Pancakes

We tried The Really Great Food Company's Pancake Mix for breakfast this morning. It was really easy to make and tasted just like my favorite Bisquick pancakes. I highly suggest if you want Pancakes, use the Really Great Food Company's.

Outback Steakhouse

We went to Outback Steakhouse with my husband's family tonight for his dad's 60th birthday. They have a pretty good Gluten-Free menu and take care of their Gluten-Free customers quite well. They make your salad in a separate bowl from the rest to make sure that none the croutons even touch your salad. They have an amazing brownie that is completely gluten-free, they even use sugar to keep it from sticking in the pan, and their wait staff is very friendly and helpful with all of this, at least ours was. There are some things you have to special order, like you need to order your veggies without the seasoning, but that's a small price to pay for the great food and great service you'll get while having to deal with a specialized menu. I suggest you make a stop at Outback on your next vacation or even your next special day. It's well worth it!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies - Take 1

I've been craving a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, but can't seem to find any Gluten-Free Bread that I like so I decided to get my fix with Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies. I made these before I put much extended thought into it and now have what I think might be a better way to make them, that's why this is Take 1. Also, I found this absolutely amazing Versatile Cookie Mix from The Really Great Food Company that I tried because I haven't yet found the magic combo for making perfect cookies. The Cookie Mix worked really well, I'm very happy with it and will definitely be using it again.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

1 box Versatile Cookie Mix (The Really Great Food Company)
1 cup of eggs
1 1/3 cups shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup your favorite jam/jelly/preserves (I used Strawberry Rhubarb Jam)

Preheat oven to 375. Beat the shortening and brown sugar together. Add eggs and beat again, scraping the sides of the bowl until very well blended. Add entire bag of cookie mix to wet ingredients. Beat 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth. Don't overbeat. Add peanut butter and jelly and blend well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Because of the jelly, these cookies overcook very easily, so be careful to watch them. Bake 10 minutes.

Mrs. Leeper's Lasagna

We had the Mrs. Leeper's Boxed Lasagna meal tonight and it tasted okay. It was nothing like the equivalent Hamburger Helper, and I really loved the Hamburger Helper Lasagna. I'll eat it again, but only for a quick meal when necessary.

Woohoo

So, this was supposed to be a post on something that I tried cooking this weekend, but my garbage disposal went on the fritz and I couldn't do the dishes until we replaced it. We got it replaced and did some dishes, so tomorrow afternoon I should be able to make some cookies or coffee cake or something. Woohoo! On a side note, if you plan to pick up a GE Garbage Disposal, check to make sure it comes with the power cable. The one we picked up didn't come with the power cord, but the power cord wasn't that expensive and was pretty easy to wire. Anyway, I'll let you know how my baking turns out.

Conferences

I went to a conference today and was completely amazed that they didn't have any kind of specifications for food preferences. The conference was at the DoubleTree and what they served was a PhillyCheese Steak kind of sub and tasted absolutely horrible. Anyway, if you have a conference at a DoubleTree, they may not allow food preferences, and if they do, be careful what you eat, my sister says that most of their stuff isn't very good.

Experiments

Great news. The temperatures are going down this weekend and into next week so I should be able to work on those experiments I've been waiting to do because of the heat. Stay tuned next week for reviews.

Cheeseburger Mac

We had the Mrs. Leepers Cheeseburger Mac boxed meal today. It was very easy to make, only took like 20 minutes and tasted just as good as the Hamburger Helper version of the same. Yeah, one more thing I can eat!

Boxed Dinners

I found some Mrs. Leepers Boxed dinners that are a lot like Hamburger Helper, but Gluten-Free, so I picked them up and will be trying them this week. They don't take a lot of time or heat to make so I should actually be able to make them. I'll let you know how they taste. I have Lasagna, Creamy Tuna and Cheeseburger Mac.

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of the new recipes and tests of Gluten-Free products. It's been way too hot here to use the oven. We're getting a new air conditioner soon and I should be able to cook and still keep it cool in the house, so the info is on its way.

Spaghetti Casserole Again

We had Spaghetti Casserole again today. I added bacon to the meatballs and sausage to the pasta sauce and it tasted amazing. Just little things you can try to change up the taste every once in a while.

New Experiments

I picked up some new gluten free items at my local health food store today and will be trying them out this weekend. Among them are a Coffee Cake, a Versitile Cookie Mix, and a Cinnamon Bread Mix. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Gluten Free Cookie Factory

I found these amazing cookies at my local health food store today. They are from the Gluten Free Cookie Factory. There are several flavors, but so far the Ginger Snaps and Chocolate Chip are my favorites. They are a family company and only cook a few days a week so it might take a couple days for them to be delivered, but they are completely worth it.

Gumbo Risotto

So this is the new creation I decided to try and it was absolutely amazing. First you'll need to make the Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, then store any leftovers in a 64 oz containers, making sure about 40 oz are liquid and the rest the meat and veggies.

Gumbo Risotto

64 oz Leftover Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
1 cup White Arborio Rice
1 tbsp Vegetable oil

First, strain the liquid out of the leftovers into a medium sauce pan. Put the meat back in the fridge for now, you'll be working just with the liquid and rice. Heat the liquid to just under a boil. In the meantime, coat the bottom of a second medium sauce pan with the oil. Add the rice and heat until rice is completely covered with oil. Then add 1 cup of the Gumbo liquid to the rice, stirring constantly until all of the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Continue adding the liquid 1 cup at a time until the liquid is all transferred to the rice pan. Put the Gumbo meat into the pan the liquid was just in and heat while still cooking the rice. Once the final liquid is absorbed, add the rice to the heated Gumbo meat and allow the rice to absorb any liquid that might remain in the meat pan.

It took me about 35 - 40 minutes for the rice to absorb the liquid and another 5 - 10 once I added the meat. This amount served 2 people, but that was all we had for dinner and it filled us perfectly. This was my first time making risotto and obviously my first Risotto recipe so please let me know what you think.

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

I know Alton Brown would probably call this a soup, but I call it a Gumbo. It tastes amazing and the way I make it (I triple the recipe), gives lots of leftovers for the week. So here's my Gumbo.

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

3 tbsp olive oil
16 oz Sausage (Kielbasa, Smoked or Andouille), diced
2 lbs chicken, diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium red pepper, chopped
6 large baby carrots, chopped
1 bag frozen peas (I like to us fresh sugar snap peas when in season)
3 tbsp Really Great Food Company All Purpose Rice Flour Mix
1 14 oz can petite diced Tomatoes
48 oz Chicken Broth
Salt and Pepper to taste
For a spicier flavor add Cayenne Pepper, Basil, Cilantro to taste.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in Dutch oven. Add the sausage and brown for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the chicken pieces and brown, a few at a time, until cooked. Remove with slotted spoon and combine with the sausage (there will be a lot of grease so you might want to place some paper towels under the sausage and chicken to keep it from getting into the gumbo). Pour the remaining oil into the Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery, garlic, peppers, carrots and peas and cook, stirring to prevent them burning, for about 10 minutes (more if you like your peppers and onions more caramelized). Stir in the flour and cook for a further 5 minutes. Constantly stir this or the flour will burn on the bottom of the pan. Also, the mixture will get very thick and heavy, it's supposed to do that. Add the tomatoes and chicken broth, then bring to a boil. Add the sausage and chicken and stir well. Add any seasonings you like to taste. Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes. Make sure to periodically check it for taste and add more seasoning if necessary. This is what the Gumbo should look like in the pan and above is how it will look served.

Deep Dish Pizza

Well, I tried the deep dish pizza today and it tasted great, but didn't look real good. Here is the recipe and a few pictures.

Pizza Crust

1 cup water
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3 cups Heartland's Finest Performance Blend Gluten Free Flour

Heat 1 cup of water, shortening, sugar and salt until shortening melts. Cool to lukewarm. Soften yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Combine yeast and shortening mixtures in large bowl. Add cornmeal and flour to shortening mix and knead until smooth and workable. Oil pizza pan with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough into pans and pierce with a fork several times. Bake in 425 degree preheated oven for 7 minutes. Remove, then add pizza toppings.

Here's how I did my toppings.

1 3 oz pkg Pepperoni
8 oz Italian Sausage
8 strips Bacon

I first layered the bottom crust with 12 oz pizza sauce, then layered pepperoni like in this photo.


After that I added a layer of Sharp Cheddar, a layer of Mozzarella Cheese, 12 oz Pizza sauce then a mixture of the sausage and bacon like in this photo.

I added a layer of each kind of cheese then put the pizza back in the oven for another 30 minutes. The pan I used was a 9 in x 2 3/4 in springform pan. Also, I didn't use the whole crust recipe because I'm not a huge crust fan so yours will come out looking a bit different than this. Here's what it looked like when it came out of the oven.

I will warn you though, it doesn't look real great on the plate, but it tastes amazing!

New Recipes

I'm working on some new recipes this weekend. Hopefully one for a Gluten Free Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza and the other for a Gluten Free Gumbo. Well, there is one more, but it's a completely new invention of mine so I'll let you know when it works out. I'm really excited and hopeful that these new recipes will help me eat the foods I love without worrying about the Gluten.

Quesadilla

I made a Quesadilla today with soft corn tortillas. I haven't really liked the soft corn tortillas in the past, but I wanted to try my hand at cooking them myself. I baked them at 425 for about 5 minutes before I used them to make them a little more like hard shells. Then I put them in a small frying pan, just the size of the tortilla, added Sharp Cheddar Cheese and green tomato sauce and cooked them on very low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. I also added a little sour cream on top after I let it cool a little. The Quesadilla tasted almost like nachos with just melted cheese, sour cream and chips. So this experiment worked well for me, but I will try other things with the corn tortillas, so stay tuned for more.

McDonald's

I was delighted to see that I could eat at McDonald's today. When I went to their website to see what might be gluten free, I noticed all of their salads with grilled chicken are okay, you just have to stay away from the Sesame Ginger Dressing and the Crouton. Also, I was shocked to see that the fries have gluten in them, so stay away from those as well. I always thought that because they were potatoes I would be able to eat them, shows how much I know :) I was also able to eat the hot fudge sundae, which is only $1 here in Chicago. The Bacon Ranch salad was pretty good, but for some reason the person gave me the southwest dressing, which was good, but I was hoping for Ranch. I'll have to have it again some time. McDonald's is pretty much the only reasonably priced food in Chicago so that's not going to be a problem. I'm looking forward to having dinner with some friends this weekend so I should have another restaurant that has gluten free offerings.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

We spent the weekend at the Crowne Plaza by O'Hare and I was extremely surprised to see that even though they had a room service menu that was chock full of Gluten, they had a Flourless Chocolate Cake that was made from a very decadent dark chocolate ganache. It tasted amazing, though I can't guarantee it was actually Gluten-Free. Here's a picture.

Cheese Balls

I've been having a craving since I went Gluten Free for Cheese Puffs/Cheese Balls. I was surprised today when I looked and found Cheese Balls that specifically say they are Gluten Free. I found them at my Sam's Club. They are UTZ Cheese Balls. They taste great, but aren't very good for you.

Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic

By Peter H.R. Green, M.D., and Rory Jones

This book is a great resource for people who are just being diagnosed with Celiac Disease or people who have had it for a while and are interested in learning more about their condition. This book introduces you to normal digestion and digestion with Celiac Disease, how they are different and how they affect your body. It introduces you to how the diagnosis process goes and why people get Celiac Disease. It talks about related conditions and complications from the small ones to the huge ones, explains what they are and how to deal with them. It helps you with understanding and treating Celiac Disease, how to eat without the Gluten, how to shop, looking for the right labels, and dealing with family occasions. It also helps what Living with Celiac not only in adults who have to change everything because of Celiac, but also in helping Children and Young Adults cope with the changes. It also has several appendices that include, A Guide to Ingredients, Explanation of Grains, Books and Articles of Interest, Medical Contact Information, National Support Groups and Publications and Resources. This book is written well and very understandable. It's really hard to write about medical issues and make it understandable to the normal person, but these authors do it well. I would recommend this book to anyone who has Celiac Disease, whether you've just been diagnosed or you've had it for years.

Tacos

So today is my birthday and my husband made me Tacos for dinner. It was great of him to do that because I didn't have to do anything and it was all Gluten Free so I should feel okay tomorrow when I have to take the car in for maintenance. Also, this blog is so short because it's my birthday and I want to spend some time with my family. I have a book on Celiac Disease I'll be reading tomorrow at the dealership while my car gets fixed so I should have a review on that tomorrow.

Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide

by Shelley Case, Dietitian

This book is amazing and filled with facts that ever person living a Gluten-Free lifestyle needs to know. There is a very long list of Gluten-Free products and names of the companies and distributors where they are available. There is a list of the wheat flour alternatives and information on their storage and handling as well as what foods they are best used in. Also included is a list of the allowed, questionable and avoid foods, more comprehensive than any I have seen yet. A Sample menu, information on US and Canadian labeling laws, nutritional information for the food we like to eat and tips and tricks to cooking Gluten-Free round out the most informative sections of this book. There are also a few actual recipes in here, but the things mentioned above are really the reason to buy this book. This book is definitely going to be a great resource for me and I would especially recommend it to anyone starting out on this Gluten-Free journey.

Brown Cow Ice Cream

This week is my birthday and I was so excited to find out that the craving I was having, I could actually fix. I've been craving Dean's Brown Cow Ice Cream which is a mixture of fudge, white chocolate and milk chocolate ice creams. I looked at it to have as a treat for my birthday and was happy to see that it didn't have any gluten in it. I eating some right now and am enjoying it very much!

Mango's Grill Authentic

This is a restaurant in East Lansing, Michigan. It has really great food and is mostly gluten friendly. They have amazing corn tortilla chips and salsa. Most of their selections are available with Flour or Corn tortillas. I did find out, though, after years of eating flour tortillas, I'm not a big fan of soft corn tortillas. If you are in the area, check out this restaurant, it's well worth it.

More Salmon and Rice

I found some fresh salmon on sale at my local supermarket and decided to try my hand at making it, so I picked up some Mrs. Dash Lemon Herb Peppercorn 10 Minute Marinade to try with it. I let the salmon marinade in it for about 6 hours before I cooked it. I know it says 10 minute marinade, but I've always found that they work better if you marinade for longer. Then I put the salmon in aluminum foil and cooked it at 400 for 25 minutes. This way the salmon actually cooks a bit in the marinade. The salmon tasted great when it was done.

Also, I found a new kind of risotto that actually says it's Gluten Free, Lundberg Risotto. They had a few different kinds of Risotto, but for the Lemon Pepper Salmon I decided on the Porcini Mushroom Risotto. This wasn't in the Gluten Free section so if you're looking for it look with the boxed rices. The Risotto was great as well. All together the meal cost about $4 per person and tasted great!

Salmon & Rice

I found this Marinated Salmon from Morey's that tastes absolutely amazing and doesn't say it has any gluten in it. You can grill it, Bake it or Microwave it. I baked it and it came out tender and tasty. The best thing about it is that it's healthy for you and still tastes great. I found the salmon at my Sam's Club there are 6 fillets for somewhere around $13.

The rice is Archer Farms Four Cheese Risotto it doesn't say it contains gluten. It's really easy to cook and tastes amazing. I added about 1/4 cup of Sharp Cheddar cheese to add a little extra flavor, but it doesn't really need it to taste great. I found it at Target for $2 per box. That means for both my husband and I to eat dinner it's only $6, which I think is a bargain for this great meal. Both the salmon and the rice take about the same amount of time to cook which makes it a great quick meal.

Pomegranate Ham

I was so excited to eat the Ham, I forgot to take a picture of it! Sorry. Here's the recipe.

Pomegranate Ham

8 lb Ham - I used this size ham, but you can use bigger, I'm sure the amount of glaze would probably work with a ham up to 12 or 13 lbs.

Glaze
6 cups Pomegranate Juice
1 cup sugar (I use real cane sugar)

Simmer Pomegranate Juice and sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium heat for 45 minutes, then let cool for 10 minutes. It won't cool much. Pour over the ham in a roasting pan that just fits the ham. Cook ham per directions on the package. After first 15 minutes baste ham with Pomegranate Glaze in bottom of the roasting pan. Then repeat every 30 minutes until 30 minutes remain. Slice the ham so that it is cut almost all the way through. Then baste again with the Pomegranate Glaze making sure to get it in between every slice. Finish cooking last 30 minutes. Remove from oven, finish cutting and serve.

Pomegranate Ham

Tomorrow I'm going to try to make Pomegranate Glazed Ham. I will put the recipe and a picture up when it is finished.

Mac N Cheese

Tried a Mac N Cheese for lunch, here's the recipe.

Macaroni and Cheese

8 oz Ener G Rice Macaroni
8 oz Cheese (I used Pinconning but whatever is your favorite will work)
2 tbsp Milk
1 tbsp Gluten-Free Flour

Cook Macaroni per package directions. Strain Macaroni. In the sauce pan that you just cooked the macaroni in, melt the cheese for about 2 minutes, then add milk. When cheese is fully melted, add flour and macaroni. Stir and serve. Serves 2.

Cheesy Salsa

I've been looking for weeks for a cheesy salsa that doesn't have gluten in it and I finally found one. On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina has two, Golden Cheddar and Monterey White. They taste great and are a great alternative to regular salsa when salsa gets old.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

My husband and I went out to dinner with my parents tonight. They have a favorite restaurant that they go to every Friday so we joined them there, Cheeseburger in Paradise. They have this olive salsa that my dad is crazy for. I was so excited to see that they had a Gluten-Free Menu, then I looked at it. Most of the items are like Mini-Cheeseburgers (Order without the bun) or Son of a Son of a Sailor Salad (Order without the Wantons). Everything had something that you had to take out in order for it to work Gluten-Free. It was disappointing especially after finding Wildfire in Chicago, who makes a Flourless Chocolate Cake for their Gluten-Free Menu. Anyway, I found something I could eat with the exceptions and it was pretty good, but still disappointing to see how little they actually did for the special menu.

Wildfire Restaurant

I found what looks like a great restaurant that has a Gluten-Free menu in Chicago at 159 W Erie called Wildfire. The Gluten-Free Menu looks amazing and we're going to try it out while we're there. I'm so excited. If you live in the area and have tried this restaurant, please let me know if this is a good place to eat and if so when the best time is to go. Thanks!

Food Choices

I've been so frustrated trying to find variety in the meals I've been serving. Chips & Salsa and steak are getting so boring I'm not sure I can eat another bite. Fortunately, I've started finding other dinner and snack foods. I made potatoes with eggs and sausage for dinner tonight, how yummy. I've also found that cottage cheese makes a great snack when having to take my medicine before bed and shoestring potatoes make a good afternoon snack. It's starting to get easier to deal with the diet, though, I'm headed to Chicago in a couple months and need ideas for restaurants. If you know of any, please let me know.

Leftovers

Just wanted to let you know that the lasagna from last night tasted just as good tonight. So try it and see. The biggest surprise is that the noodles took on the taste of the stuff around them. So good, but I ate way too much both nights.

Lasagna

I was having a craving for Lasagna so I decided to try it Gluten-Free. The hardest part is that Ricotta isn't gluten free so I had to find a replacement. In my case it wasn't that hard because as a kid my mom made Lasagna with Cottage Cheese instead of Ricotta. Although my sister told me that her family didn't like Rice Pasta, I tried a different brand than them and really liked it. So here's the recipe, hope you enjoy. The top picture is what the top should look like when the Lasagna is done and the bottom is what it looks liked served. You need to let the Lasagna rest for about 20 minutes before serving to achieve the bottom look.

Lasagna

3 lbs Dean's Small curd Cottage Cheese
2 lbs Gluten-Free Mozzarella Cheese
16 oz Ener G Rice Lasagna noodles
5 26 oz jars Pasta Sauce
3 lbs Italian Sausage

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook pasta according to package directions. Brown sausage in large Dutch Oven (using the Dutch Oven will keep from using an extra pan when cooking). After the sausage is cooked and drained, add pasta sauce and stir well. Once noodles and sausage mixture are finished, start by pouring about 1/4 of sausage mixture into bottom of 12 in x 16 in x 4 in Roasting pan. Then add 6 tablespoons of Cottage Cheese, evenly distributed. Next, layer noodles to cover Cottage Cheese and Sausage mixture. Finally, cover noodles with a layer of Mozzarella cheese. Repeat until you have 3 layers, but before adding the final cheese layer above the noodles, cover the noodles with the rest of the sausage mixture, then cover with remaining cheese. Cook for 1 1/2 hours or until top layer of cheese is fully melted and a little browned.

Molasses Cookies

I tried my mom's molasses cookies Gluten Free today and they turned out okay. I've added a bit more molasses and a couple ingredients for the flavoring since my mom wrote the original recipe, but they are primarily the same. With the Gluten Free, the extra molasses is needed for flavor. They turned out a little bit crunchier and a little bit thinner than my mom's, but they are still very tasty. I'll be experimenting with these with other kinds of flour, so if I find a better one, I'll let you know. Hope you enjoy.

Molasses Cookies

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
2 cups flour (Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp Xanthan gum

Cream the shortening. Add 1 cup sugar gradually; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Mix well and set aside. Combine flour, baking soda, spices and Xanthan gum and mix well. Add 1/4 of dry mixture at a time to creamed mixture, mixing until smooth after each addition. Chill dough 1 hour. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Finding Food

So I pulled some muscles last week and the doctor put me on medicine that you need to eat with in order to take it. I'm having such a terrible time trying to find something to eat every 4 to 6 hours that fits in my Gluten-Free diet. I've been eating Chips and Salsa, but it is getting so boring. Do you have any ideas on what I could eat at 10 pm that would be substantial enough to take the meds, but still light enough to not upset my stomach just before bed. If you have any ideas, please share!

Pumpkin Bread Mix

Well, I tried The Really Great Food Company Pumpkin Bread Mix today and it's great. I added 1 tsp Cinnamon, 3/4 tsp Cloves, 1/2 tsp Ginger and 1/2 tsp Nutmeg to it to give it a little more taste. I also used a 15 oz can of Libby's Pure Pumpkin instead of just 1 cup. It turned out great.

Pizza Casserole

Well, I tried one of my favorite casseroles today and it turned out well. Here's the recipe.

Pizza Casserole

16 oz Italian Sausage
1/3 lb ham or turkey ham
1/2 package pepperoni
1 lb ground beef
1/2 large onion
1 medium green pepper
2 14 oz jars plain Pizza Sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
12 oz Gluten Free Corn Pasta
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta. Cook beef sausage over medium until no pink remains. Dice green peppers and onion. Add extra virgin olive oil to peppers and onions in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until peppers and onions are caramelized. Dice ham/turkey ham and add to onion mixture once caramelized.

Drain pasta. Put onion mixture and sausage in the pasta pan. Add Pizza sauce and stir in pasta. Cover with Mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Cook at 350° for 25 minutes or until cheese is cooked.

Oatmeal Currant Cookies

Well, tried the Oatmeal Currant Cookies today and they turned out perfect. So here's the recipe. Of course, you can replace the currants with raisins, I just used the currants because my husband loves currants.

Oatmeal Currant Cookies

2 cups Sunmaid Zante Currants
2 cups water
3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup Heartland's Finest Performance Blend
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cloves
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Rolled Oats

Simmer currants and water over medium heat until currants are plump, about 15 minutes. Drain currants, reserving the liquid. Add enough water to reserved liquid to measure 1/2 cup. Heat oven to 400°. Mix thoroughly the shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in reserved liquid. Blend in remaining ingredients. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown.

Banana Bread

The Really Great Food Company Banana Bread mix turned out great. I think it actually tastes better than the banana bread I used to eat. I added a little extra banana and some walnuts, but it's great. It's a great mix and a great breakfast. Hope that helps.

More experiments

I went to my local health store today and found a bunch of good stuff to try this weekend. I'm going to make Oatmeal Currant Cookies with the Gluten Free Rolled Oats. We picked up The Really Great Food Company All Purpose Flour Mix, Heartland's Finest Performance Blend and Arrowhead Mills All Purpose Baking Flour. Hopefully one of those will work well for me. We also picked up Banana Bread mix and Apple Spice Muffin Mix from The Really Great Food Company. I will let you know how those turn out. We're also going to try Pamela's Products Wheat-Free Bread Mix. So stay tuned this weekend to see how things turn out.

Disaster

Well, today I tried Mac N Cheese and it turned out absolutely horrible. Mostly I think it was because of the pasta I used, Ancient Harvest Quinoa Veggie Curls. Even with all the cheese I put in, the pasta was overpowering and really weird tasting. So far the only pasta I've liked is Corn Pasta. I also tried some Molasses Cookies with Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour and they turned out okay, but very flat. I'm going to try again later in the week and maybe put some Baking Powder in them, though I need to make sure Baking Powder is okay to use. I might also try Xanthan Gum to see if it helps. I promise to continue working hard to find ways to make favorite dishes Gluten-Free.

Spaghetti Casserole

I was having a craving for Spaghetti and Meatballs so I tried to find a way that was gluten free, and, since my husband calls me the Casserole Queen, a casserole. I was really surprised at how much the corn spaghetti tasted like "regular" Mueller's spaghetti. I tried to make sure the herbs in the meatballs would compliment the pasta sauce and it worked well. The only thing is if you don't finely crush the tortilla chips, you will get a bit more of the tortilla taste in the meatballs. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.

Spaghetti Casserole with Meatballs

12 oz pkg Mrs. Leeper's Corn Spaghetti
26 oz jar pasta sauce
2 cups Gluten-Free Mozzarella Cheese (I used Meijer Cheese. Meijer is our regional grocery store)

Meatballs:
2 lbs Ground Chuck
1 cup finely crushed corn tortilla chips
1 egg
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried cilantro

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Roll into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on cookie sheet. Cook for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, boil the spaghetti for 9 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process. When the meatballs are done, combine with spaghetti and pasta sauce in a 9 in x 13 in baking pan; stir until pasta and meatballs are coated with sauce. Cover with mozzarella cheese and bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Serves 4

Gluten Intolerance

A family member was recently diagnosed with Gluten Intolerance, which means no more a lot of his favorite things. It's lucky for him he has an aunt who is a housewife who loves to cook, so I'm going to find Gluten Free ways to make all his favorite foods. I'm going to try to post at least one recipe a week. Not only am I going to rework recipes I already have, I hope to create new recipes and recipes for things like pretzels and Cheetos. As I go, I would love for you to be able to submit requests for me to work on. It might take me a few weeks of trial and error, but I will make it work. Also, if you have Gluten Free ideas, please feel free to share them here.