More Meal Ideas...

For breakfast today I had my favorite cereal, Rice Chex, which only recently became gluten-free. What a blessing that was! My favorite way to eat this stuff is over yogurt with fresh fruit on top. Delish!

My husband and daughter are sick today. I wanted a lunch that would be tummy-friendly and this was perfect!! I love this tomato soup! It's ready to serve so you just pour it out and warm it up. I've seen it at most health food stores, but this one I bought at Harmon's. I also had a grilled cheese sandwich with my Whole Foods GF Sandwich bread and it was great!

My dinner suggestion is actually from last night. We LOVE spaghetti squash!! It's a great alternative to pasta. Most people probably know how to make this, but I had no idea. For those like me, here's the directions:

Spaghetti Squash Dinner

1- Spaghetti Squash (serves 2 adults and one cute baby)
1- bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce. I'm cheap so i like Hunt's Zesty & Spicy
1/2 - 1 lb cooked ground beef or italian sausage

Cut squash in half length wise and clean out the seeds. Lightly brush edges and inside with extra virgin olive oil (I don't have a brush I use my fingers). Place squash cut side down on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 1 hour. When you pull it out use a fork to pull the squash away from the edges so the inside looks like a bowl of noodles. Leave it inside the shell (I don't know what the outside is really called) and pour you meat and sauce over the "noodles." Stir it up and eat it right out of the shell. Try it, I bet you'll like it.

Chewey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Can you tell that I like junk food?  It's hard to find good gluten-free treats, so any that I have I will put on here.  Today I made these cookies and I love them!  I think they're even better than "normal" cookies.  If you try them, let me know what you think!

Chewey Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. sugar

1 c. peanut butter

1 c. chocolate chips

mix ingredients in the order they are listed.  Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes at 350.  Allow to cool 10 min before removing from cookie sheet.

HOLY DELICIOUS!!!!

Tonight our Namaste Blondies were gone, and I couldn't stand the idea of not having dessert. I got on the CrockPot 365 blog for some inspiration and found a Peach Pie recipe. It was amazing! It took me less than 5 minutes to throw together. I put it in the crockpot at about 5 and we ate it at about 9:30.

Here's my version of the recipe:

1-29oz can peaches, with juice
1 1/4 c. gf baking mix (I used Pamelas. Not baking gluten-free? Use Bisquick!)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2T melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Pour peaches in the bottom of your crockpot. In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients. Mixture will be really crumbly. Pour over peaches and press down slightly with your hand. Cook on high for 4 hours. Top with vanilla ice cream.

This was so easy and we LOVED IT!

TUESDAY'S PIZZA

I hate to brag, but this one is delicious! This is Pesto/Tomato/Spinach Pizza, with homemade Pesto sauce. So easy, and SO good!

Ingredients:

GF Pizza crust, prepared per package instructions

3 Roma Tomatoes, diced

enough baby spinach leaves to cover pizza

1-1 1/2 cups mozerella cheese

1 recipe homemade Pesto

3 c. Fresh Basil (I buy mine at Whole Foods)

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced (I use 2.5 tsp of the bottled/refridgerated stuff)

1/4 c. pine nuts

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

dash pepper

Blend ingredients in blender or food processor (this takes a little TLC in my blender)

Spread sauce evenly on crust. Top with spinach leaves, however many you want. Top those with all the tomatoes, then cover with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

About crust. I've never made a crust from scratch, perhaps one day, but not today. It took me some trial/error to find crust mixes that I like. I like the Gluten-Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Crust mix, but it's really really soft. Blue Chip (I buy this at Macey's) has a pizza crust mix that has the texture of actual pizza crust. The best part? It has enough for 3 pizzas! Since this discovery we go through at least one package per month. This is another product Phil says tastes "real", so there you go.

Here's one last look, in case you weren't already convinced.

Slacked on the menu today but....

I had to work today and I had a pretty busy day anyway so I sort of slacked on photographing my fantastic meals. However, my neice and nephew came to play for a while today. He has celiac and I thought I'd tell you what he brought for lunch because it was stuff I like.

These crackers are great, I think they have a little better texture than rice crackers. I think you can get them at just about any grocery store. There are several flavors, I really like the ranch ones.

Yes, you can eat this brand of taquitos! These are also sold just about everywhere. The chicken and beef are both gluten-free. I haven't found any other brand of frozen taquitos that is gluten-free, but I like these ones so I don't really care. Let me know if you find anything delicious to share!

DAY 1

Here is my first daily menu post. You should know that I'm not a master photographer, and I have no clue about food presentation. Consider yourself warned. =)


Breakfast!!!

This is a pretty typical breakfast for me. Yoplait Yogurt is all gluten-free (that could always change so check labels). This muffin is one of my new favorite recipes! It's Quinoa Banana and it's amazing. I may have eaten more than one....but this is about what I eat, not how much, right? ;)

Here's the recipe:

Banana Quinoa Muffins

2 mashed bananas

2 Tbs Canola Oil

1 egg

1/2 C fat free milk

3/4 tsp vanilla

2/3 C Rice flour (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose, you can use plain rice)

1/2 C quinoa

1/3 C sugar

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

dash nutmeg

1/2 C chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Combine bananas with wet ingredients, mix well. Mix dry ingredients in another bowl. Combine mixtures but don't stir too much! Grease muffin tin, fill 12 muffin cups. You can fill them almost all the way as these don't rise much. Bake for about 16 minutes. You won't be sorry.

Lunch

I had leftover Bear Creek Potato Soup. Did you know you can eat that? The brocolli and chilli ones, too! I love them because they're so filling and they're not terribly high in calories. I always add extra brocolli, this one has cauliflauer and carrots, too. The other half of the banana went to the little sugar bear. Actually, so did most of this half, too.

The bread is Whole Foods' brand rice bread. This is the first time I bought it and I'll for sure buy it again! It's in the frozen section. It's about the same price as other brands out there but it's a bigger loaf, therefore actually cheaper. It tastes pretty good. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of gluten-free bread anyway, but this is a good one. I always toast GF bread. Then it's as if it's supposed to be the texture/density that it is. =)

FYI, I also like Kinnikinnick's Rice Bread. I've found it at Harmon's and other health food stores like Good Earth. It tastes a lot like the Whole Foods bread.




DINNER

This is one of our favorite recipes! It's called Mandarin Chicken, it's from my mom's ward cookbook and it's divine! I love recipes that are simple and don't call for any "weird" ingredients (weird=something I don't keep in my pantry..._). It's served over quinoa, and the orange mushy stuff is acorn squash with butter and brown sugar.

Mandarin Chicken Recipe

3 Chicken Breasts (you can leave them whole but I cut mine into smaller pieces)

Sauce:

3/4 c. sugar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

4 Tbsp ketchup

1/2 c vinegar

1/4 c chicken broth

Pour sauce into 9x13 pan.  Roll chicken in beaten egg and then cover with corn starch.  Fry on stovetop in 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil.  Place chicken ontop of sauce in pan and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  Serve over rice or quionoa with brocolli.

About quinoa....it's delicious. It's a whole grain, high in protein and fiber. It has a really great texture and taste. It's a nice alternative to rice, which gets a little old. Phil was just enlightening me about how it comes from South America and something about the Spanish overcoming the aztecs....anyway, you can read about it here, but definitely try it if you haven't already.

DESSERT


Unfortunately, I completely devoured this before taking a picture. These treats are our all-time favorite dessert ever in our whole lives! You can buy this on Amazon, or at Whole Foods, Good Earth, or Harmon's. I add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup cinnamon chips (I use the Hershey brand...they're only around during the holidays so you have to stock up!).

A sample of my weekly menus...

My husband suggested that I blog about the things I eat in a day so people would know that on a gluten-free diet you don't just have to eat soy-powder-waffles (are those even real?).  What a great idea!  While it probably won't be all that impressive, hopefully it will give you some ideas.  Tomorrow the menu tracking starts...

Welcome!

So here it is!  My all-time favorite gluten-free recipe, for the sake of starting things off right.  This is one I got from my mother-in-law's neighbor and it's a great cookie recipe.  My husband even says they tast "real."  That's how you know.  Here it is:

1 2/3 C. GF all purpose Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp salt

1/4 c. butter (non hydrogenated canola shortening if you need it dairy free)

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1 c. chocolate chips (can use dairy free)

1/4 c. nuts (optional, but fantastic!)

Preheat oen to 350, grease cookie sheets

Stir together all dry ingredients except sugars, set aside

Beat butter (soft, but not melted) with sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix thoroughly until light and fluffy.  This is key.

Slowly add in dry ingredients.  Drop cookies on sheets and bake approx 10 min.

VARIATION: I love to swap half the vanilla for 1/2 tsp almond extract, and then 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup white chips instead of chocolate. Delicious.

They're amazing.  Now go try 'em out.

Do you have a recipe to share? Leave me a comment and you can get yourself published right here on my blog. =)