Why are so many people going gluten free

This article came up on another blog and I read it, and was so glad I did since it was not only informative, but alarming and has since made me even more careful about what I chose to feed my children who have had issues eating gluten and dairy at different points. I think it is one of those articles that you should just read for yourself... Why are we re-engineering our food? Wasn't it good in its natural state?? I think so.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.html

Then last night I decided to read an article from a food blog that backs this article up and was just as informative and really elaborated on the issue of genetically modified food. As well as food like gluten and why they are becoming indigestible to so many.

http://maninisglutenfreeblog.com/2011/07/07/gmo-genetically-modified-food-health-risks/

I think regardless of whether we eat gluten free this article and many others would back up the idea that more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meats and other sources of protein found in beans and certain whole grains are the best way to eat. It's the holidays though so you have to enjoy then a little, right?? My next posting will be a little treat.

Merry Christmas!!!

Jam Thumbprint Cookies gluten and dairy free

These cookies are kind of amazing... In their pre-reconstructed state they were amazing... But they had dairy and gluten so they needed a few changes. Ina Gartner knows what she's doing so I really didn't want to reinvent the wheel, I adjusted them so they are OK for those of us who avoid gluten and or dairy... And the are just as good.

My husband who doesn't even like coconut said you would have to be a Communist not to like these. HA! So one of my best friends and I worked together to make 3 batches of these little cuties and they are all gone, uh oh! Can anyone say Gym!??

Ingredients.

3 sticks Earth Balance buttery sticks at room temperature (or of course butter works too) 

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups gluten free flour recipe found on this blog entry http://www.5loavesofbread.blogspot.com/2011/09/almond-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

1/2 cup coconut flour which is gluten free 

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Raspberry and/or apricot jam (I LOVE the apricot best)

Directions.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined, and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale, they should each weigh 1-ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger, or a small rounded baby spoon works too. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation, I used the same small baby spoon for topping them with jam. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve. AMAZING!

Merry Christmas!

Chocolate sheet cake, gluten and dairy free

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, the holidays are getting the best of my time, but I do have a stash of recipes to share... Here is the first of many. Not just any chocolate cake...

This is one of those deserts that seriously you can eat way more than your share. Easily. So consider that your fair warning. You should make this the next time you are in charge of desert for a large group, and hope to yourself that there are leftovers! It was my old fav before going dairy and gluten free so I will tell you the original butter, butter milk, and flour ingredients in case you want to make it with dairy and gluten as well.

The cake.
2 cups of gluten free flour or regular flour if you aren't gluten free. The recipe I use is found on my blog under the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, or King Arthur makes a gluten free flour that tastes good
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or use real butter if you aren't dairy free
1 cup water
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup almond milk, or if you aren't dairy free use butter milk

Sift the flour, add the sugar and salt. Put butter, water and cocoa in sauce pot on med high heat and bring to a boil. Pour over the flour and sugar mixture. In another mixing bowl beat eggs, soda, milk and vanilla and add to the above mixture, and mix.
Pour into a greased jellyroll pan, which is basically a cookie sheet pan with slightly higher edges, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

The frosting.
1 stick Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, or regular butter if you aren't dairy free
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
6 tablespoons almond milk, or (3 buttermilk and 3 reg milk) if you aren't dairy free
1 box powdered sugar minus 1-2 inches left in the box
2-3 drops of vanilla
1 tsp salt

This frosting should pour over the cake and then set, so the consistency is thinner than normal frosting's. Heat butter in pot with cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil while stirring. Pour mixture over the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until no lumps in it. Pour frosting over the cake while still hot from oven and let it cool with frosting on it. It is great cold from the fridge the next day or several days later, It freezes well too.
Enjoy!

Tuscan potato with sausage and bacon soup, gluten and dairy free

This soup is reminiscent of an Italian soup I've had at popular restaurants, but better! I love all the ingredients in this soup, so of course it would be tasty, but I was even surprised at how tasty it ended up.
It is also a 30-45 minute meal and most of the ingredients are likely in your pantry. You can add in other vegetables if you wanted, my husband wanted the bacon to be doubled instead, haha. I am sorry I don't have more pictures, it was eaten way to fast to snap some. We have made it twice and my 2 year old LOVES it, so that is a bonus. This soup serves 6-8, but is a great one to double. It is so delish!!!

Ingredients:
1 lb of nitrate free chicken breakfast sausage, I used Isernio's chicken breakfast sausage, you could even use a pork sausage if you wanted
1 white onion chopped
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 quart chicken broth, I love pacific organic brand
1 tsp white ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp poultry seasoning
3-4 slices of cooked, chopped and drained bacon, I prefer nitrate free
12 small baby Yukon potatoes sliced to cube sized bites or 3 med Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 bushel of kale chopped
1 cup almond milk, or milk/cream of your choice

Here's how to make:
Sauté the onions in olive oil and breakfast sausage, I used Isernio's chicken breakfast sausage. It comes in a 1 lb tube. Add 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp white pepper and 1 tsp poultry seasoning. Cook on med until the onions are translucent and the sausage is cooked through. Add the 5 cloves of crushed garlic. Saute another minute or 2.
Add in the chopped potatoes, chopped cooked bacon, quart of chicken broth and 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper. Bring to a boil, turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Uncover and  add in 1 cup of almond milk and chopped kale. Simmer another 10-20 minutes. Enjoy!!!

gluten and dairy free cupcakes

I have tried SO many cupcakes that are gluten free and I have only found 2 that I liked and could enjoy eating. And my how I do love cupcakes... It was tough to go gluten free and especially tough as I have said before to have no tasty desert options...
This recipe is an adaptation of the Barefoot Contessa birthday sheet cake recipe. It is not fat free, but I guess once in a while a tasty treat is just what you need. This recipe is moist and rich and you might only need to eat just one!


For the cupcakes:

18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) earth balance buttery sticks, at room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

8 ounces (about 1 cup) almond milk 

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

3 cups of gluten free flour, my favorite recipe is found here... http://5loavesofbread.blogspot.com/2011/09/almond-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html in this recipe. You can make a big batch like I do and have it ready. Or use King Arthur gluten free flour which is also good. 

1/3 cup of cornstarch 

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then the almond milk, vanilla, and the lemon zest, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until smooth. Finish mixing by hand to be sure the batter is well mixed. Pour evenly into lined cupcake pans, bake 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Yields 24 cupcakes.

For the icing, I use the Dr. Oetker Organics brand icing in chocolate for these cupcakes, though they do sell a vanilla icing if you prefer. Follow directions on the box, using earth balance butter and a dash of sea salt. This icing is the best! I've tried a lot of recipes, but this one is the perfect texture and taste.

Enjoy! 

gluten and dairy free scabble

This recipe is ancient and some people call it chex mix, in the south my grandmother makes it as Christmas presents every year for numerous people and she calls it scrabble. Not sure how that name came to be, but it has always been a favorite treat. It is by FAR my two boys favorite snack, and we make it a bit more often than Christmas. Halloween sounded like as good a time as any right??!! And plus it isn't the sugar filled candy they will be eating on Monday so we made it for a treat at our pumpkin carving get together, yummy!!!

It's super easy. Here's the ingredients:
5 cups of rice chex
5 cups of corn chex
4 cups of gluten free pretzels
your choice of nuts and your choice of how many to add. My kids don't really eat them, except they like pumpkin seeds (about 1 cup) so we added those and almonds (1-2 cups) since I love those...
1/2 cup of earth balance butter, or your choice of butter
2 tab Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tab garlic powder
2 tsp sea salt

In a small sauce pan melt the butter, add the garlic powder, sea salt, and Worcestershire sauce and mix well while butter melts. Once the butter is melted, pour over the rice and corn chex, pretzels, and nuts and stir well. Use a large roasting pan if you have one, something wide and deep so that all the ingredients can spread out. Make sure to coat all the ingredients well. Put in a preheated oven at 200 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered, and then stir well so that you are turning the bottom of your pan and coating the ingredients well. Repeat 3 more times so that you have baked this a total of 2 hours and stirred it 4 times. And you will have the best smelling house ever! Mmmm reminds me of my grandmother's house every time.

Enjoy! Your whole family will LOVE this. And your friends and neighbors will too:)

the little things

Today I am posting 3 random things, though they aren't the most important by any stretch of the imagination, they are three things I am enjoying today... And I guess that means they are bringing me a little extra JOY.

Poppy King lipstick by Jcrew

I love how I can have on no other make up and put this sheer red lip color on and it gives me an instant lift, the color is the perfect red for everyone! It is available when in stock, in the Jcrew stores. It has been sold out every time I would pop in to the store. When my friend Gretchen and I were in this Sunday it was there! I didn't even want to try it on since I had seen it on every model in their catalogue, I was already sold. My friend got one too, and she has gotten numerous compliments already... Yay for the little things..

Afternoon iced coffee, with your left over morning pot you never finished

Super simple to make and a delightful pick me up. A cup of ice, then half your cup filled with your left over pot from the morning, top it with almond milk, or whatever milk you choose, and a tablespoon or more of agave syrup. Stir. It's amazing and such a great use of your wasted coffee that never got used. There is 25% of your daily calcium and vitamin D in almond milk plus it is low fat. Not a bad little treat!

Pumpkin farms

They are such a great fun little outing for the kids and adults in the fall. There are more than I can count out here in the Pacific Northwest, and seem to be plenty in every area. Helps keep the kids entertained while waiting for Halloween.

Reagan's cute friends from the trip we took with his preschool.

Love the brother love!

My favorite picture of the day, Ethan with a band aide on his forehead just because he likes it. But he was so proud of his score for the day!