Friday, September 25, 2015

Cake decorating and dinner

Another busy day in the kitchen.  I'm taking a cake decorating class, so I had to set aside time to make a two layer cake and five cups of icing.  I also had to have dinner ready, since I was leaving at dinner time, just as my husband was walking in the door.  I couldn't juggle cake and dinner at the same time, so I opted for the crockpot for dinner.

Something about fall had me craving chicken and dumplings, so I used this recipe from my favorite gluten free blogger, and her recipe for biscuits as the dumplings.  Delicious.





Next, the cake.  Silvana has a great vanilla birthday cake recipe in her second book, and I was to bring along the frosting to use in class.



The finished cake.  I came home after the kids were asleep, and it was a challenge, but the cake made it till morning so they could see it before we cut it.




The kitchen showed signs of wear despite my clean-as-I-go philosophy, but I'm happy to report that I restored it to normal order by breakfast the next morning.  If you know me, you know that's what makes me happy!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Baking day

Fresh produce always inspires me to bake, whether it is apples in a crisp, zucchini in a bread, or berries in a special galette.  The other day I had oodles of zucchini and blueberries begging to go into muffins, and while I was taking out baking ingredients and turning on the oven, I decided to thaw a jar of pumpkin puree from my Aunt's fall harvest and make some pumpkin bread, These are two family-favorite recipes that we use again, I'll share links below the pictures.

Pumpkin bread, about to come out of the oven. This recipe is the rice flour Pumpkin bread recipe from You Won't Believe It's Gluten-Free, which is a really nice compilation of many easy gluten-free meals and treats.
I substitute applesauce for the yogurt called for in the recipe.

Zucchini blueberry muffins. This recipe was one I pulled out of Parents' magazine years ago.  The recipe isn't gluten-free, but it easily converted by just substituting a good gluten-free flour blend (with xanthan gum).  I also substitute applesauce for half of the oil.  I've made it as bread or muffins; as muffins, bake for 35 minutes at 350.
The pumpkin bread lasted for two days' of breakfasts, and muffins accompanied lunch.  Yum!

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Weekend pancakes

Two posts in a row about pancakes! Funny.  My husband came home with a big carton of fresh blueberries the other day, and it must screamed "Pancakes! !"  So, we did.



I like to try new recipes, but I always come back to this one, by Silvana of Cooking for Isaiah.  Her second book, Silvana's Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Kitchen, has the best pancake and waffle recipe.

So, pancakes for everyone, plus turkey bacon and fruit salad.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Post-holiday kitchen

After all of the holiday cooking, I like to take a break.  We do leftovers for a few days, and then ease back into the kitchen.



Last weekend, we were craving pancakes, and I had some roasted pumpkin from my aunt's garden that I needed to use up.  I couldn't stand the thought of carbs, though, so I decided to try a new recipe. Almond flour is our go-to when we want to make a healthier breakfast.

I found this recipe and gave it a whirl.  It said it would yield enough for two, but once my griddle is out, I want leftovers.  We quadrupled it, and had enough for breakfast and at least one if not two more meals, which I put in the freezer.  We really enjoyed them, and it satisfied our pancake craving.  The baking soda taste was a little strong; next time, we will use half and try baking powder for the remainder.   Other than that, they had a nice pancake texture and were cooked through, which isn't always the case when using gluten-free flours.  Definitely going to make these again.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Keeping up, and changes ahead

I return here after April, and do hope I'm here for good, at least on a semi-regular basis. As it turns out, having a daily blog is really timing consuming (that sounds obvious, doesn't it, but it took me over a year to accept it).  Regardless, I've still taken daily photos of what I make, as well as notes on everything so I can keep track of what's what, and how I modified it to fit our dietary needs.  I enjoy blogging, the friends I've made, the info I've learned and shared, and the inspiration to keep creating, revising, and staying motivated.  However.  I'm one of those people who keeps a long, perfectionistic, running to-do list in the back of my head at all times, and then repeatedly judges oneself for not having it all done at all times.  Knowing that I'm months behind on blogging (six, to be exact) does not do wonders for that relaxed place in my mind that I'm trying to cultivate.  Raising a family, keeping of top of ever-changing health needs and resulting doctors' appointments, and maintaining some sanity (ideally) would be great.  Going forward, I've decided to continue blogging, but focus on meals we enjoy, new things we've found, and so on.  While I did intend to demonstrate how a young family could eat healthy, homemade meals, day in and day out, especially when we became gluten-free, I'm ready to move beyond that.  I don't need to write about, and you don't need to see, a boring night we ate rotisserie chicken and tator tots. So I'll skip over those meals.  But when I make a new recipe and fall in love with it, I promise I'll share it.  We're still gluten-free, soy-free, and mostly dairy-free, but I'll always include ways to make what we eat, no matter what your needs or desires.

Best in healthy cooking and living,
Stephanie

Thursday, April 26, 2012

A day in the life of... GAPS

Before I can even talk about what my family is currently doing, I have to first say that I strongly dislike the word "diet" and all of its connotations.  To me, the word "diet" is so overused in our culture, and carries with it such negativity.  It typically implies superficiality, and the desire to lose weight without attention to health.  Especially given my years of studying eating disorders and working with individuals suffering from them, I cringe when I hear someone "on a diet," especially children.  To take it one step further, I've never believed in any of the faddish low-carb diets, as I've always known that the best path to improving one's health is through long-term, sustained lifestyle changes, and not a quick fad diet to be followed for a brief time.  So when I use the word "diet," I really mean "meal plan" or "lifestyle."

That said... my family is currently on the GAPS "diet."  It's a structured plan designed to heal  medical conditions (in our case, leaky gut) and its origin is medicinal in nature.  It's drastic, and the idea of it took some getting used to.  The concept is to remove anything harmful or inflammatory from your diet, and allow your insides to heal.  Basically, GAPS is a grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, whole-foods-only diet.  Lots of cooked veggies, fruits, chicken, nuts, seeds, and eggs.  And if that doesn't sound restrictive enough, we're doing a modified intro, which means you begin following the diet by eating meals consisting of only of a homemade bone broth filled with cooked meats and vegetables.  While we are not eating anything unpleasant, at all (I actually love veggies, fruits, eggs, and chicken) it's more of what we can't eat that's the adjustment.  Anything you can buy from the store that is pre-made, packaged, or comes in a sealed container of any sort is off-limits.  Shopping for GAPS means leaving the store with raw meats or poultry, a carton of eggs, and fruits and vegetables.  It's lots of cooking, making broths, and adjusting.  We've been gluten-free and quasi-dairy-free for seven months now, and that lifestyle is a walk in the park compared to this one!

The reason I share our current journey is that I could not have gotten to where we are now without the help and guidance of others who have been down this path before us.  I have one close friend w ho is my gluten-free, grain-free guru, and beyond her I have spent countless hours reading articles, books, and blogs to find our way.  The more I talk to others, the more I have find so many people who are affected by gastrointestinal upset, headaches, arthritis/inflammation, asthma, allergies, Autism/Asperger's, and so many other complaints.  Shockingly, so many of those ailments can be addressed through purposeful detox and diet (well, lifestyle change, but you know what I mean).  I've made many friends in cyberspace who have been where we are, and give a glimpse of what is to come.  It builds hope.  I welcome anyone who is not feeling quite right, or who knows someone who isn't feeling quite right, to look into the possibility that there is a bigger picture, and a possibility that changes in lifestyle could bring surprising relief.   I'd love to talk to anyone who's been down this road before, or considering it now.

All the best.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Day Four hundred and thirteen


Bread: NIRVANA!  After quite a few months of trying bread recipe after recipe, we have hit our nirvana and will stop looking.  This awesome recipe is an amaranth and brown rice flour loaf, and the recipe comes from Gluten Free Makeovers, which has a ton of great recipes.  This tasted just like a loaf of whole grain bread, and not "gluten-free" in any way.

School lunch: PB&J on tapioca bread, green beans, cucumber, apple slices, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese.

Day Four hundred and twelve

Two loaves of tapioca bread (GFG) which were then sliced and slid into the freezer.

Dinner: I am not proud of this starch-heavy dinner.  The only nice thing that I can say about it is that it included a vegetable.  Looking back a few months, I'm fairly confident my husband was heating up dinner.  We have gluten-free chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries, a potato skin, and snap peas.

Day Four hundred and eleven

Lo mein (Brown rice spaghetti; Recipe: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring).

School lunch: Yogurt, PB&J on tapioca bread, fruit salad, baby carrots.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Day Four hundred and ten

Cornmeal griddle cakes with strawberry syrup (recipe: Cooking for Isaiah).  Another awesome recipe from this cookbook.

And an extra stack of them for the freezer.

Dinner: Eggplant spinach parm, sauteed yellow squash, salad, and fruit salad.  This is one of my favorite dinners, and I realized I've never shared my recipe. Here it is:

Slice one large eggplant into one-inch slices, and bake at 450 in a single layer on a greased baking sheet, 10 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of part-skim ricotta, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, one egg, a little salt and pepper, and a handful of parsley and basil in a bowl. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray, and cover the bottom with your favorite marinara sauce. On top of the sauce, layer as follows: half of the eggplant, ricotta mixture, three cups of raw baby spinach, more sauce, remainder of eggplant, and more sauce. Top with two tablespoons of Parmesan and a handful (about 1/2 cup) of part-skim mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. To make it extra authentic, use your own homemade sauce, and don’t measure any of the ingredients as you go along. This came together quickly, my kids loved it, and I doubled the recipe and froze an extra tray of it for a future dinner. Serve with a green salad, and mangia!

School lunch: Sliced grilled chicken, crackers with a cheese stick, cucumber, and pineapple.

Day Four hundred and ten

Saturday morning breakfast: Hashbrown waffles (from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Cooking for Isaiah, which is gluten and dairy free.  By the way, these were incredible.  I highly recommend them), with scrambled spinach eggs, and fruit salad. 

Oatmeal cookies.  I didn't write the recipe source down in my notebook, but I know I printed it.  I'll update this one.

Day Four hundred and nine

Dinner: Italian minestrone (crockpot; recipe; it goes w/o saying that we used ground turkey rather than beef) with the crusty boule bread (dough from the freezer; recipe) and salad.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey, mozzarella stick, crackers, salad, and orange slices.

Day Four hundred and eight

Dinner: Pasta pesto salad (brown rice fusilli with pesto, mozzarella, and grape tomatoes), chicken spinach sausage, fresh pineapple, and steamed veggies.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey and cheddar, ants on a log, pretzel sticks, and an orange.

Day Four hundred and seven

Dinner: BBQ chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, and an orange.

Dessert: Mini Marble Cake (recipe: Gluten Free in Five Minutes).

Tuesday, April 3, 2012