but I was inspired by this post which was incredibly helpful - not all gluten-free but still full of great ideas.
gf pancakes, yogurt & banana
half pb sandwich on tapioca gf bread, applesauce cup, piece of cheese

Isaac's work lunches were mostly leftovers and re-purposed leftovers.


Snacks
Currently our snacks don't look much different than our lunches (only smaller portions) but its slowly beginning to change as I am finding more gf recipes that we like.
gf crackers & cheese
yogurt
fruit
gf granola bars


Dinners
homemade taquitos (for the filling I used pulled pork, black beans, chopped bell peppers & Mojo marinade - but Nate hates that so he got bean and cheese ones)
BBQ pulled pork nachos (thank goodness Sweet Baby Ray's is gluten-free!)
stir fry with coconut rice
jumbo baked potatoes
homemade pizza (used a gf pizza crust mix)
fried sausage and potatoes


Freezer Cooking
gf pancakes - I have used a couple of different recipes
gf banana coconut muffins (used this recipe but substituted gf flour)
gf taquitos
egg casserole

Well, I feel like we're still getting comfortable with this gluten-free thing.  I am devoting a lot more time and energy into planning and preparing our meals.  Not to mention spending a lot more money at the grocery store.  I'm still scouring the web for ideas and recipes often. 


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Colorful Gluten-free Penne Recipe

I am not a cook that uses recipes regularly.  I kind of do a lot of winging it or recipes from memory. 
Which has been a challenge as we've been getting settled into the gluten-free way of things.  Most of my old default meals are obsolete now.  But little by little I am learning what changes I need make to adapt old recipes and

Colorful Gluten-free Penne
1 16oz box of gluten-free penne (rotini or bowtie would be good too)
1 bunch of asparagus
1-2 bell peppers
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (mine were from Aldi)
1/4 cup EVOO
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cut veggies into one inch pieces and saute in a couple of tablespoons of oil until tender.  Set aside.  Cook pasta according to package.  Once the pasta is drained toss vegis and pasta together with seasoning, remaining oil and cheese.  Serve warm or cold as a pasta salad.  You could also change it up and use different veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, etc - or chicken would also be good in this dish.  This meal was a hit with my family.  Hope it is with yours as well!

If you try it let me know what you think! 


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Going Gluten-Free

I have toyed with the idea of going gluten-free since the beginning of our special needs journey.  But for awhile it was easy to dismiss because we did not have a recommendation from any of our physicians or a diagnosis that went hand in hand with GF.  But last summer we had one doc suggest trying gluten-free (he actually referred me to this site).  I didn't want to dive head on into a diet change without my husband and I being on the same page about it.  It has taken him a little while to come around but the more he has read about it the more he has realized that we would be negligent if we didn't at least try it out for Joe and Christine's sake.  The surprising thing was that after doing his own research was that he has realized he will probably benefit from going gluten-free also (he suffers from a sleep disorder, acid reflux and OCD...).

So, over the past few weeks I have been gathering resources and talking to friends who are GF and trying to get a plan together for us to transition to gluten-free.  I have a Pinterest board devoted to gluten-free recipes and tips, I bought a Groupon for Emeals meal planning service (they now offer GF, Clean Eating and Paleo Menus - among others) and I have hit the library looking for GF recipe books.  We have come across a myriad of articles that both support and discourage the diet.  I found one interesting post about what the bible says about eating grains.  There are a lot of great resources out there, including apps to help you menu plan or dine out while sticking to your gluten-free diet.

To be honest, the week before we made the switch my husband and I both "binged" on a lot of our favorite gluten-y foods.  And we paid for it.  By the end of the weekend we were both feeling pretty crappy.  Which in a way reinforced our decision to make this change for our family.  

We have designated the summer (through Labor Day) as our trial period for us to determine if gluten-free is a change that is necessary and worthwhile for our family.  We took the time to write down a list of things for us to keep an eye on for each person in our household.  Things that we hope will be helped by going gluten-free.  To give you an idea of what we listed: Isaac: acid reflux, dry skin, OCD...  Wani: stress, digestion, fatigue, depression... Nate: attention, dry skin, focus... Joe: eye contact, balance, communication... Christine: digestion, coordination, communication...  just to name a few.  

So please join with us in saying a prayer that God will make it clear to us if this is His plan for our family.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.-  1 Corinthians 10:31

 

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Creative Cooking

After my sister's wedding reception in February we had a lot of extra pulled pork leftover.  Not one to let good pulled pork go to waste I tried to get creative so we weren't eating BBQ every day.

Here are a few meals that we tried:

pulled pork nachos (can do with bbq sauce or enchilada sauce)

we made a big pot of chili and used the pulled pork instead of ground beef

pork enchiladas

breakfast hash with eggs, potatoes and the pulled pork

BBQ pork pizza


And here are a couple of links if you want some more ideas:

6 Ways to Use Leftover Pulled Pork

Check out the comments on this post and this one for suggestions from readers.

I can find a big pork shoulder at Costco for $1.75 per pound and I'll toss that puppy in the crock pot overnight and get several meals out of it.  I am loving finding new ways to use it!  Let me know if you have any ideas!







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Cooking Day!

Over the last while my mom and I have gotten in to the habit of occasionally sending a meal to one another.  We'll just make double of whatever we are making for our own family and share, no fanfare, just our way of showing our love and appreciation.  After seeing this pattern developing we started to discuss the idea of doing a cooking day and making a bunch of meals together in one afternoon.  We kept putting it off because we were busy but couple of weeks ago my mom and sisters and I finally had our cooking day! 

 

Because my friend and my sister are both living at my parents' house right now we have the unique advantage of having five cooks in three households.  So each cook chose a meal and brought the ingredients to my mom's house.  We had two meals going at a time and we all pitched in to help with chopping and mixing and doing dishes along the way.

 After our afternoon's work we all went home with six meals: BLT Pasta, White Chili with corn meal dumplings, Chicken Pot Pie, Baked Penne, Meat Loaf, and Chicken Lo Mein w/ fried rice. We are all enjoying our tasty meals one at a time!  Looking forward to doing another one sometime soon!

 

Here are a couple of links that were helpful when planning our cooking day:

Twin Cities Supper Swappers

 Six Sisters' Stuff - 20 Tried and True Freezer Meals

Meal Planning Magic - How to Start a Freezer Meal Exchange Group

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations” - Oscar Wilde

 

Girls Vacation!

I was blessed to spend the last week on the road with three of my favorite ladies!  My best friend, my mom and one of my aunts and I hit the road from our home in the Hoosier state and made our way to Florida for my cousin's wedding.  We spent a couple of days on the beach and then headed up to Georgia for a few days with my sister who just a baby last month.  What a good time with great ladies!  Here are a few of the highlights from our trip.

The first of many gas station stops... though may aunt's car got 40 mpg!  ;-)  whoohoo!

Our first day on the beach!  No, I'm not that short... there was an incline!  seriously.

We had used FlavortownUSA to find Diner, Drive-in and Dives in the areas we'd be traveling.  The closest one we found was the Alpine Steakhouse.  We tried alligator... it was cool to be able to say that we had it but we found it to be a bit chewy (my aunt said its been that way the other times she's tried it too), so we probably won't become big alligator junkies in the future. 

We did get the TurDucKen sandwich, which was like a thanksgiving dinner all wrapped up in a nice little bun.  Good stuff!

A few of us from my mom's side of the family all dressed up for the beach wedding.

It was a beautiful small ceremony on the beach with close friends and family.  What a blessing to be able to share their special day.

My uncle has always had a way with words and he brought a lot of us to tears with his toast. 

 

We got a little crafty while we stayed at my sister's house in Georgia.  She wanted to change the color scheme in her living room.  We made a trip to Goodwill and got the picture above.  Ugh!  But it was only $11 so we snatched it up.

We ModPodged old book paged onto it and let them dry.  Then we placed vinyl letters (though we had to stick them to the carpet once or twice to help them become slightly less sticky to avoid destroying the modpodged pages) to spell out their family name.  

My mom painted over the whole thing.  She used a wash technique so that you can still see the book pages a bit in places and you get a lot of texture throughout the piece.  My sis loves it and it brings a whole new color to the room!

My friend got a tattoo of "love & prayers" in her late grandma's handwriting.  Precious. 

We took a day to tour a couple of plantations north of Atlanta.  They were beautiful!

This one was the childhood home of Theodore Roosevelt's mother.

We tried to find another Diner, Drive-in and Dive place but it was only open for dinner and we were hungry girls. 

Thankfully a local turned us to Fat Matt's Rib Shack which was awesome!  The food was delicious (and between the four of us we tried a bit of nearly everything).  I even bought a bottle of their BBQ sauce to bring home for my hubs.  Can't wait to use it!

One day we spent the afternoon at the State Botanical Gardens with my cousin and her daughter.  It was a perfect day to spend wandering around the beautiful grounds!

I had a wonderful week with these ladies.  It was such a great break from reality.  What a blessing to have them in my life!  Love you guys!