Pizza Crust

Here is another mix that just became a good one for us. I'm not quiet up to the task of cooking from scratch and trying to figure out what substitutions work best so for now I'll stick to trying mixes. I followed the directions on the box for the pizza crust and used egg replacer and a soy free oil. Instead of making one large crust, I made several mini crusts. They don't brown well so I had a hard time making sure they were done but you can't over cook them because you'll end up with a tough crust. The end result, for me, turned out like sourghdough bread on the outer layer and a slight taste resembling a pita pocket (which I have been known to make mini pizzas with so that was perfect). Austin is tomato free right now so I couldn't actually make real pizza but I did try a cannellini bean spread recipe idea that was posted on gfcfmommy.blogspot.com. I added a little bit of spices to the beans and it actually turned out really well. My neighbor even added that she wanted to be invited over for dinner the next time I made them. I froze the extras in vacuum sealed bags but they didn't turn out as good as the first one from the oven.

More Cooking and More Updates

I've been trying to find the time to sit down and make some muffins with the gluten free pantry muffin mix but with school and two kids, time is not really on my side. Finally I put my foot down and made them tonight. The recipe came from Beth Hillson's gluten free newsletter and was supposed to be for chocolate cherry muffins but I omitted the cherries b/c I didn't have any on hand. The results were so much better than my last attempt even with all our substitutions so I guess I will need to swear off baking from scratch and stick to prepared mixes for now. I can definitely still taste a difference b/w these and regular muffins but these came out so much more moist and cake like than did the other ones. Bottom line, both me and my husband agreed that these were edible for everyone in our family. See recipe at bottom.

Also the other night, I was surprised to see a recipe on Austin's tortilla chip bag. It called for dipping chicken in crushed chips and seasoning and the best part about it was that you dipped the chicken in water, not eggs or milk, before coating so we tried that. I would have to say it tasted like a faux shake and bake and was not too terrible but in my opinion there are lots of better recipes for GFCF chicken. No picture because I didn't think about it. For kicks the recipes is posted at the bottom. I served it with GFCF mashed potatoes and corn.

As for improvements, the only thing I can say is wow! At first, the husband and I didn't know whether or not we were imagining it but several people including some who did not know about the diet have commented on how well Austin is doing. The two major things that we have noticed is a lot less stimming and way more spontaneous language. This is my little boy who a few weeks ago had lots of words but had to be prompted almost every time to say just one or two of those words. He is now using 2-3 word phrases unprompted most of the time and every now and then we will get a 5-7 word phrase with a little modeling. Some of the things he has said recently are: "bye bye daddy", "Love you daddy", "all done diego bubble bath", and "eat dora(cereal)please mama". There are so many more and there seems to be something new each day so we are thrilled with his progress.

Beth Hillson's Chocolate Cherry Muffins

1 box Gluten Free Pantry Muffin Mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (I used potato milk with vinegar added)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (enjoy life)
1/2 cup dried tart cherries chopped

Mix oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and egg. Add to muffin mix. Stir until well mixed. Gently fold in chocolate chips and cherries. Scoop into lined muffin pans. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Let cool for 10 min in muffin pan. Makes 16 (or 14 in our case) muffins.

Mission Crunchy Chicken Dinner

2 cups Mission Tortilla chips crushed
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp paprika
2-3 pounds chicken (we used tenders)

Add crushed chips and seasoning in large ziploc bag. Dip chicken in warm water and then place in bag. Shake to coat until well covered. Bake in lightly greased dish at 375 for 60 minutes or until cooked and tender. Serves 4.

Gluten Free Playdough

Now that we are GF, I need to provide Austin some playdough that he can take to school with him. Why does he need GF playdough one might ask - well most of time playdough gets under your nails when you use it and kids stick their hands in their mouth. So I set out on a search for the perfect recipe on google. I found a basic recipe on several sites but when I tried it out, it was very sticky and was not at all like real playdough, even after adding a couple more spoonfuls of the rice flour. So I started searching some more and found the basic recipe but tweaked a little to make the perfect playdough. One mom even commmented that it was better to use than real playdough and I have to agree. So here is the recipe courtesy of http://www.vydor.net/playdough.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar (we used McCormicks)

1 cup hot water

1 tsp cooking oil

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until dough starts to form a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Scoop into a large bowl and add at least 1/4 cup more rice flour and 1/4 cup corn starch. Kneed until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in an airtight container. If it gets dry, add a few drops of water. If it is too sticky, add a little more cornstarch and rice flour in equal parts.

And if you are really feeling creative, my friend had a great suggestion. Instead of storing it in a ziploc or tupperware container, you could wash out the old playdough containers, take off the label, and then create your own labels on the computer.

Egg Chalk!

One of the things Austin has trouble with is coloring/drawing. He doesn't quite get the concept of holding the colors and making marks on the paper. We have worked with a magna-doodle before and his therapists have also recommended that he try to use egg shaped chalk. With this shape of chalk, he can just hold the entire "egg" and draw. The only problem is you can't find egg chalk in stores unless it is Easter. Yes, I could have took the easy route and ordered a box off of crayola.com but I wanted to get creative after my MIL found a recipe to make your own egg chalk. I thought it would be a neat idea to share. If you have older kids, this is fun craft that you could do together and if you really want to get creative, you could make this at Easter and put them in little goodie bags to pass out at their school. The picture above are the ones I made. The only thing that I did different from the recipe is I took the chalk out of the plastic eggs a few hours later and then let the chalk finish drying by setting it out. It really does take about 24 hours before you can use it.

Below is the link that you'll have to copy and paste since I can't figure out how to link yet:

http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/egg-shaped-sidewalk-chalk/

Also I found that the website actually has alot of other neat craft ideas if you want to take a look.

YUM-O!

I finally got around to making those Mexican chalupas (See Sept. 28th post for recipe) and they were so yummy! They had great flavor and literally took less than 30 min. to cook. The original recipe did not call for corn but I had a small can on hand so I mixed that in. I really think they would have been even better if I had topped them with either guacamole or just plain avacado slices and lettuce but I didn't have that on hand so maybe next time. This is just easy for the little ones to eat and puts a little variety into ground beef.

Austin did not have a whole chalupa though; he had smaller tortilla chips mixed in with his. But mine was prettier so that pic is what you get!

Another good dinner...

It cooled off where we live today so instead of Mexican chalupas we had homemade jambalaya. I love jambalaya and we actually used to eat the box kind from Zatarins but it is really too spicy for my taste. After I had Austin, I went on the South Beach Diet to lose the baby weight and I found some really great recipes in their cookbooks. The jambalaya recipe is taken from their Quick and Easy Cookbook. An added bonus was that it is GFCF so below is the recipe. The original recipe calls for chicken but b/c of DH's allergy, I add shrimp or sausage. I also use onion instead of scallions. If you have a good GFCF cornbread recipe, it would be a great side.

Jambalaya

1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)
1 tbsp evoo
2 bunches scallions (reserve 2 tbsp for garnish)
1 green bell pepper chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup minute brown rice
1/8 tsp cajun seasoning or cayenne
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (I use beef or veggie - Also read your label)
1 can diced tomatoes (14oz)
Salt & Pepper

Heat oil in skillet. Add seasoned chicken, scallions, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook until veggies are tender. Stir in rice and cajun seasoning/cayenne. Add broth and tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil. Simmer until liquid is absorbed about 30 min.

An additional note: I use Swanson Beef Broth 99% fat free. I called the company to verify that it is GFCF and they sent me a list of all their GFCF products. But it does have MSG & yeast extract in it for those limiting or avoiding that.

Hippotherapy and yummy potato soup

Thomas from gfcfexperience.blogspot.com recently wrote to me to tell me about Hippotherapy and how it really helped with his dcs development. It seems really neat and I can see from his latest blog how this technique can work for children especially with balance and coordination. Unfortunately, I looked up therapists in my area at americanhippotherayassociation.com and surprise surprise there are none :( I am still planning to ask my ST about it next week though just in case she knows someone involved in it.

DH and I had a very delicious potato soup for dinner and while Austin couldn't have any this time, I am planning on trying to make a GFCF version in the future. I'll have to experiment though with milk substitutes though b/c from what I heard, not everything is equal. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! Here is the recipe:

2 cups cut potatoes
1 cup cubed ham
3 cups milk
1 small onion chopped
3 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp sugar
salt
pepper

Boil potatoes until soft. Drain, reserving one cup starchy water. In pot, combine butter, flour, onion, salt and pepper. Slowly add potatoes, reserved water, milk, ham, and sugar. Simmer for 30 min, stirring frequently.

Additionally, this recipe called for cheese but I know in the future that I will have to omit that.

A Sunday morning breakfast

I'm really bad in the kitchen. I can do okay with dinner as long as it simple but forget breakfast and anything that has to do with baking. A friend sent me this recipe in an email forever ago and I love it. I like omelets but I always always mess up when it comes to flipping/folding them. This recipe is simple and can be fun especially if you have guests over or your child(ren) is having a sleep over. The omelet I made for Austin is above. I only used one egg for him (because he won't eat any more than that) so it is smaller than what you would normally get. In his, I only put ham and seasoning this morning. But if I had some veggies on hand, I might have tried some diced cherry tomatoes and spinach as well. He also had some fruit on the side.


ZIPLOC OMELET

(This works great !!! Good for when all your family is together. The best part is that no one has to wait for their special omelet!!!)

Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.

Yummy Mexican Food!

I am so happy! My MIL sent me 2 boxes of rice penne pasta b/c I haven't found any yet and she also sent me some Red Mill flour so I can try those grinch fries I have been wanting to make. Next week Austin should finally get some variety! She also sent me the Jenny McCarthy book so I am really looking forward to reading it.

Nothing new to report today, except the potatoes I made for Austin at dinner for a different side. I just cut up some red potatoes, drizzled them with oil and seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and baked for about 15 min.

I'm not sure where this recipe came from but my MIL sent it to me via email today and I'm going to try it with Austin next week after I make it to the grocery store. It is GF and you can make it CF by not using cheese at all or by using the veggie cheese/toffuti, which I still have not found btw. And if everyone is lucky, I just might post pictures ;)

Open-face Mexican Chalupas (serves 4)

2 Tbs. veg. oil, divided
1 lb. lean beef
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion, drained
4 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (not essential since you are not doing dairy)
chopped iceburg lettuce or romaine
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
Other Topping Options: guacamole, corn or other veggies

1. Heat 1 Tbls. oil in large skillet . Add ground meat, and cook until evenly browned. Add black beans and tomatoes, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Heat remaining 1 Tbls. oil in another skillet. Cook torillas till golden and puffed then flip. Repeat with remaining tortillas add more oil if necessary. (Actually, I left the tortillas soft)
3. Place one tortilla in middle of plate. Top with generous amount of meat mixture --sprinkle with cheese and lettuce and toppings.

Shopping at a regular grocery store

I'm not sure how many gfcf families have had this problem, but our local grocery store carries next to nothing gfcf! I knew that I was going to be purchasing many items at health food stores but I had no idea just how much. Here's what I picked up for Austin today at the local grocery:

Hebrew National all beef hot dogs
ground beef (for hamburger patties)
diced ham
Prego 100% natural spaghetti sauce
grapes
plums
pears
silk yogurt
Quaker apple cinnamon rice cakes
Bite Sized Tostitos Rounds
Bush's Baked Beans (original)
Rosarita Refried Beans

I also bought some freezer storage bags and froze individual servings of the meat and hot dogs. This method will ensure that I don't waste anything and I can pull out just enough for Austin at meal times.

I was at least hoping to find some gf pasta and some vegan cheese but no such luck. They actually carried the Silk milk but I am hoping to find some rice milk tomorrow when we go the the health food store. One good thing is that my toddler is not very picky when it comes to eating and I feel like at first, this diet maybe simpler than what I had originally thought. He is not a bread eater so I can wait a while before I have to get brave and try my hand at baking. I have read on several other gfcf blogs that this diet can be quite easy if you go back to basics, like meat, rice, veggies, and fruit to start with and that is exactly what I think we'll be starting with.