Our favorite (packaged and ready to eat food) things

When we first decided to go gluten and dairy free the hardest part was figuring out what to eat, where to find it in the stores, and trying new brands (that were expensive). So I have decided to break down my lists into 2 parts. One list is of things that can be found in most grocery stores and the other is of specialty gluten free products that can be found at stores that carry more extensive selection of specialty gluten free brands and products. I could make another list of all the things we tried and didn't like but that would not be very nice.

Gluten/dairy free non-special products that can probably be found at most grocery stores:

1. Fritos (snack, no cheese frito pie)
2. Corn chips (bean dip, hummus, guacamole)
3. Corn Tortillas (tacos) 
4. Rice cakes (with peanut butter)
5. Fruit and veggies (dipped in honey, peanut butter, hummus)
6. Plain Potato chips
7. Chex cereal many types (mix with nuts and dry berries for yummy trail mix)
8. Jello (it is just so fun) 
9. Fruit Leathers
10. Betty Crocker gluten free cookies, cakes, and brownies (add some chopped walnuts yummy!)
11. Naked pre-cooked nuggets (we buy blue ribbon brand)
12. Oscar Meyer select hot dogs
13. Peanut Butter (on a spoon)
14. Bisquick Gluten Free mix- makes easy pancakes and waffles (add walnuts, berries, chocolate chips)
15. Hunts canned mushroom flavor spaghetti sauce ($1/can AWESOME with cooked ground beef and rice spaghetti)
16. DeBoles Gluten Free Penne and Spaghetti
17. Back to Nature Multi Seed crackers
18. Thai Kitchen Rice Noodles (some have dairy)

Specialty Gluten and dairy free foods we enjoy (most of which we only enjoy as a special treat because of cost!):

1. Glutino gluten free pretzels 
2. Envirokidz Organic Lemur Peanut Choco Rice Bar
3. KinniTOOS Chocolate Sandwich Creme (like GFCF oreos)
4. Tinkyada brown rice pasta shells
5. Lucy's cookies
6. Envirokidz Leaping Lemurs Cereal 
7. Envirokidz Gorilla Munch
8. Envirokidz Koala Crisps (great for making rice crispy bars) 
9. San J Organic Gluten-free Tamari Soy Sauce (essential for all our Asian cooking)
10.  Annie's Homegrown Snickerdoodle Bunny Cookies
11. Pop Chips (not all flavors dairy free)
12. Pirate booty (not all flavors dairy free)
13. Glutino Wafers
14. Applegate farms (many products!) our favorites are chicken nuggets and breakfast sausage
15. Ian's fish sticks and mini corn dogs
16. Goldbaums Ice Cream Cones
17. Spectrum Natuals Organic Shortening (needed for cake frosting)  

 

I plan to continually update the lists!

Breakfast Smoothies

 

This morning we had smoothies and dry cereal while watching a little educational t.v. 

Here is my recipe:

Frozen mixed fruit (from Costco's frozen isle) -about half blender full

silken tofu -half a pack

sugar- 2 heaping spoonfulls

Orange Juice- about 2 cups

Blend all until smoothe

I love these mixed tropical frozen fruits from Costco, and I like the tofu because it gives it more protein. We sometimes use Strawberries and almond milk instead of mixed fruit and OJ! 

What is your favorite smoothie?

Week 1: Meal Planning

The most difficult thing for me when starting was trying to meal plan with picky kids. That being said my son's willingness to try things has increased and our options are much broader than when we first started. If you are feeling desperate and don't know where to start hopefully this will help you! Since it is Tuesday (and payday) the plan starts on Wednesday.

Wednesday:

Breakfast- Chocolate Muffins and fruit
Lunch- Lunch meat, Glutino Pretzels, fruit
Dinner- experiment with tuna casserole (did not go over well)


Thursday:
Breakfast- Leaping Lemurs Cereal, fruit smoothies
Lunch- Peanut Butter and Jelly pancakes, fruit
Dinner- Spaghetti and salad


Friday:
Breakfast- waffles and syrup
Lunch- chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries
Dinner- left over Spaghetti


Saturday:
Breakfast- cereal and smoothies
Lunch-chicken nuggets, pretzels, fruit
Dinner-(probably Subway or Pei Wei)



Sunday:
Breakfast- Waffles and syrup
Lunch- Salmon Patties and salad
Dinner- Coconut curry chicken, steamed veggies and rice

Monday:
Breakfast- Pineapple upside down cake
Lunch- left overs
Dinner- Sweet and Sour Pork, stir fry noodles 

Tuesday:
Breakfast- Pineapple upside down cake
Lunch- Sweet and Sour Pork and noodles
Dinner- sausage, onion and bok choy stir fry

I will try to put recipes up for each item as we make it!

Chocolate muffins or cupcakes: Protien rich breakfast and treat!

Today I stumbled upon a can of garbanzo beans and got really excited!! (I am in need of a grocery trip) I was excited because I thought we were out. I have been really wanting to make some muffins. If you are just starting Gluten Free Dairy Free cooking you may have found there are PLENTY of recipes out there on the world wide web. If you have started trying to make them you (like me) have probably figured out a good percentage of them don't turn out very tasty. I was starting to become convinced gluten free people may have gained their health back, but lost there taste buds!
So my promise to you as a gluten free mommy blogger is every recipe I publish has been made in my kitchen. Also by me and my kids standards it tastes good (not just edible!). I will not garauntee they are healthy, they probably do not have a low glycimic index, and they may not be fully balanced (but can be if you add fruits, veggies etc). I only claim they taste good. Good enough that my kids will ask for more!

Another wonderful appliance I have gotten my money's worth from since going gluten free is my food processor which you will need for this recipe. I use it several times a week. It is 10 cup "Better Homes and Garden" brand.

The muffins/cupcakes are modified from a recipe on all recipes linked here 


I do not follow the recipe exactly as I use a little extra on the chocolate chips, I add a teaspoon of vanilla and extra sugar :)

So my recipe is this:
 In food processor I dump:

1 can drained garbanzo beans
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup of sugar
4 eggs

In a ramekin I microwave :
2 cups of chocolate chips - 30 secs then stir, then microwave 10 sec and stir until all chocolate is melted.
***Careful to not burn the chocolate or your muffins will taste like burnt chocolate which taste BAD!! If you want to be a little cautious you can start with 10 seconds at a time microwaving**

Pour melted chocolate in processor and process until well blended. I let it sit and rest about 5 minutes after processing to let eggs deflate. Then I use a large spoon and fill my cupcake liners about 3/4 full and cook at 350 for 25 minutes. I always check with a toothpick that they are done. Also I have deflated the middle by opening the oven.

Also today to try and get maximum height I slowly increased the oven temp as the cupcakes grew. I started it at 330 and everytime it reached temp I increased it 5 degrees. This way the fire (we have gas) never turned off. When they finished the temp way 360. This was just an experiment and it worked (don't ask me why it may just be a coincidence). I got the tallest cupcakes I have made yet with this recipe. They did shrink a bit when cooling but it is better than normal. Normally they fall a little in the center. These were flat and some actually a little round. Yay! I better go take a picture before they are all eaten up!

I love this recipe because it is so protein rich. It makes a great quick easy breakfast. Also I love having leftovers to help avoid cooking for a meal or two!




Please take a moment to answer in the comments (and add any comments on the post of course!)

What is your favorite breakfast food and why?

Chicken Nuggets - a kids staple and cooking ahead

One of the best investments in cooking tools that we have purchased since going allergy free is our mini fry daddy. I am still in disbelief that I actually own an appliance for deep frying since I have always been such a crazy health nut. Priorities changed though when I needed my allergy free child to eat. Plus he is so skinny a little deep frying might do some good.

About once every couple of weeks we break out the fryer and make a bunch of something. This time we made sweet potatoe fries and chicken nuggets. We marinade 7 breast in a bowl of zesty italian ($1/bottle) and let it sit in the fridge at least one hour (longer = more flavor). I like to use my kitchen sissors and cut the breast up into chuncks before they marinade (more flavor), but my husband marinates then cuts them with a knife. The kids like them no matter what. It is really hard to mess up deep frying hence the regularity of doing it.

To bread the pieces we use 1/2 potato starch and half corn masa (corn flour for making corn tortillas). My husband like to add spices to the mix, like paprika, italian seasoning, cajun mix. I just add some salt and pepper. We like to use a plastic bag and put the (wet) marinated chicken pieces in the bag and shake. You could also use a plate and coat each side but it will probably take longer.

We use peanut oil and fry the chicken pieces in a basket approx 5 mins. We put paper towles on a baking sheet and dump them out. We serve them for that meal and make pleanty of left overs. We put the left overs in a freezer bag, roll the air out and freeze. When we are ready to use we take out the desired # of nuggets (and fries) then microwave (about 1 min for 8 nuggets).

If you want a consistancy more like asian sweet and sour (fried) chicken you can use a corn starch dip. First you put a cup of cornstarch the add a cup of water then stir. Let that sit about an hour (until water starts seperating) and pour off excess water. Now you have a sticky paste. Dry the meat and dip then fry. This will need a sauce on top post frying -traditionally sweet and sour. 

I love to have a quick easy non-cook kid food available in the freezer. When we first went allergy free we were buying chicken nuggets and they were $8/box. One box would feed both kids twice (maybe three times if we really stretched it). We could not afford to feed them several dollars in nuggets too often! I was relutant to buy a fryer but I can say it paid for it's self on the first batch of nuggets we made. We have also breaded and baked nuggets and meats, as well as pan fry, but the results are not always as sucessful with the kids. The breading falls off much easier and is not as crispy. We still do it because  it IS healthier, but sometimes I just need to have something I KNOW my kids will excitedly eat and that can be heated up fast! Fried nuggets do that for us.

Please take a moment to answer in the comments (and add any comments on the post of course!)
What is your preferred "go to" kid meal in a time crunch?

I am not cooking dinner tonight!

Tonight we had beanie weenies and spinach salad as a dinner.
To make beanie weenies you cut up:
2-3 hotdogs (and stir together in a pot with)
1 family sized can of Bush's baked beans

Salad was pre-washed spinach (from Costco), a cut up tomato and thousand island dressing

Ironically the first day I decide to write it the blog is a day I felt particularly unmotivated to cook. But I thought why not blog about this? When I first started trying to feed our family Gluten Free feeling unmotivated to cook was something I had to just get over. It was not much of an option. I had already fed my kids cereal that was $6/box for breakfast, nuggets that were $8/box for lunch, and for dinner I needed to cook because I did not have many other options. But we have been gluten and dairy free for almost a year. I am finally at a place where I can take nights off of "real" cooking.
Yesterday I went to a gluten free expo in Dallas and it was expensive (like everything gluten free) but fun. It turned out to be well worth the money in "free" goodies. I have half a year of lunch bag goodies to send my son to school with! Also he had a great time getting to sample all the treats and I loved not having to stress about hidden gluten.
The expo reminded me of when we first went allergen free. There were a lot of items there that I tried and turns out we did not like. Many of them very expensive and hard to consume.There were also many new and tasty items as well as some that have become tasty staples in our pantry. I will say the best part was just getting to try a lot of things without buying them. When we first changed our diet the hardest part was trying very expensive food just to find our kids did not like it. We spent over 4 times our normal grocery budget the first month. We have managed to get it down quite a bit since (by cooking mostly from scratch), but we still struggle to keep it at twice what it was before we made the switch. Also cooking most meals from scratch was incredibly hard when we first started since a lot of the recipes turned out to taste terrible. Now a year later we have our favorite recipes that the parents and kids love. It is much easier and honestly not too big of a deal now that we have been doing it a year. The nights when no one feels like cooking we have a small list of options which are not the most delicious but work for a meal on a long day. Also on nights we do cook we have found many recipes we all like that are not too time consuming. We try to do some major cooking about one day a week such as baking, making waffles or frying and we try to do enough for putting extra in the freezer. All in all our time in the kitchen has decreased dramatically since first changing our families diet, and our spending has also gone down by over $1000/month (Which is really great since I have quit "working"-for income, and we have had a baby in that time).



Please take a moment to answer in the comments (and add any comments on the post of course!)
What do you do for dinner when you do not want to cook?